Almost a banana

Well, what a difference a week makes. Having been so despondent last week about staying the same for two weeks, I'm now full of the joys of spring (well, autumn) having lost 5lb this week. This takes me well past my first mini-goal of a stone to a grand total loss of 17lb. I know that's not even 10% of my final total but it feels good to have broken through the stone mark, something I haven't managed to do since I lost 40lb with Weight Watchers six and a half years ago. Even when I was doing WW or Slimming World, I only stuck at it for four or five weeks and lost 12lb maximum before giving up at the first sign of a gain or staying the same, so 17lb feels like a big thing.

And I measured myself last week to try and alleviate the gloom and have lost 1 inch round my waist and 3 inches round my chest - typical! The first place it goes from is the last place I want to lose it from. My hips are still over 5ft around, which is shameful, but my BMI is below 50 for the first time in ages. I really am getting there. Slowly but at an average of 2lb a week, which is all I can ask for. I can't wait to hit 20lb, which is just over 10% of my target and will hopefully get there in a couple of weeks. But now I know that I can plateau for a couple of weeks and try not to let it affect me too much as I know that the weight will come off when it's good and ready. If I can lose 2 stone by Christmas, I'l be over the moon.

I'm trying to decide whether or not to buy some scales or continue with my weekly pilgrimage to Boots. Boots will work out cheaper and it's the scale I'm used to but I would like to weigh myself when I feel like it, naked so I get my true weight as I never know how much to allow for clothes and shoes. The scales I want weigh up to 27st 2lb and cost £39.99, which is quite a lot, especially as I'll be able to use my all-singing, all-dancing Tanita body fat ones when I get down to 23st or so. But I want them. And we are finally getting the money Bristol Uni owe us this week for removal expenses so we'll be solvent from Wednesday. Hmm, we'll see. I think my consumerist tendencies will win out.

Have just had a lovely roasted sweet potato soup with garlic flatbread for lunch as I needed the garlic to keep me going until we go to Gourmet Burger Kitchen tonight and I get my garlic mayo fix. I might go for the chicken satay burger with chips and the garlickiest mayo or the Greek Lamb burger I had last time, with hummus, tzatziki and chilli sauce. And I'll be clawing back calories all week to make up for it, especially if I give in and have a couple of beers as well. But it's the first time Jo and Tony are visiting Brizzle so I have to show them a good time. And then starve myself once they leave. And I'm down to 1812 calories a day, 81 less than I was on at the start, which is almost a banana. I might need to start cutting my fruit intake slightly or reducing the yoghurt in my smoothie to 100g or having 175g of chips rather than 200g. Or I could just get off my fat arse and do some exercise. But I'm so knackered when I get home from work and I spend the weekend sleeping. I really do; I got up at 11:30 yesterday and then slept for two hours in the afternoon!

But anyway, to sum things up, I'm a happy bod again and have renewed faith in both myself and the calorie counting. Yay!