UNLEASAHING THE HUNGRY TIGER

I'm not happy about the cooler weather which has descended on us. No complaints about the much needed rain but I'm not ready for summer to be over and the weather to be cool so early in autumn. I feel like I've been shortchanged. Winter is SO LONG and the cold weather seems to go on forever and then its finally summer but its over in the blink of an eye. We need more heat!!

But I think what I'm finding the hardest to deal with is my increased appetite in the cold. I had a later than usual breakfast due to a much needed sleep in. So I skipped morning snack and planned to have an earlier lunch. That didnt eventuate as a scheduled meeting started late and lunch ended up being later too. I came out of the meeting starving, only to be bombarded by my staff with issues galore. They know me by now though. I tell them I MUST eat or I'll pass out and they usually leave me alone until I'm fed, human and approachable again. Its that serious!!

But WTF, an hour after lunch my stomach was rumbling again like a wildly hungry tiger had been unleashed inside me. So an hour and a half after lunch I ate my afternoon snack and had a big mug of peppermint tea (hanging out for some Diet Coke, I tell you!!) and prayed it would sustain me. By the time I left work at 5.15 I was really hungry again and I'm sure its the colder weather. Solution I think is more hot food and maybe a little increase in cals.

But to finish on a happy and positive note, at this morning's weigh in I had reached the milestone of 10kgs off since since 1 November. I was so happy about this and I'm finally feeling like I'm a "normal size" and not large or fat. Its a great feeling and I love it. I'm wearing clothes that I havent fitted into for a long time and my fatter clothes are now looking embarassingly baggy. The size 11 jeans havent been tested but I'm sure fitting into them is not far off.

So on that note I'm going to gear up for a fantastic long weekend and hope you all have one too.

:-) Magda

WHEN ONLY A LAKSA WILL DO

Every Thursday my work colleague Miss J and I go out for lunch and have a thai meal thats cheap, cheerful and very tasty. I normally order a chicken + veg dish with various (cleanish) flavours and I leave the huge pile of streamed jasmine rice that it comes with. Its actually quite a small serve so the guilt or sinning factor after consuming it is virtually ZERO.

But today was quite cold and I was feeling it plus I was feeling extra hungry. I knew the piddly little meal I normally have just wasnt going to cut it today and I might be looking for something else afterwards ...something that I shouldnt be having in quantities that would feed a small third world country.

So I ordered a chicken laksa which, true to its name was loaded with chicken breast, some veges, noodles and the usual laksa soup. It was devine. It was tasty. It was filling. It was just what I needed. Accounting for it on CalKing was a challenge so I picked the middle option of laksa meals and stopped fretting over it. I dropped my afternoon snack as I truly didnt need it and I modified my dinner to lower calories and lower fat content (the grilled atlantic salmon was replaced with tuna) and my daily totals were ok. Now if thats not scoring a few home runs, I dont know what is!!

Oh and I did my sprints this morning followed by my favourite walk / jog combo. Only my HRM wasnt turned on so I couldnt record how many calories I'd torched or what my HR was etc. Never mind I know I worked hard despite having another bout of "oh poo, I dont want to do it".

Magda

THE LAZY FITNESS CHICK WITH THE DIET COKE ADDICTION

This morning I almost went back to sleep when my alarm went off at 4.40. Then I remembered it was Shoulder Day and here was my chance to make those babies grow (well as much as you can when you're dieting and cardioing to fit into size 11 jeans) so I dragged myself out of bed and started with little enthusiasm. Lo and behold by the 2nd set I was right into it and lovin' every minute. Then a brief hammering of the bis followed and a bit of cardio to boot. In fact I was planning 20 minutes of cardio and ended up doing 30 instead. Easily done when on the bike and reading a good book (Eat Pray Love by Liz Gilbert - can highly recommend).

I just gotta share this little ditty with you guys. Conversation at work today with colleague Miss C (who, BTW is young enough to be my daughter and a real sweetie).

Me: (holding empty mug and peppermint tea bag at 4.30pm): (sigh) Oh its peppermint tea today instead of my usual Diet Coke.

Miss C: (enthusiastic) Good girl thats great. Well done for ditching the Diet Coke. Its bad for you, you know. You can do it. Just dont have it again.

Me: (sheepish) I've run out of cans of Diet Coke at home and I'm just too lazy to walk to the shops to buy one.

Miss C: (appalled but laughing hysterically) Listen to this, the fitness chick is too lazy to walk to the shops. What hope is there for the rest of us?

I drag myself over to the kitchen to make the cup of tea coz I truly cant face walking to the shops to buy my much loved Diet Coke.

Geez whats a girl gotta do justify her Diet Coke addiction and maintain her "fitness chick" image?

:-) Magda

FEELING LEAN, MEAN AND NOSTALGIC

Today the scale bounced back a little but I'm feeling lean and mean so the numbers are not doing my head in. (I still dont weigh every day but was a bit curious this morning). On Sunday I wore a pair of (largish) size 10 capri pants and they were quite loose. Today the stripy pants got another outing. These are a size 12 and were purchased when I was well over 70kgs last year. They are really loose now and wearing a belt with them is obligatory. I'm definitely feeling smaller and leaner and am pretty happy about it.

At work today I shared my 2007 comp pictures with one of my colleagues. I felt all misty and nostalgic flicking through the pictures from the Asia Pacific Championships held in Sydney. So many memories came flooding back and I felt so proud of what I had achieved that year. Hearing my colleague's "Oh my God you look amazing" reaction certainly made me puff up even prouder than before. I just know in my heart that I'll do it again. I'm training for this year but I have some other factors coming into play which may delay my plans. Time and future developments will tell.

Funny how many other bloggers are recently also contemplating their returns to competing. It seems to be the hot topic of blogs for the retired / semi-retired. So on that note I have a training session to prepare for so that I start as close to 5.40am in the morning as possible. Have a great night all.

Magda

OP S11J

How funny!! This morning the Whoosh Fairy graced me with a nice .5kg loss and I’m now sitting nicely in the 66s thank you very much. I guess last night’s leg session and cardio helped to nudge things down.

A couple of weeks ago we had a casual day at work to raise money for the Victorian Bushfire Appeal. With trepidation I pulled out the only pair of jeans that I thought would fit (yes the fugly ones) and sure enough they are now not only fugly but very baggy and fugly making them ultra fugly. Eegads I went to work in a pair of casual looking stripy pants lamenting that right now, I have no jeans that fit me.

However, in my wardrobe hangs a pair of size 11s that when they fit, look great. I tried them on very recently and they were still way too tight. I have made progress though, as last time I couldn’t even get them up. I’ll probably survive March without them BUT on April 2 I’m off to Sydney for a girls’ weekend and I MUST have jeans for that weekend. So March goal is to fit into those Size 11 jeans by 2 April, hence the OP S11J (Operation Size 11 Jeans)

So on that note I’m cranking the cardio up a bit and will be smacking down that bl**dy Binge Monster when he thinks he’s going to be boss again. 30 days to make a difference and I’m a woman on a mission. If .... NO! When I succeed I’ll have to post a pic as proof of my achievement.

Cheers

Magda

FEBRUARY SUMMARY

Following in the spirit of my January Summary (see 1 Feb post), I thought I'd do the same again and its a bit of an eye opener now that I've looked back.

WEIGHT

I finished January at 68kgs and was roaring along beautifully looking like I'd cruise into the 66s and maybe even the 65s. :-( This morning I was 67 on the dot. More about that later. I have lost a total of 8cms over 5 sites so I better be happy about that.

TRAINING

Feb was a bit of a topsy turvy month and it took me quite a while to find my groove. I trained hard most of the time but I was out of sorts until I was in a routine. I'm still not quite in a routine per se but I'm working towards one and then I'll feel more settled. The reason for my late post tonight is that I trained legs at 8pm and followed up with 20 mins cardio on my exercise bike. I really wanted to get the session done over the weekend and we were out all day today so it had to be tonight.

HEADSPACE

This has been good overall. However the Binge Monster paid a nasty visit in the middle of Feb and sent me into a downward spiral for a few days. Emotions downward. Weight upward. Double whammy. Had it not been for that, I would have made it into the 66s but the past is past and I'll leave it there. I DID have many instances where there was an urge to eat the wrong thing but I stayed strong and I'm pleased that I seem to be improving in this area.

HIGH POINTS

Work has been "normal" instead of really busy and thats a nice change. The other high points have been small ones like making the habit of having breakfast on the way to work on Fridays, enjoying some nice meals out, and completing some killer training sessions. All things that put a smile on my face. Oh and I almost forgot ... in Feb I smashed my 3 week curse and went 4 weeks without binging. Now that was an achievement for me.

LOW POINTS

Visit from Binge Monster and how bad I felt afterwards. End of story.

Next post will be about my March goal. Stay tuned.

Magda

COLLISIONS AND BLOODSHED

All day yesterday I was looking forward to my Saturday morning training. Whatever I do on Saturday is ALWAYS my favourite session. I love having extra time to really cane the workout of my choice. And I love the drop on the scales that I usually get after that workout.

Well last night the cat accidentally collided with my left foot as I was stepping out the door and she was trying to scoot in. Blood was shed - yes mine and NOT Miss Moneypenny's and I have a really sore toe with a decent scrape and cut on it :-( I was hobbling a bit this morning and wearing socks and shoes didnt feel nice at all. Bugger there went my plans to train legs and follow them up with a jog/run afterwards.

So I attacked my back and abs and then cardioed on the rower and exercise bike. Nowhere near as intense (think boredom factor and reading on the bike) but cardio nevertheless. Tomorrow I might have to cover the sore with a bandaid or similar and push through the pain.

Food has been good today and have downed 1.5 litres of soda water with a wedge of lemon since around 5pm. We had an unexpected visit from a dear friend who now lives in Coomera. The boys had a beer together but I refused my usual wine and had the soda instead. Feel really good for it now. Plus I have a date with the Metal Monster tomorrow morning for my official end of February weigh in and I'm hoping like hell that he is kind with a number in the 66s. I'll post my Feb round-up tomorrow.

Well I have a bed to make, truckloads of washing to fold, kitchen benchtops to clean and ...... yeah I could go on and on.

Cheers all

Magda

FRIDAY = TREAT DAY

I love it when Friday rolls around. Here are the little treats I enjoy:

1. A sleep-in. After getting up at 4.40 or 5am the rest of the week, I take a rest day from training on Fridays and I turn my alarm off. I usually wake between 6 and 6.30 which is my "sleep-in" LOL.

2. To continue in the spirit of treating myself on Friday I have breakfast on the way to work. While I'm still home I have my protein portion (low fat creamed cottage cheese with cinnamon and Splenda) and then on the way to work I stop at a favourite cafe and order Dutch fruit loaf and a skim cappuccino. The fruit loaf slices are small but heavy and loaded with sultanas and raisins etc and I only use about 2/3s of a pat of butter so its not too sinful. While I eat my breakfast and enjoy my cappuccino, I read the paper and relish that little bit of "me-time".

3. Wine night!! On Friday WH and I enjoy a drink together before dinner. Previously we'd have lots of junky nibbles and I'd have several glasses of wine but I'm now used to 1 or 2 glasses of wine and a small portion of raw nuts. Dinner is quick and simple as there is nothing worse than slaving in the kitchen when all you want to do is wind down. WH will have 3-4 glasses of wine but I'm now finding that 1 medium glass-full is enough to have me feeling happy and mellow :-)

4. Staying up a bit later is another bonus (yep I'm blogging at 10.31 which I just cant do on any other week night). Most nights I try to be in bed between 9.30 and 10 and its quite an effort (I too have self-management rules that I impose to help me cope with life's demands). But those rules are relaxed on a Friday.

5. Today I got to enjoy one more treat. My Director's team (including me and my team) got together for an informal and impromptu glass of wine at the end of the day. We shared some really funny stories both about work and not and it was a great end to the week.

So that's my Good News Post for today. It makes me happy just to read it. I hope you're all in a good, happy place too.

:-) Magda

WORRY WART

I had lunch with a work friend today and one of the topics of conversation was "worry".

Worry is an emotion in which a person feels anxious or concerned about a real or imagined issue, ranging from personal issues such as health or finances to broader issues such as environmental pollution and social or technological change. Most people experience short-lived episodes of worry in their lives without incident; indeed, a moderate amount of worrying may even have positive effects, if it prompts people to take precautions (e.g., fastening their seat belt or buying fire insurance) or avoid risky behaviours (e.g., promiscuous sexual relations or cliff diving). However, about one in four people, have chronic worry, an anxiety disorder which requires professional treatment. Chronic worry can cause heart attacks, high blood pressure, ulcers, gastrointestinal problems, muscular aches and pains, skin rashes, eczema, respiratory problems and asthma. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

I'm a skilled "worrier". There are issues that no matter how hard I try, I just cant get my mind around or remember x, y or z. But when it comes to worrying, well I can analyse everything to the nth degree and then do it all again backwards and upside down and inside out. There's quite an art to it. You just wake for whatever reason during the night and let your brain click into gear. No, let me rephrase that - experience your brain kicking into gear. (Its involuntary, like your heartbeat). Then you go through infinite scenarios, with an infinfite number of outcomes, an infinite number of time. The worry process from go to woe can be anywhere from 2 - 5 hours. I wonder how many calories all that brain activity is burning?

So in talking to my friend today, and she being very sympathetic and giving advice on how to cope, I assured her that very soon I'd reach the end of my worry quotient. My brain would realise that the issue had been worried to exhaustion and then I could park it until the next stage where another bout of worrying would be justified. Aaah bring on the calm between the storms.

In the meantime when I'm not worrying (coz its really just a middle-of-the-night-thing) I'm keeping up my training and eating well. The MM has done a little stall but the Whoosh Fairy cant be too far away.

:-) Magda

NOT MUCH TO SAY

If this was an honest from the heart post it would all sound a bit down and gloomy so I'm drawing on the positive things in my life coz I dont want to drag everyone (including myself) down.

I had a really uplifting meeting with my Manager today. We spoke about my career planning and personal development and she was very supportive and complimentary about my future plans. At a time when I'm worrying about that stuff its nice to have her declare her confidence in me. It also helped to put a little spring in my step today :-)

With a few days to go til the end of February (can you believe it??!!) I'm working hard to get my weight back into the 66s. Yep it was there before the "feast weekend" and its dropped now but not quite enough. So a couple of decent cardio sessions and nutrition on track should fix that. I have a specific goal for March which I'll write about later. My focus now is on finishing February strong.

I'm going to wrap up there as an early night is imperative after a very poor sleep last night. So good night all.

Magda

GIRL, YOU TRAINED HARD

What do you do when you wake up at 4.45am on a Sunday (besides get really grumpy about it)? After laying in bed for a while and getting bored and restless I got up and:

made fresh pikelets for BS's breakfast
made a week's supply of sandwiches (to be frozen) for BS's school lunches
cursed that I didnt have my training gear handy so I could do my cardio (and didnt want to disturb WH by going to search for it)
heard the loo flush so ran in and grabbed my training gear
headed out for cardio at 6.30am

It was a glorious morning. A bit fresh but just lovely. I was dying to do some sprint work and after a decent warm-up I pushed out 10 x 100m sprints with 100m recovery walks and then completed the hour with my 1 song walk / 1 song jog combo. Rocked home around 7.30 feeling like 110% fanbloodytastic.

About 2 hours later the leg DOMS set in and I could barely walk hahaha. Gotta love that level of DOMS coz it says "Girl, you trained hard". WOOHOO

I was hoping to have a 100% clean day with food today but we were out for lunch and the menu was a bit limited and I had cajun style salt and pepper calamari with salad. It was delicious but fried and fatty. Hopefully my light dinner balanced it out a bit.

Have a great week all

Magda

BTW Pre-dinner activity for me tonight was ...... cleaning my house. The bare minimum but better than doing nothing

TRAIN / CLEAN / TRAIN / CLEAN .....

.... this is the debate I was having in my head this evening (gee I lead a sad life dont I?? LOL)

Today has been a blur of:

cardio, breakfast, strip bed, start washing, shower, quick trip to Mercato (resisted the yummy continental cakes woohoo), hang out washing and start another load, make BS's lunch for later, take BS to his swimming lesson, hang out washing, grocery shopping, fill car with petrol, home, unpack cold stuff, make lunch and eat while updating Calking and catching up on blogs, clean up, play board games with BS, start dinner, bring clothes in from the line, remake beds, sit down with WH and a glass of Bickfords Lime for a chat (WH had a beer and some nibbles), cook dinner, eat, clean up, update Calking and all the time having the debate in my head .....

....so after dinner do I tackle my weight training or do I do some cleaning? Weight training vs cleaning. Whats more important? That my house looks pretty or I work my muscles?

And the winner is .....

.... WEIGHT TRAINING!!!! I did legs tonight and now I feel great. So my house doesnt look all pretty but you know what ... WHO CARES??!! If I keep this up, my legs will look great :-)

Magda

I'M JUST NOT MEANT TO EAT THAT ROO CHILLI

Today I traipsed the roo chilli with extra veges in a separate container all the way back to work so that I could have it for lunch. Little did I know that one of my colleagues was having a birthday tomorrow and I got an impromptu invite out to lunch. Being the social butterfly that I am, of-course I accepted. Roo chilli and veges are in the frij at work for Monday's lunch. Third time lucky maybe??

Its been a tough week at home. My world is ok but at work WH has been under the pump BIG TIME, hence needing some extra TLC. I know he's finding things hard when he wants wine with dinner nearly every night. I have a firm rule in place that I dont drink during the week (well maybe rarely on a Thursday) and I find it pretty easy to stick to, but when the weekend rolls around I'm looking forward to my wine ration. For me it is one of life's pleasures.

I'm looking forward to my weekend training because I get to do longer cardio and I'm not so stressed with the time limits I have in the mornings. Then its domestic chores and swimming lessons for BS on Saturday and a day trip to the Yorke Peninsula on Sunday. Oh and somewhere in there I have some work to tackle :-(

Hope everyone has a great weekend

Magda

ROO CHILLI IS STILL THE TOPIC OF CONVERSATION

FOR WITCHAZEL

I often cook without a recipe just making meals up as I go with ingredients I have on hand. This was how I made the roo chilli last night and as a guide here is what I did.

1. Chop 1 medium onion and brown in a non-stick pan thats been sprayed lightly with cooking oil/spray. Add a little water if it sticks.
2. Per serve I allowed 130g minced roo meat. (I buy the best cuts and my mum minces them for me so I know they are 110% fat free ). This cooks into about 100g which is my standard protein portion. Add the roo mince to the onion and brown.
3. Add a big sprinkle of Masterfoods Mexican Style Chilli Powder and either a little salt or beef stock (powdered).
4. I kept mine really simple and just added about 50g/serve of fresh chopped tomato because I had home grown ones that needed to be used up and were past the "use them in a salad stage".
5. Add a bout 1/2 cup (I never measure it) water and cook until most of the water evaporates.

Thats my very quick and easy roo chilli but some options are:
1. Add 1-2 cloves of minced/chopped garlic when browning the onion.
2. Add a jar of salsa instead of the tomatoes.
3. To ramp up the veges sometimes I add chunks of red/yellow/green capsicum but be careful not to overcook as the capsicums will turn to mush.
4. A tin of drained and rinsed kidney beans goes really well in the recipe too. Just add when you add the water.
5. And as a real treat, serve it with rice of your choice, a huge dollop of sour cream, guacamole and a handful of corn chips ....

.... woops we just went from lean and clean to dirty and naughty :-) I hope that helps.

Now for the funny bit.

Today I packed up my cooler bag with morning tea, lunch and dinner all set to eat "on plan" at my parents' house tonight. What I didnt count on was WH having a shocker of a day at work and not being able to get away at our usual time. I'd had enough so I left work and waited in my usual spot which is a cafe close to our carpark. While waiting I partook of a medicinal red, read the paper, did the Target puzzle and chatted with a Britsih tourist who was travelling all over Australia. We were so late getting away that mum and dad ate with our BS and we decided to take WH's pizza and head off home. I ended up having a salad with spicy chilli tuna. At least I have some meals pre-prepared for next time.

Bring on Friday as its my weekday sleep-in and I really need it. I'm very tired and will relish the day off from training.

Cheers all

Magda

ROO CHILLI IN THE MAKING

Keeping it very brief tonight as I have some roo mince defrosting and will be making me some roo chilli before I go to bed. Why you ask? Well its either that or eat pizza for dinner at my parents' place tomorrow night. Yes we accepted an invite to have dinner there but it is home made pizza on the menu. Mum understands if I bring my own food so thats what I'm doing. The Metal Monster is making its way down and I want to keep it moving in that direction. Plus after last weekends feasting (polite term!!) I'm not hanging out for anything dirty right now.

Off to slave some more in nthe kitchen folks. Good night.

Magda

I COUNT MYSELF AS A VERY LUCKY PERSON

The week has started well for me. Despite a massive spike on the Metal Monster today (fully expected) I have remained calm, in control and positive about the future. This is actually my true nature and I'm just letting it be.

Food is clean and healthy again with my usual few modest treats to keep me sane and not feeling totally deprived. I'm pushing it HARD in my weight training and am loving it but in week 2 DOMS is not my companion any more (until I do chest maybe). This is quite normal for me and I know that unless I really change things around and train til I'm knocking on death's door, I just dont get DOMS.

So life goes on. On a daily basis I deal with significant work issues trying to balance a number of them as best I can. As a working mum I strive to keep on top of my son's schooling and spend time with him reading, doing music practice and just talking about his day. I have a number of non-fitness related issues brewing. If and when they eventuate they will put more pressure on my time and will change my lifestyle significantly. They are both exciting and mildly stressful (dealing with change).

Australia wide we are dealing with horrific bushfires, devastating floods and the economic downturn which is affecting all of us in some way or other. I count myself as a very lucky person. I'm blessed with a beautiful healthy child, a lovely husband who I can trust implicitly, fantastic parents and in-laws, a good secure job, a lovely home and car and a pretty good lifestyle. When you consider all that, it really puts last weekend into perspective.

:-) Magda

MOVING FORWARD

I havent thanked everybody individually for leaving such thoughtful comments and good advice on my last post. But I am grateful that so many people take the time to read and comment when I most need it.

I was in a pretty dark and negative place last night and not at my most rational, I admit. But I have decided that I wont dwell on it. As Shelley has said "dont give power to the past" and this is so important as it'll hold me back from moving forward. OK so my stupid Binge Monster found my weak spot and went in for the kill. Next time I'll be better prepared and I'll listen to my body and trust my instincts. I've made a lot of progress in this area and I will continue to do so. (Note the positive self talk)

Thanks Coach for putting things into perspective for me.

I did my 3-weekly stint teaching at the gym today and am sorry to say that my second class was dismal and therein I need to be better prepared both with routines/choreography and my mental state. My heart just wasnt in it and that translated to a poor class. I'm back there in 4 weeks time and I will be in as good a physical condition as I can be and well prepared with my choreography. (More positive self talk).

So tomorrow is a fresh start and I'll be up early to train legs as I missed that session over the weekend. Food wise I'm just going to eat the normally healthy and yummy foods which I love and let nature take its course. Of course I've thought of all sorts of plans to help me lose the bloated fat feeling quickly but I know deep down that punishing myself with a restricted diet now is not the answer. I need to nurture my body with good clean food, lots of water and some serious training and it'll come good again - for sure.

Thanks guys for your ongoing support and understanding. Onwards and upwards.

:-) Magda

THE TRUTH, THE WHOLE TRUTH AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH

I have avoided Blogger. I have avoided checking in with Coach. I have been battling a myriad of negative thoughts and feelings. The Binge Monster won again.



I've gone from being confident, in control and proud of my achievements to feeling like a fraud and a failure. I hate being in this place, feeling like I'm back at square one, like everything I worked so hard to build has just fallen down around me and now there's the daunting task of rebuilding it. Sorry to sound so melodramatic but its hit me hard and I almost didn't blog again tonight.



So why am I here? Because I believe in honesty and I dont want to paint a false picture. Yes I did achieve some significant things recently but that success has not continued and I find myself battling, once again, to regain control and feel good about myself.



In my mind I've been analysing why I chose this behaviour after I've worked so hard to eliminate it. I wont bore you with the details though. Right now I'm trying to convince myself that tomorrow is another day (which it obviously is!!) and it'll be a better day. But I'm not sure that I have the spark to make it so.



Magda


PS In light of all that has happened in Victoria this last week I'm ashamed to put this up as its comparitively so trivial. But keeping it secret and creating a false impression is not what I want, so I've blogged it.

ITS TIME TO GO ..... SIZE 12 SKIRT

Saying goodbye to my Audi. I loved that car but sadly it was time for it to go.

My new Golf. Black, sleek and sexy .... a bit like .....????

Yesterday I went to put on a skirt for work. I bought the skirt for my birthday (July) last year and its a size 12 and I was around 73kgs. Just recenty I could feel it getting a little looser. Well yesterday I could hold the waistband out to a point where I could then look down at my feet. Its time to go .... size 12 skirt. Its now on my recycle pile to be donated to charity and I put on a skirt that I havent worn for a LONG time. Gotta love this sort of progress.

Having trained most muscle groups already this week, this morning I set out to do some cardio. My aim was to walk one song and then jog for two and maintain this for an hour. The warm-up walk was ok but when I started jogging HY KARUMBA was I sore!! I knew my legs would be but my pecs were screaming on every step as well. For a moment I almost told myself it would be ok to just walk it all today and then I had a strong word to myself and reminded myself of my goals and of the fact that I'm tough and can run through the DOMS. Geez I almost succumbed to being a sooky-la-la. The shame of it!!

Well Coach has instructed that my freebie meal is to be saved for a special occassion so that is my aim and I'll endeavour to treat myself in some other way. Perhaps a decent sleep would do the trick if I could just manage one somehow.

Cheers all

Magda

LIFE WITH DOMS

I dont often suffer from DOMS but thanks to a big change around in my training, I'm in pain all over. Following Sunday's leg session where I could feel every muscle firing, the pain set in the next day and I'm walking gingerly. Glutes, hammies and everything in between is sore.

So I followed this up with a chest and tris session on Monday, knowing that my pecs would be sore as they are an area that always suffers from DOMS. I havent been disappointed as the pain is definitely there.

This morning I roadtested my new back/shoulders program and threw caution to the wind on some of the exercises. HOLY CR*P I was working at a 9.5 / 10 and 6 hours after the session I could feel the DOMS starting in my back (an area where I never get it!!).

So add that all up and I'm one sore chicky babe right now. However with this soreness has come a heightened love of what I'm doing and once a few small gliches are sorted out, I'll find my groove and then I'll really cane it session after session.

Food continues to be good although I'm feeling that a freebie/cheat meal would be a nice treat. I think I'm just hanging out for a night off where someone else makes the food, serves it up and clears away my dishes and where I choose something I really want rather than what I think is the best choice. Not sure when I'll have the chance to indulge.

In other breaking (non fitness / figure) news yesterday I said goodbye to my much loved Audi A3 and am now the owner of a beautiful new Golf - black, automatic, a dream to drive. Will post pics later.

Good night all

Magda

GOING A MILLION MILES AN HOUR

Today felt like we were on fast forward - although we did enjoy a leisurely breakfast at The Store (yes again!!) with a good friend. Having a little sleep in (8.15) also threw my plans out of whack but nothing that couldnt be accommodated to still get the most out of my day.

Here's a snapshot of my day:

Get up, breakfast for BS, weigh, hot lemon drink, strip bed, put on a load of washing, blanch home grown tomatoes to remove skins, shower, dress and groom, out for breakfast, arrive home, hang washing, make lunches for next week/day, make lasagne, make spinach/pumpkin frittata, continue washing, get lunch for BS, find 100 other things to do in the kitchen, play a board game with BS, train legs, follow up with 30 minute jog on very wobbly legs, snack, shower, make stir fried veges for the week for me, organise dinners, eat, clean up the disgusting mess in my kitchen, make bed, sort washing, update Calking and blog. The day is not over as there are a couple more things I must do - one being work :-(

The Metal Monster is my best friend right now. Yesterday I was down .7 since last Sunday's weigh and I thought that was good. Just out of curiosity I weighed again today and YIPPEE another .5kgs lost. I think yesterday's mega cardio session gave it a decent nudge down so I've already made it into the 66s which Liz had set as my goal for February. Gotta be happy with that!!

So on that happy note I must go and tackle that work - unless I can find something else to do so I can avoid it a little longer LOL.

Cheers folks

Magda

A LITTLE MORE ON THE BINGE MONSTER AND HOW TO BURN 540 CALORIES IN ONE CARDIO SESSION

Thanks to everyone who left a message of congratulations for me. Its nice to share one's achievments with people who understand the significance of them. I'm sure if I told one of my non-fitness girl friends about it, they'd give me a really wierd look and think I had lost the plot.

I just wanted to add to yesterday's post that I think a couple of other things contributed to my success.

1. My diet hasnt been too restricted and I've been enjoying lots of foods that I really love like: low fat creamed cottage cheese eaten with a good sprinkle of cinnamon and a little Splenda, my favourite pancakes (recipe posted last Monday), unlimited veges, lean protein of my choice (not just chicken breasts/egg whites etc), fruit loaf or other wholemeal/grainy breads, and lots more. The weights been coming off so Coach says keep doing what you're doing - including having 2 glasses of wine / week and a small handful of raw peanuts.

2. At the end of the day I believe that the reason I succeeded was because I made up my mind that I'd do it. No more stuffing around. No excuses. No thoughts of "its just too hard". It was a case of "just do it". Cliched I know but thats what it boils down to. Once I accepted that there WOULD be times when I felt like cr*p and that it was ok to feel that way, it became a little easier. Previously I'd run for food as soon as those feelings surfaced and I'd be trying to stuff them down. It really wasnt the answer and dare I say "I've seen the light".

OK enough of the corny cliches and onwards.

PART TWO: HOW TO BURN 540 CALORIES IN ONE CARDIO SESSION

1. Set out at 8.20am when the temperature is already in the high 30s.

2. Walk for 1 song and then jog for 1 song and repeat, over and over again.

3. Monitor heart rate and watch it soar and stay high even in the walk intervals.

4. Keep going for an hour.

At the half hour mark I was seriously considering walking the rest or cutting the session down to 40 minutes (Liz gave me the target of 40-60 mins so I could have taken the shorter option). So I started the self-talk to get me to the end of the song and then enjoy the "recovery".

Then it was like "just jog one more song". And I did. Aaah recovery.

"You feel ok. Do one more". So I did and yippee ... recovery.

Soon it was a case of "There's only 10 minutes to go. You ran 12kms last year in the City 2 Bay. You've run in weather this hot before. Keep going. You can do it." So I did and the hour was done and dusted. HRM checked and yep 540 calories burned thank you very much. It was worth every step.

Cheers all

Magda

PS Can you tell, I LOVE CARDIO!!!!

SLAYING THE BINGE MONSTER AND PUTTING THE 3-WEEK CURSE TO BED

I've been teasing with the promise of an announcement and at the risk of sounding like a total twit I'm gonna make it and throw caution to the wind.

I've posted many times previously about my 3-week curse where I have for a very long time not been able to go for more than (if I even make it to) 3 weeks without having an eating binge. My triggers are many and varied and my resolve is usually weak where I actually talk myself into them with silly justifications like "well I deserve it for ????? reason" or "it wont matter because I know I can diet it off on ...whenever" or whatever arguement suits the occassion, as long as I have just cause to do it. Silly silly me. I've been my own worst enemy for a long time.

The last few weeks have presented many of my binge triggers -

pressure at work (oh I need something nice to eat to make me feel better)

stressing about work (hmmm some yummy food will take my mind of it)

frustration at work (well a good dose of fat and sugar will make it go away)

the all or nothing mentality (oh well I've eaten off plan so I might as well stuff in as much off-plan food as I possibly can and then diet again tomorrow)

the over-feed that comes from being over-hungry (oops when I started eating, I just couldnt stop)

I'm sure many of you recognise these foes and have faced them yourselves.

Well it has now been OVER THREE WEEKS WITHOUT A BINGE FOR ME. (Shouting from the rooftops!!). I've been tempted many times as I've listed above but I've faced it head on and dealt with it.

So what did I do?

1. I recognised the danger times and evaluated them for what they were. Like when the urge came on at work (as it often does) I took a minute to work out what was bothering me.

2. Then its a case of self-talk. Do I REALLY want to stuff down heaps of crappy food or do I want to address the real problem? (Well I rightly chose the latter)

3. Then its time for action. Even if its one small thing that starts to fix the problem, I do it so I feel like I'm back in control and I dont need the food.

4. Finally, I wasnt always able to make the problem go away completely and there were times when I had to sit with my yucky feelings but I toughed it out and eventually the clouds cleared and the silver linings showed through.

5. And when they did, I felt good that I wasnt then dealing with the even worse feelings that binging leaves you with - like that sense of failure, loss of control and self doubt.

Have I slayed my Binge Monster for good? Maybe not, but right now I'm well ahead in the fight and I'm not about to give up that lead.

Is my 3-week curse broken? Right now it is and that gives me even more confidence to keep that Binge Monster down. If I did it you can do it too. Give it a try the next time the Binge Monster tries to get the better of you.

Cheers all

Magda

STARVING AFTER LUNCH

Hi all,

this morning I knocked off my training for the week and tomorrow is my scheduled day off where I get to sleep in til 6am or maybe even a little longer :-)

I had lunch out with a friend today and we went for Thai which is always a favourite. I ordered from the "Lunch Specials" menu as it was a bit cheaper and they still had great sounding food. So I chose basil chicken with veges and chilli which sounded divine. And it did taste good - what little there was of it. You see I got an entree sized plate which was 2/3s full of white rice and the rest was the basil chicken etc. Man it was a tiny serve if you didnt eat the rice. An hour later my tummy started rumbling :-( Luckily my afternoon was very busy and I didnt have time to pine for more food (I didnt even have any afternoon tea food with me) so I survived til dinner time where I had a superb lamb dish of shashlicks with a tossed salad and a lovely yogurt dipping sauce. I left the pitas and apart from the salad having an oily dressing, the meal was pretty lean and clean.

And on that note I must say good night and just leave you with one more thing: Stay tuned for an announcement the next time I blog (hopefully tomorrow night).

Cheers all

Magda

GETTING OVER START-OF-THE-WEEKITIS

For some weird reason, by this afternnon I felt good again. No change to diet, a little more sleep last night and putting a few work runs on the board has made the world of difference. I think I just had a bad case of Start-of-the-weekitis (if thats not a real word, then it should be. Mondayitis was not my problem). Mind you, thats after dealing with a pressure situation this morning that had me thinking "is it too early to go to to the pub for a drink?" at 9.30am LOL. And yes we have a pub 3 doors down from work that is open 24/7. I was in a meeting this afternoon where one of our service providers made the comment that "Pressure is good. It builds diamonds". So I must be sparkling very brightly now :-) and be very expensive too.

Training has been good and after some discussion with Liz we are cranking things up even more as of next week. Woohoo!! Cant wait - although I expect I'll be very sore after nailing one of her real killer sessions. Diet is tracking well with lots of good clean food and is not too restricted or limited - well hardly at all in fact. Tomorrow I have the pleasure of having lunch out with a friend and then dinner out with WH before we go to a parent info night at BS's school. So that'll test me out yet again (but I think I'll be ok).

Cheers all

Magda

FEELING TIRED FLAT AND CRANKY

Firstly thanks to the bloggers who left comments on my January Summary post. I hopped onto Blogger to post My Favourite Pancake recipe last night and then raced off to watch Desperate Housewives. I didnt read other blogs or check my previous post for comments, so thank you Shelley, Pip, Rene and Miss Tank - I havent forgotten you lovely ladies.

I've had 2 days of feeling very tired, flat and cranky. I hate being like this but I guess life isnt all wine and roses (and lately has been VERY light on the wine for me anyway LOL). I think its come from a combination of a bit of "work worry" and not enough sleep. I'm also logging my food on CalKing to see if anything crops up there as to why I might be feeling so blaah. Enough calories etc???? I know its not the heat because I'm still loving it and in fact by lunchtime my office is so cold that I'm getting about with a cardy draped over my shoulders.

I spent the last couple of days being very aware of a morning tea that we were having at work today. I knew there would be cake (I made chocolate crackles for it) and some fruit and I didnt want it to turn into a "oh I've had a piece of cake, so I might as well have 10" episode (you may well laugh but this is a real risk for me). I got the fruit ready and asked others to cut up their cakes. Then I heated up my kangaroo chilli and went to eat it at my desk before the MT started. I was planning on having a bit of fruit to be sociable and not touching the cake. Funnily enough, as I was finishing my chilli the Exec Director came with an urgent job that I had to do immediately and I completely missed the morning tea anyway. There were lots of left-overs but I stayed right away from them.

So thats another run on the board for me and another Gold Coin Day :-)

Cheers all

Magda

MY FAVOURITE PANCAKES

1. Take 3-4 egg whites and whisk with a fork for about 2-3 minutes. Add 80g low fat creamed cottage cheese and whisk until combined. This is what it looks like all mixed together.

2. Add a good sprinkle of cinnamon and 1/2 cup raw oats and 2T bran or psyllium husks (if you need the extra help, if you know what I mean). Mix well and add about 1T water as this makes the pancakes a little bit lighter. Here's how it looks at the end of this stage.

3. I then heat a large heavy frying pan and give it light spray with cooking oil and then pour the mixture in and shape it into a circle thats about 1/2 - 1 cm in height. (This makes it easier to flip over). Cook until quite brown underneath (about 3-4 minutes) and then flip. When the other side is brown remove from the pan onto your serving plate.

4. Here's the finished product served with a small banana sliced onto it and 1/2T sugar free maple syrup drizzled over and a very light sprinkle of LSA on the top. Its a funny shape because I made a double portion and cut it in half.

I must add that this is not a light and fluffy style pancake. Its quite solid and filling and not sweet - until you add the banana and maple syrup. If I've had no banana I've made it with 1/2 an apple grated into the "batter" / serve and then just put the maple syrup and LSA on it. Its still very yum just needs a lit longer to cook through.

The nutritional analysis for mine was (with 70g banana on it)

Calories: 249

Fat: 4.2g

Protein: 16.5g

Carbs: 38.8g

Fibre: 6.2g

Give it a go and let me know what you think of it..

Cheers

Magda

PS I modified this recipe from one that Liz gave me so credit goes to her :-)

JANUARY SUMMARY

I thought this would be a good time to look back over January and see how I went. Its also a good time to blog the high and low points to give a better indication of my progress rather than just making it number focussed.

WEIGHT:

On 2 Jan I weighed in at 70.8kgs (after a little holiday with some nice indulgences during that time). This morning I was 68kgs (after a nice .4 drop from yesterday) so my overall loss was 2.8kgs. Considering I had a mini holiday in the middle of January and didnt eat on track for a few days, I'm happy with this overall result.

TRAINING:

After my 1:1 with Liz and a big tick on my squat and deadlift techniques, my weight training was ramped up a little. I have been focussing on pushing hard in each session as I train alone and basically its up to me to get the most out of me LOL. Cardio has stayed about the same although we were kid-free for a week so we couldnt resist throwing in some extra cardio after work on most days.

HEADSPACE:

This has been good for most of the time. There was a day (just before I went to Queensland) when the Metal Monster had totally frustrated me (weighing too often and not seeing movement in the right direction) and I resorted to a bit of a binging out of frustration, a bit of anger and a sense of "I deserve this" but in the overall scheme it was a mild binge and didnt snowball out of all control or leave me feeling emotionally distraught. This, my good friends, really is progress for me.

More recently I've had some episodes where I have been a bit tempted to binge but I've stopped and thought about it and chosen not to. The sensible-voice-of-reason-Magda seems to have taken an assertive stand and I like it. She has given up the fight too many times before so this change is welcome.

HIGH POINTS:

Having my 1:1 with Liz was excellent. I learnt so much in that short time and it was nice to interact face to face. I had a range of questions and Liz answered them all, leaving me feeling relaxed and looking forward confidently.

Taking a week off to spend with my BS was fantastic. I still trained and ate well but we packed in the activities and the time just flew by. If only my pay would magically land in our bank account each fortnight, I'd happily be a lady-of-leisure ... except I'd be a lady-of-training / socialising / being involved with my son's school etc. Aaah life would be just perfect :-)

We bought a new car (but havent got it yet). That will be a post all on its own when it finally arrives.

I enjoyed a weekend of being a bacheloress and indulging my "fitness slob" side. It also allowed me to socialise far more than I normally do and go to the gym as a participant. What a bonus that was for me.

My cardio fitness has improved noticeably and I'm now incorporating more running into my sessions. My core strength is improving too (geez it was woeful!!) and I no longer dread the Bosu but look forward to each challenging workout.

LOW POINTS:

Only one really. The project I worked so hard on before Christmas didnt get the necessary approvals in the next critical stage and even now a cloud of uncertainty hangs over it which made me very angry. But its a work issue and on the list of things that are important to me its not a top 3 item so I wont stress about it any more. I'll do what I have to do but I refuse to give any more of my life and soul to it (did that before and got very sick as a result).

How has the year started for you?

Cheers

Magda

SURVIVING THE HEAT

Yeah yeah yeah so its hot. It IS summer after all. And when its winter, how long is it cold? I mean really cold. Longer than this heat wave. So lets suck it up and stop whinging.

I'm a summer lover and I admit I LOVE IT HOT!! I love to train early mornings when its going to be a scorcher of a day. My body works better and especially my muscles work better in the heat. I love sweating a few minutes into my workout and feeling quite drenched at the end of it. I love guzzling lots of water which is so much harder to do in cold weather. And salads become a favourite meal again whereas in winter they are just totally unappealing.

This morning WH set out to do his run around 7.15am and I got stuck into my Postural Program. When he was back I went to do my fast walk setting out just before 8am and it was finished before 9. Yep it was hot but it was a little cloudy so it didnt feel so scorching. Then home to finish the PP and devour a yummy breakfast of pancake made from:

1/4c oats
1T unprocessed bran
cinnamon
1.5 egg whites from extra large eggs (I made a double portion with 3 egg whites)
40g low fat creamed cottage cheese

Serve it with 1/2 large banana, sugar free maple syrup and a lite sprinkle of LSA. Give it a go and tell me if you love it as much as I do.

Well the Metal Monster managed to put me in a brief bad mood this morning. My loss for the week was .1 kg (yes a measly 100g). Stoopid, stoopid machine!! Even the tape measure wasnt on my side with only a bit off the thighs (better than nothing, I guess). The wierd thing is that I felt smaller and like I HAD lost weight. I'll be honest and say I EXPECTED MORE so when I didnt get it, I was suitably upset and angry. It took a lot of self talk to let it go and not allow it to ruin my day.

Food has been good and on track (like it had been for most of the week) and tomorrow we are splurging out for a yummy breakfast at The Store in Melbourne Street again. They have a new menu and this one looks better than the last so I'm really looking forward to the treat. I wont go silly but I love the choices when eating out and the fact that somebody makes it for me and then cleans it all up too :-). There is training to be done as well but after that the rest of the day will be spent staying cool.

What do you have planned for your Sunday?

Cheers

Magda

I BELIEVE I CAN .....

So I have asked myself what I believe.

Do I believe that I can train hard enough to transform my body once again, or do I find an excuse not to?

Based on fact and previous experience I can train hard enough to transform my body once again. After all, muscles have memory and once the conditions are right they will grow again. I believe they will.


Do I believe that my body will respond to the training or do I write it off as "too old" or "the product of too much yoyo dieting"?

I believe my body will respond to the training as long as I'm patient and give it time. The hardest thing to deal with here is waiting for loose skin to shrink. Yep tight legs will be my biggest challenge but I'll try not to expect too much too soon. After all, Rome wasnt built in a day and it takes time to create a masterpiece LOL.


Do I believe that I can learn to understand my emotional eating, what triggers it and why, or do I believe that "I've always done it so I dont know any different"?

Since the start of the year I've been very aware of my moods, feelings and eating urges. In fact, I've been paying more attention to it all since November and am understanding the EE more each day. So what are my key triggers? Metal Monster anxiety (a topic that deserves its own post), pressure and stress, frustration, boredom with my food, a sense of feeling like a victim therefore "I deserve it" and the old "well I've had something I shouldnt have so I might as well have everything I shouldnt have" and lastly "I can always diet tomorrow". How many of these can you relate to? Understanding it is the first step to being able to fix it so I believe I'm on my way.


Do I believe that I can learn strategies and change my thought processes so that I can avoid emotional eating, or do I believe "its just too hard"?

Aaaah thought processes. Dont you love the way children are so impressionable. Tell them something often enough and they'll believe it. Well as adults we are the product of what we've been told or what we've told ourselves over the course of our lives. Dare I say, the older we are, the more ingrained those thoughts and beliefs are. So changing them is quite a challenge and NOT esay to do. But I've taken on this challenge and I'm chipping away at it bit by bit. Yep I've had quite a few situations recently where I could easily have slipped into emotional/binge eating but I've stopped to think about it and I've chosen to act differently. It hasnt always been easy and I havent always succeeded but I'm doing heaps better at it than I was over 3 months ago. I believe I will make it and I look forward to the day when I can blog that "I've got it and I feel at peace" (cheers Sam!!)


And finally do I believe that I have it in me put all the pieces of the puzzle together and work out how to live lean and love life, or do I sit in my happy comfort zone feeling unhappy?

Have you ever sat in your happy comfort zone feeling unhappy? Weighing up if the pain is worse than the effort required to change it. Wondering if the positives in your life outweigh the unhappiness you feel inside and if you dare to step out of the zone and dare to want more or better.

My take on this is that I DO want more. I want to achieve on a number of levels and the only way to do this is to kiss that comfort zone good-bye. In order to move closer to living lean and loving life I must gather up all the pieces of the puzzle that I have accumulated over the years and slowly piece them together. Draw on my experiences, knowledge and skills I've learnt and make it happen. Its nice to have accountability, support and extra guidance along the way but ultimately its up to me.

I believe I can do it.

Good night all

Magda

YOU ARE WHAT YOU BELIEVE

As a child I lacked self confidence about my ability on many levels. I was shy and reserved and I shied away from physical challenges. I believed that I wasnt good at sport and so .... I wasnt good at sport. It was the beginning of my struggles with my weight throughout my life.

As a teenager I continued to be bad at sport because I believed I always would be. I did manage to learn to water ski - but only after my father got in the boat and threatened me with thunderous yelling "to hold onto that rope no matter what" that I held on and yep, I was skiing. My only other form of activity was folk dancing but when you follow that up with a trip out for pizza (as hungry teenagers do) its unlikely to help you to keep your weight down. I believed that I would struggle with my weight and so ..... I struggled with my weight. In my year 7 photo I'm the big girl in the back row wearing a size 14 skirt and blouse, amply filling a C-D cup bra.

Throughout my 20s and 30s I had several periods where I believed that I could lose weight and so .... I lost weight. Oh the joy of being smaller and being able to buy trendy, sexy clothes. The joy of being the same size (or smaller) than my friends and of being attractive to the boys. But each joy was short-lived because I didnt believe that I could maintain my new found slim body. So true to my beliefs every weight loss was followed by a compensating weight gain because I believed thats what would happen. Life was really turning into a roller coaster ride and I wanted to get off.

Hail my 40s and the extra strength and wisdom that come with maturity. I made a decision that I would blow off all my previous doubts, insecurities and fears and I would take on my biggest physical and mental challenge. I believed that I had it in me to transform my overweight, cellulite ridden body to that of a Figure Competitor and so .... I did.

But did I believe that I was ready to live lean and love life? Well if you've followed my blog over the last year you'll know the answer to that. In November 2007 I weighed in at 76+kgs when I embarked on my current journey. (My comp weight had been 55kgs). Speaks for itself doesnt it.

So here I am in 2009 and I have to ask myself what I believe.

Do I believe that I can train hard enough to transform my body once again, or do I find an excuse not to?

Do I believe that my body will respond to the training or do I write it off as "too old" or "the product of too much yoyo dieting"?

Do I believe that I can learn to understand my emotional eating, what triggers it and why, or do I believe that "I've always done it so I dont know any different"?

Do I believe that I can learn strategies and change my thought processes so that I can avoid emotional eating, or do I believe "its just too hard"?

And finally do I believe that I have it in me put all the pieces of the puzzle together and work out how to live lean and love life, or do I sit in my happy comfort zone feeling unhappy?

To be continued .....

Magda

KEEPING THE PLOT AND THEN LOSING IT

Funny title hey??

Let me elaborate. This time last year, my boys were away again and I had a few days of family-freedom. So how did I put it to use then? I ate. And ate. And ate. Why? Because I was having a meal out, chose some less-than-healthy things and then just went OUT OF CONTROL eating any and every bit of junk I could lay my hands/lips on. OMG it was such an awful time and I remember it feeling like the start of my demise. After that weekend it all went downhill for me with just a few short reprieve's along the way.

So this thought was in the back of my mind all weekend. And I was tested!! I ate out Saturday lunch-time, Sunday lunch-time, Sunday dinner and Monday lunch-time including a big piece of cake at my friend's house after lunch. And I was ok with it all and had no urges to stuff myself silly as a result of eating "off-plan". I was really happy with myself when the weekend wound up, my boys came home and I had "kept the plot" so to speak.

So what about this "losing it"??

I got news today that the project I had worked so hard on leading up to Christmas had gone to the Board today for approval and it was knocked back. This means delays for us which will have a significant impact down the track. Not to mention that I had slaved over it (I worked some ridiculous hours to get it done) to meet the deadline and now its missed it and there is more work to be done. Hence.... I LOST IT!!!!! On a scale of 1 - 10 my anger was soaring up to the 10. A glass of wine after work didnt have the desired stress-relief effect so it ended up down the drain (thats one good decision made at such a vulnerable time). I couldnt eat all my dinner though.

Hoping for calmer seas tomorrow.

Magda

DOOMED TO LOSE SLEEP

Yesterday I woke at the ridiculously early hour of 4.40am and ended up getting up early as I get bored and restless lounging in bed if I'm struggling to sleep.

Well today it was even worse. I was woken at 4am by a mozzie and I'd already been bitten. GRRRRR. Man was I pissed off but I decided to put the time to good use and cooked up a big batch of chilli for my WH . 2 breakfasts later I taught a step and combo class which will now be a regular 3 weekly occurrence for me. There will be many happy people at the gym when I announce it in 3 weeks time.

Lunch was at mum and dad's today and we had roast duck which was something different and nice. After lunch I chatted with my parents and we talked about some of the very unhealthy foods we ate when we were all younger and the world didnt know better. Some were quite cringe-worthy when you consider them in our go low fat/low GI/low salt/low-or-no everything world. We had a good laugh though.

I then visited my local Westfield to shop for a few odds and ends including some new lipsticks. It was so much easier today without a 6 year old getting bored to tears and acting up accordingly. And instead of it taking 15-20 minutes to find colours I liked, it took about 5 and there was 15% off as well. I was a winner on all fronts. I couldnt let the afternoon pass without a leisurely skim cappuccino and a few pages of my new book.

When I got home I whipped up a big batch of chilli for myself - why different for WH and me, you ask - well WH doesnt like kangaroo (I do!!) and he has chorizo sausage in his. When I suggested that his chilli would be healthier without the chorizo I was told that "that was the best bit" so it has stayed.

I had dinner at S+BIL's tonight. As I've mentioned my BIL is Scottish and being Burns Night tonight we had haggis, black pudding, mashed potatoes, mashed swedes and - just for me - some green veg. ( I pleaded for the greens after seeing how much butter and double cream went into the mashed potato - eegads my ILs are all really big and its not surprising why!!).

So despite having a bit of anxiety earlier in the week about these 2 meals with family I was really happy with how I handled them:

1. I relaxed and enjoyed them.
2. I didnt fret about high calories or fat grams or whether they were too high in carbs (probably an affirmative on all 3)
3. I made sensible choices about how much I ate of stuff (healthy and not so healthy) without appearing to be obsessive about it
4. I didnt overeat because it all tasted so good and I could diet again tomorrow

By golly is that progress for me, or what??!!

:-) Magda

A BOOT-FULL OF FOOD

You're looking at my A3's boot full of food. 6 green bags (3 from the supermarket, 3 from the fruit and veg market), a shredder (not for human consumption) with a carton of 18 x 375ml Diet Coke cans behind it (yeah yeah I know its not really good for me but everyone is allowed some daily vices (or treats) and I like to have one at work around 4pm when tiredness catches up with me BIG TIME).

I bought: 3 dozen eggs, bananas, apples, lemons, ruby grapefruit (for WH), garlic, spanish onion, brown onion, spring onions, sweet potato (for WH), white potatoes, carrots, pumpkin, capsicums, continental cucumber, green beans, asparagus, brocolli, huge bunch silverbeet, snow peas, avocado, 1/2 cabbage, brussel sprouts, mushrooms, coriander, zucchini, salted cashews (for guests) and a big bag of pepitas. We have home grown tomatoes and peaches from mum and dad's tree and I buy fresh spinach leaves weekly at the supermarket. This should last us about 2-3 weeks with a small weekly top up. My fridge is groaning with it all and I have no excuse now for struggling to put a good meal together.

So how did I pass my bacheloress day today?

Well sadly I woke up WAY too early and couldnt get back to sleep so was up before dawn. Ate an early breakfast and had the Saturday paper all to myself BONUS!! I did the grocery shopping early and called in to my favourite local cafe (well my ONLY local cafe really - but a good one nevertheless) for a skim cappuccino. Hmm what about some fruit toast I was thinking as I was hungry again and still had cardio to do later in the morning. No just eat your Slim Secrets bar and skip the toast was the counter-perspective and it appealed so I went with it.

Dash home, unload shopping, cram cold stuff into the fridge and race off to the gym to participate in the cycle class. Gym members (who all know me from my many years of teaching there) are all surprised to see me and its nice to catch up with some again. Work reasonably hard in cycle class (346 cals torched in 43 minutes) and have a nice long chat to the Instructor afterwards. Gee I love talking about myself and my competing experiences and he seemed to like listening so there was no stopping me. Race home for food and shower (no fitness slob today!!) and head out to drop a duck off to mum and dad's (yes its tomorrow's lunch) and meet Miss Kerry and Miss Cheryl for lunch at The Store in Melbourne Street. My definition of bliss: 3 hours of talking about training, dieting, competing and anything related. Throw a yummy Florentine omelet in for lunch and I'm one happy camper.

Then its out to visit a friend for a quick catch up (I turn down an invite to dinner as the extra fat in my lunch has me feeling quite full). I arrive home after 6pm and must water the garden as its "our day" and it needs a good watering (strict instructions from my WH). Reinforce to myself how much I HATE gardening and am thankful that its WH's job normally. Next job is to put all the groceries away and then think about something very low in fat for dinner. Chicken breast to the rescue (I'll leave the atlantic salmon for another night) and talk to BS and WH on Skype.

Finally get to blog and hopefully manage an early night. But need to wind right down first. Phew I feel buggered just reading all that.

BTW: Metal Monster has finally dropped into the next number range down and I was on a bit of a high about that too. Funny though that my measurements arent going down but some clothes are getting looser and I feel smaller.

Cheers

Magda

THE KID FREE WEEK CULMINATES IN A BACHELORESS WEEKEND

If you've followed my blog this week you'll know that we (WH & I) have been kid-free while BS has been in Qld with his grandparents.

Last night WH and I went out for dinner after work. Check out what we had, its truly superb and very healthy http://www.strath.com.au/dining/stonegrill-dining It was nice to be out to dinner knowing that any damage to the healthy eating plan was minimal (I did have a few chips but not many).

This morning I took WH to the airport so he can pick up BS and bring him home ready to go back to school next week. They return on Monday night so I'm a bacheloress til then. WOOHOO!! I have a really nice mix of social activities, me-time and a few chores planned.

It all started with me going for a walk/run after work. I NEVER train straight after work but with no family commitments I couldnt let the opportunity slip by (even though I had a rest day scheduled). Plus I was feeling a bit hungry so I thought it'd be a great opportunity to blast some fat cells (well I hope so anyway). It was a short 30 minute session but I got a good HR reading so I was very happy. Then in true fitness-slob style I ate my dinner while I read blogs and caught up on Lindy Olsen's forum. How tragic is that LOL??!!

I'm hoping to reinstate my blogroll this weekend. I hate change thats forced on me when my perfect little world is upset.

Cheers all and I hope you have a great long weekend. I know I'll be back to post about my activities, achievements and aspirations.

:-) Magda

THE COMPLEXITIES OF EATING

Who’d have thought that eating could be complex? I mean, how complex is 1. put food in mouth; 2. chew; 3. swallow; 4. repeat? But I think you might know where I’m heading with this. It’s the reasons we eat – especially those that don’t relate to hunger. Yep emotional eating, celebratory eating, keep-people-happy-eating just to name a few of these situations.

So here’s my simple take on this issue. Its not an indepth analysis of emotional eating – its causes, cures etc. Its how I’ve categorised my different modes of eating and assigned them a rating.

GREEN LIGHT EATING: Clean eating principles.

Lets start with the best and ideal form of eating. This is what comes naturally on most days when I’m making a decision to do what’s physically (and emotionally) best for me. When I am focussed on my short and long term goals and I’m committed to taking positive action, eating clean comes naturally. I make good choices because I want to, not because I feel I should. Aaaah I love a perfect world LOL.

AMBER LIGHT EATING: Celebratory eating, holiday eating, keep-people-happy-eating.

OK so most of the time I’m coasting along in my green light zone. All is good and I’m moving towards achieving my goals. Lo and behold there is a bump in the road and the light turns amber. We go on holidays and the eating is relaxed or we have an “occasion” and we indulge just a little – or maybe a lot or the feared invite to dinner at a friend’s or family’s place. Why feared? Well what if everything is deep-fried, or covered in creamy sauce and there isn’t a vegetable or salad within cooee? How do we handle that? This will depend on the situation but regardless it places me in that amber zone. Its like “beware, keep it in check and get back to green as soon as possible”. Sometimes I handle the amber zone well and sometimes it’s a guaranteed slide into …..

RED LIGHT EATING: Mindless eating, secret eating, binging

Oooh how I hate this zone for a whole range of reasons. Not just the physical effect of bloating, dry mouth, sugar hang-over, fluid retention and weight gain but the emotional effects are significant. The sense of loss of control, of feeling weak, silly, embarrassed if anybody found out … these are a bitter pill to swallow after swallowing a heap of junk already.

This year I’m working hard to significantly reduce my incidents of red light eating. I’m learning what triggers it and that’s a head start to learning how to avoid it. I’ve found my recent triggers to be: stress and/or pressure at work (when I’m really under the pump, comfort from food is very attractive to me); boredom with my regular food and feeling unsatisfied after my meals (yep all of a sudden I DESERVE that treat and once I’ve had it, well I’ve blown it all so I’ll just have more) and scale weight messing with my head (which is a separate post in itself). Sometimes an amber light eating episode will just morph into a red light one pretty much due to the “well I’ve blown it already so I might as well have everything junky I may ever want” mentality.

You would think that as an intelligent 40 something woman I would get this simple exercise right. But we all know that life is never that simple. So I’ll tackle the issue head on knowing that I have it in me to succeed.

:-) Magda

TRACKING NICELY THANK YOU VERY MUCH

Since my return to the real world (aka home and work) I've been tracking quite nicely. After my "relaxed holiday eating" its always a bit hard to get back on track but I was determined to do it. My IFG (Inner Fat Girl) - who is still not so inner - tried really hard to get me to keep eating treat foods with conversations like "go on, it'll taste fantastic" and "well you've eaten off track for a few days already so a few more wont matter". I had to give her a serious smack down and remind myself of my short and long term goals. So when I got to the end of the day clocking up another "Gold Coin Day" I was pretty pleased with myself.

So whats this Gold Coin Day I refer to? I have a jar on my kitchen bench top where I deposit a gold coin for every day I eat clean and on track. Its like my reward for a job well done that day and I'm getting a bit of a kick out of seeing the jar slowly fill up. I'm not 100% strict with my eating coz I'm not in "comp prep" or anything but I know how to eat to lose body fat and if I eat right then in goes a coin.

Training has been good (it usually is for me as I'm pretty religious with it) and WH and I have taken advantage of being kid-free this week. Yesterday, despite 37 degree heat we went for a 40 minute walk after work. I thought he'd pike out but no he was ok to do it so who was I to wimp out!! Dinner was chicken breast with Thai seasoning and a huge salad. Today we had to skip the walk as WH had work to do at home but I headed out on my own for a brisk trot after dinner had settled. Its a warm night and it was lovely being out in it.

So two days after my weekend away I'm still feeling a bit thicker around the middle but I know it'll go easily enough if I keep doing all the right things. Just taking a step at a time on the long road to success.

:-) Magda

THE QUEENSLAND TRIP ROUND UP

Well the Queensland weekend has come and gone and here is my report and round up.

BS and I headed off from Adelaide on Friday morning all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. The flights were mainly uneventful and there were no dramas with the connecting flight in Sydney. I say mainly because we were very bumpy and unsteady on the landing in Maroochydore but to his credit the pilot got the plane down without any problems and to the cheers of all on board. We were picked up by the ILs and chauffeured to their resort home in the Sunshine Coast hinterland where a white wine was in order to mark the start of the mini-holiday.

This was followed up by a swim in the pool basking in the gloriously hot and sunny weather. Just perfect in my books. MIL cooked fresh salmon for dinner and some more white wine was consumed in the name of “holiday cheer”.

I was up before my alarm on Saturday morning (like at 5.15am!!) and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast of toasted home made wholemeal bread with peanut butter and butter and honey for breakfast. Too many carbs?? Who cares I was doing RPM high performance so the carbs wouldn’t be wasted. The drive to Indroopilly was ok and thanks to my trusty GPS I made it there despite road works and a few wrong turns. Then it was just a case of finding Fitness First on time. But I managed that ok as well. I was hugely relieved to get a big warm hug from Liz who helped set me up for the class.

I also met Lindy Olsen, Lisa Stokes and Shelley (again) and had Lisa on the bike next to me setting a cracking pace and giving no less than 100% on each track. I love RPM but I’m not built for speed so on the speed work I was feeling very inadequate. However give me some standing hills to power up and I will find every last bit of energy to give it my absolute best. Subsequently the last work track was my favourite. What an exhilarating feeling pushing out with max power to get up the final hills.

Liz is truly a brilliant instructor. She is inspiring and motivating and encouraging in just the right blend. You might walk in feeling a bit nervous or scared but you’re guaranteed to walk out feeling exhilarated and fantastic, albeit totally buggered LOL. After RPM we did a 1:1 training session to check my squat and deadlift techniques. In that hour or so we spent together I learnt so much about these two exercises and how to correct some problems I’d been having. It was well worth the flight to Queensland and the 90+ minute drive (each way) for the experience and knowledge gained. We also talked about where to take my training and what I can expect over the coming year.

Then it was off to Phuc Viet Deli for the famous rice paper rolls, which were to die for. Shelley joined us for a chat and I love the way we bloggers can get together for the first time and talk like we’ve been friends for ages (maybe its because we sort of have). Chatting with Shelley was fantastic. She is as positive and full of energy in person as she is on her blog … and she looks bloody awesome too!!

After Shelley left Liz and I chatted some more and again it was just so relaxed and nice to do it face to face instead of by email. Sadly by 11am or so it was time for me to head back. The afternoon was spent with a dear friend and his children who came to visit. My BS and his son spent the afternoon in the pool while we chatted the afternoon away. Dinner was at a neighbouring town pub with friends of my ILs and we had a crowd of 9 for the occasion. Once again a few white wines were enjoyed but food was in the “moderately bad” category (instead of disgustingly bad).

Sunday afternoon was spent travelling home once again via Sydney. I read my Women’s Health and Fitness magazine on the plane and finished it just as we landed. The lady sitting next to me asked what I had been reading and I showed her the mag and then decided to give it to her. It felt good to be able to do a small nice thing for someone. WH and I finished the “almost perfect weekend” with dinner out at a café and a big catch up of the weekend apart. Last chance to have a white wine (or two) before getting back to 100% clean food today.

Yes Liz I did have more than my 2 wines/week this weekend and now I’m back on track to eat well and train consistently. And it started with a 50 minute walk this morning at a fast pace keeping my HR in the working zone (or higher). Finally I just want to say how lucky I am and how thankful I am for the following:

1. To have such wonderful ILs that I can happily stay with and use my MIL’s car to do what I need to do when I visit.

2. My job may bring with it some pressure and stress which make life challenging but it also affords me the ability to travel to Queensland for a weekend to deliver my son for a holiday with his grandparents and for me to see Liz.

3. My WH who would have loved to do this trip himself but knew how important it was for me to do it and so he happily arranged for me to go.

4. To have Liz coach me to achieve my dreams, goals and aspirations.

Cheers all

Magda

FOR LIA

I promised that I'd post about the BOSU but rather than read my disjointed ramblings I suggest you pop in here http://www.bosu.com/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=bosu/story.html?article=2408.

Liz has me doing hamstring and glute work + core strengthening on it. Its a killer workout.

One sleep and I fly out. Looking forward to meeting Liz (again) on Saturday and am ready for a caning :-)

Cheers all

Magda

THE MEANING OF NUMBERS

As you know, the Metal Monster is being a total idiot this week. The sooner it learns that eating lean, clean food in moderation + drinking lots of water + training with intensity and consistency = numbers going DOWN, the happier I’ll be and we can continue our almost daily liaison. Its obviously a slow learner and unless it pulls its socks up, it’ll be a neglected slow learner.

Having said that, there was a drop this morning but its still .5kgs from last week’s weigh in on Friday so typically I’m still not happy. Oops sounding all glass-half-empty but that’s where I’m at with the silly bugger.

So on the walk to work this morning I got to thinking about numbers and what they mean. Within each aspect of health and fitness, is there a magical number at which life is just right?

Cholesterol reading: 5.5 seems to be the benchmark. Under and you’re ok but over and you’ll have the doctor threatening drugs. Some doctors are smart and bold enough to recommend lifestyle changes but many still revert to the drug cure all too quickly.

Resting hear rate: the lower the better as this indicates a superior level of cardiac fitness. However, venture too low and you approach the “dead” end of the spectrum so we cant be too literal in our interpretation. Working/training heart rates get more complex with a formula that you just draw upon when you’re about to cough a lung up after an intense cardio session, enabling you to calculate if you’re in your “training zone”. Or you can woos out of this challenging process and resort to the trusty Polar hear rate monitor but that’s like taking the easy way out.

Weight: is a veritable minefield if you consider scales, body fat scales, and consideration of gender, height and body composition. Lets look at scales alone. You hop on first thing in the morning and see what you weigh. Does it put a smile on your face or does it evoke a range of negative feelings? Does that number reflect “who you are” that day? Has it allowed for the salty soy sauce you put on your stir fired veges last night or the killer leg session that has you screaming with DOMS pain today? No! So how relevant is that number then?

What about body fat scales? What’s your percentage doing today? Has it swung up by 3% or has it dropped to an all time low but your weight has stayed the same? Think about it: loss of body fat but no loss in weight would have you thinking that the fat you lost turned into muscle. Hahaha I don’t think so. Once again, numbers all over the place so how accurate can they be.

Or you can get pinched for skinfolds or body fat percentage. That’s fine if you have ready access to an experienced body fat tester AND they test at a consistent time and you’re not holding fluid or …… again variables, variables and more variables.

Lets not even mention BMI where a muscly person who is actually really lean can be rated as overweight or nearing obesity.

So with all these considerations and knowing how different 2 people who weigh the same can look, we should ask ourselves what the numbers mean. Is there a magical number at which life is just right for you or do you see the numbers for what they are? “quotiety or how-many-ness” (Pocket Oxford Dictionary). They have no power, can be taken in many different contexts and are subject to unexplained fluctuations. Best not to get too bogged down in them, I think.

Cheers

Magda

METAL MONSTER MADNESS AND EARLY MORNING RUNNING

I miss my Bloglist but I cant be bothered trying to reinstate it all so I'm all over the place tracking down blogs I follow. Its a bit of a nuisance and I'll have to tackle the new Bloglist when I have more time.

The second thing thats pissin me off is the Metal Monster. It still insists on heading in the wrong direction despite clean eating well within my calorie allowance and regular training. I expected a bit of a spike on Sunday (well not really but it didnt surprise me) but then I also expected a drop after eating very clean that day. But it (MM) heads up a bit more just to really piss me off and reinforce my hate of weighing more than say twice a week. Yep I know it'll go up/down/up/down etc for its own purposes but quite frankly I feel I dont need to know what happens in between one week and a week later. Seeing it in black and white just raises my frustration levels.

We had a scorcher in Adelaide today (40 degrees+) and I just had to take advantage of this wonderful and rare occassion. (Yes I love hot weather) What am I talking about?? When its going to be really hot I love getting out in the early morning for a sweaty cardio session. So today I was heading out the door by 5am to do an hour long walk/jog session with several random jogging intervals of 2-4 minutes each. 444 was the magical calorie burn and I felt great when I got home. I SO love my cardio and always look forward to it.

But after my trip to Queensland - hello to all the RPMers I'm looking forward to meeting at Liz's class on Saturday - we are ramping up my weight training and keeping cardio at a moderate level. Still looking to lose the body fat but more importantly we gotta build me some muscles. I cant wait to get the nitty gritty details from Liz so I can work out how to fit the training into my life from a physical, emotional and nutrition-balancing perspective. That all sounds a bit complicated but they are things I need to have in order to make it work.

So on that note I'll say good night and finish getting tomorrow's meals ready. 3 sleeps and I'm on the plane to the Sunny Coast (via Sydney).

Cheers

Magda

:-(

F*CK I WENT TO UPDATE MY BLOGLIST AND I JUST DELETED IT ALL. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

THE WEEKEND ROUND -UP

Last night we had an unplanned impromptu dinner with our friends after my girlfriend and I took our boys to the movies. There is always some challenge around eating out when you are focussed on losing body fat so here's how its all went.

When the movie finished my girlfriend took my son to her place and I ducked home to picked up WH. I ate my healthy snack then as I was hungry and I didnt want to arrive back for dinner starving and guaranteed to hoe into the pre-dinner nibbles. That was a good decision because when the cheese, dip and crackers went out on the table, I wasn t tempted. I had a glass of wine that I slipped very slowly. My friend even commented that "you're not drinking that would you like something else?" I politelty refused and explained that I was taking it slowly as I was driving home. That wine lasted me 2+ hours!!

My friend is married to an Italian so she has become an excellent pasta cook and pasta was on the menu last night. I know she is conscious of cooking healthy meals for her family so I totally relaxed and enjoyed every mouthful of my tomato based sauce with chorizo and some veges over penne pasta. It was delicious and although it wasnt totally clean I wasnt stressing about it. I had salad with it and didnt overeat so I was pleased that I handled it so well.

Desert was chockies and biscuits which I passed on so any damage would have been minimal. Nevertheless Metal Montser decided by spike by .6kgs this morning after hitting a new low yesterday. Its such a silly bugger and I just cant warm to the frequent weighing no matter what good reasons there may be for it.

Training was fantastic yesterday with noticeable improvement on the BOSU so that was another bonus. Its still really really hard but I'm lasting longer on the various abdominal bracing holds. Today has been a rest day so I tackled the housework instead. WH didnt recognise the place when he got home from playing golf LOL.

4 days back at work and then I'm off to Queensland for the weekend. Doing Liz's killer RPM class on Saturday and then having a training session (if I'm still alive). Cant wait!!

Cheers all

Magda

HOLIDAYS ARE NEARING THEIR END

Sadly today was the last "work day" of my holidays and on Monday its back to the grind. BS and I pottered around and did some back-to-school shopping like buying a new lunch carrier, drink bottle and sneakers. We snuck in some more playground time, bought groceries and had lunch out (again). It was a good day but hopefully tomorrow we'll go to the movies with his friend and my best friend and that'll be a real treat.

I have been eating quite well since the new year and I feel that the Metal Monster will be kind tomorrow morning. It better be or it'll get a big swift kick and a string of unpleasant expletives thrown at it LOL. But seriously, I've been trying hard to break away from a "diet mentality" but logging on CalKing has the exact oppostite effect on me. If I'm out and having a meal I'm sizing it up to try and guess portions, then checking all the ingredients and then trying to guess what the dressing or sauce or whatever was. Its like I'm on an investigation and I have all this information that I need to find out. I order healthy (as a matter of course) but am not relaxed about eating.

Similarly at dinner time, I was obsessively weighing everything I was preparing. WH and I were sharing a meal tonight and it was quite a chore to record the ingredients and then portion them out and estimate portion sizes etc etc etc. At the end of it there are all these numbers on CalKing which I look at and wonder how accurate they are after all that effort. Hmmm tonight I'm a bit glass-half-empty about logging dietary intake. Hopefully the tide will turn tomorrow.

Training is going well. My weights are creeping up in my "Sexy Back" program but I'm still on baby weights after not training consistently last year. Tomorrow I get to add some running to my morning walk and then I have another date with the Allmighty Creator of Awesome Abs (also known as the BOSU). I still have abs DOMS from my last session from a couple of days ago so it'll be interesting to see how I go.

Cheers all and hope your weekend is great.

Magda

THE PLAN B DAY - OR GOING WITH THE FLOW

Well I made it through today after a few upsets to my planned schedule.

I had to go into work this morning to do an urgent and very important job. So I got up at 5, trained and did the usual getting ready for work routine (apart from putting on cargo pants, a T shirt and sneakers). I dropped BS at my parents' house and was well on the way when I realised I had left my notebook at home. It had all the notes for what I had to do today and I didnt trust myself to remember them all. Hmmm. Plan B!! Go into work, locate all the documents I need from our network, email them home and go back and do the work there and then email it all through to the person requiring it. OK so that worked just fine :-)

I had also promised to take BS and his friend to a play cafe today and luckily was still on track to get there reasonably early. So we get in, the boys race off to play and I settle in with my paper, phones etc expecting to have a decent 3 hour session there. Within 15 mins BS is running back to me screaming his head off as he got a blood nose (he is prone to them). Lordy there is blood everywhere and I settle him down, clean him up as best I can and we do the hold-the-tissues-to-the-nose-trick for as long as it takes. Within minutes of the bleeding ceasing on one side, the other side decides to gush blood as well and I'm fast running out of tissues.

I gather up the boys and we go home 45 mins after getting there. Plan B!! We are home and they have lunch and get stuck into the Wii. Later we go out for a gelati and they are happy. Luckily kids are easy to please and the day is not a total disaster. Come to think of it, I was happy to be home too as I could have my lovely chicken/chick pea salad without the threat of a playcafe employee coming down on me for consuming food that wasnt brought on the premises (this has happened before when I was day from competing).

So the motto of today's post is : when life throws a little curve ball you can totally fluff it by playing the shot exactly as you had planned or you can be a bit flexible, adapt to the new situation and give it your best shot to get it right. The choice is yours.

:-) Magda

DAILY HIGHLIGHTS / DAILY LOWLIGHTS

HIGHLIGHTS:

1. Playing several games of hopscotch with my BS (when was the last time you did that??!!)
2. Taking my BS to work with me (briefly) and introducing him to my colleagues.
3. Yay the launch of my BOSU training this morning.
4. Morning walk in the light drizzle.
5. Lunch out - warm chicken salad with a roasted capsicum pesto dressing (probably a bit higher in fat than ideal but VERY YUMMY)

LOWLIGHTS:

1. Discovering my serious lack of core strength. BOSU training = almost dead Magda LOL.
2. Work sneaking into my precious holiday time. It HAD to be done but would rather be 100% BS focussed.
3. House is a mess. On the other hand - a clean house is a sign of wasted time (or something like that - Kek help me out here!!)
4. I'm attempting to set a new record for what can be sitting in my ironing basket. (Note to self: One must wear one's "Domestic Goddess" hat eventually as the wardrobes are starting to look bare.)
5. Vege shopping is very much due. Yep its market time this weekend so I dont have to ration out the spinach leaves and see how far I can make a red capsicum go.

Cheers all

Magda

BACK TO THE USUAL

Well tonight I'm posting with my "Fitness Fun and Figure" hat on again although I will just mention that after witnessing yesterday's beautiful incident, I did approach today quite differently. I took BS to see Madagascar 2 and on the car ride there and back (longish drives both ways) I patiently answered all his questions and indulged in all of his little fantasies. Yes I gave him 100% of my attention and we had quite a few laughs (until he fell asleep LOL).

Training has been difficult on a couple of fronts. Firstly my annoying headcold still has me waking up feeling awful and I'm training through it coz I know if I leave it til later in the day, there's a ghood chance it wont get done. So today was my "Sexy Back" program followed by a brief rowing interval session. I was so grateful that I didnt have to push out a long cardio session as I didnt feel at all up to it. Training at home is great as I can do it exactly when it suits me and I dont have to allow for travel time, or make sure WH is around to look after BS or other considerations. However it can have its down side. Like today. I was interrupted for the following reasons:

1. WH asking if the belt he had on matched his shoes and his new suit. OK let me put my "fashion stylist" hat on and sort out the wardrobe disaster before he embarasses himself in public.
2. BS telling me he'd finished breakfast. OK time to be "mum" here and tell him to go and watch the rest of his favourite show quietly before he is allowed to fire up the Wii.
3. Pussy cat coming in for a rub while I'm pulling away at my seated rows. Could it be food time? I think so. Feed the cat and she'll leave you alone Magda.
4. BS back again to tell me his favourite show has now finished and "they just have the bits on that tell you how they made it" (I must teach him the word "credits".) "Mum" time again and I order him to go and play on his Wii.
Did I say its great to train at home LOL???

Food has been good although a bit light on the calories seeing its holiday time and there just naturally is one meal less. This will correct itself next week, I'm sure. While preparing my dinner tonight I found myself obsessively cutting cooked chicken breast several times to get that 100g just right. Lordy just slap me coz thats exactly the sort of behaviour I need to avoid.

And finally headspace is pretty darned good I reckon. I'm not letting my headcold get me down. I'm not letting the image of my too fat legs get me down. I'm not fretting about how many calories I'm eating, or not eating. I'm enjoying the time I have with my BS this week and I'm packing in activities that we can do together. Life IS pretty good right now I reckon.

Magda