Checking in....

I have a little bit of time before my anatomy lecture, so I thought I would do a quick post to let you all know that I am still around.

I'm a bit all over the place at the moment, I want to just get on with this whole weightloss thing, but it always seems to just get pushed to the side when everything else comes up. I don't want it to be this way. I want to get back into it and I want it to be how it was before... Eating better, regular exercise and feeling great.... Oh, and fitting into my clothes!!!

Sadly, I just don't think it can be like that again. I finally understand how people struggle when they have a family and how many time restraints there are, not to mention just feeling exhausted!

I don't want this to be my excuse though, I am far too stubborn to give up and to let it beat me... I figure as long as I am trying to do what I can and make better decisions the better I am in general.

Poor planning = piss poor performance

And this is where I am at he moment. I haven't done any meal planning, I've been busy with a little money to do a proper grocery shop and overwhelmed by Uni atm (exams in 3 weeks and I'm not doing so well!)

What I am thinking at the moment is that in 4 weeks Uni will be done for the year, while I will be (hopefully) taking on more shifts, I think it will be less pressure and stress overall and I would like to spend the summer time focussing on weightloss and hopefully putting some routines in place so that when Uni comes back I can keep those going.

'Cos I Said Sew - My little Etsy Store

Hi All!!

Just a quick little post on the run!  I thought I would pop in and let you all know that I have decided to set up an etsy store!  This is to sell all of my crafty bits and pieces along the way, as I tend to get into a tangent and then have too much of what I make!!

So, pop by and check it out :D

'Cos I Said Sew

Weigh In!!

Look! It's Wednesday and I am actually here, writing a post about my weigh in this morning!!!

(Although I should be writing up study cards for anatomy... you know, attempting to be organised and all that...)

So, weigh in...

I haven't really tracked anything this week, and I still haven't done any exercise, but I'm just taking each day as it comes and trying to do the best I can... although I seem to be having massive sugar cravings atm... no idea why though... I have wondered if maybe it was something to do with the whole 'missing out' concept...

I lost 400g this week, which I am happy with.  I have aimed for 500g a week, and considering there was no calorie counting and no exercise, this is a good place to be in!!

I think though, I will get up early tomorrow morning and get a walk in before uni... I need to get this routine going again :)  I also might go for another bushwalk this weekend... I loved getting out there... will be good to do it again!

Also, I have updated the Progress page with measurements, and I have cheated a little and put up the photo of me at the wedding a couple of weeks ago.  I know it's not this weeks one, but at least there is a pic there!

Update

Ok, so now that I have gotten that little tangent out of the way, you will have noticed that I haven't updated for a little while... this is because I have had mid semester exams on all week, so it has been heads down, bum up for a little while.

I am happy to come in and tell you all that at weigh in on Wednesday I lost 1kg!! I was pretty happy with that!!  It was good to see that tracking what I was eating and exercising each day (mostly walking) helped.

This week has been a bit of a different story, not that I have done anything outrageous or anything, but there have been a couple of days where I haven't tracked and I haven't done any exercise at all...  I am ok with this as my mind has been on uni and I am taking this as a long-term journey... and these things happen... like the Tupperware party I had yesterday where we made scones... haha!!

Environmental Impact

Today on Facebook there was an interesting conversations going on when a company I like and follow (Cushie Tushies) posted the picture below

 

 

Ever since I was young (primary school age), I have had an interest in environmentalism.  In fact, my family used to make fun of me for being a "hippy" or a "greenie"... luckily I am far to stubborn to listen to the teasing and have always remained a bit of a "hippy". 

 

The thing is, over the years, I have kind of dropped off on the whole environmentalism thing, but there are a few fundamental aspects that I still follow.

 

In my mind, I am always looking for ways to reduce my impact... like using the Nude Food Movers so that I don't need to use plastic sandwich bags, or having a separate bin next to the rubbish for recycling and then teaching Miss 4 to know what goes into which bin.  There is also the worm farm, which means that I can put my food scraps and coffee grounds in there which will act as a compost and can then go into my veggie garden which reduces the amount of carbon emissions associated with not buying food locally.

 

Additionally, there is also the aspect of buying packaged foods, not only can these be worse for us nutritionally, but there are usually individual packets, which then mean more waste.

 

One of the really scary things I noticed was that each disposable nappy takes about 450 years to decompose!!  I find this so scary as I can't imagine the amount of disposables that could possibly be in landfill right now!!

 

This is one of the reasons why I love the idea of fabric nappies...  I have had friends use them in the past and they have told me about them, and then I met the founder of Cushie Tushies through the 12WBT and I have been following her page ever since... I had decided that when I had a baby that I would use these nappies, but after seeing this picture, it has really solidified it for me.

 

Right now, I feel like the biggest preacher, but the point of all of this was actually noticing how much I do to actively make a difference... I know that I am not perfect, and that there is a lot more that I can do, but it's nice to know that I am doing a little bit each day to help.

Saturday Morning Bushwalk

This morning I went for my bushwalk as planned.  It was great to get out there again with the walking, and I was lucky to have a friend come with me. 

 

As I said in a previous post, I really love bushwalking, there is something about being out in nature that is so relaxing yet invigorating.

 

Unfortunately, the walk didn't exactly go to plan.  Our 2.6km walk which should have taken about 30 minutes, ended up taking about an hour... and was probably about 4.5km... the thing is, we got to a certain point, and then there were no signs and no clear path.  I had a quick look at the gps/maps on my phone and the road would have taken us the wrong way... so being the daughter of a ranger and having learned that only fools leave the path, we turned around and walked back the way we knew, hence the extra time and distance.

 

All in all, it was great.  It was nice to get out in nature, great to catch up with a friend, and an awesome but accidental extra workout.  I ended up burning 450 calories!! Haven't had a workout like that for a while... and the best part is, it didn't even feel like it!!

Fit Bit

Have you guys seen these? They seem to be all the rage at the moment.

I have to admit that I love gadgets!  When I go for walks at the moment, not only am I wearing my Polar FT4, but I am also wearing a pedometer and using an app on my phone to track my walk!!

The Fit Bit, from what I can tell is just awesome!  There are a couple of models, so as you go up in price the more features it has.  The best part about them all is that they are wireless and will actually sync to your computer or phone.  Which means that it's a great way to track all of your activity levels and graphs them out - I am a sucker for a good graph!! You can also 'challenge' friends and it also connects with other trackers like My Fitness Pal so that you can see the whole calories in/out ratios

The one that I have seen everywhere is the Zip, this one offers:

• wireless connections
• connects to the iPhone 4 & 5
• steps taken
• calories burned
• distance travelled

The Zip is about $70.

There is also another called Ultra, it offers:

• wireless connections
• connects to the iPhone 4 & 5 & Android (but what bugs me about this is that there is no Windows app for it!! bah!)
• steps taken
• calories burned
• distance travelled
• stairs climbed
• tracks sleeping patterns

The Ultra is about $120... and I have to say... I want this one!! I love how much that it can do, but I really love the extras.  We have stairs at home which I seem to always be climbing up and down, and I really like the idea of having it track my sleeping patterns as well, as I would just find it so interesting!

One thing I do wonder though, is how it all works, is it like a pedometer where it reacts to movement (although if it connects to MapMyRun it must have GPS in it), and I am wondering if it's better than a HRM... I can't imagine that it is... but I am not sure... I have to say that while the website looks flashy, it doesn't seem to give answers.

But, speaking of gadgets, while I was on their site, I came across a wireless scale called the Aria, now this is about $150, but I love it!! I love that it is a wireless scale!  No trying to trick yourself about when you weigh in - it logs it all for you!!  I just love that!!

It tracks:

• body weight
• BMI
• body fat %

Right now I am dreaming about these little tools, but as I said, I am a gadget girl!!

Walking

Well, I have been getting those walks in!!!

 

Yesterday morning I really struggled to get out of bed... I was just so tired!!  I managed to drag my sorry butt out though (20 minutes later!!) and went for a walk.  I followed the same route, but when one street further.  I still got the pains, but it wasn't until later when I was on my way back home, although after also working yesterday afternoon my legs were pretty tired when I got home!!  In addition to the sore leg and foot yesterday, I managed to get some pains up my shins... hooray for shin splints!!

• I walked for 20 minutes
• I burned 228 calories
• I walked 1.91km

 

This morning I made the decision to sleep, as I had planned to go for a walk this afternoon with my sister.  After an intense study day, I needed the break, so I headed over to her place so we could go for a walk. I don't have accurate measures of time as we also popped in to see my Dad on the way home, but:

• I burned 200 calories
• I walked for 1.8km

So far it's all going well!  Today the shin splints were the worst, but I learned that if I walk on the grass they don't hurt as much.  Tomorrow is a full day at work, so that is about 13000 steps there... so I won't be doing an additional walk as I don't think my body can take it right now.

 

However, on Saturday I have a bushwalk with my friends before my knitting group which will be great!  I love being out in nature (although I wouldn't call myself an outdoors girl!), it really relaxes me and makes me feel so fulfilled.

Accountability

Well, it turns out that telling you all that I am going to get up at 7am and go for a walk actually keeps me accountable!

Who would have thought?!

I cannot begin to describe how hard it was for me to get out of bed this morning... I kept trying to tell myself that I promised to go for a walk, and if I didn't actually go, it just wouldn't happen... followed by, its ok, go back to sleep, you need sleep, it's only walking and you can go for a walk later...

So, at 7:09am I got up and out of bed and got ready, so that I was out the door at 7:20am. I tell you, the first few steps were the hardest!! By the time I got out of bed and got ready, I then had to convince myself to actually leave the house!

But, leave the house I did.  My goal was 15 minutes, but while I was walking I decided I would aim for 20 minutes.  I am not sure if I am just not walking anymore, or what was wrong, but I had some pain in my left leg, and the right side of my right foot was also in a fair bit of pain... From memory I usually have these kinds of issues the first time I exercise in a while, so hopefully tomorrow I will be right to go and will be able to walk more.

Initially I had a time goal in mind (I reverted back to 15 minutes) and then I turned it into a distance goal, so I walked to the end of the block, turned around and walked back.  I am hoping to be able to walk the full 5km that I have mapped out.

In the end, I had:

• Walked for 18 minutes
• Burned 183 calories
• Walked for 1.75km

Wedding Celebrations

B and I have just gotten back from a wonderful weekend away in the Hunter Valley for a friends wedding.  The weather was simply beautiful and the bride and groom were stunning.

 

Overall it was just amazing to have a weekend away, just B and I and it was great to have a chance to dress up and let loose.

 

Boy oh boy did I let loose!!!

 

I ate what I wanted, when I wanted and didn't really think about anything nutritional. On Saturday night I drank so much wine... looking back, it was probably close to 2 bottles... yeah... it was a lot!!  Especially for someone who hadn't been drunk in over a year it was a pretty epic night!!

 

One thing I did find was that some of my passion for helping people with their diets/nutritional aspects of their lives.  A friend of ours has recently been diagnosed as being gluten intolerant and also cannot eat onion or garlic.  While she is seeing a dietician it was great to be able to talk about nutritional values to foods and help to give ideas.  She has the opposite problem to me in that she keeps loosing weight (I just keep finding it!), but didn't know how to eat more, and needed ideas on how to start eating breakfast.  I don't pretend to know as much as a dietician (hence why I am studying to be one) but I do know some tips on how I was able to eat breakfast, or healthy snacks and whatnot.  I also directed her to the Healthy Food Guide magazine which has lots of recipes for people who are gluten intolerant as well as some excellent articles.

 

As you can see from the above photo, the outfit went well, as did the shrug.  I was so glad I made it, not only to cover my arms, but it actually got a bit chilly with the wind that was there.

 

I have to admit that while I love the outfit... I am not very happy with how I look in it, or in any of the photos.  In fact, there isn't a single photo that I haven't cringed at, but I know the only person who can deal with this, is me.

 

Whenever I travel I always make excuses for how I eat.  It's almost as though when I leave town calories didn't exist, and nutritionally everything has the same value... which we all know is not the case.

 

While I ate so much crap while I was away, and B and I even had pizza for dinner tonight as we were exhausted from all of the travelling, I am really looking forward to getting some real home cooked meals in.  The thing is, the way I eat is up to me, so is how I exercise.  I keep putting blame on B for not cooking things that are more nutritional in that he may not like it, but I think I need to put myself first on this.  I know that B will support me in this (as long as there is some form of meat involved), I just don't want him to feel as though he is missing out... That I am forcing him to eat things that he doesn't like... but I have a feeling this is a common thing??

 

When I was tracking over the last couple of weeks it was nice to have that feeling of control, but it was also great to know that I could eat what I wanted, I just needed to make it work.  I had forgotten this and I love the freedom that it gave me.  I am looking forward to getting back to this tomorrow.

 

It is also now October, which means Walktober is here!  Don't forget to join my team if you want to!!  I think it's a great challenge, and I think it's going to be a great motivator.  In fact, I am putting it on here that tomorrow I want to go for a walk!  I am wanting to get up at 7am and go for atleast a 15 minute walk... just to start small, but to at least get started.  Hopefully once I get going I will just keep going... you know, like Forrest Gump... maybe I'll even get to the point where I will be running... hopefully not the way Forrest runs though...

 

I have also decided that I will keep the Progress and Goals pages as they are, but just keep adding to them now.  There is no point in deleting the information on them, because this is my journey... and there are going to be hiccups along the way.

 

Right now I am trying to think of a new goal to have.  While the wedding one didn't quite work out the way I wanted it to, the truth is, my mindset is so much better than it was back then, and I over the last few weeks I have managed to put a few things into perspective, and seem to have a bit more stickability and perseverance as well as a long term approach.  While I am not back to the way I used to be, I know what the building blocks are, and I just need to start putting them back into place.

 

Seeing as it is October, Christmas is now about 12 weeks away (I know!!!! I don't want to admit to that either!!), but in regards to losing weight it is a good goal to have!  At half a kilo a week, that would be 6kg.  While this next weigh in is probably going to be a gain due to this weekend away, I am hoping it will put me under 100kg!  Now that's a goal!!  I will update the blog with this goal after weigh in on Wednesday.

 

It's time to get this sorted, I keep talking about it all, but now it's time for action... and that means continuing to calorie count and also to include exercise!