Sunday Weigh In

YES! I lost weight! Granted it was only 1kg, I am still very appy about it.

I have only made a few small changes this week bt they worked. I cut out TimTams (do they have them in America? If not then consider yourselves lucky that TimTams is one less temptation for you to not worry about), Increased my water intake and always made sure I had a bottle with me. This really helped keep hunger away.I started eating breakfast again to get my metabolism going in the morning and stop the high sugar cravings mid-morning.

So today I weigh 83kg. YAY!

Look at my changes!!!!

Okay, so although they might not be massive, they are there.

And I am not only talking about the changes to my blog, but also changes to my life.

After a BIG MOMENTARY LAPSE OF CONCENTRATION, I have managed to make some changes to get back on track to becoming healthy, looking hot and feeling great!

You know it all comes down to mind frame. I am still disappointed in myself for how I let all my exercise and healthy eating habits go for the last 7 weeks but that is the past. The most important thing is not letting those bad habits go on forever. That is when I run into problems.

SO what have I done this week?

Walking - 4 times this week
Stopped eating icecream, chips, chocolate and stoped drinking juice.

Obviously these small changes have made a difference as the scales are now saying 83kg So that's a 1 kilogram loss which I will take especially after the gains I ahve had the last 7 weeks!

Plan for this week

I have organised with my best friend (who is also one of my bridesmaids) to go walking 2 nights a week. It's daylight savings here now and the weather is warming up (well not today, but it has been).

5km of Interval training on treadmill 2 nights

Drink 2 litres of water a day

Eat breakfast daily

Hope that everyone has fantastic losses this week.

Which one? Help! PLEASE! Wedding Outfit!

Do I have a post for you tonight!!
I have been so busy getting prepared for our Fiji holiday (that is now 9 days away)!

There are so many things to do but here are a few important ones that I have marked off my list this week:

1. Get passports DONE (they came today WOOHOO!)!
2. Get some smokin' hot hair to compliment my new shape DONE!!!!
3. Buy some new $20 sunglasses seeming my other $20 ones are in pieces (handbag, sat on, oops). DONE!

And here are some photos of the smokin' hot hair and the new shades!

So that is all fabulous

but....

I need your help in deciding which outfit I should wear to the wedding that we are going to while we are over there.

I originally had this dress which I had taken in from a size 16 to a size 12 (Australian).

Here is a picture of me in it tonight with my hair and makeup done

And here is another dress that is new that I bought in a shop that I never used to be able to find anything that would be my size. Now I am in a size 12 (Australian)!!!!

Arrrhhh!

Decisions!

I hate making them so I am throwing this one to all of my gorgeous blogging friends who have been so incredibly supportive to get me to where I am am today and into these gorgeous dresses!

So which one do you think I should wear?

One year since the beginning

Tomorrow will be mark one year since I started in this journey (properly).

One year ago I decided that I had enough of hiding beneath all the layers of fat.

A beautiful friend who I met through mother's group had been going to Weight Watchers after having her gorgeous son and I had noticed all of her baby weight coming off. I asked her about what she had been doing and decided I would go along to WW with her. It was time to face the scales and see what they said.

104.2kg

WTF! This was bad. I never really saw what was really in the mirror but it was made crystal clear at that moment.

Yes I had a baby 5 months earlier but I had lost the baby weight within 2 weeks of giving birth (I was quite healthy during pregnancy and only gained 8 kilos). What I had to lose now was the chocolate, junk food and couch weight that I had put on whilst on maternity leave. 10kilograms had been gained in 5months! That's shocking! But I suppose that is what eating at all hours, eating high sugar/fat foods just to get that quick energy fix, no exercise due to being so tired and just eating a lot of processed convenience foods will do to your body.

So I began the journey with WeightWatchers and had my good and bad weeks (mainly good) and kept this up until December when I had lost a total of 11kg. The program worked for me. It taught me a lot and I loved that I never ever felt like I was on a diet. It was little changes that bought results on the scale. I think it was also the first year in ages that I didnt gain weight over Christmas. I kept my eating during the festive season under control. It was after Christmas that I quit WW as i jsut felt liek I was wasting money just to go there and only lose a few hundred grams so I stopped going (when I stopped going to WW that things started to go pear shaped again and I gained some weight).

After a massive momentary lapse of concentration,

I  had renewed motivation when talk of going to Fiji came up as some friends are getting married there!

YAY!!!! A holiday!!!

Oh F*%K!!!!! Swimmers!!!!

The thought of wearing swimmers terrified me!!! Most Summer's I would just hide away inside in the air con but this was not an option on this holiday.

Time to get to it again!

I started to really make use of the treadmill sitting in my lounge room, spend less time on the couch and now have a toddler to chase after. At times it has been hard work...really hard work, but I am making progress.

From then until now has been pretty well documented over this blog.

I thought seeming it has been one year on my journey I should include my progress. You have probably seen some of these pictures of my progress on my blog but here are some photos of me in the last year anyway.

October 2009 - 97kg

February 2010 - 97kg (after regaining some of the weight I had lost)

May 2010 - 96kg

June 2010 - 88kg

July 2010 - 85kg

July 2010 - 84kg

August 2010 - 80kg

August 2010 - 80kg

I am feeling so much lighter. I have lost almost 24.2kilograms which is 53.2pounds and I can live life.

I hope that in the next year I can reach my goal of 70kg.

Then bypass it by at least 5kg taking me to 65kg and hold that weight for the duration of the year.

Courage

The state or quality of mind or spirit that enables one to face danger, fear, or vicissitudes with self-possession, confidence, and resolution; bravery.

This post takes GREAT courage (although jsut between you and me...I have no idea what vicissitudes means).

And I feel like the cat that is walking in front of all those dogs right now. This little cat sure does have some courage.

Did I mention I love dogs?

Yesterday I told you that I bought some new swimmers for my holiday and promised that I would put some pictures up of me in them so I could see what you thought.

So after a long day I took some photos. I have to say the vibrant blue colour doesnt seem to come out as well in the photos as it is in reality but it is definitely like the colour shown in the flower here.

While I was looking at the photos, I realised how white my legs were. They don't get out very much ever and it is Winter so they are like two white ghosts. Some tanning (spray, bottle, sun) will hopefully fix that.

Anyway here they are.

(Ali secretly crawls off and hides)

Still have a bit of work to do to turn the gluteus maximus into a gluteus minimus!

And it can also be made strapless.

My other half likes this option LOL!

I also tried on a bikini that I bought 3.5 years ago and only wore half a dozen times.

The picture on the left was when I tried it on 1month ago. The picture on the right is from today.

I can really see a difference here.

Not enough to make me wear it as my mummy tummy with stretchmarks on it is still there.

 Okay so that's me. Not sure how long I will leave these pics up. I think I have embarrassed myself enough and I have not even pressed publish post yet!

4 weeks to go!

A lifestyle of healthy habits!

Something I always dreamed about was changing my lifestyle. The last few years has seen me live quite a sedentry life where I got to know my couch far too well. I would often choose not to go out, mainly because I was embarrassed but also because I was lazy and would prefer just to eat.

Well that has changed now and we are including the great outdoors, movement and healthy eating into everyday life.

Sunday saw our family take a trip to one of the world's most famous zoos.

Taronga Zoo in Sydney, Australia.

It is situated on the gorgeous Sydney Harbour with views of the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. These animals live at some of the most expensive pieces of real estate in Australia!

It was a stunningly warm Winter's day with the sun beaming down giving us a great day to let Miss Twinkle Toes explore the world of animals that she has seen in her books come to life at the zoo.

Let me tell you, exercise was not forgotten on this day. We covered a lot of kilometers walking around the zoo, lots of hills, often carrying a backpack or a child weighing 10kg. I even walked around with her on my shoulders just to get a bit more of a workout!

If I wasn't carrying something, I was chasing someone around who keeps me on my toes! We were at the zoo for about 6hours which I thought was a massive effort with an 18mth old!

We had a fantastic day.

I managed to stay healthy with my eating by being prepared and packed a picnic lunch for our family as well as some snacks I had made for us. Some fresh sandwiches of breast chicken and tomato on wholemeal bread and lots of fruit and plenty of water. Normally at places like this I would have bought hot chips and the like but not this time! :-)

I am looking forward to blogging more over the next few days. I have so much that I want to tell you all about but have not had the time with work being so busy.

Here is a photo of my gorgeous girl and I after a very long day!

Please excuse her messy shirt. this was after dinner (which always ends in a mess especially when dessert is juicy strawberries)!

I can now see how much weight I have lost off my arms, face and although its a bad photo of my legs as I am all scruched up, I have lost heaps of weight of them as well.

YAY!

And the nominees are....

Gain ............................Boo!

Loss ...........................WOOHOO!

Stay the same?.............>meh!

  

LOSS!!!!

And representing loss this week is

80kg!

Let me just say I am a little lost for words but here is my best effort.

That is a loss of 3kg!

First of all I would like to thank the food that has nourished me over thie last week. Not only have you tasted great, but you have kept me healthy and did not sit in my body and turn to fat. You can come again anytime  as you haven't overstayed your welcome (special mention of some of the most popular foods this week are mentioned below).

Special thanks also go to my other half for not bringing home any alcoholic beverages this week (if it's not here, it can not be consumed).

More thanks going out to family especially my gorgeous daughter who has kept me extremely active this week by running away from me laughing every time that I say stop (because it is so funny to see mummy get up and down chasing me and picking me up) and for bringing the joy of dancing back to me. So many dance sessions have been held at our house this week. Most involve me holding and spinning 10 additional kilograms around which must have contributed to me reaching 80kg!

Also minor thanks go to a little thing called stress and of course being the week after my most bloated time off the month.. I am sure you have both helped in some way.

And to each and every one of you who have supported me through my blog or by writing your own, you each give me inspiration and strengthen my inner powers to achieve and succeed! 

Popular food choices this week:

BREAKFAST
Biggest Loser Shakes for breakfast

CRUNCH & SIP MORNING SNACK

Carrots with hommus for morning snack

LUNCH

Multigrain sandwich with tuna, salad no butter.

CRUNCH AND SIP AFTERNOON SNACK

Strawberries or watermelon for arvo tea

DINNER

Soup or grilled chicken breast with winter veges (favourites at the moment are broccoli & cauliflower)

DRINKS

Green tea x 2

Normal tea with skim milk (no sugar) x 1

Diet coke

Water x 3 

Exercise this week:

Treadmill 5km a day (5 days)

Abs x100 (5days)

Lots of incidental walking, running, rushing, chasing, cleaning, stressing, dancing, lifting, etc!

MEASUREMENTS

Chest-100 (minus 2cm)

Waist- 84 (minus 4cm)

Hips- 100 (minus 2cm)

 

It's coming off!

I was going to wait until Sunday when I weigh in to post about this but decided it needed a post all of it's own.

Have you ever had one of those weeks where suddenly everyone that sees you notices the weight loss that you have actually been working on for a year? It clicks to everyone that this picture they had of you in their minds was of that fat girl (even though they would never say it) and all of a sudden you aren't that person anymore.

That is the week that I have had. I can not begin to tell you how many compliments I have had this week and it's only Friday! And instead of going all shy when receiving them, I have said to small words with a smile..."Thank you".

My other half even said to me today,

"Have you checked yourself out in the mirror lately...

cause you are looking damm fine!"

Yep, I'll take that one!

And you know what, I have been looking in the mirror. I have been checking out my reflection in the doors of the freezer section at the supermarket, as I walk right past the icecream that I used to pick up and eat all in one serving.

Finally I am not ashamed of what I see looking back at me.

Don't get me wrong...I still have a lot more work to do but I can see that changing my lifestyle in small ways over the space of a year, has made big changes.

I am happy.

I can breathe.

It's coming off!

Evening "snack attack" habit!

Habits are remarkable because they don't require thinking. You just "do it" for years until you find yourself changing the habit again.

One of the biggest reasons I put on weight was because I was in the habit of eating at night.

Okay, so eating at night is not that bad, but when you hardly eat anything during the day and then load up after dark on calories by consuming family sized bags of chips, a whole packet of chocolate biscuits and any high sugar, high fat foods you can get your litle hands on, well you are bound to end up with a bit a big weight problem.

I knew this was one of the biggest things that had to change if I was to start to lose weight. It wasn't as simple as saying no to these foods at night time or just not buying them on my way home from work. I had to put some strategies in place to help me break this habit.

I knew no matter what, I would still want to eat at night. Its just something that I was used to and going cold turkey would only result in some binge eating!

So I set myself up with some things I could eat in the evening.

One of my favourites still to this day is jelly!

Don't buy the high sugar one.

Weight Watchers do an awesome jelly and it is a point free snack with no sugar!

I would always make sure I had some made up in the fridge.



The next thing I did was buy a massive selection of teas.

Drinking tea would make me feel good. For a while it did wake me during the night as I was drinking quite a bit but now I am used to it.

I have found some yummy herbal teas but I am currently loving green tea. Great for your health and it would keep my hands something healthy to reach for. Awesome site on green tea if you are interested!

The next thing that helped can easily be found in any house (I hope)!

Toothpaste!

Food tastes strange after brushing teeth, so brushing my teeth when I felt the urge to eat helped get rid of any food craving I had.

I have heard that Pam Anderson uses this trick as well!

Mouthwash can have the same affect.

Chewing Gum...not so much. I find that I can still eat other foods after that.

So those 3 little things are what helped me break my evening snacking binges.

They say it takes 3 weeks to break a habit, To be honest I can't remeber how long it took but I can tell you that I have broken ths habit and it is part of the reason I have lost over 20 kilos. Yay!

"But I still have room in my leg!!"

Can anyone remember saying that or something like that to their parents growing up?

You would be so full from dinner and all those veges that you couldnt possibly eat all that is on your plate, but when the mention of dessert pops up, you suddenly have a bit of room that can certainly be filled somewhere in your body!

Yep.

That was me.

Still kind of is or was. Not quite sure. But I am working on making it being a well and truly "was".

I have been reading up and trying to educate myself on why in the past (and sometimes present) I have this undeniable hunger urge, even after I have eaten and you know it is about a lot more than just an empty tummy!

There are 2 types of hunger.

Physical Hunger.
This type of hunger doesnt make you fat.
Your stomach growls. It builds up slowly and occurs several hours after a meal. This is how you feel after exercise or a long periodat work when you have depleted your energy stores. Your body NEEDS food and the feelings of tiredness and the noticable departure of your brain having exited the building are all signs your body is telling you that you need nutrients and energy.

and then there is this big bad Hunger Monster...

Don't be deceived by his cute appearance. He wants you to eat, eat, eat and therefore put on lots of weight!

Hormonal Hunger (yep! Damm hormones playing tricks on us again)!
This comes on suddenly. Nothing to do with meal times and can happen straight after a meal (remember that time when you still had a spare leg to fill up)! It will cause a strong emotional craving for specific foods (especially carbs). It can cause mood swings and low energy and it creates a near continual desire to eat!

Q. So how do you avoid both?

A. To avoid physical hunger, eat before you become hungry. To avoid hormonal hunger, you have to know WHAT to eat.

Q. So WHAT do you eat?

A. Low glycemic index foods (preferrably below 50). This will stops spikes in insulin followed by the crashes that come along afterwards.

Here is a link to a glycemic index and glycemic load chart that I have found helpful. It is an international list so has international brands as well.

So over the last week, I have kept the hunger monster at bay by choosing the right foods to eat and I am hoping that it is going to make a big difference on te scales this Sunday!

Hope you dont get bitten by the hunger monster anytime soon!

Unlocking the most important tool to weightloss.

No, this post is not going to tell you to eat less and exercise more. Yes that is important but there is something that is far more important to get to wherer you want to go. Keep reading if you want to find out what that is.

I have been on the path to becoming a hot mumma since August 2009. Since that time I have lost 20kg (44pounds).

There have been times where I have become distracted on the path to my destination, times when I have been off smelling the roses just a little too much (and managed to add a little bit more junk in the trunk while I was at it), but it was never long until I found my way back to being on that path again and continued to make the load I was carrying even lighter.

So how do I stay on the path???

First of all, it took a lot of searching to find someone to guide me onto the right path. I had a lot of encouragement from lots of different sources but the one person who helped me get on the path to where I am now was me. I was staring myself in the mirror. There were so many clues along the way that it had to be me ie. photos of me I would just delete so I couldnt see myself, occasions I would avoid going to, clothes that I just wouldnt wear.

I was the key to making the decision to lose weight, get healthy and feel fantastic and since I became my biggest supporter, I am finding myself staying on the path more and more. Until you find you, the longer you will stray off the path.

I still ocasionally stop and smell the roses, treat myself, celebrate different things....and that is so important to do....but the most important thing is to remember that there are the most amazing smelling roses at the end of the very end of the path and you wil only get to smell them if you keep on travelling.

So many times I would say to people...

"I eat healthy foods, I exercise and I cant lose weight".

But reading between the lines, what was really happening was I would eat right for a little while, maybe exercise a few times and then not lose much and give up. It was teh giving up and the lack of "I am going to do this" mindset that was preventing me from losing weight. Now I see that very clearly.

So make sure you are your biggest support by unlocking your mind as that is what will make up a success. But I am always here to try and support you as well, just in case you do wonder off the path to smell those roses!

How it's time to go and blog hop. Click on the button bellow that says "Fat to Fit" and check out Diminishing Lucy's blog for the details. It's lots of fun and some great reads in the links attached.

Hoping your week is going well!