Weight loss diary: September 2018

It’s been a while since we had an update so let’s get straight to it:

Weeks 1-4: -8.5lbs
Week 5: -2lbs
Week 6: -1lb
Week 7: -1.5lbs
Weeks 8-10: +2.5lbs
Week 11: -3.5lbs

Total: -15lbs

Not bad at all. Even with a three week blip I’m still averaging at just under 1.5lbs a week. Excellent. It’s not the fastest, sexiest tale of weight loss ever but it is a very sensible, sustainable one.

There will be many more blips but I need to make sure that I arrest them before they turn into three weekers. That’s too long to be off plan and (I always say this but it always bears repeating) I feel SO much better when I’m in the zone. It is hard work to plan and track but the benefits are myriad: better digestion, better sleep, better mental health...it makes you wonder what kind of moron wouldn’t make the effort...

The wages of sin

Well, the scores are in and after shamefully missing not one but two weigh ins, and consuming more points over this last weekend than a good Weight Watcher does in a year I have gained...

2.5 lbs.

So that’s not bad at all. And every glorious mouthful was worth it. I will NEVER be the kind of person who attempts to point while on holiday.

Back to it now and I’m hoping that a good week can get that back off again. There are another thirteen weigh ins before Christmas - I could easily be a stone down by then with a bit of focus. Onwards and downwards!

Weight loss diary: July / August 2018

I haven’t been doing weekly weigh in updates as I was worried they would be rather tedious for…well, everyone but me. Instead, have a monthly update!

The scores on the doors for my first month on WW Flex:

Week 1: +1lb
Week 2: -4lbs
Week 3: - 2lbs
Week 4: -3.5lbs

Total: -8.5lbs

Additional notes:

During this month, I tracked all but one single day, which dedication is borne out by these results (first week aberration aside). I ate out at non-chain (and therefore difficult-to-track-with-any-degree-of-accuracy) restaurants on three occasions and guesstimated each time, obviously with some degree of success. I’ve eschewed alcohol for the most part, which I think has made a big difference in making the points go further.

I believe that is a slightly slower rate of loss than when I started back on Pro Points in 2013. But I am five years older and my start weight was a good few stone lighter, so it is not very surprising. I also think that I am probably eating better, although it is obviously very hard to know for sure given that I have killed so many brain cells off with gin between then and now that my recall is probably shot to pieces.

One thing is for sure. I went back to WW because I felt, very acutely, that I needed to do something positive for my physical and mental health and, for me, it was most definitely the right decision at the right time. Over the course of just four weeks I have seen a demonstrable improvement in…well, pretty much everything, and the fact that I have lost over half a stone on top of that is just wonderful. I don’t expect that either the current rate of loss or the current level of enthusiasm will continue unchecked but for now, things are looking good.

A post weigh-in post

Well, I am surely glad that I did write my pre weigh-in post before I went to the meeting. Because the scales were not kind. In fact, they were positively bitchy, informing me that I had managed to gain a pound over the course of the last week.

I’m no stranger to gains – they’re a fact of life, and I try to be sanguine about them but, oh! This stung quite a lot. Such that I could actually feel my eyes get hot and prickly when I stepped off, even while I was cheerfully telling the leader that I wouldn’t let this put me off and would give it another good go this week. Then I went to the meeting shop and spent £7 on over-processed WW own products that are full of the type of sugar replacements that people with delicate tummies should probably avoid.

But while waiting for the meeting to start, I actually sat and read my own post and it did make me feel a lot better. So what if the scales are taking a while to catch up? I know, in my heart of hearts, that I did my very best this week, that I made good decisions, and that I took proper care of myself. Hopefully, good results will follow (said with gritted teeth).

In other news, someone emailed me a few weeks ago to say that this blog had been listed as one of the Top 5 UK Weight Watchers Blogs and Websites in 2018. I’m not sure how many UK Weight Watchers Blogs there are (probably 5), and I’m not quite sure that this has actually been a Weight Watchers blog for a while but hey! We take our victories where we can. And the thumbnail of Minx they have used is one of my favourites so it’s worth a click just to admire her.

Weigh in Wednesday: running on the spot!

Previously on WWF: -49lbs
This week: -0.5lbs
Total loss: 49.5lbs

I'm sorry but AAAARGH. What did I say about bouncing around the 50lb mark? This is getting ridiculous!

That is not to say that I am not pleased with this week's result. I have been an angel, a WW angel. I have 24 weekly points left, unheard of! But I suspect that the truth of it is that I gained 2-3lbs during the extended birthday celebrations and then managed to lose them again this week, so the result is (sort of) more impressive than it looks.

I'm missing my meeting yet again this week and am really feeling the lack of that nice structure that it gives the WW week. I knew another week without an official weigh in might prove dangerous so went to an early morning drop in session instead but it isn't quite the same. Still, hopefully things will calm down soon, on all fronts.

Aims for this week: well, a pound will take me to a new meeting low-weight. So that would be nice.

Onwards and downwards, comrades!

Failure to weigh in, failure to care

There was no weigh in post last week because I didn't make it to my meeting.  I could, possibly, have got to a different meeting but I didn't.  Instead, I not so much fell as threw myself off the wagon and lay in the dirt laughing while it retreated into the distance.

My mojo is definitely missing.  I have...I dunno, WW fatigue?  Actually, the problem is more along the lines of a build up of work and study related stress that is leaving me very tired and very low and I am struggling, hard, to keep up momentum in...well, come to think of it, anything at all.

This is hardly sensible since I know full well that I tend to cope better if I am on top of the food and exercise side of things but knowing what is good for me and doing it, as ever, prove to be two entirely different things.

Things are not likely to ease up on the work front for a while so I need to just put my head down with regards to that - I've got a few days away now so I will try and put the office out of my mind altogether and relax (always easier said than done), rejuvenate and come back fighting.  I will go to my weigh in on Wednesday and take the result on the chin and...well, just keep going.

This isn't a very cheery post to welcome in November, is it?  Sorry, blog friends.  Back soon with tales of foodie adventures in Edinburgh which will make much more pleasant reading.

Weigh in Wednesday - the rollover edition

Previously on WWF: -50lbs
Last week: -1.5lbs
This week: +2.5
Total loss: 49lbs

I don't understand what it is about the 50lb milestone that I find so very difficult to get past.  Both earlier this year and now I seem to bounce around it as if it is some sort of weird WW lodestar.  And from chatting to some others on the WW UK messageboards it doesn't seem to be all that uncommon to get a bit stuck at the big 5-0.

One (very sensible) lady (who lost around eight stone to get to goal) said that she found her motivation waned when she began to look more "socially acceptable" and I sort of know what she means.  Although still demonstrably Weeble like I am significantly less Weeble like than I was this time last year.  But still too Weeble like for anyone's aesthetic comfort.

Perhaps it is just unfortunate timing and I need to grit my teeth and keep on going.  I always knew that I would have a difficult few weeks (diet wise) mid to late October what with a long weekend in London just gone and then D's birthday trip to Edinburgh which will be in little over a week.  November is looking much quieter socially so will be an ideal time to knuckle down and really push past this 50lb barrier.  And I have no excuse to not get a decent loss under my belt over the next seven days.

Weigh in Wednesday: 8th October 2014

Previously on WWF: -48.5lbs
This week: -1.5lbs
Total loss: 50lbs

Hurrah! I've reclaimed my 50lb milestone. This means that slowly, inexorably, I'm chugging towards Fresh Fat with just 4.5lbs to go before I hit a new low.

Clear week this week, so the definite possibility of a good result. My main challenge will be avoiding outlets that sell Cadbury Snowmen - have you tried these?? They are very sweet and very, very addictive. Damn them.

An unofficial Weigh In

Tonight I am eschewing my WW meeting in order to go to book group (we're discussing Neil Gaiman's "American Gods" this month which I think is FAB).  It would have been a bit of a struggle to get to both and when I hopped on the scales this morning the decision was made when I saw a home scales gain of 2.2lbs.  Yes, friends, I officially wussed out.

It was always going to be tough to get a result this week, what with being away for a couple of nights but I'm not going to make any excuses - I used it as a licence to veer off track even when I was home and that was daft.  Hopefully this week that will all get turned around.  No, strike that, no hopefully about it.  Onwards!

Weigh in Wednesday (on Thursday)

Previously on WWF: -46lbs
This week: -2.5lbs
Total loss: 48.5lbs

Good lord but this feels like a slow and tedious process.  I know that slow and steady wins the race, is more likely to stay off, is healthier, is better, etc. etc. ad infinitum.  But when you're in it, when you're in the middle of the process (or rather, not quite the middle, the mid point remains, tantalisingly, out of reach) it feels interminable.

And it is hard to complain about it feeling interminable because the thing is, you let it get that bad in the first place. 

It is also hard to complain about it feeling interminable when you regularly take the day "off" to indulge your fancy restaurant habit or sink a drink or five.

But this is my blog.  And today I feel crotchety.  So I am going to complain.  I am going to whine.  And then I will get over myself and just keep on going.

Weigh in Wednesday: 10th September 2014

At some point, maybe this blog will become more interesting than a mere reportage of meal planning and weigh in results.  It's hardly scintillating stuff, is it?

See, even Minx looks bored.

After a certain point, losing weight does become...well, boring.  It's a long, hard slog that involves self denial (if you're in a successful phase) or self flagellation (if you're not) - and both of these things are probably rather tedious to read about.

Anyway.

Previously on WWF: -46lbs
This week: -0lbs
Total loss: 46lbs

Yep, that's right, the most vanilla result of them all, a big, fat zero movement.

To be fair, there was drink taken at the weekend.  And rather than slip up on Saturday and return to form on Sunday, I allowed the slip up to remain slipped.  Where I am going to take some small (very small) measure of pride, after a shitty start to the working week I had a very persistent divil on my shoulder suggesting that the blown week stay blown until the cleansing winds of Official WI had swept the slate clean (oh my what a painfully mixed metaphor.  This is what comes of blogging at ten in the evening).  But I stuck doggedly to daily points from Monday onwards and, as a result, did not pay too dearly for my weekend folly.

It goes without saying that this week I want to get a decent result.  I mean, I say that every week.  You can take it as read.  But a decent result this week would prove that I am not to be derailed, I am bloody but unbowed...you get the drift.

Right, off to bed - goodnight and sleep tight Blogland!  Onwards and ever, ever downwards.

Weigh in Wednesday: 3rd September 2014

Previously on WWF: -44.5lbs
This week: -1.5lbs
Total loss: 46lbs

Yay!  After last week's stellar loss, I wouldn't have been surprised to stay the same but a very respectable result indeed.  If I could hit the big 5-0 by the end of September (which also, conveniently, takes me into the next stone bracket) I shall be over the moon.  I have another clear week ahead as well (a quiet social life can do wonders for the points budget) so am remaining quietly optimistic.

Weigh in Wednesday: 27th August 2014

Early morning weigh in for me today as I'm not around for my regular 6pm meeting.  This possibly means that today's result is slightly more...flattering than it ought to be.  I DON'T CARE.  I whooped the proverbial arse.

Previously on WWF: -38lbs
This week: -6.5lbs
Total loss: 44.5lbs

So, I blasted through the 40lb loss barrier and am cruising back towards the 50 point.  Also, this week sees my lowest ever recorded meeting weight.  Another 10lbs will put me just below my lowest recorded home weight.  I'm trying not to indulge myself in diet maths but I really, really want to get those 10lbs off as quickly as possible so that I feel that I am making forward progress again.  I don't for one minute think that this week's result will be repeated - nothing like.  But it is the start I needed, the boost that makes all those hungry, sulky moments almost worthwhile (NB: D may not agree).

I'm staying in a hotel tonight, so am somewhat at the mercy of the onsite catering facilities - other than that I have another clear run this week, which hopefully bodes well for another good result next Wednesday.  Fingers and paws crossed!

The return of Weigh in Wednesday

So, as promised last week, I tucked my tail firmly between my legs and went back to a WW meeting last night.

My feelings about meetings, as discussed at length elsewhere on the blog are very mixed.  However, there is no getting away from the evidence that my weight loss when attending meetings is far more consistent than when I'm not.  They give my week structure, acting as a proper line - both after a good week (don't get complacent!) and a bad (fresh start!)  I have to accept, once and for all, that maybe I just plain need them to do this.  Do I, subconsciously, see this as a weakness because I should be able to do it on my own?  I'm not sure.  But I've been playing around long enough that I have to now man up and use the tools at my disposal that are proven to work - shoulda woulda coulda as the song goes.

Let's, then, look at some stats.

I am 2.5lbs heavier than my last recorded meeting weight on 22nd February.  Given that was an early morning meeting and yesterday was an evening meeting, the actual difference is probably even smaller than that.  So, overall, six months of no progress.  Sigh.  "You've got maintenance down!" tinkled the leader when she saw my old weigh in card.  Which would be fine if I didn't still look like a Weeble.

I am 16.2lbs heavier than my lowest recorded home weight.  Factor in the difference between first-thing-in-the-morning-nekkid weight and evening-clothed weight, this is probably a bit less in actuality.  It's still a backwards slide, which is annoying.  But I've caught it before it got tooooo serious.  And there is no reason that I can't be comfortably into new territory by Christmas given past form.

So, as ever, onwards and downwards - and hopefully next week I'll be able to report a good first week back result to set me up for the next phase of the journey.  Courage, mes braves!

First bump in the road

Weeks 1-17: -34.5lbs
This week: +0.5lbs
Total loss: 34lbs

So, the inevitable happened and today, for the first time since getting my WW groove back at the end of September, my weigh in card has a gain recorded on it.

That it was a fair result, there is no question. We spent most of Monday and a good portion of yesterday overindulging in the Lake District in a beat-the-January-blues mini break. There was no time to pull it back and the relative paucity of the gain speaks volumes for my efforts earlier in the week.

I am also going to pat myself on the back for going along to the meeting at all, knowing full well what the result was likely to be. Certainly in the past I would have been guilty of skipping it. Well done me.

But, of course, there is a slight pang of disappointment at the end of my losing streak. And what Lesley would call the crooked thinking begins to creep in – the “you might as well have one more night off” type of impulse. I am not yet finding it easy to be spurred on by failure, I am a natural sulker and wallower. But, this is a journey and not one that is likely to be short or easy or straight lined. Next week I want to come on here and write that I laughed in the face of defeat and zipped on into that new stone bracket (a pound and a half away now). And I think, I think that I want it more than I want to indulge in further off-piste eating.

Weigh In Wednesday: 22nd January 2014

Weeks 1-16: -31lbs
This week: -3.5lbs
Total loss: 34.5lbs

I think I might have to make these posts monthly. While I love the accountability aspect, there are only so many ways that one can write "I stood on some scales. They read a number that represents the force of gravity on my, in relative (although not actual) terms insignificant, person. I was happy/sad (delete as appropriate."

But yes, a good result this morning. Half a pound more and I'll hit the two and half stone mark. One pound more and I'll be into a new stone bracket, which is always a nice milestone.

My daily points allowance is reducing at a rate of knots though. I lost another one this morning. I'm going to have to start being a lot more savvy with my choices - I'm already feeling quite hungry quite a lot of the time and if there is one thing that my brief flirtation with fasting taught me it is that I am not nice to know when I am hungry.

Woe in Wednesday

Weeks 1-15: -29.5lbs
This week: -1.5lbs
Total loss: 31lbs

Despite being resolutely on track, I was convinced that this week was going to be my first gain. I was mentally composing this post as I walked in to work this morning along the lines of “Every journey has its hiccups”, but kept finding myself breaking off to mutter “Snassun frassun” and scowl at random passers by.

It’s daft, isn’t it? We know, logically, that our bodies aren’t machines and that weight loss, for all that the basic biology is calories in versus calories out, never seems to work on a straight line basis. We comment on blogs when fellow dieters post a gain or stay the same to the effect “Keep going! It will all come good!” genuinely meaning it. And then it happens to us and we sulk mightily. Or, at least, I do. I apparently sulk when I only think that I’m going to gain. God knows what will happen when I actually do (and I use the word when rather than if advisedly.)

But, this week at least, the scale gods have looked down on my efforts and lo, they were pleased. My weekly points have been re-set (hurrah!) and D is making very tasty sounding Sicilian cod for tea. All is currently well in the WW World.

Weigh in Wednesday: 8th January 2014

Weeks 1-14: -29lbs
This week: -0.5lbs
Total loss: 29.5lbs

Words fail me, they really do. I knew, from my morning communions with the bathroom scales, that the numbers were shooting down - seems Sunday was a rather fluid retain-y sort of day. But I half wondered if they were wrong. I mean, I didn't go mad over Christmas and while we were away but I certainly didn't skimp. Still, a loss it is.

Contrary to the last I began to worry that NOT seeing a holiday gain would lead to complacency setting in. So you, my loyal readers, are appointed my guards against it. Feel free to slap me with a handy kipper if I start trying to get away with things. I have been back on plan since Sunday and I will continue on plan - I don't want any stealth weight creeping up on me (no, that probably isn't a real thing.)

‘Twas the weigh in before Christmas

Weeks 1-11: -27 lbs
This week: -2lbs
Total loss: 29lbs

Two stone achieved plus a pound for luck – and the half case of fizz is mine! Mwah hah hah.

No more official WW weigh ins now until January 8th. If I am feeling particularly masochistic I will keep an eye on how the home scales are going. Although I did hop on them the other day to be greeted with the message “Lo”, which, while satisfyingly Biblical, is not particularly useful.

Actually, one of my aims for the next two weeks is to enjoy Christmas without going over the top but also without pangs of guilt. Back in days of yore when I succeeded in becoming something of a skinny Minnie it was only through exerting the sort of sheer bloody mindedness that turns some people into Olympic athletes. If only I could use my powers for good, eh? Seriously, you do need to be committed and focused to lose weight, but when committed and focused becomes obsessed and rigid then you have gone too far.

So if you’ll excuse me, I’m just off to investigate the tin of Roses that is lurking in the office kitchen. I may be some time…

Don't tell Titus (that it's Weigh In Wednesday)

Saltaire and a December sky

Weeks 1-9: -22lbs
This week: -2.5lbs
Total loss: 24.5lbs

I'm on a pre-holiday roll people!  Which is lovely, albeit slightly unnerving.  It was a potentially challenging week but the scales have remained kind.  Perhaps they're saving up for the mother of all gains over Christmas.

I celebrated by heading to Saltaire to start some Christmas shopping.  It's a beautiful place and a fantastic source of the kind of gewgaws (love that word) that everyone (me) wants to find in their stocking.  When last I wrote about it, Sarah H (hello!) recommended Don't Tell Titus as a venue for lunch.  And it was, indeed, very nice, serving up a mean fish finger sandwich.  More places should serve fish finger sandwiches in my humble opinion.  The world would be a happier place.