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It’s the small things
Aug 13, 2010 Musings Leave a comment
Yes, I know I have been extremely slack in updating the blog lately. I’ve also been pretty slack in keeping my own eating diary up to date, which is pretty bad, because I tend to forget things if they aren’t written down. But I know that I’ve been eating okay, because my diet tends to be pretty much the same I know that I’m doing okay by the loss on the scales. But you know how it goes, life just gets in the way of “stuff”, in this instance, life just got in the way of blogging.
And when I say life, I mean 12WBT has gotten in the way. I mentioned in an earlier post that I joined the gym, and this time (yes, I’ve gone down the gym route before, as readers of my previous blog on here would know) I am determined to do it right and keep it up. And two weeks into my joining the gym, I’m going quite well. I’d love to say that I’m doing fantastically, but I’m not, but that is more due to the fact that I seem to keep coming down with this dreaded lurgy. But I’m going as often as I can and I’m enjoying it and I’m loving doing the weight training again and more importantly I’m still motivated, normally by now the motivation has worn off.
Amongst other things that have gotten in the way of my blogging, is my quilting, which I have gotten right into. I started a quilt for our bed last year (and this is still a work in progress) and then got sidetracked, because cutting out 300 squares of cord was just killer on my wrist. But earlier this year a friend had a baby boy, and as I was organising her baby shower, I thought of doing her something special to mark the baby’s arrival (her first child). So at the baby shower I had all the guests write on small squares of white material, which I then took home and quilted up with some gorgeous blues and voila – one hand made, unique baby quilt. I have to say I fell in love with this quilt while doing it. I was quite sad to give it to her too, because it’s officially the first quilt I have ever made. But really, what am I going to do with a quilt full of messages from people I don’t know? The bonus is she loved it, and I know that he is going to grow up with a blanket that has a lot of meaning to him. (You can see pictures of the quilt here)
So admittedly I just went on a bit of a ramble, because this post is about the small things I’m noticing that make weight loss such a great thing. I think for me, the smallest, but by far the biggest thing is how easy it is for me to hold my partners hand now. Seems strange doesn’t it? But I’ve lost weight in my fingers, so wrapping my fingers into his is not such a struggle anymore, they just fit together nicely and I love it. I’m not in general a touchy feely sort of person, I like my personal space and can’t really remember the last time I hugged family (except my mum) but I always have to hug and kiss and be near my partner. He’s the only one I can stand being around that much. So to be able to hold his hand with ease is such a great feeling.
Another great feeling? Sleeping at night. The more weight I lose (did I mention, 14.3kg gone now, oh yeah!) the easier it is for me to breathe. I can talk for longer periods at a time (okay, maybe not the greatest thing that) without losing my breath, but more importantly, when I lie down, I don’t have all this weight pressing down on my lungs. I still have a lot of weight there, don’t get me wrong, but god I can’t wait until I’m at my goal weight, because then, breathing will just be a breeze. But I find I am getting such a better sleep at night, because I’m just getting so much more air into my lungs.
Lastly, but by no means least. My clothes are getting too big!!! We’re like everybody else in the world at the moment, money is tight, saving for a house deposit, bills come in etc etc and I can’t really afford to be going out buying new clothes (which I haven’t yet, I’m putting that off for a bit longer), but I’m having to get rid of a whole lot of my clothes because they are just too big for me and some of the pants literally fall off me now and I’m happy about it, happy about having to buy new clothes and spend precious money. It says a lot about my fluctuating weight though, that I have so many different sizes of clothes at home, that it’s not necessary for me to rush out to buy clothes that fit, because I’m starting to recycle back into old clothes that I had worn a few years ago. The thing I’m doing different this time though, is that I’m giving away all the clothes that are now too big for me. Previously I would have kept them for “just in case”, which is probably why I never really noticed my weight piling back on, because I would just move to a different end of the wardrobe to find clothes that fit me, it wasn’t necessary for me to have to face facts that my clothes were shrinking, I was putting on weight, because I could still fit the clothes in my wardrobe. I conveniently ignored the fact that the clothes I was wearing were 2 sizes bigger……. But this time, they’re going. There will be no safety net for me to fall back into. And any of the clothes that I particularly love, I’m going cut up and quilt. It will be my weight loss journey quilt (I did say I was getting onto the quilting thing again right lol).
So there’s my ramble today, about some of the small things that make my weight loss great. There are lots more reasons, but for me, these three things really stand out. What makes your weight loss great for you?
12 WBT day fifty one – zonked from gym
Aug 11, 2010 12WBT Leave a comment
Got a fair bit to say, but just knackered tonight, so just doing daily stats for now, and will do a proper post tomorrow.
ExerciseCalories out
12WBT day forty five – Weights to go go
Aug 5, 2010 12WBT Leave a comment
Had to push myself to go to the gym this afternoon. I was driving home, with everything packed in my bag, all ready for me to just rock up to the gym and change and I kept thinking of different reasons why I shouldn’t go. I had this to do, I had that to do, I could be doing this instead. But in the end, I think the car must have been on automatic pilot because I ended up at the gym just like I should have. And to top it off:
I RAN!!!!! Yes it’s true. I jumped on the treadmill and started doing intervals, and I did 15 mins of running intervals. Big thing for me that was, because the last time I tried to do jogging I ended up having a panic attack because I felt like I couldn’t breathe. But this time I just sucked it up and did it, and what’s even better (for me at least) is: I TOOK MY HANDS OFF THE TREADMILL. Yes I know I’m shouting I’m shouting, but that’s how excited I feel. I had such a big big fear of taking my hands off the treadmill in case I tripped and fell, thereby breaking my wrist again. Silly, irrational fear I know, but it’s a very big fear for me. But tonight, I did it. So I’m pretty chuffed with myself tonight. Not only did I go to the gym after I was so totally not going to, but I ran. Yep I ROCK. 
So, daily stats for today:
ExerciseCalories out
12WBT days forty three & forty four – Nothing new to report
Aug 5, 2010 12WBT Leave a comment
Well as the title suggests there is nothing new to report. I’ve been a bit slack on the upkeep of my food journal, but rest assured I have been making good food choices, with nothing bad thrown in the way. In fact Nat’s lasagna has been a real hit at home and we have it at least once a week now, and I’m making up an extra dish of it this weekend so that I can freeze it for ease when I have nights at the gym.
Speaking of the gym. I went in last night for my official induction and to get my personal weights plan worked out – don’t get me wrong, I love that we get it supplied with the 12WBT program, but I’m looking for something specifically for me. I have my own problem areas that I want to target, so I feel that this is the best way for me to go. I got set up with all the weights I’m going to be doing, we went through them all to work out what each individual machine should be set to, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that I haven’t lost all my strength – lower body strength anyway. My weights were only a little lower than when I was previously going to the gym, so I’m pretty sure that in no time I will be surpassing my old weights. I’m so enthusiastic to get back into it again, I realised last night just how much I missed working out with weights. I was never much into the cardio side of things – always pretty much detested the treadmill, still don’t like it much, but I always loved jumping on and doing some weight work. So I’m pretty enthused about heading back to the gym tonight. I just wish my wrist would allow me to do a bit more of the upper body weights to really target my flabby yucky tuckshop arms. But I’ll work on that, and do the weights that I can for now.
So tonight, I promise I will put up my daily stats. Oh and yesterday was weigh in. I lost 900gm which I’m happy with. It’s not the bigger numbers I was getting when I first started, but I was pretty slack last week and only exercised twice, so I can’t be too surprised at smaller numbers. 900gm is still impressive for me. All up, 13.3kg lost now, so I’m pretty chuffed with myself.
12WBT day forty two
Aug 2, 2010 12WBT Leave a comment
Well as I said in my other post I have news about the gym. Well 6 weeks into the 12WBT I have realised that the exercising at home just wasn’t going to cut it for me. I really need some more professional help, especially in toning my body. I’m starting to notice my weight loss now, but I’m also noticing that my arms are still very flabby and not getting at all toned and my stomach is not getting at all tighter or toned, it’s just there. So what started off as just a trial run at the gym turned into me joining the gym, where I can now access all those lovely wonderful weights (oh how I love the weights, so much more than cardio). As previous readers of my blog will know, this isn’t the first time I’ve joined a gym, but it is the first time that I’ve lost 12kg by myself without joining a gym, and the longest I’ve really stuck any healthy eating/exercising plan out, so I’m quite happy with my prospects of success this time. I have my induction/free pt session on Wednesday and I can’t wait. I’m waiting until I’ve had my session before I start on the weights again though, because I am a little worried about doing further damage to my wrist. So till then it’s strictly cardio work. So daily stats for today:
ExerciseCalories out
