Lightbulb moment (thanks to Sue!)

 Husband's had very little pain and can walk perfectly ok, he's sure he can drive with no trouble too, he's got a pair of supportive walking sandals which, although closed in at the front, are roomy and can accommodate his bandaged toes.  So that's good.

Something Sue of A Smaller Life said in a comment yesterday made me stop and think (thanks Sue 👍).  She mentioned that I seem to have been under the weather a lot lately.....thinking about it, it's true, I haven't felt well for ages.  Nothing definite that I could put my finger on and say 'I've got this or that', just a lot of aches and pains (quite a lot of pain recently), stomach upsets, feeling knackered a lot and having no energy with the smallest job wearing me out.  Just a general feeling of - well, not being myself.  I'm aware that my energy levels have plummeted, and I've got aching joints and muscle wastage in my legs - my osteopath Felicity mentioned the muscle wastage, and I can see it for myself.  It's a result of not having done much walking for the past few months, since having the prolapsed disc, hip and knee problems.  Unfortunately, I no longer go to Felicity, she's one of the things (along with my chiropodist) that I've had to give up for cost cutting reasons.

I haven't put on any weight (unlike husband who put on a stone over winter and is struggling to lose it), but neither have I lost any either.  And I do need to.  But it's harder when you get older and have joint and mobility problems - having fallen over a couple of times in the past few months, I do get a bit anxious about falling again, especially on uneven ground (like the fields around us, or the beach).

In the dim and distant past (in my 30s and 40s) I used to go to a gym 3x weekly, my favourite bit of kit there was the treadmill, I'd choose one in front of a window, put headphones on to a music channel and do a hill program (the incline rising and falling throughout the program....we're talking gentle hills though, not mountains!!) for 30 or 45 minutes.  We do have an exercise bike but I find it painful to use, the cycling hurts my hips and leaning slightly forward to hold the handles hurts my back.  So I thought a treadmill would probably be a better idea.....I can start off just walking at a relatively slow speed, and introduce inclines and a higher speed as I gain more strength.  

I looked for a good electric second hand one on the local FB selling pages and found one, at a very reasonable price - the lady who's selling it lives not far away from our caravan.  I've spoken to her on the phone and we've arranged to collect it at the weekend.  I've already changed our meal plans recently to include more veg and fruit, less red meat and less carbs from bread, pastry etc.  Hopefully, the better diet and use of the treadmill will help me (and husband) to lose some weight, build up lost muscle and stamina and start to feel better.

When we're at the caravan, we do tend to eat like we're on holiday - we eat normal healthy home cooked dinners that I've brought from the home freezer, but we also have things like crisps, chocolate biscuits, sometimes homemade cake, and a few cooked breakfasts.  All things that we don't often have at home.  So I'm going to put a stop to that - I won't just not have them at all though, we'll have them as an occasional treat rather than practically every day.

It's a pity really that the things I most like to eat are precisely the things that I shouldn't make a habit of eating.  I could quite happily live on hunks of cheese, crackers, crisps and toast with lashings of butter and pate - not a vegetable in sight.  Even though I quite like a lot of veggies......not to the extent of thinking "ooh, I really fancy a nice bit of broccoli" though.  😂😂