DAMMMIT!!!

I feel ever so slightly cheated this week. I was unusually well behaved, not just during the working week but also all weekend. I ate, I drank, I socialised ... but all within my weekly points. In fact, I has 7.5 points left over at the end of the week and I had also earned 6.5 activity points that I didn't eat. So tell me, why then did I only lose ONE MEASLY LB on the scales? Yes, I know that a loss is a loss and I should be pleased ... the thing is that takes me to 11st bang on. 11st is not into the tens. Into the tens was my flaming june challenge and that means that I have failed. GODDAMMIT.

*sigh*

Anyway, yes I had a loss the scales are going in the right direction and if I keep up with the activity and keep up with the tracking then I'll be into the tens next week without a doubt blah blah blah. Except I do doubt. I have been trying to get into the tens for so long that I doubt it is actually possible. I think what dissapointed me the most is that I own the most unreliable bathrooms scales known to man. I stepped on them before I left the house to go to meeting and they said 10st 11lbs which was enough to convince me I had got a much bigger loss than I really had. I shan't be doing that again.

Anyway, back on with it. No post weigh in treats for me, I had 18.5 points yesterday. I also need to try and fit in some exercise ... preferably go to aerobics on wednesday as I think that burns some serious calories and I need all the help I can get as I'm going away at the weekend with my Mom to see the legends that are Take That. Jayne will be there too ... we'll sing/boogie/scream-like-teenage-girls so much we'll be sure to burn off any extra points we might consume!

Here's a lovely picture of them to take my mind off the weigh in dissapointment.

Gem x

Exercise addict?

Not quite an addict, but as you will see I have done lots of extra exercise this week.

Weigh in last night showed a loss of 1 and 1/4lb. Taking me to 10st and 3/4lb. Aaaaalmost back at goal weight. I am pleased with that.

I was very unsure what the scales would say as I had gone over my points at least 3 days. On wednesday I had a 2 course meal at the 6th form ball and a few drinks, Friday I munched on a few biscyuits, Saturday we went to Gems for a BBQ, but I was well behaved and Sunday I went to the pub for lunch, but I did choose from the healthy menu and then had fruit for tea.

The exercise I did really must have helped.

Sunday = 3 mile power walk with Vix
Monday = 3 and a half mile power walk with Vix
Tuesday = Gym
Wednesday = Nothing
Thursday = 3 mile power walk with vix and Gem
Friday = Swam 16 lengths
Saturday = Nothing
Sunday = 40 minute boxercise DVD and then walked for an hour.

We had planned to power walk yesterday but the weather was awful so had to cancel it. I did think about doing some exercise once Fin had gone to bed, however I was still aching form the exercise the day before so I just chilled on the sofa and did nothing. I shall be going to the gym today and either a power walk today or tomorrow. depends on the weather.

I am going to try and lose this 3/4lb by next week so I again need to be good. I am going to try and eat better this week and I shall continue to do lots of exercise.

Just heard from Vix. She has stayed the same this week.

Jayne x

Have I Done It?

I've just been doing a bit of reflecting on my week so far ... It's Sunday, and I will tentatively say that the weekend seems to have gone without too much of a hitch. This is unusual for me ;) The wii fit graph is at it lowest point since I had the darn thing twelve months ago ... and it reckons I might just have edged into the tens *gasp*!

I took a similar strategy to last week, trying to save points during the week to give me some flexibility at the weekend to eat kind of what I fancy. On Friday evening I had a Chinese ... I ate a lettuce boat with some yuk sung in it, half a pork chow mein and a couple of sweet and sour chicken balls with a couple of glasses of wine. That doesn't sound like diet food does it?! But for the whole day I only ate 24 points including the wine. I also had 24 points on Saturday, when we had ten people in our garden for a BBQ. Nothing special about that you might think ... but Saturday afternoon it started throwing it down with rain in the Midlands. There was lightening and everything. There I was standing in the kitchen threading mixed peppers, onion and mushrooms onto skewers shaking my head thinking 'Oh Bu**er' while Hubby got soaked through erecting two gazebos over the patio LOL. Very funny now I think about it, and I think everyone had a good time. During the BBQ Jayne and I drank pimms and diet lemonade at 1/2 a point per glass, I managed to avoid the burgers, sausages and pork ribs sticking instead to low fat halloumi and veg kebabs (yu-u-um), chicken skewers, and a meat free glamorgan sausage. I was actually really full after that even though it was much less than I might normally have eaten! Jayne also brought round some weight watchers chocolate eclairs, which are 1.5 points and really bloomin delish. So nice in fact, that I bought some more today for sweet treats during the week :P

The upshot of all this is basically that although I had 24 points on Friday and Saturday I had saved up those extra points during the week so actually according to my online tracker I still have points going spare. That is the first time that has happened since I went back to meetings as I have made some kind of diet faux pas every week so far. I've got good expectations for tomorrows weigh in ... I'm trying not to get my hopes up too much but I feel like I've done well. I really want to be in the 10's this week. What will the scales say?! I can hardly bear to look!

Gem x

Disappointing ... or not?

I was a little disappointed with my weigh in yesterday ... rather than creeping into the tens as planned I actually had a half pound gain. Now, this is actually quite remarkable when I think about what I shoveled down my neck this weekend.

We went out for a meal on friday night with some friends to a pub with no healthy options. Not only that they "accidentally" charged us twice for the three desserts that had been ordered (I didn't have one) and added four shots of amaretto to the bill for good measure. Needless to say we wont be eating overpriced and fairly averagely cooked food at The Bassa Villa Bar & Grill in Bridgenorth again.

Saturday was graduation day ... It was great fun! I got to meet a lovely person who I had studied with yet never met face to face before, spent the day with my favourite people in all the world (Hubby, Mom, Dad, Mom-In-Law, Bro and BG), and had a few drinks and some lovely food. We had a coffee and a danish after arriving at the symphony hall and I'd got robed up. Then we had a little wander over by the canal at Brindley Place and had a glass of wine while nibbling on some pretty damn yummy tapas at All Bar One. After that I went and did the shaking hands thing at the ceremony which was coolness. Then I de-robed and we walked down the canal to the mailbox, had a quick spritzer in the rather poncy Bar Room Bar before moving onto Zizzi's for dinner which was scrummy! I had Insalate Tricolore (tomato, mozzerella and avacado salad) and Penne Pollo Picante (spicy chicken pasta with creme fraiche) washed down with a few glasses of white wine and two G&Ts when we got back to my folks.

So ... after all that I suppose its not surprising I had a gain BUT it was only a gain of half a lb. I'm back to 11st 1lb AGAIN and so I need to lose more than 1lb if I am to succeed in my Flaming June challenge to get into the tens. It's definitely do-able. I have a weekend that should be kind to me points-wise as long as I don't drink my points away and once I am over this bloomin head cold that I have caught off Hubby I should be able to fin in some exercise thursday (walk) and friday saturday sunday (wii fit) to get myself into the next stone bracket for the last meeting in June.

Gem x

A little loss

Weigh in last night showed a loss of half a lb. Not bad...could have been better...but I am pleased with a loss. I only went to the gym once last week and I did go over my points on friday and saturday. Friday night I found myself eating some sweets and a curly wurly. Saturday I made a ww chicken curry and had half a bag of rice and I did go over my points by 4 by having a naan bread.

On sunday I cooked Tony a fathers day big breakfast. I was good and just had 1 rasher of bacon on a wholemeal bap. Quite saintly i think :)

Myself and Vix (along with the little uns) went for a 2.75 mile walk on Sunday. We both enjoyed it and arranged to do it again the next day. Yesterday we did a 3.50 mile power walk. Again, we both enjoyed and both felt good, pooped and should I say??...a little sweaty. We have arranged to do it again on Thurday and Gem shall be joining us. I think we should aim for another 3 miles.

I am going to the gym later and will then go home and have a bit of a pamper.

I am going to the 6th form ball tomorrow and it is a 3 course meal. I will be as good as I can be.
The menu is:
Tomato and roasted pepper soup
Breast of chicken wraped in bacon, baby onion and red wine gravy on cheddar mash
and I hear there is a chocolate fountain. THIS I will resist...i did last year anyway.

Also on Sunday we are going for a pub lunch with my nan and sam. So I need to be really good and save up some points the other days.

Just to let you know, Vix has stayed the same this week. She is pleased about that. All on for a good loss next week girls.

Jayne x

Keeping On Track

I was a little bit disappointed on Monday not to have had a bigger loss so this week I am going all guns blazing with the points. I felt like I needed something tasty on Monday night as a treat after weigh in so I had Spag Bol but I stayed within my 20 points allowance. However, for the rest of the week (well, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and probably Sunday) I am going to try to have 16 points each day. I'm not becoming an obsessive diet freak or anything I just want to save some points so that I can enjoy my graduation on Saturday. I am also trying to fit in some exercise every day after work. Last night I did the wii fit for 45 minutes, also wearing my wrist weights for extra toning of the bingo wings. I do wonder about the irony of doing Free Step while watching the UKTV Food channel (the wii hand set makes a tick tock noise so that you can change the channel and watch TV while stepping)?! I'll do the same tonight probably and then on Thursday I'm planning to join Jayne and Vix and the nippers for a bit of a walk.

Graduation will be a bit of a challenge this weekend. Firstly because your ticket entitles you to a danish pastry with your tea and coffee before the ceremony (which I bloody well deserve for passing my Masters in my opinion) and secondly as me and the family will be going for a meal afterwards. I'm not sure whether it will be Italian (Zizzi's) or tapas (La Tasca) but both are well covered in the eating out book so as long as I track everything that passes my lips and save enough points to enjoy my day then I should be fine. With the 16 point strategy and the extra exercise I will be very disappointed if I don't get into the 10's on Monday. I still feel committed to making the changes I need to shift these lbs so I just need to crack on and keep going and not get disheartened if the scales don't move as much as I would have liked.

Gem x

In the zone

Weigh in last night went well. I have lost 2lb which takes me to 10st 2 and a half lb. Yay. Pleased with that. So almost back at goal after falling completly off the wagon.

I was also at home all of last week as Finley was off nursery, so I think a 2lb loss is pretty damn good as I normally struggle to diet when I am at home, but the naughty food was hidden and to be honest, I was really keen to loose so I wasn't even tempted. I did go over my points slightly on Sunday as I went round my moms who had friends round and she did cheese and onion cobs, so I couldn't resist one.

As I wasn't at work I made sure I still did some exercise so I did that 2 mile run/walk. Went on the wii fit. Did sit-ups most nights and also did a 50 minutes exercise dvd.

Back at work this week and I shall be going to the gym tomorrow to update my routine. I will be strict with myself again this week and hopefully by the end of the month I shall be at goal. One thing in my way will be a 3 course meal next wednesday at the sixth form ball.

Well done to my 2 loser friends. (Vix lost 2 and a half lb this week) Keep it up girls.

Jayne x

The Weight Loss Continues ... just about.

Weigh in last night ... not quite the overwhelming success of last week but I managed a loss nevertheless. A whopping half a lb LOL. So, not quite into the tens yet I'm hovering at 11st and 1/2 a lb. How bloomin frustrating!!! It wasn't just me, no one at meetings seemed to lose mega amounts. It seemed a slow week. Perhaps it was the weather.

I've been trying to identify why last week I managed to lose so much and this week I lost so little, bearing in mind that I did actually have a massive pizza last week and this week I didn't do anything nearly as silly. I did perhaps drink more alcohol ... I had the ww choc bars ... I possibly drank less water ... I didn't go to aerobics. I can't actually identify anything in particular that seems significant enough to make that much difference. Maybe it was a combination of all of the above?

I did win the raffle last night though and put my £4 shop voucher to good use by buying the weight watchers oil sprayer (It costs £5.95 so with my £1 off voucher that came with the monthly pass I only paid 95p for it haha!). You fill it with olive oil, pump it five times and it sprays a fine mist of oil worth 1/2 a point into your frying pan or over your potatoes and veggies for roasting or wherever. It's pretty clever and a good way of controlling how much oil you use, as sometimes you do need some oil or your food won't cook properly. I think I'll get quite a lot of use out of that.

Gem x

Friday Whoopsie

My challenging weekend theme continues ... not so bad as last week when I accidentally ate 45 points but I still consumed a fair amount. I had 6 points too many last night BUT there is a distinct difference to last night's over eating and the overeating I was doing before I was paying for weight watchers meetings. That is, I have been completely honest on my tracker about it, and not only that, I had got points saved from other days and from doing some activity that I was able to spend on eating like a normal person at a friends BBQ :) In fact, after I just put the various bits of meat and token salad leaves into my online tracker I still had two points in the bank! Hurrah!!! I need to make sure I keep an eye on myself for the rest of the weekend but hopefully the scales will see a loss on Monday.

Gem x

Here I go

Well I weighed in on Monday and the scales showed a loss of 1 and a half lb. Wooohooo. I was quite surprised about this as I had not been overly well behaved. I wasn't eating naughty things, but over eating good things..if you know what i mean. I was only working mornings last week as Finley has chicken pox so I was coming home at 12:30 so that Tony could then get off to work. Being at home sure does make dieting more difficult (for me anyway).

This week I am feeling keen and determind to diet and to get rid of these 4 and a half Ibs I have to get back to goal. I am working from home all week. However I have managed to be good and saintly. Staying within points each day and doing some exercise. I even went for a "run" yesterday. I must say I did 2 miles...but I did power walk more than I ran. I prob made it about half a mile before I had to stop and start walking. I will keep trying. I,m sure I will get better at it. You never know. I may do the half marathon one day????haha.

Well done to the other 2 losers. Let's keep this up ay girls :)

Jayne x

Paying For It

Last night was weigh in day ... the first one since I started back at meetings last week. I was reluctant about paying for someone to weigh me but I tell you what, it bloody well worked. I lost 3 and 1/2 lbs this week!!! That makes me 11st 1lb. I am ecstatic, I really am! Just think what I would have lost if I hadn't had that boo-boo with the pizza? Now, I have been at this weight once or twice before since the start of the blog but never made it any further. I think next week though I might just make it into the next stone bracket! I need to lose anything over 1lb and I'm into the 10 stone somethings. That is a lovely, lovely thought :o))

It was a successful meeting all round ... I go to meetings with my Mom and my Brothers Girlfriend (BG). BG is younger so this is the first diet she's ever been on I think and my mom has dieted but never gone to meetings before so weighing in at the end of the first week was exciting and nerve wracking. They did amazingly though. Mom lost 5lbs and BG lost 5 and 1/2lbs!!!

In fact, we have all done well this week. Vix had her meeting this morning and has lost 3 and a 1/2 and Jayne weighed in last night with a loss of 1 and a 1/2 which I am sure she will blog about later. Not bad going Girls. Not bad at all!

Gem x

Perfect Pizza?

Weekends are often a struggle for me ... this weekend I felt prepared. I had saved 7 points during the week and had got 11 points left for tea yesterday so that I had 18n points to enjoy a celebratory tea and a glass or two of wine with Hubby who had his last exam that afternoon.

We decided to get a takeaway and after all his hard work it was his choice of cuisine. He chose pizza, my favourite and I ordered a vegetarian one like I always do. I ate 7 slices ... which actually is an obscene amount of pizza now I think about it. Not only that, according to the eating out guide I consumed around 45 points (not including wine). So my lovely online trackers which was looking pretty darn good now reads MINUS THIRTY POINTS for the week. Thats the equivalent of eating 4 points over every day this week qnd pretty much negates any chance of a loss on Monday I think. Its my own fault. I didn't check the points before I started eating and kind of thought it would be about 20 points worth of food. That wouldn't have been a complete disaster and I could have clawed that back.

I feel like I have cheated myself and I'm pretty bloody cross about it.

Gem x

Curry in "good-for-you" shocker.

As if any of us ever needed an excuse ... here is the revelation that curry is actually good for you. It's a brain food.

"Eating a curry once or twice a week could help prevent the onset of Alzheimer's
disease and dementia, a US researcher suggests."

So there you have it ... and with the average meal from an Indian restaurant containing something in the region of 37 weight watchers points (Chicken Tikka Massala - 21, Pilau Rice - 8, Plain Naan - 8) we'll all be great big fatties as well.

What this article actually says if you get further than the sensationalist headline is that curcumin, which is found in turmeric, can prevent the spread of 'amyloid protein plaques ' that are thought to be linked to dementia. So actually, it's turmeric that is good for you and not "curry" of a miscellaneous variety. (Turmeric contains no points at all though so that is good news.)

Raaaaa ... I do get so wound up by this type of scaremongering story.

Gem x

I am still here - Trying to get back on the wagon after a big fall.

Ok...I know it has been a while. The last time I blogged was 19 May. I had put on 1 and a half lb that week. Totally rubbish. Anyway I weighed in on 23rd May (day before I went of my camping trip) and I had lost that 1b and half taking me back to 10stone 2lb. However...I then went on holiday and had a week off work so I knew there would be a gain. I weighed in on Monday (1st June)And I was right..I gained 4lb in fact. Aaaaaaaagh.

Over the holiday though I did have 2 fry-ups, sausage rolls, ice cream, thick white bread, sweets, chocolate, chips etc etc.

I am feeling quite low at the moment. If you remember I was having giddy moments and feeling light headed a few weeks ago. Then I started getting a bad neck/shoulder. I am not sure if it is a a trapped nerve or a muscle spasm, but it bloomin hurts. I know it's no excuse, but this has made it difficult for me to behave on my diet. The only problem is that I know feel fat and really un happy with myself...which then in turn makes me eat more rubbish.

Anyway. I need to snap out of this and just get on with it. I have just printed out a tracker and have planned my food for the day. I won't be able to go to the gym after work this week and my son has chicken pox so I am only working mornings this week. Will get back in to that as soon as Finley is better and I'm working full days. I may take Finley for a walk each afternoon so that I am at least doing something.

My weigh in days have been all over the place of late. I have decided to stick to a Monday evening. Sunday morning seemed like a good idea. However I was still weighing of a Monday evening as you weigh more of an evening and I want to be 10 stone of an evening if that makes sense lol.

Jayne x

New Start. (Yes, yet another one!)

After ummming and aaaahing about whether or not to take the plunge (into my purse) and pay to go to weight watchers meetings I eventually decided that it was my only hope of reaching my goal weight at any time soon. So on Monday me, my Mom and my Brother's Girlfriend tootled round to the local high school for the 6.45 meeting. (I decided the Tuesday night one was too early for me to realistically make it home from work).

The diet is essentially the same as it was when I went there five-ish years ago with Jayne, counting up your points each day but what they have done is put more of a focus on healthy eating rather than just low-cal low-fat eating (which isn't the same) and you are supposed to use at least two thirds of your points on filling foods (which is essentially the stuff you can eat for free on slimming world) every day and the tracker is set up to encourage you to have enough calcium, fluids and portions of fruit and veg each day. I've got my monthly pass and the essentials pack with a shiney new shopping guide, eating out guide and tracker book. I've filled out all the vital statistics, even measuring various body parts with a tape measure. I'm ready t go.

Oh, I suppose you want to know what I weighed? 11st 4 and a half on the ww scales. Eeek. I've also set myself a mini goal (the whole group set themselves one in the class on monday ... it's called the Flaming June challenge). My mini goal is to get under 11 stone before the end of the month. That's 5lbs in 4 weeks. I hope I can do it. I really want to do it this time.

Gem x