Power 90 W7D1 Day 43 Sculpt 1-2

Well here I am...I did it!

And. It. Hurt.

I'm just saying. Actually, to be honest, it didn't hurt anywhere near as much as those first workouts did but I think that's because my level of fitness has actually increased so a two week break is nothing compared to years of not working out! I feel great, as much as I might moan and groan while working out, the feeling of accomplishment that you get afterwards is so worthwhile. I think part of the reason I dropped off (aside from the injury/sickness) is that my weight loss had started to plateau so I'm going to ensure that this week my eating is 100% clean and hopefully that will kick start my weight loss again before the Christmas period.

Ugh, I still need to do my Christmas shopping. If I hadn't been so sick last week, I could've done it while I was off work but I wasn't brave enough to venture out to a place where the nearest toilet was more than ten metres away! :P

Excuses, excuses, excuses!

Aren't we full of excuses sometimes? I am ashamed to admit that I haven't worked out properly in about two weeks. First I got a corked thigh at taekwon-do, basically I copped a guy's heel directly into my thigh muscle causing deep tissue bruising and forcing me to limp around for a few days, then at the beginning of last week I was feel blah so I didn't work out. That "blah" turned in to a gastro type virus that ended up with me laid up in bed feeling sorry for myself.

So no workouts. Which wouldn't have been so bad if my eating was good. But it wasn't. I was sick and barely keeping anything down so when I did eat, I went to my comfort foods. I had a few good meals in there but I wasn't really feeling up to cooking, I only cooked two nights last week and the rest of the meals were not so fantastic.

The good news is that I weighed myself and I've actually managed to lose 100 grams so the bad diet doesn't seem to have affected me too much in the weight loss arena but I do know that I'm at a "tipping point" if you will. If I don't jump straight back on the horse now, I might never get back on it. So I'm pledging to get up tomorrow morning and work out. I'm going to start back at the last week I worked out so tomorrow will be Day 43...again. It sucks because this week was supposed to be Day 60!

Oh well...at the end of the day, this isn't just a 90 Day thing anyway, it's a rest of my life thing. :D

Power 90 W7D3 Day 45 Sculpt 1-2

I really struggled during today's workout. It hurt, all over and I felt sick. I will say that I am feeling more comfortable in the workout and I'm doing it all with no modifications now so I know that I'm ready for the switch up to 3-4 but I'm also terrified about it!

I have noticed that the scales aren't dropping anywhere near as fast as they used to...I've only lost 1kg since day 30! It could be because I had a bad few days last week with my husband's birthday and travelling down South but I think it's just that middle 30 days where little happens. I'm hanging on for the last 30 days where the magic happens! ;)

Finally...totally off topic but I hit 50,000 words and won NaNoWriMo last night! :D

Power 90 W7D2 Day 44 Sweat 1-2

This was my first workout with nooooo modifications at all! I'm so proud of myself, I made it through without any major problems. I really think my fitness is increasing and that's awesome. Less than two weeks till we make the move up to 3-4 and I think I'm definitely ready. I'm glad that I gave myself to opportunity to really master these routines before moving up, although I do feel a bit like I'm dogging it now because they're almost too easy. I had a plan, though, and I'm sticking to it. :)

Power 90 W7D1 Day 43 Sculpt 1-2

Week seven, can you believe it! I wanted to either skip this workout or put it off till tonight because I hurt so much but my husband insisted. Thank goodness for him! I can tell that if it wasn't for his influence, I would've stopped by now. I'm so glad he's doing this with me. This is the part of Power 90 where I normally drop off so I'm really pleased to still be going. Even though I still don't WANT to work out and Damien's the one getting me to push play, I always enjoy it and I'm always glad I did it. :)

Not long to go till day 60 and then day 90 after that. I can't wait to see my 60 day pics but I'm most excited about the 90 day pics because I've always been told that the last 30 days is where the magic really happens...I've just never managed to get there! ;)

Power 90 W6D7 Day 42 Kayaking

Our taekwon-do was cancelled this week which freed up our Sunday. Yesterday my husband had gone for a kayak together, it was all well and good heading down the canals with the wind and the tide to our backs but paddling back was...well...a b!tch. I was soooo sore afterwards but when were asked if we wanted to go back out again today, we stupidly said yes. Off we paddled and this time we did the big circle around to get back to the house. Firstly...we were kayaking with the tide to begin with but when we got out to the Estuary, we were against the wind and it was haaaaaard. I can't even tell you how slowly I was going (everyone had to keep stopping and waiting for me), eventually we made it back to the canal and got back home, then enjoyed the hot tub for awhile to ease our aching muscles!

Up side? Lots of exercise. Down side? Both my husband and I look like lobsters, we are soooo sunburnt. All down my arms and my legs from my upper thighs down to my feet, the back of my neck and the lower half of my face (I was wearing sunglasses and a hat). I'm so unhappy with myself because I'm very pale and normally take great care not to get sunburnt after years of getting burnt every summer when I was younger. I'm also just generally unhappy because I hurt all over!

My eating has also been fairly terrible these last two days. Well, actually, it started Friday when I was supposed to take my husband out to dinner for his birthday, we got home from taekwon-do a bit later than expected and I call the restaurant only to find their kitchen closes at 8pm and that was the latest booking...pssssh. So we ended up getting pizza and watching a show together. We both felt like crap afterwards. Then Saturday we went down South and stayed with the in-laws, great food but a bit more carb-heavy than I would've liked. I also drank Pepsi cans they had down there and in hindsight I should've stuck to water! Today we started out with a cooked breakfast down there, then I headed up to my cousin's little girl's first birthday party and they had a barbecue. The food was great but again, it was a barbecue so it was a bit greasy and I probably had too much of THE BEST POTATO SALAD EVER.

Still, I'm not going to beat myself up about it because I had a great weekend with family and friends. I wouldn't change it for the world. Oh, I almost forgot! I woke up today at 4:20am (you know how it is when you're sleeping in a strange bed) and about 4:40am, I got a text from a friend over East saying "OMG I'M PREGNANT!!!!!!!!!!". This girl has been on IVF for a few months now, so I was super happy for her. I'd been reading an ebook on my phone at the time and saw the message come through, before I could even reply it was swiftly followed by an "OMG YOU'RE THREE HOURS BEHIND!!!!!!!". I just wanted to acknowledge here that as much as I enjoyed everything else that happened yesterday and had the BEST time last night talking to Kersty and Bec and everyone else at the party, this remained the best part of my day. I'm so happy for her because I've watched her struggle first with trying to get pregnant, then finding out she needed IVF and then three failed cycles before this one. I won't name her but I know she reads this blog and so I wanted to write this for her just so she knows how happy we all are for her. *hugs*

Power 90 W6D6 Day 41 Sweat 1-2

Again today I felt that I wasn't being pushed by this workout anymore. This was my last workout with any kind of rest/modifications though, so I'll be interested to see how I go next week when I start doing the whole routine with no modifications at all. I'm excited and also terrified...mostly about that first set after the Power Yoga, my arms KILL after doing all those up dogs, by the end of PY my arms are shaaaaaking and then we go straight into knees up and having my arms in the air the whole time is going to hurt. I can't wait. :D

We're going down to Mandurah for the weekend to spend time with my husband's father and step-mother. It should be nice, we'll do a bit of swimming so some incidental exercise there! We're also hoping to go on this aquatic park thingy, it's hard to explain (I'll see if I can get a photo and post it when I get back) but it's these blow-up floaty things and you have to pull yourself up out of the water using your arms strength. I tried two years ago and had zero luck so I can't wait to try again and see if I'm getting any stronger with Power 90! ;)

Power 90 W6D5 Day 40 Sculpt 1-2

Good workout, big news...I DID ALL OF THE 7-7-7S ON MY TOES!!!!!!!!!!!! They probably didn't look very pretty, especially the close push-ups, but I'm working on them. I'm ready for the move to 3-4 in two weeks' time but I'm glad that I stuck to my plan and held off so I have had the time to really master these workouts which is something I don't think I would've been able to do if I'd moved up when I was "supposed to" lol! I think this whole thing is mental as well as physical and having a distinct plan for time frames of moving up workouts rather than throwing myself into the deep end with them has helped me.

Then again, I'm the kind of person that when I had personal trainers, I got the best results from the ones that said "do X amount of reps". If they said "no, I won't tell you how many, just keep going till I say stop", I got tired a lot quicker because I have to have an absolute goal. If they said "do 15 reps", I would aim for that goal and punish myself to get there even if I was hurting by rep 10 because I knew that when I got rep 15 I could stop whereas if they said "just go till I say stop", I would be tired as anything by about rep 6...totally psychosomatic, because I had no goal my brain said "you can't do this" and my body got tired.

Not quite sure where this post was going, it went off on a tangent there lmao! We were supposed to go to a restaurant tonight but we were a bit late for our reservation by the time we got home from taekwon-do and when I called to move it back to 8:30pm they said the kitchen was closing at 8pm, how rude! So we ended up ordering pizza and both felt disgusting afterwards. Oh well, it was a special day and we don't eat like crap often.

Also...Lego Harry Potter is awesome. ;)

Power 90 W6D4 Day 39 Rest Day

We took a rest day on today. Overall I've decided I don't mind taking a rest day on a Sweat day because the taekwon-do session on my supposed normal rest day is so hardcore. I feel like 79kgs is going to be like 80kgs, I'm hovering and not dropping into the 78kgs range. It's frustrating me but I have to keep remembering that I am building muscle which is a good thing. Tomorrow is my husband's birthday so I went and got Lego Harry Potter Years 5-7 and Arkham City for his birthday. I can't wait to play them! ;P

Power 90 W6D3 Day 38 Sculpt 1-2

I did NOT want to work out this morning. We went and saw John Farnham, an awesome singer/comedian (seriously, the show was unexpectedly hilarious!) last night, so we didn't get to bed till almost midnight. As a result, I was tired as all get out this morning and I could've easily skipped today's workout. I was thinking about options for pushing the workout back a day or something but my husband got up and I was thinking "put on your workout clothes, put on your workout clothes" because I knew that if he did that, I would workout. Sure enough he did. Then I dithered a bit getting changed and came out, he had the P90 queued and ready to go but I tell you what, he had to "push play" today both figuratively and literally. I couldn't do it. It actually turned into an awesome workout, he upped his weights and I was inspired by his commitment to work harder myself. I even managed 4 close push-ups on my toes...3 more to add in!

Power 90 W6D2 Day 37 Sweat 1-2

This morning's was an average workout to be honest. I actually feel like I'm not getting as much out of this workout as I used to and I could theoretically switch to 3-4 now, I think. I'm not going to, though. I always had a plan to do the 1-2 videos for 8 weeks and I'm sticking to my plan. I only have two more weeks after this on the 1-2 videos and I think those weeks will be crucial in ensuring that I can do the entire video without modifying it before I move up which will make transitioning easier for me.

Power 90 W6D1 Day 36 Sculpt 1-2

Great workout this morning but wow, did I feel nauseous! I actually was dry retching during the two-arm kickbacks, I am not even kidding. By the end of the last set, I was feeling wretched and it took me about ten minutes after the workout to stop feeling sick. I feel like I had a great workout though and I got 3.5 of the close push-ups on my toes, working up to doing all 7 slowly but surely by adding 1 push-up each workout!

I also weighed 79.4kgs this morning so yesterday's weigh-in wasn't a total fluke, it also means that I've lost exactly 8kgs since I had my first hypnotherapy session in September. I'm so pleased! I can't wait to get back to my wedding weight of 76kgs and then down to 73.7kgs which is the lowest I got down to in March the month before the wedding which was also the lowest I'd weighed in years. I am so incredibly happy and at such a great point in my life, I've got all these goals that I'm working towards and it's awesome. :D

Power 90 W5D7 Day 35 Rest Day

Today's taekwon-do session was cancelled so we ended up having a second rest day this week! Not much else to say really. My BeachBody Shakeology arrived on Friday so I've been having that this weekend. I've actually been mixing it with a bit less water a more ice and eating it as chocolate ice cream...it feels so naughty having it for breakfast! I think during the week I'll have to have it as a drink for time constraints, though.

Really big news today, I FINALLY CRACKED THE 70S!!!!!!!!!!!! I've been dancing around it for a couple of weeks and I think I was bloated because it's that time of the month but this morning I weighed 79.5kgs, woohoo! I've been getting kind of down about still being in the 80s so I'm super happy. I actually weighed myself three times to make sure it wasn't a fluke! :D

Power 90 W5D6 Day 34 Sweat 1-2

Great stuff, not a lot to say. I've only got one more week now until I have to do the entire workout with no modifications...I live in fear lol! I think from there, the move up to Swear 3-4 will actually be a bit of a relief because I'll have that one set break with full modifications between the exercise changes. Only three weeks till day sixty!

On a more personal note, today was an awesome girl date day with my best friend! I did my workout and then drove to her house. We then went and got our hair done, from there we had dinner (Nando's!) which we took to her Mum's place and chatted with her Mum for about half an hour, then drove to the cinema and watched Breaking Dawn. She'd only just gotten back from a taekwon-do tournament in Hong Kong and I hadn't seen her all week which sucked so we had lots of catching up to do! After that we went back to her place and chatted some more, then Skyped a friend in Scotland for a chat. Best. Day. Ever. :D

Power 90 W5D5 Day 33 Sculpt 1-2

Today's was a good workout. I'm feeling stronger and my form is coming back after the increase in weights. I also managed 2.5 close push-ups on my toes, woohoo! I also didn't scream during the 7-7-7 push-ups which is a new first and no swearing during the chair dips, either...progress!

Power 90 W5D4 Day 32 Rest Day/Breaking Dawn

I went to a midnight screening of Breaking Dawn on last night/this morning and I didn't get home till 3am, there was no way I was waking up at 5:15am to work out. I had the day off work but I went and saw Breaking Dawn again (with a different friend!) and went shopping. By the time I got home, I was just wrecked and the Sweat workout didn't happen. I don't feel too bad about missing it because I don't normally have a rest day at all so I'm okay with that.

Power 90 W5D3 Day 31 Sculpt 1-2

My first day towards day 60 is completed! Today's workout wasn't so bad that I wished harm upon myself during it, so I must be getting stronger! At the same time, it hurt like hell. It's odd, I hurt SO MUCH but I also felt strong enough to keep going which was nice. I also managed 1.5 of the close push-ups on my toes, an improvement on half a push-up (I got down on my toes but couldn't push back up lol) last time. I think I can work on it and get it to all 7 on my toes in the next three weeks so I can go into the 3-4 workouts strong. :D

Something I noticed when I was looking at my day 30 photos is that my posture has changed dramatically. My hips have rotated under me so everything's more in aligment and I'm not hunched forward as much as I was. Bring on day 60!

Power 90 W5D2 Day 30 Sweat 1-2!!!!!

It was a good workout today, my first with doing 20 seconds of the second set and it was tough but fun. I'm freaking out because in two weeks I've got to do it all with no modifications and then two more weeks till 3-4, eep!

Anyway, I did my measurements and photos today. I'm a bit bummed because the photos were taken slightly closer so they don't show as much of a difference as I'd like since I look bigger lol! I've noticed that errrr, how do I put this? My fat is getting looser? I hold my stomach in nearly all the time now, it's more comfortable than letting it hang. Like, I'll force my abs to relax when I'm looking in the mirror and then I realise that it takes more effort than keeping them partially tensed all the time if that makes sense? It probably doesn't, but aaaaanyhoo...

Without further ado, here are my measurements and pics!

Measurement Type	Day 1	Day 30	Difference
Weight	84.0 kgs	80.4 kgs	3.6 kgs
Waist	109 cms	103.5 cms	5.5 cms
Hips	110 cms	107.5 cms	2.5 cms
Chest	106 cms	101 cms	5.0 cms
Right Thigh	65 cms	63 cms	2.0 cms
Left Thigh	65 cms	63.5 cms	1.5 cms
Right Bicep	35 cms	32 cms	3.0 cms
Left Bicep	36 cms	33 cms	3.0 cms
Totals
Centimetres lost	22.5 cms
Weight lost	3.60 kgs
Muscle gained	0.99 kgs
Fat lost	4.59 kgs

Power 90 W5D1 Day 29 Sculpt 1-2

Week five, baby!!! Today's workout was hell, it was horrible. I was sweating like anything and you're going to start thinking I'm crazy because this time during the second set I had this thought "if Damien hits me in the head during the back flys, I could get out of the rest of this workout!". I mean, I didn't WANT to get hit in the head with 4kg weights but I desperately wanted to stop the workout it was that bad lol. Needless to say he didn't hit me in the head and I didn't stop, I pushed on through and it was pretty much an awesome workout but it hurt and it took all my strength and willpower to keep going!

I'm going to be doing my measurements and photos tomorrow. I know that a lot of people wait until day 31 but I've decided I'm just going to do it on the day. If I lose a day this time, I'll gain it next time. :)

Power 90 W4D7 Day 28 Oz Power

So I did taekwon-do today and burnt about 500 calories so I was pleased with myself. My black belt thesis is going to be on the effects of weight loss on taekwon-do so as part of that, we did the Power 90 fitness test during our session. I managed, count them folks, ONE HUNDRED IN & OUTS...OHHHHHH YEEEEAH!!! My first goal was 65, dunno why it was a totally arbitrary number, then when I got near that I thought "75, I can do 75." then when I got to 75 I was like "hey, only 25 more and I'm at 100!". Down side? I have to beat that next time! ;)

My abs are soooooo sore lol! Good news is, we are back on the wagon. Our eating today has been exemplary and went to taekwon-do as planned. I see yesterday as a blip on the radar but not a major stumble. :D

Power 90 W4D6 Day 27 Unintentional Rest Day

I have a confession to make...I missed today's Sweat 1-2 workout...eep! I don't know what happened but we just kept putting it off and eventually it didn't happen. I don't feel too bad about it because I haven't had a rest day at all up until this point but I don't want to make it a habit. We MUST going to taekwon-do tomorrow and get back on the wagon.

Here's the kicker, though...we also had McDonald's for lunch. Not their healthy menu but a quarter pounder with cheese meal and a caramel sundae. You may kill me now! We're not going to make a habit of that, either. We both felt like crap afterwards and it turns out that our bodies just can't handle that crap anymore as proven by the fact that we both took a FIVE HOUR NAP afterwards in order to digest it! I don't know how much damage it will have done, I had a massive stomach ache and it seemed to go right through me. Poor, little body, you do so much for me and look at what I do to you! :(

I wish I didn't have to come here and tell you guys this but I had to be honest!

Power 90 W4D5 Day 26 Sculpt 1-2

Here's a terrifying thought, I'm doing photos next week! Four days, eep! Next week is when the BeachBody system tells me I should move up in the workouts. I'm not switching to 3-4 until day 60, though, but I've always had a 180 day plan for P90/P90 Masters. I upped my weights today on the "light" exercises to 8.8lbs and this phrase came out of my mouth during the Lawnmower exercise at the beginning of the last set, "f*ck, I want to kill myself." I was in sooooo much pain, but in a good way! :P

Power 90 W4D4 Day 25 Sweat 1-2

My how time flies! 25 days in already, wowsers! Only 5 days and 4 workouts till my day 30 photos. I had a not so great day yesterday after I posted. For the first time, I caved and had a box of Maltesers. From about a third of the way in, I felt horribly sick but I forced myself to eat the rest. I know, I know, that sounds crazy but you know how parents will force their kid to smoke a whole packet of cigarettes to turn them off it? Well I wanted to feel wretched so the next time I even THINK about having Maltesers, I can remember how horrible I felt yesterday. Suffice it to say, it wasn't an enjoyable experience, oddly enough, I used to be able to eat a box of Maltesers in the morning and another one in the afternoon! It didn't do too much damage on the scale, I've "gained" 0.4kgs since my weigh-in day of Tuesday.

Aaaaaanyhoo, moving onwards and upwards. Today's workout was pretty good, I burnt 302 calories and got my calorie burn up to a high of 8.1 calories per minute. I'm fairly happy with that! From next week, I'll be doing 20 seconds of the second set...I hurt already lol!

Power 90 W4D3 Day 24 Sculpt 1-2

This morning I did NOT want to work out. Thank goodness for my husband because I was seriously formulating my post in my head saying how I'd just skipped this one workout because I was so tired and didn't I deserve a day off since I don't have rest days! Luckily my husband got up and got his workout clothes on, so I joined him and we'd already started the workout when I told him I hadn't wanted to do it and he said "I didn't really want to do it, either." but by then we'd started and we might as well keep going lol! I upped my weights on the "heavy" exercises from 8.8lbs to 11lbs and experienced a fresh kind of hell during the workout! Oddly enough, I burnt 30 less calories than the other day, go figure. Less than a week to day 30!

Power 90 W4D2 Day 23 Sweat 1-2

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm actually kind of looking forward to taking the day 30 pictures...I'm seriously hoping they'll show a difference of some kind because even though I spend all day hitching my pants up, I haven't gone down a size yet...stupid elasticated waist bands, they shrink as well as stretch! :P

Today's workout was a good one, burned 305 calories this time with a max calorie burn of 8.4 calories per minute. I was completely knackered by the end of it, though. In other news, as you all know, I'm a daily weigher and I weigh myself on the Wii Fit which shows your BMI first. All week, I've been waiting to get my BMI under 31 and today when 30.98 popped up, I had a "WTF?!?" moment thinking it had gone UP again before realising it had gone down lmao! That .98 threw me off. Anyway, yes, that's my small excitement for today, my BMI is officially under 31! Now I'm working towards under 30 which will make me "overweight" rather than "obese", w00t w00t! :D

Power 90 W4D1 Day 22 Sculpt 1-2

Woohoo, today's workout is done and it was a good start to week four! I tell you what, I am so glad my husband is doing this with me because I could definitely have skipped today eeeeeeasily! It hurt, so very much. During our taekwon-do session yesterday we did a total of 60 push-ups so that first set today was pure agony! I can't believe I'm up to week four, already. This is the point where I would normally fall off the wagon but I'm feeling strong and having someone doing it with me makes it that much easier. No excuses. :D

Power 90 W3D7 Day 21 Oz Power

Okay, to put this session into perspective, I burned 272 calories during Sweat 1-2, whereas I burnt 578 calories during this session and it was actually a fairly light session. 198 of those calories were burnt during the 15 minute warm-up, phew!

I'm still not tempted to change it so that this doesn't count as my "rest day" because for now I think that having a rest day will be what could easily tip me over the edge into a rest week if that makes sense? Or maybe I've come far enough by now that I wouldn't have such a bad reaction. It's just not a risk I want to take at this stage. Only ten days till I take photos and measurements, eek!

I also thought I'd post some information on the Bodybugg to explain what I'm talking about. The following is from their website (here):

The bodybugg system uses a patented process to measure calorie burn.
The process is based on:

Motion: The armband contains an accelerometer that measures motion from multiple perspectives.
Steps: The accelerometer counts steps by measuring the distinct patterns created by running or walking.
Galvanic skin response: When you sweat, your skin becomes more electrically conductive. This measurement helps the device understand how active you are.
Skin temperature: There’s an electronic thermometer inside your armband that monitors how hot you are.
Heat flux: When you move, your muscles produce heat. Your armband measures the heat that’s flowing from your body into the environment.

Power 90 W3D6 Day 20 Sweat 1-2

Well, big news, I got my Bodybugg going for my workout today! I burned 272 calories during Sweat which was lower than my estimate of 300 calories but what is very, very interesting to note is that I wore it all the day before and my resting calorie burn rate seems to be 1.3 calories per minute. It's been about six hours since we did today's workout and it's only come back down to a 1.8 calorie per minute burn. At the peak of Sweat it got up to a 7 calorie per minute burn. I'll let you know how I go with Sculpt on Monday. I'm planning to do Yoga X tomorrow, so I'll be interested to see how much that burns plus I'm hoping I'll get to wear it during tomorrow's 2.5 hour taekwon-do session if I can because I'm extremely curious how much THAT burns! :D

Still writing madly for NaNoWriMo, trying not to let my novel move too much from chick lit into Mills & Boon territory! I'll put a widget up soon with my word count for anyone who's interested.

Power 90 W3D5 Day 19 Sculpt 1-2

Gah! I actually missed a day of posting! I'm doing NaNoWriMo and I'm 16,008 words into my novel so you can see where all my daily writing has disappeared to! :P

Yesterday's was a good workout. I'm still using the same weights but I don't feel ready to move up just yet, maybe next week. I'm so proud of my husband, he worked out every day this week and when he gets up we'll do today's Sweat workout which will complete his first week! Of course, I'm just making him do Power 90 so he can get all buff and look like Tony Horton...or Chris Hemsworth. Just kidding lol! He says he does want to have a great body and feel good about himself, hey, isn't that why anyone tries to lose weight or takes up an exercise regime? It's so much easier working out with a partner, I've found. When you get up in the morning, there's no excuses because someone else has gotten up at stupid o'clock with you to train so you have to bring it!

In other news, my Bodybugg subscription was activated yesterday so I can use my Bodybugg again! Sadly I found out when I was already at work so I wasn't able to wear it for my morning workout or at taekwon-do so I can't tell you how many calories I burnt at either activity but when I come back for Sweat 1-2, I'll let you know how many calories I burnt. Ohhhhh, another thing! I talked to my taekwon-do instructor and on Wednesday, we're doing the Beachbody Fitness Test as part of class so I can record everyone's results for my black belt thesis. :D

Phew, what a long post! I should try not to skip posting daily so I don't have so much to blag on about! :P

Power 90 W3D4 Day 18 Sweat 1-2

Today's is down! I'm feeling strong, everything is looking better. The first half still kicks my behind a bit but the kicks are good. Because I do taekwon-do, I don't get my heart rate up as much during those so I see them more as endurance building. Still waiting on my Bodybugg subscription to become active so I can find out how many calories I'm burning! Still waiting on Shakeology as well. *sigh*

Power 90 W3D3 Day 17 Sculpt 1-2

Today's workout is done and I'm actually kind of shaky. Sometimes I think about increasing my weights but then I think "are you crazy?!?!?!?". I'm pretty sure I could go heavier weights but I'm not 100% sure, I do think I'll increase for bicep curls and lawnmower at least next week. I'll see how I go.

I always say, the hardest part is pushing play! If you can just do that, then mostly the workouts will be okay and a crap workout is still better than no workout at all! I sent in the forms to get my Bodybugg subscription going again, I want to know 100% how many calories I'm burning during these workouts. I also ordered Shakeology off eBay last week, it still hasn't arrived but hopefully it will get here soon. I'll be using that as a substitute for my morning breakfast. I went to a Thermomix demonstration last night so my diet wasn't 100% perfect, I ate way more carbs than I would like. I know that my diet is never going to be 100% clean and yeah, there are going to be some days that just end up like poop but as long as they're in the minority and most of the time I'm eating well, I can't beat myself up for having some slip ups.

If I just keep pushing play, I'll be fine.

Power 90 W3D2 Day 16 Sweat 1-2

Day 16 is in the can, yippee! Not a great workout but not a bad one, either. Power Yoga was a hot mess but it was also the first week where I begin doing some of the second set "properly". I actually felt strong and like I could've done more but I'm taking it slow to work up to it. I did as much as it took to leave 20 seconds left in the second set of each move, the most was about 14 seconds and the least 9 seconds. In week 5, I'll add more to leave only 10 seconds in each set and in week 6 I start doing the whole thing, no modifications.

I'm looking forward to being able to do more, already I felt better today. There's definitely a good "burn" in the calves when you go straight from the previous set into the second set. On a side note, 6kgs down from where I started 7 weeks ago. Changes are happening, my friends! I'm secretly hoping I'll hit the 70s next week but that's a big ask in one week so realistically it'll probably happen the week after. I can't wait to be out of the 80s, ugh, if I stayed here much longer I'd have to start teasing my hair! :P

Power 90 W3D1 Day 15 Sculpt 1-2

Day 15 is finito and a great start to week three! My husband joined me today which was great! I even managed to do most of the push-ups from my toes! I slept in this morning because I went to see Arj Barker last night so got to bed late, so we worked out after work. I do not want to make that a habit because I could so easily have skipped it. It's great having the accountability to people because I don't want to have to come here and admit I missed a day. Plus I'm already finding that I enjoy working out...or, not that I enjoy working out so much but I enjoy how I feel after I've worked out.

I'm halfway to my 30 day pictures, I'm really looking forward to it and I want to see some of the changes that I know are happening and those changes will only become more apparent as each 30 day period passes. I've heard that the last 30 days is where the magic happens, personally I've never gotten there lol! My husband did Sculpt 1-2 with me today and when Tony said something like "this is the first phase 1-2" he said to me "you've never actually made it on to 3-4, have you?"...little git! It's sad because it's true. :P

Tonight we had my "go to" dinner of chicken and broccoli, snow peas, beans and carrots. All steamed with a cheese sauce (don't stress, the cheese was a total 100g of Philadelphia cream cheese). It made seven serves, two we ate tonight, two in the fridge for lunch tomorrow and three in the freezer for future meals when I don't feel like cooking. I cannot even tell you how much I love my Thermomix, I realised today that our freezer is so full of meals that I'm going to be forced not to cook anything or cook a minimal amount next week, what a shame... ;)

Anyway, must finish this and get some sleep. I need an early night tonight so I can get up in the morning and workout.

Power 90 W2D7 Day 14 Breaking Seminar

Just a quick one today because I'm about to go to bed. Today was my P90 rest day, we had a seminar on breaking for taekwon-do in the morning and we had to skip Oz Power because we had tickets to see Arj Barker perform in the evening and we wouldn't have had time to go home in between to shower. Quite funny but we were both tired by the end.

Week three begins tomorrow. :)

Power 90 W2D6 Day 13 Sweat 1-2

Week 2 is finito! After my post yesterday, today I pulled out my latest workout yet. In fact, all day it was in the back of my mind and I kept thinking "if you keep putting it off, you'll end up skipping it" and I seriously thought about doing just that but eventually I realised I was being stupid and that getting behind on my workouts at this stage of the game is a super bad idea! It wasn't too bad, Power Yoga DID kick my butt still but all in all, I felt like I'm getting stronger with the moves and that I wasn't getting as out of breath as I used to. Yippee! :D

I'm a slaaaaaave for food...

So as it happens, I'm loving my new active lifestyle. I have so much more energy already and I actually enjoy working out, it feels like there's a point to it, if that makes sense? If this is how I feel after a month and a half of eating better and exercising and at the end of two weeks of Power 90, imagine how I'm going to feel after finishing P90, I can't wait! I said to my hypnotherapist, if I could wake up tomorrow at my goal weight and with a healthy, fit body I wouldn't do it. I would feel ripped off because when you actually DO the hard work, you feel like you deserve your reward.

I'm learning how to control my eating habits and how to move my body so that I can get fitter. If I'm absolutely honest, I used to be a slave for food. It's really the best way to describe it, so much of my thoughts were based on food, I had cravings that would compete with any pregnant woman's cravings! In short, I was a junk food addict...junk food being used to term anything from McDonalds to frozen lasagne to Cadbury Creme Eggs! If I saw chocolate, I had to eat it, no matter how much I knew I shouldn't.

I have hated myself and my body for years...all the while stuffing my mouth with potato chips or Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. It was easy to do, in fact it was much, much easier to loathe myself for what I didn't do than it is to begin to love myself and do the things I have to in order to treat my body the way it deserves to be treated. I absolutely attribute the shift in my way of thinking to the hypnotherapy but at the end of the day I had to reach the absolute end of my rope before I could pick up the phone and make that call. I wanted to want to eat right and exercise. I'll admit, I do still eat some crap and you can see that on my food diary but nowhere near what I used to. That first day's food from the beginning of this blog? That was not an unusual occurrence. I shudder to think about what I used to eat and while I still allow myself some treats, they're just that, treats. One offs. Not for every meal.

I love that I can walk past chocolate and not spend the next half hour obsessing over it until I go get it. I love that I can not think about food outside of mealtimes, that I can look at the clock and say "oh, wow, it's time for lunch" and not "I don't care that I ate an hour again, I need more food!". My life has changed so much in the last month and a half that it sometimes astounds me. It amazes me that I lived my life the way I did for so many years.

I finally feel free.

Power 90 W2D5 Day 12 Sculpt 1-2

Day 12 is in the books! It's a public holiday here for the Queen's birthday so I worked out a bit later in the day than usual, I've decided not to make that mistake again. It's too hot in the afternoons, ugh!

I had to remind myself again today that the scales are bogus...mostly because when I weighed myself this morning, I'd lost 0.7kgs since yesterday! That being said, I did do Yoga X at 9pm at night, finishing at 10:30pm so maybe my body was burning a whole heck of a lot of fat overnight hahaha!

I must be certifiably insane...

I just completed Yoga X for shits and giggles!!! I have no idea why, well possibly because all day I'd been looking forward to going for a run this evening (that in itself is a miracle) but then when I got home my husband didn't want to go and I don't want to go on my own because we live in a not-so-great area. Anyway, I was watching P90/P90X transformation videos on YouTube and I came across one about why you shouldn't skip Yoga X when doing P90X and I suddenly felt like trying it out...ALL ONE AND A HALF HOURS OF IT!!!!!!!!!!

That in itself is enough to classify me insane but here's the real kicker, my friends...I LIKED IT!!!!!! I'll admit, it was NOT pretty at some points, my Vinyasas were horrible from about fifteen minutes in lol but I went through the motions and it is all worthwhile once you get past the first 45 minutes! Some of the balance movements are definitely difficult but the stretching at the end is pure blissssssss! I'm seriously thinking of doing this once a week, I enjoyed it so much! I think it'll be a weekend thing, though, because of the length. I never, ever, ever, thought I would like Yoga X...another up side? Power yoga will seem like a breeze from hereon in! ;)

Power 90 W2D4 Day 11 Sweat 1-2

It was an unremarkable workout today, not great but also not bad. I have to admit, I weigh myself everyday even though I know I shouldn't. This week I've been reminding myself that the scales are bogus, just because they're not going down at all doesn't mean I'm not losing fat! I'm tracking my calories and I'm doing a LOT of exercise. So if anyone else weighs more often than they should, just remember, numbers on a scale mean nothing. I feel great physically, already I'm fitter! At taekwon-do, one of the warm-ups we do is shuttle runs and last night even though I finished last (as usual), I was on the same lap as the person who finished second last! Normally I'm a full lap or even two behind...progress!

Side note: I SAW THE QUEEN YESTERDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On the way to taekwon-do, she drove past us in a green-light motorcade. She's in pink in the black car in the picture below, it's not a great picture, it comes from the video my friend and I took lol!

Power 90 W2D3 Day 10 Sculpt 1-2

I completed today's workout with much grunting and groaning from me lol! Improvements today, five push-ups from toes for normal and wide, SEVEN wide from toes in the 7-7-7 and one normal from toes at the end there before I realised I was crazy if I thought I'd manage to crack out seven of those from my toes lol!

Power 90 W2D2 Day 9 Sweat 1-2

Tough workout today, as usual the hardest thing was pushing play lol! I am absolutely aching today and my abs were screaming from the second I laid down to do the Abs 100 till the time I rolled over for the Cobra. I feel great, though! I turned my alarms off yesterday and managed to wake up "naturally" at 5:30am which was great because if I'd slept in, I would have missed my workout this morning! I'm pretty pleased because I'm trying to make it "normal" for me to wake up early.

Anyway, better go get ready for work, have a great day everyone!

Power 90 W2D1 Day 8 Sculpt 1-2

Well, well, well, that was a fun "rest day" lol! I've decided that I'd be better off calling one of my Sweat 1-2 sessions a "rest day" than that! Our academy director, who is a 6th degree black belt, led the session and it was HARDCORE. It felt fantastic though and I need the extra training for my taekwon-do. I'm already starting to prepare my thesis for black belt, it's going to be based on "The effect of weight loss on taekwon-do". I'm going to compare my husband (who is overweight like me) and one of the guys in class who is extremely fit, they're both green belts and I'm also going to compare myself to my instructor who is extremely fit, she's actually underweight and needs to gain weight so I think it'll be very interesting to see how it all pans out. I'm actually using the Beachbody fitness test (minus the bicep curls which don't really apply to taekwon-do ROFL!) as part of my thesis.

Anyway, enough about TKD! I did my Sculpt 1-2 this morning, I used the same weights as last week but boy was it a struggle, I really had to push to get through. It was a great start to week two, though, I can already feel changes happening in my body.

Power 90 W1D7 Day 7 Oz Power

Today is my "rest day" but I'll be doing 2.5 hours of taekwon-do later so I'm not sure how much of a rest it is. I'm going to stick with the schedule I have for now, if I start getting burnt out, I'll switch it up later to have a legitimate rest day although I am going to switch to the "normal" P90 schedule of starting with Sculpt so on TKD days I'll do resistance training in the morning and cardio at night with TKD. Yesterday wasn't a great eating day, it was my niece's first birthday party/my brother and sister-in-law's 10 year anniversary so the "bad food" was out in full force. I didn't do TOO badly though, and only had one sip of alcohol in the evening and stuck to water for the rest of the time so I don't think I did too much damage. Bring on week two!

Power 90 W1D6 Day 6 Sculpt 1-2

Okay, day six workout done! Sculpt 1-2 and might I just add, ow!!! I used 4kg weights for all of the exercises except the back scratchers, kick backs and shoulder flys when I used 3kg weights. Three weeks till my first weigh-in and new photos! :D

Power 90 W1D5 Day 5 Sweat 1-2

Day 5 down, Sweat 1-2...ow, ow, ow! I feel wrecked but good, too! I did a 4km run/walk last night. My pace was 9 minutes 16 seconds per kilometre so definitely not a very fast run but it felt good to use my muscles. Last day of the week tomorrow, woo! I'm switching my day off to Saturdays so I can have a legitimate day off. It was going to be Sundays but I do 2.5 hours of taekwon-do on a Sunday and I'm concerned about overtraining so I'm going to push through with no "rest" day this week so that I can make next Saturday my first rest day. If I'd started with Sculpt, not Sweat, I could've just doubled up but I don't feel comfortable doing Sculpt two days in a row.

Power 90 W1D4 Day 4 Sculpt 1-2

Sculpt 1-2 done this morning, used the 3kg weights all the way through, push-ups on my knees and many grunts and groans through 7-7-7s and chair dips (feet in). Also, I got 15 chair dips with my feet in this time, last time I did 5, took a break and did the last 5 with them. Progress!

Power 90 W1D3 Day 3 Sweat 1-2

Finished my third day, Sweat 1-2 done. Power Yoga kicked my butt and the grunts and groans during Abs 100 weren't pleasant to behold but I feel great! :D

Power 90 W1D2 Day 2 Sculpt 1-2

I just finished my second workout which was Sculpt 1-2. I found it incredibly hard, I started out using 4kg weights and switched to doing everything with my 3kg weights after the first set. I'm going to have to work up to doing everything more hardcore.

Power 90 W1D1 Day 1 Sweat 1-2

First workout done, I ache all over! I know that Power 90 is meant to be a 90 day program but I actually have a 180 day plan for it. I'm going to spend 60 days on the 1-2 levels, another 60 days on the 3-4 levels and another 60 days on the 5-6 levels in the Power 90 Masters series. After that, I'm really hoping I'll be fit enough to do P90X!

I decided on this during this morning's workout. In the Sweat 1-2 video, you two do rounds of 30 seconds of each exercise, currently I can do the first round properly but I have to modify for the second round! So I'm going to do that for two weeks, then I'll do 10 seconds of the second round properly for two weeks, then 20 seconds for two weeks and finally I should be able to do all of it with no modifications by weeks seven and eight! The I'll move up to the 3-4 videos which add another round and use the same process to get up to doing the whole thing with no modifications.

As for Sculpt, I'm not looking forward to it but I'm going to probably judge it based on my push-ups. I just KNOW I'm going to have to start out doing them from my knees. My arm strength is next to none so that's something I definitely need to work on.

Power 90 - Take 253

Long time, no see! I've kind of dropped the blog ball over the last two weeks but I'm back with a vengeance! I had a slight backslide and gained about 700grams last week but I'm back on track this week. In the past, when it's come to weight loss, I've had my "go to" program and that is Power 90. When I was about 18, I weighed in the 80kg range and was squishing into a size 14. How, I don't know, I've been a 16 since about 80kgs in recent years so it couldn't have been pretty but at the time I was determined not to be a size 16! So one night I was up late and I saw an informercial for Power 90. It was a program based on exercising in your home, doing one day of resistance training and one day of cardio alternating six days a week with the seventh day as a rest day for 90 days.

I never finished the 90 days! I did, however, modify my diet and stick to the program for about 60 days and managed to lose 15kgs! I then joined a gym and got down to around 62kgs (maybe lower but I remember weighing myself one day and I was 62kgs). I wasn't as addicted to the scale back then as I am now! Anyway, since then I have gone on and off Power 90 time and time again. I always have success with it but I never stick to it. I'm committing right now to start it today and finish it this time.

Day 1 - 17th October 2011
Day 30 - 15th November 2011
Day 60 - 15th December 2011
Day 90 - 14th January 2011

On these dates I will have updates of pics and measurements, I'm going to be brave and post my before photos today...without a day thirty pic to compare them to. This is hard. I'll also post my measurements. I have to remember, this is a starting point and I will not be back here again!

Weight: 84kgs
Waist: 109cms (measured over the fattest part of my pot belly as this is what I want to reduce!)
Hips: 110cms
Chest: 116cms
Right arm: 35cms
Left arm: 36cms
Right thigh: 65cms
Left thigh: 65cms

(You can click the thumbnails for bigger versions)

Food and exercise diary - Tuesday 11th October 2011

Weight:
83.3 kgs

Loss from last week:
0.4 kgs

Total weight loss:
4.1 kgs

Breakfast:
2 eggs, scrambled in the microwave with a little milk

Lunch:
Creamy tomato and salami fettuccini

Drinks:
2 litres of water


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Food and exercise diary - Monday 10th October 2011

Breakfast:
1 bowl of Uncle Toby's Honey Oats

Lunch:
Minestrone soup

Dinner:
Sizzler

Drinks:
2 litres of water
2 cups of Pepsi Max

Exercise:
None

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Food and exercise diary - Sunday 9th October 2011

Breakfast:
Spaghetti with chevups and barbecue sauce

Lunch:
Roast pork with vegetables, gravy and apple sauce
1 slice of white chocolate mud cake

Dinner:
Creamy tomato and salami fettucini

Drinks:
2 cans of Pepsi Max
1/2 a bottle of Gatorade
1 litre of water

Exercise:
2.5 hours of taekwon-do

Food and exercise diary - Saturday 8th October 2011

Brunch:
1 sausage sizzle with onions, mustard and tomato sauce

Dinner:
1 bacon and egg burger with chips

Drinks:
2 cans of Pepsi Max
700mls of water

Exercise:
None

Food and exercise diary - Friday 7th October 2011

Breakfast:
2 slices of multigrain toast with butter and Vegemite

Lunch:
Apricot chicken risotto

Dinner:
Minestrone soup

Drinks:
1 litre of water

Exercise:
1 hour of taekwon-do

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

R.I.P. Steve Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011)

What a sad, sad day. I found out that Steve Jobs had died when I was in the lift on the way to work. I managed to make it to my desk in our office before I started crying. When the tributes started pouring in, I only got sadder. As I stood sobbing outside of the Apple store on my walk home from work, it occurred to me that perhaps it was crazy to be so sad about the death of a man I had never met but he’s influenced my life and the entire world in such an amazing way, how could I not be sad? Heck, I even picked up my husband by showing him my brand new iPhone 3G.

I’m relatively new to Apple fandom (although not as new as most, thank you iPhone). I got my first Apple product in 2005, a second-hand iPod Mini which I bought for $80 off a guy at work who was getting a new one. It wasn’t until 2006 that I got my first Mac computer, an Intel MacBook. I remember the girl at the store telling me that I’d be back soon enough buying more…and she was right. A mere six months later, I got my trusty iMac, I was already hooked. I even did a blog on a reality show about my love for everything Apple (ironically, this was before the iPhone’s release so Apple wasn’t popular and I almost got kicked off the show from that blog!). Everything about this company was amazing, from the stores down to the packaging which was just beautiful. When the iPhone came out, it was the most exciting thing I had ever heard of. I’d literally just gotten a contract to get a Sidekick but I broke it three months in to get myself a brand new iPhone. I suffered being called an “iJerk” but I didn’t care, I knew that I was onto a good thing and sure enough vindication came as one by one those people themselves acquired iPhones.

I tell you all this to explain that for half a decade, I have admired the work of Steve Jobs. I have admired his dedication to always invent new technology, also to ensure to the best of his ability that it is working perfectly before it is in the hands of the end user. It’s hard to explain the culture of being an Apple fan. Windows is, for lack of a better word, soulless. It’s an operating system, it does what it’s meant to do on any computer you either buy or build. Mac OS does what it’s meant to do on a computer designed specifically to use it, all the components are chosen to work together seamlessly in a computer housing that has heart and soul. That housing is designed to be so beautiful and aesthetically pleasing that you can’t help but smile when you use a Mac. I once had the Mac vs. PC argument with a guy at my work just after I’d gotten my MacBook and I said that it was great because “it just works”. He had a go at me for quoting an Apple slogan…I was so new to Apple fandom, that I’d never heard that slogan in my life. I said it because it just worked.

I am sad today. I’m sad because a great man died. I’m sad because I’m worried about the future of my favourite company. A company that I have relied on to be the best. A company that I have relied on to forge new paths in the ultra-competitive technology world. A company that has given me pieces of machinery that I use every day of my life or, in the case of my iPhone, every waking hour. I can only hope and pray that Steve Jobs has taught enough to the people at Apple to keep the company moving forward into the future as the shining star it has become. I’m sad for the decades of future technological advances that have been lost in Steve Jobs’ passing. He was the man who predicted the iPad in the 1980s, what could he have predicted today for the future of technology?

An amazing man has passed away today. My heart goes out to the world as they grieve and especially to his family and loved ones who are no doubt in unimaginable pain right now.

R.I.P. Steve.

Food and exercise diary - Thursday 6th October 2011

Breakfast:
1 apple

Lunch:
Beef stroganoff

Snack:
2 Reese's Peanut Butter Cups

Dinner:
Apricot chicken risotto

Drinks:
700mls of water
1 can of Pepsi Max


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Just a short one...

Well today was going relatively well until I missed my afternoon snack. By the time I got to my friend’s work to head to taekwon-do, I was peckish and ended up having tea and chocolate biscuits…again. I need to stop doing that. Then tonight we had pies for dinner, on the up side, they were the last pies in the house and I refuse to buy any more. I really need another hypnotherapy appointment. I feel like I’m dropping the ball here and yes, I’m still much, much better than I used to be but it’s actually when I’m away from work that things go haywire. It’s like the opposite of what used to happen.

Aside from that, tonight was a good class. I’m hoping to grade in November which isn’t far away. It’s scary and I really, really need to get my fitness levels up if I’m going to get through it. We’re going to start running rather than riding bikes which will help a lot, I think. We’ll see how we go.

Food and exercise diary - Wednesday 5th October 2011

Breakfast:
2 slices of multigrain toast with butter and Vegemite

Snack:
5 raw almonds

Lunch:
6" Subway Roasted Chicken on Honey Oat with lettuce, tomato, onion, carrot, cucumber, lots of pickles and some honey mustard dressing.

Snack:
4 chocolate biscuits

Dinner:
1 bacon, cheese and beef pie with sauce

Drinks:
1 litre of water
1 cup of tea
1 can of Pepsi Max

Exercise:
1 hour of taekwon-do

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

A positive outlook is just what I need

Hey, I managed to actually lose some weight this week, shocker! Considering what a bad week it was, I'm kind of okay with a half a kilo weight loss. I say "kind of okay" because I'm still not used to the weight coming off at a healthy pace. I wish I could lose it as quickly as I did before but I know that I'm doing it in a way that will ensure it stays off for good. I'm really going to make a concerted effort to ensure I'm eating my snacks now as it makes it easier to avoid temptation later, if I haven't had my snack I start to think about eating chocolate, etc. in between meals. Not good.

We did our bike ride tonight and it felt so, so good to do it again. Feeling good about this week, going to keep plugging along, getting back on track and hopefully losing a bit of weight. We're going to go get some running shoes and run on the weekend instead of riding the bikes, hopefully it'll help to get our cardiovascular strength up which is going to be needed. We're starting a more advanced taekwon-do training program this Sunday. It's my Mum's birthday and we're going to my brother and sister-in-law's place for lunch at 12pm then hopefully we can get to Belmont by 4pm for taekwon-do training. I really wish it was starting on another day because I don't want to leave Mum's birthday lunch early and if we can't leave early then we'll just have to skip it this week. It's the first class, though, so I really would like to make it. We'll have to see what happens, I guess!

Food and exercise diary - Tuesday 4th October 2011

Weight:
83.7 kgs

Loss from last week:
0.5 kgs

Total weight loss:
3.7 kgs

Breakfast:
2 eggs, scrambled in the microwave with a little milk

Lunch:
Honey mustard chicken with vegetables

Dinner:
Beef stroganoff with mashed potatoes

Drinks:
1 litre of water
2 cups of Milo
1 can of Pepsi Max

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

And we begin again...

Not too bad a day today, a much better start to the week than last week turned out to be. When I got to work, I discovered that the pasta I left there on Friday when we went out to lunch had grown fur over the weekend. So I had my "usual" Subway for lunch. My husband got home a bit late tonight and I was going through my iPhone play list so we ended up starting our bike ride later than we should have and only managed 3km because it got too dark to ride. Man it felt great to be back on the bike again, I really missed it last week! Hopefully we'll get a longer ride in tomorrow night. I made Honey Mustard chicken with steamed vegetables tonight which was yummy. Feeling a whole lot better about everything now. Hopefully I'll lose SOME weight in tomorrow's weigh-in considering the week I had!

Food and exercise diary - Monday 3rd October 2011

Breakfast:
2 eggs, scrambled in the microwave with a little milk

Lunch:
6" Subway Roasted Chicken on Honey Oat with lettuce, tomato, onion, carrot, cucumber, lots of pickles and some honey mustard dressing.

Dinner:
Honey mustard chicken with vegetables

Drinks:
2 litres of water
1 cup of hot tea with sugar

Exercise:
3km bike ride

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

A royal food disaster!

Today was an outright disaster foodwise. Starting at the sausage roll for breakfast and ending at the Chicken Treat for dinner.

I. Feel. Disgusting.

I feel totally gross from what I've eaten today. It's the worst I've eaten in a long, long time. There wasn't a lot of good choices foodwise at the show and I got caught up in it all and ended up just eating crap. The good news is that we probably walked about 5km, maybe more. I wish I'd put my Nike+GPS app on so I'd know for sure lol! I fell asleep on the couch after I got home and my husband came home with Chicken Treat at about 4:30pm so I considered that dinner. I really wish he hadn't, though. I was kind of angry at him for doing that. I certainly didn't want it but once it was there I couldn't resist (plus he was in a foul mood and I didn't want to annoy him more by yelling at him for bringing me takeaway). I could only stomach about half of the 1/4 chicken and chips he got me before I had to put it aside, though. Bring on the new week with the much better food!

Food and exercise diary - Sunday 2nd October 2011

Breakfast:
A small sausage roll and sauce

Snack:
2 bites of a churro

Lunch:
Bacon and cheese burger with some chips and salad (shared with nephew)

Snack:
Fairy floss
Wizz Fizz

Dinner:
1/4 chicken and chips from Chicken Treat

Drinks:
2 litres of water
A few sips of Red Bull
1 can of Pepsi Max


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Green thumbs + shovel blisters = Pretty garden

What a day! I slept in this morning (due to the fact that I ended up staying up till 4am last night chatting on Skype!) and had to head straight to the shops for grocery shopping. Unfortunately, this meant that I'd skipped breakfast, so when we were leaving, we got Subway. I had my usual and then when we got home, we relaxed for a bit before doing some gardening.

Our front yard was/is a disaster. When the grass was put in, the stupid sprinkler system we had didn't cover it all so there were big patches of dead grass. We also grassed the part on the verge that's outside our fence which was plain stupid. It's all weedy and disgusting. The plan now is that we'll tear it all up and put new grass in the front yard and probably concrete or gravel out on the verge. We didn't do any exercise but oh my goodness, digging the trench for the reticulation pipe was tiring! I also dug up all the overgrown weeds in our front yard. In the midst of all that, I kind of forgot to eat again till dinner. I'm staying at my brother and sister-in-law's place tonight ready to get up early and go to the show tomorrow. It should be fun! :)

Food and exercise diary - Saturday 1st October 2011

Brunch:
6" Subway Roasted Chicken on Honey Oat with lettuce, tomato, onion, carrot, cucumber, lots of pickles and some honey mustard dressing.

Dinner:
Creamy tomato and salami pasta

Drinks:
2 litres of water
1 can of Pepsi Max

Exercise:
Digging a trench in the front yard!

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Who would've thought Japanese food tasted good!

Why, oh why, am I having such a bad week? Okay, today wasn't so bad. I took my lunch to work but forgot it's one of the girls in the team's birthday today so we went out for lunch to a Japanese restaurant. I braved Teriyaki Beef and it wasn't too bad, very sweet. They had some weird, red sauce on the rice/veggies but aside from that it was good and I don't think it was too unhealthy. Again, I missed my morning snack so by the time I got to my friend's work to head to taekwon-do, I was super hungry. I ended up having a cup of tea and no less than four chocolate biscuits. Then for dinner I had the final container of lasagne from the freezer. I drank a decent amount of water today, so that's good at least and we had a fairly intense taekwon-do lesson and I'm very tired. I'm hoping I can be okay on the weekend with my food and exercise but I don't hold a lot of hope for Sunday when I go to the Royal Show with my brother, sister-in-law, niece and nephew. Pray for me!

Food and exercise diary - Friday 30 September 2011

Breakfast:
2 slices of buttered toast with Vegemite

Lunch:
Teriyaki Beef

Snack:
4 chocolate biscuits

Dinner:
Lasagne

Drinks:
1.4 litres of water
1 cup of hot tea with sugar

Exercise:
1 hour of taekwon-do


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*insert witty title here*

I feel a bit crappy tonight. We didn't go for a bike ride and I made butter chicken for dinner which just tasted...grossly fattening. Not the kind of thing I want to eat on a regular basis. We've got about five containers left in the freezer but I'm going to let my husband eat them. I'm going to take one of the pasta containers tomorrow instead of having it for lunch, the pasta probably isn't much better but at least it tastes nicer! I'm really itching to ride my bike again, I'm starting to feel funky about not exercising for ages and feeling a bit crap. I also had a Pepsi Max for dinner tonight, I'm not drinking as much as I used to but I shouldn't be drinking it at all.

Food and exercise diary - Thursday 29 September 2011

Breakfast:
2 eggs, scrambled in the microwave with a little milk, onions and polski

Snack:
10 raw almonds

Lunch:
Pasta E Fagioli

Dinner:
Butter chicken with rice

Drinks:
700mls of water
1 Pepsi Max can

Exercise:
None

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Hump day again!

Not much to say today, I'm just plugging along. I'm actually struggling to eat snacks these days. I kind of just forget about food until lunchtime. Or I remember about it but only about thirty minutes from lunch so I figure why bother. It's good but also bad because I need to eat in order to lose weight so my body doesn't store the fat. In other news, we had a Master train with us a taekwon-do tonight! It was equally terrifying and exciting. He did this great kicking drill with us which was lots of fun. I'm bummed because he was at the Kalamunda class on Monday and I didn't go (I didn't know he'd be there). I hope I get the chance to train with him again in the future!

Food and exercise diary - Wednesday 28 September 2011

Breakfast:
2 eggs, scrambled in the microwave with a little milk, onions and polski

Lunch:
Creamy tomato & salami fettuccini

Dinner:
Pasta E Fagioli

Drinks:
1.4 litres of water
2 cups of Milo

Exercise:
1 hour of taekwon-do

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A bleh day

I had a bit of a down day today. I only lost 800 grams this week. I was really hoping for a bigger loss than that. My friend cheered me up, though, she was saying how proud she is of me that I'm doing this the right way. I'm not doing it to fit into a pretty dress and I'm not doing it in an unhealthy way. I guess it'll just take time. I had my final Tuesday hypnotherapy session tonight. It was good, I can't wait to have Tuesday nights back for bike riding, though! I've got my last hypnotherapy appointment two weeks from Saturday. Oh, interesting side note! I stopped at the petrol station on the way to my session and they had Reese's Peanut Butter Cups there, so I bought one and ate it.

It. Was. Gross.

I didn't expect to hate it as much as I did! I can't explain how amazing that was to me. I am the girl who ate an entire BOX of them in three days (36 packets, two peanut butter cups per packet, talk about disgusting!). Yet when I ate those peanut butter cups tonight, I could barely get through the second one. Astounding!

Food and exercise diary - Tuesday 27 September 2011

Weight:
84.2 kgs

Loss from last week:
0.8 kgs

Total weight loss:
3.2 kgs

Breakfast:
2 eggs, scrambled in the microwave with a little milk, onions and polski

Snack:
10 raw almonds

Lunch:
Tomato soup
2 slices of buttered bread

Snack:
10 raw almonds
2 Reese's Peanut Butter Cups (Gross!)

Dinner:
Creamy tomato & salami fettuccini

Drinks:
2 litres of water


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I've got Friday on my mind

Well here we are, it's another Monday, I can't wait for the weekend! I’ve come to the conclusion that my husband is a bad influence on me! He insists on buying sweets and having them in the house so he can eat them, things we could both do without but when they’re there, I’m tempted by them. Oddly enough, I can ignore the Mars Bars sitting in the lunch room at work all day but put some M&Ms or chocolate ice cream in my way at home and I’m done for. It happened on the weekend and it happened again tonight with the ice cream he was eating when I got home. I had a few spoonfuls, in all honesty probably half a bowl to a full bowl’s worth of ice cream. I’m going to need to talk to him about this, he doesn’t need it and neither do I. I can’t blame him, though, I’m the one that ate it.

Neither of us was feeling up for our bike ride tonight, so we watched an episode of Penn & Teller: Fool Us, ate dinner and are about to go to bed. This week hasn’t been as good as last week and I think that’ll be reflected in my weight loss. If I can at least lose another kilo, I’ll be happy. It’s been a hard week what with going out to restaurants on two separate occasions. It’s a part of life, though. This has to be something that I can continue on in the future, otherwise what’s the point in losing the weight only to put it back on again like the weight I lost before the wedding!

I’ve still made leaps and bounds from where I was two weeks ago when I started this blog. I just need to look forward to the future. I’ve got my final weekly hypnotherapy session tomorrow. It’ll be good to have Tuesday nights back to myself, although I’ll miss the relaxation, it’s another day of the week that I can go for a bike ride. I’m really, really regretting not riding tonight because I’m getting a bit antsy now and wish we’d just gone earlier instead of staying in. :(

Food and exercise diary - Monday 26 September 2011

Breakfast:
2 eggs, scrambled in the microwave with a little milk, onions and polski ogorki

Snack:
10 raw almonds

Drinks:
3.5 litres of water

Snack:
10 raw almonds

Dinner:
Tomato soup
2 slices of buttered bread

Dessert:
Some Connoisseur Belgian Chocolate ice cream

Exercise:
None

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We're leaving on a jet plane!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow, what a day! We started off with a much longer bike ride than we've been doing in the past. It was a great start to the day, though. When we got home, I made breakfast which was a yummy change with poached eggs on toast and tinned tomatoes. After that, we bummed around the house for a bit and then headed to my mother-in-law's house to have lunch. We picked her up and headed to Nicholson's Bar & Grill. They do great food, massive portions and quite cheap. I got Chicken Wellington served on sweet potato mash, ate half of it and had the other half wrapped up to take home which I then had for dinner.

The big news, though, is that at lunch MIL pulled out this card which my husband said I could open. Inside was a wedding card and travel vouchers so that we can go on a proper honeymoon! I cried when she gave them to us because I'd given up the idea of us ever going on a proper honeymoon. She had always promised that she'd pay for our honeymoon so it was really fantastic. We definitely want to go skiing, it's just a matter of where. I'd really like to go to Aspen for skiing, we could go in February and it would be fantastic. Otherwise, we could go to New Zealand but it means waiting for the ski season which isn't until July-August and I don't think we can wait that long! Anyway, very exciting stuff. We want to book ASAP because neither of us is comfortable having the travel vouchers lying around because they're essentially like cash! I can't wait, though, I get to go skiing again, yippee! Even more incentive to lose the weight!

Food and exercise diary - Sunday 25 September 2011

Breakfast:
2 poached eggs
2 slices of buttered toast
1 can of tinned tomatoes

Lunch:
1/2 serve of Chicken Wellington
1/2 serve of sweet potato mash

Dinner:
1/2 serve of Chicken Wellington
1/2 serve of sweet potato mash

Drinks:

2.1 litres of water

Exercise:

15.48km bike ride

Whoops, how did that happen?

Today started out great but ended not so great. I got up early but my husband and I were both tired from taekwon-do so decided to take today off from bike riding. I went to my hair dresser appointment and became a redhead, yippee! The last thing I said to my husband before I left the house was "can you please plan this week's meals and go to the shops and buy the ingredients for me to cook with?" I got home and he'd actually done it! I brought back Subway for lunch, which was a nice, tasty treat.

That was kind of where it all went downhill. I sat down with him to watch the live telecast of the Eagles playing Geelong in the preliminary final of the AFL. The match was dismal. I made myself some fruity dream after the first quarter but neither of us could watch the bloodbath that was happening in Geelong and I ended up watching the latest episode of Glee. At this point I was alone in the home theatre room with a half-empty packet of Crispy M&Ms...which I ate. Then a bit later after Damien came in, he was finishing off the packet of Skittles (which I had managed to avoid) and I got him to give me some. A bit further on and I finally had one of the containers of lasagne that was in the freezer. It wasn't a great day but then again, it wasn't extremely horrible and still a massive improvement on the binge type days I've had in the past, although Saturdays do seem to be proving to be my weakness. I need to really make sure I don't get caught hungry on these days when I have time on my hands!

Food and exercise diary - Saturday 24 September 2011

Breakfast:
Omelette made with 2 eggs, onion and polski ogorki

Snack:
10 raw almonds

Lunch:
6" Subway Roasted Chicken on Honey Oat with lettuce, tomato, onion, carrot, cucumber, lots of pickles and some honey mustard dressing.

Snack:
Fruity Dream made in the Thermomix
Half a packet of M&Ms
Some Skittles

Dinner:
Home-made lasagna

Drinks:
2.8 litres of water

Exercise:
None

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TGIF

Today was a fairly good day, we got to leave work early at 2pm to go have a leaving lunch for one of the girls in Accounts. She's a gorgeous girl who is sweet and I'll really miss her around the office. She gave me a bottle of apple cider to drink which was nice of her but after a few sips, I just didn't want it so in the end I gave it back to her and she drank it. We went to a chinese restaurant and I had my usual "western chinese food"! Sweet & sour pork, honey chicken and steamed rice. I didn't overeat and I felt fine about my food choices considering it's kind of hard to find chinese food that I like but is healthy. I also managed to pass on the fried ice cream...it came close, though!

Taekwon-do was good, I was late for class but it was pretty intense. We've got a Master training with us on Wednesday, so the pressure will be on. Looking forward to the weekend, come on the Eagles!

Food and exercise diary - Friday 23 September 2011

Breakfast:
2 slices of multigrain toast with butter and Vegemite

Snack:
1 apple

Lunch:
Sweet & Sour pork
Honey chicken
Steamed rice

Dinner:
Pasta E Fagioli

Drinks:
2.1 litres of water
A few sips of apple cider

Exercise:
1 hour of taekwon-do

Arriba arriba!!!

Tonight we went to That Little Mexican Place for dinner to celebrate my father-in-law's birthday. The food was fantastic but I felt like a little piggy, although I didn't eat as much I would've eaten in the past. It reminded me of how I used to be, though and why I don't want to be like that again. I really need to just continue doing what I'm doing and the weight will come off naturally.

Not much else to say, it was definitely a good night out with the family and I enjoyed myself. Oh yeah, the first drink I had in two weeks that wasn't water? A margarita! I stopped at one because it's not good for weight loss to drink alcohol and also, I'm a lightweight and would've gotten trashed easily on two, the glasses were massive. Not a good look! ;)

Food and exercise diary - Thursday 22 September 2011

Breakfast:
2 eggs, scrambled in the microwave with a little milk, onions and polski ogorki

Snack:
5 almonds

Lunch:
Apricot chicken risotto

Dinner:
Blue corn chips and WAY too much Queso fundido dip!
Enchilada con Queso
Two slices of this beef in tortilla thing my husband ordered

Dessert:
1 sopapilla and a tiny bit of ice cream
1 1/2 Churros with chocolate sauce

Drinks:
2.8 litres of water
1 margarita

Exercise:
None

Side note:
Dinner for father-in-law's birthday

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Hump day!

Short one tonight, I’m suffering from cramps and I’m tired as anything because today was the day we ran the pay at work. I had an unexpected 1km walk today when I took the bus over to Northbridge to buy a Lunette cup, then found myself with no public transport back! My feet are killing me now, my work shoes are not made for walking! The Lunette cup is interesting and it’s something I would recommend to other women. I’d looked into getting one years ago but never did, I read about it yesterday and went and bought one today.

Aside from that, no real news. No cravings which is good. No slips which is better. I was probably not as energetic and into taekwon-do tonight as I could’ve been though, but it hurt to be on the balls of my feet. Hopefully I’ll make up for that on Friday! Tomorrow we’re going to my father-in-law’s birthday dinner at a Mexican restaurant so I’ll have to find something healthy to eat. It also means I won’t get my bike ride in tomorrow, either. Anyway, I’m sleepy so time for bed!

Food and exercise diary - Wednesday 21 September 2011

Breakfast:
2 eggs, scrambled in the microwave with a little milk, onions and polski ogorki

Snack:
1 apple

Lunch:
Pasta E Fagioli

Snack:
1 apple
10 raw almonds

Dinner:
2 slices of toast with butter and Vegemite

Drinks:
2.1 litres of water

Exercise:
1 hour of taekwon-do


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Weight loss! Result!

I know it’s probably mostly water weight but it’s still nice to see those digits going down. I have to admit…I knew, I’d lost weight…I’d been sneaky weighing myself since Saturday. I’m not going to do that again, do you know why? Saturday morning, I’d lost 2.2kgs, after my slip on Saturday night by Sunday morning I’d gone back to 1.9kgs lost, then by Monday morning I was back to 2.1kgs lost. So when I stepped on the scales this morning, instead of having a “wow! I lost 2.4kgs!” moment, I had a “yeah…it could’ve been better if it wasn’t for the 300gram weight gain between Saturday and Sunday”. Moral of the story? No more daily weighing in!

So I had my second hypnotherapy session tonight. I’d been having killer cramps all day so I was doped up on Mersyndol and feeling tired. That and a combination of knowing what was going to happen in the session really helped me and I was able to completely zone out during the session, it was extremely relaxing. I can honestly say, I don’t really have any cravings anymore. Now it’s just a matter of ploughing forward and doing what I need to do to lose weight. I have my goals and I am going to achieve them in a healthy manner.

Food and exercise diary - Tuesday 20 September 2011

Weight:
85.0 kgs

Loss from last week:
2.4 kgs

Total weight loss:
2.4kgs

Breakfast:
2 eggs, scrambled in the microwave with a little milk, onions and polski ogorki

Snack:
11 raw almonds
1 teaspoon of Vegemite

Lunch:
Spanish Beef

Snack:
2 apples

Dinner:
Pasta E Fagioli

Drinks:
2.8 litres of water

Exercise:
None

Side note:
Hypnotherapy session


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It's just another Manic Monday...

Does anyone actually LIKE Mondays? Just wondering if those kind of psychotic people exist lol...and I'm not counting people who have Mondays off work! I'm using "Monday" as an overarching term used for whatever day is the first day of your working week or even your working roster if you do shifts up to the mines. If you like THAT day...you're insane...or you have a great job and I'm envious of you! :P

Aaaaanyway, back to topic. Not a whole lot to report, did a short bike ride tonight instead of the long one because it looked like rain and was getting dark. Ate well, fairly pleased with myself and expecting good results from tomorrow's weigh-in. I can’t wait till my weight doesn’t start with an eight (hey, that rhymed!) but I’ve decided that my first goal is going to be 75kgs. That’s the point at which I should be able to wear my wedding and engagement rings again. Officially, the reason I don’t wear them is because I have to take them off for taekwon-do all the time, but really the reason is because my fingers are too fat to fit them on anymore! Somewhere around the 80kg mark, I think, I stopped wearing them. When I get to 75kgs, they’ll be comfortable on again. My ultimate goal is to get to 60kgs and have them resized because I’m determined to stay in that weight range once I get there!

I think I need to talk about “The Vanillin Sugar Incident”. Tonight while I was cooking dinner, I chowed my way through half a Masterfoods jar of vanillin sugar. I know what you’re thinking…WTF?!? So am I lol! I bought it when I was buying all my spices because it smells delicious and every now and again I would eat a bit of it just because of its tasty, vanilla-y goodness! Anyway…I have to be honest, I don’t feel too guilty about it but I don’t really want to repeat the experience. It was no more sugar than I would’ve eaten in a Mars bar and I didn’t have all the preservatives etc. that come with it. Next time, though, I think I should probably just wait till AFTER dinner and make myself some Fruity Dream in the Thermomix for dessert…damn, that vanillin sugar would’ve been AMAZING in the Fruity Dream recipe. Too bad it’s all gone now! Or is that a good thing?

Food and exercise diary - Monday 19 September 2011

Breakfast:
2 eggs, scrambled in the microwave with a little milk, onions and polski ogorki

Snack:
1 apple

Lunch:
Baf's creamy chicken and vegetables

Snack:
10 raw almonds

Dinner:
Spanish Beef

Drinks:
2.1 litres of water

Exercise:
7.18km bike ride

Lazy Sunday

Not a lot to report from today. It was raining in the morning so we couldn't go for our bike ride today. Lunch was better than I expected. I was disappointed that when I asked for the fries with my meal to be swapped out for vegetables, she said it couldn't be done! So I ordered the vegetables on the side and gave most of the chips to my husband. I kept the small, crunchy ones for myself, though! All in all, I don't think I did too badly. I avoided the caramel mud cake we had back at our place for afternoon tea and coffee after lunch, although I did eat the icing that was left on the knife after cutting everybody else a slice!

I'm kind of happy with my weekend, I don't think it was as bad as it definitely could have been. Baby steps, baby steps...changes are happening bit by bit. I'm feeling positive. :)

Food and exercise diary - Sunday 18 September 2011

Breakfast:
Omelette made with 2 eggs, onion and polski ogorki

Snack:
Fruity dream made in Thermomix

Lunch:
Sirloin steak with gravy, salad and steamed vegetables
8 chips

Snack:
Some sneaky caramel icing! ;)

Dinner:
Baf's creamy chicken and vegetables

Drinks:
2.1 litres of water

Exercise:
None

Side note:
Raining
Uncle's birthday at pub

A slip but not a complete tumble off the wagon

Today started so well! We got up before 7am and went for a 10km bike ride which was great. Then I came home and had breakfast with the minor indulgence of a piece of buttered toast. Sorbet for my morning snack which admittedly wasn't fantastic but I didn't feel too guilty about it. Had a container of apricot chicken risotto for lunch and planned the week's meals and added everything we need to our shopping list. We went shopping and got the food, nothing bad even sneaked into our trolley!

When we got home, though, my husband had a headache and went to bed. Well, instead of making dinner for the both of us as I would have, I fried up some bacon and pineapple (surprisingly yummy, the pineapple juice caramelises in the pan) and had that for dinner. Later on I ate my way through a packet of brandied baskets and now I feel...I don't know...not guilty, per sé but certainly not fantastic. I knew the weekend would be hard but I just didn't expect myself to chow down like that.

That being said, it's a process, I've learnt from it. My first mistake was not having an afternoon snack which meant I was more likely to have cravings for bad foods. I also didn't drink enough water today, it's surprising how much easier it is to drink water when it's sitting in front of you within arm's reach at your work desk all day! I think the important thing is to continue on with what I've been doing. Honestly, that's why I've come to write this blog because I had been considering adding a container of lasagna to today's food and exercise diary! Now I know that I am strong enough to avoid it.

Tomorrow I'm going out for lunch for my uncle's birthday. We're going to a pub so it's going to be "pub food". Pray for me. Pray that I have the strength to order something decent out of what will probably be a very limited selection of food. I'm just hoping that one of the choices is some sort of grilled chicken and salad!

Food and exercise diary - Saturday 17 September 2011

Breakfast:
2 poached eggs
1 slice of buttered toast
1 can of tinned tomatoes

Snack:
Strawberry and orange sorbet, made in Thermomix

Lunch:
Apricot chicken risotto

Dinner:
Bacon and pineapple fried in the fry pan together

Snack:
1 packet of brandied baskets

Drinks:
2.8 litres of water

Exercise:
10km bike ride


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Thank heavens for small mercies!

Today was exactly one bucket load easier than yesterday, huzzah! I was no longer tempted by the chocolates in the kitchen and when 10am rolled around and Friday morning tea arrived I wasn't even the slightest bit interested in the party pies, sausage rolls and cakes that they had there. I could've stayed in our office but I chose to be sociable as well as test myself a little bit. I took my Tupperware container of raw almonds with me and ate them while chatting to the other staff in the office.

I have noticed that my energy is lacklustre. I think it's going to take some time for my body to adjust to this. I've been struggling to concentrate at work and then at taekwon-do tonight, I felt like a lead balloon, I could barely move and I also got a cramp in my left leg twice. Again, I think it's my body reacting to the lack of sugar when it's been in such ready supply, I wouldn't be surprised if I was having some kind of withdrawals from it! On a more positive note, my sleeping has improved already. I've been waking up before the alarm (or on the first alarm, we set about five in this house!) and am ready and raring to go.

I can't wait to go shopping tomorrow and get some food to cook a whole bunch of meals for the week, I love Subway but it's not really that great for you, although I'm definitely eating a much healthier sub than before and as far as take away goes, it's one of the few options that's halfway decent really. I think I'm going to make some sorbets in the Thermomix when I want dessert, we have ice readily on hand and it only uses a little bit of sugar so it could be a solution to any "sweet" cravings I get this weekend!

Fingers crossed it all goes well when it's the weekend and I have a whole bunch of spare time on my hands!

N.B. I've just re-read this blog after posting and it feels like a bunch of random thoughts with no segue between them. I apologise, I'm really tired!

Food and exercise diary - Friday 16 September 2011

Breakfast:
2 eggs, scrambled in the microwave with a little milk and salt

Snack:
10 raw almonds

Lunch:
6" Subway Roasted Chicken on Honey Oat with lettuce, tomato, onion, carrot, cucumber, lots of pickles and some honey mustard dressing.

Snack:
1 apple

Dinner:
1 bowl of apricot chicken risotto

Exercise:
1 hour of taekwon-do

Drinks:
2.8 litres of water
1/2 cup of Hi-Lo milk


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How do I love chocolate? Let me count the ways.

So today was possibly harder than yesterday. To explain, let me insert here an email I sent to my friend during the day today.

Subject: I still want chocolate...


...I'm going to mention that to her on Tuesday so she can work that into our next session. I mean, obviously what she did is working because I haven't eaten any but I am, you know...craving it big time. I want to eat chocolate with every fibre of my being but I also don't want to eat it. There are these charity chocolates in the lunchroom and for the last couple of weeks I've been buying them on a daily basis. There are packets of Maltesers, M&Ms and Mars Bars. Right now there's Mars Bars and Maltesers in there (I finally caved and peeked earlier). Unfortunately, they're right by the water fountain where I fill up my water bottle so I walk past them ALL THE TIME! Every time I walk past, I think "I could put that on my food diary, nobody would begrudge me a Mars Bar, right?" but then I think "you'll feel totally crap and you don't REALLY want it" and walk away.

If you look at my food and exercise diary, you'll see that I didn't eat the chocolate (hooray!) but it was hard. I think this is just something that I will need to get used to. We're creating new habits and breaking the old ones was never going to be an easy task. Subway again for dinner tonight, I need to go food shopping badly, I'll do that on Saturday. I've taken chicken out to make apricot chicken risotto tomorrow night. It should be good.

Food and exercise diary - Thursday 15 September 2011

Breakfast:
2 eggs, scrambled in the microwave with a little milk and salt

Snack:
10 raw almonds

Lunch:
1 container of Hungarian Goulash

Snack:
10 raw almonds

Dinner:
6" Subway Roasted Chicken on Honey Oat with lettuce, tomato, onion, carrot, cucumber, lots of pickles and some honey mustard dressing.

Drinks:
3.3 litres of water

Exercise:
7.13km bike ride


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A slight struggle

So today was my first day after hypnotherapy. I'll admit, it was more of a struggle than I expected it to be. I was pleased when I easily turned down chocolate cake at work this morning but I was surprised by how much time I spent still thinking about food. Mostly it was about the hypnotherapy session and what we'd planned for my eating. I was a bit disappointed in myself for having Subway for lunch. I had been planning to eat the Hungarian Goulash I'd taken to work but when I saw one of the managers eating Subway, I got it in my head to have that. It was a much healthier sub than in the past (my old sub was a foot long chicken & bacon ranch with double cheese and extra ranch dressing) but it still disappointed me that I caved to a "craving" so to speak.

I guess that's why you don't stop at one session, next week I'll mention these struggles and she'll build it into our next session to empower me to do better. Coming home from taekwon-do tonight was a touchy subject for us, Damien had lasagna from the freezer for lunch and I haven't had a chance to cook any more meals. I also didn't want to eat lasagna for dinner, I suggested Subway but in the end when he dropped me off at my car (I parked at the train station because I was running late this morning), I told him that if he didn't want Subway, I was happy to eat what was at home and he could get what he liked.

I ate the remainder of the Beef Stroganoff from last night but there was really not a lot left at all. Then I came the closest to caving all day. I considered the brandied baskets in the cupboard, eating one of the lasagnas from the freezer and at one point even pulled out the last mint Cornetto from the freezer and started to open it before putting it back. In the end I drank some more water and had a slice of toast with Vegemite.

Plan for tomorrow, bike ride and get some fresh veggies in the house to cook some good meals in the Thermomix!

Food and exercise diary - Wednesday 14 September 2011

Breakfast:
2 eggs, scrambled in the microwave with a little milk

Snack:
A small slice of vegetable quiche (no pastry), given to me by a girl at work

Lunch:
6" Subway Roasted Chicken on Honey Oat with lettuce, tomato, onion, carrot, cucumber, lots of pickles and some honey mustard dressing.

Snack:
10 raw almonds
1 apple

Dinner:
Half a container of Beef Stroganoff
1 slice of toast with butter and Vegemite

Drinks:
2.8 litres of water

Exercise:
1 hour of taekwon-do

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First impressions of hypnotherapy

Initially, I was just outright elated when my hypnotherapy session ended. The feeling of well being was amazing. It's funny, I'm struggling to actually explain it. Basically, when I got there, we discussed my weight issues and what I like to eat and what foods have caused me to put on the weight and I filled out a form. Marie went over what would happen in the session.

Then we did an exercise where I had to visualise all the foods that caused me to gain weight and describe the picture to her, then I opened my eyes and this time told her what would be the one thing in the world that I would never eat (fish eyes). I closed my eyes again, visualised the fish eyes in the shapes of the things I liked to eat and described that picture before opening my eyes. Then I closed my eyes again and visualised the first picture but this time she told me to picture it with the same kind of features as the fish eyes ("black and white, dim, a feeling of nausea in my stomach").

After that we got on to the actual hypnotherapy. I found it a bit uncomfortable because I find that as soon as I have to be still for any period of time, I get itchy in random places around my body. Afterwards, she told me that some people are just like that and they move around during the session. I don't think that I was any less "under" than someone else. To describe the feeling, I would have to say that it was very, very relaxing, my closest experience to it would be when you're lying in bed in the morning, just before you wake up. You're conscious but still asleep, sometimes you don't even realise it until after you wake up. You think to yourself "oh yeah, I was half awake", other times you'll be fully conscious but still enjoying the blanket of sleep over you. I don't know if that makes any sense but it's the closest I can get to explaining the feeling!

The most unusual thing to come from it? Just this morning I had told someone that I would "never forgive" a friend who had done wrong by me in the past but in this one session, I came out of it having forgiven her. I won't be seeking a friendship with her by any means but I have forgiven her for what she did to me which came as a total surprise to me. Not exactly what I went there for but dropping those negative feelings was like lifting a weight from my shoulders.

As for the nitty gritty of weight loss, we discussed good eating habits and having a desire to exercise. Time will tell as to whether these have sunk in but when I went to the freezer tonight, I chose the protein-full Beef Stroganoff over the carbo-loaded Lasagna!

Food and exercise diary - Tuesday 13 September 2011

Weight: 87.4kgs (192.68lbs)

Breakfast:
1 beef and onion pie with sauce

Snack:
3 Cadbury Twisted bars
1 Lion bar

Lunch:
Chips and gravy (with salt and vinegar)

Dinner:
1/2 a container of beef stroganoff

Drinks:
1.5 litres of water
1 600ml Pepsi Max

Exercise:
None

Side note:
Hypnotherapy session

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Hypnobabble?

As I write my first post on this blog, I am heading home from work on the way to my first hypnotherapy appointment. I should explain, I'm currently about 25kgs (around 50lbs) overweight. I know how to lose weight, I do, I've even done it in the past. I need to eat healthy and exercise.

I'm failing at both.

After years of dieting sporadically, losing weight just as sporadically and generally hating myself, I've decided that enough is enough. Now maybe you're thinking that I should just be a big girl (errrr, not literally!) and get myself some bloody willpower and you're probably right but at this point if there's something that will help me to get on track, I'll do it! I want to get my mind on board with my body. I know that it will still involve hard work but if it's even a tiny bit easier then that'll be great!

I researched hypnotherapy before committing to this and I've heard quite a lot of positive feedback from people who have used it to cut back on sweets and quit smoking. Even so, it took me awhile before I had the nerve to actually call and book an appointment last week! I haven't told many people about it either because I've tried so many things in the past to lose weight that I don't want to have any pressure on me about whether it does or doesn't work. Since booking the appointment I've been eagerly awaiting today and, I'll admit, scoffing my face as much as I can since hopefully I won't be eating as much crap in the future.

Is that bad? I know it is but I couldn't help myself, I'm an emotional eater, I'm also a bored eater, an amused eater, a sleepy eater and a full of energy eater! I mean, I don't think about food that often, only when I'm awake...and sometimes when I'm dreaming!

When it comes to exercising off the excess calories I intake, I'm slightly lax as well. I do taekwon-do twice a week (I just graded to blue belt and need to increase this to three times a week) and recently my husband and myself have started riding our bikes after work...okay...I've done this once so far!

I've tried so many exercise regimes on the past, you wouldn't believe it. Or maybe you would? I think the longest I kept one going was about three weeks before it all became "too hard basket" and I gave up.

Anyway, I've almost reached my train station so I'd better wrap this up. I'll update later with my impressions of the first appointment.

I'm going to do a food diary each day as well but I'll keep that in a separate entry. :)

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