Good luck! I've got about the same amount to lose that you do. What is the 80/20 rule? I liked reading your updates. I'm new to traineo and just joined yesterday. Anyway, congratulations on your weight loss. I hope that I will be able to lose weight, too.

H'ray and H'rah - when I weighed myself, tentitively and on a whim, this morning I found to my amazement that I seem to have lost two and a half pounds, putting me a tantilising quarter of a pound away from my first stone target!

Given the almost total lack of exercise this week that's little short of a miracle, and is more power to my elbow to get on with a proper, consistent exercise regime. Here's to the next half stone... and the next :)

This is the first week of our vegan experiment - its been interesting so far. I think planning ahead and taking extreme care when eating out are key ... thank goodness for Leon and their tasty healthy food! So it hasn't been too bad this week. I've been slowly introducing more exercise but to be honest my general chaos and a lurking sense of panic has prevented me doing as much as I'd hoped. I think next week will be the same as I have a quite frightening amount of work to catch up on. But if I can do a walk and maybe some abs and stretching most days I'll be at least setting the scene for when I've managed to get back on top of things. I've decided to weigh myself only once a week to avoid the frustrations and depression of the daily fluctuations. This week's Monday weigh followed a blow out weekend using up all the non-vegan goodies in the flat so its gone up - way to start! Hopefully things will be heading back in the right direction from now on.

Hi, Mali!

I enjoyed reading your reply in the forums - I have a picture of myself in a bikini (I look so good! Grr!) on MY fridge, and it definitely helps. I'm really having problems with my levels of concentration, right now, too, and I just can't seem to give anything those 100%. But I'm sure it'll pass. Let's keep working hard and thanks again for the inspiration!

So far this week has been better - feeling more focussed on why I'm addressing diet issues rather than focussing on the brownies I shouldn't be eating, then baking a batch anyway (my bad). Admittedly its only 10am on Tuesday morning but then that's what taking things one day/hour/minute at a time is all about isn't it?
I'm really struggling with this semi-permanent cold/sniffle thing - I seem to have been under the weather for weeks now and the impact on my levels of concentration and ability to focus is really starting to be a problem. I'm getting behind on work and spend hours just staring at the same web page or sentence without it registering. Its making driving lessons interesting too as I faze out or feel like I'm in an arcade game with only about 40% of what's going on around me registering at any one time... its scary.
So I'm really hoping that by focussing on eating really well, and - once I've met a couple of deadlines in the next day or two - starting to work out properly (if gently at first - the last thing I want is to end up back in bed with the full on energy drain and sweats again) on a daily basis that I'll beat this lurgy and start to get my focus back. I need my brain - apart from anything else its what pays the bills, I certainly can't fall back on my looks at the moment!!

Well last week was the week that wasn't so far as progress is concerned. A stinky cold had my energy levels at an all time low (quite an achievement at the moment as they are far from stratospheric at the best of times) and I fell into classic comfort eating, baking brownies and celebrating our new grill with the cheese on toast I've been dreaming of for months (and it was just as fabulous as I dreamt - thank heavens my tastebuds decided to work for that particular treat!).

So. Rubbish. Still, the only way is up (in terms of getting better, not the scales I sincerely hope!) This week I will be mainly trying to get on top of things. Cutting back on sugar, so no tea. Plenty of water. Trying to cut right back on dairy as I'm sure that contributing to my tight chest and bunged nose, and generally eating like a human being rather than a dust bin again. But the main thing is exercise. Today I overslept so missed my window of opportunity for the gym. I'm so behind on work that I want to catch up this evening so I'll make a point of fitting in one or two half hour mini-workouts to wake my brain up throughout the day and then set the alarm for the gym in the morning... tomorrow is another day. Trying not to beat myself up too much as that - I'm slowly starting to realise - only leads to another baking frenzy and so the spiral twirls on down...

This is a strange cold - it seems to come and go so I'll be fine for an hour or two and then - BAM! - totally felled for the next few hours. My brain seems to be on a permanent go slow which is the real pain. Unfortunately my taste buds seem to recover throughout the day so that's the one bonus out the window!

The grilled chicken superfood salad I had at Leon for lunch yesterday was just delicious, lots of lush green veggies and chunks of smoky, juicy meat. That place is just fantastic, I'm so chuffed to have one in walking distance :)
Unfortunately I then blew it with my weakness of the moment - a big fat Starbucks latte. Gotta knock those on the head - I might as well liquidise a big mac and slurp on that, which is probably why my weight is not heading in the right direction! I enjoyed the walk along Brick Lane to Spitalfields as usual, particularly as yesterday was such a gloriously warm-yet-crisp Autumn day; it was good to get some exercise done without having to do too much leaping around the place as I fear that might have been the end of me! I'm afraid I might have to leave joining the gym until the weekend or even next week at this rate. Although perhaps breaking out the guest pass for a nice gentle pilates class, swim and steam at the weekend could sort me out. In fact that sounds so good I quite fancy doing it now - I wonder when the next pirates class is...

Feasted on outrageously good steak at the fabulous Buen Ayre Argentinian restaurant in Broadway Market last night - apart from a shared bowl of chips and lovely argentinian pasties it was pretty much protein and salad so virtually virtuous ;) It turns out that my favourite therapist from the Walkin Backrub works as a waitress there - her magic touch is one of the things I miss most about working in Fitzrovia so it was good to see her.
On the down side, I've woken up this morning with a full blown cold - sore throat, headache, gummy eyes as well as the usual bunged-up-yet-streaming (how does that happen?) nose. Ah, the joys - it wrecked my weekend but I felt better yesterday and thought I'd beaten it off with lemsip and brandy! I can't taste a thing so I'm thanking my stars that it waited until this morning to make its comeback and planning to make the most of the fact that my usual greed-trigger is out of action. I've got a lunch meeting today, typically, which I'm now dreading : trying to eat and make polite conversation is hard work at the best of times, doing it with a streaming cold is just icky!

No weight loss and I fear little exercise today, but I'm aiming to walk up Brick Lane to the meeting so that will be something at least. One step forward and all that...

I have recently discovered the iTrain site and tried the iTeen (a girl can dream) Train HipHop dance workout today. I have three left feet so would never attempt a dance-type class but I loved this workout and had a great time bouncing (apparently a technical term but depressingly accurate!) around the sitting room - the 30 minutes was up before I knew it. Possibly unprecented.

The plan is to try another one tomorrow and then head to the gym for the first time in months on Wednesday... its a new gym for me and looks great so I'm looking forward to getting back into the habit.

Had a much better day foodwise so far but as today is our wedding anniversary we're heading out tonight - thank heaven for the 80/20 rule!