26 Aug 2011
by Tamsinin Fascinating Things, Slightly Insane Tags: 40 Hour Famine, Charity, Fascinating, Starve for Charity
I know that it looks like I am a “start a charity page” addict but, to be fair, I am only as good as my last fundraising attempt and this year has been a little too self-absorbed for my liking.
While I was in the shower an idea came to me. As they do. Ideas always seem to appear when you are either half asleep at 2am and have woken up figuring out the answer to World Peace but forget to write it down and can’t remember it in the morning, when you are on the loo and too embarrassed to scream out, “HOONEEEY GIVE ME A PAPER AND A PEN IMMEDIATELY!!”, or when you are in the shower.
This time I remembered it because I thought, as you do, that it was a stroke of genius. I am going to starve myself for 40 hours, allowing no food to pass my lips from 01 September until 8pm on 02 September and raise money to help people struggling in the grip of a famine in Africa. For 40 hours I’ll get to experience what they have for MONTHS.
What the people of Somalia are experiencing at the moment is beyond horrific. Women are being raped as the try to cross over the border, their children are forced to watch, fathers bury their children as they die from hunger. It is like the scene out of a horror movie and yet, this is happening right this minute.
If you are about to eat a sandwich or drink a cup of tea, pause for a minute and know that what you are holding in your hand is like an unobtainable dream for some of these people.
So, here I am, hat in hand, asking you to take five minutes out of your day to donate to my fundraising event. You honestly don’t need to donate a lot. 10p? SURE! £5? Awesome! Anything you can spare, anything, will make all the difference in the world.
Please help me to make a difference on 01 September.
12 Jan 2011
by Tamsinin Fascinating Things, Get Fit For Charity, Saffa Tags: Charity, Child, Exercise, Get Fit For Charity, Husband, Saffa, School
Photo stolen from The Husband
As you all know I started a Get Fit For Charity theme last year which, sadly, fell by the wayside as the month in South Africa, illness and work overload put it to the side. I’m not very good at exercising and dieting when I’m tired and under pressure so I failed to raise a cent for LearnAsOne.
However, a few months ago I had an extraordinary experience that defined 2010 for me – a woman working for a company I used to work for, contacted me via Facebook and told me that the aforementioned company owed me money. This was due to some law that was passed in SA and I ended up with an unexpected windfall of R24,000. A lot of money!
I swore that a portion of this money was to go to a charity. But I didn’t want to just donate to an organisation, I wanted to see my money actively change a life. So, I gave the money to The Husband as he was venturing back to Zambia and to the LearnAsOne project, and I asked him to give it to the school.
After buying some shoes for the kids, he also ended up donating the remaining money towards building and maintaining a nursery on the land. I honestly could not have asked for a more amazing investment. What an utter honour and privilege to be able to change young lives. It is incredible.
You can read the whole story on The Husbands blog, he reveals the ins and outs of the nursery and how it came about.
If you would like to help me keep this nursery going and these children educated, then please do donate to LearnAsOne. It doesn’t matter how much you donate, it really doesnn’t. Every teeny bit helps. The nursery is a part of the school project so any money donated will ensure that these kids keep on learning.
30 Nov 2010
by Tamsinin Get Fit For Charity, Review Tags: Charity, Exercise, Fascinating, Fat, Free, Get Fit For Charity
- Image from: http://www.brmemc.com/
I electrocuted my stomach and I liked it. Wahooo!!!
But first, before I reveal all, a word from our sponsor…
“Oooh, it has been AGES since my last post. The utter madness of my approaching holiday is sucking up every last minute. And, to be fair, I did fall over and play endless Peggle on the weekend because I was a big lazy git. HA! Sorry, please come back. I love you.”
So, what am I wittering on about today. Well it is actually a review of a product I was sent about a month ago. A Slendertone Abs Kit.
Now, let me tell you, I was sceptical. I’ve always wanted one of these but I’ve also always been very wary of their claims. If I have a load of fat wibbling about on my belly then there is no way that flexing the muscles is going to strip that fat away.
This time, because I am on the Get Fit for Charity Challenge (back in full swing there, mates!) I have been eating six times a day, on a strict calorie regime, and exercising every morning at around 6am. It was obvious that I would lose weight on my belly whether I used the Slendertone or not, so I decided to do a controlled test.
For two weeks I ate the same food and did the same exercise, the only difference was that for one week I did sit-ups and for the other week I used the ab buster. The first week was the sit-ups. 90 sit-ups spread over three different positions with varigated holding times. By the end of that week I’d lost 1.5 inches on my waist at the thinnest part, and .5 inches on the fatty bit just above the hips.
In the second week I used the Slendertone. After two days I realised I was doing it wrong and had to start again. I wasn’t really pushing it to the limits. Once I pushed it to really zap me, a sensation that I have come to REALLY enjoy, I was actually stiff the next day. Genuinely stiff.
This took me by surprise. For nearly 40 years I thought these were gimmicks, and yet I was feeling more burn after using the Slendertone that I did when I was doing sit-ups. I did this every day with two rest days, over a period of seven days. Exactly the same schedule as the abs in my usual routine.
So…want to know the results? I lost two inches on my waist at the narrowest part and .5 inches on the fatty bit just above the hips.
It appears that the Slendertone works just as well as standard ab exercises and has measurable results with a controlled diet and exercise regime. I can’t say that it would compete with, say, a workout like Shaun P.’s Insanity, but for anyone looking to tone their abs while watching CSI, this is great.
The entire system really appeals to me. I love running and gymming and all those things, I do. But after a day of running around with school stuff, work stuff, house stuff, admin stuff, blah blah blah, it IS nice to flop on the sofa, plop on the Slendertones and get exercised while doing NOTHING.
I just have to add, though, putting them pads on your bare flesh? COLD! Is very COLD. I pull that face you get when you are about to get in cold water or do something you know you have to, but don’t wanna.
So yes, I electrocuted my stomach and I liked it. Yeah, baby, yeah.
03 Nov 2010
by Tamsinin Get Fit For Charity Tags: Charity, Exercise, Fat, Get Fit For Charity
The Get Fit For Charity challenge I set myself met with something of a snafoo over the Half Term Tour. After three days of having to rush into kitchens to prepare meal number 4 or 6, I was distressing my hosts so much I gave up. Also, you try and get low fat, calorie controlled food on the road – impossible!
So I was very afraid of today’s measurements. Even though I continued the workouts and really pushed myself, the food was high in calories and likely outweighed the exercise. As I thought, the measurements were not as drastically reduced as they were a week and a half ago. If nothing else it has inspired me to work harder!
Total inch loss as of last measurements: 5.7 inches lost in week 1
AND here are today’s measurements…They are a bit late but I am hoping all parents get the post half-term madness.
Neck: 13.4 inches (gained!)
Chest: 34 inches (lost one inch)
Widest part of hips: 37 inches (lost .5 inches)
Waist: 27.5 inches (lost .5 inches)
Thighs: 21.5 inches (lost .5 inches)
Biceps: 10.5 inches (lost .5 inches)
Weight: 10st 2.5 (er, negligible weight loss here I’m afraid)
So the total loss of inches is nowhere near the LOVELY 5.7 lost in the first week! However, it is a fairly respectable 3 inches in total lost, but .4 inches gained on my neck. Not sure what THAT’s about so have notified Evil Trainer to see if she has words of wisdom.
I mean – my NECK? Really?
20 Oct 2010
by Tamsinin Get Fit For Charity Tags: Charity, Exercise, Fat, Get Fit For Charity
It has been a week. A week! I can’t believe it either. Today is Day 7 and it is a No Exercise day so muscles can rest and get all strong, ready for more torture tomorrow. I spent most of yesterday faintly terrified that I hadn’t lost any inches at all and that my Get Fit For Charity plan was going to be an epic failure.
WELL. Here are the measurements of today, one week into the 12 week programme. But first, a reminder of what the measurements originally were:
Neck: 14 inches
Chest: 35.5 inches
Widest part of hips: 39 inches
Waist: 30 inches
Thighs: 22.7 inches
Biceps: 11 inches
Weight: 10st 8.5
And here those measurements are today:
Neck: 13 inches
Chest: 35 inches
Widest part of hips: 37.5 inches (!!!)
Waist: 28 inches
Thighs: 22 inches
Biceps: 11 inches (no change there!)
Weight: 10st 2.75
WOW! How is THAT for spurring me on??? That’s one inch off my neck, one and a half inches off my hips (WAHOO), and a TWO inches off my waist. GASP! I shall demand that The Husband take photographs tonight so you can see the difference. Although I doubt it will be obvious with only a couple of inches here and there…
18 Oct 2010
by Tamsinin Get Fit For Charity Tags: Charity, Exercise, Fat, School
It is Day Five of my Get Fit For Charity mission and I wish I could say I couldn’t feel my legs. Because I can. I really, really can.
They hurt. When I stand up I walk in this stiff-legged rocking motion – I sort of fall gently from one unbending leg to the next – and have been found by The Husband rocking against the wall because I was too afraid to bend my knees in order to escape.
The Evil Trainer is not nice. She laughs at me. She spends a good portion of her time on texts and Skype crying with laughter as I wheeze, groan and cough my way through another day.
Even when I told her that last night I had to, once again, go down the stairs on my bum because I couldn’t bend my legs, all I got were giggles.
I don’t think that’s very motivational, do you?
I am also eating a VERY strict diet. This is six times a day, set calories per meal, MUST use scales, food. I am not used to this. On my first day I asked the Evil Trainer how she could expect me to eat only a teaspoon of yoghurt as Meal 2. Again with the laughing. THEN she explained about how the measurements she gave me were per gram, not per 100g. It all made sense after that.
I had visions of eating 1 asparagus, 1 egg, 1 tsp of yoghurt, 1 banana all day.
While that isn’t the case (thank the great Eating Deity) all I want is fudge, chocolate cake, and delicious chocolate croissants. I actually dream of them now. I am drooling on my keyboard as I write. FUDGE! CHOCOLATE! I want to bathe in you! Come to me!
Meanwhile, back in Reality Bay, The Husband and Squidge have eaten the following items in front of me since I started: fish and chips (my FIRST NIGHT), pain au chocolat, doughnuts, pizza, cake and pasta dripping with cheese.
Sods.
14 Oct 2010
by Tamsinin Get Fit For Charity Tags: Charity, Child, Exercise, Husband, Squidge
Today was the beginning of the Get Fit For Charity Challenge and I was up at 6am to start exercising. I can’t tell you how HUNGRY I am right now!
To start with things didn’t work out too smoothly. Squidge got up with me as she heard me coming downstairs, so it was a workout peppered with, “Mommy, I’m hungry” and “Mommy, please come with me to the loo”.
Needless to say, I persevered and did all the exercises I was supposed to do. Although, I had misunderstood what The Evil Trainer had told me to do and did a set number of reps per set instead of just doing as many as I could manage up until that point. SO there is every chance that I may not be able to use my arms tomorrow. Just so you know…
AND here are the pictures. The starting out pictures. I wore tight black leggings and a tight black shirt (shudder) so, in all honesty, I look like a Fat Ninja. Yes, ninjas about the world are all looking on in horror.
I am afraid of putting my bum online. Very afraid. I didn’t use a newspaper because I didn’t have time to get one so I’m hoping you’ll believe me when I assure you that it is me, it was taken today, and that is my ass. I apologise in advance if they make you want to wash your eyes out with salty water. I would also like to thank The Husband for taking the photos for me!
Note: Putting the photos together made me depressed. Bad, bad cake…
P.S. I spent five minutes going, “Is that really my ass? Really? When did it lose the battle with gravity? Why didn’t I get a memo?”
12 Oct 2010
by Tamsinin Get Fit For Charity, The Blob Tags: Charity, Exercise, Fat, Learn As One, Person
Sponsor me for every inch that I lose, and every cent goes to Learn As One
It is only fitting that, as the mother of a school-going child and wife to a man who wants to save the world, that I would choose Learn as One as my charity of choice. And what am I doing with this charity? I want to make up that last £3k that they’re missing to build a school.
I am asking you to please, please sponsor me for every inch that I lose on an insane, brilliant and utterly awesome fitness programme that my Person has devised for me. I start on Thursday 14 October 2010. EEEK!
If you’re wondering why she is the right one to help me do this just check out her site Six Pack For Girls and be amazed at her transformation. She is scarily focused and I think she will be a terrifying task mistress. I am quaking in my boots. I really, really am.
Currently I look like she did before she started but and I am going to give you my measurements and, once a week for the next 84 days, I am going to post my results. I will also be posting my first photo of fatty me along with a newspaper tomorrow so you can see this isn’t an elaborate hoax!
If you fancy sponsoring me for every inch that I lose, please sponsor me through Just Giving. You can choose any amount that you feel comfortable with – it isn’t about litres of cash but rather anything that will help make a difference.
How you donate is up to you! You can pledge your support below and donate through Just Giving at the end, or just pay per inch. It is up to you!
All those who pledge their support will be announced on the site as a big, huge, fat thank-you from me.
I have no idea how many inches I’m going to lose or what the final result is going to be, but heeeeere’s fatty!
Neck: 14 inches
Chest: 35.5 inches
Widest part of hips: 39 inches (cry)
Waist: 30 inches
Thighs: 22.7 inches
Biceps: 11 inches
Weight: 10st 8.5
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