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!

Invasion of the Body Slimmers

My kitchen is being taken over by Weight Watchers!



So many of the products I buy these days are WW ones. Crisps, ready meals, cookies and cakes, jam, bread, yoghurts, sugar-free sweets, even beans all bear the familiar blue logo. Even though I don't pay for meetings (I have vouchers from my GP), I'm sure WW make a fortune from me!

Dippy-doo-dahs

Dip, pitta bread and veggies - a more interesting lunch than my usual sandwich :)

Picturing it

I joined the Weight Watchers forum last night. I thought you had to be a paying WW member to join, and, as I had a referral from my doctor and I therefore don't have to pay, I thought I couldn't join the site. It seems that I could though! Everyone is really nice and supportive there - one of the girls posted a link to a thing called WeightWatchers Picture It - a little application that lets you see what you'll look like at your goal weight. All you do is upload a 'before' photo, mark where your head, hips etc. are on that photo, then you get a sliding scale so you can see what you'd look like at different weights. Here's mine (look at the chicken legs! Hehehe):


Try it yourself at www.weightwatcherspictureit.co.uk/. (Try it on IE if you're a Firefox user though.)

After yesterday's overindulgence, I'm back on track today. Had my usual breakfast of cereal and skimmed milk (2 points), a leftover lunch of a roast chicken and pea sandwich (8 points), and fish, oven chips and salad for dinner (6.5 points). I've also done what my pedometer tells me is a 'healthy' amount of exercise today. :) Hopefully I'll find I've lost a bit at weigh-in this week!

Another oops

Being down the Asda end of Merry Hill at lunchtime is not a good idea. McDonald's calls to me, and today I gave in. Quarter Pounder with Cheese, plus fries, plus Diet Coke came to 15.5 points (my daily allowance is only 19). Ouch. Next time (next time?!) I'll know to have chicken nuggets - 6 are only 4 points. What makes it worse is that, apart from posting parcels, I was only down there to buy healthy stuff for tonight's dinner! Bad girl.

That stone I'd lost last time I posted is not quite a stone any more - I put on half a pound last week. So I should be being good, not eating Maccy D's! Tut tut tut.


^
Me in summer clothes, at my current weight of 11st 8lb. I look like I have a weird bump on my belly, but it's just the tie on my shorts.

Quarter of the way there!

I lost two pounds this week, which means I've lost a stone (14lbs) altogether, woo hoo. A stone in four months is not too bad. Maybe I can lose the next stone more quickly though! If I lose a pound a week (not too ambitious), it'll be gone by the end of September. I might even be back to a size 14 by then, which would be very nice. I'd have so many more clothes!

Talking of clothes, as mentioned in a previous post, I've started to sell off a few pieces of clothing. It's not quite yet a case of selling my clothes because they're too big, but that can't be far off.

Click the image below for my little collection of eBay auctions:


Thank you please x

Hahaha, oops

No weight lost this week, oops. No weight gained either though, so it's not all bad. Although this week's effort wasn't helped by the pub lunch I had earlier - burger and chips, nom nom nom (and salad - healthy!). At least I didn't have what the boyfriend had - a mixed grill thing which involved steak, black pudding, gammon, a sausage, a fried egg and pork, plus chips. Mine was my entire points allowance for the day, so I dread to think of the points in his!

Reasons why being on a diet is actually good

The weight loss, obviously. After losing 5% of my body weight, I do feel fitter. Walking around doesn't wear me out so much now that there's less of me to lug around!

Weight Watchers cakes are actually quite nice.

I'm doing more proper cookery these days - cooking things from scratch with lots of fresh veg, which makes me feel like I've accomplished something, at least in a small way.

I have better self-esteem these days because I'm achieving something, i.e. weight loss. I'm finally doing what I've been talking about for so long.

I can watch Supersize vs Superskinny without feeling guilty, because I'm at a happy medium, rather than feeling like I have the eating habits of the larger person.

If you're a little bit Obsessive-Compulsive like me, the writing down, and adding up the points of, of everything you've eaten that day is quite enjoyable.

I won't say that it's easy, but it's certainly not as hard as I thought it would be.

Curry

Lost 3 pounds this week, woo! Okay, so I put on 2 and a half last week, so it's really only half a pound. That's still something though. Only 4 and a half to go til I've lost a whole stone!

That won't be helped by the curry we're going out for tomorrow though. Then again, these days I never eat a whole portion of curry. Lots of calculations happen so that I can have something nice but still be ok for points. The sort of thing I used to have was just ridiculous (points-wise I mean - it wasn't wearing a party hat or anything) - my pre-diet meal of butter chicken, pilau rice and a naan would be 32 points (eep). So I'm basically having half of everything for 16 points (or 13 if I don't have a cider). Still pointy, but worth it :)

Noes!

OK, I'm miffed today. I put on 2.5 pounds D: I can blame Easter for that - Sunday and Monday were declared no-diet days, so I shouldn't really be surprised. On Sunday we went to my Mum's, and she had lots of nice foods in, which of course got eaten. She'd made a trifle with mini eggs on top too, and my brother-in-law had made chocolate cake. I had two Easter eggs the next day as well. Nom nom nom ...

Back on track for this week though, and I've had a healthy-ish snack of reduced fat dip and baked crisps. 3.5 points, and part of my lunch - not too bad at all :) The 3 miles I've walked today, and tonight's dinner of Spaghetti Bolognese, from a Weight Watchers recipe, should help me on the way.