Driving Time!

Had a driving lesson today (woo).

I always envisioned myself already driving by this point, but alas, it has not happened. Circumstances delayed me from passing, the main one is lack of funding!

I did lessons about 3-4 years ago, then stopped to go to uni, then halfway through uni I did some more lessons, then stopped because I couldn't afford it. THEN when uni finished I did my theory test (and passed), which brings us to now, when I am finally on the home stretch towards doing my practical test.

The plan is, aim to pass by the end of February, then save up for my insurance, and then insure self on car (provided by Mum when she gets a new one), and be a driver thereafter. Once this happens, I'll be the proud owner of Tullulah, the Nissan Micra.

Happy Days!

If it all goes to plan.

Which it will...

Commutting vs Moving

Why am I doing this? It's still nighttime outside! Utter darkness! Today feels worse than all other days because I'm staying work am hour early so I can make it home in time for my sister's school Christmas concert. Thanks a bunch, sis.

I do actually know why I'm doing this. To get to my job. Which I love (but sometimes don't). To earn money, so I can actually afford things...like my train and bus fare to work, and rent. All of which make half my pay disappear monthly. I don't actually mind paying my parents rent, I'm just whining about money! A lot of the time I think I may as well be living in London and paying rent there. Ergo avoiding the stress of delayed trains when commuting from a distance.

However, (there's always one of those lurking somewhere) it would mean more living expenses of I were to do that. Bills, council tax, food, blah blah... These added on outweigh the cost of living at home significantly. Unless I flatshare/houseshare, which would be difficult if living with strangers, as I would have a frequent visiting boyfriend. Awkward.

I think this will take lots of deep thinking and list-making. And talking to people. Especially the important ones like boyfriend and parents.

Why can't I have teleportation powers?

Gym Stuff

I have a gym membership! woo!

It's a brand new 24/7 gym, so I can actually go anytime outside of my work hours (yay). Only problem so far, is the staffed hours are 10am - 6pm, and I work 9-6, and don't get back until 7:30pm. So I cant have my induction until this weekend! So I cant use the gym until then!

Weirdest thing happened, the Assistant Manager of the gym turns out to be a friend from school! such a small world. (not really, same town) so that was a nice surprise. She's my account manager, so will be doing my induction-more catch-up time!

I always find it really bizarre when things like that happen,  it's like life is throwing you down memory lane...

Work-Related Jargon

I like my job.

It's based in London, and the people are all great, and I'm gaining some good experience. The commute is a bit of a pain at times, but at other times it's great because I can read uninterrupted for an hour! Additional to reading time, once I procure a tablet I can catch up on the monumental list of TV programs I need to watch! (I will list these at another time!) I could, of course, use my laptop. However I don't fancy carrying this around with me!

Another (debatable) good thing about work is the weekly food shop. yay for free food! We order food for the office, which generally consists of tea, coffee, bagels, alcohol and biscuits. (and various breakfast & luncheon items). Now, I love biscuits. I could eat a whole packet to myself very easily. Can you spot the problem? 

I have no willpower. At all. This is why I'm fat.

So having biscuits just sitting in the kitchen is not helping! I'm not eating packets of them (obviously-that would squander the office's biscuit supply!) but it is still so unbelievably tempting to eat them. Om Nom Nom. To avoid the biscuits I am attempting to eat fruit to fill me up. This doesn't always work, as when I am waiting for my lunch to finish cooking/toasting/whatnot I reach for the biccys out of boredom & hunger!

Such a derp-head.

I will never fit into any of my old wardrobe at this rate...

Chocolate

I recently decided to give up a favorite food each month. I have a friend who does this, and I thought it was a good idea, so now im doing it too!

This month I have given up chocolate (until Christmas). I created a table with what I was giving up each month, and my goal weight for that month. I haven't been finding this too difficult so far, however I havent come across any cravings for it thus so far. Apart from wanting a cookie from subway, but only because I saw them when buying my other half's dinner.

I think this will become more difficult as time goes by, especially in the run up to Christmas. Speaking of which, my boyfriend has akready bought chocolate to go in my advent calender. DILEMMA. I need to decide if im allowed to have them or it I have to save them up until Christmas... (Clearly I didn't think this through when deciding chocolate was this month!)

Buses

The past few mornings (since Monday) I've been getting a later bus and train to work-so I arrive at 5 to 9 instead of 8.30. This means getting the 7.10 bus, and the 7.45 train to London. This is with a 15 min wait between bus and train, long enough to get myself a morning coffee and I don't have to worry about missing my train.

Or so I thought.

Every morning, without fail, the bus has been late. Up to 15 mins late. Which eradicates the inbetween time for coffee and chilling out. Which is very annoying!

Now, so far I've still been able to catch the train on time. I'm dreading the day the bus is so late that it makes me late for work (like a domino effect). Now I'm thinking about whether it's worth getting the later bus or not...

5:2 aka the fast diet

I watched a documentary about fasting a while ago, and the health benefits it has. I was a bit skeptical at first, but I did attempt it for a little while.  (It didn't exactly last long though!)

I've seen some more stuff about this diet since, and know of a couple of people who lost some weight through doing this as well as clean eating. 

I'm thinking about trying this again and I've been looking on message boards on  MyFitnessPal to see the opinions of people who are already doing it and what they have experienced. The general consensus seems to be that as well as being a calorie deficit, it also puts the body into rejuvenation mode, which rests the digestive system and assists in your body's recovery.

I think this diet plan can work, as long as people don't take it to extremes-by either going mad on the normal days by overeating, or severely under eating as well as fasting 2 days.

I think I will stay doing this as of tomorrow, and see how it goes.  And really try to stick to it!