SLOW RECOVERY

For some reason I still had a headache for most of today. I cant believe that the alcohol knocked me around THAT much as I do drink regularly in moderation and am used to it. WIERD!!!

I missed training this morning. My best friend has been nagging me about sleeping with my phone under my 2 pillows (to muffle the sound of the alarm at 5am) saying it'll fry my brain and do all sorts of other nasty things to me. She assured me that if the phone was turned off, the alarm would still go off. WELL IT DOESNT SWEETIE!!!!! No alarm at 5am meant I slept til almost 6 and there went my training time.

There will be no excuse tomorrow though. It'll just be a tough decsion between a weights session (I'm behind by 2) or a run (behind by 1). This is not shaping up to be a week of good consistent training. At least I've pretty much got my food back on track and am feeling much better mentally as a result of this.

Things are looking up which is always a nice position to be in.

:-) Magda

PAYING THE PRICE

Ok so having 2 liqueurs and a few glasses of wine yesterday wasnt such a good idea.

Note to self: You are not 20 years old where abuse to your body is like water off a duck's back and you bounce back with no ill effects. If you choose to abuse your body then be prepared to pay a price - one you wont like paying.

I felt seedy, hung-over, lethargic and sorry for myself all day. Its almost 9pm and I still feel out of sorts.

So today I have sinned: No 5am training. No evening training. Eats??? Well at least I havent over-eaten so thats one tick I've earned today. Lordy!! You'd think that I'd know better by now.

My friend Miss D wasnt going to running training tonight and I had a dental appointment that ran late meaning I wouldnt have made it back into the city on time anyway. Maybe Thursday.

In the meantime I need to pick myself up, dust myself off and start moving in a positive forward direction again.

Good night all

Magda

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY TO ALL THE MUMS

Here I am enjoying a nice lazy start to the day. A beautiful card from my boy, breakfast on its way and even Miss Moneypenny our feline was snuggling in on the action. Just puuuurfect :-)

My mum and I having a little drink before dinner. WH did a superb job of cooking a 3 course meal. I hardly did a thing.

So Mothers Day started with breakfast in bed and a leisurely read of the papers while WH went out for a long run. I skipped my training session today but will make it up during the week.

Late morning, my best friend Miss E picked me up and we went Factory Outlet shopping. I bought a long sleeved black T shirt and a tote bag which is perfect in size, shape and style. Lucky me. There were some really nice clothes that I almost bought but resisted as I HATE shopping for clothes when I'm this fat.

When we got home Miss E and I had a little drink together and not long after my mum and dad arrived for dinner. My WH cooked a superb dinner of:

Chick pea and chorizo soup

Herbed roast lamb with roast potatoes and veges

Sticky date puddings with vanilla ice cream.

Everything was really delicious (even if it wasnt lean and clean).

I must confess that I'm a bit tipsy after having some of my favourite (winter) liqueur - Benedictine - and some nice rose style wine.

Well tomorrow is a good day to get back into clean eating and training.

Hope all the other mums had a lovely day too.

Cheers

Magda

THE CLAPPED OUT OLD DATSUN 120Y

Not as good as last week ..... my 5km run time that is.

I'm not surprised. The start of my run was just AWFUL. I was really struggling and I knew that my time would be cr*p. Luckily I felt better after 2kms and picked up the pace a little. Then at 4kms I actually ran reasonably well but didnt have it in me to finish strong :-(

It was a classic case of "you feed the machine lots of cheap, nasty fuel then it'll run like a clapped out old Datsun 120Y" but "if you feed it the best quality fuel in just the right amount then it'll be running like a Porsche."

Today I was the Datsun 120Y.

Here's to a better effort this coming week and a 5km time thats maybe a smidge over 30 minutes. I can do it. I can do it. I can do it.

Magda

INTERLUDE WITH THE DIGITAL DEVIL

This morning my Digital Devil (thanks Katie) rewarded my week of clean eating and hard, consistent training with a ½ kilo increase in weight. My body fat % took a nice dive but I don’t place much accuracy on that number as there are many factors that can have a significant effect on it.

When I look back over my long, chequered history of weight loss and gain, loss and gain etc, this pattern has always been ingrained. It goes like this:
Week 1 of trying to lose weight: Great loss (mostly water weight etc)
Week 2: Still a good loss (some fat, some water)
Week 3: No loss and sometimes a small gain
Week 4: Spit the dummy. Chuck it all in. Eat whatever I want in large quantities. Feel sorry for myself. Drown myself in negative self-talk. Make sure I’m well and truly in the downward spiral and gain back all the weight I lost and add a little bit more just for good luck.
Week 5 or 6 or 7: Trying again to lose weight. Great loss etc etc.
The cycle begins again.

Of course there have been times when I got over the 3 week hurdle but even then its always been a stumbling point. And this time is no different except I know that I haven’t actually gained body fat as such. I don’t know why I’m up ½ kilo. I don’t NEED to know why as it wont make a difference but what will make a difference is how I handle the next few days.

I have a plan in place including a day of more relaxed eating on Mothers Day and I wont give that up. Life is too short to say to my boy “I’m sorry darling but mummy cant eat the toast you’ve made me for breakfast because I’m dieting.” Nor will I make a fuss over the dinner my WH is cooking for our family (including my parents) that evening. Enjoying the day with my family is more important than doing whatever it takes to lose weight.

Is this progress or a guaranteed recipe for failure?

Cheers all

Magda

HOW MY INNER FAT GIRL DEALS WITH THE SCALES

The responses I had to my last post got me thinking tonight.

I loved Kek's reference to my "Inner Fat Girl" (except she's not JUST inner right now LOL). So what does my IFG do/say/think that could well be handed that eviction notice?

IFG has a love/hate with the scales. Love em when the number's going down. Hate em etc..... well you know the rest. However the reality for me is that the scales are ONE thing that keep me accountable and on the straight and narrow. Yep I've ditched them before BUT for me it didnt work. I become complacent and go into denial that I've gained weight because I dont have the cold, hard proof. Skinfolds I know are a better measure but not readily available whilst the scales are there daily. Clothes? Yep they work to some degree but not as effective as that magical number. So where would I like to be with the scales? Like Kek I want to be able to just accept what they say. Rejoice if the reading is good. Fix it if the reading is bad. End of story. Thats the extent of the effect they are to have on me and I'd be happy with that.

IFG still considers that eating lean and clean and training hard is what you do to lose weight. So when you've reached your goal weight ... well it open slather. Now the mature and sensible Magda knows this is WRONG and its been my downfall over and over in the past. This is one thought process that needs evicting right now.

IFG (like the Feast Beast) still tries her hardest to take control at my vulnerable times. She won last Friday but I won on Saturday and Sunday. I'm looking forward to the time when we battle no longer or at least very infrequently.

And Kristy I often try to focus on the positives too. I try to put things into perspective about myself and life in general. Am I happy with who I am and the effort I'm putting into my goals and my life?

Let me just say "I'm improving".

:-) Magda

EXPECTATIONS

At the start of the week I purposely stayed off the scales. After last Friday’s overindulgence I was at risk of 2 things and I knew that both of them would mess with my head and I just didn’t want to go there.

If my weight had gone down or stayed the same I would have been lured into a false sense of “Oh I got away with that …hmmm it wont be so bad if I do it again”. If my weight was up (which was more likely) then I’d be kicking myself and potentially sabotaging any good that I could have achieved by getting straight back on track.

So I didn’t weigh and I just got on with my lean and clean eating and my scheduled training.

Tomorrow however is weigh day and I’m finding myself trying to temper some high expectations. I’ve eaten really well and I’ve trained hard and I want to be rewarded with a good result. I guess its only human nature but deep down I worry that I’m setting myself up for disappointment.

How do you manage your expectations and your disappointments when you have them?

I continue to have the utmost respect and admiration for all the girls who are preparing to compete this year. It’s a tough process both physically and emotionally and everyone will experience their share of ups and downs in some form. I follow your journeys with great interest and you always have my support and encouragement in spirit, even if not in word.

Cheers all

Magda

WELL FED AND HAPPY

Last night and this morning I was hungry and tired. Tonight I'm well fed and happy.

A slightly larger than usual serve of veges with lunch (using up what was already cooked) had me feeling VERY satisfied for 3 1/2 hours. Gotta love that. Then I'm making sure I have a moderate serve of (good) carbs at dinner time if I'm planning to run the following morning. Tonight I had wholegrain pasta (small serve) with 1 1/2 cups of various veges just lightly cooked in a non-stick pan + 100g tuna and a little cheese. Its one of my favourite meals at the moment coz its so satisfying and delicious.

I tell you ladies, I'm NOT missing the restricted comp diet I'd be on now if I was competing this year and I'm lovin those carbs which I need to fuel my runs.

I'm praying for no rain tomorrow morning so I can nail another speed training session and then just wrap up with a slower cruisy jog/run on Thursday. Saturday is 5km test time again. Can I shave a little more off my time??

Good night all

Magda

HUNGRY AND TIRED

Last night I ate my dinner a little late and was quite hungry for it as you’d expect. What I didn’t expect though was to feel hungry again an hour later. What the!! My metabolism must have gone into overdrive (here’s hoping!!)

This morning I trained chest and arms which means I’m now tired all over. Its such a nice tired feeling though. You know the one where you’re tired because you’ve really pushed your muscles and aerobic system out of their comfort zones. I was happy to report to Miss D that I was quite ok after last night and I’m looking forward to next week already. She confirmed what a hard session that was so I don’t feel like a loser because I couldn’t do it all.

Well its time to eat some lunch now so I’ll stop waffling. Hope everyone is travelling well. I’m keeping up with blogs, albeit it very quickly over the last few days.

Cheers all

Magda

FIRST RUNNING TRAINING SESSION IS IN THE BAG

Tonight after work I did my first running training session. It was tough. It was interesting. It was an excellent calorie burner and I loved it.

The lovely Miss D and I headed down together after work and she introduced me to everyone. The coach was an older man with the true runner's physique - very lean with nice shapely legs and absolutely no body fat NOR MUSCLE on his upper body. My shoulders would have dwarfed him. Next to him I looked like the Incredible Hulk LOL. But he is a great runner and really knew his stuff.

Tonight's session was particularly tough and although I couldnt do it all (I didnt expect to) I gave it my best shot. I'm already looking forward to next Monday and doing it all again (well another session anway). Its really good to be pushed out of your comfort zone and this way I know my running will improve. Oh and might I just say that torching 597 calories is a really nice bonus. Woohoo!!

I'm also pretty happy with myself in that I didnt let last Friday's slip-up continue into a weekend of mindless overeating as was usually the case previously. Saturday and Sunday were good days (not perfect but days I was happy with) and I'm feeling strong and in control. Hey there might just be hope for me yet :-)

Magda

THE CARDIO HIGH

I'm overwhelmed by the huge vote of confidence I've had from so many bloggers since my last post. I cant thank you enough guys. It really means a lot to me :-)

So how am I travelling now?

Pretty good. I had a slip up on Friday where I thought I could manage a challenging situation around food better than I did. I was wrong and I ended up eating too many calories but at least my downfall wasnt really crap food like cakes and biscuits. I will NOT subject myself to this situation (Friday morning tea at work) again until I've had a LONG run of being in control and knowing I can manage it well. Enough said.

So this morning I punished myself (hahaha I actually LOVED it!!!!) with one hour of cardio. I ran 5kms again and improved my time (marginally). Please see my sidebar as I'll post a weekly update of my improvement over this distance. Then I hopped on my exercise bike for about 30 mins and just kept pushing. 517 calories and buckets of sweat later I took my HR stats and declared myself a WINNER!! I was on a cardio high for a good 2-3 hours to follow.

Mind you running is no easy feat for me. At the 3.5-4km stretch I hit a (psychological) wall. Its hard. I'm tired. Every extra kilo I'm carrying feels like lead. So I start talking to myself. "Magda you're a runner. Magda you're a runner" over and over again. Then its just "I'm a runner. I'm a fast runner. Fast and fluid" over and over again. I think it helped to lift me up and just give a bit extra in the last kilometre and shave a bit of time off.

Food has been good today. I havent tracked it on Calking but know my calories have been a bit lower today which I can afford after yesterday. I'd hate for yesterday's slip up to cost me that $500.

Cheers all. Looking forward to another great day tomorrow. Its leg day + 30 minutes of power walking. Easy peasy :-)

Magda

NEWS, NEWS AND EVEN MORE NEWS

I’M OUT

I’ve hinted around it for some time but I’ll make it official now. I have decided that I wont compete this year.

Despite starting my training program with lots of enthusiasm, deep down I just couldn’t get my sh*t together. The reality of my situation is that over the last few months I have had major struggles with emotional eating, binge eating and destructive thought patterns. After the comps were over last year I went into a major re-feeding mode and even though I knew about this and the risks of it happening, I was powerless to stop it. I hated what I was doing to myself but I wasn’t ready to stop it and deal with it like a sensible mature adult. The result is that I gained back a lot of weight and assessing where I am and where I need to be to compete again I knew the road there would be one of virtual starvation, flogging myself with hours of cardio and managing my already delicate emotions. I could only envisage a miserable time ahead and that’s not what I believe such an a amazing process should be about.

Now you may all be thinking “quitter / scared of hard work / with that sort of attitude you’ll never be successful” and yep all those thoughts went through my mind initially. But then I was sensible enough and mature enough to realise that in order for me to successfully compete again, I had to make my healthy-living-lifestyle-foundation much stronger. Think of it this way: I have a very unstable foundation right now and I kept trying to build a skyscraper onto it. Result: every effort came tumbling down around me leaving me staring failure in the face every time it happened. Some very wise words from both Lisa Stokes and Liz Nelson finally sunk in and I’ve changed my focus for this year.

NEW GOALS / NEW DIRECTIONS

After I came to peace with the above decision I started to think about what this year would hold for me. Would I just drift through without a goal just taking life as it came? Would I run the risk of becoming quite slack about my training because I wasn’t working towards anything specific? These were real risks in my eyes.

And then it came to me. My new goal for 2008.

This is the year I will run the City to Bay (Adelaide’s 12km fun run from the city to Glenelg) and I will attempt it in a challenging time. Now some of you might be thinking “big deal, whats 12 kms?” but for a chronic non-runner this will be a big accomplishment. Ok I ran heaps last year and I improved quite a bit but I’ve since lost a lot of that conditioning. Plus I’ve never done a long distance. Several years ago I remember doing a one-of 9km run and it nearly killed me although I was running regularly at the time. So 12kms will be quite a challenge for me.

I’ve already consulted the local running expert at work, the lovely Miss D for some training tips. She has been good enough to invite me to train with her running group as there is a specific form of training I’ll need to do to run the race in the time I’m aiming for. I’ve worked out when I can do this and I’m excited and nervous and raring to go.

THE REVERSE RISK LEVERAGE AGREEMENT

Liz blogged about this last month and she had also brought it up with me when I trained with her at the start of the year. To recap for you its about extrinsic vs intrinsic motivation. Eg does your motivation come from within you or are you motivated by external sources? If you’re motivated by external sources then this is a very effective motivational tool. Here’s how it goes. You set a measurable goal with a clear timeframe. Then you put up something of (significant) value to you that you will forego/lose if you don’t reach your goal. Simple.

Well when I first heard about it I wasn’t at all keen to do it. I think deep down I knew I just wasn’t ready to commit – but I never would have admitted that. Then last month after another big slip up around BS’s birthday I just felt so out of control, so sick of failing over and over again that I realised the RRLA was maybe the only way I’d get on track AND STAY THERE.

I talked to WH about it and after his bewilderment at “gee that’s drastic”, “why cant you just do it on your own?” and a host of other comments we made it official.

MY GOAL: Sub 65kgs by All Females – Friday 11th July

MY PENALTY: $500 of money I’d normally spend selfishly on myself AND no internet access at home (other than checking emails) – eg NO BLOGGING for one month.

So I’m really motivated to eat well and train hard. I don’t put food mindlessly into my mouth. I don’t eat to relieve boredom or to ease frustration or dampen the effects of feeling stressed. I think twice about when I drink alcohol and how much I have. In fact I plan my meals quite diligently and sometimes I ride out the feelings of hunger knowing that a planned meal is not far away. I’m doing ok and I’m feeling SO MUCH BETTER already.

I wish I was the sort of person who is motivated intrinsically but right now I’m not so I’ll work with what life has dealt me now. I’m just glad I bit the bullet and took action when I did rather than waiting for my weight to go up and my self esteem to go down further.

So this year I’m a runner, a figure competitor taking a break (still training weights though) and a lean and clean eater. I will continue to enjoy skim cappuccinos; a couple of alcoholic drinks a week, a relaxed meal out very now and then and will have my favourite cake on my birthday. Life is looking pretty good right now.

Cheers

Magda

RUNNING GIRL REVIEWS APRIL

This morning I was determined to run 5kms to see how fast, or in my case today, how slow I could do it LOL.

It was drizzling when I set out. Hmmmm do I go back inside and do (another) bike ride? I decided to give it a go as it was a light drizzle and if it came down heavy I could always abort. So off I went, stopwatch clicking over, watching my step as it was pitch black at 5.15am, pushing myself hard but maintainable and certainly working with some puff.

At the 1km mark I looked at my time and knew that this was no cracking pace. Did I have it in me to push harder? Probably. Could I maintain it for the 5kms? Not likely. So I settled on that pace and kept going. I was working hard but stopping or slowing down was not an option.

So how did I go?

My time was 33:14 which means I was running my kilometres in just over 6:30. LOTS OF ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT THERE.

My heart-rate (including a short warm –up and cool down) sat at an average of 158 with it maxing at 173**. Yowzer! No wonder it felt hard but give me credit for being able to maintain that intensity for over 30 minutes. At the end of the run I was red faced, clothes soaked in sweat and ALIVE!! I felt great.

So I’m not surprised with my poor result. My running has been sporadic at best, non-existent at worse for several weeks now. I’ve lost a lot of aerobic condition but I know it can be trained back and relatively quickly. Bring it on.

What a great end to a topsy turvy month. I’ve had some good times but I also had some difficult, dark times where bad old habits took hold and I wondered if I’d ever be able to shake them. Mentally I’ve reviewed my April training plan and original goals.

Weight training: tick (exceeded my expectations thanks to Joe)
Cardio: fail – all over the place
Weekly Program: fail – all over the place (but not as critical as long as everything gets done) but fail on that account as well
Diet (macronutrient ratios + daily checklist): some successes, many failures
Goal Weight: fail (it was ambitious!!)

So what have I learnt from this? Lots. Tune in tomorrow and all will be revealed.

Cheers all

Magda


** Based on my age, my maximum heart rate should be 166bpm with my 60-80% training zone being 100-133bpm.

DAILY REFLECTION AND ROUND UP

Today I travelled for work. These days can be quite challenging as I'm away from my desk, have no access to a microwave and need to stay awake whilst driving in the country. Each of these factors can result in a nutritional disaster .... but I held it all together for another good day :-)

After a perfect night's sleep (go figure) I trained Shoulders and Bis this morning. I'm now at the end of my current program and will soon be preparing a new one with a slightly different focus. I'm excited about this. Although I missed my planned run yesterday morning, I didnt slacken off my cardio completely as last night I did Tabatas on my exercise bike and then added a stretch of steady state riding for a good 50 minute session that burnt a nice number of calories.

I planned and packed my meals for today so I wouldnt have to resort to a country bakery - that would be like sending an alcoholic to a wine/beer tasting - and I only "indulged" in a can of Diet Coke to keep me awake at my afternoon sleepy time. I've cut my DC right back but when doing counrty drives I usually allow one then. So it was tuna with salad for lunch which wasnt inspiring but to compensate I made one of my favourite tuna/veg/wholegrain pasta meals for dinner. Then I was happy.

What made things harder today was that it was so cold where I was working. Some of the buildings had very poor heating and my feet were going numb from the cold. Needless to say that in the car, I cranked the heating right up to thaw me out. Lucky I was travelling on my own as anybody with me would have died from the hot, stuffy conditions LOL.

When I drive alone in the country I do lots of thinking about everything and I love the solitude and having the time to reflect. I assess how I'm travelling and whether my destination is right for me. I try hard not to dwell too much on the past, not to keep beating myself up over past mistakes - no matter how many times I repeated them. Everything happens for a reason and sometimes we just arent ready to win our battles, let alone our wars. The winning times will come. So I looked at how I was travelling recently and I was happy with it. I dont feel pressured or stressed and I'm embracing good, sensible habits. My destination has changed somewhat and this is exciting and challenging but in a different way. I like where I'm headed and I like the road I'll be taking.

Stay tuned for more on this soon.

Cheers all

Magda

SEEKING SLEEP SOLUTIONS

I’m having serious problems with my sleep and its affecting my training.

I’ve noticed that every time I become really focussed on losing body fat my sleep suffers. I eat really healthy, drink much less, if any at all alcohol, I train regularly and I should feel so much better but lack of sleep leaves me feeling like a washed out rag.

I’m exhausted by bed time and make sure my lights are out by 10pm. I fall asleep quickly but then wake during the night and I can literally feel all the sleep leaving my eyes. Then I lie in bed or get up and read as I get very restless. I can usually get back to sleep around 5am but by then I’ve lost 2-3 hours of my precious sleep time.

This is what happened last night and after waking around 2am and being up reading I went back to bed for whatever sleep I could get. And yes I turned my alarm off and didn’t do my planned run. I think I dozed from about 5 to 6.45 and then rushed around getting ready for work in record time (maybe that burnt a few more calories than usual LOL).

Last year as I was getting closer to comp time I was up during the night on most nights. Yes I was stressing a bit about getting lean enough and like clockwork it affected my sleep. Although I don’t feel like I’m stressing about it now, the pattern is very obvious.

Does anybody else have similar sleep issues? Why does this happen at a time when you’d think that all the good habits would contribute towards better sleep? I have nothing else in my life that’s causing me worry or stress.

Cheers

Magda

NEWSFLASH!!

I survived 5 days off work including a long weekend with two modest free meals (dinner and brunch), two glasses of wine, one mini home-made Anzac biscuit, no other sweets, no stuffing myself and no secret, mindless eating. I’m 2 kilos lighter today than what I was last Wednesday at the start of my mini-holiday. WOOHOO!! GO ME!!

.... AND IT EVEN BROUGHT HAIL

I was training Chest and Tris this afternoon and could see out the back window as it was raining. Then I noticed the small white balls coming down in the rain. OMG .... HAIL!! BS was highly amused asking what it was LOL. There was heaps of it too, covering the lawns and garden beds. It was awesome. So its been understandably cold today but I've been so busy with domestic chores, training and more domestic chores that I havent really felt it.

I made roast beef tonight and had some nice lean slices of it for dinner with steamed brocolli and a small serve of roasted pumpkin (done in minimal olive oil). It was a nice meal and WH was particularly happy as he also got yorky puddings and gravy with his. I (easily) passed on these not so clean food options.

I hope the rain holds off tomorrow morning so I can get out for a run. Its been a while and I'm itching to get hot and sweaty :-)

Cheers all

Magda

WINTER HAS ARRIVED

..... and I quite like it. Its cold and we've had lots of rain which is a good thing here in dry old SA.

With BS sleeping at his grandparents last night I finally got the sleep in I was so badly craving. I woke up around 7.30 (yep thats a sleep in for me LOL) feeling quite refreshed. WH decided he would row for his cardio today so I have yet to do my training because I wasnt going to run in the rain.

The Figure Girls met for brunch today at Citrus Cafe on Hutt Street in Adelaide. However there were only 3 of us as others werent able to make it for different reasons. We still had a great catch-up talking all things training, dieting and competing as we always do. Its so good for me to have these catchups as none of my other friends have any interest whatsoever in anything to do with this sport. Sometimes I feel like a bit of an island.

Over the last week or so I've been thinking lots about where I am and where I'm going and whats the best way for me to get there. I've come to realise some things which initially didnt sit well with me but I've made peace with them now. I will blog about them soon.

Cheers all

Magda

THE DAY AFTER ANZAC DAY

OMG can my titles get any more unoriginal LOL??

Well here's the lowdown.

Last night we had rain. Such an unusual sound that when I woke up during the night (as I usually do) it kept me awake. Grrrrr!! Then BS decided that today HE WOULD SLEEP IN. WTF??!! So I'm up reading the paper, having my hot lemon drink, mosying and pottering waiting for him to be up at any minute so I can get his breakfast and then train. It was almost 8 when he got up. By then I was quite hungry (after reading KatieP's post today I will eat as soon as I get up in future) but got stuck into my shoulder session followed by just 20 mins on the exercise bike. Thats all I had time for as I was getting my nails done at 10.

However before lunch I did 25 mins on the rower which was a nice round of cardio again. I chose the hardest program and did 3 rounds of it with my abs very sore from Thursday and my upper body still quite sore and tired. I ran out of time to have an afternoon nap.

So good training again today and I purposely left out bis due to lack of time + after Thursday's caning I didnt think they needed another round so quickly.

We went to the movies in the late afternoon and saw Forgetting Sarah Marshall. BIZARRE!! But funny and quirky and a bit different. It made us laugh and we both enjoyed it. Then we went to Mondo on The Parade at Norwood and had a nice dinner where I chose fairly wisely AND DIDNT STUFF MYSELF!! Woohoo!! Feeling really good right now I'm pleased to say.

After an awful spike in my weight after last weekend, I'm pleased to say that its back down to the number I never want it to be higher than. Its still too high at this absolute upper limit but not as bad as when it was 4+ kgs more. AAAAARGH!!

One more day of this lovely long weekend to enjoy and I hope to blog again tomorrow after the Figure Girls brunch.

Take care all and cheers from

Magda

ANZAC DAY

Not a very original tilte but hey .... its 100% spot on LOL.

So what did I get up today? Lets see ....

BS woke us up before 6.30 Grrrrr. Would like to have slept longer .... say about 10!! Trained legs today as my upper body is shattered and I knew that I could not do a shoulder workout any justice let alone biceps (after 4 sets of 8 assisted chin-ups yesterday). No time for cardio straight after as mum and dad were coming over to help with stuff around the house (extending the pergola and doing my ironing). BS and I baked Anzac biscuits and I had one very small one and stopped at that. Yay me - on many previous occassions I would have had 5 or 6 throught the day, at least.

After a healthy lunch (vegetarian omelette with a little extra lite cheese) BS and I went out with my best friend (Miss E) and her boy to see Horton Hears a Who. Its a great animated movie based on a Dr Seuss story. I loved it .... oh and the boys did too. Follow this up with a session at one of the very noisy games places and I'm hanging out for a peaceful coffee and chat with Miss E. We went to her place for this.

Anyway the afternoon just slipped away and before I knew it it was right around dinner time and we were still there so a quick decision to pick up takeaway on the way home as the meal I had planned would take some time to prepare. My choice was chicken and chips with bought coleslaw which my boys loved. I had about 1/2 a chicken breast and heated up some already cooked green veg and stayed reasonably clean with my meal. Yep thats right, no chips (even though our local makes the BEST chips ever), no coleslaw and no wine for me.

So although Ididnt do any cardio today I know that a decent leg session will go a long way to helping with reducing body fat so I'm ok with that. I'll cardio tomorrow for sure. I'm happy with where I'm at at the end of today and thats the main thing.

Hope you all had a great day.

Cheers

Magda

ANOTHER GREAT DAY OFF WORK

Yep I was off today as well and could really get used to this life of no work and time to do all the things I want to. Shame that I'd have no money for anything so hi ho hi ho its off to work I go ... well next Monday anyway.

Today's cardio was a short and sweet sprint session. Just 10 repeats of 100m sprint / 100m recovery walk. Add the warm up jog and the jog back home and it was just over 20 minutes. Shame my legs were sore (from Monday night) and a bit tired but after the 2nd repeat they fired up ok.

Today Miss S (BS's Godmother) looked after my boy while I had my training session with Joe. We skipped legs today and did back and abs. Joe pushed me to my limit and I felt like I gave 100%, especially as I could hardly get off the floor at the end of abs when the session ended. We also talked about a slight change to my training as I have a new goal for this year. I'll devote a post about that over the weekend.

I then headed back to Miss S's for lunch with her and the kids (I took my PWO meal with me) before heading off to do grocery shopping. Typically today I got the trolley from hell and with my upper body thrashed to death I was struggling BIG TIME!! I forgot to mention that I have a bout of DOMS in my pecs and a little in my tris so everything from the waist up is mighty sore and fragile right now :-)

No double cardio today. I honestly feel like I've trained enough and now good food and rest are on my "must do" list. Looking forward to the Anzac Day holiday tomorrow and then a nice weekend to follow. The Adelaide Figure Girls are brunching on Sunday so that'll be a real treat.

Cheers all and enjoy the day off tomorrow but dont forget the significance of it.

Magda

GIVING IN

Well today I gave in and bought myself a pair of jeans that fit me now. (Insert somewhat depressed sigh). I wasnt going to as I'm determined to get back into my everyday size 11s but its been a while since they last fit and I decided I could survive no longer without at least one pair of jeans. I saw some on sale in Katies (I usually NEVER shop there) and just to ease my pain the sizing was huge and I fitted into a size 10. In a wierd way this makes me feel a bit better - but the reality is that I'm nowhere near a true size 10 now.

But I'm on the way!! This morning I trained chest and tris and had some nice improvements in weights lifted on 3 of the exercises. I followed that up with a half hour moderate intensity cardio and my favourite oat/protein pancake for breakfast. The day was off to a good start :-)

BS and I had a few things to do including buying his winter school shoes, a nice winter outfit for him, my jeans and some casual winter clothes for him too. Lucky boy!! We had lunch out and I enjoyed a Mediterranean Chicken Salad which would have been nice if the poor chicken breast strips werent so overcooked. At least it was fairly clean even with a little feta and some olives in it. I could have done a lot worse.

WH is out at the soccer tonight so after BS had gone to sleep I snuck in 20 minutes each on the rower and bike. Now I've somewhat made up for the lack of cardio yesterday and I'm feeling good with a diet yogurt in me for PWO refuelling. Soon it'll be a quick shower and then bed to finish reading Oxygen (with Rosa Marie Romero on the cover). What a great read that mag is and I've especially enjoyed the feature on fit women who are over 40. Their stories were truly an inspiring read. I hope mine is too one day.

Cheers all

Magda

GIRL POWER

This fantastic picture was taken at my 40th (almost 5 years ago!!) and the only special girlfriend missing from the shot is Miss J (my SIL). From L - R there is Miss E (bestest friend), Miss S (Godmother to my BS), me of course with champagne in hand and Miss R (longest serving GREAT friend).

Last night I caught up with Miss R and want to share what a beautiful and special person she is.

We have been friends since I was 14 and she was 16 (yep thats now over 30 years!!). I've seen Miss R go from a happy but fat size 16 teenager to an anorexic marathon runner (her own words!!) who comfortably wore a size 8. Many years have passed from there to now and she is now a comforatble size 10-12 maintaining a nice weight that has her looking slim. She is obviously happy in her skin and just knows how to eat to happily stay at that weight. She is an inspiration.

Miss R has one of the loveliest, outgoing, positive, warm and friendly personalities you could imagine. In her 20s she travelled the world ON HER OWN, never worried about being on her own as she would just meet some-one with a big happy "Hi I'm R" and the conversation would flow. Many men have swooned over her and there were many proposals before she married her man who she describes as her best friend and her rock. In our eyes they are an unusual match as he is much quieter and reserved but I guess you cant have 2 shining lights together. As they say, opposites attract.

We dont see each other often and there have been times when several months have passed in between our get-togethers but it makes absolutely no difference. We pick up where we left off with never any ill-feeling or that usual "you never call me / well you never call me either". After not seeing each other for a while we just sit down and talk and talk and talk.

And thats what we did last night over a glass of wine, then dinner and then coffee afterwards. It was a lovely night and the catch up was great.

I'm so lucky to be blessed with the greatest friends. There arent many that I place in the "greatest" category - some I'm just not that close to but these special ladies are just that. If I was ever in need of anything I know that each and every one of them would be there for me - no matter what. What more could a girl ask for?

Cheers

Magda

LUNGING LESSONS FOR LOVELY LEGS

I’m loving training with Joe at Adelaide Health and Fitness. Last Friday we did some heavier leg work before caning my back again. It was great to load a bit extra onto the bar and push out some nice deep squats. Joe was happy with them too. Then it was single legged leg press and I was feeling it … nicely. The Smith Machine is one of my favourites and I supersetted calf raises (YAWN – waste of time for me as I have well developed calves anyway) with lunges. Now here is where I really got my money’s worth. Apparently my lunge technique is awful and Joe pulled me up on it and corrected it. So with this new way to lunge (butt tucked under and hips tilted slightly forward) I was discovering new sensations and new muscles working.

We realised that my poor technique was a result of my generally weak glutes, poor hip mobility and stemmed from all the trouble I have with everything muscular between my waist and knees. I cant even blame it on my lower back any more as its far more than that.

So last night I trained legs at home and stripped my lunges back to the bare minimum aiming for perfect technique and they still hurt like mad. No wonder I was in agony after lunging incorrectly with 10+ kgs on my DBs. I know I’m on the right track now so I can begin to overload gradually so as not to compromise form and not cause unnecessary injury.

Anyway back to the session with Joe and after week 2 I had another bout of DOMS in my lats which I’m seriously loving. I thought I trained myself hard last year but this year “hard” has taken on a new meaning when I train with Joe.

On a more mundane level though I’ve had another night of poor sleep where I’ve been awake since 4am and couldn’t train this morning due to family circumstances. I’m catching up with a friend tonight so it’ll either be a very quick late training session tonight or a longer session tomorrow. I’m tired and would kill for a solid 10 hour sleep (like that’s ever going to happen!!). Oh well at least I’ve got tomorrow and Thursday off work. YIPPEE!!

Cheers all

Magda

MY 6 WORD MEMOIR

PAMPERED PRINCESS DECLARES WAR ON BODY FAT
(As at 21 April 08 - it could be different in a week or a month's time)


Hi guys,

thanks to everyone's well wishes for my son's birthday. We had a great weekend with lots of socialising and celebrating. The photos are a bit disappointing though but I'll go through them again in the hope there are at least a few good ones I can post.

Unfortunately the diet wasnt as lean and clean as I would have liked but today is a new day where better habits and choices can be my priority. My sleep suffered a bit too so I'm very tired and have some training to catch up on as well. Thank goodness I'm working 2 days this week and then having 2 days off before the long weekend.

I have a few things to post that I'm looking forward to sharing but they'll have to wait til I have a bit more time to spend on the luxury of blogging.

I also loved the wierd food stories that were shared on my post from last week. When I read some of them, I didnt feel nearly as wierd as before LOL.

Cheers all and will blog more soon

Magda

A MORNING OFF WORK

I have enjoyed the morning off work today as its my gorgeous son’s 6th birthday. While he busied himself with his birthday present I did my training (shoulders/bis + low/moderate intensity cardio on my exercise bike). I then made choc fleck cupcakes for tonight’s birthday dinner with the family. BS has requested that they be decorated with Smarties. He’ll get his wish :-)

Then I raced around doing tidying, cleaning, my food prep and prying BS off his activity of choice. My MIL arrives from the Sunny Coast this arvo. We have some busy days ahead and I’m looking forward to it all.

I’m feeling surprisingly calm, in control and positive about handling this potentially dangerous time well. Social occasions usually see me hoeing into lots of nibbly snack foods, alcohol and then meals which are way more than what I need. I’m aiming for moderation not perfection. I think I’ll do ok as my focus and perspective is now different.

I hope to get on and post some pics but I suspect my time on the computer will be limited over the next few days. Hope everyone is travelling well and handling challenges and curve balls with strength and confidence.

Cheers all

Magda

WIERD FOOD

Does anybody else eat weird food?

I’m not a fussy eater with my list of “never eats” being quite short actually. So sometimes my meal concoctions are “unusual”. Last Friday’s was a disaster that I’ll be careful to NOT repeat. It was embarrassing to say the least.

I love red cabbage and had some already cooked in a little home made chicken stock. I also had some snapper fillets that I had cooked with a bit of low salt lemon pepper seasoning. So I put a hot-pack of cabbage, fish and brown rice together. I didn’t think there’d be anything wrong with it. Well I heated it in the microwave at work and people from the other end of the floor started protesting loudly about the smell. (I swear it was no worse than the smell of tuna and lots of people have tuna regularly). Well the reaction to it (the smell) was so negative that I was too embarrassed to open the container all the way up and eat my meal. I ducked out to Subway and bought a roasted chicken sub with heaps of salad instead.

Today I had brussel sprouts which I have discovered a new love for since preparing to compete last year. With them I had beef chevaps (lean skinless sausages, quite spicy in flavour) left over from a BBQ on Saturday. I add a little flaxseed oil and its just delicious. Nobody complained of the smell today although I would have got strange looks if they’d seen what I was having.

WH often looks at my food and rolls his eyes but the absolute best was one week out from comps last year when breakfast was green veg and lean protein. I tried to eat these meals away from him but by the last one I just didn’t care anymore and ate it in front of him. Well I just gave him the “death stare” and cut him off before he could even start on that one. Mind you, in hindsight I agree that chicken/tuna with green veg is NOT an inspiring breakfast choice.

Do you have any weird food stories to share?

Magda

A SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT FOCUS AND APPROACH

Today I wrote a "Private Post" that I dont plan to publish til at least 3 weeks down the track. Its a reflection of where I'm at but I'm not ready to share it just yet. If/when I do you'll understand why.

So that post and advice received on yesterday's post has prompted me to adopt a slightly different approach to my diet and training. Its not a cop-out, nor am I throwing in the towel and quitting coz its all too hard. Far from it, in fact.

When I look at where I was 2 years ago and then 6 months ago and where I am now it feels like I've gone from crawling, to walking and then running. However I sustained an injury and lost my ability to run. I keep thinking that I can run but every time I take off, I fall over again. I can do it again but I need to crawl first, then walk and then run. It will be done but it cant be rushed. This is what I plan to do over the coming months. Crawl first, then walk and run when I'm ready.

Build the foundation as strong as possible and then whatever you put on top has a mighty good chance of surviving any storms. Currently my foundation isnt in too good a shape.

So my new focus is on the here and now, not one day in September. I have a lot of work to do both physically and mentally over the next few months but I feel this is a better road for me to travel and the journey will be a happier one.

Thank you to the lovely Lia, Lisa, Raechelle, Combat Girl and Liz for your wise words, your tough love and your support. They really do mean a lot to me.

Magda :-)

SUNDAY ROUNDUP

Well I was going to blog more on the weekend but things got busier than I expected and here I am on Sunday night doing my one and only post.

What can I report?

A killer leg session ths morning which had me working to my max on lunges even without the weights being heavy. I'm not sure whats going on there? Last year I lunged with heavier weights and whilst it was never easy, I dont remember it being THIS hard. I wonder if I'll have DOMS in my glutes for 3 weeks running?

I have DOMS in my lats for the first time EVER, thanks to Joe's killer back session on Friday. It feels wierd but good I guess. On Saturday I had to do shoulders and bis to make up missing the session last week. I'm a bit all over the place with my weight training and need to work out a new routine allowing for the Friday training with Joe. I need to also step up my cardio. My April training schedule has proved too rigid and its not working so I'll be back to the drawing board for May.

Diet continues to be my biggest challenge and I'm just not applying myself like I should be. There are so many things going through my head, including questioning whether I REALLY want to compete again this year and whether I'm prepared to WORK FOR IT? Can I put my self doubts aside? Have I got what it takes MENTALLY to push through this difficult stage? The answers within me arent sounding very positive right now.

Magda

IMPROVING MY COMP PREP

The owner of ADELAIDE HEALTH & FITNESS, the wonderful Joe Mammone is assisting with my training for competition this year

I’ve known Joe for a long time as we both instructed at the same gym for several years. He had his business then and was building a reputation as a great instructor and trainer who was popular with many of the gym members. In fact many of the members also attended his gym for his quality one-on-one training.

Last year I did all my weight training on my own but Joe helped with my body fat testing as he was one of the few trainers I knew who did skin folds with callipers and this was my preferred method for body fat monitoring. He came to watch me compete, along with some of his clients that knew me from the gym. (Adelaide is a very small, everyone-knows-everyone city)

Anyway circumstances are such that I need to do one gym session a week, but not necessarily more so Joe was a logical solution to my problem. (I’m still doing my own programming for the remaining weights sessions, cardio and diet – for now at least.) I’m taking time out at lunch time on Fridays which is a win / win as its not a busy time for Joe. Its also giving me the necessary incentive to steer clear of Friday morning tea (VERY IMPORTANT) and then stay on track over the weekend. There’s nothing like some in-your-face-accountability to help one to stay on track. He knows my starting weight but by seeing me weekly there'll be cold hard evidence of whether I'm progressing or not.

So I’ve had my first session with Joe today and we do back, some machine leg work (I still do a lot of leg work at home) and abs if time permits. We started with “Ok can you do chin ups?” at which point I thought “B*ST*RD, he’s picked the hardest exercise to start with and I cant do them unassisted” so I warned him that he’d have his work cut out for him as he’d be doing most of the lifting/assisting and there was significant weight there to lift. We both survived it though.

It was a great session, tough but inspiring and I’ll have some serious DOMS tomorrow I can tell. WOOHOO. I love this feeling and will really look forward to training with Joe for that extra push.

I’m also planning some dietary changes and have a question:

Does anybody know of a protein powder that is suitable for cooking with that doesn’t contain artificial sweetener or sugar (or maybe just a little sugar relative to the content of the product)? I normally use a soy protein for cooking into my morning oats (WPI does NOT cook in well) but it has artificial sweetener AND sugar in it. I also love my oat/protein pancakes which require protein powder. But If anybody has an oat/protein pancake recipe that doesn’t need protein powder but still packs a decent ratio of protein to carbs then I'm all ears for that too.

Any advice would be very welcome.

Look forward to blogging more on the weekend.

Cheers all

Magda

FOILED AT EVERY TURN

Would you believe that I now have a bad case of TOM. I had 2 easy months with no p pain and this month it feels like I have 3 months worth. I slept badly last night and decided to turn my alarm off so as to get a bit more sleep as I have a long country drive today. So I missed my shoulders/bis weights session and will have to improvise with a resistance band workout in my hotel room tomorrow morning. I also missed doing cardio last night due a recurrence of the runs. Foiled at every turn :-(

Eating is still ok though. Its not been perfect but if the last few days were the worst that it got then I'd be VERY happy with it all. Going out for dinner tonight will be a bit of a test - especially as there'll be a group of us.

Well must sign off as we'll be heading off soon.

I have a bit more to post about my comp prep but will save it for when I have more time.

Cheers all

Magda

SINCE SUNDAY .....

..... I've been travelling well .....

......except for a serious dose of the runs LOL :-0

Basically it goes like this: I eat. About 1-2 hours later my stomach goes crazy. I'm racing to the toilet.

After a day of it yesterday it eased off today and I went to work and now its back again (that was timed badly!!) and I'm just waiting to see what happens and if I can do the cardio esession I was planning tonight. I'm ok with my weight training as I tackled that early today but it looks like cardio will suffer again this week.

On the bright side though, a good clean out is guaranteed to get rid of any bloating and my weight is back to where it was at the end of my first week so the subsequent gain is now gone. I dont feel sick with it but it is a bit annoying.

Tomorrow I'm travelling for work with my boss and staying away overnight. All routine out the door with meals and training so it'll be an interesting challenge to see how well I can stay on track - or how little damage I can get away with. If I was going alone I'd be more confident that I'd manage it better but hey we cant have too many things going our way now, can we?

Once again I have a decent case of legs DOMS but this time its mainly in the glutes which I guess is a really good thing. I hope that means that I'm hitting my glutes hard and will be rewarded with some better shape this year. My "pancake butt" last year let me down a bit so that is my focus in training this year.

KRISTY: Your suggestion about forcing the internet to update worked and I've briefly taken advantage of it but with things so busy at work I rarely get on these days. (Lisa from SA and Raechelle were interested in this also)

LISA (PL): I'm looking further into the sugar detox. One of my fave meals post workout though is oats, egg whites, cinnamon, soy protein + Splenda made into a pancake and served with banana (or apple grated into the pancake mix), sugar free maple syrup and LSA. I'm wondering how I could make a sugar AND artificial sweetener free version of this. Everything else I'm confident I could ditch but this is a meal that I really love.

Thank you too to Em, Kristy and Lisa for your support and advice after my last post. I'm the sort of person who reads/hears something, processes it, stores it, recalls it, ponders it, analyses it and eventually the pieces fall into place and I can see "the light". I may be in a long dark tunnel but there is a small dim light at the end just within my view and I'm moving towards it.

Cheers all

Magda

MY GUIDING LIGHT AND INSPIRATION

I had a good week and made progress.

Then I had a bad week and undid it all.

I let myself slip back into some self-defeating mentalities like "There's no harm in having extra rice cakes and tuna" - except I finished off 1/2 pack of rice cakes and didnt stop there. The stress of Dad in hospital, new pressure at work and (junky) food became my comfort again. Shouldnt have, but it did.

I didnt do all my cardio last week but I did all my weight training and completed the sessions to a level I was happy with. I guess its not all doom and gloom - but its not far off.

As I've been pottering around doing domestic stuff today I've been thinking about the whole competing thing.

Why do I want to do it again?
What am I prepared to do to achieve another step up onto stage?
Can I do it alone or should I enlist help - to what extent/who/how/where?
How much does my long-term comp goal REALLY mean to me?

Some answers came easily. Some didnt.

I also think a lot about my eating habits and wonder how/why at my age I still dont have things under control?
Why I'm not normal?
Why I struggle so much with it?
When will it end?

But I have a fighting spirit and I'm determined to NOT throw in the towel and admit defeat. I will (again) pick myself up and start moving forward. I believe that NLP can help me with this but I have even neglected that in the last week so what can I expect?

14 weeks til the All Females and 24 weeks to WNBF SA Championships. I dont want to be fat for the former. I want to be in comp shape for the latter. Time for action (yet again).

My guiding light and inspiration will be:

ONE MEAL

ONE WORKOUT

ONE DAY AT A TIME

Lisa Stokes.

Thanks for listening guys.

Magda

MINI POST

Hi all,

Well what can I say about the week that just passed? You'll have to tune in tomorrow. Its late. I'm tired. I will post tomorrow.

Have only quickly read other blogs and made very few comments. My heart goes out to Stacy who lost her Dad right at the time that mine came out of hospital after a successful angioplasty. Other bloggers are experiencing the usual ups and downs (me included). How lucky are we that we have this great support base to "lean on" when we need it.

Good night all

Magda

A QUESTION FOR THE IT SAVVY

I hope some IT Guru can answer this question for me.

My blogger address is saved in my list of favourites on Internet Explorer at work. During my lunchtime I often hop in and catch up on my favourite blogs and sometimes update mine then as well.

I also have a few other sites I like to visit including Craig Harper and The Daily Motivator.

What I've noticed is that since March 27th none of my blog sites have any postings from that date. Not mine, not any from my list not Craig's site and not even on The Daily Motivator.

Has work blocked them in some way since that date? I can still get into all the blogs/sites but there is nothing after that date.

I work for a large government department and I'm sure that they could track all internet usage if they wanted to but can they block info in this way or is it something else that I just havent thought of?

Please help if you know the answer or have experienced similar yourself.

Cheers

Magda

A VERY QUICK UPDATE ON DAD

Today it feels like I've eaten my bodyweight in comfort foods. I didnt think I was worried about my Dad's surgery but subconsciously I must have been fretting.

I was up at 4.30am doing the ironing and then with some added pressure at work I seemed to be eating all day. Thats one for the FB :-(

Mum and I visited Dad tonight and he looked good (breathe a huge sigh of relief). He showed us a picture of his totally blocked right coronary artery and of the 3 stents he had put in. All should be good now.

When I got home I had a drink to relax and I'm heading off to bed very soon. Its made me stop and think about what we put in our bodies to cause such problems and maybe a little more vigilance wouldnt be a bad thing. In other words make sure the healthy stuff REALLY outweighs the rare treats.

Will catch up with comments and other blogs soon.

Good night all

Magda

MONDAY ROUND-UP

This morning’s cardio session should have been sprint runs. I could barely walk but set out nevertheless. I walked slowly to start and then picked up the pace a little. I was slowly warming up but still in a lot of pain. I tried to pick the pace up to an easy jog but the impact was excruciating on my glutes so I walked a little more and then headed home and finished the session on my exercise bike.

I had difficulty putting pantyhose on this morning and taking my BS to school and using the stairs there was another experience in sheer pain. Its going to be a long few days while this killer DOMS settles down.

Food is good and back on track after Saturday’s planned treat. At the WNBF seminar yesterday comp preps were discussed. It amazes me as to how many different ways there are to prepare for a comp. What to eat, when to start, how much cardio and what type and when to do it and how often. I came away a little bit dazed and doubting whether what I’m planning will be effective. There were some competitors there who, in my opinion don’t have a lot of weight to lose, yet they are dieting already. And their diets are so strict that it made me sad to think about going so strict at this point out.

But I’ve decided to stick with my plan for April and if I’m not happy with my progress then I’ll up the ante.

Dad goes back into hospital tomorrow to have his angioplasty (he had the dates all mixed up) so all fingers are crossed that everything goes ok and he’s out the next day and recuperating safely at home.

Cheers

Magda

THE ANNIVERSARY DINNER REVIEW - WELCOMING KILLER LEG DOMS AND THE DAY THAT WENT NOTHING LIKE PLANNED

OK first up the anniversary dinner was superb.

Calories consumed: WAY too many
Enjoyment derived: very high
Guilt suffered: NONE!!

A big pat on the back to myself for:

1. Not treating Saturday as a "oh I'm eating off plan tonight so I might as well start now (first thing in the morning)" day and
2. Getting straight back into lean and clean eating on Sunday.

These are both big achievements for me :-)

Now for the funny bit. I woke up around 4.30am feeling (understandably) somewhat less than 100% in the tummy. This however I could deal with. What was absolutley killing me though was the DOMS which had already taken over my lower body. My glutes were screaming, my quads were sore and EVERYTHNG from the waist down hurt when I moved. Holey moley, it wasnt even 24 hours since I'd trained. Needless to say I've spent the day dreading all forms of movement, especially getting into and out of the car and using a toilet seat. I'm in agony LOL.

Lastly, today has been all topsy turvy with my BIL due to come over to help WH with some jobs around the house. This he did but I didnt realise SIL would come too and I hadnt planned for it. It really through me out with stuff I was going to do today especially as they ended up staying for dinner. I had to attend a seminar that the WNBF ran today (I had committed to it previously) so that took me out for some time and although I felt a bit bad about it I wasnt going to miss the seminar. The only real ill effect from all this though was that I missed my afternoon snack and had too big a gap between lunch and dinner. I can live with that.

Well I have a little more prep to do before I hit the sack tonight so I wil bid farewell and catch up with everybody's blogs tomorrow as this is my one and only venture onto the computer today..... AMAZING LOL!!

Cheers all

Magda

A TRAINING DATE WITH MY LEGS

Yes poor old legs (and all weight training in fact) have been sadly neglected for 2 weeks due to holidays amd then having a cold. The little I did while on holidays would have made virtually no difference other than to remind me that yes my legs are strong and capable of a decent load.

So this morning the new training program came out and I was back in my beloved exercise room doing what I (sort of) love visualising the end result. So here's how it went.

Exercise 1: narrow (traditional) squats with barbell - not too hard
Exercise 2: wide squats with barbell - same as above. Note to self "increase weights at the next session".
Exercise 3: lunges with DBS - OMG!!! I didnt go heavy on the weights as I havent lunged since last year BUT I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO DIE. I had trouble balancing and my legs were wobbling andf shaking. Each set was really hard and my legs were screaming at me "Dont do this to us. We dont like it". Did I listen? No I pressed on albeit it almost in tears LOL

After that, nothing was as hard as the lunges and I just got on with it and did it, looking forward to the exercise bike ride (low - moderate intensity) for cardio. My legs felt really wierd when it was all over. I guess thats a good thing.

But the best thing was having my protein/oat pancake with sugar free maple syrup, LSA and a banana as my post workout recovery meal. Thats my idea of sheer heaven :-)

After that I'm keeping my cals down today so I can enjoy a treat meal tonight at our anniversary dinner (oh and a few wines). Since Tuesday I've lost 2.8kgs but before you go "OMG thats outstanding" I'll confess that about 1.5 of that was just post-Easter-bloat. On Easter Monday I did some baking with my BS and had way too many fresh choc chip biscuits, a sandwich for lunch and pasta for dinner. It was a bit of a piggie day LOL.

Cheers all and I hope you're having a great weekend too.

Magda

AN INTERLUDE WITH MY FEAST BEAST

My Feast Beast surfaced at morning tea time today. The spread was amazing yet again, the tables groaning with junky, fatty, sugary foods (oh and some fruit). Here’s what happened:

Me: wander over to the cafeteria area with my crispbread, tuna and a peach. Glance at the spread and go to sit well away from it.

Feast Beast (FB) whispering to me: Mmmmm the streusel looks fantastic. You know you want some.

Me: Yes I do but I wont.

FB whispering: What about the cinnamon donuts? You LOVE cinnamon donuts. Go on have some.

Me: No!

FB whispering again: OK then just have some crackers with cheese and kabana. Its almost healthy you know.

Me: Bull sh*t. Shut up and leave me alone. I’ll eat my snack and nothing else. You, Feast Beast will have to starve. So just F*** OFF.

And I did just that and then stayed well clear of that area as much as I could. Now that I've survived the taunting my FB is hibernating again. But I know he’ll be back and probably roaring instead of whispering. But I’m prepared for him. I know the game he plays and the tricks he uses and I can beat him at it.

Cheers all

Magda

MY TAKE 5

In response to Stacy's invite here is my Take 5:



5 FAVE SNACK FOODS


I'll try to be reasonable here and not just put down junk foods LOL


Nuts
Rice cakes with low fat cream cheese, smoked salmon and avocado
Muffin Break bran muffins (a real indulgence)
Cracker biscuits with crunchy peanut butter
Fruit in season


5 FAVE QUOTES


Whether you believe you can or believe you cant, you're right.
Nothing tastes as good as slim feels.
Geez there are so many more but I just cant think of them right now

5 THINGS YOU LOVE ABOUT YOUR JOB

The variety people I work with both in my team in the office and on each of the different project teams.
Seeing physical evidence of what I do
Knowing that I'm improving the learning of students in state schools
Travel around the state
Flexitime (should be first on the list!!)

5 PLACES YOU'D LIKE TO LIVE

Noosa
Vancouver
New York (for a while but not forever)
Greek Islands
Anywhere hot

5 FAVE TV SHOWS THAT ARE CURRENT

This is a really hard 1 as I hardly watch any TV. But here's my picks.

Dancing With the Stars
Sunrise
Desperate Housewives (will try to get back into it this year)
Kath & Kim
Music channels on Foxtel.


Cheers

Magda

TAMING THE FEAST BEAST - REVIEW

When I was training with Liz I was still having a really hard time controlling my eating. Despite eating plenty of good food and setting out each day with the best intentions, I was finding myself falling off the wagon on many days.

Liz recommended that I read this book (available through Amazon.com) and I've only recently finished it. Here is my review for anybody who struggles with compulsive over-eating, binge eating or other eating disorders.

This is one of the best books I've read on this topic. Much of its content struck a real chord with me. In simple terms it outlines several irrational beliefs/excuses/justifications that over-eaters face when they eat inappropriately. Then it goes on to dispel those irrational thoughts and gives a rational alternative/explanation instead. It explains how to identify those thoughts when they happen and most importantly how to address them and not give in to the over-eating urge. It sends a very clear message that each individual is in control of themselves and it explains how to exert that control.

What I loved about it: It was easy to read, easy to understand and I could identify with the situations in it.

What I didnt like about it: The last couple of chapters were a drag as they went into great detail about 12 step programs (as used by AA) and why the program outlined in this book (called Rational Recovery) was superior. YAWN!! I didnt really care (But the logic was sound).

Would I recommend it: ABSOLUTELY. If you are level headed and a realist then this book will appeal. Take what you need from it and ignore what may not be relevant to you. Its helped me to understand why I do the things I do and I'll certainly apply its teachings when the need arises.

Magda

DAY 3 - 177 DAYS TO GO

Yep my Training Journal is officially counting up and counting down.

Yesterday was all good with my first bit of training since Fiji. Today I increased my duration and intensity and it felt good. This is just moderate cardio though. Saturday will be my first weight training day with legs scheduled. And boy do they need it. The lack of activity has caused my hammies and glutes to sieze up. Stretching is very painful as is moving around after sitting for extended periods (unavoidable at work).

Diet has been good and I’ve been a bit hungry due to the cooler weather and not being able to just “have a little something when I fancy it”. Its ok though as with every bout of hunger I’m imagining my fat cells being melted away. (I must hold this thought for when the going gets tougher LOL).

Nearly forgot my other BIG NEWS.

I’M GOING TO MELBOURNE FOR THE ALL FEMALES.

Not competing (there’s no way I’d be ready) but cant wait to see all the lovely ladies from Blogland who will be strutting their stuff and those who are going to watch and cheer. I’m really excited about this and I’ll be there with my camera snapping away and soaking up the atmosphere.

I’m keeping this post a bit short but will be back with more soon, including my review of “Taming the Feast Beast” (for Kristy) and my Take 5 (for Stacy).

Cheers guys

Magda

GETTING ORGANISED

The amateur picture above is my Comp Prep plan for April. On the left is my weight training program divided into a 4 day split. The columns will allow me to record my weights and reps (with sets already programmed). On the right is my overall plan which details:

• My starting stats for weight and measurements (DEPRESSING!!) and has room for my stats at the end of April.
• My weight loss goal for the month.
• Weights Program - which body parts get done on which days
• Cardio - different type/intensity/duration
• Weekly Program - how weights and cardio come together
• Diet - cals/day + macronutrient ratios; scheduled treats
• Daily Diet Checklist - foods/behaviours I'm aiming for every day
• Supplements
• Mental Prep - only 2 items but probably THE most important thing on the list.

Without a trainer to guide me and monitor me I feel the formality of this program will help to keep me focussed and accountable. I have a formal plan rather than a "see-what-I-feel-like" approach. Thats got to be a good thing.

Finally I got my BS to snap my starting pics so that I have a record of my progress. They are UGLY to say the least but they are me now and they wont be me in a month's time. I will post them when I have a comparsion pic to show which I'm proud of.

So this morning I decided that I WOULD NOT BE SICK ANY LONGER. Despite my headache still lurking and not feeling 100% I did a 1/2 hour walk just to get moving again. It felt good and I'm looking forward to doing a bit more tomorrow. (Its a worry when you start prep and on the first day you dont train coz you're still crook).

Well thats 1 day down and day 2 going good.

Cheers all

Magda

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY DARLING

Today is our 13th wedding anniversary. This pic was taken at Xmas. My husband gave me the funniest card this morning. It was an old couple having dinner together. She had a bowl of spagetti tipped over her head. He had a fork stuck in his head. The waiter is asking "Separate bills?" Comment in the card was "Hope our dinner is better than this".

So on Saturday I'm having a "planned treat" dinner out at a nice Italian restaurant (not your standard pizza, pasta menu) with drinks at one of our fave pubs first. Not a silly "eat as much as you can possibly stuff in" night but a chance to celebrate and enjoy a nice meal together.

Cant wait!!

Magda

DECISION MADE

I'M IN

Ok deep down this is what I wanted all along but I was really doubting myself and the fear of failure was holding me back from just plunging in. The reality is that I'm not starting from a good position. I dont have the luxury of a "muscle building phase" followed by a "diet down phase". I have to work on reducing my body fat NOW albeit slowly and steadily so that I dont have to diet to starvation and cardio til I drop as comp day draws closer.

Can I do it?? Only time and my efforts will tell. But I'm going to give it my best shot. One day at a time. One step at a time. And starting NOW!! Lia your brutally honest comment on my last post was JUST what I needed and I truly thank you for slapping me out of my head-in-the-sand mindset. You know the one where its all like "yeah I'll do it tomorrow". Well tomorrow comes and then another day and another and all that time slips by when I could have (should have) been prepping already. Well I started TODAY!!

I have my weight training program that I put together and now I just need to schedule my cardio. Clean my food up and ditch the treats and most importantly BE CONSISTENT. I'm also going to focus more on using NLP to achieve my goals and keep me focussed and moving forward. Plus I will blog my highs and lows and achievements and disappointments as this is the only place I can communicate regularly about comp stuff.

Despits the headcold lurgie still having a hold on me, I'm feeling good about my decision and the next 6 months.

Cheers all Magda

TO COMPETE OR NOT COMPETE - THAT IS THE QUESTION

Despite the massive sleep yesterday I still feel awful today. This is unusual for me as I generally have an iron constitution and rarely get sick and then its usually just mild and I bounce back quickly. Whilst I'm not seriously sick the fact that its dragging on (about a week now) is annoying and admittedly a bit depressing.

OK enough whinging coz I actually need to vent other stuff that I've been mulling over and over this month......to compete or not compete this year. I've given myself til the end of March to decide once and for all.

Here's what's been going through my head:

FACTS:

• WNBF SA show is on Sunday 21 September. Its 26 weeks from yesterday (thats 6 months).
• I need to lose at least 15kgs to match last year's comp weight. (Ideally I'd like to compete 1 kg lighter but carry more muscle especially in my hammies and glutes.)
• Our financial priorities are such that I have a limited budget for this year's comp season if I choose to compete and if I still want some form of life in the meantime.
• WH will support my decision but once again I cannot rely on him for motivation, inspiration or much else. I DO believe though that he will accept what I need to do and that is all I can ask really and I'm ok with that.
• I have a personal longer term comp goal that is pulling me forwards (albeit it in fits and starts)

POSITIVE FEELINGS:

• When I stepped off the stage at the end of both the Adelaide and Sydney Championship shows last year I was on a mega high and couldnt wait to do it all again. I truly believed that I had finally found a sport that I loved and could be good at.
• I actually like the discipline of this sport. Its tough for sure and there are times when I just DONT want to do it but achieveing the goal of stepping up on stage in the best condition of your life is rewarding beyond words.
• Very deep down I do believe that once I put my mind to it I can do it. I proved it last year against LOTS of adversity so I know I have it in me.

NEGATIVE FEELINGS:

• OMG How could I let myself put on THIS much weight in the off-season? How hard will it be to diet it all off again? Why have I made it SO hard for myself?
• What f I just cant get it all together? What if I keep having stuff ups and dont progress at the rate I need to?
• Can I make it without a trainer/coach to give me encouragement, feedback, a kick in the bum or a pat on tha back?
• What if I fail?

I guess many other competitors have gone through this same dilemma and maybe even more than once? I dont think I'm alone but I feel like I am right now.

Your comments, thoughts, suggestions, warnings or encouragement will all be welcome.

Cheers

Magda

EASTER FEASTER - HOW'S YOUR EASTER?

I'm still feeling blaaaah :-(
My headcold is making sure I enjoy I nice headache 24/7. My throat is dry (but not too sore thank goodness) and my nose is running. I'm very lethargic and once again havent trained today. Cant bear the thought of running. Rowing is out of the question so it leaves walking or riding the exercise bike ... yawn...NOT INSPIRED. One of the things I want to achieve before the break is over is to work out my new weight training program. Job for tomorrow!!

Today I craved soup. I sometimes used to have the Country Ladle Minestrone or Tomato and Vegetable with Pasta. Loved both of these athough they arent exactly clean food (high in carbs, not much protein and VERY salty). But I didnt have any in my pantry and the shops are closed today. I even thought of making my own minestrone and found a recipe but realised it would take over 2 hours to make and it was 1 o'clock already. WH said "have the mushroom whatever cup-a-soup" to which I quickly replied "thats NOT food". He just gave me a wierd look. I'm happy to say that the packet stayed in the pantry waiting for WH to eat that cr*p in the winter.

After lunch I took some painkillers (something I dont do often) and laid down to give them a chance to work. I ended up sleeping for 2 1/2 hours and woke up feeling no better :-( At least BS is well again today. After a huge sleep yesterday and last night he's all good now.

So not much else to share today as you can tell I'm feling a bit down and sorry for myself. Will go to bed hoping that I wake up feeling good once again.

Cheers all

Magda

THE FIJI EXPERIENCE

Dinner on the last night was a "No Sulu (sarong), No Dinner" night so we got into the spirit and threw on the sulus and enjoyed a great feed. BS was on his way to Kids Club while the adults had their dinner time.


Thats my SIL in the gren sulu and the big pot in the foreground has kava in it (Its made from taro and tastes foul). Irrespective, we followed Fijian tradition and skulled a cupful ... and then washed it down with a good swig of rum punch :-)

I rediscovered my love of kayaking and really put some grunt into the paddling movement. For several moments there I was imagining that I was paddling on the Aussie Olympic Team - oh except for that ugly roll of fat around my middle ... looking embarassed ... What a great upper body workout that was!!

Staff at the resort performed for us on our last night. It was great show with lots of loud singing and dancing and a magical atmosphere. The perfect end to a fantastic holiday.

In case you're wondering we stayed at Castaway Island Resort which I would highly recommend to anyone. Its family friendly but also great for couples. We loved it. Whilst the weather was good we did lots of beach / water activities and did a guided tour around the island (literally). This was amazing as we didnt know what to expect. We were told that it would take 1 hour and we had to wear shoes. BS was with us and so were my ILs (aged in their mid 60s and both quite overweight). Our guide was a lovely Fijian woman who worked in the Kids Club. Her name was Aseri and she was 37 years old and had 6 kids. Amazingly fit too!!

Well we set off after she reluctantly allowed BS to come with us saying it was a long walk and that WH would have to piggy back him. After a short stretch of sandy beach we hit some rocks that had to be climbed over. No drama. It slowed us down a bit but all good. Then more rocks and more rocks and the ILs are now way behind and I'm doing ok just slow as I assess how to best navigate through this neverending expanse of rock. (BTW, BS is doing a great job climbing over the rocks considering he doesnt have a sporty bone in his body!!).

Then we get to a spot where we have to step over a chasm and scale a rockface before we are on flat ground (rock) again. Our guide does it effortlessly but I am literally cr*pping my pants. And what about BS???? This is NOT GOOD!! Anyway Aseri says that BS must get on her shoulders so she can take him across. (BTW if she or anyone falls its into the ocean, albeit shallow but with large dangerous rocks below as well). BS is not keen but after some stern words he realises there is NO choice and allows her to lift him (all 20kgs+) onto her shoulders and take him across to the other side where she leaves him alone and comes back to get the rest of us across. WH is next and I'm terrified for him as I know he is very afraid of heights. His legs are all cut on the rockface and he's bleeding but by some miracle he makes it.

OMG its my turn now and I cant bear the thought of scaling that rockface so I choose to climb down into the water (its just below my crotch in depth), wade through the rocks and climb back out and up on the other side. Its still scary and dangerous but I feel safer knowing where my feet are and the ILs both do the same.

The 1 hour round the island walk took our group 2 1/2 hours - a new record according to Aseri LOL!! But we made it and BS did it all on his own without any piggybacking. There were many times that we had to step up high and lift ourselves up or step down very low and lower ourselves down. I was so thankful that I had good strong legs and the expedition wasnt physically challenging for me or WH. The ILs suffered though. Mentally it was tough as every step had to be carefully navigated. We saw poisonous snakes, wild goats, crabs galore and other marine life so it was certainly eventful and interesting and one of the things I'll never forget about Fiji.

There is so much more I could write about but I'll wrap it up there. I developed a headcold whilst away and I'm still feeling very blaaaah. I've eaten well today but couldnt train due to BS also getting sick, me feeling like cr*p, having to shop for groceries and other post holiday stuff that needed doing. Cest la vie. Tomorrow is another day.

Cheers all

Magda

GOING ON HOLIDAYS

Hi all,

Tomorrow we fly out to Fiji for a week. BS is SOOOOOOOO excited LOL.

I'll be back blogging at Easter.

Take care til then.

Magda

PS Dad got his op date wrong and its this coming Tuesday when we're away :-( Nothing we can do about that now just keep our fingers crossed that it all goes ok in our absence.

MY DAD

I love this picture of my dad with my BS. He is the BEST Grandpa and BS loves him to bits.

After his regular annual check up a few weeks ago, Dad was referred back to his Cardiologist as some tests were showing potential heart problems. Over 10 years ago, he had suffered a mild heart-attack and as a result of that he had an angioplasty and all was good again.

Well on the Tuesday after Easter Dad is going back into hospital for another angioplasty. He's been having tingling in his arms and he is getting quite out of breath on his daily walks with Mum. All the sign are there that this procedure is now required again. In the meantime he has some extra medication to reduce his chances of a heart-attack and he's taking things a bit easier.

I'll be at the hospital that day just making sure my Mum is OK and being there to hear first hand how he is and how it all went. Its not a major procedure but I know that there is the risk of complications so all fingers will be crossed that once again, it all goes beautifully for him and that he's out trotting the pavements with Mum soon after on their daily walks.

I love you, Dad and I'm praying that all goes well for you again

XX Magda

DECISIONS DECISIONS DECISIONS

Yep life is full of them isn’t it??

During February I agonised over my potential career change and had a very bad month eating wise with some missed training sessions thrown in just to make a bad situation even worse. There was a period there when I really doubted whether I would compete again this year. Firstly because the change in jobs would have been right around comp time and secondly because I had lost my self confidence and didn’t believe I had it in me to drag myself back up from the dark hole I had fallen into. All that dieting and training just seemed insurmountable when my mindset was so negative. It seemed there was no question really but to sit out 2008.

But this month I have dragged myself out of my dark pit and I’m feeling good about things and myself. As you know I’ve been training hard lately and that means I’ve kept my options open. Competing is back on the radar and I have given myself to the end of the month to make a decision about what I’ll do.

Will I compete this year and how will I train? Do I train myself or turn to professional help again? Local or on-line?

Or do I take this year off and use it to make some good gains and then jump back in with a vengeance next year? If I choose this option, will I still have the drive to train hard, watch what I eat but hold out for the extra 12 months?

So many things are going through my mind but this time I’m just going with the flow because I know that give it time and the answer will just come to me. I’m not stressing about it and that’s making a big difference to my well-being.

Cheers all

Magda

TAG TEAM TRAINING

This morning WH and I tagged teamed our training. Here's how it worked.

Round 1:

WH: Out jogging approx 30 mins
Me: Exercise Room: Upper body

Round 2:

WH: Exercise Room: 30 min row
Me: walk/jog for some moderate intensity cardio.

Somebody was always home with our BS but we both took advantage of the glorious morning AND we both trained for approximately an hour. BLISS!!

For some reason I feel very tired today. Lethargic and just unmotivated to tackle the housework (Em we could really use you in our household LOL). Now typically days like this would have me looking for "a little something to pick me up" but I have stayed on track 99%. Why not 100% you ask? Well I cooked BS some home made fresh chiken schitzels made from the tenderloins and I had 1 small (DEVINE!!) mouthful as I was cutting it up for him. But that was it ... I swear!

We had marlin steaks for dinner marinated in a little oil, white wine and fresh chilli, ginger and lemongrass. WH did them on the BBQ and with the spinach/roasted pumpkin/fat free sundried tomato/low fat feta and pine nut salad we had another superb clean and healthy meal. AND I still have about 200 cals for "dessert" to take me up to my 1500 cals / day. (BTW dessert will be some low fat creamed cottage cheese sprinkled with cinnamon and Splenda + a Diet Lite yogurt).
I'm being very careful to eat my required calories every day so as not to slip into the "Diet/Binge" cycle as I have MANY times before. Small steps but all moving in the right direction :-)

Well not much else to report excpet we took BS to the beach today. Its not my favourite place (I'm not a lover of sand everywhere) but he had a ball so it was worth it. Now the long weekend is almost over and tomorrow and its back to work . I can feel a bad case of Mondayitis coming on but having a short week will compensate.

Cheers all

Magda

MORE SUNDAY RAMBLINGS

After this morning's delicious (but big) breakfast I knew I was at risk of throwing all reason out the window and going on another big "how much cr*p can I stuff down today?" fest. This has been the norm lately.

BUT NOT TODAY. Admittedly we busied ourselves my being out for a good part of the afternoon but there were still opportunities to eat rubbish and I didnt want to. I wasnt even tempted. I did indulge in a Corona with my WH as it was a scorchingly hot day and we had been in and out of the heat all day. I didnt have wine with dinner though. And despite a bit of a debate around getting pizza for dinner we stuck to the planned Chicken with Chilli and Basil stir fry which was delicious. (I used lots of bok choy and red capsicum for our vege intake).

I've also prepped some meals for the week and am sitting pretty to clock up another good week.

I'm actually sitting here (mentally) shaking my head as things have absolutely turned around for me in the last week or so. I like where I am. I like where I'm heading and I'm happy with myself.
(Now to just hold onto all this goodness!!)

Cheers all

Magda