A victory with portion sizes

Had a wonderful (unexpected) loss of a whole kg this week. Given I'm not doing any much exercise, and haven't been a tracking saint, I was a little surprised but not going to over think it too much :-).

I have noticed that my appetite seems to have finally matched what my portion sizes should be. It's only taken 3 years of measuring everything! I must say it's a slightly crazy feeling to polish off a small sandwich and not be consciously thinking about what else I can have or how hungry I am. Viva la revolution!

Toes are mostly healed (looking presentable anyway) and I'm ready to start the evening walks again at the end of the week. Am having an Epsom salts foot soak tonight while typing this and it feels good. Thoroughly recommend it - turns out Mum and my podiatrist might be on to something! Hope you and your feet are having a great week, toodles!

The week where I wore a purple shirt

Made up for last weeks status quo with with a loss of 1.5kg! (3.3pounds). The most I've lost in a week ever. Fitness wise, not so great. Lots of late nights at work and lunchtime meetings meant no laps around the campus during the day.

Week 1: 1,247 calories in 215 minutes
Week 2: 3,746 calories in 675 minutes
Week 3: 1,575 calories in 235 minutes (um...yea...not so great!)
Week 4: 1,433 calories in 240 minutes (not much better!)
Week 5: 1,607 calories in 248 minutes

Had 2 NSVs in the past week. Firstly I was able to fit a T I bought 2 years ago while on holiday that I swore 'I would never fit' but it was my favourite colour and from a concert where my favourite band played. So awesome to put it on and still have circulation in my arms! Secondly, D and I went for brunch on Sunday and I skipped the eggs benedict and ordered poached eggs on 5 grain toast, no butter with peppermint tea. Didn't even get a coffee! And I left half a slice of toast behind. I think I'm going mad...but in a totally awesome way. Hope you all have a great week!

Big Fat Zero

That is, a big zero loss this week. Which I'm not happy about but I need to also celebrate a small NSV that happened over the weekend. D has had all my credit / cash cards for some time now as I tend to go crazy when I hit the supermarket on my own. Well he was away for 4 days and I needed to buy some things for the house so he left me a card. And I went to a supermarket and didn't go crazy! Yes I thought about it, but I went a bit further to a 'nice one' and only got what I needed. No huge packets of chips or peanut slabs! That's a V for Victory in my books :).

The day I skipped back to school

It's raining but it's still awfully hot. I'm not sleeping that well and D reminded me how much better I sleep when I've been for a walk. It's not cool enough for my winter jacket so I chuffed off to find a light shower proof little number today...cheap!

I turned off the escalator in department store number 1 and tada - there's some directly in front of me. Great (not even in the fat peoples section). Check the price - $29 (and I have a $20 voucher). Awesome. Try on the largest size (18). Fits well. Does up around the hips and allows for arms to flap. I hear D's voice in my head "remember you're losing weight - try a size smaller" (he is so awesome). Find the 16 and slide it on. Arms still fit well and it seems to join...try the zip...yep it does up the whole way! I hear my evil side "go on - see how much more you need to lose to fit the 14 (around a US 10)". So I try it on. The arms are still fine. There's no way that zip will do up. Holy shit it does. Must be mis labeled. Try another. It still fits! I practically skip to the checkout. i don't remember the last time I bought a size 14...my high school uniform was a 16. Happy is an understatement!!!

NSV and therapy in one

One of the reasons I started this weight loss journey was that I wanted to be able to buy clothes in a ‘normal’ store. I was sick of having to head to the fat section and have only shapeless, poncho-like items to choose from. (New Zealand has a pretty tiny selection of plus size clothing in the affordable price range).

It was so hot here in January that I started looking at second hand skirts online. I rarely wear skirts (have always been self conscious of my thick stumpy legs) so this in itself was a reflection of increased self esteem compared to a year ago. And then I actually bought one. And another. And another. Talk about retail therapy! They were all around $10 and labels from ‘normal’ stores.  I of course downplayed the chances of me either fitting them right away or them looking any good but you know what? They all look great. I have even been described as ‘sexy’ by a female co-worker while wearing one of them. Strike me down with a feather, that’s something worth posting about!

1.5 NSVs!

The awesome Lee Trousers!

When we were on holiday back in October, I took a gamble and bought some trousers that were ridiculously tight on the basis that the patterned material on the inside of the waistband was ‘pretty’ and they were the right length. I have little stumpy legs and normally have to get all my trousers shortened so I considered these a great find and they were on sale for USD$16. Wohoo!

It was a bit cooler today so I thought I’d try them on ‘just in case’. And they not only fit (that’s the main NSV) but I actually had to add a belt and then realised I’ve run out of holes in my normal ‘work’ belt. Sheeba. Looks like the 8 pounds I lost since getting back from hols came from the lower half for a change!

So good I want to slap myself

Holy cow I’ve become one of those people that seems to have developed self control. D and I had a ‘date day’ yesterday. It started with brunch at the café where we had our first meal together.  I ordered poached eggs on 5 grain toast, no butter please. Would you like bacon or hollandaise with that? Yes please No thanks. I started to feel full and didn’t even eat all my toast. Then we had Turkish for dinner. Medium Chicken and salad on rice please. What sauces would you like? Sweet chilli and garlic mayo. Just the hummus thankyou. And I left about a third of it behind (including some chicken).

This is a completely foreign concept to me. I wasn’t hungry and I didn’t have food envy. It was all about spending time with D and not what I was ordering. Amazing. I can’t even call it an NSV as the scales rewarded me with a 1.7 pound loss this morning. Not bad baby puppy, not bad.

Epiphany while rolling rubbish bins

We have a lovely Pacific Island family living in front of us and tonight as I rolled the rubbish bins to the road I noticed they were having a bit of a 'par-tay' out the back. All I could focus on was the huge bottles of coke and fanta on the table and packets of potato chips spread from one end of their deck to the other. And an amazing thing happened...I didn't think "invite me over, invite me over, invite me over" - my first thought was "oh my gawd - you (as in my neighbours) are a prime target for diabetes and this isn't helping".

This thought (while judgemental) is a significant step forward for me. To not view junk food and immediately want it is one of those NSV things! I'll take it :)