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February Goals 2012

Gym at least 3 times a week - This might be difficult once i have to recover from my surgery that is happening soon(ish) but it's a start and it'll be manageable to settle into a routine along with my lectures.

Make sure all university reading gets done before it needs to be done - I have a habit of attempting to start reading and then in a few weeks i'll have fallen behind, but i desperately need to do well this semester.

Cut down on Carbs - Don't really need to explain this one. I do still eat a lot of pasta and bread and while i do attempt to get wholegrain variations i'm going to try and substitue these for other things.

Increase daily fruit intake- I do eat a lot of fruit, and it's something i love, so why limit myself. It'll be good for me to get more of my sugar craving from fruit.

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January Round-up

Back at the beginning of January i wrote a To-Do List of sorts and i wanted to do a re-cap of how things have been. I realise it isn't the end of January just yet, but it will be on Wednesday, and since i have a full day of university tomorrow i figured i would do this now. Hey!, it'll give me a day to mentally prepare for February too.

Sort out my tumblr- New URL, theme, sort of my tagged posts :

I did this! and now i'm back from my tumblr break i'll keep going with this.

Revise hard for my exams - Both are 17th-19th Jan

I definately attempted to do this! I'm not sure when we get out results back but the exams themselves seemed to go okay, but we shall see.

Sign up for the gym once i get back to Uni

I am so glad i did do this. I think i'm going to get into the bait of slotting my gym sessions in between lectures or when i'm finished with lectures for the day, and hopefully i'll schedule in 4 workouts a week.

Make more of an effort to be organised in my eating- Buy food containers, organise food cupboard, prepare veggies etc in advance for easy snacking.

I have started doing this, although i need to make a habit of shopping for less, more regularly so i waste less fresh food, because i have a habit of buying more fruit than i get through in a week.

Start exercising at least 4 days a week for an hour as soon as my exams are over - and keep it up!

This hasn't happened yet because of my nose problems. But as soon as they're fixed i shouldn't have any breathing problems and should be okay to exercise more without worrying.

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Hello Tumblr!

So it's been a week or so since i was last on Tumblr and i decided to take a little break. A lot has happeend in the last week, both good and bad.

I spent my week focussed on getting ready for starting lectures this week (Tomorrow is actually my first day back at uni and i have lectures for the majority of the day.) It has been nice to get back into the habit of academic reading and making research notes and i'm super excited to be studying American Animation History this semester in paticular.

Health wise it's been a bit hit and miss. I haven't been feeling well at all this past week; feeling bloated, sick and generally with a headache everyday. The headaches can be put down to something else, but i'm not sure where the other feelings have come from but i hope they go away soon!

Good health news came when i went to the hospital on Friday for an appointment at the ENT department. I have had a Nasal Polyp since November and i finally got seen at the hospital to get my surgery going to have it removed. It's difficult to explain what Nasal Polyps are (don;t google it, there's some pretty horrible pictures) but whilst mine isn't visually bad, it bleeds a lot and causes me breathing issues sometimes when my nose is fully blocked. But since it's hereditary there's not much to worry about, and at some point in the next few weeks (when i get my appointment) i'll be going into hospital to have it removed, under anaesthetic, with a one night stay in hospital- Something i've never had before! So whilst i'm glad to finally be getting it removed i'm pretty scared about being in hospital, though i am sure it'll be fine, and i'm also pretty nervous that the recovery is 1-3 weeks, which definately hinders my uni plans since i'm not supposed to attend lectures for two weeks :/

And in other good news, signing up for the gym at uni has been great. I had a great workout today and am genuinely looking forward to going often every week, although my headphones are broken so i must buy some new ones so i can listen to music while i'm working out!

I hope everyone had a great week, last week and here's too a great start of February too!

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Taking a tumblr break!

I haven't been here much because of exams and settling back into uni after having 4 weeks at home over christmas.

But i genuinely have enjoyed not being on the internet that much this past week, so for the next week i'm limiting my time online and will therefore be on a Tumblr break for a week.

I'm ready for a week of being active. Hope you all enjoy your weeks and i'll see you next weekend!! :)

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Finally my exams are over. Both went relatively well and i'm hopeful that i can get a decent mark in both of them. Now i have a week off before my lectures begin and i already have plans!

Join the gym on Monday- I would go tomorrow but i really want a lie in and a free day to myself for the first time in weeks!

Hospital apointment next Friday- Finally!! I feel like i've been ill and waiting for this surgery for ages.

Reading- So much reading for uni and i've not even started lectures yet. My lecturers hate me i swear!

Really glad to be able to get back into the swing of things though because my eating this week has been apaling.. so hopefully come Monday i'll be back to my good habits and ready to hardcore hit the gym for the rest of the semester!

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First exam this afternoon...

Stressing out!

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For the person who wanted to know what i looked like when i was a kid :)

Me and my older brother ♥

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I am absolutely full tonight

I'm absolutely full tonight. I couldn't eat another bite. I couldn't eat a half a bean, or even taste a tangerine. I couldn't lick a lettuce leaf or bite the slightest bit of beef. I couldn't polish off a pea or sip a single drop of tea or nibble on a nanogram of pickled ham or candied yam or lamb or clam or jam or Spam. Yes, that's how full I truly am. To even think of eating more would leave me lying on the floor and surely make my stomach hurt unless, of course, you've got dessert.

--Kenn Nesbitt

This is so me today. I'm full to bursting from a massive salad i had for dinner and the pizza i ate at lunchtime with my flatmate, but i have a crazily intense craving for some sugary goodness.

Luckily i have a few Cadburys mini eggs i can munch on during my evening of lovely exam revision!

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What can we do?

*Trigger warning*

One of my friends makes himself throw up everytime he eats a takeaway yet denies it or blames it on the food being undercooked etc.

It's really hard to bring it up with him as he won't accept it at all and it makes me sad to think he can't talk to me about it. He doesn't do it all the time and it literally is just when he has takeaway. He's tall and skinny anyway and i honestly don't understand why he does it, but he won't talk about it.

Theres not much that my flatmates and I can do except watch to see if he starts doing it more and to see if he changes, but it's really sad to see him doing it at all.

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Sitting here with chocolates next to me.

Definitely not a good idea.

Damn my housemates for bringing them back with them. Although they are tasty.

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Sunday Six #1

Here are a few of my favourite things of the week!

1. Whittards Peach Melba Tea:

Oh, look at the deliciousness!

I've never been much of a tea lover or any hot drink really so this instant tea is great for me. It can be made with cold or hot water and is only 76 calories per 200ml which is great. It makes a change to drinking just water 24/7 and it's making me love fruit tea. I picked up a different flavour too, but i'm sticking to peach melba for now.

2. Charlie Simpson

So if you know the band Busted you might know who Charlie Simpson is. His solo music work is beautiful and i love it so much. I've had his 2011 album "Young Pilgrim" on all weekend. It's just so relaxing for me, and addicting.

3. Diane Chamberlain

Diane Chamberlain is an author who i love! I picked up a couple of her books last week and have just started reading the "Before The Storm". Her work is a lot like Jodi Picoult (if you like her books!) and i am so engrossed in the storyline of "Before The Storm". Definitely worth a read in my eyes.

4. Clementines

I am sure you all know the fruit without me telling you. I used to get bored of clementines really easily since my mum used to pack them in my lunchbox everyday when i was little. But now, I cannot get enough of them! Especially the easy peel clementines which makes enjoying them even easier when you can peel them in two seconds. Mmm delicious!

5. Grant Wood

This may seem like an odd 'favourite thing' but since i have my American Art exam on Thursday i have been researching all sorts of artists from the 1900's and the one that jumps out the most is Grant Wood. I am sure some of you may recognise his work, particularly this painting.

I just love the isolationism of his work and how he easily he conveys the rural regionalism of America at the time. I won't talk about it too much, or i'll start quoting critics and all sorts nonsense i need to know for my exam.

6. Crappy Pictures

Oh gosh, this blog

I seriously love this blog. I was searching for new blogs to read, as you do, and came across this parenting blog. For some reason i love reading parenting blogs, watching parenting programs and well generally reading about obscure parentings practices. Obviously i am only twenty, i don't plan on having kids anytime soon, but i can't help but be entertained by it. This blog is one of the best i've read. It is hilarious, and the drawings the mother draws to go along with the stories of her 'crappy kids' just crack me up.

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Blog ideas?

I'm considering having certain themes to blog each day of the week to keep continuing my personal posts rather than reblogging things that everyone has on their dashboards already.

Sort of like:

Monday - Picture of me Tuesday - A food related post Wednesday - Music/workout playlist related post. Thursday - Motivational Post

Is this a good idea?

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Back at Uni.

Currently freezing my butt off in my bedroom because i'm too lazy to get up and turn the heating on, whilst revising and planning essay questions on American Art from 1900 to 1940 and drinking my new favourite drink, Peach Melba tea.

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Matchstick Challenge #8: Is it actually healthy?

So this weeks challenge (and my first, i'll play catch up eventually) was to find something that is marketed as healthy and then talk about whether or not it is in fact healthy.

  Good Grain Puffed Wheat

100% WHEAT AND NOTHING ELSE. Wholesomely light. LOW IN FAT. HIGH IN FIBRE. NO ADDED SALT OR SUGAR

At least that is what the packet says. I grabbed a box of these in ASDA thinking it's a healthier alternative to sugar puffs and a much healthier cereal choice when i don't have time to make porridge, and the nutritional info looks promising.

The fact that it's only 55 kcal for 15g - which doesn't sound like a lot, but they are super light so you get a decent bowl full - is really great! It's filling and tastes good, especially topped with some banana, so i think this will definately become my go to cereal.

As for it's healthiness, can you really go wrong with something that is 100% wheat? I don't think so.

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I highly doubt that the dinner info is right but at least it's a guestimate.

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lilygetsfit replied to your post: Officially back at uni and i’ve been coerced into...

I had a take away yesterday, got lemon chicken and egg fried rice and the whole thing was 349 cals - dunno if that was right or not :S

Yeah i just googled what i wanted and it ranges from 400-600 calories which isn't as bad as i thought it was going to be so it should be alright! :D

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Officially back at uni

Already i've been coerced into getting Chinese takeaway on the first night back :/

Going to order a small amount and have my own side of salad.

Then it is officially no go on the takeaway.

As of tomorrow all takeaways are banned from my consumption and alcohol is being limited to the bare minimum. (i.e only like 2/3 times a month when we go out)