Tuesday Jan 4
Back at work. Always tough after a great weekend with S. I've got my work out bag packed for tonight's session with J. Should be interesting.
Work. Today was tough. Difficult customers. No motivation. Time seemed to drag on, until about 3pm when it started to speed up. My workout was approaching faster than I wanted it to. As I walked down to the car, I thought about how easy it would be to just head home. Not that long ago, I would have. Hang in there. My destiny awaits.
As usual, we go through my food diary. J cringes when she gets to the bit about McDonalds. We talk about my failure to reduce the sugar that I'm adding to my hot drinks. I explain that sometimes knowing I have that bit of sweetness to look forward to keeps me from eating worse things, like chocolate, lollies or pizza shapes. Sigh. I know it's not ideal, but it seems like the lesser of the 2 evils. At least I'm in control of how much sugar I consume in my hot drinks. I mention that weekends with my daughter make it tricky to exercise so we try to include some physical activity to make up for it. I still haven't mastered the 'eating every 4 hours' rule, so I ask J if maybe I should try eating every 2 hrs: breakfast, snack, lunch, snack etc to try to 'trick' myself into meeting that 4 hour gap. She thinks it's worth a try as long as I'm careful with portion sizes.
My homework for this week: adding probiotics to my diet, reducing non-vegetable carbs at night, eating only 1/2 of a home made pizza for dinner, exercising regularly, getting to bed before 10pm more regularly and reducing the sugar in my hot drinks. Maybe I should make myself a chart and give myself gold stars when I achieve my targets!! LOL
On to the work out. J advises me that she wants to do what we did last Thursday in 90 minutes and speed it up so I complete it in 60 minutes! Far out! We start with the normal warm up -and I use the word 'normal' loosely! I still feel like a git when I'm doing it!
Then 4 times through the Tuesday circuits of: squat & hold, bar bell lift, shoulder weights whilst sitting on the Swiss ball, and then running to the other side of the Centre and back. Then, straight into the scarecrow, the zombie and the sword play! Followed by 2 sets of hamstring curls (aka hamstring hell), core exercises and then into the stretches to warm down. Unbelievable!! I managed to fit in everything but the transverse core muscle exercises! WOW!!
J congratulates me on a job well done. Then, with a twinkle in her eye she tells me that she will have a new circuit sorted for me for Thursday. She calls it a 'B' day- one that I'll be able to alternate the Tuesday routine with. In this case, the Tuesday routine would technically be 'A' day. But knowing J as I do, in my mind, I'm calling it 'Be Afraid day'! *grins*
A quick shower, dinner, TV and bed! G thoughtfully rubs some Deep Heat into my left shoulder and bicep so I won't be too sore for tomorrow. Ahhhhh. Nothing like crawling into freshly washed sheets after a long day.
Monday Jan 3
Overcast and rainy today. Looks like S will get the 'home day' that she loves so much. Bit of colouring, bit of TV watching, bit of craft and, of course, we had to fit in a few games of Barbie Island Princess on the computer.
I'm feeling a bit tired and worn out. It's been an eventful weekend! I still struggle with eating the right foods. It's so easy to reach out and pop something 'bad' into my mouth. Sometimes, the cravings are so over-whelming and it takes all of my self-control to not succumb. Part of my brain still thinks that eating sugar will make me feel better emotionally. I wish I could find a way to change this.
By the time I get back from dropping S off, I'm feeling glum and restless. I know I should exercise, but I just can't bring myself to do it. G and I catch up on some recorded programs and head off to bed.
Sunday Jan 2
S pops in about 7.15 to wake us up. The weather doesn't look too bad, so we decide to pack a picnic breakfast and head off to the beach. A perfect way to ring in day 2 of the New Year! Armed with eggs, bacon, onions, fruit and a thermos of coffee we're on our way.
The key to finding parking at any Sydney beach is to arrive early. We do. And, there waiting for us, is a picnic table close to the BBQs- almost as if we booked it in advance! S is hungry. G starts up the BBQ and a few minutes later, we're munching on breakfast with a million dollar view. Perfect!
I'm a water baby, and when S decides she's ready to head down to the beach, I'm keen to follow. She's slim and tiny which means she gets cold very quickly. We decide to make a sandcastle first then go for a swim. I can feel the difference that the exercise is making- especially the killer squat and hold. I don't like getting covered in sand, so I squat to fill the bucket with sand and to shape the sandcastle. Very pleased with myself!
The water is nice, but the breeze is a bit cool. S & I only last for about 15 minutes. Off to meet G who is relaxing in the park, so we can dry off and get warm. Home time. S settles in for a 2 hour nap and the 2 of us relax in front of the TV.
We have another special event planned for tonight. We have tickets to a sneak preview showing of Disney's new movie Tangled. S is BESIDE herself! G gives her a princess manicure. We put her into her Tangled dress and head out to the theatre. Because it's a special event, they have a kid's colouring station set up and a face-painter! S is rapt! We take 2 Tangled growth charts so that she can take one home to share with her baby sister.
The movie itself is FANTASTIC!! Disney's done it again. We laughed. We (ok, S & I cried). Awesome! Highly recommend it!
Home to bed. Another wonderful day.
Saturday Jan 1 New Year's Day
Welcome to 2011!! The day dawns hot and sunny- a true tribute to a new year and a new decade!
I'm steering clear of New Year's resolutions this year. I figure the lifestyle change that I started back in Oct 2010 is huge enough for me. And, if I can stick to this, 2011 is gonna be the best year YET! Imagine starting a new decade slim, trim and healthy? Too good to be true- well, it used to be. Now I'm well on the way!
After breakfast, we decide to head down to the park to test out S's new Barbie bicycle. She's a little hesitant at first, but once she realises that she can do it, her excitement builds! We make it all the way around the park without any major incidents. After a couple of kerb crashes, S gets the hang of pushing back and down to activate the back brakes!
The sun is hot and the wind is warm and dry. I figure we should head to the local McDonalds to a) get into some air-conditioning cuz this born and bred Canadian is suffering & b) to celebrate S's efforts with a cold drink or an ice cream. I am desperate for a medium quarter pounder meal with a frozen Coke, but I settle for a salad with no dressing and a McSnack wrap. I didn't realise the McSnack wrap was essentially a mini Big Mac- a oval-shaped meat patty, with Big Mac sauce & lettuce tucked into a wrap. Had I known, I might have made a different choice. I added 6 of S's fries and a few sips of her frozen raspberry Fanta to round out my meal.
It's tricky to execute a structured exercise routine when we have S. Because we only get to see each other for 3 days every fortnight, we much prefer to hang out together while she's awake. I know I'll pay for this time off next week when I meet up with J on Tuesday night, but for now, it's worth it.
To make up for this, we decide to play our new Nintendo Wii game 'Just Dance 2'. It's wicked fun! The 3 of us totally get into it, and before you know it, we're all hot and sweaty again! *grins* Time to settle down and watch a movie. I make some popcorn (no butter / no salt) and we all curl up on our queensize bed to watch Happily N'ever After 2. I last maybe 35 mins before I drift off to dreamland.
Then dinner, bath, and off to bed for our little one. And, we're not too far behind!
Friday Dec 31 New Year's Eve
Ok, I was expecting to be sore today, but man, trying to do up my bra behind my back is next to impossible! Talk about working new muscle groups- far out!!
I only have to make it through a half day today-thank goodness! We start the day with another Gloria Jeans coffee and then it's off to work we go! It was much quieter this morning. People must have been more concerned with getting prepared for tonight's festivities. Suits me just fine.
I spend a bit of time going over my application for our new Emerging Leaders program. I'm not holding my breath for an interview, but I'm keen to show that I'm interested in furthering my career. I reckon any initiative in our current environment has got to be a good thing. It takes me longer than I expect and I don't make it out of office until 1.15pm. Not happy. It's going to cut into my grocery shopping time and I'm expecting it to be 'ugly' in the supermarket with everyone getting their last minute New Year's Eve nibblies. Sigh...I wish I was one of them. But, instead, I'm on a mission for fruit and other healthy foods.
I pick up what I need and head off to the usual meeting place to pick up S. She is spending the weekend with us and I'm excited to see her. I wonder what Santa brought to her other house? She's just as excited to see me as I am to see her. We talk about her Christmas presents on the way back to my place.
Dinner is home-made pizza. I use Lebanese bread as the base and add 1 tbsp of pizza sauce & 1 tbsp of lite ricotta cheese. Then we add the toppings that we like and pop it in the oven. YUM! It satisfies my craving for Dominos pizza on a thin & crispy base. I really want NYE snacks and I figure having a pizza makes me feel a bit more 'normal'. We watch a bit of TV until it's time to head to the local park. We have a good view of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and we get there in time for the 9pm Family Fireworks. AMAZING! S sits on G's shoulders and has the best seat in the house. The only thing missing was the appearance of Tinker Bell at the finale, but maybe that kind of magic only happens in Disneyland.
Then it's home for a hot drink- tea for us and Milo for S. We tuck her into bed and settle in to wait for the midnight fireworks. Sydney's NYE display is phenomenal! I've never seen anything like it! And every year, it takes my breath away. Amazing. I stayed up past 1am to finish last week's blog, then it's off to dreamland for me. Sleeping in is a rare commodity when S is around.
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