Weekly Weigh In - have I hit a plateau?

Well, after staying well within my ProPoint allowance all week, having Jillian kick my butt every day and generally being saintly, I stayed the same again. Grr. Wasn't impressed. But I have had a couple of nonscale victories instead. I had a gift card left from Christmas and needed some retail therapy, so we hit the shops yesterday afternoon. Browsing the sale rails I found 2 cute jumpers that I loved - one in a size 16, one in a 14. I usually buy an 18 but suddenly thought I should try a size smaller. The 16 was too big! Only a little, but still, as I plan on losing more, not worth getting since it wouldn't be long (hopefully) before it was completely too big. I tried on the 14 and not only did it fit perfectly, but it looked pretty damn hot, if I say so myself. I walked around the shops for the rest of the afternoon with a very smug look on my face :)

Then, yesterday evening with it being Valentines, Mr FGS decided that we would have a date night at home once the kidlets were in bed. He put on a shirt and I decided to try a dress that I bought for a friends wedding back last May. I bought it online and it fitted...just, and looked awful so I got something else. Well, I tried it on last night and it looked lovely :) Almost 3 stone lighter, a ton more confident, and finally taking control of my body.

This week I WILL lose 1 1/2 lbs to take me to 40lbs. There really was no reason I shouldn't have lost weight last week, so hopefully I'll "catch up" this week. I'm moving onto level 2 of the 30 day shred tonight (terrified). Food is planned, Mr FGS is working the whole weekend so any temptation he brings with his unhealthy habits will be removed and I WILL do this! The Spring Chick Challenge this week is to use smaller utensils when eating, so my porridge and soup will be eaten with a teaspoon out of a mug, and I may even use the children's cutlery...as if everyone didn't think I was insane enough...

Have a good week everyone!

Hx

Weekly Weigh In and SCC Update

Morning,

I had a good result on the scales this morning, but it's somewhat bittersweet as I have flu and have eaten very little since Friday. I don't think I've had more than 10 ProPoints any day the whole weekend, and yesterday my total was 6 (I'm usually allowed 29 a day plus a weekly allowance of 49) since I've just felt so sick. So although I weighed in at 2lbs less than last week, I'm pretty sure it's not a true representation. Although I have been drinking gallons of water (4 litres yesterday) so I know I'm not dehydrated, it's going to be interesting to see what happens this week once I am feeling better.

Previous weight: 13st 9 1/2lbs (191.5lbs)
Current weight: 13st 7 1/2lbs (189.5lbs)
+/-: -2lbs

I am hoping to at least maintain this week, as I've now entered the 180s!

Last weeks goals were:

Lose at least 1lb so that I enter my 30s at my lowest weight ever - Yep! 30 tomorrow....
3 workouts at least, including a swim and something new - nope :( I ordered myself a skipping rope though, and a little birdy told me that a Jillian Michaels surprise might be waiting for me in the morning...
Cheer the eff up! - Yes! A good night out really helped, even if I have been at deaths door ever since...

This weeks goals:

Maintain my weight at least, lose if I can.

Work out! Anything is better than nothing. Re-do week 3 of C25k minimum.

Continue to track and drink 2l of water.

Spring Chick Mini Challenge: Go caffeine free. Think I can do this. I barely drink any diet coke any more, and I'm sure if I want coffee I can cope with decaff. As it happens I've just run out of regular coffee and only have decaff in the cupboard, so if I do my usual trick of forgetting to buy more anyway it wont be hard!

Tomorrow is my birthday, so I will be hibernating. Not looking forward to it for a variety of reasons so plan to mope about and act like a sulky teenager all day. Then Thursday I'm going to put on my big girl panties and get over it! Onwards and upwards!

Now I need bed and a box of tissues...

Hx

Weekly Weigh In and SCC Update!

Evening all

Well, after a week of actually doing it properly (sticking to 29 ProPoints a day, tracking every morsel, exercising most days, weighing and measuring portion sizes, drinking 2-3l of water a day, generally feeling miserable...you get the picture) I lost a grand total of....half a pound. To say I am disappointed is an understatement, although I kind of knew I hadn't achieved a big loss. I could feel it. I have followed my WW plan to the letter this week, no cheating. Exercised every single day. Resisted the cravings. No bueno. But I am confident that if I keep going it will show on the scale eventually...it has to.

Spring Chick Challenge update-

Last weeks goals:

• TRACK. Yep.
• Menu plan. Yep.
• Exercise. Yep.
• Support. Haven't done as much as I could - need to find a way to categorise the blogs I follow - anyone know if there is a way to do this?
• Blog. Yep.

The mini challenge was to eat with your non-dominant hand and I failed! I just kept forgetting, and the one meal I did remember for I made such a huge mess LOL. Definitely food for thought though.

This weeks goals:

• TRACK. Everything. Again.
• Menu plan. Already done, just need to finalise. And stick to it!
• Exercise .As much as possible. Twice a day if I can.
• DON'T eat the kids leftovers! Put it all IN THE BIN.
• Support. Read all the challengers blogs as much as I can.
• Blog.

This week's mini challenge is NO SWEETS! I am a sweetie addict but don't eat too many at the moment (apart from the odd few I nick from the kids...shhh....). I am allowing myself one Weight Watchers chocolate bar (2PP value) per day if I want it, but other than that no sweets for the week.

I hope every one is well and that you had better results than I did! I'll try and catch up on all your blogs soon.


Hx

Spring Chick Challenge

I've signed up for the Spring Chick Challenge, started by Stormy at Big Butt Theory as a way to get myself motivated for the New Year and get off to a good start. The challenge starts on Monday 2nd Jan and ends Monday 19th March, and here is what I am committing to in that time...

1. Non-Scale Victory

• Complete couch to 5k (hopefully by 1st Feb, my 30th birthday :eek:)
• Comfortably run 20 minutes without stopping
• Comfortable size 16

2. Nutrition

• Water 2l per day
• 29 PP
• Tracked on WW esource
• NO Tuesday post-weigh in blow outs...

3. Exercise

• 3 hours per week - either 3 hours or 6 half hours - running, zumba, wii fit, swimming

4. Blog at least twice a week, with one of these being a challenge update.

5. Give (and receive) support to other people taking up the challenge!

Hello to any new followers reading my ramblings from the challenge! Stormy has asked us to introduce ourselves, so here I am...

Name: Helly/Helen/H
Blog URL: www.f-g-s.blogspot.com
Email: helen_louise_is at yahoo dot co dot uk

Facebook: Helen England (if you add me tell me it's for the challenge!)
Twitter: @HellBellUk
Age: 29 (soon to be 30 :/)
Location: Bedfordshire, UK (about 50 miles north of London, which is my hometown)

I will update with a starting weight and weight loss goal on Tuesday after my weigh in...


UPDATE: Starting weight 13st12lbs (194lbs)
Goal: 13st (182lbs)

So, there we go! Good luck everyone!

Hx

Live. Laugh. Love.

This weeks Operation Fit and Fabulous mission was to laugh a lot. Laughter is the best medicine, after all! This got me thinking about how much I laugh. Not just a little titter, or a giggle, but a full on laugh-until-your-sides-hurt laugh. I realised I definitely don't laugh enough. With money worries, counting points and exercise minutes, pressure to keep the house clean and tidy and be a good Mum, the time I actually spend enjoying any of it is few and far between!

So what actually makes me laugh? I'd say the number one thing is my gorgeous, beautiful, precious boys. Ollie is four now, and the things he comes out with are priceless. Even his tempers and sulks are absolutely hilarious (although I try not to laugh out loud to those!) And Jake, who is 16 months old is the the most precious, innocent soul. Whether he's pretending to talk on the phone, blowing kisses or grunting like a pig it never fails to make me smile.

This evening, after they'd had their dinner, I left the washing up sitting in the sink, lay a duvet down and spent half an hour rolling around on the floor with them, and being very silly! We did headstands, roly polys, horseback rides, tickled, pretended to be cats and blew raspberries on each others tummies. It was bliss, utter childish innocent horseplay and I forgot everything and just enjoyed them. I laughed, they laughed, and when we'd (Ok, when I'd) had enough, we snuggled on the sofa reading stories and watching IgglePiggle. More than a few chuckles were had, and it made me realise how lucky I am.

So, from now on I am going to put down the dishcloth more often, build more dens, play more games, make more mess (like I need any more of that!) It's not that I don't do all of those things, but there's always something niggling at me while I do. Those niggles go when I laugh.

I live for my boys, laugh with them and love them with all my being. Those three things are more important than a blog post, a pile of ironing or a dirty floor.

Hx

Operation Fit and Fabulous Update - Week 5

A quick update on Operation Fit and Fabulous!

Week 5's mission was to jazz it up food wise. We had to try something new and share a favourite recipe. I tried a new soup and stir fry, and shared the recipes with the rest of the team, and tried someone else's chorizo cassoulet - yummy! I've also been considering going vegetarian again - I was veggie for over 10 years until I fell pregnant and was terribly anaemic (and craved chicken chow mein...) and as I've been having lots of pulses and beans in my food this week I've found I don't miss meat when I don't have it. It's something to think about anyway. As far as the rest of the missions are concerned, I think I'm doing ok! Getting my water most days, exercise is 3ish hours a week, 5 a day check! Morning pages not so much... I get up when the children do which varies between 5am and 7am so I can't really set an alarm 15mins early for it. But when I'm not rushing around making packed lunches and finding lost socks and can devote a bit of time for it I find it clears my head and helps me set out what to do for the day.

This weeks mission, Attack is the best defence, is a good one for me. We have to target an area of our body that we are unhappy about, and basically do something about it! While there are many areas of my body that bother me (it'd be quicker to tell you which parts don't to be honest...) I have lost over 2 stone, but not in proportion and I feel like my stomach is still as big as it was before. Of course it isn't, but it's not shrinking as quickly as I'd like it to, and it's the only part of me that's making me uncomfortable now. Of course I have had two children, and I've always been a big girl, so it's never going to be a washboard. When you're pregnant your abs separate to allow your womb and growing baby through, and I don't think mine ever went back together as I have a vertical line down the middle of my tummy! I think it's pretty common, but I'm going to try this postnatal ab routine every day, even though the 'baby' is 15 months old now! I am also starting the couch to 5k running plan - I just have to find time to get out of the house and run three times a week...and somewhere safe to do it now the evenings are dark or my other half is going to make me wear one of his building site high vis jackets... More on that tomorrow!

Are there any areas of your body that bother you the most? How do you tackle them? Anyone experienced Postnatal Abdominal Seperation?

Hx

Weekly Weigh in No. 15 and Operation Fit and fab Update

Hello!

Weigh in day today and another pound down :) Bye bye! I'm super pleased with that, as it's been a difficult week food and exercise wise. I haven't been able to exercise as much as I usually do and I only actually managed 30 minutes on the Wii Fit in total. But we did have a mini walk and run around with the kids on Sunday, and I've done a crapton of housework this week (which is approximately half a crapton more than I usually do) and that works up a sweat.

Food wise I have been good for most of the week and slipped a little at the weekend, as usual. But for good reason as my eldest son turned four and we had two little family parties, one a barbeque and one a tea party. However, the rest of the week I was an exemplary Weight Watcher and didn't use all of my points any day. I've settled into a routine of porridge made with water and frozen berries for breakfast (3WW ProPoints for 30g oats), a WW bagel (4PP), or pitta (Tesco Value 3PP), or petite pains (WW 3PP) for lunch, filled with something worth around 1-2 PP and "padded out" with salad, vegetables, soup or ratatouille and then a reasonable dinner of around 10PP with a huge mound of veg on the side which leaves me with about 10PP to play with the rest of the time. Snacks include quavers or skips (2PP), WW crisps (most are 2PP), WW bars (most are 2PP), some cottage cheese and an apple (60g of cottage cheese for 1PP) or fruit and veg, like grapes, carrot sticks, cucumber, peppers, or anything I can find in the fridge! This suits me at the moment, and I'll carry on until I'm bored of it!

As for Operation Fit and Fabulous, I'm still going strong! I think the water is making a difference, and the support is fantastic. Added to the missions this week was to eat your 5 a day, which I don't have any problems with, and it was suggested we track what we eat and take a supplement, which I already do.

Missions-
• Drink 2 litres of water a day - managed this most days - I promise for anyone thinking of trying this it does get easier!
• Dry skin brushing daily - still no body brush :(
• Being good to yourself - must try harder!
• Eating 5 a day - check! Aim to make it a ratio of 3 veg to 2 fruit as it's probably more fruit heavy at the moment 
• Exercising for 1 hour 3 times a week - big fat fail! Will run, swim and Zumba for an hour each this week at a minimum
• Getting enough sleep - better than last week as the baby is sleeping until 6 instead of 5, but still room for improvement. I need to go to bed earlier. I was up until 11.30pm icing cupcakes for my son to take to school for his friends last night...


So, still a mixed bag, but improving! I'll post later on in the week when we get our new missions! I can't wait!


How have you done this week?


Hx

Weekly Weigh in No. 14 and Operation Fit and Fab update

14 weeks in and I have lost another 1 1/2lbs - equalling 25 pounds in total :) Go me! I'm chuffed that despite being ill over the weekend and totally fluffing up on Sunday by not eating all day then having 2 slices of dominoes pizza and garlic bread the effort I put in the rest of the week has paid off.

One of the main things that has got me through this week is Operation Fit and Fabulous and the support of Jayne and the ladies on Twitter. We're spurring each other on, throwing advice and ideas back and forth and assuring each other that, yes, Jaffa Cakes do count as one of your five a day!

Last weeks missions were to drink 2 litres of water a day, body brush before each shower/bath, exercise for an hour 3 times a week, be kinder to yourself and get enough sleep. I managed the water, although I did feel like I was sloshing when I walked for the first few days and still get a bit nervous when I'm too far from the loo. I don't have a body brush yet, but as soon as it arrives it will be meeting my wobbly thighs. Exercise I surprisingly managed too, thanks in part of my other half being off work last week we managed a walk and my patented walk/run hybrid (ralk or wun?), and last night I did a half hour of Wii Fit and 45 mins of Zumba. Wont be so easy this week as he started two new jobs yesterday so he wont be around even in the evenings and will be much less inclined to want to go walking when he is here. Also I have DS1 off sick from school so am pretty housebound. I will manage it though, even if it's in smaller chunks. As for being kinder to myself, I'm not sure. making the time to exercise and things kinda covers that, but maybe it's one I need to work on more. And the last thing I definitely need to try harder at is the sleep thing. I haven't managed that one little bit. Last night I was down to 5 hours and it was disturbed due to snotty kids, and then the baby woke me up at just gone 5am. The key for me in this one is to go to bed earlier I think. Last night it was gone 11.30 when I went upstairs, so probably nearer midnight by the time I got to sleep. I need to put things off to the next day - not getting a blog post up before I go to bed isn't the be all and end all.

So, a bit of a mixed bag. Overall I'm pleased with myself this week. Next weeks mission looks quite achievable too. Get your 5 a day - something I generally do anyway. At the moment I have porridge with berries for breakfast, some kind of home-made vegetable soup for lunch and something with a mound of veg on the side for dinner. And snacks in between are generally apples, carrot, pepper and cucumber sticks, apples, grapes and did I say apples? Something also suggested is to keep a food diary, something which Weight Watchers also recommends in the way of tracking. They have tools on their website which allow you to track each food you eat and their pro-points value. This is something I used to do religiously but have slacked a bit lately. So, as of tomorrow I am going to log absolutely everything I eat, even foods with 0 PP value. It will be interesting to see how much I really eat.

How have you done this week?

Hx

Operation Fit and Fabulous!

I've not been blogging for a huge amount of time, but in the last few months it has really opened my eyes to a new world of friends and opportunities. I started my nail blog back in March as a way to document my growing obsession with nail polish and to talk to like minded people, and then this blog more recently to help keep my weight loss on track and share my success (hopefully). In that time I've met some lovely bloggers, won giveaways, been complimented and made people smile, which makes my day! I love it when I get a positive comment or a lovely twitter message. I really don't know how many other blogs I am following now (is there a way on Blogger to see? I'll have to explore) but one of them is the lovely Beach Bum Beauty and recently she gave her readers the opportunity to join her with Operation Fit and Fabulous!


I was hesitant at first, but sent her an email with a bit about me and she welcomed me with open arms! Every week, Jayne will set us missions aimed to make us feel Fit and Fabulous and good from the inside and out. It's not just about weight loss or fitness, but also how we feel about ourselves and ways to make us more positive, something which I'm not always very good at. This week's missions are apparently small basic ones. What have I let myself in for?!


1) Drink 2 litres of water every day - This is hard! I've been sloshing around making sure I'm not too far away from the toilet all day! TMI? Sorry...

2) Body brush every morning before you have a shower/bath – I don't have a body brush yet, but when I do I'll be brushing religiously!

3) Get enough sleep – 7 hours is usually enough for me. I know 8 is the ideal, but what I get is usually around 6 so by aiming for 7 I'm hitting middle ground. Of course this all depends on what time the baby gets up... Also, it should be quality sleep too, and mine is often disturbed by little people/funny dreams/snoring men so maybe I need to invest in some earplugs. Think I will be woken up by several trips to the loo tonight too after all that water!

4) Be kind to yourself – I don’t think I'm that hard on myself, if I miss an exercise session or don't get something done that I wanted to it doesn't really bother me. But what does happen instead is that I end up chasing my tail around to get those things done and end up with no time for me, which is going to have to change if I'm to get the next mission done...

5) Exercise at least 3 times a week for an hour – I have been better at exercising lately, and last week I did Zumba 5 nights out of 7. But I need variety in there, and getting a whole hour at a time is a challenge too. Yesterday I walked 3k in a hour, and today I did a sort of walk/run hybrid (walk 5 mins, run for 1, wipe DS1's nose, feed DS2 a breadstick, repeat) for 4.5k, so I already have 2 out of the three hours under my belt! My other half starts a new job on Monday though, and having him at home is the only reason I managed that. However, I am going to buy myself some new running shoes and try to do my patented hybrid (without the nose wiping etc) a couple of evenings a week in the hopes I can eventually run more and walk less. And I'm going to carry on with Zumba (I like it even if I do look like a plonker) and also swim more. I will crack this!

So far this week, I'm enjoying it. It feels good to be taking control of this in more ways than just with my diet. Also, it's really helping having a little Operation Fit and Fab family to lean on for support. All the OFAF ladies are lovely, and you can see our profiles here or search the hashtag #operationfitandfabulous on Twitter to see how we're getting on.

Wish me luck! *sloshes off to the loo*

Hx