How’s this week been? Well, I can safely say that my week has been very, very quiet – and that was very welcome!

Last weekend, I helped my sister and brother-in-law empty a house they’d been renting out locally. Their tenant had moved out after almost 20 years and, although he’d left the place in good condition, he’d also left it full of things. We had just two days to get the house completely empty and dispose of everything.

At the start of Saturday, my sister admitted that she really didn’t think we were going to manage it. She’s still recovering from knee replacement surgery; I have a disability which impacts my ability to do much lifting and carrying, and there was no way my brother-in-law could do all the lifting and shifting on his own.

But this organiser was on the case!

I started by searching a local neighbourhood site for an extra pair of hands, while also booking several trips to our recycling centre over the weekend. Since Covid, visits have had to be pre-booked into timed slots. It serves a very large area and is extremely well run, but when you’re trying to empty an entire house in two days, it does require a certain amount of military planning!

The first person who responded to my plea for help turned out to be brilliant. We were, of course, offering him a decent hourly rate, but he certainly proved his worth.

This man was like a machine.

He was practical, didn’t hang about, came up with lots of useful suggestions and, most importantly, accompanied me on all six of my tip runs over the weekend. He loaded my car, then unloaded everything single-handedly at the recycling centre, taking enormous care throughout to make sure my car didn’t get damaged.

He was reliable, punctual and just didn’t stop. A human machine really is the only way to describe him!

Since then, I’ve left him a glowing review on the neighbourhood site and apparently, he’s been inundated with more offers of work. I’m delighted for him because it’s entirely down to his own hard work and reliability.

I could perhaps have done without quite such an energetic weekend, though. Ever since we got back from Sweden, I’ve been trying to shake off a cough and cold which has aggravated my breathing. When I weighed four and a half stone more than I do now, asthma was a regular feature of my life. Since losing the weight, it rarely bothers me, but a cough or cold can still trigger it, and that’s when I need to start using my inhaler again.

This bug has also left me feeling completely exhausted and drained, so two days of house clearing probably wasn’t ideal. But hey ho – we got the job done!

The wonderful Sam has been on holiday herself for the past fortnight, which has helped because it has given me an excuse to take things easy. She’s back next week, so my week will be “back to normal”.

In fact, my only organised activity this week was giving a talk on behalf of the charity I’m a trustee for. The charity supports volunteering in Reading, as well as the voluntary sector more generally, providing training, advice and support and helping organisations find volunteers.  The event was the annual “Older Persons’ Day” and was hosted within a local shopping centre.

My talk was all about my experience of volunteering. Unfortunately, my slot coincided with a choir performing elsewhere, so my audience was just four people! Nevertheless, the talk went down well, and I really didn’t mind popping into town to do something that required very little effort from me.

And, after last weekend, “very little effort” was exactly what I needed!

As for my weight, although I’ve continued to log everything I eat, I’ve struggled a bit this week with staying within my calorie allowance. There’s no reason for it and, if I’m honest, no real excuse either! I’ve simply eaten more than I intended to on several days.

The logging is still happening, though, which is important. I can see exactly where I’ve gone over rather than kidding myself that I haven’t. And, despite all that, I’ve actually managed a small loss this week – so I’ll certainly take that!

Weight this week: 55.50 kg (8 stone 9¼ lbs)
Weight last week: 55.65 kg (8 stone 10½ lbs)
Weekly loss: 0.15 kg (⅓ lb)

So, no excuses – I just need to rein things back in again.

100% – 201 days in weight maintenance range (54 – 57kg or 8st 7lb – 8st 13lbs)