Swan Sunday

Really nice to get out and about even if it's not sunny

Sadly despite it being mid May, it doesn't appear to be inching towards summer yet - Despite this, my boyfriend and I decided to go to the Abbotsbury Swannery near Dorchester. It's 2 hours from where we are, however he doesn't mind driving and it's somewhere we have wanted to go for ages as I love animals / nature etc, so we set off pretty early so we could enjoy the day.

It's an amazing place, apparently it's the only place in the world that has a nesting colony of mute swans and was established by Benedictine Monks who built a monastery at Abbotsbury during the 1040′s.

There are loads and loads of swans and it was lovely, walking around, seeing them all nesting and also seeing a few of the cygnets as they apparently hatched a few days ago and were so cute!

To get to the swannery, it was a good 5-10 minute walk and then we walked around the place for at least an hour before stopping off in the cafe for a cup of tea. 

Since I started healthy eating, this was the first time my will power was really tested - My boyfriend ordered a large caramel shortbread, topped with what looked to be amazing chocolate. He asked if I wanted something and I was so tempted so say yes - after all, I'd been walking for at least an hour, right?

However, I managed to actually ask myself - do I need it? Does my body need it? and the answer was no - I didn't. That's not to say I didn't watch him eat every single mouthful, wishing I was slimmer so I could eat it and not worry as much, however no - I am genuinely committed to changing my shape and eating healthier, so I just had a cup of tea (I don't drink coffee). I felt quite proud of myself :-)

After a nice sit down, we headed back home and watched a couple of episodes of the BBC 'How food is made in a factory' - It's a 3 parter with Greg Wallace (bloke off Masterchef) investigating how chocolate / bread and milk are manufactured.

It was interesting - however when we were watching the chocolate one, I was getting so hungry and all I really fancied was chocolate, so I thought the best thing I could do was start cooking dinner.

Dinner was a healthy 'tamarind fish curry' - something I had meal planned a few days ago. For the first time ever, I tried to pay attention to the portion guidance on the rice packet and did 3.5 portions - 1 for me, 1 for my lunch tomorrow and 1.5 for my boyfriend. It's the first time ever that I've not done too much rice! It wasn't too bad - I can't say it was amazing in all honesty, it didn't seem to be as aromatic as I expected and was also quite watery, even though I used the recommended 400ml of light coconut milk.

I'm hoping that the flavours will mature overnight and at the end of the day, I know it's good for me as it was cooked from scratch and has less than 450 calories and 12g of fat. 

Already the stomach ache of worry is starting over going to work tomorrow - I really need to try and find a new job ASAP! However until then, I need to continue my healthy eating and not revert back to eating rubbish.

I'm quite proud of the fact that after 2.5 months of eating utter rubbish day after day, I've been able to stick to my healthy eating for 5 days. It doesn't sound a lot, and hopefully this time next week, next month (and who knows, next year?) I'll be saying the same... I certainly feel better within myself though :-)