Slimming World

Slimming World Update – Week 17

13/11/2013 by MrsSavageAngel Leave a Comment

Morning!

So this last weekend, we went to visit our friends Ronen and Natalie in Norfolk. It was just so lovely to get away. I mean we love visiting friends and family in Devon, but this was just something a bit different. And our hosts were amazing – going above and beyond, organising a trip to a soft play for Oscar and to the hairdressers for me! It was super. Nat and Ron are also fans of the old SW, so all the amazing food was cooked with weight loss in mind. The wine however? Not so much. We ate, drank and laughed. But hey didn’t I say that I was going with my casual SW hat on?

I was aiming for a maintain this week. I was fine with this in principle. I made this choice. But when I returned home on Sunday, I swore I could see the weight I had “gained”. I was so upset. In fact I think I was just a little bloated. But do you know, I’ve never been able to see/feel changes in my weight like that before. Looking back I wouldn’t notice a thing until my clothes didn’t fit etc. I think this means I am more in tune with the shape, look and (without sounding pervy!) feel of my body. I’ve started looking in the mirror more too, something I’ve avoided for so long. It’s a start.

So anyway after all that, last night’s weigh in was a bit of surprise. I lost 1lb! I was thrilled and a little bit stunned. So stunned that I didn’t realise, until Zoe pointed it out, that I am now 0.5lb away from 3 Stones. So total lost is 2 Stone 13.5lb (41.5lb) so far.

We also had the vote last night for our group’s Miss Slinky 2013, for which I was nominated. To be honest I felt a bit of a fraud being nominated at all – slinky I am not! But I was also very touched. The groups winner was a lady called Corrinn. She looked fantastic in a strapless number she hasn’t fitted into for over a decade!! I was so pleased for her! Way to go Corrinn!

So my plan for next week is pretty obvious – I want to get my 3 Stone award! So a loss of 0.5lb please and a couple more lb wouldn’t go a miss either 😉 . I am still on track to lose 3.5 Stone by Christmas, so maybe I should make it more interesting and say 3.5 Stone by my husbands Christmas party on 13th December? That gives me 4 weeks. Hmmm. Yeah – sod it!

LETS DO IT!

Top: Taken the week before I started SW
Bottom: last night, dressed up for Miss Slinky

Slimming World Update – Week 16

06/11/2013 by MrsSavageAngel Leave a Comment

Well hello there!

Hope you’re all well and enjoying the change in the season? It’s been cold enough this week for the first fire of the season. We had a log burner installed when we moved in two years ago and we still get so excited lighting it. I also get a perverse pleasure in the knowledge that we are using wood from our own tress. Free heat, free heat. I just love sticking it to the “man” 😉

552998_10151996555970921_606202545_n — Mmmmm free heat

The cold weather also means its stew season (some people love a good soup, but they’re not my fave). We had a fantastic Beef and Ale stew at our friends on Saturday night. I couldn’t syn it very accurately, but it was full of free and super free goodies (beef, mushrooms, whole baby carrots) and it was delicious! There was also homemade bread to go with it, which in the past I would have eaten great chunks of smothered thickly in butter. On Saturday I had half a slice with no butter, but do you know, I totally didn’t feel like I was missing out. It soaked the gravy up beautifully and I enjoyed every mouthful. I fully intend to make some stews in the coming weeks, but probably with just syn free stock rather than ale 😉

So anyway despite having several evenings out this past week, all involving varying amounts of wine, I had a great weigh in last night. I lost 2.5lb taking my total to 2 Stone 12.5lb (40.5lb). This also pushed me down into the next stone, something I said I wanted to achieve before we go to visit our friends in Norfolk this weekend. I’m really pleased that I achieved what I set out to. I can’t wait to see Ron and Nat’s faces when they see me (having not seen me since May). I really think they might see a difference!

So because we have this weekend away I think I want to be realistic about this coming week. Was I not going away I would definitely be aiming to reach 3 Stone by next Tuesday. But you know what? We rarely get to go anywhere and this is a weekend I’ve been looking forward to for ages. So although I wont go nuts and will have my SW hat on (Ron and Nat also cook the SW way), it’ll only be my casual SW hat, not my Sunday best. I can wait a couple of weeks to reach my 3 Stone award. I will be happy with a maintain this week.

I hope you enjoy your weeks as much as I plan to enjoy mine 😉

I just heard from our leader Zoe that I have been nominated along with three other ladies in the group for Miss Slinky 2013! Its just a bit of fun where we get to dress up and group members can then vote for who’s looking the best (I think thats right anyway). Even though its just a bit of fun I can’t tell you how honoured and touched I am to have been nominated. My friend and Woman of the Year, Emma, has also been nominated. Yeay us! God knows what I’m going to wear though :s

Will let you know how it goes!

Slimming World Update – Week 15

30/10/2013 by MrsSavageAngel Leave a Comment

Morning!

Hope you have all had fabulous weeks? Mine not been too bad, but we’re coming into the “busy” season and that makes me very happy. I love feeling busy. It fills me with a sense of purpose. We’ve got so much coming up, including weekends away and parties to attend. Super!

Anyway. This week has seen me eating some delicious meals, all on plan, but for some reason this week has also seen me picking. At this and that and mainly at Oscars food. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t feed my son food terribly unhealthy food, but a mini cheddar here and a slice of lean sausage all adds up. And mostly its when I’m not even hungry. I’ve not done this kind of thing until recently and I’m not sure why I’ve started now. However I do know that I haven’t been using my food diary as much this week and I know that this hasn’t helped. I need the daily accountability to keep me focused. Slimming World doesn’t insist that you keep a food diary past the first few weeks, but I do. My behaviour this week (picking and not recording) shows me that it’s an invaluable tool for me and I need to utilise it better.

Last nights weigh in was good. Our usual leader Zoe was away with a terrible stomach bug (someone did suggest that this was just cheating 😉 ).The consultant covering her, Helen, was lovely and super fun, but (and no offence to Helen at all) we hope Zoe gets well soon – we missed her!

To business. I lost 2lb, taking my total lost to 2 Stone 10lb (38lb). I also got Slimmer of the Week. I’m happy with this progress, particularly as it puts me well on my way to dropping into the next stone bracket. I know I said last week I had 3lb to lose to do this, but I miscounted (duh!) and it was actually 4lb. Anyway I am half way there, and I’d still love to do this before I go to Norfolk next weekend. Which means a 2lb loss this week please. Thank you kindly.

So the plan for the coming week is to use my diary more diligently, to stop picking at Oscars food and to lose 2lb. And (weather permitting) go to a firework display on Saturday followed by a carefully chosen Chinese take away on Saturday with the wonderful Ord family. Sweet.

Have a wonderful week people.

PS Just had to share this. The picture on the left was take in May 2013, the one of the right this week. I can’t stop looking at it!

Left taken in May 2013, Right taken in Oct 2013. Getting there. — What a difference 15 weeks and 2 Stone 10lb can make!

P.P.S. This Saturday will also see me volunteering at our local NCT Nearly New Sale. Our branch runs a fabulous sale – not the normal kind of bun fight you might associate with NCT Nearly New Sales I can assure you! You can pick up some fantastic bargains for the children at these sales and who doesn’t love a bargain – particularly with Christmas round the corner. I’d highly recommend it.

It’s at Haslemere Hall, Bridge Road, Haslemere, from 10.30am – 1.30pm on Saturday 2nd November 2013. Hope to see you there!

Slimming World Update – Week 14

23/10/2013 by MrsSavageAngel Leave a Comment

Morning!

Hope you’ve had a great week? Mine’s been a bit meh to be honest. I thought the week I received the news of a surprise inheritance would be awesome – but things rarely turn out how you imagine. Life takes care of that. Oscar is growing and changing at a rapid speed at the moment and we’re both struggling to keep up somewhat. One day last week saw me reduced to tears (what mama isn’t sometimes?) and craving comfort. Lets be honest I was craving sugar. It also happened to be the day I was making a jar of granola for Ben’s birthday. My Granola contains sugar, golden syrup, cinnamon, dried fruit. It is sweeet! I had some. I couldn’t even begin to syn it! I felt better. Hmmmm.

So anyway after a couple of days that could have been better, I wasn’t hopeful for last nights weigh in. I should have had more faith. You remember I wanted to reach 2.5 Stone by the end of October? Well last night I lost 4lb and reached my 2.5 Stone Award a week before I planned. I am thrilled! It gives me an extra week to work on losing the next stone before Christmas! I also got Slimmer of the Week :). So now I have lost 2 Stone 8lb (36lb) in total. Big smiles all round!

However it has made me think. The craving for comfort food was so strong this past week. Stronger than I’ve experienced since I started this journey. I was upset and a switch flipped in my brain. Its better than it used to be, but I’ve had this reaction for as long as I can remember. Which begs the question, if you’ve always reached for food to comfort you, what do you do when you don’t want to do this any more?

It’s not a question I have the answer to yet. But its definitely something I’m working on. I think it’ll be one of the keys to my long term success. I also think its a question only I can answer. Great – more work 😉

Anywho! I’ve had some great toddler based advice from a Nanny friend of mine and have been putting it into practice. I’m seeing changes already, so hopefully this coming week will be less…. challenging shall we say? I have 3lb to lose to drop down into the next stone bracket and so I think I’d like to do that over the next two weeks. That would be just in time for our visit to our lovely friends in Norfolk.

Lovely.

Have a great week guys. Big hugs (from a tiny bit smaller arms 😉 )

Slimming World Update – Week 13

16/10/2013 by MrsSavageAngel Leave a Comment

Morning people!

Hope you’ve had a good week. Mines been pretty good with some great food eaten. Now Strictly is back and we’re properly into it, I don’t mind staying in at the weekends so much and I try and make our dinner on Saturday a bit special (yes we eat it on the sofa whilst watching celebs being whirled round the dancefloor). Before I started SW, we used to have something like a pizza or something else like that as a “treat” when watching Strictly. The number of Syns in a pizza not with standing (although frightening!), it’s not really a treat if you do it every week, its a habit and to be honest it had lost its sparkle before I even started Slimming World. I want to really enjoy the food I eat now (and I mean really really enjoy it). This Saturday we had an A-Ma-Zing steak for dinner, with roasted new potatoes, balsamic dressed rocket salad, home grown tomatoes, mushrooms with fresh garlic and light mayo. The only thing I had to count on the plate was the mayo. It was a meal fit for a Craig Revel-Horwood dust covered 10! And I correctly predicted who would be going home this week. Sorry Vanessa, but you really did suck!

feature-craigrevel — Sounds fabulous dahhhhling

So to this weeks result. I was a little nervous about my weigh in yesterday. Having gained 0.5lb last week, I was desperate to get back on track. If you remember last week I said I wanted to lose the 0.5lb I’d gained and 1 more lb to boot. And do you know? That’s exactly what I did! Exactly! I lost 1.5lb, taking my total lost to 2 Stone 4lb (32lb).

1.5lb might not sound like a great deal in the grand scheme of things, but do you know what? It’s 1.5lb I’m not carrying round anymore, and that to me is the most important thing. I was as happy this week as I was the week I lost 4.5lb. As long as its coming off, it’s all good to me. On a weight loss journey, the difference between the weeks is what keeps you on your toes. As someone said to me last week, “that’s why its called a journey”.

So as it stands I’m 3lb away from my 2.5 Stone award. Much as I would like to reach that asap (who wouldn’t!) I’m being realistic in my expectations, so I would like to reach that by the end of October.

Have a great week people!

PS – again I’m still not sure if she reads this, but last night my sister in law reached her 1 stone award at Weight Watchers. Considering she only gave birth to my niece in July I think she’s doing blooming marvelously. Nice one Nic!