First Stone!

A little bit late with this week's post - things are a bit hectic in our house at the moment!

Only child has passed his GCSEs and this means he is off to the Junior Soldier College at Harrogate - we drop him off on his 17th birthday which is just over 2 weeks away. We have lots to do in those 2 weeks - visit grandparents in Bedfordshire and Devon as well as buy all of the stuff he is meant to be taking away with him.

So, Monday was the Bank Holiday - I lay in bed dreading the weigh-in - not sure why but hey ho!

Snuck downstairs about 6:30 - everyone else was still asleep and hopped onto the scales -1.9kg off! I was very shocked - to the point where I even got back on them just to be sure! This brings me to 6.7kg off in my first month - definitely not expecting that but I will take it thank you! This makes 14lbs and 12 oz - so my first stone has left me!

I haven't been so good with my activity last week and I don't think it will be good again this week, but with everything else going on at home, I will take what I can!

So, lets review my goals for August:

5kg weight loss - actually lost 6.7kg

Achieve 7,500 steps per day - my 28/7 average is 7,048 so almost there!

Attend aquafit each week (even if my friend isn't able to go) - managed 4 out of 5 classes - hurt my knee at Zumba!

Look at attending a Zumba class as well - have only been once and now the teacher has left the class - need to explore the new one. Maybe after the 18th September!

Body fat is now 43.5% - a reduction of 0.5%. Not a lot, but at least it's downwards!

BMI was 44.9 and now 42.7 - still obese by a long way but again, its downwards

So let's set September's goals:

2kg weight loss - I can't expect the same level this month. 1 lb per week is an achievable goal

Need to get to 7,500 step per day

Keep going to Aquafit - boot camp instructor has returned and I feel that I am having a workout and not a graceful musical movement around the pool!

Think about Zumba - must preserve the knee though!

Onwards and downwards my friends - see you all next week!

Lost a little bit more!

So, I am on week 3 and I have managed to loose a further 0.7kg so almost at 5kg for my first month

I haven't made my activity target this week as the weather has been poor and we didn't go for a walk on Sunday.

I only managed to eat all of my points on two days last week - 4 days under and 1 day I was over.

I need to plan a bit better for this week - haven't managed that so far today. Need to try harder.

Weight: 128.3kg - total weight loss 4.8kg

Activity: 104 minutes - 46 minutes below target :(

Goals for the coming week:

Loose 1kg

Must eat all of the daily points

Achieve 150 minutes of activity

STS - stayed the same :(

So this week, I have stayed the same - I have pointed every day and have only gone into my weekly points twice. In fact looking at my usage over the past week, I have not hit my daily points on 5 occasions - this I think is my problem.When you look at the connect board, the expert dieters say you should eat your points every day. That puts me in an awkward position for today as work was horrendous and I was still ringing patients at 7:30 - one even told me it was time to go home!! I managed to eat both breakfast and lunch but I still have  29 points to each tonight- that will be difficult!

I made it back to Zumba only to find that my current Zumba instructor is reducing her evening classes so that she can be at home with her teenage daughter more and that she will only do Zumba on the night I do my aquafit. She is doing Clubbercise so maybe I will make it to that one night - give it a go once I suppose!

Zumba made my right knee hurt, so I did not make it to aquafit on the Tuesday, instead I rested my knee for a couple of days and then swam 20 lengths on Thursday with hubby swimming 50!

Also went out with hubby on Sunday for a 10K walk along our local canal - very posh houses I can tell you!

So how did I do with my targets for last week?

Weight: 129.0kg - total weight loss 4.1kg

Body fat: 43.9% - total reduction 0.1%

Activity: 267 minutes - 117 minutes above target

Goals for the coming week:

Loose 1kg

Must eat all of the daily points

Make 150 minutes of activity again - aquafit gives me 60 minutes, swimming for 30 minutes as well, so that just leaves me another hour to find in the week - maybe try a walk around the block a couple of nights as well and that should just about do it.

Wish me luck!

Wasn't Expecting That!!

So, was up with the larks this morning for work, nipped down to the scales in the downstairs bathroom and OMG - 4.1kg off!! That is an amazing start. Don't think I will see that again in a long while, in fact I would be surprised to see that in a month!

Feeling good - went to Zumba after work, managed 37 minutes of activity on top of the hour of Zumba and also walked over 11,000 steps today and almost 8km (took the FitBit off for Zumba).

Best day since the half marathon!

Have also found an app for measuring bits and bobs on too - will measure tomorrow now as I don't think I can move off of the sofa - tomorrow morning is going to be fun!

Need to remember that slow and steady wins the race - it is important to take it one day at a time as well.

Let's see how the rest of the week pans out.

The Beginning

So, let me introduce myself.

I am 46 years old, 172cm high and weigh a whopping 133.1kg - that gives me a BMI of 44.9

This is the heaviest I have ever been and I know that it will be the most difficult to loose.

I bought some fancy scales yesterday which also told me that my body fat is 44%.

I have been a member of Weight Watchers for many years - for the past 3 years I have paid for an online membership (approx. £12 per month) and have just watched from the sidelines!

I bought myself a FitBit One a year ago today in a mindset of using it to become more active - not sure if I have achieved that overall but according to my 1 year anniversary I have walked 2,315,715 steps, climbed 4,916 floors and walked 1,644.26 km - that sounds a lot to me!

I will add though that I signed up with some friends last November for the half Moonwalk which was 15.2 miles and did achieve it but did not do nearly enough training for it - lesson thoroughly learnt there!

So what should my ultimate goals be?

Ideal weight: 54.7kg - 74.3kg (so need to loose between 58.8kg and 78.4kg - OMG!) ideal BMI

My body fat should be no higher than 30% for someone of my gender and age group

150 minutes of activity per week - government recommended guidelines

So how to achieve this?

I have started the diet on the 1st August - first weigh-in is tomorrow morning.

I have a smart point allowance of 46 points per day and a weekly smart point allowance of 42

I currently have a fit point target of 70 per week but looking back over the past couple of weeks, I have managed to achieve this with no problems and so I might increase it from tomorrow to 80 per week. (Fit points are a way to encourage you to exercise more. In the ideal world, you should not eat your fit points but if you were struggling, then they can be used once you have eaten all of your daily and weekly smart points).

I was getting disheartened  with not achieving my 10,000 steps per day according to my FitBit, so I have decreased that to 7,500 with the thought that once I have achieved that consistently for 2 weeks I can then increase it by 500 each time to do a gradual goal increment.

I have started going to aquafit at our local swimming pool - the instructor is a slave driver but amazing. The pool is completely shut to everybody else and then we are all over the pool, running (well trying in my case), shallow end and deep end workouts and it is the full hour. Where I have been previously we have had a little block on the side of the pool with everybody else having lessons or just casual swimming and getting in our way. I now get out of the pool sweating and my legs feel like jelly!.

I plan on measuring myself later on today so maybe I can also look at inches lost too!

So, on to my first month goals:

5kg weight loss

Achieve 7,500 steps per day

Attend aquafit each week (even if my friend isn't able to go)

Look at attending a Zumba class as well

I hope to update on a weekly basis as to how I have done - highs and lows - but I am hoping that I can start to feel better about myself and start to become a healthier person too!

Wish me luck