WLC - Week 3

Hello everyone =)

This is my entry for week 3 of Cat's weightloss challenge.

I've had an extremely up and down week. The eating hasn't gone great, mainly due to the fact me and my boyfriend nearly split up, then spent the whole weekend together comfort eating. Fabulous. I almost feel trapped when I'm at his house - like I have to eat everything his Mum puts in front of me because otherwise it's rude, right? But the thing I really dislike is that now I've come to associate going to his house/hanging around with him, to eating bad food. It was one of the reasons we nearly broke up, because while I've been going out with him I have put on 4 stone. I know I can't blame him for it, but he doesn't exactly try to help me lose it. Sometimes I feel like he likes me being big because then no one else will fancy me. Paranoid? Probably.

So, I approached the scales yesterday morning very warily. I'd had 2 kfc meals, 2 big bars of chocolate, a donut and probably some more crap this weekend. I really tried to make up for it on Monday and Tuesday, and was relieved (and utterly astonished) to see that I'd lost 1lb. Not great for my size, but still, a weight loss is better than a gain!

I really don't think I would've stuck with it this long if I didn't have the challenge, so thanks again to the wonderful Cat for arranging this, and taking the time to care about 20 or so other people. Some of you girls are really really helping me pick myself up as well with your comments, so another little thanks to Charlotte, Lucy and Rebecca. It's great to see (nearly) everyone still doing the challenge and doing so well!

I love Cat's challenge this week as exercise is something I've really been putting off. Yesterday I did lots of time on the Wii, using Just Dance and Wii Fit Plus, and I felt so much better afterwards. My other activity will be to walk for at least half an hour, as before I got my car I used to love walking.

That's that for now, I hope everyone has a brilliant week, and well done to Lisa for losing 9lbs last week!

xxx

My Favourite Things

Sorry to divert from the usual weightloss gubbins but I'm in a self indulgent mood =) Stole this from DangerouslyBeauty's blog, and if I knew how to link to it, I would've.

Colour - I really love blue. I get really jealous of girls with blue eyes and I'm always attracted more to guys with blue eyes. I think they are so stunning. Blue doesn't look great on me but I still love to wear it. I also like it because I think it's a summery colour, and it reminds me of blue skies and blue oceans.



Animal - I am a big cat person. I even have a cat tattoo. Appropriate eh? A friend asked me if I'd got it to remind myself of my name when I get too drunk. As it's on the back of my neck, I don't think it'd be much help...




Band - My favourite band is The Eels. Not many people seem to know them, but if I played you one of their tracks you'd definitely recognise a handful of them. I love all kinds of music.



Singer - I don't really listen to solo artists much, but I think Regina Spektor is amazing. As for men, I am partial to a bit of David Gray.



Song - At the moment, it's "We will become Silhouettes" by The Postal Service.



Film - So many. I'm a massive film nerd. Top 5 - High Fidelity, American Beauty, Anchorman, Juno, Serenity.



Food - Ben and Jerry's chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. Mmm.



Drink - I like to drink strawberry cider when I'm out, and just water when I'm in =)



Restaurant - Chiquitos, TGI Friday's and Nandos =)

Shop - When I was thinner I loved buying tops from H & M and customising them. At the moment Dorothy Perkins is my favourite for jeans and New Look for tops and bras.

Website - Twitter, because it helps me with networking and writing. Also because I do a little squee everytime a celebrity writes back to me.



Magazine - I read Empire religiously. I miss my girly magazines though. Haven't bought one for at least a year.

Sport - Rugby...men in tiny shorts. What's not to like?

Team - Harlequins, but only coz they used to practise right behind my window where I used to live in Twickenham. 3 o'clock was perve o'clock.



TV Programme - Too much. Lost, Flight of the Conchords, The Office, Extras, Buffy, Angel, Firefly, Dollhouse, Father Ted, Big Bang Theory, Black Books and so much more.



Place - My room, where I can just be me, and not worry. I also love to stroll around London. Gives me such a buzz I don't get anywhere else.

Season - I like them all. When I'm fat I like winter because I can cover up, but Summer does make me very happy =)

Beauty Product - Mascara, as I'm very blonde and look like I have no eyelashes without it.



Hair Product - Shockwaves Hair Mousse, without which I might never have stopped having hair like Meatloaf.

Make Up brand - Loreal Mascara, Rimmel liquid eyeliner, Mac pencil eyeliner. All I need.

Perfume - I do love Britney Spears Fantasy and Midnight Fantasy. So sue me. I also love Ralph by Ralph Lauren and that fruity Escada one they keep changing the name of...

WLC Week 2 Video

Thanks for watching!

Ps - Could anyone recommend a good nail strengthener? My nails all broke this week =(

WLC Week 2 =)

Hello peoples!

Tomorrow is actually my weigh in day so I'll be doing my video then. I think I've had a really good week, touch wood. I haven't craved anything; I've had what I wanted. At the same time I've noticed my portion sizes seriously decreasing and the amount of food I actually need to eat before I'm feeling full shocks me sometimes. I've barely snacked because I find it unsatisfying now, as it doesn't fill me up.

I think the key thing about this way of eating is that eating when you're truly hungry is the best metabolism stimulant there is. That's why breakfast is the most important meal of the day - even if you don't feel like it - because it completely kick-starts your body into burning off the calories. Even if you just have a couple of bites of an apple or something, it's better than nothing and WILL mean the pounds come off quicker.

I just though I'd let everyone know my weight...though I'm sinfully ashamed of it. Maybe I'll give you a breakdown of how much I've weighed in the past, and why I've got to where I am now, so you can understand it a little better (not that there's any excuse for letting yourself go the way I have).

At 15 years old I finished school, finally discovered hair mousse and eyeliner, and stopped looking like meatloaf. This was extremely liberating for me, so I started to do the detox diet as well, determined to make the most of myself. I started to walk everywhere and was far more active than I'd ever been. I was 13 stone 9lbs at my prom in February. By August, I was 11 stone 11lbs, and that is the lowest weight I've ever been in my adult life.



I went to college and started working at a cinema, keeping my weight quite steadily at 12 stone, which I actually felt very comfortable at. I had plenty of guys interested (well, not plenty, but the right ones) and I was very happy for a year or so. Then, the love of my life (still the love of my life) broke up with me and moved away. I went into mega rebound mode, ended up in a horrible relationship with a horrible guy, and my weight went up to around 14 stone 7lbs.


Once I finally got the courage to break up with him, I had a few months to enjoy being single, before getting into a relationship with a lovely guy called Paul. We were very good together for about 6 months and he treated me like the most beautiful girl in the world. However, I stopped caring about my weight because I was so happy. I remember vividly weighing myself when I got back from my gap year in Australia, and seeing that I weighed 15 stone 12lbs.


Things with Paul fizzled out, and I went to University. While at Uni I fluctuated between 14stone 12 to 15 stone 4. I went to the gym an awful lot in first year but couldn't seem to shift much weight. In my last month of first year, I stopped going, started eating absolute crap, and put on lots of weight.

When I got home for summer and stepped on the scales, I was horrified to see 16 Stone blinking back at me. I immediately started a diet called "The Idiot-proof Diet", mainly concerned with eating proteins and good fats. Within 2 months I was 13 and a half stone, and loving it. I had so much confidence and was loving buying new clothes. I know I still wasn't slim, but it felt fantastic. I got all the way down to 13 stone in 2nd year of uni.



Then I met my current boyfriend. As he completely accepted me and loved me, my resolve weakened daily, and I began to eat a LOT. I wasn't exactly happy with where my life was going, and come Christmas of 3rd year I had a massive fallout with my previously mentioned "best friend". By April, I was suddenly 17 stone 10lbs. I can't even explain how this happened. It was like I stopped paying attention, totally started comfort eating. I essentially gave up on myself. Seeing a picture of myself at my friend Frankie's birthday in June, I was pretty horrified to see how big I'd got.



I've pulled myself out of that now, having maintained that horrible weight for around 8 months. Last Wednesday, I was 17 stone 12lbs.

Let's see what tomorrow brings eh! And as per Cat's challenge, here is my favourite photo of myself, from when I was 20, and around 13 stone. Excuse the almost falling out booby, and the reflective jacket (it was builder night...)



Thanks for reading =)

xxx

To all make up bloggers!

I had an argument/debate with my mum last night about makeup. She feels that women/girls only wear makeup to appear attractive to other people. I mentioned all you makeup bloggers, and how for many of you it's a hobby/obsession (in a good way). She couldn't get her head around makeup use being fun, and in many ways an artistic/individualistic expression. So I wanted to ask (back me up here girls) why do you love makeup, and why do you wear it?

Why fruit juice and smoothies might be stopping your weight loss...

Hi Ladies,

I have a massive amount of dietary and nutrition knowledge. I know you wouldn't think it to look at me, but while I do know a great deal, my problem is actually applying it to my life. I just thought I'd share some of my info in case any of you are wondering about the right combinations of food to eat at mealtimes, whether something's as healthy as it seems, and the difference between good and bad fats etc.

This entry is about fruit juices and smoothies. I personally love apple juice, orange juice...pretty much any fruit juice. And I really love smoothies. Most people generally regard these drinks as being very healthy. Obviously, they're more healthy than a milkshake, but you should be careful not to drink too much in a week.

You know when you read the side of an Innocent Smoothie and it says the fruit that's gone into it, eg: 1 banana, 20 strawberries, 1 orange. It all sounds brilliant -
"Yay, 3 portions of my daily fruit and veg in a bottle!" - but I'm afraid the truth is a bit different.

The process to make fruit juice or smoothies is obviously to crush or blend the fruit. It's actually exponentially more healthy to eat the fruit as it comes, because the minute you change the natural form of a fruit it becomes refined. 'Refined' basically means that all the good sugar (fructose etc.) found in the fruit to begin with has been converted to sugar that will take a very long time for your body to break down. If your body's spending more time breaking down this refined sugar, it will take a lot longer to start working on the fat you're trying to get rid of.

In its natural form, fruit is of course extremely healthy (though veg is better, if you really want to split hairs). Likewise, a baked potato carries far, far less refined sugar than if you were to mash it. Mashed potato is actually the least healthy form you can have your potato in. Mad, I know.

Anyway, that was just a heads up. Hope I haven't bored you guys! If anyone's not sure about anything they're planning to eat and want to know if it's nutritionally sound, just give me an email and I'll let you know =) Hope I haven't patronised any of you, I just found this was an extremely important bit of information for me when I last hit a plateau with my weight loss. =)

Hope everyone's week is going well!

xxxx

Week 1 Video for the WLC =)

Quick question, ladies

Where do you all get your gorgeous templates from? My blog looks horrible at the moment and yours all look so nice =)
xxx

A little about me

Hello there! My name's Cat, I'm 22 and grossly overweight. I've started this blog because I've been feeling very "in a rut" lately. I graduated from University in the summer and since then have failed to do anything much with my life at all. I want to be a writer, and my degree was in creative writing, but obviously I couldn't just bang out a bestseller and become famous the minute I left Uni. Though that would've been nice...

Anyway, I finally feel a bit of inspiration and motivation creeping up inside me. This has been very rare of late so I feel extremely excited. I used to be so full of ideas and willpower but in the last 2 years it's all eeked away. I'm hoping to reclaim it from now on. 

There are a few reasons for my newfound motivation. One, I had an argument with my so-called best friend over facebook messaging tonight (because she's too scared of confrontation to pick up a phone), and it's finally made me realise that she is a bad friend. Full stop. I spend too much of my life worrying about her and keeping in contact with her when she doesn't seem to care one bit about me. So, fuck her. It feels incredibly liberating to label her as what I've always known she is, but ignored - a self involved, self righteous, and downright selfish arse candle.

As a result of this argument, I rang a good friend, who made me feel a lot better. I've been feeling fairly lonely at the moment as none of my best friends live around me anymore, but talking to Frankie totally kicked me out of feeling sorry for myself. I have some absolutely amazing friends, and just because they're not around doesn't mean that they don't care about me. Frankie actually made me feel worth something for once. And as a result, I feel it's worth holding onto that feeling for as long as I can, and making something positive out of it.

Finally, I stumbled upon a fabulous blog under a different blogger account that I use, http://catslittleobsessions.blogspot.com

Her weight loss challenge post and video completely inspired me to finally get off my arse and make the most of myself. It's too late for me to join in officially, so unofficially I will be keeping up with it on here. I think it's a brilliant idea and she's a wonderful lady for wanting to help so many people. There should be more people like her =) There's too much bitchiness around where weightloss is concerned. It's entirely refreshing to see someone who really cares, and doesn't judge.

So she said to post 3 things we like about ourselves. As my webcam is currently out of action, I will quickly blog them here, and then hopefully fix it in time to do a vid for tomorrow =) It feels good to be doing this, and doing in entirely for myself. 

So!

Number 1: I like my hair. It's massive and frizzy and a pain. It's always out of control and tends to look like an electrocuted poodle on occasion. But no one else has hair like it - it's my identity and it's my way of standing out. Everyone always remembers me because of my hair, even if they've only ever seen me once. 

Number 2: I do like my writing. I don't do enough of it lately but I feel I write well, with a strong voice. I loved my creative writing degree and miss it terribly. 

Number 3: I like that I'm generally a very happy and optimistic person, who is always wanting to help her friends. Even if I'm not having a particularly great day, I won't take it out on others. 

Whew! That was hard, but felt quite good. I feel really inspired tonight. I hope tomorrow will be a much better day, though today has certainly ended on a high note. =) The picture at the top is meant to be at the bottom...but I'm not that skilled at blogger so I don't know how to do it. Gah!

xxx