February has been hard. Since I started this body mission, it was the first time I had been faced with the scenario of being out of routine. You have probably noticed how all over the place I have been by the lack of blog posts and for this, I hang my head in shame.
I recently wrote a post on how I manage training with other duties in life (work, relationships, socialising), which can be read about here. Soon after writing this motivational piece on how you can make it work, my life started to get really hectic. It hit me after Christmas, especially with work. My time spent in the office has increased and instead of sticking to planned training agendas, I have turned to squeezing in what I can, where I can. Throw in the mad panic of planning a wedding and you have got yourself a right mixture of activities.
For my diet in this manic matter, I have tried my best to keep on the healthy path. At the start of the month, I headed up to Glasgow for a work trip and in the space of four days covered three cities throughout the north of England. The long days in meetings followed by lengthy train journeys and crashing in hotels threw my routine up in the air. On the first night in Glasgow, it had occurred to me there wasn't any places near my hotel to go and grab food so I ended up in the Premier Inn's restaurant eating a portion of triple cooked chips and greasy chicken wings. Not ideal...
By the second night, I knew I had to get some exercise in me regardless of how exhausted I was from back-to-back meetings. As soon as I got back to my room, I was in my kit and back outside and took on a four mile run around the city. Man alive Glasgow is hilly! It was however really nice to be somewhere different, weaving in and out of streets seeing where they would take me. By burning these calories, when I got back to the hotel I felt it was slightly more acceptable to endure the restaurant meals without greasy food in-fuelled guilt.
For the third night, I was in Manchester at another Premium Inn and by the time I arrived at 9pm, my enthusiasm to find somewhere decent to eat had waned and I was back in the restaurant eating yet more triple cooked chips and chicken wings. This time I did have a side salad if this makes it more acceptable?
When the weekend had arrived and I was back in London, I was feeling rather groggy. I managed to bosh out some small workout sessions but my relationship with my diet was a bit mish mashed. I'd start the day good and then by evening be binging on sugar. This might be linked to giving up chocolate for lent so my body was trying to source an alternative boost (which tended to be fruit, Angel Delight or Haribo).
After following this for a few days, I started to feel really irritated. Not only in myself but with others, work, exercise, the wedding etc...I decided an overhaul was needed and so I reintroduced VB6 (Vegan Before 6). You can read all about this foody method that I like to take here. I followed this routine a couple of years back to squeeze into a bridesmaid dress and it really worked! At the time I was also a vegetarian, so the idea of avoiding meat and dairy before 6pm was easy peasy.
Today, I do eat chicken now and again (as you can tell with greasy wings being consumed) but it didn't really top the ease of taking the VB6 step. My diet was simple:
Breakfast: Soya banana smoothie or plain cornflakes with soya milk
Lunch: Soup with rough oatcakes and a soya yoghurt
Dinner: (after 6pm): Anything I bloody well liked! (within reason)
Snacks: Fruit or nuts
When it got to the end of February, I was feeling much better in myself. My skin was clearer, I felt more alert and my stomach has flattened down a tad. Now we are in March, I am still following VB6 although I have relaxed my policy of 'no crap before 6pm'. For example, there was birthday cake in the office the other day and I didn't deny myself a small slice. Treating yourself on these rare occasions is important. It's something to perk you up and by having these tiny indulgences now and again, you are more likely to stick to a healthy eating routine.
Despite the ups and downs with the body, I have come out on top. So much so, that I thought I would share my triumph in squeezing into my wetsuit that arrived for the triathlon. Bring on week 28!
Lipstick Runner.
No comments:
Post a Comment