Swimming In Summer

Swimming is your best friend if you’re looking for a low impact sport.  I started swimming when I was still in preschool because all my siblings were involved in different sporting activities which included swimming so I was bound to join in.

Fitness Bae

 

Some of the reasons why you should swim in summer:

• Swimming beats any form of exercise on a hot summer day.
• You can enjoy swimming on your own or with friends, it’s really up to you.  I like to time my workouts so I usually spend at least 30 minutes doing a few laps and the rest of the 30 minutes just floating about and enjoying the cool water against my skin.
• Best stress buster after running!
• Swimming is gentle on your joints.  After my half marathon a few weeks ago my body has been in all sorts of aches and pains especially my hips and feet.  After my swimming session my joints felt so much better.  I spend way too much pounding my feet on the ground during my road runs.  You should see my feet, my toes, my word my toenails are even falling off!!! Sadly that’s a topic for another day…
• No matter how old you are, you can always go swimming.  I started swimming at age 5 and decades later I’m still at it.  I know I will still be enjoying a few laps of my favorite breast stroke even in my 60s.

 

 

OMG look at those abs!

With my friend Tawanda

Saturday well spent 🙂

You might be reading this and thinking but I don’t know how to swim; fear not, it’s never too late to try something new.  Add swimming to your to-do-list!

What’s your favourite form of exercise, the one you can do for the rest of your life?

Fitness Bae®

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Half Marathon With Bon Marché

I’m going to run my second half marathon to date on Saturday and I’m excited!  Running makes me happy.  Running keeps me sane.  Running is the definitely the next best thing after sex, well; for me anyway!

On our way home yesterday my colleague, Tawanda, asked me what I was going to be up to over the weekend and I leisurely told him I wanted to go for the Bon Marché Walk-A-Robix but the location is too far seeing that I’m not mobile.  It was my lucky day because he was going with his friend Gloria; and she called a few minutes after we had the half marathon conversation.  She was registering for both of them and I begged him to ask her to do the same for me and I’d reimburse her money.  A few minutes later she called to confirm that everything was in order, happy days!

Why I love Bon Marché fitness dos:

1. They’re reasonably priced, $5 gets you a t-shirt or vest and they are good quality too!  I still have my t-shirt from the very first do I attended close to 3 years ago.
2. They’re organised; nothing makes me happy as much as event organisers who keep time.
3. They serve refreshments, no need to worry about packing my own water bottle.
4. It’s a colourful event, it brings a lot of fitness enthusiasts together, just watch this space for the selfies I’m going to take.
5. They’re fitness competitions after the run so you stand a chance to walk away with a cool prize!

After taking another look at the running route I noticed that it’s ending at 18K, well, the overzealous me will run all the way to get to 21k, why stop when I can hit my actual target?

You can register at any of their 8 Bon Marché branches.  However, YOU CAN NOT register on the day.

I hope to see you there.  I know I’ll be there seeing that I’ve already paid for it!

What are you doing this Saturday?

Fitness Bae®

Shout out to Gloria for getting us to to the venue in one piece; she’s the one with the pretty lipstick.

Before the run

After the run with my friend Tawanda

Photo courtesy of Xavier, he’s a member of my Facebook Fitness Community

Fitness Bae

Zumba!

I last got some Zumba workout done close to two months ago.  You can imagine my excitement when I received an email notifying me that Zorro was hosting a free Zumba session! The first thing I did was message my friend Shami to let her know that we were going to be attending this do come rain or shine.  Come Saturday, I was there 30 minutes late and Shami was right on time; shame on me!

We clocked in a good hour of different music genres and danced the morning away.  I was in my zone; dancing makes me happy!

Zorro, Shami, Fitness Bae

The outing would be incomplete without a selfie with Zorro.  He’s really good at his craft.  The event was mainly to support the underprivileged so people came through with donations of any sort including but not limited to money, clothing and groceries.  I donated a few clothes that don’t fit anymore thanks to all this running I do.

Goofing around 🙂

It’s always great to do something different every now and again, even better if your friends can come along.

What fitness fun did you get up to this weekend?

Fitness Bae®

5 Reasons Why I Love Banting

I follow Tata on social media and she has her banting game on lock!  If I didn’t love carbs so much I would have tried out her diet because her plating is too pretty to resist!  Today she shares with me the reasons why she loves banting.

Egg Muffins

Stuffed Squash

Egg Roll

Chia Seed Pudding & Fresh Cream

 

Caulie Hash Browns & Poached Eggs

1. It doesn’t feel too much like a diet, imagine eating all the bacon, cheese and eggs in the world and still loosing weight!
2. I don’t feel bloated as much as I do when I’m on high carb which means no burping all day long anymore, thank the stars!
3. I love it because doubled with intermittent fasting (8pm-12pm) I dont feel like I’m starved and quarter to death anymore.  Hunger doesn’t come rapidly like when your glucose levels go low.  Fat adaption means staying fuller for a longer time.
4. Did i say bacon?
5. For the first time I have found a diet which doesn’t make me want to quit after a few days. I wont lie, its hard walking into the grocery store and not reach for Oreos,chocolate, fizzy drinks and all the scrumptious enemy of progress junk food God created… (sometimes I grab them anyway, I’m human after all). But for some reason I find banting to be sustainable, doable and also fun. I really enjoy making my meals and getting creative, the kitchen is now my favourite place to be in!

A big thank you to Tata for taking time out to share her mouth watering meals; you can find her on:

Instagram: #girlversusketo

YouTube:  THE TATA_TAINMENT

Do you have a food diary?  If yes, which methods of documentation do you use and where do you get your meal inspiration from?

Fitness Bae®

 

 

 

The Life Colour Run

The number 1 reason I’m going to attend this colour run is because it’s in my neighbourhood and I have zero excuses not to show up!  I’m going to register for the 5K run mainly because I did my 21K just last weekend my body needs a break!

See you at the colour run!

Fitness Bae®

Meal Prep For Beginners

I’m still a beginner at meal preparation.  A friend of mine is a professional at this and he has been trying to convince me to start incorporating meal prep into my life and it has taken forever and a day to get me to do it.  Thankfully I’ve started trying it out on the days the need strikes and I can confirm that there are benefits to it after all!

Image from Pinterest

1.Time

Time works for and against you in my opinion.  You will need to actually set aside time to go shopping, get your ingredients together, prepare and store the meals.  You will also need time to clean up after yourself once you are done and writing all this has me tired already!  But fear not!  There are benefits that come with it after all; doing all this means you have more free time during the week as you will only need to reheat meals that are already prepared, serve and enjoy.  I choose to do my meal prep on random Sundays.  A good playlist, glass of wine, comfortable pair of shoes and I’m ready to get my cook on!

2. Money

Eating out is expensive especially in Harare.  A decent meal will cost you about $15 and we’re talking a juicy burger, chips and a drink.  Now just think of how much money you will save if you choose to prepare your very own home cooked meals. Let’s do the Maths shall we?

2kgs Chicken Pieces: $8, Potatoes, $1, Mazoe Orange Crush 2litres, $4, Mixed Greens $1.50

All these ingredients will cost you $14.50 and before you even start thinking you may as well eat out then.  The plus side of buying the ingredients I mentioned is that chicken and juice will probably last you a whole month especially if you stay on your own.(Saving 101).  You will also prepare the meal just the way you like it, why settle for an okay meal when you can make a fire meal?

3. Control

You know exactly what’s going into your meal from salt, oil, sugar or whatever additive you choose to use.  Chances of overeating are also at a minimum because if you are anything like me there’s something about cooking for myself that makes me lose my appetite, two spoonfuls in and I’m already full.

4. Goodbye Indecision

I’m guilty of never knowing what I want to eat.  Thanks to meal prepping most days of the week I’m set and it leaves out chances of me eating unhealthy food options.  *bonus tip* if you don’t want to end up eating junk food simply don’t keep junk food in your house it will change your entire life, trust me!

5. No Wasting Food

Meal prep comes with leftovers.  Just this past weekend I prepared sugar beans and today instead of cracking my head over what to have for breakfast I just grilled a sausage and had it with the remaining sugar beans and it tasted heavenly.  Who needs bread when you have sausage and beans?

Image from Google

My two favourite easy to make meals or snacks are crunchy salads and and infused water.  I mainly like infused water because of the delicious looking colours more than anything if I’m honest and it makes drinking water a lot more exciting.

What are your favourite easy to make meals that you make for your meal preps?

Fitness Bae®

 

Old Mutual Harare Marathon

One of my new year goals is to run at least 3 half marathons this year.  I know, that’s pretty intense considering I only ran my first half marathon just last month.  The idea is to push my body to the limits and this will certainly do so.  I for one am disappointed with the start time because it’s very hot lately and by 6am my body doesn’t do very well with running, I’m more of a just before the sun comes out runner but I guess I’ll have to make a plan!

All the details are on the poster.   You can enter for the Old Mutual Harare Marathon on Friday 9 February or Saturday 10 February at Old Georgians Club in Groombridge.  Payment options include cash, swipe and Ecocash.  Come prepared.

Mark your calendar and save the date, will see you on Sunday!

Fitness Bae®