welcome 2021

Well, 2020 was a bit of a year, wasn't it? 

Personally I decided to make some life changes that I am continuing with. There's been a blip up to and over the Christmas period and a substantial weight gain was the result. But it was about what I predicted, I know why it has happened and I am prepared to take it on the chin and start again. Only I won't be starting from scratch. I have certainly gained, but not even half of what I have lost since May (more like a quarter 😜)

Anyway, today we are clearing the fridge and we've already done a menu for the week and a shopping list accordingly. I am about to finish the Lindt and Godiva chocolates and the pate that's unopened has a really long date on it so can be eaten anytime - no rush!

I completed C25K just before Christmas, although I should technically call it C230M (couch to 30 minutes) because I am nowhere near 5K in 30 minutes, but I can run (shuffle) for 30 mins no drama! So my next task is to do it faster, increase my speed and really feel I am exercising, out of breath and heart pounding instead of pacing myself so well that I can still hold a conversation and recover in less than 30 seconds. I am starting the programme again safe in the knowledge that I can run for 30 minutes and so mentally I have already done it, but now I am going to push myself by running, rather than 'jogging' (shuffling)

I have done week1 run1 and I was knackered, but I felt good that I was taking the full 90 seconds between runs to recover and my heart was pounding and I was out of breath. Although it's hard, I feel like I'm properly exercising. That was last Tuesday, and I won't have the opportunity to run again until this Tuesday, so I might really feel it again, and need to repeat the first run to make sure I'm ready for week 2!

I haven't made any drastic new year resolutions, just to continue with what I am doing, do it properly and reap the benefits. In the meantime, thank goodness for elasticated waists! 

C25K again

 Hi there,

I've not written in a while but I'm still here, soldiering on with the weight loss.

Now, I say weight loss, but for the past two weigh-ins I have gained. 200g then 100g today. It's not much, in the grand scheme of things, but it's a trend I don't want to continue.

I had got down to 18.8kg, but now I'm 'only' on a total of 18.5kg lost.

I've been here before, lost a fair bit, started to get complacent, forgot to add the sweeties, cos it's only one sherbert lemon, or one chocolate orange twirl (that was lovely, BTW!) but one leads to another, to another, and I may as well have one or two of those chocolate digestives someone brought to work while I'm at it...

Those temptations are never going to go away. I don't buy them, they're not in the house but they are at work. All. The. Time. Presents from patients, staff treats, peace offerings from doctors...

But these last couple of weeks I've bought the odd thing too and now it's biting me on the bum!

In other news, I have completed week one of C25K (for the what, 4th time?) but it's definitely easier now I've lost a bit of timber! I have managed the 60 second runs, and I feel that I am ready to try 90 seconds next week. I just have to fit it in around work, shifts, studying and life in general.

Hopefully by next week, if I stick to WW properly and complete week 2, or even just do a couple of runs if I'm struggling to fit it in, it will show on the scales. Unfortunately next Sunday morning I will be in the middle of a run of nights, including that extra hour that everybody else will get in bed! Not me - an extra hour at work that I don't get paid any extra for!

16kgs

I have now lost 16.1kgs on WW and feeling rather marvellous about it!

I have struggled at times, but it has been made so much easier because hubby is also participating (and losing too).

The app is brilliant, and makes it so easy to just scan and input what you're having (or planning to have.) Sometimes we're a bit lax on the planning side, but mostly we stick to what we've planned with the odd treat (like Pizza Hut takeaway on Sunday!)

For lunch today I had a pitta with grilled chicken and serrano ham and a bag of lentil chips - all for 10 points. Most fruit and veg is zero points, so I'm supplementing with plenty of these too.

 

 

First goal- smashed

Smashed into iddy biddy little pieces! My first weight-loss goal was to get under 100kg. And today at weigh in number 4, I did that with an overall total loss of 8.4kg. My BMI has gone from 42.2 to 38.9, so far.

I have planned and tracked and tracked and planned and haven't cheated once in these last 4 weeks. I have avoided all sorts of goodies at work, alcohol (not usually very difficult for me), chocolate, biscuits, cake and sweets.

It would be wrong to say you can't eat these things on WW, but I'm learning about me (after nearly 48 years of me, it was about time) and I can't stop at one with the sweet stuff. Yes, I could have one cupcake, but it would be a shedload of points that I couldn't use for something else and it's not worth it. Yes, I could have a biscuit. But I cannot stop at one biscuit, particularly if they come in a packet of substantially more than 1! I could have one mini heroes or Cadbury's Rose or Quality Street at work. But I definitely wouldn't be able to resist 'just one more' and then maybe another...and another...and another. I know my triggers.

I'm also drinking loads of water - which strangely, I find easier to do at work and just seem to forget at home! But I suppose I drink more other stuff at home, so I'm still getting pretty much the same amount of fluid intake.

The food I do eat has to be interesting and tasty and I absolutely refuse to eat 'diet' food or low fat unless I actually prefer it anyway. I'm trying to vary my meals and not always have the same breakfast or lunch. It helps that OH is also doing WW (although he has considerable more daily points than I do!) We're tending to have different breakfast and lunches and then coming together to share the same evening meal.

Today I have had 0% Greek Yoghurt (which I liked and ate anyway) with a bit of granola as a topping rather than as 'the main event' and some berries. OH isn't keen on the yoghurt, so he has cereal and milk. For lunch I had a bagel and some feta with a bag of chickpea crisps. I was going to have avocado but it's solid and not ready to eat yet. This leaves me loads of points for my dinner and we're planning a grilled chicken salad, which is pretty low in points. I might have some bread too. Fruit is zero points so I am eating loads - berries, apples, bananas and we've had some lovely watermelon and fresh pineapple. There's some ice cream left in the freezer that i might have to dip in to...

6 kilos lighter?

I'm feeling motivated and feeling good.

I think the key difference to previous times is that I am planning and tracking every single morsel that passes my lips. I know it's all still new and the motivation is always high at the beginning, but I genuinely feel my mind is in a different place this time.

I have previously 'forgotten' to track this little thing or that little thing and them look aghast at the scales when they don't show me what I want to see. It would be the scales' fault, of course!

Working shifts can sometimes disrupt what I'm trying to do, but yesterday i was on a long day and I had all my meals planned and prepared the day before so I wasn't faced with the 6 am decisions on what to eat for 3 meals - that's never very good.

I'm also planning meals so that I know if I'm having a point-heavy dinner, I make my lunch less so. today we were supposed to be having turkey mince chilli tacos. But we decided this afternoon that it might be nicer in the slow cooker and it was a bit late now to start. So we've changed that to tomorrow's dinner instead. Unfortunately, our alternative meal is a bit higher points and I had my lunch based on the turkey! Oh well, thank goodness for weeklies!

I'm making a real effort to drink loads of water too. I always take a bottle to work, but find when I'm at home I don't drink as much at all. My bottle comes with me at all times now and I try to refill at least once, preferably twice in a day. It hold 600 mls and with other drinks throughout the day, I easily get 2 litres if I refill it once. refilling it twice just gives me that bit extra.

My starting weight was on a Saturday night fully clothed and after meals. My first weigh in was the same and I lost 3 kg. My second weigh in was naked on Sunday morning before food (and after a wee!!) and the scales had gone down another 3 kg. So, I don't really think I have lost 6 kg, but I have definitely lost weight and that's what the scales say! I will stick to naked Sunday mornings from now on I think, to make sure it's reliable.

A week in and feeling good

The week started with us using up all the rubbish food that we had bought because we had not planned to be following Weightwatchers; spur of the moment kind of people that we are!

Anyway, I kind of abandoned hope of losing any weight in the first week as we hoovered up Bon Mamman desserts and bags of Walkers crisps. You can eat what you like, but spending 7 points of my 32 on a coffee dessert that doesn't even touch the sides is a hell of a waste.

Despite the lashings of 'wrong' food, I have tracked every last morsel, which I've never done before and consequently used up 60 of my 42 weekly points too (!!)

As you can see that's a pretty hefty deficit - but it could have been oh, so much worse if I had indulged in the Bon Mamman! By Thursday, I had been shopping and bought in the healthy stuff and the points grabbers were diminished as we had ploughed our way through them, and i have stuck to my daily points since then. Hubby has almost twice the daily points I do, so he is making the most of it at lunchtime when I don't have to see!

I have charged my fitbit and been wearing it all week, at work, in the garden and at night recording my sleep and I have earned 53 of my 21 fitpoints. I don't quite know what that means, but I'm hoping it goes some way to evening out my points deficit - perhaps even cancelling it out. Maybe.

The scales will tell...

My Weightwatchers

here we go again.