The POA for my PMA - Keeping Her Lit Week

As I previously mentioned, this is Throw in the Towel and get a Snickers Week, in my usual weight loss journey.  At this stage the last time I went back to weight watchers, I ran from the scales crying and snoting and in an awful negative place.  Granted, I was full of postpartum hormones and had only pushed a tiny human out of a tinier hole about 12 weeks before the crying and snotting and running and I had to quit.  My wonderful WW Leader reminded me last night of an email I sent her saying how trying to regain control of myself by being in weight watchers at that particular time was having an incredibly negative impact on me, and I would have to leave it for the time being. And leave it I did. I retreated into a happy lovely little bubble of myself, Himself and Herself. Sure I was delighted in my little life, still wearing my maternity jeans (because lets face it, they are just so comfortable!).

It makes me very sad reading back on some of those posts from that time.  I was very hard on myself, and if a new Mama came to me right now and said half of what I said to myself, I would give her a swift (but gentle, very gentle) kick in the backside and tell her to sit down and mind herself and her baby and have a little bit of what she fancied. Sure isn't she after growing a whole human all by herself. That's something to be incredibly proud of!

Anyway, I totally digress here! The purpose of this post is to discuss tactics!!! Tactics to protect my losses! I need to hire Fat Protectors who are going to guard me from my lost 4lb, in case they are a bit like homing pigeons and make their way back to me! I am heading to see my family in Donegal this weekend.  This means wine (yay!) and good company and happiness (more yay!).  So my plan is a simple one - sit in a corner and be a miserable moo for the weekend!

Ah not really! I am aiming for 81k steps this week.  And I have gotten off to a wonderful start! I was up at 6am this morning jumping around the sitting room for a bit of a HIT workout. Had to check what that meant when I first read it, it's High Intensity Training. Jesus I was a mess after it. Talk about making my fat cry (sweat). My goodness, I was sweating behind my ears after it! So while I was buckleaping around the sitting room, and my lovely family were snoring their heads off, I racked up at good 3k steps and it got me going for the day.  My whole mood lifted - I'm not a great morning person! I was bouncing around and I have kept it up all day with making sure I move for at least 10 minutes in every hour. This is what I've achieved so far today:

Pretty happy with that!

I am thinking that a mixture of aerobic and resistance training and keeping them steps up at around the 12k mark every day this week will ensure that I minimise the damage that could be caused at the weekend.

If anyone has any tips at all on making sure my weekend doesn't blow my whole week, please feel free to share!!!

I am looking forward to weigh day next week, when Week 4 officially gets renamed at Keeping Her Lit Week!!

Trying something new....

I have struggled with getting myself back to my pre-wedding motivated state. It's been damn near impossible and all I keep doing is munching and munching and very little moving. So I decided that I needed something to kickstart myself and excite myself again (that would also result in me loosing the half stone I've gained since the wedding, plus a lot extra!). So I'm doing something new. I have joined Slimming World.

It took every ounce of willpower I posses to get my backside out to that class.  A lot of internal dialogue, "Lie Down, have a nap and some pre-nap chocolate!", "Don't you dare sit on that couch, we'll never get off it!", "Go on, sit on the couch, have some chocolate", "Stay away from the bloody chocolate, get off the couch and go do this!"... it's very hard listening to myself argue. Because I'm always right and each side had it's merits... Eventually, I couldn't listen to myself anymore and decided I'd come back and make friends with the couch (and chocolate) after the class...

Before I continue, I apologise profusely to my wonderful Weight Watcher's leader who has tried and tried in vain to get me to return to the fold.  I just feel like it is time to give something else a shot because I've gotten complacent and lazy with the Weight Watchers way.

Anyway. I joined my new class on Monday. I am highly skeptical.  Highly.  I think it's because I still have my WW head on me and have to adapt to the new way of things.  Essentially, I can eat all the pasta, potatoes, rice and cous cous my carbohydrate loving heart desires, as long as I fill 1/3 of my plate with vegtables.  I have to remind myself that in order for this to be effective I actually have to EAT the veg that's on the plate, consumption by osmosis does not occur and simply having them on the plate does not a skinny girl make!

There are Syns. Again, not all that sure on how this is working. And I'm pretty sure I'm going to be a brutal Synner... but we will see.

I have decided that I am going to give this 4 weeks to see how I go. If it works, which by all accounts it does, then happy days. If not, back to the drawing board - hopefully not a ten ton tessie from all the non-weighed pasta etc....

As for moving... well I was doing grand last week, moved a fair bit by walking into work and it was going well.  But I think i pooped myself out with all my walking last week because this week all I want to do is sleep. Really sleep. Like right now, I think if I rested my head on my desk I'd be out for the count snoring my beak off dreaming of Syns... So I need to get myself back moving. Especially if I am going to eat unlimited carbs.

I am being told that I should loose at least 3lbs this week. I don't know. Maybe I will. I am doubtful, not just because I am struggling to get the plan down, but because myself and himself are heading out for a bit of dinner in the loveliest, tastiest Thai restaurant in town. Literally, it's the stuff Thai Food Dreams are made of.  And as much as I like to think that I am going to go in there and order something good, chances are I'll order something great like Beef in Red Wine Sauce, or Paanang Curry...

Here's to new beginnings...

Hello? Will you be my Friend?

This is what I want to say all day today and yesterday and most likely for the next two to three weeks... why am I desperate for friends? All mine left me
... actually, that's not true. But, I did leave my job for pastures new and while its exciting and challenging and good to push yourself out of your comfort zone, I wish adults could be like kids in a play ground. You know? Hey you, kid over there licking the stones, will you be my friend and help me eat the sand. We will be bff's forever and you won't have to lick stones alone and I wont have to eat sand alone... but it's not like that is it?

Instead, its awkward standing around wondering if you should ask can you go for tea with the group or hoping you don't have to sit on your own at lunch like a big new person... and worst of all, not knowing where the bathroom is and accidently asking where the jacks are.... great first impression rach! Real smooth!

I am not exactly the most shy and awkward type, so you would think that being a newbie wouldn't really bother me. But I just get so socially awkward when I am new. I blurt out random things, or else I say nothing at all like a mute so that when I finally relax and find my feet and start chatting they realise that I am not a mute and, in actual fact,  its impossible to shut me the heck up!!!

Thankfully, so far, day two has gone well and everyone has been really nice and not left me eating alone like the lonely newbie... times like these I wish I could speed up time to a couple of weeks away when I have settled in....