July Results... + photos!

Haai,

It's with some trepidation I did my weight & measurements this morning - I knew that my weight loss would be OK, but I cheated about a week ago and measured myself only a week ago, and did not have significant decreases. My only saving grace I thought, was that I measured myself in the evening, and when I do my monthly results, it's always based on a morning reading. Luckily I was right!!

So how did I do? Good! Great! Grand!

I'm very happy with my July results. I think i'm becoming more in tune with my body, as I did get the plateau I expected - luckily in only lasted a week! My goal was to lose 4.7 kilos this month - did I do it? YES!! Exactly! I found it hard to believe that I would hit the exact mark, and I even weighed myself twice to be sure! So here are my results to date:

Weight
Original - 150kg / June - 118.2kg / Now - 113.5kg! = a loss of 36.5kgs!

Waist
Original - 157cm / June - 121cm / Now - 117cm = a loss of 40cm!

Chest
Original - 136cm / June - 119cm / Now - 111cm = a loss of 25cm

Leg
Original - 81cm / June - 69cm / Now - 67cm = a loss of 14cm

Bodyfat
Original - 45.5% / June - 35.1% / Now - 33.5% = a drop of 12%

Muscle mass
Original - 20.1% / June - 25.1% / Now - 27.2% = an increase of 7.1%

So i'm pretty happy with the above results!

I bumped into a friend yesterday who told me that he reads the blog - but wanted to see some pics - so this morning in the gym I took some pics - and here they are;

So there we go. That's me. Though there will be less of me soon!

What's on for the future? Well tomorrow i'm doing a trial run of the City to Surf with Neil & Laura from work. Then the sunday after, the actual City to Surf!

And my goals for the month? I'm going to try for a 5 kilo loss - that will have me at the end of August, and just in time for my Japan trip, to 108.5!!! OMG! That seems so low to me, but it's only a month away!

Thanks for reading, and i'd love any comments too!

Pete

P.S. My weight loss to date equals...

Marilyn Munroe! Well a life size model of her anyway!!

City to Surf, here I come!

Roj bahsh,

In all honesty, when I signed up for the City to Surf several months ago, I really didn't think that I would be ready or able to do it. At the time, when I did run, I could not run for long - maybe 5 mins max. It's amazing how much a little time, and training can make! The actual race is 14 k's long, and last Sunday I did a run that was...da da da da.... 14.5 k's!! I can do it! I ran the whole distance, and it did include hills too! Here is what I did...



I was very proud of myself following this, and actually felt fine afterwards - even followed it up with a 7k run the following day!!

There's nothing much different I did last week - still did exercise 6 days in the week and worked hard.

This weekend though, i'm doing the City to Surf - I know it's not until the following week, but i'm getting myself prepared. I'll have to deal with traffic etc, but that's ok! I'll update you all after this.

See ya!

Oh and by the way - I checked my bus ticket today - the last time I took the bus to work was July 2nd!! With the exception of riding Abby on Fridays, I have powered, myself to and from work every day! Cool!

Kickboxing Dolphins!

Labdien,

Well it’s been another big week – some highlights are I had private kickboxing tuition and went on my longest run ever! Here’s a breakdown of my week.

Monday I did a session in the gym after work. I went to the pool after work and bought a 20 visit pass – I like the swimming abd am really seeing the benefits of doing it. I ended up doing 18 laps, all freestyle.

Tuesday morning I did my longest run ever – almost 11 k’s! That means I’m almost in City to Surf territory! Here’s my route below. I only walked a little bit – the steep Avenue Road & Cowles Road in Mosman.



Wednesday I ran the walking group at work, going for 45 mins – we had to walk slower than normal as we had some slow people in the group. After work I had my group session with Ben in the gym, starting off with some cardio, then he worked us hard doing circuit training in the studio.

Thursday lunch time Laura from work & I went out for a lunch time run, from work across Pyrmont bridge, through Glebe, across the Anzac Bridge, down around the big silo’s and back. It was 7 k’s all up, and we did it in 46 mins. Not bad! Followed up in the evening with a swim – 20 laps – that’s 1 K!!! Most. Ever. With my bike ride to and from work, that’s 7.5 k’s on the bike, 7k’s running, and 1 k swimming – my very own triathlon!!

Friday was the day off and I was bad . I went to the supermarket after work to get something for dinner and I ended up buying some stuff I shouldn’t have. Damn Woolworths now does this ‘Buy 2 save $’ and I was suckered in to buying 2 mini cheese & bickie packs, 2 small packs Samboy chips, 2 100 gm blocks of Lindt Dark choc & mint and 2 Nestle diet dark choc mousse. It didn’t seem that big a deal when buying it, but on reflection I shouldn’t have. I think a Friday evening is a really bad time for me to go to the supermarket – I think I’ll try to avoid from now on!

Saturday I had a mixture of good and bad. Good was the exercise. In my last blog I updated you on Chris, who I met at the gym the previous Saturday. Well this Saturday I met him there at 8:30 am and we had a session together. We started off doing various weights in the gym, him really pushing me and what I can do. We then headed off to the studio where he have me a private kickboxing session!!! Chris teaches kickboxing at a studio in Five Dock, so I got the whole session 1 on 1!! It was awesome and we both got a great workout – I was dripping at the end! I was talking to Chris today and he really enjoyed it too – and he was so tired he had to have a nap after lunch!!! I didn’t!
I was very happy to have ridden my pushbike on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday & Saturday as well. A 7.5 k round trip means that I did 30 k’s on my bike last week!

The rest of Saturday I spent putting around on Abby – I introduced her to my brother, beeping her horn as I came down their driveway! My nephew and niece loved her and I even took Zoe on a small lap of their driveway! I then went to the new Balgowlah Village for a sticky beak where I had coffee and a cannoli – bad. And then I put-putted down to Manly for a cruise, and also up to North Head before I introduced Abby to Mum & Dad – Dad’s not a fan of me riding a scooter, but is happier now he’s seen Abby and her bigger than normal tyres etc. For the rest of the not so good, my boyfriend and I (yes you read that correctly) went out for dinner – Chinese at Gordon – and we had probably what was the most fatty thing on the menu – Peking Duck. I’d never had it before, and I probably shouldn’t have, but it was really good!!

Sunday I rode Abby to Paddy’s markets where I did my veggie shopping for the week. Wow! It’s so cheap there. I bought about $10 worth of vegies – celery, bad of beans, 5 oranges, coriander, 5 apples, bok choy, ginger and more which would have cost over $30 at woollies! I then headed to the Fish Markets where I bought my favourite fish – swordfish steaks. When home I ‘Mastercheffed’ the steaks – creating a marinade out of soy, olive oil, lemon pepper, chilli, ginger and fresh coriander ready for the evening.

In the arvo I headed out to meet the gorgeous Leigh-B for a run. We started at Curl Curl, then headed over the headland to Freshwater, across the beach, along that headland, down to Queenscliff, along Manly Beach and back. It was a lovely run, topped off with a pod of Dolphins frolicking just off Manly beach which was just amazing to see. We ended up running for over 8 k’s, just over 1 hour – map below. Then it was home for my foil wrapped, oven baked fish – it was quite nice! I’m marinating another steak now for tonight in the same mixture, but I added garlic & salt now too!!



So that’s me to-date!

See ya!

Plateau be gone...

Salamaleikum,

Hope you all had a good weekend – mine wasn’t too bad!

So I last left you on Friday, which was my day off, and I think I really needed it. I was a little sore on Friday, so it was good to have the break.

Saturday I set my alarm for 8am to get up and go the gym – but I was up at 7:15!! And didn’t go to sleep until 12:30, so I was quite surprised that I woke so early. So I cycled into the gym and did a fair bit. I started on the rower – I did 4 sets of 1000 metres – averaging under 2 mins/500 for each set. I then headed to the cross trainer for 30 mins of interval training. Then it was on to weight training. Normally, I’m at the gym alone or with Neil on a Saturday/Sunday, but today another arrived – Chris from Level 16. Chris had filled in for my staff before so I know him, and Chris let me know that he had just completed his personal training course, and he had some suggestions for me, based on what he was seeing me do.

Firstly there were push ups, where instead of your hands on the ground, you hold onto barbells, and after you push up, you raise alternate hands, with the barbells, up to your chest. Then there’s the machine for your triceps, where instead of just pulling your arms down, you make a ‘wood chopping’ action. It was good stuff! These exercises provide both a cardio and muscle workout in one. He’s even offered to meet me at the gym again to help out some more!

Sunday arvo I went for a big run – see below – and I did it in just over an hour! That means I was travelling at about 8.5km/h – a new record for me!



I haven’t mentioned my food intake for a while, but that’s mostly because it’s still good! I do have the occasional bad thing now and then, but I know that I would go mad if I didn’t. It great to be able to go to the supermarket and not spend hours in the confectionary aisle.

Here’s a breakdown of generally what I eat in a day

Breakfast
Double shot of fresh espresso
Glass of water with chlorophyll, a multi vitamin & omega 3 tablet
Fresh juice – one orange, one apple, 1 celery stick, 1 carrot, slice ginger & a splash of pomegranate juice
2 poached eggs, on 2 slices wholegrain/wholemeal bread with light butter & vegemite & cracked pepper.

Lunch
Rye baguette with lemongrass beef and heaps of vegies & water

Dinner
Meat – steak/fish/chicken with steamed vegies
Sunkist light

Dessert
Dairy farmers low fat/low sugar passionfruit yoghurt with fresh strawberries & blueberries (frozen – they’re cheaper!)

I’ll also make sure I have something in between meals – generally a piece of fruit or muesli bar or something.

So not too bad huh?! Here’s an example of my meal from last night. This is orange roughy topped with relish, with steamed broccolini, baby brussell sprouts and carrot. I went to Kirribilli markets yesterday and there was a lady selling ‘Relish This’ – relish toppings for meats etc that I tasted and was really yummy. I bought the balsamic red onion with lime relish – and it was noice!



And yes – by the title, plateau be gone! Jumped on the scales this morning, and I had lost 1.6 kilos from last week. Boo yeah!

So that’s me – until next time!

Pete

Most active day ever...

Sawubona,

How are you all going? That’s great to hear! I thought I’d do a mid-week update, and especially because I have a bit to report! This week I’ve really stepped it up – the plateau from last week to this week hasn’t really worried me, but I thought rather than waiting for it to end just doing my normal amount of exercise, I would ‘shock’ the body by mixing things up a bit!

So what have I been doing?

Monday, after riding my pushbike in, I ran the walking group at lunch time – not that it needed much running – there was only me and one other! But we still had a good time – we did the below, which is equal to walks we’ve done in the past which have taken 50 mins – this time it only took us 30!!



Monday arvo I went to the gym and did a run on the treadmill, then some rowing, and followed this by my ride home.

Tuesday I was working at Chatswood, and had Starlight in the evening – so I did my exercise in the morning. I decided to do my route that I have been doing to gauge my improvement, which includes the steep ‘John St’. The first time I did this street I had to stop 4 times to catch my breath. The next time I did it in one go, but stopped at the top to recover. This time, I ran all the way there, and managed to run up ¾ of the hill, then walked the rest, and continued running from the top! Awesome! And I ran the whole route. When I got to the Harbour Bridge, I still felt like going on so I extended the run around past Ruddy’s place and around the coast back to my place – here it is below. It ended up being a one hour run.



Wednesday was by MOST ACTIVE DAY EVER! So here’s what I did;
Pushbiked in to work – 15 mins
Run at lunch time – 40 mins – see below for map
Exercise group after work – Cardio & Circuit training – 50 mins
Massage after that (good timing!) – 1 hour
Pushbiked to North Sydney pool – 15 mins
Swim – 14 laps – 11 freestyle, 3 breaststroke in 50 metre pool – 30 mins
Pushbike home – 5 mins.

Big day huh! But I really enjoyed it – and REALLY enjoyed the swim too – I bought new swimmers on the weekend so it was good to try them out – and I love them!



Thursday I was a bit worried that I would be too sore for the City 2 Surf training but I was OK. The City 2 Surf training was at lunch time, and we ran down Hickson St almost to the Bridge, and then ran up and down a large set of stairs – many times. Then ran up to Observatory Hill where we ran up and down the hill a few times. Then up to the observatory – where we had to run around it and better our times. My first lap was 1:22, then I did a 1:15, then a 1:13! Then we jogged back to work. I was pretty soaked after this! After work I rode my pushbike back to the pool and did another 30 mins – 16 laps this time of the 50 metre pool, 14 freestyle, 2 breaststroke. Even though it is cold getting in & out of the pool, it’s really nice in, so I will continue doing swimming twice a week.

So today’s Friday – my rest day, and I’m a little sore after everything so far this week, but I’m OK, and will be at the gym tomorrow morning!

Have a great weekend all!

9 holes...

Grüessech,

No, I didn’t play half a round of golf, the 9 holes relates to how many holes I’ve had to put into my belt for work! Yes, on Wednesday my pants were falling down again, and so I went back to the shoe fixing place & had my 9th hole put in the belt. On Friday I went back again and had another 3 put in my casual belt too!

So what’s been going on this past week? Here are the main things…

I rode my pushbike to work & home Tuesday & Wednesday – (Monday I was at Chatswood) Thursday, see below & Friday is scooter day!

Wednesday I had the group session, doing cardio and circuit type work with Ben & the others from the competition. I got up a good sweat which was great.

Thursday was the first group for City to Surf training. We ran to Wentworth Park past the Fish Markets, then did a variety of exercises, and various training sessions, then ran back home. It was great, and I survived the whole group which was awesome!! Thursday night saw a competition – Neil previously ran from work to my place in 19 mins, and I did it in 29 mins – so he gave me a 10 min head start and the challenge was to beat each other. Despite the work I did at lunch time, I manage to blitz by past best time, and do a 25.5!!!! Awesome! And yes, I won!

Friday was the day off, was also feeling quite sore from the previous day’s activities.

Saturday I was REALLY sore. I had trouble just getting up and down! I had Ben echoing in my head though when deciding if I should do anything, and though it was better to do something light, than nothing. So I scootered to Centennial Park, and walked a lap, gradually getting faster. It ended up being 40 mins, and I felt better for it after – less sore too!

Sunday I came into the gym, doing 40 mins interval training on the cross-trainer, followed by 4x 500 metre sessions on the rower (averaging under 2mins), then quite a few weights! A 2 hours session all up!

With my weight, I think I’m in a slow down period right now – I did not lose anything between last Monday & today – but that’s OK. I’m feeling really good about where I am, and if I just keep it up, then the weight will continue to fall.

I’ll update again mid week!

See y’all

Pete

June results....

Zdravo,

I can’t believe I’m already 6 months in to my weight loss journey, and as it is 6 months, it is a great time for reflection. Last weekend I read through some of my old posts, and it’s amazing the difference… I read them, remembering the feelings I had at that time. 50 kilos seemed like such a large figure – even 30 kilos seemed almost impossible. Now I’m there – I’ve lost over 30. Honestly I didn’t put a lot of faith in me that I would do it. But I have. And I’m still going.

What’s the biggest change? What I can do. Just the little things – like when I started this thing, I could not even run for 30 seconds. Now I can do 30 mins straight – running at 9 km/h, and I could have kept going no problems. Who would have thunk, that I would be entering the City 2 Surf?! It really is a rollercoaster this journey, but I’m just now thinking of what this summer will be like. I am sooo going to be going to the beach! Regularly. For you reading this, that is not an issue. For me it is. Never really done it, or if I had, I’ve been so self conscious that I have not enjoyed it.

I’m also really enjoying upping the ante. This month I’ve been concentrating on running – that is doing long stretches and upping the speed as well. I’ve also commenced riding my pushbike to work. I was riding in today, and as I was riding along the Bridge, I was looking out over the water, overtaking all the cars stuck in a jam, thinking, why do more people not do this? It’s so easy, and quicker than driving or getting a bus. I get to work in 12 minutes!

I have also started to see changes in my body. I know what you’re thinking, ‘you’ve lost over 30 kilos, of course you’re going to see some changes’, but no. Up to about the 25-30 kilo mark, I felt I pretty much looked the same. I think that psychologically, even when I was 150 kilos, I never felt that big, or even when I looked at myself I saw a smaller person. I had blinders on. So I always thought I looked 125, even when I was 150, and when I was 125, I just saw the REAL me for the first time. Now though, I’m really starting to see differences. My watch is loose, my left hip is almost flat – i.e minimal love handles! My boobies do not now affect the way my shirt sits, when I see my reflection in the steel of the elevator I do not see that protruding stomach that used to repulse me.

The differences in people around me are pretty cool too. Yesterday I was walking to the ATM when I saw the beautiful Natalie from work – we caught eyes, but there was no hint of recognition in her eyes. So I said “Hi Nat” – she turned around and I could see the surprise on her face – “stop changing” she said! She could not believe that she didn’t recognise me!!

This week also the results of the fit for life campaign came out. It was announced to the company that I was the winner, and a photo of me with Richard & Ben was posted in the weekly email. Below I have put the results from the competition, the photo, along with the email that announced the results to the contestants, and to the company.

Hi Guys,

Congratulations again to all of you! It is great to see how well you have all improved and that you are now motivated to continue with the active healthier lifestyles. I look forward to seeing you each Wednesday! If you ever have any questions or need help with anything I'm more than happy to help where I can.

Our winner is Pete, congratulations Pete! Your results are amazing.
Our Runner Up is Angelo, who would have won the last series with his results!

Adrian and Karen, you both performed really well and should be stoked with the results as well. I know that you were sick for a while, hopefully you can get back into it and continue the steady improvements!

I have attached a quick summary of the results; it is Fri afternoon so apologies if there are any typo's!

I'll speak to you all next week.

Cheers,

Ben.

Peter Crott: Winner.

Weight: down from 133.7 kg to 119.8 kg. -13.9kg.
Body Fat Percentage: 38.6% in early May to 35.6% -3%
Waist Circumference: 140.3 cm to 121.1 cm. -19.2
Blood Pressure: 139/88 to 140/74. Total loss of 13.
Cholesterol: low and low (<3.3 and <3.3).
Glucose: 3.3 down to 2.4. -0.9

Beep Test: 3.6 to 7.2 +3.6
V02 rating based on Beep Test: 25.1 to 37.1 +12
Push Ups: 6 to 41. +35
Triceps Dips: 21 to 43 +22
Sit Ups: 25 to 36. +11


Who won gold in season two of Fighting Fit for Life?

You win some you lose some, or in the case of Fighting Fit for Life, you lose weight. And quite a lot of it.

After 12 weeks of hard work, sweat and tears we have come to the end of the second Fighting Fit for Life competition. Once again, there were some great results and all of the members of the group worked extremely hard.

Everyone in the group has made significant gains to their health and fitness, with everyone losing weight and body fat, improving their fitness levels in both cardio tests and strength work as well as improving their daily nutrition.

However, there can only be one winner and this time it was (drum roll please….) Peter Crott from Direct Insurances.

No one worked harder than Pete, who lost 14kg’s over the 12 weeks and has continued on the efforts he started himself from the beginning of the year. Pete has now lost over 30kg’s since 1 January.There will be another Fighting fit for Life competition which will start on Monday, 31 August and finish at the end of November. More details to follow.

Winner of Fighting Fit for life Peter Crott with ING's very own version of Shannon Ponton and Michelle Bridges (aka Ben St. Lawrence and Richard High)

Very cool!

I know that Ben reads this, and I really want to thank you Ben, and Richard, for all your help, effort and dedication to me and the other contestants. You have no idea how much it means to me, and I can see that you really do care. Just the simple encouragement you give, along with the instruction has really pushed me to lose more in the past 12 weeks than I ever have. And for you to offer to continue with group sessions for the contestants, past and present is just amazing. Thank you so much.

So I’ve prattled on for a bit now, so it’s time for the results. You can see from above the results for a week ago, but here are June’s results.

Weight
Original – 150kg / May – 123.8kg / Now – 118.2kg = a loss of 31.8 kilos

Waist
Original – 157cm / May – 126cm / Now – 121cm = a loss of 36cm

Chest
Original – 136cm / May – 119cm / Now – 116cm = a loss of 20cm

Leg
Original – 81cm / May – 71cm / Now – 69cm = a loss of 12cm

Body Fat %
Original – 45.5% / May – 37.2% / Now – 35.1% = a loss of 10.4% ( I think?!)

Muscle Mass
Original – 20.1% / May – 25.1% / Now – 26.3% = an increase of 6.2%

And did I hit my goal? Almost – 118kg was the goal – however, due to current internal issues, I think that I may be a bit heavier than I should be because on the weekend I was 117.5kg!!! But that’s OK. I’m very happy with 118.2!!

Here’s a chart of my loss, with the higher line the target, and the lower line the actual. I love my charts!!

So what’s on the cards for July? Running. And lots of it. Along with the sessions Ben has kindly offered to continue, from Thursday there is also a City 2 Surf training group every Thursday lunch from now until the competition. So I’m really looking forward to that. I think I will die, but that’s OK!

I will set a slightly lower goal this month, as I think I will plateau a bit this month – so this month I hope to achieve a 4.7 kilo loss, bringing me to 113.5 kilos.

So that’s me, thanks for reading!
Pete

P.S. – This month I’m very proud to announce that the weight I’ve lost to date is equal to…..


A 2 seater cast iron park bench!!!! Wow!