gone

all packing done (I hate packing), assignment finished, off to bed then up early to catch boat. May or may not be posting while I'm gone. Byeeeee.

bonking in the buff

Had a trip to the bike shop for various bits and bobs yesterday, and while I was there I also bought myself a buff, with very fetching orange and black go-faster flames pattern.

Wore the buff to go cycling today and it's great, keeps ears warm while letting heat escape from head hurrah. CB & I did our first 20 mile ride today whooo. It was hard going cycling back home from her house on my own afterwards. This may have been due to my unfit muscles seizing up after sitting down drinking tea for 30 mins at CB's. I however chose to believe I bonked, thus entitling me to a mars bar hurrah.

Right now I gotta go do my packing and finish my OU assignment and have a bath and and and ...

a star is born

Tonight was one of our occassional community cabaret nights. A weird and wonderful mixture of locals (and their friends and relations) turn up and some of them do a turn - sing or tell tall tales or recite poems or do jokes etc. The results are (ahem) variable but it's great craic. We took O along with us, and there were several other kids he knew there.

Him and his friend K were telling jokes to our table, so we suggested they should go up front and tell jokes to everyone. And they did! A 5 yr old and a 7 yr old, performing to a roomful of grown ups. O told his best jokes, including the pikachu one from his Aunty Trin. They were brilliant, and we were so proud of O. I have added 'being the next Mark Thomas' to his list of possible career options.

planning my plan of sorts

Whenever we go visit R's family and ancestral homelands, I end up putting on weight. This is due to 3 4 factors:

1. Complete Idleness and Sitting on @rse All Day Long
2. Being unable to say 'no' to cake and biccies served with every cup of tea
3. Well meaning but high calorie vegetarian meals prepared for me by R's rellies
4. Believing that being on my holidays provides a 'get out of diet free' card, entitling me to eat far more than I normally would.

And it being Easter isn't going to help much either. So, I've been trying to do a bit of forward planning to try to at least minimise the damage. Plan so far includes:

1. Getting some exercise

• going swimming (either on my own, or R will have to supervise O and some or more of his cousins while I get some lengths in)
• a walk with R's dad (tho I think we'd have to leave O at home, he whinges mightily if asked to walk further than the sweet shop)
• cycling - no room in car to take my own bike but there's a bike or 2 knocking around the peat¹ shed that should fit me. Unfortunately, R's folks live in amongst some very big hills, in fact they live at the top of one particularly large one. Me cycling up that hill is just not going to happen. Me cycling down the hill is a different story, so that's what I'm going to do, possibly incorporating some of national cycle network. When my legs start to hurt, I can ring R to come and pick me up²
  

2. Doing my best to say no to cakes etc, and taking along some options hot choc sachets to drink instead of tea, in the hopes they satisfy any chocolate craves.

3. Not a lot I can do about being served quiche 'n' coleslaw and/or cheese sarnies at every house we visit. However I don't have to eat seconds, and I don't have to eat piles of bread and butter with meals just because it's there. Also will stock up on some diet friendlier foods eg low fat yoghurts instead of muller fruit corners, some skinny cow lollies, that kind of thang. Oh and fruit. Will buy and eat plenty of fruit.

4. Calories don't take holidays. I don't eat several slices of toast with butter and jam for breakfast when I'm at home, and I don't need to do it when I'm on holidays either. Likewise for all other treats and temptations. Sure, I'm not going to be an angel and I'm not going to be super-strict with myself. But that doesn't mean I can stuff my face for 10 days running.

So, that's the plan so far. Oh and I'm going to give all my easter eggs to R & O.



1. R's family have the rights to dig peat, which they use just for themselves ie to burn on their fire. Large scale industrial destruction of peat bogs for gardening and horticulture is A Bad Thing. Please don't buy peat.

2. Bike won't fit in the car together with our suitcases, O's bike and assorted cr@p and 3 people, but will fit in with just 2 of us and an empty boot.

Go n-éirí an bóthair leat!

May the road rise to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face.
And rains fall soft upon your fields.

Happy St Patrick's Day. Why not learn yourself Irish?

damage limitation

Put on half a pound this week, which was only to be expected. In fact it should've been worse, and I suspect that this week's excesses are waiting to leap out and bite me on the (expanding) @rse, the next time I step on the scales.

On top of which, however good my intentions for the coming week, I have to go and spend 10 days with Mrs Doyle. R's mammy does not comprehend the idea of just having a cup of tea on its own. "Will ye have a wee cup?" means not, as one might expect, "would you like a cup of tea and perhaps a jaffa cake?". Oh no. It means "would you like a cup of tea, some chocolate biscuits, a couple of cakes, some scones I just made and maybe a few sandwiches?" Which procedure is repeated several times a day.

I am drawing up contingency plans to counter 10 days of "wee cups o' tea" and no excercise.

b@st@rds

Looks like R's dream job could be going t1ts up. Some or more of the senior academics involved may taking sabaticals to be visiting professors at the University of Somewhere Foreign, Old & Scenic. Which is very nice for them to be able to university hop around the globe, a year hear, a year there etc. Not so nice for people like R with lives and families who can't just drop it all. If he's not prepared to go and work abroad for a whole year (which he's not) then the most he can hope for is maybe something part time in Manchester. Feck.

Oh and Jude, if this shows up, yes blogger is working for me.

could be that time again

**warning: Ladies Things Ahoy**


I adore my Mirena coil. Banishes heavy, painful periods and if you're really lucky, makes them disappear all together. And, it also stops you getting pregnant. Bloomin marvellous is what it is.

Not a complete cure for womanly ills, tho. It doesn't seem to take the PMS away, so there's one small disadvantage, you do rather lose track of the ebb and flow of the womanly cycle. I've been feeling pretty cr@ppy lately, and now I think back I think I felt like this about a month or so ago, too. "Mother Nature and Aunty Evolution, bitches both", as I think Fay Weldon said back when she used to write readable books.

All of which is a roundabout way of saying, I've been binging again and the outlook for the scales tomorrow is not looking good.

That up thur btw is a link to a postcard by the genius that is Annie Lawson. Go look at her cards then buy lots.

One day every day will be a best knicker day.

some of those days

Sorry bout Thursday. I've been feeling cr@ppy for a few days now, run down and lethargic, sleeping patterns all over the place. The call of the duvet is still strong, but I am making myself get my @rse in gear, do some work and go to aquarobics tonight.

flying visit

Lost 3.5 lb yesterday. I should be all whooo etc but I'm not, I actually feel pretty flat about it, probably because I still feel cheated for last week. If holding a grudge was an Olympic event I'd be on the team.

do I have to?

I did not want to go swimming tonight. Even when I got to the pool and was changed and in the water, I still did not want to do it. After 10 lengths I wanted to get out, but made myself stay for 20. Which is cr@p, considering I did 20 50m lengths last week. But is good, considering I did not want to go at all. And "exercise done because you must builds discipline" (link lifted from Marla).

So no, I don't have to do it. I don't have to do any of this if I don't want to. I don't have to excercise, I don't have to think about what I eat, I don't have to go to FatClub, I don't have to do this big bike ride in September. I do these things because I want to - or because I prefer doing them to the consequences of not doing them. Sometimes I even enjoy some of it.

Today is the last day of my WW week, weigh in tomorrow.

My week in review:

• basic points allowance for week: 168
  (24 per day)
  
• total points used this week: 181.5
  (avg per day: 26)
  
• bonus points earned this week: 23.5
  
• total points allowance using max (12) BPs: 168.5
  
• points +/- for week: +1.5
  
• minutes of exercise this week: 250
  (avg per day 35; exercised 4 days out of 7)
  
• miles biked this week (est): 23

today's numbers: points allowance ~ 24; points used ~ 19; +/- for week ~ +13.5;exercise ~ 0; water ~ 750 ml; booze ~ 0; crisps ~ 0

women hold up half the sky

hibernation

Brr it's horrid and grey and cold today, I just want to crawl under my duvet and curl up and snooze. I feel like I may have a touch of lurgy hanging around (sore throat etc) or maybe I am just imagining that as an excuse not to go to aquarobics? Whatever, I'm not going. If I feel OK tomorrow I'll go swimming.

It doesn't help that I had to do a very unpleasant but very necessary thing today. Something that will have a serious impact on someone else unrelated to me. It was horrible but it had to be done if my community is to survive.

Right I'm off for an evening of sofa and telly and duvet.

today's numbers: points allowance ~ 24; points used ~ 19; +/- for week ~ +13.5;exercise ~ 0; water ~ 750 ml; booze ~ 0; crisps ~ 0

happy burfday jude

have made you nice calorie-free cake

ouch

First big bike ride today. Wasn't expecting it till next weekend but my cycling buddy (hereinafter called CB) was unexpectedly free today, so she rang me and we went for a ride. Did about 14 miles in total, average speed of approx 9 mph. Not bad for a first run and I didn't find it quite as hard as I expected.

Came home and spent an hour in a hot bath, with lovely Lush goodies I got for Mother's Day, sipping banana & mango smoothie through a straw. My legs are starting to seize up now, tho'. Think I shall appoint R my soigneur.

Went to see my parents yesterday. My mum did a beautiful thing for me. She's taken photos that she found in my Gran's house when Gran died and put the ones of me into a memory album for me. She's done the same for my sister. There are lots of pages so that we can add to it ourselves.

yesterday's numbers: points allowance ~ 24; points used ~ 25; +/- for week ~ +18.5; exercise ~ 30 mins walking; water ~ 0 ml; booze ~ 0; crisps ~ 0

today's numbers (provisional): points allowance ~ 24; points used ~ 24; +/- for week ~ +18.5; exercise ~ 90 mins cycling; water ~ 1000 ml; booze (anticipated)~ 2 glasses rioja; crisps ~ 0

bucking tradition

We have a tradition on special days of having 'Special Breakfast'. This features croisants with jam & butter, pain au chocolat and bucks fizz (or fizzy water & juice if it's a work day). R asked me last night if I wanted Special Breakfast on Sunday. I really didn't hesitate very long before saying no. This'd all better be worth it.

today's numbers: points allowance ~ 24; points used ~ 26.5; +/- for week ~ +17.5; exercise ~ 0; water ~ 750 ml; booze ~ 0; crisps ~ 0

simple things

A wise man once observed that stationery shops are like Toys'r'Us for grown ups. S'true. I've spent some quality time this morning browsing for office supplies. Post-its and filofax accessories and notepads and folders and best of all, a new propelling pencil. All of which has cheered me up no end.

get over it

I'm not like other women. Most women seem to have been on diets their whole lives, whereas I have never seriously tried to lose weight until last year. So I'm just not used to the fact that sometimes you can do everything right and still not lose. I realise that it is something I will have to get used to, because on a long weight loss journey like I have ahead of me, it's bound to happen again. Hopefully next time I won't let it get me down so much. Thank you so much to Jude and Marla for your comments. If I didn't have to feed other people as well as myself, I'd definitely give the Vodka 'n' Skinny Cow Diet a go for a week.

The 'No Crisps' challenge continues for another week. And today I even turned down free chocolate. They were giving promos out in town, I averted my eyes and walked quickly in the other direction. Free chocolate and I turned it down. The scale gods must surely smile on me for such sacrifice?

today's numbers:
points allowance ~ 24; points used ~ 21; +/- for week ~ +15; exercise ~ belly dancing (60 mins), cycling (30 mins); water ~ 500 ml; booze ~ 0; crisps ~ 0;

why teh interweb is A Good Thing

Reason No. 4,955 - you might find someone else who wants to do this 100km ride and who lives near enough to you to maybe be a training partner.

meanwhile in d**t news: We're not talking about last night. The 'no crisps' challenge was well and truly busted. It is of course utterly illogical to deal with being upset about one's weight by eating fattening foods but hey, if my relationship with food was logical I wouldn't be here in the first place. Back to pointing everything today, but still feeling a bit low about the whole weight loss saga.

you're just too good to be true

So. It's like my dad always told me. If something seems to good to be true, it probably is.

I should've known. I was having too much of a good time on NoCount. And so it is. In spite of keeping pretty well to plan this week, inspite of exercising 5 days out of 7, I have staying the feckin same. Stayed the same.

I was so gutted, I started crying at fatclub. I cannot eat any better than I did this week. I ate properly, I resisted urges to binge, I did what I thought I had to do. If I can't lose weight after all that, I feel like maybe I can't lose weight at all.

I will go back to counting points tomorrow. Tonight however is given over to a box of skinny cows and a bottle of wodka.

this is insania

I posted on a cyclists board for advice on whether doing this 100km ride is realistic, of course being evangelical cyclists they all think it's a fantastic idea and say I'll be able to do it no probs and have given me advice on training etc. So basically I've let them talk me into it and I'm going to do it. At least it gives me an excuse to buy stuff hurrah first up I need a cycle computer.

See more progress on: cycle the Manchester 100 ride

Oh and here's yesterday's numbers (stoopid blogger playing up yesterday):

plan ~ No Count™; points used ~ 1 (points left for week ~ -10); exercise ~ walking (30 min); water ~ 500 ml; booze ~ 0; crisps ~ 0;

I think I'm going mad

I’ve hardly been on my bike all winter. The furthest I ever cycle in one go is 5 miles. My bike is crap. I don’t know when I would have time to train. And I’m sitting here looking at the entry form for the Manchester 100 – 100 miles or 100 km charity bike ride. 100 km is 62 miles. If I sent off my entry form and started getting sponsors, I’d have to do it. I’ve given myself 2 weeks to think about it ….

See more progress on: cycle the Manchester 100 ride

Monday numbers

today's numbers:
plan ~ No Count™; points used ~ 1.5 (points left for week ~ -7); exercise ~ aquarobics; water ~ 250 ml; booze ~ 0; crisps ~ 0