 Leonardo DiCaprio, The Wolf Of Wall Street 5*/5 F'ing brilliant. I haven't been to the Cinema since March or April 2013 and this film reminded me why I love the cinema so much - I switched off completely and just enjoyed it. Well done, Leo! 
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 My yum yum lemon drizzle cake My 2013 goal: go from 63.5kg to 60kg (i.e. 140 to 130lbs) I haven't been 60kg since I was 20! This is what happened: I gained 10lbs! With the post Christmas indulgence I hit an annual high of 68.4kg (151 lbs) just after Christmas. The weight gain did not come as a shock - I've been tracking almost weekly using the Fat Creep app and I saw it coming but didn't particularly care. This year, I decided to make the goal SMART and actually set out how I was going to lose the extra weight. Luckily, my husband got me the FitBit for our anniversary and just having the gadget made me realize how sedentary my life was. My two weekly 5km jogs were not enough to counteract my incessant nut scoffing and my passionate love affair with desserts. Because I wanted to start the year at 67.5kg exactly, I started my weight loss regime on 30-Dec. By some stroke of luck my Fit Bit is sending me summaries that exactly match my diet cycle. As always I am not dieting but getting rid of the silly habits that I had started slipping into. So, what changes have I made? 1. WALKING I have committed to at least 10,000 steps a day! I never really considered walking exercise so I didn't do much, I thought it was so low impact and hence not worth the effort. What I have discovered with my FitBit is that I was only walking 3,000 to 5,000 steps a day which is as low-activity as a life gets. Not good enough! 2. JOGGING No change. I am still only doing my two 5km a week. The only difference in 2014 is that I'm doing it at a gym rather than outside - I couldn't take the cold anymore. With a treadmill I can increase the intensity of my jogs much more easily so I am enjoying it. I am currently jogging on Tuesday and Thursdays. 3. WORK OUT IN THE MORNING I always used to jog around midday but I have always known there is an extra benefit to doing it first thing in the morning - it gives your metabolism an all day boost. I decided to stop being lazy and just do it! I'm now up at 6.30 a.m. instead of 7.30 a.m. - it's not a huge change. 4. RESISTANCE TRAINING Two thirty minute sessions a week. I hate resistance training (!) but I can't deny that I do see much better weight loss and maintenance when I do it. To start off with I think two sessions a week is enough. I'm using a DVD to do it. I am currently doing my strength and resistance training on Wednesday and Fridays. 5. PRE-WORKOUT FOOD Research suggests you burn more fat if you have a shot of unsweetened black coffee 30 minutes before you work out. I am using green tea - I don't know if that is as good a substitute. 6. WEEKEND ACTIVITY I have committed to either a swim, a long walk (2 hours) or a gym class once a week at the weekend...finally! 7. FOOD! Weight loss is really just about what you eat; eating less is enough to lose weight even if you do no exercise at all. I am also exercising because I actually want to be fit. I've made the following changes:
What am I missing?
So, at the moment I am not doing anything drastic just what I should be doing anyway taking care of my health.
Five portions of cake completely destroyed week 4/5. What was meant to be an "I am feeling sorry for myself" cake turned out to be a big celebratory cake leading to a portion of cake per day for four days with two portions on the Sunday! Yikes! Of course, weight loss = zero, I should just be happy I didn't gain!
  I read about coursera.org in an edition of Entrepreneur, the only magazine I read religiously and decided to try it out. You can take all the courses for free and for some you can pay to get a certificate if you want it. If you don't want the certificate then you can do the course entirely for free. At first, I wasn't going to pay for the certificate but then I decided that $49 is really not that much to have a record of having done the course so I paid up. Luckily I passed with flying colours which is always worth having on paper. I know a lot of people in Asia are taking advantage of these courses and getting real value. I found the course very useful but I didn't study hard for it. I just watched the videos and hoped I would remember what was relevant to me. I have a super good memory so this technique may not work for everyone. It took me about 6 years of serious graft in high school to master that technique. Anyhow...why don't you take a course too? Check out my certifcates on coursera:  |
By Heather
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Heather Katsonga-Woodward, a massive personal finance fanatic.
** All views expressed are my own and not those of any employer, past or present. ** Please get professional advice before re-arranging your personal finances.