Happy New Year!

I have been on a brief blogging hiatus over the Christmas period, mostly because my hands were busy stuffing food into my mouth and thus unable to type! :o) I hope you all had a wonderful festive season, perhaps with less of the over-indulgence than I allowed myself! I also hope that wherever you are, the January blues are not hitting you as badly as I seem to be experiencing this year. The post-Christmas depression is usually a fairly sad sight but this year I think the weight gain has made the post-binge guilt all the more difficult to bear. Rather than continue to wallow in self-pity, I'm trying to be positive about this New Year. What do I want to achieve? What would make me happy? I think I need some changes in my life. I just need to figure out what those should be.

Who moved my yoghurt?!

I just went to the fridge here at work to get my Danone Activia Apple & Muesli yoghurt, that I love oh-so-much and keeps me sane in the afternoons when my set of sweet teeth start bugging me, and.... it's gone... Somebody has taken it... Someone went to a fridge that I share with maybe 20 people, and took my yoghurt and ate it... It may seem a bit over the top but I almost started crying!

I plan my food so carefully, and even something that seems spontaneous (like the punnet of grapes I brought today) has already gone through a quick screening in my head to see that it fits in with my calories for today. I find the late afternoons at work to be the worst, just that time between 3-5pm when I'm starting to get bored and thinking about hometime (hope my boss never finds this blog!) and I like to bring a cup-a-soup for days when I have to teach, and a yoghurt sometimes to just silence that sugar craving.

I work with some people who think nothing of having dessert at lunch, or a few biscuits with tea, or popping down to the vending machine in the afternoons. There are also those who bring their few low-fat bits n pieces, so I could understand how a mix-up could happen. But how do you accidentally take the wrong yoghurt out of the fridge and eat it without realising: "I brought a rhubarb one but this tastes like apple..." And this is the second time this has happened. On a day when I could really do with a sugar boost.

Hence the emotional response.

Now I know it's not a rational reaction. I know that it's just a yoghurt. It's more the interruption in my potentially neurotic food plan that's causing my distress. Plus it's a nice yoghurt. Honestly, try one. I don't get commission or anything, honest!

Sorry for the rant.. just needed to vent....

Happiness is Contagious!

I am absolutely buzzing today, grinning from ear to ear! Naturally my workmates want to know the reason, (and all about him!) but honestly it's more than just one reason. Ok, so I think Leo was the catalyst, he reminded me how good it feels to have those butterflies when you meet someone new, and he keeps showing me all these lovely reflections of myself through his eyes. After so many months of being self-deprecating it's a delight and a relief to actually feel good about myself! But it's not just the excitement of a romance that has a smile on my face, it's a multitude of factors, (including Christmas, and all you Fitosphere Bloggers to name but a few joys in my life!) and this feeling keeps having the most unexpected benefits!

Like last night when I went to Pilates, the last class before Christmas, and it went really well! I don't know if you can rock a Pilates class but it felt like I did! I was just in such great form going in there, I was totally relaxed and ready for the class. I was feeling slim and light after my last few days of liquids and my body seemed to be moving really fluidly (no pun intended!). After the first few movements I just felt like something had clicked into place and I was finally using the right pelvic/lower abdominal muscles for the exercises, and the rest of the class just went so well after that! The Instructor even complimented me on my Roll-Ups! Yay!!

Even my work is benefiting from my increased good humour, I'm more productive and efficient. I always knew that happiness could be contagious but I always interpreted that as being from person to person, now I can see it "infects" every part of your life. Things seem easier and more enjoyable when you're already in a good place to begin with. Life seems better and brighter.

Now, ever the cynic, I always err on the side of caution when it comes to a potential love interest... So in the same way that I'm not relying on my recent loss of appetite to lose weight and get fit, I'm not relying on Leo to be the reason that I'm happy. He's just a lovely unexpected bonus.

He's from the same town as me, living just around the corner, and does martial arts too. Jujitsu is his art of choice though, he retired from TKD a couple of years ago when he was preparing to run (and did actually run) the Dublin Marathon. I've known him (and fancied him!) for years, so long in fact that I am still shocked that he's actually interested in me. Every time I get a text message or an email from him I get a little shock! We've only been seeing each other less than a week, so it's very early days yet, but he is extremely cute, surprisingly sweet and just oh-so-lovable! I'll be sure to keep you posted... :)