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HM2014: Day 5
I woke up this morning feeling even more rubbish than yesterday, so I knew I wouldn’t be doing my DVD. But I managed to stick to my diet plan, which is something of a success, so hopefully I will be feeling better tomorrow!
Stats for today
Calories eaten: 1,320
Calories burned: 2,793
Steps taken: 3,721
Active minutes: 6 -
Brimham Rocks: 5th January 2014
As I mentioned in my post yesterday, we went for a rather cold walk around Brimham Rocks, a National Trust property in North Yorkshire, near Ripon. Cameron had never been there before, but I went many many times when I was younger. It was a fab afternoon scrambling up and down the smaller rocks, although it was too wet and I was too scared of falling to get very high!
Brimham Rocks
Brimham Rocks
Brimham Rocks
Cameron at Brimham Rocks
Cameron at Brimham Rocks
Brimham Rocks
Looking through the Smartie tube at Brimham Rocks
Brimham Rocks
Cameron at Brimham Rocks
Brimham Rocks
Brimham Rocks
Brimham Rocks
Brimham Rocks
Not us!
Brimham Rocks
Me and Cameron at Brimham Rocks -
HM2014: Day 4
Well today I went from feeling a little tickle in my nose when I woke up, to my nose running like a tap by dinnertime, and all my energy was gone. So today was an involuntary rest-day from Maracattack. I did, however, go for a walk at Brimham Rocks with Cameron, which I think probably burnt more calories that my Fitbit said, since we were scrambling up and over rocks and it was damn bloody cold!
Stats for today
Calories eaten: 1,468
Calories burned: 2,935
Steps taken: 5,515
Active minutes: 4 -
J.K. Rowling – Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire
To me, this book is where it all starts getting exciting, and it definitely takes a turn for the darker!This book is where I started to be suspicious of Snape’s allegiance when I first read the series, and reading it again, I get the same feelings. We know that Dumbledore trusts him implicitly, but I get the feeling he’s hiding something.
We’re also introduced more to the house-elves, with Hermione starting SPEW to try and protect them, even though most of them don’t want to be helped and are perfectly happy how they are. Although we also find out that not all house-elves are the same, Barty Crouch’s house elf Winky is definitely nothing like Dobby, loyal to Crouch even after he releases her from his service, desperate to be taken back and ashamed of Dobby for taking pay from Dumbledore.
This book also ramps up the tumultuous relationship between Ron and Hermione, with Ron’s jealousy at Hermione going to the ball with Krum exceedingly evident. And Hermione’s feelings are not exactly hidden either, ‘Just because it’s taken you three years to notice, Ron, doesn’t mean no one else has spotted I’m a girl!‘
My favourite quote from this book was from Sirius:
“If you want to know what a man’s like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals”
At more than 600 pages, this book was a beast, and the next one is more than 700! Could take me a while…
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HM2014: Day 3
I was aching so much today that I was tempted to skip Maracattack. After all, I did walk more today than yesterday. But then I realised that was just an excuse that the old me would have made, so I sucked it up and put on the DVD. It felt horrible while I was doing it, but I felt much better when it was over, knowing that I’d done it.
I walked more today than yesterday, although not as much as planned. We’d planned to take a trip up to Brimham Rocks, but it was raining and horrible, so we spent most of the day shopping for curtains for my room, involving 3 trips back to the same shop! Tomorrow we’re going to go for a walk whether it’s raining or not; Brimham Rocks or Nostell Priory if it’s nice weather, and Leeds Museum or Bradford Industrial Museum if it’s raining.
Stats for today
Calories eaten: 1,697
Calories burned: 3,608
Steps taken: 6,453
Active minutes: 45 -
HM2014: Day 2
Day 2, complete! Maracattack was much harder today because my muscles were aching so much from yesterday, especially when it got to the abs section. The side planks are an absolute killer! But I made it through to the end again, kind of. Because the steps in the routine change so quickly, it’s hard to keep up with what you should be doing. And sometimes they don’t show Miranda’s modified version until you’re already supposed to be halfway through, which isn’t ideal! But when I get lost, I just improvise, any movement has to be better than none!After tea tonight I went for a quick walk down to asda and back. I say quick, it really was. It was lashing down with rain and very windy so I couldn’t wait to get back inside. It didn’t help that part of my route was down a long dark alley, which was populated with a group of what I shall politely call ‘youths’. As I started walking down the alley, they started following me, so I upped my speed to get away from them and back to streetlights as quick as possible!
Not a bad day in all though, stuck to my diet plan again, with space for 2 of my lovely thorntons chocolates that I got for Christmas. The box is going to last ages at this rate!
Oh, and in case you were wondering, the picture today is of my maraca substitutes, the Zumba toning sticks which came with my Zumba DVDs. They sound just like maracas and are slightly weighted, perfect for the job!
Stats for today
Calories eaten: 1,583
Calories burned: 3,253
Steps taken: 5,083
Active Minutes: 53 -
HM2014: Day 1
Well after a chat with my boyfriend, I’ve actually decided to blog daily instead of weekly. I just feel that if I blog weekly, there’s loads of chances for me to deviate from the track, whereas if I’m blogging every day, it keeps me accountable. I think blogging on a night before bed will be better than morning, cos I have been known to stay in bed quite late on weekends, and I’d probably forget!
So here’s today then!I’ve just finished my first attempt at Miranda Hart’s Maracattack. On the DVD, there’s a 5 minute warm up, 20 minute cardio session, 5 minute high intensity session and 10 minutes each for arms, core and legs & bums. I did all of it except the high intensity section, since it involved a lot of jumping, and my room is in a creaky attic above the bedroom of my sleeping dad!
At first I thought I was going to hate it because I couldn’t keep up with the moves in the cardio section, but I think that’s probably because it was the first time I’d done it and I didn’t know what was coming next. I thought the legs and bum section was bad with all the squats and lunges, but the core section was killer! I had to take a breather halfway through the crunches, when I didn’t think I’d be able to keep my legs in the air any longer! All in all though, it was a good workout. I’ll carry on with it this week and see if I get any more coordinated at the cardio section!
Stats for today
Calories eaten: 1,531
Calories burned: 3,130
Steps: 2,827
Active Minutes: 42 -
Day One, Fresh Start, New Beginnings and All That Jazz…
So here it is, day one of my mission 2014. It would have started yesterday, but it was Cameron’s annual family New Years Day party, and I was expecting a lot of food. Boy was I right, I think I must have eaten half a pig in roast gammon, roast pork, sausage rolls and pork pie. But from today onwards, healthy healthy healthy.
I took my first set of progress pictures this morning, and although I said before I was going to post them, I’ve chickened out, I’m just too embarassed. I also had my first weigh-in of the year, and since I haven’t had a working set of scales for the last month and since I’ve way over-indulged over Christmas, the number wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. Still bad though. Very bad. So here it is, day one:
I think first up tonight is clearing space in my room, and going shopping to buy all my food for the week. Much cheaper than online programs like Diet Chef, and much easier to stay on track.This week’s exercise DVD of choice will be Maracattack (Miranda Hart’s exercise DVD), but I’ll also be clipping on my Fitbit and trying to do as much walking as I can, if I can manage to escape from work for an hour each lunchtime. I’ll be checking back in next week to let you know how I get on shaking my maracas!
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Review: J.K. Rowling – Harry Potter & The Prisoner of Azkaban
I seemed to remember this book much more than the others, whether it’s because I’ve read it more often or if I’ve just seen the film a lot, but the book felt extremely familiar.The thing I love the most about this book is that it is the first time that Harry feels like he has an actual family (I don’t think the Dursleys count as a normal loving family), and even though Harry’s dreams of living with Sirius are cruelly snatched away after half an hour and now it looks like he has no chance of seeing him again, he knows that he has someone who loves him.
My favourite quote from this book was from when Buckbeak was sentenced to execution and Harry, Ron and Hermione are trying to comfort Hagrid. When Hagrid’s howling becomes unconsolable, Ron says ‘Er, shall I make him a cup of tea?‘ After a stare from Harry, he says that it’s what his mum usually does when someone is upset. Apart from the fact that I can’t get enough of tea at the moment, the exchange reminded me of Sheldon from Big Bang Theory.
This book brings back some of the tension between Ron and Hermione, with Hermione stressed out by taking so many subjects and Ron and Harry baffled as to how she manages it, and Hermione understandably getting a bit snippy. As well as all the work, she’s trying to find a way to free Buckbeak and constantly worrying about Harry with Sirius ‘on the loose’. Not that she gets any thanks for it when she has Harry’s precious new broom temporarily confiscated for ‘tests’.
I was hoping that I would have been able to read Goblet of Fire before the end of the year, but with 5 hours left, I don’t think I stand a chance, so I’ll leave it at 34 books read this year. Not quite as good as the 68 last year, but not too shabby since I hardly read at all over the summer. I think I’ll aim for 50 next year and see how it goes…
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Review: J.K. Rowling – Harry Potter & The Chamber of Secrets
I was always under the impression that this was my least favourite of all the books, but I think it’s actually the film which I disliked, because the book was excellent. I think I must have seen the film about 15 times with all the times it’s been shown on TV at Christmas, so I think it’s overwatching that’s made me not like it.First of all, I just want to say how awesome the cover is for this book, very sinisterly red.
This book is the first introduction we get to Dobby, the adorably cute House Elf, although not so adorably cute in his actions in this book, trying to prevent Harry from returning to Hogwarts with some non-conventional methods. In his own words: “Dobby wants to save Harry Potter’s life! Better sent home, grievously injured, than remain here, sir! Dobby only wanted Harry Potter hurt enough to be sent home!”
I also enjoyed the first appearance of Hermione’s ‘bad side’, trying to persuade Harry and Ron to brew the Polyjuice potion with stolen ingredients even though Ron and Harry both think it’s a bad idea. And maybe after the effects of her particular mug of ‘Millicent Bullstrode’, Ron and Harry had a point…
I couldn’t help but read Moaning Myrtle’s part of the book with the voice from the film, just like when I read Lord of The Rings and couldn’t help but read Gollum with the film voice. I do remember the first time I watched The Chamber of Secrets and being surprised that they managed to get the voice so perfect for the part!
By far my favourite quote of the book comes from the Albus Dumbledore when Harry asks him why the sorting hat didn’t put him into Slytherin when that was what the hat initially suggested.
It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.
Prisoner of Azkaban up next, I wonder how far I can get by new year…
Louise Douglas
(I've got no) Shelf Control…
Louise Douglas 