NYE

I don't know what it is about this look, but I feel sexy as fook when I wear these heeled "Converse" style shoes. I haven't worn them much, because even this relatively small heel has always given my bad knee a hard time while I was heavy. Now, not so much :-) Mind you, the thin sole is no fun. Thinness of the sole.  Sounds like an existential issue :-) Still, what price vanity? They go really well with my new jeans, bought from the Marksies sale yesterday. Love it!

The using up of veggies, before they go mouldy, continues. Today it was carrot and parsnip soup. Never tried it before. It was a good use of slightly soft, past their prime, but still totally usable veggies. I'm so proud of my thriftiness . 

Today was my consecutive 300th day of tracking on MFP. What a great, round number to end the year on.

So, that's the final blog of the year. Tomorrow sees the start of 2017. I am grateful for so many things this year and weight loss isn't the most important one, when compared to the loved ones in my life, but it's probably the one that's most obviously "in your face" to anyone who's known me at my heaviest. It certainly has had a huge impact on my daily life. When simple things like breathing and walking get easier, you've got to believe you're doing something right.

Toodle-oo for 2016. Happy New Year to y'all.

Distraction. I need a Distraction.

I really want to eat chocolate. There are two tubs of sweets in the kitchen, an unopened tub of Celebrations and a mixed tub of Roses, Quality Street and Celebrations.  It's my own fault. I bought too much. The on line shopping was easily done, but it was also esay to just hit a button and order whatever, forgetting how much was already on the list. Hence, about five different types of savoury biscuits and far too many sweets arrived. I feel bad that it's all sitting there and TMM will end up eating most of it. It's as if I'm enabling him, his unhealthy food pusher. He's a grown man, he can make his own food decisions, but I still feel guilty.

I'm writing about it in order to stop me eating it. It gets the feelings off my chest. It won't necessarily stop me altogether, but at least while I'm expressing myself, I'm not chowing down. It makes me stop and ask myself, "Is it worth it? Do I really want those chocolates more than I want to keep my Christmas weight under control?" I've had all sorts of weight loss issues on Christmases past. From good losses to massive gains and the STSs in between. While I'm on a roll at the moment, basking in the weight loss zone, I might as well try my damnedest to stay away from unplanned calorie expenditure. So. No chocolates.

Another reason to stay within allowance is the size 12 clothing I bought in the sales today, jeans, joggers and a top. 

Yes, you read that right. Size 12!!! I can't help thinking that they've been mis-labelled, sized incorrectly. No way am I actually a 12. They are from Marks and Spencer. The jeans are "relaxed slim" fit. They are proper denim, not stretchy, so it's not a cheat that way. The top is a pretty wee, three-quarter sleeve tee shirt. It's a decent fit. I bought a few bras in the sale too. I had some vouchers to spend, and I needed underwear that fits properly. I actually took the time to try them on. Depending on make and style, I seem to be a 36C. That's a big change from some of my 40EE bras of the past! Much easier to find, though not in the sale. My new size seems to sell out! Pros and cons to being a bit more average.

Anyway, these are my first size 12s since I can't remember when. 1990? Maybe a bit before then? I honestly don't know. I won't believe I'm really that size till a few different shop's size fits me, say Marksies, ASDA and Primark. Whatever though, it's all a step in the direction of maintenance. 

So. Did it work? Did I eat chocolate? Well, that took about half an hour or so, so I was distracted for that long. And now I'm thinking of being a size 12, so hopefully that will deter me for a while yet.

Fingers crossed.

Mid way through Christmas week

I had two days of food excess. Christmas Day and Boxing Day were the two days that I over ate, big style. I reckon I ate roughly 6000 calories on each day. There was constant grazing on chocolate, and a couple of big goes at the cheeses and different crackers and savoury biscuits that I'd been very much looking forward to. 

This time last year, if you'd told me I was going to be a size 18, I'd have been delighted. Any size starting with a 1 instead of a 2, given I was used to being a size 24 or bigger. A size 16? That would have had me running  up and down the street naked in celebration. Size 16 always felt like a breakthrough size for me, break through in to normality.  And a size 14? Well, that would have been unthinkable.  And here I am. A size 14. I'm very happy. But. Uh huh. There's a "but." I feel slim and healthy. I like how I look in the mirror. But I don't like how I look in photos. I don't look as slim in photos. So now I'm thinking that 149lb is not the goal weight for me. I might actually go for 136lb, which would take me to the very top end of the healthy BMI range for my height. That's a stone away. I'll see how I feel. I'm not in a hurry. I'm still getting used to what I see in the mirror.

I've had some fun over the Christmas break. On Boxing Day, I went swimming in the sea. Just coz I could :-)

In the act. How are we managing to smile when I couldn't feel any of my appendages?

Afterwards.  I ws very impressed with my organizational skills.  I remembered to bring a fleecy, Christmas onesie, which was very cozy.

CB, my cousin's hubby is part of a group who go sea swimming all year round. I can say without fear of debate or contradiction that it was jolly cold! But it was good craic and I'm really glad I did it. Than it was back to CB's house, where BB had made a big fry up. Loads of fried carnivorous fare and stereotypical Norn Irish bread, chocolate buns and gall9ns of coffee later, I was warmed up and very sated. The rest of Boxing Day was filed with more grazing on chocolate and cheese. There were mamy slices of Christmas cake and stollen in there somewhere too.

After the two days of confectionery, I'm now using up food, especially vegetables. I don't want anything to be wasted.  So yesterday entailed eating a lot of fresh Brussels Sprouts and a big pot of broccoli and cauliflower soup. Yes, my farts are pretty ripe today and you wouldn't want to be the one who has to clean my cage later.

As for weight, anything below 153lb will be a win. The 149lb on Christmas morning always seemed ridiculously low, so I won't be surprised if it's a bit above that on Sunday, and that's even before I consider my couple of 6000 cal days. I have been on track since then though. No exercise, so I've stuck to 1200 cals, pretty much exactly.  It's not easy with the amount of stuff that's still in the house, but so far so good.

149lb

My Christmas earrings and TMM's Christmas tricorn hat! 

Very briefly. Wow! What a Christmas present. A loss of 6.2lb. No idea where that came from. I'm usually a little lighter the week before my period. That started today. With a couple of days of rich, heavily calorific intake, I'm sure that will be tested, but it gives me a couple of pounds leeway on my 153lb goal. I'm so pleased with things. What a weight loss year I've had. More details tomorrow. I just wanted to post before I go to bed. Officially, it's already Boxing Day, since it's after midnight. But I'm not in bed yet, so it still counts as Sunday, and this is my Christmas Day.

Hope everyone's had a lovely Christmas.

Brief hiatus

I have had nearly a full fortnight off exercise. Running especially.  The result is now my achilles feels almost perfect and I'm itching for a run. And in the meantime? I've lost about 5lb! Unofficially. Maybe it was the break in routine that my body needed after over a solid month of running. Whatever the reason, thank you to the weight loss gods.

It's looking as if I will go in to Christmas Day, my day of planned excess, of chocolate, cheese, condiments and stuffed meats, a couple of pounds under my goal. That will give me some wiggle room so I'll hopefully not be too far off goal when the new year hits. I'd love to start on a high. Though in fairness, I'm pretty high regardless. I have heels on today, making me about 5' 5" tall. With today's unofficial weight of 149lb, that makes me a BMI of 24.7. Teehee. If only I were three inches taller.  But no. I like being a short arse, so I'll just enjoy the novelty for today :-)

TMM is working today, so I have a few messages to do, then it's up to my mum's with all my sibs and a few family friends. It's Christmas Eve tradition to eat Mum out of house and home. Home made chicken soup and chicken sandwiches.

I'm well and truly excited, even down to putting the Christmas duvet on the bed. I'll get home from Mum's about midnight, then TMM and I can go to bed for the last sleep before Christmas.

Happy Christmas!!!

A post of exclamations!!!

Okay, I know. I know I shouldn't do it, but I've weighed myself for the last three mornings. I hope to lose this obsession a bit as I get used to my body, but for now... sheesh! what's a girl to do?!?! And the results were bloody good! Each day (that's three in a row!) I've weighed less than 154lbs!!! Yesterday and today, it was 152.4 lbs. That's half a pound below my goal! That's under eleven stone!!! Under 70kg! It was the year 2000 last time I was even close to 70kg. Three mornings in a row, I have been nearly in tears, thinking about being below eleven stone for the first time in over sixteen years. It doesn't count until my proper WI day, but wow! And I could end up not weighing this on Sunday morning, but still, it means that it's on the cards.

Oh, to be ten stone something!

Christmas excitement is building!

I'm officially feeling Christmassy. In fact, the Christmassyness is hanging clean outta me! Even looking at the date written down is making me excited - 21/12/16, 21st Dec 2016, woo hoo!!! I've got my Rudolf jumper on and my snowman earrings, and the jumper actually plays "Rudolf, The Red Nosed Reindeer!"

Not to mention my hat, with the lights and the tinsel.

Oh yes! I'm officially what my OH calls, "A Christmas Nightmare!" :-) I have a constant squirrly feeling in my tum, and a tingle in my joints. Yeah, I know it sounds like an illness, but it's all good, I swear.

As usually happens, I had a brilliant idea for The Main Man's pressie, but it only hit me two days ago. And I needed to order it on line. Bum! But a couple of emails to a very helpful chap, and my parcel arrived to work today. So exciting!!! I shopped at the Christmas market in Belfast last night too, so now TMM is well set. I can't wait to see his face. He doesn't read my blog, but I'm keeping schtum till after I present him with his present. Just in case :-)

Food is back on track. I've been feeling uber controlled and very happy with myself. The colder weather has curtailed my enthusiasm for running this week, and I've let my sore Achilles give me an excuse. So I've earned no exercise cals since Saturday. But I don't feel guilty. In fact, I'm pretty chuffed that I've managed to eat within thirty cals of my 1200 each day, even without extras. I feel lighter, if that makes sense. I'm hoping for a good result this week, but one way or the other, I'm going to enjoy myself on Christmas day, and start fresh on Boxing Day!

Feeling back in control

I think I'm just going to have to accept that feeling under control is going to come and go. That's life. Yeah, intellectually, I know that. But I still get annoyed with myself when I feel my control around food slipping. Then, as I've said before, I get annoyed, because I shouldn't get annoyed with myself for being human. I'll learn to deal with it. I will. So long as I don't give in to the slight despair that I feel sometimes about the fact that, on some level, I'll probably always have to be aware of my food intake. I don't think I'll ever be one of those natural, devil-may-care types, who seem to be able to regulate what they eat without over analyzing it. But if I think of it in the same way that I do my alcoholism, it helps. I no longer say that I'm not drinking. I say that I don't drink. There's a subtle difference. It means that booze just doesn't enter in to the equation. Of course, food isn't that simple. I can't just abstain from it. But if I try to have a similar mindset, i.e. that getting fat again could kill me eventually, just as being a practicing alcoholic (rather than a recovering one) could, perhaps I'll be able to remember how important my weight loss is. I suppose that sounds rather melodramatic, but hey, whatever works!

Now, that said, I feel great today. A loss at the weekend will do that for me! This year has been a triumph, all in all. Next year, I plan to consolidate my good results and good health. I will get to a goal I accept and I will work on accepting myself, just being happy with what I look like, saggy tits, loose skin, occasionally sore knees, the works. That's not to say I won't bio-oil the shit outta myself, or wear clothes to disguise said bagginess, but I won't obsess about the less than perfect bits.

And I'm definitely giving up the DFM for good. I swear, it's harder to do than stopping the booze!

155.2lb

Phew! Down 2.4lbs on last week. So that's the gain gone, with just over a pound extra. Meaning I'm 2.2lbs away from my goal. Once there, I'm not sure what I'll do. I don't look as slim in photos as I do in my head, or indeed in comparison to what I think I see in the mirror.  I can see me not being happy to stay at ten stone thirteen. But I'll get there first and see.

It's been hard to stay away from the cheese and crackers in the house the last few days. Sticking to 1200 cals hasn't been easy. I haven't had a run since Tuesday.  My achilles is feeling much better but I haven't earned many extra calories.  I'm going to go for a run in the morning before work. I'll take it easy, just pootle for 5k, which should earn about 400 cals.  I'll feel better about my efforts when I get that under my belt. My thirty day challenge went to the wall after day 25. Just five more days would have completed it. But I've gained some core strength, so I'll build on that.

One week to Christmas.  I weigh in on Christmas morning, since it's a Sunday this year. Then it's over to a day of excess. One day. I'm going to allow myself a day full of cheese, chocolate, condiments and stuffed meats. Then the following day, I intend to be back on it with zeal, starting with a Boxing Day swim in the sea at Donaghadee, with a group called the Chunky Dunkers. Sounds nuts, but I'll give it a go.

Addicted to shopping

I'm gonna have to stop. I've already had to put aside a couple of pairs of trousers that I bought very recently because they are now too big, and barring last year's Christmas jumpers, and the odd thing of TMM's that I wear because it smells like him, I refuse to wear stuff that's too big anymore. It's all very well that I bought a few clothes as I got smaller. I needed them. But I have to stop now, at least till my body has settled at where it's going to stay. Running shoes? I can justify those (well, that's what I tell myself :-D )

Second pair of toesy running shoes. Light and comfy. And nice in pink.

The acid test will be when I go in to town after work today. I really have to start my present shopping! If I can go in to Primark without buying myself something, then I'll consider it a success.

I guess it's understandable. I'm excited about how I look in clothes these days, so it's hard to rein myself in. But I need to. It's a terrible waste of money otherwise.

Food's been on track this week. I'm happy to have stayed within allowance, given I'm not running and earning extra cals at the mo. I'm actually pretty impressed that I rested this morning too. I'll probably run on Monday again, and stick to circuits and walking till then. It's all good. I have an ache in my abs at the moment because of all the planking, sit ups and crunches. It's a good ache. I like it, even though it hurts to laugh :-)

I know I've said it before, but this feeling of all over wellness is amazing. The idea that I can just go out the front door and walk for an hour, without it killing me, is fantastic. I can throw on running shoes and run six miles, just like that. It's not fast, but it's totally, absolutely doable. I can do sit ups and push ups and not have a heart attack! So I have a bit (well, okay, a lot) of saggy skin. And I'm still heavier than a BMI chart says I should be. Damn! Who cares?

I feel brilliant and TMM thinks I'm a wee star. Life is fab!

In the words of my favourite Star Trek Next Gen villains...

..."Resistance is futile!"

Yip, the chocolates are still out in force at work , Mars Celebrations, and The Force isn't that strong in me.

See what I did there? In a break from Sci Fi rivalry tradition, I quoted Star trek and Star Wars in the same paragraph! Some where, the geek gods are preparing a lightening bolt with my name on it :-)

Anyway, regardless of my nerdy references, I felt the need to give in. I had to have some chocolate. But I'm still relatively pleased with how I handled it. I made a conscious decision. Rather than eat a few mindlessly, and let's be honest, my definition of "a few" might stun some, I checked the MFP database for the calories. Most are about forty-five cals a piece! Defo not good calorie spending. I dipped in to the box of £1 charity sweets instead and got a 100g bag of mini eggs. I reckon about 450 cals, and there was more satisfaction to be had savouring them than scarfing down a hand full of tiny Twix and Snickers, or Heaven forbid, Bounties. Mmmmm, excuse me while I drool, fit to turn in to Homer J Simpson! Bounty!

I haven't been for a run for the last couple of mornings. Good sense finally prevailed and I decided to rest my ankle. It feels much better today. But I miss the extra calories that the exercise earns. My small session of circuit training doesn't earn much (though I can really feel the results in my abs) so I might walk up to TMM's work later, to meet him. It's a fifty minute walk, round trip, and should earn a couple of hundred cals.

Food has been good for the last few days. I haven't gone mad and cut down, just because I had my gain on Sunday. I've stuck within allowance though, and I'm happy that I'm doing what I need to to stay on track.

Nine months in

On the 7th of December, it was nine months ago that I started tracking on MyFitnessPal. I'd flirted with it as a weight loss scheme before, but always in conjunction with other things, usually with Weightwatchers points or my brief stint with Slimming World. This time, I kept things simple, using calorie counting alone. No points, no syns, no paleo, just 1200 calories a day, with additional allowance for exercise. I linked mfp to Runkeeper, so the apps keep track of each other. They each know my weight and can see what I've logged on either one, be it food or exercise. I like that. It automatically updates the info on one app when I input it to the other.

My fitness app section of my phone. They are all linked to Google Fit and keep track of each other. Surely I should be more worried about the Big Brother-iness of all this??? But I love it :-)

The result of keeping things simple has been success. By tracking every single mouthful, remembering that everything has a calorific value, even down to the DFM* and coffee, I've lost weight consistently. Almost every week, my weight has dropped to the point where I now look as if i don't have a weight problem, I'm still a bit chunky of thigh, and generous of arse, but within the parameters of the standard fashion industry. Dare I say, I look normal. Phew, I never would have thought this time last year that I'd be saying that so soon. It genuinely is down to tracking everything and trying like crazy to stay within allowance. I haven't made excuses this time around, or gone over my calories deliberately, telling myself that I'll make them up tomorrow. I either earn the extras for a treat, like my massive birthday feast last month, or I don't eat it. That simple. I won't always be able to be that strict with myself, I know that. Once I get to goal, I'll need to learn to relax a little. But for now, this works for me.

I had a tiny melt down between Sunday and yesterday because I had my first unexplained gain. I've gained twice previously, each by half a pound, and each as I was expecting my period. This time, it's not that time of the month, and it was just over a pound. Eek! Panic stations! What did i do wrong??? Not a damn thing. It's just what happens. And so long as I don't get all distracted by the fact that I didn't like the numbers on the scales for one Sunday out of forty ,I'll just keep doing what I'm doing, and have a loss this week. It took me to talk to my Facebook chums to get a sensible head on my shoulders. Many sage things were muttered in my cyber shell-like, and I particularly liked being reminded that those mortals out in the world, who aren't watching their weight, have fluctuations too. That's life. Our bodies aren't robotic, after all. 

Yesterday I ran and earned four hundred calories. I ate half of them. Sunday was an almost entirely exercise free zone, so I stuck to my 1200. Today, I've earned 400, so at most I will aim to eat half of them. If I keep to that plan, I'll know that regardless of the result, I'm doing nothing wrong, neither over nor under eating, and the weight will come off when it needs to. Would I like to be 153lbs by the New Year? Hell yeah! But if I'm not? I'm still a weight loss success this year. I'm healthier and happier with my body (droopy tits, loose skinned, bad kneed article that it is!) than I've been for twenty years. I have the support of my partner and family, as well as friends, both actual and virtual, and in general, I'm having a ball. Not to mention, it's nearly Christmas.

What's not to love?

*DFM - Dark Fizzy Master i.e. diet cola

157.8lb

I'm a day late in posting this because I was sulking. It was very painful to write that weight as the blog title. And I spent a good part of yesterday persuading myself to be honest and not just spoof that I'd stayed the same instead of owning up to a gain of 1.2lb. It's still hard to say that.

I didn't do anything different this week. Maybe I ate a few more of my exercise calories, but I stayed within allowance if I add those in. Even the gorgeous strawberry sundae from Saturday was counted.

So I don't know what's going on. Perhaps my body is just telling me that it needs to acclimatize to its new size? It's telling me to slow down? So long as it's not calling a halt to proceedings altogether. There's no way that a five foot two body should be saying it's at it's ideal weight at eleven stone four! I should be able to lose another stone with ease and I'd still be considered heavy for my height, according to charts. Not that I intend to let charts and tables dictate what weight I'm happy at. This is not the result I'd hoped to post this week. I was so close to getting below eleven stone before the New Year. It could still happen, but it's looking less than likely.

I couldn't help myself. I had a sneak peek this morning before my shower. It didn't help or console me. It was heavier again! Damn and blast. What am I gonna do this week to keep myself going? I need to keep things in perspective and not panic. TMM is worried about me taking drastic action, starving myself or taking to running twice a day. Even if I wanted to, I don't think I could do either of those. 1200 cals a day is as low as I want to go. It can be hard enough to stick to. I managed yesterday though, which I was pleased with. And the running? Once a day is enough, especially as I'm trying to avoid injury. My left achilles is defo a bit weaker at the mo.

For me, gaining at the moment isn't so much about the extra pounds, though that's not great, as much as it's about the fear of losing control again and ending up back where I started. I know this week's gain isn't a real one, the result of overeating. It's not an unhealthy gain, it's a just-one-of -those-things sort of gain. Whatever the reason, I just have to suck it up and get on with things. Do what TMM says, and think of the big picture, how well I've done, regardless of this week's weight. If I think about where I was last Christmas, that should keep me on the straight and narrow.

Okay. I feel better for 'fessing up and getting it off my chest. Whinge officially over! :-))

156.6lb

Yes! 2.8lb consigned to the bin. God! I so hope l let it stay there this time! I really don't want to have to do all this again. I've lost 104 pounds in total and have tracked on myfitnesspal for 273 days straight. I'm pretty darn happy with that.

TMM and I went out for breakfast/lunch and I had my usual 900 calories of fry up. I made tomato soup yesterday, so that will do me for tea later. It's about 150 cals for a big bowl.

Beyond that, it's been a quiet day. No run, day fourteen of the thirty day challenge still to do, and Strictly Come Dancing to look forward to on t'telly. 

The day before weigh in

My thirty day, full body challenge app

Day thirteen of my thirty day, full body challenge. So my routine was as follows

• 29 sit ups
• 42 ab crunches
• 14 leg raises
• 27 sec plank
• 65 squats
• 66 sec plank
• 12 push ups

And may I just say? The plank nearly did me in. It's definitely the closest I've come to not completing the proscribed time. I did it though. Just! I wouldn't fancy anyone judging my form though ;-)

I did think that I might do the Parkrun this morning. TMM was on a late start shift at work today so we would have had plenty of time. We ended up having a lie in, and it was much better :-) So off he went to work while I have Saturday off. I hate that he works in retail and weekends off together are rare, but at least we're both working.

When I'm not working, especially when I'm alone at home, I can find it quite hard to eat sensibly. At the start of the day, I see all those calories ahead of me and my factory settings is to equate them to litres of ice cream. Even now, after nine months of healthy eating, my first thought, even before coffee this morning, was about what rubbish I could "afford" on my 1200 daily cals. (There will be no extras earned since I didn't go for a run. {And I've no idea how you count the small circuit that is my thirty day challenges.}) Still, the fact that it's weigh in day tomorrow should help to keep me in line. The last thing I want is a gain that would take me out of the 150s, just as I've gotten in to them. With my newly set, slightly higher, goal weight of 153lbs, it's just possible (though maybe not entirely probable) that I could hit it by the new year. Wouldn't that be something? Starting the New Year as I meant to go on. On maintenance!

A helluva thing to aim for!

One of those days

It's been one of those days when I've seen people who haven't been in my office all year, so they've noticed my weight loss. One delivery guy saw me from behind and thought I was somebody new! I'm grinning about that as I type :-D And a customer said it was like looking at my younger, thinner sister. That could sound a bit insulting, but I know it wasn't meant like that. In fact, all in all, today has been a Hell of an ego boost, and big headed as I am at the moment, I do not need more of that. Still, I felt really good at work today.

And here's something I didn't know I still possessed. A pair of pants from a few years ago. Still in good nick, I hasten to add. This will illustrate a point. Check out the label. I do not remember owning anything in that size! Talk about selective memory!

While TMM was working this evening, I deciced to do a clearout of my underwear, keeping nothing that doesn't fit correctly, even if it's quite new. Obviously, this was a very old pair. I don't even know why I still had them, beyond an inability to chuck stuff out if it's still got some life in it. For proof of my hoarderiness, here's the pile of undies that I'm dumping!

Water torture

You know that torture? The one where they talk about a drip of water hitting your forehead. Nothing too torturous about that, right? Except that it goes on constantly, drip, drip, drip on the forehead, for hours if necessary. It's said to drive you mad eventually. I don't know it such a thing ever existed as a practice, or if it's apocryphal, but that's how I feel about the chocolates that are in my office at the moment. The boss sets them out, in a bowl, at Christmas, for customers. It's Quality Street or Celebrations. And there they sit, calling to me, all day. For some reason, they are different to the bags of sweets that sit in a box, to buy for a pound, for charity. Those, I can ignore, nearly all of the time. I'm inured to them sitting there. The Quality Street? Not so much. Perhaps because I could just lift one if I fancied, rather than a whole bag. But I know that I couldn't stop at one. So I feel as if my resistance to them gets worn away a little drip at a time. This year, I have serious motivation behind me. I don't want to spoil my good weight loss record, so hopefully that will keep me away from spontaneous Quality Street eating. There's nowt wrong with a bit of planned, quality Quality Street time. In fact, it should be mandatory to have a treat of some sort, so long as I control the circumstances, not the other way around.

I saved my cals to try the full fat halloumi from this week's grocery delivery for tea tonight. It was fairly calorific, (what did I expect? It's cheese!) but tasty.  Salty goodness. I grilled it over roasted parsnip chips, made to use up three parsnips before they shrivelled up. It was nice. It's a squeaky food though, as in, it's mouth feel is a touch odd and it does actually squeak.  You can hear and feel it in your mouth as you eat it. So if that sort of thing squicks you (as it would TMM) then this is not a food for you. Me, I liked it well enough, but now my curiosity is satisfied, so I doubt that I'll get it again. Especially as it is so calorie laden.

On the running front, I'm such a sucker for advertizing. I'm the dream market for all those focused ads that appear on line, geared towards my buying history on amazon and my search history. It's quite fightening that such things exist, yet I don't fight it too hard. When an ad popped up for Vibrams at £57, I snapped them up. It's a good price, and if I keep running at teh rate I am, I will need some in a couple of months anyway. They should see me through to the marathon (if I do it.)  I think I mentioned a day or two ago, there's already over 170km on first pair. These are more girlie in appearance, very pink! They should arrive in the middle of next week.

I haven't told TMM that there are yet more running shoes on their way to me. But then, I haven't told him that I've signed up to next year's Belfast Marathon either. He worries when I'm out very early, before work, running high mileage. When I ran the marathon last year (depending on how loosely we define the word "ran") he couldn't get his head around the distances I was doing, especially on my long training run, which I always did on a Saturday morning. I had a look at a couple of training programmes, one particularly on Runkeeper. It's a sixteen week one, so I don't have to start it until the 9th or 10th of January to take me to Mon 1st May. I have until then to decide if I'm going to do it. And just to keep the panic in the forefront of my mind, the official website has a countdown!

Trying to not care about my saggy bits

I was looking at myself as I ran this morning. I'm a bit conscious of how I look as I run and checking out my body, as I move, is not the most flattering of angles. I thought about how chunky my thighs looked in my running leggings. And then I caught myself on and wised up. Who cares? Those chunky thighs are considerably less chunky than they were, they ran four miles this morning and they fit into size fourteen jeans. They've come a long way and they're much healthier than they were. So I need to stop obsessing about how I look.

It's hard to listen to that advise though, especially when I think about the saggy skin that flapped about my belly as I did a plank this morning, as part of my thirty day, full body thing. I peered down my body and saw the dangly stuff, just hanging there. It doesn't look so bad when I'm standing up, but let gravity get into the picture and boke. It doesn't look great. Still, again with the bright side, I did a fifty second plank That's progress :-)

I'm going for coffee with my wee cuz BB this avo after work and I'm very much looking forward to it. I'm not going to eat anything. It won't be a late one, so I'll be home for tea. Breakfast was some of the roasted butternut squash and ginger soup I made on Sunday. I like to have a savoury brekkie, and I love using up food that's already prepared. I have no boundaries about what constitutes a breakfast food, so soup is perfectly acceptable. And it was bloody delicious. The recipe was a la my facebook chum, Miss Luli, using ginger instead of my habitual curry powder, and roasting the BNS, when I normally just whack it in the pot raw. Mmmmmmmm! And for lunch today, I shall be trying some reduced fat halloumi cheese with my cherry toms. I got some full fat stuff too, to try grilling it, like wot I see all the posh TV chefs do. I'll try that some evening that TMM is working late. I think tonight will be a spaghetti balls-and-eggs. Except there'll be no spaghetti (carrot strips instead) and no beef mince (reduced fat pork mince). Or I might make cauli rice. It's gorgeous. (Again to Luli-esque specs)

My last attempt at a pork mince chilli with cauliflower rice. It was yummy!

Ho hum.Adieu for now!

Copying my blog

I'm not sure why. Maybe in an effort to recapture a bit of what I had with WW on line, I'm copying my blog on to myfitnesspal. I suppose my mind likes the idea of everything being in one place. It tidies things up. Blog, tracker, exercise linked in with Runkeeper, all under one roof, as it were. As I looked at it, about to copy every entry from the last nine months, I read some of it. It made me see from a fresh perspective just how far I've come. Okay, so there are a few things that I still don't like, and I've a few pounds still to lose, but the difference is immense, and I'm really happy with myself.

I'm really looking forward to Christmas, to having a few days off with TMM, and just relaxing. I'm going to try very hard not to let too much of my holiday revolve around food. Surely I can socialize without having to eat constantly. I know it's how we show our friends and family that we love them. We prepare meals, and hope that they'll show their appreciation by enjoying them. But I'd like to just enjoy a person's company without feeling under pressure to eat things that just aren't worth the calorie expenditure to me. Now, having said that, I don't want to be anal about eating nothing nice. I think I'll plan a wee spluge on choccies at some point of Christmas day. Hopefullt, I'll start the day, with TMM, with an early morning run. It makes us feel so smug for the rest of the day, as if we've earned our pressies and our dinner :-)

And speaking of running. My 5k this morning was good.

A decent pace (for me!) without killing myself and the weather was really mild in comparison to last week. I'm thinking of getting another pair of Vibrams. My current ones are brilliant, still the most amazingly comfy shoes I've ever run in, and I've now done over 160km in them. I'll need to change them around the 500km mark, I think. The Vibram website has a sale on, but it's only in America. Booooooo hiss. Tempting me with fabulous prices, but not being able to ship them to me :-( Dang!

159.4lb

Weigh in day!

I lost 1.2lb this week and I can't tell you how chuffed I am with that! What with the calorie laden birthday meal, the early surfin' of the dreaded crimson tide and the heavy sneak peak, I wasn't all that hopeful of any sort of loss. This consolidates last week's big loss nicely (not such a fluke after all) and puts me into new territory. I'm under 160 pounds. Wow! Couldn't tell you the last time that was the case. Certainly not while I've been with TMM. My BMI is 29.2 and I've only six pounds to lose to get into the ten stone bracket. It all still seems a bit too good to be true. But I ain't complaining. TMM weighed himself and I am now a full twenty pounds lighter than him. Of course, he's six foot tall, so I should be considerably lighter than him. But again, this is a bit of a first :-)

He's not working today, so we went out for brunch. A big fry up,

which I estimate at about 900 cals, which leaves me three hundred for a BNS soup that I'm going to make for tea. There'll be plenty left over to take a flask of it to work for lunch tomorrow. 

I didn't run either yesterday or today, so I'm really looking forward to doing a few km tomorrow morning. I want to earn the extra calories as well as get some exercise under my belt! I have been continuing my thirty day full body challenge though. Tomorrow I'm up to 

• 19 sit ups
• 24 crunches
• 8 leg raises
• 17 second plank
• 47 squats
• 43 second plank
• 10 push ups

It only takes a few minutes after my run, but it makes me feel as if I'm starting to work on some of my saggy bits. There's not a lot I can do about the loose skin, barring going under the knife, but I might as well do what I can to tone and strenghten the muscle beneath.

Right nostrilled???

I reckon that's what I am. Like being right handed, you know? I have only just discovered it recently. Just as my left hand is not as dexterous (no surprise, since dexterous literally means "right handed") my left nostril is either lazy or just plain no good at its job. When I was running in the cold this week, the right nostril was the one that was dripping off my face. Lefty? Doing sweet Fanny Adams! And it's the same when I eat a hot curry. The right side of my nose goes into overdrive, and the left hibernates. Go figure. All I can say is that I don't tend to carry hankies when I run. The left sleeve of my running jacket is a tad crusty this week :-)

My birthday meal on Wednesday night was very rich. I did indeed end up having the mixed grill, with chips. I had strawberrry pavlova for dessert, with a little cream though, instead of sticky toffee pudding. I can't be too sure exactly how many calories I consummed, but I guesstimate at about 2000 for the whole meal :-) Phew! And I feel no guilt whatsoever. I deserve a wee treat. I've been bloody good for months! Anyway, it was just one meal, one special occasion. If I can learn to do it, then draw a line under it, I could happily live my life like that. It's when I start to let myself feel entitled to these treats on a regular basis that I get in to trouble. Not a problem at the moment though, while I'm so zoneified! I ran six miles on the day of the treat, and three more the morning after. I genuinely think that the deficit should be well taken care of.

Post birthday run. Runner's high!

I weighed myself this morning, the first sneak peek of the week. Result? 162.2lb. Which is heavy. It could be one of many things. I took yet another early period. Only twenty-three days since the end of the last one. I'm still keeping an eye on that. If it was weight loss related, I'd normally stop having periods. So it really could be the onset of menopause symptoms. I've done okay. I've got to forty-eight without even thinking about it, so if that's what it is, I've no complaints. Well, unless if fecks with my weight loss. Then I'll gurn about it a lot! 

There's always also the chance that I weighed artificially light last week. I tend to do that on the week prior to my period. And I didn't realize I was so periody when I weighed last Sunday. As well as that, the heavy meal on Wednesday could have had an effect. I know that on balance I've done okay for staying within allowance this week. I ran five times in total, so I more than earned the calories, but who knows what the old body has decided to do, now that I've thrown it a bit out of its routine.

Whatever the case may be, I can't believe I've hit a time when 162 is a heavy day! That in itself is something to be grateful for. Seriously. If I weigh heavy in the morning, I need to keep that in mind. Yes, of course I want to lose and get into the 150s, even if only by half a pound, and if I don't, it's hard not to think of it as a wasted weigh in, but if that is the case, think about it Terry! 160 anything is not a heavy weight for you! Very far from it. And so long as I know I've done nothing wrong, I'm still on track and not starting one of my slippery slopes, then it'll even itself up in a week, or two.

So that's my philosphical take on today's, slightly heavier than I'd have liked, sneak peek.

I finally measured my bust this morning. Nearly all of my bras are the wrong size. They are all massive on me. Ah, my poor, ever decreasing boobies! It's very sad for them. I remember a day when a 42EE was the order of the day! Now? Well, according to self measurements, a la instructions on t'interweb, I should be a 36C. This is as yet untested. I'm going to buy one today, and see how I get on. I bought a nice wee set in Edinburgh, the bra of which was a tad on the small side at the time, which now fits better, and I think I have one other that fits okayish. I really need some underwear! 

Happy birthday to me!

As the title suggests, today is my birthday. Forty-flipping-eight. Would someone please explain how the heck that happened? I'm pretty sure it was just yesterday that I was at university!

I have a wee tradition. I take the day off on my birthday and just do what ever I want. Sometimes TMM can do it too, though he couldn't this year. I love getting to spend a sneaky day with him, midweek. It feels as if we're on the beak. But I enjoy a solitary day too, when I should be working, but I'm not, just out of self indulgence.

My indulgence at the moment is sitting in Cafe Nero, having a large black Americano (extra shot), some popcorn and a fizzy water. Boys oh! I know how to live it up!

I'm blogging and looking out the window, watching the world go by, feeling decadent and spoilt rotten. Even the weather has given me a present today. It's bright. Sunny and clear, crisp and cold. In short, perfect November weather.

And I will make an admission. I dug out a Christmas jumper. And yes, I'm wearing it. It might be a bit early for some, and I happily concede that point. But for me, my birthday is the tipping point, when I go into "Christmas Season mode." The jumper is a tad on the large side, but it still looks okay. And I've bought enough stuff recently. Even I, with a serious recent proclivity for over spending on new clothes (most of which, I need, in my defence)  genuinely can't justify anything more, especially something so transient as a Christmas jumper. But I feel a million dollars today, baggy jumper or not. And when I say spoilt rotten, I really am.

I'm a grown woman, Hell, I'm well in to middle age, and I adore my birthday. My sibs and Mum gave me my cards and pressies last Friday night, when we all met at Mum's for my birthday tea. It's been a real struggle not to open them before today. I get so impatient. But I wanted there to be something to open this morning, so I held off. I'm very proud of myself. I didn't open a single one!

I opened them at 6.30am. Yip! Like a kid at Christmas.

I went for a run at the usual time. I know I'm off work, but I thought that I would run early, then I could shower, have coffee, open pressies and go back to sleep on the settee in front of the telly, if I fancied it. I really wanted to run to earn the calories for going out for dinner tonight. TMM and I are going to the pub across the road (not a three minute walk away!) which has a great restaurant. The menu never changes, but it's consistently good. I figured I'll probably really treat myself tonight, and have the mixed grill, with chips, and sticky toffee pudding for afters. That's a lot of calories. I mean, a whole helluva lot! A six mile run won't come close to covering it, but it'll make a dent in earning it. So 6 miles/10k was my distance this morning, when I went out the door at 5.30am. It was cold and clear, no wind at all, which is very unusual by the sea these mornings. Full base layer, but no gloves or hat, so not too bad for a November run. I ran 5k, then decided to add my other regular 5k route, in order to earn more calories. And I do want to up my weekly distances gradually, so it's all good. I earned almost 800 cals in my one hour six minute run.

God! I am loving how fit I feel at the minute. Hitting a hill (Bangor, Co Down, is a hilly wee bugger of a town) and not nearly expiring at the top, is the best feeling! 

TMM, as I said, had to work today, but he came downstairs when I got in from my run, to give me my pressies. He knows me so well. He bought me a beautiful silk scarf, with sparkles, making it perfect for Christmas, and it can be worn as a sort of stole. He got me a poncho with a massive, thick ribbed, roll neck and fringing. It will look amazing with jeans. And a handbag. "A handbag?" as Lady Bracknell exclaimed. Yes, even though I need another handbag like I need another hole in my head, the man knows I love a handbag. Handbags and shoes. You can never get too fat to wear them, so I love 'em (Well, technically, you can get too fat for your shoes, though you need to gain a lot of weight!)

So, I'm very stylish today. But not only that. My gorgeous siblings might just have bought me...some DMs! Again, I needed a tenth (!!!) pair of DMs as much as I needed another handbag, but seriously? New DMs!!! These were a pair, a photo of which I'd posted on FB. They only went and bought them!

They're amazing! They're white! How the Hell am I, who am extremely hard on shoes, going to keep them clean? My first stop today, when I eventually got dressed, was to call to a shoe shop and buy some protection spray and some cleaner!

So it's official. I have the coolest sibs in the whole world. This year's pressie was DMs, last year, it was a tattoo :-)

Saggy, baggy, haggy

I am definitely the personification of saggy at the moment. It's sad but true. My poor boobies are each like a tennis ball at the bottom of a sock :-) It's okay when I'm dressed. It can be disguised with a good bra. It's certainly much easier to hide that than it was to dress up the weight that I've lost, so clearly I'd rather have this "problem." But it doesn't change the fact that I look a bit odd in parts. Inner thighs are another big (not so big?) problem area.

With that in mind, I started a small thirty days full body programme today. I got the idea from a girl who's been taking on thirty day challenges for the last few months, and one of her recent ones was a full body one.

Example of a thirty day full body challenge

While this isn't identical, it does have some of the same exercises, and works the same away, in that the reps increase as the days go on. I intend to run first, about half and hour, or 5 km, and then do the exercises. Today it was pretty easy. I ran for thirty-five minutes, then did

• 7 sit ups
• 2 crunches
• 2 leg raises
• 10 second plank
• 25 squats
• 15 second plank
• 7 push ups

None of this could be called tough exactly, as there are so few reps at the moment, but it doesn't take too long for them to increase, and since they all increase together, it will become a bit more difficult fairly quickly.

I'm glad there are a few ab exercises. Core strength is really useful in running, and I tend to ignore it, so this can only be a good thing. I always meant to strengthen my core before my marathon attempt, but never did. As always, Bikerbabe, my wee chum across the briney from me, has been leading by example. She was doing some strength work last week, and it really made me think that I needed to get off my arse and add a bit of diversity to my workouts (for "workouts" see "running"). My thirty day programme will take me almost to Christmas, a good, natural cut off point for such nonsense. I will get to Christmas and be just a little fitter all round, all things being equal. And then hopefully, TMM and I can continue a wee tradition that we started a few years ago. We get up early on Christmas morning, go for a 5k run, come home for a shower, put on fluffy pjs (well, fluffy for me, obviously, something more manly for TMM) then open our pressies, while eating chocolate! I can't wait!

This morning's run was the first to involve base layer and a top layer, as well as long legged tights. It's definitely colder in Norn Irn today. And I'm feeling it a bit more than I did this time last year. But there's always an up side. Check out my new hat!

My Anna from "Frozen" look.

Thankfully the forecast is a little more clement for tomorrow.

For the first time in a very long time, I ate a whole bar of Lindt dark chocolate last night. All 100g of it. So today's run was dedicated to earning that in retrospect. I'm proud of myself that I did just that.

My food today has been very healthy. Dinner was an absolute fluke of a triumph. I had the shopping being delivered sometime between 7 - 9 pm, and I didn't want to wait till then to cook. And you know that feeling when you want to use stuff up in the freezer? I knew there was fish in there that my gorgeous, but fussy, Main Man wouldn't eat. So I defrosted it (mostly) and threw it in a pan, covered it with thinnly sliced onions and potatoes, ground masses of black pepper and dried garlic over it and covered it with a glass lid. Then I just left it to cook gently in its own juices and steam till the spuds were tender. (By which time the groceries had arrives {nice and early} and were put away)  Oh my goodness. It was amazeballs! I'm not sure I could make it again if I tried, but it worked tonight, was very healthy and used up veggies and fish before this week's fresher stuff arrived. I feel so domesticated :-)

160.6lb

Whoop whoop!!!

And there it is. The 100 pounds loss I've been waiting for. 3.4lbs off this week. So now I've officially lost seven stone two pounds, which is a whole small person.

I now weigh eleven stone six and a half pounds or seventy-three kilos in new money. Definitely sounding normal. I think I was 73kg back in 2000  for a while. So, sixteen years since I've been this weight. Wow! That puts things into perspective. 

My BMI is 29.4. In the twenties!!! To get to just under 25 (i. e what's deemed healthy) I would need to get to 136lbs. That's 24 pounds away. And one app said my "ideal" weight was 126! There's no way I should loose almost another two stone, even for the sake of the numbers. I know that there are plenty of women of my height who are happy and healthy at those weights, but I genuinely think I'd look ill. In fact, I got my very first, "I don't think you should lose much more," from my mum. I've assured her that I'm not going much further, but I need her to trust me on that. I don't want to hear the negative type comments about starting to look too skinny.

It's my plan to get just below eleven stone, just half a stone away, and look at my goal and think about stopping. It all seems so possible now. Could I actually get to maintenance this time???

Tough in parts this week

It's been a few days, so an update is due. I'm having my first sneak peek free week (sneak, peek, week! I'm a poet, and I didn't know it!) in ages, so I genuinely have no idea where my weight is going this week. I've been tracking everything as usual, and despite my best intentions, I've eaten the majority of my exercise cals. I always intend to only eat half, so that way, I eat a little more to fuel my added activity, but keep a few in the bank, to spur on the weight loss. I'm a bit annoyed with myself for not having the will power to stick to that plan. Then I get annoyed with myself for being needlessly annoyed with myself. Confused? You will be :-)

I'm no dozer. I know it's okay to eat what I've earned. And it'a a darn site better to eat what I've earned, than to eat what I haven't earned. And it's certainly better to eat what I've earned rather than to go hungry, just for the sake of my pride, so I can say to myself, "Oh, look at me, aren't I great? Look at all the exercise calories I haven't used!" all the while, resenting the fook clean out of TMM, who's happily chomping away on a 200g bar of chocolate, or a full packet of custard creams, or a full tub of prawn cocktail pringles! So, I do know it's better to eat the earned cals than to sit and suffer. That way lies the destruction of all my good work, coz I know I'll go boogaloo and eat all round me. That would entail a litre tub of Pooh Bear ice cream, some stuffed chicken olives, Cumberland sausage and a cream bun or four! At least! Maybe not necessarily in that order, but who knows? I may have given this all a bit too much thought :-) I just want to be on my guard against exercising to earn calories and using the extra cals as an excuse to overeat.

Since the start of the week, I've found it hard to hold back on cravings, especially for savoury things. It's been a bit better today. Is it a monthly thing? Don't know. I made sure to have a decent breakfast the last couple of days, and that's definitely helped. Today I had scrambled eggs and smoked fish. a) Delicious! b) Very filling. I love me some eggs for breakfast!

Anyway, as it pans out, so far, I'm breaking even this week, cals wise, so it's not been a bad week. Exercise wise, I've been positively angelic. I ran every morning before work, bar Monday, when I took a break, having run Saturday and Sunday.

I'm happy to be consistently getting up early and getting out on the street, so I'm not overly worried about pace. I think I'm more about distance at the mo. I'm going to slowly increase my long runs. I have till the New Year to decide if I want to train for the Belfast Marathon again, and I can comfortably do six miles at the mo, so there's no hurry to decide. I don't know if I could be arsed with the commitment it would take. It would be four solid months, building up to going for runs that would last four hours or more. If I do the marathon again, I'll want to do it below five hours, which is an hour and a half quicker than my first attempt in 2015.

Belfast Marathon 2015. Can't believe I completed 26.2 miles!

Race day next year is Monday 1st May 2017. It's not that far away. I'm thinking about it seriously.

I've been running in the toesie shoes for about four weeks now, and I'm well used to them. I love the feel of them as I run.They are extremely comfortable. I did notice that I'm prone to blisters on my sole near the bunion on my left foot, but judicious application of a half strip of K T tape has stopped that. However, I read this week about changing my gait a little and I made a very simple adjustment. I literally just became aware of splaying my toes as I run. I don't remember to do it all the time, but I do it enough that it will eventually become a habit. It seems to have made a difference, even in the couple of days that I've been doing it. With the toes in these shoes being individually pocketed, there's loads of room for them to wriggle about. I've nearly forty-eight years of conventional shoe wearing conditioning (that's not a phrase I ever thought I'd say!) to overcome,  but I really think these weirdo "feet", as my Mum calls them, are the way to go. Honestly, my left knee feels better than it has done for years. Goodness knows what, of the many things I'm doing, is helping. Taking the cinnamon with coconut oil in my coffee in the morning, or the ibuprofen, with the anti inflammatory properties, the K T tape, the shoes or let's not forget seven stone of weight loss, which certainly can't hurt. It could be any, all or none of the above. But whatever, I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing. 

              

Check out my new hoodie :-)

Jean-Luc Picard rocks!!!

I've been wearing a jumper and hoodie under coat in work this week. The temperature has dropped a bit. And I and still didn't look like Michelin Man.

Whose actual name is Bibendum, in a bit of tyre related trivia.  Oh, the interesting job I have!.

Adapting

This post is a bit waffly and introspective. It's about stuff that I've talked about before. Ad nauseam. It's about how I see myself, in actuality and in my head. I'm having a hard time recognizing myself in the mirror at the mo. That woman, who looks kinda normal, attractive even, cannot possibly be me! I know she is. She picks her nose and scratches her arse at the same time as I do. She has my eyes. But that's all I recognize.

It's happened so quickly this time, this transformation of my body. I don't really know why. Something clicked in my brain, using the calorie counting app worked effectively, I finally got my bum in to gear and started some exercise, and along with the total support of my gorgeous Main Man and family, I found camaraderie with a bunch of folks in the same position on t'interweb. A perfect storm, and here I am. Lighter and smaller than I've been for years. And while I love it (I can't tell you how much I love it) I'm terrified. I'm so scared that I'll let my control slip and end up back where I started. It's happened before. More than once. And it's unrealistic to think I won't have rocky times. No one can be perfect one hundred per cent of the time. How will I cope if I start to eat too much again, and start to gain? Will I be able to regain control? Nip any trouble in the bud? And why am I borrowing trouble? Why even think this way? Why not just be happy about my success thus far, and play the rest by ear? I think I just want to be ready in case the worst happens. Imagine how demoralizing it would be to be unable to fit into the new clothing I've bought. All those size fourteens that I'm so proud of. And the boots? No way they'd have fit over my calves before. I'd be more than gutted if I had to stop wearing them!

But, after all that, please don't think I'm complaining. If these are problems, then they are problems that I'm very glad to have. I just think I have to be aware that I need some time to adapt to the new me. My body needs time to settle into its new shape and my brain needs time to get used to seeing me as I now am. I just want to be aware of it all as it happens, so I don't start over eating again and mess it all up before I've had a chance to truly, fully become this sexy ass woman I see in the mirror!

164lb

It's no secret that I've been feeling fabulous recently. I haven't exactly been quiet about it. Well, these boots. Oh my God! I feel sexy as fook when I wear them. I couldn't help taking these pics. I feel all Sally Bowles in them. The Main Man, not so much of a fan :-) He calls me an S & M nightmare. Teehee.

They look amazing with a couple of my dresses.

I lost a pound and a half this week, and that takes me to a bit of a milestone. I missed the seven stone mark by a pound and a half still, and it's still three and a half to 100 pounds  off, but my BMI hit 30! I know that still sounds high. Well, that's because it is still high. But it puts me at the top end of the next "fat" band down. I am now officially merely overweight and no longer obese!!! I honestly think it's been at least ten years since that was the case.

TMM had to work for a few hours today unexpectedly. We'd been going to go out for breakfast, but decided instead that we'd go for a late lunch once he got home. It meant I'd rather hold off on my breakfast so I could have a big lunch, than have the eggy breakfast that I'd originally planned. I lay on in bed for a while, once he'd left, but I talked myself in to going for a run, so I could earn extra calories to have that big lunch. I did 10k, which earned me nearly 800 cals. That was enough for the burger which I ended up having.

I was pleased with that pace.I'd like to get to under an hour for 10k at some point. That would be a new low for me, and I think it's doable.

This week, I want to try to be very good. That 100 pounds  loss is beckoning.

New PB, new boots. What's not to love???

I love it when I'm so in to my running that I have to do a wash for sports gear alone. I ran five times this week and a wash was so needed. I usually wear the same bra two days in a row, same with leggings. I use a clean top every time. This week, my fifth run was Parkrun and I did it sub-thirty! I'm well chuffed. And I can totally see that I should be able to go a wee bit faster. It's so exciting to see improvement and room for more.

There was extra excitement this week when my new boots arrived. Black, heeled, knee high and DMs! Totally gorgeous, totally sexy!

And with a three and a half inch heel, they make me five foot five and a half, and I look loads slimmer at that.  Imagine. At 165.4lb and 5'2", my BMI is about 30, at 5'5.5" it would be 27! Teehee. The difference between obese and merely overweight.  I have to say though, that's the first time in yonks I've checked my BMI and I'm chuffed it's thirty. It'll be in the twenties this week. I just know it! And I couldn't possibly tell you the last time that happened!

Brrrrrr!

I'm changing my lunch. It's that time of year. For the last load of months, my lunch has routinely been chopped up apple, celery, carrot and cherry tomatoes, all brought in to work in a litre tub, filled to the brim.

The usual lunch.

Sometimes if I want to live it up a bit, I'll add in some peppers. Oh, the rock and roll life style I lead! As a meal, I can't honestly say that it fills me up, but it does distract me from my hunger and see me through till dinner time with TMM. It's gotten cold in Norn Irn this week, so I decided to whack it all in a pot and add a some scallions and a chicken stock cube.Yes, the apple was included. And I made a soup. I boiled it till tender and smusched it with Blendy Blenderson, my trusty hand whizzer, who I cannot live without. And pesto! (Pesto??? What a cool, appropriate typo. I meant presto obviously!) A yummy, low cal soup. It was lovely to have a hot lunch yesterday. It was also a bit more satisfying than the same ingredients, eaten chopped up, raw and cold.

Today's concoction is apple and celery soup. And it tastes amazeballs. Who knew? A whole flask for 300 cals. Yummo! An onion, two medium apples, five big stalks of celery, a chicken stock cube and about a litre of water and my usual method of chop it roughly, throw in a pot and simmer till tender, then pulverize. Needs black pepper, but my grinder wouldn't play ball. I need a new one. And I'm sorry darlink, but we just don't do ground black pepper in the Terry/TMM household! As if!

This pleases me muchly!

Ta da!!! My run this morning. My 5k sub thirty run this morning. Get me! In all honesty, I wanted to boke the entire final kilometer, but I did it! Now to make it official at a Parkrun. I don't think I'll get to run this Saturday, as I'm probably going to go to Mum's, but I'll do it soon. I'm going to go easy on my next couple of runs, just kick back and jog. Doing a sub 6 min km this morning nearly killed me, but I can see a day when it's the norm, so long as I keep running regularly. I've been grinning all morning.