Oct 21 - Slow Sunday

  Liverpool won 1-0 so it was a late night for me.  Mr Smart caught me checking my eyelids on a number of occasions but I did manage to see the goal scored and countless failed attempts in the second half.  As a result of the extremely late bedtime, the day didn't start for me until 11am.

  Mr Smart had been up and studying for a couple of hours by that time so I gave him a cuddle and then went and made breakfast.  Being so close to lunchtime already, the offer of a traditional bacon and egg breakfast was declined so instead I made a berry and banana fruit smoothie for us to share.  About 100g of frozen berries, about 100g of Jalna a2 Low Fat Natural Yoghurt, an almost ripe banana and 200ml skim milk.  Mr Smart had a small cupful and I had the rest.

  Why was the milk measure so precise compared to the approximate quantities of other ingredients?  Well I don't drink a lot of milk as I'm not keen on the flavour.  I generally only have milk in other things and tend towards yoghurt and cheese as my primary calcium sources.  Because of that I buy the long-life Devondale Skim milk in the 6 x 200ml packs.  It cuts down on waste and means I usually have milk for visitors on hand.  Also, my nephew likes them because they come with straws like juice boxes.
  Before too long, it was noon and time for Mr Smart to head home.  I probably won't see him for a couple of weeks now.  Exams are upon uni students across the country and in the next two weeks all of Mr Smart's courses have final assignments due or have their exam.  I was prepared for this and fortunately have things lined up to occupy my weekends keeping me busy and out of the way.  Good luck Mr Smart!
  With the afternoon passing swiftly by, I got started on my weekly planner but I found myself in no great hurry.  It helped significantly I suppose that I had started this week's planner last week and that I am pretty much up to date with laundry, though I did bring in yesterday's washing and hang out another load of the sheets stripped yesterday.  It feels good to be 'up to date' with the housework (not that you would assume that was the case from looking around my cluttered home).

  I was in two minds as to how much to try to accomplish today so I settled on 'whatever'.  I had a shower at 2ish and by time I was finished I was feeling peckish again.  Given that I'd eaten breakfast so late in the day I didn't really want to have a full lunch so I cut up three carrots into sticks and ate them with a 60g tub of tzatziki and then had a few dried peach halves.  It was satisfying enough but I definitely needed my dinner earlier than usual tonight.
  I spent the afternoon idly watching youtube clips, for some reason I was on a bit of an atheist video kick.  Nothing of particular note but they were all interesting just the same.  They of course led inevitably to watching episodes of  QI because of my jones for Stephen Fry and then into various stand up comics.  It wasn't such a bad way to while away the time but I was pretty darn hungry by the time my brain caught up with my tummy.

  Tonight's dinner was an interesting concoction.  The bastard love child of Caesar Salad and Salad Niçoise with pasta added for bulk.  It started with the remaining lettuce and carrot mix from yesterday's bag of Moroccan salad torn into small pieces.  To that I added two rashers of short cut bacon, cut into small pieces and pan-fried and 46g dry-weight wholemeal pasta.  I mixed that all together with a dressing of a tablespoonful of Heinz Salad Cream diluted with roughly the same quantity of skim milk.  I then topped that with a 95g tin of Sole Mare Tuna in Olive Oil (drained) and two medium boiled eggs.  I have to say, it was bloody marvellous.
  As often happens, I wanted a little something sweet afterwards so I fed the craving the usual cure, 20g of Lindt 85% Cocoa dark chocolate.  I'm relieved that it's on half-price special at Coles this week as it's a relatively expensive indulgence at full price.  I took the opportunity to stock up on it and may even get a few more blocks before the special runs out.  That works ok for me as I have absolutely no desire to eat more than 20g at a time but it would be disaster if I got any other flavour!  The passionfruit one is amazing and I can easily polish off 100g of that in one sitting.
  I have work tomorrow of course, followed by physio in the evening.  My back and leg haven't tweaked since Wednesday but I figured I would keep the appointment.  My former physio has moved on, apparently a couple of years ago so my back must've been better for longer than I thought, so it will be good to meet 'the new guy' and I thought I might look into clinical pilates.  It was something my former physio always wanted me to look into as according to him it's particularly useful for strengthening core muscles in cases like mine where there is too much flexibility in the spine.
  If you're not sure what 'too much flexibility' looks like in a normal person (as opposed to a circus performer), can you touch your toes?  I can get my hands flat on the ground.  What this means in my case is that when I have my spine fully stretched out there is an opportunity for the sciatic nerve to slip between my L5 vertebrae and the sacrum and get pinched there when I close the stretch.  It's very painful when it happens and is usually accompanied by temporary symptoms of sciatica particularly on my left hand side.  The problem is exacerbated by my weight simply due to the amount of weight that ends up plonking down on the nerve.  Fortunately it's not happened in a number of years and I'm hoping it stays that way!  Better to keep it in check though.
  My week is going to be a pretty busy one and there are three 'hot spots' so I'll have to be careful about my choices at those meals.  Wednesday dinner, Friday lunch and Saturday dinner are all a la carte so I'll just have to review the menus carefully and not go overboard.  It's hard to do sometimes, especially if you go somewhere new that you might not revisit.  The temptation is always to smile broadly and say "One of everything please".
  Jess

PS: I weighed in this morning at 109.3kg which is a 600g loss since last week bringing the total to 17.4kg.  I was a little disappointed with that but a loss is a loss.