How do you eat yours?

This is regularly my lunchtime view at the moment and I love it. Being by water is so relaxing and there is something even more relaxing about being near a little oasis when there is city life all around, it feels like you are cheating your hectic day out of destroying you! 

Only one week left of office life before I can shake it off and really get into wedding mode! Getting really excited so can't wait to not have the hindrance of work messing things up.  

I think we are pretty much good to go as far as prep goes,  just a few little bits to finalise which is good.  I really want to compete on Sunday as it will be my last chance until we come back from holiday and I want to compete at the annual breed show in August, so need to get some practice in. 

Let the countdown begin I say!  

Panic over

Quite why I never thought to buy a dress from a normal online fashion shop before is a mystery. My replacement arrived from ASOS yesterday  and I absolutely  love it. Best of all,  and the motivation behind me starting this blog, my body is pretty much exactly how I wanted it to be and the new dress accentuates all my good bits brilliantly.

I have actually ordered a petite version as the one I ordered is so long that I would have to wear heels on the day and that is something I would prefer to avoid where possible!

I also made great progress with the lounge, I had a brain wave for finishing off the curtain and it looks great. I feel like I can finally get excited again and leave the stress behind which is perfect and I am sooooo glad I tried everything on when I did. Not long now!

3 weeks to find a dress

Well, it wouldn't be right if there wasn't a bit of drama with something that I am involved in would it!?  i went and had my second hair trial last night, my first went pretty well and she created a beautiful style, but it dawned on me as I was driving home, that it just wasn't me.  So, I had to go back last night and try a totally different style; which I now love.

I thought it would be a good idea to try everything on then so i could get an idea of how it would all look together... and boy, am I glad that I did!!  I have decided I really don't like my dress!! what a nightmare, I now have 3 weeks to find something else.  My problem is that I'm not really a dress wearer.  i love my trousers and shorts and if I do wear a dress; its normally a short one.

Last night basically involved me having a serious melt down and trying to get my head around the fact that its only a dress!! and that I will find something else.  I contacted the woman that adjusted it for me to see if she could make some changes for me; but she said it was beyond her and gave me another woman's number who may be able to help.  The problem with that is, how much will it cost and I may not like it! so I need to have a backup plan.

Happy with my body, not happy with my dress.. damn it!!

Stress belly!

This is something I have suffered with my entire life, doctors told my mum that I would probably suffer with migraines as i got older; thank heavens for small mercies, it has never stopped being belly ache.

I say belly, it is lower abdomen, so the intestines really and its a dull ache that spreads into a stabbing pain and it always comes after something that I have built up to be a stressful event.  I had a meeting that I was worried about on Friday and this is the target this time. When the stressful situations are ongoing, it tends to come out in my skin too and this is also happening to me at the minute! I have never had a spot on my back in my life and they just keep on coming and I always get them around my chin when I am stressed and they are coming at me in force.  The problem with that is, it is a vicious circle as I am now getting stressed off the back of having spots for my wedding!

As hard as I am trying, the weather is currently playing a big part in my unnecessary stress circle!  As the wedding is in the garden, a lot of the day for me revolves around how beautiful it is and i want people to be out there enjoying it and i want loads of fantastic picture's of it on the day too.  However, I don't think I have ever known the ground as wet as it is at the minute, in June!  there is water lying everywhere, the fields at the horses are like it is at the end of autumn normally and it just doesn't seem to be stopping.  Granted, this means that everything is beautifully lush, but no one will be able to get out there to appreciate it and if they do, it will be a mud bath.

So many silly things to gt my knickers in a twist about; i really do need to get grip of myself! I font feel outwardly stressed, but then maybe that's the issue.  I'm not making the most of my usual, 'exuberant' , get it all out there, good for your health approach to stress!

Haters don't really hate you..

In fact, they hate themselves because you're a reflection of what they wish to be. Great quote.

Its not that people feel the need to pass regular comment and take the piss out of me for being healthy; that bit I just pity them for.  The bit that really gets me is that they don't consider, for one second, how they would take it if I turned the tables on them.

Can you imagine, whilst someone was chowing down on their highly anticipated pie and chips for lunch, I sit there and tell them how gross it looks and express my inability to even consider eating it as I want to enjoy my food or when they unveil their latest lardy post lunch time conquest; I feel the need to pass uninvited, judgemental comments.. I would be in so much trouble.  Its strange how they interpret healthy eating as boring and disgusting, yet what actually happens is that you get extra enjoyment from it as you have the added mental boost in the fact that you are feeding your body properly and aiding its peak function. And, even better, when you do treat yourself to something naughty; its tastes exquisite.  Its totally transformed my palate.

The comments I get pointed in my direction are generally during conversations that I'm not even a part of.  I pretty much keep my eating habits and opinions to myself, unless someone else brings it up and asks me about it. At that point, I am going to give my brutally honest opinion because they have asked me for it, but I would never involuntarily say anything as that's just disrespectful and serves no purpose.  Its ridiculous that people misinterpret their inability to be a better person in many ways and translate that as bitterness towards someone who is going out of their way to be the best version of themselves possible.

Perhaps if, as a society, it was deemed as far less socially acceptable to eat unhealthy food and live a generally unhealthy lifestyle; there would be far less strain on the NHS service from avoidable illnesses.

In other news, I've managed to screw up my neck! I decided I wasn't happy with a single body weight pull up anymore, I wanted MORE! My neck wasn't quite so keen. Luckily, I already had a back appointment booked in with David, so here I am. Slightly delayed so sat waiting to go in, he really must despair of me!

Still feeling good on the different macro balance. I don't purposefully aim to do the 50:30:20 split, it just seems to be how I naturally eat and I'm happy with that.

In even more exciting news.... I can see an AB!! One, beautiful little abdominal muscle and it isn't covered in fat and has its very own definition! Its at the very top and I will get a pic asap. I officially have a one pack, wooo!! Progress

The unheard of occured

We took a day off the gym this morning!!  we are both rally struggling, we cycled in on Monday, Tuesday was wieghts and Wednesday Tom decided to proclaim that we should do abs.  Well, I have quite a few spectacular abs moves up my sleeve so we executed these, I would like to say with style, but that would be a massive lie!!

Yesterday neither of us could even sit up properly to get out of bed, so we opted to do legs; unfortunately Tom's knee was playing up so we switche to a stretching session, which I love anyway. We finished off with some handstand practice, oh how I laughed!!

I think as a girl you take for granted that you know how to carry out a handstand, even if you arent capable of doing one.  Tom had a great time trying to get into his handstand, and to make matters worse, I couldn't help him back to earth safely as i was laughing so much.  He wasnt keeping his arms straight so kind of plopped his bum onto the wall and then trid topush himself up from there.  Ambitious to say the least and also incredibly amusing to us both, even if i wasnt doing my job and keeping him safe!  We got there in the end though.

My back was pinching a little last night and Tom's knees where still bothering him, so we opted for a rest day and took Sammy to the park in the rain instead.

Switching my diet around a little bit has made me feel a whole lot better.  I have basically stopped aiming for the macros I had set myself and just concentrated on  eating what I want as long as it falls within my calorie limit and it clean food.  I am making sure I am getting plenty of wholegrain fiber and vegetables and I have cut out dairy, for now anyway.  I think i am just more suited to paying attention to what my body wants and doing it that way.  It is what I have had the most success with anyway.  An example from yesteday is I was 52% carbs, 29% fat and 19% protein and I felt great and for the first time in quite a while I am back at 140lbs so I am just going to go with that qnd stop obsessing so much.

Some super tasty spelt roman loaf. Homemade of course, I cant get enough of it and its so simple to make, if not a little messy!

Yummy tea, with a couple of exciting additions.  Venison left over from the weekend and the Kohlrabi that I bought from Unicorn the other day. This is one of my new favourites, so sweet and crisp! 

Much to my musement, I managed to shell a coconut and leave the inside entact.  So behold, a naked coconut

Spelt pasta with turkey burgers and the ever favourite peas!

In other good news, I feel like the rescue remedy is really helping me keep a good firm grip on my sanity!!  

Meet the faaamily

This weekend was all about Toms family and mine meeting up properly before the wedding. The kids from each side wanted to meet each other and my dad hasn't met everybody either. The weather was absolutely glorious which meant out bbq plans were perfect.

Tom and I were out riding super early on sat morning so that we could get everything done, and it was just fantastic. The weather was heavenly and everywhere was so peaceful. It's days like that that make all the cold and miserable days involved in owning horses worthwhile.

The meet up went incredibly well and everyone got on brilliantly. I left them all to it about 10.30 as I made the fatal mistake of drinking before 3 and that never goes well for me! I get a hangover about 8 in the evening and that's me done then. Tom came to bed about 2 this morning and boy was he rough today!! He woke up and was immediately sick and then came to help me do the horses and have a lesson so his family could get top see him ride. Needless to say, he was desperate to get to bed after lunch and spent the entire afternoon there! I was slightly more productive and spent the afternoon sleeping in the garden, which is looking spectacular now.

The girls happily munching after their morning workout

So, the diet has been pretty terrible this weekend but I'm not going to lose any sleep over it. Instead I intend to cycle it off tomorrow.

For a few reasons, the main of which I don't really wish to publicise; I am going top start concentrating on following an anti inflammatory diet. This is only beneficial in the long run and my current dirty shouldn't take to much tweaking anyway. The main thing is to increase the amount of leafy greens I consume and cut back on saturated fat, bye bye morning yogurt! I need top concentrate on getting my vegetables back into my diet properly again too! We do tend to get a little lacks in this area but now I have found unicorn I have a huge supply of local and organic food so there is no excuse really!