"Stressed is desserts spelt backwards"

So this week has been rather challenging, both emotionally and in terms of staying on track. I've tracked everything I've eaten but I'd be lying if I said I'd been an angel this week. The total opposite; over the weekend I sort of ate everything in sight rather than crying. Not ideal.

This sort of explains my week.

So this morning I was dreading weigh in. But I was pleasantly surprised with just a 1 lb gain. Admittedly I was a bit upset as I was just half a lb away from that big 6 stone. But I will get there. Looking at graphs like this shows just how far I have come.

It just shows that this journey is not all plain sailing but I have come so far and 1 lb isn't that much in the grand scheme of things. 

In term of my Where Are My Knees? ten week pledge I am now at 5.5 lbs lost with 4 weeks to go till the big day. Hoping I can loose 1 lb a week till then which will allow me to reach my ten week pledge goal, crack the 6 stone barrier and put me at a weight of 10st 10lbs. All these little goals give me something to focus on. 

Something else I am also proud of is tracking for 30 days straight with My FitnessPal. I can't remember the last time I stayed tracking for this long. 

The exercise is still slacking, well actually none existent. But it will come in time. I know how much better it makes me feel but when you haven't been for so long it's hard to break down the barriers and thoughts such as "oh well everyone will be looking at the fat girl in the gym". Hard to believe that I still see myself as the fat girl, let alone that people actually stare at others in the gym when I know this isn't true. Any tips on how to break this cycle would be much appreciated :)

Lots of Love
Elle
xxx

December Challenge

For those who follow me on twitter you'll know that a while back I asked for some exercises as I was going to create an "exercise advent calender". This year I thought I'd do something different as well as having my chocolate calender, I would do something that would keep me on track. 

As I've been struggling with exercise lately I thought this would be the perfect thing to do. I've thought up 25 (yes even one for Christmas Day!) exercises, or things to do like attend a different exercise class. (I'll post the full list at the bottom of this post for those of you who are interested!) 

I bought this lovely advent calender from a little Christmas shop back home:

I've then got 25 little cards with different challenges on & have also written little quotes on the back as a bit of motivation. I'm hoping this will keep me focused over Christmas, and also help me get back into the exercise routine - especially as it's only 13 weeks till my next half marathon and I haven't run in over 3 weeks!!














The pictures aren't very good but the one on the left is all of the challenges and on the right is the quotes I've written I've cut them out and turned them over and muddled them all up to put into the advent calender so I don't know what challenge is on what day. 

My housemate has also agreed to do the challenge with my so we can keep each other motivated. I'm actually quite excited to get it started now.

Here's the calender in place on my fire:

Does any one else think they might do something to keep themselves on track over Christmas?

The list of challenges I have got over the 25 days are:  (they have all been mixed up -I just like lists!)

1. 3 x 20 Tricep Dips
2. 2 x 10 Burpees
3. Attend an exercise class this week
4. 3 x 20 Bent over rows
5. 3 x 20 leg raises
6. 4 x 25 sit ups
7. 3 x 20 Reverse bridge dips
8. 4 x 25 Overhead Press
9. 4 x 25 Front Lunges
10. 4 x 25 Side Lunges
11. 4 x 25 Jumping Jacks
12. 2 x 10 Mountain Climbers
13.3 x 20 Cross over crunches
14. 4 x 25 Squats
15. 5 K run
16. 4 x 25 Push ups
17. 10 K cycle ride
18. 500m on the rowing machine
19. 4 x 20 Bicep curls
20. 3 x 20 Lateral Rasies
21. 3 x 20 Shoulder press
22. 5 K run
23. 4 x 25 sit ups
24. 2 x 10 Burpees
25. 4 x 25 Push ups

Hope you all have had lovely weekend.
Lots of love
Elle xx

The 10's!!!

After weigh in last week I was really motivated to have another good week in order to get into the 10 stone bracket. Something I never thought would be possible.

I've had an OK week, something I am really proud of is I haven't eaten my emotions. With the drama still continuing it would have been so easy to eat my way through plenty of galaxy and crisps to sink a ship, but I've stayed strong and haven't. I did go out on Saturday night, had one too many vodka's and got a burger on the way home. But even my hangover day on Sunday I reined it in and didn't binge. Probably had something to do with the fact I was working all day so didn't have chance to!!

So I am pleased to announce that this week I lost 1lb. Taking me to 10st 13lbs and just half a lb away from the big 6 stone lost! This is a milestone for me as I have something very exciting in the pipeline for when I get to 6 stone lost, something I will share with you all when it happens! My lovely friend Sarah from The Fat Girl Fighting also pointed out that I don't have any more stone barriers to break in order to get to goal! Exciting times. I think I would be more excited if I didn't have so much going on in my life at the moment; and coping on 3 hours sleep a night isn't great!

Sorry about the poor quality photo I didn't realise the flash was on & got to excited to take another one!

Also moving into the 10's is my wardrobe. I've had a few size 10's for a while but I've never really believed that I'm a size 10 as there things like jumpers which are bigger fitting anyway. After being a size 22 for so long it's still hard to get my head around! Any way I wore this outfit out on Saturday night; including a size 10 top from TopShop and I think I look pretty good even if I do say so myself;)

In terms of my Where Are My Knees? 10 week pledge, I am now at 6.5lbs lost with 5 weeks to go till Christmas (Oh My God I need to start getting organised) So I a pretty confident I will get within reach of this!

Hope your are all having lovely weeks:)

Lots of love
Elle xx

If hunger isn't the problem; food isn't the solution.

After a really good week on plan, the weekend arrived with a night out and a load of drama and I thought I was going to have un-done all of my hard work. But I am pleased to say I lost 3lbs this week! Bringing my total lost to 5st 12.5lbs! And the exciting thing is I am now 11st exactly and the thought of being in the 10's and this close to goal is just the boost I needed!

I'm still surprised with all the stress and drama of the weekend that I didn't reach for the biscuit tin, I may have indulged in some galaxy - but hey that solves everything doesn't it? But I counted it into my daily calorie's and managed to stay in control! It just shows when you focus on something it does really work. "If hunger isn't the problem; food isn't the solution" Something I need to remember at the moment! I've always been such an emotional eater this is a testing time for me and I am proud of myself for getting through the weekend!

So the 10 week pledge from Where Are My Knees? is well under way with just 6 weeks till Christmas and I have lost 5.5lbs so am on target to achieve it! How exciting!

One thing I am MASSIVELY  struggling with at the moment is exercise. To be completely honest I haven't run in 2 weeks, and haven't been to spin classes for 10 days. I even missed my gym review last week. I don't know why but I just don't feel up to it at the moment, and because I've broken the routine I had gotten myself into it's hard to get back in. I know one reason I'm not going is because I'm so tired but then exercising will help that. Do you have any tips for easing myself back into a routine?

Lots of love

Elle
xx

My Fitness Pal & My Inner Fat Girl

This is going to be a bit of a catch up post due to my lack of blogging recently. I've been in bed by 9.30 most nights (rock and roll!)

Last week you'll have seen the post I'd written about needing a shake up in order to break this plateau I have been in for months. After researching a number of options I've gone for My Fitness Pal, which is basically a calorie counter.

Now I have never counted calories before so this is something that was going to be totally new to me. But that's what excited me. I need something new to get my teeth into in order to shake up the routine I had found myself in.

It is really simple to use, exactly like tracking on the Weight Watchers app, and the database is huge (there's nothing I haven't found on there yet!) So last week I had 6 out of 7 days on track. Due to PMT week I had a massive binge at the weekend, and didn't do any exercise last week. But at WI yesterday I stayed the same. With the goings on of last week I'm OK with this and hoping to have a loss this week.

The thing I like about MFP is that I am much more aware of what I am eating. I'd fallen into habits with weight watchers, and would eat the same thing day in day out, because it was easy & I knew the points value of it. Now with MFP I don;t know the calorie content of everything so it's made me think about what I' eating and how much of it. I feel that I'm eating a lot better, and not for the sake of it. Counting calories in fruit, veg & tea is something I am still getting me head around!

Now this binge at the weekend, I now I could have avoided it, I didn't really need it, but I justified it to myself. My excuses were: I"t's time of the month", I really do need this bag of minstrels (a family size bag) for the drive home..it's only an hour drive, I didn't really need them! "I worked through my lunch break at work" so could have eaten the fruit I had in my bag and made something when I got in, instead I bought a meal deal..and went for the crisps instead of the fruit. Sometime the inner fat girl in me just wins, despite having learnt how to cope with these binges, the person inside that made me over weight in the first place is still in there & sometimes it's just "easier" to revert back to old habit. I mean I could have satisfied my chocolate cravings with a small bag of minstrels, simple things like that which I have learnt over these last couple of years are so easy yet so difficult to put into practice sometimes.
Do you have any tips for staying on track when it's time of the month and all you want is chocolate?!

Exercise this week has also been really bad, I've been ridiculously tired from work and these cold & dark mornings really aren't enticing to get up and go to the gym. Any tips for keeping up the exercise in the winter months?

Where Are My Knees?  10 week pledge isn't going as well as I'd have hoped. I'd pledged to lose 10lbs by Christmas, which was 1lb a week. I've lost 2.5lbs since we started and we are now in week 3 so I'm only a little bit off target. Hoping for a good couple of weeks so I can get there! How are you all getting on with your pledges?

Lots of Love
Elle
xxx