Not the best week.

And I know it could have been alot worse but I gained 0.3kg this week. I know exactly what I did and what I have to do this week to fix it!

I did not get out for as many walks as I usually do. I didn't wear my pedometer every day (which does make me move more!). I didn't drink enough water every day, some days I "forgot", I still don't understand how somedays I easily drink 3L+ and other days I forget to drink! I also seemed to use more weekly allowance points on sugar than usual.

So I'm starting with renewed enthusiasm this week!! I will drink my water EVERY day. I will get out for my walk at least 4 times this week, and I will wear my pedometer EVERY !DAY

69.4!!!

Wooohoooo I made it into the 60's!! Who would have thought that hey? Me weighing sixty something! :)

Self doubt is a huge hurdle to overcome. I never, ever thought I would be concidered anything but "the fat girl" and I sometimes wonder how people describe me now.

Not looking too far into the future, or obsessing too much about the amount you have to lose, is a really big thing when it comes to losing large amounts of weight, and I guess even smaller amounts too, taking each day as it comes, accepting what happens on the scales (good or bad) and moving on (no good having a great loss and then splurging for the week!). Looking back is a far better gauge, "I've lost xkg and now I can do this this and this.." is a much better way of looking at things.

You know if you never stop going to and doing weightwatchers you will eventually get to goal?What is the saying? "Winners never quit and quitters never win" Well, this is my turn to be a winner! Who's going to join me!

Back to core

So happy last week to be back eating core. It's funny when you are "allowed" to eat crap, and sugar you tend to crave it more. A loss of 0.6kg which is great BUT I was hoping for (at least)0.7kg to take me into the 60's but alas I'm smack bang on 70kg! Oh, I'm not complaining, I'm more than happy with 0.6kg, it just would have been nice!

Easter is this weekend and while it would "usually" come with it's own set of challenges I'm confident that I won't be tempted by anything that hasn't been allowed for. Everyone knows now not to buy me chocolate! I'll be making some hot crossed buns tomorrow and freezing those we don't eat. (2.5 points each, I'll post the recipe on my recipe blog, the link to it is on the right ->>>>) and I will have 1 small Lindt chocolate square for 0.5 points (but 1.5 if you have 2) very affordable points wise!

We've been having some renovations done over the last few weeks, so I am getting quite a bit of incidental exercise sanding and polishing new deck, cleaning after the builders etc.. and there is more to come, painting ripping up carpet etc... I can't wait til it's all done!

Have a safe and Happy Easter everyone!

I did it.. I did it.. oh yeah, yeah, yeah!

This is what greeted me today as I entered my weight in etools on the WW website. Today I lost 0.8kg bringing my total loss to 50 amazing kgs on the dot. I am so proud of myself and so very happy! Who would have thought on just over 17 months I would have lost 50kgs?? No one will wipe the smile from my face today or for about a week I reckon!

I successfully broke the plateau by swapping to points for two weeks, but I'm back to core this week!

I can sniff goal now it's so close but I know at the same time it does not mean the end of healthy eating and exercise. I know I can eat and exercise like this for ever. Weight Watcher's really do set you up to suceed in loosing and maintaining weigh. They give you all the tools you need and you choose how to use them.

If I can give everyone 1 piece of advice? Just don't stop! You will only NOT suceed if you choose not to.

♥

Better than nothing!

I lost 0.4kg this week, at least I didn't stay the same again. I'm pleased it has started to move again, albeit s l o w l y!! As you can probably tell I was getting rather frustrated!

It's all good though, there is no way I'd give up! EVER! I'm 0.8kg away from 50kgs.. that's HUGE! I've lost a whole person!

I'll be doing points again this week so that I should get more of a difference when I switch back to core next week! :)

The plateau

So operation plateau breaker didn't work! It's time for drastic measures!

Week 3 and I'm maintaining nicely, too bad I'm not trying to! Not so much as a 100 grams off at WI this morning. I am currently smack bang in the middle of a dreaded plateau. It is soooooo frustrating!

In the last 2 weeks I have
*changed my exercise, exercised some mornings, some nights some none and some twice, walking sometimes, jogging sometimes, some skipping and some jumping on the trampoline.
*drank a small swimming pool everyday, (at least 3 L)
*had mostly carbs at lunch (except sometimes potato or corn with dinner) and not every day*cut out all alcohol (I haven't had any since Christmas)
*last week NO sugar point at all except choc powder on top of skim cappucino

The only thing I haven't done, and tbh I'm dreading to do is swap to points, but I really don't see that I have much choice. :(. It will be hard so after over 10 months on core. I'll be down to 18 points (last time I did points I was on 24!) I will update during the week!

And again...

Rather frustrating to say the least, but I stayed the same again at WI, looks like I have a plateau happening at the moment, so this week it will be operation plateau buster and if that doesn't work, shock horror I might.. I said MIGHT consider swapping to points to see if that shakes things up enough. This is my very last option, and I won't unless I feel it's absolutely necessary. So this week I'll be upping my water, swapping my exercise and food to try to shake things up!

Wish me luck!

No gain..

.....and no loss, I stayed the same.

This week I've drunk a small swimming pool in water, eaten at least 5 serves of vege and 2 fruit every day.. walked and jogged more kilometers than I care to calculate, consumed no sugar or alcohol and I didn't lose 1 single gram. I also decided that I'd not eat white pasta or rice at all last week, thinking it would shake things up a bit, but alas it didn't show on the scales. I am a little dissappointed (as I always am when I don't lose) but I'm hoping what I did this week will show on the scales next week. I have a plan to put in place so we'll just have to see what happens next week.

A crazy couple of weeks!

So busy last week I didn't even get to do an update! It was my birthday last Tuesday and Wednesday I gained 0.2kg at WI. I was a bit dissappointed as I stuck to the plan and didn't do anything for my birthday as I was working at the meeting in the evening (we went out last weekend for it instead) I looked back over my week and noted I really didn't eat very much, I mean I ate and was satified but when I really looked, there were heaps of salads and veges and not much else! I paid particular attention to that (adding protein, bread or vitaweats with lunch, having a few points worth of nuts here and there- they aren't core but I allowed for them from my points allowance) and even though I went out for lunch, and 2 dinners last week I lost 0.8kg this week.
The first restaurant is the one we go to every Friday night (and have done since well before I started WW) It's a Smorgasboard (all you can eat, buffet style), Chinese and seafood place. I do treat myself at the restaurant, usually having a couple of pieces of salt and pepper squid and a chicken satay (with very little or no sauce) Basically everything else I have is core (with exception of the oil and cornflour that is used in the chinese style veges that I allow for too) they do steamed vege, grilled fish, I make a prawn cocktail with fresh prawns, plain lettuce and lemon juice. Fresh fruit for dessert, a green tea and I'm done!
Saturday night we asked Brad's mum to have Daniel overnight so we could go out for my birthday dinner. We went to a mongolian BBQ place which was very, very nice and very CORE friendly! Basically you choose your meat (which is prepared for you, thinly cut and still frozen) you have a choice of kangaroo, beef, lamb, chicken and pork, then you choose your veges cabbage, bean shoots, pineapple, onion, celery, carrot and some others I can't remember then you chose your sauces.. Soy, garlic, ginger, chilli, sesame oil, hot pepper oil, sugar water, cooking wine, sweet and sour, hot pepper oil... Then you give your plate to the chef who cooks your meal in front of you on a giant curved hotplate (kind of like an upside down wok) and then hands it back to you when it's cooked, no oil, unless YOU add it, BRILLIANT! So as you can see it's very easy to have a 100% core meal at this place! We'd never been there before, but no doubt we will go back! Afterwards we went for a little walk and got a skim cap and then came home. Great food, great night.
I'm doing the Valentines day raid on the WW core board this week for hopefully a bit of a boost and a lot of fun this week!

As requested :)

Sorry! I didn't do my hair or makeup and I'm not even standing us straight! lol!

For pics in my before clothes go here!

I'm sitting here... (warning shouting to follow)

IN SIZE 10 JEANS!!!!! Sorry I had to shout but how exciting!!!

My size 12 3/4 jeans have been feeling a bit big and I've been wearing them with a belt so today while at the Target end of season sale I was having a look and tried on a pair of size 11 jeans. They fit but of course they only had 11 long, and of course me not being long I would have had to cut far too much off so I put the 11's back thought oh well the 10's will probably fit by winter anyway grabbed a pair of size 10 short (did I mention for $15) and to my surprise when I tried them on when I got home.. THEY FIT! They're boot leg so probably a bit wider than a "normal" 10 would be, but they are a size 10!!!!!! (and I don't have to take them up!!)

♪♫ I'm doing a happy dance!! ♫♪

2 weeks in a row

Yep that's right 2 weeks in a row I've lost over 1kg. I'm a happy little camper! I have been doing a raid on the WW core board so that would have helped as would that I am walk/jogging now. I also try to get a couple of "extra" walks in a week (besides my normal hour morning walk.) It all helps! I pay careful attention to hunger signals, only eating if genuinely hungry, and stopping when comfortably satisfied, not stuffed full! I make sure I drink at least 2L of water each day and I'm mindful of the good health guidelines when planning my meals.

I did it

I'm overweight and yes I'm excited about that as it's so much better than being morbidly obese - which is what I started out as! Today I lost a fantastic 1.1kg at WI which brought my BMI from 48.9 (16 months ago) to 29.9 (today) . Next step HEALTHY at 24.9. Bring it on BABY!!

I promise to update pics soon and I will include pics wearing my original "fat clothes" as a few people have requested.

♥

Sunday ponderings

Or should that be ramblings??

While walking this morning I was thinking, as you do, about why I think I have been sucessful so far. I'm often asked at meetings, and in general so here it is..

Shazzy's hints and tips for sucessful weighloss!

• Tell everyone you know you are doing WW.
  -This helps in a number of ways. People are expecting you to lose weight, so you will feel less inclinded to let these people down. I can't imagine saying to someone if they ask how WW is going.. "Oh, I don't do that anymore!" If you keep WW a secret, no one will know except you, this will not keep you very accountable.
  -People will encourage you more, they aren't scared to ask if you have lost weight, when they can see it, they will tell you!
  -You're less likly to be given gifts of food hampers or chocolate.
  -Friends will often make sure there is something that you can have if they invite you over, and are less likly to push a piece of cake or biscuit on you.


• If you go to meetings to be weighed.
  STAY for the meeting, I don't understand how people can pay to get weighed and then leave the meeting. It just doesn't make sence to me. You've paid anyway, you may as well stay. It's a great way to share and brag about things you're proud of, or if you're having "issues" it's a great place to get support, afterall everyone there is in the same boat as you, a different stages of the program, but everyone is in the same boat! I've made some fabulous friends at meetings!


• Use the WW website
  There is a wealth of information on it as well as recipes and hints and tips. Use the community message boards. I like to think of it as my daily meeting. Any time, day or night I can log on and get or offer advice or encouragement. Motivating others is great motivation.


• Success breeds success.
  Think about how you feel when you achieve your goals, whether they be major or minor. Man I could be a rich woman if I could bottle that feeling! Remember it, it will help you through the harder times, and there will be harder times! You may be 1/2 way to goal or you may be able to do up those jeans you haven't been able to wear since the kids were born. Celebrate them with non food rewards. A book, a magazine, a massage, a manicure, a bubble bath, a hair cut and/or colour or new clothes, it doesn't have to cost alot either. I've recently discovered op shopping! Great clothes = not much $$ it is the luck of the draw though. I was also told at our meetings that you can ring TAFE and offer yourself as a human guinea pig for people needing to practice manicures, pedicure, massage, waxing, haircuts - ok maybe I'm not THAT brave but still it is a great idea, that won't cost you alot, and you are helping someone else in the process.


• Measure your success
  We've all been there, you have done absolutely EVERYTHING right you have been a perfect WWer all week, did all your exercise, drank all your water, got in all your serves of fruit and vege, you're expecting a kg + loss and you get 0.1 or the scale doesn't move. I know only too well how frustrating it is! How long has it been since you've taken your measurements? Are your clothes feeling loose? Does the towel go all the way round you now?


• If you have a slip up
  Don't beat yourself up over it. It's over, move on! You will only truly fail at this if you give up and don't stick to the plan/s. If you just don't stop you will eventually achieve your goals.
  
• Follow the plan
  Whether it be core or points, do it properly! Track! Track! Track! If you "cheat" you're only cheating yourself!

So there you are. I hope it helps someone out there in cyberland!

♥

We're back!

We had such a fabulous time while we were away. I got to catch up with heaps of friends and family. I had lots of great comments about my weight loss and how I look while I was away, (they usually started with Oh my God!) Others stared as they weren't quite sure if it was me or not :).
Some really exciting news... Mum bought me a skirt and top for me for Christmas while I was away and just guess what size it was?? A size 10!!! A 10!! Can you believe that? Last Christmas I was wearing a 22-24!!!
OK now I'm not totally delusional because I'm certainly not fitting into 10's in anything else, so I'm sure it was a "big" size 10 and it was a touch firm, but I wore it all day Christmas day! No one could wipe the smile off my face!

Quick Update

Still at mum and dad's. Gained 0.1kg Christmas week, amd I was really happy with that! First week of 2008 and I lost 0.7kgs. I'm really pleased with myself! Will update in detail when I get home next week! ♥

New cut and colour!!

You like??

Busy, busy!

I just realized that I didn't even update my blog last week! December just seems to fly by doesn't it? We leave to go to mum and dad's on Sunday.

I seem to be maintaining nicely at the moment, I gained 0.1kg last week and lost it again this week, which would be great if I was trying to maintain!! Anyway I'm going to try shaking things up exercise and food wise this week, see what happens, it will be hard to work out if it helps as I won't be able to weigh on Wednesday as the meetings are closed on Boxing day, but there is an 8.30am meeting on Saturday I might go to.

My plan for Christmas is to not gain, I'll be happy to stay the same, and if I loose, that is a bonus! So I will eat totally core, as much as I can until Christmas, and treat myself on Christmas day paying careful attention to hunger signals and back to it again on Boxing day!! What I need to remember is food will still be there after Christmas and really who wants to be uncomfortably full all day??

You won't believe what I did last night! I had a Lindt Ball! I haven't had any "nice" chocolate since I started WW all those months ago, I mean I've had a few WW Choc Crisp bars and while they're nice, they don't even come close to what is an utterly delectable morsel of swiss chocolate! I actually promised myself to have "1" about 20kgs ago, but I could not find 1 to buy, there were packs of 3, 6 and then boxes of so many points I'd hate to think, but I only wanted 1, I didn't want to buy more. As it happens my MIL won a raffle a couple of weeks ago and in there was a small packet of Lindt Balls, so I asked her for 1! It sat in my fridge for a little over a week. I ate it last night. Can I tell you? It took so long to eat that Lindt Ball I scraped it with my teeth, I nibbled every last orgasmic bite and boy did I enjoy it! I was chatting to a friend last night and she asked if I needed another one now? My response even surprised me, "No thanks I'm good!" I might not wait so long to have the next one as they are pretty affordable points wise (2 points) so instead of being 16 months it might only be 6!! Or maybe when I get to goal! There is no IF, I know will get (and stay) there, that's a promise I made to myself a long time ago!

If I don't get a chance to blog before, have a fabulous Christmas everyone and I will try to do an update from mum and dad's! ♥

I've been a slacko!

Gosh it's a busy time of year! I didn't even post my loss from last week . I lost 0.3kg which I'm pleased with considering my big losses lately.
Post raid update... it went really well and I will continue with it til Christmas, despite losing 0.3kg on it (I was expecting more, but the raid really wasn't that much different to what I do day to day anyway, so.. ) all in all it's not too bad.
Daniel and I went to the park with a friend (Hi C) and her little girl yesterday.. It had the biggest slide you've ever seen! It was great fun! Yes I had a go too, what a difference a year makes! This time last year my ass wouldn't have fit! lol

Here is Daniel on the slide! See what I mean?? In his words it's HOOOGE!!


and another of Daniel just for good measure! (pics of course taken with my new camera!)

Time Flies!

Wow I can't believe this week has gone so quickly, scrap that, this YEAR has gone so quickly, this time in 3 weeks will be Christmas eve.. that's just CRAZY talk!
Monday I started doing a RAID on the WW boards ROX (Raid Operation Xmas). I'm in the Christmas Core-acker team. What is a raid? Well basically you have to agree to this pledge

I ______ , a Hard-Core Christmas Core-acker, pledge that everyday, for the next 7 days I will:
*Get amazing energy from my Core plan
*Do a minimum of 45min continuous exercise
*Drink 2L of water
*Eat 5 serves of vegies and 2 serves of fruit
*Consume no alcohol
*Consume no sugar
*Not use any exercise points that I earn
*Report in to the Core-acker Thread.

In the event of a special occasion (ie. Christmas Party) I may apply for a pass, BUT … I must make the best possible choices available. If I am unable to fulfil the ROX Raid requirements I must bow out OR make up for my indiscretion with a suitable punishment as negotiated with Kerri Core-acker and fellow Raiders.

Day 2 of the raid and it's going really well, it's basically what I do day to day anyway except I do include small amounts of sugar in my diet. We'll see if it shows at WI :)