Road To Machu Picchu: November

My progress from October to November :) 

It is getting clost to christmas, and with that comes the struggles of working out in the dark, cold and wet! Fatty food, and Christmas chocolate! This month I have lost another stone and I am working hard to get another half off before Christmas. Here is how it went:

Week 1:

The first week of November was really easy, I felt good, was busy and didn't have too many struggles with eating. I had a busy week of meetings, events and work so I made sure I had bulk cooked and portioned out my meals well in advance :) and it paid off, at the end of my first week I weighed in with an incredible 5.5lbs (2.5kg) loss and won Slimmer of the week as well! Something that really helped me stick ontop of my diet was the SW Honey roast salmon with tonnes of spinach and tomatoes, it is so easy to make and really nutritional so it's perfect for those post gym meals.

Week 2:

This is where things got tough. I spent the first half of this week working in London packing down a film set. It was hard work and I enjoyed it, but finding the time to eat healthy was difficult. I also had to deal with a lot of anxiety this week as the stress from assignments and the fear of failing in the film industry in general set in. I managed to keep it under control, but it did affect my weight loss as I only managed to lose 1 lb (0.5kg).

Week 3: 

During week 3 I spent an incredible 14 hours excercising, both in and out of the gym. I enjoyed every second of it and didn't push myself too hard as I was still able to walk at the end of it. My eating was good and I knew that all the excercise world affect my weight loss. I lost 1lb again but managed to gain an incredible 3 lbs (1.3 kg) of muscle.

Week 4:
After two weeks of not losing much I was determined to get my 2 stone award in group. I was at 1 stone 11lbs lost in total and wanted to finish November with a bang.  Unlike week 3, this week I made sure that I always had food, whether it was with apples in my bag or a Tupperware full of leftovers, I barely had to cook anything, so meals were really easy and quick to do! I also pushed myself by doing a tonne of cardio, including spinning! In one of my spin classes I pushed myself so hard that I ranked number 1 out of  and cycled 23km. And at the end of the week I was rewarded with 3lbs lost and my 2 stone award :)

I was bike #17

Remeber all of this is for my trek to Machu Picchu, please feel free to donate to my page: https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/milliefarquhar1
I am so close to getting to my interim goal of £900 by Christmas :) even £1 will help!

The Road to Machu Picchu: Weeks 1 - 4

I have been overweight for as long as I can remember. It has been the cause of a lot of self doubt, hatred and anxiety. And with each negative, came the wave of comfort eating and hiding in the house that led to more and more weight gain. I have always been good at exercising and keeping fit, but no matter how hard I exercised, I pigged out just as hard.

Last year I went to Thorpe park and I was too large to fit on several of the roller coasters. It was the first time that I realised that my body was not only stopping me from doing the things I loved, but affecting those around me. I was always in constant fear that my larger form was inconveniencing those around me and I was always so tired, even walking up a flight of stars would have me out of breath.

Whenever I sensed a camera, I would try my best
to straighten up and suck everything in! but in 2016
this was as thin as I could make myself!

I realised that something had to change, I had seen online that one of my friends had been to Slimming World and lost an incredible amount of weight so I looked into it, and there was a group not far away from my house! But still my anxiety persisted and even though I knew the group would be friendly, I was so scarred of being judged and talked about that I put off going for a month! during which I continued to eat tonnes and gain weight.

I never minded having my photos taken, and at events I was
always happy to smile with my friends.
 But I would always be conscious
 of my double chin and bad skin condition!

It was at this point that my mother stepped in, she often voiced her worry about my body shape, being a GP she knew the dangers I was in, but I never really listened to her. When I left for university I weighed almost 21 Stone and I still hadn't attended one meeting for Slimming World. So she appealed to my competitive side by going first and telling how much fun it was and what plans she had to lose weight. This pushed me over the edge and I went to the first group I could, the very next day!

Week 1:

I arrived at the session 15 minutes early and had very bad anxiety, but within minutes I was welcomed by my lovely consultant Jo, given a wonderful cup of tea and was taught all about the world of Slimming World. Unlike many diets that I had tried before, Slimming World works by 'rationing' your calorie and fat intake to 15 syns a day. My first weigh in was horrible and I was 20 stone 7.5 pounds (130.4kg), I set myself an initial target of losing 71 pounds (33kg) I was upset about how heavy I was. I had always listened to my parents saying how my eating and weight was getting out of control but I never really believed them. but I set myself to the task and began my Slimming World journey. Over the first week I ate similar amounts of food that I normally do but changed the sugar and the fat for vegetables and fruit. I made sure that I did at least 40 minutes of exercise a day, whether that was just walking to campus or going to the gym. On my first weigh in I lost an incredible 6.5 pounds! (2.9kg) and I remember walking to the car and bursting into tears of joy!

Week 2:
After the success of my first week, I was on a mission! I spent most of the week in the gym and began working with a personal trainer, Kat. My eating was also improving as I didn't even dare eat anything sweet for fear of gaining weight. This wasn't such a bad thing though as it meant I was not spending nearly as much money as I used to. However, my stress levels were gradually increasing as my jobs within the University began. I was working as a Course Rep. for my department (English Literature), a student trustee for my student's union, where the meetings only really contained foods that were unhealthy and fatty, I tried to portion out meals in advance and have packed meals ready for me, but I had so little free time that it was hard to prepare meals. When I weighed in, I was still impressed with a 4 pound loss (1.8kg), I had 10.5 pounds in just two weeks and was not only given my 1/2 stone award, but I was slimmer of the week as well!!

Week 3:
Week 3 was difficult for me, I started as an editorial assistant for a publishers in London so had to commute in on Mondays and Tuesdays, so on-top of dealing with a commute, I was also sat at a desk all day doing relatively mindless tasks. Before, I would sit at my desk working eating as I went, not caring about calorie intake or Syns. But now, I knew just how bad the food I wanted to eat was. London is stressful at the best times and trying to juggle travelling and working there as well as my degree and other jobs was very difficult. Sticking to plan also made it challenging, but I did my best and at the end of the week had another 2.5 lbs (1.1kg) off. I was now just 1 lb off being a stone lighter and I was determined!

Week 4:
I was once again working in London, and when I got into the office on Monday, I discovered that all the work I had done in the previous week was wrong and I had to start over again. This led to a lot of emotional eating and the plan went completely out of the window! However, after Tuesday I started again and spent the rest of the week on plan. I was still working out a lot in the gym and I was gaining a lot of muscle mass! But with another 1.5 lbs (0.6kg) off, I wasn't complaining, I now had my stone award and felt unstoppable!

After four weeks of really hard work I was just over a stone lighter and I felt amazing! Exercise and working out is getting so much easier and I am loving every second! I won't deny that sometimes I feel the urge to get a pizza and I get so jealous of my friends eating whatever they want, but I know that when I reach my target, I will be so proud of myself and my efforts. I cannot wait to see what happens!

If you want to help me get to Machu Picchu, please go to: https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/milliefarquhar1 and donate to Childreach International! they are an incredible charity dedicated to improving children's lives and even the smallest donation will help :) 

Millie Xxx