All up it’s been a really nice day, and fairly restful. January is full of birthdays in my family (there are five!) so the last few weeks has seen me crafting and birthday shopping, celebrating and, eep, eating a lot of less-than-waistline-friendly foods! This week is going to be much less hectic and I had a really nice afternoon relaxing and catching up on internet things (blogs, emails, auctions, etc.) before getting some exercise.

Speaking of exercise, I really must do more of it. I’m trying to do something six days a week, but it barely counts if it’s less than thirty minutes! I have a yoga video (yes, as in VHS, lol) but there isn’t really much room in our tiny loft living room to do it, so my yoga workout is basically from memory, plus a few poses I cut out of a magazine years ago. Aside from yoga I’ve been walking a little bit and incorporating running intermittently with that. My fitness level isn’t good enough for me to run the whole way, but my goal is to work up to that.

I’d actually really like to join the university gym, which is $250 for 12 months, but I don’t have the money to spend on that right now, unfortunately. It would be great if I eventually join though, because I have some decent gaps between classes next semester and I could work out during them. They’ve got a climbing wall which I have my eye on! Hehe.

To be quite honest, I’m getting insanely bored of this summer break. While I want to make the most of summer and enjoying not stressing about studying, I really miss the learning. I miss classes, I miss the subjects and I miss the people! It’s nice to know that, so far in my academic career, I am really enjoying it and am capable of doing it well. I know some people just don’t enjoy the academic side very much and I imagine it would make life a bit difficult, especially if there is pressure from parents to get a certain degree or do extremely well.

Anyway, tomorrow morning my mum, sisters and I are off to Life Pharmacy to get facials! They’re free there at the moment and I think it sounds divine!

Before I go, I have some exciting (I think) posts coming up, including a photo one full of some epic cute, so stay tuned! In the meantime, why don’t you ask me something?

My week has been ok; not great, but ok. Today was the third day in a row of incorporating exercise into my morning, eating better than I have been and meditating. I’m hoping that these changes will help fix my weird fatigue problem, or whatever it is. So far the last couple of days have been more productive in terms of studying, so maybe it’s already working? I’m still feeling on the sluggish side, but I think that may be more psychological than anything else as I haven’t been very “pro-self” lately which does have an obvious impact.

Anyway, have I mentioned recently how dreadfully irritating it is not having a bath? Because it really is, you know. I would pay a significant sum right now to have a giant bath all to myself where I can read W. M. Thackeray’s Vanity Fair in peace, quiet, candle-light and in the middle of a foamy mountain.

What’s the point in buying a bubble bar from Lush if you don’t have a bath? I suppose there is always the option of “borrowing” someone else’s bath, but that would require me going somewhere else with my Lush bubble bar, book, flannel pyjamas to change into afterwards and my fluffy robe to drape around myself as if it’s the middle of winter already. On top of all that, I would also have to take my bed (or my whole bedroom, since it’s not attached to anything and is actually movable) so that I can get into it straight after said bath and fall into a dreamy sleep whereby I wake up having had a long, lusty, fabulous relationship with one of the following men—doesn’t matter which as I’m really not that picky right now: Trent Reznor, Bill from True Blood or Jeffrey Dean Morgan.

I mean, even a giant tin tub in the middle of a paddock is sounding pretty decent right now…

A little background info: I lost about 8kg over a period of 6-7 months without really doing anything. Granted, I was a little more active than I had been in a long time, but I made no real changes to my diet or exercise. This loss was welcome and gave me the boost I needed to continue losing weight, but this time being aware of it and making better choices in order to aid the weight-loss and increase my fitness levels.

Since about April/May of this year I have lost roughly 3kg more, from trying, which puts me approximately 11kg less than I was this time last year. I’ve lost nearly two dress sizes since June 2007. Needless to say, I feel pretty stoked!

At this point the major dietary changes are that I’m now vegan, eating more fresh fruit and vegetables, having a much better breakfast that keeps me going until lunch, smaller portions and as many wholegrains as I can incorporate. I refuse the idea of denial, and “I can’t have that” is not a phrase I think and use. Some days I know it’s better for me to avoid all tempting foods, like my favourites — dark chocolate and salt and vinegar chips — because I know I will have a tougher time stopping at a couple of pieces or a few chips. Most of the time, however, I am able to manage with sticking to a couple of pieces and a few chips.

Around the middle of this year I read French Women Don’t Get Fat and French Women For All Seasons, both by Mireille Guiliano. She writes about her own experiences in losing weight and how to keep it off while still enjoying all the things you love and living a life that is not ruled by denial. Obviously this is very appealing to most of us and mastering the techniques she outlines, as well as using our own common sense, is a good way of achieving a more guilt-free relationship with food. She teaches that portion control is really everything. These days we tend to over-feed, so stripping that back to what our body needs in terms of food for nourishment and the amount we eat is important for everyone, not just those who wish to lose a few kg.

So, aside from changes to my diet, I have been trying to get about 30 minutes of sweat-producing exercise a day (yes, I am aware of how unglamourous that sounds). Lately I just use our exercise bike to cycle for 35 minutes on different settings throughout. This does produce the desired result of sweat, I can assure you.
I would like to start doing yoga and some exercises that work the rest of my body, but I need to find some good DVDs or cheap classes for that.

So, stay tuned for more updates on fitness and weight-loss. If you are doing something similar in your blog, do let me know because I would love to read about it!