This morning, while standing naked in the bathroom after taking a shower, I noticed that I was looking a bit ’slim-ish’. And while I am not feeling it (am actually feeling heavy and bloated “women’s issues”), I thought that it would be worth giving those size 10 pants a try (the same ones I tried on a week or two ago). So out they came again, and on they went, zip, up went the zipper with just a little bit or encouragement, and pop, the button was done up. There was a tiny bit of muffin top going on, but it wasn’t a total disgrace! I even decide to take them out in public and wore them out to the shops! After a little time they warmed up a bit and fit even better. So it was a bit of a mile stone today. While they are not fitting quite how they once used to, I am not far off it!
I decided to make another batch of “Selena Cookies” today to get rid of the last of the Easter eggs. Bad move! I ate a good bit of the cookie dough today. I must make a point of not baking when dealing with “women’s issues”. After eating the sickly sweet cookie dough I felt just terrible, and come dinner time, I was not feeling much like eating, so I had a nice lite dinner of quiche and salad
I didn’t manage to get in a workout today – Saturdays just seem too busy. I plan to get in tomorrow at some point and do one – somewhere between visiting Rhys’ mum in the morning and having my family over in the afternoon to celebrate Mothers Day. And being Mothers Day I am sure that I am going to eat something bad again tomorrow. I feel as though I have eaten a fair bit of sweet things this week – I hope it doesn’t show too much when I get weighed on Tuesday!
Todays Exercise
- None, had the day off
Todays Food
Brecky – 1/2 banana, 200 ml of no fat milk and sustagen milkshake (actually had breakfast late, and was heading out the door)
Morning Tea – Some grapes
Lunch – Ham, mixed lettuce, tomato, capsicum, cucumber, sprouts low fat mozzarella cheese and pickles on soy linseed bread sandwich
Afternoon Tea – Cookie dough (this was not planned, just happened when I was baking) 1/2 a carrot
Dinner – Chicken, asparagus, zucchini, crustless quiche with salad – mixed lettuce, cherry toms, cucumber, capsicum, carrot, low fat mozzarella cheese and no fat french dressing.
Wishing all mothers a very happy Mothers Day tomorrow!
What a wonderful day I had today! First things first, get the exercise done and out of the way! I was heading out to the spa today and more than likely would not get a chance to exercise during the day so I headed out at around 6:20 this morning for a quick session. Only one word to describe it…. COLD! It was freezing this morning (well, not literally). I started out with a jog down to the school and back with out stopping, which took 6 1/2 mins, then did a few quick stretches before getting into some hill sprints. If you aren’t aware of what hill sprints are, they are exactly what their name implies – sprinting, up a hill. So I picked a spot that stretches over about 50 meters again, which had a gradual hill. I timed myself again as well. While I didn’t manage to get any times under 9 seconds, I also didn’t do any in more that 10 seconds – so at least I was doing consistent times. I managed to do all ten reps as well (almost stopped after the ninth due to my knee hurting, but figured it was more than likely from the cold and sucked it up and got in and finished the session).
Once that was done… it was time to get ready for a day just for ME and my cousin (both mums who need a break)! I dropped the kids over to my sisters, then my cousin and I set off to a beautiful spa down Noosa way, where we used their flotation pool .The water and the room temperature were all a lovely 35 degrees C, and the pool has had 1000kg of Epsom salts dissolved into it, which gives a gravity free experience and is equivalent to that of the Dead Sea. The salts make it really detoxify as well and changes the way that the water feels – it almost feels softer I guess you could say. It was really nice and relaxing (and funny – we got the giggles something chronic in the beginning). It wasn’t really until after we had finished, showered, dressed, and got ready that we could really feel just how relaxed we were. We then headed out for a quick bite to eat before having to head off to get the kids from school. God it was nice to just be able to completely zone out for a bit. I would love to do things like this more often!
We ended up heading out for some take away tonight. I had a kebab with salad which is maybe not the best option for dinner in the world, but much better than the alternative – “The Golden Arches”, or “The Colonel”. I just plan to have a fairly early one tonight and hopefully have a good sleep after such a gorgeous day!
Todays Exercise
- 6 1/2 min jog (warm up), 10x hill sprints, 5 min walk (cool down)
Todays Food
Brecky – Left over chicken & egg with rice noodles (from last nights dinner)
Morning Tea – A mandarin
Lunch – Turkey, avocado, lettuce, cream cheese and cranberry sauce on baguette (didn’t eat all the bread though – there was a lot of bread!)
Afternoon Tea – 1/2 tub of apricot Bornhoffen yoghurt (I had eaten the other half last night as a dessert – after doing my blog)
Today I tried something a little different at lunch. I had a ham and salad wrap – nothing very different about that, but instead of using a bread to wrap it in, I used Nori sheets (seaweed sheets – like what you use for sushi). It was different, but nice. It is a good way to substitute some of the bread in your diet.
On the way to the studio for my training session today, I was thinking that perhaps I would ask if we could do some specific exercises to target my stomach area. About half way through the workout, Josh set up a small three station circuit including jump ups onto a small step (for 30 seconds I think, might have done a full minute on one rep), followed by 10 sit ups holding a medicine ball and once in the sitting position rotation my torso to the left and right to work the obliques, followed by jumping back and forth sideways over a barbell (for a minute I think). In order to do the jumping exercises, you automatically engage your core muscles and the sit ups target all of the abs. So there was no need to even ask, it was already planned out!
Tomorrow I plan to go out early to do an exercise session. I am off to a spa at Noosa tomorrow with my cousin – courtesy of my gorgeous sister Sara! We are going to use their flotation pool, which apparently has many benefits – one of which is that just one hours relaxation in there is equivalent to approximately eight hours sleep! Sleep is something that I never get enough of and always welcome more of! Here is what they write about they flotation pool in their brochure…“Enjoy the feeling of weightlessness in the mineral rich. saline waters of the flotation pool. In this gravity free environment and without the distractions of light and sound a deep state of relaxation can be achieved. Research has shown flotation to have many health and wellbeing benefits including reduction of blood pressure and heart rate, relieving jet lag, stress and anxiety as well as assisting in sports performance.” I have been looking forward to this for a long time, I hope to return feeling very relaxed ready for the weekend.
Today’s Exercise
- Personal Training session, cardio
Today’s Food
Brecky – 1 piece of soy linseed toast with smoked salmon and a poached egg
Morning Tea – A plum
Lunch – Ham, lettuce, carrot, sprouts, tomato, capsicum, cucumber, pickles and low fat mozzarella cheese in a seaweed wrap
Afternoon Tea – A mandarin
Dinner – Chicken and egg with rice noodle and fish sauce, with salad – lettuce, sprouts, carrot, capsicum, cherry toms, cucumber, beans, asparagus and a squeeze of mayo
Positive thought courtesy of “Fitness Evolution”, “Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great ones make you feel that you, too, can become great.”
Tomorrow should be a lovely, though busy day, I can’t wait to just zone out completely!
I checked out some of the running events coming up over the next few months. There is one called the Cartwright Challenge Series, held at La Balsa Park, Point Cratwright, which I am considering entering. (I have attached a link at the side of the blog to the Cartwright Challenge Series website – go check it out!). The entire series runs from May – August (5 raced days in total), with each race day holding races with distances of 10km, 5km and 2km. The 2km race is just a flat run which I feel I would be more than capable of doing. Norbert pointed out today that when we go for a warm up jog, we run about 1.5km, and that really only takes a few minutes. I am sure that when in a race situation you also have a bit of adrenalin which makes it a whole lot more exciting. It would be interesting to do just to time myself, and then to compete again in the following month to see if I can do better. I am fairly sure that the 2km is just a “fun run” where kids, families and people of all fitness levels can participate – it is not a full on serious event. No pressure.
My cardio session was great today. It was all rainy and cold this morning, I felt like I was never going to warm up, but after the warm up jog and a bit of boxing, the blood got flowing and the sweat started pouring out. It didn’t feel quite as brutal as the last cardio I did, and I don’t know if that is because my fitness levels are increasing and my body is adapting to it all better, or if was just that I was a little tired and perhaps didn’t push myself as hard as I did last week. I have another cardio booked in for tomorrow, which will be three days of personal training in a row (same as last week), and while it can be exhausting, I actually really enjoy it. You get to the point where you really, really know that you have been working hard.
I enjoyed a really yummy lunch at the Plaza today from one of the salad places. It was a warm lamb salad with all sorts of yummies in it like roasted pumpkin, sun dried tomatoes, feta cheese, avocado, marinated mushrooms……mmmmmmmm! I really enjoyed it, and look forward to having another the next time I am shopping and looking for a good lunch.
Todays Exercise
- Personal Training session (cardio) at Fitness Evolution
Todays Food
Brecky – Oats with sultanas
Morning Tea – Some nuts
Lunch – Warm lamb salad with mixed lettuce, roasted pumpkin, roasted capsicum, marinated mushrooms, feta cheese, avocado, sun dried tomato and a lemon spiced dressing
Afternoon Tea – A mandarine
Dinner – Home made steak sandwich on soy linseed bread with lettuce, grated carrot, alfalfa & broccoli sprouts, cucumber, tomato, capsicum, mushroom, onions, and low fat mozzarella cheese. (Now feel really very full)
Positive thought courtesy of “Fitness Evolution”, “People will always talk about you, especially when they envy you and the life you lead. Ignore them. You affected their lives, but they don’t have to affect yours!”
So today I had a strength session down at “Fitness Evolution”. I also got weighed.. another .5kg loss – total weight loss so far 3.3kg! It averages out to about 8oograms a week which Norbert was saying that small gradual losses means that it is more likely to stay off than if I had lost the whole 5kg in just two or three weeks. I am really happy with how it is all going!
The strength session was great today. Kicked off with a bit of boxing to get warmed up. We upped the weight on the leg press to 180 kg in the final set! Thats like the same weight as combining my husband, myself, my eldest daughter and my youngest daughter all together! Push that out, then repeat another fourteen times! I know I will feel that tomorrow. I did better on the bench press today. Warm up was just the bar on its own, which I got through no problems – it was only about 3 weeks ago that I was struggling to get through a set with just the bar! Followed by a heavy set with I think 10kg of weight, plus the weight of the bar. This was the heaviest I have ever done, and it was so incredibly hard, but I didn’t cry this week! That’s gotta count for something. Instead of doing assisted chin ups today, we did assisted dips which will tone up the backs of my arms – YAY!! Plus a couple of other exercises to strengthen my back muscles. While it was a tough session, and my muscles were completely challenged and working hard, it also seemed to be easier than in past weeks. Norbert commented that my strength is getting much better “…much less whinging today” hahaha… but oh so true!
Week 5 Side on - 5th May '09
Week 5 Front on - 5th May '09
New progress photos to share with you all… I am not wearing the same clothes as I have been in previous progress photos, so for convenience sake, I will be just taking the pics in my workout gear from now on – that way I can do it as soon as I get in from my training session.
Todays Exercise
- Personal Training session, strength
- Possibly a nice walk later this afternoon (if I get the chance)
Todays Food
Brecky – Oats with sultanas
Morning Tea – A few pistascios
Lunch – Ham, pickles, lettuce, cheese, capsicum sandwich.
Afternoon Tea – A mandarine
Dinner – “haven’t eaten dinner yet”
At the end of the training session, Norbert asked me if I have any goals as far as my running goes, like would I be interested in doing any sort or marathon, or fun run type events. As he was telling me about it, I did start to get a bit excited about the idea. Maybe not a massive long event, but something like a 2km fun run- where you don’t have to run the entire even, you can walk if you need to, would be something that I would be interested in doing. Even just to see how I go for a time, and then enter in another one a bit further down the track and see if I can beat my own time. It would even be a great thing to do with a couple of people, not that you would run together for the entire event – that would kind of defeat the purpose, but just to have a friendly face that is also doing it. Anyway, Norbert is going to e-mail me the details of some events coming up, and if anyone else is interested in competing I can forward the information on – I would love to have someone to do it with!
My legs are finally feeling better after being sore from this last week. Rhys actually gave them a massage last night which I think has made the world of difference, however it will be short lived as I have another strength session booked in tomorrow.
Home made Curry Chicken Pie with Salad
I had a delicious lunch today! I feel really hungry today and wanting to eat lots of good food – I think it is my body’s way of making up for having a couple of days where all I wanted was sweet foods. Selena made lunch for me today. We had home made curry chicken pies, with a gorgeous, fresh salad with lots of different flavours in it. The salad ingredients were things that I knew, most I have eaten in the past and a couple that were new tastes all together. It was made up of mesculin mix, fennel, alfalfa & broccoli sprouts, capsicum, carrot, tomato, fresh blanched asparagus, beans, seasoning with a fat free dressing. And the best part was that it was all made by someone else! The photo is not a great one as I had to use my mobile – but this was the only one that was in focus. It was all just delicious!!
While at Selena’s I jumped on the cross trainer. I did the same interval program as I did last week. Last week when I did it, I only managed to get through four sets of intervals (a certain distance on a low resistance, followed by the same distance on a high resistance) in the time I had set. This week, I managed to get through eight sets in that same set time. I just tried to power through the high resistance stretches. Was a good work out, 20 minutes all up including the warm up and cool down. Little things like this remind me that not only am I losing a bit of weight, but my fitness levels are definitely increasing as well.
Tomorrow I have a strength session booked in with Norbert, and being Tuesday….. will be getting weighed again! I think we are also taking some body measurements this week as well. It will be good to see what difference there is, if any at all. Selena and I were talking today about how we perceive or bodies and our sizes. When I focus on and think about my legs, thighs and butt, I can tell that they are getting smaller, and even to run my hand down the back of my leg, it feels different, but to look at it in the mirror – I feel as though I look exactly as I have always looked. I know that weight loss is a slow process – you don’t wake up one day and suddenly you’re thin, it happens over a long period of time, little by little. And even though you body changes, your mind quite often stays in that same place for a while, it takes a bit of a light bulb moment for your mind to catch up with the changes. While the changes that have happened so far are not dramatic, I do remember when I lost a lot of weight after having my second daughter (Isabella – I went from a size 14 – size 10), how my mind would still perceive my body as it used to be. I would go into a shop and try on clothes and get very disappointed because nothing looked any good on, nothing fit well. Until my sister Shelly asked me “What size have you got there??”, “It’s a medium”, I would answer. “Well, it’s no wonder it doesn’t look any good – it’s too big for you, you need to try on a small!” and sure enough the small would fit and look how it was meant to look. I had just never in my life worn clothes that size, that it made no sense in my mind that I would need to try on a smaller size. So while it is not quite on this scale, I don’t feel as though anything much has changed yet. Weather or not it is reality is another thing!
Todays Exercise
-20 mins on x-trainer doing intervals
Todays Food
Brecky – fried piece of ham and 1 egg
Morning Tea – a few mixed nuts
Lunch – Home made chicken curry pie with salad
Afternoon Tea – Carrot sticks
Dinner – Pita base pizza with baby spinach, chicken, capsicum, avocado, roasted pumpkin, tomato and low fat mozzarella cheese
After finishing my blog last night, I found myself searching the pantry and fridge for something totally disgusting and sweet to eat. I kept going from the pantry, to the fridge, back to the cupboard expecting something yummy and sweet to magically appear, that wasn’t going to actually be a “bad” treat and wouldn’t completely undo all the hard work I have done so far.(Is there such a thing??). There was the good old chocolate in the fridge (there is ALWAYS chocolate in our fridge – in fact, I still had two massive bags full of Easter eggs and bunnies still up in the cupboard from Easter time) but chocolate was not what I was after. It would seem like such a waste – as I would only be able to eat such a small amount and the way I was feeling, I needed more than just a nibble of something. Norbert had told me about this fantastic way to make an ice-cream like dessert treat – throw some no fat milk, a frozen banana, some frozen berries, (the trick is that they have to be frozen) perhaps some crushed up nuts if you like, a dash of vanilla in the blender, and you have yourself a nice, tasty, healthy treat. But I didn’t have any of that in the house did I! I searched the internet for any sort of quick to make, low fat dessert – and just about everything that came up under “low fat” was still full of sugar. So I tried “low calorie” and had a few good options come up, but again, I didn’t have the ingredients. I figured that while I was feeling like I needed something, I should have something so I can just get it out of my system. So I peeled, cored and diced up an apple (the only fruit I had in the house), made up a small mixture on 1tsp of butter, 1tsp of brown sugar (small spoon fulls – honestly) and a few sultanas chopped up, mixed it in with the apples and baked it in the over for a few minutes. It was kind of like a modified baked apple. It all fit into one of those miniature ramikins that I have. It was totally YUM!
I decided today to make good use of all those Easter eggs, so I called my cousin Selena and got her recipe for the best chocolate chip cookies in the world! I call them “Selena Cookies”, it is an old family recipe, quite simple, but delicious! I baked a couple of batches – the girls helped but soon got bored with it, and as you do when you bake, I had to taste the mixture. I only had a couple of little pinches, I swear! It was so sweet though – I don’t think I could have eaten more than I did. And of course, once they were baked, I had to taste them to see if they even came close to what I have tasted at Selena’s. Just a half a one… one of the ones that broke when transfering them from the baking paper to the cooling rack. They were good, not as good as the master chef’s, but good. And I managed to halve the amount of Easter chocolate in the cupboard. We shipped a good few off to Rhys’ folks, and sent a few over the road to our neighbours – just so there aren’t quite so many in the house. I find that when I do have the cravings for the sweet food like I did last night, I tend to want it again the next day. This is when I have to exercise a bit of self disciple and just say “no”. After all of that, I did feel a bit guilty, so I made sure I had a really good lunch and dinner! I will be getting weighed in a couple of days, and If have a have a crap result, I will only have myself to blame!
So I am well and truly over my sugar cravings for now and plan to stay on track as much as possible. Just keep that end goal in mind!
I thought you would like to see the delicious "Selena Cookies"
Todays Exercise
- Went for a 35 min walk with 4 x 2 min jogging intervals to get the heart rate up. It was really hard to run today – my legs, hips and lower back were really tight, so I have done a good bit of stretching today!
Todays Food
Brecky – 1 piece of toast with tuna and a poached egg
Morning Tea – A few nuts and a “Selena Cookie” (plus a little bit of cookie dough when I was baking)
Lunch – Ham and salad sandwich
Afternoon Tea – A mandarine
Dinner – Chicken breast fillet – seasoned and herbed, with broccoli, zucchini, beans, peas, pumpkin
Hopefully the sugar cravings will keep their distance from me for a while – I don’t need that kind of sh*# at the moment!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If anyone has any great low sugar, low fat, quick, easy dessert/sweets options – I would love to hear them!
Another very easy going day today. I actually forgot to eat morning tea until quite lat. It was over four hours when I realised that I hadn’t eaten yet, and because I had eaten breakfast a little late this morning, it was almost lunch time when I remembered to eat. Oh well – can’t change the past!
I am noticing some more small changes to my body. While my bum and legs are no where near the size or shape that I want yet, I can definitely see and feel a difference in them. It is as though my legs now go all the way up and actually meet my bum, rather than just all merging into one fat mess. My bum no longer feels as though it stretches from my back to half way down my thigh. It just sits where a bum should sit – kinda. I have also noticed that my skin has been a lot clearer recently. This is probably largely due to the increase in water consumption and also the fresh fruit and veges I am eating. Also, since quitting smoking, the fingernails on my right hand are growing like normal instead of always chipping and peeling away. It’s nice to be seeing some good, though small changes happening.
We went out to the shopping centre today, and ate lunch while we were out. I ordered a small chicken, cheese and salad kebab. We ordered from a propper turkish restaurant and the kebab was much larger than what I expected or needed. At one point I thought “…this is going to be too much for me to eat.” But I ate it all the same – I think it is all to do with the fact that when I have bought something – payed good money for it, it seems more of a waste to throw out the portion that you don’t need to eat, than to just eat it – even if it does make you too full. I think this has been drilled into me since a young child and I more than likely do it to my own children as well. I wasn’t absolutely stuffed after eating it, but there was that moment when I thought “that’s enough, you don’t need to eat anymore”. Having said that, it was delicious, and I did enjoy it!
Todays Exercise
- None, I was supposed to do something today but just didn’t get to it. I couldn’t even manage the thought of doing any sort of running today – my legs are still so sore. I plan to go out for an early session tomorrow morning.
I managed to get a really good sleep last night – 6 hours before getting disturbed! I actually lay in bed awake after being woken up thinking “I could just about get up and start the day – I usually get by on less sleep that what I’ve had already!” Haha – but I just rolled over and went back to sleep until the sun was up and the babies were awake. Hopefully there will be a repeat tonight – sleep makes such a difference!
I started my day with a different breakfast today. While I find I function really well on the days I have oats for breaky, I needed to try something different but still have something that would give me the same slow release energy. So this morning I had 1/2 a gluten free roll toasted with some broken up salmon fillet on top and a poached egg. The egg was cooked perfectly, no horrible runny whites and the yolk was still beautiful and runny and it soaked in through the salmon and bread once I broke it. YUM! I really enjoyed this and I know I will be having it more often. I also found that it kept me sustained really well.
I just took the day really easy until this arvo when I set out to do a quick workout. I headed out with my stop watch, down to the park down the road to do some sprints. Went for a quick three minute jog to warm up. The stretch of footpath that I was using was around 50 meters long. The goal was to do at least ten sprints, and time them, then have a bit of a rest while walking back to the beginning. First sprint, I felt like my quads were going to tear in half. My legs were so sore from the workouts I have done over the last few days, so I stopped for a while and stretched them out before doing any more. I managed to get through the ten sprints – but I did have to stop a couple of times to stretch. My times ranged from 8.66 seconds to 9.44 seconds (9.44 was my first run where I felt like my legs were going to tear in half or fall off all together). Next time I do that one I will try to get all my times under 9 seconds.
That’s really it for today, pretty uneventful really!
Todays Exercise
- Sprint intervals x 10 (total work out including warm up and cool down was around 25 mins)
Todays Food
Brecky – 1/2 gluten free bread roll, with salmon steak and a poached egg
Morning Tea – A mandarine
Lunch – Pita bread pizza with baby spinach, ham, capsicum, roasted pumpkin, tomato and low fat mazzarella cheese
Afternoon Tea – A few nuts
Dinner – 2 x chicken tacos with lettuce, tomato and low fat mozzarella
My cousin called in for a quick visit after getting her hair done today. She looked so fantastic! We were talking about how when you look good it makes you feel good, and then when you are feeling good it makes you look even better! It made me want to go get my hair down too. So I have decided that I am definitely going to reward myself with a good cut and colour when I have reached my goals. (Expect a phone call from me soon Rachelle!!) It is so long and ratty at the moment (reaches to about the middle of the curve in my lower back) all I can do to manage it is tie it up in a pony tail and plait it… how dull. So by the end of all this I will have a smaller, more toned body and gorgeous hair – I can’t wait!!
As promised, here is some video footage of the cardio session Norbert took me through yesterday (Day 24). Again, it has been edited so all the segments are just snippets of the whole workout. We used a couple of great tracks from some local bands for the soundtrack, so a big thank you to “Melodyssey” www.myspace.com/melodyssey for the track “Aquaplane”, and to “Ben Whitecross Band” www.myspace.com/benwhitecrossband for the track “Older and Ugly”.
