It’s so close I can smell it… or is that just my feet?

Last week I didn’t lose any weight.  I stayed at exactly the same weight.  And I was fine in that, for the reasons mentioned in that post.  I did point out however, that I was going to tackle the week in exactly the same way I have been approaching this whole ‘Mid-Year’s Resolution’ and that I was going to weigh and log everything.

And that’s what I did, even though I had a ‘hungry’ week.  Throughout most of the week I ate more than I should have.  I constantly felt that I wanted something to eat.  Most of the time I wasn’t hungry, I just wanted to eat.  I made sure I was drinking water, in case I was mistaking ‘needing to eat’ with ‘needing hydration’, but, whatever, I ate more on most days.

However, I stuck true to my plan and I weighed and logged everything.  I did.  Hence, why I know most days I went over my calorie limit.

Did it make a difference?  Well… yes it did...

So… I’ve lost some more weight.  Granted, only another 500g (1lb), but given how much more I ate in the week, a loss is a loss.

Woo-hoo!!!

*Ahem*

So, yes, I’m so close to getting under 100 kgs, I am so excited, you cannot believe ! Or maybe you can, because you’ve been there too :D  Maybe you are nearing a milestone mark in health or fitness or weightloss and you’re feeling that beamy excitement that’s going to be in the forefront of your mind to keep you going. 

So technically my next weigh-in is in September, being next Monday, but I think if I make it under 100kg, I’ll claim it as an August victory.  After all, all the ground work happened in August.  And I don’t really feel the need/compulsion to hop on the scale on Friday to see if I made it.  Okay… maybe just a little.  But! If I hold out until Monday that means not only that

a)  I made it under 100kg in August but also

b)  I’m starting off my next month in a new decade

Both are wins as far as I am concerned. : )

P.S.  You can check out my table of progress so far on the Weigh-in page

Measurement Monday - Round 2

Urgh! I always plan to get online more frequently and to blog more, but it never seems to happen.  It takes me long enough to just log in my food to MFP.  I get so distracted by other webpages or TV that I don't seem to ever complete any writing.  :-S  So, I did actually take my measurements Monday and I didn't get around to posting them.  Oops

Anyhow, I've been logging some more this week.  Admittedly, my eating's been really poor in the last 7 days.  Thursday/Friday I was home sick from work.  Barely ate either day.  Saturday and Sunday were similar.  It's only today that I've started to eat "normally" again - still not great, but better than I was.

Start:               107.6 kg

Last week:        103.0kg
Current:         101.2kg
Weekly change:      -1.8kg

Total Loss:           6.4kg

As a result, I have lost weight since last week.  Not entirely sure how accurate it is.  Well, of course, it accurately reflects that I didn't eat for 4 days, but it doesn't really reflect my focus on good eating choices and watching what I eat.  It's a much bigger result than I was thinking.  Hopefully I can take something away from this week and concentrate on not overeating.  I don't want to compensate for the four days of not eating by eating too much this week.  I'm going to stick to my target as closely as I can and hopefully not such a drastic drop next week.  I'm definitely happy to lose weight at a slow pace, but a steady downwards trend.

At this point in time, I'm starting to feel that I am losing weight too quickly.  I only want? expected? to lose somewhere between 0.5-1kg per week.  (1-2.5 lbs).  In seven weeks, I've lost 6.4kg (14 lbs).  AND.... I'm an idiot.  I've just worked out the maths (my breain is so not switched on today).  If I average out my loss across the seven weeks since I started, I'm actually doing okay. 0.9kg/wk average or 2lb/week. Carry on...

Oh. My. Word.

I now weigh less than I did when I started at my new job at the start of the year.

I've only just worked that out as I am writing this post. Flicking back through my diary, I noticed I entered in my weight in January the day before my first day. I now weigh under that. That is completely unbelievable to me. I was 103.9kg that day (229lbs). (The week before was 104.1kg, so very much the same)(229.5lbs). And now I'm at least 1.5kg lighter than that (3.3lbs). Un-frelling-believable.

Originally when I started today's post, I was thinking I might reach under 100kg (220.5lbs) by the end of the month. Now, I'm wondering if I'm going to end up at my "starting weight" of 97kg (214 lbs). That's how much I weighed when I first started the blog, way back in April 2012. It's what inspired the orginal name, 27 Years Old and 27 Kilos Too Heavy.

Look, I'm not going to push for 97 kilos, but I definitely think I will be under 100. In only two weeks left (of August weigh-ins anyway), it's pretty unlikely to be 97kg. But I'll definitely be expecting less than 100 kg.

Amazing!

Measurement Monday - Round 1

Okay, moment of truth time.

How has the last five six weeks of getting 'reserious' about my weightloss efforts gone?
 

 



On June 24th, I reached a new point, where I decided once again, to make a difference in the way I feel and the way I look. 

 

I weighed in at 107.6 kgs.  (237 lbs)  There on in, I started to be super careful with logging everything I was consuming.  I logged eveerything using MyFitnessPal and I was aiming for 1610 Cal a day.  I bought a notebook to write everything down and I used a digital food scale to measure everything.  I even took my digital food scale with me when I visited family for the week!  In that week, I didn't quite stay in my calorie limit, but across the week, I believe it averaged out that I was just under. 

The following Monday morning, back at home, I weighed myself and the scale flashed up 105.2kg (231lbs). 
Really?  Wow, I wasn't expecting that.   Did I really lose weight already? After just one week of trying to stick to a lower calorie level? Nah... Couldn't have!  In this week, I was much more careful about sticking to my calorie limit and I also managed to do some exercise - trying out the Couch to 5K program.

Monday 8th July, next weigh-in.  103.5kg (227.7lbs).  O_O     Hmmm... Okay, perhaps this lower calorie limit has some merit to it afterall.  This week I wasn't as careful with meal planning and logging.  I let myself get tired and hungry and then when I got home, I didn't make good food choices.  Or I picked up some fast food on the way home.  I didn't properly plan meals, lunch was a lazy affair, breakfast was skipped.  It was not good.  The next week followed much the same pattern. 

And it showed. 15th July I weighed in at 104.0kg (229lbs).  I didn't do any exercise in this week either and I had some sick days from work.  By 22 July I was sitting on 104.9kg again (231.2lbs).  

But, of course, on the 21 July I watched the Fat and Back documentary and it reinforced for me just how hard this journey is (urgh! what a cliché) and how easy it is to fall into bad habits that will not help me in my efforts to get healthy again.  

Started tracking & logging diligently again.  I've noticed that my tracking is becoming faster as I re-use many of the same foods in the database.  I'm only using the webversion, so there's no scanning of barcodes.  I just have to look everything up.  But stuff like steamed veges are usually floating around in the first three pages of recent food because I eat the same type of veges often.  And I'm getting better with portioning my food straight away, weighing those portions and putting it into the freezer straight away.  And I don't need to weigh everything out each time anymore.  My coffee for instance, I made & weighed enough times that I have a standard formula now of coffee:sugar:water:milk.  The milk varies slightly (±10ml), but I'm not quibbling over it, because a) long term I feel those wobbles balance out, and b) nearly half the time I make myself a coffee, I never finish it. 

Now, completely by accident I forgot to weigh-in last Monday.  I was really excited and looking forward to it too, because I'd just finished a week of careful tracking again.  I only remembered once I was halfway through breakfast.  I was going to weighin the next day, but I forgot then too, and by Wednesday I felt it wasn't going to be an accurate picture of the week. 

So I left it to this morning.

I weighed in at 103.0kg (226.6lbs). 

Woohoo, I think I'm losing weight. :) Finally. After 15 months of this blog and not really getting anywhere or doing anything. This calorie counting thing seems to be the way to go. I've lost this weight just by weighing and logging food. I've not done any real meaningful exercise in the past four weeks either. Just one walk of 40 minutes. It seems it's going to be possible and I can do this. I can lose weight and get healthy.

Excellent! :)

Another week done

So, here are my numbers for this week. 
 

WEEK 3 - (New) 13th August

Summary:

Weight	97 kg
Waist	85 cm
Hips	116 cm
Bust	104 cm
Thighs	114 cm
Thigh (R)	74 cm
Belly	116 cm
Upper Arm (L)	37 cm
Neck	36 cm

To be honest, I know they are still large, but at least, I was kind of expecting them to be.  Last week, when I didn't go to the gym on Thursday, it threw me off balance.  Where I had been treading so well, I slid down pretty quickly.

You may know that when the you are tired, your body craves junk food.  Fat, salt, sugar, all the stuff that is a quick boost of energy.  I am definitely one of those people who it noticeable happens too.  On Thursday, I did miss the gym, but I didn't go for a walk like on Tuesday.  I had to do grocery shopping.  By the time  I got home, it was after 8 and I did not feel like cooking any good food.  Instead, I succumbed to not one, but TWO microwaveable pasta packs.  To which I added cheese.  That was all the trigger I needed to continue eating foods that were highly processed or high in salt or sugar.  As a result, I think my measurements are a true reflection of the amount of salt and sugar I ate on Thursday night, Friday and Saturday.  By Saturday night, I realised I hadn't eaten anything good in two days, and I was able to turn myself back on track. 

I think I need to keep up the exercise.  When I exercise regularly, I eat well.  I don't know if it's a conscious thing, where I because I'm exercising, I don't want to undo all my hard work, or a subconscious reaction where my body is craving good, clean, healthy food to keep up the energy stores.  It's something I've noticed in the past.  I just need to make sure I keep moving and keep exercising. 

I have a late night at work today and tomorrow, meetings running until 5.30pm, but I'm keeping my gym bag ready and packed and in the car so that I can go after work.  Tonight, Kelly and I are going to go to Circuit for Life.  I hate it, but it's good at the same time.  A mix of strength exercises (medicine ball lifts, kettlebell swings, tricep dips, chin-ups, etc) and cardio (rower machine, burpees, shuttle run, starjumps, and so on).  When I was going in April-May, I really enjoyed seeing how much I improved, just over three to four weeks - to the point where I could actually start to do burpees!  I'm by all means, the slowest, unfittest person there, but most everyone is encouraging.  And there's always something that I find easy and can do multiple of, like squats, or something that I challenge myself to do the most of.

Well, I'd better eat breakfast and dash off to work, or else I won't get everything done in time by this afternoon.

-SunnyDuckling

Week 1 - Not according to plan

Hmm, well, I have said that I want to get back into the swing of being fit and losing weight, and yet, I haven't committed to it as well as I could have.  I've been the chicken in the bacon and eggs analogy - involved, but not committed. 

I only realised tonight that I said that I would start again last week.  I had the plan of daily exercise and everything.

Brutal honesty time:

Did I follow it? No

Did I make any effort to eat better?  Only a little

Did I meet the daily exercise target? No

Did I do things that helped or hindered my effort?  Hindered. 
I went to bed late, didn't stay adequately hydrated, forgot to take any iron supplements, ate badly - no where near enough greens. 

Did I weigh-in or take measurements so I could get a better idea of where I am at and where I need to get to?  No

Did I do things that sabotaged my efforts? Yes

So, I don't even know where my official Week 1 (new) should go, because I had planned for it to be last week, a nice start being the beginning of August, but somehow I let all that slip.  Maybe having my weigh-in time during the middle of the week wasn't working?  So I decided to try it out for Monday morning.  Monday morning will be before two gym days, and after my weekend.  Accounting whether I had a good weekend or not.  So, that's done.  Monday for weigh-in and Measurements.  There we go, catchy title: Measurement Monday.  Starting now, I will have Measurement Monday, and this morning's will be week 2.  I still think I'll take both my weight and measurements each week.  You can see my this week's results in the table below - and also in 'results' tab up top.

Additionally, yesterday morning I did some other exercise! I didn't even think about it until just now.  When I got up yesterday, I rolled straight out of bed and onto the floor so I could do some sit-ups.  I managed about 30.  I probably should have pushed myself to do 40, because if I had done 40 sit-ups once, I know I can convince myself to do 40 again.  And when I was on holidays, I managed to do 40 of them.  So, going to keep on trying and keep on working on that too.

This afternoon, Imogen and I went for a walk again, but I'm really disappointed I went because it was a really short walk.  Only 2.8km.  And it seemed that Imogen was dawdling.  We started off strong, but after 1 km, Imogen just slowed right down.  Maybe during the week doesn't work for her, and we should stick to it being a weekend activity.  I only went for a walk today because I hadn't packed for the gym and had nothing prepared for dinner when I got back.  So I made the decision of food first, exercise second.  But now, I'll have food that I can bring with me to work to eat in the afternoon to energise me before going to the gym with Kelly.  Good food too, like steamed broccoli.  So, in lieu of a good long walk, I instead did some squats, to make my legs feel like I had worked them out.  I managed to get to 20 squats.  My legs are a sore now, but in a good way.  I hope they don't feel too sore tomorrow!

So, now, week 2 results.  Have to be honest.  I'm not sure what to make of them.  When I weighed myself 2 weeks ago, the scale was sitting at 96kg.  Not so this morning.  I'm really debating whether I should get digital scales just to have some better accuracy.  My other measurements aren’t all that bad however.  Certainly not as large as the numbers were when I first started back in April.  I don't know what's going on.  I take my measurements first thing in the morning and I'm in front of the bathroom mirror, to make sure I'm measuring at the same spot each time.

WEEK 2 - (New) 6th August

Summary:

Weight	99 kg
Waist	84.5cm
Hips	116 cm
Bust	101 cm
Thighs	116 cm
Thigh (R)	71.5 cm
Belly	115 cm
Upper Arm (L)	37 cm
Neck	36 cm

Oh well.  I'll just use these numbers as motivation while at the gym tomorrow!  Feel the burn baby.  Speaking of which, I suppose I had better pack my gym bag so I have no way of getting out of going. 

-SunnyDuckling.

Week 7 round-up

Whoops!  I've had helluva busy week this week.  Not keen on next week's results based on this and other excuses. 

RESULTS!

Well at the end of this week, this how the results look. 

Another kilogram down! Wahoo!  Also, some numbers have gone down, namely the waist.  Not 100% sure if this is accurate though.

Summary:

Weight	94 kg
Waist	83.5 cm
Hips	111.5 cm
Bust	101.5 cm
Thighs	113 cm
Thigh (R)	71.5 cm
Belly	113 cm
Upper Arm (L)	37 cm
Neck	35 cm

Oh! I should also point out I actually had to weigh myself at 4.30 in the morning for this.  Wednesday I had a meeting in the city - which is 2 1/2 hours away.  So I had to get up early to drive myself there.  What fun….. :(  This is after I had to drive 2.5 hours to another city in the other direction on Tuesday for a convention.  Two mornings in a row I had to get up early for work purposes.  Crazy times. 

I also had to leave detailed instructions on how to deal with my clients on both these days, so I missed Monday's gym class.  I missed Tuesday's because I needed to go to bed early to sleep.  I got back home too late to go to Wednesday's gym and by Thursday I was absolutely pooped so I skipped the gym on Thursday (and slept for almost 12 hours - lovely and refreshing, glad I did!)

I think I also slacked this week with good food choices because of this.  I packed my lunch for both trips into the city which I was pleased about.  However, I do admit going to Hungry Jacks to get a (vegetarian) burger for dinner Wednesday night before driving home.  I debated about Subway, but we have Subway at home, and Hungry Jacks is a treat I only afford myself when in the city.  I felt good though about my choice because I didn't get any fries or soft drink to go with it. 

Another excuse, and I do admit quite freely to using the word excuse, because that's what it is, is "I was sick".  I was pretty unwell Monday & Tuesday.  Snotty nose, sneezing, chills and every now and then a wave of nausea.  I think on Monday all I had during the day was a number of cups of lemon tea.  I didn't even eat the tomato soup I brought - loaded up with garlic and leek and other vegetables.  I just didn't feel I could keep it down. 

So I need to work better on recognising when I'm getting run-down and counter-act that.  I know that with a head cold like I had, exercising is still fine.  In fact, I managed to go for a bike ride with Imogen on Saturday.  9 km.  I had to stop often because I couldn't breathe, but Imogen is also new to getting fit.  She admits her self she doesn't ride very fast. 

No excuses next week.  Have already packed my gym bag for Monday.

-SunnyDuckling

Another Week down

Week 6 results - I can't believe I've been at this for six weeks already!  I can believe it on one way, because we're already half-way through May and I started at the beginning of April.

What I feel I can't believe is how little progress I've made.  I honestly thought that I could lose around 1.5 kg/fortnight.  So in the six weeks, I could (should?) be already below 90 kg.  Instead, not so.  Weight loss progress has been very slow.  Given that is my main goal - to lose weight - it's been disappointing.  I don't know whether I should look more into what I'm eating, how much exercise I'm  doing, how much sleep I'm getting…  I think I'll give it another 2 weeks and if I'm still not making much in the way of progress I'll get a doctor's appointment and look into getting blood tests and what not.

In anycase, here are this week's results!

RESULTS!

Summary:

Weight	95 kg
Waist	85.5 cm
Hips	114 cm
Bust	99.5 cm
Thighs	114 cm
Thigh (R)	74 cm
Belly	112.5 cm
Upper Arm (L)	37 cm
Neck	36 cm

Well, okay, so the results aren't all bad. I did go back down to 95kg.  In fact, I think the needle was actually sitting just below the 95kg mark.  But, because I can't confirm, I'll stick to saying 95 kg. 

And it looks like my bust has gone down!  I thought I had noticed my sports bra wasn't sitting as well as it had been, but didn't pay much attention to it.  So if it really has become smaller, then woo-hoo!  An negative number, any number, shows that something must be happening, right?

-SunnyDuckling

Week 5, Week 5!

RESULTS!

Well at the end of this week, this how the results look. 

Woo!  Second week in a row that I remembered to get up and measure myself before breakfast.  No easy feat as we're heading into winter and my bed is more and more inviting.

Because of the public holiday Monday, I only went to the gym yesterday.  As I also have documented, I had lousy food choices over the weekend too. 

Summary:

Weight	96 kg
Waist	86.5 cm
Hips	116.5 cm
Bust	102 cm
Thighs	114 cm
Thigh (R)	72 cm
Belly	118 cm
Upper Arm (L)	36 cm
Neck	35.5 cm

Went back up in weight which is not so good.  I'm also going to take this time to point out that I don't have electronic bathroom scales, but just the old fashioned dial one, which means I have to estimate the reading.  I think most of my other measurements have gone up too, and I hope it's only because Aunty Flo is meant to be visiting soon. 

Overall though, even though there is little  change here, I do think that I'm already starting to get fitter.  That the three weeks I've been going to the gym is starting to pay off.  I can keep up with the classes a little better now.  I am quite happy to admit that in the exercise classes I am taking, I am by far the least fit.  But I do think I'm improving.  I'm starting to be able to push myself more.  I can (sometimes) convince myself that the only person telling me I can't do it is me.  I hate it at the time and get close to tears from the exertion, but then the exercise is finished and I'm not as stuffed as I was the last week. 

I can now put my arms over my head without getting pins and needles.  The reason I am interested in measuring my neck is because before I started going to the gym, I couldn't straighten my arms up above my head.  I discovered that every time I stretched my hands upwards, I got pins and needles from the fat on my shoulders and neck bulking up and cutting the circulation.  This isn't happening anymore.

I have one new class to go to tomorrow that I haven't made it to yet in the last two weeks for varied reasons.  But my bag is packed, and I think I'll be ready to go.  The class is called Fitbox, which is meant to be a lot of cardio (groan!) and upper body work.  I think I can handle the upper body work, as much of a weakling that I am.  It's the cardio that I'm not looking forward to. 

Let you know how it goes!

-SunnyDuckling

Week 4 Weigh-in

Oops!  Thanks to having a show holiday this week, I've forgotten to post.
I went to the Gym on both Monday and Tuesday again this week.  It's funny, I wasn't feeling that positive about it on Monday, but Tuesday felt good.  Given how much arms work we did in class, I was really worried that my arms would be really sore.  But Wednesday was really good, my arms and shoulders weren't stiff at all.

Now, my results for week four were...

	Week 4
Weight	95 kg
Waist	85 cm
Hips	114 cm
Bust	101 cm
Thighs	114 cm
Thigh (R)	72.5 cm
Belly	114.5 cm
Upper Arm (L)	35 cm
Neck	35.5 cm

I went down another kilo!! Hooray!! And I'm feeling pretty good about my other measurements too.  I did actually remember to measure and weigh myself before I ate breakfast too, so I should keep going with that too.

2 kilos down - I'm on my way!

-SunnyDuckling

End of Week 3

Well.  Hmm….

Mixed feelings about this week.  I know I haven't eaten super well - overeating.  I need to find some good strategies to tell myself I've finished eating for the day.  Monday I did alright, but last night, I ate my dinner late-ish, around 7.30pm.  Even though I ate the right amount of food (bolognaise pasta bake with salad) I still felt like I wanted to eat something.  I ate some (air popped) popcorn and yoghurt and cream cheese sandwich.  And even them, I still wanted to eat something.  All good food on it's own, but too many calories in one go.   I need to find a way to convince myself to wait the 20 minutes after eating in order to feel the fullness.  Maybe I need to see if I can eat more during the day, reducing the amount I should need to eat later in the day.

I went to another gym class, and stayed behind to ask the instructor what exercises I could do to strengthen my wrists.  In yesterday's class, I could feel a bit of pain as well as from time to time, them giving way.  Not great if you're needed to use your hands to help push you off the ground (to turn over) or to support your weight (mountain climbers anyone?). 

But! I'm happy that I went to the gym.  I said I would go and I did - twice!  I have a late meeting on this Thursday night, so I won't be going to Thursday's class this week. I do hope to be able to go next week three times.  I'm planning it like that at this stage.  Oh! I also asked the gym instructor if I would be able to keep up in Thursday's class and he said it was worth coming along.  The class I went to Monday - circuit training - is good fun.  We only spend about 30-60 seconds on each station, and rotate through anywhere between 8 - 15 stations .  Jeremy (the gym instructor) mentioned that it focuses more on lower body strength.  Yesterday's class - TBT - stands for Tummies, Bums and Thighs.  Hmm… wonder what that class was designed to target?  :-)  Another good class.  A touch of cardio and a lot of core and strengthening exercises.  Little sore from it today.  Mostly in my shoulders and my abs.  Jeremy tells me Thursday Fitbox is supposed to be more about cardio and upper body.  I think I can handle that.  

RESULTS!

Well at the end of this week, this how the results look. 

I forgot to get up early enough to weigh myself first thing today, but I did remember to do so before lunch.  This was after a 20 min walk into town and back.

Since Sunday, I went to 2 gym classes.  Ate well portion-wise Sunday and Monday.  Had a bit of a blowout Tuesday night.  Sensible breakfast today.

Summary:

Weight	96 kg
Waist	86.5 cm
Hips	117 cm
Bust	102 cm
Thighs	114 cm
Thigh (R)	72 cm
Belly	113.5 cm
Upper Arm (L)	36 cm
Neck	35 cm

Some weird results here, and am not sure what to make of them.  I seem to have lost cm around my arms, neck and waist, but have gained on my hips.  Can I really have lost some weight on my body in two days since I last measured?  I worry that I'm not measuring myself accurately, but I have been in front of a mirror in order to do it so I can check the tape measure is sitting horizontally properly and where I measured last.  Maybe I'm just reading too much into this, given I've never checked my weight loss in such a structured manner before.  

Here's to next week being better in my food choices and in keeping up with exercise!

-SunnyDuckling

What a wasted week

Well, it's been 1 week since I've returned to work after holidays.  As I suspected, my exercise and diet plans, went out the window!

This week was hard.  I didn't lose any weight and I only exercised the once, and that was a quick 1/2 hour walk on Tuesday, because I was short on time.  And, obviously, I didn't even blog until today!  I didn't weigh and measure myself on Wednesday either.  This week was a step backwards.

A number of things I think contributed to a poor result this week. 

For starters, every evening this week, I got home, sat down and basically just crashed.  I fell asleep on the couch by 8pm.   And spent the entire night on the couch.   I only woke up at around quarter to 8, leaving me just fifteen minutes to shower, get dressed, eat breakfast, pack lunch,  and drive to work! 

So my energy levels were incredibly poor and if I wasn't at work, I was asleep it seemed!  And the food I was eating, and the quantities, were not the same as what I was eating on my holidays.  Sunday night when I got back, I had some fresh filled pasta - spinach ricotta angniolotti - and a creamy tomato ricotta sauce from a jar. I probably ate a serving and a half of that. I took the left overs to work Monday and Tuesday, and I felt I ate sensible portions of it, around 200-250g worth.  Monday night I cooked up some wholemeal pasta, cous-cous and leftover tomato & basil pasta sauce.   The total quantity amounted to probably three servings, if you check proper serving sizes.  I ate it all that night.  Vegetable soup Tuesday night that I ate Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights.  Wednesday I also ate a heap of Anzac biscuits.  Over a dozen.  Even today, I ate too much food, double dose of breakfast, then a really late lunch so I stuffed myself with four cheese sandwiches, two beers, two packets of popcorn and a microwavable pasta pack.  Can you see a trend in my eating and food habits yet?  LOTS of carbs (pasta in particular). 

However, over the last day I have been relatively more active than I was in the beginning of the week.  When I came home yesterday, I set to work cleaning my floordrobe in order to move out an armoire that I had no more use for.  And in my living room, I set to work clearing out the furniture in there, so I could give the couch back to my neighbour, who I had been borrowing it from.   In the process of cleaning and moving stuff, I also came across my pedometer, so I'm super happy about that.  For ages now, I've had to guess the distance I've travelled when on my walks, but I won't have to now.

I also think I'm low on iron.  If I have been crashing like I have been it's usually a sign that I'm down on my iron.  Time to start dosing up again! Bonus side effect is increasing my vitamin C levels in order to help absorb iron supplements and plant iron will hopefully boost my immune system.  Helpful as we're heading into cooler weather and in about three weeks we'll reach winter.

I have decided that on Monday, I will look into joining the gym in my area.  As much as I whinge about it, I think I need to get my butt into gear and really start exercising.  Diet alone will only go so far.  And as I've discovered this week, if I'm caught up and busy with work, by the time I get home, I have limited time to exercise (walk) before it gets dark.  So I need to somehow pick up activity levels somewhere else in my day.  I was thinking/hoping if I can get myself organised properly, I might also see if I can get myself to the gym in the morning before work. 

So, things I am going work on this week:  Portion sizing of my food.  Packing lunch the night before.  Exercising at least three times this week - Gym class Monday, walk on Wednesday, and gym again on Thursday or Friday.  Weighing myself on Wednesday.  Cooking appropriate amounts of food.

Lots to work on! Better get to it, including more housework  :-)

-SunnyDuckling

And 1 Week down....

I started the week and this blog feeling confident that I could do this.  That I had what it takes to lose the 27 kilos I want to lose. I wrote a food diary most days - even trying to calculate the calories I've eaten. I wrote down when I exercised.  I thought about ways to increase my exercise.  Tried to implement some of those ways.

Monday night while watching telly I decided I would do one of the exercises I learnt at Pilates last week during the commercial break.  Then I decided I would do a different exercise each commercial break and use the time length of the commercial break to be the length of my 'set'.  In a half hour program I got three different exercises in.  So I feel good about that.  I hope that I can continue to do this. 

I also had the urge to go for a run.  Despite the fact that I hate running.   And it was 11 o'clock at night. And I have poor knee joints at the moment thanks to being overweight.  But I really wanted to go for a run.  I haven't gone, but the thought? Urge? To go running is still there.  Maybe that's still a good step forward?  It means that I am thinking about ways in which I'm going to be able to achieve this.

To sum up, I have kept a food diary and exercised three times.  3 Pilates classes and the walk on Sunday.  

RESULTS!

Well at the end of this week, this how the results look. 

Now, I don't know whether this is wishful thinking on my part, or if my scales are a bit off, but it appears I am 96 kilos.  I've lost a kilo! Yay!

Summary:

Weight	96 kg
Waist	90 cm
Hips	114 cm
Bust	108 cm
Thighs	116 cm
Thigh (R)	71 cm
Belly	119 cm
Upper Arm (L)	37 cm
Neck	35 cm

Now, seeing that I didn't take my measurements, other than my weight last week, I'll take these as my base measurements for size.  I don't know if I'll remember to measure myself every week, but I'll do my best.  

At the very least, I need to find a day of the week when I can weigh myself at the same time each week.  Recommendations?  First thing in the morning?  Before dinner?  Before bed?  This week and last week I weighed myself before lunch, but I won't have the luxury of doing that after this week.   I think at ths point, I'll try and do it before dinner Monday evenings.  It's worth a shot.

-SunnyDuckling