Weighin and update

So first day back on the official scales at Slimming World on Wednesday night and I got a little surprise...I weighed myself at home before going and posted on here that I was weighing in at 26st dead, but when i got on the scales at Slimming World, it recorded my:

Current Official start weight 25st 9lbs.

So 5lbs lighter than my home scales are saying, which is good, since that means its 5lbs less to lose, but sucks since previous my home scales and Slimming World scales agreed exactly. Oh well, not that it matters.

The first day back on it went fairly well to start...with some Melon, Grapes, Banana and Pear with Fat Free Muller Light Yogurt for breakfast and Tomato, Lettuce, Croutons, Dressing and Peppered Smoked Mackerel for Lunch and Pork Chops, SW Chips and SW Peppercorn Sauce. Unfortunately thats when it went wrong. The kids got home from Trick or Treating and Dylan was "kind" enough to give me the Curly Wurlys he got because he doesnt like them and he knows how much I LOVE them! However, they were the little ones, so not too bad and at least thats Halloween behind me! :)

Total syns for the day: 17.5
Croutons: 6.5
Dressing: 2
Peppercorn Sauce: 2
Curly Wurly: 7 (3.5 each)

I did miss my walk yesterday and not yet been out today, but I will take Kaydee out for a walk for lunch today!

And I'm back again!

Ok, so I've been a bit more off than on the last year, and as a result I've put a lot more on than off!

I originally started this at 28st 13lbs
I'm currently weighing 26st dead (on my scales at home)

I'm sat here waiting for the time to pass before going back to Slimming World for the first time in 3 months. It's been a crazy 3 months! I know work has actually got in the way a lot and I always feel bad blaming work for not looking after my health, but the last 2 months have been the worst ever because I decided I was going to leave my job and work for myself so that I could STEAL my life back and focus on the things that are important to me: Family, Health, Cycling! I have been working nights and weekends setting things up, and on 18 October I eventually made the break!

It's been a busy first week working for myself, but I have eventually got control of things and been getting out walking as a start to my fitness and ready to commit to this for good.

In the last 3 months I put on another 2.5 stone, which has further trashed any fitness I had! I am even getting the back pains I used to get at 29st when walking as little as 1km! :(

LUCKILY.... I know a guy ....
He lost almost 12 stone in 12 months.
He went from not being able to walk 1km without pain to completing the Leeds Half Marathon (23.1km) in 2 hours 3 minutes.
He also did a Duathlon Classic, 10km run, 40km cycle, 5km run.
He did 131km around Brands Hatch as part of a Charity ride.
This guy KNEW how to eat healthy, think healthy and exercise healthy!
.....he said he would give me some tips and pointers....so it shouldn't be a problem.

As my first goal I'm setting to give me something to focus on, I'm going to join a Charity Trek up Machu Picchu in July 2014.
http://mptrek.weebly.com/index.html
I'll see what other physical challenges I can throw in my way as I regain some fitness.

I'll update my Official current weight after my Slimming World weigh in in a couple hours.

Another good week

Short post tonight as I'm sat in group, and will probably be busy when I get home and forget to post!

Very happy with a good 4lbs loss this week! Total of 10lbs lost since going back to group and getting on my bike again!

Current weight is 23st 8lbs

The bad stuff:
Didn't eat much on the weekend
Snacked a bit the last 2 days
Missed 2 rides due to broken chain

The good stuff:
Completed a full Food Diary
Rode every day I had a working bike!
Made some good choices even when heavily tempted
Lost 4lbs!

Very happy and still very motivated! Got to get to 20st and get on that road bike!!

Sheepish Hello

It's been my 1st real week at it again after some time! I never really consciously stopped going to Slimming World. Life/work kinda just kept getting in the way, but more so, I was letting it get int he way because I knew I wasn't focussed and committed to eating healthily or getting out on my bike!

2 weeks ago I started getting real depressed about the state of my health again, but knew I was taking Karen away for her birthday to the seaside, so I put off making a change till we got home. First thing I did when I got home was climb on the scales! 24st 13lbs! WHATTTTT!!! :(

At my lightest after starting at Slimming World I weighed 17st 4lbs. Last year this time I was 17st 12.5. So 7st on in a year! More frightening than that though is the fact that over the winter I did hardly any exercise and my fitness has plummeted! Last year this time I was doing 100km rides. Now Im struggling to finish a 16km ride!

So, Sunday with the seaside trip behind me I resolved to get back on it and put my health first again! I could have waited till my first weigh-in to stick to plan, but I decided Id probably only put on another 10lbs in the 3 days, so I cracked on straight away.

Step 1, stop snacking!
Step 2, Healthy food choices!
Step 3, STOP snacking!
Step 4, back on my bike!
Step 5, SERIOUSLY DUDE...STOP SNACKING!

By the time weigh-in rolled round Wednesday night I had shed an unofficial 9 lbs weighin in at 24st 4lbs. Good start! Now keep it up for a week!

It wasn't the greatest week to be honest!
THE BAD STUFF:
I had the odd bit of Synable chocolate, but Friday night with guests I also had some Chocolate cake and cream. Then after Karen's "ladies night" ladies went home....someone left a bunch of mini sausage rolls! NOOO..I should have thrown them in the bin! Instead, I snacked on them all through Saturday! Saturday night, date night, Karen and I went to movies and I ended up scoffing a 2 scoop ice cream with fudge sauce! :( The odd day I even had some crisps! ("I thought I said stop snacking!")
Then yesterday I had a weird day. I had to go to London for work, so I had loads of fruit in the morning, skipped my packed salad and had a packet of crisps for lunch!? Huh? Supper was a couple pieces of tikka chicken breast and about a quater small bowl of Tikka Pasta and couldn't eat any more. That's it!?
THE GOOD STUFF:
Although I did lots of snacking this week, by comparison to the last month or 2, I avoided a lot more snacking than it would have been! *pat on my own back* --- but I still got to reign it in if I want the weightloss not only to continue, but continue hard and fast to get to 20stone and get on my Road Bike again! (That's the goal by the way...20stone = Road Bike...til then it's slogging away on the mountain bike!)
I managed to get out on my bike 4 days this week, aiming for 6 next week.

I really wasn't expecting to lose much today at my 2nd weigh-in due to all the bad stuff and the scales telling a sad story last I weighed myself on Sunday, but I weighed in at 23st 12lbs tonight giving me a very lucky official 6lbs loss, but also add to that the unofficial 9lbs loss before first weigh-in and that's an unofficial 1st 1lbs in 10 days! Exactly the motivation and confidence I needed to spur myself on.

I knew I would get back to blogging once I felt confident this was a real honest return to plan, but I didn't think I would manage 1st 1lbs in 10 days, and has convinced me I'm back.

Someone told me this morning (paraphrased): "You've done it before and you have the tools, you can do it again!" and that is exactly how I feel. I know exactly what to do, and how to do it, and know that if I put my mind to it, I can do it again! Especially since I'm already 5st lighter than I was when I first started this!

NOW KEEP IT UP FOR ANOTHER WEEK!

FYI: in the past I spent a lot of time writing my blogs to a format, tracking my progress in detail in each post. I don't intend to do that again this time. I just want to speak my mind, mention my weekly and over all loss since starting again and perhaps since the very start and mention the highs and lows of the week. But I'm a sucker for detail, so it may stray in from time to time.

Also, in the past I spent a lot of time converting stones, pounds and kilograms....I cant be bothered this time. Either google or calculate the figures! :P Slimming World works in Stones and pounds, so thats what Im going to mention!
However, here are some markers for anyone that doesn't work in Stones and pounds to use for some mental arithmetic:
1lbs = 0.45kg
7lbs = half a stone = 3.175kg
1st = 14 lbs = 6.35

And some of my weights, past, present and targeted that will get mentioned:
Start = 28st 13.5lbs = 405lbs = 184kg
Previous Low = 17st 4lbs = 242lbs = 109.7kg

Current = 23st 12lbs = 334lbs = 151.5kg

First target = 20st = 280lbs = 127kg
Goal = 14st = 196lbs = 89kg

Weigh-In Week 77

Week 77 - 6 lbs (2.72 kg)

No Awards this week.

Started at 28 stone 13 lbs (405 lbs / 183.71 kg)
Currently 17 stone 12.5 lbs (250.5 lbs / 113.63 kg)
1st Short Term Target 26 stone (364 lbs / 165.11 kg) (Acheived this 18/04/2011)
2nd Short Term Target 22 stone (308 lbs / 139.71 kg) (Acheived this 04/08/2011)
3rd Short Term Target 18 stone (252 lbs / 114.31 kg) (Acheived this 08/12/2011)
4th Short Term Target 16 stone (224 lbs / 101.6 kg) (hope to reach this by 30/09/2012)
Long Term Target 14 stone (196 lbs / 88.9 kg) (hope to reach this by 31/12/2012)

The losses have gone as follows:
2011 (47 wks): 10st 3lbs (143 lbs / 64.86 kg)
Jan12 (4wks): 19 lbs (8.62 kg)
Feb12 (4wks): 7 lbs (3.18kg GAIN
Mar12 (5wks): 8 lbs (3.63 kg)
Apr12 (4wks): 6 lbs (2.72 kg) GAIN
May12 (5wks): 9 lbs (4.08 kg) GAIN
Jun12 (4wks): 10 lbs (4.54 kg)
Week 74: Missed (Working)
Week 75: Missed (Cheating)
Week 76: 9.5 lbs (4.31 kg) GAIN
Week 77: 6 lbs (2.72 kg)
It's been a weird week. I can't quite remember how Friday went, but imagine it wasn't great. Then Saturday I had a really long MTB session, got how and the 3.25 hrs on the MTB really motivated me and I committed to going back to basics with a food diary which I have been keeping on my Slimming World groups Facebook page. Well when I started totalling up the Syns I have for months been consuming and JUSTIFYING due to my exercise regime, I was Shocked to say the least! 30 Syns! It had me stewing the rest of the day! So I headed into the rest of the week committing to cut back on my Syns to make up for Saturday, and really didn't manage to accomplish that. I have my little vices like Nutella spread on my Peanut HiFi bar (tastes like snickers), my croutons and dressings on my salads, and sauce with my meals, which I can't seem to do without that end up totalling 10 odd Syns most days! So I went to weigh-in without weighing myself before due to being in a rush, expecting to have a the small loss I was hoping for, and felt I was lucky, and had to work much harder for than I thought I had to....then almost fell off the scales when I realised I'd lost a whopping 6 lbs! How did that happen?

This is going to sound silly, but I was actually a little upset I had lost so much, because it went against my new plan of losing "Slow and Steady". I've just been in a rutt lately where I'm either losing big or gaining, and it's doing my head in! I want to get back to consistent losses and feel like regular small losses is the way back into that!

However, I'm very happy it was a loss, and am determined to keep myself on track this week, and try get another loss. I've actually really enjoyed being back on plan 100% most of this week, mentally and physically.

Goals achieved this week:
1. "100% Food Optimising" at least most of the week.
2. Think I cycled every day...?
3. Stayed positive most of the week! :D

Keeping the mostly same goals for this week with one extra:
1. 100% Food Optimising. Count those syns and don't skip them, it will help avoid cravings!
2. Keep cycling every day, even if it is on the Mountain Bike.
3. Keep positive. Don't let the stress and depression creep in! I can do this by exercising regularly!
4. Keep posting my Food Diaries

Keeping with my slow and steady plan and targeted only 2 lbs (0.91 kg) loss this week!

Weigh-In Weeks 74 - 76

Week 74 - Missed (Working)
Week 75 - Missed (Shamefully avoided weigh-in due to not being on plan!) :(
Week 76 - 9.5 lbs (4.31kg) GAIN

No Awards this week. (Except the Mickey Mouse badge for actually going to weigh-in! :P)

Started at 28 stone 13 lbs (405 lbs / 183.71 kg)
Currently 18 stone 4.5 lbs (256.5 lbs / 116.35 kg)
1st Short Term Target 26 stone (364 lbs / 165.11 kg) (Acheived this 18/04/2011)
2nd Short Term Target 22 stone (308 lbs / 139.71 kg) (Acheived this 04/08/2011)
3rd Short Term Target 18 stone (252 lbs / 114.31 kg) (Acheived this 08/12/2011)
4th Short Term Target 16 stone (224 lbs / 101.6 kg) (hope to reach this by 30/09/2012)
Long Term Target 14 stone (196 lbs / 88.9 kg) (hope to reach this by 31/12/2012)

The losses have gone as follows:
2011 (47 wks): 10st 3lbs (143 lbs / 64.86 kg)
Jan12 (4wks): 19 lbs (8.62 kg)
Feb12 (4wks): 7 lbs (3.18kg GAIN
Mar12 (5wks): 8 lbs (3.63 kg)
Apr12 (4wks): 6 lbs (2.72 kg) GAIN
May12 (5wks): 9 lbs (4.08 kg) GAIN
Jun12 (4wks): 10 lbs (4.54 kg)
Week 74: Missed (Working)
Week 75: Missed (Cheating)
Week 76: 9.5 lbs (4.31 kg) GAIN

It's been another bad 3 weeks. Hit an all time mental low last week that even caused me to avoid going to weigh-in. Work has been busy and stressful. Road bike has been in the bike shop getting repaired, and sad as it is to say, it's made me depressed. (ACHTUNG! "This is an excuse"! - more on this later, hehe) The depression had me comfort eating! Meals have mostly been Slimming World meals, but I had KFC once. My problem has been snacks! I seem to have been too weak to avoid the crisps, chocolates and ice creams over the last 3 weeks!
So, if I must be completely honest, the 9.5 lbs (4.31 kg) gain over the 3 weeks is "low" compared to what it should have been, largely thanks to what has been a fairly good week. I've eventually got myself out regularly on the Mountain Bike as a replacement for the Road Cycling while my Road bikes getting fixed. To be honest I have quite enjoyed it and got gloriously MUDDY! :)

I've proved this to myself over and over again over the last 18 months:
Bad Eating -> Bad Exercising
AND
Bad Exercising -> Bad Eating
.....when 1 of them wobbles, I simply need to focus on the other to make sure I push myself to STRICTLY stick to plan and the wobble quickly corrects itself! Sometimes it's so hard to keep playing the mentally strong, solid steel will power game though....just have to keep myself positive and motivated. I hate that I lose control. I hate even more that I currently weigh more than I did in December last year! :S

On the up side though, on Wednesday the August issue of Cycling Active hit the shops and there was an article on me, my weight loss, and my cycling efforts and how the 2 have helped each other. This was good for a couple reasons:
A) hopefully it will inspire someone to make the change in their life they need to make to head down the path I'm travelling,
B) knowing my blog was mentioned in there has me imagining that there are now thousands of people watching me struggle, which ups the pressure I put on myself to be strong and not FAIL!
C) Reading the article, my comments, thoughts and reflecting on my journey has come just in time to refocus me. Thinking about how far I have come, how close I am, and how I've been hesitating and slipping has changed my attitude. I have been remembering how unhappy that "Jan2011 Duane" was, and how good the "Aug-Dec2011 Duane" was feeling and I seem to have lost him along the way in early 2012 and I am very lucky that I am only revisiting the mental side of "Jan2011 Duane"!

So...I know I have said this a couple times this year, and I seriously hope this is the last time I'm saying this. It may be still a tough road ahead from here, but I'm back on plan at the moment and this time instead of going too crazy and attempting to lose 14 lbs (6.35 kg) a week. Slow and Steady. Back on plan of 100% Food optimising, including 5 to 15 Syns / day and concentrating on keeping my exercise steady. I have some exercise goals in September that are going to require a healthy and fit and thinner than now Duane:

Firstly I have am going back to Brands Hatch for VU Limiteds Cyclothon UK. upto 8 hours of cycling to see how many laps you can do. I expect to do a lot more this year than last. I'm much stronger, fitter and faster than last year. I have a much lighter bike. Climb hills much better, and have managed to put in some much longer rides since then than the amount of time I was able to ride in September 2011. Last year I did 65 km an it took about 3hrs of riding. I have to beat that, convincingly!

Secondly I have my 2nd Half Marathon (Robin Hood/Nottingham) at the end of September. Initially I wanted to break the 2 hr mark for this marathon, but I'm not so sure this is possible anymore. Something has happened to my running fitness. Left leg is constantly playing up and don't have anywhere near the fitness I had in May when I did the Leeds Half Marathon, but I will stick to my training program and see how it goes. I peaked perfectly for Leeds and if I keep focused, can peak perfectly again for Nottingham! Leeds I did in 02:03:41.

Goals achieved this week:
1. Go to Weigh-in ...... NO MATTER WHAT!

Goals for this week:
1. 100% Food Optimising. Count those syns and don't skip them, it will help avoid cravings!
2. Keep cycling every day, even if it is on the Mountain Bike.
3. Keep positive. Don't let the stress and depression creep in! I can do this by exercising regularly!

I'm keeping it simple this week. I've targeted only 2 lbs (0.91 kg) loss this week. Keeping it slow and steady is my current game plan!

Weigh-In Weeks 69 to 73

Week 69 - 9 lbs (4.08 kg) GAIN!

Week 70 - Missed (Scotland Mountain Biking)

Week 71 - 12.5 lbs (5.67 kg) GAIN!

Week 72 - Missed (London for Work)

Week 73 - 22.5 lbs (10.21 kg)

Awards:

Slimmer of the Month for June with my 22.5 lbs loss (Feels like cheating since I actually weigh about the same as I did at the start of the month before I had the GAINS!)

Started at 28 stone 13 lbs (405 lbs / 183.71 g)

Currently 17 stone 9 lbs (247 lbs / 112.04 kg)

1st Short Term Target 26 stone (364 lbs / 165.11 kg) (Achieved this 18/04/2011)

2nd Short Term Target 22 stone (308 lbs / 139.71 kg) (Achieved this 04/08/2011)

3rd Short Term Target 18 stone (252 lbs / 114.31 kg) (Achieved this 08/12/2011)

4th Short Term Target 16 stone (224 lbs / 101.6 kg) (hope to reach this by 26/07/2012)

Long Term Target 14 stone (196 lbs / 88.9 kg) (hope to reach thsi by 27/08/2012)

The losses have gone as follows:

2011 (47wks): 10st 3lbs (143 lbs / 64.86 kg)

Jan12 (4wks): 19 lbs (8.62 kg)

Feb12 (4wks): 7 lbs (3.18 kg) GAIN

Mar12 (5wks): 8 lbs (3.63 kg)

Week 61: Missed (At theme park for Sons Birthday)

Week 62: 3 lbs (1.36 kg) GAIN

Week 63: 2.5 lbs (1.13 kg) GAIN!

Week 64: 0.5 lbs (0.23 kg) GAIN!

Week 65: 6.0 lbs (1.13 kg)

Week 66: 4.0 lbs (1.13 kg) GAIN!

Week 67: 6.0 lbs (1.13 kg) GAIN!

Week 68: 4.0 lbs (1.13 kg)

Week 69: 9 lbs (4.08 kg) GAIN!

Week 70: Missed (Scotland Mountain Biking)

Week 71: 12.5 lbs (5.67 kg) GAIN!

Week 72: Missed (London for Work)

Week 73: 22.5 lbs (10.21 kg)

Another 5 week posting gap in my blog! I really need to get back on top of this and post at least once a week. There is no doubt that the blogging kept a constant pressure and focus on keeping to plan all of last year and since slacking on it this year things have been difficult.

It's been a frightening 5 weeks in more ways than 1! I put on 9 lbs (4.08 kg) before my Scotland Mountain Biking Holiday, and put on a further 12.5 lbs while away! Thats a 21.5 lbs GAIN! However, I think that shock snapped me out of it! I've been back on the Slimming World track for 2 weeks now, and its felt great! It feels like it did last year when things were going so well, and things have gone well! Unfortunately I was stuck down in London longer than I expected last Thursday and missed Weigh In, so this week I got on the scales with a 2 week loss of 22.5 lbs (10.21 kg)! 

I have always said, if you put it on fast on a holiday, you can lose it and more just as fast! I'd actually hoped to lose more over the 2 weeks, but I'm very relieved to have lost all I put on recently, now just 5 lbs (2.27 kg) more to lose to get back to my lowest and hopefully forge ahead to my next short term target of 16 stone (224 lbs / 101.6 kg) and then on to 14 stone (196 lbs / 88.9 kg)!

Positives and Negatives of the last five weeks:

+ Feels great being back in the zone!

+ New record weight losses

- Some crazy GAINS, so glad I got rid of them straight away!

Goals for this week:

1) Set a crazy goal of 1 lbs a day, so 7 lbs this week. Which will be tough with a weekend in London for Karen's Birthday, but will give it a shot!

2) Keep Optimising for healthier choices in the difficult "Out of the house" meals. Salads and Fruit are so easily available in shops/petrol stations etc these days which makes things a lot easier.

3) Keep saying NO to excuses to go "Off Plan"!

Mini target for the week is 7 lbs! Really want to achieve that despite this being a tough week to do so with Karen's birthday, including a weekend away in London!