Always the bridesmaid…

…I hope! I’ve had about a month now (or maybe more) of half-heartedly attempting to lose some weight. I’ve kept up the exercise but thought that because of the exercise I could get away with pretty much eating what I wanted - well that doesn’t work! I know deep down that doesn’t work, but I really want it to! I haven’t been exercising as much lately as we’ve been on holiday and then always managed to find some excuse. I really want to get back to like I was when I was exercising pretty much every day. We went swimmng this morning but haven’t been to the gym so far this week, we’re planning on going tomorrow evening. I weighed in at weight watchers last night, after missing 3 weeks and I put on 2lb. I think that’s quite good considering what we ate and drank on holiday and since I haven’t really been following it since we got back.

Reasons why I should get back on track:

• The weddings are getting closer and closer!!! The first one is….15 weeks away on Saturday - god that’s scary!! So I can reasonably lose 1lb a week and be a stone lighter in time for the wedding, or lose 2lb a week and be 2 stone lighter!
• I want to be able to buy some nice new (smaller) clothes ready for the summer. The weather is finaly starting to improve here and I want to buy some pretty summer dresses that I feel good in.
• I am the heaviest I have ever been at the moment and I don’t like it one bit. Every time I step on the scales I can’t believe the number I see there - I remember being 2 stone lighter than this when I was about 18 and thinking how disgusted I was with myself for getting that big - I wish I weighted that much now!!
• I want to look in the mirror and actually be happy with the way I look and the way my clothes look on me. At the moment I am mildly happy with the way I look when I’m ready to go out or ready to go to work, but I’m never ecstacically so. I know noone is ever completely happy with the way they look but I could feel a LOT happier with my appearance.

Well I think that is enough reasons to lose weight! Perhaps I need to print these out and carry them around with me at all times!

Right, how about some ways that I am going to acheive this goal:

• By writing every god damned thing that passes my lips down in my little pink notebook!!!! I will do this if it kills me (well, I haven’t done it today, but I will definately do it starting tomorrow). By writing everything down I will keep track of what I’m eating and will feel proud when I’ve kept within my points or saved some points. I also write down my activity as it is a little pick me up - I can look back over the week and think, wow I did a LOT of exercise this week!
• By cooking more delicious weightwatchers recipes! I’ve just bought two cheap cook books from amazon - they’re from old plans but still have points values so I can still use them. I find that the weeks when I eat a lot of weight watchers recipes are the weeks that I tend to lose the most weight. I suppose it’s because I’m more ‘in the zone’ those weeks!
• By exercising A LOT! I don’t think it is feasible to say I will exercise every day because sometimes it’s not possible. But I have my gym membership and the wii fit now, so thik I can manage 4-5 times a week. The days when I don’t manage to swim or go to the gym I will try and make sure I go on the wii fit for a little whie - and I will start doing the actual muscle exercises / yoga rather than just the games!!
• By attending and staying for my weightwatchers meeting each week. I am now the last one left out of 3 of us who originally joined, but I know people in the meeting who I can sit with and chat to so I have no excuse! And I always leave meetings feeling more motivated.

So then, that’s my plan. I can do this. I will do this. And I will enjoy it. So there!

Oops I know it’s been ages since I’ve updated this. I haven’t really got an excuse, I just gave up for a while. We’ve just got back from a week in Majorca which was lovely! A really relaxing week of laying around….and eating and drinking lots!!! But we’re back now and I’m ready to get back on the weight loss wagon! It’s already April and the first wedding that I’m bridesmaid for is in August AND I have to go and get measured for my dress in a few weeks - scary!!

We got back from holiday to find a very nice parcel had arrived which will help me on my journey.. our Wii fit! Now, I don’t know about anywhere else but here in England the wii fit’s are extremely hard to find (unless you want to pay way over the odds). We’ve been waiting for about 10 weeks for this one!! But it’s here now and at this very moment Dave is setting it up with our wii. I’m looking forward to getting back to the gym and hammering the exercise routine. I think the fact that the weather is improving is helping my mood - it’s getting sunnier and it is light in the mornings and evenings now which makes me feel good!

Another thing we came home to was our easter eggs! Mine is a cadbury dairy milk egg - and today I worked out the points….the egg itself is a whopping 25points!!!! That’s a whole days allowance!! In with the egg was a rather large bar of dairy milk so I got my weight watchers scales out and worked out that 3 squares of it is 2 points. So I’ve broken it up into individual squares and have put these in the freezer - I like doing this because it makes it last longer, it doesn’t melt in your mouth so fast! So whenever I get a chocolate craving I can go to the freezer and have 3 little sqaures for 2 points, which I don’t think is too bad. A similar thing to this is to chop up a chocolate bar (I use mars bars) into 1 point sized chunks and put these in the freezer - a mars bar is 5.5 points so I chop it into 5 pieces. So then if I really want something sweet but don’t want to use too many points I can grab a chunk. If it’s not that satisfying you can always grab another one cos it’s only 1 point. I think it’s good to have things like that to fall back on so you don’t just go to the shop and buy a massive chocolate bar!

Anyway, enough tips for today! I’m off to get on the wii fit and find out how much weight I’ve put on :-/

Well i stayed the same again so I’ve lost a grand total of 1lb in the last 3 weeks. I asked my leader if she thinks it’s because of all the exercise I’ve been doing and she thinks it might be, as it might take a little while to kick start the weight loss. However, I know that I need to track my food which I have not been doing and I’ve been doing a little too much of ‘oh I can have a bit extra because of all the exercise I’ve been doing!’. So I need to get back on track and keep within my points as well as exercising. I know that if I ate like I have been the past few weeks without doing any exercise I would have put loads on rather than staying the same, so I suppose that’s one good thing. The really annoying thing about my body is that I either lose a lot or put on a lot, there’s no middle ground. Hopefully after a few more weeks of exercising my metabolism will have a kick start and that will change, I think that’s what’s supposed to happen anyway!

So hurdles to get over this week: going out for a friends birthday on Saturday - we’re going out in the afternoon and saying out all day and night! That means lots of drinks and most likely a meal out. And also Sunday is mother’s day so we’ve got both of our families coming to our house for a mother’s day tea - that means lots of cakes and sandwiches and buffet food! BUT I’ve already started buying stuff for that and I’ve got weightwatchers cakes so as long as I stick to them and don’t go overboard I should be ok. I only exercised 5 days this week instead of 7, I think I’ll aim for 5-7 days a week because I think it’s important to give your body a break once in a while and that way it makes it more achievable - if I really don’t want to go one day, I won’t.

Right, so that’s the plan for this week. Let’s see how i do. I’m going to aim for a total 10lb weight loss before my holiday in a few weeks time. So that’s 3.5lb to go….

Well it seems my post yesterday was a bit of an omen. I went to weightwatchers last night and I stayed the friggin same! I honestly felt like crying at the scales. I told my leader that I have exercised everyday for the past 2 weeks and she told me what she always says…’you are what you eat!’. How does she know??? OK I haven’t exactly been tracking what I’ve been eating and have probably ate a few too many ‘treats’ as I thought the exercise would make up for it - obviously not! So this week I need to track track track my food and make sure I stay within my points. I felt so rubbish last night though, so when I got home I decided I needed a little pick me up so I got out……….the tape measure! I did my measurements again and since the last time I did them which was 28th Feb (10 days ago) I have lost:

2.5 inches from my hips

2 inches from my waist

0.5 inches from my bum

0.75 inches from my upper leg

So I may not have lost the pounds this week but I’ve lost 5.75 inches in total! That makes me feel a lot better!

Why is it that when the email server goes down at work, everyone literally grinds to a halt? I arrived at work this morning to find that I couldn’t open my email, and neither can anyone else. The IT department says there is a major problem, someone is going to come and look at it but in the meantime we won’t be able to use it for at least a few hours! There is little anyone here can do without their precious email and diaries - no-one knows what meetings they’ve got or anything as it’s all in their electronic diaries which we can’t access!

So yes, I am referring to my workplace grinding to a halt today, rather than my weightloss. My weightloss is hopefully going to be good tonight when I weigh-in. I have exercised every day this week as I did last week, so thats 14 days of continuous exercise. Me and Dave laugh when we worry about not exercising every day as just a few months ago I didn’t do any exercise at all never mind every day! I’m definately getting addicted to it which is what I wanted. I’ve got no excuse now and I’m really enjoying it. I actually enjoy getting out of breath on the treadmill as I know how much good it’s doing me. For the first time I’m actually feeling like I will achieve my goal of 3 stone my November and I will look great on the photos of both weddings coming up! I will look at the photos and feel proud of my achievement. It’s going to happen and it feels great!!

Having been to the gym and washed the car this morning (and it’s not even midday yet!) I decided to measure myself as I got out of the shower. I did my full measurements - waist, hips, bust, upper arm, upper leg, bum - last Saturday so I thought I would have a look and see if I’d lost any inches in a week. I didn’t expect much but I have lost 2 inches off my hips and 2 inches off my waist!! I haven’t measured the rest of my body as I am planning to do it monthly and today was just a sneaky peak - with a good result!

I’m finding that since going to the gym or swimming every day I have a lot more energy. Usually on a Saturday I laze around the house unless we have plans, but today the only plan I have is I am going out for a meal at 6:30 this evening but I have already been to the gym and washed the car. After I’ve finished with this post I’m off to do the food shopping then I’m going to start to tackle my huge pile of ironing.

I don’t seem to have more energy on a night time though - about 3 times this week I have fallen asleep on the sofa before 10pm. Last night we started watching a film at 9pm but 40mins in and I was asleep! I would really like to have more energy on a night time as well as during the day. So that’s what I’ll aim for next…

I really don’t mean to sound big headed and don’t want to come across as this - I never do well on diets, or if I do it’s only for a short time, and I’m just so happy that I’ve found something that is working for me. It just goes to show that anyone can lose weight, you’ve just got to find a way that works for you.

Ta ta for now!

Weigh in on Tuesday - I lost 1lb. Was a bit disappointed as I had exercised every single day, but looking back, I hadn’t really tracked what I was eating and had been for a few meals out. And as everyone always says - it’s going in the right direction! So that brings my total loss to 6.5lb - I was so gutted I didn’t get my half stone! BUT - I have moved down into the next stone bracket which means I get one less point to eat. It’s so good to see when you move down a stone bracket.

My body shape is definately changing now. I had my wow moment last week when I was getting dressed in the changing rooms after swimming. I went ot the mirror to comb my hair and got a shock when I looked at myself and I wasn’t as wide as I used to be! My ’saddle bags’ have dramatically decreased! It was such a good feeling, and after pointing it out to Dave he agreed too. It’s so weird as it feels like it happened overnight! Later that day I went to visit my nana and grandad and my grandad said I looked like I’d lost weight (this is a compliment coming from him because if you’ve put on weight he’ll say ‘you’re looking well’ which is his code for ‘you’ve put on weight!’). Since then I’ve heard it from quite a few people who I hadn’t seen for a while. It’s such such such a good feeling!

Anyway - my plan at the moment is to try and exercise everyday - either swimming before work or gym after work / at weekend. I managed it last week so I know it is an achieveable goal. It doesn’t take too much time out of my day. Going swimming before work means I leave the house a little earlier and get to work a little later than usual, and going to gym after work doesn’t take long as the gym is a five minute drive from home and we just go and come back in our gym clothes so don’t waste time in the changing rooms.

I’m trying my best to get addicted to exercise and so far it is working!

…for the pink shoes! I lost 3.5lb this week which I know is really good but it’s not quite the 5lb that I needed for Dave to buy me the shoes. I must have given them the kiss of death on Monday when I went to ‘visit’ them in the shop - had to check they were still there and still as lovely as I remembered (they were!). Dave said that if I have another good weight loss next week and continue to track my food every day then he will buy me them!

Now the challenge will be continuing to do well this week. Usually when I get a good weight loss, I don’t do very well the following week. Probably because I relax a little bit. This time I’m not going to. I had my little treats last night (Tuesday night after being weighed is my treat night!) and now I’m going to be good again. Been swimming this morning and Dave is out tonight so think I’ll go to the gym on my own. I’ve already been to the shop and bought a weightwatchers ready meal for tonight as I won’t be cooking.

I can do this!

Another day another dollar…or pound (£ not lb).

I hate that feeling I get on a Monday morning when I know I have to go to work (especially bad today since I was off most of last week!). I hate having to get up at 6:15am and leaving the house at 7:30 when it’s still dark :-(   At least it is starting to get lighter in the mornings now. I can’t wait for when it is light enough to get dressed without putting all the lights on in the house!

Anyway, enough of my ranting! I have had a VERY good week so far. I have been swimming once, gym 3 times. Going to the gym tonight and swimming in the morning before work so by the time I get weighed tomorrow I will have exercised 6 days out of 7 (Sunday my only day off!) and I have tracked my food every day apart from yesterday (had roast Sunday dinner out a pub so didn’t know how much to count it as). I really hope I’ve lost 5lb so I can get those shoes!

I’m also really happy because not only am I doing well myself, but I am inspiring Dominique to do well too. I think this has given me the extra push to do well - for her sake as well as mine. I’m really looking forward to people noticing that I’ve lost weight. Don’t think I’ve lost enough yet for people to notice, but hopefully the next time I see certain family members or friends they might be able to see a difference.  It feels so good when people comment on how you’ve lost weight.

Today has also been a bit of a challenge because I’m back at work. I think it is easier for me to stick to the food plan when I’m at home because there aren’t as many temptations lying around! But so far I have been good. Only eaten what I brough in - apart from a satsuma and a little tiny gingerbread man ( but counted it as 2 ww points!), and so far I have drank 2 litres of water and only 2 coffees.

Off to the gym tonight, then a little meal - probalby just pasta and sauce. Then swimming tomorrow morning before work, then the big weigh in after work! Watch this space……

…I’m doing it for Dominique too. I’ve realised how important it is for me to do well, for her sake. If she logs on here and is having a bad day and I’m going on about how I’ve pigged out and put on, she’s not going to be very inspired. However, if she comes on here and see’s how well I’m doing and how good I feel (as I do at the moment) then it will spur her on to do well too. I don’t want either of us to be disappointed in November when we haven’t done very well.

So here’s some more inspiration for you my lovely Dom Dom…

Yesterday we went for our gym induction and worked out for about half an hour (we were aching afterwards!) and we’re going back again this morning…and tomorrow! We’re going to try and go a couple of times a week on top of the swimming. It’s so good that Dave is going with me because I can’t make excuses - he really wants to go too!

Also yesterday we went out for dinner at our local pub with Dave’s mamand sister. Dave and Kelly got starters of loaded potato skins (NOT good!) but I didn’t have a starter and didn’t even ‘try’ a little bit of Dave’s as I normally do. Then for main I had a rump steak and jacket potato, as I’d just been reading my weightwatchers magazine earlier in the day and someone had chosen that when eating out as it is filling food. I didn’t eat much of the potato, so I reckon I still came within my points. I had two vodka and slimline tonics (vodka: 1/2 point, slimline tonic 0) and when we got back I had one glass of wine (I’m counting it as 3 points as Dave’s mam did top up my glass once).
THEN…here comes the really impressive bit for me - we were playing a board game with Dave’s sister and Dad and his Dad brought out a box of chocolates - uh oh! Chocolate - my downfall (as you know Dom!) BUT even though Dave had one, his Dad had a few, and Kelly had about 6 (she’s my weightwatchers buddy!!!) I didn’t have any, not even one little measly chocoltate! And as a result, even though we went out for a meal and had a few drinks, I stayed within my points! I had had a good start to the day also and as we’d been to the gym I didn’t want to mess it up. With the chocolates I used a theory that I’ve learned from Dom and a few other people on here - there are alwasys going to be other opportunities to eat chocolate, it’s not going to go away just because I don’t have one right now, so why have one now and mess up a really good day? I’m really liking that mantra!

So Dom, I hope this has been a bit more inspiration for you. I really want you to do well because I know how much this means to you. We are going to be so hot on your wedding day!! And I’m going to look so hot in those pink shoes next week……