A rest day

I really need to try to keep a positive attitude about my job - it is not easy ! In March last year I got a 4 month contract with the local council - 12 months later I am still there - not from choice but because there are so few other jobs out there. I have applied for I don't know how many, have received a couple of 'thanks but not thanks' letters, have had one interview and came 'a close second' to their final choice candidate, and have not heard back from more than I have heard back from. While I understand this can be a time consuming task for private companies, when employment agents don't even get back to me I get REALLY annoyed. Isn't that what their job is - to find people and at least reply to people who send in their CV's for a role. My current job is so up to date I could walk out of there tomorrow and be satisfied that nobody was going to walk into a mess at all - given the state of the role when I first arrived there, that is no mean feat. I am trying so hard to stay positive that my dream role is out there but every day that I continue to have to deal with burocratic cr*p, it gets harder and harder. I am not used to working in an environment that is so stuck in the past that they will not even CONSIDER changing a process to something that is more beneficial. Honestly, I need to change the whole way I think to work here and I am worried that I am going to lose the ability to work in commerce if I stay here too long. I just KNOW that my dream role is out there and I HAVE to stay positive so that it comes my way but my patience is starting to run thin.

This is certainly not helping my healthy way of eating because all I want to do each day is attack the vending maching - to help make my day better. There is a part of me that KNOWS that eating chocolate will not make my job any different but there is also a part of me that wants the comfort of chocolate to get through the day. I am bored with what I am doing and the only way I know to get around this is to eat chocolate. The good thing is that so far I have managed to curb these wants and occasionally have one of those little mini chocolates - that is better than nothing at all.

Today I have not reached my 10,000 steps but my goal is to reach 10,000 5 days a week - I know that Monday is not a good day for us to exercise much. After work we can do a little bit of something before it is time to go to yoga. Today we picked up the bikes from getting serviced - it was like getting a new bike again !!! - and then cycled for about 40-45mins before screaming home to change and get to yoga. While 5,500 steps is not a fantastic effort, along with the ride and yoga I am happy that I have made the best effort I could with the time I had available.

Tomorrow morning I am taking A to get a skin cancer cut out of his leg. I am really annoyed about this because 4yrs ago when he first had this sore on his leg that wouldn't heal I asked him to go and get it checked out but he didn't until last week and now it is an invasive type of cancer and there is a lump which has already formed under the skin. The problem now is that because they have to cut it out and it is on the front of his shin, there isn't much excess skin to be able to pull together to stitch up so there is a good possibility that he will have to have a skin graft - all because he didn't go and get it checked out when I said - or on any other occasion between then and now when he has been to the doctor about any other problem !!! Men - sometimes you have to just wonder why they don't listen ?????

Other that that - today has been a good day. Managed to fight off the sugar cravings with a little crunchie and some sugar free chewing gum (something that I never eat but thought it would be better than the big chocolate that I really wanted !!!).

TFTD : One of the best ways to realise that age is an illusion is to have your body get older and realise that you are who you have always been.

Another Sunday gone !

We had a great day today. K had to go to work and we needed a prescription filled at the chemist so cycled into Southport to the Discount Pharmacy there. All up probably about an hours cycle there and back except we didn't come home, we dropped our bikes off at the bicycle shop to get serviced and walked home (about 3,100 steps). A has a thought that we should do the Wilson Brisbane to Gold Coast cycle in October - I am not so sure about this but he has turned into a fitness fanatic and is very keen on the idea !!!! We will have to do a lot more hill and stamina work before we can even consider this but it is something we can work towards in the meantime (maybe we could do it next year ??????) Can I make him wait that long ? Can he wait that long ?

Anyway, got home and had our morning snack - they have a really yummy Greek yoghurt - it is just the best although unfortunately, it is never enough - the little punnet they send has to be eaten with a teaspoon otherwise it is finished in about three dessert spoons !!!

Then we took the puppies - oh yes, Happy 1st Birthday Alfie - so I think he is officially a dog and not a puppy anymore - for a walk to Paradise Point. Got back from there with just over 11,000 steps completed. Had lunch and a shower and then went to look for a birthday present for a friend, came home and did the last load of washing before watching a tape of Gray's from last week.

It's amazing how our bodies change and tell us what they want - yes I know sometimes mine is screaming "Give me chocolate, give me biscuits" - but I am talking about once you start to exercise how those endorphins kick it and just make you want to exercise even more. Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that I would, on a Saturday night when A is working and K is baby-sitting, go out walking because I haven't done enough steps for the day. Normally it would be - kick back on the beanbag, with something to drink and nibble on and there I would stay until someone came home and interrupted me !!!!!! I just love that my body so wants to do all this exercise that it is no longer a chore but rather something that I want to do because I can see the benefits of doing it. My clothes are fitting me better - my wardrobe is growing by the week as I get into clothes that I haven't worn since I don't know when - it is sooooooooo cool ! (to borrow an overused word from K !)

I will finish the day with over 13,000 steps (am I allowed to carry those over to tomorrow night because that is going to be the one day of the week when I will battle to hit 10,000 steps ???) but seeing as my goal is to have 10,000 for at least 5 of the 7 days of the week, I'll be OK and won't beat myself up because I am not making 7/7 days - sometimes other things just have to be done. Monday night is yoga night and one of my favourite nights of the week because generally after yoga, I sleep soooooooooo well !!!!

Have a great week everyone - take care and go safely !

TFTD : Diseases of the soul are more dangerous and more numerous than those of the body - Cicero

Back and blogging again !

I feel that it has come time for me to start blogging again - to keep the motivation that I have going and to be able to document what I am doing right (and what I am doing not that well) so that I can track how I am going and where I can make things better.

As we all have in the past, my weight got out of control - I kept on saying "When I get to xxkg, I will do something about it" and that number just kept on going up and up and up until I got the point where even my fat clothes were getting too tight for me. We were not in a position for me to go out and buy a whole new wardrobe so something else had to happen.

Dear A saw the light and realised that we were both grossly overweight and got interested in losing weight - the first time in the 24years that we have been together. Needless to say I jumped at the chance and we embarked on Lite 'n Easy which as you may, or may not know, is not a cheap program to do. Yes, I probably could have gone back to WW but at that point in time, being so time poor, I just knew that it was not an option. So we joined - all three of us - and it is probably one of the best decisions we have made.

It is so much easier when we are all watching what we are eating and asking "How many calories is in that ?" "What ? How many did you say ?" - when it is something we probably would have eaten more than one of in a sitting before this journey !!! It has brought A's blood pressure down into a normal range and he is off for a cholestrol test next week to see how that is faring - I so hope that it is down - just another good reason for him to watch what he is eating !

Although we get the food already prepared, there are still times when it is difficult but the amount of time that it has freed up for us is mind boggling - hence the ability to do all the exercise that we have been doing. A has turned into a fitness fanatic and, while I am not as bad as him, I certainly am so much more motivated to exercise than I have been for a long time. I think the last time I was this motivated to exercise - and it was mainly walking - was when I was unemployed before I got this contract at the Council.

Anyway, I am going to try to blog regularly because it helps me to put down on paper (screen ?) how things have been during the day and then be able to read back afterwards and see - oh yes, lots happening then - not such good losses or, this is what worked previously maybe I need to try it again.

Like before, this is not going to be an earth shattering blog - just my journey to getting fit and into a healthy weight range !

Take care and go safely !

TFTD : Never give up your quest to find true love - starting with loving yourself.