Over Christmas, one of my friends had a health scare. Well, it was a lot more than just a scare -- he'll be going home with less bits than he went in with. I won't go into any more detail, as it's not my story to tell. What I can tell you though, is that it's shaken us all up a bit. His wife and family are freaking out. We're all worried about him. And it's made us all re-think how (if?) we've been looking after ourselves in the last few years.
I certainly haven't been looking after myself as well as I could have, I know that. But that's a topic for a future post. Right now, I'm feeling for my friends (both husband and wife) and their families, and all our friends. I'm worried about all the things he's committed to and how they will work themselves out with him in hospital and later, recovering.
I'm also noticing some feelings and thoughts coming up in myself that I don't like, that I'm ashamed of. I'm not angry at my friend -- even though this is a situation that could have been prevented if he'd taken better care of himself in the last few years. I started having thoughts that I didn't like. How stereotypical it is for this to happen. How embarrassed he must be. How embarrassed I would be if it happened to me. How frustrating it is because I don't want to feed into the biased and uninformed views of the healthist elite.
And trying to think back and analyse -- just how badly had he been eating? How much worse compared to me? Could I get away with my current levels of everything that I'd be OK? And yeah, I was also a bit scared that it might happen to me, too.
I didn't mean to make this post all about me. I guess I'm a bit confused at the moment.
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
27 December 2016
09 October 2012
I'm back!
I'm back! Hello! I've been on holiday! Yup, you didn't see that one coming, a ninja holiday. The main reason Husband and I went was to attend our friends' wedding and to support them in organising it, etc. We also had some fun times. But let's get the whingeing and whining out of the way first. I had suspected the tropics weren't for me, and I was right. I just can't cope with the heat and humidity. Beforehand I thought: this is gonna be great! 8 days where I can go for lots of walks, swim every day, maybe twice a day! I'll be nice and trim and fit by the end of it! Or further along the way, at least.
Well, I went for one single walk, along the beach. That was a social walk, not a cardio session. (A lovely experience, but not much fat was burned, I suspect.) The rest of the time, it was either too hot, too humid, or too rainy. Sometimes, all 3 at once!
As for swimming, I went for 3 short swims, the kind where you're just floating around in the water, nothing strenuous. I wanted to get up early and swim before it got too humid and sunny, but the pool didn't open til 8am. Most of the time the situation was - well, we're meeting up with the other people we know up here soon, don't wanna get my hair wet and have to take another shower and get changed again, so I'll just hang out in the room and read or work on my puzzle book in the air-conditioned comfort.
We went on a tour of the rainforest. Which was great! I really loved it. From a physical activity point of view though ... the description said we were going on a bush walk. Don't get me wrong, the walk was interesting, but it was about 10 minutes in duration, along a flat concrete path. So my hopes of getting some good exercise that day didn't come true, plus we stopped off and ate ice cream on the way back! Gosh, it was delicious ice cream, though.
Speaking of food, I ate like all get-out. We cooked for ourselves in the room for most meals, actually. Hoping to save some money - groceries were very expensive there, but I'm sure eating out every night would have cost even more. So therefore my eating patterns were similar to what they normally are on weekends: largish breakfast, smallish lunch, no snacks, medium healthy dinner, and largish unhealthy dessert. Yes you read right, large unhealthy dessert! I've yet to kick that habit. More on that later. The only difference was probably less coffee and tea (no time/too hot). Come to think of it though, we almost definitely ate healthier than if we'd eaten out for every meal, anyway.
I weighed myelf when I got back, and wished I hadn't. I've put on over 2kgs in the last month or so. However, I did weigh myself sometime after lunch, not first thing in the morning, so I'm not going to put it officially on record. I'll wait til next week and see what the scales say then.
On the bright side -
I didn't get sunburnt!
I had a lot of fun on the 2 tours we went on, and with the other people up there for the wedding. The wedding itself was really beautiful and it was wonderful to see the bridal couple so happy.
I slept really well. I got to sleep so quickly and slept through the night, unlike at home. There was only one night near the start where I woke up in the middle of the night. Even though I woke up early in the mornings and didn't sleep in, I felt refreshed. The dark circles under my eyes had just about vanished by the time the holiday was over!
I discovered I love snorkelling! We went on a tour of the coral reefs, and I went snorkelling and saw the most amazing corals and fish. It was brilliant! I'm going to buy my own snorkelling gear and use it every chance I can. I don't know if there's anywhere to go snorkelling near home, but I'll find out!
On the plane on the way home, I had one of those epiphanies, you know those ones where you start out dreading having to go back home to your old routine. But then you decide that things are going to be different!. Don't worry, it wasn't a big one, I'm not going to quit my job and go live in a teepee or anything. It was only a mini-epiphany. I just want to actually do the things that I tell myself I'm going to do. Not even big things, either. Just little things like: go for a walk at lunchtime, drink a whole bottle of water (I've gotten out of these habits the last month or so), do something from my Things To Do List, meditate after work, or do something active on the weekend. They're perfectly easy and reasonable things to do, but I haven't been doing them. They would be so good for my wellbeing, but still, I haven't been doing them. The reasons why are a bit too full-on for me to go into right now. (This post is long enough already!)
There's been some Good Stuff, though. I had the day off yesterday, but after Husband got home from work, we went to the supermarket and bought lots of fruit and veges! Normally we buy a few things, and we run out during the week, or don't have them at every meal. But this time I bought extra. (I'm having celery sticks with my mid-morning rice cakes, a banana for afternoon tea, and we're having lots-o-veg in our paella tonight.) I was feeling a bit bad that I hadn't done any exercise, but after we got home from the supermarket it was still light (yay daylight savings!) and I still had some energy, so I went for a walk. At first I'd be gone for 15-20 minutes max, but somehow I kept deciding I could go that little bit further, and it ended up being 30 minutes. Yay me! I haven't had time to think about what my next challenge will be, or even how I'll record what I've done in the meantime, but at least this is recorded here on my blog. ;)
When I was on holiday, I started reading 2 books I downloaded onto my iPod. (I read a lot of short stories as well, but only these two are relevant here.) They were Lose Weight Without Dieting: The Animal Kingdom Way and How to Sleep Well. I was about a chapter into each one by the time I got home, and after the horrendous night's sleep I had last night, I decided to concentrate on How to Sleep Well first. Cos I figured, the stuff in the other book would be just that bit harder to do if my sleep bank were running on empty. =) I'll report back on my findings.
Well, I went for one single walk, along the beach. That was a social walk, not a cardio session. (A lovely experience, but not much fat was burned, I suspect.) The rest of the time, it was either too hot, too humid, or too rainy. Sometimes, all 3 at once!
As for swimming, I went for 3 short swims, the kind where you're just floating around in the water, nothing strenuous. I wanted to get up early and swim before it got too humid and sunny, but the pool didn't open til 8am. Most of the time the situation was - well, we're meeting up with the other people we know up here soon, don't wanna get my hair wet and have to take another shower and get changed again, so I'll just hang out in the room and read or work on my puzzle book in the air-conditioned comfort.
We went on a tour of the rainforest. Which was great! I really loved it. From a physical activity point of view though ... the description said we were going on a bush walk. Don't get me wrong, the walk was interesting, but it was about 10 minutes in duration, along a flat concrete path. So my hopes of getting some good exercise that day didn't come true, plus we stopped off and ate ice cream on the way back! Gosh, it was delicious ice cream, though.
Speaking of food, I ate like all get-out. We cooked for ourselves in the room for most meals, actually. Hoping to save some money - groceries were very expensive there, but I'm sure eating out every night would have cost even more. So therefore my eating patterns were similar to what they normally are on weekends: largish breakfast, smallish lunch, no snacks, medium healthy dinner, and largish unhealthy dessert. Yes you read right, large unhealthy dessert! I've yet to kick that habit. More on that later. The only difference was probably less coffee and tea (no time/too hot). Come to think of it though, we almost definitely ate healthier than if we'd eaten out for every meal, anyway.
I weighed myelf when I got back, and wished I hadn't. I've put on over 2kgs in the last month or so. However, I did weigh myself sometime after lunch, not first thing in the morning, so I'm not going to put it officially on record. I'll wait til next week and see what the scales say then.
On the bright side -
I didn't get sunburnt!
I had a lot of fun on the 2 tours we went on, and with the other people up there for the wedding. The wedding itself was really beautiful and it was wonderful to see the bridal couple so happy.
I slept really well. I got to sleep so quickly and slept through the night, unlike at home. There was only one night near the start where I woke up in the middle of the night. Even though I woke up early in the mornings and didn't sleep in, I felt refreshed. The dark circles under my eyes had just about vanished by the time the holiday was over!
I discovered I love snorkelling! We went on a tour of the coral reefs, and I went snorkelling and saw the most amazing corals and fish. It was brilliant! I'm going to buy my own snorkelling gear and use it every chance I can. I don't know if there's anywhere to go snorkelling near home, but I'll find out!
On the plane on the way home, I had one of those epiphanies, you know those ones where you start out dreading having to go back home to your old routine. But then you decide that things are going to be different!. Don't worry, it wasn't a big one, I'm not going to quit my job and go live in a teepee or anything. It was only a mini-epiphany. I just want to actually do the things that I tell myself I'm going to do. Not even big things, either. Just little things like: go for a walk at lunchtime, drink a whole bottle of water (I've gotten out of these habits the last month or so), do something from my Things To Do List, meditate after work, or do something active on the weekend. They're perfectly easy and reasonable things to do, but I haven't been doing them. They would be so good for my wellbeing, but still, I haven't been doing them. The reasons why are a bit too full-on for me to go into right now. (This post is long enough already!)
There's been some Good Stuff, though. I had the day off yesterday, but after Husband got home from work, we went to the supermarket and bought lots of fruit and veges! Normally we buy a few things, and we run out during the week, or don't have them at every meal. But this time I bought extra. (I'm having celery sticks with my mid-morning rice cakes, a banana for afternoon tea, and we're having lots-o-veg in our paella tonight.) I was feeling a bit bad that I hadn't done any exercise, but after we got home from the supermarket it was still light (yay daylight savings!) and I still had some energy, so I went for a walk. At first I'd be gone for 15-20 minutes max, but somehow I kept deciding I could go that little bit further, and it ended up being 30 minutes. Yay me! I haven't had time to think about what my next challenge will be, or even how I'll record what I've done in the meantime, but at least this is recorded here on my blog. ;)
When I was on holiday, I started reading 2 books I downloaded onto my iPod. (I read a lot of short stories as well, but only these two are relevant here.) They were Lose Weight Without Dieting: The Animal Kingdom Way and How to Sleep Well. I was about a chapter into each one by the time I got home, and after the horrendous night's sleep I had last night, I decided to concentrate on How to Sleep Well first. Cos I figured, the stuff in the other book would be just that bit harder to do if my sleep bank were running on empty. =) I'll report back on my findings.
06 September 2012
Midweek Ramblings
I'm tired again today, but as The Husbandy One pointed out this morning, it's a different kind of tired to normal. It's more of a 'I walked a really long way yesterday and now my body needs a little bit of time out' sort of tired. Because I did walk a really long way yesterday: 3.42 km! I thought perhaps I'd have to catch a tram back from finding the elephants to where I normally get on public transport, but I walked all the way back. I'm proud of myself. I find that after I do a goodly work out, I feel a bit less anxious, more centred and content. I'm certainly not a zen master or anything! But it goes a little way to helping.
I thought I'd weigh myself this morning.
Hm!
I thought, surely with the exercise I've been doing lately, perhaps I've lost a little weight? No, not only have I not lost weight, but I've put on 0.8 kgs. It was a blow, but then I reminded myself: you're in this game to become healthier and fitter, not to try and force a number on a scale to change. You've been doing great things lately, so feel good about those!
Speaking of achieving things, I haven't had the time or energy (or the money, really) to reward myself for the milestones I've reached for the Baby Elephant Walk challenge. And I've realised: it's not really that important to me right now. I'm really focussed on planning what I'm going to do next, rather than looking back on what I've already done. I found some more potentially useful websites yesterday, but I'll talk more about those later.
In Other Ramblings ...
Meanwhile, Ithreatened promised to talk about food recently. I think my diet is mostly pretty good these days.
Sorry for the interruption, but gosh I hate the word 'diet'. I want to use it in a neutral way to describe what I eat, but it's not a neutral word. It implies a lot of things I don't want to be associated with, like deprivation, restriction and extremism. I want to come up with a new term that describes what I eat/drink in a way that feels good for me. Now back to your regular programme...
As I was saying, I think my eating is mostly pretty good. There's definitely room for improvement, though. I can feel a bullet point list coming on!
Things I'm doing well on:
* healthy, filling breakfasts on workdays
* eating enough fruit
* drinking at least 1.5 litres of water a day
* cut back alcohol consumption to 1 or 2 drinks a week. I've been known not to drink alcohol at all on a Friday or Saturday night now! *gasp!*
* saying no to food when I'm not hungry; not eating too much just to finish off a meal when I'm already satisfied
* I (still) don't drink soft drink, or eat donuts, biscuits or chips. I just don't really like these things anymore.
Things I'm still working on / only do sometimes:
* eating a healthy, balanced lunch
* having a milo instead of a chocolate bar in response to sweet cravings at work in the afternoons
* cutting back on coffee. It's just so good!
* eating a home-cooked, healthy dinner - I'd say I'm at about 90% on this one.
* eating and drinking enough/appropriately when exercising.
Things I'm not doing so good on:
* not eating enough vegetables - I usually only eat veges at dinner time.
* giving in to cravings, and eating too much and/or unhealthy snacks when I get home from work
* unbalanced eating on the weekends - i.e. a huge breakfast and then very little throughout the day, plus not that healthy either.
* dessert. Too much and too unhealthy!
I don't have time to analyse all this right now. More in future posts.
I thought I'd weigh myself this morning.
Hm!
I thought, surely with the exercise I've been doing lately, perhaps I've lost a little weight? No, not only have I not lost weight, but I've put on 0.8 kgs. It was a blow, but then I reminded myself: you're in this game to become healthier and fitter, not to try and force a number on a scale to change. You've been doing great things lately, so feel good about those!
Speaking of achieving things, I haven't had the time or energy (or the money, really) to reward myself for the milestones I've reached for the Baby Elephant Walk challenge. And I've realised: it's not really that important to me right now. I'm really focussed on planning what I'm going to do next, rather than looking back on what I've already done. I found some more potentially useful websites yesterday, but I'll talk more about those later.
In Other Ramblings ...
Meanwhile, I
Sorry for the interruption, but gosh I hate the word 'diet'. I want to use it in a neutral way to describe what I eat, but it's not a neutral word. It implies a lot of things I don't want to be associated with, like deprivation, restriction and extremism. I want to come up with a new term that describes what I eat/drink in a way that feels good for me. Now back to your regular programme...
As I was saying, I think my eating is mostly pretty good. There's definitely room for improvement, though. I can feel a bullet point list coming on!
Things I'm doing well on:
* healthy, filling breakfasts on workdays
* eating enough fruit
* drinking at least 1.5 litres of water a day
* cut back alcohol consumption to 1 or 2 drinks a week. I've been known not to drink alcohol at all on a Friday or Saturday night now! *gasp!*
* saying no to food when I'm not hungry; not eating too much just to finish off a meal when I'm already satisfied
* I (still) don't drink soft drink, or eat donuts, biscuits or chips. I just don't really like these things anymore.
Things I'm still working on / only do sometimes:
* eating a healthy, balanced lunch
* having a milo instead of a chocolate bar in response to sweet cravings at work in the afternoons
* cutting back on coffee. It's just so good!
* eating a home-cooked, healthy dinner - I'd say I'm at about 90% on this one.
* eating and drinking enough/appropriately when exercising.
Things I'm not doing so good on:
* not eating enough vegetables - I usually only eat veges at dinner time.
* giving in to cravings, and eating too much and/or unhealthy snacks when I get home from work
* unbalanced eating on the weekends - i.e. a huge breakfast and then very little throughout the day, plus not that healthy either.
* dessert. Too much and too unhealthy!
I don't have time to analyse all this right now. More in future posts.
13 August 2012
The Weekend
I went for a walk on Saturday. Yay me, can I have a cookie now?
I'm so cynical because we walked to the cinema and back to see a movie, so it doesn't seem like 'real exercise'. Though it was 1km each way, so I did have to put in a little bit of effort. Foodwise I only had 2 meals: pancakes with hamsteak and egg for breakfast, and nachos for dinner. So I ate badly, but at least I didn't eat a lot.
On Sunday I was terribly slovenly. After telling myself I was going to do some housework, some craft and either another walk or yoga, I ended up spending approximately 9 hours on Pinterest. Oops. I just suddenly decided that some of my boards needed to be re-arranged, and before I knew it, it was nearly dinner-time. I'm like a collector who can spend all day happily sorting and re-sorting their collection without even noticing the hours fly by. Mine is just a virtual collection. =) Unfortunately I paid the price, though. My neck was sore, my shoulders were stiff, I had a pain in my mouse-hand, my legs didn't want to move. I finally hobbled away from the computer when I was too hungry to ignore dinner time anymore. I'm going to forgive myself because I wasn't feeling well yesterday, for "personal reasons" that I'm sure every woman can understand.
I obviously haven't learnt my lesson about sitting on the computer all day, because I'm strongly tempted to skip my lunchtime walk today so I have more time to spend on Pinterest! I'm not feeling very well again today anyway...........
Meanwhile....
Last week I had a whinge about clothes and such. Well, I've decided not to be so silly and just wear whatever I feel like - not what I feel I should wear; not what suits the weather or the 'feel' of an occasion; not what I dream of wearing but in reality would make me feel very self-conscious. I'm being a bit vague, I know, but there are several events coming up that I was stressing over; they're all different, but I was stressing in the same way about all of them!
That's one good thing that sunk into my head from Pinterest over the last few days. Images of people from the streets with quotes saying that they wear whatever makes them happy, not caring what other people think. I feel very restricted to the kinds of clothes I have access to, as a 'person of size'. But geez, if even Beth Ditto has to make her own clothes, then so can I! (My style is different to hers, but I have the samepoor non-existent choice in the styles I prefer.) Although, Pinterest is a double-edged sword, because I found myself becoming envious not only of women who are smaller than me, but women who are the same size and larger as well! Just anyone who seems to be having more fun than me, I guess. I'm currently working on a list of 5 Ways To Make My Life More Interesting. Perhaps I'll post it tomorrow.
I'm so cynical because we walked to the cinema and back to see a movie, so it doesn't seem like 'real exercise'. Though it was 1km each way, so I did have to put in a little bit of effort. Foodwise I only had 2 meals: pancakes with hamsteak and egg for breakfast, and nachos for dinner. So I ate badly, but at least I didn't eat a lot.
On Sunday I was terribly slovenly. After telling myself I was going to do some housework, some craft and either another walk or yoga, I ended up spending approximately 9 hours on Pinterest. Oops. I just suddenly decided that some of my boards needed to be re-arranged, and before I knew it, it was nearly dinner-time. I'm like a collector who can spend all day happily sorting and re-sorting their collection without even noticing the hours fly by. Mine is just a virtual collection. =) Unfortunately I paid the price, though. My neck was sore, my shoulders were stiff, I had a pain in my mouse-hand, my legs didn't want to move. I finally hobbled away from the computer when I was too hungry to ignore dinner time anymore. I'm going to forgive myself because I wasn't feeling well yesterday, for "personal reasons" that I'm sure every woman can understand.
I obviously haven't learnt my lesson about sitting on the computer all day, because I'm strongly tempted to skip my lunchtime walk today so I have more time to spend on Pinterest! I'm not feeling very well again today anyway...........
Meanwhile....
Last week I had a whinge about clothes and such. Well, I've decided not to be so silly and just wear whatever I feel like - not what I feel I should wear; not what suits the weather or the 'feel' of an occasion; not what I dream of wearing but in reality would make me feel very self-conscious. I'm being a bit vague, I know, but there are several events coming up that I was stressing over; they're all different, but I was stressing in the same way about all of them!
That's one good thing that sunk into my head from Pinterest over the last few days. Images of people from the streets with quotes saying that they wear whatever makes them happy, not caring what other people think. I feel very restricted to the kinds of clothes I have access to, as a 'person of size'. But geez, if even Beth Ditto has to make her own clothes, then so can I! (My style is different to hers, but I have the same
10 August 2012
The Spirit Is Willing, but the Flesh is just so darned Weak!
I guess some things have been percolating away in my brain this week, because I've done a couple of small things to change. On Wednesday, I went out to lunch, and though I did order dessert, I didn't eat all of it. There were only a couple of bites left, but I was feeling full. Instead of just eating it anyway like is my old habit, I left it.
Then I weighed myself the yesterday morning. I haven't done that in ages. I have it on my Things To Do app (repeating once a fortnight), but every time it comes up, I've been moving it to the next week. Turns out I've been doing that for the 5 months! As the last time I recorded my weight was in March. oooops! And yes, I have put on weight. I'm still below my starting weight, so not all is lost. I wasn't really upset when I saw the number - it was to be expected considering my lifestyle recently, and I'm so sick of beating myself up, wasting that energy, that I didn't even bother. I just felt a sort of quiet determination.
Then this morning i re-arranged my ipod a bit. I have some exercise and weight loss apps that I was trialling. I moved them to the front page in a separate folder so I won't forget they're there. I was trialling a couple that track weight loss with stats, graphs, etc. Previously I hadn't been able to decide which one I wanted to go with. Today I decided to go with Weight Diary Free and entered my current weight in it. (I'm going to check out the paid version and upgrade if it's worth it. Maybe I'll do a review of some soon!) Seeing that graph line going up instead of down made me sad, but again, rather than getting all depressed, I felt determined.
This morning in the shower as well, I was thinking about the concept of Healthy At Every Size. I'm all for it. In my last post, I wrote that I'm not healthy. I think that's actually not true. Yes, I do have some ailments, but they don't stop me from physically doing anything I want to do. I'll admit that one of them is most likely weight-related (high blood pressure), but none of the others are. (And may I point out that I pay the full price for my blood pressure medication - I don't get any tax-payer-funded concessions!) In fact, I've even had one ailment normally associated with overwight (fatty liver) which has gone away, even though at the time I gained weight rather than lost it! That does even my head in! Everyone's idea of what is healthy is different, I think, just like everyone's body is different.
Anyway, I think my point is that in my last post, I was getting 'healthy' and 'fit' mixed up. (They're definitely related, but I don't have time for a semantics discussion right now!) I'm fairly healthy for someone of my weight, but definitely not very fit. Seeing Healthy At Every Size mentioned, makes me remember that my primary want/goal is to be fitter and healthier. I feel motivated to revive my running programme that I created a couple of years ago in response to the Couch to 5K programmes that are out there (which I called the Bed to Couch or B2C). More on that later!
Then I weighed myself the yesterday morning. I haven't done that in ages. I have it on my Things To Do app (repeating once a fortnight), but every time it comes up, I've been moving it to the next week. Turns out I've been doing that for the 5 months! As the last time I recorded my weight was in March. oooops! And yes, I have put on weight. I'm still below my starting weight, so not all is lost. I wasn't really upset when I saw the number - it was to be expected considering my lifestyle recently, and I'm so sick of beating myself up, wasting that energy, that I didn't even bother. I just felt a sort of quiet determination.
Then this morning i re-arranged my ipod a bit. I have some exercise and weight loss apps that I was trialling. I moved them to the front page in a separate folder so I won't forget they're there. I was trialling a couple that track weight loss with stats, graphs, etc. Previously I hadn't been able to decide which one I wanted to go with. Today I decided to go with Weight Diary Free and entered my current weight in it. (I'm going to check out the paid version and upgrade if it's worth it. Maybe I'll do a review of some soon!) Seeing that graph line going up instead of down made me sad, but again, rather than getting all depressed, I felt determined.
This morning in the shower as well, I was thinking about the concept of Healthy At Every Size. I'm all for it. In my last post, I wrote that I'm not healthy. I think that's actually not true. Yes, I do have some ailments, but they don't stop me from physically doing anything I want to do. I'll admit that one of them is most likely weight-related (high blood pressure), but none of the others are. (And may I point out that I pay the full price for my blood pressure medication - I don't get any tax-payer-funded concessions!) In fact, I've even had one ailment normally associated with overwight (fatty liver) which has gone away, even though at the time I gained weight rather than lost it! That does even my head in! Everyone's idea of what is healthy is different, I think, just like everyone's body is different.
Anyway, I think my point is that in my last post, I was getting 'healthy' and 'fit' mixed up. (They're definitely related, but I don't have time for a semantics discussion right now!) I'm fairly healthy for someone of my weight, but definitely not very fit. Seeing Healthy At Every Size mentioned, makes me remember that my primary want/goal is to be fitter and healthier. I feel motivated to revive my running programme that I created a couple of years ago in response to the Couch to 5K programmes that are out there (which I called the Bed to Couch or B2C). More on that later!
30 July 2012
Monday Again??!
It's Monday and I'm posting in my blog again. I'm so predictable!
I had a pretty good weekend. I ate, I drank, I stayed up late, I sat around on the couch watching the Olympics opening ceremony. On the healthy side, I went to the chiropractor and ... well, that's about it, really! =)
The best part about it was - I didn't beat myself up about it at all. It feels so freeing. Beating myself up about things I haven't done hasn't worked. I think it rarely does, for anyone! The other approach, of just relaxing and going with the flow, is much less stressful. I just wonder though ... when will things actually start to change? There's a danger in becoming too complacent. I'm worried that I'll just slide along through life, then suddenly I'll wake up one day at 60 and realise my health is ruined and there's no going back. That's terrifying.
How many times have I tried to change and it didn't stick? Why is that? I don't really have time to go into that right now, seeing as I'm on my lunchbreak at work. It needs some quiet time alone, and probably lots of it, at that. In the meantime, last night I decided that I'd do one good thing for myself every day, no matter how small it is. That can't be too hard, could it? They could include:
* drinking a cup of green tea
* going for a walk
* drinking a milo instead of eating chocolate (which was a habit that I thought was fixed - until I ran out of milo at work!)
* meditating
* eating a piece of fruit
* drinking a bottle of water
* eating an egg or small snack before I leave for work
Obviously, I should probably be doing all of these things every day, but I just want to start with one small step, and keep it going every day so that at least I'm starting to focus on it. Ease myself into it with baby steps instead of going cold turkey. Except I think it's only called 'going cold turkey' when you stop doing something suddenly, not when you start! But you know what I mean. Anyway, now I'm rambling.
The End.
I had a pretty good weekend. I ate, I drank, I stayed up late, I sat around on the couch watching the Olympics opening ceremony. On the healthy side, I went to the chiropractor and ... well, that's about it, really! =)
The best part about it was - I didn't beat myself up about it at all. It feels so freeing. Beating myself up about things I haven't done hasn't worked. I think it rarely does, for anyone! The other approach, of just relaxing and going with the flow, is much less stressful. I just wonder though ... when will things actually start to change? There's a danger in becoming too complacent. I'm worried that I'll just slide along through life, then suddenly I'll wake up one day at 60 and realise my health is ruined and there's no going back. That's terrifying.
How many times have I tried to change and it didn't stick? Why is that? I don't really have time to go into that right now, seeing as I'm on my lunchbreak at work. It needs some quiet time alone, and probably lots of it, at that. In the meantime, last night I decided that I'd do one good thing for myself every day, no matter how small it is. That can't be too hard, could it? They could include:
* drinking a cup of green tea
* going for a walk
* drinking a milo instead of eating chocolate (which was a habit that I thought was fixed - until I ran out of milo at work!)
* meditating
* eating a piece of fruit
* drinking a bottle of water
* eating an egg or small snack before I leave for work
Obviously, I should probably be doing all of these things every day, but I just want to start with one small step, and keep it going every day so that at least I'm starting to focus on it. Ease myself into it with baby steps instead of going cold turkey. Except I think it's only called 'going cold turkey' when you stop doing something suddenly, not when you start! But you know what I mean. Anyway, now I'm rambling.
The End.
27 June 2012
I've given up on my food diary again! Ok well -
I think I mentioned a while back that I made up a template for a daily food/exercise/health diary booklet. I printed out the templates, stapled them together into a booklet, and took it with me to work and home. I filled it in faithfully for about a month. It worked pretty well. It was handy for work, portable and easy to fill in. However, as with all my previous food diaries, there was only one issue - the act of filling it in and recording everything didn't actually change what I ate! What purpose is a food diary for? How is it supposed to work? Is it supposed to make you aware of what you're eating? And by extension, change what you eat? Is it supposed to make you too ashamed to eat anything unhealthy because you'd have to admit it by recording it for all posterity?
Well, none of that worked for me. I ate and then wrote down chocolates, lollies, cakes, big chunks of rocky road; all without thinking about it for even one second. I did faithfully write them all down, but I didn't think at all about differentiating between different types of foods (i.e. foods that it's OK to eat a lot vs. foods that I should only be eating occasionally, if at all). It was all just the same.
So the only conclusion I can come to is that keeping a food diary is a waste of time for me. It doesn't have the desired effect. So that's it! I'm not gonna do it anymore!
However, there's just one little niggling thing with that. When I do eat healthy foods, I want to acknowledge it. Feel good about it and reward myself (not with more food though! eheheh). I don't know why, but I just thought I should call them 'Foods that Support my Long-Term Happiness'. That has an element of mindfulness to it that I think I really need. I could post them on the blog. But I don't want it to become an interminably boring roster of my most base, mundane daily habits. Although I'm sure it's already quite dull. (Sorry, I don't know why my writing is so melodramatic at the moment!)
So anyway, enough blathering on. I ate the following Foods that Supported my Long-Term Happiness yesterday: natural yoghurt with fresh paw paw for breakfast, carrot sticks for morning tea; green coffee with lunch; a banana for afternoon tea.
Healthy Behaviours: I didn't eat the chocolate! Day 2 of not eating the chocolate. Did a toning workout in the evening while waiting for dinner to cook (admittedly it was pretty short, but definitely a good step forwards).
And today (so far): whole wheat cereal with fresh paw paw for breakfast. Carrot sticks for morning tea. Though they tend to give me a stomach ache, so I might have to re-think.
Meanwhile...
This morning I wasn't feeling so good as I did yesterday. Not much energy, feeling a bit blah. Hump day. Still, things aren't so bad, because I can successfully cheer myself up by telling myself that things aren't so bad.
I really want to buy something. I'm on a spending ban this month. Husband and I need to save money at the moment. I've been pretty good too, I think. I only bought a scarf to replace my favourite one that I lost, and 2 tops from the same site which were on sale. Also, 2 books from the book depository during their 24-hour sale, which were under $5 each. Actually, the sale was quite fun: on their homepage they put up one book per hour which was insanely cheap. Most of them sold out pretty quick, so they put up back-up books until the next hour started. Of course, many of them were ones I wasn't interested in, but I'm surprised I managed to hold back and only get 2. Unfortunately I only found out about the sale when it was nearly over, probably a good thing, really! The books haven't arrived yet. Now I'm really, really tempted to go to the "all books $5 shop" near my work at lunch time. It's had a 'closing down sale' sign on it for the last couple of weeks. One part of me says 'wait til next week, then it'll be July and your spending ban will be officially over'. Another part of me says, 'you should go this week, today! It might close down any day now, and it's end of financial year, it probably won't be open next week and you'll miss out! Not only that, but you have to go today, because you're too busy the rest of the week! So it has to be today!'.
Dilemmas!
I think I mentioned a while back that I made up a template for a daily food/exercise/health diary booklet. I printed out the templates, stapled them together into a booklet, and took it with me to work and home. I filled it in faithfully for about a month. It worked pretty well. It was handy for work, portable and easy to fill in. However, as with all my previous food diaries, there was only one issue - the act of filling it in and recording everything didn't actually change what I ate! What purpose is a food diary for? How is it supposed to work? Is it supposed to make you aware of what you're eating? And by extension, change what you eat? Is it supposed to make you too ashamed to eat anything unhealthy because you'd have to admit it by recording it for all posterity?
Well, none of that worked for me. I ate and then wrote down chocolates, lollies, cakes, big chunks of rocky road; all without thinking about it for even one second. I did faithfully write them all down, but I didn't think at all about differentiating between different types of foods (i.e. foods that it's OK to eat a lot vs. foods that I should only be eating occasionally, if at all). It was all just the same.
So the only conclusion I can come to is that keeping a food diary is a waste of time for me. It doesn't have the desired effect. So that's it! I'm not gonna do it anymore!
However, there's just one little niggling thing with that. When I do eat healthy foods, I want to acknowledge it. Feel good about it and reward myself (not with more food though! eheheh). I don't know why, but I just thought I should call them 'Foods that Support my Long-Term Happiness'. That has an element of mindfulness to it that I think I really need. I could post them on the blog. But I don't want it to become an interminably boring roster of my most base, mundane daily habits. Although I'm sure it's already quite dull. (Sorry, I don't know why my writing is so melodramatic at the moment!)
So anyway, enough blathering on. I ate the following Foods that Supported my Long-Term Happiness yesterday: natural yoghurt with fresh paw paw for breakfast, carrot sticks for morning tea; green coffee with lunch; a banana for afternoon tea.
Healthy Behaviours: I didn't eat the chocolate! Day 2 of not eating the chocolate. Did a toning workout in the evening while waiting for dinner to cook (admittedly it was pretty short, but definitely a good step forwards).
And today (so far): whole wheat cereal with fresh paw paw for breakfast. Carrot sticks for morning tea. Though they tend to give me a stomach ache, so I might have to re-think.
Meanwhile...
This morning I wasn't feeling so good as I did yesterday. Not much energy, feeling a bit blah. Hump day. Still, things aren't so bad, because I can successfully cheer myself up by telling myself that things aren't so bad.
I really want to buy something. I'm on a spending ban this month. Husband and I need to save money at the moment. I've been pretty good too, I think. I only bought a scarf to replace my favourite one that I lost, and 2 tops from the same site which were on sale. Also, 2 books from the book depository during their 24-hour sale, which were under $5 each. Actually, the sale was quite fun: on their homepage they put up one book per hour which was insanely cheap. Most of them sold out pretty quick, so they put up back-up books until the next hour started. Of course, many of them were ones I wasn't interested in, but I'm surprised I managed to hold back and only get 2. Unfortunately I only found out about the sale when it was nearly over, probably a good thing, really! The books haven't arrived yet. Now I'm really, really tempted to go to the "all books $5 shop" near my work at lunch time. It's had a 'closing down sale' sign on it for the last couple of weeks. One part of me says 'wait til next week, then it'll be July and your spending ban will be officially over'. Another part of me says, 'you should go this week, today! It might close down any day now, and it's end of financial year, it probably won't be open next week and you'll miss out! Not only that, but you have to go today, because you're too busy the rest of the week! So it has to be today!'.
Dilemmas!
26 June 2012
Back!
Back again already! I guess I just feel like writing at the moment. In fact, I even started writing this post yesterday, I was that eager. A few things -
* I mentioned to my chiropractor the thing with my knees and he seems to have different ideas about what's wrong; I'm having x-rays done on Friday. Though since he adjusted my knees they haven't been hurting as much, and it feels more like the pain of tight muscles. Which is more familiar, less scary and hopefully will be easier to fix.
* Speaking of adjustments, the ergonomics man came to our office last week, and he sorted us all out. Things were lowered, other things were lifted up, other things were gotten rid of. It's going to take a bit of getting used to, but I felt more comfortable immediately! He also recommended a new chair for me in his report. *pumps fist in the air and says, 'yesssssss'* He showed me how to adjust it when it comes, as well. I love the ergonomics man! (Not in that way, in an ergonomic-y way. Ahem.).
* I went for a walk at lunch time yesterday. The first in 2 weeks. It must have been meant to be - it was dry (though cold) and a pale sun was edging out from behind the clouds. Yet just after time lunch time was over, the clouds had closed in again and it was wet. Not just wet, but the rain was slanting sideways past my window. If I had the time, I'd imagine the foggy clouds were drifting, not past the grey monoliths of my city, but the infinitely more majestic craggy mountains of the Scottish highlands.
Eugh, sorry, don't know what came over me there.
* I've been really wanting to eat vegetables at the moment, too. Just get a whole bunch, roast em up in a tin, and eat em! Broccoli soup with parmesan, it sounds delicious. I've been trawling Pinterest looking for inspirational pictures of healthy winter foods. Yesterday morning when I was really tired (fall-asleep-at-the-desk tired) I bought myself a chocolate bar, thinking I'd really be wanting it after lunch. But strangely enough, I didn't eat it. I snipped the wrapper open with a pair of scissors, and I just sniffed it whenever I felt stressed. But the thought of actually eating it made me feel a bit queasy. I didn't feel like eating chocolate! I'm kind of freaking myself out here! =D I wonder how long an opened chocolate bar lasts until it goes off? Or at least no longer smells good??
* I'm feeling more positive than I have in a long time. I even started a craft project! I'm starting to think that things could actually happen. Reading some of my favourite blogs last night, I came across this post by Mana Starre: Weight Loss Tips: Ones That Worked for Me. I've been reading her blog for a couple of years. She lost 10kgs so far, is half-way to her goal, and can now fit into her dream La Parfait dress! Using sensible methods, all while studying in her last year of high school, and with a boyfriend who's addicted to junk food. I'm not at the same stage of life as her (and not into the same type of fashion), but darrrrnit, if she can do it, so can I! It also made me remember that I was going to set up an inspirational links page. Now may be the time to start!
* Here's a recipe for a basic iced green tea that I found:
* 4 cups boiling water
* 8 green tea bags
* 2 cups cold water
* 1/2 cup Splenda or other artificial sweetener
Directions:
1. In a saucepan, pour boiling water over tea bags; cover and steep 5 minutes.
2. Remove tea bags from water, squeezing gently.
3. Stir in 2 cups cold water and sweetener, stirring until sweetener dissolves.
4. Serve with ice and optional fruit.
From here.
* I mentioned to my chiropractor the thing with my knees and he seems to have different ideas about what's wrong; I'm having x-rays done on Friday. Though since he adjusted my knees they haven't been hurting as much, and it feels more like the pain of tight muscles. Which is more familiar, less scary and hopefully will be easier to fix.
* Speaking of adjustments, the ergonomics man came to our office last week, and he sorted us all out. Things were lowered, other things were lifted up, other things were gotten rid of. It's going to take a bit of getting used to, but I felt more comfortable immediately! He also recommended a new chair for me in his report. *pumps fist in the air and says, 'yesssssss'* He showed me how to adjust it when it comes, as well. I love the ergonomics man! (Not in that way, in an ergonomic-y way. Ahem.).
* I went for a walk at lunch time yesterday. The first in 2 weeks. It must have been meant to be - it was dry (though cold) and a pale sun was edging out from behind the clouds. Yet just after time lunch time was over, the clouds had closed in again and it was wet. Not just wet, but the rain was slanting sideways past my window. If I had the time, I'd imagine the foggy clouds were drifting, not past the grey monoliths of my city, but the infinitely more majestic craggy mountains of the Scottish highlands.
Eugh, sorry, don't know what came over me there.
* I've been really wanting to eat vegetables at the moment, too. Just get a whole bunch, roast em up in a tin, and eat em! Broccoli soup with parmesan, it sounds delicious. I've been trawling Pinterest looking for inspirational pictures of healthy winter foods. Yesterday morning when I was really tired (fall-asleep-at-the-desk tired) I bought myself a chocolate bar, thinking I'd really be wanting it after lunch. But strangely enough, I didn't eat it. I snipped the wrapper open with a pair of scissors, and I just sniffed it whenever I felt stressed. But the thought of actually eating it made me feel a bit queasy. I didn't feel like eating chocolate! I'm kind of freaking myself out here! =D I wonder how long an opened chocolate bar lasts until it goes off? Or at least no longer smells good??
* I'm feeling more positive than I have in a long time. I even started a craft project! I'm starting to think that things could actually happen. Reading some of my favourite blogs last night, I came across this post by Mana Starre: Weight Loss Tips: Ones That Worked for Me. I've been reading her blog for a couple of years. She lost 10kgs so far, is half-way to her goal, and can now fit into her dream La Parfait dress! Using sensible methods, all while studying in her last year of high school, and with a boyfriend who's addicted to junk food. I'm not at the same stage of life as her (and not into the same type of fashion), but darrrrnit, if she can do it, so can I! It also made me remember that I was going to set up an inspirational links page. Now may be the time to start!
* Here's a recipe for a basic iced green tea that I found:
* 4 cups boiling water
* 8 green tea bags
* 2 cups cold water
* 1/2 cup Splenda or other artificial sweetener
Directions:
1. In a saucepan, pour boiling water over tea bags; cover and steep 5 minutes.
2. Remove tea bags from water, squeezing gently.
3. Stir in 2 cups cold water and sweetener, stirring until sweetener dissolves.
4. Serve with ice and optional fruit.
From here.
23 May 2012
Quick Checkin
Just saying hi today with a quick checkin.
Not much has been happening around here lately. I've been making sure to go for a walk at lunchtime nearly every day, when I can. I managed 3 days last week, so I'm feeling pretty good about that. And Husband and I went for a walk on the weekend, too. On Monday morning I ran for the tram and was barely puffed! Instead of my knees hurting every day now, they only hurt about half the time. So yeah, baby steps! There are other things I still want to improve on, like doing other types of exercising instead of just walking (mainly toning); and eating healthier at night. More green tea, more often, would be good too!
I've been focussing too much on what I can't do, what I haven't done, what I'm not. I want to focus more on the positive, building on what I've already done and not regretting things I haven't done.
Anyway, off to lunch now.
Not much has been happening around here lately. I've been making sure to go for a walk at lunchtime nearly every day, when I can. I managed 3 days last week, so I'm feeling pretty good about that. And Husband and I went for a walk on the weekend, too. On Monday morning I ran for the tram and was barely puffed! Instead of my knees hurting every day now, they only hurt about half the time. So yeah, baby steps! There are other things I still want to improve on, like doing other types of exercising instead of just walking (mainly toning); and eating healthier at night. More green tea, more often, would be good too!
I've been focussing too much on what I can't do, what I haven't done, what I'm not. I want to focus more on the positive, building on what I've already done and not regretting things I haven't done.
Anyway, off to lunch now.
10 May 2012
Feeling much better
Feeling much better today than I have in the last few days. Yesterday I nearly fell asleep in the toilet around morning tea time, even after 4 coffees. Today I've only had one and I feel alert and with-it! Could be because I slept better. Could be because I stayed in bed a little later this morning. Could be that the one coffee that I had was a bottle of extra-strong iced coffee I drank as soon as I got into work!
Seeing Husband getting better and better each day is a weight off my mind, too. I get less and less stressed each day that he gets better and better! And there's one thing I've noticed with him being away from home. Without him there to do things for me, I don't have that guilty and unworthy feeling that I often get when he does things for me. Anyway, that's just a thing I have.
Meanwhile....
Just this morning I started thinking that maybe I should start recording my food intake again. I know I raved about the Count Eat app, but I gave up on it after a couple of weeks. True, it was much easier to enter in foods than with traditional calorie-counting apps, but I don't have access to my ipod all the time. I don't have the kind of job where I can just whip it out whenever I feel like. Plus I also feel guilty doing stuff like that on work time as well! So I would wait until after work to enter the foods in, and I'd have to think back and try to remember what I ate throughout the day. I was worried that I'd forget something, and it was annoying. I kept forgetting more and more often til I realised I wasn't doing it at all anymore.
It's not the app that's the problem at all. It's a really good app and I'd recommend it. It's just not suitable for my life circumstances. I'm going back to the good old pen and paper! Right after I finish this post, I'm going to have a go at designing a food diary template. Yeah, I'm sure you can get plenty on the internet, but I want one that's perfect for me and the kinds of things I want to record. Plus I enjoy mucking around with Excel spreadsheets. =)
Seeing Husband getting better and better each day is a weight off my mind, too. I get less and less stressed each day that he gets better and better! And there's one thing I've noticed with him being away from home. Without him there to do things for me, I don't have that guilty and unworthy feeling that I often get when he does things for me. Anyway, that's just a thing I have.
Meanwhile....
Just this morning I started thinking that maybe I should start recording my food intake again. I know I raved about the Count Eat app, but I gave up on it after a couple of weeks. True, it was much easier to enter in foods than with traditional calorie-counting apps, but I don't have access to my ipod all the time. I don't have the kind of job where I can just whip it out whenever I feel like. Plus I also feel guilty doing stuff like that on work time as well! So I would wait until after work to enter the foods in, and I'd have to think back and try to remember what I ate throughout the day. I was worried that I'd forget something, and it was annoying. I kept forgetting more and more often til I realised I wasn't doing it at all anymore.
It's not the app that's the problem at all. It's a really good app and I'd recommend it. It's just not suitable for my life circumstances. I'm going back to the good old pen and paper! Right after I finish this post, I'm going to have a go at designing a food diary template. Yeah, I'm sure you can get plenty on the internet, but I want one that's perfect for me and the kinds of things I want to record. Plus I enjoy mucking around with Excel spreadsheets. =)
09 May 2012
Dinner and Things
Made a delicious dinner last night, if I do say so myself! Even though I was really tired from visiting Husband in the hospital, I was excited to cook some Japanese. I started out by making a carrot pickle with a new carrot I'd bought at the supermarket, and some gherkins. While this was simmering, I got some greens from the fridge and stir fried them up. I added some leftover beef strips we'd already cooked on the weekend. Also a little finely chopped salami to add interest. For the sauce, I added some soy sauce, dashi, ginger and a dab of honey. At the last minute, I cracked in an egg and stirred it in until cooked. I served it over instant rice (not perfect, but quick!), with the pickled carrot and a sprinkle of furikaki as a garnish. By that stage, I was pretty hungry, so I ate it with a spoon.
Was quite proud of myself! Normally there's something I don't like about meals I cook. Either it doesn't taste quite right, or one component is undercooked or overcooked. But this was just right! If only Husband had been home to taste it. I also wish I'd made enough so I'd have leftovers for tonight. I don't think I have the energy to repeat that performance, sadly. Probably by the end of the week, I'll be eating Maccas! ;)
In Other News
I haven't had the time or energy to exercise for, oh, about a week now. And I'm telling you, it sucks! I actually like exercising, because I like the way I feel generally when I'm exercising regularly. Weekdays are pretty much off the board right now. But I don't want to just give up exercising altogether. I'll be doing a lot of housework on the weekend, but I'm really determined to fit in some body time somewhere! All I want to do lately though, is get on the internet and read blogs and watch youtube videos. Now if only I could exercise while surfing the internet at the same time, that would be heaven. I could get one of those sitting-down type bikes and set up a rig for my laptop.
Heh, I'm just rambling now, so I'll sign off.
Was quite proud of myself! Normally there's something I don't like about meals I cook. Either it doesn't taste quite right, or one component is undercooked or overcooked. But this was just right! If only Husband had been home to taste it. I also wish I'd made enough so I'd have leftovers for tonight. I don't think I have the energy to repeat that performance, sadly. Probably by the end of the week, I'll be eating Maccas! ;)
In Other News
I haven't had the time or energy to exercise for, oh, about a week now. And I'm telling you, it sucks! I actually like exercising, because I like the way I feel generally when I'm exercising regularly. Weekdays are pretty much off the board right now. But I don't want to just give up exercising altogether. I'll be doing a lot of housework on the weekend, but I'm really determined to fit in some body time somewhere! All I want to do lately though, is get on the internet and read blogs and watch youtube videos. Now if only I could exercise while surfing the internet at the same time, that would be heaven. I could get one of those sitting-down type bikes and set up a rig for my laptop.
Heh, I'm just rambling now, so I'll sign off.
08 May 2012
Food, glorious food
Hello! Didn't think you'd hear from me again so soon? Neither did I. Things are so crazy at the moment, I don't know if I'm coming or going, and don't have much time for anything. I don't think I've given up on my weight loss goal completely though, because I'm suddenly really interested in cooking healthy! Why on earth I'm so interesting in cooking when I have no time for it, I don't know. That's just like me: it's like my brain is deliberately trying to be frustrating!
At the moment I'm reading a book set in Japan: Kafka on the Shore. Whenever the characters have something to eat, it's described more or less in detail, and it's usually traditional Japanese food, so now I have a real hankering for Japanese food! Compounded by the fact that I was leafing through last month's SBS Feast Magazine yesterday, and they had a feature on Japanese dishes. I love Japanese food so much, but I always have a pre-conception that it's fiddly and takes a long time. The dishes in the book though, were really simple, hearty stuff like miso soup and fried eel with rice, katsu pork with noodles. Mmm!
I have to laugh at myself, really - I'll be cooking for one for the next week, and I just assumed that I'd hate the cooking and would want to get takeaway or something. But I'm actually looking forward to it. Now I'm torn between spending as much time with Husband as possible, and coming home a little early to whip up a healthy, Asian-inspired meal. Sigh!
At the moment I'm reading a book set in Japan: Kafka on the Shore. Whenever the characters have something to eat, it's described more or less in detail, and it's usually traditional Japanese food, so now I have a real hankering for Japanese food! Compounded by the fact that I was leafing through last month's SBS Feast Magazine yesterday, and they had a feature on Japanese dishes. I love Japanese food so much, but I always have a pre-conception that it's fiddly and takes a long time. The dishes in the book though, were really simple, hearty stuff like miso soup and fried eel with rice, katsu pork with noodles. Mmm!
I have to laugh at myself, really - I'll be cooking for one for the next week, and I just assumed that I'd hate the cooking and would want to get takeaway or something. But I'm actually looking forward to it. Now I'm torn between spending as much time with Husband as possible, and coming home a little early to whip up a healthy, Asian-inspired meal. Sigh!
18 April 2012
Thinking
Yesterday someone at work found out that it was my birthday and in the afternoon my workmates rushed out and bought me some flowers and chocolates! How absolutely lovely! I was so embarrassed and so pleased. Having only been there 3 months, it really made me feel like I'm appreciated and I'm starting to fit in. Then last night Husband made me a delicious meal, and I got lots of messages wishing me a happy birthday. Even though I didn't do anything above and beyond the ordinary, it was really lovely. I spent most of the evening just relaxing, and did a little bit of craft. Nice.
Today I'm really tired. But I know why - I haven't had my juice! Since we got the juicer, Husband and I have been having a glass in the mornings before work. We've been adding a little protein powder, aloe vera juice and olive leaf extract. Protein gives you energy, aloe vera soothes my colitis, and I can't remember what the olive leaf is for right now! All I know is, on mornings when we don't drink the juice for whatever reason, I'm dead tired all day. When I do drink it, I feel pretty normal. So yeah, go the juice!
I also weighed myself this morning - bad idea! Guess Easter's caught up with me. I don't wanna talk about it! Time to examine my habits again and make an effort to change them. To wit -
1. often very busy at work in the afternoons, not paying attention to whether I'm hungry, therefore I'm usually starving before I'm even halfway home and I'm raiding the cupboards as soon as I get home;
2. usually exhausted after work, with no energy for exercising;
3. not paying enough attention to what I'm eating and what's in it, especially at home and on the weekends;
4. not exercising on the weekend, the exact time when I have plenty of time and scads of energy; why am I not taking advantage of this?? answer: because other activities are more compelling (i.e. I'm lazy!);
5. staying up later than I should because I'm not sleepy at the right time, and/or taking (herbal) sleeping tablets to help me sleep;
6. letting negative thoughts take over my life and affect my behaviour/enjoyment of life;
7. a few other personal things which I'm too embarrassed to reveal here.
Interestingly, I'm more than willing to list what I don't like about my current routine, but now that it's time to figure out how to change it, I'm stalling. Ah well, that's always the way, isn't it? It's not because I can't think of what to do. It's because I don't really believe I'll go ahead and do it. I can't count the number of times I've made resolutions, drawn up goals, created timetables and schedules and lists of rules. And I've never stuck to any of them! Not for more than a few days/weeks, anyway.
However, I'm determined, so I'm going to force myself to come up with at least one solution for each of the above problems. Think of it like a brainstorming exercise.
1. get a supply of muesli bars or something and, earlier in the day, put one in a visible place as a reminder; get a selection of convenient healthy snacks that I can grab and eat at home, healthier versions of what I normally crave.
2. go for walks at lunchtime. sure, the exercise isn't as vigorous or lengthy as it could be, but at least it's a start.
3. prepare ahead of time for meals on the weekend, just like I prepare for the working week. Go to the supermarket a second time on Thursday or Friday so we don't run out of fresh food by the weekend. I have more time to cook on the weekend, so make it fun by trying out a new recipe or ingredient.
4. this is a hard one! perhaps concentrate on more interesting exercises rather than just walking (hello kinect!) Turn it into something fun like a shopping trip or take my camera if going for a walk. Give myself a treat (though it's hard for me to think of treats other than food). Make a rule that I can't go on the computer until I've exercised. (Actually that works better than you might think for me, because if I've already exercised then I don't have to feel guilty. Maybe a little emotionally unhealthy, but if it works, right? hmmm)
5. re-training myself to go to bed earlier through persistence. Setting the DVR to record interesting shows so I'm not tempted to stay up later. Using meditation techniques so I'm more relaxed around bedtime.
6. being more mindful of my thoughts and countering/questioning them. Reminding myself when I'm in a sad mood that it's OK and it will pass. Using meditation to help with anxiety.
7. hopefully some of the things in point 6 and other positive changes will help with these things. (I know I'm being vague, but I don't care!)
Tonight I'll have another look at this and see if I can condense it down into 2 or 3 of the most helpful and do-able changes.
Today I'm really tired. But I know why - I haven't had my juice! Since we got the juicer, Husband and I have been having a glass in the mornings before work. We've been adding a little protein powder, aloe vera juice and olive leaf extract. Protein gives you energy, aloe vera soothes my colitis, and I can't remember what the olive leaf is for right now! All I know is, on mornings when we don't drink the juice for whatever reason, I'm dead tired all day. When I do drink it, I feel pretty normal. So yeah, go the juice!
I also weighed myself this morning - bad idea! Guess Easter's caught up with me. I don't wanna talk about it! Time to examine my habits again and make an effort to change them. To wit -
1. often very busy at work in the afternoons, not paying attention to whether I'm hungry, therefore I'm usually starving before I'm even halfway home and I'm raiding the cupboards as soon as I get home;
2. usually exhausted after work, with no energy for exercising;
3. not paying enough attention to what I'm eating and what's in it, especially at home and on the weekends;
4. not exercising on the weekend, the exact time when I have plenty of time and scads of energy; why am I not taking advantage of this?? answer: because other activities are more compelling (i.e. I'm lazy!);
5. staying up later than I should because I'm not sleepy at the right time, and/or taking (herbal) sleeping tablets to help me sleep;
6. letting negative thoughts take over my life and affect my behaviour/enjoyment of life;
7. a few other personal things which I'm too embarrassed to reveal here.
Interestingly, I'm more than willing to list what I don't like about my current routine, but now that it's time to figure out how to change it, I'm stalling. Ah well, that's always the way, isn't it? It's not because I can't think of what to do. It's because I don't really believe I'll go ahead and do it. I can't count the number of times I've made resolutions, drawn up goals, created timetables and schedules and lists of rules. And I've never stuck to any of them! Not for more than a few days/weeks, anyway.
However, I'm determined, so I'm going to force myself to come up with at least one solution for each of the above problems. Think of it like a brainstorming exercise.
1. get a supply of muesli bars or something and, earlier in the day, put one in a visible place as a reminder; get a selection of convenient healthy snacks that I can grab and eat at home, healthier versions of what I normally crave.
2. go for walks at lunchtime. sure, the exercise isn't as vigorous or lengthy as it could be, but at least it's a start.
3. prepare ahead of time for meals on the weekend, just like I prepare for the working week. Go to the supermarket a second time on Thursday or Friday so we don't run out of fresh food by the weekend. I have more time to cook on the weekend, so make it fun by trying out a new recipe or ingredient.
4. this is a hard one! perhaps concentrate on more interesting exercises rather than just walking (hello kinect!) Turn it into something fun like a shopping trip or take my camera if going for a walk. Give myself a treat (though it's hard for me to think of treats other than food). Make a rule that I can't go on the computer until I've exercised. (Actually that works better than you might think for me, because if I've already exercised then I don't have to feel guilty. Maybe a little emotionally unhealthy, but if it works, right? hmmm)
5. re-training myself to go to bed earlier through persistence. Setting the DVR to record interesting shows so I'm not tempted to stay up later. Using meditation techniques so I'm more relaxed around bedtime.
6. being more mindful of my thoughts and countering/questioning them. Reminding myself when I'm in a sad mood that it's OK and it will pass. Using meditation to help with anxiety.
7. hopefully some of the things in point 6 and other positive changes will help with these things. (I know I'm being vague, but I don't care!)
Tonight I'll have another look at this and see if I can condense it down into 2 or 3 of the most helpful and do-able changes.
23 March 2012
Quickie
A quick one from my iPod's tiny keyboard.
Doing OK this week.
Food: mostly good. Only had small desserts & stayed within goal.
Exercise: walked on Mon. The exhausted. Wed did toning & squats. Thu & Fri thighs very sore! Limping around, no chance of any exercise, it just hurt too much.
I had a very busy week at work, so I'm looking forward to relaxing this weekend.
Now it's bedtime so goodnight!
Doing OK this week.
Food: mostly good. Only had small desserts & stayed within goal.
Exercise: walked on Mon. The exhausted. Wed did toning & squats. Thu & Fri thighs very sore! Limping around, no chance of any exercise, it just hurt too much.
I had a very busy week at work, so I'm looking forward to relaxing this weekend.
Now it's bedtime so goodnight!
15 March 2012
Food Diary
Just a quick update on how my new app CountEat is going.
Well!
I've already been able to pinpoint some problem areas and figure out what to do about it. Namely - the dessert area! On the weekend, Boy and I went to a new (to us) Middle Eastern supermarket and spent up big on many things, including some sweet treats. We've been having some for dessert every night this week. How easy it is to drop out of a new habit if it isn't well-established yet!
Need to get cracking and re-instate the no/small dessert habit before I lose motivation completely. Yes.....
Well!
I've already been able to pinpoint some problem areas and figure out what to do about it. Namely - the dessert area! On the weekend, Boy and I went to a new (to us) Middle Eastern supermarket and spent up big on many things, including some sweet treats. We've been having some for dessert every night this week. How easy it is to drop out of a new habit if it isn't well-established yet!
Need to get cracking and re-instate the no/small dessert habit before I lose motivation completely. Yes.....
14 March 2012
Food Diary
After weeks of searching, I think I've found a food diary app that suits me. It's certainly different from any other I've seen. It's called CountEat.
The thing I've always hated about food diaries is that you have to break down and analyse every single food you eat - 1 tsp margarine, 2 slices bread, what type of bread, how much did it weigh, etc. etc. Spending ages each day, entering it all in: I spend too much time thinking about food as it is. Boring, boring, boring! Stressing, depressing and not to mention annoying!
With this app, you look at the whole meal instead of breaking it down into individual ingredients. Foods are divided into 5 Categories, depending on how many calories they have overall. There are lots of example foods for each category, so it's easy to decide which one my meal falls into. Of course, it works best when I'm honest with myself - and I think I am (most of the time!). The app calculates the average amount of calories in the meal and tells you an estimate of the total you ate for the day. A slider shows my healthy eating range and whether I ate 'too much', 'a healthy amount', or even 'not enough'.
The app won't tell you any exact amounts, only an estimate. But an estimate, a guide, is all I've ever really wanted. Just so I know how I'm going and where I might need to improve. I've only been using it for a few days, but it's really working for me. So this is good.
Now I just need one that tracks my exercise. Still working on that one.
The thing I've always hated about food diaries is that you have to break down and analyse every single food you eat - 1 tsp margarine, 2 slices bread, what type of bread, how much did it weigh, etc. etc. Spending ages each day, entering it all in: I spend too much time thinking about food as it is. Boring, boring, boring! Stressing, depressing and not to mention annoying!
With this app, you look at the whole meal instead of breaking it down into individual ingredients. Foods are divided into 5 Categories, depending on how many calories they have overall. There are lots of example foods for each category, so it's easy to decide which one my meal falls into. Of course, it works best when I'm honest with myself - and I think I am (most of the time!). The app calculates the average amount of calories in the meal and tells you an estimate of the total you ate for the day. A slider shows my healthy eating range and whether I ate 'too much', 'a healthy amount', or even 'not enough'.
The app won't tell you any exact amounts, only an estimate. But an estimate, a guide, is all I've ever really wanted. Just so I know how I'm going and where I might need to improve. I've only been using it for a few days, but it's really working for me. So this is good.
Now I just need one that tracks my exercise. Still working on that one.
06 March 2012
A Whirlwind!
Hello!
What an interesting weekend I've had. Boy and I decided to have a quiet one and relax. We were channel-surfing on the TV and came across a documentary about an Australian guy who had a rare disease, had found a way to improve his condition, and was going around the U.S., trying to find others with the same disease and help them. I missed the start, so I didn't really know what it was all about. Turns out, it was Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead. I'd vaguely heard about it before, and hadn't thought very much about it. I figured it was probably some anti-body-diversity propaganda that would make me really angry. After all, the title is a bit provocative. I'm fat, yes, but I'm not sick and I'm certainly not nearly dead!
However, it was a very good thing that I got to watch it with no pre-conceptions. The doco was about one man, Phil, whom the Australian guy (Joe) met at a truck stop. He was, unfortunately, just like the title says. He was portrayed very sympathetically. Joe showed Phil what he had done to lose weight and help to improve his Urticaria (a skin disease that causes unbearable itchiness and blisters). The answer was, basically, a complete diet overhaul featuring freshly squeezed juices. Phil was, not just overweight, but sick too, and knew he was in trouble, so he asked for help. I really felt for him. I'm not as big as him, and not really sick, but I certainly related to when he talked about just not caring.
Phil took a holiday from his job as a truck driver, and went to stay in a small town by the lake. He went on a 're-boot' diet, eating/drinking nothing but fruit and vegetable juices for 30 days. He felt so fantastic that he decided to continue for another 30 days! He swam and walked every day - only a little at first, but it was so impressive to see him building slowly up. He went from struggling up 4 steps, to actually jogging! He looked absolutely fantastic afterwards. And of course was much healthier. It was so amazing and inspiring!
Well, obviously I can't take 2 months off work, and I'd go completely bananas-insane if I ate/drank nothing but juice for 2 months, but! The next day I went out and bought myself a juicer! I love it so much! Here's a picture of the model I got:
It's so sweet! It demolishes the fruit and vegges in a whirlwind of power! It sounds just like a woodchipper when you send something hard through it like a carrot or apple. Boy and I have had some great sessions throwing combinations of stuff in and seeing how it tastes. It's fun as well as healthy, and not only that, I got $40 off! Grandma would be proud.
Also! See the spout that comes out the left hand side? That's for all the fruit and vegge pulp. You can use the pulp in soups, stews, curries, etc. Boy and I love that sort of semi-frugal handiness.
Last night, we made fruit juice after dinner, with melon, apple, nectarines, a bit of carrot and ginger. It was delicious! Then after I drank it, I thought a little bit about having dessert. But then I didn't feel like it.
I didn't feel like eating dessert, people! Wow!
I'll just let that sink in for a second, because, that's big........
I was amazed. Normally, almost as soon as I've finished eating dinner, I'm starting to think about what to have for dessert, craving that sweet, sugary taste in my mouth. But not this time! I just had a cup of chai tea a bit later on. And, as I was getting ready for bed, I realised that I'd never had dessert. And it didn't worry me. Bizarre. (But in a good way!)
More updates as they happen.........
What an interesting weekend I've had. Boy and I decided to have a quiet one and relax. We were channel-surfing on the TV and came across a documentary about an Australian guy who had a rare disease, had found a way to improve his condition, and was going around the U.S., trying to find others with the same disease and help them. I missed the start, so I didn't really know what it was all about. Turns out, it was Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead. I'd vaguely heard about it before, and hadn't thought very much about it. I figured it was probably some anti-body-diversity propaganda that would make me really angry. After all, the title is a bit provocative. I'm fat, yes, but I'm not sick and I'm certainly not nearly dead!
However, it was a very good thing that I got to watch it with no pre-conceptions. The doco was about one man, Phil, whom the Australian guy (Joe) met at a truck stop. He was, unfortunately, just like the title says. He was portrayed very sympathetically. Joe showed Phil what he had done to lose weight and help to improve his Urticaria (a skin disease that causes unbearable itchiness and blisters). The answer was, basically, a complete diet overhaul featuring freshly squeezed juices. Phil was, not just overweight, but sick too, and knew he was in trouble, so he asked for help. I really felt for him. I'm not as big as him, and not really sick, but I certainly related to when he talked about just not caring.
Phil took a holiday from his job as a truck driver, and went to stay in a small town by the lake. He went on a 're-boot' diet, eating/drinking nothing but fruit and vegetable juices for 30 days. He felt so fantastic that he decided to continue for another 30 days! He swam and walked every day - only a little at first, but it was so impressive to see him building slowly up. He went from struggling up 4 steps, to actually jogging! He looked absolutely fantastic afterwards. And of course was much healthier. It was so amazing and inspiring!
Well, obviously I can't take 2 months off work, and I'd go completely bananas-insane if I ate/drank nothing but juice for 2 months, but! The next day I went out and bought myself a juicer! I love it so much! Here's a picture of the model I got:
It's so sweet! It demolishes the fruit and vegges in a whirlwind of power! It sounds just like a woodchipper when you send something hard through it like a carrot or apple. Boy and I have had some great sessions throwing combinations of stuff in and seeing how it tastes. It's fun as well as healthy, and not only that, I got $40 off! Grandma would be proud.
Also! See the spout that comes out the left hand side? That's for all the fruit and vegge pulp. You can use the pulp in soups, stews, curries, etc. Boy and I love that sort of semi-frugal handiness.
Last night, we made fruit juice after dinner, with melon, apple, nectarines, a bit of carrot and ginger. It was delicious! Then after I drank it, I thought a little bit about having dessert. But then I didn't feel like it.
I'll just let that sink in for a second, because, that's big........
I was amazed. Normally, almost as soon as I've finished eating dinner, I'm starting to think about what to have for dessert, craving that sweet, sugary taste in my mouth. But not this time! I just had a cup of chai tea a bit later on. And, as I was getting ready for bed, I realised that I'd never had dessert. And it didn't worry me. Bizarre. (But in a good way!)
More updates as they happen.........
27 February 2012
Right, that's It!
I mentioned last week that I was having problems with keeping my food & exercise diary and was looking for some kind of solution. The one I came up with was to make up a customised notebook and carry it around with me to record everything (I guess a more formalised version of what I've been doing the last few weeks).
Well, I can't be bothered doing even that! I'm just over the whole thing!
Yeah, I know! Losing weight isn't supposed to be easy. It takes years and lots of patience and work. Yet at the same time, the changes you're supposed to make to your lifestyle in order for them to become permanent need to be streamlined and appealing, or else they won't stick. I'm so confused!
What I'd really like is for eating healthy to become a habit. Then I don't even have to think about it. It's the fashion at the moment for people to say: if you do something every day for 3 weeks, then it becomes a habit. I read recently an addition to that: that you need to do something continuously for 6 months for it to truly become a lifestyle change. I've been drinking a bottle of water every day for long enough to become a lifestyle change, and now it seems natural to me.
In my experience though, it's more than that. It has to be something you enjoy doing, or at the very least, the benefits outweigh the pain-in-the-arse factor. I went to the gym 4 times a week for 9 months. Long enough for it to be a lifestyle change. But then I realised that I was no longer enjoying it, so I stopped. The novelty had worn off and I was over it. So you see, there needs to be more.
I'm still thinking about it!
In related news, the preliminary results of my little elimination diet experiment are back - I felt sick on Saturday morning after I'd had 2 glasses of wine the night before. Having eaten exactly the same meal on Saturday night, but no alcohol, on Sunday morning I felt perfectly fine. Aside, of course, from the sinking feeling that I may need to give up the pleasant pasttime and grand tradition of drinking wine! But you know what they say about experiments - they need to be repeatable. So I will just have to try it again a few times before I can be sure. ;)
Well, I can't be bothered doing even that! I'm just over the whole thing!
Yeah, I know! Losing weight isn't supposed to be easy. It takes years and lots of patience and work. Yet at the same time, the changes you're supposed to make to your lifestyle in order for them to become permanent need to be streamlined and appealing, or else they won't stick. I'm so confused!
What I'd really like is for eating healthy to become a habit. Then I don't even have to think about it. It's the fashion at the moment for people to say: if you do something every day for 3 weeks, then it becomes a habit. I read recently an addition to that: that you need to do something continuously for 6 months for it to truly become a lifestyle change. I've been drinking a bottle of water every day for long enough to become a lifestyle change, and now it seems natural to me.
In my experience though, it's more than that. It has to be something you enjoy doing, or at the very least, the benefits outweigh the pain-in-the-arse factor. I went to the gym 4 times a week for 9 months. Long enough for it to be a lifestyle change. But then I realised that I was no longer enjoying it, so I stopped. The novelty had worn off and I was over it. So you see, there needs to be more.
I'm still thinking about it!
In related news, the preliminary results of my little elimination diet experiment are back - I felt sick on Saturday morning after I'd had 2 glasses of wine the night before. Having eaten exactly the same meal on Saturday night, but no alcohol, on Sunday morning I felt perfectly fine. Aside, of course, from the sinking feeling that I may need to give up the pleasant pasttime and grand tradition of drinking wine! But you know what they say about experiments - they need to be repeatable. So I will just have to try it again a few times before I can be sure. ;)
24 February 2012
Friday Kind of Night
Wouldn't you know it?
Have you heard of elimination diets? Well, I'm trying one of my own. The last few months, my innards have been on a rollercoaster ride - some days good, some days bad. After examining my food diary, I've narrowed down the culprits to oily foods, spicy foods or alcohol (either spirits, wine or both). I tend to have various combinations of the 3 on weekends, so I'm usually sick on Saturday mornings, and often Sunday mornings, too. And I'm sick of being sick on my days off! So, a little experiment -
Boy made a spicy curry a few days ago. I've eaten it the last 2 nights and my tummy felt fine. Tonight (being Friday and all) I decided to add some wine to the mix and see how I fare. So yeah, this post comes to you straight from half-a-bottle of sparkling syrah.
In Other News ...
I finally wore my skirt today! It's been literally years since I last wore a skirt! The Bureau predicted it would be such a hot day, plus all of my pants were in the wash, so I thought, screw it! To paraphrase Virgie Tovar, I debuted that sh!t!
And guess what? I loved it!
I Loved It!!!
I thought I'd feel all self-conscious and daggy. I thought it would be annoying having to check my lady-parts weren't showing all the time. I thought I wouldn't have any tops that matched with it at all. Yeah, the top I wore was a little bit long, but it looked fine. I felt great! I felt so feminine and, well, not swelteringly hot! I have pretty good legs if I do say so myself - I have slender ankles and nicely shaped calves, and it was so great to be able to show them off. All day, walking around the office, I was thinking to myself, "look at me everyone! I'm wearing a skirt!" Of course, no-one realised that it was out of the ordinary for me at all. But I felt fantastic! I want to run out and buy more! And some better matching tops to go with them.
However...
Did I mention as well? I'm really trying to save up money at the moment, so last week (on 17th Feb to be exact) I made a pact with myself that I wouldn't buy anything unnecessary until the end of this month. I've stuck to it so far. It's been really hard at times. When I really felt like buying something, I've done some online window shopping, but bought not a whit. I'm quite proud of myself! So, no new clothes for me quite yet. But some next Thursday ... well!
Have you heard of elimination diets? Well, I'm trying one of my own. The last few months, my innards have been on a rollercoaster ride - some days good, some days bad. After examining my food diary, I've narrowed down the culprits to oily foods, spicy foods or alcohol (either spirits, wine or both). I tend to have various combinations of the 3 on weekends, so I'm usually sick on Saturday mornings, and often Sunday mornings, too. And I'm sick of being sick on my days off! So, a little experiment -
Boy made a spicy curry a few days ago. I've eaten it the last 2 nights and my tummy felt fine. Tonight (being Friday and all) I decided to add some wine to the mix and see how I fare. So yeah, this post comes to you straight from half-a-bottle of sparkling syrah.
In Other News ...
I finally wore my skirt today! It's been literally years since I last wore a skirt! The Bureau predicted it would be such a hot day, plus all of my pants were in the wash, so I thought, screw it! To paraphrase Virgie Tovar, I debuted that sh!t!
And guess what? I loved it!
I thought I'd feel all self-conscious and daggy. I thought it would be annoying having to check my lady-parts weren't showing all the time. I thought I wouldn't have any tops that matched with it at all. Yeah, the top I wore was a little bit long, but it looked fine. I felt great! I felt so feminine and, well, not swelteringly hot! I have pretty good legs if I do say so myself - I have slender ankles and nicely shaped calves, and it was so great to be able to show them off. All day, walking around the office, I was thinking to myself, "look at me everyone! I'm wearing a skirt!" Of course, no-one realised that it was out of the ordinary for me at all. But I felt fantastic! I want to run out and buy more! And some better matching tops to go with them.
However...
Did I mention as well? I'm really trying to save up money at the moment, so last week (on 17th Feb to be exact) I made a pact with myself that I wouldn't buy anything unnecessary until the end of this month. I've stuck to it so far. It's been really hard at times. When I really felt like buying something, I've done some online window shopping, but bought not a whit. I'm quite proud of myself! So, no new clothes for me quite yet. But some next Thursday ... well!
09 February 2012
Quick Hello
Just a quick update to say everything's been going along fairly standardly.
Kind of strange, though - on Monday I got home and I was bouncing with energy and revving to go. So I did my yoga DVD (for the first time in months!) and felt great and relaxed afterwards. I was looking forward to a week with more energy and getting more things done. Since then, I've felt quite tired after work and haven't done any more exercise. ... However, I haven't actually felt as bone-exhausted as I did last week. So it can be said that things are improving.
I think perhaps my diet needs a bit of looking at. For example, this week I've been having a carrot and some rice cakes for morning tea. Soon after, I get a stomach ache this turns into hunger. By lunch time, I'm starving! And plus I'm getting bored with carrots by Day 4 now anyway. =) I'm still liking the rice cakes though, so it'll only require a little adjustment.
I've also been more contemplative lately, too. With only a certain amount of time and energy available to me in my spare time, what do I really want to use them for? What's it all about? How can I be the real me instead of spending all my time on the internet and dreaming of being different?
Hopefully I'll have time to think about all that later. My lunch break is over now!
xx
Kind of strange, though - on Monday I got home and I was bouncing with energy and revving to go. So I did my yoga DVD (for the first time in months!) and felt great and relaxed afterwards. I was looking forward to a week with more energy and getting more things done. Since then, I've felt quite tired after work and haven't done any more exercise. ... However, I haven't actually felt as bone-exhausted as I did last week. So it can be said that things are improving.
I think perhaps my diet needs a bit of looking at. For example, this week I've been having a carrot and some rice cakes for morning tea. Soon after, I get a stomach ache this turns into hunger. By lunch time, I'm starving! And plus I'm getting bored with carrots by Day 4 now anyway. =) I'm still liking the rice cakes though, so it'll only require a little adjustment.
I've also been more contemplative lately, too. With only a certain amount of time and energy available to me in my spare time, what do I really want to use them for? What's it all about? How can I be the real me instead of spending all my time on the internet and dreaming of being different?
Hopefully I'll have time to think about all that later. My lunch break is over now!
xx
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