Getting myself back on track.

That slump I talked about over 6 weeks ago? Yeah, it continued, until now. I have piled on weight over the winter, and not been active at all. The time for excuses is over, I know I can do better, and feel happier as a result. Last weekend I bit the bullet and signed up for the 10K at the Edinburgh Marathon Festival, which is on the 24th of May. When I first started running last year I vaguely chose this as a goal, but then all but gave up on it as I hit my slump. I decided to sign up for it anyway, with the sole goal of finishing the race. The website states that the sweeper bus comes along at 1hr 45 mins, so as long as I can do it faster than that, i'm all good! Already the promise of shiny medals in pulling me in like a magpie, and I am thinking of doing a 5k and 10K in Glasgow in May as well! The 5k is the race for life, which is for a good cause and should be fun as well. The 10K is the women's 10K, which I think a lot of women walk, so it will be a no pressure run, and hopefully will show me that I can do it!

With that goal in mind, I have dragged myself out of the slump, and got moving. I had planned to run yesterday, but was aching from 2 busy 12hr shifts at work. So, I rested, and then got straight into it today. I am quite pleased with myself today, I've exercised, ate healthy foods, and not napped. My sleep pattern has been terrible recently, not sleeping well at night, then napping, and so on. I started today with a driving lesson, which went ok actually. I then came in, and had a protein shake, as it was only 11, too early for lunch, and I didn't have much other food in.

Loving my pink blender bottle!

At this point it was absolutely pouring with rain, so I really wasn't up for going for a run as I had planned. I figured there was no point going out and being miserable. I decided to wait it out and see if the weather picked up. For lunch I had a yummy salad-

It had spinach, cherry tomatoes, yellow pepper, avocado, olives and feta. I have decided to start getting spinach instead of lettuce, as its tastier, and I think better for you. I am going to try sautéing it next.

After lunch I did some laundry, then battled in my head wether to walk into town and go to the gym, or go for the run I had planned. As the weather was a bit better, I wrapped up in my thermals and hit the pavement.

Thats me on the riverside, where it was really really windy. I think I would have been better doing my circular route the other way, as I wouldn't have been running into the wind. I did a mix of running and walking, nothing amazing, but a start.

I was pleased with the result, 480 cals burnt!

I feel much better with myself for getting out there, and doing something to change the way I look and feel. Now I just need to keep it up!

What healthy foods do you enjoy?

Salad lunches for work

In my job, I work shifts, and lots of different shifts at that. I do earlies (07.30-15.30, lates (13.30-21.30), Twilights (16.00-00.00 or 18.00-02.00), and nights (21.00-08.00 and occasionally 22.00-06.00). This makes eating sensibly quite difficult, and without forward planning I end up eating junk, canteen food, or overpriced costa food. I find eat sensibly particularly difficult when I do nights, as I do 7 in a row. I try to eat a normal dinner before I go, and then we always bring in snacks for through the night, and then I try to eat something before bed or else I wake up due to hunger.

When I am on early shift, I always say to myself that I will get up and make lunch, but I never do. Then its off to the canteen for a baked potato, or something naughty from costa. This wastes money, and isn't always a healthy option. Sometimes, a treat is well needed though, and a costa lunch goes down great!

So, last night I made two salads up, for today and tomorrow's lunches. I love salads, but it does take a while to cut up and prepare everything. To make it more worthwhile, I usually make two servings, either for dinner one night and lunch the next day, or like this, two lunches.

This salad contains (per box)-

Mixed salad leaves

1 tomato

6 Cherry Tomatoes

Half a red pepper

Quarter of a mozzarella ball

olives with feta

Tinned anchovies

Served with honey and mustard dressing.

Using my favourite weight-loss tool, the myfitnesspal app and website (more about this another day), I worked out the calorie content as 314. I love salads, and with the olives, anchovies and mozzarella, this was tasty with a good variety. It is perfect for a low calorie diet, as its a balanced and tasty meal, and pretty low calorie. I had the first salad for my lunch, on its own, and as the second was for dinner on a late, I added some weightwatchers tomato soup. I also love my little pink salad box, which I will give its own special post.

What healthy lunch ideas do you have?