Tuesday

7.00 Walk TJ for 25 minutes, then 20 minutes of speed-ball intervals in the garage.

8.00 poppy seed bagel with lite cream cheese, mandarin juice, large skim milk coffee

10.30: low-fat greek yoghurt, grated apple (1/2), slivered almonds, cinnamon

1.00: gluten-free pasta with chicken and spicy peppers sauce, baby spinach

3.30: low-fat greek yoghurt, grated apple (1/2), walnuts, cinnamon

5.00: peanut butter on toast, skim-milk cocoa

8.30: kangaroo patty, broccoli, baked potato, sterol spread

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

Granted, it's coming up to that time of the month, which turns me into an 'eating machine', but I'm sick of being 'Jekyll' and 'Hyde' with my food. I've come to the conclusion that I'm not eating enough (carbs in particular), which is why I either come unstuck at night, or at the end of a 'good' week, and more than make up for what I haven't eaten. In effort to address this I'm just going to be eating more carbs all the time. Hopefully this will keep me on a more even keel. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I will just try and reign in my muesli and bread consumption as dried fruit and wheat seem to set off a 'must eat more' response.

Thursday

Weighed myself for the first time in about a month, more out of curiosity than anything. I am 62.5kg. Would like to be a little bit less, mostly to avoid the 'muffin top' I have when wearing my size 8 jeans. Am going to start slowly ramping up the exercise again, and have decided to reduce my muesli and bread consumption - they are things I have trouble eating in moderation.

Wednesday

Didn't get time to have a workout at the gym today, so had a go at a 20-minute workout at home (see below).

Breakfast: 2 eggs scrambled with parsley, toast with avocado and tomato

Snack: apple, almonds

Lunch: tuna and cannelini bean salad (olive oil dressing)

Snack: corn thins with avocado and cottage cheese

Exercise: walk TJ then pull-up ladders and push-ups

Dinner: vegetable curry with chickpeas and brown rice

Snack: yoghurt and muesli

Checking In

Was going to go to the gym yesterday but ended up doing a workout in the garage instead. It has some exposed metal rafters so Rob and I did chin-ups from them after walking TJ. (Well, Rob did and I used a power band to assist me.) Looking forward to doing bench press again on Wednesday. Food is slowly getting back on track. Meals are looking something like this:

Breakfast: porridge with banana, soy milk and walnuts OR eggs on toast OR nut butter and banana on toast

Snack: fruit, almonds, skim milk coffee

Lunch: salad with some sort of protein and legumes, olive oil dressing

Snack: hummus and veges OR cottage cheese on rice crackers

Dinner: varies - tonight I am planning to make a veggie curry with chickpeas

Snack: yoghurt and fruit (but quite often yoghurt and muesli)

First Workout!

Had some time to kill today while waiting for my next batch of work to arrive. Took the dog for a walk, cleaned the house, then decided to do a casual workout at the gym near our new house. The equipment's pretty basic but I had a good workout nonetheless - bench press, incline bench press, bicep curls, tricep extensions and an incline walk on the treadmill. I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to lift a little more than last time I did the same workout, nearly a month ago. Guess all that rest didn't do me any harm. Will try to get the gym a bit more regularly from now on though!

Mental attitude has been great the last week or so. When I get up in the morning the words to Christina Aguilera's 'Beautiful' quite often pop into my head, and they help me to banish any negative self-talk:

'I am beautiful no matter what they [you] say
Words can't bring me down'

Baby Steps

I'm still not ready to do a full-blown gym workout yet, but am happy to do some bodyweight exercises. I thought I'd try doing a different exercise each morning after walking the dog. This morning I did some press-ups. Tomorrow I'm going to try and do some chin-ups on the monkey bars in the park at the end of the walk.

Confession*

Bless me father for I have sinned. It has been two weeks since my last workout. I have also been guilty of the sin of gluttony. I have been eating whatever I like in whatever quantity I like. I have probably put back on all the weight I lost, but I couldn't say for sure as I haven't weighed myself. I have struggled to get into a new routine since moving house.
 
On the other hand, my personal life is great. We have had some technological problems at our new house so we have no internet and no TV reception. Rob and I have been making dinner together, eating at the dinner table, watching DVDs, reading and walking the dog together. It has been lovely.
 
Balance will come.
 
*Apologies if anyone is offended by the use of religion in this post. It was for dramatic effect only