MUM'S BIRTHDAY

It was my mum's birthday on Thursday and one of the things I like to do at this time of year is take her to lunch and a movie. So today we took ourselves off to see 'What to Expect When You're Expecting'. The movie was great. I laughed. I cried tears of joy. I cried tears of emotion - the adoption scene was VERY close to home and whenever I reflect back to my own experience, I cant hold back the tears and emotion. Tears for my happiness but tears  of sadness for the foster mother who hands over the baby that she has cared for for the last 5 or so months.

But I digress. We had a nice lunch out although my food wasnt the best - chicken risotto with the tiniest amount of chicken in it and a bit too moist (wet) for my liking. The wine was good :-) It was a nice outing and mum has said that as long as she has her health, she'd like to do this every year. I couldnt agree more. I have one friend who lost her mum  some years ago and their family has never been the same. Others dont get on with their mums so a day like today would be torture for them. I'm so lucky that mum and I are really good friends. Incidentally the pic above was from some years ago. The toddler is now 10 years old LOL.

Today was also a nice change from this last week which can only be summed up as mehh. On Wednesday I tackled a job application for a position quite different to what I do now. I really struggled with it, wrote it as best I could only to have Peter critique it as "hmm sorry dear but I think you've missed the mark." I tried rewriting it but couldnt get past my original headset. At one stage I conceded defeat. But because I'm a bit of a never-give-up girl, I rallied myself to give it another go and pulled it together at the 11th hour. There's nothing like a bit of 'I'm hopeless, I just cant get this' feeling to drag you down and fuel all those feelings of failure and inadequacy, making for a shitty few days.

But thats past and next week will be awesome because I decree it so :-)

Cheers all

M

CHECK UP PART ONE

BP: 104/65 - excellent result. Peter says I dont have enough stress in my life LOL.

BMI: 24.?? - Dr Mark says to keep this under 25 (at which point I officially become 'overweight'). I confess that I'm a few kilos heavier than I'd like to be. He reassures me I'm lighter than on another occassion (he doesnt say when). We agree it comes on too easily and is hard to get off.

Fasting bloods will be done tomorrow morning then back for results a few days later. Problems at the 'other end' are not considered a problem (no risk of over servicing here) and I'll qualify for the government's free faecal screening (eeeeuw!!!) in a year and a bit anyway. Mark that down as a milestone to look forward to LOL.

Dr Mark agreed that mum being type 2 diabetic was a small warning to me but regular check ups would highlight any potential problems. I'm ok with that.

So tomorrow is a no breakfast day so I can front up for the "lets dig the needle in and pray we find a vein" torture session so some sadist can collect vials of my blood for one big science experiment. Looking forward to getting all the numbers back :-)

Good night all

M

CHECK-UP TIME

Wow, another busy weekend has bitten the dust. My boy had his final skating lesson until after our holiday so I get a few weeks leave from sitting in the ice box on Saturday mornings. On Saturday evening we went briefly to a school function for year 4 parents but sadly those parents that we know better werent there so we kept it short and sweet. We were home and tucked into bed just after 10pm LOL.

My mum's birthday is coming up soon and I cooked dinner for our family as an early celebration on Sunday evening. I bought some pork fillets and cut a long slit in each one and stuffed them with a mix of sauteed onion and mushrooms mixed with home made breadcrumbs and an egg. Then I wrapped each fillet in very thinly sliced prosciutto, lightly pan fried them and then baked them in the oven. I did a potato bake along a similar theme with thinly sliced potatoes, a little olive oil and lightly sauteed slices of peperoni all mixed together and oven baked til soft and crispy. Dessert was a Greek style semolina cake with a lemon syrup. It was delicious and my work colleagues enjoyed the left-over cake so Peter and I wouldnt have to eat it all.

Tomorrow I see my GP for my annual check up. I dont think I've seen him since Feb last year when I had my last check up, me being so damned healthy and all LOL. But now that mum is type 2 diabetic and I have a few extra kilos on me, I cant afford to stick my head in the sand and pretend that it couldnt hapen to me. So I'll be getting bloods done along with the routine checks and following up another private matter that could be problematic. My motto: 'Tis better to know and do something about it than to kid yourself thinking ignorance is bliss'.

Cheers all

M

MEETING SANDRA

Every now and then somebody comes into your life and you just click.

I dont have lots of friends and I'm ok with that as I'm not the type of person who seeks constant company and socialisation. The few good friends that I have, have been in my life for a LONG time. One since I was 14 and she was 16, another from 15 and 16 respectively and the third from 1989. Pretty good track records, hey.

Funnily, it was through blogging that I met Sandra and we just clicked. Today we met for real as evidenced in the photo above. There was no doubt we'd click again.

I was waiting for her in the foyer of her hotel. She came out of the lift and for a moment I wasnt sure it was her as she had darker hair than in her photo in my blog followers. I think she recognised me though but was surprised at my height. At meeting, it was a case of "Sandra? You have dark hair" and "Magda? you're so tall." I'm not really, I just had high heeled boots on.

We wandered around the corner from her hotel and had a 2 hour lunch in a nice restaurant and we talked and talked and talked some more. During our conversation we found out we had both done something identical recently that neither of us had blogged about and we just cracked up. When it came to paying the bill we reached into our purses at the same time and pulled out the exact same notes, laughing again.

It was a wonderful time and she was as lovely as I imagined her to be. And for somebody who kept telling me she wasnt at her best, her warm and genuine personality just shone and I'd never have known that deep inside she didnt feel great.

Although we live in different states, I know we'll keep in touch and meet up again at some stage. Life is too short to let distance keep friends apart.

:-) M

CHALLENGED BY THE COLD AND WET WEATHER

Tell me I'm not alone in my 'challenge' of staying motivated to eat well as the weekend draws closer. Or maybe its the bitterly cold and wet weather we had today, but the tin of salmon that was going to be accompanied by a shop bought salad (a place near work does fresh organic salads) just had Z.E.R.O. appeal for lunch. I had nothing packed due to there being slim pickings at home to prepare and we all finished dinner later than usual due to an impromptu request for pancakes for dessert. So today ended up being a bit of a 'buy lunch and try not to do TOO much damage' day. Oh that and 'yes I want a feta and spinach scone for morning tea but I dont NEED one so I'll settle for a skim cappuccino only' day.

I now have DOMS in my chest, glutes and adductors so a nice spread of the love/pain hapening there. I dont mind the constant reminder that I worked hard(ish) and my muscles are feeling it. Tomorrow I'll round off my weight training with shoulders, bis and tris and that'll be full body done over the course of the week :-) VERY happy with that.

But there is one thing that I'll be even happier about tomorrow. My blogging buddy Sandra is attending a conference here in Adelaide and tomorrow we meet face to face for the first time and have lunch together. I have my camera packed in my bag and am REALLY looking forward to it. We talked on the phone last night and she has a lovely, well spoken voice. I dont have to say 'I know we'll hit it off' because we already have through our blogs and comments to each other. Stay tuned for the pics.

Anyway its time to get ready for an early bed so that I'm up and at it at 5 again. That too is a challenge on these cold, wet mornings but I've managed to suck it up and just get on with it so far.

Good night all.

:-) M

UPDATE AND LIFE MUSINGS

Eegads its been a busy few days and a blog post typed at lunch time yesterday has never made it home in the rush and hubbub of work issues. Oh well, here goes my update and life musings.

True to my recent word I have weight trained twice in the last 3 days. Monday was back, chest and core work - a favourite session and today was Legs: Back-to-Bascis + 100 Abs. Just baby weights, good form with a longer term goal of slowly building up strength without doing myself any nasty injuries by going too hard, too fast. Oh, BTW my trusty old friend DOMS is back reminding me to "be consistent and dont break the cycle."

Yesterday was cardio day and I knew I had to ramp it up so I sucked it up and did my 1 song walk: 1 song jog combo which is a safe way to ease back into running when the aerobic fitness is lacking. And oh my, is it lacking??!! After finishing the (42 minute) session it took over 10 minutes for my heart rate to return to normal. Talk about UNFIT!! But I did feel great that I had pushed myself out of my comfort zone on this occassion.

On the diet front I've been dabbling in a few lower carb days but not being anal or obsessive about it. Whilst there is some temptation to go "hard core" to drop as much weight as possible before my holiday, deep down I know its more important and I'll be much better off just aiming for moderation and consistency. So I tackle the food side of things by choosing mainly healthy clean options with a reasonable protein intake and cutting right back on the junky treats. I dont like weighing, measuring or logging so I have to trust my instincts to know what, when and how much and be confident that I get it right.

Finally I'm conscious of not going at this like a bull to a gate and then just fizzing out after a couple of weeks. If I can temper my motivation and enthusiasm and stay more even keeled then there's a better chance that I can maintain this over a longer period. Yes motivation goes up and down naturally but hopefully less peaks also means less deep and dark troughs. Well thats the theory I'm testing right now.

M

HONOURING THE THINGS THAT ARE IMPORTANT TO ME

Fridays night’s talk with Peter has really flicked a switch for me – a much needed flick that has changed my outlook on training, food and how I use that space between my ears. I have a calendar month (with 31 days in it) to make a positive difference before going on holidays instead of just wallowing in my “I’m fat and miserable” headspace.

Saturday started early with a Bikram yoga class where I really gave my all. The rest of the day was very busy even with no ice-skating as my boy was suffering a head cold and we had our fingers crossed he’d be ok to go to a friend’s birthday party and sleep-over that night. My food was a fraction of what it was over the last week (yep the comfort eating was happening again) but I hardly felt hungry as I threw myself into the busyness of the day. I felt great at the end of the day.

 

Sunday was Bikram yoga again although I was pretty tired after the Saturday class so my effort wasn’t quite as stellar. I have one more visit from this 10 class pass and then I’ll be breaking from Bikram for a while.  Again, really happy eating less, upping my protein and dropping lots of the more crappy carbs.

I went to bed last night feeling considerably lighter even though I know my weight would have changed very little, if any.

 

I have decided to commit to weight training again for a number of reasons. I like that it maintains/builds muscle for a non-squidgy look. I like that more muscle = higher metabolism or in my case – minimising metabolism slowing with age. I like that I have a pretty good set up in my studio at the back of our yard and I’m not restricted by class times or additional cost. And finally I like that it’s a step towards a lifestyle committed to being fitter and healthier. Hey, I’m never going to be rockin, smokin 50-year old from a daily walk and enough carbs to fuel me for a marathon LOL.

 

I guess one of the pivotal things that came out of Friday night is a realisation that over the last 5 years I’ve lived at both ends of the fitness and health spectrum. In 2007 I was training twice a day with no rest days and eating a very restricted diet as I prepared to compete in Figure. Everything about my life was extreme and it really took its toll on me physically and even more so mentally. It took me years to ‘recover’ and I eventually turned to distance running which of course I couldn’t keep up due to chronic injuries. I have sampled intuitive/mindful eating and had some periods of success but it bred laziness in me towards my training and for that and other reasons, it was never the perfect fit for me.

So I’m testing that happy medium on the fitness and health spectrum looking for a place where my daily choices serve me well in both the short and long terms. It’s sort of like looking beyond the tip of my nose if I’m serious about the future and honouring the things that are important to me.

Thanks for listening.

M