5 Weeks and Counting

It’s been five weeks since I joined the gym and have been going four or five times per week. I think I’m starting to improve on my fitness but it’s hard to say. I thought I would be making big improvements by now but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

I’ve started pushing myself a bit more in the hope that I will see more of a difference in my fitness levels. Of course, I would love to lose weight but it doesn’t look like that will happen if I don’t make serious changes to my diet.

For the moment I’m happy to keep up the exercise and see how things go.

Gym Works Again

I went to the gym last night and the result was a good nights sleep. I was tired and in bed by midnight. I’m sure I was asleep by 12:30am.

I woke up at 7am and didn’t feel like I needed to sleep for another 3 hours, as I normally do. I started work early and then took a break to watch Days of Our Lives and The Bold and the Beautiful which is on at 8:50 every morning. I don’t know why it’s on so early but I always watch it while having breakfast.

It’s time to get back to work now. I have lots of writing to do – lots of blog posts.

France is a Shit Country

I’ve been living in France for over a year and in Paris for more than six months. I used to live in London and couldn’t stand it, mainly due to the crappy weather. I always thought Paris had better weather than London but now I know that’s not really the case. I suppose it is marginally better. London is much gloomier; it’s very grey most of the time but Paris isn’t particularly sunny either. It tends to be sunny for a while and then it’ll rain in the evening. It rains a LOT in Paris. All year round. Where I come from it only rains in winter so this is a bit difficult to adjust to.

The other big negative about France is the beauracracy but not only that but the general way things work. For example, my husband can’t get a health card even though he’s working and paying tax and he is entitled to it. The reason? He doesn’t have a birth certificate. He has a naturalisation certificate which as far as I know replaces his birth certificate but that’s not acceptable. He has to prove that he is a British citizen to show that he is entitled to health care here so they need his birth certificate. But he wasn’t born in the UK. He has his passport and naturalisation certificate but that’s not enough!

Seeing my husband can’t get the carte vitale (health care card) neither can I. So we’re both without any kind of health insurance. I’ve been without insurance for more than six months but I’m not at all happy about it and don’t feel particularly safe. It’s quite a big financial risk. If I did something silly like broke my arm then I could be looking at 1000 of euros in costs.
Another example of how useless this place is, I went to the bank last week to get a bank cheque and they couldn’t give one to me. Not without an appointment. That appointment is in 10 days time. I need the cheque now! How can they do business like that? Where I come from you walk into the bank, give them cash or your account number and they print out a cheque. Takes less than 5 minutes. But here in crappy France you need a 1 hour appointment in 10 days time.

The longer I stay in this country the more I want to leave. I can’t imagine staying much longer. What’s the point? I’m not enjoying being here. I’m not travelling much. I’m not going to museums or nice restaurants. What do I get from living here rather than some other crappy country?

Marginally Better

I’m feeling a little better today after a reasonable nights sleep. I did wake up a few times during the night – I was very cold then very hot – but woke a feeling fairly refreshed. I think another 24 hours and I’ll be fine.

At least I’m feeling up to working today. I’ve been working on a project for someone else for the last couple of weeks so have let me blogs and websites go a little.  I’ve got to get back to writing. My goal is to write at least 3000 words per day. It shouldn’t be that hard but I often find I lose a lot of time researching what I wan’t to write about. It’s not that I don’t know what I’m talking about I just want to get as many facts or viewpoints as possible to be sure I write an informed post. I might try to do that less and go more with my instincts from now on.

My other goal is to go to the gym at least 4 times a week. To achieve that goal I really should go tonight but I don’t know that I’ll be up to it. I’m not sure it’s a good idea to exercise vigorously while still a little sick. I guess I have a few hours to decide.

Another Tough Night

I had another night of little sleep. I’m still sick and am having trouble breathing. I’m aching all over. All my joints are killing me. I hurt my knee a few years ago and it is still sore now, after all that time. It’s been especially bad since joining the gym a few weeks ago and now that I’m sick it’s killing me.

I hope I’ll get better soon. I haven’t done anything this weekend so it’s been quite a waste. I went out to dinner Friday night but since then I haven’t even left the house.

I went to the gym 4 times last week – Monday thru Thursday – and I want to continue going at least that often on a regular basis. I’m working out quite hard so I really want to start seeing some results. My plan is to go four times during the week and then at least once on the weekend. I think it would be good for me to swim twice a week so maybe I’ll do that once during the week and once of the weekend.

I haven’t done much work since Friday so I’ll have to get back into that too. Lots of blog posts are in order I think.

Exercise Helps You Sleep Better

I joined the gym 3 weeks ago have already seen an improvement in the quality of my sleep. I am going most evenings and am pretty tired by the time I get home, around 10pm. I’m still staying up fairly late but am falling asleep pretty much straight away. I definitely recommend exercising as a way to beat insomnia.

I didn’t sleep much last night though. I have a cold and can’t breathe properly. I got up three or four times during the night and I really don’t feel well. I stayed in bed most of the day and now, at 10:30pm, don’t feel sleepy at all. I hope I’ll be able to get to sleep later.

I’ve been going to the gym 5 times a week. I got straight after work and it takes me 30-40 minutes to walk there. I could get the metro but that seems to defeat the purpose of going out to exercise.

Once at the gym I spend around an hour doing cardio. They have a lot of machines there which is good for me because I tend to get bored easily. I don’t use the treadmill having already walked to the gym but I like the eliptical machine and the rowing machine. There are two other machines which I haven’t used before, one is a kind of running machine similar to the eliptical trainer but much harder and the other is kind of like skiing. They are both pretty tough.

After an hour of cario I do a few weights and some abdominal exercises. I’m also swimming once or twice a week but the small pool makes it difficult and not particularly enjoyable.

I then walk home and collapse from exhaustion. It is hard work and I don’t yet feel fitter and I haven’t lost any weight but I’m sure that will come with time. At least I am sleeping better.

Exercise To Sleep Better

I joined the gym a week ago and have already noticed a significant improvement in my sleep. I’m finding it easier to get to sleep and to stay asleep. I do have to be careful about when I exercise though because if I exercise late I find that I can’t relax when I’m in bed. My feet and lower legs seem to tingle and I can’t get comfortable. Otherwise the exercise is working well as a sleep aid.

Last night was particularly good. I swam yesterday for about an hour or so and then spent time in a hammam (steam room). I love swimming and even though I pushed myself to swim quite hard I still found it relaxing. I much prefer swimming than using the cardio machines but I’ll try to do a bit of both. I’m yet to try the aerobics as I’m not very comfortable exercising in front of other people. The aerobics room is open and everyone using the cardio machines and the weights can watch the aerobics class. That’s not very appealing to me, especially when I’m not very fit. Maybe I’ll try that next month when my fitness has, hopefully, improved.

So for the moment I’ll keep exercising as often as possible, hopefully four or five times a week. I do think that will help me to sleep better and if I can lose a few kilos then that will help too.