Slimming World Week // Week Seven

Week seven's weigh in came as a total surprise to me, to be completely honest... -6.5lbs!! Baring in mind this weigh in was coming off the back of Easter most of the people in the group had seen themselves gain a pound or two, but here I am with almost half a stone loss in 9 days. I absolutely love slimming world! 

Over the Easter bank holiday I spent time with J and I inevitably caved in to some treats. I'm of the belief that you can't deny yourself something otherwise you end up binging on the lot, so I stuck to the 'little bit of what you fancy does you good' ethos and munched on chinese takeaway (chicken chow mein specifically - which didn't entirely agree with me), Cadbury chocolate buttons, cookies, bacon sandwiches etc - the lot. So I have to hold my hand up and say that I have no idea where this loss has come from, but I am glad I was slightly disciplined and didn't gorge and pig out like I'd used to do. Once the bank holiday was over and he had left me I was straight back on to it though, filling up on stir fry, wheatabix, fruit and salads - all of the super yummy free food Slimming World let you eat in unlimited quantities. 

As a result of this week's loss I was pleasantly surprised to find myself as 'Slimmer of the Week' :D I got another shiny sticker to put on the back of my book to keep my 1/2 stone one company, a fridge magnet and a certificate - hurrah! 

I'm so close to my 1st stone award, only .5 of a pound away, how gutting! But I know that if I work hard at it I will definitely be walking away with another sticker and certificate next week, and who knows, maybe even surpassing it! My aim for my Easter break from uni was to hit a stone loss and that's looking so likely it's making me giddy. For someone who's put on a lot of weight continually for the past 3 years for it to actually be coming off on a sustainable life change plan and not some crash 'shake' diet really excites me. I know it's working because I've managed to go down a size in Primark, and yesterday I bought a Topshop dress and it had room to spare around the middle! :) 

I also hit my first -10lbs milestone and rewarded myself with a rather expensive, but brilliant foundation, Chanel's Vitalumière Aqua. I'm going to pop up a little post about that soon. My next milestone reward will come in 7lbs time, and by then I'll have lost 20lbs.

So plans for this week are to stick at the plan, fill up on free foods and learn to like bananas again. As ever, wish me luck! 

Loss to date: 13.5lbs

Time taken: 7 weeks

Next milestone at: -20lbs

Reward: Urban Decay Naked Flushed Palette

Slimming World // Week Six

After last week's blip I'm determined and back with another loss, -3lbs! That's 1.5lbs off the weight I put on in the 21 days I ended up having off for my birthday and when I was poorly! Happy me :)

I joined a new group this week, which is why my SW weigh-in seems ahead of schedule, and that's because I'm now at home in Devon for the next few weeks for my last Easter break from education (how weird it will be to not have set holidays any more!). It's both easier and harder to carry out my SW plans at home. It's easier because there are no temptations just to sit at home, alone, and munch my way through bags of mini eggs as I write my uni essays, and I feel more comfortable with the choices of food in the cupboards/fridge. But it's harder because I can't eat exactly what I want, when I want as I have to factor in family meal times. Also, sometimes there aren't the right ingredients to prepare my favourite dishes, and I don't feel that I have independence over my food choices. 

But so far so good, I'm aiming to get my stone award whilst I am away from Durham, 7lbs to go...wish me luck!

Loss to date: 7lbs

Time taken: 6 weeks.

Next milestone at: -10lbs

Reward: A new foundation

Slimming World // Week Five

If you're a regular reader round these 'ere parts you may have noticed that there's been no SW weigh in update for the past fortnight. For the first week I was poorly so couldn't go and ate a lot of rubbish, as you do when you're feeling sorry for yourself, and then last week it was my birthday so I didn't go to that group. As you can tell from my progress I've evidently had a fabulous birthday, consuming mountains of cake, sweets, enchiladas etc. 

At SW they say that 'there's no shame in a gain' and in fact I don't think it'd be human to drop significant amounts of lbs every week, we all have to expect little gains here and there. So while I'm disappointed at that +4.5lbs gain, I know that that's been over 21 days, not 7, and, as they said to me last night, the most important thing is that I realise where it's come from. 

For people in denial about their weight situation, and I can totally understand that, it's easy to blame certain things in your life that actually have nothing to do with the situation you're in. The key thing to note, though is that once you've got past that stage, and start to realise where you're going wrong in your diet, then you can put your hand up and admit, 'oh, yes I did consume x amounts of cake last Tuesday and x amounts of bottles of Rekorderlig on the night'. I've found you can't shy away, and I've learnt that actually no-one at SW's judging your gain or gloating in their losses over yours. 

Before I jumped on the scales last night I took stock of how I was feeling. I knew that I'd have gained since I couldn't make the previous two group sessions, but I told myself I should be proud for even going and facing it head on, and then sitting in that chair afterwards and talking about it. I felt angry at myself, disappointed and sad that I couldn't add lbs to my minus list and instead have to take them away from my overall progress. 

But you know what, I'm ok with that. I still need to remember how far I've come, I mean I've managed to keep off 4.5lbs for 5 weeks (something completely unheard of in my past 3 year weight gain!) and I can only look forward to onwards and downwards. 

Loss to date: 4.5lbs

Time taken: 5 weeks

Next milestone at: -10lbs

Reward: A new foundation

Slimming World Week Two

So this week I didn't do as grand as the last weigh in, lost 1lb and not the 3lbs I was aiming for. But hey ho, I'm still going in the right direction...downwards!

I had a fab start to the week, eating well and having my 5 a day. But then sun/mon/tues saw me running around and getting annoyed at my dissertation and certain ignorant and inconsiderate people who live in my student house and the flat upstairs...So I ate pizza and creme eggs and tried to make myself feel better.

This didn't go quite to plan, mind. Which is a positive thing, as consuming lots of junk made my new found healthy insides feel disgusting and ended up feeling quite sick. It's a positive because every time I want to munch out I just need to remember how the junk made me feel and then I won't want it again. Win!

I made a step, so to speak, towards my bronze body magic this week - getting off the bus a few stops early and walking home the rest of the way, walking to class, and I even walked the two miles from my front door to the library yesterday which was nice.

My plans for this week are to continue walking around and get back on track like I was in week one. If I manage to lose 6lbs this week I will be looking at receiving my stone award! But, as ever, I won't get disheartened if that doesn't happen, any loss is a gain in my mind!

Loss to date: -8.5lbs.
Time taken? 2 weeks.
Next milestone at -10lbs.
Reward: Cath Kidston camera case

Slimming World Diary | Week One

Last Monday I took the decision to join Slimming World (hereafter: SW), or, as it's more affectionately known in my student house, 'fat fighters'. This is my SW week one diary, because to document is to have proof right? And to have proof means I can't ever forget how far I've come from where I've been...so here goes...

There's only so much a computer and the Internet can display about a person. The girl typing this is me, but what I post online is one a teeny tiny portion of my life, so much so that it can be easy to forget that there's still a whole person behind the blog, the website, the Twitter account and the Instagram pictures. In essence, we channel exactly how we want to be portrayed and viewed in our online pursuits and leave the bits of our lives out that we're not comfortable enough to show. For this reason alone, I have never really displayed full body shots of myself. Not because I am ashamed or extremely hate my body, but because the past 4 years of my life have caused it to change shape beyond my own recognition and that scares me.

At the start of this process I was 18 and about 10-11 stone (I can't remember exactly, but at 5'7 this was perfect for my height) and I decided at the time that getting the contraceptive implant was a good thing for me to do. Big mistake. It reacted badly with my body, I instantly began piling on the pounds with the crazy hormones it was giving me and had some other horrid side effects. At the same time I started my job in McDonald's, which was where I met J, my boyfriend. So, the combination of these three factors, all happening at the same time, propelled me to start gaining weight. At the time, when I was 10-11 stone I had the typical teenage hang ups, all my friends were much smaller than me and I thought I was massive. I know now that I was, in my eyes, perfect. I was my envision of perfection and it's only by realising that now, when it's too late and I'm 4 years older, that I am able to see what I've got myself into.

I'm not revealing exactly what I weigh now. I'm going to do that at the end when it can no longer haunt me. I am going to reveal my weight loss for this week through SW though: -7.5lbs! I was so excited to see that on the scales that it didn't really register with me what was happening. I got given my half stone certificate and a sticker for my diary...and the idea now is onwards and downwards (for going upwards would be a very bad thing to to!).

I have found my first week on SW amazing. I, along with my friends, am amazed at the things this plan lets you eat and how it addresses the psychology of overeating. I'm following the 'Extra Easy' plan, where I'm allowed 10-15 syns (the humorous SW name for naughty treats like freddo bars, crisps, biscuits and cake) a day, and can consume as much of the free and super free foods as I want (pasta, rice, vegetables, potatoes, noodles, soy sauce, fruits etc). I then also pick one choice a day from option A (dairy products like milk and cheese etc) and one choice from option B (carbohydrate based products like bread, cereal, crackers etc). If i'm hungry I reach for my free and super free foods, I've discovered Quorn and have eaten so much more fruit and veg recently. This is called Food Optimising, which is basically portion control with a fancy name and it teaches you about the different food groups. The psychology of it all has got me, and it's definitely working with my brain! For example, this week I've been cooking more (and have the burns to prove it) and made stir fry, pasta bakes, pizza, quorn dishes and fry ups for breakfast!

The other half of the plan is exercise, cleverly disguised as Body Magic, where you build upwards from 45 minutes per week of moderate exercise on a Bronze level, to multiple minutes of intense exercise per day on Gold, and then Platinum levels. Even in these past 7 days alone I've found myself walking much more, getting off the bus 2-3 stops earlier and walking the rest of the way, walking faster around the city and I even tried the 30 Day Shred. I have decided to work towards my bronze certificate this week and then once I reach my Club 10 (which is once you've shed 10% of your body weight) I will go for Silver and then Gold. 

So my target for this week is to lose another 3lbs, as set at my SW meeting. I'm feeling positive, and fingers crossed I can mirror this week's success, but burn myself less whilst cooking! 

I just have to remember to strive for progress, not perfection...

<3