In the space of a few months our lives have changed beyond all recognition. We have retired to South Wales, gained a grandson and with a heavy heart transferred our Slimming World membership to our new group in Killay.
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“Are you transferring to this group or are you still a visitor?” The lady on reception looked up and smiled warmly. I had my words prepared but they came out quietly and reluctantly.
“Yes, we are transferring today.” Naomi nodded in agreement although the decision had taken five tortuous weeks to make. And in a few clicks on a computer keyboard the deed was done. We are no longer members of the Bluebrook Park Slimming World group. The lady on reception cannot know what it means to us. So much of our hearts and minds are still with the group. But aside from the occasional visit to Bracknell every other month, our times in that room with all you good people are going to be few.
We have made some great friends in Bluebrook Park, some of whom we now know outside of group. We will always keep in touch. But the whole experience, and all members of the group, have worked together to help me and Naomi. There is a warmth and openness that I have rarely come across in a group of such disparate and different individuals. It is a treasure to have been part of it.
Wild Horses on Llanridian Marshes - One of this week's walks
Our New Group
We meet in a church hall which is tiny, about half the size of Bluebrook Park Hall. Consequently, the whole experience feels smaller and more intimate. There is still a pay station and a weigh station plus a lady selling Slimming World bars and books. The consultant is highly experienced and runs lots of groups on different days in our locality. She runs the image therapy section of the meeting brilliantly and really has a heart for the members. We told her about my book which she was very enthusiastic about. I am still working on a name for her, how can I better the name Mandy-Lace?
Holly in the new group really welcomed us warmly and then astounded us with her weight loss. She has lost 6½ Stones in 38 weeks. That’s an average of nearly 2½ pounds a week! She is so committed to her success and has really inspired me to take a good hard look at myself.
Taking Stock
What have I been doing and what am I doing now? I have been following the Slimming World eating plan for eighteen months and have lost 5½ stones. I always stay to group and if I miss a week I attend as a visitor somewhere else. I walk, man do I walk! I started with small 2 mile walks as I wasn’t well enough and fit enough to do any more at the time. I gradually increased my distances. Then some of the Bluebrook Park members started walking together and buying Fitbit trackers. We started walking longer distances.
The walking was great but so was the chat and the encouragement we gave to each other. What did we talk about? Well everything really, but most of all we talked about how to eat the right things to lose weight and about our weight loss goals. By the time we left Bracknell for South Wales in the summer we were walking 5 or 6 miles in an evening without even thinking about it.
Now we are settled in Wales we have no walking partners, and we daren’t mention what we do as it would be seen as rather extreme to other people. Only this morning I had planned a 5 mile walk to Llanridian across the marshes. I intended to catch the bus home. But I missed the bus by 10 minutes. So I turned around and simply walked home. 10.69 miles in just over 3 hours. Unthinkable just a year ago. We don’t know anyone here yet who would keep up with that.
Enough Already – Time To Finish This!
But this is not enough. I’ve been too long at this mountain! I need to move on. My weight loss has lost its momentum and I need to seriously address this now. Added to this I am now married to a target member. This has created some tension in our relationship. Naomi spends time discussing with me what extra food she should have that I can’t have. I don’t even want to discuss it. She smugly dons her new size 8/10 outfits each day and asks for colour matching advice every morning. I have always helped Naomi with the colour matching but there is an extra element of ‘look at me’ with her each day now. I’m trying to readjust to this but it is not easy.
Of course I’m pleased for her and extremely proud of her, but it has shown me that I want to be at target. No that is not it. I desperately crave arriving at target. It daily consumes my brain with the hope of it. I go to sleep at night thinking about target. I wake up in the morning dreaming about it. I have sleepless nights fretting about how I am going to get there. I want to be at target. Target! Target! Target!
Image copyright, Life's Dance
No Excuses
With all this in mind I have decided to up my game. I can see that in the next two months I have the space and time to hit food optimising big time. There are few trips away and no parties or celebrations in our calendar for a while. I have no excuses not to stick to plan 100%. And I will not allow myself any excuses for the next two months. No cheats, no ‘pity me’ parties, no illicit binges, nothing!
Our new group meets at 15.30 on Thursday afternoon so there is no point cheating for the weekend and getting back on it on Monday, that doesn’t work at all. We will walk and walk and walk. It is summer and there are plenty of good weather days for us to make use of. We have already started doing this to be honest.
In summary, there is nothing that can get in the way for me to lose weight and reach my target. Only myself. I am the only thing that can get in the way, but I am not going to. I want to lose my remaining 21 pounds in the next 9 weeks which is similar to what Holly in our new group is doing week on week. That this my target. I’ll keep you posted with my progress.
If you would like to keep in touch with me please join my Slimming World Facebook Group Here.