Slimming World

Slimming World Update – Week 62

25/09/2014 by MrsSavageAngel Leave a Comment

Wotcha (does anyone still say that, other than cockney children in the 80’s?)

How’s your week been? If it’s been nothing else I hope it was fun!

Mine’s not been too bad as it goes. Busy, but productive for the most part. There’s few better feelings than getting stuff done. It’s just so satisfying. I couldn’t even tell you what I’ve gotten done, so many little bitty things, but then it’s the small stuff that makes up life isn’t it?

OK, so firstly I have a confession. Last week I set myself two goals. One was to lose 1lb and the other was not to weigh myself on my own scales in between weigh ins. Truth is, I actually found not weighing myself at home much harder than I anticipated. I found myself thinking I’d just ‘check’ and having to stop myself all week. And on Tuesday morning I finally caved. I couldn’t even make it a whole week. I’m disappointed in myself, but I also know leaving the scales where they were was tempting fate. I should have just done what my mum said and put them in the shed! They didn’t give me the actual weight I was at weigh in anyway, so why did I bother? Seriously! This coming week I will ask Ben to hide them. I want to see how it feels to go a whole week without just ‘checking’. And also I figure if I can make it through a couple of weeks it’ll get easier – I didn’t weigh myself at home for the first 6 months of this journey so really it’s just a silly habit I need to break.

As to the other goal, well you’ll be pleased to hear I lost 1.5lb at last night’s weigh in, taking my total lost to 6 stone 5.5lb (89.5lb). I’ve finally lost more than the lowest I got to this summer. I’m really pleased with this and finally feel I’m losing weight again, rather than just paying off the interest (if I can use a financial metaphor for a moment!). This summer has been a funny one really. I got my 6 stone in June and then spent the next three months on some kind of wiggly detour. It would have been nice to have followed a more linear route, but hey, I’m still going. I’ve said it so many times you probably get sick of hearing it, but this is a journey, not a sprint to the finish. It’s about losing weight, yes. But it’s also about learning and trying and failing and persevering. Of becoming someone I can be proud to be. Losing weight alone wouldn’t give me that. I don’t believe you’re a better person just because you’re ‘thin’. For me it’s all about the process.

And that’s something I’ve been thinking about a lot. Earlier on in the week I read the most marvellous post by Weight Loss Bitch (if you’re interested in weight loss, Slimming World or indeed motivation this blog is for you. This lady has so far lost 21st with Slimming World and her writing regularly inspires me.) It’s all about not comparing yourself and your weight loss journey to anyone else’s. If you have the time I heartily recommend reading it. From a personal point of view, I have people tell me from time to time, that they wished they could be as motivated as me or lose as (mostly) consistently as I do or as much as I have. And I mentally shake my head, because I know the struggle I go through to do it and wouldn’t wish it on anyone. But then I know I’ve been guilty of it myself in the past, particularly when people lose large chunks of weight at a time. Thing is, I don’t know their situation, the emotional impact their weight or their body image has on them. And it came up in group this week, when someone made a comment about our consultant Sara’s figure. Sara has done brilliantly well on Slimming World, losing weight and keeping it off. But as she said “just because I ‘look like this’, what makes you think I’m happy? We none of us know the issues the other deal with every day. You can be inspired by others, absolutely , but comparing your journey to anyone else’s, as far as I can see, really will bring you no peace.

Just a thought.

Anyway, so the coming week has a couple of small challenges for me, mostly in the form of wine. I don’t really drink, unless it’s a special occasion (night out, wedding etc). This weekend we have Ben’s mum coming to visit and sitting around chatting with guests and a glass of the ole Chardonnay (said in best TOWIE accent) is one of my fave things to do. I wont be going mad, but it’s best to be honest with yourself. If I can maintain this week I will be happy. I know it’s only 1.5lb to my next award, but you know, I’ve been waiting for it so blimmin’ long, another week wont kill me, especially if it’s in the name of fun 😉

And to end I thought I’d share this with you. Not sure if you remember a post I wrote back in May about my shopping trip to Fat Face? I was so happy I could finally fit into proper brand names. Any who I recently added that post to a blog linkup called All About Me and it got an amazing response, even from Fat Face themselves (welcoming me as a customer – sweet). Only then I realised, I’ve lost a stone since then and I wondered if I could see a difference. I think I can.

What a stone looks like from the back. May to Sept 2014

Have a great week people

xxxxxxx

Slimming World Update – Week 61

18/09/2014 by MrsSavageAngel Leave a Comment

Hiya! How ya’ been?

I’ve not been too bad as it goes. Nothing as exciting as jaunts up to London to report this week, more of a standard mummy week. Some difficult, some lovely times with my boy. That sort of thing.

Can I ask a question? If you’re on any sort of weight loss journey, do you weigh yourself in between weigh ins? I do. I try and try not to. My scales aren’t professionally calibrated and I know my weight fluctuates throughout the week, everyones does. But I just can’t help myself. And it’s a mug’s game I can tell you. Some weeks it can give false hope for a great result, and other times it gives you an unnecessarily negative view of the week’s progress. What it rarely does is give you the true picture. So why do I do it? Like this week. I weighed myself at home and my scales told me I’d gained 1.5lb. This didn’t come as a massive shock Perhaps it was London catching up with me or maybe it was the way I’d been guesstimating my syns a little bit too much. Either way I was not surprised, but I was downhearted. Particularly, as I’d had a really stressful week with the boy and not once had I given in to chocolate’s silky siren song. No matter how much I wanted it. No matter how hard I’d fought my internal demons (to the point of rooting me to the spot – I physically couldn’t move I was raging so much inside). To see I’d gained anyway was just so annoying. So when I took the boy to the Hen House on Tuesday I decided if I was going to have gained anyway, I wanted it to be because of something worth talking about. So I had a piece of Carrot Cake. The most delicious Carrot Cake I think I’ve ever had. And I thoroughly enjoyed it. In a devil may care, renegade kind of way.

I went to weigh in thoroughly expecting at least a 1.5lb gain (if not more!) and I’d lost 2lb! Taking my total lost to 6 Stone 4lb. And I was thrilled. But I know the false vision my scales at home gave me did me no real favours. Maybe that 2lb could have been 2.5lb if I’d not had the cake (as I wouldn’t normally). Don’t get me wrong I’m really happy with a 2lb loss, but I know I need to stop weighing myself midweek. It’s doing no one any favours. Except perhaps the purveyors of fine cakes 😉

So this week I’m setting myself two goals. The first is to lose 1lb. I’m still on track to get to 7 Stone by losing 10lb before Christmas in 14 weigh ins. The next is to NOT weigh myself at home, even once, in the coming week. I’m going scales cold turkey, as it were. Can you hold me to that? Thanks. I’ll let you know how I get on.

And this week I’m hoping any craving for chocolate can be dealt with using the new SW Double Choc Crisp Hi-Fi bars. Have you tried them yet? 3 syns each or 2 bars for a HEB. I don’t know about you, but the name didn’t really inspire me that much, I have to say. But the taste? Wow. They’re properly delicious and I can see the really chocolatey flavour dealing with any cravings. Although in the interest of conducting a full and thorough experiment, I did have to buy two boxes worth. Just to be on the safe side you understand 😉 . If you’re a Slimming World member they should be in your group now. I heartily recommend giving them a try and if you like them, tell SW! These are currently a Limited Edition bar, but if enough people like them they might make them standard stock. And that would be just super!

Double Choc Crisp Hi-Fi Light - 3 syns each or 2 bars for a HEB — Double Choc Crisp Hi-Fi Light – 3 syns each or 2 bars for a HEB

Have a great week, not weighing yourself!

xxx

Slimming World Update – Week 60

11/09/2014 by MrsSavageAngel Leave a Comment

Konnichiwa!

Sorry I spent most of yesterday going all Japanesey and I think it’s rubbed off a little. I definitely want sushi this weekend (where we live we only get fresh sushi on Saturdays! If that doesn’t class an area as rural then I don’t know what does 😉 )

So yeah, yesterday. I wasn’t planning to weigh in last night, as I was up in London. I was planning to wait until Thursday morning and to be honest I wish I had. But I made a concerted effort to get back last night and although I arrived late, Sara very kindly weighed me after everyone had gone. Which was lucky. As I never, ever weigh in in jeans I decided to take them off. Yes that’s right ladies & gentlemen. I weighed in in just my pants and tshirt. Didn’t make any bloody difference though. Still gained 0.5lb (Total lost 6 Stone 2lb).

So I could use the event in London as an excuse (sushi, nibbles and lots of drinking mostly of the non alcoholic variety). But to be honest I’ve had a shitty cold all week and I know I’ve gone over my syns. I’ve been tired to my very core, but whilst in my pre child days I would just moan and mope about, retreating to bed when I felt truly terrible, that just isn’t possible now. Not even a little bit. So what do you do? Dose yourself up and carry on, ignoring your body’s pleas to lie down. And occasionally having more food than you need. It’s not like I went out and gorged on cake or anything I swear, but I’ve had big bowls of bran flakes and sultanas when I know I haven’t had the syns for it, that sort of thing. Meh I could make excuses all day, but thems are the facts and there’s no point mithering over them.

What I have done this week is achieved LOADS. Yes I’ve had a so so week at the scales, but in real life I’ve had a great week (apart from the crappy cold of course). I kept my son fed, watered, entertained and interested for most of the week and blimey that in itself is a triumph when feeling like pants! I managed to get our shit together enough to go out on various days and not only that we also had people over. One day I fed two toddlers and a baby all at the same time. Big up me!

I wrote three full size blog posts, one more than normal, which have all be incredibly well received. No mean feat when your toddlers naps are getting shorter by the week.

I cleaned the kitchen from top to bottom (for some mad reason) including cleaning the cooker. What the hell? I honestly cleaned like the Queen was coming to tea. Which is possibly why Ben’s mum is now coming to visit at the end of the month. She saw I’d been cleaning and felt it best to come while it would still be in a fair state. And after once coming down with the winter vomiting bug during one visit, who can blame her!

I got myself some freelance work administrating a Parent Blogger Leaderboard. So it’s using software I’ve used previously, working with a community I’m already involved with. What’s not to love about this? It’s only a few hours a month, but it’s some kind of income again. Hoo flippin’ Rah!

The washing machine threw an epic fail last week, chewing one of my Bravissimo bras up in the process. Seriously, it ripped that sucker to pieces! Vicious! So on Saturday we went back to the lovely Bravissimo shop in Guildford to get me a new one. I thought I’d better check my size while I was there (as the cups on the existing ones were starting to look a bit like they had room for storage at the top!) The lovely fitter, Hannah (who fitted me last time funnily enough) immediately told me the cup was too big (which I knew) and went to get me another couple of sizes to try. Going down a back size was even mentioned, but in the end we kept the band the same and just went down a cup size. The difference was obvious and immediate. And so comfortable. So in the end I guess the washing machine did me a favour!

Bravissimo - Guildford — Bravissimo – Guildford

I went up to London, on my own, to meet a group of people I’d never met. If that doesn’t deserve a little pat on the back then what does? Seriously Let me know. I went to The Beni Girls Bash, a blogger event at Benihana in Chelsea. I will write more about it soon, but suffice to say I had the most amazing day, meeting the most interesting people (one of which I ended up chatting to about SW – haha I find them where ever I go!) and eating some, not always the most optimised but, truly delicious food!

Boats full of sushi - now that's a flotilla I could get behind — Boats full of sushi – now that’s a flotilla I could get behind

Chicken Teryaki - which they placed directly in front of me. With a fork! — Chicken Teryaki – which they placed directly in front of me. With a fork!

I took this selfie on the way into town and received THE most overwhelming response.

I liked the picture, but oh my life the response has been incredible. People I’ve never met have been commenting on it and Slimming World Head Office sent me this tweet. I’m a little bit bewildered by it all if truth be told, but I am so grateful.

So yeah it would have been nice to be able to come here today and tell you about a loss, but hey – look at the week I’ve had! And after all, isn’t that what this journey’s been about all along? The numbers are just that and yeah you want them to move in the downwards direction on a mostly regular basis, but for me, the life losing weight has given me is so much more than a number on a scale.

Have great weeks people!

xxx

Slimming World Update – Week 59

04/09/2014 by MrsSavageAngel Leave a Comment

Hiya! How’s you?

I’m good thanks. Still slightly baffled that it’s September already but good. Seriously though, where did the summer go? A blink of the eye and you’d have missed it! The weather’s already on the turn and the boots have been dragged out from the back of the cupboard once already this week. Autumn is definitely upon us. I don’t know about you, but for as long as I can remember, September has felt like the start of something new. When you (or your children) are at school, September is the start of the new school year, but actually I’ve found it hard to shake that feeling of new beginnings in September, even when the school year no longer had any baring on my life.

We talked a lot about new beginnings in SW group last night. I think many people find it hard over the summer months (particularly when children are home from school) to find a focus they once had. It’s understandable really. We can be creatures of habit and having that routine thrown out of the window for 6 or 8 weeks can be tough to take. I think holidays and days out can also be challenging, particularly in terms of planning ahead and food optimising etc, and a couple of ‘bad’ weeks can play havoc with your motivation. But the children start going back to school this week and routines are being re-established. I think everyone, whether they have school to worry about or not, was feeling that new start last night. I definitely felt a renewed sense of vigour in the room. We talked a lot about going back to basics. Regaining that spark we once had. Falling in love with our food again. We also talked about revisiting the personal reasons we each had for joining Slimming World in the first place. It’s so much easier to carry on a journey, if you can remember why you started it. I’ve covered my own reasons at length before, but for me it boils down to being happy in my own skin. Losing so much weight has made me so happy, I just don’t want to lose that.

And when I weighed in with a loss of 2.5lb last night, I really felt the happy! That takes me to a loss of 6 Stone 2.5lb (86lb) and well onto the journey of reaching 7 Stone lost by Christmas.

So today I’ve been heeding Sara’s advice and going back to basics. After a great morning at The Hen House, chatting about motivation with my friend (and fellow SWer) Emma, I came home and made a gorgeous salad, with mixed leaves, pepper, cucumber, hot smoked salmon and my new favourite, pickled red cabbage, followed by a box of fresh cherries. All free (or Super Free even better!) and all delicious!

A super (free) lunch for a super new year!

Have a great week, going back to basics and falling in love with your food again.

xxx

Slimming World Update – Week 58

29/08/2014 by MrsSavageAngel Leave a Comment

Hi guys

I’m so sorry this update is late. I had a bit of a crazy day today. If you follow my blog, you might recall my toddler son has delayed speech. Anyway, as a precaution we took him today to get his hearing tested. Man that was stressful! The first part of the test he did brilliantly well, in fact I was astounded at how quickly he picked up what they wanted him to do. It was the second part, where they had to place a probe in his ear to check for signs of blockages and glue ear that he really really hated. It was worse than getting his hair cut! Anyway luckily he passed all tests with flying colours. He can hear just fine, all frequencies and all volumes. He still has delayed speech and there may be a hundred and one reasons for that, but at least we know lack of hearing is not one of them.

So anyway on to last night’s weigh in. Do you know I had a really funny (as in peculiar, not haha) day yesterday. I had some really interesting conversations with a friend, which left me incredibly pensive, with lots to think about and not in the mood for group at all. I went along anyway, weighed in and found I’d lost 0.5lb (it’s a loss I guess), taking me back up to 6 Stone lost. I sat down to stay, but was hit with an overwhelming urge to leave. So I did. I suddenly felt overwhelmed by, well I don’t know really, everything? And I walked over the Co-Op, hell bent on acquiring my drug of choice – sugar, in the form of cookies. I walked straight in, picked up the cookies and slowly walked back towards the checkout. I then thought I’d just have a wander round, all the time planning how I was going to eat the cookies and how they were going to taste. But the more I walked round, the more the overwhelmed feeling subsided. I spent 15 minutes just wandering round, before I decided to leave the cookies and go home. I left the Co-op empty handed and walked back up to the crossing. And it was then I realised I had a choice. I could carry on home and feel defeated or cross over, back to group, and chose to not feel beaten. I arrived back in group, to people pleased to see me. I’m so glad I made the choice I did.

And I guess that’s what this journey, heck what life, comes down to. We have choices to make every day. Some are small and seemingly insignificant, others mahoosive and life changing, but we all have choice. Even if it’s between a rock and a hard place, it’s a choice and it’s ours to take. And I think last night also showed me the benefit of time. Taking that tiny bit of time to allow impulses to be questioned. I could happily have shoved all five cookies down my neck at minute 0, but by minute 15 I was back in control. Taking time and listening to your instinct and not your impulse are definitely my recommendations for the week – give them a try 😉

Anyway – deep and heavy stuff over! I’ll finish on a positive note – yup I’ve been spending again! Another totally positive purchase. One of my goals for this coming year was a to get a new coat, as my old ones were both old and MASSIVE on me now. I had already decided that as I don’t go into work I didn’t need a ‘smart’ coat any more so was looking for something more jackety. But not too boring and nothing shapeless! I have a waist now for goodness sake! I saw a picture of a biker/moto jacket on Twitter a few weeks ago and my heart was sold. I ummed and ahhed over whether to go for it. I could only afford pleather, would it look rubbish, would I look to mutton dressed as lamb, was it a good use of money, blah, blah, blah. And after all that had quietened I just went with my heart! And I’m so glad I did! It’s this one from Next and a size 18 (to allow for jumper room in the colder months) making it 3 sizes smaller than my old black wool coat and 4 sizes smaller than this grey one.

It’s so different to anything I’ve ever owned and I just adore it. Thank you to everyone who has given me compliments on it. I’ll get you a full size photo soon – promise 😉

670-154-G92s2 — Black Quilted PU Biker Jacket – Next

Have a great week, taking time and recognising the choices you have.

xxxx