The time is NOW!

27^th August 2014

Almost every successful person begins with two beliefs: the future can be better than the present, and I have to power to make it so.

Second time writing this blog this morning, computer decided to freeze and I’ve had to reboot, now to try to remember what I wrote!

So I’ve been challenged and it’s way scarier than the Ice Bucket thing, for me anyway, yesterday morning my members thought it was a fab idea to challenge me to complete my 12 week journal and told me they’d sponsor me to do so and if I did complete it they’d let me pick my favourite charity for the donation to go to!  No pressure then.  I had planned on completing it and now I know I want to because it benefits more than just me.  I finished day two yesterday, I’m trying to eat mostly filling and healthy foods but I’m ProPointing them as my initial plan yesterday was to do a ProPoints day - that changed about 9pm when I decided I wanted more to eat!

There’s a bit in the journal about ‘managing places’ and on each daily tracking page there are clock-faces to note down the times that you find yourself eating mindlessly or being too sedentary and it suggest jotting down where you are and what you are doing.  Then at the end of the week, you can look back and see if there’s a pattern to your trigger times and places.  Simply being aware of your weight loss hotspots is the first step to reclaiming control.  Armed with that knowledge you can come up with a plan for changing your routines and ensuring you are surrounded by filing and healthy food choices rather than leaving it to chance.

Already I’ve realised 9pm is a trigger time for me; I know I already knew that but you can’t beat a timely reminder to help you get on track and losing!  After all we are pressing the reset button in meetings this week.  After I’d enjoyed my glass of wine, I decided I was still hungry – was I or had the glass of wine given me the munchies, or the excuse to decide I was still hungry, mmm interesting.  I think I was actually tired and needed to go to bed, I do get up at 5am after all and work till 7.30pm, so really it was sleep I needed but instead I went looking for my mattress in my fridge!

Luckily because I’d done a Filling & Healthy friendly shop my house isn’t full of too much temptation and I opted for low calorie brown bread with a bit of Weight Watcher spread and I had a slice of luncheon meat (because it was there) for 1pp.  Because I’d tracked everything I was able to look back over the day and see that I could easily decide to make it a F&H day and take the 9pp that weren’t F&H foods from the 4 activity ProPoints I’d earned on my pedometer and the rest out of my 49 weekly allowance. 

How will I behave differently today?  I shall be going to bed at 9pm, and saving myself from the second tea I didn’t really need!   I shall also have my tea ready for myself because that was also something I didn’t do, I had leftover meat from lunch but didn’t have anything to go with it!

I have some beef left so I’m just googling beef and broccoli as I have some of that which needs using too, lots of recipes with lots of ingredients, maybe I’ll have a play! I’ve also bought scallops as they were on offer so I’m going to attempt to cook them for the first time ever, wonder if I’ll have the patience to cook them teatime or if the dates ok on them I could save for tomorrow. 

Right I need to get started on the paperwork ready to get ready for my meeting, but first a hot shower to wake and warm me up, it’s foggy out there this morning, Autumns come early! 

Here’s to a great day BeYOUtiful make it work your way. xx

Bank Holiday Boo!

26^th August 2014

I am learning to allow the space between where I am and where I want to be inspire me and not terrify me.  Tracee Ellis Ross

Yesterday was looooooong….. I think it’s something about August Bank Holiday Monday because it’s the same every year and it’s even longer when you add a day of rain to it, it’s still raining now – what’s that all about!

When a day’s long and there’s nothing on television and you just haven’t really got the enthusiasm to do anything else a place we often end up is the kitchen looking for something to do in the way of eating.  That was me yesterday, I did try to battle with that mood though, instead I put the other half of the beef in the slow cooker following a tesco recipe – I didn’t like it when it was eventually cooked, the beef was done to perfection but the wine sauce was yak – wine shouldn’t be used in a sauce like that I don’t think, it wasn’t pleasant.  I made a lovely soup though using potato, celery and onion in a chicken stock, that was my saving grace I had a bowl of that and it took the edge off.  This is why Filling & Healthy works so well because when you just want to “EAT” whether through hunger, boredom or just because, with F&H you can and because it’s good food, it fills you up where as if you did it with biscuits and crisps you could carry on eating for ages.

My day started great with a nice cooked breakfast, WW bacon, egg, mushrooms, tomato and one slice of bread, then for lunch we had Quesadilla filled with spinach, pepper, spring onion, tomato, mushroom & cheese, served with griddled courgette.

These could easily become a new favourite food!  I must have been stuck for something to do because I even spent a few minutes bagging up low fat cheese into 1pp grated quantities ready for use later in the week. 

I even started to read yet another book on ‘emotional eating’, I didn’t continue, they can’t tell me much I haven’t already read to be fair and I knew exactly why I wanted to eat yesterday, 1) didn’t really have the motivation to do anything else, 2) food tastes fantastic 3) it would’ve passed a few minutes 4) I’d just started a new 12 week food journal and my sub-conscious gremlin was hell bent on making it a rubbish first day entry, 5) it was peeing down of rain and we were stuck in the house making me and mom a bit cranky and Alfie a living nightmare.  Ooo I guess I could go on but I won’t.  I guess the real question is why didn’t I just think “sod it” yet again?  1) because I’m fed up with myself for overdoing the ‘sod it’ syndrome this year, 2) realising from all the ice bucket challenges that we really do all need to start taking our health and our weights seriously, we can cover most of our bodies up with good clothing but throw a bucket of water over yourself and everything shows, 3) Because I’d made a decision that I will do 7 days 100% on track, no excuses and I will fill in that 12 week journal with good or bad tracking, the choice is mine and finally 4) because I’d smiled at a Facebook friends posts and it’d made me realise I’m just as bad (she’d done 3 posts  over the morning, the first a lovely photo of bread she’d just baked to go with the second post which was a full English and lastly a post saying “Just squeezed into my jeans. oh I need to diet!!!! tomorrow I start properly. today we are out with friends.”  Who recognises themselves there? 

I have to say had she not done those posts, I could’ve possibly gone off track but reading it like that one after another even though they were posted hours apart made me realise it’s what we all do over the course of a day, we battle with ourselves.  Our moods take up from “YAY I’m gonna do this” to “Oh I need food” to “ooo that looks delicious, maybe just a bit”.  And it’s constant isn’t it, which is why it is so difficult, so don’t ever give yourself a hard time over it.  Food is just so readily available and it is difficult to resist, and even knowing that we eat emotionally and knowing our reasons doesn’t make much difference when in that moment you’ve seen it and you want it, or you’re angry/bored/depressed whatever emotion and food is there to offer you a small amount of comfort.

I don’t know the long term solution by the way, I know a few tricks that work for me, I’ve watched others do it too, I don’t know many who manage to do it all the time continually.  What I do know is that by giving myself a break, accepting my behaviour then deciding to change it by doing what I can when I can has helped me keep the majority of my weight off and also give me the motivation to ensure I don’t gain any more, it’s not just about a size on a label or a number on the scales, it’s about how I feel inside and that is what stopped me yesterday, I realised I loved myself so much I want to live as long as possible, part of ensuring that happens is watching what I eat so I don’t end up with avoidable health problems.

I don’t want to be ‘overweight’ that was the thought I kept reminding myself of and it is why I left the kitchen and finished on track even if I didn’t eat the food I’d originally planned thanks to a recipe fail.

Here’s to another day of rain by the looks, hey ho, I’m seeing it as a great opportunity to enjoy soups and stews, if we’re going to have Autumn in August we may as well embrace it.

Focus on the healthy and happy BeYOUtiful, get excited about getting healthy, remember good healthy food can be delicious too!

Do I really look & sound like that! Nooooo.......

25^th August 2014

To be old and wise, you must first be young and stupid!

Last Bank Holiday Monday of the year, this year has gone so quickly, is that an age thing, I remember when days used to drag and I used to say “I’m bored” a lot, I don’t really ever feel ‘bored’ now, there’s always something to do if I really want to look!  Looking at the weather outside, I’m choosing to do work today, will spend some time in my office on paperwork I thinks, then I may look to see if there’s a good film on the tele later, you never know, there might be.  I may even watch my favourite Christmas film in memory of the best Father Christmas there ever was!

Well I’m not gonna lie, after a bit of gardening yesterday and cooking dinner I didn’t do a fat lot of anything, I had a bad stomach so chilled and I actually spent a lot of time watching ‘ice bucket challenging’ I was going to say wasted a lot of time then but realised that the time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time at all, so I did enjoy doing nothing all afternoon.  One of my BeYOUtiful friends posted that she found it harder to be on camera over my goal weight than to be frozen with icy water.  I hadn’t even thought about that if I’m honest until she posted it, then I realised I when I watched my ice bucket video I wasn’t concerned about my body size but I had been embarrassed by my voice, the stupid faces I put and generally not impressed that I didn’t look how I thought I looked ;) not I too was a little uncomfortable watching my own video, but I’m relieved to say it wasn’t because of my size, I may be over my goal but I’m not back to where I started. 

I remember a chat we were having Saturday, it was about why people want to lose weight which had been part of the week’s meeting chat and I said something along the lines of “For me it’s health, I don’t care what I look like really”, and my bestie replied, “yes you do, you don’t want to put weight back on” and instantly I realised she’s right, I don’t mind being a little overweight but I’d be mortified if I put on lots of weight and yes that would be partly from a vanity point of view as well as a health one.  Up to that point I hadn’t ever considered the possibility of gaining more weight I don’t think, I only ever think about losing it!  I now totally do appreciate how my mate felt when she posted that comment because although people see us day in, day out and they ‘know’ what we look like, heck I must pull those silly faces all the time, posting a video of yourself on Facebook is letting all those people who haven’t seen you for some time see you over your goal weight also giving people who think it’s funny to be mean to people about their size get the opportunity to do it to you! 

That conversation isn’t going anywhere I just wanted to process my thoughts in my head.  This weekend has made me realise as much as I ‘love myself’ and happy as I am with who I am and in my own skin, I absolutely do not want to gain weight which is why I will ‘restart’ my plan every Monday of my life if that is the only way that works for me!

So it may be Bank Holiday Monday but tomorrow is an ordinary Tuesday like any other Tuesday of the year, don’t let today undo your weeks success, have a think and finish these sentences;

My goal for this week is…….

My top 3 priorities this week are…..

Managing places – which weight-loss hot-spot will I tackle this week?

Building Routines – what small change can I make this week?

If you’re thinking I ain’t got time to answer then or I can’t be bothered ask yourself;

Why do I want to lose weight:

My personal goals are:

Still not working?  Go look in a mirror and if you can say you’re 100% happy with what you see, you’re not concerned about your size or your health at all and you’d be happy to have a video taken of you doing anything not just the ice bucket challenge and you’d be comfortable for everyone to watch it, then GO YOU and enjoy your week.

If you’re not, then go answer those questions and let’s sort ourselves out BeYOUtiful. xx

I had finished my blog there, then as I was saving it I thought to myself, isn’t it funny how we react to our own physical appearance, when I look at the lady who posted that comment on Facebook (and I’m not just saying this to make her feel good) I see an incredibly strikingly beautiful looking lady, I knew her via facebook long before I met her and I always thought she was elegantly gorgeous, classy looking and stylish, she has amazing long dark hair too and the assets my mom would notice would be her bust!  Then I met her and she’s got an acid tongue (which I adore btw) an incredible wit and is great entertainment on a night out, great fun.  When I watched her ice bucket challenge, I never noticed her weight gain, I really didn’t I just saw a fun lady having a giggle.  We all see different things when we look I guess and we all want to be how we want to be, years ago I wanted to be girly or stylish or lady-like then I realised that’s just not me, I will never be that image I admire in others, I haven’t got the patience or the talent or the personality to be that person so instead I embraced who I was, a gobby, face pulling witty bird and you know what, other people seem to love her so go figure.

Have a nice day and see yourself how others see you because you are truly BeYOUtiful whatever you weigh. xx

Ice, Ice Baby!

24^th August 2014

Choosing to be positive and having a grateful attitude is going to determine how you’re going to live your life.

To say my pc is on a go slow is an understatement, over 30 minutes it’s taken to finally allow me to start typing, just kept saying (not responding), that’s not annoying at all!  Anyways it’s working for the moment, but I thinks I need to do a defrag or something, I really don’t want to be having to buy a new computer.

What a fantastic day I had yesterday, I even started it with a tiny wee bit of housework to ease me into the idea of more of it today, new clean bedding and a bit of a sort in the kitchen, thinking of getting the Hoover out today and cleaning my bedroom window! 

Back to yesterday though because that’s much more fun, had a fabulous afternoon of giggles and good food, scallops mmm nice for starter followed by fish cakes, I didn’t bother with dessert as I was fun from the other two courses and we really were giggling too much to care about cake. 

You may have heard all about these ice bucket challenges!  Well I was nominated earlier in the week and I said no and made a donation to MacMillan charity instead, but yesterday I got nominated again and I knew I would keep getting nominated until I did it, so that’s what we did teatime after our lovely afternoon, here it is (please don’t watch if you don’t like bad language because my tourettes escaped a little bit);

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10152562681495862&l=2341936634826218081

Whether your preferred charity is ALS or MacMillans, whether you agree with this craze or not so far it’s raised a ridiculous amount of money for charity and isn’t that what matters, so if you laughed at mine, please text

For Macmillan text ICE to 70550 to give £3 to Macmillan.

For MND (ALS) text ICED55 followed by an amount (such as £3) to 70070

So yes we had a lovely day and raised a little bit of money for charity too, so all good in the end and looking out of the window today looks like it may be promising weather wise too, so a little bit of gardening and I’ll still get the hoover out beforehand!  Ooo could I start the clean someone else’s house challenge, if I start it I just get to nominate and I won’t actually have to do it!

I’m cooking a proper Sunday roast beef dinner today, forgot to pick up the yorkies, but at least that’ll save me a ProPoint or two, mmm can’t wait, actually is it too early to start cooking it now?

I’m off to get my day started, whatever you’ve got planned enjoy, I won’t be able to top yesterday but I’ll still make today a good one.

Focus on the healthy & happy BeYOUtiful!