Wednesday 28 November 2018

Late delivery and historical musings

The scales relented this morning - 15.8.6!! Almost fresh fat!! I saw 15.8.0 for a solitary day back in July (although not an official WI) but it feels new and exciting.

The trouble is, as a blogger with a quirky memory for facts and figures, I can remember random weights from yesteryear. 15.7 was the weight I STARTED a diet sometime in mid to late 2012. The diet in question was called "Six weeks to OMG" and involved cold showers, not eating for 3 hours in the mornings, exercising before eating, restricting carbs and black coffee (some of which I still do from time to time). I dropped down to 14.6 just before Christmas that year I think which is the lowest I've been since then.

I was tempted to *sigh* but, consciously re-framing my thoughts, this is huge!! From now on in, I'm in weight territory I haven't seen since 2013 when I was on the way back up from that low and I'm only just over a stone away from my lowest weight for 6 years!! I have such a great opportunity here to make the biggest strides on this weightloss *journey* (here your writer rolls eyes in disgust at herself) since I started Lighter Life (and this blog) in January 2007.

Do not muck this up Lesley!!

Tuesday 27 November 2018

Snooooze - Week 7 weigh in result

As anticipated, I have dropped back down today but only to an underwhelming stay-the-same. 15.10.4. That is a drop of 7lbs in 7 weeks.

I feel as though I have been working harder than that sounds but I have also been enjoying life so maybe not. Maybe I need to adjust my maintenance level down or work on being further below it on my good days. I just feel as though I'm never going to see fresh fat!!

On the plus side, I have more energy; my trousers are looser and my jumpers longer; I'm having to wear a belt on the 3rd, nearly 4th hole which was tight on the 1st hole at the start of this year.

If I didn't have a panto costume and wedding dress to fit into this slow pace would not bother me. As it is, that wasted 3 months over the summer when I stopped dieting and gradually gained the half a stone I have just struggled to drop, is really grating on me. I'm not one for regret usually but that thought keeps coming back to kick me in the backside.

Hey ho. I am where I am and cannot alter that so must make the best of it which leaves me no option but to keep on keeping on and hope that I can pick up pace by small extra efforts here and there.

There's always next week.

Speaking of which I'm going to have to keep my wits about me for the rest of the week. My niece and her new husband Grant are coming to stay from Wednesday to Sunday so we will be entertaining. I have been joking with Grant (a soft southerner from Oxfordshire) that this trip is his Intermediate Level module on "Northern".

We're going for an outdoor, night swim on Wednesday evening at Hathersage pool. Thursday maybe golf or hill walking during the day and darts and dominoes at night. Friday daytime a trip up to the drowned village of Derwent which has been exposed by the low water levels in the Ladybower Reservoir followed by a Pogues tribute band at the Shoulder of Mutton in the village. Saturday an all day away trip to Blackburn vs Sheffield Wednesday with a curry for supper. Sunday a roast dinner then off.

So - cold, wet, muddy, incomprehensible, boozy, with a hunt of menace. Marvellous!! Tee hee....Oh and Kat wants to buy some Blue John so we can add "laughing at tourists" to the list!@

Monday 26 November 2018

A new tradition

For the 4th Monday in a row my weight has hopped upwards the morning before my weigh in. I was feeling slimmer and have been good over the weekend but this didn't stop a 3lb hike this morning! Gah!!

Previously I have managed a drop or STS each time but feel that I may be pushing my luck this 4th time.

When I said I'd been "good" I do tend to up my calorie intake for the 3 day weekend, usually hovering around 1,800-2,000 but this is just under maintenance and I also usually do loads of exercise with runs, golf and weekend dog walks. I have been very restrained on the booze and really, well, good.

So this week, when my clothes have been noticeably looser and a belt has had to be deployed on a couple of occasions (on the 3rd hole too), I was very hopeful, nay confident even, of proper downward progress. Now, notsomuch.

It may be that my maintenance level of 2,000 calories will have to come down but I don't want that to happen. It makes life that little bit more awkward. I will wait and see as we assess it over a 2 week average. I'm definitely trending downwards but how fast remains to be seen.

I made a proper effort to keep cals low today deploying "soup with no bread"  for lunch and quorn mince chilli with cauli/rice mix for supper. Rich correctly identified the cauli rice but made no mention of the quorn so I think I might have got away with it!

Actually the quorn was a lot better than I remembered from years ago. The lumps seem to be bigger than I recall so they retained some structure. The worst thing about quorn from years gone by was its tendency to collapse into a mealy sludge. This didn't and was very tasty after a fair bit of cookery work, ie. pretty much every condiment in the cupboard! It definitely shaves a lot of kcals out of your day.

In another blast from the past (although more recent) I took the dogs for a walk around the fields and stepping stones at Bamford for a change of  scene. I was dropping a few old coats off to a nice lady who is collecting for the homeless so thought I'd take the girls with me. They were so excited, howling and yapping away like banshees. Sweet old ladies.

It had been sunny this morning but clouded over by the time we got out. Not as gloomy as it has been though and the river was pretty being so still.


I had my phone out when I heard the meaty roar of an Apache helicopter low flying down the valley. We see a lot of impressive aircraft but don't often have time to snap them.






Bamford Mill. The flats and houses have aged well. I remember them opening in the late 1990s. Even visited the show flat for a nosy back in the day.







Wish me luck peeps. I hope the tradition holds....

Saturday 24 November 2018

Match Day

After a break for an International weekend football was back at Hillsborough this afternoon. A home tie against Derby County who are miles above us in the table (but then who isn't?).

Match days are always a challenge for the dieter but this was my first one on 6STS so I was trying extra hard.

The day started well with a STS on the scales. After a curry last night it was nice not to have a gain. (It would be nicer still to see fresh fat....) Up early for chores and dog walking with an extra side order of leaf raking (will they ever run out??).

Sensible breakfast and an early lunch to avoid any temptation from pie or burger and plenty of walking.

The least said about the match the better. To be fair, we played better than we have been playing of late but silly mistakes saw us throw away a lead and lose 2-1.  There is much calling for the manager's head and I can't disagree. We have got steadily worse despite having a decent team which has delivered in the past. Surely we should be able to do better than this??

Enough of that.

Supper was calorie heavy due to poor portion control. I had picked 2 good looking lamb steaks in the butchers yesterday without thought for size. On removing them from thr fridge I did think, oooh these are chunky so popped mine on the scales so as not to be optimistically "guessing" the calories. 8oz. Whoops. That is a lot of delicious, lamby calories.

Well, I enjoyed every single mouthful as is only right and proper. However I have learned from that objective, definitive demonstration of how much is too much so I think it will stand me in good stead.

I was still under my maintenance level of 2k calories for the day with plenty of exercise so it should be okay.

The weather for our walk this morning was more grey gloom so I worked hard to find some splashes of colour. The colour I found was RED!





Another step forward!

Well, I'm back to 15.10 again, again, again. I just want to see a lower number now. I do feel thinner though so am feeling positive while trying to remind myself that I have been known to be fooled by my chimp so I must rely on objective measures of progress, ie. stones and lbs!!

My head cold has nearly gone now. No more snot and sneezing but a final flourish of a banging sinus headache for half the day. It was tough but I feel as though I've emerged blinking from a 3 day speed cold assault.

We went out with Rich's brother and his wife to our local "posh" curry house this evening. Not what you need while trying to keep the momentum going on a diet but life has to keep on, can't live in a diet bubble. So, I just had a brunch bacon and egg sandwich all day to leave headroom for our meal. I reckon that I probably just snuck in around maintenance of 2k calories. I tried to pick wisely as far as possible and the restaurant is not a heavy, fatty type of place anyway so I don't feel over-stuffed. Woo hoo!

I also walked the dogs AND went for a quick run early evening. Hopefully all this will limit the damage. God, I hope so......

Sadly the weather has gone gloomy so my photos have gone a bit gloomy too. Sorry but it was pretty in a damp, grey kind of way.








Thursday 22 November 2018

Can you guess what happened next??

Yes, beep beep beep.... The day after my weigh in, despite a blameless calorie count, my weight bobbed up 2lbs to 15.12. Today it was down to 15.11 but still.... Gah!!  I do feel (and think I look) thinner though so I hope my weight gets with the programme soon.

I also feel like I'm going backwards on the health front. A spot of sniffling and sneezing on Monday morphed into a full on and fairly disgusting head cold yesterdsy. Sadly I was in the office so I have shared my germs with colleagues too.

It got steadily more gruesome until, by the evening I could barely breathe due to blocked nostrils which were simultaneously streaming like a leaky tap. How does that work??

I dosed myself with menthol sweets to clear the airways and hot lemon, honey and whisky purely to make me feel better. Eventually I managed to sleep without ripping my throat open due to the mouth-breathing (what an attractive picture).

Today has been better although I am working from home so it is hard to tell whether I'm actually better or just less challenged. As a precaution and to avoid spreading my germs through the cast, I'm gibbing out of panto rehearsal this evening. I await confirmation that I may be excused from darts and dominoes.

I don't really want to get out of D&D but depends of we're home or away!

I'm meant to be going for a run this evening but it is FREEZING and my chimp has seized on the "We've got a cold, it would be bad for us" excuse like a drowning chimp spying a lifebelt. In reality, I don't feel too bad apart from the inability to breathe so a short run might actually help! We're going!!

Calories have been stellar today. I have noticed a general decrease in my daily total over the last 8 or 9 days. I suspect that peer pressure caused by having to check in with a calorie total each evening is causing this. I'm definitely finding it easier to cut stuff out, especially during the daytime.

Surely this must yield results, she wails whingily...??

Tuesday 20 November 2018

Week 6 weigh in result

Not bad Rodders, not bad! 2lbs off taking me to 15.10.4 which is a total drop since my restart of half a stone!! Yay! It has been slow to be honest but at least I'm on my way again. I had originally hoped to drop a stone before Christmas but suspect the next half stone might be a little ambitious in just 5 weeks. However, you never know and I can definitely get close!!

I'm pleased that I have kept the running going over the last few weeks and it is easier now to make myself get out there even though it is cold and dark now. I used to run more with the dogs but as they are older and poorlier in Minty's case they don't want to run like they used to. Sometimes, on a sunny lunchtime but not often. So now I take them out for a walk and do a shorter, sharper run in the evenings by myself.

Yesterday was a lovely day; I was working from home so had a mellow chilled day. Took the girls out for a shortish walk but the weather wasn't great and Minty was poorly so they didn't want to go far.

So, to keep the pressure on I went out for a 25 minute run along the road in the cold, rainy, dark evening!! Woo hoo!!

Rich took me out to one of the pubs in the village for supper. It has recently changed hands so we fancied trying out the food offer. Decent, nothing special but pleasant. I chose well too. I didn't use my birthday as an excuse to go crazy - picked grilled trout fillets with new potatoes over pie and chips!! And it was delicious. I left a portion of the mountain of crushed spuds as well. My word, my halo was shining brightly!!

So, I just need to keep this up and a slinky wedding dress will be within reach!!

Monday 19 November 2018

Beep beep beep

Aaaand after 2 decent weekend days, by which I mean 1,700 and 2,000 calories each day with plenty of exercise, my weight has increased back up to 15.12!

I KNOW it is trending down but I hate it!! *stamps feet in frustration*

This was not a nice birthday present.

However I have had a very pleasant breakfast of fruit and yoghurt while opening cards and pressies and FB/text messages so I'm feeling a bit jollier now.

It was a stunning day yesterday. Rich was on the golf course but I worked like a dog round the house. (Why like a dog?? My dogs have not done a day's work in their lives!) However we still managed to carve out an hour or so out of our busy schedules to head out onto the hills. It was so colourful and fresh!













I'm dressed in running gear and am going to head out for a run at lunchtime and save as many calories as possible for supper out this evening. Who knows, it might bob back down tomorrow?!

Saturday 17 November 2018

Finally, some movement on the scales!!

It was great this morning to see a 2lb drop to 15.10. Nearly in fresh fat for 2018....

This was also slightly ironic given that I ate and drank more calories yesterday than I have had all week. Only 2000 but still a couple of glasses of wine more. The wine was yummy too, as it is this evening 😉😉

We were golfing this afternoon in a 3 person team competition with a new lady member. She is really nice and very slim and slinky. There was a definite spark of interest when she walked into the bar after our round!! Unusually for the golf club she is well under 55 years of age too so I'm trying hard to help her to play and introduce her to folk.

I played quite well today but Rich and Louise weren't really on it so our team score was average at best but that didn't matter. It's just great to get out and play. The weather wasn't fantastic but there was no wind and the sun peeked out from time to time. In between it was beautifully atmospheric. (It wasn't as dark as it looks by the way!)



Rich is golfing again tomorrow in the Turkey Trot (I won the Ladies' version on Wednesday) so I have a delicious day with nothing planned. Having said that it is going to be busy:

A dog walk (or run hopefully); spot of garden tidying; a few errands delivering things round the Valley; washing down the walls and woodwork which Rich has heroically been sanding down all week so that he can start on the painting next week; making a start on wedding invitations; cooking a roast lamb; and a few phone calls! And all that before the quiz at 8pm....I had better start early!!

Thursday 15 November 2018

This vehicle is reversing....beep beep beep....

Despite sticking to my calorie limit and doing plenty of exercise my weight has climbed inexorably every day! Great, just great. I know that one should look at your weight over an average of 2 weeks but I prefer instant results if you please. I thought I had had a great day yesterday - 20k steps and 1700 calories - but the scales thought otherwise a lb ON!

Grrrrr

However, I am resolute. I have eaten less today and, although I have not had time to exetcise, my step count will be excellent. It WILL come, it must, surely???

In other news, it was a glorious day today so I took the girls for their lunchtime walk over the golf course and round the fishing ponds. Beeootiful!









Wednesday 14 November 2018

Day 3 on 6STS

Yesterday was hectic in the office but I still managed to make myself get out for a run as soon as I got in from work. Only 25 minutes but brisk and definitely better than nothing.

It made sure that my step count was decent and kept me on it.

As far as calorie counting goes, I'm only just managing to beat my maintenance level of 2000 each day, usually coming in at around 1,800 calories. We'll have to wait and see whether this is sufficient to see results.

Looking at the 6STS Facebook page most people are doing a lot less than that. 1,000 to 1,400 seems standard. Can't see me sticking to that sort of level long term!!

This level of recording is helping me avoid snacking and take more care with my cooking though. Knowing that I have to post my totals each evening certainly makes you question if you really need that extra item!

I played golf this morning so a tough 21,000 steps and clean eating all day. Supper of prawn Thai green curry with loads of veggies and 70:30 cauli rice/rice to keep the calories down. Hopefully it will bear fruit on the scales.

I'm tired now though. I had to take Minty to the vet after work and when I got back Rich was working on redecorating the bathroom so I hit the kitchen for full on chores for an hour or so. Bed is calling!!

Tuesday 13 November 2018

Progress at last - Week 5 weigh in

The scales are being cooperative at last. 15.12.2 this morning which is a pleasing 2.5lb drop from last week.

On my first day following the 6 Steps to Slim (6STS) I calorie counted exceedingly vigilantly yesterday and was below my initial maintenance target of 2000 calories. I think the excessive repetition must have sunk in as I found myself counting even tiny little items which might have "slipped through" before. Every calorie counts!

The difference between my Fitbit calorie counting and this new regime is that I'm no longer allowed to take my exercise into account so have a hard limit of 2000 rather than a more flexible approach.

This is probably a good idea as a run or round of golf can hide a multitude of sins and lead me into poor habits!

Inspired by beautiful autumnal photos on the 6STS Facebook page, I headed up the big hill above Bradwell yesterday lunchtime with the dogs. We went all the way to the top road rather than turning at the middle one so the views were awesome and I felt fantastic. My mojo is definitely on its way back and no wonder, it was just gorgeous!













Today I am in sunny Rotherham calorie counting and hoping that the trains don't let me down on the way home!! Hope everyone is well and enjoying the autumn sunshine!