Induction day at the gym

It's here! Tonight, joining the gym turns into a reality. The idea is to go twice a week, adding this to the rowing at home each morning, Tai Chi every Monday and the daily walking.

Five of us at the induction. Hubby and I outweigh them by quite a lot, and are old enough to be their parents. Still, no backing out now!

Shrunk a bit more

Time to check in with the GP, and good news. Last night I was down to 85kg on their scales (dressed but without shoes). That's 13 stone 4lb, so both the dietician and I are pleased with continuing steady progress.

Yes, I'm being careful about what I eat, but I think the key to the weight loss is the fact that I'm so much more active now. I'm doing 300 strokes every day on the rower, and getting off the bus early on my way into work. I feel better for it too.

Out of interest (and because I finally stopped resisting and bought a bathroom scales) when the GP's scales tell me I'm 85kg, mine at home tell me I'm 86.5kg - that's stepping on them ten minutes later, same clothes, no shoes.

I think the lesson here is not to believe the actual figure - goodness knows which one (if either) is accurate. Just use it as a visual check to follow the drop in weight, in addition to how my clothes feel. It'll be interesting to see how I react if the needle ever goes up though!

Another milestone (sort of)

Was weighed again at the GP's surgery. I'm down to 90kg which means I've lost 5kg in the last thirteen weeks. I'm going to have to admit that I'm not overjoyed at this as I thought I'd done better, but the nurse assures me that this is good steady progress. It's hard to be cheerful about this but I need to get my expectations to be more realistic.

Let's have a look on the positive side. Since I started in June I have lost four inches from my waist measurement, slightly more than that from my belly & hips. There's an inch less of me around the upper arm and two and a half inches less around the upper thigh. Amazingly, my bust measurement has only dropped by one inch!

So, I've changed shape, lost quite a bit of flab and definitely feel fitter. The walking and rowing have both increased and I've signed up to start another set of Tai Chi classes after this one.

I have to have become a healthier person because of this and it isn't as hard as I thought (feared) it would be. The trick is to make small changes, gradually doing more as they become easier to manage. I've got to be positive and keep at this - it IS working and I'm already getting more love to the square inch.

Tai Chi

I've started a Tai Chi class. One and a half hours on a Monday night. Add this to the rowing (up to 300 strokes per day now) and more walking (about 25 minutes in the morning and 10 minutes in the evening) and I'm certainly more active than I was.

Back from holiday

That's a nice surprise. I come back from two weeks holiday and find my waist size has dropped to 36 inches! The hips have shrunk a bit too.I didn't think for a moment about watching what I ate, but we really did do a lot of walking and, in the heat of Istanbul, drank gallons of water.

When you think about it, Turkish food is actually pretty healthy - lots of fruit, veg, pulses and grilled meats. Add to this a love of tea without milk, seafood and unleavened bread and everything, but everything as fresh as can be - definitely a recipe for healthy living.