WEEK 26 & 27…in which I make it HALFWAY

Halfway through.

Actually halfway through the first year, which means a quarter of the way through the whole challenge, which I should have called 100 in 100 as that’s the ultimate weight I need to lose (see link). I have a sneaking suspicion that I wasn’t sure I was going to make it to the 100^th week and frankly 2 years seemed unscalable so I called it 52 in 52..get ready for the rebrand sometime soon.

So, here’s the halfway update: I’ve lost 38lb. That’s 2.7 stone or 17.2 Kilos. So over target for the year by 12lbs and 38% of the way to the overall goals of 100lbs. Whoop!

Huge thanks to you, the readers of this blog. I discovered that your encouragement is a MASSIVE motivator for me – as is the fear of public failure and humiliation which is what stops me reaching out for the crisps and hummus…5 times a day. I reckon without you I’d have lost 6lbs and gained back 8 by now.

I’m in Australia for the next 3 weeks. This doesn’t bode well for the 4lbs I’d like to lose while I’m here (REALLY want to break through the 3 stone mark), because the food in Sydney & Melbourne is truly divine and I spend most of my time in ‘meetings’ with fabulous people who take me to even more fabulous restaurants. Even the supermarkets are special, check out Thomas Dux (think Whole Foods, Waitrose, M&S, and Harrods food hall and put them together). I’m just slightly worried that 3 of my favorite restaurants falling distance from my Airbnb..Lucio’s (at the end of my road) http://www.lucios.com.au/, The Paddington (0.3 miles away – I checked) http://merivale.com.au/thepaddington and The Chiswick (also 0.3 miles) https://www.chiswickrestaurant.com.au/

NO PRESSURE!

Fortunately my colleague is staying with me for some of the trip. I say fortunately because in addition to her day job working with me she’s also a Pilates teacher and fitness coach. This means

Pilates lessons on tap – which I’m worried about because I’ll need to hate her, at least temporarily
The fridge and most of the rest of the house looks like this

The flight over was great for not eating. There is simply no way that Qantas menu has been create by Neil Perry and therefore representative of the 2 hat temple to awesomeness that is Rockpool, http://www.rockpoolbarandgrill.com.au/, and I mean NO WAY, no matter what they tell you..they’re lying. I ate less than a small cat, because the dinner they gave me looked like it had already been eaten by one..

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Great films though. Logan. Cried for half an hour AFTER IT FINISHED.

And really great for pyjamas. I’ve never before put on the free pair of pyjamas that Qantas provide for 2 reasons. Firstly, they are simply ghastly – grey, cheap cotton, totally shapeless and last seen on a little Vietnamese farmer circa 1962. Secondly – they don’t fit. WAAAYYYY to small, even the XL.

But this time I forgot to put my own comfort plane clothes in my carry on and to avoid getting cut in two by the waist band of my jeans I had no choice but to take the offered pack of pyjamas (tied up with a bow – nice touch). Off I went the toilet to change. Which I’ve never found to be a particularly enjoyable experience. Changing in a cubicle only slightly larger than me has always been a logistical challenge requiring stunningly balletic moves; if ballet was performed by an elephant in a straitjacket. I have mastered removing and putting on trousers whilst seated, as bending over in an aircraft toilet is an activity exclusively reserved for tiny people.

But the pyjamas fitted. So I wore them, JUST BECAUSE I COULD!!

Unfortunately these pictures are proof that just because you can doesn’t mean you should.