Classes and Vagina Monologues

Rivers belong where they can ramble,

Eagles belong where they can fly,

I've got to be where my spirit can run free,

Gotta find my corner of the sky

Every man has his daydream

Every man has his goal

People like the way dreams have of sticking to the soul

~Corner of the Sky lyrics from the musical Pippin

I still haven't chosen my classes for this semester, which is a source of some stress at the moment. I'm torn between wanting to take a great class that I'm going to love every minute of (I haven't found one that I feel this way about though) and one that's going to be easy enough that I have time to spend on my thesis (which I have a very very love-hate relationship with at the moment). I'm currently considering

• Music vs. Words (English/Music): I was beyond excited about this class, but the first two lectures have been okay and then terrible (the terrible one was poetry analysis. So epically not my kind of thing).)
• History of Science (History): I'm majoring in science, and so far this class has been okay. The professor is good but not outstanding and there are weekly reading responses and responses to other people's responses, which will make the class a little more difficult/time consuming.
• Art of Structure (Civil Engineering): seems like an interesting class and has great reviews. It's basically about form and function of buildings (which I am sort of interested in).

I'm leaning towards the civil engineering course, but I'm going to go to one or two more lectures for each one.

I went to BodyPump today, which was awesome. I love it! I went with one of my friends though, and she really didn't love it. We're not super close (I know it sounds mean but she's a huge social climber and cares about the quantity rather than quality of friendships, which I can't stand). She's also a little (probably 20lbs) overweight and never goes to the gym. I don't know why she disliked the class so much (other than that it was hard...she's normally a 2mph biker at the gym?! I don't get that, I love hard gym classes!). I suspect that her reaction might have had something to do with her realization that I am much, much stronger than her/that she's in incredibly bad shape. (Which, to me, is obvious. It was super tough for me at first to start going to the gym regularly, and even now if I'm lazy and miss a week it's a little tough to get back into the habit.)

I achieved one of my thesis goals today: I talked to my advisor! And it was way less terrible than expected. I wasn't able to show him a plan with chapter titles, but I know what he's expecting now and I also have someone else's old thesis which I'm meant to be (stylistically) following. He's also happy to read chapter drafts (up until 2 weeks before its due), which is a good thing. I'm not going to bother him with chapter titles, but I still want to have a proper list of it all by the end of this week.

The one bad thing was that apparently I have to stick to the 5 page max rule for the intro, so I'm going to have to scrap almost all of my existing work :(. (But, I am much more comfortable with the material now, which is obviously a good thing!).

[This is bit is a bit TMI. And I'm also a straight, non-feminist female, which colours my view here a bit]

I went to see The Vagina Monologues this evening. I thought I was going to really enjoy it and....I didn't. I know I'm a bit of a prude, but some parts of it were a bit uncomfortable (which is of course the exact opposite of the goal of it). I disliked being encourage to shout "c*nt" in one of the skits (I get what they're trying to do, but still...) and I also didn't like the portrayal of men so much. I felt that in a lot of it men were portrayed as "bad" and for many women they're an integral part of the sex/learning about their bodies.

Another thing that was probably a bit more in keeping with the goal was the whole orgasm thing. For whatever reason I haven't yet, and I felt like a lot of the skits were a bit focussed on it. Obviously it's an important part of everything (and I'm working on getting there), but I think it's also important to remember that that's not the only good thing about sex (that said I would really like to be able to).

Anyway, that all got a bit heavy at the end! Overall my day was good! (And I remembered how much I loved Pippin today :D)

Thursday

I'm still at my grandmother's house, which is super nice. It's so relaxing, which is great.

Things I've done today...

Sleep, a lot. I don't know why I've been so tired (maybe because I haven't been sleeping well at school), but I took two realllly long naps today. I hope I'm going to sleep well tonight :S. Hopefully I can get back on a more reasonable sleeping schedule. I'm also thinking that I might try to get on more of an early to sleep early to wake up kind of schedule when I get back to school. What is everyone else's preferred sleep schedule?

Went to the dermatologist. As I said yesterday, I'm still not delighted with how my skin's looking with all the hyperpigmentation but the dermatologist seemed confident that they'll fade in a few months. She wants me to keep doing what I've been doing (duac in the morning, atralin once a week at night) and come back in six months. Hopefully, things will start to clear up soon.

Thesis...I at least started on my goal for this week. I wrote about 2.5 pages of the introduction and I'm going to spend time tomorrow thinking about what else to put in the introduction. At least I'm getting going on it!

I didn't get a chance to go to the gym today, or really do any exercise, but my eating was generally pretty good. I had salmon with onions and tomatoes for dinner which was super yummy! I also had sweet potato, which was so good. I haven't had it in a while and I really missed it :(

PS I'm really bummed - I bought my camera to Connecticut with me, but I didn't bring the cord so I can't upload all the photos I've taken. I promise lots of photos on Saturday or Sunday when I get back to school though!

January Recap

January was an interesting month, with lots of highs and lows.

The Highs....

Exams and Grades

This was basically a month of exams, but at least I'm done now. I'm still waiting on one more grade (Econ), but my others were good, and I was really pleased with them. There's been a bit of stress because my boyfriends grades weren't as good as he was hoping they'd be (as always). He's a bit of a perfectionist and he's also not great at taking exams. Plus his writing style isn't...exactly the clearest. Anyway, it's been a bit stressful trying to make him feel better about that.

Thesis

I'm not sure if this should be a high or low. It's a low in that I'm miles way from finishing (so so far). But...it's a high in that I've at least started and I've come up with a plan to set weekly goals for myself.

And the Lows...

Food

My eating's been...so far from great this month. I seriously seriously need to work on eating less sugar. In a really weird way I'm looking forward to lent when I'm giving up dessert because then I'll have a big incentive not to eat sugar.

On the plus side the boyfriend and I got to cook a lot during the last week, and we made a bunch of really yummy dinners including shrimp, tomato sauce and pasta, chili con carne and rice and pork with apple sauce and pasta. Unfortunately I wasn't able to take pictures because my camera was out of battery :(.

Exercise

I haven't gotten in anywhere near as much exercise as I'd like over the last month. I did get in some great weights workouts at the end of the month because I went with my boyfriend.

Goals For Next Month

Thesis

Set weekly goals

Feb 1-5: Write the background section and read 30 pages

Feb 6-12: Talk to my advisor, come up with an overview plan, [other things...]

Get a new sub-project (a few new compounds in the series I've already been working on)

Spend 2 days/week working in lab (probably Tuesday and Thursday)

Food

Lent is starting during February, so I'll be giving up desserts when that starts.

Two of my closest female friends have a pact to only eat dessert once a week starting at the beginning of next semester, so I'm going to start off doing that with them.

Trail mix - I'm going to make up some "healthy" (as healthy as it can be) trail mix. I'm going to put in cereal, pumpkin seeds/sunflower seeds, golden berries, chocolate covered goji berries, yoghurt covered cranberries and some nuts. Does anyone have any other suggestions for what to put in?

Exercise

I'd like to get a regular exercise routine organized. I'm going to try to get one set up with my friends, because I'm far more likely to go when I'm going with others. I'd like to get a mix of cardio (~twice a week) and weights (~twice a week) and maybe pilates once a week.

Sleep

I'd like to try to sort out what's happened to my sleep schedule. I want to try to make whatever changes I need to make so that I'm not tired during the day and feeling like I could nod off at any moment.

Skin

My skin is looking at bit better, but still not anywhere near as good as I want it to be. The main problem now is the darkened pigmentation on my chin, which kinda looks like scars. I'm going to the dermatologist tomorrow, so one of my goals for this month is to follow whatever advice she gives me to reduce the pigmentation.

Resolutions

I've looked back at my resolutions for this month and I've haven't done too much on them. I'd like to continue working on my posture (with my back support - 30 minutes/day, working up to an hour or so/day), improving my clothes choices (I'm going to try to take photographs of my outfits twice a week) and epilating (more than I've been doing).

Ironman!

So, to start with I would never ever do an ironman race. I think it would just be way too much for me. However, on the food tracking website I use someone came up with the idea of doing the traditional ironman distances (26.2 miles running, 112 miles biking and 2.4 miles swimming) over the course of the month. So...my exercise goal for this month is to do just that.

I almost never swim and rarely bike in the gym, so it's going to be a bit of challenge, but it's one that I'm looking forward to and have been enjoying so far. I've also been trying to convince my friends/family/boyfriend to do it with me (or at least do their own version of it with different activities/distances).

Anyway, so far...

1/12 Ran 2.5 Km = 1.55 miles (14 ish minutes)
2/12 Biked 8.15 miles (30 mins, 30 seconds)
3/12 Biked 12.33 miles (45 mins, 3 seconds), Ran 1.61 miles (15 mins)

Totals so far:

Swim - 0 miles/2.4 miles left
Bike - 20.48 miles/91.52 miles left
Ran - 3.16 miles/23.04 miles left

I *love* that I can already feel my muscles getting stronger from working out :D

And..gratitude! I haven't been very good at keeping on top of that challenge. Anyway, onto Day 3 of that challenge: Happiness

A lot of thing’s make me happy, and I couldn’t possibly cover them all in one post.

My family and wonderful boyfriend are definitely at the top of the list.

I also love going home and spending time with my high school friends. I do feel that I’ve been drifting away from them though. It’s kinda sad, but I think it’s a function of the fact that I’m on a totally different Uni schedule to them, and I also have less in common with a lot of them now than I used to.

Flowers: I’ve always been into gardening even when I was pretty little (and still am! I have awkward amounts of greenery on my window ledge at school.) I also love having them in my room, so it’s a big treat when the boy gives me flowers!

Dressing up: Another one of my favourite things is dressing up for formals or dances.

Good food and now 5K’s!

That was a weird post. I feel like I’m grateful for anything that makes me happy, plus there are gazillion’s of different random things that make me happy!

First (actual) 5K

I ran my first proper 5K race today (ie not one in a gym with me on a treadmill). The boyfriend also ran it, but we decided not to try to do it together (he's much faster than me and he'd get aggravated with me slowing him down and I'd be annoyed by him trying to make me go faster than I was comfortable with). We were really lucky in that the weather was great - cold, but sunny and bright.

My race number!

I was pretty nervous before it, just because I hadn't been able to run the course beforehand (because of the hip) and because I've never run an official 5K before. The course was also pretty hilly, which is different from when I run in the gym.

My goals for the run were:

1. To run the whole thing (not walking). I know I can do this in the gym, but I wasn't sure how I'd fare with the hills!

2. To finish in under 35 minutes.

Running was fine for the first few minutes (downhill!), but then got sort of tough. When I run I tend to find that the most difficult part for me is the part between about 5 and 15 minutes into the race. The end of the race was nice (ie flat!). I managed to do the whole thing in 27.11 mins, which is only slightly slower than my best gym-time (26.57 mins). I was a little peeved because I was so close to beating my best time, but it was a much tougher course than in the gym and I did achieve what I set out to achieve. I can 82/120, which I was happy with. Most of the people who were running were really intense runner types and so for my first 5K I thought that was pretty good. (The boyfriend came 24/120. Ridiculous :P). I also got a pretty awesome T-Shirt, which at some point I'll post a pic of!

My dad phoned after I'd just come back from it. I missed his call and had to call him back, and when I did I explained that I'd missed his all because I was running the race. His response was "I didn't know you did that kind of thing" :D. Made me happy, because it's me breaking out of my comfort zone!

Anyway, I think I'm hooked! I can't wait to run another race and hopefully beat my time!

Exercise Fails

On Monday I (apparently) fell asleep on the floor. I have no memory of deciding to take a nap or anything, but I woke up to the sound of my alarm covered in my bathrobe. Both of those things make me think that I must have (at some point) consciously decided to take a nap. I have a ridiculous habit of (sometimes) napping on the floor. I alluded to this in my sleep post, but if I get into bed it's pretty much "game over" and I won't get out for ages. Normally sleeping on the floor (covered by my rug) is fine, but apparently I slept for over an hour this time. When I woke up and tried to stand I noticed that my hip reallly hurt. I've never had issues with it before, so I can only assume that it was caused by lying on it on the floor for 60 minutes.

Perhaps stupidly, I still went to the gym Monday night and ran (only for 10 minutes though!) and did weights. It didn't hurt at all when I was running, so I assumed it was fine. On Tuesday it was still bothering me (no gym and I was limping insanely all day). It seems to be worse if I sit and let and stop moving. Anyway, it's been seeming better today, so fingers crossed that I'll be fine for my 5K on Friday!

In other gym news my heart rate monitor is playing up :(. I have no idea why, but I'm fairly certain that my HR didn't go from 170 to 90 in about 1 second. You're meant to wash it fairly frequently (which I don't always do :S), so hopefully a quick wash will fix it! Fingers crossed for that.

Lastly, I talked about my friend Catie over the summer. She's about 5'3" and weighed around 170 lbs. She carries almost all her weight in her butt/hips which, although the healthiest place to carry it, really affected her self esteem. Anyway, to date she's lost 18 lbs :). She wants to lose another 35ish by graduation (in June 2012), but she's definitely making progress (and she also looks much better!)

Exercise as Study Breaks

My brother is visiting this weekend, which is awesome! My family's pretty close and I haven't seen him in a while, so its nice that he was able to come.

Anyway, something he did on Thursday that made me think. We were both mucking around on our computers doing "work" (Thursday is never a productive day for me) and suddenly he jumped off my bed, got down on the floor and started doing pushups!

I'm really big on trying to incorporate exercise into my every day life (taking the stairs instead of the lift etc), but my brother got me re-thinking about whether there were useful little 5 minute exercise things I could do as study breaks when I'm working. I can't really do pushups, and don't like crunches, so I tend to do things like the plank.

Do you do any of those sorts of things? What do you do?

5K

I noticed a flyer in the gym for a 5K race next Friday (November 18). I took the plunge and signed up for it! I've never run a proper 5K race before, and I'm pretty nervous. I figured that it would give me a good incentive to run and work hard for the next week.

Previously, I've run based on time, not distance. I'm not really sure how far I've been running in the past. On Wednesday I ran my first ever "deliberate" 5K in the gym. It took me 28.31 (I got close to the end and decided that I wanted to do it in 28.30, so I was close!). Anyway, over the next week I'm going to keep working and seeing how I do with running (and if I don't feel that I'm ready on the day I won't do it).

Foodwise, I've done well. I've stuck to my eating plan so far this week, and I've also managed to stay in my calorie goal each day. I'm still using "MyFitnessPal" to track my food choices, and also to track my weight each day. I know that weighing every day isn't ideal, but it makes it easier for me to keep track of things.

My first weight (130) was from ages ago, so that doesn't really count. At least it's going down, even though I'm pretty sure a lot of that is water weight (no way did I lose 4.4 lbs in 4 days!).

Monday

Monday was a good day foodwise - I stuck to my plan (and I also had salad at both meals, no dessert at either and no french fries!).

I also went to pilates - I haven't been in such a long time (6 months or so!). I remembered most of the positions/moves, but my abs have got much weaker, so I wasn't able to do them as well. (My big problem with pilates is my neck. For some reason I tense it a lot when I'm doing anything that requires me to lie down and hold my head up - crunches and a lot of pilates exercises. When my abs were stronger that problem got better, but they're back to being weak again :(. I need to work on that!).

The pilates also felt gooood after my run yesterday. I am still really sore from it (much more than I would normally be). I'm also really feeling it in my hip flexors which is a bit strange. During the run yesterday (with the new "barefoot" shoes) I felt it in different areas to normal - the top and sides of my feet and the insides of my calves. I also think I really overdid it. After I came back from the run I read more about it all (trying to make sure that I was doing it "right"). Apparently you can seriously mess yourself up if you don't build up slowly. So...the new plan is to try to run in them for 2 x 10 minutes during my two cardio gym trips. I was able to run for longer than normal in them, and I felt better running than I normally do. I'm hoping that once I build up and can run those distances "safely", the shoes will help me to enjoy running again and start solving some of my foot issues!

Midterm grades are starting to trickle in slowly. I'll probably do a post on them in the next few days.

In other news, my poorly sister has to have a colonoscopy tomorrow (a bit tmi, I know). I am sure it'll all go okay, but I'll be thinking of her and keeping my fingers crossed. Also, fingers crossed for this helping to work out what her "illness X" is!

November Goals

This month I really need to focus on losing a couple pounds and making healthier food choices.

To that end:

1. I will do at least 2 cardio workouts and 1 strength workout per week. I will also do one pilates class per week (starting next week for the pilates).

2. I will post my lunch (hopefully) and dinner choices each day - the weekly menus are posted so hopefully I'll be able to make healthy choices in advance.

3. I will have no more than 2 snacks per day.

4. I will eat breakfast everyday (I used to do this without fail, and for some reason I've got bad at this recently).

5. I will take all my vitamins plus the "green pills" and cocoa beans every day.

Fingers crossed for this all working out! I'll try to post every day or every other day with an update on how I do!

PS I just weighed myself and I'm 135.6 lbs, so fingers crossed for getting below 130 by Christmas!

Exercise!

I actually went to the gym today, which is good. I'm working hard to complete my "workout" that my heart rate monitor gave me for this week.

I have a polar FT60 monitor and it's great. It's really useful for me to be able to see where my heart rate is during different types of exercise (and it means that I can see how many calories I burn when I'm lifting weights!).

(I like it because it's pink! But, I'm pretty sure that any HRM would do the job!)

Anyway, like I said, my monitor gives me goals every week that adjust based on how well I did with my goals the week before.

This week my goals are:

• Time: 3 hrs, 20 minutes
• Calories: 2100 kcal
• Time in Zone 1: 1hr, 20 minutes
• Time in Zone 2: 1 hr, 30 minutes
• Time in Zone 3: 30 minutes

The different zones correspond to different heart rate intervals. I actually changed the original settings on the watch, because I didn't feel like they encouraged me to push myself at all (N.B. This is just what works for me, so I wouldn't advise anyone copy this). So, my current settings are:

Zone 1: 120 - 150

Zone 2: 151 - 170

Zone 3: 171 - 200.

As of today, I am:

• Time: 2hrs, 32 minutes/3 hrs, 20 minutes
• Calories: 1188/2100 kcal
• Time in Zone 1: 1hr, 40 minutes/1hr, 20 minutes (it's totally fine to go over)
• Time in Zone 2: 30 minutes/1 hr, 30 minutes
• Time in Zone 3: 17 minutes/30 minutes.

The other really really good thing about me going to the gym is it means that I'm not sitting around my room, bored. The real problem with that is that that's my "highest risk" time for mindless snacking. I've realised that I'm absolutely fine with food everyday up until the end of the day, after work, when I'm just sitting around watching TV. If I'm at the gym, I'm doing something, so I don't even think about food!

Resolutions and Review of Resolutions from Last Month

I’m a bit late with my resolutions post for this month, but here it is….

Resolutions from Last Month

Exercise – Swimming

This did not go well. I did definitely swim more than I otherwise would have, but not nearly enough. Swimming just takes so much time and I never feel like I get as good a workout as when I’m running or on the cross trainer. Also, with my new skincare regime I was reluctant to start mixing things up by getting my face covered in chlorine a few days a week. I am going to keep trying to swim more…

Food – Eating Beans

I did well on this one – I have beans almost every day for lunch and I really like them. (To me) They taste good and keep me full. I’m definitely going to keep having them for lunch

Other – ACT

This was good, I guess. “I guess” because I don’t think I’m far enough into the ACT book to see any big changes yet, but I am certainly getting through the book which is good. I’m going to keep working on this one.

Resolutions for This Month

Exercise – Heart Rate Monitor

I have my heart rate monitor, so for this month my resolution is going to be to complete my target exercise program on that every week.

Food – Eat Mindfully

I want to try to eat mindfully. I’m getting stuck in a really terrible rut with my food – I keep binging and eating crappy food, even though I know it’s not good for me, that it doesn’t make me feel good, and that I don’t even particularly enjoy it when I’m eating it. To me, mindfully is going to mean focusing on my eating – the tastes and textures of my food. It’s also going to mean no eating and snacking while I’m doing other things. If I want a snack, fine, but I’m not going to eat it while I’m on my computer or reading.

Other – Pull in Tummy When Standing

I posted on this earlier. This is both a vanity thing and I’ve also been told I should tuck my tummy in when I’m standing to support my back. My best friend is also trying to do this – so we’re going to be keeping an eye out for each other on this front

I’ve realized that I’m getting bad at some of my previous resolutions – I’m flossing my teeth less and taking my vitamins less. So, to that end, every week I’m going to pick a resolution that I liked and “bring it back” ie make sure I do that thing for one week. I am also going to be checking in on my resolutions weekly, to try to help keep myself motivated, and to update everyone on which resolution I’m “bringing back”. Haven’t decided which day I’m going to do that on, but probably sometime over the weekend.

This week I’m “bringing back” taking my vitamins every day.

Things I love

I decided I wanted to do a post on ten of my favourite things (in no particular order, and by no means a complete list), with (some) pictures!

1. My family: my mum, dad, sister, brother, grandmother

2. My gorgeous boyfriend

3. My dogs

(The two above are of my wonderful puppy. (He's really not a puppy any more). He's 11 (almost 11 and a half) and he's a border collie).

(This is a silly picture of our other dog, which is appropriate given what a ridiculous creature she is! She's almost 11, but still acts like a puppy and everyone thinks she's one! She's also a border collie. Our two dogs are cousins!)

4. Nature/The Outdoors/Flowers!

I mentioned this earlier, but when I was younger I loved gardening. I recently got back into taking pictures so I have lots of flowers (they're easy to photograph)!

(These are from a set of gardens near my home)

(Lots of pictures of flowers!)

5. College, and my particular University! We have such an awesome environment here, and so many people work to make that possible. (There is someone in particular whose made such a difference to me. He works in our "academic support center", which holds a bunch of seminars on various seminars on procrastination, better note taking, exam prep etc. In the first seminar I went to, he talked a little about peoples emotions blocking their ability to work, which really run a bell with me because I did used to get really upset and feel useless if I didn't get a good grade on it. He was the person that recommended ACT to me to deal with that issue, and that's been one of the things thats changed my life).

6. The gym! And a supermarket near school that has tonnes of organic, natural produce. (Both the gym and the supermarket help me on my journey to become happier and healthier).

7. Certain parts of me! I've always hated my legs, but after my recent trips to the gym they're actually looking ok!

8. Thunder and lightning and storms and rain.

(not my picture - from free-extras.com!)

9. Autumn (my favourite season. I don't like the summer so much - it's too hot for me! We also have really really gorgeous autumns here in New England)

10. My phone. It's bad, but I couldn't live without it!

(picture from oriongadgets.com)

Resolutions and Review of Resolutions from Last Month

Last Months

My resolutions from last month went fairly well.

Food – Recording Food and Fiber

I did manage to record my food choices for seven days. The results were interesting – I tended to do fairly well on protein and fiber, and very well on salt. As per Ali’s suggestion, I was pretty much ignoring my “goal” for fat. I stayed within my recommended calories some days and not other days. For the most part I did well on that front though.

            With regards to making more “high-fiber” choices I’ve done okay. I’ve started eating a lot more beans and lentils which is good. We’re technically not allowed to have rice cookers at school, but I have one anyway. It’s great for cooking beans and lentils – it makes it much easier to cook them. I got “high-fiber” bread, but to be honest I wasn’t impressed with it at all (it was really awkwardly sweet). I’ve gotten back into taking psyllium which is great. I’ve also been trying to eat more high-fiber vegetables. Lastly, I’ve been buying wholewheat pasta, which is pretty good.

            I’m definitely going to keep making high fiber choices. I’m not sure about recording food – in some ways its really useful because it does help me to know where I stand with regards to how much I’m eating. On the other hand, I really don’t want to get obessesive with it.

Exercise – Rotex

            I’ve been spending a lot more time on the rotex at the gym, which is good. I’ve really enjoyed that and I think it’s good to spend time on both the running machine and the rotex. I find it really hard to keep my heart rate high enough on the rotex, but I can’t get it back down quickly enough on the running machine! (I talked to an exercise physiologist and good hooked up to a machine so he was able to determine my “optimum” for exercise. I’m meant to spend half an hour and do two minutes at >190 heart rate and then three minutes in the 160s.)

Exercise – Heart Rate Monitor

            I got a heart rate monitor.  It’s a polar FT60 in pink J. I really like it and I do think it’s helped me to push my exercise to another level. It’s also great because it means that it’s easier to compare my training across different types of exercise.

Other – Sunscreen

            Well, I still hate sunscreen, as predicted. I’ve sort of gotten into the habit of wearing it, or at least I’m doing better than before.  I still don’t like it, but I know that I should and I need to wear it. I’m going to keep trying to wear it throughout the summer.

Resolutions for next Month

Exercise

I need to swim more. I think I’ve mentioned this before, but during my exercise assessment I was told that my “weak point” is gas exchange between my blood and lungs. To improve that, I’m meant to swim or sing. Given that there’s no way I’m singing, I’m meant to be swimming. To that end, for the month of July I’m going to aim to spend one hour a week swimming.

Food

            I did have one, but I don’t remember it! I told my best friend what it was, so I’m going to see if she can remember!

Other

I’m deciding between trying to read four books over the month, going back to learning Chinese (my boyfriend is half Chinese, and it’s important to him that I try to learn it) or go back to doing my ACT (acceptance and commitment therapy). I think I’m going to try to go back to the ACT and see how that works out. I got really anxious about my journey to DC, so I want to try to tackle that!

Ps Thank you to people leaving comments! I love hearing from other people :). (I haven't worked out to comment on comments on my blog yet though :S. Any help on that?)

I'm in lab...on a Saturday

One of the downsides of lab work is that a lot of people (maybe half my lab) works a 6 day week. I don't have to (I'm not paid for it), but I'm still trying to impress my boss/make him think that I am serious and dedicated to my work after the lead debacle. Truth be told, I do actually really like what I'm doing in lab at the minute. I'm working on some compounds that have really cool colours (pink, orange, green and aqua), which is kinda fun! Anyway, my plan for the rest of the day (interesting to me, boring for everyone else!) is:

now - 3:00 Lab.
3:00 - 3:15 Walk back to room, pick up dinner (chili) on the way so that it has time to defrost (I think I posted about this, but last weekend I cooked lots of food for myself and then froze it.)
3:15 - 3:45 Snack/Lunch (apple with peanut butter and plum)
3:15 - 4:30 Go running along the tow path (my favourite place in the whole world is the tow path by the river near by house. The one at college isn't quite as good, but I'm really luck to still have a tow path near me. I've never run along it before, and I rarely run outside, so I'll see how it goes! Annoyingly, the gym is closed today, so that's why I'm not going there and swimming, which is what I'd really like to do.)
4:30 - 6:30 Shower, do laundry, start rice, read (I'm (re) reading "What the Dog Saw" by Malcolm Gladwell. I'm enjoying it so far, but I much prefer "Outliers", which is another one of his books. The good thing about "What the Dog Saw" is that it's short stories that are each about 25 pages, so it's good for pre-bed reading!)
6:30-8:00 Dinner
8:00-8:30 Set up vitamins. I've been bad and haven't taken them for a really long time, so I need to get back into the habit of doing that. To "kickstart" myself I'm going to set them up for the next four weeks (I have a little holder thing) so that I don't have to worry about getting out all the little bottles every day.
8:30 - 9:00 Breathing. I haven't used my Coherence program for a really long time, and I'd like to get back into that. I have spent (a small amount of) time doing it, but not with the program and I'd like to get back into that.
9:00 - 10:30 Read or watch a movie
10:30 - 11:00 Take psyllium and set up aduki beans for breakfast tomorrow (they need to soak overnight).

So, thrilling plan for today, I know.

This weekend I'm not going to eat junk - candy, chocolate, crisps, anything else like that. I've found that it's really easy to get a bag of something and then just finish it, which obviously isn't great, so I want to try to break that habit. Depending on how things go this weekend I might try to do this every weekend....

Busy Week

Surprisingly, my week has been super busy.

I've been getting up fairly early (7:30 ish) and trying to get to lab before 8:30. I spend alllll day in lab (apart from a lunch break) and then get back between 5:30 and 6. At 7ish, I go to the gym (I've been surprisingly good about going) and when I get back from that I shower and end up starting cooking dinner at 8:45 or 9. By the time I've eaten it's almost time for bed. I've been trying to get to bed earlier, by 11:30 or 12.

I wrote another post about this, and then ended up never posting it, but I actually really like being awake early. It's good to get to lab before everyone else, because it means its easier to get time on the machines I need to use and it's also just generally less crowded. During the school year I never get up early, so this is a bit of a change for me! (I was an early bird at home though!).

I've managed to get to the gym a fair amount recently, which is really good.

I stopped using the nuvaring over the summer (the boyfriend and I agree that there's no point - it's expensive, it's not great for me and because we only use it for birth control, there's no point in using it if we're not together), so I've been slightly anxiously waiting for my period. (When you stop using birth control you have no idea when you're going to get it. For me it also tends to be a bit weird/different when I do get it.). Anyway, I know that no-one really wants to know this, but I've finally got it and it's not fun. (Which is surprising, because normally on or off bc I don't have any problems). I have really bad tummy cramps, which means that I've had to scale back my gym time this week and I've just generally been feeling a bit rotten. Anyway, I got medicine for it so if they start to get bad again I'll just take that!

I'm back...

[This is a looooong post! Feel free to skip bits]

So, as I said in my last post I've been really busy recently. I got back to the US on Monday evening and started lab work on Tuesday. My (super awesome!) best friend, who is also my roommate this summer, moved all my things into my room, but I still had to arrange/unpack everything when I got back.

The plane flight back to the US was kinda stressful - it was delayed by over an hour because of technical difficulty (not exactly a relaxing thing to hear if you already hate flying!) and pretty much every seat on it was taken, which also ups the stress of flying!

Lab
I started lab work on Tuesday, so didn't have a huge amount of time to relax. It was all going fine until my parents decided they didn't like me working on the project I was working on (and I agreed with them). I know that sounds totally ridiculous and like my parents are being way too interfering with my life, but the reason they stepped in is that my project had me working with lead oxide, which is pretty nasty stuff. Lead is a heavy metal which means that once it gets into your body it stays there and you can't (really) get it out. Excess heavy metals in the body have been linked to things like cancer and dementia, so it's sort of serious. Lead oxide is also worse for you than plain old lead, because lead oxide is a fine powder which "poofs" whenever you touch it or move it. [I was wearing a mask whenever I was using it, but of course none of that stuff is 100% effective]. I'm also especially worried because I like in an old English house, which means that the water in my house probably goes through lead pipes. As lead doesn't leave the body, it's entirely possible that I already have a higher lead concentration in my body than someone my age should have.
I talked to my supervisor about it and to say the least he wasn't overly pleased. To be honest I don't really blame him: he thinks its safe and the rest of the people in my lab all handle the stuff occasionally. I'm also the only undergraduate who has changed projects at all, and now I'm going to be changing my project twice. (He's also grading my thesis and is meant to be writing me a letter of recommendation for law school, so I don't really want to make him dislike me...).
Anyway, that whole thing was a bit tough to deal with - I felt caught between him and my parents. I am probably more health conscious than most people in my lab as well, so a lot of other people in my lab thought I was being ridiculous and paranoid. Regardless, the situation is hopefully somewhat resolved now. I'm going to be getting a new project on Monday and I'm just going to have to try really hard to impress my supervisor!

Roomates
My living arrangement for this summer is a three bedroom triple, which means that each of us has our own bedroom. I'm living with my best friend (fingers crossed that that doesn't mess up our friendship, I'm sure it won't) and another girl (Diza), who we're sort of friends with (we needed a third person to fill the triple). Anyway, this other girl is driving me nuts, and I've only lived with her for three days. She's incredibly needy and is an over protected only child. She will literally stand outside my locked bedroom door and talk at me. She insists on doing things like coming into my room and turning on my laptop so that I can hear a song she wants me to hear. She followed me into the bathroom yesterday so she could finish telling me about some inane thing. I don't want to be mean, and I do feel a little sympathetic (I think she's pretty lonely), but seriously! I need some personal space.
The other issue is that she doesn't get me. She's fairly different to me and has no sense of independence. She insists on coming to the gym with me (the gym is kinda my alone space) and she will talk and talk at me when I'm lifting proper weights (so I need to focus). She also refuses to push herself at all - she was lifting 5 lb weights, complaining that they were too light, but refusing to lift more in case she hurts herself. She also complains and complains and complains about how much she's hurting from the gym, which drives me nuts!
She's also working in a lab (not my lab, thank god! Lab is the only time she's not there chattering at me.) and everyone in her lab was sent an online quiz that was meant to determine how empathetic you are and how good you are with other people, reading other people's emotions even when they're hidden etc. She scored 16 or so, if you score below 20 that's a possible sign of autism (because you're that unaware about what other people are thinking/feeling). I scored 72ish (I'm a fairly empathetic person, even if it doesn't seem if from this rant), so clearly it's possible to do "well" on this thing.
Anyway, sorry for the rant, she's just driving me absolutely insane. I know it's not her fault, but she has zilch conception of public space and alone time.

The Boy
I miss him. A lot. It probably doesn't help my mood!

Food/Gym
My food has been okay, but not great. I need to go back to recording my food more. I have been doing okay at the whole high fiber options thing, but I still think I could push it further. Basically, my meals are good and generally very healthy but I eat too much crap and sugar between meals (marshmallows and chocolate), which is really bad (and I just measured my blood sugar - 144 - also really bad).
Tomorrow I am not going to eat chocolate, marshmallows or other candy.
In other food news its really tough to go shopping at school. There are no supermarkets near by. I'm going to try a grocery delivery service, and I've scheduled the delivery for Sunday, so fingers crossed for that!
With regards to exercise, I've been doing okay, but it's a real pain to have to go with this other girl all the time. I find it harder to exercise with her yapping in my ear. I did go swimming (alone) yesterday though, which felt fantastic. I haven't been swimming in ages (despite the fact that I'm meant to go to increase my oxygen transport ability - more on that at some other time).
My heart rate monitor also arrived! I've only used it once so far, but I got a really good workout with it. A few months ago I went to an exercise physiologist who did various tests on me and was able to determine my own max heart rate etc (and that my limitation is the rate at which I can transport oxygen/carbon dioxide from my lungs to my blood). Anyway, what he suggested (for me, this isn't universal) is to get my heart rate to 190+ for two minutes and then come down to 160ish for 2-3 minutes. I tried it on the rotex on Wednesday and it was really good!
I've also decided that I'm going to try to...swim twice a week, do gym-based cardio two or three times a week and lift weights twice a week (and have one rest day!).

Mental Health/Personal Development
I've gotten bad about doing my breathing every night, so I need to get back to doing that. HeartMath, the company I purchased it from, runs various webinars, so I've signed up for one of those on "Better Communication". I'm hoping it'll be interesting.

Resolutions
I'm doing okay with the resolutions. I've been fairly good at wearing sunscreen which is of course a good thing. I've gotten worse about doing my "old" things like taking vitamins and psyllium, so I need to get back to doing those kinds of things.

Tour Guiding
I have my first tour tomorrow! I'm not an official tour guide yet (the tour tomorrow is a practice tour to see if I'm up to scratch!). I'm a bit nervous about it, but fingers crossed! I'm going to spend part of tonight thinking about what I need/want to say! 

Ahh! This was a realllly long post! Sorry about that. Just had a lot I needed to write about!

Today...

Has been a good day.

My boyfriend's 21st is tomorrow, so I got my hair cut (it needed to be cut anyway, and it seemed like a good time to do it!). I got to a pretty tough exercise class today, but it was pretty fun. I've also been trying to decide what dress to wear to the boyfriend's party (occasionally I am a girly girl!). I'm meeting a lot of his friends for the first time (so I want to look a bit "sexy"), his parents will be there (so I don't want to have it all hanging out!) and we're planning to go to a club after (so it's needs to be comfortable/club-esque). I'm trying to decide between a sparkly leopard print dress (which is a a little shorter and makes my boobs look incredible (or as incredible as they ever do)! There's not cleavage or anything on show though) or a black dress (which is tight, almost knee length and gives me an incredible waist (ie it makes me look like I actually have a waist!). On the other hand it's long and black and it is a summer party...)

(And that was a really short post! I guess I really don't do much when I'm on holiday at home!)

Any thoughts?

Diet/I think this is my fourth post today

Oops.

Anyway, today was the first day of my food-logging resolution. I'm probably only going to be this for a week, if that, but I do want to get an idea of where my diet is. I started making much more conscious choices part way through the day, so lunch and dinner were pretty ridiculously healthy, which certainly isn't something I'd do at college. However, I figure that its good to see what it feels like to eat a more perfect diet. Plus, I know its getting pretty late, but I really want to look as good as possible for the boyfriends party. I'm trying to get the gym for the rest of this week, and maybe eat a little less. (I got to the gym today and went on the rotex. I was really hard work!)

Anyway, my calories/fat/protein etc for today were pretty good. My fat was very high, but that was in large part due to "good fats" (olive oil on my salad etc). I also think the protein "goal" is pretty ridiculous, so I need to work out how to change that. Anyway: