Accountability!!

For the past week or so I have been contemplating if I am going to be continuing with Weight Watchers or not. Don't get me wrong, I fully believe in Weight Watchers but right now all I use it for, is to step on a scale once a week. I rarely stay for the meetings due to time restrictions and two boys who would rather be somewhere else than at WW meeting. This is also a costly weigh in and that money right now could be used for other things. I also pay a Personal Trainer who does more and weighs me. ((grin)) Why pay twice??

The advantage in staying with Weight Watcher's is accountability and support. The incentive to not look like as Ass when you step on the scale. You want to have lost and not have picked up. Not that anyone makes you feels horrid if you have and fortunately it has only happened to me once or twice in my 20 week odd journey so far.

I rarely have big weight losses anyway. I spend a lot of time at the gym : 3 Personal training sessions, 3 Spinning classes and a Zumba class. A couple of weeks ago there were days when I would go to gym twice a day but my PT has insisted that I cut back on the amount I was doing, the concern being I was doing way too much. I am considering sneaking my Pilates session back in. I miss it!! So the scale is not showing much but the centimeters lost is.

I am 100% committed to my new healthy lifestyle and that is just it, it is about the lifestyle and not just about the weight loss. In the past when I have dieted and lost and then returned to bad habits, *voila* all the weight is back on and more!! I wish I had understood this before - losing the weight is not enough!! You need to change your lifestyle to make it a success!! Weight Watchers was the first step in my Journey and that is why a part of me still desperatley wants to hang on to it. But seriousely how many scales do we need to step on???

Shortly after joining WW's, I then signed up at one of the Virgin Active gyms locally and I have gone from strength to strength. I LOVE IT!! I live for how I feel after a good workout. I live for the *good* pain and do my best to avoid the *bad* pain (injury). I have to wonder how many times I have used these words said by Tara of The Biggest Loser : "You can do this, you have it within you. You have to be uncomfortable to grow". I hope I got the quote right, forgive me if I haven't. Those words have got me through many a Spinning session when my muscles are burning and one part of me wants to get off that bike and quit and then I just start saying those words over and over again in my head and next thing I know, I've survived the class and we're cooling down. There is nothing like the feeling of saying 'I did it and SURVIVED!!'.

So my thinking is, I don't need to step on a bathroom scale, a Weight Watchers scale and a gym scale to have them tell me the same thing. One should be enough and according to some, one is too many, but I'm not quite ready to throw my Bathroom Scale away. Maybe one day........

As of now I have lost 10 kilograms BUT I've dropped 2 Jean sizes and that means more to me than any number on a scale.......but the woman in me just refuses to part with the scale....Crazy, I know....

Exercise Journal

* 45 min. Spinning Class

different instructor today - Katherine (Personal Trainer) It was a fabulous 'killer' class!!

And want to share this article with all of you, I found it through Hanlie on Twitter - think I'm finally getting the hang of Twitter. :))

http://www.patbarone.com/WeightLossTip39.htm

I'll elaborate more tomorrow (hopefully) why this article has struck a cord with me today.

Today's Attitude of Gratitude

* Rest days

* New friends

* My bathroom scale even if I don't love it right now

* Friends and family

Exercise Journal

* Rest Day!!

Today's Attitude of Gratitude

* Those boys of mine :)

* April, my Personal Trainer

* Spinning

* Gym

* Shenaye the Gen. Manager of my gym - a beautiful woman

* Lynne, my Spinning Instructor this morning - Love ya

Exercise Journal

* Spinning - Endurance (45 minutes)

* Personal Training (1 hour)

Today's Attitude of Gratitude

* April, my Personal Trainer - she is one fabulous woman!!

* My achy muscles

* and let's not forget all my guys who are 100% supporting me all the time. Got to love them.

Exercise Journal :

1 X 1 hour Personal Training session at the gym.

The Missouri 60 Challenge

Wow, another first for me.

Check out the Challenge details here :

http://theantijared.blogspot.com/2009/06/missouri-60.html

I am really looking forward to this 60 day Challenge and cannot wait to see the changes that take place.

Hugs

Mich

Shrinking denims!! and other stuff.....

The ever shrinking denims!! I love it!! I live for it and thrive on it!! The change room is no longer a place to fear but a place where I get to prove to myself just how well I am doing.

My weekly dose of exercise:

3 X Personal Training sessions

3 X 45 min Spinning classes

1 X Zumba class

And how about trying this out - I think it is a cool idea:

http://www.healthytippingpoint.com/2009/06/operation-beautiful.html

Got to wonder how long a note would last at my gym and there is only one way to find out. ((grin))

It is Friday (TGIF!!) and my favourite local singer, Kurt Darren has released his English album today. Woohoooo!! Hubby had a good chuckle when I asked him if I could get it for him for Father's day which reminds me, I better take the boys to the shops to get Dad something. ((smile))

Have a super weekend!!!

Hugs

Michelle

Try something new....

Trying something new generally strikes 'fear' into me. In attempts to try and vary our evening meals I decided to give a recipe that I found in the June issue of The Shape magazine a try - Crunchy Bulgur Wheat Salad.

I've never tried Bulgur wheat before nor have I cooked it and last night was going to be a night of firsts. With loads of 'you can do this' talks to myself, I bravely stepped into the kitchen with my packet of Bulgur Wheat (no problems finding it in our local shops - shoooooo) I got going - now my boys realising a new recipe was being attempted left me alone to my own devices in the kitchen. I tend to get stressed, panicky, and could potentially end up screaming blue murder....no wonder they don't brave the kitchen on experimental dishes. LOL

I have no clue what Bulgar wheat should like once cooked or how it should taste - so I think I put my bravest foot forward on this one and just went for it. I got the Bulgur Wheat on the go, the veggies roasting in the oven and the chicken breast grilling. Then put it all together and all I can say is 'WoW!!" The taste buds didn't choke, no sudden urges to throw up or any those moments of wondering what the hell was in my mouth - just *ABSOLUTE TASTE BUDDING BLISS*

On this journey of mine to find the 'skinny me' within - I am opening myself up to a lot of new experiences and trying things I never ever thought I would. Thankfully I have been more pleasantly surprised than disappointed.

I am trying new ideas in the kitchen, change rooms are not as scary, I'm loving my gym workouts, I have a personal trainer who I adore, I'm addicted to Spinning and I look forward to the day I can actually get the bike I want.

So what are you up to today that makes you feel good...????

It takes planning and being prepared

When I think about it, this would be my greatest downfall - not planning meals properly and not being prepared. The meals that always go *south* are those that have not been planned or prepared for.

This week has most certainly had it's ups and downs and reflecting back on the meals that went *south* is because I had not thought them through. The meat/chicken was still frozen in the freezer, I hadn't bought the correct ingredients and/or if I thought I had something in the fridge chances are it was there to long and was not edible.

In refelction of this week, two nights ended up with take-aways. One night Pizza and another night KFC and boy did I not enjoy the KFC - hubby ended up eating mine. It just was not enjoyable. Lunch is easier if we are at gym as getting a salad or healthy wrap is easy.

We quite enjoy wraps but finding Low GI has been a problem until yesterday. Yesterday, I managed to get Low GI wraps from one retailer and also came across some Wholewheat ones - clearly I have been looking in all the wrong places.

To ultimately keep on track you need to do a couple of things:

* Plan - Your meals in advance (weekly works best in this household)

* Plan - Make that shopping list and get what you need.

* Prepared - Make sure you are on top of your meals that day (take what you need out of the freezer - thinking about it an hour before you need to prepare your meal won't help)

* Fresh - if you need to purchase it fresh, do it after you have had breakfast or lunch - shopping when you're hungry is a no-no and will lead a path to junk food.

* Packing healthy snacks when out and about is a good way to avoid buying junk as well.

My weak moment!! - we've had an extremely cold snap this week. We had a couple of days where it rained on top of it all. The last place I feel like being was in the kitchen. *smile* Looking back I learned something about me, next time I will be prepared.

Hugs, keep strong and PLAN, Plan, plan......

Michelle

Overtraining????

For the past 3 weeks or so, possibly even longer I have heard this word alot and I have heard it a lot when it comes to me and my enthusiasm to workout. Yesterday I got home and just wanted to shout 'I quit'.....'what do you people expect from me'......'talk about someone else for a change'.....'I'm happy, thank you very much'.......BUT after taking a deep breath and some reflection came the realisation that in the past two weeks my workout schedule has been readjusted. I am no longer at the gym everyday and rarely or if at all twice a day anymore. I am comfortable with what I am doing although I cannot claim to feel comforable about the amount of exercising I am doing.

Sunday, Monday and Tuesdays : Personal Training (1 hour sessions)

Tuesday : Spinning (before my PT session)

Wednesday: Rest day

Thursday : Spinning

Friday: Zumba

Saturday : Rest day

Everyone is concerned that one day I am going to wake up and say 'screw it' and give up. I know that right now that is NOT going to happen. I feel committed and thankfully I am still enjoying my gym experience.

This is a great article on overtraining :

http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/fitness_articles.asp?id=508

a bit from the article :

"The cause of overtraining is simple. You’re not resting enough to allow your body time to recover, or you’re doing the same exercises too much. Here are some common symptoms of overtraining:

• Feeling tired, drained, and lacking energy
• General body aches or mild muscle soreness
• A decrease in performance
• Inability to complete workouts
• Headaches
• Insomnia
• Lack of motivation"

I am slowly learning to listen to my body. I know it needs to rest. There is, however, a part of me that wants to be doing more and I really enjoy my time at gym. This might be because it means I get about an hour or so to myself, some me time!! That is very rare for me. I can get on the treadmill and zone out - listen to my music and just chill.

Weight Watchers : Week 18 and we're down, down, down.......

I finally reached my first goal. It took longer than I had hoped it would but I finally achieved it and moved beyond it. Now to the next short-term goal.

I am impressed with myself that I have stuck with WW's for so long and it is now becoming a way of life. By now I have usually fallen off the wagon. I know this time around that something just clicked in this head of mine and there is a REAL determination to do better but not just for the short term but for life. It is very hard to see it as a diet but more as a way of life. This is how it should be.

As you know, I recently started Spinning classes at the gym and now I'm most certainley addicted, so much so, that I have decided to add another class to my weekly gym schedule. I now I have 3 Personal Training sessions a week, 2 Spinning sessions and 1 Zumba session. I have taken a short break from Pilates and will start this up again soon. Yoga is on hold for a bit longer.

I have also been trying out the Wii Personal Trainer and hopefully in the next week or so I'll give you a full report back BUT for now I will say this nothing beats April (my Personal Trainer).

Something else that has been on my mind is cycling. Hopefully in the next few months I will finally be able to purchase the bike I have my eyes on. In November it is the 94.7 Cycle Challenge and I'm thinking of going the whole hog on this and doing the big race. Ant says he is behind me 100% in whatever I decide but his concerns are my concerns and I can only hope I can work around them. The one big one is training alone for this.....safety being the biggy!!

Have a super week. Stick to those goals.

Hugs

Mich

It's a constant battle....

Me :  May 2009

Me : December 2008

.......and I know it is not going as fast as I had hoped but I'm hanging in there.  Some days it feels like two steps forward then a step backwards but I'm in persevere mode.  Is there a difference - I can only hope so.  Since I started this journey somewhere in February I have only lost about 8 Kg's (17.6 Lbs) - there is a need to push this journey into overdrive.  I'll be honest the past few weekends have not been easy diet wise and I know I did not make the best choices but I chose to deal with the consequences and that was that in no way was the scale going to be kind to my misgivings.  I'm hoping the social calendar is returning to back to just hanging out home with the family.

This weekend we were able to upgrade Ant's Cellular phone which meant we were looking for the best deals possible.  We managed to get an upgrade with a Wii.  Yeah, you read right.  We got a Nintendo Wii and we have had fun since we connected it up.  We just have the Sports games but we all get involved and I'm not quite sure when we have laughed so much together as a family.  We got off our butts and had some fun.  I'll say this the boxing is a killer.  LOL   So I now have the EA Active Personal Trainer game calling my name (has anybody got it and what do you think??), I see that in October they are also releasing 'The Biggest Loser' game as well.  I seriousley hope we can get it in South Africa.  Wonder if the boys will let me have some play time.  LOL

I have this goal to do the 94.7 10km Moutain Bike race/challenge in November.  What is scary is last I dreamt that I had decided to do the big one.  The road race which is approximately 94.7 km's.  Not sure I'd ever be ready for that, who knows??  In my dream I wasn't quite prepared - well I was, the bike wasn't.  I had dodgy breaks - Ant hadn't adjusted them as promised the night before, I didn't have a puncture kit or pump in case of flats.......LOL  Just where was this dream going??  To top it all off I was in the last group to be set off on this race and getting to the halfway cut was going to be close time wise....OMG!!!  Why this dream.... ???

Have a super weekend everyone!!

Hugs

Michelle