I've had a really good month!
Last month I worried that I threw too much expectation out into the universe, and that it would come back and bite me, but thankfully that has not been the case. All month I've worked my butt off ensuring that I've been jogging, or lately swimming, every second day at least, and I've been eating healthy and keeping my room neat and I'm just... real life adulting really successfully right now.
Only one real stumbling block has appeared thus far. At the beginning of the month, after reaching 3k on my runs, my knee started giving me trouble. I meant to just take one day off, swim instead and then get back to it. However, I then fell off a skateboard (cos I am learning how to skateboard) on that same knee and now it's not very happy with me. It is still quite bruised up and while it doesn't hurt now, it doesn't like me to kneel on it or put pressure on it. Walking and swimming are fine, but I'm not willing to jog again until it's better. So instead swimming! I do 1km or more most days, with the bae most of the time, and it's also a really fun way to exercise.
It's actually just perfect weather and season for it. The water is warm, the sun is warm, and since I'm on break still, I can go whenever I want as long as it's not the middle of the day when I'll burn. So I think the setback with my knee didn't cost me anything, except it may take me slightly longer to reach 5km. Which is fine, there is no real rush.
My 'learning to cook' has been really successful so far. I've mastered Satay Chicken to the extent that I'm inviting my family over to dinner tonight and I'm cooking for them, and for Galentine's I made Honey Pumpkin Risotto, which is fantastic. I've also tried to make curries and stir fries and I have a bunch of recipes just waiting to be field tested. It's good for my Uncle too, because he gets to eat all the things I make. I'm actually also just really happy that almost everything I'm cooking is vegetarian. Apart from the satay chicken, everything I make at home is meat-free. Partly it's just because it's cheaper to eat tofu or veggies, but mostly I'm making a concerted effort to learn vegetarian meals, so it's actually easier to just eat vegetarian because that's what I know how to do. I'm getting much more conscious about why it's good to eat less or no meat, and while I don't feel guilty for consuming on special occasions, I think I'm giving up eating it just whenever. Like, my lunch wraps are always just salad wraps and they are totally fine. I just put feta or avo or something extra delicious on it to make it tasty.
I have also just been eating healthy. Not strictly or calorie counting beyond just general estimates to ensure that I'm on track, but eating home cooked meals, almost no chocolate and less snacking has really done a lot so far. After six weeks, I'm fitting into dresses better and feeling really good about my progress. My goal was to fit into a specific old dress for Galentine's and I did. It still not an easy, one movement zip, but it did up with relative ease compared to it not fitting or requiring 5 minutes of struggle, which was the situation a few weeks ago. My next clothing goal involes being able to wear the dress with a bra comfortably. I have my next occasion to wear it in two months time (Easters) and I think that's totally enough time to achieve that goal if I stay eyes on the prize. I also just want my jeans to fit nice and loosely and comfortably this winter. I barely wear jeans just because they tend to be tight and annoying, so this year it would be nice to have jeans that fit where there is no muffin top, or to be able to move down a size. Ah, dreams, dreams.
I only broke the healthy eating a couple of days ago because of Galentines and Valentines. While I didn't at all binge, I had always had those dates in the diary for a bit of a splurge. Galentine's involves a lot of alcohol and a pot luck of both savory and sweet foods, and Valentine's involves eating out and treating yo' self, so I just planned for it in advance. And oh god, was it worth it! The hot chocolate with whipped cream at Valentine's brunch was everything I had dreamed and eating bread and cheese on a picnic blanket with your boyfriend while watching a movie is #aesthetic af. I ate unhealthy for a 24 hour period of debauchery, didn't work out, just enjoyed a party with my girl friends, brunch with bae and some close friends, and dinner and dessert with my boyfriend. That's some really nice life balance. I think at the point where you don't do fun things with the people you care about because it might involve calories or overeating, that's a problem. There are so many non-event days that you can be healthy for with no social cost, that it doesn't make sense not to go out on the special days. Oh no, it may take me a couple of extra days to reach my goals! The horror.
Anyways, Valentine's was really nice because the relationship is going really well. I told bae that the only thing I wanted was him to get me a card that filled both inside pages with his thoughts about me and our relationship. It took him until 11:59 to hand it over, but it was worth it when he did. Bless communication and being able to express what you want. It really makes life good. Having written assurance of feelings is worth 10 x the amount of verbal declarations. I can also treasure written notes much better than I can remember verbal ones.
I've also made a budget for the first time in my life, which is challenging but a really important thing. Now that I'm living out of home and I'm in complete control of my finances, and wanting to know if I'll be able to afford debating comps and holidays and food and whatnot, it's important. My budget was pretty aspirational, in that it was perhaps a bit of a stretch to think I could save as much as I budgeted but I'm currently just recording how much I spend each day, so I can make it more accurate. You don't realise how many 'extras' you pay for until you do this, I swear to God. Thankfully, I have some ways to make extra cash lined up so I think I'll be able to make this work, if I can just cut out (for the most part) getting food while out. That's such a money drain, though the real test will be if I can not spend money at Uni once semester starts and I'll need to pack multiple meals and snacks to get me through a day without buying lunch.
In other news, I have my orientation for Clinical next week and soon after that I'll actually start! I'm really excited but also feeling unprepared. I'm hoping I'll have the motivation and determination to sustain me through the semester/year/degree. I want to do as well in Masters as I did in Honours, not just academically but I want a good work/life balance and I want to really have myself together. Hopefully Masters will allow for that.
Anyway, I'm sure I'll update you in March as to how I'm going (hopefully just keeping on on on!)
Last month I worried that I threw too much expectation out into the universe, and that it would come back and bite me, but thankfully that has not been the case. All month I've worked my butt off ensuring that I've been jogging, or lately swimming, every second day at least, and I've been eating healthy and keeping my room neat and I'm just... real life adulting really successfully right now.
Only one real stumbling block has appeared thus far. At the beginning of the month, after reaching 3k on my runs, my knee started giving me trouble. I meant to just take one day off, swim instead and then get back to it. However, I then fell off a skateboard (cos I am learning how to skateboard) on that same knee and now it's not very happy with me. It is still quite bruised up and while it doesn't hurt now, it doesn't like me to kneel on it or put pressure on it. Walking and swimming are fine, but I'm not willing to jog again until it's better. So instead swimming! I do 1km or more most days, with the bae most of the time, and it's also a really fun way to exercise.
It's actually just perfect weather and season for it. The water is warm, the sun is warm, and since I'm on break still, I can go whenever I want as long as it's not the middle of the day when I'll burn. So I think the setback with my knee didn't cost me anything, except it may take me slightly longer to reach 5km. Which is fine, there is no real rush.
My 'learning to cook' has been really successful so far. I've mastered Satay Chicken to the extent that I'm inviting my family over to dinner tonight and I'm cooking for them, and for Galentine's I made Honey Pumpkin Risotto, which is fantastic. I've also tried to make curries and stir fries and I have a bunch of recipes just waiting to be field tested. It's good for my Uncle too, because he gets to eat all the things I make. I'm actually also just really happy that almost everything I'm cooking is vegetarian. Apart from the satay chicken, everything I make at home is meat-free. Partly it's just because it's cheaper to eat tofu or veggies, but mostly I'm making a concerted effort to learn vegetarian meals, so it's actually easier to just eat vegetarian because that's what I know how to do. I'm getting much more conscious about why it's good to eat less or no meat, and while I don't feel guilty for consuming on special occasions, I think I'm giving up eating it just whenever. Like, my lunch wraps are always just salad wraps and they are totally fine. I just put feta or avo or something extra delicious on it to make it tasty.
I have also just been eating healthy. Not strictly or calorie counting beyond just general estimates to ensure that I'm on track, but eating home cooked meals, almost no chocolate and less snacking has really done a lot so far. After six weeks, I'm fitting into dresses better and feeling really good about my progress. My goal was to fit into a specific old dress for Galentine's and I did. It still not an easy, one movement zip, but it did up with relative ease compared to it not fitting or requiring 5 minutes of struggle, which was the situation a few weeks ago. My next clothing goal involes being able to wear the dress with a bra comfortably. I have my next occasion to wear it in two months time (Easters) and I think that's totally enough time to achieve that goal if I stay eyes on the prize. I also just want my jeans to fit nice and loosely and comfortably this winter. I barely wear jeans just because they tend to be tight and annoying, so this year it would be nice to have jeans that fit where there is no muffin top, or to be able to move down a size. Ah, dreams, dreams.
I only broke the healthy eating a couple of days ago because of Galentines and Valentines. While I didn't at all binge, I had always had those dates in the diary for a bit of a splurge. Galentine's involves a lot of alcohol and a pot luck of both savory and sweet foods, and Valentine's involves eating out and treating yo' self, so I just planned for it in advance. And oh god, was it worth it! The hot chocolate with whipped cream at Valentine's brunch was everything I had dreamed and eating bread and cheese on a picnic blanket with your boyfriend while watching a movie is #aesthetic af. I ate unhealthy for a 24 hour period of debauchery, didn't work out, just enjoyed a party with my girl friends, brunch with bae and some close friends, and dinner and dessert with my boyfriend. That's some really nice life balance. I think at the point where you don't do fun things with the people you care about because it might involve calories or overeating, that's a problem. There are so many non-event days that you can be healthy for with no social cost, that it doesn't make sense not to go out on the special days. Oh no, it may take me a couple of extra days to reach my goals! The horror.
Anyways, Valentine's was really nice because the relationship is going really well. I told bae that the only thing I wanted was him to get me a card that filled both inside pages with his thoughts about me and our relationship. It took him until 11:59 to hand it over, but it was worth it when he did. Bless communication and being able to express what you want. It really makes life good. Having written assurance of feelings is worth 10 x the amount of verbal declarations. I can also treasure written notes much better than I can remember verbal ones.
I've also made a budget for the first time in my life, which is challenging but a really important thing. Now that I'm living out of home and I'm in complete control of my finances, and wanting to know if I'll be able to afford debating comps and holidays and food and whatnot, it's important. My budget was pretty aspirational, in that it was perhaps a bit of a stretch to think I could save as much as I budgeted but I'm currently just recording how much I spend each day, so I can make it more accurate. You don't realise how many 'extras' you pay for until you do this, I swear to God. Thankfully, I have some ways to make extra cash lined up so I think I'll be able to make this work, if I can just cut out (for the most part) getting food while out. That's such a money drain, though the real test will be if I can not spend money at Uni once semester starts and I'll need to pack multiple meals and snacks to get me through a day without buying lunch.
In other news, I have my orientation for Clinical next week and soon after that I'll actually start! I'm really excited but also feeling unprepared. I'm hoping I'll have the motivation and determination to sustain me through the semester/year/degree. I want to do as well in Masters as I did in Honours, not just academically but I want a good work/life balance and I want to really have myself together. Hopefully Masters will allow for that.
Anyway, I'm sure I'll update you in March as to how I'm going (hopefully just keeping on on on!)
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