First week done

As the title suggests the first week on the adventure to becoming healthier and fitter is done (well almost) and it has been a good week.

The kids were back to school on Tuesday and as I wasn't at work I decided to use my free time for me and went back to the gym that I joined last year and went to once! I am not a fan of gyms, I feel inferior, useless and like I shouldn't be there. But this gym is different.

I joined Gymophobics because it is women only, has no mirrors and there isn't a treadmill in sight! Strange you may think, but not really. Gymophobics consists of a 30 minute resisted tension circuit which target specific areas of your body. The machines use air so they aren't noisy or clunky and they can be adjusted so you are sitting in the right position and are using the right amount of weighted tension.

When I joined last year I had just started my new job as a care worker and I just couldn't (didn't want to) find the time to go. But I think I might just have the bug. I went back on Tuesday and Laura showed me around (again!) and it was fab, I enjoyed it and could feel that I had done something. I had planned to go again yesterday, but go waylaid by chores at home, so I went today and once again I enjoyed it.

My thinking is that if I make it a regular occurrence it will become a habit and therefore I will get fitter and healthier, while enjoying myself at the same time.

And to add in we are also walking to and from school every day, when I'm not going to work straight away, which is better for the kids and for me.

This time around I'm not following a diet. I said in my last post that I have spent almost 20 years in one slimming club or another, counting syns or points, tracking calories etc and I'm sick of it. I end up doing really well for a period of time, and then I end up binge eating and the weight goes back on and I end up weighing more than I have before! It isn't a healthy thing to do. So I am just eating sensibly and healthily with the odd treat thrown in for good measure. I'm meal planning as well!

As a community care worker I am often out and about all day so I need to make sure that I have good healthy food with me. This week I invested in a SHO food flask and it has been fab. I have worked two evenings this week and put two different meals in it, both were piping hot when I ate them and it will save me a fortune as previously I was buying shop bought sandwiches and McDonalds meals nearly every time I was at work.

So, I know it is going to be a long journey ahead, it will probably be a bumpy one as well. But something seems to have clicked in me and I want to do this now, it isn't just a need.

What will 2020 bring?

I had plenty on intention to keep blogging last year, but life somehow got in the way!

After the littlest Millichamp starting school in September last year, I started a new job and then I blinked and it was Christmas! How does that happen? The lead up to the festivities seemed to literally spring out of nowhere!

And now it is January 2020, the start of a year when I normally end up back at some slimming club or other and fall off rh wagon by the end of the month.

But this year is different. This year, while I still need to shift the pounds and get active, I'm handing the control and power back to myself in the hope that I find the self-belief I need for be healthy.

I have spent years, probably around 20 of them, doing various diets from Weight Watchers to Slimming World to Diet Chef, calorie counting and everything in between.

But at the end of the day, only I can change the person that I am. I am the one responsible for what I put into my body and I am responsible for how I treat myself. And I've not been very kind to me for a long time.

Once the kids are back at school next week the routines will be back in place and I can focus on me.

I'm going to use this blog for my jjourney into believing more in myself, changing my attitude towards food and the old cliche of a new year, a new me!

Join me on my journey, and any advice you have would be great!

Ps I am also changing the name of the blog, but I don't know what to!

The Millichamps have moved

Well here we are, just over two months ago we moved to Harrogate, North Yorkshire from Alnwick,  Northumberland with two kids in tow, a lorry load of belongings and plenty of gin!

Since January we have been planning to relocate. The husband was on the look out for a new job, and his very first employer in his industry offered him a position that we couldn't turn down. It meant that I had to give up a job I loved, but one which was going to change and not in a good way, so you could say the move came at just the right time.

But let me tell you this, relocating with two young children is not easy, I would go as far to say that apart from losing my parents  at a young age and becoming a mum, relocating is one of the hardest things I have done.

So, because I LOVE writing, about all different kinds of things, I have decided that now we are kind of settled, I would set up a blog to write about our move, me, our family, and living in Harrogate and the surrounding areas. There is so much to do here for families it is fantastic. This blog might just help another family new to the area, or maybe it will inspire people to visit, who knows.

Before I go a bit about me - I am Helen, also known on here as Mrs M. I have a six-year-old daughter and a four-year-old son, and I'm married to Rob, a brewer. I'm a former newspaper journalist, I love reading and writing, I love trying out new places to eat, drink and play and I love cooking.

So that's it, first blog post done. I am intending on writing another one very soon about our move, and how emotional it has all been  - not just for me but for the whole family!