Sick Joy

Today is the first day in a long time that I've come home *sick*. I feel really weak, nauseous, have a dry sore throat and finding it hard to breath. Other than that, I look fine. What is going on!? I thought that when you get fit and healthy, you just don't get sick anymore. Well that was my fantasy anyway. I've got a doctor's appointment at 5pm. There's no way I am going to let this one get too messy. A girl in the office, who also just so happens to sit next to me, was sick last week with the flu. Not a cold...the flu. What do you reckon? I think I've caught it. The joys of working in an office again.

So today I am going to try and take it easy and do nothing. DO NOTHING. How do I do that? I'm already bored and feeling too nauseous to do anything for too long. At least there's blogging and people to catch up with but looking at the monitor is making me feel queasy too now.

Note to self. Eat well and your keep fluids up...or else! It's so tempting to go grab some junk food right now but I won't.

I hope everyone else has had a better start to the week.

UPDATE

Doc says exactly what I thought, rest up and take it easy. Otherwise there's a pill called Tamflu that I can take but I reckon it's a bit expensive. I think I am healthy and strong enough to ride it through and I am not so sure it's the flu now. I've had the flu and I couldn't get out of bed for 2 weeks. Another day off work though and much needed rest.

Food wise, I was craving lots. I didn't cave into junk but I had some extra fruit and yoghurt just to satisfy. Only 2 points over now.

Thanks for your supportive comments!

Week 24 - lost .6kg

I just came back from weigh in and had a gorgeous breakfast with Cath *waves*. I've really made some great friends along the way. I can't wait to have a Sydney WW Bloggers meet when it gets a little warmer. I am hoping we could do the Bondi walk (or similar) and then go for lunch.

So I had my blow out last weekend but I bought the ebike. I think it did the trick. Apart from the weekend, I stuck to 20 points (and even below on some days) and feel good. I also make sure I eat something every 2-3 hours so I am never hungry or get cravings. This really makes a difference.

I exercised everyday so this weekend I am going to let my muscles do their thing and relax. I'll be walking around but not doing any planned exercise.

Oh, and did I tell you that I love my ebike!? I do.

I hope everyone has a good weekend and to those that have some challenges in their personal lives right now, I hope you find some peace soon. Remember to be good to yourselves so you can keep your strength up both physically and mentally. You are all amazing people and I find you so inspiring!

It's all part of the journey...

Firstly I want to give a HUGE virtual {{{HUG}}} to all of you that are going through a rough time right now. I've been thinking of you all and hope that things get better real soon. I am also impressed that you are all still being good to yourselves in terms of food and exercise, especially considering the challenges. Well done!

I have run out of time again tonight but will be reading more blogs (and commenting) hopefully tomorrow. I miss being able to catch up with everyone daily and the support. I also apologise to all the new visitors to my blog. I have not had a chance to look at your blogs yet and I do want to read them! Please bear with me.

My week on the other hand has been rather fun and I don't mean to rub it in, it's just that I've bought the new e-bike and loving it. I miss walking in the early morning for an hour but fortunately I get to walk to work for 1/2 hour each way so I still get that fresh feeling.

I definitely get my heart rate up on the bike and I'm loving the sweat LOL. I can't believe how much I am enjoying it because I've always hated exercise...my entire life! I'm cycling more than Dan too so I think the challenge is on. He just bought a computer for his new on-road bike, whoot!

Looking forward to catching up with all you beauties tomorrow. Sweet dreams!

Exercise Points

I've just done my 20 mins on the bike and managed 6.9km (No. 2 resistance only to start with). Whoot! I needed to find out how many points this exercise equated to so searched the WW forum. I've posted the info I found below.

HAVE A GREAT WEEK EVERYBODY!

This is from last years Ultimate exercise guide.
All bonus points are for 30 minutes.

Stretching Hatha Yoga
71 - 90 kilos 2.5 points
70 kilos and under 2 points

Cycling Exercise Bike
71 - 90 kilos
Bicycling, stationary, light effort 3.5 points
Bicycling, stationary, moderate effort 4.5 points
Bicycling, stationary, vigorous effort 7 points
Bicycling, stationary, very vigorous effort 8 points

70 kilos and under
Bicycling, stationary, light effort 3 points
Bicycling, stationary, moderate effort 3.5 points
Bicycling, stationary, vigorous effort 5.5 points
Bicycling, stationary, very vigorous effort 6.5 points

Jogging
71 - 90 kilos
Jogging general 4.5 points
Running, kph (7min:30secskm) 5 points

70 kilos and under
Jogging general 3.5 points
Running, kph (7min:30secskm) 4 points

Proform B1000 Exercycle

I made sure to do myself a favour today and bought a decent exercise bike. I think I'll never end up going to a gym because I'm too shy so this will be perfect. It cost me $350 AUD. I was given $50 off, whoot! Super smooth and feeling good.

I'll start by doing 20 mins in the morning and 20 mins at night (inc. 1 hr walk) and see how I go. It'll be a much more intense workout compared to walking so I'm itching to see the results after a week.

I also need to drop down to 20 points a day now. I think it will be a little tough but I'll work it out. The cheese and peanut butter will have to be for special occasions only now LOL. Oh the pain!

I've been a bad girl...

A 100g loss in 2 weeks didn't inspire me to stay on track yesterday so I pigged out instead. That makes perfect sense doesn't it? I had all the things I "used" to enjoy and you know what, I didn't really enjoy them and noticed how shocking my body felt by the end of the day.

When I usually have a FREE day, that just means I have a little more food...healthy food, not worrying about points. But not yesterday.

Here's the rundown and what a waste of points. Honestly, it all tasted like shit. I feel hungover today and I didn't even have a beer!

• 50g Smiths Salt & Vinegar Chips - 5.5 points
• 9 pieces of Cadbury Top Deck - 6.6 points
• 4 glasses coke - 6 points
• Japanese, Maccas style (chicken teriyaki, miso soup) - 8 points
  
• Gloria Jean's Caramel Light Frappuccino Tall - 10 points?
  
• Blueberry Bagel w/ philly cheese - 7.5 points
• Penne Carbonara - 12 points

So that was my food day. What a shocker and writing this down here makes me even more determined to go to Rebel today and get a damn exercise bike (and some weights). I have a party at 1pm so I am not allowed to go until this mission is complete.

I have come too far to simply start going backwards now.

Week 23 - lost .1kg

You know what!!?? My naked weight is 75kg and I am so happy. I really wanted to get to my WW Goal Weight (clothed) but I am taking the pressure off. I am still going to get there though, you bet ya bottom dollar I will, eventually :-)

Dan and I are having an awesome day. We headed up to Paddington to look at bikes and shop, yeah! Then strolled down to get Dan's tatt in Darlinghurst. What an amazing experience. Megan at InnerVision is a damn fine tattooist and now I'm even more keen to get an elaborate custom design for my arm, as well as the EN symbol. She's awesome and I would highly recommend her. Very professional and perceptive.



Now...what an intense couple of weeks. So much to do, so little time. I've called this week Week 22 again because that's how it appears in my passport. I missed last week's meet and they don't count missed weeks.

WORK
I am just going to try and be zen about it. It serves it's purpose for now until I am ready to go on my own again. If anything, I am enjoying having weekends and shopping for new sexy clothes *purr*.

FOOD
Eating quite well and sticking within my points but having far too much peanut butter. I've overdosed on the stuff.

EXERCISE
What a change. Now that I sit on my ass for 8 hours a day for 5 days of the week, I am really noticing the difference. Working in an office again really sucks on this front. I'm still doing the same planned exercise BUT I don't run around all day as well for those incidental bonus points, so I'm not losing weight even though I'm eating just as well. I am simply maintaining. I need to work out a new exercise plan. I seriously need to consider buying a decent exercise bike (yes another, as the Kmart one was shocking!) so I can jump on it at night after work and burn the last couple of kilos off. I don't want to slow down now! At least I know that maintaining will be a breeze.

I'll try catch up on a few more blogs tonight as I'll be working on my friend's website and updating his portfolio. Check it out sometime - The Mutation Parlour. He's a cool Illustrator and designed my Phodis Works logo (the girl).

I hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Blogging

I just can't seem to keep up with everyone's posts. I can only blog at night now and by the time I get home, have dinner, work some more and hang out with D and the kittys, the time is gone. I'm noticing some of you having a really hard time at the moment too. I just want you to know that I am thinking of you all and will try and catch up with you individually during the week. For the moment, I will only be updating my blog once a week now after weigh in.

Please be good to yourselves no matter what the challenge is this week. There will always be challenges but it will be the way we approach those challenges that get us through the day.

PLAN + TRACK + EAT WELL + EXERCISE

Sarah at Goal!

Whoot! I've been following Sarah for a while now and she's made it to goal! Well done sista :-)

Week 22 - Week Off

Oh gosh Miss Jesse, god forbid we have lives outside of blogging LOL (previous post's comment). You crack me up :-) I am so sorry for keeping you waiting!! I decided to have a week off from weigh in (and meeting) and had a mighty fine FREE DAY instead. I like my beer.

I didn't particularly have a great food week but exercised everyday. My home scales are showing that I maintained and I am happy with that. But this week I will need to work on making my lunches instead of going to the local cafe. I keep forgetting to ask for NO BUTTER, NO CHEESE and HALF OF EVERYTHING they put on the sandwiches. My work buys mandarins and apples for us and this is really appreciated.

Now to the job. I just freaked out in the beginning of the week. Personal space and no individual email upset me greatly but after talking about it, I will now be getting my own email. I love working within a team environment but I also need to feel like I can have my own thoughts and space too. Creatives will understand this. My job description is quite broad and my manager will be allowing me to see what I want to and can do for the company because of my experience. This is great and I feel priviliged to be held in such regard. So there is nothing I can do now but enjoy wherever this job takes me because I am not trapped.

What exactly do I do? I'm a Photo Editor/Researcher in a Photo Agency which has the rights to lots of fabulous pictures. We sell to mainly magazines but I've been more specifically employed to work with book publishers and advertising agencies (my prefered clientele). I'll be working with high quality stock photos rather than papparazi type stuff. I'm actually quite excited now and have lots of ideas that I want to implement.

Life really isn't so bad and I think it honestly comes down to how you want to look at it. We just have to keep the communication lines open with everyone we deal with. If we nip any problems in the butt as soon as they arise, we can't stew on them and build it into something it's not. This is something I try to remind myself of everyday when I am too scared or angry to deal with things. I need an extra push or slap sometimes and you know what, things always work out in the end.

I hope everyone is having a good weekend and I'll catch up on your posts throughout the day. Cheers!

Don't let the turkeys get you down!

So close to home. LeisaB cracked me up with a comment she made about not letting the turkeys get you down. It just so happens that I grew up on a turkey farm and this is something we often said whilst gobbling around like idiots. Turkeys don't squawk and I should know this by now, thanks M!

I'm feeling much better but it's also been quite busy starting a new job, which was to be expected. Will post more about it tomorrow after weigh in. I hope everyone has a really nice weekend planned.

Dreams & Changing Thoughts

So this new day has really started with a bang.

D, I mean absolutely no disrespect to you if you read this but this journal has got to be about honesty or I am not being true to myself. You know I love you true so take this with a grain of salt.

So it started like this. I woke up amidst a dream I was having involving another man...from the record store. He looks just like D and is a rocker but with more tatts. I always fancied him but I am taken so didn't really think about it. I'm not that kind of person. When I am with someone, I am with them. No excuse. But then I go and have a dream about this fella last night!

I think when I am stressed, I start to fantasise about everything NOT in my life and for that moment everything is bliss without consequence. Does anyone else do this? Cat, is this kind of what you meant by your post a couple of weeks ago too?

I need to change my thinking about the new job. WW has taught me to do this in relation to my food so I think I can use the same principles to handle the new job. Just wish I had more time in the day to plan but either way, I just have to do it and look at the positives....AND not let my fantasies take over my reality, in the hope of escaping another challenge!

I am not going for my walk this morning so I can catch up on some of your blogs but I will walk to work a little later. Yoga tonight anyway and then some more blogging after. Lots to catch up on.

Goal Date & New Job

Firstly a big thanks for all your well wishes!

Alrighty, so I want to reach goal by Saturday 10th September. Why? Because D and I had a tattoo consultation last night and I'm booked in for Sunday 11th. That means I have 5 weeks to lose 2.7kg which will require roughly 500g per week. Nothing like a bit of pressure LOL.

Now to the new job. Urgh, I don't really want to start my ranting again (poor D) so I'll just say that I hate it. I seriously feel like punching something tonight but should probably just think about joining a boxing class instead LOL. I quite possibly made the wrong decision and let myself down.

I think I also feel upset because I will not have time to read everyone's posts tonight but I will soon enough....please bear with me.

And please don't take this on board. I just need to get this in writing because I feel really down. I fear my eating and exercise is in jeopardy this week. Tomorrow is a new day and things always look better in the morning...right!? It better or else I'm boxing the letterboxes on the way to work *jokes*. Thank goodness for Yoga tomorrow night!

Week 21 - lost 1.4kg

Went to the doctor this week for a general check up and I'm textbook material. Never been a good example before so it felt pretty good LOL. Gotta love my doctor. I mentioned I was doing WW and she was really impressed. She thought I looked different (hasn't seen me for a year) and agreed that WW is a really good program, whoot!

Cath, well done hon! Back to your WW goal (even under) and looking great. You're an inspiration to know that the bulk of the weight you lose CAN be kept off. Thanks babe. Cath is a lifetime member and goes to the same meetings as me.

So what did I do different this week? I stuck to my points and exercised. Yes, even the weekend! I kept to the goals I wrote last week.

Points Allowed: 154
Points Eaten: 150.5
Bonus Points: 32.5
Points Left: 36
Water Average: 1.6L/day

I WANT to do this and I WILL do this because I CAN do this
and YOU CAN TOO!

Dan and I are off now....shopping! Have a great weekend guys. Will be back later to check your posts.

Speed Humps

This is a comment I read on Sue's post this morning from Jodie. It's a goody and I think a great tone for today. "That's the spirit. Never lie down and become the speed hump. Always drive straight over them and keep going, never looking back!!!"

I'm in for a loss tomorrow and I can feel it in my gut, whoot! I stuck to my challenge this week (even the weekend!) and I really want to for the rest of August too. I want to reach my goal weight for my birthday by mid September. I want to and I will because I can.

Have a great Friday everyone!

The mantra is back with a vengeance!

DO IT ANYWAY by Katey Weighty, for those days that you are too tired to get off your lazy ass and get out of bed LOL. Katey's mantra has always inspired me since the first time she posted it. I always envisage Katey shaking her head at me if I don't DO IT ANYWAY and now there's Amelia too!

Emotional Eating Strike!

I just found out that 2 of my dear friends (one of them is Duncx from my pics!) have just been in a bad car accident in Spain. He will be okay physically (but worried about him mentally) and she will not. Broken pelvis, collapsed lung...you name it. I dropped everything when I got the call and went home.

On the way, I stopped into the supermarket and headed straight for the chocolate but just couldn't do it. I'm still in a bit of shock. Now is a good time to practise some yoga and meditate for a while. What is going on with the universe atm!? I'll be trying to figure out how to send some personal items to them tonight. My goodness!

I am determined that August will still be a great month and that my friends will make a quick recovery.

UPDATE

Thanks for all the comments guys! Today is certainly a better day and I'm sure all your awesome well wishes and thoughts will help by just putting it out there. They are in good hands and that's the most that we can hope for. I'm off to catch up on some blogs now.

Finding time...

I am super sorry guys but I'm finding it hard to make time to read blogs this week. Will try catch up over the next few days! Unfortunately I have lots to finalise this week before starting the new gig on Monday. I hope everyone is doing well and planning, tracking and exercising :-) Keep it up!

Also thanks for all the feedback on the sweeteners. I'll post a bit more about it when I follow up on everyone's comments.

BTW, just came back from my 2nd week at Samadhi Bliss. YOGA is GREAT for busy people, whoot!

Points & Artificial Sweeteners

I did it! I kept within 22 points for the ENTIRE weekend. I do believe this is a first and it wasn't such a challenge after all *phew*.

And the changes keep on coming for me this week...

Danatasia made me realise that I'll need to start looking at dropping my points from 22 to 20 a day (WW Book 1, page 7) so I'll start by cutting back on cheese and those Jarrah drinks I've become addicted to, as they're probably not very good for me anyway. But I'll make the official drop next week. I am still going to stick to my goals posted on Saturday.

Cath also got me thinking about artificial sweeteners. In becoming healthier, I've been wanting to avoid using as much processed food as possible by opting for fresher options in my meat, vegetables and fruit. After reading some articles on the net about the bad effects of Aspartame (Nutrasweet) found in diet products, I am a little more cautious but need to do a lot more research to have an informed opinion. Can anyone suggest a reputable resource (eg. website, book)?

Have a great week everyone!