Friday ramblings

Helloooooo, my lovelies!

And helloooooooo to the weekend! Mwah - Weekend, have I mentioned how much I love you recently??

(You too, my lovelies!)

By some extreme act of flukeyness, I filled in my tracker this morning for yesterday's night out, and ended the week exactly on zero points. Very strange! But nice.

Today starts a new week for me .... and kicking off with another night out. Oooooof! We did the post-drinking, hangover (or not in my case) breakfast thing this morning at work. 18 points disappeared on my breakfast, but ohh, a bacon and mushroom bap, hash browns and a smoothie? Breakfast o' champions! However, then I found myself completely full at lunchtime ... and for the first time in I-can't-remember-how-long I didn't have lunch on a work day! I grabbed a small fruit salad from the supermarket, but I absolutely didn't need any more than that. In fact, I also grabbed a small pack of cooked chicken, thinking I could snack mid-afternoon when I got hungry, but it never happened.

And that's something that I've really been noticing on this new plan. My hunger levels are generally waaaaay down, and my snacking has tailed off to virtually nothing, apart from a few pieces of fruit here and there, and the occasional Mini Babybel Light (god knows who put me on to those, but thank you whoever you are!).

Considering fruit is now zero points, I find myself eating far less than I thought I might. I really consider whether I need it before I eat it, and try and eat a variety during the day. Although my fruit intake is certainly up on what it used to be, it's completely substituting my snacking on cereal bars or whatever else used to get chowed down on an average morning in the office.

So despite breakfast, I've got a few points left for tonight's charity fundraiser night out from my daily allowance. We're heading out for an Indian somewhere along the line, so I think I'll stick to my stand-by of Tandoori prawns and a naan bread (not Peshwari - tastey, but too "costly"). I'll be dipping into my flex points, but not by tooooo much I don't think.

Change of subject.

You know how sometimes, something just catches your eye in passing? Today it was belt on my jeans. I remember buying that belt last June on a long weekend in Oslo, when I'd gone away beltless and my damn jeans wouldn't stay put. At the time I bought it, it did up with only a few inches of tail to tuck away. Looking today, I can see where the dents from then, and the dents further along from where I was regularly wearing it this year, and then finally another inch or so from those, where I now wear it. I don't think I'd appreciated that there's probably about 5 inches difference between the June dents and now. And by June I'd already dropped a 1 1/2 to 2 clothing sizes. Sometimes it's so hard to appreciate where we've come from.

Yesterday, I had a similar appreciation as I walked from the car to work in a pair of newly washed skinny jeans, and realised I could feel the denim shifting against the back of my legs as I walked - a sure sign that they are not as skinny as they used to be. These are jeans that I got into last Christmas, but have avoided for most of the year as they've been a constant reminder of my skiing gain that I just couldn't shift. Now there's no muffin top. And in fact, I bought a smaller pair of skinnies (same size, just a different cut) ready to downsize into - hopefully sometime soon.

I've spent so much of this year being worried and frustrated that I was wasting a whole year with zero progress, and even a step backwards. But finally, I'm back where I was, and past it; pressing forwards again, and I have to admit it does feel great. What Mrs Fatass rightly described as the sweet spot. When it's not neccessarily easy, but it's not so much effort to make the effort. You never know how long it will last, but by God you should hang on to it while it does.

Right now? I'm practically crying out to get back in the gym. I cannot wait for the keys to the new flat the Monday after next, so I can join a new gym and re-gain some muscles. And walk to work every day! I liked my arms over the summer, and they feel a little soft again now. Combat? Oh yeah! Circuits with oodles of press-ups? Bring it on! The treadmill? Yes! Even you! I want to see the muscles in my legs again!

So that's me, right now. A little confused by the fact that Weightwatchers can't seem to consistenly point all their foods in the database right now (come on WW - a Cadbury Crunchie is not 3 points, much as I'd love it to be - even I can see from the calculator that it's 5 - stop teasing me!!!), but willing to make the effort and make this plan work.

Come along for the ride!