Week 9 - What A 'Wheel' Fun Week

I'm no Tessie Reynolds and have absolutely no intention of recreating her Brighton-London-Brighton trip on a bicycle! 

I am however very grateful that, at the young age of 16, Tessie took on her momentous task, causing a national scandal in the process, 

Week 8 - A wii Journey to Fitness

For my 'Move More' resolution I decided to embark upon a treasure trove of exercises from my youth.  I've skipped (sort of!) I even tried a quick hula hooping session, but lacked the ability to keep the hula airborne for longer than five seconds.  I walked, ambled and sashayed to the park and back and even broke in to a gentle jog at times.  All very old school eh!

So what delights did week 8 hold for me?  Well, let's crank up the volume, get down with the kids and bang on the wii fit!  Oh yes, if it's good enough for the youngsters then its good enough for me.

• Let me ask you a quick question first

Week 7 - Wiggle those Walking hips!

After the adventure of 'skipping' on last week's challenge, I opted for a much calmer exercise regime this week and gave power walking a try!

We all learn to walk at a young age, so walking is as natural as breathing - or so I thought!  Apparently I don't do either right! 

Swinging my hips is a no no, panting and gasping for breath - another no no, embarrassment to my daughter - the biggest no no of them all.  So I stopped swinging my hips as I walked her up to school and tried to relax into a brisk pace.

It does help to have a lovely place to walk, a forest, the park or a canal path would be great.  The main road didn't have the same aura

Week 6 - Skip It!

Skipping!!

As I cast my mind back 30+ years, I have fond memories of me and my school pals skipping across the daisy filled playing fields, pigtails swaying in the balmy summer breeze, singing along to the jump rope song of the week "ally, ally, up-see-daisy..."

Let's forward wind to the present day, now a 40 year old, sedentary mother of three, and skipping just doesn't have the 'glow' I remembered. OMG it's really hard work!

Let me paint you the picture...

Month One - Completed!

31 days ago I gave myself a mammoth challenge; 52 weeks, 365 days, dedicated to my New Year's Resolutions!

Not just 'doing' them and keeping up the motivation but actually blogging the entire event for the world to see!

So here I am on Thursday 31st January 2013, with month one now completed, yay!

The first challenge was to break bad eating habits and start a healthy eating regime. After joining weight watchers on 2nd January, and dealing with the shock of my current weight, I've spent January cooking up a storm, menu planning and making better choices, this has meant I enter month two 9 1/2 lb's lighter!

The initial brief I gave myself on New Year's Day was to concentrate on one resolution, one month at a time. This is still the case but

Week Four

I love Rhonda Byrne's book 'The Secret' and have one of the inspirational quotes "Thought's become things, pick good ones" written on a chalkboard in my kitchen.   

When my children are having an off day and all I hear is 'I can't do this homework...' or 'I'll never remember my spellings...' I take great pride in tapping my chalkboard and showing them my 'mummy knows best' face.

I therefore had to giggle when, as I sat at my kitchen table, head in hands at the prospect of my imminent weigh in, moaning at myself for being a reckless snack eating freak, my fourteen year old son tapped on the board

Challenge Update

This week is apparently the most notorious for abandoning our New Year's resolutions and I must say, I can absolutely relate!!

I received my regular email from Weight Watchers early on Sunday morning, this week's was entitled 'Snuggled up from the snow? TV snack tactics revealed.' All I could say to that was; "TOO LATE NOW!!!"

With my bleary eyes and inexplicable bed hair, I contemplated the bag of crisps, cheese and crackers and the Cadburys chocolate bar I had absentmindedly stuffed the previous evening - In my defence it is very hard work building snowmen!!!




I also cleared the drive of all snow which obviously deserved a treat - this then turned into two treats when it started snowing again

Week Three

Well, what a week it's been! There have been loads of high points but also the occasional low point - who knew that healthy eating, could be so exciting! Let's start with the great news - I hit my challenge target for the week and managed to shift another 2lb, that's 7lb in total, yay me!

My kids are always a huge support to me, whatever crazy thing I happen to be doing that week! They all realised early on that I was deadly serious about losing weight and keeping it off this time and so have been even more supportive (if that could be possible!)

My eldest son, Lee, happens to be an awesome chef and makes THE best pork lasagne in the world! Of course it does help that the recipe

Week Two

It's week 2 of my Resolution Challenge, month one is to eat a healthier diet and hopefully lose weight and have more get-up-and-go.

Well, what a week it's been! I joined weight watchers last Wednesday and after clearing out the fridge and cupboards of anything lovely, oops, I mean unhealthy, I was ready to start my new healthy eating plan.

I am over the moon to announce that I lost 5lb this week - that's 23 potatoes! I know because I weighed them out to see what 5lb felt like, the kids were amazed. 

It felt fantastic, a long way off the suicidal feeling I had last week when I found out I'd put 2 stone on in 7 months!

I wasn't the only one who had a good week, two of my friends lost 4lb each and one lady, who joined with me last week, lost 6 and a half!!!! So I left the meeting today even more

Week One

I am still recovering from the shock of my recent weigh in at the first weight watchers meeting for 2013! Luckily there was a paramedic at the class who brought me round very quickly ....!!

My leader, Andrea, is a huge inspiration and once the initial shock had subsided I began to feel very upbeat and eager to get cracking.

Of course my first task was to empty the fridge of anything that could be a temptation ..........

I personally couldn't see anything wrong with the contents of my fridge but Andrea assured me it was time to change!

Armed with my new weight watchers folder, shiny new cook book and a food journal I set about planning my meal's for the week ahead; the kids contributed and added in their favourite recipes, luckily for me they love their veggies!

We have Chicken Chasseur, Tuna Pasta Bake, Spaghetti Bolognese, Ham and Mushroom Carbonara .... the list goes on. All reduced fat recipes with loads of

Month One

Yes, I'm going for the big one first, the challenge of all challenges, the resolution that is top of 90% of people's list - Weight Loss!

I am very fortunate to be 5ft 10inches in height and therefore can hide my muffin top and saggy bits under long tunics and baggy jumpers, many people tell me I don't need to lose weight when the truth is I can't hide it any more. My jeans don't fit, I have had to invest in larger work trousers to accommodate my expanding waistline, I have four boobs instead of two as my bra is too tight and I hate to admit it but - I have back fat!!!

My 'Resolution' for January is to start a