*Weekly update - Motivation and Biking Adventure*

Although I didn't stay for my meeting this week (it was my niece's 1st birthday), I know that the topic was regarding motivation. I covered my new motivation only recently so I think I will pass on this topic until its covered in my meeting again.

So moving on to my week...

I've had a super crazy week and the weather has been scorching. I'm not really a summer lover because I feel uncomfortable in shorts and strap tops so I end up melting in my normal jeans and t-shirt. However I've upped my activity regardless of sweating out the river Thames. I've walked my socks off and biked until my butt was numb. I've never felt so alive!

My achievements this week:

• I tracked 3/7 - I'm really annoyed at myself for this as I know I do best when I track every day.
• I upped my fluid intake
• I upped my activity
• I lost 2.5lb on the scale!

I'm happy with how I've done this week however there is still lots of room for improvement.

My goals for the week:

• Track everyday
• Drink my 2lt everyday
• Bike to and from Uni (just over 12miles in total)

And finally just a few photos from my 6mile bike ride today ...

A refreshing ice lolly which we chased an ice cream van for.

Have a fab week everyone...

Roo xoxo

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, I've been super busy. I missed my Weightwatchers class last week which I was super upset about so I will post my weekly meeting post and goals after this weeks meeting.

I posted a few weeks ago about one of my motivation tools, which just so happens to be a programme called Ruby which follows the journey of beautiful woman who has been overweight since a child. I know I have referred to Ruby before however this particular episode really refocused me at a time of need for two reasons. Firstly, Ruby had hit a plateau in which she couldn't get below a certain weight, which in her case was 350lb. Now I, amongst many I'm sure have hit a plateau at some point in our weight loss journey. Ever so recently mine was 17st. I got so frustrated that I couldn't dip into 16st bracket that I just gave up. It sounds absurd to hear myself say that I gave up, but I did.

So back to Ruby. To over come her plateau it was suggested that she gave up or did 5 things. A few of them really stuck in my mind however the one in particular I wanted to discuss was to have more mirrors within her house. Now I don't get me wrong, I can look in the mirror easily however I realised that like her I didn't actually look at myself, I just looked at my silhouette.

I didn't really give this much thought until Saturday when I was clothes shopping and whilst trying on outfits I saw what I actually looked like. I froze in horror and immediately looked away and held back the tears. I had to literally convince myself to look in the mirror at the real me. Like I previously mentioned, I never really looked at anything within the outline of my body since I was around 12st. I was taken back by how much my body had changed and how different I actually looked.

After the overall shock had warn off I was able to focus my thoughts and my motivation of why I wanted and needed to adopt a healthier lifestyle.

With that in mind my weekly weigh-in is tomorrow evening, which I'm looking forward to and this also motivates me no end.

If you were like myself only last week, I hope you find your motivation and focus soon. I know sometimes its hard to tap into and is often found at the strangest and least desirable times. However if you already have your motivation and focus, how amazing does it feel to be in charge!

On another note, I missed my tweet what I eat Thursday due to being super busy and eating on the go so instead I have tweeted my food diary for today. If your not already a follower please feel free to add me.

Have a amazing day.

*Questions for my future self*

This may seem a bit of a strange subject however I'm hoping that this may be helpful to refer back to

in the future.

It all came about when I was drafting a post in regards to confidence and I began questioning myself, if I hated being overweight (or should I say obese) so much why didn't I change my lifestyle sooner by sticking with Weightwatchers the first time? Why have I hindered my success by not tracking, not pointing, binging and not attending meetings?

Same may say, well you wasn't in the right frame of mind. Well yes, that could be the case however when do you say enough is enough? Also if I had issues with my weight that stopped me from living my life wouldn't that be enough to make someone want to change?

This post is a bit all over the place however it has been written more for my own understanding then anyone Else's however maybe you can relate to this yourself, or could previously or maybe you have no clue what I'm talking about.

Hopefully I'll be able to answer these questions in the future however until then I'll be actively seeking the answers and unraveling my life.

Roo xoxo

*Weekly Meeting 3 - Stretching your points*

This weeks topic was about stretching your points allowance and making the most of what you have. I really enjoyed this topic as I got to see what other people ate on a limited amount of points. Although it wasn't high lighted in the meeting I do think that making your points stretch is also in linking with filling foods and could go hand in hand with one another.

 

Firstly this was my first official meeting back at weight watchers. I haven't attended a class for some time hence my struggle with losing weight. I weighed myself just before I went to my meeting like I do every week, I had stayed the same. Then when I jumped on the scales at my meeting I was horrified to see that I now weighed 18st 2.5lb! What the hell? Yes my lovely readers, my scales/ Wii Fit do not match the scales at the meeting. I must admit that I am pretty gutted however I am marking this as my start and I'll just have to concentrate from now. At the end of the day this is a lifestyle change and not a diet.

So getting back to this weeks topic. Dawn (my leader) separated us into groups of 4-5 people and set us the task as constructing a recipe for a sandwich that was 6-7 points. Now I'm not a huge sandwich fan as I believe you could use less points on something else. However we managed to construct our sandwich using our knowledge of low point ingredients. After this Dawn went through the points values of sandwich's that you could purchase as a quick alternative. Most of items that you would believe to be lower point options were actually around 8-10 points! For some that's more than half of their daily intake.

I guess the point of this topic was to make us more conscious of our food choices and to consider better options such as swapping a fried egg for a poached one or full fat mayonnaise for extra light mayonnaise.

Now moving on to my week...

I've struggled this week in regards to exercise. It seems my health has taken a step back as I've been experiencing immense pain again which has caused any type of movement to become overwhelming. To be honest I'm really upset about this as I thought I was recovering however I will try to include some kind of extra activity within my day without it being of the eating kind.

 

My accomplishments this week are:

• I tracked 4/7 days in total - Although it wasn't a whole week I did a good job and I know Ill be tracking my full 7/7 days as a habit soon.
• I worked on my fruit and veg intake- Although it wasn't a goal set from last week I managed to do so anyways and  think that rocks.
• My exercise this week has been more down than up- I managed a whole 3 days of 30 min exercise which is still pretty good.
• I went back to my meetings- something that I wanted to do for a while and have finally plucked up the courage to. As well as this I stayed to the meeting on my own!

My goals for next week:

• Track a full week
• Work on my exercise
• Attend next weeks weigh-in and stay for the meeting 

Have a fab week everyone and also don't forget its tweet what I eat Thursday soon so feel free to follow me on Twitter.

Roo xoxo

*Exercise Tools - Pilates DVD*

I recently posted about my inability to find a balance between exercise and eating within moderation however since then I have also posted how I'm starting to find my motivation towards exercise reemerging whilst trying to follow the Weight Watchers concept of moderation. So with that I decided I would dedicate a number of posts to exercises that I have taken part in.

As I hadn't really exercised (apart from walking) for some time I decided to dust of one of my previous favourites. Pilate's weight-loss workout for dummies is so much fun. I love doing these work outs and at some points it rather challenging however it also gives you options of how to make the movements easier if you require so.

The instructor Tracey has an amazing body and is extremely toned and really motivates you throughout the video.

If your like me you would have thought "that's easy!"  but wait until about 5 minutes into the routine and you feel the burn in your arms and thighs. I have done this a few times since and the ache in my thighs the next day made me realise that I had actually had a great workout and used muscles that I haven't used for a long time.

All in all this is a great workout DVD and I love that its broken down into sections so you can start off with one and build on it as you feel fit too.

The only bad point of this DVD is the fact that its hard to miss the instructors camel toe. I'm sorry Tracey but I had to warn people. If your able to ignore it (please note they do a few close ups) its a perfect DVD for all experience levels.

If you want to give the DVD a go for yourself you can find it at amazon for less than £3.00!

Check you guys laters,

Roo xoxo

Have you any favourite exercise routines or DVDs?

*weekly update 2*

This week has been a really strange one. I have acomplished a lot this week but at the same time I have let myself down in others. I have noted where I have gone wrong and what I need to fix however I'm still on a high as a result of my achievements and I refuse to stay negative for too long.

If you haven't already guessed I had a gain this week of 3lb. Initially I was really gutted about it, to be honest the word gutted can not even explain how I felt when I saw how much I had gained however now I've sat back I can understand how and why I have. I normally hate admitting I'm wrong but I tell you all why I am admitting I am because I have made some stupid mistakes and I don't want anyone else to make them and I'm feeling really positive so typing this isnt going to make me feel worse.

My reasons (no smell of B.S anywhere) for gaining:

• I didn't track everyday - Well dur of course I'm more likely going to gain!
• I miscalculated portion sizes - I thought I was being extremely good by weighing everything out but it does actually help if I use the correct portion sizes. I was using tablespoons rather than teaspoons result in a 3 point serving of peanutbutter becoming a 10.5 serving... note it has taken my a whole week to realise this.

So there you have it, my reasons for gaining. To be honest I'm pleased that I have been able to identify what I have been doing wrong as its not always easy to do so. Furthermore I'm proud that I have admitted my reasons for it not only to my readers but also to myself.

Now moving on to the good stuff. This week I have done things I didn't think I would be able to do right now. I was recently taken ill and could hardly walk because I was in so much pain however this week I have felt much better and I have taken the 'feeling better' and I have run with it. I have taken my bike out nearly everyday this week and each day have beaten my previous days distance. I have also been using my Wii Fit again as well as one of my favourite workout DVD's (which I will blog about shortly). I have easily done more exercise this week than I have in the past six months. I'm so happy that I have found my joy of exercise again as it is something I have been lacking for sometime.

So to round up this weeks achievements:

• I didn't track everyday, I managed 2/7
• I have really worked on my water intake this week and have easily have my eight glasses a day including a bit extra due to the heat and exercise.
• As you can see I did weigh-in this week and gained 3lb
• I've included exercise everyday this week

My goals for next week are:

• Work on tracking 7/7 days
• Learn the difference between teaspoon and tablespoon (doh)
• Include exercise daily
• Keep working on my water intake

Have a great week guys,

Roo xoxo

*Electra and I - A local biking adventure*

I'm still not feeling 100% but I do feel much better than the previous two weeks so I thought I would take Electra for a ride around my local area. I live around a 15-20 minute train journey from central London which is a journey I want to tackle on my bike soon as I commute to London several times a week. Until then I will stick to riding through my local area.

This is the first real ride I have taken since purchasing Electra (the first was around the block) and I was so excited about doing it and had a huge grin on my face the whole time. I'm sure I looked slightly psychotic with my Cheshire cat grin but I don't care I was having so much fun and for the first time in weeks I was able to block out the pain in my chest and back.

At one point I got a couple of giggles from some kids which dented my confidence and I actually considered turning back (my confidence is not my greatest attribute and is something I mentioned in a recent post, my lack of confidence has stopped me from doing numerous things and as I will discuss in the future something that has stopped me from living my life) but I was lucky enough to then ride past a guy that I can only describe as, as having a very individual and quirky fashion sense. As I rode past him I could feel his eyes follow my bike and when I turned back to look at him he was smiling just as much as I was previously. That one person smiling felt amazing and quickly lifted me back up and gave me the confidence to carry on. Thank you quirky dressed guy!

Here are a few photos I took of my favourite local park. Its so peaceful and there is always someone there either walking their dog, playing football or cricket.

An accidental photo but one I thought I would keep as it shows the shape of my face which is something I only hope will change with losing weight.

I'm not a religious person but I love churches, mosques and temples which are very common within my area.

 Might I add.... to the man in the white van that nearly ran me down, thank you, its people like yourself that give white van drivers bad names!

So there you have it, my first biking adventure. Although it was a short journey (3.4 miles) I loved every second of it and couldn't wait to get back out on my bike again.

Have a fab day and enjoy the sunshine,

Roo & Electra xoxo