My exciting news is that today I finally broke into a new stone bracket. I am officially 11 stone 13.6lbs. It has taken me exactly 6 months to lose this last stone, which sounds like a long time, but it is an average of half a pound a week, which I have to say I’m really pleased with. I still find myself slightly in shock that I am now 18 months into this journey and I’m still slowly, albeit very slowly, losing weight. I’ve said that if I didn’t lose any more weight and I stay this way for the rest of my life I’d be happy, but to see these small continual losses is very reassuring.
This is even more impressive when I share that I spent the last week on an all-inclusive luxury cruise. Now I confess that a little bit of me was quite worried about this cruise. I knew it was going to be the first big test of my new habits. I still took my jab before I went. I’m not stupid. I know that I can’t do this on my own. But I was determined to enjoy my holiday and to eat the things I wanted to eat which would inevitably include ice cream, desserts, wine, and the occasional cocktail.
I was pleased that my eating habits were much the same as at home. I didn’t eat breakfast, at lunch most days I made myself a sandwich from the buffet before going on a walking tour in the afternoon, and in the evening had whatever I fancied. And some days found that I just wasn’t that interested in anything, and other days ate a fair amount. Most days I had a glass of wine, a couple of days I had a cocktail, and most days I had an ice cream.
What is so great is it wasn’t hard to resist. I didn’t feel that any point that I was actually resisting anything. I was just eating what I fancied eating, until I didn’t want anymore. One night we ate early and then went back to our room to just settle in and watch a movie, and so I took three cookies from the buffet to take back to our room to have with a cup of tea. When we got back to the room, I made the tea, sat down, chose a film, and by the time we chose the film, I thought, I don’t want these biscuits, and so the next morning they just went into the bin. So, it wasn’t that I was denying myself anything.
When I returned from the cruise I got on the scales with trepidation. The morning after my long flight home my weight had gone up by 2.2 lb by the following day my weight gain was down to only 0.8 lb and today, day three of being home, I have seen a weight loss that has put me into the 11 stone bracket for the first time. Which means I am half a pound lighter than when I went away!
I only have six weeks until my next holiday when I go back to Egypt for two weeks with my mum, and I had hoped that I’ve be in the lower stone bracket by then, I never imagined that I would get there within a couple of days of getting home from this holiday. Now the challenge is to just keep that going
I hope that my weight loss may even increase slightly as I have also continued to follow my beginners luck running program. Full disclosure, I took my trainers and running gear with me on the cruise, fully intending to still run three days a week while on the ship, but I didn’t do it. Partly because it was much hotter than I expected it to be, it was over 30° every day, and I just decided to let myself have the break. Yesterday I put my trainers on, and I was a bit concerned that my fitness level might’ve already slipped back by having the week off, but I was really pleased to say that I just went to the next step on the program.
I am now only eight levels away from running for 60 minutes non-stop, so I absolutely should be able to achieve that well before going to Egypt. Whether I take my trainers with me and run when in Egypt I don’t know. I do think there is real benefits in sometimes just letting yourself have a full break and taking all the pressure off. We have enough pressure and expectations in our lives that when we have the opportunity to allow ourselves a little break, I don’t think that it does any harm.
If you’re reading this, I hope that you are still progressing well on your journey and that it’s helpful to hear from me checking in.
I don’t know what’s sort of numbers of people in the UK are on this drug now, but I know it’s in the millions, yet I still only seem to hear the horror stories every week in the Daily Mail. It seems as if they actively look for the very few cases of people that have had negative side-effects. Very often once you start reading the detail it’s people who bought it from a supplier that was less than legitimate.
I get emails from Asda Doctor every couple of weeks really pushing for me to check in with the doctors, asking if I’ve got any questions, to read their nutrition advice, and download their support pack. So, even though I have to admit that I’m not taking advantage of any of that because I haven’t had any real issues with it, and I’m very aware about nutrition and health, the offer is constantly there. It really isn’t just a case of going online, ordering this drug, and being left to it. If I wanted to take advantage of all of the service support that Asda were offering, it is significant.
That’s it from me, so onwards and upwards, or onwards and downwards, as I keep working my way gradually down, with my small losses feeling fitter, and happier every day.