Weeks 24 & 25 - So slow going

The title says it all really.  Feel like I have been in a time warp.  Started week 24 well, then ran out of the shakes and it wasn't affordable for that week to get some more, so basically went full on back to all real food meals.  did manage to lose 400gms however.  Week 25 wasn't so kind, but will admit, I wasn't so kind to my weight loss plan either.  No exercise, which I know has a big impact and a bit too many taste tests on the baking I did for cricket and home.  Still on real food.  Put on 100gms, so total currently 19.4kgs. The 20kg target is so close I can taste it (pun intended) and yet feels so far away.

We have a family reunion in May, so hoping I will get my weight loss gusto back real soon and manage to get the scales heading back in the right direction.  Watch this space!

First Harvest

The first items to be harvested from my garden were my beetroot.  I love beetroot and will admit to being a Watties beetroot snob, as nothing else seems to even come close, but I figured hey, I'll try to grow and pickle my own just once and then I can at least say I did try home-grown ones.

Well here they are after being cooked and mildly pickled and you know what - they taste pretty darn close to Wattie's sliced beetroot, so I think I will definitely grow them again.  Probably not so many this time, as had so many, I couldn't have preserved them all in time and so gave mum a bunch and my dear friend Denise  a bunch and still have some left in the garden.

Will have to find another recipe to try for the last harvest of beetroot coming out soon.

Vege Garden

Having dabbled with growing veges in pots and planter boxes on the deck, I wanted to try and expand my crop size and range.  We had an unused corner in the backyard beside the shed, so I bought a couple of metres of half round edging, some stakes and off I set.  first I cleared the area (which had become a bit of a rubbish pile), then Jayden helped me set up the garden edge.

Not a pretty shot, but looking at this know, I definitely know I have lost a fair bit of weight!!! anyway, back to the subject at hand...

Once the edging was secure, I filled the entire areas with the compost Mike had been making in his compost bins and planted out tomatoes, chillies and beetroot.  It looked so sparse, I wondered if I had planted enough in there.

A few weeks later, my wondering was answered with a definite YES.  I had planted more than enough in there and these plants were obviously loving all that compost.  I had to stake all the plants within a matter of weeks, then had to re-stake the tomato plants with taller stronger stakes.  the garden just went wild!

All i used in the garden was the compost and the water, with a little soap based spray to more naturally control the bugs.  Big plans in place for the veges that come out of this garden!

Rats, it's gone!

I can't really remember exactly when Jayden decided he wanted to grow a rats tail, but I think it was roughly  about 2 years ago.  I must say, at the time, I was quite surprised.  He never, ever did anything that would make him stand out, be different or draw more attention to himself on purpose before this.  It was nice to see him want to have something a little different for a change, even if I wasn't too sure about the whole rats tail thing.

The rats tail had a couple of trims when it was getting really raggy on the ends, but he would never let me cut off more than 1cm.  So many people teased him (jokingly) about chopping it off and heaps of people asked him if they could cut it off to which he gave an adamant NO WAY!

So, imagine my surprise just before the school year started when he asked me to cut it off.  Really??? I had actually become quite accustomed to it and when sitting next to him, would often twirl it around my fingers.  I let him think about it for a few days, just to be sure, but he was absolutely sure and so I got Taryn to take these photos.

Just hanging loose.

It reached half way down his back if pulled straight.

As I often did when we were going out, I plaited it before cutting it off, that way I could keep it tidy and it meant it was ready if I decided to pop it into the scrapbook.

You can barely see it here, but it's hanging over his right shoulder.  Even plaited it was quite long!

Then off it came with 1 snip!

I was kind of glad and kind of sad at the same time!  Funny old emotions!

So few posts!

I know, I know, other than my weight loss journey and a few bits here and there, I haven't posted much for months.  Loads has been happening, just haven't found the time to post, so will try and catch up with a few posts to show what's been happening around here the past few months.  Stay tuned!

Weeks 22 & 23

Week 22 - zilch, zippo, nada, not even 100gms!!!, despite gardening, walking and good eating.  Have kind of felt over the past few weeks that it's 1 step forward 2 steps back, but in fact it must be the other way around cause the total weight loss is still slowly getting larger not smaller.  I know most people who lose a fair amount of weight hit some form of plateau at some stage along the way, sometimes two or three times even.  I think it's your body's way of saying hey, can we just stop for a second so I can adjust, then once it has you're off again so I guess it's just that some weeks you feel like your not wining even if you really are.  So...

...week 23, I mixed it up a little.  I skipped my usual morning shake a couple of days and had cereal with fruit and yoghurt.  I did some work outs instead of gardening (as it rained so much) and even decided to have some treat foods (some biscuits, some chocolate and some cake - yummo).  so, I was kind of expecting a bit of a hit on the scales.  Instead, I lost 1.3 and now my total is 19.1kgs.  Go figure?

So far this week, I've only had the odd shake, but trying to keep the exercise up and keeping the food to good healthy, low carb, low calorie, small portions.  We'll see how that translates on the scales on Monday, then might shake it all up the following week with a back to basics like I was doing in my first 6 weeks to see if we can't get things moving a bit more again.  That'll be back to shakes for breakfast, light meals for lunch and salad and fish for dinner, with fruit and WW jelly in between times if hungry.

Weeks 18,19,20 & 21

January got so damn busy that weigh ins were few and far between, (as was the healthy eating some days-lol).  I did get on the scales a few times but my weight was going up and down like a yoyo and I didn't blog or facebook any results.

Holidays are by far the hardest time for me.  Meal times are all over the place, routines are all out of whack, so many treat foods around the house (mainly gifts I might add)  and there is just something about home baking with the kids and enjoying food together with family and friends.

Anyway, somewhere along those 4 weeks, managed to lose another 700gms and then was good at Kids Camp with Tania (well relatively good) and lost another 400gms in the 3 days of camp, so total now sits at 17.8kgs.

Have been good so far this week and back into the exercise big time, but no difference on the scales as yet, so doubting I will reach my goal of 20kgs by the time the kids are back at school, but never mind, once they are both back and my routines return, hoping to kick start the losing again.

We are planning a family reunion in May and I would really like to get at least another 6 kilos off in the 12 weeks.  I think that is realistic - 500gms per week, so will keep you posted.