Some good things that have happened this week

I thought I'd share some of the things that have made me feel happy this week!

I've reached a weight that I'm happy with and I'm feeling confident about maintaining it. I started to think more carefully about my diet back at the beginning of the year, motivated by reading Ultra-Processed People by Chris van Tulleken and doing research into ultra processed foods and modern nutrition science. I stopped drinking diet coke, and I cut down massively on crisps, biscuits and other junk food snacks. 

I don't calorie count, and I've probably increased the number of calories in food that I eat as I've started regularly eating full fat yoghurt, handfuls of nuts and I've always eaten plenty of cheese. But I've upped my fruit and vegetable intake, and I make an effort to eat plenty of beans, seeds and different grains. I didn't have a huge amount of weight that I wanted to lose, but because I lost the weight gradually I'm hoping that I can continue with these healthy changes and not fall back into old habits.

I've been enjoying my exercise this week now that the weather has turned warmer - I've even switched to my shorts for running! I've joined a local running group that run a 5k route three times a week from near my house, although I've only been out with them once and they ran a little faster than I'm used to - I managed a new personal best after years of running! I won't be out with them every time, but it's good to know that they are there if I want to join them. 

I've started doing some volunteering work with a local 'in bloom' group. It's a group of local volunteers who spend time brightening up the village with floral displays and just generally making everything look lovely. I don't have a huge amount of gardening experience but I've been really enjoying helping to plant flowers and meeting lots of friendly locals.

Finally, earlier this week we had an incident with a lost mobile phone, and thanks to the kindness of a stranger the story had a happy ending. Someone actually took time out of their day to take the phone to the police station, even though it wasn't even open at the time they picked it up. I feel like I owe the universe some kind of karmic debt, I was so grateful!