Hello!
Sorry it’s been such a long time since my last post – life just got so busy and trying to fit in time for everything has proved impossible!
We really wanted to officially ‘set the date’ for our wedding before Christmas and the venue search (with family in the North and South of england) has been a bit of a nightmare! But it’s done now, venue and registrar booked so it’s officially happening!
14 July 2012 and I’m a Mrs!
I’ve updated my wedding blog with pics of the venues we managed to shortlist – though I have to do a post about the venue we’ve finally booked.
Anyhoo – turning to food/weight/health things – I’ve been fairly good so my weight is stable between 10 stone 4 and 10 stone 7. I haven’t done as much running as I’d like because it’s so cold and dark – I need to find a new route as the one we normally use isn’t lit and that’s a bit dangerous in winter.
I’ve promised to get back on the running this month because on the 21 November I have my second 5k race 
Myself, the OH and a friend are doing the Movember 5k in Battersea Park 
Can’t wait – though need to buy the fake moustaches soon!
Amy and Jo – hope life is treating you well – promise to catch up soon
What A Weekend…
Start Weight: 164 pounds
Current Weight: 144 pounds
Target: lose 31 pounds
Progress this week: – 2 pounds
Progress total: -20 pounds
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I haven’t seen a 2 pound loss in so long! It was a wonderful start to the weekend. Also, I haven’t been 10 stone 4 since I lived in Manchester, 2003/04! So a good week for weight loss, and for the first time, I’m letting myself believe I might make it down to 10 stone eventually
However, the rest of the weekend hasn’t gone so well and is why I have to make this entry short. Firstly, my sister has split up with her long term girlfriend and the whole situation is a bit of a mess – she’ll be moving in with my and the fella for an indefinite period of time. Secondly, the toilet cistern broke and it took us several hours to notice, by which time there was water coming through the ceiling and down the walls in the living room and kitchen… the walls we just paid £4000 to have damp-proofed and replastered… One emergency plumber later and the leak is fixed but it’s cost us a big chunk of our wedding savings and in the process of the work being done, one of the cats went missing for a while – i broke my heart thinking he’d got out of the house and sat on the sofa and wept because I just couldn’t take anymore. In the end he was found wedged behind the sofa – god knows how he got there.
Needless to say, I’ve had enough for one weekend!
Monday…
Been working from home today because of the Tube strike, so I thought I’d use the time I didn’t spend travelling, writing!
Start Weight: 164 pounds
Current Weight: 146 pounds
Target: lose 31 pounds
Progress this week: – 1 pound
Progress total: -18 pounds
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Late weigh in results!
I’ve made two more decisions recently to help move my weight loss along – I thought my goal date was a good opportunity to consider what I could do differently before working out a realistic new goal date.
1. Food
I’ve joined Weight Watchers for a few months. I’ve realised I just can’t get the portion sizes right by myself, and need something a bit more structured to get me used to what I should be eating. I think once I’ve been doing this for a couple-of-three months I will be able to go back to sorting out the food by myself. It’s been ok so far, though I have been surprised by how little I get to eat – mostly because I spend so much time sitting down in work. There’s a lot of helpful tools on their website to teach you about listening to your hunger signals and foods which are healthy and filling.
2. Exercise
I’ve just started the highway-to-10k programme this week. I wasn’t going to start it quite yet, as my first 10k race isn’t until May next year. However, I think the extra exercise will do me good. Plus it should help me find the 5k easier. Today’s run was quite relaxing actually, because the initial interval stages of this plan go back to running for less time than the later intervals of couch-to-5k so it feels quite easy. I want to do 2 more 5k races between now and the 10k in May 2011.
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I was also thinking that I don’t put very many pictures on here any more – I never think my food looks that interesting compared to the other food/diet bloggers I read – that’s even more true now I’m doing WW because initially, I’m using quite a few of their ready meals to gauge portion size. The food does taste nice, but some of them aren’t exactly eye-pleasers! I want to take more pictures of life generally, so that’s another goal
Goal Date Weigh In…
That’s it! I was 30 yesterday Aside from the lovely presents and food, it was the goal date I set at the start of this journal. I haven’t managed to hit the target weight I set back then, but I have gone from 12 stone to 10.5 stone, plus I can now run for 30 minutes straight and I’m proud of myself for both of those things.
In all honesty, I wasn’t sure how long I would stick this out and I’m pleased to be here today still writing this.
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My stats this week at the point of my 30th birthday:
Start Weight: 164 pounds
Current Weight: 147 pounds
Target: lose 31 pounds
Progress this week: – 1 pound
Progress total: -17 pounds
Waist (in): 33.5 (- 1.5 inch total!)
Hips (in): 41.5 (- 1.5 inch total!)
Bust (in): 35 (- 1 inch total!)
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It’s a really great feeling to end the first stage of my weight loss with a loss – after weeks and weeks on a plataeu (which was becoming a steady climb) to see the number on the scales go down again was a relief!
I wrote ‘first stage’ because I’ve decided that although I didn’t meet my goal weight, I’m going to keep trying to get down to it. I have been asked by an old friend to be her bridesmaid, her wedding is at the end of April 2011, so that’s my new goal – Operation: Not Being the Chubby Bridesmaid is here!
As the new goal and my 30th birthday have co-incided, I thought it was only fair to celebrate with a few drinks (over the course of friday and saturday) and a tiny birthday cake 
Warwick Sky:
Strawberry Daiquiri:
Arabian Kiss:
Me, Rachel and my Apple Martini (at least I think that’s what it was!!)
Wedding Blog…
I’ve been a bit all over the place (geographically speaking!) for the last few days, so I’ve not had much down to sit down and write anything substantial, but I have finally begun on my wedding blog and wanted to mention it. If you are interested in reading about my wedding plans please take a peek!
http://bigblondewedding.wordpress.com/
Another Week…
…and another pound on.
I don’t know what is happening. But I hit the scales at 148 pounds this week, so I can’t even say I’m 10 and a half stone anymore, which I was being quietly proud of. I know I said last time I wrote that my attitude is changing and that I will keep plugging on, but I have to admit that as the weeks go by and the plateau is changing to the weight slowly creeping back on, it’s getting harder and harder to maintain a happy face.
Other than Saturday night (which was after the weigh-in) when I had a large-ish meal out with friends who I haven’t seen in a while, I’ve been tracking my food carefully and trying to choose a variety of healthy foods. I’ve been running (though not quite back up to a consistent 3 times a week) but even without this, the reduced calorie diet alone should be enough for the weight to be coming off slowly, even if only 0.5-1 pound a week. I’m going to have another read on the net about plateaus and ‘support stages’ (apparently, if a plateau lasts more than a fortnight, it’s not a plateau – it’s a support stage, but that’s as much as I’ve read – need to find out what it means!) and see what can be done.
Before I allowed myself to get too demotivated, I went for an evening run with the fella. It was much later than we normally do and it was just going dusky as we went out. It was really pleasant – the cool evening air makes for a more relaxing run! We covered a nice 4k and still had enough energy for a semi-competitive sprint finish over the last 100m.
Once home – I had a shower then sat on my bed and pampered myself with my various creams and lotions. I’m trying Nivea’s new anti-cellulite cream “Goodbye Cellulite“
I’m not expecting miracles – it was on offer and half price, smells nice and is absorbed really quickly. If it makes my dimply thighs temporarily less dimply, then that’s just a bonus. Sometimes it just feels nice to take care of myself
Amy – I saw in your post about the twinings tea boxes – they are adorable! They come in 2-compartment, 4-comparment and 12-compartment sizes and are usually only available to commercial places like hotels, but they did sell some for a while as a limited edition thing. I think you can still pick them up for a fairly reasonable price on eBay! Hope that’s any help!
Hmph!
Right – I did do my weight/measurements on Saturday morning, but the results were not what I would have liked and rather than force myself to dwell on it and be sad when I was preparing for the race on Sunday, I thought it would be best to put it to the back of my mind and deal with it when the race was done with. So here I am!
Well ‘hmph’ sums it up really. You may recall I was hoping for a loss, no matter how small, this week, just so I could feel like I had things back on track? Well no loss for me! No gain either, just a continuation of the plateau at 147 pounds.
The thing is, this time I know I did everything right all week – I exercised for 30mins+ 4 times plus a session of strength training and because I’m tracking all my food on Sparkpeople, I know I’ve been within all the parametres set for me. 1200-1500 cals per day (it’s always lower in the first two weeks as it’s meant to be a shock to the system to kick start the weight loss), less than 60g of fat and well, I can’t remember the carbs limits off hand, but I was within the recommended.
No takeaway.
No alcohol.
Plenty of water.
No sweeties (ok, 2 pieces of Haribo because P opened a bag of tangfastics in front of me, but only 2, really really!)
Lots of veggies.
Where is my weight loss!?? I have to believe that I’ve burned off some fat and replaced it with muscle – it’s the only explanation. I do think I feel a bit slimmer – not very much, but a teensy bit (there was no change on the tape measure). But no weight loss.
At this stage I think I have to accept that I’m not going to reach my goal weight by my birthday (it’s two weeks away and I’m still about 15 pounds off) but I’d love to have broken the plateau by then. Two pounds a week is meant to be the average following this plan but so far no such luck.
I’m not as discouraged as I was when I plateaued for the first time 4 months-ish ago. I know I’ve just got to keep plugging away – so I am pleased that even if my body is refusing to adjust right now, my attitude has come a long way!
Fingers crossed for the scales next Saturday.
