A longer session

It seemed like a good idea at the start.  Do a longer session to see how I do.  EXCEPT my thighs (left one in particular) had other ideas.  None of my run periods were as long as I anticipated, nor were there as many of them.  Y’see, due to a bad fibromyalgia flare-up I had to hire my daughter a wheelchair so we could go shopping on Monday.  Let’s just say I have a new and profound respect for people who do the pushing on a full-time basis.  (According to my SW consultant, it counts as strength training).

I’ve got an osteopathy appointment for tomorrow because my tennis/golfers elbow is giving me gripes (again, for the umpteenth time).  Think I may need some leg work too.  Good job she’s a friend – and we’re doing lunch after.

The S.A.S. log is really helping.  I know I shouldn’t weigh myself at home but I’ve dropped a pound since Monday – fingers crossed it stays away and takes some of its friends with it.  I’ve tried not to weigh myself during the week but that seems to be a trigger for poor weight loss or even weight gain.  I think I need to see what’s happening to keep me on track.  If any of you have any ideas on how to wean myself off needing the scales please share them in the comments.

Back in the driving seat

OK.  Enough of yesterday’s (self) pity party.  Today is a new day.  It’s also the second sunny day in three.  A good dose of sunshine always perks me up at this time of year.

Last night’s home made pizza doesn’t seem to have had too negative an impact on my waistline.  I also had a glass of wine.  Why?  Just because I felt like it.  I really felt the urge to get on with some housework this morning, first time since Christmas.  So the bathroom is cleaned, the downstairs loo is nearly finished, the kettle is de-scaled, the third load of washing is doing, and the ironing is pencilled in for later.  Right now I’m taking time out ‘cos my thighs are telling me off – all that squatting to standing whilst cleaning.  Plus the cricket’s on. 😉

Also, I forgot to mention yesterday that on Sunday I had to dig a belt out of the wardrobe.  My jeans were getting a bit too gappy round the waist for public decency.

Last night my daughter suggested that, as I needed a belt, maybe I’d replace some fat with muscle.  Muscle is more compact and denser, thus you are thinner but your weight doesn’t show it.  So I’m using this as my excuse for maintaining.

As I haven’t been to the greengrocers this morning there’s no fresh veg for soup making so I’m ‘making do’ with a chicken salad for lunch.  It’s a bit late now to bung a jacket in the oven (yes I know I can do them in the microwave but they’re so much more tasty out the oven).

Weigh in

Nothin’ doin’.  No loss, no gain.

I’ve come up with a variety of reasons, helped by my SW friends and leader this morning.

1. Not been as good as I thought I was.
2. Not eating enough.  If you eat too few calories your body hangs on to them as it’s not sure when it’s going to get adequate supply again.  So I need to eat more.  Except that I don’t feel that hungry and have been trying not to eat once I feel reasonably full.  So I need to snack (healthily) more.
3. More consistent exercise.  Apparently odd bursts of longer exercise periods makes your body hang on to calories in case it needs them for the next burst.
4. Soup!  Home made soup, made with lots of super-free veggies, is just the ticket – filling and nutritious.  I made some today and it was delicious.
5. Psychological barriers.  Y’see, every time I have tried dieting/weight loss before I have set myself the first target of making it down to the ‘x’ stones 0lbs marker.  Unfortunately, when I get there I breathe a sigh of relief and slowly but surely return to bad habits.  I am once again approaching this magic weight and I’m wondering if my subsconcious is trying to tell me I’m done.  Consciously I don’t want to be done.  I have another stone and a half to knock off after this.
6. I feel so much better in myself.  I have more stamina.  On Friday a 3.5 mile walk, some of which up a steepish (for me) hill did NOT leave me looking for the bus stop.  Nor was I out of breath or panting when I got to the top – GO ME – so I am definitely seeing benefits.  Again, I wonder if the old subconscious is telling me “see, you’re fitter now.  All done!”

So, to celebrate all this tonight for dinner I made home made pizza and washed it down with a glass of wine – to get the monkey off my back, so to speak.  I haven’t had home made pizza since November and, I admit, it was beginning to get to me a lot little.

Tomorrow is a new day.  As we discussed in group this morning, SW is trying to teach you a new healthy lifestyle and NOT a get the weight off quick and revert to your old habits routine.  There will be bumps and backwards steps along the way but stick with it and you’ll get there in the end.  I think we have to accept that there will be mis-steps and the odd blow outs.  After all, no one is perfect.  But the bravest thing you can do is acknowledge the blip and get back to the plan as soon as possible.  Now if I could just let this blip stop bugging me so much.