4WFF THE FINALE!!

Well, this post is long overdue! I have been so busy with things lately, that it just didn't happen! 

And then, to add to things, I forgot to take "after" pictures! Now its too late, as I have been on holidays where a kitchen and general healthy eating options were at a minimum! So......I will post my "after" pics at the end of this month instead!! 

Firstly I want to say a MASSIVE THANK YOU to Christine Tinslay from Bod Squad Personal Training! 

If you haven't already, you HAVE to check out her Facebook page and her Website! This woman is a genius! She makes everything make sense! She seriously explains WHAT to do and then WHY! She doesn't just give you a menu and exercise plan and say "stick to it for the best results", she teaches life skills! Things like how to make the best choices within your own tastes, how to exercise effectively and to gain the best results, how to live a "normal" life while keeping fit and healthy and making the best possible choices everyday!

So, my results.....

In my 4 weeks...despite a nasty case of the flu and a visit to hospital with Mini Miss, and several other interruptions.....I lost.... 

3.8kg!!! 

AND......

4cm off my waist, 1.5cm off my thighs, 3.5cm off my hips....


So despite not following her program "perfectly" I still lost weight and cm's! I feel better. I recovered from the flu quicker than I normally do. Even with the recent holiday splurge, I have jumped straight back into the menu and exercise planning, the making good choices and the following the general rules of Chriss's program. Not because I feel I have to, but because I want to. Next month I will be signing up once again, and will set myself a whole new lot of goals and aims. Then, hopefully I will be fully equipped with all the tools I need to do this long term life journey.I am under no illusions that the kind of weight loss I need will happen overnight. In fact, I am giving myself 12 months to lose most of the weight. During this time I will be lucky enough to have access to not only Chriss, but a wonderful group of people on the same journey via a Facebook group. This online access to support from other people in various stages of their journey, sharing successes, failures, recipes, tips and hints, seeking support and help from each other is great. It helps to know you are not alone. It helps to talk to others and get advice. It helps to have others cheering you on!

I am so so grateful to my wonderful Melbourne bestie for pointing me in Chriss's direction. It was a life changing action and decision. It has given me the knowledge, motivation and skills I need to do this once and for all! You knew what I needed and pointed me in exactly the right direction!

So my 2nd MASSIVE THANK YOU heads out to you bestie!! 

You know who you are! We have been through so much together, and I cannot and do not want to imagine life without you! A constant source of strength for me despite your own struggles....A person could not find a better friend who ALWAYS has others best interests at heart! 

So yay!! For now the official challenge is over.....but really it has just begun. Can I truly put into action what I have learnt? Once a month I will check in and let you know how I am going. Life is busy. It can be a great excuse. But I refuse to let that happen. 

My family and friends deserve and need the healthiest me I can be, so that is what I am aiming for!!!

4WFF - Middle of Week 3

So we are in the middle of week 3, heading for a weigh in just 2 days...Do I think I will have lost more? Gee I hope so! 

I still haven't been "Perfect", but I am, for the most part, following the "rules". 

I feel more energetic. In fact, I feel more awake than I have in months. I have had a cold for the last week and a bit, but even that is clearing up quicker than normal. Rather than losing my voice for a week or more, it was a couple of days. Today, I almost feel better! I even went for a nice long walk this afternoon! First REAL exercise in a week.

More than just feeling physically well though, mentally I am in a better place. I know that I am still on Anti depressants, but now I am on the lowest dose. No, I attribute the feeling mentally better to a lot of things, including the change of diet and being more physical. I have said before I wasn't aware of just how many carbs I was consuming. Well, I think reducing them has not only lightened me, but lightened the darkness in my mind. I am not sure I can explain it properly, but....eating mostly the right foods, with only the occasional "bad" food, rather than the other way around has left me feeling less fuzzy, able to think more clearly. 

Fueling my body with the foods it needs, and regular exercise, has helped me in ways I didn't think of.

That's not to say this has somehow "cured" me. No, but it has HELPED. 

So, the importance of eating right and exercising, or at the very least, MOVING your body regularly, is for so much more than physical health. Its for overall health. 

This "life change" will stay around forever. It will change my life so completely, that it won't feel like a change soon. It will just feel like the regular way of life. I know this, because it has come at a time when everything in our lives is FINALLY falling into place.

Hubby has a full time job after being out of work for 14 months (so so proud and happy!!). Miss Teen has settled into high school and new friends, and is focusing on her passion. Mini Miss has settled into a good routine (FINALLY!!) and is happy. 

And me? Well, things keep changing. I am not a fan of change, this is not a secret. But all for the positive. This life change. Work is changing. God is moving me into serving our church in ways I never thought I would, and I am loving it. 

Yeah, for the first time in a very long time, despite certain stresses, and still my dark days.....

I AM LOVING LIFE!!!

4WFF.....Mid Week 2 Disappointment

The last few days, to be honest, have been a disaster. The wheels have fallen off. 

If there was a 4 week Fat Flush Wagon, I just fell off and got left in the dust. 

I feel awful. I feel like I am letting people down, like I am letting Chriss down.....and I am definitely letting myself down......

This disaster is not Chriss's fault. It is not the programs fault. In fact, the program teaches you exactly how to deal with situations like this....I am just bad at managing it...

See, this last week our Mini Miss has been very sick. This has lead to a few very loooong nights and unplanned trips to the doctor, chemist etc. 

I am good at planning. Sunday night I sat down and wrote up a menu plan for the week. That included breakfast, lunch and dinner. Snacks were also included. I scheduled time for exercise. Sounds like good planning and organising right? 

Wrong. 

As soon as something unexpected and unplanned came along, all that was forgotten. A big lack of sleep 4 nights in a row has left me completely exhausted, unmotivated and unable to get myself going again. I do not cope well at all without enough sleep. I become moody and grumpy. I become unreasonable. I become physically exhausted and everything requires the biggest effort to get moving again. I need at least 6 hours sleep a night to function properly. I have not got that this week.

A good example is Tuesday where I had to rush Mini Miss to the Doctor before I started work at 2pm. I ran around getting everything organised for her to be with Gran for a couple of hours, I got my work stuff ready. I rushed out of the house. I was seriously worried about her. I forgot about lunch or at the very least afternoon tea. I had nothing. Come 2pm I was more than a little hungry, of course. I felt sick as I hadn't eaten since 7am that morning. The last week I have been careful to have small regular meals, so my body kinda freaked out! In desperation, and not wanting to work feeling that ill and shaky, I grabbed the only thing available to me where I was....a Mars Bar. It filled the spot, but I felt ill afterwards as well. Not the shaky kind of ill, just emotionally ill. Disappointed ill.

And so that is how my last 3 days have panned out, rushed, stressed, unorganised and in the end, lazy.

Normally this is the point at which I go "you know what? This is too hard. I can't do it. I don't have the time/patience/willpower/drive to do this right now. I think I will leave it and try again in a few months."

Not this time!!!!

I am determined NOT to let anyone down.

I am DETERMINED to make this work. 

Soooo, right here, right now, is my PROMISE. My AFFIRMATION

I WILL get back on track. I will strive ahead and still make my goal of 5kg.

HOW??

I will plan better. Sunday nights I will not only plan the menu's, but where possible pre prepare the food. Cut up the meat, cut up the vegies. I will prepare lettuce, carrot, cucumber, celery, etc so I can simply grab a container and fill it with salad. I will fit some, ANY sort of exercise into everyday.

THAT IS MY PROMISE TO YOU.......AND TO MYSELF! 

Now, lets see if I can keep my promises....I am not always the best at that, as I often promise what I simply cannot do......but I CAN DO THIS!!!

Follow my journey here...

Post 1: New Beginnings
Post 2: End of Week One

4WFF end of first week

Well its Day 7,  the first week is almost over.... 

Have I lost weight? We will find out tomorrow!! 

This week has been a learning curve for me. I have learnt new things, such as the need for eating Protein with every meal. I've learnt that our bodies store carbs for a long time, and our bodies use that store for energy, rather than burning our excess fat. And so much more. I don't want to tell you too much, that is Chriss from Bod Squad Personal Training's job!! 

It has been a rollercoaster of a week. I have learnt that when I withdraw from certain substances, namely Sugar and Carbs, I get sick. Physically, actual sick. Its horrible. Its also the reason I usually give up on diet and healthy eating plans. My body rebels and it feels awful!! USUALLY within a week I give in and eat rubbish. 

However, not this time! 

I spoke to Chriss, got some good advice from others doing the program. I ate a small, balanced healthy amount of carbs, and bingo! I felt better! So, lesson learnt is everything in moderation! I will still do Fat Flush days, but will be a little more careful and eat a very small amount of healthy low gi carbs at breakfast (a slice of grainy toast usually!) Otherwise, lots and lots of fresh veggies and protein with every meal is certainly not as hard as I first thought! And it doesn't have to taste bland! Hubby and I have learnt to make tasty meals using herbs and spices and low carb, low gi sauces!!

So, have I followed the program perfectly, to the tee? No, I havent :(   I had 2 chocolate biscuits last night thanks to feeling so down yesterday (see yesterdays post HERE). NORMALLY it would have been the whole packet, or a block of chocolate, so its an improvement! There are other little failures here and there. I am not perfect. I am coming from a place where I was eating BADLY! I didn't realise just how badly. Even when I thought I was being good, turns out, it wasn't good enough!!

I also havent exercised enough. I need to get better at time management for that one. Especially now Hubby has a full time job (YAY!!) and I'm working part time! But I WILL get better. It is hard with a toddler in tow, but it won't be impossible! Our local PT runs a mums and bubs class most mornings, so I think I will have to give that a try in the coming week!

Overall I am happy with how I have been travelling. This is a long term thing. A LIFE STYLE change! 

"It won't happen overnight, but it will happen"

Want to know more about the program? Check out the link above or Chriss's facebook page HERE 

More New Beginnings....

I am very happy and proud to say Hubby starts a new job on Monday. He has been out of work for a long, stressful, trying and hard 14 months. I know this isn't long for some people, but it seemed like a lifetime to us. 

The financial strain, especially when getting married and going on an already booked expensive honeymoon, Christmas, birthdays, etc has been tough. We have, only by the grace of God, kept our heads above water, but we have

So now, we can finally start to tackle all our debt properly, and get rid of it. Cut up the credit cards, pay of the car and the rings (yes, we spent a lot on our wedding rings, we wanted them to last....well, that was my excuse!). We can finally get our finances back under control.

The most important positive though, is for Hubby. He has felt like he has let me down, and has failed his family by not providing financially for us. It has been a dark dark place he has been in these past few months in particular, so it is nice to come out on the other side with the sun shining down on us again!!

Yet.........

I am looking at the next few weeks apprehensively, nervously, in fact, I am not looking forward to them at all.

Why?

I think, and I am just guessing as I still haven't figured all this out yet (hence this post....its my "figure it out" platform!), that I have gotten used to him being home. As much as I have wanted to be the stay at home parent, the thought, after not doing it for so long, is a little daunting. 

I will still be working 2 or 3 days a week, at least for the time being, which means no "days off" to do the housework etc. My availability at work has been significantly reduced to an evening and a couple of days a week, namely, Molly's daycare days. This means now, like most stay at home mums, I will have to tackle the housework with a certain Mini Miss Tornado following close behind me! It means I will again responsible for running our family, organising dinners (I really really do hate cooking!), and all the other things a stay at home mum does, as well as still working. To me, that sounds a little exhausting! 

And, to be honest, I will MISS HIM being home. I will miss him being just a text or phone call away. I will miss his visits at work, and him coming in for lunch. I will miss our time together on the odd day when I had a daycare day off work (like today, it was loooovely! Some shopping, going to the movies, so lovely and peaceful). 

We will have to work harder at being organised, making sure we still spend quality time as a family, and as a couple as well as have time for extended family and friends. Most importantly of all (as I am currently TRYING to, seriously, is 10 mins of uninterrupted peace to write a blog too much to ask?!!! lol!) we will need to make sure we still have our "me" time. Have time for our passions, our hobbies, for just having some much needed TIME OUT!!! Well, in fact, we will have to live the same life most working couples do. I guess we aren't alone in all this. 

Yes, I do know it will all be worth it! I know we will tackle the new challenges together, as Husband and Wife, and with God as our anchor, we will find our way. We will pull together and make it work.

Yet, I am still a little nervous. I am not a fan of change....so I guess, all I can do is wait and see what this new direction, this new beginning, has in stall for our family.....

HOW DO YOU HANDLE CHANGE?