New Year, Same Me, but Slightly Improved (ish)

Happy New Year!

Today is my first day back at work after a 2 week holiday, a 2 week Christmas break that saw me rediscover the delights and joys of all the foods I’ve spent the last year avoiding.  What is it about Christmas that suddenly makes us think, “Lets eat as much food as we can until we feel sick?” After all it’s really just one day and it’s really just a Sunday dinner with a few more vegetables. Yet for some reason we get the urge to eat peanuts by the bucket load and a whole tin of chocolates before we’ve even brushed our hair (just me?)

  Our Christmases are slightly different now; after Mum died we decided that we didn’t want to spend Christmas at home. None of us could stand the thought of sitting round the dinner table with an empty seat and then watching the Christmas episode of “Eastenders”, where someone would get dumped, killed, have their house burnt down or something equally cheerful, all accompanied by shouts of “get out of my pub” We decided to get as far away as possible, so off we went to Cancun.

  We’d never spent or even contemplated Christmas in the sun, so we didn’t know what to expect. As it turns out we had an amazing time and it was the best thing we could have done and as a result we’ve done it the last 4 Christmases. Weirdly there's a group of people in the hotel, who just like us go every year. After 4 years we still don't really know anyone's names, but we smile and say hello and this year we actually took bets on when the others would arrive! These are our favourites;

• Boss Hog and Nigella - They're from Texas (we think) and they strut around as if they own the place, from the moment they arrive they dominate the staff, push in at the bar and generally strut around. To quote my Gran he walks in a fashion that suggests "here's my head, my arse is coming" and she looks a bit like an older Nigella Lawson and has a sun hat to match every swimsuit.
• Mr & Mrs Essex  - A lovely couple from Essex who have a son called Scott, who makes a guest appearance at some point during the holiday.
• Padre and Mrs Padre - We're not sure if this is his actual name or a nickname that he's universally known by, he may actually be a padre. He NEVER shuts up! And as a result his wife can be seen face down on a sun-bed with her headphones on letting him talk to other people. I think she probably has enough of him wittering on throughout the year. At approximately 3.50pm everyday, Padre tries to make everyone in the hotel gather for water volleyball. So far he's never managed to convince us, our excuses have ranged from "I'm recovering from wrist surgery" (me) to "maybe tomorrow" (Lucy) to "no" (Dad)

Yet this collection of weird and wonderful people are our Christmas companions and although I think we occasionally get a pang that our family Christmases are no longer the same, particularly when you see pictures of pressies under the tree ready for the children to open, but in our Pollyanna state of minds, the sunshine, cocktails and hot stone massage we had on Christmas day, soon helps us feel better. We just have a new normal now.

Merry Christmas from the Trinders!

  It’s this 2-week holiday that has led me to have “scales fear” next Tuesday. I think wherever you’ve spent Christmas, you probably started off with good intentions and then before you know it your paper hat is askew, you’re knee deep in Cadbury’s Heroes wrappers and developed a love of figs, which you must eat by the pound in any one sitting, despite not eating them at any other point in the year! 

  I too started off my holiday with good intentions, picking fruit and yogurt for breakfast and then a seafood salad at lunchtime. By the time a few cocktails had been consumed, I was saying stuff like “one desert wont hurt and then no more till Christmas Eve” This lasted all of a couple of days and before I knew it, rather than fruit I was having pain au chocolate and my salads were becoming laced with coleslaw and cheese and then I was just picking whatever I fancied off the menu as opposed to the healthiest option. The menus even had these little green apple symbols by the healthy options, so there was no excuse really. I started swimming everyday too, but then I got fed up of dodging the heavy petting couples in the pool, so eventually I just swam to the bar, rather than risk getting caught up in an inappropriate situation!

Me trying escargot, which really just taste of chewy nothingness

Hotel surf & turf burger, which are amazing!

  Since getting back I have avoided the scales and am dreading my first weigh in of 2014, but I guess if you do the crime, you should be prepared to do the time!

  I have however had a word with myself and today it’s back to normal and my normal is actually a healthy way of eating. I want to continue with my Slinky mission more than I want to eat chocolate (yes you did read that correctly!) So yesterday I organised myself, made sure I had plenty of fruit, salad and vegetables in the house, de-junked my fridge of the naughty New Year’s Eve buffet and prepared a healthy stew for tonight’s tea. I also met my friend Debbie for a game of badminton, which even after a break of 3 weeks we managed to not play too badly! So I’m hoping by the time next Tuesday comes I’ve undone some of the damage.

 Wish me luck and I hope 2014 is all you want it to be and a lot more besides!

Lucy and me, one of my favourite pics from the holiday

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!

The Dangers of Nutella

Last week, Dad, Lucy and I decided it was time for a week of laying in the sun, so headed off to Corfu, because of how the holiday fell Lucy and I have missed a couple of weeks of Weight Watchers. We uttered the immortal phrase “well we wont be bad whilst we’re away” however unfortunately Lucy and I both need the fear of physically being weighed, so sadly things didn’t quite go to plan.

Me facing my weigh day fear!

  The food in the hotel was nice, but it was an all-inclusive buffet and I think these are so tricky when you’re on a diet. In fact as much as I love them, I would ban buffets! I’ve read all the tips, fill your plate full of salad, avoid the fried stuff, don’t stand near it etc. etc. The first couple of days I did really well, although there weren’t a lot of truly healthy options, apparently in Corfu, all salad and vegetables must be drenched in oil. So the first couple of days I started by filling my plate full of cucumber and tomatoes, which appeared to be the only au-naturel salad and then adding on pieces of meat and fish. For desert, I avoided anything chocolaty and ate A LOT of watermelon!

  But then it starts, the bits of cucumber became a bit less and all of a sudden I found myself adding to my plate tiny bits of pizza and a few chips. Desert became watermelon and a tiny bit of something that could have been cheesecake. It was a slippery slope!

  Weirdly I manage to behave myself with breakfast buffets, sticking to mushrooms on toast and fruit. (2 thumbs way high for me!) And then it was like the Evil god of buffets, thought to himself (I’m assuming the Evil god of buffets is a chap) thought I know lets see if we can shove her off the wagon a bit further, because one morning there appeared a huge bowl of Nutella.

  I don’t know what it is with Nutella, but it’s like some kind of magic substance where I’m concerned, I cannot resist it! It’s even reached the point, where I avoid the supermarket aisles where it lives, because I cannot trust myself not to buy a big jar of it and eat it all with a spoon the very second I walk through the door! (I know this is me telling the world about some of my most attractive habits) Sensing that picking the huge bowl of Nutella up and taking it to the breakfast table for me to devour with a spoon over a cup of coffee, would be somewhat frowned upon by the other guests and staff, I restricted myself to a tablespoon (maybe 2) to spread on toast! I even started to think, maybe when I get home I can buy a jar and just have a teaspoon on toast every morning. I can totally do that, however deep down I know that wouldn’t happen. I might manage a day maybe 2, but then as I’m sat watching “Celebrity Big Brother” or “Question Time” (*delete where applicable) I’ll hear the call of the Nutella from the cupboard and before you know it, it will be all over my face and in my hair (yes I’m that classy!)

Me as a baby covered in Gingerbread,  Nutella has the same effect on "adult" Katie

  The good news is after a week of naughtiness (food wise, there was no one nice enough to flirt with) I now feel so fed up of horrid bad food, that this morning  I have reverted to a healthy way of eating – toast (minus the Nutella) for breakfast, 0 point vegetable soup for lunch and fruit snacks throughout the day. Already I feel loads better! I’m off shopping later and I will be avoiding the jams and spread aisle so no Nutella accidentally “falls” into my trolley.

  I think one bit of advice I would give to anyone on a Slinky mission is that if there’s one food you can’t resist then don’t buy it. Why put yourself through it? Since being on my Slinky mission, I’ve founds loads of new foods that I enjoy just as much as the old crap I used to eat. I intend to write a cookbook on things you can do with a butternut squash, mango is like the Haribo of the fruit world, because it’s a little bit fizzy and a flake is only 2 points, so I can still eat chocolate.

   It’s true what they say, dogs really do become like their owners (or vice versa) because just as Cyril responds to structure and needs the occasional treat and a lot of walking to keep him on the straight and narrow so do I! I need the fear of being weighed, just like Cyril, if left to my own devices I would go slightly bonkers, although in fairness, I wouldn’t dig up the garden or chew my bed. So this next week my focus is on shifting my holiday weight and preparing for the countdown to Christmas. I got Lucy to take a picture of me in my swimsuit and at Christmas I’ll take another and compare and contrast; now if that doesn’t give me the fear nothing will! I promise whatever happens at Christmas I will share those photos - eek!