The Longest Journey in WW History

Sometimes, especially on days like today, I feel like my weight loss journey must be the longest in weight watchers history! It has taken me since February 2010 to lose 12.1 kilos! i can't help but think that I should be down at least 20 kilos more than this.

Yeah you guessed it - I gained again! A kilo this time.

I know that I didn't exercise enough - that was weather driven, but I need to get over that and find some alternatives!  I know that I drank too much alcohol and ate too much crap, actually I ate too much in general.

Sometimes I think that I don't take this commitment to myself seriously enough, that I get too caught up in a moment or evening and stop thinking about what is going into my mouth.

Don't get me wrong I'm not down on myself, I'm still pretty proud of what I have achieved thus far and I do feel good.

I need to refocus again - set some new goals - health and otherwise.  I need some encouragement and most of all I just need to get back to basics.  Write my menu plan in advance each week, keep up the running and kick this 15 kilo goal in the butt!!

But most of all I have to keep believing that I am bloody well worth it!!

Image from - http://www.freeimages.co.uk/galleries/backdrops/moods_emotions/slides/long_road_journeyP1011607.htm

A Little Setback!

I gained .7 at last weeks weigh in and here's why:

1. Too much alcohol the night before - after 2 weeks of abstaining I let loose (a bit) but far out it was fun!
2. Not enough water
3. Not enough exercising - though I did get in 4 days worth
4. Lack of portion control
5. An balancing out of the big loss I had the week before

No drama, I'm not stressed about it. I feel good and like myself!

I'm just going to keep on trucking!!

Smiling from Ear to Ear!!!

Today I'm smiling from ear to ear...because if you haven't noticed my little weight loss ticker is on the move again!! (I refuse to let her go backards)

Yes I had a successful week and the loss on the scales today was 2.4 kilos!

That means I burnt the 1.6 kilos that I gained over the previous three weeks plus an extra 500 grams!

I'm only 1.7 kilos away from my next milestone - 15 kilos, reward = new sneakers (in preparation for jogging) and 3.5 kilos away from double digits (I'm definitely going to be there for Christmas!!)

WW are rolling out a change to the points plan over the next couple of weeks which I'm really excited about, I reckon it will boost my motivation just that little bit more - I have a basic idea of what its going to be about, but can't wait to learn the nitty gritty!!

Onwards and Downwards I say!

Hope you are all having a great weekend, I'm studying for an exam today and then plan on having lovely day with my beautiful man and family tomorrow full of bbq's, swimming and generally having fun xxx

Running Your Own Race!

You must be hiding under a rock if you didn't realise that the Melbourne Cup was run yesterday.

All this focus on which horse would win got me to thinking about the weight loss race.

I know a lot of you will jump in and say "Andrea., its not a race, it takes how ever long it takes" or something along those and I TOTALLY agree.

I use the 'race' metaphor as I have made a couple of observations in, both, my own behaviour and that of others while on this journey. 

1. There is a tendency for people to lose weight for an occasion eg a wedding, holiday etc.
2. There is a tendency for people to want to lose weight as quickly as everyone else (I am terribly guilty of this one and am hard on myself for only losing 10.9 kgs in 30-something weeks of ww while other people have lost 20 and 30 kgs plus).

I started thinking about horses and horse racing and why they wear blinkers (yeah, I know its a little bit of a jump)?? So I looked it up and wikianswers told me that:

Horses wear blinkers because if something suddenly appears in there field of vision, their first response is to flee. When you are riding or using a horse for transportation in a public or otherwise noisy and distraction place, these are very useful, to keep your horse calm.

Well, my first response when something suddenly appears on my radar is to eat!

Wouldn't it be great, if we could have some sort of blinkers to keep us focused and on track?  Let alone a jockey on our back telling us to go faster!! Hang on a minute...I am carrying a jockey around - well at least the weight one!!

Hope you all had a great day and don't mind my babble too much!!

Gutted

The scales said I gained 1.4 kgs this week!

Needless to say I.AM.GUTTED!

I tracked and I walked over 25 kms this week!

BAD WEEK!

All day today I was on the edge of tipping over and eating everything and anything that I could lay my hands on. But I didn't!

It's a new week! It's going to be a GREAT week!!

Check out my Ticker and Tips!

Hi Guys, I had a happy result this week with a 300 gram loss...only 100g shy of 400 I needed to get to my 10 kilos. But it has made me even more determined to keep an eye on what goes in my mouth and what exercise I do during this coming week!

A couple of tips I've used this week (although I must say I haven't kept 100% on track with a few vino's slipping in!) have been:

• Telling myself I know what the birthday cake in the office tastes like so I don't have to eat any
• Having a glass of wine and then filling the glass with water, strangely it feels like I'm still drinking wine
• Drinking Hot Chocolate with skim milk instead of dessert

Anyway better run, hooked on Trial and Retribution at the moment! Will post some piccies over the weekend!

Pride (In The Name of Love)

Weigh in update, will be short and sweet today as I'm so tired I can barely keep my eyes open!

Well my hard work and focus paid off and I have got past this bump in the road.

The weight loss gods smiled and rewarded me by removing a HUGE 3 kilos!! Taking me to a total of 9.6 kilos lost. I'm looking the 10 kilo mark in the face and getting excited about my next reward which either be a facial or going to a make-up counter and having a consultant re-fresh my make-up! I can use a new look!

I'm feeling extremely proud of myself and can't help but get excited about seeing double digits soon!!

Wipeout!!!

Hi everyone!

I was all ready to post today about the amazing Wipeout that I was expecting at weigh in today.

In terms of eating and exercise last week I had a pretty slack one!  No tracking, only a couple of short walks, we ate out for lunch and dinner nearly every day and I had whatever I wanted - wine, cocktails, chips, pizza, chocolate, ice-cream! Also I felt a bit blue this week, a bit like life is passing me by - I am very much head down with exam revision right now. I also had an incident which resulted in me not being very proud of my behaviour!

But alas, I had a loss!

I'm at a loss!

700g gone to be precise ..... AND I wore jeans and a belt to weigh in, I thought it was going to be bad so wanted to be warm rather than light!

Anyway in preparation for bad news today, I sat down last night and worked out that I need to put some time aside today for refocusing on my weight loss goals, putting last week behind me and concentrating on menu planning, exercising, getting some motivational bits and pieces in my face and practicing the Think Slim techniques some more - which I am still going to do as I don't want the frustration of seeing this week's damage on next weeks scales!

My goal for my first five kilos gone was a lovely jewellery box which only came back into stock this week - so I picked it up this morning - piccie below:

I also promised a pic of my lovely man and I at last week's wedding - I so need a hair cut!

I'm looking forward to getting back into the swing of things! What are you focusing on this week?

Weigh In Update

I was feeling abit anxious before weigh in today!

I ate an apple this afternoon and it caused a bad case of bloat!

My tummy felt like a rock (not in a good way) and my pants felt tight!

And I didn't get as much exercise as I would have liked this week!

But I'm pleased to announced a loss of .5 - which is my weekly average and has taken me to 7.4 kilos in total!

Happy camper today!

Don't forget to enter my fantastic GIVEAWAY!!!!

20:20:20 Update

Ok Guys, I know you've been hanging out to hear the results of today's weigh-in!  Whew was it busy there today, I think I like the compactness of my Thursday night meetings although they do clash with a boxing class that I'd like to start going too!  Will have to weigh that one up!

Anyway - enough babble!

The scales today announced a total loss of 1.1 kgs for the week, which was more than I was expecting so I am feeling rather chuffed and it meant I could change my ticker!

This week's success is mainly down to walking and water (note- not walking on water). I have really increased my water increase this week and I think its has been the key to controlling my hunger and flushing my system when I have something salty. The walking is really helping me to control my energy levels but I am ready for bed way earlier than normal - I guess that's a good thing! And I've definitely overcome the lack of mativation that I was suffering a few weeks ago!

My body is definitely changing.....weigh in was at 8 this morning so I didn't have time for breakfast, and I wanted to go for a swim afterwards, so scoffed down a sushi roll...it was the healthiest option around. The result was not good and I ended up throwing most of it up, even though I sat down to avoid eating and walking my body went into a little spasm (don't worry I made it to the bathroom) and I think that is a result of my focus on eating more slowly this week. Lesson learnt there!

I'm proud of myself for not letting that little episode become an reason to talk myself out of going for a swim...a few weeks ago it would have!  I went for my swim, but only did half...I wasn't enjoying at all - I was sharing the pool with the aqua-aerobics crowd and their instructirs voice was going stright through me and the sun on the pool was way too bright! Oh well am going back for Pilates experimentation this arvo so I don't feel like I've let myself down!

Man Sacked For Being Morbidly Obese

There has been a  lot of discussion in our office today about the man who lost his job allegedly because he is morbidly obese. One of the ladies I work quite closely with knowns his wife and explained to me a bit of the background and that his wife and daughter have the same problem.

I quickly found myself judging them for making excuses, but then I stopped myself!

It's not my place to judge or condem anyone for their choices in life, ESPECIALLY when it comes to losing weigh! By NO means am I an expert in this area, except on how hard it is and that it take saom MASSIVE mental gear changes to faciltate the process!

So, to the man who has lost his job, I wish you all the best and hope that your fortune turns around. Good on you for recognising that a change is needed and for taking steps towards doing this! I hope the publicity you get helps you with the motivation and will power to prove everyone wrong! If anything its helping me to make sure the same thing doesn't happen to me!

Any comments......

Friday On My Mind

Well actually it's here already and I'm snuggled up on my ownsome and thought it would be a good time to reflect on my week and let you in on some future planning!

Health wise - a good week, just middle of the road good. I exercise 4 times, walking - 2 x 50 minutes walk, 1 x 20 minute walk and 1 x30 minute walk.  I feel in the swing of that now and am planning to do a Yoga or Pilates class over the weekend.  As for eating - ok, couple of days over points, nothing too major and I lost .2 kgs. I've really boosted my vegie intake, I just love wine too much!

Mindset - I've noticed a definite change in the way I'm thinking about food, particularly cravings. Every morning this week, I've craved (I use the term lightly) a big huge fat savoury muffin and on the way to work I argue with myself - but the side that says "you can't eat anything you don't know the points value for" wins, it also comes up with such pearls like "it could be 20 points and that almost all your points for the day", "how much walking will I have to do to walk it off", "the food I have with me will be much more filling", "you didn't say no to cake yesterday to ruin it all today"!!

Uni - got results back from 2 assignments I submitted before Easter and got 89/100 for one and 94.5/100 for the other - needless to say - I AM STOKED!!

Work - Good week, been given the ok to take on some more responsibility and work a bit more autonomously - to fill you in - I have been working in a newly created role for the last 6 months, there is stacks to learn and we've been waiting to see what shape it would take.

Love - my man is a gem, has cooked healthy dinners for me all week and told me he wants to take me on  an overseas trip this year! Yippee!!

Future - we are looking at buying our own business, I'll keep working and Alex will run it! Looking at cafe/bakery type thing! Tres exciting!

All in all life is good and I am thankful and grateful to everyone who has influenced it!

Confused, Conflicted, Confident

I appraoched last night's WW Weigh In with confidence, I was feeling great and thought that my clothes were starting to look a bit better...but those damn scales...they betrayed me! They screamed a gain of 300g (yes I know its could have been a wee!) but the scales at home had indicated a loss of at least 400g!  I thought maybe the scales at home were wrong but again this morning they indicated a loss!  That's why I'm confused....I really need to start taking some measurements!

At the time I didn't know whether to laugh or cry but in the light of morning after a wonderful nights sleep...I have it all in perspective, am feeling confident and looking forward to another big loss next week. I know deep down that I wasn't completely spot on with my eating last week and am going to improve in the following areas:

• No midnight snacking with my darling when he comes home from work (points after 10pm still count)
• Eat more filling foods
• Make some zero point soup so I can have that when I get home from my walk, have dinner later and hopefully this will cut the need to nibble later.
• Cut out carbs after 5pm (except sweet potato)
• Walk 40 minutes 5 times this week
• No alcohol

I'm aiming to lose another 5kgs by my birthday (1st week of June) and we have a family wedding the week after and I would love to fit into an old favourite for that!!

PS - Lucy I will jump onto you blog hop tonight xx

I Love That Losing Feeling!

Quick update guys - I blizted it at weigh in last night!  1.7 kg GONE!!!

Woo-hoo!! Not only did I smash my 5 kg goal, but I reached my first 5% goal too!!

Yippee - shopping for rewards presents today!

Will post progess shots tonight!

Love to you all! Mwah ;-)

Uh-oh!!

Weigh-in today! Not good! 900g GAIN! My immediate reaction is to hang my head in shame! But rather than do that I'm going to look at where I went wrong - just to keep myself accountable.

• Eating my emotions on Saturday and Sunday -inc. chocolate croissant, chips, maccas, wine, popcorn, choc-top, coke. Fix - phone a friend, have a bath, learn to love myself
• No weekly menu plan. Fix - plan, shop & cook in advance
• Serves of butter sneaking in on my toast. Fix - switch to weet-bix in the mornings
• Dinner out on Tuesday included Prawn Crackers - freebies just put on table. Fix - ask waiter to take them away.
• A whole bottle of wine and back of chips (on a school night) - Fix - recognise I eat & drink my happy emotions too

The Chocolate Didn't Get Me!

Happy Easter! I am very proud to say that the chocolate didn't get to me and my supportive partner and family didn't buy me any - thank you!  That doesn't mean though that the chips and wine didn't!! I am hoping that the copious amounts of exercise undertaken will counteract any damage though.  I did a 30 minute walk on Friday, a one hour bike ride and splash in the pool on Saturday and today washed two cars!  I was a bit naughty and didn't track so now have to back track and make up for any damage done until wi on Thursday. Weight loss gods please be good to me!!

Living It Up and it Showed!

Hi Guys, 

I have been living it up this week, with a fair bit of socialising due to boyfriend's birthday and it showed with a tiny .3 gain. Had a great chat to my leader, Brian, he's so good and I left feeling not too worried as it could have been worse, I know I could have avoided it with some exercise but I have owned it and now work on making up for it this week! No eggs please Mr Bunny!

Yesterday, I felt a bit bad for my beloved as we went shopping for some new clothes for him and he's gained a little bit around the belly and wants to buy those nice fitted shirts.  He went through that feeling I know all to well, finding something he loved at the right price only to find he couldn't do it up!  I can tell you though I never (outwardly) get as stroppy as he did! I just left him in peace and went looking at dream outfits instead - much more fun ;-)

Hello

Hi all,

I've been inspired by others on the WW message boards and thought blogging would be a great way to keep me motivated on this transition I am making.  I have been on WW for 5 weeks (this time) and have lost 3.1kgs.  Please feel free to post any messages or thoughts. I will post as often as I can and hopefully update with photos as soon as I work out how!

Cheers,
Andrea