Hi guys
Hows you? I’m good. Surrounded by the colours and sounds and general excitement of the festive season and pretty much loving it! I’ve spent the last few days writing Christmas cards. I tried not sending cards one one year and just donated to charity instead. Don’t get me wrong, I fully appreciate the sentiment behind it, but it made me feel awful. So I’ve resigned myself to the fact that I’m a card writer and I get great cards every year, carefully chosen from charities that mean something to me. This year’s are Thomas the Tank Engine themed (for the boy) and come from the National Autistic Society. They’re just gorgeous! Anyway I did have an Excel spreadsheet as a Christmas card list that I’ve been using and regularly updating for years. Until this year. We bought a new PC in the summer and I forgot to transfer the list onto the new hard drive. Sat down to write the cards this week and I realised I’ve lost my ‘go to’ list! So at least one night this week has been just spent updating my contacts. I think I have them all now, but if you were expecting a card from me and you don’t get one, I might have just missed you off the list. Either that or I don’t really like you ๐
Christmas has also been making it presence felt in our house this week in the form of new pyjamas. If you follow me on any social media, you may already know this; to say I was excited was an understatement. Regular readers will know just how much I love shopping these days, how one of my goals this year was to ‘conquer Fat Face’ (which I think I can safely say I’ve done several times over ๐ ). However, something I really wanted from them, but had never been able to fit into before, was their Christmas pyjamas. They do such beautifully festive ones every year. So this year I decided to treat myself and ordered their Folkloric pyjama bottoms and tshirt. And I LOVE them. If it wasn’t a tradition to wear new pyjamas on Christmas Eve I’d be wearing them already! They’re just so pretty and Christmassy.
But the best thing about them is the difference I can see in my shape when I wear them. You may think I’m barmy, but I sometimes find it really hard to ‘see’ what I look like. In my mind I’ve been so big for so long that despite what the scales say or what I see in the mirror, I find it hard to know what I actually look like. That’s why I do comparison photos and why they blow my mind so very much. This one is quite hard for me to share. The first picture I have never shared as I hated it then and I hate it now. But I’ve got so few full length photos of myself that it’s the best one to use here, I think. This was taken in the Maldives in 2009. Its a few years ago for sure, but I was a similar size to this when I started SW (actually I was probably a bit bigger ๐ ) Basically a Size 26 to a 16.
Wowsers!
Enough said really.
This past week hasn’t always seen me make the wisest of food choices – nothing mad, just not the best and I’m not really sure why. So I was thrilled with a maintain last night, staying at 6 Stone 7lb (91lb) lost. And actually, this close to Christmas and the challenges it can bring, I think that’s sometimes all you can do. Protect the progress you’ve made. I have thought about it long and hard and I think expecting 7lbs loss in 3 weeks with all the parties and what not I have over the next few weeks is unrealistic and probably just setting myself up for disappointment (and lets be honest, feeling a failure is no gift to give myself this Christmas). That’s why I’m modifying my Christmas goal. And before you say, I’m not stopping or giving up or admitting defeat. I’m taking responsibility for my choices and being realistic. I would like a lose a couple more lbs by the last weigh in, but as long as I don’t gain from this point until Christmas I’ll be happy.
Oh and update on the Fat Face shirt – I went in to my local branch to try it on again and they’d taken them all off the shop floor as they’ll be going in the sale after Christmas. I decided to chance my arm and wait until then and hope they have my size. I do love a bargain!
Have a great week.
xxxx