Wednesday Wellbeing Club | 11 August - 24 November | Week 3: Wednesday 1 September 2021

Welcome!

The Wednesday Wellbeing Club is for anyone who, like me, wants to make some lifestyle changes. It will run every week for fifteen weeks until Wednesday 24 November 2021.

I'm aiming to lose 6kg in that time with the intention of improved health benefits and the opportunity to reduce medication. You might have other health goals - being more active, giving up smoking, getting more sleep.

Each week, we'll check progress against the Rule of Fives I set out in the launch post. You can write your own post each week, or you can just leave a comment on each week's post about how things are going for you.

I've taken the idea from the Saturday Savers Club over on the @eddie-earner account where a group of savers come together to support each other every Saturday.

The Rule of Fives

I'm using the Rule of Fives as my framework through the time that the Wednesday Wellbeing Club is running. By the end of the fifteen weeks, I am hoping that these will become habits - things I do anyway, without thinking too much about them.

Here is my Rule of Fives for each week:

• Lose 500g.
• Enjoy 5 x 30 minute sessions of physical activity.
• Eat 5 x 80g portions of fruit and vegetables each day.
• Get 5 nights x 8 hours sleep.
• Spend 5 x 30 minute sessions of connecting or creating.

(You'll find more detail in the launch post and the back story).

Let's Check In

Here's a handy little chart to check progress week by week:

Goal	This Week	Overall
Lose 6k	.5Kg	2.0k
5 x 30 mins activity	❤️	❤️ ❤️ ❤️
5 portions fruit and vegetables	❤️	❤️ ❤️ ❤️
5 nights x 8 hrs sleep	🙂	🙂 🙂 😏
5 creative/connecting sessions	🙂	🙂 🙂 🙂

1. Achieve a more healthy weight

This is working nicely for me ❤️. I lost another 0.5k this week - my weekly target. I'm feeling good, too, rarely hungry and I'm finding I want smaller meals. I ate in restaurants three times this week and I found the meals too much! I must remember to change my choices to things that are a little lighter.

On target 😍

2. Enjoy physical activity

You can check my progress over on the @susie-saver account where I post everyday. There's been a few ups and downs this week: one day @actifit didn't record all my activity (I'm not sure why this happens) and another day the phone didn't charge overnight so I didn't have it with me to record steps. I was away this weekend with two days where there was a lot of driving (about four hours each day) but still, I managed to get in a walk or another activity (dancing at a concert) and three Pilates sessions.

On target 😍

3. Eat well

I managed to keep this going even though I was away from home. I had taken a picnic with me with lots of vegetables. On the Bank Holiday Monday I ate out and there were no vegetables to be seen! I use MyFitnessPal to record food and although one day this week wasn't so great, over the course of the week there was a good nutritional balance.

On target 😍

4. Sleep more

This was all over the show this week. I've done more exercise and was very grumpy and out of sorts on Friday - I definitely wasn't getting enough sleep. Saturday night I was up late having a heart to heart with a family member and sharing a bedroom with a cat who wanted to come in the bedroom and then go out of the bedroom, waking me up each time. He's a friendly little cat who likes to lie on top of you and pats your nose to wake you up when it wants attention. I was awake early needing a lot of tea!

Needs attention! 😏

5. Connect and create

This was good: I met with my sewing group on Thursday for a meal and catch up and was inspired to plan some projects (in a new notebook)! I also sorted out the next stage of my current knitting project and wrote a post for the Needlework Monday community on Hive, reconnecting with friends there. I also planned a First Monday session for the Needlework Monday Community and tested it with one of the members. So, the First Monday of the month I will run an open session at 7pm (UTC+1 for September, then UTC after that) for an hour on discord where sewers, knitters and crocheters can join me for conversation while they make. I've also been to visit family this week.

On target 😍

How's your week been?

Where are you up to in your wellbeing journey? Just starting? On your way? Achieving lots or wondering how to change things? Let us know in the comments.

Showing up is where it starts - everything else follows 🙂

2. Hot Wellbeing Tip

Each week we'll explore an aspect of the Rule of Fives. In previous posts we've talked about setting goals and tracking progress. This week we're going to talk about:

Taking Care: Prevention and Amelioration

Change is an ongoing process and along the way you may find a few problems - taking on extra activities or eating differently can affect your wellbeing in the first few weeks. This week the Hot Wellbeing Tip is going to look at preventing and managing some of the challenges of change.

• Start Slowly and Build Up
  Take time to get into your routine, not everything has to be achieved in the first few weeks. How quickly you are able to build to where you want to be will be different for everyone and will depend on complex inter-related factors like how old you are, how active you are at the start and whether you have any underlying health conditions (eg arthritis).

If you have not been very active, five or ten minutes a day, two or three times a week may be the place to start. If it is more about getting into a regular routine, twenty to thirty minutes several times a week may be the starting place. Check how you feel after trying one or two sessions, and scale up or down from there.

It is better to start with a shorter time and intensity and build from there. Don't worry if it is only five minutes - that's five minutes more! You may find that you have more success with two or three five or ten-minute walks, set out across the day, rather than one thirty-minute walk.

• Get Plenty of Rest and Sleep
  If you are changing your routine, building in two or three sessions a week for two or three weeks, then every other day for another two or three weeks, before building in a run of three consecutive days a week, with rest days in between is a good way to go. Rest days are important to allow time for your body to change.

I get very tired when I increase my physical activity - getting to bed early is a must for me! I also have a sit down for half an hour in the afternoon with a cup of tea, a good audio book and my knitting. We will be looking at sleep in a later Hot Wellness Tip, but for now, keeping a regular bed-time and rising time is a good idea.

• Warm Baths
  Relaxing for ten minutes in a warm bath with a cup of Epsom Salts added can help ease sore muscles and joints. Epsom Salts contain magnesium which is helpful for preventing cramps in muscles. I read that doing this three evenings in a row had maximum benefit. I've never got this far, so if you try it let us know the results in the comments.

I like to have a cup of green tea and listen to classical music while I'm relaxing in a warm bath.

• Gentle Exercise, Soothing and Building Muscles and Joints
  I find that Pilates is a good complement to activities like walking and running. I do two half hour sessions a week, designed for older people, which focus on mobility and balance. I use an online tutor so that I can fit the sessions into my day whenever I want to.

Here's some specialist Pilates videos that I have found useful:
Back pain relief
Painful hips
Painful knees

Let us know if you try any of these suggestions and how you got on. And if you have any go-to top tips for preventing and managing the challenges of making wellbeing changes, tell us in the comments.

As we say about saving in the Saturday Savers Club - start small and start today. I've chosen a Rule of Fives that set out my plan and will help me - but you might have a Rule of One or any number up to Five. The only thing you need to do is to show up, the rest will follow.

I'll be back next week with my check-in. See you then!

EDS for Comments

Each week there'll be an opportunity to win EDS tokens for comments. I like EDS income tokens, they're a great way to build an extra pay-day for yourself each week. You can see the weekly EDS report on the @eddie-earner account.

Last week, we had comments from @slobberchops, @bearmol, @luca1777, @dickturpin, @justclickindiva, @missaj, @stav and @old-guy-photos. They all went into the Wheel of Names for the Wednesday Wellbeing Club.

This week's winner is - @luca1777 - twice! - check your wallet!

^{Wednesday Wellbeing Club
Back Story
Launch and the Role of Setting Goals
Week 1 - Setting SMART Goals
Week 2 - Walking is Good, Brisk Walking is Better}

^{Saturday Savers Club
I run a savings club every Saturday over on the @eddie-earner account. We're aiming to save £670 ($800) by the end of the year using the 365 day savings challenge. You can join any time of the year and set your own goals and plans (some people are saving Hive, others Bitcoin, some their local currency). We share savings tips and there's a free giveaway every week.}

^{Three things newbies should do in their first week and, for most things, forever afterwards!}