Starting today... 2st to lose.

[owlets]

Whilst shopping with my super slim friend over the weekend I realised just how fat I feel - and getting on the scales provided proof. I've put on 2 stone - 1 stone of which has come on very recently ( think a month or two?!).
Other than looking lumpy and increasingly featureless, my legs are achy and I don't feel like I've woken up properly ever.
So, I'm going to start on the diet today. The plan is to eat lots of veg and fruits, lean meats, and limited carbs. I'm going to have 3 decent sized meals a day, and not snack unless I'm truely hungry.

I'm going to weigh myself and post on here every Tuesday. Anyone who wants to join in please do!

Starting weight; 11st 13.
(Target weight 10st so 1st 13lbs to lose)

Aw poor dog. Mine is always worse in spring and autumn and seems to react much worse to wet grass than dry. Central heating aggravates it in the winter too - so she doesn't get much relief throughout the year really.

We've identified the allergies we know about over the years by observation etc, but you can pay to have them allergy tested in a similar way to humans and some insurance companies will even pay cover it. We decided against testing though, as it wasn't available until relatively recently and there's not much they can do about it anyway. Even if it did confirm that she's allergic to dust mites and grass etc, it still means she's no better indoors or out.

It breaks my heart watching my girl scratch herself until she bleeds. She's constantly itching and I'm in awe of how good natured she is in spite of it. I think if I was that itchy 24/7, year in year out, I'd be a right snappy old bag, yet she has never so much as growled or snapped at anyone in all her 12 + years.

aw bless her. fortunately i think we've caught it before she does herself too much damage. the vet was quite optimistic and she hasn't gone through the skin anywhere, was just chibbling away down her forelegs and feet, and scratching her back end like crazy when we were outside. with my limited imagination the outside scratching is most likely to be a grass thing - but he says the leg/ feet biting is more indicative of food allergy. (i have literally no clue about dog allergies, she's always been scratchier than the black dog, but the last couple of months she's been a crazy thing!) i just hope they don't get worse.

what i don't get though, is that we moved away from the blooming prairie (which is clearly grass central) and awy from a house with shag pile carpet ffs (you'd imagine there'd be a raft of allergens lurking in that) to the mountains where we have wooden floors and she soends her life swimming in mountain lakes and streams. i mean, idyllic for a dog really. (there are, fact fans, more dogs than children in this here town, courtesy of the recent census )

so why now?

and oatmeal shampoo ffs. i used to have to bathe ds1 in oatmeal when he was really scabby. i had no clue i'd be doing it with the dawg.

she is much better this week though, so i'm quietly optimistic.

Ooo a town with more dogs than children - my perfect place to live!

Could the swimming have anything to do with it perhaps?

it's all glacier fed... maybe it's too pure lol, she needs more dirt not less.

we can mix dogs and dieting can't we?

Just thought, that my dog's skin is always worse when she's got wet through. I wonder if it has anything to do with messing up their natural balance of skin dwelling bacteria?

Anyhoo, back to dieting.

Mum took me out to lunch at a favourite restaurant today, after we went to the hospital and I sinned BIG TIME! Ordered a big fat vegetarian all-day breakfast, so veggie-hash style sausages, sautee potatoes, baked beans, scrambled eggs and buttered white toast, all on a huge platter! It used to be a regular treat for us, but I hadn't had one since about April this year. Fortunately, I'd only eaten a bit of natural yoghurt before that this morning.

I have no clue how to enter it into My Fitness Pal, so am not going to bother - will just enter my yoghurt and the bit of salad I'm going to have later.

It was lovely, first proper naughty meal I've had since I started, but I have had awful heartburn ever since.

How did you get on at the hospital? Did you manage to get everyone to their appointments on time?

oh yum. i'm not even a veggie and my mouth is watering.

might be onto something with the water theory... bizarrely the whole thing started when she stayed in the kennels when we moved house (it's the same place as the vets) - she came out with a rash in her groins, and we put it down to getting wet or sweaty and then lying on different bedding/ concrete floor in the kennels. it hasn't really ever gone away properly, but didn't particularly seem to be related to the scratching. it's healing quite well with the steroids though! but it does flare up when she's been in the water...

i had kind of assumed that the natural oils in her coat would see off any water issues tbh (being a lab and all!) and it would only be an issue of we were actually bathing her and using cleaning products, but i guess repetitive swimming could be having an effect, however clear the water!

everyone got to their appts (dd2 was 5 mins late) but all sorted and i do like their new paeds. it's very odd, because it's such a small place they know everyone and so one of them is the paed for dd2's SN teacher's dd, etc etc, and they know all the teachers in the schools (because their own kids go there), and remembered meeting me at the fundraiser we did for the adaptive sports centre, and one called me at home last week because she volunteers for the climbing club and ds1's name was down on a potential interest list for recreational climbing etc etc.

a bit unnerving as it means i have to stay on good terms with everyone! ha!

and if i fail, i guess we have to move!

how are your guys, anyway? are you getting stressed about thurs or trying to be chilled?

Is her skin greasy or dry? Mallassezia is caused by an overgrowth of a yeast found naturally on the skin of most dogs, when its as bad as my dogs its black/grubby looking, but in the early stages its not really all that visible. I think getting wet aggravates it by encouraging the oils in her coat/skin, which obviously contain the yeast. My girl has it in her groin, feet/toes and ears.

this is what it can look like when its not chronic like my dog has it.

There's some basic info about it here.

It became chronic in my dog, because our old vets didn't test for it and just kept referring to her as atopic and allergic. If they'd tested and treated with systemic antifungals back then, it wouldn't have become so rampant and we could have had a chance of getting rid of it. Unfortunately, I hadn't done the health element of my dog course then either, so I didn't know anything about it either.

Good to hear your appointments went smoothly. I can imagine it would be a bit unnerving to have everyone knowing your business etc - bit like living in this village!

Ds1's appointment was, well a bit odd really. Paed found anomalous blood test results that the GP had told me were normal but was unable to come up with a possible cause and his enzyme test results weren't back, so we are still waiting for them. Hopefully they might point us in the right direction to explain the blood test anomalies.

I am nervous about tomorrow's appointment, but trying not to think about it too much.

Dh and I had a humdinging row last night that continued this morning until he left for work - so obviously that's not helping.

ah, must be something in the air. dh spent about an hour and a half lecturing me (at great volume) on how i had really let ds down by not ensuring his new teacher was putting in appropriate supports for him. the child has been there 5 weeks ffs, he has no dx (lots of historic wonderings, but no actual dx) and there are limits to my superhuman powers. given that i had spent from 8am to 1pm running backwards and forwards to paed appts and then had e-mailed the damn teacher twice in the afternoon, it touched a nerve and i spent a good hour bawling (after disagreeing vociferously, natch). he did apologise but it was too little too late really. so i look like i'm on my death bed this morning, but he's got the afternoon off as the conference he's been at closes at lunchtime, so we'll get the air cleared later . i'm going to get him to bathe the dogs though - with the oatmeal shampoo, natch, but it'll be the first time for a month, so we'll see what happens with brown dog. she needs a good brush as she's shedding like crazy as well.

hm, it always weirds me out a bit when docs can't explain something. i mean, i know how un scientific medical science really is (years of dealing with docs and moving between areas/ countries where 'appropriate treatment' for the same thing can vary wildly) but you kind of always hope that 'if x, then y, treat with z', will prevail. some answers would be good though, for ds. or even clues! goodness knows when my next appt will come through, hopefully you guys will get some answers before i do!

on the vet side, she's got an oily coat but the actual skin is dryish, i think - it certainly isn't as inflamed as the pic, but there is a definite reddening, and a rash in her groin. the vet did say she hadn't done much damage to her legs/ feet, so it was early enough to get it under control, hopefully. i'll definitely watch out for that if it takes a while to control though. poor old girl. is there nothing that eases it for a bit for her? i can be a pretty snappy old bag myself, and i'm not permanently itchy -she sounds lovely and even tempered.

right, have got a painter coming this afternoon to quote for the living space, so i'd better make an attempt to tidy and vaccuum! and really must do some menu planning and a grocery shop as i'm finding myself tempted towards such delights as peanut butter and fresh bread. not exercising today as i woke up with a pounding headache after yesterday's debacle, so will probably take the dogs for a long walk before they get their bath!

good luck for tomorrow if i don't catch you later. stay calm! peaceful thoughts x

Sorry you are having dh trouble as well. It seems to be the week for it, as the same can be said of my Mum and Stepdad and both sisters with their other halves.

The only thing that has really helped is both oral and topical steroids, but of course they come with their own problems - as my bathroom floor can attest. We can do regular malaseb baths as well, but I haven't noticed much improvement from them. I did lots of research on oral antifungals, but the vet is very anti with a dog of her age and prefers the steroid route. I agreed to give it a try, but if she doesn't get enough relief from it, I'm going to push for trying Ketaconazole therapy.

Lol at calm, peaceful thoughts - my boys had only been home for about 20 minutes when they had a huge fight - physical and verbal and I had to deal with world war three going off in their bedroom. They have both lost half their DS times already and I'd hoped that was the end of it, but it appears to still be rumbling on.

oh lor. at least mine are at school for another few hours! (cup of tea before i wield the hoover i think - make the most of it while it lasts!)

I stoopidly decided to try using a level 1 shred as a warm up for level 3! I am soooo exhausted now I can't face cooking the tea. Won't be doing that again!

you are a saint.

and you aren't allowed fish and chips.

Aw - meanie! Not sure what I'm having to be honest and am still too tired to cook anyway!

I told ds2 I'd done a double shred and asked if he thought that meant I was Supermum - he said no! So I told him I now had enough calories to eat the chocolate biscuit I had for his after school snack/treat! He wasn't impressed!

Ds1 walked straight out of the doors two minutes later, looked at me, grinned and then said - in the loudest voice imaginable - "Mum, why are you sooooo red in the face?". Cue about 30 mums and all the teachers turning round, looking at me and laughing! I made sure I told him - loudly - that it was because I had just finished an hour of circuit training and he'd be red in the face too if he'd just done the same. His favourite teacher was wetting herself with laughter!

at least your blushes were hidden!

Mornin' all

Well, my weight is exactly the same as it was last Saturday and every other day this week, but as I have had a stressful week, been out to lunch twice and my period is due any second, I'm ok with that.

Stats:

Starting weight 16/6: 14st 2lb
Weight 24/6: 13st 8lb
Weight 1/7: 13st 7lbs
Weight 2/7: 13st 5lbs
Weight 13/7: 13st 4lbs
Weight 14/7: 13st 1lb
Weight 21/7: 12st 13lbs
Weight 29/7: 12st 11lbs (and 6oz)
Weight 16/8: 12st 9lbs (weighed in Tues not Fri due to holidays)
Weight 19/8: 12st 8lbs
Weight 20/8: 12 st 7lbs
Weight 26/8: 12st 8lbs 4oz
Weight 2/9: 12st 6lbs
Weight 9/9: 12st 5lbs
Weight 15/9: 12st 2lbs - 2 stone off!
Weight 23/9: 12st 1lb
Weight: 30/9: 11st 13lb 6oz
Weight: 7/10: 11st 12lb 6oz

Last week's goal - 12st 0lbs met/exceeded (but only by 4oz!)

Next week's goal: 11st 11lb

Had my neuro appointment yesterday and have been booked in for a brain, neck and spine scan at the beginning of November. I hate MRIs and this one is going to take longer than the one I had a few years back.

The good thing is, that having tested my reflexes etc yesterday, the neuro said everthing seems to be in working order at the moment, although the pins and needles down one side of my body pretty much constantly are a bit of a worry.

She said if they find anything they will call me back in, but if there's nothing signifant, with my current state of good health, they would probably put my symptoms down to the extreme exhaustion (she sooo didn't want to say the words ME ) or possible viral involvement.

Typically, I have woken up this morning, exhausted with double/blurry vision and have said the wrong word so often without realising it, that even ds1 noticed.

What is it with my body. It obviously thinks its funny to drop weight the day after weigh-in, as it seems to do it every week recently.

Anyway, weighed myself again this morning and have shifted another lb so I'm correcting yesterday's weigh-in.

I also realised I left in some text from last week about the previous week's goal so I'm amending my goals for next week as well:

Stats:

Starting weight 16/6: 14st 2lb
Weight 24/6: 13st 8lb
Weight 1/7: 13st 7lbs
Weight 2/7: 13st 5lbs
Weight 13/7: 13st 4lbs
Weight 14/7: 13st 1lb
Weight 21/7: 12st 13lbs
Weight 29/7: 12st 11lbs (and 6oz)
Weight 16/8: 12st 9lbs (weighed in Tues not Fri due to holidays)
Weight 19/8: 12st 8lbs
Weight 20/8: 12 st 7lbs
Weight 26/8: 12st 8lbs 4oz
Weight 2/9: 12st 6lbs
Weight 9/9: 12st 5lbs
Weight 15/9: 12st 2lbs - 2 stone off!
Weight 23/9: 12st 1lb
Weight: 30/9: 11st 13lb 6oz
Weight: 7/10: 11st 12lb 6oz
Weight: 8/10: 11st 11lb

Next week's goal: 11st 10lb

Oh - and I was right about probably dropping at least a pound as soon as my period starts, so I do really know why it suddenly dropped this morning.

oops, forgot to post on friday! we went to ikea and spent a fortune and then headed into Thanksgiving weekend and full on turkey and all the trimmings.

i still lost a pound though, as of today, which is a miracle, considering! the exercise must be working to combat the roast spuds!

your weight loss is perfect, moose. right on target all the way down, you must be chuffed! 4oz is still 4 oz!

mm, neuro appt interesting. at least you won't have to wait so long this time, but any wait is such a pita. have they done bloods etc as well? the mri will be fine - you can bear it for an hour or so. not fun, but it'll be ok. can you deliberately programme in some relaxation a few times a week? (daft q, i know, but if you think of it as a life essential maybe you can find a way to make it work? i know it made a real difference to me when i had neuro type symptoms a few years ago. it was easier as it came to a head in the summer hols, so the kids were packed off to grandma's for a couple of weeks... any way you can schedule time to relaaaaaaax?

Just had to hunt the thread down, seem to have lost touch with everything this week.

Well done for losing a pound over Thanksgiving week madwoman! Mmmm roast spuds!

I swing between being chuffed that my weight is still coming off steadily and getting frustrated that it feels so slow. (I do know that's silly though.) I think the inch loss from the shred has been more motivational than the scales really.

Haven't been too spritely this week, completely exhausted and really struggling cognitively. Its scared me quite a bit, as it was around this time last year that I started to struggle, with a steep decline between November and Christmas. Am thinking maybe some vitamin D supplements might be a good idea, bearing in mind the time of year.

I have made myself shred every day and I do feel better for it afterwards, but the effect isn't lasting very long at the moment and I'm not sure if I'm helping myself or potentially making things worse.

They haven't taken bloods this time, as I had the full spread done in July and they checked for lupus markers last time I had an MRI (it was negative thankfully).

Unfortunately things aren't looking very relaxing over the next couple of weeks. Have had to try and prepare ds1's SA request this week through my brain fog and in our LA that means reams and reams of forms to fill in and preparing a report of all the evidence, with all the professional's stuff annexed and cross referenced. Trust us to live here, in most LEAs you don't have to do the forms until after you've sent a letter of request. We have his review meeting at school next Monday and are supposed to be creating a final application between us, using the best of what both the school and I have prepared separately, then I am making a parental request.

Ds1 has been a real handful as well. He is so tired, its always the same by the end of the first half term of the year. Fortunately, he's been getting on great at school - but obviously that means we're getting the backlash at home and most of its directed at his brother and I. He's also started night-wetting again, which is usually dietary or anxiety related. I can't identify a dietary cause this time, so am thinking its more emotional. Its keeping me going remembering how he was in such a state this time last year we had to call the EP emergency line to get immediate support for him. Compared to that, I'm happy to deal with daily meltdowns and constant rudeness. I'm hoping he can hang on until half term (they break up next Thursday) and then recharge his batteries over the holiday.

What is really winding me up, is him losing everything and not managing to hand in or bring home one single thing he's supposed to every day. I wouldn't mind, but I spend hours every week filling in his school diary and going through it with him, then reminding him before school of what he's supposed to do, plus writing notes to his teacher in his feelings diary and he still can't do it. I have been asking them at every meeting for 3 years to just remind him to check his diary in the morning and afternoon, such a simple thing that would make everyone's lives easier, but they seem totally unable to do it!

On a more positive note, I have already hit my target for this week. I was 11st 10lb at both yesterday and today's weigh-ins.

get some of those daylight bulbs as well. we are supposed to take vit d here, for the same reason as the bhurka-clad. i must get some actually - the gp advised it for the entire family as a precaution heading into winter, but dh rolled his eyes at me when we were in the health food store. might be an interesting link, seasonally?

i share your pain with ds1. even his teacher wrote him a post it yesterday with 'remember your agenda!!!' on it. we've now got back most of the stuff he's lost over the last couple of weeks (including having to call the bus depot to retrieve the coat he'd left on the bus after he found it the first time) but dd1 says there are at least 3 of our his water bottles still in lost property. i've asked her to retireve them, as clearly he won't get that far. parent teacher interviews next week (hurrah)

poor wee man - i always think the autumn term is hard work, they've had all summer off relaxing and then are right back into it. it's no wonder that they are all exhausted and coming down with ailments come half term. i wonder if the vit d and daylight bulbs would help him too? i also can't remember if you do the epsom salts bath thing? (memory like a sieve at the mo)

get you with your weight loss on top of everything else! i'm going to go and buy some outdoor exercise gear today i think. i've been davina-ing indoors and that's ok, but i need to head outside properly before it gets too cold and i can't face it until spring! so i need a couple of pairs of warm leggings/ trackies and a decent pair of outdoor trainers. i've been walking the dogs in my normal jeans and jumpers and boots thing, but would look ridiculous breaking into a jog. and it's soooooo beautiful at the mo -v inspiring. snow capping the mountains, fall colours and a good crispness to the air. v clear!

i had another job interview yesterday which i'm quite hopeful about. my experience tallies with what they are looking for (although i'm about 20 years older than the other applicants lol) and the interviewer seemed v positive. it was a fairly big hiring fair too (we are just about to launch into the ski/ winter season locally) and he also offered to see if there was anything else available that might also suit me and would pay better . even if nothing comes of it, it's another contact in the valley that i can tap later. (oh, and it means i would get ski breaks during work - how funny is that?! forget your uk fag break )

We don't do epsom salts, but have considered it a few times. Ds1 is such a pita to get in the bath as it is these days that I think it would just make things worse.

The boys already get vit d in their multivitamins. Ds2 was very poorly last winter, leg aches, exhaustion, weakness etc and both the GP and I were very worried about him at the time - lots of blood tests etc. I changed his multivitamins to include vit d and a better balance of b vits and forced him outside for at least an 45 minutes to an hour a day and he pulled round really fast, so it might well be worth using the lights on the dcs as well. Mum has offered to buy me a lamp, bless her - on the proviso that she can come round and use it a couple of times a week. A lot of our family seem to suffer seasonally now I come to think of it.

I don't blame you for wanting to get outside and exercise - it sounds beautiful where you are. Unfortunately its no so inspiring pounding sem-suburban pavements and stopping at Tesco along the way. I tend to stop my walking around this time of year every year and start again around April, but I'm thinking I should try and keep it up a bit longer this year. I just hate it when you wrap up against the cold weather and then end up all hot and sweaty from exercising.

Good luck with the job, its all sounding very positive.

Ski breaks! That's fantastic, I bet the people are so much fitter over there than they are in the UK.

Ds managed to bring his uniform home after cricket club today, but has left two lunch boxes and four drink bottles in school. He also left his feelings diary there, but his teacher saw us leaving after cricket and gave it to us through the window. He said he couldn't find it - she said she'd put it on his desk - right in front of his chair where he couldn't miss it!

everyone here is horrifyingly fit. you can't move for olympians. it makes one feel vair inadequate. even now as i sit on the laptop, periodically i catch someone out of the corner of my eye (and my kitchen window) clad in head to toe lycra, skiing uphill on road skis, just as a warm up before the snow hits the valley. it's lovely, but slightly insane.

compulsory ski breaks, no less. i'm slightly giddy at the prospect. v funny. i bet i don't get a sniff at the job, now.

Ooo you have to get some road ski's, they sound like fun!

Morning all, weigh-in day again already!

Lost a few more ounces since yesterday, so have met this week's target of 11st 10oz and beaten it by a few ounces. Finding it harder to ignore the dcs lunchbox treats these days, but still managing to resist - just about. I have a plan not to eat any chocolate or cakey stuff until Christmas week and then only a couple - seems an awfully long way off at the moment though.

Stats:

Starting weight 16/6: 14st 2lb
Weight 24/6: 13st 8lb
Weight 1/7: 13st 7lbs
Weight 2/7: 13st 5lbs
Weight 13/7: 13st 4lbs
Weight 14/7: 13st 1lb
Weight 21/7: 12st 13lbs
Weight 29/7: 12st 11lbs (and 6oz)
Weight 16/8: 12st 9lbs (weighed in Tues not Fri due to holidays)
Weight 19/8: 12st 8lbs
Weight 20/8: 12 st 7lbs
Weight 26/8: 12st 8lbs 4oz
Weight 2/9: 12st 6lbs
Weight 9/9: 12st 5lbs
Weight 15/9: 12st 2lbs - 2 stone off!
Weight 23/9: 12st 1lb
Weight: 30/9: 11st 13lb 6oz
Weight: 7/10: 11st 12lb 6oz
Weight: 8/10: 11st 11lb
Weight: 14/10: 11st 9lb 6oz

Next week's goal: 11st 8lb

Had a double motivating experience yesterday.

Went to collect ds2 from school, stood there in front of the doors and the SENCO came out. She stood right in front of me clutching her diary, I smiled - she smiled and then I thought "Phew, she's obviously not after me". After around ten minutes with me stood not four feet directly in front of her, ds2 came flying out and flung his arms around me, at which point the SENCO peered at me, stepped forward and exclaimed 'Oh my word, Mrs Moosemama, its you. I'm so sorry, I didn't recognise you, you look totally different than last time I saw you. That's amazing! I've been standing here waiting here to talk to you about ds1's review next week."

Meanwhile, the teacher ds1 has on a Thursday afternoon and Friday was wandering up and down the playground with some paperwork in her hand. I had nodded and smiled at her a couple of times and she'd smiled back, so again, I assumed she didn't need me. Well, no sooner had ds2 come out and the SENCO walked up to me, then ds1's teacher also popped up. Turns out she'd also been searching the playground for me, but didn't recognise me at all. She must have walked straight past me at least six times!

Oo er, just had a wobbly moment. The dcs were all taking advantage of the sunny weather and having an ice lolly after school. I unwrapped dd's and had a huge whiff of the sugary sweetness. I so almost went and got one out for myself.

Now I know that one lolly isn't going to kill me, but I am trying to be really good with clean eating, so as little processed food as possible, as apparently that's the best way to improve abs and reduce stomach/belly fat. It seems to be working for me, but its soooo hard!

My new workout dvd (Jillian Michael's Banish Fat Boost Metabolism) is due to be delivered tomorrow and I've pre-ordered Jillian Michael's Ripped in 30 from Amazon as well (although it won't be out until the end of December) so I have to stick with it now I've spent more money.

I am excited, but at the same time feeling slightly sad for getting excited about workout dvds.