Day 8 : "An alien visits the gym"

Yesterday evening, after my weigh-in, I decided to treat myself to something different than a fish salad, and thought a few more carbs. than usual wouldn't be a bad thing once a week.  So I thought I might have some 'pasta in sauce', and my wife offered me a Weight Watchers Chicken Curry.  I really fancied both, but weirdly couldn't bring myself to eat either of them.  So I had a big bowl of boiled mixed veg. instead, and then a low-fat yoghurt.  And felt quite proud of myself.


And something strange has happened today.  After feeling great this morning (the first time in a while that I can say I have got up on a Monday morning having not touched a drop at the weekend), this afternoon I started feeling quite tense and frustrated, and the feeling got worse as the day drew on. By the time I started my drive home from Southampton, I was in a positively bad mood for no apparent reason.  I put it down to my body adjusting to the massive cut in calories it's been experiencing - maybe my blood sugar had gone a bit doolally or something.  Feeling pretty crap, I was worried that I'd be really fatigued at the gym and struggle (although, amazingly, I didn't let myself think about not going for a second).

It was only when I arrived at the gym, that I realised I was actually itching to start my workout, and went at my chest exercises with positive gusto, feeling a lot better.  By the time I finished at the gym, I felt great again.  So something dawned on me.

Every day last week, I went to the gym at roughly the same time in the evening, and then went on Saturday morning and Sunday morning.  Going again this evening meant that it's been well over twenty-four hours since my last visit.  And with the lack of any beer, chocolate, etc. in my diet, I think my brain may have actually been crying out for some feel-good endorphins from exercising, hence the afternoon tension.

I may be wrong.  But, for those of you that know me fairly well, you probably know I'm quite self-analytical when it comes to how my mind works... so I may be barking up the right tree totally, but to me that theory seems to make sense.

I've always wanted to be one of those really annoying people that's addicted to exercise.  It's too early to put myself in that category yet... but after today's experience, here's hoping...

I've incorporated some stomach exercises into my workout routine from today.  I purposefully avoided them last week, as didn't want to highlight my bulging stomach with every sit-up - after all, the other gym-goers may have had to go home and eat afterwards - but it's shrunk sufficiently now for me to feel less self conscious when I do them.

And I did 30 minutes on the cross trainer again, but supposedly burnt off more calories than ever before in half an hour (530), as rather than panting like a rabid dog after 20 minutes, I found it easier to take longer, slower breaths and keep going at a steadier pace than ever before.

Do you know what, I think I might be getting a little bit fit.


My diet today:

- Breakfast: An apple and a banana;
- Lunch: A prawn salad;
- Dinner:  Just eating a tuna salad.

Have you ever tried English Mustard with Tuna?  I recommend it.