Hello.....

I am starting this blog to help to motivate myself even more on this weight loss journey. I started just after Christmas 2009 and I know it will be a long journey but one I lknow will be worth it in the end. This has been a long time coming....

Wednesday, 9 June 2010

Halfway To The Weekend

So far so good over the last two days. I logged on Monday night to discover I'd lost enough weight to drop a point and I'm now on 24. Monday and Tuesday were fine points wise as I was at home and had planned what to have, however tonight is a different matter. We're off to Mum's later and we're going to the pub for our tea. It is a chain pub so they do offer healthier options but it's been a while since I last went and can't remember what's on there, plus the Internet is rubbish and won't let me look at work. I'm surprised I can do this on my breaks to be honest!


I have been catching up on a few blogs over the past few days and wanted to share a few of my aims whilst on this Weight Watchers journey. I hope you don't mind, but here are a few things I want to achieve and aim for in the long and short term:
  • To cook at least one thing out of the WW magazine or from the website that we haven't tried before every few weeks. Still slightly stuck in that rut of being stuck what to cook.
  • To fit into a pair of size 14 maybe even size 12 jeans. I am hourglass shaped under all this and I know I am!
  • To look in the mirror and not despise what I see
  • To have a picture taken of me and not rip every little detail/imperfection to shreds.
  • To accept help from others

There's just a few as I don't want to go on. I'm going to keep these in mind when I have a rubbish day and see if they help at all.

On another note today, I'm feeling very chuffed with myself for wearing a top from H&M that looks very nice even if I do say so myself! I bit the bullet this morning as I thought it was very clingy on me, but it's because I'm so used to hiding away under baggy saggy clothes. I even got a compliment from my boss too!

Hope every one is having a good week, half way to the weekend now! Wooooo!

Lex xxx

Monday, 7 June 2010

Was That The Weekend That Just Whizzed Past...

Hope everyone had a good weekend, mine was packed full to bursting with so much stuff happening that I don't think I've had one at all!

I weighed in this morning and have lost 3 lb this week, taking me to 15 st 9 lb. That's 3 lb off my little mini goal of losing 3 stone before we go to the wedding on the 4th of July. So there's three more WI's and essentially four weeks to get it shifted. I just hope that my body behaves these next couple of weeks!

Tea at Frankie and Benny's on Friday night was lovely. It was nice to see Mr B's mum so relaxed for a change! Come in just on points which was good too, really enjoyed my salmon fishcakes. The one at Selby is very nice and relaxed and never too busy, plus you can normally hear the other people at the table with you instead of being drowned out by the music!

Saturday was AMAZING! The team on the trailtrekker did brilliantly. They managed to just finish within the 30 hours, with three team members out of the four of them finishing. Our job as the support crew was to make sure they were fed and watered and were generally OK before setting off on the next leg of the journey. This is only second year of this event and the first for all of us lot so we were very unsure what to expect. We also thought we weren't equipped enough, but some of the support crew pretty much had nothing which made us feel better but a bit sad for their team mates!

There was quite a wait in between the check points so Mr B and I took off and explored Settle for a while and ventured to "The Naked Man Cafe" for some lunch. I struggled to find a healthier option, whereas the other half decided on a sausage sandwich. I had to laugh when lunch arrived and he got Jacket potato envy!!! Serves him right is all I can say! After a long hard day being supportive, Nando's was just the thing to end a lovely day.

We did aim to get up Sunday morning to watch them finish but we were trapped in the village due to a Triathlon that no one seemed to know about!! We stupidly decided to venture to IKEA to get a TV stand. A wet Sunday, a full to bursting shop and screaming children do not make for a nice day out. We gave up after having two coffees in the cafe and buying some tea lights, and we only really got those to use the new self scan tills! Cue earning a few activity points dodging abandoned trolleys and people walking the wrong way around the shop (don't the know the unspoken law of IKEA!).

This week I am going to try my hardest for a loss again. I'm at the gym straight from work, tea is all organised and ready to go so that's all pointed. I'm only going to be able to get to the gym once this week I think, I'm going to try and get a few Wii fit or just dance sessions in too to try and boost it. Does any one have any ideas to help me?

Lex xxx

Friday, 4 June 2010

Hair Raising!

We have gorgeous weather once again here today, do not want to be at work at all! I really think there should be a law passed against working on beautiful days. Let's face it, who knows how long it will last and if we'll see any more sunny weather for a while!



Had two good days points wise and that's including a non-planned meal out with Mum last night. I've also gained a fair few activity points on the WW pedometer this week too. I know a few people aren't keen on them but I love mine and try and I wear it every day (outfit permitting!). I'm also just finishing off the last portion of my first batch of Butternut squash soup, it's very tasty, zero points and very filling! I'm dead chuffed with myself.



Wednesday night's plan of wii fit was put to the way side as I decided that my hair was in desperate need of some fresh colour, as my wonderful sister pointed out "Lex you're gingerness is escaping!". I thought it was time for a change seen as I've had it pretty much black and red for 18 months now. My poor hair will hate me as I had to strip it of all colour which was scary and very light coloured, then put this nice red colour over the top. Unfortunately Mr B came home early and caught me with the strange yellow/light hair and told me in a very sarky way that I looked "pretty". Hmmmmmmm. Any way, after what seemed like forever I now have a head full of dark red locks, phew!



I went straight down to the parentals from work on Thursday, and for once all three of us girls were in the same place at the same time. Me and my middle sister don't see each other as often as we would like as she works shifts as a carer. Every one says that we all look alike, what do you think:






From left to right is Kheira, Harriet and Me.



I took advantage of the sale in Sainsbury's last night and bought myself a couple of tops, a skirt and some shorts. I'm very impressed that I'm now in smaller sizes as I don't see any difference in my size and shape when I look in the mirror.

I have also made the effort to start recording my measurement at the beginning of the month. I've not done this before and got all inspired to do so whilst reading a blog the other day. I've promised myself I'll do this on the 1st of every month so I can see how I'm doing. I'll keep you posted!



Mr B and I have a long day tomorrow being part of a support team for a friends charity walk. We're part of the early shift so we have to make sandwiches etc for when they arrive at the check point and have spare gear for them in the car. They aim to do 60 miles in 30 hours! I hope the weather is not too hot for them like wise I hope it's not too wet! It's taking place near Skipton so I'm looking forward to all the beautiful scenery.



Lex xxx

Wednesday, 2 June 2010

Little Miss Organised

I'm a bit of a bore with this, as my family and friends will all tell you, I love being organised. So much so that Mr B thinks I'm a little obsessed and calls me "Monica" from Friends. I just cant help myself! It makes like flow better and makes things (in theory) a lot easier. It's one of the skills I already had that is really helping me on this WW journey.


I love all the weighing out of stuff and the planning. That's not to say I find it easy mind you! Although I do love my routine on an evening of getting lunch ready and getting bits and bobs sorted so I can leave our lovely flat as late as possible on the morning!


I went to Meadowhall shopping centre after work last night to meet my best friend Sally. After reading one of Lou's Lush reviews on her blog http://sprinkleofglitter.blogspot.com/ I decided to treat my tired little tootsies to some foot cream. I totally agree with Lou on this one, thank you!!! In honour of Lou I also managed to get a few samples which cheered up my afternoon. Guess which divvy forgot it was half term until all she could see was a sea of small children, ME!


I honestly think that the whole of South Yorkshire was in Meadow hell yesterday, it was tres busy. It did do some good as I didn't spend loads as I couldn't be bothered to que up! I very much enjoyed my treat of a skinny latte in bucks of the star, and I must say that the people watching was fantastic. It's my all time favourite sport hahahaha. I was duly rewarded for my noseying capabilities by seeing a fair few people wearing this season's fashions all in one go! I ask you! It's a good job I was sat for a while otherwise I might have missed it all! Here's me enjoying my coffee and writing notes for my blog.

















Tea was a real treat last night. We decided on La Tasca as Sal had never been before and they had an offer on. I tried to order as sensibly as I could, plus we halved everything any way so we shall see on Mondays WI if I can claw it back for this week.


All the wandering around did earn me 6 activity points though which was quite surprising! AWESOME!

Lex xxx

Tuesday, 1 June 2010

Wii Fit Ahoy!

Mr B and I have been looking into buying a wii fit board for a while now. We already have the wii and I'm getting more and more into the just dance game so we thought that the board would be a decent-ish investment. We have been looking around for some cheaper prices and Mr B happened to mention it to his parentals. Long story short they've said we could long term borrow his younger sister's seen as shes only used it a couple of times in the two years she's had it! Bonus! Thank you very much Mr B for having such lovely kind parents.

Had a great session in the gym last night, I managed to push myself a little bit further than I normally would as I knew I didn't need to rush around at home when we got back (even though I did!). I did get a little put off by the bloke doing rather rude style heavy breathing on some of the weights, even my ipod didn't drown him out!! Seriously, what is wrong with these people?? I push myself and I find it tough, but do I feel the need to make it sound like I'm bonking the machine??? NO and neither should you Mr sweaty weight lifter dude! So please be quiet!

Had a very good day points wise due to left over quorn chilli and then quorn pieces in stir fry for tea. We've not suddenly turned veggie it's just that the quorn mince was in an offer, think it was 3 for £5 so Mr B in his infinite wisdom decided we'd have lots of quorn. I thought tea was nice, but guess who left theirs because he couldn't get past the fact it wasn't chicken?!

Lex xx

Monday, 31 May 2010

Bye Bye May

Where has the month of May gone, anyone seen it? I'm sure it was still Christmas the last time I checked!! Into the 6th month tomorrow which is crazy!!! I hope you're all enjoying your Bank Holiday, I'm stuck at work today as the company I work for just count it as a normal day the meanies! No one else is in so I managed to get all my work done by 11am and have been doing some well deserved catching up on the lovely blogs that I follow on the "blog roll" as well as others that aren't (Lou that's you that is :D).


Another loss of 1lb this week, so at least it's coming off. I'm now at 15st 12lb. Not sure if its time for me to drop/go down a point now, I'm sure the bossy points tracker will prompt me tonight if it is.


Had a good weekend food and exercise wise. Lots of walking and the gym and lots of lovely food that wasn't too high in points. I did go over by 4 on Saturday but that's due to the fact that the lemon tart I was serving our friends looked so damn scrummy! Which it was and I reeeeeeeally enjoyed it too. The points I'd saved during the week covered this though so everything was fine. Mr B made a chili with quorn mince on Saturday for our night of pretending to be civilised and grown up by having people round for dinner. Lauren who was coming round is a veggie so it took a while for us to find something that we'd all eat, in the end we bit the veggie bullet and went with quorn for the 4 of us. I was very surprised at how nice it was, so was Mr B who was a bit worried he'd miss the meat. I might let him make it again lol.


Saturday was a nice busy day, got lots of boring stuff like house work done but also my smoothie maker arrived! No I've only just got into making smoothies as I tried one a few years ago and I really didn't like the texture of it. I think it was because I thought it would taste like a milkshake seen as it looked like one. I was channel hopping the other night and stumbled across a shopping channel that was demonstrating the most super dooper blender type thingies you could ever imagine, they also came at a super dooper price too. I'd been thinking of trying a smoothie recently, seeing that blender along with reading a blog about making them too (http://losingalittlebitofme.blogspot.com/) inspired me to have a go. I braved Asda after work for my supplies and came home to be creative! What can I say, I am a convert! So much so that I have even invested in a "Smoothie2Go" as my little hand blender really didn't like the frozen fruit! Here's a picture of it:







The recipe that I've made up myself is only 2 points and it's very filling. Mr B is complaining about the amount of fruit that is now in our freezer though!

We had a nice stroll about in Leeds on Sunday afternoon. I went to get my next charm for my bracelet and to try on a dress for size that I have seen for our friend's wedding. It's a gorgeous dress although due to the style of it they advise you to get a size or two bigger. I'm now a size 18, which I told the sales girl, she looked me up and down and said "you look like a 16 to me!". I could have kissed her! Well I tried one on, the 20 wouldn't do up at all, whereas the 22 should fit my the end of the month when I go buy one (stupid broad back!). It's strange to think that I've liked these dresses for years and if I'd gone to buy one at my starting weight, thinking they did up to a size 22, I wouldn't have even got it on my back. The shop is in one of my favourite parts of Leeds city centre in the Victoria Quarter. This is next to Harvey Nichols on Brigate. It's gorgeous, that's all I can say. I do love old buildings though. Mr B was feeling flush and decided to treat us to a drink in the Harvey Nichols espresso bar which is straight down the middle of the Victoria Quarter.







Lex xxx



Friday, 28 May 2010

Merci Beaucoup

Firstly I would like to say one GIANT THANK YOU to all you lovely ladies who commented on my last post. It really means a lot to me that I have such fantastic friends on here and a great support net work. Once again, Thank you!




Well I have had 2 more positive days all round. I've had a good week so far points and activities wise and I'm off to the gym again tonight. Quite getting into this exercise malarky! Mr B is coming too (as he bloody should seen as we're paying for both of us and only going!!), really looking forward to it. We must be quite funny to watch though as we arrive at the gym together, do what we need to do in them gym and then travel home together. To say how close we are we barely say a word to each other!




I've finally pulled my finger out and got the teaching application all filled out, it's now sat in my bag ready to be posted when I get home. Need to be brave and brave the scary kids that loiter outside the post office after school, I'll be thinking mean thoughts! Feeling a little apprehensive and nervous about it. All kinds of "what if" type jobbies running through my mind, but lets wait and see. I've done my best and I know I have, I really really want this!




I think in one of my very first posts I wrote about fitting into a dress that I hadn't worn for 6 years. Well here it is on me while we were in Cardiff....



I apologise for the fuzzyness of this, I took it on my phone! There are some clearer ones on the camera so I'll try and get them on here too.


Lex xxx