Squad Goals

  

We all have that one moment that forces us to face the facts of a situation, it doesn’t matter what that situation is, there’s always a moment of clarity. Weight wise it can be a photo that makes you recoil in horror at the sheer level of "heiferness" you’ve reached. Relationship wise, it might be when you realise that despite your boyfriend telling you he’s only texting his hot female friend all times of day and night because they’re having “bants”, he is in fact cheating on you. Or a friend who keeps saying “we’ll pencil something in the diary” is really saying “we’ll pencil it in, in case I get a better offer” It’s time to accept they don’t value your friendship.

  That first weigh in takes bravery because you’re accepting you need to make a change, yes it’s embarrassing sharing with someone who’s essentially a total stranger one of your deepest darkest secrets, but if you’re going to fix it, you have to face facts!

  Last Sunday, Lucy (my sister) and I re-joined Weight Watchers, a new class, a new leader, and a fresh start! We were made to feel really welcome and as much as I dreaded walking in, there’s something really comforting about being amongst a group of people who all want to achieve the same thing…..lose a bit of timber!

  I came across a term the other day I’d never heard before, probably because I’m getting ever closer to high fiving 40! That term was “Squad Goals”, basically it means you and your friends are all trying to achieve something together and supporting each other in the process. Think Taylor Swift and her crew in the video “Bad Blood”

  I think it’s far easier to lose weight when you’ve got people on your side. Friends and family who don’t mind if you say “how did you cook that, what’s in it?” Or don’t try and entice you to have a takeaway in front of “The X Factor” or those who use my favourite phrase “One wont kill you, it’s only one little chocolate” These people are not part of your squad! These people are the Katy Perry to your Taylor Swift; you should have beef with them (but really lean beef, with all the fat trimmed off)

  It struck me this week, that I’m lucky, because my family and friends do have “Squad Goals”, no one has suggested a takeaway over the weekend, or rocked up at my house with a pack of biscuits or tried to deter me from going to the gym. But I have to say this week my Dad gets special #squadgoals praise, he went shopping and bought me a couple of pressies.

 Nothing says, “you can do this” like some sachets of Weight watchers Hot Chocolate (1 pro point each) and some Christmas fluffy socks!

An Escaped Beagle, a Damp Patch and a Biscuit Tin!

Yesterday I had one of those days where it felt like I was going to get my ass kicked. Everything was just really frustrating, every time I sat down to do something, something went wrong, computers crashed, websites wouldn’t load, Cyril decided to leg it out the gates and introduce himself to next door, but one. If someone had filmed that it would probably have been quite funny to watch back! Being a hound dog, Cyril picked up some kind of interesting scent and off he went, I realising what was happening went legging it after him, frantically screaming for Lucy to help. In hindsight I should have acted calmly and Cyril would have come back to me. As it was, my reaction made him think it was a game, so off he went next door but one and started playing with a golden retriever. In fact the “game” only game to an end when the next door but one neighbour flung himself on the floor and on top of Cyril! Cyril has now been grounded.

  Just as I got back to the office I got a phone call from the estate agent to say she’d shown someone round my "for sale flat" and it looked as though upstairs had got a leak and my walls were covered in damp, so again it was a case of stopping what I was doing and heading over there to sort out yet another problem!

  I think yesterday it was safe to say that by 1pm I was very much in a foul mood and when things get tough for me, my make myself feel better strategy is to stuff my face! By 1pm, the biscuit tin in our office had never looked more appealing and all I wanted was a massive cup of tea and to dunk biscuits until the tin was empty!

  Then as I was messing around on the Internet, I found this quote. 

It struck a cord, I thought all I’m doing by being in a bad mood is attracting more and more negative stuff to happen to me and actually emptying the contents of the biscuit tin wont make me feel better, all it will do is make me mad at myself next week when I get on the scales.

  So I decided to stop what I was doing and take Cyril for a walk at one of my favourite places. We went off to Newstead Abbey, which I think is one of the most beautiful places in Nottinghamshire. As I looked at the water glinting off the lake I was dragged out of my funk by an American couple who wanted to know where the gardens were because they wanted to see “traditional English roses”, I resisted the temptation to say they were talking to one and pointed them in the right direction. They then thought I was some sort of tour guide because they started asking me loads of questions about Lord Byron and whether monks still lived there. I actually shocked myself with my knowledge of Byron, but sensed their disappointment at the fact they weren't going to see any monks.  In fact I think I was one step away from raising my umbrella in the air and insisting they followed me whilst I pointed out various places of interest. I left them to explore and Cyril and I continued about our business and after my conversation with them and seeing Cyril legging it about really happily my bad mood seemed to have lifted.

 When I got back to the office I’d received e-mails from potential clients and confirmation of more work, which again added to my happy mood. That night I stuck to the promise I’d made to myself to go the gym and as I peddled away and lifted weights it felt like even my iPod wanted to play ball and every song that came up on shuffle was a winner! I had to stop myself singing this out loud. I love a bit of Taylor Swift, particularly when she’s in shouting at boys’ mode!

  By the end of what could have been a rubbish day, I’d earned 8 bonus points and the contents of my biscuit tin were still in tack!

  I am a massive believer in the saying “what you think about you bring about” so for me I stopped thinking about was wrong with the day and focused on what was right!

Oh and PS - my upstairs neighbour phoned me back about the damp and he's really hot and the problem is being sorted!