Only 8 Days till Christmas...

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree, your looking very Christmassy...

I can't believe there are only eight days till the big day.  This is all very exciting let me tell you.   Time has been shooting away from me.  It's been four days since I got weighed and I am only getting around to posting about it now! But before all that, let me fill you in on the last two weeks.

I had my Christmas party two weeks ago.  It was a grand night.  We had some crazy "entertainment" and booze galore for most of the night.  I walked the legs off myself and me and one of my besties ended up partying the night away in a London casino till the wee hours of the morning.  The result? I died a holy death. I mean, the worst hangover I have had in years and years.  It took me 40 minutes to complete a 15 minute walk from where I was staying to where I work. Sweet divine baby Jesus my flight home was horrific. I swear to God I had the little paper bag poised and ready.  When the plane hit turbulence I was instantly thrown back to that time I went on Space Mountain in Disney land Paris and wished I was dead... Some poor man sitting beside me was rubbing my arm reassuring me that it was only a bit of turbulence and all would be well.  I think he took the beads of sweat racing down my face in a marathon to see which one sploshed onto my lap first as a sign that I thought the plane was going down in flames. Thankfully, I managed to make it to solid ground and the privacy of a cubicle before I made a holy show of myself.  I got home, prayed that the baby would be easy for me, which she was, put her to bed at 6.30pm (this is her usual bed time, not the 'mammy has a hangover and can't be dealing with you' bed time) and I lay on the couch and begged for death. When death didn't take me, I rang for a Chinese and prayed it would stay down.  It must have been all my walking and what not because when I got weighed after that weekend I maintained. And when your in the throws of party season, you can't be sniffing at a maintenance.

On to this week.  Well I walked and stepped and lifted my way through the week like a mad woman.  I achieved 1,000,000 steps since 30th August 2015 and decided to achieve 2,000,000 steps by 6th March 2016 (that's 2 million in total, just so we are clear!)

This has given me a real boost to get moving and keep moving over the Christmas. What has also given me a boost is this little ensemble I wore to my father in law's 60th birthday bash 

I felt really great heading out on Saturday night. And I had a great night as a result of all my hard work. I did not feel so great on Sunday. Oh God, I thought the hangovers had left me. But they haven't.  I do not recover well anymore.  I had offered to do a big chicken curry for day two of my father in laws celebrations, and as I stood there, hungover to bejaysis, cutting up those chicken boobs, I genuinely thought I was going to pass out into the raw chicken and get food poisoning. I didn't, but it nearly happened.  I think I must have drank about 50 liters of water and I was still thirsty!!!  

All my hard work paid off, because when I got weighed on Monday, I was informed that I had lost 2.5lb! I'm delighted with myself! I am now 1lb off my stone and I want it on Monday.  I will go into the Christmas week with my stone in my hand. 

With Christmas week fast approaching us, my plan is in place on how to cope with the excess food and drinking. I  am allowing myslef three free days and the rest will be like any other day of the week.  And I have my challenge to continue with, 11,111 steps per day to achieve the goal of 1 million more steps in March. 

Weigh Day; Week 11

It is weigh day again. I can't believe how quickly the weeks are going by!! It's the end of Week 11 and while I was away, I was getting a little bit disheartened by how I have slowed and my focus feels all over the place the last couple of weeks.  I know that it is mostly down to travelling and not being in my usual routine, and I am very hopeful that the travel is coming to an end, and soon.  But this week is brighter and more positive for a number of reasons.  Firstly, because I do not have to step foot outside the country for the week. Yay me! I get to spend all my time at home with Himself and Herself! It makes me happy.

Because I have not been in the driving seat with my food prep, I have decided that it is best to focus all my energy on my NSV's this week and ignore what the scales says to me. These are my NSV's this week:

1. My wedding rings are swinging around like a pair of bangles on my fingers! Delighted with that. Wonder should I plug for a new bridal set and get the aul eternity ring included?
2. I put on a pair of long boots I wore last winter and there is room in the leg.  Last year, I had to rub vaseline into the zip in order to get it to close easily over my baby cows (calves, you get it?) and when they did close, lets just say I am doubtful about the amount of blood that actually made it down to my toes! I had rings around the top of the baby cows for days after wearing them! 
3. I am feeling so good in myself.  As I mentioned last week, travelling is getting me down a bit.  Before I started this journey I would have spiraled into a bleak and horrible mood and just eaten everything in front of me, and behind me, and beside me, heck, if you stood still long enough I would probably have taken a lump out of you too! 
4. I can move further for longer and faster than I have ever been able to do. This makes me happy! 

Regardless of what the scales tells me, I know I am making lasting and happy changes in myself.

Thought for Today is: 

Kindness to ourselves is the only way we are going to complete this journey successfully. 

This weeks stats include: 

Not bad going so far is it? I'm 20k steps off my goal for this week, but there is time to make some of that deficit up before bed today! 

Finally, some of my meals this week: 

My new slow cooker is my favourite new toy! It has produced Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs and Pork Goulash. They were both amazing!! My Homemade Granloa is an amazing breakfast or just as added crunch to a 0% fat greek yougart!! 

Here's to a happy week this week and, hopefully, a more successful scales week next week!! 

Birthday's, Benders and Babies

Let's start from the beginning...

After a couple of days in Lovely London, I came home to my wonderful Little Aussie and her Mum and Aunt visiting. So, being the hospitable person I am, I invited them all over for a bit of dinner and a sociable drinkie-pooh. And by sociable, I mean very sociable. I absolutely took advantage of Super Valu's 3 bottles of french wine for €25, in fact, not only did I take advantage of it, I abused the bejaysus out of it.  By all rights, I should have been curled up in the fetal position begging for a Priest to give me my last rights on Saturday morning, but I wasn't. I got up bright as a lark and  thirsty as desert dweller, but I made soup and porridge bread (which I must have made wrong cause it was rank) and I made a lovely dinner for that evening, to provide soakage for round 2.  Yes, you heard me correctly, round 2.  Before going out on Saturday evening I did a bit of shopping and bought a pair of jeans one size smaller than usual. I  didn't end up wearing them out though until round 3... For round 2, I slipped on a pair of mint green skinny jeans.  These jeans are super significant. The last time I wore these I wasn't even a married woman! Oh no. They were purchased for wearing the night before I became a wife. And not only did they zip, they fit! I felt amazing. And so happy with myself for all my hard work.

Here I am looking very pleased with myself!

And, not only was I in pre-wedding jeans, I was in pre-pregnancy shoes too!! I have loads of lovely shoes that do not fit since I got pregnant, but apparently I am getting skinny feet as well as cheek bones! 

I headed off out into the night with my girlies and I had an absolute ball for myself. I didn't rock in until 4am. I danced the feet and legs off myself, accumulating 5,888 steps between 12am and 4am - impressive footwork for sure! And once again, I fully expected to be pleading for death by firing squad when I woke up, but I was grand! Which was great, cause I had to get ready for round 3... And round three was a scream! Out for the Dubs, well, I won't say that I was out FOR the Dubs, cause anyone who knows me knows I could care less about football and all that business, but I was out because of the Dubs and had another kicking night. With no hangover! So apparently, turning 33 means no hangovers, hurray! 

Because of this PMA and bag of aura cleansing material I am carrying around with me these days, my three day bender did not leave me with a bad dose of the Fear and a mountain of negative thoughts! Instead, I took my crazy weekend for what it was, a once off blow out, I dusted myself down and fell asleep on the couch on Monday evening, like the Nana I truly am, before heading to bed at 8am to sleep soundly for a good 12 hour stretch. Refreshed and ready to make it to a weight watchers class Tuesday evening.

But alas, it was not too be! Because Tuesday was spent nursing a very very sick little baby. One that had lots of high temps and needed lots of cuddles and comfort and antibiotics and nurofen and water and just anything at all to relieve her pain and discomfort. My Dolly has tonsillitis again. The poor little divil spent all of Tuesday and Wednesday pretty much curled up on my lap. No more partying... instead it was preparing bags in case we had to go to the hospital with her and trying to get her temps under control.. See why high jinx and baba's don't mix!

Holly's Bed Time Bed Fellows 

Birthday's aren't the same as the were pre-baba days - not that my liver would agree with you after the weekend I had. It was such a stressful couple of days with my poor sick girl that I didn't really think too much about the day itself. Until I was given a birthday present to beat all birthday presents.  Himself was very good this year, really out did himself by giving me my very own designer baby that is to be kept very far away from the real baby...

The celebrations are over, my mojo is back, I'm moving again and tracking again and I am going to make up for lost time this week with loads of soups and low point meals. I am looking forward to my weigh day on Monday.

This is me at 6.30am this morning after sweating the face off myself for 40 mins! 

Operation Skinny Bitch is back in action after a brief hiatus! 

Weigh Day: Week 5 - Travelling Mama, Walking for Weight Loss and Terrible Tantrums

It's the end of Week 5 of Operation Skinny Bitch and it has gone relatively well.  The mobile stats look good, but I am not entirely sure the output will negate the input, if you get my meaning!!

Being away from home for the four days was difficult. For all my chat and excitement for my baby free time, it was not easy to spend so much time away from her and Himself and I was so excited to get back in to their loving embrace, that was until my little Dolly decided that she would punish me for her abandonment by launching into a level five tantrum that shook the house to its very foundations.  Hell hath no fury like a toddler who cannot wear her leggings on her arms, let me tell you that! For a full 35 minutes she lay on the floor and howled like she was being murdered. I must admit, I admire her dedication and commitment to her cause and it gives me great hopes for a bright and successful career in the future. But my goodness; it was a sight to behold.  By the end of the 35 minutes, she pulled her tear stained, sweaty little head off the floor, crawled up into my lap and lay on my shoulder rubbing my face saying "sssh sssh sssh". We were exhausted, mildly traumatised and relived that the (many) moment(s) had passed.  She returned to her loving little self and was all smiles and hugs and kisses from then on... while the fear of a repeat performance mounted in the pit of my stomach at the thought of having to change her bum! That was my punishment for being a Travelling Mama...

Here's hoping a frustrated drama queen is the only punishment I will receive for my break from the norm! I have asked my WW Leader to talk extra nice to her scales.  I was quiet good, but definitely had a little more than a tiple or two! I didn't go wild, like usual, but I am definitely not as confident about tonight's weigh in as I have been in previous weeks.  I am going for my silver seven. I need to loose 0.5lb to achieve this. It's so hard to have confidence in your choices when you have no control over what is going into them.  Eating out a lot is difficult. I did make some very good choices, I also made some not so good ones too - Doritos, I'm looking at you... but for the most part I kept breakfasts to fruit and yogurts and lunches to salads without the dressings so that I could be a bit more relaxed about my dinner and enjoy a glass of two of wine.

But I walked! I moved and I move and I moved. I set my self a goal of 81k steps by bed time tonight. I have 11,212 steps to go to make this goal. That's not a bad achievement if I do say so myself.

It's easy to rack up the steps in London. You practically walk everywhere, except the first day when your sense of direction fails you and you end up getting the tube to the next stop. It took longer to get down into the tube station, buy a ticket, wait for the tube, get on it, get off it and go back up to the street than it would have if I had walked, but I didn't know where I was going and looked like a fool walking up and down the road afraid to commit to a direction!!! 

Here's my stats so far this week... It's hard not to feel a little bit confident that I will achieve my goal when I look at them, but I am afraid to get cocky... 

Week 6 is about to start. Every week my confidence in myself grows and grows. And with that, so does my pride in myself.  I have made the decision to change my life, and I am not using excuses to stop me from doing this. My mantra again this week; the scales is not a true reflection of the effort I have put in.

All the same, if  you could send a few feather light thoughts my way I'd be ever so grateful!!! 

Thought for Today

I saw this today on Instagram and I think it's a really good attitude to have. For me, my own body image is what has driven me to weight loss and exercise in the past.  This time round, I made a promise to myself that I would make physical and mental changes in my life, starting with how I speak to myself and how I feel about myself.

So far, I have been totally focused on how these changes are making me feel and not necessarily on what the scales is telling me.

A lot of the time, those of us on this weight loss journey have spent so long being cruel and unkind to ourselves that we don't even realise we are standing in our own way!

Motivation Tip

Exercise is the bane of my life. I am the first to admit it. I know I should be moving more, but the rain falls, the couch calls and, unable to play hard to get,I drop everything and sit in the ass groove I've lovingly and painstakingly carved for myself and before all thoughts of exercise are forgotten, I make a vague and undefined promise to try again tomorrow...

Having rejoined weight watchers,  I decided that in order for this to work I needed to look at this as a change in my life. To succeed I need to think of it as the new me, not a means to getting slim and then forget about it. So I made a a loud and definite promise to block all calls from the couch and move more every day.

The motivation is high right now - but it is only week 3! So to keep it going, I have been using the pedometer on my phone.

Everyone everywhere should have one. Yes, there are fancy Dan bracelets that track your steps and your z's and every breath you take etc etc.  But if, like me, you think there's a chance that this is a passing phase, download an app and just get walking. 

I have set myself challenges for the last three weeks. Increasing my weekly goal every time and, when I see I am doing more steps every day than the last, I am getting a bit addicted to bettering my count every day. I am a numbers girl.... I  like to see the numbers getting higher and higher. And, as a result, at the end of the week, regardless of what the scales tells me, I can see for myself that I am doing the right thing to get me where I want to be!

So my tip? Get a pedometer. As basic or as fancy as you might like.

Today, I did over 15,000 steps... my best yet!

Implementing Operation Skinny Bitch

Yesterday wasn't the greatest day in the history of being Mama Mc (hoping that this nickname catches on!!).  My poor little Dolly has been sick as a small hospital with a dose of tonsilitis.  The poor divil has had it since Sunday and is on an antibiotic.  As a result she is doing an award winning impersonation of a sticking plaster... Her temperatures were through the roof! But at least we can give her medicine for her pain, there's not a pill in the land that could heal the ache in my heart when I left her at creche Tuesday morning. I lasted three hours in work and then went and collected her.  Thankfully my boss is incredibly understanding and allowed me to work from home for two days.

As I was saying, not the greatest day, but we got through it.  On Tuesday night I set myself a challenge of completing 8,000 steps.  When I realised that I wasn't actually going to get out of the house, I wondered how on earth I was going to achieve that trapped inside my little duplex. Old me (Me from Sunday 26 July 2015!) would have just said "Ah Feck it.  Lets sit down on the couch together and eat our weight in chocolate".  But new me (born Monday 27 July 2015) got creative... Today's weight loss assistants were these bad boys; my dumbells and the two steps out to my balcony.

While they are not the heaviest weights in the world, they are a starting point.  The greatest amount of assistance came from the two steps.  I used these as the smallest stair master ever.  It's a good job we are not overlooked, because if we were I'm pretty sure my neighbors would think I had lost my mind bobbing up and down on them throughout the day.

I decided that to achieve my goal, I would spend a minimum of 10 to 15 minutes of every hour moving.  So I spent a lot of time going up and down these steps like a crazy person stuck on some sort of a loop! But it worked, and I more than achieved my goal  because I actually completed a grand total of 12,589 steps for the whole day.  Which was 112 minutes of activity! I didn't just go up and down these steps 12,589 times, I also got out for a little run. Imagine how boring a workout would be if you just went up and down a couple of steps that amount of times?

My sick little Dolly sat on the couch watching me and laughing her little head off at me, which was great cause at least she was laughing and not crying, or looking to be on my hip.  These steps are hard work, but harder with a 15 month old sat on your hip pulling your glasses off your face....

Operation Skinny Bitch (name courtesy of Himself), is underway...

6am and I'm already moving

I am apparently very serious about this weight loss thing... it's only 06:38 and I have already completed over 3000 steps...

Body has gone into shock...

In 17 Days it's been a whole year

That's right. In 17 days time it will have been one whole year since I popped my little Dolly out and started this whole roller coaster they call motherhood. I can't believe how fast that time has gone, how much has changed and, alas, how much has not changed. Yep. In the twelve months less seventeen days since I gave birth I STILL have a stone to loose to get to my pre-pregnancy weight. And don't even get me started on getting back to my wedding day weight or my skinny but thought I was fat weight. I'm picking my battles to win the war! 

So after all those thoughts happened, I found this; 

This is me on my hen day. This is now on my fridge as my thinspiration. Now, I realise that there are many that will look at that and think "hmmm, thinspiration? Really?" But when I look at that pic, it is of me the first time I ever looked in the mirror and actually liked what I saw looking back at me. That includes back in the old days when I was a size 12! I felt good, and fit and happy. I had worked so hard to get to that point and I was immensely proud of myself of sticking to guns and achieving what I had achieved. 

I liked the feelings I was remembering looking at the picture. 

So after that happened, this happened;

I went to my wardrobe and dug and dug and dug. Then I went to the spare room and checked there. Then under the stairs and eventually I found my runners. I brushed the spiders and their webs off them. Threw on a pair of leggings and a good supportive bra, flung the baby at Himself as he walked in the door and shouted over my shoulder "dinner will be late, I'm going for a run". And I did. 

Now I realise that 4.8k (it sounds more impressive than 3 miles) is not a huge achievement in the grand scale of things, but I think it has helped me find my motivation again. 

So I have 17 days to get back to my pre pregnancy weight. As always, my goals are realistic and achievable!!! 

Operation Transformation - my first weigh in

Yesterday was my first official starting day of Operation Transformation (OT). I picked my leader on Thursday night, Lousie, and went off for a food shop yesterday! My trolley was heaving under the strain of fruit, veg, whole wheat products (and a sneaky muti pack of popcorn) and flax seeds and nuts and all sorts of healthy lovely stuff!

I have been starting my mornings with wheetabix, because that's what Louise's meal plan had in it, not because I have any particular love for these dry tasteless "biscuits" - I really think that the makers of wheetabix are playing pretty feckin fast a loose with the word biscuit.... But regardless, I am eating them. And it also says that a dippy boiled egg and cracker are the perfect snack. Well, let me tell you something. If there is one thing I love nearly as much as I love cheese, it's a dippy boiled egg. I literally became addicted to them while pregnant. Every morning I had a lovely dippy egg and toast, only to discover after Holly was born that I should, in fact, have been eating them hard boiled to avoid some kind of food poisoning! No harm done, well... You see myself and Himself love an aul egg. We go through a lot of them in a week, but sadly, our tiny human hasn't any great love for them. And I think that could be down to overload in the womb... I keep trying her with them but she's just not at all fussed. So it would appear that there will be no family egg breakfasts in the McCarthy household...

Today I headed out to the football pitch for my first weigh in and group walk. It was a miracle I even knew where it was, it's been so long since I set foot in it!!! Clearly the foot I set in it was in a supporting capacity, not a participation one!  It was great. The walk, not the weigh in. I much prefer my own scales, Elaine's is far less considerate of my feelings. And as much as I want to say hers is "out of balance", or whatever it is that happens when a scales isn't working, I must admit that it is more likely that my own scales is the wrong one. It tells me what I want to hear, not what I need to hear... I think it's in cahoots with my mirror which causes me to think I am skinnier than I actually am...

After I was weighed, and I put my runners back on, (I was very very tempted to strip down to my ninnies, but decided that it was too early in the morning for that craic and I wasn't entirely sure if Elaine had just eaten or was planning to eat later on, I didn't want her to loose her breakfast or put her off her lunch!) it was time to go warm up and then head off on our 6k trot. 

I do be very nervous at these group type things. Mostly because I never want people to see how truly unfit I am and I am always afraid of tripping over my sixes 4s and making a fool of myself. But also because they remind me of my PE days in school, and the only fond memory I have of that particular class is eventually wearing my teacher down to longer even asking me for an excuse as to why I won't particupate. He used to just say "Rachel, there's a bench over there, everyone else go warm up".. I did the warm up and it wasn't a bit like it used to be in PE! Although I was starting to get quiet warm, rather quickly... We were lunging across the car park and between concentrating on not falling over and trying to pull myself up outta the lunge, sure I was ready to have a little sit down! 

I only walked the 6k, but myself and two of the girls have decided that we will attempt the couch to 5k and be running the route by the end of the 7 weeks. 

So I am all set for the week ahead.. Plan is in place. Veggies and fruit all ready to go and the runners are waiting at the front door!

A goal without a plan is just a wish

Motivation from the strangest place..

I have finally gotten the motivation I have been looking for to get myself moving and it's come from another rough night with my Dolly and, suprisingly, my smoke alarm... 

Between my baby screaming and my smoke alarm wailing through the night it's safe to say I woke up rather unrested this morning... It's hard to wake up too cross when you see that little face smiling at you, hard, but not impossible!!! 

While there is little point in being cross with a teething baby, the same can't be said for a caterwauling smoke alarm that screeches through the night for no apparent reason. Thankfully, I did begin to see the funny side when I remembered that friends episode were Phoebe beats the smoke alarm with a shoe!!! 

Sitting here this morning contemplating going back for a nap I realised that energy creates energy and if I want to feel better I would be wiser to get up off my backside and do something. So I turned to my old tormentor, Jillian Michaels, and had her kick my ass from my TV for 30 mins... And I feel much better for it! Off now to wake the napping baby and take her out for a walk!!!

While nosing around on the internet, I did find this poem by a guy called Daniel Lennax and it's called The Last Time. I'm not big into these "Parenthood is life changing" things, but it made me think that maybe some of my other mamas and papas out there are struggling with sleepless nights and it might put it all in perspective 

Happy Hump day 💕

My 30 Day Challenge

I have decided to set myself a 30 Day Challenge. That is the Jillian Michael Ripped in 30 and jogging "The Holy Moly" aka a 4k loop from my house through an estate called Holywell - hence the name. 

I am going to take my measurements and at the end of the 30 days, take them again and see the difference. 

My 30 day challenge will begin on Tuesday, 29 July and will end on Thursday, 28 August. 

Complete Body Fitness.... its not a lie

I am back from my first bootcamp with Complete Body fitness.  I am pooped... as I said earlier, I tried so hard to think of some valid reasons not to go - hayfever, sure I can't be in the pollen.  Ah but the class is in doors. In door's you say?  Sure aren't I allergic to dust! Eh, no your not.

I had an internal monologue such as the above for about 20 minutes. In fact I'd wager I burned half tonights calories just thinking of reasons not to go - such was the energy I put into it. Eventually I got up and went. Thankfully I was clever enough to avoid the couch altogether or I'd have never made it out.

I got to the class and felt all shy and unfit, as you do.  Especially when all these waif like ladies were hopping about the place. But, in all fairness, Alan the Complete Body Fitness boss, was really lovely and welcoming.  It also turns out that one of the waifs was really nice to me and buddied up with me to do the cuicuts. And she's being doing it for a year so here's hoping she was like me when she started out and I end up like her!!!

That's where all the nice stuff ends. 

Oh sweet devine baby jesus... thats what I kept saying over and over throughout the whole thing. And I am pretty sure that his clock and timers are wrong. There's no way that hour was a real hour.  It had to be some sort of vodoo hour cause it was long.

I was sweating in places I didn't even know I could sweat. My sweat was sweating.  At one point he told us to get a drink - I couldn't hear him over the sound of my blood pounding in my ears... at another point we had to sit on a trampoline holding our legs up and a weight at our chest. Lets just say if it wasn't a trampoline I don't think I'd have got up. I used the springs to get some momentum going to propel me to my feet!!

The class was good. Even if I do know that I will be hardly able to move tomorow.  Himself has promised to run me an ice bath tomorrow evening.  For the first time in my life that actually sounds delightful!

Here's to feeling the burn!!!!

Week 4; Day 3

It's week 4 and Day 3. Today is the day that I start my bootcamp.  I have spent the last 2 hours trying to think of reasons not to go. So far, I can't actually think of any reason that doesn't make me look lazy. Because the truth of the matter is, even though I know exercise is a way of being healthy, I sure wish it wasn't!

I will take my measurements this evening and at the end of my two classes a week for four weeks I will retake them and see if theres any changes...

Feel the burn!