Renewed motivation.

So as you may or may not have noticed I have not blogged in over a week. I haven't really dieted or exercised in the past week either. I have put on weight and it's a bit crap. But... I turned 23!

22 wasn't the greatest year of my life, and I'm sure there's lots of things about it I could have done better. But overall I feel it was pretty much a success. I started running and ran a 5k which is pretty impressive. I think I did pretty well at spending a lot of time with the people that are important. Overall though I think I did grow up quite a lot over the past year. I think I've become more confident and a more easily social person, I think I've achieved a lot, and I feel like I'm finding my feet. 

I am feeling so good about being 23. I am going to achieve a lot and it's going to be a great year.

I have decided, I am going to lose a stone and a half before I turn 24. Note the "I am going to" not the "I want to". 

I could lose more weight than that, I could lose less weight than that. But I think that will be my happy weight. It's about the weight I was when I met my boyfriend, and it's about half a stone less than my lowest weight since I started my blog. 

It's an achievable goal in a year. I could lose half a pound a week and stay the same for a few of those and still do it, even have a few gains over e.g. Christmas. It's not a speedy weight loss, it's not a rush, it's not a race.

And I am going to stick with my blog title and do this "the lazy way". There's no point trying to work out every day for 3 weeks consecutively, there's no point going four days eating nothing but apples and chia seeds, as I swear every time I do something like this I just end up weighing more two weeks later than when I started.

I am going crawling back to Weight Watchers. I have a long and complex relationship with Weight Watchers as we know - I actually haven't stopped paying for it THIS WHOLE TIME but I haven't followed it for more than a week at once since at least February, probably longer to be honest. Weight Watchers is a good choice for me because the weekly points give me that flexibility; essentially it gives me the following options:

• Have a totally saintly week and then be allowed to basically LITERALLY EAT WHATEVER I WANT on one day
• Be saintly all week... and then have a weekend where I pretty much can have what I fancy, as long as I track it and don't go too insane
• Be saintly some days and be a bit crap on others but don't have any major blowouts
• Just be average all week

etc. 

Over the course of a year I will of course come off plan at certain points - life's too short to be on a diet at Christmas or when you've spent a huge chunk of money to go on holiday, but equally, life's too short to spend your life tunnelling fat into your arteries as well isn't it?

Across September I firmly have NO reason to go off plan whatsoever as this is going to be a very typical and 'routine' month for me with no special occasions or time off (again, except for the fact I'm casually moving house - but I can't see why this would affect what I eat.) So throughout the whole of September I am going to track everything and follow Weight Watchers. That doesn't mean I can't have fun on the weekend or go to Nando's - I just need to use my weekly points! Last year I went through pretty much all of the autumn religiously on Weight Watchers and had no problems, so I don't see why this year should be any different. We are talking FASCIST approach to Weight Watchers hear - weigh everything, if you can't track it don't eat it, etc. I feel like Weight Watchers is good for me as it helps me develop a positive relationship with food - the only time I have ever got anywhere near approaching 5 a day is when I have followed Weight Watchers. 

So on Sunday I'm going on holiday for a week, and I'm not going to track when I'm on holiday. But I return on a Sunday afternoon with just enough time to plan obsessively for a full week on Weight Watchers starting Monday 2nd September. No excuses. Let's do this.

And as for exercise - I am going to carry on with my love of running. I want to run a 10k at some point when I am 23 - I am eyeing up the BUPA 10,000 (and not just because it's in May so is ages away, honest). However, I am not going to track activity points on Weight Watchers. In fact, I am going to try my best to think of running as an entirely separate thing, and not even related to losing weight, as I am a bit guilty of "I've been for a run so can eat WHATEVER I WANT" syndrome. Running isn't about weight loss for me, it's about achievement of goals and about freedom, so I'm going to think of it separately. However no worries, I will continue to blog about running! 

It sounds mental but I am really feeling good about this as I feel like I am finding myself, knowing who I am and knowing where I am going. And now I KNOW this is what I want. I feel like this time I could work. I feel like I am doing this for new reasons and with a new approach.

So thanks for reading and I will be back in touch in September. And hopefully this time in a year I'll be writing a success story. x 

Weekly Summary #1

As I weigh in on Fridays I thought it might be a good day to do a summary of the last week and my progress on this day.

Well the past week has been a bad week for food - two takeaways and two meals out, none of which were particularly health conscious. I've found myself reaching for unhealthy snacks right left and centre and have pretty much eaten my weight in cheese. 

On the contrary, I have had a GREAT week for exercise, as Ellie Goulding likes to cheerfully remind me on the Nike app. I have literally stuck to running every other day and have MADE the time to do so, even when things have spontaneously come up:

As you can see, I have not ran far, or fast. But I don't mind, as I feel I am finally getting somewhere again, and next time I am ready to move on to 2.5 miles.

So the good week of exercise has been quite good damage control for the horrific week of food and when all was said and done I only gained 0.3lb.  I wouldn't say I'm happy with that figure but I'm certainly not disappointed given the burgers, ice cream, pizza, roast dinners, etc - I've been lucky.

This week is my holiday from work. I am spending the whole week at my parents' house but I am going to be out a LOT - there is a local folk festival which is a HUGE thing down here. So my challenge will be to try and eat healthily and keep up the running amongst all of the upheaval and shaking of routine. Not easy.

Next week I'd really love to see a loss as the week after is my birthday week! I don't want August to be a TOTAL write off.

To end this summary here is my favourite Pinterest pin of the week:

I don't know if that quote is at all genuine but it is so true. When I ran a 5k race I was doing something I previously thought impossible. And that is what will happen to me again when one day I run a 10k.

Much love and hope everyone has a great week!