New Blog

I'm not sure if anyone is still reading this blog, but I have started a new weight loss blog as I really needed a change and a new start.  I will still keep this one in case I combine the two, but thought I would let those of you know who read this that you can find my new blog

HERE

What would a body scan say about you?

While perusing Facebook the other day, the following post came up in my feed from I Fucking Love Science:

"These two pictures show body scans of two women approximately the same age and height. The one on the left weighs 113 kg (250 lbs), while the one on the right weighs 54 kg (120 lbs). Accumulated adipose tissue is not the only difference bet...ween the two; the obese woman has an enlarged heart and her lungs are somewhat restricted.

Obesity has recently been declared a disease by the American Medical Association. While this does not have any legal ramifications, it may encourage doctors and insurance companies to take more steps in treating and preventing obesity. However, many disagree with the AMA's definition, citing that obesity is a complex issue with multiple causes and treatment options.

Obesity is defined as having a body mass index over 30 kg/m^2. It greatly increases the risk of Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and osteoarthritis.

More info: http://bbc.in/14whyV6"

What scares me the most about this is not that obesity has been declared a disease, but more that the first picture is of a similar weight to me... what does my body look like?! I don't know how tall these examples are (probably shorter than me seeing as the second example is 54kg), but it's quite scary seeing the difference between the two.

 

For me it really highlights the fact that I have done damage to my body by putting weight on again, but you can really see the stress that the body would be under with all of that adipose tissue. On a side note, now that I have studied anatomy, there are so many more things that I notice about these two women; the heart, the liver, the difference in muscle/fat around the stomach as well as the bones.

 

As for the disease classification... well, I am not a health professional (yet!), but personally I don't believe that you can classify obesity as a disease.  To me a disease is something like cancer which is generally unavoidable. Whereas in most (and I stress the word most!) cases, obesity is something that is due to lifestyle, socioeconomic status, poor knowledge or poor choices.  For me, at one stage or another with my weight I have fit into all of these categories. Sometimes I do believe there can be cases where a person can be obese from something going wrong in their body, or a genetic mutation or something like that, but overall I think that most cases of obesity can be remedied through knowledge, good nutrition and exercise.

Why I decided to study Nutrition

With this being my 200th post (HOORAY!!!!), I thought I would spend some time reflecting on why I decided to study nutrition.

 

I did write a post at the beginning of last year outlining some of the basics, but with a few new things coming up for B and I as well as my recent freaking out about not being able to manage my time and not feeling like I am getting anywhere, I figured I needed a bit of a reminder.

 

The real reason I decided I wanted to study nutrition was to be able to help people. When I lost 20kg before I had people coming to me for advice, which I would happily give based on what I had done... healthy eating, moderation and exercise... nothing gimmicky. A few of my friends have taken up that advice (given over skim lattes at McCafe lol) and have lost a lot of weight.

 

By losing the weight I did, I found a passion... something I had never had before.  I could talk about losing weight and healthy eating for hours. I loved to read about nutrition, finding healthy recipes and I loved the energy I had.

 

Over the last few years of studying, I have come to a few conclusions about weight loss, obesity and our society, and these are things that I would like to help 'fix':

• Knowledge is important! A lot of the food knowledge is being lost in the new world of convenience.
• A lot of people don't understand what makes one food healthier over another.  People will believe what companies tell them.
• A lot of people don't know how to cook... and don't know about flavours or what a lot of fruit and veggies are... and the truth is that these are still things I am learning.
• People are less inclined to think about where their food has come from, and even what their food actually is or what it contains. Additionally, people are unaware of how food is supposed to taste... this was a big eye opener for me!
• Convenience has made it's way into our lives in so many forms; from food to transport.  Fresh foods are seen as a hassle now and no one wants to walk to the shops now that we have cars

I also feel that I have grown as a person since deciding to go to university. I love combining my love of learning, nutrition, gardening and sustainability and combining them all together to create meals. By using the scraps from the kitchen I am able to nourish my garden to grow delicious, nutrient-rich foods that can be used in my cooking, and then those scraps are returned to the garden once again to continue the cycle.

 

I love that not only am I learning how all of this can come together to produce foods and meals that have a lot of nutrients, but I am able to pass this knowledge on to Miss 5 who will hopefully know a lot more than I did when I started... and will hopefully know a lot more than my generation does about what they are actually eating and what their lifestyles mean.

Hoping to make a comeback!

Over the last few days I have been thinking about how much I miss blogging.  Don't get me wrong... nothing has changed really, I'm still busy as hell, overthink everything, am too hard on myself and feel like I have poor time management skills, but have really missed being able to lay myself bare and reach out to people.

 

I am still (*ahem* back...) doing Weight Watchers, and I am still really enjoying it and  I have met some wonderful women also doing WW who have really helped me and been a fantastic support. I did have a short break from WW, which was about 2-3 months, but in that time we moved house, I changed stores for work, lost my Nana which I am still grieving and also became quite sick (basically bedridden for 2 weeks) and also managed a trip to the dentist (I have a phobia, trust me, that's significant!).

 

I am very proud to say though, that during that time I hovered around the same weight, so while I was off-plan and not eating very well at all, something must have stuck because I at least don't feel like I am back at the beginning, which has been such a big issue for me in the past.  I am currently sitting at my second mini goal which will get me to a loss of 10kg, I still have 4.9kg to get to that, and I am hopeful for a good weigh in this week.

 

Mentally, I actually feel really at peace and confident that I can succeed.  At the beginning of the week I had a bit of meltdown and fully realised just how truly unhappy I am with my weight and just how much my body image and self confidence have suffered because of it.  I am not saying that weight loss will be the miracle cure to fix it, but I do believe it will be a step in the right direction

 

While speaking with some of the WW girls supporting me I came across some older pictures of me where I was at different weights. Usually I would be horrified and ashamed of what I have done to my body, especially after working so hard to lose the weight in the first place, but now I can look at these pictures and see them as inspiration or goals.

 

 

A few of my friends have been running recently, and I have always had it in my head that "I am not a runner", "I cannot do it"... but recently I have been questioning it.  I love the idea of running, but am unsure of whether or not it is for me... at this point in time I am still pondering...

 

As I am technically on uni holidays (although still studying for deferred exams), I am attempting to fit exercise back into my life. I am hoping to do this through fitness videos, free weights and a barbell set and once again the Wii and Xbox fitness games.

 

Also, to save your guys from the continuous onslaught of gardening and sustainability posts, I have started up a new blog here, where if you are interested you can follow me there too!

 

Hopefully I will be around to post more.  Weigh ins, as always, are on a Wednesday... that's a good place to start! If you are still around and reading, please say Hi... I do love getting comments on my blog and always try to reply to each one!

2 Weeks of Bokashi

I thought I would pop in and update anyone who is interested about my bokashi adventures.

The bokashi bucket, all ready to go

We have had our bokashi bucket for about 2 weeks now and it's almost full and time to seal up!  Initially I was curious as to how it would all go, would we find it helpful or a hindrance?

 

B has mostly been away while we have had it, and we have basically already decided that this is my thing lol... trying to explain to him how it works, while simple, it's really not something that he wanted to worry about.

 

But, it really doesn't take up any time at all!  It's fantastic!  At the end of each day, I take our food scraps, and pop them into this bin, give it a few sprays of the bokashi EM spray and seal it all back up again!

 

I try to only do this once a day as it does work on an anaerobic (no oxygen) basis. I usually keep our scraps in a container or plate until night time.  I also go through the fridge and see what needs to be thrown away and add that in too.

 

Where the bucket is located in our little kitchen

What I love about the bucket is that anything we would usually eat can go in there!  In fact, when I went to take the bins out for collection on Sunday night, I put our one and only rubbish bag for the week in there... along with a full recycling bin!  How fantastic is that!!  For a family of 3, we only had one bag of rubbish as we had either recycled or composted the rest! There wasn't a single food scrap that went into the rubbish bin!

 

Our bin does have a lot of processed foods in it, as admittedly our life seems to be one of convenience atm, but even so, it still has a lot of fresh foods in there too.  A quick list of things that are in there atm are:

• pizza
• bread
• egg shells
• yoghurt
• shallots
• carrots
• capsicum
• chicken
• paper towels
• tomato
• avocado
• mandarins (peel and all)
• banana (peel and all)
• pasta
• fish
• chips
• coffee grounds

That's all I can think of off the top of my head, but you can see that it has a bit of everything in it!

 

Just to give you a look inside...

The process is actually quite simple. Once you have the bin set up, you place your food scraps in (cut up smaller if possible, although I have been a little slack in doing this), push it down with the little tool they give you.  This helps to push the air out of it.  Then you give it a couple of sprays of the EM spray and seal the container back up, making sure that the seal is tight so that no air can get in.

 

There is also a fantastic liquid that comes out of it, that is excellent for the garden (it does need to be diluted), or you can pour it down the drain to clean them out!!  Now, I actually haven't had any liquid from mine in 2 weeks, but after a little research I have found out that you won't get much liquid if there are a lot of processed foods in there as the fresh foods will release more liquid (makes sense).  On further thought, I also think it could be because I lined the bottom of the bucket with pizza, which I think would probably soak it all up. 

 

See how full it is?

I am ok with this as there is no smell coming from the container... which is something that I was worried about... everyone says it shouldn't smell bad, but have a faint "pickling" smell... if it smells bad then something has gone wrong.  I am very happy to say that mine has that pickling smell and nothing is mouldy or gross in there!!

 

Speaking of mould, once the bucket is full, it needs to be sealed for at least 10 days, 2 weeks preferably.  During this time it will ferment and will grow white mould.  if it grows green mould then it has had too much air in the bucket. The white mould is good and it's the microbes at work.

 

Once it has fermented the food scraps can be placed into the composter or straight into the garden bed.  It is acidic at this point, but needs the soil to be able to decompose.  The food scraps also won't decompose in the bucket, so if you open it up and nothing is happening... this is a good thing!

 

Our Composter

As you can see from my last picture, the bucket is almost full (this picture was taken a few days ago, there have been more food scraps added since then).  I can't wait until it's time to seal it up... I am curious to see how it will go in the composter... I think I will put it in there first to see how it goes. I will need to buy a second bucket to use while this one is fermenting, that way I will be able to rotate them.

One of the main reasons why I decided to give this a go was actually that I had realised that my soil was really depleted of nutrients from when I was gardening.  The soil wasn't retaining any water and through research I found that it's because I wasn't putting any organic matter back into it. I was going to just get a composter (which I did, see pics), but while I was researching I realised that I could only put certain foods in there... whereas with the bokashi I could put any food scraps in there and then put it into the composter.  This way I can make sure I will have enough organic matter (bokashi, composter and worm farm) to be able to build up a great veggie patch and garden.

The first scraps added to the composter

 

I thought I would also post up a couple of videos by the CompostJunkie that I came across as I really like his videos the most from when I was researching (and he's not bad looking either! haha!)
 

 

I also came across another great site called Greening of Gavin - he is an Aussie who after watching An Inconvenient Truth (btw - love this movie) set about changing is and his family's lifestyle to be able to improve their carbon footprint!  Amazing!!! I first read about it in the "Your Veggie Patch" magazine.

 

Anyway... this post turned into a bit more of a novel than I was expecting... but can I just say that I love my bokashi bucket!



What 2000 Calories Looks Like

This video came up in my Facebook newsfeed and I really think that it puts a little perspective on what we eat and portion control.

Now in saying all of this, it doesn't take into account the nutritional value of foods. As you all know, I am a big believer in moderation.  I believe that all foods are ok to eat, as long as you are responsible about it.  Obviously you should try and eat a balanced diet first and foremost, but everything starts with just one small change.

Sometimes it's interesting just to have it laid out like this, to show you the comparison.

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!!

Amazing and Inspiring Woman

I have just sat down and read this amazing story of Kazz's journey.

 

What an exceptional woman!!!! I am simply in awe of her!!! She has lost an incredible amount of weight and she has such confidence!!  Not only in herself, but in her journey and in taking control of her life.

 

Her journey has taken 5 years so far, but I love that it's not an issue for her (it annoyed me that I was at it for 4 years) and she is going so strong!!

 

She reminds me of the passion I once had for weight loss and nutrition, which I will honestly admit has diminished considerably, so much so that I have seriously considered whether I am doing the right thing in studying to be a nutritionist.  However, she has inspired me to find my passion again.  I want my confidence back!  I want to believe in myself again! I want to have the passion I used to feel back in my life!! 

 

This story has brought back so many memories for me tonight, how I felt, how much I achieved and how proud of myself I was.  It doesn't matter if it takes me another 4 years, all that matters is that I take control of the situation and learn to love and respect myself and my body again.

 

Kazz, I feel as if your story has woken me up again, and I am ready to get on with it, and get it done!  Thank You!!

 

 

Are you kidding me?!

I just came across a link to a product for new mums... a breastfeeding friendly shake diet..

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!

Now, let's face it... I am not skinny, I haven't beaten all of my demons and I am not a nutritionist (yet!!), but I just don't get shake diets!!!  I never have, and I don't think I ever will... I just don't know anyone who has success with a shake diet and been able to maintain their weight.... plus... don't they miss real food?!

I get that people want to lose weight, but I personally don't believe in the quick fix, no food options...

Just had to share my shock on this one... but right now, I don't think I can put my thoughts into words...

Weight Watchers 14 Day Free Trial

Hi All

Further to my post this morning, I thought I would share this page with you for a 14 Day Free Trial at Weight Watchers (Australia (not sure about New Zealand)) for the online stuff.  Just in case you were interested at all, this way you can give it a go :)

Just remember to cancel it at the end of the 14 days so that your credit card doesn't get charged if you just want to try it out.

Mini PT Session: Feel the BURN!

Well, I had my PT session today and OMG... I can feel my muscles!!!  I am 99% sure I will have DOMS over the next couple of days!!

I had a about a half hour session with a PT at my gym, I quite like him.  He is probably the first PT I have felt comfortable around and, well I wouldn't say relaxed, but relaxed as much I could be in that kind of situation.

I gotta say... it was pretty hard!!  Some of the exercises I struggled to get through (really struggled!!) but I think the part that I found the hardest was that, well... I was embarrassed!  It was through no fault of my PT, but I was reminded by how much I could do... and what I really struggle with now. I was also a little embarrassed that I was 'performing' in front of a bunch of blokes in the weights area... A year ago it wouldn't have bothered me, and I would have just gone in and done what I needed to do, but I felt insecure because of what I felt I couldn't do.

However, in saying that, I am really trying to focus on the positives, like "Now I can really see how much I will improve!", "How great will it be when you need to up your weights!" and "At least your not sitting on the couch anymore!"

There were a few exercises I didn't think I would be able to do due to my injury that I am really excited that I can do (namely the rowing machine!) and I am excited that I get to use the assisted chin up machine... for some strange, twisted reason, I just love this machine... no idea why... must be because I have to climb to get onto it, or more than likely cos I just feel so damn tough! haha!!  There was one point though where I did tell the PT "I really hate you right now..." so, he must have been pushing me lol

I am thinking that I might put another tab at the top of this page where I can put in my starting exercise regime and use it as a "milestone achiever" so that I can see how much I improve.

The plan he has given me (below) is for 3 days a week, and he has suggested that on the other days that I go for an hours walk... I might be able to do that around here (if I am going to drive anywhere to walk it will probably be the gym after work lol), but I am tempted to drive 10 minutes up the road in the mornings and walk at Googong... maybe once a week or something... will have to think about it... I spose I could go to the town park... but walking circles around that is a bit too boring for me... and I love doing bushwalks...

So, my current gym work out will be like this:

Warm Up

• 5 minutes Cross-Trainer

Strength

• Deadlifts: 3 sets of 8 (bar only)
• Squats (touch chair): 3 sets of 8 (5kg plate)
• Pull ups: 3 sets of 10 (70kg)
• Wide Grip Seated Cable Row: 3 sets of 12 (10kg)

Circuit/Toning

• Push ups: 3 sets of 10 (4 steps under platform) alternate with rower
• Rowing Machine: 3 sets of 200m (level 6)
• Swiss Ball Wall Squat: 3 sets of 10 (as low as possible) alternate with bike
• Bike: 3 sets of 200m
• Push Press: 3 sets of 10 (25 pounds) alternate with cross-trainer
• Cross Trainer: 3 sets of 200m

Core

• Plank: 3 sets of 30 seconds
• Superman: 3 sets of 20

So it's actually a pretty intense session... well, at this point in time I think it is!! I don't know how I am going to get through it all!!! I only did about half an hour today and burned 276 calories! It's gonna be a good challenge though I think!!  I now have another session with him for the same time next Monday.  I was supposed  to stay today and finish off the session (as I pretty much only did 1 rep of everything), but I found out yesterday that they moved my statistics exam 2 days earlier!! GAH! So I came straight home and got stuck into the study again!

A few weeks ago I came across this picture and filed it away for future reference (I think I may have found it on facebook lol), but this was me today...

PCOS: An Even Bigger Reason To Lose Weight

Over the last few days I have had all kinds of strange things going on with my body... and I have to admit, the first thing that popped into my head was "Am I pregnant?!". While I love babies and kids, I am not ready for them at this point in time, I have a few goals that I would like to achieve before I even consider trying to expand our family.

Cue freakout!

It just didn't seem to add up, I just don't think that I could be... so I started doing a bit of research as to what was going on with my body. Then, all of a sudden it hit me...

"OMG! What if my PCOS has come back because of how much weight I have put back on?!"

Turns out that the symptoms you get from rising hormone levels when you are pregnant are also similar symptoms you get when the hormone levels are fluctuating due to PCOS.

Now at this stage I admit that it is a bit of a self diagnosis, but as a former PCOS sufferer (when I lost all that weight my hormone levels went back to normal as did everything else), I already know what I am in for...

And I am scared!

I don't want to be in the same kind of agony where I can't stand up straight, or I don't get my period for months (if ever).  I don't want to have to rely on the pill to regulate my hormone levels - I wan't my body to be able to do what it is meant to do, and do it all on it's own.

What have I done to my body?!

Last night, I was scared, upset and felt so guilty... I knew that this could happen... why did I allow it?!

So, I am glad that I decided to take action last week.  This is now a really big motivator!  This is now a serious health issue for me and it is definitely something I don't want to relive! 

I have made the decision that if I am still having similar issues in a couple of weeks, I am going to the doctor to request a blood test to check my hormone levels and get it all sorted.  For now, I will be taking control of the situation as best as I can.

Learning to Run

It has been on my mind for a few months now, but I think that I want to be able to run... maybe not 10km, but it would be nice to be able to run a full 5km in a fun run or something... In fact, it was actually one of my major milestones for this rounds 12WBT - which just didn't happen...

A 12WBT friend of mine, Dhitri, recently posted about learning to run... and it has gotten me thinking once again about trying... and it has also brought up a lot of excuses that I have been using lately (more about this later though), however there is one legitimate one...

"What about my knee??"

As you know, I had a minor tear in my cartilage over a month ago, and while I can walk around with no problems now, I still need to wear my brace at work as I am on my feet all the time. I am only working a couple of days a week, but I can really feel it at the end of the day.  Now, my physio has told me to use an exercise bike (which I haven't - and that's where the excuses come in too - and I know I really should be using it!) to help build strength.  The trouble is, the last time I went to the gym to do these exercises, my knee was reall aching afterwards... and that worried me.

I have heard wonderful things about running.  That it just clears your mind, it's a good way to de-stress, that the endorphins you get are amazing, that it can really boost your weightloss efforts, that it can shape and tone your body in the most amazing way...

Yet - I am almost too scared to try it! What is that?! Why be scared to try something new? Is it because I am scared I will fail? What I won't complete it?

A few other things holding me back are:

• location - where do I run? I don't want to do laps of an oval cos I think I would get bored... and my place is located on a BIG hill... and probably not the safest area really... am I silly in not wanting to learn to run on a hill?
• having to go somewhere else to run... I know - even I am telling myself to suck it up!!
• wanting to learn to run on a treadmill in a gym... for some reason, I feel this is better than running where everyone can see me huffing along... Am I being silly?
• feeling like I can't do it... I'm not good with learning - I want to be great straight away... now I know that's silly! haha!!

I have had the C25K app on my phone for a while now... I would love to start using it... I love that I could be running 5km in 9 weeks - it almost seems impossible! such a short amount of time!!!

I wonder if I could tackle the hills around home then... haha!

Making Things "Easy"

B and I are time poor... we have lots on in our lives and generally aren't that great at managing it all - at least time wise. So, we have decided to cut out "one more thing" and have decided to go on Lite n' Easy for a couple of weeks.

I have used it in the past and I quite liked the food and the convenience of it all. One of the things I loved the most about it was (when I was single and living on my own) was the variety!  I found it so hard to have a good variety in my diet and stick to a budget.

We have decided to do lunches and dinners only, as breakfasts are generally pretty easy anyway.  I will be doing 7 days worth and B will do 5 days worth as he has work lunches that he attends.  We always have a family dinner at his parents on sunday nights, which means that my extra dinner will become his 6th, so in planning, it seems that it will work.

One aspect of starting LnE that I am really looking forward to is lunches!  I have become quite slack in getting my lunch sorted, and I have been buying my lunches when I am at uni or work. I was concerned about he money aspect of it all, because, let's face it, LnE isn't exactly cheap... and does cost more than a weekly grocery shop.  But when I actually sat down and thought about it, I realised that we were buying groceries, buying lunches and then having take out on top... so I think that we might actually save a little money... who would have thought!!

I also love that it is calorie controlled.  Now, I am proud to say that I haven't had chocolate since I made the commitment a few days ago, however, I still haven't really been counting my calories.  Last night was a special night out for B and I, so we did both splurge a bit, but this morning I did make a healthy breakfast choice, so that's a good sign I think.

For the next week we will be eating what we have in the pantry and freezer to make room for our LnE delivery, so I really don't think the next week will be the healthiest week... but I am ok with that... I am just so relieved to have something easy coming up... especially with my final exams being 3 weeks away!

I have mentioned before that I am not the greatest with eating fruit... and I remember having the best eating habits with LnE in the past... so I am looking forward to having a more balanced diet and more energy... with less stress!! For myself, I will be on the 1500 calorie plan, although if I exercised 3 times a week for up to 20 minutes LnE calculated that I should be on 1800 calories... while that sounds awesome, I don't think it's really for me, so for now I will be sticking to the 1500 calories. Calorie king currently has me set to 1640 calories, so this will be fine.

Also, I know I haven't popped in here with my weekly weigh in, but I lost 100 grams.  I am ok with this as my weight jumped up by 2kg during the week, so being under is a plus.

I am finally starting to feel like myself again... and I am loving it!  i am feeling more in control of my eating and my mindset, I'm not sure if it shows to others, but I love having my confidence back!!

I went down town and bought a couple of tops for winter, so it's just nice having clothes that fit and make me feel pretty - even if they are larger clothes... it really does a lot for the mindset!

Organised: My Favourite Word!

I am such a planner.  I love to be organised, or at least feel like I am organised.

I have been slowly adding recipes to my Menu Planner app for my iPad and I have been testing it out this week. So far, I have only planned our dinners, but doing this has really helped me mentally as it feels as though there is one less thing that I need to worry about.

When I did the groceries the other day, it was fantastic, as I took my iPad with me, opened up the app and everything I needed was there in a list for me.  The only thing I need to do is set which aisles the products are in as this will save even more time.  I can even add in the prices of the product so that I an get an idea of what our next grocery shop will cost - I love this kind of stuff!

I was able to tick off each item as I put it into the trolley, and as I had already culled the list with what I had in the pantry or in the garden, it made my shopping list much more compact and easy to work through. 

Sure, there were a few things that were added to my trolley that weren't on the list, but this is normal, and I will be adding these items into the app so that we can have a complete list of grocery items (it allows you to add in the nonfood items too!)

I have also emailed the meal plan to B, and he has access to the recipes for the plans online, so it makes it much easier to be able to have everything ready to go.

I am kind of looking forward to planning next weeks meals and going shopping for them again.  Only this time I think I will be trying to make note of what aisles the products are in to make it much easier later on down the track.

Another Week - Another Weigh In

It's Wednesday again already - which means that it's weigh in day!!

Sadly, I gained 300g this week.  I am trying not to be too disappointed with it. In fact, I'm not disappointed in the program, only in myself.  I know that I managed to sneak in a few 'snacks' that if Michelle seen me eat, she would demand that I instantly drop and do push ups as well as get running on that treadmill!  However, that said, I take full responsibility for my actions (hence the disappointment in myself). I will tell u now, what I have eaten that was off plan:

• Carrot cake at the premium cinemas
• Caramel Sundae from McDonald's
• Family Dinner - as I said before, I didn't eat too much really

Now that those indiscretions are off my chest, time to move on.  Next weigh in will be all that I can make it.  Yes, we still don't have a proper fridge, but it just means I need to plan better! I also need to remember that exercising does not mean that I can eat more!!

So, what I forgot to mention yesterday (in that blog post that i meant to write!! lol) was that I didn't get my exercise session in on Monday as I needed to get home.  So, I told my gym buddy that I would do my work out at home.  I had the best intentions of doing it.  In fact, I wanted to do it, but then I started cooking, and cleaning and by the time dinner came around and we put Nessa to bed, I was done!  I couldn't be bothered doing it.  I even tried to tell myself to find something fun to do, which I found, but then I couldn't find my belly dancing workout - I know, I know, excuses, excuses, excuses!!!!  Anyway, that afternoon/evening, I couldn't help wishing that I had a treadmill at home, so I could just do it there and then.  That night I was on Facebook, and a friend of mine had her status that she was selling her treadmill!  So, I bought it!!! I am getting it tonight!! It's great to know that I will be able to have that there!! We're gonna put it in the bedroom, which works out really well as I will be able to watch dvds while running.

Speaking of running... I still can't believe I am going to say this, but I am going to do a fun run!!!  At first I was thinking that it would be a great sense of accomplishment to just finish a fun run, so I could just walk it and not put too much pressure on myself.  However, now that I have been 'following' (and I use that term loosely - will explain in a sec) Michelle's learn to run program, I am thinking that maybe I could run (probably jog! lol) the whole 4km course I am planning to do.  A friend of mine asked me if myself and Carrie (gym buddy) would be interested in doing it... my first thought was "I can't do that!!" my next thought was "Seriously?! Why not?!" So, here I am, planning on doing the Brooks Spring Into Shape on  Sunday 30th October!!  I still can't believe I am going to sign up to do this.  I think overall, I want to see if I can do it.  Will be registering in a couple of weeks.

Now, onto Michelle's learn to run program and why I have been following it loosely.  It's not so much the learn to run program, but more the cardio sessions at the gym.  Don't get me wrong, I feel like I am flogging myself, but as I mentioned on Monday, I couldn't keep up with Michelle's cardio gym program.  I only managed 3 mins on the cross trainer on the manual program, and I did do the 10 mins on the bike, but also on the manual program.  Well, yesterday I decided to once again do the Week 1, Day 1 Intermediate program, with a small change, I did rowing, running, bike and then cross trainer, to help with my legs/running.  Yesterday I decided to aim for 4 minute on the cross trainer, but I smashed that goal and did 8 minutes!!!!!!! *cheering with pom poms*  To be perfectly honest, I think I probably could have pushed myself to do 10 minutes, so that will be my next goal, actually, I might aim for 12 minutes lol!  The biggest reason I think that I was able to last so much longer, was because of a TIP I was given by a friend and fellow 12WBTer (and knitter lol) to run with my heels not with my toes.  I wanted to post this up here as it may seem like common knowledge to some, but to any beginners out there, I hope this helps you as much as it helped me.

Task 6: Kitchen Makeover

Whoops!!!!


Forgot that I hadn't posted about this!  We did this task (by we, I mean my boyfriend and I) on Friday night.  We did did a little out of order, simply because things have been hectic and we needed the convenience over the last couple of weeks.

However, as of Friday night, we got our Week 1 food delivered by woolies.  We have been converted to online ordering.  I think it costs a little more, but it is soooooo convenient!!  We don't have to walk up and down the aisles or wait in queues or have tempting foods sneak their way into the trolley.  I actually really enjoy doing the grocery shopping, and thought I would miss it, but at this stage, I don't at all!

Anyway, back onto the task.  The point of this one was to go through the cupboards, fridge and freezer and throw out all of the processed junk that has managed to worm it's way into our lives.  I have to admit that we didn't need to throw out much which was good, and a few things did stay, but these were things for my partner, and mostly stuff that I don't eat anyway, so it worked out well.

Our cupboards are now full of "Mish Approved Foods" and our fridge looks incredibly green and leafy.  I can't wait to really get cooking with it all.

What I really love about having the shopping list and meal plans is that at the end of the week we should have little to no food wastage - which I love!!!

On a random side note, I came across a couple of interesting pages which I don't want to lose the links to, so in case you are interested, here they are

Geometry Clothing - clothing for women to help hide those wobbly bits
Simply No Knead - Bread making at it's finest!