Day 82 - So Close To The Finish Line

Before and After

Almost there - only 2 days to go on this round, then it's right back into another round on Monday! I'm a sucker for punishment. Then again, it feels so good, and I'm pretty darn happy with the results, so I'm gonna keep it up.

Haven't done my final fitness test yet, but did a weigh in this morning, and my measurements. I'm now at 78.7kgs and another 16cm down all over. Was a nice surprise to see how many cms I've lost, although it probably shouldn't be, as all my clothes are fitting so much better. I also took another set of photos and am pretty pleased with the difference between beginning of this round and now, but even more so from beginning of last round and now. Go me!

It's been a pretty full on few days with exercise. Massive workout on Tue, 8km run and bball on Wed and bball at lunch and in the evening yesterday! Was planning on doing something this morning but was so tired I went back to sleep. Or at least I tried to - Greg wouldn't stop snoring so I ended up getting up and doing the washing and the rest of last nights dishes instead! I've got my gear so I can do something at lunch time, but thinking maybe I will just have a rest day and go super hard for my SSS on Saturday. We'll see.

Day 79 - 5 Days To Go!

Me in the Manly Dam
run a few weeks back

Wow. Can't believe there's only 5 days of this round left. Crazy! I've done ok, but not amazing. Had some really good weeks, but then I just sabotage it all for some reason. So stupid, cos the food sabotage only feels good for about 5mins while I am eating. And when I'm doing well I just feel super great! Need to remember that and get back into it.

We've had probably the busiest week ever this past week as we've moved into a new house. Super exciting! A real house in Sydney with a back yard. It's such a great place - I think we're going to totally love it there. It was definitely more than we wanted to spend, but as we're putting of the kids decision we've decided to just live this year like we would if we had no kids, and see where it takes us. We do need to get our act into gear though and make this our year. No stupid frivolous spending, but enjoying ourselves. Working hard and playing hard!

Greg's boys came over for the weekend for Greg Day and we had a fabulous time. Between that and the moving though I am exhausted! And I have quite a bit of work to catch up on, and still plenty of boxes. It's straight to the supermarket when I get home, then I'm going to sit down in my new (half-unpacked) office and catch up on at least the emails. Then I think I will unpack some more of the office. I actually enjoy the unpacking, as I love finding everything it's home, and I love the feel of it when it's all done.

I did my first workout in a while today and it was pretty hard! I didn't make it through all of it, but it was a good effort, and I got to do it outside in our backyard. So lovely!

Finally remembered to look up the results for that run I did a few weeks back. I thought I had stuffed it cos I went out so hard and struggled big time on the last couple of kms. However, I ended up 5th female in my age group, and 23rd overall (out of 65) in the 7km. Not bad for hardly any training! The next one is on 9 Feb, which is only a couple of weeks away. Need to try and do a couple big runs between now and then to prepare! Only thing is I think I lost my GPS thingy at the last event, so now can't clock kms. Annoying!

I just read back over my last post which is when I was doing good and feeling great. My revised goals had me down to 78, and 10 days ago, that's where I was, and I was aiming for the 77 or even 76 this round. This morning I was back up at 82. So dumb!  I need to target that feeling again. It's just 5 more days this round, that's easy! Lets finish this round on a roll!

Week 12 Food & Exercise Plan

Day 74 - Almost There

Well I've had a pretty fabulous week. I'm down to the lowest so far today (78.9) and am feeling great! I've done quite a lot of exercise over the past week, and I've also been SO much better with my eating. It has probably helped that I've hardly drunk as well. Also just realised that 78 was my updated goal for this round (which I reset last week), and looks like if I keep on as I am I will easily get there. Just need to keep it through Australia Day! I'm going to now aim for low 77 or even high 76.

Last weekend I did the SSS on Saturday which was massive! I worked so hard at it. Then on Sunday I did my trail run which was incredibly hard! The first 5-6 kms felt great. I was going fast but was managing it well. The last 1.5 kms however is a completely different story... it was all up and down and very uneven. I ended up having to walk a lot of the ends and was exhausted at the end. I think next time I definitely need to start out a little slower! Or maybe do some training beforehand! Regardless I still enjoyed it, especially the dip in the dam at the end which felt amazing! Would be nice next time to maybe have some people I know to do it with as felt a little lonely.

Sunday afternoon we went up to Whale Beach to see my sister and her kids and had a lovely afternoon, even though I was shattered. The beach was so nice, and the weather perfect! On the way home though my throat started to feel scratchy and on Monday morning I woke up with the worst sore throat I've had in a very long time! I was gutted as I really don't want to be sick! Luckily after staying home and quiet on Monday I didn't actually get too sick. I'm a bit snuffly and blocked, but the sore throat has gone, and today and yesterday I was able to do my exercises again. The good thing is that I didn't let myself go off the rails too much, and managed to continue losing weight through the weekend and also through being sick.

Also, we've found a house to move into! Yay! No more apartment for us. And that means we can get a dog and a cat. Super excited! We get the keys on Monday and I can't wait. It's all happened really fast. I really don't want to be at work. We have so much packing and organising to do before we can move. Also we're going away this weekend which will be fun, but will also mean even more stress about packing.

Basketball today at lunch time for the first time at work. Will be interesting to see how I go. I'm quite tired from playing a fill in game last night, and also weights workouts this morning and yesterday. I also have my own team basketball game tonight.

Revisiting My Goals

Time to take another look at my goals and update for the last 4 weeks of this round. I think I need to set more realistic goals as I haven't really met any of them. If you look at my current weight I haven't lost anything since the end of last round. I do feel a LOT fitter though, and Christmas has been in the middle. The lightest I've been this round (for one day!) was 79.5. Other than that I've mainly floated around the 81 mark with a couple of leaps back up into 83. Need to keep focussed for this last three weeks and I think I can get properly into under 80s. And then I'm signing up for another round to try get to my real goal weight.

	TIME	DATE	WEIGHT	INCREMENTAL	TOTAL CHANGE
ACTUAL PROGRESS
Sign Up Weight		14 Jul 2013	92
Start Round 3 2013	4 Weeks	10 Aug 2013	90.4	-1.6	-1.6
End Round 3 2013	12 Weeks	3 Nov 2013	81.7	-8.7	-10.3
Current (week 9 Round 4)	8 Weeks	10 Jan 2014	81.8	+0.1	-10.2
FUTURE GOALS
End Round 4 2013	3 Weeks	2 Feb 2014	78	-3.8	-14
Week 4	4 Weeks		75	-3	-17
Week 8	4 Weeks		72	-3	-20
End Round 1 2014	12 Weeks	4 April 2014	70	-2	-22

Day 61 - And I'm Back!

Ok, I'm now officially back into this. Had a fabulous day yesterday and kept my eating under control as well as doing a good amount of exercise with both a core workout in the morning, and then basketball last night. I'm feeling so much better today, and already the scales are showing it. It's not just dehydration either as I drank so much water yesterday and last night.

Basketball last night ruled. We won and I really enjoyed it. I'm playing so much better than I ever have. Just imagine how much better I will be once I've lost more weight and am even fitter! By the end of the game last night my legs were definitely close to giving out!

This morning I got up and went for a (quite pathetic) run. It was really hard as my legs were so tired and didn't want to go. I had planned to do a fitness fat burner with the gully sprints, but I was just too tired. I still managed to do over 300cals though by the time I added in my planks for this week challenge (total of 40mins!). My stomach was so sore last night - I couldn't work out whether it was a sore tummy or due to all the planks and yesterdays core workout. It's still pretty sore this morning, but I think it's muscular now.

On another topic... over the holidays my sister was telling me about this new diet that some people she knows are doing - 5:2. Basically it's 2 non-consecutive days of fasting a week (~500 cals), and normal eating on the other days. I'm not sure about it, but it sounds similar to our Tighten Up Tuesdays, though far more extreme. I'm thinking I might give it a go, but maybe not to the full extent. Instead try keep to around 900cals on Tues and Thurs, and the others at 1200. We'll see what happens!

Also, I'm going to re-jig my goals today. There's unfortunately no way I will hit the 72kgs by the end of this round, so I'm going to adjust to something achievable and then do another round to get down there. It's so silly as I know I can do it, and I do so well for a few days then royally stuff up! I'm planning on having a really good weekend and next week, and hopefully that should bump me back down under 80, then I can just continue from there. I can do it!

Day 60 - Back on Track

Ok I'm feeling much better and like I'm back on track today. Ended up having a pretty abysmal afternoon and evening yesterday. Had a full list of things I was going to do (see yesterdays post), and ended up not doing many of them at all! When Greg picked me up from the station I was so tired and grumpy (excuses!) and on the way to the supermarket we both decided we felt like pasta (which wasn't on the menu). One thing led to another and before I knew it we were out to dinner yet again! At least we didn't overeat too badly, and I didn't drink much. And we still went to the supermarket after dinner.

This morning I finally got up to my alarm after ignoring it the past few days, and did my core workout. I didn't think it was that bad, but I can really feel my tummy muscles starting to complain now! For the rest of the day I have been good as well - oats, berries & yoghurt for breakfast, vegemite & cottage cheese wrap for snack, cupcake quiche for lunch (which I made when we got home last night) and just had celery & hummus for my afternoon snack. I've been drinking loads of water and am feeling so much better for it too! Just wish it didn't make me need to go to the bathroom so often!

We're having peri chicken salad tonight which should be tasty, then I have basketball. Looking forward to the scales being back on the downward trend tomorrow!

Oh - also just discovered that I can do the trail run I want to do as it's this weekend, not next (we're away golfing next weekend). Yay! Now just need to convince Greg I have time to do it as we also want to play golf. Hmmm... wonder if I can do a 7km trail run and then play golf in the afternoon or if I will be too tired! Good excuse at least to not drink too much or stay out too late with the basketball girls if our gathering happens on Saturday.

Day 59 - Why Can't I Control My Urges?

So dumb. Was so full of good intentions yesterday after reading the forums and posting here, then when I was putting away the Christmas decorations at work yesterday afternoon I found a few mini choc bars left over from our party. I wasn't going to eat them, but then caved after Greg called suggesting we have a bottle of bubbles and go out for dinner. I initially said no, but the seed had been planted, and somehow that lead to eating crap on the way home then the bubbles (which were delicious) and the dinner out (which was also delicious). It's so hard to find a balance. I love going out for dinner with Greg. We have such a good time and enjoy it so much. It's our relaxation time and a time we can chat freely to each other about anything.

We had a big chat last night about our plans for this year, whether we're going to have babies, whether we're going to buy a house etc. No decisions made except that we both need to get in better shape. We've put a deadline on it - by the end of Feb we need to be healthy enough to start trying for kids if that is our decision. And if it's not our decision then at least we will be in better shape and ready to look into buying a house and continuing our awesome life! Whichever way we go, there does need to be some drastic changes in our mind sets. I think I need to go back and watch some of the videos and get my head back into the game. I've done nothing but eat the last 8 days, and haven't done any exercise yet this week and it's already Wednesday!

Somehow we need to change our lives so that we can continue to enjoy the things we like (eating, drinking, going out for dinner etc), but still stay healthy and save money. Moderation I think is the key. And self control and discipline. We need to set ourselves some guidelines and stick to them.

So... this evening's action plan for me:

• Now: Amend my eating plan and shopping list for this week seeing as we went out for dinner last night
• 4:30: Leave work by 4:30 
• 5:00: Go straight to the supermarket after work
• 6:00: Unpack groceries when I get home and help Greg get started on dinner
• 6:30: Head out the door for a run by 6:30 - 15min run, 10x gully sprints, jog home
• 7:15: Do first lot of planks after run - aim for 4 mins
• 7:30: Shower and dinner
• 8:00: 1 hour of Ski club work :(
• 9:00: Second lot of planks followed by relaxation time with Greg
• 10:00: Bed by 10pm
• 11:00: Lights out before 11pm

And tomorrow morning I AM going to get up and do the core workout before work. I will enjoy it, and my core is an area I need to focus on. It will also get me set up for the day. I CAN DO THIS!

Day 58 - Picking Myself Up and Starting Again

Christmas Day Prawn Salad

Christmas Day Roast Pork 

Time to give myself a swift kick in the pants and get back into this! Had a lovely Christmas break with the family. Did plenty of exercise, but once again let myself down on the eating front. Started off ok, but just got steadily worse. There were a lot of "red flag days" including Greg's parents bday party, Christmas day, Boxing day family party, New Years Eve and My Birthday. I would have been happy if it was just those days I overate on, but it wasn't. Basically any chance I had to get food I took. Sneaking chocolates, having a jam sandwich with the niece and nephew (even though I'd just had breakfast), butter and jam on toast (right after bacon and eggs), cheese and crackers, seconds for dinners and lots of desserts. Not to mention the drinking. I don't think I was hungry once the entire time!

Luckily on the first day I saw a sign advertising body combat classes outside the fire station, so day 2 saw me there at 7:45 ready to go! The classes were good, and were my saviour! I worked really hard at them and totally enjoyed the body combat and the little bit of GRIT thrown in. I'm thinking I might have to see if Fitness First has them, or even start martial arts again as it was so fun! In the 10 days at the beach I managed 5 classes, went for one awesome run, and played lots of golf (mostly with a cart so not much exercise). Also did a pilates and run in Auckland before the beach.

So exercise wise I was fine! It was just the eating and drinking that I let myself down on - as usual. But now it's time to nip it in the bud. I've had a crap morning - maccas for breakfast, followed by croissant and mini pizza. So bad! I've been reading through the Michelle Bridges forums now though and am feeling motivated again. I can do this! This morning was a write off, but that's past now and there is not much I can do about it except pick myself up and get going properly! Before I went into the forums I was planning to keep my binge going and find something crap for lunch and read my book. Instead I've been productive and I've made a plan and a shopping list, and am not going to eat again until dinner (no need as I am so stuffed full!). I've got my full water bottle on my desk (2nd one for today!) and every time I think of eating I will take a big swig.

That's actually one thing I have noticed. If I look back at all the times I've binged or even just over eaten, there is no water bottle in sight. Not sure if it's when I drink lots of water that I don't feel the need to scoff, or whether it just replaces the need. Either way, I need to remember to keep drinking that water! And if I don't have a water bottle then do something about it!

The holiday was mostly lovely. Matarangi beach is pretty nice, and the weather was typical NZ with a few sunny days, lots of clouds and a couple of rainy days. I was good with the sun cream for once and didn't get burnt except for my ears which I forgot to put sun cream on when we played golf! My sister's kids are gorgeous but such trouble and so noisy! It wasn't the most relaxing holiday as we were woken up early every morning, andmy niece took an absolute liking to poor "Greggy" and wouldn't leave him alone. Every time he was around she wanted to hang off him so he didn't get much peace and quiet. He loved it and hated it at the same time - said it was special, but also annoying! We all thought it was pretty cute.

It was super nice to have both my family and Greg's around, but also a lot of hard work as we were a bit torn between the two. I think next time it might be better to do it separately. Although we did have a couple of lovely times with both families together, and my sister's kids loved Greg's sister's 1 year old. They were adorable with her.

We played loads of golf, 4 or 5 rounds at Matarangi, plus a couple in Auckland before we went. So glad we took our clubs in the end as it actually was pretty easy and saved us quite a bit of money. I played with mixed success. To being with I was ok, but as soon as anyone was watching, or there was any pressure I started over thinking it and I sucked! One thing that did improve was my chipping. I definitely am now better at hitting that more consistently. Though I still need to work on my distance! I'm really looking forward to getting back to the driving range as my driving needs some work. Not sure what's going on, but I just can't seem to hit with it any more!

Teeing off on the second at Matarangi. Pretty good backdrop!

Week 9 Exercise & Food Plan