A dedication to.....

Hello everyone, this is most likely my 2nd last post (this side of the wedding). And I would like to dedicate it to, in my oppinion (many of you will agree), the best Weight Watchers® leader in the world. Mary McCaffrey, also know as my fairy godmother. Without who, I would definitely not be the person I am or indeed where I am today.

Since I first met Mary in July 2006, she has been the backbone of my success and my biggest fan/supporter. The support I lacked in other places, Mary made up for ten folds over! I came to Mary just under 18 stone, with a new baby and no real direction in life. Less than 2 years later she helped me to reach my goal weight of 9st 10lbs. Today I am just over 9 st, have another new baby and my own fitness business. I will honestly miss Mary something awful as I know many others will. She is a gifted lady! A god send to the Weight Watchers® company and anyone who has ever struggled to find the, how should I put it.......the base and beginning point of their weight loss journey.

Not only has Mary provided me with guidance and support, I have found in her a friendship like no other. Like the god mother in Cinderella.......my fairy god mother helped my dreams come true.

Mary I wish you all the best in your future, all the happiness your heart desires, as many good friendships as you can find and of course great weight maintenance ;-). A big THANK YOU for helping me become the strong independent woman I am today and for your friendship. I hope I can become half the woman and leader you are. I will miss you at the wedding but see you at the home wedding party xxx.

So before I wrap up this post, a little update. My weight is holding nicely at 9st 3lbs. With 4 days to go I will hopefully get them last 3lbs off. My wedding dress is ready to go, bags are packed, the hair is done, dollars are bought and passports are in date. Now to get through the next few days and were off. Please keep an eye on facebook for pictures.

Until then enjoy the back to school weather, stay clean and stay classy x

Tired now.

Another long week. Its definitely all catching up with me. Stress, tiredness, excitement, anticipation....you name it. My skins breaking out in dry patches and I find myself lieing in bed thinking/worrying about money and bills and what if the plane crashes or we get lost along route 66 or something. Mad I know but I cant help it. I am a worrier. And as a result im going around in a daze the last week and totally exhausted. Run down I think is what one would say. Roll on the end of this week. If I can just make it to Friday Il be ok. It will then be literally chapagne, cocktails and high flying all the way.

The bags are pretty much packed (see pictures below). Hair and tan appointments are made for this week. I got an offer off a dear old friend of mine for some lash extensions, hopefully I can find the time to take up her offer. Soooo sweet of her. She is based in 'the lash lounge' in Dundrum for anyone interested. My soon to be husband picked up his suit, shoes and nerves during the week. Bless him he doesnt know what hes getting himself into ;-).

I know Iv over packed (again pictures below) but it is 2 weeks with at least 2 wardrobe changes a day, so Id say im doing ok. Like the suitcase closes without me having to sit on it, thats good right?! I did throw some shoes and bits in the hubbys bag too though hehe.

This week we need to do all the laundry, clean the house, do the grocery shopping and make sure everything is at hand for my mam who is minding the 2 boys (and the cat). Im confident they will be fine. Iv wrote another list for her to work off and the older boy will help with the baby. They will be fine! (Maybe if I say that enough times il convince myself?!). Yes im sure they will be fine alright.

I tried on my dress again today, along with the shoes and veil. I do clean up well, even if I do say so myself. But alas I seem to have faultered on my hair style again. All the styles iv tried have either not looked right or are a pain in the @$$ to do. I might google some wedding hairstyles now while im lieing in bed.

Hopefully get the chance to do another couple of blog posts before the end of the week. Until then, dont forget to stay clean and stay classy!

Ps;
My weight is still good at 9st 3lbs :-).

No pain no gain!

12 days and 4.5lbs to go (see picture below). Delighted with how my weights coming off. All the pain is most definitely worth all the gain!

I so excited now, to feel good in myself on my wedding day and also have a few pounds to play around with. Actually because we are away for 3 weeks and I dont want to deny myself anything, I gave myself a stone to play around with. Looking forward to all that tasty food stateside, yeh ;-).

Its been a long few weeks and im not quiet there yet. Heres an idea of what its took to get my body prepared and wedding ready......lots of weight training {legs, back, chest, arms, shoulders}, body conditioning {abdominals, obliques and neck}, alternating days of pilates, alternating days of high intensity interval training {working approx 85% of my MHR}, 2-3 moderate 30 minute walks a day and 1 day rest per week. Its a lot I know but I would say that I am in the best strength and physical fitness shape of my life, so far. A LOT OF PAIN AND BIG GAINS.

And the food......high protein and as much clean food (food with only 1-2 ingredients) as possible. I wouldnt be a big water drinker, maybe 1.5litres on a good day. Id average 2-3 cups of green tea a day and always a coffee before a workout (to help with endurance). I always make sure the cupboards are filled with wholgrain pasta, rice, rice cakes and noodles. Jars of mixed nuts, almond butter and 100% natural crunchy peanut butter. There is always fresh fruit at hand. Green apples, bananas (for a post workout snack), pears, lemons and limes. In the fridge we have blueberries, gooseberries, fresh broccolli, peppers, red onion and mushrooms. Always plenty of natural low fat probiotic yogurts too (very important for the reproductive system). I also keep a big glass jug of cold water in the fridge flavoured with either sliced lemon, lime or cucumber. The freezer is filled with lean meats and fish. And if all else fails......the are protein shakes in the press.

So theres and idea of my lifestyle. It takes a hell of a lot of planning, preparation, motivation, endurance, persistance and fear (of getting fat again). You have to keep working for what you want and never give up.

This is one of my fail safe recipes. If I have nothing else ready I throw this stirfry together and all the family enjoy it.

Beef stirfry with blackbean sauce and mixed veg (picture below);

Sliced beef
1/2 Red, green and yellow pepper sliced
Punnet of button mushrooms sliced
1/4 red onion sliced
Chopped broccoli head (as much as you like)
1 small tin of chick peas
Blue dragon blackbean sauce
Rainbow pepper (optional)

I steep the broccoli head for 2 mins to soften it up while I dry stirfry the strips of beef and season with fresh ground rainbow pepper.

On a separate pan I dry fry the mushrooms until they are browned.

Once the beef is done I add the mushroom and the rest of the veg. Stir for 2 mins and then add the sauce. I usually let the stirfry sit for 5 mins on a low heat to let the flavours mix.

Serve in a nice bowl and enjoy. If you like you can add 1/3 cup of quinoa or wholegrain rice. A blue dragon wholegrain noodles nest is yummy too. Plenty of complex carbs, protien, vitamins and iron.

Try it out and let me know what you think. My next post will be all about the wedding etc. So have a nice week and stay clean/classy x

Getting there!

Half way through another week already! Where does the time go.

Having a good progressive week so far. The mentorship course is going brill, really got the juices flowing.Wrote a list of the clothes I want/ need to pack. Im nearly done would you believe. Just the few last minute bits and pieces to get and double check iv packed all the essentials. When I actually get into a project I can get a lot done. Plus I had a break from my baby on wednesday morning. That helps too!

I havnt got around to trying my wedding dress on again....im not sure whats holding me back. Some sort of fear that it wont look good maybe?! Or pre wedding jitters? Il have to do it soon I know. I think il do a demo of my wedding hairstyle this weekend when I get the chance. That way I can see if I like it or not.

The weight is coming along great. Down to 9st 5lbs today. Hopefully I hit the 9st target but if I dont im not going to beat myself up, at least I tried. The exercise is going great too as is my diet up until the afternoons, when stress kicks in. Some days I can beat it and some I cant, I just have to give in and feed my hormones. Looking forward to the cold weather coming in so I can really burn some calories.

If you dont mind I would like to day a big congratulations to my friend Jenny who gave birth to a beautiful healthy baby boy yesterday. Well done, its over now. Il see you soon to get that pre baby body back ;-).

Il try do another post and recipe over the weekend. Until then, good night and stay classy x