Confessions

As soon as I decided to start blogging about my weight loss, I've sabotaged it ever since! 

Bank Holiday weekend = food frenzy. 

I'm so tired at the moment, I've got to the point where I'm wondering if my thyroid is playing up.  I think I might make an appointment to get my blood checked out just in case.  It is that time of the month again too, aren't men lucky that they don't get the sugar cravings that come with this!  I ate 3 cakes on Friday, can't even remember Saturday.  Sunday was Toffee Waffles (gosh these are good).  Don't buy them people, they are truly evil, they will talk to you and make you eat every last one.  They are that good that my cocker spaniel pinched one off the table.


2 packets of digestive biscuits and half a packet of pringles later, I felt well and truly sick.  I did have a boiled egg though, that was the most healthy thing I ate.  Poor! that's all I have to say to myself.

Back to the gym tomorrow at 630am.  I will confess all to my Personal Trainer and after a good talking to, I'm hoping I'll be back in the zone.  I need to wear a bikini in August and it isn't going to happen at this rate.  On the plus side, I've painted my nails and toenails and I look like I've had a proffessional manicure. 






It makes me feel a bit better and I look a little more groomed than I did last week.  Baby steps, right?

Before I forget I went to this great little bakery on Saturday.  It's down a back lane and looks like an old garage, very bizarre.  It's been there for over 100 years and even has the old ovens inside, sadly these aren't used anymore.  The bread is lovely, there's granary, seeded, organic.....  If you live in Cardiff or are visiting I'd recommend a trip.  You could grab yourself some bread or a pasty and walk over to Roath Park to enjoy the lake.  If that's not your thing just go for the novelty factor if nothing else.  Link below to their website so that you can find them, as I said, down a lane behind the houses.



http://www.allensbakery.com/

Not exactly weight loss I know, but go and enjoy.

xx

Outdoor living space

I love decorating houses and having spent nearly 6 years doing this one I thought it was about time I moved onto the garden.  I've always wanted a kitchen going out onto the garden (it was in the basement in the last house) but the garden has always been a mess.  Not having a clue where to start I decided to get a gardener in and this is why.  A right old mess wouldn't you agree?


I wanted a garden where my son could still play but I could also entertain.  This is what it looks like now.  What do you think?


I'm going to paint the shed/summer house a dark grey/black on the exterior, or rather my dad is and I need to get some climbers for the fence.  I've just purchased some garden chairs from Ikea which I love and I got them just in time for the 1 day of sun we've had this bank holiday.

These ones are for the area the chatting area, to the left of the patio (not in pic).


The below are at the back of the garden, to the right of the summer house.  I've bought two in white.

The look I'm trying to achieve is below from Abigail Ahern's garden.  Before you ask, yes her garden really does look this good in the flesh.




Hope your enjoying the bank holiday.

xx

On the Straight and Narrow

You know that binge I mentioned in my last post, well it continued to Tuesday night, ended spectacularly with a take away curry.  The good news though is that I'm back in the zone, thank goodness for that!

I had a weights session with the trainer at 0630am yesterday.  I'm getting fitter as my weights are heavier and I'm doing more reps.  45 mins later I'm in the jacuzzi and steam room, every cloud as they say.  It's this little treat that gets me through the session.

Breakfast was a chocolate protein shake.  I'm not normally a lover of this stuff, but gosh does this taste good.  I would really recommend it if you are looking to buy one.

Mid morning snack was 1oz sweet chilli almonds.  These are delish! Go get some, I buy mine from Asda.  I can vouch for the wasabi flavour too.



Lunch was a cup of cannellini beans and salad with 1tbs fish oil, 1tbs balsamic vinegar and seasoning.

I went back to the gym for 30 mins in the afternoon on the elliptical trainer doing intervals.  I was like a beetroot by the time I finished, but felt soo good and I'd got an extra session of cardio done, definately good after the binge I had.

Afternoon snack was 2tbs hazelnut butter (this is like eating ferrero rocher) and 1 stick of celery. Supper was a fillet of lemon sole with salad and the same dressing as lunch.  I did have 3 cups of tea during the day with 2 sweetners and almond milk.  A girl has to have something to get her through the day.

Today I'm aching.  My back is sore from lifting weights which has given me a headache.  2 anadin's later I'm in the gym.  Similar session to yesterday and my food for the day is also the same.  The only difference is my supper which will be either steak or chicken with salad.

The sun is shinning which always puts me in a good mood and my dad is coming to stay later.  I've got some DIY lined up for him, don't you just love dads. 

What small things have you done today to bring you closer to your goal?

Crashed and Burned

I was too confident.  There I said it.  I was doing so well, started week 5 on the weekend and I don't know what happened.  I went to the hairdressers on Saturday, not a roaring success but that's another story for another day. 3 hours later most of the day had gone so I decided to take Saturday as my rest day and go to the gym on Sunday.  Thing is I woke up the following day craving pancakes with bacon and maple syrup. How can that happen! I had no interest in going to the gym in any shape or form. Do you ever dream about food and  crave it when you wake up?

I was due to meet my friend mid morning in St Fagans http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/stfagans/ I packed my spicy nuts for mid morning snack and took my litre of water, trying my best to ward off my cravings.  Good so far, then I decided to do the weekly food shop on the way home, it happened to be lunchtime and I hadn't eaten.  Word of warning, don't shop if you haven't eaten, even if you think you're not hungry (cue me). 

The supermarket I visited had so many offers of chocolate for a £1 it seemed rude to leave them there so I filled my trolley and added a packet of digestive biscuits.  Got to the till, had a pang of guilt, put them all back except the Twix fingers, digestive biscuits and 3 bars of dark chocolate (dark chocolate has to be good for you, right?).  Went home and had a chicken salad for lunch then ate half a packet of digestives, 1 Twix finger and several cups of tea for supper.  So much for me being on the straight and narrow.  Just when you think you've got this diet thing under' control, it sneaks up on you.  No worries, my gym session this morning was going to sort me out.

Woke this morning ready to burn the biscuits off and get back in the zone.  What happened, trainer text at 0600am, he wasn't well, could we postpone?  Now this never happens, this man is a superhero, he's never ill! So I have a protein shake for breakfast, toast mid morning (I've not had bread for a month!), spicy nuts mid morning, chocolate bar and 1 welsh cake for lunch and then the remainder of the digestive biscuits for supper with 1 twix.  Impressed? add to this a McDonalds meal and apple pie and ice cream!  Told you I had issues.

I've got a call tonight with my coach.  Thank goodness! I've also booked my trainer for tomorrow afternoon so I can undo some of the overeating.  I've come too far to let go of the reigns now.  I've got my chicken salad ready for lunch tomorrow, 2 x eggs and cup of broccoli for breakfast.  Bring it on!

I'm pinning inspirational pictures on Pinterest.  Why don't you follow me there too. http://pinterest.com/llydaw1/fit-inspiration/

The Plan

If you don't plan you plan to fail.

I've tried many times to lose weight over the past 12 months, the most recent being Weight Watchers and The Cambridge Diet.  Both diets work but the problem was my head wasn't in it.  If I'm not in the zone, there's just no point.  I yo yo'd betwen diet, binge, feeling guilty - binge again and on it went, promising myself tomorrow I'll be good but tomorrow never came.

I spent many a day googling the best diet/the quickest diet/the latest celeb diet.  While doing this I stumbled upon a picture that made me stop and take notice.  This was a photo of a mother like me who'd lost 100lbs! and looked hot in a bikini, not some celebrity who couldn't relate to me.  I wanted to know more.  I liked the facebook page and twitter feed, found the exercises on the facebook page and decided to have a go at these.  The exercises could be done in my home and only took a maximum of 20 minutes but I didn't get far.  I kept eating rubbish and struggled to get in the zone.  I was already a member of a gym and knew of a good trainer there.  I took the bull by the horns and booked 4 sessions a week with him.  My sessions were going to be strength training with weights, something I definately wouldn't do on my own.  At the same time this amazing mother who'd lost weight offered a coaching session via skype on her website.  I jumped at the chance.  I was on my way.

I received a menu plan via email and a skype call to talk me through what she expected of me each week.  My trainer had booked me in for 0630am!! Monday - Thursday.  I'm not one for getting up early so I wasn't sure how this would go.

Roll on 4 weeks and here I am.  I'm not a natural sportswoman or health freak.  I struggle with food on a daily sometimes hourly basis and on days have to talk myself into going to the gym.  Now let me tell you some of my results. 

I've lost 12lb in 4 weeks, 3lb a week! Considering I have an underactive thyroid and averaged a weekly losss on Weight Watchers of 1.5lb per week I'm ecstatic! I've lost 1/2 an inch from arms and thighs, 2 from narrow part of hips and 3 from waist!

This diet and exercise plan works.  I'm going to check in on a daily basis to let you know my food and exercise for that day and how I've been feeling.  Come and join me on my journey.

Fit at 40!

I'm on a mission.  You see I'm 3 stone overweight and am forty next year.  I want to lose weight and be fit and healthy.  I figure twelve months is a realistic goal to learn to eat healthily and make exercise part of my life. This blog is my journey and I hope you'll join me.

Let me give you a bit of background. I'm a thirty eight year old mother of two who works full time mainly sitting down all day.  I love cakes, no I mean I really love cakes, well to be honest anything sweet! I'm the person who buy's two or three cakes/chocolate bars because I can't choose between them and then eats them all.  Did I mention sweets? I love sweets too, I don't know who's more excited visiting a sweet shop my kids or me! I even sniff food if I'm not eating it, yep you heard me right, I'm the person sniffing the cupcakes in the office if I'm not eating them, weird or what! I'm the person checking out the dessert menu in the restaurant so I can make sure it takes priority over my main.

Food has always been my downfall.  They say 70% of abs are made in the kitchen not in the gym, well that might explain it.  I never used to have a problem with food, I could eat what I wanted and didn't put on any weight but I think a combination of age, underactive thyroid (which is now under control with medication) and a sweet addiction contributed to where I am now.

Well that's what I'm about in a nutshell.  Outside of the above I love interiors  and beauty products so they will be making a regular apperance too. In my next post I'll let you know what I've been doing for the past five weeks on my quest to be Hot and Forty!

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