Nemesis

Coming soon to a cinema near you...The Devil Wears Chocolate.

That street ain't got the qualities I'm lookin' for.

Yes, I ate all the chocolates, it was me, I goated them down like a big fat goat.

Excercise plan:

• Monday - Went swimming - 30 lengths in 30 mins
• Tuesday - Couch to 5k, week 4, day 1 (morning run of doom because of comedy night with friend)
• Wednesday  - Rest day/dinner at friend's flat
• Thursday - Shopping (counts as excercise right???) erm ok Couch to 5k, week 4, day 2
• Friday - Rest day/work leaving drinks :(
• Saturday - Couch to 5k, week 4, day 3
• Sunday - Swimming/try not to panic about new job on Tuesday

Last week at my current job!!

Don't sleep, eat, repeat (or not).

Illness and staying healthy - I was going to say they're a bad combination but obviously they are in fact opposites.

But there are more ways to be ill/unhealthy than having a bad cold. For example, unhealthy sleeping patterns, leading to unhealthy sugar cravings, leading to eating everything in sight.

So it's time to go to bed and try and sleep for a sensible amount of time so tomorrow I can build towards a new pattern...

Sleep well, eat well, run well, feel well.

p.s. Our shower is kaputt!! Might do a sweaty run to work and use the work shower though...maybe. 

The master of all the chefs

Today I made my way to Kensington Olympia to check out the MasterChef Live exhibition. An interesting experience as I never really watch the show, but as my sisters were working there I wasn't going to turn down a complimentary pass! And so I went along in search of free tasters and healthy-food inspiration.

So let's start with the tasters! I ate a small lunch in order to leave room (and calories) for free nibbles, because, as everyone knows, free food is delicious food.

The foodstuff I was most expecting to deliver in the tasters area (and WOW it did) was cheese:

Medium cheddar infused with Whisky? Hello!

Fortunately I managed to restrict my cheese sample eating and didn't buy any,  this was very hard for me. The other most notable sample was a glorious crazy beverage:

Nectar of the gods

I actually witnessed someone buying 10 bottle of this!

So as I munched my way around (lots of chilli sauces, om nom nom) there were also some bizarre sights to be seen...

Giant lollipop made of sweets - I think I got a sugar rush just from looking at this!

'Flora Tea' because who doesn't want a weird flower to grow in their glass of tea?!

And finally there was that inspiration I'd been looking for....

 

I saw a light on the road to Damas(cus)

Mezze! Aubergines! I'd forgotten how much I love middle east-style mezze food, but particularly aubergine dishes. I also ate a lot of aubergine based foods in Egypt last week so I rushed home and bought the most aubergine-tastic cookbook I could find! Stay tuned for future aubergine based meal plans.

Move out the way kid or I will EAT. YOUR. HEAD.

Other inspiration arrived in the form of some dried-apple crisps that were reasonably priced (unlike a lot of things at the show!), really yummy and low calorie, so an inspired replacement for my dried mango addiction. I also happened across some of the best marmalade ever (made from quinces - oh so exotic) so I bought some for porridge flavouring purposes (see how I made that sound a bit healthier by mentioning porridge ;) ).

Om nom nom

And that was it for mastering some chefs at Master Chef! 

What's the best/weirdest/yummiest thing you've ever seen at an exhibition/food market/village fete?

In other news, this weekend I got a armband holder for my phone so I'm quite looking forward to testing some running apps (android darlings, none of that iphone rubbish :P ). So there should will also be some more running-based posts next week, hurrah!

Science, partying and birds

Oh look at me, managing to post more than once a week, or not, whoops!

So lets get down to business goat lovers, my weight this morning was....
209.8 lbs

Little bit over a pound lost in a week, I'll take that.

Here's a whirlwind trip of how I managed that this week:
London Science Festival - aka too busy geeking to get busy eating.

Running - couch to 5k week numero 4 continues.

Walking up hills - and walking extra fast to prove how much fitter you are than your parents. If you ever want to go for a walk just a short train/car ride out of London I recommend The Chiltern Hills, they are one of my favourite places in the world.

Eating well - apart from partying and being ridiculously hungover so not eating at the weekend I actually burnt more calories than I ate every single day this week, even the days I didn't exercise, good times!

PARTAY - or rather get so drunk you are unable to eat much the next 2 days (a sensible weight loss strategy? No. A fun strategy? Very much so). But yes, I do not condone this lifestyle - alcohol has calories too, sadly.

Also when I was in the Chilterns on Sunday I saw five Red Kites up close, they are absolutely stunning birds that were successfully reintroduced to the Chilterns in the 1990s...

Image from ahisgett on Flickr

This week I have equal amounts of science geekery with less partying planned, so hopefully more running. Next week I will also be in beautiful surroundings in Egypt.

So where's your favourite natural beauty spot? Do you exercise there and, more importantly, does it have majestic birds of prey to gawp at?

Stop. Think. Recognise.

So today I had rather a frustrating morning at work. And unfortunately was also stuck between other frustrated people who took it out on the nearest goat they could find.

As I was also tired (I'm rubbish at sleeping during acceptable night-time hours) my first thoughts were "Eurgh, Latte and Chocolate Croissant NOW."

Fortunately I had a very busy afternoon which prohibited me from buying said things AND gave me the chance to think: "AHA! When I am tired and frustrated I eat and drink rubbish things. I must remember and correct this emotional food pattern in the future!"

Yes, it sounds both self evident and cheesey, even I want to laugh at myself, but guess what goat fans - I am proud of myself for actually recognising a pattern in my eating instead of just robotically "quaffing coffee" (try saying that in a New York accent). So there.

So I think the title of this post is basically a good mantra for the future, no?

Goat love for now x