Tuesday 31 January 2012

Weigh-in - Week 31 - Aaaargh!

After last week's loss I was hoping for another good loss this week, but it was not to be! Instead I've gained 0.6lbs, putting me back up to 18st 1.2lbs! I STILL haven't achieved my Christmas target!

I'm feeling quite upset at the moment as I just can't seem to get back on to the downward path.

I don't think I over did anything lats week - most days (Tuesday - Friday and Yesterday) I was within my daily points allowance, I exercised on the Crosstrainer every other day (13.4k in 30minutes). It was only at the weekend that I went over my daily points allowance - this is how it went:

On Saturday we had some old friends coming to visit, so my wife decided that she would do a buffet lunch (which was a good idea as they were very late!). I decided that I would just have some fruit for breakfast (0pp). Unfortunately by the time we started eating it was quite late in the afternoon and I was quite hungry, so I ate quite a lot and, as we all know, buffet food is difficult to track and tends to be quite high in points too. I allocated my full daily allowance to this (49pp). I also had over the course of the afternoon and evening 6 pints of wonderful Rebellion "Roasted Nuts" ale (36pp).

On Sunday we had a late brunch of 2 scrambled eggs, 2 sausages, 2 rashers of bacon, mushrooms and a slice of toast (17pp) and then dinner in the evening was a curry (32pp) washed down with 2 pints of Roasted Nuts (11pp).

I can only assume that I massively underestimated the points i used on Saturday and that having the curry on Sunday meant that there was no time to recover by the time I weighed in this morning. I'm going to have a Sneaky Peak tomorrow morning to see if an extra day is enough to undo the damage. I will post a special report to let you know the result.

This coming weekend will also be a tricky one, although I plan to be a bit more careful with what I eat, as I shall be watching Scotland v England in the Six Nations on Saturday. Obviously there will be an amount of ale consumed, but I will ensure that it is well within my points allowances and I shall make a point of not overindulging on Sunday!

Tuesday 24 January 2012

Weigh-in - Week 30 - Oh so close!

I'm so close to my target of getting below 18st that it hurts! At my weigh in this morning I was delighted to register a loss of 2.8lbs, which puts my current weight at 18st 0.6lbs!

It's been my best week for a long time as I am now fully recovered from the illness that affected me over Christmas and the New Year. I've been tracking much better (by which I mean I've avoided the odd bit of comfort food that's just been too small to bother tracking!) plus I've been back exercising of the crosstrainer on a regular basis (every other day) which gives me activity points. Now I don't normally use my Activity Points, I find that my Daily and Weekly Points allowances are enough, but I do think of them as a kind of buffer zone for those odd little treats that don't normally get pointed (like a triangle of Toblerone, for instance, or a handful of peanuts).

I've also been getting more adventurous in the kitchen. On Saturday I made "The Hairy Bikers' South American Chilli Con Carne", this recipe is unusual in that it uses Black Beans instead of Kidney Beans. It took about 3 hours to cook, but the end result was absolutely delicious (possibly the best Chilli I've had for a very long time) and at only 13 Points per Serving it fits in with Weight Watchers quite nicely - I had it with about 10 points worth of Rice and a little bit of garlic bread and washed it down with some beer from my weekly allowance. I've got some maturing in the refirdgerator, so will probably have some tonight (if my current culinary experiment, home made chicken soup, doesn't work out) or tomorrow.

I have to say, I'm feeling a lot happier about this weight loss journey that I have been for the last few weeks, where I seem to have been stuck on a bit of a hilly plateaux. Hopefully this week's loss is the return to the downhill slopes - time will tell!

Good luck with your own weight loss program, see you next week for another report!

Wednesday 18 January 2012

Weigh-in - Week 29

Horror of horrors I weighed in yesterday and found that I've had a, small, gain of 0.4lbs this week! It was such a dissapointment that I couldn't bring myself to add anything to my blog this week!

My wife told me not to worry as it's only a small gain but "out of little acorns, giant oaks grow"!

My excuse, if excuses are allowed, is that I suffered from a chest infection over Christmas abd was on anti-biotics up until last Wednesday and I haven't been able to do any exercise on the treadmill since Christmas day (and that was the first time in a fortnight due to having a cold before Christmas!).

I'm now back into the Crosstrainer routine, having been on it 3 times since last Saturday, and I am trying to get back on track and pointing properly (which might have been a bit erratic over the last few weeks).

I've got to lose 3.5lbs to get into the 17stone zone and I'm determined to do it soon!

Tuesday 10 January 2012

Weigh-in - Week 28

Well I'm very pleased to report that I have almost got rid of the 3lbs I put on over Christmas and the New Year. At this morning's weigh-in I have registered a loss of 2.6lbs, putting me back down to 18st 3.0lbs, which is just 0.4lbs above my pre-Christmas best. I now want to reach my, evasive, target of 17st 13.9lbs in the next two weeks.

This week has been a strange one as I am still suffering from the man-flu that I told you about in my previous blog, except that it isn't man-flu, it's a chest infection! It's been pretty unpleasant, althought the anti-biotics, that the Doctor prescribed, are doing their job and the end is in sight. I still haven't felt up to getting back on to the crosstrainer, so I haven't done any exercise at all this year! I also haven't had any alcohol since New Year's Day as alcohol and anti-biotics don't mix! I think this is the longest I've gone without a beer or a glass of wine for as long as I can remember!

Points-wise I've managed to get back in to tracking properly and can say that I've manage to end the week with 44 weekly points left! That's really due to not having anyt beer or wine, although I have used up some of my daily and weekly points to treat myself to some of the Toblerone chocolates that I told you about (I've nearly finished one bar!).

I've also managed to get through this week without any Sneaky Peeks! As any regular WeightWatchers member will know, Sneaky Peeks are the work of the Devil! I have found many times that what looks like being a great week on a Saturday Sneaky Peak, can, by Tuesday, end up being a poor or bad one. And this is using the same scales as I weigh-in on - it's even worse for people who get weighed at WW meetings as no two sets of scales with give the same results. I'm really going to try and avoid SP's from now on.

My plan for this week is to return to the crosstrainer by Thursday or Friday, enjoy the remainder of my Chrstmas Ale over the weekend, I've no idea how many pints are left but, with a bit of luck, I'll finish the barrel on Friday night and be able to visit the wonderful Rebellion Brewery on Saturday to get a replacement. I also plan to try out a new Slow-Cooker Recipe to add to my amoury of low point meals as I'm getting a little bored with the Chorizo & Sausage Gumbo and Chorizo & Bean Chilli that I have quite regularly.

Anyway - onwards and downwards, good luck with your weight-loss and I hope everyone has been as successful in removing the Christmas gains as I have.

Tuesday 3 January 2012

Weigh-in - Week 27

Well this morning's weigh in was number 27 and showed a loss of 0.6lbs since last week's 3.6lb post Christmas and Boxing day weigh-in gain. I suppose a gain of only 3lbs over the Christmas and New Year fortnight is not really too bad.

I will admit to being a little less than vigilant with my tracking over these past 2 weeks, but I did try to be a little bit careful with my intake of the bad stuff. The problem is that there is so much bad stuff to contend with at this time of the year. I'd like to take this opportunity to ask - why is it that people, who supposedly love me, gave me chocolates for Christmas (including my wife!)? I got 3 large Toblerone's, which I haven't opened yet, but they will be sitting in the fridge tempting me until I do! I will try and eat them one triangle at a time over the next few weeks, but I just know that sooner or later I will binge on one! Probably the white chocolate one!

I've not been doing any exercise over christmas due to the return of my man-flu (cold) which came back with a vengeance on Boxing day and remains with me still. This means that I have used my Cross-trainer just once since early December! I just know that I will struggle to get back into the routine if my cold doesn't clear up soon, but I will just have to force myself to do it!

This being the beginning of January I suppose it is time for New Year's Resolutions, so here goes with mine:

  1. To continue to lose weight - that looks really good on the page, the word continue 
  2. To continue to get fit - it's that word, continue, again! It still looks good!
  3. To participate in a 5k run, preferably with sponsorship - money raised to go to Cystic Fibrosis.
  4. To learn to surf when I'm holidaying in France in August.
I think that's sufficient - item 3 does depend on me being able to start jogging/running without any re-occurence of my Achilles Tendonitis, which still hasn't fully cleared up. I will also need to introduce some core strength and agility exercises if I am to learn to surf as standing up on the surf board will require that.

So happy New Year to both of my readers, I hope you had a good Christmas and, like me, that you are happy with any small weight adjustments that Christmas and New Year delivered. Now it's time to get back on track, lose any small gains and continue down the path to a healthy new you!