PEAK:- I finally achieved green in the FatSecret weight loss graph 🙂

PIT:- None whatsoever, beautiful sunny day, daffodils are out, trees are in blossom – feeling good. 🙂

Theodora….I understand what you’re saying about your son though I can’t imagine that he’ll be working as a ski guide for much longer in France as the weather warms up and perhaps that space is just what he needs to unwind after intensive study. As you say all we want as parents is them to be happy.

Congratulations on getting into the green and for having no pits!

Janet…I guess you’re asleep or getting ready to go to the airport…or last minute packing 😉 Have a lovely break exploring the Netherlands and let us know about your adventures and of course the arrival of the new baby.

My peak…husband home albeit with a rotten cold. Beautiful weather, spring flowers etc etc
And pits there were none..well apart from the cold which I will no doubt catch!

Aww, Angela, lovely to have o/h home, despite the cold. And you may NOT get it, as I’m sure BSD boosts the immune system 🙂

Great that, like me, you haven’t got any pits today and are also enjoying the onset of Spring 🙂

PS No.2 son is now talking about shifting from ski-bum – as you say, snow rapidly melting – to cycling bum and guiding cycling tours around the Alps for the summer!! He has asked me to price up having his bikes (he has 5) sent out!! As long as he is doing something sporty, he is a happy bunny, just wasn’t cut out to be in an office I guess.

PEAK:- Week 9, day 7 and I just realised I have lost 15% of my body weight! 🙂 Surely that is a milestone! 🙂

PIT:- None whatsoever – another lovely, positive day spent with my delightful granddaughter:-)

Wow Theodora, let me be the first to congratulate you. That is amazing.

We’ve been having fabulous weather and the garden has shown itself as scruffy and untidy so I’ve been raking and tidying and barrowing like a good ‘un all weekend as we’re due 6 days of rain. We do need it but still….at the weekend!

Theodora….really well done on your 15%. I hope you celebrated in great style, a new pair of shoes, pretty nail varnish perhaps? It’s definitely worth a treat. And a day with no pits too! Woohoo! A good week.

My peak for the weekend….it’s all been very pleasant, can’t decide. Nice weather really has to be a plus, doezn”t it?

The pit….well not winning the lottery was pretty disappointing again but again nothing comes to mind.

Have a good day!

Today’s peak…..nothing stands out really. I’m making more ginger beer and lemonade for a presentation on Thursday. That’s quite interesting…otherwise quite a humdrum day except for

The pit…had company for dinner, ate far too much and then snaffled 2 bars …mini ones but still… of chocolate I’d bought for the grandchildren!!!! I seem to have this compulsion to self sabotage every time my weight goes down…Oh well, tomorrow’s another day.

I’m writing from the Netherland’s! It’s been a fun trip so far. My husband and I stayed by the ocean near Amsterdam when we arrived. Then we stopped off at Delft on our way to Antwerp where he isspeaking at a conference. We celebrated his birthday in Delft! Antwerp turned out to be a fun place to visit. We had a day without work and the day he spoke I went for a walk. Then when he finished, we went for another long walk. I hit 26,000. steps that day! Now we are in a town in the Netherland’s again and today my husband had a meeting to attend. I went on a nice, long walk in the forest near the hotel! As I expected, I got a bit lost, but found people who spoke English (thank goodness) and helped me find my way back to the hotel. Tomorrow we head back to Amsterdam for the weekend and on Tuesday morning, we fly to North Carolina. Our granddaughter will be delivered on Thursday unless she decides she wants to show up early.

PEAK: My biggest peak is I am getting a ton of walking in!
PIT: It is difficult to go without weighing in and I won’t be weighing in until April 8th. It feels really strange! I keep imagining I am gaining weight but my clothes are still fitting. The sleep has been pretty bad! My husband seems to be having the most difficult time. Last night I was so tired after having had a hard night sleep the night before and was drifting off when he woke me up with his moving around. We had to have the window open because he felt like he needed fresh air. That made it difficult to sleep for me!
I hoping for a good night sleep tonight~

Theodora~ Congrats on losing 15% of your weight. That’s wonderful!

Angela~ Hope you don’t catch your husband cold! So nice to get your garden in order. Hopefully your mini chocolate bar indulgence won’t affect your weight loss efforts! At least they were small bars!!!

Whoohoo…Janet..so nice to hear about your Dutch adventure. It sounds wonderful and Amsterdam is so full of great museums to visit. I visited Delft, so pretty, years ago with my mother but I’ve never been to Antwerp. It sounds exhausting, no wonder you’re finding sleep difficult and of course there’s the jetlag… I hope you manage to catch up over the weekend. I’m guessing that will be free time for the both of you.

I’ve been really busy this week so walking has fallen by the wayside so that’s my pit along with poor food control. I’ve been better today but still…

My peak..my ginger beer presentation went very well. The students were pleasant and told me how to make fruit syrups to put in cocktails. I don’t really drink alcohol or sweetened drinks myself but I found a recipe for a home made naturallycarbonated pink lemonade that I think would look fabulous on a Summer table…

I didn’t weigh myself today…didn’t want to feel cross and frustrated.

Enjoy the rest of your stay, Janet, and keep us posted about the new arrival!

How lovely to hear from you Janet – our roving reporter. Sounds as though you are having a great time and all that walking should be counteracting any BSD slip ups.

Angela, so pleased your presentation went well, but really pleased I don’t live near you as I LOVE ginger beer, and I am sure it is not BSD friendly. Not sure how you manage to make it and not succumb to temptation, but well done.

I have just returned from our 3 day gourmet break, which was fab, really, really enjoyed it, and I guess it should really be counted as a peak, but I had an even better one last night…………………

PEAK:- On our way home from our trip last evening, we called in to see my daughter, who sadly wasn’t at home. Fortunately my 16 year old granddaughter, Evie whom I hadn’t seen for 7 – 8 weeks (am on week 10 now) who had a friend staying with her. She did a double take, bless her, and said………. “Gran – you look FABULOUS, you have lost SOOO much weight!” And her 17 year old friend said………..”Goodness, you look more like Evie’s mother than her grandmother!” 🙂 🙂 🙂

PITS:- None so far!

PEAK: 1) It’s lovely to get back on the internet after being force to take nearly a month away due to family illness. Its meant I have been able to catch up with all the lovely motivating post on here.

2) My weight has yo-yoed all week but today is back down to Sunday’s weight despite being on track with Cals and steps all week.

PIT: BF% gone up by .6 and LBM down by 1.1lb despite eating the recommended level of protein all week. Also I can’t see how I’m expending so much energy and have reduced my intake to almost half my BMR yet the scales jump up. Weird!!

ddraig_goch~ How nice that you are back checking in on the BSD blogs! I hope your family illness issues have improved. Those are stressful times and never easy. Hope your weight starts to stabilize in sprite of the up and down you’ve been dealing with this week. Sounds like you are doing all the right things!

Theodora~ Getting that wonderful compliment from your granddaughter and her friend sounds like such a nice PEAK. Congratulations! So glad your gourmet trip went well!!!

Angela–How nice to get positive feedback on your ginger beer presentation from your students. The pink lemonade syrup will be wonderful when you make it in the coming months. Sometimes not weighing yourself is helpful if you know it will just upset you. You’ll be back on track soon with your exercise and eating plan. You’ve been doing so well!

PEAK: Still getting lots of walking in here in Amsterdam. I’m so enjoying spending this time with my husband. It is so crowded here–the streets are packed full of tourists! Both of us have been here before but never together so this is so much fun for us to share. The scariest part about walking everywhere are the bicyclists. There are so many of them and they go really fast. You have to be so careful crossing every single street! How wonderful though that the people here really appreciate exercise and incorporate it into their everyday life!

PIT: I’m worried about gaining weight and won’t get home to my own home and routine until April 8th. :–(

Good to have you back ddraig_goch.

Thank you Janet, I must say I was tickled pink by the girls’ comments 🙂 So pleased you are enjoying your trip, and how lovely to be able to spend some quality time with your husband, and all the walking will be doing a damage limitation exercise on any BSD slip-ups.

Starting with my pit today.

PIT:- The pesky pound I put on over our 3 day break refuses to move, despite being ultra-strict for the past 4 days since returning home. Feeling FAT 🙁

PEAK:- Because I was feeling so fat and a bit down about the above mentioned pound, and despite vowing not to buy any new clothes until I hit my target, while I was in John Lewis today I tried some on, just to try to reassure myself that I wasn’t as fat as I actually felt. Well, the rest is history…………..I bought a gorgeous grey suede jacket, two pairs of skinny jeans, a casual jumper, a little white shirt and a fab evening type top which, as my granddaughter has just said, is “business at the front, party at the back” which actually describes it perfectly 🙂 Spent a small fortune, but at least they were all in the sale 🙂 And the best bit? Not one piece was bigger than a size 12 and half of them were only 10s (UK sizes). 🙂 Feeling chuffed 🙂

Ooh, just thought of another PEAK:- The afore mentioned granddaughter, who is 16, was going to a 70s themed party on Saturday, and she asked if I had any original retro-clothes from the period. I had a selection, including a bright green suede outfit – hugely flared trousers, and a little bolero top, which is what she chose to wear (they are about 4″ wide, so cannot believe I ever got into them!! Or that I’ve kept them for 40 years!) Anyway, she just popped in to return them and she said all her friends asked where she got her amazing outfit from (I also lent her a pair of original platform shoes) and when she told them, they all agreed that she must have, and I quote….”the coolest grandmother in the world!” 🙂 Not going to argue with that 🙂

PS She loved them so much, I told her she could keep them, on the proviso that if I ever get that thin again (some hope – I only weighed 7 stone at the time) and got invited to a 70s evening, I could borrow them back 😉

Theodora~ Thank you for your PEAK! It really cheered me up and made me giggle too! I loved your story about shopping for clothes and also loved your story about your granddaughter wearing your retro clothes for her party.
My husband and I flew from Amsterdam to Washington, D.C. and are currently waiting for our final flight to North Carolina. I am so tired and feel dehydrated. I am drinking lots of water! Hopefully it helps.

I feel FAT and am going to really cut back during my two weeks with my daughter and family so that when I return home, some of the damage will be undone by then. I really, really, really don’t want to get home to find out I’ve gained 5 pounds. That is how I feel right now and I don’t like it.

PEAK: Feeling grateful to have had the opportunity to travel to the Netherland’s and Belgium with my husband. I’m also getting excited to meet my newest granddaughter. She’ll be delivered on March 30th unless she decides to come earlier.

PIT: So tired and feeling fat!

Janet, so pleased my PEAKS cheered you up – they cheered me up too! 🙂

Isn’t is amazing that we have been carrying huge amounts of excess weight around for years without really noticing but now, after doing BSD, even though we are so much slimmer than we used to be, we put on a pound or two and we feel FAT! Hopefully that will come into its own and prove really useful for maintenance. So, as for feeling fat, join the club, but I’m sure any little gains you have made will melt away once you are back home, if not before.

I think it is so lovely that you have managed to spend some special time with your husband – in the rush of modern life it is so easy not to make time for each other. But I can understand how tired you are feeling – travelling, whilst being great fun and very life-enhancing, is really, really tiring, particularly at our age. However, all tiredness will be forgotten when the new arrival makes her debut. Only 2 days to go before the BIG day, you must be sooo excited. Heck, I’m excited for you and I am on the other side of the Pond, and she’s not my grandchild. 😉 Don’t forget to let us know as soon as she is born – now that will be a PEAK to beat all other PEAKS 🙂

Oops, forgot to list my Peaks and Pits.

PEAK :- Going to a concert this evening to hear my gorgeous granddaughter sing Gershwin. Just wonderful 🙂

PIT:- Nearly setting fire to the house by putting rice on to boil for o/h’s early supper this evening, forgetting about it and going off to shower and wash / dry my hair. Came down 45 mins later to a kitchen full of black smoke, rice one solid black lump totally welded to the bottom of the pan! Cleaned up and aired the place as best I could, but came home after the concert to find the house still REEKING!!! Think it will smell for days, weeks, months………………………………

PEAK: Final weight loss for last week was 3lb despite my mini stall at the beginning.

PIT: Not making the time to record my PITS and PEAKS on here daily despite thinking them (too much time in front of the TV on my treadmill getting my step count in).

TODAY’S PEAK: Weighed in this am and have lost another 3.4lb since Tuesday so I’m only 0.4lb off my first stone. Not bad for day 17 (Please don’t think I’m gloating anybody because I’m not, just feeling very, very lucky).

TODAY’S PIT: Am glad to say the sun is out, I’m about to spend 2hr on the treadmill watching the latest episode of Vera and it’s dog club training tonight so I really can’t think of one.

Hi Janet – just wondering if your lovely new granddaughter has arrived safely yet?

If so, I hope that mum and new daughter (and grandma of course) are doing well 🙂

If not yet, I really hope all goes smoothly.

ddraig_goch – well done on almost reaching your stone. Isn’t it great when we don’t have any PITS?

Hi Thodora there will be a big one if I don’t reach my stone by the end of the week haha

PEAK: have just completed my first unplanned 48hr fast and dropped 2.4lb overnight so have lost that tantalising first stone.

PIT: dropped my jar of coconut oil and broke it – not bothered so much about the coconut oil but it took me 18mths to find the storage jar set and at the time there was only one left so I couldn’t get a spare.

Theodora~You were so right about the weight issue of feeling fat! Without a scale to let me know where I’m at, I imagined gaining 5 or so pounds on my trip to the Netherlands and Belgium. I finally got up the courage to weigh myself and the first day I was 2 lbs. over the weight I weighed the day I left home, the second day, I was 1 pound over and today I was the same weight I weighed the day I left on the trip. My husband and I have been taking walks everyday here at our daughter’s and eating BSD friendly foods so everything is going well. I am very relieved! I’m still higher than when I finished my first 8 week-800 BSD round but not too far off so know that with time, and getting back to my own routine, I’ll be back down. Thank you for your input! I so appreciate it.

I hope your house is starting to smell better since the burned rice incident! That smell really stays around a long while. Also, hope your granddaughter’s concert went well.

ddraig-goch~ Congratulations on making your first stone weight loss! That is wonderful news!!!! Sorry about the coconut oil jar that broke. It sounds like it was a very special jar! :–(

PEAK: Our newest granddaughter, Caitlin Elizabeth, arrived on Thursday morning weighing in at 9 lbs. She and her mom are doing great and expected to come home tomorrow. My husband and I have been staying at the house and watching our two granddaughter’s, age 7 and half and age 11 and the black lab. We’ve attended a school play and tonight will go to a volleyball game our oldest granddaughter is participating in. My husband flies back home tomorrow and I’ll return next Saturday. The girls and I will be up at 4:30 am to drive him to the airport for his flight out of Raleigh, North Carolina to San Francisco. I am eager to get back home but also really looking forward to the week ahead and helping my daughter out as she gets her strength back from her delivery.

PIT: No pits today!

Wishing you all a great weekend! Haven’t seen you online for a bit Angela. I hope things are going well for you too!

Wow, Janet, wonderful news about the safe arrival of Caitlin Elizabeth. Very pretty name for a no doubt very pretty baby 🙂 Please pass on my congratulations to your daughter.

How lovely to be able to spend some time with your two granddaughters and then, when your daughter brings the new baby home, to be able to stay long enough to get to know the new babe – what a very special time that will be.

Well done on doing so well maintaining your weight whilst you were away too, I’m sure all that walking helped 😉 And, as you say, once you get home and back into routine you will soon be back into the swing of things and the pounds will start to melt away again.

HaHa ddraig_goch, I’m so pleased to hear you got there 🙂 Would have hated you to have a big PIT 😉 And well done on your 48 hour fast, it would appear you have reaped the rewards.

PEAK:- Relaxed family Saturday spent with my granddaughters, and helping No.1 granddaughter revise for her upcoming GCSEs.

PIT:- One of my poor dogs has gone down with a really severe case of Kennel Cough, really raw hacking cough causing him to expel all stomach contents every time he eats and once his stomach is empty, copious amounts of bile. He is looking very sorry for himself, as am I as I was up all last night with him. I guess the icing on the cake will be that the other one is bound to go down with it too 🙁 Hopefully not as severely though 🙂 But it means keeping them away from all other dogs, so will have to curtail their normal walks. That will severely impact my step count for the coming week – was aiming for 150,000 this week too. So double PIT really. 🙁

Angela – echoing what Janet has said above. Do hope everything is OK?

Theodora~ Thank you for the sweet wishes! Mom, dad and baby are coming home today (Sunday)! My daughter’s husband has been with her and the baby the entire time at the hospital. What a wonderful partner for her! She remarried last year and this guy is like night and day compared to her 1st husband. I’m really happy for both of them. He has two daughters from a previous marriage and she has two from a previous marriage and now they have this beautiful baby girl together!!

I am so sorry to hear your poor pup has come down with kennel cough! That just sounds so miserable and I’m sure very worrisome for you. I hope your other dog won’t get it. :–( Wishing a quick recovery!

I got up at 4:00 am to drive my husband to the airport. Our granddaughter’s had to go with us since their parents were at the hospital. They took it well and didn’t complain. When I got them back home, they went back to bed until 10:15 am. I cleaned the house while they slept and got in 6000 steps. The house is ready for the baby’s homecoming!

My husband’s flight was delayed by 2 hours–ugh!–I felt for him since he had to arrive at the airport early, then the delay and now a 6 hour flight home. He didn’t sleep at all last night so hopefully he will get some rest today.

I’m going to take my granddaughter’s shopping today, out to lunch and then maybe to the movie’s to see, “Beauty and the Beast”. If we don’t get around to all that, we should be able to go to the movie’s on Friday.

PEAK: The grandbaby’s coming home today!
PIT: Wish my husband could be here for the arrival.

Thanks, Janet. He seems much perkier today and is not coughing nearly as much, so hopefully is on the mend, which means I may actually get some sleep tonight – they sleep in our room and the coughing has been so bad and virtually continuous that there has been no chance of sleeping!! The other one is showing no signs (yet!) so hoping it stays that way.

Your O/H’s flight being delayed was a bit of a bummer, especially as you could have all had an extra 2 hours in bed 😉

Enjoy little Caitlin – sounds as though she is going to get spoiled with all those big sisters to “mother” her 🙂

Enjoy the film too, if you manage to get there.

Thanks Theodora. So sorry to hear about your poor pup. I hope he gets better soon.

SAT PEAK: I work weekends and had to tighten the drawstring on my trousers by 3″ to stop them falling down. (They were a bit loose last week, but this time I had no choice but to do something about it.)
SAT PIT: Ate 3 red grapes (trying to steer clear of fruit) when not thinking as a I cleared up the tea room. Just shows how automated habits can become.

TODAYS PEAK: Another 1.4lb loss overnight – that makes 7.2lb so far this week. Unbelievable.
TODAYS PIT: Depressing thoughts closing in at the thought my success so far is not sustainable and a prolonged stall must be just around the corner. Isn’t the mind a funny thing in that it try’s to put a damper on any success.

PIT: Got the results of my dodgy knee x-ray back from the doctor today. No running, don’t overdo the walking (I’m feeling it today after my energetic TV watching over the weekend), but cycling is good. So today is the start of my 8 week cycling campaign from couch to 30 miles.

PEAK: Another half lb disappeared overnight making 7.6lb in total. Wonder if I can make it 8 for my official weigh-in tomorrow.

It’s a lovely sunny morning here today and the start of a new week. Hope everybody is as motivated as I am to make it a good one.

ddraig_goch, well done with the disappearing lbs and bad luck re the dodgy knee. But I have to say, with the greatest admiration, that your approach is nothing if not flexible. That will work well for the sustainability you were worrying about, I’m sure.

Theadora – hope your doggy is a bit better today and you slept ok last night.

ddraig_goch, sorry to hear about your dodgy knee and the impact it will have on your treadmill. But I agree with Marsie, you are nothing if not flexible, inventive too 🙂 Liking your attitude. 😉

Krysia – thank you for asking, and yes, he is much more like himself (a lunatic 😉 ), hardly any hacking last night so we all slept soundly, thank you.

PEAK:- Glorious, warm, sunny Spring day and o/h offered to take me out for lunch!! I declined, but as the dogs are bouncing off the walls due to enforced containment because of no contact with other dogs, he suggested that we venture out into the hills instead, somewhere really quiet where we are unlikely to meet any, and give them a good run. Will help with my step count too. 🙂

PIT:- Had to decline o/h’s offer to buy me lunch as I am determined to hit, and maybe even exceed, my target weight by next Monday (1.75lbs to go). I did tell him that we can stop for afternoon tea though – he can have the scones / jam / cream, and I’ll just have a lovely pot of Earl Grey with lemon. So that could be a PEAK too 🙂

Sorry to give the wrong impression everybody – my treadmill challenges still stand just slower, with no incline and minimum distance required if the knee starts to hurt. The biking is an addition to get the knee fully fit. It’s been my aim for years to run 2x 10k over New Years Eve and New Years Day and this year I’m determined to get there. A couple of weeks ago I went to a physio who said the knee is shot don’t even think about exercise ever again (shan’t be going back there!!) so went to my very good doctor who was more than happy to work on a plan with me. In return I have promised to do as he says, hence the bike plan (and a load of thigh/knee exercises).

Theodora glad poor pup is well enough for a run out.

Hello everyone…

Janet…congratulations to you and your family on the arrival of little Caitlin, such a pretty name. I’m so pleased that everything went well and that you made it back in time. I hope she’s well settled at home with her big sisters and I bet you’re going to miss them all! And as a bonus to all that happiness you managed to keep your weight under control while away, that has to be difficult.
Theodora…I’m glad that puppy is recovering and up for a trip outside. Kennel cough is so nasty and it can’t have been much fun sharing a bedroom with him.

Ddraig_Goch: well done with the bike. Knees are such tricky things. A friend also uses a bike to strengthen the muscles round his knees and has managed to avoid surgery. Good luck.

The Pit first…well I had my first appointment with the cardiovascular specialist. My resting heart is looking OK so good news but he’s put me on medication for my blood pressure (which isn’t that high) and thinks that the problem is circulation. I’m hating taking this medication! It’s draining me of energy and leaving me with a mild headache. But I’ve still got 2 days of tests to go..yuk.
The peak…some lovely socialising which explains why my weight is yoyoing! Not the best week.

PEAK: Gone down a trouser size and can now fit comfortably into by size 12 jeans rather than having to force my way in and not sit down or breathe whilst I’m wearing them.
PIT: found out last night that cycling AND doing enough on the treadmill for all my treadmill challenges is not doable so will do enough treadmill to keep up with my 1000mi in 2017 and add both cycling and treadmill cals together against my cal intake.
2nd PEAK: totalled up my treadmill miles so far and have done just over 44.
2nd PIT: discovered this morning that my spreadsheet is totalling weekly results tues – mon instead of wed-tues so will have to change my official weigh-in day to mon.

Janet sorry I forgot to congratulate you earlier on the birth of little Caitlin. I agree with Angela06, it’s such a lovely name.

Angela06, sorry to hear about your blood pressure troubles. Just a thought, but if it turns out to be circulation issues, aren’t there any holistic remedies (acupuncture, move around etc) you could use rather than medication?

Good morning,

I hope you’re all doing well.

Theodora…I see from another thread that you’ve reached your goal…well done. I bet that feels so good.

Ddraig_goch…thank you for the suggestion re the medication. I still have 2 tests to do..a scan of my arteries and the sress test so I’ll take the tablets till then and after hopefully negotiate with the doctor. My bp has been slightly elevated for a while and for me the most important thing, my calves hurt when uphill walking which is a sign of poor circulation. Well done on your exercise programme…do you cycle on the road? Oh and how wonderful to fit into size 12. Soooo envious here 😉

Janet…I hope it wasn’t too hard to leave baby Caitlin. Do you have another visit planned?

A peak..My weight is dropping slowly, very slowly. I’m going away for a few days so had hoped for a bigger drop but heyho I’ll take what I can. An unrelated peak..my son is home and is mowing the lawn…such a sweet sound 😉

My pit…I haven’t got a lot of energy and this afternoon I have my quiet grandson and my turbo charged granddaughter. I’m glad they’re not both turbo charged though!

Theodora, Congratulations on reaching your goal. I am hoping that this time, with all the motivation and love flowing from everyone on this forum, that I will finally be able to manage it too.

Angela06, fingers crossed for your remaining tests. I’m going to start by cycling on the Turbo for the first 4 weeks as I want to concentrate on getting bum fit (my bike has a racing seat – not comfortable initially) and being able to cycle 45min without free wheeling. This will enable me to convert distance cycled to steps. Then I’m going to hit the road. Would be nice to be able to cycle to and from work once a week 15 mile away, but only if I can do it in a reasonable time (Dog, crossed paws, wrecked house etc.)

PIT: Frustratingly, sat on same lb for last 3 days despite treadmilling/cycling my cal intake daily.

PEAK: On the same lb but losing -.4lb daily. Have worked out that if this carried on I would reach my ultimate, probably no lower, goal by mid July so MUST HAVE PATIENCE . (Won’t happen of course but one can dream).

PEAK2: Said jeans from yesterday came off without undoing them! Amazing what a bit of quick weight loss can do for moral (NB: not gloating, just lucky).

May all your Peaks be higher than the depths of your Pits.

Ddraig_goch…lovely salutation! Good luck with the cycling..removing size 12 jeans without undoing them! Now I”m really envious…

Angela and ddraig_goch, thank you for your congratulations, but a bit premature 😉 Sadly, I am not quite there yet – another 1.5lbs to go! And even when I manage that (and it has really slowed down now) I have decided to keep going and hopefully lose another half stone to give me some wriggle room. But we shall see…………..

Angela, I do hope your tests are ok. Such a worrying time for you, but lovely to have your son home, mowing the lawn – smells and sounds of summer 🙂

ddraig_goch – I can manage the size 12 jeans, and I have just bought a couple of pairs of size 10s which fit nicely, but not sure I could get either size off without undoing them 😮 So well done you 🙂

PIT: Today has been my hardest day so far, I clock watched the final 4 hrs of my 24hr fast, then I got the munches this pm and ended up eating more than I planned, so I had to do an extra hour of TV watching to make up for it. Coupled to that I have been freezing cold and tired all day . It has not been a good one.

PEAK: I kept below 800 cals just, I forced myself to burn off just over 800 cals watching TV then took the dog out and we ended up enjoying ourselves and doing the long loop rather than the intended shorter one. Finally its so cold outside that for few minutes today I actually felt warm coming back into the house afterwards. So all my good intentions are intact and tomorrow is a new day. Just hope its a bit warmer.

Congratulations, Theodora on today’s great peak. It must be truly amazing to reach your Mt Everest and you are an inspiration to all of us to keep calm (when we have to traverse a pit) and carry on.

PIT: Stats on course but day 5 on the same pound. I am sick of the sight of 173 on the scales and probably should give up weighing for a couple of days. But there is a kind of perverse pleasure in stepping on every morning and seeing the same number flashing up at me, whilst waiting and hoping for it to change (downwards of course).

It’s interesting to see the fight that my body is putting up not to go any lower. The .8lb I gained yesterday has come back off but the BF/water/LBM % have all stayed the same. I am doing extra exercise to burn off my daily ingested cals on top of giving the dog an extra walk, burning my TDEE and the exercise that comes with my normal daily routine and yet it still clings on valiantly.

I am sleeping better than I have done in years, feel great, eating approx. 500-560 cals per day normally in 1 sitting (because mindfully that’s all I need, not because I am denying myself) so I have no idea where the body is getting all this energy from but hey, who cares. The whoosh fairy must come along at some point.

PEAK: Today I looked at my body properly for the first time in along time. I was surprised to find I have very defined, solid biceps (we won’t talk about triceps – think huge bingo wings). The puckering on my loose stomach skin is starting to reappear showing that the fat is melting from this area and leaving just the skin. The bottom part of my legs are looking strong and muscular (don’t look above the knees though). Someone commented yesterday at how thin my face has got. I will never have the perfect body but its time to get the weights out and start toning what I have got.

PEAK:- My peak today has been documented elsewhere, but will post it here too, because I am walking on air – today I reached my goal weight! 🙂 11 weeks and 4 days have seen me drop 32lbs 🙂 🙂 🙂 Doing the happy dance all day 🙂

2nd PEAK:- As we have a few “summer events” to attend, including a wedding, Royal Ascot and the Northumberland Plate, I celebrated my achievement by going out and buying one of the prettiest dresses I have ever owned. I’ve never really been a “dress” person, but this one is so flattering, a little bias cut chiffon number, in creams, pale pinks and blues, in a midi length and I’m really thrilled with it, perfect fit and a size (UK)10 🙂 I cannot believe how BIG the 12 was on me!!! Now all I need are the shoes and hat to go with it, then I’m all set for the social scene 🙂

3rd PEAK:- I have also had my hair cut and restyled this morning, much shorter and sharper, and so many people have already commented on how much younger the new style makes me look. A whole new me has been unveiled 🙂

4th PEAK:- O/h told me this morning that, although I have lost shed loads of weight, he hadn’t really noticed it until the past week, but now I am looking – and I quote – “slender, young and spritely”. I think it’s probably because during the past week I have started wearing clothes that actually FIT, as opposed to all the baggy numbers that I have been wearing up til then. And the new hairstyle won’t have done any harm. But, wow – for a man that, after 48 years of marriage, seldom notices how I look, that is some compliment 🙂 Mind you, he did joke that, what with the dress and the hairdresser’s bill, champagne would have been a cheaper way to celebrate 😉 But no alcohol will be touching my lips for a while yet.

PIT:- How could I possibly have a PIT on the day I have reached target? Will be doing the happy dance all day long 🙂

Theadora what a treat to read your peaks ……all three of them. Congratulations to you you have done really well.x

Theadora – I loved reading about all your peaks. How lovely that your o/h said that you look slender, young and sprightly. I think you are right that clothes that actually fit you make such a difference.

I am also finding that size 12 is just so large now.

Oh Theodora what wonderful peaks…it sounds like you really have emerged from your chrysalis. I love the sound of your new dress and with lots of lovely events to wear it to! Really well done 😉

Ddraig goch…your exercise programme is awesome and inspiring. I haven’t been on a bike for around 40 years but the other day after reading your post I turned to my husband and remarked that I could have cycled the path we were on. I think hes still recovering from the shock!

Janet….I hope you’re ok. Thinking about you.

Peak…my weight dropped 1.5kgs in a matter of days since starting this medication. Of course I’ll yoyo back up but it’s nice to see on the scales. 2nd peak…off to catch my flight to the UK where I’m going to spend a few days with my sister. No pits, not one!

See you next week.

Positivity is getting hard – ingested 510cals, TV watched 515cals, total steps 25000, scales up .6lb, BF% up 0.2. Will someone PLEASE send the whoosh fairy my way?

Plateaux day 6 – one day at a time.

Fairyface, Krysia and Angela, thank you for your congratulations and I’m glad you enjoyed my peaks, but not dount not as much as I did 🙂

Angela, I really hope the 1.5kg stays off, I’m sure it will if you stick with 800, though that may be difficult as you are going away, and I really hope you enjoy your few days with your sister.

ddraig_goch, my longest plateau was 13 days, and was pretty demoralising as it started really early, in week 2 of round one despite sticking religiously to less that 30g carbs and 800 cals per day, and exercising (though not quite as much as you) But then, I was finally rewarded by a visit from the Whoosh Fairy and dropped 3.5lbs overnight – not a huge amount for 2 weeks hard work, but after that the weight dropped steadily for the next few weeks until I hit the next plateau. But despite 2 plateaus, I have still managed my goal weight in less that 12 weeks, so please keep going, it WILL happen.

Ooh, sorry, I meant to ask in the above post if everything is ok Janet? Haven’t heard from you in a while, but hopefully that’s just because you have been so tied up with your granddaughters and baby Caitlin? Think you may be travelling home this weekend, though, after your wonderful trip, so hope to hear from you soon.

Theodora thanks for sharing, Positivity restored. I was interested in your post on ‘Despondant…..but just gotta do it!’ that you had a goal of losing 32lb in the 8 weeks. I hadn’t really thought about a goal loss for each BDS cycle, jut knew my initial and mid goals and that I would probably need at lest 3 cycles. I think to put a definite marker down for BDS cycle is a great idea and 32lb not only puts me way past what I was expecting, making cycle 2 16lb and cycle 3 8lb would give me a loss of 4st and get me into the very hazy world of unbelievable, never been there in my life, kind of final goal. So thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

PEAK: After doing 24,481 steps yesterday, the body finally cracked and I am down exactly a lb, plateaux broken on day 7.

PIT: After that (for me) momentous event and Theodora restoring my positivity, how can there be a PIT today?

ddraig_goch, glad to have been of help, and I’m so pleased that your positivity has been restored and that the plateau seems to have finally been broken.

Actually, I only set 28lbs target for my first round, then increased it to 32lbs, although it did take me 11weeks and 4 days to finally reach the revised goal. As I want some “wriggle room” I have now revised down again by another 4 lbs, so although I am very happy at the weight I now am, I shall continue with BSD800 for a while longer. I have to admit that I am enjoying the new WOE and the extra exercise (particularly in this glorious weather) so much that I am not finding it difficult at all. I do think water is the key.

PEAK:- Having helped restore ddraig_goch’s positivity 😉 And of course being able to walk miles and miles in this glorious weather.

NO PIT – apart from having to pack for my 2 week trip – shouldn’t complain, as it is a holiday, but oh how I HATE packing 😮

Theodora loving your peak. Happy holiday and watch out for the carb monster lurking behind all that lovely sunshine and holiday food & drink.

PEAK: Have reached the halfway point of my BSD1 journey and am able to report I have lost 10% of my body weight!!!

After my long plateaux this week I still managed to lose more than my hoped for 2.5lb and looking back at the figures it seems my journey is going to be one of good weight loss week, plateaux with 2lb loss at the end of the week then repeat. Whether I reach my goal of 32lb for BSD1 remains to be seen as that will required an average loss of 3.3lb over the next 4 weeks but its something to aim for, and whatever I lose, I shall halve that amount as my goal for BSD2.

PEAK2: I have also lost 6.5% BF and gained 6.2% LBM over the last 4 weeks, in fact my current LBM is 0.6lb heavier than when I started, which means that everything I have lost so far is fat.

With peaks like these, how can there be a PIT?

Happy Monday everyone and may all your PITs be shallow ones.

Forgot to mention PEAK3 in my previous post – am I allowed a PEAK3 or is that too many rays of sunshine for 1 day? Anyway:

PEAK3: have found my ribs (happy dance). Standing tall WITHOUT breathing in there is definitely an outline where the rib cage is and a dip where the stomach sits. Can’t see the bones yet but I can feel them with little pressure.