Up late

Tuesday:

It turned very overcast overnight so it was really dark this morning in our bedroom, and without the external stimulus of the sunlight I didn't wake up for my walk! Damn. Nevertheless, I was busy today running various errands and darting here and there, and ended up with over 9000 steps on my pedometer so I call that a win for the day even without deliberate exercise.

Also under 1600 calories for the day, even with chicken takeaway for dinner after my daughter's dance class.

And I got through the day without taking a nap, and there is some cooler night air coming in the windows, both of which might contribute to me sleeping better tonight. So overall a good day.

Biggest thing I did today was get my hair cut. It's gone from well below shoulder-length to short. Pretty much a spur of the moment decision, I wasn't even sure if I was going to do that or just have a trim today until I sat for a while looking at the hairdresser's magazines. The main motivation was the heat, I was sick of having all that hot hair all over my neck.

Can I ask, how on earth do you take a selfie in the mirror without the camera getting in the way?

I had endless trouble. And my head looks tiny in this picture because my arms are so much closer to the mirror.

Is that any better? I don't know how other people do it so well, I kept ending up with the phone blocking my face.

I had those same bathroom tiles in the house where I grew up. Same colour and everything. I used to think that top left hand corner had a kind of dog/monster face, looking down. Side on, with the mouth and the eye.

But anyway, that is my hair. Short at the back and sides with a long heavy mop on top. So much cooler. Except for my forehead, because I didn't have a fringe before. It will take a bit of getting used to. I was really bored with the old hair anyway.

Even more steps

Tuesday:

It's only just past lunchtime and I'm nearly 13,000 steps! After picking up the kids from school later and incidental movement, I might even make 15,000 today. It is a big time commitment. But I'm enjoying it.

I did a similar routine to yesterday. Walked around the lake with a stop at Floriade about 3/4 of the way around. Yesterday was sunny and still, today was windy. A bit chilly beside the lake, and when I was walking over the long bridge the wind was whipping up from the water so hard that I not only had to hold my hat on, I also had to hold my t-shirt down or it would have been around my neck! My eyes were watering so much I could hardly see where I was going. But it was nice on the calmer side (is that the lee side?).

I sat at a café at Floriade, overlooking lovely tulip beds, and had a cup of tea and my banana while I read for a while. I am judging the Aurealis Awards again this year (fantasy short story section) and I am a bit behind with my reading. Then more walking. I tried to always take the long way round, on the interesting twisty paths.

Yesterday I'd forgotten to take my headphones so I couldn't listen to music or zombies and just had to immerse myself in the day, which was kind of nice, but it was even better today with my tunes and the zombie story to distract me from tired legs. My body was actually pretty tired this morning, but it will just have to get used to moving around again.

Even though I had jumped in the car the moment I got the kids to school this morning, I still missed out on an all-day parking spot and had to settle for three hours again. This didn't give me enough time to sit in the library and write, so I'll have to do that at home now before I run out of kid-free day.

Tonight is our usual Tuesday night D&D game and supper. I am NOT going to binge this week. I am contributing a cheese platter and I am saving a dairy serving and a carb serving so I can have some. I know crackers are not a healthy carb but I got wholegrain ones. And I will have some chocolate as a planned indulgence.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I will mention that I have had some food samples at Floriade. A taste of sour candy, some "stupidly hot" chilli sauce on a cracker, sips of herbal tea. Yesterday I had a couple of Vienna almonds (with vanilla & sugar crust), toasted sunflower seeds on a morsel of buttered bread, and a smidgin of rocky road. I do know that a nibble here and a bite there can add up, but I am keeping my eye on my intake and I think I am ok so far. The servings are honestly teeny tiny. Nevertheless, I will continue to be conscious of how much I am having. I took my own banana for morning tea and came home for lunch.

12,000 steps!

more Monday:

I downloaded a pedometer app for my iPhone a couple of weeks ago. Apart from one day when I barely got out of bed (under 1000 steps!) my average has been around 3500 and I think that is pretty standard for me, sick or not, not counting any deliberate exercise. I work from home and only get out to move the kids from place to place or do the shopping. By far the highest number of steps recorded, around 7000, was the day my husband took my iPhone! He didn't even ride to work, he was on a bus for about 7 hours that day. But he still managed to get some walking in.

But today I parked at the lake then walked the long way around to Floriade, spent about an hour and a half looking at flowers etc, walked the rest of the 5 km lap of the lake back to my car, then did the grocery shopping. 12,000 steps! Woo hoo. And all it took was quite a lot of walking. Tired legs, tired feet. Looks like I have to do about 2 hours walking each day to get in that magic 10,000 steps.

Lovely spring weather for it.

Sunshine and curly hair

Tuesday:

I'm into day two of take 2 of the CSIRO food plan. It's going well. Last night I was grumbling because I'd only had one serve of vegetables at lunchtime so I had to have FOUR serves with dinner! That is a lot of vegetables. But I ate it all. More careful today to distribute them more evenly.

Today I had my hair permed. I used to do that all the time but then straight hair became fashionable. Dead-straight hair pulled down beside my face is absolutely the worst look for me so I always have my hair pulled back. But finally I just decided I'd rather be pretty than fashionable (anyone who knows me would laugh at the concept of me doing anything fashionable anyway) so I had it done today. I don't look like a poodle, I just have curly hair now. Still smells a bit from the chemicals, though, which isn't nice. But I loved being pampered at the hairdresser, a mini massage and having my hair washed twice and reading a trashy magazine without guilt.

Canberra has thrown itself into spring with gay abandon, with sunny skies and soaring temperatures. I walked for 45 mins yesterday and 20 mins this morning before my hairdresser appointment, picking up the kids from school will add another 15 mins today. I downloaded a pedometer app for my iPhone but only remembered to turn it on just before my walk (missing a couple of hundred incidental steps, I estimate. I'm only up to 2346, I'll be lucky to get to 5000 today. Need to work on that. Apart from my formal exercise, I don't move around much. Both work and leisure time involve a lot of sitting.

My staring weight, yesterday morning, was 81.5 kg, the highest it has been for a couple of years. But I'm doing something about it now.