Steel Hard Cap Boots

Ok. It has been 5 days since my last post. WAY TOO LONG! Next time I go AWOL like this, I need someone to give me a good kick up the bum. Easiest place is probably on my fb page (see link to the left), but anyhow you want to :) Don't let me go this long again!!

And since I haven't been on in so long (yes 5 days is a long time to be able to get a chance to sit down with my computer) I have mega amounts of reading to do. So im apologising now if I havent commented on your blog in a while. Im still trying to catch up with them all!!

I have several things to talk about today so an easy to read bullet point list will be order of the day :)

• Weigh in - since yesterday was a public holiday I didnt get my usual weight watchers meeting :( i havent yet decided what im going to do about weigh in, as i dont want to do it on other scales (whats the point!) and i dont want to go to another meeting as I dont want to have to pay for it!! hmmmm....maybe i just wont weigh this week. I have measurements to do tomorrow so they might just have to do for now. ill still think about it.

• Tussock Traverse - Papa Patch and I had our first run event of the year on Saturday. I wasn't totally pleased with how I went, but atleast I didn't come out injured like poor Papa Patch did (you can read about it here)! It was cold down at the event (Tongariro) but gorgeous sunshine :) A 6.5km run is fine usually, but this one was off road so totally differnt from what my body is used to. And I had to carry a backpack with stuff in it (also, so not used to that). The first 2kms KILLED me! My calves hurt, probably due to some DOMS still hanging around from my step class earlier in the week, the uneven ground and the first half of the course being an incline. The backpack also made it hard to run as I felt I couldnt get a good posture with it on. So there were ALOT of walking moments in there. The rest of the run was sweet though. Gorgeous scenery, awesome running tracks through forest and calves had finally loosened enough to let me lengthen my stride longer than a shuffle!!

a pic i captured on the run

• Feb Fast - february (tomorrow) brings the start of Feb Fast. Both Papa Patch and I will be participating, so no alcohol for the whole of February. I'm not that worried anyway, as I hardly ever drink. Although there will be one occasions where I will be tempted, but I'm happy enough in life without it so I'm going to say no. You dont need alcohol to have fun!

• Week 5 goals - 

* track EVERY SINGLE DAY! Monday didn't go so good, but I have tracked today and will do so for the rest of the week.
* exercise 5 out of 7 days. 1 day down so far with an AWESOME step class today.
* mini challenge for the week is no caffeine. this is going to be easy for me, since I don't drink coffee and hardly drink tea or fizzy drinks.
* remember to take all my vitamins and pills each day (thyroxine, spiralina, multi vitamin, fluox). i find i have been forgetting a bit lately and REALLY need to keep on top of it, especially my prescription ones!!

I have done so much reading of posts etc, so thats me for the night. Im sick of staring at the computer!! will update you all with new measurements tomorrow, yeehaa!!

Fast Post Please

I'VE LOST MY MOTIVATION!!

 This week has not been going well. I haven't tracked any of my food. The eating has been kept to a realistic level, but without tracking I'm only going by what I remember. I know I should be, but I keep forgetting, or I just can't be bothered.

AND ive only worked out once this week, and we are at Thursday night already. I have a 6.5km offroad run this weekend, so should really be doing SOMETHING! I just feel so tired and energyless :-/

If someone finds my motivation for me, can you fast post it back to me please? Either that or just courier a great big kick up the bum!! Thanks

Can I Just Do It Now Please??

I'm talking about my measurements. I know I said I would do them monthly, but I so want to do them today! I can feel that I've definitely lost cm's and I want to know how much!! This morning I'm wearing track pants that I haven't been able to get my bum into for.....probably around 2 years!

Weigh in yesterday and another 300 grams gone, which means I'm now sitting at 77.7kg, and have reached my 5% goal!! The loss wasn't a huge loss, but I'm more than happy with in since I was at the beach for most of last week. Over that time I managed to restrict myself to one glass of wine, no ice creams and only 4 crackers with cheese! Oooh and nachos one night for dinner. But to be fair, they were freakin tasty!!

AND I went for two runs while we were away aswell as a game of tennis, sea kayaking, body weight exercises in the park and a couple of walks down the beach.  The first run was up to the lookout above Cooks Beach with Papa Patch:

And my goodness it was hard work!! 

The second one was on my own and finished up at a distance of 9kms. Felt much better than the first one, maybe because there were no stairs involved!!!

But back into the swing of things at home again now. Had an exercise rest day yesterday and off to a step class at the gym tonight :) 

Ooh the baby is awake. Will try and get a chance to come back later and post my goals for the week :)

TTFN!

Goal Posts & Celebrating How Far You Have Come

Usually when I go out running/exercising I like to go by myself. For several reasons including it gives me time to clear my head & get away from everything, and I like to be able to concentrate on what I want to do at my own pace. But also because I'm embarrassed to let people see what state my fitness is really in. I'm scared that my actual will be less than what they expected.

Today however, Papa Patch & I headed out on a run/walk together as we are away on holiday at the moment and thought it would be a nice change. We are often active together, but don't work out together. And to be honest, I didn't particularly enjoy it. It wasn't the company I didn't like, it was the fact that I felt stupid that I couldn't keep up with him. And it was embarrassing to let him see me struggle with something that he cruised through.

I bought this up during a moment we stopped so I could catch my breath, how I hated that I found it so hard, especially when he didn't. I didn't want him to think less of me just coz I couldn't run as fast as him, or push through the last 100 metres like he could (even though I know he never would think like that!!). And he made the point back to me that yes, my fitness isn't where it used to be (pre baby), but that I've come so far since having baby. And while I still have a way to go, I need to make sure I celebrate what I can do now, rather than get down about what lies ahead.

Those words really hit home. Why am I beating myself up because of what I can't do (YET!), instead of congratulating myself on the progress I have already made. And even for just getting up off the couch in the first place and DOING SOMETHING! So many people WISH for better bodies, yet are quite happy to do nothing physical about it.

So from now on, I'm making small goals to spur my motivation along the way, and I'm going to make sure I celebrate those goals when I reach them. And I'm not going to be embarrassed (well try not to anyway!) of my current state of play, because it's a work in progress. I'm working my butt off to get to where I want to be, and to improve my lifestyle. That in itself should be celebrated.

Plus he said, don't forget that no matter how slow you go, you are still lapping those that are still sitting on the couch!!

Community and Support

I was reading a blog this morning from fellow blogger Erin about the community of blogging and some of things she said rang true to me and got me thinking. She talked about support, accountability and truth.

Support: This site is about support, both giving and receiving. I have started trying to comment more on others pages, to help and encourage them through their journey after I found that the comments on my posts were deminishing. My view pages tell me that my blog is being read, but without those comments, it feels like I'm doing this on my own sometimes. I know this journey is all my own doing, physically, but I dont know anyone that has lost weight without help, encouragement and support from others. I understand that some of my readers dont have blogs themselves, but that doesnt mean that they cant offer support through comments, either on the blog page or on my facebook page. For the support from everyone I thank you! Let me hear what you have to say though :P  even if its just saying hey, you are going good, keep at it :) and i promise i will try harder for other bloggers :)

Accountability: the whole reason i started this blog is to make myself accountable for my actions that were previously sabotaging my efforts. i guess it relates back to the whole comments thing, but if i slip up or go about things the wrong way, i would love advice on what to do next time, or just plain call me out on it, so that im made accountable. and in return, I will make a real effort to tell my readers not just the good parts of my week, but also my bad choices i made. sometimes its hard admitting to doing wrong, due to embarrassment or whatever, but if i dont have to face the consequences, then im not really going to change am i??

Constructive criticism.
No one likes being told that they are wrong, but I think its good for a person to be told so when needed, ensuring it is said in a constructive way. "There are different levels of truth and I think in blogland we all lean a little too close to the nicest truth possible. Like don't worry about this setback, you're a rockstar and you'll learn from your mistakes and do better when really, maybe someone needs to hear self-sabotage will keep you from achieving your goals, so what are you going to change about your habits to prevent this again? I want you all to be brutally honest with me, don't sugar coat it (because sugar has a lot of calories and I'm trying to cut back)."
I want to learn from my mistakes (and be made aware of them). However im not going to do that if im always being told that its ok.

Again, I want to thank everyone for their support in my journey. I WILL get to where I want to be, I just hope I can travel the road with supporters that will help me get there faster!

And remember: You may delay, but time will not.

End of Week 2 Weigh In

Just got back from weigh in, and down 700grams (1.54pounds)!! I'm very happy with that figure, considering the couple of days of BAD eating!!

Just 300 more grams and I've hit my 5% mark :D

Saw this earlier on a friends FB page and thought I would share:

You chose every single day to be optimistic or pessimistic and you can always control your attitude. It is no one elses fault. Stop blaming, start working for things and get over yourself and get over your excuses. If you need help, don’t be miserable, don’t complain, don’t put down and insult others for living their best life. Congratulate them and ask them for help.

M.I.A

Yes, I've been missing in action a little bit this last week. Only one post at the start of the week, and not many comments on others pages. To be fair, I have been away at the beach & have found I just haven't had much time to sit down on my computer.

I haven't weighed in for the week yet, I have WW later today, so will post about that after I find out what the damage of the beach was! I had all good intentions when we went to the beach, and it was good....until we went to the supermarket & Papa Patch suggested chips and dip. DAMN HIM! It was all downhill from there with chips, dips, lollies, ice cream. But we reined it back in as soon as we got home (luckily we were only away two days!). I'm determined not to let our holiday this week turn into the same thing!

Goals for week 2:
* Continue to track daily - tracked everyday apart from 2 days at the beach. It's so bad when you get out of routine!!
* Continue to drink at least 2x drink bottles of water every day - managed to succeed at this goal!
* Continue with my exercise atleast 5 out of 7 days (with 3 runs) - Only did two runs, exercised 4 out of 7 days. again, DAMN holidays!! 
* Eat as many meals as I can with my non-dominant hand (as set out by the Spring Chick Challenge as a mini goal for the week) - i think i did two meals like this, i just kept forgetting! goes to show how absent-mindedly i eat my meals. really should pay more attention!
* Try one new recipe and post it to my blog - tried a new WW pasta recipe. was CRAP!! so not going to post it. wouldnt want to inflict that pain on any of you guys!
* Go to atleast one group fitness class at the gym - done! went to a boxfit class with Papa Patch. was good to smash the s*#t out of the boxing bag :)
* Do not eat any meals while watching TV (so that I can actually concentrate and appreciate my meal) - hmmmmm......


However, despite the AVERAGE week, I have put together an excel sheet with all the details of my runs (distance, time, average speed in both km/hour and mins/km) and its so cool to see that over the last 3 runs, my speed has slowly increased. YAY! I am now up to just over 43kms for the year so far. and loving how I am feeling because of it :)


Week 3's goals will be:
* track EVERY SINGLE DAY! even if I have bad food, i HAVE to write it down.
* Exercise 5 out of 7 days.
* Go for a run on the sand while at the beach
* NO SWEETS! (as set out by Spring Chick Challenge)

Will let you know in a couple of hours how weigh in goes :P Fingers crossed!!!

Remember: Losing weight makes you look good in clothes, exercise makes you look good naked!


TTFN

Whats your 'shake ya booty' song?

I'm sure Papa Patch thinks I'm crazy tonight!! We went to a boxing class together earlier and ever since I'm been in a really weird crazy mood, annoying the crap out of him :p dancing around the house, singing like an idiot haha. I blame the endorphines!! I'm just in such a good mood.

This mood was then increased after reading No Thanks To Cake's post about motivating songs. I absolutely LOVE the song she posted on her blog (Stronger by Kelly Clarkson) and it made me want to turn up the music and listen to all my motivation songs. Therefore making me dance around the room even more. Hence, my poor boyfriend thinks I'm nuts!

My top motivation songs (in no particular order) are:
* rompe - daddy yankee

* girlfriend - avril lavinge
* bounce with me - kreesha turner
* born this way - lady gaga
* lets get loud - jennifer lopez
* show me heaven remix - re4mation (i have to try SO HARD not to sing out loud to this in the gym!!)
* show me how you burlesque

* stronger - Kelly Clarkson

So question of the day is; what is your 'shake your booty' song?? 

Either leave a comment below or on the Mama on the Move facebook page.

Yahoo!!

Had weigh in at WW this afternoon and I lost 1.8kgs! Goes to show that all that hard work really does pay off :) I know some of that will be from my upped water intake so now my body isnt retaining as much fluid, but some of that will definitely be fat :)

So after confirming that I had reached off of my first weeks goals, I forgot to detail my week 2 goals. They are as follows:
* Continue to track daily
* Continue to drink at least 2x drink bottles of water every day
* Continue with my exercise atleast 5 out of 7 days (with 3 runs)
* Eat as many meals as I can with my non-dominant hand (as set out by the Spring Chick Challenge as a mini goal for the week)
* Try one new recipe and post it to my blog
* Go to atleast one group fitness class at the gym
* Do not eat any meals while watching TV (so that I can actually concentrate and appreciate my meal)

Also, while I was catching up with my antinatal group girls today, we decided that we would do the Kerikeri Half Marathon together (November 2012), so that is another long term goal I'll have in the back of my mind.

Probably not off to a good start for the week as I haven't done any exercise yet today and I have to start work in 2.5 hours. And have housework that I want to get done. An excuse? Maybe. But the house doesnt clean itself unfortunately! I'll just make today a rest day. I have 6 more days in which to do 5 days of exercise. We are off to the beach for a night later this week, so I'm looking forward to having some new scenery to run in :)

For all those struggling with making sure you track your food, don't forget:

Your body is keeping an accurate journal of what you eat, regardless of what you write down. And it remembers everything!

Week 1 - Complete!

Its Saturday evening here, which means I'm nearly at the end of my first week of the Spring Chick Challenge and of my first week of blogging.

My goals for the week were:

* Track my food every day and stay within my WW points allowances - done!! I've used 20 of my 49 weekly points on top of my 29 points daily so doing really well. I plan not to use any more weekly points tomorrow.

* Drink atleast 1.5 litres of water everyday - done!! Ive been downing atleast 2 drink bottles worth of water daily.

* Exercise 6 of 7 days - done!!! Monday, Wednesday & Saturday were runs. Tuesday was a bootcamp workout, Thursday was a 30 min swim and Friday was a short walk and some Wii tennis. I plan to do something gentle tomorrow morning before I head to work.

But this is the bit I love the most - all of my walks and runs this week totalled a distance of 26.57kms!! Yahoo!!! A great start to my North Island Distance goal :)

I'm feeling really good after a successful week. Thank you for all your support and encouraging comments.

Can't wait for weigh in on Monday! :)

Remember: "Suck it up, and someday you won't have to suck it in!"

VO2 Max

So today being a rest day from exercise, I decided to go for a walk with the dogs and, at the same time, do a fitness test to give me a starting point. The fitness test I decided to is the Rockport Fitness Walking Test, where you walk 1 mile as fast as you can then as soon as you finish take your heart rate. This information along with your age, weight, the time it took to do the walk can be put into a calculation to work out your VO2 max.

What is VO2???? (Taken from google): VO2 max (also maximal oxygen consumption) is the maximum capacity of an individual's body to transport and use oxygen during exercise, which reflects the physical fitness of the individual. The name is derived from V - volume, O2 - oxygen, max - maximum.

The calculator I used to workout my VO2 can be found here.

My result is 38.77. Every month along with my photos and measurements I am also going to be doing this test to watch this number increase (hopefully!!)

Right, off to play some tennis on the Wii rather than sit on my bum watching TV for the evening :)

"it's not who you are that holds you back, but who you think you're not"

Days 2, 3 & 4

Ooh what a day!! It started off really great, with a early morning swimming session with Papa Patch. However it all went downhill from there, with a baby that decided that sleep is SOOOOO over-rated. Therefore a very grumpy baby, and a tired tired mummy. You don't know how close I was to driving down to the shops for chocolate, ice cream and anything deep friend I could find!! Instead, after I FINALLY got him to bed (and sleeping!) at 5.30pm, I decided to log into blogspot and lose myself in the blogging world for a bit. And I'm feeling much better now (might be helped by the fact that Papa Patch is cooking a yummy steak dinner as we speak!). Reading some of the blogs on here, and seeing how far some people have come,  is so inspirational! Definitely recommended for those days when you need a little oomph!

Rewinding a little, days 2 & 3 were just as I had hoped. Eating has been kept within bounds (29 WW points) apart from lunch out yesterday with a friend, but that will be included in my weekly 49 points (for such treats). Tuesdays exercise was a boot camp at home with Papa Patch. We have an app on our iPhones that runs you through a bootcamp session (it even counts for you!) and is so much fun!! If any of you are interested, its simply called Bootcamp. Such a good tool for anyone who does their workouts at home!

Yesterdays exercise was a run/walk, with 2mins running to 3 mins walking. I had a total of 50 mins to do, which took me over a course of JUST under 7kms :) There were a few long hills involved which killed my legs, but man it felt good afterwards!!! Then we went for a walk around the lake with the dogs. Another 3.7kms. Which means my running total for my goal of traveling the North Island in a year is now at 17.65km!

For anyone who might be interested, Papa Patch has also started his own blog, detailing his weight loss journey etc. To check it out head to this link.

Gentle exercise day tomorrow, maybe some yoga. My body will thank me for it!!

TTFN

A Starting Point

I got Papa Patch to take these of me just before. Gosh I hate photos of myself! But he said that I have to keep reminding myself that everyone has got to start somewhere, and this is my starting point.

Day 1 - Spring Chicks Challenge

Day 1 is officially over, and I've started off with a hiss and a roar!

I woke up this morning actually kind of dreading the effort I would have to put into preparing healthy meals. It seemed to much easier to keep eating all the crap we have had over christmas. But I knew I had to start as I meant to go on, and I knew it had to be today!!My eating today has been perfect. After the yogurt and fruit I'm about to have, I would have had 29 of my 29 weight watchers points, and have downed over 1.5 litres of water.

AND....my exercise has also started off well. I downloaded the couch to 10km app onto my phone and started at week 4, since I already have a little bit of fitness behind me. Today's workout was alternating 2 mins running with 3 mins walking eleven times. Which saw me travel over 7kms! A great start to my yearly goal of 829kms :)

So my goals for week 1 are simply.......start as I mean to go on. Track my food every day, drink atleast 1.5 litres of water and exercise 6 of 7 days (3 of them being runs). And post!!!

My weight and measurements have been done and recorded in the "My Progress" page. Pics will be posted tomorrow.

I hope all the other spring chicks have had a great 1st day as I have xx

A little more about me.....

So with the challenge starting tomorrow, I thought I would tell you a little more about me :)

I'm a 25 year old mum from New Zealand. My little man, who I will refer to as mini patch, is 6 months old today and hes the best thing that happened to me!!! He's the cruisest baby and is always making me smile. He wasn't a planned pregnancy, but papa patch and I wouldn't change him for the world :)

    

Me, Papa Patch and Mini Patch

My unplanned pregnancy meant I had to put my accounting degree on hold for a year, but I will be returning to uni in March to do my last year. I can't wait for it to be done and out of the way. Apart from uni and my family, I love doing anything active and outside. I wish the New Zealand summer would hurry up and get here so that I can actually get outside and make the most of it.

Over the last year I've had some very testing times, including caring for my father and then losing him to bowel cancer in February, then being diagnosed with a tumour of the pituitary gland at 39 weeks pregnant in June. Luckily my little man was still able to arrive safely (with no harm to me) after an induction and then emergency c-section. Since then I have also been diagnosed with hypothyroidism, and we are still trying to get the medication balance correct to help me deal with this.

I am very much looking forward to a new year with some good times ahead!! Today I have been through and reorganised all my workout music for my ipod and got my running training schedule sorted. From tomorrow I will be running 3x a week plus 3 other workouts of some sort and tracking my eating using the weight watchers program.

I know what I need to do to get to where I want to be, its the motivation and willpower I usually suffer on. I eat when I'm down or stressed (and its been a stressful year!), which makes me feel worse, which makes me eat more. A horrible vicious cycle. I'm looking forward to overcoming that demon.

Ooh and I've created a new goal for the year. I want to run/bike/walk the distance of the North Island of New Zealand, which is approx 800km. This means I will need to do an average of 15kms a week which I think is definitely do-able. I will add a new gadget down the side of the page to keep a track of this :)

Will post again tomorrow with all my starting stats etc for the challenge. Night all!