Sydney Here I come...

Its 3 weeks today since we came home from Melbourne to be greeted by the fire truck!! What a hectic time it has been!! Dealing with insurers,cleaners, choosing carpet painters, selecting curtains and buying a new bed and bedroom furniture. Also hours sorting out what needed to be disposed and several trips to the dump!

Its all starting to come together and we are hoping to be back in our bedroom by Wednesday next week. Can't wait to try out the new bed.

When we booked this long weekend trip to Sydney back on the eve of our trip to Melbourne we did not realise how fortuitous the timing would be!! We are both so ready for a break.

Rick is there at present and I am joining him on Thursday only 2 more sleeps...

Time to STOP and go back to WW101

After slowing down with my weightloss to a slow trickle (500gms in 4 weeks and 300 of them were today!!) its time to take stock and refocus!

I have decided to go back to day 1 as I am wondering if I am taking liberties that I have not recognised. I religiously track,stay within points, and exercise and drink 3 litres of water per day BUT its not happening at present.

SO back to WW101.
1. I have revisited the onsite tour as I did on the first day in the hope of inspiration. Unfortunately not much inspiration there as the "Run time" errors sabotaged that!!

2. Back to the recipe books to try out new meals. Tonight is lamb shanks with mushroom ragout and mashed potato. I plan to try out 2 new recipes each week to add to my favourites list.

3. WEIGH,WEIGH,Weigh everything that I eat.

4. I will go back to healthy salads for lunch and reduce t he carbs

5 I MUST MUST try to knock my nemesis DIET COKE on the head. I have tried on several occasions but although reduced I have not been able to let it go!!

I so want to be a 60's girl again and to banish the last 7.4kgs that will get me to GOAL

OMG Wedding and engagement rings now fit perfectly!!

As a reward for my 25kg goal back in early July, I had my wedding and engagement rings repaired after they had been cut off and stored in the safe over 5 years ago. The woman in the jewelery store sized my finger and said that I would need to go up 2 sizes. I made the decision to get them re soldered and NOT resized.

When I picked them up there was no way they would fit onto my finger so back into the safe they went. 2 weeks ago I tried them on again to discover that I could get them both on but it became very evident if I wanted my finger to survive one of them had to come off!! So after a struggle to remove it, back into the safe my engagement ring went.

Last night after doing some more fire clean up I tried again and FINALLY I could get both rings on and off with very little trouble and I have worn both all day today and still have a healthy finger!!!

I keep looking at my beautiful rings and feel intense pleasure to be able to have them back where they belong!!

Surprise at the GYM

I guess you are wondering what it might be!! I have totally surprised myself with how much I am enjoying the gym routine. 4 years ago when I embarked on a weight loss cycle I joined a gym with great expectations. I signed up for a year convincing myself that I could do this BUT alas as with the "diet" both only lasted 2 weeks!! Rick worked it out it cost $500 per visit!

So you can imagine the trepidation and procrastination that went into the decision to try again!! Even though the healthy eating side of things was going extra ordinarily well there was a huge risk involved.

What is different this time round??

1 I know what I want and what I need to do to get what I want

2 I found the time of day that works best for me. I am a morning person so 6am before I start work fits perfectly into my day.

3 I have joined a supervised gym the PTs follow you through the circuit and advise and encourage and push you through for maximum benefit.

4 I can be in and out of the gym in 45 minutes including 20 minutes on the Exercycle

I have been going religiously 3 times a week for 6 weeks now and its such a part of my routine that when I went on 2 weeks holiday I was concerned that I would "break " the habit!! Definitely not the case as when we came home to discover the fire in the house I was so disappointed I could not get to the Gym the next day!!!

A new positive habit has formed that will contribute to making me a winner in this journey....

Finding myself

For me this is a journey of finding myself. I am self absorbed like I have never been before understanding my triggers and making a choice to react in a way that is not self destructive.

For the first time I feeling like a winner in this long road to goal and beyond. The journey is one I am on for life and what wonderful people I have found along the way to share the highs and lows the success and disappointments which every journey has.

I know who I am and what I want in life

Thrilled with 600gm loss given the week I have had!! Photos as promised

Despite 2 weeks holiday and the house fire on our return A small miracle has occurred and I have lost 600gms which brings me closer to goal with 7.9kgs to go!!

Bed hunting was the prime objective for today and I managed to clock up 16,000 steps on the pedometer doing just that!! Its such a lottery buying a new bed. How can you tell in 5-10 minutes of lying on a bed that its going to be comfortable for the next 15 or so years?? We sttled on one that has a slat base and a combination of latex and memory foam, Here's hoping that we have made the right choice!

As promised some updated photos!!

Family feedback and I am thinking it is time to update some photos!!

Deb, you asked for it so hear I go... The family were blown away especially my lovely brother in law Don who I last saw when we all traveled to Canada and Alaska in August 2009. He stood there with his mouth open and said "WOW!! Looking great Liz!!" then he proceeded to ask me what I had been doing and throughout our conversation he kept saying how fantastic and well I looked. I mentioned that under the clothing it still isn't a pretty sight as age was catching up with me and he said real women have plenty of character!!

I also caught up with some of my school friends. They had not seen me at my heaviest but there comments were also overwhelmingly positive and complimentary.

I now feature in a few photos so once I have uploaded them from the camera there will be a new photo gallery so watch this space....

Fire service welcome home!!

We had a interesting homecoming last night from a wonderful 2 week holiday catching up with family and friends.

The fire brigade were in the driveway sorting out a fire in the main bedroom which was caused by the waterbed heater. Claire our daughter had popped in to collect something about 30minutes before us and she discovered the house full of smoke and the smoke alarms screaming. Called 111 and they said if she had not come home when she did the whole house was just minutes from going up!! We're counting our blessings as the damage is limited to one area. Now the hard part begins with clean up and working with insurance companies!

I am currently fighting the binge eating stress response at present so far I have not given in...