Still on track

This morning saw us off for our weekly fix of muffins from Muffin Break for breakfast - this is our Saturday morning ritual something I look forward to each week. This morning was no exception. After doing a couple of things at the local shopping centre we popped in to finally give my sister-in-law her birthday present and have something to drink and a chat.

Then we had Subway for lunch and have been pottering around at home.

I haven't done any exercise today and was going to jump on the gym but thought I would give myself another days rest - so long as it doesn't turn into another days rest and then another days rest !!!!! Will have another session tomorrow (hopefully !)

All in all I am well within my points for today but have been very slack with drinking my water. I keep telling myself that I am going to get better with the water issue but that only seems to last for a day or two and then I am back to not drinking any water at all. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can accomplish this ?

Tomorrow we are having a BBQ at Paradise Point - am not sure who is going to be there as we just made it an open invitation to our friends - am sure that we will catch up with some of them. At least with everyone bringing whatever they want to eat and drink it is easier to stay within my points for the day !!! A bonus at this stage of the week.

Take care everyone, and all those in Queensland enjoy the long weekend !

TFTD : No state of mind is permanent unless we choose to make it so.

Muscles ??

I am definitely finding out about muscles I had long forgotten I had ! Earlier on in the week it was my arms that were so sore - now it is my legs. I only had a ligh work out on the gym last night - I didn't want to have no exercise but I didn't want to punish my body more than it deserved either. Al has always been a firm believer in rest days when exercising and I think that today I am going to follow his theory !! Last night at work (another 4 hour shift from 9pm-1am) I did I don't know how many squats - I said to Al that I was sure I had done more squats last night that any other night but he reminded me that it probably wasn't like that at all and it was only because my legs were so sore that I noticed how many I was doing - he may have a point there but boy did they hurt.

Anyway, on to better things - yesterday when I got dressed for work I managed to fit into a pair of pants that I haven't been able to wear since before Christmas - and they were a little loose on me !!!! I was sooooooooo pleased. Before we left work yesterday I decided to make today a casual day at work as my boss and her boss are away - so this morning I put on my jeans - so comfortable now - and a button up shirt - that I could button up WITHOUT the side slits pulling apart - it just hung so nicely over my pants. The other thing which is really good is my undies are now feeling so much more comfortable again - I hate having tight undies but on top of having to buy clothes when I put all the weight on again I was determined to carry on squashing into my undies - go figure ????? Anyway, the good thing is that I don't have to squash any longer !!!!!!

Unfortunately the scale gods aren't showing as much happiness as I am as they don't seem to have moved since Monday but the fact that I am fitting into my clothes more comfortably is encouragement enough for me to carry on.

We don't have too much planned for the long weekend apart from chores around the house and garden. As we have friends who we just don't seem to get time to see we have decided to have a BBQ at Paradise Point and will be telling our friends that we are there and if they can make it to join us so that should be good. It will just be a bring whatever you want to eat and drink so that should make it easy for me to stay within points for the day. I messed the Wendie Plan up a little this week and had my days all out of whack so have just changed them around to suit the days I have left - am hoping that it won't make too much of a difference.

Anyway, had better get back to work - take care everyone and have a great long weekend. Be good !

TFTD : Success consists of a series of little daily efforts.

Another day another dollar

Lynda has very kindly linked this new page for me - I am trying to get the past few entries loaded but that may take a little longer especially as I am supposed to be working now !!!! Thanks again Lynda for all your help.

Well, another good day today. I obviously did a few too many of the leg exercises at home last night - my legs felt fine this morning until I had to walk down the flight of stairs at work - boy did I know about it then. Mind you, it took my mind off how sore my arms were !!!! Last night was really hard as my arms were aching before I went to work ! Then we worked a 4 hour shift (we normally work a 3 hour shift) and by the end of the night my back was really aching - I was very pleased they didn't ask us to stay an additional hour.

I don't want to keep harping on about the Wendie Plan but I do think that there must be something to it - I am on 17 points today and I have hardly even felt like eating. On Monday I was on 23 points and I think that I ate all 23 plus some after I had been to weigh ! More importantly, I hope the scale gods will like the Wendie Plan when I get on the scales next Monday !!!!

That is about all I have time for today - I am off home shortly, then off to donate blood, then hopefully to drop off my sister-in-laws birthday present and then finally to get something to eat - probably Subway because I know that I am not going to have time to cook tonight. Lastly it will be off to work at 8.45 before coming back home to flop into bed. And, if I get half a chance in between, I will try to have a quick work out on the gym otherwise that will have to wait until tomorrow night.

Take care and have a great day !

TFTD : Failure is not failure to meet your goal. Real failure is failure to reach as high as you possibly can.

Trying this out

I am not sure if this is going to work so thought that I would test it first. A lot of people whose journals I have been reading use this site and I thought that as it had more space for more information without Lynda having to help me too much I would try it out - if it works I will ask Lynda (again) to help me get it onto the We Are Slimming website !! (Thank you in advance Lynda !)

My arms .....

Another great day under the belt today ! I can't believe how committed I seem to be this time around with my weight loss - long may it continue !!!!
Last night I got home from work and walked to my pilates class. There were only 4 of us so we had a real good work out - my poor arms. I have very little strength in my arms and boy do I battle with any arm exercises - last night we did arm exercises with the thick elastic bands - I could hardly lift my arms when I got home.
I got home after pilates to find that Al had cooked some diet coke chicken for me and some curry chicken for himself and Kaitlin - how lucky am I ????? He really is very good about cooking things which are point friendly for me which is just fantastic as I know lots of husbands / partners who do their best to sabotage their partners weight loss. I know that quite often we sabotage our own weight loss but it is so much easier when you have the support of your family.
Nobody had phoned to see if we were available to work last night and then the phone went at 9.05pm asking where we were - well we weren't about to go into work then but we are getting a longer shift tonight so this won't be too long as I need to go and get changed before we leave.
I got home from work tonight and had a 40 minute workout on the gym - my arms are now really aching - am not sure how I am going to pack shelves tonight - hopefully I won't have to do too much high lifting and everything will be at the right height for my arms - I can always hope can't I ????? I can probably bet on having everything on a high shelf tonight just to put my arms through some more agony !! Will let you know tomorrow how I go.
I am trying to stick to the Wendie Plan which advocates eating the correct total number of points over the week but not necessarily the same number of points per day - am hoping that this will shift the kgs again as I seem to have hit a bit of a plateau over the past few months with the weight coming off and then going on again.
Well, had better be going as I still have a couple of chores to get done before leaving for our early shift. I just want to leave you with this thought :
If you were going to die soon and had only one phonce call you could make, who would you call and what would you say ? And, why are you waiting ?
Take care everyone, be good and have a great day !

Back on the coast

We are safe and sound back on the Gold Coast after having an absolutely fantastic weekend in Sydney ! Everything just fell into place so nicely - it was great.
We caught up with our friends from London, Melbourne, South Africa and Sydney so all in all a worth while trip.
Water wise I didn't do at all well drinking mainly Diet Pepsi the whole weekend. Food wise I didn't do all that badly - I make some really good choices - but I also made some really dreadful choices !!!
I was pleased that we only ate at meal times and didn't land up snacking all through the day. I think that this may be my saving grace. We bought dessert on Friday night and I got the new WW hot desserts which are kept in the freezer section - sticky date, chocolate and apple and cinnamon. They aren't as nice and rich as the ordinary ones but for 3 points compared to whatever the others are - probably 7 or 8 at a guess - they are worth it. Definitely something I will keep in the freezer with winter just around the corner.
We got home and had a chance to unpack and get three loads of washing done before we crashed on the bed and fell asleep after a really big weekend with not much sleep happening for us. Kaitlin is still a little grumpy after not having much sleep but I guess you get that sometimes with 12 year olds !!! If only we could get her to realise that just because she sleeps during the day, doesn't make her a baby - we only try to get her to sleep when she has had a late night or is going to have a late night because we know what she is like !!! If only someone would say to me on those days - have a nap, you'll feel so much better - I would be out like a light !!!!
I went to weigh last night and have lost another 0.4kg. I didn't land up staying for the talk as we were trying to eat dinner early so that Kaitlin could have an early night as she hadn't slept yesterday when Al and I were sleeping. Although this is 0.1 less than my weekly goal I was very happy given the weekend in Sydney - I didn't track from Friday and don't know if I would be able to go back to see how I had done now. So have put that behind me and am back on track with the Wendie Plan this week - tracking 100% again.
I think Al nearly fell over when I said that I had lost 0.4 and that I was happy with it - he is used to me moaning and groaning if it is anything under 1kg !!!! But now that I am being more realistic I think that I won't be as hard on myself with my results. Also, if I can stay on track with my eating and get the exercise thing happening again (last week was a bit of a disaster with all the running around we were doing) I can lose the extra 0.1 next week - here's hoping anyway !!
How come we can't lose the weight by our thoughts ?????? I am sure that I would be as thin as a rake if it would happen that way !! It shouldn't have to be this hard to achieve what we want. More importantly, is there someway we can change our metabolism so that we can just eat what we want without it turning to lard the minute it has passed our lips ????????
On that note I will be saying goodbye for today and leave you with this thought :
TFTD - Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down.

Feeling in control

As the title says, I am feeling so in control of what I am eating and my exercise - it is almost scary !! I am not even too worried about Sydney and how I am going to cope there - I KNOW I WILL BE FINE !
The best thing was when I got dressed this morning and could fit into my size 14 pants without looking like I had been poured into them !! WOOOHOOO - such a good feeling.
The fantastic news for us is that we managed to get another nights leave tonight. This will mean going straight to a 6pm appointment I have and then home to eat, exercise, pack and get to bed - hopefully not too late. We thought we would have to work and as I haven't even thought about what clothes to take (who knows what the weather will be like there) never mind still having to pack for us.
I am very pleased to say that I have had 5 glasses of water so far today - not enough, I know, but better than what I was having !!! The worst thing about drinking so much water is I have to keep going to the loo - I now go to the toilet furtherest from my office so I get a long walk each time I go - plus down and then up a flight of stairs.
Points wise things are going well - I will probably be under points again today but will save them for the weekend - I am sure that they will be used at some stage !!!!!
Take care, have a great weekend and be good !
TFTD : It is never to late to be what you might have been.

Busy evening ahead

Another day started and stayed on track points and eating wise. Haven't done very well with the water - something I really battle with. Some days I get it right and other days it just doesn't happen.
After work I will be dashing home to change and then off to pilates. i started last week and really enjoyed the class. I found it to be much better than an aerobics class and it really worked my muscles. I found out all about muscles I didn't even know I had !! And, although I was sore, it was a good sore. I guess as long as you can feel the muscles the next day, it means that you are working them which is the whole point of exercising, isn't it ?????
After that we are all off to friends for dinner - am not sure what we will be having but I am hoping to have saved enough points to cover me. If there is dessert I will try to only have a very wee piece - I have a dreadful sweet tooth and desserts are my favourite.
Alan and I both have two jobs - our day jobs and we pack shelves at Coles at night - last night I had 2 1/2 hours of packing in the confectionery aisle - IT WAS ABSOLUTE MURDER - especially at that time of the night (10.30 to 1am !!) Well I got home and would have killed for a chocolate - was there any in the house ???? NO - except for Kaitlin's easter eggs which she is still hoarding in the fridge but I didn't have the heart to eat those. Soooooooooo - I was very proud of myself when I chose to have a nut bar instead !!!! This morning when I got up and weighed myself (a daily ritual to see how I am going) I was very pleased to see that I was down another 0.6 from yesterday morning. Not that I count that towards anything but I feel so much better when I can see the results on the scales.
The WW meeting last night was about not only judging how you are doing by what the scales say - as I didn't stay for the meeting (that's another long story that I won't go into right now !) I can't say too much about what was said - the drawback with WW saying that your success shouldn't only be measured by the scales is OK to a point BUT that is what you pay on - if you don't lose the kgs but you are losing cms - they don't give you any credit for that. They don't say that if you can fit into a size 10 / 12 / 14 / 16 outfit you are at goal and become a life time member - you have to pay until you get to their goal weight. So I do tend to get a little frustrated when those talks come around (and they do come around fairly regularly).
Well, my lunch hour is just about finished so had better be going.
My thought for today is :Use your past sucesses as a trampoline, not an easy chair.
Take care everyone, be good and have a great week !

The start of a new chapter

Well, after getting so much inspiration and motivation from reading other people's journals, I have finally decided to start my own journal.
I haven't always been fat - in fact, when I got married 17 years ago I weighed 46kg and was 5'7" tall - definitely not an ounce of extra fat there. I stayed around the 50-52kg mark for a number of years until I started to study part time while working. Then the weight just piled on. During my second semester of studying I fell pregnant and then the fun really started - I was always hungry and just ate and ate.
When Kaitlin was born on 12 May 1992, I weighed 95 kgs - I lost some of the weight but since then it has been a constant yo-yo with me losing weight - at times even getting to goal - but then landing up putting it all back on again PLUS MORE each time !
The last time I joined WW I was 86.1kg - the heaviest I had been in a long time. I lost 11.2 to get to 74.8kg before it all fell apart again in November last year. I went back to WW at the end of February this year at 79.1 and after weighing in tonight am now down to 75.9 - a total loss now of 10.2kg !! I have to say that I was very excited to be over the 10kg mark again.
My attitude towards my weight loss has changed since I first started - I would expect to lose 1kg a week and I would be devestated if I didn't. I would get home and Alan (my husband) and Kaitlin (our daughter) would say "Well done" for whatever I had lost but I always felt like it wasn't enough. They would say that losing 0.1 is better than gaining 0.1 but I used to feel that for all the hard work I put in I deserved better than a 0.1 loss. Now I am not so hard on myself and my goals are now probably more realistic at 0.5kg per week.
I am also setting myself some mini goals with rewards along the way for reaching those goals. I would like to be at goal by my 40th birthday on 21st July - that would mean 0.7 loss per week - do-able but maybe not that realistic - so maybe I will go the goal of 0.5kg per week and see how I go. If I am not there but am close enough I will be happy with that.
Rather than ramble on any more tonight I will leave you with my thought for the day :
We have to learn to be our own best friend because we fall too easily into the trap of being our own worst enemy.
Until the next time - take care, be good and look after yourself ! Have a great week.