10 Ounces per Week

It's nearly been a year since I started the final diet. How have I done so far? Well 10oz per week is not a great average loss - it'll hardly set the heather on fire but it's better than no loss at all!
What I have learned is that thinking about going on a diet is not at all helpful. On the two times I had a break from dieting the weight I put on was mainly during the period I was thinking, "gosh the diet starts again next week, now - what can I eat!!!" Having a break or preferably an off-day is not terribly harmful, but once you've sinned, accept it and carry on. The phrase "You're as well being hung for a sheep as a lamb" does not apply to losing weight. You eat a lamb, you're gonna have to work it off, but eat a sheep and working it off will take much longer!
I started this because I was not very well - 17 stones on a small frame leads to panting and peching, I could feel my blood pressure going up and more embarrassing, all that fat wasn't really allowing my bladder to stretch to capacity, and the snoring was even waking me up. Most of those problems have subsided more or less, and the less there is of me, the more those problems will be solved!
Overall the best thing about this new regime is that I am taking things steadily, I'm not depriving myself of anything, although I have cut pies and pastry to practically nil, and eat much less red meat than I used to, I even have reduced the amount of chicken I eat. I have also reduced the amount of chocolate I eat - but I've not cut it out completely.
So, 30 pounds in 50 weeks is not quite what I had hoped for when I started this diet, but I'm not disappointed, I'm pleased that I can eat sensibly, exercise moderately and who knows, that bike is still waiting out there for me - one day I'll spark up the courage to get on it! Then you'll see a new me :)

I Resolve To...

Well it's February 2010, near the start of the last year of the first decade of the second millennium, and also the last year before I mark my half century, so perhaps its time to consider one of those life changing resolutions everyone else was planning 11 years ago. (There's a sentence that would never fit on Twitter!)

What to do? What to do?

I know fine well what to do.

I live 3 miles away from my nearest bus stop, in truth I live 3 miles UPHILL from my nearest bus stop. When we moved here over a year ago I remember wondering if I could ever walk that far. So far I've never had to but after several months of daily miles (interrupted by an extended christmas break that still hasn't stopped as far as walking goes ), it does seem possible.

My names not Drew, I've no Iron Man dreams - ok lets be accurate here I've no plans to *become* an Iron Man, given a bit of time and imagination I could come up with a pretty good iron man dream ;-) But, I will set myself a challenge for this year. I am going to get my hands on a bicycle, and within the coming .... 9 months, I will ride it up the hill. Howzat?

The last time I was on a bike (1991) after a break of about 20 years I couldn't believe how scary it was! It was on a town road with parked cars all over the place and the horrific potential that a car might actually come up the same road I was using! This road however, is a quiet country road which is nonetheless narrow, and inhabited by tractors, lorries, and bl**dy great chelsea tractors, 4x4s, SUVs, overinflated vehicles the size of a tank with if you're lucky, a horsebox tacked on behind!

I'm out of my mind. I'll never do it.

If I do lose my bottle - as a penance I will start running. If I haven't done the bike ride by St Andrews day, on the first of December 2010 whether it's hail rain or shine, I will be out there .... running.
(apologies to all those people out there who actually enjoy running)

I Can't Cook

Today got off to a rather good start... I was in Asda when I noticed their Cream Filled Meringues, nice looking meringues dipped in chocolate with whipped cream - 411 calories per 100 grammes. Hmmm.... The pack weighed roughly 600g according to the scales (which were designed for weighing kilos of potatoes not grammes of cream, but they couldn't be more than 150 calories each could they?)
I bought them to have with a coffee at my mum's after the shop, I also saw a delicious looking pasta and chicken bake ready meal and thought "I could do that", so I bought fromage frais to make a creamy sauce....

The meringue was a success - weighing in at 30 grammes it only cost me 123 calories and made for a pleasant cuppa.

Unfortunately this afternoon I tried my hand at making that nice creamy pasta sauce

I sweated mushrooms and onions together, cooked some tagliatelli and added the fromage frais. It looked lovely, it smelled nice, but it tasted Howfin! (That's a scottish term - usually used by 10 year olds to explain why they've just spat their dinner across the table)
I don't like cheese, I don't like yoghurt, and as I now know I don't like fromage frais! I do like cream whether whipped in a cake or poured over a steak or pasta or...

Anyway I don't have the knack, some people go into the kitchen and take a few ingredients and rustle up something delicious. Me I go into the kitchen and rustle up something even the dustbin won't accept!

Day one back on track

I weighed myself last night, signed onto SP and plunged into the doings of UK Men & Women with over 100lbs to Lose and even wrote a blog (not something I've been very good at in the past) So having done all the preparation, today was the first day of .... the diet!
And how did it go? Not too bad for a first day, I had an unplanned biscuit this morning but at about 80 calories that shouldn't be a disaster. Lunch passed by without incident, although somehow I never managed to have time for my daily walk. (ooh, bad girl!) Mid afternoon I was desperate for a bit of chocolate, but I managed to squash the impulse, and at tea time at my mum's I even managed to refuse a cake! :)
I don't think the water and vegetable count is quite up to scratch but I've eaten dinner and still have enough calories left to keep me going through to bed time. So not a complete success but hopefully a solid foundation.
Of course tomorrow is the weekend and I do have real difficulty with those...

Merry Christmas Everyone - Yes I know it's February...

Hi all, that's me got over my Christmas break (hopefully) and I am ready to get re-started on healthy eating and exercising.
I am so hopeless. Every time I go "off" my diet it takes ages to round up my willpower and wrestle it into a corner so I can get started again. I know you can enjoy these festivals without completely ruining your diet but I am so weak!
Anyway I did have a lovely Christmas, my two girls came home from China, the weathergirl could only stay for about a week, but my middle child was able to stay for six weeks (six weeks sharing her time between us and all her friends scattered across England, Scotland and Wales, but it was lovely to see her) and my son was able to come down for a couple of weeks too. A nice busy house with remarkably few arguments ;)
We had an incredibly white Christmas this year - we don't expect snow in December and certainly not two feet of the stuff! Usually we get about 3 inches in January or February and it stays for about 2 or 3 days, but this snow was here to stay! It made for a very festive holiday and was very picturesque - although after 3 or 4 days stuck in the house it started to lose its charm :)
However Christmas is now over, the damage has been measured - 6.8lbs... my weight chart's not supposed to look like a smile :( its supposed to keep going down.
Crisps are now banned, I'm not going to use the lift at work, and the daily walks will resume from tomorrow - and as for the chocolate vending machine
Wish me luck!

Coff! Oink! Coff!

Urgh! Just had a horrible week, on Thursday my temperature started giong through the roof, and I barely had the energy to crawl into bed. Having crawled there I then spend the next 3 days sleeping, sweating, getting cold, moving to the sofa, sleeping, getting hot, moving to my bed, repeat every couple of hours until the mists start to clear... Then by Monday I felt like I'd been kicked in the chest by a horse, which then whipped a grater out of it's pocket and gave the inside of my chest a quick going over to keep things interesting.
On Monday I had one of those phone consultations (the marvels of modern medical science - doctors can now tell what's wrong with you even though they are sitting 5 miles away!) I was told I probably had swine flu "there's a lot of it about" and a chest infection - have some antibiotics and some Tamiflu for your husband - go back to bed and stay there for another 3 days.
Which I more or less did.
I have no idea what I've been eating. Not much I suppose, but my husband has been giving me treats, and I've not had the strength to refuse ;)
However now I am better (although I still have an annoying cough) so I have to re-introduce myself to the Spark People nutrition tracker and get cracking.

Triumph?

I have lost all contact with my hunger and satisfaction impulses. I eat when I see or smell something nice - heck, I just need to see someone tucking into something on the telly to think "hmmm I fancy a sandwich...." You don't fancy a sandwich! You saw someone eating a sandwich in the background on that programme! You are not really hungry!!!

Over the last few days I've been observing myself, looking out for hunger pangs, seeing if I can recognise them, and you know what? I can't tell the difference between a full stomach and an empty one!

Today I had a rushed lunch and could only eat half my sandwich, I kept the rest and ate it at about four, I don't know if I was hungry or just felt sorry for myself because people were leaving work and I still had an hour and a half to go. I ate the sandwich, enjoyed it, and savoured the full feeling after I ate it. Then 5:30 came and I thought I would pack up and leave. As I went down the stairs I started rationalising:

I never had any fruit today, just a single sandwich (but a mujaddarah one - lentil, like dahl, it is known as cement for the stomach) ah, but just the one sandwich after all, I'll just take a look at the vending machine, I've had no biscuits or sweets or fruit.... I can feel a sensation in my stomach, I must be hungry.

So I did go to the vending machine, I promised I would take only the smallest lowest calorie thing in it, and there was my favourite, a Topic 237 calories! no. But look - a Ripple, I love Galaxy chocolate, a Ripple is full of air, hardly eating anything, only 175 calories, oh look a Bounty - if I eat half that's only 134 calories... At that point I stood back and took a look at myself (a metaphorical look, I was still watching the chocolate) "When have you ever stopped at half a Bounty?" I looked at that case of goodies - then decided this is stupid and turned around. I had realised that sensation in my stomach wasn't hunger - it was fullness. A subtle difference but I think I'll have to listen to my body, and use my brain to interpret the sensations - after thinking about when and what I last ate.

And the triumph? Being able to walk away from that machine without a second glance, savouring the fullness of my stomach, and not feeling that I was depriving myself .