Tag Archives: posse

Back Of The Net!

Biggest Triumphs, , , ,

goal

In all the excitement yesterday of throwing our arms wide to welcome in a bright and shiny 2016, and with light bulbs popping here and there, I got distracted and forgot to mention…it’s a little bit snug, but the size 22 top I’ve been lusting after since I came back from Vegas fastened with only a soupçon of persuasion! There’s no truth in the rumour that my lips turned blue from holding my breath as I tried it on, and I’m claiming it as another little goal achieved 🙂

I realise that it’s all relative…I mean there might be folk in our posse who’ve lived their entire lives as skinny string beans, and the acquisition of just a little bit of padding means they’re as unhappy with their size as I am with mine…we super-fatties don’t have the monopoly on low self esteem, right? And to those guys, the thought of being a size 22 must make them want to go have a lie down in a darkened room with a cold compress. But speaking as someone who was a size 28 just one hundred and thirty eight days ago, I’m feeling pretty awesome.

So, obviously my thoughts have now turned to what next. I like having bite sized goals – seriously, what other sort would you expect to have on a fat girl’s blog – and I like measuring it in dress sizes, because it’s tangible you know? Holding something up against yourself and stepping a little further from no chance! every time is a real motivator for me. So I think eight weeks seems a reasonable time frame to aim for the next size down…what do you think? Let’s call that out as my next mini goal…1st March, officially the first day of spring and I’m shooting for a 20.

Right, so listen, come closer…I need your help for a minute. Something rather exciting is about to happen…we’re entering a competition! Our blog’s been accepted into the running for the UK Blog Awards, and I’ve got to submit two blog posts from the archives, in preparation for the public vote which starts on Monday. OMG!!!!  I feel a bit sick – me, the least competitive person you’ll ever meet, putting us out there to be judged…clearly I had a moment of insanity when I clicked on the go for it button.

To be fair, I don’t think we have a cat in hell’s chance of getting past the first round, because there are some really professional looking blogs out there and for me, this is my passion and my hobby but it’s not a commercial enterprise. So all I’m really looking to do is to raise the profile of the blog a little bit, and welcome a few more folk into the posse.

But this is where I really need your help. I’m hoping you’ll throw yourself right in and cast your vote of course, but I need to be even more demanding of you than that…which two posts do I pick? I mean, to me they’re like my babies…each one lovingly and thoughtfully crafted in order to serve you up a smile, or some reflection, or if I really hit the back of the net to help you feel less alone on this journey, like you’re not the only person who’s trying to climb out of their fat suit, you know? And of course I get all that right back at me from you guys…me, I’m just the one who stirs the pot.

I can’t choose between them! I was just going to pick the two top rated posts, but the proportion of folk in the posse who use the star rating buttons is quite small, so I’d rather throw it out there and ask you guys. You know better than me which ones you like the best. You’re the experts!

I’ve got to submit my choices on Sunday, and I’ll tell you more about it then…I’ve got some logos I need to figure out how to use, and I’ll probably spend the weekend looking confused and pressing lots of buttons in the hope that something sticks where it should, but in the meantime, which two blog posts from our archive should I lay out in all their glory to showcase the best of what we’ve got?

Over to you guys…help!

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‘Twas The Night Before Christmas

Freeform thoughts, ,

stocking

Twas the night before Christmas, the cupboards were bare,

the food shop is looming, but why should I care?

I can’t eat the good stuff, the stuff that I crave,

‘cos I’ve promised the posse that I will behave 🙁

The Asshole is laughing, he’s biding his time,

he thinks he’ll persuade me to slip into crime.

I admit it, I’m sulking, my thoughts are not good,

as I think of the things I would eat if I could.

I want cheese balls and ice cream, pralines and cream,

pigs in their blankets, and stuffing supreme.

I’m madder than mad, that the size of my arse

means for this year, and next year my plate will be sparse.

My stocking is empty of chocolate and treats,

in light of the fact that I’m pounding the streets.

to remove all this blubber that covers my bum,

and break out the string bean that I shall become.

It SUCKS that on Christmas I have to be good,

but that’s what I promised to do, if I could.

And do it I will, have no fear of that!

(just forgive me for being a grumpy old twat.)

I’ll scowl at the chocolate, and snarl at the pud,

Stick to lean stuff and green stuff and do what I should.

And after it’s over I’ll grin like a fool

That the Asshole was beaten, and I’m still cool 🙂

Have an awesome Christmas everyone…to my occasional readers, my regular lurkers and all of you who join in the chatter on a daily basis, I couldn’t walk this path on my own so I’m sending lots of love to you all with grateful thanks for your glorious company xxx

holly

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A Bucket Of Social Wellness

Freeform thoughts, In the here & now, , ,

social

So yesterday we chatted about meditation, which was one of Kerry Petsinger’s suggestions in the ‘spiritual wellness’ bucket of ways in which you can love yourself. Or rather my lack of skill in the meditation department. Your perspectives on that brought me round to thinking perhaps I shouldn’t throw the baby out with the bathwater and give up quite so easily, so I won’t. I’ll keep dipping in, in the hope that I’ll get the hang of it.

One of the other groupings she talked about was social wellness. Now that’s an area where I have a little bit more potential I think…I might not always choose to be sociable, but when I do, I can do sociable very well. Maybe not quite so well as I used to, I’m less inclined to surround myself with people these days – I value my solitude a lot of the time. But people still fascinate me, albeit more often than not these days on my terms!

Her first suggestion was to connect with someone who’s positive inspiring & encouraging – well would you look at that. That’s what we all do, every day. Our posse…we connect, we chat…some of you comment, some of the more shy voices amongst you choose instead to email me with your thoughts, and we have a bunch of folk in the posse who love to read and just take it all in, and join in the debate on a cerebral level only…but there’s such a groundswell of positivity, encouragement and sharing going on from which we collectively draw inspiration, you’re all amazing. So gang, we’ve totally got that one down!

Her next suggestion was to visit with your neighbour. I’m a bit less keen on that one, for a couple of reasons. Maybe it should come with a caveat, in terms of it depends who your neighbour is? For example, my nearest neighbours own a Chinese Takeaway. And they are lovely people but damn, it smells so good in there. I don’t use it very often to be fair, but it’s near impossible to leave without a bag full of food and that can’t be good for my diet, right?

During the day when they’re not open, they seem to shout at each other a lot, in very excitable voices, and the one time I knocked at the door during the day to collect a parcel they’d taken in for me, it was answered by a very small man holding a very large chopper, which did alarm me a bit. Maybe I’ll settle for waving when I pull onto my drive, does that count do you think?

I did love her next suggestion, which was to send a note in the post to a family member of friend. I’m an old fashioned girl at heart, and I love the idea of getting a letter, or a card. Cue all my friends falling over and yelling at the computer that I’ve never remembered a birthday in my life, and yeah ok, you got me…I’m crap at that. I’m a bit better now Facebook reminds me 🙂 but there’s still room for improvement. But a card to say thank you, or you mean the world to me, or just a note to say I thought about you today…that’s right up my alley.

Do any of you use the app ‘By Post’? That’s something I use all the time with my mum, especially when I’m away working, or on holiday. You take a picture on your phone, and the app turns it into a postcard and delivers it pretty much the next day – mum loves it, and you know what, I’m going to use it more…just thinking about the possibilities is making me smile.

Her last two suggestions in the social bucket were to plan a fun night out with friends – happening tomorrow evening, yey – and to snuggle with your love. I’ve got that one down too. I guess technically she didn’t have a four legged fur baby in mind when she penned the list but hey, despite his propensity for damaging the ozone layer, he’s the chosen one that I curl up with every night, and he gives the best hugs in the world.

My social wellness bucket feels quite full…how lucky am I 🙂

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The Lurgy Diet

Diet update, In the here & now

sick-in-bedAnother week down…so that makes me one week closer to where I’m headed, right? It’s been a rough one to be honest, I’ve spent most of it buried somewhere underneath the poorly blanket in my beloved armchair, my plans for the weekend in tatters following the onset of some rotten lurgy that snuck up and pinched my voice on Tuesday when I wasn’t looking and hasn’t quite handed it back yet.

I’m so glad that I had a really quiet one last weekend…despite all my frustrations with the wonky subscription feed, having to liaise with tekkies across two time zones meant I was working in the blog most of the weekend, so in between this test run and that, I managed to pretty much draft all of this week’s posts, otherwise there may have been a distinct wobble in your reading material this week!  As it is, beyond the odd feeble tweak and edit here and there in between coughing fits they were good to go, hopefully none of you were any the wiser. I still sound a bit like Minnie Mouse but I’m no longer begging for someone to put me out of my misery.

So, from a diet perspective it’s been a good week…I’d love to claim the credit but actually my throat was too sore to swallow. Not that that would have stopped me in past times…you would have laughed, I’m so in the zone I even caught myself looking on the back of bottles of cough medicine for nutritional values mid-week. Having said that, every cloud has a silver lining – I feel distinctly skinnier! Not too long ago, I would have been quietly furious that I’d finished the dieting week with unused points, and you might well have found me cramming as many naughties into my face as possible to make sure I used up every last one.  Curiosity pushed me into an encounter with the bitch in the bathroom this morning, and I’m happy to report a 2lb loss this week…I’ll take that 🙂

I’m going to try and get some fresh air tomorrow, I haven’t left the house in 4 days and I am climbing the walls with cabin fever! The same Christmas fair we missed this weekend does move around, and my friend and I might follow it next weekend depending on what she’s up to, so hopefully we haven’t missed out altogether. It will mean her coming to stay with me rather than the other way around since it will be nearer here than there, but that might work out ok – we have a hot tub in the garden and it’s that time of year now where there’s enough of a snap in the air to make it an awesome place to relax and catch up so providing I’ve managed to kick the lurgy into the long grass by then it will be lovely.

I’m glad to say all the issues with the subscription feed seem to have been resolved, and our subscriber list continues to grow – I value each and every one of you. Every comment, email and new subscriber request reminds me how lucky I am to have all of you along on this journey with me – you’re making a world of difference. I promised honesty, and the thought of ‘fessing up any wobbles pretty much keeps me hitting it straight!

Have a great week everyone, and thanks for your continued support x

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Moving The Goalposts

Biggest struggles, Diet update, Freeform thoughts, ,

goalSo back on the 17th of August, which was a Monday, (obviously, because Asshole logic dictates that diets can only start on a Monday, it’s practically the law) my dieting goal was to shed a couple of dress sizes before the trip I’ve just been on. I started my blog the following weekend and I can honestly say that since then I’ve not stepped out of the sweet spot…not even once. I did back the wrong horse I think, by starting on a carb-free regime at first but it’d worked for me before, and fairly quickly. Not this time.

I don’t have a scooby doo what I weighed when I started, which in hindsight probably wasn’t my smartest move. If you’ve been reading along since the early days, you’ll remember that a few weeks in I got weighed for the first time, only to discover that I weighed more than I’d imagined I had at the start. That made me swear, a lot. But once I was over being a diva, I took it on the chin, cracked on with the regime and didn’t let it throw me off course.

I checked in with the bitch in the bathroom again about 3 weeks ago to find that although my lard is on the move, the pounds have been slow to shift with only another 5 gone. So I switched out to the Weight Watchers’ food plan instead, dropped a couple more pounds and although I haven’t been on the scales yet since I got home, I’m not expecting to have gained anything on holiday. I’ve found my groove with the points malarkey, and I’m still in the game.

But I need a new focus. Visualising that helicopter trip has kept me 100% on the right path but you know what, getting skinny is just not happening quickly enough. And yes, I know I have my wrist bitch to bully me now (trust me, even the asshole’s running scared) but I need a new focus too.

And that is..? I’m going to be in a size 22 by the first of the year, and I’m going to get there by meeting or exceeding my activity goal every day – as well as the food plan of course. That’s my new short term goal. I was a size 28 when I started and I’m a good size 24/26 now, kind of on the cusp you know? 22 is where I’m headed and I’ve got nine weeks and two days to get there.

Now I have to ‘fess up and say I feel a bit of a fraud with that bold statement, given that today I’ve missed my activity target and I’ve welched on the deal to walk Charlie for half an hour every day after work. Great start, really, way to go Dee you’ve reached new heights of wimpdom. But guys I’m soooo tired – jet lag has kicked in big time, and despite staying up all day yesterday and not feeling too bad, when I went to bed last night at around 10.30pm, ping…wide awake! I saw 3.30am come and go before I could find an ounce of sleep in me. And my alarm goes off at 5.30am….a 50 miles each way commute and 10 straight hours in the office on less than two hours’ sleep is a stretch too far…my tank is running a little low.

I have the opportunity to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat…after all it ain’t over ’till the fat lady sings….oh wait a minute, listen…do you hear that? Right then…I’ll walk twice as far tomorrow. Promise.

Doh Ray Me Far So Laa Tee Doh…  notes

Me: 0 – Asshole: 1.  Sorry posse…I feel like I’ve fallen at the first fence  🙁

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