Wimp

I feel a complete wimp :(

After all my hollering about getting back into the gym this morning I've decided to errr (is this a word?) on the side of caution and have a quiet one instead. Reason?  I had a busy-ish day yesterday as I decided to clean the lounge carpet and by about 6pm I was absolutely exhausted.  I was fit to drop by 9pm and so went to bed and didn't even bother reading.  Think I was asleep by about 9.05pm!

Today sees the first of my late shifts at work, which means working until 11pm.  If I go to the gym this morning I will be tired before heading into work.  All well and good if I were due to finish at a reasonable time.... but I know for a fact that I would be absolutely wiped out and probably not able to do anything much at all for the rest of the week!

So, it's not a case of "I'm never going to the gym", it's a case of "I need to be sensible and go when my body tells me it is ready". 

This morning it doesn't feel ready, but I'm hopeful that as I'm back onto the healthy eating with a vengeance, it will be one morning this week!  I'm very determined now.

Brekkie for both Saturday and Sunday was a scoop of porridge (1.5oz) cooked up with 100ml skimmed milk and 100ml water (after the oats had been soaked).  I then stirred in 60ml of 2% greek yogurt and a chopped peach (which was very ripe and juicy). 

Lunch Saturday was very late so I just had a green monster with 2 babybel light cheeses.

Lunch Sunday was 3 x Jacobs flatbread seeded crackers topped with a small tub of Philly extra light. 

Snacks both days were Nakd bars with a nice cup of Whittards Irish Cream coffee.

Dinner Saturday night was...... a chinese takeaway.  Yikes!  I managed ok though I think.  I love chow mein and I love mushrooms, so I opted for a mushroom chow mein with no side dishes at all.  When it arrived I put it into my dish and it looked HUGE, and I knew that whilst I could eat it all (even if it were in 2 sittings :P ) that the calorie count would be horrendous, and I didn't actually NEED all that food.  So I weighed out 400g of it, a really decent helping, and thoroughly enjoyed every mouthful.

Another sign of just how good I can be when I'm in the right frame of mind.  My usual chinese takeaway is a whole chicken chow mein with half a serving of sweet'n'sour pork and half a serving of rice.  All washed down with a couple of glasses of the white stuff. 

Thing is though, whenever I have that quantity of food I always, but always, end up with a rotten tummy ache.  Yet I always do it again......

Dinner yesterday was a roast pork dinner only for me it was sans roast potatoes.  I had 100g sliced pork with carrot & swede mash and garden peas.  I wish I'd photographed it as it was a riot of colour on my plate, a real traffic light effect!

All in all, food intake is going well, I'm within my calorie allowance so far for the week and I'm managing my 2 litres of water a day.  I'm doing this by ensuring I have a pint glass to hand and making sure I have 4 of them.  It can be hard going but I'm sure it will come easier as time goes on.

Thankyou for your feedback re the duathlon.  I've decided to do the Novice distance which is 2.5k run - 10k bike - 2.5k run.  I will be signing up for it this week as I've been paid (yay!) and am looking forward to it immensely as it is in the New Forest, a beautiful part of the world.

My kitchen is calling me as I have some soup to cook up in readiness for work, so I will leave you with today's Happy Thought - My lounge carpet looks lovely after I gave it the Vanish treatment yesterday!   I was very impressed at how well it worked.

Til next time x

Countdown

Welcome to the weekend blogettes!

I'm feeling more and more in the swing of it again.  I've survived my 3 days of working on reduced hours and am aiming to be back to the full 10 hour shifts as of Monday.

Food has been really good the last couple of days.  Breakfast and lunch were the same both days (yes, I am a creature of habit and when I find something I like.... plus the soup was my own home-made and I made enough for 3 days.)

B: scoop of porridge oats (1.5oz) soaked overnight in 100ml plain natural yogurt & 50ml skimmed milk.  The twist was the sachet of Cadbury's highlights hot chocolate drink I mixed in. Oh my, absolutely gorgeous!  I also added in 20g raisins.  Just before serving I sprinkled on 15g of Whole Earth cocoa crunch cereal.

pictured before the cocoa crunch was added

L: Carrot & coriander soup with 2 x seeded flatbread crackers

Dinner on Thursday was 2 x Morrison's Pork & Caramelised Red Onion Chutney sausages which were baked in the oven for 25 minutes.  I then split them lengthways and had them in a warmed seeded pitta bread with some fried onions and BBQ sauce ketchup.  Very tasty.  I thought I had pictured them but can't find it on my camera :(

Last night's dinner was grilled salmon with some mediterranean style cous cous.  Again, very tasty.  The cous cous was an Asda own but at some point I'm going to have a go at my own.   I then had 2 squares of Lindt chocolate which I weighed out and put into my food diary.  Go me!

This is probably the perfect example of just how good I can be.  Why, oh why, can't I sustain this kind of behaviour.....

Oh yes, and of course my Green Monsters!  A couple of my work colleagues pulled faces as I explained what the ingredients were, but as I told them, don't knock it until you try it!

Calorie count for Thursday was 1540, whilst yesterday was 1591.  Nuff said

Ok, countdown......  I'm on a countdown to EXERCISE! I seriously am ridiculously excited about getting into the gym and EXERCISING again!  I had a 'phone call from a PT at the new gym I've signed up for offering me a taster session and I will be taking him up on that, but as I explained whilst I'm building up my energy levels again it would be a waste of time so we've agreed that he will call me again in a couple of weeks time.  I'm hoping he can work out a good weights programme for me as I've been following the same routine for far too long, although I rather think (nay, I know for sure!) that when I do get back to it oh..... the aches......

Bring it on! 

My new trainers also arrived a while back and they are calling to me.  So, this is what I have lined up for them.

March - 5k Mad March Run
May - 10k Race For Life
June - Duathlon*
November - Swindon 10k

* I've never done a duathlon before and there are 2 distances on offer.  The novice which is 2.5k run - 10k cycle - 2.5k run or the challenge, 5k run - 20k cycle - 5k run.  I don't know which one to do!  I want to do the longer one but I also want to enjoy it (not saying I wouldn't enjoy the challenge but as it's the first one I'm doing I'm not sure how I will manage) .  Also, a friend of mine is doing it as well and she's already signed up for the novice. 

Any thoughts? 

Today's Happy Thought:  I had a really good sleep last night and feel so much better for it

Til next time x

The week that was & the week to come

Gosh, where did THAT week go!  I guess the last couple of days have sped by as I have been back to work.  And even though I'm doing shorter shifts than usual I have been pretty tired. 

I'll cut straight to the nitty-gritty.  Today is official weigh day and I was disappointed to see a half pound difference register on the scale.  Not down.... UP!  I know I had a rubbish weekend foodwise but I really did think I'd done enough to at least have a stay the same (STS).  Still, at the end of the day a half pound is no more than a number 2

What it has done is really made me determined to shift this weight.  The gloves are now well and truly OFF!

So there  

A summary of last week...

Aims for last week:

* log all my food - achieved 5 out of 7 days
* stick to a pound rate of loss - achieved 5 out of 7 days
* drink 2 litres of water a day - didn't keep a close enough eye on that one but mostly achieved I think
* have a green monster every day - achieved 5 out of 7 days
* have a walk out in the fresh air every day -achieved 5 out of 7 days
* to use one of my spare 2011 calendars to plot all my shifts and document an exercise plan, the theory being if it's written down then I'm more likely to do it! - achieved

Non food aims:

* continue to moisturise daily - achieved
* to make a start on my mammoth ironing pile, a little each day should see it cleared by the time I return to work - achieved in 2 hits!

Well, when you see it all written down like that it's actually made me realise that the last week wasn't so bad after all and although the scales are a little up, overall it was a decent week given that I was still not 100%. 

Food has been good the last couple of days......

Yesterday:

Early: green monster (although it was more a very dark purple than green due to the blueberries) when I got into work (I had whizzed it up the night before). 
B: porridge oats that had been soaked in milk and yogurt overnight.  I mixed in some raisins and topped it with 15g of Crunchy Cocoa cereal. 
S: apple
L: home-made carrot & coriander soup with 2 x seeded flatbread crackers
S: Nakd bar
D: chicken breast that I sliced a pouch into and filled it with half a small tub of philly extra light, the remaining half I spread over the top of the chicken breast and then baked it for 35 mins.  Served with roasted sweet potato wedges, roasted carrots and mushrooms



this is the stash of goodies I took into work



brekkie before the crunchy topping got added - a little too much milk!



that's my one on the right just as I popped it in the oven


My gorgeous soup went from this.....

to this.........

January has been an utter write off as far as my health and well-being are concerned, but the chest infection is now a thing of the past and my gym membership is there for me to use, so....

 Aims for the coming week:

* log all my food
* stick to a pound rate of loss 
* drink at least 2 litres of water a day 
* DRINK NO ALCOHOL

Non food aims:

* continue to moisturise daily
* to go to the gym on Monday morning, even if it's just a stroll on a treadmill I need to get back into the swing of it

Lots of small steps all added together over the course of time make for one long journey

Today's Happy Thought: tomorrow's pay day!

Til next time x

Gym & Burgers & Cakes

I just had to share this with you, especially as I'm not sure whether I'm going to post tomorrow.
I only went and did it!  I'm now a fully fledged member of the gym near to where I live!  Wooooo Hooooo!!

I have the choice of a range of cardio equipment ranging from treadmills, x-trainers, rowers and bikes to a great choice of classes including bodypump, aerobics and step (I love love love step!) to a half Olympic sized swimming pool.  Oh I'm in heaven.....

As a shift worker I'm taking advantage of the off-peak membership which is a fair few pennies less than peak time membership, and as I'm on late shifts next week guess who will be easing herself into the gym next week in the mornings?

Food has been pretty tasty today as well!

B: porridge (cooked on the hob for the first time ever, I've always microwaved it before) with chocolate protein powder, blueberries and a dollop of 2% greek yogurt
S: apple
L: smoothie from spinach, blueberries, a pear and 100ml vanilla Dream rice milk
S: choc-orange Nakd bar
D: home-made beefburger with grated cheese topped with a rasher of bacon served into a warmed pitta bread with sweet potato wedges on the side

 That's a cup of Whittard's vanilla flavoured coffee with my porridge

 And no, that isn't an actual pint of Guinness!  I put more bluberries in this one hence the darker colour

Part of my haul from Asda yesterday

My dinner was absolutely amazing, but I have to admit that the cheese was 'lost' by being grated into the mix and I hardly tasted it all so that was, to my mind, a waste of calories!  A good hit of calcium though.  The bacon was just plain extravagant.  We had bacon sandwiches at the weekend and had 2 rashers left over that needed using up.  However....... I am still within a pound rate of loss for my calories on the day

 this is how dinner it started

 onto this

and then this

And finally this!

After all that I was stuffed!  Mr DF offered me the lone chunky choc cookie thingy we still have, but I said 'no thankyou' .   And I'm also not going to have any of the muffins I made today as I am taking them into work tomorrow (it was my birthday way back in November and I never did do the cake run so I figured it was long overdue!)  If there are any left over by the time I leave work tomorrow then I will have it as my afternoon snack.   

Gratuitous food porn pic

This is the recipe I used, it's from the lovely JAG.

I still have to do my carrot & coriander soup, but as I'm planning on that for my lunch tomorrow and I'm finishing work at 1pm I figured I would do it as soon as I get home.  That way it's really nice and fresh.

Guess I'd better sort out my stuff for work now as I would like an early night, so I will bid you all goodnight.

Today's 2nd Happy Thought:  I'm a member of a gym again!  Wooooo hooooo!!

Til next time x

Feeling Fruity

Good morning and welcome to Tuesday everyone.  A special welcome to my new blogettes who found me by way of a post from WLR

Yesterday was a fab day foodwise, everything I ate was de...lish...us!  I had...



this.....



and this....



and this.....



 My day was:

B: porridge as I mentioned yesterday
S: green monster, (spinach, pear, blueberries, greek yogurt and skimmed milk). 
L: apple, clementines x 2
S: Nakd bar and skinny cappucino
D: (unpictured) baked smoked haddock with small amount of boiled new potatoes* and peas
P: 2 x crushed Fox's crunchie cookies in 100g of greek yogurt
Not brilliant but my F&V count, as per WLR, was 7.3 - a definite improvement so yes, I'm feeling fruity

* ok, I know I said yesterday 'no more white potatoes' but Mr DF had them prepared in the pot before I knew what was happening!  I have given him the heads up now that, for a while at least, white potatoes are off the menu for me.

This all means that:

Mood: pretty good
Energy levels: better than I thought
Motivation: on the up

When he got home from work he suggested a walk over to our local Asda, about 15 minutes away.  Despite being completely pooped from yet another day of inactivity, I agreed.  And I'm sooooooooooo glad I did, as I managed a fairly decent pace for the whole walk there and back.  Yay!

Today is the day I'm walking over to the gym I mentioned before and am signing up!  I'm ridiculously excited about that!  I know I won't be able to throw myself into it with quite the oooomph I had anticipated, but it will come in time, I know that.

I'm definitely feeling the flames of desire flickering into life and from that will come the motivation to stay the course.  I know it!

The next few days will be hit and miss when it comes to posting as I am back to work tomorrow although hopefully being on reduced hours will help.  In a peverse kinda way, I'm almost looking forward to going back to work!  Ye gods..... I can't believe I just said that!!

Today's Happy Thought:  When Mr DF & I went into Asda yesterday they had Nakd bars at "buy 2 for £1" - so guess who got a wadge?

Til next time x

Fresh Resolve

I almost added the word 'again' to the title of the post but then thought twice as, to me, it would already be undermining my intentions.

So today is full of Fresh Resolve.  Oh yes indeedy!  Weekends have proven to be really difficult and I need to address that (and I will!) but for now it's going to be a case of one day at a time.  I return to work on Wednesday and have spoken to my boss about this as I am a little anxious about how I will last out for a full 10 hour shift.  She has agreed that for this week I can do reduced hours, so I will be doing a 6 hour shift instead for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.  Ease myself into it gently.

I am really hoping that once I am back to work that my body will react to that and my energy levels will actually go up rather than down.  Sounds odd I know, but I really hope that once I am out there 'doing' rather than slobbing at home with only a short daily walk that I will improve all the more. 

Mood: definitely improving
Energy levels: won't even go there
Motivation: rising

Food today WILL be healthy.  I've just had a bowl of porridge mixed with a scoop of vanilla whey protein, 40g blueberries and 70g 2% greek yogurt.  I added the protein to try to ensure that I stay satisfied for longer.  I will try to keep busy to stop myself wandering into the kitchen as well! 

Another of these gorgeous green monsters is on the menu - see how thick this one was (I had this on Friday), the straw is standing upright in it!  This was spinach, a pear, some blueberries, 2% greek yogurt and a small amount of skimmed milk.

Dinner will be smoked haddock I think with lots of lovely veggies.  And no white potatoes.....

Time to get serious methinks

What is it I wonder that flicks the switch of motivation back into action?  A desire to be slim?  A thought that all your troubles will disappear once you ARE slim?  Maybe you're sick and tired of the sluggish feelings? 

Of course, I think we all know that our troubles will still be with us whether we are 8 stones, 10 stones, 15 stones.....  so for me it's not that one.  No, I think for me it's the latter.  I know from experience how good I feel when I am eating properly and exercising.  I can remember vividly the energy that was flowing from me.  Being out in all weather, sunshine, wind and even rain and feeling alive to have them on my face.  I love the feeling of good food in my tummy, feeling content and full and not bloated and uncomfortable.

Motivation begins deep inside all of us, sometimes we just need a little helping hand to fan the flames of that desire and that is where the success stories comes in for me.  Reading about someone who has done it, who continues to do it.  The stories on WLR, all the blogs I have listed on the right hand side here.  All sources of continuing inspiration to me.  I thank each and every one of you.
 

 

Today's Happy Thought: I think I have quite nice shoulders and am really looking forward to getting them properly into shape in the gym.
Til next time x

ps - this post is dedicated to my lovely friend Stitch.  I hope it helps lovely xx

Bugger it

I didn't think the road would be quite this rocky so early on in my blogging life!  All I've done since Friday evening is eat, eat, eat and then some more.  And not exactly healthy type stuff either so no piccies!

One of my goals of 2011 is to be back at my goal weight by March.  If I'm going to be anywhere near it then I really need to sort myself out and knuckle down.

Being off work sick has been a double edged sword:

* on the one hand I've had lots of time to surf around, find new recipes, start this blog, make my plans

* but on the other hand I've had too much time to wander into the kitchen and nibble on something just because I'm bored and then that has led to a 'sod it' attitude, I'll start over tomorrow

Well tomorrow HAS to happen sooner rather than later otherwise I am going to end up with a lot more than 10 pounds to shift. 

I'm still not able to exercise and I doubt I will be doing cardio for some time to come as just a 20 minute walk to the local supermarket is leaving me short of breath and worn out.  Having said that however, I am hoping that once I am back to work then my body will start to function a bit better than it has been!

I am still going over to the new gym though on Tuesday to sign up as their special offer ends at the end of January and as I will be back to work on Wednesday I want to get it sorted before then.  Even if I can't do much cardio there is still the swimming pool, and they also have a steam room which I think may help the chest a bit.

So there you go.  Plan for the remainder of this week is to log my food, drink lots of water, get my green monsters down my neck and get to the gym on Tuesday to sign up.

Today's Happy Thought:  I'm loving the books I'm reading at the moment.... The Chronicles of Narnia!  I only ever read The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe as a child.  I now have the full set and am working my way through them all.

Til next time x

Spuds..... gone.....

Good morning all and welcome to Friday!  It's almost the weekend......

Though as a shift worker (when I'm at work that is!) the weekends all tend to blur into one another.  Anyhow, I hope that you're all ready for a fabby weekend.

A quick rundown on my food of yesterday:

Breakfast: repeat of the day before (I'm a creature of habit, when I find something I like I tend to have it over and over!).  50g Whole Earth organic cocoa crunch cereal with 75g of organic fat free plain yogurt.

Snack:  Green monster made up with 50g spinach, chopped up pear, handful of blueberries, dollop of 2% greek yogurt and 60ml of skimmed milk.

Lunch: 2 x Dr Karg emmental cheese & pumpkin seed crackers topped with a tub of Philly extra light.

Snack: Nakd bar of the choco orange variety and a Whittards vanilla coffee (unpictured, but as I plan the same later today that will be rectified)

 

Dinner: 2 x blossom honey & english herb pork sausages with mashed potato and baked beans. (true comfort food!)

I had planned on a bowl of clementines with blueberries and greek yogurt for pud but when it came to it, I listened to my tummy and it told me that I simply wasn't hungry enough for it.  So I deleted it from my food diary and put in a highlights hot chocolate drink instead.  Go me!

I've decided that the time has come for me to cut right back on my white potato intake.  I'm going to swap to sweet potatoes instead.  I love them and haven't had them in a while so it will make a refreshing change I think.  It will be interesting to see if this has any impact on my 'tummy troubles' too.

In other news, I emailed the gym near me and they've confirmed that the special offer is open until the end of this month, so I will definitely be signing up next week.  Well excited on that one!  I've looked at their class timetable online and have picked out three classes that really appeal and written them onto my exercise calendar.  I won't be throwing myself into them from Day One as I know I need to ease myself back into cardio exercise, but they're there on the calendar and I'm really looking forward to it all.

I had a bit of a moment last night as I was looking back through my results page on WLR.  I see that I haven't actually seen a 9 on the scale since AUGUST.  I am trying hard to hang onto the fact that my new scale (no longer new as had them since September!) is 4 pounds or so heavier, but even so.  I felt gutted that I seem to have lost the plot for much longer than I thought I had, but then I dug through every ounce of positivity that I have.

* it's just a number
* it's how I feel that really counts
* the scale doesn't always reflect accurately what's really going on

So, for now, it's head down, sleeves rolled up, teeth firmly gritted and on with the job in hand.

Today's Happy Thought: I didn't use the inhaler at all yesterday and although the cough felt no different it does mean that I'm not pumping chemicals into my body now .
 
Til next time x

Weekly round up

I really do think I'm on the road to that wonderful place called 'recovery'.  I am still utterly worn out and tired, but it's a different tiredness to the sheer exhaustion I was feeling.

I vacuumed the house yesterday which was, on reflection, a little ambitious as it left me feeling cream crackered! So, I had a shower, washed my hair and put on clean clothes.  I then put on my boots and jacket and had a walk out with a friend who had popped over for coffee.  We just walked to the nearby supermarket for fresh milk but oh, it was lovely to get out!

I'm still signed off work until next Wednesday so I do have a bit of a mountain to climb if I'm to be anywhere near fit enough to return (I work a 10 hour shift which is tiring at the best of times!) but I am determined to do it.

Official weigh day today and I was a little disappointed to see that I'm up a half pound on last week, however I didn't log every single day and over last weekend a fair bit of rubbish was eaten.  I had a sneaky peek on the scales earlier this week and the numbers were considerably higher than they are today and that was perhaps the shock I needed to knuckle down a bit more.  Overall then perhaps not such a bad week considering I'm so inactive.

Food yesterday was pretty damn good:

Breakfast: apple and a 50g bowlful of Whole Earth Cocoa Crunch cereal mixed with 75g natural organic plain yogurt

Snack: clementine topped with 50g 2% greek yogurt

Lunch: poached egg mashed up with chopped spinach spooned into a warmed pitta bread

Snack: crunchy oat granola bar (will be glad once they're gone!)

Dinner: a speciality of Mr DF - chicken thighs marinaded in a garlic, cinnamnon and paprika mix then cooked on the hob in stock with chopped peppers and onion.  Served up with mini chopped roasted potatoes that had been tossed in mixed herbs.

Pud: solero

A naughty 2 glasses of wine were also had but thoroughly enjoyed.  I was only 50 calories over for a pound loss for the day even with the wine so, on the whole, a good day.

Reflection on aims set for last week:  

* log all my food - mostly achieved
* stick to a half pound rate of loss - hmmmmmmm clearly not achieved
* drink 2 litres of water a day - achieved
* have a green monster every day - 5 out of 7

non food aims:

* to get back to moisturising every day - achieved

Aims for this coming week:

* log all my food
* stick to a pound rate of loss
* drink 2 litres of water a day
* have a green monster every day
* have a walk out in the fresh air every day
* to use one of my spare 2011 calendars to plot all my shifts and document an exercise plan, the theory being if it's written down then I'm more likely to do it!

Non food aims:

* continue to moisturise daily
* to make a start on my mammoth ironing pile, a little each day should see it cleared by the time I return to work

My happy thought for today is:  I love the way that the sunshine pours into our lounge and warms me up, even on a day that is frosty outside.

Phew! Mammoth post today, hope you stayed with me!

Til next time x

A reminder of my goals for 2011:

1. To get back to goal weight by March 2011 so I can share a bottle of champagne with a special weight loss buddy celebrating both of us at goal weight

2. To stay within 4 or 5 pounds of that weight

3. To complete the 10k Race For Life in a faster time than last year (May or June time)

4. To train for, and complete (note: not compete!) a duathlon in June

5. To exercise at least 5 days a week

6. To make that exercising as varied as possible including swimming, cycling, running, weights and the gym

7. To complete a full press up (from the feet!)

8. To stay in the black in my bank account

9. To sort out my 'tummy troubles'