September goals

My poor poppets have been sick, meaning no gym for me since Thursday. I'm alternating between sitting in the corner rocking back and forth, and becoming moody mcbitch-face. It's loads of fun.

So we've been at home the past couple of days, and thank heavens the end of winter decided its be all spring-like which has allowed me to be outside without being cold. The girls haven't joined me as often as they usually do but fair enough. They've got the voms.

I spent a little time today writing down some goals I've set myself for the month of September. In the order they came out of my head and onto the paper in, here they are:




• exercise at 6am Monday-Friday
• 6am + 9:30am workouts Monday-Friday
• follow the AL&F + AL&S workout plans (time to build me some muscle, but not quite ready to say bye-bye to my cardio sessions yet)
• commit to no red bull or any sort of fizzy drinks as of September 1st
• commit to no chocolate as of September 1st
• lose 4kgs
• weigh 65kg or less on the October 2 weigh in
• make 1 or 2 new recipes (for any meal of the day) each week
• follow a squat challenge


• follow a plank challenge


• do the 12wbt yoga video or an evening
• go to bed by 9:30pm
• figure out a cleaning schedule
• figure out a daily plan for myself for while the girls are at school
• write down a to-do list to keep me busy and out of the kitchen!

I'll be printing this out and sticking it on the fridge, and on my bedroom mirrors, and on the kitchen cupboards and any where else I think necessary to keep me focused.

Maybe I should just tape it to my eyes....?!

September. Let's do this!



- posted from my iPhone

Week 2 wrap up and week 3 weigh in

Week 2.

Well. What can I say?

Not a lot. It was my birthday on Friday, and my daughter's on Saturday.

And I ate whatever the hell I wanted to eat.

Exercise was good, consistent. Week 1 SSS I did for 1 hour 30mins to get my 1000 calories. Week 2 I did for the same amount of time and only burnt 800 calories.

I'm loving having a berry smoothie for breakfast. It's quick and easy and fills me up till after my 9:30am workout. 2 out of 3 of the kids like it, as well as the husband so there's winning all around!

Week 2 weigh in saw me gain 700 grams. I had been expecting a gain. For some reason I thought I only gained 300 grams. It wasn't until this morning that I actually realised I'd gained the 700! Me doing maths in my head is not necessarily a good thing.

Week 3 weigh in this morning saw me loose 400 grams. Yay, a move in the right direction. A small move, but a move. I decided to have a treat today instead of on Saturday. It messes with my head having a treat meal half way thru the week. The "week" being the Wednesday weigh in to Wednesday weigh in.

I'm looking forward to the week 4 plans being released in the morning. I haven't done a meal plan this week as I had ingredients left over from last week. So very much looking forward to getting back on track with my food.

I'm drinking a lot more water. I have a 1 litre water bottle which I keep with me all the time. And I'm finding I get parched quite quickly, so am constantly refilling the water bottle! Guess my body needs the water. And I'm not complaining!

I realised on Tuesday I actually feel less "podgy" around my tummy! Like there's less of it or something. Hopefully there is less there and it's not my imagination!

- Posted from my iPad

Tomorrow...

Week 2 weigh-in day tomorrow.

After my 1.7kg loss last week, I think tomorrow's numbers will be a bit more realistic.




I'll be honest. I'm expecting a gain. I have not kept my diet clean at all. I'm not sticking to my commitment, to myself or to the 12wbt.

I'm going to write myself a commitment letter tomorrow, and post it on here and print it out. Once it's printed I'll be sticking it on my mirror/fridge/walls/car steering wheel so that I see it all the time.




I am worth it. I am worth eating clean, wholesome, nourishing foods.

My desire to change needs to grow stronger.
My desire to have a flatter tummy before summer needs to be stronger.
My desire to be stronger and have muscle definition needs to be bigger.
My desire to hit y goal weight nearly 2 years after my youngest was born needs to be bigger!!

I'm sick of committing to eating clean "tomorrow". Tomorrow never happens in my world. All that happens is another day passes without me making any changes or taking any steps in the right direction.

And that leaves me feeling miserable, full of self-loathing. And that ain't happy at all.

So enough of the babble and motivational pictures. I could post them all night long, but that's not making a change now is it?

Stuff is ready for the gym at 6am. It's now after 11pm. I suck at this going to be early thanks to a lovely child who takes forever to settle.

Here's to tomorrow. I'll be making it more amazing than today was!!

12wbt rd 3 203 - week 1 wrap-up

So I started off this week strong....and then totally crashed and burned.

First 2 days I did well, I felt. Food wasn't spot on but I was making smarter choices than I normally would. Exercise was great.


Monday's food and exercise. Plus 3 sneaky teaspoons of rice and custard, and a little muffin that my daughter didn't eat at school. Next time, I'll leave it for her eat to the next day!



Tuesdays food and exercise. I didn't do the weights workout, I did body step. Had planned to do the weights workout at 6am but couldn't as my husband was unwell. I couldn't leave him alone to get the kids ready for school on his own. I was really wanting to have my old "treat" of a red bull and chocolate bar, but I didn't. Instead I had a cup of tea and of course, that was accompanied by biscuits. That's where I went downhill/off course/totally fell off whatever wagon I was on.

Then Wednesday I did NO exercise which is unusual for me. Couldn't get to the gym at my normal time, and slept thru my alarm to go at 6am. Again, eating off course.

Thursday was body pump. I could still feel the squat track in my butt 2 days later! Again, eating no good.

Friday I tried out a 6am stretching class which just proved to me that I am very tight in my muscles with next to no flexibility!! So something to work on. Again, not good with the food side of things.

I have realised I find it really easy to fall back into old habits. One habit I want to break is my "need" for a red bull and a chocolate. I need to replace it with a new habit. This new habit is coming home and having one of the snacks from the 12wbt menu. I've had a couple of them and they're tasty! This whole "needing" to have the red bull and chocolate is just something in my head. Of course I don't NEED it. I just WANT it. However, do I really want it? Or do I really want to hit my goal weight of 63kgs? Of course my answer is hitting my goal weight, it's just remembering that when my inner teenager is yelling "give me chocolate!!! NOW!!!"

In all, week 1 wasn't a total loss. I lost 1.7kg on Wednesday's weigh-in since Saturday when I did my first lot of measurements.



I've even gotten better at drinking more water. I just keep refilling my 1L water bottle and keep it near me all the time.

I'm getting better at getting dinner and my kids' lunches ready during the day instead of leaving it all till 5pm when I'm tired and ready to just not do it.

Things to work on for this week:

1. Sticking to the meal plan. Snacks + main meals from the meal plan and water are all I'll be eating and drinking.

2. Going to bed earlier. I'd like to be in bed at 8:30pm to be able to turn the light off at 9pm. Just not sure how doable it is given it is just me getting my girls fed, bathed and into bed on my own at night. This is where being organised during the day will come into it.

3. Continue to be organised during the day. Getting lunch stuff ready and dinner prepped during the day means no rushing of an evening.

4. Do my 6am workouts. I love working out at 6am! Such a great way to start the day!! Also means I don't "have to" go to the gym later which frees my day up a bit.

5. Take photos of my food to keep a visual food diary.

6. Log my food into My Fitness Pal. I printed off the food diary from the 12wbt website....not sure ill need them but if I find them easier than MFP I'll stick with pen and paper.

It's now 11:14pm and my alarms are set to start beeping at 5:15am. Yes, I'm one of those people who needs several alarms to wake up and be out of bed on time. Given my kids are bound to wake me up during the night, I'm off to sleep.

Night!

- posted from my iPhone

The 12wbt....and me...

Round 3 of the 12wbt starts on Monday.

I'm loving some of the changes that have been made to the website since I last signed up, such as being able to customize the menu plan. And once it's changed, it automatically updates the shopping list! Oh awesome is that?!

I'll be honest, knowing that this stuff had happened was a major selling point for me. In the past, when the meal plans were released, I'd spend over half an hour re-working the menu plan and shopping list to suit our family. It was not good.

Below is the link to the last time I wrote my excuses for the "get real" task. They haven't exactly changed. If anything, it's me simply exercising my will power muscle! It's me learning to say no instead of yes. It's me learning that food may taste good for that 20 seconds it's in my mouth, but reaching my goal weight will taste even better!

http://exerciseproducesendorphins.blogspot.com.au/2013/02/12wbt-pre-season-task-1.html?m=1

I just posted my commitment onto the commitment thread on the 12wbt website. Here it is in photo form:






It's all up to me now.

No more excuses.
No more liquids other than water.
No more chocolate.

More saying yes to lunch.
More saying yes to healthy snacks.
More saying "yes! I'm in control of my life!! I'm passionate about how I live!!"


- posted from my iPhone

Tomorrow Never Comes

I'm the self-crowned Queen of Someday.

I have been saying for over a year now...actually I've been saying/thinking of all this since my youngest was old enough to go the gym crèche. She's now 17months old.

So lets call it 16 months. There, I've been lazy for 16 months. I always like definite statements.

I've signed up for the Michelle Bridges 12 Week Body Transformation more times than I can remember. I've enjoyed watching others succeed at the program. And yes, I've gotten stuff out of it, like recipes and workout plans. Did any of the mindset stuff sink in and make a difference? No. If it had, I wouldn't be typing this.

I don't have a problem with exercise. Sure there are times when I reeeeeaaaaalllllyyy don't want to exercise. But I've gotten good at telling myself that when I don't want to exercise, that's exactly when I need to be doing it the most. I've gotten better at making sure I give my workouts a red hot go, and not just going through the motions each time I'm at the gym. Finding video clips of songs I listened to in high school and watching them definitely puts a fire in my belly during my warm-ups, for some reason!!

It's food I have problems with. Actually no, scratch that. It's not food. It is my RELATIONSHIP with food and my body that is the problem.

I would love to be one of those girls who could eat whatever she wants and not get fat. But I ain't.

I formed a really bad habit ages and ages ago, long before child #3 was born, of doing my workout, leaving the gym, driving to the local servo and buying a red bull and a chocolate bar. Or 2, sometimes 3. This is now a habit I carry out every. single. day. regardless of whether or not I've been to the gym.

So even tho I'm flogging myself at the gym, making sure I put in 100% effort during my training sessions, I'm undoing all my hard work with 15mins of leaving the place!

No wonder my tummy size has continued to grow.

I've said/thought/wanted to for ages/dreamt of blogging my way thru my health and fitness journey. I'm crap at finding time to blog tho. Heck, it's 1:24am. My children will be awake in 5 hours knowing my luck!

But as of today (almost wrote tomorrow there!) it's 8 weeks till my birthday. I'm not going to be in the best shape of my life by my birthday, but I am going to be in a lot better shape than I am now.

There's also approximately 24 weeks till my husband's work awards night. I'm going to be in the best shape I've ever been by the time that night rolls around.

In the morning I will weigh myself, take measurements and some before photos. I'll even post it all on here!! 😳😳😳😩😩

It's time to stop only setting an example to my girls about a healthy lifestyle only thru exercise. It's time to start showing them it only all comes together when you include eating the foods which are beneficial to your body. In all the right ways.




- Posted from my iPad

discipline and the inner teenager

The agent and I fell asleep beside our girls tonight, at around 8:30pm.

To say we're exhausted is an understatement! Being parents, it's hard work!

Anyway, due to an hours nap from 8:30-9:30pm, I'm wide awake. Sort of!

So I've been surfing Pinterest and Instagram and have found a few pictures which I really like.







In one of the 12wbt videos, mish talks about our "inner teenager". The voice who always wants the chocolate, the soft drink, the biscuits, the chips. Never the fruit or the healthy food.

I haven't managed to find the video on the inner teenager on the 12wbt site yet. However I have found a video on cravings.

After listening to this video, there are lots of things I need to learn. Such as the difference between true hunger in my tummy, and craving "hunger" in my head.

Mish says often when we're craving something, it's due to the need to feel a "high" or a "buzz". Sugar and fatty foods can increase the levels of dopamine in the body - the happy hormone. The same hormone released after exercise. (Might have to change my blog name!)

I've realised that over the past couple of days, I've been letting my "I want it!!" voice, my INNER TEENAGER in my head to win when it comes to my food choices. As a result of the amount of chocolate I've eaten, my face is breaking out, my tummy is looking rather podgy and I've been feeling very moody. I've been feeling angry. Angry at the agent for no apparent reason. Angry that I'm not one of those girls who is "naturally skinny" and that I have to work hard to stay slim. Angry that I love to eat!!



So all these thoughts have been swirling around my head for a lot of the last month.

Then I saw this on Instagram...




I have not been disciplined at all, with myself, when it comes to my food and exercise.

I hear myself telling the girls "no" when they ask for certain foods, and telling them if they're really hungry they can have a piece of fruit. So if I can say that to my children, why am I not saying it to MYSELF and LEADING BY EXAMPLE?!

My workouts have been the stuff of shit lately. My mindset has changed from badly wanting a tummy like this...




..to "CBF".

Exercise for me has always been a way to be happy, especially since having children. I had PND after bug was born, and when I went back to the gym when she was 4 months old, the weight loss was an added bonus. I love the NATURAL high I get after a great workout. It seems lately, I've forgotten about that natural high and am opting for one which is not at all beneficial to me.



I wish the last line of this one actually said "get fit now!" instead of skinny. I don't want to be skinny. I want to be slim, yes. Not skinny tho. I want muscles you can see. I want a low low low body fat percentage.

Is this all somehow tied into my self worth? Yeah I guess it is. Because when I am fit and looking after myself, I feel really damn good. And it shows, through how I treat others such as my children and my husband.




It's time to stop hating what I've got. I CAN change it. And I WILL change it. No one can change it for me.




So I'm not going to quit. I'm going to smash out a gym workout tomorrow. Not sure what kind yet. There's a 9am step class, or I can do the 12wbt SSS. That decision will be made when I get to the gym and see how busy the machines and weights rooms are!

And then I'm going to go through my day, and every day thereafter, telling that inner teenager to SHUT THE HELL UP!

And cos I love True Blood so much, this one made me giggle...!


- Posted from my iPad