Smiley Face

Much better things to report this week. Have been so focussed this week and feel like I’ve achieved a lot. But first up I’m delighted to announce a loss of 700g this week and this takes me to Goal No. 3 – 10 per cent of my original weight gone ta tas.

Review of the week

Alcohol – none
Points – bang on and finished the week with a couple up my sleeve
Tracking – rigidly
Gym – 3 days
Walk – 3 days
C25K – completed Week 5
Steps – a whopping 82,700 which averages out to 11,800 a day
Water – 2 litres every day

So need less to say I’m feeling very pleased with myself. Even although I hadn’t lost much over the last couple of weeks I can see a difference in my shape – obviously all this extra exercise is starting to tone me up a bit. And so here’s a photo showing how I’m going.


Friday was a major day for me – in the C25K I ran for 20 minutes. Now to some of you this will be no big deal. But I was a chubby child and teenager and not much into sports (read not at all!!) and have never been able to run for any distance or length of time. So to be able to run (translates to jog - quite a slow one) is for me absolutely mind blowing and to keep on running for 20 minutes is just amazing. I was on such a high for the rest of the day – had to bore the pants off everybody telling them all about it.

Haven’t heard any further news from my hairdresser other than a reply to my SMS asking me to send my email address so she can bring me up to date. I believe that she’s not up to direct conversations yet and so is happier with SMS or email. And on the subject of hair – here’s a shot of a ‘mature blonde bimbo’!!! We were heading out to dinner with some friends on Friday night and Bloss commented that I looked pretty spiffy so I said ‘Right take a picture so I can show the girls!” (That’s you lot!)


Got an SMS on the way to work this morning from No 1 son telling me to check the front page of our local paper. This is what I found :


This is Josh our eldest grandson taken at Little Athletics as he was competing in the long jump - you won't see it but he has the tip of his tongue out - and I'm afraid that's a trait inherited from Granny - always do that when I'm concentrating hard!

Well that's my news for the week. Plan for this week is to keep that focus on and see how much more I can get shot of before we go on holiday. I'll have two more weigh ins - one next Monday and then will do one on the Sunday morning before we leave but I'm not going to be able to post that as we'll be leaving for the airport at 5.45am so can't see an opportunity to whip up a post before we go. What I might do is give you an update and my weight status on the Saturday.

Hope you are all having a good week.

Rework

Well a disappointing result this week – a gain of 200g. My weight has been jumping up and down a fair bit this week but this morning it was up! As anyone who works with me knows I hate rework – it just seems such a waste and here I am having to lose the same weight twice!! Actually I think it’s just a fluid fluctuation as overall I’ve been pretty good this week but nonetheless I’m taking it as a bit of a wake up call. I’m still doing all the right things but probably not quite as thoroughly. I remember saying to my Mum many years ago that you always could tell when I was really focussed on weightloss as my scales would be sitting on the kitchen bench – not in the cupboard. Methinks it’s time to get the scales out on to the bench and just do a bit of a reality check on weights. It’s amazing how your judgement extends over time. Reviewing the week : Alcohol – none Points – good but not great Track – good during the week but slacker on the weekend Steps – 67,500 – averaging about 9,600 a day so that was really good Walk – 2 days C25K – 3 days – Wk 3 for 1 day and Wk 4 for 2 days (see the story below) Gym – 3 days Water – good during the week but not enough on the weekend So already I can see some areas for improvement. But I must say that my exercise has been good and I feel fantastic because of that. I’m really enjoying C25K and had an interesting thing happen last week. As I said last week I planned to repeat Wk 3 due to the fact that I’d been ill the previous week and only done 1 day. So Monday morning I did Wk3. Wednesday morning I slept in by half an hour but really wanted to run so shot out of bed, pulled on my clothes, downstairs, let out Zanna who was doing donuts round my feet, and I’m trying to find the track for Wk 3 on my MP3 player (bearing in mind that it’s half dark in the carport and my arms aren’t long enough these days). Anyway set off and discover once I’m going that I’ve got Wk4 and since it’s 5am and pitch dark on the track I’ve no hope of changing it so I just carried on. Wk 3 has two 1.5min and two 3min runs…..Wk 4 has two 3min and two 5 min runs …. a major increase!!! But I did it and then did Wk 4 again on Friday. I felt really quite comfortable on Friday so have progressed to Wk 5 today – three 5 min runs and still feeling good. Have been working hard at the gym and finish up with 15mins on the cross trainer each time which I think has been really helping with my running. So on the exercise/fitness front I’m doing quite well I think. Went to the hairdresser on Saturday and have gone blonder again. I haven’t had my camera all weekend as I had lent it to a friend otherwise I might have included a photo. Promise I’ll try to do one soon. Had some bad news about my regular hairdresser. I’ve been going to her for about 8 years so she feels like family (she’s only a year older than No 1 son). I’ve been going to her from when she first married, had a daughter (5 1/2), marriage broke up, met lovely new man, remarried, had a son (2), bought her own salon, then two years ago was diagnosed with bowel cancer so went through the whole round of chemo and got the all clear at the end of it. Anyway last week they discovered a secondary cancer on her liver. This has been further complicated by the fact that she was newly pregnant and the hormone changes were causing the cancer to grow much faster so she has had to have a termination so that they can do further tests and start her on some treatment. All this and she is only 30. Sometimes you think that life just isn’t fair – why on earth should all this happen to her – a wonderful bubbly caring person. Makes you do a bit of reassessing of your own life and what your priorities are – 200g gain seems pretty small fry !!! On a completely different note – have seen this young woman at the gym – I’m guessing she’s around 30. She’s very pretty with beautiful auburn hair with blonde foils (a la Nanette) works incredibly hard and has a beautiful toned body – probably weighs around 55kg. You know the kind of person you look at and think she’s never had a weight problem. Anyway yesterday morning we got chatting and she was telling me she was doing this 12 week Body Blitz campaign which involved lots of gym work and a very specialised eating plan (and she reckoned she was very close to being ‘over it’). But she then went on to tell me that she had been on a weight loss plan for the last 12 months and had lost 35kgs!!!! I was telling Bloss and said that it just confirms that you can never judge at face value – everyone has a story of some sort. OK guys and gals I’m off to tighten my belt (actually I have already been able to tighten it a notch) as far as points and tracking are concerned. Hope I can report better things next week. Have a great week everyone.

Wacky week

This week has been kind of all over the place. I’ve had some sort of gastro virus which keeps hanging around. Started last Sunday with a bit of a funny rumbly kind of tummy, worked up to V and D by Wednesday then settled back to being rumbly and the odd quick visit to the loo and it’s still a bit like that today. This has meant that my exercise became non existent for a couple of days and my food intake has been up and down depending on how the tummy was behaving. But the good news is that I still managed a 500g loss. Reviewing the week Alcohol – none Points – probably OK – some days low and other days a bit higher Tracking – forget that – felt too sorry for myself Walks – two Gym – none – hoping to get back t here tonight C25K – managed one day of Wk 3 so started Wk 3 again this morning Water – not as good as I usually am Steps – about 33,000 but between having a day off sick and generally not exercising, I didn’t have my pedometer on for most of the week. I had a bit of a try on session this week – you know when you dig out your smaller clothes and see if they fit yet. And the big surprise I got was that they did – hadn’t realised I was back down to that size. So I’ve been mentally planning what I’m going to take to Hong Kong with me – it’s so much more fun when you’ve got lots to choose from. Have also been replanning our longer holiday to the US later this year. We were going with friends but their plans have changed and although we may meet up with them for a few days essentially we’ll be going on our own – which doesn’t worry me at all. Bloss and I holiday really well together - he submits to a bit of what I like, I tag along to anything that particularly interests him and the rest of the time we’re in perfect alignment - just having a ball! We're both 'people persons' so get a lot of pleasure meeting and talking to the local people, other travellers, in fact just about anybody! Now that we’re going on our own we’ve revamped and extended the itinerary – currently it looks like Brisbane to San Francisco for 6 nights, Las Vegas for 8 nights, Los Alamos (to see Bloss’s No 2 son, wife and our 2 grandsons) between 5 and 6 nights (will probably have to overnight in Albuquerque for one night), then 3 nights in Cancun, Mexico then 4 nights in Havana, Cuba, then Mexico City for 2 nights, Los Angeles for a couple of nights then home (almost 5 weeks). Once our Hong Kong trip is over this next one will be coming at us like a train (only 12 weeks away then)…..WOOHOO AND YEEHA!!! Well don’t seem to have much else to say so will go and do what I’m paid for now! Aim for this week is to try and reach my next goal – 10% loss. Hope everything’s going well for everybody out there. I notice I’ve got quite a few Canadian and US readers – hello to you all and would love to hear from you. Take care everyone and have a great week.

Jazz, Shiraz and Chardonnay

Let's get the serious business out of the way first. Really pleased to report a loss of 400g this week taking my total to lose into single figures. Can't help but love that. So reviewing the week....

Steps - 67,000 - average of roughly 9,600 per day
Points - great the first half of the week but didn't really count properly on Saturday and Sunday. Still I didn't do anything too drastic - mostly wine and a couple of little pieces of chocolate
Tracking - as above
Alcohol - Yes - a couple on Thursday and Friday nights, and a lot more than a couple on Saturday and Sunday nights - but back on the wagon again today
Walk - two days
C25K - finished week 2
Gym - 2 days
Water - TICK

On the subject of alcohol - although I've thoroughly enjoyed my few sauvignon blancs and chardonnays - I don't like the way they make me not sleep properly, feel sluggish in the morning and even give me a headache one morning. So I'm embracing the alcohol free lifestyle again and planning to stay that way until we go to Hong Kong which is in 5 weeks time.

Have had a lovely Easter break. On Thursday night we went into the Harbour Festival and met up with No 1 son, DIL and grandsons. Was just so much pleasure to watch the sheer excitment and enjoyment on Josh's face as he sampled the rides. The favourite was the ferris wheel! Most of the rest of the weekend has been pretty laid back.

Last night we went to Jazz n' Shiraz - a fantastic night. Some good jazz acts with the star attraction being David Campbell. He was absolutely brilliant (mind you as Jimmy Barnes' son what else would you expect!) Only problem was that he wasn't on long enough!




Have included a couple of photos taken last night at the show. Here we have Bloss and I playing silly buggars - the plan was to get one of those gooey lovey-dovey shots but as you can see we just kept getting the giggles.

And this was my Easter egg - I just treated myself. Saw it in Kmart, marked down as it was the end of the line so thought - Well that's a bit longer lasting than a chocolate egg (and a tad more expensive too!) - so I bought it and assembled it on Saturday afternoon.



Well good people - this has taken me bloody ages to do - am at home today of course and our internet connection has been very selective - some sites just wouldn't load this morning while others were fine. It all appears to be OK now - but it's meant that I've been back and forward trying to piece this together.

Hope you all have had a lovely Easter and now it's time to put the madness and badness behind us. Get thee behind Satan!! Have a great week everyone.

Phew!

A surprise visitor turned up this week - TOTM. Well not really a surprise - it's just that these days I never know just when it will put in an appearance but last time it was here I didn't lose that week. This week was shaping up to be the same or even a gain. Wouldn't have been at all happy about that!! Anyway it all came good this morning with a 200g loss. Obviously would have liked more considering the effort I've put in this week - more about that later - but all things considered I'll take it and be thankful!! The week in review : Alcohol - None - now will I or won't I this weekend? Probably will! Points - pretty good - a bit up on the weekend but I did have plenty saved from during the week so still OK. Thinking though that I might need to watch out for grapes. I adore seedless grapes and have some almost every day - but did a reality check yesterday and realised that my bunch of 100g for 1 point is probably a lot closer to 200g for 2 points!! Water - TICK Tracking - TICK Walking - 2 days C25K - 3 days (finished Wk 1) Gym - 3 days Steps - a massive 75,800 this week averaging about 10,800 daily A fairly quiet week socially this week - about time you say! but nonetheless very busy on the fitness front. I got up at 5am every week day and Monday, Wednesday and Friday I did Wk 1 of C25K, Tuesday and Thursday I walked. On Monday night I went to the gym and did my assessment and got a programme to work on - a good mix of cardio and resistance. I got a bit of a shock to discover how weak my upper body was. Had the shakes by the time we got to the end of the resistance. But I feel that if I can build up my strength there it will help my back and neck problems - not to mention tone up the flabby bits at the tops of my arms! The C25K has been good - Monday I was as red as a beetroot and dripping in perspiration by the time I finished but Wednesday and Friday I was heaps better. Today I did the first day of Wk 2 and felt quite good at the end of that. I'm kind of surprising myself at how relatively easy I'm finding it so far. Not that I expect that to continue for too long! I managed to fit in another two gym sessions after my assessment - one on Wednesday after work and one yesterday morning and starting to feel stronger and ready to up the reps already. I had been quietly salivating at the thought of a nice little Chardonnay or two on Thursday night to celebrate the onset of Easter and then a few more over the course of the weekend. But you know the funny thing (and it's downright bloody queer if you knew me well!!) I'm no longer that excited about it. I guess it's all about breaking habits - after 13 weeks I've been able to break that cycle of a drink on the deck with Bloss while we discuss our day, then one while I cook tea, then of course one with tea, and since there's only one left in the bottle - may as well finish it!! Mind you I'm also fully aware that it would only take a couple of weeks for me to get right back into it so if I do have a couple over Easter, I'll need to have the plan in place to wind it back again after the weekend. I think my trouble is that I don't do moderation very well!! How does that saying go - one's not enough and a thousand's too many! Every year we have a Harbour Festival with all sorts of events happening in the lead up week to Easter. One of the big events on Easter Sunday is Jazz n'Shiraz - held in a large marquee, with several guest artists. We've got tickets to go with our friends so that should be pretty good. Have been doing lots of blog reading - some amazing things going on around the traps - Jen and Gabby have reached goal - congratulations ladies - how good must that feel, lots of people on voyages of self discovery - takes lots of courage but I think will be very rewarding at the end of the day, and others like me just plugging away trying to peel off the pounds and enjoy life at the same time. Happy Easter everyone - be kind to yourselves - but not too kind!! We all need a wee bit of badness from time to time - or maybe I should rephrase that to a touch of goodness!