App of Wisdom!

Today's the last working day of the year for me. Strange. This year has gone so quick. So much has happened, yet nothing has happened. I'll save the maudlin reflections for another time, perhaps.
At the moment I'm busy planning my little New Year's Eve Party / Anniversary Dinner / Night-In that Boy and I have every year. I'm planning 3 courses with 2 entrees and 2 desserts. It's not as spectacular as it sounds. The main is nachos - easy! - and most of the other stuff I can make ahead of time and stick in the fridge. Boy is taking care of the drinks. Then all we have to do is line up our DVD queue for the night and we're all set!
Yes, we're boring.

The weather's going to be hot next week, so I might have to limit my exercise options to indoor-only. That's fine with me though, more reason to keep practicing with my Zumba game! I've decided to revive my running programme for next year. It's a dream of mine to be able to run (or jog at least!). I mentioned on my blog a while back, that I checked out the various Couch to 5km programmes that are out there. Well, my fitness level isn't good enough to do even Step 1 of any of them! Step 1 involves intervals of running/jogging for 90 seconds per interval (if my memory serves me correctly). I can't do that straight away! They're billed as a programme that anyone can do! What a load of rubbish! Instead of getting all depressed and down on myself, I decided to stick it to 'em and create my own programme! I called it the Bed to Couch programme (B2C). The objective is to start with walking 20mins (Level 0), then interval training starting with 10 seconds jogging alternating with walking (Level 1), then finally working up to the level where the Couch to 5km starts. I worked on it a for bit last summer until I got sick and everything slid back downhill again. I think now is a good time to revisit it.

Here's today's quote from my "App of Wisdom":

Fill your bowl to the brim and it will spill.
Keep sharpening your knife and it will blunt.

Break Time!

I've had a little break from everything - from work, from my food diary ... and from blogging too, it seems! So, a big update today. Things went really well over Christmas. I'm really proud of myself. I didn't once eat so much that I felt sick. I made sure I ate salad/veges at every meal as well as unhealthy stuff. I didn't drink too much.

(Well, I guess that depends on your definition of 'too much'. Enough to make me feel sick? Or enough to make me say things I shouldn't have? ..... )

Up until Christmas, things were not going too well exercise-wise. I was just too busy. Though running around the shops may have done some good, as B noted the other day that I look smaller from the back. Nice! That made me feel confident enough to weigh myself this morning and sadly, the scales and tape measure tell a different tale. Every measurement is higher! I've put on 1.2kgs since I last weighed myself in early November. I didn't have my last set of measurements to hand this morning, but I think they've gone up, too. More's the pity. But on the bright side, I put on less than 2kgs over the Christmas period! Last year I put on over 5kgs, and it took me all year to get them off again, so it's a win, really. Plus I don't feel terrible about myself like I did last year, either.

Not To Mention ...

Just before Christmas, Boy decided that we should have a blood pressure machine. Last time I went to the Doctor, my blood pressure was astronomical, though I'd been exercising right before I went to see him, so it could have been slightly skewed. (More than slightly!) I'd been a bit worried ever since, but not too much because of the skewed results. So then we bought the blood pressure monitor, which is made by a very reputable company that make ones for real-and-proper doctors as well. We took it home and measured ourselves straight away. Cos we love our new toys!
Well, it's still astronomical. Ahem.

So I have decided to Take Steps. Namely - 1) start putting an effort into exercising again (but building up slowly so I don't bust a vein); and 2) really making an effort to decrease my stress levels by meditating regularly.
And I have meditated every day since then. I find it really daunting, I just always get this idea in my head that I'm bad at it. So I've started with 1 minute per day. I don't time myself. In fact I do it in bed right before I go to sleep. And I find it helps me get off to sleep better. Some extremely stressful things have happened in the last few days, and I think it's helped me cope a bit better, in conjunction with the exercise. Now is time for me! I deserve it!
I'm also working on a list of goals for 2012, but I'll talk about that next time.

In Related News ...

Boy gave me what I wished for, for Christmas - the Zumba for Kinect game!



I've played it once so far and really enjoyed it. I can see myself playing it regularly - hopefully! I love dancing, and that's what this game is all about! I can't review it yet - 25 minutes of playing the most basic tutorials doesn't really give it justice - but we'll see.
Boy and I have been watching a lot of music videos lately to fill in time (while doing knitting or something like that, in my case) and I've been getting an urge to jump up and try to copy the dance moves! But I feel a bit daft and silly doing that, so I haven't ... yet!

Beauty Blather

Not much to say right now - could my obsession be waning? I'm really trying to save money at the moment, so I'm trying to cut back on the impulse purchases. I got an email just before Christmas from the Lust Have It mob, saying there will be no beauty box for January (and no charge). I was so disappointed I almost signed up with 'I Love This Box' (even lamer name!) as I heard some good reviews. But I've resisted so far! I'm not saying I'll resist much longer!
Writing up my beauty products inventory (see links in sidebar) has had another consequence that I didn't intend - it's made me realise how many things I have that are reaaaaalllly old. So I determined that I would throw away 5 items - and yesterday I did it! I sometimes have a tendency to hoarding, so this was in the Good Thing category.

And Finally ...

I'm absolutely obsessed with my new iPod Touch and all the apps I can get for it. In the last few days, I got a To-Do List, and one that I can use to track my exercise, weight and blood pressure (not actually measure them, just record them! ehehhe) and pretty much anything else I can customise into it. But I think my favourite one is LaoTzuLite, with wise quotes. I like to bring up a random quote every morning. Here's today's:

Health is the greatest possession.
Contentment is the greatest treasure.
Confidence is the greatest friend.
Non-being is the greatest joy.

New and Fun!

We got a Kinect on the weekend! It's so fun. Spent about an hour on it on Sat, and a couple of hours on Sun. I was ducking, jumping, dancing, flapping my arms. Got all sweaty and thirsty. I was exercising without even realising it! It's fantastic! I was getting a bit bored with exercising lately. Walking, more walking, DVDs I've done so many times before. I thought about joining a gym (there's a Curves about half a block from me), going to Zumba classes, buying more DVDs - but I'm a bit short on money at the moment, and most of those seem like ongoing expenses. I know what you're thinking! The Kinect cost a lot of money, too! But it's something Boy and I can both enjoy together, we can use it indoors, any time. Also, he got it on sale, and it came with 4 games, which is enough to keep us going for ages. Plus I think it's a psychological thing, too. When we're playing the game, it's a game (yay!), not exercising (ugh). Anyway, enough with justifying my actions for today!

Looking back at my Tracker for last week, I had a pretty topsy-turvy week. Didn't do very well in my focus of drinking more water, in the end. Remembered to refill my water bottle most days, didn't end up drinking the water. My mind's just been on other things. So I'll put that back on the drawing board for a future focus. As for everything else, I started out well on Monday, as usual, but then was pretty half-hearted the rest of the week. e.g. having homemade dip, but with pizza shapes instead of vegetable sticks. Last weekend we were too busy go shopping for all the things we needed for the week (like vege sticks!), and then I didn't get around to getting any after work during the week. A bit of pre-planning can make the rest of the week so much easier, and healthier. Lesson learned. (Or re-learned actually, cos I've done that many times before! :) )

Anyway, I'm going to make my Focus this week: lights out at 10pm every night. I have a tendency to go to bed late. (Last night for example, there was a good movie on and I stayed up til it finished at 11pm. Ooops!) Even if I do get to bed at 10pm, I tend to sit up reading for a while. I have a feeling this week is going to be a stressful week. Well, it has been so far, hopefully it'll get better! But getting enough sleep can't do me any harm, right?

This post was transferred from calorieking.com.au