Friends, I need a good kick up the arse. Help me! I have been doing soooooo good on this healthy eating/diet and weight loss malarkey lately. I feel like I’d really got into my stride and was starting to see noticeable changes. And then the weekend happened. Argh! Why can’t I stick to it on weekends?! SO ANNOYING!
It all began on Friday – I went shopping with my mum and we had lunch at Café Rouge. I had a salad. A salad that was 16.5 points when I looked it up in the Guide later on! And it didn’t stop there. At 3pm we stopped for coffee. I had carrot cake. 10 bloody points!
Stayed the same at weigh in on Saturday morning, which I am annoyed about after all the hard work last week. Saturday night our friend John came over and the 3 of us had Glastonbury-at-home and watched The Boss! Amazing! The wine was flowing and although we had a healthy dinner, the crisps and dips came out later on. Then Sunday was my niece’s 6th Birthday Party – I managed not to eat any party food but did have a bacon sandwich for breakfast and we went out for dinner and I gave in to the veggie burger temptation. With chips. And bloody onion rings. I didn’t track any of it. And I haven’t been the gym. At all. All weekend. I have spectacularly fallen off the wagon and I need help. It’s like I’ve achieved a small goal – lightest weight since 2006, people starting to notice, 5% body fat gone – and I’ve relaxed. In my head I’m like ‘I’ve done it’ when in reality I know there’s a loooooooonnnnnnnnnng way to go. Why am I like this? It’s so damn difficult! I’m so annoyed at myself.
It's now Monday and I feel fat, heavy, bloated, full of bad food and like I've regressed entirely in my attitude towards this health caper.
Any advice dudes? I’m in a right old pickle!
love, me xoxo
Monday, 29 June 2009
Tuesday, 23 June 2009
Office Eating and New Revelations
Usually I work all alone in my own office but this week, due to a shortage of managers I have been ‘subbed’ to manage a different team, so I am in a different building with 2 lovely office mates to natter with . It makes SUCH a difference having other people to work with in your office.
And how does all this relate to food Liz you giant doofus, I hear you asking. Well……allow me to explain…..
I have got myself into a nice little routine with my healthy eating of breakfast at 7am, snack at 10am, lunch at 12noon, snack at 3pm and then off to the gym. It works for me. It keeps me from feeling hungry and gives me enough energy to sustain a good workout at the end of a working day during which I am usually really mentally challenged!
My office pals with whom I am working this week marched into the office on Monday morning declaring that this week marks the start of their healthy eating week. ‘Brilliant!’ thought I, ‘THIS I can get on board with.’
Err....maybe not.
For breakfast at 9am they ate some pitta breads – plain. By 10am they were eating crisps, 2 bags. Each. At 11am the sweets came out, plus cereal bars, so called ‘healthy bars’ that are full of sugar and saturated fat and contain chocolate! All they did all morning was talk about how hungry they were and fantasise about going to the local takeaway café for a bacon butty!
They went for a power walk together at lunchtime, and came back with ice creams! And then made me calculate the points in yet more bags of crisps for their afternoon snack!
Now, don’t get me wrong, everything they were eating was low calorie stuff, but all processed, none of it filling foods and for lunch they each had a can of watery, utterly minging weight watchers carrot and coriander soup which doesn’t even go anywhere NEAR filling you up, with more pitta, and that was it! (Sorry if anyone from ww is reading this, but seriously – that soup is foul!)
So points/calories wise they were probably not far off the mark but eating so much un filling stuff and complaining about feeling hungry while I was pleasantly full really made me reflect on just how much my relationship with food and eating has changed! I used to do that ‘grab anything that’s low in points and usually processed and get it down yer gob as quick as humanly possible..’ thing and now I have totally changed that. It’s really nice to recognise it! So I guess what I’m saying is now matter how my weight loss is going, I know that I have made a really good lifestyle change with my eating and attitude to food that will last me for the rest of my life.
Now that’s a reason to smile!
As for the girls, well, I don’t want to force my way of doing things on them! But they are starting to ask me things so hopefully I can impart some of the wisdom (a lot of which I’ve learnt from your blogs by the way!) to them to assist them in their quest to stave off the office worker mentality of eating because you’re sooooooo unspeakably bored! I’ll keep you posted !
Hope you’re all having a jolly good week dudes!
BigFatLove
BigFatPie xoxo
And how does all this relate to food Liz you giant doofus, I hear you asking. Well……allow me to explain…..
I have got myself into a nice little routine with my healthy eating of breakfast at 7am, snack at 10am, lunch at 12noon, snack at 3pm and then off to the gym. It works for me. It keeps me from feeling hungry and gives me enough energy to sustain a good workout at the end of a working day during which I am usually really mentally challenged!
My office pals with whom I am working this week marched into the office on Monday morning declaring that this week marks the start of their healthy eating week. ‘Brilliant!’ thought I, ‘THIS I can get on board with.’
Err....maybe not.
For breakfast at 9am they ate some pitta breads – plain. By 10am they were eating crisps, 2 bags. Each. At 11am the sweets came out, plus cereal bars, so called ‘healthy bars’ that are full of sugar and saturated fat and contain chocolate! All they did all morning was talk about how hungry they were and fantasise about going to the local takeaway café for a bacon butty!
They went for a power walk together at lunchtime, and came back with ice creams! And then made me calculate the points in yet more bags of crisps for their afternoon snack!
Now, don’t get me wrong, everything they were eating was low calorie stuff, but all processed, none of it filling foods and for lunch they each had a can of watery, utterly minging weight watchers carrot and coriander soup which doesn’t even go anywhere NEAR filling you up, with more pitta, and that was it! (Sorry if anyone from ww is reading this, but seriously – that soup is foul!)
So points/calories wise they were probably not far off the mark but eating so much un filling stuff and complaining about feeling hungry while I was pleasantly full really made me reflect on just how much my relationship with food and eating has changed! I used to do that ‘grab anything that’s low in points and usually processed and get it down yer gob as quick as humanly possible..’ thing and now I have totally changed that. It’s really nice to recognise it! So I guess what I’m saying is now matter how my weight loss is going, I know that I have made a really good lifestyle change with my eating and attitude to food that will last me for the rest of my life.
Now that’s a reason to smile!
As for the girls, well, I don’t want to force my way of doing things on them! But they are starting to ask me things so hopefully I can impart some of the wisdom (a lot of which I’ve learnt from your blogs by the way!) to them to assist them in their quest to stave off the office worker mentality of eating because you’re sooooooo unspeakably bored! I’ll keep you posted !
Hope you’re all having a jolly good week dudes!
BigFatLove
BigFatPie xoxo
Saturday, 20 June 2009
WOO HOOOO!!!!! (Weigh In!)
THREE POUNDS OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That makes 6lbs in two weeks!
That makes me 11 stone 9 which is 163lbs!
Which is the lightest I have been since November 2006!
WOOO HOOOOOOOO!!!!!
All of which proves, my friends, that Weight Watchers works....when you follow it. And exercise works....when you do it.....the common theme??
JUST BLOODY DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Have a fabulous weekend!
BFP xoxo
That makes 6lbs in two weeks!
That makes me 11 stone 9 which is 163lbs!
Which is the lightest I have been since November 2006!
WOOO HOOOOOOOO!!!!!
All of which proves, my friends, that Weight Watchers works....when you follow it. And exercise works....when you do it.....the common theme??
JUST BLOODY DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Have a fabulous weekend!
BFP xoxo
Friday, 19 June 2009
Stressful Salad
So, this morning I didn't feel like a salad again - I feel a little bit like I do nothing but eat salad and consequently am craving all sorts of bizarre things like:
-Digestive biscuits smothered in peanut butter
- Fish and chips from the chippy
- Domino's Pizza
- Giant Cadbury's chocolate buttons
- Sea salt and Balsamic Vinegar Kettle chips. A big bag. All to myself.
In order, therefore, to stop me eating myself into oblivion I decided to pack a different lunch today. It had to be light and minimal on points because we are going out for dinner to The Millars' - dear friends of ours from Vancouver BC who now live here and were our Young Life leaders many moons ago. Anyhoop, Trish is a ww-er too so she kindly sent me the menu for this evening so I could work out pointage. So I know I'll be having salmon, new potatoes and green beans with no more than half a bottle of wine. So I counted those points and worked out I had 6.5 left for the day. Soooooooooooo, for lunch I packed
4 Ryvitas (2)
2 Laughing Cow Lights (1)
1 WW raspberry yoghurt (.5)
1 WW Lemon meringue and white chocolate bar (omg seriously to die for - SERIOUSLY!) (1.5)
A bag of sugar snap peas
I had 1 weetabix for breakfast with literally a dribble of milk on (eeeeeee I HATE the word 'dribble' can't believe I just wrote it - twice! hahaha) so I counted 2 points for that - so that makes 7 which is a whole half point over my limit YIKES - however I have so far stuck to my points all week (well since Sunday after my largin' it in London) AND gymmed it each day so I figure I can spare half a point - surely I will have gained a few activity points ??
So I packed my lunch and placed it on the window sill in our bedroom while I got ready for work. I had also lovingly prepared a mahoosive salad for the beautiful man that is my husband, including red and green peppers, sugar snap peas, spinach, mushrooms, red onion, cherry tomatoes, chilli flakes and coriander, plus a tbsp of low fat coleslaw. Well, the man in question was on a Friday vibe and so happy that it was the weekend he was running around like a total loon getting ready and singing the 'Bonkers' song VERY loudly (and out of tune....I love him, but he is completely tone deaf ) So, as he was leaving I yelled, 'Don't forget your lunch' and he yelled back, 'Got it!' and off he went.......
So, time's ticking on, I need to be leaving quite soon, I am feeling quite trendy and smug wearing an Urban Outfitters utility dress that hasn't fit in about 2 years (woo HOO!), ready for 3 visits to young people I have to make today (I like to look cool and not 'suity' when I meet with young people - they see enough suity people in their lives!) and feeling all excited about having a lunch that's not a salad (oh dear God I CANNOT believe I am excited at the prospect of eating frickin' RYVITA - what's WRONG with me!??!). I finish ghd-ing the old barnet, grab my coat (yet again it's November weather, summer? what's that?!) and go to grab my lunch.
On the window sill.
Where I left it.
It's not there.....
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
RICHARD, THE GIANT DOOFUS, HAS TAKEN THE WRONG LUNCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So he has a 'girlie' lunch of Ryvita and laughing cow (something he mercilessly teases his female colleagues in the staff room at work about rather than encouraging them in their weight loss ventures...the git!) and will no doubt be highly ridiculed by his colleagues all day and I have to eat another bloody salad. GAWD!
And annoyingly I didn't weigh the colesaw so I'm counting it as 3 and all the other veggies are zero points filling foods (gold star me please!) so I can stay on plan for the day.
HOW IRRITATING!!!!!
I have just finished eating (another bloody) salad and, actually, it was rather nice - and very filling. As I finish typing this I am laughing my head off, thinking of poor Rich trying to spread Laughing Cow on his Ryvita hahahahahahaHAHAHAHA!!! Serves him right!!!
And with that little insight into my life, it is here that I shall leave you bloggerlogger pals! Have a wonderful weekend - will let you know the weigh in result on Saturday *gulp*
Happy Friday dudes!!!!
BFP xoxo
-Digestive biscuits smothered in peanut butter
- Fish and chips from the chippy
- Domino's Pizza
- Giant Cadbury's chocolate buttons
- Sea salt and Balsamic Vinegar Kettle chips. A big bag. All to myself.
In order, therefore, to stop me eating myself into oblivion I decided to pack a different lunch today. It had to be light and minimal on points because we are going out for dinner to The Millars' - dear friends of ours from Vancouver BC who now live here and were our Young Life leaders many moons ago. Anyhoop, Trish is a ww-er too so she kindly sent me the menu for this evening so I could work out pointage. So I know I'll be having salmon, new potatoes and green beans with no more than half a bottle of wine. So I counted those points and worked out I had 6.5 left for the day. Soooooooooooo, for lunch I packed
4 Ryvitas (2)
2 Laughing Cow Lights (1)
1 WW raspberry yoghurt (.5)
1 WW Lemon meringue and white chocolate bar (omg seriously to die for - SERIOUSLY!) (1.5)
A bag of sugar snap peas
I had 1 weetabix for breakfast with literally a dribble of milk on (eeeeeee I HATE the word 'dribble' can't believe I just wrote it - twice! hahaha) so I counted 2 points for that - so that makes 7 which is a whole half point over my limit YIKES - however I have so far stuck to my points all week (well since Sunday after my largin' it in London) AND gymmed it each day so I figure I can spare half a point - surely I will have gained a few activity points ??
So I packed my lunch and placed it on the window sill in our bedroom while I got ready for work. I had also lovingly prepared a mahoosive salad for the beautiful man that is my husband, including red and green peppers, sugar snap peas, spinach, mushrooms, red onion, cherry tomatoes, chilli flakes and coriander, plus a tbsp of low fat coleslaw. Well, the man in question was on a Friday vibe and so happy that it was the weekend he was running around like a total loon getting ready and singing the 'Bonkers' song VERY loudly (and out of tune....I love him, but he is completely tone deaf ) So, as he was leaving I yelled, 'Don't forget your lunch' and he yelled back, 'Got it!' and off he went.......
So, time's ticking on, I need to be leaving quite soon, I am feeling quite trendy and smug wearing an Urban Outfitters utility dress that hasn't fit in about 2 years (woo HOO!), ready for 3 visits to young people I have to make today (I like to look cool and not 'suity' when I meet with young people - they see enough suity people in their lives!) and feeling all excited about having a lunch that's not a salad (oh dear God I CANNOT believe I am excited at the prospect of eating frickin' RYVITA - what's WRONG with me!??!). I finish ghd-ing the old barnet, grab my coat (yet again it's November weather, summer? what's that?!) and go to grab my lunch.
On the window sill.
Where I left it.
It's not there.....
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
RICHARD, THE GIANT DOOFUS, HAS TAKEN THE WRONG LUNCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So he has a 'girlie' lunch of Ryvita and laughing cow (something he mercilessly teases his female colleagues in the staff room at work about rather than encouraging them in their weight loss ventures...the git!) and will no doubt be highly ridiculed by his colleagues all day and I have to eat another bloody salad. GAWD!
And annoyingly I didn't weigh the colesaw so I'm counting it as 3 and all the other veggies are zero points filling foods (gold star me please!) so I can stay on plan for the day.
HOW IRRITATING!!!!!
I have just finished eating (another bloody) salad and, actually, it was rather nice - and very filling. As I finish typing this I am laughing my head off, thinking of poor Rich trying to spread Laughing Cow on his Ryvita hahahahahahaHAHAHAHA!!! Serves him right!!!
And with that little insight into my life, it is here that I shall leave you bloggerlogger pals! Have a wonderful weekend - will let you know the weigh in result on Saturday *gulp*
Happy Friday dudes!!!!
BFP xoxo
Wednesday, 17 June 2009
Well lookee here!!!
Yesterday I went to my local health food shop - Holland and Barrett - in search of their falafel. It's quite the nicest I have found so far (apart from in Barcelona, but that's quite a long way to travel!) and you get 20 patties for about £2, each pattie is half a point so there's a lot of "BANG FOR YOUR BUCK" (haha!) And it tastes GORGEOUS. (I forgot to take a picture because I put them in the work fridge when I got back to the office and by the time I remembered, I was on my way home)
So, while I was there I had a little look round at their other food stuffs.....and what did I find?!
ALMOND BUTTER!!!!!!! Oooh get me with my nut butters!! I have LONG been wondering about this little beauty, Jenna over at Eat,Live,Run uses it, as does lovely Laura at On the Threshold.....so I figured I'd give it a whirl! I am going to add it to porridge I think, given that it has currently turned into freaking November weather in the UK - didn't have it this morning because I want to work out the points first.
Organic Rye Sourdough Bread.....how nice does THAT sound! I don't eat a lot of bread because it doesn't agree with me generally speaking but I am really excited to try this!
And some Whole Earth organic pb! Again, I am wanting to work out points before trying but omg this spread on a Rich Tea biscuit is absolutely bloody DIVINE!
Found these little babies for 1.5 points - a massive bag RAMMED with crisps rather than the usual trick of calling them 'healthy' and then putting about 4 crisps in the bag! Made from soy beans don'tcha know! Didn't bloat me either (after I chowed down on them!) and I didn't get that 'I want moooooooooooorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrre' vibe I usually get after I've scoffed a pack of 'diet' crisps! I also found (again not pictured) an 'AMY's' veggie lasagne and Cauldron veggie sausages! HOW COOL IS THAT! AMY'S!!! (again Jenna raves about Amy's)
So last night I made a ratatouille for zero points and had 2 of the veggie sausages chopped up into it, ended up being kind of like a sausage casserole and boy was it YUMSVILLE!
So that was my trip to H & B!
In other news, does anyone else have trouble fitting everything into their day? Yesterday I ended up eating dinner at 8:30pm/ 9 and promptly falling asleep on the couch still in my sweaty and frankly minging gym gear!
I was utter rubbish at the gym, I was tired, my knees ached, I was next to a girl on the treadmill who'd just finished a 5k and I completely psyched myself out of either a run or intervals! WHAT A WUSS!? In the end I ran for about 15 minutes, then cycled for maybe 7 minutes and then rowed 2000m and then did a pathetic attempt at sit ups. I did do my weights when I got home while Iw aited for dinner to cook, but I still made a crappy effort to exercise :(
What's wrong with me?!
I wondered if partly it was to do with the fact that I am new to the gym (again) and need to be shown how to work the machines and what not again to help focus me and get the most out of my workouts. To that end I've booked an induction for tomorrow - job's a good'un :)
I'm also booked onto fitness pilates for later on this evening so expect a full report tomorrow!! I can't wait to s-trrrrrrrr-etchhhh!
Laters, skaters xoxo
Tuesday, 16 June 2009
Hit Me Baby....
Well hello!
OH-MY-WORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRD! WHAT a weekend!
Saturday morning dawned, beautifully sunny and warm and I woke up with that full-on-knotted-stomach-omg-it’s-Christmas-feeling! Got ready, ate a Weetabix and had some tea and off we went!
On the train to London (bang on 2 hours, very fast!) I had the latest Elle magazine and a medio single shot skinny latte from Costa, plus a bag of apple slices. All very restrained and weight watchery. Richard, on the other hand, had a caramel macchiato FULL FAT, plus a croissant and butter and jam. He was poorly sick though so he deserved a treat!
On arrival at Euston we headed to Embankment on the tube and strolled along the river Thames, across the bridge toward London Festival Hall on the South Bank. It was really sunny and gorgeous and as we walked there was a fly past! No, London wasn’t welcoming us, it was for the Queen’s Birthday!
Then we met up with Trev, a friend of mine from University, who is an utter legend! He took us to a cute little bar where we caught up a bit - and had 3 Peronis – oops.
After that we were beginning to feel a tad squiffy so we headed to Ev which is a Turkish restaurant near to Waterloo. It’s set back from the road and has a massive open air eating space and the building it’s in is beautiful and OMG the FOOD!!!!!
We had tzatziki and houmous with pitta and greek salad to start and then the boys had a lamb dish and a chicken dish respectively but I stuck to this spinachy, tomatoey, bulgar wheaty type affair which ROCKED.
Oh, and a glass of wine and a LOT of water! J
After this Trev took us to the rather swanky Oxo Tower where I, of course, HAD to have something off their spectacular cocktail menu! I had a shady lady which involved strawberries, rum and coconut. YUMMY!!!
Then we took the Thames Clipper to our friend Laura’s flat in the Isle of Dogs – at least that was the plan. But we decided we were too pushed for time so ended up going straight to the O2 Arena. We sat and had a drink (diet coke for me thanks!) and got changed in the toilets of a Bar & Grill – haha! We stashed our stuff and then sat and relaxed with some food watched the world go by. The whole exterior of the arena was themed as a Circus – sooooooo amazing! Crazy rides, merchandise stalls, popcorn, candy floss, you name it. I got a t shirt (because I couldn’t eat that!) which my wonderful husband bought for me. How sweet is he going to the concert with me – not exactly very manly! HAHA! (He loved it though!)
And then we took our seats, Ciara was alright, the support act and then there was an hour of Circus performers who were amazing and breathtaking – including one crazy woman being thrown into the air by a couple of chaps and landing on a wobbly balance beam thing – nutjob. It made for a great atmosphere and THEN……….
BRITNEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Introduced by Perez, and lowered from the ceiling to the stage, clad in red and black Ringmaster’s outfit for ‘Circus’ the first number.
I WAS MESMERISED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I did a LOT of yelling, a LOT of singing and a LOT of clapping! She was truly awesome. SUCH a show girl – her dancing is amazing, her body is FABULOUS – oh my word she is teeny tiny and super toned. Honestly, I think I fancied her a little bit! Haha!
OH-MY-WORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRD! WHAT a weekend!
Saturday morning dawned, beautifully sunny and warm and I woke up with that full-on-knotted-stomach-omg-it’s-Christmas-feeling! Got ready, ate a Weetabix and had some tea and off we went!
On the train to London (bang on 2 hours, very fast!) I had the latest Elle magazine and a medio single shot skinny latte from Costa, plus a bag of apple slices. All very restrained and weight watchery. Richard, on the other hand, had a caramel macchiato FULL FAT, plus a croissant and butter and jam. He was poorly sick though so he deserved a treat!
On arrival at Euston we headed to Embankment on the tube and strolled along the river Thames, across the bridge toward London Festival Hall on the South Bank. It was really sunny and gorgeous and as we walked there was a fly past! No, London wasn’t welcoming us, it was for the Queen’s Birthday!
Then we met up with Trev, a friend of mine from University, who is an utter legend! He took us to a cute little bar where we caught up a bit - and had 3 Peronis – oops.
After that we were beginning to feel a tad squiffy so we headed to Ev which is a Turkish restaurant near to Waterloo. It’s set back from the road and has a massive open air eating space and the building it’s in is beautiful and OMG the FOOD!!!!!
We had tzatziki and houmous with pitta and greek salad to start and then the boys had a lamb dish and a chicken dish respectively but I stuck to this spinachy, tomatoey, bulgar wheaty type affair which ROCKED.
Oh, and a glass of wine and a LOT of water! J
After this Trev took us to the rather swanky Oxo Tower where I, of course, HAD to have something off their spectacular cocktail menu! I had a shady lady which involved strawberries, rum and coconut. YUMMY!!!
Then we took the Thames Clipper to our friend Laura’s flat in the Isle of Dogs – at least that was the plan. But we decided we were too pushed for time so ended up going straight to the O2 Arena. We sat and had a drink (diet coke for me thanks!) and got changed in the toilets of a Bar & Grill – haha! We stashed our stuff and then sat and relaxed with some food watched the world go by. The whole exterior of the arena was themed as a Circus – sooooooo amazing! Crazy rides, merchandise stalls, popcorn, candy floss, you name it. I got a t shirt (because I couldn’t eat that!) which my wonderful husband bought for me. How sweet is he going to the concert with me – not exactly very manly! HAHA! (He loved it though!)
And then we took our seats, Ciara was alright, the support act and then there was an hour of Circus performers who were amazing and breathtaking – including one crazy woman being thrown into the air by a couple of chaps and landing on a wobbly balance beam thing – nutjob. It made for a great atmosphere and THEN……….
BRITNEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Introduced by Perez, and lowered from the ceiling to the stage, clad in red and black Ringmaster’s outfit for ‘Circus’ the first number.
I WAS MESMERISED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I did a LOT of yelling, a LOT of singing and a LOT of clapping! She was truly awesome. SUCH a show girl – her dancing is amazing, her body is FABULOUS – oh my word she is teeny tiny and super toned. Honestly, I think I fancied her a little bit! Haha!
Check out that bod!
She did 19 songs and Womanizer was the encore. I almost bawled my eyes out in Everytime (the one she actually sang!). The choreography was fabulous and the backing dancers were FAB!
Thinking about now, after the event, it’s all a bit bonkers really. I am amazed that fans (me included) seem only to love her more now that she’s been through so much and so publicly. Who goes through a nervous breakdown and then embarks upon a world tour!? Who else commands such huge audiences to jam packed arenas night after night to a show she doesn’t sing in?! (allegedly) Regardless of whether you’re a fan or not, this girl is an enigma!!!!!!
Anyhoop, enough gushing about Britney!
After the concert we headed to the boat and met Laura at her pier along with Claire another school pal who now lives in London. We headed back to laura’s flat and chatted until 3am and ate ‘picky food’ olives, pitta, houmous, parma ham, crisps, cava…….by this time I had stopped counting points OOPS. But I think I made wise choices, apart from all the freaking beer!
So Sunday we went for a stroll along the Thames to Greenwich which is just gorgeous. Everyone aleways saya ‘west is best’ about living in London but I must admit I really like Docklands – I think there’s something embedded in my psyche about feeling ‘free’ living near water – I’ve gronwn up on a peninsula so being near water makes me calm!
We had bacon butties for breakfast. I had one small white roll, one slice of lean back bacon and tommy k, no butter. Plus a small OJ and coffee.
And all too soon it was 2pm and we were back at Euston to catch our train back to Liverpool. I love London weekends! More pics to follow btw - Rich used his fancy camera all weekend so I need to wait for him to upload all the pics!
I was starving by this time so had a tuna/sweetcorn sarnie from WHSmith (random!) and dutifully recorded the calories and saturated fat on my phone to calculate when I got home) 5 POINTS! For a piddly sandwich that wasn’t even that good! It’s been a while since I’ve had pre-packed butties – yeesh, now I remember why! FAR too high in points! I like a sandwich with, what phrase have you all been using lately? ‘More bang for your buck?’ Is that right?!
I also caved and had a small bag of salt and vinegar Hula Hoops to go with it, only 3 points though – they must have changed their recipe as my records show they used to be 4.5 points a bag! (nerd alert!)
By the time we got home it was 5pm and our thoughts naturally turned to dinner…..the dreaded chippy was mentioned but I knew I had haul back my weekend or I would end up hating myself tomorrow!
Sooooo we ended up getting kebabs! Now before you all gasp in horror let me tell you, this is the BEST kebab place on the Wirral. It’s all cooked fresh in front of you, they don't add anything to the meat and you can choose your own stuff to go in it.
Allow me to illustrate:
Rich had a large chicken kebab off the skewer in a naan with garlic sauce, salad, chilli sauce and mayo. Plus a large chips slathered in mayo. And a beer. The pig.
I had a small chicken kebab off the skewer, grilled, equivalent to one chicken breast, not coated in anything just grilled. I had them put it in a pitta (normal sized one) and just added salad – lettuce tomato cucumber. When I got it home I added one tbsp low fat coleslaw, one tbsp low fat mayo and a little bit of tommy K plus some chilli flakes. See?! Actually a really nice meal for 7 points. I did NOT have chips or beer!
So I was proud of myself! And in bed for 9:30pm and slept till 6am the following morning like a baby!
All in all a TOP weekend!
Now back to the plan!
Yesterday’s eats:
B: 1 Weetabix, skimmed milk, tea.
L: spinach salad, cottage cheese, grapes and yogurt
D: 3.5 points of couscous with lemon juice, chilli flakes, courgette, mushrooms, red pepper and onion which I stir fried in a little soy sauce and no oil first and then added to the couscous. It was so yummy I ate it straight out of the mixing bowl!
Thinking about now, after the event, it’s all a bit bonkers really. I am amazed that fans (me included) seem only to love her more now that she’s been through so much and so publicly. Who goes through a nervous breakdown and then embarks upon a world tour!? Who else commands such huge audiences to jam packed arenas night after night to a show she doesn’t sing in?! (allegedly) Regardless of whether you’re a fan or not, this girl is an enigma!!!!!!
Anyhoop, enough gushing about Britney!
After the concert we headed to the boat and met Laura at her pier along with Claire another school pal who now lives in London. We headed back to laura’s flat and chatted until 3am and ate ‘picky food’ olives, pitta, houmous, parma ham, crisps, cava…….by this time I had stopped counting points OOPS. But I think I made wise choices, apart from all the freaking beer!
So Sunday we went for a stroll along the Thames to Greenwich which is just gorgeous. Everyone aleways saya ‘west is best’ about living in London but I must admit I really like Docklands – I think there’s something embedded in my psyche about feeling ‘free’ living near water – I’ve gronwn up on a peninsula so being near water makes me calm!
We had bacon butties for breakfast. I had one small white roll, one slice of lean back bacon and tommy k, no butter. Plus a small OJ and coffee.
And all too soon it was 2pm and we were back at Euston to catch our train back to Liverpool. I love London weekends! More pics to follow btw - Rich used his fancy camera all weekend so I need to wait for him to upload all the pics!
I was starving by this time so had a tuna/sweetcorn sarnie from WHSmith (random!) and dutifully recorded the calories and saturated fat on my phone to calculate when I got home) 5 POINTS! For a piddly sandwich that wasn’t even that good! It’s been a while since I’ve had pre-packed butties – yeesh, now I remember why! FAR too high in points! I like a sandwich with, what phrase have you all been using lately? ‘More bang for your buck?’ Is that right?!
I also caved and had a small bag of salt and vinegar Hula Hoops to go with it, only 3 points though – they must have changed their recipe as my records show they used to be 4.5 points a bag! (nerd alert!)
By the time we got home it was 5pm and our thoughts naturally turned to dinner…..the dreaded chippy was mentioned but I knew I had haul back my weekend or I would end up hating myself tomorrow!
Sooooo we ended up getting kebabs! Now before you all gasp in horror let me tell you, this is the BEST kebab place on the Wirral. It’s all cooked fresh in front of you, they don't add anything to the meat and you can choose your own stuff to go in it.
Allow me to illustrate:
Rich had a large chicken kebab off the skewer in a naan with garlic sauce, salad, chilli sauce and mayo. Plus a large chips slathered in mayo. And a beer. The pig.
I had a small chicken kebab off the skewer, grilled, equivalent to one chicken breast, not coated in anything just grilled. I had them put it in a pitta (normal sized one) and just added salad – lettuce tomato cucumber. When I got it home I added one tbsp low fat coleslaw, one tbsp low fat mayo and a little bit of tommy K plus some chilli flakes. See?! Actually a really nice meal for 7 points. I did NOT have chips or beer!
So I was proud of myself! And in bed for 9:30pm and slept till 6am the following morning like a baby!
All in all a TOP weekend!
Now back to the plan!
Yesterday’s eats:
B: 1 Weetabix, skimmed milk, tea.
L: spinach salad, cottage cheese, grapes and yogurt
D: 3.5 points of couscous with lemon juice, chilli flakes, courgette, mushrooms, red pepper and onion which I stir fried in a little soy sauce and no oil first and then added to the couscous. It was so yummy I ate it straight out of the mixing bowl!
See?
Snack: one banana, one ww bar
I went straight to the new beautiful swanky posh gym after work and had the whole cardio zone to myself for a good 30 minute run and then did a 2000m row and then was very brave and did all my weights and abs and whatnot AT THE GYM instead of in front of the telly like usual! How brave am I!!!?? It was funny, little old me standing next to the guys trying to lift the equivalent of a small car, having to raise up onto their toes to lift a weight and all neck veins popping out all over the show MINGING!
Then I popped up to the Chronicle (pub) and met lovely Alison for a drink, came home, had a cuppa with my hubby and went to bed! A very successful Monday indeed! HURRAH!
I’m feeing really upbeat this morning (can you tell!?) and excited about my diet and weight loss and changes I can see in my body – no matter how slowly it seems to be taking me. I WILL get there!
Hope you’re all having a wonderful Tuesday morning!
Besitos
BFP xoxo
I went straight to the new beautiful swanky posh gym after work and had the whole cardio zone to myself for a good 30 minute run and then did a 2000m row and then was very brave and did all my weights and abs and whatnot AT THE GYM instead of in front of the telly like usual! How brave am I!!!?? It was funny, little old me standing next to the guys trying to lift the equivalent of a small car, having to raise up onto their toes to lift a weight and all neck veins popping out all over the show MINGING!
Then I popped up to the Chronicle (pub) and met lovely Alison for a drink, came home, had a cuppa with my hubby and went to bed! A very successful Monday indeed! HURRAH!
I’m feeing really upbeat this morning (can you tell!?) and excited about my diet and weight loss and changes I can see in my body – no matter how slowly it seems to be taking me. I WILL get there!
Hope you’re all having a wonderful Tuesday morning!
Besitos
BFP xoxo
Friday, 12 June 2009
My trainer may be trying to kill me and other stories
3lbs off people, 3 lbs! A woo hooo! FINALLY underneath that stone zone and 166lbs. Right that's it, no more messin'. I have been here before and been so ecstatic and then rewarded myself with an all-weekend-eat-a-thon which has resulted in a gain the following weekend.
So this weekend and coming week will be the true test. I am determined. I'm determined not to go bonkers in London and to get right back to gymming it 5/6 days out of 7. IN fact I will set myself the challenge of going to the gym Monday - Friday next week. Hold me to it, ok?! I've faffed around gaining and losing the same 14lbs for a year now. NO MORE.
Today I am off work (Friday!), so I had a training session this morning - oh dear LORD I really do think he's trying to kill me - death by circuit training!
I did:
10 mins run @ 11kph
10 squats with a heavy netball type thing
10 squats raising ball with left hand
10 squats raising ball with right hand
20 ab curls on (in)stability ball
10 of these weird leg lifts whilst in full plank on the (in)stability ball
15 full press ups
10 bell ringers left
10 bell ringers right
15 upright row
1 minute running on the evil trampoline thing
10 step ups with 5kg weights left and then right
20 tricep dips on bench
20 lateral arm raises
60 seconds fast jabs on punch bag
dead weight lifts (10)
10 of this weird thing with a pole where you use the weight of the pole like a shot put type of action
60 seconds fast rowing
15 bicep curls
I did this whole thing 3 freakin' times! And each time he kept upping the reps and each time I complained upping them again! (Memo to me: Keep gob shut in future sessions!) My face has never been so red, I feared an aneurism was imminent..... ;)
I am seriously cream crackered now, but did manage to ride my bike over to Rachel's to get weighed because I can't go tomorrow (Did I mention I'm going to see Britney?! :)
Then I had coffee with my mum and then made lunch: I used 2 pieces of wholewheat ww bread (pretty disgusting but all we had) and made an 'open sandwich' - check me out learning from all you bloggers! On the bread I put tuna mixed with Hellman's Extra Light mayo and chilli flakes and coriander. On top of the tuna I sliced a pickled onion, added a dollop of red cabbage to the plate, 1.5 points of plain cottage cheese, yellow pepper, spinach, cherry tomatoes and no points salad dressing. I AM STUFFED! But look how pretty!!!! And all for 5 points!
So this weekend and coming week will be the true test. I am determined. I'm determined not to go bonkers in London and to get right back to gymming it 5/6 days out of 7. IN fact I will set myself the challenge of going to the gym Monday - Friday next week. Hold me to it, ok?! I've faffed around gaining and losing the same 14lbs for a year now. NO MORE.
Today I am off work (Friday!), so I had a training session this morning - oh dear LORD I really do think he's trying to kill me - death by circuit training!
I did:
10 mins run @ 11kph
10 squats with a heavy netball type thing
10 squats raising ball with left hand
10 squats raising ball with right hand
20 ab curls on (in)stability ball
10 of these weird leg lifts whilst in full plank on the (in)stability ball
15 full press ups
10 bell ringers left
10 bell ringers right
15 upright row
1 minute running on the evil trampoline thing
10 step ups with 5kg weights left and then right
20 tricep dips on bench
20 lateral arm raises
60 seconds fast jabs on punch bag
dead weight lifts (10)
10 of this weird thing with a pole where you use the weight of the pole like a shot put type of action
60 seconds fast rowing
15 bicep curls
I did this whole thing 3 freakin' times! And each time he kept upping the reps and each time I complained upping them again! (Memo to me: Keep gob shut in future sessions!) My face has never been so red, I feared an aneurism was imminent..... ;)
I am seriously cream crackered now, but did manage to ride my bike over to Rachel's to get weighed because I can't go tomorrow (Did I mention I'm going to see Britney?! :)
Then I had coffee with my mum and then made lunch: I used 2 pieces of wholewheat ww bread (pretty disgusting but all we had) and made an 'open sandwich' - check me out learning from all you bloggers! On the bread I put tuna mixed with Hellman's Extra Light mayo and chilli flakes and coriander. On top of the tuna I sliced a pickled onion, added a dollop of red cabbage to the plate, 1.5 points of plain cottage cheese, yellow pepper, spinach, cherry tomatoes and no points salad dressing. I AM STUFFED! But look how pretty!!!! And all for 5 points!
Now I am having a nice cuppa while I catch up on blogs (loving your work people, loving your work) and gchat with amazing Anna.
God I love being a lady of leisure! The only thing I have left to do today is decide on an outfit for the concert tomorrow.....oh decisions, decisions!
Heaps of love - have a fab weekend!!
BFP xoxo
Thursday, 11 June 2009
Ups & Downs
So, I didn't make it to the super-duper gym....boooooooooo! BAD LIZZIE!!!!!!!!! However, I DID do both day's worth of resistance and core to make up for skiving off.
My reason for not gymming it (especially after I made such a song and dance about it in yesterday's post !) was that I got sucked into cyberspace! Because I work for the local government, I oftentimes cannot get on all the fun websites you lot chat on about, so yesterday I was a full on google geek and whilst I waited for dinner to cook (salmon fishcakes, green beans and low fat coleslaw - 7.5 points, I thank you)
And what fun I had!
I am now not only a fully fledged expert on H.I.I.T thanks to MizFit, but I also know where to buy Larabars, Pb2, Ezekiel bread, popchips, Vita Top muffins AND Raw Almond Butter here in the UK! Oh YES! Apparently we're not AS behind as I had feared!!!! None of it's on general sale, it's all extortionate internet prices so I don't think I'll be making any great purchases any time soon (so feel free to send me a care package !!) but nevertheless it was very interesting researching!
I also know all about my basal metabolic rate and also found this website which I THINK is like the calorie king or spark people I know people use. I got a free trial for 24 hours and put a day's eats into it to get some idea of my calorie intake - I know I follow points but I have no clue about calories AT ALL! I guess maybe it's just coz it was a bit different BUT I found the whole layout of the website completely easy to follow and use - unlike the online points tracker which is far too complicated for it's own good! AND the other cool thing was that the search tool was really comprehensive, so I searched 'weight watchers red berry bar' and it found the calorie content in that and also 'salmon JD Wetherspoons' because tonight, my friends, is date night and we're off to our local pub for dinner and a drink of 3...er I mean two.....because it's a chain pub it's not very clued in on the whole healthy eating vibe so I usually do SetPoints technique and have a piece of grilled salmon, salad and baked potato, with the dressing on the side, natch ;) I thought the search tool was FAB because I found that whole meal's calorie content just like that *snaps fingers* - how COOL! It turned out when I put in today's eats that I am 200 cals over what I should be eating to lose (which was what I had calculated on points, that I would eb over) but then I put in my run that I am just on my way to and if I do a 30 minute run I more than make up those calories so stay within my allotted amount for today! This is COOl - and I KNOW KNOW KNOW it's entirely the same principle that WW points is based on but it's just reassuring to know that's ww is accurate (not that I doubted it but you know sometimes when you're just not sure!!)
Downside is it costs a tenner a month so I'm jibbing it off for now! But vamos a ver en el futuro....
So friends, I'll just keep plodding on I think! Nearly at the gym now so I'll sign off. Weigh in is tomorrow because Rich & I are Londoning it on Saturday to catch up with old uni buddies and SEE THE INIMITABLE MISS BRITNEY JEAN SPEARS, INTERNATIONAL SUPERSTAR!
I am sooooooooo excited I may puke!!!!
I'll post via B-Berry over the weekend and I promise to try and behave myself - TRACK THE WEEKEND remember???!!!!!! ;)
Big loves
BFP xoxo
My reason for not gymming it (especially after I made such a song and dance about it in yesterday's post !) was that I got sucked into cyberspace! Because I work for the local government, I oftentimes cannot get on all the fun websites you lot chat on about, so yesterday I was a full on google geek and whilst I waited for dinner to cook (salmon fishcakes, green beans and low fat coleslaw - 7.5 points, I thank you)
And what fun I had!
I am now not only a fully fledged expert on H.I.I.T thanks to MizFit, but I also know where to buy Larabars, Pb2, Ezekiel bread, popchips, Vita Top muffins AND Raw Almond Butter here in the UK! Oh YES! Apparently we're not AS behind as I had feared!!!! None of it's on general sale, it's all extortionate internet prices so I don't think I'll be making any great purchases any time soon (so feel free to send me a care package !!) but nevertheless it was very interesting researching!
I also know all about my basal metabolic rate and also found this website which I THINK is like the calorie king or spark people I know people use. I got a free trial for 24 hours and put a day's eats into it to get some idea of my calorie intake - I know I follow points but I have no clue about calories AT ALL! I guess maybe it's just coz it was a bit different BUT I found the whole layout of the website completely easy to follow and use - unlike the online points tracker which is far too complicated for it's own good! AND the other cool thing was that the search tool was really comprehensive, so I searched 'weight watchers red berry bar' and it found the calorie content in that and also 'salmon JD Wetherspoons' because tonight, my friends, is date night and we're off to our local pub for dinner and a drink of 3...er I mean two.....because it's a chain pub it's not very clued in on the whole healthy eating vibe so I usually do SetPoints technique and have a piece of grilled salmon, salad and baked potato, with the dressing on the side, natch ;) I thought the search tool was FAB because I found that whole meal's calorie content just like that *snaps fingers* - how COOL! It turned out when I put in today's eats that I am 200 cals over what I should be eating to lose (which was what I had calculated on points, that I would eb over) but then I put in my run that I am just on my way to and if I do a 30 minute run I more than make up those calories so stay within my allotted amount for today! This is COOl - and I KNOW KNOW KNOW it's entirely the same principle that WW points is based on but it's just reassuring to know that's ww is accurate (not that I doubted it but you know sometimes when you're just not sure!!)
Downside is it costs a tenner a month so I'm jibbing it off for now! But vamos a ver en el futuro....
So friends, I'll just keep plodding on I think! Nearly at the gym now so I'll sign off. Weigh in is tomorrow because Rich & I are Londoning it on Saturday to catch up with old uni buddies and SEE THE INIMITABLE MISS BRITNEY JEAN SPEARS, INTERNATIONAL SUPERSTAR!
I am sooooooooo excited I may puke!!!!
I'll post via B-Berry over the weekend and I promise to try and behave myself - TRACK THE WEEKEND remember???!!!!!! ;)
Big loves
BFP xoxo
Wednesday, 10 June 2009
Gym Snobbery
Let me tell you a story. Are you sitting comfortably? Then I’ll begin…..
When I first started working out properly, I was very pleased to be able to take advantage of a discounted membership offer at the local authority owned gyms across the peninsula where I live. It was very cheap indeed and had a wide range of classes plus a fully equipped (if cheap and cheerful) gym. It was within easy reach of home and had a full size training pool, thus my gym journey was born. And I was very happy there, always feeling rather smug that I eschewed the gargantuan corporate conglomerate money spinner gyms, full of people wearing not very many clothes at all, charging astronomical prices and generally being a bit snobby. Yes, I was a woman of the people! I believed in the ‘Sport for All’ slogan. I enjoyed working out side by side (probably) with ‘service users’. No crazy lycra outfits here – no siree Bob, just trackies, trainees and perfect makeup. I kept my head down and worked out in complete peace, blending into background and not feeling judge or threatened, just got on with sweating.
And then they closed the bloody thing! Yes indeed folks, 3 months of renovation and refurbishment (read ‘finally doing something about the fact that a local authority owned property contravened just about every equal opps/access for people with disabilities law and by law that exists in this fair country’) rolled into 6 months and into a year. (In actual fact it was 18 months before they opened it again – GAH!) So naturally I was forced to look for somewhere else……..
I happened upon The Village Hotel. Went for a visit, did a yoga class on a Sunday evening for 2 hours, loved the beautiful dance studio with its perfect sprung floor, dribbled over the changing rooms and showers with private cubicles, marvelled at the mahoosive gym with its rows and rows of treadmills, every weights machine imaginable, cross trainers, stair masters, free weights, bikes, rowing machines, another couple of studios, a pool, a steam room, a sauna, a bar, a restaurant, a pub – ok I’m getting carried away BUT suffice it to say it was ‘luverly’ and imo well worth doubling the amount I was spending monthly on membership – I justified it by telling myself(and my man – who detests gyms) that it was an investment in myself and better than buying shoes……
And then the ‘current economic climate’ hit and I had gone off the boil with my exercise, so could no longer justify the expense. Plus they had re-opened the oval (council gym) after a particularly hysterical debacle involving the contractors who rebuilt the pool only putting 5 swimming lanes in the training pool instead of 6 and having to undo their work and re do it all because local swimming teams needed 6 lanes to train and compete in - BWHAHAHAHAHA! (total nodders!!)
Anyhoop, so back I went to my little ‘sport for all’ gym. It’s been 5 months people and try as I might I JUST CANNOT TAKE IT ANYMORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Seriously. You thought my post on Swimmers’ Rage (patent pending) was extreme, then you want to watch me seethe as people walk on the treadmill. Not that anything is wrong AT ALL with walking on the treadmill, in fact I do it myself on occasion, but oh no, these women (and it is largely women, am not being sexist just truthful) walk on the treadmill AND READ A FREAKING MAGAZINE barely breaking a sweat and the greatest physical exertion they are subjecting themselves to is the turning of the page! ARRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!! It drives me batty! And what’s more is there are only 4 or 6 treadmills depending on which one you go to so they’re in short supply and are therefore a rather precious commodity. There are signs all over the show saying ‘Please limit your time on the cardio machines to 15 minutes at busy times’ which makes me antsy! People have been known to stand behind those on the treadmill and ‘tut’ until they get off! HOW RUDE! And 15 minutes is not long enough! (unless you’re doing interval training/H.I.I.T eh, MizFit?!)
I got to the point last week where I did 12 minutes of rowing, 15 on the cross trainer and a weights programme whilst waiting for a treadmill. I got fed up and went home. I began to hate the gym, I hate everything about it. I hate that there’s not enough stuff, that I pay my council taxes AND a fee that supposedly subsidises the gym’s upkeep but so far as I can see they don’t spend it as the equipment is all a bit antiquated – you try interval training on a treadmill you manually have to speed up and slow down by pressing the arrow keys!! I hate that the changing rooms are skanky, I hate that they’re not open on public holidays, I hate the early closing times, I resent the people who do not have to pay for whatever reason, it feels too much like hard work and all the fun has gone out of it. Especially those days that are a real mental battle at work and all I want to do is get on a treadmill and run, forget about my crappy day and then do my other stuff afterward. Not being able to have a choice about how and in what order I undertake my workouts was stressing me out BIG TIME! Particularly those days when you have to convince yourself to go workout!
And then it occurred to me that actually I don’t have to put up with this! I can rejoin The Village! If I actually USE my membership then that’s a justifiable reason right there.
Unbeknownst to me Rachel (she of weightwatchers guru fame – Hi Rach!) had also been feeling this way, she too is a former member of The Village and upon discussing it, we realised that we had (a) become gym snobs and (b) that we are bloody proud to be! Nothing wrong with wanting a little luxury in one’s life!
So, long story short, last night we went over after ww and REJOINED!!!!!!!!!!!!
WAHOOP!
Yes indeedy my little blog-a-logs, I am a fully paid up member of the swanky gym again……..and ironically in the best shape I’ve ever been whilst a member there hahaha!
I cannot WAIT till 5:30 so I can go and get cracking!
BigFatLove
BFP xoxo
When I first started working out properly, I was very pleased to be able to take advantage of a discounted membership offer at the local authority owned gyms across the peninsula where I live. It was very cheap indeed and had a wide range of classes plus a fully equipped (if cheap and cheerful) gym. It was within easy reach of home and had a full size training pool, thus my gym journey was born. And I was very happy there, always feeling rather smug that I eschewed the gargantuan corporate conglomerate money spinner gyms, full of people wearing not very many clothes at all, charging astronomical prices and generally being a bit snobby. Yes, I was a woman of the people! I believed in the ‘Sport for All’ slogan. I enjoyed working out side by side (probably) with ‘service users’. No crazy lycra outfits here – no siree Bob, just trackies, trainees and perfect makeup. I kept my head down and worked out in complete peace, blending into background and not feeling judge or threatened, just got on with sweating.
And then they closed the bloody thing! Yes indeed folks, 3 months of renovation and refurbishment (read ‘finally doing something about the fact that a local authority owned property contravened just about every equal opps/access for people with disabilities law and by law that exists in this fair country’) rolled into 6 months and into a year. (In actual fact it was 18 months before they opened it again – GAH!) So naturally I was forced to look for somewhere else……..
I happened upon The Village Hotel. Went for a visit, did a yoga class on a Sunday evening for 2 hours, loved the beautiful dance studio with its perfect sprung floor, dribbled over the changing rooms and showers with private cubicles, marvelled at the mahoosive gym with its rows and rows of treadmills, every weights machine imaginable, cross trainers, stair masters, free weights, bikes, rowing machines, another couple of studios, a pool, a steam room, a sauna, a bar, a restaurant, a pub – ok I’m getting carried away BUT suffice it to say it was ‘luverly’ and imo well worth doubling the amount I was spending monthly on membership – I justified it by telling myself(and my man – who detests gyms) that it was an investment in myself and better than buying shoes……
And then the ‘current economic climate’ hit and I had gone off the boil with my exercise, so could no longer justify the expense. Plus they had re-opened the oval (council gym) after a particularly hysterical debacle involving the contractors who rebuilt the pool only putting 5 swimming lanes in the training pool instead of 6 and having to undo their work and re do it all because local swimming teams needed 6 lanes to train and compete in - BWHAHAHAHAHA! (total nodders!!)
Anyhoop, so back I went to my little ‘sport for all’ gym. It’s been 5 months people and try as I might I JUST CANNOT TAKE IT ANYMORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Seriously. You thought my post on Swimmers’ Rage (patent pending) was extreme, then you want to watch me seethe as people walk on the treadmill. Not that anything is wrong AT ALL with walking on the treadmill, in fact I do it myself on occasion, but oh no, these women (and it is largely women, am not being sexist just truthful) walk on the treadmill AND READ A FREAKING MAGAZINE barely breaking a sweat and the greatest physical exertion they are subjecting themselves to is the turning of the page! ARRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!! It drives me batty! And what’s more is there are only 4 or 6 treadmills depending on which one you go to so they’re in short supply and are therefore a rather precious commodity. There are signs all over the show saying ‘Please limit your time on the cardio machines to 15 minutes at busy times’ which makes me antsy! People have been known to stand behind those on the treadmill and ‘tut’ until they get off! HOW RUDE! And 15 minutes is not long enough! (unless you’re doing interval training/H.I.I.T eh, MizFit?!)
I got to the point last week where I did 12 minutes of rowing, 15 on the cross trainer and a weights programme whilst waiting for a treadmill. I got fed up and went home. I began to hate the gym, I hate everything about it. I hate that there’s not enough stuff, that I pay my council taxes AND a fee that supposedly subsidises the gym’s upkeep but so far as I can see they don’t spend it as the equipment is all a bit antiquated – you try interval training on a treadmill you manually have to speed up and slow down by pressing the arrow keys!! I hate that the changing rooms are skanky, I hate that they’re not open on public holidays, I hate the early closing times, I resent the people who do not have to pay for whatever reason, it feels too much like hard work and all the fun has gone out of it. Especially those days that are a real mental battle at work and all I want to do is get on a treadmill and run, forget about my crappy day and then do my other stuff afterward. Not being able to have a choice about how and in what order I undertake my workouts was stressing me out BIG TIME! Particularly those days when you have to convince yourself to go workout!
And then it occurred to me that actually I don’t have to put up with this! I can rejoin The Village! If I actually USE my membership then that’s a justifiable reason right there.
Unbeknownst to me Rachel (she of weightwatchers guru fame – Hi Rach!) had also been feeling this way, she too is a former member of The Village and upon discussing it, we realised that we had (a) become gym snobs and (b) that we are bloody proud to be! Nothing wrong with wanting a little luxury in one’s life!
So, long story short, last night we went over after ww and REJOINED!!!!!!!!!!!!
WAHOOP!
Yes indeedy my little blog-a-logs, I am a fully paid up member of the swanky gym again……..and ironically in the best shape I’ve ever been whilst a member there hahaha!
I cannot WAIT till 5:30 so I can go and get cracking!
BigFatLove
BFP xoxo
Tuesday, 9 June 2009
Warning: quite a random post coming up....
Ok first things first: weight loss, schmeight loss WHAT THE BLOODY HELL ARE HEIDI AND SPENCER DOING ON ‘IACGMOOH’????!!!
Seriously the funniest thing I have seen in a long time. Seriously. So many questions, so little time! The most pertinent of which seems to be WHEN DID HEIDI GO ALL ‘JESUS FREAKS’???? What’s with the constant prayer? Good grief.
Kudos to her though, you wouldn’t catch me eating a rat’s tail or scorpions! Not for all the tea in China.
The thing that baffles me most about it (apart from the Jesus thing) is how the dickens her agent managed to get her to agree to it. I mean, this is HEIDI – she of The Hills fame! When she was on that show it was clear she never ate a bloomin’ thing, and now she’s chowing down on all sorts of Jungle ‘delicacies’ like there’s no tomorrow! What a nutter! Perhaps it’s the agent who deserves the kudos in all this…certainly for having to put up with bloody Spencer. Oh my GAWD does he have the rightest surname in the whole wide world! HAHAHAHA. I would seriously like to chin him.
Jackass.
Anyhoop, that’s that out the way. Stay tuned for more rants about Speidi and also America’s Got Talent.
Now on to the business of the day…..
Yesterday I was a model citizen and perfect weigh watcher once again – halo please! I had a little run after work and did my entire weight programme but upped the reps a little as it was getting a bit easy. Actually that’s probably not true, but maybe my bod is getting used to it. I dunno. Will have to check that with Mr Motivator on Friday. Still loving my sessions a very lot – although I was practically crippled after last week – that man is a sadist – but in a good way :)
For dinner hier soir I made 4 points worth of wholewheat spaghetti and combined it with a courgette, some mushrooms and a red onion which I fried in One Cal plus 40g of garlic and herb philly (2 points) which served as the sauce. ‘Twas yummy – I don’t normally like creamy sauces on pasta but this I can cope with – dead easy, dead quick and just the right amount. I was starving yesterday so I managed to eat all my points, had no alcohol, but I did give in to 2 points’ worth of crisps BUT I WEIGHED THEM AND POINTED THEM which is in and of itself a MAHOOSIVE NSV!!
Have just woofed my lunch down – quite late today rather annoyingly. I do hate it when work gets in the way of eating hahaha! I had a salad (quelle surprise) of baby spinach, sugar snap peas, cherry tomatoes, red pepper, low fat cottage cheese with chives, coriander, chilli flakes and red onion. Plus a yoghurt and a ww red berry bar.
I haven’t been swimming on my lunch hour loads lately, just off and on because I have still got to get my toe nail sorted – it’s ruddy well KILLING! I’ve been referred for nail surgery – yikes! I’m hoping this will be less dramatic than it sounds. I do have quite a high pain threshold when it comes to my tootsies though, I figure this is due to a combination of watching too much sex and the city and therefore wearing high heels permanently AND all the pointe work at ballet as a kid, nothing like dancing through a few stress fractures and ingrown toenails to give you tolerance of foot pain. Lovely. Normally I’d just leave it but it’s getting in the way of running and (more importantly) wearing beautiful shoes!
I’ve been getting back into my peppermint tea lately too, I’d forgotten how good it was and randomly found some the other day, so thought I’d give it a whirl. Yummy. And no faffing around with milk either!
In other news the weather has gone to the dogs, so I am currently freezing my butt off in the office with the little fan heater on! Apparently we have had our summer here in Blighty. Marvellous. The only bonus I can see is that it’s ok to cook soup, casseroles and stews again. HA!
I am getting a bit sick of salad for my lunches. Those of you who are office bound, what do you eat for lunch at work???
Answers please.Sorry this is such a random post –I feel a bit bonkers today.
I’m off to do some more work. Break over.
Heaps of love
BFP xoxo
Seriously the funniest thing I have seen in a long time. Seriously. So many questions, so little time! The most pertinent of which seems to be WHEN DID HEIDI GO ALL ‘JESUS FREAKS’???? What’s with the constant prayer? Good grief.
Kudos to her though, you wouldn’t catch me eating a rat’s tail or scorpions! Not for all the tea in China.
The thing that baffles me most about it (apart from the Jesus thing) is how the dickens her agent managed to get her to agree to it. I mean, this is HEIDI – she of The Hills fame! When she was on that show it was clear she never ate a bloomin’ thing, and now she’s chowing down on all sorts of Jungle ‘delicacies’ like there’s no tomorrow! What a nutter! Perhaps it’s the agent who deserves the kudos in all this…certainly for having to put up with bloody Spencer. Oh my GAWD does he have the rightest surname in the whole wide world! HAHAHAHA. I would seriously like to chin him.
Jackass.
Anyhoop, that’s that out the way. Stay tuned for more rants about Speidi and also America’s Got Talent.
Now on to the business of the day…..
Yesterday I was a model citizen and perfect weigh watcher once again – halo please! I had a little run after work and did my entire weight programme but upped the reps a little as it was getting a bit easy. Actually that’s probably not true, but maybe my bod is getting used to it. I dunno. Will have to check that with Mr Motivator on Friday. Still loving my sessions a very lot – although I was practically crippled after last week – that man is a sadist – but in a good way :)
For dinner hier soir I made 4 points worth of wholewheat spaghetti and combined it with a courgette, some mushrooms and a red onion which I fried in One Cal plus 40g of garlic and herb philly (2 points) which served as the sauce. ‘Twas yummy – I don’t normally like creamy sauces on pasta but this I can cope with – dead easy, dead quick and just the right amount. I was starving yesterday so I managed to eat all my points, had no alcohol, but I did give in to 2 points’ worth of crisps BUT I WEIGHED THEM AND POINTED THEM which is in and of itself a MAHOOSIVE NSV!!
Have just woofed my lunch down – quite late today rather annoyingly. I do hate it when work gets in the way of eating hahaha! I had a salad (quelle surprise) of baby spinach, sugar snap peas, cherry tomatoes, red pepper, low fat cottage cheese with chives, coriander, chilli flakes and red onion. Plus a yoghurt and a ww red berry bar.
I haven’t been swimming on my lunch hour loads lately, just off and on because I have still got to get my toe nail sorted – it’s ruddy well KILLING! I’ve been referred for nail surgery – yikes! I’m hoping this will be less dramatic than it sounds. I do have quite a high pain threshold when it comes to my tootsies though, I figure this is due to a combination of watching too much sex and the city and therefore wearing high heels permanently AND all the pointe work at ballet as a kid, nothing like dancing through a few stress fractures and ingrown toenails to give you tolerance of foot pain. Lovely. Normally I’d just leave it but it’s getting in the way of running and (more importantly) wearing beautiful shoes!
I’ve been getting back into my peppermint tea lately too, I’d forgotten how good it was and randomly found some the other day, so thought I’d give it a whirl. Yummy. And no faffing around with milk either!
In other news the weather has gone to the dogs, so I am currently freezing my butt off in the office with the little fan heater on! Apparently we have had our summer here in Blighty. Marvellous. The only bonus I can see is that it’s ok to cook soup, casseroles and stews again. HA!
I am getting a bit sick of salad for my lunches. Those of you who are office bound, what do you eat for lunch at work???
Answers please.Sorry this is such a random post –I feel a bit bonkers today.
I’m off to do some more work. Break over.
Heaps of love
BFP xoxo
Monday, 8 June 2009
Well……DUH!
Good morrow friends….I have had something of an epiphany, a ‘eureka!’ moment, if you will….
Allow me to elaborate…..
At weigh in on Saturday I was back UP by .5lb (as I had sneakily discovered on Tuesday by checking on the official ww scales at the meeting I weigh at but do not weigh IN at……yeah, yeah I know I shouldn’t do it but quite honestly I LIKE a mid-week indicator of how I am doing.) and was most annoyed. Obviously. What the flip is happening here?!
Then again, I did eat paella late on Friday night (had the Barcelona chicas round) all home made - I tries to be as weightwatchery as possible but making authentic paella demands authentic olive oil and rice is heavy and sits in my stomach for an eternity or so it would seem, so I think I probably stayed the same in all reality but nonetheless I am recording my weight as it was on Saturday (hello 169 lbs AGAIN!).
So I have been sitting here today in between work tasks, mulling over the whole situation and thinking ‘what am I NOT doing?’. It’s so easy to kid yourself that you are doing everything possible to remain on plan and thus lose weight.
Because I am anal and also borderline OCD, I have kept all of my food diaries from the initial (and successful) ww period of 2006/7. This means I know precisely what I ate on 10th October 2006, for example. Pretty useless, you might think, but think again comrades, for this is what has brought about aforementioned ephiphany!
In a mind-wandering-y way, I began looking back through these lists and it occurred to me to look closely at what I ate on weekends back then……and all of a sudden it hit me. There they were, all my weekend’s eatings gloriously tracked and pointed. The reason I was losing so successfully could possibly have something to do with the fact that I stayed on plan for 7 out of 7 days rather than 4.5 days out of 7 which, if I’m honest, I’m doing now. It hits Friday and I’m like ‘woo hoo’!
I know, I know, this is nothing new, so maybe calling it ‘epiphany’ is a tad OTT, but nonetheless something has clicked in my brain. I CANNOT expect to lose at a consistent rate if I do not track the weekends. It’s all very easy to be super-disciplined during office hours but the weekends are an unfettered danger zone if ever there was one!
Good grief Elizabeth! *rolls eyes at self*
Take this weekend for example, I was very careful all day to minimise pointage and maximise filling foods as I knew I was having a dinner party on Friday evening. The paella was pointed, as was the pan amb tomaquet, as was the salad, I even made fresh non alcoholic 1 point strawberry bellinis for sobbing out loud!
Karen modelling the paella
Yummy paella being cooked - chicken and chorizo plus red and green peppers and tomatoes, plus apella rice and saffron, turmeric and garlic and onion.
Fresh strawberry, non-alcoholic bellini anyone?!
And then the girls brought dessert – Belgian chocolate Hagen Dazs ice cream and freaking chocolate fudge cake. And I had 2 glasses of wine. I had a teeny pieceof cake, one scoop of ice cream – BUT I DIDN’T COUNT IT! It does not feature on my tracker at all……alas the other half of said cake DID feature pretty heavily in my fridge the following day
Chocolate Fudge Cake in situ!
(Seconds later it was in the bin!)
….luckily as I got the urge to scoff the lot I quickly took a picture and sent it to Rachel just before tossing the cake into the bin (garbage, trash) as proof to myself I wouldn’t eat it. I didn’t even want it! I was just in a bad mood and bored so was having an acute attack of the munchies, so instead I made ham and coleslaw sandwiches with ww bread which was much fillinger (!?) and didn’t make me feel like I wanted to hurl!
So Saturdays section for tracking was pretty empty, as was Sundays. And as I look back through my weekly trackers, therein lies the common theme old beans.
LIZZIE MUST TRACK ON WEEKEND AND NOT HAVE A HIATUS AS A REWARD FOR DOING IT ALL WEEK!
Not bloomin’ rocket science but there you have it!
To this end, I have changed my tracker layout to begin on Saturday (when I weigh in) and end on Friday(before I get weighed), in the hope that I will actually begin to fill these columns in. Clever stuff innit!
I have also for the past few weeks fallen out of the habit of doing my hardcore Saturday exercise-a-thon. This is largely due to my social life, a fact about which I am certainly not complaining BUT I am defo noticing that I miss the workouts. For me there’s something really decadent about spending a Saturday afternoon, toute seule, at the gym. Odd. But I like to take my time and really enjoy my workouts without the pressure of time or deadlines or cooking dinner or whatever on the weekends. I miss it. So I’m going to get back into it. In a week. (Because next weekend I am in London to see BRITNEY! Wahooooooop!)
I have also been missing workouts on a Saturday because of seeing my trainer on Fridays - often I am too incapacitated after those sessions even to think of going to the gym – last Friday would certainly have been an example of this! I imagine that’s what it would feel like to have been run over. Great workout though, and I was fine by Sunday!
So Saturdays section for tracking was pretty empty, as was Sundays. And as I look back through my weekly trackers, therein lies the common theme old beans.
LIZZIE MUST TRACK ON WEEKEND AND NOT HAVE A HIATUS AS A REWARD FOR DOING IT ALL WEEK!
Not bloomin’ rocket science but there you have it!
To this end, I have changed my tracker layout to begin on Saturday (when I weigh in) and end on Friday(before I get weighed), in the hope that I will actually begin to fill these columns in. Clever stuff innit!
I have also for the past few weeks fallen out of the habit of doing my hardcore Saturday exercise-a-thon. This is largely due to my social life, a fact about which I am certainly not complaining BUT I am defo noticing that I miss the workouts. For me there’s something really decadent about spending a Saturday afternoon, toute seule, at the gym. Odd. But I like to take my time and really enjoy my workouts without the pressure of time or deadlines or cooking dinner or whatever on the weekends. I miss it. So I’m going to get back into it. In a week. (Because next weekend I am in London to see BRITNEY! Wahooooooop!)
I have also been missing workouts on a Saturday because of seeing my trainer on Fridays - often I am too incapacitated after those sessions even to think of going to the gym – last Friday would certainly have been an example of this! I imagine that’s what it would feel like to have been run over. Great workout though, and I was fine by Sunday!
So that's my aim for this week. Again. Here's hoping.
xoxo BFP
Thursday, 4 June 2009
A Day ON Plan!
Thanks so much everyone for your helpful comments yesterday – totally what I needed and I fully felt the love, so THANKS!
Now that I have finished feeling sorry for myself 9you hear that Rach? No more self-pity city!!), I would like to report a near perfect day ON PLAN yesterday, exercise included……so I thought I would post it to remind myself next time I’m all kerbobbled (Thank you Cindy Lou-Who for that word), and hopefully you will see what a day on plan looks like for me.
Without further ado, I began yesterday morning in my usual fashion, waking up in the manner of Snow White surrounded by woodland creatures and tra-la-la-ing as I got ready for work after running 3 miles and baking cakes.
NOT
I was up at 7am (begrudgingly, I might add), out the door for half past and grabbed a Weetabix with skimmed milk and a cuppa (Americans – this is a cup of ‘English Breakfast Tea, just FYI) for brekky. This is 1 point and a milk allowance for the day of 2 points to account for coffee and whatnot at work.
On the way to work I was early and it felt like a latte day so I went to the office via Caffe Nero for a grande single shot skinny latte to go for 2 points.
After trawling through a rather complicated case at work which took ALL BLOODY MORNING, I was starvin like Marvin so inhaled a banana for 2 points at about 11am.
Lunch time I dragged my sorry ass to the pool and completed my 30 lengths in 20 minutes (Sooooooooooooo relieved I have not lost my swimming stamina) whilst avoiding the old dears intent on swimming in diagonal bloody lines FFS!
Post-swim, I ate lunch at 2pm - a gargantuan salad of spinach, mange tout, cherry tomatoes, sugar snap peas, baby corn, red pepper, coriander, chilli flakes and ww balsamic dressing (all 0 points) and added a tbsp of low fat coleslaw for a point. After this I had a ww yoghurt for .5 points.
Throughout the day I drank 2 litres of water and refilled my brand spankin’ new Sigg stainless steel bottle (Get me!) a third time in readiness for the gym.
At about 4pm I had a ww chocolate bar (Chocolate caramel whip – yummy) to tide me over through my gym visit.
By 5:50pm I was in that gym on the treadmill….I did the following:-
· 20 minute run - 3k
· 10 minute walk at level 8 incline
· 2000m row on damper level 10 – 12 minutes
· 15 mins on bike –Hill climb programme level 10
· 3 sets 15 reps pec deck machine
· 3 sets 15 tricep machine
· 3 sets 15 bicep machine
· 3 sets 15 that weird stomach cruncher machine thingy
· Then I walked home (15 mins) as a cool down, chugging my 3rd litre of water for the day.
I got home and prepared the ww tomato vegetable stew:
2 sweet potato peeled and chopped into chunks
2 red pepper chopped into chunks
2 red onion roughly chopped
2 courgette chopped into chunks
2 cloves garlic minced
1 green pepper chopped into chunks
Bung all ingredients into a deep oven proof dish with a lid and put some spray oil on and balsamic vinegar (recipe calls for white bv but I didn’t have that so used brown, worked fine, tasted good – about 100ml I think.)
Roast for 30mins at 180 (fan oven) and then take out and add a tin of chopped tomatoes or passata and 200ml veggie stock, mix all together to coat, season with some basil and bung back in the oven for a further 30-40mins until thickens and veg all cooked through.
This serves 4 people and one serving is 1.5 points (it’s from the Delicious WW cookbook). I added 3 points of couscous cooked in chicken stock for 2 points and a no points bit of a salady effort so dinner was a respectable 4.5 points.
Here's what it looked like. Yummy, no? And filling! AND loads of it!
Whilst it was cooking I succumbed to 1 Digestive biscuit for a point and then got my ass out the kitchen before I ate any more biccies, AND to do my core/resistance and weights programme.
I did:-
4 x full plank holding for 30 secs.
3 sets 15 tricep dips
3 sets 15 ab curls on ball
3 sets 155 oblique curls right side and left side
4 sets 10 table top stretch (double leg stretch from pilates)
3 sets 15 push press with 3kgs
3 sets 20 lateral side step squat with 3kgs
3 sets 15 upright row
3 sets 15 pec fly
3 sets 15 push backs
3 sets 15 hammer curl
I did:-
4 x full plank holding for 30 secs.
3 sets 15 tricep dips
3 sets 15 ab curls on ball
3 sets 155 oblique curls right side and left side
4 sets 10 table top stretch (double leg stretch from pilates)
3 sets 15 push press with 3kgs
3 sets 20 lateral side step squat with 3kgs
3 sets 15 upright row
3 sets 15 pec fly
3 sets 15 push backs
3 sets 15 hammer curl
3 sets 15 backwards 4 point lunges with arm raise
15 secs rest in between each exercise, the arms stuff I did as a circuit and all with 3kgs.
I have no idea what activity points I earned, since I don’t count them, but I got through an entire episode of Gossip Girl (Naughty Blair! Yale won’t be happy with you!).
Then I showered and ate dinner (slowly, focusing on chewing and tasting and swallowing not inhaling )and waited for the husband to return from Paris with presents! :)
I DID NOT HAVE A SINGLE DROP OF ALCOHOL. (I deserve a sainthood for pete's sake!)
Points for today – 15/20 since I am hovering (again) over the bloody stone zone I am having 20 points a day rather than 21.
And that, my friends, is what I call ON IT!
How fascinating my life is……not.
15 secs rest in between each exercise, the arms stuff I did as a circuit and all with 3kgs.
I have no idea what activity points I earned, since I don’t count them, but I got through an entire episode of Gossip Girl (Naughty Blair! Yale won’t be happy with you!).
Then I showered and ate dinner (slowly, focusing on chewing and tasting and swallowing not inhaling )and waited for the husband to return from Paris with presents! :)
I DID NOT HAVE A SINGLE DROP OF ALCOHOL. (I deserve a sainthood for pete's sake!)
Points for today – 15/20 since I am hovering (again) over the bloody stone zone I am having 20 points a day rather than 21.
And that, my friends, is what I call ON IT!
How fascinating my life is……not.
Beaucoup d'amour
xox BFP
Wednesday, 3 June 2009
"Give yer 'ead a wobble, love"
Dudes, I'm REALLY struggling at the mo. I need help! Last night I was up .5lb (which was not an official weigh in so doesn't count -HA!) but I've basically blagged it this week doing pseudo-counting and a lot of guessing. So suffice it to say I am not holding out much hope for a loss on Saturday - which is sooooooo frustrating and yet I have no one to blame but myself. After such a great weekend and such a great loss last week (4.5lbs thank you very much!), I think I've relaxed too much. AND I ALWAYS DO THIS! I've been sacking off my lunch time swims in favour of strolling around town in the glorious sunshine we've been having of late, and Rich is away at the minute so rather than hammering it in the gym without worrying that I'm neglecting my poor hubby, I've been sitting on my bum lounging around watching waaaaaaaaaaay too much 'The Hills' and 'Gilmore Girls'. I am at the point where I'm actually annoying myself! It's like 'Come ON you doofus, you're just self-sabotaging! Snap out of it'! How do I break it? Is it just a question of sucking it up and JUST BLOODY DOING IT ( I always thought that should be the Nike slogan - more emphatic, don'tcha think?!)?? Or is there a secret formula I'm missing????
What do you all do when you're in this random place? HELP ME!
We talked last night at ww about what we personally each need to do to ensure weight loss this next week. For me it's pretty simple, let's face it I have been doing this for 3 bloody years on and off - I KNOW beyond a shadow of a doubt that I have to :
PLAN - TRACK - EXERCISE
These 3 factors all combine to give me a weight loss - a fact that I am recently re-discovering as my body continues to return to normal functioning after the DP. I can and do lose weight now whereas it seemed like a bloody lost cause at one point!
Ok, so PLAN: I am not one of these super-organised ww members that can plan an entire week ahead and stick to it. That said, I am most definitely a creature of habit and am border-line OCD about my routine. I tend to plan my eating on a day by day basis. By this I mean that I start work at 8:30am and use 8-8:30am at my desk in the peace and quiet before the onslaught of the working day and subsequent demands upon my time, to plan out my following day. So I’m planning a day ahead in actuality. I prepare my lunch the night before so I know what I’m eating points-wise and also food group wise. For instance, on weekdays I am quite boring for breakfast and will have one or two Weetabix with skimmed milk depending on levels of hunger. It’s quick, easy and.……ummm….how do I put this? It’s effective at keeping things in regular working order, if you get me?! (Ha!). Then I always find I am ravenous at about 11am so I will have a banana or more lately I have been having 2 slices of pineapple to keep me going until lunch. Though I have an issue with bananas as I think they’re a lot of ww points for what you actually get to eat! Even a little tiddly banana on my ww scales comes out at 2 points and let’s face it, it’s gone in a flash! (Seriously do not know what I did before I had those scales! Get them if you haven’t!) Then on a good day (read, not this week), I swim from 1-2 and then eat lunch back at my desk. Lately it is consisting of salad plus either salmon, laughing cow lights, tuna mayo OR ryvita and laughing cow. I also have a yogurt and occasionally a ww choc bar (Rich toffee or caramel whip) in the afternoon or a banana at about 3 before I head to the gym straight from work (again, on a good week, again read not this week! GAH!)
So that’s a typical day – all very controlled and contains enough food so I can go work out and not pass out from hunger.
So what happens when you get home? I hear you ask!!??
That must be it?!
What do you all do when you're in this random place? HELP ME!
We talked last night at ww about what we personally each need to do to ensure weight loss this next week. For me it's pretty simple, let's face it I have been doing this for 3 bloody years on and off - I KNOW beyond a shadow of a doubt that I have to :
PLAN - TRACK - EXERCISE
These 3 factors all combine to give me a weight loss - a fact that I am recently re-discovering as my body continues to return to normal functioning after the DP. I can and do lose weight now whereas it seemed like a bloody lost cause at one point!
Ok, so PLAN: I am not one of these super-organised ww members that can plan an entire week ahead and stick to it. That said, I am most definitely a creature of habit and am border-line OCD about my routine. I tend to plan my eating on a day by day basis. By this I mean that I start work at 8:30am and use 8-8:30am at my desk in the peace and quiet before the onslaught of the working day and subsequent demands upon my time, to plan out my following day. So I’m planning a day ahead in actuality. I prepare my lunch the night before so I know what I’m eating points-wise and also food group wise. For instance, on weekdays I am quite boring for breakfast and will have one or two Weetabix with skimmed milk depending on levels of hunger. It’s quick, easy and.……ummm….how do I put this? It’s effective at keeping things in regular working order, if you get me?! (Ha!). Then I always find I am ravenous at about 11am so I will have a banana or more lately I have been having 2 slices of pineapple to keep me going until lunch. Though I have an issue with bananas as I think they’re a lot of ww points for what you actually get to eat! Even a little tiddly banana on my ww scales comes out at 2 points and let’s face it, it’s gone in a flash! (Seriously do not know what I did before I had those scales! Get them if you haven’t!) Then on a good day (read, not this week), I swim from 1-2 and then eat lunch back at my desk. Lately it is consisting of salad plus either salmon, laughing cow lights, tuna mayo OR ryvita and laughing cow. I also have a yogurt and occasionally a ww choc bar (Rich toffee or caramel whip) in the afternoon or a banana at about 3 before I head to the gym straight from work (again, on a good week, again read not this week! GAH!)
So that’s a typical day – all very controlled and contains enough food so I can go work out and not pass out from hunger.
So what happens when you get home? I hear you ask!!??
That must be it?!
When I’m ‘ON IT’ I gym it straight from the office and then get home about 7pm where I get dinner ready and do my weights programme either still in my sweaty and thoroughly minging gym stuff OR (as fully validated and advocated by the one the only MizFit) I shower and do a PJ workout in front of the tv! Then I eat and by this time it’s probably half 8! I wonder if maybe I eat too late sometimes but if I don’t I can’t fit it all in!
I guess the weekends are my biggest downfall – not so much Fridays now I’m clerking at a ww meeting on Saturday am, but that still leaves Saturday and Sunday to go crazy and often it stretches into Monday if I’m honest, especially with all the blimmin’ Bank Holidays we’ve been having lately.
The crazy thing is I KNOW all this! Writing it down - or rather typing it- only makes me see it all the more clearly! So, I need to PLAN on a weekend is essentially the key to success. Memo to me
Next one: TRACK
I am quite good at this - it appeals to the ‘Monica’ in me. I made an A4 ww tracking sheet myself because I think the ones they give you in the meeting are stupid.
See here!
I like to write in the same blue pen and note the points in red (Er, hello nerd alert!) I also note my weight for the week and any danger points like if I am going out or having people round or whatever. I note things like my water in take, milk allowance and how many points per week on alcohol. I track Monday to Sunday and then file the sheet in my pink file on my desk at work so I can look back over the weeks when I am stuck for ideas of points values for things I’ve worked out. The pink file comes home with me whenever I go off on holiday from work so I can keep up. I am such a geek I know, but it helps me stay in control!
Here is the pink file in situ on my desk at work.
My MAJOR thing is abandoning tracking on the weekend. Funny that eh? (NOT). I have noticed I am better at Saturdays since Rach started her Saturday meetings (Rachel thank GOD you started this meeting!!!!), but Sundays still pose a problem. Often it’s the only day of the week Rich and I get to see one another, so we’ll often go out or lunch or dinner or get takeaway or have a gorgeous (full English) breakfast with the Sunday papers or have dinner at my parents’ which is just the biggest error ever! It wouldn’t be so bad if we did just one of those things once a week but sometimes it’s all bloody 3! That’s the danger of having parents you get on well with and count as friends! AND it all revolves around eating! GAH!
So how do we combat the occasional excessive eat-a-thon?
EXERCISE!
This I am (usually) good at. I get on a roll and then start to see results and feel like a million dollars. Then I get ill or something happens to throw me off course and I am, frankly, buggered if I can back on track! WHY WHY WHY!??
Last week I was discouraged because I couldn’t run as far as I had been before 2 weeks of being bed-ridden, this week however I am just being bone bloody idle! I continually talk myself out of exercise .
‘Oh I can’t swim this lunch hour because I’ve got to go to the bank so I don’t go overdrawn and will have to use my lunch hour for that’
‘Oh I’ve got a meeting at 2 that I can’t have wet hair for’
‘Oh I can’t go to the gym straight from work, I’ll go home first and then go out again later.’ - LIZ! This NEVER HAPPENS stop lying to yourself you giant doofus head!
Enough is enough. I have got to JUST BLOODY DO IT!
As they say in my beautiful home town :
“GIVE YER ‘EAD A WOBBLE, LOVE”
So how do we combat the occasional excessive eat-a-thon?
EXERCISE!
This I am (usually) good at. I get on a roll and then start to see results and feel like a million dollars. Then I get ill or something happens to throw me off course and I am, frankly, buggered if I can back on track! WHY WHY WHY!??
Last week I was discouraged because I couldn’t run as far as I had been before 2 weeks of being bed-ridden, this week however I am just being bone bloody idle! I continually talk myself out of exercise .
‘Oh I can’t swim this lunch hour because I’ve got to go to the bank so I don’t go overdrawn and will have to use my lunch hour for that’
‘Oh I’ve got a meeting at 2 that I can’t have wet hair for’
‘Oh I can’t go to the gym straight from work, I’ll go home first and then go out again later.’ - LIZ! This NEVER HAPPENS stop lying to yourself you giant doofus head!
Enough is enough. I have got to JUST BLOODY DO IT!
As they say in my beautiful home town :
“GIVE YER ‘EAD A WOBBLE, LOVE”
And finally, on a topic entirely unrelated to diet and weight loss, on Saturday I did my nails with this gorgeous sparkly red nail polish by Barry M. Think Dorothy's Ruby Slippers in 'The Wizard of Oz' and you've got the vibe. It's utterly gorgeous! However, it chips very easily (I need to get some top coat I think, or some new shiney), so I needed to re-do them by Monday. So I got all my stuff out and sat down to re-do. Can I get the bloody stuff off? NO I CANNOT! It's like frickin' cement! So now my nails are oh so trampy looking - which is obviously GREAT for a young professional. Not.
Check it out! Classy, no?!
GAH!
So dudes, hit me up in the comments - I need HELP!!!!!! *Not so much about the nails, that'll happen on its own! Just FYI.
xoxoBFP
Monday, 1 June 2009
Weigh-in Weirdness....
Double you tee eff is going on?! This week I lost 4.5lbs and am back down to 168.5! In a week!
Don’t get me wrong, I am HAPPY but I didn’t kill it at the gym last week or anything, and I ate pretty well but not super strict! I guess it shows me that my poor little body is returning to some semblance of normality after the DP debacle J and can actually lose weight now.
That said, I still feel like there’s a loooooonnnng way to go to get to goal but I feel inspired, motivated and ON IT, so this week I am simply going to carry on as usual, focusing on filling foods, tracking, exercising and enjoying my life! I think I’m starting to believe again that I will eventually be at goal, rather than feeling defeated and HUGE all the time.
I had a great weekend! We’re having something of a heat wave here in the UK at the minute – it’s gorgeous! Although being back at work today fully sucks as it’s so hot outside!! I’m really struggling with what to wear while it’s hot – during the (usually) crappy weather I live in tights and my suits but I would PASS OUT wearing that today! On Friday I wore last season's Vera Wang summer dress that I found at TK Maxx for £16.00 - BARGAIN! I always feel very Carrie Bradshaw in that frock, it makes me strut!!
A man passed comment on my legs in the street he other day! Cheeky bugger! He said ‘God love, aren’t your legs white’ Can you BELIEVE that? So I replied ‘firstly, how rude are you? And secondly, I AM white, you jackass’ and stalked off!
That said, I decided it was high time to get some colour on my pasty legs so spent all day yesterday in my parents’ garden with my ipod and the Sunday Times. It was BLISS! I was a good girl and kept reapplying sunscreen and as a result have a nice pink hue to my skin which is not burn and does not hurt!
Here I am - bikini and everything (inspired by Jen’s recent posts!!)
Back tracking a bit – Saturday afternoon I met the girls for afternoon tea and cakes and chats! It was Wen’s 30th birthday weekend and so Keri, Anna, Wen and I went to Zuger’s - and the best thing was Lucy was there - as a total surprise, so that was really fab! I had a glass of Pinot Grigio blush and amaretto and Baileys cheesecake – seriously amazing.
Saturday evening I spent with the most amazing Rachel, drinking beers and eating Greek Salad and pasta and setting the world to rights - a totally impromptu night but one of the funnest times I’ve had in ages! For those of you wondering where my husband is, he is currently in Paris with a school trip of 30 year 9 pupils – today they’re at Disney – so obviously I officially hate him J
So all in all a great weekend, I did not go near the gym and I feel ok about it! I have to be extra diligent though this week after my weekend! Also got a PT sesh on Friday which I am DREADING – it’s taking me ages to get back into my before dizziness routine/speed/strength/endurance - perseverance is the key though.
Right – it’s lunch time so I’m going outside to get some sunshine! Have a great day people!
Heaps of love ,
BFP xoxo
Saturday evening I spent with the most amazing Rachel, drinking beers and eating Greek Salad and pasta and setting the world to rights - a totally impromptu night but one of the funnest times I’ve had in ages! For those of you wondering where my husband is, he is currently in Paris with a school trip of 30 year 9 pupils – today they’re at Disney – so obviously I officially hate him J
So all in all a great weekend, I did not go near the gym and I feel ok about it! I have to be extra diligent though this week after my weekend! Also got a PT sesh on Friday which I am DREADING – it’s taking me ages to get back into my before dizziness routine/speed/strength/endurance - perseverance is the key though.
Right – it’s lunch time so I’m going outside to get some sunshine! Have a great day people!
Heaps of love ,
BFP xoxo
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