So, it’s been over 2 weeks since my band arrived and I’m finding it harder to make the changes I need to, I can only assume I was hoping for way too much too quickly, some habits die-hard eh?!

The results came in over a week ago and straight away I could see where I make some quick improvements. However, this week has been particularly difficult due to a family member being poorly. I guess from this I’ve certainly learned what my trigger is as this week I’ve been feeling pretty stressed, pretty low and pretty unenthused to want to try to change my life – all in all its been pretty rubbish!
Today there was good news which has made me feel grateful, much relieved and also highlighted just how important it is to be healthy. So starting from today I’m back on track, my husband Luigi is also on a mission to shave off a few pounds be the time we hit his big 3.0 in just over a month so together we’re going to try and fight the war on flab!
So before I make my commitment to get cracking I would like to share my results with you all – scary stuff! As I’ve mentioned in previous posts I wore my Ki Fit for 7 days straight before a scientist delved deep in the analysis to tell me where I’m going wrong with my lifestyle and further more some recommendations to make much more mindful choices everyday to lead a healthier/slimmer life. So here’s a summary and the I’ll also attempt to upload the full report:

Calorie consumption:

On average I burn 273 calories more than I consume – this is great news but I somehow feel this was a lot to do with the day when I went out riding for a really long time. Either which way its made me realise I’m pretty on the edge of my calorie consumption/calories burned being on break-even. It’s no wonder I find it hard to lose weight when I’m not on a crazy diet – I’m putting too much in and not burning enough off. Simple stuff but I’m amazed at how many calories I actually at a day.. Its pretty embarrassing!

Nutrition:

The only good news here is protein and for that I can only be thankful to my husband who insists on eating meat, eggs etc without him I’d probably be vegetarian due to the cost of meat and the fact that I don’t overly love it – well I didn’t used to anyway. The bad news for my waistline is that my carbohydrate consumption is bordering high and the quality isn’t great, the advice here is that I need to consume carbs with less sugar and more wholesome eg: more whole grain choices. There is further bad news in the fat content of foods I eat, hmm I’m thinking the Chinese may have contributed towards this but I also start to think about the afternoon chocolate bars from the vending machine at work…

Activity:

The long and short of this is that I need to be more active, I’m meeting the bare minimum required so more is needed and interestingly my heart rate is barely lifted from horse riding, poor old Dis doing all the work again! Before getting the news about the family member I kicked off Monday and Tuesday at work with walks at lunchtime – an idea of my eldest brother and you know what, I felt great. 45 Minutes with my iPod in and I was away!

Sleep:

My sleep has been one of the most interesting for me, my sleep duration is about right but my sleep efficiency isn’t.
I’m definitely going to have to give up my late night coffee and ‘treats’, I’ve noticed my concentration at work is pretty terrible lately. I love my bed and love sleeping – this one is going to be easy!
The report has been an amazing insight in to my life – there’s no more hiding now, I have the information to make a difference so it’s really down to how much I want it  and I want it!! So i’m making myself a promise that tomorrow is a brand new day, its the start of a new healthier Laura, Day One – all over again, I’m excited, wish me luck!

Laura xxx

I love Sundays.. Getting up late, cartoons and coffee in bed and spending hours at the yard tinkering about with the horses. I’ve really recently got back in to riding after a good 6 months off and I’m loving it. Today I decided to ride out with the girls on the yard to Ashton Court in Bristol, a huge open space with miles of beautiful views and time to really relax.

The horse I ride is called Dis, he’s super gorgeous and it feels like a honour every time I go to the yard to be met with his grumpy faces, he cheers me up on the crappest of days and in a short space of time he’s become the favourite boy in my life.

I had an absolutely amazing ride, it was pretty long ride with lots of trotting so I was pretty excited about how my Ki would have thought I’d done today, I was thinking I’d be getting big green ticks against my calories burned, steps taken and leave me with a lovely juicy calorie deficit to try and recover from the death by Chinese the night before!!

Uploading the results the one that stuck out the most was my steps.. 0ver 20,000, I was feeling pretty ‘check me out’, highly impressed with myself until I zoomed in to see what time all these steps occurred – Sadly it was poor old Dis walking his little socks off meaning AGAIN I’ve missed my step target, grrrrrr, I really need to do something about my lack of steps, mental note.

My results are pretty all over the shop for today, I had four and a half hours sleep last night which is pretty terrible considering the clocks went back! I never would have realised what little sleep I get if I wasn’t for the band. On a very very positive note I managed to burn near to my target, 3243 calories – not bad considering Dis did all the hard work!

Cannot wait to get my seven day report from my Ki – I hope it’s impressed with this one day of hardcore activity!

The weekend is here and the clocks go back tonight, winter is most definitely here.

I spent most of today in the dashing around shopping and had a few hours in the hairdressers. I love my trip to get my roots done every 6 weeks, we always talk about diets and losing weight and there’s always other women there joining in! Today I was telling them all about my Ki and everyone was asking how much they cost and what they do, its made me feel so happy to have access to such amazing personal data, I’m really starting to love wearing my Ki and don’t care who knows it!

It was in the hairdressers that I got a txt letting me know where we’re meeting friends for dinner, tonight we’ll be heading for Chinese, ahhhhhhh was my initial thought! I don’t mind Chinese but it’s a nightmare to know how many calories are in everything, plus this place was all you can eat – even more of a nightmare for someone tracking calories! I’ve already started to become so much more aware of what I’m eating, but, the old Laura wouldn’t have batted an eyelid so I updated my food diary by guessing – the result, a whooping 1263 calorie deficit. We had a big meal but even still I’m shocked by the amount of calories we all ate, when I checked out the restaurant it said the food was ‘healthy’?! I feel like I’ve been lied to! I’m slightly terrified by the fact the Ki are monitoring my data and will look at tonight and think ‘WOW, how do you think you could eat all that and not get fat’? I’m completely in denial, it’s a habit of a lifetime and old habits die hard…

I once read a book whereby it said something along the lines of no matter how unhealthy a meal, when enjoyed with friends and family it has to be good for your health so tonight after a brilliant night out with friends I’ll sleep soundly, even if with belly full with that thought in mind!

On that note… Ki charged, clocks back, its 1am and I’m off to bed, buonna notte xx

So day one of wearing my Ki is drawing to a close and have to say just wearing the band is making me think twice about what I’m eating! Needless to say I was so excited about plugging in the Ki to get a download on my first full day with it monitoring my every move! The results were ummm.. to be expected I would guess, I know I’m doing things wrong but guess I’d got a bit complacent with perhaps how much I’ve been convincing myself I’m not that bad.

So here’s a summary of today’s report, a 501 calories surplus, according to Ki Fit I should have a 1100 calorie deficit. This is a key stat for if you want to maintain, loose or gain weight. With these type of results I’ll be continuing to gain weight. This is further aided by my lack of steps (3632 against an 8,000 target) and any form of physical activity.

I’m feeling a bit weird after seeing the results.. I guess its a double edged sword as I can see what a downward spiral I’ve been on but its good to be finally getting some results to make me understand what I need to change. So time for bed, the eight hours I promised myself last night resulted in just 6hrs 42 minutes sleeping, so glad my Ki confirms I’m not only lazy, but also sleep deprived which makes me feel slightly better for all the pasta/comfort food I munched my way through tonight!

Bedtime, night night!

The postman came bearing gifts yesterday, my Ki is finally here!

My feet were barely through the front door before I was in the box pulling out cables and start up guides to get set up! I’ve been so excited to get the armband on to start collecting some data which I’m pretty sure is going to conclude how bad/unhealthy things have got! My Ki needs to stay on my arm for around 23 hours each day, it’ll record my every move and only removed when I need to shower. I also have to update my food diary in what’s called the ‘activity manager’ to give an honest account of what I’ve munched my way through throughout eat day.

To celebrate the arrival I invited my amazing mum round to be my official weigh in/measurement taking monitor. We attempted to do something I would never normally do, take ‘before’ photos so I’ll be able to see for myself any progress, rather than just having a sheet of numbers. I also never seem to see any difference when I lose weight which I put down to being a FFP – as Kelly Osborne puts it, a ‘a former fat person’. Yes, I once was even fatter than I am now and the FFP is always there making you believe that no matter how big or small you are you’re always going to fat! Anyway, back to the ‘before’ photos, I was horrified and gobsmacked looking at the results which have only made me all the more determined! I’ve become a master at hiding my flab after years of practise so there with it all laid bare was perhaps the cherry on my fat lardy cake!

Today feels quite strange, like the calm before the storm and I know the reason for why. Ki Performance will be for the next seven days conducting a ‘Lifestyle Audit’ therefore this gives me a really good opportunity to continue as I am for the next week to understand exactly the errors of my ways. It’s a scary prospect and one I kind I think I could avoid by making drastic changes to my diet and exercise now to get praise and lead KiPerformance to believe that I’m fat for no reason whatsoever. I’m tempted to go hell for leather, just because I’m feeling in the zone by cutting my calories right back and booking in to every available spinning class – this is the crazy type of yo-yoing that I mean. Another would be to do nothing but drink meal replacement milkshakes, a very quick fix but I really know it’s not the answer. If I really want to learn from these next seven days to change my life I have to do as I would have always done, eat what I would normally eat in a day which is often too much and exercise as much as usually would which no surprises if just not enough.. Otherwise what’s the point? This will just be another diet and I’m done with diets. I’m doing it the hard way, because it’s the only way. So, for the next seven days it’s just me, doing what’s made me the way I am.

It’s time to get to sleep; my Ki is telling me I need eight hours, so with my armband securely in place for the first time I’m off to bed!