Merry New Year!!

The eating and drinking is somewhat, erm, disordered - pints of Belgian Blue bitter, a cheeseburger and a curry today are not going to lead to lbs off - but the exercise has been sterling.

I had a bit of a hangover yesterday so had pretty much decided just to take the dogs for a walk but right at the last minute I said "No, a run it shall be".  It was comical.  I came downstairs in my new running gear to find Minty dancing around all excited and Shelagh cowering under Richard's arm. She knew from what I was wearing that I had a run planned and put on her best "please don't take me for a run" act all shivering and pleading.  I relented and left Shelagh with Rich to go for a sedate walk while Minty and I headed out for some serious sweating.

It was a lot quicker without Shelagh hanging back in her passive/aggressive manner so I knocked out a speedy 6km and felt Fab.U.Lous.

So much so that I took them out again for a quick race around the fields before heading off to the football.  Well, not terribly quick as I stopped to take photos and was a bit stiff but faster than walking.  Usually on football mornings I do chores and cook breakfast while Rich walks them but today it was great to get out into the frosty sunshine.  Freezing but great.

Puddles frozen to solid ice.

The frisky, inquisitive horses were back following us across the field.  This one is quite sweet and just wants a cuddle but his big black pal can be a bit of a pain trying to stand on the dogs and biffing me out of the way.

What a stunning morning.  Quite annoying actually as it has been overcast and gloomy for a couple of days when we COULD have gone out for a decent walk with the camera but today, when we can't, of course it's gorgeous!

So anyway.  That's it. The holiday is over and we're back to work tomorrow.  The calorie counting and exercising will start properly tomorrow although I have been fairly good most days over the break so haven't piled on the lbs. As of this morning I've weighed in at 16.10 so that is only 2lbs on which I will take any day of the week.

That means that I'm exactly a stone lighter now at the start of 2017 than I was at the start of 2016.  I was a stone and a half lighter than that in April but hey, a stone lighter is not to be sniffed at.

And I'm in a good place too.  This time last year I was reeling from Mum's death, a terrible time at work and an operation on my foot and felt adrift and out of control.  My solution then was to turn back to Lighter Life for a few months which truly helped me reset and regain that control.  It was NOT the answer long term though (or even medium term).

Now I feel as though I have both a plan and the energy and motivation to stick to it.  I'm genuinely looking forward to seeing what I can achieve.  How much weight can I drop?  How far and fast can I run? And how much can I enjoy life while I'm doing it?  Let's see eh?