Keep up!

Oh, Steve , you would be so proud of me. I did 50 mins' exercise this morning walking to school and back. I feel great for it...

Supernanny, you would not be so proud of me. As we left the house a few minutes later than I like to when we are walking, I felt like I was nagging Big J to keep up and telling him repeatedly that we didn't have time to stop. I also had frequent mini-rants about the children talking over each other or interrupting when I was talking, so it wasn't quite the quality time it could have been.

They did, however, get some fresh air and exercise though, which gives them a great start to their school day.

Here Wii Go...

I blogged last April about a new exercise regime to lose weight. What I don't think I did blog about, was that by July I had lost 2 stone 7 lb and had dropped 2 clothes sizes (not dress sizes - I almost never wear dresses!). Lots of people asked me how I was doing it, thinking that I must be spending £60 a week on some amazing 'lose 3 stone overnight' milkshake or maybe that I was going to the gym twice a day between teaching, planning, housework and school runs. In fact, I was simply taking good old Steve Miller's advice of exercising more and being more sensible with what I ate.

As I am sure any teachers reading this will appreciate, by July I was exhausted; work took over my life and I stopped going out for my walks and stopped doing the Wii fit+, both of which had had a huge positive impact on my weight, fitness and general health. My intention was to get back into routine during the summer, but the summer holidays came and went and then before I knew it, it was Christmas and I still hadn't started.

In all that time, I hadn't dared get on the scales, because I just didn't want to know that all that hard work I'd put in had been undone, but after finally making myself get on the scales this weekend, I realised I had gained 1 stone 9lb of what I had lost. That still puts me 12lb lighter than I was when I started, but having given away all the larger clothes that no longer fitted me I didn't want to put any more of that weight back on.

So, yesterday we walked to school. That's about 50 mins exercise for me as I also have to walk back after dropping them off. Today it was raining so we couldn't walk to school, but I did 30 minutes of aerobic exercise (step, boxing, hula-hooping) on the Wii Fit Plus instead. I feel great now I've started and it's not a chore, because I do actually enjoy doing it. I just need to make sure I stay as active as I can during the day, only eat at mealtimes and make time for the extra exercise sessions on the Wii Fit.

Feeling like a Loser

A horrible day's supply a few weeks ago at a school which should not remain nameless, but will because I'm the soul of discretion (!), during which I was called a 'fat witch' and was told by the same 'delightful' girl that I have a fat a**e and eat too many cakes, prompted me to not only decline more offers of supply work in that part of that school, but also to realize that I was sick of hearing the comments (some coming from no other than my own 5 year old son!) about my size or weight.

We'd been watching 'Fat Families' with Steve Miller on Sky 1 and although I would never consider myself to be in the same situation as most of the families features in the program, what Steve Miller said each week just seemed common sense. His basic advice to everyone was to "Eat less, move more".

So, I started on Sunday 14th March by going out for walk in the New Forest with the family. Since then I have just taken Steve's advice. I have cut down my portion sizes, stopped eating sweets, chocolates, crisps etc. reduced the amount of bread I eat and most importantly I have exercised every day for at least 30 minutes. I lost 5lb in the first week and 2lb the second week and 3lb so far this week. The best part is that it hasn't cost lots of money. I don't go to a gym. I just go out walking. I have tried to build it into the day, so instead of driving, I park the car and walk. The only thing I have bought is a pair of black trainers so that I can walk comfortably to work without looking silly in work clothes and white trainers!

Easter is going to be tough, but I am allowing myself an Easter egg and have made sure I have some healthy treats in, like fruit I don't usually buy and expensive fruit juices.

I don't feel like I'm missing out, but I do feel much better in myself for losing weight, being able to get into clothes that didn't fit before and am feeling so much healthier for all the exercise I'm doing.

Free lunch? Is it low fat?

So, what's that? An upside-down canoe? Well, more than that, it's MY upside-down canoe!

We were all in the staffroom talking about freecycle and how some people give away some really good stuff for nothing. I was then saying how I had once phoned up about a free canoe but it had already gone, when Liz (who also happens to live 2 minutes away from me) said, "I've got a canoe if you want one. It will need a bit of paint and might need to be patched up, but you can have it if you want it. I don't want anything for it."

So, a week later Larry and I collected it from Liz's house. I can't believe it. I finally have my own canoe. I am so excited!

Now the problem is not so much how and when am I going to do it up, but how am I going to fit into it. This brings me to my next point: After much "putting off till tomorrow what is too difficult for today" I am finally back on my weight loss plan.

I want to lose another stone by the end of May. Well, when I say another stone, some of it has been lost already and was unexpectedly found again which is why the weight loss tracker on the front page of my blog has been stuck at the same figure since February. It has made me feel a bit sad really as I know how much effort I have put into changing my eating habits and becoming more fit and healthy and although I am by no means back to square one, I have a lot of work to do to get myself back to where I left off. I'm lucky to have the support of my friends and family though, so that will help me keep my head out of the fridge! I now need to rally some support from friends at school to help me to resist eating the treats which are always on the table in the staffroom.

Mr Motivator

No, Not that awful guy who made me turn the TV off every morning, I am referring to Ralph Marston. Never heard of him? Well, depending on where you are reading from, I am not completely surprised.

A few years ago, during my own "difficult" time in my life and hopefully the most difficult, I looked everywhere in desperation for help out of the deep dark smelly pit I had fallen in to. I have posted about this time in my life before and am not about to start whinging about how hard life is and how I have had it harder than anyone else, but I want to share with anyone who is interested, something I found back then and which helped me through.

On my search for help, I found a website by Ralph Marston called The Daily Motivator. Have a look for yourself. (I have also put the link in "The Quiet Area") There are several presentations to make you stop and reflect, to encourage you to be positive and to help you through difficult times.

This morning, while sorting through some papers, I found some of the little motivational cards I had printed from his site, which had been helpful to me back then and it made me wonder whether the site still existed. It does (obviously). Although I was not visiting the site in a desperate search for help this time, I read todays "motivator" and have printed it (with permission of course) because it is very relevant to my current "battle" to eat healthily and lose weight.

I am 3 weeks in to my plan, which has got to be a record, but with a bit (okay a lot) of help from "Gael Lindenfield", I feel like I am going to stick at it this time. I have only lost 2 pounds though in 3 weeks and although I am staying focussed on my goal, I cannot help feeling a bit disappointed and demotivated. Reading the Daily Motivator reminded me that although some of my efforts will not bring results, I will benefit from them. Good point. Even though I am not losing weight, I must be healthier for eating more healthily and getting more exercise.

Thanks, Ralph!

News & Opinion update !!

I haven't blogged for about 3 weeks, but it always seems to be that if you have time to blog, you don't have anything to blog about and if you have something to blog about, you are so busy doing it that you don't have time to blog about it (?? What a load of nonsense!?). So, I have tried to organise my post into some kind of order, although this is not what I am best at so it will no doubt stray from the point every now and then. Here goes...

Purchases:
The most exciting thing I (we) have done in the past 3 weeks is buying a campervan to replace the one we have already. The one we had (and still have actually) was about 27 years old and needs quite a bit of work doing on the body (don't we all?). We decided rather than keep ploughing money into the old one, we would look for a new one. It is, of course, not brand new, but it is considerably newer than the last one and in much better condition. We have not yet been off camping in it but intend to very soon having been (or about to be) given joint membership of the Caravan Club for our birthdays.





Opinions:
I don't often watch the news, which means I don't usually know what is going on (anyone who knows me does not need me to tell them this!) and so do not usually formulate an informed opinion about current events. Sometimes I happen to be in the room when Cartoon Network has not automatically taken control of my children and so am able to watch some grown up stuff. After watching the news, I pondered to myself, 'since when has it been acceptable to leave a 3 year old in their bedroom while I go out for a meal?' and 'does it make it okay to leave your children alone if they are locked in and if you are only a few hundred yards away?' and 'If I had spent thousands of pounds on IVF treatment, would I not take a little more care over where I left what I had paid for?' I know, you might say that doesn't necessarily make the child more precious, but I think, from experience, it means I would be more protective.

Complaints:
I received my Driving Licence back this week endorsed with 3 points. I was pleased to note that they had decided (for whatever reason) not to fine me. Under normal circumstances I would have been satisfied, however, the letter was dated 20th April and it had arrived on 10th May with a yellow sticker on the front telling me there was £1.24 to pay as Her Majesty's Courts Service had failed to put a stamp on it! I was lucky enough to have been let off the charge with PP working in the office, but decided to phone HMCS to complain anyway as they had sent an important document without paying postage, risking losing it altogether! They did apologise and offered to send me a stamp (how generous!). I accepted the apology but declined the offer of a stamp.

Work:
I have done a lot of work at an inner city primary school in their reception class. It has been chaotic but lots of fun. They even let me take Little Z on the trip to the farm as her school was closed for polling day (We are trying to raise standards and every child matters so lets close lots of schools for a day so we can use them for polling!) I have now been volounteered by a friend to do supply at her (scary!) school in year 5. I will be team teaching with a very experienced teacher, so should learn a lot, but am a bit scared as I generally turn down schools like this. I am looking at it as professional development and think I am actually going to enjoy the challenge.

Jobs:
No, I don't have one yet. Stop asking!
I applied for two jobs I really wanted and didn't even get interviews. Stupid schools. I am not going to take any old job though (or any for that matter if I doin't even get an interview!) I am sticking to my decision to be picky about where I apply to. I want to do my NQT year in the right school and with the right support.

Diet:
I am still doing weightwatchers. I have lost 10lb so far. It is hard but am trying my hardest to stay with it as I know it works.

Birthdays:

Big J will be 3 on Tuesday. My Birthday is the following Tuesday and then PP's birthday is the following Wednesday. Poor Little Z always feels a bit left out at this time of year and so we do our best to involve her in the celebration of Big J's birthday and to play down the adult birthdays as much as possible. We do notice her behaviour get considerably worse though at this time of year and have to try really hard not to make matters even worse by getting angry with her.

Well, I think that is about all for now. I am sure I will edit this a few times over the next few days as I remember other things that have happened over the last 3 weeks, but I don't suppose anyone will notice.

Bye Bye Campers!

♪ ♫ Food, Glorious Food ♫ ♪ ♫

I started my diet (again!) today. I subscribed to WeightWatchers last September and it worked really well for a couple of months. Eventually, though, I lost my will power and gradually have put on most of the weight I lost in those first few months. After visiting my friend K on Tuesday, and seeing how much weight she had lost on WeightWatchers, I decided to try to get back on track. After all, I am still paying my monthly subscription charge for the online service, but just not using it.

It is not easy when the children still have Easter eggs piled up in the kitchen, but I have done my best to hide them from sight and have asked them not to eat them in front of me.

I usually leave the shopping to PP. Most of my friends would not dream of letting their husbands do the shopping (neither would most of the husbands want to) but PP is actually very good at the shopping and at planning the meals for the week. However, I decided I needed to take control today and did the shopping myself. I spent about £25 more than he would have done (I generally do!) but feel that I have planned some healthy and tasty meals for the week.

It is hard to plan meals that we will all eat. Little Z and Big J both left most of the chicken salad I made tonight. I am not willing to cook 3 different meals every evening like my mum did when I was a faddy little 7 year old (as opposed to a faddy 32 year old!) but I don't want the children to leave all the food I put on their plate. I think the days are gone when you can threaten a child with "if you don't eat it, you'll have it for breakfast!" but I am going to have to find meals which the children like and which are healthy too. I have a feeling I am going to be up late with the cookery books!