Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Day 10 Fitstorm - Shredding for success

So I'm up to Day 10. For those of you good at maths you'll realise it has taken more than 10 days to get me to Day 10 - yeah. Sorry about that.

My initial plan was to do it five days a week for six weeks. Then last week happened and I had things on, people to see, places to go, a head cold and allergies that have left me with a burst capillary in my left eye. Noice.

So I'm up to Day 10. I've done six days of Level 1 and three days of Level 2. Some clothes are definitely feeling better - well, the skirt I live in which was getting tighter and tighter is not so tight. Still tight, but not to the point I have to undo it at the end of the day or after a meal.

So here's the drill.

I'm still not 100 per cent committed.
Doesn't that sound ridiculous.
But I'm not.
And you know why?
Because I'm scared of failing. I'm scared that if I lose this weight I'll put it all back on.
Like I have every other time I've lose a significant amount of weight.

And yes, I know how stupid, defeatist and ridiculous that is.

So - AGAIN - I'm sucking it up and keeping on going.

I'm up to Day 10 of Jillian Michael's 30 day shred.
I can now do proper push ups and touch the floor without bending my knees.

I am not weighing myself.

I'm going to take my measurements at the end of the week and see how different they are from ones I took last year.

And I'm working out a meal plan so we don't end up eating pasta five nights a week.

I find if I'm organised in terms of what I'm going to have for breakfast/lunch/dinner I stay on track much better than if I don't.

I'm also going to try and adhere to some of Jillian's advice:
Don’t eat anything that doesn’t come out of the ground or have a mother

I'm still going.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Day 6 Fitstorm

So granted, I am a day behind (I'm doing this five days a week for six weeks ... to get to the 30 days) but today I started on Level 2 (out of three) with JIIIIIlian.

Holy crap people.
The sweat, the intensity, the complicated moves requiring coordination I simply don't have.
Seriously, a lot of it seemed to require me to be ready to do a push up, but instead I'm pulling my legs up together, separately, bending one leg and swinging it through to the other side, crunching with my legs in the air. It was like a game of solo Twister.

I've given the scales away for the moment, they don't do anything for my mental state in trying to lose weight. Instead, I'm using the 'holy hell don't waste all that effort with JIIIIIlian' approach.

I'll weigh myself in a couple of weeks.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Day 4 of Fitstorm

So I've done the shred every day this week - on Tuesday I thought something was going to snap, yesterday I sweated like a hog and today, well today I did push-ups on my toes rather than on my knees. I'm building up to shifting to level two next Monday.

I think I might throw the scales away, they mess with my head. Because I was feeling 'tighter' I weighed myself this morning and it said I was 89. FUCK OFF SCALES.

Naturally I ate too much today instead. IDIOT.

Monday, March 16, 2009

Fitstorm

So today I started Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred.

Because I have some sort of muscle death wish.

Actually, I did level 1 and it was fine. I managed the whole thing except for one point when I thought my hamstring may indeed snap.

I didn't even have to battle for space on the floor because I attempted to clean up yesterday.

My plan is to do Level 1 for a week, Level 2 for 2 and Level 3 the remainder of the 30 days.

I like that it's only 20 minutes, that it's intense and that she breaks it down into short intense bursts. I bore easily.

Then I finished it, thinking, that was OK. And then I wanted to hurl. For about three hours. It is a serious workout which took me by surprise. Let's see what the month brings.

OH, and I weighed myself this morning. 88.3kg.

So I've lost 1.5kgs in six weeks. I'm pretty pissed off at that effort, considering the fact that I'm not eating any crap and exercising my arse off. I know I know, the slower the better, I'm doing it the right way, but I would have liked to have been closer to 80 than 90kgs.

Oh, and watching The Biggest Loser doesn't help - some of those boombalardies are now in the 80s and the fact they're going to pass me is really giving me the shits.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Vices

...and I have not had a turkish delight all week.
I miss my sweet little foil wrapped friend.

Update

I hate my double stroller. It's got tiny hard rubber wheels that refuse to all go in the same direction at once, the frame is getting rickety and I need to give it a good shove every time I want to start moving.
We got it 2nd hand from friends when C was born in exchange for Mr Duyvken fixing their riddling rack. The price was right so we took it and although it's been great for getting around the shops it is hopeless on footpaths, nature strips, etc. It stops every time it encounters a small bump in it's path and I end up nearly breaking my neck when I try to jog. I even tipped it forward one day trying to get across the street. C and JW were well strapped in and were fine, thank goodness but it cemented my dislike for the 12 wheeled beast.
Despite keeping an eye on sales, ebay, the trading post, etc I haven't been able to find a double stroller with pneumatic tyres at a price that meets my budget, As C gets older I get closer to only needing the single stroller again so spending money on a decent double wouldn't be sensible and I am trying to be patient with it.
I took it for a walk again this morning, fighting with it up all the hills, battling with it around corners and trying hard not to let it run away from me when descending all the while being breezed past by women pushing jogger strollers who seemed immune to the evil lasers I was shooting at their fast retreating backs. I am hoping that all the wrestling the stroller requires means I am getting a reasonable upper body workout and I will soon have the biceps to roll one of those mums for their stroller. They'd never catch up with me once I took off on those inflated tyres!

This week -
Monday - swim, crunches
Tuesday - 5km walk
Wedsnesay - crunches
Thursday - 8km walk with stroller wrestling, crunches

Monday, March 9, 2009

Yoga

I did half an hour of a yoga DVD this morning.

I sweated as much as I do walking the boys to school and back.

I still feel nauseous.

Exercise Continuers

J had a swimming lesson this morning and my mum kindly looked after the younger two so I was able to swim some laps while J was having his lesson instead of standing by the pool watching him and entertaining C and JW. The lesson goes for half an hour so I only swam for 20 mins but it was great. It's such a lovely way to exercise. I am particularly pleased to have done it because the forecast is for rain all week which means I probably won't be able to do the long walks I started last week. At least, not with the double stroller. It looks like I'll be going out for a run when Mr Duyvken gets home from work or waking early and exercising before he needs to leave in the mornings. I hate getting up early but I'll set the alarm anyway, apparently I am an optimist!
Mr Duyvken also taught me a way to do crunches that I am finding much easier and much more effective than the other ways I've been doing them. I'll share that with you next time, OK?

Friday, March 6, 2009

Adventure Racing and Long Walks

The walk that I've been doing is 8km long and hilly. I did it 3 times this week (the 3 days my 4yo is at pre-school) and that is what I am going to do each week between now and the adventure race I mentioned yesterday.
We're doing one of the sprint races in the Kathmandu Adventure series. You don't know exactly what you'll be doing until you get there and get your course map for the day. The teams who really know what they're doing then spend some time plotting the fastest course, Mr Duyvken and I look at the topography lines and hope for the best. It's a combination of trail running, mountain biking and kayaking, the running and kayaking should be fine but I really need to spend more time biking than I did in 2007. I really wasn't confident on the bike and it cost us a lot of time. I blogged about it (albeitly briefly) here. That was way back in 2007. We were the 3rd or 4th last team to finish so it shouldn't be too difficult to improve on that!
I haven't been doing the crunches, why do I hate them so much?

Thursday, March 5, 2009

The Fast Track

Enough messing around.

I want my clothes to fit.

Not a snug fit either, I want them to be comfortable.

And I want to enjoy running again.

I would like that to happen soon.

So, in the spirit of making some of this stuff happen quickly, and being very impressed by all the walking Kim has been doing, I went on a long walk today and yesterday pushing the youngest two in the double stroller. I'll figure out distance, etc tomorrow, but it takes just under 2hrs and is hilly. (Why don't I live somewhere flat?)

And Mr Duyvken and I have signed for an adventure race.

We did it 2 years ago when C was a baby and I adored it.

It was wet, it was freezing, it was hard but it was amazing and I am excited about doing it again. I really need to kick my fitness up a few notches to be able to do it though so that means no more whining and complaining, it is time for action! Who's with me?

Now, if they would just stop making Fry's turkish delight bars this would be a whole lot easier.

Do not Google Fry's turkish delight because you will find the chocablog website.
You have been warned.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Still grumpy

Still grumpy
Cranky even
Still fat
Still wanting to eat myself into a pit

I think my period is due this week...

As you were.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Boombafug

What can I tell you, I'm feeling mighty fugly this week.
I didn't get up yesterday or today for a walk but I did the school walk yesterday arvo and this morning (Monday mornings are speech morning for Oscar so I was car-bound)
I ate about 3 kilos of potato salad at my BIL's 40th on Saturday. I was so full I had to undo my skirt. Which was tight already. Which I had bought when I lost the 10kgs last year before going back to work.
I feel like just sitting down with a ginormous bag of chips and wallowing.
But then I tell myself, this was never going to be a quick fix.
This was about feeling good about myself and sitting down with those chips will not result in me being wrapped in a glorious swathe of self love.
This is about being fit and healthy for my kids ... and me.
This is about me feeling sexy and a woman.

So the mind, it does dangerous things doesn't it.

I want to pack it all in today and just forget about it.
But then I will still be lugging around 18 kilos too many.
I will still be out of breathe at the smallest incline.
I will still avoid physical activity at the merest whiff of it.

And that is not who I want to be.

I am reminding myself about my goal - to be looking fabulous in a new frock at the wedding of some very chic friends next February.

Which is funny because the bad brain is saying to me, why bother, you're never going to get there by then.

But you know, even if I'm 10 kgs lighter by then I know I'll look a hell of a lot better and feel good about myself while also having a lot more options when it comes to finding an outfit.

See. This is what goes on in my brain every single day.

No wonder I'm a nutbag.


*UPDATE AT 2PM*
So, I've managed to get to 2pm w/out eating chocolate, chips or some other crapola. Am proud of myself in that gritted teeth resignation to the pain kind of way.