Fired Up Again

It's been two months since I last posted. Haven't been posting on the WW threads either although I have been reading them daily. Have been procrastinating on the food side as well and had no progress on the weight loss. Having said that, weight has remained pretty static at around 102/103k which I felt pretty positive about UNTIL this week's WI and I am suddenly up to 103.9. To be expected really as I am reverting to old habits and definitely eating and drinking more and not tracking and I know that if I don't pull my finger out and get back on track properly and completely the weight will continue to go on and I will end up back where I started.

SO, starting today I feel fired up again to get back on track and do this thing properly. I REALLY REALLY REALLY want to lose weight and if it's to be it's up to me. On a really positive note, I bumped into a friend last week who I hadn't seen for ages and didn't know I was doing WW. The first thing she said was "have you lost weight" and "you look great". After 32 weeks, this was the first time this has happened and it felt good.

My goal is to be under 90k by my birthday in July.

Watch this space....

Did She Do It?

NO SHE DIDN'T!!!!!!!!!!!!! After such a good result last week and feeling so positive - what happened ... Well, basically I ate too much, drank too much wine, didn't exercise, only tracked very half-heartedly and have managed to put back on most of what I lost last week - a gain of 1.7k to be exact, so that elusive 99.9k is even more elusive than ever. Still not being totally committed, still being complacent, so upshot is I am still weighing in at 103k which is the weight I had reached mid-December. The positive spin on that is that usually by the end of January, after the Xmas/New Year/school holidays, I have gained several kilos, so from that angle I don't feel too bad.

Am posting this photo as a reminder to myself as to why I am doing this! !!! DH took photo in early December 2008 when I had lost about 14K because , as he put it ,"your bum really does look smaller". He felt it was a compliment but I ask you ....

It's our 29th Wedding Anniversary today, so nice dinner tonight and we have family arriving from USA tomorrow who will have to be fed and watered for a few days before they head off to tour South Island, so I am hoping that I can be strong-willed enough to make good food choices. School is back this week, I am back to normal working hours so hopefully being back in my normal routine will set me back on track.

So new goal - and yes I know I've said this before - but goal weight for end of February is to be under 100K.

15k Done and Dusted

Beads l to r: 5k; chrissie pressie from kids; 10k; 15k; cheappo bead bought coz I liked colour; silver snake bead made by husband; 10%

WI yesterday resulted in a massive 1.9k loss which I am very happy with. I had been very good all week (well since Tuesday anyway). Made good choices, tracked everything I ate and drank enough water to float a ship so spent a lot of time on the loo!!! This is my first decent loss for about 4/5 weeks. I FINALLY made my 15k total loss goal, so yippee I finally get a new bead. When I started this journey decided that a great motivator/reward would be a Pandora bracelet. So at my first 5k loss bought bracelet and one bead and then every milestone after that i.e. 10k,,10% etc I get another bead.

Being under 100k is getting tantalisingly close but seeing as how I only have one more week of January and will need to lose another 1.7k this week, not sure my GWEJ of 99.9 is doable, but it is getting closer, so if not this week, hopefully the next. A bit of exercise would probably help!!!

My exercise regime since stopping the walking challenge has been practically non-existent. Have been to the gym a couple of times but that's it. Obviously need another challenge as the walk NZ thing certainly got me up and moving. Well, I'm challenging myself to shift my butt this week ... Get moving girl.

Another little win this week. I managed to get my wedding ring off. It has been stuck fast on my fat finger for about 13/14 years so another tangible proof that I am losing weight.

YAHOOOOO Walking Challenge Finished

Back in October, I signed up for a "Walk NZ" challenge at work. Teams of 4, using pedometers, counting steps and walking from Auckland/Invercargill/Auckland. We had a long list of activities for which we were awarded extra steps. I knew from the previous year that the challenge got quite competitive between some of the teams and I didn't want to be the one to let my team down - you know - "fat, old Lyn down in Searching..." so basically I got quite annal about the whole thing. Went from doing bascially no exercise, to being a regular gym bunny, visiting gym 5/6 times per week; set myself a goal of 15,000 steps per day and if I didn't reach that target, walked round and round the garage or garden at 10.00 pm at night to get there!!! How sad is that?? The rowing machine that is stored in the rumpus room finally saw some action; the garden never looked so good; lawns were mowed; windows sparkled, spent hours at gym using cross trainers, bicycles and doing circuits - all for extra steps. Didn't keep the momentum up of course. I lasted at that pace until beginning of December, and then life took over and steps and exercise waned.

But I wasn't doing it on my own, we were a team of 4, and this morning steps were entered and WE CROSSED THE FINISH LINE. I am soooooo pleased to be finished. I am sick of my day being organised by how many steps I have done. Took great pleasure in removing my pedometer this morning.

I will just add here - total boast, but hey this is my blog, written by me about me and if I can't boast here where can I? In spite of my fears I did my fair share in relation to ordinary steps ie. my steps equated to a quarter of the teams overall figure but with regard to steps awarded for extra activities I did over HALF of the team total, so I feel real good about that.

Final outcome - team finished 4th out of 16 so not too shabby. More than happy with that.

This challenge really did get me motivated and moving. So now I just need to make sure that I keep the exercise up, although maybe not at the same breakneck momentum. I must not fall back to my couch potato ways!!!!

Time to Dream

These are my MVM composites at current weight of 103 kilos and goal weight of 71 kilos.

Can't believe I will ever look as thin as the second composite shows and if I'm honest think the model looks too thin and actually looked better at 75 kilos, but 71 is the figure WW has given me as a goal so I've stuck with that. I know the WW figure is only a guide and will not aspire to that if I feel it is too low, but a lovely thought and something to aim for and hey I was there once. -(long ago, pre-marriage and pre-children I used to weigh about 64 kilos). I do think the tiny waist and flat stomach might be a touch unobtainable though !!!!

Welcome 2009

WI yesterday resulted in a gain - second week in a row with a plus which is not good. Total gain for the Christmas/New Year period is 1K, which I know in the overall scheme of things is not a lot, but I'm going in the wrong direction!!! Easy to say "that over Christmas/New Year, it's hard to stay on track" but I feel for me that's just an excuse. I have procrastinated and hovered at the 14K total loss mark for all of December and to be honest I've been finding life at 103K good - I've got some new clothes that look good and I feel great in and in that frame of mind it's so easy to forget to track, have a second helping, another glass of wine etc., etc., etc. I've become complacent. Have done this lots of times before - lost some weight, felt good, lost the plot, and then slowly and surely put it all, plus some, back on. NOT THIS TIME!!!!

Have woken up this morning feeling in right frame of mind to get back on track. The thought I have in my head is that "if I feel good at 103K, how good will I feel at 99, 95 or even 90????" For the month of January I am only working Thursdays and Fridays, so lots of time to get moving and active. My GWEJ is to be under 100K which I think is doable. No, I KNOW it's doable. So watch out 99k, here I come .........

I Think She's Got It ...

Wow I love this - this is fun. I actually now GET IT. Have spent the evening, cropping and chopping photos to place on blog. I can now tick that"can do" box. Well to be honest haven't done the bit about getting the photo from the camera to the pc but how hard can it be?? As with any new talent that one learns, I could go on all night placing photos on this blog, but have limited myself to three fat photos. Any more photos that appear here are going to be of the new slimmer me. Watch this space ...