The End!

The end of the 12wbt has come - I did my final weigh in, measurements and fitness test today.

I must say I am RAPT with my results. I feel like its unbelievable what I've been able to achieve. All while eating good foods - no starving, just exercising alot and eating to an amount of calories (which cos I'm breastfeeding was well well enough!).

So let me try to upload my photo and all my results!

My weight - I lost 10kg - attached below is week my week. I had one week where I gained, and it was only 0.1kg and it was while I was sick so I'm not worried!

Measurements - 47cm smaller... crazy! My arms have changed dramatically but they tell you to measure near the elbow which is weird as that wont change! Gone down in everything which is great :)

Fitness test - I couldn't do pushups due to my bung wrist so thats why it only says one, but the rest I smashed and my 1km run was mental!

Here is the final part - the photos! Before and After (newspapers are there a rule in 12wbt to show the week and prove photos are current)

So did I achieve what I wanted to? YES and MORE! I always thought 68kg was around a good weight for me, but I've shown that there is so much more I can do than I ever knew was possible! 

I've shown to myself that I can achieve so much, and there are no excuses. 

I've learnt about eating, and I've changed what I enjoy - 95% chocolate, tea, peppermint tea after dinner with ONE piece of chocolate if I really want it. 

To be honest I'm slightly worried about finishing this, even though I haven't relied on the support etc. from the program. I need to make sure I keep on doing what I'm doing and don't blow out on food, I cant go back to the way I was just because I'm at a good weight now, I need to make sure I keep eating healthy and exercising as it will make me feel better to do so, not necessarily to lose weight. 

So this is it, 12 weeks later (or 11 but 12 weigh ins), I'm a different person, 10kg, 47cm and 13.7% smaller, with a new outlook on life and... I have a new wardrobe (old clothes which I never thought I'd fit into!), and yes, I FIT INTO MY DIESEL JEANS! 

Thanks for all your support, for not forcing drinks or food on me for this time, for understanding, for asking questions to show you care and let me talk about it, and for my husband for his unbelievable support in me. I feel like I really did it! 

The lead up to D-Day

Tomorrow is the final weigh in and the final fitness test.
I will take a photo, weigh in, run a 1km, measure stomach, thighs, arms etc, do sit and reach test and a flexibility test.

It will all show me how far i've come.. and if I've reached my goals I set out to get.

I'm pretty sure of the answers but I'll wait till tomorrow to give you all the final answer!

I did ask a question to myself and all other females in another blog. It was 'will we ever as females be satisfied with how we look'? I do know that I am not completely satisfied, but i've identified when I feel the best - when I exercise, that arvo and the day and the next one I feel the best. If its a walk, a run or a weights session - this is what we need to remember. Not only is exercise good for our bodies - but I'm sure its good for our minds. Or its what makes me feel the best anyway!

Stay tuned for tomorrows results... :)

0.6kg to go

It feels so good to get back into exercise!

I spent nearly 2 weeks just trying to get through the day being sick and coughing but unable to cough and sinus problems, so didn't do any exercise and tried to live on lemon water. So I weighed in yesterday and was 0.1kg up. 64.5kg. Thats still pretty good, and I was happy to only have put on that small amount!

It does mean though that I have a bit of work to do to get to where I want to be by next Wednesday. Only a week and 0.6kg to get to my goal for this challenge.

I'm trying to ramp it up and do as much exercise as I can. Not long left. After this I hope to still get to my goal of 60kg. After this 12 weeks is over though I want to only do the two nights of gym plus tennis once a week so thats 3 nights a week, and with eating well I should still be able to slowly drop and/or maintain.

Wish me luck for the last week!

The weight of weights

This week is week 10 weigh in and i've been terrible. I did wednesday night's PT, then Tuesday night I played tennis, but I've been sick since Sunday and have had a spray on tan for the wedding last Saturday so haven't been able to do exercise like I usually do which has sucked and I can feel the impact of it.

When I'm sick too I comfort eat - surprisingly I have a different comfort eating style now though - its very strange! Instead of eating all the chocolate in the house, I had extra food but not too much chocolate. I ate a couple of muesli bars, some rice cakes, corn thins with avocado on it, and two pieces of honeycomb chocolate. That was my overindulgent day - can you believe it? I felt terrible after it but realised that this overeating is different than it was - still too far over my calories but because it wasnt high cal foods it was a bit better.

My weigh in this morning I nearly fainted when I saw the result. I had the wedding where I had a few drinks - mmm 4 sparkling wines and 1 beer. Lucky Im breastfeeding still so couldnt really drink too many cals! I ate a bit but was distracted by bubbs so not too much. The wedding dinner I ate FAR TOO MUCH though! I think my stomach has shrunk! I went all out and ordered what I wanted deciding it was ok to have a treat - so we all had three courses, mine was:
Pork belly on an apple puree and zucchini strips with crispy panceta on top
Steak cooked medium to perfection with potato wedges
Sticky date pudding
And yes I ate everything on all 3 plates! Then felt sick after it... oops!
I cant say I wont do it again, and to be honest it was AMAZING but I did eat too much and I should have left something on all three plates and I still would have been satisfied - possibly more so. I should know better!

Weigh-in yes get to that, so wedding, then 3 days of being sick and eating too much equals.... 1.1kg LOSS - what?! :) I had to weigh myself twice till i believed it. I honestly thought the scales were wrong!

So my thinking is that I've done heaps of weights work in the past 10 weeks, they say that that increases your metabolism - and it has to! Oh they other thing they say is that the exercise and food you ate 2 weeks ago will be what happens that week - if so I'm not looking forward to 2 weeks time!

But I'm rapt! I'm passed my 65kg goal and I am now 64.4kg. This has truly changed my life in so many ways. My goal for this program is 63kg but to be honest if I get into the 63s at all (i.e. 63.9) i'll have acheived my goal. I hope I get there and I really need to work for it this last two weeks. I cant exercise tonight as I'm still trying to get over this sickness, but I really want to push this last 2 weeks.

One thing I have found has helped me stay on track is recording everything I eat on myfitnesspal. ESPECIALLY the days where I have overeaten. This helps me stay accountable and the next day it does make me think twice about what I've eaten. I try to have cups of tea instead of eating to cut back when I'm not feeling well - but recording everything is helping dramatically.

64.4kg... I never ever thought I'd get this low... and I still have two weeks to go!

p.s I wore my Paris dress to the wedding on Saturday - that goal is achieved!

week 9

So its week 9 and we're in the last third of the transformation!

I've nearly gotten to my original goal - I was happy with this week's loss of 0.5kg, the weight loss will slow down now and thats ok, with 0.2kg last week and 0.5kg this week thats still pretty reasonable i'd say! My weight as of this Wednesday's weigh in was 65.5kg woohoo! unfortunately I still dont fit perfectly into my Diesel jeans! I fit into them... but just not perfectly which I want to by the end of this. 3 weeks to go I guess.

MB has introduced something for the last 4 weeks which are called 'accelerator days' which are Tuesdays. This means no carbs... including fruit! Its so hard to eat that many calories without carbs and to feel full! I realised how many I eat actually which is probably really bad. I love muesli bars though so thats where alot of mine come from I think. Anyway I think thats what helped with the loss this week. These days are good I think and meant to kick start your body into being faster through changing what you put into it... good idea I think.

I have a wedding this week - so by getting a tan Thursday i've ruled out exercise Thur, Fri and Saturday! Then due to the wedding commitments Sunday will be out too I'm pretty sure so this week will be a bad week probably! Ah well there will be weeks like that and not much I can do about it I don't think.

See how I go but getting there for sure... 63 is the goal but I'd be happy just to have 63 at the start of the number, which means 63.9kg and i'd be rapt! this means my goal is 1.6kg away with 3 weigh ins left... losing only 0.5kg a week I might not make it especially with the wedding this week, but I'll try!

% of body fat

All the new digital scales have body fat percentage on them. I think they work through something fancy like that they send a pulse through your body and see how quick it comes back? Anyway I remember in high school that they only had one of these and it was special and new! No idea what my % was in school. But regardless sometimes I do this, only once in a while but I did only a few weeks after I had my daughter and my % was 32%. I never really knew what that meant and still don't - and Im pretty sure its a useless number to know because the healthy range is 21-35% or something and thats such a huge range! The health profession seems to come up with all sorts of numbers which make us try to reach to see if we are 'healthy' or not!

I did the % this morning anyway just to see the change so far and its 25.3% now.
When looking up what it 'should' be all I seemed to find on Google (the go-to for any question) was this photo (http://www.builtlean.com/2012/09/24/body-fat-percentage-men-women/).

I think this only shows that everyone is different! I am 25% and certainly don't look like that photo! And I was 32% when I started and if I looked like the 30% girl I wouldn't have needed to lose anything!

I also found this (http://www.builtlean.com/2010/08/03/ideal-body-fat-percentage-chart/):

This one probably makes more sense. It looks like I fit between about 20.9%-24.5%. I dont know who decided that was 'ideal' though and why the average isnt in the ideal... but in any case thats interesting!

So my weight is now 66kg. My % is 25.3% which means that the total fat in my body is 16.6kg.
If I can lose another 3kg to get to 63kg, that will take my body fat to 13.6kg, and make 21.6% my body fat percentage. This is assuming no other variables which is never the case (e.g. water in your body at the time you measure), but interesting nonetheless. I'd be pretty happy with that weight! I am to be within 20-22% for no other reason than that this website explains that in the following way, note the highlighted bit...! I want the definition in my abs!

Body Fat Percentage Women 20-22%

This is body fat percentage is usually in the “fit” category of most body fat charts and is typical of many female athletes. Some definition in the abs is apparent, there is body fat on the arms and legs, but it’s not too pronounced. There is minimal, but some separation between muscles.

In saying all this, I've only done all this cos I am interested in numbers and seeing what happens to them with changes - I'll be happy no matter what this says :)...

My conclusion: that the body fat percentage is just another number, like the BMI which is different for everyone and just an 'interesting number' more than anything.

The weigh in

This week is week 8 and we are 2/3 of the way through the program. Its hard to believe, but at the same time its great! Things have become routine and the eating and drinking is just normal now.
My husband is helping to cook a couple of nights a week and my nights at the gym are routine now.

I must say I'm very lucky and blessed and give a shout out to my lovely husband who has supported me so well over the past 8 weeks! He cooks my meals without oil, salt, enjoys them - doesn't complain at all! We had a salad this week - a beetroot, lentils and fetta salad. And my darling hubby ate the whole thing, said it was nice (granted he had a tbone steak with it!) but no complaining at all. This makes it soooo much easier to do this! I love the food but could see how a guy eating this night after night could complain. We have things for example butter chicken with more lentils than chicken which I love! But he could easily complain about it, being a red blooded male, but never has... I'm very lucky. I think he may be benefiting from the foods being lower in cals too!

So weigh in. This week after my huge loss last week I was only hoping to remain the same.. lose a little bit would be fantastic but mostly just be the same... and I lost 0.2kg! I was rapt! I hadn't done all the exercise last week even though I tried - but ate really good so its great that its still happening. So on weigh in day yesterday I was 66kg even. 3kg to go and 4 weigh ins left!

I have tried on my clothes I'm aiming for and most fit now yay! But there are two things I want to wear that I am only a few cm and maybe a kg or two off fitting into - my diesel jeans, and my yellow rome dress. I could probably wear both now but in a week or two I think they'll be fitting great! This is very very very exciting!

Confessions...

I have begun to get complacent I think... I need to be a) logging all my calories again and b) doing the workouts again!

I am still doing the Monday and Wednesday workouts and they are great, RPM, and then a group PT session which I thoroughly enjoy. The other days are becoming harder... Not sure why - maybe I'm getting bored of it? Anyway the reason doesn't matter - the key is to start doing it again!

I find that any break in the routine puts me off, and doing the fun run and then not having done some sessions and I'm off track! I feel like my calories are bad, but in fact I think they're pretty good. I'm still not binging on chocolate (I had two pieces of 95% dark chocolate today with my coffee but for 35 cals each they aren't too bad!), and I haven't had a big alcohol night, but I know in my heart I'm not being as good as I could be.

This weeks Wednesday weigh in though didn't show a bad loss... but a GREAT one! 1.6kg down this week to 66.2kg. I weighed myself twice, then a couple of hours later just to check it was right! The fun run must have helped, but also - all females know this I think - there is one stage in the week where you are lightest, and I think I jagged weigh in this week as the lightest day! Next week therefore I don't even know if I'll lose weight haha but keep my head up and keep going.

There are a couple of things motivating me to keep going:

1) There is only 5 weeks left! It's ridiculous to stop now
2) I still have my baby belly and even though I'm smaller in weight, this is so hard to lose so I need to keep putting in the effort
3) My little sister bought the MB cook book and is logging foods and exercise and seeing it is making me want to keep doing it too! Good work Melly Bell you are inspiring me!
4) I only have 3.2kg to my goal for this program, and only 6.2kg till my overall goal. Now is the time everyone stops, these last few kg are the hardest to lose.

Now I have confessed it all I need a good kick and to keep going. The foods are great and I'm loving the recipes - but no cutting corners, all exercise must be done! I need to fit in another run this weekend, saturday afternoon or sunday, I might not be able to do the full SSS sessions but I will try (tried this morning but interrupted from my little girl waking up!), I will try again, and if all else fails I have the DVDs and I can go for a run.

NO EXCUSES! 3.2kg to go till my goal and 5 more weigh ins... I CAN GET THERE.

Half an hour of pain

I did my first fun run in about 5 years yesterday.

I wasn't sure how I'd go, I definitely have not been training at all for a run, I've been doing alot of strength and endurance training though, including RPM so I thought that might help.

Before the run

I was hoping to run 6 minute km. I figure over 5km, and without training, and with my family telling me about this 'insane hill that goes forever' that I was going to have to run up - I figured 6min per km was a pretty good time!

I ran for about 1.6km when my GPS cut through my music in my headphones and told me '1.6km done, time 9.blah minutes, and pace 5.35 mins per km'. I was rapt! When I was running prior to 12wbt it was always over 11 minutes at the 1.6km mark - sweet! Granted I hadn't gone close to the hill yet, but thought I was going ahead of pace and maybe that would give me some time to drop back once I got to the CRAZY hill.

The hill came, and yes it was crazy and went on and on... my goal was don't stop, one foot in front of the other - that was the only goal. On my way down the hill the man on the headphones cuts through again with '3.2km done, time blah.blah minutes (cant remember the minutes at this point!), pace 6.05 mines per km'. ok the hill is done, now I need to pick up the pace in order to get under 6 mins per km. With 1km to go I look down the road and see my brother close in front - I tried SO HARD to catch up, but with the effort I put in I wasn't gaining ground! I decided to pass the guy in front of me, but then couldn't breathe after that so sat there and just pushed as hard as I possible could to the end.

With not long to go the guy cut in for the final time '4.8km done, time 28.blah minutes, pace blah (only listening for time at this point!). OK 1.5mins left to finish... push push push push push. I pushed so hard that at the end it took me a while to turn off my phone cos my hands weren't working, I was gasping for breath and making those weird noises people make when they are breathing uncontrollably haha. The lady hands me a piece of paper which I could barely hold and told me '32'. I was SHATTERED. 32 minutes! I had tried so hard... took me a little while of cool down to even look at the paper - which said 30.32...! So only 32 seconds over my goal! At a look of my GPS we actually did 5.26km, and my pace was below 5:50 mins per km. SWEET!

True...

Long story I know but I was so very happy with the result :)

The only one I had done before was a run to the G.
2007 was that fun run I did, and my time was 31.06 for 5km. I ran faster this time after no training, and it was longer than 5km. An achievement I am very proud of! This 12wbt certainly is changing my life.

Halfway and 4.8kg to go

My last post was wrong... oops! I wasn't half way - but I am now! 67.8kg at today's weigh in. Only a 400g loss this week but still pretty good. My body doesn't usually lose 1kg a weeks so I was under no illusion that that was going to last! Thought i'd post a half way photo too for all of you interested to see. Wont do a full body shot - but you can tell from my face and shoulders how I've trimmed down a bit! I'll leave the full body shot for the end...

So today I am officially under my wedding weight - 67.9kg was my wedding weight! Its a bummer that my body has changed but it just means I need to work harder to tone more and need to get lower than I have been before!

I thought today I'd post about something alot of females feel - consciously or sub consciously. I have now lost 5.4kg in 6 weeks, and its strange but you think i'd feel heaps smaller all the time - 5kg or so smaller! But you only feel smaller for about a week or two at most I think. Then you start feeling as big as you were before... I think once you get to one goal (my first one was my jeans to fit good) then you are happy... then you start trying on the clothes on your next goal, and you start just feeling more like you did before! Its a strange thing, and maybe why females never feel satisfied with the weight that they are at. I am hoping to get to 63 now - so mmm 4.8kg to go in 6 weeks. Very achievable I think if I can keep my butt moving and keep food under control (I overdosed on caramel rice cakes recently - still within my calories but cant be good eating too many processed foods like that so my new goal is to eat more fruit and veggies for snacks!). I hope that when I get to that weight I'll be happy - but I wonder whether we are ever really happy as females?

I'll wait and see - and you guys will know after 6 weeks I guess if I end up happy or still feeling sluggish even after losing - if I get there - it will be 10.2 kg all up. Wait and see how I go!

The new goal...

So I've made a big decision, and thats to change my goal I'm aiming for with this 12 week challenge!

I've decided to change what I wanted to achieve from doing this program - actually not true - the clothes I want to fit into are still the same, but its become apparent to me that since having a baby my body has changed! Yes ok for those of you thinking I'm insane and that was always going to be the case, I guess I should have known that my stomach would be different, I was living in denial I think! I am about the same weight I was for my wedding, pre baby, but don't fit into the clothes I did as well as I want to.

I knew that my body had changed but I find that strange that my 68kg then was so different to my 68kg now! Disappointing! But the good thing is that I still have 6 weeks to go. I'm half way now - and I've lost 5kg so far. So my aim is not just to get to 65, but to get to 63kg. I've done better than I thought so far, and so now I don't want to slacken off - I need another goal which is still achievable, so I wont be stupid and say 60kg, cos that wont happen in 6 weeks... well not with looking after 6 months old Bella it wont happen anyway! 63kg might be achievable, but also should make me try a bit harder. I cant stop now when I'm only half way, and I have the potential to get even better!
After the 12 weeks I think I'll try to get to 60kg... depends how the next few weeks go I guess, but this food is great, and thats 80% of the effort so I'll still try to get there before I change to maintain state I think.

Paris Dress - from Rome, worn in Paris!

My clothes I fit into now like I wanted to - my Levi Jeans :) yay!

Clothes I still want to fit into a bit better -

My paris dress, Diesel Jeans, and both dresses from Italy. All of these things now I can get on and they do up (YAY first step!) but the most important step is being able to feel comfortable in them and therefore wear them.

So although I'm actually now at the weight I wanted to be at - I still have a fair way to go.

Revised Goal for the next 6 weeks is 63kg... and I'll be working working working to get there!

The numbers game

So today is weigh in today... but before I get to my result of today there is something else I want to discuss. Heart Rate Monitors, and calories burnt. I'm finding it harder and harder to burn calories. I can only guess its because I'm getting fitter and smaller.

I recently came home from an RPM class annoyed that I didn't burn more calories. I had a 'discussion' with my husband over this. He didn't seem to get my point that I wanted to burn more calories in the same amount of time instead of less and less every week. It really annoys me that I seem to work just as hard but burn less! We went round and round with me just plain annoyed I have to work harder, and my dear husband not understanding why I was annoyed that a) I'm getting quite fit, and b) that I'm losing weight so am smaller, making those calories harder to lose! Silly debate really, as we were both on my side when it comes down to it, I think it just annoys me haha. DH's point at the end was 'imagine how hard Michelle Bridges needs to work to burn 1000 calories!'. He did have some good points (and no I don't think I'm as fit as her!!!).

So the weigh in... after my big weekend, not as good as I wanted to be, but still very focused on counting calories where I could, as MB says, 'its 80% about the food' - so with that in mind... drum roll please... I'm now 68.2kg ... can you believe it! My aim after being pregnant with my daughter was to be 68kg... luckily I went a bit beyond this for 12wbt and said my aim is 65kg. It's just unbelievable... my weight just before my wedding was 67.9kg. I cant believe I'm practically there, and I'm so excited for what the next 7 weeks brings! Even a small weight loss over these weeks will bring me lower than I've ever been before.

This shows me what dedication can really do. For anyone who thinks its 'easier' for me, or any other excuse as to why this seems to be working... I'm dedicated. Thats it. I do the work outs she sets. I count calories and try to stay under 1200 calories (actually 1700 cos I'm breastfeeding). I'm honest with what I eat. I don't have much time for other things cos I'm cooking, exercising, cleaning, looking after bubb etc. But for the 12 weeks (only 5 so far!) of effort, think of the pay back and clothes I can wear by the end of this. My body seems to be changing every day, and I wake up excited to try on clothes I haven't been able to wear in a year!

Looking forward to the next 3.2kg. They will be hard to lose but I'm so excited at the prospect of losing them!

Living in the 60's

Wow its been a week since I last wrote.. I guess thats what happens with a teething bubba and trying to fit in exercise and eating well and shopping and a 50th and a visit to the Melbourne show!

This week I went to Melbourne to meet up with some mums I know and stay at my little sisters house - I ran 5km while there which I loved and loved that I did it fairly quickly! but... super annoyingly my tracker which tells me the stats of my run didnt work and I was already running so couldn't fix it grrr so I don't know my actual times and meant that I needed to do my 'fitness test' for the 12wbt again later on during the week. But I ran about 5km according to my sister's housemate and I was rapt with that as I was only running 3km previously and ran this fairly well.

I hadnt been feeling all that crash hot this week - with my SSS on saturday only adding to 850cals and me going over I was worried I wouldnt lose weight this week - but I was surprised and incredibly happy to see I'd lost 0.8 and was 69.2kg when I weighed in on Wednesday!! Rapt to be back here and this weight is closer to what I was pre-pregnancy. So yes my jeans fit WOOOHOO and the clothes I was wearing on my honeymoon fit yay! I'm getting there! 4.2kg to go to my goal weight...

Today is Sunday and so as promised I will fast forward through some of the week and hope that this isnt a long boring post.

This week saw more social gatherings. Both easier and harder than last week! Going to social gatherings for me is hard, not as much for the food etc offered and the willpower required (not a problem for me in terms of willpower), but that I have no power over the food offered to me... pretty hard.

Lunch saturday was at my sister in laws house and there was lovely lovely food. I needed to bring salad and bread and our own meat. I found its hard as you cant bring my lovely wholemeal seady bread to something like this as its more acceptable to bring a nice crunchy white loaf. For the salad I got away with a green salad, so that one was ok! Overall though it was hard to count calories, but with half a piece of steak (not even a full one - I'm learning!) some salad and one piece of the bread and a pass on the dessert (she knows about the 12wbt so luckily I wasn't bugged about skipping dessert!) I think I ended lunch on an ok note.

Dinner was at a 50th in Melbourne. Sausage rolls, hot dogs, dim sims etc... how to choose what to eat. So I had two party sausage rolls and one pasty. Wasn't enough food but lasted me for a while. Then some mini chicken rolls came out later - GREAT! I had two and lasted all the way through the rest of the food and dessert. Instead of standing around drinking and eating, I helped with the food prep and passing it around to guests which busied my hands. I realised I needed to bring water to gatherings though, as most of the time only soft drinks are provided and there is only so much diet drinks I can drink (Mich being in my head saying only one once in a while!). So ended I think if not within my calories, not far past them.

Unfortunately I couldn't do my SSS though, living where I live made that impossible (3hrs drive to melb) and with my daughter waking at 6am and us not sleeping so well, getting up early isnt an option, no matter what Mich says. So I need to try to fit in another 1000cals throughout this week sometime if possible if I have any chance of keeping up the weight loss!

Today (Sunday) we went to the Melbourne show, and although I was walking around all day, any other exercise was virtually impossible! Food was ok, I taste tested a few things, had an Empanada for lunch (YUM) and snuck in a couple of ciders which was naughty but I haven't drank in so long I let myself! I had a muesli bar for afternoon tea in the car and that held me out till I got home at 8:30pm and warmed up frozen canneloni for dinner (meanwhile we stopped through Maccas, hubby got a meal and an extra burger and I got a bottle of water...mean...).

I think overall this weekend tested me, I learnt some stuff (bring water & keep snacks in the car for emergencies!)  and although I couldn't exercise that made it even more important to eat well. I have been tired (3 hours sleep while my daughter has been teething) and emotional and yet I've managed to curb emotional eating. No opening blocks of chocolate here. Its 'drink a bottle of water and then see if I want a piece'. I never do :) I don't binge on 6 biscuits, I know the after effects before they come. I just seem to be making better decisions which is great. 12 weeks is a long time, but I do think that I will have learnt ALOT and changed alot of habits by the time this is over.

I don't think I will gain this week - I think I've been really good throughout this, but I will be extremely surprised if I lose anything at all! Stay in the 60's is my aim and see how I can push myself this week.

So 69.2kg, 4.2kg to go, 8 weeks till the end. 1/3 of the way through and things are going GREAT so far!

When friends come to play

As I've said before, I live out in Gippsland sort of in the country. So I basically live 3 hrs from Melbourne which is where my best friend, and most of my friends and family are located. So Friday night this best friend came to stay (godmother to my nearly 6 month old too) and have dinner and hang out. This was great and we had a ball... but how do you break the 'have a few wines and chat' scene which often happens with great friends? I had a low fat meal planned (Laksa so still yummy!) and had saved some calories for a glass of wine too... but being a great friend she had bought over dip and bickies and a bottle of wine and some other yum stuff too. Oh and our present from her recent trip to spain was an amazing bottle of tawny port from Porto! SO thoughtful cos we are into wine... anyway distracted.

So I had some of the dip etc while cooking, then had a couple of glasses of wine to be sociable, then had some port after the gift giving and it was delicious. Even through all my efforts I was still about 250cals over my daily limit. I think if i'd had anything less it would have almost been rude.. but in saying that - how did hanging out become something that required food and wine? Or is that something that has always been the case?



The next day I noted though, we drove about 1.5 hrs to a place for lunch looking over the ocean and I could just pick a soup for lunch and was well within my cals... so why is a friday night different to saturday? Does that mean I need to stick to meeting friends and family during the day where coffee and tea or a soup etc is acceptable? Can I avoid wines etc at night if we meet up? People are far more likely to say 'oh just have one its ok' at night rather than during the day.


Well 9 weeks left to go. 1/3 of the way through the 12 weeks. Will be sticking to lunches for a while I think!

The black hole

Its midway through week 3 and I think i've hit the spot between, 'gosh this is hard eating & training like this' and the best stage - 'routine stage'.

Goal weight (6 weeks pregnant)

I get up still a bit annoyed that I need to exercise and try to fit it in, but not quite annoyed enough to complain - I just get on with it. I am a bit fitter, so I need to work harder to get the cals up (last night I needed to run 1km on the treadmill after a boxing class to get over 500cals :(  ). I eat lunch/dinner and alot of the time now feel like something 'sweet' after it, or really feel like something I used to eat like a big homemade pizza drowning in cheese, and then realise I cant eat it. I'm stuck now in this place of less motivation than the first week - you get in a sort of headspace which is 'I'm losing weight, i'll be fine' and wanting to eat something bad, and the new place that is 'a) I'm not at my goal weight and still have 5kg to go, and b) this is a lifestyle! keep going!'.



Its a hard place and I was warned that the 3-4 weeks part is quite hard. But what has helped is everyone around me knowing what I'm doing. If I fall off the bandwagon I'll be someone who has failed. I am not that someone, and failing is not something I do.

The night before my daughter was born

I sometimes think that at the end of this it will be about November. My daughter will be about 8 months old, and I hope to get pregnant again maybe June/July next year... then I think OMG after another baby I'll need to do this again! Mindset mindset mindset.... lifestyle lifestyle lifestyle... but still...!

Keep going for the moment is all I can do.

Do I feel skinny?

This morning I woke up quite excited - after eating well all week and exercising great, and overcoming my shake issues, I really wanted to get on the scales and see how all my work had done, had it paid off? I had weighed myself on Monday and I was 70.5, but we all know that a couple of days can change the weight!

I woke up and thought... oh no I don't 'feel' skinny today. Its a weird concept and I don't know if I'm alone in it, but some days I just feel skinnier than others, and its proven to me that on those days I'm often lighter than the others! So this morning I gave myself a pep talk, "Its ok, anything under 71 will be good, I only lost 0.7 last week so really any sort of loss today is ok" jumped on the scales and it said 70.0! after turning it on and off again and testing it 3 times I accept it - I've lost 1.2kg yay!

I dont know what it is about this program though, I didn't need to feel skinny to lose the weight, I'm rarely hungry (if I am I eat something!) I can eat stews, lasagne, pies, BREAD!, pasta, chocolate, I'm not starving myself and I'm loving the food - my hubby is loving it too which makes this even easier.

If you can get your butt up and do the exercise 6 days a week (only 3 real 'hard' sessions) and eat well with portion control... things are fine! Saturday I didn't get a chance to eat all my snacks, so instead had a couple of glasses of red wine with dinner saturday night. I feel like an advertisement but I think I'm just amazed that for this effort I'm putting in I'm really seeing results. Loving it.

5kg to go for the goal this round.. If I make it to 65kg It will be the only time I can remember in my LIFE ever being that small... 5kg to go and 9 weeks to go... so that means a little over 0.5kg a week and Im there... wish me luck!

How to give praise... and not sound like you're hitting on the trainer!

Unfortunately this post is not the answer for the title - if you do know the answer feel free to comment and let me know!

So we did RPM tonight, me and a fellow 12wbt'er, and during it I felt so incredibly pumped (despite me stupidly getting the seat/handlebars and everything else on the bike set up wrong, even making the instructor get down off the bike DURING the session to help me change it... ugh embarrassing) and the reason I felt so pumped in my usual hated RPM class is because the trainer is FANTASTIC. She's loud, she sings, she tells you what to do when and you are never confused, she gives you tips and tricks that I always seem to need (head up, chest high, knees over toes etc) and just overall really makes you feel like going on!

The problem comes where I am of the firm opinion that if you think someone/something/food/person etc etc is good and over and above the expected/norm that you should tell them! but going through my head is - how do you tell someone how much you appreciate them, without sounding like you are absolutely totally in love with them and either a) making them feel self conscious or b) just making you look like a loser and the instructor saying 'hmmm yeah uh thanks?' and looking back blankly at you wondering at your intentions (as above - trainer is a SHE not a he... definitely no hitting on from my end!). Anyway so I think it turned out ok... I told her in a clumsy way that I thought it was the best class i'd ever done and that was cos she was awesome (see even writing it sounds ridiculous!) and tried to escape quickly afterwards (after a lesson in how to set the bike up) and left my drink bottle on the bike cos I was in a hurry to leave... oh and I just realised I didnt clean the bike doh!

hmmm RPM is quickly becoming my embarrassment of the week... but I love it. 536 cals later and I think I can deal with the embarrassment!

To train once, or go all out?

Today is Monday and the third week of the 12wbt.

My dilemma for today is do I train today, try to fit a run or dvd session in while my 5.5 month old daughter sleeps, and meanwhile the house gets more and more dirty (hard to keep clean in amongst all the time taken for training/cooking etc!) or do I just wait for tonight when I have my RPM session planned?

I have been seeing alot of the 12wbt'rs are doing more than one session a day and I feel like I'm caught in the middle, do I train in the day AND tonight? That might a) make me lose heaps more weight as the training is compounded with more training and eating really well, or will it b) make me lose motivation too early in the 12 weeks and think 'its too hard doing this every day'. So far I've taken the 'don't want to lose motivation' road - still training, but only what the recommend and no more.

Do I risk not losing as much as I really want to? Maybe... but I also want this to be a continual thing, and burning myself out too early might mean that I want a 'day off' here and there. Consistency is key, not going crazy and burning myself out I think... thats for today anyway.

Whoooops, shake miscalculations

So week 3.

I wanted to start this week off good given the 0.7kg loss from last week I didn't feel was enough. The first few weeks are meant to be the biggest! Water retention and all that. And those who say 'you're building muscle!' no - you're wrong. Thats the excuse for those people NOT LOSING WEIGHT! That isnt true unless you are a body builder. So I smile and say 'oh yeah maybe' but all the time as i'm nodding along with them thinking 'no i'm still unhappy and you're not helping!'

So anyway tried to start off the week good and then realised i'd been making up my protein shakes wrong! Seriously am I stupid!? grrrrrrrrr the 100 cal is WITHOUT milk not WITH stupid stupid. So now after wanting to start my week off good I'm already 200cal in deficit. My resolve strengthened. Im using myfitnesspal to scan (you can scan the barcode) and check everything I'm eating, so back on track.

Saturdays I'm quite excited for - most of them aren't and I hate them, but I sort of love them cos afterwards I feel skinny! So Friday night I go to bed feeling cos as apart from the shake scenario I've eaten and exercised GREAT. 

BUT my daughter had other ideas.

Friday night my little girl decided to wake, and wake, and wake... 10:30 feed, 12:30am feed, 2:30am feed, 4:30am feed then 6:30am and feed and up WHAT?! to be honest every time she woke I didnt care as much getting up and I was nearly CRYING realising I needed to do the 1000CAL workout the next day! 

But I got up and when she went down for a sleep I cleaned the house, then my mother in law took her and instead of eating lunch I put that off and went and did the workout! Intermediate wasnt cutting it so I did two rounds of the intermediate then one of the Advanced. Last week I'd burned 740cal by this stage and this time I was only up to 550cal. So tiring... I was trying sooo hard too! 

So 10 mins of the dvd later - note for those doing the 12WBT dont try the cardio dvd after 3 rounds and an hour of the SSS! mental. couldnt feel my legs, and dizzy from no sleep and starving! 

But Im determined. Anyone who knows me from basketball, netball etc, I'm competitive and I get what I set out to get. So I was getting to 1000cal no matter what I had to do!! I had my heart rate monitor on and so after 2 5min episodes of the dvd I started to run around my property. I decided to run till I got to the 1000 cal! quickest way to burn off the cals. So started running and slowly slowly the cals started to build. Higher and higher. I realised as I was running that they will keep ticking over; you keep working, they keep ticking! 

Anyway I got there. 1001cals and 2:15 mins later. 3km run in 6:48min/km after the 3 rounds and the dvd. 

It was an achievement for me and I finished happy. I actually had a shower then tried on my clothes I wanted to fit into by the end of this 12 weeks. For anyone lacking motivation, try on your clothes and it will make you want to go do the exercise. Then try them on again after a good session - it will motivate you even more to eat good that night and try again the next day! 

Sunday is today and its rest day. I needed it and after going to a 1yr old party (NOTHING there to eat for me... I had one piece of white bread to stop the hunger till we left and I could get something suitable!) I'm home and ready and roaring to get into the exercise tomorrow. 

I feel addicted to the feeling I get after the exercise and I hope others do too. I can feel the changes already, I just want the scales to show the difference too. 

Anyway after saying last blog I wouldn't make these huge and boring I fear I've done just that! Next one might be smaller... or I might just continue to have alot to say! Dunno if anyone will find this interesting or not but would love comments of any sort :)

Oh I've attached my last week's inspiration board I created - all the things I'm striving for and the clothes I have been talking about that I want to wear again!

Two weeks down... (& about me)

So I'm two weeks into the 12 week body transformation by Michelle Bridges and just decided to start a blog.
Actually slightly not true - there is a prize for good/inspiring blogs this week and reading some of them made me think that writing one myself might actually be good for me and stop me ranting and raving to my husband, non stop, 24 hrs a day about this challenge!

So a bit about me - I have a 24 week old daughter (25 weeks tomorrow!) and I'm trying to lose my baby weight which I had from her.

I live sort of in the bush out in Gippsland, Victoria, Australia, and we live on a 220Acre property so I run around here a bit.

I'm 27 and to put numbers out there, was 73.2kg when I started this and am aiming for 65kg by the end. Last wednesday on weight in day I was 71.2, so slowly getting there and on track!

I think I'll just summarise the last couple of weeks, as through looking through other blogs I've realised that long blogs are BORING and its much better to breeze through them and have a giggle or 'me too!' moment rather than hear about every single thing that happened, or time that person sneezed that day.

So the first week - RPM sucked. The instructor was awesome but WHY do people like something which hurts your butt so much? doesnt make sense to me - and the instructor said 'it doesnt get better the more you do it'...?!!

The exercise made me feel great and the food was fantastic so I was rapt. I was 71.7kg on the first weigh in so was sooo excited to have lost so much in the first few days!

The second week was still good and the food was getting better and I was getting used to the site. I did my first saturday session - which I named 'Stupid Saturdays' cos they kill me! but afterwards I can almost feel the weight that has fallen off... so its good in that way!

Second weigh in I was 71.2kg, and to be honest was a bit shattered. I know 0.7kg is meant to be good but for the first week and the effort of the first SSS (1016CAL over 1:45min) I thought I was up for a least a kg... not to be.

Thats it for week 2. Will update for this week and hope for better numbers for week 3!