Progress report

I really shouldn't call this a progress report coz I haven't made any progress :(
I have been sick now for over 2 weeks. It started out with a severe migraine (and no meds for it), with a vomitting bug and severe periods with heavy bleeding - altogether at once at 2am in the morning. A trip to the hospital by ambulance, 3 days in bed, ultrasounds and bloodtests, low blood pressure, no energy yada yada yada. I get results tomorrow .
I've just been going through the motions of life, dinner a day to day thing rather than weekly planning and just getting through work let alone thinking about the gym. Boo!
I'm feeling a lot better but still not 100% but my back is spasming so i've got to get back to doing weights.
Today I will organise food, menus etc and psyche myself for the gym tomorrow night. So unfortunately I should call this post "report" and not "progress report"
No pity party here though, I will get on top of it!
Have a good week !

Project Life

I finally received my PL kit in the mail! I didnt decide to do this project until towards the end of January so I didnt have a lot of photos to choose from. I'm more aware now of taking photos!!

Future pages will be more interesting!

I've Finished It !!!

I actually finished the 6 day Duigin detox diet (don't laugh, i know it was only 6 days but there were NO carbs at all!).

I lost 4kg of toxic bloat and did end up with a flat stomach (well mainly upper stomach, still have to work on the below belly button area) and in clothes I look totally flat!  My muffin top has diminished as well.
Duigan reckons you get heaps on energy but I disagree.  Totally no carbs drained me.  So now I'm keeping on this lifetyle way of eating but adding my multigrain oats made on water in the morning and a complex carb an hour or so before my workouts.  I'm also adding avocado, nuts, flaxseed oil/olive oil as well. And, don't forget my skim soy capaccino once a day!
I went to a family christening yesterday and back at the reception the food was never ending.  So I chose a chicken breast which I took the skin off, salad no dressing and for desert I ate fresh fruit (the choices for desert were ridiculously sumptuous).  I drank 3 bottles of water so I was the designated driver.
I felt great.  So my main focus is clean and lean foods only and only 2/3 serves of clean complex carbs a day.  I'm hitting the gym this week (I tried last week but felt awful on the first night because of the no carb thing and I had to keep my energy for my work).

Have  great week everyone!

Happy Birthday to me !!

It was my birthday on Thursday - 2nd February and I turned 48 !!! So now I'll have to change the name of my blog.

Unfortunately, I had to work and I did 2 jobs so I was tired when I got home. Normally at our house the birthday person chooses their favourite dinner and gets their favourite birthday cake but I opted not to. Why? I've been on a 6 day detox/tummy flattening diet since Monday. I had put on nearly 5kg over Christmas/New Year/school hols/Australia Day! OMG - bloat city.

So I bought a book that dear hubby Phil talked about last Christmas. I didn't buy it then coz I knew he wouldn't go on it and thought it a waste of money. It's the James Duigan Clean and Lean Flat Tummy Fast. After 4 days I've lost 3kg!!! All bloating has gone and it feels great. There's no secret magic to it - just lean protein and (certain) salad/veg for 5 meals a day, water, green tea, fih oil tabs, fibre powder, vitamin tab. Next week I will add 2/3 serves of complex carbs (oats, sweet potatoes, allbran cereal (need that one!) and my beloved skim soy capaccino! The book is well presented and had some great recipes and wasn't expensive so it served as a motivator.

Another motivator was meeting one of my idols - Shannon Ponton - one of the trainers from Biggest Loser (Australia). It was pure luck to meet him coz there were so many people there and I was in the right spot at the right time. My picture even made the local papers. Needless to say its on the fridge and I have saved a few copies!

My 9 yo Daniel is in the picture but my other kids were too cool to go up!!! Shannon is such a powerhouse and everytime I've waivered this week i just look to the photo on the fridge for inspiration!

Have a good weekend everyone!

White Tea

You may remember me banging on about my back/pelvis problems?? !!!! Well every so often it gets so unbearable or sometimes I even "pop" a back rib out (OMG I feel as though someone is stabbing a hot knife into my lungs and muscles). I then go to my "muscle whisperer".  I have been to many, many massage therapists/chiros in my time but Denis is the only one that has ever done magic! I have only found him recently (within the last 12 months).  I would go to him more regularly but I cant really afford it.  He's not that expensive its just that my health benefit only gives me $10 back out of $80 and there is an annual limit to claim.  However, I will make more of an effort to see him this year.
Anyway, as he was "talking" to my muscles we got talking about health/diet/weights (I don't know how he hears me when Im talking into a hole in the table, but it is quiet in there) and he was talking about acid/alkaline foods.  He said the best thing you can drink is white tea.  I'm going to google this but I remember him saying its good for your gastro system, flushes out toxins and stops the bloating.  Thinking it was going to cost a bomb as I've neve seen it before, he said you can get it from Coles.  So as soon as I walked out from my massage I went straight to Coles and found it!  $3.59 for a pack of 25.  He said to drink 6 cups a day (you can do 2 cups at a time with the same teabag).  This is what i'll be doing next Monday. 

My diet and weight training has stalled - i've decided to wait til the kids go back to school on Monday to get back into a routine. I go back to work full time then. We have Austalia Day on Thursday 26th Jan and we are having a big street party - need I say more!! If I find some good info on white tea I will post the link. I'm also waiting for my Project Life to arrive so I start that - wish it would hurry. I put on a self tan last night - i just love Naked Tan - it makes me look slimmer and my arms a bit more toned - gotta love that!

Just to clarify

Even though I rant and rave about my unwanted and unwelcomed long term borders aka muffin top and gut,  I need to clarify something about my previous photo of said culprits in my white jeans.  I do not look like this normally - see photo below.

Its only when I squash them into something that they clearly don't fit into!!! Not to say that they're not there - they are lurking under there - just spread out evenly!!!

Just to clarify .......

Goals 2012

I don’t feel like its a race against time to get in shape for an occasion this year.  I’m not going to continue with Bodytrim at the moment.  I will focus on a 4040/20 macros for my diet but if the carbs are stalling my weightloss I might try 50/30/20 for a while.  So, I have an ultimate goal in my mind and as soon as I find a photo that depicts my mind’s image I will post it!

But, in my first goal I am including my skin.  It was really great before we went away but with the sun, beach not so good diet, lots of alcohol and not drinking my usual 2-3 litres of water a day, my skin has suffered.  I have worked hard to reverse the damage caused by sunbaking and smoking as a teenager and in my 20’s  and have had fantastic results (no “procedure” or botox or fillers! – just good health, exercise and some fantastic, albeit expensive, face creams). So working on that is a must! 

I have recorded  my stats – not stressing on these – just as a comparison for later on. I will post them next blog.

So, goals for 2012 - Healthy, Healthy, Healthy!
Phase 1 – to fit into these:-


Nothing special about these pants.  They are a size 10.  When I bought them before Christmas they were just a tad snug – no real serious muffin top – if I wore a hip length top there was no probs.  Can’t say that now !!!  Yikes!!

I am aiming for 8 weeks – I’ve really got to start my metabolism firing again. I am doing a 4 day split lifting weights with 30mins interval cardio – xtrainer or tready.  Clean eating and maybe a cheat of a couple of low carb beers. I'm hoping that because I'm not dieting for a specific date I won't feel so pressured and anxious about it and not become obsessed about it.  I want this year to actually enjoy the ride and feel the benefits and be encouraged by the healthy aspects and just feel great.
So, 12^th March will complete phase 1 and I will set phase 2 before then!

Bring it on!