With Christmas just around the corner is now really the best time for both my heart rate monitor and my elliptical to break down? Argh.

In the last few years since I have been on this journey I have always been able to get through Christmas quite easily by working out extra hard in the week up to and the week after the big day – allowing myself to eat many of the nice treats and high calorie food. I have never gained over the holiday period and one year I even lost 3lbs.

This year I am going to struggle – I have no other actual equipment to use at home, I don’t have a gym membership and there’s several inches of snow out there.

The last few nights I have just been doing an aerobic routine followed by a bit of floor work that I vaguely remember from a few years ago when I last did the DVD, but without my heart rate monitor I don’t know how I am doing.

I know from experience I always work a lot harder when I have my HRM on.

Both are out of warranty now as well so it’s not like they can just be quickly and easily replaced.

What terrible timing