A not so unexpected journey

Where to begin.....I've known for a while that I've needed to lose weight, there were quite a few signs that over the last 8 years I've nearly doubled in size but part of me kept finding excuses to not start or stick to a diet, or found I just tried ignoring it by avoiding mirrors, pictures, sitting down on a the tube, socialising...living. Despite knowing I needed to lose weight, I seemed to gain 2 stone whilst fighting that internal battle.

So why now? Well it's become harder to ignore it. When people have managed to take pictures, I don't recognise myself. The clothes I bought in a larger size are feeling tight and I don't want to buy the size up. I was told by my doctor I was obese and jeopardising my health. Although, I can not quite get my head around my BMI ideal weight starting 7 and a half stone?! I haven't weighed that since I was 10! I would be quite happy at 10 and a half, as that is what I was 8 years ago and I was happy at that weight.

My friends and family aren't very good at motivating me, my husband is a very bad influence and it's fine for him as he doesn't seem to put on weight and the rest of my family have just built on my own excuses whilst saying I'm not fat, at the same time as complaining they are fat at 6 stone lighter! (I know it's social etiquette, but that aside I think I just needed them to tell me I'm fat! however rubbish it may have made me feel).

I have also found dieting difficult as I'm quite a fussy eater, I essentially live off pasta and rice, though I have always made my own sauces etc so don't really eat processed food. My family had always attended Weight Watchers and so I naturally tried that route but found I was always hungry as I couldn't really eat pasta and it was very demotivating. I didn't know much about Slimming world, but after a friend's recommendation I joined as an online member and I am amazed. I'm feeling really positive for once about dieting and I've been enjoying it (only 2 weeks in at the moment, 6.5lbs down). I would love to join a class for motivation but there is only one in my area and it's not a time I can do, so I am hoping this forum will be able to provide the motivation I need and I have already been inspired by the posts I have read. It's amazing how many times I've said (to myself) "I know exactly how you feel" reading through the weight loss diaries etc.

Well anyway I've learnt a lot from this forum; positive thinking, mini goals and keeping a weight loss diary will keep me motivated, so thank you fellow MiniMins and I look forward to sharing my journey.

Planes, Trains and Roller Coasters

So I'm in to my third week now and I'm still enjoying it; I'm particularly enjoying breakfasts which I never used to eat and now I have a full breakfast whenever I can which includes a fried egg (in low cal spray), Hovis wholemeal bread as a healthy extra, baked beans, mushrooms and tin tomatoes. It's amazing and so filling that it usually takes me straight through to dinner as I tend to have it about 10/11am. I'm based from home which has its pros and cons, as it means I'm able to make those breakfasts when I'm not travelling around to meetings but it also means I'm more likely to pick at food I shouldn't. It can also be very negative at busy times when I'm out a lot and the only food available is from motorway service stations as I'm never organised enough to make anything before I leave. I will be more organised though, I will!

I'm hoping that by remembering why I'm doing this is going to keep me motivated, and so to help me remember I thought as part of this diary I would record some of those moments that made me acknowledge my problem. I mentioned in my first post that I never sit down on tube trains, I just don't really fit, well I had another horrifying encounter of not fitting in a seat recently and I think that was the moment that really did it......So I took my Nephew to Thorpe Park a few weeks ago - I've always been a bit of a thrill seeker and so I love roller coasters, well I did love roller coasters. So after queuing for what felt like hours, we finally got on to the ride (I think it was Swarm, I've tried to block it out) and I get into the seat but it won't close securely, I just couldn't get the buckle to connect. Absolutely horrified. Two of the staff then persisted to jump down on the restraint to try and get it to buckle, that's right it took two of them, and everyone who was waiting to go on was just staring at me, I wanted the ground to open up and swallow me. They did get it to close eventually but by that point I just wanted to runaway, far far away and never go to a theme park again. Although that didn't stop me from buying doughnuts at the end of the day :ashamed0005:.

I went to Florida last May as I'm a huge Harry Potter fan - I am not ashamed to say that I am a 27 year old that owns her own wands and that once I am slimmer I will be buying a wizard's robe (I've set it as my 4th stone award ). I was so scared of not being able to fit onto the ride as I had read that the seats were quite tight and so it motivated me to lose a stone and a half and thankfully I did fit, though it was tight, but then I put all that weight back on (+ some) when I got back as the motivation was lost. I'm trying to convince my husband to go back in 2 years so that I can see the Wizarding World expansion but he's not budging on his 'not a chance', though that would be a great motivator! Especially as I would also by then fit more comfortably in plane seats, I'm sure the seat belts have got smaller.

Trying out a new recipe today for dinner, Smoked Haddock Risotto, never made risotto so really hoping it turns out ok!

Water Vs Diet Coke

I am addicted to Diet Coke, I drink far too much of it and when I don't drink it I seemed to get withdrawal headaches. I've never drunk tea or coffee, as I just don't like hot drinks, so it tends to be the caffeine in Diet Coke that gets me through the day. However, I know for this lifestyle change to be successful I should probably cut my intake down significantly and drink more water. I am finding it so hard though!

It would be interesting to know others opinions on whether cutting out diet fizzy drinks has helped them on their journey, as I'm hoping this battle isn't pointless.

I went on a road trip with my Sister to see our Aunt yesterday. She has been battling Angiosarcoma for the last year and has recently been told it's terminal and she won't have long. But, she is not one to just give up; she is truly inspirational and despite the prognosis she has turned to crazy juice recipes and the power of positive thinking with the hope of going back to the hospital in October and proving them wrong, and it seems to be working! She is no longer jaundice with her liver failing and the blood test results have shown significant improvement, obviously the cancer is not going but she is determined to make it to October to see her daughter's 21st Birthday and I have no doubt she'll make it. She was even booking them all a trip to New York yesterday to celebrate the occasion! I'm just hoping I can use even some of that power of positive thinking to get me though my journey - however beetroot in juice I'm not convinced I can mange!

It was quite a difficult day food-wise yesterday, I missed breakfast as I got up late and had to rush to my sisters and I was quite hungry so I ended up having a tin of spaghetti and sausages, which wasn't ideal as that was 7 of my Syns for that day gone before midday. When we got to my Aunt's, she gave us huge glasses of Orange Juice and I had some of it but I don't know how many Syns and then a small slice of oven cooked pizza for lunch and one of her crazy juice concoctions, which didn't taste as bad as I thought it would. Dinner was better, my cousin made a lovely chicken risotto, much more successfully than my attempt the night before (I think I undercooked the rice, but not bad for a first attempt), and it was full of vegetables and had no Syns, but the triangle slice of garlic bread on the side did . So overall I think I did go over Syns but hopefully not by too much.

While at my Aunt's, my cousin and I decided to sign up for Tough Mudder on the 30th May next year, so I am going to start training for that. It will be an incredible achievement and I've always wanted to do something like that and I'm hoping I now have the motivation to get me to that date. I've started swimming which I really enjoy and I also invested in a weighted Hula Hoop last week and I have been trying to master that, despite the initial pain (and bruises!) I think I am getting the hang of it and it's actually quite addictive! Tomorrow I am going to start the Coach to 5K challenge and I signed up to a Zumba class at my gym (I should probably start going to the actual gym part of the gym as well as I've only really been using it for swimming recently but I just hate gyms!).

Hopefully increasing the exercise will help with increasing my water consumption too!

Hello I too am a diet coke addict. I am just drinking the last can from my stash, and then i am challenging myself to none for a week! I spend a fortune on it! I figure that if i managed to resist all the cake i was surrounded by last week i can do the same with coke! We shall see.

in regards to you aunt i am a big believer in positive mental attitude doing a lot to helping people get through things.

have fun at zumba, it's not for me, i am far too uncoordinated!

Hi TeePee,

I know I spend a fortune on it as well, and I was so annoyed when they reduced the bottle size to 1.75lt but seemed to charge more!! Hope your challenge goes well this week, let me know how it goes! I'm going to try and limit myself to 2 small glasses a day, I think I need to ween myself off it slowly!

Hi there, 25 year old Harry Potter fan here haha! So jealous that you got to go to Florida... unless I win some money doubt I'll be able to afford to go anytime soon.

I'm addicted to Pepsi Max too... rarely drink anything else eek! I do go through phases of cutting it out/limiting myself but always ends up creeping back in. To be honest, weight wise I think it does help me as it satisfies my sweet craving a lot of the time. I know otherwise drinking so much of it isn't so good for you though!

Well done on aiming to do so much exercise. That is most definitely my downfall. I find it so hard to motivate myself to do anything!

Well done on a successful start. Hope today is going well for you x

Another Harry Potter/ diet coke fan here! I'd love to go to Florida, the gringotts experience sounds amazing. We nearly went at the beginning of this year but went to Thailand instead!
Have you thought about trying some fizzy flavoured water instead, or alternating? I don't feel so bad drinking it as there's no caffeine but it still satisfies that urge for me.
I wouldn't know the effect on losses- drinking plenty usually helps and it helps me to feel full, but caffeinated drinks might be a different ball game! X

Glad to know I'm not the only adult with a Harry Potter obsession! The Gringotts ride does look amazing, I'd really love to go back one day, though my other half says we have bigger priorities - he's definitely the more sensible one!

That's a really good idea to try carbonated water, I've never tried it so I will give that a go tomorrow, would probably be really nice with some sugar free squash and better for me!

Exercising definitely is a struggle, I have always lost motivation with the gym, that's why I'm trying to be a bit more creative with it this time - I'm hoping it won't all go out the window once winter comes!

Hope everyone has a good week! x

Couch to 5K

I have just completed day 1 of my couch to 5k challenge, it was harder than I expected it to be and I was so thankful when it started raining lightly towards the end as I think that was the only way I managed to complete it! but, I am feeling good. My husband is doing it with me and has taken on the role of personal trainer which helped. I also did 20mins on the cross trainer earlier, walked my dogs and did about 15-20 mins of hooping (I can keep it up for about 7 minutes now as well, which is a massive improvement to last Thursday!). So all in all it's been quite an active day and although I feel good right now I'm guessing I will be suffering tomorrow . As expected it has helped me up my water consumption, I think I've had about 2.5 lts and only 2 glasses of diet coke!

Food-wise has also been a good day, I had my first ever Mug Shot, the roast chicken flavour and I enjoyed that and I had a stir fry for dinner. I'm now looking forward to strawberries and meringue, which has become quite a favourite of ours since starting slimming world and only 3 syns for 3 small meringues .

Night all

I keep thinking of trying couch to 5k, i have just joined the gym so will take it one step at a time for now!
i have not had any DC today!