Weight and Fitness Update

So it turns out it is harder and takes longer to get out of the house without a baby than with. Philip was off on Friday and was kind enough to offer to keep Madame while I went to my weekly Weight Watchers meeting. After a bad night with Madame and trying to get her settled for her nap before I went I finally got out the door with just enough time to slide in for the tail end of weigh in before the meeting started, only to realize half way there that I had left my membership card and weight card at home in Madame’s changing bag. I am so accustom to always having Madame therefore the changing bag. I raced home but by the time I made it home weigh in would have been over and it was still a 10 min drive to get there. Luckily there is a meeting just down the road from me on Saturday mornings so I was able to go and get weighed. I am realizing as I go on that similar to AA I need my meetings to keep me going. The accountability of getting on the scales each week and the inspirational discussions afterwards keep me on track. After a good week with tracking and sticking to my points I was not disappointed with a 1.5lb loss bringing me down to 153lbs and a total weight loss since September of 33lbs it averages out to just over a pound a week since I started back at Weight Watchers. My weekly weight loss is quite different as I seem to follow a pattern of nothing or very little weight loss for a few weeks and then 3lbs falls off, but to see an overall average of around a pound a week makes me very happy. Last week I made the big leap of actually setting my goal weight. I knew what my healthy weight range should be but was having a hard time actually setting a number in that healthy range. After some thought about times in my life that I had been happiest and where I was weight wise at the time I decided that I wanted to set my goal weight at 140lbs which just leaves me 13lbs to loose. Once I hit 140lbs I might decide to rethink the goal but to be honest I really like food, it is a huge part of my life with a chef as my husband and baking as a hobby I will never be one happy to go completely without treats but it seems at the moment I have found a balance that is allowing me to enjoy in reason and still work on my weight and health. Fitness wise the last month has been a big turning point, the weather has finally started to show signs of spring and a number of sunny and decently warm days have seen the push chair come back out for long strolls with Madame. I am having to learn what works best for both of us as I never realized how easy I had it last summer and fall with a newborn that was quite happy to spend hours a day in the pushchair as long as she was fed and changed when required. Madame as a nearly 9 month old still loves walks but does not have the same tolerance for being in the pushchair for hours on end. I have learned to time our walks for 30-45 mins before she is likely to nap and she is happy to enjoy the scenery while walking and then to nap in the pushchair when she gets tired giving me another 45-60mins should I want it. I have also learned that instead of walking a great distance from the house and then back again to wander and weave around through the areas near the house so that I am never too far if she decides she has had enough. We are lucky to have lots of parks and walking trails which link up to each other quite near the house that are easy enough for me to turn off and head home or continue on if Madame is happy. I have also joined a weekly fitness class just for mums of young children set up in a large church hall with lots of room for children to play while mums work out. Madame thinks this is great and enjoys watching Mama doing funny dances and when she gets tired of this she can crawl all over the room with a few kids who are 2-4 years old doing a great job of entertaining the little ones as well. Looking to the future I am excited about the next two weeks as I am trying a kettle ball class twice while the mum’s on the move takes a two week holiday for Easter. My mother in law has been gracious enough to offer to take Madame while I do the class and if I like it I might have to see if I can make the evening classes now and again to add some exciting new things to the mix. With walks back on the cards and the aerobics classes I am finally seeing changes in my body shape and size and how clothes fit not just numbers dropping on the scales. I have to admit that this has been a huge boost for me as I had kind of hit a rut and while the scales were still slowly going down the fact that dress size wasn’t and learning to deal with a new body image since giving birth had started to become demoralizing. I am happy to report the last purchase of bras saw a reduction in band size and I have now realize I probably should have actually gone down two band sizes, live and learn it will be exciting to buy even smaller the next time. I am also close or fitting into cloths that I brought over with me from the US five years ago that have been hiding in my closet for almost five years after I found the joys of hard cider and chocolate bourbons not to mention chocolate digestive, bakewell tarts, and the discovery of Lola’s Cupcakes when I worked in London. While lots of people would rather buy new as they get smaller due to luggage allowance and everything I wanted to bring with me when I started my new life in England only my favourite and most sentimental pieces of clothing came with me. It is exciting to find dresses and old Levi jeans that now fit again. While loosing the last 13lbs is going to be exciting I am more excited about my new level of fitness and the new attitude to exercise. I never would have had the guts to take a kettle ball class before “fat” people didn’t do that and I was stuck in the fat person mentality. I won’t be signing up for the London Marathon anytime soon but I am now excited about finding new ways to push my body and try new things, who knows in a couple of years I might just be signing up for the London Marathon but maybe I should sign up for a couple 5 and 10k races first um actually maybe I should learn how to run first as I have never run for exercise.