Let's Beat This Together

News from Slimming World Head Office:

Thousands of people all over the UK are taking to the streets this Saturday, 21st February, to support the first ever ‘Let’s Beat Obesity Together’ campaign, launched by Slimming World, the UK’s largest weight loss organisation. The campaign aims to get whole communities together to help tackle the UK’s spiralling obesity crisis.

It’s estimated that around 10,000 Slimming World members will join forces to help raise awareness of the growing obesity epidemic and its effect on individuals and their families. Members who are already feeling the benefits of the help available at Slimming World groups in communities all over the UK are encouraging friends and neighbours to join them, and take advantage of the support they need to lose weight and live healthier lives.

Read the rest of the story over at Slimming World News.

This week I came to the plan with a renewed enthusiasm... haven't felt this up for it for a long time. And I'm hoping this will put an end to the messing around I've been doing for the last however many months and put me back on track to finally getting to a healthy weight.

There are many, many different plans and methods to successfully manage your weight. Food Optimising is the one for me. And I pledge right now my renewed commitment to the plan and to continuing the journey that's going to change my life forever. And I'll get there because I have the support of not just one group, and not just one consultant, but all my SW friends and consultants I've met in other groups and online.


We can nail this thing! Who's with me?

Another week, another FAIL

Weigh in approacheth once again and once again I know I'm going to be staring at the numbers going the wrong way. Having said that, though, I do feel like I'm getting somewhere. It's finding that centre point, where I'm doing the plan but getting enough of everything to avoid those feelings of deprivation and the inevitable binges that follow. It's also about finding what works and what doesn't.

This week I've realised that I find sticking to the plan really easy when I have the time, energy and ingredients in to make loads of Free Food based recipes. It's a joy to do, cooking is fun, and enjoying the results knowing it's all "on plan" and will help me lose weight. I've also realised that it all goes to pot if I haven't got the time or energy. If I have those, I'll get the ingredients, but if I want something quick or easy, I'm stuck.

And that's what's caught me this week. One day when I was out for the day and I used that as rather nifty excuse to eat pasties, sandwiches and takeaways. And last night sheer laziness got in the way of cooking anything decent.

So now I'm looking at solutions for those times... I'll keep you posted on whatever solutions I find along the way.

Quickie #2 - Photos and video from the latest Luigi's meet

The girls from the web's friendliest virtual trattoria got together for a late Christmas party a couple of weeks ago, which gave those of us with a fondness for such activities a fine excuse to raid the dressing-up box and play the fool...








A2A Players Present... RWF! from Sam Randall on Vimeo.


A2A Players present... Showdown Outside Luigi's from Sam Randall on Vimeo.


A2A Players present... un-bloody-breakable! from Sam Randall on Vimeo.

Would I have had the confidence to make such a huge ninny of myself before I started Food Optimising? Probably not. Thank you, Slimming World, for helping me to get in touch with my suit-wearing, shouting, cross-dressing, cosplaying monster. No doubt a gift that will come in handy when I become a consultant..!

Quickie #1 - Random Bletherings from Facebook

I have been seriously neglecting this poor little blog. Might give you some indication of how much attention the weight-loss effort has had recently *cough*. As I'm back in the swing of Food Optimising and all of that now, I'm intending to give this more of my time. Full rambling posts will resume shortly, but in the meantime here's something I knocked up on Facebook as part of the highly addictive '25 Things' meme...

1. I thought I'd do a new list/note/thing to warm my brain up this morning.

2. Still on my first coffee and I haven't finished my breakfast yet, so this could get a bit muddled.

3. I'm chatting with Stef at the moment, who I really enjoy talking to and I hope to meet one day.

4. After what feels like months of dithering, I am finally back on the Food Optimising plan again. And it feels great.

5. Thursday night, however, will remain treat night for as long as I feel I can get away with it.

6. Getting involved with my group's activities and helping my consultant out is really helping me keep on track.

7. So I'm really looking forward to bringing some fun and games to all of Katrina's groups on Red Nose Day week.

8. I'm not going to give much away about what's going to happen that week, but those who know me well could take an educated guess.

9. Yesterday I was given a chance to make a web site for an old friend.

10. This pleases me in several ways, it's a chance to learn some new skills, and it puts me back in touch with a dear friend who I have missed a great deal.

11. She is as mad as the proverbial box of frogs, but aren't we all?

12. I've often wondered if anyone has studied a box of frogs in order to obtain comparative data.

13. Ditto badger's arse/roughness. How does anyone *know*?

14. Fandoms are wonderful places.

15. My name is Sam Randall, and I am a cosplayer.

16. I'm really enjoying being part of the Twitterverse again.

17. That probably has a lot to do with the presence of the mighty @Schofe.

18. @Schofe is TV Royalty.

19. This was supposed to be an unedited stream of consciousness thing, until I started editing it. Never mind.

20. I'm aware this note isn't exactly random because some points link into others.

21. My breakfast - 6 Ryvita wholegrain crackerbreads, 2 laughing cow extra light triangles, 2 babybel minis, marmite, yogurt, and fruit. That's 2 syns and a HEA and HEB to all you Food Optimising Fans out there!

22. I'm going to the gym later for the first time in months. Funny how signing up for a monthly direct debit does that.

23. The web site project I've been asked to do is also connected with fandom.

24. I hope I can do it justice.

25. This concludes this morning's random ramblings. This isn't a meme or anything, you don't have to pass it on, but if you feel inclined to share 25 portions of your randomness, let me know 'cos I'm nosey and I'd like to read them.

Tis the season to get healthy...

Ah, the first Monday of January. The day people grudgingly traipse back to work or school, and return to whatever passes for normal in their everyday lives. And, of course, thoughts turn to health, fitness and dealing with the inevitable festive weight gains.

This time of year used to really get me down. The bombardment of ads in magazines, newspapers and on TV nagging away about *my* increasing girth (I always took this sort of thing personally), offering a seemingly endless array of possible solutions to give me the body I always dreamed of. And how would I react in the face of such bombardment? I'd head straight for the fridge and make my problem even worse.

It's different these days. Since I made my choice from the array in April 2007 and joined Slimming World, I know I have all the tools I need to get healthy and lose weight. I know because in my first 32 weeks with SW I lost 100lb. During 2008 I slipped back into some bad old habits, and my weight losses slowed down, then I began a cycle of gaining and losing the same couple of stones. This is entirely my fault. It proves that you can have the best information and resources and support to hand but if you're not switched on mentally, it is not going to happen.

Yesterday I made an effort to flip that switch, to get back into the right frame of mind and to remind myself how easy and enjoyable Food Optimising is. Especially now, with the launch of Extra Easy - flipping that switch has never been easier.

So, I feel confident to make a few resolutions... and here they are:

To keep that mental switch firmly held down

That means remembering the benefits of making the right choices. To ask myself at least three times if I really want whatever I'm contemplating eating. To remember that if I am hungry, when doing the plan properly there is always something available to eat.

To "enjoy responsibly"

I have been drinking far too much alcohol recently, and as much fun as it seems at the time, it never feels that great the next day... especially on those mornings when I couldn't recall what happened the night before. It is possible to enjoy a couple of glasses of wine on an evening without it developing into a couple of bottles, I'm sure.

To stop worrying so much

If I've asked myself three times if I want that bar of chocolate or glass of wine, then I'm to enjoy it, and not to feel guilty about it. This isn't a short-term, faddy, crash diet. This is a plan for life, and so the occasional indulgence is perfectly fine. Occasional being the operative word there.

To keep counting!

One of my major stumbling points during 2008 was having 'off days', where I would allow myself to eat whatever I wanted, without counting syns. This year I'm going to do my damndest to keep count, as best I can, even in a few weeks when I'm at a party in London with the girls from Luigi's. But that's when I'll use flexible syns.

To go to group every week, without fail

Every week. Even if I've screwed up, gained weight, and feel like a big old repugnant sack o'shite, I will go to group every week, and I'll stay for IMAGE Therapy, because the support of Slimming World is as valuable as the plan itself.

So there we are, I'm all fired up and ready to go for another year. How about you?

Willpower 1 - Food 0

Everybody has their weaknesses, those personal favourites that have potential to bring any decent weight loss campaigns to a crashing halt at the merest hint of their presence. I used to love rotisserie chicken, bought from the Oven Fresh counter at Morrisons. The chicken always played second fiddle to the real star of the show... the succulent, crisp, tasty skin.

I've been avoiding the Oven Fresh counter for that very reason. But tonight I decided it was time to give my willpower a bit of a challenge, and to see how my tastes have changed since starting this journey back in April 2007. I was hoping I'd get this chicken home and realise that the skin was just a layer of fat, and of no appeal whatsoever. I got the thing home and took it out of the bag. The skin looked just as succulent and tasty as I remembered and the smell was unbelievable. I told myself that it's the meat that smells so lovely, not the skin, took a deep breath and removed every last bit of skin, and put it on one side for the cat. Our cat loves me right now. I took the chicken apart, and plated up my portion - nothing but lean meat. I faced a challenge and I won.

All I did was think about what I wanted more, and finally the answer was to start losing weight again. I hope the black box o'doom has good things to tell me come Thursday night.

The journey, as ever, continues.....

Miss Slinky 2008

Slimming World - Miss Slinky - Nominees
Originally uploaded by pigpogm

Me and my buddy Marie at this year's Miss Slinky competition. Neither of us won, but we had a bloody good laugh. That's the best and most beneficial thing about going to meetings and staying for group, having fun with friends who are in the same boat.