Day 11 - 5 Charms

Did you know coffee, tea and soda are natural diuretics? Which means when I try to increase my intake of fluids, I should try to do so while not drinking too much of either. The good news is I drink about 2 cups of tea a day, and have by now, not drank more than one or two glasses of diet coke. So I am doing pretty good.

Another news worthy tit bit of information on water intake? The process of burning calories requires an adequate supply of water in order to function efficiently; dehydration slows down the fat-burning process!! In other words, drink too little, loose less fat. So I will try and stick to my two litres a day.

It is advised that starting the day with a couple of glasses of water rehydrates the body after a good night of sleep, and takes care of the first 25% of your water intake for the day. Make sure you do it before you eat, not while you eat. Food should not be diluted with more than one glass of any fluid, allowing the digestive system to work as best as it can; too much dilution will thwart that.

*grins* As you see, I am up! I had my breakfast, and enjoyed my smoothie.

Do I think exercise includes moving stuff around in a house for about 4 hours (which includes several breaks to rest)? Heck yes, I do! So I jotted down 2,5 hours of heavy medium high exercise, and I was being modest there. As usual all this strenuous work was laced with lots of laughter and a lot of cursing and name calling. The latter two is a habit me and my best friends get into when we are together and do things like these; which I may add happens more often than you would think. A couple of dock workers would grin at the antics and name calling we get into. BUT back to the subject, if exercise ups your metabolism, mine was upped, in a big way.

Now dinner was another matter. We did not really have one, and so I probably had too little vegetables. We decided to just have nibbles. As I prepared it, I was able to "steer" the content to semi healthy. We had two dips, made with a yoghurt based mayonnaise, strips of carrot, small cauliflower pieces, a salmon salad, again mixed with the same mayonnaise, some blue cheese, and two kinds of crackers.

I made a very rough estimate of what I used in points this evening, and ended up with 13.5. I am doubtful about the vegetables as I did consume part of them but have no way of telling how much of them. I think I ate about 200 grams worth of it; TOO LITTLE.

BUT, I did not have the coca cola which was on the table, of all things straight in front of my face the whole time, about 4 hours long. I stuck to the mineral water, and I must admit it wasn't even difficult. I am feeling good about myself and the diet I am on, so it is, so far, easy going.

Went home, had a much needed shower, because lifting boxes and furniture is heavy perspiration work, some relax time, and went to bed. A good day, filled with exercise, what more would I wish.

With the weekend gone, I am halfway through the week, and am looking forward to Wednesday.

I never knew exercise could be THAT much fun. And I did not even have to pay for a sport school.

Day 10 - 5 Charms

Birthdays, they are quite a bother when you are trying to contain your intake of fattening foods. Because in contrast to just being at home, or at work, I just know I might run the chance of being confronted with a deluge of delicious foods which reek havoc with my healthy plans. So, when it was Ali's birthday - one of my "bestest" friends, I did several things.

1. I phoned her to know what kind of cake she had, what kind of dinner she would serve
2. Started to save extra points
3. Adjusted my food intake in the morning and at lunchtime.

I read through the grocery list to know how many points things were, so I would know which food items I could fit into the diet plan for the day.

In the end I went there after dinner, so I need not worry about that, AND I WALKED to her. I usually take a taxi or public transport. But this time I walked! This meant that the piece of pie I would have was already covered as the exercise granted me bonus points. smart, ain't I? At the party I had a lovely cup of tea or two with the apple pie. I ate it slowly, instead of gobbling it down in a hurry.

When the nibbles came, I had some mineral water instead of my usual coke, and my friend had some pepper strips and cucumber , so that combined with two crackers and very thin cream cheese, I did EXTREMELY well.

I decided to walk back as well, however halfway through I found I was just too tired and hitched a ride with public transport for two stops. I came home extremely happy and proud, tired too, but hey I had been a good girl, and did not go bananas over all the lovely food items she had.

And the funny thing is this: If you never actually walk to places, you will never know how strenuous it really is. Now that my feet have felt the distance once, I am sure I will walk to her again. Tomorrow I will be helping her clear her rooms, as she will get new carpeting this week, and guess what, I'll walk there!

Well, time for bed, and the only way to stimulate your digestion system is to get exercise, and the easiest is WALKING!

Day 7 - 5 Charms (weightloss = 2,4 kilos)

Yesterday evening was a disaster, I tried a recipe I found, and it was BLEAGH, I ate about a fifth of it, then threw it away; it was so bad it made gag. Which left me with two problems, how much points to put down, and what to eat instead. It was late, almost half past eight. In the end I had a small bag of quakers, 250 grams of tomatoes and the bread I was supposed to eat with my dinner. All in all I had 8 points left in the end. Not a good day, not at ALL.

This one should have been posted yesterday, and I know it will feature a surprise for some of you who read it. But I promised myself I would be honest, to myself foremost. It was not a good day, I did not eat enough, so by the time I went to weight watchers I was not feeling too hot.

I lost 2,4 kilos. And you know what, I was not even very happy with it.

I will explain why. I tried weight watchers once before about 15 years ago, and lost 7 kilos in the first week. All this past week I told myself that was a one off, and I could not and should not compare. BUT I did, and so 2,4 kilos was a disappointment. I had a word with the coach asking if my menstrual cycle has an impact on weight loss. She said yes, it means I am retaining water from a week prior to the start of it. Guess what? That would have been about the time I was weighed first time. So that extra weight will be off next week as well.

Am I disappointed enough so I would stop? Heck no, of course not, of course I am happy with the result, and next week I hope to get close to it.

I bought a point’s calculator to make my daily use easier to keep track of. Have to get through the manual today as it does not make my much sense right now. It also has some added features which help me to keep track of points I have saved.

I noticed that drinking enough fluids is not easy for me. So I have measured a water container at home, as well as a glass I always use, and now know I have to drink at least 6 of these glasses to get 2 litters of (preferably) water into me. It says in the booklet that I should drink water before I am thirsty! Now there is a problem, sometimes I find that doing so makes me want to gag. I just don't like it much.

I made a full colour hand out, a strip on thick photo paper, which I give to people to interest them in this blogger. The first one I gave to Sandra, a girl who sat next to me the first time I visited weight watchers last week. The "strip" features the address of this blogger for all who wish to read it.

I was so happy she sat next to me. She is a nice woman, and helped me feel less nervous, though I doubt she realised that. Like me she had come back too after gaining weight again. Only I don't think it was a 15 year interval as was my absence from Weight Watchers.

This week and last week she told me of her brother who also wants to come, but has an excuse every time. A shame really, I think he should just come. But in time he will run out of excuses, and when he sees how well his sister is doing, he will probably tag along one time. SO Sandra, when you read this, tell your brother he should just come! He is famous already featuring in my blogger, which is read by a handful now.

Having eaten as little as I did all day, I used all saved points as well, and had asperges, ham, eggs and melted butter, as well as a salad with the last of the stilton which had been in my fridge pre weight watchers. It was lovely!

Count your blessings, and your points, and 2,4 kilos is well on my way to my next Pandora charm, only 1 kilo more!

Day 6 - 5 Charms

Is not a happy bunny! I had written a whole post, did some lay out on it, and POOF, gone! Nice...not!

So once more:

Starting the day with a smoothy takes care of all calcium and fruit intake for the day. And added bonus that I start the day out right, with the smoothy and some crackers and water, I have no excuse or cop out to buy the wrong stuff at the ocorner shop when I go to work. I usually walk in and buy something to read, and as I am there anyways, some candy, preferably chocolate of course. Now, having filled my tummy, and feeling good, I wizz by the candy with ease and just buy something to read. Which makes me feel VERY good.

I also find I am using no added sugar at all, and where the taste of the smoothies was a little bland to marginally sweet at first I now start tasting the natural fruit sugars much better. And as I go along more and more advantages to eating healthy crop up. Which lead to the question:

Are there any disadvantages?

Yes, as I eat fresh vegetables and fruit every day, I have to shop every day.
and erm...................

Well, so far that is about it. Maybe anyone reading this can name a few others? Oh, perhaps that I keep nagging people about my food intake all day? Yet, I know from experience that is just the first two weeks, then it all gets "normal".

Well work bellows, travelling is impending, enjoy your own breakfast, and eat healthy!

Ok, I admit it. I would so like to eat something .......... I am not sure, but something which would not benefit my diet, that's for sure. I had one of the Weight Watcher's candy bars ready, but instead decided to be strong and had a large bowl of strawberries, the only concession being two spoons of real sugar, for which I will put down 2 points. Shortly after I had the WW candy bar, as this afternoon is the most difficult one. HELP!!!

My colleague, who is also dieting has the same problem, so she is eating an apple. I will just drink some more water, as I know that will help for a while. I think the reason is that have only been eating "sweet" food items, and I crave for something savory. But I will have to wait untill dinner. Leek, chops and potatoes, I am really looking forward to that!

TOMORROW!!! Enjoy your day, don't binge on crisps! *grumbles as I would love too right now*