Hanging in there

Well I just returned from the school camp from hell and am relieved to see that I still weigh 82.9kg. I tried to do right thing foodwise, but it wasn't easy with fried chicken schnitzel, cauliflower and cheese, pies and sausages on the menu. Basically, I didn't eat the icecream, cake, hot chocolate etc on offer, tried to have plenty of water and fruit, but several of the meals were not kj friendly. Also because we were working so damn hard I did do things like have cereal AND three slices of toast for breakfast--which I would never, never do at home. Anyway, due to the fact that I was basically on my feet from 6.00 am til 11.00 pm and walking, walking, walking including two hikes inspite of all the cauliflower and cheese I ate AND the pizza and champagne I indulged in when I got home, I still remain 82.9kg.

It really was a difficult camp. We went to a education department owned school camp which is very affordable--because the teachers are basically SLAVES! This meant that we were responsible for all the serving of meals, washing of dishes, as well as running the activities. On Wednesday night we even had to cook dinner on the BBQ as well! I have been to this camp before with a smaller group but with 58 kids and 7 adults it was constantly hard yakka. We also had some real behaviour issues from 7 or 8 children who really should not have been allowed to go. Inspite of breaking their behaviour contracts in the time leading up to camp, these children were allowed to attend because it would be socially a good experience for them. Unfortunately they did not rise to the occasion and as usual spoilt things for everyone else. I really am over it, to be honest. And then to top it all off, two girls came down with gastro on the last night and were so sick, I felt so sorry for them and for me--having to stay up all night looking after them. There were some highlights watching some children show leadership skills you wouldn't normally see at school. Seeing children rise to challenges they didn't expect they would be able to achieve . . . but unfortunately the experience was quite clouded for me by some of the behaviour issues we had to deal with.

Anyway, I didn't gain weight, so that's all good. To my surprise one of the dads at our school came up to me when I was waiting for the children to be collected after camp and said "Can I just say something?" I thought here we go . . . what's he going to be complaining about when he said to my absolute surprise "You look amazing"--I thought he meant the bags under my eyes, the coldsore on my lip, the wild woman hair, the muddy clothes, but no he continued "You've done such a great job, you look fantastic, well done, keep it up" and I realised he was talking about my weight loss and we both got a little embarrassed. Anyway, it was good to hear when I felt like I had rarely looked LESS fantastic so I thanked him and muttered something about feeling better etc. I think it was really very kind of him to say anything as many blokes are afraid to bring it up or are worried about offending. Many of the guys at work have not ever said anything to me at all about it, which is fine of course.

Only one week left of term. I'm fairly crawling to the end. Honestly I know the understanding in the community is that teachers have jam on it with all the holidays they get, but I truly don't think I could do this job without the holidays. It's just too all consuming and stressful. Thank heavens I get two weeks to recharge and reassess.

Okay, things are getting serious in the weightloss stakes. This is my 52nd week on the weight watchers program. I ABSOLUTELY MUST lose 400g by 21 September. This will bring me to a nice round 30kg lost in a year. So I'm going into action--because I usually eat my exercise points my stats say that I have on average of 24.5 points a day . . . well this week I'm only going to have my allowed 22. I have been creeping back into my old wine drinking habit recently too, having a glass of wine most nights. While this is WAYYYY less than I used to consume, and I always count the points, I don't want to slip back into the "habit" of drinking alcohol just whenever. So this week, I'm only going to have 2 glasses of Jewel champagne (low joule, reduced alchohol) on Tuesday night when we have dinner with my parents and two drinks at the pub on Friday to celebrate the end of term. That's it. I'm also going to exercise everyday--3 visits to Curves and the rest dogwalking, at least my 4km route, if not the 5.5 km if it's not too dark. Here go--0peration Anniversary is on!

I'm looking forward to picking up my new glasses tommorrow, but won't post pictures yet as I have a MASSIVE cold sore on my lip due to the stress and exhaustion of the last week. All being well there will be -30kg/1 year anniversary/new glasses pictures posted Monday 21st!
Cheers, all