Yep - it's time to put my nose back to the grindstone, in more ways than one.
Not only am I back at work today (oh yeah, let me hear a big fat booooooo! about that), but it's high time the healthy eating resumed on a proper basis.
Christmas has been a bit odd this year because, as you may have read, I got food-poisoning. The end result of that was that ate pretty much nothing on Christmas Day and was pretty ill to boot, didn't eat a hell of a lot on Boxing Day, but then Sunday I was at a friend's family Xmas party pretty much all day and night and was surrounded by a plethora of amazing food. I didn't start too badly, and I was conscious all along of how much I ate, but perhaps inevitably I was a fair way over on points. I say inevitably because if you'd missed your entire Christmas lunch and tea, and had barely eaten for 2 days you'd have given yourself a bit of leeway too! Didn't drink much though and certainly didn't eat as much as I could have done.
Yesterday morning we had a post-party full English breakfast - I had one small bit of everything and left it at that - and then I was off into town to meet a bunch of old school-friends for lunch. It was great to see everyone, as I don't get to see them at all often since they're so scattered these days, although I didn't have as much time as I'd have liked as I had to bolt off to my opticians straight afterwards.
On a side-note - can I just say my opticians are absolutely useless buggers!!!! I had new lenses fitted a month ago and I've been really struggling with them and couldn't focus properly on stuff. They did a full check yesterday to see what was wrong and it turned out they'd only managed to mix up my prescriptions so they'd had me wearing my right lens in my left eye and vice versa for a month. Idiots!!!
Weight-wise, I lost quite a lot with the food-poisoning and was down at about 12st 2lbs from about 12st 9lbs. Following the two day binge of Sunday and Monday I was back at 12st 6.5lbs, but I reckon it should stabilise a little lower than that now I'm eating normally again. I'll do a proper weigh-in before New Year and let you know where I finish!
-- Posted from my iPhone
Tuesday, 29 December 2009
Friday, 25 December 2009
The sandwich that ruined Chrstmas
Guys - I tell you - Santa bought me the ultimate dieter's gift that keeps on giving this year!! Forget the Wii Fit Plus that my Dad bought me - this was the present that answers all a dieter's prayers. Have you guessed what it is yet?
Well have you?
Oh yes - Santa ... well, he bought me food poisoning. Gee thanks, Santa, you are tooooo kind!!!
Let me just explain the benefits of food poisoning to the dieter. What are the two things all dieters pray for at Christmas?
1. Some iron self-will so that they can make it through the days without completely derailing the old dieting wagon.
2. Spontaneous loss of those pesky extra lbs to make it to their end of year goals in one piece.
Thanks to Santa, I'm two for two on those wishes this year. I'm so nauseous I can't touch food - and in fact couldn't be in the same room as the turkey and had to run away to be sick. Again. And with my body's total rejection of all that was removable from it, I can safely say that the scales have moved heavily in my favour today. About half a stone in my favour when I looked several hours ago.
Santa, dude, you outdid yourself this year!!!
And if you haven't spotted the sarcasm yet, I'll come and hit you ... when I have any strength to get out of my bed.
The worst thing is I think this is self-inflicted. I was in a rush last night between getting back from lunch with friends and shooting out for drinks with old schoolmates, and I made myself a quick chicken wrap. I remember glancing at the date on the chicken and thinking it was a day or two past its display date but that it would be fine. I drenched it in sweet chilli sauce and wolfed it down. It wasn't til this morning that I realised that the date had said the 16th December - I don't know what date I thought it was yesterday but I seriously didn't twig that it was over a week out of date.
I'm feeling pretty guilty amongst other things because I'm staying at Dad's for the weekend, so not only was I not able to cook the lunch, which is my contribution to the day (and Dad has had to do as well as running out to do the 2 hour round trip to collect my grandma) but Dad's been running up and down the stairs every hour or so to check on me. He's a superstar.
So that's been my day - numerous sprints to the bathroom, lying in bed sleeping or feeling horrible, and nearly passing out earlier as I staggered back to bed.
I've now managed to sip about half a can of Coke (figured I needed the caffeine and sugar after the near-fainting) and I've nibbled about 3/4's of a Nice biscuit. That's it. I haven't opened my presents, seen my grandma or wrapped Dad's presents so he can have them.
I think we can safely say Xmas has been a write-off this year. I hope yours have been fab and you've faired better and had a great day! X
-- Posted from my iPhone
Well have you?
Oh yes - Santa ... well, he bought me food poisoning. Gee thanks, Santa, you are tooooo kind!!!
Let me just explain the benefits of food poisoning to the dieter. What are the two things all dieters pray for at Christmas?
1. Some iron self-will so that they can make it through the days without completely derailing the old dieting wagon.
2. Spontaneous loss of those pesky extra lbs to make it to their end of year goals in one piece.
Thanks to Santa, I'm two for two on those wishes this year. I'm so nauseous I can't touch food - and in fact couldn't be in the same room as the turkey and had to run away to be sick. Again. And with my body's total rejection of all that was removable from it, I can safely say that the scales have moved heavily in my favour today. About half a stone in my favour when I looked several hours ago.
Santa, dude, you outdid yourself this year!!!
And if you haven't spotted the sarcasm yet, I'll come and hit you ... when I have any strength to get out of my bed.
The worst thing is I think this is self-inflicted. I was in a rush last night between getting back from lunch with friends and shooting out for drinks with old schoolmates, and I made myself a quick chicken wrap. I remember glancing at the date on the chicken and thinking it was a day or two past its display date but that it would be fine. I drenched it in sweet chilli sauce and wolfed it down. It wasn't til this morning that I realised that the date had said the 16th December - I don't know what date I thought it was yesterday but I seriously didn't twig that it was over a week out of date.
I'm feeling pretty guilty amongst other things because I'm staying at Dad's for the weekend, so not only was I not able to cook the lunch, which is my contribution to the day (and Dad has had to do as well as running out to do the 2 hour round trip to collect my grandma) but Dad's been running up and down the stairs every hour or so to check on me. He's a superstar.
So that's been my day - numerous sprints to the bathroom, lying in bed sleeping or feeling horrible, and nearly passing out earlier as I staggered back to bed.
I've now managed to sip about half a can of Coke (figured I needed the caffeine and sugar after the near-fainting) and I've nibbled about 3/4's of a Nice biscuit. That's it. I haven't opened my presents, seen my grandma or wrapped Dad's presents so he can have them.
I think we can safely say Xmas has been a write-off this year. I hope yours have been fab and you've faired better and had a great day! X
-- Posted from my iPhone
Thursday, 24 December 2009
I found another way not to diet.
Oh deary me - I'm just not very on the ball at the moment. I made it through yesterday without taking any damage from the gauntlet of sweets at work and then promptly fucked it up in the evening.
The snow finally arrived for us yesterday night - so I left work early and swung by the retail park on the way home to pick up de-icer and screenwash for the car. And some warn pyjamas for Xmas and skiing. Since I was already in M & S for the pj's, I ducked into the food hall to pick up a few extra provisions in case of it being an impromptu snow day today. Salad. Fine. Some croutons - checked the nutritional info - fine. A small snack pack of savoury Xmas treats, a slice of Xmas cheesecake and a little box of 6 chocolates .... errrmmm ... would be fine if I didn't consume the cheesecake, chocolates and half the snack pack in one go after my dinner. FOOL!!
I feel pretty gross today. So, in the interests of being festively positive what have I learned?
1. I only ate half the snack pack - I knew I didn't want or need all of it with tea, so I stopped.
2. The cheesecake was ok, but actually it wasn't spectacular. I should have stopped when I realised this half-way through the slice. I felt guilty and annoyed afterwards. I know that that having the cheesecake wasn't better than having that disappointed feeling. I already knew that halfway through the slice. Everytime this happens and I acknowledge that feeling I find the balance tipping slowly towards the not-eating side. In the beginning I didn't think til afterwards. Then I started to have vague thoughts which I'd discard in order to continue eating. Now I full-on stop and waver before continuing, or sometimes I actually stop. In time I'll win this battle with my fear of not finishing things. There's no shame in throwing away food that you don't really want. There's no waste in not clearing your plate if you're not hungry or don't really like something. And if you do like it, but you're full, it's not going to magically disappear from the fridge when you're not looking. My brain knows this - my body is slowly learning to listen.
3. Those chocolates were gorgeous but rich. Oh so rich. I should have saved half for tonight.
I've payed for my indiscretion on the scale this morning. I know it's temporary, no-one can gain 2lbs of fat overnight. I want to be disappointed, but I shall look at the positives above instead. Someone yesterday was talking about Thomas Eddison's quote regarding his invention of the lightbulb - "I didn't fail to make a lightbulb a 1000 times, I just found a 1000 ways not to make a lightbulb". I think we can safely say that I found another couple of ways not to eat healthily for life last night. Habits that still need to be dissolved.
The only good thing about the times I trip up like last night? I wake up in the morning with a sour stomach and a refreshed sense of purpose. I had beans on toast for breakfast and bought fruit on the way to work this morning. Wish me luck for lunch out later!
-- Posted from my iPhone
The snow finally arrived for us yesterday night - so I left work early and swung by the retail park on the way home to pick up de-icer and screenwash for the car. And some warn pyjamas for Xmas and skiing. Since I was already in M & S for the pj's, I ducked into the food hall to pick up a few extra provisions in case of it being an impromptu snow day today. Salad. Fine. Some croutons - checked the nutritional info - fine. A small snack pack of savoury Xmas treats, a slice of Xmas cheesecake and a little box of 6 chocolates .... errrmmm ... would be fine if I didn't consume the cheesecake, chocolates and half the snack pack in one go after my dinner. FOOL!!
I feel pretty gross today. So, in the interests of being festively positive what have I learned?
1. I only ate half the snack pack - I knew I didn't want or need all of it with tea, so I stopped.
2. The cheesecake was ok, but actually it wasn't spectacular. I should have stopped when I realised this half-way through the slice. I felt guilty and annoyed afterwards. I know that that having the cheesecake wasn't better than having that disappointed feeling. I already knew that halfway through the slice. Everytime this happens and I acknowledge that feeling I find the balance tipping slowly towards the not-eating side. In the beginning I didn't think til afterwards. Then I started to have vague thoughts which I'd discard in order to continue eating. Now I full-on stop and waver before continuing, or sometimes I actually stop. In time I'll win this battle with my fear of not finishing things. There's no shame in throwing away food that you don't really want. There's no waste in not clearing your plate if you're not hungry or don't really like something. And if you do like it, but you're full, it's not going to magically disappear from the fridge when you're not looking. My brain knows this - my body is slowly learning to listen.
3. Those chocolates were gorgeous but rich. Oh so rich. I should have saved half for tonight.
I've payed for my indiscretion on the scale this morning. I know it's temporary, no-one can gain 2lbs of fat overnight. I want to be disappointed, but I shall look at the positives above instead. Someone yesterday was talking about Thomas Eddison's quote regarding his invention of the lightbulb - "I didn't fail to make a lightbulb a 1000 times, I just found a 1000 ways not to make a lightbulb". I think we can safely say that I found another couple of ways not to eat healthily for life last night. Habits that still need to be dissolved.
The only good thing about the times I trip up like last night? I wake up in the morning with a sour stomach and a refreshed sense of purpose. I had beans on toast for breakfast and bought fruit on the way to work this morning. Wish me luck for lunch out later!
-- Posted from my iPhone
Wednesday, 23 December 2009
Challenge!
I think I am one of the few people who actually looks forward to the holiday weekend from a diet point of view. Yes, I am indeed a total freak. I'm sure this merely confirms the suspicions you already had!
See - when I'm home, I'm generally well behaved. On the basis that I can't eat what I don't have - I'm safe. I don't keep crap in the house - that's temptation I don't need, and I've got a handle on the tin of homemade cookies from the other week - I might have one or two but I don't binge.
But when I'm at work it's another story. A very different one. The people I work with LOVE having treats in the office. And that's just during the rest of the year - at Christmas they just go nuts. Today there are 3 or 4 separate boxes of chocolates, 2 boxes of mince pies, and 2 boxes of chocolate covered biscuits dotted around on the cabinets lining the main corridor. It's like a gauntlet of food everytime you step away from your desk.
Yesterday it was just the chocolates - none of the rest of it had appeared yet. Yesterday my eating was fine ... if you ignore the however-many-far-too-many Celebrations chocolates that found there way into my mouth. Today the temptation, and variety of it, is trebled. Well ... enough. Today I challenge myself to keep my hands and my mouth out of the snacks. It's 11am now and I'm clean so far. I'm also not hungry and I've kept myself busy which helps.
So there's my challenge. I'm still after that elusive number on the scale on Friday, and I've got a lunch out tomorrow to navigate. Time to pull the big girl pants on and suck it up!
On a separate note - how delish was my breakfast this morning??? I had porridge Christmas-stylee! When it was cooked I added a couple of teaspoons of golden caster sugar and a 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon, stirred it and popped it in the microwave for a 30 second blast ... soooooooo nice!!! Try it! Warm and spicy and Christmassy!
-- Posted from my iPhone
See - when I'm home, I'm generally well behaved. On the basis that I can't eat what I don't have - I'm safe. I don't keep crap in the house - that's temptation I don't need, and I've got a handle on the tin of homemade cookies from the other week - I might have one or two but I don't binge.
But when I'm at work it's another story. A very different one. The people I work with LOVE having treats in the office. And that's just during the rest of the year - at Christmas they just go nuts. Today there are 3 or 4 separate boxes of chocolates, 2 boxes of mince pies, and 2 boxes of chocolate covered biscuits dotted around on the cabinets lining the main corridor. It's like a gauntlet of food everytime you step away from your desk.
Yesterday it was just the chocolates - none of the rest of it had appeared yet. Yesterday my eating was fine ... if you ignore the however-many-far-too-many Celebrations chocolates that found there way into my mouth. Today the temptation, and variety of it, is trebled. Well ... enough. Today I challenge myself to keep my hands and my mouth out of the snacks. It's 11am now and I'm clean so far. I'm also not hungry and I've kept myself busy which helps.
So there's my challenge. I'm still after that elusive number on the scale on Friday, and I've got a lunch out tomorrow to navigate. Time to pull the big girl pants on and suck it up!
On a separate note - how delish was my breakfast this morning??? I had porridge Christmas-stylee! When it was cooked I added a couple of teaspoons of golden caster sugar and a 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon, stirred it and popped it in the microwave for a 30 second blast ... soooooooo nice!!! Try it! Warm and spicy and Christmassy!
-- Posted from my iPhone
Tuesday, 22 December 2009
Ummm ... ouch?
I learned a valuable lesson last night: coming in out of the freezing cold into a very warm room and starting Balance almost straight away with Shivas (reach tall and then swing and release down into fold position) is a recipe for an achey back.
I did Balance last night, followed by a 45min Bootcamp class. By halfway through Balance my back was twinging a little bit. By the time we got to the 3 - yes, 3!! - back-to-back abs tracks in Bootcamp my back was out right twanging and tightening up and generally not a happy bunny!!!
Today it's best described as crunchy. Not the best. Luckily, I didn't have any hardcore exercise scheduled for tonight - just lots of errands that'll help me keep moving, which is probably the best possible thing for it. I'm picking my Dad up straight from work this evening to go do the Christmas food shop - this is good because it means I get to partly cotrol what food is in the house over the festive period when I'm staying with him. After that I think I'm going to meet friends for one last drink before everyone scatters there separate ways to go home to their families - so we'll be walking to and from the pub.
I'm going to heed the lessons I've learnt earlier in the year with regard to my back - rest and gentle movement heal it much quicker - and by gentle I now know that my physio means normal day-to-day movement not exercise.
Food-wise I need to keep tracking, tracking tracking everything as that's where I go wrong. Track it before I eat it if possible. Then I stay on plan. And I want to stay on plan. I want to recapture what I saw on the scales at the weekend and score another loss come Friday. So now I've just got to do it!
-- Posted from my iPhone
I did Balance last night, followed by a 45min Bootcamp class. By halfway through Balance my back was twinging a little bit. By the time we got to the 3 - yes, 3!! - back-to-back abs tracks in Bootcamp my back was out right twanging and tightening up and generally not a happy bunny!!!
Today it's best described as crunchy. Not the best. Luckily, I didn't have any hardcore exercise scheduled for tonight - just lots of errands that'll help me keep moving, which is probably the best possible thing for it. I'm picking my Dad up straight from work this evening to go do the Christmas food shop - this is good because it means I get to partly cotrol what food is in the house over the festive period when I'm staying with him. After that I think I'm going to meet friends for one last drink before everyone scatters there separate ways to go home to their families - so we'll be walking to and from the pub.
I'm going to heed the lessons I've learnt earlier in the year with regard to my back - rest and gentle movement heal it much quicker - and by gentle I now know that my physio means normal day-to-day movement not exercise.
Food-wise I need to keep tracking, tracking tracking everything as that's where I go wrong. Track it before I eat it if possible. Then I stay on plan. And I want to stay on plan. I want to recapture what I saw on the scales at the weekend and score another loss come Friday. So now I've just got to do it!
-- Posted from my iPhone
Monday, 21 December 2009
Gotta keep moving!
So another weekend's been and gone. I finished Saturday being fine for food but then spoilt it a bit yesterday by going out for dinner and having sticky toffee pudding for dessert - this is what happens when you accept late invitations for Xmas dinners you hadn't planned for and then take your eye off the ball. At least I'm starting to think more about hungry I am though, as I didn't automatically devour everything on my plate for my main course.
As I lay in bed yesterday morning thinking about getting up I was busy talking myself into going for the run that I chickened out of on Sat because if the cold. And you know what I saw when I got up and opened the damn curtains - frigging shining bright mirror ice all over the road and pavements outside. The cars and pedestrians looked like Bambi on ice out there, so no WAY was I going to be running on it. Hell, you couldn't even walk properly on it, and it just didn't melt either. Damn - foiled again! I did get a little bit of exercise helping Sheena move some of her stuff in, carrying it up the steep drive from the road (no cars could get up our drive at all) and then up two flights of stairs to the flat. Other than that and going to see my Dad, I stayed firmly indoors in the warm!
Today we've had our dept's Xmas quiz and lunch. I'm on our social committee so this is something I've been planning for the last couple of weeks, so I was quite nervous all morning that everything should go well. We had a buffet lunch but I just kept an eye on what I ate, and tonight I'm going for a short yoga class and then a bootcamp class with Bridget after work, so that'll be a good chance to work up a sweat!
I think exercise is going to be a bit hit and miss between now and the New Year as after tonight all my regular classes are cancelled and the weather's certainly making running difficult! My plan is to get my exercise where I can: walk to the pub for for Xmas drinks, walk on the hills and the common, especially if we get lots of lovely snow - hell if we get that much snow play with the sledges and burn some calories laughing myself silly and running back up the hill, go running from Dad's house over Xmas if the roads / paths clear enough and use the Wii fitness software that I bought. I don't want to just sit in and veg, because I'll feel gross if I do. Gotta keep moving!!! I feel I can move the scales downward a little bit more yet this year!
Ooooh - do you think we might even have a White Christmas this year?? How exciting!!
-- Posted from my iPhone
As I lay in bed yesterday morning thinking about getting up I was busy talking myself into going for the run that I chickened out of on Sat because if the cold. And you know what I saw when I got up and opened the damn curtains - frigging shining bright mirror ice all over the road and pavements outside. The cars and pedestrians looked like Bambi on ice out there, so no WAY was I going to be running on it. Hell, you couldn't even walk properly on it, and it just didn't melt either. Damn - foiled again! I did get a little bit of exercise helping Sheena move some of her stuff in, carrying it up the steep drive from the road (no cars could get up our drive at all) and then up two flights of stairs to the flat. Other than that and going to see my Dad, I stayed firmly indoors in the warm!
Today we've had our dept's Xmas quiz and lunch. I'm on our social committee so this is something I've been planning for the last couple of weeks, so I was quite nervous all morning that everything should go well. We had a buffet lunch but I just kept an eye on what I ate, and tonight I'm going for a short yoga class and then a bootcamp class with Bridget after work, so that'll be a good chance to work up a sweat!
I think exercise is going to be a bit hit and miss between now and the New Year as after tonight all my regular classes are cancelled and the weather's certainly making running difficult! My plan is to get my exercise where I can: walk to the pub for for Xmas drinks, walk on the hills and the common, especially if we get lots of lovely snow - hell if we get that much snow play with the sledges and burn some calories laughing myself silly and running back up the hill, go running from Dad's house over Xmas if the roads / paths clear enough and use the Wii fitness software that I bought. I don't want to just sit in and veg, because I'll feel gross if I do. Gotta keep moving!!! I feel I can move the scales downward a little bit more yet this year!
Ooooh - do you think we might even have a White Christmas this year?? How exciting!!
-- Posted from my iPhone
Saturday, 19 December 2009
Chilled by the cold and chilling out
I'm chilled out, I'm sat in front of the tv watching the Strictly Come Dancing finals and I've had a nice day. I was over on points yesterday, as I had a Chinese takeaway for dinner. I hadn't actually planned on eating as much as I did, but a combination of the flat being absolutely freezing and me being unable to get anything like comfortably warm, and all the cash machines being broken by the takeaway, so I had to pay on card and meet a minimum cost, led me to getting a cheeky portion of spare ribs. Pretty much tasted like heaven, but I actually felt a bit ill afterwards.
That said I've got plenty of points to spare this evening, even after my dinner. I'm playing around with a lovely recipe tonight for sauteed chicken with cider and tarragon - I say playing around because the original recipe has both butter and double cream in, so I'm trying it with some healthier substitutes - will let you know how that goes!
Running has not happened over the last couple of days because it is tooooooooo bitterly cold to get out - the temps with wind-chill here are about -12 celcius at the moment ..... brrrrrrr-idiculous! The only exercise that has happened was Body Balance on Thursday, which was a really good session. Mind you, I've not been sitting that still as I've been tidying round the flat and helping move Sheena's stuff in, as well as running round the shops getting stuff sorted for Christmas.
I've been into town today and bought a wooly hat with pom-pom and some layering clothes, because it's flaming cold and I LOVE hats - you should seriously see how many I take skiing!!!
I also found gorgeous orginal oil painting in the Christmas arts and crafts market in the grounds of the priory, which was an absolute bargain! Can you believe this was £40???
And finally I bought more more veg as I seem to be getting through a lot of it at the moment! Oooh - and some heavenly festive fudge! Which I may have started nibbling while I'm watching Strictly ....
How strange - I'm now watching the broadcast of Take That's Circus Tour on ITV, and have just realised it was the gig I was actually at in Wembley this summer!!!! Good memories!! And funny to think I'm somewhere in those crowd shots!
That said I've got plenty of points to spare this evening, even after my dinner. I'm playing around with a lovely recipe tonight for sauteed chicken with cider and tarragon - I say playing around because the original recipe has both butter and double cream in, so I'm trying it with some healthier substitutes - will let you know how that goes!
Running has not happened over the last couple of days because it is tooooooooo bitterly cold to get out - the temps with wind-chill here are about -12 celcius at the moment ..... brrrrrrr-idiculous! The only exercise that has happened was Body Balance on Thursday, which was a really good session. Mind you, I've not been sitting that still as I've been tidying round the flat and helping move Sheena's stuff in, as well as running round the shops getting stuff sorted for Christmas.
I've been into town today and bought a wooly hat with pom-pom and some layering clothes, because it's flaming cold and I LOVE hats - you should seriously see how many I take skiing!!!
I also found gorgeous orginal oil painting in the Christmas arts and crafts market in the grounds of the priory, which was an absolute bargain! Can you believe this was £40???
And finally I bought more more veg as I seem to be getting through a lot of it at the moment! Oooh - and some heavenly festive fudge! Which I may have started nibbling while I'm watching Strictly ....
How strange - I'm now watching the broadcast of Take That's Circus Tour on ITV, and have just realised it was the gig I was actually at in Wembley this summer!!!! Good memories!! And funny to think I'm somewhere in those crowd shots!
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