Lots of Walking

I went to my third physio appointment this morning. I'm not sure if I've mentioned that yet, but when we got back from our honeymoon, I found I'd torn my hamstring. I'm still not sure how, because people say you know when you've torn it, but I only felt it when it ached in the days afterwards. In the UK you can get 5 physio appointments free of charge. After that, you pay around £30 ($55) per session.

The physio has been helping me with my hamstring, but is also taking the opportunity to give me some exercises for the pregnancy, which I know will be really useful in the coming months. But it's like being back at school! I have to do seven exercises three times a day, and at my next appointment on 11th December, she will check to see how I'm doing. It's a good thing she's given me the exercises printed out with photos, because my memory is atrocious!

At midday I headed to the doctor for my swine flu jab. Now, I know this may have people up in arms, but trust me, I've gone back and forth over this for months now, and I decided it was the best thing for me. My midwife also recommended it especially in my situation, seeing as I will be travelling across Europe for a week when we emigrate in February. Going into early labour in a foreign country is one thing, but being pregnant and falling ill with swine flu is another thing altogether. I just don't want to risk further complications.

Anyway, the nurse said I may have a "dicky tummy" (nothing out of the ordinary for me), and in a day or so my arm may start to ache. Fun fun! I made a point of reminding her I was pregnant (in case she gave me the wrong vaccine by mistake), and she said she noticed by the size of my belly! She said the baby might be "a whopper" if I'm so big already.


Scared much?

On my way back to the office after my jab, I bumped into two people I know, and both asked me straight out if I was pregnant. What a great feeling to be able to say "yes". Last time someone asked me that, I actually wasn't - the shame - and I signed up for Weight Watchers the very same week!

I've walked three times my usual amount today; because after my lunch break I had to take my winter coat to the dry cleaners (after having found moth larvae under the lapel - guh!) I'm feeling all the exercise in my back and hamstring now though, so I guess this gives me an excuse to relax this evening!

In other news, I'm 4 months pregnant today; woohoo! I officially look great in all my stretchy dresses! I had been saving them because up until now I just looked like I'd eaten all the pies, and who wants to wear a figure-hugging dress to accentuate that? Not me. But I tried them on last night and I look great! Time to start jazzing myself up again...

Call me the Tantrum Fairy

Day three, and I'm an emotional wreck. Hubby would argue, but I don't normally consider myself prone to PMT; however today I can't seem to stop!

I found out this morning that my dad isn't going out of town after all, and that we could have told him about the pregnancy this weekend. However it then means that my mother, older brother and sister-in-law won't know until after the honeymoon, because last night was the last night I would see them before we fly.

I know it's not a big thing, but it now means I have to keep quiet for three more painful weeks because of disorganisation. I'm finding it so hard to keep quiet as it is. But I know I won't mind so much on Saturday; when I get to spend 3 full weeks talking to Hubby about the pregnancy, and bore him silly. At the moment I only see him for an hour each day, and I don't want to overwhelm him with baby talk, so I'm pretty limited and only able to talk to people online about it.

So that would explain my blog rant ;)

Seriously though, I'm having a wonderful week, despite feeling constantly drained and emotional. It's all part of the experience, and I'm just glad to be going through it, because it only ever felt like a distant dream.

I went to my Weight Watchers weigh-in last night to discover that I'd lost another pound, despite eating cakes and scones this week. I have come to the conclusion that my body only ever loses weight when I feed it junk food. It's a weird but rather exciting realisation; though I don't think it will do me much good when I have a baby relying on me to provide the essential nutrients...

I told my Weight Watchers leader that I was pregnant, and that I wanted to continue going to the meetings (but not weighing), because I want to ensure that my mum still goes and gets to her goal weight), and she said it was fine, and that she too was pregnant! She hasn't said a word to anyone yet, so it's like we're sharing a secret with one another.

Anyway, that's my last weigh-in with Weight Watchers for now, and it feels good. I didn't get to my goal weight, but I got down to 139.5lbs; under 10 stone! I'm thrilled to be 9-stone-something for the honeymoon; the lightest I've been in 4 years!

Lastly, I wanted to say a huge thank you to those that have sent me their warming congratulatory messages. They mean so much to me at the moment, and I just wanted you to know that.

Sinking In

Actually, I don't know that it is sinking in, but I couldn't think of another title! I've known about this baby for 33 hours, and it still feels weird. It still feels like my period's about to start, so until I'm about 2 weeks late, I think I'll be expecting it to arrive.

I told a colleague about the pregnancy today; the first live person I've told other than my husband. It feels weird to say it out loud, but I'm so glad I now have someone to talk to face-to-face about it. And she's pregnant with her second, so she knows what I'm experiencing.

I'm going for my last Weight Watchers weigh-in tonight, and I know I will have put on weight. I didn't pig out this week, but I did bake scones and fairy cakes, and since yesterday I've had a little bit extra to eat during the day; even though I know I didn't need it!

I'm also going to dinner with my mother, brother and sister-in-law tonight in order to celebrate my birthday and their second wedding anniversary. We're a little late, but it's good to celebrate all the same. I was also going to throw the pregnancy news into the mix tonight, but I have since decided against it.

The reason for this is because my dad, stepmum and little brother are going out of town this weekend, which is the only opportunity we had to tell them the news. For that reason we have to catch up with them when we get back in mid September. And if my big brother and sister-in-law accidentally say something to them about the pregnancy, then they're effectively found out from someone else, instead of hearing it directly from us.

My dad found out about my brother's wedding planning through someone else; I don't want him to find out about his first grandchild the same way. So tonight I'm going to have to "keep it buttoned" and resist saying anything. It's going to be very hard!

Cooking Mad

I spent about 3 hours on Sunday cleaning up the state that was our kitchen. I'm ashamed to admit that I had neglected the room, in favour of closing the door on it and living in denial. But it's time all that changed.

I cleaned everything, and I stood back to admire my work before sitting down in front of the television; only to realise that I was restless. So I baked scones!


In all honesty, mine didn't look as yummy as these ones, and only when I was putting the scones on the baking tray did I realise I was out of raisins, cinammon, jam, cream, or anything else that made scones sweet. So I ended up putting cheese on the top of a few, and leaving the others plain. I've since bought raisins, cinammon and chocolate chips :)

But tonight, as part of my cooking frenzy, I will be baking fairy cakes.


I've never baked fairy cakes, so it's going to be a learning curve to say the least, but I stocked up on mini cake cases, icing sugar and toppings, which should keep me busy for a while. It won't help my weight loss, but I can always bring the extras to work and make everyone else chubby!

Skinny Minnie

I'm pretty happy with myself, because at my Weight Watchers weigh-in last night, I was 142lbs - I'd lost 2 ½ lbs since last week! I'll be looking like this in no time -->

I'm sure you remember how disappointed I was last week, to have put on weight after having pointed all of my food, deprived myself of the foods I loved, and been so confident about having lost weight. The weird thing was that I felt my clothes getting loose, so to have put on weight was a genuine shock.

But I was determined, and I kept at it. This week I made a point of eating a more varied diet. So where I might have had toast for breakfast, soup for lunch and a low fat dinner every day; I spent the past 7 days varying my foods.

I also discovered a range of delicious salads from Marks & Spencer, which I've been tasting and actually really enjoying.

And it paid off, because I saw the results this week. I think the weight loss must have caught up with me, but either way I'm glad I've finally seen results.

So now I'm 9lbs from my goal weight. With three more weigh ins until the honeymoon, I still don't think it's realistic to expect to get there before then, but my new intention is to be 133lbs by Christmas.

I'll be a Skinny Minnie by the end of the year...

Ode to Food

I think I just figured out why I'm on a diet...

I thought I'd be so brave as to start a list of foods I can reward myself with once I reach my goal weight. Why? Because I've been totally deprived of nice food for two weeks now, and I need something to look forward to. So here is my list, although I can imagine I'll be adding to it as the weeks go by.

Obviously I won't let myself have everything all at once, but man that would be a great day! No, I'll eat them in moderation while trying to avoid turning myself into a diabetic...

Coca Cola ~

It surprised me to learn that while a can of full-fat Coke has six teaspoons of sugar in it; it's only 2 WW points. Bargain I know, but there's no way I can have one every day when I'm only allowed 19. So for now I only treat myself if I have a real craving, a particularly bad migraine, or a very bad day!

Sausage Rolls ~

At an average of 10 points each, it's not hard to see why these are totally eliminated from my diet. But they're sooo good...

Rich Tea Biscuits ~

By far my favourite all of my biscuit friends, and probably the least fattening. At only 1/2 a WW point each, I could let myself have one. But when I have one, I have six...

Pizza ~

I don't think this one needs any explanation.

Lemon Tart ~

While I like chocolate, I'm not too bothered if I don't get it, and I can't stand chocolate cakes. They're just too... chocolatey! I know, I'm hardly a good example of a woman, but I just love the tang of a lemon tart.

Creme Caramel ~

Fairly low in fat, but hard to find. And when I find them, I can't spare the points. But just looking at the syrup on this makes me want to head straight to the supermarket...

Big Mac & Fries ~

Again, pretty self-explanatory. McDonalds, while deadly to your arteries, is quick, kinda cheap, tasty, and it's comfort food. What's more is that it's only 50 metres from the office, so it's a mission to avoid it when all you want is the familiar Maccy-D hug.

Party Rings ~

They're colourful, they're covered in sugar, you can wear them as rings, and they're sweet biscuity loveliness. Quite simply; Party Rings rock my world.

I Have a Plan

There's not much to report at the moment, other than my sheer determination to make this week work for me. I'm hoping my good eating will have caught up with me by next Wednesday's weigh-in.

Thanks to the ladies that have given me tips on my diet. I've decided to shake things up a little this week by making sure my foods are varied. The only reason I can think of for not having lost any weight is that perhaps my body is just used to the same old stuff now.

So this week I'm throwing myself into eating either fruit, yoghurt, toast or cereal for breakfast, salad or soup for lunch, and a healthy dinner.


I've also decided that this week nothing is going to pass my lips that I cannot point. Normally if I eat something I can't point, I try to drastically exaggerate the points for it, and just act as if that's the actual point value.

For example, if I eat a portion of noodles from the take away, they might be 8 points, but I'll assign them 12, which I know will be safe. That way I can't possibly go over my daily allowance.

But this week I won't even be doing that. It means the only foods I can eat are either home made, or out of a packet that has been portioned. And strangely, I'm not as hungry this week as I was last week. Perhaps eating the variety I'm eating now means I'm staying fuller for longer. Who knows; this may be the week that everything changes

* hopes with all her might! *

Scales Are Not My Friend

I don't even have words for how disappointed I am in myself. I went to my weigh-in this evening to find out that after my dedication and hard work, I'd put on half a pound. What is going on?? It's so disheartening.


My only consolation is that next week my good behaviour will catch up with me, and I will have lost a couple of pounds. This is my fourth week of floating around the 144lb mark, and it's really getting to me. Even when I cut out all the nice food, I'm still static in my weight. Pfft.

But you know what? I'm going to flip this into a positive, because I can't sit around being disappointed in myself. Or at least, if I am disappointed in myself, I'm going to use that and make it work for me.

I'm going to work even harder this week, and I'm going to achieve something next week; even if it hurts me. Although I don't have any more diet tricks up my sleeve, so I'm hoping whatever's wrong with my body works itself out sharpish.

And I just realised that if I still want to get to my honeymoon goal, I now have to lose a frightening 3lbs each week, without fail. I think it's safe to say that my goal of being 133lbs is out of reach, so I've now decided that I'm going to focus only on getting into those surf shorts. Even if I weigh 144lbs on my honeymoon, I'm going to get into those shorts.

Don't ask me how, because I may need a miracle!

What a Good Girl I Am!

I've been caffeine-free for five days now, and in all honesty; I don't feel a difference in my energy levels. I thought I would have had some kind of reaction by now, since I've spent the last ten years drinking Coke on a daily basis.

I'm the only person I know that can pop four Pro Plus, wash them down with 4 cans of Red Bull and STILL not feel anything. Now, before you warn me that that's not a sensible way to live; I should highlight that I was revising for my final exams, working from sunrise to sunset, and I'd finally cracked.

But my insensitivity to caffeine and taurine is probably a good thing, I realise now; because at least I'm not bouncing off the walls after one sip. I'm not about to complain.

I'm feeling super slim today, which is great considering it's THAT time of the month (sorry T.M.I.). I normally feel like a right fatty at this point, so when I saw my now-almost-flat stomach in the mirror this morning, my heart actually leapt with joy. It's put me in such a positive vibe.

You may remember that I stayed the same at my Weight Watchers weigh-in last Tuesday, and I complained that my honeymoon goal was getting more and more unobtainable. Well, this week I've stuck to my points like a trooper. I'm not going to pluck figures from the sky, but let's just say I'll be VERY surprised if I don't lose weight this week.

I have to admit that I've been pretty hungry this week though. I'm hardly an advert for Weight Watchers, I know, but normally I'm quite content on the diet, because I eat filling foods, or foods with little or no point values. But this week has been a mission. Probably because it was the first week I've really stuck to it since March.

My basic pattern has been to either have Coco Pops with skimmed milk (and I'm not talking the 1%, I'm talking the 0.1%, which is basically white water), or toast and Marmite for breakfast, some kind of tinned soup with a bit of bread for lunch, and a low fat dinner.

I'm telling you; at zero points, Marmite is a godsend. And what makes it even better is that they sell it in the squeezy bottles. I'm not quite sure about the point of these, because you would think it would mean you get less messy, but you still have to use a knife to spread it...

The hard part of the diet comes when Hubby has his nights off; tonight being one of them. My will power goes out the window when he's home, because he orders take out - yeah, he's not about to spare my feelings and eat something halfway decent, but he'll go overboard and order an entire bucket of KFC and then leave half of it.

The choice I'm then faced with is to either sit and watch him tucking into his mountain of lovely mouth-watering, colonel's recipe chicken breasts as I make a plate of cous cous; or I can join him and be on Cloud 9... if only for ten minutes.

Those heavenly ten minutes are always worth it; even if I put on weight because of it.

The worst thing I did this week was to have popcorn for breakfast on Sunday. I know why I did this too, and I'm not proud of it. Hubby decided he wanted some popcorn at midnight on Saturday. I helped myself to a few, since I had 3 points left for the day, when he turned around and said "should you really be eating that?"

That gets me angry even when I know I shouldn't be eating it. But when I've spent the entire week depriving myself of every scrap of niceness, I feel I deserve my measly little handful of popcorn. But whatever; I got all stroppy and when he offered me some more, I refused on the principle of it.

So on Sunday morning, I woke up and decided that, to get him back, I would eat a bucket of the popcorn myself. In all fairness, I did point it, and I held back from my food as a result. But it didn't get him back because he didn't even realise I'd eaten it; and even if he had, he wouldn't have cared. The only person who feels the consequences of my actions is me, and believe me; I felt it.

I was starving for the rest of the day. I don't know what possesses me to eat to prove a point, but at least I'm aware that I'm doing it, and I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one that does it.

I compensated by having a Weight Watchers ready meal for lunch (the chicken and lemon risotto; which I would not recommend if you have any taste buds at all). The only problem came at 9pm, when I had 5 points left, and a belly that was now threatening to consume me from the inside out.

I gave in, primarily because I wasn't prepared to go to bed with such an unruly belly, and because I had only eaten one real meal so far. And in my moment of weakness (read: starvation), I threw four fish fingers and a (rather large) handful of chips in the oven. It was good, but I was now officially over my points.

Well, you can't be perfect all the time.

But today I'm being good again, and I've only had 6 points for breakfast and lunch combined; since I'm saving space for whatever scrumptious sustenance we choose to eat tonight. Yum; I can't weight ;)

Stayed the Same

In Weight Watchers terms, staying the same can be a good thing or a bad thing. For me, I'm taking it as a bad thing, because since the wedding I've put on 2lbs, lost 2lbs and stayed the same; so effectively, three weeks later, I'm exactly the same weight.

I know, I know; I should be happy I haven't put on weight. I am happy, but I can't help feeling my honeymoon goal slipping through my fingers. I had 8 weeks to lose 11lbs, which in itself was a mission, but now I only have 5.

I haven't been tracking my foods, but I've been eating decently. Decently enough to lose weight; or so I thought. But now it changes; from today I'm properly properly tracking my foods. I've made this declaration before, but this is a proper promise.

I've had a bowl of Coco Pops with 0.1% milk, and at mid morning, I cut up an entire cucumber (zero points), and ate it at my desk. For lunch I'm about to have Butternut squash, parsnip and ginger soup with some Weight Watchers bread. I have no idea what I'll be having for dinner, but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it!

I've also brought my supply of Neuzekes (traditional Belgian sweets) to work and shared them out, because if they're at home; they're tempting me...

This week I intend to lose a minimum of 2lbs, although secretly I'm hoping I lose 11. If you have any Weight Watchers (or general low-fat tips), be sure to let me know!

Good News!

I have two bits of good news to share today.

I mentioned in May that there may have been an offer for a house in Hubby's Homeland, but that we wouldn't know for certain for a few weeks. Well, weeks turned to months, and we had almost given up on the idea until yesterday. The house is ours whenever we're ready to move over there. The conditions are different to what they were, in that we won't be buying the house, but renting it from my father-in-law. It's only a one badroom apartment though, so we would only need it while our first child is young enough to sleep in with us; and afterwards, we can look for something else.

It's such a weight off my mind. I don't know about you, but I've spent my adult years struggling just to make it through to the next pay day. I see friends buying houses and I wish I could be like them, but the reality is we've never made enough money to be able to put anything into savings, and the money we spend on rent is effectively money down the drain. But even before the recession it was near impossible for us to get a mortgage, even though the payments would be less than our rent.

Anyway, I'm not the only person in this situation, and I'm sure that if you're not in the boat; you know someone who is. But we're now lucky enough to have been offered a get-out clause, and it pretty much changes everything, and it means we can start thinking about the family we want to start so much.

Which leads me onto my next piece of news...

I don't know what the etiquette is on this one, but Hubby and I have agreed to start trying for a baby on our honeymoon. I'm so excited! I've been broody for so long now, and it finally seems that things are working in our favour.

Now that we're married, and now that the house is agreed; it just seems like the right time to be thinking about children. So we've set the start of our Hawaiian honeymoon as the point at which we start trying to conceive.

I know I'm jumping the gun here, but if it happens straight away, we could be parents in June. I'm not naïve, I know it might take a while, and I know we may face problems - My mother had trouble conceiving, and went through lengths just to have my brother; so she's always made it known that I might have trouble too. But they never did tests on me, so I won't know until we start actively trying to conceive. I think that's part of the reason we're not holding out much longer to have children... that and the fact that Hubby wants them before he's 30 (in 2011).

So we have six weeks to go, and I'm going to take this opportunity to get my body into shape for then. I'm going to concentrate on my diet and getting to my goal weight, and then it will just be a case of toning up and eating healthily. I've been taking pre-natal vitamins for about a month already. I just need to start reading up on the science of it all...

Phew - getting married, travelling further than I've ever been before, getting a house and trying for a baby... 2009's turning into a great year for us.

Our Mini Honeymoon

Things have been so busy recently, so I'm sorry for not having been online. I've got so much to catch up on, but I'm looking forward to reading the latest of the blogs I'm following.

I had hoped to be able to rest a little after the wedding, but now my work is busy, I have to tidy up the house (since when we got back from our mini honeymoon, we just dumped everything and went to bed), and working through all the wedding photos is proving to be very time-consuming. FUN, but time-consuming.

Anyway, today I thought I’d tell you a little about our mini honeymoon in Bath. We left my dad’s house on Sunday morning (5th July), after helping a little with the clearing up. It took us about 2 hours to get to Bath, passing Stonehenge on the way. The only reason we didn’t stop was because there seemed to be at least three coach loads of tourists there, and we didn’t fancy negotiating the crowds.

Now, if you haven’t yet been to Bath, I strongly recommend going. It's home to the Roman Baths, a beautiful abbey and those fantastic houses. If you ever come to England, it’s a must see. The city is absolutely stunning, and every time I go, I’m enveloped in the history, the culture and the awe of the beautiful surroundings.



We stayed in a little flat about 5 minutes walk from the city centre. The flat had a kitchen, a bedroom/lounge, and a bathroom; just the right size for us.



Within 10 minutes of arriving at the flat, Hubby had fallen asleep on the bed!


I passed some time watching one of the DVDs that were available, and nibbling on pork pie, chocolate brownies and wedding cake. But in a bid to find a proper meal, we headed out at 9pm. Unfortunately we had forgotten was that it was Sunday, and that the majority of the restaurants had closed early; so our first meal as a married couple was pizza, from the only place still open!


We enjoyed another two days in Bath, and although the weather was bad (non-stop rain), we still had a lot of fun, and we were able to catch up on our sleep - I can’t tell you how great it was to get some rest!

Returning home on the Tuesday night was bittersweet, because it meant that our wedding weekend was over. While married life itself doesn’t feel any different; you’re completely loved up straight after the wedding, and I didn’t want to ever lose that feeling.

But then it was back to the daily grind, and what I thought would be a little more relaxing, has proven to be a little more hectic! I spent last weekend trying to relax as much as possible. It was my first weekend to myself in I don't know how long. I largely managed it, but when I found a virus on my computer and accidentally gave them my credit card details; I had a day of stress. But this weekend's going to be different; I'm going to clean up the house and then have a calm Sunday.

But that's not all my news; I also lost 2lbs this week! I'm so chuffed to be back on the Weight Watchers Wagon. I have 11lbs to go until I reach my goal weight, so hopefully I can get there before Hawaii. Remember you can see my weight loss progress at any time by clicking on the button to the left.

I'm Married!

I can't believe I'm married. We've been planning this wedding for 18 months, and it felt like it would never arrive. But it came and went, and Hubby and I (because I can now actually refer to him as that), have had three blissful days away on our mini honeymoon.

But first; the wedding...

Where do I start? Our wedding day was incredible.

Hubby and I woke up at 7:00am to spend a little time together before the chaos of the day began. But it didn’t really work out like that, because we’d had a late night before, so we just pressed the snooze button until 8:00am came around.

By 9:00am I was at the hair salon, but they were running late, and didn’t see me until 9:40am. My dad, brother and one of the photographers picked me up, and would you believe it was raining!! We’d had the most fantastic weather in the two weeks running up to the wedding, so this wasn’t expected.

But anyway, I got back to the house, and my mum helped me into my dress. We didn’t have time for any pre-ceremony champagne, because the car; a cream and red Morris Minor referred to as "Millie" had arrived.


Hubby and I weren’t worried about seeing one another before the wedding, because we’re not very traditional. But because I was running late, there was barely any time for him to see me anyway, and as I came downstairs, he was getting into his car and leaving.

It was still raining a little as my dad and I got into the back of the Morris Minor. One of the bridesmaids (Hubby’s cousin, but like a sister to him) came with us, and the other would meet us at the register office.

We arrived at the register office and the rain was pouring down on us. The driver of the car was prepared with an umbrella though, so I hitched up my dress, and looking rather unladylike, dashed towards the building.


I was almost thrust into a meeting with the registrar while Hubby was still in there, but luckily he didn’t see me, and I was sent into a different room to wait. I was in there with Hubby’s aunt, who by this point was all emotional. She told me how happy she was that I was marrying him, and that she couldn’t have imagined a nicer person for him to marry.

I had my meeting with the registrar soon after, and then it was time to get married. I entered with my dad, to silence, which was weird, but there was a problem with the CDs we had made, so there was no music. But it didn’t matter, because there was Hubby, and he was wide-eyed as he saw me coming. He later said that my dress was similar to what he expected, but so much nicer than he ever thought possible.

We got married, and we had photos outside on the steps as the weather was now clearing. We had three photographers snapping away; my uncle, a friend I studied photography with at college, and an old workmate that went off to study photography at uni. It allowed them to capture the day from their own perspective, and give us such a varied collection of photographs.


After the group photos, the guests then disappeared off to town for a few hours, while Hubby and I got into the Morris Minor and headed back to the house with a glass of champagne each. We had some photos taken outside the house with the car, and our photographers navigated the traffic, as we were in the middle of the road at this point.


The car left, and this is when I realised that I had dirt all over my train! I was upset about it for a few moments, but the photographer assured me that he could photoshop it to look clean, and that it would be dirty later on anyway.

We headed off to our photo venue shortly afterwards, and got some absolutely incredible shots:
















We also stopped for ice cream, and I tried very hard (and managed) not to spill it on my dress:


And this is Hubby trying (and failing) to bustle me while I held my ice cream and bouquet:


More updates later...

How I Spend My Evenings

It's 9:30pm, and I'm at work.

Now, my job is 9-5, so why am I still here? To be honest, I'm only here because of my printing needs. I've been working for the past two weeks on the order of service / information leaflets for our wedding.

I've gone on my merry way to work each morning hoping that it would be ready to print, and each day I've found a new problem with the document. The main issue was that I'd started it in Excel. Excel doesn't let you have different sized fonts unless it also increases the row height. I didn't want a crazily formatted booklet, so I figured I would have a play with fancy fonts in Photoshop on my laptop, save the text as JPEGs, and do a simple copy/paste into the Excel document when I was at work.

Well, it didn't work, because apparently my PC at work doesn't like the format that my laptop saves its images in. I had a bitter argument with each computer, and eventually decided to upload the Photoshop images to another blog I have running, and copy/paste them into the booklet.

Finally it worked, and I'm so relieved. There's five days left before the wedding, but only two more evenings I can stay late to use the printers, binders and other supplies.

Come on, did you really think I wouldn't rely on my work for a couple of freebies?

Anyway, I've been here since 5pm, printing and sticking and binding and in total silence. I did take a break to have a Feast though, and it was sooo worth it.

This is the finished product:

Sorry to have fuzzed out the text, but it's just his name on the left, my name on the right, and our married surname in the middle. What do you think? Can't believe it took four hours, right?

That's a "before" photo of me by the way, when I weighed about 170lbs. I'm glad to say I no longer look like that, but this was the photo that was used on our invitations, so it seemed fitting to use it on the wedding day itself too.

I kinda like looking back at this photo actually, because Hubby and I have both lost weight since then. Many people haven't seen us yet this year, so they will still know us like in the photo. I'm going to love walking down the aisle 2 stone lighter :)

Now I'm just sitting here waiting for Hubby to finish work and collect me on the way home. La-la-la...

Weight Loss Progress

* * 2010 Post-Pregnancy Weight Loss at bottom of post * *

2009 PRE-WEDDING DIET:

I thought I'd post a little more about my weight loss, since the wedding day marks the day I can get back on my trusty Weight Watchers wagon, and lose the final stone before I reach my goal weight. So in this post, I will record my weekly weigh-in results.

I've added this button to my left-hand bar, so if you want to check in at any point, you can click and it will take you back to this post:

I will not lie, and I will not deceive you. Everything I post here will be 100% honest truth. Why? Because lying won't help me, and I need to get to goal before Christmas 2009.

My Motivation:

* Obviously the wedding was my main motivation. I wanted to look as good as I could possibly look in my wedding dress, and in the photos. I want to be able to show my children and grandchildren the photos, and feel proud of who I was and how I looked.

* People's lack of faith in me. Of course I have the support of my family, Hubby and friends, but people told me they didn't think I would lose the weight before the wedding, or even before the end of the year. It's not because they didn't think I can do it, because I lost 3 stone on Weight Watchers when I was 21, but they just don't think I'm as determined as I say I am. So I'm vowing to prove them wrong.

* The surf shorts. I bought two pairs of surf shorts a couple of years ago, totalling £70. I've never been able to get into them.

I promised myself I would have a photo taken of myself on a Hawaiian beach, wearing one of the pairs of shorts, and that would be my ultimate achievement. We leave for our honeymoon in late August, so I have a while to get down to a reasonable weight before then.

* The infamous fat and thin photos:

So now you know why I'm doing it, here's how I'm doing it...

May 2008:

In May 2008, I weighed 175lbs (12st 7lbs), I wore UK size 16 clothes, and had a BMI of 29. A healthy BMI should fall between 18.5 and 25:

Click here to work out your own BMI

At Goal Weight:

At my goal weight I will weigh 9st 7lbs (133lbs), wear UK size 10 clothes (US 8), and have a BMI of 22. I will have lost a total of 3 stone, or 42lbs, and if I get to goal by Christmas 2009, it will have taken me 14 months of actively trying to lose weight to get there. Not bad, eh?

Between May 2008 and January 2009 I lost a stone (14lbs) through eating smaller portions, cycling 10 miles each day in the summer months, and generally trying to be healthier. I went to my first Weight Watchers meeting on 7th January 2009, and from then on I tracked my weight weekly...

Weekly Weigh-Ins:

07/01/2009 - 161.5lbs / 11st 7.5lbs (BMI of 27)

14/01/2009 - 158.5lbs / 11st 4.5lbs

21/01/2009 - 157lbs / 11st 3lbs

28/01/2009 - 156.5lbs / 11st 2.5lbs

04/02/2009 - 155lbs / 11st 1lb

11/02/2009 - 154.5lbs / 11st 0.5lbs (my first 1/2 stone)

18/02/2009 - 154lbs / 11st 0lbs

25/02/2009 - 153.5lbs / 10st 13.5lbs

04/03/2009 - 150lbs / 10st 10lbs (lost 5% of my body weight)

11/03/2009 - 149.5lbs / 10st 9.5lbs

18/03/2009 - 151lbs / 10st 11lbs (reached healthy BMI of 25)

25/03/2009 - 147lbs / 10st 7lbs (my first stone lost)

01/04/2009 - 146.5lbs / 10st 6.5lbs

08/04/2009 - 147.5lbs / 10st 7.5lbs (maintaining weight for wedding dress)

15/04/2009 - 148lbs / 10st 8lbs (maintaining)

22/04/2009 - 148lbs / 10st 8lbs (maintaining)

29/04/2009 - 147.5lbs / 10st 7.5lbs (maintaining)

06/05/2009 - 145lbs / 10st 5lbs (lost 10% of my body weight, still maintaining)

13/05/2009 - 146lbs / 10st 6lbs (maintaining)

20/05/2009 - 146.5lbs / 10st 6.5lbs (maintaining)

27/05/2009 - 147.5lbs / 10st 7.5lbs (maintaining)

03/06/2009 - 144.5lbs / 10st 4.5lbs (maintaining)

10/06/2009 - 145.5lbs / 10st 5.5lbs (maintaining)

17/06/2009 - 144lbs / 10st 4lbs (BMI of 24, maintaining)

24/06/2009 - 144.5lbs / 10st 4.5lbs (maintaining)

01/07/2009 - 144lbs / 10st 4lbs (maintaining)

08/07/2009 - 146lbs / 10st 6lbs (maintaining & WEDDING WEEK)

15/07/2009 - 144lbs / 10st 4lbs

21/07/2009 - 144lbs / 10st 4lbs

28/07/2009 - 144.5lbs / 10st 4.5lbs

05/08/2009 - 142lbs / 10st 2lbs

12/08/2009 - 141lbs / 10st 1lb

19/08/2009 - 140.5lbs / 10st 0.5lbs

26/08/2009 - 139.5lbs / 9st 13.5lbs

02/09/2009 - Off diet due to pregnancy

RESUME IN SUMMER 2010

- - - - - - - - - -

2010 POST-PREGNANCY DIET:

Well, here I am again. It's time to step back onto the trusty Weight Watchers wagon and see where it will take me this time. In the last few weeks of my pregnancy, I weighed a massive 5 stone (70lbs) above my goal weight. When Baby Girl was born, I lost a whopping 2 stone (28lbs). I occasionally wonder how on earth I managed that, seeing as Baby Girl only weighed in at a very average 7lb 8oz, but I just assume I had lost and lots of very heavy waters!

I haven't been dieting since having Baby Girl, and miraculously I have managed to stay right on track at 12st 7lbs (175lbs). My goal weight, as before is 9st 7lbs, so I have exactly 3 stone (42lbs) to lose. Below are my before and after photos. Before being me at my goal weight, and after being my post-pregnancy gain:


I can't wait until I can add some after after photos! I'm giving myself 6 months to do it, which is an average of 2lb loss per week, and 10 weeks leeway just in case I fluctuate. I started the diet on 1st September 2010.

Weekly Weigh-Ins:

01/09/2010 - 175.5lbs / 12st 7.5lbs (BMI of 29)

08/09/2010 - 173lbs / 12st 5lbs

15/09/2010 - 176.5lbs / 12st 8.5lbs

15/09/2010 - 175.5lbs / 12st 7.5lbs

1 Month Today!

Let me get this over with here and now:

one month today until we get married!!!
I can't even tell you how excited I am about this. I spend my time hovering between excitement and panic, but today is definitely a day of excitement. I never thought this day would come. I spend so much time hearing other brides counting down to their own wedding, and now it's only a matter of days for me! One month; 30 days; four weeks = not long at all.

Another reason to be happy is this: At my Weight Watchers weekly weigh-in (that's a lot of W's), I discovered I’d lost 3lbs since last week! You may recall that when I went for my first dress fitting, I was heavier than I was when I first went to collect my dress. It gave me a huge downer, so I vowed to lose some of the bulge, and I did it. I’m so happy.

Now, I'm not afraid to admit how much I weigh, so to give you an idea of where I am;

* Last April I weighed 173lbs
* When I started WW in January, I weighed 161.5lbs
* I currently weigh 144.5lbs
* My goal for the honeymoon (31st Aug) is 140lbs
* My goal for Christmas is 133lbs

The first 12lbs didn't count in Weight Watchers terms, because I lost that weight before signing up. But I lost a further 14lbs between January and March, but was then told to stop losing by the wedding dress vendor. I've therefore been hovering around the 147lb mark ever since, but as of 8th July, I'm officially back on the points system again; in a mission to get to my honeymoon goal.

And now I have some free space in my wedding dress, I intend to make the most of the food at the wedding, by eating lost of crackling!

Sorry if this image grosses you out, but crackling's a huge thing in my family, and was the deciding factor for having a hog roasted at the wedding reception. But as everyone knows; calories don't count at weddings, so I should be safe...

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it before, but I go to my Weight Watchers meetings with my mum, and then spend an evening with her; catching up, chatting, laughing and just enjoying one another’s company. Hubby picks me up on the way back from work (which is often as late as midnight), so I don’t always get much sleep on a Wednesday night! Last night we were up until 1am, which explains why I’m sitting at my desk about to nod off.

This is not good.

Tonight I’m on day four of my housework frenzy. We have a friend coming to stay tomorrow night, and the house was an absolute mess. I’ve managed to get through most of the washing up, all of the laundry, and consolidated paperwork into one monster pile, which is now situated in the corner of the room. Tonight will be spent cleaning the bathroom, mopping the floors and vacuuming the carpet.

And tomorrow I can relax, because I’ve decided to ban housework for the next few days.

Reasons to be Happy

I'm giddy in a good way today. There's just so many good things happening around me!

* The weather is incredible at the moment, and I mean incredible. There hasn't been a cloud in the sky; it's been beautiful. The weather's set to continue until at least Sunday, and they say it's going to be a hot Summer.

* At work today a colleague of mine received an award for all of her hard work in the organisation. It's about time she was recognised, because she goes above and beyond to help people, and on top of all that; she's a good friend of mine.

* Lots of people around me are expecting babies. I'm not sure if it's just because it's Summer and all the bellies are out, but it seems there's loads of them around at the moment.

* I'm getting married five weeks tomorrow! Five weeks!! Now, that's very scary, but so exciting. I have to pinch myself because I quite literally can't believe it. This day has been so long coming, and it's now a matter of weeks. Awesome; in the original sense of the word.

* I've been learning about HTML tags, and found out that:

you can do cool things like this on your blog
* I'm watching "Britain's Got Talent", and it's getting more and more camp. I absolutely love it. These are the Dream Bears:



* Also on BGT, there was a little girl called Hollie Steel, singing "Edelweiss" (which, by the way, is one of my favourite songs in the world, because I'm a sucker for The Sound of Music), who started crying in the middle of her performance. Simon Cowell has assured her they will let her sing again. Pfft, and people say he's mean!

* I paid the final installment of our honeymoon this afternoon. I have a slight sick feeling now, because I only realised today that we booked a "room only" holiday, meaning we have to find more money for food. I'm sure I specified that we wanted all inclusive. Now I just have to admit my mistake to Hubby...

* Before finding this out I bought a really cute denim dress from Oasis (pictured right). I'm ashamed to admit that even though I have absolutely no spare cash this month, and the fact that I was looking for a "little black dress", I found this denim one and I loved it. I don't have many dresses for the Summer, and this was perfect. And what's more; it makes me look really slim! You don't need to know how much it is; because it was too much. I've already cut off the tag and washed it, so Hubby will never know...

* I did also find a "little black dress" (pictured left), which I needed for our joint Stag & Hen party, which is on 8th June. Our theme is "Blues Brothers", and I had the hat, the heels, the stockings and garter, but no dress. Panic over though, because I've found it, and managed to squeeze into a UK size 10 (I'm normally a 12). Unfortunately there's no space for my bra, but the tightness of the material will keep me in check, haha. Me = Cloud Nine.

* I received a letter from my great aunt today, who lives in Homeland # 3. I contacted her a while ago in a bid to find out what she knew of the family. I read her letter when I got back from work today, and she said some really nice things. I was just left feeling like I was flying. There's something about receiving letters from family and friends that can instantly lift your spirits.

* And last of all; it's Friday, which means I don't have to set my alarm tonight :)