February Challenge completed

Missed my target this month by 2.2kg...doh.....not to worry...February is a very stressful month work wise so that the fact that I lost anything at all is 100% on previous years....roll on March.



SW: 121.6
CW: 120.2
GW: 118.00

Total losses: -1.4

wk4: -1.2
wk3: -0.8
wk2: +0.6
wk1: 0

Week 25 WI

The scales where very kind today reporting a loss of 1.2kg bringing my total to 21.6kg – very happy with that result. I did work hard this week by stepping up the intensity of the exercise and tracked all week. I am now only 300g off my next goal of getting under 120kg – looking forward to being in the teens next week..

This week was quite challenging the volume of work is still very high which pushes the stress levels up – I have maintained my focus by not using food as my coping mechanism and instead I have been exercising every night (and a couple of morning when I can’t sleep!) to help relieve the tension from the day and start to wind down – so far so good.

When I become overwhelm I do two things EAT and SPEND money – as we all know both do provide relief in the moment but once the moment has passed you are right back where started with some extra…..yesterday I was having a particular bad day really not feeling good about myself – the old failure feeling where starting to creep back in and I found myself on the web considering signing up for yet another weight loss type programme – why you ask when I am doing really well with WW – well last night I started to ask myself the same questions, then came to the conclusion that I was slipping back into old habits and just looking for a distraction from the current issues at work. I have promised myself that I will not make any internet purchase unless I have sat on it for at least 24 hours especially when it comes to anything to with weight loss and exercise equipment…(you should see my shed and book shelf!!!!) – this morning I decided that I have a very good plan that is working very well so why change it – then I hopped on the scales to a 1.2kg loss which just reinforce that I am doing just fine with my current plan.

Treadmill…grrrr

After reporting that my treadmill is back in action it’s broken again yesterday (Sunday) – NOT HAPPY JAN!!! The treadmill was repaired last Thursday and Sunday was the first day that we had a chance to give it a descent run. When I started I felt that the matt was still slipping it really did not feel right – my friend tried it and said that it seemed fine to her – I continued on and notice that the speed on the display was dropping out and then it felt like the treadmill got faster suddenly – after about 10mins I stopped as I felt that something was not right. My friend then jumped on and started working and felt that the matt was OK – the speed was still dropping in out then all of a sudden it stopped – without warning or slowing down came to a sudden halt – it almost sent my friend flying. I was not happy.

So today I made several phone calls expressing how totally dissatisfied I was with the treadmill and that I can’t believe that after waiting 2 months for it to be repaired that it is broken again….just days after the motor was replaced the main bolt that holds one of the arms in place….they are now trying to tell me that this is a different problem to the original one and we need to log a new service call – ……WT#….I paid $4000 for a treadmill that I have barely used for 3 months and then they try and tell me that this problem has nothing to do with the previous problem - its just bad luck!!! And of course they used the standard line “we never had a problem with this treadmill before” give me a break…I work in IT we use this line on a daily basis….I am feeling very frustrated at the moment and needed to vent…

Week 24 WI…..on the down hill slide

Well are after a very short dry spell I am happy to report a loss of 800g this week, bring my total to 20.4kg – very happy to have my 20kg backs. I have to admit that on Wednesday I was a bit disappointment – so far this month (Feb) I have only lost 200g  – I am not sure why I though that I could redeem myself and lose 2.7kg which is what I needed in order to be on track to hit my Feb target! I had dinner with a couple of friends on Wednesday night who were both very surprised and very impressed by how much I have lost in a relatively short time frame – it really lifted me and reminded me to focus on the big picture – another friend also reminded that you need to live too - 20.4kg is nothing to be disappointed about.

As I mentioned before the stress at work is very high at the moment (just that time of the year!) – it has been a struggle but I am definitely finding other means to handle the stress than heading for the food – I have had one break down with food the other week but that is it!! I have been keeping myself very focus on the goals at hand, exercising each night (a couple of nights really pounding the pavement) and doing quite a lot of deep breathing to help me wind down and get to sleep at a reasonable hour – I am pretty impressed with my progress so far – probably got about another two weeks left of the peak and I am feeling very confident that I can manage it though.

I have some great news my treadmill is finally fixed – after 2 months the parts and the fix it man arrived and it is as quiet as a mouse now – I did not release just how noisy it was before – looking forward to getting back into some solid cardio work with my iFit – I have missed Rhonda…

My current goal is to go under 120kg which means that I have another 1.5kg to go - I plan on stepping up the exercise this week to achieve this goal by the end of Feb!!!

Boot camp & stress update

Just though I would give a quick update on my boot camp and where I am at the moment.

I have now completed 4 weeks of boot camp and I have to say that I love it!!! Did I say that out loud….lol…..Each week we are presented with new exercise working muscle that have probably been dormant for many years. Each sessions starts off with a “jog” – each time I try and push myself just a little bit further – my goal each week is to be able to jog to the next lamp post – so far so good…the whole jogging thing is really quite uncomfortable - I do feel like there are bits still moving well after I have stopped……I must be a site for sore eyes….there are a lot of beautiful people at the beach at that time of the morning and I do feel quite ridiculous but never the less I will keep pushing through as soon I will be one of those beautiful people!!! LMAO - OK you can stop laughing now….

The exercises are really great as they are exercise that I just simply would not do at home on my own or even with a friend. You do tend to push yourself when are in a group environment – I would highly recommend it to anyone that is thinking about it.

Last Friday I did arrive at boot camp with my energy levels running very low – I am under a lot of stress at the work which is quite emotional exhausting so I did have to drag myself along – I just kept on telling myself that this is exactly what I need to relieve the stress and rebuild my energy levels – and it did exactly that – I arrived at worked feeling like I could take on the huge amount of work that we have at this time of the year and my energy levels soared.

I have been struggling with the stress at the work and the temptation to eat my way through it again - especially after last Tuesday breakdown - it has been hard to fight to off - I have stayed strong and every time I have been tempted to hit the lunch bar I have reminded myself that there is nothing in that lunch bar that will solve the amount of work we have – once I have eaten all that saturated fat the work will still be there and I will feel like crap and then the circle begins – how do you stop a cycle? Don’t start it! That is exactly what I have been focusing on over the last week. I have also made sure that I have tracked everyday, exercise, kept my water intake up and probably the most important is SLEEP – I starting working very long hours and sleeping only a few – bad combination. I am feeling good and feeling that I am defiantly on the right track for a very successful week – I am craving a loss – have not seen one for 2 weeks!!.

Week 23 WI – doh…..

For the second consecutive week you will notice that there is nothing bold in large fonts – that is because I had a gain (gee it kills me to even write it!!) this week of +600g… bringing my total losses back to 19.6kg – quite guttered about being back under the 20kg mark….

OK so here goes the justification for the gain – last week my friend L turned 40 years old, we have known each since we were 16 years old…more than half our lives…..her husband phoned me a couple weeks ago and asked if we (myself and other old friend) would go to Port Hedland for her surprise 40th…..so of course we went – flue out on Friday Morning and returned on Sunday lunch time – no kids – was really great to have total adult time all weekend (she does have a couple of kids but they pretty much take care of themselves these days). Friday night was the party which consisted of quite a lot of beer, vodka & yoga bombs (I hope that correct) – I did also drink quite a lot of water (just though this would help my cause..) followed by platters of meat and samboy chips….. where I really fell down was the last time I ate was on the plane in the morning and I had a couple of handful of rice crackers later in the afternoon – so by the time we arrived at the party, we were drinking on empty stomaches. I was quite nervous as I had not seen my friend for a few years and did not know any of their friends at the party so I probably drank a little faster than I should have….. then the food come out and I was starving and in desperate need to soak up some of the alcohol (as I was already doing the side step and it was only 9pm!)….anyway it was a really great night – L was very surprised and very happy to see us – her friends where great and where all very welcoming.

The rest of the weekend we spent catching up, did a bit of scenic driving, fishing etc…the diet over the Saturday & Sunday was not great to be perfectly honest – I may have had some flavoured chips maybe some barbecue shapes maybe a rather large piece of sponge cake….and possibly something else that I have chosen to forget at this moment. In my own defensive I did drink lots of water (or was the dry horrors….) apart from the cake the savouries where eaten in small quantities – I certainly did not have the attitude that I could go for broke all weekend…I was very aware of what I was eating and that I was choosing to eat those foods. Ohh almost forgot – we did no exercise - I sat on my behind all weekend looking at the treadmill willing it burns some calories without actually getting on it….- I have not done that in several months. When I arrived home on Sunday that night whilst catching up on TBL I was doing my stepping and stretching exercise – I had gone into damage control. It was a great weekend so it was all worth it…

The part where I am disappointment at myself is after the weekend – work at the moment is extremely stressful – standard for this time of the year so not unexpected – yesterday (Tuesday) it did all get a bit much for me – so instead of practicing my breathing that has worked very well in the past or going and speaking to my boss and expressing how very stressed myself and the rest of the team are - which has also worked very well in past (just to be able to vent your frustrating even if nothing happens can make a huge differences!) and I did have a very healthy lunch in fridge - but I chose to neither of those options instead chose to go to the Japanese place and order Katsu Chicken & Rice (basically Fried chicken with steamed rice) with dumplings (which are steamed!! )…it was very oily and I was over full as it was a much larger serving that what I eat these days…..Then I had a chocolate biscuit later in the afternoon – luckily my dinner was cooking in the slow cooker so the evening was OK.

I was really down on myself for not using any of techniques that I have been working on for several months that I have proven to work but instead I ate – did the food take the pressure away NO – did it make me feel better once I had finished – NO – was it worth the 600g gain – NOT AT ALL….

When I arrived at my meeting today I was feeling quite down on myself – the meeting today was all about heart disease – it was a great topic and it reminded me on why I am doing this – it is not just about wearing a great pair of jeans one day it is all about saving my health and my life…that is why I am doing this….This is all part of the learning process on this journey – we are human after all and we will faultier…that is life…..it is was what we do next that matters…

I think I have gone on for long enough – I am focused, ready to track, drink water and full my body with healthly choices and lots of exercise – I want my 20kgs back now….

Week 22 WI

This week results is a little bit disappointing as you have probably already noticed there is no number in bold and large font - that is because I lost NOTHING this week – I stayed exactly the same. I am not too bother (I am little really as we would all like to record a loss each week!) as I know that it is not through a lack of trying. I did nothing to cause my weight loss to stop so I am sure it will start to move again next week – I have had some really great losses over the last few weeks – it is all good.

I read on someone blog or on the WW boards that (sorry if you are reading this and it is you!) that when watching the biggest loser they were going to exercise instead of sitting on the coach. I decided that is a great idea and that is what I have starting do as well.
On Monday (I was too tired on Sunday so I folded the washing instead..) I got my stepper and hand weights out and stepped for 30mins and then did about 20mins of floor exercises (as it was 1 hour show).
On Tuesday I did 20mins of stepping and had to cut it short by 10mins as I went for a walk (my neighboured showed up earlier than expected).
I was feeling great and really motivated until I woke up on Wednesday morning to find that my calf muscle are absolutely caning me – I mean really really sore – I pulled up with no pain on Tuesday so I figured I good to go but the pain found me today……
Today is Wednesday and so far I have not watch TBL which means I have not done my stepping (I don’t normally exercise on a Wednesday anyway as I go to my parents for dinner)…I am quit relieved – hopefully by tomorrow (Thursday) night they will have eased ready for the next round!

Compliments, compliments, compliments...

You have got to love it when people start to notice your weight loss.

On Saturday I went to my friend’s parent’s 40th wedding anniversary - I have known her parents since we were kids.

A number of people at the party I have not seen for a few months all commented on my weight loss - told me how great I was looking....I was feeling very pleased with me.

A few people at work have also started to comment - one girl (who I am very good friends with) even said that it looked it is dropping off me now (she has listen to me complain for years!!).

My friend asked if a couple of us could assist with the preparation and serving of the food for the night (so the oldies could sit back enjoy themselves). I decided before I went that this was not going to be a problem for me, I control the food and I will chose what I want eat with careful consideration (I did eat prior to arriving to ensure that I was not starving). There was some really great food - I stayed well clear of most of it except 2 x paper rolls and this little gourmet savoury cake (very small but very nice..). I also chose not have any desert as the though of the amount of exercise I would need to do to burn it off was just not worth it...

The food was really good but I really was not tempted by any of it – normally when I am at these types of events I struggle with the food all the night and I end up feeling quite deprived and a bit angry that I can't just merrily eat away like everyone else. When the next day arrives I am generally still feeling quite ripped off about the food and I generally crumble…and start eating..

On Saturday night I really just did not want to eat any of it – it was not a struggle - the compliments I was receiving about how good I was looking were far better than any little pastry there....

To great friends....

I would like to dedicate this post to two very good friends of mine who have both suffered losses in their families this past week.

M I have known since we were 11years – her husband loss his brother quite suddenly last week. 

N who I have known since we were 13 years, lost her father on Sunday.

There losses will leave a large gap within their families.   My heart goes out to you both and your families at this time, you are in constantly in my thoughts, if I could take away a bit of the pain I would….as I can’t all I can do is send my love to you both.