*Linzerellos Blog

It's taken a while - but last night, there was definitely an improvement in my effort at PT - I am by no means a converted gym bunny, but last night, there was a difference. Maybe it's a mental thing, but my Trainer remarked that it was by far my best session to date and I could feel it too.

We started on the cross trainer doing sprint intervals. Normally I struggle to get the speed past 10 on the sprints, but last night I really pushed myself and was around 13. 25 minutes later and after seeing my Heart Rate at 182 (I am fairly sure this reading is dodgy as I am sure I'd be dead now) I was pretty knackered.... but I persevered with the strength exercises. We did lots of reps to the point of failure - i.e. til my arms or legs gave way. I feel pretty sore today, but quite pleased with myself all the same. I just need to try and fit in another few sessions this week.

Now if only I can sort out my eating....

Day 4 of the Photography Challenge - something green

I snapped a load of photos in the gym last night, as that's pretty green... but they were all very mundane. So here is a picture of last night's dinner....

Yup - a lot of gravy on that Broccoli. I am a Northerner after all...

I've had such a lovely weekend, I feel pretty sad that it's over and it's Monday again.

Friday night we spent with friends celebrating their engagement. Lots of wedding chat which was nice, we ate Tapas and drank a lot of red wine. I woke up on Saturday feeling somewhat fuzzy headed, but I got up - made a healthy breakfast and then headed to the gym. I've managed to trap a nerve in my back which is making moving a tad difficult, but I did as much as I could - so 25 minutes of cardio on the treadmill, squats, lunges and kettle bells along with sit ups. My legs are still aching in a mental fashion today.

Yesterday started off very lazily, Matt got up early and went to spinning, but my legs and back were having none of it so I lay in bed :) We then went for the most amazing Sunday lunch which ended up being 3 courses, plus Prosecco - I'd decided not to drive so we could walk and get in a bit of exercise - but no car + a lovely restaurant = alcohol. Not clever.

So - plan for this week, take it one meal at a time and keep up the exercise, I've a mental few weeks coming up on the social front (I don't now have a free weekend until the end of March!!) so I am going to have be as good as I can manage.

And finally for today - Day 3 of the Photography Challenge - Clouds:

Taken on my journey to work this morning....

I originally saw this posted on Pink Chilli Vintages Blog and then saw Sue was joining in too so thought I'd jump on the bandwagon in an attempt to make my blog a little less dull.

The challenge is to take a picture every day with a different theme - I tried to start yesterday but Blogpress was not playing ball so you get 2 today. You lucky lot.



Day Two - What I wore today. 

We've just been for lunch so this was me. Usually a Sunday consists of PJ's so this is a rare treat. Bird print dress from New Look, Matalan Cardigan, trousers from Evans, shoes by Accessorize. Another rubbish photo - must try harder.

Radio Silence this week as I've been struggling a bit. Mainly I've been massively busy with work (yet again) but I am just not sure what the heck is going on with me at the moment - it's like I've got two different heads.

My exercise is going great guns. Still doing PT and noticing a massive improvement. I feel fitter, my strength work has improved loads and I feeling a lot better about it all - I actually almost enjoyed Monday's PT session - but I won't tell anyone. I managed 4 gym sessions last week - all pretty full on with 30 minutes of Cardio and then 30 minutes of strength (squats, kettle bells etc).

My meals are also pretty bang on. I am back following Slimming World and have been doing pretty well. Minimal bread, lots of lean meat and vegetables, the odd bit of fruit, enough water to fill a swimming pool. It all sounds great, right?

And that's where the good side of me ends... I just can't seem to stop eating crap in between.

Work is really not helping. This week in the office we have had:

• Carrot Cake
• Red Velvet Cupcakes
• Nutella and Bailey's Cheesecake
• Mini Chocolate Doughnuts
• Mini Toblerones
• Mini Green and Blacks bars

Thank you all for your lovely comments on the wedding dress post. You are all very lovely people. Since I didn't bore you all to death with wedding chat, expect more to come!

I've had another mixed bag this week. I've bitten the bullet and signed up for Slimming World online again and am enjoying planning a few meals to try and motivate myself to stick to it. Exercise is still in full flow - I am not finding PT is getting any easier at all. I had another session on Monday and here I am, 2 days later, still in total agony. I ended up with cramp in my tricep on Monday and went on ridiculous - you'd have thought I'd been shot. I'm such a wuss - in my defence, it was bloody painful.... my arm still hurts now.

I've noticed a massive improvement in my sit ups and arm strength, but my squats are still pretty poor. I was beating myself up about it a bit, but my trainer did point out that my thighs are my 'problem' area so I am doing squats with a lot of extra weight. I guess if I keep practising, they will get better. I'm off there again tonight, so here's hoping I can move a bit better by then.

The weekend was a bit mental - we went for lunch with 3 other couples to Brown's in Reading on Saturday which should have been a civilised affair - by 3pm we were drinking shots of Sambucca amongst other things. It was all very messy. Let's just say, we were passed out in bed by 9pm. I can't really remember what I ate - but I am fairly sure I drank my bodyweight in alcohol, so it wasn't a very healthy day! Sunday, we did absolutely nothing other than a quick walk to try and blow away some of the cobwebs.

Since then, not much else to report. I've stuck to SW pretty well, had another session in the gym and had my hospital appointment yesterday for my Urticaria - she is testing my thyroid as she thinks this could be related... so let's see what the blood tests come back with next week. I have a cocktail of tablets to take to try and stop my face from exploding whenever I get hot, so fingers crossed.

Oh - and a hop on the scales this morning shows a 2.5 pound loss - more than happy with that so here's hoping a full week of SW will add to that. I am going to try and get in the habit of posting a bit more regularly to try and keep my focussed. Expect a lot more inane drivel from me.

Everything hurts. You'd imagine, that after 2 months or so, of personal training sessions, that I'd be finding it a little bit easier. Think again. I was already suffering a bit on Tuesday after swimming on Sunday and a deep tissue massage on Monday night (seriously, don't have a deep tissue massage if you are sore - you may well hit the roof and scream numerous obscenities at the perfectly lovely masseuse), but Tuesday was just really bloody hard work. I felt sick for the first time since session one - I've had a bit of a stomach bug since Friday, which probably didn't help (TMI - but squatting with a dodgy tum is even harder than you'd imagine!).

PT started off with 25 mins of intervals on the cross trainer followed by step ups (and the step was knee height) squats using a weight, arm and back exercises and then some form of hideous sit ups on the step which had me standing, lying down on the step, lifting my legs over my head, lowering them back to the floor, performing a sit up and then back to standing. Repeat x 30. I cannot tell you how hard I found these puppies. Agony. I had to go to bed at 9pm on Tuesday as I was so bloody knackered.

So, after all of my hard work, I was pretty hopeful of a little loss on the scales. Think again (again) - 2 lbs on.

That put me in a proper strop. I am almost back to where I was when I started this journey (which appears to be a circular route, rather than the one way street I'd hoped for). It has spurred me on however, I can't see that hideous figure on the scales again so action is needed. I went to the gym last night, despite being unable to walk and did a quick 45 minute work out. If I couldn't move much yesterday, today is a total write off.

Eating is a lot more focussed since the scales and I fell out. I am using myfitnesspal to track calories at the moment while I decide whether I need to sign up for yet another Fat Class. Slimming World seems ideal, but the nearest class to me has the totally rubbish leader and I am wondering if I should sign up online again - or maybe Weight Watchers is the answer, as it worked for me before.... to be honest, I just don't know... but in the meantime I will continue to try and stick to around 1750 calories a day and see where that gets me.

So - back to wedding chat, you can stop reading now if you are bored of it already... but as requested by Peridot, a bit more about the dress!

I already had an idea of what I wanted, but I was dreading going to Bridal stores as I'd heard most sample sizes are a size 10 or something equally as unattainable as that. I found a shop not far from me that specialised in Plus Sized Bridal wear and called them to see if they had the dress I loved in stock - they did! However, when I got there is was a size 12... but I was assured I could try it on.... You really can't get an idea about a dress when a woman is stood behind you keeping it fastened. As you can see - it did nothing for me really - but who knows if it would have been lovely in my actual size:


That was me thoroughly disheartened. I tried on a few dresses that did fit, but they all looked like satin sacks to me. They had nothing else that I wanted - I knew a long dress wasn't for me since we're getting married in Italy and having tried on a few - I knew they definitely weren't my bag.

In  the end, I decided to get something made. It's a similar style to the above - i.e. Tea Length and strapless, but the bodice is a lot more fitted, so gives me a lovely waist and good support for the ample bust and the bottom is a lot less fancy, so doesn't make me look even wider than I already am. It's a lot like this made by the same people:



I wanted to go for a 50's style so I spent hours trawling the internet for tea length styles, but again, it was really hard to find plus sizes. I think I love my dress - but it's hard to know until it's actually made. In the shop I was wearing one dress - which the top will be modelled on, with the bottom of another attached so I could get an idea. I was lucky that the shop I ended up using is a friend of my sister and they were all really lovely and full of ideas.

So - I am hoping I will feel like a princess on the day - not least I hope I don't look like a hippo wrapped in Ivory Tulle.

And breathe... I seem to have gotten carried away there with wedding chat! Sorry - I promise I won't do it again :)

My resolution to blog more often appears to have failed. Work is still crazy - my 2 colleagues are still on holiday (seriously taking the pee now), so it's all a bit manic over here presently.

Exercise is going fairly well, since last Tuesday, I've done another PT session, a couple of 3 mile walks, 35 minutes of swimming and I've got another PT session tonight. Food is still a bit hit and miss. During the week I am pretty good - lots of veg is being consumed along with lean meat, the weekend was a little bit less focussed. We were away at a hotel near Bristol, so had cooked breakfast on Saturday, no lunch and then dinner at the Marco Pierre White Steakhouse on Saturday night.

We walked a fair bit during the day - a trip to Weston Super Mare (bloody frozen) and Cheddar Gorge, so that was helpful, but I am in danger of resembling an elephant soon if I don't sort things out... Look at that hamster face!!

2012 already - how utterly scary. How did this happen? I am sure last year passed me by in a massive blur.

Christmas was lovely, although I had the misfortune to be struck down with some sort of chest infection/ lurgy which is still lingering after almost 3 weeks. I spent a lot of time doing very little, with the exception of a few long walks, spending time with my nieces and eating and drinking far too much and the occasional bit of work - which had not been part of the agenda.

Looking back, 2011 was a good year for me. I got engaged to my favourite ever boy, I got promoted at work and I made a start on getting back to the gym. On the downside - my weight didn't really move - if anything it moved upwards which was clearly not the plan. I seriously need to address my constant failure to stick at any weight loss regime.

I've not made any specific New Year's resolutions as I generally just set myself up for a fall. I want to continue with my personal training sessions at the gym and be as fit and healthy as I can be in 2012. I hope to lose a couple of stone before my wedding (yes - my wedding - yikes!!) at the end of August, but I am not going to give myself any targets otherwise I'll end up beating myself up when I don't reach that goal.

Yesterday I had a PT session - which after 2 weeks away almost finished me off. I'd managed about 15 miles of walking over Christmas, which was not as good as I'd hoped, but a start anyway. The healthy eating plan has commence today and I am utterly famished!

So - here's hoping for a healthy and happy New Year.