Today was my birthday...



It started with cake!

I got given these shoes by my wonderful partner

And this purse

Then my Dad suprised me with flowers at work.

And Mum and Dad gave me this new handbag

And it ended with dinner with a few special people.

 It was an awesome day thanks to everyone for making it so special!

It wasn't that easy...

Today was day 1 of swimming laps and let me tell you I don't remember it being that hard. I am now incredibly sore in the arms and legs and I am just all around shattered. But I do feel good just the same. I swam 10 laps which is 500m and I had to stop at each end to catch my breath but I will be going back tomorrow.

What excercise are you doing this week?

I'm going swimming....

One of the girls I work with she is fairly new went swimming the other week and was going to continue but as you always do when you are going by yourself you can talk yourself out of it.

So I said to her that I would go with her so this week we are starting. I am off to buy myself some goggles tomorrow and then we are going to hit the pool and do some laps.

To be quite honest I am not sure how I will go it has been a long time since I went swimming and I think I will do two laps and want to collapse but I am going to give it a go anyway. It is a great time of year for it!

My other half even asked me when I informed him of this if I could swim so it is certainly going to be interesting.

But on the other hand I need to do some excercise as just diet is no longer working.

So wish me luck!

Slack again I know

I am not sure I am very good at this blogging as I disappear for a long time. I can't believe it has been more than a month since I have been on here. I have been so incredibly sick this year I have gotten flu after flu and just havent had the energy to do anything more than what I need to to get by.

But I have decided that I need to get my ass in to gear and lose some more weight before Christmas. So I am back on track again. I know I have said this many times before but I am a work in progress. One thing I have achieved is I havent put more than a kilo on before re losing it. Yay!

I have discovered today that Sushi is not high in WW points. One roll of chicken and avocado is only 4 points. I have discovered that I quite like the sweet chilli chicken ones which I would imagine are similar in points. Yay! I love it when I find something I enjoy immensely and it is low in points. I have always kinda stayed away from Sushi before due to the carbs in the rice.

Anyway this was a bit of a rambling post so I am going to go now. See you all again soon.

Friday Night

I have been good the last few days but tonight I just want to eat for the sake of eating. Why is it that way?

Often Friday night is our takeout night but as I am trying to be good we are cooking dinner but all I want to do is pick just out of boredom or habit I am not sure which one.

Anyway I am staying strong. I bought myself WW icecream at the grocery store on my way home so I can have an after dinner treat.

How do you deal with this desire to just eat?

Under the radar

So I have been flying under the radar for the last few weeks. I have been incredibly sick, been to Melbourne for work and had a working weekend last weekend so I have been busy busy busy.

Consequently I have not had time to grocery shop and plan to keep with my weight loss. But I woke up this morning and decided if I was going to reach my goal of getting under 100 by Christmas I needed to get my butt in to gear.

I don't know about you but I can not believe how close Christmas is. I had all of these plans to be super organised and buy presents early but guess what it didn't happen... I did go and layby some stuff for my nieces and nephews last week though so at least I have started.

Anyway I have not been sticking to anything over the last three weeks so today is the day I get back into it. I did put on a kilo but I don't think that is too bad considering.

So the rest of this week until Monday the mission is to lose what I have put back on so next week I can start fresh.

Week Ten!

This week I was supposed to hit then ten kilo loss mark but alas the scales have decided they didnt want to move so I am still the same :( I dont mind staying the same though for a couple of weeks I just feel like it is my body catching up and getting use to the new weight.

But this week I want that last kilo gone so I can make the ten kilo mark. I was thinking about it the other day and how far I still have to go and my Mum (wise women that she is) said dont think about how far you have to go and think about how far you have already come. So that is what I am doing because what I have lost in this short time is amazing.

I am still on track to get under the 100 by Christmas and I went shopping and tried on clothes with my sister on the weekend and they look nice. My stomach is not sticking out as much and I was trying on smaller sizes. Yay for me! I am glad we are coming into warmer months though so I can wear my skirts. All my pants are getting a tad to big and look very saggy in the bottom.

I have decided though that I need to tone and am not sure whether to go back to the gym or just do my own thing at home. What do you think?

Week 9

I gave myself a week off this week. I didn't go crazy but I didn't stick to a plan either which was nice. I tried out a couple of the Weight Watchers recipes this week as well. One we really liked and I would make again and that was the chicken casserole from one of the magazines. I have the last three floating around my house so not sure which one it is from.

One thing I did notice this week is I have felt like I need to excercise like I just need to get out there and run. I probably will run about 30 seconds and want to fall over but the fact is I want to get out there and do it. Which I haven't wanted to do for a long time.

So this week I think is definately the week. I am going to go back to curves and I am going to start the C25K. I am waiting for my new phone to arrive so I can downlaod the app for this so it tells me when to run and when to walk. I am excited!

I am back on track this week though with the aim to stay within my points everyday again. The ticker is going to be over 10kg lost by this time next week. I am determined to see that happen!

How was everyones week?

Week Eight!!

So 8 weeks in or technically 9 because I re did a week. I have lost a total of 7.8kg on WW. With this weeks loss 1kg exactly.

I am getting so very close to the 10kg mark and I am excited to reach this as I am then a third of the way to my goal.
I do think though that I definitely need to get back to the exercise and am thinking it is time to go back to Curves to at least help me tone! I just don't seem to be losing the centimetres.

That's it for this week. How are you all going?

The big question... What size am I?

Last night after a day of constantly pulling my jeans up I went through my "skinny" clothes in my wardrobe to see if one of my many other pairs of jeans would do up.

I sorted them in size as I have a few different sizes and tried the 18's on first as this was the size of the ones I am now trying to keep up. I had one other size 18 jeans and 3/4 pants so I pulled them out and tried them on. Well the 3/4 pants would barely go over my ass but not to be disappointed I tried on the jeans and these were worse.

I still kept looking though as I knew there was a pair of jeans there somewhere that would be close to fitting as I was trying to get into them a couple of years ago when I was about this weight. I even found clothes I had forgotten I had!

Anyway long story short I finally found a pair that pulled up and did up even. They are still a tad too tight but they do up and gives me something new to achieve. And these are a size 16! How can the sizes be so very different? These jeans are a stretchier material than the others but still. It just doesn't make any sense.

I have other clothes that are a bigger size and I couldn't even get them up my legs. It makes it so hard when you go shopping and it gets you down when you know you are normally an 18 but you have to buy a 22 to get it to fit. I have so many different sizes in my wardrobe now that I can fit into and they range from a 16 to a 22. How do I know what size I am? How do you? How can sizes differ so much between shops? Isn't each size the same measurements everywhere?

So many questions and no answer. On the upside though I think it is just about time to retire my current pair of jeans as I can pull them off without undoing them now.

This is hard work!!!

I have decided that losing weight is hard work. It is like a second job and one you think about constantly... Well I do anyway.

I had a great week last week but the previous three I hadn't lost anything and this week I have found it hard so far to stay motivated to eat well. I have been keeping myself in check although I did treat myself with a piece of cheesecake on Monday night as I had been craving it all last week and I had told myself if I get through the week then I will have it on Monday so I did.

And let me tell you it was awesome but I found I didn't even need to eat it all half was enough which is amazing as I looooooooooooove cheesecake. Not really the best thing to say when I am talking about weight loss but I even planned for it so I had enough points in my daily allowance that day to cover for it. Yay!

But I find it hard work. Does anyone else feel this way? I am determined to lose the weight to a point where I feel comfortable. I am not sure I will ever be in the healthy weight range for my height because my family is just not made that way but I want to be a healthy comfortable weight for me! So that is what I am aiming for that and to get my health back on track.

I am going to hang in there and I find Weight Watchers very easy to maintain I just get very frustrated and wish it would all disappear already! At least the first 10kg mark would be wonderful.

Maybe I am looking at this the wrong way. Maybe I need to think it is easy and it will happen. How do you think of it to get you through?

Week 7

This week I decided enough was enough. I had sat around the same weight for three weeks and was getting very annoyed with it. So as you know I was determined to not go over my daily points at all for seven days. And guess what I didn't.

I also said I would start excercising but I didn't do that. I find it hard to get into excercising but when I do I enjoy it. I just need to make the first step. How do you motivate yourself to excercise because I find this the hardest thing to do?

So the results for this weeks hard work.... Can you guess? I wonder if I should play a game and give you a hint like it was more than 1kg but less than 2kg. Did you guess the right number?

I LOST A MASSIVE 1.8KG this week. I am now down to 107.7kg and have lost a total of 6.8kg since doing Weight Watchers.

I am actually a little stunned as I didn't think I was eating a lot of bad food and I was still writing everything down and counting the points but obviously I had let some things slide here and there.

So what I learnt this week was:

• Bulk up the free veges with dinner and this way you are fuller for longer after dinner and don't snack
• It is not hard to say no when you have a time frame on it. A couple of times I said to myself - no you can't have that today but if you still want it then you can have it on Monday. I find this works.
• You shouldn't weigh yourself everyday. I have been really bad at doing this of late and I should just wait until the week is over.

What are your tips for successful weight loss?

Daily Points

My goal this week was to make sure I ate within my daily points allowance for the entire 7 days. Not to go over them once. I have been sticking to this so far and the fact that I said I would share what I ate was a big contributing factor particularly yesterday when I was craving something bad.
On that note why do we crave greasy foods? I was once told that we crave oily, greasy food if you need Omega 3 or your essential fatty acids. I have never tried supplements for this but maybe I should. Anyway that is a conversation for another time.

Here is what I have eaten each day for the last three days. Just so you know my current WW points allowance is 38 which is very easy to stay within.

Monday

Breakfast
45g Kellogs Sultana Buds - 4 points
Skim Milk - 1.5 points

Morning Tea
Strawberries - Nil
Cup of Tea with skim milk & 1 sugar - 1 point

Snack to keep me going until lunch
Le Rice - Caramel - 4 points

Lunch
Lean Cuisine Indian Chicken Tikka Masala - 10 points (FYI this was awesome for a frozen meal)

Afternoon Tea
Mandarine - Nil

Dinner
200g chicken breast - 7 points
Satay Sauce - 5 points
Oriental Fried Rice 45g cooked - 4 points
Lots of veges - Nil

Fluids - 2 litres of water
Total Points 36.5

Tuesday

Breakfast
45g Kellogs Sultana Buds - 4 points
Skim Milk - 1.5 points

Morning Tea
Strawberries - Nil
Cup of Tea with skim milk & 1 sugar - 1 point

Snack to keep me going until lunch
Le Rice - Plain - 4 points

Lunch
2 x pieces of white bread - 4 points
1 x slice of light cheese - 2 points
100g savoury mince - 5 points
Toasted with no butter
Can of pepsi max - Nil

Afternoon Tea
Mandarine - Nil

Dinner
T-Bone 215g cooked - 13.5 points
Lots of veges - Nil

Fluids - 2 litres of water
Total Points 35

Wednesday

Breakfast
45g Kellogs Sultana Buds - 4 points
Skim Milk - 1.5 points

Morning Tea
Pear - Nil
Cup of Tea with skim milk & 1 sugar - 1 point

Snack to keep me going until lunch
Mandarine - Nil

Lunch
200g savoury mince - 10 points
120g cooked spaghetti - 6 points
Light Cheese - 3 points

Afternoon Tea
Mandarine - Nil

Dinner
250g Lenards Honey Chicken Stirfry - 6 points (FYI this is also really yummy and quick to cook)
Extra veges - Nil
100g cooked rice - 5 points

Fluids - 2 litres of water
Total Points 36.5

So that is it so far this week. I have been weighing everything and bulking up meals at night with veges as I was having a snack after dinner before and I am trying to cut that out. I have also been having a snack around midday to extend my lunch out a bit further so I am not so hungry by the end of the day.

I also tend to over estimate the points then under. I don't measure the milk in my cereal in the morning and 1 point for the milk and sugar in my tea is probably double what it should be but I like to build in the buffer a little bit.

I do have a question though for those WW people out there I have been looking in the book but can't seem to see it but how do you calculate cooked pasta and rice. I have only found dry quantities in there which makes it hard when you are cooking for more than one person. I have just been having the same amount but halving the points as it usually doubles when cooked. Is this right? Any assistance would be appreciated.

So there you have it. I will be back later in the week to share the rest. Bye for now!

Ninjago Lego

So I am going out of my box here and not talking about weightloss and going to talk about something else on this blog. I have often thought about it but thought it just didn't fit right but lots of people do it so I decided what the hell. This way I have more to write about.

So here we go as of late I have started to think of Christmas presents for our neices and nephews. I know it is super early but I always leave it until the last minute and we are saving to go on a long planned holiday next year so are madly saving for that. Anyway I was checking out this new Ninjago Lego for our nephews who are 10 and 11 at the shop and couldn't work out how it worked as there was a game involved there somehow.

So I googled it and it actual kinda cool, you can buy a starter pack which gives you two characters, a fighting ring as such, fighting tools, a character card and four battle cards for each character. And you fight with them using whatever tools are on your card and using the battle cards.

And the best part about it I think is I can buy the starter pack for $30 and then you can just collect your characters and battle cards as you go along and buy one everyone now and then for not a lot of money. They also have extra buildings etc that you can buy for different "fighting scenes" as well so you can really spend as much or as little as you want. So I am first checking that one of them doesn't have any of this as they don't live near us and then I might buy some every now and then leading into Christmas and it won't break my budget.

I can't wait though I want to play with it. We all know kids love lego. Even big kids like me!! Who else out there loves lego? It has been so long since I played with it. We always end up playing with the kids toys at Christmas time it is so much fun!!

PS: This is not a sponsored post it is just something I thought I would share.

Week 6 Take Two

This week I re-did week 6 on my WW journey and I think I did well in getting back on track and sticking to my points. I did use some of the pro points but only 19 of them and if I had something high in points I tried to counteract it with something low for another meal.

But when I got on the scales this morning my weight hadn't changed it is still the same 109.5kg it was about two weeks ago and I am starting to get very frustrated.

I have been slack and haven't started excercising so this week is the week. I am going to get back on the tready and restart the C25K challenge. And I am not going to go over my dialy points allowance once at all in the next seven days. I want to see if this makes a difference. If not well I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. But I need to kick start this losing weight again cause I have sat around this five kilo loss for a while now.

So wish me luck for the week. I will keep you posted as I go. I might even share with you what I have eaten each day which will help keep me on track.

Week 6

Well week 6 didn't really happen. As I mentioned last week I was sick and just didn't have the energy by the time I got home to bother cooking so I am giving myself a mulligan (a do over) for week 6 in the coming week.

I also kind of lost my motivation but had a well timed visit to the naturopath/iridologist on Saturday and got some long awaited news. EVERYTHING IS NORMAL!!!

It has taken me a good twelve months to get to this point and I had wondered if it was worth keeping going but sometimes it is almost like a therapy session just to get things off your chest that are bothering you and why isn't is working etc etc. But we finally made it.

And basically it comes down to Weight Watchers. I had an appointment the Saturday before I started and my zinc, potassium, iron levels were low. My sugar was irratic along with a few other issues and this time they were all up and balanced. My thyroid has even come back it is no longer underactive.

This is a huge relief because for me this journey is not just about the weight loss and more about getting myself healthy as I felt as though I was falling apart at a young age and wondered what it would be like in ten years time. This I think really is the key. The weight loss should be a by product of getting healthy not the sole focus.

So I am determined to definately get back on track. The next goal is to hit the 10km loss mark and hopefully fit into another pair of jeans.

I am going to use this as my motivation to keep on going!

Back on track

I didn't have the best week last week but as I said I was pretty happy to stay the same but I was feeling very unwell yesterday as I think I am getting the flu so I ate whatever I wanted and wasn't stopping. I was going to continue today but I was laying in bed this morning and forced myself on the scales to see what yesterday had done to my weight.

So today I am back on track. I still feel very unwell and would dearly love to go back to bed but we are short staffed at work again so that is not going to happen. So I have had eggs on toast for breakfast and I am determined to be good today and for the rest of the week. I am hoping I start to feel better soon too as I still am yet to make it on the treadmill.

This in itself is a big achievement because previously I probably would have gone on for a week like this and put on a ridiculous amount of weight and gone whatever. But I have worked way to hard over the last five weeks to let it go now and I am loving that my clothes are fitting better and people are commenting which is nice.

So I am thinking I need to make a trip to the shop and buy some oranges and eat these over having orange juice as they have no points and drink lots of tea... but I will have to go without sugar. I can do it!

Week 5

This week didn't go so well. I stayed the same though which I am pretty happy with as I went out on Saturday night and had a few "lemonades" and McDonalds at 3am and I am now consequently getting sick. Damn cold air!

So now all I want is a truckload of orange juice and it is really really high in points. Hopefully it goes away before it starts and I can get back on track this week and pull a big number. I was really slack all week last week and it shows.

I am felling very unmotivated right now but I am still determined to get this weight off. I need to find the motivation I had a few weeks ago.

How are you all going?

Love that moment..

There is nothing better when your losing weight and trying so hard than the moment you pull on a pair of jeans that a few weeks earlier where ridiculously tight and they now pull up and do up easily. They are actually possibly even a bit too big...

This has happened to me this last week. I could barely do up my jeans before I started WW and now they do up so easily that within a short time I am hitching them up. Gotta love that!

The other moment is obviously getting on the scales and seeing that number go down!

What are your favourite moments?

WW Week 4

Four weeks have gone by and I have lost another 0.6kg, bringing my total to 5kg lost on WW. I am pretty happy with that and I have now reached one of my goals which was to get back under 110kg. I now weigh 109.5kg. I decided that I would share this number cause after all it is just a number and if I am afraid to share it then it rules me and not the other way around.

So the goal is to get back under the 100kg by Christmas so I think I can definately achieve that.

The losses have slowed down the last couple of weeks but I am happy to still lose half a kilo to a kilo each week but I am thinking this week is the week to start excercising. I haven't been excercising the last four as I thought while I was still losing good numbers I would keep just watching my points and bring the excercise in when it started to slow down. So this is the week to get back on the treadmill.

How is everyone else going? I haven't been the best over the last two weeks and I think it shows on the scales but I am happy that the number is still going down. I am going to be super duper good this week though as I am heading out on Saturday night for a big night and need to save all my bonus points and excercise points for that.

An unusual one

Over the last week or so I have noticed that my knickers keep sliding down my bottom... I am not sure why I haven't lost that much weight but I wonder if it is a bit like people without any boobs that is where the lose the weight first where as I have ample boobs but not a very big bum. Maybe it works that way for me...

Weird I know. Just thought I would share anyway. You know what they say sharing is caring.

The FAT photos!!!



Me in January 2011



Me the first week of starting WW



So I thought I would share some not so attractive photos of myself AKA the fat photos. I am doing this for a few reasons:

1. So I can compare photos as I start to lose the weight

2. Because I actually thought  I looked good on both of these occassions until I saw these horrible horrible photos.

3. To remind myself that I am never going back to this again.

I honestly can not believe I have got to this size, but on the other hand I also know that a lot of it was out of my control and now that I have everything sorted health wise. It is definately in my control and I am controlling it which is an awesome feeling.



I think I am going to post photos as I reach what I consider big milestones! This way I can see it and so can you!



I must say though if you are someone that cannot lose weight go to your doctor and ask questions ask if it possible for you to have various things. I honestly can say that I don't think I would be here losing this weight now if I hadn't asked these questions and pushed for it.

Sometimes it pays to be a pushy person!





WW Week 3

I am now three weeks in to weight watchers and the loss has started to slow down. I knew it had to happen eventually but I was hoping for one more week of a big number first. This week I lost 0.5kg. I am actually pretty happy with this as I had a few treats this week and struggled a lot.

I think the biggest thing I learnt this week is when to stop. Even though I was eating some naughty things I still wrote everything down and kept track of my points and when they were getting to high I would reign myself back in. I used some of my weekly points but not a lot considering. I even bought a chocolate bar and only ate half!!!! Now that is progress.

I also am yet to start to excercise. I decided that while I was having good losses without it I would continue this way until it slowed down and then add the excercise in. I am thinking I need to start doing this now but on the other hand I might wait just one more week.

I did however take my mesasurements which I havent done for a few months and I was pleasantly suprised. I have lost:
- 2cm off my bust
- 3cm off my waist
- 4cm off my hips
- 2cm off each leg

They are huge amounts. No wonder why my jeans which were very very tight when I started are now starting to fall down... Well not completely fall down but annoying enough that I need to hitch them up often.

So this week I plan to get back on track and be very good like I was the first two weeks and see if it makes a difference. I must say though I am extremely happy with my results to date and would definately recommend WW to anyone.

Day 17

This is the 17th day I have been doing the weight watchers pro points diet and I have had huge success in that I have lost 3.9kg in two weeks but this week I am struggling.

I just want all the stuff that I shouldn't have and I have had a couple of things like hot chips which is one of my biggest downfalls that and coffee milk. I have still calculated my points and only gone a couple over of my daily allowance which is allowed and I am just deducting them off my weekly points.

But I am just struggling to get my mind in the right place. This with the cold weather we are experiencing at the moment makes you just want a warm bed and comfort food.

So I have decided I just need to get back to it and make sure I eat within my points for the rest of the week because I am loving the huge numbers that I am losing at the moment. I am now 5kg down with 25kg to go on my goal. It seems like such a long way but I am breaking it down into smaller chunks and the goal is to lose another 15kg by Christmas which I worked out to be less than 0.70kg a week. I think that is definately achievable.

How do you all get through the struggling phase? I am suprised I am having it as it usually comes from a lack of results. Oh well I am just going to take each day as it comes.

WW Results Week 2

My second week is now over on WW and I proud to report that I lost another massive 1.3kg. I truly cannot believe how much success I have had the last two weeks with this. I wish I had done it a long time ago but I am here now and am on my weigh to achieving my goal of 30kg in 365days.

My success this week I think is a result of:
- I never once went over my daily allowance of points and I had a couple of treats in there I just worked them in
- I continue to weigh most things I eat.
- And most of all we didn't have any takeaway.

Takeaway I would say is our biggest downfall. On the weekends we just couldn't be bothered to cook so buy dinner or lunch which costs us a fortune and is not good for the waistline either. I think preparation is the key. I went shopping on Saturday and bought a chicken and one of those yummy chicken in a bag things and put everything in there and put it in the oven. Saturday night dinner was as simple as that and yummy too.

I also think the fact that I weigh in on a Monday helps me stay focused and watch what I eat over the weekend.

How did your week go?

Wow!

I have never had so much traffic on my little blog but a big thanks to my beautiful cousin over at Suger Coat It. I am loving all of the positive comments and I have even gained some followers.

Although I now feel a bit of pressure as to what to write and to make sure I post often. I am thinking that was Melissa's plan all along (to have me post more often that is).

It has certainly been a long road to get here and I am glad I found something that works. I am soo very tempted to hop on the scales and see how I have gone since Monday but I keep saying no. It is a much better suprise if you do it once a week. I am however finding my pants getting more comfortable (I won't say loose cause they are not there yet) which is awesome.

The thing now is to try and find some dinner recipes that are yummy but not too high in points as well. I am fine with the meat and salad or veges at the moment but my partner is complaining and wants some variety. So I need to search the web I think. Does anyone have some favourite dishes to share or a good website to check out?

The moment of truth...

I think the worst part about watching your weight or dieting as you may like to call it is the weighing in part. You have so many expectations but you also don't want to put too much pressure on yourself. I am not sure if this sounds like you or not but it is definately me.

So this morning was weigh in time. I had been doing WW for a week and I think I had done well in sticking to everything and I had a goal in mind but I was determined to be happy with whatever. So I got on the scales and didn't believe what they said the first time so I got off and got back on and Yep they said the same thing. I had lost a massive 2.6kg which is awesome for me as I have struggled with this for so long. This had even blown my expectation out of the water by an entire kilogram.

From the last time I updated my weight on here it is 1.7kg. I am so incredibly proud of myself. But also don't want to get too excited incase next week is a fizzer.

So what I have learnt this week is:
1. It is so easy to do.
2. I still eat the same things just in moderation.
3. I can not eat Weet-bix for breakfast as they make me hungry constantly for the rest of the day
4. If I know I am doing something on the weekend I make sure I only eat my daily points every other day.
5. I find it important to weigh things I am so incredibly out with what I think it would be.

Did anyone else having any successes this week? Or if you have had a bad week let me know too as I have had them myself and am happy to hear those too.

Day 5

So I am five days in and I feel pretty good. I actually don't feel like I am on a diet at all. I just work things around to work in my allowed points and I am proud to say I haven't gone over once. Yay for me!

I did very much want a home made hamburger the other night when we had rissoles but I didn't have enough points so I settled for rissoles and veges instead and I was ok with that.

I have been making sure I drink plenty of water and my headache went after the second day. Previously I was a sucker for Ice Coffee and I would buy one most mornings so I would say that is where my headache come from the lack of caffeine and sugar.

I am also loving eating more fruit. I am enjoying the mandarines and grapes at the moment. And I haven't had a sneak peak at the scales yet either I am really bad at that usually. I am staying strong though and waiting until Monday morning.

Hope you all have an awesome weekend

Day 2 - And I said no to Cheesecake!!

So it is Day 2 and it was one of the girls birthdays at work and with this we order a cake and today it was Caramel Cheesecake. I am normally a sucker for this but today I said none for me thanks.

And suprisingly I didn't want any. I am certainly eating more than I have in ages and I think the fruit helps to keep the sweet cravings at bay.

I am trying to ensure I eat close to my allocated points for the day and I am writing everything down and weighing things as well to make sure I get the portions right.

For the first time in a long time it doesn't really feel like I am on a diet. I do think though that I need to bring more protein into it but I will get there.

Day 1 of Weight Watchers Pro Points

So today I started Weight Watchers and I must say I obviously eat too much sugar or something usually as I have the makings of a massive headache that I am trying to keep at bay.

It is going well so far. I actually get 39 pro points at the moment until I lose some weight which I think I will struggle to eat but I am going to try my hardest anyway.

So far I have learnt that if you actually eat breakfast you are hungry a lot sooner in the day and a tablespoon of peanut butter goes a long way. I easily covered two corn thins with it so that is a bonus. I looooove peanut butter on corn thins it is one of my favourites.

I also must say I am loving the zero points for fruit as well as it makes it easier to fill yourself up without using any of your points.

Does anyone have any good suggestions on recipes or enticing snacks? I am certainly interested!

Weight Watchers..

So I paid a visit to my doctor yesterday and a lot of my other health issues that were effecting my weight loss are now starting to improve and she suggested I try Weight Watchers to help me get the weight off.

I have never really tried Weight Watchers but know a few people who have and had success with it so I thought I would give it a go.

Has anyone else done the points program and had success? Any feedback is very welcome.

An update...

So I have been slack again the story of my life I know and I havent been back to Curves in a while. I intend to go back this afternoon in time to make the Zumba circuit which I missed last week because I hadnt been in so long they had changed the time. Whoops!

I need to do something though and really lack the motivation but my partner wants to lose some weight as well so we are going to do it together after the long weekend as we are going camping to test out our new tent and roof rack which we have been waiting for for months! Yay another thing crossed off our list for things to do in 2011.

On the upside I am sleeping a lot better and seem to have more energy through the day rather than being bone tired all the time. My body is even waking me up around 5am every morning I just need to drag it out of my nice warm bed and get on the treadmill and do my excercise.

See you soon

You learn something new everyday!

I was chatting to my Dad the other day and he was telling me that he had been to the gym that week and the lady there had told him that it can take up to six months for people to see results from their workouts.

My response was "six months" thats a long time and he said Yeah apparently your body basically goes into shock mode particularly if you haven't done anything for a while (like me) and it holds on to all the fat stores you have cause it thinks it will need it to keep up with the extra activity you are doing.

I was a little bit shocked at this but then thought about it and said is that why I always put on weight when I first start going to the gym rather than lose it. Probably was the answer I received.

I do lose centremetres after a while of going to the gym but never have I lost a lot of weight straight away. What I would like to know then is how do people stay motivated to go to the gym when they are not seeing any results. I can tell you that I will go all gung ho for a month and get my bum out of bed at 5am to do the classes. Which let me tell you is no easy thing. I do like my sleep. And then I will just stop going because I think what is the point!

Has this happened to you? If so how do you keep going? Or are you one of the lucky ones that lose the weight straight away?

A pleasant suprise...

So as you have probably noticed from the lack of posts that I have not been doing a lot lately to get this weight off. I have however, been focusing on more pressing health issues.

But I put my jeans on on Mothers day to wear out to breakfast and they did up. Yay! A couple of weeks before I had gone to put them on for a night out and they did not fit well at all. So I jumped on the scales and weighed myself and I had lost 0.5kg from what my weight was when I last stopped posting. Just to check it wasn't a trick I weighed myself again this morning and yep I still lost 0.5kg.

I have been working on cutting out some things from my diet though and not eating as much crap on the weekend which lets face it is my biggest down fall.

So with renewed motivation from this unexpected weightloss I went back to Curves last night and did the Zumba circuit and shook my ass to "Dont stop wiggle wiggle"

I have decided not to be so strict on myself though as I have a lot of weight to lose and I know I will not last this way so for starters I am just making some small changes and making sure I do at least half an hour excercise most days.

I'll be back soon I promise!!

Carnarvon Gorge

One of my things to achieve this year was to go somewhere at Easter we had never been before. I am happy to report that we did this and we went to Carnarvon Gorge. We have been wanting to go for a while but it is a fair drive from home and this year with it being a five day break we thought now was as good a time as any.

It was good, not necessarily to our interests but good none the less. There are a lot of bush walks ranging from 500 metres to 22km. For some insane reason we decided to do the 22km bush walk and I must say it was hard work. It was more of the rock hopping across the creeks than anything that was difficult and consequently probably the reason why I now have two swollen and brusied ankles.

But it was certainly one way to burn off all the Easter chocolate we ate. By the time we got back I could barely move I was so exhausted. We have now vowed not to take on something like that again it was a bit much. Maybe next time we will just do the 12kms like initially planned.

Oh did I mention I also fell on my bum??? Craig had told me to be careful it was slippery and I was and then lifted my foot to go onto the rock to cross the creek and next thing I know I am on my butt!! It certainly gave us a few laughs.

Did anyone else do anything exciting at Easter?

I'm back again...

So I have been absent for a while but have had a lot to deal with so I went into hiding. But I am back...

As you know I have been going to Curves and I have decided to do their diet and see how I go. They have the two options one higher carb and one higher protein. So I am going the higher protein option as this works for me and I dont feel as hungry either.

So the way they have set it up is you do a week of 1200 calories based on their menu or exchange tables, then 23 days of 1800 calories followed by two to four weeks of 2000 to 2500 calories. If in the final stage you put on more than 1.5kg you go back to the 1200 calories until you lose it again and then go back to 2000 to 2500. The theory behind it is by the time you lose the weight you want to lose your body is use to burning the higher amount of calories and you are not stuck on a low calorie diet for the rest of your life. In this you can also eat as many of the free items they have listed as you like i.e salad, veges etc.

I like the theory behind the way it works and the fact that it changes and you get to eat a variety of things. Plus after the thirty days you go back to normal eating for a couple of weeks. So I have started it today with the 1200 calories and we will see how we go.

I have been very slack since I started this whole thing but it needs to happen now more than ever.

I have been slack again...

and not posted for a while. I have however continued to do my excercise but have not been so good at the diet side.

I have been doing a lot of research lately into sleep apnea and talking to doctors and experts in the field etc. And I found out some really interesting stuff being that my higher blood pressure is caused from the sleep apnea because the oxygen levels in my body are so low my blood pressure goes up to help combat this. It also makes your stress hormone levels increase as well as your insulin levels which makes it difficult to lose weight. So all of my issues are in one little bundle of stopping breathing when I am asleep.

At least I know now that I am not falling apart and that once I go on the CPAP machine all of these things should rectify themselves and I should lose some weight. Yay!

I must say though those machines are damn expensive and you can't hire them out indefinately so it means I need to purchase one. At least they offer interest free payment plans.

So it is only onwards and upwards from here. I am also thinking of following the Curves diet plan but that is another post.

See you soon

Trina

I did it...

I decided on Wednesday to swap my gym membership over from one I didnt use to Curves.

I must say I was the biggest sceptic when it come to Curves I thought it was people wanting to do a workout out but wussing out and going to curves. This most likely comes from having a brother in the fitness industry. But I went and I did a trial run around the circuit and was pleasantly suprised at how much of a work out it was.

So I cancelled my other membership and joined up. The great thing I find is they always say Hi Trina how are you today and they are quite happy to weigh and measure you each week and will go through a food diary with you to assist you with your weightloss.

So I have booked in for Thursday afternoon next week to weigh and measure and I plan to start a food diary to get their feedback. I must say I love thier assistance. I have been a member of a few gyms and never had this kind of service and help before. Which is probably why I stop going after a while.

So stay tuned cause I am determined to lose enough weight and centremetres to fit into my jeans for winter.

PS I went this morning and did a walk/run after and I am sooooo sore. But you know what they say no pain no gain.

It's not about if you fall off the wagon...

It's about how quickly you get back on.

This is something that I really am trying to learn in my weight loss journey and I have fallen off the wagon massively over the last two weeks. I have had my ok days and I have had bad days but there have not seemed to be any good days in there anywhere.

The problem is I feel like I am falling apart at 27. I have had all sorts of health problems creep up on me in the last year. I have very borderline high blood pressure, an underactive thyroid, stress levels are through the roof and not helping anything and I was recently diagnosed wtih sleep apnea. I just want to crawl in a hole and hide away from it all cause I dont know how to get out of it. Other than try to lose the weight which just doesnt seem to want to come off.

So this morning I decided it was enough wallowing and I needed to get back on the wagon. So I dragged my bum out of bed and hopped on the treadmill and did my walk/run and I felt good. One because I hadnt been on there for a bit over two weeks and I was still where I was at when I stopped. And two it was just good to get back on and start doing something about it.

I still struggle some days and wish it would be a whole lot easier but what doesnt kill you only makes you stronger. Well that is what they say anyway.

I am also contemplating joining curves. I am a member of another gym currently but just dont use the membership so I am thinking of swapping over. What do you think?

To free day or not to free day...

that is the question....

In my weight loss journey I have decided to follow the Body Trim principle. If you don't know what this is it is protein based so you have breakfast, lunch and dinner with three protein snacks in between. It works well for me.

Anyway in Body Trim you get one free day. Where you still eat your protein snacks but can have your treat. Which I like but the problem is that it just makes me get all of my cravings back again. So I am wondering if it is actually worth it as then I struggle to get back to eating the way I should be.

You are also suppose to eat protein only the day after your free day which I can never quite bring myself to do and maybe that is the problem.

Does anyone have a free day or free meal and how do you get back into the correct way of eating after this?

Week Three!!!

I did not have the best week this week. I didn't do any excercise and I ate naughty things. I tried to be good and then it would come to dinner and I would be like I feel like McDonalds so that is what we had. Bad I know.

I did however get myself back on track Monday and Tuesday eating wise but I am still yet to get back to excercising. Although I did buy myself a good pair of running shoes so my knees and ankles won't hurt so much when I get back to it.

Having said all that somehow I managed to lose 0.7kg. I am amazed by this and have no idea how it happened.

So after three weeks of small losses I am still on track to lose 30kg by the end of the year. While I would have liked to see the first few kilos come off quickly I will be extremely happy if I can lose between 0.5kg and 1kg each week. They do say this is the healthiest way to lose weight after all.

I just hope it doesn't catch up to me next week.

Week Two...

Week two isn't as great as week one but I do have something to report at least so that is a good thing. I am happy as long as something changes each week.

Bust - same
Waist - same
Hips - same
Arms - same
Legs - 2cm off each (I was a little suprised at this but very happy)
Weight - Lost 0.5kg

As you can imagine I am not that impressed with 0.5kg I was disappointed with 1kg last week but a loss is a loss.  I had an appointment with my iridologist/naturopath on the weekend and it was the worst it has ever been stress wise and this is affecting my central nervous system and thryoid and everything else in between.

I personally thought I had been doing better with this since I started excercising. I felt better and more relaxed but obviously not. So I am on a bit of a mission to try different things like meditation and taking vitiman B supplements etc to try and reduce these levels to something more manageable. I am told that until this happens I am not really going to have much success with my weightloss.

The biggest challenge is that this stress has built up over the last two years and will probably be a long journey to get them back down but I need to make a start.

Anyone have any suggestions? What has worked for you in the past?

The inner battle

Some days I really do need to force myself to exercise and eat right and it is hard work let me tell you. I have a battle in my mind between the devil and the angel as to whether I exercise or not. This morning was a prime example, I was up and dressed as had to take my other half to work but all the way there and all the way back I was thinking up excuses not to get on the treadmill and rebutting them at the same time.

It went a little like this:
- I'm really tired I must just hop back in to bed when I get home and set my alarm for an hours time...
No you won't you are already awake and dressed just get on the treadmill you will feel better for it.
- My knees and ankles are really sore from running I might just watch some TV.
Just push past the pain you wuss
- I might just do 20 minutes instead of 30...
If your going to do 20 you may as well do 30.

Do any of you have these conversations with yourself or is it just me? I have my good days and my bad days but I guess it's like anything really you need to take it in your stride and never let the bad days get you down.

By the way I did end up getting on the treadmill and completing my half an hour and let me tell you my legs and knees hurt like hell but I got there and I felt so much better for it.

C25km Challenge

So I started the C25km Challenge last wednesday and I thought I have been doing pretty good, I had to extend the recovery time in between my one minute running as there was no way I was ready after the 90 seconds rest time you are supposed to have.

This was working pretty well then I discovered yesterday that my treadmill actually has a 5km challenge program on it so I selected that one thinking that I would be able to increase and decrease my speed as I wanted to for the 30 minutes. Well I was WRONG....

The treadmill kept putting the incline up so it went up to 1 which was fine. I can deal with 1. Then it went up to 3 and I thought it's a challenge I can run and walk at 3 so I did. Then it goes back down to zero incline and I thought phew I can do this if that is all its going to do.

Again I was wrong... It went up to 7 incline and I ran at the 7 for a minute and decided that was enough and swapped back to my normal program. It would have been ok but the treadmill wouldn't allow me to take the incline down. Stupid thing.

So today when I hopped on the treadmill to go again I did not select the 5km challenge I selected my normal one but noticed that I caught my breath much faster than the day before and could do the 90 second rest break. But my legs were and still are sooooooooo sore though from my escapades yesterday. That's what I get for going lets see what this does. Lol!

I am determined to do that 5km challenge but maybe once I can actually already run 5km....

Does anyone else have any excercise blunders? I would certainly be interested in hearing them.

The Results are in....

It has been a week since I decided I was definately getting started on this weight loss journey and here are the results:

Weight lost - 1kg
Bust - reduced 1cm
Waist - reduced 2cm
Hips - reduced 3cm
Legs - reduced 1cm off each
Arms - reduced 1cm off each

I must say I was a little bit disappointed with only a kilo of weight loss but then I probably actually lost closer to two as I didn't re-weigh myself when I started and I know I had put on weight so I need to be happy with that.

I am super happy with the centimetres that I have lost though and I think the legs and arms are all down to the fact that I have started the Couch to 5km challenge. Which is certainly hard work. My legs are killing me after this mornings run/walk.

Did anyone else have any successes this week?

The dreaded weekend...

I don't know about you but in the past when I have tried to stick to a diet or eating plan it all goes out the window on the weekends. I think it is because you are at home more with the fridge easily accessible, or you are out socialising or you just don't feel like cooking.

Yesterday was so hard. I was bored because it was overcast and raining and we didn't have anything to do so all I waned to do was eat. Even though I wasn't hungry. I stayed strong though and ate what was in my plan and made a nice green chicken curry for dinner. I was so proud of myself and it makes today so much easier.

I am glad I actually took the step and started doing something about it this week and stopped thinking woe is me. I think I took the words of my naturopath that no matter what I did I would put on more weight due to an underactive thyroid and ran with it.

My thyroid is slowly getting better and will be a slow process but I have decided that I need to give it a bit of a push. I am looking forward to weighing in on wednesday for the first time. I think I will take my measurements as well to see how I have done there.

The dreaded weekend is now a thing of the past.

Three days in..

So I am three days in to my mainly protein eating plan and I feel pretty good. I have had my moments where I feel a bit ill but all in all I feel pretty good. I have been having one slice of toast with my eggs for breakfast the last couple of mornings as I find this alleviate the massive carb depleted headache which is great.

I have always been a sucker for coffee milk and drink way to much of this so I have substituted it for a coffee flavoured protein shake which works well for me. The best part of it all is I haven't had any cravings. I bought a couple of the Atkins low carb bars just in case I had that sweet craving but I haven't. Yay this is what I wanted.

I have also had cake in the house as well as chocolate that I bought for the other half and have not touched it. I haven't even wanted it. Amazing!!

I am determined to keep on going and I worked out the other day that I only need to lose 0.7kg per week to achieve my goal before the year is out. This is definately achievable. Breaking it down this way helps me.

I hope everyone else is having as much success.

Weigh in Wednesday Take Two!

I was at my baby niece's christening on the weekend and I saw some photos of myself and I look HUGE. I hate getting my photo taken for this reason but have decided that it is time to stop hiding and start doing something about it.

So today is definately the day to get back on the wagon. I have not weighed myself this morning because I don't want to be disappointed as by the way my clothes feel I have put on some weight. So I have started Day 1 of protein only. I know a lot of you think this is an unhealthy way to do it but it works for me. My body is not made to process carbs and I find that doing protein only helps get rid of my cravings for everything that is bad for you.

Believe me I suffer for it. I started this morning and I already have a ripper of a headache coming hense why I chose today a Public Holiday as my start day this way I can take a nap or zone out rather than trying to concentrate at work.

I also decided to start the Couch to 5km challenge. I have read a lot about it through other peoples blogs and Melissa my cousin has started the challenge so I decided I would also give it a go. Day 1 Week 1 has been completed. Yay for me!!! I tell you what though it was hard, in my last running interval I was so ready to stop but I didnt I pushed through the pain and completed the first day.

I am going to take it one day at a time because 365 days and 30 kilograms is too big for me to get my head around. I am just going to make each decision day by day and everything WILL come together.

Stay Tuned as I promise this is the start.

I am soooooooo bored...

So it is raining here and possibly flooding so we won't be able to get to the other side of town and I am sooooooo bored. I dont know about you but I eat when I am bored. I look in the fridge, look in the cupboard and want all that naughty food you are not suppose to have.

Consequently my first week this year has not been so good. Oh well tomorrow is another day and I have decided that if I am flooded in I am going to spring clean my house. I have been meaning to do this for a while but with so much rain here in Sunny Queensland at the moment any sunny day we go outside to make the most of it.

What do you do when it is raining and you are stuck indoors to entertain yourself? We have had friends here, gotten drunk (not so good for the weight loss), went for a drive to check out all the water, watched tv, checked out the internet, scarpbooked and still gone crazy.

Your suggestions are welcomed with flood waters predicted to keep rising over the next couple of days.

Weigh in Wednesday!!!!

So I weighed myself this morning as per my new years resolution to do this each Wednesday and I am the same as I was when I started this at the end of November.Which I am not disappointed about at all because I just had what I wanted over the Christmas break and holidays.

I did find though that I can definately not eat as much and I was leaving food on my plate cause I was full and didn't want anymore. You may not know but this is a massive breakthrough for me. Yay!

Well here is hoping that next Wednesday I have a loss to report and then I will have to work out how to  move my ticker along.... Oh well gotta love a challenge!

10 things to do in 2011

I thought I would follow along and do a post of what I want to achieve in 2011. It started off as 20 things to do but couldn't come up with that many so 10 it is:

• Lose 30 kilograms (obviously)
• Put up fence and work on gardens - we have only been in our house for 14 months and not done this. Maybe if I am lucky I will be allowed to get a dog (wink wink nudge nudge)
• Visit the Bundaberg Rum Factory -I dont drink the stuff but it is not that far away so I want to check it out
• Go somewhere at Easter we have never been before
• Get oz tent and roof rack before Easter and then go camping once a month
• Crapbook more often and dare I say finally finish our overseas trip photos from more than three years ago - This is scrapbook for all the others out there but in our family this is what we call it because we have so much crap
• Go for picnics more often - I dont know about you but this is something we use to do all the time but never seem to do anymore.
• Go to movie world. I have never been there and always wanted to go. Anyone want to come with me cause I am not sure Craig will want to join in on this one.
• Send out or give birthday cards to our immediate family and special others. I am always so slack when it comes to this.
• Re-instate date night with Melissa at Suger Coat It

So those are my ten things. Melissa I will have to get you to help me do a fancy thing down the side so I can cross these off as I go along.

I don't know about anyone else but 2010 went way to fast and I honestly can not say what I actually achieved so this is a good way to help me keep track.