A small corner for changing my life

[Honey2006]

I don't think I've ever started a thread here, but I wanted a small safe corner to post about my weight loss journey. I find it incredibly therapeutic to post online and track my progress, but the site I used to use (43 things) has long since gone.

I weight 268 lbs today, or 19st2. Five years ago, I lost 150lbs + to go from 350lbs down to 192lbs. I held on to that weight loss for a year or so, but met the love of my life and the weight started to come back.

I've managed to hold on to 82 lbs, but it's creeping back on faster, and so after dabbling with 5:2 and Paul McKenna to zero real effect, I am going back to the programme that helped me to lose the weight, namely Slimming World. I am doing it online (that helped last time) and I'm going to use this small corner to write what I'm doing and how I'm doing. Hopefully that will work for me :)

Next Saturday is going to be the first weigh-in, so fingers crossed that I see a 2-4 lbs loss. I think I should be able to do that without too much problem, but we'll see.

Eeeeek!

I've been away for a few days with work, back now and into SW again. I do need to find a way to cope with lack of routine and how to make good choices. Sigh. Anyway, can't see a loss coming my way on Saturday but we shall stick with it. Today hasn't been too bad, but I haven't been particularly well prepared so suffered from that.

Tomorrow though - I have made breakfast and lunch and they are ready to go!! And dinner is planned.

Good luck to everyone :)

How did you get on Honey?

Well, it's been a funny couple of weeks, and the dieting has not gone at all well. I was so so tempted to just ditch this thread and rename myself and start a new one. Running away I guess! But no, that's no good to anyone.

I rejoined SW today, my weigh in day is going to be Saturdays. (I'm doing it online). After a shocking few weeks, my weight is 270lbs and I'm using this as my starting weight. I've got everything set up and ready to go, tomorrow is the official 'launch' date! I'm feeling very positive about this.

I have a big holiday booked for May, and I'm hoping for something else to happen by then, so I've kind of called this journey the 39 steps. 39 weeks to my holiday, enough time to transform myself and lose a lot of the weight I've regained. So there we go.....

I have so many goals for the year, and I'm making good progress on a lot of them. I'm going to go through them just for me:

1. Route 66: lose 66 lbs. Hmmmm, defo a WiP (Work in progress)
2. Treasure the love of my life: going well
3. The sound of silence: total NC with my pig of an ex - working beautifully
4. Walk it off: have dug out the FitBit and definitely needs focus.
5. Stop dragging my heels: links in with 4, I need to do my physio more than ever
6. The Great British Bake Off: learn how to cook. Making huge progress on that, definitely ahead of schedule
7. Unfuck your habitat: just spent the weekend refurbing the kitchen and decluttering, definitely going well
8. Let's get medieval: rope, iron, elixir and oil (a looking after myself one). Yes, doing all these
9. I am the one who knocks: a work one, going well, might get regraded

10. Sun's Out, Guns Out: gym one. Lapsed a bit, but doing well, went today 11. To boldly go: making a huge effort with friends and family 12. It's All Grand: money resolution is going well too 13. Surfs Up: spend too long on internet still, less time at work though! 14. A fabulous cha cha cha; working on it! 15. Read 50 books in 2016: well on target for this one 16. Read all about it, news of the world: keep up with current affairs. Could do better!

So not too bad for the first two thirds of the year. Big push for the remaining third :)

Feeling good and on track today. I've had porrige/raspberries/yoghurt for breakfast and a small portion of home made risotto for lunch. More importantly than that though, I've avoided cake and biscuits. I'm tracking what I eat on SW website, so hopefully that will help.

I want to see a good loss on my first official weigh in on Saturday - ideally I'd like to be a few pounds down, and I'm back at the gym so that's got to be good. I had some time to have a think about this last week, and I've come up with a few decisions and plans. I have got to work out how to stay on track when life doesn't let me do that - I need a plan B in place, definitely :)

Hello Honey, I've just found your thread and I love it! I joined sw online a week ago on Saturday, lost 1lb on sat, which is liked to have been more, but hopefully will at least carry on consistently. My biggest worry about myself is I'll eat too much, but it's so lovely to have a diet where you don't have to feel hungry and miserable. How much have you lost so far, since you began this thread? And hello to everyone else on here too

Hi Cloudy, hope you're having a good week! I like SW a lot, it's very structured. I lost 150lbs originally doing it and then regained about 70, so now at 80lbs down. Big weigh in on Saturday :)

Today is going reasonably well. I'm tracking my food on the SW website, and here's today's plan:
B: Magic porridge and raspberries
L: Mushroom risotto and salad (rocket / spring onions / mushrooms / grapes)
D: Prawn curry and rice

Going to the gym tonight for the third day in a row, woot!

Hi Honey, I'm feeling very motivated so that's helpful! I don't go to the gym, but I do walk my dogs, so am thinking about taking them twice a day over the fields for more exercise. Have a good day today!

Walking has to be good for you Cloudy!!

Bit of a tough day today - I was in a meeting from 9 till 4, and had the unhealthy lunch option (pizza slice and steak pie). I was so stressed and busy. I had a healthy dinner though, which was pasta with tomato sauce (mushroom and chorizo) and was delicious!!

I have got to get better at dealing with the unexpected. I have a dreadful knack of giving up and calling it a day when I get blown off course. Something to work on there I think, definitely!

I'm feeling quite good about myself today. I've been to the gym three times this week and pushed myself hard. I've been wearing my FitBit and trying to increase my number of steps per day. Food hasn't been as good as it should have been, because I had lunch out yesterday and I had the ice cream. Then there were cake in the office. I manage much better when I stick to the plan, sugar knocks me off balance completely, it's the hardest thing.

I am feeling good about trying, I feel that at least I am putting the effort in to lots of small things. I am definitely taking care of myself, and doing lots of small simple steps to improve my looks - such as dry body brushing, a glass of hot ACV in the mornings, taking my iron tablets. All these small things add up I guess. I was thinking about it, and it's quite daunting/liberating that everything I really want in life is within my control (more or less). I want so badly to be slim, and this is something I can achieve. It's a weird to realise that I can achieve my goal, it's not like wanting to be rich or famous, where it's down to luck and timing. My wants are possible. How scary is that?

Anyway, the scales are stubborn but this week, Week 36 of 2016, is definitely one where I have made a big effort every day to get what I want. And that's the main thing I guess.

Today's plan:
B: toast and coffee
L: soup / salad/SW wedges
D: chicken curry in the slow cooker with rice

Gym in the evening and no booze, so there!

So I've lost 2lbs this week, and I'm very very pleased about that. I've had a good week, I've tried hard and it's paid off. I've walked every day, and have achieved my walking goal. I've been to the gym four times go me! And I feel good about all the small positive steps I've taken.

I think I wrote about it above, but it has dawned on me that it's made up of multiple small steps that achieve big results. Some of them, e.g. taking iron tablets and drinking ACV shots first thing take literally seconds. But since I've been taking my cocktail of iron and vitamins this year my hair has grown back thicker and stronger than ever.

I want to escape my tendencies to start again on Monday etc. Keep going with the small practical steps and ignore the fear. So one example this week has been to eat 1/3 superfree food with all my meals, regardless of the healthiness of the rest of the meal, if you see what I mean. That's a good one Another has been lots of self-care, because grooming and looking after my appearance makes me feel confident and good about myself.

So although week 36/2016 has not been a week of dramatic weight loss, it's a 10/10 for me!! Feeling good

Good day, sticking to every goal as hard as I can. I think the trying is important and the small victories too :)

A good day, an away day at work but I TRIED to stick to the rules. I just so want to lose this excess weight no matter what!

Another good day, feels like I'm making changes. This week's new goal is to do it, no matter how badly or how half-heartedly - don't wait for perfection, just keep plodding on. Feels okay I guess.

My leg is dragging quite badly, I think I need to go back to see someone urgently. 47 and I feel like I'm falling apart. Gah! Oh well, another day in paradise :)