You are currently browsing the monthly archive for December 2011.
Week 18
Loss this week 1lb
Total Loss 45lb
Sorry I am a little late in posting this result. ‘Tis the season to be busy!
So I wanted 2lbs, to both take me into the next bracket down the scale, and also to carry me through Christmas on a tide of success. But 1lb is not a failure so will do nicely If nothing else, it took me down to a very round number!
I thought I might take this opportunity to mention measurements. What does an extra 3st and 3lbs look like?
Well on me, it looks like 4 inches on my bust, and another 4 under my bust. Shedding that has made my bras a bit saggy – must go shopping! And then it looks like 5 inches round my waist. The waist measurement is a biggy in health terms. A larger waist size is associated with heart disease and type 2 diabetes, so a loss from there is a very good thing indeed. My waist size is still somewhat suboptimal but I’m getting there! And finally my hips with an extra 45 pounds on are a whopping 7 inches bigger! Did my bum look big in that? Hell yes!
So my resolution for the next few days is to just do all I can to keep those inches at bay, because that’s a winter covering I just don’t need.
I doubt I’ll post between Christmas and New Year, or if I do I will just pop in to update my weight (yes I am getting weighed on Boxing day!) so let me take this opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year. And if I don’t see you before, then I’ll see you in 2012!
Week 17
Loss this week 3.5lb
Total Loss 44lb
I am mightily pleased to report that tonight I received my 3 stone award, and with a couple of pounds extra on top. This puts me at 16lbs to lose, with 63 days until my 180 day target. Surely I can manage that! Mind you, I am very aware of the ever nearer feast of Christmas. I have a little voice on one shoulder constantly reminding me that there’s only a handful more days before I will be sure to cave in to the inevitable binge, so I may as well just let go now.
So let me tell that irritating little voice just why I don’t want to let go now.
- First, and most importantly, if I let go now I could easily gain half of my weight back by Boxing Day. No trouble at all. And if that happened, it’s almost a dead cert that I’d be too embarrassed to go back to Slimming World for probably months, by which time I’d have gained all of it back. And probably an extra stone on top.
- I like being able to go to bed at night without a bottle of Tums or Gaviscon on the bedside table. I like that more than you can ever imagine actually.
- It’s important to me that when I check my blood pressure, the numbers are in the healthy range. Yes, that’s with medication, but a few months ago medication was struggling to control it. My numbers right now are pretty much ideal and that is the whole reason I need to do this.
- It’s pretty cool being able to run up a flight of stairs without a second thought. Nothing hurts when I do that. It used to hurt a lot.
- Getting dressed is bizarrely easier – I hadn’t realised it was getting tricky before, but actually it was. My balance wasn’t brilliant, I’d have to sit on the bed to put things over my feet for example. No problem now, and I like that about me. I’d like to keep it for another few decades please!
- And on the subject of clothes, I love knowing my clothes will fit if I haven’t worn them for a few days, or that they might be a little too big. And being able to shop in places like Matalan without having to select their very limited Plus Size range. And wearing smaller jeans.
So in what way can a bar of chocolate or a slice of cake feel any better than any of that? There’s no contest really.
For quite some time now, Slimming World has had an app available for iOS and Android that has been seriously lacking in any kind of actual usefulness to Slimming World Members. Called “A Taste Of Slimming World”, it essentially contained a meal plan, and was quickly consigned to my list of never used apps. In fact the only reason I allowed it to occupy space on my screen was the promise of a new improved version which has been a long time coming!
On Monday this week though, the update appeared in the Apple app store, and I assume the Android market place was similarly blessed. At last! I was most excited to download the new improved version, because it promised that I would be able to search syns on the go which is going to be useful beyond measure. Countless times I have been stood in a supermarket helplessly trying to work out what to buy without truly knowing the syn value. Sometimes because the item I had planned isn’t available, sometimes because I had no plan in the first place!
So here are my thoughts on the app after a few days use.
The homescreen shows all the available options. First of all a lovely welcome message from Slimming World’s founder, Margaret Miles – Bramwell and then what amounts to some sales blurb in About Slimming World. Real Life Success leads to a selection of videos showing what else but success stories – inspirational stuff, and nice to see videos rather than just read their stories in the magazine. Then the bit I’d been waiting for – Syns on the go! This is where you can search syn values of so far everything I’ve tried, save them to favourites and keep a daily tally. This is the feature that has promoted this app from the most useless to the potentially most useful, and gained it a coveted place on the first page of my phone, rather than buried deep in a folder on page 3! You have to be a Slimming World member, and sign in using your Lifeline Online login details to use this function, but I’ve only had to sign in the once so it’s not too arduous a task. It’s a matter of 2 taps from homescreen to search box to search for syn values. It doesn’t work quite the same way as the syn tools on Lifeline Online, but it’s a straightforward task to type as much info as possible. So “brand name” “product name” is naturally going to yeild a more accurate result than just, for example, “cereal bar” The app shows a maximum of 30 results per search. I noticed a slight flaw in the system yesterday. I searched for Marks and Spencer Wasabi Peas, and it was the first result on what became quite an obscure list of results (marrowfat peas??) which was perfect. But the result was incomplete. I was given the syn value (4.5 syns) but not the portion size. So I was left with no idea whether I should buy the snack or not, since I didn’t know whether 4.5 syns referred to the whole bag, or 1 or 2 peas! I have checked Lifeline Online this morning and the answer is a 25g portion = 4.5 syns. This flaw is a consequence of the result being too long “Marks and Spencer, Snack Well Wasabi Peas, Lightly salted…” Clearly they ran out of space, but it’s not really a totally satisfactory result, and I am sure there will be other examples like this.
The ability to keep a running total of syns used is pretty damn useful. It’s all too easy to forget things as the day wears on and we are not always near pen and paper or a computer, but most of us are rarely parted from our smartphones! What I would like to see is integration with the online food diary function on Lifeline Online and since we have to be signed in to use it, I would have thought this was possible.
The remaining functions are a meal planner, a handful of recipes, a BMI calculator and a “find a group” search, nothing to get too excited about (Find a Group may be useful on those rare occasions when I can’t get to my usual one though).
So is this a good app? Yes I think it is. It’s going to make life much easier when I’m shopping, although I already know that it isn’t without flaws. Integration with Lifeline Online for both food diary and weigh in purposes would take it to a new level, and my weight loss graph would be a nice to have too, since I am very motivated by things like that. Maybe in future updates Slimming World?
Week 16
Loss this week 3.5lb
Total Loss 40.5lb
The main thing that strikes me about my weight loss this week is that very clearly the maintain last week was a fluid balance issue, because I wasn’t expecting much if any loss this week!
Let me confess my food sins, so that I may be absolved!
On Monday and Tuesday I was 100% on plan. On Wednesday we took outrageous advantage of school being closed due the the public sector worker strike, and went to the German Christmas market in Manchester. I was very aware that it would be all too easy to go crazy with the incredible food smells wafting round the city, so I set myself an allowance of 1 treat. The treat I chose was a wonderful spicy Bratwurst, selected for it’s healthier cooking method, over a coal fire pit. I enjoyed every morsel of my enormous sausage in a tiny bun and didn’t allow myself a single moment of regret! I also had a small bite of a marzipan Dutch cookie (it was more cake than cookie, but who am I to argue!) and a small bite was enough, it was very sweet! Both before and after the market, I was good as gold. I remained good all through Thursday, and right up to around 7pm on Friday.
Friday was a night out and I was a woman with a plan. I had researched the syn values of Indian food, knowing we were heading out for curry after a night at a comedy show. I was therefore aiming for a Chicken Dhansak with extra veg thrown in, and boiled rice. I was also going to have 1 poppadom, and my drinking plan involved spirits with slimline mixers, alternating each one with a diet Coke. This way I believed I would have fun and minimise excessive syn use.
My great plan was abandoned round about the time I arrived at my friend’s house and was handed my first cocktail of the night, before being led to the dining room where a wonderful array of nibbles were laid out. And went further awry when I found myself enjoying red wine at the bar of the comedy venue. But there was still the Dhansak to steer me back on course. Except there was no Dhansak on the menu!
Well what’s a girl to do! I had a Lamb Biryani, a Cobra beer and a share of a Naan bread, that’s what.
On Saturday morning, a tad “tired” and bleary eyed, I stood in my kitchen feeling bewildered and trying to remember what I usually eat for breakfast. But I worked it out, avoided turning a night off track into a weekend off track, and made sure I worked as much as humanly possible off in the gym on Monday (“Last Chance Workout!” Biggest Loser fans!)
There. I have no skeletons in my closet now. Don’t do as do people, I can’t guarantee anyone would lose weight on it!
