From Mushy to Marathon

This is a shameless google linky type plug for my new website - Blackpool Youth Choir.

http://www.blackpoolyouthchoir.cheapsheetmusic.co.uk

If you live near Blackpool and fancy singing in a choir - check out the website.

OK, back to your regularly scheduled blogging.

Well, we went for a 3 mile ride last Thursday, and then a 4 mile ride on Friday. I found a dinky little maptool that enables you to plot a circle of a given radius around a UK postcode, so, as we live virtually on the prom, I can put in however far we want to go, so if we want to do a 4 mile ride, I put in 2 miles and it tells me how far up or down the prom we need to go, and back again, to do the 4 miles.

http://www.freemaptools.com/radius-from-uk-postcode.htm

Ruby thought it was huge fun, and my bike goes like a rocket. I was barely out of breath when we got home, and, while I used to go purple in the face with a minimum of exercise - when we got back I was a totally normal colour!

So, if we have a decent autumn I foresee some nice rides over the next couple of months. Of course, though, we’ll probably get pounding rain and gale force winds!!

Well, I ate the chicken wings again this evening. But this time I checked how many calories they had - it came out at 197 for both wings, which puts me at 1525 for the day. Not too bad, although I have been trying to keep it below 1300. But the occasional lapse doesn’t really hurt - provided it’s only a little lapse and not a huge one.

Note to self, and anyone else who is reading - chicken wings reheated in the microwave don’t take long to heat up (about 20 secs) and they come out HOT. When the fat starts a-popping, get them out!

I decided in the end that I would get her the bike! For being the best big sister in the world since Ruby arrived last December. She has been incredible - SUCH a help to me. And hardly a moan about anything at all.

Her face was such a picture! When she got up this morning I said “Bethany, come down here, I want to tell you something.” And she looked all worried - I think she thought she was going to be in trouble for something. So I said “Oh, it’s OK - it’s a good thing, you’ll like it!”

And when I told her I was buying the bike today she just hugged me so hard and has kept hugging me all day so far!

The one that we want was sitting in bits and needed to be built so I rang the shop first thing this morning to tell them we wanted it, and we can pick it up this afternoon. The weather is pretty good - there is even some blue in the sky so once I’ve fitted the baby seat onto my bike - we are going for a ride.

And my weight is down to a new low this morning - 143.1 - so even with my little lapse, I am still on track!!

Well, yesterday it was 144.4 and today it was also 144.4. How can just a few extra things make your weight go up for days??

I have been very good for the last three days so hopefully tomorrow I should be back to 143.9 at least.

Oh but I bought a new bike today. Ruby is old enough to sit in the baby seat on the bike so I got it out, cleaned it with the jet wash and dug out my old bike. The brakes were all rusted up and I couldn’t move the handlebars so I figured it was time for a new one. So my nice new shiny bike is sitting in my hall right now and tomorrow, if the weather is OK - we are all off on a bike ride.

We also got Beth measured up for a new one for Christmas - she needs a 20″ one now!! She could really do with a new one now actually. Part of me wants to buy it for her now and see the look on her face. Is there any particular reason I should make her wait till Christmas for a new bike? Her old one is all rusty and it has no gears. She is starting in the Juniors this year at school - it could be a ‘welcome to the Juniors’ present.

This is what I have been working on for the last few days:
http://blackpoolyouthchoir.cheapsheetmusic.co.uk

I’ve been up every night till 1am sometimes working on it - it’s amazing how time flies!! But it’s almost finished! And just in time - there is an article coming out in our local paper tomorrow about it and they cite the site - so it needed to be finished.

Well this morning I got on the scales after my mini-binge last night, and it was up to 145.5

However, I KNOW I haven’t put 1.6 lb on in fat overnight, so I’m ignoring that and I know it will come down. For my weigh-in today I’m taking yesterday’s weight for the week which was 143.9. Call it cheating, but I still think I’ll make a loss overall by next Monday so it all balances out in the end.

I mut confess my foodie sins before I go to bed.

Today I made a roast chicken dinner, which is not unusual for a Sunday. Although normally I make it for me, Beth (with a bit for Ruby) and my parents, or my mum makes it for me.

But, this week my parents are away so I decided to make it just for me and Beth, and save the left over cooked chicken and freeze it to make some meals for Ruby as she likes roast chicken.

So far so good. I make the chicken, we eat it - it was nice.

BUT - then comes the problem. I LOVE chicken skin. Normally I have one breast, with skin - my weekly treat - dad has the other breast, mum has a leg, and I save the other leg to have cold on Monday - the girls get a portion of both breasts.

Today however, there was TONS of skin as there was only me eating it. So not only did I have the skin off my breast, plus the skin off the other one as Beth doesn’t like it - after tea I went into the kitchen and ate the still warm skin off both legs too - as skin is only nice when it’s still hot. Then I loked at the wings and thought - hmm, I wonder what the wings are like - as we never usually bother with the wings. BIG mistake - cue gobbling down morsels of nice crispy meat inside crunchy cooked skin!!

OMG - I must have eaten another 600 calories in skin and wings alone!

THEN - as if that weren’t enough, I proceeded to have a yoghurt, two breakfast bars and later on a bowl of cereal. I am such a pig. I deserve to see a big fat gain tomorrow.

On another subject - Beth and I walked into Cleveleys today and I tried a few dresses on in a size 10 in New Look. No way was I fastening those over my boobies. So I have decided I am never again going to buy anything in a size 12 - if it doesn’t fit in a 10, it’ll have to wait until I’ve lost enough weight for a 10 to fit. It’s not like I don’t have plenty of clothes - this will stop me from wasting money.

I fixed my daughter’s bike today! It was all rusted up and the saddle was too low and the brakes didn’t work. So I attacked it with an adjustable spanner and a bottle of vegetable oil.

Half an hour later - saddle adjusted, brakes more or less working again -oh, and the tyres needed pumping up. One happy 7 year old.

She really needs a new one, and we really need a nice new shed to keep things in so they don’t get left out and go rusty. I would like a new bike too, but no point in spending money on one just to leave it outside.

Also am down to 143.9 this morning - yay! Popped my head into the maintainers forum today but I don’t think I’m quite ready for there yet. They’re all very serious in there and keep going on about how maintaining is harder than dieting and scary stuff like exercising regularly for the REST OF YOUR LIFE!!! Yikes.

This morning I was 144.4 lbs - which is less by 0.2 than my lowest weight before I got pregnant last year. I had just made it to 144.6 when I found out. So this is uncharted territory!!

I got some clothes off Freecycle yesterday. They were advertised as a bag full of sizes 10-12! Well, at least half of them were sizes 14 and 16 and one top was even a size 20-22!! What is the point of that? Some stuff went straight in the bin - there was a pair of pajama bottoms with a massive rip in the crotch - and not even a matching top.

But there were some things I kept which were not too bad overall. There were some white jeans which are a bit too short, but I thought I could funk them up by putting a strip of material round the hem to make them a bit longer, and also sewing some patches on in the same material. I probably never will but it’s a nice idea. Also a white velour tracksuit which is the kind of thing I NEVER wear in public, but it is extremely comfy so I could keep it for slobbing around the house.

I also went through my wardrobe and took out some stuff that’s too big so with that and the reject pile from the freecycle bag - I have a nice big bag of stuff for the charity shop. I have a beautiful lilac long silk dress but there is a nasty grease stain on the front and it’s dry-clean only. I would sell it on ebay but it would cost £15 to get it drycleaned!! It is gorgeous though. But I expect the charity shop can get it cleaned for less than that so they can have it.

Ruby has a new trick - if I hold her hands and stand her on my knee she can sit down and stand up on command!! She is so clever.

She is 8.5 months old BTW, if anyone is wondering why that is special!!

I went shopping this afternoon as my friend took my kids off me for the afternoon. So for once I was able to have a good old mooch around the shops all by myself - bliss!

But it was so weird - taking things off the rails in a size 10 or 12 I felt like the sales assistants were going to come up to me and say “Oh dear dear dear - you think you’re a size 10 - I don’t think so - you should be next door in Evans dearie - that’s where the fat people shop!”

Does anyone else feel like a total fraud?

It’s a bit like when I first qualified to teach and I got up in front of the class and felt like I should be sat down on the chairs with the other kids, and when was the real teacher coming?

I still feel a sense of total unease when I try something on in a size 10 and it fits - like it’s all a big con or something.

Anyway, the good news is, I have come down a cup size in bras - I’m now a 34E not a 34F - the problem there being that bras are damned expensive and I can’t afford to buy a load of new ones every few weeks. So I’ll just have to stick with the ones I’ve got till such time as they’re unwearable. And once I’ve stopped feeding Ruby they will shrink again.

I actually went into Monsoon today - I have never dared try anything on in Monsoon. But I am a size 12 bust there but a size 10 waist and hips. I tried on the most gorgeous dress in a 10 - fitted like a dream over the waist and hips but just couldn’t fasten over the girls!!

In the end I never actually bought anything for me - although I got some bargains in the sale for Beth and Ruby for next summer. I did find some things I liked but when I’m 10 lb lighter they won’t fit any more so what’s the point in wasting money? I tried on a lovely pair of white jeans in a 10 in Peacocks - but they were actually a bit loose. Dare I think that in 10 lb time I might even get in a size 8????!!

Yikes!

Just to say - I fially bit the bullet and texted Ian today. I said “Hey - what gives? I thought we were getting on OK. Any particular reason for the silent treatment?”

And, guess, what - he ignored me.

So that’s it. No more whining about Ian - it’s over.

I hit 145 this morning so I have only ten pounds to go - OMG!!

So now I officially change the name of my blog to “The last 10 pounds”.

Went to Matalan on Saturday and grabbed some size 10 (US size 6) SKINNY jeans off the shelf to see if they fitted - they didn’t! But all my size 10 jeans and trousers I got down from the loft fit nicely so we’re getting there. And the size 10 top I grabbed to try on with it fitted nicely, which surprised me - I seem to be staying a size bigger in tops. Maybe if I had got normal jeans they would have fitted better.

It’s ridiculous though - I am still a pound away from being in my healthy range, which means technically I am still overweight. No one should be able to get in a size 10 and still be classed as overweight, and I have been in my 10s for a good half stone.