Weight Loss Journals - petecohen.tv

(time will tell if it is more of a Blackadder or Baldrick calibre)

Part of the plan is that I'm going running with some people after work, I am a bit nervous as I haven't run outside for a while (with the exception of once about 2 months ago) with one person who said they ran very slowly so that was cool because I could keep up with here. I am positive about this, as I want to get back into running, as I had to stop when I injured my ankle I have developed a bit of a fear about it ...

Anyway, that is the cunning part of the plan

I am going running at 18:00 (which should take half an hour) then I need to get home - should take about 25 mins about 19:00 (eat dinner) have a shower and get ready to go out to ceroc, my lift arrives at 19:50. hmmm ... husband on red alert that I'll call when I leave work to put dinner on so should be literally on the table as I walk in the door so I think it is just about achievable.

It is also highly likely that given I also did weights and a workout on EA Active before work this morning tomorrow I will mainly be dead ..or just tired (watch this space)

This really struck a bell with me, reading on Pete's website - the descriptions of the good, the great and the exceptional weight loss athlete. I would put myself in the good weight loss athlete category for the majority of my 20s and the first 5 years of my thirties - being the stereotypical yo-yo dieter - an unflattering photo or an impending birthday would see me put myself on some restrictive regime to "lose that weight" - to find that the minute I came off it that weight came back on again and more besides.

Last year I went to the Vitality Show and listen to Pete talk, and having shortly got engaged was more motivated than ever to lose the weight. However, on hearing Pete talk, my focus changed and I realised more than losing weight I wanted to be healthy and change the focus of my life, so I was living a healthy life, happy and not restricted.

I signed up to petecohen.tv and started reading about the tools that would change my life. And it was a revelation, from my starting weight of 15 1/2 stone, by October I was down to 14 stone, things were going well - wedding date set for 9th May, all was going well.

Then things, as things often do, changed. A shift at work saw me sitting a different desk and right in the path of a weekly offering of cake, chocolate brownies and donuts on Friday. Extra hours saw me not managing to make it to the gym as I was too tired - the weight starting piling on; this frustrated me - the tools went out the window and in came the chocolate brownies. I stayed away from the boards as I felt embarrased that it was all going so wrong. But the lovely Wendy and Vikki pulled me back. I met up with Wendy and Jade for lunch and realised that actually, it wasn't that bad and if I stopped being so hard on myself things could be a lot better.

So I came back, and feeling a lot more focussed I made that step up to to a great weight loss athlete. My end goal was my wedding date - I made the step of hiring a personal trainer (that gave me an additional focus) I had set dates when I would do weights, and when I would go to the gym. People at work were complimenting on how well I had done, and how slim I was looking.Vitality Show one year later, and I was back to 14 stone and feeling great. I remember walking round wearing a skirt (which believe me doesn't happen very much) and feeling so proud that I was a lot lighter than the previous year.

Our wedding day flew by in a flash, it was a lovely day and I felt like a real princess in my dress; and a few days later we were off to Mauritius on our honeymoon; and there I think is when the good intentions went out the wedding. Whoever said that chocolate is a girl's worst enemy has never encountered the dessert buffet! I think it's safe to say that I had put on a fair few pounds over the course of those two weeks (reasoning, well how often is this going to happen, I should make the most of it!) - we did some amazing things; aside from reading on a sunny sandy beach we went for a sunset cruise, quad biking in a deer park, sightseeing round the island and most amazing walking with lions! A group of 10 of us (along with our guide) went along with two eighteen month old lions and their keepers as they went for a walk. We got to walk alongside them with our hands on their backs or touching their tails and have our photos taken with them.

So, I'll be honest, with that goal gone my focus is not there anymore. I can feel the weight starting to come back on - I have exercised periodically but not as much as I would like. Then, as if by magic, an email popped into my inbox and challenged me to this 9 week challenge which I accept with much pleasure. I hope to not only be a great weight loss athlete for the next 9 weeks, but be an exceptional weight loss athlete for the rest of my life!

DAY 1:
Height = 5ft 9"
Weight = 14 stone 11lbs
Chest = 42"Waist = 39.5 "
Hips = 46"Thigh = 27"
Calf = 17"

Reacquainting myself with Tool 1: Eat Slowly. I think the key to eating slowly is not allowing myself to get too hungry in the first place. I think this is a tool that has stayed with me a lot (even when not conciously thinking about it) although I'm not so good at stopping when I am full. I had a revelation by eating slower I am actually enjoying my food that little bit more, but I could probably still eat slower and this is what I will focus on this week.It is good to be back (congratulations if you have got this far ;) ) and I can't wait to see what you have all been up to and catch up with all the new petecohen.tvers. Hope everyone has had a good Day 1.

Week 3 brings a total of 9lbs weight loss - go me!!

So (migraine on Sunday not withstanding) I weighed myself on Monday morning to find that I had lost 9lbs from my Jan 5th start weight, only 5lbs off 14 stone. I am so pleased.
Foodwise was a really good weekend, not a cake in sight!
This week has been a bit of a gym free zone as I'm at home with the lurgy, but I am hoping by staying at home rather than struggling in to work (as is my usual wont) I will get back to speed quicker. I have managed to resist eating cake/chocolate etc (which is my usual habbit when off ill) so I am hoping that I'll stay the same this week even if I don't manage to get any exercise done.
The cats are certainly loving having me at home at home, even if I do keep sneezing all over them :-)
I think next Monday I will start again on Day 1.

It was really good reading magazines to see articles from Pete to know that word is getting out ;) I was quite surprised, on seeing him in Mens Health as well - but certainly all to the good :-)

Week 3 has been going well, weekly checkpoint at the beginning of this week I had lost another 2lbs so that is 6lbs in total - not bad considering I couldn't get to the gym most of the week (due the whole dropping of the weight on
my foot)
I am pleased to say that my foot is a lot better and I made it to the gym on Monday and Wednesday and planning to go again tomorrow morning.
I have started doing a different weight scheme (from the Body for Life series) and they have you doing three repetitions of weights, 15-20 / 12-15 / 8-10 reps - but on each subsequent rep you increase the weights - I was surprised as I found myself lifting a heavier weight for that 2 and 3 rep then I would have thought possible so really pleased with that (although my triceps aka bingo wings were really aching the next day)
Food wise has been good - and have resisted the cake/biscuit fest that is my office - I seem to have found my willpower that I lost at the beginning of December and last weekend (apart from a night out on Friday with work)
was very restrained and no snacks were eaten.
Wedding wise it is now 107 days till the wedding (deep breaths)
I have ordered all the bits for making the invites and just waiting for the cards to arrive and then I can start making them.
We've received the receipt from the photographer and are going to meet him at the venue at the beginning of September.
Next step - decide on what sort of cake we want ... mmm, cake .....

Last week was good - as despite a meal at a chinese buffet I managed to lose 4lbs of which I am very pleased.
My top exercise tip is don't leave weights on the chair as they can roll off and land on your foot! Yesterday morning I decided to do my weights before work and in the process managed to drop a 6kg weight on my foot (resulting in me hobbling around work yesterday. I think I was lucky - it landed on the fleshy part at the top of my foot (and I think it must have just been the end of it that hit my foot) so I am going to have an impressive bruise but other than that emerged unscathed.
On BBC Breakfast yesterday they were talking about a study that showed that an hour laughing exercises your muscles as much as half an hour of weights (and much less dangerous) so my resolution for this week is to laugh a lot more - would you all like to join me?
Hope you are all having a good week :-)

Wasn't the best day work wise, but it's over now so I'll leave it there.

Food wise has been good, cereal for breakfast, soup for lunch (thai chicken curry from pret) and dinner is Kev's home made stew which I love (we were very good and had sans dumplings) and now we are watching the MasterChef from yesterday - so far we haven't agreed with their decisions as to the people they have put through.

Friday tomorrow - and I finish at 13.30 - hurrah!!

Work has been frustrating today - but I am pleased that I didn't resort to either the chocolates (which someone has bought for me and is on my desk) or cake/sandwhiches when I went to get my lunch. I had a nice hot soup from Pret.

I have been resisting the pretzels since I found out they have almost 400 calories - and here was me thinking they were a healthy option (oops)

Gym wise - I went to the gym (and had the extra warm-up of scraping the ice of the car at 6am this morning.

Food wise has been good - fruit as snacks, resisted the urge to comfort eat (which is doubly hard with stress and cold weather). I think the days that are going be the hardest for me are Monday (there are cakes in the kitchen
which are raising money for charity - amongst them chocolate brownies, a real weakness of mine) and Friday (one of the guys on my floor has a habit of buying boxes of donuts for everyone!

Hope everyone else has had a good day!!

It was so nice to log on this morning and see all the lovely messages of support for my rambling blog yesterday. It reminded me of why this place helped me so much, as it does raise your spirits when you are feeling a bit low and prevents the wobble becoming a full on whirlwind.

There are so many new faces on the blog - it is lovely to see it such a veritable hive of activity.

So. today has been good (other than I keep highlighting the text I am typing and deleting it!)

Foodwise was healthy - cereal for breakfast, fruit at 11:00, soup from Pret for lunch at 13:00, a banana at 15:00 and other than that rushed off my feet at work (so a few floors were climbed). I made a point of going out at lunchtime to get away from my desk and have bought a game for the Wii called Playground which has lots of silly games on (I was drawn to it by the fact that it say you can play dodgeball and even hi-five) as it is 3+ it is aimed at my level.

When I got home from work I did a weights session which definitely worked my biceps but I think I need to add some better tricep exercises if I am going to get rid of these bingo wings before May. I cooked up a nice dinner, Toad in the hole with onion gravy (bisto best) carrot and swede mash and some other veg.

And now I've come onto the blogs to chill with my hommies (as it were)

I hope you have all had a good day - here's to a good Wednesday - gym clothes are all laid out ready for tomorrow even if it does snow!! (must send my before photo to Pete)

And I've put off posting for the last week now, as what with one thing and and another I have managed to put on a stone of the 1.5 stones I lost, not quite back at the same place I started but almost.
I had a stressful time at work, which resulted in moving floors and roles, in my move I seemed to have left my will power on the previous floor - and spent most of December eating cakes and biscuits - as for the gym? What gym!
I didn't have time to come on and blog and I think I suffered from not having the support - and now I feel embarrased as I feel I have let myself and you guys down.
I have started getting back to the gym - in fact I managed to get there on Christmas Eve and New Years Eve, I am just so scared that in just over 4 months I am getting married and I don't know if I can get to a size I am happy with, I will be so upset if I am not happy with the way I look on my wedding day.
Anyway, I will try and stop feeling so sorry for myself as that is the path to the cake tin I think. I am going to make time each morning to listen, and each evening to come on the blog.
Sorry for the rambling everyone.

Last week started off well - went to the gym on Monday, work as usual ... came home to look after Kev who had what we thought was food poisoning.

It turned out not to be food poisoning but a bug, and by Tuesday evening I was paying repeated trips to the bathroom (not good fun)

We think it was the norovirus (otherwise not as the vomitting bug) and I can honestly say I have never been that violently sick before - certainly not to the extent of it coming out my nose! I spent the rest of the week off work, and although I am feeling a lot better today am certainly not feeling 100%.

Hopefully I will feel completely better soon and ready to return to the gym, and which point I will restart with Day 1.

Hope you are all having good weeks.

179 days to go to W Day ....

Well, I singuarly failed to achieve 2 out of my 3 objectives for yesterday.
I did manage to resist the crisps - I had Lentil and Bacon Soup with a pretzel but by the time I got home I was knackered, and couldn't face either the dumbells or the Save the Date cards instead I opted to curl up on the sofa
with the cat!

That being said, my objectives for today are:
1) Listen to Day 1 video and make notes (as I find I take things in better when I write them down)
2) Dumbell session this evening
3) finish the rest of the Save the Date cards so we can send them out
4) Plan out an exercise diary and set myself goals for the end of November and Christmas
5) Measure myself so I will be able to see what progress I have made, I am thinking that if I am doing a weight
program it is likely there won't be a difference on the scales straight away as the muscle that I will build will offset some of the weight I am managing to lose.

Well, I will be married, I might have to get back to you on the lady part ;)

Today is the 10th November, that means in 6 months it will be the 10th May - the day after my wedding day - how scary is that?
I must admit that over the last couple of weeks I haven't made the best food choices, but I haven't comfort ate, and I have managed to stay away from the cigarettes.

On Saturday I took myself off to the wedding shop to be measured for my wedding dress (I did not realise just how many measurements that they needed to take!) and we found the perfect bridesmaids dresses with beautiful tiaras, so
have taken the plunge and ordered those as well.

Having tried on a white veil and it not really working they are going to order some of the organza material from the dress to make a veil that will match. It was lovely to see my girls in the dress they are going to wear on the
day (even if the sample dress wasn't the right size for all of them) and I loved the fact I got to wear my dress again, I really did feel like a princess. And I had definitely lost weight since I last tried it on so that was also a good thing!

When we were driving to the shop we drove past McLaren and saw the sign they have up saying Well done Lewis - which was exceedingly cool!

So, my objectives for the next month -
1) restart the programme on Day 1 today: make notes on the elements each day from the video I want to focus on.
2) be honest with myself as to where I have been successful and where I have not
3) set time in my diary for exercise and see it as an appointment that needs to be kept not slotted in around everything else

My objectives for today:
1) Dumbell session this evening
2) not listen to the duck when he tells me to go for crisps
3) finish the rest of the Save the Date cards so we can send them out

I haven't had a cigarette for 2 weeks and Kev hasn't had one for a week - if we can both keep it up and think we are more likely to stay off them (as we can't steal one from the other when a craving starts)

All good stuff!

So the Wedding Fayre was on Saturday and I came home with half a rainforest in brochures/leaflets - some of which made it to the Wedding Planner folder the majority made it to the floor.

There were stands that were pretty cool - pix and mix jars of sweets for centre pieces anyone?
And some that were cool but when you thought about it, not very practical - Having your seating plan etched in glass is a beautful idea, but doesn't give you any leaway for that last minute change in guests.

The Blush Bus - party bus with drinks, disco lights the lot seemed like a pretty cool idea for a hen night (and I admit being swayed by the fact it was pink - hell, a pink bus - how cool is that!)

There were a few cake exhibitors - some of which were awesome (I was drawn to the chocolate cakes, that were chocolate cake, surrounded by tubes of pure chocolate) with yet more chocolate on top. Possibly not for those who are not a fan of chocolate.

There were bridal shops abound - and my bridesmaids couldn't wait to get me into a dress. can I tell you, it was the strangest experience, my first try of a dress was in a minute cubicle (that looked like it had been made of old plumbing pipes and connectors) trying to wriggle into this heavy dress to then be laced into it and a veil and tiara placed on my head. The thing about a corset top is, it really does give you a waist and that I admit really did like. And it was a beautiful dress but there was something I couldn't quite put my finger on.

We had a look at some of the other stalls but a lot of the dresses weren't that appealing, then, wallking round the stalls came walking towards me THE DRESS. (well, there was someone wearing it, it wasn't a magical dress) and I was told I could try it on (in a cubicle not in the middle of Earls Court you will be pleased to hear).

As I walked over to the mirror all I could think was how beautiful this dress was, and as some of the fabric was velvet silk how soft and strokeable it was. My bridesmaids put a veil and tiara on me, and smiling told me I was swooshing (something I hadn't done with the other dresses). A downside to this dress is that I would need to order it 6 months in advance (and allowing for any alterations) would mean that realistically I had very little time to decide if I was going to go for this dress. And it being the first day of trying on wedding dresses felt it was too soon to be making a decision (although this did not stop me from going back once to stroke the dress and another time to try it on again. The other problem was that this bridal shop is based near Brighton, so a 2 hour odd drive to get there.

Spoke to my mum on Friday night, she loved the dress and felt if I was sure then I should go for it. We decided to try and find a more local stockist as a small designer her dresses were kept in every store. We found one that wasn't too far away so went to try it on. Unfortuantely, they had sold it! I tried on other dresses, and whilst I found one that was lovely, and did make me swoosh, wasn't giving me the same vibes as THE DRESS (although it was a third of the price).

I went to bed that night and dreamt of that dress.

I have found another bridal shop (not too far away from me) that has confirmed that they have this dress in stock, and I will be going in on Saturday to try it on and I think make the decision once and for all whether this dress is the one for me. Watch this space ....

We will gloss over the incompetence of BT which has left me without Broadband access for weeks, but finally we are back online at home, and ironically at work I have a spare five minutes so I can log on this morning.

Because I couldn't access the internet I felt like I was tackling it with one hand tied behind my back, and consequently I've had more wobbles than a half set jelly. But overall, I think I've done ok. I'm staying around the 14 1/2 stone mark at the moment, not the 14 stone I had hoped for by the Oct meet, but certainly better than 15 so it's not all bad.

A couple of weeks ago I implusively bought a Wii, I do like it (especially the boxing) although I don't like the shape my mii goes when the Wii Fit gets in on the act!

I'm off to the wedding show tomorrow where my bridesmaids intend to get me into every type of wedding dress known to man, but I'm sure it will be a good day.

I'm looking forward to catching up with what you've all been up to :-)