100 weeks to turn my health situation around

pavlovs_dog

i've been quietly lurking here for a while and murmering along in agreement throughout. Planning on climbing aboard during the school summer hols, so I have 6 weeks where I can't use lack of time as an excuse. They reckon it takes 21 days to establish a new habit, so that gives me a fighting chance to get into a better routine by September.

On the gym front, I also don't feel like I can justify £40 a month on gym membership. I've recently discovered blogilates. She has a blog and a youtube channel where she posts about pilates based exercise. Some might find her too American, but I love her boundless energy and enthusiasm. She has a beginners calendar on one of her blog posts from the start of June. I plan on giving it a whirl (possibly alongside couch to 5k).

Rachel021967

Hello,

Reading your post motivated me to get in shape. I am 5 stone over weight and need to exercise more and eat healthier. I have dusted off the diet book and bought food for 3 days. I also bought The Telegraph's walking to stay fit. I don't know when I'll start excising as DD no.3 is sick and too young to leave at home. Homefully a good nights sleep will do her good.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

I obviously don't know everybody's personal circumstances...but the £37 I pay per month for leisure centre membership is easily outweighed by the amount of money I saved from not buying and eating so much food.

Ok, I then kinda ruin the illusion by conceding I spend the remaining money on gigs and booze, but the principle stands.


Sorry, just back from another long night out. I've eaten proper junk for the first time in months during rehearsal today, and I've been out in the sun, so I've got a banging headache. But just thought I'd mention it before I go to sleep and forget all about the point I was trying to make!

elantan

sometimes i meet people and they comment on how intelligent etc i am ... i kinda look at them and think eh that's common sense to me i aint that clever... now sometimes i am stunned by how dozy i can be, today for instance

it finally dawned on me something that i should have figured out a long long time ago.

el ... when the belt you are wearing gets too loose change it to the next belt, dont wait till y ou can get it down another wee bit cause you know what happens ... you eat more and the weight goes back up and the belt gets tighter and you need to start from scratch again... if you change to the other belt it may just stop you eating crap and piling the weight on again ...

DUH ... ever feel like slapping you head ... today i was pulling up my trousers after going to the toilet and i was thinking sigh this belt was so loose on me a few weeks ago now its getting tight again, how can i stop myself from getting to the stage where its too tight again, ehhh change to your new belt dummy

now can you see why i sometimes look at those that say i am intelligent and think eh thats common sense i aint that clever

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

elantan wrote: »

sometimes i meet people and they comment on how intelligent etc i am ... i kinda look at them and think eh that's common sense to me i aint that clever... now sometimes i am stunned by how dozy i can be, today for instance

it finally dawned on me something that i should have figured out a long long time ago.

el ... when the belt you are wearing gets too loose change it to the next belt, dont wait till y ou can get it down another wee bit cause you know what happens ... you eat more and the weight goes back up and the belt gets tighter and you need to start from scratch again... if you change to the other belt it may just stop you eating crap and piling the weight on again ...

DUH ... ever feel like slapping you head ... today i was pulling up my trousers after going to the toilet and i was thinking sigh this belt was so loose on me a few weeks ago now its getting tight again, how can i stop myself from getting to the stage where its too tight again, ehhh change to your new belt dummy

now can you see why i sometimes look at those that say i am intelligent and think eh thats common sense i aint that clever

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::D



2.4 lbs off on the scale today.


(we'll ignore the fact that some of this [STRIKE]could[/STRIKE] will be dehydration from alcohol consumption, I'm still 5lbs down despite it having been PMT week. )

elantan

well done you ... i'm currently staying away from the scales ... they scare me just now

tattycath

I still need to get weighed.
I did have a healthy meal/well sandwiches tonight.: granary bread rolls with lettuce, cucumber, tomato and ham with a bit of mayo...
Then I had strawberries and cream

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

elantan wrote: »

well done you ... i'm currently staying away from the scales ... they scare me just now

They're overrated as a way of gauging success. I'm far more interested in how smaller 'normal' sizes are getting scarily close to fitting me. And how there's this strange dent in my sides where I bend in the middle. Apparently, it's called a waist. And the cat has space to sit on my legs instead of being pushed out the way by my belly now.



I've set myself reasonable goals. First was simply to be aware of what I'm eating. Then it was introducing some exercise. And then it was being aware why I wanted to eat something and making a decision whether I really wanted to eat it or whether there was something else bothering me that needed to be sorted out.


My next goal is more specific - to get to a size 18. Last time I was an 18 was about 15 years ago, and at that time, I weighed 14 stone. So I am assuming that this will take around 3-5 months if I continue in pretty much the same way I am now.







After that, I'd ultimately like to fit into size 16 jeans. I'm not particularly bothered about my chest size, as comparatively, I've never had a large bust even at my largest. I'm not worried about the size of my backside - a big bum isn't a bad thing as far as I'm concerned (and I can't see it, it's behind me ). The area I don't like is my stomach. It's the least healthy place to carry fat, and in all honesty, is the one thing about me that I detest having to look at.


It's impossible to spot reduce, fat comes off pretty much evenly everywhere - and I will have some excess skin, whatever I do - but, at a rough estimate, I'd say that, in order to lose enough fat to fit 16s round my waist, I probably need to get to about 12.5 stone.



I expect that final quarter of fat loss/fitness to take longer. Just because this has seemed so easy, really. I'd rather be prepared for it to be harder and slower and then find it less difficult than the reverse.


Anyhow, that gives me the targets of Size 18 in the next 12 - 20 weeks and Size 16 by this time next year. The weights and timescales are just rough guidelines for me - if I get to 16 and I weigh 13 stone, or I have to go to 12 stone, that's OK. If it happens more quickly, but still safely, great.

IF I find that I continue to lose fat after that point, whilst eating appropriate amounts of food and exercising, then that's good. But I'm not going to reassess until I'm at that size 16 point.




Is there a reasonably achievable short term goal that you could set for yourself? Something for the next 12 weeks, for example? Not a set size or weight, just something you could do right now, like I did with recording food choices, or asking myself what I really wanted when standing in front of the fridge?



(By the way, I had some chocolate today. It was alright. But the rest went back into the fridge)

elantan

Jojo_the_Tightfisted wrote: »

They're overrated as a way of gauging success. I'm far more interested in how smaller 'normal' sizes are getting scarily close to fitting me. And how there's this strange dent in my sides where I bend in the middle. Apparently, it's called a waist. And the cat has space to sit on my legs instead of being pushed out the way by my belly now.

That must be a great feeling... well done


I've set myself reasonable goals. First was simply to be aware of what I'm eating. Then it was introducing some exercise. And then it was being aware why I wanted to eat something and making a decision whether I really wanted to eat it or whether there was something else bothering me that needed to be sorted out.

i like the way you have broken this down to really small steps .. making it easier to do i imagine


My next goal is more specific - to get to a size 18. Last time I was an 18 was about 15 years ago, and at that time, I weighed 14 stone. So I am assuming that this will take around 3-5 months if I continue in pretty much the same way I am now.

Thats very good and a great goal to get to, would love to be a size 18 myself by the end of the year, to be honest i would love to be an 18 before then but with the second holiday coming up i think taking till then end of the year would be a more realistic goal tbh


After that, I'd ultimately like to fit into size 16 jeans. I'm not particularly bothered about my chest size, as comparatively, I've never had a large bust even at my largest. I'm not worried about the size of my backside - a big bum isn't a bad thing as far as I'm concerned (and I can't see it, it's behind me ). The area I don't like is my stomach. It's the least healthy place to carry fat, and in all honesty, is the one thing about me that I detest having to look at.

i am very large busted and even when i was a size 10 i looked much bigger due to my bust, i think i like the idea of working down clothes size. i tend not to use the weighing scales often as i know they can give a wrong picture and can mess with the head, hence the belt comment ... i think though i have tried to get my moneys worth out of my belt and just get it to stretch that wee bit more .that will stop though next time i get it to the last hole, i will not try wearing it for another wee while to get my moneys worth out of it


It's impossible to spot reduce, fat comes off pretty much evenly everywhere - and I will have some excess skin, whatever I do - but, at a rough estimate, I'd say that, in order to lose enough fat to fit 16s round my waist, I probably need to get to about 12.5 stone.

i'm not sure what i would need to loose. i do tend to find though that whilst i have no control really over where the fat goes from, some places loose inches faster and easier than others... now if only i had control over that

I expect that final quarter of fat loss/fitness to take longer. Just because this has seemed so easy, really. I'd rather be prepared for it to be harder and slower and then find it less difficult than the reverse.

i think this is the way of it ... i know most people i speak to find it like this ... it starts off easier but you have to up your game towards the end


Anyhow, that gives me the targets of Size 18 in the next 12 - 20 weeks and Size 16 by this time next year. The weights and timescales are just rough guidelines for me - if I get to 16 and I weigh 13 stone, or I have to go to 12 stone, that's OK. If it happens more quickly, but still safely, great.

i like that way of thinking, i would like to do something similar i think

IF I find that I continue to lose fat after that point, whilst eating appropriate amounts of food and exercising, then that's good. But I'm not going to reassess until I'm at that size 16 point.

thats a great way of thinking of it... break it down one or two sizes at a time, eventually i want to be a size 12 loose maybe 10ish ... but i never want to be a size 8 or anything as i feel for me ( and i can only talk for me) that would be too thin, i may in fact get to size 14 and feel that i am comfortable with it so will see how it goes


Is there a reasonably achievable short term goal that you could set for yourself? Something for the next 12 weeks, for example? Not a set size or weight, just something you could do right now, like I did with recording food choices, or asking myself what I really wanted when standing in front of the fridge?

i would like to do this, i have the holiday to work around as well though, not sure how i can work the holiday and weight loss/health gain around the holiday, but i want to, i sometimes think that right now because i am between holidays i am also treating that as i kinda breathing space from it all... maybe what i need to do is make the plans and start implementing them to see if they will work so that when i get back from my holidays i will get stuck in ... if that makes sense ?



(By the way, I had some chocolate today. It was alright. But the rest went back into the fridge)

Hey jo,

thanks for the messages, i have been having a few busy mse days, meeting up with a mse'r and looking forward to meeting up with another on friday, i am having fun as i was ill last week and have had so many things lately that i have not had time to do things for me, this week has been one of those soul food weeks that we need every now and then to come back to centre to be able to move forward with new plans etc .. and exactly what i have needed and wanted

right ... with this in mind ... goal making

i think i like this idea of breaking things right down, right now i must be a size 20/18 or so ... by the end of the year i want to be a comfortable 18 tight 16 ...

i am going back to basics, today i had a good low carb breakfast ... but then had two jaffa cakes, mr el is having his sugar addiction time just now, and he is leaving things in my line of vision ( not on purpose just because thats the way he is) so i was making the breakfast and was hungry so ate some jaffa cakes .. i looked at them and thought do i want them ... well no i dont ... but i am hungry just now so i ate them

the omlette wasnt made fast enough basically, but i think that was because i slept so late today, i slept till 12pm, i have had a few stressful nights with family stuff so have been lying in my bed mulling things over and not sleeping till 4 am or so then gettting woken by mr el at 6 am and falling back over at 8 am ish ...

tonight i will take my melatonin so that i should fall asleep, i will be up early anyway as i am meeting a lovely lady, but i will take melatonin on friday night as well so that i get a rest full sleep and wake up early on saturday as well

elantan

Meal plan made for next week ... Melatonin taken for the evening ... So far so good

How's everyone else doing ?