I WAS WRONG

Oh I was SO wrong. Everything from the waist down and chest up is in agony. It just took a little longer to come on in full force. Suffer baby, suffer!!

We had a fairly mild morning today despite the forecast being for a cool change and showers. So I took the opportunity to get out for a walk just around my local streets even if I had to do repeat laps of just a few streets from home. It was nice to be out in the fresh air and moving vs being stuck on a bike or rower. Today I clocked up 45 minutes taking my weekly total to 85 minutes. If I get in an hour on Sunday, that leaves 55 for tomorrow and/or Saturday which is a big ask so I can see Sunday's session being a biggie. It'll have to be a combo of walking, biking and rowing which will help make the time go faster. 

On another note we are roughly 3 months away from our OS holiday. Continued slow and steady losses on the Metal Monster will see me in a very happy place by the time that rolls around. Already I'm back wearing some clothes that had been pushed to the back of my wardrobe while I was heavier. Love it when the choice for work clothes increases without spending money on new stuff. I don't know how many times I went to complain about having nothing to wear when in fact I have tons of gorgeous stuff - it just doesn't fit me when I'm fat because I hate shopping then.

OK back to work now. Cheers folks.

M

THE MAGIC PILL

So today my legs are sore but not as bad as I expected. Looking back they were far worse after the squat / DB presses that I incorporated into my 'upper body cardio' sesh  a couple of weeks ago. Life is full of surprises.

Today's workout was mixed cardio using both the rower and spin bike. Unable to face 40 straight minutes on the rower or bike, no matter how much I vary the programs or levels (intensity), I opted to alternate between the two and thankfully the time went much faster and I still managed a good workout. I've set myself a little mini challenge and that is doing 200 minutes of cardio each week. I'm not planning on dropping my weight training so I'll see how I manage this on the time that I have. 

I know a lot of people say that heavy weight training is more effective for weight loss but unless your diet is totally geared to support it (and mine isn't and I'm not prepared to make the required sacrifices) then for me cardio is a must. I've had some of my best drops in weight when I was running 3 - 4 x / week and weight training 3 x / week. Couple that with less carbs during the day, increased good fats and lots of salad / veg and the Metal Monster was coming to the party nicely each week :-) Shame my system didn't appreciate that lifestyle but I'm well on track for finding a happy middle ground, I think. Anyways, I'm a firm believer that we are all individuals and finding the right fit is an individual thing and not something you can copy from somebody else. Don't even get me started on all the different 'diets' or 'lifestyles' that are being touted on social media these days. (That's a whole other blog post).

Today I'll leave you with a quote that absolutely nails it on so many fronts:

The magic pill is .... YOU.

Thanks Mr Harper. Yet again, you are absolutely right.

Cheers all

M      

OH THE PAIN ....

..... I'll feel after this morning's workout. 

Today was leg day. A statement that brought fear into my heart and a sense of dread as I headed out to my studio at 5.15am. Whatever I did today was going to hurt big time tomorrow. There was no escaping it. My last leg workout was on Feb 12 the day before my foot surgery.

Being the big sook that I am, I dropped my weights back by 5kgs on my squats and stiff legged deadlifts. They were still really hard and heavy, just reaffirming that I am a big weakling. I kept my weights low on my static lunges and plie squats as I plan to build them up over time. To rev things up a bit, I supersetted all my leg work with triceps work (gotta keep the arms firm and toned!).

Well I survived it and now I'm bracing myself for tomorrow's DOMS. I guess I'll just have to harden up and ride it out. The trick is to now keep training legs regularly so this doesn't happen again, or only happens on a lesser scale. I won't be able to use the old 'my legs are tired' excuse as I'm not running and lets be honest, walking doesn't exactly tire you out unless you're covering mega distance.

On other fronts, my vego diet is going well although preparing separate meals for everybody in my family is starting to wear thin. I've gotten by with lots of pre-packaged meals for myself but in hindsight they're probably not the best long term alternative. I will re-assess at the end of the month. As far as overall regularity goes, there has been improvement so it would be with some trepidation that I'd go back to meat based meals and getting the balance right will, no doubt, be tricky. 

Anyways that's enough of my boring life for now. Hope you're all having a great day. Talk tomorrow.

M

  

ON A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT NOTE

On Saturday I had lunch with a dear friend as a belated birthday get-together. Coming up to the date, I remembered back to this time last year. I was studying a double load as I finished off the Professional Management Program which required a work based project and a presentation to wrap it up. My Director was at the presentation. At the same time, I had started my accounting subject as part of my Grad Cert and there was a ridiculous amount of reading and home work questions to get through. I would study late at night, eat crap, do no exercise  and I just ran myself into the ground. I put on weight and felt awful on every level. The D word had set in and my lunch catch up for my friend's birthday then was a miserable time.

But not this year. I'm slimmer, happier, healthier, less stressed and feeling quite good - and all this DESPITE my ankle operation and the problems I've been having with the R word LOL. So on Saturday I put on my figure hugging white dress with a flowey coverall as it was a bit cool. Then I got out a pair of heels (not too high to start with) and had the inaugural heel wearing ceremony. Oooh I felt soooo good. Miss R and I did the day justice starting lunch just before 1pm and her husband dropped me off home at 6.30pm. Seeing as we shared a dessert around 5.30, I didn't need any dinner and I was very happy after the 2 bottles of champagne that we enjoyed.

Today I've broken out the heels for work and all is good. In fact I'm wearing the shoes that  broke me back in September when I finally declared that the pain in my foot was unbearable and I gave in and bought flats to wear for the rest of the day. What a journey its been since then. Oh the wardrobe choices I have once again and no wincing and grimacing as I hobbled about.

So there you have it ... a very happy post for today even though I'm dead tired and suffering a bad case of Mondayitis. When all is said and done, life is good :-)

xx m   

 

HUMAN EXPERIMENT UPDATE

Wow, so many tips and suggestions that I'm grateful for. Thanks guys!!

I may just have found my solution in a combination of things that has brought some success. 

I have been eating mainly vego since the start of the month and I must admit, I like it. Admittedly I'm having packaged vege / chick pea / lentil burgers mainly through laziness and not wanting to spend lots of time in the kitchen when its been so hot. I've also given packaged felafels a go and they were particularly good as my homemade ones were always a disaster. Throw in some lentil salads and plenty of veg with my meals (which is pretty normal for me) and I'm feeling like I might grow my leg and armpit hair, join a commune and sing koombaya as I worship the earth LOL.

But on a serious note, my system seems to like this way of eating :-) Then mum and dad were horrified to hear of my predicament and immediately jumped in with the 'prunes soaked overnight, eat them, drink the liquid first thing in the morning'. I wasn't overly keen to start the day with a big sugary hit but upon checking my packet of prunes I saw they had no added sugar so it was just the natural sweetness you get in dried fruit. I soaked them and ate them the next morning and downed the big glass of the water they had been in. After my training I mixed up a protein shake with a good tablespoon of psyllium husks and lo and behold, later that day ... SUCCESS!!!

So now my mission is to see what this does over a few weeks of making this a daily or every second day ritual. On a positive note, I haven't touched my fibre supp for about a week and that in itself is progress.

On the training front I'm suffering badly from some killer leg DOMS. I have obviously avoided all lower body work since the middle of February but on Sunday I jazzed up my 'upper body cardio' with a light dumbbell that I used to squat, touchdown to the floor and then lift up and overhead repeated several times over 10 minutes (including many reps of just arm moves). I didn't feel it at the time but a day later the DOMS set in and then 2 days later it JUST ABOUT KILLED ME. I'm still suffering badly and dreading going to the toilet LOL.

Finally I had my 2nd physio visit yesterday morning and progress is going really well. My ankle flexibility has improved 100%. My ankle strength is good. The physio said that the swelling I still have is quite normal and to not be alarmed that it could take a long while to go. Same with having numbness around the wound site. He did recommend quite strongly that I not rush back into running, suggesting that a period of 3 months post op would be ideal for a thorough recovery. Any sooner back into the high impact stuff and I'd be at risk of aggravating the ankle and setting myself back. So I've hung up my running shoes for now and will be rowing and riding my spin bike instead. And I'm totally ok with that :-)

So there you have it, a big update but I'm happy that things are looking up on many fronts. 

Cheers all

M  

 

ANOTHER HUMAN EXPERIMENT

Some of you may remember my Fibrober Challenge from October last year. I sorta gave it a good go but at the end of the day I don't remember getting an outstanding result from my efforts. Well circumstances have forced me to revisit this issue.

There is no doubt that a combination of reduced activity, eating less and having mainly meat and salad/veg meals as a means of keeping my weight steady was going to be a recipe for regularity disaster and when I use the word 'disaster' I'm not over exagerating things (enough said). So a week ago I made a decision to revisit Fibrober but take it up a notch as some serious intervention was in order.

I have decided to go (mainly) meat free, replacing with legumes and higher fibre carbs such as brown rice, getting back into Burgen rye bread for breakfast and of course keeping up my already healthy intake of veges. I'm not eating much fruit at the moment but I know that pears are really good for fibre and I plan to get back into them soon. Peter just thought I was on 'another weird arse weight loss diet' (his words LOL) so I had to explain that if weight loss my main goal then keeping meat in my diet was key. Eating this way actually makes it harder to lose weight but the meat + salad/veg combo just doesn't work for me. After giving him a detailed account of my problem he conceded 'whatever it takes, I couldn't imagine living like that.'  

Well its been an interesting week of mainly vegetarian eating. Eating out on Friday wasn't a problem as we all chose what we wanted and I had a roasted veg and haloumi stack. On Saturday my SIL made a risotto with chicken in it (no probs - lots of rice, little chicken), we had  everyone over for a BBQ on Sunday and I sneaked a lentil burger onto the hot plate and then straight onto my plate and did the same on Monday when my FIL shouted BBQed chicken and chips for dinner. The rest of the week has been pretty much the same and there has been improvement on the regularity front just not so with my weight which has gone up a little. But its early days and I shall not be deterred by a small change in the wrong direction.

My plan is to maintain this for the month of March and see what overall effect it has. When I look at what's available to me right now, tackling diet first is my only option and I know that a little change here or there aint gonna cut it. Plus after looking at all the stuff on the internet you make a decision about what you're prepared to do and where you draw the line and decide 'no way'.

So on that note I shall sign off and soldier on in my effort to turn around my ridiculously slow system into something that even remotely resembles normal. Wish me luck folks.

:-) M

  

 

THREE WEEKS POST OP

Today marks 3 weeks since I had my ankle operation and things are pretty good despite the persistent swelling and a bit of numbness around the scars. I'm now able to be on my feet for extended periods and be pain free. My walking pace is also picking up. I have a bit of discomfort that is from the skin being pulled tight due to the swelling but its manageable. 

To be absolutely safe about my recovery I have avoided any lower body work, even just doing weighted squats and deadlifts and especially static lunges. I figure that I have all the time in the world once I get a clearance from the physio or surgeon so there is no rush to push myself now. Its not like I have an event with a deadline to train for :-)

I went to to bed early last night (not like that's anything different for me) to try and ditch a sore throat and headache that had decided to take up residence in my body yesterday. They haven't taken hold because I'm back at work today but I'm ever so mindful that a potential cold, or worse is lurking right before a long weekend. Now THAT would really piss me off so I'm trying to be super healthy with my eating and activity to keep any lurgies at bay.

And on that note, being at work means its time to get back to it. Cheers all

M

 

ROUND TWO OF MY UPPER BODY WORKOUT

Today was the first day since the 12 February that I have gotten up at 5am to exercise. Oh my, it was hard to do :-( But I sucked it up like all good princesses do and I got my gear on and hit my studio for round 2 of my upper body workout. I even had a little ab DOMS from Sunday which just proved that its been too long since my muscles worked beyond the requirements of everyday life at an office desk or lounging on a sofa for several hours a day.

On another matter, this morning we said goodbye to Peter's mum and dad who came for the Clipsal 500 car racing weekend. They have been staying with us since Wednesday night and the weekend was all about the car racing followed by family dinners both out and at home. When these weekends have happened in the past I have always done a big 'fall off the fitness rails' by blowing off my training after late nights of eating too much and drinking. This was my pattern without fail and by the end of it all I'd be lamenting that any weight I'd managed to get off before would have come back on, in double. It was a really vicious cycle and one that I just never could break.

Well, this time has been different :-) Yep, we've had the family dinners and been out for meals as well and I've enjoyed a glass or two of wine but I've not gone stupid with my food and my weight has remained fairly stable (I can tell, I don't need the scales to tell me). How liberating is that??!! I feel so good about this and I'm really comfortable to carry on this way. So on that note, my stomach is telling me its lunch time and I shall listen and feed it before hopping back into some more work.

Cheers all

M 

GETTING BACK INTO EXERCISE

Last week was a classic case of 'if it doesn't get done first thing in the morning, it doesn't get done'. What am I talking about? Exerciser/training, of course. Add to the mix, being limited to upper body only, and it hardly seemed worth the worry or the effort. And that folks, is SO not like me normally.

So over the weekend I set myself the goal of getting back into exercise and then maintaining it during the week. I was a bit stumped for what to do considering that just training 2 upper body parts wasn't exciting me in the least. Then I found my inspiration. I set up my studio for the following upper body circuit: DB over-head press (shoulders); seated row (back); DB chest press (chest); DB curls (biceps) and tricep dips (triceps). I set the weights at heavyish and went  for 10 reps of each with no rest until the end when I took a 1 minute rest. I did 4 rounds and felt quite pooped on the last one. Then, with lots of time left I planted my feet firmly on the ground and did upper body cardio in the form of cross cuts and overhead punches continuously for 5 minutes. To wrap it all up I did 100 abs (in various forms) and then stretched out and high fived myself (figuratively speaking). You know, it wasn't a massive effort but geez I felt good afterwards :-) I plan to do this on Tuesday and Thursday mornings this week and then assess what I feel like for the coming weekend.

My foot is aching less and less as time goes by. The only problem I have now is the massive swelling in my ankle. The outer joint is really puffy and the skin over my wound is constantly pulled tight and feels sore. On Wednesday it will be 3 weeks since my op so I just wish my foot would look normal again. I also have some seriously peeling skin adding to the ugliness LOL. First world problems, I know!!

Anyways, I'm back on my whingey soap box so I better stop there and dive back into work. Til next time folks.

:-) M 

 

BACK AT WORK

I'm so disappointed that I didn't get to blog on Wednesday night, that being my last day off work. I had all these wonderful little tidbits to share about the time off work but its old history now and the spark is definitely gone.

I went to write a blog yesterday but I had a major case of the sads and it would have been a big whingey woe-is-me post, so I canned it. All I'll say is that I absolutely didn't want to be here and the day was a struggle irrespective of how my foot was (which wasnt too bad).

Today is somewhat better but I still have some 'uplifting' to do. It sure has been a topsy turvy start to the year for somebody who is happy with a predictable routine (moi!!). I'm also dealing with a bit of bad news on the job front for Peter. I know its not about me and its not for me to deal with but you cant help being affected by the stuff that affects somebody so close to you. Plus I'm one of those people who really takes on whatever it is that I'm surrounded by, be it good or bad. 

So to avoid this becoming a big philosophical post about life, the universe and how to make the perfect poached egg, I'm going to divert over to my trusted topics of diet and training :-)

As you're all aware, I'm in the middle of a cardio drought right now and even my attention to upper body weights hasn't been stellar. I plan to change that next week where I want to get back into just a couple of early morning training sessions again. I'm keeping it limited to upper body until the physio clears me for lower body work, whatever that might be to start with. 

One good thing to come out of the op (apart from getting my foot fixed so I can wear heels again) is that in the days following I had very little appetite. Then some days later the fact that I was so inactive meant my appetite stayed fairly low. I found myself eating considerably less than usual and not craving any high carb, high junk food. Even now back at work, I'm trying to stay tuned into my natural hunger and eating in response to that. I'm enjoying the bonus of being a few kilos lighter and it happening pretty effortlessly. It is true that what you weigh is 80% about the food and not how much / how little you exercise. But I am looking forward to being active again :-)

Well I better wrap it up there as work emails beckon. All I can say is, bring on the weekend.

Cheers all

M