Widow Twankie

The central heating is back on and therefore the tumble dryer is off limits! I reckon there are 11 loads of laundry to do in a week so I did up a schedule to get them all washed and dried (in the house) without having to use the dryer. Obviously if it is a fine day I wash what I can and get it dried outdoors (like today) but on an ordinary day I can get 2 loads dried (one through the day, one over night). The logistics of scheduling laundry is not as straight forward as I thought. J’s washes obviously have to be 3 days or so apart, as do his nappy washes. The bedding gets changed on Tuesday so I figured it should be washed straight away to get it out of the way. Then I remembered that the towels & face cloths get washed in with the bedding and J goes through MANY MANY face cloths in a week so the bedding needs to be washed like the nappies a few days apart. So, I have a schedule. Now I need to stick to it

I never thought I would be happy and content to have a laundry scedule but it fills me with peace because I would count up what was to be washed, realise that there are 4 or 6 loads of washing and I am paralysed by not knowing where to start washing them. Right now there are 4 loads of washing in the house waiting to be done but I am not distressed about it.

It was easier to be fat

Well, it was! I could wear a pair of jeans four days in a row and not be bothered. I could easily wear the same long sleeved tshirt two days in a row without it looking any worse than it did the day it went on me. I didn’t iron my clothes. I shook and folded stuff out of the tumble dryer and that was enough for me. I wore tracksuit bottoms – a lot! They were easier and hid all of the lumps and bumps.

Now it is a different story. Jeans & tshirts are no longer tumble dried. They are line dried and ironed. Jeans are worn for two days max. Shirts are single day events. Thankfully I found tshirts on special (2 for €7) so I bought 16’s before I needed them (and then needed them sooner than I thought I would). I have one pair of tracksuit bottoms that I wear in the evening when I am done wearing jeans. I rarely wear them in public.

It is exhausting no longer being fat! J doesn’t like ironing at all so I get 3 items done at the time which is wearing me out as the board has to be put away every time so he doesn’t pull it down on top of himself! Oy!

I lost another 2lbs this week for a total of 59.5lbs since I started WW in February. On Wednesday morning I weighed myself at home and I was 12st 13.5lbs. I don’t remember ever being 12st anything before. My new 34″ waist jeans are getting to be not so “just the right size”. I am not sure what I will do when they are completely not the right size, but I will deal with that when I get to it.

I have 20.5lbs to go to my WW goal. I am not the biggest person in the room at WW by a long shot. On Thursday, at my weigh in, I felt like I was just one of the many women with 1.5 – 2 stone to lose going to WW. My BMI is 27.6, down from 38.8 when I got pregnant, and I feel great. I know exactly where the 20lbs are and where I am happy for them to be gone from which is so much better than no knowing where to begin with 80lbs.

The girl in the window

My reflection is consistently thinner than I expect her to be which is a pleasant surprise each & every time.

I am almost 12 stone something. I am 3 pounds away from being lighter than my husband. I was once, for one day 8 years ago, lighter than M. I am wearing a 16 top & 34″ gents jeans & they look well My BMI is 27.8 (it was 38.8 when I got pregnant). I have 22.5 pounds to go to my WW goal. I know 22.5lbs is still quite a big number but it is SO much smaller than the 80lbs I started out with.

I remembered the other day that I took photos of myself in DC & the D took a photo of me on Wednesday.

I look back on old photos and don’t remember being that big. I look at new photos & don’t remember that I’m this size.

I did it

Last week when I stood on the scales a message appeared on the display

“The member has gained more than 5lbs since their last weigh in”

This week when I stood up it flashed

“The member has lost more than 7lbs since their last weigh in”

Then it flashed

“St”

which indicated that I had tipped over another stone of weight loss. Then the actual screen showed up which said that I had lost 8lbs so all of last weeks 6lbs & another 2lbs for good measure. I have now lost 4st1lb (57lbs) in exactly 7 months! I have 23lbs to go to my goal weight & there are 14 weeks til Christmas… watch this space

What Lies Beneath

As I continue to lose weight I find things that are either hiding within my body, under the fat, or caused by the fat but evident by it’s absence.

I have a varicose vein on the inside of my left knee that I was aware of but didn’t bother me because it was encased in fat. Now I know it is there & can feel my clothes rubbing on it

My skin is getting loose. I can see it “crumple” as it overlies my shrinking frame. I dread how it will look when I lose the remaining 30lbs.

I am really looking forward to my WI tomorrow morning. My PIL’s are taking D for a while so I can stay for the class (WW is a little boring for your average 4 year old). I really like the fact that I gained weight while I was away, I went to my WI last week & got myself back on track. It would have been so easy to skip last week, not get the kick in the ass I needed & “try” to get back on track ending up at tomorrows WI “only” 2lbs or so up.

Better Out Than In

Those of you with the password may have realised that it doesn’t work on the post I made the other night. Sometimes I use the password to ensure that “any man on the net” can’t read it. Other times, rarely, I post something that is simply not for public consumption but if I didn’t write it down it will rot my insides & drive me insane.

All gone

I have been doing a super strict 18 point week since Friday and am delighted with the results. As of this morning the 2.5kg that I was up before I went to WW on Thursday is gone. As is another 600g! (Please forgive the confusion. A long time ago I switched to kg at home – I didn’t like seeing 2xx lbs, seeing 1xx kg was much easier – and so I weigh in kg at home and in lbs at WW).

I hope that on Thursday when I go to WW that I will have lost the 6lbs and finger crossed another one which will bring me to 4 stone even! Obviously I wouldn’t mind a pound or 2 more.

This weekend my mother & sister were in Monza at the Fo.rmula One race and my two other sisters were busy with work and I can’t begin to explain how lonely I was without being able to talk to any of them. Things have eased up for my sisters and my mother & sister come home later today.

Saturday was my brothers birthday and I also found out that he has been accepted to do a PhD which I am delighted about. It is wonderful to see him looking forward to something.

Protected: I don’t believe it is because he loves me more

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6 pounds

I arrived home on Wednesday morning after a FANTASTIC trip with cankles and a gut full of food. I ate what I wanted, which was of course limited by the dairy thing, and loved every mouthful of it. I had tons of kettle corn, made fresh in the market last Saturday, and it was divine! We are trying to come up with a plan to get kettle corn to me by USPS as quickly as possible

My weigh in is Thursday morning, the morning after I came home, and needless to say I had gained weight in the week. 6 pounds! I am sure at least half of it was in my gut and my ankles and the rest of it I thoroughly enjoyed.

I started an 18 point week on Friday morning and am about 3/4lb heavier than I was before I went away. I am hopeful of shifting the whole 6lbs before I go back on Thursday.

Now back to the trip. I had such a wonderful time and J was such a wonderful travel companion. We shared a room with Calliope and W for the first two nights and boy are they great room mates! It was so nice to have someone to talk to in the late nights and early mornings of parenting small babies.

On our first full day we had the honour of attending Kate & Trish’s wedding along with Calliope & Sophia & Mikey. It was a wonderful day, perfect weather and a beautiful demonstration of 2 people declaring their love for each other and celebrating the right to have that love & committment protected by law. I was a blubbering wreck by the time Kate’s brother declared them married. We celebrated with them for the evening and then took the babies home to bed.

Sunday did not go as planned. Calliope got a call from her Mom to say that her Grandmother was in The Decline. It was time for her to go home, to cut short her first time away from home in 14 months. Calls were made, car seats were moved and Calliope was driven to the airport 90 minutes away.

Our other 2 nights were spent in Kate’s mom’s guest suite which was wonderful. We went shopping in craft and fabric stores Monday afternooon was spent in Field of Dreams which was great.

Tuesday was packing & shopping (and a lovely burger at Hamburger Mary’s) and off to the airport. 2 of the air stewards on the way back had been on the outbound flight & were so attentive to us. They even let us sleep in the crew sleepers We arrived in Dublin on Wednesday morning expecting my mother to collect us & there was M & D! I was stunned & delighted

Just like when I got back from DC in the Spring, I miss my friends.

The difference 55lbs makes

J & I boarded our flight first yesterday morning & took our seat. As I reached down beside my hip to get the seat belt out I realised that there was room between me and the arm of the chair! In the Spring, on the way to DC, when I moved I brought the arm of the chair with me. The journey was so different!

J did a fantastic job of being baby cuteness personified during the flights and we were blessed with a wonderful travel companion on our transatlantic flight (a retired paediatric nurse with 4 children and 4 grandchildren) who was more than happy to hold him while I used the bathroom or went for water.

After the experience of Immigration in Dulles in February I was a little worried about the same happening in O’Hare and as I only had 2 hours between my flights I was afraid I would miss my connecting flight. I was first in line at Immigration and was through in 5 minutes! It took longer to get my bags off the carosel than to clear Immigration!