Operation Skinny - Week 7

Sooooo, losing weight it seems is not as hard as I once thought.  It seems over the last 7 weeks since I started weight watchers, I have significantly changed the way I think about food.  I no longer crave McDonalds, KFC or Burger King, nor do I feel the need to eat for the sake of it.  For example, if someone offers me a cake at work, this used to be an excuse to eat a cake...not anymore.  If i'm not hungry I politely decline and now I have found that even if I am a bit peckish (which is rare as I keep myself full on fruit and veg) I will still choose not to have it.  However, the difference in it this time is I don't feel as though I am missing out on anything.  I think going to 7 weeks without much of certain foods such as coke, chocolate, fast food and full fat coke has curbed my 'addiction' to them.  It's a huge success for me because I have always found dieting to be a chore and a hassle, now my lifestyle is changing and I happen to be losing weight because of it.

This week is the first week I have actually felt like I have lost.  I feel different, my clothes feel loose, my skin and hair are healthier and I feel smaller.  I'm getting my good curves back, my waist is back!  I still have a belly on me but it is definitely shrinking and it will only keep doing so.

My ultimate target is 20th July, my friends wedding.  I want to look and feel fabulous and the only way I was going to do that was to lose weight.  However, I have found myself setting mini targets, for example, my Dad's surprise birthday party in April, I have 5 weeks until then and I want to be in a size 12 dress by then.  If I keep having weeks like this week then that is definitley possible and this week has just pushed and motivated me to keep it up and keep losing! This week I thought I had lost around 2lb which is a nice steady loss, I ate so well all week and because I didn't have any birthdays or drinking events I didn't use any of my weekly points.  I was surprised at weigh in because I actually lost 3.5lb and I was so proud of myself :-)

So what have I been eating this week.  I have found a really easy dinner that I am loving at the moment.  I fry 120g of chicken (4 ww points) with chopped onions, mushrooms, peppers or any other left over veg until its all cooked through and then mix in a teaspoon of basil pesto (1 ww point) and I serve it with my frozen roasted veg which are really easy to bung in the oven to roast for 20 minutes.  It's such a nice dinner and only 5 points overall :-)  I think this has really helped me this week as I usually use around 10-12 points for my dinner so this is a massive reduction and I think the reason why I haven't touched my weekly points.  I have been drinking more sugar free squash instead of tea and fizzy diet drinks which I also think is helping.  I am going to follow the same system this week and see if it has the same effects 2 weeks in a row.

Fingers crossed......

Jenna's guide to cinema etiquette

This is an odd post, I will grant you that but it is something I am VERY passionate about!!  I go to the cinema ALOT, I love it.  It's my happy place :-)  I have a card that I pay £15 a month for that allows me to go as many times as I want and I get 25% off food - this makes me very happy :-)

However, one thing that can really rile in me in the cinema is a lack of what I call 'cinema etiquette', rules that I think should be posted all over the cinema for everyones benefit but they aren't.  I consider the following to be the worst cases:

1.  The screen tells you before the film starts to turn off your phone and I understand that no one does this anymore, I don't even do this in case there is an emergency.  However, just because your phone is on does NOT constiute checking it every 30 seconds for a message or having and long text conversation throughout the film.  Does no one understand that the light from a phone is as annoying as a ring tone.  Plus why are you texting if you are supposed to be watching a film?  Surely you can't really be enjoying it if you are texting 'Hows u?' to joe bloggs throughout it!  The worst case of this I have seen was a teenage girl in the cinema watching The Impossible, what I consider to be one of the most poignant and emotional films I have seen and I thought it was gripping from beginning to end.  However, the young girl in front of me apparently thought different and at the *SPOILER ALERT* key scene where they children see their brother and dad and run towards them in such an emotionally charged scene I had to restrain the urge to cry out loud, she decided to check her Facebook account, you know to see what's going on in the world - my dear this film is whats going on in the world!!

2.  Kicking the seat in front, putting your feet up on the back of someone chair and tapping your foot on the floor making the whole row of seats shake!  Irritating at the best of times and worse when you highlight to said person that it is irritating or stare in their direction for a while but they just continue, why?  Do you have a nervous twitch?  if so I can let you off but most of the time it's rebellion or boredom in which case, piss off home and put your feet up on the back of a chair there or kick the back of your sofa, oh thats right you would feel no need to do that at home, so why at the cinema? why when there are 90 other people around trying to watch a film and not be rocked to sleep by your incessent twitching.  A young man in teh cinema while seein Les Mis reminded me how bad this can be, he clearly did not what to see the film but had been dragged along so he twtiched his leg for the first hour, finally i started glaring at him to let him know that it was irritating me.  To which he smiled at me and contiued through the entire 3 and a bit hour film.  He did it because he knew it was annoying me and it he had nothing better to do because he didn't want to watch the film, then don't go to the cinema and ruin the experience for everyone else!

3.  Popcorn diving!!  This drives me up the wall.  People who insist of digging and diving through their giant bag of popcorn to get the popcorn at the bottom of the bag...why?  why?  The popcorn at the top is the same as the popcorn at the bottom, it has all come from the same machine.  In fact if anythign the popcorn at the bottom is worse because the kernals that haven't popped are heavier therefore drop to the bottom - ready in waiting to break your teeth when you have run out of good popcorn!!  So WHY would you dig to the bottom to get that, is it just to make the noise?  Also when offering your friend some popcorn, you can gently tap them and lean tha bag towards them, common sense states that they will understand and take some if they want some or silently wave it awa if they dont.  Oh no there are the lovely people who persistantly shake the popcorn at their friends 'do you want some' shake it again, and again.  They silently wve the popcorn away suggesting their don't want any but no 'persistant man' must insist that you have some - therefore continute to shake it in their face for the remainder of the movie...that little gem ruined Life of Pi for me!!

4.  Talking!!!!! I have put this last because it is my biggest issue with cinema goers!!  Why go to the cinema and talk through the film, go to the pub if you want to talk - you are in the wrong place!!  Worse still people who talk through the trailers and when you ask them to be quiet they say 'why the films not on yet!' i don't know about anyone else but I go to the cinema not just to see the film but for the whole experience, that my friend, includes the trailers - which I might add are my favourite part of the whole experience! I want to know what i'm coming to see next, I do not want to know what so and so said about so and so on Facebook and how this effects the people sitting behind/in front/near me in the cinema! Nor do I to hear whether you have figured out what film that actor was in before this or if that is in fact the monkey from friends in The Hangover Part 2 - what I want to do is watch the film in the quiet and then maybe go for a drink afterwards and discuss the parts you didn't get or who that actor was...I do NOT want to hear this throughout the film - whether you're my friend or not!!  In fact if you are my friend it's worse because at this point I am embarrased to be sitting with you and also trying to tell you to shut up without talking myself and being the person I hate.  It's a tough call but I have established the best plan, I no longer go to the cinema with any of my friends who are guilty of disasterous cinema etiquette, therefore avoid the awkward situation entirely.

The reason I was prompted to share this little rant of mine was this:  As a premium member of my cinema club with my dad we get advanced screenings of certain films before they come out on general release.  Therefore everyone in that screening are also card holders, so I foolishly thought, these people are all regular cinema goers and will be the creme de la creme of cinema etiquette.  Oh how wrong I was, in fact this group of people were the worst I have ever come across collectively in one screening - everything I have mentioned above was present as well as chomping, fools who came late so had to sit apart so had to shout various requests 'pass the popcorn' 'do you have the water' across the 2 rows and 6 chairs and late arrivals!!

Well, thats my rant done for today :-) Maybe i'll do more of these ranty blogs they seem to get written much quicker, however my keyboard has taken a bit of a beating!

Operation Skinny - Update

It's been a while since I have updated on my weight loss as I missed a weigh in due to poorlyness and went back last Wednesday to a loss of 3lb (one benefit of illness and loss of appetite!) this bumped me over my 5% weight loss.  I am so pleased with what I am losing because it's coming off steadily and therefore not piling back on quickly if I have a naughty day or eat something I shouldn't.  However back in January I said that I wanted to change the way I think about food rather than dieting and I think that mindset is working.  I no longer crave junk food such as McDonalds or KFC, I look forward to treats such as a flavoursome curry or tasty chinese, something with a bit of oomph to it rather than fake processed rubbish!  I don't crave crisps nearly as much but find myself craving a bowl of muesli or weetabix!  I have found a taste for suger free squash and therefore have forgone most fizzy pops in the last 2 months (apart from the odd craving that I hit with Diet or Max drinks!)

I think this is why I am losing steadliy and even when I have a naughty week (i.e. my trip to Manchester) I am not going overboard i.e. I'm having a bag of chocolate covered pretzels rather than a Big Mac Meal and a milkshake!  In fact the thought of McDonalds msot days makes me feel a bit queasy!

I was not feeling that confident this week and I know exactly why.  I haven't been tracking what I eat online, I have been guessing and hoping for the best and so I haven't lost this week.  I'm disappointed with myself because I know that tracking works so I don't know why I haven't been doing it.  This week i will be tracking EVERYTHING to the last ml of skimmed milk and i'm going to watch the weight continue to fall off! 

Dad's party is only 7 and a bit weeks away so I want to have lost over a stone by then which is acheivable and not drastic... I have already lost 10lb so a stone is not that far away so i'll keep you posted.....

Party Planner Extraodinaire

Well, it's been a busy week since being poorly, as I had to catch up with everything that I didn't do while I was ill.  So i have been back on top form and as productive as ever.....

I finished my final essay for my B121 Managing in the Workplace course, meaning that as soon as that is submitted and my classifcation comes through I have a Foundation Degree in Business Studies.... But I'm not done yet, I have just started T307 Innovation: designing for a sustainable future.  I don't think I understood how this course worked when I decided 5 years ago that I was going to do it so I'm very daunted by it.  It looks as though learn about invention and innovation people like Edison and Bell and then develop a project of your own.  Well as I have the design skills of a peanut I am a little worried.  However, I like a challenge and this is the last course towards my BA (Hons) in Business Studies, so come October I will be completely finiahed with Open Unversity, at least for the foreseeable future!!  At least that will then make way for the Graduation Party.... I am VERY excited about planning and having this party, i am hoping my dad will pay for it as a Graduation party but now he is retired I may not be overly happy with that idea but I'll keep pushing!  Either way i will be on a budget which I have found to be difficult but makes you much more creative....

...This leads me to my friends Baby Shower which I have been planning since January, with a possible 88 people to come and a £200 budget it wasn't an easy feat but I found myself making things instead of buying them which I am not used to doing.  For example, bunting.  I found the one I liked online but it was £2.75 per metre so instead i brought the bits and pieces for around £6 for nearly 40 meters of bunting.... bargain much!! I will be posting photos once we have finished it and had the party.  I don't want to ruin the surprise if my friend happens to read my blog!  It's been stressful but I have really enjoyed organising this and would do it again in a heartbeat - therefore I decided to get mym business up and running.  Poppy Events.  I have had business cards created and printed up to take to the baby shower and hand out to anyone interested.  These kind of 'free events' are a great opportunity for me to showcase my skills and gain photos etc for my website (which I will have eventually!)

On top of that I am also organising my Dad's Surprise 60th Birthday Party with somewhat of a budget but it's my my money so if I end up going over, its only my problem.  I have decided on a black/white theme - as my dad is a Guinness fan! I am at invite stage so once they are done I focus on the baby shower and then come back to Dad's after that - luckily they are a month apart!  I'm really excited for Dad to see all his friends and family in the same place and I know this is something my Mom would have done for him if she was here so how can I not!! Plus I love a good family party :-)

They are all my parties in the pipeline at the moment, but I hope to drum up a little bit of business at those by handing out my business card and selling myself (not in a dodgy way!) on the day!

Sorry for the lack of photos this time round but I am concious that i don't want to ruin any surprises for anyone at the parties so keeping a low profile for now.

Manchester, Illness and everything inbetween

Well it's been a while, I have been crazy busy for the last few weeks and then developed a chest infection that I am just recovering from so my blog has been the last thing on my mind!!

Work has been manic busy, I had my first two events (that I was leading on) in back to back weeks both in London, which I was really excited about until that is I woke up on the second day of my first event feeling like HELL!!  I have not felt that poorly in a looooong time (mainly because I don't really get poorly less the occasional migraine!) and still had to get through not only the second day of the event - with my boss but also the dreaded journey back from London to Birmingham.  The event was fine, in fact it was the journey that nearly killed me.  It turned out that not only did I have a chest infection but I also had an inflamed osoph(?) breathing tube!  Therefore, walking meant I couldn't catch my breath so I had to do everything at half speed, took me nearly 6 hours to get home and by the time I got home I felt so rough and worse still I had to go into work on the Friday to prepare for my event this week.  Needless to say, after having to get my chauffeur (Dad) to drive me to work because I couldn't stop shivering due to my fever and walking into work and sobbing like a child because I couldn't catch my breath, I was not in any position to go to the second event.  Therefore, since Friday lunch time I have been on anti-biotics and curled up in bed feeling very sorry for myself :-(  I dread going back to 400 odd e-mails but it's got to be done!

Anyway, in lighter and less poorly news!  I took my trip to Manchester to visit my cousin Tom and had a fab time.  He lives in a converted Sorting Office and its such an incredible space with all the fancy mod-cons you can imagine.  I fell in love with the place.  First, we went to a lovely little Tea Shop called the TeaCup where they have around 6 million types of tea and it comes in a teapot and a timer so you leave it to brew for the correct time.  It's very quaint and they do a lovely breakfast, I had scrambled egg on sourdough toast with chives and it was LOVELY!!

Then we went to the Science and Industry Museum for the day followed by a dinner party back at the apartment.  Tom served the most amazing lamb dish with anchovies and capers (which I didn't know I liked!) with celeriac mash and braised red cabbage.  A recipe I would definitely recommend: BBC Good Food - Roast Lamb

Before I went home, Tom took me to see Ancoat Peeps which is quite incredible.  An artist called Dan Dubowitz who installed brass peepholes throughout Ancoat in Manchester that show what things would have looked like in the times when industry was huge in the area.  There is more information on them here: Ancoat Peeps  They are really interesting and it's a lovely little place to walk around to find them all, particularly at the weekend as the buildings are mostly offices now so its really quiet at the weekend.

All in all it was a cracking weekend but exhausting, Tom walks everywhere so we did all weekend.  I'm just not used to that much walking - I was shattered and nearly ran out of petrol stuck in traffic on the M6!!  Oh the drama!!

Finally, on the Monday before my event last week I was reminded that I had ordered a ticket to the Rocky Horror Picture Show with the girls from my old work.  Which was quite an experience, I have not seen it before and I really enjoyed it until I stood up to do the Timewarp to discover this chap sitting in front of me and Jackie.  He might I add got very into dancing to the Timewarp which is a sight I NEVER want to see again!!!

Well that't pretty much an update on the last two weeks.  I haven't weighed in due to being away for work so I have no update on 'Operation Skinny' but I will update on Wednesday after I weigh in!

TTFN