Stop Waiting for Friday

Me and my sister Lucy were having a chat the other day, when Lucy asked me a profound question. It threw me, because normally are discussions go like this;

Or our other favourite debate;

If you had to live in space or under the sea, what would you choose? (Under the sea wins every time, just so we can sing this!

So when Lucy asked me this, it threw me.......

Lucy being profound

That’s a really tough one to answer. I’d hate to stay this size forever, which is why I’m trying my best to do something about it. I want to be able to wear whatever I want to and feel fabulous in it, rather than opening my wardrobe and asking, “what fits?” I want to feel fitter and healthier and I want to walk into a room and not worry that a group of whispering people are commenting on the size of my arse!

Someone last week accused me of being unhappy with myself because I wrote a blog about wanting to lose weight and being embarrassed by myself when I stuffed myself with digestives topped with Nutella. The truth is I'm far from unhappy with myself, in many respects I am a very lucky girl and I'm truly grateful for the things I have in my life - my family, my friends, my pets, my health, my business, I'm even grateful that the yellow roses I planted in my garden last year are growing. I find joy whenever I can wherever I can. I've worked hard to be this way. The hardest thing to accept is that sometimes bad stuff just happens and worrying about it, won't stop it!

However I am a really focused person and I want to be the very best I can in everything that I do. The standards I want to meet are my own. For example, I want my business to be the very best I can make it. I want to do an amazing job for my clients. I'm not aiming to be Apple (although I wouldn't mind being a penny behind them) but I want to know that my clients go away with what they wanted and a bit more. So to help that along, I'm doing a training qualification because it will help with the training aspect of my business better. It doesn't mean I'm unhappy with the service we already offer  but I want it to be even better! 

  It's the same with my Slinky mission, there are many great things about me. I think I'm quite pretty, I have lovely eyes, a bright smile, nice hair, I'm hilarious, I'm kind, I'm witty and I can recite all the words to the film "Adventures in Babysitting" 

   Losing weight and getting fitter and healthier is about me doing the very best I can for me and being the most fabulous version of myself.  It doesn't stop me enjoying every single second of my life. I'm not waiting for the weekend, because Friday is bound to be better than today. I'm not sat on the sofa watching re-runs of "The Good Wife" waiting for Mr Right (although I do like "The Good Wife" Go Alicia!) and  I don't think if I were slimmer my life would be perfect, because I've been slim and my life wasn't any more perfect than it is now. 

   Don't get me wrong I like Friday nights, I wouldn't mind finding Mr Right and I do want to be slimmer, but I won't let my life pass me by whilst I wait for them.  Life is so very short and precious that you have to stop waiting for Friday and go out and do what's best for you today! Weight wise I stayed the same this week, but that's OK because I smashed my target of earning more than 30 bonus points (43 points in total thank you very much) and I had a really fun week.

 

It's for this "not waiting for Friday" reason, I’d like to dedicate this blog to Corah Blu Slaney who died today at the age of 17 after suffering from Mitochondrial disease. You can read more about Corah’s battle here.

My love and thoughts are with Corah’s parents Lisa and Carl and all her family.

"Four!!"

The first weigh in after you’ve (re) started your diet is always the scariest. I'm starting to think I've had more comebacks than Frank Sinatra! Last week, I really gave it my all;  I have counted, pointed, tracked, exercised and followed my DNA Fit plan to the letter. As I approached the scales, I felt a little bit like Jack Bauer in “24”, (spoiler alert!) It felt like that bit when he sacrifices himself to the Russians in order to save Chloe. Maybe slightly over dramatic, as Lucy wast standing at the scales crying "don't Katie, you don't have to do this" and I at no point, whispered dramatically "Damn it Lucy" Still, it was pretty nerve wracking! 

  That first weigh-in can go one of two ways; either your body goes “finally some sensible eating” and responds and you lose weight. or it goes “seriously dude, where’s the 4 tonnes of chocolate you’ve been eating, help, panic, I’m starving, save yourself” and you either stay the same or maybe put half a pound on.

  Fortunately for me, my body was delighted to no longer be eating a vat of Nutella and doing stuff other than sitting on the sofa and exercising my remote changing finger. 

  Turns out it’s quite enjoyed a 6 mile dog walk and early morning trips to the gym, where I can get my freak on to Bruno Mars (by “freak on” I mean peddling furiously on an exercise bike and walking on a treadmill, that’s the definition of “freak on” when you’re 38!) 

I lost 4 pounds this week, and as a result was given 8 little pebbles, which my Weight Watchers leader, Helen gave me. Helen gives everyone a pebble for every half pound they loose, I enjoyed the sound of mine clanking into the bowl!

My 4 pound pebbles

  I’ve never considered myself competitive either, but my Dad and I have both treated ourselves to a FitBit. These are bands that you wear around your wrist and they monitor your activity throughout the day. I suggested to Dad, we wear them round our ankles, but as he pointed out, we'd just look like we were "on tag" They also sync with your Weight Watchers app, so they automatically count your points. The aim is to do 10,000 steps a day, which is harder than it sounds, particularly when you sit at a desk. I keep getting up and walking round the office and at night, there’s a lot of running up and down stairs!

My FitBit

  Without really saying, Dad and I are now competing to see who can do the most steps and earn the most bonus points! Dad was most upset when I got my 5,000 steps badge before him!

  Still with 4 pounds gone, I’m on track to meet my 7 pounds target before I head to London to see Matt Goss, next week!

Do You Know What I Got for Christmas? Fat! I Got Fat!

Well that’s not strictly true, if I’m honest Christmas was just a really big flake on top of a VERY big ice cream! A few of my bad habits of been gradually creeping in, which has meant my weight has gradually gone up a bit. 

Bad habits or breakfast pastries as other people call them.

French Toast, which may or may not have been consumed over the Christmas period, by someone who may or may not have been me

There has been an odd flash of brilliance with a pound lost here and there, but (and I know this sounds like an excuse) in the run up to Christmas I’ve been so busy that I haven’t managed to make many weigh ins. I’ve been working crazy hours, which means I haven’t made the gym and getting in late has meant tea has generally been something on toast. It’s amazing what you can put on a bit of toast; I may actually write a cookbook entitled “KT Toast of the Town”.

  I know a lot of people don’t believe in New Year’s resolutions, but I think everyone needs a starting point, whether it’s the start of a New Year, a new week or even a new day, you just need a starting point!

  I took my opportunity as 1^st January, I say January 1^st, it was the bit after the bit where I stayed up until the early hours of the morning eating and drinking bad stuff. My January 1^st started about 10am!

  I planned for it though, I made sure, my fridge was full of healthy stuff that I liked and I also refreshed myself with the plan that DNA Fit put together for me. 

I’ve been combining their advice, but eating to my Weight Watchers points, which has been working. Basically my DNA dictates that I eat very little carbs (bang goes that toast cookbook) eat more fish and protein, bring on the cheese (although weighed and pointed portions) I’m OK with a glass of red (hurrah, I knew I liked dieting) and I can still drink coffee and eat chocolate occasionally (and occasionally doesn’t mean every couple of hours)

  I’ve needed to start to build up my fitness again, so over the weekend, Cyril was taken out for walks, which has the double bonus of earning me extra points and tiring him out, which if you’ve ever come across a beagle is a near impossible task!

Sleepy Cyril & his Moo-cow

  Tuesday morning I set my alarm and was at the gym for 6.30am, which apparently is the busiest place on earth at that time of morning, I had to distract an old lady with Alan Titchmarsh on the tele so I could get on a treadmill.

Ipod and water ready for the gym

Today, I’ve managed to plan my working day so that I could nip off for a couple of hours to go to Just Jhoom, which is my all time favourite ever exercise class. If you’ve never done it, it’s basically Bollywood style Zumba! Don’t let the warm up of moving your eyes left to right and up and down fool you into thinking it’s easy, it’s not! It’s hard and you sweat A LOT and then old ladies have to ask you if you’re alright (well they do with me!)

  So tonight is my first post Christmas weigh in and I know it wont be pretty, but as I strip off at the scales and I mean strip (I need every bit of help I can get) I know that I’ve put myself back on track, I’ve also set myself mini goals to keep me focused! The first one is to have lost 7 pounds by the time I go and see Matt Goss at the end of January, so wish me the best of British!

It's In Your DNA

I’ve really been struggling the last few months, work has become epically busy, which,  because I work for myself I’m really not complaining about! But it means certain things have had to give. I read so much stuff from personal trainers that says “if it’s important, you’ll make time for it” They’re right, but for me, that’s had to be sleep! A lot of my friends will tell you they’ve barely seen me and obviously there’s been a lack of blog posts!

  The other things that have given have been trips to the gym and my diet, although when I got weighed yesterday I was really pleased that in a month I’d only put a pound on! I’ve tried to be organised and on a Sunday I have made valiant efforts to make healthy food and freeze it so I can get it out, no matter how late I’m running. That’s been successful to a point, but I know I’m drinking too much coffee and eating one too many low fat biscuits!

Occasionally I make stuff other than Spag Bol!

 I knew something was making me feel not quite right, but couldn’t decide whether it was lack of sleep, stress or an allergy. My weight loss has really plateaued and nothing seems to kickstart it! Then someone introduced me to the idea of DNA testing to see exactly what your body did and didn’t respond to. So I contacted DNA Fit. 

I always thought that if ever I had to have a DNA test, they would discover the following

1.     My blood is 90% chocolate

2.     I’m genetically disposed to support Mansfield Town, no amount of reasoning will make me switch allegiances. 

3.     I deludedly believe that one day I will marry Matt Goss

I’m not 100% sure what I thought would happen, my DNA testing kit arrived through the post, which was exactly like the one I used to test my dog Cyril a few months earlier to see whether he’d secretly got Great Dane in him! I swabbed the inside of my mouth, put it back in the sterile packaging and put it in the post, praying that I too,  won't be  half Great Dane!

  I’m not sure what I'm expecting from the results, I sort of think it will be a list of things I should and shouldn't be eating.  I'm just hoping there's not a full on chocolate ban! I should have my results next week!

And I'm Feeling Good.....and Other Lies!

I’m having one of those days today, where I really couldn’t decide what to wear, not because I have a date or an important meeting, but because today when I looked in the mirror I really hated what I saw! The irony is that I know my body is starting to get a bit more toned; my bingo wings are wobbling far less than normal…. I know this because I keep looking at them and giving them a jiggle to check it’s not an illusion and my weight is steadily decreasing.

  It just felt like every single item of clothing I put on looked awful. It appeared to show every lump and bump, even lumps and bumps that I swear weren’t there yesterday! I think I changed my top about 5 times before I dared to leave the house and even then I opted for a t-shirt that’s about 4 sizes too big, in fact there may even be a small person hiding underneath it, it’s so large I probably wouldn’t even notice!

  The weird thing is that I didn’t feel like this yesterday and I certainly didn’t feel like it the day before. In fact the day before I went to my Zumba class (which I’m still really bad at, but really love) I’m not one of those girls sees the gym as a place to meet a potential husband. I don’t go in with perfect make up or my hair in some fancy style, in fact most of the time I go in an old pair of joggers and a t-shirt I’ve unearthed from a bottom of the draw, but hey when I know I’m going to end up looking like this…

Sexy post exercise face

  There’s no point in making an effort because who’s going to fancy a sweaty fat bird?

  It wasn’t until I arrived at the gym for Zumba, that I realised my choice of t-shirt may have been a bit of a mistake. Now I love this particular top because I love Tommy Cooper and it’s StellaMcCartney dahhhhling (actually it’s probably the only bit of Stella McCartney clothing I can fit in) However it wasn’t until I arrived at the gym and saw the look of horror on the two 19 year old TOWIE wannabees; complete with diamond studded earing, Aztec patterned wife beater vests, inappropriately short shorts (mouse back in the house boys) and a whiff of biscuits because of a tad too much fake tan that I realised I actually did look a “bogger” (to quote my Gran)

  For although I love my Tommy Cooper t-shirt, it would appear that Tommy was having a laugh at me from beyond the grave. Tommy’s large spectacles were perfectly placed, one over each bosom and his comedy red nose smack bang in the middle of my cleavage.

My beloved Tommy Cooper t-shirt

 But do you know what? I thought it was funny and every time I caught sight of myself in the mirror during the Zumba class, I had a little giggle to myself, because I thought I looked way more fabulous than the two horrified TOWIE wannabees!

  So, the question is why when I knew I looked like a “bogger” the other day, a “bogger” that was horrifying teenagers, did I still feel better about myself than I do today? I don’t know the answer, I really don’t, but for today I will hide away in my large t-shirt and maybe tomorrow when I wake up I’ll channel my inner Tommy Cooper!

  In the meantime here's my favourite version of "Feeling Good", probably not a shock that it's the Matt Goss version!