Can you say "Low Fat Cheese" and still smile?

I've always been a Dairy Queen :)
I used to drink a pint of milk with my dinner every day.

Now that I have Osteoporosis, dairy products are very important to keep in my diet. So it's a good thing that I like cheese, milk, yougurt etc.

Problem is that cheese is very high in points. I don't mind skimmed milk, and you can get really nice low fat yogs, dessert rice and stuff like that; but the cheese is a problem.

Mainly cos low fat cheese, including WW's own brand cheese has the texture of the sole of a Nike runner. And doesn't taste much better.

Personally I don't like the idea of eating something that you can drop only to find it boing-ing its way back up to meet you!! I mean when you bend cheese it should break or at the very least crumble; not re-shape itself like a like one of those old Stretch Armstrong dolls!

Well I have found the answer. Given to me by my mate Claire. Thanks Mrs.

Dubliner Light!

It's tasty

It's low fat

And it doesn't bend

Never again shall I have to eat toasted ham and grated ping-pong ball sandwiches.

Now that makes me smile!

The recession has hit. My assets are down 10%!!!

Can you believe it!?

I have lost 10% of my body weight. 

www.weightwatchers.com say that the following are benefits of losing 10% of your body weight...

A Healthier Heart

Lower Risk of Type 2 Diabetes

More Pep

A Mental Edge

Reality Check

I certainly do feel different. And as I mentioned before I know I look different. But it is a bit startling to think that 4 or 5 months ago I was more likely to die than I am now. But that's probably more to do with the fact that my car was overdue a service than anything else. 

So you'll just have to put up with 90% of me. I won't be quite so dazzling, I might not be around as often cos there's less of me to go around and at times you might read this and think.... there really is something missing... but as I reduce in plumage I hope to increase in years. 

Swings and roundabouts eh?

I tell you something though... when I try on some of the stuff that is still too small for me, I still feel the pinch! Bring on the recession I say, I'm looking forward to a futher drop in my.... portfolio!

Even better on the inside...

People are starting to notice... and they're starting to say things.

It's true I am getting smaller. Even the new jeans I bought not so long ago are starting to slouch a bit. Although that could washing machine operator error!!

It's a weird feeling cos it's nice that people see it, and it's nice to know they can see it but I'd am a bit "scarleh" when they say it. And there's always the background dread of it being even MORE noticable when it goes back on.

Until now...

I am sticking my neck out here (although one 2.6 people read this anyway -- one of them is VERY small!) but I think this is it! I think that just maybe I have cracked this thing. This weight/eating/diet/hope/fear/food/madness circle I go around in seems to finally be slowing down.

Now I don't mean that I'll never put on weight again, or that I'll never struggle with it again, OR that I'll get to the official Weight Watchers target for me. (Which by the way would mean I'd need to be tied to one of those sparkly weights that keep helium balloons from floating off up to the rafters; or else I'd have to be shot down with a pellet gun or something.)

However good, or even just different, I look -- it's even better on the inside. I think that is the difference this time. The change is an inner one! For me it's been more than just 'getting into the zone' it's been about a change of heart.

I wonder will people see the difference on the inside? I wonder will I start to get comments like... You sound well, you seem better, you are stronger! For now it's enough to know it myself; we'll just have to see as time goes on who notices what...

All I'll say is that if ever you find my jeans in a heap on the floor.... don't look up at the rafters!

Sorry about the picture

What is the story with the monster sized picture?!

I'm supposed to be getting smaller for goodness sake!

Muchas apolagosers for that one. Not sure how to change it to a smaller one. 

I thought you might like to see my whole face... but not in cinema screen panaormaic view. 

Please don't count the lines on my face while you're operating heavy machinery cos you WILL fall asleep. 

More soon x

Back on tracker!

ohhh it's hard to get back into it!

There are still remnants of the Christmas fare hanging around the place. Not least my Dad's large time of mini Toblerone's which he INSISTS on leaving on the sofa with the lid off it. I mean COME ON!!!! How is anyone supposed to resist those.

Even though I went back to WW last Thursday (up 4.5 btw -- ouch!) I feel today is the first day back properly. There was a bit too much convenience food happening over the weekend. What with that and everlasting-toblerones -- I have a lots of jogging on the spot to do by Thursday.

But I do feel better to be back into the routine. Filling in the tracker is definitely a good discipline. Filling it in helps me remember what I have eaten and how many points. And it forces me to work out the points of what I'm not sure of. If I don't track I wildly guess what I don't know; and then forget it anyway.

I hide mine in the depths of my bag but I know someone who pins it on the front of her kitchen presses -- for all to see. What if she gets burgled or something? How awful would it be to come down the stairs in the morning to find a note on your tracker telling you you've been counting Pink and White wafers as 1/2 and they should be 1 and your HD ready, 48" flat screen telly gone.

I'd be devastated!!

I love Pink and Whites!!

Weigh too much??

Well tomorrow is D Day or WW Day actually. And where as on Dec 30th I was doing ok.... I went to see the inlaws in Wales on Jan 2nd and came back yesterday and it wasn't only the luggage that was stretching at the seams...

I wonder how going easy on yourself cause it's Christmas turns to... What the heck, it's only a couple of tins of Quality Street -- I can work that off trying to do the Times crossword tomorrow!

I did walk a lot though. I'm hoping that will have limited some of the damage. We went to Oxford for the day to see my nephews and niece. My neff who lives there took us on a tour of all the colleges and we had a look in one of the chapels and spotted a few familiar scenes from Morse episodes. It was a great day. And the dinner that evening wasn't bad either.

But I think the best thing about this time 'round is that I am ready to start again. I don't care what that scales says tomorrow. I can't wait to get on it and put Christmas eating behind me and get going again. It is a real sign of a change of heart for me on the subjest. Usually I'd be dreading it but no matter what has happened I'm moving forward.

Philipians 3 says

But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal...

This is a spiritual scripture and was written specifically to do with life in Christ and continuing the journey no matter what. But as with a lot of God's principles, I can apply it to other areas of life and I hope in 2009 to apply it to the area of my weight watching.