Award

Slimming World Update – Week 49

27/06/2014 by MrsSavageAngel Leave a Comment

Hi guys

I’ve got so much to talk about today I’m not sure where to start!

I think I’ll begin with a reminder (if you’ve heard it before) or by letting you know (if you haven’t) that mrssavageangel now has her very own Facebook page. Bless her heart. She got a bit bolshy and insisted that if cats and babies can have their own pages (dear god) then why couldn’t she! So I finally capitulated and set one up (I didn’t want to annoy her – you should hear the language when she’s pissed off !). From July 1st all posts will be uploaded to Mrssavageangel’s page (and no longer my personal one). So if you’re enjoying my wittering on, be it about parenting or weight loss then come on over and join us at mrssavageangel (do I really need to tell you to LIKE me? Eww – how needy?) All posts will be uploaded along with various other updates, photos and general chatter.

Right, putting the shameless self publicist back in her box.

I suppose the first thing you really want to hear was how the wedding went. It was super! The weather was glorious all day (not always guaranteed despite it being June – hey Kerrina?) The bride was wearing possibly the nicest wedding dress I’ve ever seen (bar my own maybe, but she looked better in hers than I did in mine!) and looked radiant all day. So firstly I’d like to say a massive congratulations to Stacy and Craig.

10502090_10153145446545616_5463877868414543257_n — Congratulations Mrs and Mrs Stevenson

The most gorgeous bridal gown ever - almost ;) — The most gorgeous bridal gown ever – almost 😉

My Joules dress was a proper trooper, looking and feeling amazing all day. I can’t explain just how elegant and, without sounding gushy, god damn gorgeous I felt all day.

Full length toilet selfie - it's gotta be done, right? — Full length toilet selfie – it’s gotta be done, right?

Even after I gave up on the heels and moved on to comfy flats.

Me and the Bride — the evening was spent in comfy shoes!

I got compliments galore and so many surprised and amazed looks. I even had a couple of people walk past me not recognising me which was super cool (in a weird sort of way!) So thank you lovely dress. I just need to think of another excuse to wear you before you no longer fit! Which if last nights weigh in was anything to go by, might not so such a long time.

I absolutely expected a maintain or even a gain this week. My sister in law and I drank inordinate amounts of wine on Friday night, while we put the world to rights and the wedding meal itself was a cream tea. But well I didn’t go ballistic and as soon as we came home I was straight back to normal. And last night I lost 1lb, which the eagle-eyed among you might realise that took me to where I wanted to be last week.

I have now lost exactly 6 stone (84lbs)

I nearly cried when I looked down and James, the chap on weigh in, will tell you I could barely stand for the excitement! But here it is. Woop woop!

I’m so very proud of this achievement, despite the way I still have to go. And as the weeks creep by it’s getting easier for even those who don’t know me well to see the difference. I’ve had a couple of people I only really know by sight mention my weight loss this week and I think that’s a sure sign that you’re making an impact. But it has also raised a question in my mind. When people, very kindly and thoughtfully tell me how great I’m looking or how well I’m doing, it’s invariably followed by the question “How did you do it”? To which I always answer “Slimming World”. But, do you know what? Just lately, I’m starting to feel like that’s giving Slimming World all the credit. It feels like I’ve got nothing to do with it at all. And yes the eating plan I’m following was devised by SW and yes it’s working really well for me, but that plan would exist whether I followed it or not. What’s really helped me and Slimming World get to where I am today is me. Its my determination, my hard work, my focus, my responsibility. So yes Slimming World is absolutely playing a role and very important role, but so am I. I would urge anyone who wants to lose weight or who is losing weight to take responsibility for their journey, but likewise take the credit where credit is due. If people ask me from now on I think I’m going to say “Me and Slimming World – we’re making a great team”.

Right (she’s says as she climbs down of her soap box), the coming week has various happenings (June promised to be busy right to the end and I tell you it’s actually starting to spill into July!) We have friends coming over tomorrow to help Ben build a deck in the garden, possibly in the rain! I shall be supervising, in a childcare capacity and preparing BBQ – SW friendly of course! I’m happy I got my award, but don’t forget I still have another two stone to lose to get to my next interim target. So this week I plan to start making an inroads into my next award. You know the 6 and a half stone award. Sorry, that just sounds crazy! But, you know, good crazy 😉 !

Have a great week, taking credit where credit’s due!

xxxxx

Slimming World Update – Week 33

05/03/2014 by MrsSavageAngel Leave a Comment

Hiya

I’ve got a lot of things to say today, I just don’t know where to start. I guess I should start with a warning. I know (because people tell me – a lot) these posts about SW are almost exclusively positive, upbeat and full of joy. Today’s? Well it might not be quite so perky. Just saying.

So, I had a (what felt like, but I know it’s not really) massive gain of 1.5lb last night. I knew I’d had a bit of a sesh on Saturday and I wasn’t hopeful of any sort of loss, but seriously? 1.5lb gain? It really shocked me. So total lost now is 4 Stone 10.5lb. Taking me just that bit further away from my 5 Stone target.

And I’m a little downhearted if truth be told. And not just because I had a stupid little gain.

You see there’s this. You. My blog. So many people have told me how much my journey has inspired their own, or inspired them in another way. It’s incredibly humbling and I feel very honoured, but what if I’m not actually up to the task of being “an inspiration”? I’ve said all along I don’t want anyone to think my life, or weight loss journey, is easy or perfect cos its not. It’s really not. I struggle every day. Every. Day. With food choices, with ingrained behaviours, with self doubt, with knowing I’ve still got so very far to go. With finding that little something thats going to keep my head in the right space, keep me going forward. It’s fucking hard work. Sorry but it is.

And I’m scared. I’ve spoken before about weighing less now than I ever have in my adult life. And that is a fab achievement and feeling and all that, I absolutely agree. But you have to understand this is unchartered territory for me. I’ve never been here before (well I must have come through here at some point to get to where I was, but I swear I couldn’t tell you when) and I’m worried that actually I don’t know how to be here. To weigh so much less than I did. I actually had a visualisation of me running away from my old weight the other day. Like it’s an entity and I am actually being chased by it. It’s clear that something has not been put to rest. Does anyone know how I’m supposed to kill this thing dead? If it’s always chasing me will it ever matter how much I lose? Like I said, hard work.

So yeah, this is all going on in my head. The same head that’s also focusing on raising a son (he’s nearly two and still not talking – what am I doing wrong/what could I be doing to help) and trying to earn some money and writing and dealing with a possible stomach ulcer. It’s called life. Unfortunately you can’t just check out of “life”when you’ve got an issue to deal with. Be nice if you could 😉 . It all has to come along for the ride. Hence the cheeky sesh round at the neighbours on Saturday, hence a little gain.

I’m sorry for the downer today – although I did try and warn you. If you do come here looking for a positive read, then maybe this might help. After all I’ve just said, I did actually win an award last night. I won The Greatest Loser 2014 for my group. Slimming World run their year March to March and as such each group gives the member that has lost the most weight in that time a Greatest Loser award. When Zoe told me I’d won a few days ago I was stumped – I had no idea this was even a thing. But yep it really is and 4 stone 12lb (going on last weeks weight) is the most any member of my group had lost since last March. I got a certificate, a sticker for my book and a sash. Check me out:

It was a great recognition of all that very hard work I’ve just described and for that I am grateful. One swallow doesn’t make a summer or in this case one small gain doesn’t make a failure.

As a friend once told me; Lisa, it’ll be alright in the end. And if it’s not alright, then honey, it’s not the end.

And this is not the end!

Big loves

xxx

Slimming World Update – Week 31

21/02/2014 by MrsSavageAngel Leave a Comment

Hola!

How’s your week been? Mines been good, with plenty going on, despite it being the half term holiday, which normally stops us in our tracks a bit. Maybe it’s because he’s getting older, I don’t know, but I didn’t find this school holiday as hard as I have done in the past (you can read my previous musings on school holidays here, if you’re interested).

Food wise I’ve had an interesting week. You might recall I talked about doing a Success Express week, with two thirds of every meal consisting of SuperFree foods (fruit and veg). It was an interesting exercise, and whilst I’m not sure I completely followed the principles to the letter all week, I do know it made me much more conscious of the amount of SuperFree in my meals. I also chose to base meals around vegetables, rather than using them as sides. This worked really well and resulted in meals such as Mediterranean Ratatouille with roast pork and Pepper, Mushroom and Aubergine curry. I also found I was eating more fruit (went nuts and bought loads of types I don’t normally get), both as snacks and as desserts. I didn’t find it any harder than an average week – it just took a little more consideration at the beginning of the week. It’s something I’d definitely do again and actually it’s made me realise I want to up the amount of Super Free I eat anyway. Tis all good!

So all in all a great week. The hardest part of the week, was actually the weigh in. I didn’t go to my usual group on Tuesday as I couldn’t get there (hope you had amazing holiday Sarah!) Instead I went to the Haslemere group on Thursday. That two extra day wait to see if what I was doing was working was excruciating!! But I can confirm that yes it was working and last night I lost the 0.5lb I put on last week, the 2lb I needed to get my next award and an extra 2lb just for fun 😉 Yup I lost 4.5lb which takes my total lost to 4 Stone 9.5lb (65.5lb). The consultant at Haslemere said she felt very privileged to give me my 4.5 Stone award, which was very sweet of her.

I have 2lb to lose to drop into the next stone bracket so I think I’d like to do that this week please.

Super!!

I’m going to be weighing at Haslemere again next week as I’m off for a night out next Tuesday. So expect my update on Friday next week too.

Have a great week

PS I tried to upload photos but the WordPress pixies are not playing ball – will keep trying!

Slimming World Update – Week 18

20/11/2013 by MrsSavageAngel Leave a Comment

Morning

Well last nights weigh in was OK, in terms of amount lost. I lost 1.5lb. It’s an OK loss (not great – not a gain – you know, just OK). But it terms of what it meant to my weight loss journey it was a fantastic loss. It meant I have now lost over 3 Stone, meaning I got my 3 Stone award. Yaaay!

Total lost is now 3 stone 1lb (43lb).

I was super happy to get my award, however this week (and last week’s) small loss did give me a little bit of wheel wobble when talking to the group. Last week I bought my target of losing 3.5 stone forward from Christmas to 10th December (in time for the IQ Christmas Party on 13th and incidentally my 35th birthday on 12th). With this weeks small (ish) loss, that means losing an average of 2lb a week for the next three weeks. Last week this felt totally doable, but having only lost 1.5lb this week (and 1lb last week) I suddenly felt like maybe I was setting myself up for disappointment. My leader Zoe pointed out I had absolutely lost this much in three weeks before and therefore thought it was a very realistic target. So I am going to leave that target in place and focus on achieving it. But I don’t know if I will place time frames on targets again!

Anyway, I’m not going to let that take the shine off my new award. I am proud of it and it’s up there with the rest! I have actually run out of room on the kitchen cupboards now, so am not sure where I’ll put the rest – and believe me there will be A LOT more awards coming my way!!!

So the plan for the coming week is to lose at least 2lb. I plan to do this by being more diligent with my diaries and by eating more superfree foods (ie vegetables) with each meal. I always try and make a third of each meal the superfree that Slimming World suggests, but it doesn’t always happen 😉 . So I will be making more of an effort to ensure it does in the coming weeks. I am also off into Guildford on Saturday (on my own, without the boy. Freeeeedom!). I have an appointment at Rigby & Pellar (ladies you know what I’m talking about – oh yeah!!!) It’s Ben’s birthday present to me and I can’t tell you how excited I am. I will however, try to be organised and take food (especially snacks) with me, to ensure I can stay focused when I’m surrounded by the unhealthy fast food that tends to be sold in city centres. I once had a seemingly healthy looking crayfish and rocket sandwich in Pret, then looked up the Syns. 18!!!! That’s more than a days allowance. I was so shocked. But it does mean now I know and that I wont be doing it again!

Have a great week!

xxx