No longer a baker's dozen!

It has been a week of "being good" food-wise. I've had the odd chocolate, the odd *cough* Toby Carvery, a teeny tiny takeaway and, oh yeah, a complete Finnish Christmas dinner! For the uninitiated, a Finnish Christmas dinner is a joy to behold, and a joy to consume - we had Christmas ham, herrings, smoked salmon, potato bake, swede bake, carrot bake, red cabbage, *covers Flo's ears* reindeer, mushroom pie, mushroom salad, beetroot and apple salad and COPIOUS amounts of red wine.

Throughout my time with Weightwatchers I've not felt like I was on a diet. I've cut down on the alcohol, stopped buying daily chocolate bars, stopped sitting with a bowl of kettle chips whilst watching a film, and just thought a little more about the choices I make on an hour-to-hour, day-to-day basis. I don't feel deprived, I don't stand out like a sore thumb when eating with friends and family (ie I don't have a huge plate of salad when I eat out) and I still keep losing weight. It really goes to show how just a few small changes can make all the difference.

Would I like to sit eating a big bar of Dairy Milk? Yes! Would I enjoy it at the time? Undoubtedly! Would I beat myself up afterwards for wasting a week's worth of bonus points on a moment of idiocy? Damn right! I know I can have a small amount of chocolate, enjoy it, and then carry on with my day guilt-free. Feeling guilty about food is so unhealthy, as you inevitably start to either resent the diet, resent the forbidden food, or worse, resent the people around you who are, perhaps unwittingly, tempting you to eat. Nobody forces me to eat chocolate, crisps or KFC - I choose to. I know I can balance my diet by easing off in other areas. That's just how it works for me.

So, here's the great bit of news for this week - I've lost 2.5lb this week, which brings my weight down to 12st 13lb - yes, that's right! I'm under 13stone! This was my goal by Christmas, so I feel I've really achieved something this week. My total weightloss is now 25lb (in-meeting is 22.5lb) which is the most I've ever lost with Weightwatchers. Before I got married I lost 21lb but that took me down to 10st 2lb and a size 12. This time I'm thinking I ought to aim for 11.5-12st which would be a loss of around 3stone.

Another really positive note for the week - I've bumped into a few people I know who I've not seen for a while, and they've noticed a change in me. For some it's purely a size thing, but others have noticed a greater vitality, and more of the "old" Jeanie back. This is a combination of the weight loss and my new job, both of which are giving me the confidence to face the world with a smile.

Once again, thank you all for your support and encouragement. Hopefully will have some photos for you soon x

You've got to... Accen...tuate the positive...

I'll get the negative out of the way straight off - I've put on half a pound this week (shock horror!) but I am totally putting it down to the fact that I wore jeans and hi-top trainers instead of my usual workwear to the weigh-in.

Ok. so, that aside, here are some awesome positives that are making me smile immensely this week:

• I bought myself my first pair of size 14 jeans since the year I got married (2000)
• The jeans fit me comfortably
• One of my friends at M&S (where I used to work) commented that the jeans I was wearing (my supposedly skinny size 16s) were too baggy on the bum and I needed some smaller ones (thank you Kait!) 
• I've had a good start to my working week
• Scott is being published in no less than 4 separate magazines this month
• Flo has been given her part in the preschool nativity, as a camel (rather than Mary, as she had told us!) 

So really, I can't grumble. I've had a really ordinary week food-wise. I've not even attempted to make a soup (definitely need to, as the carrot one I made last week is just not nice - too sweet). I've had a sneaky KFC with Flo, eaten out with the family, had more than a couple of evening drinks, plus more than two roast potatoes at the weekend. I've even eaten some Christmas chocolate. If that equates to putting on half a pound, I can definitely live with that.

Only two more weigh-ins before Christmas... Can I get to the elusive 13 stone mark? I'm certain I can, and I'll let you know next week how I get on. For now, though, I'm off to wrap some Chrimbo presents.

Finger lickin' good! (or bad?)

After last week's telling off at Weight Watchers I could easily have gone either way - I could have become the militant, hardcore Weight Watcher, always with a 1point snack at the ready should temptation come my way, constantly munching on fruit and turning my nose up at the slightest whiff of vino or, dare I say it, cake... or I could become the "hang-it-all, I'm quitting" type, having a major binge whilst blowing raspberries and sticking my fingers up at my tracker...

Not me! I focused on making lovely home-made soups, bulking up on vegetables and choosing leaner cuts of meat and fish. My salmon and vegetable soup last week saw me through a couple of work lunches, then I opted for freshly-made sandwiches with simple fillings from the convenience store up the road.

At the weekend I took Flo to Southampton. This, in itself, is not a major event, granted, but it could have turned into a foodfest easily! The thing with it being just the two of us for a change, is that there is less pressure (perceived or otherwise) to eat crap. We walked from our home to the ferry (about a mile), took the little train up the pier, then the ferry across the water to Town Quay, where we picked up a free bus to take us to West Quay. Perfect! In true "ladies that lunch" style, we went to Marks and Spencer for a pot of tea and a babycino. We had no cake as we had eaten lunch before we left (Strike one to Jeanie!). After a bit of window shopping and picking up a few basics, we went to Asda and chose a quick snack - cooked chicken skewers (only 1 point per 2 skewers) and some fruit, then headed home. So no MacDonalds, no Pizza Hut, and no oh-so-sneaky Fat Jackets (they sound as though they should be healthy, but you really don't want to know!).

That's half of the week done, easy peasy! Throw into the equation a family birthday party on Sunday, though, and you can start to panic... it's days like Sunday that I'm glad I don't dip into my bonus points on a regular basis. I had a biscuit (that I'd made, I might add), some nachos, dips, chilli with rice, CHOCOLATE CAKE and other nibbles. This I could probably get away with on any good week. This week, though, I took my parents home after the party, around 6.30-7pm, driving past a MacDonalds and KFC. When I say driving past, I actually mean, driving into and ordering an eat-in family bucket with extra crispy strips. My part in this calamity cost me 20 points. Maybe 25 with the popcorn chicken of doom I accidentally "helped" Flo with.

Monday I did a big weekly shop, stocking up on fresh fruit and veg. This makes my life SO much easier from a diet perspective, as most fruit and veg are "free" on WW, so I tend to fill 3/4 of my plate with veg, with small amounts of meat and potato. Sounds dull, but I love veg, and I don't feel at all deprived.

Enough of that! I shouldn't polish my halo TOO much - I've been less than angelic food-wise. Tell that to the scales, though, because today I weighed in 3.5lb LESS than last week! This takes my overall weight loss to 1st 2.5lb, and my WW weight loss to 1stone exactly. I reckon I can lose another half stone at least by Christmas, so here is my pledge - to weigh 12stone-something by my final weigh-in on 19th December. I know I can do it, with or with out Colonel Sanders!

Yet again, thank you all so much for the support - I love your comments after my posts :D