Things that have surprised me in the last 8 months...

Lots of things have surprised me in the last 8 months or so. I thought I'd share my top 10 surprises with you:

1) How my fitness has an impact on lots of every day things. Tonight we got our Christmas decs out of the roof. Carrying them down the stairs was a doddle this year. Moving Imogen's massive wooden toy box (full of toys) to make way for the tree was also not a problem.

2) I now run up the stairs at home without thinking about it.

3) I walk to the corner shop without thinking about it.

4) I am quite stubborn and have more resolve than I ever thought. The fact I can get through hard intensive workouts (for me!) and I don't quit, I don't cheat and I want to improve all the time is something I never thought possible 12 months ago.

5) I am quite vain! I have realised how much value I actually hold in how I look. My legs and arms look better, my stomach is way better, although still not as I want. I seem to check my progress quite a lot.

6) I am quite obsessive about things. I never thought I'd obsess about fitness and nutrition, but I have turned in to a bit of a bore.

7) I am really hard on myself. If things don't go as well as I hope, I really mentally punish myself. I repeatedly mentally beat myself up, I go over what went wrong, why, what should I do differently etc etc.

8) I can make time if I want to. Last year I'd have said I didn't have time to exercise, then it turned in to, I can only do it twice a week. Now it is 4/5 times a week depending on workload. Amazing how you can make time.

9) I can be really judgemental! If I see kids at school eating junk, it really irks me. I want to sit them down and tell them, no, just no! I have become quite pious about it all.

10) I will try new things. Food, I've tried all sorts of things I'd always said I didn't like (fish, strawberries etc) Gym I've tried a heap of things I've never done before, I have a whole new vocabulary: dumbbells, barbells, squats, burpees, TRX, Kettlebells etc I'd never even heard of half of what I do now. I've even tried running for goodness sake. New experiences are challenging but fun.

H x