My 12WBT Journey

Tuesday, 7 January 2014

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!

Monday, 6 January 2014

Week 9 Exercise & Food Plan

Friday, 13 December 2013

Day 33 - Been a Little Slack...

Well, I've been a little slack recently with posting. Things have just been busy, and I've been a bit disheartened with how I've been going. My exercise has mainly been on track, but my eating has been a little out of control. Time to get it back together!

This week is totally full of red flags. Team dinner last night, work Christmas party and leaving party for friends tonight and Chadmas tomorrow night. Going to do my best to come out of it unscathed. Survived through last night fairly well considering how much I drank, and surprisingly was feeling ok this morning. Didn't do my planned workout this morning (mainly as I was tired and body sore), but went for a walk / jog and it felt good to be outside in the lovely weather.

Our weekend away at The Vintage was awesome! Our golf improved so much and we're both really enjoying playing. We played at Lane Cove on Wednesday and driving range as well (it was a massive day cos I also did a workout with sprints through the gully in the morning!). I got a par on the little par 3 down the hill which felt awesome, and did the most incredible drive on #5. I also was hitting balls so well at the driving range. Can't wait to go again!

I'm looking forward to a glass of wine. Hurry up clock!

Monday, 9 December 2013

Week 5 Food & Exercise Plan

Friday, 6 December 2013

Week 4 Weigh In & Mini Milestone

Before 12WBT (July 2013): 93kgs
Starting this round: 83.9kgs
Current: 81.5kgs

Since last weigh in: -0.2kgs
This round: -2.4kgs
Total: -11.5kgs

Well, I'm pretty happy with my fitness test. Knocked another 30 seconds off my 1km! And equaled or bettered everything else.

I had a smoking week 3, nailing both eating and exercise the best yet in this round or the last, but this week hasn't been so great. Last Friday I was under 80kgs! Then climbed all the way back to 84 early this week. So stupid! Need to keep it under control and have weeks like last week. I felt so good - strong, fit and also trim. No bloated belly! At least my cms have gone down pretty much everywhere except boobs (which I'm all good with!) and arms. My arms and chest are definitely looking much more toned though. Generally speaking I'm happy and looking forward to dropping another couple kgs in the next two weeks before xmas. Need to be well under 80kgs - I can do it!

Day 26 - TGIF

Well this week has been very up and down. The weekend away was fabulous, but having that McDs on the way home totally screwed with me, and I haven't really been on track since. I've been exercising ok, but not with the same frequency or intensity as last week. I was mostly happy with my fitness results as they are definitely an improvement over the last, however my weight hasn't moved much. I have two weeks until I head home for Christmas - that's two weeks to get everything into line so I can manage over the break and not succumb to temptations. It's going to be hard, but I can do it! I know I can! I just need to make the decision, and then keep making that decision!

Played basketball last night and I was on fire! Got 22 rebounds and 12 points, and that put me at 35% efficiency! Pretty stoked with that :) It definitely helped that the other team were mainly shorties, but also I just played well. Feeling much fitter and easily lasted the majority of the game.

Seeing as we had so much fun last weekend, we're heading away again this weekend for golf. This time to The Vintage in Hunter Valley. I'm so looking forward to it! I think it will be a step above Riverside Oaks, both the course and especially the accommodation. It has a pool too so looking forward to a swim. The weather is looking good - 26 tomorrow and 30 on Sunday. Just need today to hurry up and finish so I can leave! We have a kitchen so have made a good plan food wise, and also have ingredients in the fridge for an easy dinner on Sunday night, so no excuses this time around!

Playing Golf with the Kangas last weekend at Riverside Oaks

Wednesday, 4 December 2013

Day 24 - Fits & Spurts

We had a great time last night with friends over. Cooked delicious beef ribs with parsnip puree / mash and an eggplant, feta, mint and rocket salad. Yum! Oh, and had some cheese to start, prawns for an entree and icecream with choc sauce for dessert. It was so delicious, but I ate WAY too much. And drank a far amount of amazing wine too. It was good fun, but not good for me! We have so much beef left over I think it will be beef for the next couple nights too. I'm thinking beef pie, and maybe a beef pizza hehe

I had a fabulous start to this morning by nailing my run which was much needed after all of that last night. 25mins jog followed by 20mins of running up and down the "gully" near our house which has loads of stairs. It was hard work, but felt great! I managed to get through 10 times. Then jogged home for the final blast. My legs were so shaky when I got home!

After this morning's start though it didn't go so well. I brought some left over salad for lunch, but didn't eat it, opting instead to buy a chicken caesar wrap, which wasn't even all that nice. I so should have eaten my salad!

Hoping to get to either Lane Cove or the driving range tonight. We booked another golf weekend away this weekend, to Hunter Valley this time and I'm so looking forward to it! Need to get some practise in before then though.

Tuesday, 3 December 2013

Day 23 - Getting Back Into It

Well, had a fantastic week last week, and a great weekend. I ended the week under 80kgs (79.2 to be exact) which is the first time I've been there in ages! Was feeling so good, and so proud of myself. I worked out really hard, and ate so well, no major slip ups all week. Even on the weekend away I was good. There was a buffet breakfast, and I was so restrained. No sweet pastries and no pancakes either!

Then on Sunday on the way home we were exhausted and we stopped for McDonalds. Big mistake! Somehow it completely changed my mindset, and I ate loads, then when we got home had a really big burrito for dinner too. So stupid! Then I let it continue on Monday. I didn't get up and do my workout and I just ate crap all day. I put all that weight back on :(

Enough feeling bad and sorry for myself though. I've done it, it was stupid, but I can still recover and continue. Yes it's set me back but that's no reason to keep eating crap. It's even more reason to go hard! Only 2.5 weeks until I'm back in NZ and although I'm, unlikely to hit my goal of 74, I can still lose those kgs again and get well and truly under 80 and feel so much better. I can and I will do this! It's going to be hard but I want it. Why do I want it? Because I want to be able to enjoy my holiday feeling fit and looking great, and feeling amazing about my accomplishments and how far I've come. I want to take this mindset into my holiday and ensure I come out of it still feeling good, and ready to continue 100%.

So, now I have that out of my system... more about our weekend. It was awesome! We went to Riverside Oaks to "stay and play". We got there after dark on Friday evening and pretty much crashed. On Saturday morning I opened the curtains and was greeted with a lovely view of the golf course and hundreds of kangaroos! They were everywhere, and were super cute. There were loads of baby ones too and we even saw some joeys poking their heads (or legs!) out of mummy's pouch. So amazing!

I had planned to do my SSS on Sat morning, but I started and Greg mentioned maybe I should do something a little easier as we had 18 holes of golf to play in the afternoon. Although I really wanted to do it I did end up agreeing with him and just went for a little run. It was the right choice, as I was exhausted by the end of the day. And on the run I got to be outside in the sunny weather and see even more kangaroos!

Poor little turtle on the plastic in our car

We went for a drive into Wisemans Ferry to get some golf supplies (cider and bubbles!) on Sat morning, and on the way Greg suddenly cried out and slowed down real quick. I had no idea what was going on until he said "there's a turtle on the road". Not what I was expecting him to say... Anyway we picked up the poor little guy who promptly wee'd on my leg and tried to work out what to do with him. We ended up putting him in the car and taking him with us. We finally found a cop and asked him what we should do and he said to just put him back! Apparently they are quite a common occurrence. We felt a bit stupid, but I'm glad we didn't leave him on the road to get squashed. We took him back and put him safely on the side of the road where we found him. Poor guy, but think of the story he now has to tell his kids about his adventure!

The actual playing of golf was loads of fun. We didn't play great, but didn't play terribly either. And the course is so pretty. It was loads of fun hooning around in the golf buggy, especially once we opened the bubbles! On the Sunday we decided we should have a lesson and I'm super glad we did. The guy was awesome and gave us loads of tips. I didn't play as well after it, as I was trying all the new things, but I think my swing path has definitely improved. Also the guy said that I could be amazing! Mostly due to my body size I think - tall and lots of power! He reckons if I get into it properly I can win all the ladies competitions which would be awesome.

Last night we went to the driving range to practise what he told us. I started off terribly, but kept persevering and I'm glad I did. I ended up hitting my 7 iron pretty well, and my driver got better too. I'm really looking forward to getting back there to keep trying - wish we could go tonight but we have friends over for dinner.