I'm still here

Oh dear, it's been ages. Life has well and truly gotten in the way of late. I'll try to keep this brief.

My current situation:

1. I have 2 hands again - yay! My finger is still very iffy, but it works  - kind of. It'll probably never be normal again. Sigh.
2. I've been promoted at work. Big sigh (more stress)
3. I'm attempting to sell my flat. Small sigh (relatively stress free so far, but I suspect that's imminent)

My recent activities:

Hen weekend in Brighton

Weekend in Cornwall - St Ives

Wedding fun

Free night in a hotel!

Feeling a little bit left out with my besties :)

London Zoo with my nieces.

The weight loss has been crap, in fact I've not really been trying at all. Exercise has also been non-existent since before the hand incident, so I've a new plan of attack.

Today we started the 5:2 diet, i.e. 2 very low calorie days per week and 5 days of eating normally. It seems fairly straightforward, although finding 2 days a week where I've no plans is proving difficult. 

Given work is currently mental, I am not as fixated on food as I usually am. Today hasn't been too hideous, so I'll do a proper post tomorrow on what I've eaten and we'll see how we get on.

I'm off to try and catch up with all of you, it's been ages since I read a blog.

Glove puppet.

So, it's all been a bit hard work of late. Once the hideous plaster cast was removed from my hand, I was left with this:




So that's not at all frustrating!! I'm in this (24x7) for 6 weeks (3 down on Friday) so it's incredibly hard work as you can imagine....I'm thinking of doing a bit of moonlighting as a child's entertainer with my own built in emu puppet.

Anyway, despite this hideous splint, we've just returned from 2 of our closest friends wedding in Santorini.

How's this for a hotel view?




The only downside was the 121 steps I had to walk up every time we left the hotel. My hamstrings feel like they might snap.





Anyway, a lovely time was had by all and I'm now once again attempting to shed a few pounds. Since I can't drive for at least another 4 weeks, I'm hoping all the walking will help. Plus, one handed eating is a flipping nightmare, so every cloud!



Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Stitched up.

Ouch.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Cutting it

Oh dear, it's been a disastrous few days Chez Linzerello. I've managed to incapacitate myself somewhat with a small cut to the finger on Saturday morning which was perfectly placed to slice a couple of tendons, resulting in a permanently pointy finger.

Amazing. I'm still awaiting surgery to fix it (they've cancelled on me 3 times already) so fingers crossed (no pun intended) they see me today. It's a bloody nightmare as I won't be able to drive for 2 months once they fix me and we're supposed to be flying out to Greece next Thursday for our friends wedding. What an utter dickhead I am...

On the plus side, I've had to be nil by mouth every day since Saturday until mid afternoon (whilst I await confirmation of surgery or not) which has resulted in me losing 10 pounds since last Tuesday. There's a lot to be said for fasting it would seem!

So, exercise is scuppered (other than a couple of long walks) and eating is also somewhat impacted.

I'm off to hospital again today, so I really hope they sort it today. Although once they fix me, I can't drive for 2 months and my hand will be completely useless for a while. It almost doesn't seem worth it.

Best laid plans

Ok, my chest officially sucks. Having spent the last 3 months or so, struggling with breathing (just a minor thing) I've now been given a large dose of steroids in an attempt to knock whatever this crap is on the head once and for all. I've been fannying about with inhalers for months, to no avail, so keep your fingers crossed for me that these tablets now work. And if they don't, well at least I'll be a muscle woman by the weekend... :)

Other than that, eating is going ok. I've felt pretty crappy again the past 5 days so it's put paid to much excess. Exercise is zilch. I really need to get back into the gym, but my doctor has ordered I rest for at least the next 4 days, which I'll find impossible, but the gym will have to go on the back burner for another week. I'm going to work from home for a couple of days, which I suspect is not quite what she meant, but it's step.

Sigh.

In other news, I have the following engagements to try and negotiate whilst attempting to shed some pounds:

Tuesday night - dinner with the girls before an imminent birth (not mine, clearly).
Wednesday night - cinema with the husband
Thursday night - late shift at work (I was meant to be at a spa, but my boss is not in agreement) happiest of days
Saturday - day trip to Paris for lunch (as you do)
Tuesday - Polo! (again as you do)

My life has become ridiculous. I think I really need less social plans!

A winning weight loss formula.

 A week after my return to work and Thailand is all but a distant memory. Boo hiss to real life!

I've not really stopped since we returned, I've been taking it a bit easier at work (by that I mean working 10/11 hour days instead of 15) but I was struck down with some sort of dysentery lasting about 5 days last week, which scuppered my return to the gym. You can't really work out when you are having to run to the loo every 5 mins. On  the plus side, I dropped 6 pounds last week. Every cloud and all that.

Friday saw me fly up to Glasgow for a hen weekend which I'd organised for one of my close friends who I met while working in Prague. She is marrying Matt's best mate, just call me Cilla.

Cheesy hen do shot

We fly out to Greece in 5 weeks time for their wedding so I really need to try and sort myself out before then. They are getting married in Santorini which is very, erm, steep. I don't want to be a complete sweaty mess just getting to our hotel every day so the gym needs to make a sudden appearance. 

Glasgow was good fun, not overly diet friendly, but hey ho. I did dance for about 6 hours on Saturday night plus we did a Glee Dance class on Saturday afternoon (my friend loves performing!) so that's enough exercise for one weekend. Couple that with a dodgy stomach and you're onto a winner, I might try and market this new diet plan. 

I had planned to join my local Slimming World class on Monday, but the Bank holiday put paid to that so that's on the agenda for Monday coming.

So, the plan of action this week - eat less, try to move more. Simples. 

Sawatdee

I'm back after an amazing couple of weeks in Thailand. I totally fell in love with the country and I really don't want to be back at work at all. At least the sun is shining for my return, even if it is about 20 degrees colder than I'd gotten used to.

We spent 4 nights in Bangkok at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel which was stunning, followed by 9 nights in Phuket at the Indigo Pearl Resort. I feel totally refreshed, sick of Thai food and beer and ready to get back to some healthy living.

patpong night market

the view from our hotel in Bangkok

from lebua

Nia Yang Beach Phuket

boat trip to Phi Phi

Phi Phi Islands

I had 2 realisations whilst we were away:

1) Work has been killing me. I've not been able to switch off, I've been working at least 12 hour days and for what? I don't earn enough money to kill myself over a job and if my boss is not working these crazy hours, why should I? So it stops now. I do what I can and that's it.

2) I am fatter than I am happy with. I am ok with being fat, but I am not ok with being this fat so I want to lose a couple of stone. I also need to get back to the gym and regain my fitness.

So, the plan of action:

1) Eat healthily again, cut out the random carbs, the excess alcohol, the fatty foods and possibly join a class to keep me on the straight and narrow. I am never going to be thin and I don't want to be, but I do want to be less fat.

2) Get back to the gym, I've 2 PT sessions left then I need to go it alone. If I'm no longer working crazy hours then there is no excuse for me to miss the gym.

Sounds simple, huh?

I need to get back to blogging more regularly to keep me on the straight and narrow, so expect more of my ramblings in the near future :)