This is a new blog dedicated to a fitness and well being project over the next few years. Let me start by telling you how my ideas started and how I ended up with London to Rio.

 I loved watching the Olympics this year, it was inspiring. Our country does seem to respond well when it comes down to the important stuff. On home ground with a home crowd our Team GB did an amazing job which made the whole country feel proud.

 There was something that started me thinking while watching all those fit bodies and the dedication and focus that they had in order to train to be the best. I realised that I have never been really fit. Yes, i have been fitter than I am now,  but never really fit.

 

 Now don't assume for one moment that I have ideas above my station and intend to enter for the Olympics in Rio or anything. Never fear.  I have only just started taking responsibility for my own body. I am ashamed to say that I am not in an ideal starting place for fitness. I am 47, I am overweight, I have Lupus, fibromyalgia and Antiphospholipid Syndrome. This is not the best place to begin, I do realise that. But what could I do? How fit could I get?  I just started wondering where I would be in four years time in terms of health and fitness. I thought back over all the Olympics I remember and realised that four years passes in a blink of an eye and that if I did not take this opportunity to get a grip by the time the next Olympics come around in 2016 I would be over 50, overweight, with blah de blah syndromes.

 I talk to people every day with problems and it constantly brings home the basics to me - without health, we have nothing. Once we pass 40 we are finding that bits are starting to drop off gradually. Our bodies which we have (possibly - not all of us I agree) abused and disregarded and assumed it would just do its job, is no longer bouncing back with such efficiency. We are starting to make regular trips to the doctor for something or other.

 

 

We are not feeling our best and yet we continue to lead our lives in the same way and do very little about taking responsibility for the food we put into our bodies and the amount of activity we do. We go from our computers to our cars to the television and we assume that our bodies are doing OK until we find another bit has fallen off. I am of course stating the worst case scenario. I know we all make an effort sometimes and go for the odd walk or join a gym for a while, or try and go to a zumba class, or swimming. But can we stick to anything properly? It seems to be a common theme among human kind that we find it very difficult to actually keep going at anything so that we reach a certain level of fitness.

 I would like to make changes to myself and I will keep a journal of how I progress. In the meantime, although I obviously don't have the energy to drag anyone else along I would like to inspire and encourage. The first group meeting will be on the 14th September 2012 and I have decided to hold a meeting every other month. This is not to chivvy others along and compare notes and see how others are doing. It is purely with the aim of helping people keep focus by marking time and introducing new and different activities that may encourage people to get a more active lifestyle. It is not for me to treat it like a patronising club where we are all asked individually how much we have done and if not why not. That is not what this is about. This is to encourage, inspire, support, and examine in ourselves how we can take more responsibility for our own health. I am organising group walks, wild swimming, cycling. It is fine if I end up doing it on my own, I don't mind! But I am giving people the opportunity to explore if they want to, in the company of other like-minded folk. This blog therefore will record my personal efforts as well as recording how the group progresses and what happens with other people within the group.

 

I may explore different aspects of my illnesses, I'll try not to be a bore about these! I have become convinced that the greatest weapon against all of them is exercise.