SELF IMPROVEMENT - THE WEIGHT LOSS CHRONICLES.

... GATHERS NO MOSS! Such a great week!!! So many SVs and NSVs to celebrate that I'm thinking that this is my most successful week so far! Such a great feeling!! Let's start with my firewalk! OMG! It was amazing!!! There's something so freeing about doing something that you're not supposed to be able to do, something only a small percentage of the population ever brave and something that you're so scared of that upon completion, the feeling of euphoria has you smiling like the proverbial cat (and making you forget to write your blog post, oops). And it made me realise, that if I can challenge myself to conquer one of my greatest fears, to push my limits so that I have valuable life experiences and mentally prepare myself to do something so unnatural, why do I find it so difficult to keep my diet in check to achieve something I want so much more than I ever wanted to walk on fire??? Sweet chilli sea bass fillet, garlic baby pots and sauteed asparagu...

No gains for 5 whole weeks!!! Woohoo!! You know what's important in life?? Celebrating the victories! However small, however unimportant or insignificant you feel it is, however much you feel that it could have been better... it doesn't matter! Recognise it, share it, celebrate it! It's an achievement and you (and it) deserve to be proud and acknowledged! So every time you notice a non scale victory (or any other victory in life) then shout about it, post it, share it, celebrate it! Why? Because you deserve it! Have I done as good as I could have? No.  Have I done as much as I could have? Definitely not.   Have I achieved as much as I could have? Not at all. But... Have I done something? Yes.  Have I achieved something? Yes.  Have I made a conscious effort, made more mindful choices and gotten results? Yes!!! And that's what truly matters and by refusing to acknowledge that, I would be doing myself out of the recognition that I deserve for the effort...

Christmas is over.  New year has come and gone and Easter is months away! 😁 though I anticipate a slight blip around Shrove Tuesday 🙈 So with no more excuses, I'm back on the wagon and I'm strapping myself in so that I can't fall off again. So today, although not technically day one, I'm going back to basics, back to the essentials that I know about, back to meal planning, back to shopping with purpose and back to focusing on the end goal (for those of you who don't know, I've promised myself a trip to Iceland to see the Aurora Borealis if I make significant progress).  So, I'm 100% in and ready to do this! For those that remember, I've struggled a lot with having to buy excess food and then throwing it out, so today I tried something new.  Firstly, I decided to do my shopping in Aldi, meaning that the overall cost was lower compared to where I would normally buy groceries.  Secondly, I bought the majority of food as either frozen or pre-pac...

New Year's Eve.  Tomorrow is the day - new year, new me malarkey.  I've been a sucker to it before myself, gym memberships, exercise equipment, kitchen appliances.  Hypnotised by a calendar change and consumerism seduction.  And this year, well!  This year takes it even further by starting the year and month on the first day of the week!  Monday 1st January 2018.  Does it get any better than that?! I'm more than a little OCD so trust me when I say that that is an OCD sufferers dream come true!  The fact is, yes, it's a new year but it's also the same me.  I'm no different today than yesterday.  I don't want a new me for the new year, I want the old me, still trying, learning and growing but just with an upgraded, more determined mind-set. Mind-set deluxe edition 2.0 platinum! So as tempting as it was to become overwhelmed by sales and offers, promises and guarantees and the very best that Photoshop has to offer.  The truth is,...

... come to an end. Hi guys, back again.  As always I want to thank everyone for reading, commenting and supporting me on this journey.  It really means a lot to me to have you all, your advice and empathy is irreplaceable and is greatly appreciated.  😊 So firstly, let me apologise for not posting last week.  Excuse number 1, work has been extremely busy.  Excuse number 2, I've been extremely busy.  Honest reason, I'm disappointed in myself and was ashamed to post my lack of effort and results and because I'm sick of writing repetitive, negative stuff.  So to combat this, I have decided firstly, to be more accountable – after all I control what I do with my time and my body.  Secondly, to leave the past where it is.  If I wasn't accountable in the first place, then there's no point in me complaining about it now.  And thirdly,  focus on the future and what I'm going to do day by day, week by week, to achieve the goal I set out ...

Week 6 – birthday week! That pretty much sums up my week lol.  After the catastrophe of last week, I agreed to give myself the week to not stress or pay too much attention to my diet.  I was going to eat and drink what I like and then draw a line under it and get back on it. I still didn't change any of the habits I'd formed though, the daily lemon water, less snacking, less fizzy drinks and generally being more aware of the decisions I'm making and how those decisions form habits. I also invested in some Jillian Michael workouts from Google play so that when I'm back on it, I hit it hard.  But aside from those things, there has been zero effort made.  We all have those times when we fall off the wagon, but the important thing is that we get back on a new wagon asap, that we don't let one failure, one bad decision suffocate our motivation, desire and ambition to achieve.  You will only fail if you admit defeat.  You will only admit defeat if the goa...

Ok, so we all know that saying that ‘what goes up, must come down', yeah?  Well let me introduce you to its long-distance cousin, ‘what comes down, must go up'.  Yeah, he's the unpopular cousin that's only ever invited out of obligation even though he only dampens the party like a dirty dish cloth! Eugh! Week 5 was a rollercoaster of good days and bad days, good choices and bad choices and a whole lot of wishful thinking!!  Rather than putting the effort into cooking healthy meals, making health decisions and finally starting an exercise regime, I spent a lot of time trying to disprove basic maths theorems so that I'd be able to justify what I knew was going to be a bad week.  And the end result?  I failed on both counts!  Maths – 1 , Me – 0  😔 My days see-sawed between grilled chicken and jacket potato and chips, cake and coke – oh wait, is that a Ferrero Rocher???? 😒 I convinced myself, in a very small, deluded part of my brain, that it w...

So week 4.  Wow.  The last 4 weeks seem to have dragged, I feel like I've been battling this new lifestyle for much longer than nearly a month lol. Again, I have been overwhelmed with support and encouragement and empathy and understanding.  I am truly honoured when people tell me that they can relate to thoughts, feelings and situations and it empowers me to continue to bring a voice to my journey with truthful encounters. So I started the week full of enthusiasm, energy and positive thinking!  I started putting actual thought into schedules, timing, planning and organisation.  My weekly meal plan was done (in my head obviously in case there was some catastrophic event which meant that there was no way that I could possibly fit kale into my perfectly worked out plans or every supermarket had ran out of wholegrain rice – or other cardboard tasting goodness!) I was even finally going to unbox the kettlebells! 😮 And then I felt it, and pretty much all my plan...

Again, I just want to start by thanking everyone that is supporting my journey.  Your comments, compliments, encouragement, advice and well wishes really inspire and motivate me to carry on and try harder. Now on to week 3.  Surprising, successful, challenging and confusing lol but finally approaching the end of the week, I'm starting to feel more organised and in control.  Non- scale victory 1! The week started how week 2 ended, disheartened and discouraged.  Have you ever just thought that if I can't get my eating habits right then I should just stop eating?  I don't know if it's just me but when I have a difficult time, I decide that at least if I starve myself then I have to lose weight and I won't have the stress of trying to plan and buy and organise and cook and store, I just won't eat.   Problem solved! Obviously that wasn't sustainable and not a great idea with the mindset I was in.   Luckily I pulled out of that funk on Wednes...

So, let me introduce myself! I'm a 34 year old female with a lot of weight to lose.  I've been overweight my whole life from years of eating junk and leftovers, bad lifestyle, bad genes, the inability to cook and a plethora of other internal and external influences (I'm sure working at KFC for almost 15 years didn't help either!) I do partly blame my upbringing.  I believe that my mother especially, could have done more to reduce the situation and be a better influence.  I believe that the limited menu options I grew up with could have been better, (if it didn't come with potato or bread then it wasn't a meal), and I believe that more effort could have been put into encouraging a more healthy lifestyle, but those responsibilities fell on me a long time ago. So now, here I am, 34 years old finally coming to the realisation that I'm not happy but I could be.  That changes can be made if I'm prepared to make them.  That no one is accountable for my ...