12wbt kick off!

Ok so it is 10 pm and I am cooking tomorrow nights lasagne. We have the school concert at 6.30, and I finish work at 5.30 and have 2 kids to pick up at seperate locations.

So blogging is the last thing on my mind, but I though I better check in and say yee haa, the body transformation has started. Today was Day 2....and although I said I would only exercise 4 days a week, I decided that what the hell, I will whack in some both mornings. My concern has been that I would get just as disappointed in myself with calories and exercise as i did for eating too much. So if I don't exercise, or if I do and don't burn 500 calories. Now I have decided, that I am happy burning ANYTHING! I am still battling a sore foot, although I think it has improved. So this morning I burnt nearly 300 on the treadmill (which was a slower walk because my foot hurt when I turned up the pace or the incline) and yesterday I did most of the Michelle Bridges Tone DVD, also not a huge calorie expenditure because I didn't really have much room in the lounge and I poorly planned time with getting to work, so had to cut it short, also had to do the low impact as the jumps hurt,  :( I pick up my orthotic on thursday, so I hope that makes a real difference. 
I sat and planned out the menu Sunday and did a big shop. I sorted what days I would eat each meal, with work, and nights out, some meals fitted in better on different days. I have also stuck with Special K advantage  for breakfast  because A/. I need something I don't have to think about when going to work, and B/. I just don't see a shake as a meal, lol. Still healthy and still within the calories, so all good. I did take a picture of tonights dinner, so will share that at some point. 
Ok time for bed... soon anyway!

Pre Season

I remembered why I am so crap at blogging, and that is because I finally think to do it just when I am ready for bed.
So I thought I would give a quick summary of the Michelle Bridges 12wbt pre season tasks. The idea of these tasks is to have you all ready for the journey ahead, like a Girl Guide the motto was 'be prepared'.

1/. Introduce Yourself - this was about jumping on the forums and introducing yourself...so most of you should know me from this blog alone. I am 42 in October, a mother, wife and nurse. I live in Melbourne, Australia. I have lost over 20 kgs in the last 10 months. I love reading, scrapbooking and hanging with my family and friends. More recently I developed a love of kickboxing and Zumba.

2/. Get Real - this is identifying your excuses in life..
Internal :
will do it tomorrow
doing ok at losing weight, so don't need to be strict
ate that, blown it, so doesn't matter if I eat the rest
too tired
too sore

External (control over)
too busy
gym too expensive

External (no control over)
sick kids / me sick
husband home from work late
kids having meltdowns when I want to go out

with each of these came thinking up solutions. Mine consist of not waiting for tomorrow, ensuring KB or Zumba at least 4 times a week, and walking the dog..focusing on different areas of the body when sore. Doing treadmill at home, pre warning the kids. Don't loosen the reigns!

3/. Set Your Goals : setting goals is about having measurable, achievable and realistic aims over the program, but also beyond. So they are 1 month, 3 month, 6 month and 12 month. My goals are to about losing weight, toning up and I am achieving this by following 12wbt and being consistent. (In my actual list they are more specific).

4/.  Gear Up - this is about our exercise programs. This will involve 6 days a week of activity as follow
- 3 days of fitness, 2 days of toning, 1 day of light fitness, core and stretch (i.e yoga)


5/. Say it Out Load - simple as yelling it from the rooftops and making a commitment. Telling everyone you know you are doing the program, in order to be accountable and of course have support. My commitment was : I commit to this program to be the best person I can be whilst maintaining a realistic life....I will be healthier and fitter as I lose 10 kilos (I am actually less already, so not sure if I need to readjust that number, ah well we will see what happens) and tone my body.

6/. Kitchen Makeover _ yep that's right, throw all of the shit out of the house. There isn't too much for me because i have been mostly healthy for 10 months. Hubby won't give up chocolate, but lucky I am not too fussed by that.

7/. Organize and Diarise  - plan out your diary so you know when you are training, shopping days etc. Highlight outings that might be 'red flags' for eating. Such as dinners / weddings etc.

8/. Measure Up - eek the scary bit. Do measurements and take a pic in bra and jox! I wished I did this in October last year (oh the visual I have in my head, blah). Never mind. Onwards!

Much of these tasks are outlined in Mish's book Crunchtime. Which is a really great reference with its own 12 week program, along with the Crunchtime Cookbook.

These are all very confronting, and make the challenge very real. Looking forward mostly to learning about what calories mean, and about what actual healthy food is. Mind be fun to get into my head too.

Gosh I should go to bed...I am hoping for an early morning call into work.

Cheers

Fat chick in a slim body!

Well firstly I have to say I ALWAYS think of the best blog updates when I am driving or in bed about to go to sleep.! Alas, you will just have to put up with what comes to mind now as I am sitting in front of the computer. So here I am sitting on my slimmer butt on the couch after knocking off 600 calories at kickboxing. I am going to KB more now, because I currently can't go to Zumba....waaaaaaaaaaaaah! I have a bloody heel spur (and plantar fasciitis), and it friggin hurts like crazy :(    Luckily I love KB and can alter the exercise and still get a good work out.

So how about this losing weight. I guess the thing about losing weight is how you feel and look. And I have found that I am having trouble coming to terms with this. Mostly I look in the mirror and like what I see. But I have trouble when I reach for a size 12 top and accepting that when I actually try it on that YES it does actually fit, oh and looks ok :) Or some of my tops, that are size 16, up until last week I still had in my wardrobe, because it will still look ok. NO it does NOT! When I bought a gorgeous dress recently I doubted that it looked nice, and questioned myself whether I was in fact still a fat chick trying to squeeze into a slim dress. Alas it looked fucking amazing, lol.

The other thing that is hard is the constant compliments, nearly every day, several times a day in fact. Even now, from the same people. Now don't get me wrong, I love it, it is very motivating to maintain a healthier lifestyle. But the old me creeps in and wonders are they just saying it. So I am trying to suck it up and say thank you and let it spur me on.

This brings me to the next step in my life. I have decided to do the Michelle Bridges 12 week body transformation.  I contemplated her books I think before I started WW, but opted instead for the Tiffany Hall book (which admittedly didn't do much for me). I would see the ads for the 12wbt on the side of FB all the time, and in magazines. It sounded interesting. When my buddy joined I liked the page on FB, and this was great to see all of the buzz. Even though I know I am losing weight, and it still seems to be coming off,  I thought this would consolidate my knowledge and add a new perspective on food. I am also keen to shape my body more. A big thing will be the mind lessons. Working through why I overeat, and why I can't be bothered exercising. This program is very hard core...and I don't know that I will be super dedicated. I know I won't burn the ideal 500 calories 5 days a week, and 1000 1 day a week. I guess I am lucky because I really only want to lose 10 kilos, so I don't feel like I have to be mega hard core. I don't think I will ever rid nachos, wine and chips from my life, but at least I will be doing it much less, and even make better choices at times.  But I will exercise more than I am now, and my dietary intake will be less, and 'cleaner'. So this can only result in positive outcomes.

Ok we are currently at the end of 'pre-season' which involved 8 tasks in order to be ready for the coming slog! Hopefully I can get back in the next few days and update my 8 tasks before kick off on Monday.

Cheers peeps...and thanks for joining me :)

The Shrinking Story..

Morning.

Well I have been trying to get clever with some photos for my next blog post, and I have a Mac now, and I just cannot get Mac savvy. To be honest it is not my favourite device in the house! I love its battery life and the sleekness of it. But for photos I find it shithouse...Grrr. Alas I went back to the old desk top and Paint to whip up some pics. Why do I need pics you ask. Well I have to tell you about my little journey that  I started at the very beginning of October last year.

Yes thats right back in October 2010, I decided I needed to make some some serious changes in my life. I needed to lose weight. I had turned into a fat blimp! Over the years (about 5 I guess) i had ballooned to 93 kilos. FARK!!! I am only 159 cms. How could that little body possibly be that large. But it was. And it seemed to happen gradually, and I lived in denial. For awhile I told myself I wasn't that big, or I'd find clothes that I told myself looked ok, I didn't look that bad.. Who was I kidding? Myself actually! At some point I actually realised it was effecting me. I was getting short of breath when I went upstairs to our bedroom at home. It was uncomfortable doing up my shoes laces. I also had horrid indegestion most days and my cholesterol was on the upper limits of normal, I think it was high for one of the standards. For awhile I told myself I just needed to get "in the zone" to start losing weight. Well clearly the zone was no where in sight. And here I was looking like this!

Uuuugh, disgusting!! The left pic was from a scrap booking retreat in March 2010, and the one on the right is me at my 40th birthday party in October 2009 (where I thought I looked hot, I guess I looked okay for a boombah!)..LOL.

So here I was lumping around all of this weight, waiting for some miracle motivation and inspiration to bestow itself on me. Well girlfriends one morning I realised it ain't gunna happen, and I just had to do it. So I signed up for Weight Watchers at Southland, one of the Lifestyle centres. After a couple of weigh ins I ended up with Claudia, a different consultant. She was lovely, and very supportive. So I had begun the journey. I started Zumba and Kickboxing, and sort of tracking points. I was never 100% good at that. I probably did it written down for a couple of months, then in my head, then not at all. But the food choices were so far different from what I was doing that it didn't matter...I was still losing weight.  

I love Zumba and Kickboxing, and also getting out for a walk with our new Border Collie. So here I am 10 months later (not much different in the last month), and I happy to report I am 20 + kilos lighter. I haven't weighed in on the WW scales for ages, but they were close to my scales at home. I feel so much better, and people tell me I look so much better too. Although at times it is hard to accept that in my head, more on that later.

These pics are all in the last 2 weeks. I have definition in my shoulders, my legs are slender, I have little muscles in  my arms (I need to work on picture angles, because they are not always looking their best, hehe), my tractor tyre is more like a bike tyre now and I have only 1 chin now! I am still on a journey, and that is Part 2 of my story....

For anyone who has lost weight, you will know it is a bloody battle every day, some days easier than others, but I am here to show it can be done...take each day as it comes, chin up, onward we go!

Back soon to share my next stage of my journey, which is to fine tune my mind and body.

Cheers Kaz

Kaz is still here !

Well hello there..I am still here. LOL. Gee it has been nearly a year. Updating to facebook often and having a page for my cards I have neglected my blog. But I think I might start it up. Can't say I will be regular. Don't want to make promises. But I will try. I have lots to tell you.

So stay tuned.

Cheers Kaz

and so the holidays come to an end...

we have had some fun. I had last week off work, and took Harry to see Despicable Me, which we both really enjoyed. Then I was lucky enough to take a little trip to Canberra to visit their hospital and Community Health Service to suss out their asthma services. They run things very similiar and have the same sort of issues (like getting referrals and funding).
On the weekend the kids enjoyed the company of their cousin and we had a family day out at Ashcombe maze. I was a bit freaked out and worried I was going to get lost, or lose them, hehe. But is wasn't as bad as I thought, and we had a wonderful time. The sun was shining too so that was perfect, because it has only been peaking out here and there. We had a visit from my sister too, and just spent time at home. Always nice to see her, and the kids just love her so much.
I have been at work this week, and had the opportunity to attend a lovely (free) dinner at Brighten Baths tonight, for a drug company sponsored presentation about allergic rhinitis. How funny when I sneezed right in the middle of the talk, hehe.

Oh and last Saturday i took the opportunity to be far away from a TV and the AFL grand final and headed to a scrap crop. I had a lovely time and completed 5 layouts and 2 cards. The layout above is my favourite layout from the crop. And I purchased a punch, which is now my new favourite punch, by EK success, which i will share with you next time...
This weekend is for regrouping, because with all of the above I have hardly been home, and feel like everything is a mess, and Mark is working 12 hour days, so I don't need any extra outings or visitors. Just want to chill with the kids, clean up and have time to get sorted for back to school and routine too.
Hope you are all well, thanks for stopping by
Cheers Karen

Happy Spring...

or is it, hehe.. It is raining cats and dogs in Melbourne, although I am finding it a little muggy..strange. and now it is sunny in the afternoon.

This is just a quick pop in as I am off to a HEN"S NIGHT. This could end in disaster...LOL. I am really looking forward to a girly night out.

A special Hi to Jo this time....thanks for stopping by my dearxxx


I have barely scrapped in between retreats this year, and mojo is lacking I must say. I forced myself to do this last week, and finish it off last night. I don't like it at all, but wanted to share it anyway, to just say, not every layout hads to be "perfect"

There was a bit of dirt on the bottom too, courtesy of my kids and this layout sitting in the loung all week, so I disguised it with some inking, lol!

Ok I have also set up a little card/invite store on facebook...just search it - Bunkaloo Design, I hope you 'like" it. Have a fab weekend, and pray my feet last the night in my killer heels.

xx Kaz