Taking my life back

• Bust - 36.5 inches
• Waist - 32 inches
• Hips - 38 inches
• Thigh - 21 inches
• Upper arm - 12.5 inches
• Weight - 11.7 st 

Well, those measurements were unexpected. I had honestly thought that I would either be the same since I last posted, or bigger. I can't say I'm over the moon, but I am happy.Although I haven't really been doing all that much apart from the last couple of weeks. And not even this week.
But that is all going to change. (Again!) As the title of this post says, I am going to take my life back. I had been progressing well, and then things happened. I'm not going to go into what or why as that's not what this blog is about (I will say elsewhere so if you want that blog address, let me know!). So yeah, I had some setbacks, then just as I get back on track, we discover that my eldest is ill and has to be taken to hospital, we find out he has a blood disorder but he's sort of ok. So that knocked my revival on its head this week! Again, that'll be spoken about in more detail elsewhere if you're interested.

So, here it is. My measurements are better than I thought they would be, I will weigh myself sometime over the next few days but my last weight from about a week ago is up there.
I watched Blade: Trinity a couple days ago and I have finally decided on the type of body that I want to aim for. Jessica Biel as Abi Whistler is basically perfect. Slim but athletic and toned, more defined. You can see the muscles working in her arms and she has like, 8% body fat or something similar. Now I am fully aware that a body like this takes work, and damn hard work at that, and that is something that I am actually looking forward to. I have been considering all sorts of different types of exercise, not just gym and cycling. I would still love to be able to run, so to teach myself to do that would be brilliant. But I would like to give so many things a try, climbing, archery, boxing, martial arts etc. Unfortunately I'm neither loaded nor am I a top actor that would get all this training as part of their job! There are some things that I could try though, like I would like to take my boy (he's 11) climbing, I think that's something we could both do together and for my benefits, its brilliant for upper body strength. 

The exercise side of this has never really been a problem though, its always been the diet that I have struggled with. I do think that I am improving, very slowly though. I need to (again) stop procrastinating and just do it. So over the next few days, I am going to work up a provisional meal plan. List all the foods that I need to increase. I know the ones that I should cut out of course, but I do need alternatives. I could happily live off beans on toast for instance, but too much bread is obviously not a good thing, even if it is wholegrain.  I also need to vary my diet a lot more, as do my children for that matter, so this is a good thing for all of us. Budgeting is also going to factor in a lot to this diet. Fruit is expensive! But things like a whole chicken but using it all for more than just roasting. 

So ideas for budget but tasty and healthy meals will be most welcomed absolutely. As I have said before, any support I get from the people that read this is invaluable. It really does help me a lot. As I am rather narcissistic as many of you know!

I will be taking and adding photos this time. I feel that I have dropped enough weight for me to be seen in public (!) and I think it will be beneficial for me to have actual visual evidence to use as motivation. I will probably take three photos (one purely because I love my guns!), one front shot, one profile and one of my arms to monitor the bingo wings (and the guns!). I have also been thinking about doing a vlog every now and again. I might do that if we start doing more exciting exercise than being in the gym! Might do one if I am out cycling this weekend. I have appropriated my mothers video camera, which is awesome. 

So yeah, that's where I am up to with this.
Oooo, I may be signing up for a 50-mile charity cycle in July, depending on how my training is going. If I can up my speed a bit over the next few weeks then I'll sign up for it, if not, I'll keep training and wait until next time!
Like I said, that's where I'm up to. The next few weeks will hopefully be pretty full, with training, proper diet, running round crazy with the kids at half-term  and generally getting my life back in order.

I'm going to try and update this blog a few times a week at least, even if just with measurements but I find it does help, so I may as well use it!

And that is all from me for now. Photos will be taken and uploaded later on, remind me!

Adios, and have a cracking Friday.

*EDIT* - Updated my actual weight.