I told her...

Yes Mum now knows about the blog. But I haven't told her the web address yet.

Tonight I went to see 'Rachel getting married' with my Mum & Sister (movie was not what I expected - Anne was brilliant but the movie was only so so) and at dinner after, I told Mum about the blog. She is very enthused about it, and thinks it's a great idea. I'm not yet comfortable with her reading it yet, so she'll have to wait till I'm ready. I told Mum also about how I felt following her comment when she saw me on Sunday (previous blog) and she said she saw on my face that I was upset when she said it. She still feels that she can't notice much of a difference - maybe my current weight is the one she has 'ingrained' in her memory, and she just doesnt remember when I was heavier!!!

Anyway i'm happy with this outcome, and actually feel a little more motivated now.

Now the next comment has noting to do with the above.

Dinner at Mimmo's on Sunday is off.

Now this as I said has nothing to do with my Mum or the recent developments. It's more my overall feelings. I have done OK this month, but I feel that I could have done better. I could have done more, eaten a little better and exercised harder. As such I don't feel comfortable with having a great big get together to 'celebrate' my weight loss to date. This is not me punishing myself or things like that. It's more that i'm not yet ready to 'celebrate'.

I will re-arrange soon. Plus my craving for bolognese is no longer there too!

A little help...

Last week I did a little research as to dietary supplements that could perhaps aid with my weight loss. There was one that appealed to me. It has recently been introduced to Australia from Europe where there seemed to be quite successful. The supplements work by helping to raise your metabolism, and surpress your appetite. They also help with detoxifying your system. Looking at the ingredients, they are all herbs - natural herbs used for this process. So I thought i'd given them a go - made my way to Priceline and picked up a pack.

I started taking them on Monday, and with the appetite supression, they definately work! I'm normally quite hungry by 11-11:30 in the morning, and this week it hsn't been an issue. Your hunger instinct stimulates the 'energy save' systems of your body, and therefore your body holds on to energy (fat). Not feeling hungry stops this from happening. I'm still making sure I eat - but it also means I can I have smaller meals.

This week I felt it was right to give my body a little rest. Exercise wise I have still been walking home everyday, and eating very well. Teriyaki Chicken & rice Monday lunch. Sandwich - leftovers from a work lunch - on Tuesday. A Thai beef salad for lunch today. Peri Peri tomato beef and zucchini for dinner Monday & Tuesday. Chilli steak & zucchini for dinner tonight.

Seeing a movie with Mum & Niki tomorrow & grabbing a bite afterwards.

She didn't notice :-(

Hi all,

Well tonight I saw Mum and Dad for the first time since 2008. And despite me shaving my beard off, my ultra short hair cut, and that I have coloured my hair again, and losing over 10 kilos, do you know what he first thing Mum said to me was? "Well I can see that nothing has changed since the last time I saw you".

My brother David & his family came to dinner as well, and David did notice the difference, but I still feel a little dis-heartened.

I also haven't felt very good this weekend. I had dinner with some work friends on Friday night - Lebanese - and I really think it does not agree with me. Very oily - and with the healthy stuff i've been eating I think it's shocked my system. Even now i'm not quite right. No more Leb food for me.

I had a good walk with Leigh for over an hour on Saturday and then a lovely dinner with Leigh & Jeremy. That's it for exercise this weekend - today I just did not feel good - and I had to stay close to the bathroom....

So... press 'reset'. Monday's a new day.

Avoid the Freddos!

Hi all – I hope everyone is ready and rearing to go with the weekend! I know I am!

So let’s have a little run down of what I have done this week.

*Monday – Nothing – bad. Saw a movie after work

*Tuesday – great big walk home – from Work to Oxford Street and home – 1 hour 20 mins it worked out to be.

*Wednesday – had a lovely massage at work for an hour, then I did 20 mins on the treadmill, interval training – running, then walking. Then walked home

*Thursday – 20 mins again on the treadmill doing intervals, walked home, and on the way stopped into North Sydney Olympic Pool, and did 8 laps. When I got home I was feeling quite nauseous so I must have done well!

*Today I’m going out for dinner after work, but I still hope to be able to at least walk home afterwards.

I’m also wearing my red ‘Okinawa’ T-Shirt. The last time I wore it was at Sculptures by the Sea with Andrew. Looking at the photos afterwards I just looked awful – my tummy bulging out and looking like the T-Shirt was 2 or 3 sizes too small. Today when I put it on, it felt good – not too big, not too small – actually a little bit of room to move! And I’m happy about that!

I’m looking forward to having a lovely walk (with maybe some jogging) and swim with Leigh on Saturday after work. We have to do a good one and really work up a sweat, as we’re going out to dinner after, and it’s likely I’ll be having ribs!!!

I’m seeing Mum & Dad for dinner on Sunday. It’s the first time I have seen them since I started exercising so it will be interesting to see if she notices and says something!!! I’ll let you know what happens.

And if you’re wondering about the subject line, in the kitchen at work, there is a fundraising box of jumbo Freddo Frogs & Caramello Koalas. Every time I go in to get water I am sooooo tempted by them -“it’s just a little Frog”- I say to myself. Today when I went it I even put my hand in my pocket and pulled out my wallet to get out some $$. But I stopped myself and walked back to my desk with just the water. Yay!

C ya!

The long way home...

Hi all,

It's been an interesting couple of days. I started my new job on Monday - still with ING, but moved to another department - Direct Insurance. Actually i'm really enjoying it. I'm on level 12 now, a level that has been renovated, and it's such a nice environment. Modern desks, funky kitchen - even the toilets are designer!! My new teams good - a little quiet, but i'll change that soon! I have had to learn everything in 2 days - so it's been a bit of a baptism of fire. My 2 I.C. left today to get married in Mexico, and the old manager only had 2 days to teach me what was needed! Oh well - my manager's a real nice guy though, so I think i'm going to enjoy it!

No chance to exercise yesterday - I was going to walk home, but Jeremy won some tickets to see 'The International' so we saw that after work & then I didn't feel comfortable walking home. Today though I took the long way home. The long long long way home!! Instead of turning left when walking out the doors of ING, I turned right and walked down towards the cinemas. The up to Oxford St, and back down College, Elizabeth, into the Botanical Gardens and then across the Cahill and home. All up 1 hour 20 mins of bopping along to my iPod! A good effort. Map below.

Tomorrow i'm having a massage in the gym work, the will do 20 mins on the treadmill, running and walking in intervals, then walking home! I'll be both relaxed & buggered!

Magic mark!

Well today something happened that I have been waiting for for a whole week. After seeing 140.9 on the scales for a whole week, and being rather depressed at that, today, the scales jumped past that magic mark - 10 kilos!!! Yes, 139.5 is my new weight!! I'm in the 130's!!!! Yay!

At the gym, Neil gave me two 5 kilo weights to hold. Damn! 10 kilos is heavy!! Unbelieveable that not 2 months ago I was walking around with that! Imagine what it will be like when I lose 50!!!

Friday & Saturday were sadly no exercise days - I my farewell on Friday, and went to the theatre straight after work on Saturday. I did make up for it today though. Neil & I went to the gym and I did 45 mins on the treadmill doing intervals - running at 12 kmh for a minute, then walking at 6 kmh for a couple of mins. I ended up doing 7 kilometres, and I was soaked in sweat at the end!

So that's my update.. have a good week!

Someone said it!!!

Someone said it! For the first time, a random person who doesn’t know me that well – a person in the team next to me at work – approached me in the kitchen at work and said those 4 magical words…. “Have you lost weight?”. Yay! Thanks Paula!

I was starting to feel a little downhearted too. I have been at the same weight since Monday. No matter what time of day I step on the scales, it has shown me that same ruddy weight every time! I’m beginning to hate that number!!! And i’m so close to being able to announce that I’ve lost 10 kilos that it is very frustrating!!!

So what have I done this week?

Monday – walked home from work, then stopped in at North Sydney pool and swam 8 laps. I know it’s less than the 10 I did on Sunday, but I swam differently – really powered each lap and my arms were pretty buggered! Food – lunch, Mexican wrap – mince beef, beans, salsa etc. Dinner, steak & vegies – nothing bad!

Tuesday – was going to go to Balmoral with Neil, but it was pretty horrible weather – so after I walked home (and was soaked by the rain) Neil & I drive back to work and we went to the gym. I did 10 minutes on the Cross trainer, and then another 20 minutes on the treadmill doing intervals – 2.5 min fast walking, .5 mins running. Then I did a small amount of weights. Food – lunch, Balsamic chicken salad. Dinner, marinated lamb chops and vegies – I did have something bad though – a 50gram bag of chips – I saw my favourite at the petrol station – Smiths ‘Big Red’ – tomato sauce flavour I thought was off the market!

Wednesday – walked home, and then spent a couple of hours cleaning. I really had a lot of stuff to do so lots of washing and putting away – the most physical, which did draw a sweat was the vacuuming. Food - lunch, Moroccan lamb salad. Dinner, Minestrone soup. I also had a Chomp. Bad me.

I had lunch at Wagamama today – my farewell lunch with my management team – it was my first time to Wagamama – and it was really nice. I had Ginger Chicken noodles with chilli. Yummy! I’ll update what I do for exercise tomorrow – I don’t even know what I’m going to do yet!

C-ya!

Off the wagon... then on again...

Well I had a couple of days last week where I did not quite stick to the plan. I think I tripped whilst riding the wagon, and I partially fell off. So my main problem was Friday and Saturdays – I don’t think I deal with the heat well.

Friday I still walked home – I just didn’t do anything else. And I still ate well.

Saturday – it was a stinker as we all know, and I worked all day. I had a can of Sunkist – non diet :-( - with lunch. Lunch was good – thai chicken salad with lots of chilli – it was HHHOOOOTTTT! In the arvo and evening I was bad 2 more times. I had a vanilla slice from the patisserie, and an ice-cream when I went to the movies.

However – the guilt from those 2 days spurred me to ‘fix’ myself yesterday. I had a cruisy day in the morning, and at 4pm headed out for another big walk – and a swim. I walked for over an hour, up and down hills through North Sydney & Waverton. I discovered on this walk that I am definitely much fitter than I used to be. When I did this same walk at the beginning of my journey, there is a street – John St – in Waverton which runs from a park, straight up a fairly steep hill. The first time I did this street, I had to stop about 3 or 4 times to catch my breath. This time though I powered straight up it without stopping once! I was very proud!

The walk went past North Sydney pool where I stopped in to do some laps. For the first time I did 10 laps!! Half a K!! That was great! By the time I got home I was pretty tired.

So I’m motivated again, and well and truly back on the wagon.

And this morning I got on the scales – I’m still losing! Yay!

Sleeeeeep

Felt a bit crook today and headed home from work at lunch time. Had a nice big sleep though this arvo and ready for a new day tomorrow! Let's just hope it's not too hot!

Exercise compilation!

Howdy pardners. Today I was very sore from all my work yesterday - especially the back of my legs from all the squatting, lifting & climbing steps. But even still Neil & I went down to Balmoral to do some extra exercise. So here's what I did...

*walked home - 40 mins

*dips - 5 sets of 25

*crunches - 5 sets of 20

*jogs & sprints - 6 x 50 metres

*swimming - 6 laps x 50 metres

Interesting to see how i'll feel tomorrow!!

Also today I was fiddling with an Excel spreadsheet to track my progress, and also put in goals for the future. Basically I alternate (in the goals) losing 1 kilo, then 2 kilos per week. Below is a graph showing my goal losses, and actual losses. A bit geeky I know but hey.. why not!?!

Over 6 litres!

Today I had the day off to be home for delivery of my new bed - and that meant a lot of work for me. Today involved pulling apart my old futon, completely clearing out my bedroom, and doing a heck of a lot of cleaning. There was so much dust under my old bed, I had to put the hose of my Dyson directly onto the carpet and go over under where the bed was inch by inch. Then there was hauling my old bed frame down to the garage awaiting its new life, and putting the futon mattress in my car and taking that away for its new life as rubbish!

Needless to say - just doing this over a period of about 4 hours, I worked up quite a sweat! My shirt was absolutely sopping wet - and I had a real need for water. I drank over 6 litres of water today and didn't pee once!!!!

For those interested, here are pics of my new bed & new bedspread.

I killed me!

Last week when I started to 'ramp up' my exercise, I started swimming at Balmoral Baths. Day 1 I did 6 laps. Day 2 I did 8. But..

They weren't real laps. I had to stop one or two times per lap to pull up my pants as they kept falling down!! Not due to weight loss or anything - they were tight as - it's just your tummy retracts in water, and is pulled back by the forward motion. I never felt stuffed afterwards.

So this time, despite the tremendous embarrassment, I wore my stretchy pants - knowing they would not fall down! And it worked - I was determined to do 8 laps - only stopping at the ends. I did it!! But at the end I felt real dizzy - which must mean I did good! Only an hour after did I feel better - and felt great for it.

Just keep swimming.....

Well waddaya know....

I stepped on the scales this morning and.... 142kg!!!!!

I hit the target - just a day late :-)

I'll be updating more regularly from now on. Have a good Monday all!