I have completed all the requirements for the Slimming World Bronze Award as of yesterday. Today I begin the quest for the Silver Award. The Bronze Award required 15 minutes uninterrupted exercise on 3 different days, the Silver Award requires 15 minutes on 6 different days or 30 minutes on 3 different days.
For the Bronze Award I walked, jogged, did hula, step aerobics, rhythm boxing and yoga. For the Silver Award I plan to do the same with the addition of cross-training and cycling. I also intend to take a more quantitative approach to fitness by using a Polar heart rate monitor to measure my fitness and plan my weeks.
My resting pulse rate has reduced from 98 to 85 in 4 weeks of Bronze Award attainment. I would like to see my fitness get better and my recovery time from exercise shorten. I have Pulmonary Hypertension and a small part of my mind is always concerned that I may be pushing my cardiovascular system too hard and wearing a heart rate monitor to see that I always stay in zone and make the most of my exertion would be both an efficient way to exercise and give peace of mind.
Fortunately, with a birthday coming up I can wish for a heart rate monitor in the short term. The idea of getting one came to me when I went for a walk and found myself unable to walk a course I had walked without problems 4 weeks ago. The same course took me 50 minutes instead of the usual 40 minutes the week before. I would expect, given my increased activity for the course to become easier with time and increased frequency so am concerned this doesn’t seem to be the case.
I use to use a Polar heart rate monitor back in 2004/5 and found it quite useful. I wasn’t exercising with the same frequency, intensity and time back then so I think I will get much more use out of a fitness monitor while attaining my Silver, Gold and hopefully Platinum Awards and beyond.
My weight loss has stagnated a little as I remain at 1stone 1 lb loss overall. We remain on the Extra Easy eating plan and with an upcoming birthday are hoping to adjust a week’s syns to allow for birthday cake. We are hoping the restaurants we have booked for my birthday outings will help us stay on plan as we have previewed the menu prior to booking.
Next week’s Slimming World meeting will hopefully see me get my Bronze Certificate and a weight loss that gives me my Club 10 Award, fingers crossed.
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