Camping!

Camping is not an entirely new experience for me (I was a girl guide for a couple of years after all...) but I must confess there are some aspects of camping that I've never been particularly enamoured of - the trekking to the toilet/shower etc IF there is one, the sense of being stifled in an airless tent in the middle of summer and let's not forget the complete lack of dignity involved in climbing in and out of the tent.

I recently gave camping another bash, and not in the most ideal of circumstances either. It was pouring with rain and I was staying in a borrowed tent with no fly (note my easy use of camping jargon!). I was saturated. But there was something kind of fun about it nevertheless. There's a certain camaraderie you find in camping that don't get when you stay in a motel. The bbq probably helped as did the alcohol.

I Waste Money

I am not a pauper by any means. I make a good income and yet I still seem to have to resort to using the credit card at the end of the fortnight. Why? Because I waste money. There...I said it. It's quite true. I spend a LOT of money on food - snacks at work, coke at work, bought lunches, impulse supermarket shopping etc and I don't even eat that well. Except at lunch time I do eat quite healthy lunches so maybe I won't forgo those. As for the other stuff, it's all a complete waste of money.

I have a feeling that my new eating style (see my new blog Simple Eating) is going to cut down on my spending in a big way. Less money spent on rubbish means more money to spend on good stuff like travel. And clothes. And my new tent. And other important things.

Fat Burning Zone

So things still aren't going that great with the old kilo situation...BUT...there is a light on the horizon. Even though I gained 3 kilos in the last month (and you could not be more horrified than I am at this!) I have lost 5% of my previous state of fatness. In 3 weeks time there will be another fat measuring fiesta and I want to lose another 5% so it's all about low fat food choices and lots of cardio in the fat burning zone for me now.

home cooking rules

Friday night it was a tomato and pasta stew plus vegies. Tonight I whipped up a vegie lasagne and salad.

Tomorrow it's leftovers before I whip up a lentil and rice dish on Tuesday.

Yay for home cooking and regular eating.

Fingers crossed I stick with it :)

The Protein Do..

10. start eating better - more homecooked meals, less takeaway
so, how's this going? well, it could be much much better. I mean, I eat ok... not horrific. But I am so tired, so busy, so needing to just VEG that I eat lots of takeaway. and you know when you start filling your belly with processed, sugary foods.. you crave more processed, sugary foods.

and can I tell you.. I've been feeling it. My bowels have been feeling it. Ok, more info than needed but I do realise just how great I feel when I eat properly and how GROSS i feel when I don't.

Anywhoo, another reason to really do this is because of the whole depression thing. At our last session, my therapist told me that a big thing to do with my moods is the whole sugar level thing, and it makes perfect sense. Don't eat good food, regularly (every 2 hrs), my sugar levels drop, I binge on sweet stuff/alcohol to spike me up, and spike me up indeed is what happens.

So she said - every 2 hours (literally, timing it) I need to eat some protein. Tuna / nuts / cheese / hummous.. whatever. But proper protein.

It's pay day on Saturday, and I've got my first day off for ages, so I'm going to do this. SHop up, prepare meals, prepare snacks, and start feeling better.

It's quite exciting to come upon a new lead :)

Could Do Better

I went for my monthly fitness test last week and I was mildly disgruntled to see that while my fitness has improved, it hasn't really improved that much. Which is not what my cardiac arrest-like symptoms tell me when I go to the gym. But I also accept that while I am now factoring exercise in my life, I'm still not putting in as much effort as I could be (it's so hard!!) But the good news is I now have a very clear goal to get to the "Below Average" section of the fitness chart. As opposed to my normal home on that chart which is "Poor". With a few more Step classes in the mix I reckon I can do it!

Indoor Netball

Playing team sports when the team is made up of work colleagues strikes fear in the heart of any normal person. But I swallowed my pride and said "Yes, I will join the work indoor netball team." Today I played. And while I certainly worked up a sweat and a bright red face, I really enjoyed it. In fact, I scored goals!