Greatest Loser!

As my regular readers will know I have been on a weight loss journey with Slimming World for almost a year now. It was time for the 'Greatest Loser' award last week (although my Slimming World consultant said it should be renamed 'Greatest Achiever' and I tend to agree with her)! I was lucky enough to win this award having the greatest weight loss of my group over the last year (4 st 6 lbs to date).

My Consultant then asked me to provide a before and after photo. Oh my goodness, I was shocked when I saw the difference. The left hand photo was taken just after my 60th birthday in October 2014 and even I didn't realise until I saw that photo just how much weight I have managed to lose.

However this last half stone has taken me forever and has been a struggle, I reached 4 stone just before Christmas and I still have 1 lb to go to get my next award. Winning the 'greatest loser' award has really spurred me on and I am very determined that I will meet this next target of 4.5 stone this week. To that end and with the aid of my trusty Fitbit I have been working hard to achieve 10,000+ steps a day since last Thursday as I know increasing my walking has really helped in the past. I also know that I haven't been walking as much during the Winter season so it is time to put my best foot forward and get those steps! 

I know that I won't be able to achieve 10,000 steps tomorrow as I am at work all day and my job is fairly sedentary so I am trying to do a bit extra today to make up for it - 14,705 and still counting. Wish me luck on Wednesday evening, I really hope I am going to achieve this next target. I still have a long way to go on my journey but winning the 'greatest loser' has really spurred me on again.


I will leave you with a four photo collages I have made from my walks over the past few days.

St. Mary Bourne 11.3.16

Hannington 12.3.16

Andover 13.3.16 - I didn't get a chance to go anywhere more interesting on Sunday so a walk round my home town had to suffice but although the walk is fairly boring you can still see things that delight the eye.

Longparish 14.3.16 - The Riverdance Walk

I will let you know next time if the increased walking activity has done the trick and helped me gain that longed for 4.5 stone award! Keep your fingers crossed for me.

A Mixed Bag

I seem to have so much to show you today of events over the last few days. Sorry I know this post is going to be picture heavy but hope you will stay with me. We have had a few glorious days with bright sunshine and frosty mornings where you just want to get out and walk in the countryside.


The first such day was last Thursday so we set off to St. Mary Bourne, I am sure regular readers will recognise some of these views but the great delight this time was the River Bourne. It has been a dry river bed since the end of May last year but the water is now flowing again, a welcome sight.

Two weeks before when the river bed was still dry

 

What a difference two weeks make!

Now for a change of activity - over the weekend I completed the second of my charity blankets, this is another Sunshine International Blanket of Love which will be donated to a local residential care home.

You might remember me showing you these squares on my blocking board ready to be joined. I have tried a new way (to me) of joining this blanket using the continuous flat braid join which I have to say I really like and now I have got the hang of it I will definitely be using it again. It is great to be able to join the whole blanket plus crochet the edging without having to break the yarn and sew in those dratted ends!


Blanket number 3 is in process but I will keep photos of that back to show you next time.


Yesterday dawned another cold and sunny day so we set off for Hedge End where there is a big retail complex. Because of my weight loss I needed some smaller size clothes (how great is that) so we spent the morning shopping and spending far too much money before stopping off at one of our favourite eating places, the Brigadier Gerard at Horton Heath for a delicious lunch.

Having eaten far too much what better way to walk it off than go for a walk in Stoke Park Woods on our way home.

And finally (you might be relieved to hear) we get to this morning where we enjoyed a walk around our local patch.


I love the sunlit tangled branches on the tree below and the crocuses and snowdrops in the park were beautifully displayed in all their glory with the sun shining on them.

I hope I haven't bored you completely so if you are still here many thanks for reading and viewing my blog. Until the next time .....