My dirty little secret

Aaahhhh school holidays, a time that some mums love and some dread. I sit on the fence when it comes to school holidays. I enjoy doing the fun stuff with the kids, movies, play dates, lunching and just hanging at home and love the lack of schedule, no yelling and screaming to put shoes on grab bags, jumpers, hats (I’m sure you get the picture). But even with all the fun some days you just need an hour to yourself to have a shower, do a workout, plan or prepare dinner, I’m sure there are some mums nodding along with me (please tell me you are). And I am blessed that I can take the kids to work with me when I need to (the perks of working for family).

This holidays I have taken things to a whole new level of “falling off the wagon”.

The last day of school was a Friday which also coincided with my husband going on an overseas trip and a 7am drop off at the airport, this was all fine, followed by kids dropped at school/daycare on time and me heading off to work. On the way to work I realised I needed fuel in my car so I stopped to fill ‘er up. Well the sales and marketing people at Coles saw me coming, 2 family blocks of chocolate for $7 what a bargain and $2 large bags of chips, “I’ll have 2 bags of those thanks” after all it was Friday and people might pop in over the weekend (this is what I do to justify it to myself). And there began the downhill spiral that was the next 10 days.

On the way home from work I did a quick run to the bottle shop for some supplies for the week and promptly bragged jokingly about it on Instagram.

With a post that went something like this "Should be almost enough to get me through the 1st week of the #schoolholidays

With a post that went something like this “Should be almost enough to get me through the 1st week of the #schoolholidays

Whilst I won’t bore you with the details of every morsel that I ate and drank, I’ll give you a list of what I can remember about my total debacle of a week* (*10 days).

3 family blocks of Cadbury chocolate
Somewhere in the vicinity of 4 large bags of chips
Half a litre of Ice Cream
2x Schnitzel Cotoletta (this is a chicken schnitzel topped with Bolognese meat and melted cheese, I didn’t even know it existed, epic find)
1 loaf of Sourdough in about 3 days often doused in butter and peanut butter (up to 3-4 pieces at a time)
Copious amounts of other bread products
KFC twister and Crusher
Movie popcorn (I shared it, because that makes it all better)
Double choc-top (because a single just wasn’t enough and it was barely past breakfast)
Several Frozen cokes
A bottle of champagne every night and 2 a night over this last weekend (I’m not an alcoholic, they go to meetings)
Late night cheese and crackers

And there was much more; many Chai lattes, a few Iced Chocolates, cakes, biscuits (that didn’t even taste that good), burgers with the whole bun on (gasp).

I was mindfully eating poorly at almost every meal. Sort of defeated the purpose of the last few weeks in cutting out sugar from my cups of Tea.

I’m not blaming any 1 thing for this out of control week* I was still a functioning adult, the kids were still well looked after mainly because of my dirty little secret.

The really bad shit comes out after dark.

I try not to eat the bad food in front of the kids, you know to set a good example and all that. When they ask for desert I like to respond with fruit and proceed to list everything that we have, they can also have yoghurt if we have any and on a very rare occasion a tube ice-block. So my house is not a barrage of junk because as you can see I often have no self control. The chocolate wouldn’t even get mentioned until they were fast asleep and really there was no-one to mention it to.

My addiction love of reality TV still continues and the latest season of The Biggest Loser Australia has just started. Whilst I was not in any way as BAD as the show made the contestants out to be, they were inhaling entire pizza’s while sitting alone in a car or consuming litres upon litres of ice-cream for breakfast, having a whole tray of lasagne for lunch that should feed a family, I was my own kind of BAD.

I would have to say this is my longest stint of BAD that I have had in over 5 years. Normally I can manage a good day or 2 in a BAD week, but for some reason I couldn’t get off this downhill spiral. I got to Thursday morning and thought it was almost the weekend, so why start now? Normally I can talk myself out of that mindset but not that day.

I even tampered with my own Typo light box motivational message.

I even tampered with my own Typo light box motivational message.

But amongst all of these BAD food choices I was still exercising and setting goals, in fact setting some big ass goals. 1 of which was commencing training for a Marathon on the Concept 2 Indoor Rowing machine and the other signing up to compete in the primo 2k Rowing event a the upcoming Australian Indoor Rowing Championships (I’ve been retired from that event for the last 6 years). So in line with my new training regime I sat on the rower for an hour, my body was screaming at me, “what are you doing to yourself” but even that didn’t stop me eating crap shortly after.

So what have I gained from eating like a piggy? Well about 3 kilos, a continual bloated feeling and generally feeling quite down in the dumps.

What have I lost? The ability to fit in some of my clothes, my motivation and self esteem.

What am I going to do about it? Dust off the chip crumbs and get myself together. With another week of the school holidays to go and a long weekend thrown in there and a holiday coming up this can’t go on. Stop blaming little speed humps in my life, FOCUS on the positive, because there is a lot to be happy and positive about and maybe re-word my Typo light board. Any suggestion?

School Holiday fun

School Holiday fun with my cherubs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Commando

There could be no other title for this Blog post other than “The Commando”

I was lucky enough to win a group training session with Steve Willis AKA The Commando. (For those overseas readers or if you live in a bubble he is 1 of the trainers on our Australian version of the TV show The Biggest Loser).

I’ve been a fan of The Commando since he first appeared on our TV screens on The Biggest Loser reality show in 2007, he appeared tough, mysterious and man of few but firm words and instilled fear into all the contestants. Using Tractor tyres, heavy ropes, and often mud he was a force to be reckoned with. I’ve seen his group motivation that if someone dropped from a plank or other move the whole group had to start again. I think it was probably borderline TORTURE. I also read his book NO EXCUSES in 2010 which was where I heard about the crazy world of Crossfit. Now Crossfit is everywhere and something I would love to try 1 day.

So how did I win a torture session with The Commando? From an Instagram hashtag, #garmincommando. Unbelievable but true. I never thought anyone won anything from Instagram or Facebook but I am living proof.

The nervous wait to get start our session with The Commando

The nervous wait to start our session with The Commando

So thanks to Garmin Australia, my friend Belinda and I along with 60 of Commando or Garmin’s biggest fans descended on a secret location in Sydney for a group training session.

The group of lucky winners. - Photo courtesy of Garmin Australia

The group of lucky winners. – Photo courtesy of Garmin Australia

The Commando started the session advising everyone to work to their own capability (best thing I’d heard so far), because despite wanting to push myself and to be pushed, but I needed to still be able to function walk after. We started with a 5 minute warm-up which was as much to test our brain as it was to warm up the body. With the group running around an indoor basketball court and Commando calling out changes, high knees, bum kicks, side steps, backwards running, change direction etc and firing the changes at a rapid rate. I was like a deer in the headlights, with coordination not being my strong suit, however I was pleased to say I wasn’t the only 1. By the end of the 5 minute warm up I could tell this session was going to be a world of pain.

We then progressed to yoga style moves and stretches before getting into the hard core workout.

Now I don’t want to give away all the Commando’s secrets and to be honest there wasn’t many exercises I hadn’t attempted before, but the way he put the session together tested how tough you were. I’ve got 2 words for you “Bear Crawls”, now I hate these at the best of times but the surface of the basketball court was some crazy hard plastic criss cross concoction which hurt your hands like nothing else, so I was more a princess about my hands than the cardio workout I was getting, there was also a whole list of other exercises that I cringe at including burpees which almot stopped me in my tracks. I pushed on doing my own version as best I could. Now I don’t want to brag but during the session he high fived me, I never saw him do that to anyone else, yay me. I don’t know why I deserved that but I’ll take it.

After 3x 4 minute tabata rounds with a 4 minute rest (yes he let us rest) we finished off with a group game before a motivational talk.

My Commando Steve quote of the day: “Be the person you want the world to be.”

Some others quotes he uses are:

“Keep it simple and do the work”

“You can’t OUT TRAIN a bad diet”

“There are NO EXCUSES”

And 1 of my all time favourites that I have embraced over the last few years:
“BEING FIT IS AS MUCH ABOUT THE MIND AS THE BODY”

 

I was a little disappointed I didn’t get “The Commando” off the TV, I would have loved to flip a tractor tyre (at least once), however according to this article from 2013 Steve is happy that he can smile and put his personality into training his contestants.

So all in all a great workout 1050 calorie burn according to my Garmin Vivofit and so glad I could take my friend Belinda along for the ride.

We survived and still have smiles all round.

We survived and still have smiles all round.

Garmin dished out some cool North Face backpacks, Garmin t-shirts and caps after the event. I think everyone was secretly hoping for a new Garmin watch (a girl can dream).

The Commando, very generous with his time for photos with all the attendees.

The Commando, very generous with his time for photos with all the attendees.

The Commando was very gracious with his time and knowledge after the event, allowing everyone the opportunity to chat and take pictures. Did I mention I lined up twice. Well the 2nd time I waited til right at the end to have a chat to him about Indoor Rowing on the Concept 2, something I know he is passionate about in the hopes that he may be involved in upcoming events. Watch this space.

Someone asked me what he was like, and as with all celebrities, he is human, but also very approachable and I found him extremely motivating (and easy on the eyes). All in all a great morning.

I’m currently doing The Commando’s Get Commando Fit 13 week program so follow along on Facebook to see my results.

* This post is not sponsored by The Commando, Get Commando Fit or Garmin Australia, but I would like to be, hint hint.

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.

IMG_20150414_215605

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”.

Half Row Ho Ho – completed

To inspire me to get back onto the Indoor rower I needed a goal, something to train for, because as much as I enjoy exercise (most of the time), having a personal challenge motivates me to get out the door and get moving. My second motivation came from raising funds for The Salvation Army Australia for their Christmas Appeal, donate here but don’t delay my appeal page finishes on 17 Jan 2015.

My personal goal to complete attempt a Half Marathon happened on Saturday 20 December 2014. I was pleased to have 3 great people alongside me with my long time rowing Coach Ian Gibson of Pioneer Fitness, Kathy who I met a few years ago through Ian and Kim a long-time friend who nagged me to join HER gym EnVie a few years ago, something I have never regretted.

OUR awesome gym EnVie at Woonona was the host for the event, even allowing a MALE into their all-female environment (Ian tells me he even put the seat down).

 

All happy rowers before and in the very early stages of the Half Row Ho Ho

All happy rowers before and in the very early stages of the Half Row Ho Ho

WARNING – this next part will contain numbers and figures which may only be understood by fellow Indoor Rowers or Concept 2 users.

We kicked off almost at the stroke of 7am (get it stroke, rowing/clock, double meaning and all that).

Ok time to get serious, my goal was to finish in 1 hour 45 minutes which would have been an average pace of 2:29.3 per 500m and strokes per minute around 20-21.

The nervous excitement and adrenalin of the challenge saw me start too hard and I had to talk myself back to a more maintainable pace and slow my stroke pace down, eventually settling at about 2:26 I felt comfortable but was afraid that I was going too hard.

Once I got through the first third of the row I picked up the pace and was maintaining about a 2:24 pace. All was going well until about the 17000m mark and with 4k to go my arms turned to heavy logs and I feared they wouldn’t get me home. By this stage of the event we had a small cheer squad of Gym trainers and fellow rowers who offered some much needed advice, some of which was “use more legs” so focusing back on my technique and getting the very tired legs to do more of the work, I struggled through the next 3k.

With 1000m to go the adrenalin kicked in and excitement that I was soon to get off the damn rower, so I picked up the pace and averaged a 2:19 pace, even pulling under 2:00 for a strong finish.

Here are my splits for all you Rowers out there.

Here are my splits for all you Rowers out there.

End of uber technical details, resume normal programming.

My stats for half marathon on the rower, which for those who don’t know the distance is 21097m, time was 1:41:46.4 with an average pace of 2:24.7 per 500m average stroke rate was 21 spm.

The home stretch during the last 1000m when the going got tough but the adrenaline kept me going.

The home stretch during the last 1000m when the going got tough but the adrenaline kept me going.

It felt mighty good to finish and this could be the post row adrenalin talking but I committed to have a crack at a full MARATHON on the rower 42k at 42 years old. Watch this space, coming to you from a gym sometime in April 2015.

Ahhh pure relief, I finished the event and still have my Santa Hat on a very happy Half Row Ho Ho.

Ahhh pure relief, I finished the event and still have my Santa Hat on a very happy Half Row Ho Ho.

I’m having a moment

Tonight I am spiralling out of mental control. I am analysing and over-analysing my life, my goals, my body, my family, my reasons for doing all that I do and trying to figure out why I am doing it and who I am doing it for.

Tonight’s options as I saw them were A) go and have a shower and go to bed and everything will be fine tomorrow and I will just carry on doing what I am doing, or B) write that crazy shit down and share it with the world.

It all started tonight with my weekly group PT session, I took my little dude “Mr Just Turned 1” and asked my friend to bring her daughter to play with him. Whilst she did her best to entertain him, about 20 minutes into the class he got a glimpse of me and starting screaming, several attempts to calm him and get back to the class failed, I assumed he was probably tired, so I packed us up and went home, I don’t know about you but I can’t finish a workout hearing my baby crying.

The next thing that was getting me worked up was my daughter reading the Junk Mail toy catalogues and getting all excited about Christmas. I was trying to calm her down and say you can ask for things but you may not get them. How do you explain this to a 5 year old, who gets almost everything she asks for? I really want her to have a lean Christmas and not for any other reason than she has too much stuff. Last year after opening all her presents she said where are the rest, it made me want to cry.

So I thought my spiralling mental state was caused by an interrupted workout, upgraded by a spoilt 5 year old. I then started the plotting and planning with my husband as to his start time and when I might be able to get some kid free time at the gym, and I opted for 5am tomorrow, but really who wants to be at the gym at 5am.

The next mass of analysing and in no particular order:
why am I going to the gym so much;
I should be spending more time with my kids;
why do I feel guilty about working out;
why did I even contemplate taking little dude to an evening class, he needs to be home snuggling with a bottle;
why did I have lapband surgery when I still eat crap A LOT;
why am I dreaming of losing weight when I eat the wrong foods;
why can’t I be happy as I am and therefore stop going to the gym;
was I happier when I was fatter and inactive;
why am I nagging my husband to go to the gym when clearly it is not something he wants to do;
does he resent me for nagging him, when all I want is for him to be healthy;
why am I like I am;
why have I had such issues with food ALL MY LIFE;
why should I go to the gym at 5am, what is the point;
maybe I’m not spending enough quality time with my daughter and she is compensating by asking for things, you know PRESENCE not PRESENTS;
what can I eat RIGHT NOW, I’m upset so I deserve something;
would I be happy if I was at my goal weight;
why is my house such a mess, maybe I should spend less time at the gym and more time cleaning;
(I was vacuuming with tears whilst all these crazy thoughts were going around in my head)

I could keep going on ……….

Now amongst all of these negative thoughts I did have a few positives:
I go to the gym because I feel better after;
I’m really enjoying my indoor rowing and training for something (half marathon on the rower);
I prefer to workout for fitness not for weight loss;
I deserve a little ME time every once in a while;
I love to hate running;
running is stupid but now I can do it because I taught myself;
I enjoy being around people.

So there it is, tonight’s mind on a PLATTER (and there’s that food thing again).

Anyone care to share that they could be as loopy as me, don’t leave me hanging out here in crazy land all by myself.

10696220_10204915952203576_2754791905362440225_n

Monthly Challenge – Squats

The Fit Fab Forty Monthly Challenge group tackled Push-ups for March. This was the aim of the game courtesy of www.heandsheeatclean.com

Challenge courtesy of www.heandsheeatclean.com

Challenge courtesy of www.heandsheeatclean.com

I find push-ups hard especially on my toes but the only way to get better is to practice. At the beginning of this challenge I could barely do 10 on my toes and my depth of push-up was very very poor, more like a pulse than a push-up.

I have attempted to stick to the Challenge as best I could, I was a bit intimidated to do Decline push-ups at the gym so occasionally I would do another set of Toe Push-ups instead. I missed a day here and there, but I think something is better than nothing, life does get in the way, sometimes I would double up another day but other times I would just accept that it didn’t get done and move on. I can now consistently do 3x 10 toe push-ups still not as deep as I would like but I am definitely getting better with the last 2 days to go I can’t wait to see how many I can do when I push myself to fatigue on the last day.

I have also continued with my planking from the February Challenge and so at the end of every workout I would try to do 3x 1 minute planks which is about 4 times a week.

The April Challenge starts tomorrow and this month is Squats, I found this 1 on Sisterhood of the Shrinking Jeans a great blog so go on over and have a read of some of their other posts.

Don't be April fooled by this saying May it is definitely our April Challenge.

Don’t be April fooled by this saying May it is definitely our April Challenge.

If you would like to join the group for daily inspiration comment on Facebook and I will add you to the group.

Meal Planning – Week 3

Here is the wrap up of week 3 of my 36 Day Challenge.

This week of the Challenge the motto was “Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff”.  My 2 personal goals were to make good choices when ordering out and to continue to eat 5-6 meals a day.  So again I did a meal plan for my dinners:

Mon – Beef stroganoff
Tue – Beef Pie with garlic peas
Wed – Chicken and bean enchiladas (Actual meal – went out for Mexican, I had 1 Fajita but then I made the mistake of looking at the dessert menu, hubby and I shared Churros)
Thur – Beef and vegetable lasagne (Actual meal – deli style salad)
Fri – Take away Thai (Actual meal – 2 steamed dumplings, Indonesian style Sate BBQ chicken, garlic and ginger seafood, small portions of each)
Sat – Catered Meal (Actual meal – Beef Massaman curry plus green beans– meal was served with rice and bread and I didn’t have any.)
Sun – Herb Crusted Lamb (Actual meal – platter with ham, rice crackers, hummus, carrot sticks – too tired to cook).

I was away from Friday afternoon until Sunday afternoon at a Scrapbooking Retreat and my previous self-imposed reputation as queen of the junk food had to be squashed. Normally I would do a shop run for copious amounts of chocolate, chips and soft drink. This time I did a shop run for little tins of salmon, portions of ham and some cream cheese and prepared the night before by making hummus and protein balls.  My weaknesses tend to hit when I’m tired and on these type of weekends we stay up late, so by Saturday I am constantly tired.

Saturday afternoon 12 out of the 30 women got up from their seats and went and did a 1 hour workout session that I had organised from the girls at EnVie Fitness. Definitely felt great after that, but as I got tired into Saturday evening I buckled and had 5 small Maltester chocolates, 2 kiddie size packs of Smith’s Chips and 2 pieces of Coconut slice (evening snack provided by the venue). I felt bad about all of those choices but the deed had been done so as morning came I just had to move on and get back on track. All other meals were provided by the venue and I opted at most meals to avoid high carb options such as wraps, bread rolls and toast and keep a good eye on my portions.

Some of the evidence of what was my little chocolate binge.

Some of the evidence of what was my little chocolate binge.

Overall this week I had no Alcohol, no sugary drinks at all, it was water all the way. My few slip ups of Churros and Saturday nights little binge were disappointing but I must move on.

So food wise I would rate that I was about 75% on track and exercise 100% all 4 sessions planned were done plus the Fit Fab Forty monthly challenge of push-ups were mostly done.

My planning and some shopping has been done for Week 4 and some food is already made and portioned. I will leave you with these wise words from the EnVie Challenge booklet:

“Better to do something imperfectly than to do nothing perfectly”

Meal Planning – Week 2

So here we are wrapping up week 2 of my 36 Day Challenge. The first week of the Challenge focused on nutrition with the aim to eat 5-6 good meals per day, this week was focusing on exercise but not forgetting about nutrition.

So again I did a meal plan and my friends and Facebook followers were keen for me to post some dinner ideas again. So this week I will give you a rundown on my meal plan plus 1 of my favourite lunch options and a few great snack ideas.

So the meal plan looked like this:
Mon – Balsamic Steak with cannellini mash (Actual meal – yep I did it I ate what I planned)
Tue – BBQ chicken burgers (Actual meal – yep did it again)
Wed – Beef and vegetable lasagne (Actual meal – 3 days in a row boom)
Thur – Beef Pie with garlic peas (Actual meal – leftover lasagne, why cook when you can reheat)
Fri – Homemade Pizza (Actual meal – Homemade Pizza chicken and pesto pizza)
Sat – Healthy Take-away (Actual meal – Homemade Pizza again)
Sun – Beef Strog (won’t be having this tonight as we are going out so will have to make good choices).

Some snack ideas I have run with this week were homemade hommus and carrot sticks, peanut butter flourless muffins and my “always have in my handbag” option of mixed nuts (properly weighed portions of all of these pre-made).

My favourite fast and easy lunch this week, smoked salmon, cream cheese and rocket wrap. Delicious.

My favourite fast and easy lunch this week, smoked salmon, cream cheese and rocket wrap. Delicious.

So again I was pretty happy with my food choices and what I put in my mouth all week, except Friday night Pizza was accompanied by homemade margaritas. I am pleased that even though I have scheduled it in, there has been no take-away for dinners.

So food wise I would rate that I was about 80% on track (damn those margaritas) and exercise 120% all 4 sessions planned were done plus an extra session (as punishment for margaritas) and the Fit Fab Forty monthly push-up challenge is continuing.

Planning is about to commence for Week 3 but needless to say there are lots of good options stocked up in the freezer and fruit and veg shopping has been done.

I will leave you with these wise words from the EnVie Challenge booklet:

“There are so many tomorrows….. DO IT NOW”

PS: I’m a little bit scared for tomorrow’s half way Weigh and Measure I never like the scales.

Meal Planning – this is new to me

So last Monday I started a 36 Day Challenge with my gym EnVie, encompassing nutrition and exercise. It teaches you what to eat and when to eat it and most important key to success is meal planning.

I have meal planned before but not for a loooong time. My normal routine would be to open the fridge see my ingredients, if nothing popped into my head I would hit up Google and usually find something tasty to make. I may plan 1 day in advance to put something in the Slow cooker the morning before work but that’s about it. I must say hubby is no help in the dinner department, when I ask what he feels like the usual responses are “I don’t know” or “what do you feel like”. And let’s not go there when I ask Miss 4, her responses range from “Old McDonalds” to a “Restaurant”, we don’t eat out that much so I don’t know where that comes from. I am often cooking 2 meals or variations to suit everyone including myself so this week I was attempting to limit the different meals and plan ahead.

So the meal plan looked like this:
Sun – Lamb Rissoles with sweet potato chips (Actual Meal – Lamb rissoles with flatbread, tzaziki and rocket)
Mon – Beef stroganoff with cauliflower puree (Actual Meal – Beef and vegetable lasagne)
Tue – Beef and vegetable lasagne (Actual meal – beef and vegetable Lasagne)
Wed – Chicken Rosemary hotpot (Actual meal – chicken Rosemary hotpot)
Thur – Chicken enchiladas (Actual meal – Lamb cutlets with parmesan herb crust)
Fri – Homemade Pizza (Actual meal – Homemade Pizza chicken and pesto pizza)
Sat – Thai take-away making better choices (Actual meal – Homemade chicken tenders)

I don't often like a full length photo but I felt really good in this outfit and received lots of compliments.

I don’t often like a full length photo but I felt really good in this outfit and received lots of compliments.

So all in all fairly close to the plan and everything except Sat’s dinner out of the 36 Day Challenge Recipe List. Saturday I was allowing myself a non-judgemental day with food and alcohol as I went to the races for a friend’s birthday. In saying that I was better behaved than normal in both departments and opted to come home after the races instead of kicking on with the girls and actually got up to do an 8am Sunday training session.

Variations were minimal for Miss 4, she had mince and homemade corn chips out of flatbread instead of lasagne, her chicken was not in the hotpot and her lamb was not herb crusted.

So food wise I would rate that I was about 80% on track and exercise 100% all 4 sessions planned were done, plus the Fit Fab Forty monthly push-up challenge was about 90% done on the right day.

Planning and shopping list all done for Week 2 so I will leave you with these wise words

“PROPER PLANNING PREVENTS POOR PERFORMANCE”

The week that was – Zero to Hero

The 2 weeks prior to the start of this week were a blur of painting and decorating, morning/all day sickness, work and everyday life and then to top it all off a head cold. So after being down and out for a few weeks once the head cold began to subside (as did my all day sickness) it was time to get back into some exercise, towards the end of those 2 horrid weeks I managed 1 weights session.

So starting fresh this week here’s the low down:

Monday – I went to my PT session with focus on the Indoor Rower because there was a little Charity Rowing event coming up this weekend.

Tuesday – Got to my outdoor class with EnVie and even tho the ground was really soggy we did a good workout, running and toning exercise and I could feel the glute’s the next day.

Wed – no workout.

Thurs – I invited some friends whom I met at Mothers Group over for some training on the Indoor Rower. My trainer Ian from Pioneer Fitness came over to give the girls some tips and we practiced technique and transition for an Indoor Rowing relay. Some ladies had never been on a rower, others very rarely and some not for many years so it was a fun day of learning for all.

The younger generation learning the ways of Indoor Rowing.

The younger generation learning the ways of Indoor Rowing.

Friday – no workout

Saturday – I was helping to set-up the small rowing event and spent a few hours lifting and shifting rowing machines.

Being a sponsor the work ute gets put to good use with a load of rowing machines.

Being a sponsor the work ute gets put to good use with a load of rowing machines.

Sunday – The day of the Indoor Rowing event. The event was being held at a local Public School in conjunction with a fitness expo as a fundraiser for the school. They had workout demo’s with a Bosu class, kids gymnastics, martial arts and Yoga for kids and people exhibiting healthy ideas, a great expo for the school.

The Indoor Rowing Event had 80 competitors testing their stamina in the 500m Fly and Die, 4 minute and 2000m events as well as the highly contested men’s and women’s relays. The competitors ranged from teenagers to 80 year olds and even included Olympic Rower Hannah Every-Hall. The local WIN TV camera crew was there and filmed a stack of angles including my wardrobe malfunction. For some reason when I row hard and fast my shirt rides up at the front and by the end of the race my belly is poking out, this happened just as the camera man panned on to me, awesome.

with Olympic Rower Hannah Every-Hall

with Olympic Rower Hannah Every-Hall

I managed to round up 8 ladies for 2 teams in the Women’s Relays “Mummalicious” and “Bulli Shores” (thinking of team names is tricky so I took my inspiration from the TV shows of Jersey origins).

Some ideas for hairstyles and overdone tanning or bronzing for the next rowing meet with Mummalicious and Bulli Shores.

Some ideas for hairstyles and overdone tanning or bronzing for the next rowing meet with Mummalicious and Bulli Shores.

The relay is contested over 2000m with each team member rowing 500m then transitioning whilst the clock is ticking. The race can be won or lost in the transition. I even convinced them to have a go at the Individual 500m event and use it as a warm-up. They all did very well, I came 3rd in my heat (official results to come) and I held back a little bit due to my pregnancy.

So after a good break and recovering from the Individual 500m it was time for the relay. Ian from Pioneer was very excited about the relays, making all the teams line up on the side and march us all out onto the rowing deck like something from an Olympic swimming telecast, talk about building up the hype. There were 8 teams in the Ladies event, a long 8 minutes later my team “Bulli Shores” were victorious, a really exciting race with seconds between 1st and 2nd placings, the “Mummalicious” girls also did fantastic with several of them juggling breast feeding and getting babies to sleep in between races, to my pregnant self these girls are an inspiration.

The ladies relay Champions "Bulli Shores" featuring L to R; Kim Walker, myself, Kim Arnold and Amanda McDowall

The ladies relay Champions “Bulli Shores” featuring L to R; Kim Walker, myself, Kim Arnold and Amanda McDowall

I have a feeling there will be a few of them in training for the National Indoor Rowing Championships in Sept in both individual and Relay events.

I need to give a special mention to Ian Gibson from Pioneer Fitness for once again giving up his time and effort for my friends and others with his ability to entice more people to his passion of Indoor Rowing, he does so much for the sport, local charities and fundraising and I know with him at the helm the National event will be a success.

Indoor Rowing Guru, Ian Gibson from Pioneer Fitness, does so much for the sport of Indoor Rowing.

Indoor Rowing Guru, Ian Gibson from Pioneer Fitness, does so much for the sport of Indoor Rowing.