Getting ready for 35

[Maggie_Sak]

​Hi everyone, I'm back. So I turned 34 this year and was really sad and shocked to see that I'm still struggling with my weight. Next year I'm gonna be 35 and I would really like to be at least 3st lighter than I am right now. This is my 2nd journey on Slimming World and I'm glad to be back. So when I first started SW in 2012, I was weighing 17st 3lbs. My metabolism has always been pretty bad and It took me 6 months to lose 2st and 5lbs. I was doing pretty good and then Christmas came, and I forgot about the diet. As time went along I just couldn't get back into it no matter how much I tried. So I went through Summer 2013 being unhappy and really kicking myself for not trying hard to lose more weight.

By December 2013, I had put on weight and gone up to 16st 8.5lbs. I pretty much stayed around this weight for the next 5 months after Christmas. A month ago I decided that enough is enough and I needed to get myself sorted. I decided to do Atkins to give myself a kick-start and just take it from there. Unfortunately my body did not respond all that well to Atkins and I only managed to lose 5lbs. Not only that I was miserable as hell coz I just didn't have the strength to do proper workouts in the gym. So 2 weeks ago I started my SW journey and it's been a smooth transition. I have lost 5.5lbs in 2 weeks and I'm very happy with that. Also I have more energy to do my workouts in the gym.

 

[Maggie_Sak]

Ok so I'm using my old books from 2013 and will pretty much stick to those for now. I have decided not to go to meetings because I can't afford both the gym and SW meetings. I have made more copies of the SW food diary and I'm making sure I'm writing down everything that goes into my mouth. I will probably do more red days than any other plan. The last time I lost weight, I was doing mostly green and a few red days thrown in. On weekends I will be doing more extra easy so I have more options.

The one thing I like about doing SW this time of the year is that it's bbq season and that means veggie kebabs, burgers, sweet corn yummy. We always have T-bone steak, lamb chops, chicken wings on the bbq as well. All this protein with some baby potato salad is a good way to enjoy a lovely summer's day on a red day.

One thing I did miss while doing Atkins was being able to have fruits. I gotta tell you guys, that diet is a killer. I'm sure it's ok for most people but it just wasn't for me. Also not being able to have my favourite butternut squash and chantenay carrots was really getting me down. And the first thing I did when I came off was get butternut squash and boy did I dig in! Also the very first day of being on SW I had 2 eggs and 2 slices of wholemeal for breakfast, went to the gym and worked out like there was no tomorrow. I had so much energy and didn't struggle up the stairs at the end of my workout, phew!

 

[Maggie_Sak]

Don't know if anyone is interested but my current workout at the gym is a 6 week exercise plan that I got off YouTube. It's something that can easily be done at home so if you don't have a gym membership, no excuses you can still do it at home and all you need are 2 sets of 2 different weights. I got the workout from a girl called Joanna Soh and the video is called Full Weight Training Plan For Women. I don't know if I'm allowed to link it here. Another really good workout is Jillian Michaels' 30 day Shred. You only work out for about 25min max a day but it's hard as hell because she does super sets. For cardio at home, try Shaun T's T25. It's not as intense as Insanity but it's kinda to the knees. For cardio at the gym I'm doing a 9 week C25K (couch potato to 5k) and I'm currently in my 2nd week but once in a while I throw in a really intense sprint for 30 secs at a time. Apparently that really kicks up your metabolism and gets your body out of the comfort zone. Why am I fat again? I seem to be really clued up on what I should be doing and eating but somehow I just can't seem to get rid of this lard. Oh yes I know why? It's called chocolate. Apart from eating healthy, how are you all getting yourselves into shape?

 

[Maggie_Sak]

So what I've eaten so far today:

Red Day

Breakfast - 2 boiled eggs, 2 slices of wholemeal bread HexB, 115ml ss milk HexA for my tea, an apple and a clementine

Lunch - 35g(dry weight) penne pasta HexB, a huge mixed salad with chicken breast

Dinner - Portobello mushroom baked with chopped mixed veggies and 30g cheese HexA

I will have the rest of my milk after dinner with a nectarine and a danio yogurt. I need to buy some frylight but right now I'm kind of using a tbsp of olive oil to cook with everyday.

Syns 3tsp of sugar 3, 2 tsp of olive oil 4, pesto mayo 3, danio yogurt blueberry 3

 

[Maggie_Sak]

Hi everyone. Horrible weather today isn't it? I'm not going out today so have to make do with what's in the house. I really do need to get frylight and light mayonnaise so I can cut back on my syns.

For breakfast today I had 2 slices of wholemeal bread with a tablespoon of peanut butter, 150ml ss milk, 1 1/2tsp of sugar (HexA and B, 6 syns)

Lunch was really simple, couldn't be bothered so it was a salad and 2 boiled eggs plus a 10g of mayonnaise which shockingly came to 3.5 syns :cry:. This means I only have 5.5 left to play with today.

Dinner will be roast veggies and potatoes with chicken. I will use a tsp of olive oil for the potatoes and veg and a tsp for the chicken which altogether works out at 4syns for the meal. Plus a passionfruit danio should take me to 15 syns for the day.

I have been snacking on fruits, so far I have had a banana, some grapes and honeydew melon. I'm trying to stick to red days so I don't eat too many carbs. I will switch it up a bit when I stop losing.

I was planning on going to the gym today to do an hour of cardio but this rain has put me off so it's gonna have to be tomorrow. I realise that I have done 5 days straight at the gym this week so I'm making today my rest day.

Hope you are all having a lovely weekend and enjoying the World Cup matches on today. Later.

 

[**SlimmingJo**]

Don't know if anyone is interested but my current workout at the gym is a 6 week exercise plan that I got off YouTube. It's something that can easily be done at home so if you don't have a gym membership, no excuses you can still do it at home and all you need are 2 sets of 2 different weights. I got the workout from a girl called Joanna Soh and the video is called Full Weight Training Plan For Women. I don't know if I'm allowed to link it here. Another really good workout is Jillian Michaels' 30 day Shred. You only work out for about 25min max a day but it's hard as hell because she does super sets. For cardio at home, try Shaun T's T25. It's not as intense as Insanity but it's kinda to the knees. For cardio at the gym I'm doing a 9 week C25K (couch potato to 5k) and I'm currently in my 2nd week but once in a while I throw in a really intense sprint for 30 secs at a time. Apparently that really kicks up your metabolism and gets your body out of the comfort zone. Why am I fat again? I seem to be really clued up on what I should be doing and eating but somehow I just can't seem to get rid of this lard. Oh yes I know why? It's called chocolate. Apart from eating healthy, how are you all getting yourselves into shape?

Here to subscribe.....Thanks for those, exercise is definitely something I need to up, My job isn't very physical lol!! You sound like your doing fab so far!

 

[Maggie_Sak]

Here to subscribe.....Thanks for those, exercise is definitely something I need to up, My job isn't very physical lol!! You sound like your doing fab so far!

Thank you Jo. You should definitely try out the youtube one especially. It's made such a huge difference to my overall fitness. I'm going to post my inch loss on friday as that will be 2 weeks since I started the regime so keep an eye out for that.

 

[Maggie_Sak]

Hi everyone, hope you all had a lovely weekend even though the weather was all over the place. My weekend wasn't very exciting although I must say I did enjoy watching all the World cup games. I went to the gym yesterday after having a day off on saturday., My main focus was cardio, I did 20min cycling, 20min on the cross trainer and then 20min doing different ab exercises. I did a few plank moves and I must say my core muscles have gotten a lot stronger. I reckon I could give a few 'skinnies' a run for their money . Then it was onto the treadmill to do my C25K on 0 incline and a speed of 4.6. I did go up to 5.2 for the last run just because I wanted to finish strong.

As for food, I started off really well but then by the end of the day I turned it into a flexiday :break_diet:.

Breakfast was 2 slices of bread with peanut butter. 125ml milk with 1.5 teaspoon of sugar. Plus a banana. I felt so full after this. Went to the gym 2 hours later.

Lunch was a steak with a sweet crunchy salad and honey dew melon.

Dinner was bbq time so I had a whole T-bone steak and and my HexB potato allowance cut into wedges. I struggled getting rid of the fatty bits, mind you i didn't really want to coz that's the best part about T-bone steak, and the bone of course lol.

Do you guys know that company called graze? They do these little snacks in a box that come through your letter box. Anyway I had cancelled my account with them but not before they had sent me one last box. So I dug that box out and had a couple of snacks from there which came up to about 258 calories. And just because, I didn't stop there. I had a four finger kit kat oops . Seriously it just found it's way into my mouth. So I basically had a gazillion syns yesterday. Oh well.

 

[Maggie_Sak]

So when I woke up this morning, I felt something I hadn't felt in a long time. My body was paying for my over indulgence yesterday. Really struggled to get out of bed but once I was out I was ok.

Breakfast today was broccoli, spinach, cauliflower, a banana and an apple made into a smoothie. Take note though that the banana and apple have to be synned and that comes up to 7.5 syns. I know, I know but I just really fancied a smoothie and a veggie smoothie without fruit is just too boring. I have my frylight now so I won't be lacking in syns due to using olive oil. I'm thinking next time I have a veggie smoothie though, I will add an apple which is 2.5 but not the banana. It is ok to have veggie smoothies right? So there is a reason SW say not to puree your fruit. Straight after I felt like I still needed something solid so I had a slice of WM bread and a teaspoon of peanut butter. So that's half my HexB and about 2 syns. See what I did right there? I have used up nearly 2/3rd's of my syn allowance way before mid-day . So the lesson here is? Avoid pureeing fruits especially bananas.

Right I am off to the gym. Today marks the 2nd week of my weight training plan for women by Joanna Soh. I think I will up my weights by a 1 kg. I have been using 5s but I think I can take 6s. Ladies do not be scared to lift, you are not going to get bulky. You just get more lean and defined. Later.

 

[**SlimmingJo**]

Oooh the curse of pureeing fruits.....Doing well still though, we all need a kitkat in our lives at some point!

 

[Maggie_Sak]

Oooh the curse of pureeing fruits.....Doing well still though, we all need a kitkat in our lives at some point!

Thank you hun. I definitely paid for it though as I didn't finish my workout today and and I think it's because of all the sugar I had. Anyway back on plan.

 

[Maggie_Sak]

Really struggled with my gym workout today. Only managed to do 2 sets of 2 supersets with 3 repetitions each. Got on the bike afterwards but came off after about 15 mins. I did sweat alot though but it could be because of all the sugar I had yesterday and the pureed fruit.

Lunch after gym was a salad with pesto mayo 2.5 syns, tuna and an egg, plus a clementine.

Dinner will be wholewheat penne pasta 50g (HexB + 1/2 HexB left over from this morning's breakfast), chicken breast, broccoli and lots of cheese(HexA), yum.

I think I will have a green day tomorrow just so I don't get bored. I'm worried about holding carb water though so I will still be careful with making sure I don't go overboard or I could just have Extra easy? I don't know, I will see how I feel in the morning and take it from there.

 

[Maggie_Sak]

Didn't get a chance to get on here yesterday so I'm only managing to update now. Went to the gym yesterday morning. Definitely felt a lot better than the previous day and I was able to do all of my super-sets. Yesterday was upper body workout but I did manage to squeeze in some squats, deadlifts and a 20 min cardio on the cross trainer. Phew!! One thing I do know is even if I don't lose weight quickly, I will be a whole lot fitter than I have been in a long time.

Food wise I had a green day, with breakfast being porridge (HexB1), banana and a clementine. Lunch was spaghetti with broccoli and my HexB2 chicken and HexA 30g cheese. Dinner was really simple SW chips with an egg and danone blueberry yogurt 3 syns.

Don't know about you all but I don't like frying my egg with frylight, instead I use a teaspoon of oil which is 2 syns and that works just fine. Also to make the chips more interesting I use Schwartz's chips spice which has smoked paprika in it and is absolutely divine.

 

[Maggie_Sak]

Hello everyone. Isn't the weather just lovely today? Thankfully I have a day off work so I've been enjoying the sun. I just came back from the gym and interestingly enough it was really packed today. I suppose everyone wants to get in a workout or two while the weather is lovely, show off a bit of skin. I won't be showing off too much as I have such a long way to go, nevertheless I'm still gonna be working it! Today was supposed to be lower body and back but I didn't feel like it. Also I feel I'm not doing as much cardio as I should, so I jumped on the crosstrainer for 30mins, then did leg exercises on 3 different machines, squats and deadlifts with a 15kg barbell. I think in a couple of weeks or so I might move on to the the squat rack. Anyway I did more cardio on the treadmill for 30min.

So I jumped on the scale today even though my official weigh in is tomorrow and I haven't lost any weight at all. I may have gained a pound but I will see what comes up tomorrow as I may be holding on to some water. I'm not too hang up on it though because I know I have lost inches, also if I keep up with my current healthy lifestyle, the weight will eventually come off. It may take a long time but it will be worth it in the end.

Breakfast 2 boiled eggs, fruit salad (banana, blueberrys, apple and clementine)

Lunch Baked salmon with broccoli and mixed peppers

Dinner will be Warm beef salad with baby potatoes

Syns 3tsp of sugar 3, danone peach yogurt 3,

I might have to go out later to get some alpen light and have that as a snack to make up for one of my HexB.

 

[Maggie_Sak]

Ok weigh in today. I have lost a pound, not alot but still in the right direction I suppose. I measured myself and I haven't lost any inches even though my clothes feel loose . Strange but oh well. I have only been on the program for 2 weeks so maybe will wait until the next 4 weeks are over before I measure myself. I'm going away for work for 2 weeks from Sunday so I'm not going to be able to go the gym at all but I will be packing 2x2kgs weights in my suitcase just so I can squeeze in 20min workouts at night or morning. I'm gonna try to find time to update at least once a day or every other day. I think I'm going to stick to red days these 2 weeks as it's easier to pick up a salad and some ham than having to worry about sorting out syns in a meal.

So far today I have had:

Breakfast 2 boiled eggs and 2 slices of WM bread with 10g peanut butter (3), plus half of my HexA 125ml ss milk with 2tsp of sugar(2). Don't know why I made my tea so sweet, usually 1.5tsp is enough.

Lunch A packed salad with ham (no dressing), banana and clementine

Not sure about dinner yet, will update later.