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 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!

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

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!

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!

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!

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!

A busy week, and more PB's....

So let's see it's been a pretty good week.  I had my Hypoxi sessions, Monday, Wednesday and Friday this week, I get there early and try to do a 25-30 min run (Friday I only got 10 minutes but went hard keeping it over 9km/hr and getting a few minutes in at 10km/hr (I can't run at speed for long periods of time but it's all about building up right?!).  Also the skirt thing they put on you comes in different sizes (which I did not realise) and I went down a skirt thing already, today is my 6th session the half way point I think I get measurements done on Wednesday before the start of the 7th session to see how I'm travelling.

Write a book????

Hidee hoedy.... I'm still here training away, I had boot camp on Saturday followed by Hypoxi again, (yes Saturday boot camp is at Balmoral beach just at the bottom of Awaba St, come and find me and say hi, I don't think my trainers would mind people coming by it's $25 for the session!).

Sunday complete rest day it feels a bit weird to not do anything but last week and the next 3 weeks are flat out so I knew it was important to take the rest. 

Monday I put on my work pants, and was very surprised to find them already looser, so I'm completely fascinated now to see my results at the end of this four weeks with Hypoxi, coupled with my trainer telling me that the snow will also make me drop some weight (just walking to the ski lifts is an effort apparently! :D), and then my Dexa scan I'm excited to see what the next few weeks hold, and how far away from goal I'll actually be.

So the funniest thing at the moment is a bunch of people telling me I should write a book! bahahahahahah funny right?  Apparently my story is not snoozable to all around me... just me hehehehehehe, Trainer Nate is already brainstorming names for it! Wanna hear something even funnier.... last night I wrote the dedication in my head.... hehehehehehe.

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. 

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

Another 6 weeks and a New PB!

Wowzers can you believe it's been six weeks again already!?

We tested again this morning and boy am I over the moon with my beep test. 

Here are my results:

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

Beep test: 7.3 --------------- 10.1
Pushups one minute: 45----- 47
Wall sit: 174 secs ----------- 181
Plank: 181 secs ------------- 187
Flexibility: 14 --------------- 16

Back to the 80's!!

Another major milestone!  Not only have I cracked my 40kg mark I've weighed in this morning at 88.8kg!  So not only have I hit the 80's I've truly crashed into them!  No eeking in at 89.9kg (which would still have been just as exciting!) but smash bang, 888.... hahahahha suppose I should be grateful it's not 666 then again! LOL  Measurements are coming along swimmingly very close to being out of triple figures on bust and hips!  Not long now, NOW that will be weird! :D 

So this is an exciting occasion for me, it's been well and truly over 15 years since I've been this light.  So it's weird, exciting and wonderful all at the same time!