Christmas weight gain

But it was only a couple of pounds so actually I am rather thrilled! There was only one person at the meeting who had lost (and she was stick thin anyway) and some people had put on loads. But honestly, if you can't pig out at Christmas what on earth is the point? I do feel that I am back on track and I'm sure that next week will see me dropping again. I am now swimming daily and thinking much more about my target.

We have new Slimming World packs. I haven't got my head round mine yet but some of the Healthy Extras have changed. I'll let you know what I think when I've had a good read.

Happy New Year for 2012. Bring on the Olympics.

Gutted!

I lost another pound this week - Lord knows how - but I am not a happy bunny. I should have been Slimmer of the Week, that title going to the person who has lost the most over a 2 week period. The winner had only lost 5.5 lbs and I have lost 7.5lbs. Well I didn't really want a lot of manky fruit and a fridge magnet anyway . . .

The fun night at SW wasn't much. Very few people there. Of course there will be an onslaught of New Year resolutions come January.

It is 3 days until Christmas and I am officially coming off the diet today for a week. New Year won't bother me as we don't do anything then ever. So back to damage limitation.

Merry Christmas everybody.

Tidings of comfort and joy

I knew last week was a blip! Six and a half pounds off this week. In reality I reckon it's probably a couple of pounds but we are still going in the right direction. Am very chuffed. Sixteen stone five and a half.

I stayed for the class this week, something I've only managed a couple of times since September. Poor old Elaine is fighting a losing battle around Christmas time. So many don't even turn up for the weigh-in, all motivation gone. I don't know why I remain upbeat, probably because I'm still at work and sometimes am just too busy to eat. That changes today. I break up at 10.30 this morning. It would be great to have lost a little more by the meeting next Wednesday, I think my chances of getting Slimmer of the Week are quite good. We shall see. I may be forced to go on another night as a trip up to Norfolk is a must some time next week.

I remain unimpressed by the Slimming World website - I seem to be alone on this! It won't let you register your new weight until 7 days after the last entry. Even though I was weighed on Wednesday I can't put the new total in until Sunday. (I was obviously running late the week before). And the searches are devidedly clunky. Sorry Slimming World.

Oh dear

I knew last week was bad, and this week was no better. 5lbs overall. But I am not particularly downhearted. I haven't done much swimming because of temperature problems at the pool, I hadn't stuck to the diet much, and it is Christmas so there is much temptation about.

Next week I will hope to have lost at least some of the excess baggage. I am having particular problems staying asleep. Twice this week I have been up at 3 am. Am also looking after my 18 month old grandson after school (and overnight tonight). I feel very, very tired. We break up a week today. Friday can't come quickly enough.

On the Olympic front I have been booked for Orientation Training at Wembley Arena at the beginning of February. I had to double-check as I thought at first it said Orienteering which is possibly not my kind of thing!

A message from Granny

Granny Gamesmaker is not going to Fat Club this week. It has not been a good one . . .

Still on track

Half a pound off this week. Not awe-inspiring but a step in the right direction. Have eaten out twice and been with a heavy drinking chum so am quietly pleased. Last night I tipped the scales at exactly sixteen and a half stone. Am pretty much sure I won't make sixteen by the end of the year as the Christmas festivities and accompanying victuals are well under way. But as long as I make sensible choices I am sure that I can go for damage limitation.

Have lunch booked at the latest "must do" restaurant on Saturday. Pollen Street Social. My friend Liz and I are up for a treat and I haven't seen her since embarking on my diet the day after holidaying with her and her brother in Dorset. Will be thrilled rigid if she notices I've lost weight.

The daily swimming continues. How I wish I had an extra half an hour each morning so that I could increase the distances. For the time being that can only be at the weekends. However, we only have three more weeks of school before the Christmas holidays. If I can swim more even for a fortnight then it should make a difference. I do need though to look at alternative times to get to the gym. There are times after school when I'm sure I could find an hour.

Blooming school. It does interfere with my life.

A first peep

At the Olympic volunteers' uniforms.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15834767

Not the dreaded pink tracksuits then. Phew!!

Yay!

I got my one stone award at club tonight! And how . .

2.5lbs off on a week that had seen me cooking a large roast dinner complete with fattening puds for the family at the weekend, and seen me scoffing deep fried mushrooms, sirloin steak and dressed salad at Jamie's Italian with my friend Sue.

Am thrilled beyond belief. I believe that at 16 stone 7.5 I am lighter that I've been for at least 6 years.

The 6 weeks leading up to Christmas will be challenging. Whilst I think I can resist the mince pies and other sweet treats, the very fact that there are a lot of food opportunities to go AWOL is worrying.

I see that I rashly declared 16 stone by Christmas. Will be amazed if I get within touching distance.

The swimming/gymming regime is back on course and I feel great.

Still drinking too much though. (:

Back on track

A 3lb loss this week. Thank goodness for that. Still 1lb away from a stone but nearly there. The pool is open but the temperature is very low (around 22) so that's still not an option at the moment but I've had a couple of sessions on the bike in the gym. I was put to shame by Nicole, a much older lady with very bad back problems. She reckons to "cycle" 5k every time she gets on one. I'd been going for 3K. So 5K it was for those sessions and from now on. Who knows, maybe more. It's marginally more interesting than the treadmill . . . .

I do need to focus this week because the following two weekends are full of foodie treats and are going to be a struggle. I think if I am around 16 stone by Christmas I will be very pleased. So 10lbs to go. Was trying to think if I've done anything differently this week and the answer is no. Still drinking too much alcohol and still eating some very peculiar combinations of food - a lean beefburger with low fat cottage cheese was one such. But I have resisted a few things. There is a mince pie with my name on it in the kitchen. It will soon be in the dog.

Disappointment

The weigh-in showed I had put on 2lbs. Better than the half term prophecy but I have been working very hard to keep to the diet for a week. I do feel a bit thinner but nonetheless I am disappointed. I guess the flu I had a few weeks ago did give a bit of a false impression on how quickly I am losing the weight.

Still, I remain motivated. Which is the main thing.

I have strained a muscle in my back so no gym or swimming for me until that has cleared up. I don't think I will cope very well if I haven't lost anything next week. Am going to try and knock the alcohol on the head I think. The problem is that school is so stressful I just want a large G&T when I come back through the front door. (And then another . . . ).

And I must remember that unlike a lot of my musical colleagues across the country I do still have a job.

Half term disaster

It is the final day of half term. I stood on the scales just now and wept. I have put on 5 lbs in a week. Unsurprising of course as I have not been on the SW plan, have eaten out (well) 3 times and have also had more time on my hands to knock back more booze than is good for me. I couldn't make the meeting this week because of my jam-packed social life but that is no excuse. Yesterday, bar the wine, I went back on Extra-Easy. I need to be very good now and hope that the reading on the scales is just a blip.

The up side is that I had 2 wonderful lunches out and a great family meal up in Norfolk! And of course I was getting a bit bored with the diet so I'm heading into the second half of the term full of motivation again. And I have upped my swimming to 600 metres a day whilst I've been on holiday.

I hope this is just a minor lapse. Let's see what the official verdict is next Wednesday. As mentioned before I am not good at taking weight gain well.

Reason to be cheerful

I have lost 4lbs this week and that makes a total of 12 since I began my Slimming World campaign. Am I pleased? Of course but my fluey symptoms continued well into the weekend and then I also had a squiffy tummy. Out to a wonderful Lebanese restaurant with friends on Monday and I had to give up after a meagre portion of the starters.

I cannot tell you how unusual it is to be off my food but perhaps if you look at my other blog you will get some idea!

Elaine seemed to think that if I am careful I will lose again next week but I know from past experience that the body goes into overdrive after cases like this and hangs on to all the calories it needs and more.

Also it is half term and there are 3 family meals out planned. Still it would be nice to shed a couple more pounds and get my one stone award. I'm still not back at LA Fitness. I don't think it's sensible to spread my germs and I know a couple of my chums there have also had the same lurg. And we have had our first overnight frost so staying in bed for an extra hour seems like a very good plan.

I do not have much luck with making Slimming World meals very tasty. Aside from their wonderful chips of course which I would happily live on. This week I made a tuna pasta bake. It was horrible. Even the dog wouldn't eat it. I will try this one next time I feel the urge.

Going down

Yes! I am still losing weight. However it's falling off more slowly now. This week I had lost half a pound but I do have an excuse! I have not been well. I've had a fluey, coldy thing and have not been swimming, gyming or following the SW plan. So it's a good result really. This morning my own scales (which weigh around 3lbs heavier than the Fat Club ones), came in at under 17stone.

Even better though is the fact that my elder daughter came round yesterday and looked at me and said "Gosh you've lost weight". She's been on holiday and I haven't seen her for three weeks so I guess it really must show. (She certainly isn't one for any kind of fake pandering).

Will be even  more pleased once I shake off this bug.

But oh dear, I am missing cheese.

The coward

I didn't go to Fat Club this week. I hadn't been very good at the weekend and the scales at home weren't moving. Well not in the direction I wanted anyway. And then on Tuesday I went to a fabulous all girls night at my friend Lulu's house. Although I didn't overdo things I did not stick to Slimming World principles - that is I didn't count the Syns and call them flexible. I was having too much of a good time for that.

So Wednesday came and went without my weekly trip to see Elaine. And guess what? When I weighed myself this morning (Saturday) I am another 2lbs lighter. Let's see if I can keep it that way.

By the way, the reason for not going is that I am not very good at coping with an increase.  I would probaby have gone straight to the fish and chip shop and done more damage!

I have had a couple of gym sessions this week, nothing major, 3 kilometres on the exercise bike and a bit of treadmill, and I've also upped my swimming, mainly because I am going faster so can fit more into my 25 minutes. So it's all still good news.

We had an unseasonably hot start to October, the warmest for over 100 years. That changed yesterday. The central heating has come on and it is decidedly chilly. I must not fall back on comfort food. (In my case that means cheese)!

And there has been news on the Oympic archery this week. Hmmm.

Failing memory!

I am very quick to put myself down. It comes from my fifties childhood I think. We were never allowed to boast and it was rare for anyone to give us praise lest we became conceited. That is how things were and my contemporaries seem to have similar stories.

So. I have been telling those who have asked at Fat Club that the last time I went down the Slimming World route I lost 2 stone and put it all back on again. This is my recollection. I lost the weight for my elder daughter's wedding. I know I didn't lose as much as I wanted but I felt comfortable enough.

How the mind plays tricks. Yesterday I came across my SW pack from that time. Yes. I had lost 2 stone. But my starting weight was 18 stone 10. I certainly have not put that much on in the intervening time which is actually a cause for great encouragement. My Mother-of-the-bride wedding weight was 16 stone 10, which seems heftier than I remember.

But the good news is that last night I tipped the scales at 17 stone one and a half, a drop of 1.5 lbs, but not a million miles away from my last lowest over 2 years ago. Am very pleased. And I also earned my first sticker for half a stone's weight loss. Because we are on the countdown to Christmas I also got to fill in a paper doll cut out which will go into a draw for all of us who lose 7lbs in the next 12 weeks. There is a £25 prize so motivation is high!

Have cheated a bit this week too. Again a lot of red wine, but also a bar of chocolate sneaked in. And I was too tired to wait for a shish kebab last night and settled for a very fatty donner. Hey ho!

One Fat Lady

Me at 17 stone 3.

On the plus side that is one stone lighter than at the end of August.

Good News Day!

Yes. Two pieces of very good news. The first is that I have achieved the first part of my late-life ambiton. Today I received an email from the London Gamesmaker site. I have been selected as an EVS Mobility Team Member for the Olympic events at Lord's Cricket Ground in 2012. This is good news on several fronts. Lord's is my spiritual home. I have been an avid cricket watcher since my early teens. OK so cricket isn't in the Games per se but I'm certain you can't take the cricket atmosphere out of Lord's. Secondly St John's Wood is my nearest venue. I can be there in around half an hour. I was beginning to think that Stratford and the Olympic Park was rather a long commute and that maybe I'd fail in the stamina stakes! So. Shall I be driving electric vehicles? Who knows, but I'm really looking forward to the training.

By the way I had to sign something that inferred talking about the organisation or any backstage Olympic stuff on Facebook or a blog was not on. This blog is about my losing weight (we hope). I have no intention of saying anything negative about my Olympic dream at all. Just so you know , , ,

And I've lost another 2lbs. My scales hadn't moved all week so I was pretty despondent when I went to SW yesterday evening. I had stuck to the diet other than overindulging in red wine. 2lbs is a good loss for the second week. Hopefully I'll get my half stone award next Wednesday. Fingers crossed.

I am aware that I should put pictures on her just to show how large I really am. The trouble is I try and keep out of photographs! I may make an exception and ask one of the kids to take one. Watch this space.

A flying start

I have been good this week. Not very good but good enough! Yesterday I weighed in with Elaine for the second time and I have lost 4lbs. Am mighty pleased. My target for next week is to score under 17 stone. There is a very pyschological thing going on when you get to the next descending number.

Has the food been nice? Yes but it's been boring. I have all the SW recipe books but after a day at school I don't ever feel like starting anything new. So I have cooked normal stuff for my family and then I have cooked for myself. On the first night I made a huge lasagne but was so tired I went to bed hungry. This is not the way it can continue and tonight I am making Turkey Cacciatore from an SW recipe. It could be a breakthrough. On the other hand it might not be very good. There were some jolly strange offerings at Buffet Night last week. Whoever thinks couscous is a good base for a cheesecake needs their head examined!

Our group lost 97lbs between them last week. I would guess there are around 40 regulars so the diet works.

I have upped my exercise too. On days when I have more time I swim 600 rather than 400 metres and  I incorporated  a 30 minute session in the gym on Friday.

Just need to knock the red wine on the head really . . . .

Biting the bullet

Today I rejoined Slimming World which is, IMHO, the only diet which works for me. I cannot be doing with calorie counting, points systems, meal replacements or any of the other miracle cures for fattties that are in the current marketplace.

Having put on 3lbs on holiday I am pleased to say that careful monitoring of my food and drink intake over the last couple of weeks meant that I weighed in this evening at 17 stone 9lbs. Still  huge but, I like to think, on the way down.

But before I really praise myself I have to remember that today (before SW natch) I ate 3 Reese's Peanut Butter Cups (Mr Reese ought to be hung, drawn and quartered for inventing those delectable little, calorific treats), followed by a Reduced To Clear Pizza Express American Hot Pizza.

The scales will tell all in the morning.

But. Elaine the wonderful SW leader was delighted to see me, gave me a hug, but more importantly inspired me to get right back on the plan.

And there were quite a few people there heftier than me.

Onwards and downwards!!

The Olympics makes you thin

This is to be my mantra for the next 12 months.

About 6 months ago I applied, along with thousands of others, to be a London Games Maker. This is the enormous group of volunteers who will help ensure that the Olympic Games in London 2012 will run smoothly, efficiently, calmly and maybe creatively! And, goes without saying, be the best ever Olympics.

I was very surprised to be called to interview when my "Head of PE in a good school" daughter who had also registered had heard nothing. I mean, I'm old, I'm fat, I work full-time and I have dodgy knees. She is young, vibrant, enthusiastic and qualified in all things Olympic. Hey ho. (But they did say they are nowhere near getting through the short-listing period).

The interview day was the sort of mini-adventure that I'm just about capable of. It involved a train journey into unknown parts, darkest Docklands in fact. I am ashamed to say that I have never ventured out onto the DLR. Shameful for someone who has lived and worked in London for all their life. And OK I only had to travel two stops from Canning Town to Custom House but it was an adventure nonetheless. Driverless trains, whatever next? An additonal excitement was that the planes for London City Airport were coming in to land across the dock outside Custom House station. Very scary if you don't do flying (like me).

It was a short walk from the station to London Excel and us hopeful Gamesmakers plodded into the building, registered, asked what we hoped were intelligent questions and then watched the short, funny and inspiring Seb Coe/Tanni Grey-Thompson/Eddie Izzard welcome film. We then had individual interviews, mine at least being mercifully unscary. I hope I sold myself.

It will be end of October before I know whether or not I have been successful but . . . .

Adidas is providing the free uniforms and the rumour is that they could be pink. 18 stone of me in a pink tracksuit cannot possibly do the Olympic or indeed any other cause much good. So. The Olympics is going to make me thin. The diet starts today. Well it would if I wasn't off on my holidays this morning. So the mini-target for this week is not to put any more weight on.