Weight Watchers

[baty]

It's France Diane. We are stuck at present as I do all the wall cement work but cannot stand/sit at the right height. Big grrrrrrrr.

[Preston1990]

Well done on getting the photos up, baty. What a lovely holiday home you have and what a fantastic kitchen too. I can really imagine you and OH rustling up some great meals together in there. I'm also very impressed that you can do lime mortar pointing, I would imagine there's quite a knack to that. Would love to see more photos if you have time to put any up. Does your fireplace have a wood burning stove in it now?

Thanks everyone who liked "my" cat picture - I must confess that I put it up for the humour value only. I don't really own 5 (or any) cats. My only connection to them is that together they weigh the same as my excess weight.

[asamaic]

Well, today's menu was quite similar to yesterday's, but MrGlass will be pleased to hear I managed to work in a low calorie stuffed mushroom starter (120 calories). Vegetables stuffed with vegetables, how's that? I'm trying!

Also picked up some living salad - haven't b*ght it in years, but it's a fab idea. The fridge is very temperamental, so I hate b*ying bagged salad in advance (it has been known to freeze it before!) and living salad just sits on my windowsill. This way if I fancy some greenery and the shops are shut, there's no excuse.

Knackered from walking (not very far, but I'm fighting a lifetime of laziness here!) but you know what, even though I am still fighting hard not to order a sneaky takeaway, I think I'm actually feeling better in myself for sticking to this low calorie malarkey. The desire to stuff myself is just psychological, I think my body is adapting to not eating rubbish.

Still trying to persuade myself this is not a diet, it is a lifestyle change - mind over matter is going to take time.

I'm a little bit less jealous of baty's time in France having seen what hard work it seems to entail! I thought you were meant to still be hobbling everywhere, baty, but you seem to be properly grafting. What's all that about?

[TheyCallMeMrGlass]

OFF TOPIC

Mr G thought about you the night before last - no,no not in that way! OH and I went for an evening stargazing at Keilder Observatory and saw Mars, Jupiter and some M?? spiral nebulae type things through a range of pretty impressive telescopes. Also had lectures on the northern lights and a demonstration of free software called Stellarium. I assume you know of it? Very clear skies (not a cloud in the sky) _ v impressive and v enjoyable.

Awesome, I glad you enjoyed that and lucky you for clear skies on that evening! Keilder Observatory is at one of the darkest skies in England must have been a wonderful sight.

M??...for Messiers :) Some of what you saw (particualrly the spiral thingies you mentioned) were not nebulas...they were galaxies and do you know how far they are? Further than the greatest science fiction authors can even imagine writing about Earthlings ever visiting. Even in Star Trek, the imagination of space travel is limited to just traveling to different star systems in our own Galaxy, The Milky Way. What you saw through the Keilder Observatory are galaxies so far far away, that our nearest one (Andromeda or M31) is two and a half milllion light years away. That basically means if you could travel at the speed of light, you would reach Andromeda in 2.5 million years...travelling at the speed of light is actually not a bad way of losing weight, as your mass falls to zero (see what I did there...not so off topic after all!). But many galaxies you would have seen in those dark skies would have been in the region of several thousand million light years away. The nebulas, ie the "misty" regions of space are all objects in our own galaxy neighbourhood, basically they are cosmic dust clouds swirling around giving birth to new stars. as for the dust clouds themselves, they the dead throws of exploded stars so what you are witnessing is a snapshot of a cycle of cosmic life.

Stellarium is every amateur astronomer's number one tool to plan an evening of observations. I used it, to plan my demonstration for the fmukers in Glossop, which of sadly turned into a gorge of Chillie Con Carne and Carrot Cake! Although to many, it wasnt a bad substitiute...hmph!

I am very much into astrophotography too but so far I have only imaged Solar System objects, my next venture will be to image galaxies and nebulas. May I invite you to have a look at my gallery, its not big, I only put up what I feel is my best humble efforts which I have only just started this hobby last year. I did get lucky with one shot of the sun when a plane flew past it, the way it flew past gave it an optical illusion that its orbiting the Sun :)

https://www.flickr.com/photos/16806463@N04/

Folks, to stay on topic, dont eat the Milky Way as it has a lot of bad calories but do grab an opportunity see it at a dark sky location, September/October being the prime time to do so :)

Well, today's menu was quite similar to yesterday's, but MrGlass will be pleased to hear I managed to work in a low calorie stuffed mushroom starter (120 calories). Vegetables stuffed with vegetables, how's that? I'm trying!

Also picked up some living salad - haven't b*ght it in years, but it's a fab idea. The fridge is very temperamental, so I hate b*ying bagged salad in advance (it has been known to freeze it before!) and living salad just sits on my windowsill. This way if I fancy some greenery and the shops are shut, there's no excuse.

Knackered from walking (not very far, but I'm fighting a lifetime of laziness here!) but you know what, even though I am still fighting hard not to order a sneaky takeaway, I think I'm actually feeling better in myself for sticking to this low calorie malarkey. The desire to stuff myself is just psychological, I think my body is adapting to not eating rubbish.

Veggies stuffed with Veggies...I am well impressed! SO you are on a low calorie diet? Lowering calories is of course a good way losing body fat but dont lower it to a point where you feel you are feeling hungry. A couple of magic tricks to stave off hunger is 1: split your meals into four or five. So lets say you are budgeting 1200 calories for the day, then you can do 4 times 300 calory meals or even better 5 times 250 calorie meals or three bigger meals plus two small snacks etc. The benefit of this is incredible, as what this does, is raise your metabolism rate to losing the body fat at a faster rate plus you will never be craving for food because you are eating regularly through the day wihout going over your calorie budget. It also prevents you from craving sweet stuff which occurs when you are hungry as the brain triggers off a subcontious "quick fix" for sugary stuff which is a fast acting source of energy...but not the type of energy that you should be eating.

Secondly, drink lots of water...this absolutely quenches any cravings for sweet stuff also. If drinking water sounds boring then have a go at drinking peppermint tea or other fusion type teas. But do also drink water too especially before during and after workouts.

Great stuff


Baty, enjoy your holiday and if you ever come across a fenced off canal, try not be tempted to climb over it

[asamaic]

Don't worry, MrGlass, I'm not starving myself. Just trying to eat when I'm physically hungry as opposed to greedy/sad/bored/etc. i'm also trying to recognise when I'm full and stop - these things should be second nature, but I'm so used to eating at restaurants until I feel sick that it's actually a challenge to relearn.

I'm lucky that I have a fridge, freezer and microwave at work, but balancing meals is tricky when I'm going straight from a full time job to review a full length show.

Drinking water is not a problem - I drink hot water all the time.

[weliveandbreathewords]

I suffer exactly the same problem asamaic!
ITs even worse when im in the house on my own cause i feel like theres no one to stop me!
and in those moments i always go for the 'naughty' stuff too!

Ive been a little better recently but last night during Game of Thrones I started picking at my only easter egg(that is pretty horrible tbf) but I still ate it :/
Thinking im going to throw it away so I dont have the temptation plus it is well and truly yucky :S

Weight myself this morning and im 9st 11 (and 3/4, thats how painstakingly accurate my scales are).
And I would like to get to 9st before I head to America, that way, when I put on a stone(its inescapable over there :S), I wont be too fussed!
Me and my mom are planning on b*ying cereal from Walmart for breakfast each morning instead of the numerous breakfast buffet options!
Stocking up on fruit for the day(if possible) then having a meal on the night, with plenty of walking during the day i think we'll be ok^^

That being said, despite my weight having gone up, Im not sure how much of it is muscle. I b*ght a full body jumpsuit yesterday and usually(cause of my hips) im a size 10, i got an 8 yesterday and it fits fine :S the 10 was baggy!
Though I cant be 100% sure :S

Im thinking about getting my own target board for the garden too so I can practice Archery at home, though Id have to warn the surrounding gardens(but if im doing it in the day when most are at work I should be fine)

[chelle1973]

I tried the boxing gym last night......and survived!! It was a great class nothing like I expected it to be although it was quite hard!

[asamaic]

Step away from the egg, weliveandbreathewords... There is nothing wrong with treating yourself from time to time, but it must be something you actually really like, or it's just not worth the calories. Throw it out and replace with, say, a small chocolate bar by your favourite brand.

Well done, chelle1973. Sounds like a great way to keep fit.

I have just won a month's free membership to the gym, and I er, don't know what to do with it. I've checked and it's definitely free, no payment needed or sneaky trial subs - but I'm still slightly terrified of gyms. I'm hoping not having to p*y will tempt me in, but I'm stumbling as to next steps. Gyms to me are places full of thin people who know what they're doing. Help!

[distortthecode]

asamaic, I used to go to my local gym (before I unfortunately moved to an area with no affordable one) and I am by no means a slim person who knows what they’re doing. What I did was go during quieter periods until I was familiar with the equipment and got a routine in place of how I liked to spend my time (so for me it was 15 mins cardio, 5 mins weights and then keep rotating for about 2 hours). I still felt intimidated when I went but I just focussed on what I wanted to achieve and blocked them all out as best I could – what did help me was that the equipment had inbuilt TVs so I would watch what I wanted while exercising so not even think about it. If your gym doesn’t have that I recommend making a good playlist or streaming shows to your phone, great time to catch up on them without worrying about sitting around doing nothing.

[Diane65]

I have just won a month's free membership to the gym, and I er, don't know what to do with it. I've checked and it's definitely free, no payment needed or sneaky trial subs - but I'm still slightly terrified of gyms. I'm hoping not having to p*y will tempt me in, but I'm stumbling as to next steps. Gyms to me are places full of thin people who know what they're doing. Help!

Believe you me they are not full of slim people knowing what they are doing. In most gyms there is a huge variety of people there and if they are genuinely there to exercise they certainly won't be judging anyone else. I only stopped going to the gym purely because I wasn't seeing daylight at all as most of the places I work at have metal grills in the windows so I haven't a clue what the weather is like hence like walking instead.