I’ve written before about how I joined Slimming World to lower my weight so that my BMI would be low enough to start HRT. Things were going really well – now they’re not, so it’s time to take control again!
I’ve been a member of Slimming World for the best part of four years and, at the back end of last year, hit a new PB of 4st 3lb lost. My target has always been to lose 5st and so I was well on the way.
Then I broke up with my partner and ended up drinking too much wine and gaining a fair few lb. I lost loads of weight in November but then I stopped cycling (I never cycle in the winter as I’m far too nesh!) and then Christmas happened.
Christmas is bad enough anyway – but it’s even “worse” for me because I have an agreement with one of my business associates that he pays me with wine instead of money (he’s a wine merchant).
So, a few days before every Christmas, I take delivery of £300 of top-quality wines – reds, whites and some bubbles for good measure.
Normally, I’m pretty good when it comes to drinking at home. I can moderate my alcohol intake pretty well and record the syns.
But when you’ve got dozens of bottles of stunning wine sitting in your pantry and it’s the holiday season, any thoughts of “being good” turn to thoughts of “Oh, fuck it!” and I can easily guzzle down a couple of bottles in a night.
So as well as eating stuff that I’d never normally touch over the festive season (pies, cheese, chocolate, etc), I’ve been drinking a tad too much as well.
My worst festive period with Slimming World was two years ago when I gained 11lb in just two weeks (6lb in Christmas week and 5lb in new year week). This year, I beat that. In Christmas week alone, I gained 13lb – IN A WEEK!
Half of me was mortified to think that was even possible without a diet of pure lead – and yet the other half was pretty bloody impressed with this dubious honour. I set about trying to find out what the group record for a gain was, and asked my consultant, Liza.
Sure enough, it was only 11lb (at least in her three years in charge of the group). I had smashed the record by 2lb. So then I got on to the Two Chubby Cubs Facebook group and asked the members there if anybody could beat my 13lb Christmas gain.
And nobody could! One had gained 12.5lb and loads more had gained less than that, but not one person told me they’d gained more than 13lb. Not bad when you think the group has almost 81,000 members!
I’m not too concerned because I know that, when I’m really dedicated, I can easily shift 4lb or 5lb a week, especially after a big gain. My record loss was 8lb.
Anyway, we Slimming World members have this great phrase when we’ve slipped up, and that’s to “draw a line”.
And so, after a much smaller gain of a 2.5lb in new year week, I have done just that. In fact, the weigh-in lady – let’s call her Beryl – even drew a line in my book. Thus:
For the past week, I’ve hardly been angelic, but I have cut down on the wine (mainly because it’s nearly all gone!) and I went along to weigh-in tonight, thinking I may have lost a pound or so. I hopped on the scales and I’d lost 5lb! Well happy with that, and I really want to use it as a springboard to get back to where I was (and beyond) last year.
One thing that really helps me lose weight is to tackle matters scientifically – so I write down every single thing I eat and drink in a spreadsheet and work out the syns, trying to get an average of 20 or so per day over a week. Some days I might have 100 syns (wine!) but then others I can easily have zero. It’s a strategy called Flexible Syns, and I’ve nailed it.
Something else that really helps me is to plot my weight loss every week on a graph. And now that my blog has its own domain name, I can download plugins, including one called Weight Loss Tracker. And here it is!
[wlt]
xxx
[wlt-chart user-id=andiepasdedeux ignore-login-status=true]
xxx
NB: It appears you need to be logged in to see this. I’m trying to figure out how to sort it out. Bear with me!
So the plan is to update the tracker every week with my progress. I know that if I’ve got my blog followers watching, I’ll have more motivation to “be good”.
Sooooo, I’ve set myself a new year’s resolution that I’m going to get to target by the end of of the year, if not earlier. I set myself the same resolution in 2017 actually and was way ahead of schedule for months – but then life got in the way.
Oh, and one more thing. Tonight was the first time I’ve “stayed to group” since before Christmas, and my hair has come on leaps and bounds since then – quite a few people noticed it and paid compliments. Even the Minoxidil appears to have kicked in after just a week, and I definitely have that “peach fuzz” thing going on on the baldy bits of my bonce. Bring on the long locks!
Andie xxx
Nat says
You can do it Hun! You know that Slimming World works for you…get ‘Food Optimising’, cut down on the alcohol and drink lots of water…you know how it works!
I challenge you to loose 3lbs at your next weigh in!
You can do it!
Love nat x
Andie Pas de Deux says
Ha ha, 3lb is my target – in fact over half the room made 3lb their target, so there’s gonna be a bit of a fight for SotW next week! :o)
Thanks, Nat. Yeah, I know I can do it. Bit miffed I put those extra pounds on but I know I can do it if I stick to the plan and, most importantly, write everything down.
Mwah! xxx
shazzl3 says
Well done for turning things around Andie!
Re cycling – I have missed doing the same. Last week I dusted a couple of my bikes off for a few hours ride one day & a local trip the next.
Straddling the Closet in the local vicinity isn’t helping tbh. I’d normally use my DutchBike a few times a week at least for local journeys but instead have been opting to go out as myself further afield in the car.
Same with longer dog walks, not that the little ratter is complaining lol!
Sending 💜 & hope things are all good 😊
Andie Pas de Deux says
Thanks so much, Shaz! Ya can’t keep a good girl down. Pretty busy with work and a tax return right now but will get back into my cycling once all that’s put of the way in February. Would be nice to start ballet again at some point, too, although need to be careful with the pennies so that might need to wait a bit longer. Glad that you’ve been getting out and about. Hopefully your neighbours will react the same as mine when you eventually get there. I told my next-door neighbour tonight and she was over the Moon! xxx