Sunday Chat #1

Hello!

I felt like writing, and figured I may do this sort of post more often...so here goes...

Today is Sunday and for me that means one thing...Sunday dinner or Sunday roast! :D Whatever you like to call it.

Indeed, I get rather excited at the thoughts of a good dinner. A plate full of a variety of vegetables, a helping of mash potato, perhaps the odd roast potato, my favourite meat (pork chop) and maybe a cheeky bit of yorkshire pudding, all covered with meat infused gravy. Yum, yum, yum! Call me biased but my dad's roasts are amazing!

Being a uni student I don't always have the luxury of eating a Sunday dinner. Sure I could probably cook-up my own rendition, but it seems like a lot of hassle when cooking for just me. And let's face it, cooking is not one of my strong points...Quite honestly I don't enjoy it and tend to avoid it as much as I can!

However, I'm still home today...after a very 'mixed bag' kind of a week...

It started with day-old sick in my hair and a much needed shower. I was still hungover from Saturday's antics. Sunday was possibly the worst day of my life, taking the horizontal position in bed for the entire day. Yep, it was disgraceful and I aim not to repeat. EVER.

Monday came to a close with a meal at Slug & Lettuce...to feed my alcohol induced hunger pangs. The Ultimate Stateside Burger was demolished along with half a Cookie Cup dessert.

o0o scary picture! Perhaps a little dramatic but...

Tuesday's are generally the bane of my life. It's a Uni day which, quite frankly, are wearing very thin on me now. I feel perhaps there is a reason most people coming up to the age of 24 are no longer pupils...I would have said are no longer in education but seen as I still will be when I get a teaching job, I'll refrain from that wording.

Apologies for the creepy images. Uni must have this affect on me 

Draining is what it was...to be in a room for 2 hours...essentially trapped. To listen to, in my opinion, often irrelevant information. Needless to say, I napped afterwards. Boy, it was a good 1.5 hour sleep! I then got sucked into having a chinese with my housemates. I was relatively good though and just had a chow mein, as opposed to my usual duck starter and chips :)

I awoke with nerves on Wednesday. It was the day of my literacy skills test. I was fairly confident but the sheer unpredictability made me uneasy. My body is literally the worst at coping with any kind of stress or upheaval! Any butterflies and my stomach is a mess, my appetite is gone and I feel sick.

Gladly, I passed the test! Yayy! And treated myself to a few bits, which I showed in this post. Sadly though, all of the adrenalin and nervousness from earlier completely took its toll on my body. I had a massive blood sugar dip (perhaps I'll do a post about my issues with this soon) and despite a rushed Gregg's cheese cob/roll and a Millie's chocolate chip cookie the damage had been done and I started to feel really poorly. A bit like a migraine kind of ill but a little more woozy...Anyway after packing my bag (to go home) in a daze, I had to lie down and awoke to my parents telling me they were outside to collect me (from my student digs).

I finally came around to feeling better a bit later. It was nice to be home and I tucked into my dad's homemade shepherd's pie. YUM.

Thursday was one of the saddest days I've had to witness. Back in Sixth Form, I was part of the school choir. We were very well received and sang all over the place, even touring in Germany and Kent. I loved singing in our concerts and I was sad to have to leave it behind when I finished in Year 12.

On Thursday the choir reformed, which would have made me very happy in different circumstances. Sadly, we reunited to sing at a very talented and loved young man's funeral. Luke was only 20 and had tragically suffered over a dozen heart-attacks, fallen into a coma and subsequently passed away. Luke was once a valued member of our choir and it seemed only right that we would give him the best send-off we could vocalize. His mum requested us and it was an absolute honour to be there. It was heart-breaking all the same.

It's funny how on occasions like those you think more clearly and assess your own life and what's important. For me I realised that my family mean everything to me and that really nothing else matters in the grand scheme of things. So when I get stressed about Uni work, applying for jobs and even get caught up in the waves of sadness that I sometimes suffer with...I need to remember what I felt in that instance.

That evening I did my much-loved exercise classes: Boot Camp and Step n Core.

Friday I awoke a little stiff from the workout but also quite excited to visit a local school. If you don't know any teachers etc...when it comes to applying for a teaching job it's obligatory to look around a school before submitting your application...Well, that's if you want your application to be considered! For me, I got that 'wow' I'd be waiting for. The school that I could imagine myself working at. It ticked all of my personal boxes and I'm hoping I'll tick some of theirs and get invited to interview. Of course I'm not stupid enough to assume I'll get it...I'm one of many...but for now I have a chance...so cross all of your fingers and toes for me!

I believe that everything happens for a reason...which is pretty hard to maintain when faced with tragedies like Thursday...but I think fate is a very powerful thing and if it's meant to be it'll happen.

So, excluding a lot more of the really painful sore muscles;  singing alone on the karaoke like a 'saddo' on a Saturday evening, in the comfort of my own home; starting The Host book; oh and, devouring a lot of biscuits dipped in tea...we are back to me having had Sunday dinner and writing this post.

How was your week?

Ellie
x

Battling the junk food

Hello :)

What I don't understand is why on earth it is so hard to be healthy whilst in student digs?! I go from being the most motivated fit person at home to a health disaster at my uni house.

A typical example was half term last week... I went home, temporarily signed up to my local gym and got back into loosely following the Weight Watchers plan. Piece of cake! Or shall I say no cake!

I felt motivated, in good shape, healthy and I still was able to enjoy a big meal out at the end of the week. In fact I ended up losing a lb or 2, just from cleaning myself back up.

 

I head back to uni, determined to carry on a good regime and what not, and even bring back a new exercise mat that I bought whilst home. I get back on the Saturday and do pretty well. Sunday I didn't make the gym but I do some floor workouts so all is well. Monday I'm doing really well and attend a Zumba class plus a short gym sess...

And then it takes a downhill path!

After a large meal on Tuesday, I decide to head down to my local Tesco's and buy a large tub of cookie dough ice cream. And if that wasn't enough, I then grab a bar of galaxy chocolate for good measure!

Funny thing is, I don't reckon to have a massive sweet tooth but obviously I did on this night. I eat a quarter of the tub, feel like that is enough but then piece by piece devour the galaxy bar and then return to the freezer for another quarter helping of ice cream. Then of course I feel sick and think why did I do that?! Was there any need?

The next day my stomach feels gross, it isn't used to such crap I guess, and I tell my housemate she can eat the remainder of my cookie dough ice cream...I did not what that screaming at me to finish it!

At this point I'm annoyed at myself because I've woke up feeling guilty and yucky on a day that is supposed to be a treat.

It was my friend's birthday and we were heading to Nando's for tea, watching Dirty Dancing the musical and then grabbing drinks at a local Wetherspoons. Thankfully I felt OK by the time she arrived and I was relieved that I was actually hungry for chicken, rice and creamy mash (my standard there), instead of feeling sick!

But I have to think to myself...why did I still binge on junk knowing full well I would be eating something yummy the following day? Failed on self control for sure!

I guess there's still that little part of me that has the junk food addiction! Sure, I've come a long way from being known as the 'Takeaway Queen' in second and third years of uni, but I still have many moments of weakness.

The worst part is that I don't even particularly enjoy the junk food. I mean sure it tastes nice at the time but often it upsets my stomach and I feel sick more times than not afterwards...either from eating too much or just from pure grease!

I'm not sure I'll ever be able to fully curb my junk food cravings, but I do take solace in the fact I associate home with being healthy.

I think the environment in which you're in makes a massive difference. At home, for example, most of my immediate family are pretty health conscious and this means the food shopping usually consists of fruit, veg and the likes. At uni, on the other hand, takeaways can be a regular occurrence... I mean at home I'd never dream of getting a menu out and ordering food randomly (for perhaps just me), but at uni it's a easy option...which is a dangerous thing!

Then there's the alcohol. At home I rarely touch a drop...To be honest I don't massively like the taste of it and drinking at home seems a bit odd to me if I'm not going out. There's also the issue of it bringing on insane hunger. Alcohol always equals food for me, no matter what.

Uni, of course, usually means big nights out at least every fortnight. I can never get drunk without following it with food...McDonalds, burgers, chips, pizza...standard. Unfortunately this usually carries on into the next day and a takeaway is my hangover cure.

At home I'm also quite lucky in that I seem to have inadvertently passed on the fitness bug to my  sister, who is now an avid gym go-er. This is good for me because it generates the motivation that I sometimes lack in actually getting up and going to workout.

Gym buddies are a good thing! But make sure it's someone you work well with...no point just going for a chat! At uni I have a few friends that occasionally go to the gym but it's not often enough to make an impact on my motivation :P

It's just hard to be healthy at uni...whereas at home, it's almost handed on a plate...a healthy one! Junk food is too easily obtained at uni...It's true what they say, if you remove all temptation then you won't be tempted.

I guess I'll just try my best for now and then go home in summer and live as I really want to live...healthily!

I reckon a takeaway is on the cards this evening...so I think a good gym session might be called for this afternoon...you know, in an attempt to limit the damage!