Life in Mono...

Getting Back...

Jeezzz.... why is it so hard to get back on the saddle? Its so hard for me to get back in to the routine of blogging, taking photos, work and regular exercise. GAH...

Anyway, I am slowly trying to get my social life back. I went to the opening of Clothes Peg 2 at Lala Orange last night. I even got dressed up for it. The exhibition was brilliant the only thing that irks me is that the shop was so tiny that it was hard to stop and appreciate all the artwork that was on display. I did meet up with Ali J and Miss Minnie. It was so good to catch up.

Speaking of which, I am selling my wares at Made on the Left Markets in July. I am so excited. For those of you in Perth, I hope to see you there in July.

As for fitness and exercise, I am slowly getting started again. I went to the gym on Monday and Tuesday. I am actually still sore from Tuesday's workout. OUCH. Anyway I found this on The Happiness Project and thought I might share it with you guys. 11 tips for sticking to a schedule of regular exercise.

1. Always exercise on Monday. This sets the psychological pattern for the week. Along the same lines…

2. If at all possible, exercise first thing in the morning. As the day wears on, you’ll find more excuses to skip exercising. Get it checked off your list, first thing.

3. Never skip exercising for two days in a row. You can skip a day, but the next day, you must exercise, no matter how inconvenient.

4. Give yourself credit for the smallest effort. My father always said that all he had to do was put on his running shoes and close the door behind him. Many times, by promising myself I could quit ten minues after I’d started, I got myself to start – and then found that I didn’t want to quit, after all.

5. Think about context. I thought I disliked weight-training, but in fact, I disliked the guys who hung out in the weight-training area. Are you distressed about the grubby showers in your gym? Do you try to run in the mornings, but recoil from going out in the cold? Examine the factors that might be discouraging you from exercising.

6. Exercise several times a week. If your idea of exercise is to join games of pick-up basketball, you should be playing practically every day. Twice a month isn’t enough.

7. If you don’t have time both to exercise and take a shower, find a way to exercise that doesn’t require you to shower afterward. Twice a week, I have a very challenging weight-training session, but the format I follow doesn’t make me sweat. (Some of you are saying, “It can’t be challenging if you don’t sweat!” Oh yes, believe me, it is.)

8. Look for affordable ways to make exercising more pleasant or satisfying. Could you upgrade to a nicer or more convenient gym? Buy yourself a new iPod? Work with a trainer? Get a pedometer to keep track of your walking distances? Exercise is a high life priority, so this a worthwhile place to spend some money if that helps.

9. Think of exercise as part of your essential preparation for times you want to be in especially fine form -- whether in performance (to be sharp for an important presentation) or appearance (to look good for a wedding) or mood (to deal with a stressful situation). Studies show that exercise does help.

10. Remember one of my favorite Secrets of Adulthood, courtesy of Voltaire: Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Don’t decide it’s only worth exercising if you can run five miles or if you can bike for an hour. I have a friend who scorns exercise unless she’s training for a marathon -- so she never exercises. Even going for a ten-minute walk is worthwhile. Do what you can.

11. Don’t kid yourself. Belonging to a gym doesn’t mean you go to the gym. Having been in shape in high school or college doesn’t mean you’re in shape now. Saying that you don’t have time to exercise doesn’t make it true.

Its Thursday, so its JC day today. I have to see a new consultant today because my usual consultant retired. I have to start building a relationship with my new consultant again. Yeeesh. This means revealing things all over again. Let see how well it goes today. The consultant I had the last time was pretty "unfriendly", she was trying to get me out of the way pretty quickly. I forgot her name. That is how impressed I was with her.

 

Tricks of the Trade....

Following yesterday super long post... here are some tips that I hope may be of some use to you on your journey. Its taken from the JC website and I edited it a little bit. My notes are in RED.

1. Skipping meals will help me lose weight.

If you skip meals you will probably be more likely to snack or eat more at your next meal, consuming more kilojoules than you would if you had not skipped a meal. [Remember what I said about not skipping a meal? We need energy to do things and work. Skipping a meal will make us feel weak and lethargic.]

2. Eating after 8.00pm leads to weight gain.

Your body burns food the same way no matter what time it is. What matters is: what you eat, how much you eat & how active you are. No matter when you eat, excess kilojoules will be stored as fat. If you are eating high kilojoule foods while watching late night television, you may gain weight because of your food choices not due to the time of day. Also, snacking while doing other things such as watching television can easily lead to overeating, because distractions may cause you to lose track of how much you are eating. [I have heard about this myth before and I have never really believed it.]

3. I'll only put the weight straight back on.

Create a healthy relationship with food; building an active lifestyle; creating a balanced approach to living.

4. It's hard to do it on your own.

Do it with your friend, partner or children. Be accountable to someone. If you are accountable to someone you are less likely to go on an eating spree.

5. To lose weight, I have to follow a diet perfectly

Weight loss is about progress, not perfection. [Like I said... its a journey and a lifestyle change not a quick fix]

6. Losing weight means deprivation.

Long-term weight loss is achieved with balance & moderation, not deprivation. You are less likely to stay on a program that requires you to give up your favourite things. So, include your favourite foods & give yourself rewards – you are demonstrating a healthy balance, not a lack of willpower.

7. I don't really have enough time to exercise ?

Did you know that regular physical activity is a major success factor for weight management? That doesn’t mean you need to start running marathons today. What it does mean is that every bit of movement counts. To start, look for ways to be more active naturally. You may walk the dog, mow the lawn, take the stairs instead of the lift, plus more. The Pedometer is a great tool to track your natural activity.

8. Cutting out Carbohydrates is the best way to lose weight.

A very low carbohydrate menu is not a healthy way to lose weight! It may stress your kidneys & cause headaches, dehydration & bad breath. It can also make you feel tired, weak, dizzy & nauseated. Although initial weight loss may be rapid, studies show that loss is mainly water, & over time the total weight loss is no greater than with a more moderate plan. It is also difficult to follow such a restrictive diet over the long term. Bread, rice, potatoes, pasta, beans, fruits & dairy products are not only rich in carbohydrates, they also provide dietary fibre, essential vitamins & minerals. Eliminating these foods may reduce nutrients that are important to prevent osteoporosis, heart disease & certain cancers.

Nearly One...

I realise that its almost a year since I started JC (will be one year in March). I have learned so many things. Like how to control my portion size, how not to be so hard on myself if I slip, how to work hard but still have time to play. All these things may be common sense to some but for people like me, its a little bit harder.

Ok so confession time. I have been getting emails and comments (on the blog and on the streets) about how I have a very strong will to lose all this weight. To tell you the truth, I think I have the weakest will power on earth. I literally have to force myself to get my butt in the gym sometimes. I skipped outdoor trainings for a few weeks at one point of time. But I think the thing that kept me going is my friends, my family and most importantly my partner M. They are my motivation. M will not let me give him excuses although he lets me get away with them sometimes. He is my cue when we go out and eat. When he thinks I have had enough and I get carried away, he will let me know that enough is enough.

Food is still one of my weaknesses but I have learned that they are not my enemies. I have learned how to control what I put in my mouth and if I want something so badly, I will have a "taste" of it because we all know that banning or restraining something from someone will only make us want it even more and at the end of the day we will over indulge. So my mantra is "If you want to eat it go ahead but only take a bite or two" Easier said than done I know but I am still coming to terms with it. I still do fall down sometimes but you always always can get up and try again. Like any human beings, I still crave that delicious burger with fries and a large coke. But I have to remind myself if I do eat it I will have to account for it. Not to anyone but to myself. Usually by the time I finish arguing with myself about whether I should eat that delicious burger or not I will have then lost my appetite and move on. Sometimes if I let the other Feli wins, then I will opt for the kids meal just to have a "taste" of the tiny little burger and feel satisfied with it after. 

I have learned to never ever starve myself. I can not stress this enough to people. One thing that Jenny's have thought me is to EAT EAT EAT. I eat 5 meals a day. Breakfast and Lunch being the heaviest. When I say eat here, I do not mean eating at the buffet 5 times a day or eating Fried Chicken wings dipped in sauce with rice. It also does not mean eating just a piece of fruit and consider it as Lunch or Dinner. No. Eating here means eating small portion of an appropriate meal. For me, I eat Breakfast, snack, Lunch, snack, Dinner, snack. For the snacks you can eat a piece of fruit or a handful of nuts. I usually have yoghurt or 2 pieces of Biscuits. I rarely skip a meal now because if I do skip a meal I will be a very pissy Feli and no one wants to see that. I never go to bed hungry because I will be in pain in the morning.

A lady, whom I usually buy the morning paper for my office from, told me yesterday that I lost heaps of weight and she noticed that I still have a lot of energy and my face is "fresh" (her words not mine). She asked me how I do it, I told her, I EAT. She was surprise to hear me said that. But I told her I eat in small portions in which she said "I thought when you go on a diet you are not suppose to eat". I told her that that is not true and usually when you starve yourself you will have no energy to do anything else. She agreed and said that she should try my way of eating. :*)

I have also learned that a quick fix is never a good thing to do. Quick Fixes are usually the ones where they claim that by eating this pill it will make you lose 10 kilos in just 2 weeks. Usually if you read the fine print, it says on the bottle or on the box that you have to team it up with regular exercise and good eating habits. I have taken all these quick fixes before and IT DOES NOT WORK AT ALL. Believe me. Been there done that and when HE (the fat) left he came back with his bad ass friends. So do it slowly. Losing 0.5 - 1 kilo per week is good for your body and the chances of HIM coming back with his friends are very very low. Usually these quick fixes are a waste of money. A bottle of tiny little pills that does not work for $200-300.  Its ridiculous.

I realise that I have written a lot here. Its just that it irks me to see people finding quick fixes and starving themselves in order to lose weight. I use to be that someone. I use to be in that category of people finding quick fixes. Now I know better. I know that its a lifestyle change. I hope that you guys out there continue to follow me on my journey and I will share my ups and downs and maybe success with you guys.

Thank you for all your support, encouragements and compliments that you guys have been giving me. They are what keeps me going. I hope what I posted here make sense.

My reality...

"You create your thoughts, Your thoughts create your intentions, Your intentions create your reality" - I have no idea who said this. But it was on my JC Consultant's wall.

This has become my reality. This has also become my journey. I am almost there. Not quite half way yet. Hopefully I will reach halfway by the end of next month.

I finally had the gym all to myself today. I manage to snap a picture of these dumbell before my session started.

I lost another 200g. I think after the amount that I lost last week 200g is enough. I was not so strict with myself this week. I needed to let myself go a little bit. I think that's fine. I realise that I WANT to go to the gym now instead of forcing myself to get my ass there. I like the fact that when I am on the treadmill I am relaxed and competing with myself to run that extra minute. Today I went on the mill for 45 minutes instead of the usual 30.

Still running...

well not technically running but a fast walk/jog. On days that I do not have outdoors training, I hit the gym and do interval training. I have improved. I use to hate jogging. I hate it with a passion. Giving excuses after excuses not to jog or run, its usually my knee, "I have a bad knee" or " My knee is hurting today". Its true. I have bad knees. I think its due to my weight before.

But no excuses anymore. Interval training did the trick. I am up to level 5 now. It means that I now run for about 1 and a half minutes and walk for 1 and a half minutes for 30 minutes. It makes time goes really quickly because you are so engross with trying to catch your breath when its time for you to walk. I absolutely love it. I can feel that my stamina has gone up a little bit.

Running alone can be boring so thats why I run to my iPod. I search for songs to run to on iTunes and running website but it didn't help much. So I have a mash of songs that I run and cycle to. Tell me what you think. What is your favourite running track? Do you have a compilation? Do you mind sharing? I showed you mine. :*)

1. Clocks - Coldplay (Warm up)
2. One more time (Hit Me baby) - Britney Spears (Warm Up)
3. I ran - Flock of Seaguls (Warm up)
4. My My My - Armand Van Helden
5. The Rockafella Skank - Fatboy Slim
6. Zombie Nation - Kernkraft 400
7. Freestyler - Bomfunk MC
8. Yeah - Usher
9. Fading like a Flower Remix - Eric Prydz feat Roxette
10. Sand Storm - Da Rude
11. When I close my eyes - E Type
12. Call on me - Eric Prydz
13. Poison (Club Mix) - Groove Coverage
14. Lady - Mojo
15. Alive and Kicking - Simple Minds ( Cool Down)
16. Center of the Sun - Conjure One (Cool Down) (this song is 10 minutes long!!)

There. Thats my list of songs to run to. I still have to find other songs because I know in 2 weeks time I will be bored with this list.

All gone...

Remember that 2 kilos that I gained during Christmas? The one that I was sooo upset about but kept telling myself not to dwell on it? WELL ITS GONE!!!!! ITS ALLLL GONNNNEEEE!!!!

Yippieeee.....*dance around* all my hard work paid off. This week I will try and see if I can squeeze in 6 days of Gym session. Woootttt... my counsultant was so proud of me she even skipped with me back to her office. LOL.

The best part is... I went to the beach yesterday with new bathers and I think that I looked way much better than last year. Woohooo... I think I should go to the beach more often.

As a reward, I am going to a music festival. Good Vibrations here I come. I have never been to a music festival before.

Good run...

I did good the past 2 days. I know you shouldn't really push yourself after a long break but I am determined to lose that 2 kgs. So yesterday I jog/walk for 30 minutes and walked for another 30 minutes after that.

Today I manage to squeeze in 1 hour of a walk/jog and cycle. I am very proud of myself. Woot.

I am so tired now and its only 9am.

As I am typing this post, I am watching "How to survive a plane crash" on TV. I am super scared of flying and stupid things run through my head when I am on the plane. This show gave me good tips on what to do. GAHHH.... too many things to remember. But remember this tip....when trying to unbuckle your seatbelt remember its a latch so you have to pull. The expert said that normally people would try to press  the seatbelt because we have gotten so use to the car's seatbelt where we press the button to release ourself.

As Predicted...

As predicted, I gained 2 kilos post Christmas. Sure I am upset BUT....I have made up a plan to go back to my good eating habits, which is eating 5 small meals a day and walk and exercise for about 1 hour a day. Its going to be hard. I know I will find any excuse not to do it but M said that..."Its getting yourself to the Gym is hard but once you are in there, everything will be easy." I know he is right.

So I have to find 60 instead of the usual "Find 30". Thats 60 minutes of exercise everyday.

I am positive that I can achieve this this week. Thats my "goal" this week.

Not well...

I am so scared to go and see my consultant at JC today. I felt like the last 2 weeks I have been very very naughty. But I was reading the JC manual this morning while eating breakfast and it says not to dwell too much on it. So I am not.

I know I did not go overboard and crazy with the eating this Christmas. I ate reasonably and took time to chew my food so that my brain knows when I am full. The only thing is that I ate out too much. Which is bad because of the calorie count.

Anyway, its a start of a brand new week, so this week, more physical exercise and eat responsibly. Cross your fingers that I did not gain tooo much over the festive season.

Jumping for Joy...

Its Official...

• I am below 80 Kgs now.
• I can fit into a size 12 top with ease and size 14 pants.
• I will have to start donating all my size 18 pants and size 16 tops.
• I am closer to my half way point

SUMMERS IN BIKINIS HERE I COME!!!!