Friday, 21 September 2012

Days 4 and 5 (Thurs and Fri)

I can't tell you how great it feels to be back fighting on the diet and exercise front. That said, I know it was the right thing to do to walk away from SW. I took that decision back at the beginning of July. I had been wasting my time on it for several months really, dropping a lb or so here and then gaining them back there and overall was 6lbs heavier than I had been when I'd started despite an initial drop of 12lbs. In short I wasn't doing the plan properly, and the classes weren't working to motivate me to do it, although going to the classes did help me avoid even larger gains. I felt on SW that I was just treading water and it was training me to eat large portions, lots of carbs and to snack uncontrollably. Previously I have done well on it and dropped a few stone so I think it was more to do with my attitude than the plan itself.


Anyway, there is no point in flogging a dead horse (or any horse for that matter!) and the nagging sense of failure was dragging me down so walking away was the right thing.


I knew my head wasn't in the right place to go straight onto something new but I was determined not to go mad once I'd "given up". And, apart from a few days of holiday eating and a few weeks of limited exercise and not getting motivated, I didn't. Looking back at my blog I can see that July was a pretty hard month for me (which I'd forgotten) so I should stop being hard on myself for not prioritising dropping weight - it's hardly the most important thing in life!


Looking back over the summer, Olympics and golf apart, it was a pretty tough time. So I'm pleased that I didn't go crazy and have managed to wrestle my life back under control without too much trouble. And also that I have, through sheer chance, happened upon a plan which could be sucessful for me. I'm feeling very positive about Fulton (while crossing fingers and not counting my chickens etc).


I managed my 6th and 7th consecutive cold showers both mornings although I must admit that it was slightly harder now that the weather has turned cold. Heating on soon. I also managed my morning POMs although not the full 30 minutes due to timings and rain. If it had been dry I would have gone up the field but as it was chucking it down I didn't fancy getting soaking feet so just walked round the lanes. It was bin morning on Thursday and the dogs were in heaven - they discovered a ripped binbag (our lanes are too narrow for wheely bins so we're back in the dark ages of black bags!) and, once I'd dragged their snouts out of the bag in question, they made a great game of prancing round from black bag to black bag searching for more treasure!


We also had a near miss with a cat. One house near us leaves 2 or 3 bowls of cat food out on a low wall for their cats. Minty has discovered this and always detours down (oh so casually) to see if the bowl is full. This morning it was so I yelled at her to come away and , surprisingly, she did, veering off sulkily. Just as she turned away I noticed a cat's head peeking out above a step next to the wall, frozen and wide-eyed! It had been there the whole time. Minty was only 2 foot away but had not spotted it! Phew - if she had a chase or fight would have ensued and there are cat flaps into the house - I had a mental picture of Minty racing after the cat and through the cat flaps at 7am! She PROBABLY wouldn't have got through but might have got stuck and woken the whole house up!! Minty is a weird one with cats, mostly she doesn't chase them but, if they run or she finds herself on top of one, she might. She's only cornered one once and then the cat did the big archy back, hissing thing at which point both Minty and Shelagh skidded to a dead stop 2 feet away, barked and stared at it for a moment before sniffily sauntering off pretending that they'd hadn't been interested in the first place!! Cowards.


Anyway, back to Fulton. I struggled on Thursday morning not to snack but was much better today. Yesterday I was hungrier than I have been and kept on getting up to make myself a cup of tea or grab an apple and then kopping on and sitting back down again. When I'm WFH I seem to be able to make it through to an early lunch with no problems. In the office, I am tending to have a mid-morning mini-meal at 10.30 and a late lunch leaving me having 3 meals. This is fine as Fulton does recommend 3 meals which I struggle with at home, generally just having 2 larger meals. Whatever works eh? On the plus side, I find it relatively easy to fit in my pre-lunch POM by just going for a walk round town and I've been taking the stairs a lots more too (12 flights both days in batches of 3!). I've purchased some non-ancient green tea and taken Peridot's advice to heart have bought a selection of Twinings flavoured green teas. So far I've only tried the pineapple and grapefruit but still have plain and apple and pear to go. I like the one I've tried though - it DOES smell like Lilt which makes me happy!


I had an unofficial WI yesterday morning and am pleased to report that I've dropped 3.5lbs since Saturday morning. Tummy is flatter and clothes are marginally looser. This is A. Good. Thing. and must be encouraged!

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