45.6lbs!

As predicted, the weigh in today was more than yesterday, but I'm still happy with the 2.6lb loss this week! After last week's big loss, I wasn't expecting the same result again anyway! I've lost 45.6lbs in total now, so I have 4.4lbs for the 50lb star!!! 

I still had 26 weekly PP left at the end of the week and that's a first, ever! Plus I had 22 activity points untouched! I know I can do this now and if I aim for 1.5lbs per week, I can reach goal in 6 weeks, a week ahead of when I wanted to get there! 

Planning for the week ahead really worked last week, plus it meant that if I did have a situation with going over, I had the buffer to allow for it! This week is going to be harder, as I'm going to Madrid on Tuesday and back late Wednesday, so I can't prepare as easily, so I'll just have to be sensible! 

Planning a long walk with Munkee today, as it was hailing last night and we couldn't take him out. A good hour and a half should kick the week off nicely! 

Laters,

Weeza xx

Tuesday Night Update - Week 2 - Meh!!

Well, it did say in my stars that if I needed to 'let it out' today, then I should! So, I did!

I'm normally the caring & compassionate one, that takes everyone's feelings into account but very rarely I let go, where people are genuinely shocked! Today was one of those days!

I've been feeling this building up for a couple of weeks, mostly because people can be too lame to stand up and hold themselves accountable and I have to mop up the mess... Sigh... Every now and then I'll bring it back into check and people realise that I'm not their safety blanket all of the time... Today I couldn't give a toss if it was the Queen I was letting down!!

You know when it doesn't matter what you do, how many old ladies you help cross the road, how many animals you save from certain death, you know that it would be just your luck that the angels at the pearly gates are having a bad day and decide its you that's going to hell and not the mass murderer standing behind you in the queue... Well I obviously pissed the cosmos off today!!! Well, yesterday too if I'm honest!!

I think one of the problems is I've not had enough downtime this year. I've had the odd days off, but mostly to help out when needed, I've had a lot of stress this year, personally and at work and I've had just a week away since January! We're away in just over 5 weeks, but it can't come soon enough! I need some me, David and Munkee time...

Because I'm low, I let go tonight, I finished the Baileys and a bottle of low alcohol wine! I'd have stayed on track otherwise! Now I'm minus on a Tuesday! Minus 30 PP... Ok, so the Baileys didn't start it well on Sunday, but I've made it 10 times worse tonight, and I'm not sure if I don't care or if I'm pissed off!

I've an early start to drive to Chesterfield tomorrow morning, as I'm fed up with being away, so this is preferable! Back on Thursday night. I'm tracked through and have yoga and Pilates DVDs in my bag, we'll see...

Right, off to bed where I'll shout in my sleep again!! Nite!!

Love
Weeza xx

Monday Night Update - Week 2 - Redeeming Feels Gooood!!!

Much, much better! In fact, so much better that I've used the day's 26PP & I can't eat anymore!!!

I went into the day with the day planned out. I took porridge for breakfast and Tuscan Minestrone WW soup for my lunch, and a caramel bar in my bag for the journey. My milk allowance was ready as well. I stopped at M&S in Didcot before going into work, to buy cakes for my birthday and I got some fruit as well., so I could snack on it. Apart from a small fork full of lemon drizzle cake (which I tracked), I resisted all temptation in the office and I'm really proud of myself!

I got home expecting left over pie from last night and David had eaten it all! Secretly I was a little pleased as the pastry accounted for quite a lot of PPs! So I had a WW Mexican Chili with potato wedges ready meal and the broccoli and squash left overs, just 6 PP! I even poured a glass of wine tonight and chucked it because I really didn't want it!

Anyway, happily going to sleep with the next 3 days all planned out! Night!

Love,
Weeza x

Sunday Weigh In...

Done it! Finally a weigh in, on my weigh I day, where I'm under 12 stone! Only by .6lbs, but it's significant to me!

Since I started, which is the photo of me in the white vest at 14st 4lbs, I've lost 2st 5lbs! The photo of me in the red dress is my birthday party, a year ago tomorrow, that's me at 13st 4lbs... The next photo is me at the wedding at the end of October, at 12st... And 3 weeks later and several works events, I've finally got into the 11's!!!

Still a stone to go, but I can do it, and I need to really stick to the effort now! My holiday is 5 weeks away, so possibly another 5lbs can go!

I think blogging every day this last week has helped, I certainly felt that sharing made me more accountable, even if no one is reading my blog... If you are, thank you, as you are my anonymous guardian angel!

See you later,
Love,
Weeza xx

Saturday Night Update

Today's my birthday!!!! I've had a lovely lazy day :) We've been out for dinner tonight, but more on that in a minute!!

Started the day well, a turkey rasher, 2 bacon and a Light Choice sausage, plus my milk allowance. Then I was going to have left over casserole for lunch, but pizza was an option, so I had that!! 13PP!! I walked the dog whilst David was out with next door Nick, but he wasn't into it, so we took him out again... I earned 2PP, which is about 3 miles :)

We'd booked Bluebeckers in Chobham for dinner, I've never been before and it was lovely, but I ate waaaaaaaay too much! We had garlic bread whilst we were waiting, two slices of ciabatta each. I had half a baked Camembert with french bread slices for starter and then Cajun chicken burger for main, with chips, sour cream and salsa. There was guacamole as well, but I gave that to David as I'm not a fan! We shared a bottle of wine, but I also ordered a bottle of fizzy water so I could sip that instead of gulping the wine! Still all the bread and a massive slab of cheese, and I overdid it, even though I left the bread from the burger! No more wine though when I got home!

So, I'm ending the week at -91PP, nowhere near as bad as the last two weeks, but still not good! I have no excuses next week, no events and two overnights, both of which will be in apartments! I'm going to pack two suitcases this time, so they are lighter, can't guarantee that the lift will be fixed in Sheffield!

Anyway, see you in the morning for the weigh in!!

Love,
Weeza, Aged 41 :) xxx

Oops, it's been another while!!

Hi all,

Again, it's been nearly another year since I posted! One big change is that Weight Watchers changed the Points system to the new Pro Points system, which is working much better for me! There's a number of people that I work with, who are finding the new system works really well for them as well!

I put real effort in over the last few weeks, and I've lost a stone since we got back from Thailand in January! I bought a treadmill last year, which although I've not used it regularly, I've used it more this year than I did before! I'm doing the Race for Life in June, for Cancer Research (if you fancy donating, the link is http://www.raceforlifesponsorme.org/louisamaskell1971).




I think that there's a strong possibility that this week, I'll have either put a pound or two on, or at the very least, stayed the same weight! I've had a bad week, 3 KFC's in one week! It's all work related, and I should have abstained, but it was convenient! I did earn myself 13 ProPoints at go-karting yesterday! I hurt all over.....!

Anyway, if I can get Blogger to work on my Android, I'll be posting more often, just like I log my ProPoints every time I put food or drink in my mouth on my App on there!

So, good luck to all the other weightloss bloggers this week and see you (hopefully) tomorrow, when I do the weigh-in!

Love
Weeza x

Have you missed me???

Hi all, apologies again (I'm always apologising), for my prolonged absence!! It's been a mental 8 months since I last posted, mostly down to the fact that I stopped trying to diet (another fail) and had a crap time with the job that I went to and I'm now at a much better company, Kaspersky Lab, and loving it!!

I've restarted the weight loss campaign and am now following the Cambridge Weight Loss System. I started yesterday on step one, which is Sole Source. I have 4 products a day, which are either shakes, soups or porridge. I had an Apple & Cinnamon porridge yesterday morning which is better than most of the other types of porridge that I've tried! There was a tomato soup for lunch that I was really surprised with as well! I had a vanilla shake at 4pm and then for dinner I had another soup, chicken and mushroom. I added more water to the soup this time, which meant that I had a whole bowl rather than a mug. In addition, I drank 3 1/2 litres of water. Each meal product is 138kcals, so I consumed 552kcals.

I was hungry when I went to bed, but my body should go into ketosis by day 4 (Friday), which is where the body has used all the glyogen produced from the foods that I'd consumed in the past few days. The body realises that it needs extra evergy for its regular activities and will naturally look to the reserves it built up during the 'times of plenty'. First in converts the store glycogen back into energy. At the same time, this releases the water being stored with (which means more peeing). Then the body turns its attention to the fat stores and starts converting that back into energy by creating micro-chemicals called 'ketones'. The only downside to this, is if the body creates more ketones that it needs, it expells them through wee or breath, which can cause bad breath. Ketosis though, does mean that I'll feel less hungry cos the body doesn't need to remond you so often when to eat, it protects against the loss of lean tissue (muscle) and induces a feeling of well-being. The well-being feeling I'm really looking forward to!

Today I had a butterscotch shake in the car as with the new job, I have a customer in Chesterfield that I go to once a week, so I drank it in the car on the way up at 7:30 this morning. I had a couple of soups and a vanilla shake with me for the day, but I left lunch too late and got light-headed and snappy, really snappy! Poor guys in the office caught my wrath a bit! The chicken and mushroom soup was great! I then had the shake at 4pm and when I got to the B&B I stay at, I had a coffee (black no sugar - black coffee and tea are allowed) and then at 7:30 this evening I had my mushroom soup. I found out that you can't put hot water in the shake shaker and add the soup powder, as it sort of explodes!!!! :) So I'm done food wise for today, I don't feel hungry right now, but may well do later!

The other thing that's a struggle for me at the moment, is not drinking alcohol! I've not really had an alcoholic drink since Saturday night, where I completely overdid it!!

I can't exercise yet, as I'm on a VLCD (very low calorie diet) and not taking in enough calories to burn during exercise. Hopefully when I get the energy from ketosis I'll feel like walking more with David and the Munkee...

Anyway, enough for now, I'll be back to report later in the week :)

Love you all
Weeza xxx

OMG!!!!!!!!!!

Well, yes, again I've been away for a while, but this time for a very good reason!! I have a JOB!!!! I started last Monday (5th Oct) and it's great, the people are great and I'm managing the reseller community for the company throughout the UK and when that's done, the Middle East and Africa! It's a big job, but I'm really pleased that I got it!

Weightloss wise, I got on the scales this morning and I'm down to 13st 2lbs again, which I'm happy with! I think not sitting around all last week and spending 2 days on my feet and walking around a trade show helped!!

Hope you're all well and catch up soon!

Weeza
xxxx

Weigh in.....

Well, not as bad as I thought! 1lb on... So, the motivation is back and meal plans are done! I even have the other half on WW full English breakfasts!! Only 4.5 points, 2 low fat sausages, a slice of bacon, mushrooms, tomatoes and egg. Delicious, feels naughty, but it's not! I've got a new DVD too, Pilates for Weight Loss. I've got as far as unwrapping it, but it's not actually made it into the DVD player yet! I bought one for David as well, Be Kind to Your Spine, same as me, unwrapped it but not in the DVD player yet!!

So, job hunt, looks like it's over! I got offered a job yesterday and there's another in the offing, with another company, but I'm waiting desperately to hear. They need to make a commitment to me, so that I can reject the other, but I'm not burning my bridges yet! Watch this space....

I'm off now to play more Mahjong on my laptop, whilst catching up with Desperate Housewives! Season Six will be starting soon and I need more answers!!!

Take it easy and I'll post any job updates as and when I hear.

Love
Weeza xxx

Let me explain my absence....

So, I'm a bad girl and didn't WI on Monday, I avoided it cos I knew that I'd been bad. I weighed myself yesterday and it's at 13st 3lbs, which is a 1lb gain... I made some apricot muffins last week, which were delicious, but contained buttermilk, a whole carton, which is never good! I ate too many of them as well... :-(

So, the resolve is to try REALLY hard next week. I wouldn't be surprised tomorrow, to see another 1lb, I haven't exercised for a week and finally had the motivation yesterday, but popped my back! It pops in and out occasionally and it's back in now, so I can do some exercise! Tomorrow I'm back at it with Maya and I've also bought a Pilates for weightloss DVD. I really do enjoy Pilates, but the DVD's I have require a wall, which isn't really practical in our house!

On the job front, lots of activities last week, 4 interviews and hopefully I'll hear tomorrow about one of them, Tuesday about another and I have a second interview on Wednesday. All good stuff, so hopefully I will be employed again soon!

Right, I'm off for now, we're going to take the dog for a walk and tonight is my friend James' boat launch. He's rowing solo across the Atlantic in a couple of months! Check out his site - www.atlanticadventurer.com.

Catch you all tomorrow!

Love Weeza xxxx

WoW!!!!!

Well, got on the scales today for WI and was seriously expecting a STS, but got the flaming shock of my life!!! 2lbs OFFFFFFFFFFFF!! That takes me to 13st 2lbs (184lbs)! I'm so, so, so, so happy!! Gives me all the more motivation to work hard and get down to the 12's for next week!

I tried on a pair of jeans yesterday as well, that I haven't worn for ages and I bought when I was at my biggest (14st odd) and am very pleased to report that they are going to the charity shop! They were hanging off me and even with a belt, not a chance! All bunched up! The pictures on the fridge are helping too, I see them going in and out of the kitchen and when I go near the fridge, bread bin, biscuit box, etc.!

I'm totally over the moon this morning and am now off to do half an hour with Maya (My Fitness Coach on the Wii)...

Catch you all later in the week and those that also have a WI today, all the best, I know that you'll all do really well!

Love
Weeza xxx

Now and then....

Been digging through some old photos and found some of me 10 years ago, when I met David.... This is what I'm aiming for!!!



Not been too bad this week, but not been great either!! Hoping to redeem myself with some extra exercise tomorrow and Sunday!!

See you Monday for WI day! Have a great weekend!

Weeza
xxxx

Another pound down!!

Morning all!! It's Monday and weigh in day!! I was expecting a STS this morning, how wonderfully surprised I was to see a pound off!! This means that I'm ONE STONE (14lbs) down from January!!!

I didn't touch the Wii from last Tuesday, I've been a little depressed and didn't feel much like it... Saturday I had a dog roll from the snack van at a auction that we went to, but I tried to be good later on. Yesterday I was REALLY good! We went to the RSPCA day yesterday and spent a good hour walking around. That kind of made me feel a little better about the fact that I'd done relatively little exercise during the week! Last night, I had a couple of Pimms and diet lemonade and woke up this morning full of energy, so got Maya out and did 30 minutes with her. Upper body today, but did 15 minutes of high intensity cardio first. I was panting and sweating, just as you're supposed to! I feel energised and ready to take on the world now, although I have a feeling that come tea time, I'll be unable to lift my arms! ;-)

I'm so pleased that even with very little effort last week, I lost 1lb, so I'm motivated more now to do more this week! I really, really, really want to be in the 12's, that would be a major achievement, as I haven't been in the 12's for over 2 years now! I'm beginning to like the fact that my clothes fit or are more loose now! I've refused to buy size 18 clothes, so the size 16's have been a little tight for some time!!

Right, I'm off now, have meal plans to work out for the rest of the week. We've got Steak and Mushroom Pie tonight (WW cook eat enjoy Cookbook, page 186). Very yummy and can't wait, it takes 2 hours to cook before you even put it in the oven!!!

Good luck this week everyone!

Weeza xxxx

Bad, bad, bad, bad girl!!!

I sometimes wonder what my level of commitment is to my weight loss and if I really understand the effort that I'm going to really need to put into it as well.... I have a weakness, it's not food, it's alcohol... I'm not an alcoholic (really, I'm not), but I do like a drink! I've swapped wine for vodka as it's not as calorific, as I can drink it with zero points mixers, like diet lemonade or flavoured water. It sounds terrible as I write it, that I've swapped wine for vodka, as vodka seems kind of hard-core, but not drinking wine has made an enormous difference to me. My skin for starters! Drinking wine made me really spotty and now, I'm virtually spot free! I need to have more alcohol free days, I know that, I will not succeed unless I do!

All this is because I drank too much last night and had a wobbly head for most of the day. I've been helping in the workshop and I kept dropping things and tripping over, all because I was a bit jaded. I've had a conversation with David about it tonight and we both agree, we drink too much. Oh, and I smoke too much as well... Time for a change me thinks....

So, Maya's been left on the shelf since Tuesday, we've been really busy and I was too knackered after we'd finished up in the workshop. She's coming back out tomorrow though, 30 minutes of sheer punishment from my animated babe!!!

Food wise, well, the plan is in the kitchen, and I do look at it to check. There's been a few adjustments but seems that all is going according to plan!!

Right, that's me for now. Hope everyone else is keeping up with the motivation and promises to themselves for the week!!

Love to all,
Weeza xxx

Crow's Feet....

Is it just me, but I've noticed that as I'm losing weight, my crow's feet or should I say, laughter lines, are becoming more apparent... Does this mean that if I get the 3+ stone off that I need to get down to 10st 7lbs, I will be all wrinkly??? :-)

I think that with the invention of many anti-aging creams, this is the last of my worries! I won't be (hopefully) wrinkly anywhere else (although I have a feeling my boobs will be in a race to see which one can reach my belly button first)!!!

Been really busy today, the accounts for the business need to be prepared and completed before the end of the month and we've had 2 more bikes in today and there's another due in tomorrow evening! This is all good, I hope that it continues!! My bike didn't get put back together today, instead I've put the new front indicators on, checked the spark plugs, given the carbs a quick squirt and David's sorted the cam rattle (it was a sticky tensioner) and found that the clutch cable didn't just need oiling, it needed replacing!! It's nearly worn through as it was so dry!! One should arrive tomorrow morning, so we can put it all back together and I can actually ride the damn thing!!!

Food... Well, I was on the forum on WW today and there's sooooo much inspriration. In fact, I feel a bit of a fraud! My goal is 3 and three quarter stone from January's figure of 14st 4lbs. I want to get to 10st 7lbs, the weight I was happy at, 10 years ago. I've managed to piss about for 3 years and do nothing except put weight on, but some of these WW users have more than 5st to lose and are half way or over!! What more do I need as motivation, than these formerly "big" ladies (and lads), who have through sheer determination and a desire, lost so much weight, that I'm ashamed!!

Anyway, logging off for now! I'm back with Maya on the My Fitness Coach in the morning, we have a 30 minute session, which I'm sure will punish me!!! ;-)

Catch ya all laters!!

Love
Weeza xxxxx

After all that....

Well, disappointed to report that today's weigh-in shows only one pound off :-( Never mind, I guess that I knew really, the early optimism of the 3lbs serves me right for getting on the scales mid-week!! I have drunk a lot of fruit juices, which I didn't (stupidly) realise that they are actually quite heavy on the points! So, back to it this morning, Maya (My Fitness Trainer on the Wii) has told me off as well, for being inconsistent with the workouts! Crikey, even the animated computer person's having a go!! ;-)

I'm sorting the meal plans out for the week later and I'll be very, very, very strict and will absolutely run EVERYTHING through the WW website before I eat it... or drink it!!

I'm off now to take the tank and airbox off the bike, really been putting it off, but after doing the oil and filter change myself, I think that checking the cam chain tensioner can't be that hard really, and David's there to help me! Then is the labourious task of putting all the fairings back on!

Off for now, will try to update tomorrow with my progress!! ;-)

Love
Weeza xxx

I'm very optimistic!!!

After a fairly appalling start to this week, where I'd gained a pound, I've put 100% more effort into it this week and a sneaky peek at the scales tells me there's 3 pounds (just over a kilo) come off!! I had my assessment on the Wii Personal Trainer today and I've lost 5lbs (about 2kgs) and 1in off my bicep, 3 off my waist, 4 off my hips and 2 off my thighs!! This is though, since the 19th of April when I first set it up, but still, I'm happy! The Trainer also said that I need to do 6 days out of 7, 3 lots of 30 mins and 3 lots of 15 mins, but I've made it 30 mins on all 6 days. Saturday's I get off! I'm making more of an effort to walk the dog with David now as well, trying to make sure that we're out for at least 30 mins.

Also, I did a meal plan for the entire week, which is printed out and in the kitchen. If I eat something, I either tick it off or cross it off and replace with something else if appropriate. This has made me think about what I'm doing a lot more as well. I'm aiming for 6lbs off this week, so I'm at 13st (182lbs/82.7kgs). That would mean that since I came back from Thailand in January, I would have lost 10% of my body weight!! My goal is still 10st 7lbs (147lbs/66.8kgs) and my official 10% goal is 12st (168lbs/76.4kgs). I'm aiming for 3lbs a week from here on, which if I actually achieve it, will mean I'm at goal weight for my birthday in November!!

I'm going to take a photo of me in the same clothes as the original photo in Bangkok, to see if there's a visible difference in the stone (14lbs/6.4kgs) that's come off since then. I'll post it as soon as it's done, I have to dig the clothes out first!! ;-)

Job front, nothing much has changed, I was rejected for the 2 second interviews that I went for, not enough experience in certain areas, but overall the feedback has been great. I've also decided not to go for the position with the AV company as it's really outside of my field.... The second interview is in Blackburn as well, which is a bloody long way!

Right, that's enough from me for now, back after next week's weigh-in and measure up!!

Love
Weeza xxxx

Ouch!!!

I decided to cancel my gym membership, it's an unnecessary expense at the moment, what with being unemployed!! I bought My Fitness Coach for the Wii a while back and decided yesterday to do 15 minutes of Pilates and 30 minutes of the Fitness Coach, hard work, but felt great afterwards. On the other hand, today my stomach muscles, tops of my shoulders, lats and deltoids are killing me! Loving the fact that I can feel that I've exercised and have no excuse to not do it! I've set the Wii up with the days and times that I'll exercise and it works the program out for me! Great!

On the weigh in front, I stayed the same again this week, mostly due to laziness... I'm trying to be good or at least better this week, I'd like to see me back down closer to the 13st (182lb/82kg) mark come next Monday. That would mean a loss of about 5lbs, which is achievable at this weight. As long as I watch the Points and keep up the exercise...

On the job front, I've had 2 second interviews now and I've got 2 firsts lined up, one on Thursday and one on Wednesday next week. Both seconds went well, but the one closer to home this morning, I really panicked about and I don't think I've ever been that nervous at an interview!!! Sweaty palms, shaky, stuttering!! Not good, but they had made allowances for it and the parts that I really had great knowledge of, I flew on. The reason for the nervousness was that I had to prepare and present on the vendor that I would be looking after, with only information publically available on the internet... The interviewers asked a couple of questions that I really couldn't answer, as the information is not online, or if it is, you have to register for it as a partner. Anyway I should hear tomorrow or Thursday on the one from this morning and Monday for the other one on Friday. Fingers crossed on both of them!!

So, other than that, life is good. I'm going to be working on David's website this afternoon, needs some serious tweaking now that it's searchable on the internet, is on the van and the business cards and is in the Surrey Herald as we took out an ad. Had the first call from the ad already and we had a couple of lads come up to the workshop this afternoon after finding us on the internet! All good stuff!

Right, that's me for now, I'll update when I have more news... :-)

Take care all and enjoy the limited sunshine that we're having!!

Love
Weeza xxx

I've been in Egypt, that's my excuse anyway!!!

It's true, I'm really pants at keeping this blog up to date and I have no real excuse, as I'm now unemployed!!! I left F5 on the 30th of June and I'm actively looking for a new job. There's stuff on the horizon, been to some really good interviews and I'm being put forward for a number of others via recruiters as well. Nothing solid yet, but then I've only been really working hard on it this week.

I was in Egypt last week, visiting my aunt and cousins, who have been in the Middle East for nearly 30 years now. I had an amazing time and best of all, as they are "locals", I got to see Egypt in a different light to perhaps the way the average tourist would! It was a whirlwind tour, but I've done a "little" diary below!!

I got to Heathrow after checking in online the night before, pre-booking my seat, for a good one that was out of the way (I like to be as alone as possible when I travel by myself). When I got to the bag drop for BMI, I was really pleased that I had done the online check-in, as the queue for normal check-in was huge! The agent took my passport and check-in details and said "Ah, you've pre-booked your seat as 37G?", which I said I had. I was about to launch into a tirade when she said that I'd been moved to 2H. However, before I could say anything, she said that I'd been bumped into business class as the flight was full!!!! I also had access to the business lounge, which I didn't go to, as there was only 45 minutes to boarding and I fancied a wander around. When we boarded, I was offered champagne, orange juice or water. As tempting as the champagne was, it was only 9:15am, perhaps a little early ;-). We were given menus to choose lunch from and informed that the chef would be round shortly after take off to take our orders! The seat were like first class and fully reclined into beds. In fact, from the experiences that I've heard from colleagues in the past, this was more like first class than business as BMI don't have a first class on their flights. After take off, the chef in his whites, came round and actually knelt in front of the passengers to take their order! There was a choice of starters and main courses, plus a selection of wines! A far cry from tin foil slop food and wine out of a carton that I've had before!! When I landed at Cairo airport, I got through to the immigration section quite quickly, but the signs aren't great to tell you that you need to buy a visa before you go to passport control... I eventually found it in the bank cubical. However, no Egyptian Pounds (LE), and it was 85LE for the visa. The one cash point didn't have any cash in it (?!) but eventually they gave me money through one of my credit cards and I entered Egypt! Suzanne and Natalie (aunt and cousin) had texted me to say that they were waiting in the arrivals hall for me. Grabbed my very small but quite heavy suitcase (full of Marmite, Branston Pickle, cayenne pepper and some herbal supplements for Suzanne) and met them in arrivals. This was quite an emotional meeting as I'm the first person to visit them out there from Suzanne's side of the family (she's my mum's sister), for over 20 years!!! They've been over to see us in the UK, but Hamdi's (Suzanne's husband) side of the family joked that she must be an orphan!! We left the airport and the heat hit me like a brick wall! I've been in hot countries before, but it was stinking hot and humid and I loved it!!! The airport is the other side of Cairo to where Amir (my other cousin) lives, so the journey took about an hour or so to cross Cairo. If you've ever been there, then you'll know how mad the traffic is, if you haven't, it's MENTAL!! There is only one rule, don't hit anyone!!

After we'd got to Maadi, where Amir lives, we dropped Suzanne at the Metro to get provisions, whilst Natalie and I went to Starbucks for a coffee. White chocolate mocha and it was heavenly! We picked Suzanne and the shopping up and then went to the flat, where we were met by Amir. I haven't seen Amir for 20 years, he was 9 when I last saw him (saw Suzanne in May and Natalie about 3 or 4 years ago). The flat in Cairo is an awful lot bigger than I'd imagined it and really nice. We then decided to go to Khan Khalili, which is one of the oldest souks in Egypt. It was a complete sensory overload, amazing smells, colours, people! You can buy all sorts of different trinkets, floor cushions, sheeshas, ceramics, fabrics, lighting, so much stuff!! We had a meal in a famous restuarant in Khan Khalili, I can't remember the name of it, sorry! I think I ate pigeon as well, and as I ate everything there and liked it, if there was pigeon, I liked it!! Afterwards we came out of the souk and sat outside Hussein Mosque in one of the cafes and had sheesha, or hubbly bubbly as it's also known. It's a first for me and I can say that I enjoyed it!! Apple flavour!! Amsterdam, Egyptian style almost!! Order it from the menu on the table...


The next day was a lazy get up as it's hot in Cairo at the moment, it's summer, so most things are best done either very early morning, or late evening. We got to bed about 1:30-2am the night before, so a nice long lay in!! We'd decided to go to the Egyptian Museum to see the Tutankhamun exhibition as I didn't see it when it was in London. Quite eerie in the museum, there's quite a few mummies in there and the tomb/coffin of Tutankhamun looks like he could actually be in there! Maybe I've watched to many movies, eh? After that we got a taxi to the Sofitel El Gizerah, which is on the Nile. Five star hotel that's just been done up and it's amazing! Amir used to work in there, doing all the IT, but he's got his own business now. We sat on what's called the Smoking
Terrace and had coffee whilst waiting for Amir and it was cool and breezy, watching the boats and falukas going past. We went home and had some lunch and then went off to the pyramids horse riding. As I write this blog a week later, I have only just recovered!! I haven't ridden a horse in 8 years and I hurt like hell! The pace across the desert was mostly gallop and not used to riding in trainers, when I jammed my feet into the stirrups (I know I should have been heels down) to stop me from losing my stirrups, the tongue of my trainers got stuck in them! Anyway, I enjoyed it, but was a little bit nervous!! Next time I'll do it on a quad bike :) That evening was a quiet one, we went to an American burger place called Lucille's in Maadi and it was great! 131LE (approx £13) for a meal for the four of us!! We then went back and called it a night.

On the Thursday, we didn't plan to do much as Natalie and I were going to see Amir DJ at the Purple Club on the Imperial on the Nile and then drive up to Alexandria after, during the night. Amir went to work and the remaining three of us decided to find a second hand bookshop that Suzanne had been recommended to go to. Well, let's just say we got a little lost looking for Road 7.... And had a little bump in the car... Everyone was fine, it really was a little bump, but the guy who's car we hit was an American, working for Schlumberger one of F5 customers, and it was a brand new company car. He called later to say it was all ok, his insurance would pay for the damage!! Result!! We had a look around some of the shops and then went down to Starbucks for a coffee. Suzanne cooked an amazing risotto for dinner and then Natalie had a sleep as she was going to be doing the driving later and Amir went to Purple to set up with Shahir, the other half of Masters at Funk (http://www.mastersatfunk.com). Suzanne and I watched Sweet Home Alabama and then Natalie and I went out at just before 12 to the boat. We got there about 12:30-1ish and it was just getting going. Amir and Shahir are really, really good, they worked the crowd, adjusted to the mood and it was rolling when we left about an hour or so later. Then we drove to Alex... It was about 2:30am when we set off and got there in around 2 hours. We took the Desert Road, but it was dark, so didn't see much of the desert! There's another road, the Agricultural Road, as well between Alex and Cairo. The house at Alex is on the 14th floor and what we'd call a maisonette, but oh so much grander!! There are photos on Facebook, too many to put on here!! You can see the Mediterranean from the terrace!!

The next morning, Natalie took me to Costa in her car, she's customised rag rugs for seat covers and they are amazing, not sure if you can see them in the photo here... Amir arrived from Cairo and we went to Balbaa, which is a seafood place. As it was Friday afternoon, after prayer, it was packed, but we managed to get a table quite quickly. I've never seen so much seafood and fish on one table! The food was amazing! (Thank you Uncle Hamdi!!). Natalie met some of her friends at Carrefour, the big supermarket (yes, same ones as in France) and Suzanne and I did the shopping and then she took me to see the "little arab house" at King Marriott. Suzanne bought this land and the house sometime ago and has finally relented to Hamdi to have it knocked down and a villa built there. The plans show that it's going to be an amazing place. The photos just don't do it justice, but when it's up, it will look spectacular! It's an area that's going through heavy development at the moment and some of the villas that have already been finished are beautiful. Uncle Hamdi and Suzanne have other land there as well, which they are hoping to develop as well, which lots of villas to rent and sell. Then Suzanne took me to her local souk and I got my hair done in her salon, which is a far cry from Luiji and Carlo's, but they did a fantastic job and I've never been to such a friendly place. It was a really lovely experience and I felt like a princess with all the attention!! We also visited the butcher, the local "corner shop" and what I can only really describe as the yogurt shop!! We went back and I called David and then Natalie came home. We had a fairly early night, at just gone 1am...

The next day I was really excited about, we were going to the North Coast to Rowad. I went with Suzanne to her country club first though and met Lady Alison, Louise, Marlise and Samir, Suzanne's friends and then Natalie and Amir came to pick me up. It wasn't that far, but OMG!!!! The water is turquoise and the sand is white. This is NOT how I remember the Med at all!! It was a brilliant afternoon, all hanging out on the sand and then Natalie cooked prawn creamy pasta for everyone, that is 17 people!! Vodka pineapple cocktails that didn't freeze the night before were put in a teapot and it was passed around for everyone to swig out of!! I will always have fantastic memories of this afternoon, great people, great food, good times!!! :) We then travelled back to Abu Talet and to the family house there, where I met Hamdi's family and I had such an amazing reception! These people had never met any of Suzanne's side of the family and welcomed me so warmly! I must admit that I didn't understand a lot of what was being said, but I know that it was all good!!!

The next day, Amir drove me back to Cairo and the airport and we got into the airport and my flight was delayed 2 hours... I'm not going to dwell on that, as the rest of the holiday was amazing and I can't wait to go back!! Missing them all already!!

Diet, crap, have an upset stomach now, had for 2 days, which I think is a bug, probably picked up at Tesco... More later, off to watch the Beach, as we're pining for Thailand right now!!! :)

Soon peeps, I'll be back soon!!! xxxxx

Sausages.....

Most of you will know about my obsession with sausages, particularly those that I work with. When the snack truck used to come round in the morning, I would buy 2-3, sometimes 4 (if I was having a bad day), large sausages, like you get in a hot dog roll, only without the bread. Each of these amazingly tasty morsels were as greasy as hell and certainly not the low-fat variety, which was probably one of the early reasons for putting on weight. It was around the time that the snack truck arrived at the office, that I starting gaining weight. That and boozy lunches, eating the wrong foods with the wine and giving up any form of exercise! Anyway, back to the sausages. I found that Tesco do a low-fat sausage and they are actually very good, a plain pork version and more recently a Cumberland version. When I stopped being in the office full time and out on the road, I stopped eating so many sausages, and a treat now is the low fat ones. You can even fry them, as hardly any fat comes out, even if they are pricked all over. Imagine my delight, when I come home from work on Friday and David's bought a pack of Richmond sausages. Now these bad boys are so high in fat, they could probably clog your arteries in one sitting, but they taste like no other sausage! The ONLY way to cook them is in the George Foreman Lean Mean Fat Machine. You can see just how fatty they are, as when after they've cooked, the fat drip tray underneath is almost full of fat and juices. Before the days of the dog (who now consumes that fat with a frenzy), we let it solidify before scooping it out into the bin. Approximately 5 dessert spoons of fat for 8 sausages, which is disgusting! Still, even though they are Foreman'd, they are still incredibly high in fat. So, we had them on Friday and then guess what.... Another packet on Saturday morning! Jeez, not good! I'm now off sausages for the foreseeable future, as I need to wean myself back off them!

Other than that, the diet has been shocking! It's slipped badly, I've been hit and miss on the Alli, been better than usual with the booze though, which is good. However, after an amazing day of deals in the office on Friday, I bought 2 bottles of rose cava on the way home and as David doesn't really like it, I polished off one and a half myself!! A bit of a sore head the next morning, but nothing I couldn't handle!

On the exercise front, I've been wearing my pedometer religiously and maintaining the minimum 3800 steps or more. Today I've done 8438 steps, of which 1415 were aerobic (14 mins). I've rejoined Riverbourne gym, I've been once in the week since I joined, but I put my back out the day after I went and it's not been strong enough to go back. I went to yoga with Helen on Tuesday, first time in over 6 weeks, and my back was twinging a bit, so didn't risk the gym. However, going back tomorrow straight after work. I've also sorted out the menus for home for the week, so that I'm back on plan and I've got skimmed milk for the office again, as I'd started using semi-skimmed milk in the office. I've got salad stuff, pasta, rice and tuna in spring water, plus new potatoes as well for some substance to my salads!

Anyway, off for now, sorry it was a while again, I'll try to come back tomorrow night, to log if I've behaved and what the weigh in is!

Take care all
Weeza xxxx