Quite sad ... only three days of my holiday to go. Back in Sydney town after the best part of three weeks in dear on JB, now have three days to get some home stuff done. Really want to overhaul the flat ... well, go through my junk and chuck a good amount out and reorganise. And we're talking super me-esque organisation, whoo hoo.
The time at home with the ol' folks was brilliant ... a touch draining because of their bickering (they really ARE like children sometimes), and I sort of felt like I had to be on my best behaviour at all times ... but that's parents for you. So, that aside it was brilliant. Did about 80km of running, which was good! Got to the local gym once for a Pump class and it was good ... but kinda weird, because there was some girl behind me who was, like, SUPER pumped and in pretty much every track she would get to a tough point and go "whoooooooo hooooooooo" or "yeeeeehaaaa" at the top of her voice. Plus she was very vocal in terms of grunting/straining. Was a touch off-putting ... not least because I had trouble not laughing.
Best day was my second-last morning there ... saw sun outside so basically ran down to the beach, having learnt to make the most of ANY sun. It was only 8.30am and there wasn't another soul on the beach, there were not one but TWO pods of dolphins swimming up and down the bay/beach though. It was soooo amazing. Just me and the morning sun, watching dolphins. Damn spesh :)
Saturday night had the wedding of a good friend of mine. The less said about it the better. Have NO idea what the hell got into me ... but I went a bit mad. Drank waaaay too much ... which probably means six glasses of wine, which is four more than I needed. Argh. Nevermind ... these things happen right. And someone has to be the drunk girl! Thankfully do not remember good parts of it. Had super-big fight with D though ... but have NO idea what the hell about. Pissed idiot. Anyhoo, must try to move on from that.
Onto more positive news. Went to my nutritionist this morning ... had only lost 1kg on the scales (hate bloody scales) BUT have lost 5cm off my waist!!! Frankly, I've never put too much stock in the scales ... surely it's better to lose cm, indicating that I'm toning up, than just kgs? I mean, I'm aiming to lose about 8kg more and surely it's better if it comes of super slowly ... will make it easier to keep it off and maintain good habits.
Food has really been quite good. All very, very healthy and low GI stuff with lots of fresh fruit, vegetables and lean meat/chicken/fish. Must stick to this sort of thing moving forward ... no excuses! It's just organisation. Mum goes shopping every two days to pick up extra bits, fresh veg and meat. Really, with huge supermarket/shopping centre just a five minute walk away I really have no excuse. Am going to work on some food plans later today once washing and cleaning is a bit more under control ... today lunch is salad with corned beef slices. Dinner will be turkey sausages with sweet potato mash and salad. Will pop over to the supermarket later to get some muesli and extra fruit and stuff. Oh, and maybe spend some of my birthday gift vouchers.
Only slightly not so good thing about my check with the nutritionist is that she is worried about my IBS issues and thinks it may be something other than IBS causing some of my symptoms. So about to head off to the doctor to get a referral to a gastroenterologist to get things checked. Will doubtless mean having a procedure or two - eeeeeek - but probably better to at least get it checked to get some peace of mind. And at least find out if there IS a problem.
Oh, the joys.
Holy crap btw, it's the 1st of December ... 24 days to Christmas. Better do some shopping.
Sunday 30 November 2008
Thursday 20 November 2008
Holiday Madness ... and not-so madness
Hurrah! I'm four days into my first holiday in far, far, FAR too long. I am never letting it go for two years and 10 months EVER again. Nevah.
Weekend in the Hunter with the girls was faaaaabulous. But oh, my aching liver. A arrived via her lovely boyfriend's car at about 10.30am and we hung around until we heard the third member of my carpool was at the nearby train station. I had decided - somewhat on the spur of the moment - to get her an escort for the weekend. Kev! The budget Bunnings gnome. Ha ha ha. It was sooo silly, but helped to make the weekend even more fun. So I introduced A to her escort, we faffed around for a wee while until I got the call from G to say she'd arrived and was hiding in the shade. In a bizarre typical Sydney weather twist, it was friggin' 34C and so damn humid, after many days of only just above 20C temps. Bah!
Poor little ZJ was NOT impressed by the three fully grown adults AND their luggage (damn, we all had a suitcase for two nights away, ha ha), when he's used to just me and my handbag/gymbag. Boy, was he a sluggish little Corolla, especially up some of the big hills. But we made it in good time and checked into our GORGEOUS accommodation, with me snaffling the second best room - own air con, whoo hoo! I gave up another room - with a balcony - to a smoker friend, turned out to be a stroke of genius ... well, unintentioned genius as hers had no air con. None of which we discovered until we went off to bed in the sweltering pre-thunderstorm heat!
Anyhoo, we made a quick trip into town to pick up BBQ supplies ... and booze, naturally, and by 6pm we were sitting outside, glass of wine in hand, cheese, bread, oil and dukah on the table feeling well and truly at home. Slight hiccup when we discovered there was no water coming out of the taps. Uhhh, hello - shower required much? So we called up Jeff, our friendly landlord for the weekend, who turned up and realised the water tank (they're all on rainwater up there) was, in fact, empty! Slight panic until he reassured us he had dam supply - for emergencies only. Heh, was only then we realised how friendly he was. We were all standing around chatting, he's lit up two smokes in 10 minutes and I'm thinking "damn, I really want to drink some more wine", when he was asking us how we were enjoying the local produce - noticing we were drinking some from a vineyard just down the road. Heh, took us THAT to realise he actually was hanging out for an invite. So, I asked him if he wanted to join us for a while and yes, he did, in fact he'd brought along his own supply - two bottles in the truck. Ha ha.
So us quite newly thirty girls sat down with ol' Jeff and had a great chat about EVERYTHING. Good lord, it was brilliant fun. Finally at about 7.30pm - four hours after she'd left Sydney - the final member of our party arrived to find us all very well into it and damn near pissed. Alright, I was already pissed. Total lightweight.
Anyhoo, once Jeff's wine ran out and he realised it was 8.30pm and he'd been sitting there for two hours - with his poor wife back home - he decided to high-tail it home and we decided to fire up the bbq. Mmm, all very tasty. Or I imagine it was, having now well and truly hit the pissed point of the night. So pissed that I thought "oh yes, it's a GREAT time for me to pick up a cigarette". Ahh dear.
Slight low point was when the two blokes staying nextdoor came over to join us. Eeek. Golf semi-pro and his caddy. Both with GLINTING wedding rings. Heh, they were both pretty lame and I'm pretty sure that within 15 minutes of talking to us drunken, over-tired floozies that they realised they really probably should've stayed in the safety of their bungalow. No funny business, just baaaad conversation as can only be had when three out of six of the party are drrrrruuuunk and happy, one is sober and tired/grumpy and two are boring-ass golfers. Heh, oh well.
Have no idea when they buggered off, but at some point they did and at some point I went off to bed.
Woke up at blimmin' 5am! Gaaaah. Damn internal body clock. Oh, and noisy birds.
Went on a faaaabulous wine-tasting tour, that started at 10am (ouch). Kev - the escort gnome - was a hit, moreso because one of the old blokes who was on the bus LOOKED JUST LIKE HIM. White beard and gnomey face and all. He had designs on Kev, wanted to take him home and made sure he got photographed with him everywhere. Ha ha. Hilarious. I actually felt pretty damn cruddy for most of the tour, just can't face a big bold Shiraz at 10.15am after a night of hard drinking. Blech. Bought some more speciality wines, some chilli-infused olive oil (lush), some chilli olives (delish) and some stunning mild blue-vein cheese. I usually hate the stuff, and declare it smells like feet that have been peed on by a diseased goat ... but this was damn good.
The tour finished at about 5.30pm and LORD I was knackered. We hung around for a while, had showers, located clothing and then got picked up by a taxi to head into this AWESOME brewery in town for our dinner. Food was a touch average, but the local beer more than made up for it. Could've stayed for a LOT longer but one of our party had turned green at the table, practically sprinted for the loo and not returned for 15 mins. I never like to ask if someone's okay in these situations, because for all I knew she could've suddenly come down with a case of the squirts, or I could've just over-reacted to her reaction and she was fine and just touching up her make-up or a range of other things. Once she was back at the table I could see she was in a world of hurt - on the waters! So I got her a lemon, lime and bitters as I find this often helps - something to do with the sugar content. Anyhoo, she didn't say anything but soldiered on because she is real trooper. I would've gone home, and always do, if I'd felt like her.
Sunday we had a super bacon/eggs/mushrooms breakfast before our superfun horseriding trip. And I am not being sarcy when I say superfun, it was SO AWESOME. Aside from the fact we were pretty much all put on dodgy horses who were really not very well looked after, nor was their gear, yards or anything. But anyway, I was warned that my horse was a real bit "think of PMS with a gun" one of the staff told me. Uhhh, fantastic. Really didn't turn out to be that bad though, she was just a mean biatch of a horse. And had the WORST canter it has been my misfortune to experience. My lord, it was terrible. Kept being catapulted forward out of the saddle despite my best thigh-squeezing and butt pushing into saddle efforts. I tried my best ... didn't fall off either. At the end of it a staff member asked me how I'd found her canter, and I was like "oh, I am sooo out of practice" etc etc, explaining how I couldn't keep my seat. Hah, she laughed and explained that it wasn't my fault - the horse had the worst canter she'd ever encountered and no-one could sit down. Grrrr. Would've been helpful to know beforehand ... even during! Gah!
Anyway, three days later and my inner-thighs are still singing out in pain every now and then.
Onto the next part of my holiday anyway ... the non-party part, the detox part. Well, I'm four days in now to the official holiday, the weekend away was just ... well, a weekend! Drove down on Monday and had nice salad for lunch, then a wee rest before taking the mother out for a walk. Tuesday I got up super early and dropped my car at the mechanic, about 8-9km away, and ran back. It was so good, gorgeous run, but my thighs - ooooh, my thighs.
Wednesday, yesterday, did a super-sweaty 6km run in the 85% humidity morning ... was damn hard going, it's so flat around here, I miss the hills (sick, I know) and then took ye ol' mother out for a good hour long walk in the evening. Thighs still haven't really improved, so today I took the day off from serious running work and went shopping instead. Bought the most gorgeous tie belt you've ever seen, bought some lovely handmade soap ... and fudge and marmalade for the father figure.
Tomorrow, if the bloody sun comes out, I am SO going for a swim. But at the very least will do a nice 10km run in the morning and will hit the weights - just at home - for a good 30 mins too. Plus the fitball. My poor stomach is weakening!
Food has been very, very good though. No bad stuff at all. Seriously, none. And I'm really enjoying it all too. Tonight am making low-carb, low-fat healthy pizza for the parental units ... a rare treat for us all really, but especially for them because they never eat the stuff.
Really looking forward to a picnic on Sunday at a nearby village that was set up in the 1940s as a real tourist resort, but never took off because of the ever-damn-changing weather. Qld has "beautiful one day, perfect the next", the south coast could have "beautiful one minute, sh*thouse the next, windy the next, raining the next, sunny the next" because it literally changes every hour. Not 20 minutes ago I was thinking I should really head out for a swim, not there's grey clouds pushing in and the temp has dropped by a good 5 degrees. Charming.
But still, I'M ON HOLIDAYS. Whoo hoo.
Weekend in the Hunter with the girls was faaaaabulous. But oh, my aching liver. A arrived via her lovely boyfriend's car at about 10.30am and we hung around until we heard the third member of my carpool was at the nearby train station. I had decided - somewhat on the spur of the moment - to get her an escort for the weekend. Kev! The budget Bunnings gnome. Ha ha ha. It was sooo silly, but helped to make the weekend even more fun. So I introduced A to her escort, we faffed around for a wee while until I got the call from G to say she'd arrived and was hiding in the shade. In a bizarre typical Sydney weather twist, it was friggin' 34C and so damn humid, after many days of only just above 20C temps. Bah!
Poor little ZJ was NOT impressed by the three fully grown adults AND their luggage (damn, we all had a suitcase for two nights away, ha ha), when he's used to just me and my handbag/gymbag. Boy, was he a sluggish little Corolla, especially up some of the big hills. But we made it in good time and checked into our GORGEOUS accommodation, with me snaffling the second best room - own air con, whoo hoo! I gave up another room - with a balcony - to a smoker friend, turned out to be a stroke of genius ... well, unintentioned genius as hers had no air con. None of which we discovered until we went off to bed in the sweltering pre-thunderstorm heat!
Anyhoo, we made a quick trip into town to pick up BBQ supplies ... and booze, naturally, and by 6pm we were sitting outside, glass of wine in hand, cheese, bread, oil and dukah on the table feeling well and truly at home. Slight hiccup when we discovered there was no water coming out of the taps. Uhhh, hello - shower required much? So we called up Jeff, our friendly landlord for the weekend, who turned up and realised the water tank (they're all on rainwater up there) was, in fact, empty! Slight panic until he reassured us he had dam supply - for emergencies only. Heh, was only then we realised how friendly he was. We were all standing around chatting, he's lit up two smokes in 10 minutes and I'm thinking "damn, I really want to drink some more wine", when he was asking us how we were enjoying the local produce - noticing we were drinking some from a vineyard just down the road. Heh, took us THAT to realise he actually was hanging out for an invite. So, I asked him if he wanted to join us for a while and yes, he did, in fact he'd brought along his own supply - two bottles in the truck. Ha ha.
So us quite newly thirty girls sat down with ol' Jeff and had a great chat about EVERYTHING. Good lord, it was brilliant fun. Finally at about 7.30pm - four hours after she'd left Sydney - the final member of our party arrived to find us all very well into it and damn near pissed. Alright, I was already pissed. Total lightweight.
Anyhoo, once Jeff's wine ran out and he realised it was 8.30pm and he'd been sitting there for two hours - with his poor wife back home - he decided to high-tail it home and we decided to fire up the bbq. Mmm, all very tasty. Or I imagine it was, having now well and truly hit the pissed point of the night. So pissed that I thought "oh yes, it's a GREAT time for me to pick up a cigarette". Ahh dear.
Slight low point was when the two blokes staying nextdoor came over to join us. Eeek. Golf semi-pro and his caddy. Both with GLINTING wedding rings. Heh, they were both pretty lame and I'm pretty sure that within 15 minutes of talking to us drunken, over-tired floozies that they realised they really probably should've stayed in the safety of their bungalow. No funny business, just baaaad conversation as can only be had when three out of six of the party are drrrrruuuunk and happy, one is sober and tired/grumpy and two are boring-ass golfers. Heh, oh well.
Have no idea when they buggered off, but at some point they did and at some point I went off to bed.
Woke up at blimmin' 5am! Gaaaah. Damn internal body clock. Oh, and noisy birds.
Went on a faaaabulous wine-tasting tour, that started at 10am (ouch). Kev - the escort gnome - was a hit, moreso because one of the old blokes who was on the bus LOOKED JUST LIKE HIM. White beard and gnomey face and all. He had designs on Kev, wanted to take him home and made sure he got photographed with him everywhere. Ha ha. Hilarious. I actually felt pretty damn cruddy for most of the tour, just can't face a big bold Shiraz at 10.15am after a night of hard drinking. Blech. Bought some more speciality wines, some chilli-infused olive oil (lush), some chilli olives (delish) and some stunning mild blue-vein cheese. I usually hate the stuff, and declare it smells like feet that have been peed on by a diseased goat ... but this was damn good.
The tour finished at about 5.30pm and LORD I was knackered. We hung around for a while, had showers, located clothing and then got picked up by a taxi to head into this AWESOME brewery in town for our dinner. Food was a touch average, but the local beer more than made up for it. Could've stayed for a LOT longer but one of our party had turned green at the table, practically sprinted for the loo and not returned for 15 mins. I never like to ask if someone's okay in these situations, because for all I knew she could've suddenly come down with a case of the squirts, or I could've just over-reacted to her reaction and she was fine and just touching up her make-up or a range of other things. Once she was back at the table I could see she was in a world of hurt - on the waters! So I got her a lemon, lime and bitters as I find this often helps - something to do with the sugar content. Anyhoo, she didn't say anything but soldiered on because she is real trooper. I would've gone home, and always do, if I'd felt like her.
Sunday we had a super bacon/eggs/mushrooms breakfast before our superfun horseriding trip. And I am not being sarcy when I say superfun, it was SO AWESOME. Aside from the fact we were pretty much all put on dodgy horses who were really not very well looked after, nor was their gear, yards or anything. But anyway, I was warned that my horse was a real bit "think of PMS with a gun" one of the staff told me. Uhhh, fantastic. Really didn't turn out to be that bad though, she was just a mean biatch of a horse. And had the WORST canter it has been my misfortune to experience. My lord, it was terrible. Kept being catapulted forward out of the saddle despite my best thigh-squeezing and butt pushing into saddle efforts. I tried my best ... didn't fall off either. At the end of it a staff member asked me how I'd found her canter, and I was like "oh, I am sooo out of practice" etc etc, explaining how I couldn't keep my seat. Hah, she laughed and explained that it wasn't my fault - the horse had the worst canter she'd ever encountered and no-one could sit down. Grrrr. Would've been helpful to know beforehand ... even during! Gah!
Anyway, three days later and my inner-thighs are still singing out in pain every now and then.
Onto the next part of my holiday anyway ... the non-party part, the detox part. Well, I'm four days in now to the official holiday, the weekend away was just ... well, a weekend! Drove down on Monday and had nice salad for lunch, then a wee rest before taking the mother out for a walk. Tuesday I got up super early and dropped my car at the mechanic, about 8-9km away, and ran back. It was so good, gorgeous run, but my thighs - ooooh, my thighs.
Wednesday, yesterday, did a super-sweaty 6km run in the 85% humidity morning ... was damn hard going, it's so flat around here, I miss the hills (sick, I know) and then took ye ol' mother out for a good hour long walk in the evening. Thighs still haven't really improved, so today I took the day off from serious running work and went shopping instead. Bought the most gorgeous tie belt you've ever seen, bought some lovely handmade soap ... and fudge and marmalade for the father figure.
Tomorrow, if the bloody sun comes out, I am SO going for a swim. But at the very least will do a nice 10km run in the morning and will hit the weights - just at home - for a good 30 mins too. Plus the fitball. My poor stomach is weakening!
Food has been very, very good though. No bad stuff at all. Seriously, none. And I'm really enjoying it all too. Tonight am making low-carb, low-fat healthy pizza for the parental units ... a rare treat for us all really, but especially for them because they never eat the stuff.
Really looking forward to a picnic on Sunday at a nearby village that was set up in the 1940s as a real tourist resort, but never took off because of the ever-damn-changing weather. Qld has "beautiful one day, perfect the next", the south coast could have "beautiful one minute, sh*thouse the next, windy the next, raining the next, sunny the next" because it literally changes every hour. Not 20 minutes ago I was thinking I should really head out for a swim, not there's grey clouds pushing in and the temp has dropped by a good 5 degrees. Charming.
But still, I'M ON HOLIDAYS. Whoo hoo.
Thursday 13 November 2008
Serious Countdown
Whoooo hoooooo! Counting down on my last day of work before TWO WEEKS holiday. Yippeeeee. I never thought I'd get here. Seriously. Last week I thought I would go mad, quit work, leave Sydney and go live in a hippie commune. Thankfully sanity prevailed ... and I just took it one day at a time, and now here I am.
Last night I joined some of my wonderful Can Too people to watch two flicks at the Orpheum in Cremorne. One was about the Marathon de Sables (Marathon of the Sands) across the Sahara Desert, and the other called The Spirit of the Marathon, following six people (from beginner/social runner to Olympic level) on their journey to the Chicago Marathon. Seriously inspiring stuff. If you've ever wondered why people run 42.2km (in one go), watching this film or similar will explain why. It's different for every individual.
As for the Marathon de Sables. OMFG! Beautiful territory, beyond gruelling and exhausting race. I can only hope that one day I have the guts and determination to do something half as challenging. Don't think it will be running across the Sahara in 48C temps though!
Can I just say men are the most ridiculous creatures on the face of the earth. After months of careful relationship regeneration with Darren he's now gone completely ridiculous again. Suddenly can't decide if we want the same things, but when asked expressly what's he's talking about he cannot say ... just says he wants to be "happy" and right now he's not "happy" all the time. Seriously, the man needs to take some bloody responsibility for his OWN happiness! Right now he's all down on himself because he's carrying a little weight around his stomach. Now, the guy is a fit bugger and has toned legs, arms, butt and chest and a teeeeeeny paunch as you'd expect from a 38-year-old. Who I am, however, to criticise someone's body-image/acceptance though. So, I told him I wouldn't even notice it if he didn't keep lifting his shirt and pointing it out to me ... AND if it bothers him so much to stop eating chilli Kettle chips every day along with the three or four beers? Heh, didn't say last bit however as would give him free rein to point out that if I stopped eating chocolate, bread, pasta etc (none of which I eat in large amounts) I would lose that extra flubber.
Anyway, almost every time I talk to him about this he changes his mind about what he wants, whether or not he's happy etc. Blaaah. So holiday is well timed. Do not have to see him for two weeks and am going to cut off all contact, at the end of that two weeks we should both have an idea of "what we want". Hmm, more on this later.
In other news, just ate half of a ridiculously delicious blueberry muffin. Dang!
Last night I joined some of my wonderful Can Too people to watch two flicks at the Orpheum in Cremorne. One was about the Marathon de Sables (Marathon of the Sands) across the Sahara Desert, and the other called The Spirit of the Marathon, following six people (from beginner/social runner to Olympic level) on their journey to the Chicago Marathon. Seriously inspiring stuff. If you've ever wondered why people run 42.2km (in one go), watching this film or similar will explain why. It's different for every individual.
As for the Marathon de Sables. OMFG! Beautiful territory, beyond gruelling and exhausting race. I can only hope that one day I have the guts and determination to do something half as challenging. Don't think it will be running across the Sahara in 48C temps though!
Can I just say men are the most ridiculous creatures on the face of the earth. After months of careful relationship regeneration with Darren he's now gone completely ridiculous again. Suddenly can't decide if we want the same things, but when asked expressly what's he's talking about he cannot say ... just says he wants to be "happy" and right now he's not "happy" all the time. Seriously, the man needs to take some bloody responsibility for his OWN happiness! Right now he's all down on himself because he's carrying a little weight around his stomach. Now, the guy is a fit bugger and has toned legs, arms, butt and chest and a teeeeeeny paunch as you'd expect from a 38-year-old. Who I am, however, to criticise someone's body-image/acceptance though. So, I told him I wouldn't even notice it if he didn't keep lifting his shirt and pointing it out to me ... AND if it bothers him so much to stop eating chilli Kettle chips every day along with the three or four beers? Heh, didn't say last bit however as would give him free rein to point out that if I stopped eating chocolate, bread, pasta etc (none of which I eat in large amounts) I would lose that extra flubber.
Anyway, almost every time I talk to him about this he changes his mind about what he wants, whether or not he's happy etc. Blaaah. So holiday is well timed. Do not have to see him for two weeks and am going to cut off all contact, at the end of that two weeks we should both have an idea of "what we want". Hmm, more on this later.
In other news, just ate half of a ridiculously delicious blueberry muffin. Dang!
Monday 10 November 2008
Wagon Woes
In the weight-loss/trying to get fitter realm there is possibly no feeling worse than falling off the wagon. You feel like all your hard work - meal planning, label-reading, calorie burning etc - has been for nothing if you're just going to give in to temptation and stuff yourself silly at the first opportunity.
Well, that's where I am right now! An "ex-wagon member". In all fairness, to myself and the forces which conspired against me, it was entirely a wagon fall ... in two nights (Fri & Sat) I had a wedding and dinner at a FABULOUS restaurant with friends. For the wedding I had given myself a bit of a "free pass" - and if I'm honest it wasn't SO bad. I probably ate one too many of the finger food thingies ... I had five, although two were small cubes of cheese with an olive, one 4cm diameter mini-pizza, a meatball and slice of chicken sausage roll. Heh, high society wedding of course. I ate less than a quarter of my entree - piece of lasagna (horrible) - and one slice of my soggy cardboard masquerading as lamb, and the ONE piece of cauliflower and broccoli, and some of the overcooked carrots. I had about half of my dessert - some sort of baked cheesecake.
I DID have about five drinks though - oops! One glass of champagne - some revoltingly sweet stuff - a light beer, a glass of red wine and two full strength beers. That was from 6pm to midnight though, so was pretty-well close to sober, plus there was a good dose of dancing!
Dinner with friends was pretty good too, honestly. Had two slices of very delicious authentic Italian pizza (as previously raved about) and shared a small rocket & parmesan salad. Had two glasses of red (it was an ITALIAN restaurant, it's just culturally insensitive not to) and another one of those AMAZING hot chocolates. Mmmm.
The food was not good, but it could've been much worse. Plus, on Friday did 40 mins of continuous swimming, Saturday did 40 minute walk with dog (Bella) and Darren (not a dog), and on Sunday I mowed Darren's lawn and washed my car, as well as lugging an 8km gas bottle (for the BBQ) all around Bunnings, the carpark, Darren's place and then up six flights of stairs. Heh, not REALLY exercise, but better than nothing.
Anyway, today I have seriously been positively saintly. Muesli/yoghurt for breakfast, salad with feta for lunch, some natural yoghurt for arvo tea, a green tea and then did Bikram (90 minutes of sweatin'). Dinner was sorta homemade fried rice ... without the fried bit. Basically stir fried zucchini, carrot and broccoli in a pan with just a light spray of olive oil, then 100g of tofu, then about 1 tab of sweet chilli sauce and 1/2 cup of Doongara (low GI) rice. Whoo hoo!
Now am having a cup of Dandelion tea. Heh, LOTS of people turn their nose up at the Dandelion tea ... but it's really good for liver function. A few years ago (two I think) I contracted Ross River Fever while on holiday in Darwin - pesky mosquitos! The side-effects/symptoms vary, but for me it meant extreme fatigue, night sweats/fevers, headaches and YAY slightly reduced liver function. Thankfully the liver is an organ you can "fix" through healthy eating and lifestyle. I've never had it tested again, but I reckon it's doing pretty good. I look after it. Heh, major segue there.
Here's another one. Darwin is AWESOME. Aside from the mosquitos (and it probably could've been a mosquito in Sydney or anywhere else I'd been that year). ESPECIALLY if you're single. There's a chronic shortage of non-slapper women up there. There's every variety of single man you can imagine - business owner, journalist/editor, tour guide (aHem), PLUS there are all three arms of the defence force up there ... and at any given time there are soldiers/sailors/airmen visiting from other countries. Hot English Navy boys - ahoy there! Ha ha. Obviously you've gotta take care of yourself, but you can have some fabulous fun. Not just with the male attention, but there are some fantastic things to see and do.
Hmm, travel plug over. For now.
In major MAJOR countdown mode for the weekend/start of my holiday/A's 30th. Four more sleeps. Speaking of sleep. Must get some asap.
Well, that's where I am right now! An "ex-wagon member". In all fairness, to myself and the forces which conspired against me, it was entirely a wagon fall ... in two nights (Fri & Sat) I had a wedding and dinner at a FABULOUS restaurant with friends. For the wedding I had given myself a bit of a "free pass" - and if I'm honest it wasn't SO bad. I probably ate one too many of the finger food thingies ... I had five, although two were small cubes of cheese with an olive, one 4cm diameter mini-pizza, a meatball and slice of chicken sausage roll. Heh, high society wedding of course. I ate less than a quarter of my entree - piece of lasagna (horrible) - and one slice of my soggy cardboard masquerading as lamb, and the ONE piece of cauliflower and broccoli, and some of the overcooked carrots. I had about half of my dessert - some sort of baked cheesecake.
I DID have about five drinks though - oops! One glass of champagne - some revoltingly sweet stuff - a light beer, a glass of red wine and two full strength beers. That was from 6pm to midnight though, so was pretty-well close to sober, plus there was a good dose of dancing!
Dinner with friends was pretty good too, honestly. Had two slices of very delicious authentic Italian pizza (as previously raved about) and shared a small rocket & parmesan salad. Had two glasses of red (it was an ITALIAN restaurant, it's just culturally insensitive not to) and another one of those AMAZING hot chocolates. Mmmm.
The food was not good, but it could've been much worse. Plus, on Friday did 40 mins of continuous swimming, Saturday did 40 minute walk with dog (Bella) and Darren (not a dog), and on Sunday I mowed Darren's lawn and washed my car, as well as lugging an 8km gas bottle (for the BBQ) all around Bunnings, the carpark, Darren's place and then up six flights of stairs. Heh, not REALLY exercise, but better than nothing.
Anyway, today I have seriously been positively saintly. Muesli/yoghurt for breakfast, salad with feta for lunch, some natural yoghurt for arvo tea, a green tea and then did Bikram (90 minutes of sweatin'). Dinner was sorta homemade fried rice ... without the fried bit. Basically stir fried zucchini, carrot and broccoli in a pan with just a light spray of olive oil, then 100g of tofu, then about 1 tab of sweet chilli sauce and 1/2 cup of Doongara (low GI) rice. Whoo hoo!
Now am having a cup of Dandelion tea. Heh, LOTS of people turn their nose up at the Dandelion tea ... but it's really good for liver function. A few years ago (two I think) I contracted Ross River Fever while on holiday in Darwin - pesky mosquitos! The side-effects/symptoms vary, but for me it meant extreme fatigue, night sweats/fevers, headaches and YAY slightly reduced liver function. Thankfully the liver is an organ you can "fix" through healthy eating and lifestyle. I've never had it tested again, but I reckon it's doing pretty good. I look after it. Heh, major segue there.
Here's another one. Darwin is AWESOME. Aside from the mosquitos (and it probably could've been a mosquito in Sydney or anywhere else I'd been that year). ESPECIALLY if you're single. There's a chronic shortage of non-slapper women up there. There's every variety of single man you can imagine - business owner, journalist/editor, tour guide (aHem), PLUS there are all three arms of the defence force up there ... and at any given time there are soldiers/sailors/airmen visiting from other countries. Hot English Navy boys - ahoy there! Ha ha. Obviously you've gotta take care of yourself, but you can have some fabulous fun. Not just with the male attention, but there are some fantastic things to see and do.
Hmm, travel plug over. For now.
In major MAJOR countdown mode for the weekend/start of my holiday/A's 30th. Four more sleeps. Speaking of sleep. Must get some asap.
Friday 7 November 2008
New Food
This morning I saw my lovely nutritionist to get my "food plan". Thankfully she said my food was "mostly good", but I have confused not only my mind but also my body after reading 1001 things about fats, carbs, proteins and whatever else. Everything she said made sense, I'd just never put it all together in my head ... something about seeing the woods for the trees or whatever.
I think where I was going wrong was not maintaining a balance through the day, especially in terms of carbs. When it comes to carbs my thinking has always been a slight bastardisation of the old "eat like a king at breakfast, queen at lunch and pauper at dinner", breakfasts were generally carb heavy, lunch less so and generally NONE past 3pm. Heh, wrong! For me anyway, but basically what this does is cause a spike in insulin levels as the body tries to break the carbs down, which then staggers up and down each time I eat something after that. THEN because I wasn't eating any in the arvo, I essentially put my body into "freak out starvation mode" where it just slowed right down in case it didn't get any more carbs. Or something.
Plus, I found out that sushi rice is the worst rice there is for maintaining weight loss ... and I definitely eat sushi at least once or twice a week. No more of that thanks!
Anyhoo, the plan is to maintain a carb balance, and boost the protein intake. So, breakfast will still be muesli/porridge - but 1/2 a cup, with 2 tabs yoghurt and 1/2 cup skim milk - no added fruit. Alternatively, two slices of Burgen bread (toasted) with avocado and tomato or other non-fatty spread.
Lunch should be either multi-grain roll or Burgen bread, with salad and protein (tuna/salmon, avocado, chicken), OR a salad with a small can of four-bean mix or chickpeas, OR left-overs from dinner - provided it's healthy, OR my veg and chickpea soup.
Dinner is to be much the same really. When eating red meat, should be about 100g - size and width of palm, fish should be size of hand, slightly smaller for chicken, should eat about the same of carby stuff - a small/med potato, pasta, the GOOD rice (Basmati) or noodles, and then as many veggies as I can take!
So, it all starts today. Well, for most of today. Going to a wedding tonight where I SWEAR I will try to eat all the good options and no dessert ... but we shall see. To aid me in this endeavour I'm going to have a slightly later lunch at 2pm - big salad sandwich ... and I mean big in terms of salad content, not bread, and am going to take an apple and some carrot bits with me to much on. Well, that's the plan. Obviously won't drink too much as going running tomorrow at 7.30am - don't want no hangovers. Having said THAT, three is my limit ... I need something to take the edge off and try not to think about my arms flapping around. Eeek, must do more pump.
In other non-food related news, had a major freak-out last night. First - some background. On January 7th this year, I woke up at about 11pm to some very loud banging on the door of my flat. I was soooo out of it, because I go to bed at 9.30pm as I get up at 4.30am/5am, and wondering firstly how the hell someone got into the building without me buzzing them in, and secondly who the hell it was. It turned out to be my lovely nextdoor neighbour, Anne, who told me my car was on fire. And oh yes, it was! There were three firetrucks in the street (whose arrival had not woken me up), and as I wandered out - bleary eyed - into the street there was a guy trying desperately to hack into the bonnet of my car with a sledgehammer thing because they were worried the engine was going to blow up.
It was horrible and traumatic, and took me about a month to get a new car sorted after jumping through a range of insurance claim related hoops and whatnot.
SO, you can imagine my panic when at about 9.30pm last night - just as I was hopping into bed with my book and cup of tea - I smelt smoke wafting in the window, and realised I could hear all sorts of voices and the sound of a big vehicle of some sort. OMFG. I quickly pulled on some clothes and went outside - in my Ugg boots, bogan that I am - and YES, it had happened again. But not to me, thank GOD and all the angels as I just couldn't have handled it right now. It was, however, only two cars away from mine! Gah. I joined the small crowd of people gathered around. Similar story to my car - someone had poured some type of accelerant on the back tyre and lit it. This time, however, they had done a trail of the accelerant to a couch and some other council pick-up waste not far away - which had caught alight and THEN set fire to the tree it was lined up against, which had spread to the branches of some other trees.
PHEW! Was soooo smoky and horrible, and I just wanted to run back to my flat and grab my stuff and flee. Obviously, it wasn't going to happen, but that's how I felt. Wandered back to my flat feeling very sorry for whoever's car it was - although it didn't actually look like a write-off (mine was DEAD dead dead), so maybe it was only superficial damage. Then spent a good hour wondering if I should move, if I could afford to move (heh, not REALLY and just can't face moving right now), and if I wanted to move. Hmmm. Think the general consensus was "no" to all of the above, especially on the $$$ front, am just in too good a place to move right now.
Mucho drama in North Ryde. Ha ha ha.
Alrighty, I'm off now. Got to pop into work for a while before heading off for a swim and then coming home to start wedding preparations. Whoo hoo.
I think where I was going wrong was not maintaining a balance through the day, especially in terms of carbs. When it comes to carbs my thinking has always been a slight bastardisation of the old "eat like a king at breakfast, queen at lunch and pauper at dinner", breakfasts were generally carb heavy, lunch less so and generally NONE past 3pm. Heh, wrong! For me anyway, but basically what this does is cause a spike in insulin levels as the body tries to break the carbs down, which then staggers up and down each time I eat something after that. THEN because I wasn't eating any in the arvo, I essentially put my body into "freak out starvation mode" where it just slowed right down in case it didn't get any more carbs. Or something.
Plus, I found out that sushi rice is the worst rice there is for maintaining weight loss ... and I definitely eat sushi at least once or twice a week. No more of that thanks!
Anyhoo, the plan is to maintain a carb balance, and boost the protein intake. So, breakfast will still be muesli/porridge - but 1/2 a cup, with 2 tabs yoghurt and 1/2 cup skim milk - no added fruit. Alternatively, two slices of Burgen bread (toasted) with avocado and tomato or other non-fatty spread.
Lunch should be either multi-grain roll or Burgen bread, with salad and protein (tuna/salmon, avocado, chicken), OR a salad with a small can of four-bean mix or chickpeas, OR left-overs from dinner - provided it's healthy, OR my veg and chickpea soup.
Dinner is to be much the same really. When eating red meat, should be about 100g - size and width of palm, fish should be size of hand, slightly smaller for chicken, should eat about the same of carby stuff - a small/med potato, pasta, the GOOD rice (Basmati) or noodles, and then as many veggies as I can take!
So, it all starts today. Well, for most of today. Going to a wedding tonight where I SWEAR I will try to eat all the good options and no dessert ... but we shall see. To aid me in this endeavour I'm going to have a slightly later lunch at 2pm - big salad sandwich ... and I mean big in terms of salad content, not bread, and am going to take an apple and some carrot bits with me to much on. Well, that's the plan. Obviously won't drink too much as going running tomorrow at 7.30am - don't want no hangovers. Having said THAT, three is my limit ... I need something to take the edge off and try not to think about my arms flapping around. Eeek, must do more pump.
In other non-food related news, had a major freak-out last night. First - some background. On January 7th this year, I woke up at about 11pm to some very loud banging on the door of my flat. I was soooo out of it, because I go to bed at 9.30pm as I get up at 4.30am/5am, and wondering firstly how the hell someone got into the building without me buzzing them in, and secondly who the hell it was. It turned out to be my lovely nextdoor neighbour, Anne, who told me my car was on fire. And oh yes, it was! There were three firetrucks in the street (whose arrival had not woken me up), and as I wandered out - bleary eyed - into the street there was a guy trying desperately to hack into the bonnet of my car with a sledgehammer thing because they were worried the engine was going to blow up.
It was horrible and traumatic, and took me about a month to get a new car sorted after jumping through a range of insurance claim related hoops and whatnot.
SO, you can imagine my panic when at about 9.30pm last night - just as I was hopping into bed with my book and cup of tea - I smelt smoke wafting in the window, and realised I could hear all sorts of voices and the sound of a big vehicle of some sort. OMFG. I quickly pulled on some clothes and went outside - in my Ugg boots, bogan that I am - and YES, it had happened again. But not to me, thank GOD and all the angels as I just couldn't have handled it right now. It was, however, only two cars away from mine! Gah. I joined the small crowd of people gathered around. Similar story to my car - someone had poured some type of accelerant on the back tyre and lit it. This time, however, they had done a trail of the accelerant to a couch and some other council pick-up waste not far away - which had caught alight and THEN set fire to the tree it was lined up against, which had spread to the branches of some other trees.
PHEW! Was soooo smoky and horrible, and I just wanted to run back to my flat and grab my stuff and flee. Obviously, it wasn't going to happen, but that's how I felt. Wandered back to my flat feeling very sorry for whoever's car it was - although it didn't actually look like a write-off (mine was DEAD dead dead), so maybe it was only superficial damage. Then spent a good hour wondering if I should move, if I could afford to move (heh, not REALLY and just can't face moving right now), and if I wanted to move. Hmmm. Think the general consensus was "no" to all of the above, especially on the $$$ front, am just in too good a place to move right now.
Mucho drama in North Ryde. Ha ha ha.
Alrighty, I'm off now. Got to pop into work for a while before heading off for a swim and then coming home to start wedding preparations. Whoo hoo.
Tuesday 4 November 2008
The Thighs Have It
I was at Bikram yesterday, sweating like the proverbial in the 40C room, hoping I wouldn't feel like fainting/dying as in previous classes, scrutinising my body. Not in a negative "oh you fat cow" sort of way, but in a "yes, this is good, this is bad and THAT is those biscuits/chocolate/chips" etc etc.
The weekend saw a slight deviation from my usually very healthy/whole foods eating. Saturday night's comedy thingo went MUCH longer than expected, and the support acts were just so awful that I found myself in an impromptu acting class - pretending to laugh! I just couldn't sit there silently while these entirely UNfunny blokes committed comedy suicide on stage just three metres away from me. So, all that forced laughing, smiling etc gave me the worst headache and made me so, so, so tired. Queue the chips and Red Bull at the 'half-time' break, or intermission for non sports-obsessed folk. Damn you chips! I didn't read the label, I KNOW what they're worth on the calorie/fat scale. The only thing I can say is I didn't eat all of them, and only drank half of the chemical-laden Red Bull.
Sunday I slept in ... well, until 7am, after getting home after 1am stone cold sober AND knackered. Had a day off! Eeep. And ate a few huge handfuls of choc covered sultanas and peanuts. Very bad ... not least because of the IBS side-effects.
Ahem! Anyhoo, back on topic. I was staring at myself in the mirror at Bikram while doing a range of postures. Stomach/torso is good ... ish, or getting there. Arms are definitely getting there - yay push-ups, dips, curls etc. Calves are muscular blocks thanks to running and the rest. And yes, ladies and gentlemen, the thighs have it. The fat that is! Sides are still nicely toned, but all the crap I've been eating seems to have accumulated on the front of my quads. Fabulous, just fabulous. It's no visual illusion either, put on the 'original' skinny jeans today and while they're fine around butt/hips, stomach, on the thighs I looked like I was wearing leggings - which I NEVER do.
So, anyhoo, back to the super-health. To that end, as I type I am making up a batch of "super-veg" soup. Weather has been so crudite of late that it's impossible to predict how often I can eat it (no soup in 25+ temps), but will be handy to have in little containers in the fridge for emergencies.
Must keep focussed though. Have wedding on Friday, but thankfully am wearing dress that's completely flattering and just skims the thighs. So I'm saved. I am, however, attending a wedding in a month's time where I plan to wear a dress that's completely unforgiving. Right now is passable, but over the boobs it pulls a bit. Will be fine if I can just get a few kgs off and kick the bloat. So - stay on track girl! Not on the pull or nuttin', just want to feel confident and happy and not be folding arms over gut all night.
As a quick extra note, I jumped on iTunes on Saturday while killing time before going to the gym/comedy and went hunting for a song from a very old Body Combat track - circa 2003!!! Crap, was it THAT long ago? After some extensive Googling and whatnot, I found the name, did the iTunes search and yep, yep - it was there. Whoo hoo. Downloaded both versions and added to my running playlist. Has nice fast beat, and even after all these (five) years it remains one of my favourite Body Combat memories.
Haven't been running since - oops! But plan on Pumping tomorrow, then going to an incredibly daggy concert that will be super-fun. Def Leppard and Cheap Trick, with the Galvatrons in support! Whoo hoo, bring on the hair bands. So excited.
The weekend saw a slight deviation from my usually very healthy/whole foods eating. Saturday night's comedy thingo went MUCH longer than expected, and the support acts were just so awful that I found myself in an impromptu acting class - pretending to laugh! I just couldn't sit there silently while these entirely UNfunny blokes committed comedy suicide on stage just three metres away from me. So, all that forced laughing, smiling etc gave me the worst headache and made me so, so, so tired. Queue the chips and Red Bull at the 'half-time' break, or intermission for non sports-obsessed folk. Damn you chips! I didn't read the label, I KNOW what they're worth on the calorie/fat scale. The only thing I can say is I didn't eat all of them, and only drank half of the chemical-laden Red Bull.
Sunday I slept in ... well, until 7am, after getting home after 1am stone cold sober AND knackered. Had a day off! Eeep. And ate a few huge handfuls of choc covered sultanas and peanuts. Very bad ... not least because of the IBS side-effects.
Ahem! Anyhoo, back on topic. I was staring at myself in the mirror at Bikram while doing a range of postures. Stomach/torso is good ... ish, or getting there. Arms are definitely getting there - yay push-ups, dips, curls etc. Calves are muscular blocks thanks to running and the rest. And yes, ladies and gentlemen, the thighs have it. The fat that is! Sides are still nicely toned, but all the crap I've been eating seems to have accumulated on the front of my quads. Fabulous, just fabulous. It's no visual illusion either, put on the 'original' skinny jeans today and while they're fine around butt/hips, stomach, on the thighs I looked like I was wearing leggings - which I NEVER do.
So, anyhoo, back to the super-health. To that end, as I type I am making up a batch of "super-veg" soup. Weather has been so crudite of late that it's impossible to predict how often I can eat it (no soup in 25+ temps), but will be handy to have in little containers in the fridge for emergencies.
Must keep focussed though. Have wedding on Friday, but thankfully am wearing dress that's completely flattering and just skims the thighs. So I'm saved. I am, however, attending a wedding in a month's time where I plan to wear a dress that's completely unforgiving. Right now is passable, but over the boobs it pulls a bit. Will be fine if I can just get a few kgs off and kick the bloat. So - stay on track girl! Not on the pull or nuttin', just want to feel confident and happy and not be folding arms over gut all night.
As a quick extra note, I jumped on iTunes on Saturday while killing time before going to the gym/comedy and went hunting for a song from a very old Body Combat track - circa 2003!!! Crap, was it THAT long ago? After some extensive Googling and whatnot, I found the name, did the iTunes search and yep, yep - it was there. Whoo hoo. Downloaded both versions and added to my running playlist. Has nice fast beat, and even after all these (five) years it remains one of my favourite Body Combat memories.
Haven't been running since - oops! But plan on Pumping tomorrow, then going to an incredibly daggy concert that will be super-fun. Def Leppard and Cheap Trick, with the Galvatrons in support! Whoo hoo, bring on the hair bands. So excited.
Saturday 1 November 2008
Cranky Pump Lady
Once again - not me! The instructor in yesterday arvo's class was in the FOULEST mood I have ever come across at the gym. Most instructors are so vivacious and bubbly, all those good hormones and endorphines. Well, this one was in a grump. Not helped by the fact her CD started jumping in the warm up track, or the fact the speakers in the room were having a psychotic episode ... one of them anyone, constantly losing audio, lots of strange noise and stuff. Then some guy complained about the music/audio. Nice one pal. Instructor was sent into the deep end "it's out of my hands, I can't control it" etc. Not sure why, but she didn't just turn it DOWN so that the noise from the speaker wasn't quite so deafening, and the music - when it decided to actually work - wasn't so loud.
Anyway, it's funny but it ALMOST totally disrupted by good exercise vibe. She - the instructor - totally lost her edge, was out of time with the music and several times forgot what she was doing. Usually understandable, but Pump is a set routine and we've been on this routine for close to three months. Which was actually lucky because the class just kept going about their business while she cursed at losing her place and whatever else. Oh well.
This morning skipped the Striders 10km race. They have a 60 minute cut-off time. I can usually come in well under this ... well, last two 10km races was 54.16 and 58 or so. But decided could not face the crowd, the racing and the whole shebang. Instead went for a good 9km/10km run by myself. Started off very slowly as back was "weird" after bad sleep. At halfway/30min mark I turned my Ipod on and put on some fast paced tracks for the home route. Was just the ticket! Was really powering up and down hills, and feeling strong! Hurrah. About time. Even had enough energy to add on some extra stairs and stuff. Yee haa.
So inspired am planning to go to Pump this arvo - at a different gym with different instructor. Going to comedy gig tonight, but not meeting until 7.15pm, and class finishes at 5.30pm. Heh, the instructor for this arvo's class is actually the perfect example of why "all body" training is important. He's what my friends and I would call a "wedge", big shoulders and chest, narrow/toned waist and skinny legs! Totally out of proportion, I'm always worried he's going to topple over and off the stage. Heh, would be a bit funny if he ever did, provided he didn't hurt himself.
That's about it from the Mad Running Woman. Beyond the fact I've only got EIGHT more shifts until my HOLIDAY. Whoo hooo. Oh, and obviously desperately need a damn sleep ... but no chance of that as tomorrow morning getting up super early to head over to Bondi to do the 4km round-trip to Tamarama to have a look at the Sculptures by the Sea. If I'm there by 6am should avoid crowds and be home by 8am at the latest.
Should really attempt sleep soon though - huge week next week! And the week after. And after, and after and after. Eeek.
Anyway, it's funny but it ALMOST totally disrupted by good exercise vibe. She - the instructor - totally lost her edge, was out of time with the music and several times forgot what she was doing. Usually understandable, but Pump is a set routine and we've been on this routine for close to three months. Which was actually lucky because the class just kept going about their business while she cursed at losing her place and whatever else. Oh well.
This morning skipped the Striders 10km race. They have a 60 minute cut-off time. I can usually come in well under this ... well, last two 10km races was 54.16 and 58 or so. But decided could not face the crowd, the racing and the whole shebang. Instead went for a good 9km/10km run by myself. Started off very slowly as back was "weird" after bad sleep. At halfway/30min mark I turned my Ipod on and put on some fast paced tracks for the home route. Was just the ticket! Was really powering up and down hills, and feeling strong! Hurrah. About time. Even had enough energy to add on some extra stairs and stuff. Yee haa.
So inspired am planning to go to Pump this arvo - at a different gym with different instructor. Going to comedy gig tonight, but not meeting until 7.15pm, and class finishes at 5.30pm. Heh, the instructor for this arvo's class is actually the perfect example of why "all body" training is important. He's what my friends and I would call a "wedge", big shoulders and chest, narrow/toned waist and skinny legs! Totally out of proportion, I'm always worried he's going to topple over and off the stage. Heh, would be a bit funny if he ever did, provided he didn't hurt himself.
That's about it from the Mad Running Woman. Beyond the fact I've only got EIGHT more shifts until my HOLIDAY. Whoo hooo. Oh, and obviously desperately need a damn sleep ... but no chance of that as tomorrow morning getting up super early to head over to Bondi to do the 4km round-trip to Tamarama to have a look at the Sculptures by the Sea. If I'm there by 6am should avoid crowds and be home by 8am at the latest.
Should really attempt sleep soon though - huge week next week! And the week after. And after, and after and after. Eeek.
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