I’m on mid-semester break at the moment, so hopefully I’ll have a little more time to post. The last couple of weeks have been crazy-busy and there has been so little down-time for anything; I was definitely looking forward to a bit of R&R. I’ve had four days of doing nada, except going away for the weekend to visit my dude’s family, eating American junk food (thank the candy Gods for Baby Ruth bars and Twinkies), watching movies, and generally faffing about.

I even got out my crochet last night and painstakingly unravelled a non-used sunglasses case I made last year and wound a lovely yarn ball. However, when I got up this morning Mum informed me that the dog had found aforementioned ball and thought it was the most fun thing ever, chomping on it and getting it tangled around her legs. Now to wash the tangled mess of yarn…

I don’t have anything majorly exciting planned for the rest of my holiday, unless taking my two cats to the vet counts as ‘exciting’. I suppose, considering Molly would rather be anywhere other than the vet’s, it may turn out to be rather eventful. Lola just flirts with everyone (seriously, that cat is super-friendly).

I do have a small nugget of exciting news though: I joined Weight Watchers’ online programme just over a week ago! I’d finally got to the point where I knew it would probably be best if I had an even bigger incentive than just wanting to feel better about myself. That incentive is, of course, having shelled out over a hundred NZ dollars to join for three months. Now I absolutely have to make the most of being a member and losing weight or I will lose money, and that is not cool. In the first week I lost 1.5kg, a nice amount I think. So far I’m really pleased with how easy it is and how straight-forward the online tools are to use. I’m conscious of what I eat, but I don’t have to be pedantic about it. At this point I’m not even exercising, either.

Anyway, hope you made it through what ended up being a text-filled, somewhat disjointed post. Check back later for a post about one of my favourite design houses around at the moment, which is much less texty and more eye-candy filled.

*I have some gangsta happening at the moment, ’cause The Boyfriend and I have been talking a bit gangsta this weekend. So sorry about that. Not that there is anything wrong with people who actually speak ‘gangsta’ or anything, we just like doing different accents.

I hope you’ve all had a swell weekend and are looking forward to what I hope will be an awesome week! I went away with my guy to visit his mother, step-dad and sisters, but I shall write about that tomorrow. Tonight I am going to bore you all with weight watching crap. Hurrah!

Basically, the last week and a couple of days has been quite awful. Last weekend I ate most meals out and much of the choice available was unhealthy and fattening. This weekend I ate what was available and lots of junk, including the left-over Maltesers and mixed M&M’s that I am currently scoffing. Whatever I managed to lose during last week (Mon-Fri) I have surely gained back in the last 2.5 days, what with the fried foods and sugar, etc. Sooo not good. I do not have the dieting thing + leaving-the-house thing down yet. I try to prepare a lunch and snacks if I know I’ll be out for awhile, but a lot of the time I don’t know for how long I’ll be gone, which makes preparing a pain. And I’m also lazy.

I don’t know. I want this week to be much better and I want to exercise more as well. So, those are my goals for this week: exercise at least 3 times and stick within my daily points limit.

I can do this. YES I CAN.

Nearly finished my first week on Weight Watchers and it’s been pretty good for the most part, except yesterday which went to hell with snacking on just about everything in sight, especially Arnott’s Shapes crackers and peanuts. On Friday I also had a moment of hormonal madness and polished off a piece of cheesecake while trying not to cry in public (yep, hormones are just that awesome…). That was most of my daily points gone, but I took them from the 35 extra ones I’m allowed a week.

I know on this diet they recommend weighing yourself once a week, but I am an incurable daily weigher, once I’m on a health-kick. If I’m not on a health-kick I avoid the scales in order to feel less guilty about eating junk food. I find that weighing myself every morning gives me an idea of how I’m doing. I know that weight naturally fluctuates for people depending on time of day, time of month, etc, so I am careful to bare that in mind. But I still like having that number in my head because it’s motivational throughout the day. I am more inclined to keep up with everything I want to be doing rather than slacking off or having less healthy treats.

Completely off topic, but I’m hoping to squeeze in a 10 Things I Love post later today, but since I am also studying for my last exam tomorrow (!!!) I may not have time or be bothered, in which case I will leave it until some time this upcoming week.

Also, pop on over to Sometimes Sweet and check out Danielle, one of the sweetest bloggers around. She’s due to give birth any day now and I am ridiculously excited for her and her husband. You should be too, because they rule.

Today I started Weight Watchers, except I’m cheating and not paying for it. I have an old-ish food points booklet that has made the rounds in my family and I’m using that, plus what I know from said family members about the Points Plan. At the moment I am on 24 points per day, according to the way in which they calculated points at the time this booklet was published. I think it’s changed since then, but I don’t think that will have made much of a difference considering the food points I’m going by are also, well, old.

So far I have done really well and have only used up 13 points for 3 meals and a few snacks. I love that vegetables are mostly 0 points and many fruits are as well, or only 1 point. I can stuff myself with as much salad as I like! Actually, I don’t love salad but I am happy to have a salad sandwich on low G.I. bread, or carrot sticks, etc.

I’m trying to eat low G.I. as much as possible, too. Both my boyfriend and brother have had good weight loss results from eating this way and I could definitely use some carbs that sustain me! I seem to get hungry often and I’m over that now. I don’t mind having a couple of snacks to tie me over; I usually eat breakfast very early (before 7am) and dinner between 6-7pm. Six hours between meals is a bit long for me. I think even if I was eating a brilliantly healthy diet full of foods to keep me full for longer, I would still need some snacks.

Anyway, tonight for dinner I actually tried a Weight Watchers ready-meal. I am by no means a fan of ready-meals (unless they are the sort you make yourself then freeze for easy re-heating later) but I wanted to see how one tasted. I had a Thai Green Chicken Curry, which is 5.5 points. It was actually really nice, much to my surprise! The portion was good also and I think that, should I find myself in a pinch of an evening, I could rely on one of those meals to do the trick. But really, I should just get off my bum and start cooking my own meals for the freezer.

Here’s to day two!

This morning in my statistics lecture I won a mini Crunchie Bar for participating in a game to demonstrate probability. Yay for me, I got a treat! The only treats I will consuming for the next Really Long Time are those that are bought for me but not at my request, or won. Having a set of scales in the bathroom is now daily proof of what poor eating habits I have formed since becoming omnivorous again.

I guess after 8 years of no meat burgers and no salami and limited pizza selections it’s been like being a kid in a candy shop, not knowing what to eat first. So I just ate it all. And now it’s on my tummy, hips, bum and thighs, jiggling there for me to feel as I waddle walk along.

Okay, so I’m not a whale, but I am certainly overweight and I really don’t like it at all. I was never overly bothered by my weight in the past, not to the point where I ever dieted or did anything to really actively keep it at a place I felt comfortable. However, since gaining weight over the last year, I have become acutely aware of it, of my body, of feeling ‘gross’, but even more so of the health implications that carrying extra weight can have. More than anything I would like to be fit and healthy, without excess fat.

So far I am going to the gym 3 times a week and trying to do at least 30 minutes of exercise (usually treadmill at home) on the other days. The food thing is…okay. Ish. I’m a terribly foodie, and by terrible I mean that I tend to gravitate towards the more unhealthy end of the spectrum, despite the fact I do enjoy eating healthy meals. It is very frustrating to be such a junk food person and I’m really trying to cut down but am struggling a lot, unfortunately. I know it will take time, so I guess all I can do is stick at it and try my best!

Anyway, that is all for now!

A few months ago I created a blog over at Blogpot to track my weight-loss, fitness and how I was progressing with veganism. Shortly after it’s creation I went out of town for a couple of months to Auckland and stopped posting in it. Now I’m going to revive those subjects in this blog and I plan on updating about one a week on how I’m doing.

Continue reading »