Shredding and a good loss.

A much better week this week. I was mostly on track with my food and did some exercise as well.

I did the 30 Day Shred for the first time yesterday. I'm a little achy today, but not as bad as I was expecting. Perhaps the pain is waiting in ambush and will get me properly tomorrow? Don't get me wrong, I almost died while I was doing it, took an hour to recover and thought I was going to throw up for longer than that, but I'm not in too much pain today.

I'm not sure whether to do it every day or on a day on day off schedule. It also depends on not having a toddler trying to get under my feet.

So, today is weigh in day and I have lost 2kg. Woohoo! Much better than last week's small gain. I'm not sure how long these big losses are sustainable, but I'll enjoy them while they last. My initial goal is to lose 23kg, although I need to lose more than that. That will take me to the lightest I've been in my adult life, st which point I'll decide how much more I want to lose.

I have a twee tracker now as well. Like it?

Created by MyFitnessPal - Free Calorie Counter

A small gain

A small gain this week, but I had a fabulous weekend with friends which involved lots of great food and drink (which I tracked - I was way over my allowed calories) so I wasn't expecting a loss.

Positives:

• I still wrote everything down, even though I knew I was going over, so I didn't "cheat" myself.
• I had an amazing time with some amazing friends.
• I did quite a bit of exercise. Surely wearing heels burns more calories than trainers?

Although I was reasonably good for the rest of the week I still had a very small gain, but I'm not worried about it, I'm still 8lb down in 3 weeks which is no bad thing!

9lb in two weeks!

Well two weeks into the latest attempt at weight loss and I'm 4kg/9lb down!

All I've done really, is track what I'm eating on MyFitnessPal which I guess is making me more mindful in my eating. I'm not just going and grabbing something to eat because I'm bored, I'm actually assessing whether I'm hungry.

Onwards and downwards!

Almost a year on

So it's almost a year on and I'm sorry to report that I've regained the weight I lost and am back where I started.

I've decided to do something about it and so I've logged back into MyFitnessPal and downloaded the app to my phone. I've added some friends and hope the shared motivation will get me started again.

Like last time, I'm starting with tracking so I can see where changes need to be made and then we'll go from there.

Wish me luck!

Weekly update

I'd have thought having one less child at home would give me more time to pay attention to the blog but it seems not. I missed blogging about my weigh in this week. It was good news though, another kg off, which brings me back to where I was mid August before that big gain. It's taken a while to get it back off, but I finally got there. The big one starting school really threw out my eating. She was quite upset on a few mornings, which in turn upset me, and when I'm upset I tend to comfort eat. The weather turning cooler hasn't helped either. Salad weather seems to be behind us, so I need to find a good, filling alternative. I think I'll have to start making soups for lunch. The first 5% came off really easily, but I'm really struggling to get to 10%.

Big Girl's first day of school

So after a long build up with a lot of tears and tantrums the day finally dawned. We got up around 7, although she'd invaded my bed at 3am and I hadn't had much sleep thereafter. The husband had arranged to go in late so that he could watch the baby while I took Big Girl in. He spent the morning chasing her around the house with an Ella's Kitchen fish pie pouch. Bizarre, but it kept her distracted and meant she didn't get a chance to think about things too much. She was quite excited when she saw her uniform laid out and put it on with no fuss. She happily posed for photos (one below) and was quite keen to head off around 8:30. We only had one, half-hearted, "I don't want to go." We were a little early so we sat in the car for a couple of minutes, and then got out when we saw other people walking to the school.

We waited in the playground for a bit and then when the bell rang and the gates opened we went down to the classroom. We're allowed to go settle them in initially, but normally they walk down by themselves with the teacher. We found her peg and figured out where to leave her lunchbox and book bag. We went into the room and they had little name tags to put on. Only 10 were starting today, 10 start tomorrow and then another 10 on Thursday. I'm glad she was in the first lot, as not having gone to the nursery she doesn't know anyone else and would have been overwhelmed on Thursday.

We had to have a good look around the room and at all the toys. She was a little put out that the bug display she'd seen at her taster session had been replaced by a safari scene. She was very impressed by the role play corner though, it was set up as a doctor's surgery.

When the second bell went I told her it was time for me to go. She was a little bit clingy and started tearing up a bit but the teacher came over and held her hand and took her to play with the other children and she was ok.

When I picked her up she said it was "Really good!" and gave me a picture of her that they'd made for their first day. She waited to say goodbye to her teacher, who she seems to have taken to and she said she made a friend, but she can't remember her name.

Of course the best thing about the day according to her was being taken for a special celebratory tea at McDonalds.

So generally relief all round and here's hoping the rest of the term goes as well!

Here's a picture of her in her uniform, looking angelic.

Weigh in - 4th September

This is a bit disconcerting. I'm trying out the new blogger interface. Let's see how it goes.

No weigh in last week as we were away and I didn't have a set of scales. I also didn't track while we were away so I didn't know how I was going to go this week. I did weigh in this morning, and I've lost 500g which brings my total loss back down to 7.5kg. I still have another kg to shift from my gain the other week. I think the baby not feeding as much is really having an impact.

Snacking is a problem as well. I need to be more organised with the shopping to make sure I have low ProPoints snacks in. I did buy some Pink and Whites (1 propoint each) and I try to have lots of fruit in.

My top tip for myself for this week is when snacking on something that comes from a larger packet, be it crisps, yogurt, rice thins, chocolate or whatever, is measure it out and put it on a plate or in a bowl before you start eating. That way you don't inadvertently eat more than you intend to. I really like rice thins and a quarter of a pack is 3 points. What tends to happen is that I take the packet out, eat the first quarter, and then mindlessly keep munching until half or even all of the packet is gone. By taking out one serving and putting them in a bowl, I don't keep nibbling. If I want more, I have to actually get up and do it.

This week is going to be a bit hectic as Big Girl starts school, but hopefully that will give me a little more time to plan meals and keep on track.