Menu Plan – 15th-21st October

Monday – Chicken Mince with Rice Noodles (November Weight Watchers Mag) – 11 ProPoints

Tuesday – Apricot Chicken (from the WW website) – 11 ProPoints

Wednesday – Spanakopita (from the WW website) – 7 ProPoints

Thursday – Chicken Saltimbocca (Cook It Quick WW cook book) – 8 ProPoints

Friday – Lamb Vindaloo Meatballs (Cook It Quick WW cook book) – 12 ProPoints

Saturday – Beef and Spinach Lasagne (from the WW website) – 7 ProPoints

Sunday – Spaghetti and Meatballs (November Weight Watchers Mag) – 13 ProPoints

Making it work

I must admit I have found it hard to make everything work the way I would like it to. I tend to throw my all into something and then realise that I have overcommitted and then nothing happens. The same thing happened with my last round of 12WBT. I so wanted it to work, I was all organised and I joined the gym and organised all my recipes. It just didn’t work though. I was spending my entire day just trying to get to the gym and cook food. I got grumpy with the kids if they interrupted my workout at home(as the gym didn’t work as they hated the crèche, the 40min drive there didn’t help either). My husband wasn’t keen on the food and my kids wouldn’t touch most of it.

So, I went back to Weight Watchers. I am not sure if I have shared my weight loss journey on here before but here it is now. With each of my pregnancies I gained over 20kg. Baby weight is what I called it but really it was ‘I ate too much crap’ weight. I am an emotional eater, I eat when bored and I eat when I am upset and when there is something to celebrate I want to celebrate with food! I reward myself with food too. I have never been hugely overweight so many people probably don’t see my struggle as I manage to not gain too much but it is a daily battle of eating too much and then making up for it by not eating or going on silly fad diets. I am very thankful that I grew up with a mother who fed us lots of healthy food and I love vegies and salads and lots of good food. I hate to think how big I would be if I was more drawn to junk foods. Don’t get me wrong I eat these foods on occasion too but give me the choice of a McDonalds burger and a gourmet salad I would take the salad!

After I had my third child I was desperate to loose weight. I was officially overweight and I felt so uncomfortable and hated how I looked in everything. I had tried to convince myself that it was ok. That you can’t expect to be the same weight after kids as you were before. I ended up attending my first weight watchers meeting when my littlest was 6 months old and I was so glad that I did! Over a period of about 4-5 months I lost 12kg and not only was I at my pre-pregnancy weight I was at my wedding weight. It wasn’t hard, in fact it was easy! I felt so great!

Over a period of a year I gained 6kg of this back. I was slack and stopped following the WW guidelines and of course as a result I gained it back. I have spent the last year trying to get it back off as I didn’t really want to go back to WW meetings. Not because they didn’t work but because the new meeting leader was rude and would often say things in the meeting about the children being noisy…I felt very unwelcome and stopped going.

A friend messaged me a few weeks ago and said that she was thinking about going back as she too was not having much luck in shifting the weight she wanted to and WW had worked for her before too. So I thought I would go along too. The meeting now had a new leader, she is great! Totally fine with the kids there and she has this way for bringing the whole group together to encourage each other, she is very good at what she does. So over my first 2 weeks I lost 1.8kg and I am thrilled! It works for me and I don’t find it hard. I need to be organised with planning all my meals and I would like to start bringing in some exercise this week too but I am making it work for me at my own pace.

I want to post my progress on this blog again. Maybe add my meal plans and the occasional recipe too. I hope you will stick around and maybe find something here to help you make it work for you too

5 minutes

That is how long it took Miss Eve to stop crying today after dropping her off at the gym crèche. I actually got a workout in! When I got back she was happily playing and didn’t even look up! I am SO happy as I think this is going to work! Looking forward to trying a Punch class on Thursday morning and then maybe Pump on Friday. I am not doing my fitness and toning on the right days but as long as I get them all done I am happy.

Weigh in tomorrow. Not feeling too confident about it actually. I think the pizza and apple crumble on the weekend may have done a bit of damage. The challenge for me is going to be getting on with it if the numbers are not kind. I would be happy with any loss at all this week…as long as it is not a gain! That would be a bit depressing. I should start thinking about my Saturday and making sure that I have a plan in place for any social occasions! I don’t actually have any plans as yet for the weekend and I am not working! My first weekend off in 4 weeks! Yay!

Operation Gym Crèche….FAIL

So it didn’t go too well today. I was all organised and got Miss Elsa(5) to school on time(an achievement for me!) but she was all clingy again and I left school about 20 minutes later than i would have liked to. I did kind of expect it since it was the first day back after a 3 weeks but it did mean that I was arriving in the car park at the time the Zumba class was starting and I still needed to get the kids and the pram out of the car into the gym and into the crèche and get changed so I knew that it wasn’t going to happen.
Dropping the girls off at the crèche seemed to go so well to begin with. Miss Eve(2) ran straight over to the play kitchen and started to make mummy and Miss Isla(4) a cup of tea while I signed them in. I had my ‘cup of tea’ and kissed the girls goodbye and then Miss Eve’s bottom lip dropped and began to quiver, tears filled her big brown eyes and she whispered ‘Goodbye Mummy’ and I quickly left the room. I was out and there was no screaming(yay!). The lip quiver was pretty heart breaking though!
I headed to the change room and by the time I had pulled all my workout gear from my bag the screaming had started! I could hear it loud and clear from the change room and I couldn’t stand it! I headed back in thinking I would give her another cuddle and head back out to do my workout….WRONG! I ended up being in here for another 20 minutes trying to settle her so I could go again. Finally I decided to go anyway and see if she would settle. I managed to get changed and take a 5 minute phone call from my mum and all I could heat coming from the crèche was the sound of Eve sobbing. I went back in and that was it….50 minutes at the gym and no workout!

Source: funnyphotosto.com via Kay on Pinterest

The carer and one of the trainers (who also has one of her little ones in the crèche) both think I need to toughen up and leave her a bit longer…maybe they are right…maybe they aren’t. I don’t know! I REALLY want to make this work but do I really want it enough to have Eve scream it out! The carer suggested I leave her for 15 minutes tomorrow and then 20 minutes the next time and just continue to extend it. She said this had worked with others over about 3 days. I think I will head back in tomorrow morning and try again. I guess it can only get better!
It is SO tempting to just throw in the workout for today as I have only just walked in the door and it is 4:20. I still need to make dinner for the kids, dinner for Josef and I(different things tonight as I know the kids won’t eat curry), bath them, dress them, put them in bed, clean everything up, do a load or two of washing, sort out everyone's clothes for tomorrow, make lunches for tomorrow and a whole lot of other things that I will remember along the way…BUT I will fit in a workout somewhere!

So far so good

So it has now been 2 weeks and I only just got to blogging today. I guess it has taken all my focus to get started and stay on track. I feel that I am finally there though! Each day is getting easier(except for Saturdays so there is something to work on there!) and I am getting into better habits with my food and shopping. Oh I have written numerous blog posts in my head but they just haven’t made it to the blog!

I am 1.3kg down as of last weeks weigh in on Wednesday and I am pretty pleased with that. It was hard to not compare to others figures but as I don’t have much to loose I really am happy with my progress so far and should reach goal if I can keep things going like they have been.

Exercise has been a struggle some days especially with school holidays as the routine is all mucked up! I do love having Elsa at home but it is definitely a lot harder to get out and get things done with an extra child! School goes back tomorrow though(Yay!) so the routine starts tomorrow morning! Actually really it starts tonight with me getting everything ready for my day tomorrow. Clothes are set out for all of us, the lunchboxes have been packed and my gym bag is packed too. Tomorrow I conquer the gym! Well at least I will attempt to if Miss Eve(2) will let me. She loves her mummy that girl! I do love that she always wants me near but I do want that hour a day to myself at the gym so I am hoping by the end of the week she will happily go into the crèche at the gym and I can actually get a whole workout in! I have picked all my classes that I would like to do this week but I am fully expecting to be interrupted for at least the first day! If it happens I will pop the kids back in the car drive home and finish off at home. It will be a pain and take heaps longer to get my workout done but I am hoping it will only be a few days and it will all be working well (fingers crossed!). Tomorrow I try Zumba!

Source: pinner.in via Arla on Pinterest

My love-hate relationship with Saturdays

I love Saturdays! First day of the weekend! We take our girls to ballet and pop in to the Italian Pantry over the road for coffee with just 1 child instead of 3 which is a HUGE luxury! I get to spend time with my husband and girls all together. My husband often helps with the cooking and cleaning and we all get a bit of a relax. We get to catch up with friends and recharge our batteries.

 

I hate Saturdays! The lack of routine makes it hard to stick to the meal and exercise plans! There are so many yummy temptations at the Italian Pantry and my 2 year old always tries to feed me her leftovers. My husband will cook delicious food that I can’t eat and I have more time to think about eating! We catch up with friends and cook pizza and apple crumble and it is so so hard to sit and eat my meal while everyone else enjoys the homemade pizza.

4 Days ‘til Kick Off!

The count down it on!
I feel more prepared this time than I have in previous rounds which is a good thing since I didn’t complete the other rounds! The nutrition plans came out today and I have put my grocery order in online and will get the fresh fruit and veg on Sunday after work so I am all ready to go! I have planned a couple of different meals for the kids on a couple of the nights as I know a couple of them won’t go down well with them so it is just not worth it especially since some of the meals cost more than I would usually spend. I didn’t do this last time, I just tried to swap it out for another meal that I knew they would eat and we would all eat it. This worked ok but it meant that every week I had to go through the menu and try to swap it all around. It took ages and I soon lost motivation. This time I will eat what is on the menu (and so will Josef) and the kids might have a couple of different meals on the nights that I don’t think they will like it set meal. It will be a little bit extra work for me with extra cooking but if I cook enough to freeze some too then it should all work out pretty well.
Tomorrow is my fitness test! Kind of looking forward to seeing where I sit. I hope I am still at intermediate! I am sure I could still sit in that category as I was getting up towards advanced last time.
I think i need to buy a cheap bikini. Not for me to wear in public but for my before and after photos. Last time I just wore a bra and undies and although they were fine for me to look at I just wouldn’t feel comfortable posting them on here or even showing a lot of people. I am not saying that I will post photos on here but I know how motivating I find before and after photos and if mine would motivate someone else then I would consider it. Especially another mum who has a wobbly saggy belly like mine! So I think tomorrow after work I will do the fitness test and buy a cheap bikini! I hope I can find one this time of year! Not exactly bikini weather in Tassie at the moment!

Source: media-cache0.pinterest.com via Elvin on Pinterest

Maybe this bikini would suit me. I could almost tuck my flabby belly into it! hehehe

So what are your thoughts? Would you post your before and after photos for the world to see?

Gear Up

Time for new shoes. Actually they are way overdue. My last pair were purchased in the UK when I has just fallen pregnant with my first child…she is now 5 1/2! Yes way overdue! I am sure they have contributed to me knee problems and I am a little annoyed with myself that I didn’t get new shoes sooner. Maybe I could have avoided my knee problems if I had…Oh well no use in regrets, time to move forward!
$220 later and I have the perfect shoes. It is a lot of money to spend on shoes but they did a great job assessing my walking and my feet so I know they will be great!
They also suggested a physio to see about my knee. He has worked with Olympians in the past and apparently he is very good at getting people back to what they want to do even with permanent damage like I have. So I will see if I can get an appointment sometime soon. Who knows maybe I will be able to run again!

I’m Back!

Here I am, starting my 3rd round of 12WBT. It will be the first one I actually complete and I am very excited about it.

I have dealt with one of my major excuses last week. My knee. I now know that I can’t run. I am sad, very sad sometimes as I do love to run but now I know that if I do I could to more damage and end up with osteoarthritis which would be horrible. So no more running for me. I will join the gym this week and buy some new supportive shoes. I WILL find something else that I love to do to get me fit and help me loose weight. While we are on the weight topic I guess it is time for me to confess that I am starting this round heavier than the last 2 rounds that I did. I am not sure of my exact weight as my scales seem to be broken but I am sure I have at least 8kg to shift this round. I know I can do it but I am a little scared that my knee will play up again! Lots of low impact exercise for me this round! I enjoy the cross trainer and gym classes so I think i will be spending a lot of my time doing those.

Better go and do more of the pre-season tasks so I am all ready to go next week!

I should have gone to bed!

It is now tomorrow…12:07am. I should be in bed. I am tired and the kids have been getting me up at night, I need the energy to exercise and apparently carb cravings are increased by lack of sleep. But I am not in bed. I am up, feeling horrible because I just ate a bread roll packed with peanut butter…it wasn’t even that nice!

Note to self – Go to bed earlier tomorrow night! You will thank yourself for it!

Weigh in

So I weighed myself this morning and the damage is actually not as bad as I thought it would be! I gained 1.8kg in my time away (2 weeks) which is not a good thing but it felt like so much more!

Weight 1/2/12 – 59.7kg

Goal Weight – 54kg (5.7kg to go)

Goals this week – loose 1kg, get back into the exercise(start couch to 5K again), drink more water!