Stat Update (finally)

Hello! As my stats weren't current, I weighed myself this morning and am posting right at the end of my lunch hour at work.

I've also decided just to list pounds rather than including kilos and stones because, well, it's easier, innit? Plus I've been weighing myself in pounds all my life, so it's what I'm used to.

Now that I've made it a tad easier on myself, I'm hoping to update it more frequently again (once every one or two weeks or so).

Race for Life 5k COMPLETE!!

That's right. I completed my first ever 5k yesterday. I am amazingly proud of myself. I'll post some photos tomorrow, after I have some time to go through them. For now, though, here's an unflattering shot I took after I finished [which I posted on Twitter]:

Thumbs up = VICTORY

I just walked the thing, but I walked hard and damn near stomped it the whole way. I only slowed down a few times to tweet about passing the km markers. And while I was sufficiently worn out at the end of it all, I felt FANTASTIC. I'd actually been having a terrible week last week, with depression hitting me hard as the result of an increase in my meds and PMDD rearing its ugly head... but now? I feel more determined than ever.

Tonight I got back on track with Wii Fit. We had monster salads for dinner (om nom nom veggies). After our trip to the States in July (which is going to suck up all of our extra money for now), I'd like to get a bike again (and relearn how to ride one without falling) and start riding it to work. I'd also really like to find a sport or a class to take part in.

I'm oddly excited about the World Cup. But I suppose it's hard not to get caught up in the excitement if you live in England. I even bought a USA football kit! (Ever since I've moved away, I tend to root for my home country more than I ever have... but I suppose that's natural for an expat.)
Not only that, I am THRILLED about the summer olympics and paralympics being here in 2012. And I really want to try to get tickets to see murderball, because that shit looks INSANE.

So, in short, YAY SPORTS AND ATHLETICISM AND THINGS!

That's all for now. I'll put up those pics tomorrow, and will (finally) update the sidebar later this week. I want to get back on track with weekly weigh ins.

Wii! And more!

It's been nearly a month since I last updated. I'm finding that now that I don't have my full day to dedicate to twitter and blogger, I often forget to post! There hasn't been too much news here, but here's what I have:

I finally bought a Wii, along with Wii Fit Plus and a couple of other games. I'm absolutely loving it! I've been trying to do between 20 and 45 minutes every day on Wii Fit, and I've lost about 2 pounds or so over the last week. I'll start up my official weigh ins again next week. (This past weekend we were at a house warming party and stayed the night, and this upcoming weekend we'll be in Glasgow for a wedding, volcanic ash permitting.)

What really works for me is both the variety of activities as well as the competition aspect. When working through individual activities, you can compare your score with scores you achieved in the past, as well as the scores of the other people using Wii Fit on your system (like my husband). I've also made a general rule for myself that unless it's a game that uses conventional controls, I must stand in order to play it and move the way one is intended (rather than sitting on the couch waggling the Wii-mote).

I've also started using the stairs at work whenever I head up to the canteen to get coffee or a diet soda. This is generally two to three times a day. I began doing that on Tuesday last week and have only taken the elevator up (but not down) a few times since: all on Wednesday, as my arthritic knee was acting up and I didn't want to stress it more than I had to.

All in all, I've been doing pretty well lately, considering I sit on my butt at a desk all day at work.

In terms of food, it's been about the same. There are occasional forays into junk (pizza now and then, that sort of thing), but for the most part we've been eating good food. I do still usually have a bit of chocolate most days, but it's a few squares as opposed to a whole bar.

Jo commented suggesting I try growing my own spaghetti squash a few posts back... I might look into it after this weekend. Because spaghetti squash is awesome.

Also: The Race for Life 5k is fast approaching! If you'd like to sponsor me, pleas click the button on the sidebar. It's for the great cause of Cancer Research UK.

That's about it for today. I'll either report back this weekend (if the ash from the volcano in Iceland prevents us from making it to the wedding... fingers crossed this doesn't happen), but more likely it will be on the weekend after. See you all then!

Where did the time go?

So... I haven't updated in a couple of weeks. That's partially because I've stayed at about the same weight, and partially because I'm still getting used to working full time again.

Because I'm working again, I also have much more limited time to fit exercise in. However, I now have some money to play with. I've been going back and forth between signing up for a membership at the gym down the road and getting a Wii. For now, the Wii is winning out (as I may be able to get a membership for the gym on site at my workplace after I've worked here long enough). In addition, with the Wii I'll be able to distract myself from the fact that I'm working out and let my competitive nature help drive me. There's also more that I can do besides Wii Fit and EA Active and all that. Many games (like Wii Sports, for example) have a very physical aspect to them, and I'll be able to take advantage of that by throwing myself into the movements more than necessary (and making a rule that I can only play Wii games standing up).

So that's where I'm headed. I should be able to grab a Wii around the beginning of May, and then I'll start setting aside at least 30 minutes a day for it.

Stat Update

Stats have been updated on the sidebar; I lost 1.2 pounds. I've decided to move the weekly weigh ins to Sunday from now on, as I'm not going to have time to do a blog post before I go to work in the morning. Yes, I know today is Monday, but it's a bank holiday and we didn't get home from Oxford until the afternoon.

I'm still trying to adjust to having a job again. And a schedule. Last week knocked me for six. I haven't been paying as much attention to losing weight as I had before, so there have been some slip ups with unhealthy food (though not as many or as bad as before). The only exercise I'm getting at the moment is walking (including a 20 minute walk between the bus stop and work twice a day). But at least it's something. Once I'm able to switch my hours around to between 8 and 4:30 or 8:30 and 5, I think I'll be in a better place. (Right now it's 9:30 to 6 until I'm trained up enough to work on my own, and by the end of the day I'm completely sluggish.)

So that's it for now. I'm at least going to keep up the weekly stat updates for now, and put in some extra posts once I'm back in a routine of sorts.

Stat Update and New Job

Stat update is a couple days late this week. I was a little distracted because I got a job this week and was waiting to hear back about my start date. I completely forgot about posting.

But! Good news. I've lost 1.6 pounds. Not fantastic, but I've been really stressed these past couple of weeks.

I start my new job on Monday. I think it will be a lot easier to control my food intake since I won't be home the majority of the day (with easy access to the kitchen). Not only that, I'll be kept busy so snacking won't even enter my mind. My coffee intake will likely be the same though.

I still haven't started back up with my weight training... I think at this point, I'm going to have to start all over again. I am still keeping up with walking a lot, and I'm going to have to walk part of my journey to and from work every day. I'm hoping within the next month or so I'll be able to afford a membership at the gym down the road. I really miss going to a gym.

Stat Update and Making Excuses

I've lost a little under a pound this week. Considering the only real exercise I got was walking to and from a job interview (granted, it was the same place I had my assessment last week, so I walked just under 5 miles total again), that's actually not too bad.

I've been struggling a lot lately. I've been making excuses, partially because I started taking an SSRI again just a few weeks ago. My mood was all over the map for a while. I didn't exercise as much, though I tried to keep myself moving around a lot.*

My eating habits haven't been great either. I've forgotten to eat breakfast on many days. But (save one take out meal from KFC), I've actually eaten mostly healthy things. I also haven't been eating much in between meals. There have been a few biscuits (cookies) here and there, but only once did I eat more than two. And that was three. Which seems really excessive now! I used to be a person that ate between five and ten cookies in one sitting. There's also been instances of buttered toast, but even those have been kept to a minimum. So it hasn't been a disaster, and hey! It looks like I'm actually learning things!

You know, through all this I have found myself coveting chocolate only a few times, but I haven't had that much of it. And to be honest, I don't feel like I'm missing anything.

I also haven't been drinking enough water, and I have had a bit too much coffee some days. So I'm starting today with a glass of water, which will get refilled whenever it's empty. Only when I finish my current glass will I allow myself some coffee.

In short: I've done okay considering how I used to be, but I had the potential this week to do a lot better. So I'll work on that for next week.


*I remembered hearing about Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (or NEAT, of you like fancy acronyms) on the Two Fit Chicks podcast (Episode 07 Getting STARTed in 2010), and how you could burn up to 400 calories a day just by fidgeting. So I've been working that in. I've been working on a project that involves a lot of sitting at the desk in our office, so I've been keeping my legs moving around and generally not keeping still.