ITS FINALLY HERE - THE SEX AND THE CITY PREMIER

Ladies tonight I’m off to the SAFM premier of Sex and the City. My beautiful SIL works for Austereo and she has scored tickets which is amazing as it’d have to be THE most popular movie premier this year. I cant wait!! I was a huge SATC fan and I’ve been hanging out for the movie version for ages (like everyone else).

So which SATC girl do you most resemble?

I’m blonde and older like Samantha. But I missed out on her sex life LOL.
I’m a working mum like Miranda. But I’m not nearly as career driven.
I’m a hopeless romantic like Carrie. But I have MUCH better taste in men. (No love rats for me thank you!! And if Aidan had been my boyfriend I NEVER would have risked that relationship)
I’m twice married like Charlotte. But I’m nowhere near as demure.

In the end … I’m me and I’m happy with that. Its just fun to see where I’d fit in the foursome.

Cheers all

Magda

MANAGING THE "DANGER ZONE"

There’s nothing like a decent sleep to make one feel a whole lot better the next day. It may have only been about 7 hours but it was pretty much uninterrupted and I woke up feeling good.

Today’s training was running which I hadn’t done for about 9 days when I was sick last week. I surprised myself with some sprint repeats after setting out to do one song walk / one song jog but found that too easy going. The whole session was just over 40 minutes and I felt fantastic when I got home.

I’m really aware that I’m now in my “danger zone” as far as my diet goes. This is my 3rd week of eating lean and clean with a view to losing body fat and traditionally this is the time that I fall of the wagon in some form or another. Its usually because I’m disappointed with my progress (not the case now), bored (trying to enjoy a variety of yummy foods this time) or I just get into that I’ve-been- depriving-myself-for-a-while-now-so-I-deserve-a-treat mindset. Previously I have been my own worst enemy literally talking myself into bad choices with the reasoning that “I’ll get back into it tomorrow / next week / whenever”. This time I’m on top of it as Operation Sub 65 is foremost in my mind.

So on that note I’ll wrap up today’s post and get stuck back into what I’m paid to do here. Hope you’re all having a good day.

Cheers

Magda

FEELING TIRED AND FLAT

Well I think the aftereffects of the weekend have hit me BIG TIME. I am very tired with absolutely no energy and a dull headache that has settled in since about 5pm. (I'm not dehydrated as I've had lots of water / herbal tea today).

It was around 11pm when I went to bed last night as I was cleaning up after the dinner. Then I was up at 5 to train and there's also not enough sleep from the night before compounding the issue.

But despite this I've stayed on track with my food today and I havent resorted to anything junky to make me feel better like I've done on countless occassions before. I've eaten my planned meals knowing that rest and sleep are what I need - not a sweet muffin, yeasty bun or toasted foccaccia.

So on that note I'm getting my running gear ready for tomorrow morning and then I'm hitting the sack for that much needed sleep. Will catch up with blogs tomorrow.

Good night all

Magda

SUNDAY IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE

Phew what a busy day. Here's the abridged version coz its late and I SHOULD try to sleep.

Up just after 7 (BS needed feeding) and got stuck into my training - in my pyjamas LOL!! Did chest, shoulders, tris and a little bis and 30 mins moderate intensity cardio.

After food, shower, more food and getting washing underway it was time to hit the kitchen. BLISS!! I luuuurve cooking :-)

The dinner was a success. I prepared an antipasto platter with prosciutto, smoked ham, a couple of cheeses, olives, toast fingers with cream cheese, smoked trout and avocado, prosciutto and spinach frittata and meatballs in spicy tomato sauce. We then had slow roasted lamb shanks with white bean puree and caramelised onions however my lamb shanks didnt turn out quite like they should have so they will be on the menu again before winter is over. Dessert was a moderate fat version of tiramasu. So how did I handle tonight??

Drink in moderation - tick
Stop eating before I felt stuffed - tick
Enjoy dessert without guilt - tick
Clean away leftovers without stuffing more food in - tick
Happy with how I handled tonight - tick
In the right frame of mind to get straight back into clean eating tomorrow - tick.

Good night all. This happy camper is off to bed.

Cheers

Magda

PHEW WHAT A BUSY DAY

Because I weighed at a funny time yesterday (the middle of the day) I did an "official-first-thing-in-the-morning-weigh" today. WOOHOO take off another .3kgs and I was PRETTY HAPPY!!

My training time today was taken up with BS in our bed, giving us cuddles and then analysing the world through the eyes of a 6 year old. How precious and far more important than cutting him off to go and sweat or pump iron.

Mum and I had a lovely day out. Thanks to everyone who left wishes for her and for a great weekend for me. Made of Honour was very light and funny and we both laughed heaps. I enjoyed lunch DESPITE my awful food. I ordered a lamb souvlakia salad as I wanted to stay pretty much on track and just splurge on a glass of bubbly. The salad was horrible. The lamb was too underdone with NO evidence of any chargrilling. Then there was a ton of different lettuces with the odd bit of tomato and capsicum. It was covered in tzatziki dressing which was too heavy for it all. Oh and there were pita triangles wedged around the bowl. I ended up sharing some of mum's gourmet tandoori chicken pizza. Now that was GOOD :-)

Tonight I've been a busy busy bee making WH a healthy chicken parmy and fresh crumbed tenderloins for BS. I just had tuna and salad as I still wasnt very hungry at dinner time. (Probably should've eaten less at lunch time). Then I made a moderate-fat tiramasu for dessert tomorrow and trimmed tons of fat off some lamb shanks that will be slow-roasted and made into one of the most delicious meals ever.

So you'd think that I'd call it a day then?? NOPE. Cardio time!! and I did 1/2 hour of various sprints on my exercise bike. NOW I've achieved all I wanted to today, including my interlude with Blogger :-)

Tomorrow is Mum's birthday dinner for the family. But training first and then back into the kitchen. Focussing on enjoying it all without a huge blow-out that'll leave me feeling like sh*t.

Cheers all

Magda

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUM

On 31st May its my Mum's birthday. She will be 72.

I'm taking her out for the day. We are heading out at 9am to Westfield Marion (on the other side of town to where we live). First stop will be for a nice cappuccino and the we are seeing Made of Honour (a chick flick - what else??). Then we'll have lunch in Spargos and I think a glass of wine is in order. Mum then wants to do some shopping. The perfect day :-)

On Sunday I'm cooking dinner for our family (including SIL & BIL) - more on that later. I'll be cashing in a "free meal" that night!


IN OTHER BREAKING NEWS:

Well the time was right to weigh officially today and I had the pleasure of giving a big warm welcome to the Whoosh Fairy, God bless her LOL. After a few small and controlled treats last weekend, I stayed tight with my eating this week. I didnt train hard due to this annoying lurgy I have but I moved on most days. So it was vey nice to be rewarded with a 1.4kg loss. I was just about jumping out of my skin :-) The bigger jeans that I bought a few weeks ago are just downright fugly now and as soon as I'm back in my Size 11s the fugly granny jeans are going to charity. I NEVER WANT TO WEAR THEM AGAIN.

So the All Females is 6 weeks away and I have just over 2.5kgs to go to make my goal. But no complacency here as I know how easily I can slip into the "oh I'm doing really well so I can afford this cake, pasta, 3rd glass of wine etc" and then before I know it I'm eating anything that doesnt move. Yes a few controlled treats will be enjoyed but now I control my food and it doesnt control me.

Anyway its late so I better wrap it up there. Tomorrow is a busy day with little time at home so scheduling training will be interesting. I missed it today due to an unfortunate incident with BS this morning and then the day was so busy that it got lost alltogether. But thats been my only downfall.

Cheers all and I hope your weekends are shaping up to be as good as mine

Magda

REST AND RECOVERY

My doctor has given me the rest of the week off to rest and recover from this lurgy. Here's how my day went.



7.20am Wake up - oops we've overslept.

7.20 - 7.50am - rush around making BS's breakfast, help him clean his teeth and supervise him getting dressed (left to his own devices we would have made it to school for morning recess time), get dressed, teeth, make-up - the bare essentials

7.50am - off to school (my breakfast will have to wait)

8.40am - head off home after checking into the office and cancelling my attendance at a meeting today

9.00am - post office to pick up a parcel - there's already a queue WTF

9.20 - arrive home STARVING!!!!

9.30 - eat breakfast and read the paper - aaaaaaah this is relaxing

Then put on a load of washing (including sheets) and get stuck into ironing whilst watching Kylie and Larry.

12noon - its a glorious day so a half hour walk is in order. Its not a training session as I dont push hard but its good to be moving and out in the beautiful fresh air

12.30 - make lunch and talk to WH who is in Melbourne and is calling to hear how I am :-)

1.00 - eat lunch and check emails

1.20 - clean shower whilst having a shower

1.30 - 2.15 - get dressed again, tidy up the cyclonic mess in the house, bring washing in, get organised to pick BS up from school

2.15 - off to do school pick-up

3.30 - arrive at mum and dad's with BS so my aunty and uncle can spend some time with him (they have no grandchildren so their time with BS is very special and precious).

3.45 - coffee time at mum and dad's. mum has the (horrible) biscuits out as they are trying to lose weight. I make up my snack of yogurt, vanilla WPI, psyllium husks and 1/2 banana and have 2 mugs of herbal tea. I'm satisfied and have not touched the biscuits (not hard today).

5.45 - arrive home and get stuck into more chores: make BS's bed up, dusting, unload dishwasher, feed cat and on and on and on

6.45 - dinner time and hop onto blogger



The day isnt over.



We still have bath time, reading to listen to, blogs to read, maybe some more cleaning and then spending time with WH if he makes it home from Melbourne today.



Phew I'm glad I had the day off so I could rest and recover LOL.



Cheers all

Magda

LOOSE CHANGE

Today's title sort of reflects the bits and pieces I thought I'd post about today.

Eliminating sweeteners.

One of the things I've done recently is to cut out the 4-5 sugar free lollies I have in the afternoon on most days. I dont know why but I love the oral satisfaction of munching on the (supposedly guilt free) snacks. I used to be smoker so maybe thats why, but I havent smoked for a long time. Of course they are artificially sweetened which I used to think was ok but am now working to slowly remove these foods from my diet. I still have some in my bag but will only resort to them in an emergency when the munchies strike and I know a few lollies will stave off a potential binge.

Green tea with Citrus.

This is my drink of choice after water. I had several large cups yesterday but I made them very weak so they have a mild flavour. In the morning I accidentally left the green tea bag steeping for too long and ended up with the most disgusting tasting brew ever. It was up there with grapefruit as the most vile tasting food on the planet LOL. I'm far more careful to dunk a couple of times now and then out with the tea bag. Yummo.

To train or not to train.

Because I havent been feeling 100% physically I've faced the dilemma about whether to train or not. On Monday we had some really decent rain right around the time that I would have been out doing my running training with Adelaide Harriers. With my chesty thing already settled in I decided to skip the session and the (almost certain) bout of pneumonia that could have followed. I've also avoided jogging/running/sprinting since then as all 3 are quite intense. My cardio has been of more moderate intensity - except yesterday's row which was too low in intensity. I have done some resistance (weight) training today but have decided to take it easy with only 1 session / day til I get rid of this lurgy. Happy compromise I think.

Scale liberation.

I'm continuing to eat well so that my emotions stay positive and I keep moving towards my "Sub 65 by 11 July" goal. The rate of progress is slow but I know the whoosh fairy will visit soon and I'll be forging ahead. In the meantime I can honestly say I'M NOT STRESSING OR FRETTING ABOUT THE NUMBER ON THE SCALES. What a wonderful, liberating feeling :-)

Cheers

Magda

THE TUESDAY REPORT

So now I'm home trying to shake off this dreaded lurgy. Went to work this morning as I had an important meeting to attend but once that was over I was out of there.

I slept badly again last night (2 nights in a row now). Was awake from about 3 and fell back to sleep just before 5 only to be woken at 5 so I could train. I rowed this morning but had a really disappointing result. I chose the 2nd most challenging program, whacked the level to start at 4 (means the highest level it got to was the max amount) but didnt feel strong and was therefore slow. Even though the setting was heavy my heart rate just didnt get up today and my HRM told me I had trained for 38 minutes with 2 seconds in my training zone. WTF!!!! I SHOULD HAVE STAYED IN BED. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR :-( Actually I should have set it lighter so I could get some speed up. Oh well live and learn.

Food is good. Have been getting some thoughts like "oh I'm not well, so I'd like some soup (and a roll with butter)" but have stayed strong as I'm onto this trap I always fall into. Had salmon with green veg for lunch and I'm ok. Will take it easy tonight and probably tomorrow morning too in the hope that this lurgy moves out quick smart.

Cheers all

Magda

HEALTH: EXCELLENT AND FEELING GOOD

Last Monday I had a check-up by my GP. Today I went back for the blood results and could not have been given a better report in terms of the various tests conducted. Blood count: good; liver and kidney function: good (see I’m NOT an alco LOL!!); calcium levels: good; thyroid and metabolism: good (yep my weight gain is purely too much crappy food): protein levels: good, blood sugar (after fasting): normal; cholesterol: a tad high because my HDL (good cholesterol) is excellent and my LDL (bad) cholesterol is within the safe range so the high reading is pushing up the overall reading. Cause for concern? Absolutely not. My GP said I wont need to be tested again for 2 years. “Just keep doing what you’re doing with exercise and diet cause they are great results” he said.

Even before I got my results I started the week in a remarkably good place emotionally and mentally. The lurgies are still trying to get a hold of me and physically I don’t feel 100% but I’m pushing on as I feel ok. Yep I stayed pretty well on track over the weekend with just a small indulgence on Sunday night having dinner out after the movies. I even ended the weekend with a 45 minute stint on the rower while watching the dvd of the 2007 INBA All Female Muscle and Fitness Classic. Great way to pass the (usually boring!) time.

Figure Girls brunch was great, as usual. 3 competing and 2 not so it’s a nice balance. Mind you we are all crazy about training, dieting (when need be) and all things related so there is an automatic “click”. After the brunch the 3 competing girls went to do posing practice while I went home and out to the movies a little later.

Training will be all arse-up this week. On Wednesday WH leaves very early for a work trip interstate for 2 full days. Those would normally be my running mornings so my training will suffer. Thank God I have the exercise room with enough equipment to manage a decent cardio and weights session. I guess I wont be setting any new 5km record times this week. All staying well though, I’m planning to do running training with the group tonight. I just hope my chesty thing doesn’t flare up.

Have a great day all and………

……. A big CONGRATULATIONS to Miss KatieP for her stage debut yesterday. No trophy or tiara but a very refreshing take on the whole comp experience and her future goals. Best of luck to you Katie :-)

Cheers

Magda

A TOUGH START

Do you have days when you're such a well oiled machine that you kick butt in your cardio and you feel like you could run/ride/whatever for ever??

Well my day was ANYTHING BUT!! :-(

I woke up hungry and my energy levels were low. I had to wait for WH to do his run and get back before I could do mine. Hmmm time to get hungrier and Paleo Boot Camp doesnt throw up many ... oops ANY options in this situation so I toughed it out. Strike One!!

Plus I had that feeling of a cold just thinking about taking up residence. You know, funny in the chest, head not quite right (and one wine NEVER does that to me). Strike Two!!

I headed out planning to run 40 minutes at an easy pace and then follow up with 20 mins ex bike ride. OMG I had NO ENERGY!! I was struggling to push out my pathetic old Cliff Young Shuffle and every step was hard work. I just kept telling myself "get to the corner", "get to the shop" "get around the lake" but I was ready to chuck it in after 12 minutes. However I pushed on for just over 30 minutes and then walked a way home and did the ex bike ride as planned.

Whilst I was struggling to run I worked on staying positive in this difficult situation. Once I passed the 20 minute mark I convinced myself that I could do 30 and then I convinced myself to take it up to the next 5 minute block. I also reminded myself that today I obviously didnt have a full tank of premium fuel to get me through. Dont get me wrong....nothing bad's gone in the tank but I dont think enough went in the tank. It was then that I decided that Paleo Boot Camp was not the answer today. Straight out Paleo instead (with a small skim cappuccino as a treat) would serve me much better. Hmmm I did enjoy having some pumpkin in my omelette for breakfast.

Speaking of Paleo, I confess I managed about 85% today. I took BS to a birthday party and I indulged in a small galss of champagne while there. Now I'm sure that the cavewomen would have enjoyed champagne too after a hard day of digging vegetables and picking berries. Cheers to all the cavewomen :-) But I touched NO crappy food whatsoever so I'll count that as a BIG WIN!!

Figure Girls are brunching tomorrow. I may be the only one eating as they are all dieting as they should be LOL!! Whatever happens food wise is irrelevant as its just great to catch up. Then WH, BS and I are off to the movies and out for dinner. I'm looking forward to tomorrow already.

Cheers all

Magda

THE FRIDAY NIGHT WAFFLE

Confession time!!

I weighed myself this morning. With a firm goal and deadline hanging over my head, I HAD to know where I was at on the road to sub 65. Happy to say that my weight was a bit lower than expected which is good. I'll still have to work hard to achieve this goal but at least I feel that its doable :-)

So no sleep in for me this morning. After 3 days of running, I hopped on my exercise bike for Tabata sprints of 8/12 x 12 repeats then 2 minute recovery and do it all again for 3 rounds in total. I filled in 45 minutes with some steady state cycling and was happy with the decent sweat I worked up :-)

Today's training session with Joe was a full-body workout as I havent done any other weights this week - smack my bum coz I did slacken off there. What a great session!! I loved being told that I had "impressive upper body strength" and "good shoulders" (smiling like a cheshire cat) but I'm surprisingly weak in my lower body and my hips and glutes just arent cutting it functionally or strength wise :-( If I'm going to compete again .... oops WHEN I compete again LOL I will need to improve this area significantly. Ouch I'm anticipating the pain already.

Food = good. After Paleo yesterday today I hit the low fat dairy as my protein source coz tomorrow I'm aiming for "Paleo Boot Camp" thanks to Lisa and PN. What a name "Paleo Boot Camp". Does it scare you? IT SHOULD!!!! Tough but it works, I'm told. I cherished the one glass of wine I had tonight though. What a luxury and I was happy to have it, enjoy it and not want more. Oops I'm sounding like an alco now, which I'm not. I just enjoy a wine and sometimes I think if I enjoyed one that much then I'll enjoy 2 or 3 twice or 3 times as much. NOT SO I'm learning.

Anyway I think I'm waffling now and WH has asked if I'm typing an essay so that's a hint to sign off.

Good night folks

Magda

SINCE WHEN DOES 7 WEEKS = 84 DAYS?

Duh!!! Blonde moment!! 49 days and counting folks.

Magda

OPERATION SUB 65 IN MOTION

Well my plans for the new and exciting journey are looking like they have to be put on hold for a few weeks due to a previous commitment that must be honoured. I’m going with the flow as there is no point stressing or sulking over this.

However the next 7 weeks will REALLY test me and if I succeed in my goal, I’ll be one VERY happy girl. Yep I have a Reverse Risk Leverage Agreement with my WH (refer post titled News, News and More News) and its time to apply myself and achieve the goal I set for myself. I have some information from Lisa Stokes to help me (a HEEEEUWGE thank you to this amazing woman) and there’ll be no more excuses for not training every morning or for cheating with my food. Any one of those slip ups could end up costing me cash that I don’t want to part with.

So today kicks off as a 90% paleo day (an idea pinched from Liz Nelson and her work with her figure clients). Why 90% you ask. Because once a week on the way to work WH and I go for a coffee and a chat and I had a skim cappuccino. (In hindsight I should’ve had a peppermint tea but I do love skim cappuccinos). I’m a bit hungry but next feed is only 10 minutes away so I’ll survive.

Tested myself over 5kms this morning and have updated my sidebar. Considering my half-assed inconsistent running over the last week or so I’m pleased that my time was only a fraction slower than the last test. I expect my cardio fitness to increase as I crank out more cardio over the next 7 weeks.

So OPERATION SUB 65 is in motion. 84 days to go. Hopefully I’ll rock up to the All Females looking leaner and more toned than my current woeful state.

Cheers folks

Magda

THE UPWARD DIRECTION

Its funny how after each bout of negativity, struggles and admitting how things arent going well for me, the tide turns and everything takes an upward direction. This is a relief.

Such was my day today. Yesterday I did a half-assed walk / jog session for cardio. Today I did sprints, increasing the intensity from last week. I was drenched at the end :-) Both yesterday and today I have eaten well and I'm feeling better physically. More good food = less aches and pains both physically and emotionalyy which I should remind myself of daily.

My digital kitchen scales carked it on Mothers Day and even a new set of (expensive) batteries hasnt got them working. INTERESTING DILEMMA!!!! When trying to lose weight (which is just about all the time in my life) I like to weigh my food and keep a journal of what I eat and what training I do + I log my food onto CalKing. Obsessive compulsive to a "T" LOL. BUT I'm trying a new experiment. I havent replaced the kitchen scales (shaking from an anxiety attack) and I'm guessing portions by sight and by what amount feels right to eat. I'm following Lindy Olsen's 7 Rules for Success (check this out on http://www.lindyolsen.com) which make a lot of sense and are easy to follow. So my Training Journal just reflects my training and HRM readings + it lists the 7 rules and I tick them off if I've achieved them. Easy peasy!! How long can I stay away from my previous addiction? (I'm aiming for 21 days and then I'll see how I feel and what I want to do).

I'm also trying to stay off the bathroom scales but I'm not convinced that this is a good idea just yet. At the doctors on Monday morning (I'll post more when I get all my results next Monday) I was weighed and let me just say that the result was DREADFUL (but I have Sunday's poor eating to blame for that). I'm still on the fence about weighing myself and how often.

Over the next few days I have some home stuff and some personal stuff to sort out and then I may be embarking on another new and exciting journey. My lips are sealed for now though :-)

And in closing I'd just like to write about my visits to the blogs of the lovely ladies who've just competed (Carolyn and Michelle) and KatieP who's on her final countdown. Just as I thought, I'm experiencing some sadness and regret that its not me this year. Its brought back a lot of happy and difficult memories which I cherish and forever feel mighty proud that I did it ....... and I'll do it again.

Cheers all

Magda

PUTTING THINGS INTO PERSPECTIVE

On a personal level life hasn’t been so good for me lately. I am battling lots of negative feelings, beliefs and actions. The mind games that play out in my head daily are really dragging me down and then I suffer with more than usual back pain, leg pain and headaches.

I realise that I’m now in a phase where I cant afford to eat “off plan”. No matter how minor or innocent an indulgence or splurge may be, it ALWAYS turns into a binge and so every 2 steps forward is followed up with 2 or 3 steps back.

I knew I had to do something but what? If the answers are inside me they’re buried very deep and I haven’t found them yet. I remember a time when prepping for comp last year that I felt so desperate and hopeless. Back then I got out my copy of Fatitude by Craig Harper and re-read some very relevant chapters. It was just the (proverbial) slap-in-the-face I needed to jolt me out of that bad state.

So I have started reading Fatitude again as I love its no-nonsense, tough love approach. I am guilty of lots of the negative thoughts and beliefs which Craig writes about but I’m making an effort to turn them around. I’ll be a work in progress for some time I think.

Then just to put things into perspective I read this in Craig’s post on Monday 19th May and it rung very true.

Postscript:

* Over the last two weeks I have watched with both interest and despair the enormous human tragedy unfolding in Burma and China in the wake of their respective natural disasters. Watching a broadcast last night brought a tear to my eye; a mother draped over her lifeless child, wailing in uncontrollable emotional pain and looking to the sky in absolute despair. Humanity at it's rawest. As the camera drew back from the woman and panned across the landscape, the magnitude of the devastation and suffering became apparent. At that moment sitting there on my comfortable couch, in my comfortable house I truly became aware that I have no real problems. And that if I can get out of my own way, stop sabotaging myself and do good despite my (numerous) issues, then maybe I can be part of the change in the world that Gandhi spoke of.

While we all have our individual challenges, the truth is that you and I are privileged and have much to celebrate. Even though we might not always feel like it. If you're using a computer now, then you're rich compared to the majority of our six billion brothers and sisters. If you have food, shelter and education then you're in the global minority.

If we want to find our way back to misery we can.

I choose not.

Go Craig!!!

:-) Magda

COMING OUT OF RETIREMENT AGAIN

Well today I dusted off the X Trainers, the mic belt and the sweatband and taught my old Sunday morning classes once again. The regular instructor was doing Spin training and seeing as I was given several weeks notice I couldnt say no.

I must confess that I was a bit nervous, not having taught since about Feb this year. I was also self conscious as I'm quite a bit heavier than I'd like to be and seeing some of my old regular class members I wished that I'd looked better. Mind you, they (except one) didnt look any better than the last time I saw them so I guess we're even LOL.

Speaking of that one ... what an amazing lady Miss M is (no not me!!). She's been a member at that gym since Noah was a boy. She used to be a big fan of Step and then BodyPump whilst dabbling in a bit of weight lifting. She also used to carry LOTS of abdominal fat. Over the years she cranked up her weight training, dropped off the cardio and probably improved her diet and is now looking quite lean and with a nice amount of muscle. In fact she has a reputation for training really hard but talk to her about maybe competing and she'll declare outright that she doesnt want to "diet". She's happy doing what she's doing and knows that by increasing her muscle mass her body fat is slowly melting off. I take my hat off to her for following her heart and sticking with what she believes in and enjoys. Go Miss M.

So the classes today and the persistent rain yesterday have thrown my training a bit out of whack. I havent done a 5km run this weekend but I did burn 657 calories this morning. Mind you I cant claim to have eaten well this weekend so probably no real gains made again.

I have an appointment with my GP for a check-up tomorrow and I plan to discuss my eating issues with him in the hope that he can steer me in the right direction for some much needed help.

Good night all

Magda

PS Kristy I havent forgotten about my tag. I just need to get organised for it. Will post it soon.

INFORMATION OVERLOAD

There’s a saying that “knowledge = power” but can information overload actually render you powerless?

Case Study #1: Miss H is around 50 years of age and slightly overweight. She is very careful to not gain any more weight and ideally she’d like to lose 5kgs “to feel better”. Unfortunately Miss H doesn’t have time to exercise. She enjoys her weekends often eating out and having a few drinks, just like the majority of the population. Then to compensate for the weekend indulgences Miss H will have a Cup-A-Soup with a few cracker biscuits for lunch during the week.

Could knowledge = power for Miss H?

Case Study # 2: Miss M is also around 50 years of age but she’s obese and subsequently unhealthy. Miss M knows that she needs to lose weight and every few months she gives it a go, never really making any noticeable progress and never maintaining at the lower weight. Miss M cant exercise (or so she believes) because of “bad knees”, “a bad back” and a string of other “bad things”.

Could knowledge = power for Miss M?

Case Study # 3: Miss Different M is in her 40s and has actively pursued a healthy lifestyle making her fitness a priority. But Miss Different M has always struggled to eat correctly and therefore she’s rarely achieved her fitness goals until recently. However another set-back (and her fitness journey has been full of them) has meant that she once again faces the challenge of getting her eating right to achieve the physique she desires.

So what’s the problem you ask?

Well Miss Different M has read hundreds of books, articles, programs and approaches to this one issue. She knows only too well that there’s more than one way to skin a cat, in fact she knows a thousand ways, or so it feels like. So with all this information swimming around in her head what’s the poor girl to do if not to scream “aaaaagh information overload”.

So its time for Miss Different M to wade through the mire of information and assess what’s credible and what’s not? What will suit her lifestyle? What just won’t work? Listen to her heart as well as her head. Filter the good stuff and ditch the cr*p. Make a decision about what will help her achieve her goals. And then just do it.

Information overload can = immense power if you use your grey matter and make it work for you.

Cheers all

Magda

THOUGHT FOR TODAY

A reflection of what you think

The world you see is a reflection of what you think of it. The values by which you live are continually coming back to you.

Your life embodies those ideas to which you give your complete and persistent attention. A life sincerely focused upon peace and happiness is a life filled with peace and happiness.

Whatever you support with your actions and thoughts, you experience in the moments and days of your life. Whether desire or fear, curiosity or obsession, your thoughts pull you steadfastly toward your reality.

You are, right now, busy becoming the person you think you will become. Today, already and always, you are living the life you most authentically expect to live.

The simple act of intentionally deciding upon a destination will point you solidly in that direction. A small adjustment in your attitude can make a major difference in your world.

Anything is possible. What actually happens in your life is an accurate reflection of how you see yourself living it.

-- Ralph Marston

HOME TODAY - YIPPEEEEEE

Well my BS was coughing badly this morning and I made the decision to keep him home, get some cough medicine for him and make sure he does some educational activities as well as playing his favourite X Box games (at RESTRICTED times).

Not expecting this though, I was up at 5am and I did a 40 minute speed session with run/walk intervals followed by sprint/walk intervals. I upped the intensity from last week by increasing the run time by 5 seconds and subsequently decreasing the walk time by that amount too. I increased the repeats to 11 for both exercises (did 10 repeats last week). Felt ALIVE after that.

Mid morning BS and I walked to our local shops with him whinging all the way about needing longer legs, the shops being too far, him being too tired blah, blah, blah. (He is SO NOT a naturally sporty kid even though he sees WH and I exercising virtually every day!) I just ignored it and we did the walk regardless.

When he had his hour of free time I hopped into my exercise room and did this ingenious workout (remembering I'm behind in my weight training this week). I did a circuit style session that went like this:

Incline Bench Press x 10 reps
Sumo Squats with DB x 15 reps
Upright Rows with DBs x 10 reps
Stiff Leg Deadlifts x 8 reps (very heavy weight for me)
Kickbacks x 10 reps.

I chose heavy, challenging weights and repeated the circuit 4 times with a rest break of 60-90 seconds between each repeat. I followed it up with some ss riding on my exercise bike for an hour long session with a decent HRM reading. Now I should be all OK for my back and abs session with Joe on Friday.

Eats are going OK today but I did have some fruit toast (with butter) mid morning. I do so love my breads and carbs and keeping them in moderate portions is sometimes quite challenging for me. I'm sure it is for others too.

Now I can kick back this evening with my training all up to date and no need to prep food.

Hope everyone else is having as good a day :-) Magda

SLOW RECOVERY

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

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

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

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

:-) Magda

PAYING THE PRICE

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

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

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

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

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

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

Good night all

Magda

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY TO ALL THE MUMS

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

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

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

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

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

Chick pea and chorizo soup

Herbed roast lamb with roast potatoes and veges

Sticky date puddings with vanilla ice cream.

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

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

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

Hope all the other mums had a lovely day too.

Cheers

Magda

THE CLAPPED OUT OLD DATSUN 120Y

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

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

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

Today I was the Datsun 120Y.

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

Magda

INTERLUDE WITH THE DIGITAL DEVIL

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

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

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

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

Is this progress or a guaranteed recipe for failure?

Cheers all

Magda

HOW MY INNER FAT GIRL DEALS WITH THE SCALES

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

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

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

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

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

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

Let me just say "I'm improving".

:-) Magda

EXPECTATIONS

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cheers all

Magda

WELL FED AND HAPPY

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

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

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

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

Good night all

Magda

HUNGRY AND TIRED

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

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

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

Cheers all

Magda

FIRST RUNNING TRAINING SESSION IS IN THE BAG

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

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

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

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

Magda

THE CARDIO HIGH

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

So how am I travelling now?

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

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

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

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

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

Magda

NEWS, NEWS AND EVEN MORE NEWS

I’M OUT

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

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

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

NEW GOALS / NEW DIRECTIONS

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

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

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

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

THE REVERSE RISK LEVERAGE AGREEMENT

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cheers

Magda

RUNNING GIRL REVIEWS APRIL

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

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

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

So how did I go?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cheers all

Magda


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

DAILY REFLECTION AND ROUND UP

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

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

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

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

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

Stay tuned for more on this soon.

Cheers all

Magda

SEEKING SLEEP SOLUTIONS

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cheers

Magda

NEWSFLASH!!

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

.... AND IT EVEN BROUGHT HAIL

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

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

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

Cheers all

Magda

WINTER HAS ARRIVED

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

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

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

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

Cheers all

Magda

THE DAY AFTER ANZAC DAY

OMG can my titles get any more unoriginal LOL??

Well here's the lowdown.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Take care all and cheers from

Magda

ANZAC DAY

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hope you all had a great day.

Cheers

Magda

ANOTHER GREAT DAY OFF WORK

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

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

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

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

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

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

Magda

GIVING IN

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

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

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

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

Cheers all

Magda

GIRL POWER

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cheers

Magda

LUNGING LESSONS FOR LOVELY LEGS

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

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

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

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

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

Cheers all

Magda

MY 6 WORD MEMOIR

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


Hi guys,

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

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

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

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

Cheers all and will blog more soon

Magda

A MORNING OFF WORK

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

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

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

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

Cheers all

Magda

WIERD FOOD

Does anybody else eat weird food?

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

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

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

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

Do you have any weird food stories to share?

Magda

A SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT FOCUS AND APPROACH

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

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

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

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

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

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

Magda :-)

SUNDAY ROUNDUP

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

What can I report?

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

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

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

Magda

IMPROVING MY COMP PREP

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Any advice would be very welcome.

Look forward to blogging more on the weekend.

Cheers all

Magda

FOILED AT EVERY TURN

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

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

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

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

Cheers all

Magda

SINCE SUNDAY .....

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cheers all

Magda

MY GUIDING LIGHT AND INSPIRATION

I had a good week and made progress.

Then I had a bad week and undid it all.

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

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

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

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

Some answers came easily. Some didnt.

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

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

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

My guiding light and inspiration will be:

ONE MEAL

ONE WORKOUT

ONE DAY AT A TIME

Lisa Stokes.

Thanks for listening guys.

Magda

MINI POST

Hi all,

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

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

Good night all

Magda

A QUESTION FOR THE IT SAVVY

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cheers

Magda

A VERY QUICK UPDATE ON DAD

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

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

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

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

Will catch up with comments and other blogs soon.

Good night all

Magda