5:2

I watched a documentary the other night about this doctors quest to find a way of eating that would lower his cholesterol and such.  He eventually came up with a program he called 5:2.  It's where you pretty much eat what you want for 5 days of the week and then 'fast' for 2 non consecutive days.  The 'fast' is actually eat reduced calories - around 1/4 of what you would normally eat.

I did some research of blogs etc and found many people do this are living well on it.  One blog even has a whole list of meals for under 500 cals listed.  I have ordered the book on it from my local library too.

I think this may be a doable thing.  So today - Sunday - I am having my first fast day.  I am going to watch a calisthenics concert later this afternoon/early evening.  So I am going to have eggs and bacon for a late breakfast and then a roll and some strawberries for dinner.

I am hungry now - having not yet had breakfast.  I will try to blog about my experience here.

I weighed myself on Monday morning and then again on Wednesday.  Monday I was 106.1 and Wednesday I was 105.4 (and that was after having had breakfast but also after having been to the toilet).  Thursday a friend commented on how good I looked and asked what I had lost.  Yesterday I posted 2 pics of myself on FB.  One was 12 months ago at a function,

the other was 1 year later in the same dress taken at home.   The dress positively swims on me.

It's moments like these that make you feel good....

So sick of this yo-yo-ing

The last few weeks have seen my weight go up and down, up and down.

I am tired of it.

I know the cause of it all - bad eating.

I know how to stop it - better eating.

So yesterday I sat down and actually wrote out a weekly menu plan for myself.  Considering I usually have the same or similar things for breakfast and lunch, it wasn't that hard.  This meal plan caters to my tastes and my style of needing something to eat quickly.  I really hate having to take ages to prepare a meal - unless it is for a special occasion and there's none of them around.

Now all I have to do is follow the plan and watch portion sizes.

Breakfasts will be either Berry Bruschetta or cereal with scrambled eggs on the weekend.

Morning snacks will be fruit.

Lunch will be a sandwich, homemade vegetable soup or a treat on the weekend ie pancakes.

Afternoon snack will be nuts or a muesli bar.

Dinner will come from either 12wbt or my Symply Too Good cook books and will alternate between beef/lamb and chicken.  We don't eat a lot of fish - not really a fan of the taste.

There will also be dessert - a yogurt or something from the Symply Too Gook books (but only once or twice a week).

I have even got little boxes on the plan for water intake.  Maybe, just maybe, having to tick off a box will encourage me to drink more water.

I have also written on the plan what exercise to do each day.  Again alternating with cardio (walking the block) and toning stuff. 

Once I get to under 100kgs I will start going to the pool to exercise - but I need to get a routine fixed in my head for that.  I'm told there's plenty of youtube videos that can help in that respect.

So plan is printed - now to stick it on the fridge.

yay a loss

About time I had a decent loss - if you call 700 grams decent.  Which I do by the way.  My usual losses are around 2-300 grams.

Last week at weigh in I was back to where I was at the start of this round - so disappointing.  But I know where I went wrong and that's a good thing.  Hopefully I won't do the same thing again - at least not too soon.

On Friday I managed to walk for around 1.5 hours shopping with the youngest.  She needed (according to her) a new dress for a 21st she was going to that night.  We did have Devonshire tea with milk shake for lunch - oops.

Then on Saturday I was helping out the calisthenic club move their costumes from storage bay to another about 150m away.  90% of the costumes are in full 55 litre plastic tubs, the rest are in suit bags.  Each tub had to taken out of storage, loaded into a car and driven around to the new area.  I don't know how many car loads I did but it was a lot.  I do know that I did nearly all of it.  Another lady did 2 cars loads and I did the rest. 

I had decided Friday night to wear my HRM just to see how many cals I would burn.  It is fairly easy work and I had originally thought I would do 2 hours and no more.  Well I arrived at 9am and left at 3 pm.  The last hour and a half I turned off the HRM as I had slowed down and everything was moved.  On checking the monitor I saw I had burned 1522 cals.  What a Super Saturday Session!!

Then on Sunday whilst getting dressed I had an 'Ah Ha' moment. 

If I could do the things I had done in the past 2 days what is stopping me from walking around the block??  It's only 770m - a mere 1925 steps. 

I thought about this and figured out that it is the distraction of things to look at, a job to do, people to talk to that made it easy.  Yes my knees hurt even with pain killers before hand.  When going for a walk there's just me in my head and I can concentrate on pain.

This is something I have to work on.

After starting Round 3 for 2013

and not really losing much weight, I have decided it's about time I actually got my money's worth and used recipes from the 12wbt site.

I have picked things for each meal from over the past 2 weeks.  Meals like yoghurt and berries for breakfast, ploughman's lunch for lunch (obviously), Bimbap (rice, veges, chicken salad type thingy)for dinner.

Now the only problem will be knowing who is home for dinner and how many times I have to increase the recipe to suit.  I get 1 serve of each of these, but hubby and son should get 1.5 serves, and the girls should get 1.25.  If I serve up the same for the girls then I will have to ensure I have 6 serves according to the recipe - ie tripling most of them.  That's always assuming everyone is home for dinner.  BUT they often only give me a days or less notice that they won't be home - sometimes it is even as I am starting to cook!!

I also used google to measure how far it is around our block - 770 meters.  So with 2 sore knees I am going to start walking - slowly - around the block.  That will be fun.  :(

And I have even written up an exercise plan that I will start to follow.  It's easy but I think it covers most of the major muscles groups - all except for arms.  I may have to include some biceps curls using son's weights.

Wish me luck...... and motivation.......

Today's Lunch

is a bowl of Uncle Toby's Antioxidant cereal with Apple and strawberry puree. and for exercise I did an hour of gardening.  Might go do some solo paddling later....

So much

for daily weighing of myself.  That only happened for about 4 days.  Then I just forgot about it.

Oh well.

Last night at Cali class one of the mum's suggested I attend the group boot camp they got to.  It is done in a friends backyard and is casual for $5 a session.  I will have to think about that.  I'm not too sure my knees will be able to cope.  I should probably seek medical advice about them considering I have to take painkillers everyday......

On another note I rejoined 12wbt for round 3.  I am now down to 105.9 kgs.  That same Mum actually commented on how good I look.  She complained that no one had commented on her weight loss - but then she said she had lost 2 kilos.  Sorry, but 2kilos at your size is a drop in the ocean.  Any wonder no one has noticed.  I'm fairly certain she is not eating low calorie.  I know she goes to boot camp once or twice a week so that will be doing something for her.  But she is using these new-ish wrap things for her weight loss.  Oh and she has started taking a metabolism boosting tablet too.  She probably should be doing it properly - low calorie and exercise 3-4 times a week and use the wraps as a support thing not as her weight loss regime.



Daily Weighing - Good or Not?

I was reading another blog about the owners weight loss journey the other day and they stated that they weigh themselves every morning.  They believe that it keeps them on track with their weight loss and that they now know - since they have been doing it for awhile - what to expect given what they did food/exercise-wise the day before.

I have heard of people doing that - my Dad was one to do it - but I have also heard that it is not a good thing to do.  The nay sayers reckon that you become fixated on what the scales show, and that it is not actually accurate as your body will fluctuate weight-wise each day.  They say it is the overall amount that counts, not the daily amount.

So if it is the overall amount that matters, then why weigh yourself weekly??  Why not do it say monthly?  If you are eating to lose weight and exercising to lose weigh then weighing monthly - or even less frequently - would be ok.  Wouldn't it?

So for the past couple of days I have weighed myself daily.  I have not moved a bit.  But my scales only show weight in 100 gram increments, so maybe I have lost - or gained - less than 50 grams each day and it has yet to register.  But either way I am at 107.3 kilos.  Not bad considering I thought last weeks measurement was a glitch in the scales.  Who loses 1.4kilos after 8 weeks into their program?  When they are doing the exact same thing as what they did a month ago?

Oh my lord, what have I done!!

This past weekend saw me not eat well at all.  Better than some people out there, but still not good when you are trying to lose weight.

I started on Friday night with crap food - fried fish and chips.  Saturday breakfast was cereal, but come lunchtime I was hungry, had nothing good for me in the fridge/freezer/pantry so I resorted to toast.  FOUR slices of it, with heaps of meadowlea and vegemite.  I enjoyed every last bite.  I had to go to the supermarket to get pet food and came home with chocolate and lollies for hubby and chocolate and liquorice bullets for me.  The choc for me was a small 40g bar of mint bubbles.  Actually there were 2 of them but I ate one in the car.  I could hear myself thinking - here I go sneak eating chocolate again.  Dinner was oven fish, veges and left over chips from the night before.  I felt sick after that meal.  Ate half the bullets reading.

Sunday started out ok - cereal and yoghurt for breaky.  Had to eat the yogurt so hubby didn't get it.  For lunch I had a tin of campbells vege soup with 1 tin of baked beans added - shared with hubby - and 2 pieces of toast.  Dinner was pasta with homemade bolognaise sauce.  I had a gin and tonic too.  I have found with gin and tonics that if I mix in a bit of onion juice I get really light headed.  Now G&T don't normally affect me this way, but add in that onion and POW, I am as woozy as if I had drunk 2 bottles of wine to myself.  Finished off the bullets.

Monday was another right of a day.  Breakfast was cereal - so the day started well - lunch was 4 slices of fruit bread and dinner was at 11.30pm (!) and was 4 salada (you know the 4 square large sheets - well 4 of them) with marj and vegemite.  I did have an apple puree too.  Finished off a half eaten pack of Lime and Pepper chips and that choc bubble bar.

I have no idea where this bad food compulsion comes from.  But these last few days I have just given in to it.  Every day I get up and start out ok, but come lunch time and I've been a goner.  I think I have figured out that lunch is my red flag.  If I don't have something quick to serve up (like soup for instance) that's when I head for the crap.  Though finding it is a bit hard now.  I could have a turkey and lettuce and tomato sandwich or wrap - but no I have toast and vegemite.

I used to have what I called a ploughman's lunch - dried biscuits, dried fruit, cheese.  Quick, simple.

So I think I have come to the conclusion that I need to always have soup on hand and have that.  I have had leftovers in the fridge the past week and I haven't even looked at them.  So the suggestion of 'make extra for lunch' hasn't worked.

Before my shower this morning, but after breakfast, I got on the scales to see what damage I had done.  Guess what?  No damage at all.  So I can't even learn from my mistakes and go "oh, I put on weight, I ate bad".  Cause I haven't put on weight.  That is so frustrating.  I would rather have put on weight than still be the same.  URGHH.

I haven't been this light

in over 10 years, probably even more.

This morning I weighed in at 108.5kgs.  That's a 6.5kilo loss since I started his whole process.

This morning I had a yoghurt banana and apple smoothie.  The recipe says it makes 475ml and has 383 cals so I shared with the youngest.  It was a bit gritty and could have done with some sweetening but was ok.  It also needs more milk for my liking.  Too much like a thick shake.  I may buy some frozen mango cheeks and use them in another one.  Surprising 3 hours later I am not hungry.  I thought I would be.

I have just polished off a Mother Earth Baked Oaty bar - the chocolate one.  I love these.  They are higher in cals (at 180) than the Weight Watchers ones, but I figure with having had only approx. 190cals for breakfast I can indulge myself.  I will just have to hide them from hubby.

One thing I have noticed lately is that is get a bit light headed.  Nothing to make me fall over or anything like that, just a slightly drunk feeling.  It doesn't last long and I figure it is my blood sugar levels getting a bit low.  this may have to be something I should keep and eye on.

On a good note though.  I was handing over some costumes last night (I sew for some girls in our Calisthenics club) and 1 of the mum's commented on my weight loss. That makes 3 people so far who have said something.  If only the one who I sleep with would notice and comment too.

I really didn't think I would lose anything this week.  I ate poorly and still have not done any exercise.  Last Thursday hubby and I had 1/4 chicken and chips from the local hot chicken shop.  Whilst I did eat 3/4 of the chips I could only eat 1/3 of the chicken.  Mind you that did include some skin.  I bagged it up and hubby took it to work the next day.  Friday I had a LARGE special fried rice from our noodle shop.  I should have left the last inch as it started to taste oily - yep there was some floating around in the bottom of the container.  At least I think it is oil.  They tend to boil all the meat/veges/noodles and then fry them off in the wok with the seasoning you have asked for.  It could be just excess water but it still tasted oily.  Sometimes with this shop you get no oil on the bottom, sometimes you get a lot.  It really is hit and miss.  I think you get the oil when they are busy (or the lady who usually takes the orders cooks) and last week they were busy.

Most of what I have been cooking for dinner has been from my Symlpy too good to be true cook books.  Last night we had Chicken Mornay (250cals) with steamed vegetables.  There is a serve left over so that can be someone's lunch tomorrow.  Todays lunch will be ham and vegetable soup again.  I may see if the youngest, who will probably share it with me, wants baked beans in it, just to change the flavour a bit.  If she doesn't, then I won't add the beans.

Round 3 is now open for pre-registration.  I will have to think if I will re-join.  I haven't looked at any of the motivational videos in a while and I don't use their recipes much.  Nor do I follow their exercise plan.  I know I said I would but I am letting other things get in the way.  And you know what?  I am happy with that at this stage.  Every day I think of going for a walk but I don't.  I know that if I did exercise I would probably lose more weight than I am; I certainly would be fitter and more toned.  But there are other things I would rather be doing.  Maybe after all the costumes are done I can get my butt into gear.  Having to weigh in each week is helping to keep me on track and I haven't yet had a no drop in weight week.  What's the bet that now that I have put that out there I will do exactly that?  Oh well I have until the end of July to decide.

Wednesday

Today is weigh in day.

So I did.

Weigh in that is.

800 grams lost - woo hoo.  That's a total of 6 kilos since I joined up back in March.

I really did not think I would lose much, if any at all.  I have not exercised at all this week and I have been a bit naughty with what I have been eating. 

Or at least that was what I thought.

If I actually have a good look at my calorie intake I have only gone over the 1200 on one day this week.  And one day I was way under the 1200.

That's probably why I have managed to lose the 800 grams.

Go me.

Tuesday

Hubby is home again today - 4th day in a row.  He woke me up at 2am this morning tossing and letting cold air in under the doona.

I told him if he can't sleep to go sit and watch TV.  He did, leaving me alone to get back to sleep.

Breakfast - granola and milk - 281cals
Lunch - Mexican Chicken stack left overs - yumm - 252cals
Dinner - oven fish and chips - 134cals
Snacks - handful of cashews - 156cals; cake - 200cals

Total: 1023cals

Had nothing planned for dinner so I scrounged around in the fridge and found some I&J beer battered fish that we have had before.  It is really nice and if you oven cook it long enough he coating goes all crispy and the inside is light and fluffy.  Had a look at the pack and was very surprised to see each portion is only 104cals.  Add in some steamed vegs and you have a really low cal meal.  I only ever serve up 1 portion of fish per person, thinking that they are way too heavy on the fats.  Not any more.  I may have to keep this one in mind.  The chips were sliced up fresh potato lightly sprayed with olive oil and baked in the oven along with  the fish.

Monday - Queen's Birthday

Happy Birthday Queen Elizabeth!

Ok, I know her birthday is not today, but today is when we celebrate it.

Breakfast - granola and milk - 281cals
Lunch - got no idea.  That's what happens when you forget to write things down.
Dinner - Mexican Chicken wrap stack - 252cals.  Was supposed to be wraps but the chicken mix was too watery, so I made it into a stack instead.  Oh and I had some salad - 5cals
Snacks - weight watcher bar - 111cals; jarrah hot choc - 57cals

total: 706cals without lunch which would have been around 300 cals; so lets make it a total of 1006cals.

Sunday

Breakfast - Berry Bruschetta - 269cals
Lunch - home made soup - 150cals
Dinner - 150g steak with veges - 253cals
Snack - yoghurt - 70cals; 2 weight watcher bars - 111 cals each

total - 964cals

Wow - that is way under what I should have eaten.  Oops

Sunday is a day off so I didn't exercise.  But then again a day off from what.  It's not like I have exercised this past week anyway.

Saturday

Not much to report about today.

Breakfast - granola with milk - 300cals
Lunch - 3 small scones with left over Lamb casserole - 350cals
Dinner - Spanish chicken topped with potato - 150 cals
Snacks - Weight Watchers bar - 147 cals; Danone yogurt - 160 cals

Total - 1107

Exercise - none

Dinner was really nice even though it was quite spicy.  Hubby did not like it and told me to never make it again.  I kind of agree with him.  I used a McCormicks packet spice mix.  I was supposed to chorizo sausage but didn't.  The packet said as made up 1 serve had 122 cals!!!  I added carrot and zucchini so I was probably still at the 122, but figured I'd err on the side of caution.

Friday

Had to stay home all day today waiting on the solar power guys to come back to finish off and commission our solar installation.

Breakfast - Sanitarium Granola - 261 cals
Lunch - 3 slice raisin toast - 315 cals
Dinner - homemade beef and vege soup (yummo) and 2 savoury scones - 450 cals
Snacks - 1 weight watchers bar - 150 cals, 1 Danone yogurt - 164 cals

Total - 1350 - oops

Exercise none

REally not doing to good with the exercising.  I think about doing it everyday, I just don't do it.

Wednesday

Hubby home sick with a cold.  I hate it when people are sick.  They take up my space and annoy the hell out me just because they are in the lounge room with the TV blaring.  I'd swear he is going deaf!!

Breakfast - Apple yourhut granola (again, I quite like this) - 287 cals
Lunch - Berry Bruschetta and 1/5 a carrot - 275 cals
Dinner - Lamb curry and veges - 295 cals
Snacks-  weight watcher bar - 150 cals, Jarrah hot choc - 57 cals

Total - 1064 cals

No exercise.

Thursday

Hubby is home again today.  Hate the way he invades my days...

Breakfast - cereal with milk and Danone Greek style yoghurt - 340 cals
Lunch - 2 eggs, 3 lean short cuts of bacon - 273 cals.
Dinner - hamburger - 400 cals
Snack - weight watchers bar - 155 cals

total - 1168

No exercise.

Tuesdays food

What a boring title to a post.  Really must think of something else to call them.

Breakfast - Fruit and Yoghurt Granola - 287 cals
Lunch - 6 Premium Biscuits and 4 slice low fat cheese (Boooooring) - 350 cals (and so not worth it calorie wise)
Dinner - Lamb steaks with roast pumpkin and beans - 267 cals (a 12wbt idea but without the feta or the pine nuts)
Snacks - Jarrah hot choc - 57 cals; 1 slice of CAKE - 250 cals

Total - 1211

Exercise - NONE

Should do something about that last bit.  There are no valid reasons why I did not do any, just could not get my arse into gear.

Mind you the solar guys were here doing the last of the installation.  4.5kw system is now installed on our roof and will be commissioned on Friday.  So can they be my reason????

Mondays food

Breakfast - 2 slice whole grain toast with a smidge of marg and some vegemite - 259 cals
Lunch - 2 eggs scrambled with some shredded ham - 230 cals
Dinner - spaghetti bolognaise - 350 cals
Snacks - weight watcher's bar - 90 cals; forme yoghurt - 70 cals; 1 piece of slice - 200 cals

1199 cals  in total.

Exercise - old video, 20 minutes = 90 cals burned

To get back on track

I will post here what I have been eating, it's calorie count and any exercise that I do.  With some planning I will be able to do this each day.

Breakfast - Uncle Toby's cereal - 144 cals; 100 ml low fat milk - 46 cals; Forme Strawberry yoghurt - 70 cals.
Lunch - Mexi Scrambled Eggs (2 eggs, 1/4 tomato, 1/4 capsicum) - 130 cals.
Dinner - left over Hawaiian Chicken with 1 cup cooked basmati rice - 350 cals.
Snacks - Weight Watchers Choc brunch bar - 90 cals; 16 mini Pretzels - 70 cals; Jarrah Hot Choc - 57 cals; homemade slice - 200 cals.

So all up that's 1127 calories.

No exercise!!!

I have a confession

I am really a very naughty girl in that I haven't really being following the 12wbt program - at all.

I know I said that I would do it to the best of my ability, but the truth is I haven't even made much of an effort to do even that.  I have not moved my butt for over a week now and whilst I have attempted to eat within the 1200 calorie limit I probably haven't.

Last Wednesday I jumped on the scales and had lost a further 700 grams.  That makes a total of 4.7 kilos since I signed up for this program.  Not a bad effort, but I signed up back in March so I could have done better.

I blame hubby for not doing the exercises - but I can really only blame myself.  He is not the one insisting I not do any, he does not keep me extra busy when he is home (which has been a lot the past 10 days).

My daughters made some melt and mix slices last Tuesday night.  They took 3 trays to their calisthenic class the following night, leaving 1 at home in the fridge.  They brought home nearly 1 full tray of lemon slice.  Thursday I could not help myself and I had 1 piece as my 'snack'.  Then later on in the day I had another bit, and then another and another.  The next day I had 2 more bits.  I told the youngest yesterday it has to go.  And to top it all off, since I was not organised enough to have dinner planned (never mind on the go) Wednesday I ended up buying takeaway chicken from the local hot chook shop - I had just chicken and a bit of gravy (1/3 of a baby cup of gravy) but I did eat some skin and lick the coating off the bits I could not eat - it was soooo good.  Thursday again not organised so we had takeaway hamburgers.  Friday I cooked a chicken stir fry but last night hubby and I went out to the local pub for dinner.  I had gluten free chicken parma with veges and chips. 

So you can see I have fallen off the wagon.

To make things a bit worse for the last week I have been feeling nauseous.  I put it down to the cereal I have been having for breakfast.  I didn't have it yesterday (actually had berry bruschetta) and felt ok all day.  I have had that same cereal this morning and am starting to feel sick again.  So no more Uncle Toby's for me.

I know what I need to do.  Follow the recipes given and move my butt.

#6 or is that 7???

Who knows - maybe I shouldn't be numbering them, it gets confusing.

Anyway - yesterday was weigh in #2.  I didn't feel any different, but according to the scales I have dropped 2.6 kilos!!  That's since last week where I dropped 200 grams.

I think that sort of a drop is amazing.  I have been eating low fat for months now, but not exercising.  Not that I did much exercising during last week anyway.  I just did not have the jfdi in me to jfdi.

On Saturday I jumped on the scales to see what was going on and found I had dropped 2 kilos - in 3 days.  I put a lot of that down to having had a laxative the night before and having been to the toilet courtesy of said laxative prior the mid week weigh in.  I felt I needed the laxative as I had some discomfort in my tummy and I knew what that would fix things up.  I don't generally suffer from constipation but that first week I was a bit clogged, so to speak.

I have recently found a 'new' brand of greek yoghurt.  It is thick and rich and creamy and 0% fat, if I buy the right flavours.  The only things is hubby has found them in the fridge too.  I have been having 1 of these as part of my breakfast, so I consider them mine.  I got quite annoyed when he started to eat them too.  I mean it's my food - I bought them for me, not him.  But yet I am prepared to share them with the youngest.  Go figure.  I used to hide nuts/chocolate/lollies etc. so he wouldn't eat them on me.

I have read a number of posts on the 12wbt forums about 'my food' v's 'their food' and how people cope with it all.  I have reads these posts and gone to myself, since when is fresh fruit and veges the specific domain of the 12wbt'er??  Shouldn't all the fresh wholesome food be made available to everyone in the posters house??  Yet here I find myself with a similar, if not the same, attitude.  Get your dirty mitts off my yoghurt!!

This week I bought hubby some flavoured custard, in the vain hope that he would eat those and not MY yoghurt.  To no avail.  One night he had what I would consider to be 4 desserts - 2 flavoured custards (together, he likes to mix his flavours), 1 cupcake and then 1 yoghurt.  I told him that was disgusting.

As far as exercise goes, I have made a decision.  I am going to exercise - every day if possible.  I will not exercise if hubby is home.  So that rules out Sundays and his RDO's.  I have done a Michelle Bridges shape up dvd a few times.  Whilst I can manage to get thru 60-75% of it, it leaves me an absolute wreck the next day with very sore knees.  So I have found my old Nutri System video - yes video - and have started doing that on the first level.  The first time I could not manage to get the coordination happening with some of the moves, but today I had it.  I have nearly got to the point where I can do the whole thing without stopping.  Not with as much knee bending or twisting as the presenter does, but getting there.  When I find that this is getting easy I will move onto their level 2.  Once I can do their level 2 fairly easily, I will go back to the MB dvd and mix it up with the NS level 3 video.  I have never even looked at that one.

Now I realise that this video is not going to push my body to get 400 cals burned each day - it barely gets 100 done in the 20 minutes it goes for.  But I figure it is better than nothing and it is a start.  I have not exercised in over 20 years, so starting slow and easy is the way to go for me at least.  You may be different.  Maybe I can do the MB one as my SSS - super Saturday screamer.

This whole program is about getting off the couch/computer chair/etc and moving and counting the calorific value of what goes in your mouth and staying under a certain limit.  So that's what I am doing.

#6, Chicken Noodle Soup and Mothers Day

hmm,  just had a look again at tonight's dinner recipe.  I made it last Friday for hubby and I and it was really nice.  Hubby even asked if there were left over so he could take it to work for his lunch - sadly no.

But in checking the recipe again there should have been left overs.  I made it as per  the instructions and served it up between the 2 of us.  Made for 2 really big bowls and no wonder.

It's supposed to serve 4 - not 2.

Geez am I an idiot. 

So tonight when I make it there will not be as much in our bowls, unless I add a bit more water.  There is going to be 4 of us home tonight, so I need to ensure there is some for the girls when they get home and not eat it all myself.

Yesterday was a low emotional day for me for some reason.  Not sure if it was just 'cause it was mother's day and my kids were not home until late in the afternoon or it was hormonal and I was late in taking my perimenopause meds.  But I could easily have cried quite a few times during the day.

On a lighter note, they got me what I asked for - a pedometer with a battery that I can change.  The last one I had I could not change the battery - what do expect for a kellogs product.  They also got me a new satin nightie and dressing gown.  In a smaller size mind you, so now I have something to entice me to keep strong with 12wbt.

After my workout this morning I looked for my old Nutri System videos.  I thought they had been thrown out, but guess what?  They hadn't.  Yay.  So now I have a couple of different styles of workout to enjoy.  I also fished out my belly dancing videos too.  So that gives me 3 differing workouts.  I will have to do these new/old workouts with my hrm on just so I get a feel for how they work my body.

Mind you, if I had of realised that 12wbt put up videos online to work with on a daily basis I would not have bought the MB one in the first place.

Fitness Test

Are my results all over the place or what?

It takes me 15 minutes to walk 1k, yet I can reach 5cm past my toes and hold a plank on my knees for 58 secs.  I can't do a wall sit for longer than 12 seconds and that's with my knees not even at 90 degrees to the floor and I can only do 13 push ups (not even all the way to the floor).

The 1k walk was very painful - in my knees and in my lower legs.  About 5 years ago I used to do letterbox dropping of leaflets.  I got paid a pittance, but I thought it would be a good way to get fit.  I had to go out every week to deliver leaflets to 500 houses - it would take me a couple of hours twice a week.  Some days I could walk no problems - no pain in anything.  Some days it was a real struggle and it seemed that my legs would drop off below the knee.  I could never figure out why - I still can't.  It's not like on the good days I would do anything different than on the bad days, nor did a bad day follow a good day.

I think I have hubby and his bedroom Olympics insistence to thank for the plank time.  Oh and a good magic wand..........


Been thinking about the forum.  I think the 12wbt forum is good, but if 1 person wants to keep a journal of their thoughts they don't seem to be able to do that within the forum.  I have yet to find anything like that anyway.

#5 - buddies

So I got signed a buddy through the facebook page #d30.  I thought I had said maybe, but oh well.  A buddy could be good.

A list of questions went out for us to answer and send off to our buddies so they could get to know us a bit better.  Below are the questions and my answers.

1.       Are your parents married or divorced? Married for over 50yrs

2.       Are you a vegetarian? Goodness no

3.       Have you ever come close to dying? Nope

4.       What jewelery do you wear daily? A friendship ring hubby gave me early on.  I was devastated when I thought I had lost it once on hols – uncontrollable sobbing

5.       Do you eat the stems of broccoli? You bet

6.       Who is your hair stylist? Me myself and i.

7.       Ever have any surgery? If so, what? Yeah – 11 yrs ago an umbilical hernia was removed.

8.       What do you want from 12wbt? To  prove to myself that I can do something totally for myself

9.       Do you color your hair? yes

10.   What do you wear to bed? undies

11.   Have you ever done anything illegal? speed

12.   Can you roll your tongue? yep

13.   What kind of shoes usually? runners

14.   What is your natural hair color (do you even remember?) I think it is mid to dark brown mixed in with ever more grey – the grey I know about

15.   Do you snore? probably

16.   What are you looking forward to the most on 12wbt? Getting rid  some excess kilos

17.   If you could go anywhere in the world where would it be? Canada

18.   If you won the lottery, what would you do first?  Jump up and down saying ‘oh my god’

19.   Gold or platinum/white gold?  gold

20.   If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?  Mexican

21.   City, beach or country? country

22.   Where did you eat last? Is this out or at home?  If it’s out then that would tgi’s.

23.   When’s the last time you cried? Last weekend when I caught hubby binning perfectly good fallen leaves that were supposed to go into the compost or on a garden bed as mulch.

24.   Do you talk in your sleep?  No idea

25.   Ocean or pool?  Ocean even though I only like gentle waves, now if river was an option…

26.   Window seat or aisle? window

27.   Ever met anyone famous?  Sadly no

28.   Do you twirl your spaghetti or cut it? twirl

29.   How long do your showers last?  Under 6 mins

30.   Automatic or manual?  Auto – hate having to drive daughters manual

31.   What makes you self-conscious?  Not a lot really, sure I am overweight, but I will strut my stuff in all sorts of gear given the chance (and the right environment), I can easily talk in public, so…..

32.   Have you ever ridden in an ambulance? No

33.   Can you tango? no

34.   Last gift you received?  A kardashian wallet, a pair of purple earrings and a lovely tinkerbell card

35.   Last sport you played?  Goodness that was in high school – maybe netball???  Or totem tennis..

36.   Things you spend a lot of money on? fabric

37.   Where do you live?  Mill Park

38.   Where were you born? Adelaide

39.   Last wedding attended? Hubby’s cousins daughters last November

40.   Most hated food(s)? mushrooms

41.   What’s your favorite food? Something I don’t have to cook

42.   Can you sing? According to hubby and the kids - no

43.   Last person you instant messaged?  I’m with you on this one

44.   Last place you went on holiday?  Easter – Bright Victoria (we have a caravan up there)

45.   Favorite regular drink?  Earl Grey Tea

46.   What’s the first thing you’re going to change about your life on 12wbt?  My lack of jfdi attitude.

I had planned to have a date with Michele yesterday but my knee was really sore, so I didn't.  I need to get off my arse and go to that date today.  I also have to do a fitness test.  I already know that for one part of the test my results will be advanced.  That's the sit and reach and I can already get my fingertips past my toes by about 5cm.  That test is all about flexibility in your hips - and mine have always been flexi..

#4

Just finished Michelle Bridges Shape Up DVD.  This is the first form of formal exercise I have done in around 20 years!!!!!!!

I am amazed by myself that I actually managed to keep moving thru 80-90% of it.  There are few things that they do on the floor that I did not do - not the planks though, I did a version of those.  some things I am uncoordinated with and others I need to touch (not quite hang on to) a shelf for balance on one side.  But all in all I feel quite proud of myself.

I need to use my HRM a bit more to figure out how to get it to work.  I managed to get it going half way thru the DVD - 27.41 mins and 191 cals burned.  And my heart rate has dropped quite quickly.  I thought it would have been pounding along for awhile after I stopped working out.  The max it got to was 162 beats per min near the end.  Not sure if that is too high but am going to google it to see.

I now feel quite alert even if I am sweaty.  Although I am not as sweaty as I thought I would be - which is a bonus as I HATE having sweat drip from me.

#3

After a bit of deliberation and some encouragement from my youngest I have today taken a couple of underwear pics of myself. 

Ewwwwww is all I can say.

They are not what I see when I look in the mirror.  Mind you I have a pic that was taken a few years ago that I think is equally as horrible.  No I was not in any underwear, but fully dressed; taken the morning after a late night out that was quite warm.  I look tired and my hair is a mess.

Why did I take these pics this morning.

Well I have heard and read from a number of sources that people who do the 12wbt, or any fitness program really, wish they had pics of themselves when they started their weight loss / fitness journey.  So now I can say that I do.  I suppose it will be a nice reminder of where I started and how far I have come.

On another note, I tried to get my new bathroom scales to tell me how much fat, water and bone I am carting around.  They came up with an error.

Apparently I have to much fat for it to display :(

#2 part 2

I have heard a number of people say that the food requirements whilst part of 12wbt is expensive.  My thoughts immediately go to "how can meat, fruit and veges be expensive".  Sure fresh strawberries are around $5-6 at the moment, but they are out of season so you would expect them to be dear.

So, in order to get a true measure of the food costs, as of today I have set myself up a spread sheet to track how much I actually spend on food stuffs.  Today at the supermarket (large chain) I spent $115.  That's for 6 dinners for 4 people.  I have already worked out a meal plan for the next week and checked what I had on hand so I knew what to buy.  Breakfasts and lunches are already taken care of as I have enough of those sorts of foods already.  That $115 also includes fruit, etc. for calisthenics tonight - our family is on fruit duty.  The girls will be getting fruit, rice crackers, dip, carrot sticks and chicken triangles.  There is probably about $20-25 in there of food that I won't be getting a chance to eat although my 2 girls will.

If I take that out of the equation it works out to be $15 per meal for 4 people.  I can't get take away noodles for 2 for that price.

The Postie came today too.  I now have my HRM and my DVD.  I also went to a local cheap chinese store and got a jacket for $10.  The jacket is ugly - but I don't care.  I don't think I can go walking in winter in just a t-shirt.  I think I am now all set - I have runners, clothes, a dvd for at home and a hrm to track myself.  There's plenty of caps/hats hanging around. 

Yes I am set.

#2

Monday I bought some new digital bathroom scales.  My old ones were 30yrs old and still working, but I can't read the dial on it anymore.  I know I am short sighted and I do wear glasses for distance stuff but trying to see the numbers down at my feet on a small dial was too much of a pain in the @$$.

So a new set of scales (why is it plural????) was in order.  The screen is large enough to read minus the eyewear.  It can store the readings for up to 12 people - not that there is that many in our house.  It's supposed to also calculate hydration and fat percentages, but I think I need to read how to get those figures on screen 'cause it doesn't do it automatically.

So anyway, going from 1 old set of scales to a new set of scales I have gained .4kg.  Now I have a dilemma.  Do I believe the gain or do I ignore it?  I'm heading towards ignore it and not because it is a gain and no one wants to hear those words or see that happen when you are trying to get off weight.  Reason being I believe you should only use the same scales, the same time of day, the same clothes when trying to get an accurate indication of any loss/(gulp)gain.  I've heard that it is not good to use different ones as each set will come up with a slightly different figure.

What do you think?

April 29 - post number 1

As part of Michelle Bridges 12 Week Body Turnaround I have to tell the world, so to speak, of what I am doing and hope to accomplish during this round.

Well this is where I am going to do that.

I will also try to document what I do and how I do it as well as how I feel over the next 14 weeks.

I may bring in some gripe that I have with family - but I will try to keep that to a minimum, as this is not what this blog is supposed to be all about.

I have done this sort of thing before.  The 2nd last time was waaaaaay back before child #3 when I did 6 months of NutriSystem - kinda like jenny craig.  I told myself then that if their program did not work then that was it for me.  No more diets; I was destined to be overweight.  Prior to that I had done Weight Watchers (twice) as well as my own food regime when still at high school.

I wasn't an overweight child.  That happened when I was 14-15 and I gained 1 stone.  Then I found a food regime in a magazine, cut it out and decided to follow it.  Mum was helpful in buying the snacks I wanted and cooking my food how I wanted it.    I lost that stone, plus a bit.

Then I got a boyfriend and everything went along just fine until we got married.  He was active and had the typical young male metabolism where he could eat anything and not gain weight.  We enjoyed meals out on a regular basis - 3 courses with 1 or 2 bottles of wine (can't do that now), ate well at home often with a desert after dinner.  We found Sara Lee Danishes.  So yum and so easy to eat the whole pack in one sitting.  That's half each - they are supposed to serve 6 I think - with icecream and or cream.  After 12 months I had found that extra stone again.  And so started the merry go round.

The last time was 2 1/5 years ago.  I used shakes and managed to lose 11 kilos.  I started at 120kgs.  People noticed, which was great, but I could not keep it going.

What prompted me this time?

Last year, it was the lead up to Christmas and I was at the shopping centre looking for gifts.  I had parked the car at one end and needed to get to the other.  It's not that far really, from 1 end to the other, but it nearly killed me.  My knee was playing up. For some reason I have not slowed down (ok I probably have but it doesn't feel like) whenever I walk anywhere.  So that day it was really hurting.  When I got back to the car I was exhausted and thought "I have to do something about this"  I know I need to get my knee looked and I know the doc is going to tell me to lose weight.   That is most likely half of my problem with it.  I am just too heavy for it now.  I did injure it many years ago and back then getting medical attention was not on the agenda.  It was the 70's and I didn't play sport and could still walk after the bruising went down, so nothing more was thought of it. - thanks mum.

I had a whinge to a friend who has lost a lot of weight last year.  I asked her how she did it.  We talked a bit about it and I went home and had some thinking to do.  I decided that what she did was not for me.  One day I was at the newsagents and I found some cook books that looked interesting.  In flicking thru them I saw that most of the meals were what I call real food.  None of this goats cheese and tofu stirfry with balsamic vinegarette but parmas and stews and burgers.  The author had apparently lost weight herself by looking into the meals she was preparing and figuring out to reduce the fat content of them.  She even has a satay chicken recipe - something that's usually high in fat.  I bought some of them and started using them for dinners.  Some meals were great, others not so.

One thing these cookbooks taught me was to plan your meals.  Make sure you know what you are having for dinner so you don't just go 'oh heck, lets have takeaway'.  I know those nights when nothing is planned, that's when we most often get takeaway.


So - for the next 14 weeks (that's 2 weeks of pre-season stuff and 12 weeks of body turn around) I will endeavour to follow the program to the best of my ability.  I will eat what and when I am told to; I will exercise how and when I am supposed to.

I have underlined to the best of my ability for a couple reasons.  I am totally unfit and haven't exercised for 20 years, if not more.  But I need to do something to get this excess weight off my poor aging bones.  I am also rather picky with my food.  I can't stand mushrooms or seafood so I know any recipe that says I have to include those just won't be getting cooked.  So to the best of my ability it is going to have to be.

My goals for this round is to get rid of 15 kgs.  That's 1 kilo per week (or just over).  If I go onto doing another round (and at this stage I might), then the goal will be something different.  My long term goal is to get rid of 50kgs, to be able to wear my wedding and engagement rings again, to be able to take the dogs for a walk without having to think about pain killers before hand (or after).  I'm not into running marathons or anything like that.

I have a couple of rewards for myself in mind too.  I feel that they are important.  The first one is to get under 100kgs, stay there for 2 weeks and get acrylic nails.  I have never had them before and I love having nice looking nails and I can't do that naturally.  The other reward is to have really nice underwear.  My current drawer full is rather sad to say the least.

So there you have it.  My intentions and goals out and proud.