We all know the saying - something's greater than the sum of its parts, meaning something magical happens when you put two or more things together and you get a multiplication effect: 2 + 2 = 5 or more! Comedians that are great on their own but absolutely magical together. Ingredients that become a taste sensation when combined. Weird chemical reactions producing far more than they logically should.
However, when is this not true? Well, apparently it's my leisure activities. I had a bit of insight today and reminded myself why I started trying to focus on one thing at a time in my spare time, eating definitely being one of those.
What am I talking about?
The fact I ate some dark chocolate earlier, and I honestly couldn't tell you what it tasted like because I was busy reading at the same time - 50g of dark chocolate and I might as well have not eaten it for all the pleasure I got from it. Reading - something I love. Chocolate - something I love. In theory, the two together should be a source of great pleasure indeed. The reality is that since I can really only pay attention to one thing at a time, it's a waste. The reading wins - of the 5 senses it would seem taste is not the dominant one. Vision and audio will always win out.
I've noticed myself sliding back into the habit of eating, and particularly snacking, whilst distracted recently - it's not a good habit and might explain my stalled progress, or some of it at least.
Other than that, it's been a funny old week. Last weekend I was camping and surfing and staffing a catering and cake stall at a surf comp on the beach in Devon. On Wednesday, I did 8 solid hours of heavy gardening and heavy DIY for a charity day where we basically Ground-Forced a sensory garden at a local dementia care centre. Tuesday night I ran for the first time in well over a year. Thursday morning I trained before work - a solid hour of TRX. It's definitely been an active week, no denying that, but my eating has slid a bit as a result, since I've often been hungry and tired by the time I get home. Add to that the fact that I know heavy training / exercise always has a negative impact on the scale within the first 24-48 hours for me, and it was no surprise to see the scales jump back up 1.5lbs on Friday morning to 13st 7lb.
Now, I take this with a pinch of salt and a hint of insouciance. I've burned a lot of calories this week and I don't feel heavier particularly, but my eating wasn't exemplary. Add to that that I've received 3 definite compliments / comments in the space of the last week that I'm looking trim / am I on a diet and I just think I need to keep powering on.
The weekend was all a bit last minute as I had no plans and then ended up going out for drinks on Friday night at the gorgeous Cozy Club in Bristol and then shooting off for a short stay in London on Saturday - multiple walks by the river, with multiple pub stops - again my eating wasn't amazing, but I've tracked the lot and as I'm off work this week I'm determined to eat well and track properly whilst I have time.
Maybe this week I can break off my current plateau and make some progress. Unfortunately, on that note I'm off out for dinner .... but conscientiously. Life is not without its challenges!
Monday, 29 September 2014
Friday, 19 September 2014
Going Down
The dreaded Friday Scale Bounce struck again, but this time the scales were sufficiently down that the FSB didn't completely negate it An Actual Loss was recorded.
Well. Thank fuck for that is all I can say!
So a loss of 1.5lb was recorded this morning ... not as big as I'd have liked but a move in the right direction none the less. It means that while progress is achingly slow, my weight is in fact slowly, slowly going down. Hoorah.
I've had a pretty solid day at work eating-wise, and am now sitting replete after a rather delicious takeaway. Naughty but nice. I'm heading down to the coast tomorrow morning for a friendly surf comp I'm helping out at (keeping the judges and competitors supplied with tea and cake!), and I'm hoping to get myself out on my board for the first time this year too. I don't however feel like this needs to be an excuse to lose the plot this weekend, so I'm going to try and keep a lid on my eating and drink. It's only one night away from home camping - normal breakfast tomorrow and I'll pop a sandwich in the car for lunch and pick out something sensible for dinner and breakfast. Sunday lunch will be on the beach and dinner back at home, so as long as I don't lose my head around all the cake on Sunday, I should be fine. That's the plan anyway - with any luck, I'll be too busy running round and having fun to sabotage myself!
Don't have too much fun without me whilst I'm at the beach!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Well. Thank fuck for that is all I can say!
So a loss of 1.5lb was recorded this morning ... not as big as I'd have liked but a move in the right direction none the less. It means that while progress is achingly slow, my weight is in fact slowly, slowly going down. Hoorah.
I've had a pretty solid day at work eating-wise, and am now sitting replete after a rather delicious takeaway. Naughty but nice. I'm heading down to the coast tomorrow morning for a friendly surf comp I'm helping out at (keeping the judges and competitors supplied with tea and cake!), and I'm hoping to get myself out on my board for the first time this year too. I don't however feel like this needs to be an excuse to lose the plot this weekend, so I'm going to try and keep a lid on my eating and drink. It's only one night away from home camping - normal breakfast tomorrow and I'll pop a sandwich in the car for lunch and pick out something sensible for dinner and breakfast. Sunday lunch will be on the beach and dinner back at home, so as long as I don't lose my head around all the cake on Sunday, I should be fine. That's the plan anyway - with any luck, I'll be too busy running round and having fun to sabotage myself!
Don't have too much fun without me whilst I'm at the beach!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Thursday, 18 September 2014
Fingers Crossed
Well, if I do say so myself, I've been pretty damn good this week. I've moved plenty (walking, hurling myself around It's A Knockout and putting myself through KettleHell, sorry, kettlebell training yesterday), I've eaten moderately and I even managed to bake a big ol' batch of cookies yesterday evening without diving head first into the cookie dough. The scales have looked good all week .... so based on recent experience this probably means disappointment at weigh in tomorrow, no?
Well, in the face of past trends, I'm going to go with idiotic optimism instead and hope for a loss tomorrow.
Pleeeeeeeeeeease!!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Well, in the face of past trends, I'm going to go with idiotic optimism instead and hope for a loss tomorrow.
Pleeeeeeeeeeease!!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Tuesday, 16 September 2014
Grit Your Teeth
Well. It's Tuesday and I haven't yet posted about Friday's weigh in. Uh oh.
Traditionally, delays in posting, or just altogether silence, mean one thing: no news is bad news.
Or in this case, news that took me a little while to get to stop sulking about, and them a weekend just spent enjoying real life, to get round to posting about.
So yeah. It wasn't the weigh in I was hoping for. I was soooooo close to clocking a loss by Thursday but that bastard Friday-morning-scale-ping struck. AGAIN. The result was a lb on and some gratuitous sulking.
The sulking was followed in shortish order by some world class teeth gritting as I strongly reminded myself that nothing good comes of giving up ("yeah right" I told myself debating the cooked breakfast in the canteen at work).
Long story short though is that I made Friday a pretty damn decent day, despite the fact I had a damn good case of scale resentment and some seriously aching (read: destroyed) muscles from Thursday's training session.
Saturday and Sunday were spent being terribly adult and sophistamacated at a country house with tea, cake and dog-walking and a picnic on the Downs respectively. There was even home made pasta on Saturday night. I used up my weekly points, but didn't go way overboard, and caught up on a hell of a lot of sleep.
Yesterday was a slightly more childish affair as a bunch of us from work gleefully competed at an It's A Knockout event that my work put on at the beautiful Ashton Court. Cue much hysterical laughter, water, foam, budgie costumes, inflatables and a healthy dose of competition. I even remembered I was supposed to be watching what I was eating at the subsequent BBQ and surrendered my free beer for a refreshing pint of Diet Coke - yay me!
As expected, Friday's irritating scale aberration started to come back down almost immediately and at the half way point in the week I'm on for a healthy loss if I stay on track. FINALLY. Just to make sure, I've bought more supplies of cereal, soup and veggies to keep my cupboards healthily stocked.
If I don't get a sodding loss this week. There. Will. Be. Trouble.
Just saying.
Wish me luck!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Traditionally, delays in posting, or just altogether silence, mean one thing: no news is bad news.
Or in this case, news that took me a little while to get to stop sulking about, and them a weekend just spent enjoying real life, to get round to posting about.
So yeah. It wasn't the weigh in I was hoping for. I was soooooo close to clocking a loss by Thursday but that bastard Friday-morning-scale-ping struck. AGAIN. The result was a lb on and some gratuitous sulking.
The sulking was followed in shortish order by some world class teeth gritting as I strongly reminded myself that nothing good comes of giving up ("yeah right" I told myself debating the cooked breakfast in the canteen at work).
Long story short though is that I made Friday a pretty damn decent day, despite the fact I had a damn good case of scale resentment and some seriously aching (read: destroyed) muscles from Thursday's training session.
Saturday and Sunday were spent being terribly adult and sophistamacated at a country house with tea, cake and dog-walking and a picnic on the Downs respectively. There was even home made pasta on Saturday night. I used up my weekly points, but didn't go way overboard, and caught up on a hell of a lot of sleep.
Yesterday was a slightly more childish affair as a bunch of us from work gleefully competed at an It's A Knockout event that my work put on at the beautiful Ashton Court. Cue much hysterical laughter, water, foam, budgie costumes, inflatables and a healthy dose of competition. I even remembered I was supposed to be watching what I was eating at the subsequent BBQ and surrendered my free beer for a refreshing pint of Diet Coke - yay me!
As expected, Friday's irritating scale aberration started to come back down almost immediately and at the half way point in the week I'm on for a healthy loss if I stay on track. FINALLY. Just to make sure, I've bought more supplies of cereal, soup and veggies to keep my cupboards healthily stocked.
If I don't get a sodding loss this week. There. Will. Be. Trouble.
Just saying.
Wish me luck!
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Thursday, 11 September 2014
An Ass Kicking
That is what I have duly administered to myself this week. After the weekend of over-indulgence (albeit offset by moving a flat), the malaise somehow continued inadvertently into Monday. It started so well and then somehow slid downhill.
Somewhere during the unintentional slide though, I decided that enough was enough and I needed to buck my ideas up. Not only that but the intention was followed by a plan ... take breakfast to work (a measured portion of cereal and milk to go in the fridge), get bananas for my desk and some soup from the supermarket and take my Tupperware to the office so I could easily heat it and return to my desk. A scarily simple and easy plan - so why is it sometimes so hard to get on plan???
I took it one step further on Monday when I was at the gym by actually asking one of the trainers about personal training and booking in a consultation for Tuesday and my first training session this morning before work. Long story short: I'm currently suffering a strong sense of impending immobility due to kettle bells.
It might have been a little late coming, but I've picked my game up a step this week. I would love to see a loss of some sort tomorrow on the scales to break out of the territory I've been stuck in for so long. I would also love to have at least some form of movement available to me tomorrow ... both might be long shots but nothing like positive thinking, eh?
- Posted from my iPhone
Somewhere during the unintentional slide though, I decided that enough was enough and I needed to buck my ideas up. Not only that but the intention was followed by a plan ... take breakfast to work (a measured portion of cereal and milk to go in the fridge), get bananas for my desk and some soup from the supermarket and take my Tupperware to the office so I could easily heat it and return to my desk. A scarily simple and easy plan - so why is it sometimes so hard to get on plan???
I took it one step further on Monday when I was at the gym by actually asking one of the trainers about personal training and booking in a consultation for Tuesday and my first training session this morning before work. Long story short: I'm currently suffering a strong sense of impending immobility due to kettle bells.
It might have been a little late coming, but I've picked my game up a step this week. I would love to see a loss of some sort tomorrow on the scales to break out of the territory I've been stuck in for so long. I would also love to have at least some form of movement available to me tomorrow ... both might be long shots but nothing like positive thinking, eh?
- Posted from my iPhone
Monday, 8 September 2014
Weigh In Woes
How does the weekend come and go so quickly?
Friday's weigh in was ... frustrating. Yet again. However, it was a loss, just the piddliest little loss possible. A teeny, tiny 0.25lb off.
I'm not sure how long the scales can keep doing this - getting increasingly lower during the week then mysteriously bouncing back to virtually the same weight Friday after Friday. I was so sure I was going to get at least a fairly decent loss last week that I virtually had steam coming out of my ears when I stood on the scales. After I'd taken a minute to calm down though I tried to look on the positive side that a loss is a loss, and however slow it is, it is progress and it is in the right direction.
After that the weekend took over and suddenly it's Monday! The girls night out on Friday got cancelled at the last moment on Friday morning, leaving me fuming that I had no plans for the weekend. A quick conversation with one of my oldest friends and I had volunteered myself to help her move flats down in London - hard work but worthwhile and I thought positive karma for all the people who've ever helped me move house!
Saturday was a long, hot, sweaty day of loading and unloading the cars and running up and down stairs - good exercise! We did surprisingly well and got it all cleared in short order, although the Cadburys Finger consumption was legendary during the day! Yesterday, I helped with a bit of the cleaning at the old flat before heading off to meet a ski season friend for lunch in Richmond which was lovely.
The theme of the weekend seems to have been hard work but a little too much good food, and I now need to get back on the straight and narrow today.
In fact, I've decided as a whole, that if I want this loss and it's going too slow, then I'm just going to have to work a little harder for it. More walking, a bit more gym and get my eating a little cleaner ... especially on the weekends.
I am DETERMINED to see a loss this week!
- Posted from my iPhone
Friday's weigh in was ... frustrating. Yet again. However, it was a loss, just the piddliest little loss possible. A teeny, tiny 0.25lb off.
I'm not sure how long the scales can keep doing this - getting increasingly lower during the week then mysteriously bouncing back to virtually the same weight Friday after Friday. I was so sure I was going to get at least a fairly decent loss last week that I virtually had steam coming out of my ears when I stood on the scales. After I'd taken a minute to calm down though I tried to look on the positive side that a loss is a loss, and however slow it is, it is progress and it is in the right direction.
After that the weekend took over and suddenly it's Monday! The girls night out on Friday got cancelled at the last moment on Friday morning, leaving me fuming that I had no plans for the weekend. A quick conversation with one of my oldest friends and I had volunteered myself to help her move flats down in London - hard work but worthwhile and I thought positive karma for all the people who've ever helped me move house!
Saturday was a long, hot, sweaty day of loading and unloading the cars and running up and down stairs - good exercise! We did surprisingly well and got it all cleared in short order, although the Cadburys Finger consumption was legendary during the day! Yesterday, I helped with a bit of the cleaning at the old flat before heading off to meet a ski season friend for lunch in Richmond which was lovely.
The theme of the weekend seems to have been hard work but a little too much good food, and I now need to get back on the straight and narrow today.
In fact, I've decided as a whole, that if I want this loss and it's going too slow, then I'm just going to have to work a little harder for it. More walking, a bit more gym and get my eating a little cleaner ... especially on the weekends.
I am DETERMINED to see a loss this week!
- Posted from my iPhone
Thursday, 4 September 2014
Ups And Downs
This week has been an interesting one. At the start, there was a wedding which meant a bit of an excess of food and booze. Aaaaand theeeeeen ... about 14 of us got ill after the wedding ... all courtesy (we think) of a very cute little 5 month old girl!
Yup - baby lurgy.
In my case, it was a joyous two days of nausea, stomach cramps, head ache and occasional temperature / dizziness. And naturally, loss of appetite.
So after 3 days of too much food, there came 2 days of not a bloody lot of food. Then 2 days of getting-back-to-normal amounts of food.
Basically, I'm not too sure where that leaves me this week! I finished last week on 13st 6.5lbs. After the weekend I was up 3 lbs, and then a couple of days ago I'd dropped down 6lbs to be 3 below where I started, and I have no idea where I'll be for tomorrow's weigh in! Some loss from last week would be good!!
Next week, luckily, is looking a bit simpler, as I finally have a quieter week ahead: just some drinks out tomorrow night with my old housemates - stick to the gin and avoid cocktails and wine! - and then the rest of the weekend and the week is pretty free - hooray!
I've got my fingers crossed for some sort of good news tomorrow!
- Posted from my iPhone
Yup - baby lurgy.
In my case, it was a joyous two days of nausea, stomach cramps, head ache and occasional temperature / dizziness. And naturally, loss of appetite.
So after 3 days of too much food, there came 2 days of not a bloody lot of food. Then 2 days of getting-back-to-normal amounts of food.
Basically, I'm not too sure where that leaves me this week! I finished last week on 13st 6.5lbs. After the weekend I was up 3 lbs, and then a couple of days ago I'd dropped down 6lbs to be 3 below where I started, and I have no idea where I'll be for tomorrow's weigh in! Some loss from last week would be good!!
Next week, luckily, is looking a bit simpler, as I finally have a quieter week ahead: just some drinks out tomorrow night with my old housemates - stick to the gin and avoid cocktails and wine! - and then the rest of the weekend and the week is pretty free - hooray!
I've got my fingers crossed for some sort of good news tomorrow!
- Posted from my iPhone
Monday, 1 September 2014
Wedding Weekends
One huge problem, or should I say challenge, of trying to eat healthily and lose weight, is that life will insist on throwing road blocks in the way.
Weddings, for instance, with the best will in the world, will always be a pain in the ass to navigate. The food's dictated to you, the booze is flowing and emotions are high. My tactic? Have a good healthy breakfast, take a snack (because you always eat at weird times and nearly always HOURS after you last ate) and then just go with the flow and enjoy it. But, most importantly, pick up straight away with where you left off the next day!
Well, that should have been the plan anyway. In actual fact, it went like this:
Friday - disappointed from weigh in I had a long but not terrible day at work eating-wise, then started the chaotic running around that is prepping for a wedding weekend. In this case it also included hosting a friend on Friday night, whose birthday happened to be on the wedding day. I bought healthy stuff for dinner but it turned out to be so late by the time she arrived and I was ready to cook that cooking was cancelled. Takeaway was proposed but we were too lazy and actually ended up with jacket potatoes with cheese and beans accompanied by a birthday bottle of champagne and followed by cake. More frantic packing and a late night.
Saturday - up early, much primping and faffing and we did manage cereal with a banana for breakfast before leaving 30 mins later than planned. Drive to friends' house near venue, get changed quickly (hair and make-up were already on) and then catch our lift to the venue. Ceremony, Pimms on the lawn, kept missing the canapés, hungry, hungry, hungry!!! Wedding breakfast, a lot of wine, more wine, a gin, sleeeeeeeeeepy. Evening food out - two bacon rolls, cone of chips and a bit too much wedding cake. Dancing, talking, nearly falling asleep on the steps outside waiting for lift home. Fall into bed.
Sunday - wake up before everyone else and creep downstairs for a cup of tea. Toast when the others wake up. Here's where it goes wrong: as the wedding party arrive home, a get together is suggested. I have a few quick chores to do as I have to get the present from my dad's house nearby and wash my car (I picked a VERY bad place to park my car overnight and it was somewhat defaced by birds). By the time I catch up to the others there is tea and wedding cake. We leave at 7pm at which point I learn that there was proper food but they'd eaten and then put it back in the kitchen and forgot to tell me! So my entire day has consisted of 2 pieces of toast, and 2 bits of cake. Obviously I arrive home and takeaway happened.
Damn it!!
Ok, so not the worst takeaway but pretty much 3 days of not great food. Done. Move along. There will now be 4 days of very good food for the rest of the week ... which could be tricky as I have 2 nights being cooked for this week! :-/
Best foot forwards! And maybe a lot of walking and moving to help it!
The wedding was beautiful though so I can't regret that.
- Posted from my iPhone
Weddings, for instance, with the best will in the world, will always be a pain in the ass to navigate. The food's dictated to you, the booze is flowing and emotions are high. My tactic? Have a good healthy breakfast, take a snack (because you always eat at weird times and nearly always HOURS after you last ate) and then just go with the flow and enjoy it. But, most importantly, pick up straight away with where you left off the next day!
Well, that should have been the plan anyway. In actual fact, it went like this:
Friday - disappointed from weigh in I had a long but not terrible day at work eating-wise, then started the chaotic running around that is prepping for a wedding weekend. In this case it also included hosting a friend on Friday night, whose birthday happened to be on the wedding day. I bought healthy stuff for dinner but it turned out to be so late by the time she arrived and I was ready to cook that cooking was cancelled. Takeaway was proposed but we were too lazy and actually ended up with jacket potatoes with cheese and beans accompanied by a birthday bottle of champagne and followed by cake. More frantic packing and a late night.
Saturday - up early, much primping and faffing and we did manage cereal with a banana for breakfast before leaving 30 mins later than planned. Drive to friends' house near venue, get changed quickly (hair and make-up were already on) and then catch our lift to the venue. Ceremony, Pimms on the lawn, kept missing the canapés, hungry, hungry, hungry!!! Wedding breakfast, a lot of wine, more wine, a gin, sleeeeeeeeeepy. Evening food out - two bacon rolls, cone of chips and a bit too much wedding cake. Dancing, talking, nearly falling asleep on the steps outside waiting for lift home. Fall into bed.
Sunday - wake up before everyone else and creep downstairs for a cup of tea. Toast when the others wake up. Here's where it goes wrong: as the wedding party arrive home, a get together is suggested. I have a few quick chores to do as I have to get the present from my dad's house nearby and wash my car (I picked a VERY bad place to park my car overnight and it was somewhat defaced by birds). By the time I catch up to the others there is tea and wedding cake. We leave at 7pm at which point I learn that there was proper food but they'd eaten and then put it back in the kitchen and forgot to tell me! So my entire day has consisted of 2 pieces of toast, and 2 bits of cake. Obviously I arrive home and takeaway happened.
Damn it!!
Ok, so not the worst takeaway but pretty much 3 days of not great food. Done. Move along. There will now be 4 days of very good food for the rest of the week ... which could be tricky as I have 2 nights being cooked for this week! :-/
Best foot forwards! And maybe a lot of walking and moving to help it!
The wedding was beautiful though so I can't regret that.
- Posted from my iPhone
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