Friday 23 July 2010

I LOVE good intentions....

I especially love the crunching sound they make when I trample all over them!

This week was supposed to be the start of a new focused drive to lose another 5kg. All the plans were set, the cupboard had been stripped of everything tempting and unhealthy. The signs looked good.

But then there was the perfect storm which was Thursday. A combination of hormones, a very early start after a late night, lots of meetings and a certain amount of stress and to top it all off, a great conversation with a friend about curry. Add to that the traditional Thursday evening glass (or two) of grape and the result is I am NOT getting on the scales now until Sunday!

Today is not going to be any better, dinner at friends' and she is the best baker in Dubai! Ho hum. My plan is to enjoy every morsel and go vegan on Sunday!!!

Hey, at least I've got a plan!

Monday 19 July 2010

What just happened?

My body is wierd! After a solid 6 weeks of almost 80% raw, healthy, fantastic, nutritious food something had to give! Its been a really crazy couple of weeks at work so no time for exercise, no time for making healthy packed lunches, lots of lunchtime meetings... all the usual excuses. So imagine my surprise when I stepped on the scales this morning after avoiding them for about 10 days to find I'd lost nearly two kilos! Total amazement and glee!

Still, the time for excuses is nearing its end. I've had a couple of weeks where focus was very difficult and I've survived them with no gain but its time to get back on track and lose another 5kg! Maybe this is just how my body works - 5kg, then rest and stabilise, then another 5kg. I was finding it increasing difficult to get enthusiastic about raw vegetables but now I'm really looking forward to them again.  Also my weight loss had slowed down to frustrating levels so maybe I needed that little break to kick start my metabolism again.

Anyway, with Ramadan coming up there will be fewer lunchtime meetings, almost no meetings in coffee shops and the whole pace of life will be slower and more reflective. Time to do some planning, some refocusing and some hard work! I can't wait!

Saturday 10 July 2010

Not losing it!

This has been a bit of a disastrous week for losing it. Somehow along the way I managed to pick up nearly 2kg! I swear they're not mine! Could the person who left them with me please come and pick them up because I don't want them!

I'm not exactly sure what's gone wrong. It was a really busy week so there was a lot of grabbing food on the run and I guess its really easy to make the wrong choices or lose track of quantities, but I thought I was doing pretty well. Lots of meetings in coffee shops so maybe my favourite latte is going to have to be replaced with a peppermint tea, but I do resent paying 15dhs for a mug of hot water!!! I guess its just lots of little slip ups and of course wheat has crept back in - oops!

Exercise just didn't happen, apart from my foray to Concept 1010 but the good news is I'm signing up for their programme and I'm really looking forward to getting some amazing results. I didn't make it to the pool or yoga once all week and now I'm really feeling it.

I think actually "feeling it" is a very good thing. I was feeling amazing and energetic and flexible on my raw food diet but as soon as I came off it the energy levels dropped and the creaky body came back - I felt like I aged 5 years in a week! Feedback like that is priceless, as long as we pay attention to it and, most importantly, act on it!

I've just done a survey on Dr Mercola's website which gave me some interesting results - it's really worth doing - its free and really very eye opening. On my raw diet I felt fantastic but weight loss had slowed right down - my results from the test show that I need a lot more protein in my diet.

So next week its back on track, stay focused, more exercise and more protein. And I still want to know who dumped that 2kg on me!!

Tuesday 6 July 2010

The Exercise Thing

Yeah yeah I know, trying to lose weight with no exercise is always going to be a recipe for disaster. At the very best you'll lose the weight but end up a flabby mess! But most likely you'll have to be so restrictive on the food intake that you'll fall off the wagon too often to get any lasting results!

I'm not that bad on exercise really. I do a lot of yoga and I swim 50 lengths three or four times a week and sometimes I even go Polewalking - no NOT pole dancing, and no, walking with poles does not mean you need to find some Polish friends! And there's always a dog who needs a walk even in a Dubai summer! So I'm not exactly inactive but there's not a lot of focus to my exercise programme. So when my friend Georgie  (yes, she's much braver than me - she's doing a video blog!) told me she was doing a thing called Concept1010 which only took 20 minutes a week and was getting her amazing results I wanted to know all about it. So yesterday she hauled me along to Jumeirah Lakes Towers to watch her sweat! It's such fun watching other people work hard!

Of course I didn't get off that lightly and they made me have a go at three of the machines myself. Its very focused, very hard work and if the results Georgie is getting are typical its very, very impressive. I'm definitely going to sign up for some sessions and I'll let you know how I get on - who knows - I might even get brave like Georgie and do a video blog .... but don't hold your breath!

Sunday 4 July 2010

Sense of Humour Crisis

Ok this is NOT fair!

I had a relatively wheat free weekend. And apart from Friday night's supper at friends' I had a pretty well behaved weekend overall so how come I managed to put on 2kg? Right now I'm thinking I might as well have done brunch if that's the kind of results I get from mild bad behaviour!

I guess the terms "relatively" and "pretty well behaved" are a clue, sadly. It looks like my body is not going to give me any leeway to go off track so there's only one thing for it - its time to ramp up the exercise programme!

A friend of mine is doing the Concept 10 10 programme and says she is getting amazing results so I'm going to take a look at that. And my local yoga centre  is doing a special one month unlimited offer so I have to take them up on that. And right now I'm off to do my favourite thing - 50 lengths of our local pool! 2kg - you guys are OUT of here!

Friday 2 July 2010

How To Survive Brunch

One simple answer - don't do it!

Seriously, I had a friend on the phone last night wanting to know why I'd turned down their invite to brunch at The Warehouse.

"Why won't you come?" She asked, "you can just eat the salads and you don't have to drink anything"

Yeah right - 300dhs to sit and nibble on a lettuce leaf and watch everyone else get  hammer mellow! Actually make that 600dhs since the other half would have to come too! I can think of better things to do with my Friday! I'm sure they do wonderful salads, but so do I and for considerably less than 600dhs! And let's face it, most of the point of brunch is to get hammere oops mellow.

But it seems my weekend of good behaviour is doomed anyway. We've been invited out to dinner and the friends are great cooks AND I've been instructed to bring along my famous rhubarb crumble - not the diet version .... well, OK, there isn't a diet version!

I see a huge swim or a visit to a yoga class in my very near future!