Life priorities and being grateful

I got my priorities back the right way round last night ... which is to say that I got to 5.15pm, said fuck work, and legged it out the office door before anyone could call me back in. Into the car at 5.20pm. It takes 40ish mins to drive home, Body Combat starts at 6.15 - can I make it? - you bet your pink panties I can!

Traffic's bad, so 45 mins to get home - park on the drive at 6.05pm, leg it up to the flat; 4 min turnaround to get changed into workout gear, fill my water bottle, grab a cereal bar and GO!!!! Half walk, half run down the road whilst gulping down the cereal bar, mow down some small children on my way through the security gates at the gym, belt up the stairs, sling stuff in a locker and skid to a halt in my usual spot in the studio. 1 min to spare before class starts! WHOOOP!

It was a good sweaty class, which I was in need of, although I kept getting slightly distracted by the greeness of my new work out top in the mirrors. It's really, so very green. It also shows up all the little (or *ahem* big) wobbly bits, that really need working on, which flattering black used to just hide. Still, I will not be ashamed of them. I might be the biggest person in that class, but I'm not the least fit, and I put in far more effort than some, so why should I be ashamed? Just look on it as extra motivation to keep your abs strong and everything sucked in while you're working out!! :o)

Back home, just getting undressed for the shower when the doorbell goes. It's Jon, and I nearly just flashed him, because I almost forgot to pull my top back on before going to get the door (think that would have surprised him a bit!). Would I like dinner next door - spaghetti bolognaise? Why thank you very much! (Yep, I was good and considered my points situation for the day before answering, like a good little Weight Watcher).

We wandered up to the pub for a late drink at 10pm after dinner (half an hour walk there and back) and met up with some friends, so all in all a nice chilled out evening. I'm still off the alcohol, so that makes the pub easy, but I might have had a minor misdemeanor whilst sitting on the sofa watching telly when we got back. I was honestly only going to have 1 biscuit. I only wanted 1 biscuit. So explain to me why I had 3???? Note to self - next time, don't ask someone to pass the biscuit box, unless you're sure you're stopping at 1. Idiot!

I had a little flounce around trying on a few different things, when I was getting dressed after my shower earlier in the evening - mostly short skirts and shorts for next week on holiday. I have to say, I think the combination of running and Body Combat has had a really good effect on my arms and legs over the last couple of weeks - I definitely feel like they look sleeker now. So that means I'll feel ok wearing short stuff next week in Croatia - yay!!

Scarily, it will also mark the re-introduction of the dare-to-bare nightmare that is always beachwear. I'm going to be brave. I'm a fairly trim UK 16 now (so that's what a 14 Stateside and Canada?) .... I'm taking the bikini. God help me (and possibly the other people on the beach who might be struck blind lol), but I'm easing myself into it - yes, the bikini's going, but I'm also taking a loose tunic cover-up, if I want to cover up my top half, and also small board shorts (as in the little bastards are ultra-short - something I'd never have contemplated before), if I want to cover the bottom half.

I'm taking bets now, on what the holiday damage will be this time round. What do you all reckon??

We're away for 10 days, and we're camping. In previous years this has usually meant fruit and bread and jam for breakfast, or occasionally eggs (we have no fridge while we're away, so we can't keep anything that needs to be kept cool). Usually something sandwich-y for lunch, more fruit, and possibly some chocolate, although not if it's too hot. Dinner is either eating out, or cooked on the camp-stove. Given that apparently Croatia has a lot of Italian-influenced cuisine and pasta is easy on a camp-stove, I'd reckon on lots of pasta being consumed. There's quite often wine round the camp "fire" in the evening (not an actual fire, but you get the gist of sitting round in camp and chatting). Snacks are usually cereal bars and fruit and occasional ice-creams. Past years have involved a lot of driving, a lot of walking, some lying round on the beach and pratting around in the sea, and some random miscellaneous activities such as canyoning or white-water rafting.

So what do we reckon? Weight on? Stay the same? Or even a loss?? Hmmmm - I can't work it out.

In the same vein as yesterday's postive thinking theme, and because I was reading someone's blog earlier and they were talking about perspective and being grateful for what you've got - here's my deep and meaningful thought for the day:

I'm grateful I've still got my dad, and that he's starting to emotionally heal after the loss of my mum two years ago.

And, because I'm shallow, I'm grateful I can wear white jeans and a close-fitting stripey jumper and feel good, because I know I look good.

So there.

Over and out.

Random musings

The de-bloat continues. It was absolutely crap weather last night, leaving me with a choice of getting completely drenched running outside, heading to the gym or copping out altogether. Gym it was then. Just a quick 45 min session - 15 min X-trainer, 15 min run on the treadmill, 10 min row (2k distance) and 5 min cool down on the stationary bike.

My eating was pretty on par yesterday, so I've pulled back some of my cock-up from Monday night. Honestly, my eating wasn't quite as good today, but not altogether bad, and with the judicious application of a truly ferocious Body Combat class this evening, I've banked another little bit against the points overspend.

In fact it turns out that I had a lot of pent-up aggression to vent in tonight's class, and it felt goooooooood. I've had a crappy, stressful day at work, but it went hand-in-hand with a bit of self-discovery, so not an entirely wasted day. We had a working lunch buffet today, because my boss is heading off on maternity leave tomorrow (and yes, I was good - one plate from the buffet, including a healthy sandwich, and then leave it alone), and since there were loads of goodies left, the platters got bought through to the office during the afternoon.

With all the stressiness going on, I found myself pinching another cocktail sausage from the platter as I wandered past without really thinking about it. Then I found myself sitting at my desk thinking well, if I'm just going past anyway on the way to get a drink, what do I fancy? Then I found myself wondering why I wanted food when I wasn't hungry and had been pretty well-behaved at lunch - why cock it up now? I've realised that I am in fact a stress-eater. The anticipation of food felt like it would numb the stress - which of course it wouldn't, well not permanently, it would just distract me temporarily with feelings of instant gratification (shortly to be followed by feelings of remorse I should imagine).

The good thing with making a realisation like that is that every subsequent time you walk past the platter, you're more determined not to give in. I just had a lot of shitty stressiness to get rid of at Combat instead, but I reckon that just means I burned a few extra calories off.

I've also spent that last couple of days with some words floating round my head in a loop:

FASTER FITTER LIGHTER STRONGER

They just seem to totally sum up where I want to be at the end of this. I find as I go along this journey, that some of my focus seems to more and more end up on the physical abilities side of things. This is ever clearer to me when I do things like mountain-biking with the boys, or think about the snow-boarding I'll do come the winter, and I want to be able to keep up and push myself like they do, and to be more agile and sure of my movements. I find the more little break-throughs I make with my fitness, the more I want to make.

I'm especially fascinated by blogs and videos of extreme sports on the internet. I look at the bike stunts and the wind-surfing tricks and I want to be able to do that kind of thing should I choose to. Last night I stumbled across Summer Gravity Camp, and I want to go and do it more than you could believe. It's an intense week of downhill mountain-biking that takes place at Whistler in Canada every year - coaching provided by some of the best bikers in the world for people of all standards from novice to expert - all you need is the biking bug and the balls to get out there and try it. Most of the weeks are aimed at kids and young people, but the last week of every season is an adults-only camp, and the more I read about it, the more I wanted to go - getting to goal would be a major step along the way to realising little dreams like that.

And one final thing I shall leave you with - a little trite perhaps but it works for me. While I was thinking about the whole stress-eating thing in the car on the way home, it struck me that that little saying about work, applies just as much to eating - so here's my thought for the day:

Eat to live, NOT live to eat.

Body Combat - the verdict

I tried out Body Combat for the first time this evening . Well the first time in a very long time, and after my previous experience being near collapse after about 15 mins, about 2 years ago.

I loved it. Scratch that - I super loved it. It was still hard, but only in that phew - I'm really on fire here kind of way. When I wasn't concentrating intensely to make sure that I didn't kick when everyone else punched, I caught myself grinning.

The instructor's a gem - really enthusiastic, and able to get the class whooping along and giving it 100%. Definitely one for next week, even though I was uber-sweaty after about 15 mins. Soooooo glad that I chose to wear both my sports bra and my support top though - there is a lot of bouncing around in that class, and I'm glad to say I wasn't - well not in ways I should be anyway.

Right - I'm off t'pub now. Catch ya later.

New stuff

I tried my first ever class of Swiss Ball Pilates at our local dance studio last night. It turned out to be pretty hilarious, and very relaxed, and whilst I'm not entirely convinced of how much benefit I got out of it exercise-wise, it was nice just to spend an hour stretching and bending and generally bouncing round on a ball - a bit of me-time.

I can definitely still feel some tightness through my left hip - legacy of the back injury, but maybe that will start to clear up soon with the help of this class. Overall, it was a very pleasant experience, and the instructor Dawn was lovely and very good at coming round and repositioning you and talking you through the exercises. The rest of the class consisted of a bunch of ladies ranging from my age to retirement, who were very chatty (and in fact chattered most of the way through the class), and we all had a giggle as we tried to master some of the moves without falling off the ball, and to a chorus of rubber-on-rubber squeaks from the balls on the mats.

In the spirit of new things, I've just rung the gym and booked in for a Body Combat class this evening. I suspect it may well kill me, but hopefully the hot weather will mean a smaller class and less people to see my abject humiliation! I tried this class once before, a couple of years ago, and I think I made it to about 15 / 20 mins before I thought I was going to pass out due to an insufficient amount of oxygen. Of course I also weighed a good 2 stone or so more than I do now and wasn't able to run at the time, so maybe that will work in my favour this evening. I hope so.

Food-wise we tried something new last night. We experimented with the turkey mince, and came out with a burger for 2 points, or 3.5 points for 2. They were freaking awesome! I took a picture because they looked so pretty, so I'll add that on here later this evening. We flavoured ours with some onion, orange pepper in little chunks and a tea-spoon and a half of Thai green curry paste between the 6 burgers - absolutely delicious, and the held together perfectly on the griddle due to the addition of 1 egg yolk and a couple of teaspoons of flour. We had them as open burgers on a toasted granary bun (one bun between 2 burgers) with a spot of extra light mayonnaise and some raw spinach. I had sweet potato wedges on the side with mine, but that was almost a bit much. I've got 2 left uncooked in the fridge for tonight, so I think they'll go on the George Foreman tonight to negate the need for any cooking oil whatsoever, and dispense with the carbs on the side - the bun is plenty of that already.

Nice to try new stuff and have it work!