What's my style?

After the big wardrobe clean out last weekend, and with 4 days interstate coming up for the Easter break, I found myself in need of a little clothes shopping. So armed with my very own personal stylist (my gorgeous 22 year old daughter) I headed off to the local Westfield for a Pretty Woman type shopping experience. I came home with loads of stuff, but more because things fit rather than fit in with me I think.

Pre-shopping inventory...

In my wardrobe I had;
A pair of dark denim jeans
A white collared shirt
A grey cardi
A very funky bright purple and silver Adidas tracktop
A blue 1/2 zip polar fleece
A pair of black dance-style trackie dacks
And a borrowed leather jacket which I MAY be too old for.

And in the work side I had;
A french navy skirt, pants & jacket
A white shirt with a soft ruffled neck
A red dress
A white sleeveless lacy top

Lastly, in my drawers I had;
3 x singlet tops (white, blue, orange)
A blue Nike TShirt
A bright purple Champion TShirt
A treasured pair of Lorna Jane 3/4 exercise tights
A blue Lorna Jane TShirt
A blue Lorna Jane long sleeved hoodie

So what conclusions can you draw from my "collections"?
Work wear = conservative & classic
Casual wear = conservative & sporty.
Colours of blue, black, white with a little pop of colour = conservative.

Is that really me?  Am I truly conservative, or opting for safe before finding the real me?  Truth be told, I don't know.  And I guess it's all part of the discovery, or more specifically, rediscovery process of who this person that has appeared in the mirror, the new me, is.

Conservatively yours,

The Biggest Loser

Confession: this is my first season of TBL.  "Gasp!", I hear you say. Weight loss & more specifically, the fact that I needed to lose weight was not something that I'd ever thought about.  So why would I watch a show about fat people crying?

Second confession: I love this show!  Wouldn't miss an episode.

Now that I've done it, lived the life, faced the daily internal punch-up of emotions, hunger cravings that you feel are physically eating away at your stomach lining, a mirror that reflects someone other than who you thought you were, eye-stinging sweat, aching muscles, the fight to get just 2 more reps out.  I get it now.  These people are SO incredibly courageous to not only go through all of the above, but to do so publicly.



So when this opportunity came up for me and a few of the most amazing women I've ever met, flights were booked and off we went. And, although some stories have to stay on the road, I can say that the day FAR exceeded my expectations.

Here's a few snapshots of our trip;

This is me, Nicole & Judy in our team T-Shirts @ Melbourne airport. The lovely Lisa was behind the camera.

Judy, Lisa & Nicole on "the walk" to Sydney Olympic Park.

The trainers - obviously. Commando...droooooooool

No explanation needed (thanks for the pic, Nic)

Not quite sure what Judy had in her water bottle...???

But whatever it was, we all skulled litres of the stuff.

In between all of the perving on Commando, we DID do some exercise.

Our squat technique needs some work!

It really was a GREAT day.  CC12C chicks, YOU ROCK!

mmmmmmmmmm

Blogger Challenge: week 6

I'm a little behind with this week's blogger challenge, but since we're women of our word, we don't just NOT get something done we say we're going to do.  So here's my belated and somewhat bland responses to this week's questions;

1.  What adjustments have you had to make to your exercise regime over the last 6 weeks?
I think I could safely say that I have found "balance" this week.  Early on (including pre-season) I would go hell for leather and then crash.  I'm now following Mish's outdoor intermediate program pretty faithfully, which means that on some days I burn nowhere near 500.  Seems to be working though.

2.  What have you changed in regards to your food intake?
We (and I say we coz my amazingly, brilliantly supportive man is a large part of our nutrition plan) don't follow Mish's plan all that much.  When the menu is released each week, we discuss the things we'd like to try from it and forget about the rest.  We have though, built up a short-list of about 3 absolute favs which we'll have every week, and mix these in with other recipes either from the program or Mish's recipe books.  Monday night is ALWAYS salmon stir-fry...love, love, love it.  Caramalised Pork is also in there, and Sunday is ALWAYS a roast so the man has something tasty for his sangers during the week.

Huge shout out to the man right here - for a fussy eater, you've come a loooong way.  The biggest thank you for giving everything I serve up a go - even if it does make you pull faces at times. xx

3.  What is the difference in your mindset?
I don't know the old me any more.  I exercise because I want to, and I don't give up until I'm done.  In fact, that little demonic voice inside your head that tells you that you can't do something... gone!  When I train, I go hard.  I push myself continuously, making the move harder or bigger, the distance longer, the time shorter.  I just do it.
Where food related mindset is concerned, I've been pretty darn good since the day the penny dropped, so there's not a lot of change around this area.  I'm just not tempted.  I want it too much to screw it all up now.

As we're at the half way point, I'm a lot more relaxed about the program. I intend to use these next 6 weeks to consolidate and make sure that these habits become unbreakable.  It's all just a series of choices and I'm not interested in regretting mine - life's too short for that.

Week 7 weigh in (my week 21)

There was a party, parade, festival type celebration in my bathroom this morning.  Coz of this...

Current Weight: 74.7kg
Last week:      77.6kg
Week's loss:          -2.9kg 
So far:         -22.3kg   




What an incredibly incredible week!  I'm actually a bit lost for words.

Healthy BMI. Goal weight.

Enough said.

In the closet

Had a bit of fun today cleaning out my wardrobes...

Casual side

Work side

And filling up all of those empty hangers is going to be even more fun :)

Bon Voyage 20kg

I'm still in disbelief to be honest.  I've been struggling to shift decent numbers for a while, and then Friday morning I woke up and nearly fell off the scales.  76.8kg. I weighed myself 3more times just to make sure.  This morning I was kind of expecting to have gained again coz that's how my body rolls, but no.  Another 200g loss. 76.6kg.

So I'm now allowing myself to officially celebrate the removal of 20kg of disgusting FAT. A stretched size 18 to a comfortable 12.  I am a size 12.  I've been fat and disinterested in life for so long that I just can't believe it. I'm beyond proud of myself.

Who is that fat, lazy, unhealthy looking frump on the left???  She's checked out for good!

Week 6 weigh in (my week 20)

Current Weight: 77.6kg
Last week:      77.3kg
Week's loss:         +0.3kg 
So far:         -19.4kg   




I wasn't going to post my weigh in this week - have you noticed the + against this week's loss? Last week I was super pumped about crossing the magic 20kg gone mark, but my body just didn't want to come to the party!

I've confessed that I weigh daily, and my week went a little like this;
Wednesday     77.3kg
Thursday         77.2kg
Friday             77.2kg
Saturday          78.4kg  Yep - 1.2kg OVERNIGHT!
Sunday            78.2kg
Monday           78.3kg
Tuesday           78.0kg

So in some ways, I did feel relief when Wednesday came around and I was back in the 77's, but man oh man was I sulky biatch over the weekend.  I went down the whole "It isn't fair", "I've worked so hard", "Other people eat crap and still lose big numbers" road, as if that was going to make me drop kilos.

Now that the scales are moving again I've cleared some head-space to look at what's going on in my life and WHY I gained back 3 weeks of losses in a day.

1.  I've added the strength training component of Mich's program into my routine, hence not burning as many calories.
2.  My sleeping patterns have been all over the place - as in not getting enough.
3.  The weekend work cycle of my job has kicked in which has thrown out my routines.
4.  I'm exercising less.  Playing the too busy card.
5.  My lake walk has been closed off due to the Grand Prix.

Basically, I've spent the last 2 weeks feeling out of control, and the week before that pretending I was coping.  The only difference has been my mindset.  When I feel like I can't cope with  work and life I'm the first thing that I give up on.  Shouldn't I be the last?

I made a commitment to work no more than 40 hours a week, and here I am back up into the 60's again.  THIS IS WHAT GOT ME FAT IN THE FIRST PLACE.

Can you guess how long it's been since I went to gym???  Yep, a bit over 2 weeks. Excuses, excuses, excuses.

Here's my plan for the next week;
1.  Stick to the actual exercise program - 6 days - NO EXCUSES
2.  Lights out at 10.30pm
3.  Make some new routines that will carry through until September.
4.  Take at least 1 day off each week to balance the weekend work.
5.  Be gentle with myself.