Lessons and Timing

Wednesday was an interesting day. It showed me both that I HAVE learned a lot and have come a long way and yet also that I have many more lessons to earn.

Lessons to be learned:

I was working from home so was in control of my timings to a point. As we were going to Blackburn for the football leaving at 4pm I had taken a half day to do some chores in the afternoon. I had also intended to go for a run at lunchtime as Huw has been away so no personal training for a while.

The problem was with timings of eating and exercising. I was up early and then worked through until 12.30 and THEN ate. By then I was starving and made myself a large bowl of pasta with a tomato based vegetable and chorizo ratatouille. As I'm on a low carb regime, I don't have a large portion of pasta but, because I was so hungry, had LOADS of the veggies. I was then full up (tummy felt like a bowling ball - maybe I'm not used to pasta any more?) and, although I really wanted to, couldn't face going for a run even at 2 (an hour after I'd finished eating). I was determined not to let myself off the hook so went for the hilliest walk I could think of - 45 minutes, of which 30 minutes were pretty much straight uphill. It felt like good exercise but it also felt like a cop-out as I had intended to go running.

So, what should I have done?? I should have had my lunch earlier, say around 11/11.30. I wouldn't have been as hungry and wouldn't have eaten as much. I could then have gone and done another hour's work and left a bigger gap between eating and running so wouldn't have felt so full and wouldn't have been able to avoid going for the run. Lesson learned. I'm pleased I did make myself go for the strenuous walk but disappointed about the lack of the timetabled run.

Lessons already learned:

On the positive side though. Rich and I went to an away game in the evening. I made a plan to cope with the football-related eating and drinking opportunities which I stuck to and which worked. I wasn't hungry before we left so I made a salad to take with me. I drove (my turn!) and ate the salad in the car when we got there. We couldn't find a pub open to away fans (God knows what they think a 40-something couple like me and Rich, not wearing Wednesday colours, are going to be inciting!) so went into the ground early. I had a cappuccino (part of my meal) and a glass of red wine. It was very pleasant and meant that I avoided pints, pies or chips. My food intake for the day was ultimately pretty low - pasta and ratatouille, piece of fruit, ham salad, cappuccino and glass of red wine (as well as water, black coffee and green teas).

On our drive home I was a little hungry and I guessed that Rich was even hungrier as all he'd had was a meat and potato pie!! We were driving through Darwen, Bolton, Stockport etc and past literally dozens of kebab shops and burger bars. I almost suggested to him we could stop if he wanted but then I remembered that he's trying to drop a bit and thought I'd wait to see if he suggested it rather than putting it in his head. When we got home he went straight to make himself a snack and I mentioned the kebab shops. He admitted that he'd really wanted one but didn't want to put me through the temptation. Awwww. That's just what I was saying in my last post about him "following through" and being thoughtful.

On tht topic, one of my newer cyber pals, Caroline, mentioned that she'd been reading my old blogs from when I was doing Lighter Life. This piqued my curiosity so I've been reading my old posts, not just dipping in here and there, but methodically reading from the start. It's very illuminating from my present perspective and I'm amazed at how much I had forgotten about my old life.

Despite a massive self-censoring exercise/cleaning up job I did on my blog a few years ago under extreme pressure from a screaming D, it is clear from my posts that he never put himself out to accommodate my needs. He would never have denied himself something he wanted just to make life/dieting easier for me. I can see numerous mentions throughout those early months of me (sober and cold) driving round in the middle of the night dropping people off from the pub and picking up curries or kebabs for them, sitting in restaurants not eating etc etc. I can actually remember sitting, knackered, watching him eat a kebab in the car on the way back from a concert in Manchester, having already had to stay while he had 2 pints after the concert, feeling utterly resentful and deprived.

So, for Richard to put himself out to help me (without being asked and without seeking brownie points for it) is very touching.