Too much?

Check out our fruit basket!!!

I LOVE fruit and veges!  Which is a good thing given that I'm attempting to consume 10 serves a day!!!


I'd hoped to make some soup today (the weather has been cold and disgusting and perfectly soupy) but didn't get to it.


The Little Big Fella and I did a workout this morning (he tried a couple of things then tried to get me to play with him while I was exercising - it was slightly amusing) then had a big kick of the blow-up soccer ball in the hallway.  The Big Fella is really keen to get the Little Big Fella into soccer this next term... well, keen for me to get him into it.


After a shower, we ended up going to the park to play.  I wore my gumboots (galoshes, wellingtons) because I'm sick of getting wet, muddy feet at the moment.


We had lunch then cleaned up a bit outside.  The dogs have been digging holes and there was dirt and mud everywhere, especially in the driveway, and it was all bugging me.  I also did some laundry, hanging two loads under the house and one on the line, even though I'm pretty sure it'll rain overnight.  I'm sick of having dirty laundry around the place - I'd much rather it hanging and getting wet again :-D


The Big Fella got home a bit after that and I tried to do a few things on the phone while he distracted our son.  I'm sure I've asked this question before, but why do kids insist on talking to you in their loudest voice when you're trying to talk on the phone???  I know, they want attention but sheesh!


I was going to call Centrelink but they said the wait would be around 90 minutes!!!  Yeah, that didn't happen!


And I cleared my e-mail box of its 100-ish e-mails, including unsubscribing from a bunch of things :-D


The Big Fella requested pizza (from the next town - and I'd have to go because he'd had a couple of beers) at 4pm but then fell asleep on the couch before I was ready to go.  So the Little Big Fella helped me make some gravy, cook some veges in it and then warm some leftover roast lamb in it too.  Num num!


Both the Fellas were in bed by about quarter past 7 so I've been on the computer reading other peoples' weight loss stories and feeling encouraged that I'm doing pretty well for my first week.


The Big Fella will be home for the next 5 days (unless he gets called in for work, which is possible on 1 or 2 days) so we'll be working in the yard and doing all kinds of bits and pieces.  Prepare for some stories of capering and hilarity (but hopefully not including bogging or falling in skips)!

Making a pinboard and FYM

I was thinking last night (when I should have been asleep) that I'd like to make sure the Little Big Fella has half an understanding of letters and numbers before he goes to kindy next year.  So I'm thinking we'll focus on one letter or number each day during our craft/learning time (which hasn't happened much but I want to make it a priority).


So I thought having a pinboard to put his current art/learning works on would be a good idea.


I had an old mirror frame that broke during our first big wind in our last town. I'd previously painted the back board and put little photos of my friends and family on it but I thought it was time for a change.

I had bought a roll of cork from the local cheap shop but when I unrolled it, I discovered it was very thin so I cut out a bit of a moving box (smaller than the frame backing) so that when we put pins in they have a bit more depth to hang onto.

So I laid the cork down, then the cardboard, then the backing sheet and carefully pulled the cork tight (turns out cheap cork is very thin and breaks easily), securing it with a staple gun.

I stapled all the way around, folding the corners in nicely.

Unfortunately when I went to put it back in the frame, the cork folds on the corners made it too tight to fit!!!  Gah!  So I had to take the corner staples out, remove the extra layers from the corner folds (just tearing them out worked), and re-staple.  Ta da!  With a little squishing it fit in nicely!

So now I have a nice frame for hanging my son's work on.  Hopefully it will help us review what he's learning... we'll see.

The other thing happening at the moment is that I'm starting the Fit Yummy Mummy lifestyle change tomorrow.  I first heard about it a few months back from Angela at Grocery Shrink (a blog I follow).  The thing that really caught my attention was the workouts, which are designed to fit into about 15 minutes a day - great for busy mums!

I didn't do anything about it at the time because I wanted to look into it a bit more and then didn't get around to it.  I'm not a big one for diets (probably partly because I never needed to worry about my body until I got married, and then I didn't really care anyway).  I don't believe in shortcuts.  It's pretty simple, energy in minus energy out equals how your body is.

Anyway, I looked into it a bit more and decided that I would bite the bullet and change the way I eat and move.

I got quite discouraged this afternoon though because I was trying to plan my meals and snacks for the coming week.  The main focus of the food side of things is to eat every few hours, starting no more than an hour after you wake up.  Each time you eat you have a serve of protein, two serves of fruit &/or vegetables and a small amount of healthy fat.  You can also add "whole" complex carbohydrates, preferably only in the mornings.

I have a list of good proteins and so on and I thought I'd just write down a protein and some fruit and or veg.  Sounds easy right?

WRONG!

As I sat (for a ridiculously long time) I realised that I love yummy food!  The thought of just protein, fruit and vegetables for the rest of my life was entirely depressing!  When I meal plan, I normally like to include a range of foods, various nationalities, and try something new every couple of weeks.  And if I can't imagine eating the way I thought I should, where would I end up with this lifestyle change?

Being so discouraged I became an unpleasant person to be around.  I know!  Some of you can't imagine it!  But my son definitely can!!! :-D

A while later I started looking more at the info I had, at Angela's website, and the Fit Yummy Mummy support site and found some more info that removed the stress about it all.  Basically, you start your meal plan with the produce, then the protein, then use up the rest of your daily calories with the other stuff (making good choices along the way, but also allowing for "life" to happen).

Amazingly, I felt much better :-D  This seemed more do-able.

So I now have my meals planned for next week (including all my snacks) and I have a workout plan ready to go.  I have taken a before photo but I'm too embarrassed to share it (maybe in a month when I have a comparison for you).  And I've done a vision board (pictures and words to encourage me) and made it my desktop picture on my computer.

I guess I'll let you know how it all goes (especially if I have some crazy moments along the way!).  See you on the other side!!!

The body and happiness

I read a post today from a lady titled "I love my boobs and bum".  The paragraph that particularly caught my attention was

"I don’t believe in scales, I wear what I want to wear – in the size that I want.  If something doesn’t fit – I go up a size – as long as I still feel marvellously womanly – and am still healthy and active – I really don’t give a toss what those numbers mean."

And I realised that I don't particularly like my body at the moment.  I used to look in the mirror and by quite satisfied most of the time.  I thought I was relatively attractive, in pretty good shape, fairly healthy - nothing much to complain about (except when those hormones kick in of course, they always screw your vision completely!).


But these days when I look in the mirror I tend to see mostly negatives.  I'm starting to get wrinkly (mostly laugh lines, but still...), I'm carrying some rolls that are uncomfortable and make me feel unattractive, and I look kind of like a haggard stay-at-home mum most of the time.  And most of my clothes are old and not especially flattering.  I don't feel "marvellously womanly... healthy and active".


Of course, there's only one person to blame... my husband!!!! :-D  Just kidding, of course! But he is a significant motivator for me.  I like to look good for him, I tend to control my eating much better when he's around, I don't emotional-eat so much when we're together and I cook healthier, more nutritionally balanced meals for him than I do for just myself and the Little Big Fella.  So nearly 6 months of living apart hasn't been so good for me.


But I've also been thinking about how the way we see our bodies (and how we treat them) has such a strong link with our levels of happiness.
When I'm happy I look in the mirror and feel okay, sometimes even great!
When I'm not happy, it's all bad!
When I'm happy, I feed my body what it needs and get it moving semi-regularly.
When I'm not, I eat more (and more junk), slob around on the couch and put on weight.
When I'm happy, I dress fairly well, do my makeup and hair, paint my nails, wear perfume and so on.
When I'm not, I chuck on whatever, chuck my hair in a ponytail, and that's pretty much it for the day.


So I wonder, if I start doing the things I would normally do when I'm happy, will that make me feel better?  My guess is it would.  But, do I have the motivation and energy to make myself do it?  That is the question!