Keeping busy...

Hi hi, it's a been a while, there's been a lot going on, I won't go into all of it, it's just that time of year. 

Anyway, first of all I'm excited to say that I got my height re-measured and I am 174cm, which I will happily take, I knew that going from (even an imagined) 176cm to 171cm just wasn't right, especially when I'm constantly told how tall I look!

We just had health checks at work and I was stoked to be perfectly normal for blood sugar, cholesterol and waist measurement.  My blood pressure though was 144/75.  The 144 is a tad high, so I spoke to my sister and in the new year I'll go and get a proper check up and just keep an eye on that.  My blood pressure has always been pretty fine, so it was not the thing I thought I'd have to watch! Ahhh well you never can tell these things.

So what have I been up to... well last week Trainer Nate and I attended a Cross Fit session, you basically spend the warm up going through some weight moves with a PVC pipe before moving onto the WOD (Workout Of the Day).  We had to do 5 chin ups (OK I can't do them so I got two rings I had to lean back and do 5 rows up, 10 pushups (start with man pushups until you can't do them anymore), 15 full squats and a 100 metre run.  We had to repeat that as many times in 20 minutes as we could, of course Trainer Nate chose to do proper chin ups, still, when I started to over take him I was just mucking around but by the time I was almost a full lap ahead of him and saw him struggling on the push ups I started to heckle him out of pure confusion! Needless to say we finished the 20 minutes and I was ahead.  I beat my own trainer WTF!!!  Apparently I have more muscular endurance... whatever dude hahahahahahaha anyway even though I didn't go in even trying to beat anyone, I just try to finish the workout, he now insists on a re-match!  Oh did I mention there was another guy there, who also did the rings like me and who was apparently a cop, we both smashed him out of the water!  Anyway apparently Trainer Nate was waiting for me to die at the end so he could overtake me but I stayed strong, the closer it got to almost being over the stronger I seemed to get! :D

I'll keep you updated on the re-match I'm sure given some focus he'll kick my arse, maybe next time he'll try a little harder!

I have gone and scored myself a bike for a bit.  I rode it for the first time the other day and really enjoyed it.  The aim is to use it for shortish trips and I also want to add some swimming into my routine so it would be great to ride up to the pool, swim, and ride back a nice well rounded workout don't you think?

So my year of free boot camp is coming to it's end.  The new Booty Camper of the year will be announced shortly and I am on my final session of freebies... I had forgotten that I would need to start paying in the new year... dammit!  So I've had a think about it and a chat with Trainer Nate and I've decided that if I have to pay there are some new things I'd like to try.  I'll be keeping my Saturday Boot Camps up, and I'll keep sessions with Trainer Christian in there to keep things ticking over, then in addition to running, swimming and biking, I've got a whole host of things to try or do more of.  Cross fit, Kick boxing, Pole dancing, my aim will be to try a cycle 6-8 weeks of things out and see how I go with it, and at any point I can throw a cycle of boot camp back in.

I have also officially registered for my Certificates III and IV in Fitness, so I'll need to get some prac work in and might need to join a gym to try a couple of classes (for the experience) for a few months as well.  So PLENTY to keep me busy!  I've a whole schedule of fun runs and still plan on training for the half marathon as well!

So right now I'm pretty much maintaining.  But I see further changes in my appearance and my body, so I even though I haven't seen the figure 75 on the scales I'm not overly concerned with the scale weight, now I have a better understanding of body composition, I know that I much rather be strong and sleek with muscle than flabby and weigh a light weight!  So I'm putting the scales away for the rest of the year with a strong focus on maintaining over the Christmas break and utilising all the things I've learnt over the Christmas period.  I managed to lose weight last year I don't see why it would be difficult to maintain this year.  And then in the new year I will have lots of new exciting things to try, right now I'm enjoying myself, enjoying the way I look in clothes, still trying to get the chance to wear all the new things in my closet and enjoying feeling fit and healthy and well normal! :D

Have a great week everyone! 

Run4Fun - 7th November

So completed my 5th fun run for the year.

So here are my results.  The average finish time was 1.05 so I was pleased to be a little under average or is I mean over, well I did better than the average, you all know what I mean right! :D  Based on the bridge run I figured I should have been able to attempt for under 60mins BUT yes I am going to throw in an excuse, I had my two week break, then took another week before I managed to get back into some running training, and then well a week passed again and the run was here.  So with my lack of training I figured I'd aim for under the 65mins and managed it.  I like the half way splits, and knew I lost it a little in the second half of the run, so at least I know what to work on! :D

Most excitingly though I finally got a couple of shots where you can see me!! Not crossing the line, but still this first one here is me sprinting for the finish line as I've just entered the stadium and hoofed it! :D  I like how fit I'm looking! :D See what progress I am making, I can see it in the picture and say it out loud! I really can! :D

These ones are from the start see how my hair is dry! 

So that's it for the year with the fun runs, next year is beating all the times from the fun runs I entered, throw in a couple of extra for good measure and train for a half marathon.  There's one on the 6th or something of January called the Resolution Run (ie, my news resolution is to get fit, for me I suppose it's fitter! :D)  They have an 11km and a 5.5km I thought it would be a great way to start the year attempting the 5.5km in under 30 mins.  It's at Sydney Olympic Park (which is where I just did my 10km one) so it's easy to get to and I already know where to park! :D

Happy hump day all!  Hope you are having a good week.

Fitness Tests

Well with time off this round of Boot Camp testing came round unexpectedly.  Considering I only just got back into a couple of decent runs, and time off from all exercise I am happy to say I PB'd on all my tests.

I had hoped to push the beep test to an 8.1 but managed a 7.7 up from a 7.5 I think, I went and checked my last report here and it was a 7.5 but I think Trainer Nate said it was 7.3.  Either way I'm encouraged that I'll reach 8.1 on the next go round.  So I did over 4 minutes on the plank and really concentrated on form I did close almost 4 minutes last time but I know my butt was higher than it should have been.  Trainer Nate even commented that it was good form, so it counts so much more then when you know you've done it right.  I maxed our 5 minute cut off for the wall squat, and did 55 girl push ups and 36 man pushups each in a minute, beating each one by 1 pushup each, frankly though I just don't see how I can do that much better in the girl pushups!  And I think it was 15cm on the flexibility, I'm not sure if that is up or down but I'm not overly fussed on that one, I'd say that's pretty fine.

So I struggled a little getting back into the swing of things, my first two sessions back saw severe DOM's and I struggled with getting out for my runs, but this week has been good and all I can do on my Sunday fun run is my best.  I need to try to knock it out in an hour because I'm supposed to be somewhere by 10ish, so extra motivation, it starts at 8.30am. :D 

We lucked out with the rain holding off until our fitness tests were over but now it's bucketing down, I don't think the next group were so lucky!

I desperately want to buy all the new clothes appearing in Target at the moment, but the bank account has run dry.  I'm using the extra impetus to push those last few kilos so that I can sit closer to a size 10, where I'm a pretty comfortable size 12 right now, although more a 10 in pants and skirts, I never thought I'd be able to say that! Actually I used to say I'll never be a size 10 if I could just be a comfortable 14-16 it would be all good.... my how I've exceeded even my own expectations, and why shouldn't we! :D

Once this fun run is done on the weekend, I am finished my fun runs for the year.  I will be sitting down and having a good look at the half marathon for next year and which fun runs will facilitate good development for that (aside from redoing the ones I want to beat my times in! :D)  And then I need to look at building somewhat of a training program for the half I need too work on both speed and endurance, but I have plenty of time to do both!  I guess I need to look at whether I should take seperate periods of times where I work on each by themselves, or whether I can work it all in together, and how I shake things up and keep it interesting!  I love love love my imapmyrun app on my iphone, it even goes so far as to tell me what my min, max and average speeds and paces are, and when I go online, I can see some lap breakdowns as well, last night's was funny as my slowest speed was 2.24 km and that's when I slowed down to fix my headphones on my iphone.... for 20 seconds or so, hysterical!  Must remember that when I feel like stopping! :D

Hope you are all doing well, the year is coming to a swift close, and I hope many of you have exceeded your goals for the year!

Rest time is over...

Yippee!!! My two week break is over.... tonight I go training with Trainer Christian.  Trainer Nate is away overseas he will be back next week, I've decided if the fill in trainer tomorrow night is not any good I will go see Trainer Christian again on Thursday night.  But we will see!  I might want to crawl into a hole after tonight.  The bruises on my knees have cleared up for the first time in months. 

I can't complain though I was very busy with my sideline hobby of cake decorating, October seems to have been the month that suddenly anyone I've ever made a cake for wanted one again!  So I would have had to do some serious schedule shuffling if I hadn't had this imposed break... that's supposed to be my silver lining right, everything happens for a reason hahahahahaha!

So in total honesty food's been a little up and down... I reigned it back in this week but with TTOM my weight shows a basic maintenance figure.... not bad for all that cake! hehehehhehe back into exercise and a bit more of a reign around the food and I expect the end of the week will be all good.

So lots of things going on... something I can't talk about yet a little deal going on with the possibility of some interesting opportunities but I can't say anything till it's all done and dusted.

I've been investigating my Certificate III and IV in Fitness.  I've decided on the place just waiting on some money to come through and I'm going to do that.  It's something I've been thinking about doing to help close the circle of information and learning that I've been doing over the last year and a half.  And I'll feel more comfortable being able to give people actually advice from a more informed place.  And who knows I could make some extra dosh as a trainer always good!

A possible job opportunity at work, I think it's something I would be REALLY good at and would enable me to effect some real change throughout the organisation in a positive way... fingers crossed... I know if it's meant to happen it will work out but there's no harm in asking for some positive vibes now is there!?

PS Did I mention I got an iphone?! I'm such a geek but I am in total infatuation with it.  My friends told me to download a game called Angry Birds and O-M-G!!!  Hours pass by in the blink of an eye with this darn obsessively addictive game! hahahahahaha

My trainers have been telling me to look at yoga and pilates, I haven't had time to investigate classes in my area, but I picked up a wii game that is both yoga and pilates, so I will endeavour to give this a go sometime during the week as long as I get my runs in!

So next goal is the 7th November, 10km Run4Fun at Sydney Olympic Park.  I'll be testing out my iMapmyRun app with my first run on Wednesday and because I'll be tracking my run with the actual GPS on me I will have truer indication on how far and fast I am running! WOOHOO!  Geekdom here I come! :P

Birthday Celebrations

Even though my birthday was Thursday and I had a lovely day, the real celebrations were yesterday.  We started with a morning training session, that included the notorious Awaba St Hill (for anyone that knows the Balmoral Burn) followed by a workout that included stairs and some bodyweight work.  We worked hard to earn lunch with family and friends followed by drinks and dancing with more family and friends!

My girlfriend who I have known since I was 7 came down from the Coast to spend the weekend with me.  We've known each other for 31 years and Friday night was the first time we tried on each other's clothes and found everything we had fit each other! :D 

So while we've known each other for a long time and I'm still essentially me, there were new things about me she spent the weekend discovering but more than anything the fact that I've improved my health so significantly means I have a much better chance of being around to be her friend for many many more years to come!

We had a lovely lunch followed by cake that my 14 year old niece made me all by herself!  And yes I indulged in two pieces! And then we went home to pretty ourselves up for a night on the town.  I've decided that I do better on vodka lime and soda's than I do on wine, I was also Jager bombed (I think that's how you spell it) but I still manage to recall the entire evening, no blank spots like my last night out on the wine! :D hahaha

I was incredibly spoilt, with a massage voucher, vouchers for me to get a new pair of running shoes (yay!), flowers, a dvd and book on yoga, a meditation pack, and a gorgeous ruffly pretty umbrella (which was prudent considering the rain at the moment!) and a jewellery voucher! Oh and not to forget that I didn't pay for a single drink the whole night! :D Lucky me!

I had such a nice time and feel really lucky to have all these people in my life celebrate with me, I saw this birthday as a type of re-birth with a very positive view for the future and I feel like many of the people in my life went out of their way to make it an extra special birthday.  I am lucky and blessed!

I am now on a two week exercise hiatus, and will be then raring to get back into some running ready for my next fun run if I can remember to register! heheheehe

I've updated my photos, I've cleared out the house and most of the garden, I have some time ahead to relax and reflect and get a few unfinished things done and time to just enjoy being me and being able to do well, whatever I want!

Hope everyone is enjoying their long weekend and that you all remembered to put the clocks forward!

Birthday and Dexa follow up!

Hi all!  Yesterday was my 38th birthday!  Yep I am THAT old, but I look hot! hahahahahaha.  I've been asked a couple of times how I felt about turning 38 to be honest with you it doesn't bother me, I feel like this birthday is truly a rebirth, a stepping stone for the wonderful life I have ahead of me.  And I had such a lovely day, a multitude of birthday wishes, a pedicure, lunch out, some window shopping and boot camp in the evening to finish it off!

Tomorrow there are more celebrations with family and friends lunch and then out in the evening in my hot new outfit! :D

Today I had a follow up dexa scan.  In 2 months I have basically I lost 3.3kg's of fat, gained 1kg of muscle.  My bodyfat percentage has gone from 26.4% to 23.0%!  Which I am stoked about!  So total weight today was 78.7kg's and my range has gone up a couple of hundred grams due to my muscle increase to 75.8 - 76.7kg (last scan it was 75.6 - 76.5kg).  So the plan is to aim for the 75kg mark and then maintain that, and have another scan in 6 months to make sure I am on track.  In the meantime I will have to play around with calories and exercise to work out my maintenance level.

So I had hoped for 24% body fat so I was just over the moon at 23%.  And to gain a kg of muscle in 2 months is just awesome considering I've got muscle to give away! :D  Trainer Nate has taken to calling me skiinny b*tch or beef cake! hahahahaha

So my girlfriend is coming down from the coast and she is coming to training with me in the morning to see what I go through every week!  She does exercise herself, but it will be interesting to see how she finds this, and as we've never trained together (even though we've known each other for 31 years!) it should be fun, you know in that sick exercisey way! :D

So I'll be back later on in the weekend with pictures from tomorrow! Have a great long weekend!

Milestones, goals, and keeping on....

So where are we at, lots of little milestones happening at the moment, I've broken the 70's meaning I've lost more than 50kg's, did I write that in another blog I don't think I looked back far enough.

We had our fitness tests again, this was the 2nd time we've done the beep test properly measured, last time I psyched myself out a bit, so this time I was aiming for 7.1 and reached 7.5 so I was pleased with that effort and hope to see past 8.1 on the next one.

I finished Hypoxi again and lost 5kg and 26.5 cm's.  I have my dexa scan on Friday so I will be very curious to see the results as it will be almost 2 months to the day.  Aside from my trainer quite hammering us, I've picked up the extra session with Trainer Christian where we did sessions using an olympic barbell, so I am expecting to have gained some muscle but I just don't know what that means for my fat loss, so I'm nervous but excited to see the results.

I went clothes shopping today with some girlfriends, this was a whole new experience for me as when I was fat I hated going clothes shopping with other people especially slimmer friends!  The shops they would go into never had my size and well really I was embarrassed.  But today it was so much fun and I had no qualms in letting the girls come in the change room with me and they were totally great!  I ended up getting a dress I've been eyeing off for about 6 or so weeks, and a ring in I tried on at the 11th hour that will be my evening outfit for my birthday next week!

I'm on leave for a week and have started clearing out some stuff, some cupboards with crap that needed clearing (magazines from 2006! what was I thinking... straight into the recycle bin!) I weeded out my book collection, I've bagged up the clothes that are all too big that have been in the back room, and put them on the balcony, I need to get them in the car and off to charity.  Tonight I went through my wardrobe again and filled another bag as well!  It feels good to get the stuff out of the house, creating space for the new things to come! :D

My girlfriend I've known since I was 7 is coming down next weekend, she is coming to my Saturday bootcamp with me so we will see how good her training has been for her! :D 

So this is the plan, I keep training till next week.  Then I'm basically being ordered to take a fortnight rest EEEK!!!!! Then I'll have one month to get back into training for 10km Sydney Olympic Park run.  So my break period will be interesting as I cope with resting and focus on keeping my eating on track.  The expectation from my trainers aside from some well deserved recovery is some muscle loss which I can well afford especially if my dexa scan shows an increase.  If I play it all right I should be able to meet my final weight goal.  So then playing maintenance until Christmas will be a good way to end the year!  One hopes! :D

Oh and another goal I'm adding in for next year is to do the Harbour Bridge climb with my sister!  She refuses to do any fun runs with me but has said she'd like to do the climb!

It's Sunday today and I just have to say it's been just a gloriously beautiful day!  Enjoy your week!

Running and more running....

Yesterday was the 9km Blackmores Bridge Run.  We signed up as a team to raise money for Ovarian Cancer, one of our group members is currently battling the disease, a little shy, we did it from the perspective of her dog, Artie and called it Running for Artie.  We aimed to raise $5,000 between us and on the morning of our run yesterday we surpassed our target amount. :D

Isn't Artie adorable?  The day started cloudy but while waiting to start the sun snuck out.  Trainer Nate and his brother Trainer Heath ran with us, but they didn't run for themselves, they spent the time running between the group members, and encouraging them on so as to hit any targets we had set for ourselves, (like me, aiming for under an hour) and my girl Nat (to simply run all the way her first fun run!).  I even saw Trainer Nate encouraging complete strangers, just hyped to be there and be involved.

Despite having run 14km in August, I really struggled, Trainer Nate identified that I've been over training and once this week is done (last week of Hypoxi) I'm being ordered to take some rest time.

But even despite my struggles and pratically needing to be pushed and pulled down the last kilometre particularly after discovering what we thought was the finish line finding that it wasn't and me nearly both spontaneously about to burst into tears and vomit at the same time, managed to cross the finish line in the time of 54:22.  Beating both the hour I hoped for and my 8km Mother's Day Classic Time of 56:09.  Estimating that I was running on average almost 10km an hour (holy ****!!!!)

This has spurred me on for the 10km run in November at Sydney Olympic Park knowing that with some rest and better training I will likely have a better race day and be well aimed to do it in an hour or hopefully less. It's supposed to be a relatively flat course so fingers crossed.

I suppose after reading about how you can have bad race days it was a good experience and further understanding of how hard I can be on myself, see I achieved my goals but I was disappointed, I suppose I was thinking if I'd been in the right frame of mind I could have done better, so I suppose I need to suck it up and get over myself!  hehehehe

All of us finished under the hour which was awesome, most of us around that 54 minute mark, the others were only 15 or so seconds ahead of me, with Trainer Nate and Trainer Heath both almost physically pushing me over the finish line to both come in one second after me!  

I've booked my next dexa scan in for the 1st October, so with a second lot of Hypoxi done and having gone into the 70's I will be curious to see what the comparison results are from the August one.

I've started to think about maintenance and to look at a goal for that I've asked Trainer Nate if it's realistic to look at training for a half marathon while working on maintenance and he thinks it's a good goal to aim for.

I also want to redo the Menai fun run that I did at the beginning of the year, a very hilly 8km course, it was my first one and I was lucky to run half of it, so I'd love to give it another crack and see what my improvement on it is.  And then of course, I will likely attempt the Mother's Day Classic again in a bid to run the entire course (which  by then should be easy peasy) and totally smash my time.  These I imagine will make good training events for a half marathon.

So goals achieved and more goals to come and aim for a good bid to help me keep maintenance on track.  A good way to start off another year seeing it's my birthday next week, I've achieved so much since my last birthday and am excited about the prospects that lay ahead!

No rest for the wicked....

Trucking along, still learning, figuring stuff out and letting stuff go hahahahaha it's such an ongoing process!

Last night went to Trainer Christian, this is what he made us do.  He started by explaining the three moves he wanted us to do.  He paired us up with an olympic barbell which weighs about 20kg's.  Then showed us that the moves were a squat with the bar on our chest, a squat and press up, and a press up from the chest, using our legs as needed.  Our aim was this 100 reps of each. WTF, that's the look on all our faces.  This was the plan, one person started and did as many reps as they could, when they could do no more they dropped the bar and went for a shortish jog while the next person started.  So the more reps you could get out the less runs you had to do.  We could do them in any order.  My partner and I decided the squat and press was the worst and we'd get that out of the way followed by the press and then pump out the squats, unfortunately by the time we finished the squat press she could barely lift the bar, so she went onto squats and I went straight into presses, my arms were dead by the end I tell you and then lucky her by the time she finished her squats Trainer Christian took pity on her (so unlike him) and gave her a smaller bar.  Bugger that will teach me!

You'd think that would be it wouldn't you but guess what.... it wasn't.  After that he had one more thing instore for us, partnering us up slightly differently in pairs we had a rowing competition.  10 x 100 meters, with 15secs of rest in which we swapped with our partner so each of us doing 500 meters each in total.  Then the average would be checked and a winner announced! EEEEKK!!!  I have difficulty getting out of the stirrups in a hurry but my partner was great and helped me, when he got on the rower he rowed so hard, it started to hop across the room! hahahhahahhaha It was like death but guess what me and my partner won! hahahahahahhahaha woohoo!  VOMIT! hahahahahhahaha

OK that was it finally, stretch and then the next hour spent trying to get my arms to stop shaking and back to stop burning.  God there's something so incredible about it you want to die when you are doing it, but you feel so awesome when you are done.

The rest of the week is Boot camp and Hypoxi followed by the 9km bridge run on Sunday.  No rest for the wicked! With only 4kg's left to goal I really want to try to knock it out rather than stretch it out.  And Hypoxi definitely seems to help out there, so watch out birthday here I come, you might not be a significant number but it's definitely a re-birth of the new, better and healthier me. :D

Letting the past go....

Wow, what a couple of weeks it's been for me.  So many things have started clicking in my head it's almost a little overwhelming, but exciting too.

On the weekend I finally weighed in in the 70's, this has been like such an unbelievable pipe dream for me, in fact I don't recall the 70's I just remember being in high school and being about 80+kg and going to Weight Watchers with my mum and having them tell me I should weigh like 63kg's and thinking that it was all so hard.  Of course my body composition is VERY different these days, I must pull out some pictures from that time and compare them to now, just to see the differences.  I know I was softer that's for sure, and I remember size 14, I don't ever remember size 12 or 10's, not that that means much with sizing's these days! hehehehehe

Speaking of school I had my 20 year high school reunion on Saturday night.  Now high school was a bit up and down for me, I was never one of the popular girls, but I was friends with someone I considered popular.  I always felt like one of those girls who sat on the fringe of a couple of groups but never really fit in per se.  And mostly was ignored by the boys or teased.... I didn't start this high school till Year 8 so I didn't have the primary school connections and there were times some of the other girls were pretty mean, leaving banana peels and their rubbish in my school bag, general high school jinx.  Or just being general cows as girls can sometimes be in high school, having said that I was no princess I did my own share of ignoring and bitching, I could say it was self defence.... actually I am happy to say I am not one of those people who wishes they could go back and relive their high school years because they were the best times of their lives. 

Not that it was all bad, I had some great friends and some really fun times, I just never felt I really fit in.  So to go back looking great guns, to see some of the mean girls had put on weight (I know it's mean but we are human right) and to get comments from guys that wouldn't give you the time of day at school, that you look great and well done, well it was well worth it! Mostly it was worth reconnecting with a couple of lost girlfriends and trying to recognise the majority of the guys who now with receeding hairlines and beards looked nothing like their high school boyish days!

So for me I'm able to let some ghost's rest and leave my school days pretty much behind me.  Which goes well with some of the other things that have come up for me over the last couple of weeks, including figuring out what I really DON'T want in a relationship and how realising being happy in me and my life is going to really be key in finding the right relationship more than anything else.

I've started doing some clearing out at home and have plans for a big spring clean, I really need to let go of some "stuff" and make a clear path for all the new positive things coming into my life. :D

In the meantime, I'm prepping for my upcoming birthday with the goal of hitting the 70's before then already ticked off! :D

PS As you can see from the pic I went with my hot blue top again seeing I loved it so much, doesn't pop as much with a faded spray tan, dressed down with jeans.... still felt pretty good managed to keep the shoes on for about half the night, had a lot of people say thank god when I took them off as they hadn't remembered me so tall.... hahahahha

Running for Artie

http://www.everydayhero.com.au/running_for_artie

Artie is the crazy little cavoodle whose owner is one of the 1200 women in Australia who are diagnosed with ovarian cancer every year.  His owner is the cousin of one my boot camp girlfriends.  We all know how pervasive cancer is in our lives, and once touched by it, it seems every time you turn around someone else you know is being touched by it.

A group of us have banded together to do the Blackmore's 9km bridge run on the 19th September, we are raising money for this cause, so if you are interested in helping us raise money and awareness for this cause, please click the link and donate!

Thanks for your time!

Embrace it.....

Wow hey, who knew what a weekend could change? How you feel about yourself, how far you've come, how ready you are to really get out there and meet Mr Right???   My girl Alex had her birthday on the weekend and we've been looking forward to it for weeks. A couple of weeks ago I went into Crossroads with the intent of buying a red top I'd seen but I didn't like it once it was on, the lady told me to try this blue strapless top on.... I almost didn't first of all strapless hahahahah right and blue, the only blue stuff I have in my wardrobe are my jeans! hehehehehe but I tried it on anyway and wow I loved it. I grabbed the skirt to go with it, and then even went and bought stillettos, two pairs actually the first my wardrobe have ever seen! :D

My girls were then insistent we all get spray tans (another new experience for me!) and I saw myself a colour I've never been before (my European heritage leaves me white, burnt or peeling!)

Anyway I'd had a tough week, trying to process a few things in my personal life, and I really wanted to try to engage in an effort to tighten up that gap I have in my head between how I look and how I think I look! (I think a couple of glasses of wine helped with that as well! hahahaha)

So here I am in my outfit all glitzed up for a girls night out, and no pantyhose (eek what would mother think!) I just can't explain it, I'm not and never have been a big party girl, clubs and the like they haven't really been my thing.... but I have so much fun with these girls and feel good and confident doing it, and I think even if it's just for a short period of time I should embrace these experiences and all that they give me along with the memories (the ones that I can remember when I'm not half sloshed! :D)

Even Trainer Nate and Trainer Heath came along to enjoy the frivolity, see Trainer Nate with all his Smurfettes. He's like our big brother keeping a watchful eye on all of us, watching us blossom and embrace change.

I admit recovery is hard hahahahahaha I am a few years older than everyone else, but I'm not doing it every weekend, just special occassions. Admittedly I'm so enamoured with my blue top I'm considering wearing it to my School reunion on Saturday dressed down with jeans..... but stillettos of course!

It's a big change from that 130kg girl and only 15 months ago. Currently I can't weigh myself because the batteries have died in my Wii Fit and I keep forgetting to buy batteries, so I'm waiting to see how my Hypoxi results turn out, especially as I've noticed clothes changes again after only one week of Hypoxi. I put on my grey dress that I bought last time I did Hypoxi and I mean I loved it but it was snug (figured I'd get more wear out of it). This morning I put it on and I could move it around the hip area, and then one of the girls at work commented that the dress was already starting to get a little loose! So I guess it wasn't in my head after all! So I say weight schmait right now as long as cm's keep going down I'm doing damn OK!

That's it for today I think, my girl Ros and I are off to Trainer Christian tonight and we are both still struggling to recover from Saturday night, methinks it won't be pretty, and then we follow it up with Trainer Nate tomorrow night, we are such gluttons for punishment.... but I just know the boys love it! :D

A Day of Gratitude

I just wanted to take a moment of reflection today to say thank you to all the lovely people out there who've been supporting me during the past 15 months and continue to do so, cheering me on, pushing me forward and even sometimes pulling me along.

My wonderful soul sister, Wendy, who I credit this day to saving my life by having a conversation with me last April and encouraging the both of us to share our weight loss together.

Trainer Luke, who got me started and went gently enough with me in the beginning that I kept coming back.

Trainer Christian, who showed me that I was capable of so much more than I ever imagined.

To all the wonderful people on CK that take the time to comment on my blog, you all keep calling me an inspiration but you have no idea how inspirational you all are, I'm not going to name names because I'm sure I'll leave someone out and feel bad, but I love you all.

My friends and work colleagues, who have all been so encouraging, telling me how great and well and healthy I look and have supported me, sponsored me and encouraged me all the way along!  And still continue to!

To my wonderful new boot camp girlfriends who helped me rediscover the party girl in me!

Trainer Heath (Trainer Nate's brother) and his wife Maria for their encouragement and support particularly with Hypoxi.

And then of course last but never least Trainer Nate.... who continues to show me how to believe in what I'm capable of, how to continue to strive for the best me I can be, and who inspires me and so many others to live, laugh and love in the now and to enjoy it with as much zest and passion as possible!

I christen today my day of gratitude and even though these two little words can truly not express all that I feel, I simply say thank you.  Thank you all! x

Enough slacking off...

OK, so I'm moving forward with my plan, I have had to have a talking to myself, because I just feel like I've slacked off, nothing too major just eating a bit more than I should be and not taking my exercise to the max, and slacking off from my runs. 

So my birthday is in 31 days so I'm committed to hitting everything hard for the next four weeks and maximising my results.  I did a big shop and cook up yesterday, so everything is in place it's time for me to follow suit.

Trainer Nate and his brother want me to have another Dexa scan after this round of Hypoxi, and I want it to be worth their effort and mine to do this!  I'm set up with seeing Trainer Christian on Monday's in addition to my other boot camps and we have the Bridge Run on the 19th September so there's no room for slacking off, I can save that for my birthday weekend! :D

I just bought a hot new outfit and I'm wearing it out Saturday night (apparently I'm getting a spray tan too) the top is strapless and blue, both new for my wardrobe, and I even went and got properly fitted for a strapless bra so the top looks it's best!  The following week I have my High School Reunion so there's lots going on and lots of things I need to look my best for, and then to round it off at the end of the month my own birthday which will be a bit of rebirth in of itself!  Last year I was still about 110kg so this year is just going to be fantastic! 

So my head is down my bum is up and I'm going to see myself into the 70's before I am 38! :D  Wish me luck!

Making a plan....

OK, so after a night out to the AFL with the girls and a rest day on Sunday, I've decided to go ahead with another round of Hypoxi, it's only four weeks and will finish with still a week or so to go till my birthday.

So I've decided to include visits to Trainer Christian on Mondays, for the 4 weeks as well for that extra push.

So my schedule will look like:

Mon: Trainer Christian

Tues: Boot camp

Wed: Hypoxi

Thurs: Boot camp

Fri: Hypoxi

Sat: Boot camp & Hypoxi

Sun: Run

It looks full on I know I can trade out a boot camp or the Sunday run for rests where needed, and some boot camps may involve an additional running session with the girls in training for our 9km, some sprints and the like.  Hypoxi days if I do nothing else are relatively easy almost like rest days! It's only for four weeks and I feel really motivated to get as close as possible to goal before my birthday as I can, it would be a great way to ring in another year!  Also if I do similar cm results that should quite easily result in another dress size.

I like having a schedule to run with, since I've been back from the snow I've had no particular routine so to speak, and it leaves me feeling unfocussed!

The session with Trainer Christian last night was at his new studio I haven't seen before, it boasts a nice hill up to the end of the cul-de-sac that he likes to send us up and down inbetween sets of pushups, squats and sit ups!  He and Trainer Nate would get on so well they are both sadistic bastards sometimes hehehehehehhe!  But it felt good to really work hard, and with no one else there that I really knew I could just focus and get on with it.  At one stage we had to do the hill 3 times, I tell you I had to keep saying in my head over and over if you did the City 2 Surf you can do this!  He said if we needed to walk so be it but damn it I wanted to show him and myself I could run it, so I really pushed myself to keep running at the top of the cul-de-sac I kept saying get your breath back here on the down hill run.

I also realised despite my excessive picture taking I'm still not quite caught up in how I really look (I even took a pic of myself in my workout gear, to see how I looked, and was surprised to find my hips weren't as big as I expected them to be! Weird hey!  Still some work to do on my thighs though bahahahahah!).  One of the other girls in my class had also done Hypoxi and was showing us her results, and I was shocked that our measurements were so close, because in my head I saw myself as bigger than her, but I was forced to really look at her and see that I was of a similar size (chunkier thighs!) it was eye opening but hard to process at the same time. I still cringe a little inside before I see a photo expecting to see the 130kg I used to be I suppose.  I mean I think I dress like someone who realises they've lost weight, I just can't always seem to see it! It's definitely an ongoing process!

PS My shirt says Your Life Begins Now!  I have about 4 of them that all say different things, they look like Lorna Jane shirts but cost 10 bucks from Big W! hehehehehe

Making the decision or letting it make you....

I've found myself a little tired this week.  Been doing a lot of thinking.  And I just feel a little caught in the middle.  See I'm not quite where I want to be yet, and to get to where I want to be, I need to make more changes in my life... but part of my is still trying to catch up with all the changes I've already made!  She just wants to take a breath and learn how to really grasp and "believe" that these changes and accomplishments she's made are real and she's not going to wake up tomorrow and be fat again!  And so caught in the middle of all of this is the me that is tired and feels like she needs a little break from it all! 

I ran into a friend I'd seen about six weeks ago, and oh my, she made such a fuss that you would have thought she hadn't seen me for a year!  Don't get me wrong I love the positive feedback, but really that much of a change in six weeks, I don't see these changes in the mirror! Maybe I had just dressed really well that day! hahahahaha  People keep using the word skinny to describe me, I find that one really DIFFICULT.  It makes me want to lift up my top and show them my tummy rolls or my flabby thighs.  Healthy yes, slimmer than I used to be yes, skinny, nah! 

Maybe I just need a few early nights and then I just have to suck it up and make the decisions that need to be made and get off my arse and do what needs to be done.

I'm out of any kind of routine at the moment have been since I came back from the snow.  My morning boot camp classes were supposed to start up again next week but have been postponed again.  I'm not too devastated about it, I've formed a great bond with the girls in my evening class, but I had made some plans based on the morning stuff and now I have to redo it all again.  I want to get out to see my sister's trainer (Trainer Christian) and I need to keep some running going for the next couple of fun runs.  But on top of that my trainer wants me to do another round of Hypoxi, and well my results were so fabulous last time the idea of another 4kg's and 30 something cm's in 4 weeks would have me VERY close to my goal weight!  The bonus being there would be a really good focus on my legs which is where my Dexa scan identified would be the best place to lose weight from. 

So that would mean 3 boot camps a week, a session a week with Trainer Christian, 2 runs a week and 3 Hypoxi's.... seems like a lot hey, but I guess the Hypoxi is so light weight and easy (I'm lucky to get a 250 cal burn from it) it's just like a warm up really.  Is too much on top 6 other sessions?  For four weeks to just get that push to the goal post?

For some reason at least when I'm focused I don't feel this tired.  I like knowing what I've got to do and just going to do it...... I don't want to decide by default, I'm just not 100% sure what to do right now.

What do you girls think?

Edit: Before I even got a chance to post this I had a call from Trainer Nate, and had a bit of a chat to him about it.  Nevertheless I'm curious to know what some of you out there who follow my blog think? x

There's a new party girl in town and she's me!

Well I had a bit of a sulky day on Friday, I'll even admit it bled a little into Saturday, but we had a good morning boot camp session that helped drive the cobwebs away. After a refreshing shower it was off to my sister's for a birthday bar-b-q.  My nephew turned 18!  It's always lovely, we always have a good laugh and a lovely lunch and catch up on all our gossip. 

I have a friend who turned 40 during the week and had arranged dinner in the evening, so late afternoon I headed off home to get changed.  I didn't know any of the other people going to the dinner (not that that was an issue, I need to get out and meet new people), but I did invite one of newer friends from Boot camp (Friend 1 - just makes it easier right! :D), as she had nothing to do anyway!  We had a lovely time!  The people were a hoot and the food was delicious.  We ended up chatting quite a bit to a lovely gay couple who we employed the use of their gaydar while checking out the rest of the room! hehehehehehe.

Later we got a text from another friend (Friend 2) who was not having a good evening, our other friend (Friend 3) had mentioned that she'd be at the Ivy that night for a birthday so if we wanted to head on down we should.  So we decided what the heck, friend 2 met us at friend 1's house and we grabbed a cab and headed on down to the Ivy to meet Friend 3.  Anyway we eventually found Friend 3 and we even ran into Trainer Nate, who was well... somewhat hammered, which was pretty funny!! But seeing he now has access to this blog I'll refrain from further comments!  (*Hi Trainer Nate! ;P*)  Like last time the four us girls were out we had a lovely night and met some of Friend 3's friends and danced and laughed which is always the sign of a good night to me!

Sometimes I feel like I am re-living my 30's the way they were meant to be lived.... I've never been a big party/clubbing girl, but I know if I want to meet someone I have to actually put myself into situations where I am 1. getting out there and 2. meeting new people.  And I really feel I'm starting to do that, and not only just do it, but enjoy doing it!  And it helps that my new friends are single too!

However, there is a disclaimer... hahahahahaha I am going to have to watch those late nights, I didn't get home till about 4am and I think I'm still recovering!

Watch this space if your interested in my ongoing night endeavours, I believe there is more to come! hehehehehe

Building a bridge....

So guess how much trouble Trainer Nate is in.... I seriously wanted to give him a couple of head bashes last night!  He was telling us this story on Wednesday about a fight he was watching where this guy just sat on the other guy and punched him like 300 times and the guy just took it... that's the kind of thing I was imagining last night!  BUT at the same time I have to accept my own personal responsibility, I knew from the beginning and I didn't push to get him to double check. 

WTF you are all saying, well we discovered that along with not being able to count, Trainer Nate, can't measure! :P  He had been measuring the beep test length incorrectly, which seems fair seeing he just takes 20 steps instead of using a tape measure.... so basically all my beep test results since the February have been false :(  (See it's all still about learning what you are willing to let yourself believe and what you are willing to face up to! :P)

Those extra three and a half extra feet don't seem like much until you are trying to beat that damn beep and you feel that the return shuttle is on a slope!  I'm whinging I know I'll build a bridge in a minute and get over it.

So the results sit like this:

Beep test: 11 (really going from last real test 5.5) ------------- 6.5 smaller improvement than I'd hoped (gonna try again in two weeks and aim to hit 7.1)
Pushups one minute: 54 ----- 53 (girl pushups - once you get over 50 it's a bit whatever! :D)
Wall sit: 315 secs ----------- 330 (5 mins 30 secs)
Plank: 140 secs ------------- 201 (3 mins 21 secs - last time was a bit pitiful, if I remember correctly my previous best is around the 3 min mark so I think this is a PB)
Flexibility: 16 --------------- tbc (I think I might have gone a little backwards on this but then again this was the first time he used a proper tape measure and not a guestimate on the paper pad - yep that's another dig at you dude because I can!)
Pushups one minute: 28 ----- 33 (guy pushups :D)

So no use whinging a lot about it really the beep test stuff goes back on the goals list I'd eventually like to build up to a 10, but have a way to go. 

Yes I admit it was somewhat demoralizing, only because it was such a huge drop and we all felt it almost immediately.  See sometimes this is why I like my smaller incremental improvements, I don't question those! hehehehe  BUT at the end of the day it's a mistake right!?  We are all human and it does not take away from the achievements I've made including the City 2 Surf, the fantastic dexa scan results, or how good I feel in my clothes right! :D

So I'm having a little sulk and tomorrow it's back to Balmoral and a busy weekend ahead with my nephews birthday lunch and a friends birthday dinner! 

Have a great weekend folks!

Relax and enjoy!

I'm a little confused while my time was consistent, there's a discrepancy between my placing in the paper and on the C2S website... so I guess I'll just go with what's on the website right.

Net time: 01:38:34 (98:34)

Place: 33043 (out of nearly 68,000 finishers!)

Gender: 11517

Cat. Place: 4079

I'm not 100% sure but I think it means I can qualify for green next year if it's sub 100 mins.  I don't have totals for the last two (hope to come across them!)

The pictures are OK, not my best! hehehe but show me and my girls about to grab hands and then holding hands so proud, even better is the video in which hysterically funny you can hear me woohoo over everyone else... I maintain I was just placed near a microphone! hahahahahaha

I realised that I'm still coming to terms with my body!  I insisted I needed a medium t-shirtm, I knew it was too big as soon as I put it on, but there are times that I still feel I need to hide myself somewhat!  It all comes with time and experience right?  After seeing the photos, I've opted to get a singlet top like the girls (we are going to be doing some more runs and will run in our smurfette shirts like our own little team!).  I think I still feel exposed in my work out gear (you know without my sucky in underwear hahahahahaha)

One of our other boot campers who hummed and ahhhed about doing the City 2 Surf and then didn't has agreed to do the 9km Blackmores Bridge run with us in September and then we are going to do the 10km Sydney Olympic Park run.  Trainer Nate is going to help me work on my speed so that when I do attempt a half marathon I will feel more confident about being able to do it within the time limits! :D

So let's list out these new goals:

•  Rejoin running group in 10km run
• 9km Blackmores Bridge run (19 Sept)
• 10km Sydney Olympic Park run (7 Nov)
• Reach goal weight
• Start playing round with maintenance
• Try some new things!  I wanna try a Crossfit Class, I might consider taking up bike riding (maybe buy a cheap bike to muck around with!) Maybe do a bit of swimming this summer! Take a dance class, is Zumba in Parramatta? hehehehe
• Increase my running speed
• Relax and enjoy all the good things happening in my life!

What are your goals for the rest of the year?! :D

City 2 Surf 2010

So today was the big day, and I come to the end of it with a huge great big tick!  

The City 2 Surf!  A major end goal for me this year, here I am with my girls and our medals, red and sweaty faced, but totally proud because we did it, we got to the end.

Initially I was sure what to expect, when Trainer Nate said he wanted me to run it all, I really didn't focus on speed, but a couple of weeks ago, just before my trip to the snow I ran a 14km training run in around 1:45, so I figured that was a good goal. 

We didn't end up running the whole race together, because one of my main aims was to run the whole thing, I pulled away from the girls slightly on heartbreak hill when they paused to walk.  But in the last kilometre with me in their sights they caught me and we hammered it home, grabbing hands and raising them with a cheer as we crossed the finish line together, and the bonus as we grabbed hands I spied Trainer Nate to the right of us cheering us on! (He started in a group behind us but quickly overtook us to finish the race in 68:30).  Our finishing time 1:38:and tbc seconds (will check the paper tomorrow).

Here we are with him, dubbed by him the Smurfettes after registering in the blue group, we went so far as to have t-shirts printed and then on the back we paid hommage to Trainer Nate, with our slogan "We love to hate, Trainer Nate".  Hehehehe He loved it!  Oh and that's not my bare arse in the photo it's a pink bum bag! hahahaha

So lots of big ticks for me, run the whole race, TICK, finish in under 1:45, TICK! Simply finish TICK! Do it for my mum, TICK! Make trainer proud, TICK!

So let's have a little recap this year:

1. I did my first ever fun run
2. I participated in the Mother's Day Classic
3. I completed (and ran the entire) City 2 Surf
4. I joined a running group
5. I reached 100 pounds (over 45kg's) lost
6. I've bought clothes in sizes 12 AND 10!
7. I appeared in a magazine
8. I have another magazine appearance pending
9. I had a dexa scan with great results
10. I had my dream trip to the snow!

I mean wow that's a phenomenal year!  Now I need to look forward to some new goals.  The things I have left to do are reach 50kg's lost and that's not far off, go horse-riding again (cause I can), try indoor rock climbing (because why not?) but what else now what do I face?

Possibly a half marathon?  Work on increasing my running speed. Get to my goal weight (or happy body shape), learn how to maintain!  Look at doing my Cert III and IV (even if it is just for me).  Lots of things still to do or aspire to! The sky really is the limit right?

Dexa Scan Results

Well the results are in, sorry for the late post but I went straight from my scan to a double training session so haven't been able to get to a computer!

So biggest shock was my height! I'm not 176cm.... I'm only 171cm!  I'm shocked I tell you shocked, all this time I thought I was 5'9" and I'm only 5' friggin 7".... I maintain I was taller when I was fatter.... and younger....

So first off my bones are great, the average bone weight for women is between 1.5 and 2.5kg's not to be outdone, mine weigh 3.05kg's so I'm not big boned but I am "heavy" boned!  This bodes well for me and means I have a low risk of osteoperosis.

I have 21.4kg's of fat which equates to 26%, lower than I expected.  The acceptable range is 21 to 33% so I'm in a good spot.  However Jarrod said I should be able to do 22% easily, 20% wouldn't be hard if I wanted either.

The great news was my muscle mass, 56.7kg's, the average a woman should aim for is 40kg's, so considering my past, my age, and my height, I'm well above average.  So my total mass was 81.1kg, despite my shrinking height, the ideal for me is 75.6 - 76.5kg's  so 75kg was the perfect number for me to pick.  Even though for my height this would make my BMI overweight.  Jarrod said a doctor would tell me based on BMI I should be 66kg's BUT based on my muscle mass that's ridiculous for me! So as we've discovered, BMI is not indicative for a lot of people!  See Jess something else we have in common.

You want to know the funniest thing, one of the reasons I have this muscle mass is because I built it to help carry the load of all my fat!  How funny is that! 

So Jarrod said even if I lost 5kg's of muscle he wouldn't be worried I'd still be well above average.  So my trainer is thinking 5kg's fat maybe 2-3kgs muscle, would settle out nicely.  He's gonna back me of the weights a little bit and and after the City 2 Surf on Sunday I need to decide if I want to look at a half marathon.... even Jarrod mentioned it as a goal, and he said it's easier than the City 2 Surf because there are no hills! 

So my RMR (Resting Metabolic Rate) is 1813 per day (gotta love that muscle mass).  So he recommends 1900 cals a day and a minimum of 2500 cals burnt a week, that should generate about an 800g loss a week.  Now I'd say I'm eating a touch more because I burn a touch more and since I started to this week my weightloss equates to an average of a touch over 700g a week, so I'm good with that.  Even if I dropped to 500g a week average I can be at my recommended goal by my 38th birthday!

Also my abdominal fat was 370g which is low risk for diabetes (low risk for women is under 600g, so I'm well under which is good, diabetes runs in our family!).

So all in all really great results, I've been doing everything right, eating enough to fuel my training, training enough to maintain excellent muscle mass, and my goal is spot on for me.  My height was surprising but hey it's not something I can do anything about! hehehehehehe, but I really thought I was 5'9".... 

So another box ticked, I'm totally where I need to be... the next thing is getting Sunday done and then looking forward from there!

OH by the way.... I had a phone call today and I've been asked to participate in a photo shoot for another health magazine tomorrow... so I'm off to bed to get my beauty sleep and I'll let you know how it all goes! :D

And yes I recommend you get a Dexa scan, there is no way I could have predicted how high my muscle mass was and how this might effect the scale weight I was aiming for.  I say get one so you know your goals are personalised to your OWN body composition, and basically to ensure you really are eating enough!

Snow beautiful snow!

I'm skiing!!!!

I'm baaaack! Oh I don't even know where to begin.  I had the most AWESOME time!

So let's see.... we left very early and I mean VERY early 3am on Tuesday morning.  We stopped for coffee and later for breakfast and a petrol top up.  Then we stopped at the hire place before heading up the mountain.

Now just putting on your ski boots and walking from the car park to the snow entrance with your ski's is a workout in itself, seriously you need a nap by the time you get there! hahaha

Did I mention that Trainer Nate was also going down the snow the same week, total coincidence, I go over to get my day ticket with a lesson and come back to the car and who has pulled up beside me in the car park.... yep Trainer Nate and his mates, HOW FREAKY is that! hehehehehehe.  Anyway that was the last I saw of him so I hope he made it home in one piece!

Sometimes it's in the little things...

So my Hypoxi results came in, whilst it should have been 4 weeks, I had to squeeze in the 12 sessions into 3.5 weeks, so I was done before my snow trip.  So in 3.5 weeks I lost 3.8kg (which at this stage of the game for me is phenomenal).  And 37cm from my waist, tummy, hips, thighs to the knee!  Typically the average for 12 session is about 25cm.  I did go in quite skeptical but I have to say 6cm from my thighs is pretty astounding I'd struggle to do a 1cm in a month, so I am converted that it does help accelerate your results.  

I went back to my old spreadsheets, and a 4kg loss never equated to more than a 10cm loss, so the proof is in my pudding and well my size 12 target dress right! 

How far I've come...

I know I take a lot of pictures of myself!  I guess I'm still trying to grasp how I really look these days!

Had to show my new size 12 shift dress.  I don't know if you can see the little twinkles from the diamontes at the bottom of the dress?  Otherwise it's pretty plain, that's what makes it so pretty to me.

I was worried it was a bit snug but everyone at work loved it, guess I will just have to keep reminding myself that this is all real! :D

So I was looking at some of my old blogs from CK that aren't here on my blogspot blog, I thought there were some real gems that deserve to be here, so today I add this one that I found, mind you these comments are from very early this year, but they still ring true for me and my journey.

Yesterday (this was back in January 2010) I got to thinking about how far I have come and all the things I learnt last year, some of the big ones include:

• That this is not dieting, dieting = deprivation which = failure
• Focussing on a healthy lifestyle
• Making better choices in food, exercise and lifestyle
• That this is for life NOT just for 12 months or 6 weeks or whatever
• That identifying your issues and doing something about them are two very different things
• Water is important
• An all or nothing attitude is about as helpful as the latest fad diet
• That these things that you learn can bleed into other areas of your life for the better!
• That I am a worthwhile person, who deserves to be happy
• That support really does help, but at the end of the day you are the one that has to do the hard work, and that is very satisfying
• That all those things you think you can never do really are possible
• That confidence and being truly happy makes me a better person to be around
• That I enjoy hanging out with myself again too
• That feeling this good REALLY does feel better than shoving a block of chocolate or a bag of chips in my gob
• That exercise makes me feel good and keeps me motivated to eat better and makes me want to do things I never thought I'd do
• To stop referring to myself as fundamentally lazy as that constant negative talk becomes truth if you don't stop it, and after the last couple of months I've proved that actually I AM NOT THAT!

So I am officially on holiday! Yippee!

A moment....

Because of my excessive training schedule of late (which thankfully is about to let up), I've been rotating 3 different sizes of workout pants.  My regular size 14's and what I thought were 2 12's but turned out one has a size 10 tag in them, and I didn't even notice!  Last night I had to retire the 14's as they were practically falling off me, even one of the girls I train with mentioned how baggy they were in the bottom.

So I thought I'd run up to Tar-jay and grab an alternate pair, of course there's a bunch of new things and I always like to have a squizz and see what's on sale, and there I was walking through the aisles looking at some of the new pretty summer dresses that are already hitting the shelves, and this lightbulb went off in my head.  For so many years I've looked at these clothes and wished I could wear these pretty things.... and in an overwhelming moment I realised I was no longer wishing, I could take the item right now and wear it.

Busy busy busy....

Firstly thank you for my awards! I know I have some things to do in receiving them, it may have to wait till I get back from the snow and have more time up my sleeve, but thank you so much, I'm honoured! :D

So this is the last week for Hypoxi, I finish up on Saturday and will have some results to post. 

So I'd increased to 10km on my running, decided to try a 12-13km on the weekend, got to about 12km and thought why the heck would I not try to do an actual 14km (which is what the City 2 Surf is).  So I just did!  So now I've hit that target I'm happier in my mind, especially seeing next week I'll be down the snow, and then the week after that I'm supposed to be tapering my training.  So I know I can do it, I have a nice set of hills and undulations in my course that I run, so I think I'm set.  Just need to pull up good on the day! :D  I found sipping gatorade good, and will down a gel at about the 10km mark to push the last few km home.  Now I just need to figure out what time I need to get to Bondi Junction that will allow me enough time to get the train into the City! urgh I hate public transport!

New Pictures and ramblings....

OK so here are the promised pics, me and my itty bitty waist hehehehehehe and then ye old faithful before picture with a nice new one, reminding everyone about the amazing shelf that once existed on my chest!  God I honestly thought that top in the before pictures looked OK! Eeeek!  Mirror mirror on the wall who is in the biggest denial of all! 

So I'm still adjusting, I find that there are times I just find the whole thing surreal, my breasts used to walk ahead of me into a room and were always touching people heheheheheh, now it's like wow where are they.  I'm having trouble getting used to my face again, it's me but it's not me, or it's the me I always wanted to be and now is but like really!?

I'm very happy how I look in clothes these days and by god, the other week I bought some size 12 workout pants, well I thought they were size 12, one of them is, but a pair I've been wearing I was folding up to put in my bag and I noticed the tag was size 10, and I'd been wearing them no worries!  Seriously size 10!!!!! Even at my biggest when I thought about losing weight a size 14 was like the ultimate and here I am in size 14 tops and size 12 pants and possibly moving into a size 10 I mean get out of town seriously!  I never imagined I could ever be a size 10 until now, sometimes it's all too much blowing my mind.

I still have wobbly bits in the wrong places, but I'm working on them.  I'm still unsure the final state of my bod, there's still time for things to fling into place.... or not! heheheheheheh  But gosh look at all the things I can do and have done, fun runs, skiing, city 2 surf, double boot camp sessions, man push ups, taking the stairs without thinking if nothing else, I've definitely pushed out a healthier and generally happier version of myself.

I think one of the most important things I'm grasping is that idea that maintenance again will be it's own journey.  It won't be the end goal and woo hoo go and do whatever you want.  There's going to be learning and tweaking and getting that all right as well and then keeping check with it.  I have found that it is important I grasp that NOW before I get there, I don't think I've done it and wind up back at square one, no siree!

Anyway I'm babbling, I just needed to get some of that out, my trainer says I should be blogging about my feelings and mindset, and blah blah blah! So you know, some nights I go to sleep terrified of waking up fat, which is funny because when I was fat I would go to sleep WISHING I would wake up slim and healthy!  I know it's not going to happen but it does truly take your brain a little time to catch up with your body. 

What about you? Have you lost a lot of weight and still find you are playing catch up, are you along somewhere in your journey and finding the changes in your body almost..... foreign, like you are inhabiting somebody else for a while?  All thoughts welcome! :D