Scary, Exciting and Honest....

So I just did something really scary and exciting all at the same time, I filled in my entry for the City 2 Surf.  So now that I've entered it's no longer a possibility of something I might do, it's a... I'm really gonna do this sucker type thing! 

Trainer Nate is adamant I run it all, so I'm really going to focus my training on endurance rather than speed, and try my best.

There is another cracker of a post today by Craig Harper, hop on over and read it, it's called What's your food issue?  But it's the talk about honesty with oneself and other's that really struck my chords.... see if I have to come down to some definitive point about what it is that has worked for me this time when nothing did before it really is about me, me being honest with myself, being honest with others, calling myself out on my own bullshit, not getting upset when those around me call me out on my bullshit (luckily I have some great people in my life who do so and thus I am able to learn from it!) and getting out of my own damn way so I can move forward. 

This is something that really drives me in my training too, see I'm a little bit of a nazi when it comes to my reps, if I'm told to do a certain number, then I have to do every single one I'm told to do, even if it means watching other's short change themselves to finish quicker, even if it means I'm last to finish even if it means like on Saturday I was a full exercise behind everyone else.... I know that if I want the results I have to put in the effort 110%, and man I get it done.   

I still struggle and that's OK too, I've learnt different ways to deal with these things when they arise, to be able to look at them and see them for what they are, I might sulk for a day or two but I don't let things derail me, it's been a HUGE learning curve and continues to be, but by god it's been worth it! :D  And there's still more to come, I'm excited now to see what the future brings!  And there's certainly a big future out there waiting to embrace me, I'm sure of it! :D

GOAL......

..... well kind of!  You see when you are 130kg double figures is usually the main goal, and when you've been in triple figures for years, the idea of anything under that is a real wow!  So I had chosen 85kg because I thought is was a doable figure, far enough under triple figures to be maintainable but not unrealistic.

Of course by the time I managed to get out of triple figures I was already re-assessing my goal.  I had garnered developed enough belief that I could go further so I re-assessed my goal.  

But today is still worth celebrating for reaching my inital goal, and right dead-on the noggin!  85kg exactly on the scale this morning, which marks a suitable brand new beginning for that which I have planned over the next few weeks.

So let's look back for a little comparison they are so much fun! :D

Weight: 130 kg - 85kg = LTD 45kg

which equates to 99 pounds or 35% of my body weight

BMI: 42.0 - Morbidly Obese - 27.4 - Overweight (only 8kg away from a healthy BMI!)

I've lost over 140cm from bust, waist, hips, thigh and arm.

So pretty great stats if I do say so myself. 

Another 6 weeks, and more improvements

Can you believe it's been six weeks again already!!  Despite missing a week and a half (of work out only 2 boot camp sessions) from being sick I still managed improvements on all my tests including an additional one we all threw in for the heck of it.

So my trainer said mainly he was only interested in the beep test and push ups, he did throw a 12 out there for the beep test but it was just too much, I was very close to vomiting! ;D  11 is still good right! hehehehe

Six weeks ago: ------------- Six weeks on

Beep test: 10.1 --------------- 11
Pushups one minute: 47----- 54 (girl pushups)
Wall sit: 181 secs ----------- 315 (5 mins 15 secs)
Plank: 187 secs ------------- 240 (4 mins)
Flexibility: 16 --------------- tbc

Pushups one minute: 0 ----- 28 (guy pushups - this one is new!) 

Have an opportunity to try out something new, will be blogging more about it later, need to check it all out first and once I know what's involved I'll be sharing.  Trainer Nate feels it will really help me push on to my goal quicker and it's being incorporated into my current regime so we will see. 

Might just keep doing the beep test and man push ups and find some other way to measure improvements, the rest seem to be becoming a little redundant and it's hard to push the plank and wall sit over the 5 minute mark without blowing the session out by the time we do everything else and warm up and cool down, on top of with both my trainers have found the wall sit to be pretty redundant.  

Any way, hope you are all having a good week and that exciting doors and opportunities are also opening for you as the seem to be for me at the moment!

Published!!!

Well how exciting was yesterday for me.  A few months ago I was approached by my boot camp companies publicity company, following that I spoke to a journalist about my journey including sending them some pictures.

But that was all I heard about it, I thought it musn't be going ahead, or I had too much to say! heheheheh, the next issue of the magazine came out and I all but forgot about it.

Yesterday I am standing in a newsagency and see the new issue of Australian Shape has come out, I look at the cover and there's a headline "How Nicole Dropped 40 kilos", I think hahahahah that's my name on the cover, but that can't be me because I didn't hear anything else about it.... so I flick through the mag and find the page and HOLY SHIT!!! It's me! hahahahahahaha

So I'm minorly disappointed that I wasn't able to update my weightloss and everyone at work has commented that I've lost weight again since the picture in the magazine, but what the heck am I complaining about!  I'm in a magazine! hehehehehe

Do you know how many times I read those stories and wished it was me..... A LOT!!! And now it is me!  And to top it all off it's the anniversary of losing my mum this week so how funny that it came out this week, a sign for sure as far as I'm concerned!

So I plan on writing to them when I hit goal with an update but until then my story will stand as it is right?!

If you want to check the article out it's Australian Shape magazine (it's new this year to Oz only the third issue), and I'm on page 20.  The bastardised a couple of my comments and a couple of minor errors but overall the spirit and idea is correct! :D

Off to training tonight where I'm sure my trainer will be grinning from ear to ear and probably have some new kind of torture waiting for me! hehehehehhehe

Mountain Bread Lasagne

So I survived my bootcamp session last night!  And surprisingly I didn't keel over or find I'd lost all my fitness overnight! hehehehe Yes I know it's silly it goes along with that irrational fear that one block of chocolate will mean I wake 43kg heavier again in one day *sigh*, I've never lost this much weight before, it definitely takes some getting used to! ;).  My trainer has been hammering home about rest being just as important and well I was hearing him, I just wasn't "HEARING" him!  We did have a little chat, because he keeps telling me to stop being so hard on myself, I had a real big think about this and last night told him, that the reason I am, is because the last time I wasn't hard on myself I was 130kg!  But this journey has a lot of lessons in it, and I see a lot of people struggling at maintenance, so I'm happy for these things to happen along the way so I can get a grip on them now!  So Thursday I'll be doing a double session but today and the weekend he informs me I am to take it easy!  So basically I'm just doing as I'm told! 

A few weeks ago, someone posted the link to a PDF with recipes using Mountain Bread.  I'll have to search again for the link, in the meantime I've raved about my Mountain Bread Lasagne, which is based on the recipe in the booklet, but I made some calorie saving changes particularly to the white sauce.  What I love is that it's so yummy comforting winter food, and I feel I'm being naughty when in fact I'm doing something really yummy for myself all around 400 cals a serve.  I've had requests for the recipe so here's my version, bare in mind you can do this with any recipe, I always add loads of extra veg to things and substitute, low salt, low fat versions of ingredients to get yummy food, but less calories.

Sick...

So here I am almost better, a week and a half ago my trainer told me to take a couple of days off in a row...

I was already getting sick it wasn't enough to stop it, so a few days off work, loads of sleep in's and no exercise at all and while lots of fluids but not nearly enough water, (unless all the water in my Jarrah's does in fact count), I'm back off to training tonight, half excited to get back into it, half terrified that in a week and a half of nothing I've lost all my fitness! Eeek!

That's all really not too much to say when all you've done is spend time in bed, on the lounge or chucking away snotty tissues!

Hope you are all well and firing on all cylinders.

Here's a link to today's Craig Harper's blog, it's a great one for those people you know who claim they don't eat alot or they eat really healthy!

http://www.craigharper.com.au/exercise-weight-loss/incidental-eating-the-food-we-eat-when-we%e2%80%99re-not-eating/

Make your life a mission, not an intermission...

There's an amazing thing that happens when you open up your life to change... even in struggle, the universe continues to send us signs, or even things and people we need.  The trick is in seeing them and making them count.

For me the other day it was the quote on training and applying how you train to life.

Today it was an article in the new Oxygen magazine, by Jennifer Atkins on embracing change....

This is my favourite paragraph:

"Something magical happens when we accept responsibility for our behaviour and our results.  This isn't easy because it's human nature to 'pass the buck.'  I know there have been times in my life when I was struggling to accept my circumstances where I found myself blaming others, blaming this, blaming that.  Now, when things go wrong in my business or personal life I can always find the culprit in the mirror.  In every instance, it's the choices I've made in my life that have put me exactly where I am today.  This one tweak in attitude may sound like a little thing, but it has made a big difference in my life.  

One of the most important things you can do in times of change is to understand that taking responsibility and recognising problems as a challenge or opportunity will help you grow and fulfil your true potential.  Do you know how remarkable you really are?"

It's that old cliche, when one door closes another one opens.... for years I  blamed everything and everyone else and even myself about my weight, I was lazy, it was too hard, I just liked chocolate too much.  I don't know what it was that changed but something clicked in me last year and I took the first steps to taking and accepting responsibility for me actions and choices, and this acceptance has led me here many kilos lighter, fitter than I've ever been.  

Now when I see articles and comments like the one above instead of pfiffing it and thinking sounds nice but it's all too hard I see them as green lights that are screaming... 'right on track,' and 'heading in the right direction'... sometimes it's uncomfortable and it hurts, but boy the growth and change and excitement and wonder has all been so worth it!

Remember:

"No one is in control of your happiness but you.  Therefore, you have the power to change anything about yourself or your life that you want to change."  Barbara DeAngelis

Friday ramblings....

Well where to begin...

Bootcamp

My bootcamp has officially cancelled my morning sessions until spring, or you know until they have enough numbers and a trainer to run them again.  I have a choice of an earlier morning session a couple of suburbs away, an evening class nearby or an evening class a half hour or so away that my current trainer runs.

So naturally I want to stay with my trainer we have a good system going and I trust him AND he knows where I am at, I don't have to explain anything to him, he knows when and how to push harder and he knows when to ease up and he calls me out if I'm shitting myself and tells me to settle down when I'm being too hard on myself (which he tells me I am often - which I didn't actual realise I was doing - but it's hard to let go of the reigns a little because the last time I stopped being hard on myself I was 130kg suddenly!). 

Post this on your fridge.....

I found this quote in a health magazine, when I was having a little coffee break at Gloria Jeans yesterday.... it really hit home with me at the moment as I have a lot of things changing in my life and it's thrown me a little, not because I'm opposed to change, just that when suddenly everything seems to be changing at once, you want it to slow down for a second so you can grasp it.  Anyway I'd been feeling sorry for myself and then saw this quote and it really hit me like a bullseye!

"How you train is how you tackle life.  Don't avoid discomfort; deal with it head-on to get stronger.  Learn how to work out with passion and that fire will carry over into everything you do."

Happy Thursday folks!