The needle swings... slowly

And... phew... it's back in the right direction this time. Please can I have my mojo back now?

For the whole of this year so far (and we are nearly a quarter of the way through it!) the lbs, no let's be honest, what I really mean is my degree of fatness, has been up and down, then up and down, and then, er... up and up (oh Lord!). I hit 66kg again at the start of the week which made me very unhappy with myself again. My trousers tell me this is definitely a true gain and I feel very sheepish and annoyed with myself for being so stoopid!

And yes, I know why it happened. It's all down to a complete lack of discipline and a fair old sprinkling of 'stress = food' days, coupled with limited exercise. I've talked the talk before and said this needs to change, but as to walking the walk...

This gain is a reminder of why doing that, just talking about it, is useless. Unless I do something decisive it'd be all too easy to keep going on upwards. I've done that so many times in the past and I don't want to do it again. Sooo, I've made a start (for the umpteenth time) and the scales are showing teensy-tiny, baby-steps results. There's a way to go before I get back down to my lowest this year (62.5kg) but I WILL get there.

So, looking for more positives to keep me going, one point in my favour is that although I've eaten too much, I've still eaten relatively healthily and it hasn't been a solid return to crisps and chocolate. A bit too heavy on the carbs, but at least I've been getting a good variety of vitamins and minerals into the old body. I need to keep my eye firmly on the choices I'm making and take time to savour every mouthful, slowly and thoughtfully again. That'll help with filling me up and stopping me at a reasonable portion size.

Positive too, I've kept on walking and I did the salsacise classes so I haven't completely abandoned 'being active'. But, I feel more comfortable (safer?) doing the Chi Kung again and much less likely to mess up my knees so I can try to build on this and fit in a bit more variety in my exercise.

Two words - consistency and mindfulness - that's what I need to have at the forefront of my mind whenever I'm stressed or near food, and about the exercise. I started this whole business as a plan for life, not a quick fix. I need to concentrate on that again.

I'm hoping to have got myself back under control and am feeling a little bit more positive, long may it continue. I've also finally been to talk to my GP about the menopause (!?*#!) and have had a blood test to see if that's one contributing factor to why I've been so emotional and cranky recently. Once the results are in, and if it's a resounding 'yes', then we can talk HRT. Any good (or bad) experiences, anyone?