HOUSEKEEPING

Hi guys,

please be patient for a couple of days while we change over ISPs and I make sure my blog still works with a new sign-in etc. (WH and I have checked out what needs doing and we think all will be good but you never know).

I'll be back as soon as possible.

Cheers

Magda

BIRTHDAYS AND BREAKTHROUGHS

Well last night saw the end of about 2 weeks celebrating my birthday. Our family doesnt do things by halves and it felt like we were doing something on most days. But in reality here's what I was treated to:

Lunch out with WH on the day. We went to lovely city cafe with the best home-style Italian food.

Dinner out with my work colleague that evening as we had travelled to the country for various meetings.

2 nights later my friends came around for drinks and nibbles. I hardly ever eat fruit cheese (which I love) but I had some that night.

Last Friday my mum and I spent the day together doing some shopping for me and having coffees and lunch.

That night WH took me out to a VERY NICE Italian Restaurant (Auge) which was superb. I had some unusual but very delicious food. It was heaven.

On Saturday my Mum cooked my favourite dinner and made my favourite cake. I ate a bit too much because I found it very hard to resist. Check out the picture above. Its a vanilla slice with home made puff pastry (yes my mum rolled, folded and rested it 3-4 times) and custard made from egg yolks, sugar, milk and flour. When its cooked and very thick you stir through the stiffly beaten egg whites. The custard is then spread in a thick layer between the 2 sheets of (cooked) puff pastry and cut into squares for serving after dusting with icing sugar. Its the best vanilla slice in the world :-)

Sunday night we wound it all up and my body did truly say "ENOUGH".

July has been a tough month as far as eating goes because it seemed to be a string of holidays, eating out, celebrating and trying to stay sane around so much food. But I'm really pleased to say that I managed a huge achievement this month, a really significant breakthrough which I'll blog more about tomorrow.

Cheers all

Magda

MELBOURNE POST THE ALL FEMALES

On Sunday my WH arrived in Melbourne for a mini get-away with me while our BS was on the Sunny Coast with his grandparents. So I bid farewell to the girls and moved into the Rendezvous (Flinders Street) for 3 nights.

We had a fantastic time. On Sunday we were the ultimate tourists scouring the city, Bourke Street Mall, then Southbank and the Crown complex, then Southgate and the Sunday Markets and then over to Federation Square. We walked heaps and loved every minute of it. After changing into nicer clothes we went to a bar in Southgate for a pre-dinner drink and then ate in a casual cafe where they tried to rush us through (Grrrr). That really pisses me off so we drank our bottle of wine nice and slow and then had coffees and shared a small desert. They couldnt get rid of us that easy.

After a nice smorgy breakfast on Monday (oops ate a bit too much) we walked to Bridge Road and shopped (the Prada T shirt made my day) and then walked to Chapel Street and shopped some more. Dont know what distance we covered but my legs were tired and sore. Dinner on Tuesday was in a Greek restaurant in Southbank and the food was just superb. Oh and the wine was good too :-)

On Tuesday I was a bit more sensible with my breakfast choices and portions and then we hit Spencer Street DFO. Didnt get much there but WH picked up a great leather jacket on the walk back to the city. I would have bought a pair of Prada shoes but sadly they were all too tight on my big heffalumpy feet (GRRRRR). I had lunch and a couple of wines with Combat Girl and we chatted away as though we'd been friends forever. I loved it and was so happy that I got to meet her and got to know her better. That night we wandered up to Lygon Street where we soaked up more atmosphere and made the most of our last night there.

Both WH and I loved Melbourne and are keen to go back again. The shopping was excellent, it was easy to get to the places we wanted to go and the weather was kind to us. What more could you want?

Cheers all

Magda

THE ALL FEMALES - MY TAKE

The beautiful Lindy Olsen .... and little old me.

Irene, me and Liz Nelson. I trained with Liz at the beginning of this year and I was so happy I got to meet her in person. I have a lot of respect for her and enjoyed the chat we had at the show. Irene too was really lovely. I hope the show inspired her to also take the plunge.

The Adelaide girls. I had such a great time with these ladies and look forward to doing it all again next year (I hope).

Well the All Females is over for another year. As with every bodybuilding competition there are the highs (making it to the stage for the first time/in better condition) and the lows (dealing with the post comp blowouts and the loss of the "ideal body") and all that in between.

I was lucky enough to see all of the pre-judging and the evening show and I enjoyed every minute of, just lapping up the atmosphere, admiring the awesome physiques and appreciating the hard work that it took to get there.

Here are my highlights (in no particular order):

Meeting the ladies from blogland and Lindy's forum. I was lucky enough to meet/greet/talk to: Lia (and Daniel), Rae, Lindy, Shar, Liz, Irene, Lisa, Combat Girl, Charlotte, Jacinta, Katie (Spartze), Katie P, Di and I hope I didnt forget anyone :-)

Seeing Rae on stage. If there is anybody who is a complete natural with style, poise and elegance, its Rae. She was lovely to watch and a well deserved first place in the Intermediate category.

Shar was the "OMG how much has she improved girl". Fantastic legs. Gorgeous bikini. A close 2nd to Rae, I'm sure.

Erica lit the stage up with her smile. She was out to enjoy herself and that she did.

Sportsmodel Hilds was so pretty with a gorgeous toned yet curvy body. Great package.

Ursula blew us away. Does that woman have muscles or what??!! But beautiful too and just pipped for first place in her category. That was one tough line-up.

Di was stunning in her presentation and surpassed herself with yet another brilliant routine. Although tiny in size, she just glows with an amazing stage presence.

The Masters ladies filed onto the stage. Kerry and I turned to each other and in unison said "Oh. My. God." What a high standard this year. We were blown away.

The whole show did have a great atmosphere and I love the way that ladies from all around Australia come to enjoy it.

Congratulations to everyone who competed. You were all beautiful and amazing.

Cheers

Magda

SHOPPING AND THE BRA SAGA

Hi all,

this is one of the topics I promised to post about and now is a great time to do it.

For my birthday I prefer my family to give me money (rather than presents) so that I can buy things that I like and that I want. (I'm sure many of you ladies understand this after a string of useless pressies that you look at in dismay but then quickly smile and throw in a false "thanks, I love it".)

So for me its $$ for shopping thank you.

BUT I hate shopping when I'm considerably heavier than I like to be (like now). Its no fun buying clothes that you're not going to look smokin hot in. In fact its depressing. So how have I coped?

Well I really limited myself this year to a few (inexpensive) things to see me through til I melt this unwanted fat away. It was quite a challenge but I made it with a few tops including a Prada T shirt from Melbourne that was reduced from $350 to $55. JACKPOT!! It looks a bit small for me right now so I just thought PERFECT!! and grabbed it. Also a new pair of shoe/boots in cream suede with killer heels, a get-me-by skirt and pair of trousers and then a new bra and matching undies.

I hate bra shopping and yesterday's experience took my hate to a new level. I go into BNT and explain that I want a new bra and I'm quite specific about what I want. The girl tells me to take a bra in a size that I think will fit, go and put it on and the professional fitter will come and see me. So I estimate I'm now a 12D and off I go.

:-( :-( I'm spilling out of the cups badly and I dont need to be told that I need a DD. BUT I JUST CANT ACCEPT IT!!!!

Bra Girl: This is too small. I'll get the DD.
Me: But I've NEVER been a DD.
Bra Girl: Looking perplexed.
Me: I dont want to be a DD.
Off she goes to get the DD which I put on.
UGLY.
MATRONLY.
I FEEL LIKE A FAT OLD WOMAN.
NOT HAPPY JAN :-(
Bra Girl: Most of the girls who come in these days are a D or DD. Its the chicken.
Me: Looking perplexed.
Bra Girl: repeats herself in a lowered voice.
Me: You mean the hormones in the chicken.
Bra Girl: Yes the hormones.
Me: Well I'll be dieting on Monday and .... note to self "Its time to start eating organic/free-range chicken instead of just thinking about it".

I ask her to find a style which will fit me in a D cup. I'm pleading with a desperate look on my face. She goes off and comes back with 3 different bras. I try the first one and .... IT FITS. Bra Girl checks it, ready to destroy my brief moment of happiness, but she cant because IT DOES FIT.

HOORAY!! I"M NOT AN UGLY, MATRONLY, FAT OLD WOMAN. I'm in a D cup and I'm happy.

PS If any ladies out there are in fact a DD I mean no harm or disrespect. Some large breasts look great, mine dont. For me a DD signifies that I'm indeed too heavy and its time to melt away some of that unwanted body fat.

Stay tuned for more ramblings shortly.

Cheers

Magda

WELCOME CHERYL

If you havent already done so, go and check out Cheryl D's new blog. Its at

http://cheryldbb.blogspot.com/

Miss Cheryl is an Adelaide Figure Girl and has decided to "come out". She is no longer a lurker and is now a blogger.

GO CHERYL!!

Cheers

Magda

CATCHING UP

Since Monday I have crammed in a gazzillion hours of computer time and am finally up to date with all the blogs I follow. I've read stuff thats made me laugh, cry, feel proud, shake my head, nod my head and reminisce. I havent left comments anywhere although there were many times I wanted to. After this weekend my world should return to normal and I'll keep up to date with reading and comments.

THANK YOU all for the birthday wishes you left on my last post. I was surprised by the number after I had been AWOL for some time. Despite being away for work, I had a great day. I still got up at 5 and did my running training. WH took me to lunch and I ate what I wanted with no guilt whatsoever and I had 2 LARGE glasses of bubbly ... WOOHOO. My colleague and I worked late that evening but the naughty devil announced to everyone we were presenting to that it was my birthday and she surprised me with a small gift. Then it was out to dinner and a shared bottle of wine ... life wasnt so bad after all.

Although I'm a bit late I'd like to wish Katie (Spartze), Pip, Kimmy and Ali all a Happy Birthday too. I believe we are all Cancerians (Lia too) and share some very distinct traits.

Over the coming posts I will write more about:
1. The All Females
2. Melbourne post the All Females
3. Shopping
4. How I celebrate my birthday (its not limited to one day)
5. Life on the other side of 45 - dont miss that one!!
6. And other juicy tidbits that spring to mind.

I also have photos to share. But right now its VERY late so time for bed and Good Night.

XX Magda

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME

Hi all,

OMG I have so much to write and so little time. Things have been crazy busy since getting back from Melbourne and now I’m back at work they’re even crazier and busier.

I want to write a long post with Melbourne pics and all but it’ll have to wait as I’m about to head off for some more country work and will be away overnight (and on my birthday too!!!).

For those who left comments before I went away, thank you. I had a ball!!

Now I must end there as I’m leaving shortly. At least I’m going with another lovely lady from my office and we can have a drink or two to continue my celebrations.

Cheers all

Magda

SHORT AND SWEET TONIGHT

One sleep to go.
The suitcase is 60% packed.
The remaining 40% is all out ready to be used one more time before being packed.

I'm one session ahead with weight training :-)
Planning a run tomorrow morning as cardio was very lite on today.

I'm excited to be going to this great show.
I'm excited for all the girls who have put in the hard yards and who will have their glory on stage on Saturday.
I'm excited to be meeting a lot of the ladies from blogland (I hope). If I act as though we are long time friends its because I feel we know each other so well. Much of the stuff I write about in my blog I would NEVER sit down and talk about with my regular girlfriends. I love having this forum in which to write about this aspect of my life.

If you're competing on Saturday then I wish you GOOD LUCK.
If you recognise me but I miss you please come up and say hello.

Cheers all

Magda

TRAVELLING WELL

Travelling well considering I slept terribly last night and got up at 3.30am to potter around before taking mum, dad and BS to the airport. As I was leaving the airport BEFORE 6am to come home and get ready for work I was wishing that I'd taken these extra 2 days off work. But I fronted up like a trooper - just a walking-dead trooper LOL.

Work was busy and stressful and nutrition had a small wobble today in the form of a small packet of salted peanuts and 3 jelly like lollies. But I stopped there and considered that a victory considering my past record.

With BS away I was really tempted to suggest eating out at our local cafe tonight but I resisted. I just knew that there would be wine, a little too much food, probably not lean and clean food (who can stomach a chicken salad in this freezing weather??) and then my training would go out the window. So we had dinner in (chicken with various green veges) and then I trained shoulders, bis and did some cardio that got missed this morning. Feeling good about it all now :-)

Mind you I think we will eat out tomorrow and I can feel a good quality steak coming on with lots of cooked veges - oh and there probably will be a wine or two to celebrate my end-of-the-week.

2 sleeps to the All Females and on that note its time to hit the sack.

:-) Magda

POSITIVE MESSAGES AND NEGATIVE FEELINGS

Last day with my BS before he goes to Queensland for a week with the in-law grandparents. He's flying out on the red-eye with my mum and dad. Gosh it'll be a big, tiring day for him.

Today we went to see Speed Racer. What a great movie with spectacular visual effects and a nice feel-good story-line. I even had a little cry at the end. In the final race Speed Racer is thwarted at the start and he ends up in last place. But throughout his fight back he recalls all the support, encouragement, past events and wise words from his family and mentors and gives his all 110% to finish the race. There were so many positive messages that could be applied to many facets of our lives ... hence my emotional reaction. BTW, BS enjoyed it too cause the cars had lots of BOOST (aka turbo).

Its a pity those feel-good feelings didnt carry through to the video games arcade ... AAAARGH I HATE THOSE PLACES (blood pressure rising) and there was an (unscheduled) visit to GJs to unwind after the stress over-load. I do confess that I indulged in a mini biscuit but compared to past sins this was a 2 on the richter scale - a hardly noticeable tremor.

But I have been dealing with some difficult negative feelings today (completely different unrelated issue) and have been very aware of my usual habit of seeking out comfort food at such times. I'm pleased to say that I didnt resort to this behaviour today and hence at the end of the day I'm not feeling worse from bad eating.

I trained back and abs tonight and was able to increase the intensity with the limited equipment I currently have. This was a positive and helped a little with my mood. Oh and I did cardio in this morning (more rain) enjoying 8/12 Tabatas on the bike for a solid 30 reps and then doing about 15 mins on the most challenging rower program. My legs were feeling quite tight during the biking - hopefully thats the centimetres coming off.

Well time to read blogs and see whats happening on Lindy's forum. G'night all

:-) Magda

PS 3 sleeps til I fly out to Melbourne for the All Females.

AN ARCTIC DAY AND COQ AU VIN FOR DINNER

I dont think the mercury hit 12 degrees in Adelaide today and we had heaps of rain just to consolidate the wintery conditions.

I had the day off to spend with my BS - happy happy!! Here's how it went.

6.45am morning cardio: 2 min walk/ 6 min jog intervals x 4. Legs a bit tired and heavy after yesterday's training.

Breakfast of oats, psyllium husks with protein powder + goji berries, LSA and a little lite soy milk + green tea

BS and I baked a cake which got wrapped in plastic and frozen ready to take in for a work morning tea. It was a lemon sour cream cake and it smelt divine but not a crumb passed these lips.

My best friend visited with her son and we had a couple of hours chatting and drinking tea while the boys played. Missed my morning tea meal but wasnt even hungry for it.

After a lunch of multigrain pasta, various veges and fresh sardines lightly grilled and tossed through the pasta and veges (Yummo!!) BS and I had a massive play session which ended with us on our bed and him covering me in anything he could find (pillows, PJs, socks etc) and then taking my ugg boot off and tickling me to death. I was in hysterics.

We braved the Arctic conditions to visit our local Leonards as they were having a special on chicken breast fillets and Istocked up and made a liter, low fat version of Coq au Vin for dinner. It was definitely a casserole day today as no salads or stirfries would have cut it. I even made dumplings for my WH (he's SO English) but skipped them myself to keep my dinner lean and healthy.

After dinner I trained chest and tris and was blitzing along until I hit the tri presses and then I was fading fast. Will definitely get WH spotting for me at the next session. I was feeling so good that I even chucked in a half hour low-moderate intensity cardio on the bike to round it all off.

When I look back over today I'm really proud that I resisted the cake I baked and I didnt go looking for food all day just coz I was home. I opened a bottle of red wine for the Coq au Vin and didnt drink any of it. I considered making apple crumble for dessert (WH LOVES it) but decided that we didnt need it.

Gosh when your head's in the right place everything else just follows.

Cheers guys

Magda

THE NEW ATTITUDE

Well I've now lived one week with my new attitude, my new approach to training and my new approach to eating .... well maybe not TOTALLY new but different / better / the "new and improved version".

Here's what I've achieved since last Saturday:

1. Cardio every day except Thursday. It was TTOM and I was very sore so I rested. I'm still planning to run the City to Bay so am training for the 12km run but am also doing bike work when the weather isnt on my side. Highlight of the week: one hour of cardio on saturday morning. It was 2 min walk / 5 min jog intervals x 8 for an hour in total. BLISS!!

2. I prepared a new weights program for myself and have done the required 4 sessions plus another today which is the start of my 2nd week's weight training. DOMS hit progressivley from legs to chest and tris to abs to bis and I knew I was back in business. I have some weight training issues / challenges to sort out but nothing that cant be overcome.

3. Eats have been quite good on most days. Time off work to spend with BS while he's on school holidays presented some small challenges (in the form of hot chips from his plate) but I had them and then I stopped and didnt feel compelled to eat the stock of the local bakery just because I hadnt been perfect. In fact I havent had a cake or biscuit or sweets all week. (I tell a lie - we went out to breakfast today and I ate a pancake with some proper maple syrup - but again that was it - no out of control mindless eating which has been the pattern before).

4. Work was MEGA busy at the start of the week and oh the pressure to get things done. This would normally have me seeking out comfort food non-stop but I resisted and ate my planned meals/snacks and then just got my head back down, bum up and working.

5. I'm feeling really good. I know its early days and I shouldnt get all smug about just one week but I figure its better to be positive and optimistic than putting myself down like a Negative Nelly.

I've achieved stuff this week that I havent done for months and now I know where I'm going and can see a bit of progress I'm liking myself and life a whole lot more. Even my WH has made a positive and supportive comment about my change in attitude. God bless his honest little soul :-)

Cheers all

Magda

TO POST OR NOT TO POST

I've been umming and aahing as to whether to post about this or not. But in the interests of being open and honest and sharing my journey with my readers I've decided to write about a significant recent incident.

In my last post I mentioned that WH and I would be talking about goals over the last weekend and we did talk about where we wanted to live, what sort of cars we wanted to drive, what we wanted for our BS, future travel ... all the typical materialsitic stuff. Then he asked me what my personal goals were and I (feeling all happy and positive because I'd actually made some positive decisions recently) went into my spiel about what I wanted to achieve in competing.

Thats when it all turned ugly.

I wasnt getting a very positive, encouraging, supportive reaction like one would expect from their nearest and dearest. So going into it further (and somewhat disbelievingly) I questioned whether he thought I could do it, whether he believed in me? And the answer was a firm and definitive "NO".

Well I was shattered. Some of the things said were very hurtful and critical and felt like a stinging slap in the face. I spent the rest of the evening going over and over everything that was said (none of it good!!) and crying.

Sunday was a day of little conversation in our house. I was still hurting badly, crying frequently and going over it all again in my head. But the difference with Sunday was that I came to realise some (more) unpleasant things:

• Every hurtful thing my WH said was TRUE.
• I've done NOTHING in the first 6 months of this year to move me towards reaching my goals.
• I've said I'm going to do X and then I do Y. When I'm doing Y I'm dreaming about X but avoiding it.
• Nearly all of my choices/actions this year have been either destructive, the easy option, self-sabotaging or just downright WRONG if I indeed want to achieve the things I've set my heart on.

So after crying what seemed like a river of tears and realising what I'd become and how I was perceived by those closest and most important to me, I DECIDED TO TOUGHEN UP. It was like a fire being lit inside of me and my thought pattern changed from "woe is me, I'm hurt and upset, poor me" to "I'll show him. I will NOT take the easy option. I'll do the hard yards. I'll achieve what I've set my heart on."

The switch has been flicked.

Cheers all

Magda

Footnote: In case you're all thinking that I'm married to a heartless bastard LOL I can say a definite I'M NOT!! Its just that my husband doesnt pussy foot around. He calls it as he sees it. He will never falsely give a compliment if he feels its not due just to make me feel better. But when its earned he will be there lavishing praise and singing my praises. What happened on the weekend was like his version of "tough love" (you know that Craig Harper type but times it by 10 and dont hold back). It was probably long overdue.

I'm OK now. The wounds have healed on the surface. But I need the scars to remind me where I've come from and where I dont want to go back to. Oh and I have a new training partner ...... yep my WH has agreed to be my spotter so I can lift heavier and take another step closer to my goal.