I turn 30 next week.

I'm actually not regretting it (not that I have much choice, other than suicide anyway and I don't wanna do that!) although I had hoped I'd get down to a size 12 (or below) before my 30th.  It was always a pipe dream, but given the success of weightloss I'd had last year and just before I had DD2, I thought I might just make it, but it's not to be.  I am only a size 14, though, so I can't complain, and my jeans are too loose (though 12s are still too small).  I haven't been on my diet since this time last year, when my sister stopped me losing any more weight before her wedding.  I tried starting the diet again in August, and then in Jan of this year, but I don't have the motivation and just don't care.  I know I'm a lot healthier than I used to be, and have managed to keep most of the weight off (I'm now just below 11st, rather than just below 10st as I wanted) but I'm not yoyo-dieting, and I'm not really trying, if I'm honest.  I'll still eat takeaways etc, just feel more powerful (if you can understand that?) about NOT eating dessert/more if I don't really want it.

But, because I turn 30, rather than having the usual BBQ for all our uni friends, I've ended up inviting everybody and anybody.  At last count, we've 20 adults and 11 kids coming, and half the people haven't replied!  I'm just hoping that the weather is dry.  I don't care how cold it is - people can wear coats - but our living room is not big enough for that number of people, and we need to be able to shove them all in the garden.  Not only that, I need to tidy the rest of the house as I'm sure people will overspill upstairs too.  Our bedroom is strictly off limits.  My work room has a sofa bed in, and is where my mum is staying, so that'll be off limits too (though will still be tidier than our bedroom).  But I still need to clean the bathroom, again, and the DDs bedroom.  We live in a hard water area, so our toilet fills with limescale overnight, which looks unsightly, and just from having children toys end up everywhere.  The DDs have too many toys for their room.  We don't have enough storage, and everything ends up in a big mess in the middle.  I need to get tidying.  And then do downstairs again.  It was tidy this morning, but then the kids woke up.  And I need to do the kitchen.  Well, really, I need to get DH to do it.  He's paranoid about identity theft, so we have bags of 'shredding' that he hasn't yet shredded.  That all needs to be moved before the w/e.  Finally, I need to make sure I'm totally up to date with the clothes washing, so that I can take the clothes horses, that permanently live in the kitchen, out of the way to allow space to the back door and the garden.  Our kitchen is also in the middle of being redecorated, though I started last summer, so I'm not even attempting to finish before the weekend.

But as I genuinely do have all of those things to do, I really should get to it.  I haven't even mentioned yet all the HE-type things we're, and DD1 doing gymnastics still, and she's now started Ballet and Tap, got moved up a class and she will be in a show in October, and we're looking for swimming lessons for her too.  DD2 is a proper little girl now, talking more and more (she's been walking ages).  It may not be before the BBQ, but I will write more next time.  Oh, and about the various books I've been reading, some of which are good, some not-so-good.  I still need to review all them.  And library books.  Last week, DD1 read Cinderella all by herself.  This weeks she has taken Little Red Riding Hood (and read that herself) and The Emperor's New Clothes.

Library Books and Weightloss

• Pets
• Reptiles

These are our latest books out of the library.  DD1 seems to have stopped reading (or wanting to be read to) atm, but still wants to take books out of the library, so we've amassed quite a collection at home atm.

And, though not quite a week, I weighed myself this morning and haven't lost anything yet.  I've not been specifically dieting, so that's probably the reason, but it has crossed my mind, that I'm back on the Depo jab now.  I was never able to lose weight before, and the two times in recent history where I have been able to lose weight (immediately before getting pg with DD2, and immediately after her birth) I wasn't on contraception.  I hope this is just a coincidence, and it doesn't mean that I won't be able to lose weight at all now I'm back on depo.

New weightloss

I'm starting again, with a new weight target (not just because I've put on weight since my last post )

Current weight: 68kg
Goal weight: 60kg
Weight lost this week:N/A
Total weight loss: N/A

So, I lost the weight I wanted to for my sister's wedding, and everyone said how good I looked, which was nice. It did occur to me, though, that I lost a similar amount before I got pg with DD2 and nobody commented. I know I didn't change shape that time, despite losing over 2.5stone, I didn't drop a single dress size. That used to frustrate me with celebrities who would lose a single lb, but drop 3 dress sizes. This time, I lost weight and went from a size 18 to a size 14; and some of my 14s are too big - hurray! I've never been skinny, and tbh I don't think it'd suit me. My previous goal was 10st-something, which I made, and my ultimate goal was 10stone. This time, my first goal is 10st (approx 64kg) and my ultimate goal is a bit lower, so I know that if I do vary a bit, it's all ok.

I've got rid of all my clothes that are size 16 and above (except a few special things, including my wedding dress), and you wouldn't believe how many of my family (and DH's) have said that was silly, because what if I put on the weight again. Hmpf! They have no confidence in me to stay healthy, or buy myself some clothes! Well, it's a good thing I'm not going to put on weight, or I'll have to be naked, and that'd teach them!

An update

I realised I haven't been posting for a while.  A mixture of life having got in the way, me persuing ideas for The Swap Shop UK on facebook, and me falling asleep in the evenings, even when I'm watching a programme I'm really interested in (like Sherlock, last night).   This post is just an eclectic catch up of what's been happening round here.

So, recently when we've been to the library and got out the following books:

• How does a ship float?
• The lion king
• Princess Rani
• Bathtime
• Bless you!

We're also doing the Circus Stars Summer Reading Challenge where you have to read 6 books.  Well, we'd finish it in one week, if we just tried to read 6 books, so we just go back for 6 weeks.  We've already collected the first sticker for our circus stage.

My sister's wedding went really well.  Again, I need to write a separate post about that, but I can now start losing weight again.  That said, i haven't started yet, and will do so after this weekend.  I'm visiting my grandparents, so there is no point even trying to eat healthily there, but next week I will start watching my weight again.  I won't be doing the fat burning foods diet, but will be applying those principles to my normal cooking for the family.

The veg patch is really doing well.  We've been eating tomatoes, spring onions (which are now bulbous and the size of shallots!), and I've even had a few carrots.  The strawberry plant served us well, but has since died, because the hanging basket dried out over the weekend of my sister's wedding.  Next year, though, I will try and plant the seeds at the right distance apart to begin with, so I don't need to keep thinning down.

I still want to move house, and we're still unable to.  Sadly, I have started playing the lottery and so far have won £2.50 on the lottery and £1 on a scratch card.  Not enough for my dream house, yet.  My dream house is still available atm which is probably prolonging my misery.  I'd love to move into no 11 but it's not looking likely.  I've even tried to set my sights lower, and I've found no 13 Chapel Court but we still can't afford that.  It's half the price of my dream house, but double the price of where we currently live, that's in negative equity.  As I said before, we've no chance of ever moving house unless we win the lottery, but in the mean time I'm slowly losing all my savings.  You'd think for a semi-intelligient woman I'd know better, wouldn't you?

I am working on getting more money, without the lottery, although I know this is a much longer term solution, rather than the quick fix I need for either of the homes I want.  I've bought a website for my tutoring (a domain name and a hosting package) in order to advertise myself some more.  Unfortunately, I'm not that technically savvy at programming level languages (I can cope with the higher level drag/drop with a small amount of coding, but what I've bought seems to require a lot more) so DH is going to have to help me.  Unfortunately, with his anxiety, he's not convinced I've done the right thing.  Especially as i've bought a second domain name www.theswapshopuk.com so I can develop my swap shop idea.  Atm I'm planning everything on paper, and then will type the text up and send to DH so he can put it together for me.  He said it looked fairly easy, but when I queried whether that was 'easy for him' or 'easy for him to teach me' his face suggested it was the former, so it may be a while yet, before either of these sites go live.  At worst, I've just wasted £70, which would be a few takeaways; at best, I've not got the means to make some more money.  The website it meant to have an easy to use website building function thing called Click be.  I haven't even found that yet, so I really do need to learn more!

My Sister's Hen Night

This seems like ages ago now, as it was the start of June.  There was a bit of stress about me getting there, in the first place, as we didn't have anyone to babysit DDs 1&2.  My mum was invited, My dad, and FIL were both on holiday (separately), which left MIL who refused to come here on her own, as her husband was working.  DH couldn't take the day off work, because he didn't have many holidays left and the few days he did have, he had to keep spare for my upcoming hospital appointments.

In the end, this was resolved by me going on the train to MILs with the children alone, when DH was in work, staying overnight, and the next day (Friday) I would then go back to Bristol, to my grandparent's house to pick up all my stuff and get a lift with my sister's best friend up to Manchester, whilst DH goes to work on Friday and after work, he'll drive to his mum's to look after the girls.

I was also *really* nervous about taking the pushchair on the train by myself.  I had DD2 in the wrap, and DD1 is more than capable of walking, but MIL was adament that she wanted the pushchair too.  My mum said MIL should buy a cheap one (like my mum has done).  The Thursday came, and typically, DD1 (who never sleeps during the day) was asleep at 11am!  So, I had no choice, but to load her into the pushchair asleep, with DD2 attached to me, and go on the bus to the train station.  And walking to the trainstation was the next bit of stress because there were a million coaches outside, and i had no idea what I was menat to do if there was rail replacement.  Fortunately, it didn't affect our service.

We were an hour early, though, because we had to get a specified train, but to be fair, both girls were really good, even though they were bored, and didn't run off or anything.  And even though we were early, it was good that we had to catch that train - the train before was an hour late, and the train before that was delayed by 2 hours (!) so they all arrived within 15mins of each other.  Our train was still busy, but somehow I managed to get on without losing anything.  (I have a fear of losing things under the train, and between the platform edge.)

Anyway, we arrived and everything was all hunky dory.  That night, DD2 was ina room with me, in the travel cot and DD1 was in MIL's room, as usual.  Unfortunately, our room was ridiculously hot, so DD2 ended up in the single bed with me, so she could have loads of BFs.  She still woke up drenched in sweat and really hot, so I had to wet the muslin square to keep her cool and get her body temperature down.  It worked, thankfully, as I had no calpol with me - DH was bringing that with him in the car.

The next day, I left and caught the train to my grandparent's house.  It was meant to take 3 hours, but we hit traffic as soon as we got of the sliproad onto the motorway, so ended up taking 4 hours.  Nevermind, we were there at last.

The Chief Bridesmaid laid on this buffet, which was fantastic.  She's Argentinian, and there was a host of various foods and flavours.  My favourite was the chorizo (which I really should get the recipe for); it was cooked with white wine and sugar, and absolutely to die for!  And the chief bridesmaid gave everybody a Hen Party champagne flute, so we can remember the weekend, which was a lovely touch.

My sister, being a teacher, had made badges for everyone, haha, and planned the first game which was an icebreaker.  Each of us had to come up with 3 sentences of what we had done with my sister: 2 false and 1 true.  The rest of us had to guess which was true, and 'bet' our drink whether we were right or wrong.  My sentences were: Sister and I used to eat worms in the garden. Sister and I used to watch ET everynight before bed. Sister and I used to float down the stairs.  Well, sister and I used to rescue worms from the garden, and put them in the composter.  I've never seen ET all the way through, because my sister was terrified of it growing up.  But we both have the memory of floating downstairs, without touching any of the steps, in our old house - so that was the true one.

After that game, it was my turn.  In helping prepare for the night, I had done 2 things: Mr & Mrs, and also party bags for everyone, but they weren't coming out until the Saturday night.  For my Mr & Mrs game, I had already asked my sister's fiance 15 questions about them/their relationship from where did they meet, to what was my sister's fantasy - admittedly a couple of questions were TMI for my liking! haha.  I did ask "would you go on an all expenses paid naturist holiday?" to which both my sister and her fiance answered "no", so I won't be telling the family that we're naturist yet!  Finally, I ended with 5 "what am I?" questions.  Eg. a. I'm wet. b. I smell fishy. c. Men like to plunge into me.  What am I?
The sea, of course! Tut, tut, tut, all you with naughty minds. Hehe.  And as with the previous game, eveyone else had to place bets as to whether my sister would know the answer or not.  My sister, depending on whether she got the answer right or not, got a 'nice' present (eg chocolates, smellies etc) or a 'naughty' present (dressing up stuff for the saturday, and a few things for her and her fiance).  After more drinks, shots, and chat we played I have Never, though, tbh I found that a bit boring because nothing particularly juicy came up.

The next day, we had a Bridesmaid dress fitting - all because I have lost weight.  I got down to 64kg, and my sister has banned me from losing any more weight now until the wedding, as there's no time for another fitting.  We also saw my sister in her dress and she looks beautiful, of course.

The we went to the spa.  I had hot stone massage for my treatment, which was really nice, but not as long as I was expecting/hoping for, as it was only 30mins.  As I was having the same treatment as my mum, we went in together.  We had to take pull our swimsuits down to our waist, and lay front-down on the table.  My mum commented that she was glad to share a treatment room with me because she didn't mind me seeing her boobs, and she didn't mind seeing mine either.  Yep, more proof that my family are not yet in a place to know we're naturists, haha.    The other thing, is that because I still breastfeed, being away from DD2 this whole weekend, I needed to express fairly regularly, one of these times was in the spa itself.  I went to the ladies' changing room and sat on the seat, and expressed.  A lady was in there, and asked me to help with the zip of her dress, and then we had a brief conversation about expressing. She left, and my mum came in (this was just before our treatment, as I needed to empty my boobs before I could lie on my front!).  My mum basically said [I can't remember her exact words now] that should I be doing that in here?  I just said yes, but where the hell else am I meant to be.  I was in the women's changing room ffs!  Although I was tempted to express on the side of the pool (it was only our group there), #I wasn't going to because I know my mum's reaction.  And then, she went on to say what if other people had come in?  Well, one person had come in and talked about it, and a few other people came in briefly to change their clothes and either didn't notice, but didn't comment in any place, so clearly nobody - except my mum - minds. Argh.  I find my mum's attitude to me BFing so bloomin' frustrating.

Anyway, I managed to get 30 lengths of the swimming pool swum, and had a shower first, so I could get some more expressing in, before our evening.  We got the taxi back to my sister's house, and the taxi driver drove down a road that was blocked, so attempted to do a 3 point turn, but hit a bollard, showering my sister in glass!  He didn't even stop to ask if everyone was ok, but continued driving!  Needless to say, pictures went straight up on facebook! The three people in the back row, moved forward (we were in a 16seater minibus, but with only 10 of us in), which was a good thing too, because throughout the rest of the journey, glass kept splintering off, and shattering on the ground.

We got to my sister's in one piece, and got dressed quickly.  I handed out a sash for everyone (green with pandas on) and a party bag each.  The 'Hen Night Survival Pack' contained:

For a good night out:
Panda Mask
Badge
Cocktail Can
Party Poppers
Sweets
Stickers
Nail File
In case you get lucky:
Toothbrush
Clean pair of pants
Condoms
For the morning after:
Can of Full-fat Coke
Alka Seltzer
Chewing Gum
Hair bands

And everyone seemed to appreciate the time, and humour, of the bags, which was good.  (If you haven't guessed yet, my sister is obsessed with pandas, which is why there was a big panda theme throughout.)  We then went to the salsa night.  For one price, we had champagne on arrival, a salsa lesson, tapas meal, and free entry to the club all night.  And it was a proper dancing club, rather than a meat market, so people were up and dancing all night.  I had a good time, even though I stopped drinking fairly early, but I do regret not asking anyone to dance.  I do Ceroc dancing, and though the beat is slightly different, many of the moves are similar to salsa.  That said, I did get one dance and he was awful.  He couldn't dance and couldn't lead.  I know everyone has to start somewhere, but he was friends with the best dancer in the place, and I wish I had the chance to dance with him instead.  Admittedly it was not helped that I was wearing a white dress, the club had UV lights (so I was the brightest thing there, lol), and I started leaking milk.  I couldn't wear breast pads, as they showed through the dress, so from that point on, I was wary about going to the main dance floor.  Again, with hindsight, I wish I just didn't care - it's not as if I'd see any of these people again.

That's all there is really to say.  We went back for yet more drinks.  Had a good night sleep, and had breafast before getting a lift back to my grandparent's house in Bristol, where DH picked me up in the car (with DD1 and DD2, of course) and I drove home.  Very tired, but had a good weekend.

Weekly Weigh-in

Current weight: 67kg
Goal weight: 10st
Weight lost this week: -1kg (ie gained a kilo)
Total weight loss:11kg

We were on holiday last week, and I ate whatever I fancied (which resulted in me feeling bad and bloated as I don't eat that much any more), so I'm pleased to only have put one kilo back on.

Weekly Weigh-in

Current weight: 66kg
Goal weight: 10st
Weight lost this week: 2kg
Total weight loss:12kg

I'm my new Low!

Admitted I felt really, *really* sick yesterday, so I didn't eat anything until the evening, which probably helped. Not recommended for a long-term diet, though.

I was nauseous, dizzy, then in the afternoon I had back ache and headache. I hadn't felt this ill since... well, it would've been another virgin birth, but these things still cross your mind. Fortunately, I had a BFN this morning (on the second test - the first was a dud, which didn't help things). I know it could be AF returning (since, as a teenager, I had all these symptoms accompanying it), but even today she hasn't made an apperance yet. Otherwise, just a random bug, that has hopefully passed.

But I'm another step closer to my target (only 2kg away!), and whilst my BMI would be considered 'healthy', I am now thinking of maybe setting myself another target of 60kg, so I can be comfortably healthy, itms.

Weekly Weigh-in

Current weight: 68kg
Goal weight: 10st
Weight lost this week: 0.5kg
Total weight loss:10kg

Still pottering along.

Weekly Weigh-in

Current weight: 68.5kg
Goal weight: 10st
Weight lost this week: -0.5kg
Total weight loss:9.5kg

I have put on half a kilo this week, which isn't too bad, as it could be normal fluctuation.

Weight Loss

To add to last week's post, I've actually another 5kg (~11lbs) to lose  until I hit my target of 10stone so it's a fair chunk, and I'm losing it slowly, but hopefully steadily and healthily. What is good, though, is when I think back to when I started (pre-DD2), I was 87kg, so I've lost nearly 20kgs! (~3stone) Because I've been losing weight over a fair while, and had a pg in between, I had no idea it was that much. I'm really chuffed with myself.

Because of the hot weather, I went to wear a skirt yesterday, but it on (it's a lovely loose white skirt) and you actually could have fitted 2 of me in there!  So I'm reduced to wearing just a handful of summer clothes.  I really must go shopping to reward myself!

I'm dreading tomorrow's weigh-in, though.  We've had a bit of a weekend of it, with the in-laws here, and even though they have left, we've just had a chinese takeaway, so I wouldn't be surprised if I have put loads of weight back on.

Weekly Weigh-in

Current weight: 68kg
Goal weight: 10st
Weight lost this week: 2kg
Total weight loss:10kg

Wahoo! I'm my new lowest weight!

And i've just found out my BMI is 25.6!  Oh, so close to being healthy!!!

Dear Diary,

Lots have been going on that I really need to update with you.  On Mother's Day, we had the worst takeaway [customer service] in the world, on Monday we went to the library as usual, but I haven't noted which books we got out, I put on weight, DD1 made an HE friend, the weather has been gorgeous and I've had a busy Saturday in the garden today!

So, on Mother's Day, for a change we thought we'd try the only Italian takeaway (excluding the likes of Pizza Hut etc) in our town.  We looked at the menu, and though it seemed pricey (more than double what we would normally pay for a takeaway, DH and I decided it would be a nice change.  We ordered online, and only after we had paid, did it say "allow 90mins for delivery"!  We were hoping to feed DD1 (and 2) some of ours for dinner, but that wait seemed ridiculous, so she had beans on toast - which she probably enjoyed more anyway.  Soon, DD1 was in bed, and DD2 was asleep downstairs, but still no food.  After nearly 2 hours from whe we ordered we phoned up to ask where our food was, to be told that ours was next in line (so they hadn't even started it!) and to apologise they'd throw in a bottle of wine.  Did we want white or red?  Red.  DH nor I like white wine, so even though we decided it was too late to open the bottle that night, it would keep.  We had to wait another 45minutes (!!!) before the food arrived.  DH went to the door, took the food, but no bottle of wine.  The delivery driver said he would return with it, which to be fair, he did very promptly, but it was white.  Typical - and just sums up the customer service that they couldn't even get the colour of wine right.  By this point, it was nearly 3 hours after we first ordered, and we were well into the food, so didn't bother saying anything.  At least we now have a bottle of white for if we have visitors.  The food itself was actually lovely, though massive.  If we were ever to order from there again (which we're not going to), we'd order 1 starter and 1 main between us.  At least that way, it would be the right amount of food for a decent price.  I ordered White Bait starter (which was enough for about 4 people) and Duck breast for main.  I was given the option of chips or vegetables, I opted for veg, but ordered a side order of chips anyway.  When it arrived, the duck breast was about 6inches long, and 2 inches thick, though very tasty.  The side order of chips was humungous, and the vegetables had roasted potatoes included so I didn't need the chips anyway.  DH ordered prawns for starter and seafood spaghetti for main; the latter was definitely enough for two.  As I say, the food was very nice, but we're not going to bother ordering from there again.  I would Name and Shame, but then that takes away one part of my anonymity, if you know where I'm located.

Current weight: 71kg
Goal weight: 10st
Weight lost this week: -2kg (ie put on 2kg)
Total weight loss: 7kg

I put on 2kg this week.  Probably because of the takeaways, and visit to my grandparents, but I'm hoping it is just a normal fluctuation and I haven't put myself back that much.   Today I saw somebody who hadn't seen me in a few weeks, and with the warmer weather, I'm wearing thinner/lighter/tighter clothes.  Anyway, she commented about how much weight I've lost, around my waist and around my face, so I hope that means I haven't done too much damage to my goals.

On Monday we went to the library as usual.  I got out some books for DD1 and one for me.  (I'll update this post, when I've got them to hand.)  Then, on Tuesday, we went to a different library for Storytime and also to meet up with a fellow HEer, and her children.   She has two girls, the elder one is 5 and the younger is 1.  The elder daughter, apparently, went to preschool and didn't hate it, but didn't enjoy it that much either.  So, off she went to school like most other children, but changed overnight and hated it.  So, she was taken out of school and is now being HEed.  Anyway, DD1 and her got on like a house on fire, so I'm hoping they will become good friends, as we start to develop more friendships in the HE world. :-D

And today I have done much in the garden.  The weather is still lovely, so I wanted to make the most of it.  I cut the grass, and filled up one compost bin, and started filling the second one.  I repotted my house plant (a rubber plant, that I've had since university), I sowed the tomato seeds in the grow bags, and I sowed rows of carrots and onions in the ground.  I've never attempted to grow anything from seed before, but hopefully that if nothing has grown in a month's time, I will still be able to buy some baby-plants from the gardening shop to replace the dead-seeds and nobody will be any the wiser. Ssssssh!

So that's what I've been up to lately.  I am planning on writing a post entitled "How the Hell can I call myself a Christian?" but it's another thing that I haven't got around to.  Tomorrow the weather is still meant to be high so we're planning to go to the beach for the day with the children.  Studland beach in Dorset is a sandy, accessible naturist beach.  But it is a fair few hours drive away, so it does depend on how much sleep we get tonight and how early we wake tomorrow.  Otherwise, we'll still be at home, and hopefully will be as productive as we have been today.

Speak again soon,
LBP

Mother's Day!

Today is Mother's Day, in the UK.  It is usually the last Sunday in March; I don't know why it has changed to April this year, unless it is somehow also linked to Easter?  Mr. Internet probably knows somewhere. 

Today I had a lay-in, and DH took DD1 and DD2 downstairs nice and early, so I could sleep.  Then, just before 10am, DD1 ran in shouting "Happy Mother's Day" and DH brought me a large cooked breakfast in bed, and a glass of orange juice and I had a card from my two DDs with a lovely picture of the moon drawn by DD1.  (Why there's a picture of the moon in my card, I don't know, but shhh, don't tell her that.)

And because I want to grow my own, I used today as an excuse for DH to buy me lots of gardening stuff.  So off we went and bought a watering can, compost, plant feed, name tags, tomato grow bags, strawberry plant in a hanging basket, a bucket and a water power thingy for the patio (which is really a new toy for DH and cost more than all my stuff put together).  Typically, as we were loading the car up it started to rain. 

Since coming back home the rain has come and gone. I have managed to cut back the holly bush (I wanted to remove it totally, but DH thinks it looks good.  It's just a bit too prickally for my liking), hang up the strawberry basket, and tidy the garden by putting the leafy things from next-door's palm-type tree into the compost.  Not much, as I was hoping to sow some seeds too today, and cut the grass, but the weather has changed.

As it is Mum's day today, yesterday we went to visit my grandparents.  My dad came down to visit them, with his wife and my sister, and we went across for just the day as we don't live too far away.  Overall we had a nice time.  Ate far too much (I may have mentioned this before, but my grandmother is a feeder), and brought loads home too, which we have been eating today.  My family are not known for their tact, though, and the first thing that my grandad, my dad and my grandmother (all separately) said to me was how blothcy, red and spotty my face looks.  Thanks(!)  Yesterday morning I got up early-ish, had a shower.  Chose clothes to help show slim I'm looking now.  Used mousse in my hair to keep the curls, as nobody knew I had had my hair cut, let alone seen it.  I even applied some make up, which I very rarely do, so that I could look my best.  And they all comment on the state of my acne. :-(  After my mum's comments a few weeks ago, I've even been using specific cleanser and a night lotion to help.  Obviously they're not working are they.  DH is still convinced that my face isn't that bad, but it made me feel so rubbish.  I ended up asking directly about my weightloss and my new hairstyle.  My grandad asked if my hair had grown - nope, I've only had 6-8inches cut off a fortnight ago.  My Nan and my sister both said they liked my hair, though. 

Anyway, before I upset myself again I should stop there.  That was yesterday, and today is Mother's day.  I wonder if I could even fit a bath in later on? :-)

Oh, and my nan bought me a dress and a swimming costume in a size 14, because the dresses she bought for me before didn't fit.  The swimming cossie fits lovely - I'll look forward to wearing that on holiday in the summer - and DH said I look really slim in it.  And the dress, looks and fits really good, but really it is slightly to big, as I can easily pinch in a good inch from either side!

Weekly Weigh-in

Current weight: 69kg
Goal weight: 10st
Weight lost this week: 0.5kg
Total weight loss:9kg

Getting there, getting there.

Weigh-in

Current weight: 69.5kg
Goal weight: 10st
Weight lost this week: Nothing
Total weight loss:8.5kg

Just realised I forgot to update this on Monday (again). No change this week. Not bad, because I had a big night out on Friday and ended up, not only eating, but drinking waaay too much.
I have been trying to be more sensible this week, but still ended up having a takeaway on Wednesday night.
Next week will be better... I hope.

Weigh-in

Current weight: 69.5kg
Goal weight: 10st
Weight lost this week: 1kg
Total weight loss:8.5kg

I'm my upper-target of 10st-something.

Weigh-in

Current weight: 70.5kg
Goal weight: 10st
Weight lost this week: 0.5kg
Total weight loss: 7.5kg

My BMI is now 26.5! (Not that I think BMI is the be all and and all, but when I started my diet before I got pg with DD2, my BMI was 34, and I hadn't calculated it again, since.)

I'm struggling at the moment in the nights. After dinner, after the LOs have gone to bed, I seem to get hungry again about 10/11pm. If I can cope without anything, in the morning I feel normal again; if I do eat a small snack, I'm absolutely starving and end up eating too much.

Weigh-in

Current weight: 71kg
Goal weight: 10st
Weight lost this week: 0kg
Total weight loss: 7kg

No change, which is good because I haven't been.
How many times can I claim to restart this diet?

Dear Diary,

We've had a stressful week this week.

Starting a new job is one of the more stressful things you can do, and that's just what DH has done this week.  He changed jobs for career prospects/interest reasons, rather than because he hated his old job or the people.  In fact, whilst not quite in the area he wanted to be in, he loved his old job and got on really well with all of his colleagues and his boss!  As such, he was really apprehensive before starting this job because he was really unsure to whether he had made the right decision.  Given that he was offered this new job back in November, but was on a 3month notice period at his old place, so the apprehension has been building all this time.

On Monday, off he went, and I didn't hear anything until he returned.  It wasn't good.  Lots of little things that culminated during the day not helped by some reckless drivers he encountered on the way home.  Fortunately, since then, things seem to have got a bit better.  As with all new jobs, it takes a fair while before you settle into the role and start to make friends, but he did go to the pub with his team after work on Wednesday, so that's a good sign.

DD2 might be teething again.  She is really grumpy, and dribbly. I thought she would at least have had a gap between her first 2 teeth coming through and the next bunch.  Either that, or it's just a developmental stage where she recognises me properly (and is therefore unhappy with anybody, 'cept DH, who is not me and also when I leave the room).

And my diet has gone out of the window (again).  I think yesterday was the worst day I've ever had!  To celebrate that DH was starting to not-hate his new job, we had a Chinese take away on Wednesday night.  Thursday lunch was leftover Chinese for me, yum.  (I do ensure the children have proper food, in case anyone is worried.)  FIL came to visit us, and took the children out for a walk giving me time to wash up, tidy and hoover .  He returned at 5pm with sausage and chips for DD1.  I'm not going to let her eat a whole portion (the chips are huge) so I had to help out quite a bit.  And because FIL doesn't like much variety of food, specifically much of what we eat/cook for ourselves, DH suggested we get another takeaway, so Indian was order of the day (korma for FIL).  Three different takeaways in one day! So today, I'm desperately trying to make up for it, by having tropical veg juice for breakfast and lunch (tho' I did share a piece of toast with DD2 at lunchtime) and for snacks too.  I will have a proper dinner tonight though - I'm not totally crazy.  Garlic pork with sweet potato mash (I may put some carrots in the mash too). Yum.

Hopefully next time I write, it will all be good news.
Yours,
LBP

Weigh-in

Current weight: 71kg
Goal weight: 10st
Weight lost this week: 1kg
Total weight loss: 7kg

Back down to my lowest weight so far. Hopefully that'll contine as I've planned my meals properly again this week, so hopefully I'll be less tempted by a takeaway.