Friday 29 January 2010

Lazy day

Hello!

Sorry for the lack of posts, I have been pretty busy and also have a hand injury (mainly my thumb) which makes typing or indeed doing pretty much anything painful. Luckily the swelling is starting to go down now and it's less painful and yes before you ask there is almost always something wrong with me!

This week seems to have passed in a blur. Today and tomorrow are my days off. I might be seeing a friend this evening, I will be having a lazy day up until that point and if I am not seeing her then I will just carry on with my lazy day! I am seriously in need of some rest. For some reason I never quite manage to have the relax time I intend to.

My eating has been going quite well I think. However when I injured my thumb and felt faint I did have a cup of tea with 4 sugars! My friend made it to try to stop the faintness, the faintness did go away so it may well have helped :-) I felt so sick that I didn't end up having any dinner that night. So I guess that cancels out the sugar in the tea. lol.

Exercise has been ok, lots of dog walks, I am intending to go to the gym tomorrow morning for a run, or run with the dog on his walk. The problem is that the places like the fields where we can let the dog off his lead are too muddy to wear anything other than wellies and I couldn't run with him on the lead as I don't think it would work out too well!

I am going out for drinks tomorrow night, I can't wait :-) I won't go overboard but it will be nice to go out.

Have a fab weekend x

Sunday 24 January 2010

What a Week

I have had a crazy week, can't go into full details here but I have been so busy! Tomorrow I have a day's holiday from work and have lots to do. But at least I don't have to get up at 6am to walk the dog. In the evening my friend is coming over who I haven't seen for ages, can't wait :-) I am going to cook us fajitas for tea.



Erin gave me this :-) thanks


The Rules
post 10 things that make you happy
try to do at least one of them today
and pass some lovins on to 10 other bloggers

1. Eating healthily and resisting temptation
2. Helping other people
3. Taking my dog for a long walk
4. Laughing with friends
5. Sunshine
6. Pushing through the pain and achieving exercise goals and thinking about the marathon
7. Baking makes me feel very content
8. Singing in the shower
9. Cuddles :-)
10. Dancing like nobody's watching :-)

My answers there are very brief but it does what it says on the tin.
So who to award this to?

Emma
KK
Girl Stuck in a Rut
June
Melissa
LittleMissFattyPants
Merys

I have decided to leave it at those 6 as most of the blogs I read are written by men who may or may not appreciate the girliness of the award!

I'm off to lie on the sofa and watch sex and the city on boxset :-)

Thursday 21 January 2010

What a Difference a Day Makes

Phew I am feeling so much better today. Much less stressed.

I did some voluntary work last night to do with nutrition and I really enjoyed it. I will definitely be helping out again each week that my work shifts permit it.

I have 3 more days of work before my next day off, I am looking forward to the day off but am also quite happy to go to work and get all my admin type things done too. It's really satisfying to tick things off my to do list.

I did manage to get my early night last night, think I was about 5 past 11 so slightly missed my target but much better than usual. I am going to aim to be in bed by 11 or quarter past tonight too. I do find tiredness really affects my mood causing me to be grumpy and irritable. I have been really hungry all day which I now realise could be related to the fact that I am still pretty tired. I think I should have taken a more substantial lunch with me to keep me going.

I am having a quiet night in tonight, then gym or outside run in the morning before working the late shift. It's an extra shift so more money yippee! (I am trying to save as much as I can here and there for the future when I buy a house, admittedly by the time I've paid tax it won't be very much money at all but it all adds up)

Wednesday 20 January 2010

Strategies

I have been feeling rather stressed the last few weeks, I have decided I need to do something in order to feel more in control of things and less stressed. I am going to write a list of things I need to do to feel less stressed. I think a problem of mine is reading too much into things people say and thinking they mean a hell of a lot more by it than just what they said.

I need to get in fun time, relax time, going to bed at as sensible a time possible, this will all help me to get more things done both at work and at home as in chores etc etc as I should be able to concentrate better.

Once I get in tonight I am going to have some wind down time and then aim to be in bed ready to sleep by 11pm. Ideally I would be in bed before this but as I usually don't end up ready to sleep until after 12.15 I think 11pm is a good aim.

I know I just need to calm down and logically work my way through everything that I need to do and get on with it rather than worrying about it. If all goes to plan I should soon be feeling a lot less stressed.

I feel better knowing that I am doing something about it, I'm not entirely sure what I need to put on my list but hopefully that will help.

Changing the subject, we have snow again!!!

Tuesday 19 January 2010

Man am I tired

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz, cough! gasp! sorry did I just doze off there?!

I am so super tired, I am definitely going to bed early tonight.

I have been doing reasonably well with my eating the last few days (yay). Exercise has been going well too, I am achy tonight.

I've got a doctors appointment tomorrow, but am not sure whether my blood test results will be back yet and even if they are I may still remain a mystery.

Not a lot else to report, as I mentioned at the weekend I have a busy week this week. I just need to get through it and get as much stuff done as possible. I'm finding it hard to concentrate lately.

Back soon with hopefully something more interesting to say

Saturday 16 January 2010

Doing well

I am feeling so much better and am doing well on the rules I set myself.

I have stuck to the rules so far. I am having 2 chocolate free days at the moment so that I can allow myself some tomorrow as I am going to a friend's for a movie day and want to be able to have some in case there is any.

I went to the gym today and did 55mins on the treadmill. I didn't run for particularly long as I was struggling to keep up the running. I'm still pleased with my efforts though.

Tomorrow as I say I am going to my friend's for a lazy day, I can't wait, will be great to have a good chat, I saw her on Thursday but felt like we had so much left to talk about!

This next week is going to be mad, I am working an extra day this week and then on my one and only day off am very busy with a doctors appt, then helping someone out with some stuff, then helping out with something in the evening. I have a day off Monday 25th, think I'll be exhausted by then!

I will be dogsitting as of next weekend for 3.5 weeks so will be getting a lot of exercise walking him and following my training plan too.

As well as sticking to the rules I have found I have not eaten as much in general the last few days and in fact when I tell myself it is a chocolate free day I don't even find myself wanting it very much. Long may it last!

Tuesday 12 January 2010

The Rules

So I have set myself some rules:

I must have at least 1 portion of fruit and/or vegetables with each meal I take to work.

Chocolate is now allowed no more often than every other day. (skinny cow hot choc is allowed if needed)

That's about it on the rules for now!

Yesterday I went for a run, I walked to the park and ran around there as it is still snowy rather than compacted into ice like it is on the pavements. Tomorrow I will probably go to the gym or run round the park again. It's gotta be good for me as it's harder to run through the snow.

I am really struggling with hunger which then leads to me eating chocolate. I swear chocolate is the only thing that fills me up for very long. I'm going to need some serious distracting. It's pathetic how much I struggle to control what I eat.

Must try harder!

On the plus side I visited my sister who is stuck inside cos of the snow and made us a yummy and healthy stir fry for lunch. I'm taking the leftovers to work for my dinner. I'm going to take a banana too and just hope I resist the urge to munch the biscuits out of the biscuit tin at work.

Saturday 9 January 2010

Stories

I have a number of things to talk about today so I figured I would tell them all in one post. Several 'Stories' kind of.

A bottle of Wine

On Monday I went to work, a colleague mentioned something about my bottle of wine. I was confused, what bottle of wine was she talking about? I then thought well maybe it's a late Christmas present from somebody. I went to go and see and there was a letter there. Addressed to Sophie C c/o leisure centre. Now I'm thinking it must be from a customer or someone else I've had dealings with. I open the letter. Dear Sophie, Ref Employee of the month. I had been awarded employee of the month for my centre :-) that put a smile on my face! The letter went on to explain why I had been awarded it and ended with enjoy your wine, now that's my kind of letter!

A trip to the doctors

I went to see the nurse on Monday as the rash in my mouth had returned, she then sent me in to see the doctor. The doctor was not sure why my throat was so sore but said it was very red etc. She gave me antibiotics for 10 days and has ordered another blood test to test for some different things this time. I have been poorly all week as I have had this major sore throat and a stonking cold/fluey thing on top of it. I was off sick from work on Tuesday as I felt so ill, no energy and a bit dizzy too.

The Snow

I have officially been proved wrong when I said it hardly ever snows. On Tuesday evening it began to snow and snow and snow. We have the most snow I have ever seen in my life at the moment! Its supposed to snow even more tomorrow and Monday! I have been walking to work in it as I would have to dig my car out if I wanted to drive anywhere and the roads are so icy and dangerous.

Marathon Training

I completed week one of my training programme, then I got sick. I haven't been for a run for a week and a day. And I am not going today either. I am just coming out the otherside of this flu/cold and think it would be unwise to go running, however I feel REALLY GUILTY about this. It does worry me that I haven't trained for a week, but I just haven't been in a fit state to do any training. I have walked a couple of places other than to work this week and am finding my leg muscles ache, I think the slippyness of the paths means it takes more effort to stay standing so is probably pretty good for toning. So the walking is better than nothing. I have to say just a short walk to town and back one day this week really took it out of me. I kind of need some reassurance that it's ok not to train when you feel poorly and this one week off training will not affect my ability to finish the marathon? I'm also concerned I won't be able to do as much as the programme says next week, does this matter? Perhaps I should do some research, then again perhaps I should just not worry and do my best next week to do what I can.

A party

It was my friend's 21st birthday party last night, I almost didn't go because I was feeling so poorly, but I did go and had a great time. I think she did too :-)

A day of rest

Today I am having a day of rest, my body needs it, I think I will watch a dvd this afternoon and get an early night tonight. I will make sure I get plenty of rest next week too as well as getting back to training. I have been making sure I eat vegetables this last week to try and help get rid of my illness, however I have not been hitting 5 a day. My aim for the next week is to nourish my body and take good care of it. Although that's easier said than done, especially when there are 2 boxes of chocolates on the table I am sat at right now!

I hope everyone is having a good week :-)

Sunday 3 January 2010

Feeling Sorry for myself

You know the persistant sore throat I kept mentioning? Well the problem returned a few weeks ago and I have been avoiding mentioning it because I didn't want people to get fed up of hearing about it.

My throat has been sore for 12 days in a row now. Some days it's just a touch uncomfortable, others worse. Boxing day my mouth was covered in a rash and I had 2 spots at the back next to my throat. Were it a day that the GPs was open as usual I would have gone to see them that day but being as it would have been an out of hours service I did not feel it was severe enough. It calmed down the next day.

Today it is super duper painful, I have been feeling off all day and have gotten worse this evening. I have a different spot now and it's actually right next to my tonsils, and now instead of just a sore throat I have icky sinuses, feel sick and a bit of a cough and my kidney has decided to join in and ache too!

I had a sleep after work and feel a tad better in terms of lethargy but in general just meh. I am going to get an early night. Really hope I feel better in the morning I can't afford to be ill.

Whinge over!

So I may not be blogging much this week.

Friday 1 January 2010

Happy New Year

Happy New Year Everyone!

May it bring you all health and happiness.

My aims for 2010 are to cut down on swearing which I am doing ok at but it's proving hard, I'm really having to think before I speak.

The second one is to run the London Marathon, today I completed week one of the training plan. I had to adjust the days slightly due to my work hours this week so I am a day ahead and did the Sat/Sunday run today. It was hard, it was however a beautiful day and there were lots of people out walking in the sunshine. Cold and fresh outside which I think is better than warm and drizzly/raining.

I weighed myself this morning and have just measured my waist. My weight was 12st 13.5lb (181.5lb). This makes my BMI 29.4, supposedly I need to lose pretty much 2 stone to be at the top end of healthy. I know that BMI shouldn't be used alone as a tool but still 2 stone is an awful lot to lose to still be on the top end of healthy. I'm not in denial but I've always been on the heavier side even when I was small in terms of dimensions etc so I don't think I would be healthy if I dropped my BMI to say 20 (and who knows how many lbs I would have to lose to get to that bottom end?). I don't know! urgh! Stupid weight. I have just measured my waist, properly and not pulling the measure really tight or sucking in or anything, 36 inches. Below 32inches is healthy for a woman, thats 4 whole inches I have to lose. I really hope I do and in fact lose more than that!

Apparently the average female stops her new years diet after 6 days and the average male after 8 days! Sticking to plans is one of the hardest things to do.

I am going to try and up my fruit and vegetable intake because I do not want to be getting ill even with a cold in the run up to the marathon (excuse the pun) as colds really knock me back and also have more fruit and veg because doing a lot of exercise increases the production of free radicals in the body so it's important to consume enough antioxidants to counteract that effect, of which fruit and vegetables are a good source.

I am going to have a quiet weekend this one, I am working 10 hours tomorrow and will then have a chilled evening hopefully and Sunday only 7 hours. After all the excess of Christmas I need to look after my body and get plenty of sleep etc. I think I will look through the cookbooks I got for Christmas at some point and see what goodies I can make out of them, perhaps not make anything for a while though as I am kind of off puddings and desserts etc. Maybe make something savoury in a couple of weeks when things have settled down a bit more. I will also probably spend some time reading the running magasine I got for Christmas.

Have a fab week x