Hardening resolve in the face of no results.

The scales are not being kind. I've found yet another lb!! I suspect this may be a TOTM related addition as I have not been bad but still, I need to be heading in the right direction.

However, I am now a fully fledged gym member with a programme and 1 full visit under her belt. I was so stiff after the induction when I went through my programme that I needed 2 days to recover. In fact even this morning (day 3) I felt stiff but I didn't let it stop me despite some grumblings from my chimp.

I went along, did a full upper, lower and core workout and 20 minutes of cardio and, miracle of miracles, felt good afterwards.

It was a good choice to join as the weather is so rubbish that getting out running and golfing is going to be hit and miss. Now I have no excuses!!

In other news, I have been reading Lisa Riley's Honesty Diet book. It is chiming with me so I've purchased a new notebook and the 8 day kick start commences on Tuesday. She says that from now on I'm going become my own diet coach, personal trainer and therapist. I like the idea of taking responsibility for this rather than passively buying into a weight class or personal training programme. After all, I should be doing this for the rest of my life shouldn't I?

She also recommends that I recruit an Honesty Buddy to talk straight to me and help keep me on the straight and narrow. I have never sought hands on support before and I'm not sure  Rich will be the best at it. I think he prefers to keep out of such matters. I'll ask him...

Last weekend we went to The Belfry for my birthday treat of 2 rounds of golf and a night in the hotel. The weather totally blessed us with 2 sunny days and playing the world famous Brabazon course, the site of so many Ryder Cup dramas, was just fantastic.

It is a tough track. LOADS of water and big carries but beautiful in the sunshine!

Look - t-shirt weather!!

The iconic 10th. I totally mucked it up!!

The even more famous 18th over water then up the hill to the clubhouse. Played it like a goddess - carried the water, perfect lay up behind the second pond, perfect 6 iron onto the green and only just missed my par! Heavenly.

The beautiful City of Melbourne

We loved it here. It is a relaxed, confident and engaging city. (We preferred it to Sydney!)

We had a day in the CBD checking out some sights and just walking around.

Rich and I went to Old Melbourne Gaol while Gordon and Carolyn went to the museum. The Gaol was great.  Full of information about early Melbourne; lots of stuff about how hard it was back then, the crime, the poverty, the racial diversity and discrimination.

I had never really appreciated the major differences in the origins of Sydney and Melbourne. Whereas Sydney was a convict town with thousands of transported souls arriving yearly, Melbourne was a free settlement whose growth was fueled by Victoria's gold rush.

I kind of knew these things in theory but the Gaol's exhibits were excellent in putting them all together.

And it was spooky in that instantly recognisable "old English prison" way.

There was a lot of information on Ned Kelly and his crimes and demise which was good too. Separating the folk stories and songs from the facts.

After the Gaol we wanted some fresh air so headed towards the Royal Botanical Gardens a few stops away on the excellent tram. You walk past the Shrine of Remembrance to get there which is pretty impressive too.

One thing which struck me everywhere we went in Australia was the masses of Agapanthus. They're like weeds over there! I'm just praying that the measly little specimen I planted last year made it through the winter!

The Melbourne Royal Botanical Gardens are fantastic!!

It's not just the bright colours and beautiful vistas but massive, impressive trees which take your breath away.

It was a small area of paradise just a couple of tram stops from the CBD. Gorgeous, gorgeous gorgeous.

Then back to St Kilda to cook supper, drink beer and watch cricket. Bliss.

Target practise

1lb a week. As my future mother in law, Carolyn pointed out, if I drop a lb a week for the next year, I will be 4 stone lighter by the time of my last dress fitting! Put like that, it would rude not to!!

I have still to get a handle on a diet/regime/system for food and drink consumption so am generally just cutting back. This will change.

However, I am making strides on the other strand of this endeavour, the exercise. I went for a run yesterday despite several barriers and joined the gym this lunchtime.  It's happening folks.

Trouble is, in joining the gym, I now have less time for dog walking so my step count is now under pressure.

However, I do think that getting back into working out will be great, my brief 20 minute foray onto the machines today was surprisingly fun. I haven't been in a gym for years though so didn't venture onto any weights machines as I couldn't remember what to do!! I will wait for my programme next week.

Bad news is not always all bad

What a difference a couple of days makes.  We went for an evening walk after work this evening and followed the same route we walked on Sunday afternoon when it was under a layer of deep snow (photos on my last post) . Now we still have some snow on the hills but the golf course was clear.

It was heaven to see some sunshine for a change, even though it only lasted for an hour or so.  I can't remember the last sunny day; it must have been weeks ago.

I took Minty to the vet again this morning. I feel as though we live there now. She has poor intestinal absorbtion so has been prescribed a course of expensive vitamin B12 injections for the next 3 months! Aaargh. The insurance is paying out but the excess is pretty hefty. I could do without it when we're trying to save for wedding stuff!!

It looks as though the decision re the operation is postponed for those 3 months as he wouldn't want to operate until her gut is in better state. It's been incredibly weird discovering that Minty is poorly - she looks so fit, strong and healthy.

Anyway, to the bad news. I stepped on the scales yesterday to discover that I had "found" the single lb I had lost last week. Sigh.

However, after last week I was anticipating a worse result so actually it wasn't too bad a result. Also the bad week has given me a kick up the backside.

I have as promised started the process of joining the gym. I know that sounds lame but it's only a small, country gym so not manned full time so missed them when I called today but I have sent an email!

I've been pretty good on food too but a little bit too much bread. A(nother) start has been made.