Weight Loss Zoltar

At the beginning of the year, I decided that to celebrate my 40^th in July, there would be a calendar of events and I would spend as much time as I could celebrating my “big birthday”. These events have included trips to the theatre, a “Come Dine with Me” competition with friends, weekends away, ghost hunts, a spa day, scarecrow making (don’t ask) afternoon tea and then a couple of amazing holidays.

  It’s safe to say that by the time I stepped off the plane last week at the end of what was technically the last in the calendar of events, I was well aware that not only did I have 7 months of amazingly happy memories, I also had a slightly expanded waistline!

  So from a calendar of birthday events to a Christmas countdown. I unashamedly use the “C” word, “The X Factor” is back and “Strictly Come Dancing” starts this weekend and everyone knows that means Christmas is on the way.

  There’s 13 weeks until the big man arrives, so even if I only lose a pound a week, that’s almost a stone gone.

  As with all great plans, they start with getting on the scales…. Well maybe not all great plans, I’m sure when Christopher Columbus set sail for the new world, he didn’t say “wait a sec chaps, I just need to see how much I weigh before I set off and make history”.

  However, that’s exactly how my plan began (not the new world bit) I got on my scales in my bathroom and had a little cry, according to them I’d put on 5 stones… was that possible? I got off and on again only to discover that I’d now lost 10 stone and was bordering on dangerously thin. I haven’t spent years reading mystery novels not to not have learnt some detective skills. I deduced my scales were about as reliable as the England football team at a major international tournament!

  Heading to the gym, I thought I’d use their all singing, all dancing scales, the ones that measure your height, weight, BMI, shoe size, length of your hair etc. 

   I’d given myself a stern talking to all the way to the gym, that even if the changing room was full, I would still get on them. I would brave the embarrassment of putting my pound in the machine and stepping on them. What did it matter if people were in there? It’s not like they’d be able to hear what I weighed! However ideal scenario…. The changing room would be empty (cue my use of visualization techniques)

  Walking into the changing room, I realized I was good at this visualization malarkey…. The changing room was empty! I made a note to work on the “me and Matt Goss get married visualisation”

  I put my pound in

*** changing room door opens, in walks two thin women***

I take my shoes off and step on the scale

*** changing room door opens again, in walks another woman*

I grab the side handles of the scales…

At that point, a great secret was revealed, it turns out the scales at my gym are the weighing equivalent of flipping Zoltar.

It’s big booming voice echoed all over the changing room “If you want to know your BMI, keep holding on to the handles”

  I could feel myself start to flush scarlet… how far would weight loss Zoltar go? Would he announce to the world my vital statistics, or would I find myself being turned into a 12-year-old forced to launch a comedy style mission to find weight loss Zoltar so I could turn myself back, whilst learning a few important life lessons along the way and cementing my lifelong friendships?

  I began hoping for number 2…. anything rather than those numbers being read out loud!

  Fortunately, weight loss Zoltar then shut his face and simply printed me off a ticket with a helpful suggestion of a goal weight.

  Whilst the ticket didn’t make for pretty reading, I’ve decided it probably deserves a place in my memory book, if only because it signifies the start of phase 2 of the calendar of events. A calendar that involves trips to the gym!

Being Number 1

My first blog in a while…. I’ve had a really crazily busy few months, a new job and running my own business has meant that my working day now starts at 4.15am and finishes anywhere after 6pm. Now don’t get me wrong, because I run my own business, I will NEVER complain about being busy and am grateful for each and every one of my clients. However I got a huge wake up call the other day, when I realised out of all the things that were a priority in my day, I wasn’t one of them!

  I’ve spent the last four months accommodating everyone and anything. Just before I went on holiday, there was a moment when I honestly thought I was going to be really poorly. 

  Ironically a trip to Las Vegas, a city that NEVER stops and is pretty much 247 helped me slow down and take stock. 

As I got on the plane, I realised that they last time I’d picked up my Kindle was months ago and I was only a few pages into a book that I had been dying to read. Yet reading is one of my favourite things to do! As a child, I devoured book after book, getting the train to uni, I read anything I could get my hands on. These days I have a bookshelf full of books that have perfect spines. (I believe the sign of a true reader is one who has a bookshelf full of books with cracked spines and well-thumbed pages)

Some of my favourite, well read books!

  I wondered why on earth I wasn’t doing the things I enjoyed? In Las Vegas, we walked for miles, in and out of the different hotels, various tourist attractions, museums, bars, restaurants and we laughed…. we laughed a lot! They were those proper belly laughs that leave your face in a permanent state of happiness.

  BUT, there’s always a BUT isn’t there? It was whilst I was away, I became aware that one of my friends, had done something that really upset me. As I moaned to my sister over a glass of wine and a bowl of dubious looking nuts, I realised that the best thing to do was to mention it.

  I think I fall into the “old reliable” category with some people. I don;t hear the word "thank you" as much as I should, it's expected I can wave my magic wand and make stuff happen, or some friends don't realise that a text every now and again to see if I'm OK, would be nice.  I think some people see my generally positive outlook on life and they think it / I don't matter / wont mind!

Well all fat people are jolly, so even if it does make me sad, I wont be sad for long!

So I decided to say something, the response, was something along the lines of “sorry your upset, but we only invited 35 of our closest friends”.

  It was a bit of a wake up call, because I realised that over the last few months, I hadn’t even made my own top 35, so why should I make anyone else’s?

  I’d planned and cancelled gym trips, because someone needed something from me, I’d sacrificed time cooking and planning healthy meals and eaten toast because I was too tired to cook anything else and there’s certain family members who have forgotten what I look like!

  So I’ve decided its time to start putting myself first for a change, which is really why I’ve started writing the Slinky Blog again. Blogging helps me focus on getting fit and healthy and reminds me what I’m trying to achieve.

I Don't Want to Quark About It

I saw a fellow Weight Watcher post the other day that after being back off her holiday a week she’d now undone some of the damage and had “only put 8 pounds on” After getting back from my holiday I fully sympathise I appeared to ignore all the fruit, salad and healthy options and instead tuck right into fried breakfasts, pasta and then there was the chocolate fountain. Man those things are fun, what’s not to love about sticking a piece of marshmallow on a piece of wood and then shoving it into vat of melted chocolate? I’ll tell you what’s not to love about it getting on the scales when you get home!

  So since my return, I’ve really gone back to basics and have even started cooking things from scratch! Now if you read my blog regularly, you will know I’m not one of those people that posts pictures of how lovely their meals are and boasts about what a great cook they are!

  To recap, this was actually a crock-pot after an “over enthusiastic” casserole.

No one was injured in the damaging of this crock pot

  This was my attempt at a pancake

No really it's a pancake

And this was my popcorn effort.

mmmmm tasty 

 Although I’ve since bought a healthy popcorn maker so my corn now looks more like this (hurrah)

When in doubt buy a machine to make it for you!

  I’ve had my cookbooks out and decided to give the Weight Watchers “Filling and Healthy” a go; basically it encourages you to eat foods that keep you well … full and healthy. So this week some weird shit has been going down in my kitchen, (not in a Walter White fashion I hastened to add!) I’ve made my own tomato sauce using Passata. I’ll be honest I had to Google what passata was, I had a vague idea it would be something to do with tomatoes, but wasn’t sure.

Passata...posh word for tomatoes in a jar!

  I’ve also started using Quark. Again a product I’d never heard of,  but once you get used to the slight bitter taste it’s OK and I have crafted this into a make shift mayo to go with tuna and also into a nice red pepper dip.

  It makes me laugh that I’m using these ingredients in my cooking, when I didn’t know what Ciabatta was until I went to university. I remember a friend ordering a bacon and Brie Ciabatta and I shyly asked for the same, thinking well I know what bacon and Brie are, so it will probably be OK. When it came it turns out Ciabatta is Italian for “really hard bread”

  After just a few days back on the straight and narrow and my culinary efforts are paying off because I’ve already lost a couple of pounds, so hopefully by my next weigh in I’ll be back on track.

  At the weekend I’ve been persuaded to try a roast beetroot and trout salad, I’m still reeling from the news you can roast a beetroot and not just buy them pickled in a jar!

  Any healthy recipe (Katie friendly) ideas you have feel free to post them!