Well, it's 9am Sunday morning, and I'm panicking a bit now. I actually had quite a productive day yesterday in terms of study, but the stress levels do rise a bit when I see just how much I'm not confident on!
I figured I was doing fine with the old stress levels until I went to head off for a swim last night, glanced at the board to check the times, and realised I'd got it completely wrong and the pool was closed for public swimming ... and promptly burst into tears. Ah. Not really a balanced reaction! Hubby told me gently that I was being 'a bit crap', and I dragged him round the local Heath for 20 mins in penance.
So - today I shall run on my very own treadmill which doesn't need 'opening hours' (unless hubby's watching something about airguns on TV - not exactly the motivator I need to run to), and have a long run. Depending on how I'm getting on later, I may swim tonight too.
I checked up on the exam times last night as I wasn't sure exactly when they were - it seems I have a little more time:
I chucked my jeans into the wash just now and was about to pull out the other pair of cheapy interim jeans I got, when I thought "I wonder ...". I got out the Gap US12 jeans that have been lurking, eyeing me and generally beckoning since about four years ago since I last fit into them - they were my favourite jeans and I've been longing to have the strength and willpower to get myself back into them. As you may have guessed from the post title, THEY FIT ME!! And not just tight, can't sit down fit, they actually do fit me again! Hurrah!!!
Sadly I think they may not be as fashionable now as they were, but sod it, I really don't care. Thinks - must get a new photo up here soon.
So - no biccie attacks for me today - I've got about 2.5hrs to study before the swimming pool opens, when I'll go and do 60 lengths to knacker myself out, before coming back to more study! Oh joy ...
Man, I'll be glad when these exams are over and I can do some serious catching up on such cerebral activities as the goings on at Wisteria Lane (that's Desperate Housewives for those who aren't hooked on trashy TV)!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Countdown to exams: 5 days (Eeep!) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Well, the stress finally got to me ... the contents of the biscuit cupboard leered at me just a bit too loudly, and I couldn't prevent them from leaping into my cakehole!
4 ginger nuts
8 mini jaffa cakes
2 Duchy lemon biscuits
2 M&S chocolate teacakes
2 Nature Valley granola bars (2 packs)
Oh dear ....
Well - I guess I've been good for quite a while, and it was about time I slipped up! Just as well we didn't have any chocolate in the house though, or it would have fallen into my mouth, I'm sure . Chops and chips for tea, and frankly I'm not going to bother counting the Points in the chips!
Also, according to Fitbug I haven't been eating enough to make up for all the exercise I'm doing anyway, so I'm not going to stress out about it too much. I've got plenty of other things to stress about anyway!
I'm supposed to be running tonight, but I can't be arsed to do that either - I shall be swimming in the morning and starting afresh. Studying like billy-oh too!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Countdown to exams: 6 days ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It's beginning to get a bit real now - I've got 4 full days of cramming before going back to work for a couple of days, then the exams ... and I've managed to fritter away most of this week on managing to do lots of things except study! D'oh ... I'm really not very good at this.
I went for a swim again today - managed 60 lengths in 50 mins, which was pretty good. I can't see anything when I go swimming and end up squinting at things cos I can't wear glasses or contacts ... so my bright idea was to Google 'prescription goggles' the other day, thinking they'd be extortionately expensive. But no - £31 for a pair! I ordered some and forgot about it, thinking they'd probably take ages, but they arrived just after I returned from my swim today. Hurrah - they're fab!
I swim breaststroke, with my face in the water most of the time, so it'll be nice to be able to see the tiles and other people's legs!
Well, I must go and do some more study ... a bit more tonight, then I've really got to settle down to it tomorrow if I'm going to make sure everything's covered by next week.
Still no word from my boss by the way, he was supposed to let me know when he wanted to see me in London this week to talk about his 'proposition' - and he's off on holiday for two weeks after the weekend. Not panicking about it, as I'm too busy panicking about my exams!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Countdown to exams: 7 days ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I came across the following on the Peertrainer website, and thought I'd share it all with you ... makes a lot of sense to me, and it's the main reason why I'm overweight!! Although another couple of lbs and I'll be within healthy range!! YAY!!!
Your stomach is about the size of your fist. Most plates of dinner served at a restaurant are twice, sometimes three times the size of this. Make it a buffet and you could be eating a portion that is 6 times the size of your stomach. An appetizer is usually a sensible portion size for your stomach. Use the palm of your hand to get a good sense of how much protein you should eat at any given meal. Make the rest of the plate full of vegetables.
When it comes to dessert, the three bite rule is unparalleled for satisfaction and portion control. If you want dessert, have three bites. There is no dessert that is forbidden, and you'll find that after the three bites, you're mindlessly eating. Once you try this a few times, you'll see how easy it is to maintain.
Sounds easy, doesn't it? The hardest thing for me is stopping while there's still food on my plate ... I guess part of the trick is just not to put it there in the first place! Also, I know one of my mum's friends always has two starters rather than one starter and a main course if they go out, but she never eats anything sweet. Ma reckons she's talked herself into not liking sugary things ... I also know that drink makes all resolve go out of the window, and I've polished off everything in front of me before I blink - so no more booze!!
Well, I kicked myself a bit harder today, and got up at 6am to go swimming before breakfast. A 20 min walk, 40 mins swimming, then walk home again. I had forgotten how heavy I feel after getting out of the pool!
I was really pleased with my efforts - 40 lengths in 40 mins, not a bad yardstick for going forward ... and I know my arms are going to ache like mad tomorrow!
A bit of breakfast now (ravenous beastie!) and then I'll settle down to study - it's only 8.30am now, so I'll probably end up picking up my books earlier than I would have if I hadn't been swimming at all!
Weigh in this morning - another 1.5lb off, and body fat now at 31.5%, which considering I started at around 50% is pretty darn cheering!
By the way - thanks for all the encouraging comments folks ... it really does help to keep the motivation going! Have a great day.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Countdown to exams: 9 days ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yes, to add to it all I decided to go swimming today for the first time in years ... partly because it's the first time in years I've been able to get into my costume!
I checked out the local pool this morning, and as it's £5 for a single swim or £21 per month, I figured it would be really good to mix up the running and cycling with swimming a couple of times a week to tone up my top half. Even if I only manage 15 mins or so to begin with it doesn't matter cos I'm not paying a fiver for it!
So - I got my gear together this afternoon and walked to the pool all ready and raring to go. I signed up, got in the pool ... swam about 10 lengths and an alarm went off. One of the lifeguards had collapsed and fallen into the pool! Poor thing - no idea what happened, and I couldn't see much cos I didn't have my glasses no, but because there was only another 20mins or so of swimming time, they decided to close the pool. Great start.
Oh well, I felt the lengths I had done in my forearms, and it reminded my why I wanted to get into it in the first place! As I'm off this week, I thought I'd get up at 6am as usual, and go for a swim early so I can wake myself up and get into my studies ... and try not to procrastinate like I did today! lol
Nearly 10am, and here I am on EP ... didn't do any study yesterday as I was exhausted and a bit hungover. I figured I'd allow myself a day to chill out a bit. Nice though it was, I now need a kick to get back into frantic study mode!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Countdown to exams: 10 days ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Big old blow out last night ... hubby decided that a BBQ was in order, so I suggested inviting ma and pa round to make it a bit more worthwhile (setting fire to a couple of bags of coal always seems a bit daft for a couple of sausages!). So, hubby decided to spoil everyone as he'd got a bit of cash from helping someone out, and was in a really good mood (the sun definitely goes to his head!).
The final tally:
3 glasses of cava
3 glasses of red wine
Peppers with Tzatziki dip
Salad with olive oil and pine nuts
3 tiger prawns
Strip of belly pork
3 pork sausages
3 slices of Viennetta ice cream
2 scoops of Carte D'Or Mascarpone ice cream
1 scoop of mango sorbet ... in other words, enough for 3 people!
It ended up being a total of 52.5 Points (I'm supposed to have 19!!). Erk!
Oh well, I guess a blow-out every now and then is no bad thing as it'll give my metabolism a bit of a shake up. I was suffering for it this morning though when I woke up at 5am as usual, and feeling rough ... I haven't really had a drink since December and it shows! Although actually I feel better than I deserve to now.
I nipped into town to the bike shop earlier for another look at bikes, as I wasn't totally convinced by the one I'd settled on previously. I have now fallen completely in love with a road bike in the same range, and I'm popping back in this afternoon to fill out all the forms, choose accessories, etc. How exciting is that!!
