Inspirational women and going out eating/drinking

Yesterday I went to the gym in the morning. I was buzzin before I started. I'd woken up the lowest weight I've been in about 10 years (11st 9) and for the first time since I started all this fitness malarky I felt like my stomach is beginning to look flatter. It was the first time I could genuinely see the progress in myself. So despite having had minimal sleep due to a 3&1/2 year old having a nightmare I felt good and up for tackling my circuits before work.

I started with my warm up and I was sweating profusely. It is never going well when even the warm up is killing you. I pushed on through the first circuit and pulled a time of 7 & 1/2 mins, not the best time but not the worst either, I felt a bit sick. I started the 2nd circuit and BAM, 2 exercises in I felt sick and REALLY dizzy. I've not had this for a few weeks. It was bad enough to make me need to lay down with my feet resting up on a step (looking like a complete tit). At one point I very nearly blacked out, having blacked out twice in my life I know what it feels like and I don't like it.

So at that point I did my cool down, felt a bit fed up and went for a shower.

Whilst I was getting changed and feeling a bit sorry for myself I encountered a woman called Helen. Helen is in her 70s (maybe she is me in the future) and she is quite possibly one of the most positive, motivational woman I have EVER met.

Helen was chatting to another woman. They were talking about age. She was saying how age is just a number, it doesn't matter, it is how you feel inside. She then went on to say how people ask her if she has any regrets in her life. She said "I tell people, I don't have any regrets, every experience is good or bad and you can learn something from them. There is no point in having regrets, it is just life and I wouldn't change a thing I've done."

She was so positive about life.  I'd love to get her to come in and do an assembly for year 11!

She comes to the gym a fair bit (I hope I'm still doing that at 70+!) but I also hope I can be that positive about life. At the moment I am quite a pessimist. Maybe I am just tired and it is the end of a long term. Maybe after 2 weeks off work (if you don't count marking 100+ Y11 mock papers!) I might feel a bit brighter. The cloud is beginning to lift though especially with the help of decent exercise.

Last night I went out. My good friend Hannah is leaving our school next week so a few of us went out for dinner and drinks. I haven't been out since August! Having lost 4 & 1/2 stone I decided to buy a new dress, new heels etc.

Me ready to go out

We went to ASK (an Italian restaurant). I had already perused the menu on the Internet and decided what I could eat that would fit with my new way of eating, I was going to have a salad but salad in winter is just wrong. When I got there, the garlic and bread smells coming from the kitchen were just too good. I ummed and ahhed for ages and in the end I relented. I had a pizza (!) shock horror! BUT I was considered about my choice. I picked a meaty pizza (meat on paleo is good, even chorizo! so I figured whilst it wouldn't be totally clean it wouldn't be a disaster), tomato sauce won't be too bad and I asked them to make me a gluten free base. This would be more paleo than proper dough but also it makes the base super thin so not as heavy. I'm not sure what Jason will say but I'm going with the thinking that a little of what you fancy does you good from time to time and I hardly ever go out and I'd have felt shortchanged for my night out if I had forced myself to have a salad when I didn't want it.

I also had a drink. After a bit of a discussion about drink with Jason, I decided to just have a few drinks of what I fancied. I had a white wine and soda with my meal (the soda was a great idea because I haven't had alcohol in ages so it diluted it down) then I had 2 vodka and diet cokes. After an intense day at work I thought I might get absolutely hammered but as it turned out I was too tired and 2 & 1/2 alcoholic drinks were more than enough.

My favourite kind of goblet, can I use this for goblet squats?

So I ate my pizza, I enjoyed it , I drank alcohol and enjoyed it, and now I am back eating clean today. No damage done. It's all good.

H x