Monday, April 26, 2010

not a long weekend

Unlike half of South Africans, I am at work today (and will probably be in tomorrow as well). I have a very hectic week ahead of me with too much time planned for meals and not enough for exercise. See the company I work for is hostinga beauty pageant to find their brand ambassador. I am hoping spending the week with tiny Indian girls will inspire me to not eat so much but I also know what I am like under high stress. I am going to be working non stop from wed morning till very early sunday morning.

Today my boss is gonna give us a rundown of where we have to be and when and I will try fit in a workout where ever I can because we are going to be eating indian food and take aways the whole week.

This weekend I baked a cake:

and redid the packing of the cupboards in my kitchen. In particular the Tupperware cupboard and I threw a WHOLE lot of stuff away.

I also ate very badly because I had a moment. I knew that the cortisone was going to make me gain and be bloated. I was hungry continuously because of the stuff and was just so frustrated and stressed (the cake was for money, if I got it right it meant I was guaranteed at least 1 more cake) so I didnt care. I didnt even track. I will see it on the scale tomorrow and next week but I am not going to let that get to me. This is a long journey and some potholes are not going to deter me from my final destination.

Hope everyone has a solid week :)

Friday, April 23, 2010

Thursday with a diffrence

You may have noticed that most my thursdays are the same in the evening. We go to a friend's house where we order nando's and watch a movie. Last night was different as our other friends didnt come (they husband had to work and withe wife was tired), the other lot also didnt come (the 1 house mate is sick and the other is liftless otherwise) and so I called the friend who we go to and checked if it would bother him much if we also cancelled this week. He was happy for a chance to get to bed early at least 1 night this week so J and I had the evening to ourselves. We will get to that part shortly :)

The whole day I was so hungry, my gran says its the cortizone. I think its a combination of that and the cold weather I drank 3 cups of green tea before it was even 11 oclock. Then I tucked into an orange and ate it really slowly. By lunch time I was so hungry but luckly I had packed a fantastic lunch (see here). After lunch I was very satisfied for about an hour when the niggles for food started again. I had some water and another cup of tea and about 3 I had an apple. It was a baby apple and I had to cut off some bruised bits so not very filling :(. By 3 I start my wrapping up for the day, finishing things off and the like. So it wasnt so bad.

I rushed home from there to fetch Jack and go to gym. Wow what a session and for the first time in moths I experienced muscle failure. Now for those training hard will know that muscle failure is a good failure. It means you have really worked hard, pushed your body to its limit. My trainer was very impressed. (As an example for those who havent experienced. I was supposed to do 15 reps on level 15, 12 reps on level 20 and 10 reps on level 25. I managed the first 2 but barely did 5 on the last one and my trainer helped)

Then we I had a shower and while Iwas in the change room J bought me a little baby C-monster (smoothie) and himself a cup of coffee and we sat and chatted to a metro cop friend who goes to our gym. He told us that as of the 1st of July they are going to start implementing the points system on licenses and from the 1st of november it goes in full. That means you get 12 points every 3 years, driving 20km/h over the speed limit = -2 points, bigger offences are -5 points and if you do not have your license on you when you are stopped you will arrested. No more fines for not carrying your license, go straight to jail, do not pass go, do not collect R200.

We then went to the V&A waterfront to check mail and do some shopping for dinner. I made spicy chicken breasts with garlic cous cous but I will post the link when I blog about it. Suffice to say it was delicious. Then we went to visit my dad who ha been in JHB all week.

My ear is feeling a lot better. It changes from moment to moment between feeling normal, feeling a little blocked and feeling very blocked but my gran says thats how cortizone works (my gran has been on cortizone most of her life, as a result she has paper for skin and matchsticks for bones)

This morning my chest is a little tight, will see how I feel later and maybe use my ventoline pump, I try to breath past it and see if it releases but not for too long otherwise it gets too tight, if it doesnt realease on its own then only I use the pump.

Hope everyone has a fantastic day and even better weekend. Fro those who have a long weekend, remember there will be many more long weekends, this is not the last one and so there is no need to go overboard. If I dont get a chance to blog this weekend (As has been the case) I will post monday (as I have to be at work)

Thursday with a diffrence

You may have noticed that most my thursdays are the same in the evening. We go to a friend's house where we order nando's and watch a movie. Last night was different as our other friends didnt come (they husband had to work and withe wife was tired), the other lot also didnt come (the 1 house mate is sick and the other is liftless otherwise) and so I called the friend who we go to and checked if it would bother him much if we also cancelled this week. He was happy for a chance to get to bed early at least 1 night this week so J and I had the evening to ourselves. We will get to that part shortly :)

The whole day I was so hungry, my gran says its the cortizone. I think its a combination of that and the cold weather I drank 3 cups of green tea before it was even 11 oclock. Then I tucked into an orange and ate it really slowly. By lunch time I was so hungry but luckly I had packed a fantastic lunch (see here). After lunch I was very satisfied for about an hour when the niggles for food started again. I had some water and another cup of tea and about 3 I had an apple. It was a baby apple and I had to cut off some bruised bits so not very filling :(. By 3 I start my wrapping up for the day, finishing things off and the like. So it wasnt so bad.

I rushed home from there to fetch Jack and go to gym. Wow what a session and for the first time in moths I experienced muscle failure. Now for those training hard will know that muscle failure is a good failure. It means you have really worked hard, pushed your body to its limit. My trainer was very impressed. (As an example for those who havent experienced. I was supposed to do 15 reps on level 15, 12 reps on level 20 and 10 reps on level 25. I managed the first 2 but barely did 5 on the last one and my trainer helped)

Then we I had a shower and while Iwas in the change room J bought me a little baby C-monster (smoothie) and himself a cup of coffee and we sat and chatted to a metro cop friend who goes to our gym. He told us that as of the 1st of July they are going to start implementing the points system on licenses and from the 1st of november it goes in full. That means you get 12 points every 3 years, driving 20km/h over the speed limit = -2 points, bigger offences are -5 points and if you do not have your license on you when you are stopped you will arrested. No more fines for not carrying your license, go straight to jail, do not pass go, do not collect R200.

We then went to the V&A waterfront to check mail and do some shopping for dinner. I made spicy chicken breasts with garlic cous cous but I will post the link when I blog about it. Suffice to say it was delicious. Then we went to visit my dad who ha been in JHB all week.

My ear is feeling a lot better. It changes from moment to moment between feeling normal, feeling a little blocked and feeling very blocked but my gran says thats how cortizone works (my gran has been on cortizone most of her life, as a result she has paper for skin and matchsticks for bones)

This morning my chest is a little tight, will see how I feel later and maybe use my ventoline pump, I try to breath past it and see if it releases but not for too long otherwise it gets too tight, if it doesnt realease on its own then only I use the pump.

Hope everyone has a fantastic day and even better weekend. Fro those who have a long weekend, remember there will be many more long weekends, this is not the last one and so there is no need to go overboard. If I dont get a chance to blog this weekend (As has been the case) I will post monday (as I have to be at work)

Thursday, April 22, 2010

2 day report back

Sorry about the quietness yesterday, I felt weird not blogging but I didnt even look at my pc yesterday. Checked mail on my phone and that was it.

So lets start with Tuesday:
It wasnt such a great day. My ear was still bugging me and my boss kept looking at me like I was faing it. Eventually I called the doctor and made a booking for the next morning. Gym was ok, trained on my owna s my trainer was booked for 6 and I had weigh in at 5. Oh yes! Weigh in. I didnt lose...but...I didnt gain either and with cortizone drops I am very happy with that result. After gym we went to a meeting with a financial planner and we were home really late. I just collapes on the bed, why youy ask? Well since I have shin splints I cant go fast on the treadmill, it hurts. So I never get my HR very high on the treadmill. Tuesday I was a little bored of the elliptical and I didnt feel like steps so I got on the treadmill and pushed it up as high as my legs could handle but my HR wouldnt go above 140. This frustrated me and then I had a wave of genius. It took the speed down all the way down to 3 and pushed the gradient up to 13. then I just upped the speed as I went. Wow! My HR was up at 175 at one point.

Wednesday:
I went to the doctor and she put me on cortizone tablets. 40mg a day 5 days, I hate to see what my weight does by next tuesday. I went to fetch the medication, went to my mom's for lunch, took my medication and went for a nap. Yesterday was a month since J and I got married and by stroke of luck it was the night we went to pick our favourites from the Pro shots!!

Cant wait to get them all touched up :)

Look on my food blog to see my recent lunch time blog post.

Also I want one of these: http://www.fitbit.com/product

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Monday just might go my way...

My ear is still driving me nuts. I was moody and unhappy by the end of the night last night. I had a very good day food wise. I had bought an apple and an orange from the Spar on the way to work yesterday. The apple was sooo juicy and sour, sour foods inhibit appetite (apparently). I expected the orange to be sour too as they are just just on the market and in season. I was pleasantly suprised as it was so juicy and delicious.

Gym was good. My trainer has latched onto this interval training idea and now we do it every time. It works, I dont enjoy it, but it works. I think I just need to learn to work through my pain :) Maybe it can become a spiritual experience.

Monday, April 19, 2010

The weekend that was

Before writing this blog post I calculated my food for the weekend. I had written everything down I just hadnt written the values or calculated. I was shocked! I was sure I had a terrible weekend. I was sure I went over my points each and every day. How wrong was I. Friday I was waay under, Saturday I was "on-the-dot" and sunday I was waay under again. Will tell you about my weekend anyway.

So friday was an ok day at work, my boss wasnt in so it was quiet. After work I went straight to my mom's house to cook supper. I will post the recipe on my food blog as it was healthy and low in calories. While the meat was marinading I took J's skipping rope which is now mine and went outside to skip. I did workout 3 of week 1 of the 100pushup program and skipped. It took about 30 minutes before I had had enough. I hadnt burned many calories but the bricks I was skipping on were hell for my legs. I need to make another plan as I really enjoy skipping but need a softer place to land.

If you recall I went to aqua on Wed. Ever since then I had water in my ear. I asked my mom on friday to buy me drops to get it out. So after the meat went into the oven and the potatoes were on the boil I went to shower and decided to try a trick my ENT taught me where, when you shower, you put the water in your ear and hold it there a minute. After 30 seconds I felt dizzy and sick. I had to have my sister bring me water before I could move again. I guessed then that I had an ear infection but thought maybe the hot water and standing with my head tildted, plus the skipping may have just made my blood pressure go funny.

After supper (which was oven roasted tenderloin, crispy smoked potatoes and bamboo steamed veg) I went to lie down in the lounge so my mom could put drops in my ear. At first if felt really good, like the drops were going in places that really needed it and then suddenly the pain started and it was sooo bad. eventually the pain subsided but my ear just felt blocked.

I went to the doctor the next morning and it turns out my first assumption was right, I have an ear infection. I then put drops in my ear that had alcohol in them and that went into the raw infected area and caused my ear canal to swell and close up my ear, which is why it hurt so bad and then the swelling went down a fraction so it still felt blocked but the air inside still had space to move so the pain stopped.

I went to cavendish to go buy the drops and visit a place called "Storm in A-G cup" It is a lingerie store that measures you properly and teaches you how to wear your bras. The lady at woolworths told me I was a 42D. I am actually a 38DD and wow what a difference the correct size makes! I cringe when I see women, especially at the gym, who wear the wrong size bra and also the wrong bra, you have no idea what damage you can do. I am happy now that I am wearing the correct size and I will be taking my sports bras to them to have them altered as they are 44DD.

Then we went home for much needed rest (no sleep the night before), breakfast (at 1 oclock, cause I wasnt feeling so great when we left the house) ear drops and a new show I am now hooked on called Drop Dead Divas. That night we went over to friends and were there till 3 in the morning. We had take away chinese food and although I made the best choice from what was on offer, I know take away chinese food so only ate half of it. Even so, like I said, Saturday I ate 24 of my 24 points and that was with not having breakfast.

Sunday I was bored of sleeping by 9:30, we went over to my mom's and I made pancakes. She said she admired me because if I feel like something I will take the time to make it not just stuff my face to try and fill the gap and drown the craving. We then went back home as I forgot the drops there and I watched some more Drop Dead Diva. In the opening credits there is a scene where they eat popcorn so I had to go and make some, that was basically lunch. Sub conciously my body knew not to eat a lot for lunch cause at 6 my dad called and said that they were taking us out for supper. They took us to a place called Posticino. I could have had pasta there, the pasta is not bad but their pizza, there is no better pizza (if you are the kind of person who like real pizza not stogy, oily take away crap) so I decided tog et my favourite pizza and a big salad with it. To be honest, the mood I was in last night, the salad was the best part :)

So today I am alone at work. Everyone is out on meetings. I still cant hear very well out my right ear but I ahve my green tea, I have my giant bottle of water. I am dressed ready for gym tonight, tonight after gym we are going to my photographers office to pick pictures for the wedding album

Friday, April 16, 2010

TGIF!!

Phew Thursday, what can I say, I think I am still shaking :P

Eating wise I was right on track and saved loads of points up for supper. So instead of a millie or a roll I got some extra chicken wings :)

Training wise, well if I thought the last workout was hectic, boy oh boy. When I started the Healthy Weight program at sports science I saw a 700+kcal burn almost every workout. As I got fitter, reaching the 700 mark was harder and harder. At the moment I am happy if I see 600 in an hour. Last night I burned 731kcal! in an hour! Seems my body hates interval training (yes hates, if it like it it would use so much energy to do it :P )

I was shaking, I had to get one of those restaurant mint out my bag when I got to the locker room cause I felt like I was going to faint and I had a cold shower to knock me out of it.

Did my next workout for the 100 push up program and managed o do 12 max, yay!

Tonight I am cooking supper. If my mom can find tuna and salmon I am making sushi, if not I am making roast beef with roast potatoes and steamed veg :)

Have a great friday! If the weekend is anything like the last then I will see you monday ?( I have to try and bake a hello kitty cake)