Why?

This week I’m really proud of myself! I knew that if I hadn’t lost anything when I stepped on the scales this week, I would be genuinely gutted, but my hard work has paid off and I had a loss of 4 ½ pounds! Which means I am back on target for having lost my 14-pound goal by my 1-year anniversary of 30^th October and most importantly I got to cross off some of those numbers, which is really therapeutic. 

  Our friend Laura has joined us in our Slinky mission too and we have grand plans of heading to Vegas next year and being the hottest babes on the strip. I think our trip will probably end up something like this, which I think the 3 of us know is how we'll be in about 40 years time!

In the meeting today we were talking about what was the catalyst that made you want to lose weight.  Everyone had different reasons for some it was because they wanted to be able to run around with their children, for others it was a photo that had spurred them into action and for some a cruel comment.

  Lucy works with a lot of men and without wishing to tar every bloke with the same brush, sometimes you don’t think before you speak! One of the blokes Lucy worked with schmoozed her with the line “blimey Trinder you’ve put some timber on” Safe to say he didn’t get a brew made for him for the rest of the day. It really hurt Lucy, she'll tell you she'd never really had a weight problem before, but said she could feel it starting to spiral out of control, so when someone else mentioned it, she knew it was time to act!

For me, I think it was the realisation that it was about time I put myself first, as no one else will! They always say the only person who loves you more than you love yourself is your dog and if I’m honest I sometimes think Cyril waivers on that!

Cyril ignoring me!

 I’d had such a long period of time where I let life get me down; I always put the needs of others before my own, particularly in my working environment. I think I was very aware that I wasn’t popular and so tried to make people like me by helping where I could and taking the things they didn't want to do off their hands. Very often I’d plan to do something like go for a walk at lunch time or nip out and do my shopping so that it left my evening free to go to the gym, but then someone would shove something on my desk and I’d end up doing that. I know some personal trainers would argue that meant that exercise wasn’t a priority for me and maybe it wasn’t because I was just trying to keep my head above water. The reality was it didn't make anyone like me any better, I was still very unpopular and Vile Scabby Fanny would still miss me out when offering everyone else a cake (in hindsight maybe she thought I'd eaten enough cakes in my time and was trying to help me lose weight?)

Eventually I reached breaking point and a colleague asked me to help him with something that didn’t need doing. I had a meeting scheduled so I said no. You’d have thought I’d have asked him if I could have a poo on his desk as he spent the next TWO weeks wearing his headphones, pretending to listen to something on his computer, when I could see it wasn’t connected to anything. He didn’t speak to me only to unceremoniously hand me his mug when I offered to make a coffee. And people ask me if I miss my last job?

 After a few months of licking my wounds and getting my head straight again I thought it was time I did something for myself. It’s harder than it sounds because my natural tendency is to do stuff for other people first, Lucy and Dad say I’m a love monster. 

  Losing weight is now a major a priority for me, because there’s only me that can do it, it's on my list of non-negotiables, along with these;

1. Lose weight
2. Spend time with my friends and family
3. Never miss an episode of "Dexter"

There’s only me that can drag my fabulous ass (well it will be fabulous) to the gym and if I eat crap it will only affect me, no one else will put on weight if I shove my face with a family sized bar of Dairy Milk (other chocolates are available)  

  I have a lot to lose so it’s all about small victories for me, last week I managed to zip up a pair of knee high boots that I’d never worn before because my calves were too fat and I’ve had to get rid a pair of trousers that were too big and made me look like Kevin Federline in the Britney years, which wasn’t a good look even in the early noughties!

 Ultimately I have a size 10 dress that I want to get into, the last time I wore it was on a Valentine’s date with my ex, the evening wasn’t massively successful and I’ve always felt like the dress was slightly wasted, probably why he's now my ex!

Early Mornings and Hot Blokes!

So far so good this week! Lucy and I have set ourselves the challenge of losing a stone before our 1 year Weight Watchers anniversary, which is the 30^th October. We’ve even pinned a chart to the office noticeboard so we can cross off the pounds as we go!

  When (not if) we both lose the required 14 pounds, it will see Lucy reach goal weight and me achieve my 15% goal. Before anyone thinks we’ve set ourselves an unrealistic target, essentially it equates to us losing 2 pounds a week, which is what the people who know what they’re talking about say you should aim for.

  I think the more my slinky mission continues, the more I’ve realised that you have to set yourself realistic goals. I know I have a sweet tooth and so to deny myself any form of chocolaty goodness would see me have a bonkers moment where I just stuff myself full of a family size bar of Dairy Milk! So instead of saying that I wont eat chocolate I’ve found low fat options. For example a flake is only 2 Weight Watchers points and a curly wurly is only 3 and they’re proper chocolate! Plus you can have 4 rich tea biscuits for 3 points, if you have those with a brew you feel like you’re being really naughty when in fact you’re not! (well your not if you have the points!)

  Exercise is the same for me, I think in the past I’ve set myself unrealistic targets and made such bold statements as “I’ll get up every morning at 6 and do an hours workout before I start work” The reality of that is, my alarm would go off, I’d have an extra hour in bed and then get up to watch “Daybreak” (other breakfast news shows are available) with a brew.

  This time I’ve decided that I will go to the gym a minimum of twice a week, any more than that and yay me, but no pressure! In my working life I’m really organised and keep a list of what needs doing when, that way I know what I’m trying to achieve that day. (These organisational skills may shock my friends who know my non-working reality is somewhat more chaotic) I decided to adapt this philosophy to my gym schedule, so I looked in my diary at what I had to do that week, when I could realistically fit everything in and decided when the gym trips could happen! Hey presto last night I went after work and then again this morning! I got up when my alarm went off and headed to the gym! If I manage to fit in a workout tomorrow brilliant, if not then I wont feel guilty! The bonus of going to the gym this morning was I saw a really hot man leaving for work who lives round the corner from me. I felt as though the exercising Gods were rewarding me for going to the gym so early! In fact he was so hot, I’ll be getting up early next week to go the gym!

  I’ve also decided I need to put together a new gym playlist to motivate me, I pressed shuffle on my IPod this morning and as much as I love Angry Anderson, it’s not really great at making me pedal faster on the bike. Don’t judge me! If you’re mid 30’s I bet you still cry at the clip of Scott and Charlene getting married, if you don’t, then you’ve a heart of stone!

  So any suggestions for suitable songs for my “work you ass of playlist”? Please keep in mind the following

1)     I have rubbish taste in music

2)     I’m not a big fan of anything that takes its inspiration from a car alarm

3)     I love soft rock and also boy bands 

Please and thank you to you!

It's On Like Donkey Kong (Other computer games are available)

Whoever tells you that losing weight is easy, is (in my opinion) one of three things

1. An idiot
2. Someone who has never tried to lose weight
3. Trying to sell you something!

Losing weight isn’t easy it’s really bloody hard and staying focused and on track is the hardest thing of all. I get so upset by magazine articles who have some half naked celebrity on the front saying they've lost a stone in a week and then when you buy the magazine and read the article they've basically lived in a cave in the middle of nowhere for the week and only eaten mung beans (I don't even know what a mung bean is let alone have ever eaten one!) It's irresponsible and not a fair representative. 

  Then there's those people (and we all have friends like these) who say "I've never had a weight problem and if I think my clothes are getting a bit tight, I just cut back for a week" This statement is usually accompanied by them shoving a cream cake in their gob as you do your best not to hang off the other end of it as you know that even being in the vicinity of the cake means you've indadvertedly consumed the calories too.

  Then there's those who promise you the world and all you have to do is sign up for their amazing boot camp / diet / pills that will have you  a size 10 within the month. All it costs is 5 easy payments of £99.99 per month and the magic is yours. I must admit the picture of the lady in the cycling shorts and vest top stood sticking her tummy out as far as it can and looking sad compared to the lady (who always looks like her younger sister) in a bikini with abs of steal, a tight bum and weirdly bigger, faker looking boobs makes it tempting to sign up!

  But truth be told, they're all rubbish! The only way to lose weight is to stop stuffing your gob and move around a bit more than you probably do! 

It was back to the scales for me this morning to assess the holiday damage and in fairness it wasn’t too bad, I’d put on 2 pounds, which I can live with and most importantly do something about!

  The 30^th October will be mine and Lucy’s one year Weight Watchers anniversary and if I’m honest I’m probably not quite where I’d like to be, I think I’d seen myself being a few more stones lighter. BUT and this is the thing for me, I am lighter than I’ve been in a long time and the majority of the time (high days and holidays excluded) I’ve stuck to my slinky mission. In fact I try not to see it as a diet, but a way of life!

 I remember when I first started Weight Watchers, a girl I know started one of these ridiculous half a cucumber diets, where you have half a cucumber on a Tuesday, a grain of rice for your breakfast and only drink chilled water whilst humming "Papa Was a Rolling Stone". She looked me squarely in the eye as she nibbled on a bit of cucumber and said “this is a way of life baby” and I remember thinking there’s no way on this earth you’ll stick to that for longer than half an hour and sure enough she didn’t, pretty soon it was a case of the only way is Haribo!

  So although there have been some minor mishaps along the way, I believe that however long it takes me, I will eventually get there cos this is a diet that allows for the odd slip up and the fact we are human. I've lost 10% of my body weight and have a keyring and certificate to prove it and I'm in clothes I haven't worn for years and generally a dress (in some cases 2) less, so for me that's an achievement!

  That said Lucy and I have set ourselves the target of having lost another stone each by our Slinky anniversary, so for the next month we’ll be really going for it, there will be no mini treats. I’ve tried to be as realistic as possible with the target I’ve set myself. Essentially I need to lose 2 pounds a week and because I know me, I know that if I say I’ll go to the gym everyday that wont happen, so realistically I reckon I can fit in twice a week with my work and my Cyril walking schedule!

  So wish me luck and hopefully when I get on the scales next week, I’ll have chipped away a bit of that pesky next stone! Plus when I do reach that target, I'll get to treat myself to something pretty! Now what should I buy? I'm thinking maybe one of these  http://www.anniehaakdesigns.co.uk  my plan is to get one for each stone I lose, so I never lose sight of exactly what I've achieved and how far I've come! Plus she does amazing jewellery!

Excuse Me!

Not the best of weeks in my slinky journey, I’ve put 2 and a half pounds on (ouch) still what did make me feel better (in a really selfish way) was the fact that most people in my group seemed to have put weight on. In fact out of everyone that was there, there was a total loss of 20 pounds and a total gain of 20 ½ pounds – oops!

  Still it led to us having a discussion about excuses, most of us had approached the scales waving our excuses about like flags at the Queen’s Jubilee. There was everything from “it’s been my birthday” (me) “It’s been Katie’s birthday” (Lucy) “I’ve been on holiday”, “I’ve been to London”, “it’s hard when the kids are off” or my favourite “well I know where that’s come from”, with no further explanation. I wish I could be one of those people who never feels the need to explain anything. Just makes a statement and leaves it there.

  So what is about this time of year that has made most of my fellow weightwatchers put on weight? Is it the weather? With the recent sunny weather we’ve had, I know that me and Lucy have done more of taking Cyril for a walk and then calling off at our local for a quick drink, than we would normally do. It’s like we want to make the most of being able to sit outside and enjoy the sunshine, plus as we keep telling ourselves, the more we try and socialise Cyril with people, the less of a nightmare he’ll become…..

  I feel like I’ve reached a bit of a plateau, maybe I’ve allowed myself a treat too many, an extra point or two here and there. So it’s time to stop that nonsense and re-focus, because lets face it, if I screw up what I’m trying to achieve, this blog will be a joke!

  I’ve gone back to basics, and decided to do all the things I was doing when I first began my slinky mission. A thing that always works with me, is looking at photos of myself at my fattest and reminding myself I really don’t want to go back there.

  I’ve started wearing my pedometer again so that I can keep a track of how many steps I do a day and more importantly how many bonus points I earn. Even though a lot of my day is spent at my desk, I am quite active, I walk Cyril everyday and just generally running round after him trying to rescue various things he’s stolen, but I know I need to do more. 

  I joined my local gym last week and I have been very good in following the programme that has been set for me by the lovely Matt. Going to the gym isn’t an enjoyable thing for me, I normally find them quite intimidating, but this new one seems nice and the members less stuck up. It actually seems perfectly acceptable to sweat at this gym, at my last place, no one appeared to perspire, maybe they’d reached a super level of fitness, where they no longer sweated. I’m not a pretty exerciser (I’m not pretty full stop, but I’m less pretty with a bright red face and sweat drenched hair stuck to my forehead)

  My food has also gone back to basics, I know I do better with my weight loss when my food is interesting. I’m not a great cook, but I do like it. On Saturday I made beefburgers (from the weightwatchers book) and although they ended up less beefburger like and more griddled minced beef with onions and grated carrots they were nice. I made butternut squash chips and salad. So this week, I’m challenging myself to cook more, tonight it’s lasagne, but using aubergine and courgettes instead of pasta, I’ve never cooked with aubergine before so it could be an unmitigated disaster, but in for a penny right?

  Lucy had also put weight on this week and together, we’re a bit like the Bad Idea Bears from “Avenue Q”, we sometimes just get a bit carried away and have no "stop"button!

We’d stopped really planning our weekends, what we were doing, what we would be doing and what we’d be eating. So this week, we’ve gone back to that, Friday we’re having a night out, but we’ve already checked out the menu in the restaurant, Saturday night, it’s the cinema and despite me having a crazy sweet tooth, I can resist the array of pick n mix and ice cream on offer there (no really I can, it’s a case of buy ticket, head straight into the cinema, never looking left or right) then on Sunday we’re off to the Robin Hood Festival with our godchildren and the dog combining exercise and a fun day out!

  Finally as I was walking round the supermarket yesterday, I was reminded of my favourite food. As a child, I stopped eating these for a bit because “Snow White” scared me (I was a sensitive child) so I bought myself loads of these. 

I'm hoping my back to basics approach will work and I've set myself a mini target of losing 4 pounds over the next 2 weeks!