Friday, October 5, 2012

Focus!

After eating and drinking my way around America for 6 weeks, it was time to get serious.  Rather than chips and beer for lunch, it was back to the slog of salad, salad and more salad.

And oh boy, did my body love it!  I literally inhaled my first green smoothie after the trip; every pore of my body soaking up the goodness.  The gusto that was previously afforded to the inhaling of any junk food under the sun was now transferred to all things healthy.

That was now 9 weeks ago and I've done a pretty good job of keeping on track.  In fact, I have done a damn good job of keeping on track (if I may say so myself).  I discovered lots of new healthy recipes for soups, salads and stews that are easy to prepare.  The amount of joy I have gained out of discovering a new recipe has been out of control!

I also implemented a new cooking routine:  make a big meal on Saturday night that would also do for Sunday's dinner; make a big soup or stew on the weekend to take for lunches; and horror of horrors, I declared I would not be cooking during the week for we were going to have salad every night :)   I LOVE it.  In fact, it may just be the best idea I've EVER had.  No more pit in the stomach about the lack of energy at the end of a school day and the prospect of having to cook.  Afterall, it only takes a couple of minutes to throw a salad together  (Added bonus:  Less dishes!).  Are we sick of salads yet?  Not in the least!  For there are so many variations and combos, plus by the time we eat out / get take out once or twice a week, it really only ends up being 3 or so mights that we have salad. 

Anyway, after this long healthy stint, I am now at the point where I am making the foolish error of thinking I am 'free'.  You know, the ole ' but I've been doing so well, I've earned this chocolate.chips.2 litres of wine. whatever.

So it's now time to refocus and set some new goals for October.  Can you believe I will be in QLD in 11 weeks?  I KNOW!

Disclaimer: I haven't pre-determined these goals prior to now, so anything could happen below!  And then I'll be stuck with these spur-of-the-moment goals cos they'll be on my blog for the world to see!  Gasp.

1.  Focus on being plant-strong.  I really have gone off dairy; obviously haven't eaten meat for oh, about 6 years  and also haven't had much of an appetite for fish.  So, my goal is to continue eating in this vain, bar the odd latte from Jones the Grocer cos those are just too good to resist.

2.  Limit alcohol to the weekend.  After we returned from the States, I went for a month with no alcohol.  And I didn't miss it one bit.  Seriously.  So, I am enjoying 'just' drinking on the weekend now - I feel a whole lot better for it, that's for sure.

3.  Ignore all things chocolate.  Pretend they don't exist.  Ditto for anything that falls into the 'chips' category.

4.  Keep building up my strength at the gym.  I am LOVING my before school swims and am back to pre-surgery distance.  My new goals are to build up my cycling and walking.  SO good being able to be active again!

5.  Get back to blogging.  I am an avid reader of blogs, but have not been much of a writer of late.  I do enjoy it as it's a great outlet, so will try and get back into to the swing a little.

6.  Stop saying 'no' to social invitations.  I am such a wuss and hate going out at night as I am always so tired.  So I would probably run out of fingers if I were to count the number of times I have declined invitations for dinners / parties etc in the last month.  You know, I'm going to work with the phrase 'you got to be in it to win it'! 

7.  Be realistic about number 6.  I know that I don't like late nights  - they throw me off for days as I struggle to recover.  So that being said, I might need to be a bit selective about what I say yes to!

8.  Keep on keeping on :)

xo


3 comments:

  1. welcome back! To blogging and good health. Great goals. I actually struggle with your number 6 too. I get a bit too friendly with my couch and dvd player sometimes. here's to a healthy and braver month!

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  2. So good to read your blog. Inspirational. Need to follow some of your tips as holidays have now come to an end. 10 weeks till we go to Queensland where we will meet up with Nell and Marco. Meag and her tribe going too. Very exciting. Where are you headed? Keep on keeping on. xx

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  3. By the look of your goals you are copying your father.................except for #3. (PJ)

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