Hello everyone! I’ve been itching to get back to blogging and have missed the interaction we all have each day. I’m guessing most of you will have started your new year/term by now. I do hope it is all going well for you all. We start back on Monday and I’ll be sharing some of our new curriculum as well as our latest foray into project based learning. It is all good and all very exciting. I’ve also been brain storming how to find more time in my day to allow for blogging and fun school as well as curriculum learning. I really am looking forward to the year ahead. It promises to be a good one.
Next week I will be finishing up posting about last term’s work on Viruses as well as the children’s completed projects, after which I will share the curriculum and history based studies we will be doing up until Christmas.
Wibbly, Wobbly, Weightloss
But, back to the topic in hand. Welcome to week 8 of Wibbly Wobbly Weightloss. I missed you all last week and almost posted just to find out how you are all doing! I am pleased to say that I reached my first goal of 20Ib lost. I have lost 1/5 of the weight I need to! Yay me!! That means it’s time for a photo and a comparison to the beginning. I was a (tiny) bit excited about the photo. After all, I had lost twenty pounds of fat. I was going to be looking so much better. I had to. Twenty pounds is a lot of weight to lose. Imagine my disappointment when I looked no smaller and in some of the photos I looked larger! It was a bit disheartening to be honest, but it has firmed up my resolve to continue. I want to see some difference, darn it! The first photo is me at the beginning, the second now:
As I stated above I cannot noticed much of a change. Maybe that is because I have so much to lose?
Setting Goals and Rewards
So far this first 20Ibs has been easy to lose, slowly but surely. I am setting my new goal to 30Ibs rather than 40Ib because I can feel it getting harder now. I know I am going to have to exert a little more dedication and effort to lose the next ten pounds. My reward to myself will be to have all my hair cut off. My hair is naturally curly since having children. Yes, it was dead straight before that – what’s that all about? However, the longer it gets the less curly it gets. So, when I have lost 30Ibs I intend to go short and curly again! I’ll also be posting another photo. And this time I will look slimmer, even if I have to photo shop myself!
I’m not keen on having my photo taken probably due to the fact I really don’t like how I look right now. However, I figure when I do get to my goal weight (which I fully intend doing) I will be able to look back at me looking slightly awkward and embarrassed and 100Ilbs heavier and be very determined never to reach such proportions again.
Bad Habits
There is one massive bad habit which, if I want to be serious about losing weight, needs to stop. After all, if I do what I’ve always done, the results will be what they always have been. And the bad habit? Snacking at night. It would be both Gary and my weakest time, because every night we pop on the current dvd series we are watching (we don’t have tv) and we have a cup of tea and a snack. For me, this is either a cinnamon and raisin bagel (or two) or a bar of chocolate (or two). I know it doesn’t sound too bad but when I am also eating a bowl of cereal (healthy non sugar one) just before bed, you can see that these are calories I can’t afford. My goal has to be to get rid of the habit. They say it takes 6 weeks to shift a habit. Consider this week one.
Not just about weight loss…
Can I let you all into a secret? I have never toned, cleansed, moisturized or worn make up. I’m a bit clueless when it comes to things like this, never having paid an awful lot of attention to my appearance. Friends have tried to help but, really, I’m pretty hapless. I’m 40 in a few weeks, and maybe now is the time to start taking care of my skin a bit better. And maybe by doing so, my daughters will learn to take care of themselves also. So another small goal is to find a moisturizer which does not irritate my skin. I am entering a new phase in my life. I am sleeping. I am exercising. I am eating well. And I’m shopping for moisturizer!
Moving This Body….
As you all know, our family has joined the leisure centre together. We go every day, where we exercise together and spend a lot of time laughing together. It has felt the easiest route to exercising ever. Who knew preteens could be so much fun on the badminton court, that they could be so competitive? (Can’t think where they get that from. Ahem). This has to be one of the best ways to get fit.
My girls are at the age I was when I first started putting on weight. It has been wonderful to see them swimming each day, gyming three times a week and playing badminton numerous times a week, even trying their hand at circuit training (and loving it!). They are healthier and sleeping really well. However, they are all (five) starving all of the time, so I have been making peanut butter balls for them to snack on. These are high energy balls made from entirely natural ingredients. In true Claire style, I have no proper recipe for you as I don’t measure anything (sorry). I’m certain all the amounts differ each time I make it yet they are always delicious.
Peanut butter balls
Jar peanut butter (whole nut, no added anything)
Jar pure honey
Rolled jumbo oats
Either chocolate chips or healthier addition – sultanas
I use what would probably amount to a regular pack of oats (I roll my own so I’m guessimating), add half and half peanut butter and honey (usually I will use half a pot of each and if needed add a few more oats if it is too sticky or more honey or peanut butter if it is too dry) Add sultanas or chocolate chips and mix thoroughly. The mixture should be fairly dry and non sticky but wet enough to be able to form into small balls. These don’t last very long in our family, but that’s okay. They are quick, fairly inexpensive and full of goodness. Not so good if, like me, you are trying to lose some pounds. But for extremely active, hungry children, they are perfect and much more preferable to most other high energy ‘ready made’ snacks which contain ingredients I can’t pronounce.
It’s not just the exercising though….
Two things which have made an enormous difference to the ingoing and outgoing calories for me are exercising, of course, and (surprisingly) eating our main meal in the middle of the day and a supper type tea at around 4pm with a snack later on. I think I have naturally reduced my calorie intake and yet some how feel like I am eating more. Win win. Now, if I could just shake my pesky evening snacking habit the weight, I am sure, would just fall of me!
Over to you. What healthy habits have made all the difference to you? How have you all faired over the past couple of weeks? Can I pray for you at all?