Another diet attempt

Over the course of this year I've made a few attempts at dieting. While I've lost a few pounds or halted weight gain throughout 2017, in the past two or three weeks I've regained some weight. My girlfriend and I have talked about this and I have more motivation than before to lose weight and slim down a little. Ideally, I'd like to return to the weight I was at during Pre-Access; I was much more comfortable at that weight.

I am no longer caring only for myself and need to consider that my girlfriend is part of my life; as such, losing weight is more important to me than ever.

The cleared ear

After almost a week of cleaning it, my ear is, at last, cleared of wax. I used the device tonight on it after continued use of the drops and once the wax was released, my hearing was restored. This comes at a good time because tomorrow, I'll be working with my video group to film some of the major scenes for our project and I need my hearing to be back to 100% to be a fully effective member of our group.

A better ear

My grandfather flushed out my blocked ear but was only able to clear the upper layer of wax. Unfortunately, there is a still a lump of it attached to my eardrum, which can only be removed via use of more drops and additional flushing.

To help with the latter, he has given a device that I can use to clean my ear. I'll be able to use it to flush out the remaining wax lump as well as use it to clear both my ears on a regular basis so that they don't become blocked every couple of years or so.

Blocked ear 2017

My right ear is blocked. Unfortunately, every so often, even with cleaning my ears, one or both of my ears becomes blocked with wax, which results in muffled hearing and pain in the afflicted ear. To clear it, I have to put special drops in to soften the wax over a few days and then someone has to clear it out with water.

I'll be going to my grandparents' house on Sunday, both to visit them and for my grandfather to clean my ear. He cleaned my left ear last year and should be able to clean my right ear just as easily, too, since I've been putting drops in to soften the wax.

Have stayed put lately

I've ventured out of Clifton much lately. Part of it is because of when I had my colds, as I didn't feel like walking far or riding on buses when I was as sick as I was. Another reason is because of the  higher workload of Year 2; more reading is required for the seminars and the upcoming assignments.

I've still been walking and I've been eating less, so my weight has been coming down. I dropped another notch on my belt, which feels amazing. Still more weight to lose but I'm making great progress!

Back to the diet

Now that my colds have concluded, I'm back to dieting to lose weight. Unfortunately, I think I put on a few pounds during my illnesses, as I barely exercised, had no loss of appetite, comfort ate somewhat and drank a lot of sugary teas. That weight now needs to be lost.

Having my wheat-based cereal, salad, fish and a few other low-to-medium calorie foods, plus returning to exercise, should be enough to drop the excess weight and what I was trying to lose before. It's also not a particularly expensive diet and should lower my weekly expenses somewhat, too.

Bug-free lecture

Today marked the start of my first healthy week a for my second year at university. While I have a tiny bit of a cough left, I am otherwise free of germs and I feel great. After coughing my way through the past three weeks, the feeling of not having to announce my presence with massive coughs was a huge relief.

Now to not catch any more bus for the rest of this year - and for the rest of the academic year! Or if I am going to have another cold, at least let it be during a reading week so that it doesn't affect my performance in lectures and scale-ups/seminars/workshops.

Close to bug-free

At long last, I have nearly recovered from my colds. I'm coughing a little bit but compared to how I felt two weeks or even two days ago, I feel great. In fact, I've felt good these past couple of days with the exception of my dodgy throat and coughing.

What will be most pleasing is going into my Monday lecture in good health. These past three have been ruined somewhat by my colds.

The long-awaited walk

For the first time in well over two weeks, I walked to the city centre from here in Clifton. A major factor of my recent colds were that they sucked away my energy and along with it, my wanting to exercise.  Finally, this afternoon, I once again had the energy and it was pleasant outside, so being cooped up inside wasn't at all desirable.

In addition to achieving a long walk, when I made it to the city centre I encountered a university friend, who subsequently invited me to a small gathering she was attending with mutual friends. I stayed for an hour and a half before I returned to Clifton. Much as I would have liked to have joined them at a pub quiz they were attending, the fact I am still coughing occasionally was enough to make me decide to leave before they moved to that venue.

A Saturday of rest

As I have no immediate reading to complete, I decided to spend today resting as to help finish off my bug. While I'm still coughing somewhat, today is the best I've felt in two weeks - I felt so great, in fact, that I was able to go for an hour-and-a-half long walk around Clifton, which was my first long walk in over two weeks.

With regards to tomorrow, I'll sleep in again as well as go for another walk but I'll also have to start my next batch of reading for next week.

No loss of appetite

A consequence of my now-fading cold is that I had little energy during the height of it; this meant I didn't go out for my usual walks and instead I spent the extra time resting when I would otherwise have been exercising. As such, the past 10 days is the most inactive I've been for months.

At the time same, my cold did not affect my appetite; while every other part of me felt terrible, my stomach was very much in good working order. Thanks to no drop in appetite combined with an increase in sugars, such as having a lot of tea, I have gained some weight. To lose this weight quickly, not only will I have to start walking again but I'll also have to drastically cut back my diet; I wanted to do this, anyway, as I already had extra weight I wanted to shed but now I have some more I need to lose.

I shall do it; it will be good for me to lose the extra pounds and get back down to the weight I was at 2-3 years ago.

End of week 1, university year 2

Today marked the end of my first week of my second year at university. My lecture today was for my sole English module for this half of the year and it was followed up with the first seminar of said module.

So far, I'm happy with my Year 2 modules. The workload appears to be what I expected and the topics are more interesting than I had anticipated. I'm looking forward to the upcoming lectures, seminars and workshops that the first half of the year has to offer!

The only downside to this week is that I have been ill with a bug I caught last weekend. I thoguht I was on the mend but I've been sneezing today and my nose has been running this evening, so it's either showing more symptoms or I've picked up another bug!

Continued garden work

I've been working in my grandparents' garden for part of most weeks this summer. Doing so has been good for losing weight and easy money; I'm progressing well with weight loss while also earning back the money I'll be spending when travelling down to a wedding next weekend.

Today was one of those days when I went to my grandparents' to work; next week I won't be as I'll be busy all week but I'll be back at theirs the week after. It's fun work!

Just a minor infection redux

To my annoyance, what I thought was a 48-72 hour bug is persisting. I woke up this morning with a return of the sore throat (although not to the same extent as a few days ago) and have been coughing intermittently throughout the day.

I'm not convinced it's a full-on cold...just a minor infection that seems to be taking its sweet time to fully clear out. As long as it doesn't have me ill like I was in October and February, I shall be fine.

A rescheduled lecture

Before term 2 ended, a major lecture in my main English module was cancelled due to the lecturer being ill on the day. Fortunately, rather than being permanently cancelled, the lecture was rescheduled for this afternoon at 4:00. The lecture focused on queer theory, in regards to applying it to literature and to other texts (this half of the module has been about various theories in literature).

As for the attendance, I'd estimate that about a third of those who attend the lecture at its normal time on a Monday morning were present this afternoon. That's actually not bad for a lecture that's been rescheduled!

Just a minor infection

During Monday afternoon, my throat became sore and when I went to bed that night, it was still burning and I felt cold all over my body, thus I went to bed with sock and my robe on in addition to my usual nighttime clothes. I thought I had caught a cold, which would be awful timing if so given the work I have to complete over the next three weeks.

Fortunately for me, it appears to be a bug that seems to last for about 48-72 hours. I'm glad, because the last thing I need right now is to be bedridden at critical time during this academic year. Extra rest, tea and food has helped stave this one off!

Charity run, April 2017

This afternoon, three of my friends participated in the runNTU 2017 marathon, a fun run to raise money for the John van Geest Cancer Research Centre. There were two options, the 5km and 1.5km distances, for runners to choose from; my friends chose the 1.5km, which took them through the Clifton campus and past my accommodation.

Last year, the run generated £10,000 for cancer research; I hope the run this year exceeds that amount.

Less sugar

Ever since I was really young (maybe 3 or 4 years old), I've added sugar to a cereal called Weetabix whenever I ate it with milk; when I ate it dry, I rarely sweetened it. Last week, however, I ate milk-covered Weetabix without sugar for what I think is the first time; this is how Dad used to eat it.

For this week, I drank tea without sugar. I rarely drink hot drinks but I have the occasional chocolate tea and have always had sugar in my tea. Inspired by the success with Weetabix, I thought I'd try the tea without sugar and was pleasantly relieved that I could accept it, as it meant I'd found another place to trim my sugar consumption.

The best ways to reduce sugar intake is to add it to fewer foods and to purchase fewer sugared items. Sugar-free goods often contain artificial sweeteners, which are often worse than regular sugar. Have less of the natural sweetener!

Down to the family

I spent the late afternoon and the entire evening with my mother and brother. I had intended to see them last week but after I fell ill I decided it wasn't a good idea to do so. While I am much, much better now than I was even a week ago, I still possess a slight residual cough but it will fade over the next couple of days or so.

It was good to see my mother and brother for a few hours; I'll next see them in about two weeks, once my next assignment is completed and submitted.

Now pretty much better

With the exception of the occasion flareup of coughs, I have, in essence, recovered from my recent illness. The bad throat has gone, as have the poor sleeping patterns: I'm awake in the day and sleeping properly during the appropriate hours of the night. Good times again!