9: Let's get Fizzical

This week has been a "transition week" - as Luke described it. I've certainly enjoyed a couple of lighter training sessions with Mr Bremner, but that doesn't mean I've been slacking. I've still managed to do some exercise at home during the weekday evenings too – so long gone are the days of excuses. Luke has now kindly structured a couple of proper home workouts for me, and I gave Routine 1 a whirl yesterday afternoon. I can honestly say that by the end of it I really knew that I'd been exercising for 50 minutes.

During my scheduled gym sessions Luke has also shown me a whole new set of exercises which, I'm sure, he'll introduced into my workouts fairly soon. This is so we can move my fitness regime to "the next level" apparantly. How I laughed nervously when I was told this. It goes without saying that I was complete pants at these new exercises, that have very manly names like "The wood-chopper" and the "Romanian Deadlift", however I'm sure in time I'll get the hang of them.

The past week has also been very social: design graduate exhibitions; professional networking meet-ups; and just generally catching up friends to say hello, and in one case goodbye. Several people at one of these events, who I'd worked with in the past, didn't recognise me due to my physical transformation. It's also given me the opportunity to reveal to others that my recent weight loss is purely down to regular exercise and dietary changes, and there is nothing else they should be concerned about. The best compliment came from Jen Pearce, who described my facial features as now being "chiseled." I like that – a lot!

Another new piece of equipment has also found its way into my kitchen this week – a SodaStream. I discovered from Luke, in April, that I wasn't drinking nearly enough water to keep my body adequately hydrated. Since then I've tried to consume 2 to 3 Litres (4.2 to 6.5 pints) of water per day. As I have a preference for sparkling mineral water with meals, I became conscious of the amount of bottles I was buying. The SodaStream is a way for me to reduce the amount of packaging and to enable me to carbonate a resource I already have on tap.

One of the biggest delights though is that the plastic bottle, that came with the SodaStream, is BPA-free (Bisphenol A). For those not in the know, BPA is a chemical used in the manufacture of plastics such as drinking bottles and cups. Following concerns about BPA transferring to food and beverages, many states in the US have now made it illegal for cups, bottles and plates to be manufactured using BPA. It's believed that this chemical can effect the brain as well as the prostate glands, and more people are choosing to avoid it. 

So I'm going to raise another glass of sparkling water to toast SodaStream for being ethically correct in so many ways. Cheers!