Week 16 Progress 85.0

Yes, Yes! I finally made it in on the weigh in on a Saturday. I doubt I am going to get to 80.0 by Christmas though at this rate. I really need to put up a graph so that I can track this. Looking at my archived posts, it took 3 weeks to drop a kilo and three weeks for the one before that.

It is going to take a more sustained effort to get to goal and into some smaller summer dresses. I am trying to fit in more exercise but it is difficult to manage except in the evenings.

Week 15 Progress 85.6

I think something is stuck. Seriously. I get to 85.0 during the week but on the weekends it's 85.6 every time.

It is so disgustingly hot here at the moment that it is easier, much much easier to eat salads and fruit. Light, tasty and healthy. Although I'm not sure how the ice cream figures into that.

Week 14 Progress 85.6

Tired now and just posting this for a record before I forget.

Week 13 Progress 86.0

10 kilos off! Been running wild with new skirts for summer. I don't know about that Gant dress though, despite the fact that they've had 30% off. I can fit into a 14/16 on the bottom but my chest is about a size million at the moment. So dresses may be off the cards for the summer at least. I thought about having a couple made since I loooooove the dresses, but realistically it would be a waste for what is just the one summer hopefully.

Brandsmart is naughtiness.

Getting Serious

Reading this article yesterday reinforces what I've known for a long time: I need to eat more vegetables and exercise more. Every diet in the world really tells you that but this is about health and I should spend more time on these two things and less on worrying about chemicals and asbestos and the like.

One day last week I basically ate nothing but dairy all day. Yoghurt for breakfast, more for lunch on the run and then I was so tired, I just ate a bowl of ice cream and went to bed. Ridiculous behaviour, particularly from someone who's breastfeeding. Last night I made a dish with carrots, zucchini, beans and leftover diced lamb. More veg please.

Week 12 Progress 86.6

I know it's annoying when the scale said 86 during the week but here is weigh in day and I have to take what the number said.

More motivation to keep going hard this week so that I can truly hit 86.0! I have a dress that I want to try on but I'm holding out until I get to 85.0. I don't think I'll fit into it then either, but I can at least look!

Week 11 Progress 86.4

Ho ho, some movement off the 87.0. To be blunt, I was surprised not to have PUT ON weight at this time. I really ate a lot over the last couple of weeks. I don't like being dicked around by dickheads and I chose to overindulge to cope with the resultant anxiety. Not a great idea but as I said, at least I was fully self-aware?

I am almost at 10 kilos down now and that feels excellent. I think a large part of it is the smaller dinner portions I am having. Some nights all I want is yoghurt but I eat something else in moderation. Weigh in tomorrow (I have been 86.0 during the week so it will be interesting to see what the scale has to say in the morning)!

Week 10 Progress 87.0

I could not stop eating this week. I decided to use food - specifically chocolate, ice cream and biscuits - to cope with my feelings. I was very aware of what I was doing - does that make it any better?

And yet all the time aware that a good run on the cross trainer would made me feel even better.

Week 9 Progress 87.0

No exercise, too much chocolate. Enough said.

Week 8 Progress 87.0

I swear I'm not diddling the numbers! I don't know why they tend to come out even on Saturday - all week they're point 2 this or point 6 that, but for the last few weeks, it's been 89.0, 88.0. 87.0 come Saturday morning weigh time.

This isn't as impressive as it looks this week, a result of missed dinners and not enough green veg. I really need to get more fresh fruit and veg into me and less oats, wheat and rye. They are so easy though, especially when meals are snatched between a myriad of things these days.

And this week, the idiots who control our complex arranged for a JACKHAMMER to spend most of the week digging up the courtyard, So I've hardly been here and it's been difficult to have normal meals, running around with two children to my mother's house and back each day.

Excuses excuses I know. More walk, more fresh food, less junk. Should be easy really.

Week 7 Progress 88.0

Too busy to blog, too busy to eat properly. But here we are at 88!! and hopefully I'll get back into proper exercise next week.

Week 6 Progress 89.0

What can I say - I'm surprised! Really amazed at this, and how happy I felt to see those numbers. I did feel a little lighter, so it's good to see that reinforced.

Not managing as much exercise this week as I'd like to. One hour session on the XT and otherwise just walking around locally with the children which isn't getting my rate up as high as it needs to. But I haven't had access to the XT for various reasons, so hopefully next week I'll get into it more.

I went for a walk this afternoon after a luxurious lunch in town and my body just went "yes! we needed this. To move, to stretch, to keep going". It felt wonderful.

AND, I managed to zip up a skirt I haven't zipped since midway in the pregnancy. Maybe even when I bought it. Feels great!

Week 5 Progress 90.6

No surprises here! I went to a friend's house for a birthday dinner the night before weigh in that involved a glass of champagne and Thai food. Good food that I loved eating. And when I heard when it was I hesitated for a second because I knew it would wreck my weight for that week. But you can't stall life or celebrations sometimes just because of a weekly weigh in.

Organisation

It really is all about organisation isn't it? When I want a quick healthy lunch, it is wonderfully easy if I have green beans in the freezer (how I love those things) and some diced lean lamb in the meat compartment and a head of broccoli in the drawer.

Or some lovely organic apples in the fruit bowl, nestled into some oranges.

Because otherwise, when I'm hungry and I need to eat fast, it is so much easier to grab a handful of chips (my mother quite literally demanded I get her some when I was at the supermarket the other day. I should have made her take the bag with her) or a wheatmeal biscuit or a piece of cheese.

My body feels happier when I'm eating healthier but I need to take some time to do the shopping and make sure it is all set up. Makes it so much easier to truck on.

Week 4 Progress 90.0

Can you believe it? I have trouble with it. I am not exercising that often these days, but am managing to go for longer = 40 minutes instead of 20 and so on.

It's heartening to see the numbers at the bottom of a decade, so to speak. It reminds me of the delight there'll be to see 89.8, followed by all the hard work to get to the bottom of that decade.

But this is 6 kilos since I started. And that's brilliant.

Things Not To Like 1

I think I need to remind myself of reasons why I don't like being overweight. This will hopefully motivate me a bit more.

* I developed varicose veins after this recent pregnancy. With my family history, it's very likely I would have gotten them during pregnancy irrespective of weight, but I can't say that being 20 kilos overweight would have helped.

They hurt and aren't very attractive. Nor are the charming support stockings I'm supposed to wear and almost never do as long as the discomfort's under control.

Target Pants

Oh how I like and dislike Target pants.

I like them because they are reasonably cheap (usually anywhere between $20 and $40 on sale) and go up to a size 16 in their normal range, which is a generous fit.

I dislike them because the quality is often not superb (while good for the cost though) and some of the pairs I have been wearing recently are a bit old-ladyish. Truly. And they don't even have pockets, which is a pain in the arse and means I have to take a handbag everytime I leave the house.

The other day I went and tried on about 10 pairs of jeans from their clearance rack and a handful from the regular section. I am not about to spend a fortune on something that will hopefully only be worn for a couple of months. And I found a great pair of black cord pants that skimmed the thighs nicely but were loosish at the waist. These were a size 16, but all the jeans I had were a bit tight if anything. Then I caught sight of the label - this pair is from the Plus One section. So it's a size 16, but obviously 16 from the big girls section is cut bigger than a regular 16. Which is stupid if you ask me. I bought them anyway, even though I would have liked a smaller pair, because that section doesn't go any smaller than 16.

And a pair of jeans I had a fight over with an insolent teenage checkout chick and ended up abandoning, seemed a bit snug at size 16. I even drove to another store to buy them there rather than go back to the original one. To find that they only had a handful of pairs and none in 16. So back to the first store, only to find that all 3 pair of size 16 jeans in this style had gone! In three days! I looked at the 14 and they actually seemed kind of big. Big enough for me to get into. So I bought them and brought them home (I had had enough of Target at this point) and they do! Amazingly but true.

And some of the other size 16 grey Target pants are so loose now that if I don't wear a belt, they start sliding down and draping over my feet annoyingly. And I could pull them off without undoing the buttons. But I haven't lost that much weight, so I think I must have STRETCHED them out. That's the only possible answer. Because I am not a size 14 yet. Nosireeeeeeeee.

Week 3 Progress 91.6

I can't really pretend this is any surprise to me - the scales were indicating in the high 91 kilos this week and I ate way too much chocolate and didn't do enough exercise. I think if I hadn't done 42 minutes on the cross-trainer and eaten grilled green beans for dinner, I wouldn't even have been at 91.6.

So this is a gain of 0.8 kilos, but I found the 90.8 a bit unbelievable anyway. Apparently you have to work hard and eat less to lose weight and I don't think my behaviour last week indicated that.

Finding it easier to go for longer distances on the XT. And after a while, I don't want to stop but there is usually a small child or two who needs me to do something.

Week 2 Progress 90.8

I don't know how this happened. I thought it might actually show a gain today or at best staying the same as I have hardly done any exercise this week compared to last and eaten a chocolate ice cream plus a fair bit of chocolate.

That Dress

This is how I used to dress. I had an amazing Howard Showers blue and white gingham dress in a similiar pattern that I bought one year on holiday. My friend had to talk me into it, I wasn't even sure that it looked that great, but it was only $40 on sale.

On the flight home, there was a stopover at another airport for about half an hour and as there was about 10 degrees difference to the temperature at my destination, I changed clothes. Out of the grey pants and tshirt and thin jumper I was wearing, into this light cotton dress. Now I don't often remember reactions to me, but I have a very clear memory of people, who had been on the first flight with me and not paid any attention (which was fine by me!) turning around and STARING. It must have been the dress.

Anyway, it's worn out now and in a cupboard somewhere, but I'd like to be able to wear this summer's version from the David Jones catalogue. And as you can see, it's hardly skinny skinny territory. Just nicely rounded.

But still about 20 kilos away.

First post

Another start to another weight loss attempt. But this time I really really want it to happen all the way to goal. I can't spend the rest of my thirties overweight. Pregnancy and breastfeeding and work-stress-induced weight are not excuses anymore. I want to get back into the kind of clothes I wore seven years ago. And if you told me that it would be seven years, I wouldn't have believed you.

I have started eating a more healthy way - essentially leanish protein (I do love chicken skin!), vegetables, some fruit, wholegrains. Nothing outrageous, except for the chocolate, which I adore. And I'm trying to exercise 5 times a week which isn't as easy as it sounds with two little ones on hand. The cross trainer is back in use, but yesterday for instance, I could only manage a half hour walk in the neighbourhood and trust me, that wasn't very fast at all.

This blog is to keep me on track so that I monitor my weightloss and progress. I also hope that the additional support from the online community will help me do it!

Start weight: 96 kilos (I think?)
Start change weight: 93.6 kilos
Current weight 92.0 kilos

The 93.6 is from about 10 days ago.