Over the next wee while I'll be redesigning and revamping my blog page. It's been in need of it for a while in order to bring it more up to date and to include some more interest. It's not a new year resolution thing - I have 3 blogs and they all need doing - but more that I've been neglecting this one of late. It seems I only blog when my healthy eating is going to plan and then when I slip a little I can't bring myself to publicly display it so I hide instead.
Well I can't afford to do that now! My latest blood test results showed an increase in my gamma? Levels and as this could eventually lead to type 2 diabetes I have to start taking my health seriously. This means I have to start being accountable for my weight and for the food I eat and with that in mind I will be posting my weight on my blog after weigh in on Monday morning - posting weight is something I have always refused to do.
I'm not going on any fad diet - I'll follow the slimming world healthy eating plan as I have all the gumph for it. I'm hoping to avoid needing to go to class as they're late evening and 15 miles away but if I cannot stick to it myself then I'll definitely be attending.
Exercise will definitely need looking at because I've done diddly squat for such a long time. I have a flare up of asthma at the moment due to a chest infection so I'll have to start out with simple walking but then I'll move on to either Insanity or the new Insanity Max:30.
I'm actually quite looking forward to this journey and I know my weakness will be sweet things when I'm watching tv so I've already begun to limit the time I watch tv and the ridiculous amount of time I spend on Facebook - I will set time aside for blogging and for Pinterest but fb really is going to be limited.
So with all that in mind I will post again here on Monday with my weigh in figures and take it from there.

Raspberry keytone plus and Colon cleanse

It doesn't seem to matter how much I want to lose weight, I - along with so many others - just seem to go through a cycle of weightloss / weightgain and while I'm no heavier than I was several months ago I'm also no lighter.
I've been running lately hoping by some miracle it will be enough to drop 2 stone overnight but guess what.....it isn't! Who knew!!!
Our holiday to Mexico is now just 7 weeks away, I've put off buying nice clothes for it just in case I miraculously lose weight and need a smaller size. It sounded like a good plan at the time but summer is now over and all the shops have their winter range of clothes in store and I'm now left hoping and praying I can still get into the clothes currently sitting in my wardrobe that I haven't worn since our last holiday almost 2 years ago. Some things never change I guess.

I've never been one to buy into weightloss pills that promise extreme weightloss in less than a month and those fat binding pills available from the doctor really do not interest me either - oh, the horror stories I've read about those.
So I was a little surprised that I found myself ordering a bottle of Raspberry Keytone plus and a bottle of Colon cleanser from 'Evolution slimming'

We've all heard about Raspberry keytones right? We've heard all the rave reviews and claims that it's the supplement all the stars are using?
Well I decided nothing ventured, nothing gained, I'll give them a go and see how they work for me. Obviously they're not a miracle cure for obesity, diet and exercise also has to play a part but I figured they were a gentle enough supplement that wouldn't result in desperate dashes to the loo to eliminate all that fat that the body can't process from using some of those other weight loss pills.
Well I was sort of right and also sort of wrong:


Day 2 of the Raspberry Keytones and the Colon Cleanse (yes, I did just say day 2) and I found just how quick they are to work. The day I started them hubby and I decided we would make the 2 hour trip to Inverness the next day so I decided not to take the night time Colon Cleanse tablets 'just in case'. We got up at 5am and I took 2 Colon Cleanse tablets as instructed and took the Keytones with me to have before breakfast. Within 30 minutes of driving to Inverness my bowels weren't just moving they were making the most awful noises and 40 minutes into the drive I was feeling really uncomfortable and experiencing wave after wave of needing to use the loo. As each wave died down I would be relieved only to find it start up again a few minutes later - I never use public loos so the thought of having to go was making me feel really anxious too.
After 1.5 hours we made it to Morrisons supermarket for a loo break - damn thing was shut! I couldn't believe I would have to wait another 30 minutes and use Inverness train station loos - by this point my bum cheeks were screaming in agony from all the clenching!
At several points I honestly feared I would have to use a field and wet wipes - oh the shame!
We finally make it to Inverness and thankfully it was still early morning so there were hardly any people milling about and absolutely no one in the loos - this was a blessing not just for me but for all those that could have witnessed a mass evacuation.
Once the deed was done I hightailed it out of the station and never looked back. Instead of lingering around Inverness as we usually would do we hit 2 shops, the bank and then came straight home - just in time for the next wave of colon cleansing!
Last night was spent making trips to the loo and trying to cope with awful stomach cramps.
I'd almost decided to stop taking the colon cleanse, instead I have lowered the dose to 1 tablet twice a day just for today and then I will resume normal doseage - I just won't be able to leave the home while I'm on them.
Apparantly this bowel movement is normal behaviour at the beginning of the course so anyone thining of taking these needs to be aware of this and know how they can work around it.
As for the Raspberry keytones, well I won't know until weigh day on Monday whether they have helped with any weightloss but I'm keeping my fingers and toes crossed.

Nutribullet - recipes so far have been awful.

I have finally accepted that shopping channels lie! I bet most of y'all got there some time ago but I so want to believe that products sold are exactly as described on TV and work exactly as they claim.
This brings me to the 'Nutribullet'. After my second attempt with the 'Vitamix' I watched the 'Nutribullet' commercials and after speaking to my mum who has one I decided to bite the bullet (pardon the pun) and buy one as a cheaper alternative to the Vitamix.
Now I can watch the 'Nutribullet' commercials and see them in a whole different light, there is no way that the ingredients he makes those juices with taste as good as what he and the female presenter make out - in fact the female is seen to be making Mmmmmm noises before the liquid has even touched her mouth.
I've tried a huge amount of variants with these juices and the best one has been a concoction that I could actually manage to drink as long as I held my nose and didn't taste it until I'd finished, while there have been one or two that have literally made me gag.
All those fruits and veggies that you love to eat taste absolutely foul when they're mushed up!
So I'm now left with making virgin Pina Colada and Banana ice cream which tasted amazing and totally surprised me cos it tasted foul in the 'Vitamix'.

I'll keep trying though. All I need is one or two juice or smoothie recipes that I can tolerate and that doesn't smell or taste like something the dog threw up!

I want to be drinking something that looks like this

While in reality THIS is what everything seems to look like and yes, it tastes as disgusting as it looks

Focus T25 + Nutribullet

I'm pretty useless at keeping this blog updated. Probably because I feel that every post seems to be a negative one and I've never really been one for posting random life stuff just for some blog content - I like reading it of other people but don't really think my lifes journey makes a very interesting read for other people.

This latest weightloss attempt has been pretty pathetic to say the least. I start of brilliantly and focused on healthy eating but as soon as I start to lose weight and feel healthier I gradually start over eating again. I've used every excuse under the sun for what I do but the upshot of it is that it's me thatputs the food in my mouth, it's me that says "just one won't hurt", it's me that says "I've been good all week so....." and it's me that says "You're fine as you are" in those weak moments when I just can't resist that bar of chocolate.
'They' say that admitting it is the hardest part - bollox! That's the sodding easy part - "My name is Linda and I overeat, eat too much chocolate and can't control it" - see easy! And I mean every bit of it, I'm not just saying it. So I waited for this sudden epithany and a weakening of the want for chocolate and guess what - I'm still waiting!!

I now have just 4 months or so until we go to Mexico and I was supposed to have lost a significant amount of weight by this point. As it is I do not know what I weigh because I'm gotten all scared of the scales again.
A few days ago I decided I was going to do exactly what I am against me doing - I was going to go on some kind of meal replacement plan and lose weight fast. I don't want to lose weight fast because of the increased chance of loose skin but what the heck - desperate times and all that.
Then I came to my senses - that kind of diet is not for me and I'm not doing it. Instead I have bought myself a nutribullet. After the fiasco with the Vitamix I was hesitant to get a juice machine again but my mum has recently bought one and says they're fabulous, so that's the route I am going.
My breakfast will be a healkthy smoothie instead of cereal with milk and sometimes my lunch will be a healthy smoothie instead of either nothing or something that involves bread. Then I will simply have a healthy meal at night and eat as much fruit as I like. Sorted!

I've also started 'Focus T25' with my daughter, a Shaun T workout five days a week for only 25 minutes though don't let the amount of time fool you into thinking it's an easy workout - it really isn't.

Nutribullet + Focus T25 = weightloss (it has to).

Once I find some delicious recipes especially ones that help get me through a T25 workout I'll be posting them on here :)

Vitamix defeat

The Vitamix arrived and now the Vitamix is all wrapped up and ready to go back to whence it came!
I tried, I really did - well as much as I could within the allotted 30 day money back guarantee allowed anyway. I had such high hopes for my relationship with this machine and even now as I wait for the courier to collect it (3rd week of waiting) I'm tempted to get it back out the box and keep it regardless. But it's an expensive ornament for the kitchen!
So what went wrong? Absolutely nothing to do with the Vitamix itself, it's capable of everything they claim and more but it's limited to the users ability/perserverance/patience and unfortunately I'm lacking in all 3 areas.
I was so looking forward to making the Banana icecream from just frozen Bananas and the first attempt was foul due to my eagerness and using barely ripe Bananas (just for the record - yuk!) so I bought more Bananas and left them (guarded them) for days and days while they over ripened, at which point I chopped them up and froze them. I was literally drooling by the time it came to make the next batch of Banana ice cream - I did everything right (well as suggested by youtube users anyway) and while the ice cream was a lovely texture the taste was still awful, though nowhere near as bad as before. So I added some peanut butter (again as suggested on youtube) but the result was even more awful. That was the extent of my ice cream making.
Next I tried a lovely soup recipe, followed it to the letter (though I added some pepper) and the result was .......different. I could get past the smoothie texture but blinkin heck it burnt my mouth from the pepper.
So I tried some smoothie recipes. It's strange how all the veggies and fruit you usually like just do not taste very nice when they're blitzed. For example I could eat Cucumber whole - I love it - but blitz it in a smoothie and it really isn't so nice.
I tried various smoothies but none of us could hand on heart say that we would finish even one glass of it let alone try it again.
The final test was virgin Pina Colada. The problem here was that by the time I'd gotten the Coconut milk/Pineapple juice and ice ratio perfect I'd made so much of it that it could never all be used.
By this point my family were bemused that I was even going any further with it and I admitted defeat. I am never going to be a lover of smooth soup (I prefer chunky soup) and by the time I'd bought various products experimenting with the machine I'd spent an awful lot of money.

So the Vitamix is going back and I'll continue to experiment with smoothies using my hand held mixer.

Dr Phil

I've been watching Dr Phil for the first time today, I just happened across one of his shows on Youtube and I was hooked.
Obviously the weight loss ones are of most interest to me as I can relate to what people are saying in response to Dr Phils questioning. Like when he asked a guy on episode 'Fat, furious and fedup' why he was so overweight, the guy really didn't know the answer to the question but it got me asking myself the same thing.
I've often heard the idea that the key to understanding the destructive habit of overeating is to understand what started the habit in the first place and that, for me is an even harder question to answer. I've always had food issues and a negative relationship with food but also with my body so maybe that is part of the equation with me.
I was a slim child and stayed that way into young adulthood but I do remember 2 particular instances that stick in my mind and probably effected me in ways I didn't realise. One time a friend and I were walking to the shops all dressed up and feeling pretty good and a group of lads laughed and pointed at my ankles claiming they looked like "they're gonna snap", another time I was standing on tiptoe putting a poster on my bedroom wall (again dressed up ready to go out) and my sister quite innocently claimed that my calves made me look like "Rambo in a dress" (I was extremely slim and toned from exercise and having a horse). Both those statements have stayed with me to this day so I think I can assume they play a negative role in how I think now.
Anyway back to Dr Phil.
Dr Phil went on to question this guy about his reasons (excuses) he hadn't managed to lose weight yet despite claiming he'd made numerous attempts - his excuses astounded even me and included allergy to exercise, not sure footed enought to walk in the dark, the gym smelt funny and the one we've all used at some point - it's genetic!
But then Dr Phil made a statement that really hit home for me, he was referencing this guys battle with weightloss and was acknowledging that we all get to the point where we think we've gained too much now and that the journey to lose it is just too long. When the guy agreed, Dr Phil said to him "You think the journey is too long but whether you lose weight or not, you will still be here this time next year".
I've been trying to lose weight for about 22 years now though for the first 10 or so I only had pounds to lose though I believed I had stones to lose - this was a very warped view of my bodyweight on my part.
But Dr Phils statement made me realise something - I always view weightloss, diets, failures etc by looking at the past - what I was doing this time last year or where I was weightwise 5 years ago. I can see the destructive patterns of the last 22 years and I'm constantly focusing on past attempts thinking 'what's the point in trying, I've gone too far now?'. But I've never thought to look ahead of time, what I will be or could be this time next year and suddenly Dr Phils statement made so much sense - If I don't lose weight because I feel it takes too long to do it then this time next year I'll still be in this exact same situation and I'll have given up another whole year of my life to this battle.

Moodgym

I came across a particular website many years ago when I was once again fighting depression, until now I had forgotten all about it but it appeared in my recent google searches while looking for mind/thought help to combat all these negative feelings I have.
The site is called 'Moodgym'

"MoodGYM is an interactive program designed to help you:

• Identify whether you are having problems with emotions like anxiety and depression,
• Learn skills that can help you cope with these emotions.

MoodGYM is based on two programs which are successful in preventing and treating depression and anxiety. These are: Cognitive Behaviour Therapy and Interpersonal Therapy."

It's a free to use interactive site where you complete various assessments to assess your current state of thinking and helps you to understand the destructive impact it has on your day to day life, it then helps to teach you how to re-programme the brain into looking at situations differently and thinking differently thereby increasing positive thought while banishing the negative.
Again it's a slow process but I'm already enlightened after only a couple of exercises. I know that depression is a strong force in me and I'm usually able to recognise when the Black dog (depression) is snarling and when he's just assertively watching. To be honest I didn't think I was particularly depressed of late, that is until I started answering the interactive questions on Moodgym and now I can see that while I may not feel particularly weepy or sad right now, the feeling of nothing is another symptom of the Black dog and my interactive results really opened my eys to this.

My Moodgym result for the "Depression test"  was in the "High to very high range" and my results for the "Anxiety test" were in "The middle range" (basically no different to the average person).

Like I said I was surprised at the depression result, I didn't realise that some of the things I think were depressive symptoms though I can now see how negative they are.
I'm certainly looking forward to learning to cope with these thoughts and hopefully they will eventually help me to lose weight.