On the bench

'You're so clumsy' is a phrase I hear on a regular basis. Pretty much every time I bang into a table corner, off a door frame,  drop a mug, trip over my own bag, accidentally steam burn my own face with a pitta bread (yes, that actually happened). The list goes on.

But you see, I don't agree.  I know I bruise myself all the time but that's cause my own spacial awareness is... um... well, crap. My co-ordination, however, is actually pretty good. Or so I though. Until last night.

There I was, gung ho, right back into the exercise routine, working up a sweat at circuits. It was about 35 minutes into the class and I was doing step ups on a big tyre. A big slippy tyre. My left foot slipped and I went over on my left ankle. My full weight. Oh dear god. I thought I was going to be sick because of the pain.

It took a good five minutes before I could straighten up my knee above my ankle. During this time the guy who runs the class was with me asking if there was anyone that could come and get my car. Ummm, no! There is no one. The closest person is probably my dad who lives 50 miles away. Mingled in the the pain were now feelings of being totally pathetic and alone. Finally I was able to walk on it and I managed to drive myself to the minor injuries unit at the hospital (luckily only about a mile away).

By this time the swelling had started. It got checked over and an x-ray. I was crapping myself. Please don't be a fracture, was all I could think. Thank god. I got the all clear. No fractures. Phew. However, today it has totally swollen up. It looks like I've stuck a tennis ball to the side of it. I've been icing it and elevating it all day without much change. Hmmmm.

I don't have time for this.Flamin Nora. I need to be able to exercise. And now! I've got holiday lard to get shifting. I did some tricep dips, sit ups and leg raises tonight which is better than nothing but it's not exactly the workout I need. So annoying. I'll give it until Monday and then I'm going to the gym no matter what. Even if I can't do much leg stuff I can at least get a decent upper body workout.

I've really tried to watch what I've eaten today but when you are sitting about it's so much easier to want to pop something in your mouth.  Exercise is good for two things, it burns calories (and builds muscle) but it also distracts you from eating!

The silver lining from all this is that I'm treating this as a bit of a dry run. A dry run for what? Well, I may be only 31 years of age but my dear people, I am getting my bunions done. Yes, you may call me Granny Love Cat from now on. They've been getting increasingly sorer and they are only going to get worse and so I've decided I might as well get them done sooner rather than later. The plan is to get them done in early January.

This is one of the reasons I want to get cracking with losing as much at possible. The operation means that I'm going 'off my feet' (I hate that phrase) for six week. That's six weeks of not being able to go to the gym. Six weeks of time spent sitting on my backside. Six weeks of being tempted by food as I'm not able to distract myself with activity.

I've got a plan of action involving tailored exercises at home and some personal trainer input which I'm planning to put in place but more on that another day. Right now, it's time to deal with the current problem with another round of icing. No, not butter icing.