I'm back!

Hello again after my 6 week hiatus in Europe. I had an amazing time and I learnt and discovered a few things about myself while I was there. I've actually been back almost a week but I've been so jet lagged and busy getting things sorted out.

So while I was over there I ate a lot - it was practically impossible to stick to any of my non dieting principles or try to eat slowly or eat only when hungry, that sort of thing. I mean, when you're moving around so much, never settling in one place, you're always eating out, eating takeaway, pub food, restaurant food...and don't get me wrong it is all so delicious! So I didn't mind too much because I knew that this was not a normal thing and I accepted it because I was on holiday and wanted to enjoy myself. And I actually think it was a good thing all in all. Eating so much rich food at every meal (I had croissants for breakfast EVERY DAY for a month) makes you crave lighter food and fresh fruit a whole lot more. It makes you realise that you only want that really heavy food every now and again, not all the time. It makes it a whole lot more enjoyable when it's not something you're eating all the time and are getting sick of.

So yes, I indulged and it was perfectly fine! When I got back I pretty much went back to eating normally straight away, and the past week has been fine eating wise. In fact, there have been a few things I've been stressed and upset about but I realised last night that I hadn't resorted to comfort eating at all! I am very proud of myself for that. I haven't consciously focussed on things like checking when I'm hungry, eating slowly, things like that, but it has just come fairly naturally for me this week. For example when I've realised I'm overfull I stop and it's easy because I want to stop. There have been several occasions where I've had the opportunity to overeat and I haven't - simply because I didn't feel like it.

So that's pretty good and I'm hoping it lasts! I haven't gotten into the swing of being very active but one thing at a time. I'm going to start slowly with just walking my dog more. Another thing I realised overseas is that I want to be more fit not just for looks, but genuinely because I want to be able to live my life more. There were times in Europe where there were things I avoided doing because I was unfit and didn't want to climb a whole load of stairs. Also I would get tired so easily after a day of sightseeing. I suppose that is normal but I would have liked to have had more energy to be able to go out as night as well and stay out late like a lot of people on my tour group did.

I still did lots of things but I'm just saying it would have been better to have that extra little bit of energy.

I think if there was one thing I have taken away from that trip it's that I want to live my life to the fullest, and I know it sounds cliche, but it's true and there are so many things out there I want to see and do. I want to go back to Scotland and Ireland and see way more of them because they were my favourite countries I visited. I guess life is too short to waste it away.

I had a book delivered to me while I was away called "Ditch the Scales". I started to read it and I was a bit discouraged by the fact that the grammar and syntax was atrocious. I think it was self edited. But I kept reading and realised that the actual content was pretty bad too. Anyway I'll talk about that next post.