The bloody wagon needs seatbelts!

Okay. So. To be honest, the whole ... umm, healthy diet and regular exercise thing? Well, it kinda went AWOL during the past 5 tumultous weeks. Maybe you got a feeling in your waters (as Kath Day-Knight would say) that that had happened. Don't get me wrong it wasn't a complete write off (how could it be when there is NO way on God's earth you can overeat?! *belly laughs!*) but I was less than dedicated to beating down the path of the Holy Grail. The combination of 3:30pm sunsets, ever dwindling temperatures and the general frenzy of the season saw me curled up in bed with a book or DVD by early evening. Yeah-huh! No exercise for the wicked. And certainly no guarantee of something nutritious going down my neck when one was in hibernation mode! But before you get all worried, let me assure you Dorothy is now safely back in Kansas. Eating well and moving her arse. But I do think it strange though, that when I am exercising and eating well I get this complete kick, an endorphin high and feel on top of the world. Yet, after a while the whole thing becomes, quite frankly, rather boring ... and I will find myself straying from the path of righteousness. Sometimes I will find myself crashing and burning and then other times it's only a trip or a wee stumble. But everytime I fall off the wagon, all I want to do is get back on again. Guaranteed. Weird. Maybe I just have a small masochistic streak, I mean ... I fall off the wagon, I get back on again, I fall off the wagon, I get back on again, I fall ... pardon? oh, you get the picture already?! You could've said so sooner. I tell ya what, the bloody wagon needs seat belts ...

My nutritional intake has improved and become regular ... which I became a little remiss with. I would find that I would not eat all day (not because I wanted it that way but due to either sheer laziness or because I was tending to have small spits/chokes nearly every time I ate ... and I simply did not have time in the day to allocate for spitting-after-meal!) and then only eat at night ... and even then that wasn't guaranteed if I felt exhausted. But I'm back in the swing of things ... eating (and not spitting as much), slurping the fizzy multivitamin and guzzling water for England. Go you good thing!

Exercise has once again become a joy not a chore. Did I actually just write that?! (I think I might just go lie down for a while now). I have been running like the wind the last two days ... okay, it's more like a three legged dog but in my mind I am the Cathy Freeman of the gym treadmill, the Marion Jones of the local running track ... *is that Chariots of Fire I hear* ... Bandit Girl leaves no footprints but dust! Hush - don't spoil my grand delusion, people! *giggles* Buts seriously, it has been good to feel the sweat and exert my body again. It is, after all, a fine piece of machinery.

I do have a couple of pieces of news for you about my changing body (despite the blips of the past four and a bit weeks):

• I stepped on the scales at the gym today after my session and saw 79.9kg! Nooo way! But I am not going to get prematurely excited because I need my HOME scales to spell it out sista, for this to be the God's honest truth. Of course, I promise to spill the beans to you next week when I weigh myself. Are we there yet?!
• I can now run for half an hour without any back pain. Before, when I first started running and weighed more, I would find 14 mins into the run I would start to experience right lower back pain (not surprising considering I have a severe spinal deformity). Which would mean for the remaining 16 mins I would run bracing my back with both hands which is probably not the safest or prettiest way to run! And now? Without even realising it, I have run x2 1/2 hour runs without even giving it a second thought! You little beauty!
• I no longer get pain in the arches of my feet when I do the cross trainer. I normally get pain in the arches of my feet (particularly my right) after 10 minutes on the trainer. I then have to slow the pace or stop. But, no more! Arch pain is banished ... I will now be the Master of the Cross Trainer. Mwah ha ha!
• I can now wear leggings and a short t-shirt onto the gym floor without looking like an embarrasment or fat chick try hard. I even think I don't look half bad in them ... I have a pert bum and some slick calves coming on! &
• I can now fit everything in wardrobe ... everything, peoples!

Am I happy? *smiles* Just a bit!

PS. Some of you may have read the original post - there are some slight alterations as blogger deleted my post somehow and I had to re-write this from memory!