Failure!

Well, that’s probably a bit harsh, but I have managed to entirely fail to lose 6 pounds in three weeks. In fact, I pretty much failed to lose 1! Which is pretty shocking… After a good start, it all slipped away after the (much enjoyed) excesses of last weekend. I am, however, pretty pleased that I did not go completely backwards and only put on one pound from last week, weighing, as I did this morning, X-2 stones 13lb 1/8. It could have been soooo much worse!

On a more positive note I found my old notebook in which I noted my measurements (another scary thing!) back in March last year when I started this weight loss drive. I am so pleased to report that I have managed to shift a grand total of:

4 inches off my waist
3 1/2 inches off my hips
2 inches off my boobs
2 inches off my back measurement

Let’s face it, it’s not all about the weight, but also about healthiness and clothes fitting not only better but getting too big as I drop sizes… So I finally had to ditch some jeans that were too big for me and have found that some of my skirts, that hadn’t been fitting properly for about 2 years, I am now able to wear properly (not fooling myself that they fit and thus creating a hideous muffin top…) I think this technically means I have dropped a dress size or so, but seeing as I had become one of these deluded women who think they still fit into things that they clearly don’t, it’s difficult to tell… ;o)

I also went swimming three times this week. Yes three! And all in a row… Tuesday and Wednesday I have already covered, but I also went out on Thursday morning too (and considered it this morning, before going back to sleep…). It was sooo lovely and quiet with only 7 other people in the pool. Bliss. I got my lane to myself the whole time and I really really enjoyed my swim. I think I may have enjoyed it a bit too much, however, as my time was really shocking when I got out! I thought I had been going really well and fairly fast and was feeling pretty pleased with myself. I had tried to work on my technique a bit (cue the excuses), but I think this just served to slow me down… Coming down the home straight on length 40 I thought, yup, this has been good, should be a good time, I wont be happy if it’s over 33 mins as it should be pretty fast. I then touched the wall, stopped the SportsCount and looked at the total. 34.18.86!! Ok, so only 30 seconds slower than on Wednesday, but I haven’t clocked over 34 mins since the beginning of April!! I was so shocked at it that I kept looking to check. When checking the other stats (fastest lap was about average) I saw what I think was the reason – a length of unutterable laziness that is unmatched in all my adventures in the Uni Pool. Yes, length number 28 clocked up a whopping 57.01 seconds!! My slowest lengths weren’t even that bad when I first started at this pool. Clearly I was entirely unarsed in that length. I was very disappointed. But, hey, I went, that’s what’s important, and I managed a whole 100 metres of backstroke after my breaststroke too (4 lengths). I did consider doing more but time was ticking away and I still had to get myself to work…

But all these adventures in swimming mean that I have also managed to walk over 7 miles this week (it’s a round trip of about 2.4 miles to and from work via the pool), not including the walk at Little Glen Garr on Monday. So all in all a good exercise week. Let’s just hope I keep it up next week and manage to get the old weight loss back on track too.

Sister Act 2

Yep, I’m back in the habit (boom, boom). After a fabulous weekend where I ate far too much (more later) I was back at the pool both yesterday and today. Phew. Partly this is in reaction to the large amount of food eaten and partly this is because I really needed to get back at it having been away from the pool for two weeks.

It was tough going and I felt like a lead weight for the first 10 lengths or so, both yesterday and today… Yesterday was worse as I thought ‘I’m never going to get through all 40 of these...’ so difficult it seemed. But as usual it picked up around the 20 mark and soon the 40 were done and not in too bad a time, either (32.55.94). It was very quiet in the pool, which is lovely, with just a few other slow swimmers to start. A couple of them looked like they were just about saving themselves from drowning, so dreadful were their attempts to do front crawl, and one old chap joined the lane, forcing me over to the next lane as he swims so sloooowwwly… But luckily the other slow lane wasn’t so busy and I even had it to myself for the last few lengths.

I had to stop myself from slowing down because of this (no-one else there to push me to swim faster!), but by the end of the 40 I felt pretty good and because there was no-one else in the lane I thought I’d give myself two lengths of backstroke to finish off. These weren’t recorded in my time, but a nice way to wind down after the 40 lengths of breaststroke. I swim backstroke faster (and possibly better) than the breaststroke, but can be a little erratic as I fail to swim in a straight line. This is why I will only do it when there is no-one else around… I do enjoy it though and it can be quite a work out so it’s a good thing to add on when I can. Today was pretty similar and again after my 40 lengths I was able to fit in the two of backstroke, which was great. Not such a good time (33.40.93), but I figured the important thing was I went.

I did want to stay in the pool yesterday though. It was partly a general reluctance to go to work after a nice long weekend and partly a love of the water and an enjoyment of what I was doing. It was so sunny yesterday that work was the last place I wanted to be going when I got out the pool. Particularly, as I said, after a nice long weekend.

Wastrel and SAM had decided to mark the longest day by holding a BBQ on Sunday and a vigil (of sorts) on Saturday night to see in the longest day. Flâneur and I imposed ourselves upon them on Friday night, along with RSL and Wastrel’s brother and thus the feasting started. Wastrel and SAM’s neighbour but one had seen a deer nibbling at his garden and, we were told, ‘shot it out the bedroom window’. Their direct neighbour then butchered said deer (you’ve got to love the countryside) and a chunk of it was then given to W&S. This was lovingly cooked for us into a Venison Wellington, which was delicious, accompanied by yummy roast spuds and asparagus. Yum! I tried to not eat too much of it, but failed by taking seconds and eating goodness knows how many of the little crispy potatoes. Hmm… Ah well I thought, it’s all tasty…

On Saturday Wastrel had organised some activities for the six of us and up early(ish) we went off to the Hilton at Dunkeld for a spot of shooting. We were split up into two groups, Wastrel going with the boys as the tallest girl, and RSL, SAM and I in the other group. We had a really great instructor who was patient and made sure we knew exactly what we should be doing before loading any shells into the gun. My brain still freaked a little every time I went to pull the trigger, but we all managed very respectable scores from the 25 shots we got.

Next was lunch in Aberfeldy (a huge venison burger and chips for me) which was surprising quick… followed by boating and fishing on Loch Tay. Mostly this was boating with line dangled out the back (with a good 20-30 mins of poor Wastrel trying to untangle the lines that RSL and I had managed to mangle good and proper) as we failed to catch anything at all. But it was a very pleasant afternoon and lovely to be out on the water. I’m just a water-baby me.

Wastrel’s brother had declared earlier (and whenever asked what he wanted to do) that we should have afternoon tea so we piled off to Kinnaird Hotel after handing the boat back. It’s a beautiful country house hotel and very relaxing. We had to wait a bit for tea, but it was worth it when it came. It really put some of the Edinburgh hotels to shame. Between two there were 6 fingers of sandwich, about five different types of cake and shortbread. I think we should have had scones too, but were told they were all done for the day. It was all delicious and (nearly) all demolished too. Definitely recommended.

(Image taken from Kinaird Hotel website)

We hightailed it back to the house from there to meet HAL and BC who were joining us for the next bit of the weekend. BC stayed all too briefly, as he had work stuff to do, but it was nice to catch up with HAL who has had a manic few weeks with work. A brazier was lit and more food put out (cold foods this time, which I really should not have looked at let alone had two helpings of having already eaten 3 meals that day… Urgh) and we sat outside enjoying the warm night air, the warmth of the brazier and each other’s company. There was chat, singing and eventually we all turned in after a lovely, tiring, sunny day.

Sunday, then, was the BBQ itself. We awoke to a beautiful day and I helped SAM in the kitchen with salads and stuff while Wastrel, HAL and Flâneur made an effigy out of bread and hay to be burned later (a sort of wicker man who was named ‘Woodwood’ for obvious reasons). The party proper started at noon and we were soon joined by an assortment of friends and neighbours of Wastrel and SAM’s (where it was nice to finally put faces to names). There was more good food (we are always so spoiled when we visit), piñata to bash, and an effigy burned. The sun shone, my back burnt and a good time was had by all. Thankfully just when we were all getting just a little too roasty toasty with the heat of the sun (we live in Scotland for crying out loud, not the South of France) the clouds came over to cool us a little. Most folks left by 6 and those of us remaining wandered down to the pub in the village for dinner. Like we needed dinner…. By this time my poor stomach was groaning from all the meat I had consumed over the weekend (we live a relatively meat free life usually) but that didn’t stop me having lasagne for tea…

I was quite surprised when I got home on Monday (after a lovely walk in yet more sunshine at Little Glen Garr and a delicious lunch at Gleneagles Hotel) to find that I had only put on about 2lbs with all this excess. And while that sort of puts me back to where I was two weeks ago, a healthy dose of swimming and vegetables this week will hopefully put me back on track. No regrets though – I’d do it all again without hesitation! ;o)

Small Progress

Small progress still counts as progress right?

I think I have come to a couple of conclusions this week:

1. I definitely need to exercise more if I want to loose more than 1lb per week. Eating less is not enough. Despite generally eating an amount that should help me loose 2lb per week (as calculated by a free trial of 'Weightloss Resources') it only shifts in those kind of quantities if I also shift my backside more than just walking to work and back. Shame.

2. Loosing 2lb a week is not a small goal, as previously thought! It's actually really hard...

3. While these sorts of goals do spur me on, I seem incapable of achieving them (see 1 above)

Yes, when I stood on the scales this morning for my 'weigh-in' I was:

X-2 stone 12lb 1/8

Two measly ounces off having lost 1 whole pound this week. Which is extremely annoying. I mean really really irritating!! 2 ounces, what is that exactly? 2 tablespoons of sugar?? Gah! Anyway, as noted in point 1 above I didn't really engage in any meaningful exercise this week so I can't really be too surprised. I did continue my eating less regime, so at least some of it came off...

Had really annoying period pains on Sunday/Monday (trying a new pill which is otherwise great, so have to decide if the period pains are worth enduring for the other benefits of this one. It's a tough call), so was reluctant to go out and do anything too strenuous, even if this is technically supposed to help. At least I didn't indulge in a massive amount of chocolate to compensate... On Tuesday I was quite up for going to the pool but without getting into it too much, biology stopped me... So my poor little exercise starved body has had to put up with just walking.

To be fair to myself I do clip along at a fair old pace (as much as traffic and traffic lights allow) and today was the first day I got the bus to work (carrying too much to walk).

So I have walked (at roughly 3.5-4 mph) about 15.5 miles this week, just to and from work. Gosh it all adds up, maybe I haven't been the idle slug I thought... especially as on top of that, last Sunday Flâneur walked the 5.5 miles total to and from the cinema to go and see the new Terminator film (which was quite good fun) and then another 1.6 miles to the other cinema on Wednesday to see Red Cliff (also very good). Actually putting it down like that makes the small amount of weight loss even more annoying...

Humph. Clearly I need to do more challenging exercise to really affect the weight. Wish me luck with that!

Feeling Great!

That’s always a good start to the day, isn’t it? I work up earlyish and thought – I don’t feel too tired, I can lie in a bit longer, and I’m quite prepared for the day ahead. Which hardly ever happens! No doubt the day will come back to bite me in the backside, but at least that’s a good start.

I also stood on the scales, and while it didn’t show me 2 lbs gone from last Friday ( :o( ) I did see:

X-2 stone 13 lb

So exactly 1lb lighter than last Friday. But seeing as I went up to X-1 stone and 1.25 lb on Monday, that is kind of 2 and a ¼ pounds since Monday…* Which I’m delighted about! Just goes to show that the eating more sensibly (a lot more fruit and veg, a lot less crisps) and moving around more (I have walked to work 4 days out of 5 and walked back all 5, and I aint strolling when I do that, plus the run on Monday, swim on Tuesday) really does have a positive effect.

The hunger I have experienced this week has not been so much fun, but my stomach just needs to get used to a more sensible amount of food. For too long it had expected lots for lunch. Not any more!! But don’t worry, I’m not starving myself, just eating more sensibly and probably about the amount you would eat!

So, today, the sun is shining, the Yen is climbing (making our honeymoon next year cheaper) there is a skip in my step and I’m wearing a skirt I’ve not worn in ages because it hasn't really fit properly for about 2 years. :o) I am a happy lady.



*Don’t worry, I know that I’m counting this 6 lbs in 3 weeks thing from last Friday and therefore have another 5lb to go in the next two weeks…

Active Week...

Well, so far at least. My legs mysteriously didn't seize up either last night or over night after the run, which is encouraging. At least it means I might go out again this week for another one... Maybe!

Today, however, I got up early and went to the pool. I'd not been for about 4 weeks, due to visitors and a nasty cold, so I wasn't expecting great things. And boy, it was tought! That's alwasy so annoying - how quickly a built up fitness just slips away, but it takes twice as long to build up again! Despite it being hard I did enjoy it. I'd almost forgotten how much I love being in the water. The first length was just magic. But then it always is... It's from length two onwards that it gets hard!! I really should learn to pace myself a bit better. ;o) Popping my stats in to my swimming spreadsheet though I was delighted to learn that length 1 today was the fastest I have done so far! Not bad at all... (It was 38.86). As I say though, if only I could just pace myself better. A fast first lap is all very well, but no good if the rest of them are all rubbish because you've put all the effort in to that first one!

Something to work on anyway.

The pool was lovely and quite today. I got my lane all to myself for at least half the swim, and the other half it was just one other person. Just how I like it! The uni is on it's summer holidays now, so there are fewer people around to clog up the sports facilities. It'll be a bit of a shock come September again when all the new keenies turn up... Still, September's a long way away. At least I hope it is as I want to have lost more weight by then so I can get my wedding frock sorted!!

While it was hard today, the overall time wasn't so bad: 33:14:95. Only a minute to a minute and a half slower than I had got to. Not bad for 4 weeks off and after a run last night.

Keep all this exercise up though and I'll start shifting the weight no problem. Finger's crossed!!

Plodding along

Well, the weight-loss challenge isn't go so well so far.  On Friday morning I weighed:

X-1 stone 0 lb.

This morning I weighed:

X-1 stone 1 lb 1/4oz!!

Yup.  The start to my weight-loss challenge was to put on 1lb or so, rather than loose anything.  So I had to do something to kick start this thing.  Eating lots of lovely fish on Saturday night (a lovely meal out with Wastrel, SAM, Flâneur and HAL) clearly did not help as much as I'd hoped.  All the other rubbish I also ate over the weekend probably didn't either.  

So today, Monday, I have had a much better food day:

Breakfast: a multigrain bagel with a poached egg

Snack: a portion of blueberries 

Lunch: a small salad (no dressing, basically just rocket, spinach, watercress leaves with cucumber and four pomodorino tomatoes) with houmous and two small toasted pitta.  Plus a bag of Frazzles because I was really hungry!!

Snack: banana and an apple (about an hour apart), followed by another small toasted pitta when I got home

All not bad going so far, I don't think.  Healthy (apart from the frazzles, but they do only have 110 cals per bag), and a fair few of my daily portions of fruit/veg, which is a miracle!!  

To make the day even more healthy I also walked to work (35 mins or so, 1.9 miles) and then walked home again (about the same).  And then when I got home, guess what?  I actually went out again (after consuming the small pitta) and dragged my carcass out for a jog/walk kind of a run.  This is basically always what I mean by a 'run'!  It helped that it was nice and sunny out...

As I've not run for (quickly checks back in old posts) about 5 months and have pretty much done no real exercise to speak off for the last two weeks due to a hideous cold, I thought it was best to take it easy.  It's always so depressing that I have to start back at zero again because I never keep it up... I went for my usual route (2.41 miles according to mapmyrun, 2.7 according to my i-pod!) and did a 2:1 minute jog:walk ratio.  I made sure I kept that up consistently throughout the 'run', which I figured was better than pushing myself too hard and discouraging myself from going again!  I did about 10.5 reps of this to cover the route making a total of 32.40 minutes.  Which I'm pretty chuffed with as looking back at the last run I did (17 Jan) that's a pretty similar time.  Yay!   

I looked suitably bright red when I got back, sweaty, thirsty, but I felt great!  My muscles will stiffen up over the course of the evening, guaranteed, by I remembered to stretch them out before going out (treated my walk home as a warm up) and then again when I got home, so hopefully they wont be too bad.  I'm hoping to get back to the pool tomorrow too, seeing as my nose has finally stopped running.  Go me!  ;o)

Goals

So, I have kept off the pesky few pounds that I managed to loose and am still X-2 stones and 13 pounds. This is fab. I'm so pleased every time I step on the scales and see that (yes, I know I shouldn't step on the scales as often as I do, but I'm philosophical about it, so don't worry about it). And my reward - a nice top that was on sale. Yay! The challenge now is to keep at that X-2 stones, and make the pounds lessen to reach the next goal of having lost two stone (at X-2 and 3 pounds).

So goals. I have big goals, lose a stone (tick) move down the stone numbers (tick, tick), lose another stone, etcetc... But should I also have smaller goals? Are smaller goals something that are inspiring, or something that ultimately lead to disappointment? Am I better sticking to my larger goal/reward system? The point with my goals is that they aren't time sensitive, it's never lose so much in such and such a time. This makes them easier to keep. Smaller goals tend to be a bit more restrictive...

I came across a blog (The Fat Runner) of a guy who has been setting himself these smaller goals - loose 3kg in 3 weeks, that sort of thing. Fantastically for him, he's managed it and I find reading his blog pretty inspirational, but it did get me thinking about these kind of goals.

I did try before, with the bet with Wastrel, and managed to fail at losing 10 pounds in the 2 months that we undertook the bet. Looking back at past posts it took me about 3 months. So I'm wondering if these kind of set goals would basically not work for me? I'm not sure I'm inspired enough by them, or perhaps I just don't make ones that are realistic for me!

Having read some of Fat Runner's posts, I'm thinking I might give one a go and see how I get on. I've still got my cold so it would have to wait, but I might try his goal and see if I can loose 3kg in 3 weeks. That's 2 pounds per week (to mix my measurements). Starting on Friday (cold depending). I shall note what I weigh on Friday morning and try and see how I get on.

You never know though - I am currently reading Haruki Murakami's "What I talk about when I talk about running" and it may yet inspire me to run again. Stranger things have happened!