1+3=2

Weight - 62.7
Exercise - 12 kms on the steady tready last night, and combat tonight
Calories - too many of the wrong kind

It is soo true that weight loss is not an exact science - eat x, exercise y does not equal exactly z the next day. I had a shitty weekend nutritionally - not that I ever really binge because I only eat small quantities- but I was far from clean eating, I enjoyed some of the no-no foods and I'm sure above my calories on both days. But this morning - a loss, after probably a week or so. Of course there have also been some hormonal influences in there, and the fact that I exercised late in the evening and had eaten nothing since then in morning, but still....

Anyway- back to the clean eating again today. Whilst running at infinitum on the treadmill last night (only because Sat and Sun attempts at a long run outside were thwarted by rain), I was thinking about the fact that I have now maintained my weight loss for about 15 - 18 months - and how most people regain most of their loss within a year. I feel very lucky to have managed to do this, and I was thinking about what keeps me motivated. Without a doubt the exercise is an essential component. I struggle so much with the eating, that I think that if I didn't exercise, I would forget all about wanting to be fit and fall back into old habits. But the other thing that really helps, is reading everyone's blogs every night. This has an enormous impact on me, and reminds me of what I want to achieve, and keeps me focussed on health and fitness. So I want to say a really big thanks to all of you that put the effort into their blogs and provide me with the privilege of having an insight into your worlds. It's making an enormous difference to at least one person!

Anyway - I'm off to Sydney and country NSW for a few days for work, and will be catching up with the lovely TD and KatieP tomorrow night! Yeah! Cant wait.

Don't know what internet access I will have so may not be blogging again till Saturday. Can I keep up the clean eating for the next 5 days with no access to a kitchen or even a fridge during the day? Time will tell.....

1001 Books

Well you can't exercise all the time (shame - because I would really enjoy it) and so to ensure I have balance in my life, I like to have quiet times reading. I have set myself a (lifelong) goal to read all of these books that are listed as the 1001 books you must read (NB the book of the list is 1000 pages in itself!) In fact, I would eventually like to own them all - maybe set up in a bookshelf (or 2!) that could be handed on to future generations. So today I started Ebay searching and have bought a couple. Some of these books look a little heavy going - but I guess its like setting fitness goals - they can be hard and daunting at the time, but at the end you have gained something unachievable without the effort.

Team training yesterday at the gym went well, and we all went out for coffee afterwards. It was quite a lot of fun. Would like to do it again next weekend, but I will be driving the new car back from Adelaide (Damn) and Sunday is an 11km fun run which we are all doing anyway.

Was meant to do a long run today- headed out but then got caught in the rain and turned around and came back. Weak I know, but I might have soldiered on for a 1/2 hr run, but when I was facing 1 1/2 hrs and a fair distance from home in the middle of nowhere, with no shelter in sight, it was enough to put me off. So tomorrow I will have to get up extra early to fit it in before 9.00 am church, and if its raining again - I will have to do it on the treadmill. BORING!

I Cant Be Grumpy Anymore....

Yesterdays Weight - 63.3kgs
Waist - 78
Food - under calorie allowance

I can't be grumpy anymore.......


Because - guess what we bought yesterday......










All bar the last photo, are photos of our actual car. Probably not the most practical decision we have ever made, but life shouldn't always be about practicalities. After 20 odd years of always making the practical choices with a young family, its time to be a little rash! We don't get to pick it up though until next weekend so it will be a long wait..

This morning I am introducing my weight loss team to Cardio Coach. We are having a team training session at the gym, and I have loaded up 4 Ipods with cardio coach, looked up/worked out all of their HR training zones (blue, green, orange etc) and hope to secure 4 treadys in a row so we can all press the start button together. I like the idea of this because even though we are all at different fitness levels, we can do the same workout - individuals just adjust their speed/resistance to match the required HR zone. It should be fun.

Saving Time

Weight - 63.9
Waist - 78cm
Food - not tracked in CK - but around my budget according to my calcs
Exercise tonight - Combat and a few kms of running either side of the class.

I'm not sure why my weight has spiked - but since I think I've kept to my targets I'm going to ignore it. I did discover however that my non nutritionally sound choices of food led to a significant drop in energy. I had enough to train - but couldn't get out of bed in the morning to prepare my healthy food which has led to a catch 22 situation. So I forced myself to break this, and hopefully I'm back on track.

I'm a bit grumpy about the "love" situation (aka the new car I want). My husband looked at the car I'm interested in tonight, and then spoke to a friend of a friend who has one, who said there is a fault in this particular model and not to buy one. Not happy. What does one person know anyway?

And whilst I'm grumpy - who is designing these Combat classes to be easier and easier every new release? This latest one only really pushes me in Moo Thai (I have no idea how to spell this) - and even then not to my limits. AND I take all the highest options and then add my own in to keep my HR up. Mind you - my polar told me tonight that I hit 100% of my max HR and I wasn't even puffing - what the ### - oh, and then it promptly died on me (I guess that explains the odd readings!) Oh and did I mention my current car also died today - thankfully right in front of a crash repairer, and within walking distance of work. Mention #2 - I need a new car (hmm - and it must be an MG/convertible)

Well grumpiness aside (im not really a very moody person) thought I might post some interesting fitness info - from Matt Fitzgerald's Complete Triathlon Book on Time Savers - The benefits of good gear in an Olympic Distance Triathlon(1.5km s, 40 km b, 10 km r):

The Swim
Upgrade Time Savings
No Wetsuit to Wetsuit - 1:30

The Bike
Upgrade Time Savings
No aerobar to aerobar 3:24 - 4:36
Standard wheels to aerowheels 0:40 - 0:55
Shaving 2 kgs 0.05 - 1:12

The Run
Upgrade Time Savings
Training shoes to racing flats 0:30

So go get your gear!
(PS: Simlin if you are reading this, my memory is clearly faulty)

I'm In Love...

Weight: 63.6


Food - haven't tracked over the last few days - have been away


Exercise - Sat - Interval Training, Sun, long run 1.5hrs, Mon - Combat

Shame about the quality of the photo - taken on my MIL's phone and then beamed from phone to phone to PC! (aint technology grand!) but anyway - my hubby's birthday on the weekend. We went out to dinner at a lovely german/swiss restaurant. It was a little pricey - and the meals were small - but it was so worth it! Perfect sizing for me really - couldn't have eaten any more and beautiful vegetables. I'd rather pay the extra for quality any day. MIL had brought a white chocolate mud cake for desert and mentioned I might like to order something else (they are so used to my healthy eating) but I thought - nah - I night off - I'm just going to have a piece and enjoy it. And I did.

Now I might have fooled you with the title and the photo- but noooo - I'm not referring to my husband. I have fallen head over heels in a most unexpected way.

I've fallen in love with a car. And not just any car. A small red sporty convertible - it is just HOT!

Now you might think this is not that unusual, but just days ago I was explaining to my co-worker about how crazy men are about cars (he is male) and I don't really care - I just want something practical to get me from A to B . I even said my fave car was a Smart Car (very small, economical 2 door European car). Then whilst waiting for our dinner the other night - hubby takes me over to the car yard. Says maybe I need a new car. No, I say, I don't need a new car, walking around the lot, no - waste of money I......"OMG get me that car!!!!!!!!" I had spotted a red Renault Megaine Capri Cabriolet (convertible), and within our price range. It is gorgeous - kinda more like a fashion accessory than a car. Next thing you know, I'm ringing him at work wanting to test drive it, and on the weekend we looked at similar cars in Adelaide. Now if I just work on him a bit more.......I might end up with a sports car. Will keep you posted!

On the exercise front - ran for 1.5 hours down at Glenelg Sunday morning. This week ran 10 minute intervals with 2 minute walk breaks - cutting them down by 1 minute from last week. Covered 12 kms - earned a few more blisters, but woke this morning with no residual stiffness/soreness. I've also learned that Ibobrufren works a treat after long runs, I'm now just taking it routinely after the long ones, and the aching legs disappear. I'm a bit frustrated that 90 mins for 12 kms is just sooo slow, (remember I ran 12kms for the C2B in 73mins, and want to run it in 65 this year) but I guess I have to remember that I've really only been back running some distances for a few weeks, have pushed out the distance very quickly to have me ready for an 11km race in 2 weeks, and I actually haven't been doing any other running during the week apart from speed work and intervals! I contemplated pulling out of the 11km race because I'm so slow at the moment - and then realised that would be ridiculous - just run the damn race girl - forget about the time. So next week I'll run the 12 kms again - with 1 min walk breaks and then if needed will put them into the race as well. Its a fun raiser for Make A Wish, so I'm sure the main aim is to support them, not run a PB!

Work and Food

Today's Weight - 63.1

Tues food
You have used 1220 out of your net daily budget of 1350 calories and have 130 calories remaining. 29% of the calories are from fat, 25% from protein, 46% from carbs and 0% from alcohol.
Exercise - 35 mins running speedwork - approx 400cals

Wed's food
You have used 1273 out of your net daily budget of 1350 calories and have 77 calories remaining. 44% of the calories are from fat, 20% from protein, 36% from carbs and 0% from alcohol.
Exercise - Nil (day in Adelaide with 5 hrs travel)

For the last 6 weeks or so I have been doing a different job. We have a very large initiative on our hands - a 12 million dollar project, and a new centre to build over the next 5 years. I've been taken off line to scope it, ramp it up and get it started. So rather than being a busy director of 120 staff, I've been in a project role with no staff. And its been bliss. And its been quiet, and with much reduced meeting times and people demanding things of me. But the person who's been relieving for me had to take two weeks leave. So I'm back doing my old job for a while - and what an impact its had on my eating!

I'd forgotten that when I lost all my weight before, how much the job (which was new then) had helped. I simply dont have time to eat. I rush from one meeting to the next (actually if I was moving around I could probably grab something in between, but as they come to me, they just pile in one after another), and before I know it the mornings gone and my mid morning meals have been lost in the rush. Its budget time and I'm under extra pressure so food just doesn't rate. I know this is bad. I know that this is probably what is causing me weight maintenance problems now - that I didn't eat enough when I lost it the first time and its played havoc with my metabolism. And to make matters worse - I eat so few calories that everyday I've been able to afford my favourite treat: a Giant Twin icecream, at the end of the day. (Yes I know, its my choice) But I'm still under my calorie allowance. And this is certainly not clean eating!
I have had three very long days with evening meetings, breakfast meetings and long travel at each end, which as made being prepared very difficult as I've just fallen into bed each night and got up early to leave again. Hopefully the next few days will be a bit saner.

On a more positive front, whilst we are talking about food, I have finally managed to develop a liking for cottage cheese. I've only been trying on and off for the last 2 years, and on the weekend I tried Premium biscuits with cottage cheese and grapes - and loved them. They are my new favourite snack - despite my family ribbing me about the sliced grapes on top! I also made two recipes from Tosca's Clean Eating mag - which I loved- especially the Strawberry and spinach salad. So there area some wins on the food front as well as losses.

By the way - You'll notice that there's no weight training in my logs. I have finished Jillian Michaels Making the Cut program, and whilst trying to shake my weight plateau, I decided to give myself a week off of the weights and just focus on cardio. I'm now trying to decide what to do next - I could:

• Redo - Jillian's program - but instead of doing 1 set of all the circuits - do 2
• Have another go at the Ultra Fit program by Cindy ??? which has a lot of plyometrics - possibly more than Jillians. I tried this once before but found it too hard - maybe I'm better prepared for it now?
• Or do another 3 month block of straight weight training (ie low reps, high weights).

I wouldn't mind doing the last option, but I'm conscious of the fact that I'm in a weight loss challenge, so building muscle at the moment might not be my best choice - maybe I should keep more of a plyometric focus as it has the cardio benefits for fat loss?

What do you think?

I can run fast!

Weight 63.3
You have used 1324 out of your net daily budget of 1350 calories and have 26 calories remaining. 25% of the calories are from fat, 23% from protein, 52% from carbs and 0% from alcohol.
Exercise - 60 mins Combat, bench press et al!

Re my exercise - After Combat I still seemed to have plenty of energy, so whilst at home I decided to test myself out a bit. I have a few small goals, well, call them challenges that I would like to achieve. One day, I would like to be able to:

• do a chin up,
• a one handed push up,
• bench press much heavier weights
• And to perform the speed work necessary to run a 65 min 12 k.

So last night I decided to give them all a go, as I do on a regular basis.

The chin up - don't know what it is about this exercise, but I simply can't do it. I try and try with no results. I regularly walk past my chin up bar and have another go - but no luck. If anyone knows any good prep/build up exercises for this, please fill me in.

One handed push up. When I first tried this out, I remember asking my husband to look at what I was doing wrong. Did I have my hand in the wrong position? I asked, because I don't seem to be able to bend my elbow. He kinda laughed, and said, right position, your simply not strong enough! A little while back in combat I had a sore shoulder - so when it came to pushups, I did them one handed in a box press position, and realised this would be a good training method. But last night - I managed several mini ones - ie - my elbow did bend, but just not very much. Still, its a start

Bench press. I've never really done much of this, but a while back bought my own bench press. Keep meaning to workout on it and never really doing a lot consistently. I've been bench pressing 22kgs every now and then. And then I've been noticing a few people benching much more than me, yet I'm using heavier dumbells for curls etc. (usually 8 - 9 kgs). So - I decided that maybe I could press a lot more, I just wasn't trying. So I loaded another 10kgs onto the bar (no baby steps for me) - had a feel for it, lifted it up .....lowered it down.....and there it stayed! I couldn't lift it back up, and I was trapped! I know, I know - silly to do it without a spotter. Eventually I managed to roll it down to my abs, and twist and lower it to the ground. Took off the extra, add 3kgs this time bringing it up to 25kgs and managed 2 sets of 3. Well - its a start

Running. Now you have to understand that I'm a slow runner. Most of my running up till now has been focussed on running longer and pacing myself to make the distance. Last year I ran the C2B (12kms) in 72 mins - a PB for me. This year I've been dreaming about increasing my pace from 6min kms to 5.5 min kms (about 11km/hr) and running it in 65 mins. To do this, my running schedules tell me I need to be able to do speed work at a pace of 11.5 km/hr. I'm not planning on starting my real prep for this until June, but I thought - I wonder if I can actually do it? So I tried out 400 m at this pace and passed with flying colours. I've actually decided that I prefer to run fast. When I ran 12 kms two weeks ago, even though it was a long run, and the emphasis is meant to be on running slow and long, I started throwing in some accelerations, and I really loved the feeling. Last Saturday I talked about running pyramids in my long run, and i really enjoyed it. And over the last few months whilst I've restricted my running due to my hamstring injuries, I've been running in Cardio Coach, and doing very short sprint intervals, which I've loved. So today for cardio, I decided to try week one of the speedwork for the C2B - 6 x 400m sprints at 11.5km/hr, separated by 200m of walking. And I did it! It was hard work, and my calves are rather sore now, but I didn't give in to the tiredness, I pushed on and I did it. I'm so excited - I feel like I can actually run fast. It may not be fast for most, but its superfast for me, and I'm stoked.

Addit - For those interested in body composition - Muscle weight vs Fat weight

For those who are interested:
In my previous post about the Hydroxycut girl who was the same weight and height as me, but wearing size 16's (and I wear 10 - 12's) I wondered about my body image. I know I dont look as good as she does in her "after" photos, but I didn't think I looked as big as her "before".
I've since found her before and after measurements:

Waist - before - 35 inches
after - 25 inches
mine - 30 inches

Hips - before - 41 inches
after - 33 inches
mine - 38 inches

What does this mean?
Looking at these measurements it would appear that my shape is somewhere in between her before and afters, just like I thought.
Same weight and height - but clearly NOT the same body. The only explanation I can come for how the 65 kgs is distributed differently over the same sized frame is muscle mass. I must have a greater and hence more compact muscle mass. We always talk about muscle weighing more than fat - here's a good example. We have basically identicle BMI's, but based on these body measurements, I suspect we are not equally overweight.

My Body IS Changing

Weight - 63.7
You have used 269 out of your net daily budget of 1350 calories and have 1081 calories remaining. 34% of the calories are from fat, 18% from protein, 48% from carbs and 0% from alcohol.
Exercise - long run - 100mins (running intervals of 10 mins/3mins) Ave HR - 137

I guess I should have started posting my weight earlier so that you could have shared my joy at finally seeing the scales move in the right direction! Now before you panic too much about the calories - I actually ate over 1000 but because I used over 700 in exercise - Calorie King has adjusted the totals. Cant seem to work out a way of including my exercise and not having a report of the net cals. If anyone knows a way - let me know.

Long run on the treadmill yesterday- I planned to run outside but my garmin was dead - which meant I wouldn't be able to track my speed/distance etc - so resorted to the tready - and watched a movie at the same time!. I think I finally have my running legs back again - after a long lay - off with hamstring injuries. Ran 12 kms last weekend, and again this weekend, with no lasting effects, but I have been using run/walk intervals to ease me back into distances. Last week 6 mins/3 mins, this week 10 mins/3 mins and I found it relatively easy - so on the last 10 mins I kept going and ran a straight 20 mins. The next race I want to run is an 11km in a couple of weeks - I should be fine - will drop the intervals to 10:1 next time and I think I will feel ok. I have discovered however that what is causing me grief on the distance runs is not the HR, its not leg tiredness - I get bored! So this time I used running pyramids in my 10 min blocks to keep me on my toes - upping the speed by 0.5km/hr every min to the 5 min mark, then dropping it back down again the same way. Well - what can I say - it helped to pass the time!

Its good to see the weight drop today, but I should point out that I know my body has been changing regardless of the lack of change on the scales. Over the last 6 weeks my waist measurement has dropped 7cm, and is back to size it was when I was at goal weight - which was 6 kgs lighter! My thighs still remain stubbornly the same, but if my weight hasn't changed much, and my waist measurement is shrinking - and I'm fitting back into my goal weight clothes, I must have been gaining muscle I guess. Or at least I'm reducing abdominal bloat through good eating - eitherway , things are improving and my body is changing shape.

Time To Be Regular

No, I'm not talking about eating more fibre, I'm talking about posting more regularly.

I dont post very often these days, but I read everyone else's blog's diligently on a daily basis. And I get a lot from them, so I've been thinking that maybe I should be returning the favour by sharing more regularly. I've really been enjoying KatieP's daily Calorie King/weight updates, and whilst I dont want to copycat, since I have got so much out of it, I thought I might do the same for a while, so at least Katiep is returned the favour!

So here's mine from yesterday

Weight - 64.0

You have used 1378 out of your net daily budget of 1350 calories and have -28 calories remaining. 47% of the calories are from fat, 17% from protein, 37% from carbs and 0% from alcohol.

As you can see, yesterday was a bad day nutritionally (check out my fat/protein ratios)

Here's the reason why:

I am on a weight loss challenge with some friends at work - I am a part of a team of 4. I lost 1.9kgs in the first week - mainly due to my conscious water loading on the weekend prior, and since then have struggled to lose anything. In reality, my weight has stagnated around 64.3 kgs for about the last 6 weeks (except for my weight gain spike in the middle of this when the challenge started). I have eaten relatively well on a consistent basis, and exercised (cardio and weights) as I should. But regardless of what happens (walking marathons etc) it will not budge. This week out of desperation - I tried to shake things up. On Wed, I hit myself with a double header of an exercise session - RPM (spin) followed by Combat. Over these two hours I kept my HR at and average of 85% - no result. The next day - I thought I try and eat a whole range of different foods - things my body's not used to - same weight next morning, despite throwing in an extra hour of walking late at night on the treadmill. Yesterday - I thought I'd take a leaf out of Katiep's book and try a paleo day. This was so hard that I ended up over my calorie allowance - I kept eating more because I was so hungry! And no change on the weight. Yesterday, I was due for a long run in the morning, but I got up feeling tired and achey, and just didn't want to go. A quick recount of my exercise days and I realised I hadn't had a rest day for 8 days. So I deferred my long run to the next day. And kinda let down the front on the nutrition side as well out of crankiness over my plateau. I ate chocolate, potato chips and my favourite icecream - a Giant Twin. Of course I only ate the chocolate and chips in small quantities (a 20g mini pack and a couple of small Easter eggs), hence I stayed close to my calorie allowance.

Anyway - despite the high fat and no exercise my weight this morning is on the brink of dropping below 64. Normally this sort of stubborn weight issue wouldn't bother me so much, but because of the weight challenge I feel like I'm letting the side down. I'm determined not to weigh in again at the gym until I have something to show for it!

Lastly - this ad in Oxygen is doing my head in.

Its an ad for hydroxycut - no big deal - but its the girls weight/size that is confusing me. She is the same height as me - and in her before photo - essentially the same weight. In the article they talk about her getting up to a whopping 65kgs and a size 16 (or words to that effect), suggesting that she is grossly overweight. My issue is that at the same height and weight, I am definitely not a size 16 - I wear between a 10 - 12 - and its only the chest that puts me into a size 12. What the **** - How can this be - do I just wear my clothes too tight? Am I grossly overweight and cant see it? I don't think I look as thin as she is at 45 kgs, but I also don't think I'm as big as she looks at 65. Aggh - I have so many body image issues, I'm not sure what's accurate any more. I know I'm not within a healthy weight range - but people ridicule me when I say I plan to lose more weight. Body fat measurements are all over the place - with skin fold calipers telling me I'm at 17 - 18% and my scales telling me I'm at 42% (I know my scales are wrong - the scales at the gym put me under 30%). So who knows? I also think I probably have a kg or two of excess skin around the middle which I think causes havoc with body fat calcs on the scales. Others tell me my weight is higher due to my muscle mass....

I know in the end it doesn't matter - I just have to make a decision for me, based on what I see in the mirror. And I know I am fit and healthy - with the blood pressure of a teenager, a resting heart rate in the low 40's. I really should just get over myself!