Week 7 training roundup...

Week 7
Activities: 6

Distance covered: 26.2 km

Average pace: 8:03 min/km

Calories burned: 1,536

Time spent 3:31:13

So this week I beat my calories and distance, but not my pace and that's because we've been looking after DC's family dog - giving me more chances for long walks however recording these obviously brings down the weekly pace of everything. 

 

Sunday: rest day

Monday: 5.80km training plan run - 50 min walk / jog with 5 min walking warmup

Tuesday: 5.51km - 4.8km run with 5 min walking warmup

Wednesday: 1 hour pilates and 1.91km walk home

Thursday: rest day

Friday: 5.20 km training plan run - interval run of 12 x 90 sec run, 60 sec walk, plus 2.39 km walk

Saturday: 5.37 km training plan run - 4.8km moderate run with 5 min walking walkup

 

I took one more rest day than usual this week, not being able to find any energy or confidence to run after my crisis on Saturday evening. I got back into it on Monday, running in the freezing cold with my sister - it was a good run but again we were pleased when it was over!

I usually have a training plan run on Wednesday but because of starting pilates I will now cover this on Tuesdays - I had a really terrible run on Tuesday. Just as my 5 minute walking warmup was over and I started to jog, my Runkeeper told me I had already gone 1km. Then 10 seconds later, it told me I had done 2km. So my GPRS was obviously out and it really knocked me. I didn't want to have to start the whole thing again so I continued, but later on Runkeeper added another extra km onto my run, and then told me my run was completed - it reckoned I did 4.8km in 15 minutes - I wish!!

So it was really difficult to keep running at the same time as trying to mentally work out how much I actually needed to run to complete the 4.8km. I think I did ok because when I got home and logged into Runkeeper online, I was able to alter the map - which was ALL over the place - and when it was fixed I had more or less completed the correct distance. I didn't realise you could alter the map online but I'm glad I could because it told me I was running at 3.30km/min and registered as a personal best - a time I never would have been able to beat in the future if it stayed on my record!

So it was a really bad run and I couldn't concentrate at all.

Wednesday I went to my pilates class and it was the best ever.

I had a rough day at work on Thursday so drove to weigh in instead of jogging like last week. After a bad weigh-in I was determined to get a good run in so I made the most of the Bank Holiday Friday by getting up early and getting my interval run in the bag. IT WAS TOUGH, one of those runs that make your legs feel as though they're going to give way because you're going too fast, and you get so hot it makes you feel as though you're going to vomit. So I was glad when that was over and I was able to enjoy the rest of my weekend! I'm really glad DC came and ran it with me because if he wasn't there, there was every chance I would have stopped and given up! We walked the dog afterwards, giving us a proper cool down.

Saturday my sister was away for the bank holiday so I completed the 4.8km by myself and luckily this time my GPRS stayed right and I had a good run. I was out by 8.30am and it was a GLORIOUS morning. It was the first time I had ran with a bit of sunshine! I had to take my jacket off because it was so warm. It was a hard run mainly due I think to Pilates Thursday and my horrible interval run yesterday, but I enjoyed it.

Overall I've had a good workout week - only 6 days to go until our official 5km and I can't wait! I will be running it with my sister, so it won't be my best time ever, but our focus is not completing the race in the fastest time - we are looking to be able to last the distance and say that WE DID IT.

 

Dans

Quote of the week #4

Be yourself; everyone else
is already taken.

- Oscar Wilde

My life in pictures #5

This is me & DC

 

Our first date was 27 November 2008 after his sister who I worked with set us up... I can't believe it was that long ago! She said he used to come home from nights out and drunkenly tell her that he liked me after seeing me out - something that he has always strenuously denied!

 

I was still at uni when we met and we've been through lots of great times together, one of the greatest being buying our first house together in 2009. He is the best - just don't tell him I said that!

Thursday night weigh in...

So, my overview on my 29.14 plan:

Friday After polishing off a Cadbury's creme egg and the rest of the yum weightwatchers lemon curd sponge, I realised I had gone 755 calories over my 29 points+ for the day. Yikes! Not a good start indeed. My run on Friday counteracted 204 calories, and so Friday ended with 551 remaining cals to burn off.

Saturday I stuck to 24 points+ worth of food on Saturday, before a glass of wine took me to 29. I was naughty when I got home from my night in town and ate a crunchie, adding 185 calories. My Saturday morning run burned 233 calories, and so Saturday ended with 503 cals to burn off through the week.

Sunday I was soooo good on Sunday, managing to stick to 29 points+ with no extras - hurrah! Hmm but then I ate a 800 calorie chinese takeaway. Whoops! I was suddenly in this way over my head! No run for me due to the ice, so I was 1,303 calories too high.

Monday I went 300 calories over on Monday, and burned the same amount on my evening run. I was also running out of time to claw anything back...

Tuesday I stuck to 29 points+ on Tuesday, and burned 370 calories on my run, leaving me 933 over.

Wednesday I'm estimating that I burned around 150 cals during my hour pilates class.

Which leads me to weightwatchers and the end of my week, finishing on a +783 calorie gain, equalling 19.5 weeklies. Not bad really huh? And it was quite fun (and crazy) working it out.

However...

 

... my master plan obviously didn't work. Back to counting dailies and weeklies the usual way next week.

 

MUST. TRY. HARDER.

 

Dans

The Pilates bug...

Well I think I can say I finally know what all the hype is about!

I went to my first ever Pilates class last night and I LOVED it. I was so nervous beforehand, I didn't know what to expect at all but I made the early class and when I got there my class leader Rachel was really friendly. The other ladies and gents in the group were all quite a bit older than me but they all looked friendly enough and said hello.

I was pleased when Rachel said the new mat I bought was fine, and even more pleased when she said we didn't have to take our socks off (I have a dislike for bare feet, especially my own chubby toes). She said that newcomers weren't allowed to hide at the back of the class, so I placed my mat out in a place I thought was sufficient but obviously not as Rachel straight away dragged it to the front of the class so that she could keep an eye on me!

We got started and I found it quite easy to slip into, but I found quite quickly that I wasn't very good at sitting up straight and wasn't too confident on what it meant to relax your spine. My leader was really encouraging but I found it funny that every time she looked at me, she reminded the class to remember to breathe - perhaps I looked as though I was about to burst!

Rachel also helped me during an exercise by moving my legs down to where they should be. She included me in all of the chitchat throughout and I don't even know what I was worried about to begin with because no one looks at what you're doing, they just get on with their own exercises.

I found myself struggling on the long reps for some of the core exercises, my body was shaking like a leaf! But I can honestly say that I enjoyed every move. During each exercise Rachel showed us how we could push ourselves further but I stuck to the basic moves so I could get the hang of what I was doing.

I had a nice walk home in the cold afterwards and felt really pleased with myself for taking the step to get to a class. I've woken up this morning with my stomach and thighs aching terribly so I must have been doing something right!

I think I've even encouraged DC to come with me next week

Confidence crisis

I went out with the girls on Saturday night and had the most awful night. I had on my new playsuit, I felt great before I went out, I arrived with a bottle of wine and was planning on having a good few drinks and a dance with my closest friends.

But when I arrived at R's house my hair was flat, I felt miserable and I just couldn't connect with J's new friends that she had brought along for the night. And then very suddenly I had a massive confidence crisis and just couldn't enjoy myself from that point onwards.

I was so annoyed, I don't know exactly what brought it on, for the past year or so I have always been the girl to get fed up at 1.30am and head home instead of going to a club, but I've always been up for a few drinks and a good night out.

Maybe it was the weather, as it was freezing cold and still snowing, and it definitely wasn't the climate to be bar hopping or stood outside deciding where to go next.

I had a bit of a messaging heart to heart with DC and was determined to enjoy my evening but it just didn't happen and I was in bed sober for midnight.

It was definitely not the let-your-hair-down night I was hoping for, and I probably let my friends down by being miserable an heading off early. So next time we schedule a night out I need to put the effort in (and hopefully the weather will too) and make it up to them.

Dans

Pick of the week #4

Okay so the problem is that I, like many women, love shoes. If I could, I would buy a new pair of shoes every week from my wishlist. However, my wishlist also includes a new car, a summer holiday, and a million pretty things for my home.

So for the minute, these lovelies shall have to stay on my Spring list for a little white longer...


Tan t-bar sandals
- Topshop £48

Black strappy shoes
- Topshop £70




Hippy woven detail sandal
- Topshop £24

Studded sandals
- Zara £39.99

Week 6 training roundup...

Week 6
Activities: 5

Distance covered: 20.9 km

Average pace: 7:43 min/km

Calories burned: 1,246

Time spent 2:41:56

So this week I burned 7 calories more than last week, beat my average pace, and was 0.8km short of last week's distance covered. Not bad going for a week that I felt was not going extremely well. 

 

Sunday: 4.04km - 4km moderate run (I skipped the warm up walk)

Monday: 7.43km training plan run - 50 min walk / jog with 5 min walking warmup

Tuesday: rest day

Wednesday: skipped workout and linked it to Sunday's extra run instead

Thursday: 1.35 km extra run

Friday: 3.63 km training plan run - interval run of 13 x 60 sec run, 60 sec walk

Saturday: 4.48km training plan run - 4km moderate run with 5 min walking warmup

 

I technically didn't really do 5 runs this week, as one of them was a short jog to my weightwatchers class on Thursday, which wasn't exactly a work out. I had a well needed rest day on Tuesday after feeling that I had pushed myself a bit far over the weekend, and I skipped my training plan run on Wednesday in favour for burger and chips with my oldest and dearest friend who was back home for the night from Manchester. I cheated and linked that night's training plan run to my extra run on Sunday... perhaps that was a bit sneaky.

 

I had a really good run on Monday where my 50 min jog took me on my longest distance ever of over 7km - I was really pleased with myself even though half way through I lost my motivation a little when I went the wrong way, ended up down an unfamiliar cul-de-sac and had to turn around and recalculate my bearings!

 

Friday's interval training with my sister was a little less intense to my previous one, and I really enjoyed the slower pace.

 

And Saturday's run was just a completely different kettle of fish. We woke up to a couple of inches of snow on the ground, but went through with our plan to drive to our national park and do our 4km run there.

 

 

The run was not half as pretty as the park looked! This was definitely both the best and worst run I have ever had since I started. It was a great feeling once we had finished, but with all of the open space the wind and snow just kept blowing up into our faces and our caps did nothing to help prevent it. It was freezing cold and much harder to run in the snow than on the usual clear path because so much energy is used up trying to grip to the ground. 

 

As you can see my sister was very enthusiastic!

 

I'm really hoping the weather clears up over the weekend as there's now only 13 days left until our first proper 5km! I can't believe how fast these six weeks have gone by, we've achieved so much already and it's a miracle that we're both still raring to go!

 

Dans



Quote of the week #3

 

What could be more beautiful
than the fact that love exists
in a random universe?

 

- Kathleen Tessaro



Bake off #2

Weightwatchers Lemon Curd Sponge

Last night we tried out a weightwatchers lemon curd sponge recipe, and it was delicious! It was so simple to make.

To make the base we whisked 3 eggs with 100g caster sugar before mixing in 100g flour - a pretty standard cake sponge mixture. However this was supposed to make two separate bases to put together but the mixture didn't seem to want to go that far - perhaps we didn't mix it for long enough but we ended up having to go through the recipe twice with double the ingredients to get our two bases.


Not much of a cake!

 

So this automatically doubled the points+ to 10 per piece instead of 5.

 

Each base only took 9 minutes in the oven until they were golden brown, and then it was on with the lemon curd and soft cheese mixture - I don't like that every weightwatchers cake recipe includes using soft cheese for the icing as sometimes it tastes far too cheesy, so I was a bit skeptical about how it would turn out.

 

 

Into a mixing bowl went the soft cheese, lemon zest and icing sugar (we added more icing sugar in because of our worry about having a cheese-tasting cake) before it was spread over the bottom sponge base and then covered in lemon curd - yum.

 

We added the rest of the mixture to the top of the cake and ignored the recipe's suggestion for adding lemon slices on top - we opted for mini eggs - it is nearly Easter after all and we just couldn't resist.

 

 

And voila, the easiest most yum Easter lemon curd cake in the world. DC and I polished the rest of it off last night and it tasted even better the day after. Sometimes there's nothing better than a simple sponge cake!

 

Dans

Thursday night weigh in...

Up to about 4pm today I wasn't going to weigh in tonight and had told everyone and myself that there was absolutely no chance that I was walking through that door, especially after all of the chocolate bars I've scoffed this week, and the coconut mushrooms (mmm, my fave) that I only took five seconds to wolf down today. Plus I skipped my run last night to go out for burger and chips with my oldest and dearest friend. All in all I wasn't feeling great and I didn't want to feel worse by checking in and getting a bad weight.

But then I got home early from work, and thought hmm why not, let's go. I thought about how much I nag other people for not weighing in when they have a bad week, and how hypocrital it would be for me to do the same. So I had a little jog to the weightwatchers in my village that I go to whenever I can't make my usual one, and weighed in...

How did I manage to pull that one out of the bag?! I was so surprised and pleased with myself. The good 7km run that I managed on Monday must have helped me out a bit. But I've eaten so much rubbish that I know I need to be good this week and stick to the plan, else I'll be in trouble next time I weigh in especially as I'm also skipping it next week to meet up with friends.

Soooo, I have a new plan called the 29.14 plan, which is my new fabulous plan to lose weight and be absolutely fabulous:

Eat anything I want for the next 14 days

...Yes you heard me right, for the next fortnight I can eat whatever I want to on my mission to lose weight.

Is there a catch?

Yes of course there is!

Here are the rules of my 29.14 plan. I can eat anything I want for the next 14 days, providing:

I stick to 29 points+ per day for the next 14 days

Anything over 29 points+ are to be counted in calories and burned off by running the same number of calories

So here you go, my new fabulous plan. I have no idea whether it will work or not, but I assumed it was about time that I actually stuck to the propoints plan for once in my life to see what result I can get on the scales. I've always been awful at sticking to the plan, with weeks on followed by weeks off, losing all motivation and struggling to get it back again. So I'm going to try my hardest to stick to the above for the next two weeks until my weigh in and see how it goes.

Another idea that came up today to motivate me was a bet I made with a colleague of mine at work who is the same weight as me. We both want to lose 5lbs so we have bet £5 and whoever gets down to 9st 4lb first will win the £5. And seems as I just lost 1lb, I'm in the lead!

Dans

A new workout...

I have been googling for a couple of weeks now to try and find an exercise class in my area. Because I gave up my car when I bought the house, and then moved to a village, I can't really get out to places further away than the surrounding villages, and our bus route isn't particularly helpful in getting me out and about.

I was looking for pilates in particular because I've been wanting to try it for a while now, even though I'm a bit anxious about what it might entail and whether I'll be able to adapt to a new exercise which is so different from anything I've ever tried before.

It's amazing how difficult it is to actually find an exercise class online for my area of Leicestershire - it took me a long time and lots of searching. But eventually I discovered that there's a pilates class every Wednesday night in a church in the next village, either 6:10pm-7:00pm or 7:10pm-8:00pm. If my bus from town after work is on time then I usually get home for just before 6, so hopefully I'll be able to make the early class. I'm really looking forward to it. I sent an email to the instructor to check that it was still going ahead and she seemed really friendly and told me that her class is for people of all abilties, so hopefully I'll be able to slot into the back of the class and observe and fit in.

I did a bit of searching for the benefits of pilates and www.eathealthylivefit.com state this:

The 10 key benefits of Pilates
1. Improve your Breathing
2. Achieve Proper Alignment
3. Increase Strength
4. Improve Stability (Core)
5. Improve Flexibility
6. Improve Body Control
7. Shape and Tone the Body
8. Increase Endurance
9. Mind over muscle
10. Reduce Stress

Improved breathing, strength, flexibility and toning are all things that I could definitely benefit from, not to mention there is nothing better than an exercise that promises to reduce stress - right up my street!

I am clearing my diary for next Wednesday and every week onwards to try this class out. Have you ever tried pilates and are there any tips you could give me before my first class? What have you benefited from since starting? Let me know.

Dans

My life in pictures #4

On July 2010, I graduated from De Montfort University in Leicester with a 2:1 in Journalism and English Literature.

I look so happy and young here! My graduation day was great and a bit emotional as everyone realised it was probably the last time a lot of people would see each other.

When I was younger I wanted to be a care worker. I studied health and social care throughout school and college, doing work experience in care homes looking after the elderly. I liked it, but I guess I still didn't really know what I wanted to do, and perhaps care work wasn't for me. As my Mum nicely put - "do you think you're strong enough to be care worker?" as I'm quite emotional and sensitive.

Through school and college I loved to write, but always saw it as a hobby. I kept a diary religiously every day, wrote countless poems, and wrote 11 novels (some which I cringe when looking back on but others that I hold a real love in my heart for - I'm hoping to start revising them some day soon). So I thought, what the hell, if I'm going to pay £3,000 a year then I'd may as well do it on something I am more passionate about than care work, and so enrolled on a Journalism and English Lit degree.

I LOVED IT. I just didn't know it at the time. I preferred the Journalism part of it and got quite good scores in some of my work. I realise now that I loved all the books I read, but probably more so now that I can read them again for fun, rather than dissecting them line for line and trying to find the meaning of everything - how do I know what Shakespeare was thinking when he wrote Hamlet??

So my life was set. I wanted to be a journalist. I did work experience on my local paper and loved it. And when I graduated, I took a trip to London taking advantage of DC's aunt's flat in Crouch End and did a fortnight at more! magazine, and a fortnight at Reveal. Spending my 21st birthday in London by myself making magazine employees tea from a laminated sheet detailing everyone's preferences was quite strange, but made better when DC and my family took a trip down for the day and surprised me. My Mum actually got in touch with the Editor at more! and planned it all between them - she is so jammy.

But after I came home and returned to waitressing, no matter how many CVs I revised and covering notes I wrote, I just wasn't getting anywhere. I tried and tried and tried, and had a list of contacts in a notebook as long as my arm, but it just wasn't happening. Competition was too fierce and I just couldn't get through the door. Then in the November after my graduation I got a job on Reception at my current place of work, and the rest is history.

I still love Journalism. I still love English and reading books. I kind of lost the time and will to write, and also abandoned by blog mid 2010 and haven't really got back into it, but if the option was there then I would absolutely jump at the chance.

Uni was a great time in my life but I am one of those who fall into the group of wishing I made more of it. Well, I can't say I didn't have fun - I moved out of home in my third year, pasta seemed to be quite high in the menu for evening dinner, I dumped my boyfriend of two years for the man of my dreams who subsequently broke my heart, and stayed up all through the night on black coffee (couldn't afford milk) every time an essay was due - and I lived for all of that. I had my first taste of independence, I found out who I really was, I started to realise that actually I don't give a crap what other people think of me, my hair or my dress sense, and it was at uni that I started to LIVE.

Sometimes I forget the carefree person I was back then. Even writing this blog post about London and journalism and black coffee and essay deadlines has made my heart leap a little. It's such a nostalgic feeling of happiness and of having absolutely no responsibility other than getting down to the pound party before the offers end. I am still that person - just with a lot more responsibility!

Dans

Falling off the wagon...

I always slip up mid-week with my eating habits. It used to be a case of being bad on weekends and good in the week, but lately my bad weekends seem to extend to the end of Wednesday! And I just can't get back on it in time to crawl things back for a good weigh in.

I'm still well on track with my running and I've said before that exercising so much is making me hungry. I also thought that being quiet and perhaps bored / unchallenged in my quiet weeks at work also don't help with my day time snacking, but I have been SO busy at work these last few weeks it's unreal.

I tried on a few dresses yesterday and was so pleased with the way I look in them but even that is not enough motivation to help the snacking at bay.

I have only lost 1.5lbs in the six weeks that I've started running, but my shape has definitely changed and I've got more definition everywhere especially my stomach, and my knees are looking better! But if I am not careful I will undo all of the hard work I've done over the past few weeks.

I started Friday after my weighin with the plan to do a week's Filling & Healthy on weightwatchers instead of the usual plan. My weekend started off great but then I was naughty and decided to see how many points I would have consumed if I was actually counting. So, at the end of Saturday:

Filling & Healthy plan - 34 weeklies used
Regular plan - 10 weeklies used

It is SUCH a huge difference!!! I know F&H gets you eating the right kinds of foods and I'm all for that but with the risk of going over my weekly allowance if I continued on F&H, I decided to switch back to points. I think this has also influenced me falling off of the wagon because I feel as though I let myself down not trying hard enough with a F&H week.

I also can't get a good balance on eating and burning calories / points+ with all of the exercise I'm now doing. If I'm so hungry in the day time then surely I'm not eating enough, and therefore reaching for the snacks. Not eating enough as we all know can also have an adverse affect on weight loss. Someone in my weightwatchers community group on Google+ answered my confusion about activity points by explaining that burning around 80cals equals earning 1 activity point+. So on my run last night that burnt 400cals, I should have earned 5 activity points+. But if I look in my ww material it says that 1hr of moderate activity for my weight/height only burns 2 points+. See the confusion?? I don't know whether to switch to calories to get a better idea of what I'm doing. Or to eat all of my dailies and then count my weeklies in calories not points+, and match them up with the calories I'm burning by running.

Am I thinking about this too much???

A way to help for a fresh start on Friday after weigh-in may be to blog absolutely everything I'm eating for a couple of days, so that it might be easier to see where I am going wrong and to get advice from others about certain foods that may not be right for me.

Anyway, just as I was thinking about my struggles on my lunch break today, I happened to read Tina's Tips for Getting Back on Track post today, which has completely motivated me to try and end my week on a high. Please pop over and give it a read as I'm positive it will motivate you too! Thanks Tina!

Dans

Pick of the week #3

I have to admit, I don't regularly shop in River Island. BUT I did find my most favourite 2011 summer sandals ever in there, which I wish I had bought a million pairs of. So I had a bit of a browse online last night and came across these dresses, which are always a flattering shape on me and I fell in love with their print and textures.

 

Blue floral print skater dress £30

Red contrast print smock dress £25

 

But they didn't even have them in store when I went in on lunch today, so I didn't have the option to try them on. I was going to leave it until the next stressful work day to get some fresh air and do a spot of retail therapy, but I came across these on my way out... 

 

Green tile print cut
out playsuit £28

Black tribal print
playsuit £20

Black & white geometric
playsuit £20

And I couldn't resist trying them on.

If only I was going on a summer holiday this year, these playsuits would be perfect. The geometric one is a bit short but the black tribal print has a better fit and would be perfect for a hot day at the park. As for the green cut out playsuit, I FELL IN LOVE. It looks so much nicer in the flesh - it's much brighter and more striking. It fits really well, it is quite loose around the waist but has a tie to tighten it up. It's a great length and I ended up buying it. It was supposed to be £28 but I was only charged £25 at the till - bargain! I'm going out on Saturday night so I'm really pleased that I now have something new to wear!

I didn't dare look around too much in River Island because there were so many things that caught the corner of my eye. I love a good Spring wardrobe, it's just a shame my bank doesn't agree!

Dans

Week 5 training roundup...

Week 5
Activities: 5

Distance covered: 21.7 km

Average pace: 7:51 min/km

Calories burned: 1,239

Time spent 2:50:15

I managed to beat all of my numbers from last week!

Sunday: 3.2km (extra run)

Monday: 4.50km training plan run - 4.0km moderate run with 5 min walking warmup

Tuesday: rest day

Wednesday: 5.00 km training plan run - 26 min interval run 60 sec moderate run with 60 sec walking x13

Thursday: rest day

Friday: 4.40km (extra run)

Saturday: 4.49km training plan run - 4km moderate run with 5 min walking walkup

 

What a week! I have really struggled this week. Tuesday was the first day that I consciously decided not to run - apart from never running on Thursdays, whenever I've not run before it has been because I've got something planned for the evening. But after a tough night running in awful weather on Monday, I just knew I had to give myself a day off.

 

Then came Wednesday - my sister and I were convinced all week that we had a 50 minute walk/jog and it wasnt until I was almost out of the door that I looked at my Runkeeper and saw that it was actually a 26 minute interval run! Which I wasn't exactly geared up for. DC came with me and I was pleased with my performance once it was all over, but I came to the conclusion that interval training and I were just not going to be friends any time soon.

 

After a rest day on Thursday, Friday and Saturday picked up a bit and I started to feel a bit more positive about being back out on the pavement, which I'm really pleased about because after such a tough week I was worried that I was starting to have negative thoughts about my new exercise routine. I talked through my thoughts with DC and we came to the conclusion that I'm going to have these kind of weeks. I thought that through and after every run I would feel great, but obviously that's not the case. Running is not going to solve all of my problems!

 

I've been running in some AWFUL weather towards the end of the week and I don't think that has helped. I'm so pleased that my sister and I bought ourselves a water-resistant running jacket last weekend - even though it's not completely waterproof it just keep the majority of me dry through my run. I also stole one of DC's old caps that I found in the middle of the week, which has been brilliant for keeping the rain off of my face.

 

I've also found a new route so instead of running around my village, I spend five minutes jogging to the next village and going around there instead. I think the change of scenary has really helped my motivation towards the end of the week so I'm going to try and branch out a bit more.

 

The only thing that's worrying me physically at the moment is that I developed a shin splint at the end of last year when I brought the wrong trainers to go to the gym in, and with all of the running I've been doing it seems to have come back, even though I've got some appropriate trainers now. It doesn't really hurt when I'm out on my run but throughout the day it aches and feels a bit burning. I think it's because I've started quite heavily on the running so I need to keep an eye on it and slow things down if it gets too much.

 

Onwards and upwards for another week!

 

Dans



Blog design complete!

You may have noticed that I have made-over my blog and given it a new name.

I welcome you to Beneath the Make-up !

Dans

Quote of the week #2

When it comes to life and
love, why do we always believe
our worst reviews?

- Carrie Bradshaw



The filling & healthy way...

So I stuck to my filling & healthy plan yesterday, and even though I had 17 weeklies/non F&H foods, I feel so much better! I had so much more energy snacking on fruit and didn't get my usual 3pm energy slump at my desk.

Porridge was 20g oats with skimmed milk and sultanas (1), and for lunch I had a beetroot, ham and egg salad with a dash of mayo (1).

Snacks were a banana and and packet of mango.

For dinner we cooked up a spaghetti bolognaise with quorn, onions, peppers, mushrooms, sweetcorn and pasta sauce (2). I had 2 slices of garlic bread because I just couldn't resist (4). It was yum!

For pudding I completely cheated...

...but it was amazing!! (9)

If you cheat, and do what they tell you not to do and count up the points+ for today's food then it would have used 32 points+, so only 3 weeklies, instead of the 17 weeklies I've used by doing it the filling and healthy way. But I do think it makes me stop snacking on pointed things throughout the day, and makes me feel all round healthier and more positive towards the weightwatchers plan.

I even resisted a sweet when DC bought a whole bag of Haribo and demolished them last night!

This morning I went for a 4km run with my sister before coming home to cook bacon medallions, scrambled egg and plum tomatoes on 2 slices of granary toast (4). I was so ravenous that I ate it before remembering to take a picture!

Lunch at my nanas is usually a ham or cheese cob but I have made my own egg , mushroom, sweetcorn and ham salad, which is all free on F&H. Usually my auntie bakes up a chocolate delight but as I've given up chocolate for lent, that makes it easier to say no to.

Dinner tonight is homemade turkey burgers and I'm surprised to see that turkey mince isn't F&H, so we are going to buy turkey breasts instead to pop in the blender. I will have rice (4) but no bun for my burger so tonight should be a good healthy meal too.

I feel like I'm on a roll!

Dans

Thursday night weigh in...

I can't say I did great this week and it seems as though my good loss last week was just a one off, never to return!

This week's result...

...and no before you say it I know it's not the worst gain in the world! Well in fact it is the best gain possible if you're a ww member in the UK (I'm jealous that in America they tell you exactly how much you have gained, 0.8lb or whatever!) and maybe it is only a small gain but can you imagine if I didn't burn over 1,400 calories this week exercising... I would have put on 3 or 4!

In all honesty I have only half-tracked this week and I know the main reason why I am not losing properly. DC reckons it's muscle but the fact is that EXERCISE MAKES ME HUNGRY!!! Soooo hungry! And the weird thing is that when I run at night, when I get back in and make dinner I'm not that fussed about eating it, so I've been handing over half to DC. But the morning after, jeez I could eat a horse.

I'm always confused by the way that weightwatchers calculate the activity points. If I was to do a 30 min run, they would tell me I've only earned one point+. ONE!!!! Whereas my sister has a different view on it. We all know that roughly, 1 point+ = 40 cals, and this is pretty trusty if you're stuck in a restaurant or supermarket without any form of ww calculator. So if you eat something for 200 calories and it is 5 points, when you burn 200 calories surely you're burning 5 points?

I don't know. I'm sure there's a scientific explanation that weightwatchers uses to calculate the activity points we earn when we work out. But no wonder I've only just started to exercise - earning 1 point+ for running myself silly for 30 minutes until I'm out of breath and almost throwing up is not really making me dash for my trainers!

So I need to find a happy balance with my eating and exercising. Surely I can't stick solely to 29 points+ a day and exercise as much I am doing - that feels too extreme for me and surely my calorie deficit would be too low. Perhaps if I stuck to both daily and weekly along with my exercise, I should find a happy medium.

Either way, I am still using all of my weeklies up on Friday / Saturday evenings (that feeling of 'ooooh it's a fresh week and I've got millions of weeklies to use, WHERE IS THAT CAKE') and then I only have my dailies left for in the week, which are not enough for when I am doing so much exercise.

I also need to find a good breakfast. At the moment I usually have a crumpet or a bown of cereal before I leave for work, and then have 20g of porridge with skimmed milk and sultanas around 10am at work. But then I am STILL hungry! I just can't find a good balance.

So, I am going to try a filling & healthy week from tomorrow. I've done this a couple of times before and it always makes me feel so much better. I suppose I'm not the kind of person to go absolutely mad on carbs and I still always weigh them on a F&H week, although I feel good about not having to be conscious about splitting mine and DC's potato exactly in half so that I don't use more points on a normal week than I should.

It's also a good way to avoid sugar and desserts for the week, because my weeklies usually get used up on the sauces and extras that you have to use up when having a non 100% F&H meal.

I have armed myself with this week's Your Week from tonight's meeting, which focuses on workplace weight loss, perfect for me this week. I'm also going to have a sneak peak through my sister's Complete Kitchen cookbook for meal inspirations, and remind myself about which foods I can eat for free from the F&H advice booklet. 

Wish me luck for this week, I am going to need it! But I am determined!! (And I can have a gammon steak at the pub on Sunday - perfect!)

Dans

Me & interval training... not friends

We ran separately last night but all week my sister and I were convinced that we had a 50 minute training jog / walk last night, as part of our couch to 5k. I didn't even realise until I was about out of the door until I looked at my Runkeeper and saw it was actually a 26 minute interval plan.

Well that just threw everything up in the air!

I've done two interval runs before - both 10x 60sec run / 90sec walk, one by myself where I pushed myself and struggled, and the other with my sister where it was a much slower, enjoyable pace.

DC had already agreed to come running with me so off we went on our 5 minute warm up walk, before the intervals started and OH MY GOD I struggled. I think it was a combination of DC being there, and the fact that this run was 13x 60sec run / 60sec walk, cutting down the recovery time compared to what I was used to.

At one point I really thought I was going to be sick. I was red hot and each time I started my fast 60 secs I felt as though my feet were getting carried away from under me! My knees even began to buckle a couple of times. I'm definitely not used to running fast on uneven pavements.

I'm definitely glad that DC came with me, it definitely pushed me and he was there to both encourage me and listen to me moaning! I love trying to keep up with him, he is used to running his 5ks on an average time of 4:30min/km so whenever I run with him I'm conscious that I'm holding him back and sometimes give in and tell him to just run off and do his own thing to make sure he gets a workout as well as me!

But he said he was really impressed and mega surprised with my fast running, after I had finished I looked back and saw that I was hitting 4:40min/km on those intervals and I was mega proud of myself. The 26 minutes did go really fast looking back on it but in the midst of it sometimes I really felt as though I couldn't go on.

The funny thing was that we completely overestimated the intervals and ended up running 2min39 more than we needed to! I hadn't heard Runkeeper shout "workout complete" so I was running thinking 'jeez this is a long minute!'. We also ended up in the next village once we had finished so we had to walk an extra 15 minutes to get home! But I'm glad I overestimated rather than under!

I do feel as though the run was successful but I think I've got it into my head that I don't like interval training and we are just not going to be friends. But I want to get out of this rut, I just don't know how!

My life in pictures #3

On 13 July 2012, DC and I received the keys for our very first home. Our dream home. Yay! This seems fitting for today's post as I can't quite believe it was 8 months ago today that we were stood outside our new house in a brand new village waiting for the previous owners to move out of the house that was legally ours. It was a GREAT feeling.

We didn't dare to view this house for a long time because I knew I'd fall in love with it, and it was too expensive. But we had been saving hard for 7 months by this point and had spent about a month looking at houses with no luck, so we were starting to get a bit fed up (living on £20/week made me into a biatch).

We finally went to view it, fell in love with it, and put in a cheeky offer of £15k less than the inflated asking price (they were asking A LOT compared to neighbouring houses). It took so much wrangling and negotiating until they finally accepted our offer, £11k short of the asking price.

After our offer was accepted, it only actually took 7 weeks for the house to go through. It went so fast and then all of a sudden it was ours!

We soon realised that it is only after you've moved into a house that you really see all of the work that actually needs doing. For a start, the house was FILTHY. It didn't look so much from a distance, but we had to use a tonne of bleach on the shower and the kitchen to get it all gleaming.

We didn't have an awful lot of money to spend on the house, after spending so much on the deposit and fees that mounted up by the time of completion. I think we had about £3k. We started by getting the artex ceilings in every room plastered over, and then we bought some new flooring to go down in the lounge which was much smarter looking.

 

It gave my Dad and DC some bonding time too! It was funny that they were really struggling to lay the floor down properly and had to keep pulling it back up again... THEN they read the instructions and found out how to lay it properly, and it went down in minutes. Men....

When we began to paint, we started to get a picture of how our lounge would end up looking. As soon as the paint was on, all of those midnight finishes before driving back home and getting up at 6 for work seemed worth it (we left it two weeks after the keys to move in).

For some reason, it looked as though our owners had a soft spot for lime green...

 

And this was the first to go!

We decided that our master bedroom would be the one the old owner's child had before. This is what we had to contend with...

Nightmare! It took two coats of white base paint to cover the colour, plus two coats of our Earl Grey to make it look respectable.

But we were more than happy once it was finished.

We ordered laminate flooring for the downstairs bathroom and kitchen, and the place went bust. ANOTHER NIGHTMARE. But once again, once it was down we were really happy.

When DC told me that he wanted a dining table that had benches, I was unimpressed. But there had been a few ideas that DC had proposed - changing the lounge flooring for one - that I wasn't keen on in the beginning but they were some of the best decisions we ever made. So we bought this Argos dining table and benches, which was luckily half price at the time at £150 - bargain! - and kept it in our garage until it was ready to come out.

Again, DC wins because once it was up I LOVED it.

We knew that the sofas were going to take six weeks to arrive and we made do with an old sofa until then. When they finally came they looked AMAZING. I suppose you can never tell how they're going to look in your lounge and we were keeping everything crossed that they would match our colour scheme.

Obviously all of this was hard work for DC!

Then it was time for decorations, to make it finally feel like a home.

 

The only thing the lounge is missing now are some shelves that we'd like above the TV, and some blinds in our bay window. It's taken a long time to get the lounge completed; you don't realise how expensive lamps and curtains and candles are! But now we're finally ready to move onto a new room and get our bedroom looking the way we want it.

We painted our small spare bedroom the the other day, and now it looks fab with my gorgeous dressing table that DC surprised me with for my birthday in August.

We've worked so hard for the past eight months to make our house into a home but we really couldn't have done it without all of our friends and family who have come around and painted, DIY'd, and treated us to things that we couldn't afford - we wouldn't have had the oven, washing machine or fire if it wasn't for our parents!

It's still a work in progress but I'm so proud to say that I've bought my own house and I love the feeling of coming home to it every evening, to the peace and quiet, knowing that it is YOURS and you don't have to let anyone in if you don't want to! You can just ignore the door and phone - it's brilliant!

One thing is for certain though, I'm hoping DC does not want to move house for another 40 years because I'm not going through this all again in a hurry!

Dans

Less play, more work...

...I think this may be my life for a while! I started working at my place of work (a big corporate plc) in November 2009 after getting a job on reception. I liked it (it got me out of waitressing) but after a while it wasn't challenging enough and I started to get a bit fed up. Luckily I was approached by the PA to our CEO at the time about a PA job opportunity that had come up, and I jumped at the chance.

Soon after in May 2009 I was promoted to PA and had my own little amazing office upstairs, supporting the Group Company Secretary, Business Development Director, and a MD of one of our operating businesses within the Group.

I LOVED it, but it was exhausting! My line manager, the PA, was notorious for being a little harsh and controlling (that's putting it mildly) but I was grateful for the job and continued to pull my weight.

Our company was taken over in December 2010 and seems as there was already a CEO in our takeover company, my line manager was put at risk of redundancy and therefore me as well. it was a terrifying time but at the same time it helped to be in there working at Group level as it was a lot easier to find out what was going on. My Company Secretary boss left the company as did my BDD and I fought for my role against the idea that my MD's requirements were not enough to fill a whole role.

However in the end I didn't lose my job and I became soleley PA to the MD. Let's call him M. I moved upstairs to where M and his business central functions were based, and I can promise you I have never been happier. We clicked, we had a great working relationship, he let me have full control over and access to everything - diary, appointments, emails, phones - it's safe to say I did everything for him however that way of working worked fine with me. It's easier when you have full access in a PA role. Your boss's week and evenings is packed full of appointments and outings so when he's not available, who is going to sort things?

And so I trotted along happy for two years, supporting M and his management team.

Until suddenly on Monday, M left (I can't go into why). That's it, gone. And then there was the small problem of the fact that I didn't find out until 9.30pm on Thursday evening when M rang me because he found out no one had told me and I was going to roll up to work on Friday morning none the wiser.

This I felt was a smack in the teeth and has really made me reevaluate my thoughts and feelings about my role. I am still trying to get my head around it. I thought I was a valued colleague, I was right up there with M, at the top of the business, his right hand man, and yet no one thought to tell me.

Putting this aside with a good few wines on Friday evening (I thought I'd be up for the karaoke but I wasn't quite), I came into work on Monday knowing that I'd be meeting my new boss (yes they move fast). I was on edge all weekend and nervous all morning - what is he like? Will I lose my job if he doesn't want to be based here? But the question most in the mind was, how will he want to work? Will he run his own diary? Make his own appointments? Could I shove things into his diary without telling him or would I have to ask his permission? Will I even be needed?

I know it's all so trivial but all of these little things add up to keep the business running. So anyway after some sleepless nights over the weekend, I met my new boss yesterday and he is lovely. Really great. It is going to take a lot of time and effort to get things established between us but I'm really hoping that we can get a good way of working sorted and that he won't decide he doesn't like me and therefore get rid of me (have seen this happen).

I know I have the experience and strength in me to do a good job, and I have more than proved myself over the past couple of years. But I really love my job and I really want it to work.

Only time will tell!

Dans

When it gets tough...

...I had a really tough run tonight and I'm not quite sure how I feel about it. Now on week 5 of our training plan, tonight we moved onto a 4km run - previously we had gone to 3.2, and I'm glad that I ran it with my sister and we went at a nice slow pace - it took 38 mins to do the 4km.

I woke up this morning to see that it had snowed, and along with having a tough day at work the last thing I wanted to do was take the bus to my sister's and run!

It was SO cold outside and just started to snow as we set out so the snow was hittin our faces hard as soon as we started. But we persevered and my sister ran the whole way without stopping - the first time she has done so for so far - and I'm really proud of her. We got more motivated as the Runkeeper updated us km by km, and finally after 4km it was over but it was hard, and we were thankful for the flat surface - no hills!

I think I may have overdone it a bit yesterday as I was aching all day today but not really sure why, as I didn't run faster or further than usual. Now that I've got into home from today I'm aching even more all over so I'm going to jump into a hot shower and straight into my dressing gown!

Another annoying thing is that as I knew I was home alone tonight I bought a 9 points+ Fuller for Longer M&S meal that I was REALLY looking forward to, and when I was on the bus home I realised I had left my food in the fridge at work! How annoying!

After a bad weekend and bad day today I think I'm a bit down in the dumps, I'm glad I managed the run tonight but I think tomorrow definitely calls for a rest day, especially if the weather sticks!

I know I'm bound to have good and bad runs but after tonight I need to make sure that I stay motivated for my next one. I've proved to myself that I can physically do it, but I need to keep up a positive mentally.

How do you cope with your bad runs? Do you shrug it off and start again the next day or do you give yourself a day off to recuperate and reassess what went wrong?

Dans

Pick of the week #2

How annoying is it when you fall in love with a dress / skirt / pair of shoes, and then when you try it on you realise that you wish you had left it on the hanger?!

This is exactly what happened to me when I fell for this Topshop dress last week.

Texture stripe shift dress, £38, Topshop

I spotted it on my lunch break but didn't have time to try it on, and I also wanted to know that I really wanted it before I parted with my cash. This was confirmed when I found myself still thinking about it the next day, so off I trotted back to Topshop keeping my fingers crossed that they had it in my size - and they did!

I was so excited to try it on... and as soon as I managed to pull the zip up, the dream was shattered!! Obviously I wasn't expecting to look quite so fabulous in it as this model, but with all the running I have been doing and with the feeling that my body is changing shape I thought I may at least be able to pull it off.

Okay so perhaps it doesn't look as bad as I am making it out... but it just didn't fit right, with the seam on the waist giving the effect of a rounder stomach from the front view - if the seam was pulled straighter then it would have been much more flattering in my opinion.

 

My search for the perfect dress to spend this month's clothes budget on continues!

 

Dans

Girl in need of a dress

I have a friend's wedding coming up in May, and another one is September that DC is best man for. I have only been to one wedding before and that was kind of a last minute thing that I just threw on a dress from the back of my wardrobe for.

This time, I thought I'd better plan in advance. I thought seems as we're heading into Spring (although it's snowing outside today) that the shops will start to stock more dresses that will give me lots of lovely options. But I'm wrong, because at the moment I can't seem to find anything!

I don't even know what look I want to go for; so at the moment I'm just looking for some inspiration. I fell in love with this Warehouse dress that I found on ASOS - it was actually in Warehouse not too long ago before it dropped into the sale and disappeared all together. Now it's out of stock on ASOS too so I don't think I have a chance of getting my hands on it. Isn't it pretty?

I also spotted this dress yesterday while having a quick look around Marks and Spencers. This is from their Limited range and it looked great on the hanger / mannequin but not so good on me (I seem to be having that problem a lot lately!)

 

So I need to continue my search and hopefully something will catch my eye soon. The danger with searching for a particular item for a particular date is that I always seem to find so many other things along the way and end up spending far too much than I originally intended to! I also want to try and buy something that I can wear for parties or a night out into town - I'm tired of buying one off things that I never get out of my wardrobe again because they are too fancy.

 

Whilst I was in Marks and Spencers, there were so many things in their Limited and Indigo range that caught my eye - I'm sure the other shoppers thought I was going mad with all of my 'oooh'ing and 'ahhh'ing.

 

So I think I did pretty well yesterday to walk out of Marks and Spencers empty handed but I do feel tempted to go back and make a purchase or two! I think M&S are really improving on their clothing ranges, targeting all different ages of women and men and moving a bit further away from the 'old lady' stigma which most of my generation I suppose attaches them to. The only thing I would say is that some of the pieces are quite expensive, but then I guess I probably wouldn't think twice about spending that much money in Topshop or Zara, so perhaps it's about time I gave M&S a chance! And isn't it always slightly satisfying when someone is impressed with your top / shoes / bag and asks you where it's from, for you to answer with "Oh I found it in Tesco / Sainsburys / Clarks" ... or is that just me!

Dans