I'm going to be brave and offer pictures of myself. It's nerve-wracking as I still have work to do but I am proud of what I've achieved so far. I submitted pictures to a page on Tumblr which posts before and after pictures. They posted mine so I've reblogged them to my Tumblr page. If you'd like to see them - click this link - http://alternatedaydieting.tumblr.com/
Wednesday, 25 June 2014
Monday, 23 June 2014
Look Who's Back...
Well, it's me again, back for an update. I've been blogging so little because there's not much to say!
I've lost 4 kgs or nearly 9lbs since I wrote last. So that brings me to 42 kgs or 92 lbs in total.
When I last wrote, I had just started my running club. I was really good and kept it up and at the beginning of June I ran a 9km leg of a relay in a marathon. It was tough but I did it. I then took a break from running for a few weeks. I really don't enjoy it - I find it very boring. And I was told that it would do wonders to my legs, bottom and flabby belly but I saw no difference! The other day I went for a run again and I couldn't even do 5k without walking a bit. It has been really hot here recently to be fair, and I find running in the heat very difficult, so I think if it was cooler I'd have managed more, but it scared me a bit, as I don't want to lose all the fitness I worked so hard to get! So I joined a bootcamp class - starting on Wednesday. Apparently it's loads of different exercises, so boredom can't happen, and it'll work on my arms and core too so I should finally see some tightening up.
I kind of lost the run of myself in the last couple of months. There was a lot on and I ate a lot. I still fasted every second day but my feast days went a bit out of control. I also stopped counting calories on My Fitness Pal, which does keep me in check, so I was eating close to 2500 calories on normal feast days. That's not including my bad feast days, after a night out! Two weeks ago I weighed myself after a particularly heavy weekend, where I had eaten and not fasted for three days. I had gained three kilos, or 6lbs. I think it was a wake-up call though - I fasted for two days, lost the weight and since then I've been back on track - counting my calories on feast days and not going above 1700.
I've lost a kilo in the last week which is great. Maybe the more relaxed couple of months was good for me - gave my body a break from the routine I had got into. It wasn't catastrophic - I only gained that weight at the very end and it's gone now. And it did ram home to me that I have to count all my calories, feast day or not. I just don't have the discipline to eat well otherwise - whereas seeing it written down and seeing my calories going up keeps me in check.
Is it bad that after a year I'm still having to do that? I eat well now on a daily basis but the urge to binge is still often there - whilst I've made a lifestyle change it hasn't been a full mental change. It is better and when I do let myself pig out I get fuller faster and don't enjoy it as much. It's just that I often see blogs from people who've lost weight who say that they now enjoy eating healthily and will never go back to their old ways. I like my soups and my healthy meals but I still love my pizza and crisps more.
It doesn't worry me too much - they say an alcoholic is always an alcoholic - the wish to drink remains. I think I'm like that about food. It's easier to eat well, I enjoy it and I can resist temptation very easily now, but the back of my mind always wants to throw myself on the food and eat it all. I can control it for the most part now though and that's what's important. And the benefits of my new body are more than making up for not binging! I get so many compliments on a regular basis now. Some people don't even recognise me - we were out in town the other night and a friend I hadn't seen in a long time had to do a double take. Each time that happens I feel like cheering.
Can't wait to start bootcamp - defined arms, here I come!
I've lost 4 kgs or nearly 9lbs since I wrote last. So that brings me to 42 kgs or 92 lbs in total.
When I last wrote, I had just started my running club. I was really good and kept it up and at the beginning of June I ran a 9km leg of a relay in a marathon. It was tough but I did it. I then took a break from running for a few weeks. I really don't enjoy it - I find it very boring. And I was told that it would do wonders to my legs, bottom and flabby belly but I saw no difference! The other day I went for a run again and I couldn't even do 5k without walking a bit. It has been really hot here recently to be fair, and I find running in the heat very difficult, so I think if it was cooler I'd have managed more, but it scared me a bit, as I don't want to lose all the fitness I worked so hard to get! So I joined a bootcamp class - starting on Wednesday. Apparently it's loads of different exercises, so boredom can't happen, and it'll work on my arms and core too so I should finally see some tightening up.
I kind of lost the run of myself in the last couple of months. There was a lot on and I ate a lot. I still fasted every second day but my feast days went a bit out of control. I also stopped counting calories on My Fitness Pal, which does keep me in check, so I was eating close to 2500 calories on normal feast days. That's not including my bad feast days, after a night out! Two weeks ago I weighed myself after a particularly heavy weekend, where I had eaten and not fasted for three days. I had gained three kilos, or 6lbs. I think it was a wake-up call though - I fasted for two days, lost the weight and since then I've been back on track - counting my calories on feast days and not going above 1700.
I've lost a kilo in the last week which is great. Maybe the more relaxed couple of months was good for me - gave my body a break from the routine I had got into. It wasn't catastrophic - I only gained that weight at the very end and it's gone now. And it did ram home to me that I have to count all my calories, feast day or not. I just don't have the discipline to eat well otherwise - whereas seeing it written down and seeing my calories going up keeps me in check.
Is it bad that after a year I'm still having to do that? I eat well now on a daily basis but the urge to binge is still often there - whilst I've made a lifestyle change it hasn't been a full mental change. It is better and when I do let myself pig out I get fuller faster and don't enjoy it as much. It's just that I often see blogs from people who've lost weight who say that they now enjoy eating healthily and will never go back to their old ways. I like my soups and my healthy meals but I still love my pizza and crisps more.
It doesn't worry me too much - they say an alcoholic is always an alcoholic - the wish to drink remains. I think I'm like that about food. It's easier to eat well, I enjoy it and I can resist temptation very easily now, but the back of my mind always wants to throw myself on the food and eat it all. I can control it for the most part now though and that's what's important. And the benefits of my new body are more than making up for not binging! I get so many compliments on a regular basis now. Some people don't even recognise me - we were out in town the other night and a friend I hadn't seen in a long time had to do a double take. Each time that happens I feel like cheering.
Can't wait to start bootcamp - defined arms, here I come!
Monday, 10 March 2014
Very Slow and Steady
Well, well, well, here I am again. Quite a lot of news - none of it very exciting but...! I'm now down 38 kilos, or nearly 84 pounds, or 6 stone. Weight is pretty much just crawling off now - 2 kilos in 2 months is pretty dire.
To be fair, I had a lot of things on - again. Had to go to France in February with the school to supervise the French Exchange. We were wined and dined for every meal and I put on a stone in weight!! We were having three course meals, and four glasses of wine with each meal! Like I was explaining to John, you have to go along with it, it'd be rude to say no, but he did make the point that I probably could have sipped the wine a bit slower and not had so many glasses...! But it was nice.
John and I went to Poland the day after I got back from France and had a lovely time there. Just really relaxed and didn't do much. I lost half the stone while I was there, from walking around and eating less richly. When we got back, I fasted for three days and lost the rest of the weight then, so I'm back to my starting point.
Since then, I did a detox for 5 days and for some reason lost 2 kilos and then put them on again. I'm now just back to normal ADF but the weight isn't really moving.
I was doing a bit of running before Christmas, like I said, but since then I've only been doing a bit of Pilates here and there. So on Thursday I decided to get back into exercise properly and joined a running club! That sounds impressive, but actually it's the pilates instructor, who started up running for beginners. The first night, we just ran a circuit 9 times which is 3 kilometres in total, the instructor blew the whistle every minute and we ran or walked as much as we needed to. It lasted for about 25 minutes. I'm not sure, because I forgot to count, but I think I probably walked for about 10 minutes and ran for 15 ish. So I was feeling pretty pleased about that.
However! I went again yesterday and it was awful! We had a different instructor, whom I much prefer actually, but she actually brought us out on a route - so we had to stay together. The other two women in the group were way more advanced than me and after a while I just couldn't keep up and had to walk. I was wrecked and disheartened because it was supposed to be running for beginners and that was for a beginner who's been running for a while already. I got home and John was sitting there having his breakfast and asked how it had gone. I just burst into tears. He was nice though - told me I'd done well and that it was a bit unfair to have me with way more advanced people when it was supposed to be a beginner course.
I'm going to try to avoid that instructor's classes though and go to the other guy who lets you run at your own pace. I've to go for a run on my own tomorrow too so I'm going to try to push myself again to get my fitness up as quickly as possible!
It's not great either as sometimes my fasting day is on a running day - but like John said - I'm hardly running marathons yet - not having eaten won't matter too much energy wise when I'm only exercising for half an hour.
So hopefully that will help - I'm getting a bit sick of my weight not moving. I don't really know why it's not. Possibly due to drinking at weekends and then eating a ridiculous amount the next day but I didn't actually drink at all in January and still didn't lose much. Apparently running is great for actually shifting fat though - so we'll see.
To be fair, I had a lot of things on - again. Had to go to France in February with the school to supervise the French Exchange. We were wined and dined for every meal and I put on a stone in weight!! We were having three course meals, and four glasses of wine with each meal! Like I was explaining to John, you have to go along with it, it'd be rude to say no, but he did make the point that I probably could have sipped the wine a bit slower and not had so many glasses...! But it was nice.
John and I went to Poland the day after I got back from France and had a lovely time there. Just really relaxed and didn't do much. I lost half the stone while I was there, from walking around and eating less richly. When we got back, I fasted for three days and lost the rest of the weight then, so I'm back to my starting point.
Since then, I did a detox for 5 days and for some reason lost 2 kilos and then put them on again. I'm now just back to normal ADF but the weight isn't really moving.
I was doing a bit of running before Christmas, like I said, but since then I've only been doing a bit of Pilates here and there. So on Thursday I decided to get back into exercise properly and joined a running club! That sounds impressive, but actually it's the pilates instructor, who started up running for beginners. The first night, we just ran a circuit 9 times which is 3 kilometres in total, the instructor blew the whistle every minute and we ran or walked as much as we needed to. It lasted for about 25 minutes. I'm not sure, because I forgot to count, but I think I probably walked for about 10 minutes and ran for 15 ish. So I was feeling pretty pleased about that.
However! I went again yesterday and it was awful! We had a different instructor, whom I much prefer actually, but she actually brought us out on a route - so we had to stay together. The other two women in the group were way more advanced than me and after a while I just couldn't keep up and had to walk. I was wrecked and disheartened because it was supposed to be running for beginners and that was for a beginner who's been running for a while already. I got home and John was sitting there having his breakfast and asked how it had gone. I just burst into tears. He was nice though - told me I'd done well and that it was a bit unfair to have me with way more advanced people when it was supposed to be a beginner course.
I'm going to try to avoid that instructor's classes though and go to the other guy who lets you run at your own pace. I've to go for a run on my own tomorrow too so I'm going to try to push myself again to get my fitness up as quickly as possible!
It's not great either as sometimes my fasting day is on a running day - but like John said - I'm hardly running marathons yet - not having eaten won't matter too much energy wise when I'm only exercising for half an hour.
So hopefully that will help - I'm getting a bit sick of my weight not moving. I don't really know why it's not. Possibly due to drinking at weekends and then eating a ridiculous amount the next day but I didn't actually drink at all in January and still didn't lose much. Apparently running is great for actually shifting fat though - so we'll see.
Tuesday, 14 January 2014
Quick Update
Well, realised today that I had a few comments on my blog and it gave me a kick to write again.
So update: I'm down 79 pounds now, or 36 kilos, which is 5 and a half stone!! Very, very exciting so see those numbers. My weight loss has slowed right down, just 9 pounds, or 4 kilos, since the beginning of November but then there were a lot of eating occasions in that time. A trip to London, my birthday, Christmas, New Year's Eve... Actually I'm really proud of myself that I kept ADF going over Christmas. Traditionally, that was always the time when I fell off the wagon, and stopped dieting. This time, I kept fasting every third day, instead of every second and as a result I didn't gain any weight, despite pigging out.
In terms of exercise - I do need to get back on track. I was doing Pilates twice a week and I started a Couch to 5K app on my phone, called Zombies Run. I, who could not run for more than maybe 30 seconds, managed to run for 13 minutes, twice! Then Christmas happened and I haven't exercised since. I must start again. Writing this blog is actually motivating me. I'll go for a run tomorrow. Pity it's so wet and cold and horrible but... I don't want to lose all the progress I made. It's such a good feeling to not get out of breath like I used to.
I just went upstairs to try on my test pair of jeans - they have fit for a few months but were MUCH too tight around my belly - but now they fit! I'm sitting in them now as I type. Still a little tight around the hips and stomach but wearable.
Going to France in a few weeks, to supervise a French exchange, and the day after I come back, John and I are going to Poland for our anniversary. Lots of eating going to happen - I'll have to try really hard not to be tempted by delicious dishes in the restaurants, and try to have fish every second day. And no dessert... Hmm. I'll wear these jeans a lot - they'll be unforgiving of any weight gain at all!
Right, I think I'll keep it short and sweet and leave it at that. If I was really good I'd go for a run now... But my electric blanket is on, heating my bed, and my book is looking at me... So is the dog however...
So update: I'm down 79 pounds now, or 36 kilos, which is 5 and a half stone!! Very, very exciting so see those numbers. My weight loss has slowed right down, just 9 pounds, or 4 kilos, since the beginning of November but then there were a lot of eating occasions in that time. A trip to London, my birthday, Christmas, New Year's Eve... Actually I'm really proud of myself that I kept ADF going over Christmas. Traditionally, that was always the time when I fell off the wagon, and stopped dieting. This time, I kept fasting every third day, instead of every second and as a result I didn't gain any weight, despite pigging out.
In terms of exercise - I do need to get back on track. I was doing Pilates twice a week and I started a Couch to 5K app on my phone, called Zombies Run. I, who could not run for more than maybe 30 seconds, managed to run for 13 minutes, twice! Then Christmas happened and I haven't exercised since. I must start again. Writing this blog is actually motivating me. I'll go for a run tomorrow. Pity it's so wet and cold and horrible but... I don't want to lose all the progress I made. It's such a good feeling to not get out of breath like I used to.
I just went upstairs to try on my test pair of jeans - they have fit for a few months but were MUCH too tight around my belly - but now they fit! I'm sitting in them now as I type. Still a little tight around the hips and stomach but wearable.
Going to France in a few weeks, to supervise a French exchange, and the day after I come back, John and I are going to Poland for our anniversary. Lots of eating going to happen - I'll have to try really hard not to be tempted by delicious dishes in the restaurants, and try to have fish every second day. And no dessert... Hmm. I'll wear these jeans a lot - they'll be unforgiving of any weight gain at all!
Right, I think I'll keep it short and sweet and leave it at that. If I was really good I'd go for a run now... But my electric blanket is on, heating my bed, and my book is looking at me... So is the dog however...
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