Day 56/weigh in

I knew it had been a while since my last update, but didn't realise it had been just under a month. So it's been 8 weeks, and I've lost 7.7kilos from my starting weight, which is a reasonable kilos per week average (though a little disappointing for those of us accustomed to Biggest Loser numbers). It doesn't help that I've been exercising only sporadically, and being a little more liberal in my diet than I ought.
I added the breakfasts a couple of weeks ago, to give them a try, which means I now get two eskies delivered a week! There are a few variations on a theme, including a weekly eggs and bacon treat (which I've passed on, suspecting the eggs aren't free range) and a ham, cheese & tomato sandwich one morning. Generally, though, the breakfasts involve a 30g serving of cereal (which is not a lot, and makes me realise how more generous my routine Weetbix and muesli bowl was), plus a piece or two of multigrain toast, often with Vegemite but no spread, and fruit.
Today marks the beginning of a seven night stretch at work, and I'm throwing myself into the program properly, to see what I can do when I apply myself. The disadvantage of nights is that there's very little time to do much except eat, sleep and work - I leave at 8PM, start work at 9, finish sometimes between 7:30 and 8AM, and arrive home between 8 and 9.
The advantage is that a long stretch can help you stick to a regular and uninterrupted routine. This week, that means only eating the provided Lite'n'Easy food (including, sadly, their anemic tomatoes, which are at least ripening in the fruit bowl instead of loitering palely in the fridge). It also means drinking a pot of green tea when I go out for breakfast over the weekend with my mother, and having the provided fruit muesli, spreadless Vegemite toast and dried apricots when I get home.
I will also be doing between one and two hours of exercise each day, a combination of DVD workouts (bellydancing, cardiowalk, Biggest Loser and circuit programs) and walking. There's a monster hill on the way to work that's 500 steps (I'm a compulsive counter, especially when walking); I take a hundred steps a minute, and that's rough five minute climb that I'm sure counts as interval training, as indicated by my 50 breaths per minute toward the end! I cool down a little on the remaining walk in, for a total of around half an hour of walking, and ramp it up again by climbing stairs to my floor - all 168 of them. Instead of only doing this every now and again, this week I'll do the walk every night, with a potential caveat for heavy rain.
I'm also going to prioritise sleep over reading and TV, and make a more concerted effort to drink more water - a glass an hour at work, plus one on rising, one on arriving at work, one on getting home, and one just before sleeping, will total 3.5L.
Finally, I realise I haven't mentioned anywhere that I suspected I was anemic, and the week I began Lite'n'Easy I started taking an iron supplement, plus 1g of vitamin C (to aid iron absorption) every day with breakfast - I feel so much more energetic and am markedly less breathless on exertion, which I think has far more to do with this than to a sudden increase in aerobic fitness. It does certainly make me feel happier about exercising, and healthier in general, though perhaps I should have had a proper check up first. And now, on to the week of focus! - Alex