3 more gold coin donations!

So I am starting a workout jar, and for every 100 calories I burn, I put in a gold coin donation (basically what ever I have in my purse). When I fill the jar, I will use the money from it to treat myself by doing something for me.

Examples: A massage, going to the movies, facial, manicure or pedicure, a class of some description (ie. cupcake, cooking, candle making, soap making etc.). Maybe even a night away or two? Who knows how much I will save?!

So far I already have $10 in my jar from today and yesterday!

I am really looking forward to earning money and spoiling myself after my hard work! I am open to suggestions as to what spoils I can give myself!

We are Spartans!!!

So last Saturday I competed in the Spartan Race down in Wonthaggi with my husband, sister, best friend, and brother-in-law.

We were all so nervous about competing. We had no idea what was coming and how we would cope.

It was a 7km obstacle course in the heat, over things, under things, through things and even swimming in muddy dams! You had one chance at each obstacle and if you missed it or couldn't complete it, well.... 30 burpees for you it was!

We said our anxious goodbyes to the boys, because they were due to start 20 minutes after us, and made our way to our Spartan fate! Walking towards the start line we came across our first obstacle... a mud pit already?! Ewww!!! So shoes, already muddy... its not so bad is it? I can totally deal with this!

So we stood at the starting line, stressing about the race ahead. Already I look down to see my heart rate sitting around 120bpm! Oh god... We wait, and with 10 seconds left we count down.

TEN... NINE... EIGHT... SEVEN... SIX... FIVE... FOUR... THREE... TWO... ONE... GOOOOOOO!!!

I started off strong, I jogged all the way to the first obstacle up and down hills (which I didnt actually train for because there aren't many hills near my house). The first obstacle was a crawl under barbed wire, followed immediately by a knee-high wade through a muddy creek. Walking through the muddy water was difficult because you couldn't see where the little pot holes were under the water so you'd fall into them and then slip or get your foot stuck! Yuck-o! So many times we all came so close to losing our shoes in the mud!

The other obstacles included climbing over giant hay bales, carrying 10 kilo bags for a long walk, jumping over walls, balancing beams, 8 ft wall climb, wading through more muddy water then hauling yourself up a mud hill by ropes, rope climbs and more! At the end, the spear throw, monkey bars and lastly the Spartan WARRIORS!!! They were 3 or 4 beefy men with giant cu-tips ready to boof you or spear tackle you!

(This is me jumping the fire pit)

I got through more than halfway without missing any obstacles, and I feel I can be forgiven for the first one being the 8ft wall climb. 30 burpees for me! It was just downhill for the last kilometre or so. I got through the super long barbed wire crawl up and down a hill and was exhausted. The five of us stood up from crawl and were COVERED in fine dirt, we looked like we'd rolled in cocoa! The final obstacles were a slanted wall rope climb on slippery rubber surface which I couldn't do because it wasn't grippy enough (which I cried at because I was just so tired and hot and thirsty, and wanted so badly to get to the top and climb the cargo net). Then cargo net climbs, giant rope climb, spear throw and then finally monkey bars. I missed them all! So sad, but
fantastic for calorie burning!

Receiving that medal at the end of it all was the best feeling. I had the biggest smile on my face and the sense of pride that took over was almost enough to bring me to tears again! We all looked so muddy, cut and bruised, but very very happy.

It was so much fun, I never imagined I would enjoy myself so much! It was incredibly tough, I was tired at the end but felt hungry for more! I burnt over 1600 calories in total! I was so proud of myself for finishing it, and I can't wait for True Grit coming up in May! Adelaide, here we come!

Taking a beautiful cold shower to get off the mud

Amee and I taking a shower

Bin full of filthy shoes, socks and clothes

 

Camping gone horribly wrong!

Laura's little baby Getz was full to the brim as we set off on our adventure south beachward bound!

With our naughty box of cheezels and 2 slices of Michelle Bridge's banana bread (care of mum) we headed with peak hour traffic towards our destination.

So it was someone's brilliant idea to go camping on the weekend for Spartan Race in Wonthaggi!
Girls were just not meant to put up tents!

My sister and I thought we were very clever arriving early to pitch our 2 tents in the daylight before the others all arrived... little did we know that mother nature was planning a cyclone in Kilcunda that afternoon!

It took us 2 hours to peg in the base because the wind just kept blowing it up and undoing all our good work. Our tent was like a giant sail! So we were finally getting the cover over and the wind blew it right over, causing the pegs to splinter and snap at one end... "Laura? Why is our tent leaning to one side?". Shit...

So we were tired and frustrated, so we chucked a sook and sat down grumpily while a group of middle-aged men with beer in hand swiftly took over and performed tent surgery and not only fixed it, but finished putting our leaning tent of Kilcunda up!

Here are the boys all putting our tents up, and the Chris and Mark pumping up the air mattress. Stay tuned for my blog about our Spartan Race!
 
 

 

 Plus, mine and Chris' self-inflating electric air mattress had a hole somewhere (nowhere to be found even though we covered it in duct tape!) and we had to get up every 2 hours to inflate it; after waking up to our bums practically on the ground laying in the hammock-like position! It wasn't a great weekend for sleep to be had!

So many little changes

I have been noticing so many little changes to my overall self. It is giving me the drive to keep doing well and not go for KFC for lunch, or have some chocolate from the pantry. This in itself is a change for me!

It is always nice to think of yourself as making changes for the better. I like to think I am more than the weight I have been trying to shed (mostly unsuccessfully until this fortnight!). So I try to look at the bigger picture from time to time and pick up on aspects of my life that are different, and improved!

I have been sleeping like a log! Despite the hot weather and being terribly uncomfortable, I have been sleeping so well! I am on nights at the moment and always sleep amazingly during the day, but between them I am not having any trouble. Last year I used to struggle getting my body back to night time sleeping; I used to have such broken sleep for a week! I would have a tough time even getting to sleep in the evening, then I would wake up every hour or so each night and it would be impossible to get a good night sleep. I do still toss and turn in my sleep a lot but I don't seem to wake myself up like I used to. I feel like a baby when I say this, but I am sleeping right through the night!

My face is clear! I don't have very many pimples at all. Even during the time I would normally come to expect an outbreak, it just never came! Ofcourse I have one here and there, but I don't look like a crater face anymore.

I am able to run longer distances! So far my longest non-stop distance is 3.84km. I aim to improve of this next week. I have been trying to run it on flat ground, but then when I am not running to improve distance, I mix it up with a bit of elevation so I can get my heart rate up. Unfortunately where I live, there are not many hills to speak of, but I can improvise with small mounds of dirt and a smallish hill closeby.

I am not craving takeaway and crisps! This is something I always had a problem with. I used to be fine with the typical chocolate and lollies, but my weaknesses were more of the savoury kind. I loved cheddar shapes and crisps. And I also loved takeaway food. It was terrible to think of what I used to eat in a week. But now looking back, I am embarassed to admit what I was like, but proud to say I am not anymore. Just having cut  these things out of my diet now is a massive contributing factor to my weight loss success this last little while.

I am not hungry all the time! When I was home especially, I used to get hungry all the time and just want to eat. I am not even hungry as I sit here typing my blog. I like to drink cold water and that tends to fill me up, otherwise I drink a cup of tea with no sugar or milk - my weapon of choice is Nerada branded rooibos vanilla tea. Mmmm mmm, just dip it in til you get the colour of a light orange cordial and its tasty with minimal calories!

I am getting less headaches! I have barely had any headaches recently. I used to get headaches ALL the time. It was so crippling sometimes, I would get them on the way home from work and just come home and nap it off with a panadol. Firstly, if I can avoid panadol I want to because its not great for the liver, but I just had to have something to relieve me of the pain. I haven't even noticed until this morning, that I haven't had one in weeks.

I am liking the body in the mirror more. I am feeling better in my clothes. I am more comfortable in myself. I am really excited at my weightloss of 3.9kg in the last week and a half. It has given me such a massive boost that I feel like I am going to finally do well. I can't wait to see me at the end of week 12! I will come back and read up!

A busy weekend

We had my brew's wedding on Friday! It was such an exciting night for me because it was 3 years in the making! And I knew she would look absolutely beautiful and she did not disappoint!

Food was a worry for me. I know that generally speaking receptions usually make their meals quite small because they're 3 courses. They also normally consist of proteins with vegetables or salad. I think the biggest concern was going to be saucy temptation.

I had fish on a bed of rice for my entree, and was able to push my rice to the side and eat only the fish. For my main meal I was given chicken breast with vegetables. I had my vegies first then pulled the skin off my chicken and pushed that to the side, then cut my chicken in half because it was literally a whole chicken breast! I also had a small piece of cake which I danced off!


I have been on night shifts the last week. I have been able to avoid the infamous junkfood that we all bring to the table on night shifts. I have been taking my meal overnight as "lunch" plus a snack of a punnet of strawberries and a banana, and also breakfast of apple muesli to eat on my way to the car before plonking into bed ready for desperate, much needed sleep!

On Saturday my sister, husband and I went out to the local soccer pitch to do our Super Saturday Session, or SSS workout. Our aim was 1000 calories burnt, but only made it to just over 500. Still a job well done I say! Better than sitting on the couch!

I bought a Fitbit Zip during the week and I am really excited for it to come in the mail! It will help me measure my steps, distance travelled and even my sleep! I don't know how but it will be a great way to add to the whole picture of my fitness.




Here are a couple of pictures I have taken recently of me in clothes I wore at my biggest, and you can see the difference! Speaks for itself really!

12 weeks down, 12 to go!

The finale of 12wbt was on this weekend. Amee, Laura and I packed our tiny bags and flew our smaller asses up to Brisbane for the weekend's festivities.

Amee and I flew up Friday morning and spent the day at Dreamworld on a whim. It was great to just go somewhere and not have a care in the world. It was just like we were kids again! We enjoyed buffet dinner at Sizzlers and then picked up Miss Laura from the airport that night.

Saturday morning marked the start of our 12wbt activities. We woke up nice and early for our buffet breakfast at the hotel, then drove our way to the convention centre for a massive group workout. Final count was 1617 people! It broke the world record for biggest group workout ever! We started right in the front of the stage and went out all guns blazing in the warm up, and then shifted ourselves to the back for water; also because we were embarassed that we were already so tired and had to slow it down! So I was tired and backed off for a bit, but then got my head back in the game and said "just keep moving Sam" so I did and I pushed myself as hard as I could go.

It was great to be there with so many people, pushing to their limits all for the same reason. And having Michelle Bridges in front of us, training us and pushing us was a really great experience. I felt like she was my personal trainer for an hour! Its definately something I would do next round.

Turns out we ended up on the channel 10 news! And right in the front too!!! It was hilarious!

We celebrated our 578 calories lost by having subway subs for lunch! Then bought healthy food for the weekend's meals at coles (always WAY too much!)











A quick nanna nap saw us ready for the big finale party that night. We dressed up in our beautiful dresses and made our faces before heading off. The room looked gorgeous, with the bar surrounded by fairy lights. The award ceremony was great, its fantastic to see all the massive changes the top 20 people had made.















We spent a lot of time grazing around the tables of food - Mexican, pasta and rice/sushi. We also spent a bit of time in the photo booths because our tiny group of 3 was too small for the official group photos. How photogenic are we?!

After having a great weekend in Brisvegas, full of exercise, healthy food and a little bit of naughties I am re-energised and re-focused to continue for round 1 of 2013. I feel like I am ready for a fresh start after a not-so-successful round last round.

Watch this space!

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!!!