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

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????

Planning.....

When I decided to start trying to lose weight I had one massive end goal in sight! I wanted to be skinny by my 30th Birthday in October. Since I set that goal I've ended up setting a ton of other smaller goals some I didn't mean to set and others I didnt manage to achieve but throughout this process, setting goals and planning my next stages are what really has kept me motivated!

So I've decided to share my next mini goal with you.............We've been invited to an event during May! This is the first time I will have seen a lot of the people at this event since before I started on this journey so I want it to be obvious how well I've done, and on top of that I want to be able to fit into a really cute outfit!

This past weekend I decided that with 17 days to go it was time I got myself motivated so I drew up a plan.....

My 32 day plan basically consists of working through the 30 day shred and setting out what days I'm going to do my PT weights programme, Body Pump, Spinning aswell as continuing with my running. Phew I'm exhausted just looking at that list.

As of today I have 14 days (2 SHORT WEEKS) until the event however I've devised a 32 day plan to get me through the rest of the month.

As well as the exercise plan I've decided to limit my carb intake. I'm still going to eat carbs - I really need them as fuel for my workouts but not in the evenings and certainly not have as many of them!

So far I've managed three days of the plan without any hiccups. Easter was a bit of a challenge but I have my gold Lindt bunny as a reward after the event in 2 weeks time! To be perfectly honest with you I find having a schedule to stick to easier than not having one, it seems to be keeping me motivated.........as well as this :-)

LINDT BUNNY - AVAILABLE IN ALL GOOD SUPERMARKETS

The Bunny is Coming!!!!

SOURCE

ITS EASTER WEEKEND!!!!!! Yey!!!! I've been looking forward to the long weekend for a while! Not for any reason in particular but it'll just be lovely to have a weekend with the kids and the husband! I'm still planning on hitting the gym tomorrow but due to it being Good Friday I get the week off PT - I've got a double session next week to make up for it though!

Anyway given that I'm planning on spending this weekend with the husband and kids and indulging in an easter egg, I wont be back posting until Tuesday!

Have a great Easter weekend whatever you are doing! Don't feel guilty for a little indulgence!!