Apology

Sorry I haven't been commenting on all your lovely blogs. There's been a sudden death in the family (my fiance's cousin died, they were very close) so it's been hectic.

This is just a note to say I'm still here, I'll be able to post a proper update over the next few days.

Much love,

S. Xxxx

Picture updates!

Well, this is me this morning :)

I think I look a bit smaller than on my previous photo....

I am particularly proud of this one! It was taken first thing this morning, I tend to bloat as the day goes by so won't be as slim come this evening.














As before, the bar at the bottom of the pics is a feature on my mirror.

I am still sitting around 56.7-57 Kg region, so I haven't actually lost any weight. I am not too sure why I look slimmer today, but hope it lasts!

This one girl at work keeps going on about how I have lost weight, which was starting to really get on my nerves. She is beautiful, always looks after herself and looks slim. Yet, this week she joined Weight Watchers. They told her she was overweight, which she have obviously been hiding well because she doesn't look it.

So yeah, her comments aren't annoying me any more. I realised she keeps going on about it because she's a bit jealous about it. I should take it as a compliment!

As you can see, today is going to be a good day :)

Power-cut!

Due to a power-cut the gym was closed, meaning no boxercise.

Typical! You couldn't make this up.

My friend and I did however go for a nice long power-walk, we were walking/jogging for a good hour so at least it was a productive evening. We went to a nearby park and it was actually really beautiful and peaceful (it was partly woodland).

I have been feeling better today, thankfully. I am still not calorie counting and that's helped a lot. Oddly enough, my diet hasn't actually been too bad this week -but I know it's only Tuesday!

Feeling low

Meh. I've been feeling down these last three days. I tend to feel better as the day progresses, but today was tough. I am fine now, but I just wonder how I'll feel tomorrow morning.

I go through phases of feeling a bit depressed but I usually get over it after a day or two, so this too shall pass.


I have realised with much horror that I haven't exercised since last Tuesday! Say whaaat! I asked a friend of mine if she fancies going to boxercise tomorrow evening with me, and if not I'll go to the gym.

I have started doing some stretching exercises at home to improve my flexibility though. Would you believe I have never been able to touch my toes? One day I'll be able to do this ;)

Or even this!

Relaxed state of mind

That's what I need. Calorie counting is really making me anxious and is affecting my mood massively. If I under-eat I'm happy and it's a good day, if I over eat it's a bad day.

I don't want how I feel to be affected so much by how much I eat, so after a mere two weeks of counting calories I'm taking a break from it.

It will mean I'll hopefully be more relaxed and make better choices (if I'm feeling down all I want to eat is junk, which is what I've been doing for the last two days, thus making me go over my calorie limit so I feel worse and crave rubbish again. It's a vicious cycle).

So, no calorie counting and I'm back eating sensibly, focusing on eating plenty of fruit and veg and lean protein.

I feel better already! (Psychologically speaking) but we'll see how long this lasts lol

People

People today keep asking me if I've lost weight.

I haven't, I'm still 57 Kg.

These questions are starting to annoy me, it feels like "they're on to me" even though there's nothing devious or wrong about this.

Off today

*Written at 14:00*

I am off today, so I am planning in making the most of it. I have done 45 mins of house work so far, had my lunch and fiancé is just out the door for work.

I have a few things I need to get for the house, then finish the house work and go to the cinema with a friend tonight.

I have my intake for the rest of the day planned out, and I should be able to do well if I can stick to it.

No gym today, but the house work and all the walking I'll be doing will make up for that.

I'll post and publish this post later this evening, so I can share if the day went according to plan!

*Written at 17:30*
I've had my dinner, and all the house work that I set out to do is done.

I may or may not have a small salted pop corn at the cinema, I haven't decided yet. I had originally planned my calorie intake for today to include it, so I won't feel bad if I do.

Doing good so far! Will update & publish after the cinema :)

*Written at 23:50*
I resisted the allure of pop corn :) it was actually easy, I was genuinely too busy chatting and remembered it about it after we'd sat down.

After the film (Rock of Ages. Unexpectedly good) I went into Tesco to get milk, and decided I'd buy myself a small treat since I'd been good. All I wanted was a milky bar. They didn't have any, so I bought the milk and left. Fate was on my side tonight.

My intake was 1240 calories, 1000 net.

A bit on the low side, but I need to make up for all the rubbish I ate yesterday and Monday, so hopefully everything will balance itself out.

Good night x

Bath time!

I got home after work and my fiancé had the heating on. I was about to go mental at him for being so wasteful as it's not even cold, but then he said he'd turned to heating on so there would be hot water and I could have a bath and relax my muscles after boxercise last night.

Aww he's sweet (sometimes).

On the flip side, he also had 4 (count them. 4) sausages, oven chips and peas ready for dinner.

I am not complaining that he cooked me dinner, but he has no idea how to portion control. And what did I do? Eat the lot of course, minus the oven chips.

So that's a lot of calories, but at least it's protein. A lot of fat too though... Sigh.

So not a great day, but not the worst either. I came out at about 1550 cals, and burned about 200 (I walked to and from work today, plus did quite a bit of house work).

As long as I manage to stay below 1390 net on average per week I'm fine, according to the myfitnesspal app, and it served me well previously. I am trying not to get myself down for eating over 1500 cals, but it's hard.

I still weigh somewhere slightly below 57 Kg, so I've managed to maintain this weight for quite a long time.

Edit: I was weak. I had dessert. 1840 calories today. About 1600 net. I am so annoyed at myself. Second fucking day this week. Aaaaaargh!

My downfall

My downfall is chocolate and whiskey. Last night a friend of ours was over visiting (hadn't seen him in ages) and we ended up pigging out. I had a double chocolate muffin, an almond slice (180 cals!! It was TINY!! WTF??), a whiskey, and earlier in the day a KFC.

Over 1300 calories of pure junk. So yeah, that was good. I totalled 1800 for the whole day, which is very high for me, but I can safely say I haven't eaten anywhere near as much as that in a long time.

Today was a better day for definite (my total intake was about 1300 cals), no junk (though I had a big dinner) and went to a boxercise class at the gym. It was so tough! I'll feel it tomorrow, that's for sure. I burned about 600 calories, and that's being conservative.

'twas a good day :)

Hello!

A quick hello to all my new followers! Welcome aboard :)

I'll have a proper update later in the day. In the meantime, hope everyone is having a nice day xx

Dress shopping

**Another really long post ahead! You have been warned ;)

Yesterday a friend of mine and I were dress shopping for an upcoming event, & I was trying on dresses in front of her so she basically saw me in my underwear at one point.

She tactfully told me not to lose any more weight, as it's getting to the stage that I am too bony.

Now, I have naturally prominent clavicles, and I know that if you looked at just my chest and upper back I am pretty slim. You can see a bit of my ribs sometimes. Weight for me tends to go to my bum and stomach area (why not the boobs?? Lol).

But she also said my legs were thin enough, and I honestly didn't need to lose any more.

I suppose she has a point.

My problem isn't *really* excess fat, but lack of muscle. My problem areas are my arms (mild case of bingo wings!), stomach and thighs.

Everything else is fine, and even my back fat is mostly gone. I also don't want to lose any more weight off my face either.

So, I have decided to still keep an eye on my calories and food intake, but put more emphasis on eating well (protein, fruit and veg, etc) and exercise.

With this in mind, I went to the gym today and did quite a bit of strength training. I ate well, and I feel great (probably thanks to the gym!)

It's a good day :)

Thanks Lulu for your comment about using protein shakes. I've been thinking about getting some for a while but haven't "bit the bullet" yet. I'll definitely post it up when I do.

56.8 (ish)

Definitely below 57 Kg anyway, the dial was somewhere between 56 and 57 Kg anyway. So that's good!

I ate 1198 cals, burned a mere 77 from that. I haven't been to the gym all week, isn't that terrible? I'm still losing though.

And THIS is why i don't like calorie counting. I become a bit obsessed with it all and it takes precedence over eating well. For example, I had a small salad and a large handful raspberries today. 2 portions of fruit and veg at a push. What happened to me trying to eat 5+? I need to refocus my efforts again.

Plus, is the weight loss down to loss of muscle mass? I have no idea how long it takes for muscle to decrease, probably not long. So this weekend I'll try to exercise at least once, I definitely don't want to lose any of my precious muscle!!

More calories

Well, I definitely didn't under-eat today! Work has been so stressful, which means no energy for gym. Plus boyfriend cooked a lovely (and extremely calorific) dinner. All this equals 1700 calories (~1500 net), and no gym again.

I will try to do some house work and move about, but who has the energy? This week of hell is over tomorrow. Can't. Wait.

Calories

I am counting calories again. I am not sure that's a good idea, but we'll see how it goes. I tend to get a bit obsessed with it and impacts my mood negatively, so I might give it up again.

According to myfitnesspal I should eat 1200 calories net, and to compensate for the exercise I should eat about 400 calories (so about 1600 in total). Instead, I have eaten 1090 calories so far, 960 net, so I've been under-eating two days in a row (and definitely not been moving enough to burn so many calories).

No gym today either. Work has been extremely busy and probably will be until Friday (which i suspect is why I haven't been hungry today). I am still hoping I'll be able to go tomorrow after work though.

Why do I feel like I over-ate even though I didn't? :(

Bank holiday Tuesday

Today I have eaten well so far but I am still hungry :( I had weetabix with milk, then some carrot&coriander soup and a small bread roll (no butter, but the roll was white bread), and then two poached eggs, one slice of toast and a good helping of green beans.

After all this I am still hungry! I am craving sweet things so I'll see if maybe a mandarin later helps. At least I haven't eaten any junk.

I booked my flights to Italy yesterday. I an going there for about 10 days in August at a beach resort. A week and a half of sun, book reading and swimming. I can't wait, but I also need to be much less flabby and much more toned.

All being well I'm back to the gym tomorrow. I don't have a weight goal as my body shape is more important than the number on the scale, but maybe having a small weight-loss target might help keep me focused? Maybe 55 Kg (nothing earth shattering) by the end of July.

*edit* yes I think a weight loss target is a good idea, so 55 Kg by the 31st July it is. This plan may change though haha!

*edit n. 2* I worked out my calorie intake, and it's been 1218 so far, or 1049 net (i.e. Incl. exercise).

I thought it would be much higher than that as it feels I pigged out today. I love myfitnesspal.com.

10 hour shift

I worked ten hrs today. I am wrecked! It'll all make sense when I get paid though.

Food intake these last two days has been awful. Awful awful awful. And I feel really icky and too full now.

I will need to be very watchful of my intake for a while.

I am off tomorrow so I'm looking forward to that.

*edit* sorry for the short post. I am very tired unfortunately. Xx

Sunday hangover

I couldn't resist. We had a few friends around and had the biggest BBQ ever! We all got drunk, and I ended up eating two huge slices of lemon tart, plus a massive bowl of strawberries, a banana and natural yogurt.

I honestly pigged out big time. It wouldn't have been as bad if I hadn't got drunk, but I couldn't help myself. Plus I'll probably not get to the gym until Tuesday or Wednesday at the earliest, but I'll try to get a few walks between now and then.

I had a great time though so I'll not complain about it! It was our Jubilee celebration after all.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend x

Coffee and other things

I am meeting a friend for coffee today. I haven't seen her in ages, I am quite excited actually!

Food intake for yesterday was good, and I am feeling better still today. I was still very lethargic this morning, but I will continue to take the iron supplement and hopefully I will have more energy over the next few weeks.

Anyway, this was just a very quick update, hope everyone has a good weekend!

S. xx

Multivitamins – Yes or No?

Quick disclaimer: I am not a doctor but have an interest in nutrition. The below is just information that I have picked up along the way, mostly by researching this information myself, so you can’t sue me if you take my advice and something goes wrong :)

There is a lot of contradicting evidence on the actual benefits of multivitamins. Some people are convinced they are essential in making sure your body is as healthy as it can be, others think all it does is make your urine expensive, but I’d imagine the majority of people reckon that a multivitamin probably does no harm and may or may not help, but to be on the safe side will take them at least occasionally.

I truly believe that you can get most of the nutrients, vitamins and minerals your body needs by having a healthy and balanced diet.

I also think that some people are prone to deficiencies, and in certain cases targeted supplements (i.e. supplements specific to that one deficiency) may help (in my case, I have always been prone to iron deficiency even on a diet full of greens and the odd steak).

So in certain cases, supplements specific to one particular area can be helpful, but everything in moderation and with a bit of common sense.

One of the most popular supplements out there is vitamin C. Studies have shown that increasing your Vitamin C intake for a short period of time will help boost your immune system, but it only helps in the short-term. Everything goes back to normal after a while, so prolonged intake of high doses of Vitamin C isn’t useful. But if you think you need a boost for a few days/weeks e.g. coming up to winter (either through a supplement or by eating more vitamin C-dense foods) then go for it.

Now, back to the original subject: multivitamins.

A lot of studies have shown that your body will only absorb vitamins and minerals up to a point, and the excess is then expelled from your body. So even though the supplements say you are taking 200/500/1000% etc of your Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) for a whole range of vitamins, your body will only absorb what it can and discard the rest (hence the “expensive urine” comment above).

Also, a few studies have shown that people who take multivitamins tend to make unhealthier food choices. A small-scale study tested this out with a group of volunteers. They gave half the group some supplements, and the other half nothing. Then they observed what food choices they made at a buffet, and those who had taken the supplements tended to go for the un-healthier food.

Of course there could be a whole other range of reasons for these individuals’ choices and this study was small, but it corroborated the point that if you think you’re being healthy by taking multivitamins you will them probably not feel as guilty when it comes to eating rubbish and are more likely to choose junk over something healthier.

I do know people who openly eat unhealthily and think it’s OK because they are taking supplements.

There are probably more things that I have missed, but this is all for now.

And that’s why I don’t like supplements. You should try as much as possible to eat the right foods, as it’s better for your body and your pocket, but listen to your body and if you think you have a deficiency then go to your doctor and talk it through with them.

A better day

I am feeling much better, the multivitamins/fruit juice/smoothie/strawberries approach was obviously a good idea!

I have also started taking my iron supplement (it’s called Floradix liquid iron formula, and it’s the bomb! Based on personal experience, I honestly think it’s the best iron supplement out there.)

I thought I’d say why I don’t particularly like taking multivitamins so I will put up a follow-up post shortly (it might be boring, you have been warned!), but these last two months I have been plagued with colds etc so I think it’s time for a boost.

Also, I now have three followers! Thank you so much, I am chuffed! I am not too sure how to follow back, but if you leave me a comment I can then access your Blogger profile and take it from there, or if you know of another way let me know.