Slimpod C25K Spring Challenge is off and running today

THIS may sound like a pretty big claim, but here goes: I’m about to tell you the secret of a happier, healthier life. Not only that, I’m launching a special Spring Challenge to show you how easy it is to make a fabulous change that will deliver enormous benefits that will last forever.

You see, I was reading some research in the British Journal of Sports Medicine the other day which really excited me. It said that a brisk walk even once a week is enough to significantly reduce the chances of early death.

Gentle exercise once a week can cut the risk of heart disease and cancer by nearly 20 per cent, the study said.

Now this got me thinking: If a few minutes of gentle exercise can do that, what would 20 minutes of moderate exercise like running do?

And so, with the help of Slimpodder Nickie O’Hara I’m launching my Slimpod C25K Spring Challenge today. As the weather’s improving and the days are getting longer, I want to encourage you to get off your bum and go from being a couch potato to a 5K runner!

It’s nowhere near as daunting as you might think. Nickie is a community run leader for the Couch to 5K campaign (C25K) which is run by the NHS.

She started doing easy, gentle runs about five years ago – and soon became hooked on them. Now she has progressed to serious distance running.

Slimpod C25K Spring Challenge video explains everything

Here’s a video Nickie and I made in which she tells you all about the Slimpod C25K Spring Challenge and how easy it is to take part.

Last year Nickie lost 2st 4lb and ran over 1,000 kilometres (that’s 626 miles). This year her target is to lose another 28lbs and run 1,000K again.

“I’ve been using Slimpods for a few years now and they provide me with focus and a Positive Mental Attitude that helps me focus on my goals,” she says.

“I admit that I had good and bad days – this was important to me because it’s not all a bed of roses out there and you learn from the negatives as well as the positives. I also found my tribe and they came on my journey with me.

“Some came out on training runs with me and pushed me beyond what I thought were my limits, some ran beside me in races to make sure I was giving my absolute best, some applauded me at my slimming club when I lost a few extra pounds, some let me cry on their shoulder when I wasn’t feeling great and it took the full year to achieve everything – literally to the last day!

Nickie will be starting a special thread in Slimpod Club that tells you how you can join the Slimpod C25K Spring Challenge. I think you’ll be amazed at what you can achieve in the first four weeks.

We’ll be using the NHS C25k app. You can download this free from your app store (Apple or Google versions available). And here’s where you can find out more about C25K on the NHS website.

Many Slimpodders know the physical and mental benefits that C25K can bring.

Here’s what Helena Doey posted in Slimpod Club recently: “It was amazing as I met a group of people who were in the same place as me (thinking ‘this will never work, but hey I will give it a go’.)

“You soon realise ‘Actually, I might achieve something here.’ Each week there was improvement and your confidence grew with it.

“The team spirit and friendship and achievement that I have gained with this will stay with me forever. Running has become part of my life, I am still slow but I can do it and more importantly I love it.”

So there you have two really inspiring stories from fellow Slimpodders and I’d really love you to give it a go. I’m going to be part of it too so if you’re up for joining Nickie and myself in the Slimpod C25K Spring Challenge let me know by leaving a comment below.

If you’re a Slimpod Club member, join Nickie on her thread!

You can also join Nickie’s special C25K community on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook by using the hashtag #SlimpodC25K.

There’ll be two other exercise threads in Slimpod Club from Monday so if the Slimpod C25K Spring Challenge doesn’t float your boat why not try them.

Come on, let’s do this!

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Is happiness a number?

THE lady on the phone was adamant when I asked her what would make her happy. “Getting down to 9st 7lbs,” she insisted. It was an interesting answer. But not as interesting as her answer to my next question.

“So if you’d lost two stones, apart from a different number on the scales what would be the evidence that you were happier?”

There was a pause. A long one. “Hmm,” she said. “I don’t know what happiness will look like. It’s been such a long time since I last weighed nine stone that feeling happy is something I’ve forgotten.”

It was time for my killer question. One that always makes people stop and think.

“Tell me Jill,” I said. “In your mind, why is happiness solely attached to the number on the scales?”

She paused again. Then…

“OMG,” she said with obvious delight. ”I’d never looked at it that way before.”

And that’s the problem so many people have.

They cast their minds back to the days when they were happy and trouble-free and assume that if only they could be as slim as they were then, all that happiness would just come flooding back.

It creates huge and unnecessary stress that simply drags them down.  They spend all their time being obsessed about the number they saw on the scales 25 or 30 years ago.

They think that’s the key to their weight loss happiness.

By directly linking smaller size with greater happiness they overlook the fact that the world has changed for all of us.

When we were younger (OMG, I’m sounding like my mother) there were no mobile phones, no laptops and no social media – so we weren’t constantly comparing ourselves with other people and the way they looked and felt.

Today life is super-busy and ultra-stressful. Linking happiness to the scales means life can become an emotional rollercoaster.

That’s why I’ve posted this special video in The Slimpod Channel on YouTube because it’s so important to stop this obsession with the number on the scales and to be able to think carefully about what happiness really means to us.

Instead of doing something that makes us unhappy every day, we need to flip it round completely.

Knowing your destination is important but you must learn to love the journey.

Enjoy the process. Get your weight loss happiness from small daily and weekly steps that are achievable.

That’s where your  Slimpod will be a great help. Feeling good about yourself is the route to self-fulfilment and self-esteem.

Forget the scales. Just be you – a warm and wonderful person, not a number.

Please leave a comment below to tell me what’s going to give you weight loss happiness. I love reading them all – because they make ME happy.

 

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