So I Took a Week Off....

I have been a bit absent for the past week, mainly trying to hide the fact I just took an entire week off. I was planning on taking easter weekend off anyway, we had dinner at my parents and dinner at my boyfriends parents house as well as brunch out and I just didn't want to stress so I made a conscious decision not to track or count. One weekend, not so bad right. 

But of course the busy weekend meant no time for planning for the week ahead which is never a good place to start and I hit tuesday morning in a bit of a panic. I was off to cork for work and hadn't planned my food for the day, and I made bad choices. I know I could have made better choices, but I didn't. I used my lack of planning as an excuse to eat too much of the wrong types of food. 

By the end of the day I had decided it was going to be a full on cheat week. I was hosting my book club last Friday night and had taken the day off work to bake lots of goodies and make home made pizza for the night. I had been planning this for about a month so I knew it was coming. I should have been sticking rigidly to my propoints in preparation but instead I went with the mantra 'If I know I am going to fall, I'll jump to save myself the surprise" (this made sense in my head but not sure if it works, I'm leaving it in there anyway.)

So I stumbled through the week eating anything I could and kept telling myself I deserved it, that one week wasn't going to kill me, whats the worst that can happen. The fact I had to keep justifying it to myself, well I knew it wasn't a good idea but I didn't listen. My body didn't react well either and I have been feeling progressively worse all week, but still that didn't stop me. 

Book club came and went (and I baked and cooked up a storm) and nothing, I was still eating everything in sight. I had weighed myself periodically through the week and I hadn't seem to gain anything, until I stood on the scales last night and I was up all 5lbs that I had lost the previous week. It hit me like a bit of a lead balloon but I knew why it had happened. I don't regret taking easter off, and I don't regret a single moment of book club, but everything that happened in between was not a good idea. The main problem was I didn't enjoy it, despite my constant justifications I felt guilty and wrong through the entire week. 

What do I do now? I go back to basics. I am taking a filling and healthy week this week and I am going to work my hardest to get myself back down again. I have a month to go to the Mini Marathon and I do not want to be carrying any more extra pounds that might stop me achieving my goal! 

Throughout this my running is going well, I did take a day off on Saturday but next Saturday was a planned day off so I am just going to run this week instead. I have however now run 12.9km twice! The past 2 Sunday's I have taken to the pavements and gone for it! I was really worried I wouldn't be able for it but I did it and it felt amazing. This Sunday the ante gets upped again and I am doing 14.5km. I am nervous and excited but I know I can do it! 

Update August 2014: This post has been nominated for best blog post in this years Irish Blog Awards. If you would like to vote for it you can head over to http://www.blogawardsireland.com/best-blog-post-2014/