A skinnier Laura goes to Edinburgh

In September 2010 I moved to Edinburgh with the intention of staying there indefinitely but in December of that same year I found myself moving home. It was an abrupt change in plans for a guy I broke up with several months later so as plans go, I wouldn't say that exactly panned out. At the same time some good things came out of my move home. By the time I moved to Edinburgh, I wasn't in great condition. I was the fattest I'd ever been (a size 14) and gradually getting bigger, I remember having to squeeze into my work pants and pretend they fit me just fine. I existed primarily on a diet of sugar and wheat, okay so I ate a few other things but not many. I loved pizza and bread and coke and mcdonalds and I had more than a little fondness for the mini ring donuts you could buy in Asda. In the four months I lived over there I think I had dinner out maybe twice. I wasn't exactly living the high life. I didn't see much of the city and it was more like I was getting by than actually living in another city. Part of the reason for this is that instead of enjoying my first few weeks over there I spent most of the time trying to sort work and arguing with the boyfriend who had yet to move over and it didn't exactly get better when he did. 
He couldn't get work and moved home and I was persuaded to do the same weeks later. 
I ended up in a miserable living arrangement without a job, fat and unhappy.
Boredom caused me to join a gym and then I asked my sister who was running her own gym to help train me as well. Within months I had abandoned the gym but kept doing crossfit.

So here I am almost four years on, virtually a different person. I'm slimmer, fitter and healthier and more confident than that version of me. I don't know would I have gotten here if I hadn't moved home so it may be a case of everything working out for the best. 
You would think that my current diet (no wheat or sugar) would make my world smaller but weirdly it's having the opposite effect. I'm going to Edinburgh  with my current boyfriend for a few days on the 10th of this month and this time I'm actually going to see the city. I won't quite have a laminated itinerary but I will have a to do list of places to visit because I'm planning to make the most of my time over there. The friends I moved there with four years ago still live there and were going for dinner in Jamie Oliver's restaurant while I'm there. I know, me going for in dinner like a normal person in a restaurant, right?.
I've already checked out the menu and there's a few things I can eat. Admittedly these are all things I could have eaten before but I just wouldn't have eaten them. It's ridiculous that it's taken me four years to start experimenting with food. This visit is going to be a different experience but only in a good way, provided myself and Stephen don't kill each other after 5 days together. I won't be stopping in mcdonalds or stuffing my face with tiny donuts and chocolate bars, I wont even be drinking my own body weight in alcohol. I am choosing this holiday to debut my new drink of vodka with soda water and a slice of lime, I'm told this is palatable (Yum, right) but I don't want to go sugar binging when I'm away and it seems like a better alternative to me yawning in a corner while everyone else gets their drink on.

As well as that I will finding out where I can get almond butter and om bars and pukka tea (you know, the essentials ) for cheaper than in Ireland, not to take home but to keep me going on my holiday because these are the important things to find out immediately upon landing in another country. I must try not to spend all my money in the first health food store I see but I can't make any promises.