Jude Smith

So I have dropped two and a half stone. Two dress sizes. Theres a way to go still with some of this stuff but if I'm honest I am pretty chuffed with where this is all going. I feel better, my allergies are subsiding, I can exercise without pain for the first time in years.. But there are some weirdnesses. People look at you differently. Like quite seriously differently. I find that to be a bit strange. Not necessarily bad, but strange nonetheless. Watch this space for how this might all pan out. Two pounds to the next big goal then just five more for the three stone target!

I admit I haven't done a whole heap of reading around this: and I know that what I say will not be popular. BUT. We need to acknowledge that society has shifted- way back, elderly people were cared for by their families. Now we don't do that in the main (though some cultural groups do). I find it strange that we don't want to give our time to look after our forebears but neither are we prepared to let it come out of our 'inheritance'- as if we have earned that somehow.. Care costs. There is nothing we can do about it. But can we please let go of the idea that you can have it all?

Well, I made it to the two stone weight loss marker! It still doesn't quite feel real, but it must be because i just bought an item of clothing in size medium and it fits! The main things in my head are: I still have a long way to go.. and I have to really concentrate to stay focused on the three stone first target. I find myself getting carried away and thinking about another stone and a half after that but need to not go there. 28lb is a lot.. I just bought a kettlebell that weights 7.5kg and carrying that back to teh car was tricky enough so how did I do with carrying nearly double that around on my body? So- new targets. 11/2 lbs to a 30 lb loss. Then its 7lbs to a new milestone weight. Then three more pounds to goal one.. The plan is to be there for Easter! It gets harder from here!

Back to writing about me: which draws less flak! I have had a little break over the last few days. On Friday I drove to Bristol to hang out with the very lovely Ducker family. It was really good to catch up with folk- and to hear some stories of intentional community in places where I have been! Saturday was graduation day! A tad pompous but again lovely to see some folk and catch up with friends from Trinity. Spent the afternoon in the pub. Saturday was also my birthday- and for the first time in ages it was preceded by a pretty trauma free January! Happy days indeed. Then it was down to Devon. Three days of chilled out dog walking, hair cutting, jeans buying and novel reading. In hindsight three days is not quite long enough to really wind down: mental note to self about how I do holidays! Wednesday- good meeting to talk about pioneering back in Bristol, then the four hour drive to get back for a meeting. Which was cancelled due to snow! (tad annoying but there we go). An