How I lost over 40 pounds

I have been trying to work out why I have been successful with this weight loss campaign whereas previous efforts - for the past 20 years or so - have all failed or fizzled out. I have lost 3 stone, 42 pounds or 19 kg since January 2011 when I started dieting.  Here are the reasons I've come up with.

• I booked a summer holiday and I want to look good and feel good for that.
• Time is passing: children are growing up and moving away.  Special events together are becoming rarer and I want to enjoy them and the memory of them.
• I am using my 'weight loss journey' as an opportunity to treat myself.  I eat well (but less), exercise with activities I enjoy and reward myself  frequently!
• My 'weight loss journey' / diet and exercise programme are really lifestyle changes.  I love my new lifestyle so I know it works!
• I ignore the crap - the doubters, the disheartening and unkind comments, the traps that can be so easy to fall into.  I listen to people who know what I'm going through such as Spark People and to friends and family who encourage me.
• I want more from life and I am determined to follow my dreams.
• I love looking better in the mirror and finding some clothes I love rather than stuff I just use to cover up with.

When I started back in January I didn't really believe I'd get this far.  I still have some weight to lose, but I'm confident that it won't be a problem, although I'm sure there will be hiccups.  Here are 2 more lists.  One has my current favourite food and drink and the other the exercise I enjoy and that is working for me! 

couldn't log in to Blogger

Ah ha!
I'm in now: slight deviation from my slimming blogs.
I've been trying to log in since yesterday, but I usually use google chrome browser. This just refused to acknowledge my existence. I changed my password and it made no difference. Very annoying.

I did try getting on via firefox and that was proving tricky too. It kept telling me that help service was not available in my language (ur - English!), but it has just let me on now (after that same message). Maybe someone from another land is trying to highjack my blog and steal my google ads. They may regret it as so far I've earned £0.00 and been told that final income could be lower...

I'm pretty new to all of this and somehow expected that Google would be free from the kind of problems that beset our computer network at work - a school - where everything is firewalled and blocked and slow and so frustrating... I guess the same things happen in the big wide world and I just have to learn to live with it.

If you've read this then thankyou. It's good to know there's someone out there, hopefully someone that speaks my language:)

How to create low calorie cocktails

No way can we have a long hot summer without enjoying sitting in the evening sun with an ice cold drink, feeling all's well with the world. So, for dieters here are my ideas for some low-calorie tipples to make your world rock!
It is apparent, from my dilligent research (ha) that most of the calories in these cocktails comes from the alcohol involved, strangely enough.
I tend to prefer to spread my alcohol out over several drinks, so I'm happy using small measures in each cocktail. However, I know many prefer to have just one proper drink. Whatever your choice, I have tried to find cocktail ingredients that are not going to add greatly to the calorie count, but will enhance the taste and make it a good cocktail experience!

HORSE'S NECK

Drop a lemon spiral into a tall glass, anchor with ice cubes, add a measure of brandy and top with low calorie dry ginger ale.

MOJITO

Ingredients:
shot of white Rum
handful of fresh mint leaves
half a lime or lime juice
Diet Sprite or soda water
1/2 teaspoons Splenda or other sugar substitute

Use a cool tall glass for this drink.
First muddle the mint with the lime juice and Splenda.
Add crushed ice.
Then add rum, diet Sprite and stir well.
Garnish with lime wedges and a few sprigs of mint.
Enjoy!

Next up: Brighton Bubbly and The Withdean Wobble Buster - carry on cocktailing without the calories!

Clare's Cocktail Diet

I reckon my eating plan for my diet is working pretty well. I eat healthyish food I like, have stopped nibbling - pretty much and have lost a good amount of weight. So that's ok. The exercise part seems to be going well too. I'm trying to do an hour or more for 6 days a week and I've been enjoying the swimming, cycling and Zumba. The gym's alright too... I guess! BUT my weight loss has really slowed down and I have to address this. It's the wine. Oh, I hate to admit it because I know it has to go... I love my glass(es) of rose wine in the evening. I've been pouring it into a glass with ice cubes in so that I only have half a glass at a time - well, that's the theory. In practice I sometimes 'forget' the ice, but strangely I never forget the wine!

So, what can I do? I'm no saint and I don't wish to give up alcohol. After a hard day's work - or even a nice day off - I like to relax with a glass of wine or 2 and I know it makes me feel better. So I'm going to launch my own very special week - Clare's Cocktail Diet!

The concotions are still very much in the planning and trialling stage. I will be doing my research this weekend:)))
I welcome anyone who would like to participate in this venture or who has some ideas! The only stipulation is that they need to be on the low calorie side of course!
Off to work now!

How to weigh less when the diet stops working!

It is so frustrating sometimes. I spend days leaping around the place - tennis, gym, swimming, cycling etc, whilst keeping carefully to my diet. So come Thursday morning - my self-imposed weigh-in day - I get on my scales and discover I haven't lost an ounce; even worse, I've put on a pound.

It's at times like these I want to give up. Far from feeling that my body is a temple that I should look after etc I feel at war with it. In fact I can hear it groaning now (well, it could be my tummy rumbling because it wants breakfast!)

BUT I'm not going to give up, because I've spent four and a half months trying to get thinner and fitter. So instead I will battle on. Here are my latest plans and strategies.

1. Get out both sets of bathroom weighing scales and give them a good talking to. Make sure they are both properly adjusted and keep them side by side.
2. Weigh self on set 1 and then on set 2. Take the lowest measurement as being the truth!
3. Weigh self with one foot on each scale.
4. Rotate the scales to face North, South, East and West - possibly adding in North-West, South-South East and various other directions, measuring self throughout and noting the optimum reading. By this time should have discovered which set of scales is offering the lowest bid and should, of course, accept this one - provisionally.
5. Naturally, all these procedures will be carried out stark naked and after a visit to the loo. However, ensure toenails are clipped, hair clips are taken out and all jewellery is removed.
6. Pretend to leave the bathroom. However, quietly return and approach scales from a different angle. Gently ease self on to the scales, so that the weight goes up slowly.
7. If this doesn't work kick the scales and then readjust them so that they start below zero; preferably about 14 pounds below. Record the weight shown. Remember, one only weighs the amount one does because of gravity. On the moon or maybe even Turkey or Thailand it would be much less.
8. Fill in a weight loss graph with latest and least weight. Applaud self for losing so much in such a short amount of time, then go and reward self with something nice to eat or drink! Or maybe buy a new set of scales....

The food that has made my diet work!

These are some of the things that have kept me going on my diet.
I love spicy food and my favourite meal is Thai Green Curry.  I didn't expect Asda lunch pots to be very good, but I thought I'd try them anyway, and I think they're absolutely FAB!!!
I eat a couple for lunch at work each week, as well as sometimes at home.  With 322 calories and around 6g fat a pot I feel I'm eating a proper meal which fills me up and doesn't over-do things!

I also like the Asda Chicken Miso soup (260 calories) and am about to try their Special Fried Rice (299 calories).    The other ones they do are rather higher in calories and / or fat however.
I sometimes buy the fruit selection (2 for £3) as they feel like a treat.  They can be very nice though it's an expensive way to buy fruit of course.
The other item on this table is the Marks and Sencers 'Count on Us' Thai red chicken curry snackpot.  Delicious, but I haven't seen them lately in the shops.  Each pot contains 270 calories and 6.3 g of fat and when I bought them they were on a deal (I think it was 2 for £4 but could be wrong).
Organising lunch is essential to my new lifestyle.  I only get 30 mins at work and if I have to run down the shop I'm starving and in a hurry so I  usually spend lots and buy something that is calorific and expensive. I used to live on sandwiches - with fruit or a yoghurt - but I reckon they were often double the calories and I didn't feel I'd had a proper meal as I bolted them down.  Nowadays I heat up my 'pot meal', pour it into a bowl then sit down and enjoy it.  I find it satisfying and I don't nibble any more.
Now the summer is coming (perhaps), I may switch to salads at work, but having spent  while looking at the labels of 'convenience salads', I know I need to be careful.  I know I could make my own and take it in - and I will sometimes - but on the whole I lack the time and the incentive to do this on a daily basis!

The diet that worked!

I have lost a lot of weight and I'm really thrilled about it!
When I started this diet - the most recent of about a hundred - I didn't really think it would fare much better than any of the others, although I hoped it would.
Like many people I started it in the New Year. Also like many people I was shocked and upset when I first stood on the scales and discovered what I weighed...

This was taken in Turkey in summer 2010 and has been hidden in my photo pages on my computer ever since, causing me to shudder when I've come across it. But I knew it would be useful some day!
I want to enjoy being in and looking at family photos of holidays and other special events and this was not the case here! I loved the holiday but hated the pics, not surprisingly.

This picture was taken in April 2011 when I had lost around 30 pounds. I was happy to be snapped here! I've lost another 7 pounds or so since.
My life has changed since January.  I feel I have taken control of myself and realised 
I have to do this for me!!!!
Yes, this is my life, my body and I'm learning to love myself  and be what I want to be. Since starting the diet my expectations have grown, my goals are more fantastic and I'm feeling so much more positive.  Here's what has caused this transformation!

• I booked a summer holiday and I want to look good and feel good for that.
• Time is passing: children are growing up and moving away.  Special events together are becoming rarer and I want to enjoy them and the memory of them.
• I am using my 'weight loss journey' as an opportunity to treat myself.  I eat well (but less), exercise with activities I enjoy and reward myself  frequently!
• My 'weight loss journey' / diet and exercise programme are really lifestyle changes.  I love my new lifestyle so I know it works!
• I ignore the crap - the doubters, the disheartening and unkind comments, the traps that can be so easy to fall into.  I listen to people who know what I'm going through such as Spark People and to friends and family who encourage me.
• I want more from life and I am determined to follow my dreams.

Anyway, in my blog title I mentioned sausages.  Strangely, these are a really important aspect of my diet! Sausages for breakfast have always been a (rare) treat for me. Since January I have kept in a supply of quorn sausages and most mornings I have my favourite breakfast of sausages and tomato, with mustard and a piece of nimble toast.  So yummy and  only around 250 calories.  I love 'em and it gets my day off to a brilliant start!