#Mumentum - A Week Off

I spent most of last week at my mums which meant portion control pretty much went out of the window.
My parents like to eat - although, to their credit, they do eat a lot less than they used to! They like BIG meals, usually meat based and in much larger quantities than we are used to.
As a grazer who prefers to eat little and often, I find the traditional eating three meals a day thing quite difficult. I find I simply can't manage the plate load put in front of me, and certainly don't have any room for pudding afterwards but a couple of hours later I am ready to eat again (while they are dozing). I also realised that I drink a LOT more than they do. And I am not talking about alcohol here. At home I virtually chain drink tea and coffee, although I am trying to alternate with water now. Whilst there I find myself flicking the kettle on and ending up making tea/coffee for the multitudes... (I should explain both my brother and sister still live at home. There is some rule that states whenever one wants a cuppa one MUST make a cuppa for everyone else in the house too. Which is probably why they don't drink nearly as much as I do...)

The weather wasn't brilliant either so, apart from a Friday morning bimble around town (which included a very lovely crafty purchase) there was not much exercise to be had, but I did manage to get to bed at a reasonable time and the Little Man was good and didn't wake up too early so I got a decent amount of sleep!

I am also proud to say I was able to turn down a (repeatedly) offered doughnut - I honestly don't think my mum believed me the first time!

Last night I did my first Wii workout for a week using the 'Combine Routines' function for 30 mins of varied exercise followed by a 20 min jog. After a week of nothing I noticed a definite drop in performance but it felt good to be back on it again.

And as for the scales - my new BFF - they neither frowned nor smiled. No change.

#Mumentum - Weighty Matters...

 The scales are not my friend...

Or you could say they are my very best friend as they are honest and they tell it like it is without sugar-coating the truth. Unlike a good friend, however, they don't offer hugs and a cuppa to ease the pain of bad news (and they are a bit of loss on the gossipping front to, if I'm honest...).

After last week's post full of positivity my confidence is back on the floor. You see, despite spending best part of an hour every day jogging, hula-hoop-ing, boxing, yoga and pretending to be a Jedi knight with my light sabre on the swordplay section of WiiResort; despite clocking up a couple of hours and 15km on the exercise bike whilst watching Eastenders; despite sweating like a pig in my Zaggora Hotpants; despite there being barely a cake, biscuit or packet of crisps in the house because money is tight again; despite all of this the scales show no change...

It's frustrating to say the least.

Friends have tried to reassure me that aren't showing weight loss because I am building up muscle mass thanks to all the exercise and although I am losing fat, muscle weighs more. Etc. Etc.
Problem is my scales are clever. They show me how much of my body is fat (a scary 38% at the moment!!) and how much that fat weighs (you really don't want to know).
The numbers are exactly the same as they were at the beginning of January...

I am clearly not doing everything I could/should so this week I am going to really concentrate on what I am eating, portion control, getting plenty of water and  ABSOLUTELY NO SNACKING.

#Mumentum New Year, New Me (blah blah blah)

It's been a while since I last did a Mum-en-tum post and, well, nothing much has changed.
December brought the usual round of over-indulgence - I blame the fact that mince pies and brandy cream are only available for 2 months of the year. I have to get my fix before they disappear from the shelves until next November...
But, that said I entered 2012 10lbs lighter than I was at the beginning of 2011 so there must be some progress being made!
Now back in the old days (read early 20's) shifting a stone after the party season was not a major problem. A few weeks of soup, salad and chocolate hobnob abstinence was usually all that was required to shift the winter weight. But it is true what they say about it getting harder as you get older.
Last week I celebrated my 38th birthday (with Chinese food and chocolate cupcakes) That's officially 'late-30's'. Nearly 40 even. If I stand any chance of getting rid of those excess pounds stones for good, this is the year I have to make it happen or else a  life of floaty tunics and elastic waistbands looms...

No dieting here though.
I detest that word... instead I am looking a bit more carefully at what I eat and, most importantly, my portion sizes. I have been researching some low fat, healthy recipes and trying to create meals that I can enjoy with the LM. I am looking for recipes that are intended to serve only one or two (not as easy as you might think) so that over-eating is not an option. If  I find some good ones I will share if you like :-)

The gym or exercise classes are still a non-starter for me. Even if we could spare the cash I can't get to any of the darn things! The exercise bike, however,  is finally being used as it was intended - ie: it's not draped with coats, bags, ironing etc and my lovely OH picked up a second hand Wii complete with Wii Fit for me for Christmas which we have all had lots of fun with through the dreary month of January. I am just starting to get into a routine of sorts and it is actually very good fun and the daily body tests are pretty motivational! I will let you know how I get on with that and how much of a difference it makes...

In the meantime I wish all you lovely Mumentum ladies a (slightly belated) Happy New Year. Lets make 2012 the year we all achieve what we want! xx

Don't forget to visit Liska's blog NewMumOnline and check out all the other Mumentum posts this week...  (for some reason my lovely new blog template won't let me add the the linky tool to this post)
 

#MUMenTUM : Give me back my energy please!

It's no secret, I am knackered! A constant nagging  'woman-on-the-edge-of-exhaustion' feeling has taken over my life the past year or so. It affects everything I attempt to do, from dropping (and breaking) china whilst washing up, to breaking down in tears when one more thing doesn't go to plan.And before you ask, I DID got to the doctor who said I wasn't suffering from depression, just difficult circumstances and I needed to rest! Yeah, right!

A recent survey of 1002 mums with children under ten by Opinion Matters for B Record Plus, a liquid food supplement by sigma-tau, on the effects of exhaustion revealed that an astonishing 77% of mums forget why they have started a task and 76% regularly misplace items such as keys and mobile phones (I do this all the time and usually end up running around and flapping like a headless chicken until keys/phone/purse turn up exactly where I put them down...)  One in five didn't feel safe when driving the school run due to tiredness and 71% privately admit that they are left exhausted with the toll of everyday life and motherhood.

It would seem I am not alone...

So when I was offered a 10 day trial pack of B Record Plus to judge it's energy boosting effects for myself I jumped at the chance. In a lovely briefing email I had I was told not to expect to see results instantly as the micro nutrients take a couple of days to do their work. I am on day 3 and to be honest not noticing any great difference yet but another 5am wake up call from the Little Man has probably not helped...

I really hope the effects kick in soon as I could do with a boost (or a kick up the backside) to get me back on the exercise bike!

And so for all you MUMenTUM ladies here's a little video by B Record Plus with Nell McAndrew giving us some simple exercise tips. I will keep you updated on my energy reclaiming process!!

Losing my MumEnTum

After the euphoria of buying a new pair of jeans in a smaller size last week I have come back down to earth with a bump.

The snotty cold from hell completely wiped me out for the best part of a week (it's still hanging on in there but I am choosing to ignore it!) and total exhaustion just took over leaving me in a zombie state of grumbling and shuffling from kitchen to sofa. LM also decided this week to resume his 'Let's wake mummy up REALLY early in the morning' routine (4:30 one morning!!) Diet and exercise have gone right out of the window and so has pretty much everything else. Look I am even 4 days late with the MumenTum Monday link-up!!!

Back in March I set myself a goal of losing at least half a stone before the LM's third birthday at the beginning of May and I am pleased to say I achieved this - and some - mainly, I think, through using my exercise bike, every evening for half an hour. I cycled approx 5km in 30 mins which is enough to work up a sweat but not so hard going that I fall off at the end and can't move for an hour! (unlike the old work outs I used to do back in my Kung-Fu days that would, quite literally, kill me now...) I had intended to keep this up and aim to lose another half stone before our holiday, which is less than 2 weeks away. But it hasn't happened, for one reason or another. And I am not best impressed with myself!

So MumEnTum ladies -  I am telling you all now that as of TODAY I will be back on the exercise bike for half an hour EVERY evening, no excuses (I want you to shout at me if you spot me tweeting! Can't bike and tweet at the same time!). It's too late for me to shift that half stone before we go on holiday and the temptation is to just leave it till we get back. But that's just another excuse and I am getting tired of making excuses...