Here’s an update from the second week of my 7 Week Plan.
Missed my Week 1 Update? Click here for that.
Not sure what I'm talking about at all? Click here for details of my 7 Week Plan.
WEEK 2:
Every week:
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1.
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Stick to my Isagenix program
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Oh
what I wouldn't give for a zucchini.
After
waiting patiently for the days to slowly creep by until the magical date that
the lady at OzFresh said the boat would arrive and she would have fresh
vegetables, I went bursting through the doors to the shop and was met with
devastation: there were no zucchini.
Zucchini
has an incomparable way of brightening up any meal. I’m not the only one who
squeals with excitement when they are available, snatching up as many as
might fit in the fridge and then happily designing a week worth of meals
around them.
“I
can’t find the zucchini...” I said aloud, trying to cling on to some semblance
of hope, partially asking, partially processing, while standing in the middle
of the shop that consists of three large clear glass front refrigerators that
very noticeably failed to contain any zucchini.
“They
didn’t package them right so they were damaged,” she told me, barely making
eye contact. In the shameful way.
My
heart grew heavy in my chest, my puppy dog eyes emerged, my mouth was on the
verge of producing a pout.
“But
I’ve been waiting for weeks” I said, glumly.
“I
know”, she said, at least with an appropriate amount of sympathy, considering
the devastating blow she just delivered.
I
did my best to regain my composure, instead picking up a head of some
vegetable that is a version of cabbage that looks a bit like lettuce,
and that I don’t know how to cook
with.
At
least she gave me a free garlic to compensate for my pain and suffering (and to
round out the basic recipe she suggested for cooking up the cabbage I begrudgingly
settled for).
Let’s
overlook that she always throws in a free garlic or couple of onions – for me
and everyone else - probably as a last ditch effort to try to atone for her
ridiculously high prices. She always double checks the bill tally too,
probably because she is also just as surprised by how little you can get from
her shop for quite a lot of money. Still, she’s lovely and I’m happy that
sometimes she has great stuff that I’m happy to fork over all of my money
for.
I
went back to my car to sulk alongside all the other ingredients that I had
purchased under the now foiled grand plan to chop everything up into a
delicious and exhilarating dinner of baked zucchini boats.
It
was then that I realized something else: She didn’t have any fresh
cauliflower either. I just can’t catch
a break.
Anyway,
the point is that sometimes it’s really tough to eat healthy here, because
getting ingredients is a crap shoot. Here’s to hoping the next boat has better
packing and loading staff, and that overnight I might grow vivaciously fond
of bok choi. Dinners of chicken, cabbage and onions are getting a little
boring.
In
other news, I’m happy to report that I continue to massacre my water intake
AND have now successfully completed a full one day cleanse... TWICE! (once in
Week 1 but I forgot to toot my own horn about that last post). My first time
on the program, I only managed to make it through one day –and was pretty
miserable about it – and then caved and ate dinner the second time I tried,
subsequently swearing that I would never subject myself to the misery again. This
time around, it wasn’t quite as bad as I remembered, but I did learn is that
the trick is to do it on a Sunday and come to the office to hide from the fridge
and occupy my brain with other stuff (like writing blog posts, sending epic
emails to friends and researching potential hobbies).
Total
weight loss this week: I don’t want to talk about it.
My
methodological error from last week has come back to bite me in the ass, as
expected, AND I feel like considering I did (almost) everything right this
week, the scale should have been a little more supportive. Full disclosure: I
did succumb to a bunch of finger sandwiches yesterday, which was an exercise
in poor judgement and strategy considering I had to get on the scale today.
But like, still.
Ok
fine I’ll tell you.
If
I go with my misguided weigh in from last Wednesday I gained weight, so let’s
just chalk that up to a miscalculation, and instead report that from Thursday
last week until this morning (Thursday), I lost 0.9 lbs. (Note: I totally just
resisted the very strong urge to include the word ‘only’ in that sentence,
because maybe positivity will help. I think that's what a positive person would say).
Total
weight loss since Day 1:
PS.
If anyone tries to talk to me about building lean muscle and how it weighs
more than fat etc I might thump you.
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2.
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Exercise 2 hours per week
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Last
week, my exercise endeavours fell victim to circumstance (and lack of
motivation to reshuffle, since I should probably take some responsibility).
This
week however...
Wait
for it...
Wait
for it...
I
did:
·
An hour of Zumba on Thursday
· 50 mins of an aerobics DVD followed by 25 mins
of a pilates DVD on Saturday morning (MORNING!)
·
Another hour of Zumba on Monday and
·
A 30 minute Cardio Box DVD workout on Tuesday*
I
wimped out of swimming on Wednesday like I had planned because my swimming
buddies were busy and I couldn’t muster the enthusiasm or motivation to go on
my own. I was tired and had a few other things I needed to work on, but even
still, not only did I achieve my goal of 2 hrs for this week, but I also made
up for the exercise deficit from Week 1, so I’m going to enjoy that victory.
*We had considered following this by doing the 30
minute core stability DVD right after but sat on our yoga mats watching it
instead, grateful that we weren’t actually trying to do it. That shit looked
hard yo.
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3.
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Connect with at least one friend that I
haven’t been in contact with in awhile
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I didn't initiate any of these conversations, but I sure replied with gusto
when the opportunities were presented to me. This week I sent an epic reply
to my friend Carmen, formerly of Honiara and now back in Melbourne, and was
part of a five person Skype call with my current house mates here and two of
our former friends/temporary house mates who happened to be together in
Manchester at the moment. It was great to crowd around the tiny computer
screen with Annalisa and Elio, and tease Alessandra and Rodolfo; technology
is great because in many ways it felt just like back in my early days in
Honiara when we would all spend far too many hours loitering on the porch
talking garbage. So lovely to connect with all three and be reminded that
even though it’s normal that people leave, I've made some great friends to
keep in touch with.
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4.
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Extend an invitation to do something with
someone
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My
friend Dani recently turned 30. She apparently wasn't very happy about the
idea, so her housemate Claire planned a surprise birthday party for her on
Wednesday last week, with a ‘kids birthday theme’. I was in charge of making
the pinyata. It was a strawberry.
Nevertheless, I've never hung out with Dani without Claire, and since Claire is now out of
the country until the new year, we made a plan to go to dinner...
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5.
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Do at least one fun thing on the weekend
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Our
quiet dinner turned into a quiet dinner for 14 at the Korean Restaurant, but
was great fun and a chance to spend a bit more time chatting to some people I
don’t know that well.
I
wonder if a pattern is emerging though... every time I initiate plans with
someone it turns into a big group thing. Might have to keep my eye on that.
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6.
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Update this blog
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Tick!
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By the end of the 7 Weeks:
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7.
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Host one dinner party
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Invitations
sent.
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8.
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Find a hobby or start a project
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Still
working away at this in the background....
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9.
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Learn Twitter
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No
progress yet
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10.
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Learn how to do something new
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No
progress yet
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11.
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Make a new friend
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No
progress yet
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12.
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Figure out what the heck I'm going to do
for Christmas
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Carmen
has confirmed that her invitation to spend Christmas with her and her in-laws
in Melbourne still stands.
Alessandra
has confirmed that she’d be pretty stoked if I were to come to Adelaide to
see her and her family (and warned that it will get pretty loud. Italians.)
And
Charlie from the New Zealand Tour operator keeps writing me to ask if I’m going
to sign up. He informed me earlier that their usual demographic is from age
30 – 60, but another colleague also seems to have replied to my query saying
it’s 35 – 90. Yikes. I’m considering writing to Charlie to see if he’s
single, under 50 and wants to come along.
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Two weeks down, 5 to go.
Come on, come on, come on
Give me something for the pain
Give me something for the blues
Give me something for the pain when
I feel I've been danglin from a hang-mans noose
Give me something I can use
To get me through the night
Make me feel all right,
Something like you
- Something for the Pain, These Days (1995), Bon Jovi
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