Help!!!

Back a few years ago a friend of mine said I was never going to be thin, and I was just one of those who was born to be fat.

You know what? I am starting to believe her, don’t get me wrong, I don’t ever want to be a skinny bitch, but just one fitter and slimmer than I am now. 2 months now, and I am back to just a weight loss of 4 stone. Yesterday, at weigh in, again I have put on, this time 1lb. I have spent the last 2 months fluctuating between losing a pound or two, putting it back on or not losing anything. I really am getting so frustrated. I have never exercised so much, I have never kept an eye on what I am eating so much, I have never kept to something so long. And yet, nothing is happening. Nothing is going the way it should.

Is she right, am I destined to be a fat old bird? They say your size should not define you. Thing is it does. I might for the first time in a very long time be starting to feel more confident, more capable more willing to do different things, but the longer this stagnation goes on the harder it is to keep the momentum and good feelings going. I had a long weekend off, and have been back on the rails for over a week, but  I do feel myself slipping.

This week I haven’t been to the gym once before work but I have caught up and been after a couple of times. I have been to most of my zumba classes, and those I didn’t make have only been because 1, something else came up (The Boy) that needed my immediate and rather urgent attention or 2, It was cancelled.

My birthday is 6 months away, and for the first time this year I am doubtful if I will achieve anywhere near what I wanted to be.

Don’t get me wrong, I haven’t been fitter for many years, my resting heart rate is only 75bmp, which for a woman of my size is pretty fantastic. My heart rate is decreasing rapidly after exercise which means my body is recovering faster than ever before and my fitness levels have increased. I am pressing up to 80kg in the Gym. I don’t look at hills with dread, and take a quick breath on my inhaler in preparation when I know I have to walk up them. But I still have a stomach the size of a pregnant woman who is 5 months overdue!

I thought going to the gym would give my body that kick it needed, but after a month of going I don’t feel I am seeing any great difference if any at all. I am worried I am slipping into the mentality of looking at my alarm and snoozing it because I can’t be bothered to get up and be at the gym for 6.30, or I think I will do it tonight and then when I am there not “feeling it” as much as if I went in the morning. I wonder if I chose to have the long weekend off/away at the wrong time.

Out of everything, the first weigh in, the first cardio class, the first zumba class, the first time at the gym, the strict calorie counting, this mental side right now has to be the hardest part. I am really struggling right now, which is so annoying. No matter how many pep talks I give myself and no matter how many times I tell myself some good is being done somewhere in my body, I can’t help but doubt I will ever get to where I want to be, and I certainly don’t think I will be anywhere near where I want to be in 6 months. 2 months now seem wasted, 2 months where I could have lost at least another stone, instead I have put 4 lbs back on and am back to just 4 stone weight loss. Agggggghhhhhh!!!!!!!! So frustrating!

Right I need to get this going, I need to start losing lbs again. Helpful suggestions, advice, and encouragements all gratefully received (don’t bother with the fad diets, fad ideas, fad pills, fad anything). If you haven’t guessed by now I am following a calorie counting diet, which is worked out correctly to my height, weight, age and sex. That side is fine. I am eating lots of lean meats, veggies and fruit. 99% of the food I eat is less than 5% fat. I also do cardio exercise in the form of Zumba and Kardy’O classes 3 or 4 times a week, and I try and do the gym for ½ hour on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday morning, an hour and 20 mins normally on a Friday, Saturday and Sunday followed by a quick swim and sauna. At the gym I am doing resistance training and weights after a warm up on the cross trainer ending with ab curls and stretches.  So.. What the Fuck am I doing wrong?!?!?!?!?!

Long Weekend Off

Well hello. Yes this blog is a little late.

So first, a weekend away. It consisted of over 700 miles driving, no exercise (unless you count walking around Hulls shops), erratic eating, and naughty foods. This coupled with great friends, relaxation and manic large family life resulted in a fabulous time had. While I have my routine at home where my meals and snacks are planned and organised, almost regimented, this is normal for me now it is a bit more difficult when you are staying at someone else’s house. So for this reason I decided from the start that I would not worry about sticking religiously to my new way of eating. I would enjoy the treats I haven’t had for 7 months, and just try not to go overboard.

I did have ice-cream with chocolate sauce and sherbet, I did have as much as you can eat Chinese, and I did have some lovely chocolate bar things from a little shop in Leeds. Oh and there was the small case of a KFC half way through my 5 ½ hour journey home. Despite these foods, there was at least one day I did not eat my quota of calories. I did miss the gym and Zumba (never thought I would be saying that a year ago), and Monday afternoon after work I was glad to get back to both.  

When I got back I was surprised the boy had kept his word and tidied the house. The washing up done, the floors hoovered and he had even done some washing.

I showed my appreciation via a text.

Monday I went into the cupboard under my stairs and I found the fairies and my son had some explaining to do.

Weigh in on Wednesday I definitely wasn’t expecting to have lost anything, and I did expect to put something on, even though naturally I was really hoping I had stayed the same. Arriving for the weigh in and Kardy class it was fab to find the new village hall we use now had working air conditioning. What a difference!! Stepping on the scales it was revealed I had put on 2lbs. Bugger, oh well could have been worse considering what I was or wasn’t eating and the total lack of exercise for over half of the week. 

So now I am back on the proper foods, and exercise. Looking forward to an hour in the gym and a swim after work today.

Oh and I read this really good article today. Give it a squiz.

Myths And Facts About Weight Loss

I really like the end bit (considering my last 2 months) that says;

“But consider the bright side: A true weight loss-plateau is your svelter new body’s way of telling you this: “I’m so much smaller now that I need far less energy to keep my leaner self going.” It also means you’ve mastered the dietary patterns required to maintain a slimmer new you. That’s a major milestone worth recognizing and celebrating. Pause for a moment and enjoy the new skin you’re in before setting off on the next leg of your journey!”

It’s good to be reminded that actually I am smaller than I have been for a very long time, and while I still have a long way to go, I have also come a long way and I have achieved fabulous things.

Smug Much?!

I went to the gym this weekend again. Nothing unusual there then. But on Sunday I took The Boy. This came about because after 3 weeks of going to the gym he finally realised that was what I was doing. Not the most observant kid on the block is he. So anyway he showed interest and wanted to come along. As I had a couple of free passes for guests I told him I would take him on Sunday.

When we got there, I took him through and after a quick chat with a couple of my friends, I got him on the cross trainer. Now don’t forget this is an 18-year-old young man, who has to try to out do his mother. We started, I put my resistance up to 6 and he naturally had to double his to 12. Setting off at great speed he obviously felt he had something to prove. After 8 minutes he had to stop and have a drink of water, while I continued on and finished my 10 minutes, he finished off and slumped against the machine.

“Right, let’s get to work then.” I cheerfully said to him.

We went over to the leg press. He sat on the leg curl machine and watched. I have been doing 60Kg for just over a week now, so I settled down and did my first set of 15. I got up so he could do his first set. Again, thinking he had something to prove, he upped the weights and tried to push-off but  couldn’t. I suggested he put it back down to 60Kg. Which he did, and with a strained push managed to straighten his legs. He completed his 15 reps. I sat and did my second set. He then did his, his legs and muscles shaking and he strained with the weight. I did suggest he went down again but he wasn’t having it. I completed my 3^rd set and let him do his. He completed it, just.

When he finished I took him to the lateral pull down machine. Here I selected 25kg. Did my first set, and handed over to him. Again he felt he had something to prove, upped it to 40kg struggled to do one, brought it down to 30kg, and then back to 25kg. We completed our 3 sets of 15 reps. I seemed to come out of it better than him as well.

You can probably guess what the rest of the session was like. He did kind of keep up (until the tricep rope extension), and after the first few bits of equipment he did realise he didn’t have to try and lift heavier than me. But there was lots of groaning and complaining he has knackered knees, and struggling to match me weight wise.

Below is what we/I did. It is what I normally do when I go in the evening, or weekend and I tend to do just over an hour.

Cross trainer (warm up)	10 mins	Resistance set between 6 and 10 normally
Leg Press	3 sets of 15 reps	60kg
Lateral pull down (straight bar)	3 sets of 15 reps	25kg
Chest Press	3 sets of 15 reps	25kg
Shoulder press	3 sets of 15 reps	15kg
Leg curls	3 sets of 15 reps	35kg
Seated cable row	Seated cable row 3 sets of 15 reps	8kg
Pectoral fly	3 sets of 15 reps  (he gave this one a miss.. “I’m done”)	8kg
Leg extensions	3 set of 15 reps  (complained his knees couldn’t straighten)	40kg
Tricep rope extension	3 sets of 15 reps (he gave up at this point and sent for a run on the treadmill)	10kg
Standing biceps curl (dumbbell)	3 sets of 15 reps	4kg(8kg total)
Standing bar curl, (underhand grip)	3 sets of 15 reps	10kg
Bicep cable curl	3 sets of 15 reps	5kg
Tricep cable extension (straight bar) underhand grip	3 sets of 15 reps	10kg
Ab curl	5 sets of 20 reps.	n/a
Series of stretches, followed by a swim, hydropool and sauna to finish off.

I have to say I finished my weekend with a certain amount of satisfaction knowing that this fat, nearly 40-year-old, unfit woman whoooped an 18 year old, supposedly fit, healthy young mans arse in the gym. Smug much?? Hell Yeah!

(Mind you I wouldn’t have been able to do the 10 min run)

At Least It’s Going Down.

Busy week again. Lots of gym and zumba. So approached weigh in quite a boyant mood.

Stood on the scales and bam!! No I didn’t break them!! I had put on a pound!?!?! Ohhh man!!!

It feels such a misjustice! I did 506 minutes of exercise since my last weigh in last Wednesday, and that is just the stuff I remembered to put my Heart Rate monitor on for. That is 8 hours and 23 minutes sweating and pushing my fat, flabby, body. Aaaggghhhh!!!! Soooo not fair!!!

After our Kardy class I headed home, thankfully driving past the fish and chip shop which seemed very appealing tonight.
Walking through the door The Boy was on quite good form. Our conversation went like this.

Me “Put 1 on”
Him “What?”
Me “I’ve put a pound on.”
Him “Oh, thats not so good then”
Me ” Its pants last week I put on 2lbs and this week I put on 1″
Him “Well at least it’s going down”
Me “But its not!! Thats the point!! I’ve PUT ON a pound not lost it!”
Him “Yeah, but last week you put on 2 this week you put on only 1, so the amount you are putting on is going down!”
Me “Ummmm I guess that makes sense.”
Him “Yeah I do sometimes”.

Peace

Last weekend I found peace. Not in my garden, or on a beach or even in my bed. No, I found it in the noise, sweat and pain of the Gym.

I spent quite a bit of time at the gym weekend just gone. Friday evening I was there for an hour and half until 9pm. Saturday morning I headed to Portsmouth, arriving at 9 with one sole intention. To buy a swimming costume! I haven’t owned a swimming costume for about 8 years and I haven’t used one for about 10. The reason being I used to go a lot but then the boy started expensive hobbies and mine (including the gym and swimming) were unaffordable. As the years have passed I have put off buying one as I haven’t had the confidence to wear one in public. And as I have yet to earn enough or win the lottery, I have not been able to have my own swimming pool in my back garden, there didn’t seem much point in owning one.

So anyway by 9.30 I was done and heading back to Littlehampton. After a small parade around my living room in the new reduced size addition to my wardrobe. I decided I would go to the gym and then possibly have a swim. The gym session was fab. An hour of sweat and pushing my muscles to the point of them imploding, after which I went for a swim. It was lovely. I also hit the Hydro Pool, Sauna and Steam room, just for the hell of it. 3 hours after going in I finally came out, relaxed and feeling rather happy. I left there and had tea and spent a lovely evening with 2 good friends chatting and just generally relaxing.

On Sunday I again went in, an hour and half in the gym, followed by a lovely long swim, a dip in the hydro pool and a sauna. It was while my shoulder muscles are screaming at me in pain while I was trying to finish my 3rd set of shoulder presses that I realise I was quite at peace with the world. I felt happy. Happier than I have been for a very long time. I realised I am actually in quite a good place (at the moment).

My son is 18 and responsible for himself. I am free to do what I want when I want. I have no young children I have to be back for or worry about (obviously I still worry about The Boy but there is not much left I can do about him unless he asks me for help). Even though I work long and hard hours, I can set my own hours. I can afford to take time off if I want. I can pay my bills and not stress as much about whether I have to not pay one to pay the other (1st time ever). If I want to spend all day at the gym I can. If I want to just swim up and down I can. Despite the fact I am no way a slim person, and I am in no way happy with my body, I felt comfortable in my swimming costume and wasn’t doing the towel shuffle to get into the pool. I just generally felt happy. I felt calm. I felt relaxed, yes at the gym even though I was working out I felt relaxed.

Not sure how long this will last, but I rather liked the feeling.

Yes I feel I have found peace at the gym. It’s like I walk through those doors and the world slips away.

Now, I guess on to the weigh in. I was not looking forward to it today. In fact the cat was more keen than me.

I have gone down with a filthy cold so I feel like crap and my energy levels are very low, I keep going hot and cold and I am sure I retain water when I’m ill. So what has happened this week? Well I have put on 2 lbs.. Bollocks. Why?!? That’s just so not fair. I’ve been to the gym on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Swam on Saturday and Sunday. I did zumba on Wednesday and Monday. I have stuck to my calories. Surely I should have lost something! Why???!!

Humph!!!! Not feeling so calm or peaceful right now.

Fat Attack

My weight has been a bit of an arse lately. Its not shifting, 2 weeks running it has stayed the same after 3 previous weeks of it going up and down. Now before you say it, I have already done the tape measure, that hasn’t shifted either. So I’ve done it. I’ve done the deed, (not killed The Boy contrary to popular belief). I’ve joined a gym.

I had my induction on Saturday. I told the PT bloke that I wanted to do resistance and weights training as I get plenty of cardio doing zumba and Kardy at Rpsemary Conley 4 or 5 times a week. So he set me a routine for starters. On Wednesday at 6:30am (yes that is an am! must be bloody mad!!) I am having another session with him to sort another one (more legs, lower body and core muscle areas) so I have a bit of variety.

Sunday I did my first full session.

The routine so far goes:

5 to 10 mins on crosstrainer (I have always loved this bit of kit) as warm up
3 x 15 leg presses
3 x 15 chest presses
3 x 15 lat pull downs
3 x 15 shoulder presses
3 x 15 free weight biceps curl
3 x 15 something else I can’t remember the name of
3 x 15 something involving a double ended rope handle and my biceps.

After I felt good, but a wee bit tired and the old muscles were definitely feeling it. By the evening it felt like someone had injected concrete into my thighs and my pectorals (yeah I have some). Despite the pain (which in a perverse way was rather pleasant), last night I decided I might head to the gym this morning before work. This would mean being there for 6.30 and squeezing in a 30 min session.

When I got there a queue was forming by the doors, most of which were what I will call the older generation who were obviously up with the larks. The doors opened and in we went, the majority of the others headed to the pool for a nice swim. Some others (younger gym goers) headed to  a class of some sort.

I went into the gym ready for a session. Only 1 other person in there! Win! With muscles still aching from yesterday I started the work out. Managed to get through most of it, but by the time I got to the ‘3 x 15 something else I can’t remember the name of’, I was struggling. I did complete the session, but instead of 3 x 15 reps I did 1 x 15 reps, 6 x 5 reps.

A quick shower, hair dry and war paint on I got to work just 15 mins later than I normally do. Hopefully over time I will get into a routine this will be quicker.

I’m not sure I will go tomorrow morning, as I don’t want to over kill the body. Being able to move is quite important to me and I will be there Wednesday morning anyway.
Anyway thats the latest. I have zumba tonight and tomorrow night (if I can move that is) so I will still be exerciseing tomorrow. Now I have some questions:

1. Because I am starting so early in the morning, should I eat breakfast before I go or after? Or do as I did today, eat a banana on the way and have another with a cereal bar after? (this might well change to something different as I get more organised)

2. If I am doing these extra sessions on top of my zumba classes, do I need to alter my calorie intake?

3. When will it stop hurting?

4. When will I be able to use my arms again?

5. What is it about gyms that people seem to think you have to get changed in front of everyone else, and wander around naked?? Why can’t they use cubicles?!?

6. What is the etiquette for getting someone off a piece of equipment when you want to use it and they are sat on it chatting on their phone?! Is walking by glaring in their direction the way to go? or do i have to be brave and ask them to shift?

7. The pain is my muscles burning fat, right?!?!?

8. I’m not doing too much am I? Too much exercise can be bad for your body I am sure.

Always keen to hear from others what they do in the gym. I don’t want to “bulk up”, just keep my metabolism up and get back to loosing weight. (oh and I am aware I might well put weight on as muscle devlopes so I am prepared for that). Got to keep up that fat attack!

How Much Is It Worth??

What shall I do? I have been thinking to myself. Currently things are not going to plan, and I it ain’t half bugging me.

Firstly…. I have noticed how great people are while I lose weight, but as soon as everything goes a bit haywire I get not such great and I have to say potentially damaging comments like, “well I think you’re just getting bored of it now”, “I don’t think you are trying very hard anymore”, “I don’t take much stock in this diet” and “I don’t think you need to eat as much as you are”.

I am not bored of it
I have been trying very hard and I am very frustrated about the last month.
The diet has worked up till now.
If you read the science, (look at my blog BMR and TDEE ) it works and has done.

Anyone who knows me should also know that telling me I am bored of something or am not even really trying anymore normally results in me going “meh you’re right, I can’t be bothered lets go to KFC!”

I am very much the sort that says ok if that is what you think I might as well prove you right, rather than the no I’m not like that and I will fight to prove it. I can’t help it, it’s the way my brain works. After 4 months of brilliant weight loss and increasing self esteem, to have a month of ups and downs really does affect me, and with life generally giving me a mixture of positive and negative things to deal with, the old self esteem and self worth does take a bit of a battering.

So please keep the negative thoughts to yourselves. You can’t be praising the route I have taken when its going well and then slate it or disagree with it as soon as it goes a bit wrong. Again I repeat NO, I have not got bored with it, NO I am not giving up, YES I am trying as hard. I am frustrated and angry with myself and the situation. It is not what I had planned, or the way I wanted to see things go.

Now at the end of my last blog I said I was going to have to have a rethink and regroup. I have been thinking that I might join a gym. There are quite a few around here, and after a few weeks of discussing it with friends and family I decided I would take myself around them and see what I fancy.

Now I’m not giving up the RC classes, but I’m looking at going to the gym before work during the week and poss on the weekend to do resistance training and weights.

When did gyms get so bloody expensive!?! OMG!! I looked at a couple of the big names in Gyms. One told me I would eligible for a corporate discount. Gosh I thought that’s good, and what wonderful low price would I have to pay??? £71.50 a month! SEVENTY ONE POUNDS!! Just for a month!! To use a gym that seemed over run with kids. I couldn’t think of anything worse! David Lloyd I will not be joining you!

The other and most likely one I might join is still £65 a month, and I would be tied into a 12 month contract. I could do a monthly rolling contract but then I would be paying an extra £10 a month for that privilege.

So my questions are why is losing weight and keeping fit so bloody expensive? Can I warrant spending just over £90 (gym & Rosemary Conley membership) a month? Is it really something I can commit to? Am I ready to? Is my health, wellbeing and dreams of a future I dared to dream 5 months ago worth £90+ a month? Will going to the gym make £65 a month difference to my body?? What price do I put on my goal?

PC and Handover Week

Mad mad week. Work has been all a little mad. Monday was handover date at work. This is the day that contractually we have to hand over the building we have constructed to the client. They can obviously turn around and say “I’m not happy with the work I do not accept the building” which would mean big penalties for us and not to mention a few breakdowns.

So leading up to this week we have been getting more and more frantic on site which culminated in us working long and late over the weekend. As you will have seen from my previous blog I was here working my big fingers to the bone out on site. Finally leaving at about 9pm on Sunday night. What I didn’t mention in my blog was what I discovered while lying on a floor with 4 blokes peeling up glue. This was about 5pm ish. I had been on site since 8am and things were aching and if it hadn’t been for the cola caffeine high I was having at the time I would have probably curled up and slept. Anyway there I was dusty, mucky, crap all over my trousers when I noticed something strange. Taking a second look at my leg I realised the seam was showing. Looking round to my other leg I saw my other seam. It was then I realise with some horror that I had been wearing my trousers on inside out all day! I knew I had been tired when I was dressing at 7am but hadn’t realised I was that tired! How embarrassing. Thankfully they had no pockets and were just plain black ones. I don’t think anyone noticed. But then again they are all blokes on site so I am guessing they wouldn’t have realised even if they had noticed.

Anyway Monday soon arrived and back on site it was all a bit manic again, between putting signs up, chasing blokes to put blue over shoes on, peeling off protection, ordering food and drinks for the (hopefully) celebration at 3pm I was really starting to wish it was the weekend the next day. 3pm came, the client arrived. We waited as they walked around. I showed others around and filmed training that was going on. Then we got the news that they were very happy with the building, the workmanship and how far we had got.

So we achieved PC on the 15th April 2013. Not a mean feat considering we had gone through one of the wettest and coldest years in recent history. While dealing with client changes, dealing with sub-contractors, one of which sadly entered administration at a critical stage of the project.

So Worthing has its new pools, the new Splashpoint will open on the 1st May 2013, and I hope the resident of the surrounding area and visitors to the county enjoy using the facilities here.
There is:
Diving pool with moveable floors (0m to 3.8m),

25m competition pool with moveable floors (0m to 2m),

Leisure pool with slides, flume, pirate ship, water cannons, water mushroom, massage spouts and bubble machines

Outdoor shallow pool,
Fitness suite,
.
Café,
Sauna,
Steam room,
Spa area with loungers,

2 Treatment rooms,
2 Studios

I really do love working in construction. I love driving past places and seeing people using and enjoying the spaces knowing I was involved in their creation and hopefully adding something beneficial to their environment and lives.

I do wonder if people do think about how these places are built and how many people, man hours, materials, skills, it took to be there.

So after a long and tiring week we are at the wonderful weigh in day.. sigh. Time of the month and getting weighed always fills me with dread, know what I mean ladies!? So hoping water retention and the fish and chips hadn’t work against me I stood on the scales to discover I have put on 3 lbs!! WHAT!?!?!?! Nahhh only joking. I lost 3lbs. That makes the total weight loss is 3 and 1/2 stone. I think that is the same as my 5 year old niece weighs! Whoop!!

Can’t Stop Eating

It has been a very strange week. For the last 3 months I haven’t felt hungry at all. But the last 7 days I seem to have been eating non-stop (staying within calorie intake limits) and I have craved bad (ie high fat) stuff, and given in.

At the weekend I had a doughnut. Well 2 actually. One good thing about having an 18 year old son who eats non-stop and is just pure muscle and not an inch of fat, is that he quickly hoovered up the remaining doughnuts. In fact it was his fault they were in the house!! He asked for £1 to get something for his pudding while I was cooking tea, and came home with 2 packs of 5 doughnuts! He had eaten 3 on his way back from the shop, then had another 2. Then I had one, and he had one, and I had another and he polished off the last 2. In fact in 2 hours he had eaten 8 doughnuts, a huge portion of chicken curry and 4 slices of toast! I know I didn’t have to have 2 or even 1. But they were there, and you know what they weren’t that great. Doughnuts should be covered in proper sugar not icing sugar. I hung my head in shame as I stood facing the wall (regressing back to primary school) after, however I did draw the line at running along the beach dragging 2 cement filled tyres singing Eye of the Tiger at full volume as a punishment suggested by a friend!!

Unfortunately my shame did not end with the doughnuts. I have also had 2 packets of cheese and onion crisps this week. First ones since December. They tasted soooooo good. They were the proper full fat kind which are apparently made using cheese from Somerset. They weren’t consumed on the same day, one on Friday and one on Monday. I hang my head in shame again. And we won’t talk about the Cadburys crème egg I had on Sunday and Monday. Oh and I’ve just remembered the 2 snack packs of seaweed peanut crakers I had yesterday at work for my breakfast.

I have no excuses for all this naughty eating. I have just been so hungry and really craving food. For the last 3 months I have found it hard to eat the amount of calories I should be eating and not been hungry at all, and now I seem to have no problem eating it. Thing is its not all been good stuff and I suppose because its naughty stuff it has higher calories and that’s why I am getting to my target intake most days. In my plan I am allowed to have a high calorie treat every day of about 100 calories. Doughnuts deffo are not only 100 calories. Perhaps because I have eaten this higher fat/sugar foods that is why I seem to be so hungry. I don’t know. If you were to look at my food diary on myfitnesspal you would see I have been 100% honest with what I have eaten, as there really is no point in lying to myself about it. A treat now and then is ok. Having as many as I have had in a week probably isn’t so good.

Unfortunately I haven’t made it to Zumba since my class last Thursday after weigh in. On my way to work on Friday my car decided it was going to play up so it swiftly (or rather not so swiftly) made its way to the garage and was where it was until Tuesday. This meant I couldn’t make it to Friday or Monday nights classes as they are about 25 minute drive away. My Tuesday night session was cancelled, and so the Zumba has had a bit of a break. I think I have only been twice in 2 weeks.. that’s bad.

However because of the lack of car I have done quite a bit of walking. Friday was the most, and not intentionally. After getting the car to the garage I said I would get the important stuff out of the car and give them the key. This I did, returned the key and walked a mile into town to catch the bus to work. I got to the bus stop and just as it was pulling up I realised in my hands I had my Zumba shoes and not my laptop!!! Aggghhhh!!!!!! Cursing myself I walked the mile back to the garage, retrieved my keys and swapped the shoes for the laptop (the shoes were sooo much lighter), and then walked the mile again back into town to catch the bus. Coming home I had a mile and half walk. So just on the Friday I had done just over 4 miles! I also walked into town and back on the Saturday, so that was another 3 miles. And then there was Monday when I had to walk to catch the bus to and from work, I did a bit of a cheat I went from a stop about 10 mins from my house. And then on the Tuesday I had to walk the 1/2 mile to the garage to collect the car.

Sunday I blitzed the house, from top to bottom. Even the skirting boards got a wet cloth waved at them! The boy woke up in a surprisingly good mood and also cleaned his room. With no encouragement (nagging/moaning from me!), he even changed his sheets! Then, and this is when I got really suspicious, he had a shower!! Nothing unusual in that I hear you say, but this is an 18 year old boy who thinks because he spends a large proportion of the year in the sea (he kitesurfs), it means he doesn’t need to shower often. But this was his second shower in 2 days! So I knew something was afoot! And it turned out I was right, he had got back with the ex-girlfriend, girlfriend ex-girlfriend girlfriend, and he was going to bring her back to the house. Now this is another milestone. He has never brought a girlfriend back to the house when I have been there. She unfortunately doesn’t like spicy food, so my planned Masala chicken had to be substituted for a plain old roast chicken, but it was nice to have her there even if it was that first time in boyfriends mothers house awkwardness to it. Hopefully she will relax a bit more as time goes by.

Last night was weigh in, have I lost anything after so eating non-stop for a week? The answer is yes! I’ve lost another 2lbs! thats 46lbs in total!

So going forward, I shall meet self-discipline and introduce it to my self-control, not let my son have high fat high calorie puddings in the house and most importantly, not give myself a hard time about slip ups, because they happen and I am after all, contrary to popular belief, only human.

Post Easter Weigh in

So Easter has been and gone. Did I stay off the chocolate? Not quite. I did only have 1 small (as in two mouthfuls and its gone) Lindt bunny, oh and about an old 50p piece size bit of chocolate from one of my sons eggs that he threw at me, oh and a rolo from one of his eggs and 8 mini eggs. But that was it, still stayed within my calories.

At the Easter lunch at my parents, I was very good and bypassed the lovely beautiful roast lamb and had the equally lovely roast chicken, and lots of veggies, no potatoes though.. (had to take those off my plate as someone had put them on there before I sat down).

I’ve not done much exercise this week, which is rather bad so I know as from tomorrow I am going to have to step it up a gear in that respect again. I have been working through lunches again to try and make some money back on the 2 days off I had to have over Easter weekend. It has also been bloody cold. I am very much a winter baby, I love the winter time and the cooler weather, but even for me this winter has been going on for far too long. It was snowing at work today, Snowing!!! It’s time the weather sorted itself out got that warm air current back up and over England.

After last week’s disappointment on the job front I decided I wouldn’t let it get me down and have since applied for about 6 other jobs. Really thinking a change of career is needed. I really like a challenge, so perhaps someone will have what I want and I will have what they want. If this can be discovered in the next week though that would be fab!.

So back to the exercise tonight after my weigh in. Zumba was fun. Probably do Zumba tomorrow night as well. If it’s going to warm up over the weekend as we have been promised then I think I might go up on the downs and have a walk up there for a change.

Now the weigh in. I was sure I had put on, even though I never went over my calorie intake, I think it was the lack of exercise that has put the doubt in my mind. With a lot of reluctance I stood on the scales… I’ve lost 3lbs!!! 3 blooming pounds!!!! That means I’ve lost 3 stone and 2lbs (44lbs) in 12 weeks! I’ve hit my 3 stone goal! So so so happy!

But I do have to question why again on a week where I have done less exercise than normal I’ve lost more weight, aren’t our bodies strange things?!
Perhaps I shouldn’t question it too much.. just look at my weight loss graph!