After the Big Event!

A BIG sorry for not posting for ages! As you may have guessed I’ve been pretty busy the last few months. Where have I been? Well I moved out of Sydney after finishing up on my job and went on a big tour of New Zealand’s South Island before getting married in Thailand and going on Honeymoon….then add to that I moved back to the UK and got a new job.

So how has the diet gone I hear you wonder…well, as I was going on a holiday in NZ before my wedding (we did the campervan thing – recommended!), I was very conscious not to fall off the wagon. I still managed to eat quite clean, for breakfast I had muesli and yoghurt with berries, scrambled eggs on (one) toast and kept this going for the duration of the holiday.  This was pretty easy as we had our own kitchen and fridge and I stocked up on the necessary items.  The only BAD thing I did was drink wine…well, how could you not drink wine when you are in one of the best wine countries in the world??! Despite this slip in habits after being so good, NZ was a great place for the great outdoors, so we (I roped hubby-to-be to come with me) went running along the amazing beaches and actually through town in Queenstown.  We made it our mission to do this every other day and it was an opportunity to explore the area whilst keeping fit – two birds with one stone!

For dinner we had a BBQ and had grilled meat and fish, salads and lots of fruit.  It was very easy and as we had to stock up on food, we could plan our meals. Snacks included nuts but naughtily we did have the occasional cake and crisps.  Despite this, I didn’t put on weight throughout our trip, but I do believe this is due to being mindful of what I ate most of the time and keeping up with the fitness.

Come February, I was in Thailand and on the run up to the wedding, I was besieged with lovely Thai food – all good besides the noodles and rice, but with lots of freshly cooked meat and veg, I was again mindful of what I ate.  In the days before the wedding, I hit the gym in the hotel and actually went for a long run on the morning of the wedding!  A little precarious considering there were no proper pavements on the island we were getting married on, but I was a girl on a mission so managed to squeeze this in before being pampered.

The wedding day was fab, went by in a whirr and I was absolutely amazed by the resort who went above and beyond my expectations and everything was executed perfectly.  Of course I lapsed my diet for the duration of the wedding and also for the Honeymoon, but I’d worked very hard and wanted to give myself a treat for a few weeks.

Now for the big reveal….before and after shots

Eugh! dumpy and heavy, didn’t even know I looked like this until I saw this photo!

The best day ever…reaping the rewards of eight months of hard graft and two months of maintenance!

Here’s me 10kgs lighter and as I said at the beginning, this was a personal experience to see if the Clean and Lean diet worked…and it did! My upcoming nuptials was a big motivator but it was time to lose those horrible extra kilos anyway. It was hard work most of the time and it is a significant change in the way you look at food. Rather than eating what you liked and relying on your body to burn it up like you did in your 20s, the 30s is a little harder and your body needs a bit of help – YOU!

I am so pleased that I lost the additional kilos, I feel better in my clothes, healthier and happier. People that I hadn’t seen for ages at the wedding were amazed about how much weight I’d lost and I have never had so many lovely compliments! I’ve had to buy a new set of clothes and found a few ‘here’s me when I was fat’ items where a skirt I had tailored 18 months ago doesn’t even sit on my hips anymore – it just drops off (hmm, have to get it adjusted, but rather that than be heavier!).

I am hoping to lose another couple of kilos and to tone up a bit, but won’t get obsessive with it and will still enjoy the odd glass of wine or two. I vow to keep up with watching what I eat and portion control, plus keeping up with my fitness (steps and hills, people..that’s all I can say). Will be setting up my stats page shortly so you can see where I lost the inches…coming soon…

What now?

As I’ve now moved to London, the fast-paced life, long days and commuting is going to take a toll on me and all my hard work.  Keep up with the blog to see how I get on with losing those hard to shift last few kilos and how I’m adapting to a different lifestyle, can I do it??!!