I am not using this blog anymore.

Please feel free to add yourself to my new blog...as it is a private blog I think I will have to give permission for you to read it, but please do not let that stop you. I just wanted a fresh start to record the run up to my wedding :) Thanks for following up to now.

http://weddingdeadlinecountdown.blogspot.com/

wedding countdown

347 days to go until the wedding....about time I did something about losing this excess weight and get myself fit and healthy. I am going to attempt to re-instate the blog, use ww online alongside my class and try and get myself match-fit for the big day.

I have spent the last weekend at Champneys health spa, what better way to kickstart my weight loss journey. I ate healthily and did a wee bit of exercise (not much really) and had a colon massage (which does not involve hose pipes in unmentionable places but does involve manipulation of the colon to aid digestion).

I am hopeful for weigh in tonight .....a couple of pounds loss would be gratefully received. I need to start thinking in terms of one day at a time and taking responsibility for what I put in my mouth!!

Please help me stay on track.....today is the start of the rest of my life!!

day three ....done-ish

Yesterday I did not follow my planned menu....however I did stick to my points. You see I am back to using my tracker and if it goes on my lips it goes on my list. I ate badly but stayed within points. Today has been little better. I have had so far a diet coke and a toasted tea cake, not great. I am about to go and make the beef stroganoff I was supposed to have yesterday tho lol

Exercise for the day was swiming for 20 minutes before my therma sauna :). I feel a right lady that lunches today.

I have a night out with my lovely fiance and friends tomorrow. Its a curry house!!!!! but they do a healthy curry so I am having that, I may have a tikka starter (rather than the bhaji or mixed platter and will share my rice. I need to try to stay in control without making people feel bad that 'I am dietting' especially as they are supposed to be dietting too !!!!

Its a fine balance. Not sure why we do this to ourselves!!!

yay...survived yesterday...now its on to day

Menu day 2

breakfast - fruit 0
cream scone (meeting) 8
lunch prawn cocktail salad - 4
tea beef stroganoff and pasta - 19

I did zumba last night so my ww pedometer registered at 4 points :)

Today it is another long day at work but it involves walking to town so should earn some bonus points there :)

I have a heavy weekend booked in (curry club and alcohol involved as part of a friends birthday celebrations.

I think some damage limitation could be in order, tomorrow I have an infrared sauna booked, but before hand I am going to go into the gym upstairs and try and do a few miles on the treadmill.....it will be the first time since I broke my ankle last year .......

Day 1...yes I am starting again.

Going to at least try to put my menu up each day if not blog. I have a busy 14 months ahead of me. Last year of my masters, planning a wedding and work upheaval. Decided maybe I need to go a day at a time. I have made a desicion. I am going to do propoints at ww properly up until christmas. If I am happy with my weight loss then I will stick with it. If I get to christmas and I have not lost as I expected then.....dum dum duuuuuuuuum I will switch to slimming world.

I am hoping ww works as well as it has in the past as I know its a healthy eating pattern BUT I am wondering if I need a shake up again.

So plan for food today is : -

home made greek yogurt and banana x 2 4PP

eat smart prawn cocktail and salad 4PP

sausages, smash and beans 15PP

this gives me the opportunity to have a snack when I get in tonight. I have a long day today at work , but I am aiming to do a zumba session when I get in (whilst waiting for my sausages to cook!!!)

I have planned my food for tomorrow, as I am trying to save money and create less waste ....planning may be the way forward.

Have a good day.

Start weight 15 stone 13

Revelation....

I want to be 11 stone 7 for my wedding (it is the target weight I have set myself, although ww suggests I should be 11st 1) thats 67 lbs to lose by then...I actually need to lose the weight of a large dog or wolf !!!! Interesting as I lost the equivalent of a small dog last week lol.

I have 66 weigh ins until my wedding date so a lb a week....doesn't sound TOOO bad.....will try. This is my incentive and motivation :)

Hahaha I could not resist!!!!!

Every day brings its own challenge.......

Yay its saturday!!!!!

I am very tired today but I have loads to do :(.

There are lessons to be learnt tho, yesterday despite staying within my points I ate rubbish (hence feeling yuk today !!!! I don't think I ate any real food yesterday just convenience snacks and a handful of strawberries and grapes!!! I will not be doing that again, I have a snack hangover.

This morning I have to be a domestic goddess and reclaim my house for the arrival of Mr S.I also need to go shopping and buy some food as my fridge is bare (apart from two half bottles of wine and a pack of half fat butter!!)

This afternoon I am going to hit the books and do more of my essay ...this is beginning to feel like walking up mount everest carrying the entirity of my ww class....nigh on impossible !!!

Then Mr S arrives :). We are going to go and see HP the last one......CINEMA arrrgghhhh scary expensive place with lots of lovely temptations such as ice cream, popcorn, chocolate, pick and mix sweets...the list is endless. What to do ??? Think I may give Mr S the money for my ticket and leave my wallet at home to avoid the temptation of the snack bar.

How does anyone else survive the cinema?? I may have to put a fat bride pic in my wallet to help me avoid temptation my old fat pic used to work.

New experiences and walking tall......

Well yesterday went well pointing wise.

I had a new experience with Sushi ( not the raw fish kind, the vegetable and tuna kind lol). I really liked it but I was surprised how many points it was when I finally got around to pointing it. Mind you I also was pleasanty surprised how full I was afterwards. My work colleagues and I talked about going to a sushi bar in Leeds to try sushi for real (rather than the Tescos version we had consumed) the weird thing is, normally I would have anxiety butterflies with any talk of eating out, but yesterday I just felt calm and composed and thought, yeah sushi isn't bad as an eating out choice.

I also earnt 6 activity points yesterday, just from walking. Within my day I walked to the local shop and back, where I would normally have used my car. The shop is of the distance where it is convenient to use the car but likewise it is walkable if you have the time and can be bothered. I am going to try and keep up this type of 'hidden exercise'.

I am also keeping up with listening to my weight loss CD, (welll last night I only listened to one half of it before dropping off) not sure it is working as I am still snacking on naughty stuff (pointed tho) at work, but on the other hand, walked around supermarket last and put no naughties in my basket...so maybe it is....watch this space.

I am not particularly liking this muggy weather ( although it is making me drink proper amounts of water). I am really tired all the time, and having to push myself to do anything, but what I am doing is pushing myself to incorporate at least 1 activity point a day. I am also doing my 5 day week this week at work...shock to the system ( I work a 9 day fortnight and in term time I only work 4 long days a week. ). Anyway must get off to work......

Damage limitation......NOT required

Last night I had a great night with my friend. We talked a lot and ate.....well we ate well, but not too badly. It was a really muggy night so had the perfect excuse to have a prawn salad which was minimal points..asked for no coleslaw and sauce on side so most of the salad was 0 point veg....it was HUGE. My friend had a seafood platter starter....she announces (so I can have a pudding). Initially I was thinking, oo maybe I should have a starter not a main, but then I realised hers included bread whereas mine it was all about the salad lol. I avoided looking through the menu, having see the ladies next to us have the salad, I was satisfied in my choice.

So we chatted and then the topic of PUDDING came up...the list was endless and exciting.....I was confused, I wanted all of it!!!! I looked for a saviour, maybe a fruit salad hiding amonst the gooey goodness of oreo explosion, dime dar crunch, sticky toffee pudding etc. But NO nothing with fruit......arrrggghhh. Ice cream, a plain ice cream maybe .....NO it was allice cream trifle, knickerbocker glory....I looked to my right as the waitress anounces here is you strawberry ice cream...2 scoops.....a ginorous glass with ice cream, cream, cherries, sauces nuts arrived at the table. No if I was looking for salvation ice cream wasn't it :(...so I opted for what I liked the look of.

Banoffee brandy snap basket......nom nom nom!!!!

Got home and immediately pointed it....yes I have used a few of my weeklies, bit not too many and a quick blast of zumba will soon remedy that.

I think today I will be mainly eating fruit and veg lol.

Week 2 :)

Day 1 week 2. After that great loss yesterday I am determined to carry on losing. This week I am going to try and

• do Zumba 5 days out of 7,


• stay within my daily points


• ensure that every day I am earning at least 1 activity point on my ww pedometer

This is following the same pattern as last week. I have a busy week planned with essays to complete, and wedding venues to visit and my lovely fiance coming over at the weekend, I am going to plan to avoid disaster.

Talking of planning and avoiding I am meeting one of my friends tonight that has never had a problem with her weight. We are meeting for a meal. The pub I know has options which are healthy, but they also have 'yorkshire chips' which seduce you with their look and smell and the knowledge of how bad they are for you. I am determined to avoid them, but I know my friend has already text me to say 'you won't just be having salad will you?' I think to put her off the scent I may have a fishy option, that way I am being healthy but it does not scream diet!!

What do you do when you go out with friends to eat? Do you have well meaning friends that say 'oh its just one night it won't do you any harm'? I used to say my social life gangs up on me, but now I realise that I used to let it. I have friends who sabotage my weight loss journey without intending to, but I just need to play the game more wisely.

I have listened to my weightloss hypnososis CD two nights running now ( I say listened in the loosest way, having fallen asleep on both occassions, which the very dull Australian hypnotist assures me is fine.) He suggests I listen 10 days straight, which I am going to try to do (not sure what OH will think at the weekend but hey ho). Last night my sleep was amazing, and I feel groggy this morning, you know in the way you do when you have had a really good deep sleep. So if nothing else its helping me combat this awful hot muggy weather!!

weigh in !!!!!!

I have lost the equivalent of a small dog today 2.5lbs. I have half a stone to lose until I reach my 10% I am very pleased with that as a result....I just need to keep it up. THis means regular zumba, monitoring eating and continuing with the weight loss CD.

I have 7 weeks until my uni term starts again ( my final year of my Masters) I am going to aim to have lost another half stone by then. This will mean I am at 10% and adhering to my plan to lose an average of a lb a week until my wedding day :)

Please help me on my journey, all comments gratefully received.

Really enjoying move the 5 pebbles from my weight loss jar :)

Nervous......

I am going to my friends house today to have a picnic.... an indoors picnic with a chick flick :).

Only trouble is I am a bit nervous. She insisted on getting all the food and I am not sure what she will have got. She knows I am trying to lose weight and she is not one of my sabateour friends but its me ...I mean I do tend to go out of control unless I plan everything. The positive is I still have my 49 weeklies and 17 activity points so I should be OK. I just want a good weigh in this week.

Going to pick up some flavoured sparkly water on way there so that the drink at least is 0 point.

I know one definate feature will be jelly sweets.....oh dear my arch enemy. Must remember to look up the ppoints of them just before I go to shock myself into not eating TOO many.

I think its important NOT to avoid these situations tho, I know that I am going to be battling for the rest of my life, so its important that I face these things head on, otherwise I am in danger of becoming a skinny recluse.

Planning and preparation.....

OK so its essay day today....rewriting an essay I failed last semester. Really want to get it out of the way if possible this weekend, however I am aware that essay crisis affects my will power and I often fall off the weightwatchers wagon at these times !!!


I have organised my workspace to encourage me to stay on track....no choc in the house, but a healthy bowl of fruit by my side and a large bottle of no sugar squash within easy reach.

I am also planning to use study breaks to engage in a zumba session from my DVD and also go to the park for a walk to get the old grey cells working again. This should help me achieve some activity points in an otherwise sedantary day!!!

Hopefully this means that my concerns from a couple of days ago regarding my study leading to an increase in junk food and a weight increase, will be a thing of nightmares only. If only I could be as strict with my writing regime lol.

Have a good weekend all!!!

Look into my eyes.....not around the eyes.....

Right so I am back on it!!! The 4th day of staying on track. 3 days out of 4 days done zumba DVD. Every day got to the earning zone on ww pedometer (one day earnt 7 points ...never to be eaten !!!).

Yesterday when I was talking to a friend she had asked if I had considered using a mind over matter CD to support my weight loss journey. She has recently lost 4 stone afteter years of yo yo dietting. She looks fabby. I, wrongly, presumed someform of extreme intervention, eg gastric band or a diet where you will not eat food for months, or some scary personal trainer but NO.

She tells me she has been following a healthy eating plan (as it is she follows Rosemary Connelly, but I recognise ww , SW and RC generally follow the same principles of getting us to do healthy considered eating). So what was her secret?

She informs me she has been using a motivational CD alongside her healthy eating. She said she pops it on at night ( barely hears it before going to sleep) and she has found that the combo of a healthy eating plan and the CD works. I mean, she looks great, she eats well (seen that at work) but teh weight loss is evident. So I found myself thinking all day at work....mmmmm I wonder? I know I used to use Paul McKenna CDs and had success with them whilst I did them....BUT I felt at times they did not work with ww as they suggested dropping dietplans.

Fate in her wisdom sent me a prompt. I opened my email and found a 'groupon' voucher to get a CD that worked with weight loss plans but motivated you to stay on track at £7.50. Now money is tight, but even I could not ignore that one. I text my friend and asked her what CD she had used............would you believe it she was using the same one that I had the email for.....now I had to order definately my friend fate :)

Don't for a minute think I am opting out.....what I am trying to do is cover all angles.......I am follwoing my ww diet plan religiously, looking at healthy food intake. I am doing my zumba and going to attempt to increase me sessions at the gym, alongside walking more, but I am guessing every little helps.

I have made a choice, I am in this for the long haul.....I do not want to take tablets, surgery is not for me but healthy eating, exercise and a bit of mental support sounds like a plan to me!!!!

Have you ever used hypnotherapy or mind CDs?? what is your experience?

dissertation reality and weight loss

OK so today is when it really starts :) weight loss journey and dissertation and wedding planning!!! Today marks the point of the start of my new life ....quite scary really!!!


Tonight I have my prep tutorial on my dissertation which is scary enough in itself but I have also decided to do ww properly starting today and as I get married Nov 2012 then really I need to start getting my head around that too.......I am not an academic, but I did want to look at improving my clinical work hence the Masters, a decision made in the distant mists of time when my life was very different than it is now and there was no hint of a wedding on the horizon. My thoughts towards the 15,000 word project are interesting and laughable, I go through periods where I believe I am mad, and others where I am just proud of myself for getting this far. Deciding on what and how to do it is my next challenge and hopefully this lecture will help me decide........But the pitfalls of study definately include, food for pleasure, junk food for convenience and choc for stress. My dissertation for my degree looked at eating habits in students.....the outcome wasn't great...study = stress= erratic eating = weight gain........why oh why could I not be one of thsoe people who lose weight with stress??

Are you still with me? Please stay along for the ride...I can promise essay crisis, zumba, tears, laughter, despair, triumphs (hopefully) wedding disasters and possibly the occassional bridezilla moment.....your support and comments would definately help.

Gained half a pound....will be whale and chips I had in whitby

well this is week one....ground zero....new start (AGAIN ...I hear you cry lol). Spoke to my leader and she has agreed to weigh me each week ( I am a clerk and I tend to sneak on scales whilst she is doing the talk and its not doing me any good!!!!) and encourage me to lose 1 lb a week. If I can lose that each week I will be at goal the week of my wedding!!!!

Wouldn't that be amazing???

The half pound gain this week I am actually quite proud of....a few days camping for my summer hols involved 2 barbecues, chilli and nachos, pizza and a whale and chips in whitby.....nom nom nom. I did not point HOWEVER....I did only eat 3 meals a day, made considered choices...beans on toast instead of full english, sharing naughty things like cream scones instead of gorging self, and thinking about when I was full rather than eating it all cos I have paid for it. We also walked for miles, I kept on my pedometer and I have done my zumba.......so yes I do feel proud of my 1/2lb gain.

So the plan....

1) track everything

2) eat more fruit and veg

3) try to do at least 20 mins exercise 4 times a week (zumba , walking, gym etc)

4) Try to earn at least 1 point a day through daily walking on pedometer (yes I bought a new one after drowning old one.)

How disappointing......my weight is the same 5 months on

I need to pull my finger out. If I lose a lb a week from now until my wedding I will be at my goal weight the week of my wedding. Wouldn't that be cool.

I have just spent a week in a pod with Keith and eating has been a wee bit erratic. BarB Q, fish and chips and pizza were on the menu...no snacking as such but I don't normally eat the aforementioned and I have not tracked. We did a lot of walking 1 day earning 8 bonus points on my pedometer so I may just get away with a sts on tuesday weigh in. I am going to try and keep my Blog up to date as when I blog I seem to lose.

If this photo isn't enough to get me back on track nothing is lol.......look at that dough baby roll!!!! Attractive!!!!

So thats my mission 1 lb a week starting now. I did my zumba express last night and I am going to try and do it it 4 times a week. THis is not impossible as it is a 20 minute work out....just need to get my arse in gear lol.

I need to blog more.....

When I blog I lose when I stop blogging I stop losing lol.

Actually what has happened as usual is my social life has ganged up on me as usual. A night watching the superbowl involved Dominoes pizza and beer (usually a no go). I didn't gain that week but it got me back onto thinking about dough and drink :O(.

Then we have valentines day

and I get whisked away for a lovely weekend break with lots of papmering and lots of yummy food. I am OK when I have control over buying and eating but put lots of loveliness in front of me and I gorge. But that was a great weekend :O)

But also that was a fortnight ago and i have not got back on track......so what the hell to do ? Well I am back to the blog. I have updated my widgets and set the slightly indecent challenge of getting from 15 stone 13 to 14 stone 7 in 4 weeks.

My main goal is to tip the scales at 14 stone something by my 36th birthday!!! but that is going to take some doing !!! at least a stone to go........watch this space.

The slow cooker.....my knight in shining armour

Long hours at work have been my enemy for as long as I have been dieting but now mr slow cooker has come to my rescue......mash out of freezer, beans boiled for 5 mins and sausage casserole piping hot and delicious out of the slow cooker......total points.....7 for casserole..... 3 for mash and 0 for beans......so delicious.

Todays recommendation.....buy a slow cooker :O)

3rd weigh in

I have lost another 2.5lbs, but I am aware that even tho I have stuck to my points I have not always made healthy choices so this is my plan for the following week - to think about what I am eating , not just my points.

I was slightly annoyed when I entered my weight online......it warned me about losing weight too quickly....mmmmm. I know I had a big loss last week and a significant loss this week, but I do have a good 5 stone to lose and i am most definately not starving myself.

Oh well onward and upward...and I promise to do a bit more blogging.