Trying to lose!

31st Jan – things sorted out, a silver lining for my friend.

Evening.

Today has been a good day. I had initially booked today of work to do a good top to bottom house clean. Very much needed given the lack of time I’ve had since… well before Christmas!

Time is something I really miss and need right now. As you know we’ve had stuff on every weekend since before Christmas. Last night we were asked to have kids, so this weekend my sister’s kids, next weekend, Paul’s sister’s young girls, weekend after, Paul’s sister’s lad.

I’m praying for a lock in the following week, no kids, no family, no friends. Nothing!

The result of my day off has not provided me with a beautifully clean home!

Instead, I finally got some financial stuff tidied up and organised, a very much surface clean only has almost been completed, nice lunch was had with mum and sis, visit to my friend was had, a burn to my finger tips, and we are just back in from taking my friend out of town to pick up two kitties.

About my friend and the kitties, for as long as I’ve known Angela she had always had cats, the last one died sometime ago. I think it was a good idea for her to get more now, given the loss of her husband. I think it’s true that some people take great comfort in their furry family members.

Paul is such a sweetheart, he was more than happy to help my friend out. As if I needed a reason to remember he is a wonderful and kind man.

As for my gums… not too bad today, I took some tablets at lunchtime, and then some after dinner tonight, but that’s been it. I think the corsodyl gel is helping!

I suspect a few of her videos may make it on to this blog 🤣

Anyway, on to my daily update!

Sleep – I had quite a few loo stops last night

Food – ok, I’ve slipped a bit today. Not with bad food, but with lack of good food!

I didn’t eat until lunch time, and being Friday it was lunch with mum. We didn’t go to our usual place, so I had to think about what to have.

I opted for lasagna and salad. Oh… and one of mums chips!

And then for dinner we had lightly dusted fish with oven cooked chips, beans and tender stem broccoli.

For some reason the fish stuck to the tray, so this is not the prettiest of photos, but tasty nonetheless.

And it was while cooking dinner that I was stupid enough to pick up a tray without a tea towel!

Had to cut up my dinner like a toddler so I can eat one handed 🤣

We took the hour drive to cats after dinner, so I put together a jar of cold water with a lot of ice so I could keep my finger submerged. I needed more cold water on the return home!

No exercise. There was going to be a walk tonight until my friend asked for help getting kitties.

Anyway, that’s my update for today.

G’night

30th Jan – a good food day, a productive work day

Hey all, mouth still hurting and it’s wearing me down. But, I have tomorrow of, so I can potter about at my own speed 😊

I’ve got a few tasks to do tomorrow, housework in readiness of my sister’s kids coming over Saturday morning for the weekend, sort out a couple of financial bits, visit with my friend and go to lunch with mum and sis.

Should be a good productive day.

Speaking of which, today at work was a much needed good day, lots of bits tied off and tidied up. A much better and more enjoyable day!

Sleep was quite good again last night, 20 odd minutes of deep sleep, and only 1 loo stop WOOHOO!

I’m thinking of jigging my daytime food about a bit. I’m just not wanting my salad until much later than usual.

I’m going to stretch the big salad over three days, not two, and see how that goes. This will drop my veggies down a portion a day, but we are having plenty anyway, so that’s ok.

If I still feel like there’s too much food I shall try cutting out the egg. After that, some of the fruit.

Anyway, we’ll see.

On to today.

Food – 40g natural nuts, 90g dried fruits, 1 hard boiled egg, 1 cheese portion.

Lunch was prawn salad.

Dinner was wonderful, comforting liver.

We forgot the bacon, so Paul added in mushrooms and garlic. It was delish!

1 chocolate from the boss’s box of chocs. I’ve told Peter and Liz that the chocolates need to be gone before I get back into work on Monday!

Fluid – 2 mugs of water, 4 teas.

Exercise – no, and I’m praying Paul doesn’t suggest a walk! I know this is not the attitude I should have, but seriously, I’m still tired (my eyes are stinging as I type this) and my jaw is throbbing quite a bit. But if he suggests, I’ll get pissed off, then say yes anyway. I hope he doesn’t ask!

So that’s me.

I’ll update you tomorrow

Bye 🤗

29th Jan – a begrudged walk!

So we were snuggling up watching Tom Kerridge, and then Paul said “Shall we go for a walk after this love?”

Remember people, I’m cream crackered! And I look it!

See?!?!?

So I whinged and moaned, Paul said “I can go on my own love.”

Any the inner me took over my mouth and said…

“No love, I’ll go with you. I really do need to do some exercise”

WHAT THE HELL!!!!!

So I went for a walk!

Secretly, between you and me, I’m glad we went 🤭

I don’t feel so ashamed of my tiny work out earlier.

This gives me a combined exercise tally of 27 minutes of vigorous work out and 26 minutes of moderate exercise.

So, there we have it, a surprise walk, and me feeling quite pleased with myself 😁

Night

29th Jan – just another day!

Hey all, hope you are well.

Nothing much to tell you about today.

My gums still hurt, but I’m using the soft toothbrush and corsodyl gel, and anbesol during the day.

I managed to get a really decent sleep last night, obviously totally knackered from the night before!

Look at that!!! 47 minutes of deep sleep… and only 2 loo stops!

Oddly, I was still utterly whacked out today. I’m looking forward to bed.

I was seriously considering having a kip during my lunchtime, in hindsight I should have done.

So, on to the day.

I had my usual daytime food, 40g natural nuts, 90g dried fruits, 1 hard boiled egg, 1 cheese portion.

For lunch I had my nice big bowl of salad.

Seems I didn’t save the pic I took of it!

And for dinner we had an almost veggie day with falafel, salad, prawns, all in wholemeal seeded flatbread with a light scraping of spread.

Messy and fun to eat, and filling!

Fluid – I’ve had 5 teas today, 3 cups of water (cooled down from kettle so as not to aggravate my gums). I’ll have another glass of water shortly.

Exercise – I had a choice, exercise or sleep this afternoon, all morning I was thinking sleep, then walk tonight.

Instead I decided to exercise.

HUGE mistake, because I’m so tired, I could only manage 7 minute cardio, and am scuppered this evening, so no walk.

TIP TO SELF – listen to my body! It knows what it needs!

So that’s me.

Night 🤗

28th Jan – hmmm. Should have gone to dentist a couple of weeks ago…

Or at least made an appointment!

Long and short, I’m in pain and bloody knackered!

Went to bed last night, it was quite late, courtesy of my love affair with my new phone 😉

Cuddled into Paul, which means I was lying on the bad mouth side, turned over, and the agonising throbbing was relentless! Got up at 11.45pm took some prescription strength codeine which also has paracetamol in, went back to bed, tried sleeping flat on my back, unnatural for me, but obviously my head kept lolling, so an hour later I took ibuprofen. Tried again to sleep, half an hour later, in agony, I came down stairs, propped up cushions on the sofa and tried to sleep sitting up!

3 hours! That’s how much sleep I got.

Work was… fun! A real scrappy day, loads of issues and I had a ridiculously fuzzy head. Peter very kindly suggested I work from home, at least I was in the comfort of my own home then. Liz and Peter were great, they picked up some of my work.

I tried to sort out dinner, Paul had to take over for me.

The annoying thing is that I’m in a really determined mood at the moment, I’m desperate to be serious about my fitness! I need to get on with it! Instead, I’m sitting here at 8.30pm feeling slightly drunk 🤨

I called the dentist, they originally advised they could see me in March. Luckily the receptionist realised I’m quite desperate, so I now have an appointment 11th Feb.

In the meantime, in an effort to get some form of exercise today, Paul and I walked to the shops so I could buy anbesol (an antibacterial and antiseptic mouth gel) corsydl gel (to use after brushing my teeth) and a super soft bristled toothbrush.

God I hope I sleep tonight!

So, here’s my day today…

Food – 40g natural nuts, 90g dried fruit, 1 hard boiled egg and a cheese portion.

Lunch was salad, with a dressing this time. And quite late as I just didn’t want it.

Dinner was chicken in a maggi bag, with a pepper, onion, mushrooms and a load of garlic, and oven cooked spuds.

Fluid – Paul made me tea this morning, he realised I would need a hot drink bless him.

I haven’t had a glass of milk today, I’ll have a warm milk tomorrow, maybe add a bit of honey.

In total I’ve had 5 cups of tea, and another one on the go now.

Exercise – disappointingly not much. My watch shows I’ve done 24 minutes of activity, and the gentle walk to and from the shop has added about 2000 steps to my step count, which brings it up to 3600 steps for the day.

At this rate I’ll make it up the first 100 metres of Snowdon!

So, here’s to hoping for a good night’s sleep tonight!

27th Jan – a day to be pleased with.

Hey all, hope you are well. My apologies for not posting this yesterday.

I have a confession from Sunday night! Found a treat on my pillow when I went to bed. A chocolate coin 😋

Work is a pain at the moment, problem after problem! So the least said about that the better.

And as for my teeth… well that’s a rant for the next post!

I’m finding my mojo where my lifestyle is concerned, or it’s hunting me down 😆

I’ve decided to really kick myself into gear with exercising, I really do want to be fit and healthy, and only I can make that happen.

Now, as for my reason for not writing up my post last night… I have a beautiful new phone! Once dinner was done and dusted I tried, with much frustration, to do… I dunno… stuff???

We still have to transfer my old number to this phone, other than that I’m good to go.

One tiny issue, there’s a game I play, and I had reached level 3700ish, I’m now on level 1 🤨. Small price to pay!

So what went on in my day?

Food – 40g natural nuts, 90g dried fruits, 1 hard boiled egg.

Salad for lunch, no dressing – I had dressing today! I round salad with no dressing to dry as it’s not quite the salad mix I usually have which is a bit more moist and flavoursome.

Dinner was smoked salmon with quick cook rice, peas and sweetcorn. I love smoked fish!

We also had fat free Greek yoghurt with seeds and honey.

There was a chocolate from work, and half a Christmas tree chocolate before bed.

Fluid – no milk, we had run out, but I had a glass of water in the morning instead. I had three cups of tea during the day, and another glass of water in the evening.

Exercise – I did 4 x 10minute walks up and down the office yesterday, and surprisingly I managed to work up a sweat. I even jogged a bit! Thankfully, I work in a very small team, so there was only Peter to see me being weird!

But that bit of office workout gave me 25 minutes of vigorous exercise and 17 minutes of moderate activity. Not bad!

So that’s how yesterday went. I’ll do a new post for today… and last night!

Time to get serious with my fitness!

For those who have followed me for a while, you may remember this photo.

Beautiful view from the little holiday cottage, looking out to Snowdon.

Lovely, stunning… unless you have a desire to get up it… and the energy to get back down it!

That mountain is 1085m to her peak, and I want to do it!

We’re going up hopefully end of july, so I’ve got quite a bit of work to do!

Many times over the years I have written down some kind of exercise routine, but I think I just like lists, I never put the plan into action.

Now if I’m gonna be fit enough to do Snowdon by foot (and possibly hands and knees) then I don’t think the exercises I was doing last year are going to be enough. Absolutely fine for general fitness, just not enough for 1085m and several hours of continuous exertion.

So, given how reporting in daily helps to keep me motivated and accountable, I’m now going to show you my latest exercise plan! Hoping once I’ve stuck it out there I can’t wimp out 😳

Anyway, here’s February’s plan, not a lot going on with it, but a chance to start thinking more seriously about my fitness, understanding I need routine and a start to increasing the intensity within these next few months.

The hill is one I call ‘the bitch’, but quite seriously if i can’t do that, I’ve no chance!

Below is March’s plan as well, it might change as I’ll keep reviewing, but it gives you an idea of my thought process.

Anyway, mammoth task, but what a reward if I succeed!

Wish me luck!

TRADE OFF – choc v walk

Morning all, Monday morning has rolled round. I’ve walked in to find my boss’s chocolates are still around!

I managed to refrain last week, but not today, especially with the creme egg option!

So… here’s what I did:

And here’s my treat!

For the record, the exercise will be on top of any exercise for exercise sake.

Have a good day all.

26th Jan – a lovely day seeing In-Laws.

Hey all, hope you are all well and ready for the coming week.

We had a lovely afternoon today round Paul’s parents, tomorrow is mum in law’s birthday. She was very pleased with the garden centre vouchers.

It was great seeing the kids and playing games with Sofia, Gwen and Amy. Kian was more interested in his switch, he’s getting to that age, and little Lilly helped by handing out the scrabble tiles, if she felt we deserved them 🤣. Everyone else watched football!

We got home about an your ago, and Paul very kindly took my car to garage for some fuel.

While he was out I boiled the last 2 eggs for our day food tomorrow (I’ll need to boil some more up tomorrow night after shopping), and weighed out all the pots of nuts and fruit for the week.

I didn’t even have to separate the salads today, the farm shop had run out off large salad containers, so they separated our salads into smaller tubs instead.

Now we’re watching new top gear. I quite like this trio, Chris, Paddy and Freddy work well together. Rather enjoying Freddy’s tight t shirt as well 😁

Anyway, on to my day ..

Sleep – it was ok. We went to bed late last night, we binge watched BBC’s Dracula. Great acting and loved the ending!

Food – we started the day with a cup of tea, glass of orange juice and beans on toast.

Gwen had done a buffet lunch, and I tried to be as good as I could. 3 chicken drumsticks, some salad, 2 flap Jack bites, a small handful of crisps, a small handful of cheese biscuits, 1 small shortbread biscuit (shared with dog) and 1 satay chicken skewer. Oh and 1 bite of sausage.

There was so much on offer, I really do feel pleased that I limited myself! I even turned down ice cream and cheesecake!

I didn’t feel like yoghurt for supper either, I wish I did as I know it’s good for me (dairy and gut bacteria health) but I simply don’t want anything right now. I will have a cheese portion in a while.

Fluid – I glass of orange juice, 3 teas, 1 glass of water.

Exercise – no.

So that’s it from me.

Night

25th Jan – WOOHOO success! 2lb off!

Hello! What a good day, saw my friend late morning after breakfast, got weighed, sorted mum in laws present for tomorrow, wrote a post I’ve been meaning to do for a while, made dinner, relaxing right now.

First and foremost… I LOST 2lb… WOOHOO, so pleased!

My new target is to lose 39lb in the next 27 weeks, which is when I go back to beautiful North Wales.

So, week 1/27 2/39lbs lost.

Right, now on to the day.

Sleep – not too shoddy a sleep.

Food – breakfast was beans on toast.

When we weighed we passed a food van… oh the smell of those fried onions! So tonight we decided to have burgers. With fried onions!

First I turned oven on to heat ready for sweet potato fries.

Simple ingredients, 500g 5% fat mince, 1 very big tablespoon oregano, 1 finely chopped onion, 10 turns of salt mill and 5 turns of pepper mill.

Mixed all the ingredients together and leave to one side.

Prepared ingredients to go with bun, sliced gerkins, grated cheese (30g per burger), sliced onion, sliced rolls.

I fried of the onions in 1cal spray then popped them in a small ovenproof dish with a bit of water, wrapped in foil and popped in oven to keep warm.

Cooked chips as per instruction.

Made patties out of burger mix and started cooking with a few squirts of 1cal on almost full heat. Covered.

Took just under 20 minutes, turning regularly.

Halfway through cook time I popped the buns under the grill to toast slightly.

Apparently a good cook knows when food is cooked, I am not a good cook. I prefer to check physically that food is safe to eat. So I cut into the middle of a burger to make sure.

With just a couple more minutes needed, I piled each burger with cheese and squashed it down with the lid of the frying pan.

Then, time to dish up!

Fried onion, then gerkins, then burgers, then sauce!

So healthy whole wheat buns, healthier meat, oven chips, cheese for dairy, gerkins and onions for some veggies. But still the problem on quantity! Apparently Paul thought 250g of meat wouldn’t be enough for two of us 🤣

Bless him! As happy as Larry! He didn’t eat it all.

And guess what, neither did I! In fact nowhere near! I did eat a couple more mouthfuls than I should have done, but I’m pleased I stopped!

That is what I left!

Now, I’m not going to sit here all smug, I found a secret bag of crisps today, we will be eating them.

I have also had a small glass of baileys, but will continue with a treat of Pepsi max.

Nothing to say about exercise I’m afraid.

Anyway, that’s me for now.

Night