Losing the pounds: going it DFW style

mumto2monkeys_2

I am making a brand new resolution to myself, and so I thought I would begin a brand-new shiny diary.

I have many areas of my life which need change. Debt is one of the biggest issues, though, thanks to DFW, I am much more financially conscious and I'm slowly starting to make a dent in the (approx) £50k unsecured that I owe. I have a long way to go yet, and I'm trying to find ways to speed the process, but it will take a few years to get to goal.

I'm unhappy at work and I don't like my house.

(I adore my kids and husband though, just in case, reader, you were becoming bogged down by my misery.)

But, above everything else, I am unhappy with my weight.

I am an all-or-nothing kind of girl. I throw myself into obsessions at a million miles an hour, sparing no expense, then I inevitably burn myself out and am left, fed up, feeling like a fat failure.

I have decided to bite the bullet and try and shift these few extra stone (will be about 31/2 of those). This will give me confidence and make me happier. But, I'm going to attempt to achieve this with the resources I already have available to me. What this means is:

• NO new diet books
• NO purchase of specialist foods (As on fad detox/extreme vegan style-affairs of past failed attempts.)
• NO diet supplements
• NO gym subscriptions (Having just cancelled the last unused one.)
• NO new exercise equipment (Including a shiny treadmill I've seen for £250 that I've convinced myself will solve all of my past exercise and diet hang-ups, leaving me Kate Moss svelte without any of the nicotine.)

So, this means that I have to diet within my existing food budget with my existing fitness equipment.

So I have:

• Davina's Power of 3 and post-natal DVD (Unused. Baby Monkey is 1 and a bit )
• A variety of pilates DVDs and a Yoga one that I watched five minutes of once and decided that it was far too hideous to even attempt.
• One mini trampoline that lives in the leaky garage. This may have rusted. At the very least it will be a home to some of the sixty million woodlice that live out there. Will be sending hubby out to retrieve that one.
• One reebok mini stepper (See note re mini trampoline. This also hurts my feet.)
• The Wii Fit. Bought with enthusiasm last January. Now collects dust on the shelf under the telly. Note: there is nothing as soul-destroying as making your Wii Me and getting weighed, then watching as the poor little computer version of yourself expands four-fold to reflect your real-life weight.

So, you might now understand how I came to owe so much money in the past, having spent it on various things, now redundant, that were going to transform me into a size 10 goddess.

Well, various redundant pieces of exercise equipment, your day has come!!

I would also like to try running, but I live where I work and I would hate for one of the two thousand teenagers who see me on a daily basis to witness my lardy !!!! pummelling the pavements through our small town. So, I'll be starting in the home, although as I get fitter I might brave the very early hours under cover of darkness to give it a go.

As far as the diet goes, I have all of the books and all of the plans, but I think I'm going to try and do this myself. I'm going to cut down my carbs. This actually isn't me unreasonably eliminating an entire food group - if I ate a quarter of the pasta I currently consume, I'd still be somewhere in the region of twice the recommended portion size. I also want to stop eating bread. We have a love/hate relationship. Portions also have to be smaller and less continual :rotfl:.

I do have a pack of Xenical at my disposal from before Christmas. I stopped taking them so I could fill my face with fatty treats without the minor side-effect of days in the loo. I actually found they worked brilliantly for me - they make you terrified to eat any fat, thus the weight falls off you. My only concern was surely these can't be healthy. And, as Christmas proved, stopping taking them only leads to regaining weight. I think these will stay in the cupboard.

So. I'm making a plan.

Bring it on.

mumto2monkeys_2

Forgot to add, NO diet club subscriptions, online or real-life.

Have you noticed how they always pretend the weigh-ins are private, ensuring this by erecting a 3ft piece of display board between you and the scales and the next person in the queue? Most people are taller than 3ft.

true27

LOL Hi!!

Just popping in to say, well :hello: and thanks for making me giggle!! I'll be subscribing and following with interest (and I also have a flat reebok gym ball that lives in the cupboard under the stairs that I can lend you if you like!)

Best of luck, and thanks again for the smile xx

confused76

hey there good luck with this! i like the list of things you won't be doing such as gym...fitness equipment...etc

i've heard good things about the wii, haven't got one myself though

i'd like to lose 2 stone at least so will follow your diary with interest
go for it!

planning_ahead_2

Hi and welcome

You will see from my signature that we owe a similar sum to you in unsecured debt. I, also, am attaching the lbs as well as the £s with a venegance (I've joined the wibbly bums challenge here to motivate me, but I also do go to weightwatchers meetings - I think just for the sheer humiliation!)

Anyway, I look forward to reading your diary and following your journey.

Intergalactic_Floozie

LOL - I have just cancelled my WW monthly pass subscription thus saving me £17.95 per month

planning_ahead_2

Intergalactic_Floozie wrote: »

LOL - I have just cancelled my WW monthly pass subscription thus saving me £17.95 per month

I thought about it but I just can't at the moment (no willpower:o). However I am prepared to review the situation on a monthly basis and if I think I can achieve continued weightloss just with the support from this thread I will go for it. What I would miss most is the online tracker:(

mumto2monkeys_2

True 27 - I totally forgot about my gym ball!!! You have reminded me of a whole heap of exercise equipment that has been so long out of use I had forgotten its existence. The exercise possibilities are tremendous now given I can add the aforementioned gym ball (assume I can locate the stopper for it and the foot pump), AND an attractive set of free weights AND a yoga mat (that I can't find). This would have come in very handy yesterday...

Confused - I'm sure the Wii would be great. The only problem is dragging my lardy self off the sofa to use it!!! The novelty wore off after about 3 evenings of hula-hooping. Although, I still retain some pride in my high score at the ski jump, which my 11 year old still hasn't beaten. :T I will get it out again, and let you know if it is worth it. Though this will mean finding the Wii Fit game, which Baby Monkey has hidden somewhere as he has a dvd case fascination.

Hello to planning ahead and intergalactic floozy. I have been a member of a good portion of the diet clubs. I would have written all, but there was never a Rosemary Connelly class in my area!! I did have her aerobics video though .

So, I began the "regime" with Darcey Bussell's pilates DVD - bought about 3 years ago, used once. The first issue was not being able to find the yoga mat, so I ended up shunting Baby Monkey's toys to the side of the rug and using Preteen Monkey's little mermaid beach towel instead. This proved worringly skiddy and once I got on the floor to stretch out, I seriously doubted I was getting back up again.
Darcey actually seems pretty good at pilates - I was once, many many moons ago, actually much slimmer than I am now and used to do pilates four times a week. You would NEVER believe this if you could see me sitting here now. Anyway, she seems to know her stuff and the routine is good. I decided this because it nearly killed me, so it was obviously working. At one point I was on all fours, stretching out my arm and alternative leg, attempting to balance and hold in my core (stomach, pelvic floor). I'm surprised no passers-by heard the alarmingly heavy breathing and called either an ambulance or the police . It was not good. The biggest let-down ever was me dragging my slanket (the romantic, gigantic pink fleece blanket slash moo moo that my husband bought me for Christmas. Other women get saucy pants.) down to the floor for the relaxing meditation at the end which is a prerequisite of ever pilates session, only to find that there wasn't one.

Dieting has been okay. My main issue has been remembering I'm on one . I left work thinking of sending hubby for fish and chips because it's the weekend. I'm surprised my burning thighs didn't give me a constant reminder of my pains yesterday. We had pasta. I'm now attempting to drum up the motivation to do another DVD. I hate being fat. I want to be one of those thin people with a freakish metabolism who can live off junk and still be size 6. A girl can dream...

Snowdonlily

Hi mumto2monkeys.............your post really made me smile........it could have been written about me!!

I'm mum to 3 monkeys, only they're not really monkeys anymore...........more like three huge hairy gorillas.............constantly foraging for food and grunting at each other! I've tried all the slimming clubs meetings and online diets and spent a fortune on slimming pills and supplements (not Xenical though - only one bathroom in our house!!). DS2 and I went halves on a Wii and Wii active before Christmas (I nearly fell off the balance board when it told me how much I weigh)

The first thing I ever sold on ebay was my Slendertone ab toner belt! :rotfl:

I've set myself a target.......I'm going to try and lose 56lbs (already lost 5 1/2) before DS2's 18th birthday party in July (while hopefully paying as much debt off as possible along the way).

Keep up the good work :T

true27

Hi!

Well done on the Pilates DVD, I might have to invest in Darcey's although she makes me cross being all limber and skinny.....

A piece of advice though, don't try the !!!!!CatDolls new one. I borrowed it from my (considerably younger, thinner and fitter) sister in law. OMG. There is only one word for it - WRONG :rotfl:

Keep it up though, you've inspired me to have a go (hence the PCD fiasco) plus I don't spend so much time worrying about debts when I have to concentrate on breathing

Have a good weekend with your monkeys!! xx

savingholmes

good luck with the diet and your dfw journey