Warming up the avatar

I think I said ages ago that there was another different Pocket Dwagon avatar coming soon ...

I changed at the weekend (just felt like it!) but I'm looking to switch to another one as a symbolic thingy. I like my symbols. But I think that might be the OCD tendency talking ...

Anyway - the next avatar's going to be one of this pair :

With "Feed Me" being the symbol. I've used the little fella before as an avatar but just as a jokey Feed Me Mini Eggs thing. Nah - the symbol this time will be weight loss :

I've been seeing the needle go below the 13 stone mark :-)

Not sure how many years it's been since I was last under 13 stone. I think I hit that at uni due to working too hard and exercising less. (Yeah right). But the weight definitely climbed on when I started working because I could indulge in far too much unhealthy food. Lunchtime Heaven would be finding out that a placement had a place I could get chips for lunch every day.

Effectively having 2 dinners per day is bad news for the waistline, especially if you're not expending enough energy to cover that intake. It's sandwiches for lunch now and they just happen to be the sandwiches with fewest kcals :-).

Yeah - been seeing the needle of the scales go lighter lately, although I'm not going to jinx it by switching to that Feed Me avatar until it stays under that target weight. I need to lose more still to be honest. I'm back to 34" waist trousers but they're a stretchy 34". I won't go below 34" (hips are too wide for 32"). But it's definitely getting there :

I have my speed back
Some underlying health issues have faded
(I'm not saying what those were cos people would get worried)
And I feel much better for it

I need to keep the exercise going - I'm fine if I keep myself moving. However, a couple of weeks away from cricket and my back is wanting to freeze up on me (rubbish chairs at work too). I suspect that doing gardening would help me out (weather permitting).

I'm going to keep the discipline going for now with the weight. The leg infection helped me out there - the "diet" pills told me that I could handle going for a while without grazing on junk. The "diet" pills were antibiotics that needed 2 hours without food before and 1 hour without food after. 4 times a day. So that's a 6 hour cycle with 3 hours of no munchies. It can be done ! Even by a serial snacker.

So that's just over a stone lost so far with more to come. Just gotta keep the discipline going and not eat stuff for the sake of munching. Did ok there today, avoided an afternoon cookie :-) This was just after giving a big grin and wave to the Snow Queen (hello Snow Queen!) who just happened to be nipping through the canteen area at the same time I was.

Happy days.

Wonder if I can use a different description to "a little extra" soon ? I don't honestly consider myself to be "trim" or "athletic" yet. More like "normal disappear into crowd" type average build.

Last thought - if you're trying to lose weight and you're going the heavy exercise route, don't be discouraged if your weight goes Up after exercise. I gained half a stone through the first two games of this season. A lot of that was in my legs, which felt very heavy and stiff after those games. The reason was lactic acid build up, after that went away over the next couple of days I was back down to the weight from before the games.

Exercise may make you gain weight as well as lose it - the lesson is to understand why and balance energy incoming with energy outgoing. So on match days, I'll eat more. At other times, I'll attempt to avoid temptation when not actually hungry.

Too much ramble ! Not enough pictures !

PS The CQ Race For Life link needs more clicking and definitely more support.