Has anyone seen my lost inches?

As the title for today's blog would suggest, I've lost some inches. 

After over two months the circumference of my hips has decreased from 52 inches to a fabulous 48"!! Now I know that to most people this doesn't seem a lot, but to me it is. I'm so proud of myself. 

So, I hear you ask. How have I done this? Have I found some pill to lose weight? Some fantastic new trick to reduce belly fat? NO! I have achieved this by good old exercise. Lets take a look at what I have previously done. 

In the past, I was one for fad diets. You know the ones, you can only eat carbs on a Thursday if you're standing on one leg and wearing a fedora. I did weight watchers, that didn't last long. I tried a veggie diet, again didn't last long. I tried cutting out chocolate, this worked - for all of 5 minutes then I soon went back to my old ways. At once point I bordered on anorexia, I didn't eat anything but drank lots of sweet tea and water, I walked everywhere. Soon I found I'd lost lots of weight. Incredibly unhealthy and as soon as I ate again it all went back on. The last year I decided to try something much healthier. As you'll remember for a few weeks I regularly posted on photo's of my lunch. A low calorie soup, followed by weight watchers crisp, bottled water and fruit. I didn't drink caffeine and I didn't really drink carbonated beverages. Again, this worked really well and I down a dress size as I was walking a little too. However, as soon as I stopped all this the pounds quickly piled back on. 

Since then I tried all sorts of tricks. Which I quickly failed at, time and time again. The same story, same sad feeling when I stepped on the scales and saw that my weight wasn't dropping in the first week. Then something great happened. I was signed off work for 2 weeks with stress and given anti - depressants. The doctor explained that stress is caused by a seratonin imbalance, and that by taking SSRI's the mood swings and general bleak feelings would go away. Fabulous! One small problem, they take about 4 weeks to take effect. What was I going to do in the meantime?

I took to Google. Looking for any ways to naturally release seratonin in the brain. 15 minutes of exercise would do the job, or carbohydrates if you're in need of a quick pick me up. Spicy foods releases the same endorphins as laughing which make you feel happier. So I decided to do more exercise and generally follow a better diet. Eating better and exercising nightly. In the first two week, I dropped for 17st 1lb, to 16st 9lb. Then every week I weighed myself and found that I was losing an average of 2lb's a week. I measured my hips just before starting was a massive 52". Today I measured again, and found I was a lovely 48". I've now upgraded my work out to include, Pilates, Zumba and a Kick Boxing Boot Camp.

All I need to do is continue in this fashion and I'll soon be "bikini ready" as they say. I shall weigh myself Sunday and see if these new routines are doing any thing for me.

For now I feel a huge sense of accomplishment in knowing that I'm doing well. 

A Day in the Life.

I've been away for a couple of days ...Back now! 

Today was weigh day. I must say I wasn't looking forward to it. I was rather useless this week. I've done hardly anything in the way of exercise and haven't eaten well. I blame the fact that it was Easter - doesn't help that when I'm put in the way of temptation my strength and resolve usually crumbles, and as I am addicted to chocolate I found it very hard .... Safe to say the scales reflected my weakness, I've gained weight, 1lb and 3oz to be exact. I know in the grand scheme of things its not so bad, but I've been doing so well. However, I shan't let this throw or deter me. I plan to work harder, and its made me more determined. So now I've got a book in which I am writing all the food I've eaten and its calorie content. 

Anyways enough of my calorie counting and weight loss business. Whats been going on this week? Well, fiance and I got our first taste of sleeping apart. I went to help look after my nephew while his mum was in the hospital. So Thursday and Friday was spent taking care of a 4 year old boy. Exhausting! Ah well, guess its all good practice. 

I also managed to get our wedding invitations made. Me and my mom spent an hour and a half in Hobbycraft looking for supplies. In that time, my mum made a million and one suggestions. All of which took me away from my original plan and then ended up going back to my original plan! Now we have 50 of these little beauties. I am so proud of myself! 3 hours of solid work, and this is what I came up with. What do we think? I actually took the inspiration from another blog I found. 

Saturday, fiance and I went to go and get him measured for a suit, for a friends wedding (as he is to be best man). Once that was done I got to spend the day walking around with the mothers of the bride and groom. Oh the joy! At least by the time I was done my friend was out of hospital. A brief visit with her, and then home I went. To spend some time with my lovely fiance. 

All of which has brought me to today. A lovely relaxed Sunday. We're having a lovely steak and veg pie (home made) for tea. I've done a 30 minute kick-boxing boot camp workout, in the bedroom - a nice 362 calories burned off! I've updated my lovely blog (hurrah). Now to kick back and relax with the radio and a good book. I wonder how everyone else has spent their weekend.

A year together.

Well, one year ago today my fiance asked me to be his girlfriend. We realised that we were in love and wanted to be together. So today we've had a good day. Went to visit some friends and James went to look at suits for their wedding.

New nail colour

And again because I love it! 

I have the picture of the nail colour I promised.








Below is a picture of what I intend to be my wedding bouquet. I think this is absolutely adorable! It comes in Ivory as well (which is good as that's what colour my dress is), as well as matching pins/buttonholes. This is £18 and as I mentioned I think its beautiful!

What will be my bouquet.

Back to my style posts ...

My style has really changed lately. 

I put on a lot of weight since last spring and it was really difficult for me to shift. I have been doing really well this last couple of months. In the middle of February I made the choice to lose weight. Since then I have lost 11lbs (over) and an inch from my waist. I've recently invested in some Reebok Easytone trainers. Between them and the work out DVD I've been doing, I'm doing well. 

As I mentioned my style has changed. I didn't really have to wear smart clothes in my last job, so I got stuck in a rut of wearing jeans and t-shirts. Skirts now and then. I started wearing dresses on occasion as well. 

Being as that its spring, I've found myself fawning over the spring trends. Pretty floral dresses, pastel colours etc. I bought a lovely dress the other day (pictures to follow), in a very pale pink covered in butterflies! I adore butterflies this season. While other girls are wearing birds, I'm in butterflies! 

Today, I've been in rock and republic leggings in a lovely pale blue, an organic cream batwing style tee and cream ballet flats. I've found myself a lovely sky blue nail polish - Smarty Pants from Asda. £1.75 from their "Vintage" collection ( http://groceries.asda.com/asda-estore/catalog/sectionpagecontainer.jsp?departmentid=1214921923791). Absolutely wonderful and I'm absolutely in love with it. Again pictures to follow.

For now though, I'm off to bed. I shall be back soon my lovelies xx

A year later ....

Its been over a year since I last updated my blog, and let me tell you a lot has happened!

Where to begin? Well lets start at the beginning (as its a very good place to start). Looking back on my last posts, I shall try to pick up from there. I did a large essay like blog of my ex boyfriend. After that entry, we did break up. It was, sad? I was disappointed, but by the time the end came I wasn't sad. It just felt like the natural progression of my life, it was the right time for us. I'd cried too many times over him and it just wasn't working for us anymore. I mean who wants to apologise to someone over ever tiny little thing? Not me I can tell you.

At the end of March, I was out of work. Sad and unfortunate yes, but again, nothing to get too upset over as I was only there on a temporary basis filling in for maternity cover. So I received my last pay cheque and that was that. My mum got me so short term work helping in her office for a couple of weeks which helped put some money in my pocket. Thank you Mom! She really is! The day after I was put out of work, I went out. Helping at a charity event that was charging an entry fee. I was assisting by taking the money on the door and drawing a "V" on each persons hand.

Whilst there, I met a man. A tall, dark, handsome man. He walked in, I took his money, and because I thought he looked a little lost I talked to him. I found out he was there meeting one of his friends, and another friend had ditched him. The friend didn't turn up until much later, so in the time it took her, we talked. We laughed and we drank, I flirted .... A lot!! When it was time for my mum, Gemma and myself to leave I was devastated! I wanted to stay and entice the sexy bloke as much as I possibly could, ensnare him with my womanly wiles. Alas it was not to be. Instead, we swapped numbers. On the way home, and over the next couple of days we texted each other. Me almost incessantly. Cutting a long story short .... He agreed to come out with us (a few friends and myself). He came to meet us at the pub and we spent the night drinking and having a laugh. Over the course of the next few weeks we spent a lot of time together. We started officially dating on the April 11th 2011. We were in love! His name, is James.

A few months later we decided we wanted to move in together. We got a flat, I had a job as did James. Things were perfect. Alright, so since July of last year we've had a lot of stuff to deal with. But we got through it and we're better people for it now. Towards the end of the year we got engaged, and we get married in November of this year. I cant wait. The dress is bought and a lot of things are finalised already. I'm losing some weight which is fantastic, I should look fabulous in summer.

So? I hear you ask! Whats going on now?! Well now, we're having problems with things working. The digibox is buggered as the coax ariel got all rusted because water leaked in it. James' xbox doesn't work, the internal fans keep overheating and cutting it off. Not much of this is ideal in the slightest, but we persevere. We're looking for a new flat, trying to raise money to help pay for the wedding and generally enjoying our lives.

I'm happy and in love. My fiance is a wonderful man who I adore and who completely and utterly loves me back. Come November my name will be Mrs Krynn Crysania Sian Newton and I will be married to the love of my life. Seems Love didn't give up on me, it was just trying to tell me to get out of what was making me unhappy.
Funny how that happens aint it?