Christmas 2019 - did I survive?

So, we are at the in-between phase of Christmas and New Year  - do you know the day? I must admit I have struggled to remember the days since I finished work on Christmas Eve!

We usually only have 2 meals on Christmas Day and Boxing Day so it wasn't too difficult to stick to my points! I have to be honest though I have not pointed any of the alcohol that I have drunk since Christmas Eve and there has been rather a lot of it to be fair!

We have decided to stay in the village for New Year this year and will end up in one of the pubs - both I believe have discos planned - so more alcohol and then a short stagger home.

I am back to work tomorrow morning - alarms are set for 6am - hubby has already started moaning about them as he is off until Friday - he has a day in lieu on Thursday as he has been asked to work on Saturday (and we thought the days of weekend working were over!)

So I have signed up to the Rutland Night Walk and I have also signed up to the Walk 1000 Miles challenge  - not sure I will complete that one but I will give it a go.

The Night Walk is at Rutland Water so today I dragged hubby out for a training walk - we parked at the Church Car Park and then walked up to the beginning of the dam - 3 miles in total. It took me just over an hour to do and my knee felt good - tomorrow may be a different story though!

Walking around Rutland Water is lovely - the sun was out, it was a bit windy and the sun was setting as we were on the return part of the walk - I would definitely recommend a walk out here if you live in the area.

Yesterday we went to Foxton Locks just as the sun was due to be setting and walked around the locks as well - again, another place to go to if you live in the area!

Oh and weight loss? I am currently sitting on a 4lb loss but that may all change come Thursday!

New Beginnings - sound familiar?

So!

Here we go again!

I returned to Studio on the 7th November in an attempt to try and loose weight once more. A friend offered to come with me to see if she could help me to get in the right frame of mind. She used to be a size 22 but as I long as I have know her, she has always been a size 10 - 12 if not less. The past year has been a struggle for her - her only daughter developed sepsis and was in ITU for a period of time and there was a moment in time when they thought that she would not survive. This daughter also has anorexia and so makes a weight loss program to follow very difficult. She then sustained a back injury. Over the year, my friend has gained about a stone in weight - not a lot in the grand scheme of things but she runs and is finding the additional weight making her runs more difficult.

So I have a weight-loss buddy!

We go on a Thursday night straight from work. My problem is water retention so I am finding my weight loss is not as good as it should be. So, for example, I can weight at least 2kg heavier in the evening than I do in the morning! My home scales started me at 133.1kg and yesterday 127.9 kg but the Studio scales are weighing me at 130. 2kg! My home scales are the ones I am using as a measure of weight loss as this is taken first thing in the morning so at present I have lost 5.2 kg which I am happy with. I am determined to do this (maybe a bit of deja vu) but I need to do this.

My knee is finally better and I am only taking occasional NSAIDs rather than twice daily every day so I am looking as this as a win and hoping that the weight I have lost is the reason. I have gone from a size 26-28 to a size 26 work trousers and to be honest those are starting to feel a bit loose as well. I do have a pair of size 22 pear wide leg trousers from Evans in my wardrobe which I tried on the other week which were definitely wearable which I might try again after my birthday week.

This year I have completed the Race at Your Pace challenge and have done 25 miles each month. Some months I have really struggled but this month I have sailed through it and actually completed my total before Christmas Eve. As an additional bonus I will get a personalised medal with my total miles engraved into it as well. I am proud that I have managed this especially with my knee. Next year I am looking for a different challenge and want to build up to 10 km walks. My plan is to definitely complete the Rutland Night Walk in November. This isn't far from where I live and I should be able to train for it easily. Anglian Water (who manage Rutland Water) offer an annual car parking permit for £50 and covers Rutland Water, Alton Water, Graham Water, Ravensthorpe Reservoir, Taverham Mill or Pitsford Water Park. This means that I could visit all of these throughout the year as well and not get bored while training and drag Hubby with me too with his camera so he can explore too. My plan would be to try and build up to walking 10 km at least once a week but we all know how well my good intentions go to plan!

I am 50 in 3 weeks and need to take this birthday milestone as a big wakeup call.

Hubby has a new job and I am usually at home alone now at least twice per week if not 4 nights and so I have started to batch cook and have been eating better during the week as well. This is obviously working as my weight is starting to decrease. I will be happy with a 0.5 kg weight loss per week - if I can stick to it then that will be a 57 lb weight loss in a year - that would be fantastic and would bring me to almost half the total weight loss that I need to do.

Time will tell - I will try and keep you updated