I forgot again. I went out today for a quick 5k, and forgot that last time I did that after night duty and having not drunk my water the day before, I felt like crap. So it happened again.
Hey, at least I recognised what was happening this time! And kept going. Despite the severe waves of nausea. And having to jump over fallen trees and mud patches after the worst week of storms I can remember. We didn’t lost any house parts, but lots of people around us and in The Gap did. Not much fun.
Posted on November 23rd, 2008 by primm
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You’ve heard the story about the frog in the boiling water, right? You know, how if you put a frog into boiling water it will jump out, but if you start with cold water and gradually increase the temperature the frog will stay there until it cooks to death.
Well, for me, weight gain was like that. I went along obliviously gaining, not realising that my clothes were increasing in size and my waistline was expanding. Actually at some level I did realise, but didn’t really care enough to do anything about it.
But then one day I woke up. And decided that if I wanted to enjoy my life to its utmost, I had to do something about my weight and my overall state of health. So I hit 3FC, started running, and the rest is history. Or history in the making anyway, because this little black duck is a work in progress.
Fortunately the frog analogy works in reverse as well. For the last 4 months I’ve been seeing the numbers on the scales get lower, watching the tape measure tighten around my waist, and noticing that my clothes are getting looser. A lot looser in fact, so much so that I’ve had to buy new smaller clothes. Including a gorgeous black lace dress the other day in a size 14! I haven’t worn a 14 since before I had kids, and M graduated from high school the other day.
But when I look in the mirror I still see the fat chick, with rolls on rolls and her muffin top hanging over her size 18 jeans. Not a good look! People at work have been telling me I look skinnier, but you know how sometimes you think your friends are telling you what they think you want to hear? Yep, that’s me.
Until I took photos. You see, when I started this journey back in March 2008 I took photos. So I would be able to see the change. Farsighted of me, wasn’t it? So on Friday I took some more.
I freely admit to some trepidation when I was processing them. I hadn’t looked at the old photos for a long time, and I honestly believed there wouldn’t be much difference. I was telling myself that I didn’t want to know, because if the difference wasn’t noticeable I would be disappointed.
But I was pleasantly surprised! Gobsmacked I believe is the word. Call me vain, but I can’t stop looking at my photos. There is such a significant change that if the world were to end tomorrow and I was told I wasn’t allowed to lose any more weight ever, I would be disappointed but reasonably happy with my efforts.
So, enough talk. On with the slide show!
Can I just say first that I think I even look happier. I may be imagining that, but the person in the second set is more relaxed and comfortable in her own skin.
The beginning. 98 kg (just a shade over 216 lb).
And…the middle. 10.8 kg down to 87.2 (23.8 lb, to 192.2 lb). Here you go:
Like I said, a work in progess. But a fair amount of progression has occurred so far! And I feel great - more energy, my skin feels clearer, my hair and nails are shinier - I sound like a bad midnight infomercial for some overpriced cream or tablets, don’t I? Sorry about that.
Cheers chickies!
Posted on November 17th, 2008 by primm
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And had my first assessment session.
Thoughts: I’m cardio-vasularly fitter than I thought I was. Well, not strictly true. I knew I’d improved, but I probably didn’t realise the extent. I was honest when he asked if I was working hard, though.
My upper body strength is pathetic. Seriously, honestly pathetic. I can’t do bicep curls with anything heavier than 5kg. True. I can’t physically bend my left elbow with a 6kg weight in my hand. No matter how hard I try!
I went back tonight and did my 5k on the treadmill. I think I’ll try and keep getting up early and doing it outside though. It was a lot easier on the treadmill, and I think I’ll improve faster and get stronger if I run outside. Still, the air conditioning and the lack of humidity was very nice. I’ll keep that as a backup plan.
Posted on November 6th, 2008 by primm
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I learned something today. Well, two somethings actually.
1/ Don’t exercise on an empty stomach.
b) Letting yourself get dehydrated on one day impacts on how your body works the next day.
Yesterday was crap, work-wise. I did a 12 hour shift in one room with one other staff member. For those of you following at home, this means that we had to organise our breaks around everyone else, as we are meant to have two staff members in the room all the time. Not so hard if you have 8 babies and 4 staff, not so easy with 4 babies and 2 staff. So lunch was at 3:30 pm, and I didn’t drink any water all day.
Oh, and I got up at 3:30 am to watch the Brazillian Grand Prix. Because it was the last race of the season, and the championship was right down to the wire. Congrats to little Lewis Hamilton, by the way!
But I digress. So I got up this morning at 7:30, well over an hour after I was planning to. It was starting to warm up already, but I went to the track and started jogging. My plan/C25K schedule today was 4k or 10 laps.
How many did I manage? SIX! That’s all, folks. By then my feet were dragging, my lungs were burning and I was gulping down the contents of my empty stomach. I gave up and walked home.
Six laps was (relatively!) easy last week! So what went wrong? Sleep deprivation, too-warm weather, not enough water and no nutrition. That’s my theory, anyway. And I’m usually right - just ask my husband…
So today has been spent drinking water, eating healthy and relaxing (it’s my day off, and A’s as well. We went to see “Burn After Reading - freakin’ hilarious!) And tomorrow I’ll start off the right way, with something to eat. And plenty of the good old H2O. And we’ll see what happens.
Oh, and I plan to contact a couple of gyms as well. If I don’t want to get up at 4:30 am to go for a run, the weather is in danger of becoming far too hot and humid for this little black duck.
Posted on November 4th, 2008 by primm
Filed under: Fitness, Nutrition, Tips and hints | No Comments »
OK, so I’ve been good. I just haven’t been good at updating this blog! But I’m back.
Eating and exercising are proceeding as planned. And the really cool bit? People are starting to notice! At work and socially I am getting comments. Mostly because I’m losing all the fatty flabby bits from around my face and neck. I have a collarbone! And a defined jaw! Two things that have been sadly absent in recent years.
I ran a 5k last weekend. Well, not strictly true, it was more of a 6k. Because the lazy bugger who was supposed to tell us 5k’ers when to turn around was sitting in his car reading a paper, so I ran straight past him. All the way up the “killer hill” that was at the 3k mark. It was then that the mathematical part of my brain kicked in and reminded me that half of 5 was 2.5, so if I was at the 3k mark then I had obviously gone too far…oops!
And I have no idea about time either. It took me 49 minutes to run/walk 6k, get a drink, have a bit of a chat and then realise that I hadn’t turned the stopwatch on my HRM off. Oops again. Must have been having a bit of a blonde day.
C25K is going well. I’m up to Week 6, Day 3 tomorrow. I’ve got a little off plan due to work and stuff, but I’m only a day behind. I’ve finished all the sessions with walk breaks, now it’s just a matter of extending my running time until I can go the whole distance. And then working on my time. And believe me, that’s going to need a whole lot of work.
So now to bed. Cheers chickies!
Posted on November 2nd, 2008 by primm
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I’ve started to slip a little bit. I was pretty sick with the flu, then a chest infection that lingered for weeks and weeks, but now I’m better.
So I have no excuse for the fact that I’ve done no exercise (yep, that’s right. Zip, zilch, nada, nothing!) for the last few weeks.
Oh, I keep thinking about it. And feeling guilty that I haven’t done it, but that doesn’t get me out there! So today that stops. I’m going for a run now, then doing some housework.
And the eating thing hasn’t been going so well either. I’m down under 200 lb (woohoo!) and I think I got to that goal, didn’t set another so my pea-sized motivational brain decided that was where I wanted to stop, so I did! Nice dose of excuse-related thinking, huh?
Well, that’s over. Today is where it ends. And I’m going back on points, because this started when I switched to Core. I’m not saying the change caused me to lose it (motivation, NOT weight!) but the two events are now associated in my brain, so I have to separate them.
And I’m going to blog more, too. Every. Single. Day. Without excuses and without exception. You guys will help me keep going this time, right?
Deep breath, here goes again…
Posted on September 20th, 2008 by primm
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The reason I chose the Points program to begin with is that I am a grazer. I can eat more or less continually throughout the day, and never stop. Not a good thing, and a major contributing factor to my weight.
I switched to Core because it is more like I would like to be - eating the right foods, eating when I am hungry but not starving, and stopping when I am satisfied but not full. But I’m not sure it’s the right way to go for me.
Having a pantry and fridge full of Core foods is one thing, but I need to know when to stop. And I think that’s going to be difficult for me. Today I entered all my food into Calorie King as well, just to see how I was going. And I managed to stay under 1600 calories and 45 gm of fat, which isn’t too bad. But let me tell you, it was hard! I had to consciously make myself drink water when what I really wanted was another tub of yoghurt or piece of fruit.
Maybe that’s the whole point though. I need to learn to stop. Or more importantly, not to start eating in the first place if I’m not really hungry. See, after all that, I didn’t go overboard. And I did just drink water when I wasn’t sure if I was hungry or just thirsty. So I didn’t do anything “off plan”.
I’ll give it a month. They (you know, the ubiquitous “they” that lurk in the deepest darkest corners of the internet!) say a habit takes 28 days to form or be broken. So 30 days should be enough. And by then I’ll have retrained my mind to only eat when I’m hungry, and to stop when I’ve finished.
Posted on September 3rd, 2008 by primm
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Today I’m 92.1 kg. That’s 1.1 down from last week, and a total loss of 5.9 kg in 7 weeks. Not too shabby, considering I’ve been pretty sick for 2 of those weeks!
I’m restarting the C25K program today. 9 weeks until the end of October, and I’ll be running a 5k by then. Oh, and I’ve switched to the Weight Watchers Core program as well. Time to start learning to stop eating when I’m full, and eat the right foods, rather than have some artificially determined portion size tell me how much I can eat. It’s time to get in touch with me!
Wish me luck…
Posted on September 1st, 2008 by primm
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I’ve had an epiphany. All these years, all this time, the multiple attempts (some successful, some not-so!) to lose weight, and it’s suddenly occurred to me.
See, previously I’ve been looking for motivation. I’ve looked externally and internally, with internet forums, weight loss support groups and meditation. I’ve hunted high and low for that magical motivating factor, the one thing that was going to jump out and hit me over the head, resulting in everlasting weight loss and the release of the skinny chick inside me just waiting to come out.
But all this time it wasn’t motivation I needed. What I need in this journey to a healthier me isn’t something to make me do it. Motivation isn’t the answer. As the NIKE ads tell us, I just need to do it!
If I was to wait for motivation to strike, I’d still be at my beginning weight. You see, I want to lose weight, but I don’t want to have to work at it. I want it to just happen.
Well guess what people? THAT IS NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN! It is hard work. Planning, organising, exercising, buying new clothes as the old ones get smaller, it all takes work. And money. And it is NEVER going to get easy.
But sometimes you have to work hard for something. If it were easy, everyone would be doing it, and the sense of achievement I feel at being 4.8kg (10.5 lb) lighter than I was 2 months ago would not exist. I wouldn’t know the exhilarating feeling of staggering through the jogging components of the Couch to 5K program. I wouldn’t realise how empowering it is to say no to food that I know is unhealthy, high in fat and sugar, and that I don’t really want because I am still full from lunch.
This is a ramble. And a lot of you, especially those who have been around these parts for a while have already realised this. I apologise, but I just needed to let you all know that I now realise as well! Due in no small part to the wonderful people on this forum, I might add.
So there you go. Ruth’s realisation for the week. Motivation doesn’t exist. Just do it! 
Posted on August 29th, 2008 by primm
Filed under: General, Tips and hints | 4 Comments »
It’s official. According to all the measures I could find, like measuring my wrist with my middle finger and thumb (they overlap!) and doing my elbow measurements as on this site, my bones are small. Not large. Small. Which means that I have absolutely no excuses left!
Sure, I could pull out the “I’m tall, so I carry my weight well” line. How many times in history has that one been done, do you think? But I’m not going to fall for it. It may be true, but it’s not accurate. So now I have to revise my goal from 74 kg (the upper limit of my “good BMI range”) to 63 kg. Holy crap! I haven’t been that small since I was about 16.
We’ll see what happens, but for now, that’s my target. That and running the Bridge to Brisbane 10k in September 2009. Yep, run. All the way, start to finish. See you at the line.
I’m going to be tall, slim and gorgeous! So there…
Posted on August 22nd, 2008 by primm
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