Couch to 5k

Throwing out the scales and downloading the C25K app has given me a new motivation. No longer is being 'thin' the goal, but being fit! I am still doing herbilife for breakfast and lunch and a (sort of) calorie controlled dinner but don't feel like I've seen results. But the proof is in the pudding (excuse the pun). I haven't been strict enough, I've been on holiday, I've drank and I've had puddings! All leading to no progress. 

So C25K:

Week 1, run 1

I won't lie. It was hard. My ankles were killing, my breathing was heavy and I looked like a big, fat, sweaty mess. All made worse by passing lean, beautiful people around the lake. But I persevered. Week 1, you might think sounds easy. A 5 minute brisk walk to warm up, 60 seconds running followed by 90 seconds walking. Take it from me, if you're not used to running or exercise in general there is nothing easy about it. It's like when I recently paraglided in olideniz, it was an amazing experience (in hindsight) but when I was made to jump off a cliff to be confronted by a 2400m drop, strapped to a stranger wondering if it was possible to become dis attached, I cried. Running today was a bit like that! Doable, great in the end, but bloody painful!

So, due to camping plans later this week, we only have tomorrow, Saturday night and Sunday left to get the 2 more runs in. We've contemplated doing the next run tomorrow, I think we need to see how we feel in the morning...

Weighty issue

I'm told there are many factors with fluctuating weight.

Namely; salt and water retention, hormones and if you've just eaten, been to the toilet etc. problem is, when it's a weight you don't want to see on the scales, this sort of doesn't help and you immediately start to blame the 1 chocolate you had earlier.

You've guessed it, I've had a weight gain.  Now, I'll admit, despite taking the herbalife each day to work, my evening meals haven't been strictly calorie controlled, although everything we've eaten has been low in calories andfairly lean.  I have also indulged in a biscuit on Tuesday, but a 5lb weight gain?! I tell you, that was annoying to say the least. 

Then I stumbled upon this blog post experimenting with weighing yourself 15 times per day.  The weight difference was 10lb's! unbelievable really!  A couple of lb's i expected with the normal way of the day, but 10?  What's that all about.  Suddenly my couple of lb's doesn't seem so bad.

Despite all this, common sense does not prevail and I just feel fat!

Berry nice!

So this morning is day 3 of herbelife and I'm finding it ok so far!

I have to admit, yesterday was not a perfect day in terms of calorie intake! It was Gemma's 30th yesterday, which of course meant a few treat eats along the way. For breakfast I made 1 of those scotch pancakes each, a slice of pancetta and some maple syrup, I had my herbelife for lunch but fell short at the staff meeting and had a biscuit and for tea we had fish and chips! It wasn't a huge portion though so I'm not going to beat myself up about it! To be honest, if I can keep lunches controlled I'll be happy. Besides, today's set to be a better day, porridge for breakfast, herbelife for lunch and chicken and jacket for tea. 

As I mentioned we were given the cappuccino and vanilla flavour herbelife powder. The last 2 days I've stuck the cappacinno, banana and yoghurt, this morning I thought I'd mix it up with vanilla, nana, yoghur and raspberry, and I hve to say it looks like it might be yummy!

Well would you look at that!

So here I am, back with my good intentions ready to fight the lazy, fat baring bug by owning some self motivation when...would you look that that! This time last year I set myself up a blog for that sole purpose!

A lot has changed since March 2014 and it's even fair to say, in many ways, I'm a different woman! May 2014 saw the fravolities of my 'hen do'. Tweed and wellies, clay pigeon shooting, archery and punting were just some of the highlights from that weekend! Naturally, following a hen do, there was a wedding! July 29th 2014 I married my beautiful wife, Gemma, at the secret garden. Just as magical as it sounded! The day was perfect, the weather was perfect and I couldn't have asked for more! ...but there was! The day after oir wedding, we jetted off on our honeymoon to America! A 4-week long road trip from vegas to orlando, and without a doubt, a trip of a lifetime!

So that really sums up the highs of last year. But let's not forget this is a fitness/weight loss blog. Well let me tell you, there's nothing like an impending wedding to stir a girl into a weight loss frenzie and with varied crash diets under the belt, I pulled out all stops and became the lightest I'd ever been at 11.12 stone. 

So. Why now? Well, the simple answer is, I'm no longer 11.12 stone, I'm 13.7. Yes that's right, a whole 2 stone heavier! Now I'm probably not the best person to be making that judgement, but I don't think I've carried the extra 2 stone wholely badly, and where it's not ideal, to say the least, I'm not having to squeeze into my clothes just yet! But it's a slippery slope my friend! So here end'th the catch up, onto the plan...

Like I mentioned earlier, I'm no stranger to diets, fads and crash diets. In fact, for the last 2 decades I've been pretty obsessed with my weight and being 'skinny'. I've tried them all. Weight watchers, slimming world, slimfast, clean 9... You name it, I've probably tried it. Of course none of them has actually stuck and helped me to keep the weight off, otherwise I probably wouldn't have seen the need for this blog!

So what's the plan this time? I went to see my brother a week or so ago, he was getting ready for a night shift and making a shake to take with him for his lunch. After an enquiry, he told me it was a herbelife shake and that it wasn't nescsaraly to help him loose weight as much as a meal replacement. That got me to thinking. At the moment Gemma an I are taking slim fast for lunch. Unfortunately I've heard many negative things about there shakes, namely the sugar content of them. 

So, my mum and brother have been good enough to give us some of their powder to try (as the mix it's self is quite expensive) and mums even bought us a brevile mixer to do it with. We've armed ourselves with bananas and yoghurt to go in them and are all set for the morning. We have the cappacinno and vanilla flavours to choose from and the protein powder. 2 scoops of the meal replacement powder and 1 protein, mixed with water, the fruit and yoghurt will do breakfast and lunch. I'm also on a bit of a mission to drink more water and hopefully I should see the weight start to come off. 

Surprisingly, however, weight loss isn't the only reason I want to do this. Also, we are trying to be as thrifty as possible to save some money for a holiday in the summer. Unsurprisingly, shakes for lunch are a cheep alternative to actual lunch!

So, in summary;

-13.7 stone must come off 

-money must be saved

-I must get on track for a healthier lifestyle!

Ditch the dinner

Happy Mother's Day to all yummy mums out there today!

In celebration of my own Mother bear, we're ditching the traditional Sunday dinner and opting for a much preferred healthier option of a BBQ. Now, you might be wondering a) why would you have a BBQ in March and b) how a BBQ can be healthy? Well; a) the weather is (for Britain) fairly nice, well nice enough to stand outside for a short time and b) we've got a healthy selection of chicken breast, salad and mayo-free slaw. 

This healthy option is partially fueled by a string of compliments I recieved yesterday, commenting on how I looked like Id lost weight and was looking good! After working (quite) hard this week and diet and exercise, this was very welcome. Obviously, the goal is the wedding which is in around 4 months, however, we are going to Gambia in only a couple of weeks, and although the primary reason we're going isn't to sunbathe (we're going to see a school mums supporting) there will undoubtably be bikinis involved. With this in mind, it would be nice to feel a bit more toned/slim than I feel now. So I better get a serious act together!!

All roads lead to Rome

Having a lovely, relaxing evening with Gemma - After a steep learning curve for Gem, we've managed foot scrubs, face masks and eye cream.  Not so good is the Chinese we've just devoured... What was the plan stood in a badly stocked Tesco Local to order a 'healthy Chinese' has turned into chips and prawn crackers.  Is there such a thing as a 'healthy Chinese'?  I doubt it, but the intention was there.  Still, a thousand calories or not, it was delicious, and what is, is and thats it...can you tell I feel guilty!

Here we come...

Anyway...all the roads lead, well not always to Rome, in our case, america. Been sat here, watching Game of Thrones (re-living series 1-3 before 4 starts in a couple of weeks!) when I started thinking about our Honeymoon trip.  We've now booked flights with Virgin Atlantic, flying our to Vegas and back from Orlando, 1 day shy of 4 weeks apart!  We've also sorted the car out, so one way or another, we will get from Vegas to Orlando. We've been using Road Trippers to plan the trip and I think we're about sorted with the route.  We just need some places of interest to earmark - any suggestions welcome!

Weekend drains

Just a quick up-date on the whole body pump-ache thing, I wasn't too bad in the morning!  Although I was grateful to, you know, be able to walk around, I kind of felt as though I probably didn't work hard enough...

So I went to Pilates on Saturday morning, this was after a good 30 minutes cardio in the gym, I felt extremely satisfied afterwards, progress is being made (even if it feels like baby steps!)
The class was enjoyable (in the most part) but I felt that some of the moves were really hard this week, in particular, the side-plank.

I have ultimate respect for this woman!  These moves may look easy, but I urge you, try it, just try and get into the position!  It's so much harder than it looks, to the point, I think I might actually practise the side plank, and normal plank for the next class so I don't look as much of a plank when I can't hold the move as long as everyone else!

Still, on a less energetic note, both Gemma's and my wedding dresses arrived in the shop the other day - we both got a text asking to make an appointment for our first dress fitting - which is highly exciting!  My only worry...  Ill look like:

this :-)

Or....

THIS :-(

Hmmm....hopefully I can trust my judgement and I won't look like an over-inflated toilet roll.  We'll see.