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Wednesday 26 September 2012

Maintaining is better than gaining.

September and I aren't friends. Plain and simple. 

Last week of August/first few days of Sept: A was sick, so I was running around after him and not taking care of myself. Should have been doing both, because...
First week: I was sick. A was back at work, so I had to look after myself.
Second week: Y'know how it goes, women get a bit fickle once a month, and I gained 500g.
Third week: Lost that 500g, back to 87kg. Uni was full on, no time to devote to me.
Fourth week: No movement at the station whatsoever. Uni and work both full on. Keep breaking promises to myself to meal plan. Guess I know what I'm doing tonight and tomorrow night.

Uni is only going to get busier, there's only two and a half weeks to go. I'm not snacking like I used to when stressed, I'm not eating - the polar opposite. This is not good for my metabolism at all. I'm lucky if I can consume the daily minimum adult intake of 1200 calories.


I'm hoping this will change though once I'm back to meal planning and general planning. We have a monthly whiteboard calendar that I haven't updated since June. Fail. Who's life is so busy they can't even do that?!

So, I need to make friends with October. It's only 4 days away, and in the 31 days that is October, I want to lose 4kgs to make my September/October 5kg goal.


My plan for October:

 - Get a big calendar from uni to blu-tac to the wall in front of my desk so I can see what needs to be done and by when (uni deadlines, work deadlines, other activities)

- Get a new weekly planner calendar from kikki.K so we can keep up with what's going on weekly

- Meal plan. Meal plan. Meal plan. 

- Keep the monthly whiteboard calendar up to date (need to do this Friday or Saturday for the new month approaching)

- Find the time to love me and dedicate time to exercising


Interestingly, last week or the week before, I started reading for recreational purposes. What did I start reading? I started reading a book that I asked for and received for my 21st birthday. Now, I'm 7 candles more than those I blew out on my 21st, but I have never read this book properly. I would always lose interest about 40 pages in. I'm now over 100 pages in. What's the book, I hear you ask? French Women Don't Get Fat by Mireille Giuliano. I suspect, though I thought I was at the time, I was never ready until now to read this book.
It's not condescending, there is no diet per se, just some neat tricks.
I'm going to go through it tonight and check it out for some recipes next week, too.


Anyway, it's time for me to head to uni. Two and a half more weeks, two and a half more weeks. Then, four months of holidays and me time. 



Friday 14 September 2012

Friday Fashion Show

Goodness me, it feels like a lifetime ago since I last updated. In weight loss, a week is a lifetime I guess. In fact, I think I've not written for over a week. The effects of an horrendous cold really took me down. My body suffered terribly: not only was I ill and lacking energy, but I was not nourishing my body properly.

Meal planning has not been high on my agenda unfortunately of late, I've had far too many assignments to write let alone think about what to eat. A time (as in times of stress) where I would usually turn to all kinds of sugary foods, I'm now barely eating a thing. This is not good.

My last Wednesday weigh in was a bit of a disappointment, I gained 500g but in the scheme of things, it's not that bad. The week before's weigh in saw me hit 87kg. I was absolutely stoked. Here's hoping I am back on track for a loss Wednesday coming.

Today's title alludes to the prospect of a fashion show. It's nothing glamorous, just a couple of photos of me in two of my most favourite items of clothing!
One is my favourite trans seasonal Billabong top, and the other is my favourite Element winter jacket. Today, I'm feeling almost fantastic!
My sincere apologies if the images are sideways, I'm updating from my phone!



Thursday 6 September 2012

Wednesday Weigh In

The first weigh in of my September/October 5kg challenge

Yesterday was Wednesday Weigh In. I wanted to write this yesterday but I had no energy. Stupid, rotten head cold and chest infection.
Preparing myself to read the scales was a chilly one - gale force winds here in Melbourne right now, such a disappointment after two glorious days of sunshine. The scales made their noises, and when it stopped I looked down. Was this right!? 87 kilos? Have I really lost 2 kilos since my last Wednesday Weigh In?
I checked about an hour later. Apparently this figure is correct, as I got the same reading again.

This week and my health

I can't remember if I mentioned in my posts last week that A was sick. Unfortunately for him, he had viral laryngitis.
This week, that virus has manifested in me in the form of an 'upper respiratory tract infection'. Awesome. Goodbye energy, goodbye taste buds, goodbye life outside of bed. I know that this is where I should be pumping my body full of the super good foods, but it just hasn't happened. I've had ice cream every day, and when I have been eating it's been mostly of a grazing nature. Yesterday after visiting the doc, I had a serious craving for the food that comes from where A works. Despite being 2km from home, I turned the other direction and I drove to get myself from lunch. Maybe it was also the desire to have A take care of me, I have no idea. I had a tasty fishy wrap with salads (spinach, avocado, carrot, tomato, olives and a squeeze of lemon).
This morning I was still temping on the high side of normal when waking, but I haven't had the incessant need to guzzle a litre of water, only 600mL, haha.
I had enough energy (after driving A to the station too, might I add) to make my own breakfast. I savoured the eating process; bran and Weet Bix with a little milk have never tasted so good!

The swimsuit journey

The whole reason I started this blog was because A and I made the decision to go to Thailand in July 2013, and I wanted to try and wear a bikini for the first time ever.
Thailand is kind of on the back burner right now (just like my homework!) but I'm still determined to get a new swimsuit.

Sixty-eight days in to my accountable journey, I am 6 kilos down, and 11 kilos overall since April. I'm very happy with my efforts, but I need to be doing more.
I'm really finding it hard to meal plan these days; I don't know if it's because we've been a bit poor this last month (August is such a money drainer for us), or if it's because we've been so busy with uni and work.
I need to make a concerted effort to start eating clean. I've come such a long way, and just in the last 3 weeks, I'm falling sideways terribly.
I see so many delicious recipes on Pinterest, and I pin them, but never get to making them. Probably doesn't help that our kitchen isn't in the best shape these days. And then there is the immense jealousy I have of my girl N's clean eating efforts (check her out at The Road To Clean Eating). N is a wife and mum of 2 and is going ahead in leaps and bounds.
I look at the pictures she posts of the delicious food, and I think "Hey, I can do that" and then I don't. Why though!? Why am I not doing that?

Answering the why

I need to look at what it is in my life that is slowly turning me to old habits: ice cream every day, namely. Am I stressed? Am I fearing failure? Am I procrastinating? Am I sad?
Right now, I am unwell, but searching for the why is about as high on my list as my uni assignment (that hasn't been started) due in five days' time (read: I know I need to be doing it, but blogging and Facebook are much more appealing right now; thank goodness I haven't gone onto Reddit yet today).
I honestly think that our lives have become much more intense away from home in the last month or so, impacting on all things within the home. Here's hoping that September will be less intense and we can get everything back on track.


Sorry for the lack of imagery and inspiration in this post, but if you have gotten to this point, I thank you for reading.

Sunday 2 September 2012

Saturday Night Fever

"Whether you're a brother or whether you're a mother you're stayin' alive, stayin' alive..."

Last night, we went to a friend's 40th birthday that was 70s theme. We had a great time in our semi-matching outfits. A's shirt was a hit, everybody loved it! Thank you Australian Red Cross Op Shop!


Just before we left to go back home
Not the most flattering photo of either of us, especially seeing as how A has been sick for most of this week, but now he's pretty much a picture of health, in a manner of speaking. This is my op shop outfit, a pretty purple, black and white paisley/check patterned dress. I forgot to get holes punched in my belt though, and it annoyed me alllllllllll night! I didn't like it being low around my stomach, made me look all straight up and down, so tried to wear it higher up but it kept falling!

The following pics are from when we got home:



I kept looking at this photo and thinking how horribly my hips were sticking out but it turns out they're not, it's just the wardrobe panels (see just below my hands)

Holding up the belt


This is to show how big the belt actually is. When I bought the belt on 27 January, I could just get it done up on the hole at the end of the belt (as in the flat end). Now, there is 10cm from the hole at the buckle end to where I can actually do the belt up.
What excites me most about this outfit is that the dress is a medium! A MEDIUM! I haven't worn a medium for 2 years. Damn I am so happy and proud of myself! Also, I have skinny people stockings on (as in ones that aren't part of the 'big girls' range of hosiery) in these pictures. Talk about die of excitement when I put them on!
This morning I've had to put my old leggings on because my others are dirty. They're a 14. Not perfect, but not bad either. I wouldn't have even contemplated them a month ago!

Now for the all important stuff: food.
Second day of September already. Yesterday wasn't the best way to start the month -the party was awesome and while I didn't pig out, I'm not entirely sure of what I've consumed cal wise. Took a good stab though, said 900 as all I did was graze. We also found a delicious organic chocolate at the local farmer's market yesterday. We got there just as everyone was packing up, so now have to wait til the next month to go again.


Ready for more pictures? This time it's food! Today's breakfast and lunch (which is actually leftovers from the plate of noms we took to the party last night).

Strawberry Smoothie
 The smoothie was really simple and deliciously filling. Cut up one small-medium banana, 6 washed and hulled strawberries, 1 peeled kiwi fruit. Add half a cup of skim milk. Blend til all the fruit is pureed. Add natural low fat yoghurt and cinnamon as required. Blend. Serve.


Pumpkin, spinach and chick pea salad
My darling makes this salad and oh my goodness, I just love it. Bake some small cubes of pumpkin in the oven until nice and soft. Sprinkle with nutmeg or cinnamon while cooling. Drain the chick peas and wash the spinach leaves. Cut up some dried fruit (we've used dried apricots in this one today but usually we use figs). Chop up some nuts (we've used walnuts). Pop each ingredient in a bowl, add the juice of a lemon, mix through. Done.

Ooo, Sunday. That's meal planning night! We actually haven't really eaten to plan this week because A has been sick and lethargic therefore didn't have the energy to eat, so I really only had myself to worry about feeding. Aaaaand I just got a phone call from A, we're heading to his dad's tonight for pizza for dinner to celebrate my birthday and Fathers Day. Right, deffo need to get my butt out for a walk now!
Meal planning might not happen till tomorrow now! I have got so much to do in the next three hours: make some cards (oh yeah, I also have my own small business Little Goldfish Invitations & Stationery), go print an assignment (which I might leave til tomorrow morning actually, there's not a rush to get that done today) and get a copy of A's medical certificate...and go for that walk! Who can give me more time? Anyone!?