On the mend

I gained 2lbs back of my 7lb loss last week.  I think that is quite acceptable, and I’m still pleased with a 5lb net loss.  I’ve been feeling much better.  While I am still quite snotty, the vice-like headaches have gone and I don’t feel so woolly.  I have my voice back too, though my cough has gone a bit chesty.  All in all though, it’s a marked improvement from the silent snot monster I was this time last week.

Sadly, the snot has addled my memory a bit.  I was giving Dad a hand setting up his stand at the Exe Model Railway show last night.  I am not always around to help out, but I enjoy it when I do, as it is nice to spend time with Dad and also see some of the people I’ve known since I was a very small child.  It did mean I didn’t get home until about 10:30pm, and I’d decided that I would have a lie in today.  At about 9:30am this morning, I was scrolling through instagram on my phone, and the pictures of Run or Dye had started appearing.

It's only 9:30 and people are covered! #runordyeuk

A post shared by Run Or Dye UK (@runordyeuk) on May 30, 2015 at 1:30am PDT

 

Oops.  I was meant to be there for the 10am start.  It had completely slipped my mind.  I searched through my emails to see if I had been sent a reminder, but if I had, I couldn’t find it.  I am a bit miffed that I missed it, as it was pretty expensive and was sure it would have been good fun.  Maybe next year!

The remaining plan for the weekend is to pack some more boxes (and throw things out as we go), help Dad pack up tomorrow, and drop off the wedding present to our friends who got married last week.

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Off to a cracking start

Weight loss is back off to a cracking start! 7 lbs in one week, which also sees me into the next stone bracket below.

It isn’t a method I would recommend though.  I picked up the lurgy via Matt earlier in the week, and it floored me from Monday night onwards.  Not much keeps me off work, and fewer things still put me off of food, but this did.

The timing was pretty rotten too – it has meant I had to miss a friend’s wedding this weekend.

Never mind, at least I’m on the mend.  These things happen, and it has served to remind me to be grateful that I am very, very rarely properly sick.

We had some good news though – the full survey has come back on the house we’ve put an offer on, and there are no major issues that have been found.

The plan for this week is to keep the water up, finish the antibiotics and eat sensibly (i.e. the stuff that I batch cooked the other weekend).

Summing up my #Whole30 Round 2

I’m now two weeks out of my second Whole 30.

Thirty days of no sugar, no dairy, no legumes.  I’d completed one round in July last year, and had some really good results.  I was expecting something similar this time round.  It didn’t quite pan out like that though.

In terms of cravings and how I feel in myself, the cravings were really knocked on the head.  Possibly the only thing that I truly missed was a cup of tea, and I’ve since made the decision to reintroduce that into my diet.  Life without tea is not a life I want to live!  Not permanently anyway.

I was a bit disappointed that I didn’t perk up as much as I had during the July 2014 round of Whole 30.  I think it might be partly due to the time of year (roll on lighter evenings!), and also that because our diet was so poor in the run up to the start of this Whole 30, my body took longer to catch on.  Now that I’m a couple of weeks out from finishing, and my eating habits have slipped in the last 3 days, in retrospect, I perked up more than I felt I did at the time.  Right now, I’m moody, lethargic, sleeping poorly, my skin is breaking out, and I’m battling my sweet tooth again.  This is after just three days of poor eating!

Properly mid-grump

I tracked my intake with My Fitness Pal during this round, which I didn’t do in July.  I noticed that every now and then when I thought I needed something sweet in the evening, it tended to be when I had a low calorie day.  I was also able to start identifying what causes bingeing behaviours (le sigh Nakd bars!), and I am more aware of what I need to be mindful of.

We also gained much more control out of our food budget.  I am quite embarrassed to admit how much we had been spending on food, takeaway and sweets before the New Year, and one of the driving factors in doing another Whole 30 was to bring some control back to the budget.  This has been completely successful.  While the Whole 30 isn’t the cheapest way of eating, it is much cheaper than what we had been doing.

In terms of the stats, I lost 12lbs (compared with 16lbs in July 2014).  I haven’t taken my inches measurements since finishing.  Matt lost around the same as me, which he is very pleased with.  I’m pleased, especially as I think I had more than my fair share of fruit juice.  It wasn’t wholly about the weight loss, but having seen such high numbers at the start, it is a relief to be on my way back down.

I know a lot of this has been non-scale victories anyway, but probably the one I am most pleased about is walking.  Specifically, being able to walk.  Just before my sister left to go home after Christmas, we went out for a walk along the beach with my mum.  The intention had been to start a Couch to 5k type walking plan (so quicker walking bits rather than running).  I felt low about it anyway, as I was incredibly conscious of how big I had become, but the actual event was worse than I imagined.  We only managed a short distance before I had to stop.  The pain in my back and hips was excruciating.  Mentally, I was already calling Matt to come and pick me up.  I felt so embarrassed – we have walked for miles and miles in times gone by, down the beach, Exmoor, Dartmoor.  There I was, internally melting down because of what I had been doing to myself.  I cried when I got home.

Fast forward 3 weeks and Mum and I were heading out to go shopping.  She’d parked the car about 10 minutes’ walk away, up a hill.  I was told off for marching ahead so quickly.  Matt and I have been out for walks since the end of our Whole 30 too, and it hasn’t been a struggle at all.

We’re now about two weeks out from finishing the Whole 30, and life has carried on reasonably well.  The first week and a half or so, we kept eating the same as we had been but reintroduced tea and porridge (for me) and cereal (for Matt).  This week hasn’t been as good, and we’ve slipped into old ways a little, which isn’t great.  That said, this evening, I’ve made my own mayo, cooked up a breakfast quiche type thing, and sorted out a proper lunch for tomorrow, so we’re getting straight back to it.  We’ve realised that just 3 days of eating badly is really beginning to take its toll (bad tummies, moodiness, cravings, energy slumps, poor sleep, not to mention financially).

How was January for you?  Well done to the Janathoners and Jantastic people!

Scoring a B+ this week

Now, I’m not quite “all over it”, but I’ve done pretty well this week I think.  Headline news is that I am 4lbs down on my weigh in last week, which is really great.  It’s not been the strictest of weeks, but it’s a dramatic improvement on the weeks that have gone before.  Anyway, we have a #TransformationTuesday in the making…

Ignore the lovely face – it was very bright out on our walk today, and I should have remembered my sunglasses.  I am hoping that in a month or so I will be able to post another picture with some noticeable progress.  Every journey starts somewhere right?!

How has this week been different?

Food wise, we haven’t really planned too much.  Luckily there have still been a couple of frozen meals from a batch cooking marathon I did a couple of weeks ago.  A quick nip to Tesco to get some fresh veggies and milk, and we were away!  One day I was incredibly late home, so we ordered takeaway, but other than that, we’ve been sensible.  Breakfast has consisted of porridge, lunch has been soup or leftovers, and teas have been mostly freezer food.  We’re actually beginning to use up some of the stuff in the cupboard that we’ve had for ages.

Favourite food thing this week: Stur squash.  Beki, who blogs over at Miss Wheezy, wrote a post about Stur this week.  They are doing free samples, so I thought I would give it a go, especially as I saw they have a peach iced tea flavour.  My sample arrived really quickly, and it tastes exactly how I expected it to!  Win!

Ooh.. I lied a bit.  I have two favourite things – the second is Christmas pudding Nakd bars!  They’re… well… Christmas puddingy without the calories of a Christmas pud!

This is AMAZING! So, so good! Just what I needed after a slightly rubbishy yoga session. Cinnamon and nutmeg are spice hugs.

A post shared by Stephanie (@steph_bts) on Oct 14, 2014 at 12:25pm PDT

Next up – exercise!  I have a plan, and that plan has worked quite nicely this week.  Of the 7 days, I completed 5, which I think is a good start.  For the runs, I haven’t actually run as I don’t want to kill my knees off, so I’ve walked the distances.  Matt joined me for kettlebells at the start of the week, and also came out on my long “run” today.  I don’t think he’ll be joining me for kettlebells again – he doesn’t quite get that feeling of joy that I get from lobbing weights around.  It’s probably not helped by a muscle twinge that he has been having in his shoulder either.

I’ve struggled a bit with yoga too.  My wrist strength is noticeably poorer than it has been in the past, which makes any poses like downward dog, or even cat/cows intense.  I can’t hold the poses for too long.  I always thought that this was a problem only I really experienced (again, I don’t think the weight helps), but it seems I am not alone, and Ekhart Yoga have even posted a video to help build that strength.

I’m hoping that over the coming weeks and months, completing this video regularly will help me to progress more comfortably in my yoga.

Favourite exercise this week:  My walk with Matt today.  It was nice to get out in the fresh air, and he got to play with his camera too.  Win all round!

Next week, I’m hoping to have eaten a little more into the cupboards and freezer, and then next weekend batch cook a few more meals and also make some soups.  Exercise wise, I plan to start some gentle (read: super slow) running.

How has your week been?

 

 

My #Whole30 results

Day 30 came and went without too much notice.  I had started to feel a bit anxious about what I was going to eat when the Whole30 was over, and partly for good reason.  Matt and I were due to go to the Silverstone Classic on Thursday 24th July.  We made it there in good time, but hadn’t really catered for a camping trip for the Thursday (our Day 30).  We’d already planned to eat whatever we could rather than try to find compliant food when we were out and about, and I had deliberately started the Whole30 when we did so that camping wouldn’t be a problem.

Thursday morning was a bit of a rush, taking photos and measurements before work, but we got it done, and I am certainly pleased with the results, and I know Matt is pretty chuffed with his too.  At the beginning, in my elevator pitch of Whole30, I wrote about what I wanted out of the 30 days:

• Making significant inroads into breaking my problem with sugar

• Learning more about what I truly benefit from and what does me harm

• I won’t lie, some weight loss would be nice!

• I’d also like to see if some of the skin problems I have are linked to my diet.  I imagine that they probably are

Looking at it in a bit of detail, I think it was a worthwhile exercise.

Energy

I didn’t think I was really one to suffer with mid-afternoon slumps, but one thing that has really made itself known since we came off of Whole30 is that I do.  My concentration is poor and I don’t feel like I am firing on all cylinders for a sustained period of time.  On Whole30, I felt great.  The world was my lobster and I felt ready to take on the challenges.

Sleep

I’ve never been a bad sleeper.  I’m a fidget and nuisance as I have restless legs and sleep walk and talk sometimes, but it rarely wakes me up.  Poor Matt, on the other hand, can often be the victim of a randomly flung leg or arm.  I wouldn’t feel like I would wake up refreshed and raring though.  Whole30 didn’t change this for me much.  I continued to sleep well, but I woke feeling a little brighter.

Sugar Addiction

This, for me, has to be one of the greatest successes.  I’m not “cured”, but these 30 days have helped me to sit out a craving, or find something else.  It’s proved to me that I don’t need the sugar and that I work better as a human being with less sugar.  I am still getting cravings every now and then, and although we’re not really following paleo or Whole30 right now, I haven’t slipped back in to my old ways of reaching for the first sweet thing I can find.  I feel like I have made a significant inroad on this particular aspect, and one that I am very keen to continue.

 (source)

Skin

My skin has never been great.  Ever since I hit puberty, the dermatology gods decided that I was destined to be plagued with breakouts and problem skin.  This has continued into my late 20s, though thankfully it isn’t as bad as it used to be.  That said, I am still unhappy with it and I find it to be a source of self-consciousness.  The Whole30 website says that improved skin can be one of the benefits of the 30 days, but I didn’t really find this to be the case.  I must make a point of saying that I have stress related breakouts and July was a stressful month, so Whole30 might have saved me a couple of nasty spots, but I’ll never know.

Weight

I don’t think there is a huge difference between the photos, but there is a good difference on the scales.  I started the Whole30 at 18 stone 9.5lbs and weighed in on Day 30 at 17 stone 7.5lbs, losing 16lbs and 8 inches.  Is it water weight?  Maybe.  I don’t really know.  I have really tried to make this more than just about losing the weight, but this is one of the best indicators for me. Something you can actually see.

Life after Whole30

Since finishing the 30 days, I have not stuck to any semblance of the principles of Whole 30.  This has seen my moods go up and down, my ability to cope with stress is compromised, I’m not feeling as efficient and I’m bloating.  I don’t feel great.  I actually feel sad.

Matt has seen a return to bloating too.

We’ve discussed what our next plans are in terms of diet.  We’ll be returning to a paleo/primal kind of eating soon, working on a 90% rule.  We’ve loved most of the meals that we’ve eaten and definitely want to keep them in the meal plans going forwards.  The issue is that August tends to be quite a social month for us, and eating out on paleo seems quite difficult, though not impossible.  With that in mind, we’ve discussed doing another Whole 30 in September.

I’ve got a few more thoughts on Whole 30 that I will write down at some point soon, but I thought this post was long enough, without getting in to the rest of it.

What a difference a year makes

I haven’t tracked my weight much lately, and I haven’t tracked my measurements for even longer (why hellooooo denial!).  After hunting for my USB stick, I found that the last time I took my measurements was last May.  I looked like this:

With some trepidation, I stepped on the scales.  After fainting and scraping myself off the floor weighing in, I dug out the tape measure and took my measurements.  The verdict?  Over two and a half stone heavier now compared to this time last year (when I got down to my lowest in two years – 15st 13lbs).  I’m currently sporting a mass of 18st 9lbs.

I’m nearly back to square one.  Probably back at square one in some respects.  While my weight is not back to its highest (quite), my measurements are higher than they were in March 2012 when I was at my heaviest.

I took some new photos, and took stock of where I am.  The last few months has seen me spiral out of control, despite not being as stressed as I have been in the past.  I dread to think how much junk food I have munched through since Christmas, stuffing my face while I contemplate why I do this to myself.  I am even beginning to experience some new-to-me symptoms of a poor diet, including flaky skin and facial eczema.  This is what a high fat and high sugar diet is doing to my face…

Gooooorgeous!  Spots and flakes ahoy!

Strangely, I don’t feel soul destroyingly low as I have in the past.  I’m not entirely sure why.  I just feel like I have got to the point where I have realised that I must treat myself with a bit more respect and have a bit more love, and getting all miserable and down is counter-productive.  Berating myself for the numerous “new leaves” I have attempted doesn’t really add anything positive to my state of mind, so I’m not going to bother.

I haven’t quite worked out where I am going with all of this today, but I thought it was about time I checked in with my weight.

It feels good to get some ramblings off my chest though.

 

Progress

After a bit of a rocky start with My Fitness Pal, where my tracking didn’t really happen one week, I managed to put on weight before I lost it (genius!).  I am now pleased to report that I am at a net loss.  Hurrah!  It has been an “okay” kind of week with food.  I have tried to eat more mindfully, as I am horrendous for just wolfing down my meals without really chewing or tasting them.  The queen of mindless eating if you will!

I’ve really been struggling for things to write about on my blog lately.  “Tub” is still tubby, and “on the run” is more “sat on my bum”, so it’s quite hard to think of relevant things to write about.  However, as a brief post, I thought I’d share a couple of things that are inspiring me right now:

• My sister – She took up running after me, but has beaten me at all running related things.  She’s got a 30 minute 5k under her belt, a few new knee scars from a fall (thankfully, otherwise, mostly injury free), and has now signed up for her first ever 10k in May.  She’s running for Parkinson’s UK at Highclere on 11th May 2014.  I can’t wait to hear how she does!
• James – Matt’s best man at our wedding is competing in the EC Powerman Duathlon in Holland today.
• The London Marathon.  I am always amazed by peoples’ ability to run for 26.2 miles, especially as I would struggle to run a full 2.62 miles right now.  I’ve thoroughly enjoyed reading other bloggers’  recaps on the Brighton and Paris marathons, and can’t wait for the London reviews to come up in the next few days.

Oh… and happy birthday to my running shoes.  It has been a year since I bought them.

They don’t look quite as clean these days