Maximum stress

Foregive me, readers, for it is a week since I last blogged. I'm sorry.

I think it's fair to say that this last week achieved record-breaking levels of stress and general bonkers-ness, and isn't one I'd care to repeat any time in the near future.

Here's the summary:

1. Number of evenings when I got drunk - mostly due to the need to shrug off work stress - 4, matched by an equal number of hungover and sleep-deprived mornings.
2. Number of times reduced to tears at work in the ladies loos - 1.
3. Number of episodes of intense Tourettes-style episodes at work due to stress - uncountable.
4. Number for financial directors no longer talking to me after I regrettably let fly in a meeting when I could no longer keep my mouth shut - 1.
5. Number of extra points consumed due to I-don't-give-a-flying-fuck moments in the evening due to extreme lateness home from work - numerous and unmentionable.
6. Number of exercise classes missed due to above lateness - 1.
7. Number of lbs lost on Friday's weigh in - 0.5 - god only knows how as the scales should rightfully have revolted against me.

Eventful week, I hear you say.

I have absolutely no idea how the scales went down - I guess the good behaviour from the previous week / weekend finally caught up with me, but if I don't pull my thumb out it's not going to stay that way.

This weekend saw some absolutely atrocious eating. Friday was fine, as I managed to wing it, so that even with my night out on the tiles in Cheltenham, I ended up within 4 points of my daily allowance. Saturday was an eating catastrophe. 70 points. That's all I'm saying. I didn't even know it was possible to eat that much in a day, and felt pretty disgusted when I added it all up. A typical case of lots of little things adding up. To put it in context, we went for an all-day 12 mile hill walk on Saturday along the length of the Malvern hills and down to Ledbury. After getting in at 4.30am on Sat morning, I was up at 8.30am to get ready. Read it and weep - a whole 4 hours sleep, or slightly under (we would have got back earlier on Friday night, but managed to get the world's slowest taxi home - I swear to god he didn't get out of 4th gear / over 40mph on the entire 26 mile ride home - even on the M5 - grrrrrrr!).

For those of you curious how you consume 70 points (ish) in one day - here's a quick guide:

• 1 x 2 egg ommelette for breakfast with some half-fat cheddar, and a bowl of Special K with skimmed milk. Also about a pint and a half of fruit juice to feed the hangover. 11 points. Damn!
• 1 slice buttered maltloaf mid-morning, and a hot chocolate at the hotel just before lunch - about 6 points or so I think.
• 1 submarine roll for lunch with chicken, pesto and mayo, a Scotch egg and a Cadbury flake yoghurt - a hefty 19 points. Shall I start crying yet?
• 2 Welsh cakes, en route during the second half of the walk, plus some jelly babies. Another 5 or 6 points.
• Pint of coke and 3 large glasses or wine in the pub (arrive at 5 to watch the rugby - stay for dinner and until 9.30). About 8-10 points.
• Homemade steak and kidney pie for dinner with chips and veg. 20 points.

And voila - you've killed yourself. In my defence, I didn't add anything up as I went along, and when you're walking all day and monkeying around in the cold, it doesn't feel like that much food. Well, apart from dinner. The dinner made me feel sick. It was delicious, but I couldn't finish it and felt overly full.

I was absolutely shattered by the time we got the train home, and having weaved to the station I lay on a bench feeling sick and dizzy (and drunk). I crashed straight to sleep when we got home, but woke up at midnight, literally ill from the food. I can't take it anymore and my body literally rebelled against me.

On the upside - the walk earned me 20 activity points. The mistake I made was thinking I could treat myself as to what I ate as I'd be able to soak it up with the activity points, and I just didn't even think that it would add up to that much - or even could add up to that much. Not making that mistake again!!

Yesterday was a recovery day - very lazy after 14 hours sleep (the last week suddenly caught up with me), and a bit of overeating, but nothing too catastrophic. Today, I'm back to it.

Oh, and I'm looking for a new job, as my current one is clearly unhealthy for me!!