What will 2016 bring for you?

Today is the last day of 2015; what will 2016 bring for you? 









I have seen a couple of things on the Internet that I am going to try and keep going for 2016. The first one is to start January with an empty jar and fill it with notes of good things that have happened. This doesn't need to be done every day but imagine if you did what emptying it at the end of the year would bring. Great memories to be looked back on.





The second is a 52 week money challenge. The calculator is in dollars but would work well with any currency; the principle is the same. Saving money. Start week 1 with £1 or $1 or €1, week 2 add £2, $2 or €2 and keep going throughout the year. Yes, weeks 40 onwards are going to be tough but if you did it you would have £1378, $1378 or €1378 at the end of the year! Bonus!

So if you did both of these things this year what a joy to get to 31 December 2016. You'd have saved for a year and have some amazing memories to look back on; you may have written a good book by the end of it.

Was it a 'smart' idea?!

Was it a 'smart' idea to rejoin weightwatchers during the last two weeks of term? Those that don't work in a school may wonder why that's even a question. Those that do, know me or even work with me will know exactly what I mean!

My busiest times of year are the end of the academic year and the end of the Autumn term. I won't even go into why but let's just say that the planning and preparation that goes into an end of term assembly are no mean feat. Queue a Monday morning when you are stretched,  it's the hour before lunch and you have to deal with MANY stroppy teenagers. . . and that is putting it mildly. 

One colleague told another that based on how that hour had gone the person that she knew me to be would most likely have ended up in Burger King having a bacon double cheeseburger, fries and a portion of onion rings! Take the fact that it was also the last week of term, our office and the main office were full of snacks, biscuits and chocolates. Everyone was gearing themselves up for the Christmas holidays; they all decided to have pizza for lunch on Thursday. . . I will say again. . . was it a 'smart' idea to rejoin weightwatchers during the last two weeks of term?

The answer to that is most definitely YES! I have lost 2 lbs this week; exactly what I would have hoped for.

I am loving weightwatchers new system; SmartPoints. I have really had to think smartly about what I am eating. Just as an example, the pizza that I have eaten nearly every Saturday night for the last four years has gone from being an acceptable Saturday night treat at 15 ProPoints to a whopping 36 SmartPoints! I won't be having that anymore then! If you have a sweet tooth, a lovely Crunchie was 5 ProPoints but is now 10 SmartPoints! When you are only allowed 30 SmartPoints a day and 35 a week you really do have to think smartly!

I have managed to get through the last ten days, I have not cheated or veered off plan. I have probably not eaten enough but my brain is now switched back into gear. I have two weeks off work to reevaluate what I am going to eat and drink!

I follow O, The Oprah Magazine on Facebook and on Wednesday they posted a link to an article by Oprah. Some of you may know that she has become an ambassador for weightwatchers in the summer. You can read the article through the link below; it's a good read! Oprah has lost 26 lbs since August. Well done Oprah!

http://www.oprah.com/inspiration/What-Oprah-Knows-For-Sure-January-2016?FB=fb_omag_oprah_committing_to_goals

The Christmas holidays are here. Time for rest and relaxation! That will not happen until Wednesday but then it will for sure.

New weightwatchers tools; that means a new journal for those in the know! Planning now top of the list, not bottom. No meeting for 3 weeks due to Christmas and New Year but I'm hoping to get to another sometime in the middle to keep me on track as I got lots of chocolatey things from everyone at work for Christmas!

Remember I'm very good at week 1; I've been doing week 1's repeatedly for the last 3 months! Keep going #tessasmoments

I've done it

I've done it! Taken the bull by the horns and re-joined a weightwatchers meeting.

There is new branding, new smart points and a whole load more.

Weightwatchers have always said that they work with the current science on weight loss and that hasn't changed with this 'new look' plan!

Exciting and daunting times for any of you who 'know' weightwatchers but this is exactly where I was four and a half years ago. Re-joining a meeting, thinking you know everything, and it all changing!

I will openly admit that I don't like change. I like structure, order and ROUTINE. So this could be a little scary!

What I do like, though, is that if you've got complacent (like me) you are going to have to work out the smart points of everything that you eat. Some things won't have changed but quite a few things will have. This new plan appears to be combining all the things we know and making it even better. Well, let's hope that is the case.

So, fully armed I start a new week, tracking everything on my new paper tracker and on the app. Some of the issues I used to have with it seemed to have disappeared. I can get rid of the MyFitnessPal app, of which I felt such a fraud using. In so many ways I am back in my comfort zone but just slightly displaced!

Lost Mojo?

Lost mojo? Where do you find it? That is an age old question and probably there is no definitive answer!

The Urban dictionary says the following;

mojo

N.

1. Self-confidence, Self-assuredness. As in basis for belief in ones self in a situation. Esp. I context of contest or display of skill such as sexual advances or going into battle.

2. Good luck fetish / charm to bolster confidence.

3. ability to bounce back from a debilitating trauma and negative attitude.

In this context I'm thinking that mojo, for me, means the ability to bounce back from a negative attitude.

So what do you need to do to get your mojo back?  I need motivation. But what is  motivation? It comes in different shapes and sizes for everyone. How about getting some reward from what you are doing? Some would say that the reward you get is losing weight, feeling healthier. That is true but sometimes we need more to motivate us.

I work in a school and I recently heard, on a training course, that you should ask kids what rewards they should get for accomplishments made. We are still like this as adults, aren't we?

I have recently changed my life insurance and critical illness policy. Being an ex WeightWatchers leader I was aware of Vitality but not the full extent of what it offered. Now, I'm not suggesting that you go out and change your life insurance policies but having done some research this plan offers so much to me! It's got little motivators to help me get my mojo back. Rewards for doing things that I should be doing anyway!

I have synced my Fitbit to my Vitality account. If I walk 7,000 steps a day I get 3 Vitality points, 10,000 steps give me 5 and over 12,000 steps 10. The most I can earn in a week from activity is 40 Vitality points. I can join WeightWatchers for a reduced fee. I have to go to a minimum of two meetings a month but everytime I do I get 15 Vitality points. Achieving 5%, 10% and Gold status also give me points. 

So what do points make? Prizes! The ultimate goal is to reduce your premium each year. There are four different levels; Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum. But the beauty for me and helping with my lost mojo is that if I earn 9 activity points a week then I get to go to a Cineworld or Vue cinema for FREE! So I just have to walk 7,000 steps three times in a week and I could go to the cinema at the weekend! A cinema ticket these days is nearly £10. Amazing! Just from doing a bit of exercise. Can't be bad, eh? My day in London last week earned me 10 activity points on it's own; I went to see Spectre on Sunday as my reward! 

Part of the WeightWatchers programme is to encourage you to move more than you did before. This is a double wammy; not only does my Fitbit earn me activity points to go to the cinema for free BUT it also earns me WeightWatchers points which I can also use if I need them if I've overindulged, or for those extra treats. It could also mean that at the cinema I could treat myself to some popcorn!!

So, it's back to a WeightWatchers meeting this week. I've seen and heard that there are some changes but they look exciting! What it does mean is I can get myself a new planner!! 

I'll let you know how it goes . . . I used to say that when I joined WeightWatchers in July 2011, for the fourth time, that it was the last. I would only be ever going as a Gold member. But here I am re-joining for the FIFTH time! I am slightly daunted by re-joining just based on the fact that I have been a leader and now know what it has felt like for returning leaders when they have joined my meetings. 

As I have said we all make mistakes, get complacent or even believe we can't do it. But we learn from our mistakes; life, I believe, is all about learning. Everyone can achieve what they want. Some of us learn the hard way, take knock backs but it's about getting up and doing. Getting on the platform, getting back on the train and remembering that life is a journey not a destination.

Seriously . . . what went wrong!?

I wrote a post on 24 October and I thought that I'd got it figured out! I was determined and I had my sights clearly set on where I wanted to be.  

Seriously . . . what went wrong!?

Have you ever found yourself in this position? I bet many have and what do we do about it . . . give up, start again, any number of things? Is there a key? I'm not sure I truly know the answer to this but I do believe that there is generally something underlying that stops you achieving your weight goals. We use excuses and I know that this is probably a 'woman' thing or maybe just a 'me' thing but I do know that my head has to be in the game and if it isn't then really there is no point!

Today, Saturday 5 December, is the day I got to my goal weight with WeightWatchers four years ago. I have always been at my goal weight, or within five pounds of it, by this date. Not today and I'm actually quite sad about that. I'm not even close! I have been fairly in control for most of that four years. I have said before that 2015 has been a difficult year. The realization that I would, from September, be on my own at home? Being too busy to take care of me? Worrying about things and not acknowledging what they were? Life?

So. . . what did go wrong?? 

I've rewritten the answer to that question a couple of times and actually they are all excuses. My going wrong may not be the same as your going wrong but actually what needs to be focused on is 'what can I do to make it right?' Again, the answer to that may not be the same for you and me. I can only say what I know to be true and maybe that will help you come to what is the correct solution for you.

So . . . what does that mean for me??

It means going back to WeightWatchers . . . again! Tail between my legs! It's different this time as I will be filling the form in as a returning Gold member . . . laugh out loud! I HAVE TO GO TO MEETINGS. . . for me it is not just about the support, it's about being accountable to someone other than myself. Standing on someone else's scales.

As a WeightWatchers leader, I was able to stay in control of my weight because I was accountable to the members (and friends I made) in the meeting. On my own I'm accountable to no one other than me; I don't even have my sons at home to question if I'm 'allowed' to eat what I'm eating. I don't need to be a secret eater; I can do that in the comfort of my own home all by myself!!!

When I returned to WeightWatchers four and a half years ago I only ever wanted to be a UK size 12. I am that now, the problem is my wardrobe is full of size 10s and size 8s! I am also, today, ten pounds over my healthy BMI range; I am still classed as a 'normal' weight but I am anything but normal! I'm not happy with how I look naked, although there have been some gains that some might be very jealous of?! They know who they are and what it is they are jealous of!!! (I haven't yet worked out how to do a wink or a smiley face emoji on the blog!!) I have also acknowledged that 'maybe' I was too thin. A friend told me last week that when she has started working with me that I was too thin. I knew that, at my lightest weight, I was too thin but no one ever told me that. . . well, I don't think they did! Hearing that confirmed something that I already knew and I won't make the same mistake this time . . . maybe!!

I will be joining a meeting, before Christmas, I can't wait until after. 

I am over the 'hump' of my SAD and we are only two weeks away from the shortest day and it will therefore start to get lighter. It is also only two weeks until I break up for Christmas and both my boys will be returning home for the Christmas break over the next two weeks.

I have, for a long time, known what to do and how to do it. I just have to now put it into practice. That is easier said that done!

The very first thing that I have to do is decide which meeting to attend; do I go to one of those that I was the leader at or do I go to another. I thought that I had decided that but I keep changing my mind!

The big smoke

I went to London for a course on Wednesday and had a great day. For my friends on Facebook I did say that when I had time that I would blog about my day.

The course was held in the Thistle Hotel near Euston station; I caught a train from Peterborough at 7.32 am. I had thought that the ticket that work had purchased for me enabled me to catch any train that I wanted but I had a sneaky suspicion that this was not the case and it turned out to have restrictions! Fortunately I got to the station early and was able to catch this train. It got into Kings Cross at 8.57 am. The course was due to start at 9.30 am. Whenever I have been to London in the past I have always caught the underground everywhere. I was taken to London at Easter and experienced a very different London not using the Tube at all. It was fantastic and I had already decided that instead of going the one stop on the tube I was going to walk to the venue. 

I love walking; I can't say that I have always thought this but as I have gotten older I appreciate that you see and experience things that you may not if you use a car, taxi or public transport. 

I passed the Renaissance Hotel and British Library; what beautiful buildings and who knew that the British Library was so close to Kings Cross!? On my visit to London at Easter I also realised that I love and appreciate architecture.

It was a lovely, brisk walk on a pleasant winter morning; it took me just over ten minutes to walk there. The course was great. I have been doing my current job in one form or another for about nine years. I learn every day and have said before that I reflect on almost everything that I do whether that be in my job or my life. I want to be better and do better; but I did think that I knew most things about what the course was on and would just have some things confirmed to me. How wrong! I came away inspired and what I have learnt will be good for figures!!!

So. . . the course ended at about 3.15 pm. I knew that it was supposed to finish about this time and that may have been one of the reasons that I chose to attend the course in London at this time of year?! What to do?? Come home  . . . of course not, let's go shopping!

Google maps opened and Selfridges on Oxford Street typed in, it said that it was just under 2 miles and would take me about 40 minutes to walk. So off I headed with my eyes wide open. 

I'm not sure if it is just me but the men in London seem to be far more attractive than those in Peterborough! Oh . . . I obviously wasn't just looking at the men!!

Oxford Street at the beginning of December, or any time of year, may not be everyone's idea of fun but it was great. I wanted one particular shop and ended up walking the wrong way down Oxford Street and having to walk the length of it twice! Great for my Fitbit steps; by the time I got home at 10.30 pm I had done 18,168 steps, about 8.25 miles!

I made my way back to Kings Cross just after 8 pm; I did take the Tube at this time of night. Whilst on the train, in the morning, I received a message from a friend saying, 'enjoy and be safe'. This is not about to turn into a political commentary just my own thoughts. I have never been someone who really thinks about my own personal safety; I have done some things in the past two years that some would consider to be down right dangerous but some things just never cross my mind. The Paris bombings happened about four weeks ago and many people may have changed their plans if going to a big city or organised event. The day I was in London, Wednesday, was the day that the Commons was debating and voting on whether we should bomb ISIS targets in Syria. Again, I am not going to pass any comment on this but just to say that when I got to Kings Cross and was waiting for my train home I saw something that I don't ever think that I have seen and that was an armed police officer with a machine gun strapped across his chest, holding it ready in this hands to defend me. It made me feel reassured and not frightened.

I cannot remember the last time that I was at Kings Cross station but it has changed so much since I was last there. The civil engineering and combination of new architecture with the old Victorian building is stunning. I think that I may take a trip back at the start of the Christmas break just to have a wander; look at a map beforehand and just explore a bit more.  I have had my eyes opened, a little bit more, to our capital and think it is awesome!