What's different now?

Someone asked me some time ago to tell them when I had found the answer to getting back on track! I am not sure that I have the answer but I do know what works for me.

I think that it's actually like a jigsaw. When all the pieces slot together then it makes things easier. You need to know what you are doing, have belief in what you are doing, follow it and believe in yourself. But

sometimes it can take a while to find the right pieces although you know where they should go you can't actually place them!

I regularly say that almost everyone who has ever tried to lose weight knows exactly what to do but sometimes it's not as easy as that.

It's the end of January and I've been 'properly' following the weightwatchers plan since 4 January. The first week; post Christmas weigh-in, I put on 1lb. I lost weight for the next two weeks; 3lbs and 1.5lbs. At this week's weigh in I gained 0.5lbs. My total loss for the month is 4lbs; but 5lbs lost since I rejoined in the middle of December. Am I happy with that? Honestly, I would have wished for more. I know from experience why I gained weight this week. I have done a lot of walking and this week did my first #kettlercise class in over 3 years.  The side effects of that have meant that I have not been able to move for much of this week without being in total agony! It's good agony as I know that I have worked my muscles but what I have had is known as DOMS, or delayed onset muscle soreness! It is a common phenomenon which not only includes muscles soreness, 24 to 48 hours after your workout, but can also include loss of strength, decreased range in motion, mild inflammation and an increase in two to three pounds or more in body weight! DOMS is common in people who are new to resistance training or a response to a change in exercise routines. That would be me this week! If I didn't know this I could have been very disappointed but I know that losing weight is not something that happens overnight. It is a lifestyle change. I will be continuing with the walking, kettlercise classes and following the weightwatchers plan. 

The beauty of that thought is that it is February. I have already noticed that as this month has gone on my walk to and from work has changed dramatically. When I walk to work in the morning it is already not so dark and coming home on Friday night I could almost say that I was not walking home in the dark. I am hoping in another couple of weeks that I will be walking home in daylight!

My mood is already better at that thought, as I really have had it with the 'winter blues'! So, I face the month of February in a positive mood looking forward. Let's see what next month brings.

End of week two

So it's the end of the second week in January. I now have £3 in my money pot and several positive notes; some of which will hopefully make me laugh next year, if I can remember them!

I have had a good week with regards to #wwsmartpoints. I am getting to grips with making the right choices over food and would actually say that if you stick to mostly 'old' filling and healthy (now No Count) foods then you are onto a safe bet!

I really enjoyed Filling and Healthy when it was first launched in 2014 but, as with lots of things, I pushed it to it's limits! On Filling and Healthy (now No Count) you can eat crumpets; I have been known to eat 16 crumpets in one day, plus 3 meals! I'm liking SmartPoints because it really is making me think about the food choices that I am making.

I will, at some point, update my recipes to reflect SmartPoints and No Count. I already know that the Ratatouille Bake is now 11 SmartPoints whereas it was 10 ProPoints, as I have planned to eat this this next week! 

I have always said that losing weight is not easy but it is simple; all you have to do is follow a plan, whether that be WeightWatchers or any other programme. I really like the saying that I have tagged to this post; 'if you want it, work for it. It's that simple'. I want to be back to a point where I am happy and that means that I will work for it. When you work for something then you will usually reap the rewards. I have worked this week; I have walked to work every day; I earned 94 FitPoints. My weight loss was 3 lbs this week. It's been a while since I lost that amount of weight in a week. I have now lost 4 lbs since I rejoined. There are several goals that I could aim for; WeightWatchers would say I should be looking to getting a silver 7, losing 7 lbs. Or 5% of my original weight which is 8 lbs but I'm actually looking to lose another 6 lbs, that's 10 lbs in total, from where I currently am. That weight will take me back into my healthy BMI range and I know that at 10 lbs lost I will definitely notice the change. Once there I will then decide on the next goal.

I am also not saying that this week has been easy either. One of my son's went back to university last Saturday and the other on Monday. What has that meant for me this week? I loved having them home; my house became a tip, which I did not like! But I had kind of got used to my own space. This week has been a bit difficult to come to terms with; so much so that on Tuesday and Wednesday I went to bed at 8.30 pm just because I was bored. On Wednesday I had this huge desire to eat, even though I was not hungry, so the best thing was to go to bed and then it would have been an effort to get up and snack!

The weekend is upon us and I am looking forward to my 'long' walk on Sunday; I may indeed do a walk on Saturday. I'll see what time I wake up in the morning!

Remember, 'if you want it, work at it. It's that simple'. Have a great week!

Start as you mean to go on

As I write this it's the ninth day of the year. How is it going for you? Did you make new year's resolutions and if you did how are they doing?

I didn't make any resolutions, as such, but you will have seen that I blogged about saving and also having a jar of happy thoughts. At the end of the first proper week I can confirm that there is £1 in the money jar and four notes in my thoughts jar. I best keep this going for at least the month of January!

I got back on the scales this week, the first time in three weeks. I had gained a pound over the Christmas and New Year period which was fine by me. The decision to re-join weightwatchers before Christmas was a 'smart' one as I know that the pound gain would have been significantly more had I not!

So how are SmartPoints going?? Well I started off really well. I even managed to get through Christmas Day tracking and sticking to my daily allowance. I went for a 9.5 mile walk on Christmas morning which was great. The problem started when I opened my Christmas presents and discovered that I had been given four Terry's Chocolate Orange's! Once I had established that they were 48sp each there was no way that they were going to be tracked. The combination of that and having teenagers and twenty somethings in your house over the holiday period meant that I could easily be lead astray. #dominos 

I didn't actually start properly tracking until Monday so I think a one pound gain is not bad.

So what else have I done this week? I am not sure if I have mentioned but I live approximately one mile from where I work and had got back into the habit of driving to work. Not a good one! The new year meant being back at work and the decision to walk to work again, rain or shine. Thursday I could very easily have just gotten in the car but I didn't! I have walked to work four out of five times this week and the fifth time I had to take my car as I had to drive to an appointment.

I set myself a target of 12,000 steps a day and I have succeeded in doing that every day this week. As a Fitbit user I was asked to join two Workweek Hustle's; this is were you challenge other Fitbit users to hopefully help push you to do a little bit more. One of the challenges I know the person who invited me to join; I came second out of nine people taking part. In the second one I don't actually personally know anyone in the challenge; they are all just first names to me. I came first out of eight people in this challenge.

The Workweek Hustle is exactly what it says on the tin; the working week (Monday to Friday). I walked a total of 63,164 steps during this period. Not bad for someone who sits at a desk for a fair amount of the day!

The final thing that I did this week was to invest in the latest Davina fitness DVD; 5 Week Fit. I sat on Friday night and watched it through with my best friend! I need to be told what to do and what I like about this latest Davina exercise DVD is that it is a 5 week plan; structured with what to do and when. I will be starting this next week as it will be a great introduction before I start my Moonwalk training in earnest in approximately six weeks time. The only problem with Davina is that I have many of her mannerisms and I can see myself doing things that she does!

I am getting to grips better with SmartPoints, making better choices. I mentioned that my Saturday night pizza was now off the menu as it was a ridiculous amount of SmartPoints. I somehow worked it out wrong and I am pleased to announce to those that know what I have that it is only 20sp! I am really happy about this!

So week two starts tomorrow with an eight mile walk. Start as you mean to go on!

All set to go!

So if you are me and you've decided that you are going to do something then you need to have the tools to go with it!

A jar to put the money in, because I need to physically see it, plus another one to put my 'good notes' in. Also, I had to buy pretty paper to write my notes on; any old scrap wouldn't do!

I'm all set to go. I don't see this as a New Year's Resolution but rather as a positive step to starting off the new year well. I want to be able to look back in a year's time and pat myself on the back for where I am. Then look at all the wonderful things that have happened throughout 2016. 

I hope that you have a great start to 2016.

Let's walk!

I've owned my Fitbit for over a year now. I started with wanting to do 10,000 steps a day but a couple of months ago increased that to 12,000 steps a day. I've not always done that but I'm hoping that this year may be different. Training for the Moonwalk in May will definitely have an effect! 


I am, however,  pleased with what I have achieved in the year; who would have thought that I could have walked an average of just under 5 miles a day. Let's see what the difference is in a year's time!




Training for the Moonwalk starts in earnest in mid February but I will need to up my steps before then. I'm back to work on Monday and that'll be me walking to work every day again. 


Lovely walk today on the first day of the year. 

I'll blog how my training is going and once I've got my fundraising page up and running I'll post a link.