j.

Friday I hit the gym for a Metcon session with a physio as the coach. I almost didn’t go as I was still feeling DOMS from training earlier in the week but was so glad that I did, because it wasn’t as mindlessly intense as I was expecting and instead we did things slowly with a focus on good form. I still worked up a crazy sweat this way and felt the gym feeling accomplished. That night we went out to Belle’s Hot Chicken as a belated dinner for Paul’s bday with his mates and they hit up Gelato Messina before we head to H’s house for scary movies.

Saturday Paul went to see the new Star Wars movie and I met up with N to picnic in Dandy Ranges. We originally wanted to go to Pirianda Gardens but the only route that we could see was up a steep dirt track marked as “4WD only” so we ended up going to Alfred Nicholas Gardens instead and set up camp in the gazebo there. Afterward, she joined us for dinner and we visited the beach for sunset.

Sunday we just did the usual, grocery shopping etc. We bought a Dyson fan for Paul’s mum as we’d been using their old fan and I was worried that she might be getting hot at night.

... was brilliant. 

It’s weird that we’ve been back for 1.5 weeks now. I’ve just been struggling with sleeping at normal people times, it isn’t even jet lag. 

Dad’s been on a week long trip to NZ so I’ve been going around and watering his garden at night. It’s crazy how much food he has growing and I hope I will be able to do that when I get my own place. Realistically though, I can’t keep any plants alive, so this is doubtful. 

Went back to work yesterday. Even though it was a struggle waking up at 5am to hit the gym before work and then having to stay awake for 10 hours straight during my shift, it was good to have some structure. And I’m pretty excited to get paid too, let’s be honest, it feels like a long time since any money has hit my bank account.

It’s only been one month since I’ve last posted but since then: - we travelled to Cambodia, Thailand and Laos - New Year’s came and went - I have a whole new set of NYR - N and I have started booking for our next trip

Our trip to SE Asia was so-so. I have said many times that I don’t remember a trip ever being that average. A lot of good times but also a lot of disappointments on that trip. I might write another post in the coming week detailing our month overseas..

On New Year’s Eve we found this beautiful spot in Thonglor called The Commons and sat in the open air space enjoying the atmosphere, live music and food from the restaurants below us. Unfortunately Paul was so tired (me too, but I could have held on), we ended up going home at 10pm and were basically asleep by the time it was midnight.

I’ve decided that 2018 is going to be the year of getting lean as I can without feeling restricted and getting strong AF - watch this space.

So since last week, I finished my nutrition plan with gym (hello to a 11.6% body fat loss since July this year!!!! yesss) and have begun eating normal foods again. We had an epic “gourmet” BBQ on Sunday night, with home-made pork, pineapple, zucchini & capsicum skewers, Japanese wagyu beef, corn on the cob, garlicky mushrooms, a BEEAAAUUTIFUL avocado & mango salad with pomegranate and leafy greens topped with an avo, mango & ACV dressing (if I do say so myself) and other random cuts of meat.

I had my first muay thai PT session on Saturday morning, same time as Paul had his so it was super convenient. It was only supposed to be a one-time thing to get my form right but I really enjoyed it and think I’ll have to find the space in my budget to make it at least a once a month thing. I’ve already subconsciously committed to doing it more often considering I wrote “first” session and not “a” session, and because I’ve decided to get proper gloves when we go to Thailand in a few weeks.

Yesterday after work I had dinner with L at Pellegrini’s, spag bol was pretty damn good and hit the spot but I’ve been having this problem where I feel WAY too full after eating food out, I presume because I’ve been eating more often but smaller portion sizes on this nutrition plan and am not used to eating so much food in one sitting anymore. Would like to keep it this way to be honest, I really enjoy not having that ‘too full’ feeling after eating. I also stopped by the cute little bookstore nearby and purchased Curing Affluenza by Richard Denniss and am keen to get stuck into it on our travels.

Today in particular I’ve been incredibly happy because I’ve really enjoyed all the meals I prepared for myself whilst not spending too much time cooking nor going over my caloric limit. I woke up pretty late today for some reason, but got right up and made breakfast tacos - egg and cottage cheese with zucchini, capsicum, tomato and pineapple in La Tortilleria corn tortillas and some green jalapeno salsa on top. I watched some fitness bloggers using the Chromecast and packed our bags for overseas. Around 2pm I had a burger no bun lunch - beef patty with a bed of lettuce, red capsicum, mango and pomegranate, with a dollop of leftover avo, mango & ACV dressing. An hour or so later, I braved the afternoon heat and went on a ‘easy’ run that still pushed my aerobic capacity and ended up getting a new PB on the Garmin - 5 km at a 5:15min/km pace. I know I’ve gone faster than this but that was years ago so I’m stoked, especially since I wasn’t pushing myself to the limit and it was so damn hot. Also hit a new VO2 max of 46 - would love to see it get to 50 by the end of next year. I’ve just polished off my post-run snack, a PB & cacao protein smoothie with chia seeds, banana and almond milk. I honestly cannot believe that these three meals have me feeling so fueled and satiated while only being 1,250 cal: 88g protein, 102g carbs, 46g fat. A pretty decent macro ratio so far and I still have a snack and dinner to look forward to after gym.

We cancelled our weekend camping trip as a severe weather warning was forecast. I cancelled all my plans for today as well.