Absolutely flabulous

So, a post is overdue. If someone whose blog I'm following stops posting, I tend to fear the worst. I'm sure that's not always true but that's what I fear - and maybe says more about me than them. It's certainly only partially true for me. I've had a particularly frantic time at work, culminating in a 2 day business trip that I'd organised. This meant too little sleep, erratic eating (one night a 3 course meal, another just a small pack of nuts, 2 biscuits and instant hot chocolate (not nice)). And no cycling but being on my feet and running around all day expending lots of nervous energy. Actually, if nervous energy were at all effective at weight loss I'd have to be eating deep fried mars bars to keep myself filling out my size 0s. Really.

As it is, I feel fat. I feel frumpy, lumpy, dumpy. I haven't dared weigh myself for a while as it feels like just one more thing I can't cope with, haven't got time to give attention to. But - as I emailed to a friend earlier - I have to get a grip. And sadly, there's fistfuls of it (flab) to grip.

Despite a gruelling few days I cycled today and it feels like it could be the beginning of a time of relative calm and control. In fact it has to be - we've booked our holiday to Turkey and we fly on 21 September. I reckon I'll have to lose a stone to be the same as I was when I went there 2 years ago - and I felt fat and lumpen then. I had thought that post Lighter Life, life in a swimsuit would be less painful. Not a bit of it. Or not then - and so therefore not now, now that I'm even heavier. I need to have a good crack at losing as much as possible - I have 5 weeks. Realistically 10lbs would be a good effort (especially with my birthday in this time) but I'm not happy with that. Could I lose 3lbs a week and make it a stone? Knowing my track record, probably not and even the 2lbs is probably ambitious. I guess the weigh in tomorrow is even more of a necessity to know where I am now and what I have to do to either match that (unsatisfactory) weight of 2 years ago - or to get under that (ideally).

In the meantime, this is my action plan:
1) Cycling as often as possible - at least 3 times a week, 4 or even 5 if I can
2) Calorie counting (Lesley - think this is a must for me or I start sneaking stuff in and kidding myself that it doesn't matter. It always adds up to more than I think it will (unlike my pay packet sadly!). 1200-1300 cals Mon-Fri, a nice but restrained dinner with bf on Saturday, a bit of a hybrid on Sunday.
3) Hand weights 3-4 times a week to address the bingo wings. Plus friend-with-PhD-in-weightloss reckons it might help my sluggish tortoise of a metabolism.

Anything I'm missing? Grateful for all thoughts/tips....

A quick post for now and scores on the doors tomorrow. And possibly some time and thought given to Mrs L's question about what living the skinny dream actually means.