One year today!

I'm a little excitable this morning because today is our -1 wedding anniversary!!

One year today and I'll be marrying my favourite guy & best friend.. Awwh! And I'll have a whole new NAME! (This is kinda freaking me out at the moment!)

Anyway, I'm trying to tempt the sun out today so that I'm not spending the next year worrying about rain putting a real downer on our day...

Decisions to decide

It's been over 2 months since we booked our venues for our big day next September and I'm ashamed to admit not much has been done since...

Now that September is just around the corner meaning we will have been engaged a year and, more importantly, will be getting married in a year, I'm starting to feel like I really should get organised! The only thing we have done is pay off a small chunk of the hefty venue bill. Important, but pretty boring.

When I start thinking about everything that needs to be done my head feels ever so slightly like it's going to explode, so I thought it would be a good idea to break it down into bite-sized chunks so here's are the first few things on my wedding to-do list:

• Plan and arrange wedding dress shopping. Although I have many ideas about colours, decorations and the general atmosphere that I'd like for our wedding day, the dress is something I have no real idea about yet... And I realise that the tone of the day should really revolve around the style of the dress so I need to get trying on some white dresses... Eek! I'm the most indecisive person so I need to plan around the likelihood that this decision will take a few separate shopping trips!
• Plan wedding photography and pre-wedding shoot. We always knew that Darren's cousin Anna would be the photographer for our special day as we know she's really good and should feel comfortable with her :) We're going to meet up with her in the next week or so to talk through what we want & whatnot so I look forward to that!
• Save the dates! Possibly related to the above with organising a pre-wedding snap shoot as I'm not sure whether to go down the photographic save the date route or what we're going to do yet, but I guess we need to think about this pretty soon so everyone can make sure they're free for the wedding of the century.. Hah ;)

So there are a lot of decisions for me to make! And for the girl who couldn't make a decision if her life depended on it, this is going to be... interesting!

It's all go, go, go!

Life has been hecccctic!

Since moving back to Bognor & starting my new job, it's been a bit of a whirlwind. My lack of blogging hasn't been because I have nothing to blog about but because so much has been going on that I've had no time to write!

I'm loving my new job at Strawberrysoup & it's great living back near all our friends and family, there's always something to do! It has been hard sticking to the weight loss thing though with all the pub nights & meals out so things have definitely slowed down a bit.

I'm also missing the gym a lot as I've not managed to join one yet, but I have been jogging a fair bit along the seafront... I've managed a furthest of 5.6k non-stop jogging so far which is such a massive improvement from when I started out with Couch to 5k!

But although the pound dropping has slowed, they are still coming off & yesterday's weigh in saw me hit the 60lb loss mark (that's 4 stone 4lbs!) which also brought me into 'ideal' BMI!! So I'm feeling preeeetty proud about that! That means I have just 17lbs until goal weight and now I really want to focus on trying to tone my wibbly bits!

In other news.... we have finally booked our wedding venues!!! On 28th September we will be getting married in a church in Bognor where Darren was baptised and his parents were married and 'dinner & dancing' will follow in a gorgeous country hotel in Chichester!! Super excited! Now is where the real wedding planning fun starts!

So, along with lots of babies making appearances (friends', definitely not mine!), they're the main highlights of my last couple of months. We're still staying with Darren's dad at the moment but we have a flat lined up which will be ready to move in to at the beginning of July... counting down the days! It'll be great to have our own space again & I'm really looking forward to having a garden & hosting barbecues, so long as the sun returns!

Time for the hectic to take over again as I have a lunch date to get ready for... laters!

xo

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!

 

Broken muscles

HII *waves*

I'm finding myself with some extra time this evening as I'm having to skip my after work gym trip (shock, horror) because I seem to have damaged my calf muscles :(

I'm not completely sure what has happened but I'm guessing it's a combination of lots of walking, running, cross-trainering and not enough resting. Anyway, my calves felt slightly tender yesterday after walking a few miles to the gym, completing week 4 of C25K on the treadmill and then walking home again, so I didn't go to the gym yesterday but took a long walk in the sun to the beach instead. But this morning as I got out of bed I was in quite a bit of pain and it has been a slight struggle walking all day and prodding my calf muscles hurts too as if they are bruised.

Ouchie :(

Although I don't feel like I've been going OTT, this may well be a sign for me to rest so I am doing as I'm told and sitting here stinking of Deep Heat. Yum. I'm hoping the pain disappears tomorrow though so I can get into C25K week 5 before I slip out of it!

Week 4 was TOUGH so I won't say I'm looking forward to getting into week 5, but managing to complete the last week (JUST) was a pretty proud achievement for me and I don't want to stall now!

I also decided last week while watching the documentary of John Bishop completing his cycle, row & three marathons from Paris to London, that one day I WILL run a marathon. Now, I know this is no easy feat and would take a lot of training - and I'm not forgetting that I am only in the middle of a programme to get me to run 5 small kilometres and struggling to run for 5 minutes straight - I'm saying that this is something I want to do in a good few years from now... An ultimate goal, something for the bucket list!

This is definitely what I look like while I'm running,
I'm not a hot sweaty grimacing mess at all.

I won't lie, I'm slightly regretting this in light of my current muscle pain but the world wasn't built in a day...

First, I need to complete Couch to 5k (which should be about 4 weeks from now) and sign up for the Race for Life 5k run this summer which will make sure I keep running in the lead up. Then I'll go from there aiming for a 10k event then maybe a half marathon.

It's good to have goals, right?

All change!

Everything has gone a bit crazy this last week & will be for the next few months as it's all change for us and lots going on!

At the end of April we will be leaving Bournemouth (*sob*) and moving back along the coast towards our hometown in West Sussex to be closer to family and friends.

It's been something we've been thinking about for a while since people drifted away after finishing Uni and it got a lot quieter & lonelier around here! But it was always a 'maybe one day' thing.

This week I was offered a job at Strawberrysoup in Chichester as their 'Online Marketing Specialist' and I'll be starting there at the end of April, giving us around 6 weeks to pack up our flat and relocate! During that time we have a trip to Scotland as well so I think it's going to be a mad rush at times!

I am really going to miss Dorset as I love it around here so much, but I'm also really looking forward to being around my close friends & family again :) Everyone seems pretty excited that we're heading back! Well, except my dad who I'll be leaving in Poole, but at least that's a very good reason to come back this way regularly!

I also keep thinking about how much I'll miss my gym... Something I never thought I'd feel! I have been there almost every day since October and am not looking forward to having to spend £40 a month on a local gym after Pure Gym's bargain £9.99!

I'm hoping the move won't ruin my hard work weightloss-wise too much but I'm expecting a little slow down when we're first back as things will be hectic celebrating our return, getting into the new job and finding a new home. I'll just have to work extra hard beforehand!

On that side of things a quick note - I've changed my weigh-in to Saturday mornings now instead of Monday evenings and weighed in this morning with a 2lb loss since Monday. I know it might be slightly inaccurate because of the difference between mornings and evenings, but I'm not going to complain! That's just 1lb away from the 3 stone mark! :D

I definitely have mixed emotions about the move but on the whole it's very exciting, I'm really looking forward to starting the new job and a new challenge even though I'll miss everyone at CW, and I'm really looking forward to being around everyone I love :)

Being back in West Sussex should also kickstart wedding plans again as it'll be so much easier for us to view venues and organise things being in the area.

Who said 2012 would be uneventful?? (...Okay, that was me... but what do I know!)

xo