Made It To The Gym

Proof that I was up at 6.30am

Ok So I actually made it to the gym this morning! I was amazed! I got up at 6.15 but am thinking that going forward I will actually get up at 6.00am so I am not so rushed. I need to be at the gym for 6.30 so I can walk in as soon as they open. I was actually quite surprised how easy it was to get up, having the natural light in the morning makes so much difference!!! I arrived at the gym at 6.40ish and was on the cross trainer by 6.45. Now I learnt 2 things today.... 

1) Water is essential in the morning! When I go to the gym in the evening I have drunk over 2 liters of water through the day and so don't get thirsty during my workout. This morning I was parched within 2 minutes! I didn't have a water bottle or anything with me so just struggled through it and then drank nearly 1litre as soon as I got into the office! 

2) Two weeks of not going to the gym kills your fitness levels! I was knackered within 15 minutes and only managed to do a total of 20... pathetic! 2 weeks ago I was doing 45 minutes on level 10/11 and today I had to stop after doing 20 minutes on level 8/9! But i know that within a week I will back up to where I was and I have defo learnt I really cant take 2 weeks off and not expect to drop a little! 

I was thinking this morning of what my plan should be as I only have about 40/45 minutes in the morning to do exercise... so my plan will be as follows:

Mon - Cross trainer/running

Tues - Toning exercise and weights

Wed - Cross Trainer/ Running

Thurs - Toning exercise and weights

Fri - Cross Trainer/ Running

Then I plan to take Sat and Sun as rest days. I was originally thinking of going to the gym on a Monday evening as Monday morning is my Weigh In but I realised I can just do a WI at 6am or at the gym as I got on their scales this morning and it says pretty much the same as mine. 

Now I do have one confession to make.... YESTERDAY I TOTALLY BLEW MY CALORIES OUT OF THE WATER... 

I don't know what was wrong with me I totally had a moment of weakness ...had one bad thing and then just said "oh what the hell" ...big mistake. Drawing a line and moving on! Talking about moving on...although I made a mistake yesterday I am feeling really good at the moment. I think it's the new hair and new clothes...I just feel more deserving and feel alot less fat. I can feel my natural body shape coming out and I am taking more care in my make up and appearance... I am loving it... perhaps just maybe I am getting a bit of self-love??

Weigh In - 11.03

Stayed the same this week (194) but I'm ok with that. I was really good during the week but I did eat more than I should have on Saturday and Sunday. Biggys father was visiting so of course it meant having a big meal on Saturday with pre-dinner nibbles and on Sunday although he had gone Biggy and I crashed on the couch all afternoon and I will wholly admit that I had a mega  Emotional Eating binge. I was so so so tired on Sunday as I slept really badly on Friday and Saturday night I just had a bit of a comfort food session. However after a while I was like..."aghh wait what am I doing" I stopped and had a mug of hot water and lemon to stop myself from eating anything more. 

I am going back to the gym this week which I am really happy about. My plan is to go on a Monday evening and then the rest of the week go in the mornings. It's so much lighter now in the morning and then that way it is done and out of the way. I want to try and do it this way at least for this week while I get back into the habit of going and then we will see how I do. either way I need to go at least 4 times a week as it's only 4 weeks until we go on Holiday... we are going to Cameroon...very excited! 

Food plan this week is going to be quite simple. For a while I was thinking of going back onto Slimfast and then remembered just how stupid it is to try and do these diets are they are not sustainable... so instead just really want to keep my snacking down and focus on what I am eating. So my plan is a Breakfast of porridge and then nothing until Lunch which should be easy, then a soup with a side salad or veg and a yogurt followed by a yogurt or fruit at 4pm (only if I am going to the gym in the pm) and then a light dinner. The types of food I am eating will be low in calories and I want to bring my appetite down, as ridiculous as it sounds food  is still at the forefront of my mind most of the time even if it's healthy food that I am thinking about and I really want to stop that.

Lighter Hair..Lighter Life

So I had my hair done last night!! I love it! Hairdresser came over around 6.30 and she was all done by 8.30! Not bad going for dye, cut and blow dry! The style is just making me feel so good and young and vibrant ... without sounding stupid I am starting to feel proud of my image and am taking so much more care in my appearance and actually enjoying choosing what to wear instead of going "OH MY GOD>>WHAT SHALL I WEAR>>>!!!" This in turn is making me so much better with food and eating, just feeling really great! I will admit that I haven’t gone to the gym now for nearly 2 weeks but last night I had the old urge to really want to go and work out. I am not worried or feeling guilty about not going... for some reason I just didn't want to go and I have been going now at least twice a week for the past 4-5 months.. I even went during the Christmas period so perhaps my body just wanted a little holiday!

Other small changes I have noticed is that I am just not so fussed about "bad" food. Last night 2 friends came over while I was having my hair done and I just served Pizza, Garlic Bread and salad as I obviously wasn't in the position to cook anything...anyway I did have 4 or 5 small slices of pizza (shop bought not Dominos size!) but afterwards I a) felt sooooo bloated and could feel all the fat going through my body and b) didn't enjoy it that much. Don't get me wrong I did like it but previously I would have been "agh pizza..eat as much as you can" but yesterday I would have been just as happy if not happier with a healthy dinner rather than Pizza. The other annoying thing is that then to compensate I have to be extra good today which although isn't a problem it would prefer if I could eat normally all the time and not have the fatty food in the first place... do you get what I mean... I feel like I have said that in a very drawn out way. Basically my attitude has changed ... before I would rather have the fatty food and over compensate the next day and now it's the other way around!!!

Also on a side note today is the first day of wearing the new foundation and so far it's working really well....still have the lines under my eyes but thinks that's just my skin... who knows!

Anyway...feeling good...feeling slimmed down...feeling fashionable...feeling comfortable in myself...and actually..... a little bit on love with myself...how vain am I!

Bags

Getting my hair done tonight...so excited! But that's not the point of today's post. I am really struggling with my make up at the moment. I am normally quite tanned and have a light olive complexion but at the moment I am really pale but not that nice English rose pale...more of a grey pale! It's so hard to do make up when you look like that! Anyway... I used to use lots of Bronzer but am very aware of looking oarnage and so recently for the first time put my bronzer to rest...at least until I get my tan back! Now what I am trying to do is find a good foundation that will sort me out... that won't leave me with a face a darker color than my neck but also won't make me look extra pale. My biggest problem I would say is the Bags under my eyes.. I just don't know how to combat them. I went out at lunch today and have bought a good quality foundation... it says it is a concealer as well as primer I am hoping that this will help combat the bags as well as any shiny face that I get from sitting in an office all day... 

Blurry photo but you can see what I mean

I do use concealer but am again struggling with it. I always seem to end up with these lines looking clogged up with concealer and things... I hate it... I was reading Grazia magazine the other day and came across an advert for Bobbi Brown to have a free make over thing so might look into having one done.. maybe not this month as to be honest I can't afford to buy any more expensive makeup this month. Does anyone have any good ideas on how to combat the under eye thing... One thing I should say is that I currently don't use toner or anything on my face..when I told my friend this she almost fainted. I have always shyed away from it all as I have quite an oily complexion...

It Just Sneaks Up on Yah

I had a quick look at the scales yesterday and saw that there were a couple of extra sneaky pounds showing...4 to be exact...I was not so happy! BUT I know where it has come from. On Monday I was really hungry in the morning and seeing as I had had a good WI I treated myself to a Croissant (how stupid) as well as having my normal porridge. I only had a salad for lunch but one of my co-workers had brought in an amazing Bread and Butter cake which I of course had. Then in the evening I had to go and pick up Biggy from Oxford so he suggested we went out for dinner where he instead I have a starter as well as a main (I am not being ironic he really wanted me to try this AMAZING Chicken Satay..personally I didn't think it was that amazing but hey ho) For the main I tried to be good and halved the amount of rice I was given straight away. Anyway I had a heavy day of eating... yesterday I made sure I was extra good and 2lbs had gone by this morning. I am confident that I will be back down again tomorrow. It does amaze me how if you take your eyes of the game for a minute things change so so so quickly.

Today so far I have had:

Breakfast:
Oats So Simple Porridge Sachet with Semi Skimmed Milk (215cal)

Lunch:
2x Sandwich containing:
4 Slices of Hovis 50/50 Bread (Toasted) (182cal)
9 Slices of Wafer Thin Ham (51cal)
2 x 30g of Philadelphia Light with Herbs (92cal)

1 Shape Yogurt (Apple Crumble Flavour) (82cal)

Giving me a total so far of 622 calories and 878 left for the day. I am planning on having another yogurt as my mid afternoon snack and a light dinner tonight so will come in easily below my 1500 limit.


Other news is that I still haven't made it to the gym yet... this is the first time since joining that I have missed it. I always went at least 3 times a week and so far I haven't gone for 1.5 weeks... not good! I know that if I don't have the WI I want I will blame it on not going to the gym but also at the same time I am really not in the mood to go. I am enjoying to much going home and putting on my new clothes and feeling good about myself!!! lol! I think what I might do is start going again on Monday. Take these 2 weeks off ...eat extra well and start afresh next week!

ReVamp - Stage One

So as part of my Re-Vamp I am having my hair done on Thursday. I didn't really know what do with my hair as I have had the same style pretty much ever since I was about 13. I haven't really dyed it before or done anything drastic with it. I am normally quite laid back by it as my hair normally grows quite quickly and so wasn't ever fussed if the hair cut wasn't quite right.... but now I wan't to do something different  At the moment I am growing my hair and so its just below the shoulder...eventually I would like it to be on the bust line or there abouts...anyway.. I digress. I am really liking the whole dip dye thing (a little late in the game) and I asked a few friends and they think it will look good so these are the styles I am going for.... I have noticed that over the last few months as my hair gets longer I am starting to get a natural wave in my hair from about half way down to the bottom so think the dip-dye style will really suit me. I'm not going to have alot taken off the length but can't wait to have it all done restyled and a new color! The part that I am really pleased about is that it's only costing my £80 in total for cut and color as it's a friends friend who can come to my home and do it... so a glass of wine and haircut all at the same time... best day ever!!

"Not including Bangs"

I am also vowing to take better care of my hair as up until a few weeks ago I wasn't blow drying my hair in the morning and just using the Car Heaters in the morning to dry my hair which has of course resulted in me having very dry and split hair...although you do save about 10 minutes in the morning I really wouldn't recommend it as just constantly had frizzy hair! To try and combat it I have bought some Boots Coconut and Almond Leave In Conditioner. I have heard alot about Coconut Oil recently and there has been alot of hype about Khloe Kardashian using it. I bought it today so it's too soon to say how well it's working but I am excited to see if it improves my hair especially as the Boots own bottle was about £2 compared to the big brands at £10! However I will say.. I sprayed some in at lunch and my hair feels softer within a few hours of having it in. 

Weigh In: 04.03.13

OMG.. I can't believe we are in March already! Where the hell is this year going??!?! Got on the scales today and was very happy to see 194lbs (13.12 stone) so chuffed. It really hit me when I got to write my weight with a 13 at the front... makes me realise how close I am to my goal! So to date I have lost 28lbs which is exactly 2 stone! Whoop Whoop! I think counting calories really works for me as last week I didn't go the gym once.. very naughty... but I still managed to lose weight after about 5 weeks of going up and down by 1 or 2lbs so really really happy. 

I did a before and after photo at the weekend and although not immediately obvious I can see the difference which is really good... 

I think the difference that is quite apparent is the difference in my hip to calf ratio... in July I look really pear shaped where as the Feb photo the difference between my hips and calf is alot closer. Also my chest has got smaller and I think my stomach has as well.. it might just be the shirt but it looks alot flatter. I want to take a photo soon in the same location as I think that will make it easier... or to wear the same clothes.. unfortunately the clothes I am wearing in July have all be thrown away as the got to big (!) Anyway looking forward to another good week and really hoping to see a further drop on the scale! 

Blow Out

I have to admit that this week has been a bit of  blow out with food and exercise. I went to Disneyland on Monday and although did lots of walking still ate more than I normally would (prawn sandwich for breakfast, Burger with cheese and mushroom for lunch and huge 4 cheese pizza for dinner...salads are not part of the Disneyland Menu choice!), Tuesday I was to tired to care what I ate and actually was really hungry in the morning. Yesterday it was my 1 year's anniversary at work and so we had cake in the afternoon and although I had an extra light lunch to compensate in the evening I went for a few drinks where I had a very nice cheesy garlic bread pizza thing and then when I went home Biggy and got Pringles and Cava which I had a fair share of as well as a small portion of home made Moussaka. Then today I had a good breakfast and a healthy lunch, but then failed with home made apple crumble cake and still have to have dinner tonight. So really... so far a bad week. I should be able to be good over the next couple of days but do have friends coming for lunch on Sunday so another danger zone ahead of me.

 

The other bad thing is that I haven't gone to the gym yet this week. Obviously I couldn't go on Monday and Tuesday I was knackered, Wednesday I went out for a drink and tonight I could go but my gym stuff is at home which means I have to go home first and we all know that the hardest thing to do. What I must do is go to the gym on Fri,Sat and Sun and make up for things instead.

 

One good thing that did happen today was that I was debating what to have for lunch and really couldn't make up my mind I was looking at salads of around 340/400 calories and then was thinking actually I would like something hot and was looking at a Healthy ready meal range. I was in the process of putting the salad back after having chosen my hot meal of around 400 calories and then saw this really skinny pretty girl walk past just carrying a plain salad and some fruit, I thought to myself, well Katherine, if you want to be thin you are not going to manage it by eating beef in red wine and cream sauce with rice for lunch even if it is 400 calories. SO I put everything back and chose a plain salad mix with a pot of prawns with chili bits for a grand total of 200 calories. Of course this was later ruined by the home made cake that I ate later but still little steps!

 

Tonight I am going to just have a soup for dinner to compensate for all the cake and actually I should still come in at 1500 calories for the day! All I can do is draw a line and do things for the rest of the week that will compensate for the bad things.