Healthy eating is helping me be busy, but happy!

I can't believe it's already Thursday

Looking back 3 months ago and I was dreading getting up each day when I knew I had to go into the office. I've not been in my new job for 2 weeks and I'm really excited about undertaking new things, learning stuff and basically working with nice people. Yesterday was a great day - Went into the office which was easy as the tube strike had been called off. 

One thing I did realise is that I've been charged something crazy like £16 a day to travel just in Zone 1 as I'm getting off the train and going through a barrier with my oyster card and then leaving after my journey.. it seems to think I'm 'touching out' of the station and then 'touching out' of the tube station but not touching in anywhere... I honestly didn't think I was that bad with certain technology, but maybe I am? Either way, it's cost me a fortune these last 2 weeks so I'm going to try a different route tomorrow and see if Oyster can work out what I'm doing!

Breakfast yesterday was a slice of malt loaf and a banana - I'd say it was the same as today, except I've run out of bananas! Lunch was a ready made Japanese 'Teryaki chicken' rice salad as my ex-management coach came to my office to say hello. He'd never heard of the company before but was looking for a dowdy building in the City... I think he was rather impressed when he saw a gleaming, glass skyscraper ;-) It was really lovely to see him and we caught up on what each other has been doing. He even gave me some more suggestions about how to further my career and what to do in my new company which is lovely, considering usually my ex-company had to pay him £££ an hour for this kind of support. 

My mid-afternoon snack was a packet of Sainsburys mango which I have always loved. I've tried a lot of different types of mango but this one is just brilliant - I swear they must lave it with cocaine or something as it's really sweet, but very easy to eat. I've been buying the 35g packets so I don't overeat as the 100g packets would be gone in one sitting, easily! 

After getting home last night I started cooking for myself and my boyfriend and it was another Marks and Spencers chicken dish - this time it was M& S lime leaf and coconut chicken escalopes which I served with rosemary roasted baby potatoes, steamed brocoli and carrots. It was absolutely gorgeous and I'd certainly try that chicken again - it wouldn't be out of place served with rice, to be honest.. although there's sauce, I don't think there's enough to make it a proper 'curry', but the flavours are lovely. 

My boyfriend had kindly picked up my antique bookcase that we tried to get in the car at the weekend but it was too big to fit in his Audi by 2cm... 2cm!! so annoying! So he borrowed his work van and very kindly picked it up for me. It's a rather large glass bookcase, but for £30, it's brilliant and will be perfect for storing DVD's out of the way so they don't get covered in dust. After we dropped the work van off and picked up his car, we decided to head to the pub for a quick drink. After my 1.5 weeks of healthy eating, I was keen not to get drunk and then get the munchies, but really fancied a nice glass of red wine - so thought 'Sod it'... I had the glass of wine... and I DIDN'T get any munchies whatsoever... My willpower is quite high at the moment.

Today I'm working from home and lunch will be a lovely baked sweet potato with beans. I need to go food shopping at some point today, however the company seems to have a lot of phone meetings over lunch time (very different culture to my old company) so might have to make it 'late night' shopping, instead! 

I'm really looking forward to the Bank Holiday weekend and also to finishing my 2nd week in my new job - Who knows what interesting (and healthy!) food, I can find in the canteen tomorrow? :-)

Healthy eating and all the other goss

I love my life, it's great... It's just so crazy at times.

Since getting back from Brighton, I've been really busy. Entirely my own fault and I wouldn't change anything for the world, however I'm looking forward to completely chilling today and enjoying a romantic meal with my Boyfriend tonight. 

As this is going to be quite a long post (as I've got so much to fill in) I'm going to put things in different sections, so people don't have to be bored if they don't want to hear about my Drama Friend or my sisters Moron Husband and as my main reason for this Blog is my healthy eating.. that's what I'll focus on, first.

The last few days of food

Since I started my garden leave, I don't think I've coped overly well without having a routine. Doing things I don't usually do with friends and family have meant that I've eaten out more than I've ever eaten out in my life and despite choosing healthy options a lot of the time (I'm always opting for the chicken ramen at Wagamamas and found a lovely salad at Giraffe), I enjoyed my 'holiday' in Brighton and whilst I am happy that I exceeded my daily steps allowance every single day I was there (sometimes more than double!), I didn't make completely healthy choices and as such, am currently terrified at the thought of stepping on the scales - I don't think I've lost weight, but I don't know how much I've put on... 

After getting back from Brighton, I spent one day with my sister, watching her cry about her Husband (more on that, later) and we decided to do a small spot of shopping and went to lunch, which was Wagamamas - so I could easily make a healthy choice there. I then saw another friend in the evening and we had venison sausages (healthier than normal sausages) sweet potato chips and half a tin of beans - again... that was OK, but I don't feel it's what my body needs at the moment - it's quite carb heavy and I've definitely felt more lethargic recently.

Yesterday I drove to the dentists and for the first time in my life, I apparently have to have a filling. I had my bottom wisdom teeth out in January as the Dentist found a 'light grey' patch on my X-ray which suggested a cavity was forming, but she couldn't fill it, as my wisdom teeth were impacted - Like.. totally sideways. Now they've been removed, she can fill my tooth - However, it will involve an injection. I believe I've written about this before - I have a severe needlephobia, so whilst she offered to do the filling there and then, I couldn't do it... I'm now really worried and stressed as I know that very soon, I'm going to have to have an injection...

As I was at the dentist early yesterday, I didn't have any breakfast and then drove to see my Mother. We had a lovely day going to two different National Trust properties - Dyrham Park and Lacock Abbey and for lunch, we stopped at a local pub, where she had a cheese Ploughmans and I had sausages, mashed potato and peas - I thought that was slightly more healthy than massive wedges of cheese and as we didn't get there until 2:30 (when technically the pub stopped serving food) there were limited options available...

I drove back from seeing my Mother and drove straight into town to see my lovely ex work friend.. and went to Pizza Express... It's just food, more food and more food at the moment - or at least that's how it seems. This morning, I've had a cup of tea and poached eggs on toast and just don't feel like eating anything else for the rest of the day at the moment. I've only got 1 more week of garden leave before starting my new job on Monday 17th August... Whilst I've really enjoyed time off - resetting my head and spending loads of time with people, I'm actually looking forward to getting back into a routine so healthy eating is much, much easier. I think I totally underestimated how not having a routine would throw me... 

My drama Friend

I had a lovely time with my drama friend last Friday and as per usual, she has had more drama with men (which I believe is all of her making).. More drama has ensued since last Friday! Apparently.. my friend has come to a 'realisation' - That Pete, is totally wasting his new girlfriends time as he doesn't feel the 'butterflies' with his new relationship. I did suggest to her that she was totally over invested in Petes' relationship and if she was a true 'friend', then surely she'd support his decision? However she said that based on her conversations with Pete, she has decided that he's only dating his new girlfriend for someone to date, not because he sees a future and as she's been on the receiving end of this behaviour from guys before, she's really angry.

Despite pointing out to drama friend that she doesn't know how Pete feels and at the end of the day, she's not met his new girlfriend and that's the thing... it's NEW! It's hardly like they really know each other, so why not back off and let Pete date this lady? Sadly drama friend doesn't seem to be able to let this go.. so at the moment she is currently trying to find Pete's new girlfriend on Facebook, so she can send her the screenshotted messages between her and Pete and 'show her' that Pete's not that bothered. Honestly? If I got messages from a woman who claimed to be friends with a man I had just started dating, I'd probably walk away from the guy as it suggested he had crazy friends... but then, I'm friends with her, so I guess I can't say anything.

One good thing (or at least, I hope it is) Drama friend has continued counselling and despite her first session being just the normal 'setting the scene', this week has apparently been more productive and she's started opening up more about how men have hurt her in her life (her parents splitting up and her Dad being a bit of an arse) so fingers crossed she will actually realise that her behaviour isn't normal or healthy and stop being ever so slightly crazy...

My Idiot Brother in law

I hate him so, so much. Honestly he's such a total and utter moron and sadly my sister is married to him. I saw my sister on Wednesday and after she'd been in my house for 5 minutes, she broke down into tears and told me that she's really unhappy.

Unfortunately, her Husband is being worse than useless at the moment. He doesn't do any of the cleaning or washing and whilst he does cook and loads the dishwasher (big deal...) he spends little to no time with his daughter and is an incredibly selfish man in regards to his 'time off'. He went back to the Drs a few weeks ago with depression and said that he was unhappy because he didn't feel he had any time to himself.... Er hello? They've got a 2 year old daughter!!!! My sister feels under immense pressure, feels unhappy.. yet doesn't moan about it.

I appreciate that may sound harsh - However despite being 'depressed', her Husband goes out to the pub... he still has 'band practice' and when he agrees to go to a childrens birthday party, a couple of hours before they're due to leave, he starts to whine 'Oh.. I've got a headache...' so my sister goes with their daughter and comes home a few hours later to find that her Husband has been watching TV and not doing any chores around the house - when challenged she gets the response 'For Gods sake, I can't get any time to myself... stop nagging'.

She does 100% of the bedtimes.. she does 100% of the mornings with their daughter...Apparently her Husband doesn't want to have sex with her and doesn't appreciate anything. It's very hard to appreciate his point of view when you've got one of your sisters crying on your sofa, saying she can't hold everything together. I guess one good thing is, the house and mortgage are only in her name (as she paid 100% of the deposit as he's a feckless Twat with money) so if / when she does kick him out... she can legally change the locks and actually - I think she'll find it easier, not harder... However I guess that's her decision.

What can you do when someone you love is unhappy apart from be there for them? It's hard though...  One thing she did admit - If she did meet someone who was lovely and showed her attention, she'd certainly consider leaving her Husband.. How can you go back from that?

This weekend...

This weekend I've got very little planned for tomorrow and Sunday I'm seeing some of my old Uni friends who I don't see very often at all. We tend to live 50 miles from each other in a line... with me being in the middle. Despite me being in the middle, I seem to always be driving to one of their houses... So friend in the South will drive to me.. and I'll drive us to London friend.. Or London friend will drive to me, and I'll drive us both to friend in the South. I believe it's been nearly a year since they both drove to me! I am quite quiet when it comes to saying something, however I've got a little pissed off about the fact that it's not really equal, so actually said 'I think it's actually my turn to host both of you, so I'm suggesting you come to me now...'

They both agreed, however one friend said 'So where we are going on Sunday?' (I believe, in the vain hope that I'll suggest we go to hers...) I very quickly said 'You're both coming to see ME!' They're nice people.... I just think I've been a bit soft at times.

I think on Saturday I'm going to do my 'chores'... Bathroom cleaning, grass cutting... I think it's probably a good idea to get it all done before I start my new job and just keep on top of things in general.... I also think I might actually go to another National Trust property and continue reading 'Wifework', although that book is really, really depressing when you read the statistics in regards to how much domestic work married women do, compared to married men..