Day 1 in the bag....

Last night we didn't make the Cinema. Opted for a couple of low pointed beverages at our local, half a portion of chips each and a couple of episodes of Fringe which we'd recorded (I was about to say "taped" but obviously there isn't a tape in our Sky+ box... I am so out of date). I was still fairly shattered so it was nice not to be out.

This morning I actually dragged myself out of bed to do the hill of hell 5 times. It wasn't too bad until the 5th time when I thought I was going to have to call Matt to come and drive me back up said hill. Bearing in mind we live at the top of the hill and it's only 257 steps each way (believe me, I counted it several times this morning) , a lift back up might have been a bit excessive. Still, that's 2.5 Bonus Points in the bag so a good start to the week.

On my way to work I had a Skimmed Milk Latte with Sugar Free Hazelnut Syrup (0.5)

Breakfast once at work was 2 packets for Bear Apple Crumble Granola Nibbles with a Packet of Cherry Berry Fruit Nibbles on top with Skimmed Milk and a Cuppa (4.5)

Very tasty and good for me (apparently) - I don't really like cereal usually. However, these Bear items have no additives etc. - and those fruity bits are one of my 5 a day. Go me.

Once again I failed to resist the work food table and tucked into these 2 little items - for some reason I was drawn to the shape?? They are scissors apparently from Danish Haribo... They look like something else entirely to me!! (1 point maybe?)

Lunch was a Tiger Roll (3) filled with Salad, Serrano Ham and a little bit of Low Low Cheese and some extra light Mayo (3) with 120g of Grapes from my Graze Box (1).

I didn't end up eating lunch until 230pm which is unheard of for me. I had to pop over to my flat (I say pop over - it's 30 miles away from work) to show a friend around as he's thinking of renting it off me while its up for sale which will be very handy. Should have been a relatively straight forward event, except I couldn't get in and had to go to the estate agents to get different keys and then still couldn't get in. Should I be worried that the estate agents just handed over the keys with no idea who I was?? I could be some mad squatter right about now. Anyway - I got into the flat in the end and now have a new tenant so job's a good 'un.

Dinner tonight has been Pork Saltimbocca with new potatoes and Kale (6.5).

So by recent standards, a bloody brilliant day. 19.5 points so far and I am allowed 26. I'm not at all hungry so I may end up just leaving the rest to counteract any weekend traumas. Let's hope tomorrow is as good.

WI result

And the scales said... nothing... nada, no movement whatsoever. For which I am thankful (and frustrated) and somewhat kicked up the bum to be better this week.

I'm going to attempt a photo food diary to shame me into staying on the straight and narrow, so I'll be back later with a photo post! You lucky lot :)

Grumpy superwoman

Yesterday was a busy day. I was on my own at work (there are normally 4 of us) so I was very much in demand. I'm not normally one to complain about that, but I was too tired to be bothered with people yesterday after a hectic weekend. Grumpy mare.

I did an 11 hour day at work, went to the bank and the chemist, did a full on food shop, cooked dinner and prepared lunch for today, 2 loads of washing, washed and hung out, emptied and refilled the dishwasher and then listened to my darling boyfriend complain about how tired he was from working that day when he got in. Sometimes one wonders if we are on the same planet.

Food last night was a Pork Chop, Kale, Mushrooms, Onions and a couple of Aunt Bessie's Yorkshire Puds with Bisto. Lovely. I spent the afternoon trying to ignore the mini chocolate coated doughnuts on the food table at work. I am sure the boys I work with revel in seeing me struggle around such treats.

Today has been ok - except a minor run in with a Sainsbury's Chocolate Chip Cookie (I couldn't resist the food table today, I am broken). Breakfast was Reduced Fat Pate on Wholemeal toast and Lunch was Creamy Mushroom Pasta. I now cannot eat or drink for the next 5 hours in case it affects my WI tonight. I know that's not going to be good anyway, but I am hopeful it won't be overly terrible. I didn't get up for a walk this morning as we both completely slept through the alarm - something that I hardly ever do, but it seems more frequent these days when trying to get up and exercise. Even my subconscious is lazy.

Tonight we are thinking of going to the Cinema to see Inception, but I am fairly convinced I'll nod off during it - and I hear it's not the sort of film you want to be snoozing in. Anyway, I am off on an incoherent ramble here so I shall bid you farewell.

Back later with the results from the Scales.

Weekend Wedding

Exhausted today! I've had a lovely weekend, but it's taken it out of me somewhat. I am already on countdown for the coming weekend. Bad or what?

Thursday night I worked for 3 extra hours in preparation for an early finish on Friday. Dinner was a disaster, I had Cabbage and Leeks with Bisto! Very tasty but not overly filling! There was meant to be some Lamb Mince with that, but when I worked out it was 28 points for the amount I was about to cook, I promptly popped it in the freezer. So I went to bed a bit hungry to say the least.

Friday morning started off fairly well with a 40 minute Power Walk (I say Power walk because I could barely speak by the end of it!) So I was up and ready to face the day feeling a little bit smug with myself. Pride comes before a fall however, because my eating was fairly rubbish. Breakfast started off ok with Wholemeal toast and Peanut Butter and a lovely Skinny Hazelnut Latte.

Then it went wrong. My friend Alex picked me and Matt up at 2pm to head up to Southport for my friend Debbie's wedding. We had a disastrous journey - took us nearly 7 hours to get there because the traffic was just hideous, so we snacked a lot in the car. Percy Pigs being particularly evil (2 bloody points each!). We eventually arrived at our lovely hotel and had a quick change before heading out for dinner. I opted for Spiced ChickPea fritters to start and then Rib Eye Steak with Chips and Bernaise Sauce, plus a lot of wine! Clever me huh? Celeb spot of the eveing was Steven Gerard who was in the bar at the restaurant when we arrived, how very exciting....

The wedding took place in the hotel where we all stayed so we actually didn't move much all day. I opted for a Bacon Sandwich for breakfast and some fruit and then didn't eat anything until around 6pm - big mistake. I was ravenous and that coupled with Pimms and Wine, meant I felt fairly drunk fairly early on. The Wedding Breakfast was lovely, Tomato Soup with Chilli and Rocket Pesto, Rump of Lamb with Red Wine Sauce and then a Chocolate Truffle Torte for dessert (most of which Matt ate as it was far too sickly for me)

A couple of (fairly bad) photos of me with the girls below. I was fairly happy with my outfit in the end, I wore a massive petticoat under the dress which gave me a proper 50's feel to it and a few people complimented on the dress which gave me a bit of a boost. There was a lot of material going on however, which made me a bit of a fire hazard around candles!

Much dancing (at least 4 hours of it!) and a few Vodka and Sodas followed before eventually getting myself to bed around 2am. Much fun was had by all. It was a lovely day and Debb and Tim had a blast which was the main thing. Great to see her looking so happy :)

Yesterday food was another disaster. Full English breakfast at the hotel before we left (although it was self service so I was quite restrained) and then a KFC last night once we eventually got home (30 minutes into our journey back I got a phone call from the hotel to say they had found a laptop and some gym kit in our room - my clever hungover boyfriend had left most of his belongings in the wardrobe so he was popular when we had to head back to collect it!)

So, I am expecting bad things tomorrow night at WI but it won't be the end of the world. I had a lovely weekend and in some cases, I made ok choices. It could have been a lot worse.

This morning I feel a bit yuck from last night's KFC so food today has been fairly good so far - fruit for breakfast and I've a tuna salad for lunch. I did 60 sit ups this morning and 50 squats. I wasn't up in time to do a walk as I had to be in the office for 8am. Hopefully I'll manage one tomorrow, but I've a week of 8am starts which means I need to be up and out by 6am to get a walk in - not overly easy for me!

I'll keep plodding on however, only 3 weeks til my sister's hen do and I want to be lighter than I am now.

Plodding along

A good day in the bag yesterday, 7 points banked (including BPs) and I even managed to get in a cheeky Pimms with my dinner last night. Wasn't overly happy that the Boots scales showed me 1.5 pounds up from last week at WW so that gave me a kick to stick with it this week.

Today should be good, I was meant to go out with friends tonight but that's now been postponed as I have to work this evening to install a few customisations on some of our customers sites. Not much fun of an evening, but means I can leave early tomorrow to head up to Southport without having to start work at 6am.

Food today has been another Parma Ham and Low Low Cheese toasted sandwich this morning with spinach (loving them at the mo.) A fruit YoYo mid morning. Lunch will be pasta (I was over the moon to discover I can actually have 66g not just 60g for 3 points - how easily pleased am I?) with a home made mushroom sauce (mushrooms, onions, garlic, veg stock, mushroom ketchup, oregano and 2 tbsps of Elmlea single cream with a sprinkle of parmesan). Not sure what to have for dinner, but Matt is out so I can pretty much please myself with 15 points to play with. Hopefully a few will be banked.

No exercise today as we slept through the alarm, fairly bad! My aim is to do 20 minutes of my thigh master this evening - a recent ebay purchase which I am hoping will be the answer to all of my prayers. Doesn't look like this will do much for me really does it??

Will do a 3 mile walk in the morning. I promise.

Inexplicable paranoia

This is a fairly difficult post to write. It's not really weight related - or maybe it is, but I need to just write it all down and then perhaps it will no longer be such an issue... a problem shared and all that.

Over the last few weeks I have inexplicably developed some form of paranoia about me and Matt. Nothing has changed in our relationship - except we've spent a fair bit of time apart the last few weekends due to various Hen Do's, Stag Do's etc. But I have suddenly found myself doubting him and I HATE it.

My last boyfriend was an arse of the highest order, who couldn't be faithful if his life had depended on it. He almost destroyed me mentally as I became so paranoid and lacking in trust I could barely function. It took me 6 years to finally split up with him and it was the best thing I ever did. I spent 18 months on my own, getting my confidence back and loving myself again and then I met Matt.

Matt is so different to my ex and has never given me any reason to doubt him. I know he loves me loads and I know (as best as you can ever know) that he wouldn't cheat, so why do I keep having these stupid little doubts?? It's driving me mad. I hate it. If he does something even slightly similar to my ex (for example putting his phone down if I walk into the room - well the ex would hide his and have it strapped to his body at all times, but it's similar?!?), then I immediately assume the worst. It's awful. I told him last night I was a bit of a mess at the moment and he was lovely.

Maybe it's just my hormones and normal service will resume soon... I'm normally fairly sure of myself these days so I feel all at sixes and sevens... or whatever the saying is.

So people - any advice?

Back to weight loss topics soon, I promise.

Scale avoidance

I ended up being stuck at work later than anticipated yesterday and then proceeded to sit in a traffic jam for the best part of an hour, which meant WI didn't happen. I probably could have made it, but I was wearing Jeans - and I simply refuse to get weighed in such heavy items (any excuse to avoid the scales this week). Bit of a shame really as I could have done with knowing what damage I caused with Sunday's blow out... I'll get weighed in Boots at lunchtime to keep me on the straight and narrow.

EDIT - Boots have me 1.5 pounds up. Bah! Serves me bloody well right I suppose.

This morning I went for a lovely walk along the river (well I say lovely, the scenery is pleasant, walking, not so much) I did 2.5 miles in 32 minutes and was fairly sweaty and out of breath upon arrival back home. I think I am definitely getting faster, but it doesn't seem to get any easier.

A couple of scenic shots from this morning - how very arty.

Bit of a geese traffic jam....

Food today should be good, the aim is to save a few points for the weekend if I can. Toasted Parma Ham and Low Low Cheese sarnie for breakfast with Spinach, Lunch is Pasta with Broadbeans, Spinach, a bit of Parmesan and Lemon (I have no idea what it will taste like, it's what I had in the fridge so it will have to do) and Dinner is home made pizzas. Snacks are We are Bear Granola Nibbles and Fruit Yoyos. All good.

I am avoiding the kitchen presently as there is a massive home made Carrot Cake (I had to avoid doughnuts yesterday - evil).

So let's hope I remain on track. We're heading up to Southport on Friday for my friend Debbie's wedding and I am very much looking forward to it now my outfit is sorted. Not entirely sure how points will work out but I'll do my best to be as good as I can.