7 April 2015

Still here. Still not losing any weight.  Still upset at myself for not trying.

It's Easter  break now.  10 days.

10 days to complete a to do list that has around 25 dot points.  Some more urgent than others. But a lot that definitely needs to be done.  Some of it house stuff, some of it health stuff.  Some of it looking after parent stuff.  Which I hate.  I swear I'm going to end up spending more time looking after her, than she ever had to look after me growing up.  If we were close maybe it would be different.  But my mother is a nasty bitter unpleasant woman and causes far more stress than is healthy for me.  And it never seems to end.

But back to my physical health.

I'm really really over being fat and overweight.  I just want to fit into clothes again properly.

I'm slowly working on the food issue.  I've worked out a fairly good system of making meals and freezing them.  I'm eating a form of dinner at work at 4 o'clock and then only fruit or crackers later at 7pm.   Now I've just got to get back on track with weighing and logging everything.  After all this time, I still find it a time consuming thing to do. It would probably work better if I took more time on Sunday to plan out and log my entire week in advance, just modifying where needed from where I deviated.  Yet another system to set up.  And stick to.

My whole life has been like this. I am full of ideas and plans and projects. I am a great starter of things but not a great finisher. I either get distracted or my enthusiasm wanes. I have so many incomplete hobbies and projects everywhere.  I wouldn't be surprised if they made up around 15-20% of all the stuff I own.  Which I'm still sorting through.  Which is yet another project to work on.  And I've already come up with yet another new project to do. And I can't let it rest until I have more time,or at least a better time because my enthusiasm will wane and I'll be left with this half finished project  that  wont get completed for another two  years.   *Rolls eyes*  This is the way I live my life. Every single day. Does this happen to anyone else? Is it fixable? Is it a learnt behaviour that can be unlearnt?

It's frustrating that's what it is.

7 Feb. 15

Oh dear.  Can you tell I'm back at work again?  Absolutely no time to blog.  Or read other blogs.  Bugger.

Annoyingly too, weightloss is not happening.  But I know exactly why.   I'm not sleeping well, which leads to me not eating well.  I'm also not logging properly or even exercising.  So frustrating, because it all seems to take time, time which I feel I don't have to put into these things.  But I have to have time to do all these things otherwise I'm shortchanging my own health.  I keep telling myself I just need to get my feet onto the ground with what I'm doing at work and then I'll be fine.  *Rolls eyes*.  Yeah, because, like, that ever happens.  /sarcasm


I'm continuing on with the house cleaning and organising and unpacking.  I managed to clear another two boxes on Thursday afternoon, so I'm feeling pretty good about that.  It's starting to really get to me that I have been living in my unit for over two years now and I still haven't unpacked everything.  In every room there is mess and clutter and STUFF.  So much stuff... I mentioned it before how I find it hard to get rid of things.  I hold onto things for such a long time.  In fact, in one of those boxes I unpacked, I found the portable CD/Tape/Radio player that I received for my 13th birthday.  The one that hasn't working properly since I was fifteen and there was a power surge.  This means it doesn't work through the power cord any more, but it will work if you use 8 D cell batteries.  So I've held onto it all these years.  Because it was still usable.  It wasn't broken, just not in the best of working conditions.  

I'm feeling upset even as I mention it, but I decided to throw it out.  

 
By which I mean, I've put it in another area of my flat with the other electronics and appliances which no longer work as they should and I can take it to an e-waste disposer. 

It makes me so uncomfortable to know that I am doing that.  My first reaction when I saw it was 'Oh, I remember this, I remember how proud I was that I had a CD player, how cool it was to have one'.  My second was 'I don't need to get rid of this.  It still works on batteries.  This can go in a storm survival kit!' 

Anything so that I don't have to get rid of it, right? : (

It's so hard, but I'm working on it.  I am telling myself that it just wouldn't be practical in a storm kit.  It's huge.  It's 50cm in length (20in), and bulky besides.  It would take up most of the space.  Plus on top of that, 8 D cell batteries is expensive.  I've had it for over fifteen years, it's time to cut the apron strings.

So, another work in progress.

Time, time, time; see what's become of me

Hi there!

Yes, I disappeared again.  

And it is for the obvious reason you assume – where I stopped caring, so I stopped trying, so I stopped eating good food and I stopped exercising, so I stopped logging food and exercise, so I stopped blogging about it.

I gained some weight back.  I was hovering around 98kg last time I blogged.  Nearly back at my starting weight!! Now, I’m closer to 102kg.  But that’s okay.  It’s not way up there near my all-time high - 108kg - it's just not where I want to be.  But, as I keep saying, “I can change that”.  And I do.  And I’m getting there slowly.  It’s lots of small steps forward, baby steps back, stumble forward again. 

What can I say, but that it is a work in progress?  I’m trying to instil new habits.  Some are sticking; some are slowly sliding off the wall like blu-tack in the summer.  

Something which seems to have stuck is waking up and getting out of bed every morning at 5am, when my alarm goes off.  As opposed to sleeping through it for the next hour & half.  I’m not a morning person. I never have been.  But, I do see the benefit of getting up early of a morning.  I seem to be able to get more done in my day when I’m up early.  And, I’d like to point out that it’s winter here, so getting out of bed when it’s dark and cold is not easy.  But, I’ve been able to do it.  For almost three months now I think?  Even when I’ve stayed away from home, I’ve been able to do it consistently.  

I also eat pretty much the same breakfast everyday now, and I make it the night before.  It’s my yoghurt-porridge thing.  “Overnight Oats” I think is the prevailing phrase on pinterest.

Not much else seems to have stuck.  Trying to get more fruit & vege in my day.  Trying to get enough water in my day.  Trying to get a chance to actually sit and eat during the day.  Trying to exercise everyday.  *Shrugs*  Gotta keep working on all of that.  

It all seems to come down to time, not having enough and not managing well the time that I do have.  And I think that’s one of the main factors that has influenced how I approach this blog and this weightloss/healthiness malarkey.  I struggle big time to fit some of the ‘basics’ in every day.  Eg: Food journaling - then logging in MFP, exercising – then loading that into Nike+, Daily weighing – then filing out my spreadsheet, or weightgrapher app… and so on.  I know that technically I don’t need to do all that, but when I do, it’s a system that works.  I’ve found that just simply writing my food down, without logging it, isn’t enough.  It doesn’t make that much of an impact to just see the food written on my page – I need to see the numbers to see if I’m going over or not.

And with time being my biggest factor, I think I have to be honest and say this: if it comes down to a choice between
                a) taking the time to do something about getting healthier, or
                b) write about what I’m going to do/have been doing…
I think actions need to speak louder than words.   

And so I haven’t blogged.  I’ve been doing some stuff – a fair bit, now that I think about it – but I haven’t taken the time to stop and think and write.

I’m going to keep this blog and keep updating it, however I dare say my posting will continue to be sporadic and filled with empty gaps.  I’ll more than likely only fill in what I have done in bursts and in the past tense.  I can fill you in, in a follow up post, what I have been doing and what my plans for the next little bit are… and that might be the last you hear of me for another month or so.

If you can put up with that, then I thank-you for your comments, encouragement and support.  If you feel you need to leave, then by all means, I wish you well.

Incidental Exercise

Friday

In my effort to increase my fitness, I’ve been walking.  So far, I’ve been aiming for 30 minutes of walking everyday.  Well, that is, on the days that aren’t hot, humid, rainy, or I’m stuck at mum’s!  I missed all walks since Sunday actually, for all of those reasons.  The heat broke on Monday and we had the most terrific storm.  It rained pretty solidly for a few hours, but it wasn’t a heavy downpour – you know, torrential – it was just rain.  The best part was all the lightning and electrical activity.  That lasted well into the evening, so, I missed my opportunity on Monday.  Tue – Thurs saw me stuck at mum’s.  She’s broken her arm and I have to do a lot of things for her, which is a whole big list of chores and tasks.

So… that left today (Friday)!  And, to make up for it, I walked twice.  Isn’t that great?!  Okay, I’m cheating.  I technically did walk twice, but my total distance is equivalent to one walk. J  I needed to go to the supermarket because my fridge was empty.  Very empty.  So off I set with my backpack and reusable green bags.  Turns out my local suburban shopping centre – one which has an Aldi’s, Coles (another supermarket), a couple of ‘Bargain Bin’ shops, a homewares shop, some banks, a medical centre, chemist, newsagents, jewellers, etc – is only 1.7km (1 mi) from my house.  Took me around 18 min to walk one way at 11’05 min/km (I have NO idea how to convert that into some sort of imperial equivalent, sorry!).  I thought that was pretty good to be honest.  Then of course, I walked back.  Same distance, but with 3 bags of shopping.  Thank goodness I brought my backpack! I still ended up with two bags I carried, but they were things like bread or a pack of clothes pegs.  I weighed it when I got home:  on the return journey, I was carrying an extra 16.3kg of weight (36 lb)!!  Whoa!  That brought my total weight to around the 121kg mark (267.6lb). 

It was a bit slower going – 11’40 min/km – but not impossible.  It was uncomfortable to realise that if I wasn’t careful, I could be carrying that extra weight on my body everyday, but I would just learn to accept it and function with it.  So I cheered myself up by thinking that at some point in the future, this extra weight I’m carrying will be the weight I’ve lost. 

I also decided to lift the bags in my hands as I was walking – kind of pseudo dumbbells.  I would have said the bags were around 1.5-2kg (3.3-4.4lb).  Because of their awkward shape and dangly factor I couldn’t do proper curls, but I did sort of dumbbell rows? with them.  Google tells me they're called 'Upright Dummbell Row'.  Or actually, I think I was doing something that was in between a dummbell row and an upright curl.  I was pulling my arms back like so... 

http://fitjunky.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/woman_dumbbell_XSmall.jpg

But not by leaning forward.  Just standing upright.  

So, I don’t know if I actually was doing anything effective enough to exercise my arms, but I felt the muscles of my arms working together as I moved.  I dunno, I’m liking thinking it was doing something! :D

So, it looks like I have a way of getting in some ‘incidental exercise’ into my day/week.  If I ever have to do a big shop then I’ll take the car, but if I only need to pick up a few things for the next few days’ worth of cooking, then I’m going to work on it being on foot!  Might stop me from over spending too, if there’s a limit to how much I can carry back.

Oh!  But if I ever do get carried away, or get too lazy to walk on the way back, I can always catch a bus to my house, there are tonnes of busses that pass along the road to my stop. : D

Fat and Back: A Follow Up

I was orignally going to just respond to Marion's comment, but I decided to extend things into a full post.

Basically, I was excited that Marion found my post interesting, because I love to read what she writes, so it was nice to think I could show her something new :)

I also felt that I just didn't do the doco enough justice. For starters, in explaining PJ's story, especially as he was gaining weight; and also the impact it had on me. I think the effect of what I saw is going to stick with me for a long while.

I really wish I could link to full documentary, because it was fascinating watching, and as I mentioned last week, scary and confronting. Really put a mirror up to me (and my mind) and gave me a reality dose. A mental Gibbs' slap if you will.

However, because there doesn't seem to be the full documentary online anywhere, I have tracked down some youtube clips that cover some of what I talking about last week. 

For starters, this youtube clip from the documentary's website is a pretty good summary of the entire doco. http://www.fatandback.tv/

Oh! And this one!!  Here you see one of the diary entries where he was not happy with himself.

 

Additionally, these are some further youtube clips for him that I think covered pretty well what was happening in the 'gaining' phase of his experiment. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpmsSFKOjYM  <-- The Morning Show (AUS)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4j2ALxYvbS8    <--  Good Morning America (USA)

 

And a 3 part series for the same TV program here in Australia.  I couldn't track down if there was a fourth part...

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oL9IXQEA4BA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wl9f6gNsbNc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2StpG1l9uDU

 

By this video, I guess all the information is starting to be repetitive, but there may still be something interesting you may get out of it, especially for American readers.

Overall, I'd have to say, I found that first part of the documentary the most fascinating.  To see how his mindset to food completely changed.  How much he found food to be a comfort.  And food was the biggest factor for him in his life.  Those first two videos really cover what this documentary meant to me. 

It was just such a shock to see this fit, healthy guy, whose life is all about being fit and in great shape, go from that, to a blob, so quickly.  And that he had those same characteristics of overweight people - lethargy, curve in the lower back from all the weight he was carrying, the "Oh sure, I'll just a eat a little of that".  He underwent the same feelings and mental stuff that I do.  I don't think it matters that he only did this in 6 months, while I've gained over 6 years.  The point is those mind games your body does with food are real.  He was still picking up that mentality and food addiction of someone who eats too much.

I am really glad that I watched that documentary.  It was sheer luck I found it, because I was channel surfing and it's on a station I don't normally watch.  

So lesson learned from the doco?  Bad food habits are easy to make and hard to break.  But they are not unbreakable.  I can do this well if I start slow but stay strong and stay comitted. 

I mentioned last week that I stopped being as diligent as I should be with the food journaling.  So all this past week I've started journaling & weighing everything again.  And yes, honestly I've eaten some foods that I probably shouldn't have and I have not been under my calorie goal for every day, but I'm confident that I have been a heck of a lot closer to my calorie goal across the week than I was in the last two weeks.

Monday is my next weigh-in morning. If I can find where I put my tape measure, I will take some measurements too. Maybe even create a measurements page. This Monday marks 5 weeks that I've started to relook at my efforts. 3 weeks of good eating mixed with 2 weeks of poor. We'll see what happens and let the results speak for themselves.

11. Feb. 13

Oh dear, it's happening again.  I'm starting to get really busy and therefore slack off in my efforts to get healthy.

I'm not going to lie.  Last week, I ate terribly.  Tuesday night, Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday night and Sunday lunch were all convenience foods.  Either takeaway from the noodle bar on the corner, or fast food on my way home from dance classes.  And I'm paying for it in more ways than one. 

• Number one, I obviously didn't do myself any favours when it came to trying to lose weight.  I haven't gained anything, but nor I have I lost any weight.
• Secondly, I was far more tired by the end of the week than I had been in the weeks before.  I was so exhausted Friday I kept losing my balance and I could feel a twitch in my eyebrow.   
• Thirdly, my face started to break out in pimples - huge ones that are going to hang around for days
• Lastly, I haven't helped myself learn new habits about healthy food choices. 

I am annoyed with myself for doing that all week, but in a way, I'm glad because it showed me what a difference nutritionally-poor food does to me.  After only a week, I was slower, more sluggish, more prone to whinging.  In the previous weeks, where I was eating better, I felt better.

So, planning needs to happen!  Planning my meals, planning my grocery shop and planning on cooking/preparing/making food.  Last week, I kept running out of time each evening to cook, or I hadn't done the washing up yet, or I was missing a key ingredient (the spinach for spinach pasta, etc).  Little things like that, which led me further and further astray. 

Tuesday and Thursday are definitely out when it comes to cooking food that night.  My dance classes keeps me out of the house from 6 until 9 or 9.30.  Given that I get home from work somewhere between 5.15 and 5.45, I'm cutting it close.  Aqua Aerobics finishes at 7.20pm, so by the time I get home, shower, rinse my togs, it's edging towards 8pm.  Late enough to be eating dinner, let alone cooking on top of that. 

So that really only leaves Wednesday and Sunday to cook dinner.  I have to admit, I find it hard to cook anything on a Friday night, I tend to prefer leftovers, or takeaways.  Something quick and easy.  Saturday will vary.  Most Saturdays I cook, but there have been known to be lazy ones.  So, I am determined to cook food this Wednesday night.  Especially as I need to take something hefty in to eat on Thursday as an afternoon snack, so I eat food before my dance class.  I think that's what made me go for a (large) container of noodle stirfry after dance on Thursday - I hadn't eaten properly that day.

As a result of all this poor planning and poor eating, last week I stopped logging my food.  I know I should probably go back and fill it in, and confront myself with just how much food I was consuming.  On Tuesday (the night that started it off), I logged my fast food.  But I also logged my dance class, so the calories weren't so bad.  I'm quite sure the rest of the week will not be so good.

If I can end on a positive note however, I did exercise three times last week.  Monday Aqua Aerobics, double dance Tuesday, double dance Thursday.  Hopefully they count for something!

14 September 2012

I have just been reading through the archives of such a touching blog.  700 Pounds Is As Bad As It Sounds, is a blog being written by an anonymous blogger, who for now I think is going with the name J.D. Pounds, and he is documenting his efforts to turn his life around and get healthy.

He writes honestly about the things he has to deal with daily, being so large.  About the pain, and discomfort he experiences from just standing up.  Even sitting down isn't a load off, with so much weight causing a lot of pressure and swelling on his limbs. 

I am just blown away by the commitment that this man, who has it so tough, is working so hard to do well, turn his life around and get healthy.  Working so hard to save his life.  He has only just starting and has a long way to go, but already he has progressed in the two months since he started.  He can now walk four times as far as as he could in July.  He has set himself a few goals that he's already met, and is getting better at recognising his food triggers and behaviours that he has to learn to confront and deal with.

It makes me ashamed that I've been trying to lose weight, get fit and healthy, and I've made no progress in 6 months.  None.  I'm still just as overweight as I was when I started.  I'm no fitter and no healthier for myself.  I've been able to come up with so many excuses, or put other priorities first, that really, I've not been as committed as I should be.

And I need to be.  I'm carrying too much weight, and I'm not very fit and I'm not getting any younger.  I need to lose weight so I can reduce pressure on my knee.  I used to love being active and now, I shirk from it and avoid it.  I want to lose weight so I can feel more comfortable in my clothes.  I'm sick of buying larger clothes "as a temporary measure" just until I lose some weight.  I'm sick of the waistband of my clothes cutting into me everytime I sit down, let alone lean forward.  I'm sick of being out of breath everytime I go up a flight of stairs.  I'm sick of the fact that every time I want to leave the house, it becomes an ordeal of 'what can I wear that won't make me feel fat'.  I'm sick of feeling lumpy and clumsy and can't walk between rows of chairs because I bump into every one because I am so wide. 

I can do so much better and I need to do so much better.

-Kathleen

Ego and endorphins

An update regarding my walk that I got back from around an hour ago.

Imogen rang this morning to see if I was keen to go for a walk again today, as she was out of town yesterday.  When I knocked on her door at 4.30, I got no answer.  Tried again at 5 o'clock and it turns out Imogen had been asleep - oops!  So I tried to convince her that a really good energy boost other than a nap was to exercise.  I tried for about ten minutes to convince Imogen to come along, but nothing doing.

So I went out on my own, on the same route we did the other day.  And after only 15 minutes, I was bored and I wanted to turn around and go back.  I had music with me, but I only own an FM-reciever, so I was at the mercy of what the radio threw at me.  Needless to say, not all of it was the most motivating to keep pushing myself to walk fast.  I was so disinterested and realised that I either should have pushed Imogen more to come along with me, or find some other way to keep me going.

On the route I took, on the other side of the highway, is a new development area.  There hasn't been a lot of development there yet.  Only 2 completed houses, and one in progress.  This new housing development has a long straight 'feeder' road, that the other streets (will eventually) run from.  This road is around 1km long, so a 2 km return distance.  (1.35 mi according  to googlemaps).  It also has no traffic (because no-one lives in the development yet) and has streetlights along one side of the road.  By eye, those street lights look like they are pretty much evenly spaced.

As I was pushing myself to keep going, somewhere, something twigged in my brain to run between streetlight distances, and then walk the next one as recovery, before running the next distance again.

Yes my friends, my brain suggested I do some intervals... and I went along with it.

I'm normally really good at ignoring my brain when it points out things which are good for me.  But I guess, snaps for my lazy side, I knew that running would be faster than walking, so if I ran some, I would finish up my walk sooner.  I convinced my brain that I would be better off running* the distance between two sets of streetlights and use the same double distance to walk, giving me more recovery time.  I'm pleased to say that I intervalled all the way down and back along that road.  Initially, I bargained that I would run* only down to my turn-around point and then just walk back.  But my lazy side battled with the time issue, while my sensible side countered with the "you just showed you could do it on the way down, why pike out now?". 

My sensible side won out, and I ran*-walked back to the top of the road.  And I felt GREAT!  I don't want to brag too much, but I think a got a little taste of what is 'runner's high'.  Although, truth be told, it was probably equal parts ego as it was endorphins. 

That was the second deal with myself, to run back up the road.  I stuck to it and went a little further again, once I reached the end of the road. 
As I was walking back along the path that heads back to the other side of the highway, my legs still felt pumped, I felt pumped from the ego/endorphin boost.  So I ran* a little more.  Just once, and I think the distance was about equivalent to three streetlight spans.  But I ran* again, further than I had initially thought, and further than the second time I adjusted my bargain. 

I felt so pumped and happy about what I accomplished!  : )  I hate to run, have always hated it.  The only time in the past I've voluntarily run was when I was chasing the school bus down the road on the mornings I slept in.  But today, because of laziness, or bordeom, I chose to run.  And I want to do it again.   : D 

So, I think I now know what will be my September challenge - to start a couch to 5K running program.

-Sunny Duckling

*P.S.  I say run, but I think my running speed is probably closer to fit people's jogging speed.  I was still moving faster than a walk speed and my heart rate went up and my breathing was heavier.  Signs that I exerted myself.   :) 

Week 7 round-up

Whoops!  I've had helluva busy week this week.  Not keen on next week's results based on this and other excuses. 

RESULTS!

Well at the end of this week, this how the results look. 

Another kilogram down! Wahoo!  Also, some numbers have gone down, namely the waist.  Not 100% sure if this is accurate though.

Summary:

Weight	94 kg
Waist	83.5 cm
Hips	111.5 cm
Bust	101.5 cm
Thighs	113 cm
Thigh (R)	71.5 cm
Belly	113 cm
Upper Arm (L)	37 cm
Neck	35 cm

Oh! I should also point out I actually had to weigh myself at 4.30 in the morning for this.  Wednesday I had a meeting in the city - which is 2 1/2 hours away.  So I had to get up early to drive myself there.  What fun….. :(  This is after I had to drive 2.5 hours to another city in the other direction on Tuesday for a convention.  Two mornings in a row I had to get up early for work purposes.  Crazy times. 

I also had to leave detailed instructions on how to deal with my clients on both these days, so I missed Monday's gym class.  I missed Tuesday's because I needed to go to bed early to sleep.  I got back home too late to go to Wednesday's gym and by Thursday I was absolutely pooped so I skipped the gym on Thursday (and slept for almost 12 hours - lovely and refreshing, glad I did!)

I think I also slacked this week with good food choices because of this.  I packed my lunch for both trips into the city which I was pleased about.  However, I do admit going to Hungry Jacks to get a (vegetarian) burger for dinner Wednesday night before driving home.  I debated about Subway, but we have Subway at home, and Hungry Jacks is a treat I only afford myself when in the city.  I felt good though about my choice because I didn't get any fries or soft drink to go with it. 

Another excuse, and I do admit quite freely to using the word excuse, because that's what it is, is "I was sick".  I was pretty unwell Monday & Tuesday.  Snotty nose, sneezing, chills and every now and then a wave of nausea.  I think on Monday all I had during the day was a number of cups of lemon tea.  I didn't even eat the tomato soup I brought - loaded up with garlic and leek and other vegetables.  I just didn't feel I could keep it down. 

So I need to work better on recognising when I'm getting run-down and counter-act that.  I know that with a head cold like I had, exercising is still fine.  In fact, I managed to go for a bike ride with Imogen on Saturday.  9 km.  I had to stop often because I couldn't breathe, but Imogen is also new to getting fit.  She admits her self she doesn't ride very fast. 

No excuses next week.  Have already packed my gym bag for Monday.

-SunnyDuckling

What a wasted week

Well, it's been 1 week since I've returned to work after holidays.  As I suspected, my exercise and diet plans, went out the window!

This week was hard.  I didn't lose any weight and I only exercised the once, and that was a quick 1/2 hour walk on Tuesday, because I was short on time.  And, obviously, I didn't even blog until today!  I didn't weigh and measure myself on Wednesday either.  This week was a step backwards.

A number of things I think contributed to a poor result this week. 

For starters, every evening this week, I got home, sat down and basically just crashed.  I fell asleep on the couch by 8pm.   And spent the entire night on the couch.   I only woke up at around quarter to 8, leaving me just fifteen minutes to shower, get dressed, eat breakfast, pack lunch,  and drive to work! 

So my energy levels were incredibly poor and if I wasn't at work, I was asleep it seemed!  And the food I was eating, and the quantities, were not the same as what I was eating on my holidays.  Sunday night when I got back, I had some fresh filled pasta - spinach ricotta angniolotti - and a creamy tomato ricotta sauce from a jar. I probably ate a serving and a half of that. I took the left overs to work Monday and Tuesday, and I felt I ate sensible portions of it, around 200-250g worth.  Monday night I cooked up some wholemeal pasta, cous-cous and leftover tomato & basil pasta sauce.   The total quantity amounted to probably three servings, if you check proper serving sizes.  I ate it all that night.  Vegetable soup Tuesday night that I ate Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights.  Wednesday I also ate a heap of Anzac biscuits.  Over a dozen.  Even today, I ate too much food, double dose of breakfast, then a really late lunch so I stuffed myself with four cheese sandwiches, two beers, two packets of popcorn and a microwavable pasta pack.  Can you see a trend in my eating and food habits yet?  LOTS of carbs (pasta in particular). 

However, over the last day I have been relatively more active than I was in the beginning of the week.  When I came home yesterday, I set to work cleaning my floordrobe in order to move out an armoire that I had no more use for.  And in my living room, I set to work clearing out the furniture in there, so I could give the couch back to my neighbour, who I had been borrowing it from.   In the process of cleaning and moving stuff, I also came across my pedometer, so I'm super happy about that.  For ages now, I've had to guess the distance I've travelled when on my walks, but I won't have to now.

I also think I'm low on iron.  If I have been crashing like I have been it's usually a sign that I'm down on my iron.  Time to start dosing up again! Bonus side effect is increasing my vitamin C levels in order to help absorb iron supplements and plant iron will hopefully boost my immune system.  Helpful as we're heading into cooler weather and in about three weeks we'll reach winter.

I have decided that on Monday, I will look into joining the gym in my area.  As much as I whinge about it, I think I need to get my butt into gear and really start exercising.  Diet alone will only go so far.  And as I've discovered this week, if I'm caught up and busy with work, by the time I get home, I have limited time to exercise (walk) before it gets dark.  So I need to somehow pick up activity levels somewhere else in my day.  I was thinking/hoping if I can get myself organised properly, I might also see if I can get myself to the gym in the morning before work. 

So, things I am going work on this week:  Portion sizing of my food.  Packing lunch the night before.  Exercising at least three times this week - Gym class Monday, walk on Wednesday, and gym again on Thursday or Friday.  Weighing myself on Wednesday.  Cooking appropriate amounts of food.

Lots to work on! Better get to it, including more housework  :-)

-SunnyDuckling