Struggling...

Does your life get crazy around this time of the year? I don't have any social gatherings, Christmas parties, meals or anything like that to go to (apart from the kids ones!) but with shopping, wrapping, decorating and crafty things (along with a silly challenge I'm doing on my nail art blog and a story writing contest I stupidly entered) I'm afraid this blog has taken a back seat. I have so many recipes and articles floating around in my head, but no time to actually sit down, edit the photos and write them up. I promise I'll get a couple of posts up this week! Brownies honour!

In other news, the weight loss isn't going so well either. For the last 2 weeks I have gained a pound each time - meaning I am back up to 14st. Grrr. The week before last I knew why - it begins with a p and ends with izza. Bad Helly. But this week I have no idea why I gained, as I'd eaten really well, or so I thought. Maybe it was the week before still catching up on me, or maybe it was just a simple water imbalance or the monthly hormones coming into play (I have no idea, Aunt Flo seems to come and go as she pleases around here). I'm also struggling to fit the exercise in. I'm still loving running, but I'm limited to when I can do it. I would love to run in the mornings but my children also love to get me out of bed at 5.45am and I can't get up any earlier than that to run! Mr FGS generally gets home from work between 5 and 6, which is a crazy busy time in the house, when the kids need dinner, bath and bed for 7, so going then is practically impossible. So, the only time I can go for a run is at 7, providing Mr FGS is home from his first job, and not at his second. He works as a delivery driver a couple of evenings a week, which means I get to feed, bath and put the boys to bed on my own. The plan is to do Zumba or Wii Fit then, but truth be told by the time I've done everything all I want is to sit down with my dinner! And with the weather drawing in I think it's only going to get harder. I was going to run last night, but we had torrential rain and hurricane force winds. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind running in the rain, but I went to get something from the car and was soaked through to my underwear in 30 seconds, THROUGH my waterproof coat. Ridiculous! I am hoping that I can run tonight, although Mr FGS is working I want to go early...well, that's the plan...

So, I need a plan of action. This is what I'm doing to get myself back on track.

• Stay hydrated - water, lots of it. When your body is dehydrated it will hold onto every last drop of water it can, and this will show in your weight loss. I have quit Diet Coke (I'm seriously addicted) and am drinking at least 2l of water a day again. I've not quit caffeine (I get terrible headaches if I do) but am limiting my intake of that too.
• Exercise, exercise, exercise. Every day. If I don't run, I'll do Zumba. And crunches. Time for the jelly belly to go!
• Track. By logging everything I eat I know how much of my allowance I've used up, and it helps me make better choices. Instead of grabbing a biscuit because "it's only 2 points" I'm more likely to go for fruit or something better if I can see how it will affect my daily points allowance.
• Soup! It's the way forward. I've made a huge batch of vegetable soup (0PP value) and that is my lunch each day, either with a bagel or small roll. It fills me up, and if I get hungry again later in the afternoon I can have a mug of that and it staves of any hunger pangs.

 I need to lose a couple of pounds before Christmas so I have a buffer and don't go over the 14st (196lbs) mark, because that is a weight I don't want to go back to. I have 2 more weigh ins before a 2 week break. I'll write a separate post about my Christmas plans soon - I need a plan of action in order to minimise the damage for that too!

How is everyone? I'm afraid I've not had much time to read and comment on blogs either, I promise to try and be a better blogger!

Hx