I AM BACK!

Once again sorry for not posting in a while! I really do need to sort this out! 

I've still been working out and the results keep coming so I decided to start again with a new results post!

So here goes.......

Here is me 2 weeks ago on 22nd April 2014

Here I am now....another 2 weeks on.....

Here are some more comparison pics....

STARTING WEIGHT - 259lb

CURRENT WEIGHT - 207lb

Results......Again!

It's that time again! I really need to make myself accountable and showing progress pictures is the only way to do it!
Here is me 2 weeks ago on 8th April 2014 - the first progress photo I had taken:

Here are my progress photos now 2 weeks on.......I think you can see a difference particularly on the side view - I still feel huge and have a long long long way to go but looking at photos of the changes is nice!

Here are some comparrison pics for good measure!

BEFORE AND NOW!

STARTING WEIGHT - 259lb ( was bigger when the before photo was taken but no idea what I weighed)

CURRENT WEIGHT - 213lb

GOALS GOALS and more GOALS

I wrote a post the other day about planning workouts in order to reach your goals. So this week I wanted to write about setting goals. This is seriously something that has helped me get this far and isn't something that I plan on giving up.

Trust me I am a total cynic and seriously hate when people start spouting things off at me like:

"Have a goal in mind"

"Buy a skinny dress and work to it"

Those types of goals don't work for me personally I don't find them very achievable. - If they do for you then fab, go with it. Seriously whatever makes you motivate use it! 

The goals I've been setting myself whether secretly or out loud are ones that I can control (yes I'm a control freak), things like Eat Clean All Week, Do Four Spin Classes This Week, Don't Have Takeaway This Week - yes that last one gets used a lot! By focusing on these I've almost forgotten about the end goal but still made mini steps to achieving it. 

For example eating clean all week - with no cheat meals led me to dropping an extra 1lb to what I was expecting to drop. Yes it's only 1lb which doesn't seem a lot but it's getting me nearer to the end goal of losing a significant amount of weight without focusing on it!

Most importantly though I've learned to accept that I will fail. Life happens. I might have decided not to eat takeaway a certain week, but after running the kids around and going to the gym, sometimes it's quicker and easier the odd time. Things happen and that's ok the important thing is not to dwell on the failures - learn from them and try to not repeat them!

So that's it. My quick guide to setting goals. Remember whatever goal you set make sure you celebrate when you hit that target........New shoes usually works for me!

Am I a Selfish Parent???

This is something that I have been wondering about for a while. I now spend a lot of time at the gym or doing some form of exercise. 

Most of the time (90%) I workout when the kids are at school or in bed so it doesn't affect them, but over the Easter holidays I've had to go and put them in the kids club at the gym. One evening a week I go to my body pump class and miss putting my daughter to bed in order to go. It is only one evening but it has left me wondering if making losing weight such a priority is in fact making me a selfish parent??

My daughter started school in September and my husband and myself decided that this would be the year I got to spend on myself and finally lose the weight. So I planned on treating going to the gym like having a job, I'd put in as many hours as I could and see what happened!
Well as any other working mum will tell you working and having kids is hard and you are often left feeling guilty for something. This seems to be the case with going to the gym too. Over the past few months I've been on the recieving end of a few comments from the other people I know asking when I'm going to go back to work - I explain about the choice my husband and I have made and I get looked at like I've gone mad! 

"Well I could never spend that much time on myself"

"I'm too busy looking after the house/kids/husband"

These are the comments I tend to get. This only seems to be adding to my feelings of guilt. 

Personally I feel like I'm a better parent since I started losing weight. My kids don't care what I look like they love me regardless but I'm now able to do things I couldn't before. 

I know it sounds cliche but playing on the park, pushing them in the swings - these are things that matter to the kids and the things they remember, not that once a week mummy wasn't there at bedtime! I'm looking after myself and ensuring that I'll be around for my kids and grandkids when we are all old. Surely that suggests I'm doing this for us all not just myself????