Fitness | A Crafty Chai

Category: Fitness

09
Jul
2015

Relaxing at Fawsley Hall Spa

categories: Fitness

A few weekends ago, a couple of friends and I headed to Fawsley Hall Hotel & Spa for a spot of well earned pampering. We’ve been before and it remains to be, in my opinion, the best spa I’ve ever been to. When we arrived, we chatted in the seating area in reception while we waited for our appointments. We were all having different treatments – I went for my usual back massage and wasn’t disappointed.

Fawsley Hall Spa Fawsley Hall Back Massage Fawsley Hall Afternoon Tea

After an excellent massage, which was just right and managed to work out the tension in my shoulders, it was time to wait for the others in the relaxation room. We had booked afternoon tea over in the hotel so when it was time, we left the spa and headed to the main building. We were in the main room, which is incredibly lavish and ornate. The sofas are enormous and comfortable and the staff are always on hand, without being pushy, to help with anything. I asked for the veggie afternoon tea and had some delicious sandwiches to accompany my scones. I also asked for soya milk with my tea and as pleased that they had that too. While the sandwiches were good, the scones and cream were amazing. We had one fruit and one plain scone each and we were able to get extra cream and jam, as we didn’t hold back!

We had such a lovely time there that we’re going back in a few weeks time for an end of school treat. I think we all deserve a little de-stressing!

05
May
2015

Tuesday Treat – Fitbit

categories: Fitness, Tuesday Treat

It’s happened. I’ve finally got myself a Fitbit. I’ve become addicted to counting my steps, seeing how far I’ve walked and how many calories I’ve burnt. Not only that, I also obsess over beating the steps my friends have taken. I’m thinking this is a good obsession, as it helps to keep me fit and active. Walking is the only exercise I currently do and it’s pretty good. It’s free, easy to do and doesn’t impact on my joints too much. Plus, walking Poppy fits in nicely, though her sleepy face after spending a morning walking through the countryside shows that she’s always happy when the walk is over!

[Image via source]

After a lot of consideration, I chose the Fitbit one. I didn’t want to wear something on my wrist all the time and this fits discreetly on my waistband or underwear. This also helps me to forget that it’s there and means I’m happily surprised when I check in. I like that you can update your goals, cheer your friends and link it with other apps, including My Fitness Pal and Lifesum. For me, that’s really useful, as it helps me to see how well I’m doing. It also helps us to plan walks for the weekend and I’d really like to do a walking holiday – as long as we can stay in luxurious hotels with spas along the way!

27
Mar
2014

Why I love Body Combat

categories: Fitness

Or how I learnt to punch using my elbow!

I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with exercise. Running has always been my favourite, but getting started really sucks. Once you’re past the initial stages and you’re pretty good at it, it’s really ace. I like it because it’s free, it’s just you and the pavement, you just pop your trainers (and your sports bra) on and go. No muss, no fuss. Unfortunately I’m carrying a knee injury, which means I need to be lighter to go running without damaging my knee further. I’ve dabbled in the 30 Day Shred, which has its place, but I’m bored of it now. I’m also doing Davina’s Fit in 15, which is pretty good, but I tend to do the cardio section plus one of the others Monday – Wednesday and want something else to make me stronger and help strengthen my core. This is where Body Combat comes in.

I love Body Combat because:

The teachers are always excellent, even though I can never understand them over the music. I like working out at home, but I never push myself as hard as I do in Combat. My current teacher comes round during a track where we have to sprint and lift our knees high. She makes me lift them higher than I think I can.
I’ve never been particularly strong or coordinated. I’m always the one at the back of the class, struggling with doing all the moves at once, poking my tongue out in concentration. It might take me a while to get the move down, but once I’ve got it, I can pretty much do it.
You don’t stop moving for an hour. Track after track, you just keep going. There’s no pausing the DVD to get your breath back. There’s only enough time for me to clean my glasses!
You can unleash your rage. I’ve imagined punching colleagues, friends, family, the works. Most of all, I’m just fighting myself, trying to make myself work harder and not think about how tough it is, how unfit I am, how red I am, how much I want to lie down!
While I resemble nothing like the woman in the video below (and probably never will!) I like to think that I do and that I could hold my own in a fight.

I detest going to the gym. The music sucks, it smells and there’s always someone grunting and dripping sweat everywhere. But in Combat, you’re too exhausted for any of that. So once a week, I get in my car, drive over to the leisure centre for combat and I love it!

What’s your favourite form of exercise? The one thing that gets you moving off the sofa?

13
Mar
2014

Feeling Fabulous

categories: Fitness, Food & Drink

If you have been following my Instagram feed, you will have noticed quite a few images of fruit, veg and healthy snacks. My sister asked if I was on a diet. While the answer to that is no, I am trying to eat better. I’ve written before about not having much energy, and whether it’s down to lack of sunshine, a poor diet or just laziness, I’m trying to change things up a bit. Which is why I signed up to the Keeping Healthy Getting Stylish eCourse, 12 Weeks to Feeling Fabulous. Click on the image below to find out more (and sign up!).

My aim throughout the course is to try and get my mojo back. At the start of last year, I was quite restrictive in my diet. I lost a bit of weight, which was ace, but then I fell off the wagon in epic style and put all the weight back. Not great. And this has been happening for years and years… Not a great way to live. So I decided that enough is enough. I need to eat for healthy and energy, exercise because it’s good for me, not because it’s on my to do list and try to improve my self-confidence. It’s not easy, because when it comes to me, I’ll take the easy option thanks! So getting a takeaway, sitting on the sofa, being a couch potato, yep, love that. But I know it’s not good for me and I know it’s not good long term. (Plus, I can’t fit into most of my ‘work clothes’. Not great.) I didn’t want to go on *another* restrictive diet, where I’m ‘good’ while I’m on it, then stuff my face when it’s over. That shit makes me miserable. And life is waaay too short for that! So I decided what I needed was a new perspective. And that’s where Feeling Fabulous came in.

Some things I get right, day in, day out. Like breakfast. I’m pretty much a creature of habit with this. Here’s my Winter Breakfast: Porridge, banana, flax & sunflower seeds, local honey and cinnamon. I also drink plenty of water throughout the day and don’t drink too much tea or coffee throughout the day. And while I may go on about drinking lots of wine and gin on Twitter, in reality, I’m a real lightweight and can take it or leave it. What I needed to work on are things like making sure I eat more fruit and veg, sort out portion control and reduce my carb intake. I have a slight carb addiction but my tummy is no longer happy with that and doesn’t like too much bread, white flour/rice and processed junk.

I’ve started eating more fruit, which is the easy bit, and have gone for more exciting fruits, like watermelon, pineapple and raspberries, rather than just sticking with apples, because, lets face it, apples are pretty dull. I’ve also added more seeds to my diet and have also tried goji berries and pomegranate seeds. I’ve added more veg to my diet, but think there’s still room for improvement on that score so next week, I am going to try making my own green smoothie, with spinach and avocado. This is a big deal for me, as I am super fussy, but what’s the harm? I’ve been trying new things left, right and centre:

I tried both of these from Itsu last week. I really liked the juice, which I did not expect, mainly because it contains broccoli, my pet hate veg. But it was lovely. The coconut water, on the other hand, was vile and I couldn’t drink it. Gross! I’ve also been thinking about the products I use on my skin too. I’ve started using shampoo and conditioner from Lush and, inspired by Laura, who runs the blog and the ecourse, I’m going to be trying out vegan nail polish and organic body cream and makeup.

I’ve started exercising again too, beyond walking Poppy. I’ve been doing the Davina McCall Fit in 15 DVD, which is really good. It’s not too long and it makes a nice change from the 30 Day Shred. I’m also going to a Body Combat class later on today, which I used to go to all the time and loved it! No idea why I stopped going. I love a good roundhouse kick and uppercut punch 😉

So that’s what’s going on with me right now. This doesn’t mean that I am not eating the odd Thai takeaway or slice of carrot cake, as I am, just in balance with the rest of my diet. After all, a little of what you fancy does you good. Just as long as it’s a little! If you’ve got any tips or suggestions, I’d love to hear them! What exercise are you doing at the moment? Do you find it helps you feel better?