January 2015 and surviving Christmas.

So I've missed my Blog these last 3 months. Maternity leave has finished and I'm back to work which is why it's now suddenly a lot of juggling and for lots of the time I am absolutely exhausted. For 2014 I managed to lose just over 51lbs and happily, the good news is I was able to maintain my weight-loss too.

Surviving Christmas was a conscious effort not to overeat and although I did have treats that I wouldn't normally have I did try to balance things. I had my annual bottle of Baileys but I certainly didn't want to gain the lbs as I had done over Christmas last year. I very much enjoyed eating some delicious home made Christmas fruit cake and plenty of lebkuchen which are amazing German biscuits similar to but not really like gingerbread.

For a treat I even ventured out to a Beefeater for lunch where they served the coleslaw in reusable plastic pots with lids which I don't necessarily agree with:

When I weighed myself after Christmas I'd gained 2lbs. So I consider that to be a small success to be honest. I think planning ahead by doing my weekly shopping online helped a great deal and stopped any impulse purchases. Not buying chocolate or too many snacks was a definite advantage. This brings me up to date and this week I have been dancing (in the comfort of my own home) and still allowing myself small 'treats' I tried my first ever macchiato. I didn't even realise what it was when I ordered but it was delicious however I'll be strictly back to my Americano with milk from now on.

In order to gain some motivation for the task ahead I have been watching episodes of 'Obese: A Year To Save My Life'. These people are starting at 445lbs and 456lbs. Their stories are inspirational. In the first 3 month phase they are set the goal by Chris Powell to lose 100lbs and at the end of the 365 days they manage to lose 200lbs! It's amazing, the transformation that these people achieve in one year. Last year with much determination I lost a total of 51lbs. My personal goal weight means I have to lose 70lbs this year, that's 5 stone that needs to go!

I made a decision to not make New Year's resolutions this year. In the past my resolutions have been mostly weight related. Reading old journals it seems every year I would set a weight loss goal but actually I would be weighing more than I had done the previous year so it always felt quite hopeless. This year I am more positive, indeed hopeful rather than hopeless. It is also worth noting (I think) that my weight loss last year was near on twice the amount that I have lost in the past when I have been attending a slimming club. 

Although I haven't set resolutions I think the New Year does lead to some reflection of things you ought to be doing, including how much exercise is going on. Ultimately I tell myself eat less and move more as much as possible. It's the moving more that I know I'm going to have to increase. So when I'm lucky enough to take a lunch break, which isn't very often, I'll take a walk to buy a sandwich instead of driving there. Actually after doing this four or five times I managed to halve my time getting there and back and I felt so much better for it. 

All this talk of exercise leads me nicely onto something which I tried for the first time this week, Just Dance 2014 on the Wii U and I absolutely loved it. I have been thinking about a workout and trying to work out how I can successfully add exercise into my daily routine. I like swimming but don't really have the option of getting there as regularly as I need to. I used to play badminton and if I manage to play a game or two this year I'll be very happy BUT with something like a dance game that's at home there's no travel time, no extra cost and technically I can do that most evenings. It does have a great 'sweat' mode to set 10-40 minute workouts so I'll definitely be giving that a go. Now I've put that on here I'll have to do it. It was great fun, I moved the lounge floor mat around the room I was dancing all over the place so much and it has been a while since I've felt the benefit of endorphins. It really lifted my mood.

Now that does feel like there is a plan. Some exercise organised and at the beginning of the year I'm on track to stay on track. I'm rushing to my own deadline to get this written in January as I do plan to keep to my monthly Blog instalments, well that's my intention. Of course this year is also an extra special year for me. I think I've mentioned before that a weight loss motivation for me is that I don't want to be Fat and Forty and I am hoping that with hard work I really wont have to be.

I've been saving the following link for some time and I'm sharing as now feels as good a time as any, plus it also links to a final story from my adventures to slim. Recently as I was packing things away at the end of a party I was merrily waving goodbye to people across a large sports hall. The distance between me and them at the exit was quite some way so I did put some effort in to making my wave as friendly and visible as possible. With some horror, mid-wave I realised that I had a Bingo wing waving independently to my waving hand. This has never happened before, maybe losing some weight makes it more obvious to me but I suddenly became very aware of my wobbly wings, flapping along to my wave, how embarrassing. So with pleasure, I share with you, a 10 minute Bingo Wing Blaster which I seriously need to be implementing! 
Bis Bald x

Click here for a bingo-wings-blaster