Falling off the wagon.

Image from weheartit.

As you may have seen in our Sunday Summaries, my original amazing weight-loss results have slipped somewhat. After about two months where I was losing every week, I hit a period where first I plateaued, and then my weight started to creep up again. That’s why I’ve been a bit quiet here lately, because I’m a bit ashamed of how my eating habits have become corrupted.

I know that Charlene has already posted about this, but I wanted to add my piece too, as it's one of the most devastating parts about weight loss. It's so much easier to put it on than lose it. Also, we talk a lot here about what to do when it's working, but I find that when I fall off the wagon, all my good habits go out of the window and I find it really hard to get back into the mindset. Which is exactly where I am now.

Over the last few weeks I’ve had: a wedding, a hen do, a baby shower, several parties, a holiday to Italy and two music festivals. The sudden introduction of serious food-shaped temptation – and so much of it – meant that my willpower didn’t even put up a fight. Let’s face it, I knew I was never going to go to Italy and eat salad for every meal.

So how do you deal with stuff like this? My approach is to wait for the bad things to end – I've promised myself that, now that Glastonbury is over, I’m going cold turkey for a while. I’m sure a better way would have been to go straight back to the diet after Italy, be as good as possible at Glastonbury, and then slide back into saintliness once that was over. But I find that all or nothing works best for me. If I have a chip, I want a plate of chips, you know?

I haven't been back to Rosemary Conley since before my holiday, so I have no idea what I weigh, but I suspect I'm about back at square one. So now, it's just about getting motivated again and getting back into all the good habits I was in before. And trying to forget how amazing high-fat foods taste (so not fair).

What about you? Is anyone else going through difficult temptation periods at the moment? Is it just the curse of summer? How are you dealing with it? And why on earth can’t it be as easy to lose weight as it is to gain it?

I'll keep you guys posted as to my progress - I'm determined to get back to it. I don't want to let you all down!

Sunday Summary #15

Is it really Sunday again already!

Sarah - I've really struggled this week. I carried on with Fast Forward but it didn't have much effect. I have now switched back to regular Slimming World so am at least not hungry all the time. I have only lost 1lb this week which makes me very :( That's now 19lbs in 10 weeks of Slimming World and 7lbs to lose in 4 weeks... I can do this!! I have my Sisters hen party on Saturday so am going to be to plan 100% up until then and keep my fingers crossed that I don't do too much damage in one day.

Gemma - After 2 weeks of not being able to go to my weigh in I finally managed to go this week and I lost 3lbs. I'm really happy with that because I had a few days without tracking my points and I lost a little motivation because I hadn't been to class or spoken to my leader for 2 weeks.  I'm currently on a hen weekend and I drank loads of cocktails but tried to drink water in between and I ate a chicken salad for our meal out so I hope I managed to limit the damage.  I moved house on Friday and as I mentioned in the post earlier in the week, the new house doesn't have a kitchen. We went to the chippy in the night because we were too tired too cook and we couldn't find our plates anyway. Weigh in this week is going to be interesting...

Charlene - Exercise wise, it's been a good week. Food wise, not so much. I've ate out at restaurants far too much this week and although I've tried to make healthy choices, it's still not been what you'd call diet friendly. No loses for me this week but the exercise is making me feel great!

Lucy - Okay so even if this week had been a good week for me, I'm almost certain any good work would have been cancelled out by the sheer amount of stuff I've eaten and drank over my 21st birthday weekend.  Silver lining? It's Monday tomorrow...

Sarah V - is at Glastonbury this weekend

How have you gotten on this week? If you're struggling for motivation don't forget we are only a tweet away!

Guest Post - Danielle from @daniellefirth

Today's guest post was written by Danielle from @daniellefirth.



After being inspired by Where are my Knees (so refreshing to see a blog not featuring size 8 clothes and cupcakes!) I decided to get off my bum and do something about the weight I had been piling on over the last few years.

A combination of being settled in a relationship where our favourite activity seemed to be going out for stodgy meals, and getting a ‘desk job’ saw me put on almost 4 stone in as many years. I have a long way to go but I thought I'd share my journey so far.

The two main things that have helped me: The My Fitness Pal Calorie Counter, and something I NEVER thought I would do in a million years... Spinning class. My Fitness Pal is available online or as an app on androids/ iPhones etc and it is GENIUS.

Everything I eat, I log. And I never lie to my little calorie counting pal, if it's a bad day it's a bad day - the angry red bar just helps me make the next day even better. The app initially suggested that I consume 1250 calories per day, and if you exercise, you earn more calories. If I wanted to go out for tea and have a pudding, I just went for a little jog (read: wheezing power walk) first.

I've enjoyed curries, Sunday lunches and even a hot chocolate fudge cake - as long as it's in the 1250, anything goes - although I do try to stick to low fat foods, and get my 5 a day in. Where Are My Knees of course comes in handy for low fat meal ideas too.

Now - exercise wise. I am certainly not the fittest... In fact, think female version of Jim Royale. Going to the gym alongside lycra clad hotties with model proportions filled me with dread. So when I signed up to a 7 week summer trial, I was pleased to notice that 50% of the members were pretty much just like me. Yes, there was the occasional Paula Radcliffe-alike pounding the treadmill at 70mph, but there were also lots of wobbly bits like mine around so I felt less uncomfortable.

After researching (good old Google) how to get the best out of my membership, I discovered interval training and the idea of spin classes. The idea of spinning, and classes generally scare me. But no more than a lifetime of bulging out of dresses and hiding in photos. So I bit the bullet and went for it. And... It HURT. I was tired, I ached all over, and my legs felt like they were going to drop off. So. Clearly this works. I went straight to reception afterwards and signed up for the next 3 classes before I had chance to change my mind.

For those who aren't familiar with spinning, it involves cycling along to tracks and speeding up, slowing down, standing up and sitting down to the beat. Personally I hide (suffer) at the back and imagine myself in a bikini during the particularly grueling parts.

So after four and a half weeks of three spinning classes per week and 1250 calories per day, I have waved goodbye to 1 stone and 4lbs. And I've just had a Nandos to celebrate (rice not chips!)

A typical day:
Breakfast: 1 slice wholemeal toast and half a grapefruit
Snacks: Fruit
Lunch: Vegetable soup (homemade) or tuna salad with low fat dressing
Snacks: Asda crispbread with red pepper and chilli cottage cheese (and the odd jaffa cake!)
Dinner: Whatever I fancy – I just skip the pudding

New House Dilemma

I really need your help!

I'm moving house on Friday and I'm leaving behind a lovely home and moving in to a place that needs a lot of work and renovation. The house I'm moving in to doesn't have a kitchen at the moment and it will take a few weeks of ripping off plaster and making sure all the major structural work is done before we fit the kitchen.

I'm a little worried about all the take aways we will be having and going totally off my Weight Watchers plan so I would love to know what easy meals I can make with limited kitchen facilities and only a little time. There is only so much cereal and toast you can eat before you get totally bored!
I will have a microwave, toaster and kettle at my disposal but not much else.

Do you have any meal ideas for me?