I’m NOT with the Band

Twenty something years ago I was an amateur Band Manager and my Saturday night quote was “I’m with the Band”. My weekends were spent having a couple lot of drinks and watching live bands in some seedy awesome establishments.

Not actual band I managed, but they were almost as good. Image Courtesy of http://www.rockbandaide.com

Not actual band I managed, but they were almost as good.
Image Courtesy of http://www.rockbandaide.com

Fast forward 20 years and the only bands, I’m talking about are hair bands for my mummy bun and my daughters pigtails.

The other band I am not afraid to talk about is my Lapband or Gastric Band.  I got my lapband in June 2010, (read about that here) because I didn’t want to be morbidly obese and pass on my poor food habits to my children. In the 10 years leading up to having my daughter I had put on 50kgs (read about that here). From having my Lapband in until now I have maintained a 22-25kg weight loss. I have no regrets.

But for the past few years my Lapband has been causing me grief with reflux that medication couldn’t always control. This in turn inflamed lower oesophagus and stomach ulcers (that I didn’t know I had), caused internal bleeding (which I didn’t know about) and these unknown complications potentially caused me to pass out while shopping one day with both my kids (5 and 1 year olds), really scary stuff.  I was thankful to be in Athlete’s Foot Wollongong at the time buying school shoes for my daughter and I joked about the price of her shoes causing the fainting episode. The store owner, staff and random members of the public were amazingly helpful and the kids and I got a free ride in an ambulance.

Initially after some tests they thought my fainting was caused by dehydration and low blood pressure, which dropped substantially when going from lying to standing position. A follow up appointment with my doctor 2 days later and it was discovered that it was a combination of all of the above complications. So although the Lapband wasn’t the cause of this it was a bi-product.

So after the last few years of procrastinating about getting my Lapband fixed or removed it all came to a head and I made the decision to have it removed. I went in for surgery just before Easter for what was potentially a 1 or 2 night stay that turned into 3 nights. The surgeon did warn me that getting it out can be a longer recovery than putting it in and he was not wrong. I had really low blood pressure, blurred vision and vomiting and I felt just plain awful.

So 4 weeks post-surgery I am on the mend, I’m back to the gym on light weights and cardio, getting my head around eating well with no restrictions. I will see my surgeon again in 3 months and I have set a weight loss goal of 9kgs. I am focusing on low carb (not cutting carbs completely) and high protein style eating plan as per his recommendations and every other reputable trainer, coach, dietician etc I have ever met.

I am terrified of weight gain. I have just got to the point in my recovery where I am feeling hungry, I have passed through the liquid diet phase of my recovery and had my chocolate binge, milk and milo fix and ice-cream binges (because they are a liquid) and I have thankfully stopped that shenanigans.

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My latest mantra is “Don’t waste the fortuity”, (because opportunity wouldn’t fit on my Typo Lightbox) I have to remember that the last almost 5 years with the Lapband have not been easy and I have slogged out countless hours of exercise, mummy guilt abandoning the family to go to the gym, emotional rollercoasters, stress, relationship struggles and wondering if I had done the right thing, to let it all slip away by eating and drinking stupidly.

Weight-loss is made in the kitchen so I am focusing on this primarily and exercise secondly because, honestly, the exercise for me is the easy part.

So the future is uncertain but I am going to give it my all now that I am no longer “with the Band”.

Eating Disorder – I’m not Fat

Eating disorders can come in many forms, anorexia, bulemia, binge eating and many many more. I look back at my history and believe I have a form of eating disorder, I thought it could have been a Reverse Anorexia but that is a known muscle dysmorphia, definitely not what I have.

My (unnamed) problem over the years was more about looking in the mirror and turning on an angle and sucking myself in putting on nice clothes, applying make-up and saying to myself “you are not fat, you look good”.

There is nothing wrong with being happy with how you look but I should have looked a bit closer. I like many other women enjoyed shopping and but I would struggle with finding clothes that fit and looked nice, but I would eventually find them and feel good wearing them. And each time I bought the next size up I would blame the factories for inconsistent sizing. I often got compliments like “you dress really nice for a big girl”. I was also a keen shopper for “gut sucking” granny nickers, shorts and camisole’s and I wore them all the time (and still do).

Reality would hit when I saw a photo of myself from an unflattering angle and then I would almost blame the person who took the photo.

It seems a lot of other people were blamed for my issues.

Don’t get me wrong I knew I was Plus Size and I knew the weight was creeping on (read about it here), I was obviously enjoying life too much and wasn’t ready for change. It wasn’t until I was due to get married that I thought I didn’t want to be a fat bride and embarked on my own NFB (No Fat Bride) campaign with my personal trainer. Whilst I lost a little bit of weight, I could have lost more before the big day and it is a regret I will have to live with.

In recent years the weight loss programs that have sparked my interest are those that promote “Lifestyle Changes” and my motto has been to make better choices every day.

When the next 36 day challenge came up at my gym EnVie Fitness Woonona, I jumped at the chance to get involved. I am in the best headspace that I can remember so I am on a mission. I have learned a lot this week about weight-loss using food and exercise to my advantage so it is time to put that knowledge into practice. The official start date is Monday 10th March but I am not waiting lifestyle changes begin now.

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If anyone is doing The 36 Day Challenge at EnVie Fitness Woonona if you post anything about the challenge on Facebook or Instagram use the hashtag #enviewoonona36daychallenge if you are making any other lifestyle changes use #everydaybetterchoices or use both. I look forward to reading up on how everyone else is going.

It’s not too late to sign up and join in.

The week that was – Quarterly Report

I have not done a weekly wrap up for waaaay too long so I thought I would call this post the Quarterly Report.

The reason for being MIA is a combination of numerous things:

1)      Pregnancy – it is hard to find things to write or brag about when you are not striving for new goals, it has taken a few months to realise that you can’t be doing PB’s whilst in 2nd and now 3rd trimester of pregnancy, you are carrying an important cargo and must take things a little easier than before.

2)      Sickness – for about 6 weeks on and off I have been sick, lethargic, tired and whingey (if you believe my hubby). It has been a combination of never ending runny nose, horrid reflux and flu-like symptoms and not being able to take medication has made it drag on and on. Occasionally I would have a good week and then relapse again. I am pleased to say I have been sickness free for about 2 weeks. During my sickness, cake, sweet food and take-away has been my friend and in 6 weeks I have put on about 5kg.

3)      Candy Crush – OMG anyone who plays this absurd time-wasting phone/Facebook app/game will understand its addictiveness, I started playing this game about 6 months ago but got really addicted while I was sick and plonked on the lounge, bored with TV choices I would play it non-stop from the time Miss 3 would go to bed until I could barely keep my eyes open or run out of lives. I heard on the lolly-vine that the game had an ending so I played it so much until finally about a week ago I finished Level 335 and it would not let me play anymore. THE END. I have been having massive withdrawals and checking almost daily that they have not created an update for the game which may let me play on. I hope that day never comes or enough time has lapsed that I stop looking for more Candy Crush.

So with all of my excuses behind me it was time to get my head back into my fitness and keep my pregnancy weight gain under wraps. It had been over 8 weeks since I had a review of my gym program so I scheduled that in to get me on the right track for where I was with my pregnancy.

Whilst I was sick I was still managing 1-2 sessions a week when I could function and was still doing a little bit of jalking (jog/walk) during my outdoor class and some running intervals on the treadmill.

This week I managed to get to my Tuesday Buggy Fit (mums n bubs) class, I have slowed down a lot to a jog or brisk walk, but found things like push-ups, burpees and other exercises where you go from ground to feet a lot more difficult. Some of this weeks’ exercises involved some short runs and then 3 push-ups, my theory or logic was if I’m getting on the ground I’m going to make the most of it, ie 10 push-ups, so that is what I did.

Wednesday morning I went for my gym program review, the outcome was no more running on the treadmill, instead do a fast walk on an incline and to drop down my leg weights by about half, like leg presses and leg raises but keep arm and upper body the same. It was also suggested to do cardio and legs 1 day and then cardio and arms in another session. So I stuck around and did my cardio/legs session before work.

Saturday morning after a terrible night’s sleep I decided to push through the tiredness and did my cardio/arms session. The weather was beautiful and warm and later in the day I really wanted to go for a swim in our local ocean pool. I feared that I would get to the pool and dip a toe in and chicken out, hubby suggested not dipping a toe in and just diving in the water. I made a pact that if the water temp was 19 degrees or warmer I would go. So hubby gets his Google on and tells me that the temp was 19 on the dot, damn him and Google. So off I went. Upon putting on my swimmers and boardies on I felt like a beached whale, best not to look in the mirror. I realised that I had not been swimming at all since I did my last triathlon and I was concerned that I have lost a lot of my fitness. Anyway I got in the water up to my knees and was having 2nd thoughts it was cold, but after standing there for a few minutes I decided to dive off the step and just get wet. So I plunged in, gasped a little bit (unlike a similar time last year, read about it here) and proceeded to do a few laps, I managed to do 500m starting and stopping, I could have done more but decided after already being at the gym to not push too hard, but swimming is something that I think will get me through this 3rd pregnancy trimester.

So after getting 3 sessions and a swim in 1 week I was happy and have a bit of motivation back. This weeks’ goal is to do it all again and maybe swim for longer (in a princess heated pool). Lay off the cake and I have been indulging in a bit too much soft drink so I need to back off that a bit too.

The week that was – getting moving

I have neglected to do a proper weekly wrap for a few weeks, I can attribute this to the fact I have dropped the ball a bit with my training and had not a great deal to report, so I got my head back in the game and managed to get myself moving this week and keep going.

Monday – I returned to my Indoor Rowing PT session and although not feeling entirely motivated I managed to do a workout that inflicted some pain on ye ole muscles the following day.

Tuesday – I tossed up between going on an expedition to IKEA and doing a session at the gym. I needed things from IKEA for our home renovations and being that it is an hour trip each way and about 3 hours to venture around the store it truly was an expedition with Miss 3.5 in tow. So the end result is I ditched a gym session and went shopping.

Sometimes IKEA is the winner.

Sometimes IKEA is the winner.

 

Wednesday – I really wanted to do a workout to make up for yesterday’s shopping trip but work got in the way, I should have no excuses but life does get in the way.

Thursday – Anzac Day I had a call from some friends to say they were at our local Café, so I rounded up the family on the bikes and we headed down and had a drink and a play at the park, then we headed off for a bike ride. Miss 3 was very whingy and I only managed to get about 3k before the whinging drove me mad and I turned around, so a 6k ride was all we did.

Friday – I had a late start at work so headed to the gym to tackle my new weights session, so I did a 10 minute warm up on the Crosstrainer and then managed to do 3 sets of 10 of my new program and even bumped 1 of my weights up.

Saturday – I could feel the pain from yesterday’s weights but I did make an effort to get to a 7am boxing class. I found a good boxing buddy of similar level and fitness which makes a big difference to the class.

Sunday – back to home renovations and moving boxes and boxes of stuff and furniture to rip up carpet in 2 rooms, we managed to get 1 room done entirely and remove all the nails and tacks. We have to get the other room done this week as the floors are being sanded next weekend.

So with 3 good sessions with my gym and PT and lots of incidental exercise I feel like I have got back on track.

My goal for this week is to keep this up and add in that extra session instead of shopping.

The Week that was – Let the Celebrations Continue

Monday I had an early morning trip to the Airport, hubby off to Singapore for work. So knowing I wasn’t going to get a morning workout in, I packed my runners to have a go, during or after work. Because hubby was away I cancelled my evening PT session as I didn’t have a babysitter. My mission for the day was to get all my work done and get out the door on time and do a quick run before I picked up Miss 3 from Daycare. I swear some days I try to cram waaaay too much into my day. So I dressed ready for a run and left work and then looking at the clock and I had to be at a friend’s house for dinner (who I haven’t seen in ages), to catch up with her another friend, I realised I was not going to fit everything in.  Obviously the run/workout is what suffered.

Tuesday after Miss 3’s swimming lesson, we were running late to make it to the Tuesday outdoor class and went into the gym for a Cardio session. To be honest I didn’t really know what cardio I was going to do and upon arrival I noticed there was a weekly cardio challenge up on the blackboard and it was 26 minutes of intense workout. I did a 10 minute warm-up on the cross trainer whilst I debated if I was going to do it, and I did. So here is how it went:

Goal                                                                      Actual
10 min spin bike Level 10 @ 100rpm                  Achieved that and completed exactly 5k
5 min treadmill as fast as possible                      Ran 0.68k at 8.5kph on 1.5 incline
5 min spin bike Level 10 @100rpm                     Achieved that and completed 2.5k
2.5 min treadmill as fast as possible                   Ran 0.34k at 8.5-9kph on 0.5 incline
2.5 min spin bike Level 10 @ 100rpm                 Achieved that and completed 1.3k
1 min treadmill as fast as possible                      Ran 0.15k at 10-10.5kph on incline 0.5

So all in all I was happy with my result and I thought the bike to run intervals would be really good Tri training. I am looking forward to the next weekly challenge. I was a little disappointed to see when I went back to gym later in the week they had put the rpm down to 80 (a bit soft if you ask me).

Wed I was going to go swim in the Harbour with the swimming group but received a message to say the water was too dirty, so I headed to the local pool to begrudgingly pay my $4.30 for a swim, as it turned out it was free, unknown to me if the heated pool temp is below 26 degrees then you don’t have to pay, so at 25.5 I was pretty happy. I must confess for most of my 45 minute session I was bored. I started singing the bored song I made up: Bored bored bored bored I’m so bored. Some suggestions I have had since are I may need to review my program and spice it up a bit, something to ponder, since I was not really working to a program at all (tips please, what is a program).

Thursday I went back to the gym to tackle my weights program, I got through 3 sets of most of my exercises before Miss 3 got bored, I even bumped a few of my weights up.

Ahh I claimed the "old man chair" and relaxed with a red wine and a mag.

Ahh I claimed the “old man chair” and relaxed with a red wine and a mag.

Friday I was heading off for a girls weekend so I dropped missy off at Daycare and headed up to Sydney to get a lift, luckily because I had only managed 4 hours of sleep before I was awoken at 5am by some of our workers needing something out of hubby’s truck, oh joy. I would have not been able to drive myself to our destination which is about 5 hours from home I was soooo tired. I had all good intentions to have a run when I arrived before cracking open the champagne but the entire trip the rain was like a monsoon, relentless all day. So again, no run.Saturday the rain was still relentless, so I opted for a 40 minute swim (instead of a run) and then had a spa bath whilst sipping on a glass of champagne. Total relaxation.

Hot Tub yeah baby.

Hot Tub yeah baby.

Sunday – we headed into town for more supplies it appeared we had almost cleared the house out of champagne and needed some more supplies for dinner. After treating myself to a milkshake and 2 donuts for lunch, very nutritious, we arrived back to our luxurious accommodation and my friend Kristy said she would come for a run with me. The rain had finally clearly, not sunshine, but overcast. We headed out on the country roads for a good 45 minute run, it was an unintentional hill run, I really had not researched the local terrain and there was some epic swearing from both of us as we struggled to reach the top of hill after hill. In hindsight I had a realisation that my water intake for the day was about 5 sips and I had the dry horrors and contemplated licking the water out of puddles to hydrate myself, a shocking feeling. But I finished, just.

with my beautiful Bridesmole Kristy. We did it, went for a run and in our 17 years of knowing each other an many many girls weekends away we have never done exercise.

with my beautiful Bridesmole Kristy. We did it, went for a run and in our 17 years of knowing each other an many many girls weekends away we have never done exercise.

This weekend has been so good to do a lot of nothing, catch up with 5 great friends including 2 of my Bridesmaids Bridesmoles and a lot of laughs, chatting, board games and hiding in a corner to read or watch some Movies. Drinking a little lot, eat a little lot in moderation kind of and more birthday cake. Successfully avoiding a hangover so far and getting in a bit of exercise.

* Side-note – we so far have a collection of 21 champagne corks and as I write this I am consuming tequila/margaritas for my last night away before I go back to reality.

Texas Hold-em champion, the Birthday Girl, yeah baby.

Texas Hold-em champion, the Birthday Girl, yeah baby.

The Week that was – Birthday Week

So Monday I was given the day off training as my amazing PT Ian from Pioneer Fitness had completed the Long Course Triathlon which is half Ironman distances, 2k swim, 83k ride and 20k run, crazy or amazing a little bit of both I think, but he did really well. So he deserved a day off which in turn gave me my Monday night training off.

Tuesday I wanted to get to a Buggy Fit class run by EnVie Fitness which involves a lot of running, mostly because my run leg let me down in the Triathlon. After our warm up run we then had to do hill sprints, the goal was to do the 3 times up the hill at a similar speed, which I did each lap at about 2min 30sec, the hard part of this class is that I run past my house every lap of the hill and I just want to quit and go home, but the trainers kick my butt and keep me going. We then headed down to the beach to do sand sprints. I had Miss 3 follow me down as she got bored playing with the other kids and we were doing Nippers type sprints where you start laying down with your chin on your hands and feet facing the way you wanted to run. We started on the hard sand and had to run up hill through the soft sand and did 6 of those, Miss 3 and I made it a game of chasing and she was having fun. We finished the class with some abs and stretching. After grabbing a Skim Chai Latte with some of the girls from the class Miss 3 and I headed out on our tag-along bike set-up and went for a big ride for her little legs. We stopped in to my trainer to hear all about the Long Course Tri, I was in awe hearing all about it. By the time we got home we had been out of the house for about 4 hours with 3 hours of that on and off doing exercise. Both of us were a bit worn out.

Wednesday was “B” Day, the big 4 0, Four Ooooh. I should have planned my day a bit better and given myself the day off work and somehow I had scheduled hubby to be away for work without realising what day it was. Well I accepted my malfunction and planned a girls night, with a great group of girls, a nice BYO Thai restaurant and I had a couple of glasses of champagne to celebrate this day and of course CAKE. Cake for morning tea at work, cake for dessert at dinner, lots of CAKE. To be honest I loved it but was all caked out. I got some great gifts, vouchers for sports stores, pedicure, some cash and gorgeous flowers. I had a great day.

Great group of girls who I am lucky to call my friends.

Great group of girls who I am lucky to call my friends.

Thursday I made my first stop of the day the gym to burn off some of my celebrations and did a weights session, my new program of weights takes about an hour, so to make sure I got variety before Miss 3 got feral bored in the play area I did 2 sets of every exercise, this turned out to be a good decision.

Friday I had a bit of a lazy day, let’s call it an extension of my cake hangover. I did wish that I took my gear to work because by the middle of the day I felt like a run. I didn’t get time to do it after work.

Saturday still with the urge to run and a super hectic day ahead I crammed in 30 mins on the treadmill and PB’d with an interval run and playing around with my nemesis the INCLINE did the entire workout on 2, except for a brief moment of weakness where I bumped it down to 1.5 for about 10 seconds, I called myself a “pussy” and forced myself to put it back up. I was having a good self-talk day. I even finished the last 2 mins of the workout at speed 9, all together doing 3.28k in 30mins on incline 2.

I was pleased that I squeezed a workout it in, but it did make me late to everything else, so I raced home, showered and took Miss 3 to a birthday party, (more cake), exited there and went home to grab hubby and then we drove Miss 3 to my bro’s for an overnight sleepover. On the way back from there we dropped into see my Bro-in-law at his first Weight lifting competition, very interesting to watch.

Hubby and I were going out to celebrate our 5th Wedding Anniversary, which we did with a little bit of style and dined at a “hatted” restaurant Caveau in Wollongong. It was a 7 course degustation menu with matching wines, modern French cuisine, very classy, very nice and very expensive.

The first course 'Salad' very fancy and tasty food.

The first course ‘Salad’ very fancy and tasty food.

Sunday I really wanted to do a workout but we had to do the 2 hour round trip to pick up Miss 3 and I mowed the lawns and just didn’t feel the urge after all that to get motivated.

To give myself a nudge to keep up the training I signed up for Tri the Gong Enticer on 9 March, so less than 2 weeks to do it all again.

So all in all I had a fabulous week of celebrations and because of that I saved myself the torture of a weigh-in this week and will do it next week. Look out for a blog name change coming soon, “Fat to Fit and Fabulous AT Forty”.

The Week that Was – Cranky Pants

Monday – a public holiday here but I was supposed to attend my last week of Circus class, I really didn’t feel like it so I plonked on the lounge and didn’t go. I was disappointed with myself as I did enjoy the previous weeks.

Tuesday – after Miss 3’s swimming lesson, I headed off to my gym EnVie to do a cardio and/or weights session, when I got there it was packed because the mums and bubs outdoor class had been moved inside due to rain, I joined the group and the class was modified to a combine boxing and abs, due to odd numbers I had the blessing (or curse) of boxing with 1 of the owners Alex and where everyone else was getting a bit of a rest when they alternated between boxing and catching with the pads, I was getting a double dose of boxing. The 2nd part of the class was squat jumps on the Bosu ball, planking with a buddy whilst slapping opposite hands and then sit-ups whilst throwing a few punches. As the Class Trainer Alita wandered around whilst we were doing abs, she was poking around making sure each persons’ abs were doing their job. As she poked at mine and said “engage those abs” to which I replied “if they were any more engaged they would be married”.  Yes I made a funny. Everyone had a chuckle and it made it onto the EnVie Facebook Page.

Wed – Swimming was cancelled due to pollution in the harbour.

Thursday – I headed to EnVie to tackle 5k on the treadmill. I had never done more than 3k continuous running on any treadmill. My goal was to do it non-stop and in 40 mins. Well I managed a 40:36, not too shabby for a first attempt. I also did my good deed for the day. Whilst my darling Miss 3 was behaving herself in the unsupervised kids area, there was another little Miss 2 who was whinging non-stop, upon enquiring with her mother it was her first time, I said it should get better in 2-3 months and laughed. I hope for her sake that she settles in quicker. So after my run I went into the kids area to finish off with stretching and entertain the children so that the other mother could finish her workout in a tiny bit of peace. It was very cute as the 2 girls watched me and tried to copy my stretching moves.

Friday – was my 8 week review at EnVie, I was given a kick-ass and (a little bit confusing for my simple brain) weights program and some new cardio progams to tackle. Jem (trainer setting my program) asked if I knew the benefits of doing weights, I am sure then are many, but she said weights provide an ongoing calorie burn of up to 80 extra calories per hour for the following 36 hours. I think I will research this more, stay tuned.

Saturday – I took Miss 3 to EnVie to have a go at my new weights program, she was in the kids area and I packed her a stack of stuff, put on a DVD, gave her a Galaxy Tab with all her games loaded on it (I swore I wouldn’t give her a gadget, bad mummy), also packed food and colouring pencils. Well she just was not in the mood to entertain herself. My new program consisted of 3 different weights or exercises for 1 muscle group and then doing each 3 times. It involved a bit of set up with bar bells and dumb bells and benches and all sorts of new stuff that I was not used to. I was a bit lost. Then with Miss Whingy Pants not coping well in the play area, I quit, my earlier good deed in the week had come back to bite me in the butt, she wanted me to go into the play area and exercise in there. She just didn’t get it. I got through about 2/3’s of my program and was in a suitable amount of pain.

Miss-Cranky-Pants For some reason every little thing Miss 3 did for the rest of the day just pushed my buttons, I turned into cranky crying mummy. I would hear a song on the radio and cry. She would spill some food, I would yell, she would cry, we would cuddle and all was good for 5 mins and then something else would happen and we would go in a vicious circle, this went on for hours. Then we had to go to a kids’ party at a Play Centre, HELL, if you are in a bad headspace. I sat like a cranky pants just wishing it to be over, which was a shame because I really wanted to catch up with my friend whose daughters party it was.

Best not to rule this out as a possible cause.

Best not to rule this out as a possible cause.

By the time hubby got home at about 6.30pm I was more of a basket case if that was possible, Miss 3 was put to bed at 7.30 and I enjoyed some Champagne, chocolate and dip, I hope the other parents out there will understand when I say “it was just 1 of those days”, please tell me this happens to everyone. There were comments on Facebook that suggested it was PMT, well since I have never suffered from it before (in my honest opinion) I don’t know much about it, time for more research, must prevent near death of a 3 year old at the hands of her mother.

Sunday – after a nice Breakfast with the Outlaws, Miss 3 fell asleep on the way home and I took off for a bike ride and swim. 2 hours of me time, something I clearly desperately needed if yesterday was any indication. My cycling was difficult on the way out super strong headwind, but I guessed that conditions will not always be perfect on race day and I must train in all conditions. Then I stopped at 1 of the local Ocean Pools to do a few laps of training before a short ride home. I was happy to get a bit of Tri training under my belt.

So with less than 2 weeks until my next Tri and 16 days until my big 40th birthday, I am beginning to wonder if I am ready.

The Year that Was 2012

To look back upon a year it is often hard to remember what you did, how you felt and just how far you have come, especially when you have mothers brain (yep blame the poor child for my lack of memory). Thankfully in this era of gadgets, social media and mobile apps it can help to trigger my memory.

The year started with some very vague ‘gonna lose weight and get fit’ resolutions, just like every other year.

January my trainer starting me on running in our regular weekly session – hell but I wanted to try.

When February came around and I had my 39th Birthday I think a bit of impending OMG I’m 40 next year hit me and I wanted to achieve more than just lose weight and get fit, I needed some goals. So apart from wanting to be able to run, I wanted to be able to do a Triathlon like my trainer had been bugging me about.

I was not in a great state mentally, my relationship with my husband was not all rosy, it was not all bad either (probably difficult to be perfect when you are comparing it to my daily half hour of Bold and the Beautiful). I had not been diagnosed or medicated for anything but I was a little bit sad a lot of the time which was very unlike me. I had seen a counsellor a few times which helped, basically I talked (a lot) and she listened and gave me some non-judgemental guidance on how to turn negative thoughts around. It’s not something that is easy to tell people, but it should not be taboo to talk to a professional, without which I would say was a potential trip to the loony bin. We seek out professionals them out in all other aspects of our life so why not our mental health.

Exercise also became an outlet as did my reconnection with music once I figured out my gadgetry. I went from running/exercising with my Android phone for GPS/distance, Ipod for music and Heart Rate monitor and managed to get it down to HR monitor and phone with music/GPS on it.

Some people will say why all the gadgets, I am a numbers person, I need to know my numbers which is why I have enjoyed my Indoor Rowing for the past 6 years, it is all numbers in front of you and you can constantly adjust to improve your time/speed/distance. So I wanted the same from my running and cycling. We have all this modern technology so why not use it.

I know that exercise has all the medical benefits of improving your heart, lungs blah blah blah, but I was also enjoying the improved mental state. I am pleased to say that this year and my exercise has improved my ‘head’ and I am back to my happy self (most of the time).

So continuing on with my training and goal of doing a Triathlon, I won’t bore you with all the details of how I got to be able to run you can read about that in my Couch to 5k post but it was a big achievement to do and if I can do it anyone can, you may do it slower or faster than me but just keep trying.

As the year cracked on so did my desire and panic about doing the Triathlon, I had bought myself a new bike, I went from a super cruiser heavy weight to an ultra-light racing bike with the skinny wheels and those hanging down handles (yes very technical I know but upon researching bikes I realise it was like learning a whole other language, I don’t have time for that). I loved the new bike, once I got used to it and again plugged into my music would enjoy going for a ride. I have not really ‘trained’ for the bike, I just get on and ride, I assumed that all other training I am doing would improve my cycling as well.

The 1 thing I left til last was my swimming; it is such pain to swim, shower, wash (long) hair, style hair, get ready for work not in the comfort of your own bathroom and if I didn’t get it done in the mornings then I wouldn’t do it. Not to mention I found it boooring, no music to keep me company. I started back swimming in June 2012 and only did 1-2 swims each month, my goal was to just get through the swim leg of the triathlon alive, awesome goal setting. So I would dive in the pool, swim 300m and then go, ok I’m alive, do a few more laps for ‘training’ purposes and call it done. I am pleased to say I can now do 500m no problems (not fast) and a training session usually consists of 1500m before I get bored, I have been swimming in Ocean pools, indoor heated and outdoor heated Olympic pools and 1 time in a harbour. My next challenge is to do some Open Water swimming to train for any Triathlons that may not be in the luxury of a Harbour and certainly very very few are in the “Princess” comfort of an Olympic pool.

So to look at my milestones this year:

Running – I could not run more than about 200m without stopping to walk and have now done numerous 5k training and even a 6k training run. Even managed to do some treadmill running which I vowed I would never do.

Swimming – I used to swim 50m and stop every single lap for a rest, can now swim 500m non-stop, probably more if I tried and can do 1500m in a training session.

Bike – New bike, much faster and easier to go longer distance, my cleats and I are having a love hate relationship. I don’t train for the bike, just get on and ride. Biggest ride was only 24k from memory, I just lack the time to do more. Mostly my bike ‘Juliet’ and I are happy together.

Indoor Rowing – Held onto my State Championship title in the 500m and 4 minute distances and at last glance I still held my World Rankings of 22nd and 4th respectively (the Rowing year has not finished yet). See more about that here.

Weight Loss – I dare not go there but I will, I have to. So according to my weight tracking app and cross referenced with my own spreadsheet, it would appear that I started the year 2012 at around 110.5kgs, I dropped down to about 105-106 at my lowest throughout the year but finished it off after the Christmas binge at 109.8, however I am please to report that the Christmas Kilo’s are coming off almost as fast as they went on and I am really trying to eat well.

Goals – when I actually put my Goals out in Blogland in August 2012 I had already started working towards them, but never fully believing that they will all happen and like anything need to be tweaked.
No.1 was the work, life, workout and family balancing act. I am hoping I have done that Ok (I won’t profess to being mother or wife of the year), perhaps I should ask Miss 3 and hubby to comment on this.
No.2 was the Pink Triathlon, read about it here, but in short I DID IT!!.
No.3 was the National Indoor Rowing Championships, my training was not optimum for this event, too much focus on the Tri but I had a good crack at it, read about it here.
No.4 was the Mud Run a 7+ klm trail run with mud and other obstacles, heaps of fun, I finished it, read about it here.

Full length photo taken in Dec 2012

Full length photo taken in Dec 2012

I am pleased to say that apart from my weight loss goal I have achieved all my others, through many ups and downs that life throws at you and battling my own emotions and insecurities.

I must say I have never had as many compliments as I have had this year regarding my appearance and I appreciate every single 1 of them. I know with all my training I am changing body shape, however it is sometimes hard to receive a “you look great, how much weight have you lost” compliment when you have lost only a miniscule amount or nothing. Weight loss is something I hope to seriously tackle this year (yes I’m saying it again like I have for the last 20 years).

Happy New Year to all my friends, family and followers and I hope 2013 is your best year yet. Set some goals, you never know what might happen.

TheThe Week that Was – Finally kicking it up a notch

So finally I got off to a great start this week.

Monday, I did a morning swim, 1500m including drills. Afternoon I did a mixed cardio and strength session with my PT.

Tuesday a hectic morning/day, took Miss 3 to her swimming lesson and then headed to post office and gym, so picture an armful of different bags, parcels, her swimming bag, my gym stuff and her snack bag and my handbag, (I looked like a pack horse when I left the house). Did a good 30 minute cardio including 15 mins interval running on the treadmill which up until 2 weeks ago I vowed I would never do. With a bit of persistence from my trainer at the Gym she said just do 5 minutes, which I have now built up to 15 minutes and I have to eat my words because I am enjoying it.
I headed home for a quick shower and then drove an hour to visit my nephew for his 13th birthday and took him and his bro (9) and sis (14) along with Miss 3 out for McDonalds and then to the park for a play. I love that these kids are so energetic and a little bit competitive. I was telling them about the Mud Run and convincing them to do at least the kids run next year and they wanted me to time them doing obstacles around the playground, over the logs, across the monkey bars, up the ramp, down the slippery dip and running around the swings and up an over picnic chairs. It was a stinking hot day and we were the only group at the playground, they had so much fun and Miss 3 was following them around like a mad girl. The funny thing was every time they went to go down the slide they got a static electric shock off the metal, I told them to toughen up. Then they did running races with Miss 3 and pretended to fall over so she could win. Such a fun day, I wish I saw them more.

Wednesday after work I headed out to Wollongong Harbour where the local Tri club was doing a training session for the upcoming Aquathon, a swim/run event. So the full training was a 500m swim and 5k run. I asked hubby if he would like to come and bring Miss 3 to the playground nearby and take her for Fish and Chips.
The swim was in the harbour but there was a wicked wind blowing and there was a pretty good swell. I can’t remember the last time I SWAM (properly) in anything other than a pool, so this was a struggle. I managed to do about 350m, I probably could have done the whole thing but I was conscious of my family waiting for me and that I would be the last 1 in the water if I didn’t cut my 2nd lap short, something that was not appealing to me right on dusk. Then I headed out for the run, I could see Miss 3 was really whingy and tired so I made the decision to cut this short as well and probably did about 3k, again I struggled, a few little hills really got me and I tried to go a bit faster than normal so got puffed and had to do a few walks throughout the run. But it is all training so glad I did it.

Thursday I headed to the gym for a weights and abs session and then took Miss 3 to the local pool for a swim and catch-up with some of my Mothers Group friends. Myself and another mother did some swapping babysitting and she headed off to do some laps and then I did the same, such a great way to train when 2 people have like-minded goals. I just did a quick 500m.

Friday I allowed myself a day of rest.

Sat and Sunday, no workouts but a massive amount of cleaning and incidental moving, getting the house ready for Christmas. In honour of my family descending up on us on Boxing Day I wrote a poem in appreciation of those who host Christmas each year especially my mum and MIL, both amazing ladies.

Twas the weekend before Christmas
and all through the house
nobody was relaxing….
We were cleaning the house

The cooking and baking
created a mess
So we clean again?
Again, I said “Yes”

We normally go
to somebody’s house
And this year they say
We’ll come, it’ll be grouse

I clean out the shed
For somewhere to dine
Our house is too small
The shed will be fine

Plotting and planning
How many to seat
To make it look pretty
I’m gonna be beat

The toilets are scrubbed
I’ve added blu-loo
And we’ve cleaned the spiders
Off the furniture too.

“Don’t do that
stop making mess
Mummy get cranky
And have a big stress”

So thanks to our mums
Who do it each year
To keep us all fed
And we say “Were Here”

To finish off my Weekly Wrap I managed to get Miss 3 to visit Santa and convince my friend Cindy to bring her son Brae for our 2nd annual Christmas snap with Santa, it’s not getting any better, but it’s still funny, hopefully next year……..

Is it sad when the mum's are having more fun than the kids?

Is it sad when the mum’s are having more fun than the kids?

The Week that Was – New plan of Attack

So this week I started a new program planed out by my Exercise Physiologist Rob Botocchio , it works on a 4 week cycle, 3 weeks hard, 4th week have an extra day or 2 of rest.

So this week went reasonably well with a few highlights.

Monday morning, I headed to the ocean pool for a swim in my wetsuit, I managed 200m and was feeling woozy with the added buoyancy. Managed to do 500m in total and was feeling really sick so got out and walked home. Upon discussion with hubby I mentioned using a weight belt to which he said, don’t use the wetsuit and “HARDEN UP”. Something to consider, if I must, lol.

Monday evening I did a workout with my PT, a bit of a light jog and some core strengthening exercises, nothing too hard, just a bit of a wind down after the NSW Indoor Rowing Champs on Sat.

Tuesday I managed to get to the Buggy Fit class run by my gym, this is an outdoor class where you can take your kids, they have a trainer to look after them and we get to run around. So the class this week involved a lot of interval running, starting with a warm up, then sand running, sprints, hill running and 1k time trial. I will be making the effort to get to this 1 more often.

Wednesday I had a day of rest which should have been a workout day.

Thursday I got into the Gym did a 10 minute warm-up on the Spin Bike and then 30 minute weight session, I would have stayed longer but Miss 3 was with me and had just about reached her limit in the kids play area.

Friday morning I met with Rob for him to assess my running technique and do a bit of a time trial. So after a 1 k walk/jog warm-up he set the clock and GPS for a 3k time trial. The outcome was all positive, apparently I have a pretty good running style which I need to maintain even when I get tired, and I did a 3k in 24:16 which equates to about 8min per Kilometre pace, my usual pace is around 8.45-9.05 per kilometre so a great PB, time to up the pace on my “shufflin”.

Saturday I left the house at 9.30am and didn’t get home until 8.30pm, a very busy day a brief catch up with some old Paintball buddies and then spent the rest of the day hanging out with some great friends. By the time I got home Miss 3 was crashed in the car and went straight to bed and I was pretty knackered and not far behind her. Not enough hours in the day for a workout.

Sunday in an attempt to make up for yesterday I headed out for a bike ride with a swim in the middle. I headed north which was has more hills and did a 9k cycle and a 500m swim in the ocean pool (without wetsuit). It was the first time I have ridden my bike since I stacked it, more about that here. Since telling people about my fall everyone has a laugh and says “oh you will probably fall off another 6 or 7 times before you really get the hang of IT”. “IT” being cleats and clip-in pedals. “IT” then gave me a huge dose of claustrophobia and anxiety when I was riding with a hint of paranoia. I felt like everyone or everything was going to jump out in front of me and make me crash. I was very slow, over-compensating by unclipping waaaay too early to avoid falling off. I am hoping that with each stack-free ride I will get back the confidence and lose some of my anxiety.

On the food front, my weekdays were pretty good with a little splurge on the weekend, but not over the top. I have cut down the sugar in my cups of Tea. Originally I used to have 2 sugars, and for about the last 4 weeks I was down to 1.5 sugars and this week I cut down to as much sugar as I can fit on 1 Teaspoon, I hope to level this out soon.

So here’s to next week stepping up and completing all my workouts and making smart food choices.