Blah! having a bad day - I'm tired - no sorry, make that I'm exhausted and I'm fed up and bored and very unmotivated. I think the biggest thing is the tiredness, it means I can't get a real perspective on how things are going. I have PMT and I so nearly gave in and got a takeaway tonight.

I'm going to have an early night and hope tomorrow is a better day. The only positive is that I have stayed within my points, but I haven't done any excercise today AND my pedometer isn't working properly for example it's over 800 steps to the station from work, but my pedometer only registered 2 steps!!! I need to get a new one pronto.

Thanks for letting me moan, I'll be better tomorrow, I promise x

I've been having a browse trying to find some sites to help with the food plan and I have come across these:

http://www.minimins.com/weight-watchers/
http://www.ivillage.co.uk/dietandfitness/community/diets/articles/0,,598157_682594,00.html
http://www.cooken.com/WeightWatchers.htm
http://msnusers.com/WeightWatchersRecipes/wwrecipes.msnw
http://www.extrapounds.com/group/wwfriends
http://www.dwlz2.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=76
http://www.dwlz.com/wwmemrecTOC.html
http://www.stormpc.com/ww/
http://www.freewebs.com/tammy2866/index.htm
http://www.healthdiscovery.net/
http://www.angelfire.com/me/kyoddie/diets2.html
http://kitchenparade.com/2002/10/weight-watchers-recipes.php
http://www.weight-watcher-recipe.com/weight-watcher-recipes.html
http://www.freewebs.com/noreenblackett/index.htm

I think I remember that the American points system is different to ours here in the UK, but I can't swear to it - so you might want to check the points in some of the recipes just to be on the safe side

The last couple of days people have started to notice that I have lost some weight. On Friday 2 people said to me along the lines of "God, you've lost weight" - I loved the way they stated it as a fact and not as a question.

Then yesterday my eldest daughter, who is not usually very generous with her praise, said "Mum, you can see you have lost weight - you've got a waist." She then proceeded to tell everyone we saw yesterday, which was mainly her friends and I'm not sure they were really that bothered, but I was really touched that she felt that she wanted to tell people that I had lost almost a stone. She also told me to keep it up, which is again quite unusual for her (mind you when we went shopping she did put one of my favourite family size cakes into the basket, which I thought was a bit mean).

But best of all, I tried on some of the tops which still didn't quite fit me last weigh-in and this week my two favourites did!!! It was like Christmas all over again.

Here is a photo I took this morning so you can see the difference in my face from when I started (see the photo of me in a red cardigan in a previous post for the before photo). I think there is a bit of a difference, or is that just wishful thinking?

Its been a good week mostly, I've managed to do some form of exercise most days and except for once, I hit my target of 10000 steps a day (mostly because I am using the wii fit steps exercise before going to work and before going to bed). I've been suprised at how many steps I can rack up just by being a little more energetic and a little less lazy.

The lst couple of days I have been quite hungry, but that's because I have exercised more and haven't eaten all of my points each day. So my target for this week is to eat all of my points every day. I probably won't eat the activity allowance though as I'm still not sure I'm counting them properly.

Anyway when I did my weigh in yesterday I had lost 3lbs that makes 13.5 pounds so far and just 1/2lb away from being in the 220s. I was really chuffed.

Well today seems to be the day when I started to take this seriously and I have to say that I actually really enjoyed it. This is what I did:

1. 40 mins of aerobics exercise on the wii fit, including 2000 steps in 20 mins
2. 30 mins of the Mikyla Dodd Dvd - focusing on the aerobics and the boxing
3. 1000 steps on the wi fit, just before I got into bed 5 mins ago

1. Mind you, my legs are protesting, so goodness knows how they will feel tomorrow lol

In my bedroom I have a whole wall of wardrobes, which since my marriage broke up, all belongs to me! The space is divided up into 2 double wardrobes and one single. Up until this morning one of the double wardrobes was full from top to bottom with clothes I could no longer fit into.

Inspired by Helen who is one of the organisers of the race to size 12 for nye2009 group on the 5 stones+ board, I decided to go through all the clothes I own and sort them out by size.

Well, 6 hours after I started I have all my clothes ironed and hanging up and categorised by how near they are to fitting me. So in one double wardrobe I have all the clothes I own which fit and there are several more items than there would have been if I had done the same thing 2 weeks ago. The single wardrobe is full of clothes that should fit by the time I have lost another 10lbs and finally the other double wardrobe contains those which will fit me when I have lost another stone & a half to 2 stones.

By the end of the marathon ironing session my feet were killing me, but I'm hoping it will help keep me committed to the change in lifestyle. I have some really nice clothes I bought last time I lost weight and I really want to wear them again. Despite the fact that I have lots of clothes that fit me now, most of them have been chosen not because I really like them, but because they will do. So there are few I feel any attachment to.

Anyone know how many activity points I may have earned through the ironing? lol

The first picture is me August 2007 at my heaviest weight.

In October 2007 I started to diet and managed to lose 37lbs - you can see the difference in the middle picture - this was taken in March 2008

Unfortunately, I managed to put back all of the weight except one pound - so the third picture shows what I looked like at the end of last autumn, weighing exactly what I weighed on Jan 4th when I started this new life plan.

Hi all,
I just wanted to say hello and welcome - I'm really chuffed to have you all follow me and I hope the blog stays of interest to you

Take care and have a great weekend

Jackie

Well today was the second weigh in and I was really pleased - I lost 4lbs which means I have lost 10.5lbs. I don't think I have ever lost so much in two weeks, but I do know I have really stuck to the diet.

There have been several times this week when I have made decisions about food which meant I made a healthy choice and very unlike my usual self. Earlier in the week one of my colleagues put a box of celebration chocolates on the desk at work for every one and anyone to eat. Normally I would have picked at them all the way through break or lunch and then picked up several of my favourites to take with me. This week I took 2 sweets and ate them slowly and pointed them. I didn't feel deprived and I probably enjoyed them more for the fact that I savoured them.

On Wednesday morning I picked up a small milky bar from the local shop intending to eat it later and actually didn't get around to having it until yesterday afternoon - that's over THREE DAYS!!

I have found this week easier in some ways because I knew it was working, but a couple of times I have felt as though I've had nothing "nice" to eat, which is rubbish, but I need to spice my evening meals up a bit as they have become a bit samey.

So today is day one of week 3 and so far it's been a good one. I even managed to save enough points for a cold pint of cider - which went down a treat.

I came home full of the joys of life, but now I'm feeling really down. It's probably because I only slept for about 4 hours last night. I sometimes get insomnia and last night was fairly typical of what it can be like. I have also been having some problems with a few people which has caused me to be really peed off - I used to run a family tree wiki site which had several thousand records on it. However, because lots of the members of the site kept arguing and falling out I closed the site down. I found out yesterday that one of those members had copied all my info, which had taken literally hundreds of hours to collect and put it up on a new site as though it was his own research. I have been trying to sort it out since late last night.

This has all led to me craving something really sweet. I've had a mixed fruit salad but have nothing in the house which is low points and sugary sweet. Luckily, I don't have any high point sugary sweet thing either! I have 1.5 points left, so if I get desperate I can have an apple and a yoghurt.

I'm going to watch the end of Masterchef, have a shower and go to bed early. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

I read a great blog today by Katie, she was saying that she had made a mistake in weighing her self today and that she should have left it to her official weigh in.

I have to hold my hands up and confess that I weigh myself EVERY day - I know it's wrong, I know it's stupid, but I just can't resist it lol. I do it knowing that there will be days when I have put on weight, but on the days when I have lost weight it more than makes up for it. I find a whole week too long to go without knowing how I am doing and I find it easier to cheat as I won't know how much weight the cheating has put on - if you see what I mean? What do you think?

I've always struggled with the idea of exercise and even as a child did virtually none - one of my earliest memories is being laughed at in junior school as I couldn't get over the exercise equipment (it was a high wooden thing with a padded top - shivers at the memory). Added to that, I have absolutely no co-ordination at all.

Anyway, back in November I got a wii fit and I went on it every day for a couple of weeks, but then I put my back out hula hooping. I hadn't been back on it again until today (I avoided the hula hooping lol). I did 40 mins this morning and then the wii told me to take a rest, so being a good girl who always does as she is told, I did just that. However, this evening I decided to do another 20 mins. I would have done more, but my heel/ankle was feeling sore - the gout is still not gone completely, but I just worked through it. But I have NEVER done a whole hours exercise in one day before and I really enjoyed it. I stuck with the balance exercises and the aerobics. Partly this is because I want to strengthen improve my posture, but also because I find the balance games fun (especially the penguin one). I did 3 jogging sessions and several of the steps game too, I jogged hard enough to work up a sweat (nice - sorry), so I hope that the exercise was effective.

Inspired by the events of today, I have just ordered 3 fitness videos. First I ordered the Claire Richards one because I am very inspired by the changes in her and also I should think the steps music is quite fun to work out to. The second was the new Coleen Nolan disco one - I'm a child of the 70s and so I think I will love the music and I do love to dance, dispite the lack of co-ordination. Finally I orderd the Mikyla Dodds one, again because she looks so good and the amount of weight she has lost is amazing.

So I'll see how it goes - I'll keep you all updated.

This is what I am cooking for my dinner tonight. My daughter will have one and I will put the final one into the fridge and take it to work for lunch on Monday.

Caramalised Onion & Tomato Tarts
Makes 3 tarts (3 points each without the goats cheesr)

6 sheets of sainsburys filo pastry (3 pts according to my ww scales)
Caramalised onions (see below for the recipe
Roasted tomatoes

Optional
Medium fat soft goats cheese
Fresh Basil

1. Put about 24 small swet cherry tomatoes into an oven proof dish and spray with 1 cal spray - put into the oven and cook (temperature will depend on whether you want to slow roast them or want to do them quickly - slow roasted tends to make them sweeter)
   
2. Put the pastry into 3 small dishes (I used tapas dishes I got free from Sainsburys a while ago, but large ramkins would probably work) - before that spray dishes with one spray oil. Bake blind for 10 mins. Then put to one side until the onions and tomatoes are ready
   
3. While the pastry is cooking make the caramalised onions.
4. When everything is cooked, add a deep layer of caramalised onion to the pasty tart. Top this with the whole roasted tomatoes.
   
5. Put back into the oven until the pastry is totally cooked
6. If you want, add goats cheese and basil
   

Caramalised onions
2 tsps of olive oil
4 tsps sugar
1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar
6 onions

1. Coat the base of a thick pan with the oil. Heat the pan with a high heat. Then add the onions
2. Reduce the heat and leave the onions for 6 to 8 minutes without stiring, the onions on the bottom of the pan should be quite brown
3. Stir & cook for 5 mins longer, until onions are evenly golden & wilted
4. Sprinkle top onions with sugar & vinegar.
5. Continue to cook for 10 mins, until onions are browned & tender

I've been sky+ing The Biggest Loser, which I think is an old one in America, but I don't think it has been shown here before. I think it's really interesting to see their weight losses and how for some people, even though they are working out at a phenomenal rate, they still "only" lose 2 or 3lbs a week. But it is also clear that while some may experience a couple of weeks of low losses these are always followed by a larger one. I will have to keep that in mind if I have weeks where I am not happy with my weight loss.

I love seeing the progress those who have been sent home make - the one I watched yesterday showed a 66 yr old man who had lost 138lbs - it was very inspiring

I'm really pleased as I lost 6.5lbs this week - it has actually only been 6 days but, I wanted to make Saturday my weigh in day. The week has gone well and I know I have eaten much more healthily than usual. It also hasn't as much as a pain to come home and cook for myself each evening as I thought it would be. In the past, I've often come home and thought "I'm too tired to cook" or "I can't be bothered" and ordered takeaway instead. Some weeks we would have 3 or more take aways. I pointed up my usual Chinese takeaway meal and OMG I was eating more than 1 days points in one meal! No wonder I got to be as heavy as I am. This week I've concentrated on simple meals that I have been able to put into the oven and ignore. I've had a chicken a couple of times and duck once (no lovely crispy skin though) and salmon a couple of times. One evening I made bruschetta with loads of tomatoes, onion and goats cheese, it was really yummy.

The other major achievement is that I have not had any coke this week, not even the zero points stuff. When I am at work I find I have a real dip in energy between 3.30 & 4pm and I had taken to drinking a can of coke to give me a quick pick me up. But I realise that this is not the answer and so I decided to go cold turkey. The lack of coke has probably been the most difficult part of the diet, but hopefully the cravings for it will pass quite quickly.

Frustrations this week have partly been due to my lack of organisation. Twice this week I have made lunch for myself in the evening, but forgotten to take it to work. Luckily I had enough tins of beans and soup at school so that I had something to eat which didn't mean buying sandwiches from the loacl shop or eating in the school canteen. I have also had a touch of gout in my heel - gout is the bain of my life and although medication prevents the majority of really bad attacks that I used to get, I still get small attacks which really limit my mobility. The 7 minute walk from the station to work has been taking me twice that as I have struggled to walk properly. This has also meant that I haven't exercised this week.

Yesterday I knew I had lots of points left for the day plus I had 14 points banked and so I thought I would buy myself a packet of skittles which are my favourite sweets. It has been known for me to eat a family size packet in one go! This time I just got the individual packet and three-quarters of the way through I realsied that I wasn't really enjoying them anymore and so I THREW THE REST AWAY!!!!

Told people at work today that I am doing WW - one of my colleagues said she was too and everyone else was really supportive. I caused what was described as "food envy" at lunch time - I'd made myself a huge salad with grilled chicken and new potatoes and everyone wanted it!

Just need to get exercising now - the snow isn't helping as I had planned to walk the 2 1/2 miles home from the train station. Tomorrow I will be home alone in the evening and so I will get the Wii Fit out and an exercise DVD.

I'm now watching the episode of "The Biggest Loser" that I Sky +ed earlier - pretty inspirational.

So after my suprise decision to start today how has it gone?

Well, the first thing I did was sign up to WW online - In the past I have attended WW meetings, but I found that on weeks when I knew I couldn't go because of work, I always took advantage of that and did not diet properly as I had two weeks before I would be weighed. I am going to use the Wii Fit to weigh myself as it keeps a record and also adjusts my BMI too.

Foodwise so far today I have had 18 out of my 25 points. I have also made BNS soup to take to work tomorrow - I LOVE BNS soup. It tastes so creamy and rich but has no points. In case you haven't tried it here is the recipe:

Butternut Squash Soup

1 butternut squash
2 yellow peppers
2 onions
1 large clove of garlic - crushed
2 stock cubes
Korma curry powder (2 tsps)
Corriander powder (1 tsp)
Cumin seeds (1 tsp)

Chop the BNS, peppers and onions and put on a tray. Spray with light spray oil and put in the oven until the BNS is soft. Take it off of the tray and add it to a saucepan.

In a small frying pan or saucepan put the spices and dry fry for a couple of minutes - stirring them so they do not burn. Add these to the saucepan with the BNS. Now put the crushed garlic and stock cubes in to the pan and add enough boiling water to cover the ingredients plus a bit more.

Simmer for 10 to 15 minutes and then cool slightly. Liquidise the soup to the consistency you want - you might need to add more water at this stage.

Eat loads - if you are following the weight watchers diet this is points free and it is seems so incredible that this sweet, thick spicy soup doesn't cost you any points at all.

1. It is easier to continue as I am - no thinking about things and no effort to be made
2. With only one exception (about 2 years in my early 20s) I have been overweight since I was 18. I only know myself as a fat person. When I started to lose weight a couple of years ago, whilst I was still very overweight, the changes were enough for people to respond to me differently and I found that difficult - I didn't know how to behave and how to react to people.
3. I don't have much money and I wouldn't have to buy new clothes
4. Time - I am out of the house between 12 and 13 hours each day. If I have to fit in cooking "good" food and exercising then I will have no time at all for relaxing

So why am I dieting?
1. I may not have to think about things or make the effort, but that is also affecting the rest of my life. I've become very apathetic and I often choose not to go out or do anything because I can't be bothered. It's not the wight that is stopping me, but rather an attitude of mind. If I can change that attitude then it will affect other areas of my life too.

2. It will be tough to know how to respond to people, but life is a learning experience. I will probably make mistakes along the way, but so what?

3. I can sell my existing clothes on Ebay. Also, the price of "normal" clothes is far less than having to buy from outsize shops. I can even buy clothes on Ebay too.

4. Time is a problem, but I think the key will be to build in exercise in what I do now. For example, I can walk more at work. I can also use the Wii fit which is fun as well as exercise. I will have to be more organised about sorting out food, but putting on a pot of BNS soup or Lentil soup takes 5 minutes and makes a great meal for lunch at work. It also means I will save money as I won't need to buy food from the canteen or local shop and take aways will be a thing of the past. I can double up on food when I cook so one can go into the freezer.

1. My blood pressure is dangerously high - I have lost some sight in my left eye due to the blood vessels rupturing.
2. I also have really high cholestral levels
3. I can't walk and talk at the same time
4. Both my sons are going to be fathers. The first baby, a little girl, is due in April and the second, gender so far unknown, is due in July
5. I loved having more choice in clothes when I lost weight before - it was great to buy something because I liked it rather than because it was in my size. I know there is more choice now than there was for people my size, but compared to the choice for those several sizes smaller the choice is still tiny.
6. I want to be proud of myself

Today turned out to be the first day of my last ever diet - I was quite suprised as I had planned to start it tomorrow! The thing is that I woke up really late today - the past 3 days have been soooo busy. My nephew Craig got married almost a 100 miles away and so I spent 3 days in a hotel, sharing a room with my eldest daughter. Neither of us slept particularly well and we have spent so much time eating out and staying up late that I really needed the sleep last night. By the time I was ready to start to think about eatingtoday it was 1.30pm and I still needed to shop - so once I got to Sainsbury's I figured I should start today rather than tomorrow.

Just under 2 years ago I lost 38 pounds following the Weight Watchers diet and going to meetings. I still had another 65 pounds to go and I just gave up. There was no particular reason for that: I just lost motivation. I have managed to put 34 pounds back on and so my goal now is 99 pounds. I do know that by following the WW diet it is perfectly possible. My sister in law is also a great inspiration, she lost over 60LB last year on Weight Watchers and has kept it all off. I have a wardrobe of clothes that are two sizes smaller than I am now and I really want to be able to fit into the top I wore on my birthday 2 years ago on my birthday in May this year.