Day 1 - 10th January 2012

Firstly I'm still overwhelmed about how many folk are sharing advice and their experiences on both exercise and nutrition. A few in quite some detail. Sincere thanks again for taking the time to do this. It's very much appreciated. Although there are occasionally competing approaches proposed (especially on the ideal foods to eat), it means that I am fully informed of the options and their particular benefits. I will share these with you in this the blog and tell you which I've decided to go for. Feel free to add your own experiences and opinions about these choices.

I consider this the real Day 1 of this venture as yesterday I did no actual exercise apart from handing over 999 DKR for 3 months gym membership! Today I actually went to the gym and used the equipment. I'll tell you more about this later in the post.

I think I need some sort of structure to these posts. Not sure what would be best, so I'll take a trial and error approach. Any feedback on the structure gratefully received! Here goes...

Food
I have been munching for Scotland today. stuffing myself with every piece of 'healthy' food I can get my hands on. In fact I've already stopped while writing this post to cut up chunks of cauliflower to snack on. Contrary to Susan's advice earlier today that I should, in effect, 'breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dine like a pauper' , I actually swapped the king and the pauper roles around and was a bit king-esque at lunchtime too. Here's the inventory....

Brekky - Muesli and natural yoghurt, melon and pineapple. Glass of water. (was in a hurry mind you)
Lunch - Big plateful from the canteen salad bar of red and green peppers, cold ham, salami, red cabbage, red lentils, pate (smaller bit than yesterday), blue cheese,raw mushrooms, two hard boiled eggs.  Half litre of water.
Dinner - Scrambled eggs (3!) with parma ham and tomatoes. A rice cake. Two slices of cooked ham, three slices of roast beef.
Snacks - Two bananas, a tangerine, a mango, a few handfuls of peanuts and some cauliflower
Drinks - Four cups of green tea and lots of water.

I mean, that is veritable feast! This is no challenge at all if I'm munching this on a daily basis. Doesn't feel right! Would be interested to know what you think?

One thing I do have available as a snack, but which I haven't touched, are some carrots. This is because Eugene, who has been exceptionally good at sharing his own very successful experiences, has told me that root vegetables are out! Apparently this is to do with their solubility in your stomach. The thing is, as they are soluble they slow down your metabolism. So I'm going to avoid them and stick to green leaf stuff instead. Eugene actually has a complete radical programme that worked extremely well for him. Will come back to it in another post.

Many of you, Julie, Pam, Susan, etc are very much recommending a balanced diet where the bad stuff is significantly reduced, if not completely eliminated (e.g. vino!), or you eat moderate portions of 'good verions' of the bad stuff like, wholemeal bread.

The Jury's still out for me on which consistent approach to nutrition to select , but I should really make some sort of decision soon!

Exercise
Although Darren and Julie suggested (for different reasons) that I shouldn't use a gym, I had already paid my dosh so I went along for the first time this evening. Started out on some simple, light stuff as I obviously need to acclimatise a bit first! Here's the 'programme' and the stats.

Used the cycling machine for 27 minutes. Level 5 for the first 15 mins and then the rest on level 6. Both on the flat. The calorie count was 192 and the distance was a smidgen over 10KM. I like the bike because it's gentle on my dodgy knee, but it's not as hard as the treadmill as I later found out!

Did a few weight machines on various muscles around the body. didn't push it too much and on one occasion I had to drop the previous user's 65KG setting down to 30KG! A bit of a way to go then!

Finished off on the treadmill for 23 minutes. Ran on the flat for 2.4KM. Calorie count was 122. Heart rate got to 150 on one occasion. Need to check if this is ok! I have to say that I felt more benefit (knacked) from the running than the cycling.

When I got back to hotel I took the stairs to my 4th floor room. I'm employing this 'take the stairs' tactic, as recommended by Ture, whenever I can.

Got some interesting suggestions during the day on exercise ideas.

The scariest one was from Jane who recommended army style bootcamps that take place at the weekend around Glasgow! Not sure I'm quite ready for this yet! Maybe if I improve my general fitness a bit first.

Darren proposed that I get off public transport earlier than I need to and walk the rest of the way to my destination. Will probably do this occasionally. Would expect the frequency to increase as the weather improves!

Finally, my cousin Paul suggested that I cycle to work, as a considerable number of people do in Copenhagen. I checked the distance between hotel and the office (10KM) and I'm seriously considering it. Will make enquiries on how to obtain a cheap, cheerful and functional bicycle !

Thanks again to all who are taking an interest!