I Bought a Fridge!

Well, aren’t I just as pleased as punch. J  Since I moved here, I haven’t actually had a fridge, I’ve just been subsisting on food that doesn’t need refrigeration.  For instance, did you know it’s possible to buy long-life milk in popper sized amounts?  Brill!  But now that I have a fridge, and it’s warming up as we speak, or cooling down as the physics may be, I’ll be able to stock up on some salad ingredients.  Vegetables come at me!

By the way, I didn’t end up going to Aqua Zumba on Thursday. L  I got caught up with some work I was doing and when I looked up it was already 6!  The class started at 6pm, in a drive about 30min away.  So no Aqua Zumba on Thursday, but I am going to AquaAerobics tonight. I swam some more on Saturday, 600m, getting a little faster.  Can’t wait til I can swim 600m without stopping, so then I can add another 100.  Brag, brag, brag!

I also start one of my dance classes tomorrow night.  Excitement plus!

Bonus round: I have gone down a kilo already since I weighed myself last week. J  I have been trying really hard to watch what food choices I am making and counting calories.  (More on that in a later post).  So I don’t know whether it’s the food, or the swimming I am doing, probably a combination of both, but I’m on way to getting fitter and healthier!

Splish splash

Well, I had better not keep you in suspense any longer and I’ll tell you what I was rushing off for on Monday evening.  Still water based, just not swimming laps…

Aqua Aerobics!

Yes, as daggy as it sounds, I donned my togs and went down to the pool to do aqua aerobics.  Monday was the second session this year. 

I had never before ever done aqua aerobics in my life.  Whenever I heard the words aqua aerobics, I always sniggered to myself, thinking it was the daggiest thing ever.   Coupled with the fact that I don’t really enjoy being in water, I never ever thought I would do it.

Oh how wrong I was...

 

Ohmagourd! Aqua Aerobics is best fun eva!!

 

Seriously.  So. Much. Fun.

I went along not really knowing what to expect and I was really surprised to see how much I enjoyed it.  And I’m so glad!  The teacher, Bronwyn, is super fit.  She has these skinny little arms and legs – that are all muscle!  She reminds me of an English teacher I had at high school who was big into aerobics like that.  Bronwyn is also really good at pointing out the different intensity levels available for each exercise and is always quick to point out if you have a back or knee injury (that’s me!) what variations she wants you to do.  She has good taste in music too.  This week was some remixes of ABBA and towards the end, a techno/club song I remember from when I was 15.

I was trying to explain to my friends on Friday night what it was like, but I don’t think I was doing it any justice.  A lot of the moves are your regular aerobics moves – just underwater.  The trick was to stand in water deep enough to chest level (that’s the deep end for me), to really increase your resistance, and thus, how much your body was working.  We did star jumps, leg kicks, Jackie Chans (high side kicks), knee repeaters, squats, punches, running on the spot, ab work, arms, playing the bongos…. Okay, so that one’s not your typical aerobics move, but it works great underwater!  Trying to play them fast is so hard!

One of the other things that’s really hard to do, is to keep yourself from drifting up the pool.  Trying to keep your heels planted on the ground, your arms underwater, and do the moves quickly is tough!  But I took that as a challenge.  I decided I would use that as an opportunity to really work my core – clench those abs!  As a result, I feel I might have worked harder than I did the first week.

And the other ladies (yes, it’s all women) in the class are good fun as well.  Some have been coming for a while, some like me, are new this year.  Unfortunately, it seems the girls who are closest to me in age – they look to be 26 – aren’t interested in being friendly.  But after the class, I overheard a woman (who I don’t think was there last week) talking about another class on Thursday night at a different pool, and when I asked her about it, she seemed happy to talk to me about it, so yay.   : )   The Thursday class is Aqua Zumba.  According to this woman (whose name I didn’t catch) it’s a lot of the same stuff but it’s also a bit different, and with different music.  It sounds interesting, and I think I’ll give it a go.  I can only go for 2 weeks anyhow, because after that my dance class starts up again, and it will have priority (and how!). 

So my monthly challenge of swimming every day is going to be side-tracked slightly into swimming every second day, because I don't think I'll swim the days I am doing aqua aeorbics.  Hmmm, unless I swim some laps before hand, say, for 1/2 hour and then stay on for aqua aerobics?  I wonder how that'll work for entry pricing?  I might have to make an enquiry later on this week...

2013 – New Year’s resolution time

So, what else has been happening since I moved?  Well New Years of course.  And new years and new beginnings is when we traditionally make resolutions.  And here are some of mine for this year. 

·         Consistently complete a food journal – including calorie counts.

·         Attend dance lessons twice a week

·         Walk to work at least once a week

·         Lose 20 kgs by the end of the year

·         Maintain work-life balance

I’ve managed to make a head start on some of these already and have plans in motion for more as the year progresses.

A few days into the New Year, I decided that I would try out some swimming.  I've always hated swimming, hate being wet, I even have short showers so I don’t have to be in water for very long! But given that my legs and feet have still been giving me grief, I knew that it was only going to get worse, the more weight I put on.   And especially after moving house, I found my feet and ankles just swelled up.  It was remarkable – I actually developed cankles.  There was no pain, no heat or inflammation, so I put it down to simple fluid build-up.  Swimming seemed like a good way to increase my circulation and start up some low/no impact exercise.  So I found a local council pool and went along. (After I spent a day shopping, in order to purchase togs, towel, goggles and boardshorts. I really haven't been swimming in ages).  

That first day I went swimming, I decided to take it at my own pace and just see how far I could swim.  I hadn’t been swimming like that, in laps, for over 10 years.  Well, to my surprise I swam 600m.  To clear things up – I did not do this non-stop!  I’ll take this opportunity to point out I had to stop after every lap to catch my breath.  Each lap was 50m.  I should also point out that I swim breaststroke, so it’s not technically as aerobic as freestyle.  I was still very surprised though to find out I could swim that far.  I may not ever be a fast swimmer, but I may turn out to be strong swimmer.  J

Since that time I have gone swimming again 5 times and each time I have swum 600m.  I think I will try to keep it up when I start work again and swim in the morning before work.  That way I’m not getting in the way of squad training in the afternoons.  In fact, last Wednesday, I signed into a swim correction class, so I could make sure that I was swimming properly and not going to pull any muscles from bad technique.  The coach was actually really impressed!  She was very happy to hear that I can swim 600m as a beginner and even gave me a sample training program in order to pick my fitness up:

Staying with the 600m for now,  I should start with a 100m warm-up of kicking – no arms, to get the blood pumping.  Then, try to swim 100m breaststroke without stopping (2 laps).  Then one lap, rest, one lap, rest, then try to swim two laps without a break.  Then, because I’ll probably need it, swim the lap four laps with a break at each end.

The coach is confident that if I keep going everyday – which is probably going to turn into every second day, once I start work and dance – I’ll soon be able to do the whole 600m without breaks at the end of each lap.  Once I get to that point, I should start to increase my distance bit by bit.  I think when I’m at that point I’ll make another appointment with her and get another training program. 

So, so far, my swimming adventure has been going, well, swimmingly ;)

And it’s not the only fitness adventure I’ve been having…  I’m about to head off now in fact.  :-D

I’ll post again soon,

Breaking the wall of silence

Okay.  All’s been quiet from me in the last four months and with it, a definite lapse in my weight loss and health efforts.  This hasn’t been entirely without reason mind you.

As those who’ve read my past posts know, I hated my town.  It was a dead-end, middle of nowhere town and I was really, really, really unhappy living there.

In early October I got notification that there would be an opportunity for me to transfer elsewhere and in a different role to what I had been doing.  Worked my arse off (I wish!) and I got confirmation in November that I was successful. 

That left the rest of November and early December to try to organise a place to live (not so easy when you aren’t currently in the same place you are moving too, don’t have the chance to see any places, or real estate agents don’t contact you back); carpet cleaning, pest sprays, etc for my current residence; removalists; a full clean of my unit for the final inspection (which I did myself); buying furniture and a fridge for my new unit; packing up all my stuff at work; on top of still working fulltime, meeting and dealing with clients and finishing up all the required reports and evaluations!!  Mental! o_O

I moved up to Brisbane, state capital of Queensland.  A CITY.  I cannot emphasise enough how fantastic this is for me.   Before living in my last town, I thought I was a country girl at heart.  The last five years have proven to me I am not.  I need a city.  I need to live somewhere where there is opportunity to do things, to go places, to meet people. 

It happens to be exceptionally fortunate that I was able to get to Brisbane. 

For starters, almost all my friends from university have ended up here.   My mum (as much as she drives me nuts) lives only an hour away.  Brisbane happens to be quite hilly, so when the weather cools down I’ll be able to go walking again. 

And my favourite part?  Being a city, I can take advantage of things I haven’t had access to in years.  Multiple choice of gyms.  Shopping centres.  Hobbies and interests.  Bushwalk trails.  Nightclubs  ; )  In fact, I’ve already signed up for two dance classes.  I used to dance a fair bit at uni, but that wasn’t available at my old town, so I stopped.  The first lessons start in the last week of January. 

It’s been three weeks since I’ve moved and in that time, I’ve had Christmas at mum’s, New Year’s fireworks along the river bank, a few exploratory walks of over 6km each, and gone out clubbing with friends, twice.

I am so happy I moved.  I cannot get over how much fun I am having.  I haven’t even started work yet, we don’t return for business for another week yet.

But I honestly feel this is going to be such a good start and a good place geographically, physically and emotionally for me. 

Glum Gertie

Wow, I can't believe it’s been a week since I last posted.  To be honest, it's also a week since I did any form of exercise… :(

I had quite a few social engagements from Saturday through to Tuesday, which meant my eating was all over the place, and I was at the mercy of my friends' plans in terms of the activities we were doing.  As a result, I did nothing forward moving and productive. 

Wednesday and Thursday were travel days, because I had to get back home to my nowhere-nothing-sized town, before I go back to work again next week.  Tell you what, it makes a big difference to be at the coast for a week or two, where the daily temperature averages 25oC (77oF) with a breeze to cool you down, to go to Summer: Rural Australia Style.  I was wiped out yesterday and slept for 4 hours in the middle of the day because it was so hot!  My town does get four seasons; they're just not equal in length.  We have winter in the middle of the year, for about 3 months.  Spring and Autumn either side of this is a three week change over period.  The rest of the time, it's summer.  And not a lovely mild summer.  No.  Instead we have 7 months of dry heat and every day above 32oC (90oF).  It's not uncommon to have weeks at a time where the daily temperature goes above 40C (104F).

It really surprised me to notice how unhappy I am to be here.  I am over living in the sticks.  I am over living in the back-arse of nowhere.  I am over living in a town where you are either in the clique and included in everything and find out about what goes on, or you're not and may as well not exist.  I am over living in a place that has the one and only gym and it's crap and the classes are only on once a week and it's not open on weekends or late in the evenings.  I am over living in a town that prides itself on all the sports that it has available, but still excludes those that don't fit into its up-its-own-bum image (the clique thing again).  I am over not being able to walk down the street without being stopped and people talking to you (or about you).  I am over not being to go out, even to do grocery shopping, without making sure I am dressed up and hairbrushed and make-up'd (shorts and a T-shirt will not pass).  I am sick of living in a place that is so dead flat.  According to googlemaps,  our town varies in elevation by 7m from highest to lowest point.  When on holidays, I was in a place that had hills, so even walking to the corner shops or the post office, required some effort.  Here, I don't get that.

The heat, this hole and not following careful eating and exercise has all conspired I think to bring me down.  I'm unpacking my holiday clothes, and trying on some things that I want to wear to work next week and it makes me upset to see how tight and uncomfortable they are.  I had big plans to really start to build up a routine of exercise and good eating, because I had the time to do so, and I just somehow haven't done it.

It makes me upset to realise just how overweight I am and how unhealthy I feel.  I know I'm low on energy and even somewhat anti-social because I am ashamed and embarrassed and uncomfortable with my size.  I don't like going out of the house.  It is always such an ordeal to make sure I am wearing something, which, if not flattering, at least hides my gut, just by a little bit.  I am still having to wear some of my winter clothes, even though I have great trouble in the heat, because they fit over my stomach or gut, while my summer tops come up too short.  Or, my summer clothes are made of polyester, which is not helpful at all. 

I know I'm being really down in the dumps. 

I just feel I don't know what I want to do anymore. 

I don't want to give up.  I hate being overweight.  I want to be fit and healthy like I used to be.  I want to be able to go out and not worry what other people think of me.  I want to be able to wear clothes without worrying the whole time if they fit too snugly around my stomach, or give me a camel toe, or will ride up every time I move.  I want to be able enjoy myself without feeling like a complete elephant who is so wide they knock everything over every time they go to a shop or to a restaurant. 

I want to get rid of this weight.  I want to lose these 27 kilograms and get back to a healthy weight range.  I want to be happy with myself again.

…

I don't think I have anything more to add.  I know this is a negative post, and I'm not really looking for sympathy.  I think I just needed to get these feelings out of my head.  Sorry if I've brought you down by reading my negativity.

…

I've been telling myself all morning, "Don't get angry, Get active" and I think that's what I need to do.  I have plenty of things I need to do around my flat, washing, cleaning, etc, that I will get active.  I can't let myself get bogged down in this crap.  I will clean up my house.  I will plan out a good shopping list.  I will eat well today.  I will go for a walk later today.  I will do things that will not keep me this way.

-Kathleen