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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 4 February 2012 06:05 pm |
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Friday 3-2-12
10.20 nature call, plenty o light sipping through closed curtains, feeling guilty about the non-stop eating for much of yesterday (even if it involved chewing) and hope to delay breakfast until I'm hungry and have some non-food time periods in the day 10.26 r 10.52 runner beans are under pressure and morning weigh-in is 54kg, r (also drift into food) 12.23 brush teeth, relax, return to reading 1.08 long nap
3.12 up, I've been having lots of breaks and needing extra sleep recently - this could be to compensate for poor sleeping patterns, but another possible explanation might be that I'm not getting enough calories and this is how my body is choosing to save energy? (observe not being in the mood for dancing yesterday); afternoon weigh-in matches (53.5kg) Tuesday's pre-Pizza-Hut afternoon weigh in (neither will serve as official daily weigh ins - as it happens the morning weigh-ins for both days also match 54kg); like most people my morning post toilet weigh-in used to be my lowest of the day but this is no longer necessarily so; eat salad, r 3.30 check on beans, drink beans soup, eat beans with herring 3.45 r; check email and find free-entry-to-MK-Revolution-on-Fridays-in-February voucher (well email implied 'tonight' but URL implies February: http://eflyers.revolution-bars.co.uk/2012/milton-keynes/february/love-friday/ ), printing was a struggle thogough (errors, trouble shooting etc.). IM Galit who seemed very non-understanding. She was accusing me of trying-to-understand situations (like the AA meeting which I can no longer attend) without being able to guarantee that I would act on the information if I had it. I felt she was unspportive (and also not pragmatic, as the information could be useful regardless of whether I act on it to her satisfaction) 5.14 soon I'll need to make a decision about Body Step workout, not wanting to say goodbye to food this afternoon and also don't want to subject myself to the cold. 5.25 call ICIC bank (regarding my mobile phone number) 5.34 emails, Autism questionaire 6.34 brush teeth! continue audio/online 7.36 lights off
7.46 cycle to AA, coffee and 2 cookies, multiple newcomers so instead of Step 10/11 they went back to a chapter 3 (step 1) reading and share accordingly. I stayed quiet. After meeting grab a 3rd cookie, loo 9.10 check with Rob he has no intention to come out, cycle home
9.18 home, notes, finish coockie 9.23 salad, audio, online 9.37 r, eat 10.12 brush teeth
10.16 cycle 10.28 at Oceana - some people already dancing as I arrive 11.00 they start charging (and open DISCO). Downstairs interesting but variable 11.38 decide to try out Revolutions (didn't have to use my printed voucher as they weren't charging anyone). Upstairs was dead but downstairs was interesting at times. Deep inside was too well heated for my liking whilst near the door was too drafty though sometimes I had to endure discomfort to be near the action. Eventually it was time to go.
1.05 home, eat, settle in 1.21 notes 1.26 CPH,emails 2.09 comp off
Cycling: 2.22
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mollymoo24
Distinguished Member
| Joined: | 30 December 2007 |
| Location: | Chicago, USA |
| Posts: | 6302 |
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Posted: 5 February 2012 03:07 pm |
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Hi Nir, I had about a weeks' worth of catching up to do. As you may have seen I didn't get out clubbing at all while in London, I'm starting to enjoy sleep and balanced living a bit too much I think, it is killing my nightlife. 
Sorry to read about "closed" AA, but it doesn't surprise me. But on Weds and Fri you went to AA meetings - are these different meeting groups/locations?
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 5 February 2012 06:48 pm |
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| Although in reality there is a great amount of overlap between the Saturday people and the Wednesday/Friday people (and technically Friday is in the exact same room as Saturday), tradition 4 is all about Autonomy and those meetings remain open. Since the first adverse event (January 14th) I have not spoken at any AA meetings, to be on the safe side.
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 8 February 2012 08:35 am |
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Saturday 4-2-12
8.13 up (reluctantly) 8.33 cycle 8.45 make gym, put stuff in locker, loo 8.53 head upstairs, computer chores, Body Combat - Kat mixes up tracks 1a..3 (previous release which Angela missed) and then a bit of current release and going back a bit further to what Angela was teaching us back in June i.e. 3 releases ago. I felt very weak and lethargic and wondered if it was calories. Picked up a little (relatively speaking) as the class progressed. Thought Pump would be pushing it but didn't want to have it hanging over me like a cloud for tomorrow afternoon so persevered. Angela teaching and Kat hiding extreme right back third of the room (behind her mate). Somehow I managed my usual weights (a bit lower on triceps) though Dave didn't think I had good range in my squats today
11.05 afterwards long period of chatting by the sofas, for example about Dave taking up Yoga as a preventative measure 11.38 head downstairs for 'quick drinks' well actually I had pistachio flavour ice-cream in a cone (better 'value' than a hot drink - though probably double the calories of a hot chocolate) and banana with Marie and Dave. (Marie was almost tempted to go for an ice-cream because of me and changed her mind.) 11.58 return to gym, loo, change, poolside, shower, change
12.49 cycle 12.58 look at Middleton Hall (furniture showcase) then at food stall - get pears and collect some free leaves 1.06 cycle
1.15 home, unpack (pears stay out) 1.25 notes 1.43 p876, update challange, eat, CPH, MoneyBox 2.52 r 3.25 Razor book p41 3.37 super long nap! (I'm sticking with the not-enough-calories theory for now and wondering what I can do to help myself without going back to calorie counting)
6.56 awake (2nd nature call), post diary, aiming not to touch food at all till after clubbing (exception - nibble if I get around to salad making), the thought occured that my MorningWeight.xlsx should be a practice ASP.NET application (based on SQL Server Express, I guess?)
7.12 review study options, long reply to Sahdia's text, notice that it has been snowing(!) 7.41 r (Razor syntax - it is mostly a C# tutorial but there's still value as it is introducing some new language extensions and is reasonable easy-going) 7.56 shave
8.03 stats: looking at change in BMI (month by month view, puts "stalls" into perspective). Month names are approximate as am looking at 30-day periods, for example 'sep' is (September 8th-October 7th). At 165cm, each 1.0 of BMI is 6lb, 1.3 is almost 8lb, it means my last couple of months are only about 1lb movement each but the trend is still observable (i.e. in deficit).
sep 21.3 (+0.1)
oct 20.8 (-0.5)
nov 20.4 (-0.4)
dec 20.2 (-0.2)
jan 20.0 (-0.2)
8.26 ASP.NET portal - data access and MVC. End up looking at videos from 'BUILD' e.g. http://channel9.msdn.com/events/BUILD/BUILD2011/KEY-0001 and a bit of food prep
10.02 snow-in-progress looking really unwelcoming so abandon going-out plans, eat (popcorn, potato, dry mix, salad, beans) in fact I'd describe it as a somewhat hypnotic watch-and-eat session, as soon as I started eating the thought of a productive food-prep session slipped away 11.55 brush teeth (peek outside - very much standing by my decision to stay indoors) 0.28 comp off
Shopping: £1 pears. £1.00
Cycling: 1.34
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 8 February 2012 08:35 am |
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Sunday 5-2-12
8.49 up, get ready 9.17 cycle (on the most major roads - these have now been cleared) 9.28 make gym, snow-related lowish turnout for Body Jam, where I was disturbed by my rather obvious lack of energy for anything but the most subtle movements. With the snow I guess Debbie was taking no chances as she was seen in the corridor rather early. Hi to a few people as I leave studio for sofa and reply to Geoff (who texted about his Gastroscopy exerience and otherwise feeling unwell), poolside via changing rooms, text Geoff and in the process decide to start recording my food intake (if only on paper - to ensure I'm eating enough), call mum and explain I can't diagnose her Rapport-related problem over the phone, change
11.30 cycle to market (snow unavoidable in pedestrian areas), main stall is only about 1/3 open 11.42 leave empty-handed 11.49 made my building but instead of climbing up return to shops on foot for a sample-collecting circuit (chocolate at Hotel Chocolat, bread at Oil & Vinegar), carry bike upstairs
12.11 home 12.18 notes 12.36 audio, start prep
2.05 walk to market, buy grapes 2.15 walk back
2.23 home 2.35 audio/email 3.26 draft OA loop check-in
3.57 down to join parents, driven 4.04 at their house go upstairs, update anti-spyware program (after calling Eran to check it was him that installed it), re-install Rapport to make it work with Firefox 10, disable prompting to store passwords. Downstairs I installed 'Opera' on Netbook. Although I'm rather attached to my "not enough calories" theory, I've noticed no-one else is sharing it. A few people have suggested I might have a virus, and mum and dad are both clinging to an anemia diagnosis (which I did indeed have back in 2005-8, though I was discharged regarding this matter back in 2009)
Food: first a small bowl of ice-cream containing 4 flavours (about tablespoon each) with two pink wafers - this was a little while after dad had started on ice cream (at which point I was initially denied the chance to join him), then some ready-meal - mum thought it was pizza but it turned out to be penne pasta in saunce with bits of ham and mushroom; finally I asked about a croissant (evidently earmarked for dad) I was told there was in the freezer I could have, then (dad, I think) said something about bread (the similarity between croissant and bread? that I couldn't tell the difference? whatever it was did not make much logical sense). Anyhow I had a toasted slice of wholemeal bread with a few slices of 'roasted chicken with stuffing' - both torn apart and integrated into a home-made salad - with a glass of sugar-free blackcurrant squash. Mum observed I was struggling to finish (I disagree - this is just me practicing my slightly more mindful eating, and not particularly slowly, but evidently slower than my well established fast eating pattern!) so I was denied the croissant dessert (I've already had dessert of course - my first course of ice cream!) though I was told I could have it later in the week. I would estimate intake at this meal to be 700-800, with the healthiest components being vegetables, wholemeal bread and sliced meats (representing a minority of calories consumed).
When I was done with my alloted food I did not want to stop, and I think it is fair to describe myself also as "confused" and in a "food fog". I was a little full and my stomach had a rounded shape. I turned the TV off and the silence accelerated availability of a lift 4.53 dad driving me home and his favourite subject of the moment is "global warming cannot be shown"
5.01 home, put in fridge my parting gifts (sliced meats), brush teeth 5.14 make it dark and lay in bed but not fall asleep 5.44 notes 6.01 OA-related notes 6.30 audio, connect extrnal HD, start point 7GB free on D, start moving podcasts, find grangers710's podcast and listen to it http://www.adonisindex.com/working-out-vs-training-interview-wes-granger/ at time index 25:40 I think he's mentioning CPH 7.20 free space on D drive now 19.5GB, audio returns to Windows 'BUILD' keynote, chop/portion/freeze the cooked meats (roast chicken with stuffing and honey roast ham) 7.44 CPH, I did 8.36 emails, snacking 9.12 teeth brushed, silence 9.28 r (MVC) 10.15 bedtime
7-day food shopping totals: 0 + 0 + 0.99 + 0 + 0 + 1 + 1 = £2.99
Cycling: 1.46
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 8 February 2012 08:35 am |
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Monday 6-2-12
8.02 up, drift online 8.40 get ready 8.54 texts, uncomfortable phone call to chase up my diagnosis report
9.15 pack up and cycle 9.27 make gym in time for Michelle's Zumba. Brief hi to Marie before the class (she had a 'sugar theory' trying to tie my sugar eating (Saturday's ice-cream an example in her mind?) with my weakness, told her I don't buy it - that my 'outside' sugar eating is not representative of what I do. (though of course I might subconciously over-compensate for such excersions by eating fewer total calories?) Michelle said (about me??) 'who are they trying to impress?'. Well still weak and in no position to impress anyone but I was paying attention to a couple of girls, one of which (short, dark clothing, on the extreme left) seemed to 'know what she was doing' - the other I am uncertain of her dancing history (she surprised me by her recent presence in Olga's Body Jam) but at times more competent than me with Michelle's routine. I'm definitely going to try this class again. Dress warmly 10.38 and cycle
10.52 home, snack, notes 11.03 texts, shave 11.20 food prep 11.44 +audio
12.47 pack up and cycle 1.09 find 'enterance 4', go into lift and go to 'level 4' reception - eventually redirected downstairs to 'bay 4' where I'm greeted by Rachel who takes some history before leading me to adjoining sound-proof room where my hearing was tested in a way very similar to that back in January, followed by an optional "tell me when to stop" test, during which I was able to cope with 100db noises (short bursts only) which was interesting. We then discussed what to do next. She encouraged me to do more reading and I jotted down a couple of URLs. We talked about Hyperacusis vs 'Recruitment' and also (in light of my tendancy to sometimes hear very light high-pitched noises that were not actually there - noticable during the hearing test) about tinnitus (which apparently affects a third of the population) which may be interesting because some suffers are 'sensitive to certain sounds'. I mentioned the white noise treatment and we agreed I could try it - she explained this would involve actually wearing some equipment during the situations in which I'm affected (i.e. in the gym), appointment made for March 20th 2.24 use loo 2.28 cycle (uphill)
3.00 home, eat and food prep 3.40 call Geoff - will visit him tomorrow 3.54 comp on, follow up on Rachel's tips
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don't_Lose_The_Music
http://www.actiononhearingloss.org.uk/your-hearing/look-after-your-hearing/check-your-hearing/take-the-check.aspx
http://www.actiononhearingloss.org.uk/supporting-you/factsheets-and-leaflets.aspx
5.40 brush teeth, get ready
5.50 cycle 6.01 make gym, use locker 6.05 sample Combat before Zumba (Gillian's class quite different from Michelle's) 7.22 poolside, hi to Chee, shower, change (and chat to mum) 8.11 cycle
8.26 home, start eating 8.51 CPH, hearing 10.13 blogs/emails 10.32 brush teeth 10.43 bedtime
Cycling: 7.56
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 8 February 2012 08:36 am |
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Tuesday 7-2-12
7.20 awake 7.57 comp on (drift into CPH) 8.32 get ready
8.40 cycle 8.54 make gym 8.57 head to studio - Elaine made studio before me "I didn't think you were coming" and had already allocated spaces (it is first come first serve after all), after I said 'please' she reshuffled things so I could be under the aircon (and we had a chat) 9.12 notes 9.15 try reading my affirmations 9.30 Body Pump 10.30 take out earplugs and put on 2nd layer but then notice Laura was relatively conservative with the volume and decide to stay for the warm up. Suddenly notice Jo 'hiding' (she wasn't - just me being dense), stay to the end of 3
11.06 cycle to market 11.16 buy pears 11.24 drop them at home and cycle 11.36 stop at mum's, offered small dish of cabbage (apparently with bits of pasta - didn't notice them), also crepe with maple syrup and a couple of 'quaker cookies'
12.12 make Geoff's, he's using 'filler' around the walls 12.30 comp on, notice Carvery currently comes with free ice-cream. Jamie showed up and asked for wine 12.45 so I had some (and pork crackling). Monica comes downstairs, she's wondering where the jewlerry she ordered is so we try to follow up the online outfit in question 1.09 2nd glass of wine (and Carvery delayed to another day because they want to eat in later tonight) 1.50 Geoff finds me a couple of ripe bananas and an apple 2.13 3rd glass of wine 2.58 make a start on my salad 3.06 Jamie leaves, Monica finds another apple for me 3.30 have some dried apricots (Geoff and Monica have dried fruit and nuts) 4.17 eat my 'emergency pears', notes 4.30 they're watching some film/TV, get gently kicked out
5.00 cycle uphill, try mum but suspect she's asleep 5.23 make gym (frozen fingers!), use locker, warm up in the sauna (sunbed break, return to sauna) 5.47 head down to changing rooms (change, loo) 5.57 up to studio - Cassie covering for Shey who is not feeling her best, I start the class under the back-of-the-room vent which isn't working well. Thanks to Chee I learn Amy's name (formerly 'Zumba girl'). My spot is reasonable for watching both Amy and Sammy but primarily in the hope of some airconditioning and also some space I migrate to front row (where it is no colder). With no girls directly in front I focus more on my own workout (though I can still admire Sammy's skill in the mirror). The guys are a bit excited about Amy but I don't think they'll ditch Combat for Zumba. Head back to poolside - initially with YuKiKo and Nina later joined by Heath and Chee. Despite being unwell Shey had to teach aqua as she could find no cover.
8.14 cycle (and mentally add up calories I've already eaten today), still too cold to deliberately cycle anywhere inconvenient when it isn't the middle of the day
8.29 home, snacking (remind myself to pace myself) 8.36 notes 8.50 food prep, audio=hypno 9.15 CPH 10.14 audio=blogs 10.41 brush teeth (i.e. finally stop eating), continue online/audio 11.53 finally caught up online = or looking at it another way, another study-free almost entirely wasted day and I'm exhausted and bed awaits. I need to remind myself to grow a backbone and stop compulsively checking my online stuff, and focus on what actually needs doing! what shape would my evening had been if I had that thought (and believed it) at 8.30pm? Hopefully I'll have the balls to try it tomorrow 11.59 comp off
Shopping: £1 pears. £1.00
Cycling: 5.04
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mollymoo24
Distinguished Member
| Joined: | 30 December 2007 |
| Location: | Chicago, USA |
| Posts: | 6302 |
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Posted: 8 February 2012 11:45 am |
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Oh the snow, I guess you have no choice but to cycle in it...frozen fingers, yes, I can imagine! I laughed at the bit that the guys were excited about Amy but not likely to leave Combat for Zumba...it was just such a relatable slice of life...thanks Nir.
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Sassykat
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 8 February 2012 04:40 pm |
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Nir wrote: Hopefully I'll have the balls to try it tomorrow
I've been hearing this analogy so much lately that it comes to my mind when I'm trying to describe something in conversation and yet... It's really not an appropriate way for me to talk.
Any alternative suggestions for saying the same thing? For me, not for you. I am not criticizing. I truly am looking for some sincere alternative descriptions for "Having the balls." LOL. This saying has become so rampant I guess, and I hear it so often it just gets stuck in my mind like when you can't get a song out of your head.
And yet, saying "be bold" or "have some resolve" doesn't quite have the same impact does it?
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 11 February 2012 02:38 pm |
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(always nice to get the sideways comments)
Wednesday 8-2-12
8.20 up (postman shoing a cable through the door) 8.35 comp on, new audio cable works a treat, for the sake of not spending what ended up being just £1.02 I suffered for many months! just hope it lasts. Work through my list 8.41 reboot to XP (read 'just for today' card) 9.00 and again! (some veg prep to stop me going insane) 9.16 finally have the right 4-digit PIN (it doesn't include the control digit) and my library books are renewed. chores. 9.52 call Primus to verify they do have a £12.99 deal (10GB download limit - or £13.99 for their 20GB package). Call TalkTalk to negotiate my contract (correctly remembering it was up for renewal in a week - no thanks to my non-existent reminder). We established that I did not want to pay more than my current 'Essentials' package, have no need to upgrade my calls or my download limit and just want it as cheap as possible - similar to their deal for new customers (which we did not quite achieve, but we got close - this as always is subject to whether I actually get what has been promised to me during the negotiation). Package will be £6.50 but not charged during first 6 months (so in other words half price, as per new customers). New customers get a £50 Argos voucher - I get £30 credit off my bill. I also (separately - online) will pay for rental £114 upfront instead of £13.60 monthly, so my overall monthly should average to £10.25 (vs new customers deal of £8.60) 10.23 feeling a bit pekish - pear, update challenge 10.49 MSE 11.14 CPH
11.22 get ready 11.34 cycle, stop off at Costa to tell Jo about the stereo and microphone in studio 2 11.45 make gym only slightly late for Zumba. Progess forward through the class. Afterwards ran into the girl who impressed me today (looked like she knew salsa) and we had a brief chat. She's done musical theatre and I got her name (Rosie) which saves me from having to make up a nickname for her 12.43 no reply from Rob - so cycle, on the approach into the building get an update from the intercom people - who are installing new wiring and may or may not get around to doing my flat today (but if yes, this likely involves moving the new intercom closer to the door - I wonder what will become of the hole that the intercom is currently covering)
1.00 home, black coffee, a bit of food prep, notes, 12-step audio 1.20 silence, r MVC 1.25 Rob expecting to be at 'ABO' in 15-20 minutes
1.31 get ready 1.42 cycle 1.50 meet Rob at 'All Bar One' for a chat (find and eat a chunky french fry) 2.42 Rob's on his way to Lloyds and I'm off
2.58 home, r 3.15 find and print voucher http://www.crowncarveries.co.uk/site-media/downloads/ice-cream-feb2012.pdf 3.23 CPH 3.49 r 4.13 intercom work begins 4.39 intercom done, brush teeth, nap (5.08 dad wakes me up to say he'll be over in the next hour - from this point sleep was so-so)
6.04 up, establish contact, get ready 6.15 notes 6.19 dad shows up (with carrots and bleech) 6.24 fruit, read
get ready 6.41 cycle to gym 6.54 head upstairs (others socialising, I was passive). Body Combat - Sam doing some track mixing. Shower/change/chat.
8.33 cycle 8.44 make AA during the break. Only crumbs remain from 4 packets of biscuits. I was told that OA meeting has moved from Friday to Monday (shame - it clashes with Body Combat and Zumba and makes it even less likely I'll attend regularly) 8.54 enjoy listening to shares 9.38 cycle
9.50 home, just eat 10.15 comp on - also read 11.07 brush teeth, r 11.38 notes 11.42 bedtime
Cycling: 4.82
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 11 February 2012 02:39 pm |
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Thursday 9-2-12
6.15 up (text from Matthew - will 'probably' be out tomorrow, get ready, cycle 6.39 make gym, sneak into Sam's Body Attack (4 or 5 tracks). A group of people headed by Heath/Sam heading to poolside as I stay for Body Pump 8.00 brief lay down in the sauna (by myself) 8.23 peer into a couple of coffee places (both still shut) and cycle (notice it is slightly milder)
8.42 home, settle, snack (pear and salad), notes, whether forecast: -3C right now, max temp 1C, rain and snow: 4.5cm expected 7-10pm (will feel like -3C at night), even more snow 3am-5am. No more rain/snow during the dance portion of the week-end bit will feel very cold (-6C) on Fri/Sat nights when I come back. My principal concern is how this wheather affects my dancing plans! 9.22 brush teeth, b 9.35 OA (search internet to confirm OA meeting has indeed moved from 6.30pm Friday to 7pm Monday - OA website broken but Milton Keynes council listing to the rescue) 9.52 b 10.25 r 11.22 b (nap)
12.30 up, snack, chat to parents 1.06 comp on, email/CPH scan 2.13 "10 O'clock live", texts 2.33 http://www.drfuhrman.com/shop/benefits.aspx - notice changes to Dr Fuhrman membership forum services: about a year ago it was a flat $15 dollars a month (including interacting with him on Ask The Doctor), this is now a massive $50 a month, but on the other hand interacting with other ETL members is now just $10 a month (or $100 a year) and read-only access to all the forums is $4 a month ($40 a year) which is more afforable than the first iteraton 2.43 notes, shave 2.58 show audio over 3.04 r 3.35 shift attention to salad making (but still some reading)
4.34 walk to market (collect tiny wafer sample at Thornton's) 4.45 at market buy orange peppers and a good-sized quantity of pears, snacking on the way back
4.53 home 5.00 audio, wrap up food prep 5.20 brush teeth, clean toilet, CPH 5.36 notes 5.39 Dean
5.49 cycle 6.04 make gym, a little late to Body Jam - I think it was 2 releases ago (including "don't stop the party") from start to finish - nice to revisit, afterwards brief chat with (still don't have a name for her - I guess she can be crop-top girl) at least broken the ice. Corridor chat (kickboxing still in progress), Jason called me the 'gym wikipedia' for knowing goings on (timetable instructors etc.), loo 7.11 sample some Paela outside La Tasca, cycle home (starts to snow)
7.28 home, start cooking soaked black-eye beans 7.43 call Jon for a long chat - he pointed me at a TV program (broadcast Monday - so still on iPlayer) in which his role as Street Pastor was captured! 9.15 off phone, text Tracy, notes 9.48 comp off, try to rest but am bothered by loud music from downstairs (uncharacteristic for my building) 9.53 CPH 10.10 r (Entity Framework, 'Code First') 10.27 brush teeth, get ready
10.35 cycle in snow (on ground and dropping from sky), Revs let me in without ID so I don't discover if my out-of-date passport is good enough for them. It's dead so I pick Oceana (taking my coat with me - parking it in the corner - leaving it downstairs even when I go upstairs). Some positive experiences (though I did not win the £1000 - and they stopped the dancing for it so I left) 0.48 find myself at Revs for a bit 1.27 brave the weather
1.43 home (the noise, which was coming from the flat directly below me, is thankfully over), snack 1.47 CPH 2.19 notes 2.26 r 2.37 brush teeth 2.45 comp off
Shopping: £1 orange peppers £1 pears. £2.00
Cycling: 4.80
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 11 February 2012 02:39 pm |
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Friday 10-2-12
8.52 up naturally, feel dehydrated and sure enough an unusually low weigh in at 53.5kg, get ready and drink a mug of soup 9.13 cycle 9.21 make gym, learn about the new equipment ('beams'), Body Step - Jo going back to her training release (featuring 'Think' for track 4), initially very low energy but periodically find a bit extra, hi to Debbie who takes the next class
10.39 cycle to outdoor market 10.53 buy figs (for variety) and pears (because they were a bargain) but fail to find free leaves. Check out Holland and Barretts sales (right in front of my eyes, over a period of a few years, Whey Powder has gone up from £22 (£11 at half price sales) in late 2006 an now it's £34 (£17 at half price sales) - that's a span of just over 5 years. Get a free sample at the frozen yogurt place. cycle.
11.10 home, put away figs, apply WD40 to creeky bike chain 11.17 drain/refrigerate black-eye beans and drink more soup 11.27 notes 11.45 audio, portion beans and salad prep (broccoli, figs, orange, garlic, round lettuce) 12.25 call Matthew - who just boarded a train at Brighton 12.43 pineapple smoothie, silence 12.49 notes, IM Galit 1.00 brush teeth 1.14 try goals, IM Rob 1.31 b 1.39 IM 1.59 CPH 2.21 Rob says meeting Browns@3pm 2.27 b 2.30 call Eran for a chat, get ready
2.54 cycle (on roads) 3.01 make Browns, looked around and I was first on the scene, use loo, Rob shows followed by Matthew. A pint of ASPALL (their cheapest cider apparently). Matthew wasn't charged for his round but insisted on having this sorted out. Technically Matthew downed his hot chocolate first, but my cider is consumed twice as fast as Rob's pint 3.44 first pint over
4.14 We walk towards the shops - I split off and 4.28 park my bike by McDonald's, use loo and then 4.34 worry about locating the tie section of the Debenham's department store and otherwise follow them as they shop there (Rob got a gift voucher - as wedding gift) 4.48 and also at Waterstones (definitely registerng abdominal way at ths point - probably trapped wind). 4.56 We then walk over to Harvester (Matthew proposed it knowing I'm very keen - Rob initially not overly keen).
5.06 indoors a moment before them. Matthew asks for a table for 3 but then follows the wrong person and ends up picking our table (waitress amused, follows). I tell Matthew my meal choice and head on to toilet 5.11 on the way back chance it and get my first bowl of salad (ahead of placing an order). When the waiter arrived, tuck on a chocolate milkshake order (as they were both at it) though when it arrives (like Matthew) disappointed to discover it was flavoured milk and not a frozen slushy McDonald-style drink. Probably on my 3rd helping of salad 7.37 when the food (chicken wrap - a high flatbread to meat ratio) arrived. Using knife and fork to chop it was a non-starter (safety knife) so tore it by hand. Looked like I mostly had bread on my plate. A bowl of salad makes the oval plate look rather busy. Rob's "angus burger" at £10 was exactly twice my meal. I ate quickly and reloaded my plate to eat as much as I could (include borrowing Matthew's unwanted fries) without ending up at the situation where I'm left behind in the restaurant (as once occured).
6.17 cycle ahead of them to The Barn and use loo 6.23 go to the bar to order the round (lemonade and a couple of pints of Hob Goblin) 6.30 notes (they go and play at the games machine). Some talk of tomorrow's wedding (the one I'm not part of), confrontation between UK and Argentina, moderation vs excess. I finished the Hob Goblin despite finding it disgusting. It was a challenge - should have gone for cider again!
7.48 bid Rob and Matthew goodbye and cycle to AA, grab a couple of cookies and sit down. Nibble on them. The reading (from chapter 3) included the bit about abruptly stopping alcohol so I thought it made sense to do so - hid what remained from myself and resumed nibbling around 8.30pm. My new cookie eating technique is to bite off a small segment and then use saliva to have it melt in my mouth (no need to bite!). Delightful with chocolate-chip cookies. Grab a post-meeting cookie 9.07 cycle
9.14 home, settle down and finish cookie 9.25 much-needed sensory depravation 9.35 Oceana email/website - looks like they have a special event tonight so may have to go elsewhere; emails
10.09 get ready 10.16 cycle - false start #1 Oceana fenced in; #2 Revolutions would not accept my 2005-expired passport as identification "once the corner has been cut off, it is not valid" (no arguing with security) 10.30 make Groove which was initially dead though a few minutes later 6 gorgeous girls arrived - I recognised a couple of them from previous outings but today they were all wearing matching clothing - in particular their boots, hotpants and white tops (a mixture of crop tops and tank tops) and all dancing in a way that suggests they're go-go dancers, pole dancers or perhaps all go to a pole-dancing class (or something along those lines). Later in the evening I switched to Lloyds 2 or possibly 3 times though ending at Groove each time so a total of either 5 or possibly 7 segments to the evening. The girls found it difficult to fend off interest from pests. It was somewhat busy and rowdy at Lloyds even for my me 0.47 call it a night, mindful of my AM workout
0.58 home, get ready for bed (weigh-in 55.5kg) 1.05 bedtime
Shopping: £1 figs £1 pears. £2.00
Cycling: 5.45
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mollymoo24
Distinguished Member
| Joined: | 30 December 2007 |
| Location: | Chicago, USA |
| Posts: | 6302 |
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Posted: 11 February 2012 03:49 pm |
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I'm going out clubbing tonight, your post got my enthusiasm going...I don't know why exactly, but I just relate/remember those days, and they were fun.
Firefox is working now...thanks.
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 12 February 2012 12:06 pm |
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Not every night out is equally fun - see below
Saturday 11-2-12
8.12 up with alarm, get ready, read 'just for today' 8.42 cycle 8.52 make gym and head up, say hi. Body Combat with Kat and Angela - the return of a few classic tracks courtesy Angela. Body Pump. Had plenty of energy for both classes (contrast last week). Regroup by sofas 11.20 head downstairs - pistachio ice cream in a cone (try to eat mindfully - also applies to banana
miss out on valentine day prize promotion (and cupcake), chance meeting with AA/gym friend before returning to my coffee shop group which dispersed shortly after 11.51 changing room - change and chat 12.00 poolside, shower 12.48 cycle 12.57 park by market, find leaves 1.01 wonder over to Middelton Hall, also text Tracy 1.07 cycle
1.17 home, settle in 1.27 relax 1.45 nap
2.36 comp on, r 3.07 distractions - notes (for yesterday), pay water bill 3.32 post diary, afternoon weight is 54kg (that's lower than my "averaged weight" and 2 kilos lower than yesterday's post extravegance weight so water weight has been depleting nicely) 3.47 can't focus, b 4.05 r 5.30 CPH break 6.45 still waiting for a feeling of 'true hunger' to materialise - but it hasn't happened yet so I guess I've had enough - plan is to eat anyhow at 9pm before I go out, r
7.03 weight back to 53.5kg, b
7.14 r (also play a little with VS) 7.56 shave (needed a break) 8.03 r 8.17 b 8.22 r 8.32 CPH 8.44 eat (mostly using my new 'melt in the mouth' technique - Patent Pending), audio, food prep - one unfortunate lesson I need to learn is that Winter Squash that keep in (nice and warm) room temperature for many month will rot instantly once cut open - that's what the refrigerator is for but even then it might be best to cook and freeze entire squash as a certain unit - I thought I've already learnt that lesson but I'm having to learn it again today (so much of a very large 'Pink Banana' has been lost - but spent some time saving what I could)
10.08 get ready 10.16 cycle to Oceana, busy as we all remain enclosed downstairs 10.44 a man 'throws a woman about' (I think she's drunk) she loses her footing and falls my way, knocking my right arm against wooden panelling on side of DJ's box, I'm in some pain (around and just above the wrist joint) - unfortunately pain stays with me and doesn't go away. Woman is not seen later on - guess she went home shortly afterwards. Stayed at Oceana, alternating the 3 rooms when they were all open (chat with AA member I found, with his J2O and redbull, at Disco floor) but wasn't in the mood tonight (probably would have had a very differnt night in another venue - well that's life) 0.32 call it a night
0.46 home, settle in, start eating session 1.03 notes, online chores, online catch-up 3.32 bedtime!
Cycling: 3.03
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 15 February 2012 11:57 am |
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Sunday 12-2-12
8.50 up with alarm, take my time getting ready, morning weigh-in is 53kg - certainly dehydrated and notably have not seen this number since October 17th 2010 (that's almost 16 months ago). I still feel like I'm being rewarded for being naughty! 36 hours ago I had a post-extravagance evening weigh-in of 56kg. Interestingly these two atypical extremes of 53-56kg (117-123lb) are BMI 19.5-20.5 and therefore the maintenance target I set for myself. I think I'm doing just fine, maybe even better than fine, but still need to watch that I'm not 'habitually' eating too few calories to power my somewhat active lifestyle or over-doing it with unhealthy-for-me indulgences. My wrist has not forgotten it had been injured last night.
9.17 cycle (whilst cycling the random thought occured to me that my fallout with Nash some 13+ months ago was somewhat comparable with current issues with AA - specifically lacking clarity on 'my part' i.e. how I have been perceived by others - also occured to me that I could entertain letting him back in my life - no definite decisions made) 9.29 make gym and then head up to studio where Olga had 17 jammers nicely filling up Studio 1 and I felt somewhat lacking in energy throughout the class 10.30 warned Sam I'd probably have to leave halfway through - but I love movement and being in the crowd and the miacle was I found some energy I didn't think I had for a 2nd workout that was better than the first 11.42 'out' of gym, type texts but also briefly chat to a couple of staff at Front Of House about nights out future and past 12.26 give up on cupcake promotion (St Valentine's related) and cycle
12.43 home, settle in, start on salad (it now feels a little 'old' so maybe I should eat it rather than seeking to 'enhance' it!) trying to remember to let it melt in my mouth before applying my teeth to it 12.50 notes, CPH 2.00 (still eating salad slowly) try reading - MVC (display/edit) templates 2.20 pause salad eating 2.31 nap
4.07 read and eat - start with salad 4.50 food brunches out to fruit, beans, popcorn, dry mix 5.04 melt-in-mouth popcorn sensation is best described as 'pointless' - about the same as taking your popped corn and soaking it in water before eating (don't try this at home) 5.12 call Rob to arrange seeing him tomorrow 5.52 b, return to salads 'before it is too late' 6.20 decide to volunteer for a 'service position' on WA_T_and_P (Workaholics Anonymous) loop, CPH 6.43 give salad a rest 7.34 well this break was self-perpetuatiating and never ending, eat potato (have not actually stopped eating since 4pm but probably have not eaten enough calories today) 7.41 r
8.00 brush teeth (a very short-lived idea) analyse my jotted-down food notes and concerned I've not eaten anywhere near enough calories so assembe a 'dry mix' (principally muesli, oats, dried fruit, seeds, nuts - weight 98 grams so estimated at 500 calories) 8.16 resume reading 9.00 move on to MVC 3 videos ( http://www.asp.net/mvc/pluralsight ) - actually re-watching something I already have in November but evidently I'm getting stuff that just went over my head back then!
10.22 at Christmas I received some "spicy potato snacks" from sister Galit - first ingredient "potato starch" - which I use in minor quantities in my "dry mix" - as I'm now (well since Friday night - when I let cookies melt in my mouth) doing some chew-free eating (where practical), I'm gaining new perspectives about foods. Salad seems to be a two-phase process - once the easy stuff is sucked in there's some crunching to do. The potato (maize?) snacks melt in your mouth but the "coceptionally similar" papad requires chewing. This makes me think of papad as more of a real food. How does this colour popcorn? its main attraction has always been volume but now it melts into nothingness when mouth moisture is applied - so I'm viewing it as more processed than before
10.30 video 11.06 b 11.19 video 11.43 bedtime
7-day food shopping totals: 0 + 1 + 0 + 2 + 2 + 0 + 0 = £5.00
Cycling: 1.49
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 15 February 2012 11:57 am |
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Monday 13-2-12
5.35 video (well I wasn't getting back to sleep in a hurry) 6.35 b 6.55 video 7.08 b 7.12 v 7.22 cut up fruit 7.26 v 7.55 update challenge 8.10 b
8.30 get out of bed, get ready, black coffee 8.50 call mum and catch up (dad has car trouble, mum thinks Eran may not know he needs injections for certain countries) 9.12 cycle, off phone 9.23 make gym, head up 9.28 notes, 20 for Zumba - no dance talent spotted today - wasn't ultra weak but could have had more energy. In the changing rooms chat to Glen about accidents and injuries and then reluctantly pass on mum's news about "ALDI's secret fruit tree sale" on to Geoff 11.47 before getting the chance to jump into the shower, did however verify that Geoff was interested in the various gardening-related info 11.08 cycle
11.24 home, settle in, I continue to receive information from mum and pass on to Geoff (who is a good sport about it) 11.35 enjoy a lovely melt-in-your-mouth pear smoothie (a couple of pears - cubed before freezing, flat teaspoon cocoa powder, heaped teaspoon banana flavour Whey powder - could have also added 1/4 frozen banana but forgot) 11.43 notes, salad with smoked salmon 12.03 inbox contains Delivery Status Notification for emails I never sent so suspect my machine and/or email account have been compromised - change password, start installing 'Malawarebytes', CPH 1.39 diagnose Malawarebyte issues, watch a bit of video
2.07 contact from Rob - get ready 2.12 cycle 2.19 make Lloyds and meet him (he beat me by a minute). Sit down and chat. Barmaid Billie took the micky as she often does but also came through with a free drink (about half a pint of pear cider, I think - I momentarily felt an effect). Our chat included some titbits about the wedding Rob and Matthew attended on Saturday - and some of my stuff 3.35 we moved on to The Slug where Rob's pint was £3.25 (somewhat more expensive that Lloyds) - I promised to stay till "4ish" 4.13 cycle
4.22 home, bursting for loo, another pear smoothie (again delcious), notes 4.46 online
4.53 call mum/Geoff (regarding cheaper compost at LIDL) 5.01 online, eat beans 5.26 affirmations, pack very light (just the water bottle)
5.45 cycle 5.53 make gym 5.56 head up to studio, 3 instructors on stage, 26 participants (which Shey implied was a low turnout - well it's all relative), I wasn't familiar with track 2 - some Karate moves 6.45 leave Zumba class and wrap up warm 6.48 cycle
7.09 arrive late (during standard readings), tonight's reading a short one from Lifeline Sampler 7.15 sharing time: 8 present 7 sharing I was 6th to go - mentioned that today is my 5th birthday at OA but also how 4+ months after I stopped counting calories I have experienced an 8lb loss and sometimes not enough energy for my workouts so things are still work-in-progress 7.48 the only person who was not sharing was also the person whose 'job' it was to re-open the meeting but he was unaware 7.55 but eventually he 'clicked'. I took another short turn (not quite a continuation of my previous stream of thoughts), first round of the pot did not reach the £15 rent level so extra donations solicited. (I've only put £1.50 which is less than 1/8 of £15.) There was no "celebration secretary" (or maybe the role had been changed again?). Only stayed a short while after the meeting - 2nd to leave 8.05 cycle - initially so mild that I don't want my gloves 8.26 parents not at home (probably at gym), rain has made it painfully cold
8.44 relieved to finally make it home, thaw, hang wet items to dry, assemble 'dry mix' 8.54 comp on (CPH/emails) 9.35 silence, notes, potato 9.53 video 10.46 CPH 11.10 brush teeth, shave 11.20 video 11.34 bedtime
Cycling: 8.78
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 15 February 2012 11:58 am |
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Tuesday 14-2-12
6.16 up 6.21 video 7.16 b 7.28 pear smoothie, video 8.00 relax, get ready
8.29 cycle 8.38 make gym 8.44 video 8.58 Elaine is first to arrive, set up 9.02 video, Jo was saying that I should not be using my computer in the studio because it might get hurt (in the presence of about 5 very breakable babies and toddlers) 9.20 pack up computer/headphones an go to changing rooms, wipe my trainers to make them look slightly closer to their original white colour and pee out my morning smoothie/coffee 9.27 head back to studio and quickly read Just For Today before the Body Pump class got underway 10.38 chat with Angela (about her recovery and getting back to being athlete - and changes to my eating plan and shift in focus from Combat to dance), loo 11.04 cycle
11.17 make Geoff's - he showed me his freshly painted back room and explained that one day he'd like to add a downstairs toilet. I think about researching phone deals and notice how slow the e2save website is - aborting my experiments as Geoff and Monica are ready to eat
12.09 Geoff drives us 12.15 we make a brief stop at the post office 12.19 and continue on 12.26 parked at Peartree Bridge Inn - paying separately. The woman behind the bar tells me I'll need to approach a waitress for my ice-cream when I'm done with my food (which I don't like - and plan to circumvent this) 12.32 Geoff and Monica sit down with their drinks (guarding the "stuff") and I go to queue up for my carvery. After amassing my plate I approach the woman who works behind the bar with my voucher - she says to approach the waitress that works over there (pointing at where I am sitting) though there is obviously some confusion - I think she means her counterpart (the one who originally served me and told me to approach someone else). At this point I'm confused and disatisfied (which Geoff picks up on when I return to the table.
12.39 I settle down to eat as Geoff and Monica get up to get their carveries (giving Geoff my voucher) - they return with their plates - while away he found a waitress and handed my voucher and shortly after she finds geoff and gives him a clean 'Sunday' glass and a tablespoon. I go and serve myself with ice-cream (I was expecting 'white' and this was a bit more 'yellow' - not exactly a definite flavour - in some parts they call this 'American-style ice-cream' I'm not sure if that's entirely fair) and 12.52 return to the table, I am initially somewhat excited and not letting go of it but then mellowing out and letting it mostly melt as I concern myself with carvery foods. 12.55 I get into a pattern of alternately going to either put more food on my plate or to tip out melted ice-cream (it is very soft and melts rather quickly) with less melted ice-cream (1.13 on my 3rd plate - end up stopping at 4)
1.59 I abandon my 4th plate (still has a few mouthfulls of veg on it) and half a glass of as yet unmelted ice-cream as I'm feeling very definitely full, maybe even registering a little distention discomfort. Physically place them on the window-seal away from me. Geoff helps Monica drink up her red wine and I use the loo 2.05 I return, we get our stuff and head to the car, de-tour 2.16 parked in front of 'pets at home' - stay in car, notes 2.25 drive on 2.30 parked at pharmacy 2.41 drive
2.46 back at house, some research on e2save:
best price for Anroid phones (by monthly minutes), third column is pennies-per-minute
1200 14.66 1.22
900 13.54 1.50
600 12.87 2.15
500 9.70 1.94
300 8.25 2.75
200 7.10 3.55
best price for simple phones (by monthly minutes), third column is pennies-per-minute
600 8.10 1.35
500 7.58 1.52
400 5.82 1.46
300 5.17 1.72
200 3.50 1.75
4.34 I encourage Geoff to 'volunteer' a couple of small bananas which have seen better days - and observe that they readily melt in my mouth (and indeed between my fingers) unlike their less ripe more 'normal' counter-parts. Geoff starts to watch a film and I plot what else I can do
4.57 cycle. seek mum (unsuccesfully - she wasn't at home and also not picking up her mobile phone) so continue on
5.17 home, pick up a towel, fill up my water bottle, quiet environment good for unwinding, take the food I smuggled off my carvery plate (the majority of the meat allocated to me - a bit of stuffing and a yorkshire pudding), chopped them into tiny bits, mixed all up together and bagged each 'handful' as a portion to freeze and hopefully enjoy as a reminder of my carvery visit in future days
5.44 cycle 5.53 make gym, get changed and use locker and loo 5.59 head upstairs and not recognise the music (Cassie said it was 'Shebang' - a Les Mills program that will be released in the UK in due course). Shey was lending out some battery-operated bright 'finger lights' (reminding people to return them - or cover their cost as to dear for her to just give away). I stationed myself at the back airvent and wondered whether this would be a good spot for observing Sammy and Amy - but latecomer Heath spoilt my view by standing directly in front of me (also giving me less room to move) and the nail in the coffin was that I did not recognise the routine so thought "sod it" and headed to the front row where I had to 'negotiate' for space with YuKiKo. The routine was unfamiliar but not unpleasant. We then did a bit of the current release and a bit from 2 releases ago (same one Jason did on Thursday - "don't stop the party"). I had energy.
7.00 head to changing rooms where Heath re-iterated about Carol dying early yesterday morning (news I also had from Marie). I was planning to visit poolside anyhow - Chee and Heath were going anyhow but we didn't spend much time together - there was a rare chance to catch up with Jenny (who I originally know from fitness first) who said she gets a maximum of 3 hours of exercise a week these days though is hoping to try Shey's new kickboxing class 7.15 Shey's Aqua was particularly well attended (including Amy's gang of 4) and once Jenny had gone I spotted that even Heath had joined in (chatting to YuKiKo at the extreme left of the single lane dedicated to the class). After having a look from afar I decided to take a closer look from the adjacent swimming lane (which Chee was using for swimming). Jes (who was life-guarding) said if I was joining I'd have to go into the dedicated 'aqua class' lane - so I did (finding myself a bit more central than Heath). I didn't "need" the extra exercise but it was fairly easy and the good turnout made it seem fun. It was funny to watch a couple of girls clutching their chest to avoid falling out of their bikini tops during some jumping moves.
8.00 after the class headed to jacuzzi where I chatted (first to Susan and then to a man and a woman who gave the impression of being a couple) 8.25 shower, get dressed 8.39 call mum - discuss telephony dilema 8.48 cycle
9.04 home, brush teeth (to remind myself I'm not hungry and do not require calories) settle in and shuffle my list 9.19 notes 9.51 look at (RIP) Carol's facebook "timeline" i.e. messages left by others - and then write something myself 10.26 send message to GP and also arrange GP/Nurse appointments for next Wednesday morning 10.53 check TopCashBack and claim outstanding £10, notes
11.02 outstanding = availability of tariffs with unlimited landlines and availability of SIM-only redemption deals 11.11 mum calls (conversation frustrates me) 11.18 off phone, research mobile phones. Findings:
1) Orange website implies there is a 12-month Racoon SIM-Only deal giving 200 'any' minutes + unlimited landlines for £10.50/month; otherwise apparently no SIM-only deals with this feature
2) Sky may charge mum additional £5/month for unlimited calls to landlines
3) searches for 'unlimited landlines' generally unproductive, but Orange Racoon is still a possibility
4) (via billmonitor.com) http://www.mobiles.co.uk/orange-alcatel-ot-355.html (Orange, Show All), Racoon 26 (24 months) £26 "21 months free" apparently £3.25 a month. Like e2save this company is a part of the Carphone Warehouse empire. Apparently it is possible to make cashback claims via email.
1.10 minor snacking, email scan 1.26 MSE, CPH 2.33 comp off
Shopping: 389p carvery meal. £3.89
Cycling: 4.97
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 18 February 2012 02:25 pm |
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Wednesday 15-2-12
8.58 up (natural light) 9.11 call Orange customer service (150) select 'retention' and ask for options - I could keep my existing tariff for about £16 (I told her it was too much), she also said it isn't possible to port a number from Orange to Orange but then conceded that it was in fact possible (but somewhat inconvenient) as a 2-step process via another PAYG SIM
9.22 parents show up on my doorstep with a couple of bags of jerusalem artichokes and some urgency as dad is giving up the plot with these plants in about a month - I'll be limited by my storage ability. With this latest development I'm resentful that dad was 'busy' back in Septemeber and refused to dig any out for me. Need to work on Accepting reality!
9.36 alone - prebook currency on thomascookmoney.com, look for passport and what notes/coins I have around; jerusalem artichokes - first de-mudding phase and refrigerate 10.29 meetup imminent - eat pear, get dresseed, notes
10.41 pack up, go down with my compost, walk over with mum to Thomas Cook 10.49 and have a relatively pain-free transaction
10.56 part company - I head on to HSBC 10.58 where the machine eats my card, does not register that I'm due a free transaction and dispenses a random assortment of coins - I seek help (notes while I wait) 11.07 the woman eventually returns with some coins, I walk over to the O2 shop and all 4 staff are occupied so I sit on a sofa. More customers arrive and I have to convince the sales rep that I was there first. He explains their tariffs have changed and 'unlimited landlines' is now only an option on their Business Tariffs 11.14 take a walk, my next call is into Carphone Warehouse where the advisor suggests T-mobile has this feature - as an extra £5-a-month on top of whatever tariff you're on 11.25 walk back
11.32 briefly home to collect bike 11.35 cycle 11.43 make gym - Mary and one other in the gym - it turns out those who booked the class got a phone call to say Michelle had been involved in an accident and the class was cancelled - chat for a bit with Mary 11.51 cycle (can't establish contact with Rob - who was supposed to be available 12ish)
12.07 home again, some food 12.17 mum returns my call and I try to further 'share' my state worry about scarecety of good mobile phone deals 12.29 off phone, email Iain, trim nails 12.43 notes, post diaries, a bit of SQL and JavaScript programming (to improve my link-spotting functionality - an easier way to add users to the CPH_NOTSPAMMER table so even relatively new (but prolific) users who post lots of images do not show up in my interface 1.22 emails, notes 1.30 texts
1.33 Rob finally makes contact - get ready 1.40 pack up and cycle 1.46 meet Rob at Lloyds 1.58 decide to multi-task chat with some online catch-up. I talked about my mobile phone dilema and as a result moved my online activity from catch-up to phone research.
innovation: use http://www.mobilephonechecker.co.uk/mobile-contract-deals/ to better drill into e2save.com (non-Android phones)
200 191
300 312
400 598
600 598
I was boring Rob senseless with this (my typical reader probably has no interest in this either ) and he was boring me with his usual subject (girls he likes) 3.26 pack up and cycle
3.38 home, settle in, notes 3.50 remember about online OA meeting (need to install Java for Chrome) - that might have been incorrect info; tasty pear smoothie
(via mobilephonechecker: £6 for 600 minutes 'Voda Essentials £20.50 24m' http://www.e2save.com/mobile-phone/contract/nokia/Nokia-100.html?network=vodafone&tariffcode=VUWPEMAY11#tariffNetwork=vodafone )
4.28 blogs 4.38 mum calls 4.58 off phone, just a bit more phone research (starting to put those notes in a separate file to avoid it overtaking this diary), audio/online, texts 5.39 brush teeth, lights off 5.45 b 6.03 audio/online
6.47 pack up and cycle 6.55 make gym and head upstairs. Chatty crowd shifts into the corridor, late start due to Pilates over-running. Jeremy checks us off the register at the door. I head for my front row spot and stay till track 6 (mix of tracks, a little loud so probably my earplugs were not in properly, Steph shadowing), cover up, loo 7.50 cycle to Whetherspoons
8.03 park outisde, spy the group's long table (already 11-12 present) and sneak over. A few introductions - talk turned to food/drink, to keep my profile low I asked Nigel to 8.08 place a food order on my behalf - the not particularly descriptive 'Vegetables' side dish for 99p (on a previous occasion this feature brussel sprouts and carrots - today it was carrots and broccoli). Chat to Anthony and later on also Simon (both of whom I met last time), and nibble on my food when it arrived 8.32 until it was all gone 8.39 Netbook made its first appearance (mostly off though). Anthony (who has ASC) is training other people (who also have ASC) - these people are themselves being trained to become trainers - to give "autism awareness training" to various professionals who work with the public at large (as Autism Law 2009 and good practice now dictates that such people receive this sort of training). I did find it a novel idea that people with Autism will be delivering the autism training to the non-autistic professionals. My interest resulted in him getting his laptop out and walking me through the first 31 pages of his flashy PowerPoint presentation (until his lift decided to wrap it up) 10.05 stayed to chat to Simon - we were the last to survive 10.28 left when he did (to catch his bus), cycle uphill
10.38 home, dry mix (want to be well-fed for tomorrow's Pump, regardless of not feeling hungry, prepared to eat faster-than-currently-normal), settle in 10.54 notes 11.19 audio (online, eat) 11.42 more 'dry mix' (more than 170g in all) 11.48 try to 'dip' into videos 0.18 brush teeth 0.21 bedtime
Shopping: 99p carrots-and-broccoli at Whetherspoons. £0.99
Cycling: 5.20
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 18 February 2012 02:25 pm |
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Thursday 16-2-12
8.07 up, comp on, browse e2save.com and then visit mobilephonechecker.co.uk which today has got a problem (hopefully temporary) it is not offering an 'e2save' checkbox (has the crawl failed today? halfway through? stopped including this important e-retailer?) in a round-about way this had me evaluating best-of-market deals (300=1.71 600=3.25 1200=7.67)
http://www.buymobilephones.net/info_terms.php?id=12 "16.1.5. Line Rental by Redemption offers are limited to two per-household per-year." that's a problem because we need 3 phones (me, mum and dad) so a bit of a non-starter!
8.16 mum announces intention to deliver more jerusalem artichokes (before my workout)
8.40 mum calls from downstairs - we both go up with the produce 8.45 she's gone, open post, drink coffee before returning to cashback-related matters
9.16 comp off, pack very light and cycle 9.25 make gym, head upstairs, chat to Marie and set up, Michelle still shaken up by her car accident so Debbie covering with Pump Fx with a lateish start. My ears were extra sensitive this morning (to her voice more than the music - piercing) and in my desperation I tried 3 different types of earplugs (as Marie points out, nothing works better than our own fingers in our ears - regrettably this is not a practical solution). I do hope I'm not as sensitive tonight or I'll have a poor nightclub experience! Put on long bottoms by sofas and notice they're replacing the water cooler with an identical looking but presumably in some way better or less broken model, loo 10.46 cycle 10.53 at outdoor market snack on plum I found and also pick up some free leaves (nothing I wanted to buy) 10.57 cycle
11.05 home 11.08 notes 11.15 mobile phones - on the way home it occured to me that at a pinch I might want to write my own 'scraper' to overcome the limitations with e2save's borken search functionality - a bit of useful Googling reveals that someone else had already done it http://www.moneysupermarket.com/mobile-phones/retailers/e2save/ . Also decide to read more about sister company mobiles.co.uk and going by their terms and conditions and other pages they don't seem so bad (especially after reading about worse operators this morning). They in turn give access to a choice of deals for less than £4 (including the deal I'm currently on at £3.25) though it will involve the hassle of changing my phone number 12.30 staying with moneysupermarket and looking at my sisters' phone model (Samsung Tocco Lite silver/black, Android) this can be had for £5.24 with 400 minutes (downside - just a 12 month contract) 2.44 having continued reading, it sounds as though mobiles.co.uk is a wolf in sheep's clothing. 4.07 still on the project and can't find a non-0871 phone number for them (e2save's number still works). I guess I'm sticking with e2save! 4.30 reboot
4.45 salad, audio (10 O'Clock Live 4.53 silence, 'relax' by processing jerusalem artichokes 5.23 offload to Geoff 5.37 get ready, audio
5.46 pack up and cycle 5.54 make gym, loo 5.58 head up to studio, (name unknown) was there again (great mover and nice to look at, and this time she wasn't hiding at the back). Jason was "mixing it up" including some stuff I haven't done in a while. Took my time in the changing room 7.20 before heading up to the poolside 7.40 I skipped the shower as they had a malfunction and there was no hot water - Heath and Chee were much more brave
8.03 I followed Chee to Moon Under Water where he offered a drink - I decided I'd have more mileage out of another 99p side-order of 'Vegetables' and tap water. Chee was buying bottled drinks for himself and Heath (who showed up after a de-tour to his car). The food arrived (is it my imagination or was today's serving smaller than yesterday's?) and I did my best to make it last. Conversation spanned some work topics (Chee is starting an exciting new position which involves travel) and some gossip (some of the gym crowd would be starting Saturday night outing at Seklow) - they are both more 'at home' social animals and I have no particular hope of catching up to them. Even at their level there is a certain level of deliberate strategy at play (qualitative difference between them and Rob: he is mostly admiring people from a far and interacting with celebs over Twitter = they mostly have 'random' conversations with people nearby and their weapon of choice is Facebook). Also a bit of mobile phone talk into the equation 9.10 part ways
9.20 home, eat (construct a 'dry mix') 9.32 notes 9.54 try Chee's tip - mobilife.com - its best 600-minute contract comes out at £25 (expensive phones and no cashback it would appear) 10.05 how does data impact the cost of a contract? Looking at Sony Ericsson Xperia X8 500 mins, 1500 texts, 1GB data, £10.62 (handset sold separately for £110). This makes it £111.36 more expensive than a simple minutes-only deal but I'm getting both a handset and 1GB of data for just a little bit more than the price of the handset on its own(!). Suddenly I'm excited about phones again (and mum and dad's deal will have to be different from mine).
10.37 get ready 10.44 cycle 10.51 park - Oceana already buzzing. A steady stream of girls and boys acknowledging my dance skill was appreciated - some saying so with works, some shaking my hands, some coming up to join in a dance. A couple of girls (Sophie and Jade - coming up to their 24th birthday - invited me to join them for their smoke break - we had a little chat during which I feel I was my usual 'useless' self (they found it hard to believe I'd "bravely" come out on my own), we did return to the dance floor for a bit more dancing. When they eventually disappeared it was actually a bit of a relief to return to being my 'true self' again. There was another £1000 give-away upstairs at 0.30am - I thought last week was a one-off but evidently it is a new ongoing promotion. I'm surprised they can afford to. (Are they still in Administration?). Spent most of the night in Woo Woo, only periodically visiting the Ice House 1.04 call it a night - cycle (risky shortcut)
1.16 home, snack 1.25 notes 1.55 fast eating - altogether today allocated ~200 dry mix (perhaps 1000 calories). It'll be interesting to see if I gain weight. Was not particularly 'useful' during this period 2.49 eyes shutting - bedtime!
Cycling: 4.19
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 18 February 2012 02:25 pm |
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Friday 17-2-12
9.52 up, comp on, more phone searches (got to the point where my searches are so specific that the e2save website is co-operating with me and kind-of 'works' - quite the achievement). In between the minutes-only option (£5.98) and the 1GB-and-Adroid-phone option (£10.62 or +£111.36), a halfway option 500MB-and-Facebook/browsing (£7.24 or +£30.24) option appeared - just good enough to perhaps keep me from plunging headlong into smartphone territory. If I'm not going for a smartphone I should at least go for this option.
10.48 emails 11.21 backups 11.35 weigh-in at 52.5kg - really surprisingly low in context of my usual weigh ins - finding it difficult to explain (despite the late definition of 'morning weigh in' and likely both dehydrated and with a relatively empty colon), update challenge table, finish watching '10 oclock show' 11.58 read 'just for today' 12.22 facebook, IM Galit
12.37 video (finally returning to study after ~3 days away? a little tricky to get back into it) 1.03 text from Revolutions about a free drink (text ambiguous, use Google - get hint that choice might be a pint of stella or a small glass of wine), make myself a coffee 1.28 video 2.02 eat (salad, carvery leftovers)
2.13 (prompted by post) call TalkTalk and confirm my deal has been extended as agreed (so far so good - guy can see my credit applied to the account) 2.26 mum calls - trying to find if a particular letter to 'Mr Leuchter' is me or my brother 2.44 pear smoothie 2.57 invite Rob to join me for the free drink, salad 3.17 video 3.43 jerusalem artichokes (wash, cook), video 4.16 b 4.26 cph, video 4.35 get ready (last time I'll be using computer till after 1pm tomorrow)
4.47 cycle 4.52 show up at Slug'n'Lettuce prompting Rob to down the end of his pint. After waiting for Graham to nip to the loo we walked over to Revolutions where we each had to fill in a short pre-printed 'Headstart' form (our contact details). 5.05 We all selected a pint of stella for our drink - and were all interested to discover they would usually charge us £3.40 each for the privilege (not the cheapest of venues). A little while later we were all pleasantly surprised at the arrival of complimentary snacks on a wooden board - 6 slices of peperoni pizza and 9 potato wedges - with choice of sour cream and sweet salsa for dipping (made sure I had 1/3 of the available food - as I was intending to nibble at it to make it last - Graham on the other hand was dealing with the food the same as he does with drink and was the first to finish). I'm hardly one to gloat though, training myself not to be a fast eater is work in progress.
5.52 leave Rob and Graham at Revolution (Rob still had more than 1/3 of a pint left but Graham wanted to leave so not sure what happened to them in my absence), move bike up nearer to gym 5.58 head upstairs - 21 for Jason's Body Step (including Amy - am guessing not her first time at Body Step but somewhat new to it). Afterwards took my time leaving the studio and locking up stuff in changing room 7.16 poolside, shower, change 7.41 cycle
7.51 arrive AA meeting, brief chat with Di, grab 3 cookies (hobnob, digestive, custard cream - estimate 200) and make them last. Reading was Step 12 (carrying the message) and it was observed there are unfamiliar (i.e. new) faces in the room. My 3 cookies lasted almost the hour till 8.49pm. 9.07 cycle home - leave bag, change to smart casual, a bit of snacking
9.27 cycle 9.36 make Lloyds - music not too loud (and indeed manage to stay without earplugs all night and I doubt they turned it down in all my venues so I guess it is my 'variable' perception) - Rob at the bar with Graham who by this point was acting a little paranoid about getting barred. Bar staff were playing a little joke on him (hid his drink for a little while) but he was going along with it as is scared to lose this drinking venue.
11.57 leave Oceana - check out Revs (really not that busy) and Groove (more fun) 0.27 cycle
0.39 home, snack 0.57 including some dry mix 1.05 bedtime
Cycling: 3.49
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 19 February 2012 12:26 pm |
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Saturday 18-2-12
7.17 up, some chores 7.51 lay down for a bit 8.20 snack - jerusalem artichokes 8.30 get ready
8.42 cycle 8.51 make gym, loo 8.59 head up to studio, Kat mentioned it was her birthday - Angela rotated her 'old combat tracks' some different from last week. Body Pump - a couple of unfamiliar men in front row - unfamiliar, use heavish weights (almost as much as me) but technique a bit unusual (familiar with gym but new to classes - or from another gym?). No Dave/Marie. 11.15 head down to change, poolside, chat to Nina at length when she showed up, shower, change 12.29 go up to peer at Denise's Zumba class (9 present)
12.35 cycle, buy 8 avocados for £1 at market 12.47 check out Middleton Hall (a tiny food market - only sample available was bread dipped in oil)
1.02 home, snack, 'wash' old salad (this is an indication that there is a mismatch between the amount of salad made and the amount currently required - I need to focus on finishing all that is currently ready to eat before making any more - but I also ought to make a list of prouce on the 'watch list' - the 'use it or lose it' list 1.20 facebook
1.44 call Revolution - man says they start charging tonight at 10.30pm (I thought it was 10pm) so will plan accordingly 1.50 CPH 2.18 IM Rob, audio 2.26 notes, more salad 3.24 post diaries Wed/Thu/Fri, CPH diaries 3.29 shave, make smoothie 3.45 texts, jerusalem artichokes 5.24 nap
6.45 comp on, audio=MoneyBox, texts 7.04 blogs 7.23 emails=22 8.03 fully caught up, comp off, assess priorities - start food prep activity 8.43 add audio (8.48 text from Rob - he's decided not to come tonight) 9.16 eat (avocado, dry mix), Google calories in cocktail (inconclusive) 9.29 audio, food prep 10.05 get ready (comp off until tomorrow)
10.17 cycle (sober), stop at alleyway behind Lloyds to down my pre-measured 75ml vodka, park in front of Revs and join very short queue 10.25 I was informed they were charging £3 (in other words the man I telephoned lied to me). Well two can play at this game of deception so I got out my mobile phone and showed them a text promising "£2 off admission tonight" (genuine text but relating to January 28th) so I paid £1. I could have paid nothing had I not telephoned as my previous understanding was free-before-10pm. There was still time to kill as I new no-one, there was no dancing and it was fairy dead. Aware that having taken those 3 shots I was under the influence, I wanted to be a bit more careful than usual, perhaps it just supressed my usual creativity, alertness and thinking that goes into my dancing style. So I questioned the decision to have drunk (extra consideration - if I'm out eventually I'll have to pay to restock - my 3 shots cost about £1 in today's prices) and Revs is so dead (even on a Saturday at 11pm) that I shall definitely not pick this as a venue of choice unless I was following a crowd
11.08 first spotting of someone I know = Kat (and then also notice Steph and Shey). The next time I looked they were also with Sam and Susie. They decided to go upstairs (shorter queue at the bar?) before returning downstairs for a bit of dancing. First time I've seen either Sam or Shey in a dress. Some people have suggested that Sam (who lifts heavier than me) looks "like a man" and this certainly is not the case - very feminine (and slim). Shey was friendly, even got a hug from her.
Around midnight I followed them upstairs, and just as well that I did or I would have lost them - they discovered that Katie and company had now arrived and have taken posession of the VIP area. The bouncer would not waive me through until Glen spotted my bother and signalled that I was with the group. I proceeded to spend the majority of the rest of my stay in this reserved VIP area (briefly leaving from time to time). A little while later suddenly a square bottle of spirit materialised - shot glasses were filled with it and I had not one but two (possibly amounting to more than 2 units as no optics were used to measure). It later transpired that this bottle might have been illegitimately obtained (there is a direct passageway from within the VIP area into the behind-the-bar area and one of the party guests helped themselves in this somewhat risk-of-prosecution-for-theft kind of way!). Later on still staff arrived with complimentary drink (like the VIP area hire, which was arranged by Katie's employers (my gym - it is her leaving do) I assume the gym bought a package which included said drinks. I had a chilled 330ml bottle of Stella.
I don't often stay out this late so it is tricky to tease out whether I was exhausted because it was a very long outing for me or because of the alcohol consumption (which I estimate at 3 + 3 + 1.5 = 7.5 units). We then combine this with a sub-optimal venue and the unfamiliar 'VIP area' setup. Certainly a completely different night from Thursday and Friday which were an "in and out" dance mission. I was thinking of going home at various points, ultimately staying until quite late
3.06 cycle 3.22 home, clear bed, get comfortable, assemble a 'dry mix', lights off, climb into bed 3.35 bedtime
Shopping: £1 avocado. £1.00
Cycling: 2.99
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 22 February 2012 08:56 am |
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Sunday 19-2-12
9.05 up (alarm), low weigh-in of 52kg (alcohol dehydrates - it is well known - but how many low weigh-ins does it take to estabish a new typical weight? well I let go of the control and let physicsdiet.com be in charge of the figure - it says 53.5kg), get ready 9.18 cyce 9.25 make gym. Body Jam - a mixture of tired from lack of sleep and perhaps not enough calories. Track 7 (recovery) onwards were mixed up from 3-4 releases ago which we haven't done for a while with anyone so nice to revisit (she hinted it was from 2010 - so far I've not been anal enough to familiarise myself with Body Jam trackists so will take her word for it). Survived all of this without earplugs.
10.30 Body Combat - wasn't particularly looking forward to it but wanted to see whether any of last night's survivors - Sam had obviously pre-arranged to swap with Debbie. Only Kat made it (reportedly Steph was also in for her shift). Warmup 1a-1b on current release was trying - afterwards positioned myself by my water bottle and the rest of my stuff at the back and started packing. Noticed she was mixing it up for track 2 - started at the back and then remembered what Marie said so tried the extreme right (first behind her and then in frot of her right by the coloured weights stand). It certainy made some difference to the sound (on the other hand no aircon and the mirror is obscured by the weights equipment). Towards the end of the long track 4 asked Dave where Marie had gone - he said she moved to the back because I was in her spot. I went to the back to ask if she wanted her spot back (she said no). Decided that on balance (with the noise level, temperature and my tiredness and enthusiasm level) to just wrap it up so pick up my stuff and out of the door before the end of the track. Wrap up warmly in the changing room - Dave met me there to check why I left so perhaps the impression was I left in a strop - well it is true I did not like the implication my actions were inconveniencing Marie but this was only part of the whole
11.07 cycle to market where I find some dark green leaves and an apple, and then also stop at Hotel Chocolat to collect one of their esoteric samples ("salted puddle" - seriously?)
11.33 home, unpacking/tidying and snacking (recenty found apple, 'coarse salad', defrosted herring, pear-banana-chocoate smoothie), shuffle todos 12.05 comp on, notes (remind myself to slow down eating and only put one thing in at a time) (12.40 eating some of my 'historical' salad which really needs to be finished asap - hopefully today) 1.04 physicsdiet, book classes 1.17 e2save scan 1.23 email scan 1.28 comp off, cook part of my salad, nap
2.22 mum calls (from LIDL), insists I wait for her downstairs if I want to do a "compost swap" 2.28 this means that once I'm downstairs waiting for her for at least 6 minutes before she arrives 2.34 and I swap my actual compost with her 'compost' (it is a joke - some unwanted carrots and cucumber which are in reasonably good condition but surplus to her requirements - just a reference to the fact that she has too much so if she kept these they'd eventually end up in the compost bin)
2.38 return home, eat 'cooked salad' 2.41 MVC videos 3.30 b
3.59 orange bill - info on actual usage? apparently I used 395 minutes this month (interesting figure - my record is higher at around 480 including at least 75 cross-network minutes, perhaps this figure specifically excludes magic numbers? or cross-net minutes? well it excludes something!). Niggle on Chrome - can't actually log out of Orange!
so use IE to look at mum's bill, painfully need to add up duration of itemised calls, stated total 69, my add-ups are 70 and 120 for the 'y' and 'n' calls, in other words it excludes 'Magic Numbers'. Try to approach mum with my discovery - she was pre-occupied with issue relating to TV remote and was unreceptive. She would not even commit to having her phone call duration counter reset 4.32 Orange website bug also affects IE, can't log out of mum's account either. I guess I'll need a 3rd browser if I want to check dad's bill. Never mind.
4.34 the choice is between food prep and study 4.42 audio (12 steps) 4.49 mum is ready to talk - chat about phone plans, holidaying abroad, birthday eat-out or eat-in plans 5.39 off phone, resume food prep 5.52 +audio
8.06 silence, state of play: at this point "salad not available" is no longer a concern. My salad weighs ~2.6 kilos, is approximately 5-6 litres in volume and is completely fresh, ingredients are pear, apple, jerusalem artichokes (half raw, half cooked), 4 types of cabbage, lentils (defrosted), runner beans (defrosted), sweet potatos (defrosted), carrots, cucumber, grapes, cauliflower leaves, broccoli stalk, horseradish (cooked to make it a bit milder as it is too old to be finely chopped), round lettuce, orange peppers. I also spotted a problem with the dried white beans (in a see-through container) so briefly soak them and then take the risk and pressure-cook not longer after - unusual results (having forgotten it at level 6 there was some pressure to release but the valve did not respond in predictable fashion and I wondered if there was a serious problem) so abort cooking and release pressure - they seem to already be cooked (admittadly 'al dente') that's good enough. Outstanding food-related tasks include: portion/freeze white beans (today/tomorrow), preparing cauliflower leaves for the next salad (how many days will this one be good for? this is a brave new world, I used to eat 3-4 litres a day but I no longer need to). The more jerusalem artichokes are washed-cubed-cooked-frozen the more storage space I can have in the fridge for any last-ever-harvest (wants doing but difficult to colour this task as 'urgent'). Am I willing to return to the rigour of study?
8.26 video 8.50 audio/prep 9.05 video and dry míx - but then get diverted 10.00 videos (move on from PluralSight to some Microsoft-produced videos (at http://www.asp.net/mvc/videos/ ) 10.56 text collect, brush teeth 11.35 video 11.41 tired - bedtime
7-day food shopping totals: 0 + 3.89 + 0.99 + 0 + 0 + 1 + 0 = £5.88
Cycling: 1.37
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 22 February 2012 08:56 am |
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Monday 20-2-12
8.16 comp on, e2save checks 8.42 physicsdiet calculates 30 day movement in my 'avg weight' at 54.83 - 53.35 = 1.48kg (3.26lb). That's more movement than October - should I be concerned? Last night I increased my 'minimum supplemental dry mix to consume on a non-junk-food-day' to ~250 grams 8.50 get ready
9.10 call Autism Diagnostic Service - Mr Fritz's secretary suggested that it typically takes 4-6 weeks from interview to final report and then explaining I've been waiting for 4 months and with access to my name and a brief chat with her boss implied that it will be ready in about a week 9.14 cycle 9.24 make gym and head up - about 23 for Michelle's Zumba, including a cute short blonde with some dance talent so I did my best to stay close enough to admire her. I'm almost 100% sure this isn't Amy's blonde friend but I'm so bad with faces it isn't real. My energy levels could have been better (they never come close to Michelle's). Wrap up and cycle (calling mum for catch-up on the way)
11.02 home, drink up soup 11.10 I know mobiles.co.uk are not to be trusted but morbid curiousity about their deals (actually hardly a big difference so easy to stick with e2save) 11.32 Rob gives initial warning (no venue yet) - start getting ready and decide to squeeze in a smoothie 11.45 venue is Browns
11.50 pack up 11.53 cycle 12.01 arrive at Browns and spot Rob by the bar, get a drink of water, sit at round table, chat and also discretely tear cauliflower leaves off their stem 1.08 second drink of water (pause cauli prep), chat included Saturday's outing to Revs, state of play with regard to hunting a mobile phone deal and my eating/weight 2.09 head uphill (but not interested in following him to Lloyds) so at crossroads 2.15 part ways
2.20 home, get organised (include re-spraying bike chain with WD40 on Rob's advice) 2.28 eat (salad, carvery leftovers, half avocado), pack 500g salad for tomorrow's visit to Geoff 2.40 +audio, tear cauliflower leaves, cube jerusalem artichokes 2.53 notes 3.07 audio+prep 3.30 analyse mum and dad's online mobile phone bills - in 22 months dad has never used more than 197 minutes. Mum had 3 months above 500 and 2 months almost getting there so I think she'll be OK with 500 (and certainly ok at 600)
5.04 videos (VS 2010) 5.25 brush teeth 5.29 b
5.43 get ready 5.49 cycle 5.57 make gym, put all my stuff into studio 2 (in the corner), go to studio 1 (through Paul who was checking class bookings). Do tracks 1a-1b and then try to switch to Zumba. Paul manning the door there too - said "you can't do that" - return to Combat for track 2 and go to studio 2 (he was no longer there, about 23 in the room - a relatively low turnout with Amy and her group all missing today - it is a transparent glass wall and I'm sure Paul spotted me as he was going past. Next week I may not be permitted to warm up in Combat, which is a shame - I know which class I'd choose, though. Energy-wise still didn't feel I was at the top of my game (though lack of calories is just a theory)
7.10 leave Zumba, lock up my stuff and head to poolside. Jacuzi first, then steam room and sauna (Heath and Susie having a private conversation). Chee and Tracy (Sam's sister) showing up at jacuzi. Shower and change. Also join a conversation by reception (about 6 of us - including Shey).
8.40 cycle 8.51 home, audio, light snacking, settle in 9.06 online, notes 9.36 CPH 9.57 IIS videos 10.07 more dry mix - today I'm aiming to supplement with 300 grams (which is probably 1200-1500 calories) to ensure I'm properly fueled for tomorrow (and with special concern over fasting ahead of a Wednesday morning blood test I'll be fasting for 11.19 brush teeth 11.25 b 11.39 Tracy 0.44 off phone, bedtime
Cycling: 4.13
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 22 February 2012 08:57 am |
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Tuesday 21-2-12
7.39 up (nature call - force myself to stay up), smoothie, coffee, get ready 8.31 cycle 8.42 make gym, head to studio, set up 8.56 sofa, comp on, (Elaine heads towards studio), draft email to Caitlin
9.24 loo 9.29 return to studio, newbies and busy room lead to some delays 9.35 class underway, survive entire class with earplugs only inserted 'shallow', energy level quite reasonable for Body Pump 10.35 however I also stayed for Olga's Body Attack (cover for Laura's Body Combat) and my cardio fitness wasn't up to much. After somehow surviving track 4 (ploymetrics) and as they grabbed their mats for conditioning 11.03 I leave the studio, wrap up, loo 11.12 cycle 11.19 at market buy apples 11.23 cycle 11.28 drop them at home and cycle
11.42 make Geoff's - he updates me on his ageing cat Tabitha who is recovering from yesterday's operation (which cost him £300). His holiday is also now booked. 11.56 I demo the 'broken' search functionality on the e2save website. Monica comes down. I eye up the bread as he makes a corned beef sandwhich but once more I'm being perceived as selfish or he is not in an overly generous mood and I don't inherit a slice (but I do get 12.07 a glass of red wine when Monica has hers, 12.27 a coffee, 12.40 grated cheese in my salad when he adds some to his rice dish 3.15 and an oversized pear that was probably already ripe last week)
Electricity cut out so we 2.11 went for a walk to the Neath Hill shops (munching on some cauliflower leaves now that I remember them) - Geoff put money onto his pre-pay gas and electricity accounts and bought a multi-pack of Cadbury cream eggs at a good price (well it is all relative, I think they are overpriced even at that price point - even if they're available individually at more than twice the price). He was fast-eating them on the walk 2.35 and at home. Goeff prints ice-cream vouchers for Mick and I (for Thursday - he'll pick me up noonish)
3.55 get ready to leave (own initiative) 4.03 cycle 4.21 home, smoothie, settle in 4.30 emails 4.36 more food (beans, salmon, salad) 4.41 notes, update challenge 5.22 b 5.35 get ready
5.47 cycle 5.54 make gym, loo, use locker 6.02 head up - manager Pete asked me not to book Body Combat if I'm booking Zumba (on Mondays) I said ok and headed to studio for a good mix of Shebam and Body Jam. For some reason it took me an unfeasably long time to make a 'positive ID' for Dani (in sales). Sammy was best dancer. Afterwards a bit of chat after - Chee/Heath headed to poolside but I'm mindful of my 'eating window' so 7.28 cycle
7.41 home, start eating! 7.59 comp on, continue eating - sprint finish overshooting by 7 minutes 9.07 brush teeth, audio on 9.15 emails 9.27 bedtime - very early (didn't think I would, but Tracy predicted this yesterday)
Shopping: £1 apples
Cycling: 5.63
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 25 February 2012 12:32 pm |
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Wednesday 22-2-12
7.30 up, 53kg (i.e. I'm back within my target range after 3 below-range readings), get ready 7.59 comp on
8.12 pack up and cycle 8.24 make GP's surgery, in-person check in so I can specify I'm here for GP's appointment (no sense in checking in for the blood appointment just yet!). Take a seat and read 'just for today' 8.36 comp on, read MSE (offline)
8.46 go into GP's office. Hand him the post-op letter. Ask for blood tests - he showed a bit of resistance but 'bought' my reasons (cholesterol - that I have recently changed what I am eating, D - that I've recently halved reduced my dose of the calcium/D combo) but was gently warning me that I can't expect an annual test. I then mentioned the 4-month delay with my diagnosis report and he suggested he might follow it up (a bit fuzzy on whether he said he would or wouldn't and when - also about whether he'd approach Fritz or Edgar or both). I then mentioned recent weight loss, lack of energy as chief concern, re-introducing some form of counting, my target weight range but some ambivilence with respect to enforcing it - in respnse he suggested he'd add a couple of things to my blood test 8.59 return to waiting room, notes
9.04 called in for my blood appointment, ask for a thin needle, double-check what tests have been asked for, one false start followed by success on 2nd try, also ask what appointment to ask for relating to next Botox pre-op (need one of the three nurse - not just a blood-taker) 9.11 cycle uphill
9.25 home, notes 9.38 MSE, post in challenge, post diaries Sun/Mon/Tue 10.04 shave and give myself an experimental half-haircut (apply #4 but only to my forehead - that is where hair is getting in my way wheras I currently have no issues with it elsewhere - and I am still mindful of that balding patch at the top and back of my head which early January photogrphas brought to my attention) 10.23 try an apple smoothie 10.45 carvery leftovers with salad; IIS video 11.11 get ready (but continue to end of video)
11.27 pack up and cycle 11.38 make gym, change, loo, put stuff in locker, Zumba with Michelle, return to changing room 12.37 establish contact with Rob (who is not sure if he'll be out), shower (post hair-cut!), change 12.56 chat to Eran 1.02 and cycle
1.23 home 1.37 off phone, eat (salad, half avocado), text from Rob warning he's heading into town, watch IIS video 1.53 audio and food prep / get ready 2.10 video 2.19 notes
2.24 cycle 2.32 make Lloyds, (at the bar) go online and ask for water, Rob shows up a couple of minutes later - chat 4.33 cycle
4.44 home, pear smoothie 4.54 audio on, eat, online, CPH
6.41 pack up and cycle 6.50 make gym 6.53 head upstairs and 'passively' sit on sofa with 'the group' - Kelly finds me so a bit of more engaged chatting before class. Squeeze myself into a slightly-crowded front row for Sam's 'mixed up' Body Combat - feel reasonably energetic (did I eat enough or is Combat just easy to 'cheat' at?). After track 6 get dressed (well stay in shorts) 7.44 cycle 7.55 make AA, 2 types of chunky cookies (say 100 each - packet has no indication) and a chocolate finger 25 - these lasted me till 8.27pm (that's 33 minutes). Chair was good to hear 8.37 break - chat to Ed, grab a 2 more biscuits and 2 fingers, notes 8.49 nip to loo 8.53 slowly eat my 2nd lot of refreshments during the share-backs (9.29 done with cookies - that's 36 minutes) 9.38 cycle
9.45 home, start arranging food (aiming for '300 grams' but factoring the cookies as accounting for ~100) 9.53 call from Hadar who got a call from Galit relating to parents 10.10 call Orange and request a 'block' on their phones 10.20 speak to Hadar 10.32 and then also to Galit 10.44 research 'Praktik hotel' 10.56 brush teeth 10.59 Facebook 11.24 notes 11.53 e2save, CPH 0.26 video 0.35 bedtime
Cycling: 6.85
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 25 February 2012 12:32 pm |
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Thursday 23-2-12
6.28 on Facebook, Matthew replies to my message and this comes up as an SMS text on my phone and wakes me up - an opportunity to make Body Pump so start getting ready (pausing to try to dislodge a bit of dirt that has been lodged under my left thumb's nail making it hurt to do things like use thumb to press keys on my mobile phone - partial success only so probably still have to wait for the nail to grow out to obtain 100% relief) 6.50 cycle 6.59 make gym, chat to Kelly (who feels she needs to boost her gym attendance) who helps me to set up. We miss out lunges and abs - but return to abs track post-stretch. Chat with Angela, get dressed, cycle back
8.30 home, start pressure-cooking pre-soaked yellow split peas, wash a batch of somewhat muddy jerusalem artichokes 9.11 lay in bed 9.14 Galit calls, follow up with another call to Spain 9.23 online, audio (10 Oclock live) 10.24 video 10.27 notes 10.41 b 11.06 video, wash jerusalem artichokes
11.53 pack up, go down and take a walk with Geoff and Monica to their 12.01 car parked by YMCA (where I used to live). To give me a headstart I suggest they could have a coffee at Mick's 12.09 they drop me off on the way to Mick. I pay for a carvery and hand over my ice cream voucher. I am unclear about how I'll get my ice cream this time (last time I was to hand voucher to waitress) so James who is behind the bar telephones next door to let them know I'm due one 12.15 I head over for my carvery. The meat portions are not particularly generous 12.19 back at the table, manage to slip away most of my meat (as well as a potato an 1.5 yorkshire puddings) I'm sure the staff didn't see me but a few pub regulars are dierctly facing me and in fact it sounds as though they're talking about me throughout the afternoon (you're infamous, as Geoff likes to put it). Well they're not interfering with my eating. 12.30 With hardly anything left on my plate I go back to the carvery and ask for my ice-cream glass. ('have you paid?' - I mention the telephone call). ('are you done with the plate?' - what a funny question - reading on I've still got another 90+ minutes of eating). Get some ice cream, put it to the side, load up on veggies and take both plate and ice cream glass back to my table (by the pool table). This is my fastest recorded plate of vegetables - record time 12.37 third trip for veggies and I'm still eating quickly and wondering just how much of a "head start" I've been allowed relative to fast-eating Mick 12.49 I call to say "I wouldn't mind some company" 12.52 time for the 4th trip for veggies 12.57 and a separte trip to re-fill my ice-cream glass - with the start of the "slow eating" phase as I begin to register signs of fullness (never mind not being hungry) so it is time to pace myself as they're not even on the scene yet - time to remind myself what this chewing business is all about 1.00 briefly call Eran to pass on titbits I learnt last night from sisters
1.06 my call had the desired effect - Geoff, Monica and Mick have finally arrived (very roughly this calculates as 17 minutes to/from Mick and a deliberate 23 minute coffee break?). Monica stays with me whilst they queue to get drinks and buy carvery tickets 1.14 I'm left to work on my fourth plate as they queue up for food. Although I'm eating slowly I need to pace myself some more to ensure I'm not left with nothing but ice cream (as I have to stay at the table - I'm guarding Monica's stuff) 1.21 they return from the carvery with loaded plates so it is my turn to go and load mine up (a fifth and it turns out final time - also asking for an extra yorkshire pudding) 1.37 fetch a 3rd glass of ice-cream (I don't finish them - I'm just done with them when they melt away) 1.50 Mick and Geoff have finished their one and only (admittadly loaded) plates and have started playing pool (Geoff has a promising start but then gets beaten) 2.03 I'm done eating (I give up just short of the end of my 5th plate) - but they've alreay put the money in the pool table and were having a 2nd game (I thick Mick won again) 2.14 we headed towards the car - Geoff manoovered through car parks and managed to drop me at the market
2.20 walk through market pausing to buy a sizeable bowl of apples 2.25 walk via shops, bumping into Louise and her mum (she implied we'll meet again on Monday)
2.36 home, get comfortable, weight (up from 52.5 to 56 in one meal), brush teeth, refrigerate leftovers, loo 2.44 facebook 2.55 notes 3.10 audio, carvery leftovers - chop up, mix, portion, freeze 3.36 yellow split peas (not as soft as I like them - after 1 hour under pressure!) - portion, freeze 3.54 notes 4.16 b - nap 5.00 up (alarm), audio, apple smoothie, CPH checks 2.22 brush teeth, get ready, diversion=facebook 5.40 audio, get ready
5.45 pack up and cycle 5.55 make gym, really enjoy Body Jam - a release recent enough that I know it inside out but old enough for me to not be sick of it anymore (yes, "don't stop the party") (6.57 missed call 'no number' - concern it was an important call). Poolside (some chat with Tracy - Sam's sister) 7.58 shower, change
8.17 wait with Rezza for Heath and Chee to return from car park and walk together to Moon where Sam, Tracy and Sharon have already ordered their currys. A couple of adjoining tables are found. The guys order their meals - I abstain (on grounds of cost and my very substantial lunch. Some of their meals are swapped over as Vindaloos are in short supply. Some issues also around regular vs 'feast' meals (have we been cheated or did some people claim to have ordered for a feast but did not?). I inherit some components - primarily "carbs" (chapatis, papads) 8.55 meals are being finished and I score a few more titbits, drop my phone on carpet and eventually locate it (ask Chee to call it) (9.10 missed call 'no number'). I find it to be a relaxed atmosphere 9.32 everyone calls it a night, cycle
9.43 home, chat to Hadar 10.04 off phone 10.09 lights off - relax in bed 10.28 get ready 10.38 notes 10.47 cycle 10.55 make Oceana 11.34 a third call from 'No Number' which I finally catch (turns out to be Eran wanting to know if there are updates on mum and dad). When I go up I notice shots are being dispensed - in exchange for filling in contact details (they already have mine but now they have them again so I can have a free shot). Summary - I was at Oceana and had a good time 1.30 decide to leave
1.45 home, settle in, light snacking (yellow split peas, salad), comp on 2.23 notice email from mum (at 1.13am) call Orange and ask them to lift phone bar 2.33 research Netbook adapters, compose reply 2.55 emails (also feeling 'munchy' 3.56 bedtime
Shopping: 389p carvery £1 apples. £4.89
Cycling: 4.62
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 25 February 2012 12:32 pm |
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Friday 24-2-12
8.26 up (call from mum - she needs new spare keys to my flat) 8.36 Amazon - order netbook charger adapter, audio on 8.45 emails ( using Yahoo Classic backdoor http://uk.mc598.mail.yahoo.com/mc/launch to work around ), morning weigh-in is 53.5kg, get dressed 9.01 go down to check spare key 9.19 drink 'soup', MVC2 videos, apple smoothie, online catch-up (I reverted to Yahoo Classic simply because more often than not, New Yahoo would 'hang' when selecting a mail folder - but the unexpected advantage is that I can open different folders and indeed emails in separate browser tabs so I can be more efficient - bonus!). My first opportunity to do a bit of 'service' at 'Workaholics Anonymous' has come up (in the shape of manually approving a prospective email loop member - this keeps spammers out - so in effect I've become a volunteer Moderator in yet another setting except that in the 12 step world this counts as 'Service') 10.07 IM Galit (one good use for New Yahoo) - main subject is mobile phone contracts for parents 10.52 comp off (catch up with mum - who is shopping in Bletchley, shuffle todos) 11.14 notes, facebook 12.49 MVC 1.05 text from Revs - arrange with Geoff, check in with Rob 1.32 MVC (1.57 cocoa powder research) 2.03 b (much needed nap - after all hardly much sleep overnight)
3.25 up (nature call), eat dry mix for some fuel, learn about Body Combat with Dan Cohen (March 5th) - might even do Body Combat the previous week in case there are new tracks to bed down? 3.52 MVC, food 3.58 mum has enquiry about 03 numbers 4.28 confirm with Geoff, get ready
4.45 pack up 4.55 park up by KFC, use loo at Moon 4.57 walk over to Revs 4.59 sit outside, get out Netbook and success connecting to WiFi (Windows 7 is the difference). Geoff and Monica are delayed having bumped into Nicky 5.06 but eventually they show up and we go in. I almost fall over my words as I ask for three Headstart forms and promptly correct myself and say "I'm being presumptious, all I can say is that I have a text for free drinks".
Geoff and Monica down their drinks very quickly as they have a busy afternoon/evening ahead 5.31 when they go I turned on the Netbook and resume my MVC venue 5.35 Eran calls (number still witheld) and some complimentary food arrives (2 pizza, 4 wedges and two dips - this time the sour cream is not as watered-down as it was last time - together with my drink I'm estimating 800 calories for the lot). I update Eran on state of play with respect to parents - he had diet-related news - a 'meat only diet' - I was a lot more supportive than my recent handling of the low-carb-promoting forum member (because my brother is taking first tentative steps towards not over-eating, rather than trying to preach a low-carb lifestyle at others) 5.47 pack up 5.50 and walk, bumping into Geoff and Monica in the Xscape building I mentioned the food they narrowly missed by leaving early. Make gym, loo 5.56 off phone, head up to studio to claim 'my spot', Amy's entire gang (3) were there without her (they're usually in on Mondays and Tuesdays but absent this week). Jason gave us a good mix of tracks. During the class he asked who was going out later and I volunteered the info that I was going to Oceana - true but ultimately does not mean the same thing as when others go out it is usually a big deal, a 'thing'. Changing room 7.10 shower, change
7.30 cycle to AA, grab a seat, use loo 7.45 pick 3 chocolate-style biscuits (reserve them for later), comp on and notes (and a bit of chat with those nearby) 8.01 meeting starts, offered a stick of gum 8.07 nibble on cookies, reading continues on Step 12 (you've got to give it away etc.), shy sharers made the most of a slow start before the meeting picked up momentum (this is where I would have typically come in) 8.30 cookies fully nibbled so return to gum. Someone shared about struggling with food (they can get away with it - they're also an alcoholic). After meeting wraps up I take a couple 'for the road' (altogether estimating those 5 biscuits at 300) 9.08 cycle, try Rob - no luck
9.16 home, continue in silence, still unable to raise Rob, slow-style eating (2 take-away AA cookies and then normal fare), continue with salad work (9.39 briefly call parents - I've woken them up so they decide to go to gym for a shower) 10.08 send Eran my hypnosis audio, facebook 10.26 notes 10.37 get ready
10.44 cycle to Oceana. A somewhat spectacular enterance had 5 guys copying an energetic routine (when I want to be followed I do have to keep things simple and symetric - when I don't I can be a bit more random and original). Thirsty so took a risk with my routine and drunk a pint of tap water. Earplugs eventually went in but probably not till after midnight. Eventually (0.50am?) got bored with Oceana (became too 'thud' and not enough music) so tried Revs briefly (positive experiences but ultimately not a very happening venue) and then Groove (positive and busy).
2.17 home, grab an apple 2.23 bedtime (toilet breaks 4.01am 5.14am 6.27am 8.04am)
Cycling: 3.44
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 29 February 2012 03:24 am |
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Saturday 25-2-12
8.00 up (after pressing snooze a few times) 8.29 cycle 8.38 make gym, loo 8.41 head up to corridor, peer into Body Attack with Kat, chat (apparently last week a register was taken an then 8 people snuck in afterwards - general manager Pete was at hand to ensure no repeat - turnout sub 30 today). Body Combat with Kat and Angela (mix) - Marie present but Dave had to do a work-related thing. Body Pump - Angela mixed things up 11.10 Dave came in non-workout clothes to pick up Marie 11.14 followed the crowd (including Leigh, Simon and Dionne) down to the coffee place where I experimented with a new flaour (chapagne truffle? kind of chocolatey) and a banana - practicing my slow eating and chatting (deviations from optimal nutrition and severity of health effects, people making deleterious choices like smoking, new trend for people not to have funerals/memorials) 11.55 return to gym - change, quick sauna, shower, change 12.29 cycle 12.35 an Interiors show at Middleton Hall eventually netted a ~10 gram milk chocolate sample; at the market I needed bananas so got them despite an unimpressive quantity - pears were a good deal so got some too 12.46 cycle
12.55 home with bags and then down to retrieve bike, unpack and tidy 1.08 comp on, notes, a few online chores (e.g. post diaries Wed,Thu,Fri) 1.58 b
2.51 check in with Rob 2.59 phone tariff research (idea = get 2 contracts - one for chatting and separately an Android with a modest 250MB allowance - the latter works out £109 for the duration) 3.35 CPH 3.41 todos, food prep (peel, chop, pack, freeze all bananas as segments) and start eating (slowly; new idea - flatten the salad and pick individual bits from it; new idea which is actually how I mostly did things before 2010 - 'cafeteria style eating' - instead of mixing things together in one 'salad' have a few different containers so as I do 'slow eating' I can enjoy different mouth sensations) 3.56 +audio = Fuhrman telecon, moneybox 4.34 apple smoothie, notes 4.44 shave, update challenge table, audio 5.20 rest/nap 5.56 up, eat/prep 6.08 facebook (confusing - where is the event page?) 6.22 comp off 6.29 text to Heath to check I'm still invited 7.12 +audio (meditation http://www.beyondmefilm.com/ ), speed up eating by mixing separate containers into one container, get ready
7.46 cycle to Xscape, recognise Heath, Susie, Coral, Natalie at the bay nearest the enterance - they were with Andy (who I've met and chatted to but did not know his name) and Barry (who must have done a few classes with me but I failed to recognise) and then there were the non-gym group: 32-year-old birthday boy Phil with friends Andrew and Lynne. Chatted to Natalie for a bit before she disappeared. Barry kindly offered to buy me a drink (I went for a strongbow) and Heath pointed to a half I could have (he claimed it was the group's but I suspect it was leftover from a previous group - not that it makes any difference to me). Chatted to Coral about the forthcoming Body Combat with Dan Cohen and was surprised by her tale - some years ago she lived abroad at a gym where Nathan was the instructor (Nathan was Programme Director for the first 5 years i.e. 1999-2004). Heath made something of Lynne being single - that I should explore - well I didn't have a way "in" so that conversation did not happen. 9.11 Rob made contact and it looked like he might have joined within the hour but I'm assuming he missed a bus because the next time we spoke he was going for a 10.30pm bus - told him not to bother. 10.23 I headed to Oceana 10.46 and most of them ended up in First Base (which is usually dubbed 'The OAP bar' - Old Age Pensioners - well an older crowd). I found Oceana crowded and I was tired both of these impaired my enjoyment at times but still got something out of the dancing 1.18 cycle
1.31 home, get comfortable, allocate another 100 grams of 'dry mix' for relatively fast consumption 1.41 comp on, notes 1.56 online 2.08 comp off
Shopping: £1 bananas £1 pears. £2.00
Cycling: 2.81
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 29 February 2012 03:24 am |
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Sunday 26-2-12
8.51 up (alarms), pear smoothie, get ready 9.14 cycle 9.22 make gym, loo, locker 9.27 head upstairs - 9 for Olga's Body Jam (current release 1-6, 7+ older release i.e. same as last week) 10.35 Body Combat with Sam (+Kat), mix; changing room 11.52 cycle, call Eran (talk about facebook, slow eating) 11.55 look around market 12.22 pick up chcolate freebie, cycle
12.29 home 12.41 off phone, runner beans under pressure, loo
12.46 comp on (mobile phones - if I only wanted 250MB would it be cheaper? marginally so at 600 minutes but you sacrifice choice of phone), dry mix 1.10 book classes 1.20 more food (carvery leftovers, avocado, cooked jerusalem artichokes, popcorn), CPH 1.39 notes 1.50 texts 1.55 b (nap)
2.22 mum calls with intention to collect washing so get up and work on that (also unpack and sort stuff that used to be in my bag but has previously been deemed not-essential-to-carry), drain cooked runner beans and start on soup 3.07 spot mum through the window and go downstairs - pass on sack of washing, bag of compost and spare keys to my bedsit to add to her somewhat bare new bunch of keys 3.13 return home and settle 3.20 audio, soup 3.27 online (and finish soup) 4.04 texts 4.20 portion runner beans 4.28 MVC video 4.46 apple smoothie, jerusalem artichokes 5.02 relax, nap
6.07 up - loo, call from mum who is filling in a form with limited space for answers 6.25 salad (have I eaten enough veggies today?), comp on, video 7.05 audio 7.13 video 8.38 want to wrap-up eating so mix things up (still chewing though) 9.05 brush teeth, resume video (and collect text) 9.32 dice jerusalem 9.55 nap
11.45 up - nature call, resume cooking jersulem artichokes, assemble more food (take 'dry' total from 79 up to 250) add a bit of water to 'dry' mix and eat it relatively quickly, notes, CPH 0.26 brush teeth 0.30 in bed, videos 0.50 bedtime
7-day food shopping totals: 0 + 1 + 0 + 4.89 + 0 + 2 + 0 = £7.89
Cycling: 1.43
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 29 February 2012 03:24 am |
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Monday 27-2-12
7.47 up, video 8.08 apple smoothie 8.33 need a break - comp off, wash muddy jerusalem artichokes 9.15 cycle 9.23 make gym (wish I rememebered to bring a catheter), good turnout for Zumba, for once felt I had energy to spare(!) 10.31 cycle, text from Rob asking if I'm around 'before 1.15pm', call mum to ask for early delivery of my washing so I can hang it before my afternoon/evening outing
10.40 home, various chores 11.24 down to meet dad who had my washing (in 2 pink sacks) and jerusalem artichokes (in 3 heavy bags) - we carried some stuff together and then I carried the rest by myself 11.35 start to feel the time pressure 11.40 even more so when Rob announced he was at Brown's. At least aired the washing and hang a couple of items I was hoping would be dry for tonight before 11.47 cycling to
11.55 Browns where I met Rob for a chat to the end of his pint 12.53 we then walked over to 12.59 All Bar One where he had the exact same Aspel cider, having to accelerate drinking the last portion so he could be out for his appointment 1.40 I also left for the CCC
1.44 joining two others waiting in the corridor as our room was in use (chat). Next month the room is in use by 4pm so we must vacate on time. I was part of some initial chat so when the OCD support group meeting proper started I was considered to have already had something of a go. For a change some people actually wanted to talk about OCD and I can certainly respect that and let them get on with it. It is relevant to me but only in a 'sideways' kind of way. For example I related one person's decision making perfectionism (in the supermarket) with my very long process for picking a mobile phone contract.
Food and drink: in addition to slow-eating my single box of salad, in honour of her birthday Sue provided us with refreshments - I had a Millionaire's Crispy, a Victoria Sponge, a bag of Pretzels and a carton of Apple Juice, at 3.09pm I wanted another cake so sue asked around if anyonewanted one - prompting Jane to have one. I then helped myself to another Millionaire's. I would also end up taking an additional one at the very end (I was pretty much offered all of the cakes but I declined, knowing my limitations).
There was an outburst of disapproval regarding the fact that I've touched the outer box housing the cakes and this (despite them being individually wrapped) was enough to put someone off from having one because the fact that my salad box which I have also been eating from time to time has rested on the carpet so it and therefore I were in their eyes contaminated (though to be fair they were not quick to go for one, and didn't have any refreshments on previous occasions so I'm left wondering if they would have had one in any event). They took the opportunity to continue to misunderstand the delicate situation I have with the Whetherspoons pub which I have been perhaps unfairly barred from.
I wanted to talk about some developments in my 'food world' (slow eating, re-introducing sugar junk food, weight loss, pseudo counting), there is an on-going misunderstanding that "all you eat is salad" which I was unsuccesful in correcting. There was also a bit of "we're not an eating disorder meeting". Some (all?) members wish I wouldn't eat my salad there though curiously they have no issue with the less healthy foods (variously juice, sweetened drinks, cakes, cookies, chocolates etc.) being consumed. We had a reasonably intelligent meta-discussion about allowing themselves to be bothered by this being pandering to their OCD. It was left as a choice to me whether to eat salad in the meeting - though I'll see if I can plan the day to avoid it.
Other thoughts which occured to me include the lack of structure around my studying since departing from my long textbook (relating to someone else who had more structure when her husband was working); I compared my overt efforts to connect with gym people outside of classes with someone else relating about their objective to 'get out' in the face of staying in for days at a time. 3 members left together relatively early, eliminating the option of socialisation so after using loo 4.52 I promptly cycled
4.58 home where I resumed pre-outing snacking and continued to hang wet washing out to dry. Luckily my workout crop top (one item I strategically hang to dry 5 hours earlier) had dried enough to wear tonight. A bit of 'sensory depravation) 5.45 brush teeth, get ready
5.57 cycle 6.06 make gym, loo, locker 6.12 upstairs in time for Zumba (they're thinking of shortening this to 45 minutes in order to give 'beams' a try - if this change is coupled with the proposed 6pm start time I may just be able to make the OA meeting from time to time). Amy's gang again conspicuously absent for a second week (I do get paranoid thoughts running through my mind). At the approach to 6.45pm think about making the OA meeting but glad I stayed and I enjoyed the 2nd half of the class more than the first
7.15 On my way to the changing room stopped for a brief conversation where unexpectedly I learnt from Linda that she and 'everyone' have been reading my blog (this diary), once more focusing my attention on whether I'm gossiping or entirely telling life's story from my point of view. I wanted to know about this whole 'everyone' business so I asked Chee when I ran into him at the poolside - he pleaded ignorance but would now seek it out (hi Chee!). Nas was taking the michael out of myself and/or possibly Ryan by suggesting we should go to Pink Panthers together.
Zahid who I've spoken to on previous occasions turns out to only has an 'off peak' membership but clearly would principally like to use the gym in the evenings (that's when I've met him) - he continues to talk about job search and even the prospect of driving again, yet admits that his finances have been handled by social workers ever since he got himself into financial difficulties. He seems to have a combination of intelligence (IQ) with a lack of basic skills. He has now been asked to respect the terms of his deal and only attend in the mornings. I decided to mention the £38-a-month peak membership deal I'm on (available till the end of the month i.e. just 2 more days) and offered to sort this out for him. I proposed we shower, change and raise the issue at reception 8.48 manager Jes was assisting at front of house, Zahid was currently paying £29.95 month-to-month so we double-checked he really wanted to pay £8 more and commit to 12 months before going ahead with the paperwork. As it was after the 17th the change would have gone through from April so to avoid having to do an entire month as enforced 'off peak' it was agreed he'd pay the £8 difference in cash now. To ensure this all happened smoothly I stayed to 'supervise'. I do hope I've done the right thing here! 9.00 cycle
9.12 home, settle in, notes (because phone is full), resume snacking 10.15 audio = MVC, more food (to reach a target of '300 grams of dry') 11.20 brush teeth, email scan, remove multiple CPH spammers 0.02 comp off
Cycling: 3.81
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 29 February 2012 03:24 am |
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Tuesday 28-2-12
7.19 up naturally, chores 7.55 eat smoothie, video 8.37 cycle 8.47 make gym, set up, Elaine said Laura is covering Pump - she 'famously' believes she gets a proper workout with lower weights, Marie recalled last week's back-to-back experiment and we ended up trying again (back to back and against the wall), my technique (shoulder position) called into question at 10kg so I also tried 5kg and 7.5kg bars. 9.22 down to use loo before Body Pump covered by Laura, after a 10kg warm-up as an experiment try lower weights for all tracks: squats 20kg, chest 12.5kg, back 15kg, triceps single 3kg/2.5kg, biceps 7.5kg, lunges 17.5kg, shoulders 7.5kg / single 3kg. Body Combat (current release) music 'feeling' louder over time, expecting to leave early try to give my best effort though I notice my cardio performance is always pathetic towards the start. Manage to end of track 4
11.05 cycle, chat to Dean (for first time in ages - he pleaded holiday-related unavailability) 11.22 make mum's, served food: minced beef and onion pie (~376) + bbq sauce + butter beans; mum has lost my spare fob which got me 'excited' enough to raise my voice and this triggered dad who was now not leaving until I would. Geoff wasn't home yet and in any event I was eating slowly. 11.55 I remembered the dessert (home made cake in the microwave) so ate this too (food estimate 800 calories); dad had an issue with a "fast payment" that had gone missing between bank A and bank B 12.01 Geoff now back home so
12.08 cycle 12.11 at Geoff's - we initially talked about the differnce between genuine silver and silver plated ware and looked up a pertinent article describing how chineese sellers are deceiver western buyers by passing off silver-plated stuff as genuine. A further issue of concern is that even higher-priced items might still be fake. 12.52 Geoff kindly allowed me the use of his microwave oven to reheat my carvery leftovers which I had in separate containers with half avocado, diced apple and hand-picked salad 1.02 mum called to ask about a mouse so ordered one from eBay for £1.80 1.35 asked Eran for advice about anti-spyware for Geoff 1.56 speak to housing office east who will inform caretaker, extra problem they may accidentally disable my working fob causing to be locked out, charge will be £10. 2.01 facebook message received - looks like scam designed to retrieve username/password 3.00 a glass of red wint 3.30 and some salted peanuts 4.30 asked Monica about the victoria biscuits (hers - contain gluten) and she kindly provided a couple (which I broke into bits for slower eating)
5.01 cycle 5.20 make gym, change, head to poolside (at the same time as paramedics - a man has hurt his head in the steam room and was still covered in blood when I arrived). Mildly social sauna talking about public transport. change 5.44 head up to studio, hi to Cassie and Shey 5.56 notes 6.00 Shey joined on stage by Cassie and Caroline. Cassie taught 2nd-half block from Body Jam 54 which I only vaguely recalled. I changed position during the class to get a better view with this motivation today overriding concern about aircon. The loud volume was stretching my tolerance but I was willing to put up with the discomfort because I really like dancing.
7.04 cycle 7.15 park outside CentreCom, people waiting outside (Yoga still in progress in the hall) 7.22 use loo, help set up chairs, read January minutes and tonight's agenda, meeting starts about 5 minutes after advertised starting time. Spent much of this meeting clock-watching though some of the most problematic visitors from previous meetings (who would not shut up) were absent. Some noteworthy points and outcomes:
The association has an office in the North 10th 151-199 building which is staffed M/W/F 10am-12pm
If my noisy neighbour problem persists I should obtain and fill in a 'noise diary'
Alternatively contacting Jim (TVP) or Rob (MKC Warden) may yield faster results
Association intends to have the council disable the 'Trades' button in order to secure building
There is a button on the side of my windows that allows them to open Much more (for hot days!)
I am moved to chase my non-functional leaking bathroom boiler
Most residents are only paying £140-£160 for water so I need to kick up a fuss with Anglian Water
stay for a bit - pass my details to council warden (re: radiator) and get his phone number, help put chairs away, cycle
9.09 home (desperate for loo), settle in 9.17 dry mix (pushing my approximate total from 235 to 270 'grams') 9.20 notes 9.45 more food - even if today's target was '300g' that is not much to play with so instead emphasis on things outside of this allowance (jerusalem, potato, beans) 9.55 MVC videos 10.00 Anglian Water website 10.26 audio + online 10.58 MSE, texts 11.38 download more videos, brush teeth 11.51 bedtime
Cycling: 4.06
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mollymoo24
Distinguished Member
| Joined: | 30 December 2007 |
| Location: | Chicago, USA |
| Posts: | 6302 |
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Posted: 29 February 2012 04:14 am |
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Nir wrote:
7.15 On my way to the changing room stopped for a brief conversation where unexpectedly I learnt from Linda that she and 'everyone' have been reading my blog (this diary), once more focusing my attention on whether I'm gossiping or entirely telling life's story from my point of view. I wanted to know about this whole 'everyone' business so I asked Chee when I ran into him at the poolside - he pleaded ignorance but would now seek it out (hi Chee!).
Oh, dear. Well, I suppose "everyone" now knows that you like the spot under the air conditioner.
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mollymoo24
Distinguished Member
| Joined: | 30 December 2007 |
| Location: | Chicago, USA |
| Posts: | 6302 |
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Posted: 29 February 2012 04:16 am |
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Nir wrote: We had a reasonably intelligent meta-discussion about allowing themselves to be bothered by this being pandering to their OCD.
I would have found that discussion fascinating.
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 3 March 2012 12:57 pm |
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Ok our meta discussion wasn't quite as good as the link you posted in your diary. I gently prompted them to acknowledge that their adverse reaction "might" be due to their OCD and whether it is appropriate for me to pander to it by changing what I do
Wednesday 29-2-12
2.30 nature call, not properly asleep (think about water bill) 3.28 lights on, wash jerusalem artichokes 3.42 comp on 3.48 audio, (pre-occupation, or 'fear' in recovery talk, about water bill situation persists), sort through my corridor pile (fail to find Anglian Water paperwork but find some catheter paperwork I was after), shuffle todos, Les Mills Kia Ora 4.44 continue searching (and do some useful filing in the process - large box) 5.23 eventually find last year's water bill - in fact I have mostly been paying arears from previous years, the last annual bill has used 'Assessed solow' based on assumption of 29 cubic metres and was broken down into £50.53 water and £69.49 sewage (so about £120 for the year), I guess no further action is required (review next year's bill when it arrives - probably in March), put files away 5.36 silence/dark 5.50 food prep 6.28 +audio 6.46 CPH 7.20 emails 7.55 challenge (weigh myself, input into physicsdiet, post my weigh-in, update table, set up the next challenge, initial post for that); call catheter company (they still have one prescription on file - warn them I'm sending along the next 6) 8.45 relax, catch up on zzz
9.50 up (alarms), go down to examine noticeboard (no indication of caretaker number 10.06 take a walk, drop prescriptions at post box, visit the combined Police and Resident Association office (on North 10th street 152-198 entereance)
10.24 take a walk, call GP surgery for last Wednesday (22.2.2012) blood test results - speak to secretary (she recognised my voice)
Triglicerides 0.7
HDL 1.4
LDL 2.3
Ratio 2.9
Total Cholesterol 4.0
These results are broadly the same or slightly better than last year. I think this may reflect that although I'm indulging I have not let junk into my home so it is a more 'moderate' affair.
10.31 go into Civic Offices and explain my keyfob issue, directed upstairs and seen very promptly - informal, friendy, helpful. Contact will be made (phone, text or email) when fob is ready for collection. My preference to pick up from CMK and contact detail/preference noted. Debit card payments preferred. 10.40 walk
10.44 return home, update mum 11.00 off phone, eat apple smoothie (followed by a bit more snacking/chores). Pack very light (i.e. just water bottle)
11.30 cycle 11.37 make gym, loo 11.42 head up to studio, 17 for Zumba, migrate to front of room (find it distracting to have people blocking my line-of-sight to Michelle), chat to Nita afterwards, loo, text from Rob indicating post-1pm availability, take call from mobile care-taker who offered to see me at 2pm but on Rob's account postpone him to 11am tomorrow
12.54 try to raise Rob without luck, cycle to 1.01 Lloyds to see if I can identify the staff 1.05 contact established with Rob so get a pint (of tap water) and sit and wait for him (utter boredom on account of having brought nothing with me) 1.18 until he shows up - chat, food got mentioned triggering Rob enough to be interested. I mentioned Bella Italia (voucher required, though) and Harvester. He was indecisive so I said I'd go home by 2.30pm if he wasn't commited by then. In the event didn't have to wait quite that long
2.25 as we walk over to Harvester I debate whether to pay £1 more for a prawn wrap (going back and forth in my mind) 2.31 sit down at a table not far from the salad cart, loo and then 2.35 cheekily grab a bowl of salad whilst Rob is still making his mind up. We order (mine's the prawn wrap for £4.99 - he has the chicken wrap with optional chips (french fries) and a glass of wine £8.93). I use two small salad bowls without quibbling (at this point eating between super-slow and moderate) 2.43 service is fast - our food is out in 7 minutes, I integrate my breaded prawns and some of my wrap into the meal (reserving some wrap - ultimately some found its way back home with me). Reload plate with salad multiple times. Rob paused salad to enjoy his wrap, turned attention to chips, resumed salad and finally loaded up a 2nd bowl. Around the hour mark it looked like I'd lose him but ultimately he persevered (it helped that some girls showed up for him to oggle - well they might have showed up for their own independent reasons but it didn't stop him) 2.30 I ask for the bill (give him my contribution in cash and he puts it all on his debit card), I got to eat in a not-super-fast way for slightly over 2 hours which was my target (eat normally, there is no rush). Next time maybe slower. Rob's plan involved Lloyds and I cycled back to base
4.48 home, store away food, resume work on my 'partial #4 haircut from the front' project, brush teeth 5.10 post-meal weigh in is 55.5kg (+2kg from morning weight), notes (because phone is full - unsatisfactory situation, will need to do a systematic offload at some point) 5.34 phone memory status - 16 events free (pathetic!) 5.38 nap 6.38 up (alarm), get ready
6.45 cycle 6.53 make gym, loo 6.56 head up, Heath 'aware of blog but has not read it' (guess I'm not sure what is true anymore - so hi Heath just in case). In the minutes prior to class felt excluded, possibly gossiped about, 'less than'. CBT'd / 'just for today'd myself back to normal reasonably early on. Sam delivered a mix (necessarily missing out the current release having realised she misplaced the CD). Stephanie looked good with her hair tied but down. My face-recognition non-skill let me down yet again as only noticed Sam's sister Tracy after she addressed her. Enjoyed 'pirates' for track 6 so left on a high
7.46 on my way out dare to inherit a white sesame bun (I've done worse) 7.55 make AA, low on chairs - end up on central table, grab 1 large biscuit and 2 chocolate fingers, read my tenants magazine until start of meeting. Reading talked about an 'always on' concern for other people (let's face it, I'm lucky if I do that some of the time!) 8.04 start nibbling; Chair was great - her first time, gripping life story twists and surprises, after struggling to stop for 4.5 months (similar time for me stop destructive binge-eating when I started OA) she 'got it' first step 1 and then has done the program and has 7.5 months and great recovery. One day maybe that'll be me. (She's been one of my AA crushes anyhow.) I wonder what people think about my biscuit-eating, not over-doing the quantity but certainly non-stop in nature, my 1 large biscuit and 2 fingers lasted all the way to the 8.44 break - queue to the loo as no access to the 3 spare loos behind the coded door, reload on biscuits, read more magazine (using fake candle for light) 8.58 as 2nd half began it clicked I never asked for my fasted glucose results so plan to call for these tomorrow; nibble another large cookie and 1.5 chocolate fingers whilst listening to great share-backs. Announcements fed back from recent intergroup. Unusual promises from one of the stories (I'm very familiar with the first 164 pages - but not the stories at the back)
9.38 cycle, text Tracy (keeping it to 160 charactes at a time as her phone is full of messages)
9.48 home, get comfortable, survey of left over junk food I brought home: AA - cadbury chocolate fingers 8.2g, luxuary cookies 49.3g (less than 2 - so my previous estimate of 20g each is 20% underestimate, this is following a general under-estimating trend), earlier in the day: white sesame bun 17g, white tortilla wrap 29g (it is now brittle so has dried up). Plan for today is to slow-eat my leftovers (knowing me, probably all of them) and I need no further calories. 10.06 snack/notes 10.35 audio, email, facebook diversion 11.17 junk snacks all gone - resume snacking with those foods I abandoned at 11.30am; print Revs free cocktail vouchers -(http://www.revolution-bars.co.uk/freecocktails/ good any day 5-11 March, 5-9pm, 2 different ones to try), brush teeth, offload a few reminders to make room on phone 0.23 lights off, collect text 1.13 comp off
Shopping: 499p crackerjack prawn wrap with unlimited salad at Harvester. £4.99
Cycling: 3.64
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 3 March 2012 12:57 pm |
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Thursday 1-3-12
8.25 up (alarms), get ready 8.42 +audio (MoneyBox, blogs, NerdDinner tutorial), dice jerusalem artichokes
9.10 pack light - cycle (+apple)
9.17 make gym, loo
9.20 head to studio and set up 9.28 read magazine waiting for (late starting) Body Pump with Michelle - mix of tracks, nibble on half-apple, keep my weights low but still feel the exercises: squats 20kg, chest 15kg, back 15kg, triceps 12.5kg, biceps 7.5kg, lunges 17.5kg, shoulders 7.5kg.
10.35 cycle, call for my fasted glucose result which was reported as 3.8 (which is very good - my body is currently keeping up with my cookie and other sweet junk consumption); pick up fresher leaves at market 10.46 cycle
10.55 home, snack 11.00 caretaker shows up and in principle agrees to take £10 cash on the spot 11.09 but can't get into the cupboard because the intercom people have changed the locks; 11.14 down to see mum 11.19 return home with a sack of 'questionable potatos', decide that my salad (on its 7th day) requires cooking prior to eating 11.25 audio, notes
11.40 need to duplicate a CD (usually do it on my XP laptop - can I do it on Windows 7 netbook with external drive?) - connect drive, start RIP with Windows Media Player 12, look for blank media, attempt a burn (setting is 'fastest' I am aware this might be problematic as media is old) (+shave) 12.15 time to test the burnt CD - funny noise and does not work! 12.23 restart burn at Slow speed with a blank disk 12.40 well this failed in exactly the same way. Something is different (well 3 things are different than when I was able to use my ancient media - I'm using a different drive, different operating system and different burning software). Never mind, lets try some modern (x52) media 12.51 success
If my choice of mobile phone package meant using my landline for landline calls, these are free at night (after 7pm) but how much would I pay during the day? (1899 is 1p/min plus 5p connection - not particularly attractive) 12.55 how much would TalkTalk charge for unlimited landline package? +£4.50 (which I will not pay). This makes the sub-£9 for 1200 minutes price plans look increasingly attractive, as the 500 minute plan would probably have the effect of having me wait till 7pm to make landline calls and otherwise watch my usage. Expressed as a weekly figure it is the difference between 115 minutes and 277 minutes. Is ~2 hours a week enough talktime for me?
1.03 try cooking one of the 'soaked' potatos - edible but not tasty so I'll get rid of any soaked potato matter at source. 1.10 read FitPro magazine free online http://issuu.com/fitpro_online/docs/fitpromagazinefebmar2012?dm_i=8T,PT1S,U3BPS,22WO9,1 1.49 "10 oclock live", revisit muddy potatos in sink 2.48 alternate audio, dice/cook potatos 3.23 silence 3.38 relax 3.55 nap
4.34 awake - reopen kitchen, pear smoothie 4.56 potato rescue, audio 5.15 email, CPH, get ready
5.45 pack up and cycle 5.55 make gym, sneak into studio 1 and give Debbie her new CD. 15 people was uncomfortably full for Jason's Body Jam. This time he picked stuff old enough for me to have mostly forgotten. The first half was a bit repetitive. My position (not accidentally) had a good view of the good dancer in the class (still no name for her - Chee has a way of describing her with reference to her use of face make up so I guess I can call her made-up-jammer until a name becomes available).
7.14 lengthy poolside session (talk to some people about other gym branches), shower, change 8.07 walk over to Moon Under Water (Heath, Chee, Tracy, Sharon, Steph, Susan, Kat, Nick). It seemed as though only Tracy/Sharon had the curry club. After standing around for a while decided to grab a chair. Minor leftovers (half a papad and a tablespoon of rice). Made a point of finding out who Nick was (works as a PT at my gym - no wonder I haven't met him). I was survived by Steph, Susan and Chee when I 9.09 left
9.20 home, dry mix, audio, notes 9.44 potato work, read revised autism leaflet http://www.autism.org.uk/~/media/NAS/Documents/Publications/What%20next%202012%20version.ashx 10.28 start getting ready
10.46 cycle to Oceana, average night - steady decline 1.33 cycle
1.43 home, get comfortable, arrange food (beans, potatos, popcorn, dry mix - to '300g') 2.04 notes, medium-to-fast eating (but chew) 2.07 online/audio 2.52 comp off (bedtime follows before I manage to finish my popcorn)
Cycling: 3.90
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 3 March 2012 12:58 pm |
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Friday 2-3-12
7.58 up, finish last night's popcorn, shuffle todos 8.10 comp on, e2save 8.55 sync time 8.59 update (both) challenge tables, apply wet wipe to Netbook 9.42 online banking 9.52 silence, what are my choices? (break; study videos; eating; salad making; walk to shops) 9.59 b 10.05 video 10.27 unexpectedly long nap!
12.57 up (Rob texted to ask me to pub) 1.04 video
1.19 today is a '300 gram day'. I potentially have an evening workout at 6pm and am also going dancing by 11pm. Unknown whether time between AA and dancing is mine or whether I'm out (depends on Rob and his friends). Unnkown whether Revs will provide calories (the way they did the last 2 weeks). Currently not hungry. If I see Rob this afternoon there will still be time to eat before the workout. 1.23 still no text from Revs - would texting 'KEYNES name' to 80010 make a difference? - yes an instant drinks offer 1.38 get through to Rob, get ready
1.46 cycle, bump into dad - we walked back to his car and 1.51 I inherited another spare combination lock (for the gym), return home to retrieve cauliflower leaves 1.55 cycle 2.01 make Lloyds, meet Rob for a chat, attract Clive's attention when he shows up, process cauli leaves 3.16 leave Rob with Clive 3.21 have a look at market 3.24 cycle 3.29 park, look at Holland and Barrett's "buy one get one half price" 3.32 cycle
3.38 home: food activity session - including apple smoothie, extend salad (carrots, potatos, cauliflower stalk) 4.30 +calls to see who is coming, get ready
4.49 cycle 4.55 park by gym, walk over 4.56 go inside, a minute later Clive Rob arrive and I'm introduced to Simon 5.02 we're provided with 6 forms (I mentioned my absent friends), call Geoff he says he's delayed 5.07 VIRU - premium estonian beer 300ml pyramid bottle, Clive and Simon takes theirs' outside to smoke 5.14 Geoff and Monica leave; Clive took my diary's URL with him (on a napkin) before departing - leaving just Rob and Simon
5.51 walk to gym, loo 5.54 set up in studio, Body Step - mix of old and unfamiliar; change
7.10 cycle 7.15 Lloyds - finding Rob and Simon, mention 12-step groups, notes until my phone dies, loo
7.39 cycle 7.47 make AA (unusually) park outside and (again, unusually) put scales in my pocket - put my bag on a seat and head to the kitchen. Pick 4 biscuits and have a guess of each one's weight - come surprisingly close (within 1g for each one - the two small ones were ~10 and the two 'sandwhich' type were ~15) so I'm getting a bit better. Help someone break a £5 into coins so she can buy literature. Enjoy shares but feel progressively tired and dread the (admittadly slim) prospect of immediately continuing the evening 8.56 leave mid-share, call Rob but he couldn't hear me so say I'm tired via text
9.04 home, get comfortable, prep & eat 9.33 notes, foods allocated so far come up to 147 grams. Example - estimate 300ml of beer at 100 calories and therefore as "20 grams". Target is ~200 by the time I go out (to fuel dancing) and ~300 by bedtime 10.00 so dish out another 53g of 'dry mix' 10.04 in bed, lights off, video 10.28 b 10.34 get ready
10.44 cycle to Oceana, good 'first half', so-so 'second half' 1.00 call it a day
1.17 home (eventually - having dropped keys at ground floor level), accelerate food, notice I'm down to my last 1kg of oats 1.30 check price of oats (75p) 1.56 brush teeth 1.59 bedtime
Cycling: 4.57
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 7 March 2012 05:55 am |
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Saturday 3-3-12
8.19 up, examine water bill (£127 for the year - up from last year but not dramatically), get ready 8.41 cycle 8.48 make gym, intermitent snacking on apple, chat to Jan (who has already seen Dan Cohen in action as her son works for Les Mills - the surprises keep coming). texts (briefly). Body Combat with Kat/Angela a mix (I suspect she could now teach the entire class). Body Pump - continue lower-weights trend, feel the need for earplugs and disappointed to discover I managed to lose them since (or perhaps while) showing them off at Revolutions, Angela moved my mat forward because people were bunched up (but I still found space to squeeze it back under the aircon for the 3 laying-down tracks) 11.12 change, 'poolside circuit' (this just means jacuzzi, steam room and sauna), shower, change
11.57 cycle 12.06 at food stall buy butternut squash (5.5) and pineapples (3) 12.11 cycle
12.17 home, settle in, food activity largely in silence e.g. chop and freeze a large pineapple in 5 portions (12.22 talk to mum; 12.43 dad is parked downstairs so go down to deposit compost in car boot), food style is separate containers for different foods (cooked butternut squash cubes, cooked jerusalem artichoke cubes, half avocado chopped, lamb's liver, pineapple bark cubed, mixed salad, steamed cauliflower leaves) 1.15 eat pear smoothie, comp on, notes 1.33 CPH spammers, post diary 1.58 audio/afk (food prep, shave) 2.23 texts 2.48 MoneyBox, dry mix, blogs 3.07 email scan 3.14 activate a 90-day Pluralsight complimentary membership (courtesy of Microsoft's free 'WebSpark' program) so I expect many training videos in March/April/May (and something of a come-down and disorientation come June!), supposedly I've been doing video already the last little while but these are high-quality resources. Browsing the course list I'm a kid in a candystore not sure where to start; pineapple smoothie 3.25 a blast from the past - text from Scott wanted up-to-date meeting info - unexpected personal revelations 3.51 http://www.drmcdougall.com/video/expert_testimonies_why_did_steve_jobs_die.htm 3.58 brush teeth and promptly fall asleep. A few thoughts 1) almost 4 hours is too long for a meal 2) audio tires me out 3) I used to say "my vortex is food/audio/online" nothing has changed
5.51 comp on, what are the options? I'll probably want to resume eating - both those 'heavy' things I have a deadline for and to meet a 200g-before-nightclub target I set for myself; food prep remains an ever-attractive diversion but I really ought to continue with 'study' which at this point includes continuing to review course list http://www.pluralsight-training.net/microsoft/Courses (no wonder it is all about Microsoft - I'm just seeing a subset) 6.10 resume snacking, 'revision control software' 7.14 SVN/TFS videos, popcorn and dry mix (not very slowly) 7.50 more popcorn and dry mix 8.21 brush teeth (at 183g) 8.31 videos - including IronRuby 8.55 b 9.01 (it turns out PluralSight is Microsoft specific) 9.19 relax 9.36 audio/emails, CPH diaries 9.52 get ready
9.58 cycle to Groove (where I had the highlight of the evening) 10.45 on to Oceana - mediocre 0.09 back at Groove - better but still tired
0.51 home, food, audio 1.25 emails 2.10 PowerShell 2.13 brush teeth 2.22 eyes giving up - bedtime
Shopping: £1 butternut squash £1 pineapples £2.00
Cycling: 2.90
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 7 March 2012 05:55 am |
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Sunday 4-3-12
8.40 up 9.02 recycling 9.08 cycle in rain, people getting ready to run the MK half/10k/5k 9.18 make gym, loo 9.23 head up (low turnout), comp on, notes, Olga gave people a few more minutes before starting Body Jam - the last two weeks were half of 59 (the current release) with 2nd half of 56: today we got it the other way around (half 56, half 59). Nina who has been away at least the last couple of weeks was kicking herself for missing 2nd half of 56. Turnout remained modest for Body Combat - Sam doing a mix.
Some of my morning thoughts (after my 53.5kg weigh-in) were about the pros and cons of weighing 300g of food - clearly more than before - on the one hand there is the issue of having enough energy for my workouts/activities/life (resentment) and on the other hand there are negative feelings about weight gain (despite being well within my 53-56 ideal range) (fear), the extra expense of staple foods (fear) and the slight inconvenience of weighing/adding (resentment). So on balance I considered reducing to 250 or even 200. However having left Body Combat after the warm-up 1a/1b because I did not anticipate an enjoyable workout due to lack of energy and significantly only just managing to survive the previous hour of Body Jam, I realise that those thoughts were principally driven by my weight (specifically no longer falling out of the bottom of my target range) and I am still not sufficiently energetic for life. Another possibility is that I am not getting enough 'quality sleep'. Either way the 300g figure is not changing - well not down anyhow. If I've gone for 3-4 weeks at 300g without surprising weight-gain then I might consider pushing up to 350g or 400g (slow gradual step ups are the way to go when one's metabolism has already adapted to very low calorie intake in order to avoid excess fat storage)
change, loo 10.50 on my way out pause to weigh a sample of galaxy chocolate (13g), briefly peered at market
11.09 home, pear smoothie 11.18 notes 11.36 study = PowerShell (+snack) 12.44 nap (long!)
3.12 up, video, food 3.35 course = 'Web Performance'
4.42 silence, earlier today when I effectively had just half my hoped-for workout I considered returning for evening Body Step but I'm now applying a veto (it is hardly a favourite - the main reason I include it on a Friday is to avoid doing nothing on that day - obviously today's high-interest workout was the dance workout - still some merit in coming out to the gym for a social angle but I then deal with lack-of-focus/lack-of-organisation).
The food situation is that, paradoxically (and the opposite result to rat studies) when I construct a 'cafeteria' with multiple food choices in different containers and try to get difference mouth feels by isolating these so they're not all in my mouth at the same time, then a given (volume, weight, calories) of food takes longer to consume. Having just one food type. In other words I have to ask myself whether in my case the construction of my mixed salads leads to over-consumption or at least a pull towards that direction which requires my energy to resist. Should my next salad construction effort be contained in separate boxes? what is a reasonable upper limit on number of choices? what can I do about add-flavour ingredients (like garlic, chilli, onions, chopped up fruit). This is a 'brave new world' - well if I dig back long enough (say to late 2009 when I met Geoff) back then my complex calorie counting did not lend itself well to large salads (and certainly not to any multi-day foods) so I typically ate most of my foods separately - sometimes creating just-in-time mixtures of a few ingredients measured-mixed-eaten.
5.00 online 5.16 video, pineapple smoothie, wash jerusalem artichoes 5.53 silence 6.28 video 6.45 b (popcorn brings it up to 82g) 7.13 re-watch portion of video I did not "get", continue
9.16 b, brush teeth (258 of 300 grams consumed in last 2.5 hours; 147 of 300 grams were popcorn; most of these foods consumed relatively quickly - slow-eating mostly applied to novel foods (rare nuts, dried fruit, chocolate) and water-based foods, video watching or listening is a major 'hit' on my concentration and energy (which is not surprising) 9.26 comp off, early bedtime
7-day food shopping totals: 0 + 0 + 4.99 + 0 + 0 + 2 + 0 = £6.99
Cycling: 1.48
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 7 March 2012 05:55 am |
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Monday 5-3-12
7.38 up (postman), ~10 hours sleeep (with regular interruptions - longest sleep segment 2 hours) 7.50 call Anglian Water (0800 919155) 8.10 online catch-up, audio 8.42 silence, weigh-in 8.54 pear smoothie, get ready 9.08 video
9.15 observe chairs going spare downstairs, cycle (pack v light) 9.25 make gym, loo 9.28 head up to studio, unfortunately still feeling weak for Zumba - set a minimum target of '220 grams' before heading out for tonight's special Body Combat 10.33 cycle, Nicola from Housing called to say 'caretaker has tried to contact you' (unlikely - no missed calls) bottom line is I need to wait 10.45 take one of the chairs - it is cleaner than mine but not as comfortable so put it back where I found it
10.53 home with bike, settle in, eat and food prep tasks in silence 11.28 notes 11.39 Rob checks in (tells me he has a day trip with Graham to Northampton) 11.43 video, email Iain 12.33 call mum and Eran (12.44 mum shows up with some oranges), text Tracy 1.12 video (performance) 1.26 course list - try 'Windows 8' course, shave 1.44 start accelerating calorie-dense eating 2.20 b 2.34 v (email about 'Fusion' - event on April 14th showcasing the new Les Mills releases that are coming after the ones we have yet to transition to - presented by the 'trainers' - I do not envy their new release learning schedule one bit) 3.14 allocated so far = 196g i.e. close to target 3.21 Eran (discuss router settings - urge him to be careful) 3.36 emails 4.00 b - nap
4.45 pineapple smoothie 4.58 comp on - facebook, get ready
5.21 cycle 5.28 park 5.31 enter a very empty Revs (with staff initially not visible), show my voucher 5.34 notes and facebook (I guess I shall estimate the drink at "40 grams" due to the amount of ice mitigating the apple juice mixer), I never saw them make my drink and from the taste and lack of effect wondered whether I've been cheated and just given mixer 5.42 walk over to gym, use loo, lock up everything
5.48 head upstairs, grab tiny amount of fruit (this portion-controlled on toothpicks) and go through into sparse studio. Names were being checked. I later heard that some non-bookers were allowed in and then when the studio was full some late-arriving bookers were turned away. Tried to tell Heath about texting Revs for free drink vouchers but he gave me some story about previously being caught out by premium rate texts (which this is not - I have my past bills to prove this). There is also perhaps an 'oggle your friend' dynamic. Late start and a long intro to the programme by Dan and on the other hand hardly any breaks between tracks. If I've done any of BC51 beforehand, I did not recognise it - all new to me. Jo, Kat and David were watching the class from just inside the door (no doubt also guarding against anyone trying to sneak in). Eventually managed to tie my 'Body Combat' shirt (not risking the top I had underneath). A few tracks in I also needed my earplugs and to be honest I could feel it every time he spoke. He can squeeze quite a lot of coaching in. It is a 'busy' release, it'll be interesting what shape my learning curve will take. I ran to the loo and missed the first portion of track 8. Dan had the microphone from start to finish. We've had the 'Iron Cross' move in a previous conditioning track but this is the first time I was taught how to perform it correctly. Afterwards there were some freebies (I now have a very lightweight Virgin Active backpack) and some posing for photos.
Changing room (rumour heard that Jo requested to also see the Zumba bookings to see "if anyone had double-booked" - if that is the case one wonders who she could possibly be checking up on) and poolside - bump again into Dan/Shey who were doing the circuit in my favourite order (jacuzzi/steam/sauna). Heath made it there by steam stage. For what it's worth, his catchphrase (heard twice) is "thanks for your energy". Change. 8.11 cycle
8.25 home, settle in 8.35 video on, make microwave wholewheat flour tortillas (next time may consider dry-frying to see if taste better - or spice the dough), video details going over my head so will need to rewatch 9.19 silence, notes, popcorn 9.38 salad (sample new components; finish off historical portion), facebook 9.55 brush teeth 10.04 notes 10.26 emails (Caitlin) 11.05 facebook 11.12 b
Cycling: 2.57
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 7 March 2012 05:56 am |
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Tuesday 6-3-12
8.04 up, pear smoothie, get ready 8.25 cycle 8.35 make gym, read noticeboard, set up and chat 9.01 sofa, e2save 9.08 (still not ready for videos), notes 9.28 studio, Jo did not want me to prop the door open so change to crop top early, loudness bothered me from early on and I wanted the whole thing to be over before it began, even wondered what a 2-Pump-per-week schedule would look like. Weights stayed low - that meant for example I was squatting 20kg (vs Jo's 22.5kg). Afterwards Jo and Angela talked about the new Les Mills UK venture and the release of (modified) Body Pump DVDs to the public 10.46 cycle, return mum's call (mobile charge issues) 10.51 call her again from the market where she was concerned about lack of discounted salad veggies (cucumber, lettuce, peppers etc.), pick cabbage leaves 10.56 cycle
11.03 home 11.25 video (Windows 8) 11.56 notes 12.03 v 12.30 Fuhrman telecon, texts
1.28 call from 'Select' - after all the fuss about setting up repeat prescriptions for catheters last year, and having had 6 and then 3 more issued (when the first 6 went missing - before being found) I've only ever had 2 of these issued and the remaining 7 will now become outdated so allow one to be dispensed now 1.35 texts 2.00 'plate' my food (on my ~10 inch flat plate) 2.46 video = XML 2.52 audio, brush teeth 3.02 v 3.10 b (nap)
4.06 up, a plate of food (this is almost comparable to one I'd get at a buffet - on the one hand it is perhaps a bit flat so I can see everything and keep things separate but on the other hand on this occasion I had more stuf to fit so resorted to extra space (+40%). This is my first full day without pre-mixed salad and so far I like the novelty 4.26 facebook 5.09 food allocated (to 174g), v
5.43 cycle 5.51 make gym and head to studio which was initially somewhat sparse (until Paul decided to let all the non-bookers in). I had energy. Cassie excused Shey who is on LM work with Dan and gave us a good (read: we're not sick to death of it) classic mix to sink our teeth into. Girls to watch were Sammy and (make-up girl). I eventually drifted to the front. On the way out Marie (who had watched me from the corridor waiting for her Pump class) said I looked good. Kelly reported her daughter (now in sixth form) has a part-time retail job. Tried to lean on Chee to organise something out of my cocktail vouchers and free drink texts but he didn't get excited 7.10 eat half apple as I cycle back
7.29 home, v 7.40 emails 7.57 call mum, wash jerusalem artichokes 8.20 emails, CPH 9.20 blogs 10.02 caught-up, v 10.30 lay out a plate (200g of goodness - if I wasn't put off by technical matters there would be a picture here), browse list 10.50 video = 'intro to iOS'
11.10 am a bit concerned that I cannot keep water in my kitchen sink with it plugged in i.e. the plug is no longer water-tight and is slowly draining away (how/when did this happen?) mainly an issue when washing things (like muddy jerusalem artichokes) 11.50 video = 'WPF and XAML Fundamentals' 0.20 brush teeth 0.37 bedtime
Cycling: 2.67
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 12 March 2012 06:49 am |
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Wednesday 7-3-12
6.30 nature call 6.47 comp on, post diaries, vid, MSE 7.40 £5 pizza hut deal 7.56 natural light, vid - shuffle todos, drift to rewashing jerusalem artichokes, ensure I'm drinking enough liquid at the most sensible time of day (3 hot drinks finished by 8.48am) 8.51 b 9.03 v 10.17 b 10.44 eat pear smoothie, v
11.30 pack up and cycle in rain, snack on half-apple 11.40 make gym, use locker, loo 11.46 join Zumba class, progress towards front row but then recoil from loudness and retrieve earplugs - once I (finally) had them in properly I could easily hack the front row and that's where I finished the class. I had a bit more energy at the beginning and was showing slight signs of lethargy later on 12.29 change, shower, change 12.49 cycle in annoying rain (call Majhid - tentative arrangement for pizza outing next week) 1.04 bank - cash machine and teller services; loo 1.21 contact with Rob (when he becomes free the plan is Lloyds followed by Pizza Hut), tiny sample 'hot cross bun' at M&S 1.26 cycle (no longer raining)
1.32 home, notes, video
2.35 pack up and cycle 2.41 meet Rob at Lloyds, chat with him as he slowly drinks his 500ml drink
3.37 we enter Pizza Hut. Not a promising start when the first person asked didn't know "about the £5 deal" (they thought I meant 'happy hour'). They gave us a card listing the 5 available pizzas - I also grabbed a full menu (to look at the prices of alcoholic drinks ahead of Rob's selection) 3.43 place our orders (Rob has a Veg Supereme and a glass of wine for £7.95 - I a Meat Feast for £5) shortly after provided with salad bowls. Already plotting to leave before me, he gives me cash for his part 3.56 our pizzas arrive on boards, I also obtain a flat plate. Focus on salad over pizza - Rob has the opposite 'strategy' - once he has demolished his pizza he attempts another salad bowl 4.44 Rob leaves to join Graham at the Slug for a pint - I get out Netbook/headphones for some video and audio (and continue eating - mainly salad) 5.23 notes and shuffle todos 5.33 swap audio for a chat with Eran. 5.44 check in with Rob ("at least 20 minutes") and return to Eran. Ask for the bill and 5.52 put it on my card. I only had 3 slices left (out of the original 6) so there was no need to give me the enormous full-size box as they did but no matter.
5.56 walk over to Slug'n'Lettuce to join Rob and Graham (get off phone). Beg Rob to speed up the expensive pint he's already been nursing for over an hour - eventually he drunk up 6.26 We started walking over to Revs (parting so I can park). 6.31 We grabbed a table. I went over with vouchers (again not paying much attention to how our free drinks were prepared). The guy walked over with a tray. Aware of the time (and with access to two straws) I didn't take long 6.39 and bid Rob goodbye (who seemed to be set on sipping it).
6.46 Walk over to gym, loo, change to workout clothes 6.53 upstairs show and tell my pizza box and wait for the pilates to finish. A low turnout eventually became moderate for Sam's Body Combat mix. I got CRC'd to retract my side-kicks on track 4 (and possibly also something in 1b? my attention wondered). Changed as track 7 began, loo
7.42 cycle 7.55 make AA and grab 3 large cookies. Reading was from 'To Agnostics'. Chair was scripted on paper (which means I've already heard him word for word) 8.36 notes in the break (after grabbing 3 more biscuits) 8.49 2nd half shares, thought I heard a pointed "put some money in" comment from a Saturday home group member (do they not know that Tradition 7 states "declining Outside contributions"?) 9.41 cycle
9.49 home, settle in, store foods, brush teeth, update paper records 10.05 notes 10.14 audio 10.57 v 11.08 b
Shopping: £5 pizza and salad. £5.00
Cycling: 3.76
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 12 March 2012 06:49 am |
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Thursday 8-3-12
5.56 up (nature call - lights on), shuffle todos, print coktail vouchers (tech issues), get ready
6.43 cycle to gym, loo 6.52 head upstairs, chat to Kelly, hi to Christine (who will teach an early Monday morning Pump from the week after next), discover I've managed to lose yet another pair of earplugs (maybe at AA?), respectable 16 turnout, increased squat weight to 22.5kg, as we were tidying weights after class Angela played 'Hairspray' (BC35 track 5) on stereo and I reminded myself of the choreography, chat, ask at reception about earplugs 8.10 cycle, in my hall meet neighbour Chad who is having a new bathroom fitted - explain to him what he needs to do to at least halve his water bill
8.32 home, settle in, notes 8.49 audio on, facebook, CPH (10.05 mum shows up with catheters - and I have space issues) 10.13 chop pineapple 10.31 make smoothie 10.44 v 10.54 plate some salad, pizza 11.03 v 11.53 (start video 4 in the WPF course) 12.54 pizza over (2 hours of occasional nibbling - similar to the Pizza Hut meal, then) 1.20 nap
2.45 up (nature call), get dressed 2.57 take a walk (free samples - frozen yogurt, long hard stare at some well-guarded full-size cupcakes at Monsoon (womenswear shop) didn't even ask what they were there for), nothing I wanted to buy at market
3.18 home, coffee, facebook, email 3.43 video (well as much as of it as I can take at one sitting - I find it difficult to concentrate, keep rewinding and periodically turning it off for sanity), some veg snacking culminating in 4.45 a pear smoothie and then brushing my teeth
5.35 pack up and cycle 5.44 make gym, loo 5.48 head up, chat to Suzi/Sam in spin studio; 16 for Body Jam, afterwards asked a girl her name (so I can write that Natalie was the one to watch); change; poolside 7.26 shower, change, walk over 7.44 sit at bar, ask for cocktail (the frozen one - it is dispensed readymade - alcohol already mixed in), notes 7.53 pack up and cycle
8.09 home, v, hang wet things to dry, popcorn (slow). Having finished the Graphics module of the WPF course which I found the most heavy-going so far, decided to listen to it again (multi-task with CPH, food prep and plate some food - separating raw and cooked so can can re-heat the latter) 9.56 b (lay in dark) 10.33 get ready
10.44 cycle to Oceana, initially energetic 1.00 Groove, (3 of my favourite dancers)
1.43 home, eat, video 2.42 comp off 2.49 bedtime
Cycling: 4.27
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 12 March 2012 06:49 am |
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Friday 9-3-12
9.01 v 9.57 b 10.10 caretaker knocks on the door 10.13 v, then pay £10 for key and get dressed to go down and check that it works 10.33 emails
Visual and non-visual videos: some of the videos are tricky because they require watching and concentrating so I have got myself two 'streams' that I can toggle between, because I can only concentrate (including watching) for so long, and sometimes I need or want to multi-task, so I can switch between the two. The non-visual videos include reviewing a video I've already watched (for example the WPF videos I am watching desserve revision), I've also got an easy-going beginner video (about ASP.NET) that is ok to just listen to.
10.44 v 11.00 wash muddy jerusalem artichokes, audio (which in this case is an audio-only video) 11.35 v 11.46 call mum for chat (by way of having a break) 11.58 v 12.16 pineapple smoothie 12.23 v 12.53 after 4 hot drinks and a smoothie, my urine is pretty much the colour of water 12.54 relax/nap 1.32 arrange food on plates (one cooked, one raw) 1.43 v 1.54 IM Galit 2.03 v 2.20 extend salad 3.12 v 3.19 Rob lets me know he's in town, realise I still have not eaten enough calories 3.32 mum wants to meet
3.38 go down with compost and new key fob, swap over batteries between mobile phones, take frozen dish upstairs 3.45 we walked over to shops 3.50 scoring both frozen yoghurt and chocolate samples on the way to the market where we had a look around before 3.55 I left her to her shopping, heading back and 3.59 picking another sample on the way
4.02 home, Rob says he's bored and may not wait for me, dish out popcorn (takes me to '90g' - I'm aiming for a minimum of 135g before leaving) 4.16 activate new bank card online, emails, dry mix 4.45 having very quickly eaten all my calories I try to establish contact with Rob, who has played a trick on me - he has decided to stay in Lloyds ("I've still got half a pint") - I am not impressed. Eat some more, brush teeth, video (to its natural end)
5.19 pack up and cycle to Revs 5.28 comp on 5.30 sip my frozen drink, facebook 5.45 pack up, cycle, loo 5.53 head upstairs, passed on a couple of cocktail vouchers to Linda, Jason's Body Step - mix, a little late to start, featuring his mum at the back, reasonably well attended, had lots of energy throughout, after the class a conversation around the topic of someone being single and also not 'going out' and whilst I am hardly an advert of nights out leading to any sort of relationship I'm certainly passionate about this passtime and got a few words in
7.10 cycle to Lloyds where I failed to find Rob, eventually 7.18 joining him at Slug - unfortunately he was with Graham who would not shut up about me wearing my gym vest and as far as he was concerned the "rule" was that after 6pm one must wear 'smart casual' or stand the risk of being chucked out (and naturally he was principally concerned about his own status). Ok he shut about this just long enough to repeat his theory that there must again be an easy-to-find "rule" about the relative proportions of alcohol to mixers in cocktails. On the plus side this is the 2nd time in which The Cloud Wi-Fi was available at the Slug (I guess this is theirs and not piggy-backing on Lloyds). Gave Rob my last 2 cocktail vouchers as I don't anticipating having any on Saturday or Sunday afternoon
7.38 cycle to AA 7.45 reserve a seat, pick 4 biscuits (57g), use loo 8.00 reading I think was about not being quick to reunite families when someone has stopped drinking; unusual sharing pattern - altogether only 5 shares (4 notably long ones including the first from someone quite new who said he no longer drinks on his own so have to wonder what that implies also struggling with HP concept - and the last one a person who has just gone through the Programme who essentially gave as their first Chair and wow what a story). My biscuits carried me almost through to the end 9.06 on my way out briefly shared back to that last person as they smoked outside before cycling away
9.13 home, settle in 9.19 popcorn, lights off, shuffle todos, notes 9.50 comp off - relax 10.14 get ready
10.20 cycle to Slug'n'Lettuce, Rob pointed at some abandoned drinks he thought it was 'safe' to drink - about a third of a pint in a Bombadir glass and the end of a glass of red wine (50ml?) - decided to estimate these two together as "20g" for my system. He found some barmaids to admire and there was no dancing to be had so I said goodbye 10.40 got to Oceana and eventually started dancing - Woo Woo was packed (a bit more than comfortable) but this is the most happening it got - as soon as they 'released the valve' by opening the upstairs at 11am, every room looked empty (in other words if it was my venue I would have opened it later and/or opened it less to avoid this level of dilution). Eventually decided it was pointless to stay 11.48 try Groove (which was a bit better, at least for a while) and then also Lloyds - which turned out to be the best of the lot (less loud, people actually dancing, friendly)
0.42 home, settle in, popcorn and dry mix 0.57 notes 1.05 audio 1.31 brush teeth 1.35 bedtime
Cycling: 3.27
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 12 March 2012 06:50 am |
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Saturday 10-3-12
8.11 awake, pear smoothie, get ready 8.36 cycle 8.44 make gym, loo 8.48 head upstairs, at the queue a fellow participant referred to instructor Christine as 'screamer' and sure enough she does raise her voice even when wearing a microphone (obviously bothers her more than me - though I draw a parallel with an issue I'm having with another instructor), also meet today's cover instractor Hannah who delivered Body Combat 47 and Body Pump 77 (i.e. what we did April-Jun of last year). In fact we were particularly familiar with tracks 1a,1b,2 of BC47 because Kat and Sam have both been returning to these recently so it was somewhat hard for me to take some choreography deviations (altercation with Leigh who wanted to clip my wings with this regard). On the plus side she did not abuse the stereo volume.
11.18 at the coffee place I weighed my ice-cream cone at 86g (including both scoop - which Marie thinks is likely to be 60g - and the cone), I'd probably estimate the ice-cream and cone at 120 and 100 respectively - in my system I'll put it down as 45g; chat about the workout and slow-eating (and someone who stopped working out now - aged 85!) 11.38 after Dave and Marie leave I stay on to slowly finish my ice-cream and then 11.45 return to gym, loo 11.48 shower 12.00 chat to Eran and get dressed 12.15 cycle 12.25 to Middeleton Hall where I pick various food samples (cheese, sausage, chutny/honey/fudge - estimate 25g) 12.38 walk over to market, pick up cauli leaves and buy avocados 12.46 cycle
12.53 home 1.27 audio, notes 1.42 recommendation from Eran = "The Secret Policeman's Ball 2012", shave, e2save, 3 hot drinks, cauliflower leaves (steam some, refrigerate the rest), update challenge 2.40 contact from Rob (who is available to meet me around 3.30pm) - I can fit him in though it is likely to push my eating forward though as I don't have other fixed appointments until tonight I can accomodate this. more food-related activity 3.17 Rob calls, get ready
3.27 pack up and cycle (impulse stop at M&S - no freebies) 3.38 make Browns, chat, get a glass of water 4.08 comp on - add a bit of background online activity
4.56 Rob heads off for meal with parents, pack up and cycle, bump into Jane from support group by Natwest as she was finishing off a packet of biscuits and chat (money matters and also about identifying and following 'norms') - offer to assist her with organisational issue at her home with an initial discussion meeting (Friday afternoon in the library), nature call accelerating my departure
6.00 home, loo 6.09 audio on, prep popcorn 6.16 notes, plate raw food 6.31 pineapple smoothie, contact from Rob 6.43 emails/CPH 7.03 Rob is done eating and we arrange to meet at Revs, aim to finish my already-allocated popcorn
7.13 cycle 7.19 make Revs (moments before Rob), only bar staff and she was busy serving another small group but eventually turned her attention to us and we both asked for the Vodka Moonshine - I think I saw 3 different shots go in and she used her metal cocktail mixer to crush the ice (more than the other guys did for me) 7.31 we grabbed a table and I resolved to sip it (took straws out), comp on 8.33 Rob tries to catch a bus, drink rest of my drink more quickly and pack up
8.37 cycle, new next-door neighbour informs me of yesterday's burglary (1st floor neighbour's door forced open and television stolen - he intends to chase up council about Trades button)
8.46 home, allocate food (to 219g)
8.49 comp on 9.01 audio 9.07 restart 9.15 on XP, request Mozy backup 9.24 +audio, create multi-day batch of 'dry mix' arrangements (experimental - dish out a 'pinch' of peanuts instead of a full teaspoon, leave out oats and muesli) 9.40 arrange a plate of cooked veggies and more popcorn (to 274g) 9.45 reboot 9.49 back on 7 (that was much quicker, no doubt about it!) 10.03 pause audio for a bit of peace, still lots of popcorn to eat
10.17 cycle 10.24 at Oceana - at periphery of dance floor due it already being busy (indeed they decided to open access to upstairs around 10.50pm (despite still letting people in for free via Woo-Woo enterance). Busy in every room throughout the night so I was mostly at the edges (but it was still a good night - I just notice that most people are very adaptable and have no difficulty coping with extra density) 1.02 cycle (spot police cars)
1.15 home, allocate to 350g (spicy dry mix - using spice mix recently receied from mum with my oats, muesli, raisins and raw peanuts) 1.25 notes 1.34 book classes 2.03 comp off
Shopping: £1 avocados. £1.00
Cycling: 4.65
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 12 March 2012 06:50 am |
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Sunday 11-3-12
8.40 up (alarm), pear smoothie, get ready 9.04 cycle 9.13 make gym 9.20 comp on, audio 9.29 comp off, about 18 for Olga's Body Jam, choreography = 56, star = Louise; Body Combat with Sam and Kat returning to the current release (50) which was interesting enough now that we've broken from it for a while, initially I was going to bail before it started and kept thinking about leaving but instead challenged myself to use the time as a workout (novel - huh?). Imagining myself trying to leach on to post-workout company I instead made a run for it after the hi-fives preceding track 9
11.31 calling Majhid to see if he was still interested 11.43 park by shops and walk over to Middelton Hall - enjoy 8 samples (slowishly, estimate 15g) 11.52 head over to market to check out bargains 11.56 cycle
12.06 home, settle in, "slow food meditation" (1.5 raw plates, pre-made dry mix, last carvery portion). Will eating slowly ever come naturally or will I have to work at it every day for the rest of my life or else default back to my sprint eating? 12.37 notes
12.51 feeling internal pressure to introduce audio and also do more 'catch up' things but I also don't want to lose my mindfulness - ok do my catch-up anyway and then continue audio with jerusalem artichoke chop-cook-freeze project, side-project to remove frozen items from their tubs and transfer to polethene bags (saves spaces and makes tubs free) 2.37 mum calls from ASDA providing a natural and oh so welcome break from the unrelenting audio stream 2.50 yet guilt over productivity soon drove me to resume it 3.22 start my 4th cup of liquid (I'm happy with the results of this new 'drinking project') 3.40 try a course about free CMS 'Orchard' (possibly too much detail for me right now), type texts 4.08 silence, chop pineapple and smoothie 4.31 videos - move on to WCF Templates (heavy-going topic)
5.05 allocate popcorn (boosting 'grams' from 31 to 74 - in other words the beginning of my daily journey to eat the calories I need - which the way I have things set up at the moment is somewhat separate from my need to get nutrition - I've elsewhere already taken care of my supplements (fish oil and vitamin D), liquid (4 cups plus whatever water I drunk during 2 hours of workout), fruit smoothies, and produce (raw and cooked, starchy and non-starchy vegetables, fruit and beans) - my 'produce' previously served as a 'shoebox-sized salad' but is currently just plated on several 10" plates throughout the day. Each plate is probably 150-200g of food so I'm sure I'm getting my "5 a day" and more (but not as much as before). There's also a minimal amount of seeds and nuts - which is a start towards my target of substantial calories for fuel - in recent days a target of "350g of dry stuff". In the case of substantial amounts of junk food whose calorie content I can guess at, I sometimes employ the cheat formula "grams = junk calories divided by 5" (I've used that with pizza and ice-cream). If I'm doing stuff in the evening (which I do most evenings - Sunday is the notable exception and there's Body Step and Body Pump if I actually wanted to be out and about) then I'd want to have consumed half my allocation (350/2 = 175g) before the activity/workout. Today I do not need to have an artifical split which is why I've allowed myself to be a bit late. As I've increased my "dry grams" intake I notice some 'natural' reduction in my uncounted snacking. The recent cafeteria-and-plated transition means I'm less likely to prepare-and-consume a batch of stuff (say microwaved potato cubes, or an avocado). Now I prepare, consume some, and save the rest in my array-of-prepared-foods. This is another subtle reduction in produce consumption.
5.29 more video whilst gearing towards a break 5.45 more popcorn still 6.00 loo, brush teeth 6.31 audio in dark (6.54 realise I was asleep and turn off audio)
8.38 up, arrange more 'dry food' (nice relaxing silence) 9.06 notes, reclassify pumpkin seeds from 'treat' to 'staple' and retro-fit a 'pinch' to 19 x 'pre-made dry mix' 9.15 video 10.00 read about WPF Styles (for some reason missed out from WPF course?) 10.14 v 11.39 text from Geoff (who is back in the country - negotiate to postpone carvery) 0.08 CPH 0.15 (having already spent my 350g) one last plate of cooked veggies and beans 0.20 pluralsight website has gone 'dead' (I guess that's the downside of using a video streaming resource!) never mind I should probably head to bed in any event 0.34 bedtime
7-day food shopping totals: 0 + 0 + 5 + 0 + 0 + 1 + 0 = £6.00
Cycling: 1.38
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 15 March 2012 02:50 pm |
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Monday 12-3-12
6.28 comp on, pluralsight working again, my liquid drinking is also 'working' - now what do I mean by that? I think it helps me be 'regular' - and why is that important? well two things, first of all I've learnt both from my urologist and from personal experience that if I have an outstanding bowel movement then the nearby stool will exert pressure on the bladder - reducing its ability to store liquid - making it more likely I'll be up throughout the night every 1.5 hours or so and be overly tired. Secondly it "confuses" me when my body holds on to food weight (even though I use physicsdiet.com to deal with these fluctuations). So the last three mornings I clocked in at 52.5kg ("below my target range") despite "doing my 350g thing". Upshot of this is that I will continue to have 4 mugs of (usually hot) drinks 6.45 preference for silence; post in challenge, CPH, 3 hot drinks 8.08 eat pear smoothie, audio, emails, shave and try to fix my haircut, loo, get ready, call CTALD and ask about my diagnosis report - told it was "already in the post" (!)
9.07 cycle 9.14 make gym, loo 9.17 spot Mary practicing her Aerobics in studio 2 - Michelle was telling us about her Super Quarterly Workshop experience on Saturday - she also had new Zumba choreography which she made up on Friday for us to try. (One tune stood out for also being familiar from my nightclubbing but I couldn't name or sing it now as I type). On my decend down the stairs I was enthusiastically greeted by name (did not recognise the girl, I have one possible guess), loo 10.31 cycle
my new neighbour still chasing the council to secure the building's front door (he has high expectations and will probably be disappointed) 10.54 home 10.59 another coffee, royal mail - packet too large (different initial so this is a freebie of some kind but I have not applied for any for a while so my wild guess is more gluten-free goodies) - don't want to pay money to call Brinklow Delivery Office (08456 number) - go online and ask for Wednesday redelivery 11.11 notes 1.20 fix haircut - #4 all over (not enjoying the 'partial haircut' experiment - and it wasn't really working - my hair is thinning on top and I just need to accept it and go with a haircut that feels comfortable!) 11.38 post-haircut tidy, call from Rob who is available now (but I'm staying in waiting for Majhid) 11.53 b 12.22 video (Text in WCF) 12.41 it turns out Majhid has been messing me about a little and intending to leave later still 12.55 silence, wash jerusalem artichokes 1.40 he's on a bus 1.44 audio, get ready
1.49 my buzzer rings and Majhid is briefly in my bedsit before we 1.57 walk to the shops (outside, letting him smoke), sandwich shop 'brunches' has been replaced with a cake shop and we tried some samples before walking into 2.02 Poundland which we covered systematically 2.24 leaving with 7 items (go on, have a guess at the bill total), grab frozen yoguhrt samples on the way to 2.29 Carphone Warehouse where I purchased £5 TalkMobile credit (they ask for the phone number and it automatically shows up on the phone - but there is a delay in our case about 20 minutes) - the assistant reluctantly also led us to a phone and let us call customer services so a replacement 'top up card' could be ordered. I did pretty much everything in that shop and this actually required me to impersonate him, which at this point pretty much roles off my tongue
2.43 enter into Pizza Hut and have a brief look at the salad bar before someone is overly keen to find us a table 2.47 we discuss options and then place our order with a waitress and start the salad-eating experience. We both end up using two bowls (in this restaurant there are extra bowls at the salad bar so it isn't a problem) 3.02 our pizzas arrive - this time around I make a point of almost ignoring it. My salad was fairly "rich" already - including breadsticks, potato salad, two types of pasta in probably-unhealthy creamy sauces, croutons and tortilla chips, salsa, sunflower seeds, raisins (and a handful of chocolate buttons that I had no right to). I want to say I'm making progress on "slow eating" in the all-you-can-eat environment but this is not really the case. At least I am trying to chew.
After eating more than 3 of his slices I help Majhid by 'hiding' his last 2 under mine and he redirected his effort towards salad. He also has a hot chocolate (for just under £2). Compared with my other dining companions (e.g. Geoff, Rob and Matthew) he is surprisingly enthusiastic and persistent eater but even he eventually loses interest so 4.20 I use my mobile broadband dongle to offer him an internet browsing environment as I continue to eat. Eventually I ask for a couple of boxes (having eaten almost 2 slices, I'm taking home just over 4 slices) and finish off some more salad whilst the bill is finalised.
4.52 join Majhid outside and we walk on a sample hunt - he points out a (non-frozen) yoghurt for me to try, I then negotiated Hotel Chocolat samples for us both, finally we return to the new shop where I tried some more (broken pie crust? broken cake?) samples 5.01 we split as he is aiming to catch a bus and I walk back
5.09 home - silent and relaxing. Texted to let Majhid know how much of his money I'm keeping for him. Post-meal weigh-in of 54.5kg (2kg more than this morning). Computer off with exception to briefly try to book 'beaming' (got position 7 on the waiting list) 5.43 get ready
5.48 cycle 5.55 make gym and head for Zumba. Amy still missing in action but her gang of 3 friends were all there in the front row and I've missed them the last couple of weeks - they definitely add an element of fun that is otherwise missing. Elsewhere there are a couple of ladies (an older brunette and a younger blonde) and I now have a name for the latter. Ran downstairs to use loo and return to beaming class (no-one checking names on the door, though later I found out that one person was turned away - though for all I know they may not have even been on the waiting list). I found balancing to be challenging (especially with the added requirement for the feet to be dead-on forward rather than turned out as mine naturally seem to be). Luckily it didn't go on too long or it might have been boring. Post-class chat with those 2 women (mentioned physicsdiet.com) 7.40 poolside, shower 8.11 get dressed, loo, text from Rob who is still out, also a cryptic "You k" text from an unfamiliar number, which I tried decipher first 8.13 by a short 18 second call (a woman answered 'you k?' but there was no prompt response to my 'who is it?' and I was wondering if it was some sort of premium rate scam or a practical joke so hang up very quickly). She texted again so I replied, with scepticism...
20:17 You forget me
(20:18 Who am i)
20:19 Ali
(20:22 There is a guy of that surname who keeps giving out my number. He lives up north and i live here in Milton Keynes. I get all sorts like car insurance quotation requests. I can't tell if it is an honest mistake or if he just gives this number out when he wants no contact. If you see him ask for a number correction)
20:22 Its me samaira
(20:23 My name's Nir. Nice to meet you)
20:24 Wrong number sorry
8.24 walk over to nearby Revs at Revs and try my 'headstart text trick' but they said they 'had no vouchers'. Rob joked that he didn't know who I was. I was embarassed to have been found out to play a trick of sorts - got myself a free tap water instead of the hoped-for freebie. I've used this promotion 3 times (2 of the texts were genuine - the third time I generated my own luck - this was the time we were served Viru instead of Stella). Rob mentioned having a steak meal on the 50% promotion (and buying a keyboard synth on eBay, so I questioned the merit of spending all his new-found money at once). Graham decided to sulk because I was once more wearing a sleeveless vest (he is now excluded from the bar where he made an issue of it but I'm sure it has nothing to do with my vest!). I showed Rob the wrong-number text conersation. Graham rejoined with his budget small-factor touchscreen phone (he got it for £20 - probably because that it is faulty - we kept hitting the wrong thing whilst trying to scroll through a long text of woe from one of his daughters) 9.00 having dropped off shopping mum calls to let me know she found my bedsit unlocked (but undisturbed), Indie music has started and is getting louder, a sign of things to come so I say my goodbyes 9.07 cycle
9.20 home, notes 10.25 afk - loo, arrange unmixed produce in 4 tupperware trays for tomorrow's visit to Geoff, put away 12kg of staples (oats, dried fruit), reheat some pizza leftover (less than a slice) in toaster - also defrost portion of herring and a bowl of popcorn - today is a very casual day so don't bother weighing popcorn but food will stop once these 3 items are consumed 10.57 add myself as 3rd standby to Laura's Body Pump and remove from morning list (where there are now 6 spaces available), emails 11.28 video 11.44 final snacking 11.50 brush teeth 0.03 lights off 0.07 comp off, bedtime
Shopping: £6.40 dried fruit mix(5kg) £5.25 oats(7kg) £5 pizza hut Meat Feast with unlimited salad. £16.65
Cycling: 2.70
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 15 March 2012 02:50 pm |
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Tuesday 13-3-12
8.10 idea: retrieve wobbly folding dining table I saw downstairs yesterday to see if using Netbook away from bed ('like a normal person') changes the quality of the experience - get dressed, retrieve, reassemble the legs as they've come apart in the process, rearrange power and Hi-Fi cabling in the room 8.36 notes, shuffle todos (my morning weight is 52.5kg another day despite meal out - however I do also have a 'control scale' according to which I've gone up from 52.1 to 52.6 - so (pun) we'll take that with a pinch of salt), hot drinks 9.00 audio on, food prep (a winter squash found whilst assembling table) 9.12 decide the 'Prism' course video is too detailed for me, go back to WPF videos 9.43 get dressed, pineapple smoothie 9.50 call mum 9.55 resume unrelenting audio 10.00 emails/CPH
10.17 pack up and cycle 10.24 make gym, loo 10.27 head up, hi to Marie and Laura, stay for entire class (stereo quite loud but resist earplugs, wonder whether girl next to me was Rosie, notice she and the other Zumba were girl were friends), Stacey went to the back-of-room airvent without a fight; loo 11.40 mum not at home, cycle directly
11.55 make Geoff (who was busy painting) 12.20 coffee drink, some food donations, reheat pizza (riding on his oven which he was using to cook his steak) 2.07 notes, spread out with my food 3.09 check on mum, online; Geoff done painting and starts watching a program, try to mitigate this with my own audio (headphones on) 4.09 a couple of 'Spanish' sweet 'shots' (20% ABV)
4.15 cycle 4.21 at mum's for food - cherry tomatos, a pasta-and-cabbage dish, chicken pastry dish (she kicked up a fuss when I weighed it in my container which she irrationally considers to be unclean without even having a look at it) 4.32 dessert was an apple turnover (weighed with her container to keep the peace!) 4.44 cycle
4.57 make gym, change, sauna (someone talked about their binge-drinking episodes and I eventually joined in the alcohol theme), change, loo 5.42 head up 5.49 comp on, notes, (I am up to 253g) Shey shows up and puts music on 5.57 comp off, a bit of freestyle dancing before class, Body Jam: mood lighting, good classic mix, start at back and migrate to front (probably wise as this meant I limited exposure to the loudness); promptly reserve my spot for Pump, Kelly asked why I was doing Pump now rather than this morning and I only gave a the partial diplomatic answer "so I can complete Body Combat" (there is more at play here) 7.05 Laura dealing with influx of newbies giving me time to nip to loo, mix of tracks - notably for a Pump class I did not spend the hour constantly wishing it was over(!) which is telling me something about my other Pump classes. change 8.11 cycle and chat to Eran (because Dean continues to be elusive)
8.32 home, settle in (set up Netbook on the wobbly dining table) 8.40 notes 8.46 audio, online 9.46 food prep 10.07 MSE 10.34 prep (include the not insignificant rest of those 2 slices of pizza I was supposed to have eaten earlier - 30 seconds in microwave and chop into little pieces) 11.15 online and snack (audio = revision); when done catching up switch to more chalenging video studying 0.40 and allocate final food (more popcorn and dry mix) 1.05 (not done eating yet) comp off, finish food, brush teeth, loo 1.19 bedtime
Cycling: 4.30
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 15 March 2012 02:50 pm |
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Wednesday 14-3-12
6.24 nature call - stay awake 6.39 comp on, video, get dressed 7.01 starbucks - download beverage nutrition document 7.07 v
7.27 pack up and cross the road to StarBucks. I was specifically there for the promotion but even if I was not then staff were calling out 'free coffee' (of course I would not have been out at 7.30am if I did not know about it). I ask for my free (Skinny) Cafe Latte - asked for my name (their new gimmick - but they did not use it so why bother asking?), whilst waiting grab broken thing (smoewhere between cake and cookie in its hardness) (24g) and disover that I was (initially) still wired to eating too quickly. It was made 'to go' and music was blaring loud enough so I decided to just go back home
7.36 home 7.40 audio (because it seemed unproductive) 7.45 silence (because I want peace) 7.47 4-day e2save review: Disappointing price hike - cheapest deal with 500+ minutes and *any* data was previously £7.24 but is now around £8.33 (with TalkMobile, data allowance now 1GB) so I guess it is out of the running; 300, 600 and 1200 minute deals (no data) are still at £3.12, £5.98 and £9.24 (with Vodafone). I am getting to the point where I will pounce on a better deal if one shows up. May start to monitor more frequently. 8.07 update challenge, loo, 3rd hot drink (incidentally I did not rate my "over £2 value" free drink at all, what a waste of 99 calories) 9.15 cookies over, looking at Caitlin's photography 9.22 email scan 9.25 chat to parents, rest 9.53 video (current course is "What's new WPF 4.0") 10.35 pear smoothie 10.55 b, post arrives (gluten-free bread samples, JD competition entry) 11.16 v
11.26 pack up and cycle, think about Overeaters Anonymous (see later on in the post) 11.38 make gym 11.41 head upstairs, enjoy Zumba (energy level: so-so), the cross-over song in both Zumba and my nightclubbing is Mr Saxobeat by Alexandra Stan http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAhHNCfA7NI 12.32 cycle
12.56 home, set up netbook on bed (because I want to lay down), v 1.30 b 1.34 Rob calls 1.44 v 2.08 +pizza 2.17 mum calls (about phones) 2.31 Rob specifies pub 2.40 pack up
2.48 show up at All Bar One a few minutes before Rob 3.09 comp on 3.20 try (and fail) to get in touch with 'First National Bank' (a project for Graham who was somewhat cryptic about the particulars). After finishing his pint Rob left in search of a cash machine. I stayed with Graham for a few more minutes 4.09 cycle (via postbox - mail out Jack Daniels competition)
4.18 home, notes 4.53 mum calls to vent about lack of availabiilty of Zucha Marina seeds, do some 'writing':
Abstinence in Overeaters Anonymous is the action of refraining from compulsive eating and compulsive food behaviors while working towards or maintaining a healthy body weight.
As far as "maintaining" a healthy body weight, this is quite a wide range (using BMI, at 1.65m anything from 50.4kg to 67.9kg ticks that box). With a tendancy towards exteremes, I set myself a 53-56kg target range when I was 58kg, but I do allow myself to slip below it (52.5kg the last 4 mornings). My related concern of ensuring I have enough "energy" probably means I am not in danger of slipping any lower and perhaps I'll regain some muscle and return to my target range that way.
What about "compulsive food behaviours"? I do not think there is a definitive list of what these consist of, must be a personal thing. Here are mine (past and present):
1) FAST mindless eating with inadequate time for chewing and digesting
2) VOLUME eating a large quantity of food (allowing myself to end up uncomfortably stuffed)
3) obsessively DETAILED monitoring of my eating (e.g. computer-based calorie counting)
4) UNHEALTHY food choices (in excess will jepordise my health)
5) TIME WASTING (allow eating or food preparation to steal too much of my day)
And where am I on these?
1) I seem to wake up each day as a fast eater and have to teach myself again to slow down and eat conciously
2) A relatively recent development (January or February) of no longer volume eating every day, but it is still a feature of eating in serve-yourself eateries (frequency - once a week or less often)
3) I am accounting for my calorie-dense food choices on most days. I am no longer counting calories and no longer require computer assistance, however I do use a scale to weigh foods on many occasions. This is clearly more Detailed than my October-February period of not counting calories at all, but I think it is a good compromise as it has given me back my energy
4) my eating has been a lot more 'perfect' in the past, and for much of the previous year (up to January 9th) I avoided "sugar", so I am eating more unhealthy than before. In fact there is not a single thing that I will refuse on grounds of being a 'trigger food' or on grounds of health (though I make a point of not allowing any sugar into my home beyond whatever I have already decided to consume on the day). My lifestyle pattern is keeping unhealthy food consumption at moderate levels because my home is 'clean'. People who are not healthy-eating freaks would look at my eating and consider it to be 'too healthy' still.
5) I think I am doing better than before, and I find time to go to the gym (twice on some days), see friends, go clubbing (3 times a week), face to face meetings (2 or 3), online commitments (moderate forums, mostly keep up with blogs and mailing lists) and on top of this find a bit of time for computer-skills training. However I am probably kidding myself i.e. if I was placed in a full-time employment situation I would have to scale down food-related time (eating and preparing) and no doubt my priorities are not set correctly.
If I had to pick one thing to be concerned about, it would be #5.
when I joined Overeaters Anonymous in 2006, my main concern was just to be able to stop the uncontrollable binge-eating and the weight gain and deal with my wildly-out-of-control emotions; to be maintaining a healthy weight rather than heading fast in the wrong direction; then in 2007 I also started adressing my unhealthy eating (#4) which at that point was rife; acknowledging and dealing the #1,#2,#3,#5 came later still in the journey - some of it very recently indeed - though I think I'll be working on refining all of these for a lifetime.
5.40 online 5.46 (very) brief call from Dean (who is driving home from his new job) 5.56 smoothie 6.16 deliberately speed-up eating to ensure I meet my target calories; notice that refurbished Android phone (Samsung Galaxy Apollo) is available on PAYG for about £45 (including mandatory top-up) 6.27 round out food
6.39 pack up and cycle 6.49 make gym, loo 6.53 head up, Sam's top in memory of international presenter I remember from my Combat DVDs, first class for Teresa (from Zumba), volume - too loud (I adjusted, in a fashion, but it was still too loud) chory: 1a-3 fresh, 4+ current; stay to middle of 7
7.44 cycle 7.55 make AA, 3 cookies (weigh 60g), turnout: below-average, reading: 'the director'; chair: newly chairing, good 8.43 break, 3 more cookies (didn't weigh these)
9.44 home, finish cookies, return parents' call (mum still wants to talk about mobile phones, fearful that a particular deal which has been available every day since I started surveying the market over a month ago will suddenly disappear just when she needs it and wants to jump on it now. 10.08 off phone, dish out gluten-free bread and popcorn 10.16 audio, facebook 10.34 audio 10.42 produce snacking 11.05 video 11.12 brush teeth 11.19 early bedtime
Cycling: 4.78
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 19 March 2012 03:48 am |
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Thursday 15-3-12
6.36 up, get ready 6.48 cycle 6.59 make gym and set up quickly for Christine's Pump (current release, skip Biceps and Shoulders). 7.54 cycle, contact Geoff (no Carvery today - next week)
810 home, settle in 8.19 comfortable in bed - mixture of relaxation, sleep and nodding on and off
10.26 abort my daze in response to phone call from Rob, get ready (make myself coffee in large plastic cup and take it down) 10.35 find him downstairs, walk over to library bench and chat 11.11 walk to McDonalds (check in with parents) 11.19 join queue, order milkshake and cone (weighs at 107g but I'll put down as 33g) 11.23 sit on bench and slow-eat my cone 11.50 comp off, take a walk
12.00 enter Harvester, led to our table 12.04 place our order (Just Salad ~4 for me, Hamburger and Wine ~9 for Rob); notes; I am provided with a large dining plate 12.11 we're both eating our first bowl/plate of salad; at this point I'm probably eating faster than him 12.27 his hamburger (in lightly toasted bun with mayo, fries on the side) arrives so he turns attention to hamburger, rest of his salad and then fries 12.47 on my 3rd plate 1.09 in preparation for his departure Rob passes on £9
1.14 on my own - Netbook on table, audio, mobile broadband on, CPH/blogs/emails/texts, still eating but as a backgroud rather than foreground activity, eating getting 'slower'. Every now and again a waiter passes by and I'm reminded to continue eating (though I remember an evening dining occasion, possibly new year's eve with Eran, when every time I was using my phone to call or text rather than my knife and fork to eat, a waitress was actually nearby to ask if I was done eating - which was overly keen) 3.59 ask for the bill (£12.93), pay, pack up, loo 4.11 walk home via market where 4.19 at food stall the guy that remembers seeing my dancing (from Oceana outing around Chrismtas or New Year) has offered me a free pear to eat! most surprising - and although I did a 'freebie circuit' this is the only thing I got (for some reason I feel reserved about walking into Hotel Chocolat 'too often' and Monday does not seem that long ago (irrational?))
4.28 home, settle in 4.42 rest in bed until 4.57 mum showed up with some food gifts 5.09 mum leaves, loo, my weight 55.5kg (3kg more than this morning), veg prep with newly-available produce (mushroom, leek, broccoli, swede) so they are ready-to-eat 5.21 audio "10 oclock live"
5.53 pack up (Windows Update forces a reboot - very nasty) 6.02 make gym and head up, luckily Jason does not start on time so I didn't miss anything - good Body Jam chory mix (in the house: Natalie, Adreanne, Teresa etc.); hi to Chee; poolside (partly social, though a couple of guys evidently recognise me as 'crop top' guy), shower, loo 7.42 change 7.57 leave gym, didn't recognise anyone at Moon Under, call Rob (he's still out at AB), decide to cycle back
8.14 home 8.21 audio on (pause to browse paper-based alumni magazines) 8.50 notes, print Harvester voucher (for a free drink - actually I probably won't be able to use unless I buy a 'wrap' meal for £1 more, as 'just salad' may not count as a main meal) 9.38 comp+lights off - relax, get ready
10.12 cycle to Oceana, dance floor initially empty 10.40 my dancing got more confident as it started to get populated 11.20 everyone migrated upstairs so had to follow suit - some good times upstairs too but eventually decided it was too 'thuddy' 23.48 so left for nearby Groove which was more tuneful. One girl told me we're in the same Zumba and Body (Pump? Jam?) classes so I shall watch for her, a group (99% sure they're all lesbian - Groove is a local magnet) were rather friendly for a while. Some Oceana people reached the same conclusion and also found themselves here. Eventually decide to end my night.
1.03 home, settle in, weight down to 53.5kg, snack on produce, decide to allow myself 100-150 'grams' - start with popcorn, gluten-free roll and dry mix 1.25 notes 1.40 audio 2.08 brush teeth 2.33 comp off
Shopping: 399p Harester 'just salad' 59p McDonald ice-cream cone. £4.58
Cycling: 4.69
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 19 March 2012 03:48 am |
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Friday 16-3-12
8.34 nature call 8.48 more awake 9.07 decide to rearrange catheters by date (ambitious project with various 'tangent' actions), weigh-in 53kg 9.30 start drinking
10.27 physical re-organisation over, sitting in front of computer (with my 3rd drink) - am I ready for the mental challenge of studying or would I rather take the path of least resistance and do 'catch up' (the latter) 11.00 post arrives - pay council tax online 11.11 online 11.49 registering hunger - plate misc items and pear smoothie, get dressed 12.15 v 12.36 pack up
12.41 make Library
12.45 connect via dongle but Jane arrived promptly after this so focus on our conversation which was about her relationship with her employer, form filling priorities and what her home is like. We were provisionally meeting "for a coffee" so in case this was a dealbraker I actually drunk one (which I brought from home in large plastic cup) but obviously it was just a figure of speach and she didn't have one. She ate a satsuma and I gratefully accepted one as well (1.14 loo break) 1.48 pack up whilst she nipped to the loo, go myself upon her return
1.55 we walked over to my building and had a look at the recycling chart posted on the noticeboard. I then led her to my flat - gave her a tour (drawing attention to my hoarding and uncleanliness examples), she then settled on the chair by the wobbly table. Although my offer of assistance is 'unconditional' she wants (insists?) on helping me as well and having got the hint this would be the format on Saturday I resigned to the idea. I actually think that maintaining focus is the most important thing, but what caught her eye was the state of my home (the clutter, the wobbly table, dirt etc.) and my "abnormal" eating. I described my clutter as largely a non-priority, was prepared to discuss my eating at length but was recoiling from her "3 meals a day" concept, also the simplistic meal concept of "vegetable, protein, carbohydrate" is not so objectionable until you realise what she meant by these words. I tried to inject Eat To Live concepts into the conversation (agreeing that my eating features both ETL and disordered features). We also talked about money spending patterns/attitudes. Comparing calanders we agreed I'd visit her on April 1st at 11.45am (bring a packed lunch and make sure I am not early). I did eat a bit whilst she was there 5.25 but still needed to inject calories in a hurry after she had gone, opting for a 'spicy dry mix'; get ready
5.45 cycle 5.53 make gym 5.56 head up to studio, thought I saw Britany but unsure, chat with YuKiKo. Jason's Body Step running on time, multiple newbies (and Britany - she returned to gym yesterday) 7.07 sofa, socks off, notes (instead of sauna break) 7.30 online time wasting
7.38 pack up (admire CeRoc + lifts and dips being practiced at studio 2, wow!), cycle 7.50 make AA, loo 7.56 4 biscuits (including 2 Oreos - when did these cross over from special US import to general UK consumption?) weigh 47g, newcomers in the room, reading about having a good reason to go to 'sordid places', being able to keep alcohol in your home and serve it to your friends (if in fit spiritul condition); plenty of shares (most geared to appeal to newcomers) 8.35 done with my nibbling relatively early 9.10 an Oreo 'for the road', cycle
9.18 home, popcorn, lights off in bed 10.28 up, get ready
10.38 cycle, dance floor at 'Woo Woo' initially busier than I prefer so ease into it; at one point admire a girl's (normal nightclub dancing) moves and then her boyfriend returns and a few minutes later they're dancing some salsa(!) (for Molly's benefit - no this is still not a salsa club just people doing their own thing in a regular nightclub) I clapped 123-567 and did some shines in order to say "I know what you're doing and I approve" 11.30 transition to 'Disco' 11.57 at 'Ice House' and notice I'm tired, spot another 2 salsa couples (an organised outing from some salsa club, perhaps?) 0.30 call it a night - cycle
0.42 home 0.56 lights off (eat popcorn and 1/3 apple) 1.18 bedtime
Cycling: 2.94
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