Happy 2015 - both VDS Planners set up :)

Oh boy have I ached this week!!  Sunday's yoga class left me with aches and pains in my shoulders and my abs...which I guess is a good thing as it means those muscles have been worked but oh my...I felt like I had done more of a workout than the gently relaxing yoga class I thought I was going to!!

Never mind, regardless I booked in again for Monday (and did that make my poor abs hurt even more!) and Sunday.  The timetable is all messed up due to the festive period but once the New Year starts it settles down to a Saturday, Monday and Wednesday.  Tuesday, Thursday and Friday I intend on using the gym and Sunday is a day of rest!!

I am loving all these dots in my planner :)  It is making me feel quite accomplished.  I am adding another colour - orange - for study time (and I have one of those already too!) and now also yellow for the exercise bike as that has come back indoors now the Christmas Decorations have all gone.  I am hoping by the end of the month I would have got into the routine and have a pretty rainbow of colour to show for it - along with better measurements, weight and knowledge!  Hopefully by then I would have submitted a couple more assignments too!!

Week of Christmas, joined the gym on the 24th and started on the 26th

This was last week, it was closed on Thursday for New Year

I am not kidding myself, this is going to be a tough year but I think a truly rewarding one if I can stick to my guns...not only that but I am planning on saving some money too (which lunchtime study should help with, working in a city is not good for the bank balance!).

I was a little concerned about where I would get my 'highs' from - being a self confessed shopaholic, but I am going to re-focus these concerns to getting my highs from the lows on the scales and tape measure!!  All the clothes in my wardrobe that still have the tickets on that will soon fit will be my 'free shopping trip' and I will obviously have the feeling of satisfaction that it is all working to plan and I am losing weight, getting fit and acquiring knowledge all the time...yeah, I have a bit of work to do in convincing myself that's going to work!!  I love shopping, it is what I was born to do!!  

Would be nicer though I think to be able to save some pennies and reward myself for being a good girl...mentally and physically...I'm going to give it a go and see how it works out.

I have started on the diet too, fat-free greek yoghurt, bran flakes and a banana for breakfast instead of my usual packet of doritos!  For lunch I have quinoa salad made up of celery, apple, walnut pieces, cucumber, raw mushroom and a little bit of cubed cheese.  It's filling but not quite the chicken caesar wrap that I normally have!  Even the beverages are changing from coffee to herbal tea and although I'm not really that keen on herbal teas I have found that I quite like the Three Tulsi Tea and it's supposed to be pretty good for you.

I wonder if I have changed too much too quick, only time will tell I guess but for now I am coping pretty well.  I gave up smoking nearly three years ago and I don't drink alcohol at all - I don't like it, I wish I could say the same for chocolate!!  Hmmmm chocolate!

This year is seeing changes.  I have booked a holiday for a whole week!!  I normally don't do this and just take odd days here and there making up long week-ends but I don't think I am getting the benefit of a rest so after a very short discussion with hubby I have booked for a week in Cyprus!  My parents live there so we will be staying with them.  I cannot wait!!  It has also had an impact on the fitness, I really want to look and feel great by the time we go - even hubby has joined in for this!  The last few times I have been I hate all the photographs...I want to have a good pic this time!!

I have now set up my VDS Senior for the new year, I haven't had the chance to do it until now and my eldest was also home from Uni camping out in my little study so I didn't really have the space either.  He went back yesterday and within an hour my little study was back to normal and so I got started organising and planning, I am very happy with the result :)  It is feeling quite chunky now that I have a full year of calendar inserts in there!  I love it!!

Last week, not too much going on

Next week's fitness planning - all classes are booked!

All I have left to do today is prepare the lunches for next week and have a long hot bubble bath to celebrate my accomplishments this week and think about what I'd like to achieve next week :)  Baby steps, just one week at a time - a new thing I am trying rather than overwhelm myself with a zillion and one things that need to be done!

I decided last week to come off the medication I was taking, anti-depressants, and that in itself is taking its toll on me.  They never tell you at the beginning that in order to get off these you will feel worse than you did when you started taking them!  I wish I had done the research back then...the withdrawal symptoms are awful - the dizzy spells and feelings of depersonalisation are hard to handle. I am trying to keep it real, keep it achievable and take it easy on myself for the next few weeks until it has subsided, I have read that it can take up to 3 months but I'm hoping it wont take that long as I was on such a low dose anyway but still....we shall see.  I will be tracking it all - the good and the bad - in my planner and hopefully I will start to see more good than bad soon.

Until next time, take care xxx