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"Don't dig your grave with your own knife and fork"
~ English Proverb

One of the things that I particularly like about Weight Watchers as opposed to some of the other weight loss options out there is that I can still eat what I want. I don't have to buy their food (although I do sometimes, just to try it), I don't have to cut out a million things from my everyday eating, and I don't have to exist just on soups filled cabbage and legumes. I know that there is a points value for everything that goes into my mouth and with my trusty points calculator I am able to work out just about anything.

Unfortunately, I have recently started to use that "I can eat what I want" as justification for everything that goes into my mouth and I've been eating a LOT of empty calories. A chocolate bar here, a pikelet (small pancake) there, and cookies! For the points that I need to account for in a chocolate bar or 2 pikelets, I could have three bananas. It's ridiculous.

Worse still? I'm. Not. Tracking. Well, not properly anyway. I got this idea after weeks and weeks of tracking diligently that I could just do it in my head from now on. Um. No. That doesn't work. So not only am I not eating healthy things, but I'm not tracking what I AM eating properly. And then I sit and wonder why I've gained, lost and regained the same pounds for the entire month of May? How stupid am I? (don't answer that)

"I keep trying to lose weight....but it keeps finding me!"
~ Author Unknown

For my birthday on Wednesday, I did give myself a bit of a free pass. I wanted cake! And I had it. But I've tried to be good since then.

Did you notice how my 7 Week Challenge kind of fell by the wayside? Yeah. FAIL! I'm not entirely sure what happened. I lost all of my get up and go part way through. It got up and went. Somewhere else. Probably to someone who was willing to be kind to it. I went back to drinking Coke Zero (yes, Tex, you can slap my hand when you next see me!), I stopped drinking water altogether..not even just less of it. It's pathetic really.

So. New plan!

I'm taking part in the new "Lose It Bitches" weight loss challenge which runs from May 1st to August 31st...which is great, but I need a few smaller challenges in there too. So I think to be a little more realistic than my 7 week thing, I'm just going to do monthly ones.

June! Less Coke Zero, MUCH more water, oodles more exercise and tracking, tracking, tracking!


I'm trying a Zumba class on Monday night.....what are you trying that's new?

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Well hello, peoples! So what do we think of the changes around here? I decided that plain white background I had going was just too boring. So I headed on over to The Cutest Blog on the Block and nabbed one of their free templates. Purty eh? And then I nabbed a couple of buttons for the sidebar. So now I have an "About" page and a "Follow Me" page. Ooohh I feel so special....check 'em out, won't you?

You know what else makes me feel special? (Nahahaha....cool segue, huh?) My birthday. Yup. It's my birthday today. I'm now officially 31 years of age. Hubby tells me that this means I am now officially into my thirties. Because the last year of actually BEING 30 apparently means nothing. I just told him he was ancient (he's 33) and left it at that. 

So what did I do for my birthday? I worked for a whole hour, hid from the rain, and went to my regular WW meeting. I almost didn't stay for the meeting. 1) I gained weight...which I was kind of expecting because I haven't eaten terribly well this week and I didn't track. At. All. (2) My beloved Tex is away. Her husband had the nerve to surprise her with tickets to fly home which meant she'd be gone today. Humph! I like the other leader well enough, but she's not Tex. 

In the end, I ended up staying. I figured it was the smart thing to do seeing as I've gained, lost and regained the same 2.2 kgs for the last freakin' month. If I had left tonight, I would have spent the next week repeating all the mistakes I made this week. So, I stayed. And hey, I learnt something. 

So my weight loss still sits at 20 kgs (44 lbs). Which, YAY, is great..but GEEZ! Clearly I need to kick my ass into gear. Turns out there is a Zumba class happening at the local middle school so I think I'll check that out next week. And I'll be back at the gym working my ass off this week in the hopes of shedding at least 2 kgs next week. 

Happy Birthday to me!

Happy end of May to you!! What's your plan for June?

Habits & Excuses

"We never repent of having eaten too little."
~ Thomas Jefferson

Oh how true that is! You're unlikely to hear me saying "Oh gee, I wish I had eaten more today. I just don't feel full enough.". But you will, all to often still, hear me say something along the lines of "Hoooooo I feel full. I wish I hadn't eaten all that".

As with any habit, our eating habits are also hard to break. The things we put on our mouths, the portion sizes, the types of food....it's all got to be looked at under a microscope when we are trying to lose weight and be healthy.

Last week when I weighed in, I stood there full of confidence. I'd just walked 21kms ... of COURSE I was going to lose weight! And yet, when CuteBlonde wrote down my weight, I had gained 1.5kgs (3.3 lbs). For a brief moment I fell back into the habit of old and started to say all the same stuff.

"I just don't understand how that could have happened."

"But I was so good this week!"

"Oh I must be wearing heavier clothes than normal."

Then I snapped back to my new reality and tossed all the excuses out the window because they were all CRAP! Of course I know how that happened! I was NOT good all week! And I weigh in in the same thing every week! The plain and simple truth is that having managed to survive the half marathon, I promptly gave myself a free pass to eat whatever the hell I wanted. I came home and had a HUGE plate of spaghetti, with garlic bread. Then, because it was my mom's birthday, I had chocolate cake and ice cream. And watching tv that night, I sat and ate a giant bag of chips.

But it didn't stop there, folks. Oh no! Somehow I managed to convince myself that the free pass extended all the way to Monday. So I ate ridiculous things in stupid amounts for the next two days.

I also did NO exercise after that day.

When I stepped off the scale that night and someone asked how I did, I told them. "I gained 1.5 kgs and I know EXACTLY why". That was a huge step for me, and it is still hard to do. Admitting my mistakes along the way in this journey has been one of the biggest obstacles, but I think I'm finally getting there.

"If you wish to grow thinner, diminish your dinner"
~ Henry Sambrooke Leigh

So what did I do different this week?

I exercised. I ate smaller portions of better food. I tracked. I forgave myself for abandoning my 7 week challenge (oh yeah....that fell by the wayside...more to come on that later!). And I drank more water. And I exercised some more.

At weigh in on Wednesday, I was down 1.7 kgs (3.74 lbs). That takes care of the previous two weeks of gaining plus another 100g on top. I'm happy.

"Never, never, never, never give up"
~Winston Churchill

One of the lovely ladies that comes to my WW group on Wednesday nights has been a HUGE inspiration to me. J-M is just gorgeous. I've been seeing her come to the group every week and watching her shrink. She's been coming for about a year and a half but when I first met her, I looked at her and thought "well she's lucky, she's not got much to lose". You know what though?

She just reached 50 kgs (110 lbs) lost!!

She looks so amazing. She was a pretty girl when she was big (I've seen the before pic), but she's even prettier now that she's happy with herself. She just shines. And as I said, she's a big inspiration. She has about 12 kgs (26.4 lbs) to go until she reaches goal and I just know she's going to make it. And I know she'll keep it off.

Her husband is amazing too. He comes to meetings with her and listens and supports her. He loved her when she was big, he loves her now that she's thin. He just loves her.

J-M .... you rock girl! I can't wait to give you that standing ovation when you hit your goal..you'll deserve it!


My fearless leader, Tex, is going away this week. She's flying back to the homeland to visit family. I don't know what I'm going to do on Wednesday without her.

Have a good trip Tex! We'll miss you! Make sure you come back!

Just a quickie

Last week: 600 gram loss

This brought my total loss to 20.5 kgs.

I met all three goals of my challenge.

*****

This week: 100 gram gain.

This took it down to 20.4 kgs. I figure that's about a glass of water.

I met my water and tracking goals but only managed to exercise 3 days this week.

*****