Wednesday 19 December 2007

It's a mad mad mad mad life!

Hi folks!

Still here!

Have been crazy moving and don't have broadband or the time to post right now. I think I am going to have to post when I visit my mum or nan!

Right now though- I gotta go!!

Have not been eating very well recently (too many pre-christmas goodies) but I have been doing a LOT of walking pushing Molly in the pram and have NOT put on any weight. I am very pleased about this! Gotta love not driving and being clost to shops, train, tram parks etc! I LOVE Footscray!!

My plan is to NOT put on weight over Christmas so I'm trying to burn at least as many extra calories as I am consuming!

Ho Ho Ho Everyone!! Merry Christmas to all!!!

xox

Thursday 29 November 2007

Triathlon Pink

I can't believe I did it!

I slept in 2 hours past my alarm and despite my near nervous breakdown and numerous near death experiences on the drive to the venue- I did it!!
What a great feeling!! What a great day!!

Quick wrap up- Swim was easy peasy and over in 2 mins 30 secs.. Transition was quick and easy both times. The ride was hard and took me 15 mins to do 3 kms... so that's something I'd like to improve and my run took me about 10 mins I think.. I had bricks for legs!!

Oh my gosh! What an amazing lady Penny from HBC is!!! (pictured below) She came 11th overall and 1st in her age group... After she finished (she was crying from excitement and exhaustion etc) she ran back about 20 metres to sprint to the end with me so I could finish like a champion!! PENNY I LOVE YOU!!!

I came 22nd out of 57.
I can't wait till next years pink triathlon... who knows... just might have to go in a gatorade one!!











Ash
xox

Saturday 24 November 2007

Scared but doing it anyway!

Just a super quick one tonight!

Packing my bag for the triathlon tomorrow...

Shit scared!!

I am becoming a better me by doing it so I'm tackling the fear head on!

Girl power!!

Friday 23 November 2007

Hoorah!

Just a quick post to voice my excitement about our move that is happening in 2 Saturdays time.

We are Salvationist and are moving from the very leafy and well-off Waverley church to the community based house church in Footscray (moving house- sharing with Hubbie's sis, hubby and baby). This church is so involved in the community- being with people and in peoples lives for the long haul and not expecting everyone to flock to a big building to be "saved".

I am soooo terriffically excited and I'm going to be getting involved in their community garden and starting a new mums group for community mums. Hooray! Finally we've found a way of living as christians that sits right with us.

Like Jesus used to live- simply and in relationships!
Hoorah!

Thursday 22 November 2007

I heart cocoa butter...

I'd just like to mention that I have just got out of the shower and lathered my warm skin in luxurious cocoa butter, put on my soft pjs and painted my nails. I am now about to slip into bed to cuddle my gorgeous hubby...

Feels nice to treat me nice!

Night night all!

;)

Good day!

I did what I said I would and went right out this morning and bought myself a lovely aqua leather bound journal and have written in it my days food intake.

I didn't get my bike ride in tonight. I am loading the bike onto the back of the car tomorrow and heading to Mezz's where I'm leaving Molly for a while so I can have a ride long the Maribirnong River.

Here's what I ate today with some variation to yesterdays plan:
B. 2 eggs on 2 slices helgas rye (6)
S. 1 small apple and a skim latte (1.5)
L. Egg and lettuce sandwich on wholemeal bread (4)
S. low fat yoghurt and a banana (3)
D. A small portion of delicious home made lasagne with low fat mince and low fat cheese with a big green salad (6.5)
S. Small ice cream (4?)

Total: 25 pts

I could definately have given the ice cream a miss and saved myself some points however I thoroughly enjoyed it and wont be doing it very often. I am still breastfeeding Molly about 5 times a day so 25 pts isn't too bad for me although I would like to try to keep it to about 22 per day.

I had a minor victory tonight. The lasagne (which happens to be one of my favourite foods) I made was totally delicious and I made an extra large tray as I was cooking for 2 visitors as well as Mezz, Byron, Felix and Molly. After we had all had a serve the others ALL went back for seconds but I took myself away from the table as I had eaten enough and there was no question in my mind that I was finished! I was pleasantly full- not over full and I enjoyed every mouthful. Go me! It would have been easy to have just a sliver more and forget it ever happened only to wonder why the scales arent moving.

I bought some Christmas wrapping paper today and am beginning to get excited about the festive season!! It got me thinking about how I was going to manage the weeks leading up to Chrissy food-wise. It's such a minefield for someone trying to shift some kilos as there are mince pies and shortbread being hurled at you from every direction!! So here's what I am going to do. On Christmas day I will eat, drink and be merry but I don't want to spend Chrissy arvo lolling around waiting for the coronary to kick in on the couch. I will not eat party food until Christmas day and I will stop eating party food on Christmas night- no more garbage guts Ash for weeks and weeks post Chrissy! (As has been the tradition)

I am also going to make my fat free sugar free fruit cake.

1kg whatever dried fruit you like
2 cups orange juice
2 tbs rum
2 cups self raising flour

Soak the fruit in liquids overnight and whack (read: stir) in the flour in the morning. Pop in a greazed and lined tin and bake in a mod oven for about 1 hour.

As long as you don't lather the slices in butter or eat it with mountains of icecream you should be safe to have a few slices of this cake over the christmas period. It feels Christmassy without all the extra fat!

I am also going to do low fat banana bread to bring to cany Chrissy functions and ginger bread christmas trees, angels and stars to give as pressies. I did shortbread last year and ate waaaaay to much of it in the process so this year I know in advance that I am likely to "test" some of the finish products before celloing them and giving the away.... hey, you can't expect me to send things out that I haven't tried! What if I accidently poison people!? We can't have that now can we!?


Anywhoo- I'm busting to do a wee so I'd better be off! TMI??

Wednesday 21 November 2007

Plan for tomorrow...

Food:
B. 2 eggs on 2 slices helgas rye toast (7 pts)
S. 1 apple (.5)
L. Big chicken and avo salad (4.5) a bread roll (2) and a bottle of water (0)
S. 1 low fat yoghurt and a small banana (3)
D. Fish and veggies (4)

Total pts: 21 (1 pt saved)

Exercise:
Bike ride when John gets home from work... Yay!!

Other goals for the day: Go shopping for food so there's lots of good stuff in the house! Get enough sleep!!

ZZZzzzzZZZzzzzZZZ

Bysies!

Still here!

I'm back after a longer than expected absence from the blog. Thanks to everyone for the words of wisdom and advice about whether or not I should get back into B4L even though the whole 12 week challenge thing has fallen in a heap somewhat.

I have decided that consistancy is what matters for me as far as my health goes and that has been my downfall over the last few weeks. Yes, I have had some shit to deal with (the death of a friend) and am trying to cope with the return of ttom (yep that just happened again too!) but I have about four more weeks where I can knuckle down and try to get my focus back. So I am treating the end of this "challenge" as a habit breaker and habit maker. I have fallen into some bad habits and need to focus to get back on track.

Maybe "challenges" are not what I need right now. Sure, it's a great way to get to where I want to go quickly (when I focus) but is it sustainable?? So what am I going to do for the next four weeks and beyond?? I am going to go back to what I know works for me and track points/calories and exercise 3-4 times a week. Planning, perseverance, and consistancy. I am not going to focus on achieving a certain weight loss goal by a certain time. I just know that I would like to have an ultimate goal of reaching 75kgs in the not too distant future and challenge myself along the way by competing in fun runs and triathlons.

I still firmly believe that if you live like the person you want to become you will get there faster.

Sunday is my triathlon- for which I have not trainied enough... the old me would take that as an excuse not to compete but THIS me, the HEALTHY me says that it is a fantastic opportunity to get some exercise and do something I thought I would never be able to do. I am competing to finish- not to win. This is not a competition between me and other people. This is a contest of my own mind. Sunday is going to get me out of my slump. I can tell!!

I bought a new bike for the occasion and I am so keen to get out there and have a go.

My holiday was so lovely- just what I needed. I spent a lot of time soaking up the sun at the beach and even got in a training swim and a personal training session at the gym! Yay!

I am changing the name of this blog to "12 weeks is only the beginning" to mark my commitment to the long term journey that is going to get me to goal.

Tomorrow I am going out to buy a special super gorgeous journal to use as a tracker..

Thanks for hanging in there with me. Sorry if I have disappointed any of you by my lousy attempt at body for life!!

MWA

xox

Thursday 8 November 2007

Not so good...

I just can't get it together...

The evening I found out about mum (she's ok by the way) I got a call from my sis in law saying that a friend of ours was hit by a train and killed.

I have not been able to focus on anything but that until the funeral yesterday and I have subsequently put on some weight- I just have not been thinking about my food at all and weighed in at 87kgs this morning :(...

My head is in a bad place. I have spent some time thinking about whether I should continue with this challenge considering I probably wont do as well as I would have hoped and then be disappointed. I am going on holidays for a week and we are then moving house- then it's my birthday and I just can't see myself training enough. The food- I know I can do... it will take hard work. But I just don't know about the 6 days a week training.

What do you think? Should I focus on eating well and training for the triathlon and ditch Body 4 Life for now?? I think it's a great program but just don't think I have it together enough right now...

I'm interested to hear your feedback...

Death is so hard...

Wednesday 31 October 2007

Putting it out to the universe...

(thanks for the idea Beck)I'll have one Enell Sports Bra please!! Size 14D!! (one back size smaller cuz I'm getting smaller!)

Not sure if that's being too cheeky to the universe but hey, you can't blame a girl for trying!!

Wow!

17 posts in one month! Not bad!

Scary!

My mum was rushed to hospital today.

She was driving to work and started to feel a bit funny- short of breath, dizzy and had a pain in her left shoulder and arm. She turned right back around, came home and called the ambulance.

Our worry was of course her heart. Not only because of the symptoms but because there is heart disease in our family (my pop holds the record for the most bypasses at one time at the Alfered Hospital... 8! A double quadrouple bipass!).

So after a lot of anxiety on my part and a lot of tests etc the verdict is that her heart is ok.. Problem is we don't know what was wrong!

She'll be home soon so I'll have to find out exactly what they said.

Tuesday 30 October 2007

Handy hint #1

Find a good pair of bathers with boob scaffolding and wear underneath your chosen sports clothing.

It is the ONLY way I can run right now!

I have a lot of lose skin from pregnancy and fatnancy, and quite a lot of excess fat that has the potential to cause a passing child some serious injury! But wearing a body bra (aka bathers) really helps to support and hold in those wayward (soon to be gone) bits of fat... how lovely!

It also gives you a nice sleek shape under tight tops so no "back boobs" or "fudubadahs" to be seen....

Haha! You can only make fun of fat when you are of have been fat!

xox

Back in the saddle(bags) again... nah!

I had a lovely time in Sydney with mum and Molly! We did a DIY contiki tour (aka speeding around all the sights in the short amout of time we had in between conference sessions. My presentation went very well and I may have scored myself a trip to Canada out of it... woohoo!

It has taken me a couple of days to get my eating right and I nearly didn't come and blog because I have eaten chips and chocolate today... but you want the REAL story here right?! Not some pretend perfect person who never slips up yeah?! So anyway, that's out of my system and I have just got home from another killer body pump class where, once again, I upped all my weights and have come home feeling all shaky, warm and tingly and now I'm eating some delicious tomato and onion flavoured tuna, brown rice and veggies to help me recover and BUILD muscle instead of losing it! (which is what happens if you weight train without eating right!)

I went to Triathlon Pink training at Elwood beach on Saturday morning and got a tad sunburnt! Not used to this glorious weather yet! We had a great session where I did my first ever open water swim! It's a lot harder than the pool and I swallowed a lot of salt water but got the hang of it eventually... I really have some work to do though if I want to race well on the day (Nov 25th). My cycling and running has much to be desired but every time I try hard, I want to work harder to get better.

In my pump class tonight I was admiring the female instructors body- all firm and shapely, and had to remind myself that she looks so great because she has worked very hard to get there. She has had to build her fitness gradually like all of us and now she is lifting with the big boys! Well, she's lifting more with her legs than the boys!!

So- the moral of the story??

Eat well, eat balanced, keep focussed, train hard= strong, fit body!!

Sounds simple huh??! Yeah- but if it were that easy wouldn't we all be prancing around in bikinis this summer???

What I need to continually work on is the mind stuff... addressing the reasons why I still dive head first into a block of chocolate or a packet of bikkies when I feel low. More to come on this... I need to have a think first.

Hope you're all having a fabbo day/night and all you Melbournians are looking forward to the long weekend! I'm not a GG fan but enjoy the time to spend with family and friends! Gotta love a long weekend!

Ash
xox

Wednesday 24 October 2007

Dinner last night..

John and I went out to the Rosstown Hotel for dinner last night- we are a bit broke at the moment so we shared a meal. We bought hoisin chicken with rice and veggies and got two small plates to split it on to. We got some funny looks from family (who also offered to by us another meal as they felt sorry for our broke little souls) but we were both SO FULL afterwards!

I am so glad we did it and we'll do it again next time. The Rosstown Hotel has a lovely salad bar too so before the meal came we had a big salad each- I'm sure that helped us feel fuller.

Okay- I'll stop writing posts now... I really have to go get ready for the trip! *lol*

Sore

My upper body feels like it's dragging along the ground today! YES! That's what we want!!

Live who you want to be and you'll become her sooner!

xox

WOW!



Thanks Beckie for bestowing this award upon me!! *lol* Sound a bit up myself for posting this award on here but I am just so pleased to have been able to motivate other people while I have been working so hard to shave off some lard... ooh that rhymes! I work hard to shave off the lard!

Anyway- Welcome to all the new faces who have popped in from Beck's blog. It is fantastic to know there are people out there willing to read about my challenge and be so encouraging. Thank you!! It's people like you ... yes YOU... who keep me going when I feel I can't go on any more. It's YOU that makes me choose the rice crackers instead of the chips when I feel like I want to splurge and its YOU who inspires me to do just one more rep or add on another kilo when lifting weights. So please keep popping in and leaving comments- now you know how much YOU.. yes YOU... mean to me. MWA!! xox

So I'm off to Sydney at 2pm today. I nearly wasn't going to take my runners as I don't have a lot of room in my bag but after recieving this lovely award and knowing there are so many of you cheering me along I know I need to take them and get into the hotel gym tomorrow morning. There is also a 24 hour pool so I'm taking my bathers with me too. I want to pack some protein powder but I am worried the airport will think I've got drugs so I might just get some ready to drink shakes when I get there. *lol* Yum- chocolate flavoured cocaine!!

Okay- that's all for now. If there are any Sydneysiders who'd like to meet up please email me.

All my love! Thanks for the inspiration!!

xox

Tuesday 23 October 2007

Bright and early!

This morning I got up at 5am (thanks Molly!!) and was at the gym by 6:15am!

I rushed out of the house so I'd catch the early pump class but when I got there I looked at the timetable and realised I must have dreamed that there was a class on as there was nothing on the timetable except a spin class and I did one of those last night . So I did a really heavy upper body session- I lifted double what I usually do.

I love the feeling of pushing myself to do things I have never done!!

Yesterdays eats went like this:
B. muesli with skim milk
S. an apple and a couple of teaspoons of yoghurt (all that was left!)
L. 1 slice soy lin toast with a tuna and creamed corn mix I made... very yum!
S. chocolate protein shake with soy milk and a skinny latte later in the arvo
D. chicken and bean thing that John made with 1/2 cup brown rice and veggies
S. 1/2 cup natural yoghurt mixed with one serve jarrah chocolatte over 1/2 serve protein crunch (YUMMIEST THING!!!)

Running woman!


Don't I look focussed!?

Monday 22 October 2007

Week 3 plan...

Last week went ok... most of the week was good and then along came my mum's 50th birthday!! I ate too much and exercised too little!! Oh well.. today is another day and I have eaten well so far and am going to the gym tonight!

I have to go to Sydney to speak at a conference on Wednesday arvo till Friday night but the hotel I am staying in has a gym so I am going to try and not let my trip ruin my good intentions! Mum is coming (bless her) to take care of Molly over the few days we are there so I will be able to slip away for a quick workout at some point each day.

So heres my plan of action (POA) for this week:

Monday: 6:30 spin class
Tuesday: 7:30pm pump class
Wednesday: Morning run
Thursday: Weights in the hotel gym
Friday: Run in the hotel gym
Saturday: Tri training and 4pm pump class
Sunday: rest day and free meal day

I am going to have to be really dilligent to eat properly while I am away as this is usually the first thing to go when I am on holidays... I am not on a Body For Life holiday! I can take that wherever I go!! I can still eat out while doing B4L- I just need to make sure I choose some lean protein, some yummy green veggies and some complex carbs in each meal and stay away from the junk. Sounds easy right? Well, we'll see how we go!

Weigh in from last week (before mum's birthday so it probably doesn't count) was 85.1kg- a loss of 1.1kg! I'm not going to weigh till Saturday morning now to give me a chance to burn off some of the junk I ate!

:)

Wednesday 17 October 2007

On friday...

... I will be able to post the pic of me running in Sunday's fun run from www.sportingimages.com.au - I hope my face doesn't look TOO beetrooty!

Look what I'm going to try!!!

Courtesty of Ajay Rochester from Healthy Body Club...

Interval running 101

Start on a slow walk speed...do a warm up for about 3 mins
....then for 4 mins run at a slow 6 kmph
then drop it back to a walk pace for 1 min
then 3 mins at 6.5 kmph then 1 min walk
then 2 mins at 7 kmph then 1 min walk
then 1 min at 7.5kmph then 1 min walk

THEN
4 mins 6.5kmph 1 min walk
3 mins 7 kmph 1 min walk
2 mins 7.5kmph then 1 min wlak
1 min 8 kmph then 1 min walk

THEN

4 mins 7 kmph then 1 min wlak
3 mins 7.5kmph 1 min wlak
2 mins 8 kmph 1 min walk
1 min 8.5kmph 1 min walk
then about a 5 minute cool down.

As you get faster and fitter start at a higher speed.This is a great workout and will have you dropping so much fat you will be blown away.......runners are thin so run to win!!!

Monday 15 October 2007

Pics...

Here are a couple of pics from the run yesterday and my new "before" pics for this challenge...


There we go! They're out there now!! I am eagerly anticipating posting my pics in 11 weeks
time!


Okay, here's my plan for this week.

Today: Haven't decided yet- trying to work out if John's home early tonight so I can go to the gym. Might end up taking Molly out for a brisk pram walk in the sun
Tuesday: Body pump or weights in the evening
Wed: Spin or interval running in the evening
Thurs: Body pump
Friday: Swim
Sat: Body pump or weights
Sun: Rest

Things to do to make it work:

  • Call gym and book Molly into creche for Thurs morning.
  • Get to the shops to buy some salad stuff, some fresh meat and some tuna and salmon
  • Clean house today so I don't have to think about it for a few days (thus having no barriers to getting out and exercising!!)


Sunday 14 October 2007

This weeks exercise...

45 mins Spinning -689
60 mins Body Pump -735
15 mins Free Weights, vigorous -138
20 mins Walking 5 kph -101
15 mins Walking 6 kph -92
30 mins Jogging 8 kph -367
tri training yesterday-312

Exercise Total 2433-YES!! GO ME!!

5198-2433= 2765 to go to go for the month of October!!

FFFWWWOOOOAAAHHH!

I feel so fit right now!!!

Yesterday I went to triathlon training and had a good bike ride and ran up and down practicing flying leaps onto my bike. Afterwards I got chatting to someone who seemed very familiar and I asked her where she worked. It turns out she is the fit lady who I admired at the gym a while ago. I told her about my goals and 12 week challenge and she asked if I needed any help with my weights etc. How nice!! Anyway as it turns out she's an instructor at Fitness First where I go and she ended up inviting me to come to her pump class yesterday afternoon- which I did! I worked so hard knowing very well that I'd have sore legs for the run today!! Oh well- the only way out is through!!

So John and I got up nice and early, had a nice light breakfast before heading off to the Alexandra Gardens for the Anlene Series Spring into shape fun run. We decided to do the 4km run instead of the 8km as I am still not as fit as I'd like to be!

I had no big time goal as far as this run went- I just wanted to complete it! Ideally though I wanted to run at least 2/3 of it- which I did!! John and I slowly ran the first 2km before slowing for a drink, we then walked very fast for the 3rd km (probably faster than the jogging I was doing before!!) and then once we got to the final km John said "should we run the last one??" and I said "nah... you go ahead of me and I'll meet you at the end". So off he went. Not too long after that I started thinking really positively and began some really good self talk saying things like "I can do this!" "this is what the last 1km run in the tri is going to feel like!!" "I can't wait to tell John I ran the last km too!" "Am I really in pain??... No!! Then I'll keep going!!" "Slow and steady slow and steady"... And before I knew it I was coming up to the finish line and with 20 metres to go I started running faster with long strong strides and finished looking like the runner I want to be! The runner I am becoming!!

Go me!!

:)

Friday 12 October 2007

First potential obstacle!

I have just got my first period since Molly was conceived! That's 18.5 months ago!! I know it doesn't have to be an obstacle to my challenge but it does explain my sugar cravings recently! I am determined not to let it affect me as it is the most natural of womanly occurances and I should be celebrating my fertility and feeling it- not eating it away! I do feel pretty good though- so that's a bonus!

So here's my plan!

Food:
Breakfast options: porridge made with water, scrambled eggs (one yolk only) on grainy bread, toast with natural nut butter, eggwhite omelette, natural muesli with skim milk

Lunch options: A portion each of lean protein, complex carb and veggies/salad

Dinner options: Same as lunch eg. chicken breast with a small potato and steamed broccoli and asparagus

Mini in-between meals: chocolate or vanilla EAS protein shake made with skim milk, fruit, low fat yoghurt, handful of raw nuts

Other stuff: Try to drink 3 litres of water and herbal teas each day, take my breastfeeding multi plus some additional fish oil and glutemine daily

Exercise:
Mon: Upper body weights*
Tues: Spin class
Wed: Lower body weights*
Thurs: Swimming training/running
Fri: Upper body weights*
Sat: Triathlon training
Sun: Rest
*weight training runs on a 2 week cycle so in week two I will do 2 lower body workouts

My routine will change when I finish the triathlon.

Other:
I will try to get in here as often as possible with updates and I may use this as a food and training diary too.

:)

Thursday 11 October 2007

Week One...

Beginning today, October 11th 2007, I am embarking on a total body transformation. This will involve twelve weeks of hard work and dedication to weight training, cardoivascular exercise and eating very well. I have been inspired by the Body for Life principals and will be submitting my entry into the Asia Pacific competition. I am at a very good place in my life to complete this challenge as I have my days free and a lovely well equipped gym with a creche. There is no reason that I can see as to why this wont work. It WILL work! Boy am I excited!

I will be using this blog to record my progress and work through any emotional issues that are bound to come up along the way. I will work through my issues as oposed to eating them up!!

I am also doing my first triathlon on November 25th and am training for this also.

I'll be back tomorrow with my plan of action for te challenge!!

Giddy up!!