Now or Never.

What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as who you become by achieving them.

– Henry David Thoreau

 

A few months ago I received news that absolutely floored me. I’m not quite ready to go into it just yet, but it concerned someone very close to me and has given me the jolt I needed. It’s such a shame that it takes something really awful to happen to make you realise you need to make serious changes in your life.

I’ve said this so many times before that even I am sick of hearing it, but I am determined to make 2014 the year I lose the weight I want to.

I’m back at the gym, and will even be starting personal training sessions every second week (because I work for a charity and that is all I can afford…haha!). I’m taking additional steps to eat healthier and cut down on the booze. I want to become more of a ‘conscious eater’ and listen to what my body needs.

There were many more things I wanted to say in this post, but I think I’m going to leave it at that.

Thanks for reading (once again!).

I did it!

 

 

So, I survived the whole of January without a single drop of alcohol! As a previously dubbed ‘wine fiend’, I am very proud of this achievement!

I do want to make it clear though – I am in no way some kind of alcoholic (although it does sound as if she doth protest too much!), but I do love a glass of wine on the couch after a long day. I think what surprised me the most about this little venture of mine, was how easy it actually was.

I had plenty of temptation – birthdays at the pub, wine in the house and catch ups with friends but I stayed strong and proved to myself I could do it!

Now what? Well, I have to say that I have physically felt a lot better not drinking anything and I know cutting out alcohol comes with a load of health advantages. So, I will most definitely keep the home ‘booze-free’ going forward and then have the occasional tipple when I’m out with friends, which I think is a good balance. There is something magical about a good bottle of red wine, so unfortunately I don’t think it’s something I’ll be able to give up for good.

In conclusion, I now know that by really putting my mind to it, I have the willpower to achieve something if I really want to. So I think my next goal for February will be to lose at least 5kg…….God knows that if I can give up the vino for a month a can do this! 

Veggies, veggies, veggies….

Hi All,

I know I’ve been going on and on about this, but bear with me one more time!

So I swung by the Wimbledon Farmers Market again this morning and came home with this bundle…

 

It’s been so much fun learning how to cook new veggies and it’s amazing what a difference there is in the flavour! I would encourage everyone to find their nearest market and see what you can find.

In other news, I still haven’t had any alcohol at all this month which is I’m very proud about. I set out to spend the whole of January without any booze and now I only have one week left…perhaps I should keep going? Just a thought.

Well, this is just a very short update and I will write more again soon. And I promise to stop talking about vegetables!

 

 

 

12 days later….

Well, my biggest achievement this week is that I got through my first 5-day work week in a month!

I really thought I’d struggle more, but got through a very long, very busy week in one piece. Mainly, I think it’s due to getting loads of sleep and being a little healthier.

On January 1st, I published a post ‘2014 – The Blank Page’ in which I laid out 5 objectives for the new year and 12 days in, I can honestly say that I’ve stuck to them.

I’ve discovered a farmers market not far from home, which has some amazing produce. I bought Jerusalem artichoke, spinach, cauliflower, broccoli, delicata squash, butternut and more which has given me an amazing opportunity to experiment with recipes. Some have been a success and others still need a little work!

Having really concentrated on eating well, I had a little slip-up on Friday with surprising effects. Well, I’d had a really long day, the boyfriend was out with friends and I didn’t have the energy to cook anything so popped into the shops and bought a microwave pasta meal. Bad, I know! About an hour after having eaten it, I started feeling really unwell to the point where I was physically ill. Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but in a way my body was rejecting this food because it wasn’t healthy. So, I’m keeping to fresh produce and will keep you all posted on progress!

The most surprising development has been the fact that I haven’t had any alcohol at all in 2014. I know this probably makes me sound like a borderline alcoholic, but if you know me, you know I love a glass of vino in the evening, so this really is a major feat for me. I’ve also come across this article stating the benefits of cutting out booze for – makes for interesting reading. I even went for drinks after work the other day and only had a few soda and limes. Can you believe it?! ‘Dry January’ is something really important to me, because I guess I’m trying to prove to myself that I have the willpower to stick with something so watch this space!

The one thing I’ve struggled with is the fact that I’m still unable to get to gym after a chest infection over Christmas and New Year which I’m still trying to get rid of. This is really frustrating because through simply eating better, I’ve lost 2kg over the last few weeks, and this number could possibly have been more had I been able to go to gym. Hopefully next week will see things take a bit of a turn so that I can get back in shape.

Lastly, I’ve had a few television-free evenings this week and have slept a little better as a result (also due to no booze in the evenings!), so it’s something I really want to keep up with.

Well, that’s that for now. I’d love to hear about anyone doing something similar, so do send me a message!

xx

2014 – The Blank Page.

Happy 2014 one and all…..I hope it’s been wonderful so far and that everyone celebrated in style!

(I’m not going to bore everyone with excuses for not writing for over 9 months, so let’s skip right over that. I want to start writing again and will be doing so for good in 2014)

I can honestly say that 2013 was exceptionally good to me. It started with redundancy and ended with a new job that I love, turning 30 and finally becoming a British citizen. Over the last 12 months, I have proved to myself that I can achieve so much if I just put my mind to it. Without a doubt, I was terrified of failing at so much and I have always been my biggest critic but this year I’ve shown that I am worth something.

The one thing I was unable to achieve and failed at miserably in 2013 was losing weight. There are a million reasons why and I only have myself to blame for not achieving what I wanted to. I want this year to be different – I’ve shown myself that I can achieve things if I really want to, so why not this?

Usually I don’t really believe in setting resolutions because nobody ever sticks to them anyway. However, I want this year to be different, so I’ve given it some thought and have come up with a small handful of things I’d like to change…

1. Lose 5 stone
I know this sounds pretty general, but this is what I need to lose and I will do what I can to achieve this. I’ve registered with the gym and will be doing more outdoor activities to this end. Also, I am cutting out all alcohol for the whole of January and if anyone knows me, they know how hard that’ll be!

2. Eat healthier
I want to start shopping more intelligently which means more fresh vegetables and knowing where my food comes from. Included in this is more innovative cooking and being less wasteful. You are what you eat, right?

3. Learn more
Whether that is to help me in my job, or generally enriching my personal life. I’m not a stupid person, and want to be more knowledgeable. Whatever I can do to better that, I will!

4. Technology time-outs
It shocks me when I start thinking about the time I spend in front of the television, on my phone or on a computer. There is so much I can do with all that time, so 3 days a week I won’t be switching on the telly at all and will be applying myself in some other way – whether that’s painting, reading a book, going for a walk or anything else. As long as it doesn’t involve anything technological!

5. Say ‘Yes’ more often
I want to do more and live more – that involves saying yes, when sometimes I don’t want to. Perhaps it’s turning thirty that’s got my mind reeling a little, but the years seem to be going by a lot faster the older you get. I don’t want to blink and find that I’ve missed so many great things in my life if only I’d said yes!

Well, that’s it – keeping it simple and achievable. As promised, I’ll be blogging a lot more often this year, so if you’d like…..do keep reading.

Here’s to 2014 being awesome!

xxx

Trying something new…..

I’ve spent the last 3 weeks of my life on a concrete floor in St Pancras Station, hunched over a laptop. I figure that deserves an explanation…..

Well, I’ve been volunteer co-ordinator for the Save Wild Tigers Initiative between 1st – 21st of March. Basically, I’ve been responsible for recruiting, scheduling and managing over 100 volunteers for this campaign, and honestly, it’s been no easy feat! I’ve spent long hours at the station with my colleagues and volunteers to raise as much money as possible for tiger conservation. It’s been an incredible experience and I’ve had so much fun and have met incredible people, but I’m absolutely exhausted!

Having spent so much time in front of my laptop, constantly being on my feet and working long hours, I decided to give myself a treat. Yesterday, I went for a hot stone massage and it was amazing! I now have a relatively tension free back and feel loads better. However, something strange happened during my massage….

Now, I don’t know if the masseuse shares this information with all her clients, or just those of the larger or more svelte persuasion, but I had the pleasure of getting some unsolicited advice!

She told me that I should stop eating wheat, because it would help me lose weight. A little personal for my Saturday morning I have to say, and I wasn’t sure if I should’ve been offended or not, but I listened anyway. It might not have been her place to talk to me about it, but regardless, I can’t argue the fact that I do need to lose weight. Well, we ended up with a big discussion about cutting out wheat and all the health benefits that go along with it. She recommended a website called Wheat Belly:

http://www.wheatbellyblog.com/

After doing some research and considering all the positive elements that I could potentially get from trying this, I’ve decided to give it a go. As of tomorrow, I will be cutting out all wheat from my diet for the whole of April, and depending on how it goes, hopefully continue doing it. Of course I will keep you all up to date on how it goes!

Have any of you ever tried to cut out wheat? Any advice would be amazing!

x

 

 

The End of an Era!

This is my 100th blog post which makes it quite appropriate, as this weekend marked the end of my working career at Channel 4 after 7 years…….**sigh**

I’m not going to go on and on about my time there, because it truly has been amazing. Not just the work itself, but mainly the incredible people I got to meet every single day. It’s those people who’ve made my job fun every day (except for the days I got up on the wrong side of the bed, and on those days not even Ryan Gosling sans-shirt would’ve made me crack a smile!), but you know all know what I mean! 😉

I take away awesome experiences and memories, as well as really good friends. Those kind of bonds and friendships don’t just fall by the wayside when you decide to leave. Many people can attest to the flood-gates opening on my last few hours behind that Reception desk and they were genuine tears. All I can say is thank you to everyone that made my time there so amazing…..I will never forget it!

It is with a heavy heart that I leave Channel 4, but I know amazing new adventures await and I’m looking forward to tackling my future adventures…..of which I will most definitely keep you all posted!

I’ll leave you with a few of the better (if I can really call it that) pics of my Leaving Do…..

XXX

Soul-Searching….or something like it!

As you all may know, I decided to take redundancy about 2 months ago. It was a massive decision for me, but one I’m told by many, will be the best decision of my life. I’m not quite sure about all that yet, but I feel as if I’m in a constant flow between feeling really positive about the move, and being on the verge on a panic attack!

For example, I was on the 507 bus making my way to work, when I almost burst into tears….in front of a bus load of grumpy morning commuters! Great, just great. I had this sudden flash of panic and anxiety which I couldn’t shake. What job will I be doing soon? Will anybody even give me a job? What am I really doing with my life? I’m almost 30 years old and I’ve not contributed to society one bit!

This could go on, but I felt really panic-stricken and am still having bouts of it now….a few weeks later. It might have something to do with the fact that I only have 2 more weeks left in my current job, then I’m jobless. It’s probably that, but I can’t be sure! 😉

In the search for a new job, I’ve crossed paths with some very wise people, and the overwhelming piece of advice….What do you want? What do you really, really want?

And of course, that’s the easiest question in the world to answer. Everybody knows exactly what they want in life, right? WRONG! It’s an agonisingly difficult question to answer. A question that requires many hours of soul-searching. Now, I’m not sure if I struck it lucky, but in a way, I was almost forced into answering the question by being faced with a few very, very difficult decisions.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve applied for – what seems like – a gazillion jobs. Mostly, I was met with the usual…“Thank you for your application. However,….” Blah, blah, blah! Everyone knows how the rest of that line goes. However, I have been offered a few jobs, and they were good jobs. But every single time, I had to ask myself: What do you REALLY want? Answering this has caused many a semi-nervous breakdown accompanied by heart palpitations, tears and countless supportive hugs from my boyfriend, quickly followed by a large glass of red wine!

Yes, I’ve turned down a few jobs. I’m fully aware of just home awful that sounds, especially in todays economic climate. To some, I might even seem ungrateful. My justification? I have this amazing (and perhaps once in a lifetime opportunity…God knows, I’m not getting any younger!) to shape a career for myself. To bravely go out into the world and do what I really want to do with my life. Every time I made a decision about a job, I went with my gut feeling. And I have to say, so far in my life, that feeling has always served me well. I felt that if I took a job just for the sake of having a job, I would forever regret not just going all out to achieve my dream.

Well, what is this dream, you ask…..

I finally know. Without a shadow of doubt in my mind, I finally know what it is that I want to do. I’m want to work within the animal and environmental charity sector. I’m not quite sure which specific areas yet, but I’m willing to work hard and relentlessly to get where I want to be. I know the next year or two will be a lean year in the Davies/de Gouveia household, but we’re (and I include a very supportive boyfriend in that!) ready for it. Sometimes you have to sacrifice to achieve what you really want to, and that’s what I’m doing.

A very wise woman told me recently….”Once you know what you want, and I mean what you really, really want, you’ll always succeed at it. Do you know why? Because you’ll be passionate about it, and you’ll be happy no matter what.”

Well said.

Thanks for reading everyone & I’ll be sure to keep everyone posted!

xxxx

2013 So Far….

Well, as per my last post, I’ve joined Slimkicker, which has actually been pretty good so far! I’ve been sticking to my challenge of not eating any junk food at all, and surprisingly I haven’t. I’ve been trying to cut back (not cut out!) carbs and concentrate on more protein and nutrient rich foods. 

The only down side is….I’m bloody hungry all the time! Now, I know this is not because I’m starving myself at all, it’s because I’ve been stuffing my face so much with carbs and sugars over the last month or two, that my belly is probably just used to eating more and “heavier” foods. I think I’ve eaten more salads and vegs over the last week than I have in the past month. Shameful, I know!

It feels like my body is going into shock! Hahhaaa! It may sound strange, but I think there’s some truth to it….I’m waiting for my stomach to shrink down to a normal size again, but in the mean time I just feel constantly hungry, but I’ve felt a lot less bloated (Gross!). I know this may be a bit of over-share, but I’ve been having terrible breakouts on my skin. My face looks like the ground surface of Hawaii…..constant erupting volcanoes! Apologies again, but maybe it’s my body getting used to the change in diet, who knows?! Has anyone else ever experienced this?

Also, I’ve been going back to gym. I’m trying to keep variety in my workouts, so am doing a bit of strength training combined with cardio, although I should be concentrating on doing more interval training. I don’t want to spend my life in the gym, so I want my sessions there to be more quality than quantity. 

I can tell that I’m super unfit though….well, at least I’m trying to change that. I’m feeling a lot more comfortable in my skin (and clothes!) at the moment, and things can only get better.

I’d love to hear how you guys are all doing in 2013 so far….get in touch! 

🙂

Slimkicking it in 2013!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY!!!

 

I hope you all had a fantastic New Year and celebrated accordingly. I sure did! The boyfriend and I ended up at our local pub for some excellent food, drink and dance……except I’m still working on Greg actually getting up and doing a boogie! 😉 Apart for losing weight in 2013, I think I should try to teach the man a little dance or two. However, that might actually prove harder to do than losing weight! Hahahaa!

Well, what I wanted to share with you all today is that I’ve joined a new website called Slimkicker, and you can all check out the website here:

www.slimkicker.com/about

I’m pretty impressed so far, although I’ve only been using it for a day or two. It’s very much like your standard diet tracking website, where you can log your food, exercise and chat with other members, etc. But I think what I like about it most so far, is that it’s almost like a game, where you get points for healthy eating and can take part in challenges that change as you get fitter. 

The first challenge I’ve accepted is “Skip Your Favourite Junk Food” and I’m really excited about it. It’s a challenge for 7 days, and you can do one or more challenges at a time if you so choose, but I want to ease my way in during the first week of doing this. There are other members also completing the challenge and you can encourage each other as you go which is quite nice. I’ll keep you all posted on how I go! 

Also, I’m going back to gym, which is something I really should’ve done a while ago! But I’m doing it now, and better late than never. I just know I’m going to be hurting tomorrow night after a pretty sedentary Christmas stuffing my face. Well, you’ve got to get back on the horse at some point, right?

Well, that’s all the news I have for now. I’ll keep you all posted on my Slimkicker challenges and the gym tomorrow…..

I have a feeling that 2013 is going to be kind to me……or let’s hope so anyway! 🙂

xxx