#i8this - Spring Clean Living

This is an idea that came to me from a friend Donna (@donna_de) after a discussion about my poor eating habits and a suggestion from a male runner friend of mine who advised me that I needed to loose two stones... He meant it in the best possible way; he has great aspirations for my running that I don't share. I'd be happy to finish a 5k race with a 25:xx time, he wants me to look at 23:00mins... Loosing two stone would get me there (so he says). Honestly though I do wish I was a little lighter a stone maybe, but realistically I am NOT overweight. I think I need to be clear that I do recognise that, what I should be working on is my body fat %, I know its high, I can clearly see it high, so I guess my goals here should feed into that. 

To give credit where credit is due this idea (the #i8this hastag on Twitter) was started by Christine Lynch (@holisticguru). I don't claim to know Christine, but I have enjoyed reading through her blog and she is someone I would like to get to know through this challenge. 

Generally, my diet is not horrendously bad; I'm a vegetarian, although I do eat fish, I get my five a day, I don't drink coffee or smoke and I am teetotal. My only vice is my high sugar intake and that is all in the form of sugary treats -I don't even add sugar to my tea! I expect reducing this will have a significant impact on my body fat. I really want two things from this; my objectives are to a) make it achievable & b) make it beneficial, on that note here are my goals... 

My Goals - 7 days

• Drink at least 2l of water per day - I often forget to drink and I am used to being dehydrated. As an athlete (I used that term loosely) this is not a good thing, I've been on short runs recently as part of my recovery and the first thing I noticed is that 5 steps out of my door I was dying of thirst! Had I been drinking enough through the day, this wouldn't have been a problem and I need to find a way to make it a habit...
• Cut out crisps and chocolates - This is gonna hurt - I've been living on crisps and chocs the last few weeks. Missing my endorphin rush from running, chocolate has been my substitute.
• Add in the right stuff - I do get my five a day most days, I eat 50g of raisins as a snack which is two, then there's my usual pink apples, clementines and a banana for breakfast. And I haven't started on the veg as I miss a 'full' portion some days. What I will do is plan to have at least one meal a day including leafy greens in addition to my fruit fetish!

In addition I will keep a food diary; I have a great app on my iPhone already for this (DailyBurn), which I have been using. And I may even dip my toe in the pool of mediation... Wish me luck and if you're not already following me on Twitter please do: @LilMsSweets I'll be tweeting with everyone else throughout this challenge!