Woe is me (Part II)

Ok, enough already. I have another blooming cold and I am, quite frankly, sick of it now. Since I came back from Italy in the middle of September, I have been nothing but ill. It's becoming very boring.

I started back at the gym, all guns blazing, last week. I did a PT session on Thursday, which despite being really hard, felt good. I made a renewed vow on Saturday morning to track everything I ate, no more letting things slip by - which given I was just heading off to a Spa for the night with a couple of girlfriends, seemed fairy bad timing. I photographed everything I ate on Saturday and Sunday to try and remain in control. See the proof below:

Salmon, pear and fig salad

Spinach Gnocchi with parmesan

Rosemary and Garlic Chicken breast with fries (I ate about 2), beans and salsa

Fruit Salad with ice cream (I hate ice cream so that was left)

Help yourself breakfast buffet - restrained for me 

(1 sausage, 1 egg, 1 hash brown, streaky bacon and mushrooms)

Stuffed Lamb breast with Sweet potato mash, home made Yorkshire and cabbage

I swam at the spa - only 20 lengths, but it was something, then I came back yesterday for another PT session. I was feeling pretty good, a little bit smug that I seemed to be back in some sort of control and expecting a decent loss on the scales. I'd tracked all weekend, I was under my calorie goal. I was invincible.

Clearly, pride very much comes before a fall, because last night, my throat started feeling a bit scratchy, I ignored it because I couldn't possibly have another cold in the space of 4 weeks, right? Today the scratchy throat is a full on cough and runny nose and I am now wallowing in a massive vat of self pity.

I'm aware I've not really been looking after myself for the last few weeks. Work has been very stressful which has meant I've had a few sleepless nights and my diet, up until the end of last week, has been somewhat suspect. My immune system is clearly proving a point.

I'm off to dose up on Vitamin C and feel sorry for myself a little bit more. Here's hoping this is a temporary blip and normal service will resume tomorrow. If anyone wants to take these germs off my hands, they are all yours?

Woe is me

On the back of the dreaded man flu, I've now developed a chest infection which has put paid to any form of exercise for the last 6 days. I've managed 1 session of PT, which left me barely able to walk, but since then, a combination of antibiotics, a chest like someone who smokes 60 day and an adverse reaction to aforementioned antibiotics has left me somewhat incapacitated.

I've had to cancel 3 PT sessions, which is somewhat frustrating but I guess there is no point until I am no longer sounding like Darth Vadar.

In other news, despite feeling pathetically sorry for myself at the weekend, we managed to have a fairly lovely one. Friday night we went for dinner at the Hotel du Vin in Henley on a Living Social Deal and on Saturday we ended up having a few too many quick ones in our Local. I suspect this may have had something to do with the adverse reaction to the antibiotics! Yesterday was spent looking through our wedding photos and putting together a couple of photo books  and a collage which was very pleasant.

So, operation weight loss is temporarily stalled. I'm nowhere near ready to face the cold showers of a morning but I am eating vegetables like there is about to be some sort of massive worldwide shortage.

I think that's me for now. Boring :)

The curse of man flu

Since we got back from Italy (did I mention my wedding already??) life has been pretty hectic. We spent last weekend in the Midlands, visiting friends, watching West Brom beat Reading at the Hawthorns (Matt's birth town versus our current home town) seeing the Mother in Law and Brother in Law and just generally over doing it.

As a result of not stopping for weeks, we've both been struck down with a pretty hideous cold. In fact I'd almost say it was flu. I felt so ill on Tuesday I could barely lift my head off the pillow and my whole body ached. Given I work in a ridiculous environment. I was still expected to work, albeit it from home. This did not make for a happy time Chez Linzerello.

Exercise has very much been off the radar this week, but food has been pretty healthy and there has been no booze at all. An abundance of fresh fruit and veg has been consumed in attempt to stave off the dreaded germs. I've lost a couple of pounds without overly trying, just goes to show that the odd cider after work and  assorted treats is not the answer.

I'm back in the office today and feeling a little bit more human. I'm avoiding the gym until my PT session on Sunday and hopefully by then I will be back to fighting fit.

Spurred on by Lesley, I have ordered the OMG diet book. I'm not sure I am ready to embrace it just yet, but I'm going to have a read and see how I get on.

We're at home this weekend and mainly catching up with friends, I expect it to be fairly relaxed. There will be alcohol involved, but I am going to attempt moderation. Let's see how this goes.

To counteract the misery of this post, I'll leave you with some food porn. Check out my Yorkshire!

 Courgette Fritters in the making

Lamb Chops with Courgette fritters and balsamic roasted veg

heaven.

The wedding

So I'm back to reality with a massive bang. Nearly 3 weeks out of the office means you come back to over 6000 emails and a hell of a lot of work that has been put aside for you during your absence. Happy days!

Anyway, I won't get bogged down with the dullness of daily life and I'll give you a bit more of an update on the wedding. Thanks for all of your lovely comments on my last post. I'll try not to bombard you with too many photos of me in a white frock!

The day was amazing, everything we could have hoped for. The weather was awesome (perhaps a bit too hot for prancing around in a wedding dress, but never mind), the hotel was gorgeous, the food was amazing. I'm going to run out of superlatives soon.

The ceremony took place at the Cloisters which dates back to the 8th Century. It was outdoors, so everyone was hot, but thankfully the ceremony only lasted about 10 minutes. Short and sweet. A truly lovely setting.

 

We then headed back to the hotel (The Bellevue Syrene) for the reception, processco, a delicious 5 course meal, brilliant speeches and amazing views. It was wonderful.

After 5 courses of food we headed to another venue called the Foreigners Club for more drinks, food and some very bad dancing. I'd planned to stay in my wedding dress all day, but it was fairly uncomfy due to the corset and the fact that I was boiling, so I changed into another dress that I just happened to have handy... I look slightly bedraggled here!

Oh and take a look at this for a honeymoon suite. It was built into the rock - so our very own honeymoon cave. Utterly ridiculous!

My dress was everything I'd hoped for. Ballerina length with the most amazing bodice that sucked everything in and up. I had been disappointed that I'd not lost a bit of weight before the wedding, but on the day it didn't matter at all. I felt lovely. I was hot and sweaty, but then everyone was, I was a fat bride, but nobody cared.

Now, it's back to it. I'm heavier than I am happy with and I've not exercised for 4 weeks. I'm back to eating sensibly and really enjoying it, you can have too much of a good thing (I don't need to eat pizza for a very long time). PT returns tonight and I fear it will be really hard, but I need to get fit again. I'm not planning to join a weight loss class at the moment, I just want to concentrate on cutting down and seeing how I get on. Watch this space!

I'm a wife!

Just a quick post to share a few photos from the wedding, there'll be a proper post once I'm back!

It was an amazing day, Sorrento is beautiful and we were so lucky that so many of our friends and family came to join us.

The view from our wedding terrace.




The terrace.




With my dad.




With my husband and bridesmaids!




Posing :)







I'm off to enjoy the Sicilian sunshine.

Mrs. Jones x

See you on the other side

I'm off to get myself a husband. I shall be back in a little over 2 weeks. Normal service shall then resume!

If you're on instagram, there may be wedding photos there before I get back :) @linzerello

x

I'm still here

I'm just in a bit of panic mode as this time next week I'll be in Italy preparing for my wedding!

I seriously can't believe it's come round so quickly. I'm totally not organised whatsoever. Work is crazy at the moment, 4 of my team are off (thanks boss) so any ideas I had of taking it easy and sorting wedding related matters have gone out of the window.

On the positive side, this has led to me losing a few pounds without trying as I've been too busy to eat!

I finally tried on my wedding dress last weekend and it needed taking in and up a bit, but other than that it was perfect. Exactly as I'd imagined. That's one less thing to panic about.

Next week see's me attempting some form of grooming. I've a haircut, massage, manicure and pedicure, bikini wax and an eyelash tint all booked at various stage through the week. I'll then spend the first week in Italy attempting to avoid any form of tan lines as that's seriously not a good look with a strapless dress.

In other news, my ankle is once again buggered. It keeps swelling up to mammoth proportions and is fairly painful. My doc, PT and physio have all told me to go for an X-ray, but there is no way I'm walking down the aisle with a cast on my foot, so I'm just strapping it up for now and ignoring it (stupid??) It's meant I've had to concentrate on rowing in the gym as running is out, but I'm still attempting exercise at least.

So that's me, life is a bit of a whirlwind at the moment. I collect my wedding dress today, we're travelling up North for 24 hours to surprise my Mother for her 60th birthday and then I need to think about packing for my wedding.

I'll leave you with a thing of beauty, my wedding shoes crystallised by my little sister. I'm in love with them.



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