So far so OK

So a few ups and downs weight loss wise over the last few days. Great day on Saturday, slightly ruined by the 4 pints of cider I had in the evening (whoooooops!), but felt I recovered pretty well with an hour of zumba the next morning and a healthy bean and veggie casserole for brunch. Only problem was, we had a last minute guest for our roast dinner that evening - our travel buddy RJ - and, well,  my quiet night turned into a bit of a drinkathon. We managed to plough our way through several bottle of red wine before we got on to the vodka and ginger beer *shudder, followed by that hallowed soaker-upper of booze - the pizza. Because our route had taken us from ours, to the pub and the to RJ's, we hiccuped our way home at 4am. So much for a quiet night!

I have to say, yesterday started out a bit of a write off. Woke up at 11am (!), rolled out around noon (cue Berocca and aspirin) and then realised we had very little food-wise in the house. Craving bacon sandwiches and Pot Noodles and seriously considering venturing out to get them - even though I looked like a zombie victim - I eventually stumbled across a tub of ready-to-shake pancake mix. It wasn't a Pot Noodle, but it certainly did the trick.

The rest of my day was really quite exciting. Spent an hour at Trailfinders planning our trip, I saw the light after finally venturing to Nando's *dribble, and then caught Prometheus at the amazing and highly recommended The Electric in Birmingham.

And just a note about Nando's - apparently it's a good shout for slimmers. As long as you take the skin off the chicken, it's a pretty healthy fast food. And on that note, I need to eat - I'm going for a Mullerlight yoghurt and a banana as a post workout snack. In-keeping with my exercise plan, I did Jillian Michael's 6 Week Six Pack this morning and although I was still a sweaty mess afterwards, I've noticed big improvements in my strength and core stability. Still worried about the thighs though, so opting for some cheeky side lunges and scissor jumps from time to time, just to get some extra toning in. I must look like a loon...

Feeling good!

Amazing how a pretty bad week diet-wise can be turned into a good thing when it motivates you to get a grip and get back on it.

So yesterday was cheat day and as one our friends was visiting for the weekend, we planned to spend most of it at various pubs around Leamington. I was thinking of scrapping cheat day due to the disaster that was Friday (and Thursday, and pretty much every day last week), but I'm glad I talked myself out of it. Although I'm probably going to have gained pretty much all my lost weight when I weigh in on Tuesday, I'm rapidly discovering that routine is pretty important for me to feel in control. I don't want to be inflexible, because that's what causes problems when something unexpected crops up, but I definitely feel more prepared for the unexpected when I've been successful in my routine for a few days.

So yes, cheat day was definitely on yesterday! I had a huge steak sandwich for brunch and all 5 of us shared packets of crisps and the most amazing little desserts - millionaire shortbread, a rocky road slice, a huge cookie and a raspberry flapjack. It was fun having tiny tasters of everything and also felt really indulgent.

Then my husband came up with the most ingenious suggestion - instead of just going to the nearest pub for a pint, we should make a day of it and go for a nice walk to get to some out-of-town pubs and visit some establishments we haven't been to in years. In effect, a far healthier pub crawl than usual. It meant we could get our fitbit steps up as well as having a few cheeky pints! It's times like these I remember why I married him - the boy's a genius!

So we set off along the canal to the first pub, The White Lion, where I had a bottle of Hoegarden and we shared some olives which were very, very tasty. Then we pottered on back down the road and through Newbold Comyn to get to the Newbold Comyn Arms. Here I had a pint of Magners Draft and we shared some prawn cocktail crisps and a packet of Mini Cheddars. After tramping through the park we stumbled across a BMX event and climbed up a huge hill to get to the cycle track. A true fitbit convert, I just kept thinking I'll get my floors up today! This is going to count for loads! After watching the guys and girls whizzing and jumping past for a while we headed back down the hill and to the Somerville Arms.

It was here we found a little gem of a pub. Not only do they sell draft ale and cider, but they have a cheese night. Any place that has a cheese night is fine by me! So we stayed here in our happy little bubble for the longest out of any of our stops and I had two pints of Weston's Scrumpy - a very cheeky cider at 6%. We also shared some Monster Munch (universally agreed to be the perfect snack for drinking), some Quavers and some nuts. After that we headed to our friend's house, ordered Mexican (although I had a mahoosive burger instead) and settled down to watch Anchor Man with a bottle of Old Rosie (another cheeky cider, this time at 7.5%!). This was swiftly followed by vodka and ginger beer!

When we all left a few hours later, sleepy and a little wobbly, we couldn't believe it was before midnight! Hardly rock n' roll for a Saturday night, but after eight hours of drinking, I guess we'd paid our dues.

The best thing is that I feel absolutely fine this morning - in fact, I feel fantastic. Not a hint of a hangover, incredible amounts of energy and loads and loads of motivation to get back in control and have an excellent week of diet and fitness. I did more than 21,000 steps yesterday - 11,000 more than my target - I climbed the equivalent of 16 floors and I burned almost 2,600 calories. Sure, I probably consumed more lard and sugar than I should do in a week, but that's not the point! And this morning I jumped out of bed and enjoyed every second of my zumba class - my instructor even commented on how bouncy I was for a Sunday morning!

I have the eye of the tiger and I'm determined to make this diet work. One slight adjustment I might make for next week, however, is to track my calories on a cheat day. Until now I figured it would be counter productive as the whole point is to get all the cravings out of the way guilt-free so you can get back on it for the next 6 days. But if I'm honest, I tend to go a little too overboard, to the point when I'm stuffing chocolates into my mouth simply because I can. I'm not actually enjoying everything I eat. Perhaps if I track the calories too, it'll encourage me to only choose the foods I really, really want.

Here's to an active, healthy week!

Off the wagon...

...and straight into the lard. I think I've pretty much confirmed my own suspicions that mid-week drinkies lead to morning-after pig outs and, MAN, have I pigged out!

But back to last night. I've also come to the realisation that post-work nights out are a completely different ball game now I'm a director. I joined my company as an office junior seven years ago and for the most part, nights out have been pretty much carefree, if not a little messy. Since I recruited office juniors of my own, however, something's changed. I shouldn't be surprised I suppose, but the funny thing is that although I've been constantly moving up the ladder, the change has only happened in the last month or so.  

This is the pattern that's happened the last few times:

First couple of drinks: everyone's relatively sober, chatty, inoffensive and it's a nice social affair without hierarchy. The main topic is those general work gripes that everyone joins in with. Feels like we're all in it together etc etc. Nothing's changed here, it's always been like this. So far, so good.

Three or four drinks: people start filtering off (mainly the drivers and mums) leaving the people who live in town to carry on the party. People start revealing what they really think of each other (usually about those who've left). The usual work gripes turn into individual work issues and worries about certain projects, careers or working relationships with bosses or clients. Again, this is entirely usual for a night out, but now the dynamic has changed. Instead of it being a chat, it's now a review - I've had four large glasses of Pinot and they actually want proper grown up advice rather than the usual sincere and drunken assertions that they're bloody brilliant, anyone would be lucky to have them and they should just tell any haters to screw themselves. And the ridiculous rumours start to surface, the ones you can't believe anyone fell for let alone got upset about, such as 'Jackie told everyone you said she was your favourite'. I mean COME. ON!

After quite a few drinks: Picture the scene - my junior is loudly introducing me to all her friends as her boss (that still weirds me out. One mention of being a boss in a social setting and I start to feel like a complete corporate dork) and keeps butting in to conversation to say that really likes me and to tell me which individual instances of my management she's particularly liked so far. All very nice, but all rather awkward. Another colleague is slowly getting off her face and keeps stroking my arm in order to get my attention every time someone else speaks to me. She suddenly bursts into tears and keeps saying she's terrible at her job, the MD hates her, she's ugly and disgusting, and I need to help her. All this forces me to be rationale and supportive, again not in the drunken you're-bloody-brilliant-you-are kind of a way, but in a more constructive let's-look-at-x-client-together-tomorrow and see how we can improve things together kind of a way.

The evening ended with the junior earnestly asking me if it was ok for her to go off and have sex with a guy (yes, she actually phrased it 'is it OK to for me to have sex') and the cryer getting so battered she could barely talk (small mercies), literally ricocheting from wall to wall when she attempted to walk. I had to wrestle her phone off her to get her fella to come and pick her up, but not before pretty much carrying her through the bar to the unsupportive jeers of other drinkers.

She tells me that when she reached home she stumbled out of the car and fell into a bush. She's got scratches all down her side.

And do you know what the kicker is? Not so long ago, those two examples of hideous, embarrassing drunken behaviour would have been me all over. Only a couple of years ago I fractured my ankle falling off a stage where I was dancing at an awards do. Not my best moment, admittedly, and I would be mortified if I'd behaved the way my colleagues did last night, but being the designated adult every time is simply no fun. I'm actually a little envious that they came into work this morning completely shame-free and nursing god awful hangovers.

And this brings me to my own post-drinks shame - although I felt sober by the time I got home, I still got the morning-after munchies: toast and a chocolate bar for breakfast, a chicken slice, prawn salad and chocolate cornflake square for lunch and, randomly, a sausage roll, two mini pork pies, a packet of Wotsits and a Twirl just sitting in my bag because in my wide-eyed scavenge for food I honestly thought I could eat all those other things too!

I feel sick from the crap I've eaten and guilty for not having the willpower to make more sensible choices. I need to get a grip and get back on track before this runs into a habit. In fact, can I get a do-over? Hold the wine this time... 



 

Oh-oh

So I may have walked over 10,000 steps, but I think my calorie intake have gone wayyyyy over the limit thanks to 7 large glasses of red wine *hic*

Bit drunk. Oops.