2010 Review

There is 45 mins until 2010 is done and dusted and the fresh new start of 2011 is upon us all. 45 mins, I thought, to have a look back over my year and look forward to the next 12 months.

Let me take you back to January 2010 - Christmas, New Year and my birthday were all over and I felt absolute shite, weighing in around the 18st stone marker. I felt sluggish, unattractive, embarrassed, unhealthy and generally crap. It was at this time where I started to make a real effort of losing weight and being more healthy.

I dropped the first couple of stone by myself then, as I came to a plateau, joined WW online and then the gym. With this combination I slowly creeped to under 15st for the first time in a LONG time. But then...

A holiday and some work comitments took my eye of the prize and I started to put a few pounds on, then off, then on...etc.

I was determined that this Xmas I wouldn't indulge as much as last year as I didn't want to feel like I did at the beginning of this journey. What have I gone and done? Stuffed myself silly! I feel like I have been let loose from some self imposed ban and over indulged in everything, which then makes me think - have I learnt anything at all?

On WW I eat if I have points left rather than whether I'm hungry or not (bad). The Pro Points came at a bad time and I don't think I have really got to grips with it, mainly because the weeks I put in the effort I got a very unrewarding result of STS or 1lb loss. Xmas is obviously still a lesson to be learnt in self restraint - I just can't imagine tracking over this period.

So I'm sat here feeling quite merry (due to the large amounts of alcohol consumed....hic!) but deep down i'm dissapointed in myself for taking huge strides backwards, I feel really pap :( I'm dying to go to the gym and start eating normally but I have another family buffet to go to tomorrow so......ugh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I just need all this excess food and booze to dissapear as if it is around me I cannot resist temptation (maybe for one day, but not the next).

Anyways, the positives of this year have shown I can lose when I put my mind to it but I am debating in WW is really the right method for me.

On the exercise front I joined a new exercise class and fell in love with Zumba, tried the imfamous Shred and got back into gym time before work.

I just need to get my head back in the game (and stop dipping my hand in the Quality Street tin!)

Let's end this post on a high note! I have high hopes for 2011 - I want to visit New York, get a job in the creative sector, get my own pad, and obviously lose weight. I'm not making any resolutions but i'm going to maintain blogging and look forward to my 2011 Review post reporting on a fun-filled, successful year!! Xxx

So this is Christmas...

...and what have I done? Um well apart from do my back in which has therefore kyboshed any exercise efforts, have lots of fun getting in the festive spirit with friends and eating myself into a food coma over the weekend, with an added extra of Harry Potter viewing my mum and lots of cadbury's chocolate consumption...err nowt!

My back is really sore at the moment, not helped by the arctic conditions, and totally ruined my exercise efforts which had started off so well last week. Ah well...

I lost a pound last week, then put 3lbs on this week. That feeling off "ah what the heck, it's CHRISTMAS" has crept up on me. I'm trying to be smart and not let myself eat for the sake of it, but in reality I think the break over the next couple of weeks is what I need. I haven't tracked for the last two weeks, ooh I feel bad.

Exercise is the thing that gets me into the right frame of mind to eat right and without that i'm just not feeling it at the moment. So i'm taking a break and will be back at it as soon as my back feels ok. If i'm really honest though, i've not been feeling WW since Pro Points was introduced, I followed it to the letter for the first three weeks and lost arounf 1lb - hardly inspiring stuff. Anyways...

It's been a mega busy day at work today (more busy that any other time this year - and I don't work in retail) and i'm really hankering for a festive drink tonight! So cheers and I wish everyone a very merry Christmas!!

Hopefully Santa (and by Santa I mean Amazon.co.uk) bloody well deliver my goodies before Friday, otherwise it will be a very sad Christmas this year!!

Exercise Motivation

So I had a tidgy smidgy rant/moan yesterday, non?! I have decided that the thing that always gets me out of my slump is the thing i've been avidly avoiding for the past couple of weeks - EXERCISE!!

Sooo, I rectified this tonight by completing the cardio workout from my Zumba kit and *drumroll please* I have packed my gym kit tonight ready for a workout tomorrow morning!

I ummned and ahhed about it for ages and just thought sod it - so what if I have to get up earlier and so what if it's freezing and i'm going to have to defrost my car before I set off...ooh nope begone negative thoughts!
Nothing worth having is ever easy, you have to work for it. So this is me working like a mofo for it!

I plan to go to the gym at least once more this week, as well as completing some exercise dvds in between. This is the week where I turn it all around!!

Y'see, PMA (positive mental attitude) Does wonders....

Ooh nearly forgot - I looked up one of my fave fitness websites - Shape online - and there was a feature of exercise motivation quotes from 'real people'. Check them out here.

Getting Real

I hate the cold, it makes me tired and hungry which = disaster for Sarah.

At last week's weigh in I managed at 4lb gain, after I had tracked every day and did a little bif of exercise (not as much due to being ill earlier in the week). After getting over the initial shock I put it into perspective and decided to crack on as I had been...which then trailed off into me not tracking all week and doing no exercise, therefore I have STS this week.

It's not like I have been eating crap 24/7, in fact I have been eating pretty much the same as usual, but I have been to a few conferences with work and have eaten/drank more than I usually would - including the cinema tonight where I just grazed on popcorn for 2 hours (I now feel sick).

The freezing temperatures have just completley derailed my exercise efforts. I cannot BEAR moving from one room of the house the the other, let alone stick an exercise dvd on or nip out to the gym. I know it's all a state of mind but I just haven't had it in me the past couple of weeks.

On top of the weather I have been searching for some direction in life, doing many searches for my next move and looking into my options. Although it can be exciting having the world at your feet and thinking you are capable of anything, this thought lasts for about 20 mins with me before the doubts creep in - "you think you are capable of doing that. YOU?! Really?! Don't make me laugh" "you aren't intelligent/experienced/qualified/confident/thin/pretty enough to attempt THAT!" Ugh. Why am I so down on myself?

I don't feel I really have anyone to talk through my hopes for the future with. My friends and workmates have given me pep talks and are very encouraging but even then it's kind of all left down to me to figure out - i'd really need some guidance. I think the main prob is that my parents, although amazing, are a bit funny when it comes to anything I want to do that involves risk (i.e. moving away etc) they are just over cautious and really protective of me, but in doing that they lack giving me a bit of a push a boost when I announce I want to do something. Therefore I haven't told them about my desires to do something different as I'm worried they will vocalise all the doubts I run round in my head anyways.

So all the above has started to stress me out a bit and today especially I have eaten too much and I feel rubbish about it. My skin looks bad, I feel slow and lethargic and i'm terrified of slipping back into old ways and piling on the weight over christmas. I still haven't learned my lesson and still turn to food in times of stress.

Tomorrow is another day yadda yadda, blah blah, I'm going to try and start tracking as of tomorrow but I have lost the motivation for WW at the moment. I'm going to try and fully embrace it and see if I can get back on track. Sometimes I feel like i'm just going to be fat forever.

Ugh, hate feeling this way, you wouldn't know but i've had quite a fun day today!

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.

Face Time

In the pursuit of the 'perfect' body, or at least a slimmer version of what you have now, do you ever contemplate your face?

I have a really strange thing (for want of a better word) where I can't judge anything about my face. When I was planning a haircut last month I spent ages looking up online how you measure what face shape you have as I just could not tell by looking at it (it's round btw...I think). I also can't tell if my eyes/ears/nose is big/small/crooked...the list is endless.

My face is something that isn't going to ever change, even when I get to my goal weight. I may have a more defined jawline (less chin-age) but all the features will remain the same.

So, why have I suddenly taken an interest in my face? Am I totally vain and ego centric?! No! (well maybe a tad yes!) but it is something I cannot avoid and it is the one things that is always picked out by other people. I cannot count the times people at work or home have said to me "ooh you've lost weight, you can really tell by your face..."

Tonight I decided to take a few close-up piccies (woooaaaah extreme close-up! Something for all you Wayne's World fans.) I took a few on my phone and decided I looked a bit, well, knackered. So I put on a quick bit of slap and clicked away.

There is a point to all of this. After looking at the pics I thought, right, put it up on the blog next to an old pic and reaaaaaally look for the differences. So here we go:

 

Now come on Sez, use your noggin - can you spot the difference? Well even with my inability to disect my own visage I can come to the conclusion that after losing almost 4 stone (since January) you can deffo see it in my face :)

A Quick One...

Speed posting...

Made WW Cornish Pasties (they were lush) Pro Points of 9 per pastie. One left over, having it for lunch tomorrow with huge salad....

Was absolutely freezing so resorted to exercise dvd to warm up. It worked. 50 mins of 10 minute solution Hip Hop Dance Mix. One Word: ADDICTED!

Recently stumbled across The Amazing Adventures of Dietgirl blog (I know, late to the party). Cried tears of laughter at one of her archived posts (and I rarely LOL!). She is amazing. Have ordered her book this afternoon and downloaded a couple of her podcasts. Try them!

Daydreamed about moving to New York all day in work...