Christmas Time 2010

I have just had an operation so not feeling great.

My current weight is 16st 5lbs so I have lost 28 lbs since starting the blog but that is not really very good but better than putting weight on I guess.

I am looking forward to Christmas although my husband lost his job at the end of September, he has a little bit of work here and there - just enough to keep us ticking over but not brilliant.

I had a little money saved for my trip back to USA to visit my auntie again in the Summer of 2011 but I think that will be blown on Christmas. My children have grown up and flown the nest but I do have my 16year old grandson living with me. He is a good kid. I have four grandchildren altogether with another one on the way (due Jan 13th). So Christmas is an expensive time of year but they are good enough to realise that we do not have the finance this year to give them the type of presents we would normally buy.

I put all my Christmas decorations up before I went into hospital as I did not know how I was going to feel after so at least that was out of the way early. I had my operation on 1st December. The doc had arranged some routine checks - I had no symptoms of anything so when they found this 'mass' the size of an orange in my womb I was completely shocked. Well, they decided to remove other things while they were in there (fibroids and polyps) but by the time they got round to tackling the tumour which I had gone into hospital for, I had started to absorb the fluid they pump into you and it was too dangerous to proceed so they only have enough of the tumour to analyze, they have not removed the thing. So if it turns out to be benign they are just going to leave it where it is and if it is something more sinister I have to have a hysterectomy. Now I am waiting to hear whether I have to have another operation. I am not happy. I hope they tell me it is nothing to worry about then I can have a nice Christmas. Oh. Well. I will write again in about a month and I hope I have lost some more weight. xx

Oh. Well. Another year of almost complete failure

It is now 8th August 2010. I re-joined WeightWatchers on 29th March. I weighed 18st 5lb (257lbs) so much for me sticking to the diet for sure last time. Huh!!!

Anyway, I have managed to lose 24lbs and I am still going to WW. I am hoping to get my next silver 7 at my next meeting but need to have lost 4lbs this week to achieve that. So fingers crossed I will get there. If I do I will also have achieved my 10% so that will be good. I will keep you posted.

Oh! It has been such a long and painful 6 months

I was doing very well with my diet. I went down to 15st 10lbs back in October 2008. Then my poor mum broke her hip and wrist and we found out that she had fallen because she had a stroke. So apart from the breaks she was also diagnosed with vascular dementia. She cannot walk and her memory is so badly affected that each sentence she speaks contains many totally unrelated topics. It is tragic because she was such a vital, intelligent, energetic person.

Anyway, to cut a long story short she had to spend three months being moved from ward to ward then from hospital to hospital. We thought it would be better for us and for our mum if she was discharged from hospital and brought home. My sister thought she would be able to cope with mum at her home. She had a room build downstairs with an en-suite shower and toilet and Social Services set up the maximum care package available. Mum came home and it was a joyous occasion. However, it soon became apparent that it was just too much. My mum was not sleeping - at all. Day or night. So my sister did not sleep either. Even with my brother and I helping as much as we physically could it was just not going to be a viable option having mum living at my sisters. My sister was becoming ill herself. All the while we were comfort eating.

The decision was made that mum would be better cared for in a nursing home. She was awarded full NHS funding due to her medical condition. But the guilt we are feeling is considerable even though we know we had no choice. We had been mum's carers and she hated us. Now she is in the nursing home we are her children again and that is how it should be. She is very well cared for there but we just can't help feeling bad about it.

Anyway, back to the diet. I am back on track. I rejoined WeightWatchers last week and lost 6lb in my first week. A good start. I have joined a WW Challenge called New Year New You and we have 33 weeks which will take us to 1st January 2010 and we have to see how much weight we can lose in that time.

I will keep you posted.

So Far So Good

I have been 'sticking' to the WW plan now for about five weeks and have lost my first stone (14lbs). I won't say it has been easy because I have had some really good days and some REALLY bad days. But all in all I am quite pleased with the weight loss so far and I am still determined to continue until I have lost a further six stone (84lbs). By the end of the diet, if all goes well and I am sure it will, if you take into account my weight at it's heaviest 18st 3lb (255lbs) and I am now 16st (224lbs) then so far all together I have lost 31 lbs. The first half of the 31lbs took about two years to lose (in a very half hearted way) and I have lost the other half in about 2 months. I much prefer the second way as it will mean I will get to a healthier weight quicker.

Anyway, that is all I have to say at the moment. I will probably get back on here in another four weeks or so and if progress is as good as I hope it will be then I may have one or two photos to add so I can see a comparison.

Diet or Die 2

3rd July 2008

Only managed to lose 1lb this week. However, I have joined a WW Challenge group. There are six teams all named after Father Christmas's reindeer. We have to try to lose as much weight as we possibly can by Christmas. My mini challenge is to lose 10lbs by the end of August and I am determined to do it. We also have weekly challenges and this week it is to drink 2 litres of water a day and eat our 5 fruit and veg. I have managed this today. The water, fruit and veg is so filling you don't want to eat anything else.

I also have a WW buddy and we try to encourage each other to stick with it and lose our weight. So far so good. Feeling quite pleased at the moment even though I had a diabolical week last week because it was my birthday. Went out for the day with my OH. We went to the seaside for the day and had ice cream twice with an Italian meal in between. Very naughty. Then on my actual birthday I had all the family over and I had made a buffet and ate tooooooo much. Thought I was going to put weight on this week but still managed to lose a pound. Need to be extra good from now until next Wednesday (weigh-in day) as I don't want it catching up with me.

On a diet for 32 years (so far)

I have never had a blog site before. I've been told that keeping a blog may help me to stick to my diet, I am going to use it as a diary with my diet kinda thrown in. Like other diaries I have kept in the past - I may go days without writing anything. Anyway, don't have a clue what I'm doing but here goes. This is me in the sheepskin jacket looking like Uncle Fester's mum!!. Taken at Niagara Falls last Christmas.

Little bit of background

My daughter was born in 1976. I was quite slim before I became pregnant but put on loads of weight during my pregnancy. Loads of weight I say - I weighed 11st 4lbs after giving birth. I would give my back teeth to weigh that now. I weighed 18st 3lb at my heaviest which was about October last year. My sister treated me to a trip to the USA and I lost a bit of weight leading up to that - I didn't want to be one of these people who couldn't fit into the plane seat. Anyway, we went by American Airlines and they seem to cater for fat old birds. I still thought I was going to get off the plane and drop dead from a thrombosis or something. As it turns out we had a lovely time and we can't wait to go back.

I became quite ill a while back. I have had more blood taken for tests than I care to imagine. And tubes pushed into every orifice. After two years I have been told that my health will not improve until I lose this excess weight. My liver and probably all my other internal organs have been affected by years of being grossly fat.

I have joined WeightWatchers and am determined to lose the weight now. I have two children and four grandchildren - The last granddaughter as born three weeks ago and I would like to be around to see her grow up. This is one of the main reasons I am now so determined to finally get rid of the fat.

I am going away with my daughter and her children in a few weeks. I have dropped from size 24 clothes to size 20 (which are comfortably loose, now) I am hoping to fit into size 18 jeans for my holiday in about three weeks.

I will put other photos on as the weight drops off - as I am confident it will. My weight at the last Weigh in (WI) was 16st 4lbs.