Another update on the fitness regime

I thought it was about time that I gave you an update on my fitness regime. Not that there is a great deal to say because, unfortunately, it has stalled somewhat.

You all know that in the early days I did really well, doing exercise, eating less and more healthily and losing 10lb in the process.  And that's about it. Nothing else has happened and, as it always does, life has overtaken me.

I haven't put the weight back on, mind you, but I certainly haven't lost any more. The busyness of work, trying to run the house and now starting rehearsals again means that I just don't have time to think about my food, which is what you really have to focus on if you want to seriously lose weight. 

Having just been on holiday, and feeling rather pleased that I have managed to squeeze back into a pair of jeans I left in Crete last autumn, I am however conscious that in a swimsuit I still look rather like a lemon on matchsticks (or a weeble, if you prefer) and must lose some more. So the promised supermodel status is still some way off.

The Hubby also feels like a weeble, so we are climbing back on the wagon as I write and, with the exception of going out to dinner, all booze, sugar and the majority of fat and carbs are banned. We have eight weeks before going to Greece again, and will have lost more weight by then and done some more exercise.

I have the added incentive that I am incredibly skint, and need to cut down on the shopping bill. Buying less of the luxuries will have the benefit not only of making me trimmer but also of making me richer. And I do think it gets easier to lose weight when the weather is warmer and you simply don't feel like eating loads of the stodgy comfort food you eat in the winter.

I will need to discipline myself to keep out of the kitchen, since I find baking an incredibly relaxing and fulfilling activity. But it's chronically bad for the waistline, so I mustn't do it. Instead I'll have to do some more writing and perhaps focus on that self help book I intend to e-publish.

I wonder if I ought to write a chapter on dieting?

An update on the fitness regime.

Once again, I thought I’d give you an update on the fitness regime.

Sadly, over the last fortnight, not all has gone to plan and my exercise regime has suffered somewhat from busyness and can’t-be-botheredness.

We have had a fairly social fortnight, so there has been lots of nice food in the house and lots of sinful stuff.  Cakes, puddings, far too much carbohydrate and far too much wine. Although I haven’t put any of the weight I lost back on, in the past fortnight I haven’t lost any more. Which is disappointing.

I haven’t been back to the gym or used my Zumba dance thing on the Wii either.  The gym I do have a semi excuse for, in that I’m skint and also each night I have had a commitment to do something which needed me to be at home. But I don’t really have any excuse for not doing the Zumba beyond knowing that I couldn’t be arsed! Those of you that know me will be aware that exercise has never been something which has stimulated me, and I have failed to get motivated and excited in what has been a very busy period to even find half an hour to do it. My bad!

This week I don’t really have an excuse. I have a commitment tonight, but after that the week is blank in the diary. Yes, there are the usual household chores to do and we still have the bathroom floor to finish off completely, but I don’t actually have any commitments with other people. And The Hubby is out a lot for work in the evenings this week (or at least that’s what he tells me he’s doing) so I have one or two completely free evenings. I have been paid again (amazingly the Royal Borough keeps shelling out for my services) and am not yet totally skint, so I suppose the gym is beckoning. It will be difficult to put it off any longer.

I am still aiming for supermodel status by the summer, but it might have to be a curvy Sophie Dahl style supermodel instead of a skinny Kate Moss style one. Nothing wrong with that, is there? My trouble is that all my weight sits on my belly (nothing else is fat – much – I still have a nice pert bum and shapely legs and from the back I have achieved my ambition already) and if I don’t lose it and tone up a bit soon there is a danger people will give me their seat on the tube because they think I’m six months gone! I also have a horrendous double chin which is purely weight related and which looks appalling on photos.

My initial target is to lose enough to look good when I play Titania in mid May, since the stage lighting is harsh, drapey fairy costumes reveal every lump and bump and the camera is very unforgiving. Then I have about a month to slim down further for my hols.

I will do it, I will, and I will go to the gym this week. I’ll let you know how I get on again in a week or two’s time!

An update on my fitness regime

I thought it was about time I gave you an update on my fitness regime.

An earlier blog set out all sorts of resolutions for losing weight and getting fitter, having more energy etc, and I bet you all thought I'd given up didn't you, because it had all gone quiet?

As some of you know, I've tried loads of diets in the past. Old fashioned calorie counting (mathematically beyond me after a while and sooo boring) , diet shakes and soups (expensive and a waste of time), Weight Watchers (OK, apart from the collection of permanently lardy and weight obsessed women who go and their blinkered faith in weight watchers soup to help them lose weight - of course it doesn't, because you are so bloody hungry afterwards you eat biscuits!), Atkins (nice lots of protein but hardens your arteries) and detox programmes (disgusting food). None of it has really worked, and none of it has had a long term effect. So this time, I've just cut down, cut out the obvious bad guys (pasta, bread, fried food, fat itself and sugar), eaten more salad, fruit and lean meat and drunk loads of water. So far, together with my little quack herbal supplements (see below), it seems to be working.

Because, ye of little faith, as of last Sunday morning the bathroom scales tell me that in total over the past three weeks I have lost about 10lb in weight. The equivalent of 20 blocks of butter! Come on, that deserves a standing ovation, because it's a bloody good achievement and far more than I have managed at any diet regime whatsoever over the past few years. I am, as of today, feeling slightly smug and pleased with myself.

I think it's a combination of a few things. Smaller portions, no snacking, no alcohol from Sunday to Thursday night, minimal chocolate (I have had one Twirl bar in the last three weeks which has required an incredible effort of will, and nothing else chocolatey at all), no other treats and a bit more physical activity. The Zumba game for the Wii is great fun, and I have been back to the gym (can't afford to do that too often though). I have also been using the herbal appetite suppressants I blogged about a while back, and something called Colon Cleanse (I'm sure I don't have to go into detail about what it does, but apparently Cheryl Cole lost three stone using it, so it must be OK).

So feeling buoyed up by my success, I'm going to keep going. I have a goal weight in sight, and I intend to reach it by the time I go away in the summer. I know it will get harder, but I am more determined this time than I have ever been.

The trouble is, after a few weeks boredom tends to set in and that's when it is easy to stray. So it's probably a good job I am also skint, because that means I can't afford to go to Cafe Nero in the morning and buy a capucino and pain au chocolat, and I make do with a bowl of cereal at the office instead. Lunch is packed up the night before and taken to work, so no temptation to go to Maccie D's, and dinner is good quality protein and nice veg.

I'll keep you posted over the next few weeks, but super model status, here I come!

Getting fit - at last

Regular readers of my blog will know that I committed to getting fit once the panto was finished. I've said it before, and been a dismal failure. However I am now such a lardy-arse that I really have to do something or I will have to start buying clothes where the size starts with the number two, and that I refuse to do! So, good as my word I have really cut down on what I eat, started using some very odd but as far as I can see harmless herbal appetite supressants and stopped snacking or drinking booze Sunday to Thursday.

I've been doing all that for almost two weeks (well, 10 days) and in the first week I lost the grand amount of 5lb! OK, you can stop clapping! However after the initial success things do seem to have stalled and I'm not losing any more. I suspect that is because, very pleased with myself, I have relaxed a bit and had the odd sweet or glass of wine and I did have a Mcdonalds the other day because I was out and about and there was nothing else conveniently available.

Clearly, I need to stay strict and what's more, do some exercise. I've been a bit nervous about that because of all the issues with my knees and back, but its obvious I can't delay any more if I want to be super model sized by June.

So I went back to the gym and did a refresher induction with someone who understands injuries which was fine. I have even been back and done another session myself. Trouble is because of the knees in particular and my general state of unfitness, I can't do much more than half an hour, which makes it bloody expensive each time and as things are a bit tight, I can't afford to do that too often.

So I have dusted off the Wii console and bought myself a Zumba exercise disk. Once I remembered how the machine worked (and after half an hour of frustration discovered that something was unplugged out of the back and that I'd put the disk in the wrong way round [dur!]), I tried it out. It's great fun!

I can see myself dancing away of an evening when I get in from work much to the derision of my daughter and occasionally my step son, to great Latin music and in the process sculpting myself into the body of a 20 year old. When she finds out I've got it, she'll be furious (yes, old panto joke, but still a good one!). Seriously, I do think I might stick at it because the brief bit I tried yesterday, I really enjoyed. Unlike going to the gym, which is torture.

So watch this space for update reports. If you don't see any, you will know that I am thoroughly ashamed of myself and have given up like I have done every other time I have tried to do anything like this. If it's going well, I won't be able to avoid bragging! Wonder which it's going to be?