Personal

Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

I just want to wish everyone a merry Christmas / happy holidays! I hope that you have had a great time over the festive period. Unfortunately, I spent the majority of it ill… boo! When I wasn’t being too ill, I spent the rest of the time eating… oops! I think I’ve put on a stone in the week since I broke up from work… But hey, on wards and upwards for 2020!

I’ve got a busy few days planned for the end of the year as we are finally (21 months after moving in) getting around to decorating and sorting the house. We’ve almost got the dining room finished, and then we are clearing through the kitchen as we are having it measured up in January to price up a fitted kitchen in. Basically, we have spent a heap of cash and still have a lot more work to do with the kitchen, plus getting double glazing installed (yup, it’s freezing in here!), and also concreting the driveway. I think both Chris and I got a bit fed up of things not getting done as we’ve been busy at work, and now we have the bug for it and want everything doing as soon as possible! Despite being ill, we’ve still managed to get a lot done, and it’s nice to see it starting to come together. We haven’t really had people over much since moving in as we had boxes everywhere and no real space to host. Now we’ve assembled the dining room table and chairs, plus a bar area, it should be nice to be able to play host, rather than being the invitees all of the time!

Training:

Training hasn’t been the greatest due to being ill. I ran the Christmas Day Parkrun in a time of 30:45, however it was only just over 3 mile as there was a long queue to the finish area! I did run 2.5 miles the day before, and I definitely felt it!. I then managed an upper body weight session on Boxing Day, but then really started to struggle. I ended up taking the 27th, 28th and 29th off completely. I’m hoping to get at least 3 miles in tomorrow, preferably more but it depends how I feel. If I have time, I’d like to fit another weight session in too as I feel like I’m not training enough, especially compared to the calories I’m consuming!

Dieting:

With regards to calories… I tried Nando’s for the first time ever today. Yes, I know… where have I been all this time?! Well, in my defense, when Nando’s first came onto the scene they didn’t offer any vegetarian options, so I always avoided it, naturally. However, we were given a Restaurant Choice gift card and there were only a few places which accepted it, especially local to us. Pizza Hut and Pizza Express were on the list, but we had takeaway pizza last night (told you it’s been bad for me eating!), so we wanted to try something different. I also wanted something that we could take away as I wanted to get back from shopping in time to watch the Arsenal vs Chelsea match. I checked the menu at Nando’s and was pleasantly surprised. I actually had quite a few options to choose from! I was tempted by the mushroom and halloumi option, but went with the Veggie Cataplana. Char-grilled vegetables, chickpeas and beans, in a fiery, rich tomato and coconut sauce, served with spicy rice and sprinkled with coconut shavings. I had a regular serving of chips on the side, and to be honest, I was impressed before we even got the food home. The service was great, staff were friendly, and the packaging of the food to take out was really good (all in microwaveable and recycling friendly cardboard boxes). The smell of the food in the car for the drive home was just intense and I couldn’t wait to tuck in. Needless to say, it didn’t disappoint! The flavours were crazy and the spice was also nice (I played it safe and went for medium as I hadn’t eaten there before). Within a few minutes of finishing I had signed up for the loyalty card! Yum!

Despite saying that I wasn’t going to drink over the festive period this year… well, I think I’ve had every type of alcoholic beverage going! Rum, whiskey, Bailey’s, brandy, cider, vodka, wine… I kick myself for it but then tell myself that “hey, it’s Christmas”. I’m avoiding the scales like the plague, but I can definitely feel the extra few pounds. It’s a little frustrating as just before my work’s Christmas party on December 19th, I reached my lowest weight since before my wedding back in July. Now it feels like I’ve undone a lot of hard work in such a short space of time, but don’t have the willpower to stop it. I think the New Year will be my clean break to get back into the healthy eating and consistent training. It has been nice to not track calories for a bit, but I’m missing being able to train due to being ill. I know that I need to get my butt into gear as I really want to do well at the London Marathon in April.

So yeah, this was just a quick update really and to wish everyone a merry Christmas and a happy New Year! Stay safe and please, please, please don’t drink and drive!