Sweet dreams

Yesterday I bought a rather gorgeous new duvet cover.

(picture above courtesy of www.tjhughes.co.uk)

Heavy snow...!

We really shouldn't be getting snow at this time of year, but as I look out the window at 10.00 am on a Sunday morning, a few inches of snow have fallen overnight and at the moment it's so heavy that it's virtually zero visibility. Apparently it's about minus 4 degrees today.

But it's nice and warm in here - fingers and everything else crossed that the new central heating system doesn't let us down over what's going to be a long long winter.

In the meantime, Christmas is going on all around us - yes, the world's most insignificant Christmas lights are back, and in traditional control-freak style I've got most of my Christmas shopping done. At the moment though, I can't totally focus on the forthcoming festivities if I'm honest: my mum's still very sick and the only thing that matters is looking after her and helping her get well again.

My other focus at the moment is losing weight of course: this week I stayed the same, which I was quite happy about, considering there's not been much in the way of exercise due to a nasty recurrence of my back problem.

This is all beginning to sound like the blog of doom and gloom isn't it....don't mean it to sound like that, as my mood is significantly lighter than it was a week ago, and I feel as if I'm coming out of the dark tunnel. There are always some nice, happy things going on too, and I really need to write about them as well, because I'm a glass-half-full kind of person after all :)

...I've only been looking for this for 25 years!

This post shouldn't really be over here, but it didn't really fit EuropeCrazy either, as it didn't mention anything in particular (!)

If someone was to ask what was the best thing about the internet, apart from blogging of course, I'd have to say that it's the world's biggest and best jukebox!

SAD-ness, weight loss and a little black dress

After having my suspicions over the past week or so, I finally threw up my hands in the air yesterday and admitted that I'm going through yet another bout of the winter blues. For a number of years I've suffered from SAD (seasonal affective disorder) as, apparently, do millions of other people in this country.

When you get to the stage when you're no longer able to function, when you're unable to cope with even the simplest task, when you just want to shut the door and never come back out of the house, when you find it 99% impossible to socially interact with your workmates and friends, then that's the time to admit it's back again. The hardest part is trying to explain it to people who don't understand, who think you're just being anti-social, or weird, or just plain "off" with them. When in fact I'm still the same old me, only shut inside this dark tunnel with everything closing in. So I know what to do to make it better...getting the light box out this week, and going to try Vitamin D (one of my friends suggested this really works).

It wasn't all bad yesterday though: I have lost 2lbs this week, bringing my total weight loss over the last 4 weeks to = 4lbs. Have also lost inches over the last couple of weeks and starting to notice a difference in my body shape.

Something really good happened today: I went shopping in Matalan and bought a fabulous little black lace mini-dress which I'm going to wear to a Christmas night out. The best thing of all was that it was in a smaller size than what I usually buy! Here it is, courtesy of the Matalan website:

She's taller and thinner than I am though :)

Climbing the walls!

No I've not taken up abseiling or whatever you call it....it's just week 2 on the WeightWatchers Pro Points Plan. No, there's nothing wrong with the plan at all, it's one of those "it's not you, it's me" situations.

Unlike last time, when I was only playing at losing weight (although I did lose a bit back then), this time it's serious and my level of commitment over the last 2 weeks has been, if I might say so, very impressive. However this has led to increased levels of agitation and grumpiness, which I'm not really used to, but if that's the signs of unhealthy food withdrawal then so be it. I guess it's a bit like someone giving up smoking, (a habit which, thankfully, has never interested me) and going through that withdrawal phase, although in a different way.

It's weigh-in day tomorrow and I'm very, very nervous. Fingers crossed the hard work pays off....

Answers 24 hours from now.

Keep it (un)real

Feeling a bit strange at the moment. Nothing new, I hear you say, but it's as if I'm having this out of body experience, like staring into a shop window. A kind of outside-looking-in feeling I guess.
Don't really want to be involved in anything right now, apart from blogging and cosy nights in with my loved ones. Don't want to go out or socialise. I'm not depressed or anything, just going through this little phase of unreality, this 'please leave me alone and don't bother me' phase. Always get this way at this time of year, it's just hit me a little earlier than usual.

Of course that doesn't apply to my parallel blog-life, in which everyone is welcome and I still very much feel a part of. Although it's frustrating that there aren't enough hours in the day to write all the blog posts I want to write. So in the meantime, as in the real life....you can only do what you can :)

It's ok....

Stayed the same on this week's weigh-in. Which is ok considering I only officially restarted WeightWatchers on Monday but it's actually my third week proper.

What really pleased me was a 1½" inch loss. That mini-stepper might just be getting me results, however due to a slight back pain relapse there hasn't been much action over the last few days.

So all in all, it's early days, but I'm quite happy.

Back on track

Last night I rejoined WeightWatchers Online: this also coincided with the launch of their new ProPoints plan.

For the last two weeks I've had this little lead-in period to get myself into the habit of watching what I'm eating, and also building up my exercise. Of course my ongoing lower back pain means no more aerobics for now, but I'm on the mini stepper and it seems to be improving my general fitness and my walking-to-work speed. Maybe not quite at the power walking stage, but it's verging on brisk :)

I need the discipline of WW right now, to make me think about what I'm eating instead of jumping in and eating any old rubbish. I know that there's going to be a number of "stages" over the coming weeks and months - now I'm at the enthusiastic-beginner stage, but then it won't be long till the novelty-wears-off stage, followed by the bitter-and-twisted stage (who said that's already happened????)

Anyway the first two days have gone well.

Until tomorrow night, when I'm going out for dinner :0

Oops!

Zzzzzz....

Been feeling very tired this week, even though the general fitness levels are finally rising. Had a lot of stuff to do at home and that combined with my internet being out of action for a while, meant that my planned return to regular blogging was put on hold (yet again). Oh well, maybe next week???

Tomorrow is weigh-in day, which I'm quite nervous about even though the willpower has been very strong this week. Of course the new Weight Watchers plan starts next week so I'm rejoining WW Online next Monday when the Pro Points plan gets underway. The last couple of weeks have been a bit of a build-up with the food diaries etc so getting ready to throw myself into being a complete diet bore once again!