FFS, sickness

So anyone who follows me on Twitter will know that I've been sick for the last week. I swear I'm getting sicker every day, and it really sucks. All I want to do is stay home in bed, but I don't think that's going to happen.

I've been using Revitanail on my newly naked nails - I took my acrylics off 2 weeks ago today and have been waiting, not so patiently, for my 3 weeks after which they will be strong and lovely. So far, they've grown heaps and are looking great. I've cheated a few times and worn colour, but only because I can't stand to have boring natural looking nails when I've got all that polish there staring at me!!!

Here they are the day I removed the acrylics:

Here they are after 1 week:

I've filed them down lots since then, so they're a nicer shape. Unfortunately, I aslo managed to chip a huge chunk off my left middle finger. It's pretty ugly, but is growing back remarkably quickly. Hopefully it will be nice and long by next week!

You know, I really think drinking water is doing great for my nails. They seem to be growing much much faster than they ever did before I drank this much!

Super slack

Yes - so I've been very slack with both my eating AND blogging.

On the plus side, I've been drinking a lot of water, and I feel like my skin is better and maybe I have a bit more energy.

I got my hair cut and coloured yesterday - I'll have to take a pic and post it. I loved it until Marcus told me he doesn't like it, and now I'm second guessing. I love the dark part, but not the blocky blonde at the front. I think I'll leave it a few more days to see if I change my mind, or else it's going to be another trip to the salon for me.

Last week I also removed my acrylics. It's very exciting - without all the great girls at MUA I would never have had the balls to do it. They're looking good considering they only came off a week ago. I'm using Revitanail which is looking very promising so far.

I also entered a contest at thepolishaholic! I'm such a sucker for contests even though I never win. It's funny, I was looking at some swatches and happened to see the contest. I've followed her blog for a little while on google reader, but I'm pretty lazy when it comes to blogger. However, I know those are the numbers that matter, so I've started following on blogger too. Here's the link for anyone who wants to enter. I secretly hope no one does so I can win!!

I should really stop looking at nail blogs, they drive me crazy. I've gone from never doing my nails to 3 times a week (every time I got a backfill) to DAILY!!! I never thought I would get this addicted, but here I am!

I also picked up 2 polishes today (but shhh, don't tell!). I'll swatch them soon

XO

Lauren

Monday, Monday

Today’s Monday. My weekend of eating well did not go as planned. On Saturday, I was planning on eating lunch at home, but ended up going to McDonalds AND forgot my water bottle. I chose a McChicken, but had L&P with it, so hardly a great meal. That night I was out at a sports think and had sausages from a sausage sizzle for dinner – also not great for me.

Sunday, however, was a bit better. I took a packed lunch from home as well as a fruit bar, and had omelette for dinner.

Marcus and I bought a bench top water filter/chiller to help encourage us to drink more water. It’s working well, I think. It’s really great to have unlimited (well, as long as we remember to top it up) fresh, chilled water on tap. I’m definitely on top of my target water bottles per day – I think I had about 6 or 7 on Saturday and about the same amount yesterday too. You know, it’s right what they say about you having to pee less when you’re hydrated – those first couple of days where you drink and drink and pee and pee are horrible. Now I’m waterlogged, I pee about the same number of times as I did before, but I feel better, and less hungry.

In regards to my 5 fruit and veg a day, it’s been a bit of a fail, I have to say. Today I’ve had 2 servings, but I’m pretty sure we don’t have anything in the way of veges at home, so I might have another 2 servings of fruit tonight and that will be it. In saying that, I don’t want to get upset about it or feel like I’m behind – any effort I’m making is better that how I was this time last week, and I need to be proud of myself for that.

I’ve also done no exercise since my walk on Friday, but I do plan on doing at least a little something tonight or tomorrow. I really need to get into a positive mindset where any little effort I make is worth it – I think it’s so easy to get into that trap of ‘oh, but I have no time this week to exercise, so why even bother trying to eat better?’. Reality says of course eating better is worth it – nothing happens overnight, it all takes time!

So here we go, I’m taking baby steps to be a bit healthier, a bit fitter, and a bit happier.

Goals

I currently weight 100kg, give or take 2-3kg either way. This is the first time I've ever admitted that, even to myself. My BMI is 37, putting me in the ‘obese’ category.

Generally, I dislike BMI calculators as I don’t think they are very accurate or tailored to individuals. At my fittest, I weighed between 68 – 74kg. I would like to eventually lose 30 kg to get down to a goal weight of 70kg. How awesome would it be to break the 70, and see 69kg on the scales?? This would put my BMI at 26, which is still overweight as a healthy BMI is between 20 and 25 (give or take. Although I’m short, I have a large frame, and I think the recommended 60kg is an unrealistic goal for me. Now, I’m not saying that it would be unhealthy for me, because I’d probably look fantastic, but 70kg would still be a huge achievement, so I’m going to aim for that. I think it’s silly to aim to lose almost half my body weight when I’ve NEVER in my adult or adolescent life weighed 60kg. When I get to 70kg, I’ll see how I’m looking and re-evaluate.

I know the key to weighloss is to make small goals, so by this Christmas, I would like to break the 80s – I don’t care if it’s 89.9kg, but I have to be below 90. This gives 4 months to lose 10kg – 2.5kg per month. I would love to weigh 70kg at Christmas 2011. That means I have 12 months to lose 20kg, 10kg/6 months – about 1.5kg a month. I think these are realistic goals.

The boyfriend and I were discussing last night what out goals are. He doesn’t think I should focus too much on weight because if I gain any weight, I’ll get disheartened which I tend to agree about. His target is fitness; he wants to get to the same fitness level he was when he represented New Zealand.

When I was younger, my mum did a weight loss program called ‘Natural Way’, where you take herbal supplements to aid your weight loss. They also were very big on recording measurements and charting progress using actual measurements. I think this is a great option for me, as I will be able to see the physical changes as I go along, so even if I don’t lose weight, I still may lose a cm here or there, so I know my efforts are working.

I would also like to set some fitness targets; I think I’ll follow Marcus’ lead and aim to be able to successfully complete the NZ Women’s’ training program. I used to be able to do it, and a couple of months training should get me into shape to do it again.

Foodwise, I have some goals also. I want to drink 4 bottles of water a day (750ml bottles). That’s 3litres. Research (well, okay, google) has told me that adults need to drink approximately 2l of water to replace what they lose a day. I also know that people who drink 2 cups of water before meals lose more weight because they feel more full, so this can only be good, right? I tend to drink quite a lot, so I’ll go for 4 bottles a day and see how that goes. Probably, once I’m properly hydrated, I will be able to reduce my water drinking, although it is a great alternative to keep my hands busy rather than snacking.

I also want to get my 5 servings of fruit or veg a day. It sounds pretty silly that I’m an adult who dislikes veges, so I think I should make this a priority.

I'm sure I'll come up with some more goals as I go along, but for now, I'll just focus on these three things:

• drink 4 bottles of water a day
• Eat 5 servings of fruit or veg a day
• Lose 10kg by Christmas