Cruising through my Saturday

Sitting in a downtown cafe, drinking coffee and eating a fruit salad, before I go to the beauty therapist and have her tidy up a few of the hairy bits which have got a bit scruffy!

The start of my day wasn't quite so leisurely - half an hour on the treadmill, of which 25 minutes was running, followed by a full body resistance workout. Then another quick 10 minutes on the treadmill to shift the lactic acid before some lovely long stretches. 1 hour and 45 minutes all up.

I've been shuffling my exercise around to suit my schedule, but should still end the week pretty close to my targets. Eating has been great, except for yesterday. There's something about the traditional Friday morning tea in the Auckland office that I find hard to resist...

A couple of short weeks coming up - either side of Easter - and next week I only need to do a day trip to Auckland. I'll have close to 2 weeks of being at home very night - what a treat!

And speaking of treats - tomorrow I am meeting Lucinda at the airport, as she starts her great New Zealand adventure!

New pic of me

Here's a new pic of me - although it makes my hair look completely the wrong colour!

Bee-arch!

I did a deep water aqua class last night. The first one I've done in a very long time (pre-injury). I've never had this instructor before. I hate her. I love her.

She worked us so damn hard. Every inch of my body hurts. During the class I even got cramp in my shins! How the hell do you do that? I know you can choose the level you work at in aqua - I choose to work hard. A decision I may have regretted slightly when I discovered how hard it was to convince my quads to let me sit down this morning.

So, I was dog-tired when I got home last night and still haven't got round to taking up the new trousers I bought Mark two weeks ago. Bloody slack tart!

27 March summary
Breakfast: yoghurt and bran
Lunch: a very average Caesar salad - not buying there again
Dinner: stir fried chicken with corn, capsicum, spinach and lots of chilli
Snacks: apple juice, a trim flat white, an apple
Exercise: torture in the form of deep water aqua

Why weigh monthly?

Because so much happens monthly! Month end for our billings, the 478 various monthly reports I have to write (477 of which probably never get read), the automatic payments to the bloody mongrel power company...oh, yes, and my cycle! My weight fluctuates a fair bit during the month, no matter how good I'm being with food and exercise, so I'm going to stop it from messing with my head by only weighing once a month.

So, less worship of the scale-god and more thinking about how I feel.

Went for my run on the streets today - always harder than the treadmill. Especially when you're being towed down the road by Moose-the-extremely-stupid-dog. I have to develop this odd, lopsided, one-armed running style. And save my breath so I can growl 'No, Moose, not lunch' whenever we see a cat. Still, he does love a run!

26 March summary
Breakfast: yoghurt and bran
Lunch: immensely yummy bagel with roast vegetables and tomato pesto in it
Dinner: pasta with tuna, tomato and spinach
Snacks: blueberries, two trim flat whites, two apples, some beans and some lovely fresh dates
Exercise: fifteen minute warm-up on the treadmill and a full lower-body workout in the morning. In the evening - 45 minutes out with Moose, of which 25 minutes I ran

A break, but not broken

Hi everyone!

Lots of stuff going on, so I've had a bit of a break - from blogging, from exercise and from most of my life, really. Eating - well you can guess.

Things are pretty much okay, just some things I have to work through. And, no, I'm not going to share any more than that. It's mostly work stuff, anyway.

What I will do is NOT let it affect all areas of my life anymore. Letting my routines slip just makes me feel worse, not better.

Time for an action plan! Time for a 12 week action plan! Because this year I am going to reach my goal of 72 kilos, goddammit.

General plan for the first four weeks below, each week the details will be on my sidebar.
Week 1 (26 March) - Couch 2 5k week 7, 3 x weight sessions, 2 x 1 hour cardio blasts, 1 x exercise class. NoCount eating, no sugar points (including alcohol)
Week 2 (2 April) - Couch 2 5k week 8, 2 x 1 hour cardio blasts, 2 x exercise classes. NoCount eating, no alcohol, 2 x hot cross buns on Good Friday, 200g chocolate on Easter Sunday
Week 3 (9 April) - Couch 2 5k week 9, 5 x weight sessions. NoCount eating, 3 x alcohol but no other sugar points
Week 4 (16 April) - 2 x half hour runs, 2 x 1 hour cardio blasts, 2 x half hour bike rides, 2 x weight sessions

In other changes - I'm only going to weigh on the first of each month and half changed my stats for the year to reflect that.

No shit, Sherlock!

I was eating my nice salad for lunch today - grilled chicken, blue vein cheese, walnuts, baby spinach, spicy lemon dressing. One of the guys in the office wandered by and said 'I bet you used to eat more than that for lunch before you lost all that weight'.

Really? Ya think?

Brrrrrrr!

Summer finished with a THUMP yesterday - although hopefully we will switch to autumn soon, rather than the fully fledged winter blast we got yesterday.

Couch to 5k is going really well - this week (week 7) I have 3 x 25 minute runs to do, and have finished two of them without too much of a struggle. I'm not running fast, but I am running.

Eating? Well, not so good, but not so bad either. Holding steady weight-wise, and will give it another good nudge in the next few weeks.

I've had a nice few days at home, but the schedule goes a bit nuts again for the next week. Off to Auckland Thursday morning, then Friday night I'm driving to Taupo, before heading to Havelock North to see a girlfriend on Saturday, then home on Sunday. Home for two nights, then back to Auckland for Tuesday and Wednesday. AND next week, Mark is in New Plymouth for three days then Taupo for three days for a company conference.

I feel some severe cuddle-deprivation coming on! Still, it keeps the relationship fresh...

Photo catch up

Some photos I promised a few weeks back. I still haven't managed to take a decent shot of my new (brown) hair.

This one is my lovely Jake at his grandparents' house in Kerikeri. Behind him is the sculpture we all gave them for the 50th wedding anniversary. Jake and his uncles smuggled it over the fence in the middle of the night - and got caught by the cop who lives next door.

Coopers Beach in the Far North, on a lovely summer Saturday. Told you it was crowded.

Jake with my Mum and Dad, at a pa site overlooking Mangonui Harbour.

The tasty delights from the Mangonui fish and chip shop. They really are the best fish and chips in the world. I kid you not. That day the fish was blue nose - it had been caught that morning.

It's back (the 70s, that is)

Thanks for all the birthday wishes. Especially from the Adelaide sister, from whom I got a text at 1.30am on Sunday - pointing out that it was still my birthday over there! LOL!

I had a great birthday weekend. Mark and I had a lovely dinner at Logan Brown on Friday night - it's just always good there. Mark got to see the gorgeous Prada sunglasses he got me for my birthday, too.

Saturday I did my 3rd workout for week 5 of C25K - a full 20 minute run. I really enjoyed it. This programme is working well for me - my cardio fitness is improving and my knee feels great (so long as I stay away from too much lateral movement).

I had a HUGE exercise week last week - two sessions most days, so planning on a lighter week for a bit of recovery.

And this morning's weigh in, after a three weeks break - an nice even 79 kilos.

Ants in my (pretty) pants

I get to go home tomorrow, so I'm having trouble sitting still because I'm SOOOOOOO looking forward to it!

Not helped by not doing exercise this morning - needed to get a nice early start at work, so I'll do my workout tonight instead.

I did manage to race into a lingerie shop today and come out with THREE news bra and undies sets. Underwear buying is definitely one of my new-found pleasures...

When I get home Friday night Mark and I are going out for a nice dinner - because the next night is my birthday and he will be away racing.

I plan to do sweet-eff-all this weekend; just enjoy being at home. Well, for a little while - I'm back up here for three days next week!