My Body My Story

2011-01-13T09:45:00.003+13:00

Let's not mention the last couple of months. sshhhh.
Lets pretend Christmas work parties, Sampler box of bikkies, and the 'it's too hot to workout' excuse never occurred.
Christmas happens once a year....lets leave it there.
If you see the food fuehrer in the corridors of horror, tell her that you've seen my food diary, and it was fine.
Today was the day I got back on the horse. Obviously not an actual horse, although the dreadmill this morning bucked and rocked like it was a horse. Yes the first day back at the award winning M1nt!
The end of last year saw the arrival of our first child, and the departure of sleep, routine and any kind of normality.
A few months down the track and we seem to be going great guns, not like 'Guns McCauley' but we are getting there.
Plenty of walking and pushing strollers, although not high impact or sweat inducing didn't see me couch bound over the silly season, although by the way I felt this morning...it may well have.
Sweat intensive fires up again on Monday, and it's a great way to kick off the year and get back into it.
If your lacking a certain amount of motivation, or like me feeling super guilty about the last few months....then here is the perfect opportunity to get back on the horse...again...not a real horse but the stallion of fitness studios.
We might see you Monday, enjoy the new year...all the best.

Getting back into routine

2010-11-08T13:19:00.003+13:00

Well I'm pleased to report that I ended last week well. I made it to the gym every morning Monday - Friday and my eating was back on track.

Unfortunately I didn't make it in this morning as have done something to my lower back and are moving around so slowly that I almost need a zimmer frame!

I decided last week that for me to get back into my routines, both gymming in the mornings and eating well - that I needed to establish some goals.

As I said the other day, leading up the wedding I had 18 months of focusing on nothing but the wedding, and with Mike's voice circling in my head 'wedding photos last forever' that easily gave me the motivation that I needed to maintain good habits.

In a way, since I have been home from the honeymoon, life almost seems a bit empty. There just seems to be nothing that I'm working towards, no time frames to work to, and no goals to achieve. This certainly contributed to my slow return to normality I believe.

Hubby AJ and I discussed this problem over the weekend. AJ has always been 100% supportive of anything that I do and will always help me when asked - I couldn't ask for a better hubby :-) Previously AJ and I had an agreement that once I got under 110kg that he would pay for me to get a new tattoo - it was a goal for me to strive to.

Well once again AJ has come to the party - he knows that I have always wanted to do a skydive (a few years ago I looked into it and was devastated to find out that there is a maximum weight limit of 100kg - of course I was over it!). So a new challenge has been set - get below 90kg and AJ is sending me on a sky dive :-)

I still haven't had an official weigh-in/BIA with Di since being home but I'm hovering around the 102 - 104kg mark.

I was planning on getting a BIA done this week but I have since found out about a '12 week challenge' that M1nt is running -starting next Monday, which I have subsequently signed up for so will wait for that.

M1nt will be sending out information very shortly (if not already) about this challenge. From what I know so far it is based on the idea of 'The Biggest Loser'. All participants will be split into teams - with different teams being coached by different M1nt trainers. Included in the programme is nutritional consultations and BIA's with Di, personal training sessions with your team leader, group fitness sessions and much much more. As well as AJ's goal for me I think that this is exactly what I need to get my butt back into routine! Keep an eye out for the information from M1nt - hopefully will see you there! It sounds awesome.

Will attempt to get back to M1nt tomorrow morning - even just for some cardio.

Wish me luck :-)

Post Honeymoon; 3 October – now

2010-11-03T17:01:00.002+13:00

To sum up – not extremely terrible... but definitely not good!

I arrived home from the honeymoon still walking on cloud nine. It took me a good few weeks to get back into the normal routines of life again – whether that be sitting in front of a computer all day at work – or eating healthy (still haven’t quite conquered that one!).

Shortly after arriving home I weighed myself and was pleased to find that I had only put on a little – weighing in at 102.5kg (remembering I achieved my goal weight of under 100kg just before leaving for the wedding).

Seeing that weight on the scales actually filled me with a lot of pride and a sense of achievement – almost everyone that knows me knows how scared I was of losing all that weight, and then putting it all back on in America. So yes, I was really happy.

That’s when I went bad....

Somehow, I managed to use that happiness to justify eating terribly, drinking lots of alcohol and not going back to the gym. Seems strange I know – but I had it completely justified in my head!

Overall, at a guess, I would say that I have eaten more/worse and been more careless with my consumption of alcohol (or ‘empty calories’ as Di so kindly calls it) in the month I have been home, compared to the month that I was away!

Sunday night I decided that enough was enough. I started texting a few girls that I have become close friends with through M1nt and starting broadcasting my ‘cry for help’.

A fresh leaf...

Monday morning – was up bright and early and made it to the first class of the current round of Sweat Intensive (it’s not too late to join if anyone else is interested! A brilliant class to sign up to and a really fun group of people!). Got to work, had my breakfast... 9am – purchased a bar of chocolate from the snack box ‘‘it will be my last one’’ was how I justified it! He he

Tuesday morning – alarm went.... arggghhhhh its soooo early! After a yelling at (in good nature) and a kick from AJ I made it out of bed and to M1nt for a cardio work out.

Today – back to the gym for Sweat Intensive.

As well as the 3/3 mornings at the gym (except for that sneaky little chocolate bar on Monday) I have also got back into my eating routine that I had perfected before the wedding (numerous serves of protein during the day, regular and healthy snacks, enough fluids/water etc)
So I’m going to say that I’m back on track... hopefully I stay here :-)

p.s. a HUGE congratulations to my fellow blogger and M1nt addict Richie and his wife on the birth of a beautiful wee girl.

Enjoy the sleepless nights :-)

The Honeymoon; 18 September - 3 October

2010-10-22T12:59:00.009+13:00

‘The difference it made having lost weight first’

A little over 24hrs after we had said ‘I Do’ AJ and I were on a plane, heading from Rarotonga to the States for our honeymoon.

While in America we spent time in Las Vegas, Hollywood and Hawaii.

Leading up to the honeymoon there were various things that worried me;
- Spending multiple hours on a plane strapped into a seat – never comfortable
- From what I knew about the food in America I knew that I was potentially going to find it very difficult to eat well while I was away
- And also the temperatures (35 degrees plus) that I knew we were expecting while in the States worried me as I didn’t know how I would cope.
What I didn’t expect was the difference my weight loss would make to each of these worries.

Anyone that has flown anywhere before will have an appreciation for the tedious hours spent sitting in an airplane seat and how uncomfortable you quickly become. What only some people will appreciate is how much more uncomfortable those same seats are when you are a large person. AJ and I travelled to the States about 5 years ago (when I was considerably larger than I am now). From that trip I recalled having to man-handle my waist spare tyre to allow the arm rest to go down properly, I recall an air-hostess offering me an ‘extension seat belt’ as she thought I may be more comfortable with more ‘breathing room’ as my seat belt as at its limit and still quite firm and I also recall trying to sleep bolt upright as I simply couldn’t physically shift side-on in my seat to sleep.

Well I was astonished. When I first sat down, the first thing that came to me was that there was room on either side of my bum and the edge of the chair... that’s new! Then it was time to buckle up my seat belt – I instinctively extended it to its limit before clipping it together... hmm... might be a little loose – actually very loose! Not only that, but I could very comfortably twist side on, in my seat, with a blanket over me, and have my seat belt done up on top – and it STILL wasn’t at its limit!!! What a difference!

Then came the problems with the food – my weight loss didn’t really help here – but my prior education from Di on what makes her angry and what doesn’t did!
Our first night in Las Vegas – our first night of the honeymoon. We arrived at the hotel late at night but were both hungry. We dropped our stuff in our room and then ended up in one of the in-house restaurants. I scanned the menu and noticed that they had certain meals noted as ‘healthier options’ – that sounds like me. I picked a Turkey Wrap; now it comes with Coleslaw, French Fries or Chips. To be honest I didn’t feel like being too healthy so decided to scrap the coleslaw idea. AJ and I then discussed what the difference would be between French Fries and Chips – we decided that French Fries would be much like what you get at McDonald's here, and Chips must be more like wedges. So I ordered a Turkey Wrap and Chips.

Lets just say when it arrived it wasn’t exactly what I imagined.
A Turkey Wrap (yum) with Salt n Vinegar flavoured crisps on the side.... crisps?!? Really?!?!? This was a trend we noticed at all restaurants we visited, it is very normal to get crisps with a meal rather than veges, salad or fries. Didn’t make that mistake again!

Overall though I found the food in America to be extremely greasy and with enormous portion sizes! AJ and I both struggled with the food – as did our stomachs/digestive systems.

But I soon found some tricks to help me get around the major problems – I often would order an appetiser, instead of a main as it would be sufficient. In some places you could ask what was made onsite, for example which salads – this would allow me to order a salad with dressing on the side – although to be honest I couldn’t do this much as the normal response was that they brought the salads premade with the dressing already mixed though. Our other trick was to eat at buffets wherever possible so that I could fill up on protein and it didn’t matter as much if you only ate parts of a dish and left the rest (pastry etc).

To give you an idea of some portion sizes – this day we decided we had to try some American Pizza – we ordered a ‘snack size’ piece each. And yes... they are normal sized dinner plates.

The last thing that I had been worried about was the temperature and how I would cope. Traditionally, on visits to such places as Brisbane, when I’m in the heat I have got very grumpy and uncomfortable, very quickly! I know that I am not good in heat. Well we ended up at theme parks, outside walking all day in temperatures that topped 45 degrees! And while I acknowledge it was HOT, as did everyone, I coped soooo much better than history would suggest. I also noticed that I sweated much less (I don’t know, maybe less body surface, less sweat?).

Another major difference I noted while away was the difference my weight loss made at theme parks. AJ and I are both roller coaster/adrenaline junkies and will go on any and every extreme ride we can find. Last time in the States we spent a day at a Roller Coaster Theme Park and lets just say safety was a little dodgy on some rides if AJ and I sat together. The rides were you have one lap belt/bar that you pull down onto your laps and it clicks into place – well when I was Extra Large and he was Medium, he was often left to hold on tight to the bar for safety! Again... not a problem that we struck at all!

Overall though AJ and I had a fantastic holiday, one we will never forget. The experiences I encountered that were so different to that of last time when I was a large person really made it that much more special for me – it just kept reminding me how much I had achieved, and how far I had come.

Lets break it down... 26 August – 17 September

2010-10-20T11:26:00.007+13:00

Wow – what an amazing couple of months I have had since my last blog (26 August). So much has happened that I have decided that the only way to catch you all up (and not write 6 pages worth) is to break it down – so for this blog I will simply cover since my last entry until 17th September.

So back to the 26th August – this was a little over two weeks before I left on a plane overseas for my wedding. I was full steam ahead with eating as best I could and working out as hard as I could.

Even though I have never put it on here, I had set myself a goal weight that I wanted to be for my wedding – and I tell you what, in those last two weeks before the wedding I didn’t think I was actually going to make it!

On the 4th of September, as I’m sure you will all know, Christchurch was hit by a rather large earthquake – this really disrupted life as we knew it and I certainly struggled to keep any sense of normality. This of course included eating and exercise. With my workplace off limits and much of the city cordoned off, even the short journey from my home to the gym became a difficult one. I did my best to be good though, as did everyone else.

Friday 10th September – my final BIA before leaving Christchurch early Sunday morning for the wedding – this was it – what all the work of the past year and a bit had been working up to.

I showered in the morning at home and when I got out I couldn’t help myself – I had to weigh myself - after all, I had resigned myself to the fact that I wasn’t going to make my goal weight, so let’s just see how close I got and then I can deal with the disappointment in the privacy of my own home and not at M1nt when I do the official weigh-in for the BIA.

On I step.....

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!

I DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Right from the outset of this blog I have declined to put my actual weight on here – after all, what girl advertises her weight?!?! (honestly anyway). But I did make a pledge – once I made it under 100kg (which incidentally was my goal weight for the wedding) then I would broadcast it. WELL I DID IT!!!!! 99.8kg – and yes that DOES count as under 100kg!!!!!!

I’m not ashamed to admit that I cried either – actually to be more accurate I bawled my eyes out. I’m not sure why, excitement, astonishment, disbelief, and also probably the over-tiredness due to the constant aftershocks may have had an impact. But I cried! Double digits – that’s the first time I’ve weighed double digits since I was about 20!

The heaviest I have ever been is when I joined M1nt in August 2009 - I weighed 117.8kg, so I certainly believe that getting less than 100kg was an achievement!

Anyway... back to the story.

I arrived at M1nt nice and early for my BIA (me, early somewhere!?!? Wow!!!) Di came upstairs and I told her the good news. It was sooo heart-warming to see the genuine excitement on her face, and also later on Mike, Vanessa and Brian’s faces. That genuine interest and excitement that everyone at M1nt has shared with me in my weight loss has been so valuable to me. They honestly do care, and honestly do get excited with you when you achieve. It really helps.

Needless to say I walked out of M1nt for the last time before my wedding, feeling like I was walking on air :-)

So off to Rarotonga I headed the happiest girl around. After spending a wonderful few days on the island AJ and I were married on the beach on 17th September surrounded by special friends and family. I look at the pictures now and I always look first at my face and love how genuinely happy I look, and secondly at my waist – I actually have a waist that goes in!!!!! AMAZING!!!

Anyway girls... below are some wedding snaps for ya – it was honestly the most beautiful and perfect day that I could have ever imagined. And I owe soooo much of that to M1nt. I was honestly a different person at my wedding because of them.

I am so lucky :-)

Run Fat Boy Run

2010-10-18T09:41:00.002+13:00

I've signed up for a Jacqui Restieaux running class at M1nt in an effort to get the body moving.
Sweat Intensive is a great set of classes, but the early morning starts have had to go on hold till the new year.
At the end of last year I tried a bit of running, and being a big fella, it took it's toll on my calfs (claves ?) so had to give plan b a go.
But I'm keen to give the 5k series in January another crack.
So to get some advice and support from someone with fancy coloured shoes is great, it'll be a good start to my illustrious running career.

The diet has been good of late, with a detox the week before last giving the system a good 'flush' although my nemesis the scales haven't moved much over the last little while, maybe the running might give it a kick start.

Noticed Christmas decorations at the shops the other day....the first thing I thought of was food.
Yep, everywhere you go shortly, some skinny person will offer me a cuppa tea and a mince pie.
The candy canes will torment me from the plastic pine in the corner, and marshmallow Santa's will call my name.

I'll let you know how the running/jogging/walking/panting/crawling goes tomorrow night.

Bring on Summer.

Fear Factor

2010-09-30T10:02:00.001+13:00

Welcome back to the blog, it's been a tough time for all, hope you and yours are well.

The food fuehrer is helping me detox this week, a good kick start as we get back into routine post quake. I've done other detox's that consist of potions and syrups that leave me feeling 'empty' and 'tired'. This detox is food based, which makes it seem less mental, and eating apparently keeps you alive.

So breakfast is 4 carrots, 2 apples, 1 orange, half a pineapple and a teaspoon of Metamucil. Chuck all of that in the juicer let the juicer whir away, spend an hour cleaning said juicer and then consume. It's not bad to be fair, lunch and dinner if soup/broth and salad based. Hummus, corrot sticks and almonds make up the balance of the day. I'll let you know how the next BIA and trip to the scales go. I won't tell you however about the trip to the loo. We now have shares in Carter Holt Harvey.

I've changed from doing the sweat intensive classes in the morning (still recommend these!) to doing lunchtime classes with Brian. Sleep is good, and felt that maybe I wasn't getting enough sleep into the system. So far so good, feeling more awake during the day....although that will all change in 3 weeks with the arrival our first born...ahh sleep...goodbye.

I'm looking forward to next weeks massage, as a bit of a de-stress and pick me up. So all things considered it's back to normal, although we just had a 4.5 while writing this (9:39 Thursday) so hopefully back into routine, back to the gym, back to sweating, back to the loo.

Exercise is a powerful medicine

2010-08-26T12:26:00.005+12:00

Wow - OK, so its been a week since I've caught up with you.

Whoops - sorry. Only two and a half weeks until I leave for overseas for my wedding and things are getting a little hectic!

What has happened since my last update...

Well I am pleased to announce that I have sharpened up my eating a lot - except for the odd teaspoon (who am I kidding... tablespoon) full of chocolate chips I have been very good.

My BIA on Friday was much better than I had expected. I didn't put on weight, or put on size on my waist, so for me that's a success :-)

Waist; no movement

Total Weight; down 0.3kg

Fat Mass; down 0.88kg

Muscle Mass; up 0.31kg

Excess Fluid; up 0.27kg

So as I said, nothing went up badly so I'm happy with that, especially knowing how I ate in those 2 weeks!

Next BIA is tomorrow, unfortunately this past week hasn't been great for me gym wise so again, not expecting any fantastic results. Last Thursday night I got a new tattoo (sorry Mum... hmm, maybe I should have told her before putting that on here....). While I LOVE my tattoo, the down side was that I had to have a week off the gym to allow it heal etc. This close to the wedding... it was a bit scary.

I discussed it with Di on Friday at my BIA and she reminded me that I can still do some exercise - even just heading out for a walk every day. I don't know who I was trying to kid, me or her, when I agreed and said I would. The only exercise that I do takes place at M1nt, outside of those walls I just don't have the motivation/discipline to do it!

So this morning was the first visit back to the gym that I've had since last Thursday morning. Ha ha - never thought I would say this... but I had missed it! Wow - now is that a change in attitude or what?!?!

From the beginning of this blog I have often thought about discussing my mental health - but have always decided not to. Well, today this is changing.

I suffer from a form of clinical depression, and I have done since diagnosed at 15. Since 15 I have been medicated, therefore lived a normal, stable life. Since being diagnosed 12 years ago I have faced some pretty disgusting discrimination at times towards me and that has always made me a little careful about who and how I tell people. I must state though that I never hide it, and it is NOT something that I am ashamed of.

Now the reason I decided to bring this up is because of the major difference that exercise makes to me. Like I said, in the past I have discussed with Di about talking about my depression on here and about how exercise has impacted so impressively on my state of mind/general mood, its just never happened.

Over the past week, without any exercise, I can really now see just how much of a difference it makes.

My 'shrink' (my friendly name for him) even commented recently that he was impressed how I'm doing in terms of being so close to my wedding. He said that its completely normal to have to increase a bride-to-be's medication levels prior to the wedding - because of the high amount of stress/anxiety that comes with the role. However I haven't needed that, if anything we have discussed actually being able to lower my medication levels (but won't until after the wedding!)! And the only thing that's changed is that I now exercise.

Not only have I struggled with very low moods over the past few days, I have also noticed a big drop in energy levels (weird... aren't I saving energy by not going to the gym?!?).

So there it is... exercise truly is an amazing medicine.

Motivation - where do you get it from?

2010-08-19T10:18:00.003+12:00

I have to admit something... way back at the start of this blog I made a promise to be truthful on here and really let people know how I'm feeling / how I'm getting on.

I've been bad :-( In fact if you want to witness what an angry Di looks like then I suggest you accompany me to my BIA tomorrow, I can ensure you that when Di reads my food diary for the last 4 or so days she's going to get mad! Although at least with her new office being downstairs it won't be so easy for her to call in Mike so that its Mr & Mrs Discipline both telling me I can do better...

While I have still been sticking to my 'basic' food plan, i.e. planned breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner - the good old sugary snacks have appeared back into the routine. Damn it...

I don't know why I've slipped really - a combination of things I think. I certainly have noticed Di and Mike being away - the daily nod from Mike when he acknowledges me turning up to the gym in the morning, the knowledge of my weekly BIA and food diary checkup with Di usually helps keep me 'clean' - but I also think that I am self-sabotaging a little bit. In my mind I'm telling myself that my wedding is only 4 weeks away now, I'm soooooooo close to my goal weight that I've been aiming towards for my wedding, and for some reason I have translated that to mean; 'it will be fine, just one slice/biscuit/lolly, I've got this far - it will be fine'.

BAD

So I need to refocus and make sure my motivation levels get back up there again. After all, there is only 4 weeks until my wedding!

But what is motivation? How do I motivate myself?

I know of course that everybody is different - for example I know a person that attends M1nt - when they have a BIA session with Di they receive, and generally benefit from, a good old telling off. Being told to try harder and do this and that really works for them. Not for me...

I think that I never grew out of that rebellious teenager stage - so when someone tells me to do something I generally will do everything in my power to not do it! I recall a couple of BIA sessions I have had with Di - back at the beginning of this process. As you would expect I got a good old grilling - it backfired though. I left M1nt feeling very down and like it was all too hard, and where did I go - directly to the cafe across the road and got the BIGGEST slice of Caramel Slice that I could get.... hmmmm... caramel slice.....

Now though - when I go to see Di she does usually give me the positive reinforcement that works for me. Being told 'compared to last week, this is great' works for me - I can then strive to make next week better again. Just like the daily nods that Mike also gives me when I get to M1nt in the morning - inside I feel like a proud kid - he's noticed I'm here - good on me :-)

Positive comments from friends, family, trainers, fellow M1nter's etc is also fantastic. There is nothing quite like seeing someone you know at M1nt - but haven't seen for many months and their jaw almost hitting the carpet when they see you. The comments of "WOW - I mean, just WOW" kept me on a high for a few days! (thanks Nikki :-) )

So there... I admitted it... I have got back onto the downhill slope of sugary goodness intakes!

But, IT IS NOT GOING TO CONTINUE. I have broadcast this online now - so I have to be good!

And hey - if you do see someone at M1nt (or anywhere for that matter) and you can notice that they have lost weight - SAY SOMETHING!!! Everyone reading this will know that losing weight is not easy - so acknowledge it - give them a smile - tell them they are looking good.

You never know - someone might even say it to you :-)

hmmm..... Caramel Slice....

The environment

2010-08-18T09:39:00.003+12:00

It's been a couple of weeks since my last update, completely my fault...mind has been elsewhere of late.

Here is a question for you.
Does your environment help or hinder your focus.

The gym junkies and diet police would say it's all a state of mind, that no matter where you find yourself, it's all mind over matter.

The dieters and those walking down struggle street would say.....rubbish.

I bring this up because I've had a shitter of a week. Had a family member pass away, had my birthday, I'm not sleeping and to top it all off it seems to be 'client function' month.

Mentally I feel tough, can take on the world, but put me in front of a pie warmer on a cold winters day, or a 3 course meal with plenty of booze at a function..then it's all over rover.
Surely though I can just put all that to one side and focus on my goals...but who wants to be that guy eating salads or drinking diet coke.

Well the answer is - you have to be that guy.

I'm not trying to justify a bad week, but highlighting the mind over matter...that matter being lovely big portions of hot chips when it's wet and windy outside, the savouries and slices at yet another boardroom meeting, or that bag of party mix that 'fell' into the trolley at the supermarket.

So how hard must it be for an alcoholic at a function that's wall to wall booze, or the recovering drug addict surrounded by friends out for another 'score'.
All I have to do is watch what I'm eating, exercise more and drink plenty of water...is it that hard ?

Maybe missing Di for 2 weeks has shown me that I'm not able to do this alone, that the support of those around me is the help I need.

Maybe the environment is where I put myself rather than where I find myself.

So for me M1nt is my positive environment, it's my safe haven

The dairy is not.

New Photos

2010-08-16T10:17:00.006+12:00

Here they are at last! As promised I have had some more recent photos taken. Hopefully you can see some difference! (Check out down below I have put four photos together showing from Christmas 2007 until now).

No results to report from Friday - with Di and Mike being away currently I had no BIA on Friday. Am still working towards a great result at my one this week though (fingers crossed).

Eating has been good overall. I again managed to make it to the gym 5 times last week (every morning Monday - Friday). Boy, I tell you though, by Thursday night I am absolutely buggered! I have become the Queen of early nights!

Unfortunately I hurt myself again at the gym on Friday - was during the Sweat Intensive class with Jacqui. As per usual it was my 'bung' hips that let me down. Was quite a spectacular fall I have been told! And despite Richie's best efforts the rumour he tried to start being that Jacqui had pushed me hasn't seem to have stuck!

Poor Jacqui - that's the second time my hips have given out in her class! I promise its no reflection on the trainer!

p.s. please be gentle with any comments regarding my body shape!

When I started at M1nt, for a workout I would wear long baggy pants, a sports bra, a tight singlet top with a baggy t-shirt over top - just so that no one could make out my body shape. Now of course here I am putting these photos online for the world to see with me wearing close fit clothes - it's an achievement in itself!

Thanks again M1nt :-)

Something magical happened!

2010-08-09T13:09:00.003+12:00

Welcome to Monday :-)

Before I let you know what happened to me on Saturday I will just put up my results from Fridays BIA;
- Waist; down 1.5cm
- Total Weight; down 2kg
- Fat Mass; down 0.92kg
- Muscle Mass; down 0.41kg
- Excess Water; down 0.67kg

So all in all I was over the moon with my results! :-) I did work really hard last week though so they weren't all that much of a surprise to me.

My eating had been a little poorer than normal - I had a few bad days during the week which lead to me finding myself eating the odd bit of Chocolate and other sugary sweets, other than that though I ate well. I worked hard on drinking enough water - something that I find a REAL struggle. I also worked really hard at the gym, pushing myself harder than normal. And it paid off :-)

Most people are probably aware that Mike and Di are away for some much needed and deserved TLC overseas. As a result I don't have a BIA this week so have set myself a challenge of getting some fantastic results at my next one as it would have been two weeks.

Anyway... as per the title something absolutely unheard of and magical happened to me on Saturday!

With it only being 5 weeks today until I head off overseas for my wedding I am now in the full throws of buying bits and pieces for the wedding. Me and my bridesmaids were out shopping on Saturday and were in Farmers to purchase some underwear for under my dress. I found what I was looking for style wise and went to find a size... S, M, L, ah... XL, that's me (well it has been for the past 10 years anyway).

So off I toddled to the changing room... hmmm... seems a little bit big. Oh, this is exciting - maybe I'm a L!!!!! That would be worth celebrating - so as the good bridesmaid she is one of the girls headed off to find me an L. I convinced myself that the XL looks fine - I'll just try and L - just in case. Not holding my breath though.

Hmm.... could it actually be.... the L seems to big also!!! Check the tag, yep, it is the correct size on the correct hanger - that's not the problem.

So third time lucky - M it is! I brought clothing in a size Medium!!!!!!!! I would say that my mother was still buying me my clothes the last time I fit into something that wasn't at least a Large!!!
Needless to say I spent the rest of the day 'walking on air' I was/am sooo proud of myself.

M!!!

The places we lose weight...

2010-08-04T13:53:00.000+12:00

You will be pleased to know that I am still doing well this week. I have had a good workout every morning this week at M1nt – with Monday being a class with Brian as part of the new course of Sweat Intensive, yesterday I headed in and did a good cardio workout followed by Ab’s and then this morning was back in for Boxing with Harry as part of the Sweat Intensive course. And as always it was a good workout.

My eating has also been on track with not too much sweet stuff sneaking into the diet.

I finally got some spare time yesterday and entered all of my BIA results into a spreadsheet so that I could actually see the overall results. I got a nice surprise really – it has really helped me acknowledge how far I have come.

Of course these results don’t cover the entire time that I have been at M1nt – while I joined in August 09, it was not until the end of January 10 that I did my first BIA. So, my total results from January to August are;
Waist Measurement – down 7.5cm (from August 09 to August 10 it is down 34.5cm)
Total Weight – down 7.1kg (from August 09 to August 10 it is down 11.2kg)
Fat Mass – down 7.83kg
Muscle Mass – up 0.32kg
Excess Water – up 0.41kg
Biological Age – I’m loving this... in the past 8 months my body has become younger by 4.33years!!!! You can’t claim that achievement often!

What I liked about looking at the figures this way, was that even with all of the little ups and downs that each figure has along the way – it is clear that the 7kg that I have lost in the past 8 months has all been from my fat mass/fat stores. So even though every week we watch my Excess Water go up and down – at the end of the day it is fat that I’m getting rid of.

As I have mentioned before the 34.5cm and 11kg that I have lost in the past year has also equated to me going from a pants size 28 to an 18 (which I am now putting on and taking off without undoing the buttons so may be time for a 16?).

What I never expected, or even considered, was how every part of my body has decreased – I have just had to take my Engagement Ring in to be resized because it had become too loose – and what I found crazy was that they are taking it down an entire size! To me it’s incredible to think that even my fingers have slimmed down! I will also be heading in shortly to have a link taken out of my watch strap and a link from my bracelet as they too are too big.

But I haven’t made the extreme change that my sis-in-law has – she lives in Aussie and has been working extremely hard – recently hitting the 30kg loss milestone. When I told her about my ring size she simply laughed and said that she now fits a size smaller shoes than she did two years ago!

New shoes... the price you have to pay for losing weight.

I don't need to pee.

2010-08-03T14:46:00.003+12:00

The food fuehrer summoned me to the diet dungeon on Saturday as I hadn't been for a couple of week. My fault with holiday and the like.I've never been to the diet dungeon before, the last time I had a BIA was upstairs in the cubical of anti carb.I was sure I was in for the high jump, not because I had been overly naughty, but because I felt as though I had been.

I was sure the lack of carbs and sugar was making me feel weak, and a bit rundown. A great massage with Pip last week had sorted out the lower back and the feeling of having my shoulders around my ears, but for some reason the body (or the mind) was feeling a bit off. You have to book in for a massage with the team, I can't emphasise enough how much better you feel a day later, it's great.

So here I was, late, and standing in front of the food fuehrer in the diet dungeon ready for a bit of a lecture. Imagine my surprise when the scales were down, the fat % was down, the fluid % was down...although the muscle increase was a bummer. So what to make of it all ?

The feeling is that the fat % should be dropping faster, this is about week 8 or 10 and I'm ready for a shift. The clothes are feeling better, and the tape measure in the diet dungeon tells the truth (watch out 'guns' McCauley..I'm catching up). So I'm at home now with ketosticks to do wees on to test the ketones in my system after I eat, essentially am I burning any fat...and so far the last few days..nothing.

We'll keep monitoring them though, maybe I need to do them a bit later than an hour...sometime I just don't need to pee...it's the way life is.

The Sweat Intensive classes restarted on Monday with Brian and a few new faces which is excellent. I've heard all Brian's jokes, so now it's fun watching the new faces try and decipher them.If your thinking you could do with an early morning workout that's fun, rewarding and sweaty (no... not sexytimes) then see the team at M1nt and get signed up.

Will let you know how the this week goes...weight, and wees wise.

2010-08-02T10:47:00.002+12:00

Just when I thought I was on a roll!!!

My eating last week was fine (I say fine as it was as good as it ever is, I'm no Di so there is always going to be Subway Cookies and Frozen Cokes in my weeks food diary) and my exercise was good. I made it to the gym Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday (really worked hard Wednesday morning and felt it that night/next morning) & Friday morning.

And yet.... just when I had said that I was on a nice steady decrease... its stopped!!! But thats just not fair!!!!

Waist - increased 0.5cm
Total weight - increased 0.9kg
Fat Mass - increased 0.06kg
Muscle Mass - increased 0.01kg
Excess Water - increased 0.82kg

So to bring in Di's realistic, reassuring words we can look at these figures and say that they are possibly all OK - fat mass didn't increase (not worth mentioning anyway) and when you look at the figures it was just excess water that I was carrying that has pushed up my weight (and so you would expect my waist).

I'm still sulking though.

Then Di said something that really made me shake in my boots "we may have to start calorie counting and remove approx 200 calories per day".
Uh-uh, you did NOT just say that. That DOESN"T sound like fun :-(

I brought Di around to my way of thinking in that we will wait another week before we panic and start making rash decisions like calorie counting... man I hope this week is better!
I'm just hoping that the excess water was related to me pushing myself hard on Wednesday morning when I was boxing with Harry and Richie and that the excess water was a result of inflammation/soreness from the hard work out.

Please??Maybe??? I hope....

(as a backup option I did something I NEVER do - I can into the gym on Saturday and had a Personal Training (PT) session with Brian and did some boxing).

2010-07-26T12:51:00.003+12:00

I'm still on the downhill slide - the numbers are decreasing and my clothes are still getting bigger. :-)

Last week I had two nights away with work - both nights included 'networking drinks' and consistent eating out. As well as the struggles of trying to maintain a healthy diet while away from home and routine I also didn't make it to the gym.

However, I put on my bravest smile and headed in to see Di for my BIA on Friday. I'm glad to announce that I was over the moon with my results;

Total Weight Loss; 1.5kg (with this loss I have officially hit the 10kg total loss milestone :-))
Fat Mass Loss; 0.38kg
Muscle Mass Loss; 0.29kg
Excess water loss; 0.83kg
Waist measurement loss; 2cm

On a review of what I did eat while I was away I was very proud of myself actually. I even took some nibbles with me like almonds and Protein Bars to ensure I didn't fall into the trap of bad snacking.

We are now into our final week of the current Sweat Intensive Course at M1nt this week. This morning we were put through our paces with Brian.

If you are able to make it into M1nt by 6.30am on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday I would whole-heartedly recommend that you join us for the next course which starts next week. Every week you are guaranteed three really good work-outs as well as the support, encouragement and humour from the rest of the group. If you have any questions and you see me around just yell out - or talk to one of the trainers at M1nt.

I am going to head home tonight and look through all my BIA results and calculate some totals (i.e. how much fat mass I have lost in total). I think that it is time for me to really get appreciation of how far I have come.

This is a result of the bit of a melt-down I had on Saturday night. My fiance and I were heading out to his mid-winter Christmas work do. I get on with everyone from his work really well and was excited about showing off my new body shape to a few that I hadn't seen for while.

Well... what a disaster... I quickly discovered that I actually don't have any clothes that fit me anymore!!!!! I spent about 2 hours putting on clothes, and then taking them off again as they were too big and throwing them straight into a plastic bag to go to the charity bins. Then finally, SUCCESS - I found a top that I wanted to wear... nope... wait.... I don't have any bra's that I can wear with that top that fit me anymore! etc etc

Anyway... I did eventually find something to wear and I did get a lot of compliments from the people there... but I wasn't a pretty sight there for a while! Am pleased to report though that my fiance did very well - no 'big bum' comments at all :-)

p.s. keep a look out for some updated photos coming soon

Ah Bugger.

2010-07-26T08:56:00.003+12:00

This was going to be the blog about how the food fuhrer had busted me for my week away on holiday.
The week where I told myself that I had to get back into it, the blog where motivation was the driving force.
I was going to wax lyrical about the benefits of being sugar and carb-less, how my life had changed,
and how great I felt. Problem was my BIA was put off till Tuesday. Ah Bugger.

Guns McCauley took me through some stretches on Saturday morning as I had been feeling tight in the lower back and hamstrings.
I find it fascinating that all those muscles are interwoven and interlinked, the science must be incredible if I could stay awake long enough.
So my short hamstrings...which by all accounts are bad, are making my lower back tight and uncomfortable.

Guns gave me some stretches to do at home in front of the television
and over time I'll work over them and hopefully get them longer (?).
It's fair enough to say that Pip will have her work cut out on Tuesday.
If you get the chance, actually....make sure at some stage you book yourself in to see the expert team for a massage.

Even if it's a half hour stress relief or an hour long hammering, the body needs to be taken care of. You'll workout better for it, and feel a whole lot better 48 hours later.

It's the last week of this round of sweat intensive, but luckily for you and I the next 6 week instalment starts on August 2nd. Take the plunge and sign up, it's worth it.
Brian, Harry and Jacqui put together a top class, and it is what it is...you will sweat, but it's fun and rewarding and we are a good bunch.

I think the M1nt team wish we were slightly quieter and more focused...but that how we roll.

I'll let you know how it goes with Pip, and with the food fuhrer later this week...I've never heard the food fuhrer yell at anyone before, there are firsts for everything.

Ah Bugger.

"Excellent Week!"

2010-07-19T12:48:00.006+12:00

My BIA print out from Friday has "Excellent Week!" written at the top in red pen - and no it wasn't me that wrote it!!! I really must have impressed Di this week :-)

I tried really hard last week and was very proud of myself in terms of workouts (x5 - Monday - Friday mornings) and food intake (severe lack of sugar!!). I didn't even give in to the cravings that I was having when I wrote my last blog. I simply found the most brain-intensive problem on my desk, made myself some Miso Soup and distracted myself with work. I certainly deserved the 2x subway cookies that I had that night when I got home!!!

Back to Friday though... I headed down to M1NT as usual at noon. First up is the weigh. I stepped up on the scales with massive hopes - and... they were quickly dashed, stomped on and then buried... I PUT ON!!!!! Only 0.3kg - but I was still expecting a loss so stepped off the scales feeling very deflated. I then headed downstairs to Di's office (has everyone seen her new office downstairs? Very flash!).

Here are the results;

Total Weight GAIN grrrr; 0.3kg

Waist measurement loss; 1cm

Muscle mass gain; 0.52kg

Fat mass loss; 1.13kg

Excess water gain; 0.91kg

Di was over the moon with my results - I just couldn't get excited. My total weight had gone up! How could that be!

Di kept pointing out that I lost 1.13kg of fat mass "you're just melting away" I recall her saying. This was the figure she didn't stop smiling about.

There are of course logical reasons why I put on (apparently... still not convinced) - all based around the excess water gain of 0.91kg.

I was born with various problems with my hips - hyper-mobility and genetic hip disfigurement - basically all that means is that I have to be rather careful with what things I can do - otherwise my hips tend to dislocate (a fairly regular occurrence). On Friday morning I was about half way through the Sweat Intensive class with Jacqui (by the way... where was everyone?!?! I was the only person that turned up! Thanks Sandi for coming in to keep me company) and I hurt my hip. I ended up missing about 15 minutes of the class trying to walk it off / stretch it out a bit to ensure I didn't pop it out. I then spent the rest of the day hoppling around like an old lady!

DISCLAIMER: I must point out that hurting my hip had absolutely nothing to do with Jacqui!!! She was very worried that I was going to put on the blog that I hurt it in her class!!!! Its just me and my problematic body :-)

Di kept reassuring me that because I had hurt my hip earlier that day and I would have a lot of inflammation around the joint - and inflammation is made up of / creates excess water. She was certain that this explains the increased water, and therefore increased weight.

I'm still not happy though..... I still struggle to get out of the mentality of weight loss has to mean total weight loss - not just fat loss etc. For instance I still haven't cracked the 10kg weight loss yet. I know that I look completely different, and of course have gone from size 28 pants to 18 - but still... I haven't lost 10kg yet - and that still gets on my nerves.... I tell you, Women's magazines have a lot to answer for!

This week is going to be a challenge that I hope I conquer. I'm heading away for work early tomorrow morning - getting home Thursday night. That means no gym, no routine in terms of food and lots of networking/meals out. Will let you know how it goes...

School Holidays !!

2010-07-17T11:44:00.003+12:00

I have been looking forward to this week off for a long time..well since Christmas really.
A break from work, a chance to get out of town and head to the bach (or Crib for you southerners) and catch up with family and friends for a week.

WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY does every holiday occasion revolve around food ?

Everybody who turns up at the house brings food, every time a visitor comes round, on goes the kettle and out comes the baking.
If it's raining..lets bake, if the suns out..lets have a bbq. We all know that holidays are great for the soul and the mind but what about the stomach!

Do calories not count if your outside of your residential post code ? Do normal people talk about 'what shall we get out for dinner' while we are having breakfast ?
Why does every breakfast have to be 'bacon & eggs' and every evening meal have to be followed with some sort of ice cream/pie/chocolate.

It's a week of mayhem, the wine and beer comes out around 4pm every day "bar's open" comes the cry from the lounge, followed by cheese and crackers, chips and dips, and all sorts of lollies to keep the wolf like pack of kids happy, whilst us adults sip on our wines and beers, reflecting on a great day at the beach, where by all accounts we did stuff all.

I tried most days to pound the pavement, but alas not enough to break into a 'sweat intensive' state of exhaustion, and who wants to be up at 7am jogging on their holidays anyway. So I'm definitely looking forward to getting back to the gym after a week away, and getting the food diary back on track after my little 'break'.

If there is one thing I've learnt over the holiday, it's that staying on track is a lot harder without the routine. Sure the routine can get boring and mundane, but there is some method to the madness.

I've kept away from most carb like substances, well the ones that had carb written all over them like bread/chips/spuds/rice but I'm sure in excitement of being on holiday there may have been to odd slip up, same with my sugar intake. I'm learning to 'look harder' at what's going into my system, and spent the best part of one night convincing myself and a room full of others that because the ginger ale was 'diet' it was still ok to consume the best part of the bottle of whisky. It's amazing how much clarity I have in the early hours of the morning...I should start work earlier..and less sober.

Ah well, holiday is over, back to the gym and work on Monday, and back to the routine, I like the routine, I moan about the routine...but I need it.

Oh sugary sweetness... where for art thou?

2010-07-15T13:38:00.003+12:00

I have had a fantastic three days this week.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday - I made it to the gym each morning and have not allowed myself any sugary threats. Di is going to be soo proud of me :-)

Except now... the cravings are bad.

I sat opposite a workmate whom ate a Chocolate Bar for lunch - I did my best not to watch (let alone drool). And then another work mate came in and described the huge piece of chocolate brownie that she had just eaten... I did my best not to listen!!

That was an hour ago and I am still battling the urge to get up and go to that damn snack box for a sugar fix. I was fine until I saw/heard about it and now I can't get it out of my mind!!!

I am strong - I can wait until tonight (yummm... yes that's right... subway cookie night for Marie is Thursday night!!!!)

Well I hope I can wait...

My tummy folds funny!

2010-07-12T12:50:00.004+12:00

I got some more great results at my BIA on Friday - I think I even possibly impressed Di!

Total Weight Loss; 2.1kg

Fat Mass Loss; 0.38kg (I was a little disappointed with this one)

Muscle Mass Loss; 0.34kg

Excess Water Loss; 1.47kg

So I think that Di has now proved her point with me that with all the extra sugar I eat in my diet I am not allowing myself to lose the excess water! I still had a bit of sneaky sugar last week - and I still managed to lose 1.47kg of excess water (that equates to 1.47 litres!). Very happy.

I actually started noticing myself on Thursday that I must have been shifting weight last week! I noticed that every time I sat down - my tummy was folding inwards. Not sure how else to explain this - but typically my tummy has always bulged out - especially when sitting. But as I said, Thursday I began to notice it folding in - meaning I can feel skin-on-skin. What a bizarre but wonderful feeling! Can't ever remember it doing that!

I was looking through some random photos on my digital camera in the weekend and found a photo of me that shocked me! This is one of the few photos that I can look at and honestly say I can see the difference in me from then to now! As my lovely fiance put it - its one of my 'chunkier' photos.... hmm... thanks I think. :-)

If I had to describe my body shape in this photo - round is all that I can come up with! This was taken approx Christmas 2007.

I must get into M1NT one day soon and get some more photos taken - I think I would have changed more since the last lot.

Self-Sabotage

2010-07-08T13:34:00.004+12:00

Self-Sabotage.

Why do I do it? Its like the unhealthy voice in my head manages to gag the healthy voice that is trying to channel Di just long enough for the sugar to be consumed!

Headed in for my BIA with Di last Friday (just realised before I never gave you my results!). Results were not too bad;

Total Weight Loss; 0.3kg

Fat Mass Loss; 1.02kg (liking that number!!!)

Muscle Mass Gain; 0.47kg

Excess Water Gain; 0.54kg

Waist Measurement Loss; 0.5cm (and YES that does count!)

I think Di was rather unhappy with me when she read my food diary and spotted the lollies I had been eating. She was definitely unhappy when I celebrated my 1.02kg Fat Mass Loss and I said to her "see... lollies are good for you!".

As she kindly pointed out though - the extra sugar in my diet caused me to be carrying an extra 0.54kg of excess water. Sugar = inflammation = excess water = more weight for the body to carry around.

As I was leaving Di called out after me "can't we just have one week where you cut out the sugar?" - "ha - seems unlikely" I thought to myself.

But why? Why am I resisting her advice? Is it the rebellious teenager inside me somewhere saying 'do the opposite'?

The weekend followed and as usual exercise was nil - and eating was average. Then we were back to work Monday morning.

I decided that I would take Di's advice and try to make it the week (working week anyway) relatively sugar-free - just for you Di :-)

Monday - good. The only thing I don't think Di is going to be happy about is the oven fries we had with dinner. I only had a small portion though. And no late night sugar fix.

Tuesday - good... mostly. The day went great - I resisted the urge to go to the snack box etc all day. Had dinner, made it through the evening without reaching for a cookie or something similar to munch on in front of TV. I then decided to make my way to bed - before I knew it, I had a tablespoon of chocolate chips in my mouth! I hadn't even realised I was doing it! I had been cleaning up the kitchen and helped myself into the baking draw (evil draw!). I know that this will sound strange - to be honest it sounds strange to me still typing this. But its true - I didn't even think about it, I just did it. I was sooo angry with myself once I realised to. But boy did they taste good! :-)

Wednesday - good.... mostly. I gave in and had one cookie before heading to bed, otherwise I did very well.

Today - so far, so good. Except tonight is Subway night at our house. hmmmm subway cookies.... :-)

Maybe I just need a photo of Di looking angry that I can print out in colour and stick to strategic places around the house; inside the pantry door, inside the baking draw, maybe even on the door of Subway... nah, that's going too far!

Take the win.

2010-07-05T10:04:00.004+12:00

It's enough of a battle, so you take the wins where you can.
1.8 kg lost last week, it's encouraging. Made up of over a kilo of fluid loss, and 500g of fat and a touch of muscle loss. Take the win.

Tuesday morning was the Glucose Tolerance Test that I was worried about. It's made up of fasting, drinking glucose and then seeing how your body reacts, and how well your insulin does it's job. The test itself was ok, if not long and boring while you wait. The issue now is that I'm pre diabetic. This basically means I need to give the body every chance not to become diabetic, depending on me to supply the insulin via a jab. ( That would suck...big time) So the pressure really is on to drop the weight, cut the sugar and behave.* Got some great advice from the food fuehrer, so it's up to me make it happen. Pressure.

So now that I am conscious of the sugar intake, the rule being less than 10g per 100g of product. You can imagine my surprise as I went through the pantry and checked the sugar content of EVERYTHING ! To give you an idea, sugar has 99.4g of sugar per 100g. My 'nice and natural' (shit they'll be good for me) muesli bars, have 22.8g of sugar per 100g. So the look out is on for alternatives to my norm. If you have any ideas let me know.

On school holidays next week, a week away from the gym and the comforts of diet life. I can see it now...baking, nibbles, booze. Need to be a good boy, self control will be the toughest, that and finding sugar free beer.
Super class this morning with Brian, if not a little light on the turnout, Monday is the toughest to get out of bed for...but always feel so much better following.

Have a super week.
*My knowledge of GTT and diabetes is very limited...talk to the food fuehrer for deets.

Marie's Ode to Brian

2010-07-05T08:53:00.005+12:00

Well... it is time.... this is the blog that you have been waiting for (probably not as long as Brian has been waiting)... but here it is... my Ode to Brian.

As most of us will know Brian is one of the Personal Trainers at M1NT Health and Fitness. And I would argue that he is the one with the biggest personality.

When I first joined M1NT back in August 2009, I first met with Mike and he took me through the join-up details etc. Mike then introduced me to Brian and from that date Brian has been my Personal Trainer.

It didn’t take long for me to learn of Brian’s sense of humour – sometimes sick, sometimes just plain WRONG, but always worth a laugh.

Brian tends to often be the butt of many of my jokes at M1NT – something I’m not going to apologise for because he gives it back just as well as he takes it.

In all seriousness though, I do owe a lot to Brian. When I first started we all know that I was a seriously overweight, unhealthy individual. I required a lot of motivation and positive reinforcement to keep me on track and regularly exercising. Brian was really great to me and gave me all the encouragement that I needed (albeit usually wrapped up in some type of Brian humour).

Brian is not a shy individual what-so-ever and as such has been almost pathetic in begging both Richie and I to feature him on our Blogs. Well Brian... today is your day, pictures and all :-)

When I think back over the past 11 months of knowing Brian, and I think of some of the conversations that we have had, from the inappropriate to the absurd, I sometimes wonder how we have not received complaints!

While I don’t wish to get all touchy-feeling and soppy with this blog – I really do want to emphasise how grateful I am to Brian (as well as the rest of the M1NT team of course) for keeping me on track, always making me laugh – no matter how close to throwing up I am from working so hard, and always encouraging me to work harder. You have helped me make the progress I have made thus far – I truly appreciate it.

Now... before anyone gets the wrong idea... I’m engaged, about to be married... and besides... Brian is WAY TOO OLD for me!

So as a sign of all of our appreciation towards Brian and his sense of humour I suggest that every time any of us are in at M1NT this week we take time to find something about Brian to make fun of. I have included some pictures in case you need some assistance.

Here’s to Brian

Countdown is on until Monday

2010-07-02T08:30:00.003+12:00

Well the countdown is on until Monday's blog - remember, this will be one that you DON'T want to miss! :-)

Am feeling a little bit sore this morning to be honest. I have just arrived at work from the 6.30am Sweat Intensive class with Jacqui. Jacqui's classes are very intense and hard work - I would actually say that she is 1st equal with Harry in terms of those two being the hardest two of the week (sorry Brian....). Always good fun though - especially when you add in the personalities of us lot doing the hard work. It doesn't matter how clear you explain what needs to be done - there is always at least one that does it wrong! This morning it was Dave (no surprises there!) and Janene (expected more from a school teacher!) :-p

This week I managed to drag myself out of bed to make it to the gym every day this week (Monday - Friday). At a guess I would say that its probably the first time I have had 5 work-outs in a week for about 2 months... lately Thursday mornings have just seemed too cold to get out of bed! But not this week! I have been trying to push myself that little bit harder at the gym this week and I think I have succeeded.

BIA at noon again today - will let you know how I get on. The fiance and I went to Northlands Mall last weekend - a mall that we don't visit very often. We ended up in a lolly shop there that is owned by a friend of a friend that makes amazing lollies! I'm a little ashamed to say that we left with three bags of lollies.... and they are all almost gone! I have been as good as I could though - I have limited myself to 5 a day, and have been sorting through getting the smallest ones. We will have to wait and see how it affects the BIA!

Alcohol then Sleep then BIA = Lecture

2010-06-29T13:12:00.003+12:00

So what did I learn last Friday when I went for my weekly BIA with Di from M1NT?

Well... I learnt that if you drink alcohol (even just 3 drinks) the night before a BIA, you don't even have to show Di your food diary and she will know!

She was punching the numbers into her computer when a vaguely puzzled look came across her face ... "somethings not right here" she muttered... then the light bulb went on, she shot me a look "You've been drinking haven't you!". 15 minutes later I left feeling a little bit like a school girl that's just been told off by the headmaster! Sorry Di!

Last Friday was a crazy one at my work meaning that I didn't actually make it to my normal noon appointment (i.e. pre-lunch consumption) and instead headed down at 3pm after eating my lunch. So the figures were a little bit different and I am maintaining that as my excuse! Here's how I did;

Total Weight - increased 0.7kg

Total Fat Weight - increased 0.18kg

Total Muscle Weight - decreased 0.06kg

Total Water Weight - increased 0.58kg (I think that this was the figure that gave away the alcohol!)

Waist Measurement - down 1 cm (so back at 31cm total loss).

Overall, apart from the alcohol lecture, I left feeling OK about the results.

Since Friday I had a rather uneventful, but relatively healthy weekend. Was then back into M1NT at 6.30am Monday for the Sweat Intensive class with Brian (where I have to point out that the numbers were lacking!! Where was everyone huh?!?).

Then back to the gym this morning for a workout doing my programme that Brian has set me.

On Friday I chatted with Di for a while about my lunches. I am someone that I need to be pre-organised to eat healthy lunches during the week - by that I mean I am best if I can prepare a weeks worth of lunches on a Sunday and take one a day to work. For the past 6 months or so I have been preparing a large lettuce salad every Sunday and taking this to work every day and eating it for lunch with a protein source (either left over meat from dinner the night before, tin of salmon, tuna or chicken). The only thing is that now that the temperature as dropped so dramatically I found that the salads just weren't cutting it anymore!

Di had a few great ideas - there was one that really sounded like me - so Sunday was 'D' day and I tried it out (anyone that knows me knows that I am definitely NOT at home in the kitchen!).

I diced a whole heap of veges up into small cubes and baked slightly in the oven. All of these then went into a casserole dish and I poured over a mix of eggs, milk, water and seasoning. Then sprinkled sunflower, pumpkin and sesame seeds on top and baked in the over - Di's Crustless Quiche! I then cut it into lunch size slices (it made 6) and I have freezed some and the rest went in the fridge - they are absolutely divine heated in the microwave for lunch - again just needing a protein source as well. Thanks heaps Di - this is my winter menu sorted :-) (Creature of habit - that's me!)

By the way - keep posted - there is blog coming on Monday that you do NOT want to miss!!!

My oh My.

2010-06-28T09:33:00.001+12:00

Here we are faced with another Monday morning, although a better start this week with a good class with Brian at Sweat Intensive this morning.
I'm sure Brian will take a trip to the record store, or iTunes at some stage this year. Enough said.

Went to give the dreadmill a piece of my mind on Friday after work, only to find myself in front of the food fuehrer doing a BIA. The problem is I usually do these on a Saturday morning, with no food in my system, so here I was after a whole day of eating and drinking, only to find the scales were the same as last week !! (don't get caught up on the scales..so they say) fat mass was down slightly so I guess I need to take some heart from that. Went back to the gym the next morning, to find that the scales were 1 kilo less. (win)

Did a brief PT with Mike 'abs' McCauley, I breathe like a freight train, not because Mike is working me hard, It's because I've got no rhythm, we'll work on that, holding my breath while working out can't be overly good for me. Abs McCauley is going to work with me on that...and other things I'm sure.

Nice to have met many fellow gym nutters on Saturday night at M1nts 1st birthday dinner. A very nice evening out on such a dreadful night weather wise. It must have been weird to see people in their 'normal' clothes. It was no surprise however that Abs was wearing the food fuehrer's white t-shirt...might have to change his name to 'guns'. You know your in good hands at M1nt when even the most senior members get up to speak so highly of the M1nt team. Food fuehrer even told me that red wine was better than white...I'm holding her to that. Happy Birthday M1nties, and thanks for a great night.

I'm off tomorrow morning to have a glucose tolerance test to determine how quickly glucose is cleared from my blood. The test is usually used to test for diabetes and insulin resistance among other things...might have to lay off the Jet Planes for a while longer. I'll let you know how that goes, slightly nervous as my Dad is diabetic and I don't want to have to deal with that.

It's Monday, A positive week ahead.

Will I ever stop seeing myself as fat?

2010-06-22T12:29:00.004+12:00

If you've been following this blog you will know by now that on paper I have made some amazing progress in terms of losing weight and getting a healthier body. The sensible voice inside my head also knows that... but I just can't shake these damn fat glasses I seem to have acquired over the years!

I would guess that I have been visibly overweight for about 7 or 8 years now - gradually growing outwards that entire time. So considering that 8 years represents about 30% of my life I can see why my internal image of myself is a fat and unhealthy one. But can I / will I ever be able to change this? I truly want to!

I can definitely see how my life has changed over the past 8 months of being with M1nt, even just the little things like;

- putting on my socks in the morning is no longer an aerobic sport (let alone the issue that was cutting my toe nails!!!)

- when I look down I can no longer see my tummy sticking out past my boobs

- I can walk up the one flight of stairs to my office over and over again in a day without collapsing and almost needing CPR

- a day out shopping with the girls no longer involves me constantly scanning the horizon for a seat to rest on

- I can now wear heels to work - like the other 98% of the female population! Before I just couldn't do it - but with the weight loss and strengthening its no longer a problem at all.

Of course there are the obvious things as well like the 30cm off my waist and the almost 10kg of weight loss - but I still think of myself as fat! Is that just how my brain is wired?

I am rather typical I believe of the female population in that I am rather self-conscious of myself and my image. I worry about how I look - and considering I still consider myself 'fat' then my self-image is not a healthy one.

The body is changing... the scales are changing... my eating has changed... but will my brain?

Not good...at all

2010-06-21T16:21:00.002+12:00

On the back of my motivation blog..the man cold kept me on the couch, unmotivated.
I won't go on about how much worse it must be than child birth, but we men suffer...it's our thing.

Not one visit to the gym at all last week, and the scales told me so.

The diet was fairly on track, but fruit and yoghurt for dinner, mixed with a few too many carbs late in the day certainly didn't do me any favours.
So what to do when your not feeling a hundy ? tough it out ? Harden up ?
The message seems to be plenty of fluid, lots of rest and eat right !
(how good does choc bikkies and chips sound when lying on the couch)
Some things I have read say to continue with the exercise, sweat it out, but I guess the most important bit is to listen to your body.

So that was last week, put aside, chalked up to experience.

This week sees us back in the sweat invasive class, (that sweat gets everwhere!) Brian had us huffing and puffing, and after a week off it felt great to be back.
Also nice to see 3 new faces with us, this is a fun varied class 3 times a week. Doing a class is highly recommended, it's motivating, supportive and fun!

I'm still getting the courage up to do Zumba.

This weeks goals are no carbs after lunch and no sugar. My love affair with toast has to come to an end...a sad sad truth.
Sugar shouldn't too hard, but like the sweat..that stuff is in EVERYTHING !

I'm looking forward to BIA on Saturday..a good shift will see me back on track.

mmmm toast, with sugar on top.

Another successful BIA

2010-06-21T13:27:00.003+12:00

Well I'm happy to report that Friday was another successful BIA :-)

I never made it to the gym Friday morning either - meaning that it was only Monday and Tuesday that I did make it last week - so I had mentally prepared myself for a bad BIA. But that was OK - I was prepared and ready for it.

However... the news was good :-)

- Total weight loss 0.8kg

- Fat Mass loss 0.79kg

- Muscle gain 0.02kg (and YES that still counts!!)

- Excess fluid loss 0.02kg

- The only sticking point was my waist measurement which went up 1cm (but never fear - I was 31cms lost, so I'm still 30cm - I was worried about losing my ruler achievement!!!)

So to be honest I left M1NT feeling quite good and very proud of myself.

Another typical weekend eating wise - only allowed myself one alcoholic drink this weekend - its amazing the differences I see on the weeks where I don't drink and what results I get from it.

The next round of Sweat Intensive classes started this morning with a 6.30am dumbell class with Brian. Again Brian was begging both Richie and I to make him famous on these blogs... your time will come Brian :-) he he he

There were three new faces in the class this morning that didn't partake in the last course. Was nice to have some new faces.

I've also just about managed to fully shake off the 'man flu' that I had so feeling much better (and yes there was one point when I could swear that the world was going to end I felt so sick, so it MUST have been the 'man-flu'). Motivation levels are high and I almost feel like I'm on a roll.

However... If I have learnt anything from my journey over the past 8 months of exercise and healthy(ier) eating it is that the motivation levels never last. Something will happen - whether I have a bad day and look at myself in the mirror with my 'fat glasses' on and hate what I see, or someone says something not so nice, or I have a bad BIA. The motivation drops again and it can really be a struggle to pull it back up. Thats really when the supportive environment of M1NT can help.

Illness

2010-06-17T16:08:00.005+12:00

I'm doing my best not to pig out on bad food!

My fiance was ill over the weekend with the 'man-flu'. Problem with that is he shared it around and now I am sick as well!! (random thought... is it still the man flu now that I have it?!?!?)

After the good results that I got in my BIA last Friday I had a good weekend eating wise.

Even Monday and Tuesday were good - I made it to the gym both days and eating was good.

Then I got sick....

Normally when I'm ill I tend to try and cheer myself up with chocolate and other such beautiful things! I am being good though! I promise, other than a couple of sneaky biscuits from the snack box at work to help me through the day I have been good.

I didn't make it to the gym yesterday or today though so we will have to wait and see how that shows though on the BIA this Friday.

What motivates you ?

2010-06-14T09:28:00.002+12:00

We all having differing needs and wants when it comes to achieving goals.
So I guess it's motivation that helps you keep going to achieve those goals.
But what is motivation ? Motivation I suppose is the power to push us along and get to those goals.

So if you don't have set goals, does that mean you lack motivation ?
I know this all seems a bit 'zen' but here's my deal.
If my goal is to lose a certain amount of weight, then my motivation is there to achieve that goal, I have the drive to succeed so to speak.
But what if I had no fixed goal ? What if I just enjoyed going to the gym and eating right ? then would I lack motivation ?

Luckily I've got that 'goal' and the people around me supply the support to encourage my motivation.

The team at M1nt, are all experts at helping you define goals and supplying the tools to create the motivation to get there.
Whether it's a programme, PT session, group class or a trip to the food fuehrer, they have it sorted...and they are good folk.

Lately however it's the people who I don't know that are helping with my motivation.
It maybe just passing a jogger on my way home in the car and thinking...geez if they're out in this weather, then why can't I.
Seeing someone at work have a salad instead of the usual pie and coke....that's the stuff that motivates me lately.

So it doesn't always have to be a big poster on the wall saying 'Oi fatty...drop some kilos' !

I bring this up, because for another week, the scales haven't moved.
The BIA shows that the work is going in, and my body shape is changing (3cm this week on gut)
but for me the 'push' that makes up the motivation some weeks comes directly from the scales, and that's my current battle.

Am I lacking motivation, no. Do I have set goals, yes.

We'll get there.

Wedding dress measurements...

2010-06-13T14:37:00.005+12:00

Just looked back on my order form for my wedding dress (dated 10/04/10). I was measured that day and the dress is being made for those measurements. Waist measurement 99cm.... its now only 84cm.... lucky I have a dressmaker booked to take it in!!!!!

I did it! I made the ruler milestone!

2010-06-13T14:01:00.003+12:00

I am happy to report that Friday's BIA with Di was a succesful one!

This weeks results:

- 2cm off my waist - (that brings me to 31cm!!!!!! The ruler milestone!!!!)

- Total weight loss - 1.2 kg

- Fat Mass loss - 1.4kg

- Muscle increase - 0.45kg

(the difference is a loss in the amount of water retention).

Now they are results that I am over the moon with - especially knowing how much chocolate I ate over the last week!

Di also decided to drop into conversation what one of the other figures on the BIA print out that she gives me means - its Biological Age. I'm quite shocked to say that my current biological age is 38.89 years (I'm only 26!!!!!!). I looked back on my BIA print out from 26th February '10 and my biological age then was 41.45, so at least I'm getting younger :-) How often can you say that?!?!

Eating hasn't been too bad this weekend.

Back to M1NT tomorrow morning for the final Sweat Intensive class in this course.

Anyone see what Brian made us do this morning?

2010-06-11T08:54:00.003+12:00

I'm on my countdown until my midday meeting with Di for my weekly BIA and food diary check. Feeling a little nervous to be honest as eating has not been ideal, again, this week. If I had to find an excuse I would say its because work has been absolutely crazy and I have not had lunch breaks etc and all routines have gone out the window... but then... that's just an excuse.

Last Friday Di gave me some suggestions for different foods to eat late at night, and as the good little student that I am I have purchased the appropriate products and they are all in the fridge at home. Problem is we are still working our way through the birthday chocolate that my fiance got last weekend so that has been the snack of choice instead :-)

The second half of this week has seen me do 3 hard workouts - Wednesday morning was boxing with Harry (thankfully he didn't read my blog from last week where I called him a softie so he didn't punish me as badly as I had expected!), yesterday morning was a workout with Rowena and Brian and then this morning was Sweat Intensive - today with Brian as Jacqui is away. My body is definitely telling me that its had 3x hard workouts!

This morning with Brian was a little strange at times. I think that he must have been bored as he was really trying to make us do some strange things!

Highlights from this mornings class;

- Dave and Brian trying to justify saying dirty words over and over again

- Me doing the Macarena dance, and Richie doing the Haka, while we were sitting against the wall (Brian tried making us sit for 2 mins! I was soooo impressed by the ones that made it!)

- All 6 of us linking arms and trying to coordinate swatting (this little exercise actually gathered an audience at the door watching us and laughing! Thanks Brian!)

- and finally... when it was over :-) That's always a highlight!

Will let you know how I get on at lunch time. Everyone cross your fingers for me for another cm off my waist! Then it will be officially a ruler!

Thats almost a ruler!

2010-06-08T12:33:00.013+12:00

I'm sorry to say that I'm suffering a bit of a downer day today - the worst thing being that when I feel like this - all I want is CHOCOLATE!! Don't worry though... not one piece has passed these lips... today...

So anyway... started Friday with the 6.30am Sweat Intensive class with Jacqui. Jacqui takes us through a circuit style class with short intervals doing an exercise before moving onto the next one etc. Was a great workout - left feeling stuffed.

Friday lunch time rolled around pretty quickly and I was back at M1NT for my meeting with Di. For those that don't know - Mike and Di are a husband and wife team that own and operate M1NT (always good to know about the marriage... i.e. you can't tell Mike something about eating chocolate and not expect Di to find out! :-) ) Di is a nutritionist and works with the M1NT members on diet and general nutrition advice.

Mike first convinced me to see Di about 6 months ago. To be honest it was one of the scariest things I had done since joining M1NT - I had strict instructions to write down absolutely everything that I ate and drank for the week prior so that Di could analyse my diet. I don't know why it was soo scary - I think I just had this mental thought process whereby Di is this gorgeous, super-skinny woman who was going to look at me, and my 7 day list of chocolate consumption and get stuck into me? Of course it was nothing like that at all! Di has been so wonderful to me and I have visited her regularly since - her advice has really helped cement the changes that I was beginning to make anyway through exercise.

And Fridays lunch time meeting was no different. We began by completing the BIA test - results weren't fantastic - but then I guess I couldn't have expected too much with all of the subway cookies I ate! I lost just under a KG of muscle and put on just under a KG of fat - so net difference was nil. Not a great outcome.

HOWEVER.... I AM SUPER EXCITED THAT I'M ALMOST AT A RULER!! Ha ha - I lost another 2 cm off my waist - making the total waist measurement drop 29 cm (come on that last cm!!!!!) :-)

Di then looked through my food diary. Of course she already knew the bad news about my subway cookies - she still cemented to me just how bad they are though! What I really like about Di is that I had this expectation that I would go to her and she would 100% change my eating routine/meals, however this hasn't been the case at all. Instead every time we meet we look at a different aspect of my food intake and see how we can improve it - on Friday we talked about my after dinner/pre-bed sugar snack - a habit that has been in place for at least 15 years and would be damn hard to change! Of course I know Di would prefer me not to have anything... but was also really supportive and realistic that it is a deeply ingrained habit - so Weight Watchers Jelly and Non-Fat Greek Yoghurt with Protein Powder is on the list to try instead :-) Will let you know if it does the trick.

Unfortunately the weekend didn't see me eating much better than last week. It was my fiances birthday on Saturday so this saw us out for two nights in the weekend drinking, and also out for dinner. Not only that... CRUEL CRUEL people gave him lots of chocolate!!! That's now in our fridge!!!! Every time I open it I see it! ha ha. So yes... a bit of chocolate was also consumed! Damn broken self-control.

Was very proud of myself yesterday though - of course with it being Queens Birthday our Monday morning Sweat Intensive class was not on, so typically this would have seen me not exercising at all yesterday. But instead I did 40 Min's /15 km on my elliptical cycle that I have at home (that between you and me hardly ever gets used!). Proud?

Was back at M1NT this morning and did a rather casual workout - didn't really push myself very hard so didn't get too much of a sweat up. I really struggle working out by myself - something I need to work on.

Not sure if its the miserable weather or what, but as I said I'm feeling a bit down today. And its days like this that I would usually pig out on chocolate - I am strong though!! I promise you all that I won't eat any... until I get home tonight!! hmm... compromise is a beautiful thing!

Enjoy the tropical weather :-)

Cold, Wet and Miserable.

2010-06-08T10:56:00.002+12:00

A long weekend, plenty of time to get out and about and do plenty of exercise.
Didn't happen.
Go to the gym nice and warm in there.
Didn't happen.
Couch.
Happened.
Spent the weekend thinking that the body could do with a rest. I was kidding myself really, sure I needed a bit of downtime but the weather didn't help my cause at all. So going today at lunchtime for some quality time with the ipod on the dreadmill.
Had a weigh in with the food fuehrer on Friday morning. Scales down slightly, but the all important fat mass was down ever so slightly so I'll take that as a win.
Talked over my previous week of feeling blah, could be no sugar or limited amount of carbs in the system making me a bit flat. Tried convincing Di that a few pies would do the trick...she saw that coming and suggested a few more berries in my protein shake...brilliant. She's good.
Have taken a liking to the Bircher, finally. A great start to the day, not as appealing as bacon and eggs...but does the trick.
Heard a lady on the radio today talking about how she had lot 80kgs and run the Marathon over the weekend. Outstanding.
It was one of her goals, starting walking around Haggers and just progressed from there. I'd love to have a chat with her. Inspirational stuff. Doctor said she would spend the rest of her life battling type 2 diabetes, so she got up and sorted her life out. She doesn't suffer from diabetes anymore. Point taken.
Short week ahead, feeling positive this week.
Must have been the pies.
Didn't happen.

How far have I come?

2010-06-03T14:21:00.005+12:00

Well I must begin today by admitting that I couldn't make myself roll out of bed this morning at the normal time of 5.30am. After a quick text to Rowena whom I train with, which confirmed that she also was still in bed, a decision was made that that's where we would stay! So no visit to the gym for me today - but never fear I will be there with bells on tomorrow morning!

I have my first of the weekly Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA) tests that I'll be having for the blog with Di tomorrow. A BIA test is a very easy and quick test that Di can do for you at M1NT. Here's a great explanation I found online;

The BIA test works by sending an extremely weak (and harmless) electric current through your body, about the same as a discharged AA battery. Your body's total weight consists of various "masses", like fat, muscles, bones, and water. Each of these conducts electricity in different ways. By measuring the electric resistance of some of these masses in your body, called "Bioelectrical Impedance", and estimating other masses, the test is able to accurately measure what percentage of your total body weight is made up from each.
The BIA test is painless, only takes a minute to perform, and can be administered repeatedly over time without adverse effects.

So as you can see, by having weekly BIA tests we will all be able to monitor my weekly shifts in muscle %, fat % and the amount of fluids that I am carrying. This is a really cool tool that I have found super helpful since I've joined M1NT.

I would predict that at least 50% of the female (maybe even male) population think the same as I did (and sometimes still find myself doing) in that being healthy and successful in something such as a weight loss/fitness programme it means that your overall weight on the scales should decrease - well that's what all the magazines say right? Well they LIE!!!

As I hope you can see from this picture that was taken in October 2009 (two months after I first joined M1NT) I believe that in comparison to my body shape now I have achieved heaps. The thing is though, that I haven't even cracked the 10kg weight loss mark on the scales! So by getting these broken down stats and figures you really can monitor and understand what is happening to your body.

Before we get tomorrows results I thought that I would show you this picture of me and give you an idea of how far I have come this far;

August 2009 (when I joined M1NT)

Pant Size; 26

Waist measurement; 115cm

May 2010

Pant Size; 18

Waist measurement; 88cm

A long more to achieve yet though, so keep watching :-)

No cookies today!

2010-06-02T18:11:00.002+12:00

"THREE COOKIES!!!" I heard coming from both Brian and Mikes mouths this morning as I sneaked into the gym late for our Sweat Intensive class. I knew I was in trouble then! :-) So it would appear that Brian and Mike are both reading my blog :-) Lets just say that they were less than impressed with me!

But as I spent time explaining to them, I am reasonably OK with it.... I'm looking at improvements over time... 6 months ago a lunch from Subway would have been a foot long sub (with all the trimmings including sauces and cheese), either a milkshake or orange juice AND 3 cookies - so now my salad (no cheese or sauce), water and 3 cookies doesn't look that bad! Right? :-p

So as I mentioned was back into M1NT this morning for our Sweat Intensive class - Wednesday mornings are taken by Harry and the class is based around Boxing (we aren't allowed to actually hit each other). Before I started at M1NT I had never done any kind boxing - but it is something that I am falling more and more in love with - WOW - did that come from me?!? I'm falling in love with something that resembles exercise! Now that's an improvement!

I am even considering entering into a charity boxing match for amateurs next year - there was one recently and Harry worked with one of the fighters - a group of us from M1NT went along in support - was a great night. I think it would be a challenge that I would really enjoy.

I really enjoy sessions with Harry - although I must admit it took me a while to 'warm' to him. From a distance it is easy to think that Harry does nothing but yell loudly (usually with such a strong accent that no one really knows just what he is saying) and count wrong (when you are doing something like 10 press-ups you usually do number 7 at least twice!). But in reality Harry is nothing but a softie (he is not going to like me saying that) who really knows his stuff. Harry has a background of training professional boxers and you always have a really good workout if he is in charge.

And in case you are wondering - no subway cookies were consumed today. I made a trip to the shops last night and made a big salad - enough for me for the rest of the week at work for lunches - maybe that way I won't buy bad food as I won't be going to the shops!

Those Damn Scales !

2010-06-01T16:04:00.001+12:00

It's results we want, some folk are happy to wait for weeks to see changes.
Not I ! If I've put the effort in during the week it's nice to get that reward at the end.
The good thing about getting a BIA from the Mint team is you can see exactly where the changes have occurred during the week.
So even though the scales went up slightly this week, the actual fat loss is down slightly, and the muscle is up.
Apparently I'll reach a tipping point, and it will come right. Might be a month, might be slightly longer, but just gotta keep on keeping on.
The need for bread raised it's ugly head yesterday, it must the cold messing with me, or the carb monster. Didn't give in though.

Lacking sleep today, feeling a bit run down.
Head is saying go and do a workout, the rest of my body from the neck down is saying don't.

Got some recipes from Di yesterday for breakfast ideas, will give those a crack later in the week, one of them was pancakes !!

Office is full of lollies and cake today, wish I was 2 stone lighter, or 1 foot taller.

And that's Subway Cookie # 3 for the day...

2010-06-01T14:44:00.003+12:00

Something rather typical of me has happened. Things have gone haywire at work and I'm flat out - what does this mean? Well, it means I lose all sense of routine - meaning I eat what I can, when I can - and usually badly. Prime example -was passing by a Subway earlier so figured I would stop while I had the chance - a few minutes later I left the shop happily sporting a very healthy salad.... and 3x cookies - all of which have now been consumed.

You would think that because I am aware of it - I could stop it! Well... you think that. The thing is, even as I was paying for the cookies I was thinking to myself that Di is NOT going to be happy when she reads my food diary, but I still brought them!

Cravings/habits win over Di's voice of reason! Sorry Di!

I still managed my workout this morning though - so not all is bad :-) I met fellow 'M1ntie' Rowena at the gym nice and early (I really do get better results when I work out with someone else, whether in a class or just two of us doing a programme) and we had a good workout. Rowena and I have similar goals and similar time frames for them so it has been absolutly great having her support as we work towards our bikini bodies together :-)

I guess now that I was honest on here about the cookies (I did consider not mentioning it...) I will have to be honest in my food diary also! ha ha

What can you make 6 paying customers do at 6.30am on a Monday morning?

2010-05-31T09:31:00.005+12:00

I'm still not sure if this mornings class trainer (yes that's right, I'm not going to name you even though you begged me too) was trying to make fun of us or not. He had us doing some really strange things at times! However, the outcome was still 6 sweaty people so I guess it worked :-)

Hmmm, weekends have never been a model time for my weight loss goals. Friday and Saturday night there was alcohol consumed, Saturday and Sunday nights there was Frozen Yoghurt consumed (YUM) as well as just generally lacking any routine or structure. Since joining the gym I have never considered Saturday and Sunday to be days for exercise - after a full on and sometimes stressful week at work, and in life generally, I always like to 'blob' out in the weekends - and as per usual this weekend was no different!

Monday morning though - so back into routine now. Had my slice of brown toast with Almond Butter before the gym this morning. Then my bowl of Special K Advantage and lite milk when I got to work. And so the week begins.....

p.s. HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Dave C - he even got a fantastic performance of 'Happy Birthday' from the rest of us when he got to the gym this morning. Happy Birthday Old Man :-)

Week 3 - Cold!

2010-05-28T15:05:00.001+12:00

Motivation lacking this week due to the cold.
Actually the motivation is there, the want to go outside in 4 degrees isn't.
Still managed to drag myself out of bed at 6am to get punished by Brian, Harry and Jacqui at the sweat intensive classes.
It's a great class, nice folk sweating together and motivating each other.
Couple of the girls are getting married soon, and are giving it their all. I did a similar thing last year before I got married, makes you feel better when you know you have put some effort in.
Programme from Brian, Box fit with Harry and nutrition advice from Di helped me drop a few kg's before Christmas, was well worth it.
My joke about it being a sweet intensive class seems to have fallen on deaf ears, was funny at the time.
Have found that spending some time stretching and time on the dreadmill on off days between classes makes the thought of getting up the following morning bearable.
Found myself at another lunch meeting in a restaurant, Geez it's hard settling for chicken salad when the pizza, pasta, beer, steak look so great on a cold day.
Di has been preaching the benefits of making my own bircher muesli, so this week wife and I have been giving that a crack.
Wife loves it, I think it's a bit like cold porridge. I'm warming to it. Ask Di for the recipe, easy to make.
This weeks distraction has been the severe lack of anything that has been near or resembles chocolate.
This weeks triumph has been limiting my intake of bread ( love bread!)
Back to the scales tomorrow morning to see how the week has been. Fingers crossed.
I'll let you know how I get on.

2010-05-28T13:31:00.002+12:00

Had an early morning class at the gym this morning – WOW it was cold getting out of bed at 5.30am for that! I’m currently taking part in the Sweat Intensive programme at M1NT which has Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning classes 6.30am – 7.15am. This morning’s class was taken by Jacqui – she worked us really hard too! I always know I’m working hard when the sweat starts dripping off my nose... hmmm attractive!

When I first started M1NT I began by going there after work (I’m lucky enough to have a office job Monday – Friday business hours) during the week. For the first few months I would head in two or three times a week, it took me quite a while to really adjust to exercising and building the self discipline to go! I have since changed to heading in early mornings before work and have to say it suits me much better and I find it soo much easier to get there.

Eating has been pretty good for the last few days also. I have taken to ‘snacking’ on plain air popped popcorn during the day at work – I was previously having ‘disagreements’ with our Snack Box and popcorn was a brilliant suggestion from Di

Its been an hectic day in the office today and I am only now sitting down to have lunch. I have my usual salad and small can of shredded chicken here on my desk for lunch – not sure if it’s going to really cut it today though – it’s just sooo cold! Maybe I need a new work lunch option for winter! Soup?

By the way I’m starting my weekly BIA assessments and measuring with Di next week so keep tuned for my ‘stats’.

p.s. afterwork drinks today - I might just have to partake this week (Don't tell Di :-) )

Welcome to my journey

2010-05-28T12:44:00.002+12:00

Although journey sounds like a ride in the car with Dad to see Nana, this is more like an epic adventure.
Dieting has always been something chicks have done, hasn't it ? Weight loss sounds like hard work, so we won't call it that either.
Getting in shape sounds slightly better, when in fact I'm already a shape, round.
Since my early 20's I've started to put on weight.
I didn't think it was a big deal, I'll lose it at some stage, might even lay off the piss for a couple of weeks.
This trend has seen me gain and gain over the last 13 years.
A couple of years ago I lost 20 kgs in 25 weeks, a few months later it took me 20 weeks to put on 22kgs.
For the first time I'm actually doing something about it.
Apparently if you burn more than you put in your mouth, you'll lose weight.
The team at M1NT have shown me that with planning, advice and goals I can get there.
This my adventure, an epic one at this stage, one that I'll share with you.

My Back Story

2010-05-26T15:31:00.000+12:00

Hi there and welcome to our blog. This is the first time that I have ever done anything like a blog so I expect that this is going to be a learning experience and a journey – one I’m looking forward to going on with you.
First up – who am I? Well my name is Marie Inch and I am a 26 year old (am I too old to say 26 ½?) who works and plays here in Christchurch.
Over the years I have attempted various different strategies for losing weight; gym memberships, commercial weight loss programmes, dieticians – all with an overall low success rate.
In August last year (2009) I decided that enough was enough – with a wedding coming up (oh yeah, that’s another thing – I’m engaged to my adorably supportive fiancé and the upcoming wedding is acting as a huge motivation for me – I can still hear Mike’s voice in my head “remember – wedding photos last forever!”) – anyway, I decided that it was time to try again.
I joined up with M1NT and I was set. To be honest things were pretty slow going for the first few months – I was extremely unfit so struggled with any real exercise programme that lasted for any longer than about 15 minutes!
I’m pleased to say that I have stuck with M1NT and have achieved results – results that to be honest I never expected I was going to be able to achieve.
Knowing what I have achieved thus far – I believe that I am motivated enough to keep going.
So, this is the beginning of my continued weight loss and fitness progress that I hope we can journey together. When Mike first spoke to me about doing this blog he stressed that it was going to be important to be honest – really talk about how I feel etc – so that’s what I am going to do.
I hope you join me for the ride.