Regular Blogging?

I think it's safe to say regular blogging is not my strong point! It's annoying really, I miss posting for a day or two then quickly get out of the habit of doing it and then I keep putting it off for days and days, or 11 days in this case! Ooops! Ah well, sometimes life just gets in the way doesn't it? Being ill since Thursday hasn't helped either, food has been very random, a mix of healthy foods and junk foods and I literally have not done a minute of exercise since Monday!
I'm a bit annoyed about the food to be honest, I was at the dentist on Friday and she prepared a tooth for a crown but I need to wait two weeks to get the crown fitted, so I have a horrible stubby little tooth that's pretty weak and I can't eat on the right side of my mouth! I thought this would mean I would eat less and be less likely to eat the awkward unhealthy foods like crisps and sweets, but it's actually not been a problem at all so I'm having to rely on self-control - oh dear!
On Monday I wanted to try out the Fitness Yoga class at the gym but it was full so I signed up to Gliding Blast instead - I had no idea what it was at all but was only half an hour long and started at the perfect time for me. Then I checked the Yoga bookings and saw there was now one space and signed up for that too! Oh how I regretted that decision! It was totally fine at the time but the next 3 days I was in agony! Honestly, I've only hurt that bad and for that long maybe twice before! By the end of day 3 (Thursday) I started getting even more sore but it turned out to be because I was coming down with something. I'm not sure what it was/is so I'm seeing a doctor tomorrow, hopefully it'll be something straightforward. I'm currently at the stage of being convinced I have a stomach ulcer, but it's most likely just a bug, I think! Anyway, I did want to make this the week I got back into going to the gym regularly but the pain and being ill meant that didn't work out. Try again this week - persistence, not perfection, is the key after all.
I did *love* the yoga class though and can't wait for my next! It was ashtanga yoga and a really tough workout, I wasn't expecting that and did think I probably wouldn't enjoy it. I surprised myself with how much of the class I could keep up with it and learned that my balance is actually not that bad! Co-ordination remains my weakness, I struggled with the warm up to the Gliding Blast class! It was a class based around body weight exercises so co-ordination didn't really come into it, but in the warm up she was doing side step-y things and then added an arm movement and I just lost it completely! Stuck to legs only for the rest of it... this is why I don't do classes!! The Gliding class was a bit silly, you use little slidy pads to make squats, lunges, press ups etc more difficult basically, but I liked that it was short and that yoga starts 10 minutes later so I'll be signing up to both when I can.

Since I've been struggling to stick to my plans I'm going to try and do a post once a week where I get my plan  for the week ahead set out and review how I did with the previous weeks plan. It wont be a rigid plan, more of a framework or something.
This week, starting Monday I am aiming for:

• Keeping my food diary for at least 5 of the 7 days, everything I eat I need to get into the habit of logging. It's too easy for me to see I have gone over and think there's no point in filling the rest in, but I know that just means I'm more likely to eat rubbish for the rest of the week! And yes I am counting points with Weight Watchers. I know a lot of people seem to look down on this, which is weird because far less people had a problem with me counting calories, which is essentially the same thing. I don't like that it is hard to stay within my allotted points  if I eat healthy foods that are high in fats - avocado, nuts, seeds, but butters, full fat dairy products, coconut oil, but as long as I know the reasons I am going over the points allowance are good then that is fine. I also already know how to eat to ensure I get a good balance between protein, fat and carbs so I don't need to worry about that really, I can tell if I'm eating too much from one group and not enough from another by how I feel. I am fed up of counting calories and counting points has been good for a change, I still don't love it, but I've gained weight that I want to lose, needs must...
• Exercise 3 times for at least 30 minutes. It's not a lot. It's better than nothing and I don't know how well I'll feel for the week so I'm easing in with a small goal here.
• Make a full meal plan. I want to plan all my meals and snacks, I often only plan dinner which leads to me being disorganised with breakfast, lunch and snacks, which often leads to making poor choices. I work full time and I leave home at 6.40am, I find it too difficult to get up earlier than I already do to give me time to eat breakfast at home, plus the thought of eating at 6am makes me feel ill! I can't stomach food first thing, I need a coffee and time to fully wake up before I can eat. This means packing breakfast up to eat in work, as well as lunch and a couple of snacks. I need to make sure I prepare and pack everything the night before or else I'll end up being tempted by the vast canteen, amazing made to order sandwiches or Starbucks cakes in work - it's tough to resist!
• Stick to the damn plan! This is the hard part actually! I have a bad habit of thinking I just don't fancy what I've planned to have, but I don't know what I do fancy. Nine times out of ten if I just eat what was planned I really enjoy it anyway. I'm not going to be totally rigid with it and I'm happy to swap a couple of days around, as long as I use up all the food I bought for the week on healthy meals and snacks. If I plan properly I will only have the foods in to make the meals planned so this should be easy enough
• Stop spending so much money on unnecessary food and drink. I swear I have issues around spending, I just can't help myself. I have convinced myself not to spend money on clothes since hopefully they wouldn't fit in a couple of months time, I've managed to cut way back on buying magazines as they just weren't getting read. But I have replaced these with spending on food and drinks in between the weekly food shop, I don't needed it, I'm wasting money and I'm gaining weight!
• Blog more.
• Drink more tea and less coffee. For no reason other than I don't need to add anything to tea, it doesn't make me feel mental if I have too much, and I have loads of the stuff!

That will do for now! I have another post on the way, just a bit of a catch up with food but don't want to make this post too long!

Hope everyone has had a good weekend - I can't believe it's nearly over!

 ♥ Stella