Project 366 week 4

Sunday

DD3 treated us to lunch out today and then came back to go and see her sister and the children. This is her bag.

a fab bag

Monday

Well I am in Scotland and it is the 25th Jan so well else could I share but hubby's tea? I had it without the haggis.

a traditional meal

Tuesday

Decided I needed something to snack on and these were still unopened from Christmas, so I opened them and had a handful.

snacks

Wednesday

Went round to play with the grandkids for a few hours to give mummy some peace. It stopped raining so we went to play in the small park. I encouraged them to run and ride rather than play on the swings to expend some energy. They spent awhile rounding up stones putting them on the bench and knocking them off again. 

playing with stones

Thursday

Went to get blood tests today. Had to be fasting blood test, looking for vitamin and mineral deficiencies as well as cholesterol and blood sugars. So came for breakfast afterwards before doing some shopping.  So far had results of U's and E's back which shows a very slight issue with my kidneys, so to get that test repeated in three months. 

totally unhealthy but was good

Friday

Storm Gertrude has hit, not as wild here as other parts of Ayrshire seem to be getting. The tractor was on the beach dragging all the sand back from the wall before the next high tide hit. 

clearing sand away

Saturday

I was asked a few weeks back if I would like to join in and promote #KnitforWinter Campaign that is being supported by Sunrise Senior Living. They have partnered with a baby charity called First Touch to gift premature babies with  hats and blankets. Premature babies struggle to keep themselves warm and need more help than full term babies. Fifi was ten weeks premature so we understand the stress and worry this creates for a family, as well as the problem of getting clothes that fit. It is a nice easy campaign and it is a great way to use up scraps of wool you may have. You can download the patterns here if you fancy joining in. I agreed to knit a blanket and the wool and needles were sent to me to allow me to do this. 

ready for knitting

Three weeks into podding

Well I started with the Gold Package on Slimpod three weeks ago. Three weeks of listening to an eight minute programme on my mp3 player every night of the week. Three weeks of sharing the highs and lows with fellow podders on Facebook, and three weeks of inspirational e-mails and encouragement from the founder of the programme.

So what difference have I noticed in three weeks?

Firstly having giving myself a kick up the b*m over my laziness in an evening I have been doing forty five minutes to an hour of aerobic and weigh training using the hundreds of videos on good old youtube. Have found five that at the moment I am rotating round so as not to get bored. I have been doing this four days a week, taking the one day a week off, an the other two days I do a very physical job so have no need to exercise at the weekends. I have also started getting up in an evening and say walking upstairs and back rather than sitting for four or more hours on the laptop.

I have cut down the portions I put on my plate, and am only trying to eat when I am actually hungry rather than sitting picking. I also now leave on my plate what I don't actual want rather than finishing it for the sake of finishing it. I am not depriving myself and I am not going hungry, just making more healthy choices in general.

I have stopped bringing junk food into the house, you will now find rice cakes and multi seed crisp breads in the snack box. I am still buying a few biscuits for hubby to eat but I have never really been a biscuit person so am not bothered. I have also started taking food out with me during the week so rather than having say crisps for lunch it is now pasta, veg and tuna, or flavoured cous cous.

I have only had one 500ml bottle of fizzy juice, I was desperately thirsty and it was in the car. Did not particularly enjoy it. I have changed totally to sparkling water, I still like to have the fizz but don't want everything else that is in the juice. Cannot say as I am missing in particularly.

So what changes have  I noted?

Firstly I have lost 1.9 kilos ( or just over 4 lb in my language), not a lot by some peoples standards,  but it is over a pound a week and I am happy with that. I am not expecting this to be instant fix, years of being over weight is not going away quickly. If I can maintain a pound a week it is nearly four stone in a year, I would be quite happy to lose that amount.

I measured myself before I started on the programme and have lost a total four inches, so again it is going in the right direction. I have lost an inch of my bust, half inch off my waist, two off my bicep, one of my hips and my thigh for some strange reason is up by a half inch.

I have been noting three positives a day for the three weeks, and if I can maintain smaller portions of healthier foods couple with the exercise then I am sure it will all keep going in the right direction.

What changes have my fellow podders found?

Disclaimer I have not paid for my Gold Package, but this post reflects my honest findings.

Project 366 week 3

Have been good with my keep fit, much to hubby's annoyance as my jumping around in the room above him is rather noisy, but done four one hour sessions and to be honest I am quite enjoying it. Been using YouTube videos so have been varying the workouts so I am doing a combination of aerobics and weights.


Sunday

It snowed for hours yesterday, came home the bus route hoping it would be clear but it wasn't. A long slow drive home. Thank fully it did not freeze over night so an easier drive back to work. Took this this morning, I mean what else do you do at 6.30 am?

says it all really

Monday

Picked up a box set of DVD's from a friend to relay them to another friend, just thought we would watch them while we had them. So far it is interesting enough.

a box set

Tuesday

DD1 has been ill for a number of weeks, the last cold barely cleared before she ended up with ear ache and a throat infection. The other grandparents came over and helped out yesterday and daughter was going to see doctor today. She phoned at 8.20 and they offered her an appointment at 8.40. She did not want to say no as she may wait days for another one, As she would not have managed to get the twins dressed in time to go she phoned me and I went down to sit with them.

breakfast time

Wednesday

DD1 had finally managed to get a vehicle sorted out, has only taken her about ten weeks without one to get it sorted. So despite feeling rough she wanted to get the children out for a while. So I volunteered to go to soft play with them. We had a fun few hours. Not the best picture but taken with the phone in a darkish area. Dinky never really likes to play she just potters, but I sat in the play area with her and she had fun. Minky is just off and follows Bob up the side designed for the 5+ age range. He is only in here with us cos he had had a fall and bashed his lip and was a bit upset.

both in the ball pool

Thursday

Had a catch up and a coffee with a friend today.

my mad friend and partner in crime at work

Friday

Not done baking for a while, but really did not have the energy to do a workout so this was as energetic as I got. Dairy free and with agave instead of sugar, and a dairy free ganache on top.( Have been informed that agave syrup is not exactly healthy but I had it in the cupboard, so you may want to read about it before you use it)

dairy free cakes

Saturday

On holiday this weekend, no real reason apart from using them up. So decided as it is dry and reasonably sunny going to go and do some geocaching. Will share some pictures later if there are any worth sharing.

loaded ready to go

Project 366 week 2.

Sunday

Before Christmas we bought a few boxes of chocolates in case anybody wanted some. I opened the dark chocolate box and had been eating away at them one here and one there over the last few weeks. Hubby had been helping out as well, I came home today from work and found the box was empty with a note inside it.

my husband does make me laugh

Monday

Bob is back at gymnastics and so I am back on the gymnastics run. Went for a walk, yes in the rain, and then popped into the library to get my card updated. While I was there I picked up a few audio books to listen to.

audio books

Tuesday

Daughter has not been feeling well since before Christmas, finally got something off of the GP but was making her feel quite rotten. As SIL is back at work the other grandparents have been helping out so DD1 could go back to bed. I popped in for a visit on the way home. They love sitting up here, the watch the cars go by and knock the window as people walk past and wave at them, of course most people wave back which they think is funny.

watching the cars go by

Pop up a wee video of them sat up there. 

                                    






Wednesday

My turn to help out and look after the kids while DD1 went back to bed. Had promised them we would go for a walk. It was dry at the point but once we left the house we got a steady drizzle the whole time we were out. We went down to the fishery and back up.

rain drops on the hood of the buggy

Thursday

Today was visit day. There were snow warnings for the east of the country, and having found no way home last week I did not fancy a repeat of that this week so far from home. So we packed extra cloths, a blanket, a flask of bovril, and phone numbers for B&B's in the area and also the areas we would pass through on the way home just in case. It was cold and we did see some cars with fresh snow on round about Stirling but luckily it stayed dry all day. We decided as it was a crisp clear ( and absolutely freezing) night we would go and see the Kelpies, Made a collage of the different colours.

four different colours of the Kelpies 

Friday

Have been sticking to my workouts, Doing two of them one after the other, all in all about 45 minutes. I appreciate they are level one workouts but taking it slowly considering my age and weight. But added hand weights into the first work out that does not require them and the heavier weights in the second workout which does call for them. All part of building it up. Got to be doing some good and along with my Slimpod I am hoping to see a difference.

hand weights added to the workouts

Saturday

I have a real bad habit of leaving the light on when I am getting things out from the cupboard under the stairs. Drives hubby mad, so when I got offered the chance to write a review on Amazon for a motion detector light/torch it seemed silly not to say yes please.  It is great it switches off after twenty seconds and switching on when I open the door. It is more than bright enough to illuminate everything on the shelves and is also handy for reading the meter.

no flash used shows the brightness of the light 

Project 366 week 1

Debated over joining in this year, but have to say I not only enjoy sharing our ups and downs but reading other peoples. I thought with a new grandchild due next month it would be a shame not to allow her young life to be on here for her to look back on just as the gruesome twosome have been followed.

So here we have it - year five of the project.

Friday 1st January

Went for a cold, blowy, but dry walk along the beach to blow away the cobwebs, it certainly did that all right. Somebody had written this message in the sand, and so I decided to share it with you.

Saturday

Had been at the GP on Thursday as I am finding myself hoarse a lot of the time but my throat is not actually sore. I feel it may be catarrh as I blow my nose upwards of twenty times a day, so I got some steroid drops to use for six weeks and see if it makes a difference, I also mentioned a few other issues I have and so he wants to do some fasting blood tests, so have an appointment with the practise nurse for them at the end of the month.

Sunday

I often find when sat on my laptop my ankles get cold, so how lovely is this, a pressie from a friend. It is great and makes a difference, a slipper for two feet at once. 

Monday

Driving back into the village and I spotted a fab sunset in my mirrors. Stopped in the layby and took this picture. 

Tuesday

Have decided that I need to do something about the fact I am putting on weight. Did a post on it here, but here is a start. A gentle start but considering my age and weight probably a sensible start. Struggled at eight minutes in but was fine by twelve minutes. Hoping to improve and work up to  harder workouts.

Wednesday

Went for a walk along the river. Hubby is down photographing the waterfalls.

Thursday

Went round to see the twins and keep their other Gran company while daughter was out. There was lots of giggling going on with lots of silliness. The two of them play well together.

Friday

It has snowed here and by golly has it created merry hell. People stuck in traffic jams for hours, no way out and no way round. It normally takes me twenty minutes in heavy traffic to get home. Took over two hrs today. There are three sensible ways into the village, my normal route, the back route and the long route. Short route shut off with a police accident sign, so I diverted round to the back way, got about three miles to get stopped and turned round again. So back to the bypass for the long route home, the snow was much heavier at this point. Stopped to phone hubby and let him know what was happening, and then carried on for another two miles on a horrible slippery snow covered road, only to get turned round here and sent back the way we had come. A sign post at the far end would have been nice. Problem is our village is quite high, surrounded by roads that are even higher, and it makes access difficult. The fourth unrealistic route in was gridlocked and no traffic moving so I phoned my pal to see if I could come and sit at hers until the roads opened, but luckily time I passed the first road again it was open. Sensibly enough I have spare jackets and waterproof trousers in the car as well as hat and gloves and food and water so just such an emergency.
When I took this picture I was stopped and awaiting my turn to be turned round.

turned round. 

Saturday

Where we live is not on the bus route and there is no way with the amount of snow in Ayrshire the gritters were getting anywhere near our street. It has frozen overnight the street will be impossible to get  out of, so I have left my car at DD1 door and planned on putting these on to make walking down the hill to it safer.

snowgrips

Taking their bikes to the park

A few weeks back now I was babysitting  the gruesome twosome and Bob and too them out for a while as it was the first dry day we had had in a long while. They no longer want to keep their rain cover on the buggy if they are out and it ends up wet and my daughter does not have to the space to dry it off. Walking with one is a doddle but two on your own is not so easy near roads, so really needs to be a dry day. I have to say it was cold and again they are at the age where they will not keep on hats and gloves.

So as it had been raining for days the only place I could take them where there were no puddles, which they would have ended up in, was the small fenced in park up the top of the village. Not quite so good for Bob here as the equipment is more suited for under five's but he still manages to play.

I took their toddlebike2's with us as well as they had not had a chance to use them outside since they got them. These bikes are great, dead easy to hang on the buggy and really light weight

hanging on the buggy

So I took the bikes down and let the children out and they both decided to play on them.

racing towards me

She seemed to be having a lot of fun.

one happy little girl

As is about normally for Dinky, Grandma has a camera and she needs to get right up close, I think she this just so adorable. She has always loved the camera, would even stop throwing a temper tantrum when she was younger if you brought one out.

up close with Dinky

Also took some video footage of them, laughed at one point with Minky picking his up and running with it, just goes to show how lightweight they are.

So they toddled off and played. Some fun on the swings. followed by some fun on the climbing frame.

Now for all Minky has from a very young age been happy to climb up. play on the equipment and slide down the slide Dinky has never been keen on taking her feet off the ground apart from in the swing.

Minky peeking through the bars

But for some unknown reason she decided she wanted up. I expected her to say no when I actually went to put her up but she didn't.  

wanting up, bottom step is too high for either of them

She quite happily went up and even walked up the slope on the climbing frame.

look I am up

Was even happy to play peek a boo with Minky. Oops at the muddy knees, she had started out clean.

peek a boo

By this time it was really quite cold, Minky tripped over on the climbing frame and started crying, his wee handes were blue with the cold at this point and I think the falling must have hurt. So after Dinky had given him a cuddle we went home.

cuddles for Minky

So there was a first for Dinky, actually going up on the climbing frame.

The time has come.

I am fifty six years old, and for the last twenty five years have weighed pretty much the same a pound or two up or down but always settle back to the same weight. Ok I have always been aware that that weight is obese but it has never really bothered me. But in the last three months I have put on over half a stone, and so the time has come to do something about it. I have no idea why this change should suddenly occur, I can only put it down to one of two things, either hormones now the menopause has well and truly arrived or more likely better control of my food allergy issues.

Up until a few months back when I attended the anaphylaxis clinic and had some tests done that gave some results I expected and some results I did not suspect, I have always had food issues, some foods bother my skin, others bother my breathing, others still make the inside of my mouth itch and my tongue swell up. But in the main foods bother my stomach. I have seen me  ( sorry for tmi here but it is part of the story) running to go to the toilet six, eight, ten times a day with painful cramps and not always sure what was causing it. Due to the testing and cutting out ANYTHING that grows on a tree then this pain and discomfort has stopped.I have known for a long time I could not eat raw fruit or veg but did not realise I had such a major issue  Maybe my body is now absorbing more goodness out of the food cos it is stopping in my body long enough. . But this makes eating healthily quite difficult, I cannot snack on a piece of fruit or a handful of nuts, cannot munch a carrot while I am preparing the tea, things I really do miss being able to do.

Anyway no matter what the reason for the weight gain, and yes I have been to see my GP and have an appointment booked for the end of the month to have fasting blood tests done to have a good look what is going on, it needs to stop. Being the weight I am never really stops me from doing much. I have a very active job, on my feet the whole shift, walking, pushing trolleys, hoovering and mopping floors, and can walk upwards of fifteen miles a day in a shift. I happily walk most days, I will take the stairs in preference to a lift or an escalator. I use to swim over thirty lengths of the swimming pool five mornings a week when I was in university thirteen years ago - this had to stop due to an allergy to the chemicals in the water, I use to cycle ten miles a day or more before I moved house, and none of this made any impact on my weight.

But now it is creeping up I need to do something,  So I have decided to tackle this with a three pronged attack. Firstly I have started with Slimpod Gold from Thinking Slimmer , I will start listening to this in an evening when I go to bed.

Our clinically-proven Slimpod is a nine-minute podcast which transforms the way you feel about food and yourself - and it breaks the perpetual diet-fail cycle. Day by day it retrains your brain so you instinctively make healthier choices, want to eat less and move more – perfect for lasting weight loss.  

the log book

So this is not an instant fix, but if used right a long term fix. It recommends you forget about the scales and work on your measurements, so with this in mind I measured myself this morning. The figures are not pretty, but maybe they will be come the Summer and I will share with you my before and after. I have downloaded and printed out the personal success log that comes as part of the package and intend to fill the booklet in every day. I have also joined the Facebook support group and hope to talk to other like minded people.













Secondly I am going to watch what I eat. I am not particularly an unhealthy eater. I have never done dairy as I have an issue with that. I can get away with little bits and pieces of cheese and chocolate but not butter, milk or cream. So I eat dry toast and dry crackers and things already so hard to cut down there.  I make my own lactose free yoghurt and eat that in a morning with a high fibre low

roasted veg for tea

sugar cereal. My other breakfast option is fridge porridge made with soya milk. I am aware my biggest downfall is eating at lunchtimes when I am out of the house. I work in a hospital but more than half the days I am there the only allergy free option open to me is chips. Portion size is my problem, but then more than half of my meal is usually made up from vegetables. If I eat mashed potato it is only potato no butter or anything added to make it creamy. There are no creamy sauces in this house, most meals are plain and simple

Thirdly I am going to up the exercise. On top of the walking I already do, have this week started back to logging it on mapmywalk, I started last night with a beginners aerobic session that I found on

my first keep fit workout of the year

youtube. I am not built to be going straight into a heavy going one, but I have found various less intense ones to start me off, and will work my way up to harder ones. I am getting up every hour and moving, two or three times up the stairs, it all adds up in a year. Who know by the Summer I might even attempt a couch to 5k if all this works for me.






So there you have it, determination has kicked in, have never really been interested before but seriously cannot afford to get any heavier. Wish me luck.