Outfit: Shoeper Challenge #68 and a Weight Watchers Update

This is something of an unexpected shoe save as I was sure I would have already worn these boots. But I consulted my list (handy when you have 84 pairs of footwear to save) and apparently not, so here they are. These were a gift from Very.co.uk last summer when I was asked to choose a couple of items from their website to review. I love that Very stock a size 9 in some styles, and these boots are one of those styles. The heel is high but there is a hidden platform inside meaning they are fine to walk in, as long as I don’t try to walk too far (that’s what the flats under my desk are for – lunchtime jaunts to the shop and the like).

The jeans are new. I got them in Long Tall Sally in London the other week, the one thing I knew I needed to buy whilst I was down there. My Topshop skinny jeans have started to wear thin on the inside leg so I knew I needed to replace them before it was too late and they split. I tried on several pairs of jeans, including a pair by NYDJ. Although at £140 I had no real intention of buying them, I was curious to see how they fit. The main selling point was that I could easily wear a size smaller than usual. Other than that though, they were nothing special. The pockets were placed too high up to be flattering and despite the longer length leg on sale in LTS, they were still far too short for me to wear. I tried the same style of jeans as I have on today in a slightly lighter wash, but they were tight. And then this pair, that I bought, turned out to be a perfect fit. I washed them before I wore them as the denim is so dark it was dying my fingers blue (and I’d hate to leave blue patches on my newly covered cream dining chairs) and they fit fine straight away this morning (none of that tightness that you usually get from just-washed jeans).

Wow, this is turning into a long post isn’t it? And I’m not done yet! Yesterday was my first weigh in for Weight Watchers. As I signed up online I’m not going to meetings and I love the convenience of that. I can just keep the Points Tracker open on my laptop and track as I go along. If you’ve not done Weight Watchers in a while, the system has changed to ProPoints. The values seem to be a bit higher that the old system but you get more points per day. Fruit is now 0 points which is great as half my lunch consists of fruit each day. You also get a weekly points allowance so that if you are out for a meal (like I was on Sunday lunchtime) you don’t have to worry too much about it. As long as it’s only once a week and you don’t go mad with unhealthy foods you can stay inside your points quite easily. The online tracker also lets you record your Activity Points and these can be exchanged for food if necessary. So if you know you are going out for a particularly unhealthy meal you can just make sure you do plenty of exercise that week to offset it. Surprising foods have no ProPoints – I love that I can have half a teaspoon of brown sugar on my porridge and it’s 0 ProPoints. And by making a few simple switches you can lower the points value of a meal quite easily. For example, by using Quorn sausages for myself in the sausage casserole last night, I was able to have 3 of them for 4 ProPoints, whereas the pork and apple sausages I added for the young man were 4 ProPoints each. We will be eating more couscous in the coming weeks too, as it is a much lower ProPoints value than rice and pasta. There’s also a little section at the bottom of the tracker where you can record how much fruit and veg, dairy and liquid you are consuming throughout the day. I don’t get enough dairy looking at that, so that’s something to work on.

Anyway, the good news is that I lost 4 pounds this week! I was scared most of yesterday that I wouldn’t have lost anything and that all the effort I’d been putting in would have been for nothing, but 4 pounds is a great start. I am aware that I am unlikely to lose that much per week in the coming weeks, but even 2lbs a week will help me achieve my goal within the 3 months I’ve initially signed up for. I just have to keep going to the gym and stick with the points counting. And on that note, I’ve just booked in for Boxercise this evening.

Grey jacket – Long Tall Sally (eBay)
Grey stripe top – Dorothy Perkins Tall
Jeans – Long Tall Sally
Purple booties – Love Label (c/o Very.co.uk)
Purple necklace – gifted
Silver hoops – gifted
Purple and wood bangles – gifted
Purple glitter bangles – Diamonds and Pearls

Total Est. Cost £86