Possibly my shortest blog ever!

27^th July 2014

Stop being afraid of what could go wrong & focus on what could go right!

Super short blog this morning as I’m leaving the house at 6am to go promote Weight Watchers at Essington Car Boot sale!  Mad, yeah I am, but just like with Weight Loss, with work also you get back what you put in and I’m investing in the future of my meetings because they’re important to me.  So if you’re passing, pop over and say hi.

Whatever you’re up to, don’t get carried away by the Sunday Sunshine, remember you’re BeYOUtiful but you also want to be healthy & happy, if you’re a Weight Watcher it means weight loss is something you want to achieve, therefore today do not forget that Monday morning, “here we go again2 feeling.  You can enjoy the sunshine, even eat and drink with friends and family and still achieve that goal of weight loss. Xx

Great Food, Great Job, Great Life!

26^th July 2014

Happy people understand that sometimes life doesn’t go their way - life isn’t fair, but at least it isn’t fair for anyone…

I love days like yesterday, sunshine, good food, good company; they really are my kind of days.  I worked till lunchtime then went and picked up my mate and we went to The Crown on the Wergs road for a treat, they do have a fixed price menu at lunchtime but as it was a treat we had what we fancied, and it was delicious, all I’ll say is thank the universe for a weekly allowance, although I still chose wisely, 

Starter was caramelised onion tart & scallops

Main was fish (bream I think I ordered, whatever it was I ordered it because I’d never tried it before, it was good), boiled potatoes and spinach

 

Desert – lemon tart

Using  my Weight Watcher app as a guide, I’d guess, caramelised onion tart (10pp) & 2 scallops (F&H or 1pp),  fish (bream fillet is 3pp each, mine was whole so 6pp), boiled potatoes (F&H or 3pp plus 2pp for butter) and spinach.  Finally 10pp for the tart.  

Yeah 35pp would cover that meal and it was quite a delight, I do love food, and good food is the best kind, there was a time I used to ‘just eat’ now I taste and savour, those scallops were just amazing, and the tart was a treat, it satisfied me so much my tea was a cucumber sandwich and a small chunk of St Agur cheese, mmm, food will always be one of the greatest pleasures in my life and now I eat less, more about quality than quantity, I enjoy it even more.

After a lovely afternoon of good food and good chat, I went home and sat in the shade of the garden and enjoyed an hour or so of peace and quiet, absolute blissful way to end a great day.  

Work-wise August is a quiet month usually but not this year, I have had a busy July and have a crazy busy August coming up, so I need to ensure I keep a bit of balance as I’m going to be working some weekends, I need to make sure I have my down time or I’ll burn myself out and I can’t be having that!  So this morning I’m organising my diary and scheduling in ‘Bev Time’.  I can’t help anyone else if I’m not healthy and happy myself and part of what makes me happy is doing nothing, I like to spend time chilling, it balances out my rush.  Today will most definitely be an afternoon of ‘nothing’, I’m going to work from 6-11, then the rest of the day is mine, ooo I have a massage booked, that’s my indulgence, it’s also medicinal, it keeps my body functioning as it sorts out my joints and muscles, last week my lady wasn’t able to do a full massage and I’ve noticed the difference in my body this week, its seizing up!

The forecast looks fabulous for today so I’m thinking a few hours in the garden again later, I might even attempt to read a book, although my brain is buzzing with thoughts and ideas at the moment so not sure it’ll be able to calm enough to concentrate on a book.

Have a great day, don’t forget the “where do you read yours” if you get a photo opportunity! 

BeYOUtiful and focus on the healthy and happy, it’s facebook status’s like this that make it all worthwhile; 

Julie

Another non scale victory for me today. My diabetes nurse was sooo happy with my blood results she has taken me off all metformin meds. Before I lost weight I was on max dosage. To say I'm happy is an understatement Thank you Beverley Longsden xx  I started Weight Watchers to help my diabetes. With the help and support of Beverley Longsden and fellow Weight Watchers at Ashmore Park's meeting I've now lost 7 stone. I love WW because I know that making those small changes to my diet are for keeps but so easy to do and it's made a huge difference to my diabetes.

And comments like this;

Rachael Doyle
I attend Beverley Longsdens meeting Bloxwich, I joined in Aug 2010 a very unhappy person with a lot of weight to lose, who always put a brave face on that the weight did not bother me but deep down inside it was killing me looking at myself that size, then I made the first step and walked through those doors and never looked back and I’m so glad I did as in a few weeks I have been at goal 2years after losing 157 and a half pound and am now a happy healthy person could not have done it without my fantastic leader Bev, meetings are fab and made friends along the way xx

Makes me proud to be a leader and shows that losing weight isn’t just about image, it’s health and happiness too, I’m so proud of both of these ladies, they’ve both lost incredible amounts of weight Julie 7st and Rachael over 11 stone, maintaining for 2 years – how marvellous is that!  I’m proud of all my members whether you lose 3lb or 30lb or 10 stone, it’s an incredible achievement, when you look around at how much food is on offer, temptation is everywhere so to find a way to resist and stay in control and make life long changes is just incredible – well done to all of us.  We’re amazing aren’t we when you really stop and think about it. xx Mwah xx

We do like our chips & chinese don't we!

25^th July 2014

You can’t rush something you want to last forever!

That moment when you’ve just woke up feeling shattered and you realise your alarm isn’t set because you don’t have to get up at silly o’clock!  I still got up five minutes later because I was awake and couldn’t snooze, plus I’ve got loads to do so my brain started working, but it was a nice feeling and it’s good to know I haven’t got to rush to get stuff done today, plus I’m getting to have a posh lunch with a pal – yay love good grub I do and I’m not having steak, far too much red meat the last two weeks, no chips either!  I need a bit of balance back, although we have enjoyed lovely salmon and chicken at home, it was even an organic chicken, can’t afford them too often which is why I’ve cut down on the amount of chicken we eat and switching to fish and veggie options.

We’ve just had a fabulous week in my meetings this week, so many awards handed out, 5%, 10%, 50lb’s, goals and of course loads of silver sevens too, it’s been an incredible week, another 475lb lost over the week to add to our running total which now stands at 14,119lb that’s smashed the 1,000 stone barrier easily – truly inspirational and getting slimmer this summer is what my lot are planning on doing!

We got to talking about the holiday mindset especially where booze is concerned and how the sun comes out and we swap our lager for cider, our wine for Pimms and our vodka and diet coke for cocktails, all of which are much easier to drink and packed with ProPoints, so just be careful with that as it’s really easy to start making jugs of Pimms or Sangria on a summers afternoon so you feel like you’re on your holidays in your back garden, make sure you’re saving your weekly ProPoints, there’s a lovely white sangria recipe in August’s Weight Watcher magazine, after you’ve made that you can use the mag to take some “Where do you read yours photos”.

The other day I looked at the stats on my blog page, I’ve never really looked before, my blog is something I write for myself and it’s great that people want to read it but I’ve not paid much attention to how many, so I checked out the top ten viewed pages and I was amused to see that 7 out of the top 10 were food based eating out / takeaway based ones.  The number one blog has had 4,255 views and that doesn’t cover the ones that have it emailed to them!  We really do like our chip shop treats don’t we!   

My Top Ten

1.    http://wwbevsworld.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/another-fancy-going-to-chippy-for-tea.html

2.    http://wwbevsworld.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/oh-my-days-whod-have-thought-chinese.html

3.    http://wwbevsworld.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/happy-pancake-day-you-can-have-them.html

4.    http://wwbevsworld.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/all-things-battered-chipped.html

5.    http://wwbevsworld.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/a-bag-of-chips-please-how-much.html

6.    http://wwbevsworld.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/if-youve-ever-felt-fat-frustrated.html

7.    http://wwbevsworld.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/chowing-down-on-chow-mein-tasty.html

8.    http://wwbevsworld.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/yeah-i-ate-out-once-this-week-but-it.html

9.    http://wwbevsworld.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/i-may-not-be-there-yet-but-im-closer.html

10. http://wwbevsworld.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/weight-loss-should-be-slow.html

It’s good to know they’re being read and hopefully helping you to stay on track!

Right it’s Friday – YAY, the weekend is upon us, there will be sunshine, so make sure you stay hydrated (water that is), protect yourself enough in the sun (sun cream) and slow down enough to enjoy it, get active if you want some spare ProPoints, use those weekly 49 just the once!  Most of all enjoy yourself because you’re only on this wonderful planet once and we should embrace every day sunshine or showers.

We’re doing a car boot sale Sunday if the sun keeps shining, an opportunity to promote Weight Watchers to the world, let them know we’re getting slimmer this summer.

Have a fab Friday BeYOUtiful. x

Everyones Getting Slimmer this Summer!

24^th July 2014

It’s never too late to start over. If you weren’t happy with yesterday, try something different today.  Don’t stay stuck, change.

Another 151lb lost on my scales yesterday morning, yep we’re getting slimmer this summer and I know predominantly meetings are female based, however I have my share on fellas and they are fabulous, I look forward to my Wednesday evenings where we have a good mixed meeting of bother ladies and lads including Dave, Phil, Taz and Alan who keeping me in check over my chips!  Dave’s less than 10lb away from his 100lb certificate, how fantastic is that and Alan lost 3.5lb last night to get his 2 and a half stone, they’re all doing fab and the ladies were doing equally as well yesterday, with 6 receiving their 5% awards, a couple getting their 10% and the lovely Pearl reaching her goal, not to mention Tina who lost 8lb in her first week –gobsmacked I was!  Anyway I shouldn’t start doing this because it gets out of control, as there is so much success going on in the meetings, it does prove that Weight Watchers works any time of the year, because it really is a forever thing…

Quite a few of you know my mom so this video is to make you smile (please don’t watch if you’re offended by swear words as there are a few in there, she’s 76 and has a potty mouth, what can I say) https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10152496989575862&l=8900142780605631398 This is moms usual bedtime ritual, or at least it’d be something like it!  She’s my world is my mom, after all she's the reason I breath! She's as mad as a March hare but absolutely marvellous, the tales she could tell!  To look at her you wouldn’t think  she was once 18 stone would you, I’m so glad we both joined Weight Watchers ten years ago because her bodies a bit of a mess now with her aching joints and pain, I can’t imagine how it would feel if she was still carrying her extra weight.

I haven’t really talked food this week have I, we ate delicious yesterday we really did, I had a plum and banana with natural yogurt for breakfast and a couple of slices of low calorie brown bread with a scrape of jam on (that was yummy, haven’t had jam for ages!) For lunch we had salmon, brown rice and vegetables, I cooked the salmon using those Maggi ‘So Tender’ Garlic chicken papyrus things on my George Foreman, it worked a treat and cooked them perfectly, full of flavour.  For tea I used one of the leftover salmon pieces and had salmon and cucumber Warburton square thins with WW dressing, again truly scrumptious.  I do love Weight Watchers, the flexibility of Filling & Healthy foods and ProPoints really does make it easy to eat in a way that’s satisfying.  

 

I’m loving the photos that are coming in for the “where do you read yours” magazine facebook thing.  In case you missed it, here’s what it’s all about;

Our area page https://www.facebook.com/WWarea41 is running a fun idea and I’m hoping my members are going to embrace it because it was my idea ;) it’s based on the Weight Watcher magazines and Where do you read yours? Over the rest of the summer we are looking for your photos, send us your pics of you enjoying reading your Weight Watcher magazine, the more fun the better! Do you read it in the garden, on the beach, up a mountain, let's share and have a giggle! Post them on on our page, inbox us or email them (bev_ww@yahoo.co.uk), or text it over on 07739 968 678 with your name, WW meeting and where the photo was taken.  

Here’s to another day of being surrounded by BeYOUtiful members, I’m even enjoying the fact you’re bringing your kids!  Most of them make me smile anyway ;)

Eat Gorgeous, BeYOUtiful and focus on the Healthy & Happy because you’re worth the effort xx Have a great day xx