CWP – Day 1

Day 1 is started off feeling really motivated. I packed my back with a shake and a soup and trotted off to work. I did my usual Starbucks trip to meet a friend, made up my Lactose Free Vanilla Shake and drank it there (sshhh!) It was lovely!

I didn’t start to feel hungry again till near midday, lunchtime is 12:30, perfect! For lunch I had the oriental chilli soup. It had a fair kick to it for a spice woose like me but it was lovely.

Home from work and I had to head straight back out, motorcycle club social night. I grab my mint chocolate bar and run out the door. It’s M’s birthday party so there’s cakes and empire biscuits, plus everyone has dinner from the greasy spoon there. I hold fast and munch my bar… Delicious!! Like mint matchmaker sweeties you get at Christmas.

I was peckish again by the time I got home and really hungry by 10pm so I just headed to bed. That’s normally my bored eating time slot.

Drinking so much water is proving challenging. I’ve never peed so much before in my life lol.

Day 1 done and I feel great. My work friends and my husband are being amazingly supportive

Lost time

So I had quite a big gap in my blog… my fitness blog. I came back fatter, but I don’t see it as lost time.

What have I done with those lose years when I could have been slimming down?

I got my motorcycle license, it was one of my last blog posts. Then I bought a bike, and joined a motorcycle club for ladies only. I’ve ridden all over Scotland eating cake and chips and making incredible friends. Not lost time x

I finished my degree at university and got a Batchelors Degree in Building Services Engineering, getting a Distinction! My Grampa came to my graduation, so did my husband and both my daughter’s, I felt so proud. Not lost time x

I used my degree to get “the job”. I love it! Bonus part… A few months in I recommended my best friend and former colleague for a position now he works with me again too, bonus! I work in a fancy city centre office, I have a window desk and a fantastic boss. Not loss time x

I’ve had a blast the last two years. But now things are settling and it’s time to focus on my weight again.

Cambridge Weight Plan starts tomorrow and I cannot wait!!

I’m back… Cambridge time!

Hello my little blog, it’s been a while.

I’m back, and unfortunately bigger than ever before, but I’m also motivated and determined!

Today I signed up to the Cambridge Weight Plan and tomorrow I meet my consultant.

It’s going to be hard going but I’m hoping it’ll work for me and this summer I’ll finally be slim enough to enjoy it.

Walking without my knees hurting, stairs without ending up breathless, a break from constant sweating.

I can do this.

Biker Chick 🚲

  
Life needs to be about more than just what the scales say. There’s more to me than that number. 

When I first started this blog I said I wanted it to be about improving myself. Not just my weight or my fitness, all of me. 
Today I crossed something off my ‘Before I’m 30’ list. 

I now have a full A class, unrestricted motorcycle license!!

Only my husband knew I was sitting the test and I’ve been terrified all week but I’m delighted I managed it on the day. 

Now I need to think of some new items for my ’30 list’ since at 28yrs 7mths I have ticked all my boxes!

Maybe skiing?

What have you got on your bucket list?

Squat Challenge

I’ve now been following the Popsugar 21 day arm sculpting challenge for a week and I’m already seeing changes. 
My weight is still quite high so although I want to feel fitter I’m not expecting to see much in the way of muscle until my weight goes down a bit. 
But for the first time in over a decade I have the teensiest hint of muscle in my arm. There’s a bulge on my arm, these mythical things people call biceps but that I’ve never obtained. I can start to see them!
So with that in mind, I’m going to keep going with the arm workout and now I’m going to give the Popsugar squat challenge a blast as well. 

Love this feeling! 😄

 

Identify Obstacles – Children!

My children are definitely one of my obstacles, but in a good way. 
I want to work out, I want to be a healthy role model. 

But more than that I just want to be with them. 

This evening I lay on the front lawn while my girls ran around the street with their friends. They kept coming over to chat and sit with me and their friends. It took me twenty minutes to get through a page of my book but I wouldn’t change it. I could have read in the back garden in peace. 

Soon they won’t want to come and tell me there’s a cute boy moved in a few doors down, or ask me to watch a cartwheel or hear a silly song they just made up. 

Now they want to be with me too. 

But that means until they go to bed I am Mum. I’m a working Mum too so no time during the day to workout.

So how do I get round it?

I workout with my kids. 

My five year old loves yoga, or anything where she gets to show off how insanely pretzel bendy she is. My eight year old just likes joining in and will follow whatever DVD we put on. She does have a soft spot for kick boxing and martial arts though. 

I do the workout properly, I use my weights and I push hard. 

The girls. Sometimes they give it their all, sometimes they don’t. Their ‘weights’ are Barbie dolls. It’s not about the workout for them. It’s about time spent together.

  
Dad doesn’t join in so its girl time and they enjoy it just as much as I do. 

What are your obstacles? How have you overcome them?

Positive Surroundings

Too many of us focus on our weight. We want to look like models and actresses. Why?

Have you ever read Gwyneth Paltrows three beans in a cup of water diet? No thank you, she might be skinny but surely that’s just not healthy. 

We get used to seeing these people, idolising them. Over time you stop realising how different they look to normal people. Jennifer Lawrence says she’s considered a fat actress. Have you seen her?! Beautiful!

The base of my spine curves like Kim Kardashian in her bare bum photo. Really pronounced. It hurts. I go to physiotherapy.  It’s not something you want I promise. That photo just looks strange to me. 

I remember shopping online ages ago, I tried to find the site again and couldn’t. They list their models stats next to the clothes pictures. I started to make a game of it, guessing what they’d be. I was miles out. I was guessing size 6-8 and most were 0’s. I’m seeing these women as being normal slim sizes when they were miles away from that. My perception was so off. 

Take a minute, just a minute. 

What do you surround yourself with? 

Do you buy the glossy magazines?

Do you watch celebrity TV shows?

Who do you follow on social media?

I used to surround myself with all the wrong things. Even down to Pinterest boards with treats and deserts. A quick skim down my Pinterest feed and I’d be ‘hungry’. For chocolate, only chocolate. 

Now I follow exercise boards and healthy eating boards as well. I also have a curvy women board. Healthy figures with curves I’d like to get have, to replace the waif board I had before. 

I’ve stopped buying magazines and I’ve unfollowed a lot of Facebook pages. 

I now follow pages for plus size models. The ones with healthy BMIs and curves. Women I actually want to look like and could achieve. 

I’ve just started to follow Healthy Is The New Skinny. They’ve got some fantastic positive messages. http://www.healthyisthenewskinny.com

  
So far I’ve only lost 1lb and my measurements haven’t shifted much, but it’s only been a week. I hadn’t expected them too. 

What has shocked me is that when I tighten the muscles in my arms, I can actually see something happening haha! I’ve been able to up the intensity of my workouts and add extras weights in throughout the day. 

And more surprising yet, surrounding myself with so many positive influences has made me happier about who I am already. Even with very little change so far, I’ve decided I do like me. 

  

21 Day Arm Sculpting Challenge

   A quick browse round Pinterest and eventually I think I may have found something that will help. 
I have exactly 21 days until the work Highland games trip. I think I might see if I can find a similar leg workout to slip into those rest days. 

Although her weights do look a tad bigger than my 2.5kg ones. 

3wk strength training. Help!

I’ve got three weeks to build the strength in my arms, no gym, just two 2.5kg hand weights to do it. 

Does anyone have any advice which exercises I can try to build my arms?

I’ve been following Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred, which uses hand weights and it’s going well but I now need to build my strength, and quickly. 

On September 4th my company is taking everyone away overnight. We do it every year, a little treat. 

The last few years it’s been a day at the races. Lots of food and drink and a bit of fun. We get to judge the best dressed horses and sit in the “posh box”. 

This year we’re going to a swanky hotel overnight with team games during the day. 

They’ve done it before, before I started. They played lawn chess and noughts and crosses. Very tame, a bit boring. 

We’ve just been told this year it’s Mini Highland Games, in teams. 

  
Every game involves throwing something! I know how competitive these things get so I need to work on my upper body strength so I don’t let my team down. But I’ve no idea how. 

Any tips anyone?

Hair Today Gone Tomorrow

 

I did it. Finally!

My long, ridiculously thick, hot, heavy, slightly damaged hair is gone. 

In place of it I have a funky little graduated bob. I wasn’t quite brave enough to go full blown pixie yet, but I’m not ruling it out for a months or so away. 

I wish I was brave enough for short hair. 
I’d love to have short hair but I’m too fat. 
What if I look like a boy without long hair?

It’s all things I’ve been saying for far too long. 

No more! I’m short, I love it, and it will get shorter. 

Right now I just need the weather to catch up, it’s freezing! We had snow last week. Cmon Scotland, it’s Spring. 

Be brave people, go for the cut.