Challenge yourself? Big News!

I like to think I live by the mantra “If it scares you – do it!”

In the past this has been running 10km, flying to Amsterdam to meet a friend on my own, going back to university at 25, so with that I would like to introduce you to my new challenge :

Swimming 22 Miles – The length of the English Channel- for Aspire the Spinal Injuries Charity, as every eight hours someone is paralysed by a Spinal Cord Injury and there is currently no cure.

I have 12 weeks in which to complete the challenge, but I’m aiming to do it in 10 with 2 weeks as a contingency plan. Here’s the scary bit – it is 1686 lengths of the pool and that works out to 168 lengths per week.

So I am a real life Dory – Just keep swimming. I start on the 12th of September and I am so excited to start, just to prove to myself that I can complete this challenge.

If you fancy sponsoring me – I have included the just giving link below just press the button, any amount no matter how big or small would be brilliant. Thank you in advance.

 

I will of course keep you updated with the progress

 

 

Syns Syns Baby!

Syns! Syns! SYNS!!! if your following slimming world you get syns, which can be used for the naughty but nice’s of the world…that chocolate bar at lunch, or the coffee with friends or the piece of birthday cake that you just cant refuse.

Any one who has ever done slimming world will know that Syns, are both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because they allow you to eat the treats, you can save them up for a special occasion or the weekend, or use flexible syns if you chose. Some people have their syns all worked out for the week pencilled into their meal plans so that they know what they are doing. Personally I’m not that organised, I go on a day by day basis and I think this is what the majority of people do.

So how are they are curse?  Well, if you have 15 syns for the day and the total of the syns you want to use is 17….thats 2 over, do you take the 2 off tomorrow and just have 13??? or let those 2 slide?

The problem with letting them slide is that it can become a habit, “oh its only 2 syns, it doesn’t matter”. but all those 2 syns add up, if I let 2 syns slide every day by the end of the week that is a total of 14!! 14!!! that is a whole day’s worth of syns.

So here comes the question, what do you use your syns for? 

Personally, I try to add mine to my meals, I’m not a big chocolate eater, I’m more of a bread girl…I can devour entire loves in minuets, its a talent I give you that.  So I have extra bread, or a pitta with my tea, but I’m open to ideas, so hit me with them!

 

 

My ass hurts

There is no other way to say it other than to blurt it out. My ass hurts.

Having bought a new lighter bike I was itching to get on it and go, but according to the other half, we have to break them in, check the handle bars are straight and add a whole host of other bits (lights!! Like I plan on biking in the dark!!!)

One thing no one mentioned about breaking in was my ass…..I did really well I got to my Grans house with minimal ease, I had to stop once to get my breath. We stayed for a bit while people admired my lovely bike, and he adjusted my handle bars ( this nearly caused a fight cos I had no idea what he wanted me to say other than its wonky?) and then we got back on our bikes to ride home. The plan had been to walk home but I was determined to make it back. I kinda did, I got 3/4 of the way home when I got  a shooting pain from my lower back/ass up I could hardly get off the bike and when I did it was the most unladylike like thing you have ever seen. So I then proceeded to walk home with a slight limp.

So my seat has been swapped for a gel cushioned one that was in the shed, but in all honesty I don’t think it will be big enough!

How ever non of this has put me off and I’m already planning the next ride…thinking Wednesday, oh and I’m signing up for a water motivation class, what ever that entails, there was a gym option but I dunno just feel it. I love cycling, I feel really free and love speed but a gym just seems boring to me.

 

LMC

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7lbs

It has been yet another long while since I have posted. Not because I am not following slimming world, or not wanting to write, there has been so much I could have wrote about but life just repeatedly gets in the way.

So thought I would give you a bit of a update on my journey:

I am currently 1&1/2 stone lighter having got my award this week. I am really pleased with my self, for continuing my journey but I expected that it would be quicker. that I would be at least 3 stone lighter by now. The only person I can “blame” for my lack of weight loss is my self, but I’m not going to do that because we weeks where I have had a gain there have always been a reason for it. Not just because I sat and gorged my face. The thing is I am getting there, when I started this journey I was heavier, unhappier, and every lb off is a good thing, an amazing thing.

Me and my partner have been together a year, we celebrated it this weekend, we had a lovely Slimming world Chicken Tikka curry, and Steak and Jacket potatoes to celebrate. We did go out for food during the course of the weekend but all my choices where good choices and ate lots of fruit during the weekend, this is different to other weekend where I struggle when we are out and about to eat my superfree. I am happy, which means my weight loss is working well. I cant wait to see what the next year brings for us as a couple and I am really looking forward to Christmas this year, last year we didnt give each other gifts as we hadn’t been together very long, but this year we are going Christmas crazy.

I also bought myself a Christmas present, in the black Friday weekend sales (BTW those things are just stupid, people getting injured for a cheap telly, give ya head a shake!)  but I had been considering getting a new fitness tracker as the necklace to my shine keeps breaking, and pushing a wheel chair it doesn’t record my activity on my wrist. So a bit of research later and a chat with the nice lady in the Apple shop, I had purchased a JAWBONE UP24 from boots for £50, which is half price and I have to say that I am really impressed with it. Not sure about sleeping with it on, but then I cant sleep with a necklace on so its nothing really different. I will give you a update once I have worn it for a little bit. Its safe to say that I am going for my 2ST award before Christmas, I want that baby. Its 7lbs and i’ve got 3 weigh ins. So lets go!

LMC

XXX

Turnaround.

Well I’ve stopped feeling like my backside. Hallelujah!!!

I’m pretty sure this is down to the fact that I have pretty much stopped taking painkillers, I hated being drowsy, not being able to drive (its painful but was a option) and well I feel like me now, not a walking zombie. I am in pain, but I would rather be like this than that. I also went back to uni, my lecturers where really understanding especially as I cant sit for very long and have to get up and walk around the room a bit.

It was a really interesting lecture and we played with some fantastic software, we often get software to use but its not always interesting. Its normally things to make networks run better, or check them over, but this was from the other end of the spectrum, how people would/could attack a network. I always like this aspect, as its always changing.

Today was weigh in day, now I wasn’t expecting a loss, as I had eaten loads of bad things to try to upset my stomach. I would of been happy with a maintain to be honest, but I was over the moon with a 1 &1/2 lb loss. This week I am 100% on plan, I’m fed up of on/off weight loss. I am staying at the other half’s, but I’m making Chicken Tikka and taking that with me for tea, then on Saturday we are going up to the Metrocentre for the day so it will just be a day of careful food choices. I am also going to put some fruit in my bag so that I can nibble at will.

This weeks group was the Slimming World first week of Christmas, we had a taster session, and I got a little bit creative in the kitchen. I made Cheese & Tomato Tartlets and Giant Mediterranean Cous Cous. And they where both super yummy. I took 20 tartlets and came back with 3 🙂 which was nice as it meant that me, mum and gran got to taste them.  As part of the Christmas party and the many weeks of Christmas that slimming world are going to (There are  9 weigh in’s for me till xmas!) we where given little gift tags and asked what we would like to give ourselves as a gift for Xmas. So here is mine for all you lovely people.

I added the Rudolf ring just to make it feel more Christmassy for you all, but I would like to achieve   my club ten award. This means that in 9 weeks I need to loose 10lbs, doing the maths on this its just over a pound a week. So I’m really hoping I can achieve this, if not by Christmas before.

I also wanted to share what I had found in Tesco, I’m sharing because I dont eat ice cream but I bought it for the house and I was curious as to what the syns where. I some times do this so if I have items in the house I know what they are prior to me eating them. This is 8.5, some say 8, but I’d rather be cautious. So if you ever fancy some Ice-cream but dont fancy measuring it out this could be for you, they are two individual pots, and apparently are rather tasty.

Till next time

LMC

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Choices.

We all have choices, we make them everyday. Left or Right? Dress or Trousers? Trainers or Boots? Cake or No Cake?

Do we own up to ourselves just how much crap we have been eating or not? Well I decided to own up to myself about how much crap I have been eating. AND here is the verdict. Apart from today I’ve not been eating as much as I thought. Today I have managed to go over my syns, but it was a concious choice. I have purposefully been trying to give myself a upset stomach and its not working – typical – so  I have been eating cream and dairy ect(There is a reasoning behind this, I’m not losing the plot). All I seem to have managed to do is give myself a even greater stomach ache.

I have also noticed that I am not eating enough, the pain killers that I am on leave me feeling sick, to the point where I don’t want to eat so I am eating meals with lots of free foods but not a lot of super-free in them and then bits of fruit in between. So this coming week I am going to work on trying to eat more and take less pain medication. I dont like the sick feeling nor the dizzy confusion so its now a weigh up time of are they worth it. Choices.

Always Choices. The thing about making a choice is to make a informed decision, take all the information you can and weigh it up, before you decide to act.

Positivity.

So I’m not feeling so much like my backside today, I still feel awful though.

I actually managed to get some sleep, at least I slept for longer than a hour at a time, which I think has helped. This was managed by putting a pillow under my back, I have no idea why this worked but it did.

I had a  bit of a mix up today, I was positive that today was the 7th, so I was took by surprise when the nurse called me at 11:50 am to say that I had missed Grans appointment, and had to arrange to take her down at 2pm, what I’d also missed was at asthma check up for me. I seem to be a day behind myself, maybe this infection is effecting me more than I thought it was. So I tried to drive today and oh my days it was painful. I wouldn’t of had to drive if I had got my days right.

 

I have decided to add a new page to the blog, a Recipes page, please take a look. I’m going to post recipes on here of some of the food I make, so that if you see something that you like you can get the recipe for it. Also if you want the recipe to something, leave me a comment and I will try to get one for you. I have not put the syn values on things so please use your common sense, the reason behind this is that it allows slimming world members to get to know how to read a recipe and define its syn value and if some one whos not following the plan wants to make it, they are not obstructed by all this “syn” value stuff. (How many times can I say syn in one paragraph!)

Looking forward to tomorrow, I am going with my mum and gran to get our hair done, which means for me a ever so slight trim of the dead ends. I am colouring my hair tonight, just to even out the tone of my hair as I am not loving it so much. Getting hair extensions put in my hair in Novemeber and I am really excited about this, hence the wanting to even out the tone of my hair. So I’ve got a foam dye, I love them as it always seems to work better.

LMC

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Ouch.

So I’m currently feeling pretty sorry for my self. I have managed to slip a disc in my back and oh my god I have never felt anything like it. Not even when I broke my knee cap diagonally! I cant get comfy, cant sit for to long, stand for to long, and sleeping is a complete and utter bitch (sorry for the language).

With my mum being on crutches and unable to walk very far we have been using Grans mobility scooter to help her get around, which means that for the last few weeks I have been moving grans wheel chair and the mobility scooter in and out of the house and car.  Well the mobility scooter is not light, in fact it weighs close to a washing machine and its close to tetris fitting them both in my car.

Yesterday we had a hospital appointment and then decided to do some shopping, so I got them both out of the car no problems, wandered around the shops, had a delicious lunch and then it was time to head home, upon arriving back at the car, I got my two charges into the car and was left to put the scooter and chair away. As I lifted the scooter all I felt and heard was my back go “POP”  and I have been in excruciating pain ever since.

This morning I couldnt even get out of bed to go to the toilet, which very nearlt resulted in my wetting myself on route when I did finally manage to get up. I cant lift the kettle with out crying or bend and even moving at the moment in painful. So I was took tot the walk in centre tonight where I was advised that I have slipped the disc and that walking is the best medicine, and the lovely Dr gave me some stronger painkillers, which I have to say are working rather well, I’m still in pain and a lot of it, I just dont seem to care.

As for the weigh in today well it seems that eating my emotions caught up with me, I only lost 1/2 lb and why I am chuffed with this because it is still a loss it is a wake up call that I need more control. I need to wake up and realise that if i want the results that I have to put the effort in.

This means that tonights tea has been pork stacks with potato wedges and salad and it was lush 🙂 bearing in mind this was the first thing I’ve had to eat all day, think I need to eat more. Also going to try and plan my meals a little this week which is not always easy but I will try.

Eating Your Emotions

This post has taken me a few days to write, I don’t know why. Maybe its because I have to deal with my emotions which is something I’m not good at or simply because I don’t want to deal with the problem at all.

Eating your emotions is not big, and its not clever.

Its what I did this weekend, and I am really not proud of my self.

I have come to realise over the years when I am about to start eating due to an emotional trigger, but this weekend it just got away from me and before I knew it I was eating a scone with cream (not a clever idea when your  lactose intolerant.) Following that, later on Saturday evening I shared a mixed kebab with the other half. Not quite content on limiting the damage to one day, I had another cream scone on Sunday evening.

Part of the issue of this weekend,  stems from the fact that my gran doesn’t seem to much like my other half.  But we don’t know if this is down to medication or just not liking him. This weeks problem probably started earlier in the week when I booked a table at a local restaurant for afternoon tea for 3, and a separate meal for me.  I asked repeatedly everyday if it was ok if he joined us, but come Saturday morning when he arrived to come with us she went into a mood, we decided to go any way but once at the restaurant she refused to speak to any one and continued along this line with refusals of a drink or something to eat. The waitress was coming over to ask for my order and I had to ask for more time as we continued to try and get her to take part in the meal.

In the end she wouldn’t.

I had to tell the waitress that she was unwell and that I would pay for the afternoon teas. Luckily the woman was very understanding and offered to box the teas up for us. When we got home, it ended up with me having to agree that on the weekends when we go out it will just be me, her and my mum as she seems to think we have an entourage, which has upset my other half no end because we have only just managed to organise his work so that he has weekends off. Also because I’m my grandmothers carer, I spend a lot of my time with her.

I’m devastated, I feel like I have been made to chose between him or her, I’m having to split my time between the two of them.  Also my parents are not here every weekend which means I dont time off every weekend so him being able to come out during the day with us was lovely because it meant I could see him. unfortunately I cant put my needs/wants before hers as its not fair to her.  I can understand that she is worried that she may be left if I ever decided to marry ect but that’s never been in my plans. I cant live in a situation where either of them is deeply unhappy though. I am hoping that once they have altered some medications the situation might be come more amicable.

But I didn’t deal with this situation well, I ate. Usually I clean when I’m upset, unhappy, or feel like I want to eat. But no amount of cleaning would save this situation. At one point in the day I felt that down I just wanted to be sick. What I cant get my head around is that she could be so nasty. I know the reasoning behind it but it doesn’t mean I have to accept it.

I have spent all this week trying to undo my emotional eating but well not sure how I have faired until Thursday but I have been eating my super free. I have been doing things on the PC this week and have had fruit in front of me to stop me snacking on crap, hopefully limiting the damage. I’m still trying to eat my anger and unhappiness, but I keep reigning my self back. Might go stand on the sea front and scream. It wont do any good but it might make me feel better.

 

 

Autumn

I love Autumn, the changing colours, the dip in temperature meaning I can wear a cardigan all the time, the darker nights. It also means that I am going back to University. I love education, there is something about knowledge, about expanding your mind, learning new things that makes me happy.

So last night I went to uni to re-enrol we do it online for the uni but my course is outsourced to a local college as its on a evening and its  a rather specialised course. We have to enrol at the college, and get our time tables for the next year and before I’ve even started they have changed the time table after printing it! I am looking forward to this year, I have to project manage something or someone, which will be interesting as it will require all my organisational skills and good communication skills, I have a 4 hour Networking Lecture/Lab on a Wednesday Evening, now I love Networking, I’m a bit of a geek when it comes to this, but 4 HOURS! its spilt into LAN and WAN but this is going to test all my concentration skills.

So this has got me thinking, since I’m going to be getting home two nights a week no earlier than 9:30PM using my slow cooker is going to be a good idea, it means that my family can take out their tea when they are hungry earlier but leave my tea in to keep warm, rather than my mum cooking two teas, one for them and then one for me. So yesterday I made the Irish Beef Stew in the slow cooker, and it was lovely. But on uni days I don’t have all the time in the world to set up my slow cooker and go to work ect and then uni, so I’ve been having a look about to see if there was a solution to this.  Now Asda, those lovely guys have been making some lovely vegetable packs that are either low syn or syn free, and you can either use them to add to your soups or slow cooker meals or use them just to make a quick and easy meal! Swish swoo! Because lets face it guys and gals, slow cookers are great but if all you want is a quick lunch or tea, then its not your best option. I have created a little picture that contains the syn values for the packs, but if I’m wrong please feel free to correct me and if you do make anything yummy let me know!

I’ve got the vegetable soup pack in the fridge to make up tomorrow for lunch, I am soo looking forward to this. 

 

Oh and for those of you that are interested, today was weigh in day: 2 1/2 lbs off! that means in less than a week since being home(we got home late Sat/early Sunday) I’ve lost all but half a lb of the weight I gained while on holiday. I totally dont feel it. I feel really bloated and horrible. I’ve been feeling really icky the last couple of days just cant put my finger on it. Going forward I’ll hopefully feel better, plenty of fluids and some paracetamol and I shall be fine.

Hope to hear from you soon

LMC

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