Fistpump or Shoot the Scale - Yes AGAIN!

So yes, totally snowed under at work before I head off to Perth next week! Yeeeewwww!

But I thought this might be a good time to pull this ol' chestnut from the archives and remind us about the futility of comparison. Particularly since it's our first official weekly weigh in for Round 3 today ;)

Enjoy. :)

First official weekly weigh in today. 

Image from here

Some of you are fist pumping the air right now.
Pleased with your efforts.
Glad you refused that hot chip or that piece of chocolate.
Chuffed that you decided to move your rear end to the gym rather than plonk it on the lounge and let your fingers do a remote control workout instead.
Excited because you didn't expect to actually see a difference in such a short amount of time.
Inspired to keep going.

Or inside your head you're doing this.....

Image from here

As most of you know I read a great blog post by Narelle at Frichot Fitness yesterday about smashing the illusion of perfection and comparing ourselves to others. 

During Round 3 last year I worked really hard on squashing that 7 year old version of me that wanted perfection and thought that if she didn't have it then she had failed. I pursued consistency over perfection. I lost weight nearly every single week. I did not follow the program "perfectly" once. Yet because there was consistency the fat melted off. 

Image from here

"So comparing yourself to someone else. How do you know that you are comparing apples with apples and not with oranges? You DON’T! Why are you comparing yourself to someone else?"

And I had another "Ah-ha!" moment right there. Even if someone looks like an apple like me - similar height, similar weight and even similar fitness or fitness & nutrition efforts during the week. 

Image from here

They might be an orange on the inside. I have no access to their inner makeup. I don't know what medications they may be on or not. I don't know how certain foods effect their bodies. Or how their hormones do or don't effect their weight loss. I have no idea. 

So what's the point of comparing really ? 

Well. The thing is you can compare. 

To yourself. To your results. To your effort. Over the long term. Not the short term because sometimes you may weigh more on a Wednesday than you do on a Thursday. Does that mean you should weigh in on a Thursday? No. That will just eventually mess with your head too. Just watch for a pattern. Do you have great losses for 3 weeks running and then a small one or a gain on the 4th week? Is it PMS or is it the fact you let your sweet tooth or your carb cravings get the better of you at this time ? Only you know. And only your data can tell you. 

So how are you feeling now ? Ready to continue the good work you've started or begin from now ? 

Don't let Wednesday mornings mess with your head. Don't "punish" yourself or "reward" yourself by what shows up. Just see it as one marker along the way to show your progress when reflect later on and look back. 

Anyway the weekly video opened up about 30minutes ago. I would love it if you would come back to the group page and tell us what you thought.

See you all soon!

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Barbie in a Vice like grip

This is me today. I knew it was coming. I scraped my "Apple" ( my car ) on the side of the garage getting into it last night. My anxiety was flaring like nothing else yesterday and I chose to have a massive binge.

Yes I shall continue to put one foot in front of the other but I'm more than a little irritated with the world - well not really - just generally irritated because as much as I would like it to be it's never going to be as simple as calories in and calories out for me...

..side note...even though I was dizzy last night and off balance this morning I still went and did my Xtend Barre class at 6.30am. Had a major fatigue moment right in the middle, that was a genuine muscle fatigue/giving way moment as opposed to "this is too hard" mind moment.....so grateful that I didn't have to umpire Grade Netball today. My brain was not up to either the movement or running....

...anyway I'm all wrapped up in front of the heater, watching catch up tv and getting to bed really early tonight.

Perhaps I'll be Barbie-esque without a vice on my head then ;)

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Split personality?

Image from here

...well not quite...

For most of my life I've struggled with opposing sides to my personality.

There is one side that kinda likes to achieve goals and be the best at something, to stand in the limelight a bit, to be affirmed by others that I respect for my acheivements or just for who I am and who likes to be involved.

And then there is the other side that doesn't like to make more of myself than I am, that prefers to promote others acheivements, to be the second fiddle or the wind against someone elses wings ( but only if I choose it - and that's another story! ) and just find ways to encourage other people most of the time at the deteriment to my own goals or sometimes even needs.

These opposing sides to my personality are a pain in the rear end to tell you the truth. I have missed out on so many opporutnites in the past decade because I didn't think that I deserved to be anything special. That by winning, obtaining my goals, even just stepping up and putting myself out there - I was somehow taking that same thing away from someone who was more deserving that I was. *sigh*

But since Round 3 I get it now and am trying really hard to balance the two sides out. Some days I am better than others but most days I am really quite worried that I am going to lose someone I care about or make another person insecure or angry or or or...whatever because I have cheerleadered for myself on facebook or in person.

Despite this I have been putting check ins and accountability status updates on my main Facebook profile about how I am doing - not all the time but apparently enough to inspire other people in my world to want to set their own goals and achieve them.

I've received a few tear worthy emails and inbox messages in the past week from people in my world tellimg me that I've inspired them to set their own fitness and nutrition goals and that has stirred up a number of emotions each time. I've found myself inspired by their acheivements and goal setting but I'm determiend not to feel like a fraud because it's seemingly taking me forever to get to get "there".

I guess it's also the little things like getting out of bed on a Wednesday morning at 5am to do that XtendBarre class when I'm not a morning person - you should see how unbalanced I am at that hour! And my ability to follow directions? Shocking! But I'm there burning calories, up for longer and my butt down with my planks and deeper in my Plies. Or posting my uber healthy dinner or acknoweldging that I do in fact eat out and enjoy it once it a while but don't go nuts and don't attach emotions it any more. Food is fuel that if I pick right tastes good. I'm moving away from the Food = A hug or Food = medicine that settles my stomach - although I did break my chip drought on the weekend and after 24 hours of my stomach churning I couldn't handle it anymore and I caved. But at least it took me 24 hours - not 2. Progress.

Inspiration comes from all sorts of places. For every one person that finds your check ins annoying or your accountability posts irritating - there are probably two who find you inspiring and another who might be annoyed but annoyed at themselves - not at you. ;)

Have a great week everyone!

Oh yes, I think my plateau has broken! Hurrah!

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Consistency

Consistency.

Consistency vs. Perfection.

Consistency when starting a new job.

Consistency when starting a new job in a setting you know nothing about.

Not particularly easy I am finding. Monday was somewhat challenging and the temptation was to come directly home, comfort eat and take to my bed however a friend suggested I go shopping.

Came home with shoes and new clothes.

Still slightly comfort ate but nothing spectacular or fried or seen on a TV ad with either a crazy clown or a weirdly bearded old dude. Nor did I bury my head in a chip packet. :P

Progress.

I need to motivate myself to be consistent.

How does one do that? You might ask?

Always. Always. Head to Pinterest.

Of course ;)

PS I would really like to refer to some fabulous person's blog but I haven't blog read for about a week. Had a four day migraine after a trip to Newcastle ( 2.5 hours there and back of car motion will do that ) and then started the new job.  Will get reading again soon.

Another reason to want to be Coke rather than Pepsi....

 And quite simply, this.

..which is kind of why I get up at 5am on a Wednesday morning to do a 6.30am Xtend Barre Class. 

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Welcome to the 3/4-of-the-way-up-Hell-Hill week

What am I on about?

 Ok. So Hell Hill yesterday got me thinking. About 3/4 of the way up it got really steep.

I mean really steep. Horrible. And every single time I went up - which was only 5 times by the way - some awesome people did it 13 or 14 times and 4-5 times in a row - I willed myself not to look up at that dreaded point.

Every time I did. 

And then I got dizzy and had to stop.

It got annoying actually.

But then after catching my breath and waiting for my brain to re esablish equilibrium I kept going.

Getting to the top was a joy.

Coming down was a lot quicker than going up. The momentum kept me going.


Kind of like our 12 weeks really.

The two weeks was like the small incline at the beginning of that eeville sand dune. Most of us jogged up it. Really. We did. I was watching. ;)

Then it got steeper and we slowed down a little. But we kept going. Welcome to Weeks 3 to 5.

And then the three quarter point where the incline suddenly changed.

Welcome to Week 6. Don't look up. Just catch your breath ( if you need to ) and keep on moving because as you keep going you'll hit Week 7 and 8.

The amazing vista at the top is Week 10. Generally known as the

"GAH! THERE'S ONLY TWO WEEKS LEFT!"week

So you coast down, gaining momentum through that last remaining week until you hit the bottom and fistpump Week 12!


On the 8th July 2012 more than 20 ( does anyone know the official number? ) South West Sydney Crew and significant supporters left home at a crazy hour for a Sunday morning, conquered fears, comfort zones, migraines (sort of) and perceived fitness levels and smashed HELL HILL into only slightly Hellish Hill ;)


Now THAT deserves a fistpump!

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New Exercise Joy - FOUND!

About a week or so ago a Round 3 Twitter/Facebook friend of mine Erica tweeted that she was going to an Xtend Barre class in the next few days. Being the sticky beak that I am, I promptly asked her to share what this was and when I found out it was a fusion between ballet and pilates I got more than a little excited at the thought!

I've been doing my New York City Ballet DVD on occasion and making some stabs at Pilates at the gym but just not finding any joy in either.

Once I did a Youtube search for these Xtend Barre classes I was hooked.

Having changed my base school next term I am about 15 minutes away from one of the studios and being school holidays I thought I would book in for a class during the day. Today was the day.

I recorded a vlog in the car after the class. It's quite shaky because my arms were so freakishly shaky! 

Loved this so much that I paid for 5 sessions and I have another one booked in for Saturday. Even though I am at the stage now where I REALLY don't feel like lifting my arms. At all. ;)

I was reading Jayne's blog yesterday and there were some things she said about getting uncomfortable that really stood out for me. So did this -

For me it's not about the way that I look or feel about myself! I'm happy within myself for me it's about working hard to accomplishing something that I believe with all my heart I can achieve! I know I can do it and I want to experience it and everything that comes along with the journey to getting there and beyond!!

So now that I've found my exercise joy - even though it's hard and going to hurt like nothing else tomorrow - I'd love to know what your exercise joy is ? Running? Horseriding? Roller blading? Yoga?

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Words banned from my Vocabulary

I'm banning these words from my vocabulary when it comes to my shape changing revolution. Hmm, perhaps I should have also added the words "weight loss" and "diet" there too however they do come in handy sometimes. ;)

Fail
There is no such thing as failure. As much as this is a numbers game - clean and nutritious calories in, calories melted off in exercise out - my body has plans of it's own. Sometimes there are things going on physiologically that I don't have the understanding to work out. I may have done a lot of training and my body needs to hold onto some fluid in order to repair and build the muscles. So it might turn up as a gain on the scales for a day or depending on the time of the month a few. As much as that annoys me. So did I fail?

No. The way I see it with my teacher/educator eyes is that this shape changing thingy is a process. Not an assessment or a test with a total score and a pass mark. You can't fail a process if you keep moving and adapting. You can however choose to stop or pause the process. And that's a whole other blog post!

Compared to...
myself...last week...her...him..when I was 20...the person on the treadmill next to me...that person in the magazine that has been airbrushed to death....that chick in that "inspiring" tumblr or pintrest post who earns her body and fit is the new skinny....


Um. No. There is no more compared to. Things change. Even during my own process there are variables that are game changers, so to speak. For me it might be the number of migraines I have that month or how many I don't have. Or even how the weather has been. How late I have stayed up in the evenings. How good or bad my dating adventures have been.

Point is I am unable to compare. As much as I want to find that foothold and do it so that everything is stable and within my control. Ahh, control. How many of us have issues with change and/or control? I know I do. Most would be surprised with that. And not in a "I must control everyone and everything" kind of way either or a "I must have everything in order" way either.

...only...just....
Thanks Annemarie for bringing this one up in our Facebook group this morning in the weigh in thread. Putting a just or an only in front of our weight loss data results is almost the same as cancelling it out.

"I only lost 0.9kg"

Only? Hon, that's practically a kilo! Be proud of that!

"I just lost 500g"

Just?! Go and pick up 500g of anything and pop it in the back pocket of your jeans! You melted that off your bod!




Perfect...
I've talked about this one a lot. There is no such thing as perfect.

You can't do this perfectly. So give up!

But you can do this consistently and if you hit the pause button you can press start again whenever you want to.

Has nothing to do with perfect.



Last chance training...
Yup. I see this one thrown about a lot on a Tuesday.

Last chance for what exactly? Does the world end on a Wednesday? Is the Zombie Apocalypse coming?! Do you need some extra fitness to outrun them ? If yes. Then fair enough.

If no then think about it. Wednesday weigh ins are just one day's weight.

On one day.

During the whole process.

If you are doing this consistently what do you need a last chance for?

Remember that this zippy little catch phrase was made up by Producers of a TV show whose job it is to create drama and tension in order to keep audience/viewer/rating interest. The contestants of The Biggest Loser kinda really did have a Zombie Apocalypse coming - they were about to be "eaten" by one of their own kind - another contestant - and their carcass kicked out of the house....so yes perhaps they were entitled to use the phrase. ;)




So as much as possible - for the health of my heart and head these words are no longer in my vocabulary.

Are there any words you can add to this list? What do you think ? 

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Body vs Brain

Now, if any of you are familiar with my endless struggles with my emotional eating and self hate etc through my weight loss journey you already know how much my brain and body are constantly on different teams. OH don't worry though, they change teams, they are just NEVER on the same one. 

So, usually my brain is a real b***** telling me I am no good, completely worthless etc etc but I have been taking proactive steps to train my brain and I think it is starting to work. It is really bad for me to hang all my hopes on a guy, and I won't but I have also been on a few dates with one guy, not sure how it will pan out but he makes me feel great and it is a good reminder for me. EDIT: He has just messaged me and told me "Bec, I don't like you. We don't have enough in common I think and  your body I don't like it.... you will be amazing if you lose at least another 30 kgs"

I weighed in on Wednesday, as you guys know I went away to a secret location for the weekend, my eating was maintained however exercise was not present at all. I lost 600grams this last week and I am really actually happy with that. I kept saying, I want more, I want more. But it accurately reflects the work I put in before and after my weekend away. So I am happy. I know what needed to be changed and yeah. 

HOWEVER, something happened, Wednesday was weigh in, that day at work was big and emotional and stressful, I didn't eat well on the Wednesday because I was away at a conference and I am a sucker for saving money and getting free food but I had still worked out hard in the morning and stuck to 'majority' salads. So after a massive day I was wrecked, Thursday morning....I slept through 4 alarms, that's right 4. (I have 4 because I have one for 5:00 and one for 5:05 and one for 6:30 and one for 6:35, I don't believe in the snooze button evidently.) The night before I had prepped, you know lay out all your gear in order so basically you only have to breathe in the morning and be ready. I wanted to exercise but clearly I was exhausted and my body needed rest which I could appreciate (I did really want to work out) but my eating yesterday was no good... I need to go to the gym, because I don't want to eat crap through the day and ruin what I have achieved. Today... a similar thing happened I couldn't sleep at all and I didn't wake up. I do however expect a less stressful day, I have packed all my healthy lunch and snacks. I have no excuses. 

It's just really annoying. I have decided I need to work on the following:

1. Change my alarm tone
2. Get to bed half hour earlier then what I am.
3. Be more organised in regards to shopping for food.  

That's it, I have been swamped of late, my doctor has suggested I go on stress leave but I just can't. I also decided I probably won't be going to Perth, sorry guys! I just always work the elections and its too much money for me to ignore, even though I am exhausted by the end of the day I just have to do it I think... plus I did just do something pretty bold yesterday... and I enrolled into uni by correspondence. You guys are looking at a student of Bachelor in Behavioral Studies (Psychology). I am really excited but also super nervous. It's a commitment for 6 years, but I am going to work for 5 and it starts in August. Eek!


Love ya guys, appreciate the time you take to read the blog. xo

Hot Tip: One cup of green tea per day is enough to help have more glowing skin! Thanks to the antioxidants in it, helps to get rid of all the bad stuff in your body.

P.S Check out Vikki's post about Dresses and Skirts, I love the analogy of the Coke and Pepsi Bottles, nice work Vik!

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Tomaytoes...Tomatoes

Tonight I went shopping after work for some tomatoes.

I came home with a new toaster in racer red, a sheer navy blue shirt with a sequined collar to wear under a knit top that I love, almost came home with a pair of black calf length boots that actually zipped up - a total miracle! - and a black skater dress in a size 14.

Oh and some tomatoes. ;)

Image from here

I never used to be a dress or a skirt person. I abhorred the way I would resemble a Pepsi bottle rather than a Coke bottle.

So many times I would try on a dress or a skirt and look at myself front on and think "Ok, I don't look amazing but it's do-able"

Do-able? I am really quite looking forward to ditching that word from my vocabulary by the end of this year. Smokin' hot - in. Do-able - out.

But I digress....

But then I would get up the courage and turn side on.

Dress or skirt off with the speed of lightening. Back on hanger and back in it's place on the racks - yes I'm the goodie-two-shoes that puts things back in their place. In stores. Rarely at home.

But since going from a size 16-18 that were really size 20-22 in real world sizes....do the Plus Size designers & label stitchers really believe we don't know that the 16 we are wearing is about 3 sizes bigger than the 16 in another section in the store or in the store next door? Or do they think we are so doped out on our drug of choice - food, chocolate, fat? - that we won't notice?!

Whoops. Digressing.

Anyhoo - since dropping sizes I've noticed a whole lot of dresses sneaking into my wardrobe. And while I don't adore what I see in the mirror when I turn sideways I know it's a good dress or skirt if my bust is the most prominent thing on display then I know it's not going back on the racks.

Image from ASOS

Let me say though I am loving this season of skater dresses and the modified Mod look. Suits me like nothing else.

Oh and I don't CARE how on trend it is. Acid denim is not making it's way back into my wardrobe again. No. No. No. Neither are pencil denim skirts. Or pastel jeans....unless I'm magically as size 6 by then and mayyy...no, I'll be pushing 38 by then. No!

Image from ASOS

I follow a blog called Sugar Coat It and a few days ago Melissa took some photos of her rockin' her own version of a skirt. I love her look. Makes me think I could have been braver with skirts and dresses.

How about you? Are you a dress or a skirt person ? Or do you avoid them like the plague? 

Have a most fabulous day everyone!

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SWSYD SSS Weekend

Yes it rained on Saturday. And yes there was a fair amount of tiredness and fatigue and Mc-pouty-lips going on when it came to getting our 1000 calorie burn ( or there abouts ) done.

But being the tenacious lot we are we JFDI-d and pulled on our big girl pants and stayed true to our word.

Here are just a small portion of the results.

Hope you had a great weekend!

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What a 1.3kg loss looks like in food.

Click play ;)

Oh and today...

Did you...fistpump? Want to shoot the scales? Or just sigh and relax because you know it's just one week out of many ? ;)

Have a great Wednesday night everyone!

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Happy Queens Birthday Holiday Monday Everyone!

It's also the beginning of Week 2!

Did you do some exercise today? Stick to the plan?

Then Ol' Liz gives you a big thumbs up ;)

Image from here

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WEEK 1 SSS

We worked hard today! Check these pics out....and these were only the ones that people posted.

I'm pretty sure our Crew earned our rest day tomorrow and our treat meal and/or dessert tonight!

Special shout out to Cora who not only did 3 classes back to back and some time on the treadmill but did it until the fabulous Danni hit her 1000cal target today. Now that's friendship!

Hope you have a great Saturday night!

Annemarie

Michael & Roisin

Marianne

Vikki

Aleksandra

                 
               

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Blog Hops using Linky Tools.

So if you ever wanted to know how to create a Blog Hop using LinkyTools - here's a quick post to explain it to you.

1. Create an account at LinkyTools
2. Then open the drop down menu on the right and choose thumbnail. Click go. 

3.  Choose your title so you know which blog hop it is. I've called this one Week 1.
4. I chose the size of my thumbnail pictures to be 80px so I changed the length of user entry to 30.

5. I am ignoring the column count and not making it a gallery. That's a tick in the first box and no tick in the second box.
6. My blog hop is going to last for a week so I changed the start and finish dates to match the dates I want.
7. You can have people 'like' blogs and do all sorts of things but for a basic blog hop I've checked the ones that you'll need to get you started.

Note : Requiring an email address and a name helps stop spammers from linking up their random blogs. If you find that you are getting people linking that have nothing to do with your blog hop then next time make sure you have a tick in the Require Approval option.

8. You don't need to be in the directory or have backlinks.
9. Click and get your code.
10. You'll be taken back to your Dashboard. And you should see your blog hop there. Make sure that you have the correct blog type checked. I am using a Blogger platform so I have Blogger or Other checked.
11. Click on the orange button that says Get Code.

12. Highlight and copy your code that opens up in the box.
13. Open your blog post that you are going to link the blog hop to.
14. If you have already written your post, open it up to edit it and you will need to click on the HTML option so you can paste your linky code at the bottom of your post.

15. It will look something like this.....

16. Scroll down to the bottom and paste the code from your linky. 

17. Go back to Compose if you like and preview your blog to see if it worked. If it did, go ahead and publish!

You can see mine - empty of blog entries - at the bottom of this post. ;)

Don't forget that only the person who is hosting the blog hop needs to do this. If you are participating all you have to do is click on the link and enter your details. 

Hope you find this useful :)

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