Sponsored Post It's hard to believe that I restarted the Thinking Slimmer programme 6 weeks ago! Since then I have been able to access their Slimpod, Chillpod and as of last week Fitpod. The first is helping me make healthier food choices, the second helping me relax sleep better, whilst the last is encouraging me to be more active. Ironically the last week I have my exercise curtailed due to parenting commitments. I missed virtually all my Fitbug targets:
That probably explains why my weight didn't go down this week. I am feeling slimmer and more toned but the scales aren't budging:
So today I got out the measuring tape to see how the 6 weeks has impacted on me: Inches lost: neck -1, bust -1, waist -4, hips -1, thighs -0.5, right bicep -0.5. It's the waist one that is making the biggest difference to making me look and feel slimmer. I noticed my running bra is looking loose so I need to go and buy a new one.. My fitness is certainly better when time permits and the weather isn't against me. I seem to be plagued by strong winds at the moment! As well as Parkrun on Saturday I went out on Sunday for a longer run. I managed a few trophies on Strava for that one:
Let's hope it all carries on going in the right direction. I went out for another 5km run tonight even though I didn't want to!
It's been a while since I did a Workout post as Christmas plays havoc with everything as there are extra activities and then 2 weeks of no school... So here I am in 2014 with my goal of finishing off the job of getting myself fit and healthy. With a wedding to attend at the end of May I've set myself a goal of dropping another dress size by the big day. By the time the fireworks had gone up on New Year's Eve my belt had got too tight (I blame a Chinese takeaway). So I started 2014 as I mean to go on by going out for a run (in the rain and sleet!). It may not have been the fastest run in the world but I at least tried... Once I got back home I realised I had been failing to listen to my slimpods for a few weeks so I started listening to them again every night. I also drank the last glass of wine in the house on the 1st January and ditched the booze again for a month. So after a few days my belt once again does up on that last hole even by the end of the day! One of the things on the slimpods is that you are encouraged to not distract yourself whilst eating i.e. be on laptop or watching TV. So as part of my house sorting I have reclaimed the kitchen table as an eating area and not as a craft, homework or everything else area it became in the run up to Christmas! We had slipped back into bad habits of eating our evening meals in front of the TV which is not good for any of us... Another thing is to increase our quantity of vegetables and fruit that we consume. This is toughest when you have a small boy who only eats limited varieties but we will get there in the end. My daughter created a 5 a day chart and we aren't allowed a naughty treat unless we have had a minimum of 3. My children are hyper-competitive so hopefully this will spur them and me on for a while until it becomes a habit. It's led to finding creative ways to get veggies into our meals such as my daughter suggesting putting peppers and peas into couscous:
Couldn't get my son to eat it with the veggies in but at least he ate the plain version (minor victory). I went out yesterday for a much better run but I still have to regain some of the fitness I've lost in 2 weeks. Just hope that doesn't take too long! With a few events signed up to in the spring and summer I need to get my legs going... The slimpods have been such a help last year that I have signed up as an affiliate. This means that I can offer readers a 15% discount:
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Here is a wonderful success story:
I've also been given a chance to give away not 1 but 2 of their slimpods to help you lose weight. There are pods for women and men so its good for everyone that feels they need to get slimmer in 2014. So please use the Rafflecopter widget to enter (you have 2 weeks to enter:
Oh dear I just looked at last year's resolutions. Let's just say it doesn't look good...
1) Carry on getting in shape and actually lose some weight
Well this one isn't a complete white wash. I have actually dropped nearly a dress size though the scales haven't shifted very much.
2) Learn to knit
Nothing to see here...
3) Sort the house out
Well I did get my son's room looking a lot better when I swapped all the kids' storage around. He does now mostly have floorspace to play on! My daughter's room has been a work in progress since we started converting it to a tween room. Hopefully it won't be long until her's is finished.
As for the rest I sort it and it goes backwards... Oops need to do better!
4) Read another 100 books
Well this doesn't appear to have succeeded this year. Apparently I have only read 69! I am sure I did better than that but maybe reading 500 page books isn't the best way to go about it..
So how about 2014 is it the same old same old or something new?
1) Carry on getting in shape
I am ignoring the scales as I agree with Thinking Slimmer that its the size you are not the weight you are that counts. So my challenge is to get this belt off the loosest notch:
Added to this I've signed up to LETJOG14 to see if I can keep on running and do the equivalent of Land's End to John O'Groats over the course of the year.. I couldn't even run for 5 minutes this time last year so I am amazed I am even contemplating it!
2) Operation House
I need to just keep on trying! Small steps at a time so that I can happily have friends round... Need to get children trying harder to put things away to help me though!
3) Family Time
We have such lovely games and toys in this house we need to make sure we spend more time playing with them. So its going to be less TV and more time having fun together.
What are hopes for 2014? These are some of the weight loss slimpods that have been helping me:
Wow it's been 8 weeks now of listening every night to my slim, fit and chill pods. Time then to do a then and now shot:
I am amazed at the difference! My big problem area of the flabby abdomen and love handles is definitely vastly improved. This week I've noticed that its harder to get trousers to stay up properly as now are looser across my middle so I have to pull them right up to almost under my chest a la Simon Cowell. I ought to be brave and try on more of my size 14 trousers really.. I hadn't had a great week exercise wise as my bad leg prevented me from doing anything except the Race for Life. It's amazing how down I felt from not being able to exercise! So glad I managed a respectable time on Sunday despite having to stop and walk every so often to rest my calf. Normally when feeling down I stuff my face with food. This week this wasn't the case. I may have had a MacDonald's drive thru after the run on Sunday but I didn't give in to evening grazing. I still wasn't feeling all that confident at weigh in tonight and was full of excuses. So stepping on to the scales to see a 3.5 pound loss was a real boost. Not only that but no one else had lost more! It does show that weight loss can come in fits and starts and it's not a quick fix. My body has obviously been reshaping itself first and hopefully now the weight will drop off. Since I first started seriously trying to lose weight 2.5 years ago I've lost 24 pounds but I keep yoyoing 1/2-3/4 stone back on. This time I hope the pods have really started to change my eating habits for the better so I get slim and stay slim!
I didn't want to go to my weigh in tonight! I was feeling fat and I knew that I had indulged in a few too many ciders over the weekend. Not had a chance to run this week with children at home which is the way I normally undo the bad work! I was persuaded by a friend and my daughter to run to class and then run home afterwards... So here I am in my running kit just before I left my parents' house:
I have to say that my running trousers are a size smaller than the workout trousers I normally have on! As you can see the abs need plenty of work still whilst the rest is slimming down nicely. After a good attempt at the just over 3 km trip to the venue I arrived all hot and sweaty and I was very pleasantly surprised to discover my weight had stayed the same. Therefore I must have been much better with my food choices than I thought to compensate for overindugling in bank holiday booze! The slimpods are supposed to help us realise when we are full and unconsciously make better decisions. Holidays are always a harder time to eat sensibly as there are plenty of temptations and things are more relaxed. We even indulged in an Indian takeaway as a pay day treat but I didn't over order and left much of the sauce of my biryani in the dish. Let's hope I can keep it up! Despite not having formal exercise we have been out and about a lot walking or scooting around. Guess that it just helps to keep on moving!
This was the first week I've been able to listen to my pods for a whole week without interruption. I have also written down 3 positive things every day to keep myself motivated! This was this week's photograph taken by my daughter tonight:
I've had lots of compliments on my new shape recently and even I can see in this photo that face, shoulders and legs are looking so much better! The slimpods aim to get you to focus on your size not your weight and it is very motivational. I went shopping this weekend and bought a skirt and t-shirt a size smaller than my last clothes shop which was fabulous. I've also managed to get in and fasten up clothes that were too tight. Even though I look and feel slimmer it was still great to have a 1/2 pound weight loss despite having had a bank holiday weekend of picnics, ice creams and some cold alcoholic beverages to keep me cool. Seeing the scales shift in the right direction is another positive boost. I have managed 3 long running sessions this week. The first was Thursday when I ran back home after taking my son to school:
I was surprised that the route wasn't actually long enough so I had to add a loop on the end! Also pleased that I ran all the 10 minute runs without a problem. On Monday my parents took the children geocaching so I could attempt to run back to Kendal from Sizergh Castle. At that point I discovered that a) I struggle to run in the heat and b) its a long steady climb up to Natland:
The route isn't quite accurate but MapMyRun not saving changes - it was actually more like 9k! So I admit that I did a fair amount of brisk walking but I did run a long way too (especially the nice downhill from Natland!). Yesterday despite the heat I again ran home from the school run. This time I added a loop around Staveley to save a loop at the home end. I really struggled as it was so hot and I've learned that I need to take on more water before setting off. I did manage a fair amount of running though:
Tomorrow I am going to try the run again but hopefully it will be a lot cooler so I can do all the running intervals!
I have found that I am making some more sensible food choices listening to the pods i.e. a lot more fruit and veg but there is still some way to go. The downside of the running is that I am really hungry when I finish so I need to concentrate on drinking more water. So watch this space to see less of me ;-)
Sponsored Post It should have been a great time to start my thinking slimmer programme 12 days ago. I was heading into a boot camp and having the drop 2 jean sizes or more and the fitpod tied in nicely with this boost. So it was a shame I lost my footing in circuit training a pulled a muscle! This meant that I was unable to exercise for the next week... Last Wednesday I did record a loss of 1.5 pounds which was fabulous. This week the combination of lack of exercise and strange eating with my daughter briefly in hospital led to a 1 pound gain.. However I did only start exercising again yesterday so its not a complete disaster. This was me tonight before my aerobics class and weigh in sporting fitness clothes supplied by Debenhams:
I got quite a few compliments wearing it so that's a great boost! I have to say that despite getting really hot and sweaty in class the clothes didn't stick to me and felt really comfortable. Here's hoping that it won't be long before they are too big! My concentration is now going to be on my fitness as when I exercise regularly it:
makes me feel positive
helps me tone up
gets me healthier
So I am glad that yesterday I managed to run for a longer total number of minutes (50) even if my pace was slower than normal:
Tomorrow I am getting sorted out with a better pair of running shoes as I think I have proved that its not just a passing phase! If my sore foot is better I will first of all run home after taking my son to school - I would like to say that he has challenged me to do this after all its only 5 miles... This time I will remember the sun cream as I got sun burned on Tuesday!
Making use of my Tesco clubcard vouchers and discount codes I got myself a good deal on a Garmin Forerunner 10 as a bonus Tesco have donated £5 to Cancer Research UK from the sale! Shame I have to wait until next week for it to be delivered..
So its onwards and downwards with the focus on slimming down and getting fit and hopefully the scales will follow suit..
