Eeeek - I've just sent an email enquiry off to a local running club about joining their novices run every week!
I've never even considered joining a club before as they're full of scarily fit people who can literally run laps round me, but I really want to break through this annoying 20 min barrier I've got to, and I'm not sure how else to do it. I was thinking that I really enjoyed the couple of sessions I did with the ladies from the gym - especially as it took me away from the roads and on to terrain I wouldn't attempt on my own, so I did a little google for local running groups. The first one back on the list is quite large (about 120 members) and while they do seem to do lots of racing, including marathons and crazy fell running challenges, they also run a group specifically aimed at people just starting out. They also say they run lots of groups of overlapping abilities at the same time every week, so it's quite easy to progress, and they seem quite socially oriented which I'm hoping will translate into friendly and welcoming.
I guess I'll never know if I don't give it a try! And best of all - it's free to run with them!
This marks a change for me though - seeing something I want to do, being scared about it, but doing it anyway ... and all without the usual couple weeks / months procrastination when I wonder whether I dare to.
On a completely different note - a little bit of victory this morning: I was starving hungry, and having already eaten one of my satsumas, I went over to the coffee shop to forage. I walked past the cakes at the coffee counter - not really in the slightest bit tempted other than curiosity as to what they were serving today (coconut tray bake, millionaire slices, double chocolate muffins or white chocolate and raspberry ones, and yum yums if you're interested in knowing!) - wandered into the shop with my small skinny hot chocolate, looked at all the chocolate bars and crisps and settled for a Nutri-grain bar. I love it when I can make decisions I can be proud of! I also didn't buy any crisps to eat with my lunch time sandwich - hooray! Crisps are a bit of a vice for me - I associate eating a sandwich or wrap with having a pack, so it's good when I can break the habit and prove to myself that I don't need them to be satisfied - helps me separate the difference between "want" and "need".
Wednesday, 5 August 2009
I think the scales are giving me payback for the Great Eating Out Debacle of last week, as they've currently bounced back up by a 1lb or so. Deeply irritating, but I'm eating well this week, so I've just got to be patient until I can regain my pre-holiday weight, and start going down again.
I had another absolutely rubbish day at work yesterday, in full out stress mode. I had a big deadline for 5pm, but the data file I needed to work on didn't get delivered until 4pm. The problem is that it takes me around 3 hours to prep the file assuming there are no major problems with it. So on top of the fact that this obviously meant I had to work over by a couple of hours to get it submitted, it meant that I spent mid-afternoon essentially twiddling my thumbs and getting more and more wound up over the non-appearance of my data. So what do my thoughts naturally turn to? Self-medication by food.
It's weird that now I've noticed I do this, I'm hyper-aware of it. Luckily for me, the only food within the vicinity was jelly sweets, which aren't exactly highly damaging. I did pick at a few of them, but they don't come to more than about 2 points worth, so it was fine.
Having done the world's quickest supermarket shop on the way home (I had 10 mins before they closed - lucky I'd done a quick list while I was waiting round during the afternoon so I could just whip round grabbing what I needed), I got home just in time to meet Bridget for dinner at 8pm. I was absolutely starving by that time, so I was rifling through the cupboards for something to snack on while we waited for dinner to cook. It's funny how that works out when there's no crap in the cupboards - do you know what my naughty snack was?
A handful of unsalted cashews and a satsuma. Last of the big bingers, eh?
Had such a nice dinner of left over cold salmon fillet from the night before, a jacket potato, broccoli spears and green beans, and a tablespoon of extra light Philadelphia to substitute for butter on the potato and veg. The best thing about B coming round, is she actively likes eating healthy with me, so it doesn't mess up my routine.
I did catch myself later in the evening when I was reviewing my points for the day, and I realised I'd forgotten to put down my pre-dinner snack - I was half-tempted to say oh well, I don't need to really point that do I?, which I've found myself thinking a few too many times recently. YES!!! I really do need to point them. I need to point everything! That's one bad habit I need to bash on the head right now, otherwise I'm not going to get anywhere.
I've now got a dinner invite for Friday night. I'm a bit wary because it's for an Indian restaurant, and I know that that cuisine is notoriously bad for healthy-eating, but I'm quite lucky really, because there's not that much Indian food I actually like, so it should be ok for me to stick to something healthy, and not be tempted to eat the whole menu.
Anyway, less stressful today (I hope) and then I'm going for a run straight after work. Then a quick dinner and off to the girls night. B and I made a deal last night to watch each others backs on a snack front and to implement wrist slapping as appropriate for straying from the plan.
"I'll get by with a little help from friends ...." Definitely.
I had another absolutely rubbish day at work yesterday, in full out stress mode. I had a big deadline for 5pm, but the data file I needed to work on didn't get delivered until 4pm. The problem is that it takes me around 3 hours to prep the file assuming there are no major problems with it. So on top of the fact that this obviously meant I had to work over by a couple of hours to get it submitted, it meant that I spent mid-afternoon essentially twiddling my thumbs and getting more and more wound up over the non-appearance of my data. So what do my thoughts naturally turn to? Self-medication by food.
It's weird that now I've noticed I do this, I'm hyper-aware of it. Luckily for me, the only food within the vicinity was jelly sweets, which aren't exactly highly damaging. I did pick at a few of them, but they don't come to more than about 2 points worth, so it was fine.
Having done the world's quickest supermarket shop on the way home (I had 10 mins before they closed - lucky I'd done a quick list while I was waiting round during the afternoon so I could just whip round grabbing what I needed), I got home just in time to meet Bridget for dinner at 8pm. I was absolutely starving by that time, so I was rifling through the cupboards for something to snack on while we waited for dinner to cook. It's funny how that works out when there's no crap in the cupboards - do you know what my naughty snack was?
A handful of unsalted cashews and a satsuma. Last of the big bingers, eh?
Had such a nice dinner of left over cold salmon fillet from the night before, a jacket potato, broccoli spears and green beans, and a tablespoon of extra light Philadelphia to substitute for butter on the potato and veg. The best thing about B coming round, is she actively likes eating healthy with me, so it doesn't mess up my routine.
I did catch myself later in the evening when I was reviewing my points for the day, and I realised I'd forgotten to put down my pre-dinner snack - I was half-tempted to say oh well, I don't need to really point that do I?, which I've found myself thinking a few too many times recently. YES!!! I really do need to point them. I need to point everything! That's one bad habit I need to bash on the head right now, otherwise I'm not going to get anywhere.
I've now got a dinner invite for Friday night. I'm a bit wary because it's for an Indian restaurant, and I know that that cuisine is notoriously bad for healthy-eating, but I'm quite lucky really, because there's not that much Indian food I actually like, so it should be ok for me to stick to something healthy, and not be tempted to eat the whole menu.
Anyway, less stressful today (I hope) and then I'm going for a run straight after work. Then a quick dinner and off to the girls night. B and I made a deal last night to watch each others backs on a snack front and to implement wrist slapping as appropriate for straying from the plan.
"I'll get by with a little help from friends ...." Definitely.
Tuesday, 4 August 2009
Going strong
I'm feeling good this week - really strong.
I've eaten well today and yesterday, and I'm easily sticking to my points, while eating fresh and tasty food. I worked out last night and worked hard. I did spinning, and then jumped on the treadmill for a 10 min run. My running's been lacking the last couple of weeks, and I'm never going to break through that 20 min barrier of pain and lethargy if I don't work at it regularly, so I'm starting to reintroduce short little runs into my week.
I did 15 mins on the treadmill last week at the gym, and 10 after spinning last night - I had a bit of jelly-leg syndrome having just come off a hard 45 mins on the bike, but it was good to work through it and I felt better for it. I find now that my breathing stays fairly easy while I'm running - long, deep breaths rather than short, snatched ones, and it's my legs that give out first. When I can distract myself properly then I just settle into a fairly effortless rhythm without thinking about it too much - I just haven't figured out what the key to that distraction is yet! But I recover quickly now - when I slowed to a cool-down walk, my pulse dropped from it's working rate of 166 to down in the 120's in the two mins I was monitoring it on the machine and was still dropping steadily as I stepped off. I'd love to know what my full resting heart rate is these days, as it was always really rapid, and I bet it's slowed a bit now.
I'm going to head out for a 20-25 mins road run tomorrow night, and then I vow that I will not balls it all up eating snack-y things at tomorrow's girls night. That's the only social thing I've got this week where I might trip up, and I want to make this a good week. Jack Sh!t was talking about the perfect week the other day, and while I won't be perfect this week, I want to be good, or better than good.
Two of my girlfriends have decided to do the Special K diet for two weeks until holiday. My next door neighbour is going on an extreme regime designed to whip military reservists into shape within 3 months. I pity them really, for not knowing, or accepting, that moderation is the only real key to this whole thing. So while they suffer, and toil, crave what they can't have, and ride out the sugar highes and lows, I'll take the middle road and be smug that I'm finally enlightened. That I discovered the secret, and it turned out it was no secret at all - just a bit of common sense. Allow me my moment of smugness, dear readers, because you just know I'll trip up sooner or later, and have to pick myself up again :O)
I've eaten well today and yesterday, and I'm easily sticking to my points, while eating fresh and tasty food. I worked out last night and worked hard. I did spinning, and then jumped on the treadmill for a 10 min run. My running's been lacking the last couple of weeks, and I'm never going to break through that 20 min barrier of pain and lethargy if I don't work at it regularly, so I'm starting to reintroduce short little runs into my week.
I did 15 mins on the treadmill last week at the gym, and 10 after spinning last night - I had a bit of jelly-leg syndrome having just come off a hard 45 mins on the bike, but it was good to work through it and I felt better for it. I find now that my breathing stays fairly easy while I'm running - long, deep breaths rather than short, snatched ones, and it's my legs that give out first. When I can distract myself properly then I just settle into a fairly effortless rhythm without thinking about it too much - I just haven't figured out what the key to that distraction is yet! But I recover quickly now - when I slowed to a cool-down walk, my pulse dropped from it's working rate of 166 to down in the 120's in the two mins I was monitoring it on the machine and was still dropping steadily as I stepped off. I'd love to know what my full resting heart rate is these days, as it was always really rapid, and I bet it's slowed a bit now.
I'm going to head out for a 20-25 mins road run tomorrow night, and then I vow that I will not balls it all up eating snack-y things at tomorrow's girls night. That's the only social thing I've got this week where I might trip up, and I want to make this a good week. Jack Sh!t was talking about the perfect week the other day, and while I won't be perfect this week, I want to be good, or better than good.
Two of my girlfriends have decided to do the Special K diet for two weeks until holiday. My next door neighbour is going on an extreme regime designed to whip military reservists into shape within 3 months. I pity them really, for not knowing, or accepting, that moderation is the only real key to this whole thing. So while they suffer, and toil, crave what they can't have, and ride out the sugar highes and lows, I'll take the middle road and be smug that I'm finally enlightened. That I discovered the secret, and it turned out it was no secret at all - just a bit of common sense. Allow me my moment of smugness, dear readers, because you just know I'll trip up sooner or later, and have to pick myself up again :O)
Monday, 3 August 2009
The scales ... they say "Oh, go on then".
Well, the weekly encounter with the scales is done, the verdict's in, and in a moment of kindness, the scales gave me a Get Out Of Jail Free card and a 2lb loss. Not quite the spectacular 4lbs I wanted, to be completely rid of my holiday gain, but with 4 (unwise) meals out this week I think I've been lucky.
I'm going to try and avoid anymore eating out "adventures" this week, as they are a liability for me, and I'll stick to drinking instead for my socialising, as I've got that one in the bag. I've got plans for spin, body combat and a run this week, and with nothing planned at the moment for this weekend, I'll try and slot in another walk / bike ride. I know I've got a girl's night on Wednesday, so I'll try and avoid eating anything snacky there, as it's a slippery slope once started. B will probably be over for a catch-up tomorrow night, but that's fine as she eats healthily with me.
As per usual, I start the week with the freshest of good intentions - slate-clean, fresh start and all those cliches. As usual we'll see how it goes, but I like the fact that I can start every week optimistic, regardless of how the previous week went - if I just keep doing this and starting every week with my best efforts, no matter if week's sometimes go wrong, I'll get there.
I'm going to try and avoid anymore eating out "adventures" this week, as they are a liability for me, and I'll stick to drinking instead for my socialising, as I've got that one in the bag. I've got plans for spin, body combat and a run this week, and with nothing planned at the moment for this weekend, I'll try and slot in another walk / bike ride. I know I've got a girl's night on Wednesday, so I'll try and avoid eating anything snacky there, as it's a slippery slope once started. B will probably be over for a catch-up tomorrow night, but that's fine as she eats healthily with me.
As per usual, I start the week with the freshest of good intentions - slate-clean, fresh start and all those cliches. As usual we'll see how it goes, but I like the fact that I can start every week optimistic, regardless of how the previous week went - if I just keep doing this and starting every week with my best efforts, no matter if week's sometimes go wrong, I'll get there.
Sunday, 2 August 2009
Not again!
Shit, fuck and bollocks. I have to stop eating out, because I've keep getting sabotaged!!!!!
No. Freaking. Soup. On. At. The. Pub.
WTF?????? They always have soup. But no. Nada. Rien. None what so bloody ever. Arrrrrrghh!
And no casserole either - so no cop out with something that at least has lots of root veg in it, and no chips on the side.
My choices were pie, fish and chips (battered or grilled), cheesy leek bake or scampi and chips. I have no idea where the rest of the menu disappeared to as usually there's loads of choice, but I get the impression they'd been rammed all day and didn't have much left. As the lesser of several evils I had the grilled fish, which is good in that I've been craving fish and chips for a week now, and bad in that there were chips. And there might have been apple crumble with custard afterwards, but we'll not mention that shall we? Please?
The only mitigating factor in yet another disastrous meal out is that the walk up there included a slight detour up the Worcestershire Beacon (bloody hell my legs are out of practice at walking up hills), so it took us an hour to get up to the pub, accumulating a flippin' good sweat and a thirst on the way, and then another 40 mins to get back.
All in all, not quite the angelic finish / catch-up for the week that I had in mind, and I'm so annoyed with myself for losing my grip yet again. I did save some points for the day, but I'm still over for the week, and wondering just at what point during the week did my control slip. I would imagine the point where I ate out 4 times.
So here's a challenge for next week. I'm not going to eat out. I'm not feeling like anything's going to have budged in the right direction on the scales tomorrow morning, and I think the blame can be fair and square laid at the door of my lack of self-control / forethought when I'm not cooking for myself. Maybe going forwards I should try and limit myself to only eating out once a week?
More anon, my lovely readers - the moment of truth tomorrow morning.
No. Freaking. Soup. On. At. The. Pub.
WTF?????? They always have soup. But no. Nada. Rien. None what so bloody ever. Arrrrrrghh!
And no casserole either - so no cop out with something that at least has lots of root veg in it, and no chips on the side.
My choices were pie, fish and chips (battered or grilled), cheesy leek bake or scampi and chips. I have no idea where the rest of the menu disappeared to as usually there's loads of choice, but I get the impression they'd been rammed all day and didn't have much left. As the lesser of several evils I had the grilled fish, which is good in that I've been craving fish and chips for a week now, and bad in that there were chips. And there might have been apple crumble with custard afterwards, but we'll not mention that shall we? Please?
The only mitigating factor in yet another disastrous meal out is that the walk up there included a slight detour up the Worcestershire Beacon (bloody hell my legs are out of practice at walking up hills), so it took us an hour to get up to the pub, accumulating a flippin' good sweat and a thirst on the way, and then another 40 mins to get back.
All in all, not quite the angelic finish / catch-up for the week that I had in mind, and I'm so annoyed with myself for losing my grip yet again. I did save some points for the day, but I'm still over for the week, and wondering just at what point during the week did my control slip. I would imagine the point where I ate out 4 times.
So here's a challenge for next week. I'm not going to eat out. I'm not feeling like anything's going to have budged in the right direction on the scales tomorrow morning, and I think the blame can be fair and square laid at the door of my lack of self-control / forethought when I'm not cooking for myself. Maybe going forwards I should try and limit myself to only eating out once a week?
More anon, my lovely readers - the moment of truth tomorrow morning.
Detox and stocking up
I've chosen to do something today which isn't entirely advocated by Weight Watchers - I'm having a bit of a super low points day so I can do a bit of catching up on my points deficit for the week. Be assured, my lovely readers, that I'm doing this in the healthiest possible way though.
I've had a bowl of cereal with skimmed milk for breakfast, a small cereal bar mid-morning, home-made soup for lunch followed by half a punnet of raspberries and a low point yoghurt and finally an apple and a biscuit mid-afternoon. We're eating out tonight, but I'm sticking to soup and bread, no butter, and we're walking to and from the pub. By walking, what I mean is a 40 minute hike up and over the hills in each direction.
All of that means that I'll have about 8 points left for the day, plus about 4.5 activity points earned, meaning I'll have nicely deleted my week's deficit. Of course, my online points tracker won't show that because it won't let me save more than 4 points a day, but I'll be happy in the knowledge that I've eaten well (and plentifully) while giving my body a bit of a respite from all the dessert yesterday.
Tomorrow's weigh in will also mark the passing of week completely alcohol-free which was my gift to myself after the week long debauchery in Scotland - thought my liver could maybe do with a bit of a break!
I've spent this afternoon buying bits of kit I need for Croatia. I've picked up some ultra-lightweight convertible walking trousers (you know the sort that roll up or zip off at all sorts of different lengths) and a new day bag for walking and exploring. I have to say that these are the times I really notice the benefit of being slimmer as I don't have the horrible struggle to try and find stuff to fit - I even get a choice of labels!! Sometimes the simple things in life are good. :O)
I've had a bowl of cereal with skimmed milk for breakfast, a small cereal bar mid-morning, home-made soup for lunch followed by half a punnet of raspberries and a low point yoghurt and finally an apple and a biscuit mid-afternoon. We're eating out tonight, but I'm sticking to soup and bread, no butter, and we're walking to and from the pub. By walking, what I mean is a 40 minute hike up and over the hills in each direction.
All of that means that I'll have about 8 points left for the day, plus about 4.5 activity points earned, meaning I'll have nicely deleted my week's deficit. Of course, my online points tracker won't show that because it won't let me save more than 4 points a day, but I'll be happy in the knowledge that I've eaten well (and plentifully) while giving my body a bit of a respite from all the dessert yesterday.
Tomorrow's weigh in will also mark the passing of week completely alcohol-free which was my gift to myself after the week long debauchery in Scotland - thought my liver could maybe do with a bit of a break!
I've spent this afternoon buying bits of kit I need for Croatia. I've picked up some ultra-lightweight convertible walking trousers (you know the sort that roll up or zip off at all sorts of different lengths) and a new day bag for walking and exploring. I have to say that these are the times I really notice the benefit of being slimmer as I don't have the horrible struggle to try and find stuff to fit - I even get a choice of labels!! Sometimes the simple things in life are good. :O)
Saturday, 1 August 2009
Not the best day
It could have been worse, but it could also have most definitely been better. We've been out shopping today and as a result we've had both lunch and dinner out and I've clocked about 33 points I think - I have a daily allowance of 22. Ok, so I can probably deduct about 5 points off that if I factor in that I spent a couple of hours walking round the stores and bloody Ikea, but there were definitely things I could have done better.
Error 1 - I wanted a poached egg for breakfast this morning. Toast in, egg in ..... ah crap, I've fucked that right up, and the egg is a write-off. Another egg in, this time using one of those funny little silicon cups .... sunk - second egg written off (spot the fact that I'm still learning how to do poached eggs). By this time the toast has popped so rather than waste it, I eat it. Don't want to waste another egg, so I'll just grab a bowl of the home-made chunky soup I did yesterday evening. That's in to heat up - ah .... but wait! The second egg isn't lost - it's just taking ages to cook! Well, another slice of toast in then, but the soups already heating. Result - breakfast turns into a feast of two slices of toast with spread, one poached egg and a bowl of soup. Points used - about 8.
Error 2 - when friends turn up for shopping, they're chanting "Yo Sushi! Yo Sushi!". So I'm thinking that's lunch then. Too full to contemplate eating right now, but after a very delayed journey to get the mall (2 frickin' hours), we stop for late lunch and I'm thinking I can eat something now. It started well, and then went downhill when I grabbed a dessert. That and I've just got home to discover that chicken teriyaki is actually 7 points for that little dish - what???? Anyhoo, since I was planning on just having a bowl of soup for dinner when we get back - no worries.
Error 3 - we haven't gone home yet, after getting lost somewhere in a particularly dodgy area of Bristol, we're still at Ikea and it's dinner time, so we're staying to eat. Small victory in that I avoid both fresh cod and chips and meatballs, which both look great, in favour of a bowl of fresh tomato soup, no bread. Failure in that everyone grabbed pudding, and I'd picked up cheesecake before then realising further along that I could have had a pot of organic low-fat yoghurt instead. Too late now as already got cheesecake - I didn't eat all of it, but still smacking myself round the head for being too hasty!
I've also spent too much money on clothes for holidays - all in sales, and it's lush to be able to buy board shorts from Animal in a 16 that could shortly be on the loose side, and a size 14 dress from Monsoon (ok - so the back is elasticated and then it flares out - but that's not the point - it fits!), but I think I might have to do some judicious application of really looking at what I need and returning everything else. I just keep getting carried away.
Some good news - since I've been feeling a bit down about the fact I finished the month back where I started due to my holiday gain, I did a few quick measurements this morning, and I've actually lost another inch from around my belly since last month which is great.
And then the serious stuff. I realised this morning how much you guys have invaded my life since I started blogging and following what you're all up to. I might never have met you, I might never do so, but by showing me your vulnerabilities daily I feel like I know you so well in such a short time. I therefore shed genuine tears for Jen this morning, upon reading the awful news that her mum had been killed by a car yesterday. Such a horrible thing to have someone snatched away from you so suddenly like that. It was different with my mum, as she was ill over such a long period of time - an entirely different grief to have to bear, but the end result is still the same. Someone you depend on so much is gone, and there's truly a hole left where they were.
Error 1 - I wanted a poached egg for breakfast this morning. Toast in, egg in ..... ah crap, I've fucked that right up, and the egg is a write-off. Another egg in, this time using one of those funny little silicon cups .... sunk - second egg written off (spot the fact that I'm still learning how to do poached eggs). By this time the toast has popped so rather than waste it, I eat it. Don't want to waste another egg, so I'll just grab a bowl of the home-made chunky soup I did yesterday evening. That's in to heat up - ah .... but wait! The second egg isn't lost - it's just taking ages to cook! Well, another slice of toast in then, but the soups already heating. Result - breakfast turns into a feast of two slices of toast with spread, one poached egg and a bowl of soup. Points used - about 8.
Error 2 - when friends turn up for shopping, they're chanting "Yo Sushi! Yo Sushi!". So I'm thinking that's lunch then. Too full to contemplate eating right now, but after a very delayed journey to get the mall (2 frickin' hours), we stop for late lunch and I'm thinking I can eat something now. It started well, and then went downhill when I grabbed a dessert. That and I've just got home to discover that chicken teriyaki is actually 7 points for that little dish - what???? Anyhoo, since I was planning on just having a bowl of soup for dinner when we get back - no worries.
Error 3 - we haven't gone home yet, after getting lost somewhere in a particularly dodgy area of Bristol, we're still at Ikea and it's dinner time, so we're staying to eat. Small victory in that I avoid both fresh cod and chips and meatballs, which both look great, in favour of a bowl of fresh tomato soup, no bread. Failure in that everyone grabbed pudding, and I'd picked up cheesecake before then realising further along that I could have had a pot of organic low-fat yoghurt instead. Too late now as already got cheesecake - I didn't eat all of it, but still smacking myself round the head for being too hasty!
I've also spent too much money on clothes for holidays - all in sales, and it's lush to be able to buy board shorts from Animal in a 16 that could shortly be on the loose side, and a size 14 dress from Monsoon (ok - so the back is elasticated and then it flares out - but that's not the point - it fits!), but I think I might have to do some judicious application of really looking at what I need and returning everything else. I just keep getting carried away.
Some good news - since I've been feeling a bit down about the fact I finished the month back where I started due to my holiday gain, I did a few quick measurements this morning, and I've actually lost another inch from around my belly since last month which is great.
And then the serious stuff. I realised this morning how much you guys have invaded my life since I started blogging and following what you're all up to. I might never have met you, I might never do so, but by showing me your vulnerabilities daily I feel like I know you so well in such a short time. I therefore shed genuine tears for Jen this morning, upon reading the awful news that her mum had been killed by a car yesterday. Such a horrible thing to have someone snatched away from you so suddenly like that. It was different with my mum, as she was ill over such a long period of time - an entirely different grief to have to bear, but the end result is still the same. Someone you depend on so much is gone, and there's truly a hole left where they were.
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