Miss Motivator

Damn, I feel so motivated at the moment and hope my blog can inspire you all this week. I managed to shift a pound by doing 4 days of exercise this week (2 gym sessions, a good walk and 1 exercise DVD) and plan to do some more tomorrow as I am off work with my fiance. Not that kind of exercise you smutty ones at the back... we're going to explore the countryside near our new home and go for a hike.

This will be the most exercise I've done in a week for a long time, what with the Christmas break then snow covering every pavement and footpath in the country. But now the big thaw is here, I can't seem to get enough. And my fitness regime has been accompanied by a (fairly) healthy diet. Have been eating fruit for breakfast and am sticking to the water, so it's all good. I have still managed a few biscuits and a bit of cake, but if I can lose a pound a week doing this then I'll be happy!

But on a more negative note, I have another gym moan. This week it wasn't the other gym members who were pissing me off, but a gym employee! There I was, pounding away on the treadmill when a small, balding 'personal trainer' started cleaning the machine next to me. I could barely contain my annoyance when he proceeded to spray a cleaning product practically in my face, and when he started to hoover up the dust on my treadmill - as I was running - I had to say something. 'Dude, you're going to trip me up!' I yelled. And did the little man apologise? Did he smile sweetly and move to another machine? No! He said 'I were nowhere near you!' and carried on. Cheeky swine. The adrenaline rushing through my body made me vow, in my head, to complain to the manager but by the time I had finished my workout and had a shower, I had calmed down and left quietly. Probably for the best, I think...

Day 43 - A backward step

Despite sticking rigidly to my water diet again this week - bar one sneaky cup of coffee at a cafe - I have managed to let 1.5lbs slip back onto the scales. I have a feeling last week's fish and chips may have had a delayed effect as I had a fantastic weigh-in the morning after I ate those. Ooops. And my Tone class was cancelled AGAIN today so I am sacking it off for Thursday's step and aerobics workout, which a fellow (very polite) gym member said is really effective.

This is also my final week before I break for Christmas. I have a night out planned and it's also my birthday soon so there's no way I'm sticking to soft drinks. Sorry, I'm just not that dedicated. But I will try not to overeat over Christmas and bear in mind that those three and a half pounds I've lost are NOT to come back on again.

As if I needed any reminder of how important it is not to pig out, the bridal shop rang today and left a message on my answerphone saying they needed to speak to me. 'Oh my god, the dress is in,' I thought, at first with glee and then complete dread. I do want the dress in my possession as soon as possible just to put my mind at ease but I am currently 4.5lbs heavier than the day I got measure for it. I know it's eight months off the wedding and I should have plenty of time to lose it by then... but what if they wanted me to go in for a fitting? The thought of the assistant squeezing me into that frock and asking 'Are you sure you ordered this size?' had me feeling so repulsed that I vowed there and then to sew my mouth up over Xmas.

I picked up the phone and with a trembling whimper said: 'You wanted to talk to me?' And the assistant informed me that the groomswear prices were going up in the new year so I should come down and order it as soon as possible. PHEW! I had bought myself a few more weeks and, hopefully, months in which to get my behind into shape.

In a vain attempt to claw back some pride, I will do another weigh-in in 2 days' time, after the much-hyped step class. Let's hope today was just a 'fat' day...

Day 36 - Rude, rude, rude

Before I launch into my gym rant, which has been simmering for some hours now, I would like to report that the water diet is going well and this week I have lost 2lbs. Amazing! So that's 5lbs in all, with no change to my eating habits but a strict focus on liquids. I did have a cup of black, decaff coffee last week which was my only wobble. And I didn't even enjoy it. Think I went overboard with the granules.

Anyway, on with the rant. We often discuss our exercise regimes at work - some of my colleagues are keen runners and others, like me, go to the gym. But, unlike me, most of my workmates HATE going to the gym. One reason is because they find it boring and another is because, as they put it, it is 'full of tw*ts'. I always argue the opposite: 'There are some nice people in the gym and the instructors can really help etc' but today even I was incensed by an inconsiderate gym member.

Having toddled off to the gym to attend my Tone class, I found it was - for the second week running - cancelled. So I used the hour to do a full workout instead. However, when I had been on the treadmill for about 10 minutes, I heard a man YELL across me to a friend, who was on the row behind. This stupid man didn't stop at shouting, he decided to hang over the front of his mate's machine to talk to him, loudly, for the next five minutes. Then, of all the godforsaken empty treadmills in the gym, he had to get on the one next to mine. Annoying in itself but hey. I don't own the gym.

But then came the really annoying part. He turned around and, in my (headphoneless) earhole, shouted his mate's name. I was so annoyed that I dropped my usual British stiff-upper-lip attitude and turned to glare at this reprobate for several seconds, until he made eye contact. 'Sorry love,' he said in a patronising way. 'Good,' I thought, before he promptly jumped off the treadmill to carry on his obviously pressing conversation with his pal. That showed him. I felt like the queen of the gym, like I had shot down a rowdy youth with a single withering look and perhaps gained some admirers in the form of the onlooking gym members who were probably as fed-up as I was with inconsiderate exercisers.

But he returned. Twice. The second time, he just blatantly retracted his apology by completely ignoring me and carrying on his conversation FROM THE TREADMILL. I only had five minutes left on the clock so dug my heels in and refused to move, even when the guy's overpowering scent (sweat and last night's tea) washed over into my airspace and he started sniffing very loudly, like he was about to get rid of a large globule of snot through his nose or, God forbid, his mouth.

I could not wait to get away. And thinking about it, it wasn't the first time I had felt tempted to shift machines just to avoid a nuisance gym bunny. Like the girl who ignored the 'no mobiles' sign and sat on a weights machine for 10 minutes having an argument with her new boyfriend. I could tell he was new by the way she kept telling him to 'stop being so possessive and this just won't work if you ring me 23 times while I'm out with my friends'. Or the old man who completely missed the fact that I had left my water bottle and membership card on a treadmill while I made the 8-second round trip to the weights bin. He had started walking when I returned to the machine and I tapped him on the arm to ask him to move but I caught the poor chap by surprise and he nearly fell off the bloody thing. And the number of leery fellas I see chatting up women while they are trying to exercise, leaving the girl no option but to sit/stand on her machine, nod politely and wait until the stupid sod goes away before she can resume her workout. That may sound sexist but, in my experience, it hardly ever happens the other way round.

So instead of the usual 'no mobiles' and 'please put the weights back' signs, I am going to draw up a new notice for my gym: 'Stop f**king messing around and do some exercise, preferably at least 3 yards away from any other member.' Then maybe people will finally get the message!

Day 8 (Third Post)

Well, after sticking to my water-only diet for a full seven days, no cheating, I took myself off to the gym for my weekly weigh-in. I was amazed to find that I have lost 2lbs - the first time in weeks that I have actually manged to lose any weight at all.

Now, considering the amount of calories I have saved by shunning soft drinks, alcohol and tea and coffee (with milk), I shouldn't really have been surprised. Having totted up the calories in a bottle of wine (600) five glasses of fresh orange juice (550), and three pints of milk (750), I have saved at least 1,900 calories. And that's before the extras like the odd smoothie and extra alcohol on nights out. I did always drink diet fizzy drinks and low-cal squash, but for people who don't, they could save around 140cals per 330ml can of pop and about 30cals for a glass of squash.

What really surprised me about my weight loss this week was that my diet included quite a few high-fat treats. With it being my fiance's birthday, there were several boxes of chocolates hanging around. So a couple of nights were spent devouring Maltesers and Miniature Heroes. And two scones just happened to end up on my plate yesterday when I was feeling down at one point and need a pick-me-up. Oops...

So I have by no means been an angel on the diet front, and I think this proves just what a big difference the water has made to my diet. I feel much fresher and hydrated than I did before I started and my skin is really clear, which is a relief after getting some whopping zits in the past few weeks.

Spurred on by today's weigh-in, I have no qualms about continuing my water diet and hope that some of you will join me! I've already heard from some women who have ditched drinks, except water, and have seen massive weight losses. Please feel free to leave your comments and let me know if this has worked for you or if you think it's a waste of time!