Hope you are all well!

I had my fifth weigh-in yesterday, after another hard week at the gym, and it was another very good week!

I lost another 2lbs this week!
Total weight loss so far 12lbs!!!!!!!!!!!
Current weight 10st 6lbs.

I am really happy with the results so far! Two more pounds needed to hit a stone, which means I am not far off being half way to my goal!

Exercise and dieting haven’t been the only things controlling my mind this week. On Wednesday 15^th Feb, I will be having my wisdom tooth extracted

This probably doesn’t sound like much of a big deal to most people, but to me it’s huge, mainly because I am a complete and utter WIMP.

I HATE PAIN!!!!!! A LOT!!!!

I have had a lot of problems with my wisdom tooth in the last three years or so, I have had a number of infections, and it causes me pain on a monthly basis, so I know I have to get it taken out, but I really don’t want it to be painful.

I have also made the situation a whole lot worse by reading various horror stories on the internet of extractions going wrong, and also watching You Tube videos (NOT A SMART IDEA), and have freaked myself out so much more than I already was!

I am also worried as to how this will affect my weight loss. I am presuming that I wont feel like going to the gym for a good few days due to the pain, so I am worried that it may ruin my progress and that I will put weight back on.

Also, I am pretty sure that my diet wont be up to scratch as many people have advised me to stick to very soft foods or liquids as it could be too painful chewing, so I am also worried that I wont be getting all of the vitamins and nutrients that I get in my usual diet, which could again ruin my progress so far. At least I wont be able to eat junk food (every cloud has a silver lining and all that!!), which is definitely a positive!

Oh well, I guess I will know more on Wednesday!!

x

Have you ever had your wisdom teeth extracted?

How much pain were you in?

Did you suffer from any horrible side effects?

So let me apologise, I have been absolutely useless at keeping this blog updated recently, I have been so busy with the gym, work and other commitments that I have had no spare time at all! I promise my posts will be less sporadic from now on!

So I might as well be honest, last week didn’t go so well, I had TWO cheat days (oops!!) instead of just the one. As planned, Jimbob and I went out for a lovely meal on the Wednesday at our new fave restaurant “The Gate” and as it was a cheat day I decided that I was going to eat exactly what I wanted, but just not have a dessert, so I had some tasty stuffed mushrooms for my starter and an AMAZING paella for my main. Not the healthiest of meals, but not too bad overall I don’t think!

On the Friday I went to my colleagues leaving party, straight after work. I was full of good ideas and intentions all day, stating how I was going to drink vodka and slim line tonic because of the low calories, saying how I would avoid junk food at all costs, and that I would be at home in bed by midnight. Well…… it soon became quite clear that I had no intention of sticking to this.
Instead the night consisted of multiple glasses of Rose wine, Vodka Redbulls, and yummy cocktails (which were actually served in a pineapple shell –surely that must make it a TINY bit healthy!!), and a bowl of chips and a double cheeseburger.  NOT GOOD AT ALL!!!!

So, as if my diet that week was not bad enough, I also only managed to make it to the gym twice that week due to other commitments, which worried me as I had been no less than 5 times every other week. Understandably I was extremely worried when it came to my weigh in at the end of that week; it was safe to say that due to my food failures and lack of exercise, I wasn’t expecting good results at all!

Therefore, when I stepped on the scales to discover that I had actually LOST 1lb, I was completely gob smacked, which doesn’t happen very often at all!
This took my total weight loss so far to 7lbs, meaning I had officially lost half a stone in three weeks! This took my weight down to 10st 11lbs!!!

Even though I was elated to find that after all of my cheating that week that I had still had a weight loss, and not a gain, I knew that if I had actually been to the gym more and ate healthily I could have shifted a few more pounds, so I knew that I had to really go for it this week!

This week I have got back into my exercise regime full throttle, and also snapped back into healthy eating mode avoiding ALL junk food (including more samosas at work – damn things!!!) at all costs. I was determined to lose more than a pound this week! This has completely paid off, as I found out at my fourth weigh-in yesterday morning.

I have lost another 3lbs!!!!!!
Total weight loss so far is 10lbs!!!
Current weight 10st 8lb.

I am completely over the moon with the 3lbs weight loss, as I feel as though I am back on track! This also means that I only have to lose another 4lbs (ONLY!!!) to lose 1 stone! The next few weeks are going to be tough but I am completely determined to shift those measly 4lbs!!

BRING IT ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

xxxxxxx

Sorry I have been a little bit useless in keeping this blog updated this last week or so, I have been a very busy lady!

So this week I have been really well behaved and stuck to my diet and also exercised like an absolute demon at the gym. It hasn’t been easy but I haven’t given up, and I am feeling very proud of myself for this, as usually if anything is remotely difficult I run for the hills!

This week I did however face a couple of challenges in my diet.

On Wednesday it was someone’s birthday at work, and as is tradition, when it’s your birthday you take in some goodies for your colleagues. When I went over to my colleague’s desk so that she could look at a payment for me, I about fainted. There in front of me was a huge plate full of chocolates and sweets in a big gorgeous pile. When she offered me one to help celebrate her birthday, I was instantly going to decline, but was worried about looking impolite or offending her, so I took a teeny tiny milky way, and stashed it away in my desk drawers, ready for a day where I can treat myself and eat it. It is with mixed feelings that I report that it is still there sitting in my drawer! Part of me is really happy and proud of myself that I didn’t gobble it up in one bite like the old Janine would have done, but the other part of me is sad that I couldn’t eat it .

As if the chocolate incident wasn’t bad enough, on Friday one of my good friends at work left the company, and again, as is tradition, he bought in some goodies on his last day. Well, they were only Samosas! My bloody favourite! I managed to refrain from running over and jump head first into the box, and instead just walked straight back to my desk and tried to ignore them. Now, I know perhaps one samosa would not have hurt, but the problem with me is that it probably wouldn’t have stopped there! I then would have thought that a second one wouldn’t have made that much of a difference, and then a third, and then who knows?!?!

It has been quite difficult to turn down my favourite treats when they are right in front of my face! Both times I have just had to think long and hard between the new and upcoming slim Janine, and whether I want to be slim more than I want that Samosa/Milky Way. And I do.

It might sound like I am completely denying myself any treats, which I am not, but I just do not want to cheat unless it is a proper cheat day. I have my next cheat day this Wednesday coming up, and I like organising cheat days, as it gives me something to look forward to, and actually refrains me from eating rubbish all other times. No matter how hard things seem, I know that on Wednesday I am going out for a lovely meal with the boy, and I know I can wait until Wednesday.

So, after all the hard work exercising, and the extremely hard work of declining treats, I had my second weigh in yesterday morning.

I have lost ANOTHER 3 pounds!!!!

Total weight loss so far = 6lbs!!!!

This takes my weight down to 10st 12lbs!

I was really shocked (and also elated) when I looked on the scales and seen the results, I definitely wasn’t expecting to lose three pounds on my second week, I know from watching programmes such as the Biggest Loser (love it!) that the second week is always the hardest, so was expecting the worst, but I am over the moon! In two weeks I have lost just under half a stone!

I am hoping for a loss of at least a pound next week, to take me over the half a stone mark. Wish me luck!!!!!

xxxx

So this morning I had my first weigh-in so far (Eeeek!!!!). Quite obviously I was extremely worried about my weigh-in, just in case I hadn’t lost any weight. I really didn’t want all of the hard work of the past couple of weeks to be all for nothing, and I was worried that if I didn’t lose any weight, that I would have lost my motivation, and reached straight for the milk tray!!!

To try and get the best results this morning, I have made sure to work as hard as possible at the gym, with sessions on Thursday and Friday night, and also this morning. I have tried to put in a minimum of 30 minutes of cardio a session, pushing it up to an hour if possible, and then try and do some weights at the end of my cardio session to build up my muscle.

I have also remained faithful to my diet with absolutely NO cheating for over a week now! If I am being completely honest though, it hasn’t been easy at all!!! Although I have enjoyed eating my healthy main meals of the day, it has been snacking that has been my problem. As I have written in a previous post I struggle with boredom cravings, especially in the week whilst at work. So far I have managed to combat this by making sure I have some fruit at my desk at all times, but I am not going to lie and say that I haven’t been tempted in the last couple of days to pop down to the vending machine in the canteen for a Twix!

So, after all of the healthy eating and the extremely hard work I have put in at the gym, I am really happy to tell you all that:

I have lost three pounds!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This takes my official weight down to 11st 01lb!

Not bad for a first weigh in hey?!?!?!

I am really happy with my result, especially more so knowing that I have done it the proper way through diet and exercise rather than a faddy diet or starving myself! Hopefully as I have lost my weight properly it will stay off rather than creep back on in a few days.

It’s amazing what a 3lb weight loss can do for your mentality! I now feel more motivated than I did a couple of days ago, and I actually am excited about putting in the hard work to keep seeing results like this!

I have got a well earned rest day tomorrow, and then on Monday I am back to the gym, and believe it or not, I am really looking forward to it!

Bring it on!!!

xxxx

Tonight I am having a well deserved relaxing evening, and I am loving every minute!! I have been to the gym the last two nights in a row, and to some people that may seem like a walk in the park, but to me it’s been bloody exhausting!!!

Last night, I really started to feel “The Burn” as all you fitness freaks call it, and quickly began to stop enjoying this whole exercise malarkey!! I felt really dizzy and tired really quick, and wasn’t able to do as much as I had been able to do the last two sessions. I think this is due to my body still not being used to the low calorie intake and then exercising on top of that. I also started to worry that I was doing too much too fast, so I thought a rest day would be a good idea as I don’t want to get injured and put myself out of action for the foreseeable future, and also ruin my chances of hitting my target weight.

I am still sticking to my healthy diet, and other than my lovely meal out last Friday night, I haven’t cheated once (yay me!!!). In fact, today I haven’t even been tempted to eat bad food, which is a huge change for me, I am ALWAYS tempted!!!  I just can’t seem to bear the thought of doing all this exercise for nothing!! I am looking forward to this one day being my normal way of thinking!!

Tomorrow I will be back at the gym. I am aiming to fit in another two sessions before my first weigh in on Saturday, so that I will hopefully start to see some weight loss, even a pound will be good!

However, for tonight, I will mainly be lying on the sofa, nibbling red grapes, and watching 90210…PERFECT!!!!!!!!

xxx

I don’t know whether I have lost any weight yet as I did not weigh myself until Saturday, so I will have to wait until this Saturday to find out, but I am feeling really good about myself right now. My stomach feels a lot less bloated than it usually does, this is probably down to the fact that I have cut out fizzy drinks completely, I am eating healthy and I am enjoying exercise (at the moment!!!).

I have stuck to my diet again today, no cheating!!!  I had another healthy breakfast of porridge with a chopped banana mixed in for extra flavour, a jacket potato with a spoon and a half of baked beans for lunch, and chicken with a plateful of vegetables for dinner. Tasty, filling and healthy…Perfect!!!

I was talking to my friend yesterday who has lost a lot of weight through dieting and a lot of exercise; she has done really really well. Yesterday she recommended an herbal weight loss tablet which she has started taking called Acai Berry, as they have helped her to shift an additional stone.

Now part of me is thinking WOW! A magic diet pill that my friend has taken and recommended – maybe this can help me get a quick start on losing my first few pounds! Excellent!
And the other half of me is feeling a little bit sceptical. Is it really the tablet that has helped her to shift the additional stone, or is it actually all of the exercise and dieting?
How good are herbal remedies?? Do they actually work or is it more of a psychological thing?
I can’t seem to figure out whether these tablets seem to be worth a try.

Has anyone tried Acai Berry or any other herbal weight loss remedy??

What were your experiences with these herbal remedies??

Would you recommend Acai Berry, or any other herbal weight loss remedy??

To say that my muscles are hurting today after my work out yesterday would be a bit of an understatement. My arms and also my sides near are really sore, especially when I lean over, or even sneeze. OUCH. However, surely this amount of pain is good, that must mean that it’s working right?!?!? Hope so.

Anyway, the diet has been going pretty well again! For dinner yesterday, I had a lovely salmon and asparagus dish.

We got this recipe off the BBC good food website a while ago, and it is definitely a favourite of mine! It really is very very tasty, easy to cook, and best of all only 500 calories per serving! How good is that?!?!?!

Here is the link for the recipe if you would like to try for yourself                                                               http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/5925/onepan-salmon-with-roast-asparagus?pager.offset=60

Today has been another healthy meal day, an omelette with salad for lunch, and a small jacket potato with chilli for dinner and a side salad.

One of the things that I think that I may struggle with during the next 9 months is that I feel that my meals may get quite repetitive, and I know that to keep this interesting and stop myself getting bored I am going to need to start experimenting with new recipes and hopefully I will have a whole variety of meals to choose from.

Due to the excessive upper body aches that I have been subjected to, today has been a bit of a lazy day! Watching the tv with the boy, and mainly just relaxing… HEAVEN!

Back to the gym tomorrow after work for me…

xxx

Sorry I haven’t updated the blog in a couple of days, I have been really busy!

So I had a little bit of a slip up yesterday

Just before Christmas James had bought us a voucher for a meal from the website Wowcher, for a lovely little restaurant in Leicester called The Gate Bistro, on Braunstone Gate. We knew that we had to use the voucher by a certain day so we thought we would book the meal for just after Christmas for a nice little treat (like we hadn’t had enough over Christmas!!!), but this was before we knew that we were going to embark on a massive health/fitness overhaul.

As I knew that we were going to over indulge at our meal yesterday evening , I made sure that the rest of my day was pretty low calorie, as I knew I would be making up for that with my evening meal.
I had porridge with a handful of blueberries for breakfast, and a chicken salad for lunch, with snacks of fruit in between.

Janine 2-0 Junk Food.

At the Gate however, I’m sure that all my good work from the last few days went out the window!

For my starter I had Grilled portobello mushrooms, with dolcelatte and toasted brioche (yum!!) Although this was not junk food, I am pretty sure that it wasn’t very healthy, apart from the mushroom of course. You have to count the mushroom!

Janine 2-1 Junk Food.

For my main I had a lovely juicy 10oz Rump Steak, with hand-cut chips, a mushroom and a flat tomato. I also ordered a Béarnaise sauce, and also a side of onion rings, as everyone knows you can’t have steak and chips without Onion Rings! While it was the most AMAZING steak meal I have ever had, I am pretty aware that I really should NOT have had it, let alone the creamy sauce, chips and onion rings! FAIL.

Janine 2-2 Junk Food.

Although I was full I thought that as I was already ruining the days/weeks hard work, that I may as well have a dessert, so I opted for the lovely blueberry pancakes. MASSIVE FAIL! Although they did have blueberries in!!

Janine 2-378745895955956780 Junk Food

Oh dear

I knew I had to make up for last night big time, so this morning I had my first gym session in over a year. To my surprise I really enjoyed it too!
I did a 40 minute weight loss programme on the treadmill to start off with, followed by a 28 minute weight loss programme on the cross trainer (my fave). To end off my gym session I then used the weights, and did some bicep curls to try and tone up my arms and get rid of my bingo wings!

I also weighed myself at the gym and I am going to put this as my starting weight:

11st and 4lb.

I am hoping that with lots of hard work and determination that we will see the numbers fall each week.

*Fingers Crossed*

xxx

So, Day 2 of my get fit and eat healthy mission is almost over and I think that on the whole today went quite well. There were a couple of points in the day where my determination started to waver and I REALLY wanted a bar of chocolate or crisps. I think that this was mainly down to boredom and when I get bored, like many people, the first thing I usually tend to do is hit the sweetie cupboard. Bingeing out on food when I am bored has always been a problem for me, and no end of times I find myself tucking into a packet of Dorito’s when James is watching the footie! This is a really bad habit and something I know that I have got to work on, I definitely need to learn to distinguish whether I actually am hungry, or whether it is just boredom! Luckily today I managed to satisfy my cravings with a banana and an orange, not quite as tasty as crisps and chocolate, but much much healthier!

My meals were all pretty healthy today – Porridge and a banana for breakfast, lots of veg and a couple of small potatoes for lunch, chicken and LOTS of vegetables for dinner and all of my daytime snacks were fruit (not chocolate-yay me!).

For dessert I really fancied something tasty, and something which was healthy but felt a bit naughty, so I made myself a fruit smoothie. This was made using a couple of dollops of  fat free probiotic yoghurt which I had frozen earlier on today (trying to convince myself that it would be just like ice cream) , a handful of blueberries, a handful of strawberries and a banana. I popped all of this into the blender to make a lovely creamy smoothie, and I really enjoyed it. Because of all of the natural sugars, it really satisfied my sweet tooth, yet it was low on calories – BONUS!  I had the idea that I might even freeze some of the smoothie to make flavoured frozen yoghurt, perfect for a healthy treat when I am feeling a bit peckish!!

Tonight I also joined the gym. I made sure to join a gym which had lots of different facilities, in the hope that I could vary my work-outs to try and stop myself getting bored fast and quitting. So, starting from Saturday I will officially become a gym bunny. The next nine months will be packed with swimming, body pump, zumba, spinning, badminton, squash and general gym work-outs. At the moment I am quite looking forward to all of this physical activity, although I am sure I will change my mind on Sunday morning when my body is aching!

If anyone reading this has any tips in beating boredom cravings, or has any tasty, healthy and most importantly EASY recipes that I could try, then please feel free to leave a comment!

Until next time!!!!!

Xxx

So, Day 1 of my getting fit and healthy mission has almost been completed, and to my surprise it wasn’t actually too bad! I found it quite easy to eat healthily today, I think after ALL of my over indulgences from the Christmas/New Year period, it was nice to not feel bloated all day!

My morning started out healthy, I walked to the bus stop to get to work instead of getting Jimbob to drive me there like I usually do (don’t judge). I must say though, being blown about and soaked by the rain wasn’t exactly the highlight of my day, and I wasn’t particularly looking forward to a day of healthy eating after this experience, I just wanted to go home and have a HUGE hot chocolate!

My breakfast consisted of some porridge and a banana, which was lovely and filling, and much healthier than my usual brekkie of Bacon, Hash Browns, Mushrooms and Beans from the work canteen so:

Janine 1-0 Junk Food.

I was quite busy at work and my morning went quite fast so I didn’t have a mid-morning snack, so for lunch I had a lovely salad from the deli near work, and some grapes and berries from the supermarket. Again this is quite an improvement of my usual lunch of Chips and gravy from the work canteen (I am starting to realise that the work canteen is actually the bane of my life). I am also trying to cut out my lovely fizzy drinks as apparently they are buggers for giving you cellulite, and I really cannot be doing with that, so water for me all day, exciting!

Janine 2-0 Junk Food.

For dinner the lovely Jimbob made us a tasty chicken stir-fry. This was really tasty with lots of peppers, bean sprouts and other random bits of veg, and I really enjoyed it. Although there were some noodles in there so not too sure I can say that it was definitely healthy, but it was still quite a low calorie dinner, so I was happy with that!

Janine 3-0 Junk Food.

And lastly for pudding I had another banana, which I actually found quite difficult, as there was a box of Milk Tray left over from Christmas screaming my name out!

Janine 4-0 Junk Food.

So far, so good.

I think there are two main reasons I do not hate every minute of my challenge of so far:

1. It is the first day. Diets/Fitness plans always seem easy and even enjoyable on the first day or so, it always takes a few days for the dread and misery to set in!! I am sure it won’t seem like such a good idea then!
2. 2.       I am not excluding any food groups. I along with many other people have done plenty of fad diets, the “no carbs diet” being my speciality. Whilst they work fast and you can shift a fair amount of weight, they are just not sustainable. As soon as you start eating carbs, the weight just piles back on. Instead of excluding certain food groups, I am just going to be sensible, control my portioning, and hopefully get the correct balance!

Tomorrow, phase 2 begins – joining the gym.

I will let you all know how that one goes…

Until next time