Bad news and good

Ugh. I have put on 9lbs since July, when I last went to Weight Watchers. Nine pounds. A few of those can be blamed on Christmas, but it's still pretty bad. I weighed that much 18 months ago.

I hadn't been to meetings because I was unable to get more vouchers, due to not having lost enough weight. I get vouchers to go to WW for free via my GP, as I have PCOS and my BMI is over 30. Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, or PCOS, is an illness that is partly caused by being overweight, and also causes sufferers to put on weight. Treatments for it include weight loss, hence the free vouchers. I get 12 week's worth of vouchers at a time, and they generally recommend that I lose about half a stone during that 12-week period. I didn't lose anything this time round though, so no vouchers for me.

Good news is that, after a "6 month cooling off period" (not sure who is supposed to be cooling off) I have been able to apply for more vouchers and should be getting them soon. So the weight can start to come back off again, and I can stop feeling like I'm letting myself down.

I am making some effort though - I joined a gym, and have been going 2-3 times a week since early November. I hadn't lost any weight with that, though muscle does weigh more than fat (not just an excuse - the personal trainer said so!). So I may be fatter, but at least I'm getting fitter. My limbs feel more toned, and my stamina is steadily improving. I'm finding that I enjoy it too, which is quite a surprise! Me enjoying exercise. That's just wrong XD

Size 14 for Halloween

Despite an 11.5 point slice of carrot cake and a curry on Wednesday, I managed to lose a pound on Thursday's weigh-in. Wednesday had also included an afternoon of walking round Merry Hill though, racking up 7.5 miles and 4 activity points just from shopping (which can't be bad), so that must have canceled out the unhealthiness. I only had half a Chicken Biryani too, which helps.

I've started to aim for 5 activity points a week, which is a modest enough target, but still gives me something to work towards. I've met that target the past couple of weeks, exceeding it last week. It seems I've started to regularly earn a couple of points on a Thursday, which is Remploy day. I have my weigh-in on a Thursday morning at half 9, then make my way over to Merry Hill at half 10. The bus to Wolverhampton doesn't leave til quarter past 12, so that gives me a bit of time to wander around and earn some points. Having a couple of points guaranteed does help towards the weekly 5 :)

Since I last blogged, I've earned another silver 7 (last week) and got down to 10st-13.5 (this week). (Only downside to moving down a stone bracket is going down to 18 points, waaa! I'll live though, I'm sure.) I therefore have 6.5lbs to go til I get to my Halloween target of 10st-7 (147lbs), at which I will hopefully be a size 14. Can I lose 6.5lbs in 4 weeks? Of course I can!



Talking of Halloween, it's already begun in our house. I get the decorations up on the first of October, bedecking the place with pumpkins, bats, and all manner of other spooks.




I go a bit mad every year buying decorations - soon our Halloween collection will be bigger than our Christmas one!

These boots were made for walking ...

Stayed the same this week, grr. I've done more than twice the amount of exercise today than I did in the whole of last week, so I think I will have lost at next weigh-in (despite tonight's chips!). The ubiquitous pedometer tells me that I've earned 3.5 activity points today (compared to 1.5 points for the whole of last week), and that I've done 18347 steps and 7 miles. It did go beep while I was sitting on the bus though, so I'm not entirely sure how accurate it is!



I mentioned my Social Anxiety in the previous post, and my SA is to blame/thank for all the walking I've done today, as I've had to visit Remploy (an organisation that helps people with long-term illnesses and disabilities back into work) in Wolverhampton. I had my WW meeting this morning, so walking up the hill to that was the first mile. WW finished at 10:30, so I had some time to kill before I caught the bus at 1:15, which I of course spent wandering round Merry Hill (local mall), so that was another couple of miles. Then there was the wandering round the streets of Wolverhampton trying to follow the route Google Maps gave me, and then finding that the Remploy office was in fact a straight line from the bus stop (sigh). Still, I've got some exercise today, and I'll know where they are next time!

Talking of shopping, lots of the shops have their Halloween things in and, as I love all things spooky, I've been stocking up. Accessorize have a little Halloween range, and I had to have these bat studs. Only two weeks to go til I can put the decorations up - I can't wait!

What bad knee?

It occurred to me the other day, when the boyfriend and I were comparing ailments (lol), that my bad knee no longer hurts.

Boyfriend - Well I've got a bad back.
Me - Well I've got a bad knee ... Oh no I haven't!

It's actually got so much better that I had to think to remember which leg it was (the left, incidentally).

It used to be so bad in fact, that sometimes it would stop me from going out. I have a condition called Social Anxiety, and as part of my therapy last year I was told to go out every day for a week. So I was walking to the shops every day, which was good for me in terms of getting me out of the house, and was also good exercise, but wasn't so good for my bad knee. I woke up on the Saturday, after a week of walking, and found that I could barely move. I had a therapy group to go to that afternoon, which I couldn't go to because of the knee, so I was pretty miffed.

The knee wasn't that bad every day, but it still wasn't right. It would ache after a walk to and from the shops, and would quite regularly give way under me. Now that there's not so much weight on it, the days of the sore knee are (hopefully) behind me, and I'm very glad about that.