Life is a Journey not a Destination

Firstly just wanted to say a BIG THANKYOU to those of you who commented on my last post – I really do have THE best blog readers. So far it’s unanimous that you like the daily posts so that’s what I’ll go with.

Secondly, todays post is a bit of a downer. I rave on about my ongoing battle with healthy eating.

Thirdly after some thinking (while doing the ironing) I have a new strategy in place.

- I will start counting points but only as a guide as to how much I’m eating

- I will do some kind of exercise EVERDAY – after all, I do LOVE it

- I will be kind to me,  not beat myself up and just take things one day at a time.

It’s been awhile since I did a vlog about getting healthy but I seemed to have turned a major corner so thought it time for an update. Plus Valerie Waters of Red Carpet Ready just released her new Action Hero Babe training system and I can’t wait to get started with it.

Now that I’m back from holidays and settling into routine I’ve started to get back into healthy eating. I need to drop a few kg to fit back into last Summers clothes . As part of my recommitment to healthy eating I’ve been trying to make some new things. Just this week I have made a green smoothie and breakfast cookie (thanks Alison – loved it). Actually Alison has been a big inspiration for me – I also made the banana whip I saw on her blog and she reminded me of yogadownload.com. I made some low fat/sugar choc muffin – but no-one really liked them. I also made a pumpkin & red lentil lasagne – which was yummy, and I’ve been experimenting with food a lot more. The only downside of healthy eating – a VERY FULL fridge.

I’m really quite rapt with my green smoothie so I thought I’d put a quick video together for you guys. I really am amazed at how nice they are – even Kevin like it.

My recipe is :

1/2 cup organic low-fat milk

Large handful spinach

1/2 Tbs ground flaxseeds

1 Tbs unflavoured protein powder

Approx. 1/2 mango

** If you make it, or another version, please let me know what you think. So good – gives you a serve of fruit, veg, diary and protein!!

A lot of people add banana, I’m thinking of trying tinned peaches & pineapple.

Video recap of the week plus a look at some of my groceries. I decided I wanted to share some meal photos at the end of the video – but after I’d already uploaded to youtube. So this week I’ll just put the photos after the video.

My version of a veggie burger – no bun and it was delicious.

Lunch – leftover sweet bean burito mix (served for dinner the previous night in a tortilla) with salad

I was so proud when I made this veggie stirfry WITHOUT a recipe. Served with veggie kebabs and over brown rice – Yum!!

Lunch out on Sunday – veggie frittata – shared with DH.

Above photo from flikr (and it is one pose I can actually do )

I’ve decided to accept Tina’s, of carrotsncake, 31 day yoga challenge. I may not be able to do it EVERY day – on the 21st we are driving to Queensland (leaving home around 4am) but I’m going to do it every day that is possible. It might just be a short 20min gentle hatha after doing my red carpet ready workout or a longer one.  Today I did the 30min intro class before walking the dogs. It obviously woke me up because we had such a fast walk today (the dogs, and me, were exhausted when we got back). Who know maybe by the end of the month I’ll be able to try some intermediate classes. If you haven’t already tried any of the yogadownload classes you can use a code on Tina’s blog to get 50% off, plus there are a number of free classes you can try. I’m really loving them. Make sure you let me know if you give it a go or decided to join in the challenge.

Finally, I managed a day of eating only healthy foods.

The day started off with a great workout at the gym. I was there at 6am and did 20min interval training on the bike, then 5 mins on the rower. Came home, got the dogs and took them on a short walk.

I did face a bit of a challenge around lunchtime. I was hungry and out with Granny doing her grocery shopping. When we stopped in the biscuit isle it was all I could do to keep my hands off those yummy looking packets. But I did. And came home and had a lovely salad made with lettuce fresh picked from my garden.

As you can see from my food diary I did a bit of snacking today but I made sure I made good choices. I’m rather proud of myself as it’s been a real battle to get one day of fairly clean eating under my belt. And just look at all those cups of tea and not a cookie or piece of chocolate in sight .

These books that is. For some unknown reason I have had no desire to go the gym and, in fact, haven’t been in nearly 2 weeks. I had planned to go today but didn’t want to, then kind of ran out of time, so missed again. Not quite sure what’s going on with me. I was really loving my new program.

I think I need to rework my housework routine and clean two days and do gym two days. I find if I clean first, like today, I don’t feel like going to the gym, and if I workout first I’m pretty exhausted for the next hour and don’t want to clean. I tend to only clean in the morning so if it’s not done by lunchtime it doesn’t get done.

Plan to start reading these books tomorrow and hope they give me back some desire to get to the gym. I know I’ll love it once I’m there – I always do – just can’t seem to get myself there. Today I was feeling guilty about not doing any exercise until I realized I walked the kids to and from school – which means I got an hours walk in . We’ve been walking home EVERY day so I’m getting a minimum of a half hour walk plus cleaning and stuff around the house. But I need to keep up the upper body workouts before I start to lose STRENGTH.

Well, I have always been a tea drinker. In the summer I might have one cup when I first wake up, in a Winter I might have 2-3 cups over the day. However, in the last month I have started having up to four cups a day. Even worse, I have started buying it when I’m out (something I have NEVER done). So I think it’s safe to say I’ve become a tea addict.

The tea addiction in itself doesn’t worry me, but since it’s usually accompanied by a biscuit (cookie) or some chocolate, and I’m having it around 4 times a day, it’s not so good. So my challenge for the coming week is to enjoy my tea without any treats. If I want the biscuit or chocolate, it’s got to wait until AFTER my tea. During the day this shouldn’t be too hard but I do enjoy my early morning (4-5am) tea and biscuit(s).