Gym swap?

I’m in a situation where I absolutely love, love, love my gym despite my inactivity but I have the opportunity to change gyms. As usual there are pros and cons for each situation.

My current gym has attentive trainers, a good collection of classes, has a pool and aqua aerobics classes and a lot of my work friends go. I also encouraged some of those friends to join. The gym is close to my work but since I’ve moved house it isn’t on my way home any more.

The new gym has far more classes and is exactly halfway between home and work. I drive past the building at least twice a day minimum. They also have longer opening hours and I can get to a class even if I do the close shift at my job. Also my main work out buddy and friend goes there.

Decisions, decisions. Both gyms are evenly priced - about $5 difference. So, my question is if you were me what would you do?

msleahhbic:

Little sister and I experimented in the kitchen tonight: fresh personal pizzas using naan (traditional Indian flatbreads) instead of dough. They were delicious, and so much healthier!

Pizza Bianca: EVOO and garlic, fresh tomato slices, fresh spinach, feta and parmesan

BBQ Chicken: sautéed chicken breast w/ sweet BBQ sauce, sautéed onions and garlic, mozz cheese, BBQ in place of sauce, fresh spinach

Buffalo Chicken: sautéed chicken breast with Frank’s, sautéed onions, mozz cheese, sauce= low cal blue cheese mixed with Frank’s

That looks soooo good.

Hi-Five Past-Self!

Thanks to my past-self for doing all that prep work when I came home from the store. It was definitely worth the hour procrastination from my assignments. It takes me less time to whip up a lamb burrito or a fish salad than nuke a frozen meal. Mind you I still have one in my freezer for ‘emergencies’.

I’m wanting to add variety to my salad - maybe some nuts, fancy cheese, olives and a different dressing. I’m not even bored of it yet. Also I’m out of green beans - say what?

I also bought myself a $30 blender that came with its own smoothie cups and lids. I tried it out the other day and it was awesome. I’m looking forward to having a post-gym/walk smoothie as a mid-morning meal and then a salad just before I head off to work. I usually follow up with something small afterwards.

This week has been pretty much a big WIN in terms of food, excluding the nights I got absolutely spoiled at my boyfriend’s house and we had cake. Old habits die hard.

Baby steps

I find cooking difficult. Frying an egg can (and has) reduced me to tears. This, of course, is self-inflicted as my childhood was filled with my mother trying to get me to be interested in learning basic cooking skills. Fast forward a few years and I’m on my own living off 99c pasta sauce, cheese and instant noodles. Hello Anemia!

I am proud to say that today I actually bought groceries that needed preparation. I spent this afternoon getting most of my prep done because I know that it will “get too hard” and I’ll resort to having crackers for dinner. I diced some chicken breast ready for some stirfrys, seasoned and cooked some lamb mince for tacos or pasta, and baked my fish in the oven.

Now everything is easily accessible in the fridge. Win!

(Still had yoghurt for dinner though, baby steps)

Holla!

Went for another walk with R. and it was super cold. The weatherman said it would get nippy and he was serious about the nose-biting wind.Hello winter - mama’s missed you!By the way, I still got sunburned. Figures.

We were gas-bagging and walking like nobody’s business and then we see K-Mart. From where we started that was a pretty big deal - we walked a really long way. So we decided to make a meal out of it and do a big loop back to our starting point incorporating a slight but ragged breath inducing slope.

Oh yeah.

Total distance? 7km in roughly an hour.

Not a bad pace for two chitchatting leisurely strolling gurlfriends.

Holla.

Walking!

I went for a HUGE walk today with my new workout buddy, R. I put my car in for a service and chowed down on some museli and coffee while I waited for her to arrive. It was a glorious morning and we encountered some lovely houses, warm sunshine and a few hills. Such a good walk.

Of course by the end of it all, we were hungry. R had Eggs Benedict and I had French Toast (with ice-cream of course because I’m a child). We both had a smoothie and my goodness, they werethe most delicioussmoothiesever. Now of course I’m thoroughly stiff and I feel like this is working despite eating huge cafe portions of “sometimes” foods.

Now to think about my grocery list and do this assignment.

Life in general

I finally relocated units. I’m in a smaller room but it’s nicer and gets lots of light. Thankfully the orientation is the same as well so I don’t get weirded out by the different placement on my desk or bed. The bed is softer too.

I went for a walk with my friend R today. We’d been making plans to go and this time we actually did. 25 minutes in the hot sun (next time wear a hat you goose) and it was killer. My poor knees! There is also a FREAKING HUGE hill that we are planning to climb once we’ve mastered the little one. It’s a pretty good walking area actually.

She popped in to visit my new unit and soon I’ll visit hers. I should be working on this assignment right now but I’m thinking I might have a quick nap and some instant pasta before work.

I’m tired.

I’m busy.

I’ll buy groceries tomorrow.

Sleep time.

Blergh

I should be happy to move from this wretched unit with horrible housemates. Once again though it is me moving and me being told by the universe that I too am a horrible housemate. I reflect back on those I’ve lived with before and remember how I counted down the days until I could leave.

If I could live alone - I would. I cannot in my wildest dreams do so. Rent alone would take up my income leaving me with a tiny sliver to somehow keep connected with the world, keep lights on, water on, my car registered and food in my belly. I would have to work crazy hours to afford things like a couch or a washing machine.

I’m relocating. I have to pack up my belongings and move them into another unit with more faces to know. All I want more than anything is a place to call my own. I want to come home to my boyfriend in the tiny unit we can afford. I am sick of standard issue furniture. It makes me frustrated and angry inside to think of the months I have to spend in crappy room C waiting for my boyfriend’s parents to return from jetsetting so we can move out.

The crazy thing is I can afford a 6 day whirlwind trip to Japan but I can’t afford to live alone. Such is life.

Mission Babe - reopened.

A few months ago now a few girls at work made a pact to invest in themselves and really work hard towards losing weight, improving body tone or whatever they desired most. For the most part the girls are going well - I fell off the band wagon and I’m ready to start up again.

For those playing at home:

• What do you personally want to achieve?

I want to get rid of this spare tyre, slim down my thighs and fit back into my favourite dress that’s languishing in my closet because the zip doesn’t zip.

• What are your game rules? (Pick 2-3)

My friend E, the mastermind behind Mission Babe, had a serious junk food habit that she wanted to kick so she made “No junkfood” a game rule. The whole point, she said, was to identify your weaknesses and take each day at a time.

Exercise for 20 minutes a day, every day whether it be a class, free weights, a walk, sun salutations or a swim. Do something.

Aim to actually cook something for myself around mid-morning.

No pasta.

I know I can easily find 20 minutes to do a little bit of exercise. I have trouble eating during the day as I tend to graze but that leads me to devouring half packets of anything that I don’t have to cook. Not good. I have a serious pasta habit that I really need to kick.

• How are you going to do it?

I will combine my gym visits with errands and work shifts. Tomorrow I need to get petrol and pop into work so I’ll be visiting the gym on my way home. Once I relocate units (long story) I’ll be buying a set of scales and perhaps a slow-cooker. I’m really into salads right now. I think I need to follow some healthy eating blogs for inspiration.

The point of this laborious post is that Mission Babe is reopened and I’m super keen.

No hot water + really dirty hair = two minute beehive time! I have a short bob (above my chin short) so it turned into a baby-beehive-messy-updo. Whatevs, it’s still cute even if I needed hairspray and a hairtie to tame my hair!