Derwent Valley

I met up with my friend Vicky and her twins on Friday for lunch.  I asked her nicely to make something healthy and, being a good pal, she complied and then we decided to head up to the end of the dams.  You cannot  drive up beyond the visitors centre at the weekend but you can on a Friday so it was a good call!  The road was deserted apart from a flock of sheep!  Presumably they'd been mustered and were being brought down off the moors for the winter.  They seems happy enough.

The kids have not been for many walks as they are not very old but they gave it a good go.

Joe was somewhat hampered by the fact that his trousers were too big and falling down!

"Do you like toddlers Minty?? 


"Not much, no!" (shakes head)

At the end of the dams you hit the moors.  We walked up to the bridge at Slippery Stones.  I love the hugeness of the Valley; it feels like the top of the world.

The kids had walked enough by the time we reached the bridge.  Here are Vicky and Joe.

And me and Rosie.

The dams are full and the water is spilling over.  Quite a sight.

I met up with 2 friends on Friday and each time made a special request to be fed healthy foods.  I was especially pleased that I managed to turn down a takeaway on Friday evening.  Happily, my pals are not the types to take offence.  I'm sure that, if I hadn't been doing this Six Weeks to OMG, I would have succumbed to some form of naughtiness so it has to be a good thing.

Saturday was a different story though.  We were going to the football and, at the last minute I wondered whether I might be able to go swimming instead of going to the pub.  I checked the timetable and there is lane swimming between 12 and 2 so I could have done it.  Trouble is, I didn't get myself organised in time and we'd just eaten a substantial brunch so, this week, I didn't do the swimming thing.  Another time though.

We went to the pub and I tried to stick to water.  But, I really struggle to avoid beer in that particular pub and, annoyingly, I didn't manage to this week.  2 pints of delicious Dark Mullen bitter,  Mmmmm.  Too many carbs.  Too many carbs!!

And my food choices were a bit off on Saturday too.  2 slices of bread with breakfast and 2 slices with supper.  (I'd forgotten about the bread with breakfast - Doh!)  So, overall, Saturday was not a good day.  Made even worse by the fact that  Sheffield Wednesday lost yet AGAIN!  That is now 7 defeats out of the last 8 games and we are deep in the bottom 3.  Grim, grim , grim.

And it all came home to roost this morning while I was standing on the scales to see a couple of lbs back ON!  It is the first time since I started this plan that my weight has fluctuated upwards.  I was kicking myself.  But then I thought that, having a couple of bad days, does not mean that the plan is a poor one, merely that I'm not perfect!  So, I got into my cold shower, brewed my black coffee, went for my walk round the neighburhood and headed out to golf.  I'm sure the lbs will come off in time  and, in the meantime, I'm still lots lighter than I was a couple of weeks ago.

Keep on keeping on!

PS.  Have you ever delivered anything around your neighbourhood?  I was delivering Marie Curie envelopes this morning.  Why is it that people are so keen to hide their letterboxes??  I hunted high and low for some - it seemed to be a point of honour to chose the most unlikely door or hidden corner. 

Yowsers!!

I had Friday off and, having had a big night out on Thursday (to which I have previously confessed!), I thought I needed to add a bit of oooomf to my morning routine.  So I tried another cold bath. But this time I didn't put ANY hot water in, not even the paltry amount which I tried last time which I thought didn't make any difference.  Well, now I know that it DID make a difference!!

It was ICY!  I stood in the water for a while as per Venice's instructions but couldn't bring myself to sit down.  So I wimped out and added a little bit of hot.  Doubt it warmed the water up but psychologically it was enough to get me to sit down and then lie down.  I had set a timer for 9 minutes and they were the longest 9 minutes of my life.  I was wimpering out loud for half of them.  I forced myself not to check the time for longer than I thought possible then, when I did give in and check the timer, I still had 2.5 minutes left.  They went a bit quicker but didn't stop the moaning!!

Still, I got through it and most of my body warmed up pretty quickly once I was out of the water.

My problem is that I developed Reynauds(s?) syndrome a few years ago (apparently it runs in the family - once you hit 40 it pops up!) which means I have poor circulation in my fingers.  When I get cold the blood leaves my fingers and then doesn't return so I have pink/red hands and dead, yellowy white fingers for AGES!  I have to windmill my arms round to force the blood to get down into the ends of the fingers and it can be painful for a while.  Given the time it takes to have a cold bath, combined with the period afterwards when I don't have any feeling in my fingers, I think it'll be cold showers on work days at least!

The scales were kind up until this morning (Sunday) showing a good drop of 4 lbs which made me feel excellent.  of course this morning, the day before WI, they have reversed the kindness policy leaving me sitting on a stingy 1.5lb drop for the week.  I suppose after drinking on Thursday, a single glass on Friday, and 2 pints on Saturday, I shouldn't expect much better but I'm going to have an exemplary day today and hope for the best!

Right, I'd better dash - golf this morning!

Day 18 (Thursday)

I seem to have got a day behind with my posts.  Blogging about what I did yesterday.  Meh....I'll stick with it for now and try and catch up soon.

Thursday was a long, hard day and I was tired throughout.  Perhaps it is the smaller portions and lack of snacks causing a drop in energy?  Or perhaps I'm fighting off the cold which everyone else in the office seems to have succumbed to? 

Either way, it was a tough day but I stuck to my guns (nearly) until the end!  Thursdays are always tricky for me as I go into the office, go straight from work to french and then dash home to grab something to eat, change and head out to darts and dominoes.  Yesterday was slightly more frenetic as the darts and dominoes was away at the furthest pub in the league. 

I've been to The Grouse before but not for a match or in the evening.  It is a cool, quirky pub miles from anywhere out on the moors above Grindleford.  I've been there for a drink and snack while out walking and the views are spectacular.  I don't know how, in these days of struggling, closing pubs, that this one contunes to do so well, especially considering the prices it charges but it does.  I suppose, if you can tap into a wealthy market who are willing to travel for good food, an interesting atmosphere, good drinks and individual service, there is still a market out there.

Anyway, the dominoes are coming on alright.  I still lost my league match but only narrowly at the very end and I didn't make any stupid mistakes this week.  And I won the "pub game" at the end.  It is a deceptively difficult game.  Easy to play but tricky to master.  You find yourselves playing againstolder chaps who have been playing for decades and seem to know, as if by magic, what you have in your hand.  I barely know what I have inmy hand but they chuckle and tut as I stumble through.  I'm getting there!

I like being part of something though.  Keeping an old tradition alive and contributing towards keeping pub culture alive.  Pubs are so important in rural areas like ours.  They provide somewhere for old folks to congregate and for young folks to meet each other.  Where else can 3 and 4 generations mix??

Trouble with supporting local pubs is that one tends to buy drinks and I was no exception - I got through 3 glasses of red wine and 3 malt whiskies which is more than I intended to say the least.  Hey ho.  I kept off the beers which is better than nothing I suppose and we had a good gossippy natter.  Blokes are much worse gossips than women in my opinion!

So, that was Thursday.  No harm done I hope and my exhaustion from earlier in the day had disappeared by 2am after 3 malt whiskies!!

Day 17 - sunshine and showers (Wednesday)

I went for a quick walk round the low fields yesterday afternoon.  Wanna come? 

This is a slightly spooky and somewhat decrepit house just down the road from us.  I'd love to get my paws on it though as loads of original (crumbling) features and fantastic views over the village to the hills beyond.

I know a lot of people don't like fuschias but these are gorgeous.  Sitting next to the brook running through the village in a grey corner, they are a splash of colour.

Minty scans the field for low-flying swallows.  There are none as I suspect they've all set off on their long trek to Africa.

It starts to brighten up a little and gives me a view of Lose Hill in the distance.

I look behind me and see a rain shower chasing me out of the village.



But in front of me a lovely rainbow is forming.

Minty keeps scanning the skies and still no joy.

Her frustration bubbles over and she ambushes Shelagh!

Finally the rainbow is whole.

And the sunshine is out to play properly now.

Still no swallows though...

But, don't be fooled by the sunshine  -  we have had a LOT of rain!

Then the walk back through the village with Bradwell Edge looming above it.

The scales are moving properly in the right direction now with another 2 lbs sliding off so I was right to keep the faith.  Seeing a lower number really helps me to get into the shower but it doesn't get any easier.  I know that, if I miss one cold shower it will become that much harder to make myself do it every morning so, so far, I've had one every morning without fail.  And, once I get in, it's not THAT bad, honest!

I was playing golf so that was my morning POM.  The dogs weren't impressed as they have got used to their morning walks now!  Golf on an empty stomach was surprisingly fine and I played well in the lovely autumnal sunshine (although my score wasn't good!!).  I took my mini-meal of muffin and fruit and ate it on the 11th while I searched for yet another lost ball!

After golf was a quick salad lunch, work and the dog walk pictured above.  Then Rich rang and suggested a trip to the cinema as we haven't been for ages.  We had no idea what we were going to watch which was, in hindsight, a mistake but it was great to get out, have a quiet glass of wine together and a chat.....and then sit through a horrible film.

We picked Killing Them Softly, mainly because it started at a decent time and we could get seats NOT in the front row.  Our second mistake!  It was probably a "good" film but I HATED it (Rich wasn't keen either).  It was all ugliness - horrible, bleak American cityscapes, futile, pointless violence, no beauty, no love or even friendship, no values, nothing.  I KNOW that's what the director had in mind, Brad Pitt's final speech said as much, but it didn't endear itself to me.  We both agreed that next time we would do some research before going to the flicks!  Thought-provoking I suppose and it certainly made me appreciate even more the beauty of my morning POM today!

Foodwise, excellent, apart from one glass of red, no cinema treats which is a result. 

Right, I've got to dash.  Good days everyone!!

Day 16 (Tuesday)

I've had a few questions about what I eat and how I fit the plan into my day. Day 16 was a good day so I'll report on it in detail.

As you know it started well with a small drop on the scales, only 0.6lb but something so I feel as though I'm moving once more.

I had the longest and coldest shower I have yet managed. For a couple of minutes, it was so icy that my skin felt brittle and my breath was taken away. Sounds horrible I know but I kind of like it. There is a sense of satisfaction that you're doing something. And there's the feeling of healthiness and tingling freshness once you step out of the shower. I actually feel warmed up almost immediately, I presume because the air outside the shower is so much warmer than the water.

Then there's my morning POM. I take the dogs for a brisk 20 minutes up a hill to the top of the big field and round the block. It is stunning. At 7am, I seldom see anyone else apart from a few cows and the dogs love the freedom to run without worrying about other dogs. It is time to think and wake up properly, plan my day and address any nagging problems which may be preying on my mind.

I know you're meant to have your coffee before your POM but that doesn't work for me time-wise. I also know that you're meant to have a glass of cold water but I keep forgetting and can't be bothered to go downstairs, wake the dogs up and then back up to my cold shower. I prefer just to get straight on with the shower!

I bought a travel mug last week so I now feed the dogs and pack up my work stuff and lunch makings and leave with my morning coffee in the mug. This saves me a few minutes and I don't really mind drinking the coffee on the hoof as I don't really like it.

Working from the office is always relatively easy on the plan. I take the stairs every time now, even when I have my laptop and bags weighing me down. It's only 3 flights but I'm puffing when I get to the top! Today was harder than most as some nice person had brought a selection of shortbread biscuits and foreign cakey things which were festooning the shared table. It wasn't too bad, but as I became hungry late morning I did catch myself glancing over to the shortbread (I loooove it) more frequently!

I have a late mini-meal around 11am made up of a homemade blackberry and muesli crunch muffin (only cupcake size, not a giant one), an apple and a cup of tea with milk and sweetener.

Around lunchtime I walk around town and to Tesco and take the stairs back which counts as my second POM and then early afternoon I have my proper lunch of chicken salad with coleslaw. It looks and tastes delicious and gleans many compliments from colleagues along the lines of "that look nicer than a boring old sandwich". I had 2 shortbread biscuits with my lunch - slap wrist - and an orange and feel totally satisfied and pleased with what I have had.

In between meals I drink water or green tea. Thanks for the tip Peri - I love the Twinings Pineapple and Grapefruit green tea. It doesn't taste of much but smells lovely!

For my evening POM, I did sweet FA!  This is the weak spot in my days as I often miss POM 3 altogether but, if I manage it at all, it has only ever been a walk.  I really MUST try to get out and about in the evenings either for a run or Zumba!  I used to enjoy them.

For supper we had pork chops from our local farm shop (they are lush!) with a few new potatoes (I don't have as many as I used to) and lots of veggies. I let myself have one tea or coffee with milk and sweetener but the rest should be green. The plan frowns upon fruit in the evening but I do occasionally indulge.

And that's that.

What I like about the plan is the way you can tailor it to fit into YOUR life. It is not overly prescriptive and, if you can't manage something, just do what you can. His philosophy is that anything is better than nothing. It is also the sort of plan which I can see bedding into my future once I have eventually dropped the weight I want to drop. The early morning fat-burning tactics are something that you should be able to do nearly every day, even if you have food and drink-based plans later on so you can always do SOMETHING. That's the plan, anyway.....

900!!

This is my 900th post!!  I can't believe I am still blogging over 5 and a half years after I first started on a total whim!  I had hardly even heard of blogs but was about to start Lighter Life the following day and was very excited about it.  I had heard a chap on the radio saying something about his wife doing a blog about a charity walk so looked into it.  As I investigated online, I ended up setting up my own blog and posting my first post that very night!

I have had such pleasure from it and met such a wonderful array of people.  I have been able to work through some serious issues and post a lot of photos which I probably wouldn't have taken if I hadn't had somewhere to put them.   It has opened so many windows onto the world which I might never have looked through.

It just goes to show - wonderful things can happen from a whim.

Which is good because I started this Six Weeks to OMG plan on a total whim as well.  Fingers crossed that I'm still at it and have been as sucessful in 5 and a half years time!

Anyway, I have to dash to work now so I hadn't actually intended to blog much at all.  I just wanted to say - THE SCALES HAVE MOVED!!

Okay, it's only 0.6 of a lb but it is a different number and I'm back on the move again.  Thank God for that.

And dancing last night!!  No - no time - I'll tell you about that later!

Week 2 Weigh In Results and the Ryder Cup

Hmmmm

Well, as I suspected yesterday there has NOT been a miracle escape for me this morning.  My weight has stayed resolutely the same all week and this morning was no different.  It's bizarre, it has been the same to the decimal point every single time I stood on the scales last week.

Hey ho.  I have not gained. I have stuck to the plan and I have confidence that I will reap the rewards soon.  After my positives/negatives analysis yesterday I know what I have to work on and that is:

1. Upping the intensity of my POMs
2. Monitoring my carb intake more closely
3. Reducing (again) my alcohol intake

On the booze front, I wasn't doing too badly yesterday morning but then the excitement of the Ryder Cup took hold and we ended up sharing a bottle of wine with supper and then having a celebratory bottle of beer each at 11.30pm as the team secured it's most unlikely and incredible victory.  So, once again, last week was a little too high in terms of alcohol intake for this low-carb diet.

But, who cares?!  What an evening it was.  I don't know if anyone follows the golf but the Ryder Cup was the most amazing sporting event of an already incredible summer of sport.  The Europeans were 4 points behind with only 12 singles matches to go.  In America.  In Chicago with its loud and enthusiastic fans. On a course which was set up heavily favour the Americans' style of play.  And they went on to win 8 and halve 1 of those singles matches leaving us with 14.5 to 13.5 victory!!

It was truly brilliant to watch.  Team spirit and individual grit and determination hauling the Europeans through against a fantastic American team who had outplayed them all through Friday and Saturday.  Both teams showed such sportsmanship and ENJOYED it and golf was the biggest winner (yes, cliche but it really WAS!).

I had been disappointed with how the American Captain had set up the course  to favour their "big bombers".  It was very long, with no rough so the big hitters could go for it with total freedom and extremely quick greens which the Americans habitually play on.  It didn't seem like a proper test of golf to me as players could just bash it miles off the fairway right or left and then have a clear shot off short grass onto the green.  There were few benefits from accurate drives and few adverse consequences for wild driving.  (I would LOVE that course!) But, in the end, even that came to favour our boys as players who might have faltered were given let-offs from nervy drives and came through to win when the Americans' faultless putting from Days 1 and 2 deserted them under the rapidly growing pressure.

Rich and I watched pretty much every shot together from 5ish to 1am and, in between, I whipped up an easy roast chicken with roasted veg and broccoli which was especially delicious with the Viognier we shared.  It is great to be able to share so closely an event like that.  It took me back 2 years to the last Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor.  (The one we went to on the first day which got rained off so we saw about 12 shots of live golf!)  Because that match had been pushed into the Monday as a result of the terrible weather, we had recorded the final day and raced back from work (missing dancing) to watch the final round European victory late into the night. 

Sitting on the sofa (or pacing round the living room) shouting at every holed putt, groaning head in hands when some were missed, calculating who needed to win and who might lose and analysing every nuance of the course, the crowd, the pundits and the players.  Brilliant.  It made me think about what a lovely 2 years we have had together.  How much we've shared and how much we have still to share.  We're already planning a trip to Gleneagles for the next Ryder Cup and I know it'll be a wonderful experience (whatever the weather!).

So, I know it's only a game and basically it was a day watching the telly but it felt like something bigger than that and we loved it!