Tag Archives: forty

Fit Fab Forty and …… Pregnant

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My weekly wrap that I didn’t do on Sunday would have read something like this.

Monday – no workout, started undercoating and painting.

Tuesday – no workout, busy painting, overwhelmed with renovations and the amount of work that had to be done, could often be found rocking in a corner.

Wed – no workout too tired after yesterday.

Thursday – announced to the World Wide Web, ie Facebook that I am 12 weeks Pregnant.

Friday – no workout

Saturday – managed to do a Boxing Class

Sunday – Mothers’ Day no workout.

So the big news of the week is I’m forty and pregnant. It was unplanned but we are very happy. It took some time to come to terms with (and a bit scary since I suffered a miscarriage about 18 months before), but once that 12 week scan all looked good it was time to share the news.

I am the worst secret keeper ever so keeping this in for the last 8 or so weeks had been killing me and it may have leaked to some close friends and immediate family. It was difficult to hide from those close to me as I was suffering Morning/All Day sickness, it was like having a hangover, day after day, but without the fun the night before.

Lots of people suffer from this apparently, but I was lucky with my first child that I didn’t feel sick at all.

When struggling with feeling sick the best cure I found was eating, some of my favourite choices were: cheese and dry crackers, Quelch fruit ice-block sticks, vita wheats with vegemite, bread, soft drinks and lots more. If I was 5 minutes late for a meal the nausea would overwhelm me, it was crazy.

At 10-11 weeks I started to feel better but 12-13 weeks til now it has come back with a vengeance, although not constant and all day like it was, just random waves of bad nausea.

Being pregnant and feeling sick has slowed me down with my training as you may have noticed from my lack of weekly wraps and lack of activity within the weekly wraps that I did do. I also get told so many things by so many different people about what exercise you can and can’t do. I took the advice of my Obstetrician which was, keep doing what you are doing, if you were doing it before you can do it whilst pregnant, don’t overheat your body and don’t go horse riding or water skiing. Ok Doc that is pretty easy, but my confusion lay with the overheating. How do you know when you are heading that direction? I asked Doc the question, he said your body temperature will only get dangerously high if you are running marathons etc. So pretty safe to say I’m not planning a marathon or similar whilst pregnant.

How much exercise can you do whilst pregnant?

Another thing everyone is asking is, are we going to find out the sex of the baby, well that is a big N-O. I love a good surprise and what is better than waiting 9 months, it is torture but worth it, besides it will save me and all those around me lots of money from pre-buying pink or blue baby goodies.

So a few of my fitness goals will be happily put on the back burner, my immediate goal is to not stack on the weight. Surprisingly I have not put on a scrap of weight in this first 3 months and hope to do the same for the remaining pregnancy. Doc has said at my pre-pregnancy BMI that up to 7kgs is an acceptable weight gain but he said plenty of people can lose weight whilst pregnant.

So I would love to hear your training and anti-nausea tips as well as if anyone was successful with weight loss during pregnancy.

The Week that was – Birthday Week

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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 Year that Was 2012

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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.

Who am I?

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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