Christmas time

Merry Christmas!

Hope it was a fantastic day for all. I had an amazing day with family and friends. I was lucky enough to be surrounded by very supportive people during the entire day from start to finish.

Our lunch consisted of roast turkey and pork with roasted vegies. I picked out the brocolli and cauliflower with the least cheese and scraped most of what I had off, which is totally new for me. I love creamy white, cheesy sauces! I didnt have any gravy either.

I had to have some Christmas pudding so I had a thin piece, then continued to cut off half and give it to someone else! I LOVE DADS CHRISTMAS PUDDING!!!

It was tough to part with my tasty lunch, and to resist the urge to pile my plate, but once I was eating and pacing myself I didn't find it quite as bad as I thought. I didn't actually feel hungry which surprised me a lot.

I admit, I haven't done very much exercise at all over the last 5 days. I spent about 40 hours in Adelaide over the weekend with my husbands family and it was go, go, go for me. I did manage to drag myself out for a 2.25km run this evening though after my strenuous day of Boxing Day sales. I carried very heavy bags around all day, and walked up a huge hill to our car with them all! That felt like a workout in itself.

Tomorrow my sister and I are going to meet my best friend and her sister at their caravan down at the beach. We are planning to take our boxing gloves and bathers down for a morning workout on the beach and some training in the sand before an afternoon in the surf swimming. I am really looking forward to it because it is something different for us. It is a different place to workout and a nice little group workout.

So until then, thanks for reading and supporting me. I will post another blog and let you know how our workout went!

One week of nights down, one to go!

I have finished one week of nights. I admit I strayed from my 12WBT plan, particularly the meal plan. I skipped almost all breakfasts because by the time I get home from work at 8:30 am I am so exhausted I go straight to bed!

I exercised as much as I could though. Twice on Monday, twice Wednesday and tonight as well. I know it doesn't sound like much but trust me, it is a hell of a lot better than I could ever do before starting 12WBT. I used to not do any exercise for the week of my nights because I was too lazy and/or tired to do so.

I have eaten well for my nights also. I took a little snack sized packet of chips each night and limited myself to that and yoghurt for snacks. Usually I would binge on a whole box of shapes or packet of chips to myself! Even though I am living on 3 hours of sleep in the last 24 hours and feel absolutely knackered, my body is feeling really good.

Tonight my exercise consisted of 2.01km run - I walked occassionally but it was the best I have done. I feel like my fitness is improved greatly. I never used to be able to run except the first 100 metres or so, then I walked practically the rest of the way!

I'm really looking forward to the big test of Christmas. So far work has been trying but not too difficult. Patients frequently bring in boxes of chocolates and other food to say thankyou, but chocolate is easily avoided for me. It will be mums amazing Christmas baking on Christmas day lunch that will be the REAL test!

Here is a recipe for healthy egg nog for the holiday season!

Healthy Makeover Eggnog: 

A holiday classic, reinvented with only one-fourth the saturated fat and half the cholesterol of the original. Don’t worry, it still has its decadent flavor and thick, rich texture. You will never believe that it is only 105 calories per serving!

• Ingredients:
• 3 large eggs
• 3 large egg whites
• 5 ½ cups of low-fat milk
• ½ cup of sugar
• 2 tablespoons of cornstarch
• Salt
• 2 tablespoons of vanilla
• 1/3 teaspoon of ground nutmeg
• 1/3 cup of dark Jamaican rum (optional) 
• Directions:
  • In bowl, with whisk, beat eggs and egg whites until blended; set aside.  In heavy 4-quart saucepan, with heat-safe spatula, mix 4 cups milk with sugar, cornstarch and ¼ teaspoon of salt.  Cook on medium-high until mixture boils and thickens slightly, stirring constantly.  Boil 1 minute.  Remove saucepan from heat.
  • Gradually whisk ½ cup simmering milk mixture into eggs; pour egg mixture back into milk in saucepan, whisking constantly, to make custard.
  • Pour custard into large bowl; stir in vanilla, nutmeg, rum and the remaining 1 ½ cups of milk.  Cover and refrigerate for at least 6 hours or up to 2 days.  Sprinkle eggnog with nutmeg to serve.

 This is a great idea for a beautiful table centrepiece, and so healthy too! It looks stunning and the family and friends will love picking out their favourite fruits for an amazing alternative to Chrissy desserts!

Let the training begin!

This week has become the week of planning for next year's many events!

Myself, my sister, my best friend and her sister decided we wanted to trip it up to Brisvegas for the finale of 12 Week Body Transformation for the weekend. So I have been doing my research into accomodation and flights; and now included car hire! Its a very exciting time, we're going to have so much fun up there. All the healthy food we're going to make/eat, shopping in Brisbane and beach bumming of plenty!

We also decided we wanted to do the Spartan race in Melbourne. Another exciting time of the year. Its going to be a totally new experience for us. Unfortunately half our awesome foursome has pulled out so now my tough-ass sister and I are road-tripping to Wonthaggi to battle the mud and obstacles the Spartan race can throw at us.

It looks amazing, I can't wait to start training for this. It's going to be tough but I am putting it to myself as a goal of mine. I want to push myself out of my comfort zone and finish.

Today I started my training; I spent 15 minutes on the stairmaster and walked up 50 flights of stairs, then pushed myself through 10 minutes of fat burning treadmill, and ended with some circuit training.

Check out the battle grounds and sign up with me here:
http://spartanrace.com.au/

Spartan Sprint Melbourne – 2nd March 2013

7+ km 15+ Obstacles / Wonthaggi, VIC

On March 2nd 2013 Wonthaggi will host the first VIC Spartan Race event. Over 7+km of trail, creeks and gullies you will face 15+ obstacles designed to challenge your strength, speed an agility, including the Wall of Valour, Rope Traverse, Spear Throw and Hercules Hoist.Those that succeed will face the Spartan Gladiators at the final turn. Not all will finish, those that cross the finish line will earn a Spartan Sprint Finisher medal and the right to call themselves Spartan. Can I do it? You'll know at the end...

An old dress gets a new look

So the other day I was feeling a little blue; some days I just feel sad I haven't come as far as I would have liked to. I decided to try on some clothes I used to wear last year to see how far I had come.

 
I had a wedding to attend and I bought a dress (stupidly) on eBay that looked stunning on the thin model as she twirled around in the pictures, but when I put it on the morning of the wedding my whole family had to work together to get the zipper zipped up! It barely fit me, my legs looked so large and it was tight in all the wrong places and just looked horrible. I didn't feel beautiful in it and was self conscious about the way I looked all night.

As you can see, not the most flattering of outfits I could have worn.

At the beginning of the week I decided I needed a bit of a pick-me-up. I knew since then I had lost around 13kgs and even though it is very rarely recognised, I could feel it in my clothes. So I will let you be the judge, does it look better now?

 



I felt really good in it, it looks so much better. It isn't so tight I can't breathe, my tummy is flatter and I could even have done with tightening the holter strap. I was so happy, it gave me the motivation to stay on track!

I am planning on going through my ward robe on my next day off and clear out all of my old, larger dresses because I never intend on wearing them again. It feels really good to get rid of clothes that don't fit anymore because they're too big!

This festive season is going to be tough, but I can't wait for the challenge. I will be keeping my eyes out for healthy Christmas recipes for my future posts.

It all began on October 23rd...

So this is my blog; mostly started because I wanted to diarise my journey and give people an insight into what I am going through, but also to hopefully inspire people to change themselves for the better too!

 
I started losing weight at the end of December 2011 - Chris had proposed to me in October and I had a few months to enjoy our engagement and begin planning. I decided I wasn't happy with the way I looked at the time and if we were to get married the next day I would not like my body in such a beautiful setting on the biggest day of my life. So after so many years of attempting to lose the weight and keep it off I figured it was time to do it properly.

I started at a very embarassing (Ok, here goes... )102kg! It was well beyond what I had ever got to before, and I was so ashamed I had let myself get that far. I was in denial all the time,.I would always get upset going clothes shopping and I hated the change rooms. And those mirrors! Boy do they have the capability of reducing a grown woman to tears. Things didn't fit me and I used to cry; but I would get over it and just walk around oblivious to my size because from day to day, well, I was happy?

My bridesmaids, my sister and best friend, also wanted to join in so we all joined up at Genesis gym. I got a personal trainer and we were all doing well. It was difficult (and still is) to co-ordinate myself with everyone else in terms of going to the gym after work because I am a nurse and I work shift hours. I sometimes feel like I am  the reason we didn't all work out the same as we could or should have because I wasn't able to go with anyone else. I slowly, slowly lost 10kg over the year but it was no where near the amount I wanted to lose, nor what I knew I was capable of losing. I had hoped to have landed in the 80's easily. This just didn't happen.

So now I begin this new phase of my life at 94.2kg (after a terrible 10 days of eating on our honeymoon I bought back a little extra baggage!). I have been doing Michelle Bridges 12 week body transformation since November the 19th, 2012 and have already learnt (and lost) so much! It feels more like a change in lifestyle than a diet. The food is fantastic, easy to prepare and cook, and the exercises are simple to follow. I love that everything is planned out for you, it is just up to you to put in the work and you will see results! It works nicely with my shift work. I have been able to rearrange the meals for the week and organise myself for the shift ahead. I use so many decor containers (thanks Chris for washing them all each night!) but it is great that I know I dont have to think, I just do it.

This time I am going to lose my weight and keep it off. I have so much to lose, and so much to gain from this journey. I am looking forward to fitting into some dresses I have in the wardrobe that don't fit me anymore. I am looking forward to feeling good in bathers on the beach and not being embarassed by my thunder thighs. I am looking forward to being healthier and lowering my risk of problems such as diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure which all run in my family. I am looking forward to meeting the happier me!

And its not over til the skinny lady sings...
 

Follow this link to my inspiration board to see what inspires me to be a better me:
http://pinterest.com/sammee1107/my-12wbt-inspiration-board/

 This is my before picture (I am wearing bathers)