Food Planning for the Unexpected...

We all know that planning is a great tool when embarking on a healthy lifestyle, it helps us to keep on track, and can help make doing all those things we are supposed to do a little easier.  It's when we get tired, don't plan or find life getting in the way that our planning can fall away and sometimes we do to. 

But there are things we can plan for, for when our plans fail us.  That's a mouthful or an oxymoron, but it's true, we can be prepared for the unexpected.  A little research can turn a nightmare situation into an opportunity to enjoy ourselves but not ruin our efforts.

There's a lot of too and for arguements against fast food and "healthy" fast food options as to whether they really are the better options, all I can say is do a little research for yourself, have a stock pile of options that YOU know will work for you and your goals so when you find yourself with no other choice, well we all know that in reality there is always a choice! ;)  These still might be considered as sometimes foods in Elmo's world, and yours, but you don't have to pick the greasiest, fattiest sometimes food, that leaves you feeling like crap or worse still hungry afterwards!

Pain pain go away....

Wowzers I completely forgot how smashed you can get doing weights.  Trainer Nate came over for a one on one and showed me and my two kitty cats how to knock myself for six almost.  Hehehehe they were pretty confused to see a strange man in the house but Buffy can't help herself if it means getting her ears or belly rubbed.  For the most part the stayed out of the way a few runs back to the exercise room from the balcony they were used as obstacles, all a part of the process!  Anyway, some skipping and a variety of compound exercises with considerably heavy weights for me!  And some nasty nasty lunges with 20 kg weights, that I was supposed to bicep curl on the way up but physically couldn't! hehehehe followed by man push ups!  Damn!  I laughed at him and said I will try and then did them.  I still need to work on optimal depth he said that will come as I get stronger.

This session was then followed by boot camp the next morning (yesterday) more leg bashing with step ups and squat jumps onto the platform we had been using for step ups and more skipping!  Arrrgggg I hate it but love it because I know it's good for me hehehehe.

Today I just did a lazy jog, and ONLY because I knew moving was going to help my shoulders and bum more than not doing anything.... they are soooo sore today.  I texted my trainer that I hated him, he thinks it's funny!

Maybe he won't find it so funny tomorrow when I have the boxing gloves on and "accidently" punch him in the nose tee hee hee!

Ahhh soreness is one of those other things we love and hate, we love to feel it because we know it means we worked out tooshies off!  But then we want it to go away because ... well you know ... it hurts! :D

Back to Trainer Christian next week ahhhhh I really am a glutton for punishment aren't I!?

Live Life Love...

There was a question on the Calorie King Forums over the weekend, a young girl nervous about going to Melbourne to visit her family, worried she may succumb to unhealthy food choices and no exercise. 

The consensus was that she should go, use the time to put into practice the lessons she's learnt, use the free family babysitting as an opportunity to get out and exercise.

Then there was devil's advocate who stated if she was that worried she should not go until she had reached her goal.  This struck a nerve with me and let me tell you why....

As a chronic, (ex) yo-yo dieter I have spent the majority of my life putting stuff off, or dreaming about how great my life will be when I reach my goal.  I've spent years not going on family vacations to the snow, no longer horse riding, avoiding dating, among many other things hiding myself away from the world. 

Here's the thing, firstly your life will likely be very similar when you reach goal, but you will be lighter and healthier.  Here's the kicker losing weight won't make your problems go away, BUT developing a more positive outlook on life will likely make these things easier to deal with, they WILL likely still be there though.  I say this because I've seen quite a few people lose weight only to put it back on because their problems didn't disappear with their weight, or their life didn't change into a perfect fairytale. 

Elmo Says...

I know it might seem odd, but I was listening to my morning radio show in the car one morning and they were interviewing Elmo... you know from Sesame Street.  It was something to do with encouraging kids to eat healthy all the like.  He said in his squeaky little voice Elmo says Cookies are a sometimes food and Apples are an everyday food.  It really hit a chord with me.  It was then I made the decision (and yes it is a choice and a decision) to stop viewing food as good or bad, or naughty and boring all those connotations that send us spinning into that All or Nothing Attitude if we have the bad or naughty food. 

A healthy diet is about balance.  Sometimes this balance has to be learnt, but their is no denying that if you completely deny yourself you are likely to return to old habits quickly and efficiently.  Now a days I don't feel bad if I have my cake and eat it too, I just don't have it every day.  I'm mindful when I eat it, and I stop when I am full because I know I can have some again another time if I want to.

I've quickly discovered that the longer you eat well, and eat enough the more of everyday foods you want.  Recently I thought I felt like some KFC so off I went and had some and when I was finished I thought... is that it?  The joy and pleasure I thought I used to get out of it, was gone, the shine and polish rubbed away, I'd much prefer a nice mango and some yoghurt or a yummy steak with a pile of salad.  Sometimes I'm not sure who this new me is but I like her!  She's much more enjoyable to be around.

See if Elmo says it simply enough for kids to grasp why is the concept not good enough for us adults?  I've decided it's simple enough for me...  what about you?

Boxing and Rowing

So I guess I kinda need to explain something about the two amazing people I call my sisters.  They aren't actually blood related.  After my mum died and my brother stuck his head up his arse and moved away without telling me where he, his wife and my niece where moving too, my girlfriends adopted me into their family.  Now they are sisters, well half sisters if you want to get technical, they lost their mum when younger sister (only by a few months) and I were at school together.  The same year my mum died they both unexpectedly lost their dads, so you can probably see why we bonded so strongly t'was a hard year for us all.  But aside from that Wendy (younger sis) had developed her own relationship with my mother, so for her it was like losing another mum, but I have to tell you she has been a god-send an absolute rock and has seen me through my darkest hours.

Last night I told her how lately I'd been thinking back to last April when we had a conversation about wanting to lose weight and how we'd all started doing something but hadn't really told anyone or each other (for me it was a well if I don't tell anyone and I don't succeed I've no one to let down).  But Wendy got very much into we NEED to tell each other, we NEED to talk to and support each other, we NEED to be accountable to each other, and thus it began.  I really feel like that conversation kinda well..... you know, helped save my life.... soppy much I know, but true nonetheless.

I've seen my excuses, now what? (How to get over yourself)...

Make sure you've read Excuses, Excuses, Excuses first, as this is like a part 2'er!

So I've been having a little think about my excuses post and I suppose the next logical question would be once you've identified them, how do you put not accepting them into practice. I've had a long hard think about this especially as reading the forum can drive you a little insane with excuse after excuse after excuse just falling out from people. There's a mirad of strategies you can employ different ones work for different people you may have to try one or two before you find the one that hits home for you, but you know what the first thing is that you have to do.... the thing I realised I had to do.... you have to GET OVER YOURSELF. Get out of your own way, stop humming and ahhhing and thinking about all the reasons you have for not doing it or for not succeeding before, get off your arse and just DO IT! Nike were not stupid when they took this up for a slogan.

It may sound harsh but it's really true you have to get over yourself before you can make any steps in moving forward. I realised one day I was just over it, I was sick and tired of being fat, it was making me miserable it wasn't helping reach any of my goals, it certainly wasn't helping me meet someone to share my life with but what it was doing was leading me straight into an early grave or a reality TV show on how one day I woke up and couldn't get out of bed!

I guess you have to find that part of you that wants to be healthy much more than being fat, much more than that momentary feeling of pleasure or comfort that food gives you, you have to find those feelings from somewhere else.

Excuses, Excuses, Excuses...

This was a guest blog over at That's Just How I Roll, I've left Jess' comments in because her comments and examples further illustrate my points! :D

Excuses, excuses, excuses.... it took me a long time to realise what mine were, now I see them everywhere in a lot of other people and I get frustrated… oops, I think I’m supposed to be more compassionate! But truly you can only lead a horse to water you can't make it drink... so cliché I know but SO TRUE. A lot of people are so caught up in the next quickest fix they can find, they really don’t want to HEAR the reality of the situation, you just seriously want to shake them up and say if you put half the effort into eating well and exercising than you did in researching and trying to take a crack at the latest fad thing you'd be closer to your goal than you are ever going to be!

Why are we so full of ourselves when it comes to these things, human nature, protection, emotional safety, ignorance, I don't know for sure... I think for me it was a mixture of all of them yet I don’t think I was ignorant I had the knowledge I just didn’t use it. I just know that since I have taken responsibility for my own excuses, it annoys me to see others covered in them. Like a reformed smoker, I guess in part I’m a reformed ex–dieter. What is that thing they say when you have that feeling about a new person you meet that you don't like them, it's usually that you see something in them that you don't like about yourself.... philosophical much?

One Year Anniversary Goals - 4 weeks to go

The 12th April is my one year anniversary since embarking on this journey. From today that's exactly four weeks.  So I am embarking on a personal challenge, there are some things I want to attempt to achieve by then.  I'll be realistic, but anything on top of that is gravy.... or some non food item hehehe.

So I'll ramp up my exercise, I did this just before Christmas, even though I gave myself the day off on Christmas Day I increased my exercise to help get me a step ahead.  I only work that hard for short periods of time, because this is a lifestyle and both exercise and food have to be sustainable for the long term.  Training too hard for too long can cause, burnout and injuries, so I focus on a short sustainable burst, after which I'll have a recovery period and then get back into a more regular training mode.

So my aim is to get as close to a 40 kg loss as possible currently I'm at 36.9 kg.  Now 3.1 kg in four weeks is doable, but I'm also at a stage where anything could happen, I could plateau or my body could just refuse to co-operate or it could just slow right down.  So I will have to see how it goes, I refuse to be hard on myself for simply trying. 

My first pit stop is 37.5 kg's lost that will mean I have a BMI in the overweight range rather than the obese range.  Seeing I started out in the morbidly obese category this will be quite a nice pit stop to make.

What comes on top of that will be a super bonus.

So be sure to check in and see how I am doing, I'll be reporting progress along the way.

The Jeans and Tank top Milestone...

Another post today to celebrate another small milestone.  One of the things I always wanted to be able to do when heavier was to wear that tank/t-shirt and jeans combo and look half way decent.  Today I decided to wear my new size 12 jeans and while deciding on a top I yanked out a tank and popped it on, pleased with the effect I later topped it with a short sleeved cardy and out I went!

It's been quite important for me to take photos along this journey, it's only recently that the picture in my head of how I look is starting to match how I actually look in photos.  This has been quite out of sync for some time.

I look forward to getting more involved with weights as I feel the need to really get some areas much more toned! ;)

I also have suspected that my bra size was changing, and so I went and tried on a couple of smaller sizes and low and behold my suspicions were correct!  So I picked up a couple more sports bras in the smaller sizes, because it's important to keep the girls in tight when running and the like! hehehehehe

Personal Best's (PB's)

Last month I found this running group called Westie's Joggers, let me tell you they are a super lovely bunch of folks.  They do a variety of runs, once a month they have a 10km and a 3.4km.  These runs are handicapped, meaning the faster runners are timed to go later so that everyone finishes around a similar time.  You can walk the 3.4km too, a bunch of ladies head off and do it together it's very sweet!

So I decided to go try it out last month because I was looking for a 3kish run to practice running the whole way.  Your time gets recorded so it's great to keep track of and they give your your real time minus the handicap as well.  Last month my aim was to run the whole 3.4km course irrespective of the time, which I achieved.  My time was 25:52, which I was pretty pleased with anyway.  Seeing I met my aim of running the entire course, I had to set a new goal, I wanted to better my time, based on some of my running since then I was simply aiming to get it under 25 minutes, although any time betterment (hehehehehe is that a word) would be acceptable.  

Imagine my surprise when I blew my time completely out of the water by over 2 minutes, finishing today in 23:31.  This had the handicapper telling me my handicap would be increased next month, this seemed to upset some people, but frankly I don't care when I start it's about when I finish! :D 

So what do I set for next month?  I think I'll keep it pretty realistic, it's unlikely I can keep doing that big a drop every time, so the aim will be to get it under 23 mins.  What's your goal for the next month?

New training goal and size 12 jeans

So for those of you who have just joined my blog, I probably need to bring you up to speed with what happened to me at the beginning of the year.  Well it actually started last year, around November my boot camp started asking people to submit their stories for how boot camp had helped them achieve their goals.  At the time I'd lost about 25kg so I thought gotta be in to win it.  Initially they were offering the prize of a beauty voucher, but they soon added free membership for the year and a trophy.  My first week back to boot camp, a strange man showed up at my session with a trophy and I was awarded Boot Camper of the Year.  It was very exciting mostly because I felt the prize of free training for the year to be a HUGE BONUS!

So anyway I promised my sister that if I won I would make a date to come once a month and train with her and her trainer, Trainer Christian, he is a HARD ARSE!  hehehehehe but somehow in a manage in the depths of feeling like I'm going to die to be able to do things I didn't know I could do and it makes me push myself in my other training.  So Tuesday was the second month but Trainer Christian was away we had sweet Ms Jo, that cow was a wolf in sheeps clothing, all nice and sweet but kicking our arses just the same!  These monthly jaunts mean I have to double up.  Because they are on a Tuesday I train in the morning and then the evening.  I choose to do this because it really shakes up my routine and means one week a month I'm going extra hard.  But I have my one year anniversary coming up on April 12th, so I've decided to push a little harder for the next four weeks to maximise try to maximise my weightloss in that time.  I'd like to get as close to 40kg's lost as possible.  I don't want to further calorie restrict so I chose to kick up my exercise routine.  In doing this I'm back to my sister's next week to see Trainer Christian, I didn't think it was fair he'd missed his session with me! ;)

Why diets don't work...

Food.... mmmmm.  Just gotta love it!  I'll let you in on a little secret, DIETS DON'T WORK!  There whew I got it out, I know this because I've been dieting for years and managed to reach 130 kg not really a great testimonial! 

I mean well here's the thing, they do work.... in the short-term, and then we go "off" them and we put the weight we have lost back on and usually more.  Here's the thing Diet usually equals Deprivation, either through calorie restriction, food group restriction of some sort, or just deprivation in general, this often plays havoc with both our body and our minds.  Isn't it interesting that the the multi billion dollar diet industry is mostly a farce, it's set up so that you will fail and you will go back time and time again and spend more money! 

Exercise

When I first started this journey, I started slow.  I've done exercise before but you try lugging round 130 kg's it's hard friggin work! :D

A lot people complain that they don't have time for exercise, but if you have time to watch more than an hour of TV each night then you have time!  My excuse was that I was just lazy!  Do you know that if you tell yourself something often enough you'll believe it!  Even if it isn't true.  I knew though that if I tried to go hard 6 times a week I probably wouldn't even make it through the first week.  So started slow.

I bought one of those vibration machines, you know they basically do the work for you all you have to do is stand or sit on them.  They feel like a massage.  Ten minutes a day you didn't even need to put on work out gear or sneakers, pyjamas and slippers worked just as well.  After a week I felt a bit better about myself, on the way to the car at work there's escalators, with stairs in the middle.  I started with those.  Just walk up those stairs instead of taking the escalator, do it each evening for a week.  So I did.  Look at me go I thought, the next week I did those stairs and in the carpark I got out of the lift one flight earlier and walked those stairs, so it took me 5 weeks to get to all the stairs and even to today I still walk those stairs, at the time it was the beginning of exercise for me, today it's called Incidental Exercise and it's just as important as any other exercise you do, like food, every little bit counts!

Bringing you up to speed...

So here we are, it's been 11 months, and over 35 kg's later we are making some great progress.  Only 0.6 of a BMI point to move out of obese and into overweight.  I don't put my stock completely into individual figures BMI can have fundamental flaws as it doesn't take into account muscle composition, still it's one tool to use amongst others at least for progress comparison.

Click the picture to see the larger version and compare the stats.

It's interesting to look at before photos, for me it's the fundamental look of saddness I see.  Compared to the later pictures, my friends and colleagues tell me I have quite a glow about me these days, and even I notice I smile MUCH more.

I still have another 20 kg's I'd like to lose, so if you'd like to hear about what I've been doing and what I'm going to do, please follow along!

Here's the latest first to last comparison shot, I'll look at doing these every 6 to 8 weeks.

Back to the Beginning...

It's important to start somewhere right?  So the beginning has to be as good a place as any.

This was me, Christmas 2008 and March 2009. 

I still get a little shock when I look at them.  Anyone who has known me looks at these pictures and tells me I didn't see you that big, or I didn't realise you had gotten that big.  So I continue to push these out there because you know what I WAS that big, and if god forbid I start to regress I'm counting on my friends to pull me back into line.  I need them to remember and I need to remember that this was a reality for me, one I was almost willing to accept, and I don't ever want to have to go back there.

So let's do some measurements for comparison.

Height: 176cm

Weight: 130 kg

Chest: 127 cm

Waist: 123 cm

Hips: 144 cm

Thigh: 69 cm

BMI: 42.0 - Morbidly Obese

Next post I will do a series of progress shots and measurements to date.