Weigh Day - Week 1 The Simple Start

I have come to the end of Week 1 of Operation Skinny Bitch. I am eagerly anticipating my weigh in today.  Eagerly? I hear you say... Well, I'll have you know that I have worked very hard this week.  I have moved more in the last seven days than I think I have in the last seven months.  I have swapped my chocolate and sweets for veggies and fruit and I'm feeling really good about it all.  My energy levels are higher than they have been in about two years. Not even a restless night from my Dolly can put a dint in them. I am zipping around the place, singing songs and feeling far less stressed out.  For the most part Himself is delighted with the change, but would really prefer that the "singing" stopped.  He has told me that the sound of my dulcet tones irritate him so much he wants to pull his ears off.  I can put all these changes down to a couple of things, obviously the happy hormones that are being released from all the moving and healthy eating, but I think it could be down to feeling like I am a little bit more in control.  My head is clear and positive, and I've even started to declutter my wardrobe and house. Himself couldn't believe it when he saw me doing actual housework.  He got such a shock that he had to take to the bed for two days (he also had a throat and kidney infection, but I definitely think it was the sight of me with the bleach and the marigolds that sent him over the edge).  To say I am on a mission is an understatement.

I started this week off with a goal to achieve 40,000 steps. I smashed that particular goal and actually managed to do a grand total of 62,478! I can promise you, I'm feeling every one of those steps in my legs and hips, but I am happy with myself.  I have become a little bit addicted to trying to out do myself every day.  This week I have even managed to run an entire 2.5km without having to stop once.  Granted, it's not a fast run, or a long distance and I won't be winning any marathons anytime soon, and when I do stop, my legs seize up and my lungs are on the verge of exploding, but I am sure it will get better / easier soon. This is what my week of moving looked like

A lot of  time was spent thinking about and preparing food this week. I mean a lot of time and two finger tips were nearly donated to the cause.  But for once I wasn't obsessing about sugary foods, or the gourmet selection that is provided by McDonalds. Instead it was more about squeezing in the best possible foods to make me feel better. And it has worked. This is what some of my meals and snacks looked like this week:

The reduction in refined sugar was very difficult this week. I was craving sugar like a crazy woman at the beginning of the week. After every meal I would wander around the vicinity searching for something to give me that hit I was needing. I was like a junkie! It gave me a headache once or twice. It is for this reason, that I actually decided to limit myself to two / three cups of tea in a day, instead of my usual 6 gallons of the stuff!! I love something nice with my tea. And this week made me realise that I was having something nice with every cup of tea I had! It was crazy. So after being so good and resisting the urge to give in to my cravings for six bags of haribo and three tonne of chocolate, I rewarded myself with a galaxy bar on Friday night with my evening cup of tea.  And it was delicious. I was in chocolate heaven.

I have even decided to count my alcohol points.  Something I never ever did! As it was the bank holiday and I had walked and run the legs off myself all week, I treated myself to a lovely bottle of Merlot - yes, that's right, bottle.. I see no point in just taking a glass out of the bottle. Might as well crack it open and finish it off, it could go off!

To sum up, this week has been great. My mood is brilliant, my sleep is makes me feel rested and I am feeling really positive.  What do I think my loss will be this week? Well, the dreamer in me says 6 stone, but realistically I would be happy with 1lb gone.  I don't actually mind what the scales says to me, I am feeling so good about myself, which was one of the objectives of going back to Weight Watchers. I rejoined last week because I am just tired of feeling crap about myself, inside and out! I just couldn't listen to the negative thoughts in my head anymore. I am not too worried about the scales.  But, if it told me that I had lost 7lb (see, keeping it real) I would probably have to go in for the wear and snog the digits off it!!

Wish me luck anyway!

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...

Thought for Today

Goals!

Thought for Today

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...

All my tomorrow's are gone

I have finally run out of tomorrow's.  There are no more left. The time has arrived to grab the bull by the tubby horns and get my ass back to class!

Today I returned to weight watchers.

I finally ran out of excuses (just haven't the time/money/energy). I had been building myself up to going back the first week in August. I picked that date and decided I was sticking to it. But, me being me, also decided that every day between this and that would be my last supper of (insert unhealthy sugary fatty food here)...

I was getting out of control. Every meal was my last supper. At the rate I was going they would have had to call Dublin Zoo for a lend of their reinforced gigantic elephant weighing scales! Last Thursday, I am ashamed to say,  I ate 3 jam donuts. .. THREE! not all in one go, but definitely within a 12 hour period (am being very very generous with that time period here!)

Anyway! After a weekend of lovely food that I love, I decided that it was time to get back on the wagon before the bank holiday came and went and I was 100 stone and needed a forklift to get me out of my house.

So I am set. I have all my fruits and veggies and lunches for the next three days prepared and ready to go! Mason jar salads is what I've got going on this week! There's a spinach, goats cheese and parma ham salad with balsamic dressing,  a mango salsa with sweet chili prawns and noodles and a lovely tomato and basil orzo salad with parmesan cheese and spinach.

Big thanks to my wonderful leader Nicola who, as always, welcomed me back like a long lost friend and made me feel so good about making the decision to return to her fold!

Beautiful Handcrafted Family Trees

This is a totally random post, that I wouldn't normally do, but my wonderful cousin has started creating these beautiful family trees.  They are handcrafted family tree photo frames which can be personalised to your colour and interior decor.

If you are interested in having one of these beautiful creations made for your family, please visit Elaine's facebook page: 

Lainies Craft www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100009420926756&fref=ts 

Something like this would be a beautiful present for new grandparents.