What a difference 6 months - and 50lbs - makes

Life has been hectic recently with friends visiting, a lot of packing ready to move next week and we're also off to Scotland today for a wedding this weekend & to stay with family for a week :)

Since my last blog post boasting about willpower, I have slightly lost it a couple of times. I gave myself a few 'days off' around Easter when a couple of friends came over & I gave into wine & chocolate, and last weekend when some other friends were over but this time it was one too many vodkas & savoury snacks making their way into my belly.

Despite this, I am continuing to drop the pounds & have hit a few milestones with my last weigh in, including passing the 50lb/3 & a half stone loss marks! Also in my quest to find an outfit that fits me for the wedding this weekend, I have found that size 10 dresses can actually fit me quite nicely! Although my bottom half has yet to catch up, I'm still pretty damn pleased with seeing a '10' on my clothes labels again!

Feeling pretty proud of myself already, I wanted to try & compare me in a new dress to a 'before' picture. Although I hate the fact that it shows how big I was and neither pictures are that flattering, I thought I'd be brave & share it with the world, so here goes...

The 'before' picture was taken in April last year, 6 months before I started the weight loss journey. I'm not sure how much I weighed here but it was around 50-57lbs heavier than the 'during' picture taken on Tuesday. Also excuse the scarily bright white legs.. I can't remember the last time I had them out for the world to see!

I wish I had a better 'before' picture for comparisons but this is the best I could find... I didn't take or keep many pictures of myself before!

Anyway, I'm off on the epic drive to the Bonnie land now where I will be cutting myself a bit of slack with the manic exercising and healthy eating, although I did get up at 6.30am this morning to squeeze in a gym session first! I'm looking forward to plenty of bubbly at the wedding as well as the chippy with smoked sausage that I have to have every time we're in Scotland :)

xo

Where there's willpower, there's a way

Monday 3rd October was my first 'official' weigh in day, and the first day I started properly watching what I eat and hitting the gym.

Yesterday marked 6 months since then and I'm pleased to say I'm still well and truly on the wagon! Other than a slight gain over Christmas, I've been losing between 1 & 4lbs each week - usually a steady 2lbs - and feeling good!

The biggest change in myself is the huge increase in WILLPOWER which has got me everywhere!

Willpower to not buy those tasty looking treats, willpower to not eat everything in my kitchen and to choose the healthiest options when eating out, willpower to go to the gym after work most days even though I'd rather get my PJs on and sit in front of the TV, will power to just. keep. going. on the treadmill/cross trainer/stair-climber (this I'm particularly noticing with c25k with which I ran a full 20 minutes with no stopping yesterday - a new record!)

Sometimes when one side of my mind is telling me I can't keep going or I don't have the willpower to not scoff down a tube of Pringles or a block of mature cheddar or something, the other side reminds me that I had the willpower to give up smoking, something which contains an addictive substance, so I can do this. It's a great thing to look back on to remind myself that I can do anything if I put my mind to it!

I'm not sure where this willpower has come from to be honest, but I'm just making sure I make the most of it while I still have it!

I'm also keeping in mind that in a few weeks I'll be up in Scotland for a week with family & for a wedding so it might be a struggle keeping to the super healthy eating thing, as much as I'll try! So I'm just making sure I'm being as good as possible until then. I'm aiming/hoping to his the 3.5 stone loss mark by the time we go which means shedding 5lbs in two weeks... Including over Easter weekend... So we'll see!