Starting Again, again....

I thought I'd preface my diet talk with my last Rome pics.  Below is the Pantheon a 2000 year old church!  Just wow!  However, aparently Agrippa did NOT "fecit".  He was fibbing - he built the first one on that site but this amazing, huge dome was built by Hadrian (yes, he of wall fame).  It is an outstanding feat of architecture and engineering.  How they managed to construct such a huge and perfect dome in that era boggled my mind.

We had been a tad miffed that it had been closed on Sunday and Monday but, when we went in on Tuesday and realised that the oc ulus (holein the dome, pictured) is open to the elements, we were somewhat mollified.

It's truly a vast space.  Although much of the decorative splendour has been plundered for later marvels over the years, I loved it.  I also loved the tomb of Raphael - so modest and simple.

Then back to the Piazza Navona en route to the Castel Sant Angelo

We walked down this endless street, named after the laurel bushes at every doorway.  It was a street of artisans, dealers and artists - fascinating stuff.

Is there another city in Italy famed for having a bridge on which lovers lock a padlock to symbolise the strength of their union?  Although there were a few padlocks, not so many to justify my having heard of this practice.  I believe that the weight of padlocks on the bridge I had heard of grew so great that the Council had to remove the panels with the padlocks attached to prevent damage to the bridge!!  Maybe it IS this bridge but they haven't been replaced yet??
 

Views for the lovely terraces of the Castle.

And a final spin back to the Spanish Steps...in daylight this time.

Well, the cough/cold has been a doozy but is retreating now. I'm still coughing and full of phlegm and my head is fuzzy and I can't always hear properly but I feel more human. Trouble is I have helpfully passed it on to Richard so now he's had a couple of days off work poorly. I didn't end up taking any time off work but did work from home Thursday afternoon, Friday and Monday which is a lot more relaxing than traipsing into the office so less strain overall. He doesn't have that option so I think a couple of days in bed/on the sofa will do him good.

That is now the third week of dancing we've missed though - yikes! I have arranged a private lesson before our next class so that we're not hopelessly behind!

Diet and exercise wise, things have been poor. As I said in my last post, there is really NO POINT in turning up to SW once a week and getting weighed and feeling either happy or sad about the result but not actually following the regime!! This is what I have been doing hence the inexorable rise in my weight back to where I started last August, if not a lb or so higher. This has GOT to stop.

So, on Monday while working from home I forced myself to actually DO THE DIET. And it wasn't bad. The main thing for me is not to rely on bread and cereals. I had a breakfast of bacon and eggs. Lunch of a SW corned beef quiche and salad and supper of pasta and meatball ragu with loads of veggies and SW compliant meatballs (delicious). A snack of a Muller Light yoghurt with a crumbled meringue nest satisfied my desire for sweet without excessive syns. Actually, it was only once I got to bed that I realised I hadn't had my bread/cereals allowance for the day! Whoops. 

Tuesday I had my cereals for brekkie but quiche for lunch again and a relatively sensible supper of homemade burger. I did weaken and make pancakes but only had 1.5 and canderel/OJ toppings so not heinous. Wednesday was fine - WFH again so bacon and egg breakfast, sandwich lunch and pheasant casserole for supper. Pheasant must surely be a good diet meat as so lean. It was tricky to keep it moist but overall it was a sucess. So, getting back on track can be done - next step weighing properly and keeping tabs of progress. It can be done. It will be done.

Wednesday, Thursday and today have not been bad either so I'm hoping that my first re-weigh-in on Tuesday will not be TOO painful.  Today also saw the reinstatement of training after a break of a couple of weeks off.  Huw was uncharacteristically gentle with me due to my still persisting cold.  He could hear the rasping in my chest so kindly left off some weights and cut back on others.  Don't get me wrong, I'm still knackered and achy but I could at least breathe through the workout which would not have been case had he insisted on my usual workout!

I am also reinstating the mini-targets of old. Today, an old favourite - NO BISCUITS!!