a fasting feast!

So....day Nine and a week+ gone on the fasting/feasting new eating regime and so far so good!  I have to say that NOT thinking about food seems to work.  On my fasting days I am keeping the calories consumed to under 300, and drinking lots of tea and water and a cup of soup.  BUT on the feasting days I am finding that I am not over eating but enjoying again not having to think about what I eat, just eating.

In the past I have tried all sorts of other diet from Atkins to Slimming World, and each time I find that I become food obsessed, wonder about every little thing and having to plan meals turns into a chore!  Now I am not saying that this is a breeze as my job involves me being out in the evenings in peoples home's who lay on food!  And some yummy food at that, in fact last night my hostess had cooked up a very tasty Paella and a white choc chip cheese cake, an thankfully it was a feast day!  BUT it felt great to not have to worry about how much I had of it, had it taken me over my calorie, fat, sins count and I am pleased to say that I ate a small piece of cheesecake and a small bowl of Paella and that was enough.  Of course I had also indulged in some doritos and a fabulous zesty lime salsa, of which I really want the recipe as it was delicious!

Soooo onto the weight loss, a pound, yes just a 1lb but that is 1lb of fat gone!  Now I am sure that when I start upping my exercise again then I can double that figure easily!  But for the rest of this week I will be enjoying a free meal at Jamie's Italian in Birmingham as part of an achieved VIP trip, and with fingers crossed will be partaking in some Olympics of my own on Saturday night ;-)

Scrambled excitement!

There are some things in nature that are just amazing, and dragonflies are one of them.  They are not something that I have seen around the garden at all, so when one flew into the house today, closely followed by my terrier I was in awe!  I am not sure if it was male or female, but it was beautiful and I believe to be a Golden Ringed Dragonfly

Trying to get a picture while desperately opening a window to get it outside and keeping the terrier away was a challenge!

live longer by starvation???

Last night, after being alerted to this program by my mum, I tuned in and watched the Horizon program - eat, fast and live longer! 

Fascinating is an understatement, and in my head it made sense of why, when dieting , you don't eat one day and then gorge the next I have still managed to lose weight???  And how when having an emotional few days and therefore eating a lot less, I lose weight and the bloating!

It brought to light the gene IGF-1, which it seems is responsible for your body being in a go go go mode leading to what I perceive burnout, or ageing of the body.  Makes total sense when you think that you cant always operate at maximum drive.

So, today after doing some further internet research I have decide to give it a go and day 1 is now!  After all why wait.....  Over the years I have tried all sorts of things in the name of 'dieting', and have had some success with the healthy eating plan and exercise.  But what makes sense to me about these facts are that the body is reacting to it's environment and one that seems to me correct when presented with the science.

So far so good, and if I am honest I find it easier to not eat than have to worry about what I am eating and how many times a day.  So quite happily I have had my black tea and one cup a soup during the day. Yes I have had some hunger pangs, but I drank tea when I had them and they went away, and it is just for 24 hours, so really is that such a hardship, and boy have I got some fat reserves to draw on!

Exercise is the thing to bring into it, I have not been to step for a few weeks, however having a look on http://www.theiflife.com/ Mike recommends weights for exercise so perhaps I should return to body pump, or of course just go work out at http://www.mikemundsfitness.co.uk/

Follow my progress here folks :-)

I did it!

If I am honest, I am not much of a goal setter...... there I've said it! I'm one of these people that knows that if you want something to happen then you need to make it happen, but I really am rubbish at making it into a goal. In my head I know what needs to be done so I seem to just do it. When I joined Jamie at Home, I knew that one day I would meet the man himself in person and on the 5th July 2012 I did just that :-) The event of the year is Pimms and Pizza, mainly as it is where the best of the best get to hob nob with Jamie in his garden as his house in Essex. To do this you need to either be a draw winner (nope not leaving it to chance), A top 20 company consultant on sales (something achievable from your hard work) or a top 10 recruiter (which needs the recruit to achieve a sales target) One thing I know I can rely on is myself, so I aimed to make it the category of top 20 sales consultant. So I booked a ton of parties into my diary and set out to make the best of them that I could, I told those at the parties my intentions and it was such a pleasure to know that they wanted me to achieve Pimm's and Pizza as much as I did. Halfway through the qualifying period I yo yo'd from 24th place to 6th place to 21st place and then on the last day it went blank and the agonising wait to find out if I had made it back into the top 20 started. I was at an event with two of my super team members when the call came, and my squealing filled the casino. Donna and Charlotte knew instantly what had happened and were jumping for joy with me. So despite the long journey I have to say that the day at Jamie's house was worth it, and the sun shone! The only day of the week that it did. It was fantastic to be there with our executive Director Sue Turpin, our area draw winner Holly Gunner and fellow top 20 sales consultant Sue Heyland and of course about 40 other ladies.

Talking with Jamie was very surreal but totally normal, he is exactly like you see on the telly! Although he does think I am a bit bonkers due to my telling him of a trip that my sister and I are planning to Europe in a camper van taking in the sights of a giant pink knitted rabbit in Italy!

So my final picture is the one that I have been working hard for, of me and the man himself.