Day 162 - half a pound on :(

Well that serves me right - but I'm on track & committed to losing two next week so have to stay that way too!!

Not much to add tonight as I've just come back from my parents in Ilford - my dad had to see a specialist & then I stayed on to chat as they were both exhausted by the experience.
It's times like this you fully appreciate how old they are and how worried they get about doctors visits (especially my dad).
Anyway he's got to have more tests & a scan - hope its not serious and just 'elderly gentleman's problems' - we live in hope :)

Hope you've had a good day.

Lisa xx


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Day 160 & 161 - I'm on the case :0)

I'm on the case & feel very determined this weekend.

It's been very strange having no boys at home but it has meant I've only got to feed myself - Andrew's doing the Dukan diet (sort of!!) so he is only eating protein & fat free youghurt.

I've had lots of berries, salad, cold meats, veg soup - coffee, squash & diet coke. I had a lovely breakfast of porridge with blackberries & a couple of hard boiled eggs - strange but yummy!!

We went to the theatre last night - bit disappointing but lovely to be just us & for once not worrying about where one or other of the boys were. This worrying is if course entirely in my imagination as inevitably they are both absolutely fine - the joys of motherhood!

This morning I went to the gym and we started our Biggest Loser month - with a weigh in. I had a good workout which is definitely easier if I haven't had a big meal the night before!!

Then home (via the butcher) and had some fruit and a black coffee.
Now I'm watching Leeds Vs Cardiff - they are losing but only by one goal and there's plenty of time!!

Off to collect Tobz at around 2:30 & then Dom back around 5pm - will be nice to have a full house but enjoying the peace for now.

Enjoy your weekend.
Lxx



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End of day 158 & Day 159 - back on track but very hungry!!

Hi All

Had a lovely time last night at Oslo Court. Dad was on very good form - he does love being 'master of ceremonies' - and the food was delicious :)
I resisted the urge to go berserk with the menu and had warm artichoke with hot vinaigrette dressing followed by Sea Bream (steamed with spring onion & ginger) with green beans, spinach, sautéed potatoes (just had three scrummy ones), 1 onion ring & 1 fried zucchini slice - just couldn't help myself!!
I had fruit salad for dessert but it wasn't very nice - very sweet & spongy - so didn't finish it & was quite full.
I had one glass of wine, a diet coke & some water - thoroughly enjoyed myself & didn't feel at all deprived because I had what I wanted.

Today I've been very good but starving all day so I've eaten quite a lot!!

Had a banana & pack of blackberries and some water then off to the gym - very hard work after last night's meal but still pleased I went - 341 useless calories burned.
After the gym I had a pack of meat in the car & when I got home I had an apple.

Tobz went to JLGB leadership camp today so I had to sort him out, take him to his friend (his mum was taking him) & then get back to have my nails done - lovely neutral colour that will go with 'everything'

This afternoon I did some tidying, washing & catching up on Eastenders & Corrie (such high class viewing!!) - it was lovely & I'm feeling much more rested.

Tonight we had roast chicken for dinner - mine with a large portion of spinach - followed by a portion of berries with lots of orange squash. Strange having Friday night with no boys around - but they'll be having a good time so that's great.

Hope you have a good weekend.

Lxx

Days 155 to 158 (afternoon!!)

Quick post this afternoon as I'm just having a break from trying to organise my work projects & doing some reading (not interesting but essential) whilst trying to ignore the 'call' of the Celebrations tin!

I must get back to posting regularly as erratic posting & erratic eating seem to go hand in hand - sadly :(

I stayed the same this week which was OK as I'd been so awful the week before but it was my birthday & dad had been ill so I had lots of excuses. But I've lost control - I'm being really good then really bad & although it might balance out it really isn't good for my system & my system is letting me know all about it - if you get my drift!!!
Tonight I'm we are going out to eat with mum & dad and Jo & Marc (my sister & brother-in-law) for the last celebration of dad's 80th (actually that's not true as he's having a special celebration in synagogue on 5th Nov but it is the last one involving food!!)
We are going to Oslo Court which should be lovely but definitely not a place for sensible eating!! But from tomorrow I'm going to go back to blogging regularly & following the SW plan - properly!!

Please nag me if I don't blog - it's definitely a sign all isn't well!!

I have had a major triumph this week though - I got into my size 18 jeans without the need for deep breathing or lying on the floor & wriggling like a demented snake trying not to shed it's skin!!
In fact I've worn them twice & there is nothing so good as a denim corset :)

I've set myself two goals to achieve before Xmas day - get under the next stone level ie: to get under 18 stone & to get into a size 16 'something' without stretching it out of recognition.

I'm determined to get back on track & I will do it - also want to win the 'biggest loser' pot at Curves so that's three aims I suppose.

OK so that's it for me - back to work now.
Will blog again tomorrow.

Lxx

Day 154 - head back in gear :0)

Today has been a better day!
No binging - lots of sensible eating.

I had a lovely lie in this morning & didn't wake up until 9:30 - very late for me!
Got dressed & went to deli then off to Curves.
Hadn't been since before Succot (about 10 days) - it was really hard going but I felt pleased with myself for going & it definitely focussed my mind back to the task in hand.
Also a group of us have decided to do a 'Biggest Loser' raffle from 1st Nov - 24th Dec - we're all going to put in £10 and the 'Biggest Loser' takes all - game on!!!

Had a quiet day overall - quite a lot of Toby-ferrying but otherwise lots of house tidying, ironing & refereeing (the joys of having two teenage sons!!) - all good exercise I suppose :0)

Tonight having a quiet night in - X Factor results, Merlin & maybe Strictly too as I've got to wait up for Toby to come back from a barmitzvah.

Hope you've had a good weekend.
Lx


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Location:Potter Street Hill,Harrow,United Kingdom

Days 151 - 153 it's all going wrong :(

Currently I'm sitting outside the barber waiting for Tobz to have his hair cut & thought I'd use the time to confess my shameful last few days.

Seems that I've used my birthday & dad not being well (he's fine now by the way) plus my resulting tiredness, to eat all the wrong things in excessive quantities :(

I'm so annoyed with myself as the pattern's obvious - good breakfast, then bad lunch, then chocolate buying (& eating!!), biscuit binging, sandwich making & swallowing at speed - very bad & I've had a shocking headache for the last two days which I'm sure is due to the sugar rush.

Yesterday I helped with kiddush in shul & ate the apple cake which I don't normally like but after my friend told me how much she liked it - I suddenly had a mega craving for it!!!

Last night we had friends for dinner which was great but we had duck (too much crispy skin consumed) and not-dry-roasted potatoes which I ate in the kitchen where no-one could see me - stupid, stupid, stupid......

Today I've been better but craving chocolate and other things because I've got the taste again - writing this is preventing me from sneaking into the sweet shop while Toby's having his hair cut!!

Not out much this weekend so will have to be very careful & definitely going to gym tomorrow - haven't been for ten days because of holidays & birthdays.

Wish me luck
Lxx

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Location:Pinner,United Kingdom

Day 149 & day 150 - too much cake & not enough sleep :(

Hi all

It's all gone downhill since my birthday - in a big way :(

On Monday night about 30mins after I posted my blog I got a phone call from my sister telling me my dad was in hospital again. To cut a long story short(ish) he had another hypo because his urine infection hadn't gone - so they put him back on antibiotics - but over treated the hypo so his blood sugar was sky high & he didn't get out of hospital until 4:30am. I was awake until then (at least I got to watch the x factor from Saturday/Sunday!!) & had to get up at 6:40 for work & to take Tobz to school.

I was really tired but had loads to do so had to go in. Unfortunately I used this as an excuse to eat chocolate, birthday cake, macaroni cheese (lunch) and a beigel with egg mayo - didn't eat huge quantities but really felt sick & had major stomach pains :(

Had Toby's parents evening last night and then came home & went to bed but still up early this morning.

Had proper breakfast (2 Choc Weetabix, banana & semi-skimmed milk) but couldn't be bothered to make lunch so when I got hungry I finished off the birthday cake (two pieces) and had about six 'Celebrations'.

Left work early, did Tesco shop & collected Tobz from school (had to bring his tuba home).
Had lots of chores to do when I got back home then made dinner - lamb cutlets, brussels & AH Dahl (yummy!!) plus two satsumas.

It was very nice & I feel it booted me back on track.
I'm catching up on 'House' then off to bed - still really tired but not working tomorrow so hope to catch up on some sleep.

Hope you are all doing better than me so far this week.
Hope to be snoozing soon.

Lxxx


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Day 148 - my birthday celebration

It's 23:06 and post-chinese meal at the end of a really nice birthday :0)

Firstly I need to say that I love FB - not really surprising - but I've had loads of really lovely messages from people today & it does give you that warm feeling inside. I feel loved & it's absolutely fabulous.

Also, one of the (many) advantages of having older children is that they surprise you & buy lovely cards and a very nice pressie - Jamie Oliver's latest cookbook. Thanks again boys xx

I also got a very posh purse from my parents, fab JL vouchers from my sister (& family), and things to plant from my in-laws SP I've been spoiled rotten :0)

So going back to the blog - I weighed tonight (pre-Chinese obviously!) and lost 1.5lbs which takes me (finally) below 18stone for the first time in 2 years.
I've also taught myself a really important lesson about 'difficult weeks' - I've proved that despite two meals out, Succoth and dad's 80th if I make sensible choices and don't go berserk even when the food isn't ideal you don't necessarily need to blow it all. I had 'nibbles' of cake etc yesterday so I didn't feel deprived & didn't feel liked I'd missed out and didn't come home and 'pig out' because I was miserable - possibly adulthood has come at last!!!

Also, I met 'myself' earlier this year in class tonight. A very unhappy lady was saying she'd only lost half a pound in four weeks but she'd been following the plan!! - I felt really sorry for her & tried to encourage her to make changes as did several other people. Just like me she was in denial - it's easy to get in to and hard to kick out - I really hope she went home and had a 'rethink'.

Anyway - time for my beauty sleep - not enough hours in the night really but I have to try :)

Night, night xxx

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Days 146 & 147 - what a weekend

Had a lovely weekend & tried really hard not to go mad (succeeded too although only the scales will tell tonight!!)

Actually Saturday night wasn't too bad mostly because portions were very small & I didn't drink as I was driving!!! When I say small the hors d'oeuvre, which had a very exotic description, was actually three small sticks of asparagus, three halves of artichoke heart, and three wild mushrooms with about three leaves of spidery lettuce - actually about three mouthfuls!! The rest of the meal was similarly proportioned so despite having buttery mash in the main & cheese for dessert I certainly didn't feel overloaded!!

Yesterday was my dad's 80th - he was well & it went really well. The tea was fabulous and all the guests contributed to my dad having a wonderful afternoon to remember. Pre-party & pre-speech nerves meant that Jo & I resisted hammering into the tea - however post tea clearing up was a very risky business (& most of the clearing was done by the caterers team!) - all those little tasters soon add up :0)

So today is my 51st birthday and I'm weighing tonight mostly as I can't find a good excuse not to!!!
Have a good day all & just to finish here's a picture of my lovely dad with my Tobz - aah :0)




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Days 141, 142, 143, 144 & 145 (up to lunchtime!!)

Hi All
Sorry it's been so long but this week has been hectic & even now I only have a short while.
This is a shame because I've had a very difficult week on the food front & I realised how much my ramblings help me (because I hadn't been rambling - if you get my drift!!)

Weighed on Monday and lost 1.5lbs - this means I've lost 20lbs in 20 weeks (since I've been blogging) & my BMI has now dropped to 33.5 - all of this is great but since then I've been on a self-sabotage mission!!
For two days I ate lots of bag things - donuts, bags of Twirl Bite-size (truly the devil's invention!!), sandwiches - you name it I ate it!! Then on Wednesday lunchtime I stopped & exerted a bit of self control.

On Wednesday night Succot started and we went to friends for dinner in their Succah (this is a shelter with an open roof covered in leaves etc. so you can eat and see the stars!). Lovely meal & had a lovely evening (it was quite a mild evening) but the main course was a fabulous chicken & leek pie, roast potatoes, roast parsnips & green beans. It was delicious but not SW friendly :0)

Yesterday & today I've been back in control - Weetabix choc with banana & semi-skimmed milk for breakfast  and I've just had some cold roast lamb with a salad and a couple of glasses of squash.

Tomorrow I'm going to Stoke Park for a formal dinner with Andrew's firm, and then Sunday is my dad's 80th birthday party. Definitely a challenge on the food front but I'm looking forward to my weekend.

In about ten minutes Natasha is coming to do my nails & then I'm out to collect dad's cake.

Will try to blog later and over the weekend, but can't guarantee it, so hope everyone has a good weekend.

Lx

Days 139 & 140 - fathers & fast days

Hi all
Hope that fasted were all ok yesterday.

Mine was ok but very headachy - probably less to do with fasting & more to do with my dad having a hypo at his synagogue on Friday night & then being up until about 3am waiting for phone calls from my sister to keep me updated.
Desperately wanted a cup of coffee but didn't succumb :0)
Thankfully he is ok - the hypo was brought on by an undiagnosed symptomless urine infection. So they sent him home with antibiotics & his blood sugar is almost back to normal for him today.

Went to my sister to break our fast & had lovely meal - fairly sure I didn't have too many sins - but couldn't resist a teaspoonful of my mum's cream sweet. It's a marvellous concoction of cream, sponge fingers soaked in coffee, more cream, sliced bananas, more cream, chocolate flakes & mandarins - delicious :0)

Had a great catch up with my family - discovered that my cousins have both read my blog (I knew one had but not the other). They are both trying to lose weight in different ways to each other (& me) so we did chat about that a fair bit.
Obviously we did not spend the entire evening talking about diets - how boring would that be???

Also my mum & dad were there & he was fine (although tired & emotional).

I realised (not for the first time) how lucky we are as a family that we all get on so well - we had a great evening (thanks Jo & Marc xx)

Today I've been to the gym - hard going after a day's fasting - then on chauffeur duty for both boys.
Have been eating a lot of protein, veg & fruit today also drinking a lot but still seem to have a headache :0(

Weighing tomorrow evening as at work tomorrow instead of Thursday so should be interesting - hoping to at least stay the same but will need to keep food to a minimum.

Hope you've had a good weekend.
Lx


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Day 138 - a short word from a tall girl

Have had a good & busy day (even managed to watch the Great Bake Off final!!)

Had a light lunch - crispbread & smoked salmon with a black coffee and a banana.

We'll have dinner soon - traditionally roast beef (my once a year treat as it's sooo expensive) with dry roast potatoes, broccoli, sugar snaps & Brussels followed by melon. We'll have lots to drink (psychological really as you pee out any excess!) & then off to synagogue.

Next meal will be at my lovely sister's house around 8pm tomorrow.

Bye all xx


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Days 136 & 137

Hi all
I'm writing today (9am day 138) from outside Curves - stealing myself to go in - but also multi tasking as I have a lot to do today.

Last couple of days have been good as far as my weight loss plans go - and generally in truth.

I'm having breakfast every day - two Weetabix with fruit (blueberries/strawberries/banana), lunch has been a salad with cold meat or salmon. During the day I've eaten fruit and at least one FF fruit yoghurt.

I've also made sure to have an evening meal and plenty of fluid during the day - at least 2l.

It's definitely making me feel better and I'm getting more rest at night. It also has seemed to have had a dramatic effect on my body's waste production - no need to share any more details but suffice to say I'm losing weight this week!!!!

Tonight (day 138) is the start of Yom Kippur the holiest day in the Jewish calendar & a 25 hour total fast - no food or drink. But actually we only miss two meals because we eat dinner before going to synagogue tonight (early - in our house we are eating at 17:10), miss breakfast & lunch tomorrow but then have a family 'fast-breaking' at my sisters (around 8 tomorrow night). It is without doubt the drinks you miss - tonight when I come home from synagogue I'll be desperate for a cup of tea I cant have (and wouldn't normally drink!!). It is psychological in part but for me it does focus my mind on the repenting I'm supposed to be doing when it's not occupied with planning my next meal!

So to all who do - fast well. To those that don't I hope your Thursday & Friday is calm & peaceful. If I've inadvertently upset you in the last year, I'm sorry - I'll try to do better next year :)

Love to all
Lisa x


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Location:Benningholme Rd,Barnet,United Kingdom

Day 135 - breakfast has been reinstated!!

A quickie tonight!
Just to say I reinstated breakfast today & I felt a real sense of achievement but............I was roaring hungry by 11am & had no snacks with me!
Luckily the conference I was at provided limited food & no mid-morning snacks - just coffee or tea so no chance to indulge but I drank loads of water to compensate.

Lunch was sandwiches & fruit - I had three small triangle sandwiches, a banana and two satsumas (pretty poor food actually) & just realised I've not eaten this evening but not hungry.

Went to Tesco at 6.30pm (we were desperate for a shop) - very disappointing pathetic display of fruit but did get some bits so better than nothing & stocked up on flavoured water, veggies and cereal too.

That's all for now.
Lx

Days 129 - 134 I'm back :)

Hi All
So sorry to have been away for so long but what with New Year & a busy weekend there just hasn't been time - also I only got round to buying a mouse today for my laptop (not very good with the pad thingy!!)

I weighed in this morning & lost half a pound which wasn't bad under the circumstances.
My erratic eating seems to be calming & overall I'm eating three meals a day and snacking on fruit/yoghurt.

Lots of meals out meant an inability to follow the plan totally as well as

• a small piece of my honey cake (had to make sure it tasted alright before I gave it to anyone)
• a small piece of my mum's apple strudel - would be rude not to!
• one delicious roast potato at my sister's - ditto!
• 4 glasses of wine (two on Wed & two Saturday night) - more than usual for me :0)

Went to friends for dinner on Saturday too - fabulous meal (had to avoid the lovely looking desserts) but the rice & spinach combo (which was delicious) was cooked in coconut milk & the asparagus was baked  with oil. It was all delicious & life is about socialising :)

I'm pleased that in such a week I've got back on track - I achieved.

Pre-New Year I did decide that as my long term goal was to have lost 2 stone by Christmas - I still was going for that so to overdo it over the next couple of weeks would be foolish & something I'd regret. So far so good & I'm going to keep at it.

Also did loads of walking on Thurs & Friday (it's a 1.7 mile walk from my house to the synagogue & of course the same back - and up hill!!!) as well as going to the gym on Sunday so I'm all exercised up too :0)

One of the less significant but still enjoyable parts of New Year is getting to see people I haven't seen for ages - friends, family & just acquaintances that you don't see often. I have to say I received more than my fair share of compliments and was surprised at how many people are reading my blog.

Just wanted to thank you all for this, your support & your confidence that I can achieve my goals - I know the only person that can do it is me but the thought that you are all their 'pushing' me forwards is tremendously encouraging - I WILL DO THIS HOWEVER LONG IT TAKES!!

Will try to go back to daily posting from now on - even if just short ones - so please comment so I know you are still there!

Love to you all.

Lisa xx