Dedication

The glorious castle of Warkworth. We went for a walk along the beach and round the town first though....

More stick action....

and some swimming...

Another week has slipped by without me achieving much in the weightloss sense. We had a lot of fun and I didn't go mad. I had a STS last night at weigh-in so not too bad. But that is now a month gone by with no loss to show for it. I don't mind the fortnight around holiday and being ill but the fortnight afterwards when I was fine and healthy - well, I could have done a little better, methinks.

(I actually just typed "I SHOULD have done better" but changed that to "could". I am not going back to the days when I judged myself by my weight and everything was "should" "ought" "good" "bad". Weight and weightloss is NOT a moral judgement of worth Lesley - got it!!)

However, I feel as though the fog is clearing a bit and I'm going to make a proper effort to reinstate my positive routines this week. I had a good day Monday with Pump class, dancing and decent food and drink. One unhelpful element which has crept back into my routine is too much drink. I don't have any "drinky" social occasions planned this week so I'm going to try and have a pretty dry week; limit the wine at home and eliminate the casual pint of bitter. I need to go back to saving drinking for when I'm going out or have something special planned (or REALLY fancy a glass of wine!!).

What was very helpful this morning was receiving the second "Letter to Myself" which I typed back in August when i started my diet. Here it is:

So, how're you doing now that the weather is drawing in? I hope you're still sticking to the diet but if you're not, it's never too late to start again. there is no shame in it. I just wanted to remind you how positive you felt back in August when you'd only lost 5 lbs but were really enjoying life. Starting the diet was YOUR choice and it's something you WANT to do, no-one else. So make the effort to stick to it because you'll be taking the credit and reaping the rewards.

The food side is not hard. Take it steady and relax when you need to but really, the diet food is so tasty once you make the effort to prepare it that there is no hardship!

And the exercise. Are you still going to Pump? Have you been to Zumba? I hope so 'cos you were really enjoying the Pump back in August and the swimming and running and training and golf. Don't let it all go down the Swanee; this is your chance for a different end to the year. You're doing this because you care about yourself and you want others to value you too. And because you want to be sexy for Richard too.....

Think about those Christmas parties...think about being able to wear your nice going out clothes and not having to buy new stuff!! And dancing. You can still lose half a stone before Christmas if you put your mind to it so get on with it!!

Good luck honey.

Lesley xx

I must say, corny as it may be, it really helped me to re-focus on reading it this this morning. I like the fact that I'm not giving myself a hard time if I haven't stuck to the diet but am emphasizing the positive and reminding myself how much I enjoyed it back then.

I also notice some telling words in the second paragraph "once you make the effort to prepare it"!! I have got a bit lazy about what food I prepare, partly because we've been very busy so shopping has been more erratic and less planned and then you just have to make the best of what you have in. Partly because we've been eating out more too. So, I will start on lists to ensure that I have nice food in and get back to cooking the tasty diet-friendly food that I did so weel on back in August and September.

I also like the fact that I haven't given up on the exercise. It slipped a little in intensity but I have still made it to Pump nearly every week and been running and swimming.

So, in summary, I haven't fallen off the wagon, just stopped in a layby for a few weeks. Now I'm ready to gee up the horses and get back onto the Weightloss Highway. (Sorry peeps, I'm truly terrible at analogies/metaphors/similes.....)