a good start

i feel like i got off to a good start this week. i really made an effort and i'm proud of myself. it all started out well and i tried to keep up the momentum. i made a conscientious effort to cut out the CRAP and in doing so i had a couple of wine free nights, and when i did indulge it was only a glass or 2 of red with dinner (in my mind i'm thinking ''Mediterranean way of life'' whenever I have my glass of red with dinner) . meals were pretty well thought out with chicken 1 night so far, fish two nights, beef one night and all accompanied by lots of fresh leafy green salads. i've cut back on the caffeine, only had one or 2 coffees but need to reassess the tea intake (i do so love a nice cuppa, especially when someone else makes it for you).

wednesday i took a bit of a breather exercise-wise and decided to call it a mental health day. thursday, even though it was only 3°c, took a brisk 30min walk which got the blood pumping! today back downstairs with the same exercise routine i started on monday. 

next week i'm going to have a closer look at meal planning and keeping track of what i eat, and increasing the exercise by upping the repetitions and adding in some weight bearing exercises. 

dinners this week, so far, have been 

*chicken with white beans, cherry toms and red peppers

*tuna pasta salad (only a small amount of pasta for me)

*''bavarian meatballs'' with red wine gravy
*tuna patties with salad

*baked chicken with baked veggies

all meals included a nice big leafy green salad (love my leafy greens) with a splash of olive oil and a splash of balsamic. i need to increase the amount of fish and decrease the red meat. need to work on that. 

also this week i stared some vitamin infusions with my homeopathic ENT. now that winter is setting in and the kids are coming home from school with colds, i thought it would be a good idea to start boosting my immune system. plus good news...lost a kilo! 

feeling good! 

Alison 

Did it again and the motivation for it

Yep, did it again. Pulled on the trackies after a bit of morning blog reading and headed downstairs to the 'room of doom'. So here I am again, pretty happy with myself! Just have to remember to go easy, baby steps and all that.

There have been times in my life where I have embraced exercise and diet with that all or nothing kind of gusto. Only for a short time though. A few weeks later I'd be tired, sore and grumpy and would easily fall back to into the arms of my bad old habits. Mmmm, it was comfy there. Yo-yo diet and exerciser, yes that's me. 

But now that I'm older and wiser (well older anyway, i know this because my knees hurt a lot after doing about 3 lunges) I have learnt from my previous attempts and this time I'm really (really) going to try to give it a serious go. This time it's going to be a far more gentle approach and with the thought of it as a 'new way of eating' and not just a 'diet'. My focus will be more on on my health this time around, not just weight loss like it was back in the old days in my 20's & 30's. 2 kids on and a chronic inflammatory disease in my lungs has changed my view on life.  Now it's time to actually get serious about things and pull myself out of a 10 year rut!

So today, back downstairs I plodded. Did 5 mins stretching, 10 mins on xtrainer thingy, 5 mins on rower and then another 10 mins stretching including some girly pushups, hip extensions, squats and some extra stretching for the lower back (had a bit of a sore back last night). Basically I follow the exercises in this video put together by James Duigan (Elles personal trainer) from here. Then back upstairs to have a protein shake to wash down a vast array of vitamin tabs! Also included some Total Greens in my shake. 

I managed to avoid chocolate & vino yesterday, it was hard but I did it. No coffee but quite a few teas and one really naughty cuppa was when the kids came home from school and we had some afternoon tea. Naughty me had a cookie or 2. But I promise to faithfully improve on this afternoon tea addiction, in time. Well, try to anyway (my sweet tooth is a killer!). 

Dinner was pretty good, I thought, baked chicken with white beans, cherry toms and red peppers with a mixed leafy green salad. Followed dinner with a mandarin and then later a 'sleepy time' tea (peppermint, camomile and fennel) to help me sleep. 

Dinner tonight is tuna pasta salad. 

So, all in all I think I'm off to a good start. Will see how we go tomorrow.

** just wanted to mention where my motivation came from yesterday. I like to read through my favourite blogs in the mornings (because I can). And 2 really stood out yesterday. Both totally different blogs, but both written from the heart. The Clea Salavert Library, dedicated to the memory of one very special little girl. I find so much inspiration in this one little blog. 

**And on the health and fitness side of things, DaniV from Health and Fitness Mum has been a bit of an inspiration for me since stumbling upon her blog.  I really liked her body love post and it got me thinking about my own body and which bits i like (might join in the body love blog, but a bit scared to) and which bits i don't ie. the bits I need to change. So I've made a start on those bits. Thanks for a kick start to my motivation. 

Alison