Conference

Ok. So its been a big few weeks for me. I ended up heading to NZ for work. Conference. And in all of its fully catered glory, I still managed to diet. Sort of.

First day I headed out to the supermarket to stock up on muesli, tuna and vita weats. Diet staples. I also found NZ has canned chicken. Low fat. Phwoar! I thought, 'Aus has seriously gotta jump on that bandwagon'. Until I tried it! Salty and with no texture. Seriously, Aus is better off without the canned chicken.

That first day was tough. I got up at 6.45 and snuck off to the gym. That's 4.45 by my body clock. Then a quick shopping trip, breakfast, and off to seminars. For a full day. They catered morning tea (pastries, from memory), and lunch. No idea what it was, I tended to avoid food times and head back to my room to eat. After the conference (8 long, loong hours later) I was knackered. And they bought out cheese. Blue cheese, foot cheese, brie, crackers, and free alcohol.

I ran.

Had a freakout in my room, then decided I wasn't going to let the situation get the best of me. I had some strawberries and headed back up to mingle.

Then dinner that night was impossible. Curried sausages, lasagne, and some kind of greasy chicken drumsticks, potato salad, tomato and rocket. No vego option. I asked the *cute* bar tender if there was one, and he told me the chef offered to make me pasta.

I left. In tears. It was really hard. All this free alcohol, right in my face. Tired, hungry. I just wanted to sleep. But ultimately I wanted this. I wanted to take myself out of my comfort zone. How else does one grow as a person? I went to the bar and got some type of salad with cheese. Totally not diet, but better than what was on offer.Ironic seeing as I'd avoided the cheese so hard that afternoon.

Next day I decided to check up on the menu prior to the dinner. Steak and veges. Not too bad. I'd decided not to have the dessert. Until it came out. Try saying no to that.



And then I saw the alternative. And I got ridiculously excited.


Clearly, I had the alternative. And it was great!

Overall, I tried my best in NZ. I ate diet where possible, and good where diet was not. I went to the gym at the hotel three times (cardio & body weights). Sweated and grunted and groaned all the way. But I did it. The gym had an AWESOME view of wellington harbour.



And the days where I wasn't sweating it out in front of this view, I was walking around being all touristy.

Overall, I did quite well. When I jumped on the scales the night after I got back I was 80.9. Considering I don't really count any weigh in after lunch I was quite happy.

Busted my arse all last week at the gym. Diet is just sooo much easier to keep when you're in a routine. I was hoping to crack 80 this week. So imagine my shock when I weighed in at 78.7. Yup. Lightest weight ever! I don't think I'm going to get sick of saying that.

So far with the 12 week challenge (3 weeks in) I've lost 3.7kg.

Breaking it down

I know I've been away for a whole week, and I will post about it, at some stage. When I get around to it. But I've just walked out of a seminar at the gym and I need to clear my head and tally up some numbers. This is my basic dietary breakdown.

Today:
Cal:1156. Fat:21.1 (17%). Pro:73.7 (26%) Carb:166 (58%)

Yesterday
Cal:1266. Fat:28.5 (21%) Pro:84.6 (27%) Carb:159.6 (52%)

Tues:
Cal:1172. Fat:18.8. Pro:82.2 Carb:168.5

Mon:
Cal 1338. Fat: 27.7 Pro: 110.3 Carb: 155.8

Thurs:
Cal 1265. Fat: 23 Pro: 84.3 Carb: 175.7

Average
Cal: 1239.4
Fat: 23.8
Pro: 87
Carb: 165.1

Quick update-age: (UPDATED)

Just wanted to say:

I BOUGHT SIZE 16 JEANS TODAY!
I got my usual "bootcut" style
BUT
I also got the "slim" style and I tried the 18s on first and they were TOO DAMN BIG!
OMG! SIZE 16!!!!

*MissE does the happy dance all the way out of the lounge room and into bed! Seriously contemplates sleeping with the new jeans... but decides not to because she plans on wearing them tomorrow.*

Update:
Here's me in one of my new pairs of jeans:
Not the greatest shot ever (Mum's a bit of a technophobe and doesn't do so well with the mobile phone/camera), but you get an idea (I hope) of how the jeans look.

Big week

So I've had quite a big week this week. Starting the challenge, starting a new diet/exercise regime, being sick and having a friend up for a visit. The first few days were ok. Getting into the diet was much easier when I was in the routine of work. I lost 1.1 on Friday when I headed in for a training session.

Friday was... impossible. I don't know if I can put into words what a struggle it was. Everywhere I turned there was someone eating icecream, or chocolate. I was tired, and hungry. Lunch was an ordeal. I wanted grilled fish, no potatoes, with salad. The waiter wouldn't let me do it. I had to order the salad separately. It came out loaded with oily dressing. Kez sent it back. Had to pick the best thing out of food court menu for a snack in the arvo. I chose the natural yoghurt with berries. It was actually a really tough decision, because I didn't think fruit would be filling enough. And I drank epic loads of coffee. Which was good cuz we used it as an excuse to sit down and watch the slappers, hotties and druggies of Kings Cross go by. I was exhausted by the end of it. Considering that was at 2 am, there's no real surprise there. I estimated that I walked 7-9km during the day, on top of training in the morning.

Next day, being yesterday, we headed out to Jenolan Caves. I seriously heart that place. It was slightly easier to diet there. I picked up a noice salad before we left, and took up some tuna with me. Plenty of fruit and water too. And several naps in the car. We did 2 tours, and a 'little' bushwalk. By little, I mean it was not a lengthy duration, and it was on a path. But that path was all stairs mofo. Up. All the freaking way.

Today I headed back towards the gym. In the past 2 days I'd dropped another kg. A full kg. That's 2.1kg in a week. No wonder I'm bloody tired! It was a good effort, especially since I'm heading away tomorrow and no knowing how I'll be there. But I really couldn't keep up loss like that for 12 weeks.

So. Official weigh in 80.3kg.

First Seminar

So today I had my first group seminar with the challenge. It was ok. I've studied nutrition at uni, so the basic introduction they gave us was a bit boring. But it was good to learn a few tips which will help with the diet.

A few moments of laughter. At people, not with them, which is so much more satisfying. One guy asked if he should give up coffee. When asked how many he had per day, and how many sugars, he replied 'three with three'. FARK. 9 sugars a day. What a waste of kilojoules! When told he should cut down, he asked 'can I have a caramel latte instead?' Fail.

The trainer was going through the signs of overtraining. He mentioned that it can interfere with a 'woman's cycle'. There were boys in the room. Then he mentioned something about a decrease in a mans libido. One guy asked if that was the thing on top of his kidneys. Um, no. That's your adrenal glands. Then someone told him what it was, and the comment echoed around the room - 'sex drive? I got no problems with my sex drive. My sex drive is really high. Really high'. I wonder if that's cuz he can't get any.

Adjusting to a new diet on a weekend is a bitch. I do have to eat a hell of a lot more earlier in the day to compensate for the fact that I use more energy earlier. I gave myself a headache on Saturday; was ok (just a little flat and tired) yesterday; and coped really well today. Its easier to adjust when you have a routine to keep you occupied.

Tomorrow I have lunch with the CEO of my company. Bugger. He's taking our whole department out to get to know us. And I'm gonna be the girl who refuses to eat anything but water. *sigh* I'm going to give it a go. Lunch is a little earlier than I'm used to eating, so I can easily resist the temptation, and have my tuna and vita weats afterwards. We'll see how it goes.

It begins...

Well, it has started. THE 12 Week Challenge. Weigh in, photos and measurements today. Weight was 82.4. Up a fraction on last week, but I'm still happy with it. When my account is all finalised online, I'll grab the measurements and post them here.

I've been so psyched to do this. Over the past 2 weeks I've been getting ready. I bought heaps of meat (chicken, kangaroo, fish, beef) and weighed it all out into 100g bags. Some of it got chopped up and marinated with herbs/sauces. So they're all ready to go. I made a playlist on my mp3 player that I never use. For running when the gym music is a bit dodgy. And I've wanted to listen to it ever since I made it. Been dying to listen to it, but I refuse.

I was so excited to start the challenge this morning, that I woke up at 6:30, wondering if it was time for me to get up and start my day. Being measured was an interesting experience. I'm very ticklish. When she was measuring my belly with the calipers, I was giggling, then she'd giggle, then I'd giggle some more. Then I'd relax (cuz you need to be to have the measurements done properly), and then she'd accidentally wiggle the calipers, and I'd be off again. They also took blood pressure (mine was a bit high) and heart rate. My resting heart rate is 60! A year ago, when I initially joined the gym, it was 90.

I had a session with Simon today. Then on to cardio machines (playlist rocks) for 10 more minutes running, and some cross trainer action. Then a cool down. I'm doing 2 sessions with him a week for the duration of the challenge.

Then I hit the shops. Needed laundry liquid to wash mah clothes. And I realised, just how tough this challenge was going to be. Normally, when I leave the gym on weekends, I have a boost smoothie and a grilled meat/vege wrap of some description. Not anymore. Normally where I'd head down the choccie isle, for a peruse (I very rarely buy), I had to remind myself not to. Walking past the bread - 'Can't buy that anymore'. Cherry Ripes on special? Nup, cannot has. Light and Tasty cereal? Forget it. Going to stick with my muesli. I was really struck by all these things that I can't even look at. Its called a challenge for a good reason.

From now on, this blog will be a pretty much daily record of how I'm going. I'll try not to do exercise regimes/food consumption posts, its more for things I find challenging and the rewards that will get me through on the tough days.

A year on...

So its been a year since I joined the gym. I remember my inital goal was to lose 15kg by new year. I have lost 13. 7kg in that time. I'm still happy with that result.

I can run now. Both fast sprints and sustained jogs.

I have bones. And muscle.

I continue to buy fucking white shirts, and dye my hair red. Which results in pink stains all over the neckline of the shirt.

And I have just joined a 12 week challenge at my gym. Its through all of the franchise throughout Aus. I am aiming for national prize. I don't care about the money. I want the satisfaction of doing it. Its gonna be sooo tough. I'm going to train more often. Probably twice a week. And really, really watch my diet.

Rough meal plan:
1 cup museli for brekky. With skim milk and berries/banana/shredded apple.
tub low fat yoghurt for snack
tuna and vita wheats for lunch.
apple when I leave work
vita wheats with a small amount cheese/lf philly (pre gym)
100-150g lean meat with salad or fresh/steamed veges.
tub yoghurt/bit of fruit if still hungy.
2 squares chocolate as a reward if I get through the day.

Challenge starts in a week. Game on!