Smarties

So normally at this point I tell you my current weight and my loss... Yeah yeah... Or gain. But it became a bit of a farce the constant up and down. So I'm just going to keep quiet and then you'll have a lovely surprise when I've lost my stone! (Hint - I have lost some weight).

I really like Smarties (see post on 20 April 2017). I especially like the orange ones. Did you know that not everyone believes that the orange ones taste of orange? I know!!! A lovely friend bought me a big tube of just the orange ones for Christmas. Yum! Anyway I had a big bag of Smarties in my car. Oh my - I can hear you all shouting at me (my husband is shouting loudest) 'Why did you have a big bag of Smarties in your car?!'. Well if you stop shouting I'll tell you. Before Christmas I was out and about with my daughter and she was cross with me. So I bought the Smarties for her as a peace gesture. I honestly thought they were gluten free! But they're not! So she couldn't eat them! You can imagine how that gesture went down ha ha. So they've been in my car for weeks. Happily sitting there, I saw them every day, and I ignored them..... Until this week! The bag was opened! And I just grabbed a few, then a few more, then more. Then, of course, came the 'Well I've spoilt my diet so I might as well eat them all!'. But no! STOP! This is not true. This is a fallacy! A dieting rumour! It is always better to eat half a big packet of Smarties than the whole packet! I can not think of any situation where it's better to eat more Smarties than less - maybe a 'who can eat the most Smarties competition' is the only one. I didn't do it! I didn't eat the whole packet. whoop whoop

I went to see a dietitian this week - my GP referred me. She was very nice and agreed I had good knowledge of healthy eating (I am a professional dieter/healthy eater though obvs I don't do as I say). Anyway what I'm doing food wise is good, now. Yeah we didn't really discuss how I used to eat ie the diet 2 weeks ago lol. So I had to commit to three things going forward. 1. Try to eat less chocolate (and biscuits, crisps etc). 2. If I want a pudding I need to try to have fruit or yogurt. 3. Go spinning once a week and the gym at least twice a week. She wants to see me in 8 weeks and would like me to lose 5% of my weight. That translates to 4.8kg (about 10lbs in old money). This is so doable! I'm ready and raring to go. Bring it on Mrs Dietitian.

The simplest way to make sure you succeed is to just keep trying one more time.

Oops I forgot to tell you. The picture? It's a pomelo. A new fruit I tried this week. It's a bugger to prepare (I had to watch a YouTube video) but it's nice. Like a big grapefruit, but sweet.

BPPV

Hands up who has heard of BPPV and the Epley manoeuvre? Well I hadn't but it seems that everyone I know has. Anyway this is what I have. Triggered by my bash on the head! So happy it's vertigo and not my brain bleeding (excuse my drama but I was worried cos I just felt horrible!!) And the fix? See diagram left - three times a day. Feeling much better already 😁

More bad news for me this week (keep reading - good news is following). So the doctor took my blood pressure when I was there last week. It was high. Nothing surprising as (you may remember) I was diagnosed with hypertension at the end of 2016. I was given 12 months to lose weight to see if I could bring it down... And I don't need to tell you how that went. Anyway, they've not forgotten (drat) and I'll be invited to the blood pressure clinic next month! Ah shit, not long to lose a few pounds! I think I'm close to being given meds. Now I don't want a stroke or a heart attack... But I really don't want to take medication either. So if this is not a wake up call, what is?? (For those in the know my BP was 162/106. No idea what that means! Maybe ignorance is bliss?)

Anyway.... The bit you've been waiting for... Good news! I've not drank any alcohol since 3rd, I'm still doing the 5-2 diet AND drum roll please, I've been to spin class!! (Please don't worry about my vertigo as it's not actually spinning - which is what a member of my family thought. No names, to save their blushes but it made me smile) I've also done my induction at the new gym (new to me) so I'm ready to go! I have a plan in place and I'm raring to go! Come on Gilly - you can do this!!!

The worst thing in life is not being all alone. It's being with people who make you feel lonely.

Gently gently

So I'm slowly easing myself into my healthy eating regime. No point shocking the body with a sudden change - goodness knows how it would react, don't want it to shut down and fail to function. It's having a bit of a time of it already not getting any alcohol, bless. But this is OK honest. Any successful* eating plan in the past started like this. Gently gently. I'm not one of those that can just wake up on a Monday morning and throw out the biscuits! Don't be crazy, that's just daft. Not many people can go from zero to 100mph in 60 seconds. No wonder so many give up. Crisps to celery over night!? Crazy talk.

I've started a bit of 5-2! That's 2 days fasting (that doesn't mean eating your food really fast 😃) and 5 days eating normally. But what is eating 'normally'? One person's normal is another person's binge! Is peanut butter and fried egg on toast normal? No, I agree but my son would think otherwise lol. Anyway my normal 'normal' is obviously not great (hello - that's how I got fat) so for the 5-2 normal I'm doing a bit of not so 'normal'. My new normal is more healthy food and less unhealthy food. This eating plan is the only one that I've never read bad things about - and I read a lot. In fact the evidence seems really positive and fasting is actually beneficial and weight loss is a bonus!! Thus far I can only find 2 faults with this plan. 1. On fast days I'm hungry 2. On the other 5 days I'm hungry. I was thinking of easing myself gently into the 5-2 plan - and just fasting between meals! 

Do not set yourself on fire in order to keep others warm.

*successful 

/səkˈsɛsfʊl  adjective - accomplish a desired result or aim. (I had to look it up in the Oxford dictionary as it's been so long since I used it in my blog! Lol

Dry January

So after all the festivities these last few weeks I decided I should weigh myself! I hadn't stood on the scales for ages. Not that I deliberately avoided them - I just kind of forgot really. For once dieting was not my first thought. Any how... I've put on 2lbs which is a small miracle!! Now I'm ready to lose that 1 stone and 2 pounds. Not like a mental person. Just slow and steady and easy and without drama. Gilly and no drama?! Never happen.

I'm also off the beer. I didn't drink much over the holidays but now I'm taking a month to not drink anything. Well, I didn't start until 2nd and then on 3rd I found an open bottle of red. Obviously I had to finish that first. I don't believe in waste. But that's it. I have no plans to drink alcohol until February. I have no real reason for doing this, which is weird. But maybe I'll feel great and maybe I might lose weight, just a wee personal challenge I guess.

I've created a monster! I got my hubby a handheld Hoover for Christmas. Now this might sound a little strange but a) he likes to Hoover b) he detests dog hairs c) he likes a clean car d) he loves it!! But he uses it constantly and Hoovers everything in sight. He's always been quite good at housework - doing the washing, the dishes, obviously vacuums and even cleans the bathrooms (ladies, stop purring he's no housework God - dusting and ironing never get a look in) but he's just gone mad with this handheld thing. He's obsessed with dog hairs and he Hoovers his clothes and even tried to Hoover the dog!! But hey, now the decorations are down that's my house spotless for another 12 months.

To me 'drinking responsibly' means don't spill it!

PS My head is much better thank you