Report Back and Lessons learnt

I SKIPPED!!! I cant believe I did it. I thought I wouldn't be able to because of my shins but I did it and I was told by my trainer "wow you're better then all the guys I've trained who have trained for ages and are half your size!!"

So from now on on the days I cant get to gym I will get Jack's skipping rope and skip. So happy I can do it :)

Tonight I plan on going to aqua, thats if I can move as apart from skipping my trainer seriously kicked my ass last night, my average heart rate over the hour was 163!!

I had my weigh in yesterday too. I lost the 1kg(2.2lb) I put on over the 3 weeks!! I am so happy because I was so scared I would be stuck on that plateau of 114kg(251lb) again and I'm not. I put it all down to tracking!! Tonight is picture night and measurements too so we will see. I haven't measured in 3 months and I am looking forward to see the changes.

So now to the lesson learned: I had weigh in at 5 and my trainer had some one booked already for 6 so I went to train at 7. After that we went to my parents for supper and we ate Romanian kebabs with salad an a pita bread. I learned a hard lesson in the night as it was all too heavy. I had strange strange dreams and every time I woke up from one I felt like I had a giant anvil resting on top of me. Next time I will just have the salad with a bit of bread and take the meat to work the next day.

I can feel every muscle in my body and I love it!

Day 1 weeks 2 :)

Yesterday was a good enough day food wise. I packed a nice lunch but realised that, even though it was enough food, the choices of what was in there were not the best. I am going to start packing in more veg as I am left with very little points by the time supper comes around and those are usually the biggest meal of my day.

Every second monday I spend the evening with my goddaughter and then roleplay. So I dont get a chance to go to gym. I did however start the 100 push up program and roped my friends into it too. It was very funny to watch what some people think is a correct way to do a push up ;)

I made a really yummy supper for all of us (which I forgot to photograph) where I took a whole lot of veg, baked them in the oven with a little bit of olive oil, garlic and origano. I made my own pasta sauce (1 tin tomatoe and onion mix, italian mixed herbs, paprika, pepper, salt, cinnamon) and then cut whole wheat pita breads in half. Put the tomatoe apaste, the baked veg and a bit of cheese over, back under the grill. Worked it out on sparkrecipes and its 3.5 points for 1 serving!! I think I will make these more often :)

wewewewweeekend

I totally planned to update this weekend but I spent very little time at home and when I was home I was either really busy or sleeping. 

Fridays are my day off, the reason is that with working a full day AND synagogue I never get time to go to gym and Friday night meals are always very big and rich in calories. I try to eat in such a way that I have loads of points left for supper but I dont freak out if I go over my points on a friday.

Saturday was full of lessons for me foodwise. In the morning we went bird watching with the Finish guide that J was working with this week. It was very cold but loads of fun and we saw so many different bird species AND hippos. All this 10 minutes from home. I love Cape Town. We then dropped him back off at the hotel and went for breakfast. I had a rosti with mozzarella and bacon and a smoothie and there go half my points for the day. ON BREAKFAST! We then went shopping and then home so J could change and I could take him to the hotel as he would accompany his group on the bus to the airport. What was meant to take 20 minutes took and HOUR and I still had to bake cupcakes. I made marshmallow cupcakes. They were delicious but I was sweetend out by the end of the evening as by the time we got to the party we had nothing to eat so unfortunately had cake and cupcakes and pizza!?! Well even with all that I didnt pig out like I would in the old days and only went over my points but 2½ points. Still, not the best food. 

So sunday I ate better, stayed well under my points to make up for the day before. I started the morning with a very healthy Israeli breakfast called Shakshuka. Basically its eggs poached in a tomato and onion relish. I called it store cupboard shakshuka as I had no fresh veg so used tinned tomato and onion mix and dried garlic. Then we went to houtbay with my family and when we got home J sent me to nap as I looked (and felt) dead on my feet. 2½ hours later I woke up and he had done the laundry and cleaned the kitchen *sigh* I love my man. We then went to a braai at my parents and then back home to bed so I could get enough sleep before work

I am not gonna make it to any gym today because I am going to my friends for a Roleplaying and supper, I will however excuse myself when I get there and restart the 100 push up program so I can get some calories burnt.

Have a great week!

The Mountain is my Gym

So yesterday just before leaving work my PT called to say he was sick and going home. I spent the afternoon thinking about what to do and whether I could push myself enough at gym. I asked J if he was willing to train me instead and he agreed. By the time I got home the weather was so lovely and that inspired me to go for a walk on the mountain. I waited for J to get home and out we went...

Instead of going left to where I thought we were going J went right. we went up a few roads and into Table Mountain National where the forest means the houses. There the Adventure STARTED!!! J decided to make the walk exciting. He found a stick and made me carry it in alternating hands, he found a log to walk along...ooo that was scarey...he made me go sneak sneak, bum down crouched low, then sprint a few meters. He found another log that was just the right size and length to lift the one end onto our shoulder and do squats with lifting it up as we squated and putting it on alternating shoulders. Then we carried on walking on the fire road until we got to Just above where we live and found the fire trail (where the firemen walk down to put out the fires) and walked all the way down to the braai area in our block and then home.

It was soooo much fun, such an adventure.

We went to my friends house for movies and nando's and after that we went home and had a SWIM!! Crazy people we are. I planned for it to be cold, I planned to swim 3 laps (dive in, swim to the stairs, swim back and back to the stairs), I DIDNT plan for it to be FRREEEEEZZZING. I dived in, swam to the stairs and got out, I thought my ears were going to fall off. Good thing we swam cause there was NO WATER in our flat, non this morning either. I brushed my teeth with bottled water (spoilt brat **g**)

The day after. OUCH!

So last night was back to gym and back to the other "half" of my plan to a fit mommy. I learnt that for me neither works without the other. I can gym to my hearts content and there will be a marginal loss and then a very looooooooooooooooooooooooooong plateau. I can diet and I there will be a marginal loss and again the plateau, but if I do the 2 together, that's when I see the results.

I like having a trainer, it means there is some one to push me and I he also knows how much to push after 3 weeks of not doing anything. It was just the right intensity to break a serious sweat but not so much that I injured myself or felt completely destroyed.

I can tell you this morning climbing(we have a bath with a shower and I am short) into the shower I definitely felt those leg presses and I am waiting to feel all the arm stuff we did, I am sure that will come soon.

Last night we went to babysit my mom's dogs (more for my mom's sake then for theirs) and I decided I felt like kitchenwitching (thats the name I give going into the kitchen, looking whats available and cooking something from it) and made a delicious pasta with mushrooms and olives in a "cream"y sauce. I will blog about it on my food blog soon :)

Hope everyone is having a fantastic morning and that your day will be as beautiful as cape town looked with the mist on the bay.

by the way: If any of my USA readers are willing to do a trade. I really want one of those food and exercise tracking diaries and if you willing to post me one I will trade for anything from here (Rooibos tea, khoisan salt, etc).

Weigh in report back and mini "comment" challenge

Last night was weigh-in, initially I was scared to go back but I realised that I knew that I had over indulged AND I was sick AND it's TOM so I prepared myself for the worst and predicted a gain of 3kg (6.6lbs) and went in to the meeting with a smile on my face. It was actually nice to be back, my leader is a very bubbly, upbeat woman who really tries to help members who are struggling and gets genuinely excited when members do well. She becomes a friend, getting interested in what is happening in your life so she also understands what is going on and helps you eat right for the circumstance.

Well it came to stepping on the scale and I braced myself for a colossal gain. I love my body, I have to say this, I really love my body because with 3 weeks of no exercise, 1 week of eating all the junk in the world and 1 week of eating so so, I only gained 1kg(2.2lbs)!!

So back to tracking and tonight I have booked my trainer (I made double sure last night that he got my message) and I am on the roooooad again :)

Now for the mini challenge I mentioned in the title. In the talk at the meeting last night my leader told us about a leader in the states that lost 98kg(215.6lbs)!! Her story was that she tried everything (including WW) before but didnt succeed so she went to see a doctor about bypass surgery. The doctor told her he would do the surgery until she learnt to eat correctly because otherwise she would just continue the cycle. So she went back on WW and never did the surgery in the end. In the article she read they asked the lady a question: What has your journey so far taught you?

So I would love if everyone wrote 5 things they have learnt so far on their journey, You can put it in the comments of my blog or write your own blog but I think we can all learn from each other a little. Even if its small things that help, tricks, tips or revelations. Here are mine:

1. The first 2 bites taste the same as the next 10

2. It takes your brain 20 minutes to realise your tummy is full (apparently smelling mint shortens this time)

3. There is nothing wrong with leaving food on the plate (always try leave something)

4. If you feel like you are going to have to have seconds, take ½ a portion for 1sts and then the other ½ for seconds.

5. It's ok to slip up every now and again, I am human, just make up for it the next day NEVER wait till monday to start again.

Tuesday and time to start a new (TMI post)

disclaimer: This post had a lot of "Too Much Information"...you have been warned


Today is tuesday and the fake begining of a week. Even my period had a long weekend and was a day late (which had me nervous since I was anti biotics and those cancel out the pill).

Today it's back to Weight Watchers and to celebrate that I packed a healthy lunch with rye bread sandwiches, an apple, a plum, drinking yoghurt and cerial (for breakfast). I also put in a can of Red Grapetiser. Interesting facts: Appletiser and Red Grapetiser are low GI, White Grapetiser and peartiser are not. I know grapes are high in sugar and therefore not an ideal fruit but then are red grapes low GI? 

I have had to think about the continuation of my journey. Up until now I had the wedding to aim for and that had me motivated, now the motivation had to change, just "being thin" has never worked so I needed new things to spur me on. I was standing in Clicks waiting for them to find the box for a pair of oil bottles I wanted to buy (oil bottles have tops like they have on spirits at bars to help control the amount of oil that comes out). While waiting I saw the magazine "Fir Pregnancy" and realised that THAT was my next motivation. I want to be a fit, healthy mom. Some one told me that because his wife was over weight she couldnt breast feed and a friend correlated the story, the apparently doesnt produce enough or nutritious enough breast milk and one of my biggest dreams is to breast feed. Also I would like to be able to have a water birth and they dont do them so readily for overweight women.

J and I decided that we have a year to plan, financially and physically for babies. On our 1st anniversary we are going to "stop practicing". So ladies that is my new goal, to be a Fit Mommy :)