May the 15th 2016

I've just come home from the gym. I must admit I've become rather dedicated to going which I think is a nice way of saying obsessed!

Today marked my last day of the first 4 weeks of exercises. Eloise and I are doing the DIY plan of the 12 week body challenge at our local gym. There are 3 tiers to the program and we are doing the one where we get the exercises sent to us, plus guides for food plans and exercises. We're also part of the challenge page on facebook and a 'tribe' which is run by some lovely girls who look after those of us who aren't doing the personal training or any extras. We do things such as send our photos in to them, of us at the gym, of what we're eating, of who or what is our inspiration. I'm probably a bit of a pain in the bum as I check in most times I'm at the gym and send lots of photos!

So far what I've gotten out of my challenge is that I can actually do nearly everything! Not to the level that many others can do things, certainly not as graceful as others, but I can (almost) keep up and I'm determined to give it all a go. All three days are circuit types of activities. I go an average of 5 times a week now. I used to be stuffed if I did both Saturday and Sunday. Now, if there's a class on that I fancy I will go to that and still make sure that I get my 3 days of the program in too. I must say I am a bit ocd about it all. I hadn't done day 3 yet of the week 4. I did go to a body blitz class on Wednesday and I went yesterday without Eloise and did my old routine. So I squeezed it in today. The old me would have said that I had done plenty to make up for it, but I feel as though I have to do the required exercises set for me and each week I have.

The staff are so lovely. Both of the ladies who take the classes that I've done have been very patient and not yelly at all which I really appreciate. I'm definitely going to do the body blitz one again, also the hiit cardio one that I did the week before. I realise that both are similar to the days we are doing on the challenge. They are circuits, usually 5 or 6 exercises all up of short but intense bursts. I must admit I put my name down because they are only half an hour and for me that is manageable. I can see that eventually I will allow myself to believe that I can do more and maybe do an hour long class. But not just yet! The boys on the front desk, and the personal trainers are just lovely too, they are all so helpful.

Food wise I haven't been very good I must admit. I have been having my shakes and for the most part my snacking has been under control. Once I have something though it's as though I'm back to the old me and having a big binge, on cake and chocolate and whatever I can put my hands on. So this week I'm going shopping and being prepared. I can see that I need to have things ready so that I am able to grab something healthy rather than the treat that is in the cupboard. Also to be prepared for my dinners. What's the point of having shakes and fruit in the daytime if I undo it all at night with a meal that either doesn't have veggies or is high in carbs. The cold weather has meant that I want lots of pasta and warming things so it's time to make some healthy soups and get back to nice cuts of fish and chicken and not go for the easy options from the freezer. I feel silly but I know what I'm like, if I don't own it (publically) then I'll slip further and further up the weight ladder.

Some of you already know but I have had issues with my daughter Beth going to school lately. We've compromised at 3 days a week of school and getting geared up for her to start some sort of training program next year when she turns 18 in March. So, I've decided that she can come to gym with me once a week! She can have a session with the exercise physiologist. She has very low muscle tone and poor gross motor skills so I think it will do her the world of good. And, my inlaws are looking at starting in the seniors classes. One person at a time, I shall get my family moving!

Tomorrow is the start of the new exercises for the next 4 weeks. Wish me luck!

May the 3rd 2016

Well I'm in my third week of my 12 week body challenge at my local gym. It's a Pinnacle gym so I'm part of a facebook page for the challenge. I think I'm being a bit of a pain in the arse (not like me I know) posting whenever I'm there including photos. I think it stems back to the old me, the one who never exercised so had to announce it whenever I did.

I've gotten used to the exercises. I can do all of them. Except the assisted pull up. Here's a photo of me doing one. I don't get much further than this is! Which is nothing!

I did actually pull myself up somewhat but it absolutely killed my wrists. It's only one day in the week that we do these exercises. This morning was that day. I think next week I'll try and do them first. I also do a plank, pull ups on a barbell and a kettlebell swing in this workout which all use the arms. So maybe if I do it first it won't stress my wrists out too much. I wrote on the page asking about any alternatives and, of course, the lovely staff were more than happy to help, suggesting maybe my arms in different positions, or if I need to an alternative exercise. I really want to get over my fear and we only have one week of these ones left. I knew that would happen. I just start getting used to our workout and it goes and changes on me for the middle lot of exercises!

It's so weird that I'm really loving it. I've never liked exercise. I've been really good with my food the last couple of weeks too. Often I am one or the other. I'll be good at eating or good at exercising. I think it's because I get more hungry when I workout. I also find that if I have my shake in the morning I'm happy to have another at lunchtime. If I eat something else for breakfast then I'm scrambling around wondering what there is to eat. I've still had a couple of slip ups but they've really been planned ones. I did a course in the city on the weekend so I ate an egg and bacon wrap for lunch. But I didn't have snacks in between where I could have so I consider that a win. I think if I can be good snack wise, which is my downfall, then I'll be happy. I've gone down about half a kilo so I'm pretty happy to do it slowly and get fitter. When away for the weekend I missed going to the gym terribly! I went 4 days out of 5 last week as I knew I couldn't go on the weekend. I used to think 'great, I've been today, day off tomorrow,' now I think 'yes I can go again tomorrow,' and I do! I don't think I'll ever be fully obsessive about it all. I love my food too much. I figure though that if I can keep fit I can make the most of both worlds. I'm already done with day 2 of my 3 day workouts and it's only Tuesday! I'm feeling sensational!

Day 3 of the challenge

I feel exhausted! I just did day 3 of the 12 week challenge. It's bloody hard! I think each day concentrates on a different type of exercises. So day 1 was the legs which killed. I couldn't walk properly for days. Day 2 was arms and some of those I just couldn't do at all. For example the assisted chin up. You're standing on a bench with a big rubber band attached to a bar above you and you have to put your feet in the bottom of the rubber band and do chin ups. Once I got over my fear of falling off I kept jumping and having the rubber band fling back at me. Finally I got it and managed to move about a cm, both from lack of strength and fear! I'm going to get Eloise to film me so that I can see any progress I may make by the end! Lucky I've got her with me. She knows her exercises and she is acting as a sort of personal trainer while she does her workout too.

So... my legs were killing me after day 1. Then I did day 2 which made even more parts of me hurt. It is like when I first started at the gym, I couldn't get up (or sit down) from the toilet without it hurting and I am walking on jelly legs. And doing 3 different sets of exercises means that I'm not redoing the first lot and getting my body used to it. No, it's just hurting on top of hurting! But good hurting. I do have some stretches to do so I shall do them soon. Today being day 3 seems to be about making your chest hurt and your breath be pushed out so far that you can't barely breathe. I know that's not what they call them, I would say they are cardio type exercises, but that's how they feel. Step ups, sit ups, dead bug thingys, squats (4 x 40 seconds of most of these exercises) skipping (that's a pretty sight), inverted row thing where you pull yourself up on a bar (see photo) and something called a single leg bridge. But you know what, I bloody did them all! I'm stuffed and sweaty and sore but I feel really accomplished because I did it!

12 week body challenge

I've decided to start up my blog again. I was feeling at a bit of a loose end with the challenge being extended until July. I have come to the realisation that I will always need to be consciously aware of what I am doing. I will need to monitor what I do if I literally want to have my cake and eat it too. And that is what I want to do. I want to have the best of both worlds, in moderation. I want to be healthy for the majority of the time and incorporate exercise into every day. But I also want my occasional pizza and bacon on Sunday mornings. And for the most part I've managed to do that quite well.

The date to start the challenges has now finished. So the winners are either doing the challenge now or have done the challenge in the past year and a half. One of my fellow participants (and now good friend) Carol has joined for another challenge, even though she's already looking fabulous! She wants to lose another few kilos though. I too think that I would like to lose another few. I still want my goal to be at 75 kilos. I have given myself a 1 kilo buffer, so if I go over 76 then I have to cut out anything naughty and reign it in until I am back to 75. I'd like that to be lower though. I'd like my highest to be 75. I also want to weigh 75 no matter what time of day. I weigh in in the mornings, after a wee and whatever else I can expel, naked and not fed. If I get to the finals though, we may do weigh in in the evening after consuming 2 or 3 meals and drinks. So I need to be at the weight I want to be to get me up to 75 if you know what I mean?

The local gym that I am at advertised a 12 week challenge. It was lovely filling in the forms, saying it was more for physique than weight loss, saying that I was a little bit experienced instead of a gym virgin. They didn't use those words but I know you get what I mean! It's perfect timing as it takes me through nearly to the end of the rapid loss challenge. Instead of twiddling my thumbs and hoping the weight stays off I shall now have a plan of action to be fit and fabulous (and 50) by the end! It's extra exciting because the last day of the challenge is the 9th of July which is the day of my party to end all parties 50th. So instead of sabotaging myself (as I did at my 40th by not only putting weight on that I had lost, but getting totally shitfaced and not remembering it at all) I am improving myself and will feel great instead of embarrassed that I had let myself go yet again.

I am doing this challenge with my friend Eloise. We went on Friday to have a body scan and a photo taken. This is where I realised that I needed to weigh in at 75 later in the day. It recorded me as being 79.4 kilos! When I weighed in the next morning my scales said 77.4 so I knew I was still over what my buffer was meant to be. Probably because I had done the ridiculous thing of saying to myself I was starting a new challenge so I may as well be Miss Piggy for the week. I know it's ridiculous and no doubt a few of you are laughing too because you've done it too! Butter chicken the night before first weigh in so you can have a great loss in the first week? Yep, me too! Anyway, it also showed that the clothes and coffees and breakfast can put a couple of kilos on too. But that's ok, it's just the beginning of my 12 weeks so I'm pretty happy to have some room to move. As I plan on getting the excess weight off, and maybe a tad more, it's just a guide to what's what. It's amazing how much detail it gives, from the muscle and fat distribution to the circumference of all the body parts. The trunk includes the boobs so I'm telling myself that's why mine is so high! Here is  my first scan. We do another at the end for comparison.

I am a creature of habit and one of the things I like about the gym is that now I know all the things I do. I can increase them as I see fit, and I do often, I know the staff and a few other members and I am confident that I can do all the exercises. This morning I was shitting myself with all the new exercises! I had a list of them to do with names like dead bug and kb goblet squat. I had no idea what any of them meant, just that they sounded scary. When we did them though it really wasn't that bad. I am stuffed, don't get me wrong. But broken down there were basically 6 different exercises, 10 of each x 3. So we did a circuit. Mine was a bit more modified than Eloise's. She's 27 this year and loves to exercise. I'm 50 this year and don't! So with things such as the back lunge she had weights in both hands and I leaned a hand on the bench to stop myself from falling over. In pushups (something I've never really done) she went down quite far, I went down a couple of cms I think!  Still, I did what I could and I'm happy that I did. Lots of room  for improvement. Another friend of ours, Anne, was there too so she joined us for a few of them. And I still added in my rowing, a few minutes on the treadmill and the crosstrainer. Not bad for somebody who just joined the gym in November! Instead of walking home Eloise gave me a lift because my legs were so wobbly!

I think we're going back tomorrow. It's pretty achievable. There are exercises for 3 days a week so if I want to do my other workout I can go on other days and do that too. So I'm back on track and feeling better about it all. I am even considering doing some sort of work in the weight loss industry so deciding what to do next in my study. Some sort of motivational coaching for older women would be right up my alley! Here's a photo of my gorgeous friend Eloise and I.

Update

ok so the update is that the Rapid Challenge has been extended until July now. While this was disappointing that we won't find out about Fiji until then, the exciting thing is that there was 6 of us who received $1000 for our effort so far in losing the weight and keeping it off! So I know that I've done well and been noticed!

I went shopping with my gorgeous friend Jess today. She has good taste in clothes and has gotten me addicted to Dangerfield. It's rather expensive so she took me to their clearance warehouse today. Here's what I bought! I don't normally buy designer clothes but I love their styles so much. I got all of these for $180 including some pyjamas for my oldest daughter, a bag, some knickers for her and a makeup bag with a Herman Munster print!

Links

ok I know that I said last week was my last post but I wanted to share the link to my slideshow and really crappy song that I'm singing! The song itself is quite good, it's just my singing that is questionable. Sung to a karaoke version of The Longest Time, I did like the wo oh oh oh's in the background! I was originally changing the words to Hey Jude but that sounded even more woeful than this one! I saved it to dropbox because I had no idea how else to share it and my mammoth slideshow. I even called tech support and they advised me to do it that way.

So here goes, hope you can see/hear my attempts at it anyway! 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/f7eqia8jfnmyo71/2016-02-10-15_22_02.ogg?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/lq1010wmki7yckf/power%20point%20presentation.odp?dl=0

Goal!

I'm pretty stoked. I reached goal a few days ago, then wavered up and down a little and finally hit goal 2 days in a row. I have been doing a little slideshow to send to Rapid Loss of all my photos and realised that I haven't done any in ages. As my weight hasn't changed that much since the last I didn't think there'd be much difference but because I've been going to the gym so often I think there really is. Bridie even said that my tummy looked really toned. So I'll put my very first photo, my last one taken and the ones taken today.

So now I'm 75 kilos. 30 kilos down. I am so happy at this weight. I don't want to get any thinner really because I just can't maintain it. So I shall put a before and after shot on here, side and front, and then I'm done! If I here anything about the competition I'll write it on here, and if not, I've won anyway. I feel fabulous, I have a whole new lease on life now. Thanks so much everybody for reading and cheering me on, it really has meant the world to me. Having so much support has not only been fantastic for my ego but it's egged me on to complete what I started a year ago. And hopefully has shown people that despite many odds, and many kilos to lose, that it can be done. I love youse all!