First post of 2010!!!

Hello Blogland! Yes it’s me! I am back! Apologies for the seasonal silence – I did thoroughly mean to blog my way through Christmas and New Year, however it appears that, instead, I…um….how can I put this?...ATE and DRANK my way through Christmas and New Year instead. OOPS.

Yes, I entered into the party season on 18th December, full throttle, and did not, it would seem, emerge from said party until January 1st 2010! Those 2 weeks were a whirlwind of seeing friends, family, attending different events – all of which included either eating and/or drinking. I did manage to have a couple of ‘PJ Days’ which was utter bliss!

Unfortunately, we had a death in the family (my aunt) the day before Christmas Day, so that meant things were quite sad for my mum and her mother (who lives with them) but somehow I think that being able to be together as a family made us appreciate the season a lot more. On the down side it meant that we stuck close to home throughout the holidays to be with the family – which meant I spent 3 days at my parents’ eating and drinking and staying up waaaaaaaaaaaaay too late! My siblings each brought their new partners home to ‘meet the fam’ which was fabulous and we have just had such a lovely time!

And now I am back to catching up on your blogs and hopefully trying to get back into the swing of updating mine!!! A hearty well done to all of you who managed to keep blogging through the madness! And WHAT an exciting year it is already! Kerry’s engaged! (Congrats lady!!) Phil’s engaged! (Wahoop!) Caro hit goal (Way to go girl!!), Sally is STILL getting terrorised by Crazy Lou and Jen is getting to be uber famous (yay!!) – and a whole host of other amazing stuff!

I promise that I will spend a good few hours this weekend catching up on your blogs – I’ve missed them!!!

So. In the interest of starting as I mean to go on, allow me to update you on my life from a weight loss (or lack thereof) perspective.

What went well?

FOOD – This year I had what I like to call a ‘tempered’ approach to eating. In previous years I would have used Christmas as an excuse to abandon all self control, this year I was fine. I ate – a lot – don’t get me wrong, but it was all good stuff, and little amounts of everything. I didn’t deprive myself of anything, but I didn’t gorge myself stupid either. This is indeed an NSV my dears! I did not have one single mince pie or any Baileys at all!

ALCOHOL – Throughout the festive season, I managed to drink alcohol most days! However, the age old maxim of ‘for every glass of wine, drink a glass of water’ worked a treat and I am so super happy to report that I survived the entire festive period without one single solitary drunken episode or hangover! WOO HOOOOOOO!!!! It was SUCH a buzz waking up on New Year’s Day and going for an early run with a fuzz free head! (This is the 3rd year in a row I have behaved myself on new Year and it is sooooooo the way forward, for me at least.)

EXERCISE – You may recall from several angry previous posts that I had incurred an injury from completely overdoing it in the exercise department. On Christmas Eve I was officially allowed to try running again – for ten minutes. I cannot describe the excitement with which I was filled upon hearing this news! So I spent a sweaty, glorious, knackering 2 hours in my beloved gym ON CHRISTMAS FLIPPING EVE – only ten mins on the treadmill though – I am determined to be a good patient this time! Running again after 3 weeks was WEIRD! I had decided that my ‘when-I-am-allowed-to-run-again’ anthem would be ‘Dogs Days Are Over’ (Florence and the Machine – amaaaaaaaaaazing running album – you heard it here first Kathleen!!) and I simply cannot describe the joy I felt at jogging a little bit again, albeit at a hobbly pace – sincere and renewed respect for having legs that work, that have recovered quickly and that can be used as I want them to be once more.

Obviously I didn’t hit the gym on Christmas Day, but was back there Boxing Day, felt so good to work out in between all the eating! This too is a full on NSV as in previous years I would have been all “ exercise? On Christmas? WTF?!” and this year I have turned a corner and love it! I went because I wanted to go, not as a means to cancel out calories consumed, but because it is a part of my life now. It also gave me some great mental health time all alone away from talking and laughing and singing and merry making and partying! I didn’t go crazy, upped the running by 5 mins each time on the treadmill. Chris (amazing PT) has given me a ‘remedial’ leg workout programme to strengthen what I now know is the Vastus Medialis Oblique muscles in my knees and to stretch out my IT band, so I have been doing lots of that. I didn’t road run until Saturday Jan 2 when I put in a good 40 mins with my amazing friend (and WW leader) Rachel. Oh we had a glorious time, I really wish I were clever enough with words to be able to convey what I know simply to be unspeakable joy at being able to run. I am not an amazing runner by any means, I am no marathon girl! But to be out there, in the glorious sunshine, with one of my fave people in the world, able to run at pace and not want to keel over and die at the end is pretty bloody fantastic if you ask me! I recall thinking that I want that to be a metaphor for my life this year.

The stupid snow has hampered my exercise efforts somewhat this week. The UK is virtually at a standstill on account of the fact that we are a nation entirely unprepared for ‘adverse weather conditions’ and thus, ‘The Big Freeze’ as it has been dubbed, has meant days off work and also being reeeeally knackered from the effort of trying to walk on thick compacted ice (picture Bambi on the ice) - I am petrified that I will reinjure myself – that would completely piss me right off. I am living in my wellies and pink bobble hat and after the effort of making it home from the train station on the ice in the dark, the LAST thing I want to do is go to the gym. So I made it on Wednesday – and ran a 7k! WOOOO! I honeslty felt like I could have gone one but stopped so as not to do myself a mischief! No point overdoing it again!). Yesterday I took a rest day from running – though I am so pleased to report that there was NO PAIN whatsoever in either my hip or knee - HURRAH! And today, even, I can feel the muscles have worked but it’s not uncomfortable like over the past few weeks….even after running with Rach last Saturday I really thought I’d knackered it again, but it’s been fine – praise the Lord!

What could I have done better?

Umm, not eaten so much?! We had our first weigh in at ww on Saturday and the scales revealed that I have GAINED…..wait for it…..SIX lbs!! SIX!!!

Unbelievable!!!!! Are you KIDDING ME!!! So even with counting points, exercising and eating healthy in between parties and gatherings, I STILL managed to eat myself into oblivion! GOOD GRIEF!!!

Needless to say I was super disappointed! That’s nearly half a stone! Ordinarily I would be able to ‘feel’ such a big gain, certainly from my clothes, but I really didn’t think it would be so big.

Rather than sulk though, I have picked myself up and hopped back on plan. No more bread during the week, no booze and plan, track and exercise. I know what I’m doing, it’s not that hard! I was a teeny tiny pound off my goal, now I have 7 to go, but you can BET I will get there! HELLS YEAH!

What are my goals for 2010?

Get to my weight loss goal then focus less on weight and more on metabolic age and lowering body fat.

Run a 10k. I know this is not a far distance – I was toying with the idea of a half marathon for this year but if the blinkin injury has taught me anything, it’s that I need to pace myself! So a 10k it is! I want to be able to enjoy running this distance comfortably.

Carry on training – I’m on a roll with this now and it’s still so useful and I have much to learn!

Keep blogging

Keep being motivated by my amazing and fabulous motivational match up partner/guru Caro !!!

Right, that’s it for now – well done if you read this far! Happy New Year my lovely friends! Can’t wait to see what this new year of fresh challenges goals and achievements will bring!!

Much love to you all

Lizzie aka BFP xoxo