READY SET ....

On the eve of me starting my 12 weeks of prep I can honestly say I’m excited, nervous, quietly determined and focussed on my ultimate goal. The last 9 days have been good but not perfect. I’ve splurged today but I know tomorrow I’ll be right back on track and just doing what I have to do.

This morning I hadn’t quite reached my goal of being sub 60 but I’m ok with that. After all its just a number and I know that I ate well and trained hard (except today…naughty me!!) and I cant do anything about the number on the scales fluctuating up and down coz its got a mind all of its own.

Tonight my WH is having a night out with the boys which he SO deserves and I’m taxiing them out so they can drink to their hearts’ content and then they’ll taxi home. I was going to do my leg training tonight and get a day ahead of myself but instead I’ve invited my SIL over to spend the evening with me. She has no heating in her house and I couldn’t imagine anything worse than sitting at home alone on a Friday night with no heating in this cold weather. Sometimes family has to take precedence over comp prep and I know we’ll have a nice night as I’m going to enjoy some pizza and a wine or two. What a treat!!

Fingers crossed that I have luck getting my progress pics and stats up on my blog tomorrow or Sunday. Day One is now just 1 sleep away. Insert tune of Pointer Sister song and sing along..”I’m so excited and I just cant fight it…” and whatever the rest is LOL.

Geez I’m a goose. Cheers all.

Magda

FOR STACY

I started training with Josh Dickinson from Physique Essentials in December last year with a goal of competing in September/October this year. I was 72.6kgs (I’m 171cms) with really heavy thighs and basically a generous layer of fat all over my body.

I will post my progress pics this weekend as I’m having a full set done at 12 weeks from comp.

Right from that start I could tell that Josh would treat me like an individual and give me a plan that would work in my busy lifestyle. He’s really delivered on this.

My training consists of: 4 x weight training sessions of around 1 hour each. I do cardio every day BUT I do short intense sessions and trust me THEY WORK. I cant believe how much my thighs have slimmed down. About half of my cardio is sprints of some form but when I get tired towards the end of the week I’ll do a moderate intensity session like a steady state jog/run or ride my exercise bike. That’s it for training.

My nutrition plan has been fantastic. I expect it to change over the next 12 weeks but I have lost over 10kgs eating this way (and I’ve had a LOT of cheat meals – not all authorised I admit but I had time on my side).

Meal 1: 1 scoop WPI (I then do my cardio early morning)

Meal 2: 1/3 cup oats, 1T bran (if you need extra help – I’m sure you know what I mean), 2t LSA (this is your “good fats” – better to eat it than take tablets), 1T lite soy milk (my preference but regular skim milk is ok), green tea with lemon.

Meal 3: 1 rice cake + 50g low fat creamed cottage cheese (I started out with 2 rice cakes and 80g of LFC cottage cheese)

Meal 3: 80g protein (fish/chicken/steak – whatever is LEAN) + moderate serve of veges (unrestricted at this stage) I usually add 1t of flaxseed oil as well. When I started out the protein serve was 100g but the cut back to 80g was hardly noticeable.

Meal 4: Nestle Diet Lite yogurt

Meal 5: same as meal 3

Weight training 2-3 nights a week (the 4th session is done at a different time of day)

Meal 6: If I’ve done weight training then I have 1 scoop WPI + 1 piece of fruit. If it wasn’t a weight training night then I’ll have another diet yogurt before I go to bed.

Supplements: Right from the start I’ve been loathe to fork out big bucks for heaps of supps. Up to now I’ve used next to nothing. I chose to take Lipo6 (fat burner) but I’m not sold on its benefits. I know others will disagree. Josh hasn’t insisted that I be taking any supps other than the WPI. This may also change but its been great so far.

So that’s my training and nutrition plan. Its taken me several months to lose my 10+ kgs but I’ve had a ball along the way. I’ve been on 3 holidays and gained weight that I had to lose again and I’ve had my fair share of cheat meals, many of which Josh didn’t agree with .... hehehehe

Stacy this is my first comp prep so I don’t know EAXCTLY what will change over the next 12 weeks but one thing I do know is that Josh will not tell me to do anything that I just cant do. After all he promised that I’d have a life and still be in condition to get up on stage. And that’s good enough for me.

Good luck hun

XX Magda

ENJOYING TIME IN MY HAPPY POSITIVE PLACE

Over the last 2 days I have done double cardio (both morning and evening) with one session being high intensity and one more moderate. Having said that though yesterday’s sessions were both pretty high intensity as I did sprints on my exercise bike but kept it to 20 mins so I still got to bed at a reasonable time.

This morning I trained back and legs in the gym which is always a bit of a treat. Still a bit nervous about my back development but Saturday’s photos will reveal all, I’m sure. I have found a trainer who will do skin folds for me and I’m booked in for Friday afternoon. Cant wait to know what that verdict is and whether it’s the same as doing it electronically.

I have been talking to Josh about diet changes and he is now working out my new plan. I’m excited about this and look forward to the challenge of making it work in my busy schedule. I know that routine is really important but when you work full-time, travel sometimes for work, teach classes at what would be meal times, have a kid to deal with and are trying to balance a family life…a set routine is almost unachievable. Oh well at the end of the day I can only do my best and I wont fret the small stuff.

I’m now a hair’s breadth from hitting the 60kg mark and I’m delighted with how I’m looking. Just lately my arms have slimmed down a bit and even my calves look a bit less chunky. I’m blown away by how much my legs have improved but I’m not complacent that they still need to get MUCH BETTER. All my small clothes are fitting comfortably and some are even becoming roomy. When you’re used to the small stuff fitting like a glove, if at all, this feeling is very nice indeed.

So hence I’m in a happy, positive place and enjoying it while I can. J

Cheers

Magda

MAGDA IN THE MIST

This morning I trained alone as Kristy has come down with the dreaded winter lurgies. I set out to do my 5km run but with legs feeling tired, the best time I could manage was 29 mins exactly. Even though I pushed the last 1/2km to a PRE of 9/10 it wasn’t enough to better my previous time of 28:54. Oh well I guess with the volume of leg work I’m doing, its not likely that I will improve my speed to any notable extent. I’m ok with that.

The best things about this morning’s run were the mist that lay over the northern part of my suburb and the fact that the rain came down heavy after I’d gotten back home. Yeehaa. There is a God!! Now as for the mist…well I absolutely love fog. I loved running through it and I soaked up the beauty of it and felt calm and at peace with myself and what I’m working to achieve.

I have 4 days til comp prep starts officially. On Saturday I will get photos as a record of my 12 weeks out condition. I’m hoping to post them on my blog with my starting and current stats. It’ll be a big revelation…brace yourselves as the before shots are UGLY!!!

So that’s me and my life right now. Nothing ground breakingly exciting but as long as I’m in this positive place and ticking my boxes daily (cardio: done; nutrition: done; weights: done; family: happy) then I’m happy. What more could a figure competitor want? LOL

Cheers all

Magda

ISNT LIFE FUNNY

Last week I'm in the depths of despair, struggling with motivation, not wanting to eat clean, doubting myself big time and just getting fed up with this whole thing. And now WHAMMO. 180 degree about face. Motivation = 10/10. Eating all good. Self doubt: whats that?? I know what I have to do and I'm just doing it...oh and I'm even enjoying it. Oh to have things go this well all the time.....dream on Magda!!

I had a very pleasant meeting with my scales this morning. I achieved the mini goal Josh set for me last weekend. 2 days later than intended but hey I made it and I'm now very close to the big (or rather little!!) 60kgs. Gotta be happy with that!!

Training has been going well although my legs are (understandably) tired. At every weights session I make some improvement and I'm happy with that too. Sometimes I dont make the reps that Josh has told me to shoot for but I'll usually make it up elsewhere so I dont fret about it. I know I have next week to give it my best again and aim for the higher reps then.

On this coming Saturday (30th June) I'll be 12 weeks from my first comp and I tell you, I'm getting really excited about starting "official prep". I say "official" because Josh has insisted that I've been preparing since we started training together in December but I'm looking forward to taking it up a notch and raising the bar, so to speak. I've waited so long for this and now its finally about to happen.

Please stay tuned to follow my 12 weeks leading up to Sep 22nd (and then taking me through to Sep 30th). I'm sure it'll be one helluva ride :-)

Cheers all

Magda

SUPER SATURDAY

Today was hair day but these days its just roots and a tidy up as I'm growing my hair for the comps. Then home briefly before taking BS to a birthday party. Lots of lovely social chit chat with the other parents and keeping my hands out of the wedges and nachos that were served for lunch (for the adults). I ate my lunch in the car when it was all over.

Home for a chit chat with WH and then leg training. Again the 5 exercise supersets for 5 cycles. I upped my reps in each set to 18....just dreading doing that 20....yeeeouch thats a lot of sets and reps. Dont know how I did it but I even managed a 25 minute jog after the leg supersets. Mind you it was a bit of my old "Cliff Young Shuffle" again but hey it was a big effort regardless. Then abs, post result to Josh, shower and think about getting dinner.

Where does the time go? The ironing basket is overflowing and tomorrow is another washing day and food prep day. But I'm ok with all that. Feeling good, feeling positive and was happy with the number on the scales this morning...although measurements didnt change much.

Good night all

Magda

A PRODUCTIVE DAY

Another day off work...lucky me (but I do work longer hours to make up the time I have off).

Today I have:

Dropped WH in to work
Done 2 loads of washing
Ironed shirts from last week's wash
Done grocery shopping
Picked up a parcel from the Post Office (not where I shop)
Fed BS 4 times so far
Made gingerbread people with BS
Made pumpkin soup for WH
Been around while 2 technicians worked at our place
20 mins interval sprints on my exercise bike
Showered and started to make myself presentable
And a heap of other little bits and pieces.

Eating on track. Training on track. :-)

We are going out for dinner with BS and then my boys are going to the footy.

Cheers all

Magda

9 IMPORTANT DAYS

The next 9 days are really important to me. You see they take me up to my 12 weeks out mark. I've had a few days (again) of stuffing around and fluffing around and not being focussed on my long term goal, all the time thinking "oh I have time to make it up and get it right". But this is a really negative mindset and it sets me up to take backward steps which I'll only have to work mega-hard to make up in the 12 weeks.

So after some more soul-searching I've decided that in this 9 days I will prove (to myself) that I can stick to my diet and training plan. I've set a mini goal to be 60kgs by 30th June which is the 12 week mark. In doing so I know it will place me in such a better position mentally to embark on the 12 weeks of prep. I spoke to Josh via my Training Diary in the PE website last night telling him of this plan of attack and he said that I have to believe I can do it and I'll do it.

I feel different today. More positive, focussed and just getting on with it.

• I ate my lunch today and was hungry an hour later...bad luck - have a bucket full of herbal tea.
• I had my morning snack and was hungry less than an hour later...bad luck - move lunch forward and get stuck into work in the meantime so my mind is on things other than food.
• It rained just before I was due to head out for my morning cardio ... bad luck - I went anyway but stayed closer to home in case there was a torrential downpour.

One step at a time, one day at a time and I'll get there.

Yes Kristy and I trained in the rain this morning. It was very light and fine when we started but at one stage it came down a bit heavier and we could easily have called it quits. But I thought to myself "I'm not a quitter. We've done however many sprint reps already, lets finish it off" so we kept going and soon the rain eased off anyway. My feet were wet and my socks were soggy but I had fat to burn and I was there to burn it. WH could not believe that I had been out in "that weather". Luckily it was a balmy 12 degrees :-)

I had a really yummy lamb curry for lunch today and it was all good clean food. I bought some lean (and expensive!!) lamb which my mum minced for me. I "browned" it with some chopped onion in a bit of cooking spray in a non-stick pan and added a couple of handfuls of veges (cauli/celery...whatever you fancy really) and added some curry powder and some stock to moisten it. Thats it. Cook it til the veges are to your liking and voila..yummy, healthy, clean lamb curry. Oh and I add a teaspoon of flaxseed oil before eating to make sure I get my daily essential fats. :-)

So thats me blogged up to date now. I've enjoyed catching up with everyone else's blogs too and have taken on some of the advice and practices that the more experienced competitors have written about. Thanks ladies..you know who you are...imparting just the right words of wisdom at the right times.

Cheers all

Magda

PS I dont know why this stupid blogger wont insert my breaks between the paragraphs. I've edited it 4 times and its still coming up in one big block of text. YUK!!

THE COMP PREP MANAGEMENT PLAN

I will preface this by saying that I told WH what I was intending to do, seeing as he bears the brunt of a lot of the ups and downs I'm experiencing and he wasnt convinced that I could operate with such a plan/strategy. Yes I'm all feelings, emotions, drama, moodiness and I wear my heart on my sleeve so everyone around me knows where I'm at LOL !!

But here goes anyway. I'm listing the things I find difficult and what I can do to make them better/easier:

I lose my focus and become complacent.
I will revisit my goals regularly and my Triple C post to reinforce whats important to me and what I plan to do.
At the end of 3 weeks where I've followed my comp prep plan properly I will reward myself with a full body massage. This should help me get through that difficult 3rd week in my eating cycles.

I'm really feeling the cold.
Buy woollen gloves, a good pair of boots, thermal undies (how romantic and sexy will that be!!), stay indoors when I can, take advantage of heating as much as I can.

Cravings!!
Sugar free lollies (for a while anyway), Diet Coke (a necessary evil right now), herbal tea (fruity ones are naturally sweet and yummy).

Feeling down/depressed:
Yes this will happen and I will acknowledge when I feel that way but also remind myself that food will not make me feel better. Schedule an activity that I enjoy. Or just VENT in my blog :-)

Getting stressed at work:
Deep breath, walk, Diet Coke, remind myself where work sits in list of priorities.

I'm sure the list could go on and on but these are the things that are foremost in my mind right now so they've made it onto the page.

I have more I want to say but will save it for tomorrow. Good night folks.

Magda

SORTING THINGS OUT

Its dawned on me that if I put as much time and energy into my comp prep as I do into stuffing around, fluffing around and moping around, I'd be looking good to win the Figure Olympia title LOL!!!

Life recently has been a HEEEEUUUGE rollercoaster ride with emotions, feelings, beliefs, actions just all over the place. I'm NOT about to make a bold statement that "its all going to change, starting right now!!" because I know it wont be that black and white but here's my first draft of my Comp Prep Management Plan.

First step: Priorities for the next 15 weeks:

These things are a HIGH priority and time must be made for them as indicated:

• Clean food as per my nutrition plan set out by Josh. This includes time spent preparing food in advance.
• Cardio every day. Intensity varies allowing for maximum effort days and low intensity "recovery days".
• Weight training: 4 sessions/week with focus and intensity.
• Time spent with BS: Fortnightly day off from work/Bedtime ritual/ Weekend play or cooking time / At least 1 speech practice session EVERY week.
• Time spent with WH: A tricky one but we will work this one out.
• Posing practice: 30mins/week now and increasing as required.
• Caring for my family daily: Organising meals/school bag/uniform etc for BS.

These things are a MEDIUM priority:

• Work: Necessary but I'm not gunning for any outstanding achievement awards.
• Family (extended): Its only 15 weeks til comps are over. They will move up after that. I'm sure they'll understand.
• Friends: Same boat as family.
• Blogging: I love blogging but some days it just aint gonna happen.

These things are a LOW priority:

• Teaching: I will keep up my classes until I feel that my high priorities are suffering. I cannot devote hours to choreographing new routines. I will use my trusted oldies for now.
• Housework and domestic stuff: Ok there's stuff that must be done but I will not stress if the washing isnt folded as soon as its off the line. Thank god I have a cleaner :-)
• Social life: Sad but true. Its 15 weeks. I will survive. Available social time will be spent mainly with WH :-)

There is a Part 2 to this post but right now other priorities beckon. Stay tuned folks.

Cheers Magda

A VERY QUICK CHECK-IN

Boy oh boy have things been busy at home, at work, just everywhere. Phew!!

The Indian dinner out was better than expected.....thanks to my little power-nap before going out. I chose a "tandoori platter" which was perfect except there was a lot of meat/seafood and I ate it all (well over my meal allowance for protein). Shell, if I'd pulled a set of scales out of my bag to weigh out my meat, my WH would have pulled out a set of divorce papers LOL!! He is SO not into what I'm doing. I also had a cucumber salad and felt quite virtuous :-)

Sunday wasnt so good as I felt "obliged" to have cake at my Dad's birthday dinner. No-one hassled me or pressured me but I still felt like I should have it so as to not hurt my mum's feelings. That cake was a bad decision and I've struggled with getting back on track since then.

Yes I've been a bit low again and have been battling some serious self-doubts about whether I can/will succeed at this. Its been a rough and difficult ride over the last few weeks. I've had good days but I've had quite a few bad days too.

My plan for tomorrow (time permitting) is to identify individual problems/challenges and then come up with a strategy for managing them. I also want to be quite clear about what my priorities are in my life over the next 13-15 weeks and make sure that each is getting the time/attention it deserves. I think I have to approach this prep with a black and white plan instead of a lot of heartfelt intense emotion. (And that statement shows I've been with/married to a Virgo for way too long now...LOL!!)

PS I'm a Cancerian :-) and proud of it!!

Cheers all

Magda

WIERD THINGS ARE HAPPENING

Have you ever felt like you've had a good loss of kgs or cms only to weigh and measure and then go "what the??!!" Well I'm in that boat right now. I was absolutely certain that I'd had a great result this week but the numbers on the tape measure and the scales are telling me otherwise. I'm not sure if I'll be getting my body fat done on the Maltron measure by my PT friend today so I'll have to live with this "small loss that felt like a big(ish) loss".

So what else is wierd? I'm going through a phase of sleeping badly again. I woke up early yesterday but was able to stay in bed and just laze for a while so I was ok with that. But today I woke up REALLY early and after an hour or so of slowly being consumed by dreadful boredom I was up a little after 5am. I would have hopped into some training but had no gear ready and didnt want to be stuffing around while WH was still trying to sleep. So I've had an early breakfast (coz I was starving hungry) and have updated my Training Diary, my blog, caught up with others' blogs and read the paper. I'd like to do some more food prep but dont want to make too much noise to wake the family.

Its leg day today and I have 5 exercise supersets to do for 5 sets (rotations). Hoowee!! That should give my legs a good going over. I will attempt a jog straight after but I reckon I'll be back into my old "Cliff Young shuffle" style instead of my beautiful running style that I'm now fit enough to do.

We have dinner out at an Indian (I think) restaurant tonight for a friend's birthday. That'll be a good diet challenge :-( Cant say I'm really looking forward to it but wont let them down by pulling out at the last minute. Plus I know WH is keen to go probably because the dinner is being followed up by drinks at an English pub afterwards...yippee...NOT!! I'd give anything to be home in my trackies and uggies, maybe hire a movie and just eat my regular dinner and get an early night. Geez I'm boring aren't I LOL!!

Well I hope you all have a great weekend. Stay warm (if you live in cold place), eat well, train hard and enjoy it all!! Til my next post.....

Cheers. Magda

HALF WAY THROUGH JUNE

My goodness doesnt time fly when you're having fun. I cant believe that we are 1/2 way through June already. My 12 weeks to comp is getting closer and scarier.

Only joking folks!! Actually I'm feeling quite excited about it and am looking forward to really pushing myself to achieve my best result possible. I can feel myself about to enter that really positive and focussed zone and I like it.

Had a very busy day today and got lots done. Oh and I hear it was 2 degrees this morning as I was tucked up in my warm and toasty bed. I tell you...sometimes there is a God!!

Will post more over the weekend but good night for now.

Magda

MY WORKING WEEK IS OVER

Yes I have the day off (again!!) tomorrow. I worked like a Trojan today to get everything as much up to date as possible so its another long weekend for me. I've loved this 3 day week - although yesterday wasnt such a good day for me.

First priority tomorrow: SLEEP IN!! Even til 6.30/7am would be a treat (sad, I know!!). I only have cardio tomorrow so I hope to knock that on the head in the morning while BS (who doesnt go to kindy on Fridays) is playing on his X Box or computer. (Thank God for this technology. It can be the BEST "child-minder").

Second priority: SIL has a friend with a little girl just a bit younger than BS visiting from Sydney so I'm hoping to catch up with them. I just cant resist a bit of socialising, in any form. I was invited over there tonight but with working late, BS to pick up from my parents, dinner to cook, clean up, bed-time ritual and then my weights session, I knew that the social stuff wasnt going to happen tonight.

Third priority: Knock of as many domestic things as possible but mainly the grocery shopping.

Oh and I cant forget: Enjoy the day with BS!! But thats not hard to do.

So I will sign off til my next post. Cheers all.

Magda

FUN WITH 3

Ok here goes:

3 THINGS THAT SCARE ME:

1. Real life violence.
2. Being too fat for my comps in September.
3. Losing the people I love.

3 PEOPLE WHO MAKE ME LAUGH:

1. A couple of guys in my office. Total clowns. They have an endless supply of funny life stories.
2. My BS. Always coming out with hilarious comments.
3. Billy Connelly.

3 THINGS I LOVE:

1. Dancing: doing it, watching it, and all types too.
2. Spending time with good friends, having some good food and a few drinks.
3. Getting dressed up to go out.

3 THINGS I HATE:

1. Whingers/"victims"/negative people. Thats 3 there but they're all the same so they rank number 1.
2. Clutter.
3. Grapefruit.

3 THINGS I DONT UNDERSTAND:

1. Sudoku
2. The 8 remote controls we have at home to operate our TV.
3. My WH's PDA. I mean how hard is it to just answer a call on this stupid contraption??!! HATE IT!!

3 THINGS I'M DOING RIGHT NOW:

1. Eating lunch.
2. Updating my blog.
3. Listening to the radio (softly)

3 THINGS I WANT TO DO BEFORE I DIE:

1. Compete in figure.
2. Visit the Greek Islands.
3. Win an obscene amount of money...hey why not??!!

3 THINGS I CAN DO:

1. Get up early.
2. Make a fantastic lobster thermidor.
3. Shop.

3 THINGS I CANT DO WELL:

1. Gardening. I have no fr*gging idea!!
2. Sewing/knitting. When God handed out these skills I was at the end of the line.
3. Deal with conflict.

3 SHOWS I WATCHED AS A KID:

1. Gilligan's Island.
2. I Dream of Jeannie
3. Get Smart... and they're REALLY showing my age!!

Work beckons. Cheers all

Magda

THIS DIFFICULT DAY IS HISTORY NOW - WELL ALMOST

Firstly again thanks to all the lovely and supportive comments left on my "A Morning in the Life of" post. Yes my schedule is busy and at times I feel like its all a bit too much but I know deep down its even worse to be lolling around cruising through life with no real goals or aspirations. So I soldier on taking the good with the bad .... like everyone else.

Yes today was difficult...physically and mentally and it took a lot of determination to stay on track, eat right and not fall too much into the "woe is me" syndrome. I'm proud to say that apart from one dummy spit at work, I came through it ok. It helped to be teaching tonight as its always great therapy for turning negative energy into positive. I came out of the gym after my 2 classes feeling like I was on a bit of a "mini high".

Tomorrow will be a better day. I will feel better both physically and mentally and it will all be good (NOTE: the power of positive self-talk!!). I will do my "3 Things" post tomorrow as its late and I have running gear to lay out for the morning, a Diet yogurt to eat, teeth to brush and a warm toasty bed waiting.

Cheers all

Magda

A MORNING IN THE LIFE...

Wed 13th June 2007

4.48am: Wake up before my alarm goes off and relish the few minutes of bed time I still have.

5.00am: My alarm goes off. I dont want to get up. I manage to talk myself into it and get out of bed. Loo.

5.05am: Feed the noisy cat who is hanging out for her daily tuna fix. Strip off, jump on the scales. Weight up .2kgs. Body fat down .5%. The result of my very slow system with so little food :-( This will (hopefully) improve in a few days.

5.10am: Down my protein shake, get dressed, down my hot lemon drink. Stuff around.

5.23am: Stopwatch on today for the first time. Hit the road for my 5km run. Nice fast pace from the word go. Its fresh but not windy which makes for good running. "No Limit" playing on my IPod. I repeat it at least 5 times as I love the tune and pace of that track.

I'm pushing hard and my pulse rises very early into the run. Secretly I want to beat 29 minutes but I'm doubting myself. I'm annoyed that my weight is up slightly and my middle looks and feels thick. If I feel my pace slow down I push harder to keep it up. In the 4km stretch I'm struggling with tiredness and finding it hard to maintain my speed. The last 1/2 km is torture. My legs dont want to do it anymore and my knees have a slight ache. I keep talking to myself to not give up and push it hard to the end.

5.23am + 28 mins and 54 secs later: I've done the 5kms and I have cracked the 29. WOOHOO!! I'm too tired to feel elated. Quick cool down and into 6 sets of 20 walking lunges up and down my street.

6.00am: Arrive home, hot, tired and sore. Make bed as I cool down. Brush thighs and butt (hoping this helps to shift some of my cellulite).

6.15am: Shower, wash hair, blast thighs and butt with cold water at the end of the shower - brrr - dress, make-up on, dry hair and roller it (I'm growing out my short style and need to spend a bit more time than usual to get my hair looking good these days).

6.50am: Wake BS and make his toast for breakfast. Organise his lunch box and school bag. Cook my protein porridge which has been prepared the night before and enjoy my favourite meal of the day. Eat some of BS's toast crusts as I clean up (a bad habit I need to get out of), drink my green tea.

7.10am: Teeth, hair, remind BS several times that he has tasks to complete. Last minute rush around.

7.35am: Leave for work. WH is dropping BS to Before School Care so i get to drive straight in today.

8.05am: Arrive at work, dead tired and as flat as a tack. My legs are tired from 3 solid sprint/fast run sessions in a row. My upper body is tired from my weights workout last night.

Its going to be a difficult day.

Magda

AN EVENING IN THE LIFE.....

Tuesday 12the June 2007:

5pm: WH and I pick up BS from After School Care. In the car on the way home we play word games with BS calling the letters and where they have to be in the words and we all think of words to match.

5.30pm: Arrive home. Heating goes on and I hit the kitchen. BS has fish fingers, bread with peanut butter, cheese, carrots and snow peas for dinner. WH is having beef vindaloo (made Saturday morning) and just needs pappadums and veges with it. My chicken is already cooked so I just need steamed brocolli. Everything is on the go and I make BS's lunch for the next day. I have herbal tea on the go as its too cold to drink gallons of water now.

6pm: We eat. BS takes forever. I inhale my food as I'm so hungry. It barely touches the sides and I'm looking forward to my PWO shake + fruit. I start cleaning up while BS is still eating.

6.30pm: Make a salad for my dinner tomorrow. Take WH's dinner out of the freezer. Organise BS's lunch box. Still more cleaning up.

6.45pm: Hit the internet to see what Josh has posted in my Training Diary. Its all good. I update with today's cardio and WH organises Milo and a play session with BS.

7.15pm: Bath time. WH hits the exercise room after starting BS's bath. I finish off the bath and the bedtime ritual. We read BS's new picture atlas and one of the country's we read about tonight is Italy. I drool over the picture of a plate of pasta and then pull myself together again.

7.45pm: WH finishes his workout, comes to wish BS a goodnight and makes himself a cappuccino and has a chocolate crackle with it :-).

7.55pm: My turn in the exercise room. I do chest/tris/shoulders and have an awesome session hitting some PBs again.

8.45pm: All done. Time to devour that PWO shake and a pear and post results in my PE Training Diary.

9.00pm: Hop into my blog and drive everyone to tears with my boring schedule.

Now to get ready for my early morning cardio + tomorrow night's classes and then hit the sack.

Good night all

Magda

BATTLING NEGATIVE THOUGHTS TODAY

Today I was stuck with the "glass half empty" syndrome. Not because of diet or training which are both ok, but just with a "to do" list that seems to grow and grow and hours available getting less and less. Yes it does come back to the time spent on training and preparing food which is huge in this sport but it was the other stuff that really peed me off today. Like changing my schedule around to accommodate WH, like not having time to play with my BS and and like using all my strength to avoid an arguement with WH because I hadnt thought of what he could have for lunch (other than the usual stuff available) and I wasnt getting it for him. I mean..GOD GIVE ME STRENGTH!!! And I'll say no more.

Today's leg session was awesome. 5 exercises all super-setted. Yeehaa!! I stayed a bit conservative on the reps but know that I can bump them up in MOST of the exercises next week. Cardio straight after (once again because of time restraints) was a 30 min powerwalk as there was no way I could have done even a half decent run.

Weigh and measure was good. I'm almost back at my previous lowest weight and all measurements were back there or within 1cm so that was good. The sub 60 wont be far and you'll all know when I hit it as I'll be screaming it out for the world to hear LOL. Just FYI, I'm 171cms tall so the 60kgs is a "looking quite good for a non-figure-girl weight".

Anyways its time to hit the sack soon so signing off til next post.

Cheers all

Magda

BUSY BUSY TIMES

Yesterday I started my blog post during my lunch break....and finished it after 5pm. The afternoon just got so busy that WH and I (yes we now work in the same place lol) were stuck at work til 5.30. By the time we picked up BS from my parents' place, had dinner, bathed and put BS to bed my weight training session started at 8.20pm :-( Needless to say I wasnt in bed by 9.30 as there was still so much domestic stuff to take care of at that late hour.

On the brighter side side though, I had the day off today and its been go, go, go again. First the luxury of a sleep-in. I naturally woke up at 5 but felt quite smug about being able to go back to sleep. Then it was up at 6.15 as I had to take WH to work and have 1 meeting that was unavoidable today. BS sat with us cleverly drawing away...such an angel :-)

The rest of the day was spent with BS: coffee (for me), biscuit (for him) at GJs, grocery shopping, lunch out (all good and healthy!!), some shopping for odds and ends and then an appointment on the other side of town. We were on the go all day. Cardio had to be scheduled in the late afternoon today but that was ok. At least my weights are done for the week.

Tomorrow is weigh and measure day and I'll now be getting my body fat done weekly. If that doesnt keep me on track, nothing will. I'm feeling ok about it though as I've had a good week and am feeling lean again. I had the pleasure of putting on my size 11 jeans and having them ft like before, a little lose and very comfy today. I dont think I've cracked sub 60 yet but I dont think its too far off. My god!! How exciting will that be!!

Tonight I did a quick whip around everyone's blogs and its good to read about the successes, achievements and even the struggles and challenges that we all experience. To all those who had successes to report I say "well done". If you're struggling with some issues then I say "hang in there and just aim for one small step at a time". I havent left individual comments but will do so when time is a little more on my side.

Good night to all now. I'm going to aim to blog over this (long!!) weekend so stay tuned. Hopefully I have successes to report.

Cheers

Magda