Quick update, end-of-September-edition

Right, so it has been a while since I posted. This has two causes: One, because I have been toying with the idea of merging both Tecrin-blogs into one self-hosted blog (maybe under a new name, but I haven't decided yet, that's why it's still two separate blogs!), two, because I was afraid I'd jinx something. I am hovering right around the 100 kg mark, sometimes over, sometimes under, and haven't really lost anything in two weeks. Now, September is a dramatic month for anyone in my family that's on a diet, because half my family has their birthday in September, not to mention a ton of friends. I haven't had a weekend without birthdays since the start of the month. All that cake... And snacks... Oh, man, it's been hard! I think managing to survive this month without gaining 2 kg is a feat on its own, so I just aim to maintain and hope to get things back on track come October.

I managed to keep to my running schedule and am slowly seeing progress, though I haven't gone to the gym as much as I would have liked this past month because I was so damned tired all the time. I've been sleeping terribly lately, because of work-related stress (new job, urge to prove myself combined with a fear of failure, which is not a great combination), and I have noticed that I am reaching for sweets and snacks more and more often. As it turns out, though, these two are related! I stumbled upon an article that links a lack of sleep to an increase of appetite and a lack of satisfaction while eating, meaning you will want to eat more and won't know when to stop. It's science, people! So now I know I need to get my sleep pattern back on track, as well as make more effort to keep my cravings in check!


This coming week will be a struggle as well, but for slightly different reasons: World of Warcraft's new expansion Mists of Pandaria is coming out tomorrow! And on a related note, we've got our annual guild barbecue this upcoming weekend! So I'm facing a week of gaming excessively followed by a weekend of booze and barbecue. I'm determined to keep things under control, though. I've got a batch of curried chickpeas roasting in the oven right now (and if they're tasty, I'll post a recipe), which is a snack not unlike peanuts in their crunchiness but much less hard on the tummy because they're veggies, so only about 150 calories a portion (of about 1/3 cup). I've also got two big bottles of water in the fridge, a ton of apples and grapes stocked up, and a big box of trail mix and some crackers in the pantry. So that's the gaming snacks taken care of!

That barbecue though... I guess I'll just have to be really careful with what I eat. Plenty of veggies and salad and less meat, and careful with the crisps and alcohol. Pfft... It's going to be a challenge! Wish me luck?