Where did I go?

It's been a little while since I've updated my blog...oops!  See if you can guess what happened.  I fell off the wagon.  Oh well.  Back on it tomorrow (I'm going to have that phrase carved on my gravestone!).  I'm not exactly sure what I weight at the moment, I shall weigh in tomorrow morning.  I do know that I'll be lucky if I'm not back in the 15s but these things are sent to try us.

I did utter that fateful phrase "I'll be out of the 14s this month" which I'm sure curses me so I'm not going to say it anymore.  It's what I want but it seems the more I concentrate on it, the further away from me it seems so I guess I shouldn't say it anymore.  Let's see what happens eh?

Diet starts on Monday...that old chestnut? Oh and more Jillian vs Bob

Yep you guessed it, I've been off the wagon and shocker - I've put on weight again.  My weigh in this week could have been far worse given the sheer volume of garbage I've shovelled down my mouth but still, I'm stupid for doing it after working so hard to shift 10lbs (still mighty proud of that).  So my scales this week have spoken and told me that I'm now...

14st 7.5lbs

Given the fact I wanted to be out of the 14's by September I now have a mighty tough challenge on my hands.  8lbs in a fortnight?!  My partner in diet crime and failure, Lizzie, is joining me in this challenge and you know something?  We WILL do this.  


I've been saying I'll be out of the 14's for months, no make that years, and never actually got there.  It's so stupid.  Drastic measures needed again.  I did well on Rosemary Conley's Amazing Inch Loss Plan so I will be returning to that however first of all, I'm doing her Holiday Binge Buster Diet for three days (Mon-Wed) before embarking on AILP.  This consists of the following...

Breakfast                                              150 cals

 Lunch                                                    250 cals

Dinner                                                   350 cals

       2 Power Snacks                                     50 cals each

1/2 pint of skimmed/semi skimmed milk  150 cals

This is 1000 cals in total and must only be followed for 3 days, it's not safe to follow it for more than that.  After the 3 days, I then go up to 1200 cals for the first 2 weeks of AILP.  Phew that all sounds a bit complicated doesn't it?


I have to be the rubbishest dieter ever.  I'm incapable of ever finishing anything I set out to do and not sure what I can do to change that.  I start out with all these grand plans of what I hope to achieve and generally never get there.  Maybe I need to set smaller goals for myself so I don't get disheartened as easily?  Who knows, I'm no psychologist.


One thing I definitely intend to do is more exercise as I know that hinders my weight loss.  I STILL haven't managed to complete the 30 Day Shred which is daft now as I rarely get past Day 2 of it!  I've finally come to my senses by not having a gym membership as I never went.  Now I need to get into a routine and stick to it. Easier said than done eh?


Those who watch Biggest Loser USA (I seriously LOVE that programme) will be familiar with Bob Harper and Jillian Michaels.  Don't be fooled by their smiley faces, these two are hardcore!  I love them both and when trying to decide who to have as my trainer (sadly this was only on the Biggest Loser Wii game, not in real life) I realised that I love them both for different reasons and I really struggled to decide!  Jillian's a bitch but in a good way and Bob is just...well...hot!  He's also mean too though.

don't be fooled!

Compare their workouts for abs (click on their names to view their workouts).  I think Jillian's wins for hardcore...or does Bob's?

However this video proves who the real winner is.  Anyone who can use the words "the only way you're getting off this treadmill is if you die on it" with a straight face and genuinely mean it is not to be messed with!  Damn I wish I had her to train me, no way would I get away with all this whinging, I'd be thin by now!

Sabotage, surprises, rips and weddings

After a week of eating junk (pizza, Macdonalds, Burger King - you name it, I probably ate it) I was too scared and annoyed to weigh myself.  Why did I destroy all my hard work over the past month?  What an idiot.  I worked so damn hard.  Time for psychobabble.  Apparently it's a common thing and all down to fear.  Fear of what exactly?  Fear of the following...

• Fear of how people will react to your success (especially family)

One of my friends lost a great deal of weight recently and her family were awful to her.  It's amazing how quickly admiration can turn into jealousy and I would hate to think that anyone in my life was capable of that.

• Fear of higher expectations at work and at home

Not so sure about this one.  Not sure how performance at work and weight are related.  Guess some soul searching is needed to understand that one.

• Fear of dealing with your demons and true feeling

Nah, well yeah.  Once I've lost weight, what do I have left to focus on?

• Fear of being happier than your friends or family

I want nothing more than all my friends and family to be happy and yeah I suppose this one is kind of true.  Do I deserve to be happier than everyone else?

• Fear of how men will treat you

Not sure about this one either to be honest.


Well yep, self sabotage has definitely been high on the agenda if the psychobabble is to be believed.  Imagine my surprise when I decided to step on the scales and realised that I had stayed the same.  What the hell?!  How did that happen?  That means I lost 10lbs in the last month.  Madness.  No idea how I did that.


My main reason for losing weight as fast as I did was because I wanted to fit into my dress for my friend Sydie's wedding and it didn't even zip up at the beginning of July.  I did it, I got in it!  Steve zipped me in it on the morning of Sydie's wedding and decided the zip wasn't central so gave it a yank and RIP, the zip tore away from the seam.  Gutted.  After a mad dash for a sewing kit, crisis was averted - this was HALF AN HOUR BEFORE THE WEDDING WAS DUE TO START!  I think I coped rather well.  Poor Steve was gutted but it's not like he did it on purpose or anything, guess he doesn't know his own  strength!


So we made it on time, just.  Look how AMAZING the bride looked....

Stunning Sydie!

Couple of other piccies from the day...

Me in my dress at 14st 5.5lbs

Me and my dapper fiance Steve

So as per usual I shall be having a few days "off" before I get back on the wagon again.  I'm not going to make any promises I can't keep however I do have one goal for the end of the month.  I WILL get rid of that damn 14 if it kills me.

MIA, dead cow and stepping up

Well I've been Missing In Action for a while haven't I?  Sadly so has my willpower.  I'd been doing fine until I went on a training course with work which resulted in bacon butties.  This can never end well.  OK so I've not gone all out like I used to which is progress but I haven't stuck to the last week of the plan which is so stupid.  I'm going to get back on it tomorrow because I'm having some gorgeous roast beef I bought from the farm shop yesterday for tea!


Weigh in wasn't so spectacular, just 1.5lbs off.  Apparently that's to be expected but I'm still not exercising very much which would have boosted the weight loss.  I'm now...

14st 5.5lbs

This means I have a week to lose the 6lbs I need to get myself out of the 14's by Sydie's wedding like I wanted.  NO CHANCE!  I've moved my weigh in day to a Friday as it fits in better with my lifestyle so I'll be reporting back on Friday.  To be honest after the junk I've eaten this week, I'll be happy with staying the same.

This week will be full of "last-chance workouts" a la Biggest Loser.  Alas I don't have Bob and Jillian to push me...or do I?  I've just purchased the Biggest Loser game for my Wii and I shall be road testing it tomorrow morning (please someone drag me out of bed, Monday mornings are really bad for me getting up).  I don't really know that much about the game and I'm wondering if it has weigh ins on it.  I sort of hope it does, that whole yellow line thing is scary but very motivating.

Perspective

So I decided to measure my inch loss last night and I've lost TEN inches from my body in total which I'm quite shocked about.  It would have been more had I done all my exercise but I'll take that!  I'm not going to measure my inch loss again until the end of the month but I'm happy with that for now.  Takes me a few steps closer to being able to look foxy in a pencil skirt!


I also found out that one pound of body fat is the equivalent of half a litre of oil so my 8lbs weight loss so far means I've lost the equivalent of 4 litres of oil - ew!  If that doesn't make me carry on I don't know what will!  That "oh well I've only put a pound on" philosophy I used to have seems a bit daft now when I think about it and I'm definitely going to keep at it - just 31.5 litres of oil left to lose!

How much I've lost so far, ew!

Broken Treats and Ready Meals

Well my weigh in on Monday rocked.  I lost another 4lbs!  That's 8lbs in two weeks and takes my total weight down to...

14st 7lbs 

That means I can cross a goal off my goal list...

1. Be able to do ten pressups.  Proper ones, not the girly ones
2. Wear a pencil skirt and look hot 
3. Get to 14st 7lbs Get to 13st 13lbs (in other words, get rid of that damn 14!)

My gorgeous bag came on Monday but sadly, it was broken.  I'm not sure whether that has some deep hidden meaning or whether it was just broken but I'm a bit gutted as it was supposed to be my big treat for getting through the first two weeks of my diet.  They don't have any left either so maybe I just sack off my treat and get a bigger treat after I've done the full 28 days.  Think I may just do that.

This week is the week before payday which generally means skintness. I had a bit of a mad cooking frenzy last night to make sure I definitely had food for next week and had no excuse to cheat.  Check out my production line...

Every dish starts with love and care...and plenty of garlic

Perfect portion control, who needs ready meals when you can make your own?!

I must say I've cooked loads more following this diet than I have in a long while.  I've also spent far less than I normally do as I've not had takeaways or eaten in the canteen at work.  Who says healthy eating has to cost a bomb eh?

Turkey and Mango Samosas with Mixed Vegetables

Chicken in Mushroom Sauce with Mashed Sweet Potato and Mixed Vegetables

Hopefully next month I'll have a little more money to try some more dishes as there has been a massive chicken and bolognese theme this month which can get a little tedious.  One more week to go!

No Way!

Wow I've done it! (OK it's 8.30pm on my last day so I may be premature but I'm confident).  14 days of 1200 calories, practically no carbs, very little fat and lots of fruit and veg.  Being a yo-yo dieter I've never stuck to anything this long so I'm hugely proud of myself.  I'm not counting my chickens yet though as I have another 2 weeks to go however I have an extra 200 calories to add in everyday which will take the edge off the sugar and fat cravings I've been having.


Basically now I've done the hard bit of the Amazing Inch Loss Plan, I get to add in a high fat treat and a low fat treat.  So what will they look like?  Well a fun size Twix is a high fat treat, as is a bag of Skips.  Low fat treats are all the stuff like low fat chocolate mousse or extra fruit.  There's a lot to choose from so I think I shall send Steve shopping with a list of all the little treats I'm allowed!  The danger with now being able to have these is that I may slip into bad habits again.  Will one fun size Twix make me want a full size one?  We shall see!


The main thing I have been lax on this week is exercise.  I say lax, I mean practically non-existent.  I've not done any of the toning exercises I'm supposed to have done and my Aerobic Challenge has been lacklustre to say the least.  I reckon this will have an effect on my weight/inch loss but hopefully not too much.  This week I'm really going to up my game on the exercise front.  There's no point putting all this effort into eating the right things if I'm not going to bother with the exercise bit of the plan.  Fitness goals this week...

• 10,000 steps a day (I have my sexy little purple pedometer to help with that one now)
• Complete the toning exercises in Rosemary's book at least once a day (ideally once in the morning and once at night)
• Do the 30 Day Shred at least once this week.
• Do some hula hooping on the Wii Fit at least once this week

I think that's more than enough to be going on with this week don't you?

So, my treat for finishing the hardcore 14 days is the gorgeous little bag you see below.  How sexy is this little bad boy?!  I've wanted it for a little while and not been able to justify it however now I think I deserve a little treat and it was half price so fate made me buy it!  I've decided my watch will be the treat at the end of the full 28 days as it's a little more expensive so fitting of a full month treat!  Ooh I like this whole treat idea, it's a definite fun way of doing these things

So what will the scales hold for me tomorrow do we think?  I'm hoping I have another 4lbs loss like last week  as that will mean I've reached my first weight loss goal of 14st 7lbs.  It's an awful lot to lose though and you always lose more in your first week so I'm trying not to be too optimistic - that way I can only be pleasantly surprised!  Wish me luck folks.