My fitness history and split personality
So, I'm starting this diary with a bit of reflection on how I got here. Nearly 60 - that's at least 3/4 of the way through my life, and I still haven't cracked managing my own mind and body. Why not?
My fitness history has been up and down like the proverbial tart's knickers. This is partly because I have a fitness split personality. Personality A gets up early, goes to art exhibitions and juices, while Personality B slobs on the sofa watching Poirot and saying 'yes' to the question 'Another Prosecco?'.
They're two extremes - and I alternate between the two throughout the year, with Christmas being the major tipping point at which I normally start turning from A to B. During spring and autumn, I cycle between A and B, in summer, A gets the upper hand, sometimes keeping it until the Quality Street assortments are back in the shops.
I suspect a lot of women are like this. After all, these are the two types of women portrayed in the media - the Madonna and whore of fitness. For every smug quinoa no gluten protein bar out there on the shelves, there's a stupid birthday card saying 'You can never have too much chocolate, shoes or Prosecco.'
Personality B wishes I could just relax into being 60. Give it all up. Stop having expectations of myself, get as fat as I like, and don't imagine I am going to write a great novel in the autumn of my life. Don't beat yourself up, she says. Just enjoy life, she says. Take each day as it comes.
But Personality A is not having any of it. 'What was your good education for, lazybones? Look at Carole Middleton - she's older than you! And Prosecco isn't all fun and bubbles. It's full of sugar, and it makes you sleep badly and get depressed.'
I've been cycling between these two ladies for a long time. There's got to be a happy medium. I just need to find it.
My fitness history has been up and down like the proverbial tart's knickers. This is partly because I have a fitness split personality. Personality A gets up early, goes to art exhibitions and juices, while Personality B slobs on the sofa watching Poirot and saying 'yes' to the question 'Another Prosecco?'.
They're two extremes - and I alternate between the two throughout the year, with Christmas being the major tipping point at which I normally start turning from A to B. During spring and autumn, I cycle between A and B, in summer, A gets the upper hand, sometimes keeping it until the Quality Street assortments are back in the shops.
I suspect a lot of women are like this. After all, these are the two types of women portrayed in the media - the Madonna and whore of fitness. For every smug quinoa no gluten protein bar out there on the shelves, there's a stupid birthday card saying 'You can never have too much chocolate, shoes or Prosecco.'
Personality B wishes I could just relax into being 60. Give it all up. Stop having expectations of myself, get as fat as I like, and don't imagine I am going to write a great novel in the autumn of my life. Don't beat yourself up, she says. Just enjoy life, she says. Take each day as it comes.
But Personality A is not having any of it. 'What was your good education for, lazybones? Look at Carole Middleton - she's older than you! And Prosecco isn't all fun and bubbles. It's full of sugar, and it makes you sleep badly and get depressed.'
I've been cycling between these two ladies for a long time. There's got to be a happy medium. I just need to find it.
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