The only thing to do is sleep less!

Not something I ever expected that to come from me, that's for sure!  I absolutely love my sleep and generally, can not get enough of it.  However, its becoming increasingly frustrating that I finish work, do the horses and then when I get in, its a night of stress trying to have my tea and fit everything in before going to be around 9.30 and sleep at 10.  It has only been made worse by me working later and slightly further away too.  As there is nothing I can do about that, and I need to work my horses, I am left with no choice.  I am going to try and teach myself to need less sleep.

There is conflicting information on the subject, some people say there is just no way to do it, others firmly believe there is.  One of the main things is to keep your wake up time the same, even at weekends, so 5am everyday it is.  Tom pretty much wakes up at this time most days anyway, so its just me. You then gradually go to bed later and later.  Some people say 15min increments and other say 30 mins, there are even people that suggest just cutting it back straight away and dealing with it.

They reckon, 7 to 10 days to get used to it.  I am currently typing this and watching the clock, I was initially going to push for 30 mins at a time, I may decide that is too much.  I am actually looking forward to having more time to do things, so that is a huge motivational factor towards me getting my head round it.  I think a huge part of the battle is mental, I'm not suggesting I try and cope on 4 hrs a night, so its nothing drastic and I think my head is now where it needs to be. 

We got up at 5 this morning, had breakfast and did a load of chores and then decided to go back to bed for a nap about 90mins later, we did 20mins and felt pretty good. 

I'm fighting the urge to sleep right now so, watch this space!!! I've not done a huge amount of reading around it, should be able to do more of that with the extra time though

How bad have I been?

Not too bad I don't think, I'm feeling yuck from no cardio but I have been fairly well behaved food wise.  I resisted chocolate when everyone had a bar on the way back from competing! 

Had a great day out today, Lara had her first competitive experience of cross country and she was a little star, not quick enough to win a ribbon, but she's come so far in the last few months and I was yet again, really proud of her.

Here she is, smiling for a change!

Its supposed to be weigh in day on Tuesday, I really want to postpone a week so that I have chance to get back into cardio again and feel good! I have a PT session with Martin in the morning, long awaited one we keep missing through injury and incorrect diaries! Will just have to see how I feel, it is cheating massively if I don't do it, so maybe I will do a mid month one too instead.  

Beans for lunch tomorrow, canellini and pinto to be precise. I happened to stumble upon an amazing, beany taste sensation.  Basically mix up beans with olive oil, black pepper, sea salt, a dash of lemon juice and some apple cyder vinegar.  It is incredible, really buttery and creamy.  

Tea was river cobbler and stir fry, which too was pretty amazing.  Not that I like to brag or anything,  but weekend chef pretty much pulled it out the bag tonight! If you haven't already tried cobbler and have no idea what I am talking about, its a fish. 

A type of catfish to be precise.  Its flesh isn't as firm as white fish we are used to eating and it really is a lovely, mild taste.  Tom isnt big into fishand we have been working on improving his repertoire, this really is a great type of fish for the non believers and getting them started.  The other bonus is that it is really quite cheap, we got two decent size fillets for £2.50. I just baked it in the oven with sea salt, black pepper and a dash of olive oil. 

Healthy brownie heaven

Although there genuinely is no such thing as a healthy brownie, you can make them healthier.  Cutting out the refined sugar and gluten for starters or totally vegan and refined sugar free.  I have tried two recipes tonight, the first was using black beans, duck eggs, agave, oil and cocoa powder and the second was black beans, agave, oats, cocoa and oil.  Quite let down by the first ones, they tasted amazing but once cooked the consistency wasn't great, I'm guessing that is lack of flour as they taste amazing before being cooked. Also, the tray that I cooked them in was one of these silicone trays and it cooks so quickly that I don't think it doesn't them any favours.  I put them in for 18mins instead of 25 - 30 and they are just a little too well done for me

Second batch has just come out, so the taste test is yet to come.  These are all for the coffee morning tomorrow, but none will be going if they don't taste good enough! Not that I am a perfectionist or anything. 

I have also made my own almond milk tonight.  I left the almonds soaking from last night and they are amazing. I read a few weeks ago that you're meant to soak nuts anyway and it makes them taste better, they weren't lying! They go so plump and creamy

I learnt the hard way that my blender isn't the most liquid tight, I whizzed it all up (almonds and water) and it splurged out everywhere! Had to pour out the liquid whilst I blitzed the almonds, I dont think it's the best blender in the world as it doesn't make everything totally smooth,  not sure if it is meant to but one of the brownie recipes said that a blender is diff from a food processor, no idea! 

Anyway, found myself a jam strainer whilst at the shops so that helped as I could just leave the milk draining off.

In typical me style, I don't like to waste perfectly good ingredients, so I did some research on what to do with the left over almond meal from making the milk.  The best suggestion is to dry it out and use it in meals and smoothies.  That is currently what is happening in the cooling oven whilst I type this.  

Unfortunately, something goes a little of course when I cook, I couldn't keep a kitchen tidy if my life depended on it! And I end up with something like this:

Almond meal ready for the oven

So, the taste test for the second brownie batch has just taken place. Abasolutely amazing, the only thing i would change if i made them again, would be to get the correct size cooking tray. I had to use a bread tin, just so i didnt have to use the silicone one and i had something that kept the depth of the mix acceptable.

What a difference a night makes..

And a trip to David! My neck is so much better, thankfully. No gym again this morning and I won't go tomorrow either. I want to make sure this is fully sorted as I have 3 horses to clip at the weekend and a competition on Sunday that I really want to go to!

We made roasted cauliflower and pinto/cannellini bean soup last night, just tucking into it now with some torn up chicken breast in it; its really good. Even Tom approves and he isn't a big cauliflower fan! I am forcing myself not to get stressed about the lack of cardio being done and the amount of calories I am consuming over the next couple of days, we are having a coffee morning at work tomorrow to raise funds for Macmillion, so I will be eating plenty of crap I would imagine.  My contribution is going to be Black Bean brownies.  Not something I have ever made before, but they are free of refined sugar, so better than they could be!! This is the recipe I am going to follow

http://getoffyourwheel.com/blog/blender-brownies-gluten-and-refined-sugar-free/

Watch this space! I'm stupidly quite excited about trying them and seeing how everyone takes to them, I'm guessing with not very well!  The office seems to have the sweetest collective tooth of any place I have ever worked, its a mine field of sugary temptation!! I have had to buy some dried figs just so that I can have a healthier sweet tooth indulgence! I currently have a seed well and truly lodged between my teeth though, so they should keep me well entertained for the rest of the day, as I couldn't possibly just ignore it!!

It's been a rough couple of days

You'll be surprised to hear that I have managed to injure myself! I know, not something you normally hear from me, but I have manage it none the less.  I'm not sure what I have done, I went to the gym yesterday morning and had a pretty good session, I felt a little tight across my chest but nothing worth noting, so I carried on.  I didn't do loads of shoulder stretching as I didn't want to put strain through my wrists as I have been having some RSI like aching in them from not having keyboard rests at my new place.

I got to work and my neck started to stiffen up, just at the base where it joins my shoulders and gradually got worse through the day. It got to the point that I couldn't sit up properly as it hurt so much to put my head in line with my body.  Needless to say I don't ride the horses, I felt exhausted by the time I got there and was in quite a considerable amount of pain. I got in and got a hot water bottle on it and took a naproxen. Going to sleep was really quite uncomfortable, but in true Sarah style, I managed it.  

I am gutted though, as it was meant to be my PT session with Martin this morning, the session I missed last week because I had it in my diary incorrectly! Felt really pleased with my progress too and wanted to see what he thought.  

Woke up and was still in a pretty bad way, but coincidently, I had an appointment booked with my chiropractor, David, anyway.  I go to him every 4 weeks or I just fall apart, and he can never quite get his head around how much damage I manage to do myself.  This was the first time in ages that I was thinking I could go and say I was pretty good! Silly me! 

I had basically managed to do a right number on myself, I have problems with my mid thoracic region all the time anyway, but I had totally mashed it up! It cracked like a dead stick the minute he moved me! I had a lot of trigger points, especially down my rib cage and under my scapula (that bit is normal for me) but he worked his magic and I feel soooo much better, he really does have healing hands and I recommend him to anyone I get chance to! Once I get a new laptop I can start posting links etc properly, I am having to make do with using the iPad and android apps at the min and they are pretty useless! 

Obviously, I can't exercise for the rest of the week now, so I have to keep an extra special eye on my diet.  Doesn't do me harm to have a break from exercise periodically.  I have just hit a weight loss plateau like I do from time to time, it is normally when my body has got used to the exercise that I am doing. I may have to either switch to the rowing machine for a while (once my neck is totally better) or just push myself a little harder on the bike to hit faster times and for longer periods.  

Music to my ears

I've been trying to find a solution to my work out music hardware for some time now, and just flitted around the internet without drawing any conclusions as to the best way to go.  The work place that I just left a week or so ago, gave me vouchers for the Trafford centre, so I thought the best plan was to use them to buy something suitable.  I went with the Sony waterproof headphones that are also a built in mp3 player.  

They work incredibly well too, really secure as they are design for swimming in and great sound quality for what they are.  I got them for just under £50, which I thought was a pretty respectable price.  I didn't really want to have a separate device that I needed to administer, but I simply couldn't find any small, bluetooth headsets that had good reviews. 

Still working on Tom's lunches

Haven't ppsted and a bit ofeverything.  He's doing well with his weightloss again and seems to be enjoying the change at least. 

Havent posted many pics recently, thought I would treat you all to a few

So much for behaving at the weekend!

After me saying I need to stop eating crap at the weekend, I pretty much failed straight away! We went to the cinema on Friday night and had a big box of popcorn.  It was my niece's birthday party so there was unhealthy stuff to eat there, we did go to the gym afterwards and I rode all 3 horses so I guess that wasn't too bad and then I made my own version of those naked cocoa delight bar things and ended up eating a load of that as I'd been impatient with the first batch and added water and shouldn't have done!  I will come back to that though! And as it was Tom's birthday in the week and I was working till all hours, I took him out yesterday instead and that ended with a 3 course pub lunch! I couldn't even face weighing myself this morning!

So, my little dabble with healthy snacks: I love those Nakd cocoa delight bars, they are made of raisins, cocoa, dates and cashews, all blitzed together! I didn't have cashews so we used almonds instead. Tom worked out quantities off the packaging off the bars that we bought, it states percentages so was pretty straight forward from there, for me anyway! Tom worked it out.  I put all the ingredients in the blender and blitzed away, however, I had a little panic as the blender just seemed to be leaping around all over the place and not doing a great deal else! So I decided it needed some moisture and added some water, didn't do much so I decided to try the liquidiser! That just made a mess! A tasty mess, but a mess none the less!  It then dawned on me that that just wouldn't work as it wouldn't pack down at all, so I started again! This time I just blitzed it all in the blender and sat patiently! I didn't add the cocoa until the end, and then I added it and needed it in by hand as putting it in the blender puffed it everywhere the first time!!

End result, super yummy replica of the real thing!! And for once, I haven't yet got a picture!!

I had a cooking frenzy when we got in yesterday and made some butternut squash soup, wasn't anywhere near as good as the sweet potato, was a bit thin and not as strong a taste but will be adding some quinoa so that should help a bit!

Soup in the making! 

I WILL do the splits!!

I have definitely decided that my real long term goal is to be more supple.  I've really enjoyed seeing and feeling the benefits of stretching and the starting of yoga.  It can only help me and my weak body in the long run!

I will obviously still keep up with everything else that I am doing, but this is my long term aim.  I decided to make a note of how far off the splits I am, well, miles basically.  But, you've got to start somewhere and documenting it is the only way to see it all.  Tom and I still haven't taken pics of where we are at with our yoga and we really do need to! 

Had a PT session with Liam this morning, was a really good one.  Gave me loads of things for my triceps that doesn't involve dips, I get a really bad pain from dips.  I have read up about it (shocking I know!) And it does seem to be a common thing, its caused by inflammation in the sternum apparently and there is a name for it. Anyway, best way to deal with it is not to do anything that aggravates it.  He has also got me working singularly on my legs.  So leg press with one leg and leg raises on the machine with one leg too, nothing really heavy either, just build up gently.  He was also pretty impressed with my wide grip pull ups, I can manage 4 on 10k weighted, still not at body weight yet but much closer!!

I also assumed that the change of routine hadn't affected me at all, last night proved that theory wrong!  I had a massive melt down over something really pathetic and totally lost it! A normal thing to happen to me when my routines are disrupted, I will get there though I'm sure. Just son frustrating never having time in the evenings and now it takes me longer to get home, that is even more apparent. Nothing I can do about it right now, so just got to suck it up and get on with it!  It'll work out in the end, it always does!!

Rest days are evil!

So yesterday was a rest day as I felt like I needed a rest for once, in true rest day style I felt like shite for the entire day!  I got stuck in traffic on my way to work, never a good start! My digestive system ground to a halt and I had horrific indigestion pains all afternoon and evening!  I also got my dates mixed up for PT with Martin, I thought it was today but was in fact yesterday, pretty gutted about that!

Have had a quick nosey on the internet and there is nothing definitive to explain it, just the fact that your body gets used to the chemicals released during exercise.  Not a bad thing to become dependant on I guess!

Down to 141.8 today, lowest yet.  So other than making me feel dreadful, day off hasn't damaged me too much!

Work out was good this morning, felt fairly supple even though my calf is still really tight from messing about on the wobble disc on Tuesday! I had the walking machine on a 4 incline too which felt good.

Also happy birthday Tom! 31 today

l

Birthday kisses for daddy!

These weekends need to stop!

Its so stupid how I let it all go wrong of a weekend, I end up up at least 2lbs every time and then it takes me a week to shift it. Its stopping me progressing to where I want to be and it's pointless. 

I felt rubbish at the gym yesterday, really weak and kept on having to go for a pee! I do tend to get like that sometimes and it think it is a sensitivity to some hormone or other, I narrowed it down many years ago when the doctors thought I may have an overactive bladder, I used to get up 3 or 4 times a night when it was at its worst. Coming off the pill and working it out was purely coincidental and the doctors refused to accept that's what it was, but it was.

Yesterday lunch proved incredibly expensive for me, I have ordered my new car. I have embraced the chav inside and gone for a 'semi' pimped Renault Clio, pics will follow when I have it in my possession, very excited!!

The gym went well this morning, I felt really strong on the spin bike.  I did 30 mins and pushed myself pretty hard, the last 3 mins were out the seat and I now have really cramped up calves.  Started feeling quite sleepy and weak this afternoon though, there are a lot of people ill in the office so I will undoubtedly end up with something!  I have decided to take a day off tomorrow!! Unheard of I know, I have learnt my lesson from the last illness that took me out for a couple of weeks though, and I have a PT with Martin on Thursday and Liam on Friday! I think Martin will be pleased with my progress anyway, I can squat right down to my bottom on the smiths machine, even when concentrating on my form.  I think my core has come on a lot too, I tried to do leg raises off the step today, I can move my legs this time but I can't seem to keep my upper body flat, technique I should imagine, but still loads of progress from not being able to move them!!

Still working hard on a few yoga moves, I tried the tree stance today with my support leg on a wobble disc, made for interesting times!  I managed it though and I should imagine it's great for my core and strengthening my ankles and knees.

Toms different lunches seem to be going down well which is good, tomorrows is quinoa salad with tuna. I need to work on my quinoa cooking though, as salad is a lose translation of globular mass!  Tastes really good though.  As I am taking the day off the gym, I have to be extra careful, so I have just finished cooking my veggie breakfast I make with cottage cheese and I am having salmon and salad for lunch.  No doubt I will be famished!

You can just about make out the little sprouts in the top left, these are alfalfa sprouts.

Hectic!

Well, starting my new job hasn't had as much of an impact on my need for routine as I thought, however, I haven't driven home on a Monday rush hour yet!! 

Had another PT comment on how much weight I have dropped, always good to hear! I've been struggling with my left knee for the last few days, not sure why, I have a sneaking suspicion its my work shoes! Unfortunately, I absolutely love those bad boys so I will continue to wear them, I just need to get some support insoles that fit and don't wear them everyday.

Spent most of yesterday looking for new cars, I had my mind set in just getting exactly the same as what I have now but Tom decided it would be a good idea to look at others, good job I did really as I have decided I prefer the Clio! It drives so much better and looks pretty cool too, bonus!

We decided to brave the weather today and go competing, had a great day. Lara was scared of the indoor arena but got over that pretty quickly.  I keep getting a twinge of pain in my pelvis today and my lower back isn't feeling great, I have a feeling it is just from the yoga work I have been doing so should ease off soon.  I have had this sort of pain before, it feels like an electric shock when it does it, quite strange but over as quickly as it starts..oh well, just something else for me to work around.

I feel like I have eaten so badly the last few days. I went out for tea with some friends from my old workplace and had a starter and a main at Tampopo, but I didn't drink so that would've helped a lot.  Yesterday I just didn't feel satisfied after tea so made some Blondie brownies for us and they were amazingly tasty and got obliterated and I've just had an Indian for tea! When I say I've had an Indian, I had popadums and chick pea baji so I'm hoping that I'm not too over my calories!  We'll soon find out in the morning!

Tom has decided to give it an extra push to get the last bit of his weight off.  One way is to change up his lunches a bit, he has pasta every day so we are going to try him on beans instead and see how that goes, I was going to make some sort of spicy bean salad.  Watch this space!!

Last day done

It was my final day in my current job today, it started off without the gym as I had to meet my horse dentist on an emergency appointment for one of the girls.  She has been going really badly and I wanted to rule this out as one possible problem.  We concluded that her teeth weren't bad enough and that it was more that she is horribly overweight.  Operation slim horsey down is under way, I am going to make a concerted effort for the next two months to get her weight off and reevaluate.  My horses weight is an ongoing battle between myself and my parents, I always want them slimmer and they never want to restrict their grass intake, I now have the backing of a professional so they have conceded... I think I will take before and after pics as a comparison! What's good for the goose and all that

The lads pulled their fingers out and got me some fantastic flowers, a cake, a voucher for the Trafford centre and a card from the rest of the company.  I managed to escape a formal presentation though which I was immensely pleased about! 

Almost back down to my ore binge weekend weight, not sure that today will have done me any favours though as I had lunch out, the boys treated me to a breakfast sandwich and I have had cake too! Eeek

I am incredibly proud of myself too as I have found some of these little beauties

Finally, my organic beauties! They feel so different to the farmed ones, they are much less firm.  Also, when they are cooked they aren't anywhere near as pink.. I'm sure I'm not imagining it, but you never can tell! Waitrose is by far e cheapest I can find at the moment, I went in to get the 2 for £6 deal but unfortunately they only had the one packet in stock, better than none and they are having another delivery tomorrow.

So, this is my lunch for my first day in a new place.  A little bit of comfort food, but healthy

Organic Ecuadorean king prawns, roasted cherry tomatoes and an avocado. Yummy! 

Now I have a million things to do and I am sitting writing this blog instead of doing them! I want to get get up nice and early so I get as much time in the gym as possible, I have to leave a little earlier as the new job is further out! Wish me luck

Its all about 3

During the time I have dabbled with fitness, none quite as determined as this time though, I have found one thing that works as a guide and it always goes in 3's.  If I give something up, it takes me 3 weeks to not be bothered about it any more, this is normally beer! If I start something new, it takes around 3 weeks for it not to be so tough it makes me not want to do it.  So, for example, when I start getting back into fitness from a break, it takes me 3 weeks to get used to getting back up early and get into the routine of prepping meals etc the night before.

If I injure myself, it normally takes 3 months to be fully recovered, I know if it goes on for longer then it is something a little more serious that may need some proper attention. Other than my normal niggles that is.  So, with the rule of 3, I should be getting used to my new gym routine that includes some Yoga in about 3 weeks, the problem is that we are also moving back in with my parents in a month and I start a new job the day after tomorrow, so I think I may have a new routine settlement breakdown!!

Today was tough at the gym, every single joint from my hips down was in pain when I first started on the treadmill.  I kept it at 4 with no incline for the first 5 mins to start to warm myself up and I concentrated on keeping my posture firm and and keeping my walking motion as relaxed and natural as possible, to minimise the strain.  I gradually increased to 6.8 with a 2 incline for about 20 mins.  I think I had about 5 pain free minutes at the end.  Its not pleasant, but at the same time, when I say pain, its nothing horrific.  I would say its about a 3 on the pain scale for me and eases off to a 1 at the very end, so not even close to agony but uncomfortable.  If I over stretch my walk stride then the pain I get in my flexors is also about a 3, so enough to stop me striding out so much..  I am hoping that it is purely hormonal aches that I am getting, either that or it is my body adjusting to the stretching, hence the mention of the 3 week rule I have.

Basically, I just keep going as long as it is just discomfort and not obvious pre injury/injury pain.  I can already feel that my back is loosening off from the triangle or maybe pyramid (cant quite remember) stretch yoga move, it feels so nice to do it too.  I am insanely tight around my torso and have only done the move 3 times and already feel the benefit.  I went on the spin bike after the treadmill and made an effort to concentrate on my posture on that and not tensing up through my back, hands and face.  I read that this is a common error when people ride a bike and it causes a lot of tension and loss of energy.

Only a pound down this morning on the 3 I have put on this week, hopefully my low intensity cardio this morning will have done the trick tomorrow and I will be back down to my lightest.  I cant go in the morning now as one of my horses is having some emergency attention on her teeth, I have to sedate her so will need to be with her at 6.30.  I may just do some yoga with +Tom Burgin in the morning before I leave

It really isn't worth it

So, after hitting my lowest ever weight on Sat morning of 142.4 lbs, I decided the best thing to do was get mortal on Saturday night.  It wasn't the intention, we weren't meant to be drinking, but we were over at Tom's parents house for their ruby wedding anniversary and my resolve lasted precisely two sips of water.

What a mess I was, I felt dreadful all day yesterday and today I can barely cope with clothes touching my as it so sore from all of the sugar and alcohol I consumed.  Not a good way to be at all

What a state to get yourself into hey! It has totally ruined my morning at the gym too as I am just so sore.  I managed 20 mins on the spin bike and then a load of stretching and also a huge amount of just sitting! Its just not worth it to me any more, it puts back my health and fitness goals so much that I really don't see the point of it, I have gained 3 lbs, not horrific but still 3 lbs I don't need to have gained.  We have spent a fortune, money that we would rather have spent on an amazing meal and an early night, we are such party animals!

One good thing that came from it was that Tom had to drive home and I got to look around, I normally do the driving so don't get to take in the scenery. It was incredible on the drive back yesterday too, the sky was in great form.  Full of flat bottomed cloud that looked like meringues and the sun was lighting them all up too.  I looked it up and these are Cumulus clouds and they have flat bottoms as this is where the air reaches its dew point and can go no further with temperature loss without condensing.. or something along those lines at least. 

Apart from getting smashed, the weekend was really nice.  It was good to see everyone and Tom also treated me to some food on the way over at The Olive Branch Amazing place and beautiful food, I was naughty and went for pork belly and Tom had sausage and Mash.  It had the most amazing crackling with it too!! Not a great start for the diet, I'm amazed the damage wasn't even more as we absolutely stuffed ourselves at the anniversary get together too.

Beautiful little place, it has such a Mediterranean feel about it, which means I am automatically fall in love with it!! We even got to sit outside, something I thought was done for the year now! 

So, after the weekend of over indulgence, we are back to it today.  I had my normal smoothie for breakfast and have just had smoked mackerel with blueberries, raspberries and avocado.  I don't normally mix avocado with mackerel as they are both very fattening, however, its all I could face preparing this morning so I will balance it out over the course of the week.  It was super tasty too though, always a bonus.

I have been noticing a lot of people on instagram are following this keto diet.  I have read a little about it and there seems to be clashing opinions.  It was originally developed to help epileptic children by reducing seizures, it is down to the resources your body uses for energy.  In normal metabolism you use mainly carbohydrates, when your body is in ketosis you use fat and this changes what is used by your brain for fuel.  Not a great explanation but more information can be found here

My initial feelings are along the lines of what I think of the atkins diet, how can that much fat in your diet ever be good for you and how can it ever replace and healthy, balanced diet?!  Well, of course, all of these PT's that are pedalling it deny any claims that this type of diet is damaging in any way, and so far, I haven't managed to find anything educated enough to allow me to draw a conclusion.  The main reason that I have spent more time trying to find resources, is that one place mentioned that it can help slow down and maybe even stop the symptoms of a lot of brain related issues such as Alzheimer's and Parkinsons. Toms father has a brain disorder known as Picks, which is a form of alzheimer's and can be hereditary, so I am willing to try anything!! However, it isn't clear whether it is just thought to help with age related rather than genetic mutation related memory loss.  Just something else for me to do some reading on and get a better understanding of I would say. 

Big Mac Sauce

I nipped out to Lidl yesterday to stock up on Avocado's as their beat every other supermarket hands down, and they had fresh figs in stock too.  4 for £1.  I absolutely love figs of every kind and obviously, I purchased 4 for now.

I was just going to mix it in with my lunch, but then I decided that I could make a smoothie out of it.  Promptly added all 4 to the blender, along with water and yoghurt and a squirt of agave syrup and whizzed it all up.  It was really yummy last night when it was made, I went to drink it this morning and it was not a good taste!  It reminded me of Big Mac sauce so that was it then, throat closed and gag reflex engaged!! So breakfast today was scrambled egg and blueberries.

Woke up and for the first time in quite some time and I could feel my neck tying up.  I had this for a good while a few months ago and I had to sleep with a travel, wrap around pillow and then moved on to sleeping with a thick pair of socks in the crook of my neck.  Eventually it stopped and I worked my way back onto pillows.  I just have to make sure that it is a thick pillow that is also soft and shapes itself into my neck.  +Tom Burgin changed them last though and I have been saying that I don't think I have the right pillow for the last couple of nights, definitely his fault ;-) I'm hoping it will resolve itself again without too many wake up calls like that, its horrific, you know you have to move but you know that any movement will cause you neck to go into spasm.  I end up lifting my head with my hand and trying to keep my neck and shoulders totally relaxed, that usually works if I catch it quickly enough.

The guys in the office have just walked in with bacon butties, if there is one thing I love more than anything, its a bacon and egg butty.. I resisted though, all I can think about now is my stomach and how much I would love to fill it with bacon!!

Tom and I have decided that we are both going to concentrate on our flexibility as he is pretty tight too.  So we got some basic yoga moves off the internet and have started on these.  I am so utterly rubbish, and by all accounts, so is he.  I attempted to do the crow pose in the gym, not something I will be doing in public again for a while.  The Triangle Pose is an absolute killer and I don't think I managed to pull of any of the poses, we are going to take pictures of us doing the poses so that we can monitor our progress.  There is also a flexibility test that we are going to do that gives you a measurement so that we can compare stats! woo.  Some lovely pics for you to look forward to!

Damn you 1 pound!!

I can not shift this last pound from the weight i gained the other weekend!! Incredibly frustrating.  We did our measurements last night though and I have shifted 1.25 inches from there in the last month, from around my hips.  Made up with that.  Other measurements not quite so significant, I will update the stats page at some point soon with pics too.

Thought I would share this with everyone as I am quite proud of this! Think you can work it out?

Always nice to be greeted at the gym by this sort of view.  Makes dark mornings far more bearable

I thought I would change my cardio up a bit this morning as I am wondering if my body has just got used to the walking a bit too much, and my joints etc cant cope with going any quicker and I really didn't fancy increasing the incline.  I did half an hour on the treadmill and then went on the exercise bike for 20mins.  I felt pretty good but wow, did I get hot! I was speaking to one of my friends the other day and he is aiming to get his 20k on a road bike down to 30 mins.  I managed 10k on the exercise bike in 18 mins and technically that should be easier! So, something else to aim for I guess.  The exercise bike seats at the gym are so uncomfortable though, they are way too big and wide for me, but I guess I will get used to them.. Its a shame that the spin bikes don't have measurements on them as I would far prefer those! 

I really, really need to get the Amiigo sports tracker device so that I can monitor exactly what I am putting my body through so I know I am in optimum fat burn.  They have said that it is due to be released in October now, but I have a feeling that they may be in short supply.  I have my name down to be notified when they are released, but that doesn't guarantee that I will manage to get hold of one.  They have changed their manufacturers and manufacturing process so that they can make a much slicker device.

Did a load of stretching after doing some wide, straight leg raises and I felt great afterwards.  Really looking forward to getting stuck in to some focused yoga moves and see how much my flexibility improves and in what sort of time frame.. MORE STATS!!! 

I wanted something different for my breakfast, that I could alternate with my smoothie so I just looked at what I had in the fridge.... This is what I came up with

I turned that, into this:

I used a teaspoon of grape seed oil and fried a clove of garlic with a quarter of red onion and then added 100 g of mushrooms, 100 g of Leeks and 100 g of peppers and cooked until slightly tender.  I also chucked in some chilli flakes.

Put a layer on the bottom of the oven proof dish, cover this layer with 100 g of low fat cottage cheese and then put the rest of the veg on top, with a pinch of sesame seeds.  Put this in the oven at 180 and cooked for 10 mins.

Once it had cooled, I drained off the excess water (which drives me mad when cooking with cottage cheese) Although some people cant get their head around a breakfast like this, it was really yummy and I will defo be making it again.  It works really well cold too as the veg still had a nice bit of crunch to it. All of this added up to 160 calories and really kept me satisfied, I could've lasted about an hour longer before my lunch but had it so that I could get writing this in my break at the same time.

I have got myself a new phone, this is to replace the work blackberry that I have in my current place but I wont be getting one where I am going.  I need something to use when I am at the horses and it smaller than my smart phone, will last for ages on the battery and I can reliably have a 2 g signal for calling people ICE. 

Presenting, my new little beauty and a blast from the past:

I managed to stumble upon a great website yesterday, I havent got the slightest idea how I found it but it has got some amazing recipes on it. http://wholelifestylenutrition.com/ 

I found out something that I have never read before, you are supposed to soak raw nuts! Who knew!! They contain phytic acid, which means that your body cant break the nuts down properly so you don't absorb all of the nutrients!  Something else for me to do and feel smug about! ;-) 

My sprouter has arrived!! I'm not even sure I mentioned that I was getting one.  Mum used to always sprout seeds when we were kids and I loved them, so I decided that I would start doing my own.  I have a load of adzuki beans at home, a little sample of alfalfa and some yellow mustard seeds. Where to start?! 

Waste not...

After receiving our shopping order yesterday, it dawned on me just how wasteful we are and just how much we could do to improve on that.  All of our shop is about fitting as much as we can in our fridge and freezer in as efficient a way as possible, which generally means not leaving them in the packages they come in.

Just a 'small' selection of the throw away yesterday

The Tesco own brand fruit, for some reason comes in a plastic tub, shrink wrapped top and a cardboard outer layer. Why?  Why not just stick it in a bag with a printed label on it, other frozen food comes in this way, like frozen peas.  I'm not sure of the energy and resources consumed in the printing of these bags, but I know that I for one, would be made up if they provided me with a plain bag with a small printed identification label on it. 

+Tom Burgin made a good point, in that people don't like to buy things that don't look pretty.  I'm sure that if enough people were given the choice, and maybe even extra green clubcard points, then they would think differently.  My point is,t that there isn't even the choice.  

Tesco have apparently been working on reducing unnecessary packaging for a few years, I think I might contact them and ask them what other plans are in the pipeline for further improvements.  Again, a work in progress it seems, but I would still like to ask the question.  How much of a little soapbox madam am I turning into!?

The darkness is here

Well and truly once more, my journey to the gym takes place in the dark.  I am really not a fan of dark mornings and afternoons, I think I could cope so much better with the cold weather if the hours of daylight were longer.  I am starting to mentally prep myself now, with the hope that it doesn't send me under when its in full flow!  I don't suffer with SAD, just mild irritation!

This morning was also super misty, which had the potential to be quite pretty, but it never actually cut it!

The gym was also eerily empty and I couldn't work out why, but of course, the schools are back in full flow now.  

Had out shopping delivery yesterday, first time in ages it seems like we have had a lovely stocked fridge.  We have been making a point of using everything in the fridge and the freezer up so we could defrost it last weekend. 

Something so satisfying about this sight!

When I was lying in bed last night, trying to get to sleep, every single part of my body that I have ever hurt, decided it would hurt.  I hate it when that happens, I'm not totally sure what it is but I think I have narrowed it down to being linked to hormones.  I have read that when when oestrogen levels fluctuate, our pain tolerance drops and we are also more prone to injury. Perfect!

I made a point today of walking on the treadmill on concentrating on my posture again, again, absolutely exhausting.  I can only really manage half an hour like this as everything is so hard, I made sure that I also paid attention to my breathing and the whole experience was extremely tiring.  It took about 7 mins for all of my joints to ease off too.  

I did some of the stretching moves that Martin showed me and felt pretty good, along with some upper body strength and abs work too.  I can feel the bridge getting easier so that's a good sign and I made a point of noting down the levels on the stretching machines.

With my left leg back on the flexor machine, I can get to 35 on the measurement.  With my right leg back, i can only get to 28.  Quite a considerable difference, although I did expect it as the right flexors are the ones I damaged quite badly whilst walking around Edinburgh at the beginning of the year.

On the hamstring stretch, they are fairly similar.  I can get my left leg to 71 and my right to 68.  I have to make a concious effort to keep my pelvis level and my other foot flat on the floor too.  I can see now how I improve.  

Lunch today is the rest of yesterdays soup and the addition of Quinoa to get my calories to where I want them.  Quinoa is one of those things that makes me feel a little bit special when I mention it, its one of those words that only people in the know, know how to pronounce and knowing how to pronounce it automatically makes me healthy and intelligent! ;-)  Little things! 

Wow, that was unexpectedly filling!

Had my 750ml of sweet potato soup; as you can see it is quite a serving and very, very filling.  Tom had 500ml and 2 pieces of bread and is also stuffed. It will be interesting to see how long we stay full though.

Something I have always struggled with with soup, is that it never seems to fill me up.  It would seem that homemade soup is a little different!

Time to get cooking some more beans and then bed, back onto the treadmill in the morning.  Its been good to have a break actually, I feel pretty refreshed for the first time since I was I'll!

You cant chose your genes!

Pretty neat job done! 

I have just been for my yearly breast MRI scan.  My family from my mums side carry the BRCA1 faulty gene, that is responsible for increasing the carriers chance of developing breast and ovarian cancer.  It is the faulty gene that caused Angelina Jolie to have a preventative double mastectomy recently and is set to have a preventative hysterectomy and also Michelle Heaton carries the BRCA2 faulty gene and has also had a preventative double mastectomy.

I am unsure as the whether or not I want to know if I carry it, I need to go and speak with the specialist about the characteristics of our specific family strain and what can be done if I do carry the gene.  Every familial strain differs in severity and characteristics, so I need to understand all of the implications before finding out.  If my chances of survival are greatly increased by knowing and maybe even doing something about it as far as preventative measures go, then I guess it would benefit me.  It is also a consideration if we ever decide that we want to have children. Neither of us are currently convinced that that time will ever come, but you never know, and sometimes, just knowing you can't makes you want something!!

The last time I had an MRI, I had a slightly funny reaction to the contrast dye.  As I felt it going in, my hands went numb and tingly and I got terrible palpitations and dizziness.  I mentioned it this time and they said that some people do experience that sensation.  So, satisfied I wasn't going to die in a giant polo tube, I proceeded to fall fast asleep, only woke up once when the guy scanning me asked me to control my breathing as there was a bit too much movement (must've gone into deep sleep breathing mode!) and then at the end.  I didn't even feel the dye go in and as far as I can tell, no palpitations etc, so I am assuming that was my first ever panic attack the last time! Strange, as stuff like that never really bothers me! I'm normally pretty good at controlling panic in myself.

Managed to shift 2lbs yesterday, as I didn't do any exercise, I was on 1200 calories.  It has been a long time since I have done such a low calorie day and it was pretty tough!  I am not going to be far off again today either I wouldn't have thought, as I will only be riding one tonight so wont burn many calories there.  I made sweet potato soup this morning before going for my MRI, but I am going to have to watch how much I eat as that will be pretty calorific.  I will work it out later so that I know exactly how much I can have!

Sweet potato and lentil soup.

800g of sweet potato grated

100g lentils

2 teaspoons of Garam Masala 

1 Grated apple

1 thumb sized piece of grated ginger
300 ml of milk
1.2l of chicken stock

Basically all whizzed together!  I sort of copied the BBC good food recipe that I found here but didn't have half the ingredients so really just used the recipe for quantity guidance and cooking time.

Sweet potato - 688 calories
Lentils - 353 calories
Apple - 52 calories
300 ml skimmed milk - 61 calories
1.2l of ORGANIC chicken stock - not sure, maybe 30 calories
ginger - ~19 calories

total -  1203 in the entire thing.  Which I am guesstimating at 2 litres.  0.62 calories per ml (totally got this cal wrong the first time! As I have said before, Math is not my strong point!)

So this is rubbish based on my first shitty calculation!:
'So, if I ride for around 45 mins tonight, I reckon I should burn around 150 calories at least.  So I will be left with 468 calories spare.  So that will be about 280 ml of soup for my tea, this is not good news and I may well just have to go over that!! Its way too yummy to cut myself soooo short, will try having it in a cup though, see if that makes me feel any less hard done to!'

The correct figures are that I can have 754 ml of soup for my tea!! That, is schamazing!! I'm hoping that I have worked that out properly this time!!

I hope you all had a good weekend!

I had a great time, away competing with my mum, +Tom Burgin and Lara (my horse).  There was the typical showing boredom, but it is so nice to just be out doing what I love. +Sue Burgin and +Holly Burgin came over to watch on the Sunday too, which was really great.  Its rare that I ever get anyone other than my parents and Tom coming and seeing me compete and I think they made it through the day without too much boredom damage! It also meant that our families got a chance to meet each other, even if it wasn't all of them

We came home with some ribbons too and the hard work I have been putting in on her has definitely paid off! I did spend 90% of my time grumbling about how badly the show was organised, so to come 3rd in my last class was a huge lift for the day.

Finally, she has a smile on her face! 

Why cant she stay this white! Such an achievement to have come so far with her.  Broken leg at a week old and then an impact injury that resulted in lower leg paralysis for a long time, about a week after that.  Hours and hours of laser therapy and pysio therapy by everyone who was available to put the time in, I was working shifts so had plenty of spare time to put in.. We were told she would be crippled by the time she was 7, she is now 9! 

Tom and I decided to get drunk on Saturday too, which may not have been a great idea but everso needed.  I never managed to shift the extra pounds before we went to the show, however, I also haven't added any!  I took that day off from the gym today, competing all weekend in the wind and sun and then driving for 3 hours or so home, really took it out of me.  Back on track with the gym tomorrow, back on track with my food today.

I have been looking into the King Prawn saga once more, I love these little beauties so much that I just cant leave it alone.  M&S run a Forever Fish campaign that takes into account all of the bad press surrounding all fish and they have their suppliers that are audited for specific standards.  They claim that "This Code of Practice covers every element of prawn production, from hatchery management and animal welfare, to management of the possible environmental impacts and feed manufacture" 

They also go into details about the feed manufacturing that they are funding and supporting, which all sounds like really good work and the progress that we should all support.  However, it also sounds like it is still very much a solution in progress, so I am torn.  They don't seem to mention much about the environmental impact of the destruction of the mangroves and the cross pollution of the water from the waste of the prawns either. 

There is still the option of Organic prawns and apparently, the only ones that can be certified as that are farmed in Ecuador and also, Madagascan Tiger Prawns are from sustainable fisheries, the country is working towards all of their fisheries being branded as such. Waitrose sell organic King Prawns, and they aren't horribly expensive in comparison to other King Prawns.  So whilst I was temporarily lulled into a false sense of security to M&S Honduran King Prawns, I am well and truly back out of that sense of security and my wrists are well and truly slapped. 

Whilst what M&S are working towards is brilliant, across all of their fish, there are still key things to consider.  Not all of their products are from sustainable catch etc.  One example: 85% of our cod is MSC-certified. Which means that we still have to bear in mind that some of their stock, is not certified.  I guess that is has to be clearly marked on the packaging, we just have to know what to look for, so again, its about being well informed. 

Their website is incredibly informative and tells you all about the different fishing methods etc, but what strikes me the most is that, whilst they are all for supporting sustainable fishing where possible, they are still happy to support none sustainable fishing so that they can provide their customers.  They also suggest Mackerel as a substitute fish for Tuna, however, the good fish guide advise caution for Mackerel now and there are a list of issues to be aware of with these also. 

Basically, you still have to be totally on your guard when it comes to eating fish and know what you are looking for.  

Anyway, aim this week is to shift these stubborn 3lbs and then get off the booze until Christmas (apart from my leaving do which will be a slight relapse!) and I am also getting back on working on my rubbish abs! Seeing the pictures from the weekend, it is so obvious how many extra pounds I was carrying, I look like a different person on board now.  The jacket being taken in has completed the picture too, really pleased with myself!