To Weigh or not to Weigh?

I've never been big on weighing myself. Ignorance has always been bliss in my eyes, but since I've started this blog the scales and I have become firm friends. However I don't know if this is for the best. It's good that I can see that the numbers are slowly going down but at the moment I am weighing myself in the morning and then again in the evening, every single day which I know is unnecessary. So here is the question, do I stop completely or try and only do it once a week to make sure I am on track? I honestly don't know the answer. Part of me wants to throw the scales out - this is a lifestyle change not a diet so surely I should be judging this on how I feel and how my clothes fit opposed to just basing it on weight? But then, if I only weigh myself once a week at least I can check that I am on track! The once a week is the sensible answer I know, but then the scales are still there in the bathroom tempting me (blimey from biscuits to scales is there nothing I am tempted by?!) So here we go another area of self control I have to practice, the scales will stay but Friday mornings will be my weigh day and for the rest of the week they can rest. Well that is the plan at least.

On a brighter note I went jogging yesterday. I have started a Couch to 5k podcast and am already on week two (with 3 jogs scheduled each week). It really is knackering, by the end of it I am red, sweaty, and a little bit sweary but I know that it is working. This is because not only do I feel better after a run, which I really do I promise, but it is helping my motivation. Why would I want to each that chocolate when I've just sweated my arse off - it would undo all of my hard work. I think it is safe to say I am in a positive mode at the moment, to be honest I am just pleased that I have stuck at something for longer than I week - long may it continue!

One week review...

So it's been a week since I started this blog, and I think it's about time I put some goals down to work towards...

1. Loose weight & get down to a size 12 - most importantly get my BMI into the healthy range & have a healthy relationships with food.

2. Be more positive!

So there we go, there are my two core aims, they don't sound too hard do they?

In case I achieve this really quickly (!) there are other things I would like to accomplish over the next year and here they are;

Get fit and tone up! I want (need) to change how I eat but I also want to get healthy, active & trim - basically I want to be the living embodiment of 'bright eyed and bushy tailed'.

Go running - Do a 5k run in 30 minutes or less!

Be more sociable, meet up with friends more often.

Feel confident enough to go surfing in a swimming costume, or even a wetsuit.

Run up the stairs at work and not be out of breath.

Enjoy Christmas without feeling the need to gorge on all the goodies!

Well I think that is it, for now at least I am sure I will think of more but it is good to see them in writing so I can keep on track. And can I also say, the work biscuits have stayed untouched, 1 gold star for my self control!

Finding my Style

Unsurprisingly I don't like going clothes shopping. It's just embarrassing, nothing fits or if it does I don't look good in it. I'm 27 I know that I should have found my style by now but I haven't. Currently I wear either jeans and a hoodie, or black trousers with a relatively smart top. This is not exciting. This is boring, but I wear it because it is all I have. So fashion and I are not friends. This is going to change though, fashion and I are going to be BFF soon. If I have to chase fashion down with a shitty stick and force it to be friends with me I will.

With this in mind I have been searching the Internet for inspiration (or thinspiration if you prefer!) on what style I think I want. To keep me on track I'm going to post some pictures of what I like. This blog will be like the skinny picture you're supposed to stick on fridge!

To spread this out I will start with one style today and post others over the next few weeks.

Now the first place to start is easy - with a name like Blue Crush, surfer/beach style is something I love but have never suited. And do you know what, with this style you can wear hoodies - pretty awesome hoodies at that! 'Now why are you looking at hoodies when you've just complained about them' I hear you cry! Well these are different, you don't put these hoodies on to cover up, but to keep your buff surf body warm after getting out the sea. I can wear hoodies when I get fit because I'll be wearing them to keep warm not in the hope of blending into the background and hiding my belly.

Here is one of my favourites from Roxy;

Now I've decided that when I get buff I am going to have great legs. I'm currently doing lots of squats and walking, and will start jogging this weekend to help with this. Therefore I will need some sexy surfer hot pants to show my toned legs off. These are a great fun pair available from Animal;

Ok and now for the scary issue, swimsuits. I have no illusions about wearing a bikini, I've never worn one, not even as a teenager and I don't think I'll start now. While I may plan to have great legs I don't think my belly can recover from the years of abuse I've subjected it to of Ben and Jerry's ice cream (Phish food and Baked Alaska - yum!) so here are two of suits that I want to be able to wear next summer!

This first one is from Zoggos. It's pretty simply but I like that about it, there's not too much going on, and it doesn't have fussy strap lines. I can see myself wearing this one at the swimming pool doing laps in the winter and when I can't get to the sea!

This one is from Moontide and it a bit more glamorous and fun. Definitely for showing off at the beach with.

So London fashion week may have finished at the weekend but here I am, still blazing a trail for the fashionistas out their with my very first post on fashion. I have to admit it's quite scary as I have no fashion sense at all but hopefully I will get better over the next few months!

Working and downfalls

So, seeing as my intro post mentioned my work life, albeit briefly, I have decided today to address some of the issues I have with my job vs my new life style.

Firstly I work in sport, an Olympic sport at that. Ok I work in a office all day and don't get to travel across the world with the athletes to competition etc but as a full time employee I am a representative of the company and sport, and I am the exact opposite as the athletes that I occasionally have to work with. They are tall, completely buff, ripped and oh so confident. If they are not confident they certainly hide it well. I will never compare to these guys - they train two or three times a day 6 days a week but I feel I need to put across a better view of myself as a professional. I want to be able to wear my branded kit (when I have to, not for fun) and not have passers by think I am a sweaty wannabe fan! So there we go, one new aim and reason for me to get my arse in gear.

Now here is the big downfall. I sit in front of a computer 8 hours a day most weekdays, and unlike many sport NGO's we do not have a gym or sports equipment on site so any exercise I do has to be outside of work. Second big downfall, biscuits, sweets and cakes. In the office we have 'The Filing Cabinet'. And on top of this baby there is always a selection of biscuits and sweets. If anyone goes on holiday or to an event with the athletes they bring back sweets, it tradition and you can't question tradition. If any of the coaches visit the office they bring biscuits. Right now on The Filing Cabinet we have one big bag of jelly sweets (brought by me after my holiday) one pack of Maryland Cookies, one pack of Fox's biscuit creams, one pack of dark chocolate digestives and some sainsburys cookies all donated by kind coaches. Bearing in mind there is usually about 8 of us in the office that is a lot of biscuits. And oh they are tempting me every single day. The Filing Cabinet will always have treats on it, I cannot change that but I must learn to have self control and leave them. Just because they are there it doesn't mean I have to have them. So that is the first challenge this week, to not have anything from The Filing Cabinet. Now this isn't to say that my 'new lifestyle' will not let me have sweet stuff because that way lies the way of binging (for me at least) so this week I cannot have any and once I have started to get my head around this new attitude to food I will move on to moderation. Now to me moderation doesn't sound too exciting but it is something I need to do.

On the plus side yesterday I did some exercise - Yay! Now I was going to go for a jog but my ipod had no battery (a terrible excuse I hear you cry) and I cannot run without music pushing me along. It's a scientific fact music keeps you moving and your brain off the terrible pain your (my) lungs are in. But that's not to say I didn't do anything. I did half an hour of a Davina DVD. This may sound rubbish and lightweight compared to a good old fashioned jog but believe me my legs and arse are feeling it today! Food wise, so far so good too. I even made bruschetta last night to have for lunch today, which not only is healthy, but cheap, as I had lots of tomatoes that needed using up - Go Me!

New Day, New Blog, New Me?!

So this is my first post. I don't imagine it will be very interesting but you have to start somewhere.

Following 27 years of eating exactly what I like, when I like, I have discovered I have no self control and look exactly like someone with no self control when it comes to food i.e. fat. However as the blog title says this is a new day, so we will not dwell on the past but on the reason I have set this blog up. I feel the need to engage in a whole new lifestyle, not just a faddy diet which will be forgotten by Christmas, so with the encouragement of my friend Skinny Jeans (http://skinnyjeansskinnydreams.blogspot.com) we have entered into a pact (oh yes SJ it's a pact you cannot escape) to change things around. The plan is that by summer 2012 we will go surfing, and although surfing may not be my secret talent (hey it may be, you never know) we will be able to run and frolic (and do all those things happy skinny girls do) down to the beach without embarrassment. If I have to wear a wetsuit I will not look like a great white shark's wet dream of a slow walrus but a svelte happy seal! That is the goal but there is also much more that I want to address and experience over the next year or so that I hope this lifestyle change will help me to do.

I want not just a change in attitude to food and exercise but a change in attitude to life. For a long time, particularly since finishing Uni life has been something I will do or experience later. In all sense and purposes I have become a 'no' person when at heart I want to be a 'yes' person. I want to try new things, meet new people and have a life outside of my job. Just to see how many clichés I can fit into one post I want to work to live to just live to work. Not that I spend hours and hours at work - I really don't, but I don't have much of a social life outside of work. And as much as I like my work colleagues a drink after work every Friday night is not the thrilling life I want. I want the Friday night drinks and so much more. Oh and just to add another spin on this lifestyle change I'm broke so whatever I do will have to be on a tight budget - lucky lucky me! Wish me luck, it may be a bumpy ride!