Saturday 28 February 2009

Update!

Hi everyone!

Sorry its been ages, but not really been a lot going on in the diet and fitness stakes over the last couple of weeks... Well, I've been trying to eat healthily (and doing ok for the most part!), but excercise has fallen by the wayside.

The reason for this? A naff little virus that has really got on my nerves for the past few weeks... It's one of those ones where you think its gone and then you wake up the next day and realise it is very much still there! However, the worst seems to have passed for now, so I'm hoping to get back on the treadmill next week!

On the eating front, the main issue that seems to be a problem is doing shifts! My job is really unpredicatable and there are times I work solidly through the shift, then there are other shifts where I have more free time. It's also a job in itself to try to get the food prepared the night before - especially if I am on a late shift followed by an early shift and don't get home til 9.30pm, and I'm up at 6 am the next day!

Does anyone else do shift work? I'd love to hear any suggestions!

MizzWorthy xxx

Saturday 14 February 2009

Week 1 Round up...

So, on the healthy eating front I think I've done fairly well this week. Given that I went out for a meal and it is Valentines day today (BF cooking venison steak and veg later on - YUM). I've managed on most days to stick to plan or very near, I've enjoyed it, felt full and not obsessed over food at all, so all in all, I feel fairly happy with that.

On the exercise front I was doing well until I caught some kind of virus buggy thing which has made me feel extremely tired. Hopefully this will be gone on Monday and I'll be able to get back on track. I was a bit annoyed about that really, cos I was finding myself start to enjoy it and looking forward to building up my stamina on the treadmill. I know once I can run for 20 minutes on there without stopping I will be able to build up my speed and times etc. I burn off about 500 cals each time I go to the gym, but I hope to increase this with time...

So that was me for week one...

MizzWorthy xxx

Tuesday 10 February 2009

Day 3...

Hi everyone,

So its day three and still going to plan. The food I've been eating is actually making me feel reasonably full and I'm managing not to snack too much between meals, other than on fruit, and even then not too much. I have also kept up with the excercise too, and my running is coming on gradually - that will take a few weeks before I can run for 20 minutes and then I'll just concentrate on building up my time and speed. My legs are starting to feel a weeny bit more toned up, which is nice.

I've planned in a couple of treats too - I'm meeting mum for coffee tomorrow and planning on having a small skinny hazelnut latte, so that I don't feel deprived. I'm also going out for a meal with my BF on Thursday (in leiu of Valentines day - I'm working this weekend unfortunately...). I don't know what will be on the menu, but I'll just try to eat light that day and then make reasonable choices on the night, rather than get all stressed about it...

So far so good then!

I'm also thinking I might post a regular photo on here which I will eventually turn into a slideshow which will show my progress...

Thanks for reading!

MizzWorthy xxx

Sunday 8 February 2009

A Little Bit About my Dieting Past..

Hi everyone,

Well today, the first day of my plan went well. I actually enjoyed the salad I ate at work, got in my three 'proper' meals and even managed to go to a McDonalds with a colleague and just have a drink rather than a McFlurry like her lol...

Anyway, I thought that it might be an idea to set the scene for this by telling you all about the issues I've had with weight over the last few years...

In short, I have yo-yoed in weight for around ten years now. I never had any issues with my weight or dress size until I left home to go to University at age 19. At that time I did what a lot of people do and gained a few pounds due to drinking more alcohol and eating more junk food than I did at home. After about six months I lost realised my clothes weren't fitting too well so I decided to start to eat more healthily and went swimming a couple of times a week. I went back to my normal size and all was ok again... Til the second year when the same thing hapened again. Then in the third year I started to really dislike the course I was doing (a medical degree) and felt like I didn't really know what to do with my life. I dealt with it by comfort eating and over the course of a year I gained about 3 & 1/2 stone. After deciding finally to leave uni and take a year to figure things out, I joined weight watchers and managed to loose all the weight I had gained, took up running, got fit and felt great. I then met my now ex husband and repeated the process before we got married, but didn't gain as much. On the day I got married I was a size 10 (UK) and I looked good and felt great about how I looked. Unfortunately I very quickly realised what a train wreck the marriage was going to be and started comfort eating again. By the time I left my ex-husband I had gained 5 stone, putting me at a size 18.

Since then I have lost about a stone just by not comfort eating to the same degree, and I thought I was looking better, til I saw those photos lol! I realised I was just kidding myself and still eating too much junk. Being this size is also just plain uncomfortable. I feel cumbersome and masculine, rather than feminine any more.

So there we go. That is how I got here and that is why I've realised that I need to make long term lifestyle changes, and not follow a 'diet' per se...

Fingers crossed it will work this time lol xxx

MizzWorthy xxx

Saturday 7 February 2009

Plan... Week 1!

So one of the measures I plan on taking is looking ahead at my rota and planning in a basic healthy diet and exercise schedule...

Sunday
On a late shift, so will probably not be able to fit in a gym session.
Food - Cereal for breakfast, turkey salad sandwich on wholemeal for lunch, Prawn salad for dinner at work. Snacks - banana, apple, low fat chocolate mousse, slice of toast prior to bedtime if hungry...

Monday
On an early shift, so will be able to fit in some exercise...
Gym after work and will do a weights, treadmill and cross trainer session.
Food - Muller light yogurt with a banana for breakfast, Lunch will be a salad with chicken or ham and a little bit of pasta/couscous. Post exercise snack of an apple and dinner will be decided on the day... possibly a slice of toast or some warm milk for supper.

Tuesday.
Late shift...
Food - Cereal for breakfast, turkey/chicken or ham salad sandwich, with an apple. Snack mid afternoon - banana and dinner at work will be a prawn salad. Snacks - low fat crisps/ryvita minis or similar, low fat rice pudding, warm milk at bedtime...

Wednesday.
Day off, so can def fit in a gym session...
Exercise - Weights, running and cross trainer session. Will pick up an exercise class shedule to see what yoga/pilates classes I can fit in next week...
Food - Breakfast - Porridge with sliced banana and a little honey. Lunch - Sandwich, with a piece of fruit, Apple or banana after the gym. Dinner, Large jacket potato with tuna and extra light mayo and a big salad. Low fat yogurt for pudding and warm milk for supper.

Thursday.
Day off - will def do some exercise, but prob focus on running, as I want to be able to go for outdoor running sessions, but need to build up my stamina first on the treadmill! Also arm weights to try to combat the bingo wings!
Food - Breakfast - porridge with fruit and honey, Lunch - big salad with either chicken or ham or prawns. Dinner - to be decided.

Friday.
Early shift, will see how my muscles are feeling after work. If I can will do gym session, if not will go for a walk with bf in the evening for about half an hour.
Food - Yogurt and a piece of fruit for breakfast. Lunch will be a low fat salad or sandwich. Fruit post gym if I go, dinner to be decided...

Saturday.
On an early shift but will need to spend time with bf after work... will prob go for a half hour walk with him.
Food - Cereal for breakfast. ham salad sandwich with a low fat rice pudding for lunch. Fruit after work and dinner to be decided...

So thats the plan anyway. As you can see, not very faddy food, but it needs to be simple and easy to fit around my shifts rather than having to go to health food shops and boiling up vats of quinoa seeds all day lol...

I'm planning to make a brief entry each day til I get into the swing of it to say how well I've managed with food and exercise...

I'm not sure how often to weigh myself - weekly? fortnightly? even monthly? I don't want to be agonising over every pound you see - I want to make healthy changes in the long term rather than have some quick fix faddy approach. I need to make changes I can sustain, so thats going to mean I'll still be having to deal with social events and things, without freaking out over every meal out I have lol...

Any thoughts?

Mizzworthy xxx

The Pictures That Horrifed Me Into Doing This!

So you know how when you put on weight and you convince yourself that you look ok... your clothes do an ok job of making you look like a relatively normal size?

And then someone takes a picture of you, and that picture just gives you a total wakeup call?

Well these are my wakeup call pictures... it took a lot of courage to post these!




Most of these were taken on a recent holiday with my boyfriend in Gran Canaria, who 'kindly' took these photo's of me.

See, in my head, although I know I've gained weight, I still think I look ok... Its so awful walking past a shop window and seeing the reflection of a larger lady, and then realising it is you!

Some of you might look at these pics and think it's not that bad, but let me put it in perspective. I have gained about 4 and a half stone in the last 3 years. This is due to many features, comfort eating through a separation and divorce not being the least of them... So the me in these pics doesn't look like the me I used to know and love being! I have always had big boobs, but my stomach actually sticks out further than them at the moment!

MizzWorthy xxx

First Post!

Hi everyone,

New blog alert lol!

Some of you may know me from my makeup blog (www.mizzworthy.blogspot.com). A few weeks ago I made a post on there saying how depressed I was feeling when I looked in the mirror at the moment. My lovely followers on there were all so nice and made some really helpfull suggestions to me, one of which was that I should start a blog about my progress in gaining health and fitness and loosing weight...

Initially I was a little worried about this, but the more I thought about it the more I realised it was a great idea. I mean I have got so much from blogging about makeup, that surely this can't hurt! I am hoping that having to post updates on here regularly will motivate me to keep on going in my efforts...

I am aiming to post a weekly plan of exercise and a food plan on here and a few bits and bobs about why I have ended up the way I am now...

So I hope someone out there finds this useful, and please subscribe and comment!

MizzWorthy xxx