As I look at the date of my last post (8 days ago), I realise I have been incredibly remiss.  And no, all is not lost.  For those who thought I must have catapulted off the wagon you will be surprised to know I am still counting calories and the scales are going downwards – albeit slowly.

I only lost 0.5kg last week, which was disappointing to me.  I have had a lot of alcohol-free nights over the past 10-14 days (compared to my previous efforts) and have probably kept to my calorie total on 3/4 of the last week or two.  I have only had one blow-out day (unlike my previous post-weigh-in binges which lasted for a few days).  In fact, I actually had some corn chips mid-week last week.  How frivolous was that?!

Of course my behaviour/thought patterns haven’t changed and I ate the entire packet of corn chips AND I know that I could easily still sit and eat 4 x 200g blocks of chocolate if I had them, but I have been more measured in my behaviour.

In fact I haven’t even felt much like alcohol recently; although I did imbibe on Saturday evening and imbibe I did!

But by far my biggest achievement since my last post is that I have been doing some more exercise.  I was already ridiculously proud of myself for having done a couple of walks last week when I decided to activate a 10-day pilates centre pass a friend gave me.  I have been doing pilates (reformer and mat classes) for years.  My one-on-one lessons have recently stalled however, as my instructor is getting work done on her studio.  This means that, as a result of my 6 week holiday, I have only done a couple of pilates classes over the past 3 months.  So the timing to take up these free lessons at a swank nearby pilates studio seemed perfect.

Unfortunately I had to suffer through a beginners’ class before being able to enrol in sessions, but I have since done 2 more classes and am hoping to do another 2 or 3 before my 10 days are up.  Doing classes with more regularity than I am accustomed to has meant some sore muscles, but I feel great and far stronger (although I know my body would not have changed at all in 6 days!).  In addition to these lessons, I went on a long walk with some friends and did not (at all) suffer shin splints.  An additional (shorter) walk alone however, did result in me staggering around with unbearable pain in my lower extremities! Grrrr….

Nevertheless I have probably done more exercise in the last 7 – 10 days than I have done in the last 7 – 10 weeks.  I am extremely proud of myself and I suspect that has helped me keep on the straight and narrow diet-wise.

My next goal is to keep up the exercise (perhaps not quite as manic as I have been, but something between what I was doing – ie. SFA / nada – and the efforts of this past week).  I also need to keep motivated to stick to my calorie allowance as I continue to lose weight at a ridiculous trickle. 

Onward and upward….