The week that was – hanging in there

Monday – I dragged my “I don’t want to go to training” butt off the lounge and went to my evening session of Indoor Rowing, (Monday nights at 7pm are getting so hard now it is cold and dark). I was well worth it, after a good warm up we got back on the rower for 6x 30 second intervals as hard and fast as possible, I smashed it. But then my trainer threw another set at me and what do you know I got better again. I guess that’s why I pay him the big bucks.

Tuesday – I went to my gym EnVie and was going to go to the outdoor session but with rain looking imminent I decided to go to “Indoor Gym” as Miss 3 calls it. I decided to carry on with cardio after last night session I wanted to push myself. So after a warm-up on the Crosstrainer and then a warm-up on the tready, I upped the speed and started doing 30 second intervals, my fast 30’s I started at 8kph and then upped it by 0.5 to 1 each time until I cracked 12kph, I did 2 intervals at 12 and then started a slower decline back down. My previous best on the tready was 10.5kph so when I actually got back down to that level it actually felt easy (for 30 seconds anyway). Overall I did 12 intervals and dare I say smashed it again.

Wed – no workout

Thursday – Miss 3 and I had a big day of renovations ahead as the floorboards were being sanded tomorrow. Thankfully I had a salvation in my friend Cindy who came to pick up Miss 3 to take her to a friends house for messy fun day, leaving me free to get things done a lot quicker. I started working at 8am and apart from a few quick breaks throughout the day didn’t stop until about 8pm that night. Repairing floorboards, pulling out tacks and packing the last minute things away. Exhausted.

Friday – No rest for the wicked I was up at 4.45am to carry on moving the last of the furniture etc then headed off to work. We packed up the family and went to stay the weekend at “The Outlaws” so the floors could be sanded.

2013-05-04 06.34.07

Hello Sunrise – I don’t see you often enough.

Saturday – I got up early to drive ½ hour to boxing class (normally only have to do a 1 minute walk), I am pleased I made the effort, I did catch a beautiful sunrise, I was feeling a bit tired and lethargic but managed a half decent class. I popped in to see how my floors were going and they were looking amazing. I headed to a café to have some quality alone time a bite of breakfast and a Skinny Chai Latte, aaah the serenity.

Sunday – we had a great family day at the local Air Show, Wings over Illawarra. I had never been before and it was a pretty good day, things for all ages. Miss 3 of course spotted the kids rides from a mile away. My nemesis favourite Mini Donut van was there but I somehow was not hungry at the time and managed to steer clear.

The finished floorboards, let the painting and decorating begin.

The finished floorboards, let the painting and decorating begin.

So I think a pretty productive week of exercise considering the fact we are mid reno’s and had to move out of home for the weekend and keep some sort of normality in our lives. This week may be different there is so much painting to do and I think I will be using every spare minute, plus tradies coming.

The Week that was – back to normal

With hubby back in town it was a chance to get back to some sort of normality.

Monday I headed off to my Trainer for my normal evening session and got myself back on the Indoor Rower. With a few Indoor rowing events happening this year Pioneer Fitness Indoor Rowing Fundraiser on 2 June 2013 and National Indoor Rowing Championships on 14 Sept 2013, it is time to get back on the rower. I actually rode my bike to get there (about 15 mins each way) and then did a 10 minute warm up and then 3x 8 minute rows with a 3 minute rest in between. Considering I haven’t been on the rower for a few months it felt good I rowed to a HR of 150bpm, plus a few sit-ups during the 3 min rest.

Tuesday was our normal swimming lesson for Miss 3 and then managed to make it to Buggy Fit class where we did some running around a grassy oval, 1 fast lap, 1 recovery lap. I challenged myself to run the whole way at my own pace and tried to push myself as well. In between running laps we were doing some horrific exercises, including Turkish get-ups, Tricep dips, Prisoner get-ups and push-ups. All those “Ups” were hard. After several sets of running and exercises on a pretty warm day I was working up a good sweat and really enjoyed a good hard session.

Prisoner Get-Ups - try 20 of these in your workout.

Prisoner Get-Ups – try 20 of these in your workout.

Turkish Get-Ups - Try 20 of these without weights.

Turkish Get-Ups – Try 20 of these without weights.

Wednesday I was too tired for my early morning swim.

Thursday I headed to my gym EnVie and did a cardio session including 20 mins on the treadmill, 4 min warm up, 1 min fast 1 minute slow, by the time I was properly warmed up I was doing my 1 minute fast at 10 and 10.5 kph, pretty happy with that. After I got home I carried on with my renovations punching nails down in the floorboards and filling all the holes, ready for Saturday’s planned sanding day.

Friday I had no time for exercise instead an early morning trip to the Chiropractor before work, finally getting my hips, back, neck and shoulders in alignment.

Saturday in lieu of exercise I opted for an early morning trip to the Hardware store to hire a floor sander and spent the better part of my morning dust covered and on a mission to get the floor in Hubby’s office finished. The afternoon was spent putting 2 coats of urethane on the floor at 3 hour intervals.

The finished floorboards. Next job painting.

The finished floorboards. Next job painting.

Sunday I pottered around the house and finished another 2 coats on the floor, not very active at all. Then in the afternoon I headed out for High Tea with a couple of friends from Mothers Group, very nice nibbles and great conversation.

So as normal as normal can be but with only a 3 good workouts this week I need to get a few more in next week.

What is your goal for this week?

Have a great week everyone.

The Week that was – Recovering, Retail Therapy and Renovations

Monday I had the arduous 5-6 hour Road Trip home from my girls weekend away, getting in the car and hitting the road by 9am. I was supposed to be refreshed but I was still tired with a few late nights and the inability to sleep in, it eventually catches up with you. I was going to attempt to go to the gym but I was a little bit excited to see my girl after 4 days away from her, so I headed to school to pick her up, she was so excited she nearly squeezed my head off and would not let me go, I loved it. 

The scary total of 21 Champagne corks after our girly weekend.

The scary total of 21 Champagne corks after our girly weekend.

Tuesday we had our normal ritual of swimming lessons and I managed to get back in time for the Envie Buggy Fit class and we had a full class of sand running/exercises. It was hell but good, it is always hard to run on sand, I tried to run as much as I could and always headed for the hard sand. It was a really good class and had to keep reminding myself that we pay them for this torture.

Wednesday morning I joined the swimming group for some training in the harbour. I always get there late, so I did 1 lap with the coach of the group and then did a few sprint laps with my trainer as well as some training for Tri swimming where he was pushing me around as I swam, simulating the crowded water. After swimming I had a little faux pas, I dived out of the car (wrapped in towel, straight from swimming) quickly posted a few letters and as they were going down the chute I realised that I had accidentally picked up some paperwork I had to deal with at the office including receipts that I needed for a financial claim and they were gone. Freaking out I had to stand out the front of the Post Office (in my towel) waiting for it to open to find out WTF I could do to get my paperwork back. So after explaining my predicament to the ladies at the PO she said come back after 2pm when the mailman has been, which I did and successfully got my paperwork back again. They had a snicker and asked where my towel was, a little bit embarrassing.

Bestie day was great, having a spot of sushi for lunch.

Bestie day was great, having a spot of sushi for lunch.

Thursday I had the most awesome girly day with my bestie (it was her 40th Birthday), we had a mani, pedi, lunch and shopping. AWESOME. I managed to spend some of my Birthday Vouchers and cashola, this is the Birthday that keeps on giving. I got myself some new runners from Athlete’s Foot. Leah my “Master Fit Technician” was amazing, analysing my feet on the fancy machine they have in store and asking me all the right questions to establish my shoe requirements.

My friendly and helpful Shoe expert Leah from Athlete's Foot.

My friendly and helpful Shoe expert Leah from Athlete’s Foot.

Bringing out a selection of shoes based on my footprint, pressure points etc. I was debating in the end between 2 different ASICS styles and then after trying each pair on both feet opted for ASICS Gel Kayano 19 in electric purple/white/neon/pink. Dare I say they were the best looking shoes I have seen in a while which never swayed my decision 1 little bit (oops may have told a small lie there). She also upsold me some Experia aero-dynamic fit socks and I upsold myself some neon stretch laces. Anyone who is doing any type of transition sports or is just too lazy to untie and retie shoe laces should get these, I love them. As an added bonus over the years I have spent a particular amount of money in their store and have managed to earn myself 2x $25 vouchers in loyalty points, so pending their fancy socks being great I should score myself 2 more pairs with the vouchers I will get in the mail. I did also manage to get into my Gym in the afternoon and did a very light 40min cardio session, with 10 min on the bike, 10 on the tready and 10 on the crosstrainer and a 5 min warm up and cool down on the bike. It is so hard to take it easy on taper week.

Oh yeah, my new shoes, socks and laces, lets hope they make me move faster.

Oh yeah, my new shoes, socks and laces, lets hope they make me move faster.

Friday started off amazing with my first phone call of the day from the local radio station initially trying to fool me into thinking Manu from MKR (My Kitchen Rules Australia) was calling and then revealing that I had been drawn out as the lucky winner of a $1000 voucher from Domayne kitchen dept. (Domayne sell a huge range of furniture, outdoor furniture, beds, homewares, laptops, bathroom vanities and appliances but my prize was to be spent in the Electrical Dept. with the only exclusions computers). To be entered in the drawer you had to submit a recipe. I submitted a recipe from my blog Prawn Saganaki. Happy Friday, yeehaa.

Saturday was T3 day, my 3rd ever Triathlon. Read about it here. After my Tri I came home to do some renovations, ripped up carpet, lino, and pulled out tons of staples. I think my muscles were more sore from doing the renos than the Triathlon.

Miss 3 playing Pro Hart before the carpet and other layers get removed.

Miss 3 playing Pro Hart before the carpet and other layers get removed.

Sunday back into renovation mode and I had to demolish a very well built, but ugly, old built-in wardrobe which took me about 4 hours plus finishing off pulling staples out of the floor. Dare I say it is amazing what you can do with a claw hammer and a big flat screw driver. More sweat and sore muscles. Oh and a quick mow of the lawn.

I could turn this into a renovating blog at the moment, lots going to be happening over the next few months. Next week stand by for a floor sanding update.

Have a great week everyone.

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.

Making the most out of the mundane

So today I mowed the lawn, “so what” I hear you say! I AM one of those weird people who enjoy mowing the lawn.

For the past 18 months the lawn mowing had been outsourced to The Lawnmower Man (that is not his real name) and not a buff young lad like the guy out of the movie of the same name, just a regular dude. And it is a wonder I knew what he looked like, I never saw him, it was mowing magic. I would go to work, come home to a mowed lawn, an invoice would pop up in my Inbox, internet transfer and voila transaction complete.

The reason for the outsourcing is we live on a main road and our now Miss 3 was very erratic with her day sleeps, getting her to sleep during the right weather conditions on a day when the lawn actually had to be mowed was becoming a challenge. I preferred to get it done during the week to free up the weekend for family time and our hectic social life. I did not trust her to sit on the front step and watch, to be honest what toddler is that trustworthy? Now I still don’t trust her entirely to sit and watch but I can trust her to be in the house quietly (sometimes) watching TV whilst I do SOME things.

Then 1 day I get a call from a new mower man saying he had taken over my lawns. Then he started to say he was coming to mow and never showed up, this was beginning to annoy me, so this was the little push I needed to bring things back in-house. I dragged out the mower and edge trimmer 1 day, fuelled them both up and neither would start, I was so frustrated.

After getting them both fixed I had success, they started and away I went. So today was the 2nd time since the outsourcing that I did the deed.

Love it when all the equipment works.

Love it when all the equipment works.

The purpose of this post is to show you how you can use everyday chores and make a “workout” of it. Today I chose to mow in the heat of the day, sweating it out for about half an hour. Maybe I should try doing more housework as well …. hmmm I will think about it.

Now to go off on a tangent, when I decided to take back the mowing duties I wanted something to protect my legs from the line trimmer that was easy to put on, so I cropped off the legs of some jeans that were too big (yay) and did a wide hem on the top and added elastic and there you have the perfect pull on leg protectors. Now hubby’s response was “why don’t you just wear long pants”, well the thought crossed my mind, but this way I can pull them off when the mowing is done and carry on in the rest of the gardening in shorts if I desire.

Protecting my less than lucious legs from flying debris.

Protecting my less than lucious legs from flying debris.

So think about things you could do around the house that could burn some more calories and maybe even save you some money too. The savings I make by doing the lawn mowing myself pays for my Gym membership.

Who am I?

I am Rachael a 39.5 year old wife and mother of Miss 2.75.

So here I start 6 months before my 40th Birthday, debating whether I am going through a mid-life crisis and freaking out by focusing on exercise and trying, trying, trying to eat better.

I have a wonderful husband, family and friends who support me in everything I do, we have a daughter “Miss 2.75” who is adorable, cheeky, a little bit naughty, super cute and super super smart.

This is a recent photo weighing in at 108kgs. Taken at Cadbury Chocolate Factory in Tasmania, Australia

Fat to Fit and Fabulous by Forty is a blog about my current journey of weight-loss and fitness, my personal challenges, food addiction, insecurities and everything that goes along with being “Double Extra Gorgeous” and just wanting to be “Mildly Extra Gorgeous”, not to mention how the hell I got here in the first place. I am a fun, “CAN DO” kind of person, I will have a go an anything once, and if I love it will do it again and again, I think that is where my addictive personality comes out. I see myself as the “Funny Fat” girl. I have been overweight all of my life, always being the biggest at school (or so I though) and blossoming in my 20’s, excessively blossoming in my 30’s and hitting my biggest after our Honeymoon and then exploding during pregnancy. To give you some idea I am 168cm tall and on my Wedding Day I weighed 124kgs, after the Honeymoon (6-8 weeks later) weighed 132kgs and on the day I gave birth was 146kgs and was 146cm around the middle (coincidence) who knows.

About 8 months after I having our daughter, hubby and I both decided to have “Lap Band Surgery”, we had debated it prior to our wedding but thought we could do it (lose weight) on our own. We were of the opinion 1 in all in (ie both of us should do it or not at all) and he decided against it, so I chickened out as well. But it is amazing what bringing a small person into your life will do, the desire to live longer, be healthier and not inflict your poor food choices onto your “Offspring” becomes a major priority. My parents helped us out financially with the “Gap” costs of the surgery and we were very much supported by both our families.

So here I am about 25kgs down from prior to the Surgery and weighing in at 107.7kgs, I have plateaued for about 12 months going up and down by a couple of kgs over that time.

I invite you to follow my journey for the next 6 months to see if I can achieve my weight loss and fitness goals.

Rachael