Reflections on my health, fitness and wellbeing
I’m reading Mo Gawdat’s “Solve for Happy” book at the moment and it’s making me stop and think about what makes me happy. It really is the every day things. This view from my back door stopped me in my tracks this morning when I got home from dropping Dan at school. This is my commute when I’m working from home!
Although I’ve had a really good week of sticking to my calorie allowance and exercising, I haven’t lost any weight this week. So, I thought it would be a good time to remind myself of all the other wins that I’ve had over the last 11 weeks and why I am doing this:
So I haven’t lost any weight this week – who cares! It is definitely worth sticking to the programme so I can reap all of those benefits!
Another example of a food diary to show how I stay within calories!
This weekend was Fee’s birthday camping weekend. Ordinarily I would have stocked up on prosecco, beer, gin & tonic and it would have been wild. I would have drunk and eaten too much then felt rubbish on Saturday and made an excuse to not go on the walk that we had planned. However, this time, I am doing dry June so no alcohol passed my lips and something truly amazing happened. I had a fantastic time! Not once did I regret my choice to not drink. I had a minor twinge when Fee brought out a bottle of chilled champagne on Saturday afternoon but I just got a glass of Kombucha and joined in. The teeny tiny twinge passed in seconds! I really enjoyed the walk on Saturday even though it tipped it down with rain. (I didn’t fancy a swim like some of the bonkers people I was with though). I honestly think I had a better time than if I’d been drinking. Most people had a nap on Saturday afternoon – I meditated for 20 mins then felt really refreshed and read my book for a while. If you told me right now that I could never have an alcoholic drink ever again, I probably wouldn’t bat an eyelid!!
People keep asking me what I’m eating and how I manage to stay within a calorie allowance of 1520 so I thought I’d post some examples of what I’m eating on different days. This was a very chicken focussed day so not so great for my veggie friends but you could substitute the chicken for Tofu or Tempeh to get the protein!
My favourite low calorie breakfast at the moment. 0% fat yoghurt (I have about 100g) and fruit. This one worked out at less than 150 calories! The protein in the yoghurt keeps me full all morning – in fact I had this and a bag of 44 calorie popcorn then ran 13.65 km before I needed to eat again!
On Saturday night we had friends over for a BBQ. There were 17 of us and everyone was drinking alcohol apart from me! I was fully prepared to take myself off to bed early and get out of the way of the party if I wasn’t in the mood but I ended up being the last one standing! I had so much fun! It was lovely catching up with friends and entertaining without getting so drunk that I fall asleep in a corner or forget what people have said to me. We got the fire pit going and I did most of the clearing up before I went to bed so we didn’t have the usual dreaded mess to face with a hangover in the morning. I’m beginning to realise that I can be fun and have fun without the crutch of alcohol!
I’m 10 days into dry June now and I can honestly say that I have not had more than a quick twinge of wanting a drink. That twinge soon passes though and I’m just feeling amazing. It’s not just the lack of alcohol that is making me feel good – it’s a combination of exercise, healthy food, mindfulness/meditation, drinking water and weight loss.
I started trying to lose weight last summer and got so far on my own then put a bit on after Christmas. In March, the weight was still creeping back on, so I took the plunge and signed up for a 16 week health and fitness coaching program. Look at the results I’ve got 10 weeks in!! 11 st 10 lb is where I’m aiming so watch this space!
Last night I went to the pub to meet a bunch of local women who I hadn’t met before – it was a social organised by some of the “Real Housewives of Meersbrook” Facebook group members. I went with Fee who is my partner in crime when it comes to drinking (and running!!) Ordinarily I would have been well up for several drinks to relax and feel confident meeting new people. However, it’s dry June for me so I drank 3 pints of soda water. I had the best time chatting and getting to know some local folk. I met a neighbour who I’ve never really spoken to before and we had a great time. She and Fe came back to ours and stayed for a whiskey whilst I had an alcohol free G&T. I stayed up late and had a great time. This morning I woke up feeling fresh as a daisy (well, I didn’t get the best night’s sleep ’cause of all the soda water but I didn’t have a hang over!) The morale of this story is I don’t need alcohol to enjoy myself!
I’ve been eating a lot of salad recently and this is one of my go to favourite quick dressings! You can scale the ingredients up to make more but this works for one meal and is around 69 calories per serving (it works without the oil if you want to reduct the calories)
Ingredients:
1 tsp Lime Juice
1 tsp Rice Vinegar
1 tsp Peanut Oil
1 tsp Soy Sauce
0.5 tsp Peanut Butter
0.5 tsp Honey
Method:
Mix it all together!
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