Success on a plate

“Childhood is that wonderful time of life when all you need to do to lose weight is take a bath.” - Richard Zera

 

Well, yippee!! After a great day out (more to follow), it was time for the Wonderful Slimming World Thursday Group Get-together.  And I'd achieved what I set out to do last week, a stone (14lbs) lost since the end of October, which is roughly 12 weeks.  With Easter being about 12 weeks away, this has now inspired me to set another goal and aim to lose a similar amount by then, which will take me almost to my final goal.

 

Slow but sure, that's my weight-loss journey and I think that I don't want it any other way.  My observations, for what they're worth, over the years have been that your body, for all manner of reasons, will lose body fat and weight at its own pace and it helps no end if you can accept smaller losses and not get too disappointed with any non-movement or small gains.  Unless, of course, you've stuffed yourself with chocolate, cakes and biscuits all week. Then, frankly, you should know what to expect, be happy that you made that choice and carry on from there.  

 

Of course, it's not always easy to remain upbeat, especially if the weight hasn't shifted much for 2 or 3 weeks but we have a fantastic group leader in Karen who's always there for advice and support in person at the group get-togethers or by phone/email.

 

Ok - lecture over - now on to other things - a summary of my week.  On second thoughts, perhaps not - don't want you to nod off so a couple of odds and ends.

 

Having decided that my lack of exercise was not good for me in any way, shape or form and not wanting to use the wii with my husband as an audience, walking was my preferred choice so I gave myself a good talking to and said: 'Don't be stupid! of course you can fit it in.  You can do what you like!'  And it worked!

 

This week: 

To Addlestone and back for my Sunday stint at Age UK

A super, familiar walk around Virginia Water Lake 

A very-near-to-home discovery - Homewood Park

And yesterday was a short visit to Hampton Court, lunch in the Member's Room (deeelicious thanks to Jo:-)), followed by an hour and half around Bushy Park 

 

Deer, deer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Diana Fountain

Lunch, by the way, was a couple of slices of quiche, Slimming World style!

                      

These boots were made for walking....

This is the Copper Horse on Snow Hill, and the view north along The Long Walk towards Windsor Castle and the George IV gateway. The gent sitting on the horse, dressed as a Roman, is King George lll.






And this is the aforementioned Long Walk, built in 1688, again looking towards the Castle for a distance of 3 miles.



I'm sharing these fascinating details with you in the hope that you will be overwhelmingly impressed that today Jo and I decided to get some fresh air by walking it. As there is no car park right next to King George, we had a fair old uphill walk to the start of our trek (about half a mile), followed by the previously referenced 3 miles to Her Majesty's front door. Time now for a spot of lunch, so into the town (not far) and then, after a well-deserved break, time to head back.

By way of a change, we decided to go back by a different route and set off up the road leading through Windsor Great Park to the car park. It was round about now that it crossed my mind 'perhaps we've bitten off more than we can chew'. This feeling strengthened as the footpath ended and we were obliged to walk on soggy, lumpy grass with mini quagmires every now and then. Is there still a hosepipe ban?? (I hope you haven't forgotten that the distance left to cover is about 3 miles!!) We soldiered on (not much else we could do at that stage) and eventually staggered to the car where we eased ourselves onto the seats, because the legs refused to bend at the knees, feeling a wonderful sense of achievement! Yes, it's made me determined to explore all of our local parks, gardens and countryside on foot and a lot more often than I have done recently.

As a postscript, you will notice that the bloke on the horse is pointing west towards the woods, precisely in the direction to where I lost my glasses. If only he could speak because I'm sure that from his great height he knows exactly where they are!