If at first you don't succeed.

Weight watchers has always been my program of choice. After the birth of Izz I joined up but having a newborn, plus trying to track, eat well and do this on little sleep was almost impossible and I felt really disheartened and quit after not very long at all.

One of the things I truly believe about ww is that you need to go to meetings. The group support, the knowledge that you HAVE to step on those scales, the lessons the leader goes through with you ever week are imvaluable in keeping you motivated.

Tonight I went to my first meeting. I stepped on the scales for a weigh in of 116.6kgs. I started to think, holy shit, but then I stopped myself. Am I really surprised? No. I currently know most of the ice cream flavours currently available at Baskin Robins, I don't need to see a menu when I go to Hogs Breath as I know what I want to order, I have a game of how many scollops am I going to get when I order from the local fish and chip shop (they always give you more than you order). These are all very strong indications that I infact, have been eating *shit* and that when you eat shit, exercise sporadically and eat more shit, you ARE going to put on weight.

Opps, had to save that draft and come back. Now where was I.

So my reality was there, in numbers. But I am not ashamed. I am frustrated with myself, I am exasperated that I have gotten to this weight again when I strongly believed that I had seen those numbers for the last time. But having Izz, I have this new appreciation for my body. I could never resent what its done for me. I mean I literally grew and birthed a human baby, from that moment I developed a complete sense of awe.

What I know I need to do now, is remember that the wonderful things it does for me need to be repaid with looking after it. I will never be ashamed of my body again. The first few days have been tough, Ill be honest. But I am getting there. The sugar cravings are probably the worst. But I have some ww low point sugary snacks in the house to help tide me through the worst of it.

So bring on Tuesday and my next weigh in. :)

Take Care,
Megs xox

Where have you been?!?!?

Woah.

Where have I been, looking back and seeing my last post was the 2nd March 2012 is completely mind blowing. I guess, in light of everything, my fitness and especially my blog got lost.

So what has happened:

I suppose the most wonder and extraordinary thing is that I am now a mother. To a beautiful little girl who is 9 months today. Her name is Isobel and she is absolutely the light of my life. I got my positive pregnancy test in March, so it must have been not long after that post that I got it, and life changed forever. She was born at 39+2 weeks and a very healthy 3.5kgs. I managed to keep my weight gain to 10kgs the entire pregnancy, although I did have some issues with breathing related to her being so intent on sitting on my diaphragm. All in all though, it was a great pregnancy, and a great natural birth.

Secondly, we moved AGAIN. We sold our house in NSW and moved back to Sunny QLD and its capital of Brisbane. We live in the northern suburbs, we bought and its a great little house.

Thirdly, and not related to weight loss haha, I lost one of my beautiful cats to leukemia in Jan. It was very much a surprise and I was heartbroken. In may we brought home a new little kitten Delilah, who is so very sweet and lovely. All white, and very mischevious.

So fitness wise?
Despite only gaining 10kg, it was through no active interventions of being healthy, or active. I pretty much ate what I could (had yucky all day nausea up until about 16 weeks) and I just worked, ate, and slept. As I got more pregnant and due to some issues with my breathing I could hardly walk 500m without needing to sit down from breathlessness so fitness went on the wayside too. From 24weeks to 36 weeks I was also spending a lot of time living in a hotel unit with S while he made the work transition up here, we spent less than a month in total I reckon at home during that time. So food, again, was pretty poor.

Once I had Izz, I lost quite a bit and ended up getting down to 102kgs, but the bad habits I had picked up during pregnancy just continued and as of now, I am 114.8kgs, which is really not cool.
Yesterday I finally bit the bullet and went and saw a dietician. She has started me on a 1500cal food plan. Lots of easy meals, and yummy (non eat lettuce only) salads. I tried Michelle Bridges, round two, but I found her food too "fancy" and too limiting for what Steve and I eat. I thought about doing weight watches again but having recently also returned to work as an RN in an aged care facility, I simply don't have time to sit and meticulous with my tracking. The dietician was great though, we set some exercise goals as well, (at least 30mins of mod intensity six days a week) and I feel good!

So hopefully, this will see the new turnaround.
Take Care,
Megs xoxo

A cold bath isn't for the faint hearted..

On Tuesday I ordered myself some compression pants, I have seen them but a friend alerted me of a sale and who can resist a good bargin. I managed to get two pairs for less than half price. I was a bit skeptical as the compression pants I had tried on before were too squishy (the idea being that they are TIGHT), but these arrived yesterday and while they are a firm fit, they defintely leave some of my shape to the imagination which I appreciate and they sit really well on my hips and around my butt (my biggest area haha). I loved them that much, I ordered another pair last night. This morning I decided to take them on a date to the gym, S came along (I called him a third wheel for good measure, but really it was great to see him at the gym :) ) I did 4.6k on the espresso bikes (basically a bike connected to a network where you can log in and record your data, it also has set courses to challenge you if you want). I then jumped on the treadmill to test out my flat running (I have been pushing the hills this week) and I settled on a pace that alternated between 9min/km and 8min/km, alternating speeds as I felt my body wax and wane. I ended up doing 4.05k all up, in 36mins - on Thursday I did 3.5k of hills and it took 35mins, so thats quite an improvement. My 3k hill time on Wednesday was 28mins and I did the 3k on the treadmill in 26min15seconds, another improvement.

So I am progressing. I have also decided not to weigh myself weekly anymore. I am weighing in once a month (on the 14th) and it will be what it is. I am atm more focused on fitness, rather than a diet per se. Two and a bit years of different programs have done my head in. I am booked in to see an endochronologist on the 16th April to discuss my underactive thyroid (autoimmune hashimoto's) and my poly cystic ovarian sydrome, both which hinder weight loss and cause rapidweight gain. Ill just go on, trying to make good food choices until then and see what weight I am.

I still have the fun run on the 16th March as well, which I am started to get excited/nervous about. Ill keep up the intensity running next week and then week of the race Ill probably drop back to one or two runs and then race day!

As for the title, one suggestion I have and its not for the faint hearted. After you exert your muscles, you get microtears in the muscles which causes bleeding (inflammation) and slow onset pain (the pain you get a day or two later) in your muscles. My suggestion, jump in a cold bath. It reduces inflammation to the area and is a nice way to cool down. But, its kinda a bitch ;-)

Stay tuned,
Megs xx

I am so proud of myself..

Took my beautiful dog Sassy out for a run with me this afternoon. We did a hill session, 3k in total. Took 28mins. Am very happy. She loved every minute of it, shes a very active breed of dog!

I also bought a diary so I can keep a hardcopy of my distances each week, only bought it the other day so can add the first entry today.

I feel even more proud of my acomplishment because I went after work, even though I was very tired. Go team!

Stay tuned,
Megs xx

And the verdict is...

That a controlled 1600 cal diet agrees with me. I lost 900gms this week. Total loss has headed back up to 18.7kgs. Cant argue with that :)

Stay tuned,
Megs xx

Shaking things up...

When I first joined the biggest loser online club you got to pick the level of weight loss you wanted per week and that equaled the amount of calories that you would be given to eat. I choose to try and stick to as close to what I would be eating at my goal weight, which in hindsight wasnt a very good idea. I'll admit, one of my biggest fears is being hungry, I dont know why, I have never been in a situation where I havent had access to food (financially or environmentally). Yet, I have this mindset where I would rather have as much food as I can possibly eat so that I dont have that feeling of hunger. So intially, based on my basal metabolic rate, my job and the type of program I wanted they gave me 2300 calories a day. I was cheering, I could eat that, no worries and I wouldnt be hungry. Problem is when you have such a high limit, when you go over it you have very little wiggle room. I am very good at rationalising poor food choices out in my mind and I would have extra in the guise that I would compensate with exercise, but in those weeks I wasnt exercising as hard, because of factors I have mentioned before (new job, new town etc). This combination has seen me really stall, I put on those few extra pesky kg's over christmas and was starting to become really frustrated that  my weight wasnt doing anything, I was also starting to get that bloated look which is quite common when I eat alot of heavy foods like bread.
Friday is now my weigh in day and on Saturday I began my new calorie adjustment, I brought it right down to 1600cals. Thats still above the minimum 1200cals for women, but more realistic in kickstarting the weight loss. The first day went really well, I did have "hunger" feelings, but nothing more than a sensation that if I ate it would be because I was hungry and not because I had to use up my calories. Interestingly enough, my food choices were more concious as well, I had this smaller limit and I was reaching for fruit as snacks, rather than savory items which I am quite partial too. I had to weigh in this morning for the 1million kg challenge and I have lost 400gms in three days, I am VERY excited by this. I have also done two good workouts so far and even though I have been tired, I have made progress to recommitting to keeping up my fitness levels. I have always said I want to be fit more than I want to be skinny :)

Stay Tuned,
Megs x

Now thats the Megs I know...

First run in 1-1.5months. Did 3.5kms, burnt 400 cals. It was a beautiful early morning run outside, foggy and slightly overcast, very picture perfect. How happy do I look :)

Stay Tuned,

Megs xx