Just the one today!

2^nd November 2017

There’s a lot to be said for a quiet life…

There won’t be two blogs today!  That second one just came out of nowhere and it helped me get it all out of my head and onto paper.   It also showed me once more that Weight Watchers care because my manager called and we had a chat and I’ve had messages from others that care too, we are community, I’m very lucky to be part of a great workplace family and I feel very blessed.

I feel better just making sure my manager knows how I feel, now I know she’ll be more mindful before asking me to do certain things and if I feel it’s too much I will be reminding her of that conversation.

So yesterday was a good day where sorting out my head and my life was concerned – not so good sorting out my weight!  Oh ma’an, my inner wild boar returned and that bitch was hungry, she’d been cross bred with a truffle pig and I was just inhaling food!  Seriously I was.  I started slowly at first, for breakfast I had a giant crumpet with best butter (why do we say BEST butter and not just butter – it’s no better than another brand, I think it’s from when I was a kid and we used to have margarine or on a lucky day BEST butter) anyway that cost me 9sp.  Then the Weight Watcher bourbon biscuits arrived ooo happy days, they’re a bit good for 1sp each, so I had 2, nah 3 of them.  Next it was lunch time and I made Co-op cheese & tomato pizza baguettes, bought them that morning for £1 for 2, 8sp each – bargain in both ways, we had them with 150g oven chips (7sp), however, when I say ‘dinners ready’ mom announces she’s not hungry anymore and do I mind if she doesn’t have hers.  My grown up sensible Bev is thinking, ‘oh mom, you’ve got to eat and I’ve cooked it’, my inner greedy wild, truffle boar pig is singing “happy days, that’s more chips for me, 150g is never enough, let’s go frisco!”  Guess who won, you know the answer there don’t you… So 22sp later, I walk in the kitchen still not full – what the hell’s going on there, I think my boar pigs got a damn worm, anyway there on the cooker sitting all forlorn is the other cheese & tomato pizza baguettes, the silent conversation in my head went, ‘that won’t reheat and it’ll be horrible cold, I don’t think mom would like it anyway, it’s a bit too crunchy for her, what shall we do with it, I have an idea” before my brain had even finished that inner chat, the baguette was half way down my throat.  30sp in a meal, they should last me a day!   The 80/20 rule had just been turned around and I was having a 20/80 day, well, I was eating for 3, me, the boar and the truffle pig!

It didn’t improve, the gorging continued and I can honestly say even when I went to bed finally I still wasn’t full up, I’d even been eating good food inbetween the white milk loaf I’d bought – what the hell was that all about, not only don’t I buy white bread but it’s a huge mistake buying a loaf that size and shape, it can almost fit in my mouth without taking bites!

Okay, line drawn deep and dark, fresh day, families on its way – I do solemnly swear to enjoy the next 5 days with my loved ones, I make no promises regarding my eating habits other than I won’t purposely be ridiculous and over indulge for the hell of it.

Take from this blog what you will but know this, I’ve been to goal a good few times, I’m a pretty healthy, fit middle aged women.  I love food and red wine (oh and other alcoholic beverages too – I’m not that fussy!), if I’d kept every pound off I’d be a key charm!  However, if I didn’t work at watching my weight, I’d be a hell of a lot heavier, can you imagine the damage I could do if I ate this way day in, day out!  So never be embarrassed about being greedy, about gaining weight, never worry about returning to your meeting and saying ‘Can I start afresh’ because I’ve done it more times than I care to remember, you’ll be in good company because all the best people like to eat A LOT!

Have a tremendous Thursday BeYOUtiful and remember, whatever you look like and wherever your wobbly bits are – you are an original, a one off, you’re working on a masterpiece (you!) and Masterpieces take time, so don’t rush, take care of you – because you my lovely matter too. xx

Twice in one day - that's a first! For blogging anyway :)

2^nd November 2017

If you’re not doing what you love, you’re wasting your time.

I just posted my blog in my group and wrote “Morning Owls, how you doing? What do you really want? That's a question I've been trying to answer for weeks now and you know what - I still don't know! Do you?”  Then I came straight back to my pc and started typing the following, I needed to get it out.

What do you really want? That's a question I've been trying to answer for weeks now and you know what - I still don't know!   I’m not just talking about my weight, I mean in life.  Up until a few months ago, I was tootling along just dandy, okay my life wasn’t perfect but I was okay with it, then I had my success review at work and things started to change and I was taken along with it.

At first I was encouraged to go for a mentor assessment centre being told that I could bank the talent for when I wanted to use it.  I left that assessment centre buzzing I won’t lie, it had been a challenge, taken me out of my comfort zone and I felt I’d done good which is something everyone wants to do.  Suddenly I’m being offered the Mentor Champ role, not mentor and no mention of banking my talent for the future.  I was flattered as you can imagine and as I’d been told that it could mostly be done from home it seemed a great solution to having something to challenge me without messing with mom’s routine. 

Then I was told my manager was moving areas and they were recruiting, as you can imagine this process is never quick and I started to do more to help out, you know where this is going don’t you.  Two months in and I realised I was doing too much, I already run 12 meetings which I love and I was now doing more than the six hours, my manager was more than okay when I said that had to stop.  Sadly, I’m now realising the 6 hours, mostly from home – aren’t realistically mostly from home.  I was out the house 6 hours on Monday when I went to Leominster, even though I enjoyed it, I didn’t get back till after nine and I’ve got to do that for another couple of weeks, then I need to help other coaches in their meetings, I also have to help the manager by taking notes at other meetings, so the last few days I’ve been realising I might have taken on more than I can chew and I have a decision to make.  See the difference with my meetings is not only do I love them, but we have a routine, I’m never out the house for more than a few hours at a time, never more than 3 miles away from home and moms used to that.   Those 12 meetings are going to become 13 in January too as my manager wants me to split Saturday morning into two meetings, it’s all adding to my workload and I need to remember I must have a life too.  Sunday reminded me of that, I’ve never enjoyed four hours out of the house so much I don’t think, it was so needed. 

I’m one of those people who just keeps going, throw it at me, I’ll get it done but you know what, that’s not living – that’s surviving!  For an assessment centre day last month, I had to do a presentation including the importance of health and wellbeing policies in the workplace and this last month has actually given me personal proof.  Weight Watchers provide an Employee Assistance Programme, a 24 hours helpline to support employees through any of life’s issues or problems.  I’ve sat looking at the card on my desk for a few days now, whilst I’ve been processing it all and contemplated calling.  I don’t think I need to now as writing this blog has helped me get things straight in my head. 

I’m a big believer in everything happens for a reason, an opportunity was presented to me in August and I was flattered, it was sold to me well and it was a fantastic chance for the right person, for a brief moment I thought that person was me, I got caught up in it all.   I’ve now remembered the reasons why I became a Weight Watchers coach and I’m glad I am, the fact that it fits in with how my life is right now is even better.  I’m surrounded by love and understanding. 

None of this is remotely important to you reading this I guess but maybe it’ll make you question what you want from your life.  There is no right or wrong way to live your life, you don’t have to want a career, be a parent, or whatever it is other people are doing.  This is your life – what do you want to do with it?  What do you want to look life, what do you want to weigh – don’t listen to others, pay attention to charts, or believe everything that everybody tells you!  Listen to yourself, hear your thoughts, look in the mirror, love and accept yourself for who you are and who you want to be – there is no right or wrong. 

Time to have a conversation with my manager I thinks....

Fix your environment not you!

1^st November 2017

Focus on yourself.  Don’t get lost in other people.

When a flower doesn’t bloom you fix the environment in which it grows, not the flower!  Think about that for a moment, are you blooming at the moment BeYOUtiful?  If not, does your environment need ‘fixing’? 

What needs to change?  It could be small tweaks, not massive changes, I can’t drink my morning pint of water at my desk without my glass!  Which is why I leave the glass on my desk all the time because I know if I need to go downstairs to fetch one, I’m going to put it off, then when I eventually do go downstairs, I’ll have a mug of tea instead.  A simple tweak, pre-empting my behaviour, knowing myself.

What have you tweaked that has made a difference, what could you change that would help with your weight loss journey?

You can make such a big difference in no time at all.  I realised this yesterday when this photo came up on my timeline,

That was two photos taken over a month, a 7lb loss, if you read yesterday that’s what I said I’d like to lose, they say it takes 4 weeks for you to notice a difference, 8 weeks for your friends to notice and 12 weeks for the rest of the world. 

Four weeks today takes us to 29^th November, let’s be honest that’s the start of the party season for a lot of people, not so much me, I don’t do partying, eight weeks takes us to 27^th December, now if we could make a difference in those first four weeks, limit the damage in the second four, that would be awesome, because by 12 weeks, we’ll be heading towards the first month of 2018!

It’s not about perfection, which usually leads to a fall eventually, it’s about doing our best, doing what we can, when we can, pulling it back.  My members proved that yesterday, all inclusive holidays and only a small gain, curry night and a loss, yeah they’ve got the right idea.  Doing a bit is better than doing nothing at all!

My best yesterday was eating 3 healthy meals, my oops was having a couple of extra slices of bread and spread – could’ve been worse!

Here’s to another day of more yays and less oops – you with me?  What to eat though?  I think I’m going to keep it simple, I’ve got a continuous wanting for chips at the moment, so maybe that’s the plan, I’ll go buy some frozen ones I think and we can have egg and chips, nom nom… With peas, nice.  Yeah that’s dinner sorted.  I’m thinking I need overnight oats in my life as so many are talking about them and according to my lovely Julie, they taste even better the longer you leave them! 

Right I’m off, the stupid dog woke me up at midnight, then again at half four so I’ve been up a bit now, I may as well have a productive day.  Midweek already, 1^st November, start of a new month – let’s make this one matter BeYOUtiful.