*** Supportive Friends -- Looking to Release 50+ Pounds ***

Oh boy, what a day yesterday! We had to pick up my wife's cousin from Heathrow airport about 2 pm. First thing was around 8 am Heathrow was closed due to a plane making an emergency landing with an engine on fire (suspected bird strike). Fortunately they had that cleared in about an hour and everything opened again. Much relief. Then we set off for Heathrow, 65 miles away which usually takes about an hour or so. Monday is a Public Holiday in the UK and next week is school half term holidays so lots of people going away on holiday both inside and outside the UK so we left plenty of time, planning to have lunch around Heathrow. It took us two and a half hours to get there on the M25 (the London Orbital Motorway, sometimes called the biggest car park in Europe!), it was just stop/start all the way. My wife's cousin was late coming through because although she arrived, all her luggage didn't (!). Coming back was worse, over three hours. Considering only about 50 miles of the journey are on the M25 and on the other bits we were doing around 80 mph, it shows you how bad the motorway was! The dogs all had their legs crossed when we got home and we were too tired to start cooking so I went out for fish and chips and mushy peas. I was very good, ate very little batter, only a few chips and two teaspoons of mushy peas so the calories I've put down for it in my diary are probably a little excessive but I was still below calorie goal for the day so it didn't matter. It was delicious though, and having missed lunch through delayed travel, very welcome!!

To my surprise, as I didn't drink much yesterday on the journey, I was another 0.4 lb down this morning, very pleasing.

Have a nice weekend everyone!

Morning All!
I'm back at it today. I had a couple of days of relaxed eating. I know 'off days' are not for everyone nor does everyone agree with them but I know me and what works for me. It was better for me to have a couple of off days that were planned as off to get it out of my system. Otherwise I end up with continuous sabatoging for many days. Hope that makes sense.

Anyways had an enjoyable day yesterday. Best friend came round for lunch and a catch up. I'm very lucky that 2 years after I moved over here, she also decided to move over. We are now closer than ever. Had a good rant to her about things and as always felt better afterwards. It's half term break now for me so I've got Kenzie for the week and we have lots of playdates planned. Hoping to get to the gym today and may ask my sister in law to look after Kenzie a couple times during the week so I can get to the gym as well. Hubby has been better the last few days about being home at a decent time. He did the unthinkable and apologised the other day after an argument (this is a HUGE deal as it never happens) and bought me flowers for no reason yesterday. We are muddling through. I have to remind myself sometimes that the cultural differences between us make things harder but can be overcome. My husband is from a very traditional African country so doing what he does around the house is huge compared to his counterparts in Africa. Not making excuses for him as I still find a lot of it unacceptable but there are valid reasons for our battles.

Meg: shin splints suck! I've always found that some rest helps and then trying to figure out what has changed in my stride as that is what normally causes them for me. Hope you managed to rest!! As far as spin goes, I was petrified the first few times I went (and with good reason, it is hard) but I fell in love with it and before I fell pregnant was looking into how to become an instructor. Once your bum gets use to the numbness its awesome! And the burn is fantastic. I noticed an increase in my loss once I started to spin.

Ron: glad you survived Heathrow. And well done on the continuing weight loss Spin is a crazy insane bike class. You end up dizzy from the lack of oxygen! :frown:

Jane: If you've been to Toronto you've been to Ontario. Ontario is the province and Toronto is its capital. I grew up 1.5hrs north of Toronto and once I graduated University and Teacher's College it was time to travel and I headed to London. I was supposed to be here for a couple of years. That was 10 years ago. I can't wait to move home now though, especially since having our little girl. My parents are desperate for us to come back and be a part of her life. For now, we survive with Skype.

Good laugh on Saturday. Wife's cousin had a couple of phone calls from an Air Canada call centre (based in India if the accents were anything to go by), and she was very relaxed about the missing case refusing to get upset. The call centre guy thanked her for not getting angry whereupon she said "Well dear, there's no point in getting your knickers in a twist. Particularly if all your knickers are in the missing case!" Complete collapse of call centre guy and my wife and I :laugh: The case finally arrived at 11:00 pm on Saturday night.

@Meg - hope the splints are not too painful and you are finding ways round the problem.

@Steph - big welcome back to the straight and narrow! Glad your husband is being so understanding, I lived in Central Africa for many years so I know how chauvinistic African society can be. It is changing though, and in fact, Malawi where I lived for about fourteen years now has a woman President which is a huge step forward and something the US haven't managed yet.

@jehan - actually I've become very chilled about traffic, it happens so often now. I used to get frustrated but found it helps nothing and only pushes up the blood pressure, so now I take it as it comes. Yes it's very boring but it does end eventually.

I had a nice NSV yesterday, the trousers (pants) which I tried on a couple of weeks ago and were a bit tight then now fit so I wore them when we went out for lunch. Yes, they're elastic waistband jeans,and my belly hangs over the waistband, but they are 38" waist which I haven't been able to wear for at least 5 years. I also wore a polo shirt which was tight three weeks ago and is now a nice fit. Little things that mean a lot :happy:

@meg - sorry to hear about the shin splints. Think going to get yourself some proper fitted running shoes is a good idea - properly fitted shoes should have a lot more support for you. Love the story about the attempt to cook hot dogs in the fire - best laid plans and all that!!

@ron - great comment from your wife's cousin. I think that is the trick - to not let such things make you cross. And the same goes for the traffic - I live close enough to know all about the joys of the M25 run to Heathrow. We go up the M25 everytime we go to visit my father in law in Bolton and it is rare that it doesn't get us either on the way there or on the way back. Congrats about the NSV as well!

@steph - glad you are back on the straight and narrow and good to hear that things are better with your husband. Cultural differences are hard - it must be so difficult to show each other how important something is to you when it is so alien to the other half. I'm sure you can both make it work - congrats on getting to the gym so early in the morning. I rarely manage to exercise first thing in the morning but it always makes me feel good when I do. Ha! I think I did know Toronto was the capital of Ontario - just goes to show, I haven't been there for too long! Are your plans to move back over there? I can imagine it must be very hard (for you and your family) being so far from each other, particularly now with your little girl.

I think I've got myself back on track this weekend - two really good workouts and lots of time spent doing things in the garden with the lovely weather. Went to see Star Trek Into Darkness last night which was fun. Unlike my husband and my best friend, I wasn't brought up on the Star Trek stories so I was able to enjoy it - whilst they both sat and muttered about how it was just a rehash of an earlier one and how they'd got things wrong! Sometimes there is benefit to not knowing the history of these things!!

Sausages cooked in honey and mustard tonight with some steamed butternut squash. Have also picked some rhubarb from the garden so debating what to do with it. It's a bit warm for rhubarb crumble so may just roast it in some orange juice and add ice cream to it. Hmmm....getting hungry now!! Back to work tomorrow but only 4 days back before we have two weeks off - can't wait!

Hope you all have a good evening

Jane: sounds like a lovely day. I should tackle the gardens here but just don't have the time or that much inclination. My
Mom is a fantastic gardener and she did not pass it on.

Ron: fab NSV!! I've a closet of stuff waiting for that moment. Your story of air Canada made me laugh.

Meg; oh dear sounds like quite the escapades going on there!

Tru: welcome back! I was born and raised near orangeville and went to university up in North Bay (brrrrr!).

Jehan: I can only imagine the cals burned. My little one has started to crawl which I couldn't wait for but now I'm twice as busy :-/

I also love the hitchem up shimmy!!!

Well I had a fabulous day here. Up early this morning in order to get the gym. Did 40 minutes of circuit training before racing home to meet hubby with the baby to take her to a musical baby class. So nice to be there as we haven't been since I've gone back to work. Good day eating wise as busy till mid afternoon then crashed out on the couch with the little one for a couple of hours. Hubby's still at work and baby has fallen asleep so housework time before relaxing time. Have booked a personal training session for Wednesday night with my trainer who I haven't trained with in 18mos. I've missed it a lot especially as we became friends as well. Hope I survive as she is torturous! (My sister threw up when she visited and did a session with us!!).

Official decision. Zero exercise until Saturday at the earliest. So if you see I've posted a workout, please feel free to chew me out! Seriously. I can't seem to stop! And I know I need rest to let these damn shin splints heal. Yesterday was a very tough day for me mentally. The scale had gone up by 3 pounds (back down today though, thank God!), and not being able to run was making me crazy. So this morning I planned out all my food through Friday morning, and I am under calories every day. I did leave a little wiggle room for tomorrow evening, I am going to an end of class potluck at my church. Was taking a parenting class, that was a very good one! Anyway, gotta take the kiddos to school and the sitter, I'll catch up with you all later!

Ok, slight change to my earlier statement: I will be doing my pushups. That is the only workouts I'll be doing this week. I do the modified version due to should issues, so it won't trouble my shins. And it's only every other day.

@Ron, congrats on another great loss! That's awesome that you're so close to your first goal!

@Penny, I've heard of that stretching technique before, and have done it a couple times, but thanks for reminding me.

@Steph, good luck with your session with the trainer! She sounds tough.

@Tru, glad I can inspire! You all are an inspiration for me as well!

Jane well done on get of the workout in. I'm with you on the hirtong, my legs feel like dead weights.

Meg: I loath push-ups so I admire your determination.

Ron: congrats on that milestone. You are inspirational.

Penny: glad you had a good weekend. Volcano mum made me laugh. See you got caught in the downpours yesterday too. Where is summer??!!??

Half term break is shaping up pretty good despite the fact we are all suffering from a cold. Had a play date with some fellow moms yesterday who are still on mat leave. Got trapped in a horrible rain and looked like I had swam there. Hoping to get to the children's centre this afternoon but Kenzie is really grumpy so am going to see if calpol sorts out her teething issues first. Trying to get her nursery sorted today too so moving lots of boxes and furniture. Tonight is my torture session with my trainer. Hoping I survive. Tonight won't be easy but possibly not as hard as it can be as it should be assessing where I am now. Hubby's soon good lately so hope it continues! Keep it skinny!!

@Jane, here's your reminder: don't go so long between JM workouts! :laugh: And yes, rest days are good for you. Shins are a little better... getting kind of restless though, not being able to do my usual crazy workouts.

@Steph, hope you get over your cold quickly! I loath push ups as well, but I am determined to build upper body strength. And since weights aren't an option right now, I have to use my own body for it.

@wlhepburn, good to hear from you again! Guess what? I'm faster than you at a 5K, by a whole minute! LOL I'm pretty sure my husband could walk with me while I run, and he wouldn't get winded. Hope your knee gets better soon!

@Ron

So I've just realized something. The majority of people involved actively in this thread are from the UK. I feel like the odd woman out. Just an observation
Anyway.... I lost half a pound finally! Scale had been scooting upwards all week, then back to normal yesterday, and finally today, a loss. Was about ready to start banging my head on a wall hoping that would help me feel better!
Like I said to Jane, it's making me really restless not being able to work out. I hope that when Saturday comes I'll be ready for a gentle workout. I plan on taking it slow and easy (and I bet you're all thinking "Yeah, right!"), but I really want to do this the right way, and not make things worse.
Have a good day everyone!

Well my worry was for nothing. Trainer had to do an assessment and paper work with me as I am still considered postnatal. No workout. Dreaded weighing and measurements though. Talked about stress and how I lack time. Always just feel better after talking to her. I wash going to leave without a workout though so I hit the treadmill and did week 2 of c25k and this time I didn't walk at all when I was supposed to be running so victory for me. Have booked a proper training session for Tuesday just need to clear it with the hubster.

Meg: sorry you're feeling restless. Could you do some dancing around? Always makes
Me feel better.

Ron: I remember having that NSV and then following it not long after with being able to soak comfortably in the tub!