Happy happy happy

Friday was my birthday. Off plan entirely, I enjoyed a lovely day shopping, eating and drinking with my lovely friend, Lynne. Last week I had the 3lb gain I expected and my hopes for this week are that I can maintain. After all, what with my birthday Friday and a long overdue catch up with old friends involving lots of wine, homemade bread and a trip to our local award winning ice cream parlour, Equis, I've definitely gone over on syns. Still, April is a hard month for me and we are halfway through now.

It is always handy to have a reference point to compare things against though and my birthday weekend is an ideal point of comparison.

This weekend last year I was at my friend's little boy's Christening. I had lost 2st I think. I felt great. My clothes was starting to loosen and the dress I wore on that day was looser than the wedding I wore it to the previous summer. Richy had bought me a top for my birthday which was a touch small but within a fortnight fitted perfectly. It was a size 22, as was the dress.

This year Richy bought me another top. It's  a size 14. And it fits. I went shopping in New Look. I took various size 14 things into the changing room. They all fitted. I picked one top up in another shop in a size 14 and just paid for it, there and then. I didn't even try it on. What's that about?

Another birthday present was a cast iron shallow casserole from mum and dad that I've been coveting for a while. I used it last night to make a tremendous paella (which was happily low in syns to account for antipasti style starter of bread, olives, cheese and Spanish meats... and wine). I've attached a picture of the paella - I was so pleased with how it looked.

The other picture is me at the christening last year and this weekend on the train heading into town with Lynne. Although I recognised the significant drop in dress sizes, when I compared these photos knowing that it was exactly a year I was genuinely shocked.

Made me smile, though. A lot.

April again?

Sad news... I'm looking at a gain tonight. I was away last week and although what I ate wasn't *too* bad, I had too many pints in my mum and dad's local and thats all extra calories. The trip away was on top of a fun filled overnight trip to Edinburgh, complete with cooked breakfast, dinner out and lots of wine and cider, a Krispy Kreme donut and an ice cream as hangover food so really I am on a highway to nothing. Thankfully I've had a week (almost) back on plan to reduce the damage but with it being the Easter holidays it's hard - a day trip out with our besties and their two girls ended with a few drinks and a pub dinner on top of our picnic. None of this has helped with the weight gain this week but the top and bottom of it is that I've enjoyed every minute and every mouthful.

Despite the gain I am still in the righr frame of mind... no mean feat all things considered. At the peak of this gain (approx 7lb) I could really feel the difference. I've never noticed that before and that shows me that during this (incredibly frustrating) period of little or no losses that my body has been changing. Some of it is mental changes but maybe I have needed this time for my mind to catch up with my body. For the first time in my life I am beginning to feel really really good. I continue to have the confidence to try new things with my hair, makeup and clothes.

The weight will start moving soon I'm sure of it, although the next few weeks might be hard. Anyone who was reading my little blog this time last year might remember a series of posts about how hard April is for me. My birthday is coming up, and my 10th wedding anniversary trip to Oban in a fortnight. I can only hope to get through the month as unscathed as possible.

Wish me luck.