Week 12

Another loss of 600gms this week.  Total now 14.4kgs.  Not sure if it is finally slowing down or if it is related to having a bigger variety of foods and trying different things, but either way, I'd be happy with and ongoing 600gms per week loss.  I'm now just exactly that much away from my 15kgs by Christmas goal, so if I can pull that off this week (3 weeks ahead of schedule), I'll be stoked.  Then I can look at my next interim goal.

One downside of weight loss is the clothing issues.  3-4 months back I finally gave in to my extra weight and bought some much needed clothes. By 8-9kgs down, they no longer fit (in a good way), so I was back to needing some new clothes, but not wanting to go and buy some knowing they would also only fit for a couple of months.  I was however delighted to find that I could fit some clothes in the back of my wardrobe that I hadn't worn for a long time.  This weekend I was trying to find something to wear and found that even some of the clothes I just got back into are now also too big.  Yes it's a good thing really, but darn annoying too, as there is still no sense in really going and buying anything decent until I'm closer to my goal weight, especially when money is already tight.  I will go get a couple of cheap tops to tide me over though, as I seem to have enough pants to carry me through for a while.

Weeks 10 & 11

Week 9 was a pretty poor week, so I did my usual in week 10 and tried to make up for it.  More exercise and better eating - 1.5kgs, so was happy with that.

Week 11 was so-so.  Was trying different foods and also let a few of my old triggers back in - mainly -waiting till I'm so hungry to eat that I eat too much or eat the wrong things.  But as soon as I had done it, I realised and tried to correct myself for the rest of the day. Lost 600gms.

Total now is 13.8, just 1.2 off my goal of 15kgs by Christmas, which is exactly 4 weeks and 2 days away, however so far this week have lost ZIP!  But, I have been having a little bit of this and a little bit of that and it is surprising how quickly it all adds up.  On Wednesday I sat down after dinner and thought back through my day and what I had eaten.  Definitely not that bad considering what I would previously have eaten, but trying one of the blueberry muffins right out of the oven and trying the new rice thins and having a scoop of the ice cream (even thought it was low fat), all on top of my regular meals and snacks, without making allowances or changes was actually about another 1000kjls for the day.  But, I keep reminding myself that even 1 bad day, or a slack week doesn't end the weight loss regime and that overall I am healthier and just need to keep going.

Too many times we have a bad day and think Oh, I've just blown my diet, but in reality, it's just a little bump.  A good way to look at it is this - draw a grid/table 7 columns across with 16 rows down (or roughly how many hours you are awake for each day).  Each column represents a day of the week, each box represents an hour in the day.  For each hour you are on track, or eating what you should be (or not eating - which means you are still on plan), colour the box green. when you go right off the rails and eat outside the plan, colour the box red, then just move on and try to keep on track.  At the end of the week, there may be the odd red box here and there, but overall you will see that most of the time you are on track, so just stick with it.

Week 9

Really not a lot to rave about this week - seriously - 100gms!!!  Yes it's still a loss, but it could have been so much better. I reverted back to some old style actions and thinking this week and it wasn't good.

• One night I was preparing dinner and was hungry, but instead of going to my trusty WW jelly or having some beetroot, I nibbled away on the grated cheese (then had to grate more for the dinner itself).  
• I made chocolate brownie and was determined not to have a slice of it, but licking the spoon, then eating the crumbs from around the edge - almost the same as a slice.  
• Didn't plan well for a late night out and ended up eating just about everything in sight and nothing really on my list of foods I should be eating.
• Served up one of my favourite foods and served myself a pre-diet sized portion.  Was full half way through, but kept eating.
• Gave in to my son's desire for Burger King, which was fine, but had it myself, which I haven't done in 8 weeks previous.  Okay, so I could have had the junior burger and a coke zero and salad later if needed, but automatically ordered (and ate) a meal with chips and a vanilla shake - all small, but still!!!
• Putting away the grocery shopping - nibbled on this and that, mainly broken biscuits, trying the new crackers, strawberries etc and then sat down for lunch, when I had in fact probably just had enough for a meal!

So one of those things in itself would not have been too bad - but all of them - in one week - not so good.  Other than the timing (I see I struggled around this time last month), I have no reason as to why I was just so off track this week.  I know I'll have days like that on this journey, but wasn't expecting an entire week of it.  So, to start off this week, I just reminded myself why I am doing this:

• Improve my overall health - especially lower my cholesterol (and this was reinforced when dad had his heart attack a couple weeks after I started to lose weight)
• Improve my fitness - I'd love to get back into some kind of sports, or even just be able to run around with the kids again, without getting totally out of breath, red in the face and dripping with sweat after 5 minutes.
• Look better - I'm sick of the baggy hide my belly & butt clothes and long to get back into firstly; clothes I bought around my 40th when I was 20kgs lighter, then secondly; a size or two smaller again.  I'm not aiming to be a size 10 or anything, just reach a comfortable, healthy weight that I can easily maintain.
• Wear a swimsuit and go swimming!  Currently, I wont go to the pools or to the beach in summer.  It's too damn hot and I wont wear a swimsuit or go swimming, so no point going to just sit there and sweat and I miss it and so do the kids, as they keep asking me to go with them.
• Photographs - I am always behind the camera and that is in part because I'm the one with the camera, but also a huge part of it is that I hate my photo being taken as I hate seeing photographs of me at this size.  Problem is though, I'm scrapbooking my family's story and I'm not represented in the photos!  
• Happiness - plain and simple, I am a happier person when I am smaller.  I'm more lively,more easy going, do more and am just plain happier with myself and my life - just ask my husband - he knows.

So, I'm back to looking at where I want to be and the goals I originally set:

1. 7kgs by October Scrapbook Retreat - Achieved - yay!
2. 15kgs by Christmas - 11.7 gone already, so 3.3 to go in 7 weeks and as long as I get back on track, I'm confidant that I can do it.  Then the final goal was:
3. 30 kgs by my next birthday (July).  It's 35 weeks away, so that makes it 18.3kgs in 35 weeks, which should be achievable, but I'll focus on the Christmas goal first, then perhaps set an interim goal in between to break it down a bit.  Sometimes we set our goals too far out and they seem too huge to reach, so we give up, so interim goals are the way to go I believe.

Well that's it for this week - a loss, even though small, but one which could have been better, but onwards and upwards right?  Here's to a better week.

Weeks 7 & 8

Week 7 after ScrapCamp wasn't nearly as bad as I was expecting.  100gm loss, so given that I had eaten bacon, eggs, hash browns, chocolate crunch, brownie and ice cream (although in smaller quantities/portions than I would normally have done) I was quite happy with the end result.

Week 8 I decided that I again needed to get back to basics and went super stringent.  Lost 2.3kgs, so total now 11.6kgs.

When I started, I also wanted to keep track of measurements, so I could see how much I was losing in cms as well as kilos.  I measured upper arms, thighs, calves, chest, waist and hips - 9 measurements in total.  To date, I have lost 60cms from the 9 measured places. 10cms of that from my waist alone - yay.

Changes in these two weeks:

• Living - I decided that even when dieting, we still need to be able to live and slot into whatever else is going on around us, not always being so strict, so I relaxed at camp, but ensured portions were smaller and then just made up for it the following week.
• Everything in moderation - when I've wanted ice cream, I've had a small scoop of low fat ice cream and when I've felt like chocolate, I've had a couple of squares, rather than a couple of blocks or bars!  It's all a matter of balance.