Goal check

Well here I am, reporting on progress to date on the weekly plan.

Exercise - success. I went for a run this morning, despite spending a good 10 minutes trying to talk myself out of it. I took a 4km route I've done a couple of times in recent weeks, and I can really see the improvements I've made already, which is very encouraging. I'm running at almost 9km/hour (including some quite unfriendly hills), and managed to run the whole way without dying. Tonight I went to the gym and sat on a bike for 15 minutes, then joined the ''orbit'' class. This is a swiss ball based toning class, which I thought would be pretty easy. Um, no. I suspect the rest of my weekly exercise plans will be in danger come tomorrow morning when I'm unable to walk. Lots of squats and lunges (which incidentally is exactly why I have to do classes and not freestyle it myself either at the gym or at home. I'll use a leg press machine and whatever, but I will NEVER do squats and lunges unless I'm forced to do them in a class. And I know they're good for me... but they hurt!!)

Food intake - not terrible, but could be better. I can't believe I'm berating myself for under-eating, this is an all time first for me. I've eaten all really good, nutritious food, but only 1,300 calories, which is really a bit light on with 1 1/2 hours of exercise. As I've said before, my head is broken when it comes to food, and being a recovering binge-eater makes me hesitant to push more food in when I'm not really hungry. I could certainly eat more, I don't doubt that, but I don't feel that I need it especially. I am theorising that my appetite will really pick up once I'm doing a lot more regular exercise, so I think I'll roll with it for now, and make a conscious effort to increase the intake if I'm struggling for energy later in the week.

When I come to think about it, I guess my intake is low mainly because I'm not factoring in "treats" much these days, so perhaps it's not so bad after all - that crap doesn't fuel the body anyway. There are duel reasons for the lack of treats in my diet at this stage. #1, I've developed an allergy to chocolate. Sob. It gives me a gross rash all over my body. #2, it's the treat foods that have been mostly responsible for binge eating behaviour in recent times (you know the drill, bake a batch of muffins then eat them all...) At the moment I'm coping quite well without the treats in my daily intake - if I don't start on the rubbish, I can't get stuck in a binge-spiral. I'm not naïve enough to think this is sustainable for all eternity, and if I'm out with people or I particularly want something, I'll have it. But for now, I'll have to make sure that's in public, so I can't eat a whole cake instead of just a slice, or whatever it may be.

Focus at work - ahem. Next topic.

Sleep - I got a good 7 hours in last night, but if I don't stop blogging, tonight's not going to be so good. Goodnight all!