A 1.8lb set back......

Not really surprising since we had ate out virtually every night last week and I've just started to get a cold. However it is still a bit of a disappointment to be going the wrong way. My cold is even worse this morning - so no gym for me and plenty of fluids and soup. I'm at 206 lbs with clothes on and will be happy if that stays the same over the next 3 weeks - we may try and find a weight watchers in Ealing to weigh in at to help keep us on track. Weather has been dreadful this week which has also kept us in more than usual and eating warm stews and soups instead of salads. It is hard to feel enthusiastic about a salad at minus 16 degrees! Good luck to all in aiming to steady the scales this holiday time!

Almost at the 20 pounds lost mark!

I lost 1.2lbs this week which takes me to 19.2 lbs lost - so if I try really hard (and I'll have to as we are out for christmas drinks and dinner lots of times this week) then the 20lbs lost by Christmas will be a reality! the next few weeks are going to be such fun as we see all our friends - but very hard diet wise - the trick I think is to try to take as much exercise as possible in the gaps! and slimline tonic with the gin..... I have to prepare myself for the fact that a few pounds may come back despite my very best intentions, but I'm prepared to start battle again in the new year. It's funny how I'm feeling about my body - I feel like 'me' again - there's still a way to go (at least another 30lbs to get my BMI to 'normal'), but I do feel good (and hungry most of the time too...). So my dear blog reading friends thanks for your support and have a super time over the holidays, much love Nicki

A pleasing 2lb loss this week - 18lbs total

...Which given it's 'period' week is something of a surprise! Also we missed two days at the gym due to a big snowfall and some very cold weather which kept us inside and we went out for dinner once and to the movies (I eat the popcorn which is low in calories and quite filling). So a 2 pound loss is more than expected, but I'm not complaining! We are having aduki bean burgers for supper tonight as part of our eat more veggie food drive. Also it's getting close to our trip back to the UK, we want to make sure we don't lose momentum and that we exercise regularly - luckily Mags is pretty keen on exercise (as is Helen when she's home) - so it should be OK. Thanks for all the support messages - they really do mean a lot - I have only sent the link for this blog to a few people but may broaden it in the new year.
Hint for this week - clementines and satsumas are in the shops and are really good for filling you up between meals (I know they aren't local foods but they have vitamin C to ward off the cold virus and lots of fibre and hardly any calories). Until next week...

Goodness gracious - a big week!

It was a stunning 2.8 pounds lost this week - taking me to 16.2 pounds total loss. I'm starting not to recognise myself - certainly Karen has never seen me this light! I am wearing all her trousers now as mine are all too big, and hers are also a bit baggy - we are holding out on buying new stuff until our weight settles down in the new year, although we did have to buy new pyjama bottoms as the old ones kept falling off - for the first time in living memory I'm a female 'large' instead of a male 'extra large'! This morning I even put on one of Karen's bra's! I am enjoying the good weeks as I'm pretty certain there will be flat or bad weeks. So how is this all happening? The dull and boring truth dear freinds is diet and exercise and consistency - i.e. make the changes and then stick with them. We hardly ever eat cheese anymore, but since there isn't much nice cheese to be had in Canada (I'm comparing with Waitrose!) it isn't too bad a loss. We exercise 5 or 6 times a week, even if it's just making ourselves go for a walk. I'm going very slowly with the running as my big fear is that i'll injure myself (again) and that then I won't be able to exercise - and then it would become even harder to lose the weight. The Xena gym and DVD's have been a real help - I'm almost at the end of series 1 (22 episodes - each one 16km worth of bike riding). So now I'm facing the 'bloating' week, not to mention Karen's PMT, so I have to concentrate on drnking huge amounts of water and not bursting into tears all the time - wish me luck!

Another pound - 13.4 so far!

Not too bad this week as I was in Boston for 4 days and it's really hard to eat less and sensibly when you're in a hotel and eating out with people every evening. I did drag myself to the hotel gym every day and walked everywhere I could - it was freezing so I took a taxi a couple of times. So I feel as if I really deserved to lose some weight - I fought hard all the time, and although it's 'only' a pound I feel a strong sense of pride in achieving the loss. Karen continues to be a couple of pounds ahead of me which is a good thing as she's actually the one who gets more upset if she's lost the least...not what I'd have predicted either! It's always the quiet ones....

I've done a big workout today and have enough points over for 2 glasses of wine - hurrah! Our home made Californian merlot is actually very good and so I'm looking forward to a glass. So until next week...

2.4 lbs - its a miracle!

It's been a great week - and unexpectedly too - it was Karen's 40th birthday and we eat out about 3 or 4 times in the week - so to actually lose was a miracle. Karen also had a good week - taking her total loss to just over 13lbs ; I'm at 12.4 and am catching her up. We had to buy Karen a new pair of jeans this week as she is literally too small for all her trousers. I'm wearing all of hers (see previous blog) - although some of them are a bit long.

So reasons for this weeks success - firstly I went to the gym or got on the exercise bike for 5 days out of 7; I drank a lot less than I normally would in a birthday week ; I chose salmon when we went out for dinner and didn't even have popcorn when we went to see the new James Bond (don't bother - great action but no plot, although that Daniel Craig does look great in a pair of beige jeans).

So the week starts again - I'm off to a conference in Boston and will have to concentrate hard not to let it slip! TTFN

A teeny tiny 0.8 of a pound this week :-(

So it wasn't a great week - and because of the Remembrance Day holiday here in Canada on Tuesday we had to weigh in on Monday, so we had a day less in which to lose weight. I could try to convince myself that I was going to lose one and a half pounds by the next day, but it's not really that believable! Hence a flat week - but I'm trying hard again this week!

Although - on the positive side this is the same week in my cycle as the dreadful first week when I actually gained weight - so some comfort can be gained.

The worst thing about dieting - it's so f**king boring, you end up thinking about food all the time, or rather the lack of food. The hardest thing is just the monotony of the planning, because it is only when we don't have plan about what and when to eat that we go 'off piste' and eat badly.

But - I can wear Karen's trousers (she gets a bit upset about that as we are virtually the same size now!) and can get into some smart Austin Reed trousers that I bought a few years ago but never really fit in.

My next goal is to get below 200 lbs which should be early in the new year at current rate of progress. so thanks for reading and keep up with the positive comments, they do help!

9lbs in the first month - so pretty good!

Of course Karen has lost 11 pounds too - so we are both feeling pretty pleased with ourselves. I'm sure if I could lose 9lbs every or any month I would try to, but I'd expect it to be very hard - but this has been different. What's good about the weight watchers idea is that in effect you start again every day - and because you have so many 'flex' points it's very hard to do so badly on one day that you blow the whole week. The most common reason I've given up in the past was the 'oh well I've ruined it for this week' feeling, and the thought that I'll start again NEXT week. With this method you don't lose momentum. In fact I have more days in a week when I don't use up my points than days I go over. Also we have been much more focussed on doing some exercise every day - simple reason being that if you exercise then you can have a glass of wine in the evening and then you don't feel as if you're on a diet at all!

So here we are after one month and this was the equivalent week that I gained 0.4 of a pound last month (i.e. period is due), so am trying to drink lots more herbal tea in an attempt not to bloat.

This morning an amazing thing happened - I stood on our scales naked (sorry about the visual image!) and I weighed less than 15 stone for the first time since 1999! I have got down to 15 3 or 4 several times but never below - so this is a great milestone for me. If I keep at it maybe when I get to see you all in the UK at Christmas/New Year I'll be below 14 stone.

Aside from that what a great week it's been with Obama getting in - it did feel like 1997 and Tony Blair's win. I don' t think there will be many election nights like that one in my lifetime. We both stayed up and were in tears when CNN made the projection at midnight our time. Fantastic although my personnal preference would have been Hillary.

I plateau'd in my first week!

I'm sure that's not usual! So I've joined Weight Watchers and am now looking at all food in terms of how many points it has, all exercise in terms of how many points it earns and every day in terms of how many days to go until weigh in day.

Week 1 - joined, felt much younger than everyone although I wasn't - something to do with the slightly mumsie clothes that they all seemed to be wearing. Paid for the full 3 months up front to make sure that I gave it a good chance. Start Weight (in very heavy clothes) 223.4 pounds. Target is to wiegh 200 pounds by Christmas

Week 2 - couldn't remember if I wore a bra or not the previous week for weigh in, realised that I'd have to wear the same clothes every week at weigh in time in order to get a true comparison. Wore bra. Weight (in same clothes give or take the bra) 223.8 pounds. So there you have it - massive disappointment, in fact I wasn't really prepared for how upset I was going to feel. My period had started that morning which was probably the reason for the gain, but I was gutted!

Week 3 - no bra panic, knew that I had to wear it and have a special place now for my weigh in clothes! Weight 220 pounds. An incredible 3.8 pounds in a week!! Felt great and inspired.


Tomorrow is the next weigh in date - I've been sticking to the points and have hardly used any of the flex points that you can use if you go over your daily allowance, so i'm quietly optimisitic. Without my menstrual cycle to cock things up it should be somewhere between 1 and 2 pounds..But we'll see dear readers!

Welcome to my diet!

Hi

I've decided that the best way to keep going on my new diet is to blog about it rather than bore people endlessly in actual conversation.

Diet sort of starts now - but as I'm on hols for much of the next 3 weeks it'll be quiet as I get used to it!!

Nicki
nickijanedennis@hotmail.com