Liz, it's a deal, we'll carry each other and both have to lose 2stone by mid-June...challenge on...just hope I can do it! I'll be good timing for the summer clothes too! Come on girl! xxx

Just ordered my trainers ladies... first pair since school! Couch to 5k here I come! Hopefully they'll arrive by next Wednesday

Also ordered Buttons' meds...I must say he's a lot livlier and have a cleaner botty than before his diet! Things are looking up!

Good on you girls doing C25k and well done on getting your trainers Nat - I can't believe it's your first pair since school! Lol.

I definatley do think that you are retaining calories Liz, there is no other reasonable explanation I can think of. I know people can lose weight just through diet alone but I couldn't, I'd just stall and stall and when you think of programs like BL and how much they exercise and how important they feel it is for weight loss and changing shape then I was convinced I needed it to lose weight. I also think I need it for all my aches and pains and my metabolism too.
So, I do think you are deffo doing the right thing and I'm hoping beyond hope that this means you lose decent amount of weight but more than that change your shape too. I think also psycologically it will be much better for you to have food.
Anyways just done my exercise, I do like that Jillian -highly recommended Liz for your new diet regime.

Have a nice meal at the Harvester Nat! Last time I went there it was a carvery/brewers fayre type place shows how long it is since I was there! Lol.
Night night girls. Xxxx

Hi sorry not been on welldone on losses great news xx
espec kim 5lb that is brill bet you are so pleased.
I weighed myself i weigh 10.1 so thats good went to gym on monday too!
Sorry not read all posts as been really busy and just goin to go slp il be on tomoz

night xx

Hello everyone
Very quiet here today!
Work is a bit better today, thank goodness!
And diet good too - turkey burgers tonight, in a chunky tomato sauce with sweetcorn..6points for the lot! Mmmmmm...
Been out to town to get thicker socks for running and a couple more sports crop tops today but no luck...will have to get down to Sports Direct some time soon!
Right back to work now, will log on again later, xxx

ps. fab weight Rach...get you! A couple of good food and gym days you'll be in those 9s no worries!

Hi ladies!

Sorry for my absence last night, i had a very dicky tummy :( I HATE those sweeties, they are in the bin! I had 5-6 sherbet pips and a couple of cola bottles and was doubled up last night and didn't leave the loo much of the evening! Going to stick to the atkins products only, its a shame cause they did quench my sweet tooth but i was in so much pain, my tummy bloated right up, i looked about 8 months pregnant! Still a bit bloated this morning but not as bad!

Nehoo... as you probably guessed i didn't manage any exercise last night but did scrub the house before i became incapacitated lol! Missed the opening night at work cause still not feeling right so i might go for a wee jog if i'm up to it!

Rach look at you nearly in the 9's well done!

Nats i cant actually believe you haven't had a pair of trainers since school haha! What'd you wear in florida? Good luck with the c25k, food sounds good too!

Liz hope this new diet helps you and the exercise too, fingers cross the weight drops off!

Kel glad your "feeling" the diet, it makes all the difference, i tend to be great for the first week and then pants after that lol! I think the second week for me is like, "oh right, your still doing this to me then" lol i'm sticking at right enough!

I have a little confession and WI'd in yesterday and very disappointed that i've put on a quarter of a pound dont know how cause i've really stuck to my diet!

Nehoo...food today

Vanilla shake
turkey salad
atkins peanutbutter cups
SF jelly

Dont know what i'm having for dinner yet probably turkey as thats all thats out!

Hope everyone had a good day at work, i got another sale woo!

Quarter of a lb is nothing Kim - I can lose more than that in a toilet trip!

Hello ladies. Hope everyone is well.

Tired today, feel like I've been driving around loads. Just had to go to vets to get Freyja some medicine, as she still has the runs and it now being a bit sick. Not good, but loathe to take her back in the car, as that is what started it.

Got so much stuff to catch up on tv wise tonight. Could do with football being on for Dan to go and watch that!

Just going to make him some dinner - chicken and ham pie and then he can take half to work tomorrow. My RC stuff has arrived! So far had one of the bars, which was ginger flavour and lovely. Going to have one of the meals later and maybe a shake before bed. It's not what I expected though. You have to add veggies to it (and I need to do a shop) and you have to do your own breakfast. I am sure the products will be nice, but thinking that I am sure I could make my own things low fat just as easily. If it was something that covers breakfast, lunch and dinner then fine, can find £45. Seen as you have to make your own breakfast and stuff and therefore still count calories and fat I might as well do my own version. So probably only do this for 1 week. Unless the things are lovely!

Right off to make food. Hope everyones had a good day.

Hi ya all,

That’s me done for the in work week thankfully as I’m working from home tomorrow. Aside from that not too much planned this weekend, probably going to my parents house on Sat but not too sure what needs to be done now, kitchen in, bathrooms are in, lights are starting to go up. Maybe I can do some gardening in this lovely weather, aside from the fact I hate gardening (too many bugs) it sound like a nice idea! :d:

My diet has been fine again today but I have this ‘thing’ in built in me to say that its ‘wine time’ as its Thursday (I feel the same Fri and Sat too!) and I purposely haven’t bought any and don’t intend to but I don’t half miss it! I love my few glasses of weekend wine. I think this is what you were saying Liz the other day. I’m going to be strong though and resist as its not long now until my friends come up to visit and there will be lots of drinking then. I’ve been trying to think of things to do with them when here but I’m a bit stuck. I did think Blackpool but its so pricey now to get into the Pleasure Beach and I’m not sure we could go to B’pool without going in the PB. Then I thought the Sealife centre or similar but the nearest is Scarborough or Birmingham and thats a bit of a trek. :confused2 I know it’s a long shot as none of you live round here but any ideas what we can do that’s not too pricey?

I was looking today at franchises on line. I’ve never really fully understood them and still don’t 100% but I saw a gym one – as many of you know Alex’s dream is to own a gym. Trouble is the outlay is sooooo much and we simply don’t have it, but one can dream eh?! I’d LOVE to run our own fitness business.
Its not that I’m thinking of quitting my job or anything its just that recently both Alex an I have got very despondent with it. I know a lot of people think they are worth more than they are paid but we work on a grading system in our organisation and for a very long time now we have been working at a higher grade than we have been paid for so we really are worth more than we are paid. Before you think ‘what mugs!’ :d:, the reason we’ve been doing it is so that it improves our long term prospects, kind of like in the future once a promotion comes up we would easily be the ideal candidates as we are already doing the job. Both of us have been marked suitable for promotion for many years now and both of us have had bonuses each year. The trouble is now that the company has to make massive savings, the cuts are coming from not replacing people as they leave and no promotions or bonuses. Couple that with a freeze on pay rises and all of a sudden people like us cannot progress, we don’t have a hope in hell of ever doing so and we aren’t even getting a bonus anymore. All of a sudden we have become the mugs as we do so much of work for free and yet work alongside and with people who get paid a lot more than we do, its very frustrating. I feel there’s a fine line between being respected and valued and being taken for granted and I’m beginning to think we’ve tipped over that. At the end of the day sometimes when you are well respected for the level of work that you do means that you get unfairly relied upon and ultimately dumped on time and time again and its just not cool anymore – its no longer enough to be known for the work you do. :(

I can’t help thinking that between Alex and myself we have good business acumen – he’s extremely good with facts and figures (at school he was the science and maths kid) and I’ve very good with creativity and people (I was the arts and English kid) and sometimes I think we really do deserve more because what we put in now is simply not being reflected at the end of every month. As silly as it sounds I first realised this when Dragon’s Den was all the rage as very often before the dragons had even uttered a word me and Alex had formed our own opinions, usually me discussing the actual idea and why it wouldn’t work and Alex analysing the business model and financial viability and 9/10 the Dragons would essentially repeat what we had just deduced. I probably sound like I’m blowing my own trumpet, or our trumpets, and I don’t mean to sound like that, I’m more thinking out loud. I’m really just using you guys as a sounding board because I just can’t help thinking that we could do better going it alone but we just daren't take the risks. Alex’s dad built from scratch a very successful building company and my dad progressed his way through the company he worked for from being the lowest rung on the corporate ladder to the very highest at the point of retirement, so we also both come from quite successful families who have carved their own way in life from nothing – both our fathers grew up on council estates and had little in the way of qualifications or opportunities – both now live very nice lifestyles and have beautiful homes via an enriched and rewarding career and downright hard work. They both went out and shaped their own destiny and I feel, well we both do, slightly like we are failing in their shadows as we have the ability to do so much more, I just know we do. Trouble is they had nothing to lose whereas we do. :(
Don’t get me wrong there are some perks to our jobs, the hours are flexible, we can work from home, it’s a very family friendly employer, we work together, the holidays are good and very flexible, we never get told what to do and the people we work with are like family its just I think we are building up a lot of frustration inside from the injustice of the situation we find ourselves in and where there once was a hope of a career that is now becoming a distant blot on the horizon. Trouble is those perks are hard to give up for just any old thing so if we did give them up it would have to be for a damn good reason and that would only ever be to work for ourselves.
So, hence why I was looking at self employment and then franchises. I just wish we had some capital I really really do, as I would seriously look into the fitness idea - I’m going to have to start playing the lottery I think! Anyway sorry about that just wanted a grumble, I’ve been feeling like this all week and a few times I’ve written this down and then deleted it before posting as I was going to hold off boring you with all my woes but it really has been a long week so I thought ‘sod it, the girls won’t mind me having a self pity moment’. :blush: See now why I need a little drink! ;)

Maybe I just need a holiday and when we come back we’ll be right as rain. Oh ok, if I have to, you persuaded me, ok, ok, you twisted my arm - I WILL go to Orlando in 46 days but only if I HAVE to! Wayhey. :D

Hi Rach, well done about your weight, that’s brilliant. Have you lost weight since last Mon as I can’t remember your stats last week? Rach you might be able to think of somewhere for me to take my friends?

Hi Nat, Glad work is better and as odd as this sounds – congratulations on the socks! A key part to the new you. :D There’s very little point me saying this with your bazookas, but I got a good sports bra from ASDA if that’s any help?

Hi Kim – Uh oh… you know what I’m gonna say…..I TOLD you about those sweets! It’s the polyols they do wicked things to your insides. :( No more than 3 a day otherwise you’ll be ill.
I think you are right honey about your diet, I’ve known you a whole year now I think (wow!) and I’ve seen you start and stop sooo many diets. You stick to it for a week or two and get good results and when that teeters off then you do too, its just takes time and you have to stick with things, I’m living proof of that. Sometimes you wont lose weight and some times you will but chopping and changing all the time is not always the way to go, you have to give it a good chance. Your diet is fine, I think you are maybe eating too much peanut stuff, and too many Atkins sweets stuff, but at the moment its working ok so no worries, but if you get to a point where you are not losing then its that kind of thing you get rid of. No diet will ever work if you are eating more calories than you are burning so if you’ve gained half a pound then don’t let it get to you, knock off a few Atkins bars/cookies/sweets and exercise and it will be gone by Monday. I’m assuming you weighted in before you ate all the sweets? but if it was after then you have your answer there as to why you’ve gained, if it was before like Liz says I wouldn’t worry about it, weight goes up and down all the time and I too could lose it in the loo! This is why you should only weigh in once a week, particularly those of us who don't like to see any gains. Your weight can be affected by so many things, the toilet, the temperature, when you last ate, when you last drank, your body heat, even when you last showered or bathed and so ½ is absolutely pointless an amount to pay any attention to a totally false reading. You know your height changes on a daily basis too how weird is that?! Certainly keep an eye on your weight if you want to but I worry with you it will make you get downhearted and start to drift from the diet and its so unnecessary. What you’ve eaten today is fine (was it 2 cups?) but don’t go eating tea and then more chocolate. I know you have a sweet tooth but you’ll have to curb it if you want to lose weight. Try sugar free lollies or even just more SF jellies. Stick with it Kim,it will be worth it. x

Hi Liz, awww poor Freyja, she is so in the wars at the moment, poor little lamb. I hope she gets better soon. MMMM Stop making pies will you?! :tounge: I am very jealous of Dan’s dinner and he’s very lucky to have a wife-to-be like you. Better not show your culinary devotion you have to Dan to Alex or he might want a trade in! I’ll get the old ‘’you never make pie for me’’ ;)
I do think you can do the low fat stuff yourself if you have to make so much of the food yourself. Incidentally the RC was a franchise too I noticed today. Would you do the shakes and bars yourself too? I’m going to try and catch up with TV too after exercise – I haven’t seen BL USA yet. :omg:

Food:
B: shake
S: peanuts (25g)
L: shake
D: pork loin salad. SF jelly.

Exercise: Davina, 30 min weights, 30 min cardio box.

Have a good evening everyone. xxx

Well, I managed to beat the scales into submission and they've finally admitted I've lost 1/2lb. I'm a bit surprised as I'd had a good week (apart from a sandwich) but I feel a bit bloaty so I'm putting down as that. I have lost inches though which is brill :grin:

My low carbing is going well, and it really helps that i will eat anything at anytime! The other night we had stir fried chicken and mushrooms with cauli cheese, and I had it cold for breakfast the next day.

Going back to work has helped me get back on track with my eating, and even though I work from home as well as being out on the road I'm doing well.

Tuesday was chicken and cauli cheese for breakfast, ham and cheese for lunch with salad leaves, pork steaks and cabbage for dinner and a thorntons diabetic fudge bar later at night.

Yesterday was boiled eggs for breakfast, Tuna mayo lettuce boats for lunch, Stir fried cabbage with steak and mushrooms for dinner, couple of tablespoons of sweetened yoghurt for dessert.

Today was boiled eggs for breakfast, ham and corned beef salad for lunch and chicken and something for dinner as not cooked it yet!

Thorntons diabetic bars are only around 1.1 carbs and make a brilliant sweet treat. They have 22.5g of carbs and 21.4g of that is polyols, which can be unpleasant but it doesn't affect me really.

I'm looking forward to Monday, but the scales might not be. They have had a good talking too and they know now that I won't be messing about :grin: