Prizes will be handed out to anyone who gets the reference in today's blog title. Answers to the usual address.
It's Wednesday. Just over 24 hours to go and I'll be hopping back on those scales for the first time in three weeks.
I. Am. Terrified.
What if I've thought I've been doing the right things for the last week or two and actually I haven't and I've put a couple of stone on? Actually, is that biologically possible? Even if it isn't I bet I probably still would!!
When you do something unpleasant on a regular basis, the pleasantness doesn't improve, because it's always a horrible thing to do, but the discomfort does subside a little because you're used to it. I can't really think of anything nearly as unpleasant to willingly put oneself through aside from going to work every day. You have to do it because otherwise you starve, it isn't pleasant but you go anyway, and then you usually find it isn't quite so hellish when you get there. Unless you work for the NHS. Fabulous institution, Britain's best idea by miles - absolutely terrible employer.
I'm going off-topic.
My point is, I avoided scales like the plague until January, and then I've subsequently I've hopped on a pair every week for the last 26 weeks or so. I never liked getting on the scales but it had become a slightly less scary prospect. After 20 days away from the scales, half of which were spent mostly in blissful varying stages of inebriation - I have roughly the same desire to get back on the scales as a Death Row convict has when offered a seat a large chair near an electric switch.
But it's one of those things, isn't it? I've got to do it otherwise I'll just slip back into the old routine, and I really don't want that. I've come much too far now. Or at least I think I have. Who knows.
What if the worst happens? What if I do get on the scales tomorrow and even though I've reined it back in SO much over the last ten days I've still put weight on? Am I going to give up? Go back to how things used to be? Think "I'll never get there" and cry for an hour? Probably. But then after I've cried for an hour I'll have a stern talk to myself, stop being weak and pathetic and get the hell back on it again. Marathon. Not a sprint. I will get there. Whether that happens this year or next year. I gave myself 18 months to do this, and on June 3rd 2013 I will look completely different to how I looked on January 1st 2012. I will. I'll even post pictures to prove it.
Maybe!
Join me on Friday. I will have got back on the scales and I'll know exactly what I'm working with. The llamas are going to have a fiesta anyway because it's the Olympics and Ricardo has decided to try and campaign for 'fiesta-ing' to be an Olympic sport. He's even designed Team GB's legwarmers for the Rio Olympics...
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Wednesday, 1 August 2012
Friday, 22 June 2012
And the Rain Rain Rain Came Down Down Down...
...And the river sucked up Pooh!!
Ah, Disney. You never cease to be hilarious.
It is truly El Pissi Downio out there today. I turned up at work looking like a drowned rat because I currently have no umbrella (a stupid thing for any native to this country, I know), as mine was attacked by the only element that no umbrella can stand - the heavy wind/driving rain combo. I wouldn't have minded but it was a huge umbrella, not one of those ones that snaps in half during a gentle breeze.
You don't want to know my umbrella woes. I'm getting terribly boring in my old age. Only yesterday I got a new computer in work and lamented about how difficult Office 2007 is to use compared to Office 2003 (any idiot who thinks getting rid of AutoText is a good idea has NEVER been a secretary!) while lauding the fabness of the i3 processor and being generally impressed with Windows 7.
I fell asleep twice while typing that sentence. That's how boring I've become.
You think I'm avoiding talking about Fat Club, don't you? Well, no, actually, not really.
As you all know, I was desperate to lose 1 1/2 lbs to get to my halfway 3 1/2 stone mark. I'd been very good indeed and hadn't drunk too much or eaten too much, although as I'd been rather poorly for the past few days I had been what can only be described as sedentary for the past week, so I wasn't too confident. As it turned out I managed to lose 1lb. Which is still good going and I know I can't lose 4lbs every week etc etc etc etc, but it was so annoying just to be half a pound out! That's neither here nor there!! 8oz, it's less than a packet of butter! Gahhh!!!
So, to stop myself being too annoyed at the 'so near yet so far'-ness of the situation, I've already decided in my head that I've hit it. Let's face it, if I'd got on the scales an hour earlier or later I probably would've weighed half a pound less. I've probably already lost half a pound this morning. My next target is to concentrate on hitting the 4 stone mark.
I think this is becoming the most sensible option on the weight-loss front (as I'm practically a veteran now). Rather than thinking "Gosh, I need to lose [insert number here] [ha!! I said 'insert'!!] [HAHA! And again!] stone, that's going to take forEVER!", just think "I can lose half a stone. Half a stone is do-able. Any eejit can lose half a stone!" and then when that's done, you can aim to lose another half stone, and then another and another. You're still aiming for that big goal at the end, but rather than feeling you have an impossible mountain to climb, you just feel you have a few gentle inclines to stroll. And who knows - I mean at the moment I'm pretty sure my target is 7 stone, but when I get there, what if I haven't lost quite enough and I have to move the goalposts back by a stone, or maybe even two? If I try telling myself I have to lose nine stone, I'll freak out, but all I ever have to lose is half a stone. I just have to do it quite a few times, that's all.
Come on, then, llamas - time to shimmy away those summertime blues, never mind the rain! Let the fiesta commence!!
*dances round room like a mad eejit*
My mum lost 1 1/2 lbs in her first week, she wasn't overly strict with keeping to the Syns limit either, so she's really pleased to have seen a result. She's determined to follow the diet to the letter and lose 4lbs next week - and I bet she'll do it too!!
This weekend my pal Zara and her son Dominic are coming to visit. I've not seen them in forever and it'll be lovely to catch up with them both. Whatever you're up to over the weekend, I hope you have a good'un - and I'll see you back here on Monday with a round-up of all the weekend's action!!
Ah, Disney. You never cease to be hilarious.
It is truly El Pissi Downio out there today. I turned up at work looking like a drowned rat because I currently have no umbrella (a stupid thing for any native to this country, I know), as mine was attacked by the only element that no umbrella can stand - the heavy wind/driving rain combo. I wouldn't have minded but it was a huge umbrella, not one of those ones that snaps in half during a gentle breeze.
You don't want to know my umbrella woes. I'm getting terribly boring in my old age. Only yesterday I got a new computer in work and lamented about how difficult Office 2007 is to use compared to Office 2003 (any idiot who thinks getting rid of AutoText is a good idea has NEVER been a secretary!) while lauding the fabness of the i3 processor and being generally impressed with Windows 7.
I fell asleep twice while typing that sentence. That's how boring I've become.
You think I'm avoiding talking about Fat Club, don't you? Well, no, actually, not really.
As you all know, I was desperate to lose 1 1/2 lbs to get to my halfway 3 1/2 stone mark. I'd been very good indeed and hadn't drunk too much or eaten too much, although as I'd been rather poorly for the past few days I had been what can only be described as sedentary for the past week, so I wasn't too confident. As it turned out I managed to lose 1lb. Which is still good going and I know I can't lose 4lbs every week etc etc etc etc, but it was so annoying just to be half a pound out! That's neither here nor there!! 8oz, it's less than a packet of butter! Gahhh!!!
So, to stop myself being too annoyed at the 'so near yet so far'-ness of the situation, I've already decided in my head that I've hit it. Let's face it, if I'd got on the scales an hour earlier or later I probably would've weighed half a pound less. I've probably already lost half a pound this morning. My next target is to concentrate on hitting the 4 stone mark.
I think this is becoming the most sensible option on the weight-loss front (as I'm practically a veteran now). Rather than thinking "Gosh, I need to lose [insert number here] [ha!! I said 'insert'!!] [HAHA! And again!] stone, that's going to take forEVER!", just think "I can lose half a stone. Half a stone is do-able. Any eejit can lose half a stone!" and then when that's done, you can aim to lose another half stone, and then another and another. You're still aiming for that big goal at the end, but rather than feeling you have an impossible mountain to climb, you just feel you have a few gentle inclines to stroll. And who knows - I mean at the moment I'm pretty sure my target is 7 stone, but when I get there, what if I haven't lost quite enough and I have to move the goalposts back by a stone, or maybe even two? If I try telling myself I have to lose nine stone, I'll freak out, but all I ever have to lose is half a stone. I just have to do it quite a few times, that's all.
Come on, then, llamas - time to shimmy away those summertime blues, never mind the rain! Let the fiesta commence!!
*dances round room like a mad eejit*
My mum lost 1 1/2 lbs in her first week, she wasn't overly strict with keeping to the Syns limit either, so she's really pleased to have seen a result. She's determined to follow the diet to the letter and lose 4lbs next week - and I bet she'll do it too!!
This weekend my pal Zara and her son Dominic are coming to visit. I've not seen them in forever and it'll be lovely to catch up with them both. Whatever you're up to over the weekend, I hope you have a good'un - and I'll see you back here on Monday with a round-up of all the weekend's action!!
Wednesday, 2 May 2012
Game Face
You know, you'd be surprised at how many people were outraged by Andrea the Consultant's idiocy last Thursday. I know I am. There's been uproar. Who knows what to believe now?!
I suppose that the scales are entirely the wrong thing to concentrate on. I mean, yes, it was very disappointing when they said something I didn't like - but at the moment they give me a number I don't like every week. The number that I saw last Thursday was nowhere near as big as the number I saw on 5 January - in fact if I'd seen that number on 5 January I probably would have done a little jig of happiness. In fact... I can't actually remember what the scales said last Thursday. I'm now all confused with the numbers. It doesn't take much to confuse me in a numerical fashion. I think darts players have supercomputers hardwired into their brains for their incredible mathematical dexterity. How do they always know how count backwards from 501 to finish on a double?! It's a gift. Apparently the meaning of life is 42 - and I'm not mathematically qualified enough to provide any sort of argument to the contrary. I think it's a fluke that I passed my Maths GCSE the first time of asking!
The fact is, my clothes are even more baggy on me than they were a couple of weeks ago. That's got to be the main thing. I don't think it'll take a great deal more weight loss until I've dropped three dress sizes. I think I'm sort of between two and three dress sizes smaller, so obviously nothing fits at all at the moment and I look like a bit of a tramp, but it'll all be all right in the end.
Slimming World does work. I mean - it clearly works. Whether the scales say the right thing or not doesn't really matter - because they're not supposed to say the right thing until you're finished losing weight, that's the whole point.
So, then. Come on. Let's do this. If I was American I may even be tempted to say something motivational, grammatically questionable and a little urban like, "Bring it." But I'm not, so I won't. The fact is, I'm never going to get there if I curl up into a podgy ball and give up at my first real knockback. People put on weight all the time. I've been doing it for years. Even though I know I didn't actually put weight on last week - the only numbers I'm really interested in are the numbers on the labels in my clothes.
In other news, I discovered that my boss doesn't want me to work Saturdays any more. This was extremely annoying on two counts. Firstly, nobody had bothered to mention to me that my services weren't required on Saturdays before I turned up for work on Saturday, when they looked shocked and asked what I was doing there. Secondly, this officially means that I have to get a new job. I keep threatening it but unfortunately I really need to think about moving on now. I don't want to because I hate job hunting and being the newbie and getting to know another new set of people - but sometimes a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. And despite the fact there's a lot less of me now - I still gotta eat.
In other *other* news, I am researching like nobody's business in the hope of getting inspired to continue in The Phantom Winger (I heard someone say at Slimming World the other week that they'd been to the Phantom Winger, and it did take me a few moments to work out what they were talking about! I was all ready to say "Hey, I wrote that! What did you think of it?!" but then I remembered that a) it's a pub and b) I haven't written it yet! It's got a good ending, though. Or at least it will do.) - and by 'research', I basically mean I've been watching a lot of spy films. I think it's helping. Not that I condone or indulge in plaigarism, it's just that those sorts of films do help you to get in the right mindset for a good old spy romp. I'm hoping to make a bit of a start on Chapter Three next week, as soon as I work out exactly where to start it. I had such high hopes for being nearly halfway through the first draft by now, but alas - a writer's lot isn't always a productive one.
So, after a bit of a wobbly start to my weekend, I think things are starting to even out a bit. I'm not really looking forward to the weigh-in tomorrow, because who knows what the crazy scales will tell me this week - and I'm still feeling a bit guilty after Thursday's KFC!! However, whatever happens I will update you on my progress in Friday's blog. The llamas will be back by then, all relaxed and refreshed, and hopefully ready for a good old fiesta!! Get your maracas at the ready... you might well need 'em!!
I suppose that the scales are entirely the wrong thing to concentrate on. I mean, yes, it was very disappointing when they said something I didn't like - but at the moment they give me a number I don't like every week. The number that I saw last Thursday was nowhere near as big as the number I saw on 5 January - in fact if I'd seen that number on 5 January I probably would have done a little jig of happiness. In fact... I can't actually remember what the scales said last Thursday. I'm now all confused with the numbers. It doesn't take much to confuse me in a numerical fashion. I think darts players have supercomputers hardwired into their brains for their incredible mathematical dexterity. How do they always know how count backwards from 501 to finish on a double?! It's a gift. Apparently the meaning of life is 42 - and I'm not mathematically qualified enough to provide any sort of argument to the contrary. I think it's a fluke that I passed my Maths GCSE the first time of asking!
The fact is, my clothes are even more baggy on me than they were a couple of weeks ago. That's got to be the main thing. I don't think it'll take a great deal more weight loss until I've dropped three dress sizes. I think I'm sort of between two and three dress sizes smaller, so obviously nothing fits at all at the moment and I look like a bit of a tramp, but it'll all be all right in the end.
Slimming World does work. I mean - it clearly works. Whether the scales say the right thing or not doesn't really matter - because they're not supposed to say the right thing until you're finished losing weight, that's the whole point.
So, then. Come on. Let's do this. If I was American I may even be tempted to say something motivational, grammatically questionable and a little urban like, "Bring it." But I'm not, so I won't. The fact is, I'm never going to get there if I curl up into a podgy ball and give up at my first real knockback. People put on weight all the time. I've been doing it for years. Even though I know I didn't actually put weight on last week - the only numbers I'm really interested in are the numbers on the labels in my clothes.
In other news, I discovered that my boss doesn't want me to work Saturdays any more. This was extremely annoying on two counts. Firstly, nobody had bothered to mention to me that my services weren't required on Saturdays before I turned up for work on Saturday, when they looked shocked and asked what I was doing there. Secondly, this officially means that I have to get a new job. I keep threatening it but unfortunately I really need to think about moving on now. I don't want to because I hate job hunting and being the newbie and getting to know another new set of people - but sometimes a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. And despite the fact there's a lot less of me now - I still gotta eat.
In other *other* news, I am researching like nobody's business in the hope of getting inspired to continue in The Phantom Winger (I heard someone say at Slimming World the other week that they'd been to the Phantom Winger, and it did take me a few moments to work out what they were talking about! I was all ready to say "Hey, I wrote that! What did you think of it?!" but then I remembered that a) it's a pub and b) I haven't written it yet! It's got a good ending, though. Or at least it will do.) - and by 'research', I basically mean I've been watching a lot of spy films. I think it's helping. Not that I condone or indulge in plaigarism, it's just that those sorts of films do help you to get in the right mindset for a good old spy romp. I'm hoping to make a bit of a start on Chapter Three next week, as soon as I work out exactly where to start it. I had such high hopes for being nearly halfway through the first draft by now, but alas - a writer's lot isn't always a productive one.
So, after a bit of a wobbly start to my weekend, I think things are starting to even out a bit. I'm not really looking forward to the weigh-in tomorrow, because who knows what the crazy scales will tell me this week - and I'm still feeling a bit guilty after Thursday's KFC!! However, whatever happens I will update you on my progress in Friday's blog. The llamas will be back by then, all relaxed and refreshed, and hopefully ready for a good old fiesta!! Get your maracas at the ready... you might well need 'em!!
Friday, 20 April 2012
Turned Out Nice Again
So. It's all been a bit boring this week, as previously documented. I've still not overeaten. I still can't really be bothered having any treats. Nothing exciting has happened.
I went to Fat Club last night all full of the joys of winter, hunching my shoulders and generally looking and feeling a bit miserable. I didn't feel any thinner, and Bridget the star slimmer (9lbs last week, two stone in two weeks last month. The woman's a lean, mean slimming machine. And she's hilarious!) only lost 1lb. Things weren't really looking good. All I wanted was to lose 1 1/2lbs to get me to the 2 1/2 stone mark, but I felt increasingly conscious that it probably wouldn't happen.
So, imagine my confusion, if you will, when I stepped on the scales and discovered I'd lost a whopping FIVE POUNDS!!!
Shocked? I had to read it six or seven times and then get the lady at the scales to read it for me and to help me out with the maths!!!
Enrique has been up all night working on the llamas' celebratory dance, so without further ado... HIT IT, CHAPS!!!
*dances round the room like a mad eejit, Ted*
So, yes, I got my 2 1/2 stone certificate and (most importantly) shiny sticker. I'm now 3 1/2 lbs away from my 3 stone certificate and shiny sticker. However, last night, for the first time, I also got a Slimmer of the Week certificate and shiny sticker, and a huge bag full of free food for the week. Very exciting. I don't know if it's standard practice in all Slimming World groups, but in our group everyone takes an item of free food (fruit, veg, a packet of super noodles etc) and puts it into a basket and whoever gets Slimmer of the Week takes home the contents of the basket. I'm rubbish because I always forget. I have a terrible memory at the best of times and it's all I can do to remember my book, my member card and my fee!!
I will soon be able to wallpaper my bedroom with my certificates. In fact, eventually, I might just do that in a sort of 'You've done this and it was hard work but you did it and you are NOT going back!' reminder type capacity.
Andrea the Consultant also had reason to celebrate, as she is now officially the top consultant in the North West, beating the Walton-le-Dale group both by the size of the group and the success rate of the club members. So a huge round of applause for Andrea. She's a good egg. It's her two-year anniversary of starting her own group in three weeks, so we're going to have a party at the group in celebration. Exciting!! She asked what I'd done differently this week and I told her it was all my sister's hard work. Joanna is the world's most amazing cook and she makes the most gorgeous Syn-Free meals every night, and usually enough to take some for lunch the next day. But the thing that's changed our entire lives has been the investment in a rice-maker. We've had rice nearly every night, with all sorts of crazy stuff in. It's been amazing. She makes this prawn, chilli, ginger and garlic savoury rice dish which I could happily eat for the rest of my life. Honestly. She's amazing. If you haven't had the pleasure of a meal cooked by the big sister - you're really missing out!!
On another note, today is my last day of working in the office upstairs. My temporary boss bought me a bottle of Midnight Fantasy by Britney Spears (don't laugh. It's awesome. It smells like Skittles! It's no Just Her by Roberto Cavalli, or Black XS for Her by Paco Rabanne, I grant you, but still!!) and a lovely card to say thank you for my help over the last six months, not that I've done a great deal, to be fair, but it was really sweet of them. And they're taking me to the Clog and Billycock for lunch (hands up anyone who didn't know a billycock was a hat! *raises both hands and a leg*) - which is a Northcote restaurant in the Ribble Valley - and it would be simply rude if I went there and didn't completely obliterate my diet!!! They fry the chips in dripping! The steaks are bigger than me! They do home made ice cream... with cream!!!! I'm even going to have beer - I think they do Wainwrights there!!
So, today I will be giving myself a long-awaited day off. I've done pretty well over the last four months and I'm having a proper day off to celebrate. I'll reign it back in like mad for the rest of the week, and I did start off quite well today with a fruit salad and a few mugs of green tea - but this afternoon it will be a diet-free zone. I'm so excited!!!
I've got a rather busy weekend ahead with one thing and another, so join me again on Monday when I'll give you a bit of an update on the weekend and look forward, vaguely confidently, to a hopefully successful weigh-in on Thursday!!
I went to Fat Club last night all full of the joys of winter, hunching my shoulders and generally looking and feeling a bit miserable. I didn't feel any thinner, and Bridget the star slimmer (9lbs last week, two stone in two weeks last month. The woman's a lean, mean slimming machine. And she's hilarious!) only lost 1lb. Things weren't really looking good. All I wanted was to lose 1 1/2lbs to get me to the 2 1/2 stone mark, but I felt increasingly conscious that it probably wouldn't happen.
So, imagine my confusion, if you will, when I stepped on the scales and discovered I'd lost a whopping FIVE POUNDS!!!
Shocked? I had to read it six or seven times and then get the lady at the scales to read it for me and to help me out with the maths!!!
Enrique has been up all night working on the llamas' celebratory dance, so without further ado... HIT IT, CHAPS!!!
*dances round the room like a mad eejit, Ted*
So, yes, I got my 2 1/2 stone certificate and (most importantly) shiny sticker. I'm now 3 1/2 lbs away from my 3 stone certificate and shiny sticker. However, last night, for the first time, I also got a Slimmer of the Week certificate and shiny sticker, and a huge bag full of free food for the week. Very exciting. I don't know if it's standard practice in all Slimming World groups, but in our group everyone takes an item of free food (fruit, veg, a packet of super noodles etc) and puts it into a basket and whoever gets Slimmer of the Week takes home the contents of the basket. I'm rubbish because I always forget. I have a terrible memory at the best of times and it's all I can do to remember my book, my member card and my fee!!
I will soon be able to wallpaper my bedroom with my certificates. In fact, eventually, I might just do that in a sort of 'You've done this and it was hard work but you did it and you are NOT going back!' reminder type capacity.
Andrea the Consultant also had reason to celebrate, as she is now officially the top consultant in the North West, beating the Walton-le-Dale group both by the size of the group and the success rate of the club members. So a huge round of applause for Andrea. She's a good egg. It's her two-year anniversary of starting her own group in three weeks, so we're going to have a party at the group in celebration. Exciting!! She asked what I'd done differently this week and I told her it was all my sister's hard work. Joanna is the world's most amazing cook and she makes the most gorgeous Syn-Free meals every night, and usually enough to take some for lunch the next day. But the thing that's changed our entire lives has been the investment in a rice-maker. We've had rice nearly every night, with all sorts of crazy stuff in. It's been amazing. She makes this prawn, chilli, ginger and garlic savoury rice dish which I could happily eat for the rest of my life. Honestly. She's amazing. If you haven't had the pleasure of a meal cooked by the big sister - you're really missing out!!
On another note, today is my last day of working in the office upstairs. My temporary boss bought me a bottle of Midnight Fantasy by Britney Spears (don't laugh. It's awesome. It smells like Skittles! It's no Just Her by Roberto Cavalli, or Black XS for Her by Paco Rabanne, I grant you, but still!!) and a lovely card to say thank you for my help over the last six months, not that I've done a great deal, to be fair, but it was really sweet of them. And they're taking me to the Clog and Billycock for lunch (hands up anyone who didn't know a billycock was a hat! *raises both hands and a leg*) - which is a Northcote restaurant in the Ribble Valley - and it would be simply rude if I went there and didn't completely obliterate my diet!!! They fry the chips in dripping! The steaks are bigger than me! They do home made ice cream... with cream!!!! I'm even going to have beer - I think they do Wainwrights there!!
So, today I will be giving myself a long-awaited day off. I've done pretty well over the last four months and I'm having a proper day off to celebrate. I'll reign it back in like mad for the rest of the week, and I did start off quite well today with a fruit salad and a few mugs of green tea - but this afternoon it will be a diet-free zone. I'm so excited!!!
I've got a rather busy weekend ahead with one thing and another, so join me again on Monday when I'll give you a bit of an update on the weekend and look forward, vaguely confidently, to a hopefully successful weigh-in on Thursday!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)