Fitness Test and the Week That's Been

Last week was a tough week.... A combination of internal excuses and red flag events that I didn't plan around. I stopped keeping my food diary half way through the week which is a telltale sign. I did all of my workouts bar what I was planning to do on the weekend (which is always my biggest downfall). I used excuses, 'I'm too tired' and 'I'm too busy'. Really annoyed at myself about that. On the food front, now that I think about it, it wasn't as bad as I thought, but it certainly wasn't good. Nachos one night (but only half the plate), party on Saturday night but only two vodkas, kumera chips but instead of dinner when my friends had whole meals, a few tim tams and chips on Friday night and basking on Sunday although other than the odd taste test I didn't actually try any of my cooking. I guess all in all, it could have been a LOT worse, especially for me when I spiral out of control from one bad meal. I made a few good decisions this week though so I'm glad I am learning some restraint (i.e. ordering a fruit salad at breakfast on Saturday). Needless to say I am very concerned about the weigh in, and the 12wbt could not kick off fast enough, because the 100 - 200g a week I'm losing despite intense training is quite demotivating.

There are two things I'm finding quite difficult at the moment. The first is that I do bootcamp (30 mins x 2 per week), personal training (30 mins x 1 per week) and now a friend has got me going to these 1 hour sessions on the other days which are 1 hour bootcamp sessions basically. All of these sessions incorporate strength and cardio and I always do 20-30 mins of cardio before my bootcamps or personal trainings. This makes it really difficult to fit in with the plan of 3 x cardio sessions, 2 x strength sessions and 1 stretch session a week. I really would like to stick to the plan precisely but this is stopping me. I know that as long as I am exercising and counting calories then I will get results, but I'd feel more certain about my program if I was doing Mish's program to the T.

My other concern is the fitness test today. These are my results:
1km time trial (rowing machine): 4:35 - ADVANCED
Push ups: (20 Toes, 30 knees) - ADVANCED
Abs: S3 - INTERMEDIATE
Wall sit: 1:30 INTERMEDIATE
Sit & reach: +10cm ADVANCED

I realise these results point to advanced, but I am so overweight that I just don't see how I could be advanced. I didn't do those with ease. I have been training for a while before this fitness test but my training is usually sporadic. I guess if I didn't go advanced it would be because of internal excuses, so I guess I will give it a go. If I"m really, really struggling afterwards I can always go down to intermediate.

Bring on week 1! Can't wait to get the meal plan. A friend of mine that I work with and I are going to split the lunches, so that we each bring one in every day. Will make it a bit easier.

The week in review

Well I haven't blogged for a little while - why? I haven't actually had too much to deal with... the pre season tasks have been pretty reasonable, I mean my cupboards are always filled with healthy foods and I am geared up... also despite my best efforts I only lost 200g this week... plus my body fat percentage increased!!

But I am back. I have learnt a lot this week:

1. Keeping an honest food diary is key. I have kept a food diary in the past and have never been honest, or I have stopped on the weekend. This week I know exactly why I haven't lost weight. My personal trainer is also reviewing it, so it is good to be held accountable! When someone else knows your consumption it makes you think twice about it.
2. Have an open mind about exercise - a 'can do' attitude. This week my friend told me about a new gym she was going to with a bit of a different work out (http://www.ludusmagnus.co.nz/). She asked if I wanted to go with her to try a class. If you look at the website it is scary! They look like warriors and the pictures aren't much different to reality. It was intimidating and it was hard. So hard! But I finished and felt like I could do something and that I wasn't as unfit as I thought! I will be going back for sure (tomorrow morning in fact)
3. Positive thinking is needed - I didn't lose weight this week, but on the plus side I realised that exercising 4 - 5 days a week at lunch time is now a habit. I don't mind doing it at all, it is just another part of my day. That is amazing for me! I also am feeling my muscles and feeling strong. The scales may not show a reduction but there is no way that my exercise/ food last week did anything other than help me! I now want to meet my friends for walks or any other exercises and not dinner and drinks. This was a big step for me :)

Now, there was something else I learnt but now I've forgotten!

The current task of diarising is great. I love organisation. I go to kiki k and get excited. I have a diary already and I already mark in my work outs. The more organisation I have though, the better. I am following the forum very closely on this to see what has worked for other people. When you are cooking for one it is hard (but not impossible) to fit in all of the preparation needed.

Now I just need some mini milestones!

I have some questions this week -

• It is Winter almost and Auckland is renowned for being horrible at that time. If I want to catch up with my friends, what type of things can I do and still burn calories when it is cold and wet outside?
• What tools are you using to plan cooking, shopping and work outs?
• What are your mini milestones?

Please share your thoughts :)

I am a woman, hear me roar!

My COMMITMENT is to lose 20kgs.

I am prepared to do the WORK to get me there.

I am a woman of my WORD.

NOTHING will shake me!

Peer Pressure

Peer pressure. It sounds like something that we talk to kids and teenagers about. However, I've come to realise it is prevalent at all ages. I am 100% motivated to change my ways and I know it is possible if I set myself up in a routine and that has been going well to date. It is quite easy when you haven't been socialising. Now, I am starting to get invited to upcoming parties, holidays and events. These are occasions where I know people won't appreciate my journey and will try and sabotage me. Perhaps not with intent, but sabotage nonetheless.

If I go to a party and I'm not drinking, I will get questioned and hassled about it all night long. I will even get called boring. If I go on holidays, where it is not only difficult to eat healthy because of limited options, I will also have my friends encouraging me to eat chips, chocolate and anything else that I shouldn't be eating.

I am fortunate that I am strong, but I am not invincible; at times this pressure has got me down and I have succumbed. I know that it is popular belief that people who do this are negative and not who you should be around. But these are also my friends and family so I just can't shut them out. They may not have malicious intent, or realise how hard this journey is. It's not always their fault.

This is something that we will all come across in our journeys whether it be at a work morning tea, out to dinner with friends, parties, holidays or anything that involves food or alcohol. We have to stay strong, and just reinforce our message - this is something that is important to us. We WILL stick to it and we will NOT be pressured. After all, it is our bodies, if we don't want to poison them, them no one else has the right to.

No one said this would be easy - but it will be worth it!

How do you deal with peer pressure when it comes to maintaining a healthy diet?

Motivation, Excuses and Community

A funny thing happened to me today. Usually I do my work outs at lunch time, then I have no time to dread it and no excuses I can make. On Tuesdays I have my session after work as I have a dance class later in the evening. It came to 3pm and I started making all my normal excuses; 'I'm too tired', 'It will be better if I go to bed early tonight and make up the exercise tomorrow', 'It won't hurt if I skip this session' and 'I can make it up on the weekend'. Then I went to the 12wbt forums (www.12wbt.com.au) and read some posts about excuses and felt so motivated. I told myself JFDI and I did.

It doesn't stop there. Then I got to the gym and realised I had forgotten my gym pants. I raced around to some shops to see if they had any, but there were none close by. Again, the excuses started 'oh well, this is external and out of my control - I can take the night off' and anything and everything along those lines. Then I told myself - JFDI!! and I did. I worked out in my cotton tights (poor other people in the class - but oh well!). Not only did I overcome my excuses but I burnt 800 calories last night! 800! Man that is crazy! It made it worth every bit of embarrassment of those cotton tights.

It got me thinking about how motivated I am right now and I realised this is because of the sense of community I'm feeling. I can post on the 12wbt website and get a reply really fast. I can see I have some readers on this page. I'm really getting to know quite a few people at my gym. I feel like I belong and I feel accountable. So thank you everyone for helping me feel like this. I know that with your help I can be the best I can be!

Weekly weigh in

Well this was really my first weigh in this week. I really started a clean diet this Monday, so it is really only two days of dieting but I did weigh myself last week. On the weekend I went to Brisbane to celebrate my mother's birthday and mother's day so as you can imagine it was a weekend filled with dinners, brunches and wine! Needless to say, the weight loss was not great, but that's ok. As long as I am ready and rearing from now on I am happy.

WEIGHT
Original weight   80.0kgs
Today's weight  79.8kgs
Loss                    .2kgs
Cumulative loss     .2kgs

MEASUREMENTS (taken 14/05)

Bust: 102

Waist: 93

Hip: 102

Buttocks: 110

Thigh: R - 63 L - 64

Arm: R - 35 L - 34.5

Goals... (or lack thereof!)

Doing this has made me realise that I do have goals but I just don't know how to measure them. I mean the weight loss goal is easy. I know that I need to lose 20kgs, and I plan to lose 1kgs a week. Therefore in 20 weeks I should be my goal weight right? I know that my happiness levels (or somewhat lack thereof) is largely based on my weight and my monetary situation. When I have those in line, I am the best version of myself and able to tick every other box with ease. I realise that linking money directly to happiness might be silly for some, but at times I feel like my lack of money holds me back from a lot of things. For example, I would be living in London right now if I had saved enough. Living in London is a goal for me and something that I know will make me happy.

... I guess I just answered my own question then! Obviously my goals need to be weight and money related. Wow, writing a blog does help!

So lets start from the beginning.

My overall goal is happiness.

To achieve this I need to have two smaller goals:

1. Weigh 60kgs (Lose 20kgs) by 30 September 2012!

How?

• 1kg a week (DIARISE!)
• Block out Sunday afternoons to planning the week ahead and making mini goals
• Eat 1200 calories per day
• Stick to my exercise plan

    2.    Save $10,000 by 30 September 2012!

How?

• Get my boyfriend to open a bank account that I can't touch (by 22/06/2012)
• Write a detailed budget (by 20/05/2012)
• Get payroll to deduct the amount I need per my budget from my pay to this account before it goes into my bank account (notify payroll by 22/06/2012)
• Stick to my budget! This should be easy if I never see they money and my boyfriend stays strong :)

Reward...
I truly will be at my best if I have reached these goals and it will enable me to spend the Summer in Australia and move to London in January. Hopefully if my bonus is good enough (which is decided on 30/09/2012 - are you noticing a trend here? I am!) then I'll have a nice stop in at Thailand on the way.

I realise I haven't written weekly goals up here, but I will be putting them in my diary, I assure you!

Writing these out truly was inspirational! Now to get onto the budget, bank account and working out exactly what dates for each weight loss!

Get real - no more excuses!

Summary:

• Now is the time to take full responsibility for yourself, your body and how you think.
• It’s time to reflect on how you see yourself and any self sabotaging habits you possess.
• I cannot want this for you. I cannot get you your results. Only YOU can do this for yourself.
• You’ve got to let go of your excuses. You’ve used them for so long you probably believe them, you’ve enrolled others to believe them too.
• If you want to transform yourself, you’ve got to clear these excuses and make way for a breakthrough.
• Don’t rely on motivation, make exercise part of your day.
• Three types of excuses:
  1. Internal Excuses: The self talk that goes on between the Jekyll and Hyde in your head. For example: I’m too tired, I’m not motivated, I’m so far gone it’s not worth even trying, I’m too unfit, I might fail, I’ll look silly.
  2. External Excuses within your control: These are excuses prompted by external factors but which you still have some control over. For example I’m too busy,  it’s too hot/cold, I can’t afford it.
  3. External excuses outside of your control: These are external factors that you have absolutely no control over, real emergencies. For example a sick child, family crisis, work crisis. Unfortunately there is nothing you can do to get out of these and yes your training or diet may be affected by them.

Wow - we are getting so close to kick off. I'm so excited! I've been thinking about this task for a while but I've been away in Australia (eating lots :S). My boot camp started today so as far as I'm concerned my body transformation starts today! Eeek!

So... excuses. Sigh, I have so many. I tried to write them all down as I used them over the week but then I lost the piece of paper. So lets see what I can do :)

Internal Excuses

1. I'm too tired
• Response: Exercise not only motivates me, it helps me sleep. If I feel too tired I still will go to my session and do minimum 10 mins. If I'm still feeling exhausted after 10 mins then I can stop.  
2. It's impossible for me to go below 75kgs
• Response: That's only because once I've lost a bit of weight I lose interest and revert to my normal eating habits. If I stick to this, not only will I get below 75kgs, but I will get to my goal weight of 60kgs.
3. One cheat meal (or even day!) won't hurt
• Response: In some of these days I can eat more than I should eat in 2 days (maybe even 3). Of course it hurts. If I have a cheat meal I need to do the exercise to work it off!
4. Everyone eats like this
• Response: Well sure, everyone who weighs too much might eat like this. But the person I want to be doesn't eat like this and those people that I admire certainly do NOT eat like this.
5. One missed exercise session won't hurt
• Response: Everything counts towards my goal. EVERYTHING. When I think this I need to think that every missed session reduces my fitness. I need to keep it up to keep improving
6. Surely that food isn't as unhealthy as it looks/ it isn't that many calories
• Response: Come on now Abby, that is just ridiculous. You know very well how many hundreds of calories are in the things you eat, and if you don't - look it up!!
7. Being overweight runs in my family
• Response: Yes your family might be overweight but that isn't because of body type. Look at Ben and Dad who worked hard and now have lost a lot of weight and kept it off easily. There is no such thing as a fat body type! Our bodies are built to be lean.
8. My body carries 80kgs better than others - so I don't really look 80kgs
• Response: Ok, this is just ridiculous. Not only are you short - making it worse but you have a low self confidence when it comes to photos of yourself and not fitting your clothes. You clearly realise you are overweight and everyone can tell!!
9. I'm not motivated
• Response: Fair enough, but go to the gym for 10 mins and then decide. If you are not feeling motivated about food, buy a frozen meal if you have to (or sushi, or salad!)
10. I'll never be skinny
• Response: Losing weight is a science. Of course you will if you follow the plan. No cheating. It's only cheating yourself. Really there is no excuse. JFDI!

External Excuses within my control

1. I'm too busy
• Response: Lets be honest. I'm never too busy. If my work out is at lunch, and I'm busy on the weekend I can just stay back. If my work out is on the weekend and I am too busy then I can just be late for whatever it is I want to do. The weekend is MY time.
2. It's raining
• Response: Ok this does happen a lot in Auckland, especially in the upcoming Winter. But just go to the gym or do a workout DVD. Try for a min of 30 mins on the work out DVD and keep going if you can. I know they aren't the best work out fun, but they work. Don't complain about the small space in the house, you can watch it in the bigger bedroom!
3. I don't like exercising in direct sunlight
1. Response: Well wear a hat, sunglasses and sunscreen and you will be good to go. You know you secretly feel amazing after a day time work out!

External Excuses outside of my control
Hmmm to be honest, these excuses are the minority. I'm much more of an internal excuses girl and not having a family or overly stressful job hardly any emergencies come up. However, if they do, I'll make up that work out during the week.... I'll record how often this is happening if it is happening so that I can hold myself accountable.

Writing this out really makes you realise how stupid some of your excuses are. To be honest, I'm sure I have more so I'll keep adding them as I think of them. It's clear the most of them are internal which is interesting, but I suppose most people are similar. Does anyone else have the ridiculous excuses that I have?

I bought protein bars and shake today. Do many of you do that? It's easy snacks which is great, but at the same time, I feel like if I have one shake for my morning snack and one for my afternoon snack - where does the fruit come in? I'm not really a protein breakfast smoothie person so I stick to my museli. I guess I could have fruit on museli... anyway as always, any tips are appreciated!

-- Abby x

Pre season!

My attmept at those warm up challenges were dismal. I don't even want to talk about it!

However, now that pre season as started, I am ready and roaring to go! I wish we could start tomorrow. I was re-reading 'Crunch time' last night so I know these pre-season tasks are very important. I just hope that I am this motivated at kick off!

I have created a poster at home, and I am going to use it as my inspirational board. It will have pictures of things I find inspiring, like someone with a great, healthy body, or a dress I'd love to wear. I'm also going to put up motivational quotes like my current favourite, 'noone said it would be easy... but it will be worth it!'. And most importantly, I'm going to have a measuring thing that I colour in as my weight loss gets higher. I guess I must be a visual person! Anyway, if anyone is interested I can always add a picture.

Next post - Pre-season challenge 1 - and from now on, I will be sticking to these like glue.

Hope you all are feeling as motivated as I am :)

Warm up challenge 5: Set yourself a meal schedule

Hmm.. I found this task quite hard. I tried to think about my habits and past diets. They've worked when I've made myself wait until a certain time to eat.

Breakfast

I am currently having breakfast at work (museli and a trim latte) so I will make this 830am

Morning tea

I always look forward to my morning snack... usually between 10 and 1030, but since I'm having breakfast quite late I'll make it 1100. I work out at lunch time, so this ensures that I have fuel in my body beforehand.

Lunch

Between 130 and 230 depending on my gym session.

Afternoon tea

Lets make this 330 as I usually am starved at this point! But will hold out until 4 if I can because I'm usually starving by dinner.

Dinner

Whenever I can really!! Lets say 630 - 800pm. I think it is more important to stick to the routine during the day and just eat when I can at home.

Warm up challenge 4: Write down everything you eat

Thurs:
- 1 x trim latte
- Natural museli (homemade) & skim milk
- Salad veggies with a sprinkling of parmesan and 85g tinned tuna
- 1/2 paw paw & 1 banana
- 25g nuts mix
- Chicken (150g approx) and veggie stir fry w/ soy sauce
- 2 marshmellows and about 10 teaspoons of hot chocolate mix - grrr those sweet cravings. Threw out the hot chocolate mix this morning!

I realise that most of this looks very healthy, but it's only because I overdosed on pizza last night!

Fri:
- 1 x trim latte
- Natural museli (homemade) & skim milk
- 1 banana, 1 feijoa, 1 kiwi fruit

Warm up challenge 3: Set yourself an exercise goal

Well I've left this a bit late as I don't have a week, but it can be done! I can ride, walk, run, swim or anything I so desire, as long as I do 30kms!!

Thurs 03/05: Bike 10kms
Fri 04/05:
Sat 05/05:
Sun 06/05: Fun run - 10kms

Warm up challenge 2: Halve non water intake

Ok, I'm partial to about two trim lattes per day, one coke zero per day and on the weekends anywhere from 1 - 8 alcoholic drinks per day! Monday to Friday I have about 2L of water, which I'm happy with.

So... the plan is to have maximum one trim latte per day, no coke zeros, no more than four alcoholic drinks in one sitting (and no more than once a week!) and maintain the water consumption but ensure I have enough on the weekends too.

My drinks consumption:

Thurs 03/05: 1 TL, 1 Peppermint tea (PT), 2L water
Fri 04/05:
Sat 05/05:
Sun 06/05: 

Warm up challenge 1: Make one small change

I'm a bit behind the bandwagon but I'm going to do each of the warm up challenges until the pre season starts.

My change is going to be swapping my daily coke zero with peppermint tea. I'll track my progress below. I know it is only coke zero, so no extra calories, but everytime I have it, it makes me want sweet things. Plus, it just can't be that good for you, can it?!


Thurs 03/05: Done! Wasn't even that bad :)
Fri 03/05:
Sat 03/05:
Sun 03/05:

My 12 Week Body Transformation

Well, well, well... I've signed up to Michelle Bridges 12 Week Challenge. Why, you ask? Why am I submitting myself to a lot of pain, a lot of extra work and giving up my favourite foods?  I know that Michelle Bridges is one hard lady. I know that I am not happy with my current weight or my low self esteem. I know that I need to take drastic action and Michelle can help me do that!

So what’s the first step? To tell you a little about me… I am a 25 year old female, who is not ‘naturally thin’. I am a 165cms and when I was younger I was always average weight. In 2009 or so I weighed 76kgs and I saw a photo of myself and was devastated. I vowed to change and I did. I followed a very strict diet and lost 12kgs. Now I’ve moved to New Zealand in the last couple of years and have ballooned to 80kgs. I am determined not to go over 80kgs. I am sick of going out with friends and being the ‘bigger girl’. I am sick of being ashamed of my weight. It went so far that on the weekend I did a bungee jump and they wrote my weight on my hand. I didn’t want anyone to see it so I hid it from all my friends. That was a low point. I am sick of hating photos being taken of me and I am sick of not having confidence. Naturally I am a very confident person and so my current self esteem is not who I am.

I am interested in health and well being and regularly read about it and anyone that seems to lead a healthy life style is very motivating to me. I am quite knowledgeable about how to lose weight and get fit but the problem is that I eat take away foods too much. I live by myself and when I’m bored I’ll just order in. Even if I have a fridge full of healthy food (I get fresh fruit and veggies delivered every week) I will order delivery. I also buy much more than I need for one person – and I eat well past being full.

I know I can change because I have done it before. What I’m lacking in is motivation. I am willing to listen and absorb everything Michelle tells me to do, because even if I can’t be bothered it is impossible not to have results following what she says. Impossible! So why wouldn’t I just do it? I’m 12 weeks away from a new, happier me. That isn’t very long in the scheme of things. I am ready to start living!

I want to hear from other people who have the same problems and am open to ideas on how to improve myself so please comment away!

- Abby xx