I need to have a word with myself!

I am letting myself get into bad habits at work and I need to stop it.  It's so difficult though, there is literally crap food there every single day! Tbf, Friday was my own fault as I bought all the goodies in to help raise money for children in need, it isn't until next week, but the BearFaced campaign was on the Friday.

I took another comparisson pic from my stretching, I think you can definitely see an improvement now.  The top one is the latest

We went shopping this morning and I have purchased another size 8 item, this time it isn't sports kit either, its a pair of shorts from River Island! I never thought for one second I would get down to comfortably fit in a size 8 when I started this quest!!  

Tom and I went to the gym this morning before we went shopping, it was good for him to get the opportunity for a change rather than just the daily cardio he gets from his ride to and from work.

A couple of nice little shots from my afternoon at the horses

Whats going on?!

I've clearly been neglecting my upper body workouts recently, today I decided that was what I was going to concentrate on and I was pretty feeble!! My arms were shaking like mad by the end of it and I can feel them starting to stiffen up now, tomorrow should be interesting.  Feeble or not, I still felt pretty good. I also had another really good day at work, I am learning so much and I love it!! The move was definitely worth all the fear of the unknown aspect, and to actually be somewhere where they support you is great; so refreshing.

I think tomorrow will be an all over yoga routine after about 30 mins on the treadmill to warm me up, it shouldn't be long before I get my hormonal all over body ache and joint pain now so I need to make the most of it! The scales were teasing me again this morning, hovering between 139.8 and 140 but stopping on 140!

We are doing the bearfaced thing at work tomorrow for children in need. Basically, you don't wear any makeup and just stick a little paw tattoo on your face. I think it's a great ideas but have only managed to persuade 4 of the girls to do it, the others would rather be seen dead than go out without makeup on! Faire enough, makes me feel blessed that I can happily go out all over the place without makeup, my skin would feel horrible otherwise! Anyway, in preparation I have exfoliated with sugar and extra virgin olive oil. If you haven't tried it, you really need to. I looked into it when I was going through a stage of having terrible skin, this was a few months after having the copper foil fitted and I think my body was just rebelling! It doesn't make your skin in the least bit greasy as you would expect, it just softens and regulates the natural oil levels and, at the same time, extra virgin has brilliant anti inflammatory priorities.  All the chemicals in shop bought products can dry your skin out too much and this can result in an over production of natural grease and breakouts.  Tom also uses it on his patches of psoriasis when he is having a flare up and it is brilliant. He gets them on his cheeks, eyelids and eyebrows and the next day they will almost have disappeared. I say it's psoriasis, we just assume it is but he doesn't get it anywhere else.

Now, can you tell what it is?

Today is a good day!

It started with the scales teasing me, they hovered between 138.9 and 140 but stopped on 140. Progress though!!

I then did a great hour of cardio on the treadmill, I have blistered the under side of my heels though as I had that much of a stomp on.  And my stretching was bloomin brilliant. I am only a hairs breath away from straightening my legs with my palms flat on the floor just in front of my feet. 

It only takes a day like this every so often to make it all worth while!  Its not often I am that pain free either, it just makes me more determined to push on with my stretching too.

I have been making an effort when I am on the treadmill to watch the way I walk. I can see my reflection in the windows now its dark so I can see how close my legs move to each other.  I have been making an effort to bring them out a bit so that I don't almost kick myself on every stride, its amazing the difference it makes to the pain in my legs, its immediately almost totally gone from the start.  I am wondering if that's why I have blisters actually, my strike point of my foot will be different so it will be an area of skin that isn't used to being battered.  My feet are also really pathetic and blister with the slightest change of anything!

Lunch today is super yummy! I have a cauliflower and parsnip soup base (which comes in at a whopping 80 calories, or there about!) I have added some quinoa and the Dal and curried chickpeas I still had left.  Really tasty!! I don't have a pic as it really doesn't look appetising, you will have to take my word on it!

Gungo Peas!

My latest discovery at the local Tesco! They're really tasty and cook incredibly well in the pressure cooker, the best results of all so far.  The Tesco near where I work is brilliant, there are a lot of different cultures living in the area, so they stock items that are popular all over the world and you generally wouldn't see in other Tesco's.  Ignorantly, I'm not sure what area of the world these are popular in I'm afraid, but they are very tasty so I can see why!

This mornings gym session was incredibly frustrating, I really wanted to do an abs focused yoga routine but only remembered that I needed to download that specific routine, when I got to the gym. Well, after 30mins downloading, the install failed.  It turns out that it needs WiFi to install rather than plain old 3g.  So I had to improvise, felt pretty good though, much more free through my lower back, but I still need to contact David and keep forgetting!!

I was in an horrific mood yesterday afternoon and it didn't improve when I got to the horses as Lara's leg has swollen back up following me starting to being her back into work after her month rest that I decided on, due to the leg swelling and not improving. Quite gutted, it has been stable for the last 2 weeks and she felt fantastic when I worked her on Sunday, totally sound (not limping) and really keen.  Fingers crossed its coincidental and she is OK today. I did so little with her on Sunday, so if it is a direct result of that then this does not look promising.  I won't get any chance between now and the new year to compete anyway, but I wanted to get her back fit so she was ready in Jan.

I do also think it is the lovely, lovely curse of female hormones.  Drives me mad that I can't control this aspect of my life, I wish it was as easy as identifying it and dealing with it.  I feel somewhat better today, but it is still brewing away in the background!!

Its also not helping that I feel like I am still stuck, I have a right little pot belly that I just can't shift and the inside of my thighs seem to have ground to a halt as far as sculpted improvement goes.  I don't want to get hung up on things, but these are the area that I really need to get a grip of and everything just seems to have stopped, right before December too which is a killer month.  My birthday is the first weekend and then it all goes down hill from then on! 

The quest to not cross my legs all the time is still under way and proving to be incredibly difficult!! I am determined to crack it though. 

Lunch today; the aforementioned Gungo Peas, leek, asparagus, curly kale and salmon. Pretty tasty if I do say so myself, missing my normal garlic overload though.

Brrrr

-2 degrees centigrade.. And so it begins! I even had a little bit of ice on the windscreen, today I will be stocking up on winter car kit.  I just don't have time to be waiting for my car to defrost in a morning, and whilst we do live in the middle of nowhere, I just hate leaving my car unattended whilst it defrosts.  I know it only takes a few minutes, but every second counts in a morning for me.

I feel utterly shattered today, not a good sign for a Monday by any stretch!! May have to be an early night tonight, which is a shame as one of my favourite series has started again, Ripper Street, that is on at 9! But the joys of on demand will help me out! We aren't big into series as they feel like a burden when you have to watch every week, not a commitment we like to have!

I have been getting a very strange sensation in my left foot, I have had it once before but can't remember which foot it was. I am attributing it to a trapped nerve somewhere, it feels like there is a really cold draft blowing on one isolated area, the fact that it's the underside of my foot that has shoes and socks on, makes me positive it isn't simply a draft! Must call David today!

Currently on the treadmill, feel pretty good. The pelvis isn't particularly sore, I just feel tight all around that area. I was thinking of doing an hour on here then some stretching, I think I will just do half an hour and then get onto the stretching instead.

Weight hasn't really been affected by my bad night on Saturday, just goes to show how much worse it is when you add drink into the equation! But I know that anyway!!! I weigh 141.2 today and this is what my weight fluctuates around at the moment, as you all know, I would love to break 140 before Xmas, just don't see it happening, so not going to obsess over it, just going to focus on my stretching.

All get good intentions

Totally went to pot last night, I think I may have eaten my own weight in mini bruschetta, swiftly followed by a decent helping of chilli.  As if that wasn't enough, I had a slice of pavlova, a load of spiced fruits with Greek yogurt and chocolate mousse!! Shocking!!

We went out riding this morning and it was freezing, we are just over half way into autumn and I'm struggling to stay warm, we got soaked which didn't help.  I have noticed a distinct difference in my ability to stay warm don't losing weight, it's never been on the top of my list of skills, but it is markedly changed this year.

We are of to meet Holly and Keith (Tom's sister and brother in law) in a few mins for lunch, we are going to the local pub that has just been refurbished, I have pre checked the menu and there are plenty of diet friendly options that I can go for.

I have also spent the majority of the morning since getting back, making the Tarka Dal and curried chickpeas.  The chickpeas are incredible, I'm not convinced about the Dal, I think it may be one that improves when it had been cooked for a while.  I think it might be a little to hot for me too, but I think I just need to man up!

Back onboard

I thought I would see how the pelvis felt whilst riding today. It felt great actually which is good news! It feels a little tender now but hopefully that won't last.  I am still going to book an appointment with David though, as just because it isn't hurting, it doesn't mean it is right.

I got distracted by shopping for wedding stuff for a few hours, have got lots of goodies for table and garden decorations.  My back has been feeling fine but I just clipped Mills and it is hurting a little bit now!

I have been making a concerted effort to not cross my legs this week, it's a really destructive habit and one that I do constantly when I am sat down.  It is a tough one to crack but I am determined to crack it!!

My weight is finally back down to around the 140 mark, it always takes around a full week to shift! We were pretty good last night, I made roasted quorn pieces in pesto with pureed leek and parsnip.  I thought I had overdone the thyme when I first tarred it but it worked brilliantly with the quorn.  We are on an cupboard emptying mission all of next week, we have manage to build up so much food in our allocated drawer that we can't find anything!!  I have some chickpeas soaking at the minute so that I can make a curry out of them and I am also soaking some yellow split peas to make some slow cooked Dahl..  Is going to be yummy and they are such filling meals too. I think we should do a mixed bean casserole and that can be slow cooked from a timer, maybe some cauliflower and bean soup again.  We have buckwheat, quinoa, millions of beans, lentils, squash, risotto rice... Basically plenty of cold weather food!!

Tonight is not going to be a great night, mum and dad are having friends round for a chilli night and we are joining in.  I won't have a jacket potato or rice, not hugely fussed about them so it isn't too difficult to not have those, the difficulty comes with the nachos, bread sticks, crisps, dips, peanuts.. And the list goes on.  I did however read something that sat well with me in regards to situations like this; don't think of it as saying no to the unhealthy food, think of it as saying yes to your fitness, health and goals. 

This was the beautiful sunrise we were priveledged enough to witness this morning.  I wonder how many people were snoozing away oblivious