I think I mentioned a few posts ago that I'm probably going to be 'managed out' of my job. Well, it's looking increasingly likely, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Myself, my administrator and the two senior managers sat down yesterday and went through all of our tasks to identify just how much need there is for an admin department, and how much of what we do could be devolved to the other managers.
It was a really constructive meeting, and they did say that they're looking at redeployment elsewhere within the company rather than redundancy. They realised just how much work we actually do, and I think they've got the point that they need us! So hopefully my admin person's safe.
My boss has been trying to get approval for some kind of hybrid role for me, acting as advisor for other sites, and possibly still doing some of the work I do now. He hasn't been able to sort it out yet, but I know he's been trying to work something out for a while. Anyhoo ... I got a call today from him asking if I could go into Head Office next week while I'm on study leave, as he's got 'a proposition' for me. He wouldn't say any more, but it sounded positive, and I could tell he was smiling down the end of the phone! Very intriguing, and a bit exciting!!
Also - I got in touch with my old boss, who left four years ago, to say hi yesterday, and he was asking if I was happy where I was and that his company were always looking for good managers and project managers! Nice to be in demand
23,000 steps today too - it was such beautiful weather! Lovely sunshine, gentle breeze along the Thames Path. Listening to Tax Principles, boring myself to death!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Countdown to exams: 13 days ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Good news all round today - sneaky peek showed another 1.5lb loss, taking me down to 10st 10lb! Shocker.
I got my second course exam back today too - 83%, best grade so far ... and "in pole position" according to the marker. That gives me a bit of confidence, although really it just means that I inderstand the subject matter more than some as it was done 'open book'. I just need to ensure that I do lots of question practice so the pro formas and methods are embedded in my brain!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Countdown to exams: 14 days ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hooray! 2.5lb off, and well and truly into the 10s ... another half a lb and I'll have lost 2.5 stone / 35lb ... and just over a stone to lose!
I think it's unlikely that I'll make my original goal of 10th July, as that's 1.5lb a week, and I reckon my weightloss will probably slow down a little. I can't say I'm too bothered as I know I'll get there anyway, and I shouldn't be too far off then.
Well, the in-laws are coming for lunch today, and I'll try to get out for a walk at some point - but otherwise it's another study day ....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Countdown to exams: 17 days ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yep, I have been guilty of being missing in action ... but if I tell you about my week, you'll understand why!
Last weekend I had the last of three days of lectures up in London on the Saturday, so was totally knackered by the time I got home. I was too tired to do any exercise, so grabbed a takeaway (Pointed!) and flopped into bed. I was very tempted by JulesR's talk of fish and chips, but managed to avoid it somehow and went for a healthy-ish Chinese instead!
Sunday - did a 67 min run (yes, I know - my knee went and I couldn't do the last three mins) ... went to Asda with my ma and David, then came home to get some study done. I had to do my Course Exam 2, and get it in by Tuesday so I really had to get down to it.
Sunday, late afternoon ... my mobile went off ... "the office has gone to emergency plans". Ah. It turned out that a burst watermain had leaked water into our street (ironically right next to the Thames), and as the 'Estate' I work in is the lowest point, all of the water had flooded into the lower echelons of the building. No electricity or anything - oops! Eventually over 20 million litres of water was pumped out by the fire brigade!
Monday was spent dashing around like a mad person trying to keep the company going from emergency backup procedures at another office as we couldn't get back in at all. I work for the support facilities team anyway, so as you can imagine we kind of had our hands full!
Monday night was spent madly trying to finish my course exam so i could get it in by courier the following day. I managed it amidst all the chaos, so quite proud of myself ... but then I guess I should really have done it before the 'last minute' as usual!! I really should know better after all these years, but I just can't bring myself to knuckle down properly until the nail-biting end!
We finally got back into the building on Tuesday, but on emergency generator power - we won't have full electricity back for a week or so as the grid was damaged ... and we have two hospitals near us so obviously they have to come first. It's not a major problem apart from the fact that the air con is fairly low priority so it's flippin' hot!!
I also had month end to contend with - normally it's not too crazy, so I had agreed to help out a couple of other sites who were struggling with their finance packs. Fine, except that I lost Monday ... so Tuesday and Wednesday were madly dashing about, working on trains and at night to get everything done and into Head Office on time. I did get it all done, and everyone was happy - except me, who was a bit sleepless!
To top off all that, the revision course for my retake (which I haven't looked at for a year) started on Thursday. That was more than a bit scary as I realised that I really don't remember much - I'm sure it'll come flooding back with a bit of work, but that's not really my strong point . The course finished yesterday and I really do have a shedload of work to do now ...
Boy was I tired yesterday! I honestly didn't have the energy to do anything yesterday. The only day I'd had off in what seemed like weeks (last Sunday) I woke up at the same time as usual, 5.30am, so i hadn't really had a chance to catch up on sleep at all. I woke up at the same time this morning, but was buggered if I was going to get up! I did manage to get back to sleep until about 8am, and I'm feeling a heck of a lot better for it!
Thank heavens for Bank Holidays ... at least I've got another day to kip in before getting back to work!
Plan for the weekend? Guess! Yep, lots and lots of study ....
Actually I will be having a run this morning after catching up on my blogging, then get down to some structured study (I have a plan folks!!).
By some weird twist of fate, both of my best mates are back in the country this weekend, and I know one of them's dropping in to say hi at some point today, which will be really nice. I haven't seen her since before Christmas, so hopefully she'll be stunned and amazed by my fab weightloss! Not sure if I'll see the other one as she's only back for a couple of nights and is introducing her new bloke to her family .... poor thing'll be eaten alive!
I have been 'active' whilst on MIA, getting in most of my scheduled runs and walking every day, and I've been sticking to my Points. I've been trying to eat a little more over the past couple of weeks to try to get off the plateau I've been on, and it does seem to have worked - sneaky peek this morning revealed a 3.5lb loss! Hurrah, at last.
Today was my monthly measurement day too - 4.5" this month, so definitely on track. I've lost 6" from my hips, and 5.5" from my waist since the beginning of Jan!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Countdown to exams: 18 days ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
lol - I'm trying to convince myself more than anyone else! I went out on my bike earlier for the first time in ages and loved it! I always forget how much I do really enjoy it (mainly because my arse gets so sore cos I try to do too many miles at once). I went up into the hills on the South Downs, which are on my doorstep, for a 25min blast ... nearly ran over a pheasant, and got the shock of my life when a deer leapt across the road in front of me!
There's a scheme in the UK that employers can sign up to that means staff can get a nice new shiny bike to cycle to work on for about 50% of the retail price (tax free). The deal is that you have to ride it to work (or part of the journey - to the station is fine!) at least 50% of the time. They then take the money out of your salary over a year ... and you can then buy the bike off the company at the end of the year for about 5% of the original cost. Still with me?
Well - I think it's a great idea, and a fab way of getting people to be a bit more environmentally friendly and not leave footprints! So - I'm seriously considering getting myself a nice new woman-specific bike rather than my old thing (which isn't bad, but always has flat tyres and is rather uncomfortable). I've been into my local bike shop a couple of times, and we think we've come up with the ideal bike ... a Specialized Vita Sport, with puncture resistant tyres, cos I have no idea how to change one (I'm playing the pathetic girly card here). All very exciting!
Apart from that, I've been on a revision course for the last couple of days - going pretty well, which is good. There are definitely a few things that I really need to work on, but nothing is overly scary yet. Last day of this course tomorrow, and then the other one's next week. Then a week of panic and i have to get in a course exam ... then I've got a week off to study followed by exams. EEeeeeep!
Bless his cotton socks - we were having a conversation while he was cooking dinner, and I'd just come in from work and got changed into comfortable things. I walked into the kitchen and stood talking to him - he interrupted me and said "Wow - you're really getting thin!"
Well, I've had a bit of a weird couple of days ... my mood's been severely off, and work's been tedious as hell. Frustrating too ... As I said to my boss this morning, it's very galling getting into work at 7.30am to get study done (to do this I have to get up at 5am), then settling down to work at 8.30am and having nothing to do! He understood, and I think there will be more to do shortly!!
I was still feeling pretty despondent (well, crap really) when I got home, and no energy - but I decided that a run was a good idea anyway. I figured if I wasn't into it I'd stop ... but 40mins later and I felt a whole load better. Hopefully it'll last - tomorrow should be busier anyway, and then I'm on a revision course Thurs-Sat. So at least I won't get a chance to be bored!
Despite having been really good for the last month, I haven't lost anything really, and I've just gained half a pound. I have no idea how, and I'm mighty pissed off about it to be honest. To add insult to injury, I risked looking at what my current body fat levels are - I know they're higher before you eat, but 49.5% is just taking the piss really.
I know that the exercise I've been doing is probably the reason for it, but it still sucks!
To add to that, my skin's horrible, work's boring and I'm stressed with my studies. My question based revision course starts this week and I only finished the course on Saturday ... I need to know my stuff before Thursday! Not only that, but the question based revision course for the retake that I haven't even looked at yet is next Thurs to Sat ... and I've got a course exam to do in the meantime.
NNNNNNNNNNNooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!
Ever have days when you just want to go back to bed? Yep, me too. I forgot my Fitbug today as well, so that'll be a big fat blank - it was pissing it down when I left home so my books got all wet. I'm supposed to be going to some function tonight at Head Office, but that'll just have to wait. I'll just growl at everyone if I go!
Well, not so great today. Sneaky peeks over the past few days reveal no weight loss this week, which is disappointing. I nipped into Monsoon yesterday to get some new size 14 jeans as my 16s are falling off me, and the new summer range is no good - very low cut and tight, giving me a muffin top - and I ain't going there!! So - still in my 16s. I don't count myself as a 14 until I can get into all 14 clothes.
Also - had ma and pa round for supper last night after the 50/50 Save the Children Sale (which went well - sounds like they may have done better this year than ever before), and I ended up giving up on Points altogether. Had two glasses of red wine and two of sweet wine - felt rubbish for it and I didn't enjoy the way i felt - I felt all self-control going right out of the window. So I'm really going to try to stay off it completely going forward rather than just on special occasions.
I ate quite a bit too - although it was pretty healthy apart from the booze - chicken and beef strips flash fried in Chinese stir fry sauce, in wraps with lettuce, raw veg and a tiny bit of guacamole and low fat creme fraiche. Didn't have any pud, I got three dinky chocolate Gu mousses, so I couldn't be tempted!
Feeling very sluggish because of the vino this morning - and I think that perhaps the level of alcohol and not enough food has slowed the weight loss. Not going for my long run, but I'm going to get out for a long walk instead (well, longish anyway!).
Well, the weight loss may have stumbled a bit, but the inch loss hasn't ... got up for work this morning at 5am, and realised that I hadn't ironed any trousers for work. So - I had a thought! What about those 14's that I tried on a couple of weeks ago that were still a bit tight? Got em out, tried em on ... and bingo, I'm now officially a size smaller (US 10 I think?). Hurrah - that's three, yes THREE sizes smaller in 3.5 months!
Only the rest of the year before I'm a zero! Err, OK, perhaps not.
It does mean though that if I carry on at this rate, I should be a 12 without too much issue if I continue to lose and get to goal in July, so I'm pretty chuffed with that. I've only ever been a size 12 for a few months of my adult life, and I intend to get there and STAY THERE this time ... unless I get to a 10, of course!
My mum helps to run a Save the Children 'good as new' clothes sale every year, that's run on a 50/50 basis - you give clothes that are in a good enough condition to sell, and then half the money goes to charity, and half comes back to you. Over three days, they make loads of money - over £18k last year! I emptied out most of my wardrobe to sell, and as I can't actually get to the sale this year I shall put my cash into my 'new me' tin for a new wardrobe when I get to goal.
I did pop in last night though and tried on a lovely Monsoon silk shift dress (brand new - tag still on) - size 14 - that fitted, but I didn't want to spend £38 on something I'm rarely going to wear when what I really need is good jeans, tops, etc. that I can wear every day. I'm looking forward to that shopping trip!!
. The course finished yesterday and I really do have a shedload of work to do now ...
I went out on my bike earlier for the first time in ages and loved it! I always forget how much I do really enjoy it (mainly because my arse gets so sore cos I try to do too many miles at once). I went up into the hills on the South Downs, which are on my doorstep, for a 25min blast ... nearly ran over a pheasant, and got the shock of my life when a deer leapt across the road in front of me! 
I don't count myself as a 14 until I can get into all 14 clothes.
What about those 14's that I tried on a couple of weeks ago that were still a bit tight? Got em out, tried em on ... and bingo, I'm now officially a size smaller (US 10 I think?). Hurrah - that's three, yes THREE sizes smaller in 3.5 months! 