Thursday-ness (a long post about nothing in particular)

I love Thursdays.  It's my mid-week weekend that I get to spend pretty much however I want.  Usually, during the busy season at work, I'll do exactly that - work.  But not this week. Nuu Ah.

Tried something new this morning (brave, right?).  Deep Water Workout class lead by the lovely Nina.  What a workout it was!  Racing heart rate. Engaged core. Muscle fatigue with no joint soreness.  Ahhhh.  Yes, it may be exercise for oldies, but hey, I am getting on a bit :)  Really loved it and will definitely be back!

By the time I got home and showered I was STARVING, so quickly threw this together;

2 x Corn Thins - soy and linseed 47 cals +

Coles Italian style Tuna  59 cals =

106 calories of YUM!

It's the first time in months and months and months that I've hung washing out on the line.  Exciting, eh?

And followed it up with a little shopping, a little sushi, a little more shopping.

After a nanna nap, brought on by that deep water workout for sure, I challenged our culinary comfort zone and tried something NEW for dinner; Meat pie with mushy peas and a side salad.

It was so good "the man" rated it 9 out of 10 and will happily eat it again.  Geez he's been a trouper with his food experimentation.

So that's the end of my really mediocre yet incredibly awesome day :)

Weigh In - R3 - Week 1

You'd think that a 900g gain on the back of a 300g gain the previous week would send me visiting stress city for a week long vacation, but not this time scales.  You guys don't fool me for a minute.



Current Weight: 68.3kg
Last week:      67.4kg
Week's loss:   +0.9kg   
So far:        -28.7kg 




A couple of weeks ago I had a doctor enforced exercise ban for the two weeks prior.  I kept up the clean eating, coz that's just how we live now, but in week 11 I had a massive loss of 2.5kg.  Sure I celebrated as it got me down to the 30kg lost point, but I knew that it was mostly a loss of all that muscle I had been building up throughout the round.

Naturally when I started exercising again, the muscle would find it's way home, and I must have left the light on coz I can sure feel their return right about now.  Achy, achy, achy - but in a good way.

So mentally, I'm going back to that 2.5kg loss and subtracting the past fortnight's 1.2kg gain, which still gives me a 1.3kg loss over the last 3 weeks.  Plus my clothes are looser - even my brand new size 10's have room.

This time last round I would have freaked out to see gains like this. I'm just going to keep on doing my thing, which is actually Mish's thing, and trust that my body will balance itself out over time and find it's own healthy weight range.  But please can that be below 70kg???

Fully sick maaaaate

Day one of a new round and it's all woohoo in my head today!  Lurve a new round.  A chance to re-set any crappy habits that may have crept in.  To forgive any slip-ups, and to re-set goals for the coming 3 months.

This morning I woke up still undecided on which exercise program I would follow.  My time trial was good enough for advanced, so the choices were Lean & Fit, Lean & Strong or 10km running.

After a 10 minute internal debate, backing it up for another round of Lean & Fit seemed like a plan.  But... this time I would make sure I did ALL of each session at maximum intensity and a faster pace.

I haven't been running well, or far lately, but...

and the torture doesn't end there...

I wasn't feeling too great after those Ice Skaters & it was welcome to spew-town for me.  Never mind - I got straight back to it and hit that abs circuit out of the park.

Day 1: 674 calories burnt.

Food was great too;

Bran with fruit & yoghurt (with a sprinkle of chia seeds & LSA)

Favo all time meal - Salmon stir fry - a Monday night staple in this house :)

All in all, I'm pretty happy with day 1.  Bring. It. On.

An act of balance

Some days I feel as though I have completely got my shite together.  You know those days when you're organised, calm, in control, on time?  The days that everything just runs smoothly, no one pisses you off and life is...well...good.

The last couple of days haven't been like this.

I'm tired, hungry, bored yet busy, restless yet lazy.  I'm in a bit of a funk.  And my mood is having flow on effects too.  The scales - God love them - have decided that although I'm exercising most days and eating well (and creating a daily calorie deficit) they would prefer to be a whole kilogram higher than Wednesday's weigh in.  So I'm having a little freak out that my 30kg loss is about to be eroded.  And I'm also wondering in chicken and egg style - what came first?
Is it my mood that's effecting the scales, or the scales that are putting a downer on my state of mind?

I've also noticed that JFDI (just freaking do it) isn't cutting it this week.  I'm busy and under a fair amount of pressure - both time and persuasive argument type - at work, but have rarely left my desk before 7pm this week.  When I get home, I'll happily cook the healthy dinner from my meal plan, but then having to clean up the kitchen as well is really. starting. to. piss. me. off.  And until now it hasn't.  So much so that Thursday night, the old boy went off to his guitar lesson and offered to bring home dinner.  We used to live on takeaway - seriously, probably 4 nights a week if not more.  And as much as I wanted to say, "no, we don't eat like that any more", I just had nothing.  No JFDI.  Just KFC.  Which unfortunately doesn't stand for Kicking Fat to the Curb.  I gotta say, it was disgusting.  Tasteless.  Fatty.  Soggy.  But I still downed a small chips and sweet chilli twister.  Blah!

So many of the girls in our local 12wbt crew have described similar lapses in mojo, but until now I hadn't experienced one for myself.  I guess I was arrogant enough to think that after living this life for 9 months, every bad habit of my past was exactly that, in the past.

But I have a plan to restore the balancing act.  I'm going to cut myself some slack for the next two days.  No pressure to exercise.  No stressing about food. Just get through this last weekend of work madness, have a cleansing day of light diet and a long walk on Monday, and hopefully, by being kind to myself instead of beating myself up, I'll find that mojo and his friends move back in for the Spring.

Weigh in - R2 - Week 12

That's it!  Round 2 is over.  And it feels weird.

Somewhere in the midst of this round (a round is a 12 week long body transformation program) it stopped being a program that had a beginning and an end, and just became the way we live now.

Round 3, which I've  also signed up for, rolls straight into this one, rather than the four weeks delay while the "pre-season" tasks are revealed.  This is just fine and dandy with me, coz they're now ingrained habits, but there is one pre-season task that I MUST re-visit and that's goal setting.  But me thinks that's an entire post of it's own!

Anyhoo...



Current Weight: 67.4kg
Last week:      67.1kg
Week's loss:   +0.3kg   
So far:        -29.6kg


As you can see I got incredibly close to my 67kg target.  In fact, at one stage in the week I was smack on the mark, but as usually happens, Wednesday is not known for being my skinniest day of the week, and I've had a slight increase.

Has my round been a success?  I certainly think so, but I'll let you judge for yourself...

I didn't just lose another 5.2kg after I was already in the healthy weight range.  I also lost centimetres in places I didn't expect, and gained a heck of a lot of fitness. At 44, I'm definitely in the best shape AND health of my adult life...

...and am without doubt the HAPPIEST I have EVER been :)

Reflecting on round 2

So close to the end of my second round of 12wbt - it's literally flown by.  And here we are at the final blogger challenge for the round.

Before I start - a HUGE thank you to Jayne for hosting the challenge and stepping above and beyond her comfort zone while helping others to do the same. xx


1. How are you feeling about the 12WBT program now that you have almost completed it?
This was my second consecutive round, and I feel that I got just as much out of it as the first time around.  I feel on top of the world.  A completely different person.

2. Looking back on what you wrote in week 1, did you achieve all that you were hoping to?

I achieved every. single. goal. I set out to achieve this round.  Even the ones I didn't think I had a hope in hell of reaching.  Weight, fitness, work balance.  Tick, tick, tick.

3. Did you find that blogging was beneficial to your 12WBT journey? Will you continue to blog once this round is over?

Absolutely on both counts. This is my second blog.  The last one was a journal following our new home build, and I met some terrific people through that experience.  Blogging about 12wbt has also been great, but for different reasons.  My last blog had a fairly decent readership and of those, many were experienced bloggers who understand the "etiquette" for want of a better word.  I found it harder to engage readers with this blog, so this round I've been writing for me and no-one else. That's kind of liberating in an unexpected way.

4. Did your exercise go according to plan or did you have to change it around compared with what you wrote in Week 1?

I DID have to change my exercise up a fair bit as the round progressed.  I carried a few minor, yet limiting injuries this round, so I had to find other ways to break a sweat. And I definitely didn't expect to fall so deeply in love with running.  It's not an obsession, just a joyful release on those days when it feels good.  Unfortunately there are also days when it's just a damn hard slog.  But they make you appreciate the good days all the more.

5. How did your greatest strength help you this round? Was it as you thought it would?

My inner competitor came out to play BIG TIME during this round.  When I say inner, I mean self-competition, rather than against others.  Failing just hasn't been an option, and I feel I've become a lot stronger mentally as a result.

6. Did the fears that you outlined in Week 1 come to pass? How/how not?

My biggest fear was injury. And (as I touched on above) although the injuries I did have were relatively minor, I just took them in my stride and continued on as best I could.  There's still that nagging fear of re-injuring my back or knee, but after such extensive rehab following both surgeries, it's only natural, and probably a good thing that I do hold an element of fear.

7. What is the most valuable lesson you have learned from this program?

WOW!  Tough question.  I've learnt so many things.  Probably the power of choice.  That everything I do is a choice.  I either can or I can not.  And the line between the two is up to me.

8. In question 9 of the Week 1 challenge question, you wrote about your downfall. How did you go with this challenge over the last 11 weeks?

I don't remember what my biggest downfall was - probably snacking at night.  I've ditched that habit, and that container of lollies (my biggest weakness) that sits at the bottom of the pantry hasn't even had the lid flipped open - by me - for about 5 weeks. This was partly willpower and partly reading the book "sweet poison".

9. What is your biggest achievement since the start of the program? What are you the most proud of?

There have been so many this round;

• Running at 16kph on the treadmill
• Competing in my first 5km race - and not walking at any point
• Reaching goal weight, then re-setting my goal, and reaching that too.
• Buying size 10 clothes
• Becoming more confident in my professional life.

10. Will you be coming back for another round of the 12WBT?

I've already signed up!
Not sure what I'llget out of a third round, but I'll never know unless I give it a go.  And when I reach the point of reflection at the end of a round and feel that I've learnt all there is to learn, well then I'll know that I'm done!

A recovering food addict

Hi, I'm Raelene, and I'm a food addict.

Yet if I was an addict of another kind in recovery there would be so much more support.  (Not that this post is in any way intended to judge those that ARE addicts of ANY kind!).

As food addicts, we are constantly bombarded with temptation.

If you manage to avoid the "bad" aisles in a supermarket, there will be plenty more brightly packaged, super addictive, and completely yummy items as you get to the checkout.

You go out for a coffee and there's always a display case filled with cakes, slices, and other goodies that we associate with guilt when we eat.  If you're with other people who wish to partake but you don't, do they accept your decision and leave it alone, or do they tell you that one won't hurt you?

Most work meetings or catered events consist of sandwiches on white bread and a platter of slices or muffins.  What are you to do?  Refuse and go hungry, or break with the standards that you're trying to set for yourself?

So just imagine these three situations in a different context - that of an alcoholic;
(and you could interchange this for any type of addiction)

You go to the supermarket, the alcohol is separate.  But what if it was on offer at the point of sale?

The coffee scenario - what if we changed it up slightly and you were out at a bar with friends.  If they knew you were recovering, would they offer you a drink anyway?  And would they even ask you to meet them at a bar in the first place?

And in the work situation, well I guess it's a little like Friday night drinks.  Although no-one turns their noses up at you if you refuse a beer.  And there's always a non-alcoholic option (at least in my experience).  Plus, you can just not go, which isn't an option with catered meetings.


I guess the point I'm trying to make in a very long-winded way is that for those of us on a weight-loss journey, it's bloody hard out there.  And although I'm at "goal weight" whatever the heck that means, it doesn't lessen the temptation, and I certainly don't consider myself "cured".  The thing that I'm addicted to is shoved in my face several times a day (not literally - I would keep my mouth closed if someone was shoving crappy food in my direction - most of the time at least) and there's absolutely nothing I can do to avoid it.  It's everywhere.

All we can do is take it one day, one meal, one win, however small at a time :)