Cracked It!!

Let's get straight to it. Weighed in this morning. 2lb loss. Excellent. What is even more exciting is I have now successfully cracked the 15st barrier. Woooo! I'm well chuffed :)

I'm doing things a tad differently this time. Instead of focusing on exercise, I'm turning my full attentions to monitoring my calorie intake (on MyFitnessPal). Which I have done before to little success, but this time instead of always trying to come under my calorie "allowance" I am trying to eat all my allowed calories. I've read many theories about this and it basically comes down to if you don't eat enough to compensate for your basic BMR (how many calories your body needs to function, not counting any movement whatsoever) then your metabolism is going to slow and therefore your energy-burning arsenal won't be working to its full potential. Seems to be working so far so I'm sticking with it.

Apart from walking, I haven't done any additional exercise but I will be going back to my Zumba class and doing some Pilates so will see how that effects things. I did go see Example in Manchester last night though and think I must have sweated at least one of those two pounds I lost today!!

My next goal is to reach 14st 7lbs, and I'm putting a shopping ban on myself until I do! Then will treat myself will a few frivolous purchases when I reach it :)

Until then, hope everyone is enjoying their weekends! x

Over the Barrier

Oh please tell me you are all eating chocolate eggs too? I've not done too bad, sharing an egg last night...and then again this afternoon! However, I did mix in some exercise today to try and balance it all out.

So, I weighed in this morning and am *drumroll pwease* 14st 13lbs! I have once again cracked the 15st barrier. Whoop! This time I must push on to the next stone barrier as in previous visits to the under 15 mark I have ballsed it all up by putting a few pounds back on again. NOT THIS TIME!!

What am I going to do differently this time? I will:

• Start week 4 of C25K.
• Exercise in the mornings - I just can't get my head around doing it at any other time.
• Drink more water. Lots more water.
• Continue to try different protein packed breakfasts', as they keep me going till lunchtime.
• Keep reading motivational blogs. I have found lots on Tumblr that have great little motivational/healthy messages such as "If you aren't hungry enough to eat an apple, you aren't hungry at all." Very true!

Week Review + Hooping

A bit of a belated review of last week but it was a good week!

• Lost 2lbs. Now 15st on the nose.
• Completed week 3 of C25K.
• Did my pilates DVD on my 'day off'.
• Went back on the wii fit for the first time in over 170 day (oopsie!)

I'd talked about hula hooping before and after an unsuccessful experience with Davina's hoop that I bought from Argos (it was too small, but too wide and heavy...so I took it back) I decided to get some hooping action from the Wii fit. I unlocked the 10 min hula-hoop ages ago and had forgotten what it was like. I chose that first to get my heart pumping and MY GOD, I'd forgot how intense it was! About a minute in I was staring at the time ticking down in the corner thinking "4 mins left of this??" Then when I had finished one way you are right back in to swivelling the t'other way!

It's such a good workout and that plus some jogging, boxing and yoga moves managed to give my muscles a good challenge. Note to self - don't leave it another 170 days before you revisit the Wii Fit!

Moving On

I just did something I've been thinking about for a wee while now. My week of positive thinking/being nice to myself has given me the confidence to finally cancel my Weight Watchers subscription. Here are my reasons why:

• I just do not believe in/like Pro Points. I know its loved and worked for millions of people but it is just not for me.
• I do not want to track points/think about food as points for the rest of my life.
• I want to look at food in terms of nutrition rather than "ooh I have enough points left for a bag of crisps!"
• I know how to do this lose weight business. I know what foods to eat more of and what to eat in moderation and I know what exercise I like.
• SparkPeople is an amazing FREE resource that I look forward to checking daily. The WW site could get some tips off it.
• It's time for me to step out of my comfort zone. Stop relying on the safety net of WW and continue this journey on my own two feet.

 I feel focused and excited! This weekend will be dedicated to getting myself organised and develop a plan that is perfect for me. The Sezzajp plan!

It is so ON this week!

The clocks have gone forward. Spring has sprung. It's the beginning of a new week and I am well and truly revved up for it. C'MOOOOON!

I weighed in this morning and have lost the 6lbs I put on over my holiday the week before last, so am now back to 15st 2lbs - where I was pre-holiday. I'm sure those 6lbs were just scared off by the sheer force of my positive attitude this week (on and maybe a few gym visits!)

My gym bag will be packed tonight ready for the beginning of a arse-kicking week! I am still following the C25K plan (and still loooving it!) but after a bit of fannying around of schedules I'm going to re-start the second week tomorrow so I can still schedule in the proper rest days.

I'm going to try and maintain my PMA (positive mental attitude) - particularly in work - as being negative about everything, and myself, is just too tiring.

Bring it on week because I'm ready for ya!

As well as the C25K I'm also going to be re-visiting my Thursday night Zumba class (as we now have a new instructor).

I've also been thinking about mixing things up and keeping things fun (another thing I'm trying to abide by - making exercise fun) possibly buying a hula hoop. Does anybody else hula? I love it on the Wii Fit so might treat myself to one this week.

I wish you all top week. Go get 'em my lovelies!!

Checking in...

In short:

• I have just got home from a week eating my way around Wales with my parents.
• Did a quick weigh in this morning. Does. Not. Look. Good.
• I REALLY missed exercising.
• Eating what I want, when I want is fun for a day...then it just makes me feel like crap.
• Going to start WW tracking this instant to get me back on track.

So I had a fantastic, relaxing holiday - the weather was brilliant and I got some amazing photos (even on my crappy camera phone) and needless to say I'm gutted to be back home and the thought of going into work on Monday is too much to bear. Anyways, I've got lots of blog/news/TV to catch up on this weekend, so just chilling out :)

Sunday Strolling

My Sunday morning started off with a 80 min walk around our local woods (I am so lucky to live close to such a pretty area). Usually my Sunday morning consists of lounging around in bed until lunchtime, but not today. Me and my dad braced the cold - which is perfect weather for walking - and got strolling. Set me up nicely for the week.

I weighed in this morning and have lost 1lb which I'm happy with. I started tracking again last week and was doing well until the weekend where a few lunches/dinners out with friends racked up the points. So I want to really push this week to prevent a STS result.

This week I really want to have a couple of sessions down the gym, do my Zumba DVDs and also mix it up with a few of my other DVDs (shred, pilates). Basically this week I want to move more!

I mentioned in my last post that I was trying to change one habit a week - as found on this blog. I am continuing with the first week habit of drinking more water so am moving onto the next habit - moving more! My exercise habits have been a little sporadic of late (due to illness, dark mornings and general lazy arseness!) so am just trying to get into a regular habit.

Here's hoping for a successful week ahead.

Winning and Losing

Last week I won a Woman's Own competition, literally the first thing I've won since the Easter raffle in Primary School! My prize? Only £170 worth of weight loss goodies! I was such a giddy kipper when I found out.

The parcel was delivered on Monday and in it I had 20-odd sachets of Tony Ferguson meal replacement shakes, his recipe book, Cho Yung weight loss tea, Shape Me Beautiful positive thinking CD and a pair of SIZE 12 'tummy tuck' jeans.

Now i'm really not a fan of meal replacements as I think it is such an unhealthy way to lose weight and who wants to go through life with only a heavily processed powder to sustain you? But, as a quick breakfast for when i'm running late, I thought they would come in handy. So on Tuesday and Wednesday I had the Chocolate shake and Cafe Late shake for my brekkie. The first time I tried it I realised I wasn't going to be able to drink it all in one setting as it was so filling, so I popped it in my water bottle and drank the rest throughout the morning in work. It did keep me fuller for longer as cereal (no matter how big the portion) never seems to keep the hunger away for me.

By Thursday I was craving a 'proper' brekkie (i.e. one made of ACTUAL food) but it did make me think that once all the sachets have gone I am going to make my own healthy smoothies for breakfast - as they really seem to keep the hunger at bay.

I tried the Size 12 jeans on and as they are quite stretchy I managed to get them up to my bum - but no further! Definitley something to aim for his year. I listened to the CD and although it is a bit cheesey at times (like how you are supposed to tell your inner child you love them...puuuuukkkke!) it did relax me and whether it was a placebo effect or not I did feel more positive the next couple of days. Note to self, must listen to it again!

In a peruse for more inspiring weight loss blogs I found one by an American lady who has lost a huge amount of weight by herself and she had drawn up this one habit a week plan, which basically gets you to try and change one small thing a week. It isn't anything ground breaking but it seemed to really strike a chord in me as  I have previously said that with WW I don't feel like I've changed my bad habits - i'm just doing the same things within a point allowance. I can't see myself tracking forever so I need to programme in these healthy habits that are going to keep me in good stead for the future.

For week one the healthy habit was to drink more water. A simple thing but something I really don't do without reaaaaaally making the effort. So this week I have been making regular trips to the tap/water cooler to fill up my empty glass.

I weighed in this morning and have lost 3lbs and i'm sure the extra water intake has a great deal to do with that, so it is something I am really going to drill into myself. I also started doing my Zumba DVDs again this week so the little bit of exercise has given me that extra ooomph.

My body has failed me again though and have been up all night with a sore and swollen throat (it hurrrrrtsss!) and blocked ears- just when I was getting back into the swing of things, damnit!! Anyways I'm hoping it will shift soon and so I can bet back into my groove this week :)

2 Sweet Lbs, 10% and Dietgirl Adventures

My first Pro-Points WI resulted in a loss of 2lbs. I'm happy with this as my weight loss is so Goddamn slow that 2lbs is very much welcomed!

Also, this very much loved 2lb loss has meant that I have finally, finally, fiiiiiiiiiiiiinally reached my 10% goal. WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! (This is kind of false excitement, in reality my reaction was more like "oh, good. What's for lunch?"

I'm a bit annoyed with the WW site as for the past few days it hasn't been saving my planner, after i'd just spent ages updating it. Meaning i'd have to go back in and re-do it all. ARGH! Then i'm not thrilled at the prospect of having to update ALL my saved recipes, the most irritating thing being that you have to update something like an egg - and choose what kind of egg (egg white, raw, boiled?) but that it does it for every recipe that uses an egg - but if I pick raw egg what about those recipes where I use boiled egg instead? The internal rage is building in the pit of my stomach. ALSO, you cannot get into your recipe to check the measurements of the ingredient that it wants you to update - so, say we are using eggs again - how many frigging eggs went into that recipe it wants me to update?! The site always finds someway to annoy me and I think for online users paying a tenner a month the site should be far more user friendly and generally less annoying.

Anyway, onto less irritating things. I received The Amazing Adventures of Dietgirl book yesterday and can't put it down. I've nearly finished it!  Reading it makes me want to go out and have my own adventures, travel, meet new people and start having a life. Yet still I wait around to be guided by someone else. I'm too much of a coward to take a big chance all by myself. HUFFFFFF. God i'm in a bad mood tonight?! I really just don't want to go to work tomorrow. Nowt really wrong with it but i'm just fed up. Boo. Going to go and watch Take That on X Factor - that should cheer me up, for three mins anyways.

Two Left Feet

After coming to the realisation I liked dance-type exercise I decided to purchase a couple of really cheap dancey dvd's.  To my complete delight, Mr Postman delivered them yesterday morning. I bought:


Amazon


Amazon

In my excitement I popped in the 10 Minute solution dvd straight away and did the first routine - Hip Hop Basics. I absoulutely LOVED it! It was really fun but fairly easy to follow (i'm sure it will get harder!) but it kept building and adding on moves so by the end of the ten mins you have two full dance routines completed. Love it. Love the format as well. You can pick and choose which of the five routines to do, and also in which order. I haven't tried any of the other routines yet but they will soon delved into!

Feeling pretty energetic I attempted the first of the double Strictly DVD package - the one with Karen and Erin. The warm up was fine and then it moved onto Erin explaining the Cha Cha Cha. OMG. The bit before the routine where she explains all the moves took about 10 minutes and I couldn't even get the steps right then. By the time she was ready for the routine I'd forgotten what a "New York" was, or any of the other millions of dance steps! I got slightly disheartened as it seemed pretty impossible but I continued on with Karen's Salsa, and even though I messed up quite a bit, the steps were much easier and it was a much more fun routine. It then moved onto Erin with the Quickstep - which looked so AMAZING! I sat and watched the routine in full before I attempted it. After going wrong in the first 20 seconds I went right back to the start of the routine to try and improve! I managed a little better but it still looked a mess! Karen's jive was too much for me so I just went straight to the Samba, which is a nice routine.

This dvd is quite a challenge as the dance steps are PROPER dance steps, not some aerobic cop-out, so in a way i'm glad about that as at least I will be learning a new skill (sort of...) So i'm going to persevere with the routines - it is my new challenge! There are a lot of reviews on Amazon complaing about the complexity of the routines, but my thoughts are if it was easy to pick up in the first go you would get really bored with it in no time.

I haven't tried the other one with Kelly Brook and Flavia, but I watched a few of the routines and they look quite fun, so I may have a try of them later today.

In other news...I am now back in the 14s! Wohoo! I'm really pleased to have lost 1lb this week and feel really motivated to push on.

As it is less than 12 weeks to my Birthday I have set myself a new (almost) 12-week Challenge, whereby I want to lost 1 stone, which in turn would mean I have cracked the next stone barrier and would be in the 13s. It will be hard with Christmas in between but I've already started plannin WW-type food for the Christmas period and am determined not to put weight on, as I can remember how crap I felt at nearly 18stone on my birthday last year.

As always, I shall report back on my 12 week, and also my two-left feet progress!

I have returned

I'll get it out of the way - I put on 3lbs. There, said it. I am now back in the 15s (slight sigh!) but on the flip side, and more importantly, I had an AMAZING holiday. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute sightseeing in Belgium and Holland - and particularly enjoyed the Belgium beer and chocolate it is so famous for!

I have a little bit of post-holiday blues and the prospect of going back to work tomorrow isn't filling me with joy but I am re-focused on tracking my points (have already started that this morning) and I can't wait to get back to my two Zumba classes this week - actually missed them while I was away! I also need to get down the gym a couple of times this week, may go this afternoon, will see how it goes.

Anyways, I not concerned at all about the weight gain as I know that with the tracking and exercise those 3lbs will be burnt off over the next few weeks.

Sooo just to re-iterate, here is a list of my next short-term goals/focuses:

• Lose the 3lbs holiday gain over the next two weeks
• Achieve the above to get back into the 14s
• Zumba class twice a week
• Go to the gym at least once before work
• Exercise at the weekend (even if it is just on the wii or a walk)

In the words of the Fresh Prince...Drumroll please!

Well I only went and bloody did it! Lost the 1lb needed to finally crack the 15st barrier and I am now in the 14s. Yay!

I thought I would be more (cue word I never use) cock-a-hoop but I actually quite calm about it, mainly for two reasons:

1. I would like to be a few more lbs down, where I am well and truly in the 14s, rather than just on the border, before I can really celebrate being in that bracket.
2. I'm going on holiday tomorrow for a week and I intend on enjoying myself so even with the increased activity (there will be a lot of walking around) with eating out for most meals and having some drinks I anticipate that the 1lb will be coming back on next weigh in.

I'm not concerned about point two in the slightest (maybe this is wrong of me?!) I work hard and I am not going to deny myself anything on my holiday - obviously i'm not going to go mad but I will not be trying to figure out the points values in anything!

So for now I am going to go around with a big smile on my face for cracking a stone barrier, oh and earning my third 7lb star (so have lost a total of 21lbs since joining WW in June), pack my case for my hols and get an early night - have to be up at 4am (GROAN!)

Will post some piccies when I come back :)

AnnoyedFrustratedFedupUpset

Yep, I'm not in the best of moods.

After my initial predictions I weighed myself this morning to find I had, for the the second week running, stayed the same. Now I am sensible enough to realise that the human body is not a robot and therefore doing X + X will not always = Y within a seven day period. BUT, something is obviously not right over two weeks with no loss.

I studied my online tracker for last week and I had saved over 17 points and worked up a further 17.5 activity points. So that is 34.5 points that I didn't use. I tracked like a demon, as always. I sweated my arse down the gym on Sunday, went for a long walk, Zumba three times in the week and my daily 3/4-2 mile walks at lunchtime. Seriously, what is going on?

I know the answer is to just carry on with what i'm doing this week, I don't really have an alternative, but i'm sick of not seeing the pay off that I think I really deserve. Even when i do lose weight it is SO slow that my goal weight way way waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay away.

To top eveything off the WW message boards aren't working for me so can't even have a rant on there (have had to e-mail customer services to get them to look into the error). So I logged on here to let off some steam. To be honest i'm actually more calm now than yesterday when I knew I just I haven't lost any weight.

Ughhhhhhhhhhh! Hate being this negative but it is just one of those days, or weeks rather!

For my scales sake I best lose some weight next Sunday or else they will be launched through my bathroom window!

Oh Sweet Internet!

I've haven't posted for ages due to my laptop power plug giving up the ghost and having to wait for the delivery of my new plug. Thankfully it as there waiting for me when I got home today - such a relief! My whole life seems to be orchestrated through my laptop!

I've got loads to update, which to save time i'll list in bullet points:

What's happened so far:

• WI on Sunday - STS (GRRR!) The 14s alluded me this week but it WILL NOT happen next week.
• All my exercise plans went up the spout as my dad was in hospital (he is out now thankfully).
• I have signed up to the WW forum Seasons Challenge for Autumn - a great idea by one of the members, and it has been running for quite a while. A good motivator.

Exercise completed so far this week:

• Sunday Morning: 7 mile power walk (in the peeind down rain!)
• Sunday Afternoon: Gym 1 hour
• Monday Evening: Zumba 45mins

Planned exercise for the rest of the week:

• Tonight - Zumba 1 hr
• Wednesday - shred or pilates dvd
• Thursday - Zumba 45 mins
• Friday - Gym or shred/pilates dvd

I'm feel like my exercise clothes are a little plain and dowdy so I am going to go now and look for some new bright stuff :)

Ahhh, it's good to be back!

Chip, Chip, Chip...

The title of this post refers to me chipping away at the 15st marker.

After my week of being a saint I weighed on on Sunday and lost 1lb, bringing me to dead on 15st. My initial feelings were that of annoyance that I have still yet to break into the 14s, especially as I had a really good week. Then I started to see the bigger picture - another week's weight loss - thumbs up!

I am aiming to break into the 14s this week - just one measley pound would do the trick! So far I spent nearly 2 hours down thw gym on Sunday, went for a hilly walk around Wales on Monday, attempted a walk yesterday but was thwarted by the pissing down rain and gale force winds! Then last night I went to Zumba. I had intended on going to the gym this morning but due to the horrible weather and a few other things I had to/wanted to stay in the house.

Will try to do my pilates dvd tonight, then tomorrow is Zumba at the gym, and Friday I want to go to the gym before work...I reaaaaaaaaaaally want to see the back of these bloody 15s!

This Week Thou Shall be a Saint

Amen to that!

So last week was kind of mixed. I got back into tracking, got back down the gym, went to my Zumba class and did my pilates dvd (the good stuff), but then I didn't do any form of exercise Friday to Sunday and I went over my point allowance both days over the weekend, especially on Sunday due to a Nando's lunch with a friend (the not-so-good stuff).

This week I want to be really good (saintly is a bit extreme!). So after having an inital false start as I didn't go to the gym before work as planned (due to me being really unhappy that the weekend was over) I got down to it tonight and put in my Shred dvd. Only the second time of doing it but I really do like it. It's 20 mins of pure GO!GO!GO! but 20 mins is not that long and you can really feel that you've worked hard (I can definitely feel it in my arms as I type this...)

For the rest of the week I want to go to a new Zumba class tomorrow night, as well as my usual Thursday night class. Do Shred at least one more time, do a couple of sessions of my pilates dvd and do at least one gym session before work this week.

In terms of food just track, track, track...

Right, going to go. In the middle of watching The Biggest Loser on Sky One - love it! So good for motivation.

Just write it off!

Well let's just say this week has been a total write-off. After post-festival depression, being manically busy at work, and feeling under the weather I haven't visited the gym, or any kind of exercise dvd once.

I was doing well so far as food, and was still tracking everything, until Friday when I went out for lunch AND tea, and drank quiiiiite a few glasses of pinot. Ah well, it's the bank holiday and I was catching up with some friends so decided to cut loose a bit. Then yesterday I went out in Manchester with a friend to look for a costume for a fancy dress party and ended up going to Nando's for tea, then at the party last nigh the alcohol was floooooowing :) (I went as Satan to the party btw....it was an 'S' theme).

So anyway, I'm feeling rough today - not just the hangover but I have a really sore thoat so I'm just going to kick back today and try and get myself feeling better. As soon as the sore throat bogs off I will be finally starting the 30 day shred and getting back down the gym. In the meantime I am back to tracking points everyday (just put my lunch points in). Oh and no more alcohol for a good while now! :)

Sunday, Salsa and Shred

Weighed myself this morning annnnd...another 2lbs have been worked off :)

I am now 4lbs away from my original 12-week-to-V-Fest goal. I seriously doubt I am going to drop 4lbs this week but I am going to work really hard to get as close as I can!

After going to Zumba on Thursday I felt like really doing some more of the same exercise. So yesterday afternoon I revisted the Rosemary Conley Salsacise dvd, and really enjoyed it! I opted to do the final level - 30 mins long. I used to think this was quite taxing but after doing Zumba this was a nice gentle warm up by comparison!

This week I want to do the salsa dvd a few times, as well as going to the gym and Zumba on Thursday. I will also continue to do my usual lunchtime walks (around 20-25 mins long).

I'm awaiting the delivery of a Pilates dvd I bought on Amazon - it was only a few quid and the pilates dvd I have isn't really very good (just shows you the move and doesn't work through it with you). I also bought the imfamous 30 Day Shred, after hearing so much about it and seeing it on Amazon for just over a fiver. I know you have to do it every day so will start that on the Monday after V Festival. I'm quite looking forward to the challenge of it but am a bit wary of the supposed pain I will be in after completing it!

LBS, V, KOL...

It seems like for once, after having a bit of a rubbish week...and weekend, things are starting to go my way! I weighed in this morning AND...

I LOST THREE POUNDS!

Which means...

I HAVE LOST 1 STONE SINCE JOINING WW ONLINE!

Which made me...

SMILE!
WHOOP!
LOG ON EVERY POSSIBLE COMMUNICATION TO TELL EVERYONE!

Ha :) I haven't had the best of weeks - meaning I still stayed within my points (even with eating out with friends TWICE) but I only got down to the gym three times this week. So either the Zumba is working absolute miracles, or last weeks hard work is paying off this week...or more likely a combination of the both.

I've been feeling really under the weather this weekend so haven't been to the gym, hopefully I will be ok to go tomorrow morning.

It is exactly 3 weeks until V Festival. The tickets came last weekend which made me dance around my living room and also have reality pop in my face as my 12 week challenge is stil very much on - 6lbs to go over 3 weeks, VERY do-able. Like I have said before I won't get too disheartend if I don't reach it (as, let's face it, I will be travelling off to V so won't give two hoots!) and I will get there eventually...but for now I have that goal in my sights.

3 weeks to lose 6lbs and 3 weeks until I see these lovely boys...



Oh and before I forget, I'm loving the update of the WW website - it has made it so much more interactive now, with blog post, friends and groups. So I have started a new blog on their (called the same as this) and will aim to keep both up to date - probably i'll just modify these longer posts into a shorter WW version. Anyways, check that out and feel free to add me as a friend :)

Another pound bites the dust...

So, I haven't posted anything for a wee while, mainly because after having a hard week at work last week the last thing I wanted to do was to come back on the computer!

Anyways...I weighed in on Sunday and lost 2lbs! I was so pleased with this as I was almost resigned to the fact that I may not have lost anything - due to the nature of the week (stress, conference food, lack of gym time, pizza on Friday, a bit of over-indulging on weekend). I am now 15st 9lbs which Is 1lb away from my 5% WW goal.

I am off work this week and intend to do longer, more intense workouts all week to try and push past that 5% goal (and perhaps even further). So far so good, I went to the gym yesterday and this morning. Will be going again tomorrow and Friday, but Thursday I am going to try the Zumba class with a friend - eek! It looks very high energy in the videos i'e watched, but i'll report back at how it went!