Where I've been and where I'm going

I am the first to admit I haven't had a great run from the week before Christmas. I put on a kilo and a half and haven't quite lost it all again yet. I am disappointed in myself because I lost 4.2kg in the first 4 weeks and I was absolutely over the moon about it. I guess it just goes to show that the program really works!

My eating, although much better than I have been in the last 10ish years, is not exactly Mish's secret meal plan weapon. I often don't like the sound of some things so opt for an alternative from the recipe index or easier option - generally I try for meat and vegetables or unfortunately the takeaway side (which I have become a frequent flyer at subway!). This will be my next mountain to climb; sticking to the meal plans!

I feel like I have stepped it up a lot with my exercise, but I stray from the exercise plan also. I often do my own little thing at the gym with my workout buddies, which often gets the heart racing and the job done. I realise I need to be far mor strict from here on.

So here I stand, 12 weeks down the track having lost 4kg and a bucket load off my waist, stomach, arms, thighs and looking at my ongoing photos, my back. Although the scales havent changed much, I can see it in myself. I can feel it in my energy. I sleep better, I am less tired, I feel energised and happier in general. I love the ache of my muscles after a workout the previous day - it means I worked hard and my muscles are thanking me for it!

My fitness has amazed me in ways I never thought possible! I ran 5.38km yesterday which I would never have believed I could doa year ago. My pushups are always done on my toes which I was also never able to do. The sheer weight I can use in my workouts have increased ten fold. At the beginning of 2012 I did body pump a lot because I loved the burn of it, and back then I used possibly 2-4kg each side of the bar. Unfortunately I had to stop the class due to work but now I use 5-7kg each side for squats and arm work!

I may not have arrived ANYWHERE NEAR my original goal weight, but my expectations were far greater than what I put in. I feel like I have already gained so much out of the program this round, that I think this next round will be amazing. I see where I faulted and I can only improve on these!!!

Here's to round 1 of 2013!!!

Such a great day

Today I have had a really simple but amazing day. The sun is shining and temperature outside is 24, lovely mild weather. So I went for a 5.38km run around my house over 45 minutes, weaving in and out of streets. When I got home I felt like I still had so much energy even though at the end of my run I felt exhausted.

I grabbed my yoga mat and took it outside for some circuit training consisting of:

• 30 springs
• 30 lunges per leg
• 20 burpees
• 20 push-ups
• 30 sit-ups
• 30 mountain climbers

All up I burnt 631 calories!!

I felt so good, I decided to celebrate with a 6inch sub from subway with chicken terriyaki and a bottle of water. Mmmm mmm, delicious! And got to meet up with my husband for lunch at the same time!

After having a physically great morning, I thought it was time to get some chores out of the way. First up, grocery shopping. I didn't give in to temptation and I bought heaps of yummy looking fruit for the next few days including nectarines, apricots and bananas. The lady at the self-serve checkout in coles kept telling me how impressed she was at how well I was putting my trolley load of shopping through; its super easy when you know how they work!

I have been procrastinating going to the police station for weeks now because I needed some things signed for our marriage certificate to be sent out to us. So FINALLY I drove myself there and did that.

Then last stop was ALDI for a scrumptious marinated roast chicken for dinner tomorrow night. I often don't like going to ALDI for just a few things because you have to stand in that huge line for ages behind people who do their weekly shopping and pile the trolley til they just cant fit no more! But today, I picked the right line because a little old man asked if I wanted to go in front of him, which was lovely. Then the lady who was now in front of me moved the shopping to make way for my chicken and strawberries and put the divider down for me. They we really nice people.

So I got my workout done early, in the beautiful sunshine and all my chores done surrounded by really nice people. It is all really lame, simple things but they have made my day that little bit better each time and I am feeling really really great. Now to sit down and start on my thankyou cards from our wedding!

Big fat Adelaide wedding!!!

The wedding over in Adelaide was amazing! The bride and groom were beautiful, and the bridal party looked great. The ceremony was lovely and the reception was just gorgeous.

 

The weekend consisted of about 16 hours driving in total, and 34 hours stop over in Adelaide - 18 hours sleeping and the rest out and about for the wedding! It was extremely quick; probably too quick really. Its so nice to be over there with all of Chris' family.

Exercise wise, well we did nothing. I danced the night away in my heels and the nutbush was a workout on my thighs in itself with heels, but really nothing else.

I had an amazing time, dancing the night away with my family in-laws. It was just fun to relax and not have to worry about my own wedding (Are the centrepieces right? Is the cake the right flavour? Do we have enough of everything?!)


Food wise I ate very averagely. The food at the reception was nice but everything else was just average. I am just ready to get back into the exercise and cleaner eating this week and pickup where I left off!



On a better note I wore my red dress to the wedding last night that I wanted to remodel from the last time I wore it. As previously mentioned, I wasn't happy at all how I looked in the dress at the first wedding I wore it to. I was desperate to change that image. So as promised, I have a picture that shows not only my change but also Chris' change too!

Here you go...

And lastly, here is a before and after of the both of us!

More and more exercise

It has been a rollercoaster week for me with exercise!

I have experienced highs and lows of wanting to exercise. The weather has been hot and I have had a lot of early shift this week which means waking up at 5:30am and this just makes for a tired and cranky Sam!

We have been to the gym as much as we can; pushing eachother to our limits. As you can see we spent a bit of time doing our own thing as well as training together. Our circuit training didn't happen so much but we continue to work on our arms and legs for Spartan!

This weekend Chris and I are driving over to Adelaide for his cousin's wedding. This means we will be driving pretty much 16 hours of the weekend and there won't be much room for exercise. The girls are all at their respective holiday destinations also so next week we need to step it up! Only a few more weeks before the 12WBT finale for this round! I want to look my best for it!

I invested in some new workout clothes and amazing drink bottles to inspire me a bit more to get out and move. They look so pretty all together!

I have found a love for sports brands now, and have spent more time in rebel sport than I ever have in my life the last 2 weeks!
Let me show you some of them!!!

 

So much boxing! Look at my husband's horrible bruises from sparring on Monday!!!

 

 
 
So off to Adelaide we go! I am wearing my red dress from my earlier post... I will post photos for all to see how it looked :D
 

 

Terrible weekend...

It was a terrible weekend for food for me.

 

Friday night began with pizza night with my besties. Pizza after our workout at the gym, maybe not so bad. But then my pizza night turned into a pizza 24 hours, 4 meals in a row, because there was just that much left over! We TOTALLY misjudged how much the group of us eat now and much to my disgust I had a lot to finish between myself and my husband! Friday dinner, Saturday breakfast, lunch and dinner!!!

 
So I felt really crumby after Saturday night; just blurgh!

I had my Michelle Bridges banana bread for breakfast this morning and then BBQ marinated chicken with mashed potato and pumpkin for lunch from the cafeteria at work. I guess it wasn't SO bad but could've been better still. It was tough having had a late shift the previous night. It doesnt leave much time to cook up a healthy storm for the next day's meals.

My amazing husband cooked us some tasty mustard chicken with greens for dinner from the 12 week body transformation recipes which was really yummy; maybe a bit too much mustard in it but still good! He also cooked up a pot of minestroni soup, a batch of choc chip cookies and also choc chip muffins. I unfortunately gave in to two cookies, a muffin and some icecream after dinner which I am not so proud of.

After dinner before masterchef started I decided I had already screwed up the weekend, I should try and undo some of the damage with a little bit of exercise so we took the boxing gloves outside and got to work! In total we each did 2 reps of 100 high punches, 100 side punches and 100 upper cuts, followed by 20 burpees, 50 squats with 3kg weight and then 10 lunges each leg with 3kg weight. It wasnt my hardest workout ever, but still enough to raise my heart rate for half an hour and make me feel like I had done some work!

Afterall, looking back on everything I have typed and considering I have come out and admitted to all my sore points this weekend, I feel less crumby and it probably wasnt quite as bad as I thought.
 

 

This is my naughty husband after sparring with his brother in a boxing match at home!

Adelaide Colour Run - The happiest 5km run on the planet!

This morning I woke up and logged onto facebook, as I often do, and the page "Colour Run" that I like posted something. This reminded me that I am hanging out for the release date of the Melbourne Colour Run to come out so I excitedly clicked the website to find out!

The Color Run event is going down in Adelaide VERY SOON! The only question is "Are you ready for the craziest, colourful, 5k of your life?" You bet you are.

The Color Run 5k is a one of a kind experience that is less about speed and more about enjoying a colour crazy day with your friends and family. For our events, it is about participants of all different speeds, ages, shapes and sizes toeing the start line. Whether you are a casual morning mall walker or an Olympic athlete, the 5 kilometers of The Color Run course will be the most enjoyable real estate you've travelled in a VERY long time.

 

RACE RULES
Rule #1 All participants are welcome... fast, slow, runner, walker, old and young
Rule #2 White shirt dress code at the official start line and ready to roll!
Rule #3 Completely coloured Willy Wonka goodness at the finish

 

Again, not out yet. But then I saw Adelaide hanging there on the side of the page and thought "I have an entire family of in-laws over there who would LOVE to do this, and we have accomodation over there, so why wait for Melbourne? Why not go over to Adelaide?!"

So I have initiated a group of facebook to everyone in the family to join so we can all do this wonderful 5 km run together!

I am really excited to do this because it will be my first fun run, and it will be 5km! For me this is a big step. But I think its an amazing way to step in because it just looks so light-hearted and fun, who wouldnt enjoy being hit by plumes of paint dust!




My training for Spartan race will hopefully assist me to peaking my fitness in time for this race, and I am well an truely on my way to being a much fitter Sam :D

Climbing to a better me

Yesterday, in preparation for Spartan race, my sister Laura, my best friend Amee and I decided we would go rock climbing together and get a bit of upper strength up!

For Amee, it was a lot more than just exercise though. She is afraid of heights, and despite having a small cry at the beginning of her first climb, she did amazingly for the rest of the night! I am so proud of her not only going there for the fitness side, but also facing her fear and kicking it in the face! Here she goes:







Laura did most excellently too. She made it to the top of the huge rope ladder not once but twice; the first time we forgot to take a photo of it so she was determined to get that photo! We also kept our selves going and scaled a few more walls each. She is so fast and strategic, much much better at it than I am! Here she goes:

And I gave myself the goal to get to the top of the rope ladder. It was something I couldn't do fathers day of 2011 by far. I struggled so much to get to the top of anything back then and I was really looking forward to seeing how far I had come. I was surprised when I walked in, to see how tall the rope ladder was (it was much taller than I had remembered). Not because I am afraid of heights, but because I was so worried that when I saw it, I wasn't going to be able to do it! I was less than halfway already and my arms were stiffening up. The first step was tough, because it moved so much more than I realised. I was practically hanging from the second rung off the floor. Then the next 10 or so rungs were easy. I picked it up quickly in a rhythm and pushed through the pain in my arms. I would look up at how far I had left to climb and think "shit, it is just way too big, I just can't do it". But I was determined to do it.

So many times I would take a few steps, maybe 4 more rungs and then be so tired and feel absolutely exhausted; I would think I couldn't go anymore. My arms were sore, it was a mixture of not being able to feel them anymore, and having stiff boards on the end of my shoulder that the only control I had of them was to swing my shoulders and grip the next one with my fingers. Then about 6 or 7 rungs away from the top I realised this is the perfect example of my weight loss journey so far.

I push so hard for a bit, then let it slacken for a while. While I cool off I realise I can be better than this, and I pick it all back up. My journey has yo-yo'd a lot but ultimately I am working in the right direction.

So here I am, picking it back up and so close. I can do it, like I do every other time. And I did it! I made it to the top of the ladder. It felt amazing up there. I looked down at my tiny sister and friend, so proud of myself.

I will feel this proud again, when I reach my next weightloss goals. Because for me, this is tougher than most people probably find it. It is possibly the toughest thing I have ever done in my life, including year 12, university and working in the Royal Melbourne Hospital!







This is another proud moment of my life that I have forever now. This is another big step I have taken to show how much I have improved since starting a year ago.

P.S I don't even mind the back/behind view in this shot of me climbing below. I used to hate myself in photos but I am starting to love my leaner, more muscular looking body - particular the back!

I am loving my more healthier, active life!!!

Big changes over the past 12 months

So this week marks 8 weeks through 12 week body transformation, ergo, mini milestone week...

This means fitness test, measurements and comparison photos!

I was getting a bit down again, on my bi-monthly cycle of weight loop. I have not really gone anywhere with my weight, pretty well since Christmas. I was stuck in my rut and getting sad that despite my better efforts to exercise and going for frequent runs, I am not seeing any positive changes on the scales. I dread the mini milestones because it could potentially cause more devastation!

This one was not the case. It gives me a small snapshot of my progress from a different angle. Sometimes I look in the mirror and think I notice differences. And ofcourse my loving husband always tells me I am looking better everyday; but these views are so biased. How can I argue against solid numerical evidence?!

I am so happy with my results. Everything has decreased in size since my measurements 8 weeks ago, some more than others. My fitness has improved emencly! And my comparisons, well they speak for themselves!



I can clearly see huge changes in my stomach, my arms, my legs, my back. It all just instills confidence in me, to show I am slowly running in the right direction, afterall, running can only be good for you.... right?

Happy New Year!

So its 2013...

A new year begins again, and with a new year often comes new year resolutions. I have never really been one to set myself resolutions so much as a specific goal and time. Last year I didn't make my goal of making it below 90kg before our wedding in November; this year I have decided to make a broad goal to be a fitter and healthier me by the end of the year, but also a few smaller ones.

• Complete Spartan race in March
• Complete a short fun run of approximately 5kms
• Lose a further 10kg by halfway through 2013
• Reach my goal weight of 70kg by the end of the year

So I think these are easy, right? I don't think easy would be the word, but I am hoping they are within reach and I can accomplish them. I know it will be difficult and I am going to have to work harder than ever, but I feel like after having a mildly successful year I can gauge how much work I put in last year and work harder this year.

I have started my training for the Spartan race back on boxing day and I have been going for runs after work or before work most days since. I am already noticing a huge change in my fitness level just from my 20-30 minute walk. When I started last year I could barely run anywhere, and now for my 2.5km run I am running (slowly, but not walking) 75-80% of the time! I am really proud of myself so far.

Today was 38 degrees and I was so tired after my sixth shift in a row, and after an early shift, I decided I wasnt going to go for a run or gym. My husband agreed I deserved a day of rest and I had even texted my sister and told her I was piking out for the day. By 18:30 my sister texted me back and asked if I was sure I didn't want to go and I decided "thats it, I need to go" and I was at the time looking up pintrest exercises and felt motivated.

We spent 40 minutes exercising at the gym, and now the burn feels good. I feel like I have worked my body tonight and pushed my muscles. I am on the road to being awesome at the Spartan race!