Day 44.Getting into the groove?

Ok, so it’s all gone a bit Pete Tong of late. I’m obviously eating (and drinking) too much and my weight has taken a massive swing in the wrong direction. After a bit of sulking, I’m gritting my teeth and focusing on where I want to be, not where I am. A good month has to start somewhere, and that somewhere is probably just a good day, followed by another good day, followed by another good day..

I don’t make great choices to be honest. This morning EC gave me a lemon & poppyseed muffin. It was supposed to be a fast day. Yeah, well that clearly didn’t happen. However, even though my gym class was cancelled, I dragged my ass off the couch & did a 5K walk with Lesley Sansone followed by a rather interesting Body Combat class (a woman kept standing in front of the camera!) from the comfort of my living room, all thanks to the wonders of YouTube. It seems that maybe I don’t have as big a problem with exercise as I do with food.

How do you guys stay on track, nutritionally? Do you stay within your TDEE? Or do you do something else entirely? Any help appreciated 🙂 x

Day 42.Oh poop.

So here I am. Weigh in was today & the results are pretty dire.

Managed a fast day – 350kcals on the button (allegedly) so that’s good. M&S hot smoked salmon with broccoli, peas, a tiny bit of feta crumbled up and a spoon of tzatziki, plus water, water & more water, black coffee and 2 cups of tea with soya milk. Nice.

Tonight I pushed myself to get my ass to the gym. 45min spin class followed by 1hr BodyPump. I treated myself to 10mins in the jacuzzi before heading home.

I’m now all tucked up in bed & hoping that I can get back on track. Night all xx

Day 41. It’s all going horribly wrong

Ok, a tad dramatic maybe, but I’ve pretty much lost the plot. OH is definitely a bad influence on my eating habits and having spent the past 4 days with him it’s going to take a feat of will-power to undo the damage. I’ve eaten masses of chocolate, croissants, potatoes, cheese, bread, biscuits, ice cream and drunk rather a lot of wine. According to My Fitness Pal I over did the calorie intake on Sunday by 1200! When my TDEE is 1450 that’s quite some greedy guzzling & the scales are displaying a scary figure. As is my bedroom mirror.

Tonight we ate at a lovely gastro pub just up the road which had their re-launch night tonight, following a fire earlier in the year. Fantastic food. I nearly killed myself with 2 Body Coach HIIT workouts before heading to work, in order to not have such a staggering deficit. Heart rate hit 172 at one point; to put that in perspective, my resting HR is around 51-54.

Tomorrow I’m determined to fast, so that will be around 375 cals. Add in a spinning class followed by body pump and I might just start to feel back on track. Or just death-like.

How do you guys manage to not mindlessly eat whilst watching a movie – any tips? X

Days 37&38. Working hard

So the past couple of days I’ve been working hard & eating well but I’m feeling pretty tired as I write this post.

Yesterday was a fast day but I struggled with it so had a meal at lunchtime. M&S came up trumps with their Fuller Longer range & I had a chicken tikka with cauliflower meal. After work I spent 3hrs at the gym – Pilates then weights followed by Body Combat with my new gym buddies. Last week I was chest pressing 25kg but yesterday I only managed 20kg. I guess some days are easier than others.

Today I’ve rested my body – just a long walk tonight with OH which was great. This was after a delicious dinner of M&S lamb shish kebabs in a flour wrap with tzatziki & salad. We are now home with a cup of tea & the olympics on tv. And a box of maltesers…

Day 36. It’snotasbadasiexpected

So after the horror of seeing 120lbs on the scale yesterday, 117. 2 is a distinct improvement. That said, I’ve managed to cut my total loss in half! Still, as I keep reminding myself, this is a journey, and a sustainable one at that.

Today has dawned bright and sunny – I’d toyed with the idea of doing a Body Coach workout this morning as I’m on ‘a Norman’ (normal shift) so have a few extra minutes but the lure of my bed was too strong so I languished for an extra 15 minutes instead. I’m sooo tired today, I usually have no difficulty rousing myself and facing the day but this morning wasn’t one of those days. I feel sluggish and grumpy. Will need to shake that off before getting to the office; everyone is feeling overworked and stressed at present – we all have 2 interviews each to conduct this week, which also adds to the workload as each one needs writing up in a way that the rest of the team feel they know the candidate.

A friend and colleague has recently been diagnosed with gall stones and told that the situation is life threatening. I had never imagined such a scenario and it has made me think – if I knew that eating cake/cheese/whatever could kill me, would I stop? Now, I know this sounds like a silly, rhetorical question, but really? Would I? Would I be really disciplined and just cut whatever it was out? Would I do it with good grace and not make a drama out of it or would I be bad-tempered and make everyone else’s lives a misery? I know that sometimes I am out & really want a cup of tea. I go to a tearoom/café/coffeeshop and ask for an Earl Grey tea with soy milk “sorry, we don’t have soy” – now, sometimes I’ll say “that’s ok, I’ll have a black coffee” but sometimes (shame on me) I behave like a toddler & have a bit of a strop. I have friends who are coeliac; one is very disciplined and gracious about her condition but the other will still have the things she isn’t allowed because ‘it’s only a little slice’. Then there are smokers or people who drink to excess who are making themselves ill but continue. It’s not a no-brainer after all, is it?

Well that’s enough musing for one morning. Time to get to work! Have a great day everyone (and if you’re coeliac, please don’t eat that gluten-laden slice of cake!!) xx

Day 35. Time to rest my liver

Well what a brilliant few days! Friday morning I headed to London where I negotiated the underground system and made it to Paddington to catch my train to my BFF’s house. Does anyone else think that Paddington is a pretty depressing station? Beautiful structure, woeful content. Anyway, made the connection and off I went, through rolling countryside. So far, so good huh? Yeah, hold that thought. We are now approaching the relevant stop. I get my stuff together and make my way to the carriage door. I remember the BFF telling me that the doors are tricky but I’ve never had to manage them before as the guard has always done it for me, however as we come into the station there is no guard alongside my section. Eeeeek. I pull the window down & reach out of it to open the door where the handle is conveniently situated on the OUTSIDE. Now, as you know, I’m a short-arse, added to which I’m wearing trainers. This means that I can barely reach the handle, but then when I do, I’m totally unbalanced and as the door swings open, yep, you’ve got it, I travel with the door. I’m now on tiptoes, stretching out through the train door, upper body through the window, toes just on the carriage floor. Unfortunately however, the door continues to swing open. I have now left the carriage and an dangling, complete with rucksack and bouquet of flowers (for BFF) through a train window. I now see 3 guards plus the BFF all watching me in complete bewilderment. To say I had sweaty palms would be an utter understatement. I knew I had to let go but how? My entire upper body is one side of the door and my lower is the other. In the end I tilted and somehow managed to avoid face planting on the platform. One of the guards walks up to shut the door behind me and graciously says ‘nice save’. Funny guy.

After that, there’s not much to say other than I have a wonderful BFF, had a brilliant time, ate & drank too much but walked loads and swam 1/2 mile each day. According to my bathroom scales, I’ve put on 4lbs which will make for an interesting tally tomorrow. Yeah, you know those 2.5lbs I’ve lost over the past 5 weeks? Um, well i’m now 1.5lbs heavier than when I started. By way of trying to remedy the situation, I did a fast day today (unsurprisingly) – M&S lamb pilaf, very nice indeed, plus both a Zumba & Body Combat class. I’m exhausted. Night night xx

Day 30. Workout Wednesday

So today started as a planned fast day & then got a bit hijacked. By cake. Not just any old cake you understand. Oh no. This was a triple layered lemon curd & blueberry sponge. It was really YC’s fault. She was having a bit of a tough day so I suggested we went out & I’d get her something nice for her lunch in the nearby town of Tring. Emphasis on HER lunch. I wasn’t going to eat until tonight. Then she spotted a recently opened café with a parking space right outside. What are the odds? So we went in. YC had scrambled eggs & smoked salmon on toast. I caved. My plate had smashed avocado, chilli & red onion on toast topped with a poached egg. I ate the egg & 1/2 of the rest, then went up to the counter to ask for the remainder to be boxed (I’ll have it for lunch tomorrow). At that moment, said cake was brought, magestically, out from the kitchen. It looked incredible and it actually called out my name. I heard it, it was like a siren’s song. They were jolly lucky I didn’t launch myself, headfirst, into it’s luscious layers. I walked out with a large box (cake) and a rather small one (avocado toast). YC was utterly to blame, there’s no denying it.

My one teeeny tiny attempt at salvaging the situation was to cut the cake in half & give a box to my chum at work. She was very happy to receive such an amazing bonus. Plus she’s not trying to lose weight so I haven’t sabotaged her journey. It’s a win/win situation imho.

Exciting news!! I have not one, but two gym buddies! We met on Monday (they already knew each other & I kinda muscled in (see what I did there?)). We arranged to meet up before Body Combat tonight to lift some weights. They are both considerably stronger than me but everyone has to start somewhere & they were super encouraging. I had a great time & am now looking forward to getting together with them again on Monday. Not sure I’ll be capable of lifting a pen by tomorrow, mind you.

I’m visiting my BFF this weekend down in Wiltshire (can’t wait!) so my musings may be more erratic – or even non existent – but I’ll be back on Monday at the latest & I’m planning another top fast. Til then, thanks for reading & I love getting your comments so please keep letting me know your thoughts xx

Day 29. Still losing

Weigh in day. Feeling a bit despondent if I’m honest. 2.5lbs loss in a month ain’t exactly setting off the fireworks. This means I have 6lbs minimum to lose in 7 and a bit weeks. 

Diet-wise I’m definitely eating better. Although you wouldn’t know it from some of my posts, I’m turning down heaps of stuff I’d usually have taken – crisps, cakes, biscuits, wine. I’m still having some but a much lesser amount. As for the exercise, well that’s been a massive revelation. I LOVE going to classes, last night’s Body Combat was changed to 24 (like circuits) & it was great. So I guess obsessing over the numbers is something I should view as irrelevant almost. I’m doing my body good, that’s got to be my long-term goal. 

Not gonna lie, still feeling a bit sulky! 

Day 26 & 27.Is this becoming a habit?

Hello! Hope you’re all having a great weekend. Sun has been out here & it’s been wonderful. Saturday morning I decided to make it a ‘2’ day after failing pretty miserably on Thursday. I got some laundry done & out on the line then had a spoon of peanut butter before heading to the gym for what was supposed to be a Body Combat class. I was really keen for the class and got talking to another lady where we determined that a) this was the first Saturday class for us both b) we’d both booked to do Pilates after it and c) we were both called Sarah. At that point we decided to stop as it was just weirding us both out! Anyway, there are about 7 women all lined up against the wall when a lanky guy walks in and says ‘for any of you expecting Body Combat, the classes haven’t caught up with the on-line booking system yet, so this class is actually Circuits’ – there was a communal sharp intake of breath as we, to a woman, thought – ummmm, Combat was going to be pushing it, but Circuits???!! so we all waiting for the first one to leave the studio so we could duck out too but no-one did, which is why, 7 women all did an unexpected class yesterday morning. Boy it was tough! but actually quite fun as we were all in the same boat. Pilates was definitely required afterwards!

Next stop was a food shop followed by shower, trip to take EC to work then off to OH’s. We took a stroll with his kids to the local pub where I enjoyed a low cal tonic water with slice of lime, then back for dinner. They were having chicken curry, rice and naan bread but I had a baked sweet potato filled with smoked mackerel and 1/2 fat creme frais and watercress on the side. Amazing. I watched the Olympics whilst they all had chocolate cheesecake – not a crumb passed my lips.

This morning I woke feeling great – full of energy and the warm glow of having nailed a fast day whilst still being active. So great in fact, that I booked to do a BodyJam class at the gym close to OH’s. I know, right? Who is this woman???? The class was tremendous fun – the instructor was great, really encouraging & didn’t seem to mind at all that I’m going left when everyone else is heading right!

On Sunday evenings, the cafe where the EC & her BF work screen a film. Tonight it’s The Bank Job. I shall shortly be enjoying the twin delights of peanut butter & salted caramel brownie & Jason Statham. Bliss….

 

Day 25.Hello weekend

It’s Friday night, almost 11pm, and I’m tucked up in bed. At last! This has been a tough old week work-wise & I really need some down time. So looking forward to no alarm clock! Having said that, I’ve booked on to a Body Combat class followed by Pilates tomorrow morning. No matter what, I’m determined not to cancel.

This morning, despite the lure of an extra 20 minutes in my comfy bed, I got up and did another Bodycoach HIIT workout. I really, not exactly enjoy, but certainly appreciate, the pump of adrenaline I get from these workouts. 20 minutes and I’m a big sweaty mess trying to get my legs to cooperate with my goal of getting in the shower. Breakfast, at my desk, was a thin bagel with peanut butter. At lunchtime I went for a walk along the canal before eating my chicken & cheese salad (with mayo – I know, I know). It was such a beautiful day that I ate my lunch on a beanbag in the garden at work, before going back into the chaos of the office and drinking copious amounts of tea.

This evening was spent with MP. I cooked up a chicken stirfry with noodles and we watched ‘Spooks – the greater good’ on tv whilst eating 1/2 a raspberry bakewell and 1/2 a blondie brownie each. Oh my the blondie was good!!

I’ve noticed that my water intake has slipped. Must get back on that. For now though, it’s goodnight from me x