Smokin'

Just a quick post to bring you up to date on Week 3 of the challenge. I'm thrilled - I lost 1kg this week, making 2.3kgs over the 3 weeks. I'm aiming for 6kgs over the 12 weeks of the challenge so I'm well on track for that. I've pasted my little table below - still off the grog - and I know that's what's helping get the decent losses, but also making sure I have my full 2 litres of water each day. I always drink water every day but I suspect I was stopping around 1.5 litres a lot of the time and the extra half a litre seems to make a difference. Then of course there's the incidental exercise of going to the loo all the time!

Day	Water	WW Pts	Wii Fit/ Walk	Wine
1	2 ltrs	17.5	18 m	None
2	2 ltrs	18	20+20m	None
3	2 ltrs	16	16+20m	None
4	2 ltrs	16.5	16m	None
5	2 ltrs	19.5	20m	None
6	2 ltrs	22	23m	None
7	2 ltrs	14	Rest	None
Totals	14 ltrs	123.5/126	2h 33m	0

Not much else to report for the week - and I've already done a monster post.  One little pic this week - we went out for dinner with a group of friends on Saturday night and took some photos round the table.  Check out my earrings and necklace - Rockmans was having a sale of their costume jewelery. I got the earrings for $1.99 and the necklace for $1.99.  Pretty good bargain hey?

OK possums that it for now - hope you're all having a great week.
Love
Z xx

Feeling Very Special

I'm feeling highly honoured to day as I received this award from the lovely Caroline over at Lonicera's LapBand & Other Stories. Thank you so much Caroline.  I can't quite remember how I stumbled across Caroline's blog - without doubt it would have been on one of my meanders through blogland when I just flit from blog to blog and suddenly strike someone I relate to and find particularly interesting.  And so it is with Caroline - she battles the kilos like so many of us with the added help (or sometimes hindrance) of a lapband.  But she forges on with lots of other interesting things like visiting Argentina (the country of her birth) recently to promote the story behind the book she has translated in to Spanish - its a fascinating story so go read it for yourself.

I’ll pass on the instructions to the next nominees first, then tell you about my choices:

• Thank the person who nominated you for this award
• Copy the award and post it in your blog
• Link to the blog of the person who nominated you
• Tell seven interesting things about yourself
• Nominate seven bloggers
• Post links to the blogs of your nominees

Ok now for seven things about me -I've done a few of these things in my years as a blogger so if you're a long time reader forgive me if I repeat myself - there's a limit to interesting things about me.

1. I refer to my darling other half as Bloss - this is not his real name - he's really Craig and I'm really Anne or often Anni to my friends.  Bloss doesn't often actually call me either of those names - I'm usually Possie or Poss - I think somehow that eventuated at the same time as Bloss - short for Blossom so I became Poss short for Possum!  But the other name he has for me is Mary - confuses the hell out of people when he make reference to something I did by saying Mary did such and such and they're thinking - I thought her name was Anne!  The very first weekend we spent together in a non platonic way - we were driving along and he pointed out something and said in an Irish accent "Would you look at that Mary" - to which I replied "To be sure Patrick I've never seen anything loik it"  He remained Patrick for a while but it gradually disappeared but I'm still Mary - 14 years on.
   
2. My maiden surname was Brown and my first husband's surname was Virgin (that'll probably get a few google hits!) so it was a real sublime to the ridiculous - I went from being Anne Brown to Anne Virgin (and my middle name is Cumming!!)  I used to joke that I was the only person I know who wasn't one till she got married.  We subsequently changed it when I was pregnant with Grant and we thought it was a bit unfair to lumber our children with such a surname especially since you don't know whether or not they'd have the temperament and personality to cope with such a name.
   
3. I tend to be a bit of a girly girl now - never seen with out my makeup - false nails, regular waxing, facials, hairdresser etc  But as a child I was an incredible tomboy and definitely not girly at all.  My best friends as a child were my dog and my pony.  We lived a bit out of the village (in Scotland) with Forestry Commission behind our house so me and my animals would ride for miles through the Forestry tracks for a day at a time.  I would only have been about 10 at the time - how our world has changed and what a pity that children of today don't have the same freedom.
   
4. So growing up I also spent a lot of time on my uncle's farm - and many of my school holidays were spent working on the farm with my older cousin - so I could drive a tractor and milked many cows.
   
5. I was dux of my primary school and was given a beautiful little gold medal engraved with Dux, the name of the school, the date and my name.  I still have my medal and it's now attached as a charm to my bracelet I got for my 21st - both those occasions now well in the distant past!!
   
6. My working career has spanned a few different disciplines but has always centred around administration and organisation both of which I'm very good at - or at least so I've often been told.  But I actually qualified as a Secretarial Linguist - in French and German many years ago.  I continued my school studies of languages on this course but discovered that my real love and flair was the organisation and administration side of it.  I also met my first husband around this time so didn't spread my wings and fly farther afield to consolidate my languages - so now they're a bit of a distant memory.  However as well as the linguist bit - I have a Certificate of Competence in National Road Haulage- one of the first two women in Scotland to have one,  a Certificate IV in Workplace Training and Assessment and a Diploma in Business Management.  So I've been  Junior Secretary - Chartered Surveyor,  Secretary/Receptionist - Architect, Sales Administrator - Truck Dealership,  Personal Assistant - HR, Market Researcher, Registrar - Ministry of Education, Office Manager - Insulation, Office Manager - Tourism, Administration Officer - Aluminium, Training Advisor - Aluminium and now Capability Development Advisor - Rio Tinto.
   
7. People tend to think of me as a happy person who enjoys life - and that''s absolutely true.  But I have my doubts, worries and neuroses like most other people.  However my philosophy is that it's my life and I have the power to decide how I want to live it.  So I choose to focus on the positives and whilst I see and sometimes have to acknowledge the negatives I refuse to allow them to pull me down. When I was going through menopause I could feel my mood swings and realised that sometimes I was being an absolute bitch.  I decided that I wasn't going to allow my hormones to rule me - I was in charge of my feelings! and I have to say that for the most part it worked.  There were still times when they snuck up and swamped me but not that often.    I freely admit that I've had a fortunate life without any really major tragedies or dramas to cope with and I have no idea how well this positive thinking of mine would stand up to that kind of test.

Phew - if you've got this far you deserve the award whether I mention you or not.  Now to choose 7 people - well some of you I think have already been nominated and in my mind every one of you are beautiful bloggers but I always try to follow the rules so here are my seven.

Chris over at Diet Coke Rocks - Chris is a legend in blog world - and she's a delightful person in real life - I know 'cos I've met her and got a beautiful painting to prove it.
 

Anne - who has a private blog - but she and I clicked - many similarities in our lives - incuding the Scottish heritage.  She's another blogger I've been fortunate enough to meet and we had a lovely evening with her and her husband Peter (at Chris's house)

Candy - Candy (this is my nickname for her as she doesn't want her real name on her blog) at the Candid Bandit has popped in and out of blogland but I've been following her travels for a long time now and enjoyed her exploits in singledom then followed with delight her relationship and marriage to the wonderful Mr C and birth of Master C.  And now she's battling with her health and about to embark on the bandster journey to help prolong her life

Lainey - at It's Life Jim - she found me in blogland and we've been blogging buddies ever since.  I've been back to Scotland a couple of times now and we keep trying to meet but there seems to be a conspiracy which sees us never in the same part of the world at the same time.  But next time...

Lee-Anne - another blogger who I've been able to meet.  Sounds like she's been through some murky patches in her life recently so she hasn't been blogging that much but hopefully the sun is out again for her and her usual incredibly positive attitude will be to the fore again.

Julie - this lady is my soul sister - we haven't met yet - but we will.  Julie battles her weight like most of my blogging circle but has lots of medical issues to deal with to and has spent more time with a plaster on her foot then off it in the last couple of years - or at least that's what I'm sure it must feel like.  But despite all this she still manages to stay upbeat and chirpy - you're amazing chicken!

Brooke - this little one has struggled with weight and depression for a long time and sometimes goes a bit quiet on us but she never gives up and keeps on trying.  She has just embarked on the lapband journey and its heartwarming to hear how well she's adapting and how full of hope she is for the future now.

Now I'm off to tell these ladies I've tagged them.  I'll be back tomorrow with an update on my week and how the challenge is going.

Take care

Zxx

Such a good girl!

That's me this week - managed to up the exercise a bit and get in a couple of walks, still no alcohol and good on points too - and damn it all I only lost 100g - but I'm okay with that as I had such a good loss last week so had to expect a bit of evening up this week.

Day	Water	WW Pts	Wii Fit/ Walk	Wine
1	2 ltrs	16	23 m	None
2	2 ltrs	17	17 m	None
3	2 ltrs	14	23+25m	None
4	2 ltrs	20	15m	None
5	2 ltrs	16.5	0+25m	None
6	2 ltrs	17	22m	None
7	2 ltrs	17	Rest	None
Totals	14 ltrs	117.5/126	2h 30m	Zero

A couple of you have commented that I don't seem to be having many points.  According to WW I should be on 18 points a day based on my weight, height and occupation activity level so most days I'm pretty close to there - I always like to have a few points up my sleeve for the weekend as I'm never quite sure what might eventuate.  I've been lucky these past two weekends that we haven't been out and about much so I've been able to control my eating quite easily.  Below is what I'd eat on a typical weekday and I can honestly say I never find myself hungry with no points to eat - I might feel that I really want/need to nibble something but if I analyse the way I feel I'm definitely not hungry - just 'munchy' and fortunately I'm a real fruit bat so will quite happy chomp on some plums or grapes.

6.00am	Crumpet with drizzle honey and teaspoon WW cream cheese Coffee with skim milk	2.5 pts
8.30am	2 plums 1 nectarine	2 pts
10.00am	Coffee
12.00 noon	Ham 50g 1 pt or Prawns 100g 1 pt or Tuna small tin 1.5pts or Salmon small tin 3 pts with lots of salad	Average say 2 pts
	Jelly and fruit	0.5pt
4.00pm	4 (lge)Rice Crackers with salsa and 1 tbsp WW sour cream	2 pts
7.00pm	Grilled pork loin chop or loin lamp chops or Scotch fillet steak Or Chicken stir fry Or Baked Salmon Or Smoked Cod poached in skim milk Microwaved jacket potato with WW sourcream Assorted steamed vegies or salad	Average for meat between 3 and 5 points 2 pts
	WW Ice cream or 50g low fat icecream with a few frozen raspberries or berries Coffee	1.5 pts
	Milk for coffee	0.5 pts
	TOTAL	18 points

 I don’t count activity bonus points – I treat them as just that – a bonus.

Not much other news this week - organised a ladies lunch on Saturday for 9 of us - went to a local coffee/gift shop.  Had a delicious mango chicken with macadamia salad - I asked for the garlic and mango aioli on the side - I'm actually not a huge dressing fan - quite fussy about what I have slathered across my food!  Anyway the lunch was a great success and we're now going to meet once a month at a different restaurant.  

Before lunch I went shopping.  You may have noticed that in a few of my holiday photos - and also on my birthday last year I had on a red and black top.  I bought this in a local boutique and have had so much use for it and it was great to travel with - light as a feather, didn't crush and the style really fitted me well.  So I to their online store and ordered this one - same style - different colours

There was one of another colour which I strongly considered buying too - but they were $130 so decided to content myself with one.  But then Shaz told me that the boutique had a sale on - so I popped in on Saturday and got this one at half price only $65.  They'll be so good for our trip and I can change the look with different coloured pants or skirts.

I also bought the Wii Fit Plus package - already had the original but had heard good reports about the update so since it was on special at Dick Smiths for $24 I just got it.  Grant Tiff and the boys were down last night and we had a bundle of laughs as Josh tried out all the new activities.  But the funniest one of all was the one where you have to pretend you're a bird and land on a series of targets.  To do this you have to flap your arms like wings - so here we have Grant mastering the art!  Hilarious ... and Josh can't help himself - he's flying too!

Oh and one other thing - I'm having terrible troubles trying to comment - I haven't worked out yet whether it's Goggle Chrome or something to do with the fact that our internet connection has been really patchy and dodgy this past week - our phone has been out for a week.  All because of the vast amount of rain we've had which has soaked the little box with the cables out the front of our house.  I've managed to leave an odd one here and  there as it seems to be working intermittently.  But it's really frustrating when I type out a carefully considered message and the bloody thing won't go anywhere.  Grrrr.

Anyway that's my news for this week.  Hope you're all having a good one.
Love Z xx

Party, Preparation and Progress

And what a good girl I've been this week - not sure what the results will be on the scales tomorrow - I was quite a way down yesterday but this morning right backup again but I'm hoping that's because I was drinking water right up to midnight last night.

I've put together a neat little table showing how well I stuck to all my "wws".  So I managed a tick in all the boxes bar one - and I only committed to exercising at least 5 times a week - but I need to keep this going and  try and up it a bit.  So we'll see what tomorrow brings.

Edit :  Progress indeed - down 1.2kgs this week - a great incentive to continue doing exactly what I'm doing.

Day	Water	WW Pts	Wii Fit	Wine
1	2 ltrs	17.5	15 mins	None
2	2 ltrs	19	30 mins	None
3	2 ltrs	14	18 mins	None
4	2 ltrs	18	18 mins	None
5	2 ltrs	20.5	19 mins	None
6	3 ltrs	16	15 mins	None
7	2 ltrs	14	Rest	None
Totals	15	119/126	1hr 45m	Zero

And now the party part of the title - we were invited to a 21st on Saturday - Red Carpet or Yobbo was the theme.  So Bloss and I were red carpet

Taken at home just before we left - see I've got my bling on!

Me with Shelley on the 'red carpet'

Bloss and Pat, Shelleys's husband who got right into character as a yobbo

Today was preparation time for lunches for the week ahead.  I think I might have posted about these before but it might still be a useful idea for any new readers I have.

I make up 12 of these little jellies every couple of weeks - one tin of WW fruit between three containers and one low cal jelly made up and split between three containers

Screw on the lids, pop in the fridge  and you've got a jelly and fruit ready to go each day for 1/2pt

And then I make up a monster bowl of salad - everything goes in - lettuce, chinese cabbage, capsicum, celery, cherry tomato, cherry kumata, cucumber, sugar snap peas, white and black grapes, orange, crunchy combo beans, avocado, mint, basil and sometimes even asparagus.  I decant some into a smaller container each day add ham, prawns, chicken, tuna or salmon and I've got a delish lunch.  I keep a bottle of fat free balsamic dressing at work.

This is how I get through my 2 litres of water each day - on weekends sit the glass and bottle on the kitchen bench so I see it every time I walk past and I just pick up the glass and have a couple of slugs.  Likewise at work - fill up my bottle and sit it on my desk with a glass beside me so I get into the habit of just picking it up and swigging.

OK possums hope you all have a brilliant week 

Love Z xx