What's Your Most Recent NSV

A recent NSV for me has been realizing how easy it is to get ready for a night out. I feel good in 99% of the clothes I own now, so getting dressed up doesn't require 1,363,6849 outfit changes or the indecisiveness I had grown accustomed to. Also, being comfortable and feeling pretty in a basic t-shirt and jeans... I've had a distorted and poor self image for so long, it feels amazing to feel comfortable, especially in such basic looks.

@Madwife2009 Your daughter sounds absolutely adorable! So glad she approves of Momma swan. : ) Congrats on facing down Mother Nature yet again.

As far as modern parenting techniques go, I'm not sure 'Turn them loose to run amok' is much of a technique, but it does seem to be a popular option. Sigh...

Bought a pair of 28 inch waist jeans. When they arrived I realised that my 'waist' is a lot higher than these jeans are cut for. They sit a bit under my bellybutton, definitely not on the narrowest part of my torso, BUT they are only a tiny bit tight! Not bad!

spring time and I fit in my capris. Lost weight 4 years ago and they fit after the winter

This week, I worked out in compression shirt for the first time ever

I got up at my 4am alarm this morning and got the gym about 5am like normal... but I just "wasn't there" mentally. I tried weightlifting which I normally love and had no motivation, today is my non-running day, so I decided to just walk the treadmill instead. I did a 30 minute walk at 3.0 with the incline set at 5.0 (and no hands on the bar of course). It was still a 250 calories burn in 30 minutes and SO MUCH more than I could have done a couple months ago, to think now this is my "lazy day workout"!

My wedding ring fits again and my pants keep falling down, lol. It's been three years (and a second baby) since I could wear my ring and I have refused to resize it to motivate me to get the weight off. I might need to go shopping for new pants this weekend too

I still have Candy Cane Hershey kisses stashed away in my sock drawer. It's freaking April!

ETA: Oh! And I did two sets of NINE pull-ups last night. Then a set of seven and a set of six. I might be able to say I can do ten pull-ups by Easter!

I can tuck my shirt into my pants now! No way I was doing that any time last year.

I bought a bikini today. I wasn't sure (and I'm still not), but the husband persuaded me. I haven't worn a bikini in about 15 years! Here's hoping I don't look ridiculous in it!

Yesterday I binged. I pinpointed why (TOM and night shift - I'm always ravenous when I work nights especially if I stay up the day after to get back on schedule) and today I'm back on track! I'm meeting with a trainer at Planet Fitness to design a workout plan. The weight is coming off soooo slow, and I continually struggle with staying under calories, but then I remind myself that I was almost 50 pounds heavier this time last year.

I think we're all so hard on ourselves because the progress isn't fast but IT IS PROGRESS! Every time within a day when we make a better choice we are making progress.

Not only was Mother Nature feeling vindictive towards me today but my bike was annoyed with me as well And I had a few issues with other road users who, quite frankly, should all have their licences revoked.

Beautiful day again today - we'd been for a walk earlier and it had alternated between warm and chilly but I wasn't worried about that - so the ride started out really well. Then the "breeze" (read: gusty wind) started. Oh yes, been here before, here we go again . . . . the ride started to be a bit more challenging.

And then even more so . . . made it up one steep hill that then dips down slightly before heading upwards again at a steeper gradient (whilst dodging parked cars and mad road users who don't understand the basic rules about who has right of way). Just heading up the second gradient when I hear a chain-jangling noise, my legs start rotating very fast indeed but I'm going nowhere. The chain has come off. This happens occasionally and is a right pain. Find somewhere safe to fix the bike. Strip everything off the bike that might get damaged, grab my rubber gloves, heave the bike upside down and fit the chain back on. Flip the bike back over and dang me if the chain doesn't just fall off again Heave the bike over again, rinse and repeat. This time the chain stays on.

I am now looking at the steep gradient, thinking, am I actually going to be able to do a hill start? There are people looking at me. So, do I make a fool of myself? Or take the easy way out and walk the bike up the hill? Decide to make a fool of myself (but who cares anyway? If they get a laugh out of me then so be it, it made their day a little better) but manage to pull away and get up the hill. Turn off that section of the hill into a blasted headwind so that made the rest of the hill hard work. It also made going down the next section harder as well. I mean, who pedals downhill??

I carried on, down the hill before turning off to attempt the hill from hell part I. Doing okay, managed to get partway up the hill in a higher gear than usual, feeling pleased with myself as I'm managing this despite the wind, I look up the hill and see a double-decker bus heading right for me. This section of road is very narrow, there is no way that the bus and I are going to pass each other and the way this guy to hurtling down the hill is pretty scary. I decide to stand my ground as it's my right of way, and keep going. Just when I'm on the verge of bottling it, the driver slams on his brakes, veers away from me and runs his bus along the bank. All I can hear are trees hitting the bus. Goodness knows what his passengers thought - mind you it was a school bus so maybe the kids thought it was fun. I'd have liked to hear his explanation for that one - "well, boss, I refused to give way to a cyclist who was going up the hill I was going down, even though it was her right of way". Hmm, disciplinary for him perhaps.

Continue up HFH Part I and then tackle Part II. The wind isn't such a problem at the moment as I'm protected by trees. Get to the top of the hill and the crosswind attacks. More fun. But I carry on, leaning into the wind just to keep upright. Round I go again, and again, so three times up the HFH. Just because. Then I get to the end of the road at the top, turn around and head for home, looking forward to going back down the hill. The wind has really picked up now so that's going to spoil my fun

About halfway down this hill there is a crossroad. This road isn't well used but I'm always wary about cars shooting out of the junctions. Today there was a car sat waiting at the junction, not moving and I'm muttering "stay where you are, DO NOT pull out in front of me" as by now I'm doing about 28 mph. So the idiot sees me, thinks "Bike, don't want to me stuck behind THAT" and pulls out in front of me. He then goes on to demonstrate his close and protective relationship with his brake pedal. I do get annoyed by these people. If they have to hug and massage their brake pedal to that extent then they should have to retake their driving tests. The road was clear - nothing in front on either side of the road, no pedestrians, no parked cars, dogs, sheep, mountains, or other obstructions. No reason to even think about braking. But he did. So I then had to yank on my brakes.

Then back into a headwind. For miles. Hard work - I had to go up a "gentle" slope (a bridge over a dual carriageway) in bottom gear of the middle range - I can usually manage this easily in the top range. It was a s-l-o-w ride home.

But, I had moments of being able to admire the hedgerows which brightened things up a bit. It's the little things that bring joy . . .




But despite the challenges, I still managed 23.6 miles. Also went for a 7.7 mile walk with the children. I'm trying to build up to 12 miles - that's the distance between our house and the next nearest town - the children are resisting, despite promising to bring them back on the bus. They just need a little more persuading They'll come round to my way of thinking. Eventually! They have no choice . . .

I bumped up my weights to 35 lb Hammer Curls. And my second NSV, 35 lb is almost too light now! LOL
I remember first starting out when 10 was heavy. Who'd a thought I could do a 20 lb Shoulder Press, and 35 lb Hammer Curls. I can even do a 35 lb with both hands via my Tris.

So today I woke up early and couldn't get back to sleep so instead of staying cosy under the covers and possibly reading at 5:15am I got up and went for a run, a RUN!!