Tag Archives: bitch in the bathroom

Leftovers..? All Yours Sweetheart.

In the here & now, , , , ,

leftovers

Depending on what time I’ve hauled my sorry ass out of bed on Boxing Day in the past has largely dictated whether I’ve woken up thinking about leftovers, or smelling them. I think it’s fair to say that both my son and I are fully-paid-up card-carrying members of the leftover Christmas food fan club, in fact I might even go as far as to say that between us we’ve probably regarded it as the highlight of Boxing Day.

I can recall more occasions than I’m comfortable admitting to where we’ve pitted our wits against each other in the ‘who gets to the leftover pigs in blankets first’ race, and I’m here to tell you that the sound of the microwave being activated downstairs in the kitchen on Boxing Day morning has historically invoked the kind of reaction that alarm clock manufacturers the world over could only dream about. You see, whoever gets to the tupperware first is in charge of allocation…otherwise known as who gets what. And if that’s not you, damn straight you’d better get there and supervise, so you get your fair share.

So, when my son found out that he had to work on Boxing Day this year, as you might imagine, he was more than a little bit pissed off. To be fair, he wasn’t worried about working as such, I mean why would he…there’s no contractual obligation to work so it’s triple time thank you very much. But jockeying for space with the dollar signs in his eyes was the vision of coming home to pillaged tupperware containing a stringy bit of turkey and the odd unwanted sprout. He was worried that I’d eat Boxing Day whilst his back was turned.

As we were bidding our respective goodnights last night before heading for bed I casually threw it out there that I wasn’t eating any leftovers this year…his face was a picture. The sort of face, I imagine, that you might see on a lottery winner, as the implication of picking those numbers sinks in…well, something close anyway. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’ll definitely join in with the turkey, that’s fine…but the crunchy butter-rich sage and onion stuffing balls, the leftover roasties and the crisped up pigs in blankets are all his this year. Although it near kills me to say it, they were yesterday’s treat.

You probably don’t need me to tell you that the asshole in my mind has almost combusted himself into an early grave by jumping up and down trying to change my mind. They’re behind me in the fridge as we speak, and they flirt with me every time I open the fridge door. On a scale of 1-10 I want them to the tune of at least 15, but I’m thinking instead about that size 22 top that I pledged my allegiance to when I got back from Vegas…I remain determined to fit into it on 1st January.

I can’t have both. And one is more important than the other…so I picked that one. And whilst the chatter from the tupperware tubs is driving me bat-shit crazy, I’m happy with my choice.

Today, Boxing Day or not, is the start of a new dieting week. I’m remembering how I worked out a plan to see me through our trip to Dublin, and Christmas, and I’m way beyond proud that I managed to stick to it…I’ve had to dig deep, but I’ve done it and trust me when I say if I could bottle this feeling and sell it, I could retire on the proceeds. And you know what else..? I’m 3lbs down since my last check-in with the bitch in the bathroom.

Epic 🙂

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Have You Changed Your Hair?

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jar

Sunday again! I can’t believe another week has gone by so quickly, time feels like it’s whizzing past my ears ’till I’m dizzy. Maybe it’s because I hit my big birthday last month and it’s all downhill from here..? Having said that, you’ll often find me wishing time away…on Mondays especially I wish it were Friday, and I increasingly find myself thinking about this time next year – we’ll be in Skinny Town by then, right?

I get the fact that there’s a lot of todays to get through before then, and given that this week feels like the start of a new regime, I need to really make it count. I promise I’m going to stop banging on about this change of diet, I don’t want any of our posse to feel the need to peel off and take a left turn to Snoozeville. But given that this week has all been a bit dramatic, it’s probably a good time to take stock and reflect on exactly where I’m at.

I checked in with the bitch in the bathroom this morning, and it seems I’m on course…I mean don’t get me wrong I’d be much happier if the number was going down as quickly as time seems to be passing, but the important thing is that the number is going down. This month, by about 7lbs and I’ll happily take that, thank you 🙂 Lets wait and see how the new plan pans out in comparison.

I did have a FFS moment last night when I realised my favourite chocolate dipped freeze dried raspberries had doubled in points under the new rules but I’ve come to terms with the fact that I’ll just have to suck them for twice as long. I did hold the record in school for making a fruit pastille last the longest so I’m up for the challenge…I’ve got form.

There was a moment, mid week that I’ve looked back on a couple of times with quiet satisfaction, you know one of ‘those’ moments that makes all the willpower worthwhile? I’ve been dying to tell you because I know you’ll all get it you know? A colleague who I only see maybe once a month or so swung by the office and perched on the side of my desk to pick my brains about something, and he kind of studied me for a minute and then said are you wearing contact lenses..?

I replied that yes I was, but I always had so why did he ask, and he proceeded to run through a list…had I done something different with my hair? Changed my make-up? I looked different to him, but he couldn’t pinpoint what it was, exactly. I felt this huge big bubble of happy well up inside me, because even though I didn’t enlighten him, I knew exactly what it was…my face is thinner.

I mean don’t get me wrong…the change is subtle, but it’s there. So I had a little inner high-five with myself and basked for a moment in just how great that made me feel. I’ve earned it! I’m going to make myself a little compliments jar, and every time someone notices a little change, or pays me a compliment, I’m going to write it down on a little square of paper and put it in my jar. And on days where the asshole in my mind is chewing at my ear about one thing or another, I can tip them all out and remind myself how awesome it feels to be on the front foot as we march our way to Skinny Town.

So, new week, new diet, new challenge…lets get at it. Have a great week everyone, and thanks for your amazing support as always 🙂

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A New Habit Is Born

In the here & now, , ,

habit-2

I’ve been thinking more you know, about what we talked about yesterday – my love of the armchair and lack of inclination to exercise…it’s really not on is it? You all shared some interesting perspectives and I thank you for that…it helps. I get it. I can’t have a hissy fit at the bitch in the bathroom if I’m not keeping up my end of the bargain, and if me and my love of food are going to find a way to rub along inside a skinny body, limiting food intake is never going to be enough all on its own. So I guess I just need to take the bull by the horns. I don’t want to, but wanting to want to is chewing away at me like an irritating wasp flying around my head.

I’ve been in negotiations with the asshole in my mind for the last couple of days. I’m here to tell you whilst he’s starting to give me less grief about what I’m eating, he’s gone in hard on this one – why don’t you get 50lbs off first before you think about getting more active, if you try now everything will hurt ten times more, you work really long hours and you don’t deserve to ache from head to toe because you’re pushing yourself too hard when you’re going to be losing weight anyway if you’re eating the right things…

If you’re of a sensitive disposition, you might want to cover your ears for a moment.

Sod off Asshole, with your bad karma…I’m NOT LISTENING   fu

It strikes me that motivation is step one of changing a habit, even if it’s not a habit you really want to change. Knowing it’s something you need to change combined with really, really wanting the outcome that forming a different habit will bring is as good a starting point as any other, would you agree? There’s a bloody mountain of information out there about how long it takes to form a new habit and a number of differing views. I posted a link to one of the better ones on my interesting stuff page. But what all those clever people with letters after their name seem to agree on is this; if what you’re trying to adopt as a habit is easy, it will become habitual much more quickly than if what you’re trying to do is hard.

So. This is where I got to with my negotiations. There’s nothing to stop me continuing my love affair with the armchair, providing that’s not all I do every day after work, right? Now before you get giddy I’m not proposing that I go for like a 5k run every evening, or get up close and personal with some kettle bells – I want curing not killing – but I could do something manageable, and build up my stamina slowly. So here’s what’s going to happen after I get back from my trip…every day when I get in from work, I’m going to clip Charlie’s lead on and go walk him for half an hour. It’s an extra walk in the day for him, (he spends 3 hours romping through the fields every day with all his four-legged friends in doggy day-care whilst I’m at work) and it’s half an hour’s walk per day that I don’t normally have. So it counts…every little counts.

So I’ve said it out loud now…shared it with you guys. I’m accountable. That’s going to be a new part of my daily routine…rain or shine (yeah way to go with the timing Dee, with winter just around the corner, doofus) and I’ll turn it into a habit if it kills me. Which to be fair it very well might 🙂 But I’m going to persevere. I’ve walked far more on this trip than I have in a while…ankles are stiff, knee is sore but you know what, I’m on it.

I’ll keep you posted as to how many times it takes before it feels like a habit instead of a chore…together we can see just how much these experts really know!

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Weekly News Round-Up

Diet update, In the here & now, ,

news 1

I’m running very fast this week to try and get ahead of myself.  It’s a clever little devil this WordPress thingamabob, I can write posts up ahead of time and schedule them to appear as if by magic, so in the unlikely event that my girlfriends do arrange for me to be ravaged for 24 hours straight by that dream boy I was dropping hints about, or if I’m actually trapped in the bathroom with a tiger, our posse should still have fresh reading material on a daily basis whilst I’m on holiday, or at the very least most days. Too cool for school eh? I will have some time whilst I’m away (an eleven hour flight for example!) and I adore writing this so I’m hoping to grab a bit of time here and there, but I like to be prepared just in case.

And, stand by for exciting news – we now have our very own Break Out The Skinny Girl Facebook page! If you’re on Facebook, please come and make friends…I’ve been sharing the daily blog posts via the BOTSG Facebook page and you guys can share or post stuff to the page too if you like…get in on the action you know?

I know in the context of the world wide web we’re really small potatoes but so far this month we’ve had almost fifteen thousand page views for the blog from almost sixteen hundred different folk…that’s purely down to you lot telling your friends about BOTSG, so thank you, I think you’re all beyond awesome! The subscription button that I introduced last week has proved really popular and now lots of people are getting Skinny Mail direct to their inbox daily, and feedback has been great…I’ve scratched my head in bewilderment more than a few times and just thought, you know, how has this even happened?!  I dared to dream. And here we all are.

In other back-of-the-net news…everybody in the office ate Chinese food at lunchtime yesterday. Except me! LOOK at my halo shining! I’d taken my lunch, which I’d pointed, and I ate that and left the noodles to them and it didn’t bother me a scrap. And today, I picked my son something up from the chippy whilst I was getting my holiday money, and despite the fact that it smelled divine, I buzzed in and out, picking up lunch for him and nothing for me, and what’s more it didn’t bother me one bit…I felt normal! To a skinny string bean that’s nothing…only a fat girl will get the magnitude.

So I’ve not engaged with the bitch in the bathroom this week, (for those of you who are new to BOTSG that’s code for the bathroom scales!) nor do I plan to until after my trip. Maybe then I’ll propose a truce once a month or so just to keep a watching brief. I should really pull my big girl pants on and deal with the trauma once a month you know? But I feel skinnier…that’s good enough for me. Twice this week I have worn shirts for work which have been too snug to wear up to now, and now they’re not. Do I need to explain the width of this grin..? Nah, course I don’t…you get it!

Anyway, I hope you’ve all had a great week – I don’t actually head out until Tuesday, but let me apologise in advance for any posts that don’t make sense after that…yes, probably too much champagne 🙂 🙂

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Switching It Up

Diet update, In the here & now, , ,

hippo

Well it had to be done. You know my attitude to standing on the dreaded scales, and it’s probably what, five or six weeks since I did it? Diet is going well, or should I say my motivation level remains at an all time high thanks in no small measure to writing my blog, and to you lot in the posse for your lovely posts and emails. I’m still front and centre of the sweet spot…BUT. I don’t appear to be skinny yet. Which to be honest is pissing me right off. I mean it’s all relative isn’t it, I know I’m not going to break out the skinny girl in like 10 minutes, but I’d hoped to be at least one dress size smaller by now and I’m not feeling it. So this morning I had a face-off with the bitch in my bathroom.

(Please do excuse my fruity language especially if you’ve joined us for the first time…I don’t generally have a potty mouth but since I’ve named the asshole in my head his power to upset me has diminished quite considerably, so I’ve adopted it as a strategy. The scales have been duly re-named.)

AAARGH. It’s the good news/bad news thing. I’m 5lbs down since my last attempt to make friends with the number on the scale – cast your mind back to last time, I had a sour mood for days afterward. So 5lbs off is good on the one hand but I’ve gotta be honest, I’d expected more. Shit. No wonder my clothes aren’t hanging off me yet. Right then, well I refuse to be fed up about it, but I need to switch this up a bit and I know exactly how I’m going to do it. I’m going to change my diet of choice.

Whatever diet we all choose to follow, if we stick to it it’s going to show results, right? Low carb diets in the past have worked fairly quickly for me but this time I’m not getting there any faster than I would if I was following a broader food plan, therefore having given it a good go over the last couple of months, I’m going to ‘spend’ my food budget in a different way. I’ve been toying with the idea for a couple of weeks anyway – I’ve had to think about what’s going to happen on holiday, given that champagne is a no-no on a carb free diet and I need to feel in control but not limited. So, I’m going to fish out all my weight watchers paraphernalia and crack on with that and see how I go on. The next couple of days should be interesting as my body adjusts to a new regime.

It may make you smile to know that I’ve just had a very predictable dialogue with the asshole in my head…“why don’t you have the weekend off then, and start on Monday..new diet, new week? You could have a Chinese tonight, no need to go mad but how about some noodles? I know you can have those on weight watchers anyway, but if you start officially on Monday you can eat Chinese tonight without it coming out of your weekly points”…he thought he was going to score an easy victory there. No chance asshole, get back in your box. No chink in this armour buddy, better luck next time fu

Have a good week everyone and thanks for your continuing support…it makes a big wide world of difference 🙂

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