Red January; an Active Start to 2020

This year I’ve decided to sign up to Red January, which means every day I’ll have to be active for (atleast) 15 minutes for 31 days throughout January 2020.

22nd January; Red January

Today I went for a 15 min walk which served as a needed break from my desk.

While on my walk I was able to listen to a podcast on journalling as meditation. I feel like I’m in a good space for self reflection this past week and see that journalling and journalling exercises could be a way for me to do that.

Vee 🙂 x

Red January: Update

I’ve been busy doing my 15 mins (atleast) of activity but not had time to blog about it. Things I’ve been doing:

• Gardening
• 20 min walk
• Stretches
• Exercise bike
• Cleaning the whoooole house

So yeah, it’s been going well and nearly every day I’ve been hitting atleast 10000 steps, which is great. I’m definitely more active that before January and love the fact that Red January has bought moving more to the forefront of my mind.

Vee 🙂 x

Leek & Potato Soup (Slow Cooker Recipe)

I bought 2 leeks from the corner shop for 12p and thought they’d be a good investment. It turned into a great activity for my toddler and a great soup that’ll do us a few meals. Recipe below!

Leek & Potato Soup

• Servings: Serves 4-6
• Time: 3-8 hours
• Difficulty: simple
• Print

Ingredients

• 1 tsp oil
• 1 onion, cubed
• 1 stalk celery, cut lengthwise then chopped
• 4 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks
• 2 leeks, trimmed and cut lengthwise then sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and diced
• 1x 400g tin of butterbeans
• 1L stock
• 2/3 cup unsweetened soya milk
• 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
• 1 tbsp dairy free Flora
• Salt & pepper to taste
• Dried chives and pepper for garnish (Optional)

Special Tools:

• hand blender
• slow cooker

Directions

1. Heat oil in a large pan. When hot add the onion and celery. Cook for about 2 minutes on a medium heat while stirring regularly.
2. Add in the potatoes, leeks and garlic cloves and cook for another 2 minutes.
3. Transfer the mix to the slow cooker. Add in the rest of the ingredients, except for the chives.
4. Cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 6-8 hours
5. Whizz up with a stick blender until smooth
6. Serve and garnish with a bit of chives and pepper, if using

15th January: Red January

Activity Level: low-moderate
Activities: cleaning the kitchen & 20 mins exercise bike
Location: home
15 mins target met?: yes
Fitbit readout: see below

Additional Activities:

• 5 squats (my knees need a rest, so I needed to do less)
• Stretches/yoga
• 20 mins on exercise bike
• Cleaned kitchen
• Walking to and from buses

I’m trying to incorporate 20 minutes of activity instead of the standard 15 minutes. I’m trying to slowly work my way up to 30 minutes and increase my stamina. I’m really close to doing 30 mins at a fast pace. Today atleast 10 minutes were just less than sprinting speed, for me. I’m in no rush to attain anything though, I’m just enjoying the journey 🙂

You can see my last post for the 14th Jan here. Also, my Red January page is here.

14th January: Red January

Activity Level: low-moderate
Activities: cleaning the kitchen & 10 mins exercise bike
Location: home
15 mins target met?: yes
Fitbit readout: see below

Additional Activities:

• 5 squats (my knees need a rest, so I needed to do less)
• Stretches/yoga
• 10 mins on exercise bike (wanted to do more but I’ve got a banging headache)

I’m learning quite a lot about my motivation, thought processes and activity level by taking part in Red January.

• I am less likely to ‘move’ on my ‘in office’ days. This makes it harder to meet the 15 mins of activity
• Working on ‘functional movement’ i.e doing stuff that needs to be done around the house, works really well for me. It means that I complete my tasks as well as moving.
• I can feel my enjoyment for exercise returning along with some stamina.
• I am finding that I can exert myself on the bike more and for longer.
• My food/snacking choices have improved because I want to be properly fuelled for exercise.

You can see my last post for the 14th Jan here. Also, my Red January page is here.

Vee x

Week Roundup & 13th January: Red January

The start of the 3rd week and I’m going in strong. I feel really motivated and I’m enjoying the exercises. I’m finding 15 minutes really manageable and I’m surprised and happy how all the 15 minutes add up.

I’m trying to mix up the activities that I do to give myself variation and to work different parts of my body in different ways.

Week 2 recap:

Last week I did a total of:

• 255 squats
• 20 minutes of gardening
• 15 mins on exercise bike
• Stretches/yoga

13th Jan:

Activity Level: moderate
Activities: cleaning the kitchen, clearing under the stairs & 15 mins exercise bike
Location: home
15 mins target met?: yes
Fitbit readout: see below

Additional Activities:

• Cleaning and tidying up (hoovering, washing up, folding laundry, mopping the floor, cleaning the sides and hob)
• 60 squats
• 15 mins exercise bike

You can see my last post for the 12th Jan here. Also, my Red January page is here.

Vee x

11th & 12th January: Red January

Busy, busy weekend and falling asleep in my son’s room while getting him to sleep meant that I haven’t have much time for stuff. So here’s a post about my weekend Red January.

Pages: 1 2

10th January: Red January

I missed out days 8 & 9 because illness and life. So here I am, starting at day 10. Still ill but trying 🙂

Activity Level: moderate
Activities: gardening, hoovering & tidying
Location: home
15 mins target met?: yes
Fitbit readout: see below

Additional Activities:

1. General cleaning and tidying up (hoovering through, washing up etc)
2. 50 squats
3. At least 20 minutes of gardening
4. Rearranging and tidying LJ’s room

You can see my last post for the 7th Jan here. Also, my Red January page is here.

Vee x

Functional Activity & 7th Jan: Red January

Activity Level: moderate
Activities: squats, moving furniture, tidying
Location: home
15 mins target met?: yes
Fitbit readout: see below

6th Jan: Red January

Activity Level: low
Activities: squats, walking
Location: home, Wattisham airfield
15 mins target met?: No, but longer than 15 mins spent standing and walking outside
Fitbit readout: see below

Today’s Activities:

• General cleaning and tidying up
• 40 squats
• Atleast 2 hours of walking and standing outside for a work event

So even though my readout wasn’t quite what I’d hoped, I know that I spent a really good time out and about, on my feet for over 15 minutes. I was going to go on the exercise bike this evening but fell asleep!

Yesterday’s entry and week review post can be found here.

Hope your January has been good so far and if you’re taking part in Red January then drop me a line in the comments below.

Vee x