Spring Resolutions - Looking for the Happy

I’m a little bit behind with my New Year’s Resolution, so as today is the start of spring and the clocks go forward at the weekend, I decided I’d introduce a “Spring Resolution” – better late than, never right? Plus, spring always feels like a chance for a new start anyway.

  At the beginning of the year, I decided that one of the things I would do for myself this year was to allow myself some time to be creative. I’d spend some time on my blog and as last year I started writing a book,  I decided to dedicate a bit of time to that every week too.

  That basically panned out like this...... I wrote a blog on New Year’s Day and about 6 weeks ago, I wrote a chapter of my book. 

 Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t have publishers banging my door down for my book and my inbox hasn’t been full of e-mails demanding when it’s making a return, but for me, I knew wasn’t doing something I wanted.

  2017 has so far been a bit peculiar, a whole combination of things has meant that my ass has been well and truly kicked! Rather than letting this year be about creativity and fun, somewhere along the way it became about decorating and furniture building and trying to squeeze 26 hours’ worth of stuff into 24. Then there’s been the thing that I could never have predicted, the thing that came along punched me in the stomach, pulled my hair and placed Lego everywhere I walked.

  Last week, everything really got on top of me and I realized that I’d got to do something…. Anything! So, I decided to “look for the happy”, for the last 5 days, I have tried to focus on just one thing every day that’s made me happy and take its photo.

By doing this, I realized that there was actually way more than one thing every day that put a smile on my face and I could probably have taken hundreds of photos!

These are my 5….

  The first photo is of my dog Mabel, I’ve written about her before, because she is the definition of happy, however rubbish her life might have been in the past, she’s put all that behind her and now she lives for playing fetch, her walks and her cuddles.

  The second photo is of daffodils; these beautiful yellow flowers always make me smile. Firstly, they remind me of my Mum, who ALWAYS bought me and my sister a bunch of the first daffodils she saw in the shops every year. She loved them because they symbolized spring and things coming to life. Secondly yellow is my favourite colour, it’s the colour of sunshine and if happy was a colour it would be yellow!

The third is a caricature that someone drew of me at an event. Me and some colleagues attended a show for work and ended up chatting to an artist at one of the stands, he drew pretty unflattering pictures of us all, but we belly laughed about them  and they are now are proudly on display in the office.

Whilst the box of Capri Sun and 3D glasses might seem random, they signify a really great night out last night. Now I know, not many stories start with “I was drinking Capri Sun, when this fun thing happened” But last night me and some of my favourite people went out for dinner and to see “Beauty and the Beast” and it was just the best night, it was so much fun, we laughed at each other’s stories and the film exceeded every expectation! If you haven’t seen it, go immediately!  My friend Gav rocked up with a carrier bag full of goodies, including a Capri Sun each!

  The final photo is my CD of choice in the car today, on the way to work belted out such classics as “Don’t Stop Believing”, “Making your Mind Up” and was over joyed when my beloved Bros came on.

Although I started off looking for the happy, I think that the happy has started to find me. So why not try it? For the next 5 days, look for one thing that makes you happy!

Light "cocks" and the Over 50's

So far, so good with my 30 day shred. There’s been body balance, which although I enjoyed I did think I’d broken a rib by Tuesday night because I was in so much pain. There’s been walks with Cyril, which in itself is like the most intense bingo wing walk out you’ll ever do, because he pulls so much and is so incredibly excited by everything.

  Today me and my friend Debbie decided we would dust off our badminton rackets and meet up for a game or two. Debbie and I have been friends for forever and between us must have tried every diet going, also once upon a time we used to play badminton. Deciding it was like riding a bike we booked a court. There were a couple of early issues…

1)     We couldn’t remember the rules

2)     We had no shuttlecocks

3)     Debbie had no joggers

The above issues were resolved in the following way

1)     Google

2)     I bought some

3)     Debbie bought some

Our chosen venue was the Festival Hall, where I played badminton as a child in Mrs Wilkinson’s after school badminton club (it may have had a snazzier title than that, but you get the gist) It was the location of many a childhood party, including Lucy's now infamous bouncy castle one, where my Mum spent most of the party jumping up and down on the bouncy castle!

badminton court

  When we arrived the receptionist said the over 50’s club were just finishing up, which was fine until Debbie pointed out that in 13 years we could join them! (I made a mental note to make new friends, only kidding Debs!)

  As it goes Debs and I may have inadvertently joined them a little bit sooner! As we got ourselves ready and thought we’d just start with a gentle knock about. It was at this moment Margaret and Carol took pity on us and decided that we would learn a lot quicker if they partnered up with us! Before we knew it and with what can only be described as military procession, Debs was partnering Margaret and Carol and I were their opponents.

  Margaret declared our “cocks far too light”, she probably said “shuttlecocks”, but we just heard the word “cock” and got the giggles! To say they had a good few years on us (Margaret told us she was 72!) They certainly gave us a run for our money! Eventually they had to leave as Margaret had another appointment (probably a quick 10K round Mansfield res or something) so Debs and I were left to our own devices.

  To say we hadn’t played in years, I think we gave a good account of ourselves and we both won a game each, even though at points we were so busy gossiping, we kept forgetting to keep score and which side we were meant to be serving from.

  Just as we were in the middle of game 2, Jeff** (**might not be his actual name) asked us if we were joining them next week and if we were to be there at 10, they had coffee at 11 and then continued playing. Before we knew it Debs and I were saying, “yes” in unison! I for one am looking forward to their Christmas do, because if the pictures on their notice board are anything to go by it’s a right laugh!

  On a more serious note I did earn 5 bonus points and have a right old giggle, so we’re going again next week, but with maybe slightly heavier (shuttle) cocks.

Me & Debs with a post badminton glow!

Feed Me ****** (insert name of your choice here)

Another half pound gone, which means in the last couple of weeks I’ve lost a total of 5, so I’m happy with that and confident I can reach my 14 pound total by my one year Weight watchers anniversary. Lucy lost 2 and for her first weigh in Laura also lost 2, so we did lots of high fives and woo-hooing. You can always tell when someone's lost weight by their body language, Lucy says she sees me raise my arms above my head and do a sort of happy wiggle, so she always knows before I tell her!

Laura, Me, Lucy

  I think going to a slimming club with your friends makes it easier, for lots of reasons

1)     You’re not going to let them down by not turning up.

2)     You probably all go out socialising so it makes it easier to stay on track (unless you’re all having a bad day, then it could go really wrong!)

The first time I did weight watchers I went with my Mum and I got to my goal weight and Mum lost about 4 stones and it helped having her doing too, particularly as, at that time, I was living at home and Mum was doing all the cooking. She would always say what points were in dishes and it made it easy to plan what I was going to eat as I knew what points I had to play with.

Me on the left at goal weight, Lucy on the right.

  As my weight started to creep up, I tried various diets, the Dukan Diet (I lost 4 pounds and developed an irrational hatred of cottage cheese) The Cornflake diet (I lost 3 pounds & developed an irrational hatred of maize based products) and a bootcamp regime (where I developed an irrational hatred of personal trainers and men who shouted stuff like "come on you're not running fast enough" or "give me 10 more") I’d also been to Weight Watchers on my own, but I’d never stay for meetings and found it hard to stick to when I was around normal people of a healthy weight who could eat what they wanted, so I gave up!

  This time going with Lucy has made a difference, because I automatically have a support system there. My Dad is also following the diet, but he’s doing it online. My Dad is a good cook and as my office is based at his house, it means that for lunch he cooks me various low point delights (although neither of us were keen on the beetroot soup!) 

  Now Laura has joined the Slinky gang, that means that when we head off on one of our adventures we can all try and help each other stay in our points. (I say adventures, because when me, Lucy and Laura go out, it’s never really a normal night out! Throughout our friendship we have ended up stuck in a caravan in Wales the weekend Princess Diana died, met a man in a pub who tried to chat us up as he swigged from a bottle of wine and set off on a walk round a park only to get lost and end up walking 10 miles!)

  Where it gets hard, is when you’re around friends who aren’t on a diet or who have never had a weight problem. We went to a Macmillan coffee morning over the weekend, which was my worst nightmare! Sat in an enclosed space surrounded by cakes, I knew this was going to be a massive test of my willpower. I decided the best thing for me to do was to have one slice of cake and move as far away from the table as possible, Lucy and I also decided that the afternoon would be spent taking Cyril on a long dogwalk. My plan worked well, I had one slice of date and walnut loaf (which I counted) and sat chatting to the other ladies there and avoided looking in the general direction of the cakes. There were a few incidents of “go on have another slice, one wont hurt you”, but I stayed strong, because I thought it will hurt me if I get on the scales on Tuesday and I haven’t lost anything!

Beautiful coffee morning cakes or torture as I like to call it!

  I think if you’re thinking of going on a diet, then try and find someone to do it with you, or if you think it might offend a friend if you say “hey fancy coming to fat club with me?” Then you’re more than welcome to like my Facebook page or follow us on Twitter @slinkybytuesday I’m not saying I have all the answers, because I don’t, but you’re welcome to join in my journey and see if it offers you any support! 

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!