"Work hard in silence, let success be your noise" - Frank Ocean

"It'll be fine," he said. "Twitter tonight, Facebook tomorrow. Basically your face will be everywhere. I'll be in touch if the press want to run with it too." It's been a bit surreal.

I did not appreciate how big a deal it is for the Queen's Nursing Institute Scotland to reintroduce the Queen's Nurse title in Scotland.  Apparently it is.  I already appreciated the opportunity to take part in this development programme, but I think it has just hit me how big a deal this is.  The thing is, when I wake up in the morning to go to work,  I don't think I'm anything special.  I'm just an ordinary woman who is passionate about influencing others to believe in themselves.

A large part of my work is assessing the health and development of children, but its not the only thing I do, nor is it the part I enjoy the most.  Let me take you back a few years when I was just a young, married mother.

I was lost in motherhood and lost my identity.  Changes were happening all around me, no family close by but very fortunate to have a mother willing to travel for hours to help me where she could.  During one of my pregnancies and postnatal periods, I had 2 amazing midwives who I adored.  They just got me, whatever that "me" was. After each appointment that maybe only lasted 10 minutes, I felt ready to tackle the world.  I was devastated when day 10 postnatal came and I was discharged to the Health Visitor.  That feeling was short lived, as she was just as brilliant as the midwives.  She was the one who was there, a stabilising force when difficult times came and went.  It is impossible for me to put into words what she done, I'm not really sure it is anything that she physically done for me and my family, but more like how she made me feel.  I felt encouraged and eager to keep trying, even when life felt difficult.  She knew having 3 children under 3 would be a challenge. A challenge it was, but she believed in me and helped me to believe in myself.  I was empowered by this and I wanted to be able to do the same for others.  And so my journey in becoming a midwife and then a Health Visitor began.

Fast forward 7.5 years and here I am.  Continually trying my best to empower other parents to be their best self, trying something they thought they couldn't do, to achieve a goal or a dream.  There are so many aspects of people's lives that I relate to.  Life is great and life is hard.  Some people just need a little nudge to keep them moving along.  When parents are in a good and sound frame of mind, their children benefit so much more.  So yes, I love working with the babies and children, but it's the adults I enjoy working with more.

To empower an individual, is to empower a community.

Working amongst communities is so diverse.  You learn so much more about customs and traditions.  You develop a deeper understanding of what makes people who they are, why people make certain decisions. It is a privilege to be invited into their homes as a guest and tailor care and advice to their specific situations.  I have always been a community girl at heart, right from my very first community placement as a student midwife. 

It is an honour to be selected to become a 21st century Queen's Nurse, with community nursing at my heart.  I'm not doing this for me, I'm doing it for the people I work with everyday.  The publicity is not my thing, I was never cut out to be a super model.  The photographer asked, "So what does a Health Visitor do?" "How long have you got?" should have been my reply, but I'm not that witty.  All I know is that I want to make a difference.  Even if it is just to engage and empower in a small way, the potential is to influence generations.

(My son is hugely into genealogy. He is going to keep the newspaper clippings to add to his family tree)

ReSet 2017 - Week 4

So I have weighed myself 2 days early as its our anniversary on Monday and we are going away to Pitlochry for the weekend. I don't imagine it will be a ReSet friendly weekend, but I'm going to enjoy myself and looking forward to the lovely walks we have planned.

On Wednesday I tried Strong by Zumba for the first time.  Don't be put off by the "Zumba" name, it's actually nothing like it.  It is more like a HIIT workout with (what feels like billions) of squats, planks and burpees. By the end of the session, I realised that I had no strength in my abdominal muscles and had to sit out for 5 minutes so I could breathe.  It probably didn't help that I had been struggling to breathe anyway, so was quite proud of myself at lasting for most of the session. I'll definitely be going back and push myself harder.

So my final results are as follows:

Weight 14 stone 9.5lbs
Waist - 99cms
Hips - 109cms

Here were my starting stats 4 weeks ago:

Weight 15st 10lbs
Height 5ft 6.25in
Waist 114cm
Hips 120cm

I am going to post some after pictures next week as this week is star week and fluid retention is definitely happening. 

One of my favourite meals this week was the Chinese mince in lettuce wraps:

Ingredients:
lean turkey mince (lean pork mince is also good)
fresh chillies
fresh ginger
garlic clove
grated carrot
grated courgette
finely chopped mushroom
finely chopped onion
spinach
soy sauce

Brown off the mince, add the chillies, ginger and garlic and stir until coated. Add in the remaining ingredients and cook until soft.  Serve in lettuce leaves. Simple, but really tasty!

So not one piece of junk food has passed my lips over the past 4 weeks.  I still can't quite believe it.  My main purpose of this was to lose weight and to feel healthier, both of which I have achieved. I have also learned how to listen to my body, expanded on the variety of foods to include in a healthy diet, improved my intake of water (I still don't enjoy it, but I do it), increased my activity level and have a better sleep pattern.  Clearly there have been lots of benefits for me, I've been trying to think of any negatives and genuinely can't think of any.

Writing this blog has been great for me. A couple of times recently when I've not appreciated the differences made, I have read back to see where I've been and how far I've come. Some days I have felt fatter than I did at the beginning.  I guess I have lost weight in some areas, more than others which for me, has just exaggerated those fatty areas.  By reading back and looking at my starting pictures, I have been able to see the difference which has kept me going.  This is no easy ride for me, it is emotionally, mentally and physically challenging but I will continue to power on as I make changes for the better, at a pace that is right for me.

ReSet 2017 - Week 3 results

It's been another while since I blogged, apologies for that.  Last time I'm sure I mentioned I hadn't been feeling too great.  Never in my life did I think that I would have to spend time just concentrating on being able to breathe and nothing else.  Well, I've ticked that box off my bucket list!! I went to the docs today and got some new friends to make breathing a bit easier:

So for this reason, I have found it really hard to keep up with the exercising this week, which is a bit of a bummer.  However things will get better and I'm looking forward to trying Strong by Zumba this coming week.  I guess though, with the amount I have coughed over this last fortnight, my abs must have had some sort of workout, right? Always the optimist me :-)

I am really excited to share my weight results this week with you all! Last week I was disappointed to not get down into the next stone bracket, but I have done it!! Pretty well into it, might I add!! So chuffed with this result.

My next goal is to now get into the 13 stone bracket (not by next week might I add, lol!) I haven't been less than 14 stone 4lbs for at least 5 years so to get past this would just be amazing for my self confidence. I know I can do it, it will probably take more effort on my part when ReSet is over and I don't have the support of all the others who are also doing ReSet, but I CAN do it and I WILL do it!

Darren and I had a discussion last night about life after ReSet.  He has his plan and I have mine.  I plan to continue as I am, but will allow myself a treat when it is a birthday or special occasion.  If I find that this encourages me to start indulging again in the sugar, then I will just have to pull right back again.  It'll be trial and error for me to see what I can manage physically and mentally.

One thing's for sure, I wasn't prepared for this beauty:

Look at the brightness of that green smoothie! It wasn't my favourite at all, but I did manage to drink it. I want a medal for that, haha!!  Below is a picture of tonight's dinner. Lemon chicken with savoury rice (small amount of rice with peppers, mushrooms, onions, spinach and carrot) and a splash of soy sauce. Super tasty!!  I prepared the chicken in the Instant Pot on the slow cooker function. Cooked for 5 hours and then kept warm until serving, how amazing is that?????

For this coming week, we had to prepare our own meal plan.  I was pleasantly surprised at my ability to put something together.  I was actually really dreading this part, but it wasn't too bad at all. Tomorrow however, I have a big day and attending a selection event in Edinburgh.  Lunch will be provided and I'm scared to peek at what will be available for eating.  Will just need to make the best choice of what is available, but this will be the first time I have even out.  Fingers crossed there is a lettuce leaf or something I can nibble on, haha!!

ReSet 2017 - Day 17

So I thought I should blog tonight, just to let people know that ReSet hasn't killed me. I'm still alive, although feel pretty dead.

On Monday night, I went to bed and woke up at stupid o'clock in the morning, wide awake and not able to get back to sleep.  Fast forward 20 hours and it was time to go back to bed. Everything in between is a blur.  My appetite has been shocking, I barely want to eat. Not good at all.

Today I managed to make a GREEN smoothie!!!! They are surprisingly good.

Ok, so it was brown but changed to green by the time I got to work

LOVING the blender, highly recommended!

So I tried something new for the first time tonight...AVOCADO! It was nice, but is it meant to have a strong taste, as this one didn't? Well I could taste the lime and tomato that we mixed through it, but not much else.

I guess in this picture it looks like I've filled my dinner plate, but this is actually a side plate.  Not sure if my stomach has shrunk or what, but I can't eat half the portion size that I was able to eat before.  

The ReSet plan has definitely become more of a lifestyle, I can't say I'm needing to think about it too much now. I still don't miss what I was addicted to before, I still need to work on the exercise.  It will come, perfection doesn't happen overnight, does it?

ReSet 2017 - Day 14 and 15

Well yesterday was just awful. I cannot recount a time when I have felt that ill in my life. After lots of rest and hydration, I am back to feeling (almost) myself again.

So at the end of week 2/ beginning of week 3, here is my weight result:

3 lbs and that precious quarter off!!

Truthfully, I was kind of hoping to be seeing the 14 stone bracket, but after how I was feeling the last couple of days (Saturday being tough having to resist many tempting delights and then Sunday feeling rotten), I am happy with my lot.  That's still a 9.5 lb loss in a fortnight which is truly brilliant. Darren lost 2lb this week, so that's 7lb loss in total for him.

This morning, I still wasn't feeling brilliant.  I couldn't face eating breakfast, as was still feeling nauseous.  I decided to sip plenty water and later in the morning, I felt like eating (and devoured) a juicy orange.  This was just enough to get my appetite going and for me to enjoy my tuna salad for lunch.

I knew what my body did and did not need today.  I can't say before ReSet that I was overly in tune with myself.  If I didn't feel full all the time, there was something wrong.  Today I actually took some time to figure out what I needed to do and definitely benefitted from doing so.  I had taken porridge to work with me and almost pushed myself to just eating it anyway, but it wasn't right, I would have felt worse.  So the moral of the story is... 

listen to what your body is telling you :-) 

So here is my latest addition to my kitchen gadgets (I feel like I am turning into my brother and sister-in law who also love their kitchen gadgets).  It is now time to experiment with my smoothies. If I start turning green or orange, you know I have had too many, haha!! I will post some pictures of my experimentation in future blogs, so watch out!!

ReSet 2017 - Day 13

Today has been the hardest day ever for me.  I have just had to fight temptation all day and its made me feel grouchy.  I wanted to go walking again today, but it was so cold outside and I could barely get a heat in me whilst in the house, so I didn't go.  I done my chores for the day, but that was about it.

I had egg, spinach and mushroom omelette with bacon for breakfast.  It was nice to have a change and it was reasonably filling.  We made another batch of green split pea soup for lunch and for dinner we had to use up some pork loin medallions.  These probably weren't the best choice, but we cut the visible fat off before cooking, so it hopefully wasn't too bad (we filled the plate with green veg, so there was some good on there). 

Whilst making the oat and blueberry muffins for tomorrows breakfast, I decided to make a green smoothie.

Yea, I had the same thoughts...not so green is it?
So in it, I used coconut milk, spinach, curly kale, and handful of mixed berries (blackberries, cranberries, strawberries, raspberries and blueberries). Will need to experiment with ratio a little, although with those berries, it's likely its just going to look brown.  It was really tasty though and just what I needed after resisting goodies ALL day.

So here's hoping for a better day tomorrow, with more enthusiasm to move more and be happy :-)

ReSet 2017 - Day 12

So the shopping has been ordered for next week's plan, here's hoping we have more success than last.

Today, we were again encouraged to reflect on our thoughts and feelings at this point in the plan.  If I am honest with myself, I haven't been as active as I need to be. Instead of making excuses, I decided to see what I could do to change this.  Friday evenings my boys have goalkeeping training, which they love.  I decided that instead of the hubby driving them there, we would walk instead. It's just short of a 4 mile walk all in, but we done it. I hit my 10,000 step mark just as I was turning the corner into my house, bonus!!

So I had a slice of my spelt loaf this morning with peanut butter and sliced banana.  It didn't look much on the plate, but the bread is rather dense and was definitely enough.  I really enjoyed it.  Now I know if I ever run out of bread for the kids, I can throw one in the oven pretty quickly.

Lunch - Piri Piri chicken salad

I'll tell you, this box would never fill me before.  I didn't manage to eat it all today, definitely feeling the difference and gradually cutting portions down, which for me is the best way. I then don't have that psychological block of "missing out" on something. Obviously this chicken was cooked in my Instant Pot (as are most of my other meals.)