Incentives?

I've been trying, and failing miserably, for what feels like ages now, to stick to my eating plan. I really want to do it and I know that it's good for me, never mind losing weight, I just feel physically healthier when I'm doing it. It's just that it's so darned restrictive and I feel abnormal, punished and deprived when I'm sticking to it. SO if I *do* manage to stick to it for a little while I just have to give myself a treat for being so good, and it's always the forbidden food that's the treat. Some days I can just about manage to be good for breakfast then it all goes haywire.

Are there any other treats or incentives that you lovely ladies can think of?

On the exercise front all is going pretty well, now that I've factored in a bike ride and a walk each week (more if we can manage it) for me and the kids. The bike ride involves the bigger two riding theirs and me puffing up the hills pushing the little one and being the brakes for her going downhill. The last time had me so itchy to be on a bike myself so I went to Halfords and talked to some very nice assistants about getting a towbar for my bike so I can get littlest on the back as she's too big for a seat, and getting an easier arrangement for carrying the bikes on the van. At the moment we have a bike rack that's too high up for me to get the bikes onto, and also you can't use the boot while it's on. So if I can get a towbar fitted I can fit a lower one on. I'm trying to be philosophical about the cost as the bike towbar is cheaper than a tagalong bike and the bike carrier is much cheaper than a trailer.

Weight watchers

well I never thought I'd do it but i have, I've joined weight watchers and tonight I feel quite positive, I had two weeks of staying just the same but this week I've lost 2.5 lbs. I wouldn't have thought i could be so happy at losing weight but I am. The funny thing is that I've not even tried very hard, I've had the odd biscuit and I've not gone hungry but I've tried to always eat something good for me rather than fatty stuff. The big thing is that I haven't eaten chocolate bars or minstrels - which are my failing.
So 3 weeks at weight watchers and this week weight lost :), the previous weeks i'd just stayed even, maintained as they call it, this week losing the weight has given me a taste of it and I want to do even better.
fingers crossed.

partied out

I discovered something over christmas that I never thought I would: that you *can* have too much party food. I gave myself full permission before the festivities to buy, eat and drink just what I wanted to until it all ran out. Mmm, lots of Thornton's chocolate, raspberry liqueur, cointreau, mince pies, roast dinners and christmas pud to share with my Big Girl's fella (the only other person who likes it). After about five days of it I was noticing the indigestion, the old tiredness creeping back, the stomach bloating and a hankering after 'real food' so since then I've been tempering my indulgences and eating more veg, and going easy on the alcohol. And now that the days of mince pies and brandy sauce for breakfast are coming to an end I find I'm really looking forward to treating my body a bit more gently (and a bit more firmly too). I hesitate to call it a new year's resolution, as I don't do those, but I will say that diet and exercise is going to be top of my list of priorities for this coming year. Having my Big Girl's doggy to look after has been really good for me too, and after an hour's walk every day my legs are aching in a good way. I must, must, must keep this up. I don't think I realised how far back I had slipped on the fitness front and the rot stops NOW.

Do you want get rid of the pounds?

there is no easy fix , I had been reading about Acai tea but no help there, this answer is the best one on the site I looked at

Here comes the only answer, no tricks, no pills, no short cuts, If you really want to lose weight, loose weight, not be too fat or overweight, follow these instructions carefully:-

1) Eat less

2) Take regular vigorous exercise

Repeat 1 + 2 forever

 so there we have it, change one , change two and you'll be thinner  . . . . . . . . 

yo-yo dieting

lol I'm not sure I'm managing any dieting let alone yo-yo dieting but this looked interesting anyway

http://style.uk.msn.com/wellbeing/healthyeating/article.aspx?cp-documentid=10498117&ocid=today

Wii Fit fooled me into it!

I've gone from 13st 10lb to 12st 12lb!!! Still working on it, but it has been a bit slow during this month. Have to get off the sugar again. Too many weekends away and family parties with too many gorgeous puddings. My weakness! Also, too many sicky bugs in our house, and I have to keep working myself back to healthiness before I can get back to my exercise. May try to get a cross trainer. Used one at my FIL's and loved it! I'm feeling that I need more challenging exercise now. Maybe getting hooked on the endorphines! I find running a problem because the air gives me asthma even if it is just a little bit cool when I'm running. Shame, as my DH runs in the peaks and it is beautiful up there. Staring at a wall and listening to crap radio wasn't quite the same!

The danger of letting it slip too far

A cautionary tale for me for the future. Although this eating plan of mine is really good in lots of ways, easy it ain't! It takes a lot of thought and planning, two things I didn't want to have to do when I took the kids on a short break recently. So I took a risk and more or less abandoned it for the time I was away. What harm could it do? Well, I think I've been reaping the whirlwind ever since. First it was a major downer the day after I got back, it just settled on me from a height and sat there immovable till it went away again. Then we decided to actually organise that splash party we'd been planning for weeks, but at the height of the preparations I came down with a horrible sore throat that turned to a painful earache overnight, so it had to be postponed. I can honestly say it's the first time I've been as ill as that since I started this eating plan. Properly ill that is, sitting on the couch in my nightie and dressing gown, groaning.
On the plus side I've got my bike! Yay! I'm a bit nervous about getting started with it as I've not ridden one regularly since my twenties, but there's a few byways round here to explore and I'm hoping the kids catch the bug. They love zooming round the garden on theirs but I've always been a bit anxious about them venturing onto the road. I'm just going to have to work out how to get all three of them out and about safely. Littlest is 4 but quite light, but even so she may be too heavy for me to manage in a kiddie seat on the back of mine. I'll have to see if I can borow one to try it out.
And dd2 is keen to try bellydancing with me. That could be a lot of fun! And we've been promising ourselves to join up at the local tiny gym at the village (use it or lose it) and see if they can tailor me some exercises and activities and stuff.