It's been a while...again

Frankly, I haven't been living the healthy lifestyle I've worked so hard for over the last year or so.

University is coming to an end (as of now I only have 2 hours of lectures left) and pretty much all my energy is going towards revising and trying to pass this degree. In only four months I'll be practicing...that's insane! And I'll be honest I still don't quite believe they're going to allow me to graduate!

I have still been going to the gym, but not terribly regularly (2 or 3 times a week at best) and frankly I've stopped thinking about what food I put into my mouth. It takes too much effort to think about that while also trying to graduate.

But I'm coming home from university in a couple of days, and while I'm not signing up to the gym, I am signing up for the Race for Life! I'm also trying out for the local roller derby team, the Middlesbrough Milk Rollers on Saturday, so I'm hoping to keep myself moving and active. I'm also hoping to get back into those blogilates videos.

Here's hoping I actually manage!!

New Year, New Me....Sort Of

It's been a year!!

One year ago now-ish since I first started this blog and set myself off on taking control of what I was eating and holding myself accountable for my diet and fitness routine. It's been a rollercoaster really, and my weight has fluctuated somewhat, but I can honestly say that for the most part, I've felt much better about myself and have enjoyed the process :).

Surprisingly, or not so surprisingly, I have the exact same goal now as I did this time last year. Remember back in August, and I finally got in to the skinny jeans my mam bought me? Yeah, well I'm not in them anymore *sigh*. But I am hoping to be by my birthday in 5 weeks time.

I have signed up for the Blogilates Diet Bet where I now have 27 days to lose 2.8kg (about 6lb) which is a few, but technically doable. I've also set myself up for the new Nerdfitness Challenge, with pretty decent quests to help me reach my goal. I'm going to lift more, walk more, eat smoothies again and just generally take care of myself.

The other day I made myself a meal plan, which can be found in my workout & food diary spreadsheet (cause I'm anal like that), and the idea is that I shall plan for meals for each week, then workout a shopping list and that way I won't spend as much on crap food and stuff I don't need. That's the plan anyway, I suppose we'll see how it actually goes.

The whole thing kicks off on Monday, when I go back to the gym and start taking care of myself.

Wish me luck!!

Ready for a Re-do

This is now my fifth week at university and it's not going as well as first thought.

I feel like I'm never settled, as I'm constantly on the move. I barely spend any time at my uni house and I'm almost always at home or at work. I miss my fiance like mad and I miss my family too, but then I want to spend time with my friends at the same time, but there really isn't enough time for all of this.

My diet isn't too bad. I'm not eating as well as I'd like to be, and I'm annoyed because I'm not using the food in my freezer as quickly as I'm used to. This week I'm only having 1 meal at my university house, which was tonight! It's bizarre and frankly I don't like it.

I have no time for either knitting or writing, and while the writing side isn't bothering me too much, the not knitting is! I have three projects on the go and had I been back at the flat with my fiance I know I would have been further on with them! I'm just not in to a new routine yet and it's really starting to get to me.

I need to try and sort myself out before I have some sort of meltdown, and I'm afraid that in the end something will have to give. I just don't know what it will be.

Back at Uni...

And killing it!!

Yes, three days ago I returned to university for my very final year! And let me just say that so far, it's going well.

I've settled well into my house, and while I miss my fiance and my family, things are getting better. I've already been to the gym twice and am eating superbly if I do say so myself! I came home from lectures yesterday and got them typed up that same night - so long as I can keep this up, I think I'll be okay!

It's a horrible day today, but I walked to the gym, and spent about an hour there using the free weights, doing lots of squats and things. I also got to wear some of my new gym gear, the jogging leggings my mum brought me back from Florida. They're SUPER tight, but they make me feel sexy, so I like them :).

This morning for breakfast I've have a quarter of a honeydew melon, and I have a mango, raspberry, pear smoothie to drink once I've had a shower. Then for lunch I'm having my paleo pancakes, cause they're yummy and warm and it looks really cold out! Then I'll be off walking to uni for Fresher's Fair, then to the single lecture I have today, and finally home for my tea (leftover from last night - Spinach and ricotta filled pasta shells with a tomato and aubergine sauce - YUMMY!). And then I'm going bowling with the pharmacy committee!

Busy busy.

I'm really hoping that I can do well this week and manage to keep the weight off so I can win my dietbet. I've got myself some vanilla ice cream and galaxy counters for when I win :D

Detox!!

So here in the north of England, Autumn's properly hit. Even when the sun is out there's still that fresh breeze that means you need your cardi on. Today, I even wore boots!

As such, it's time for me to hit this new season with a bang. In a previous post I showed you my shopping haul, and this is my meal plan for the week:

	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday
Breakfast	Honeydew melon & Nectarine w/ Greek yogurt	Honeydew melon & peach	Porridge w/ peaches & blueberries	Pancakes w/ raspberries	Wheat a bix w/ peaches	Orange & peach	Porridge sachet made w/ water & honey
Lunch	Fig & roasted avocado spinach salad	Mushroom spinach omelette	Peach, avocado & fig salad + fruit jelly snack [@work]	Jacket potato [@work]		Porridge w/ raspberries
Dinner	Roasted courgette w/ sweet potato & corn on the cob	Indian take-away	Chicken Kiev w/ chips	Aubergine & tomato bake	Pork chops w/ mash potatoes & veg	Jacket potato [@work]	Rob’s bday ?

Obviously these are subject to change, though I don't think they will by any vast amount.

Nerd Fitness

Last week I did the weekly ADF Fit Club post, and one of the girls who commented mentioned this website: Nerd Fitness. I figured I'd check it out, see what it was all about. As it turns out, it's brilliant!

I spend all my time on the site on the forums. They have a real life role-playing game, in which you level up by giving yourself quests and challenges through a 6 week period, and if you achieve your goals you may distribute points between the usual D&D style stats system (STR CON WIS CHA DEX and STA(stamina)).

They also have a place where you can log every day what you've been up to, what exercise you've been doing and what food you've been eating. It makes me feel accountable.

I'll be honest though, this week hasn't been my best. The first two days were okay, but then I went to a country show and out for steak and chips on Wednesday, then I'm at work yesterday and today, so yeah...not so good.

Tomorrow though, gym! I'm going to attempt to go three days in a row, but we'll see how well that goes. However, if I'm knackered tomorrow, I'll get my rollerskates out at least and go for a little jaunt :)

Links: Daily Battle Log - First Challenge log - Nerd Fitness Profile

Just another fad diet?

For a while now I've read a lot about a thing called Paleo.

The idea is that 10,000 years ago the farming revolution began, but before that we sustained as hunter gatherers for like 140,000 years and so we have evolved to subsist on things we could catch and cook, as opposed to the highly processed foods we now survive on. The 'Paleo Diet' therefore provides this idea: to live as our ancestors did, on unprocessed meat and fish, vegetables (not fried in a ton of fat), nuts, seeds and fruit.

So what does this cut out? Well it means that anything using wheat is out. That means breads, cakes, most cereals are now gone from your diet. Also most dairy - you can have eggs, but for some reason they say you can't drink cows milk, but I'm going to say this right now - we've been milking animals for a while now, and I mean like 75,000 years ago, so there we go. People who persist on the Paleo Diet also say that beer is out, well I'd just like to say that beer should most definitely be in. We as a race have been brewing beer for about 15,000 years, so I'd say you're good with that.

The problem is....well the problem is that people are like 'Oh for the last 10,000 years our diets have changed but we haven't' and it's like, okay, but Paleolithic man was extinct when the Neolithic age dawned circa 9,000BC, which is still a very long time ago, but in the Neolithic age we milked animals and brewed beer and made a form of bread. But that's still outside of your 10,000 year window.

I'm interested in this 'Paleo Diet', but frankly I'm not prepared to go at it full whack. But I am going to reduce my dairy intake, and try to stop eating bread. So we shall see :)

I'll let you know how it goes :)

Are you there?

I'm sitting in my room, listening to the second album of Foo Fighter's In Your Honor, the slow one, and I'm finding it hard to believe that I bought it seven years ago. It doesn't feel that long since I was listening to it in the back of the rental car on Sanibel Island reading The Dark by James Herbert (amazing book by the way, probably shouldn't have read it when I was 15...but oh well :D).

Anyway, I haven't posted anything in a while, because I've been so super busy I simply haven't had the time! First of all, it was Rob's graduation. Oh my god it was amazing. Got to be honest, I choked up a little seeing him going up there and being 'hooded'. Just that university is now over, and we're finally moving on to the next part of our lives. Even though I still have a year of university left, we're almost ready to begin properly living our lives. Like we want to.

Then we went on holiday to Cornwall for a week! However, at the start we first headed to London where I had an interview for a pre-registration scheme, and I was offered the place. Which is amazing! However, since then I've been offered a second one and have an interview with a company I really, really would like to work for. So we'll see. But we spent a week in Cornwall, walking a lot, reading an awful lot of tea, feeding animals and just generally enjoying our time together. It was lovely. Just really, really nice, and I was not looking forward to coming home, because I then started into two weeks of working overtime!

I'll be honest, I didn't mind doing the extra hours, in fact I had fun. The thing is I really, honestly enjoy my job. I work with a lovely bunch of people and every day is something different, and even when we have patients who maybe aren't as polite as I'd like, it's still a generally good day. In the middle of those two weeks, I also went to York with a friend from uni to meet up with some lovely ladies I met through the internet. It was a terribly fun weekend, though I did spend Sunday very hungover lol.

So, as you can imagine, the last three weeks haven't left much room for exercising and/or keeping up with the diet. I've decided that I'd quite like to get to under 10 stone before I go back to uni, but I'm sure that'll change once I'm properly back into the swing of things.

I went to the gym this morning. Had a go on the stair master. I only did 5 minutes, I wasn't sure I'd ever be able to walk again after that! But I did apparently do 15 floors, which I think is pretty impressive for my first go. My thighs though, oh Jesus Christ...let's just say it was difficult.

The next two days I'm going to be going out with my family, who - even though I've been living at home for about 10 weeks - I feel like I've hardly seen. But I'm still going to go to the gym in the morning! Got to get back on the horse as it were and start being good again :).

Working Out and Passing Exams

Guess what?!

I passed both my resit exams. Yaaaaay :D I am so beyond happy. I am finally entering into my final year at university. I've waited so long for this and now I'm here and I can barely believe this.

There may have been a Chinese take-away ordered and eaten tonight, but I can neither confirm or deny that haha. Right now I'm starting to think about my holiday, got my list done of what I want to take, as that way I should be able to pack a little easier and without too much hassle.

My gym has been shut, so I've been working out at home and with the weather being so beautiful I've been doing so outside. Not today unfortunately, as my knee and hip are going crazy! Proper shooting pains every so often when I walk. Not pleasant at all, hoping it's better for tomorrow.

Anyway, so I created this workout. There's a warm up, the workout and some stretching. It's an all over workout, with some cardio and some strength. Incorporate weights/bottles of water to make it harder and add resistance, but everything can be done without weights too.

It's a very long workout, so I've placed it under the cut. If you have a go at this, please let me know :)

ONE HUNDREDTH POST

This is my blogs centenary. My 100th post. I've been on this journey of weight loss, healthy living and generally sorting my life out for over seven months now.

First thing to say is: I've now lost 7lb since I restarted exercising and eating well after my exams. So wehey!

I did my final resit on Monday, and my results are going to be released tomorrow. Not sure whether it'll be 9am or 5pm...I'm reckoning 5pm but you never know. Not yet nervous, but I'm sure I will be tomorrow.

Yesterday, I went to Beamish Museum with Rob. It was so lovely! Cooler than it has been, and overcast, so it was the perfect day to go around it to be honest. There's an awful lot of walking involved. Plus, we had the most delicious fish and chips that have ever passed my lips. Fried in beef dripping. I didn't complete My Fitness Pal for yesterday, because I reckon my lunch alone was my daily allowance, then with the lasagne and chips, and apple pie and custard I had for tea. Oh I don't even want to think how many calories I ate yesterday.

Today I was very good, to make up for it. I had a smoothie for breakfast, which I ate on the way to town to shop with my mam (bought a peach jumper, brown knee high boots, some shorts for my hols, three pairs of pants and a rather special bra to wear under the dress I've made for Rob's graduation), then I had blueberry pancakes with raspberries and honey for my lunch, and a stir fry for my tea. I also did some pilates today - my thighs and stomach are killing me. Then I ate a magnum xD. So not completely good, but certainly better than yesterday.

Got many busy days ahead of me, but I'm looking forward to them. Hopefully tomorrow will go well, and I won't end the day in tears.

Evening by the Sea and Paris Dressing

Yesterday was a scorcher! I can't even begin to tell you. I'm no longer red but I am still a little sore xD. Anyway, yesterday evening myself, Rob, and two of his mates went to Saltburn. T'was so nice!

We ate fish and chips and had a good old wander about - my legs are sore today! I totally blame all the steps we had to climb.

 We saw yarn bombing! There's been quite a bit going about lately, mostly in Saltburn but also in Guisborough and all around. I was so impressed with them, as a knitter myself I could appreciate the time and effort that must have gone in to some of the pieces.

It was quite busy, with lots of locals out enjoying the sunshine. Up here in the North you know, we've got to make the most of it haha.

Oh! I booked mine and Robs holiday today, yaaaay! Now I just need to find somewhere for us to stay down near Cheshunt, preferably away from the M25. I need a map.





Today, I'm going looking at bridesmaid dresses with one of my other bridesmaids :). And since it's beautiful and sunny and because I'm feeling pretty good about myself lately, I thought I'd try and get into a dress my nana made for me 4 years ago, for a trip to France I took with Rob and his family.

The only time I've worn this dress has been out and about on a very hot day in Paris. It's my Paris dress and I'll always love it, solely for that reason. I've changed a lot since I was 18, my figure more than anything, but I'm happy to say that I totally fit into this dress!!

On the left is me in the dress now
On the right is me in the dress in Paris in 2009, holding the only thing I bought in Paris - a Parisian Vogue haha

Happy July!

Into the seventh month of the year, we're over half way to 2014! Hasn't it been going quickly? I certainly think so.

Yesterday I received an email from one of the places I applied to do my Pre-Reg with, I'll be honest, I expected a rejection, because that's all I've got so far, but no! It was an email asking me to go to an assessment day on the 18th July :D. Unfortunately, it's in London. I don't live in London, I live quite far from it in fact. But I'm going to get there :).

So I have just over two weeks to properly tone myself up. I'm obviously not going to loose a lot of weight in that time, but even 4lb will make a difference, though I'm unlikely to do that what with my exams and the dirrty hot dog from Varsity I'm going to be eating after each one, hehe.

The plan now is to get a holiday booked (to start the day after this interview thing) and get a premier inn or travelodge booked for this interview. I also need to find something to wear! I need to look awesome and professional and like I know what I'm doing lol.

I'm going to be posting more recipes in the next couple of weeks (hopefully) and also coming up with some other workouts for indoors and for outside in the sun :D

'Fitspiration'

The other night I was talking to my fiance, we stayed up till 1am talking in fact - t'was nice. Anyway, at one point we got on about fitness, and about me going to the gym and what I'm doing and why I'm doing it.

I started on the whole 'weight loss journey' for just that - to lose weight. But along the way my reasons for exercising and eating right has changed, and that's come from the experiences I've had in trying to maintain a healthier lifestyle.

First off, what have been the benefits I've noticed in being healthy:

• I haven't been ill nearly as much as last year
• I feel better - not just physically, but emotionally - I'm more able to deal with the stresses in my life
• I've saved money
• I feel more confident when I go to the gym

...to name a few.

All of those things, not one truly has anything to do with losing weight. They're to do with simply feeling better on the whole. And the other day I realised why I go to the gym, why I want to eat well and be as healthy as I can be; I want to be strong and fit to deal with life's ups and downs.

This may be tmi, but I want to be able to have marathon sex without getting tired. I want to be able to run for a bus (should I ever have to), I want to be able to run away should anyone try to attack me, or I want to be able to fight back, and be stronger than any assailant. I want to be able to carry heavy boxes with ease and not worry about hurting myself, I want to be able to run up lots of flights of stairs without it killing me. 

These are the reasons I run and I lift weights and do pilates. Not to fit into jeans a size too small, or to see the numbers go down on the scale - they're simply the markers of progress, not the end game.

I haven't been to the gym the last couple of days, as I've been moving out my flat, but I'm back tomorrow, and shall be posting my workout on here for you :). Trying some new moves :D

Self Worth

(jsyk, this isn't going to be the most linear of posts)

I've never been the sort of person whose self worth has been tied in to how I look; how I think I look, how I believe other's perceive me, and what I know other's to think of me. It's just never been something that's really impacted my life. That's not to say I don't care, because I do. I care that my thighs jiggle, and that I don't fit into my jeans, but that doesn't mean it has any relevance on how I feel about myself as a whole.

However, there is one thing that has a major impact on how I feel about myself, and that's how well I perform academically.

Put it down to being one of the 'clever ones' through primary school, then being placed into top sets through secondary school, where these expectations of A and A* GCSE's are thrust upon you and if you're not living up to your potential you get taken into a room with all of the subject teachers and asked why you're not doing well, and essentially are made to feel about 2 inches tall (I should know). Then I went on to college - college was good. I studied Maths, Chemistry and Biology to A-level. Not easy subjects, I know, and I didn't particularly excel, but I passed at grades C and above, which was enough to get me into University to study Pharmacy.

I want to preface this with; I do like my course, and I do quite like my university, and (while we've had our differences) I do like my lecturers too, but I hate university.

Today, I got my results for the four exams I sat about a month ago. I passed two (Pathology and Pharmacy Practice - yay!) and failed the other two (Drug Substance and Pharmaceutics - not so yay). I was devastated. From not one of the exams did I leave and think 'Well shit, failed that one'. Each one I left feeling hopeful, that maybe for the first time in my university career I wouldn't have failed an exam. Maybe this time I'll be clever, maybe this time I'll show these lecturers, this university, the world, that I am actually good at what I do.

This was not the case.

I spent a while crying, and frankly I'm still not quite over that. Because all I could think about, was not just that I'd failed exams, that I would have to resit and it kind of mucks up my plans for summer, but that I was a failure. I'd gone and done it again, thick ol' Becky, back again.

I thought, 'Why can't I just get this? Other people do. Other people manage just fine? Why am I so fucking stupid that I can't manage to pass two stupid exams?' My perception of myself plummeted. I was no longer, Rebecca who is a whiz at making clothes, who can whip up the most delicious cake ever in no time, who can write epic novels (that may never see the light of day, but oh well), Rebecca who is strong, who can lift weights with the best of them, and has an amazing relationship with an amazing man. I was just Rebecca, girl who can't even get through one stupid degree course.

All I wanted to do was crawl into my bed, and sleep for the rest of my life. I wondered - would the world be better off without me? I thought, I must be dragging down the universities stats, that I'm putting my family through needless stress (because my mum stresses right along with me), that I'd spoiled my fiance's plans.

It's a horrible feeling, feeling like you're useless. Not just stupid or thick, but actually useless - what good am I?

University, while I have enjoyed parts of it, has ruined me. And should I, God forbid, actually fail off this course with only 1 year to go, I will never go back. Give me a full time job. Give me a mortgage and a life. But I would never, ever go back to university, not even if you paid me.

What's truly annoying though, is I know I would be an awesome pharmacist. I work in a pharmacy now, and I love it. I really, really do. Even the patients that drive you insane, I just love talking to people, and advising them on their health choices. I really do like going to work. I love learning from the pharmacists we have in. I just really hope I get the chance to do that.

I've done a ton of revision already today, and my alarm's set for 6.15am (yay) so I can get to the gym for 6.30, back home for 7.30 and revising by 8am. Got a meeting with a lecturer tomorrow afternoon, and this time I am going to kill these exams. There is going to be no question as to whether I've passed, because I'm going to. I don't want to think about the alternative.

Cats and Bridesmaid Dresses

This morning I ate a weight watcher's yogurt for breakfast. My initial plan was to have the yogurt, go to the gym and swimming then come back and have a banana. However, I was in the gym longer than expected, ended up proper sweaty! I did 10 minutes on the rowing machine (did 2 km), then spent a while with the weights doing squats etc. Got some help carrying the exercise ball and step by some proper large bloke with no neck (everyone's so friendly while we're all sweating it out!). Then I went into the pool and did 4 laps, so 100m. Not a lot, but I was knackered!

I'm giving myself the weekend off as I'm at work tomorrow and on Sunday it's a friends 80's style 21st birthday party, where I'll be drinking margaritas and sangria by the pitcher - no bother :D.

Now, yesterday, I spent a little time waiting for Rob (he was helping his dad collapse the shed in the pouring rain) so I played with Tomcat :D

He's a proper sweetheart. He's about 18 years old, and he's looking a little scruffy, and he molts like nothing else. But he's always pestering for a cuddle. He's the biggest softie ever :) I love him.

Today I also went looking for at bridesmaid dresses with one my bridesmaids. Mostly it was just for colours and styles, but it was very fun! and I saw some lovely dresses which gave me a much better idea as to what sort of thing we're going for :)

Tomorrow I'm not going to the gym or anything, as I'll be at work. But I'm still going to be good with what I eat and such :) My tummy already feel firmer!

My Day in Pictures

I've had a rather productive day today! and I was very good. I'm feeling a bit full and tired tonight, as I had fish and chips for my tea - they were yummy and they came with a cuppa (always nice).

It absolutely poured down in Whitby! We got soaked walking down the 199 steps from the abbey to the shops. The water literally ran in rivers around us. It stopped eventually though, thank god.

We did our shopping, buying sweeties (not for me) which I'm going to pop in a jar and tie with a ribbon for a present. And we got some smellys too, but they were for my mam to give someone. We would have had a look around the shops more if it weren't for the rain.

But finally it stopped! We had fish and chips and then walked back through town and up the 199 steps.
Though we had to stop half way up.

Look! Just look at all those steps!
We were bloody knackered xD

Then we saw some baby seagulls! It was like springwatch, but right in front of me.
They're in the nest between those two chimneys ------>

When we finally reached the top we had to have a sit down. It was a lovely view, now that the rain had stopped. Unfortunately, due to some major subsidence issues going on, we couldn't sit at the bench where Rob asked me to marry him, but we were pretty close :)




Then on the walk back we saw some ponies! Well...they were huge, so they were definitely horses.





Tomorrow I shall be going swimming and looking at Bridesmaid dresses with one of my bridesmaids, so that'll be fun. And I might take that bikini photo - we shall see :)

What to do, what to do?

Today was one of the first proper days to myself that I've had in awhile. While I was at work at 5.30-8pm, I was off the rest of the day, and with no revision or uni work to be done, I started at a bit of a loss.

I didn't get up nearly as early as I wanted, I ended up staying in bed til 9.30am. However, once I got up I went outside and did these two workouts: Bikini Body and Ballet-Inspired. My thighs were killing me!

Food wise - I could have been better - what's worse is what I did eat didn't make me feel very good (I've got a cold anyway, so I don't think that helped). Today I ate: Breakfast = bowl of shreddies. Lunch = hot dog bun (so bad) & dairylee dunker & half a bag of jelly babies (and I wonder why I feel bad?!). Tea = vegetable pasta bake.

I also went on my rollerskates today! Only for like...10 minutes, but I felt it in my thighs and my bum. I was very wobbly to start with. I'm quite good on inlines, but when it comes to proper roller skates, I'm a bit crap. But I got the hang of it eventually :).

Tomorrow, I'm off shopping in the morning, so I'm going to be up nice and early to get a workout in. Hopefully, I'll also be finishing my shorts - I got them all cut out, but then my sewing machine broke while I was making a petticoat. I'm hoping it's just due to some netting stuck under the bobbin, otherwise I'm screwed and I'll have to use my nana's machine.

Here's hoping all goes well tomorrow :)

Summer is finally here

which means that it's time for a holiday in the sun, which means I shall be wearing a bikini.

The last couple of months have been pretty hectic, as I've been getting ready and through my exams. I was all set to be so good in May, doing that 2 day diet thingy, but I should have known it never would have lasted. Frankly, I was far too stressed out to think about dieting or going to the gym. I haven't weighed myself, I don't want too, all I know is I no longer fit in to my smaller size jeans. All that hard work just flown out the window.

It's my finace's graduation on the 16th July, and I'm fashioning myself another dress (with the help of my nana again), and then on the 19th (hopefully) we shall be jetting off with 4 of our friends to sunny Menorca for 7 days in the sun. And I want to be fit for it!

Thus, tomorrow begins the start of me getting ready for a bikini. I shall be going to the gym, and swimming, as often as I can. I'm also hopefully going to start going to a Kettlebell class, and hopefully rollerskating - if I can find anywhere that's flat enough for me to do that.

For the next four weeks I'm going to be using Cassey Ho's Pop Pilates for Beginners Calendar

As I haven't done any pilates for a very long time, I think I need to take myself through a sort of refresher to build my strength back up.

Tomorrow morning I shall be going to the gym and doing the first video from the calendar. I might even get the rollerskates out, though probably just out my front, just to get used to them again.

Now that I'm home I'm also hoping to eat a lot better. Any thought of a diet went right out the window, with me basically scranning everything in sight - not good! Seriously, crisps and sweets and cans and bottles of pop, alcohol (so much alcohol). Just bad things, that only made me feel bad for eating (physically - not emotionally, frankly they were glorious until I ate too much and made myself ill). So now I'm going to be back on smoothies and fruit and grains and good things that make me feel good.

I'm hoping to come up with some more little workouts as I go - especially for abs and legs. I'm reckoning that it's going to be all go on here in the next month or so :)

Wish me luck!

2 Day Diet Update

I haven't been very good with this diet. My diet days have slipped into days where I simply don't snack,  which is good, I suppose, but they were meant to be more extreme than they have been.

The fact is that since my exams started, I don't have the drive to be good. I've barely been going to the gym. All I do all day is wake up at 7am, revise until noon, eat my lunch, take a 30 minute break, then revise until 5pm, have my tea, and sometimes revise until 9pm. I'm driving myself into the ground. But today, I'm going to the gym, and I'm determined to go tomorrow also. This weekend, I'm going to try and get myself back on track, because I only have two exams left, and I want to look good by the time they've finished haha.

I've been taking vitamins every day too. Zinc and vitamin C and a multi vitamin that's meant to be good for your hair and such. Every morning I wake up with a sore throat. This is not good, as for me this means there's a cold/flu coming on. And every year after I finish my exams, I generally end up in bed for about a week with a rather severe cold. Because while my exams are going, I'm so stressed out that the increased levels of cortisol and such keep my immune system running at superhuman speeds.

But this year I have to work straight after my exams, so I really don't want to be ill. Thus the zinc and the looking after myself. For once, I want to finish my exams and just go straight into enjoying my summer, not stuck in bed wondering if I'll ever feel good again.

I'm about to post a recipe for something we had for tea the other night. It's actually low calorie, which is more than I can say for the curry we had last night or the nachos we're having tonight xD

Well...

This new diet has kicked off to a pretty good start.

As I'm doing this with my fiance, he's been pretty good at keeping me right. He has much better self control than I do. Today is the fourth day, and the first two days were diet days.

I was so hungry!

When I was having my smoothies for two meals a day I was eating around 1,000 calories a day to begin with. But I never felt hungry. I got used to the calorie deficit very quickly. However, having dropped that by around 300-400 calories, I was starving. But I don't think it helps that my days at the moment are very long.

But, even though I was very hungry, and I did end up snacking on raisins (it could have been worse), it has got me thinking about the food I eat. And while today isn't a diet day, that doesn't mean I'm going to eat like crap, even though we're having a 'fry up' for tea, we're using turkey bacon, which will be grilled, there'll be tomatoes, baked beans and eggs. None of which will actually be fried.

Monday's another diet day, the day before my first exam (which isn't a diet day - I'm going to end up drinking a lot). I'm hoping that I do a bit better than the first two diet days, that maybe with time to think about it and prepare for it, that I won't feel like I'm dying about an hour before meal times.