Monday 20th April

I braved the scales!

Weight - 10 st 10 lbs (150 lbs)
Lbs to lose - 31

Ok, ok. If I want to lose some weight I got to get serious and actually MAKE an EFFORT (yes?!). So today it begins.

I am going to be positive at all times. My aim it to as I have previously said a thousand times - to eat healthier and to exercise more - SIMPLE

Some pics from yesterday

Neil cllimbing up Thor Rock - hard to beleive that this place is just down the road from us. Neil and R climbed to the top, I went halfway (I have climbed to the top before!)
Me looking up from the bottom of the rock!
Me part way up!
R on the rock
I was a gorgeous day
We had some fun!
It really is a lovely place to visit and even though lots of people go there you can still find plenty of peaceful spots
The gorse bushes smelt of coconut I thought which is one of my favourite smells (I always try to get coconut smelling shampoo!). The coconut smell reminds me of a family holiday I went on with mum n dad and my sisters many years ago (1984 ish, when we went to Malta and I remember I had coconut smelling sun lotion - so the smell totally reminds me of that hot sunny holiday)

Gorse is closely related to the brooms, and like them, has green stems and very small leaves and adapts to dry growing conditions, but differs in its extreme spininess, with the leaves being modified into 1-4 cm long spines. All the species have yellow flowers, some with a very long flowering season.

The most widely familiar species is the Common Gorse (Ulex europaeus), the only species native in most of western Europe, where it grows in sunny sites, usually on dry, sandy soils. It is also the largest species, reaching 2-3 m height; this compares with typically 0.2-0.4 m for Western gorse (U. gallii). This latter species is characteristic of highly exposed Atlantic coastal heathland and montane habitats.
Common Gorse flowers

Common gorse flowers most strongly in spring, though it bears some flowers year round, hence the old country phrase: "When gorse is out of blossom, kissing's out of fashion." The flowers have a very distinctive strong coconut scent. Western gorse or Dwarf Furze differs in being almost entirely late summer flowering (August-September in Ireland and Britain), and also have somewhat darker yellow flowers than Common gorse

Looking out over the Wirral (facing Heswall)

Funny how smells of things can instantly take you back. This is what a few smells remind me of:

The smell of Nivea cream always reminds me of my Aunty Nellie as she always used this on her face every day.
R's cherry shampoo always reminds me of, of all things, the medicine my sister used to have to take when she was little (she spent a lot of time at Alder Hey Childrens Hospital Liverpool, she had a problem with her kidneys). The medicine she had smelt very strongly of cherries. Weird what you remember!
The smell of this reminds me of holidays in my 20's, we used to plaster this stuff on as low factor as possible (yikes)!
Jacket potatos always remind me of Bonfire Night. We used to have a bonfire in the garden and mum put potatos in foil on the fire to bake (yummy!)

The smell of diesal/petrol ALWAYS reminds me of caravan holidays we had when we were little, like when we stayed in a friends caravan in Rhyl!

Where we went on holidays as kids - Rhyl, Anglesaey, Borth, Tenby, South-End-On Sea (Burnham on Crouch), Mannorbier, Malta and Portugal.
The smell of chocolate...Hmmmm....reminds me, oh yeah - of why I am overweight! Haha!

Ohhh while I am going on about the past.....

Just under 20 years ago I was here
I was studying at Coleg Harlech and I lived on the 10th floor (which was ok when the lift was working!). In my 1st year I shared a room and had my own single room in my 2nd year. My room looked out over the golf course and beach. In my room (room 10/4) I had a wardrobe and inside it was a sink and place to hang clothes of course, a bed, 2 chairs and a long desk in front of the window oh and a small bookcase... I had a small tv in my room and cassette player (how old is that!). We had our meals at the college (taken out of our grant money) and accomadation £ was taken out too and what was left, was ours to spend, which we usually did at the students bar!
I went home at half terms and holdiays(got a lift sometimes or mum n dad came for me). I did enjoy studying at Coleg Harlech and got my Psychology/Sociology University of Wales Diploma at the end of the two years.
This is where a lot of our seminars took place (right next to the halls).

Spent far too long on the computer this morning!

12.30pm - Had most healthy lunch of savoury mince with veggies and a diet yogurt. It is sooooooooooo nice out and I feel I ought to go for a walk, but I don't particularly like going for a walk on my own (that's not an excuse). Think I might leave the house a little bit earlier to go get R from school and walk the longer way? Perhaps I should walk to work tomorrow and NOT get a lift in? HHHmmmm...........

Am commited now, rang Elaine (who I work with) and said I am walking to work tomorrow!
WOW, I walked too and from school for R. Then I just did a 2 mile walk (Lesley Sansone DVD - 5 miles walk) - so far so good.

Food so far today. Well I must confess I had the same for both lunch and tea. Do you ever do this? It was a kind of ' I can't be bothered and there's bugger all in the fridge/cupboards till we shop tomorrow anyway'.

Breakfast - Porridge oats
Lunch - Mince with gravy n veg
Tea - Same as lunch except with a as well.

Holy macaroni - can't seem to get off the computer. Is very quiet downstairs (no noise from J or R) and Neil is not quite home yet.

 Tuesday 21st April

Work was crapish...work 'politics' V STRESSFUL grrrrrrrrrrrrrr.................,

I actually walked to work this morning (round about 2 miles) which I was so pleased about and I really enjoyed the walk in the early morning sunshine. Am going to walk to work tomorrow too.

 Wed 22nd April

WOW I walked to work again! Took me half an hour and once again I enjoyed the walk. Really and truly I should walk each day (unless is piddling down )!
I am going dancing tonight for 2 hours. Phew, I had better lose at least a lb this coming week!

Ok so far on food today!
Bfast - Porridge
Lunch - Egg mayo sandwich with a latte
Tea - Low fat sausage and gammon and 1 slice wholemeal bread (I know, no veg)

Work did not such as much today. Was in half a day, caught bus to Heswall to collect my new trial contact lenses (varifocal ones). Had a wander round shops and called in the Orange Tree cafe for a coffee then caught bus to the village. Called in on Neils mum n dad then walked to school to get R.
Had a look at the charity shops in Heswall, looking for bargins. Why is it that the bigger you go up (in clothing sizes) the more matronly the clothes are? They had some very pretty stuff in size 10's and 12's but go to a 16 or more and URGHGHGH, frumpy or what.

 Thursday 23rd April

Work ok. I am going to get weighed in the morning at work. Me and a few of the nurses have decided to d our own 'slimming club' and get weighed each and every Friday. We'll do our own diets but hopefully getting weighed each week will help keep us motivated.

Today I was going to walk to work. I left the hosue the same time as J and he asked me would I catch the bus with him (think he just wanted someone to chat to on the bus), so I caught the bus. Am going to walk tomorrow though, am meeting one of the nurses at the end of the road and walking with her.

SO Friday is my new weigh-ub day!

1. What was the last thing you ate? Chocolate!
2. I say the color purple.. what do you think of? Plums
3. Lamps or ceiling lights? Pretty lamps
4. What color rabbit is your favorite? PINK
5. Your car breaks down on a deserted road and your cell phone has no signal - what do you do? Panic
6. What is one thing most of your friends do online that you just can't understand the fascination and do not participate in? Facebook
7. What do you need right now? Money
8. And your most serious injury you've had was....? Car accident 1989 (lost several teeth, lots of scars), broke my hand same year (what you do as a student living in halls!)
9. What is the most evil thing you've ever done? Nothing...am not evil
10. Give us some random fact about you. I can write backwards really fast!

 Friday 24th April

I met Vikki and we walked to work this morning, then when we got to work we went and had our weigh-in, we are paying £1 a week and getting the money back when we reach goal! I weighed pretty much what I expected (with clothes on!).

I have a booklet of the Rosemary Conley 2 week diet, it's low GI so should be ok for the diabetes. I am going to do my best to follow it for the 2 weeks then aim to keep with the eathing healthier all in all.

 Saturday 25th April

Felt so sicky last night, feel better this morning. We are off to Heswall (9.30am) and then I think we might go for a nice walk. J is going to Bhead to meet a girlfriend.

Today is DAY 1 of following the 2 week Rosemary Conley Fat Attack Plan (silly name). But I am determined to give it a go.

Well, it's 11pm and I have been SO good today! I have managed to get through the whole day and have faithfully stuck to the plan. Can't stop thinking about food, but I have stuck to it. Need to go to sleep ASAP so breakfast will get here quicker!

Sunday 26th April DAY 2 of the RC plan

Was v bad last night (after 11pm, we ended up watching a film Little Nicky with Adam Sandler) and had some wine so am going to have to do some extra exercise this week to make up for that. I did follow the eating plan exactly, but should not have had the wine. It looks nice out and am trying to persuade Neil and R to come for a walk.

12.45 mid day - Neil and I went for a walk, kids did not want to come. We drove to Thurstaston Visitors centre and walked to Davenport road - all in all there and back we walked just over 5 and a half miles (whey hey). Here are some pics.

As we started out.
Was sunny and I took my fleece off in the end!
Met some horses along the way and lots of cyclists
Neil walking along.
Me walking along
We got as far as here and decided that we should turn back as we didn't have any drinks or anything on us and it was very warm - next time we shall be prepared and walk further.
It was really pretty and nice walking
On the way you pas this - we have been to the Dungeon many years ago when J was little and it is only just down the road from us. I said we ought to come here next weekend if the weather is nice. There is a lovely church nearby (where Neil and I got married) and a farm with a nice farm shop/coffee shop. At Thurstaston there is a visitors centre which is really nice too.
I am glad we went. We were out about 2 hours in all.

Is almost 8pm. We all had healthy tea of chicken with ginger and lime (and leeks,lemon grass,garlic, cumin, quark) and basmati rice - how healthy is that!!!!!! I then had a diet yog while Neil and the kids had WW chocolate eclairs! Gonna have a nice cup of milky coffee later and that is it. I am not feeling hungry at all, in fact I could not finish off all the meal at tea-time.

R in school tomorrow, J college and Neil work. Have tons to do in the house (cleaning) and will try and do some sort of walk whether it's the Walk Away The Pounds DVD, walking outside or the treadmill.