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.