Getting Back On Track

Well I am happy to say that I am now getting back on track with my exercise. Due to illness and then a family drama I haven't been able to/felt like exercising. Yesterday though I got back into it with a 45min walk. I included some hills and even did some running. What a sight that must be - me running along with one hand holding my boobs down lol. I need to go and invest in some good sports bras and then I think I could really take to jogging.

My new niece, Rochelle Erin is now home from hospital and still as gorgeous as ever. I have a new photo to show off (I promise its the last one). On Monday when we visited the hospital we had a run in with my SIL, however as my brother knows (and admits) that we weren't in the wrong I am hoping that it will not turn into a long silence as it did the last time we had an argument (7months). Oh well I am not going to stress over it as there is nothing I can do to change the situation. I just have to wait for my sister-in law to approach me.

This afternoon I am going for another walk and then Thursday morning its gym for Step class and Friday morning hubby and I are going swimming.

That's about it for today. I am just so happy to finally be able to say that I am getting back on track with my exercise.

renae

Happy 13th Birthday Brooke and Welcome Rochelle Erin

What a day!! Well today was our daughter's 13th birthday. Talk about making me feel old lol. Can't believe I have a teenage daughter. We didn't do too much in the way of birthday celebrations today as we have a birthday dinner planned for tomorrow night. Brooke is also going to the movies with a couple of friends before the dinner.

The day started with watching the soccer and then Cameron went off to work and the kids went to school. I got a bit down as we found out that none of Cameron's family are coming to the dinner (originally they all were). I think Brooke was a bit upset that they aren't coming so I was a bit peed off. So what started off as being all the family celebrating her special birthday it is now just us, my mum and 2 of her friends. I also have ordered a cake that is for over 20 people and it can't be frozen! Not happy Jan. Anyway that's enough of that.

Brooke had a great day at school, with her friends taking in cake and balloons to celebrate with her. Oh they also got her a crown which she proudly wore around all day (and night). She got money off us for her birthday and we went clothes shopping and quickly spent that! She got a beautiful gold charm bracelet with pendant watch off my mum and a denim jacket off my brother and sil.

The other exciting news.......... I have a new niece, Rochelle Erin. She was born at 1.52pm on the 22nd June and weighs 7lb 6oz and is from memory 56cm long. She doesn't feel that heavy though and is petite. My brother finally rang this afternoon around 3.30pm to tell us and said that we could go up tonight to visit if we wanted. Seeing as how I just love babies we went up tonight for a quick visit and we all got to have a cuddle. My sil thinks that Rochelle looks like my mum.

Seeing the new bub has made me even more cluckier (if that is possible) and poor Cameron is going to be gently persuaded (nagged) even more now.

Seeing as how this entry has been about Brooke and Rochelle I have included a photo of the birthday girl with the new bubby (oh and my hand as I was paranoid that Rochelle was going to fall through Brooke's arm).

Be back tomorrow.
Renae

A Day Of Mixed Emotions

This day is going to drag I think. My brother and sil are having their 2nd baby today and I accidentally found this out. They have a few strange ideas and one is that they don't ring any family until at least 24hrs after the birth. Not even a quick phone call to let us know and then they ring when up for visitors. With my nephew it was 3 days before we were told. So today I will be sitting here all day wondering if baby has been born, whether its boy/girl, how they are etc etc. I wish I'd never found out it was today. Oh well not much I can do about anything I suppose.

Weighed myself this morning for LITS challenge and I've lost 2.6kgs since last Thursday!!!!!!!! Unbelievable. I can only put this down to a lot of fluid retention. This brings my total weight loss to 20kgs. I can't believe it. Even though I still have 15kgs to get to the top of my healthy weight range, I feel like my end goal is in sight.

Well I'd better go and keep myself busy so this day doesn't dragggggggg on. I'm waiting for the rain to stop so I can get out for a walk.

Be Back later.

Cold, Cold Go Away!

Hi Guys,

If only this cold would go away I'd be a very happy camper. Having said that I am feeling much better today and am hoping to get to the gym tonight. I was going to go during the day but it is raining here and I don't think walking in the rain would do wonders for the cold lol.

Nothing much has been happening with me this week. I went out for lunch on Monday with Mum and the aunts which was nice. Got lots of compliments on my weight loss which was great for my morale. I am going to have to get lots of exercise in this week as I'm going out again for dinner on Saturday night and then lunch again on Monday to celebrate and aunts birthday. Not good lol but I'm not going to stress. I will do as much exercise as possible and eat as well as I can when out.

This Friday we have our daughter's 13th birthday. Very scary to think we will officially have a teenage daughter even if she has been acting like a teen for a few years now. The dinner on Saturday night is a family dinner to celebrate her birthday. Camerons family is coming plus my mum. Not sure if my brother will be coming as they are having a baby tomorrow (but shhhhhh i'm not supposed to know its tomorrow ..long story there). I think they will be ringing us on either the Friday or Saturday to let us know bubs is here but I'm not sure if I will be able to get up there before Monday to see them. I'm sure that's going to go down well but not much I can do with hubby working and me working at various times over the weekend.

Anyway that's enough of my family dramas lol. I weighed myself on Monday for the FOH challenge and got the hugest shock............. a 1.6kg loss from last Monday's weight of 88.2 (LITS weigh in on Thursday was 88.6). My weight on Monday was 86.6kgs. I can only put it down to the dramas that I was having with my cycle and that I was retaining heaps of water. It will be interesting to see what my weight is tomorrow. I haven't been able to do my HR assessment as I have been to ill to go to the gym. I should be doing that tonight though as well as a class.

Oh well that's about it from me, be back either tonight after gym or tomorrow.

Renae

Here is a photo of me in my new outfit!! Would you believe the top is a 16. I couldn't believe I was getting that size. Mind you it is a Millers 16 which I've heard is really an 18 but I'm not complaining. I went shopping with hubby, DD Brooke and 2 of our nieces and it was so funny. They had all these clothes for me to try on and kept passing things in to me and then I had to show them. When I came out in the above outfit they all said how good it looked and that I had to get it and where it to a get-together we were going to at the inlaws today.

I also got some pj's, 2 jumpers and some pants for around the house. Today was the first time I have worn jeans in around 15yrs. SIL said that she has never seen me in jeans and that they look great. After the down few days I've had it was certainly great to get some compliments. Aaron (DS) is so funny when he saw me in this outfit he gave me a hug and said something along the lines of "Mum you got skinny". I haven't actually said to my kids that I'm losing weight etc so it was funny to hear him say that.

I have a SIL who apparently doesn't like me because I'm fat so it was really good to turn up today in this outfit. Definately a feel good day.

Other than the shopping didn't really do much. We went over to the inlaws house for a get-together for our niece and nephews birthday. We were all invited over for lunch but it's just as well no-one was starving. There were 14 people there and SIL had bought one very small chicken and a small tub of pasta salad - that was it. Hehehe at least I didn't have to stress about eating unhealthily lol.

Tomorrow I am going out for lunch with my mum and aunts ..........to a smorgasbord. I have been a few times since I started losing weight and have been very good when there and not had a gain that week, so I'm not too worried about going. Tomorrow night I am going to the gym and am looking forward to it after not being able to go the last few days. I have to weigh myself tomorrow for the FOH Challenge and also do my heart rate/s again and waist and hip measurements.

I think that's about it for now but I will be back tomorrow with my weight and figures for FOH Challenge. Oh and I have to apologise for the above photo but I really hate photos and DH was taking it on an angle lol.

What a yuck couple of days I've had. I can't believe I'm going to post this on the net but anyway here goes. For some reason my body went haywire this month and I had a 38 day cycle. Whilst waiting for AF to show up I had cramps and pain etc and didn't know what was going on. On Wednesday night I got hubby to get a pregnancy test even though I highly doubted I was pregnant. It was negative. Have to admit I was disappointed. I got a bit depressed and one thing led to another and then I was very down about my weight loss. I couldn't understand how someone could lose 17kgs and still have a double chin (when looking down) and still have quite a stomach.

Anyway at 10.30 at night I drank 4 large glasses of water so that I could go to the loo lol. I don't think this was a wise idea seeing as how I weigh in first thing Thursday morning.

Thursday morning I weighed myself and gained 400g. I've put it behind me now and hopefully will have a much better result next week. On Thursday I went shopping with a friend and tried on some clothes. Jeans and shirts. I fit into a size 18 jeans but don't know how comfortable they would be to sit down in for too long. Maybe I can just stand up in them all the time lol. I tried on a size 16 top with them and it fit!!!!!!! I couldn't believe it. I'm taking Cameron back on the weekend to get them.

I also woke up yesterday with a cold and sore throat. Yucko. Today AF finally arrived so double yucko lol. Don't know how much exercise I'm going to be able to do over the weekend as I'm not feeling the best.

I highly doubt that my results for the FOH Challenge are going to be anything spectacular but I will aim to improve everything for the following week.

Oh well that's about it from dreary me today. Sorry having a blerg day. I'll be back tomorrow.

renae

TODAYS EXERCISE:

60 mins walk (to gym, shops and then home again)
15minutes on treadmill.

Today I went to the gym to do my heartrate reassessment. I really wanted to do a class but they have none on in the middle of the day on Tuesdays. I am hoping to get to the gym for Pump tomorrow. My reassessed HR figures are:

Resting: 67
WHR : 154
Recov : 120

To assess this I did a 2min warm up and then 10 mins on treadmill at 6km/hr. I will be doing this assessment each Monday.

After the gym I headed to the library to pick up a book that we are going to be reading on a forum I'm a member of. The book is "Fall on Your Knees" by AnnMarie MacDonald. Looks good. After the library I walked home. Other than that I've just done boring housework and been on the net.

Ooh yes I did have a nice surprise when I checked the mailbox this morning. I won a De-Stress Cellulite Massager from Walking With Attitude. A very nice surprise. I'll have to try it out tonight.

Last night we had our first online meeting for the FOH Challenge and we got homework! Wk1 is goal setting. We have to answer the questions and then post them on the forum. When I've answered them I might post them here. Anyway Adro was there for the meeting and my daughter couldn't believe I was talking to him. She kept walking around going "I can't believe you're talking to Adro" lol. He thought it was hilarious and said Hello to her. I think we are having these meetings each night which should be good. We will be getting homework every week and feedback etc. The reason for the homework is so that we understand what we are learning and adapt it to our own lives. I think it will be really good and make us think.

It is our daughter's 13th birthday on the 23rd and we're still trying to decide what to get her. I checked out the Ipod Nano's today but they are a bit expensive. I'm thinking of a voucher so she can go clothes shopping. I'm sure she would love that. She is going to go to the movies on the 24th with 2 friends and then we are having a family dinner (plus the 2 friends) at a nearby club afterwards. I think the 2 friends will then stay overnight. I think Aaron is going to go and spend the night at mum's as he can be a bit annoying when Brooke has a friend over (ie doesn't leave them alone!). Definately makes me feel old to have a teenage daughter :)

Well I'd better go check on dinner - we are having chicken and veg tonight. yum yum.

Be back tomorrow.
Renae

I've updated my goals for the 12wk LITS challenge and changed them in the sidebar. I am very pleased to say that I finally got out for a walk today. We took the kids to the bike/walking track and had a 45min walk. The kids had a great time riding their bikes so I think we will make it a weekly activity and I will either walk or ride. I had to do my assessment for the FOH challenge which involved Weight, Waist, Hip, Resting HR, Working HR and my Recovery HR. The figures were:

Weight: 88.8
Waist : 95cm
Hips : 121cm
RHR : 67bpm
WHR: 86bpm
RHR : 72bpm

Mixed feelings about those figures. My weight is up 0.6 from Thursdays weigh in, although I realise that weights can fluctuate throughout the week. It is also TTOM. My waist and hip measurements are also down a couple of cm's from last time I measured (end of last challenge/10wk gym reassessment).

the other dubious figure is the WHR and Recovery HR. As the gym was closed today I couldn't do the assessment on the treadmill as I would have preferred. So instead I did a 5min warmup and then brisk 10 min walk. The trainer said that my whr was great as it means heart is in good shape however for the assessment purpose I should redo on the treadmill tomorrow. I do know that my WHR is much higher on the treadmill. So tomorrow I will go to gym and retest it.

From now on I'm going to be weighing twice a wk - Mondays for FOH challenge and Thursdays for LITS challenge. A bit of a pain so hopefully I won't get confused.

We've had a fairly quiet weekend. The weather has been fairly dreary (freezing cold) and we have mainly stayed home and vegged.

On Saturday morning I woke with very sore knees after crawling around for an hr or so with my nephew on Friday lol. That'll teach me although it was such fun listening to him chuckle.

The entry forms are now available for the City To Surf so I have to remember to print it out and get it sent in ASAP. Hmm I am really starting to wonder what I have got myself in for with Heartbreak Hill. I wonder how bad it really is?

Well I'd better go and spend some time with the family. I will update my HR stats after the gym tomorrow.

Renae

I've Given Myself A Big Kick Up The Bum!!!

Hi Guys,

Well as the title says I have given myself a well-deserved kick up the bum for being so slack with my blog! Also needed one as I've been slack on the exercising too.

So I'm back and motivated to keep on with this journey. A new 12wk challenge has started at LITS plus I've joined a challenge on this forum: http://free-online-health.com/forums/forums/default.aspx. This forum was set up by Ray Kelly who was Adro's (biggest losers) trainer. The challenge sounds great with the "contestants" trying out aspects of their new program "The New Me". There is going to be nightly support meetings etc etc. I am very excited to be a part of these challenges.

Over the last 2wks I have been so slack with exercise, in fact I've done no planned exercise. Only incidental exercise in that time. I have stuck to good eating though and managed to fluke a 1.8kg loss this week. I am now officially an 80's girl again!!!!

LITS 12WK CHALLENGE WEEK 1 GOALS

1. Walk at least 3 times this week
2. Drink at least 2L of water/day.
3. Lose at least 500g this week.

I thought that as I have done no exercise I would start with achievable week 1 goals. I will change the goals in my sidebar to reflect my overall goals for the challenge.

I haven't really done anything exciting in the past week. I did get my hair cut but that's about it. I am very excited though as very soon I will be an aunt again. My brother and his wife are due to have their 2nd bub in about 2wks. I loooove babies lol so I can't wait to find out if it's a boy or girl and what they look like. The already have a son Cohen who is 14months and just adorable. I got to babysit him yesterday and we had the best time. We were having crawling races up and down the house. That should have burned some calories!

Well that's about it for now, but i promise, cross my heart, to be back tomorrow with another update. We have to go out now and look at what we can get our daughter for her 13th birthday which is June 23rd.

I will update my challenge goals at side tonight.

byeeeeeeeeeeeee

Renae

I'm baaaaaaaack!

Feeling a lot better now. No more depressing thoughts/feelings. I did have another few hrs of bad feeling on Thursday but I'm so over it now. After posting my last entry I got the ball out to try it out. I still have no idea if I have over inflated it and I had no idea if I was doing the exercises correctly. So I got a bit depressed. Silly hey. Then to top it off after I finished I felt very very nauseous so I had an afternoon sleep. I woke up in a much better frame of mind.

I've decided I will get hubby to watch me doing exercises and he can tell me if I'm doing them right!

We managed to have a kid-free weekend. DS went to his aunts on Friday night and DD stayed at a friends and then stayed there again last night. Its funny but when the kids aren't home we tend to go visiting people rather than staying home by ourselves. This meant 2 late nights and not the best eating. However the number of times we go out is minimal so I didn't get too stressed over what I was eating and I didn't eat too terribly anyway.

Friday night we went to Cameron's sisters and left there around 12.30 for a 40 minute drive home. I think we actually went to bed at 2.30am. That's ok because we slept in until 11. Saturday we went shopping and then went to a friends and then my brothers to play cards. Got home from there at 1am.

This morning Cameron has gone to soccer and I'm catching up on everything on the net. When he gets home we are going to pick Aaron up from Cam's sisters.

Then I think it will be home for a family walk. Poor dog hasn't got a walk all weekend (nor have I).

I did sneak a look on the scales this morning and they said 88.6 which I am so happy with. Mind you I don't actually weigh in until Thursday so they could say something way different by then.

Back later.

Renae

Sorry I've been very slack in not updating. I have had a few down days since Saturday.

On Saturday we went to the shops so I thought I'd try some clothes on. I got a couple of pairs of jeans to try on and they didn't fit!!! Well I did get them on but don't know about wearing them out anywhere. So after that I was in a down mood - I just thought that after losing 15kgs I would notice huge changes in clothing etc and so far I haven't. Yes my pants that I wear now are loose but not that loose that they are falling down. I think it is because I still have quite a stomach. With the jeans that I tried on I later realised that they must all be made as hipsters now as that is where all the pants I have tried on lately come to.

After Saturday I was in a bit of a down mood for a few days as when I look at myself in the mirror I can't see drastic changes. Yes I have noticed I am getting more shape now and my hips aren't as wide but I just thought that the changes would be more obvious. In my previous weight loss missions this has probably been the point where I have given up and piled the weight back on. This will not be happening this time!!! I am going to get back into exercise as I should and will keep on with my new, healthy lifestyle.

Enough of that depressing talk....... I have found a pair of swimmers. I was walking past my local op shop so went in and asked (even though hubby didn't want me getting ones that other people had had their "bits" in lol). One of the ladies said that she had a couple of new pairs at home and she would bring them in. I said that I thought I would need size 18 so she looked me over and said " oh yes I used to be your size once"! I had a bit of a chuckle after I left the shop. I picked them up yesterday (2 pairs for $5each). Cameron was very surprised as he has never seen me in a pair of swimmers let alone swimming. We are aiming to go to the pool on Saturday and then I am going to start Aqua Aerobics. Cameron assures me I don't look too bad in them although I am not convinced.

The other thing I finally got is my Swissball. I will be using it today. I'm not sure if I've over inflated it though as it looks hugeeeeeeeee. I suppose the only way to find out is to use it and see if I need to deflate it a bit.

I really really need to start doing some toning exercises at home so I am hoping the ball is good for this. My inner thighs are hideous lol and of course I would like to tone my stomach and arms as I go too.

We are about to start a new 12 wk challenge at LITS and I am keen to get stuck in and reach my goals every week. I did well in the 6wk challenge losing 5kgs and 4.2% weight loss.

I weighed in this morning with a 0.4kg loss for this week. That's good considering I haven't exercised as much as I should have. That brings my total wl to 16kg and hopefully next week I leave the 90's behind for good!

Ok I'm off to get some housework done and use my ball. I will be back later I promise (cross my heart).

renae