Saying Goodbye To My Curves :(

40lbs

Well, this is a bitter-sweet post I must say. I've been following the ADF lifestyle for a little over six months and still feel amazing. And - as can be seen in my last post about me - I've felt so much fitter, healthier and simply just more alive, that I've taken up Zumba six days a week in an attempt to tone my saggy bits.

As well as weighing, I regularly measure my waist. I was a little frustrated after Christmas because although I'd carried on eating fairly healthily and was 'wafting me bits about' doing Zumba, neither my weight nor my waist was diminishing.

It took four more weeks of breathing in to measure, then - whilst on the scales - balancing on one leg, holding my boobs up, leaning precariously back, bouncing up and down ... along with much more drastic measures of cutting my long heavy hair, quite, quite short - alas, it wasn't heavy enough.

And I tried fast-5 by going without breakfast on an up day ... I only did it once, because I then had to eat late in the evening because I'd only consumed approximately 1350 calories throughout the day and this isn't enough for me on an up day, who'd have thought that I'd have to eat more to lose weight??

Sigh ... why aren't I losing weight? Why aren't the inches coming off? I did think with exercise I may temporarily stop losing as the muscles built up a bit. I got the tape measure out yet again, tried to stretch it - as you do - then decided to measure elsewhere ... well bugger me! I'd lost an inch off my boobs and 2 inches from my bum. I measured my waist again - nope, still the same.

Then I had a lightbulb moment ... I'm just regaining my natural shape, which is almost straight up and down with two lumps up front.

I should have looked a little further afield to have realised this, one of my sisters - ovver t'border in another county - is extremely fit, no fat to speak of, but her waist to hip ratio suggests that she's a heart attack waiting to happen ... as I will be - again - after I lose another inch from my bum.

So, there you have it, my lovely curves which I so quickly attained by losing 7" from my waist will soon be back to my normal boring - no nice sticky out bum (well, it never did do that) - shape, albeit much narrower than it was.

I'm also a bit miffed at my BMI, apparently I'm just teetering between overweight and obese, this doesn't take into account that I have a large frame ... oh yes I do! I checked. My writing wrist is 7" and anything over 5.75" for my height is large framed, so in fact I've got quite a mammoth frame ;)

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I've now juggled my ADF days around to Sun/Mon/Thurs in an attempt to shake things up and get my body to realise that I'm in charge around here. Thankfully, I'm back to losing 1-2lb a week. Total loss so far is 40lb, one pound more and I've lost 20% of my starting weight ... go on, get your calculators out.
 
This is the first time for as long as I can remember that I'm actually looking forward to spring and summer. I've spent so many years being grateful for cold weather so I can hide under my big, baggy and shapeless clothes. And now I've got to spend a mini-fortune on an entire new wardrobe because nothing fits ... tragic isn't it? Ahhhhhh summer ... bring it on :)

I'm also enjoying checking the BBC Global Fatcheck to see which country a woman of my age and weight I'm most similar to - I started at Tonga, been to Micronesia, Samoa, Kuwait, Egypt, Barbados, United Arab Emirates, Malta, United States, South Africa, Fiji and Qatar. This week I briefly visited the Solomon Islands before going back to Qatar ... must change my official weigh day to Tuesday methinks.

Of course I had a slight panic attack when I accidentally did it in kilos instead of pounds and found that I had a BMI of 65 which is 100% higher than everyone worldwide ... and, if everyone had the same BMI as me, it would add 503,400,866 tonnes to the total weight of the world's population - nice ...

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1. Me and Alternate Day Fasting
2. Me and Alternate Day Fasting ... Three Weeks On
3. Five Weeks of Alternate Day Fasting
4. Eight Weeks of Alternate Day Fasting
5. Ten Weeks of Alternate Day Fasting
6. Alternate Day Fasting Three Months On
7. Alternate Day Fasting in Winter
8. Alternate Day Fasting Over Christmas
9. Me and Zumba
10. Saying Goodbye To My Curves 
11. Eight Months Of Alternate Day Fasting And Me
12. Growing Up 
13. A Year Of Alternate Day Fasting 
14. 60 Pounds Of Blubber - Vanished
15. The Perils of Alternate Day Fasting 
16. Mr Grumpy Is Losing It
17. Mr Grumpy Has Lost It
18. Fasting For Maintenance
19. Tweaking Maintenance
20. Weight Gain 
21. Still Maintaining
22. Four Years Of Intermittent Fasting

  .....

• ADF Facebook Group ... come and join us :)

Langley Mill McDonald's Is DEFINITELY Open

... And an accident waiting to happen. Grumpy came back from Heanor last night, and cars from Eastwood were having to go onto his side of the road to get around cars queuing to get into McTrafficJam. As if that roundabout wasn't already bad enough :-/

We have to step over McRubbish just to get in the car.

McDonald's opened Friday morning 15th February ... and just in case you didn't know, it's a 24 hour McMunching parlour.

Their employees need to get around McLangley McMill and clean up their McLitter because the majority of under 40 year olds around here still believe in the litter fairies.

I wonder if the same people - we had a glossy magazine delivered yesterday - who found it 'so encouraging to see another empty space in our parish having an establishment built on it' will be out clearing up the McRubbish ... no? Thought not. And no-one has forgotten about the roadworks from the Asda build as is evidenced by frantic searches for the next spot of roadworks still made on my Mcblog.

Clearly whoever has been given the highly important task of writing the Mc24 hour McLeaflets that have been shoved through our letterboxes, telling us that ... 'The wait is over' needs a few lessons in basic English.

Quote:

Our team have been busy making sure that your look McDonald's is brighter and comfier than ever. So now you can enjoy all your favourites in fresh, new surroundings with free WiFi - perfect!

It doesn't actually make sense as a paragraph, there may be a word missing, I suggest that it's NEW ... and I've decided not to mention the particularly annoying - to me - bit about team have/has. It really ought to have been written by someone who should OF known better. It also reads like it's an old McCrap that has been done up. Oh and Notthingham (back of the coupons) is incorrect.

There, I've had a spiffing time picking fault, it's quite made my day.

I've got nothing against McDonalds or any other fast food eatery. As far as I'm concerned they're all fine for a once every so often treat, but we're getting the same teenagers day after day passing by with what's left of their McLard breakfast/lunch/snack/dinner/tea/supper.

And no matter how McDonalds try to market their McFood as healthy, it doesn't exactly make for a balanced diet ... unless you use both hands of course ;)

Me And Zumba ;)

I was at Center Parcs last November (honeymoon) when I announced that I was going to have a Wii with Zumba for Christmas. This was received, as you'd expect - knowing my allergy to any form of exercise - with much hilarity.

I was as good as my word. I didn't go to enormous expense because I too suspected it'd be another brief but frenetic interlude in my life. So, over the next couple of weeks I watched several auctions on eBay until the right one came up at the right price. This only took three attempts until I was successful ... Ooooh heck, what have I done?

Despite the fact that I wrapped the large box containing the Wii, zumba and associated bits and bobs, I managed to look surprised when I opened it at Christmas ... 'Ooooh, look at that ... what's that bit for? ... where the hell do I wear that? It'll never fit around my waist ... oh, phew it's for my thigh'.

Anyway, come December 28th, the Wii was plumbed into the dining room telly, I wore my new bright pink Zaggora top and navy and pink cropped britches. I looked ahem, lovely.

Twenty minutes later and I was dying. I'd shaken my bits, waddled up and down and shimmied hither and thither. My outfit was stuck to me and I had to lie down in a pool of sweat until my heart stopped pounding.

'I can't do this again', I panted, 'it's horrible'. But I did do it again, the following day ... and then over the next couple of weeks, I did it a few more times. Was it any easier? Hmmm, no it wasn't, at first. And it was patently obvious to me that they've speeded that Wii woman up, no-one can move that fast and she must have been suspended on wires.

I tripped over my feet, hit my knuckles on the dining table, knocked over a glass of squash, banged my glasses onto my nose and shoveled my boobs back into my top several times after they decanted themselves ... I need a better bra here methinks.

A better bra was bought ... a level 4 bra, designed specifically for really vigorous exercise or huge boobs. It is a brilliant bra, nothing moves, I can jump up and down, swing upside down from the light fittings and I swear my boobs wouldn't be flapping about around my face.

Alas, after two 45 minute sessions of Zumba I can no longer wear it. Yes it's brilliant, too brilliant, all the weight of the boobs is now on my shoulders and they simply can't take it. They were agony.

I'm already not wafting my arms about as much as the instructor because I can't stand to hear the grinding and crunching from my shoulders, and they were getting sore, it would only be a matter of time before it spread to my neck and I'd be in real trouble then.

Did you notice at all that I'd gone from 20 mins to 45 mins just then? Oh, you did ... very observant.

Yes, I realised after two weeks that I was hardly out of breath after a 20 minute session, never mind not sweating, so I upped it to 45 mins. This is OK methinks but getting a tad boring now. I know all the moves - this doesn't mean I can do them - and frequently tell the instructor off for missing out a couple of steps. So I tried the expert levels.

Oh no, I didn't like that at all. It's a mister instructor. I know he can't see me but I feel like I can't enjoy it the same with a man telling me what to do. He had to go and I went back to 'intermediate' where I was happier.

I do my Zumba first thing in a morning - yes, I do mean first thing in MY morning so it could be anything after 10.00am - 45 mins on my three fasting days and 20 mins on three of my eating days before breakfast - I have one day off for good behaviour. I've read that exercise before eating is more beneficial because you burn your fat instead of carbs even if you consume them later.

All in all I am enjoying Zumba, I knew I'd got to find a form of exercise that didn't actually feel like exercise or I'd rebel against it and sit down with my arms crossed and bottom lip stuck out. I feel fitter at 53 than I ever did at 33 with years of sluggishness in-between.

I've had to be realistic and change some of the moves slightly to suit me and my - very nearly - middle age. I miss some jumps because of a dodgy left knee and as I've said, high arm wafting is out and I've learnt to mostly keep my arms below shoulder height. But ... to compensate for my shortcomings, I wiggle everything else that little bit more. I still trip over my feet and bump into things but I am innately clumsy anyway.

Another benefit of me Zumba-ing endlessly across the same patch of floor means that the floorboards no longer need polishing. Ahem, this would be fine if the dining room wasn't carpeted ;)

I may have to give up the Zumba-ing fairly soon though ... there's this man I know who keeps admiring my bum in its little white shorts when he passes me going one way. Not only that but he's taken to patting my bum on his way back. This is clearly harassment ...

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1. Me and Alternate Day Fasting
2. Me and Alternate Day Fasting ... Three Weeks On
3. Five Weeks of Alternate Day Fasting
4. Eight Weeks of Alternate Day Fasting
5. Ten Weeks of Alternate Day Fasting
6. Alternate Day Fasting Three Months On
7. Alternate Day Fasting in Winter
8. Alternate Day Fasting Over Christmas
9. Me and Zumba
10. Saying Goodbye To My Curves 
11. Eight Months Of Alternate Day Fasting And Me
12. Growing Up 
13. A Year Of Alternate Day Fasting 
14. 60 Pounds Of Blubber - Vanished
15. The Perils of Alternate Day Fasting 
16. Mr Grumpy Is Losing It
17. Mr Grumpy Has Lost It
18. Fasting For Maintenance
19. Tweaking Maintenance
20. Weight Gain 
21. Still Maintaining
22. Four Years Of Intermittent Fasting

  .....

• ADF Facebook Group ... come and join us :)

Illegal Car Wash and Smiths Flour Mill

Sorry about Asda's lollypop in the way

I've just received a couple of comments by 'Anonymous' on an old post about that heap of tat aka the Diamond Hand car-wash on the Railway Tavern car park. One comment was about the car wash and the other was about the rather hasty demolition of Smiths flour mill.

Because the post is so old I decided to remind you all that the car wash is still trading illegally, as well as making Langley Mill look like a cheap doss hole.

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Comments:

I have tried talking to the Parish Council about the illegal car wash but I might as well have been speaking to the ducks on the canal for all the sense you get from them.

Also spoke to AVBC Planning Dept in Nov 2012, Emailed them and rang again on Jan 13 but wasting my time. They're not really interested even though this is a clear breach of the law.

The chap I spoke to said he had written a letter to the owner a while ago but hadn't had a reply. Big wow, so that's it then ... he can sit back, job well done and wait for his pension.

Unfortunately the rest of us have to drive past this eyesore every day. It's a shame because Langley Mill was beginning to look better than it has done for years but this ramshackle excuse for a business adds nothing to the area and it's about time that those who's job it is to regulate these things actually did what we pay them for. ... Well said :)

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lots more already come down further along

 Anybody noticed that the Smiths Flower Mill is currently being demolished, but on Amber Valley Planning Site it states that permission for demolition is not due until 04/04/2013 (AVA/2013/0103).

Work actually started before the application to demolish was even registered. The applicants form was signed 6th Feb and registered 7th Feb but work started before this. How is it possible for them to start demolition before being granted formal approval. Is it the funny handshake brigade at work again? ... More than likely :)

The new Smiths Flour Mill owners are Dogsthorpe Acquisitions Limited. I'm assuming it's the haulage/transport company of the same name based at Worksop. This assumption is partly based on the fact that Smith's is based there too. I am puzzled why Whitworths - who bought Smiths - need to look at my blog to find out how demolition is progressing. I will have to ask ALI for some photos sometime soon ...

McDonald's Langley Mill - Very Nearly Ready

Update 15.2.13:
 Just been told that McDonald's opened this morning at 6.00 ...

It looks like it won't be long before McDonald's is ready to open. They were busy turfing and planting when we passed today.

Hopefully the nice people who pass here being a damned gobby nuisance through the night - who then go on to see how many tunes they can get out of the metal railway bridge by hitting it (hopefully with their heads) - will frequent the 24 hour McDonald's after being moved on by Asda.

I imagine it could even be the same group of delightful teenagers who just throw their rubbish down after an Asda lunch, as witnessed by myself today.

But I rather imagine they'll come up here to chuck McDonald's crap about as a change from Asda crap :(

Hmmm, yes - Asda is still completely devoid of anyone opening the delivery gates actually being in charge of more than one brain cell. Whoever opens them in the night attempts to open the bolts without them squeaking ... this is irritating beyond measure. Whoever does it during the day couldn't care less how much they squeak.

Knowing that they do squeak would normally prompt someone with two brain cells to ask maintenance to grease the bolts ... alas, as I've said, they're sadly lacking in this department so I'm going to have to go across and tell them yet again to get them greased.

Oooooh, I nearly forgot. Would whoever it is that is trying not to squeak the gates in the night, please stop dropping pallets on top of one another. I know that's what you're doing because I've been there, done that and got the T-shirt!

Done whinging now ...