Day 23 - Week 3 results

Eagle-eyed readers will have spotted that I missed my Week 3 weigh-in yesterday. It was not intentional. I knew it would be somewhat disappointing despite the good news I'd had on the scales over the weekend, but I fully intended to take my medicine. However, I woke up even earlier than usual and decided to just get up and go straight out for a walk before my cold shower and black coffee so as not to wake Rich up who could lie in for another hour or so. While creeping around in the dark, my usual morning routine was thrown off and I dressed and drank a pint of cold water before remembering that I was meant to be standing on the scales! I was NOT going to weigh an extra pint of water so I postponed my WI until this morning instead.

As I suspected, the result was slightly disappointing. Only 1.5lbs off after having seen a number 2 lbs lighter than that on Saturday morning. Ach well, one cannot bend the laws of physics and that is what I would have been doing had I achieved a 3.5lb drop after several days of too many carbs and a couple of boozy sessions. I have still achieved a modest but respectable 6.5lbs off in 3 weeks while still enjoying life and showing no signs of giving up. This is GOOD NEWS!

I am confident that I can keep on this plan for the rest of the year and, hopefully, during this time, drop the 2 stone that I'd like to drop before the arbitrary but very real "deadline" of Christmas. Then, after New Year, I'm going to reassess my targets and see if I want to go lower and get proper slim again or whether I want to stay around the size 14/16 mark.

However, I'm getting ahead of myself. I need to drop that FIRST half stone for now and it is proving elusive. Next week for sure!!

Last week I set my targets as:

1. Upping the intensity of my POMs
   Well, I did manage that. I did 2 lots of personal training, dancing, played golf twice and managed a couple of hilly dogs walks, one carrying a toddler on my back. I made sure that all my morning POMs included the field walk which is a steep uphill of 20/25 minutes rather than just nipping round the block. I also went for longer and brisker walks at lunchtimes on working days and took the stairs every single time.
2. Monitoring my carb intake more closely
   
   Hmmm. To be fair to me (and I'm always as fair to me as I can manage!) I DID look up several items and avoid a few which were particularly high in carb content. The trouble is, I didn't keep an accurate running total each day so several days were over the limit by an accumulation of relatively modest carb items. All those 18gs add up. Especially when ONE medium apple contains 18gs of carb!!
   
   I also had 2 days where I was WAY over the limit. One as a result of too much booze (3 glasses of red wine and 3 malt whiskies) and one as result of sloppy planning and non-existent willpower causing me to have 2 pints
   of bitter and 4 slices of bread!!
3. Reducing (again) my alcohol intake
   
   Coughs...
   
   Last week I had 6 glasses of red wine (pub small measures), 2 pints of bitter and 3 malt whiskies. Could do better.

So, what are this week's targets??

1. No booze apart from on Saturday at the wedding we're going to (and even there, don't drink excessively just for the sake of it!).
2. Keep an approximate running total of carbs each day (apart from on Saturday). Blog it if you're posting on that day!
3. Go for a run on Thursday.

In other news, dancing is fun these days. Last Monday we were jiving away when the door in the corner of the studio right next to us opened and Michael Vaughan and Natalie Lowe from Strictly walked in. They watched us do a whole song of jive standing right next to Rich and I. I could hear Natalie pointing out various steps to him while I huffed and puffed and tried not to be distracted by the lithe professional sportsman and drop-dead gorgeous dancer watching me heave myself around! It turns out they train in our studio during the week and are doing the jive as their second dance so she wanted to show him some of the steps in action. After that, she "accidentally on purpose" offered to show us their waltz (the one they performed on Friday night). It was pretty good I thought although he seemed to have been overtaken by nerves on the show itself. She is more gorgeous in real life than on the telly - I always thought she was a tad scrawny on the box but actually she is just perfect....sigh.... (Rich agrees with me sadly......for him!) They were there again last night recording one of those VT clips they show before the performances so we could hear cheering children from time to time from the next door studio. I hope he stays in for a little while longer so that we can have a weekly sneak preview of their routine!