You're Fired!

Well, I am here to Fess Up, and tell you that all the things I said I was going to do.... I didn't do.
and as usual I started with the berating of myself, the "You're Useless", "You never follow through" blah blah blah, makes me feel worse and less inclined to actually get back on track.  Why do I always let myself down?
I mentioned in a previous post that I have recently started a new job, and my new boss is so inspiring. She is super-fit  and healthy.  We often talk about healthy eating and exercise, and I feel so inspired, and although we do both succumb to the very occasional 3pm sweetfix (ok for her its very occasional, for me a bit more often) in general terms she is a very good influence on me.
We were joking the other day how we could include weigh in results in my KPI's, because I am very conscientious at work, a perfectionist, and if my 'Boss' wants me to do something, I would do it, and do it well.... Obviously it would not be acceptable by our Human Resources department to actually do this (... I mean what workplace would judge your performance on how much you weigh?), but it got me thinking about how I will do whatever if takes to avoid letting down my boss, but I don't bat an eyelid to let myself down, time and time again.

I have realised that if I was the boss of me (erm, excuse me what? I am the boss of me) and I had hired myself to take care of this very important project (my health and body) and I (employee) had made excuses, not turned up when I said I would, made a half-assed effort, cheated, played on Facebook when I should be working, and basically not done anything that was expected of me, then I have no doubt that I would have fired me by now!

I need to start looking at my personal life as a business, or at least a workplace. I am in the business of getting fit and healthy, and I am working on myself  The results are easy to measure, and even though the results are their own reward, maybe I do need to 'pay' myself when goals are achieved.  I don't get to go to the movies until I have done my work.
Essentially what I need to do is consider myself self-employed in all hours that I am not at work, and hold myself accountable for what happens in those hours.
It means I have to embrace my split personality more, Healthy me is the Boss of Unhealthy me, and I have drawn up a contract with myself to outline what is expected.
Now, as a Boss I am aware that I need to grow and develop my employee, she is not going to know how to do everything straight off the bat, she needs clear guidelines, appropriate coaching and support, and all the tools she needs to succeed.

As with a new employee, or an employee on a performance management plan - which is more of what we are dealing with here - it is important to clearly state what is required, by when, and what the consequences will be if these goals and deadlines are not met.  To start with we will have short contract terms, 'review periods' so that we can monitor the progress.
I don't intend to micro-manage my employee, I will meet weekly to discuss performance, results, issues that occurred  and to set the new goals for the upcoming week.
We will set the initial 'probation period' of  6 weeks.  My Contract with myself is now written and signed, and you can view it here.

Well my new job being responsible for this body starts tomorrow, better go and get prepared. 

What am I eating?

Whilst Michelle's plan has menu's and nutrition plans that I try to follow, sometimes circumstances, tastes, or lack of ingredients dictate that you have to be flexible.  I am getting good at serving up meals within my calorie count that the family love.


Yesterdays post said I was going to have Pizza for my treat meal, well I lied.
We ended up having Fish and prawns....but I did make the pizza last night to take for lunch today (we were at an athletics carnival, where my eldest daughter won 3 medals and did a P.B) 


Any way, last nights dinner was  crumbed fish (frozen packet)and prawns and 358 calories per serve.
This is the second time I have made this and the family love it.... it certainly doesn't feel like a diet anyway.


My tip is to look hard at the calories on the pack of the fish to determine which has less per serve.
It's easy. Oven bake the fish, serve on a bed of spinach & rocket, and whatever other salad veges you would like (remember to count them).
I just sautéed the cooked prawns in a bit of garlic and sweet chilli sauce, and popped them on top.

This pic is from last time we had this meal, last nights was actually bigger

this is the actual calorie count from my fitness Pal..
 NB* 129 calories is for half a serve of fish,  with 2 pieces being a serve, I only had one piece. 

Today was a red flag day, as we were at an Atheltics carnival all day, and if you are not well organised with food, the canteen with it's hot chips, spring rolls, and pies, or the coffee van with iced chocolates etc, or even the sno-cones van, are far too tempting when you are hot, tired and hungry.


So last night, I cooked up some pizza for us to take today, and I did not frequent any of the aforementioned tempting vendors. My hubby and kids did, but not me.


My pizza's are not diet food, I have always made and eaten these and my family love them.
I use tortilla's as my pizza base, with half a tablespoon of Tomato Paste, and a smidgen of BBQ sauce as my pizza sauce, a very very little bit of grated cheese (too much and they don't crisp up), topped with a little bit of whatever you have ...onion, mushroom, gherkin, ham, pineapple etc.  Mine used turkey meat as I had a little left over from another recipe.
Each of us had two whole pizza's, totalling 398 calories for the two... that beats just 2 slices of Domino's Hawaiian at 450 calories.
I just use the home brand tortilla's from the mexican aisle, but I am sure there are some lower calorie wraps out there, that would make this even better.

yummy - the crispier the better!

Now for tonights dinner... Michelle actually had Pizza on the menu, but as we had that for lunch, I changed it.
We had Grilled chicken, corn on the cob (without butter for me), and salad, with a touch of light mayo... 316 Calories, and boy am I full!

Hopefully, now I have enough stamina to pack my bag for tomorrow, and prep tomorrows lunch. My bed is calling me...at 6.44pm.  

The Science of Weight loss.

Allow me to share with you what I have learned, so far on this journey.  In fact maybe I should have titled this "the mathematics of weightloss" because essentially it's all about the numbers.

But....it is that simple!

It's all about Calories in minus Calories out, a deficit results in weight loss, and an excess results in weight gain.
Firstly, you need to calculate your BMR (basal metabolic rate), this is the amount of calories you burn by simply existing. What your body uses to keep you alive, breathing, sleeping, swallowing etc. 
To calculate this, you need to take into account your weight, height, and age. There is a complex formula I could post here for you, but a link to a calculator is much easier.  Find out your BMR here. 
My current BMR is 1640.
If I want to lose weight, I need a caloric deficit.  I am reducing my intake (food) to 1200 calories a day (8400 a week).  I believe this is minimum, any less and your body doesn't get enough and goes into starvation mode, and starts to conserve any fat , preparing for the famine it believes is coming. 
My BMR is 1640 (11480 per week) 
At this stage I am already in deficit, so will lose weight slowly, but to have a more effective result, I need to exercise.  I am aiming to burn an average of 500 calories per day (3500 per week).  I have to add that it is essential to know how many calories you are burning. Guesswork and online calculators can only give you and idea of how many calories you might burn, the only way to really keep track is to use a Heart rate monitor. It is specific for you, set with your height, age and current weight, and can monitor how hard your heart is working and tells you exactly how many calories you are burning. 

This is the HRM I have, and I believe it is the best investment I have made for my health 

So for a week, 
    Calories in (8400) - Calories Out (11480+3500=14900) = - 6500.
Apparently if you have a deficit of 3500 per week, you can expect to lose around 500g that week, 7000 deficit will result in approx 1kg loss. 


Here is an example of what a week's calculations might look like:

If this was my worksheet, I would expect at least a 1kg loss that week.

Simple Maths, right?  That is why it is working. 


So lets look at how I might have been eating before, and look at the Calories in some of those foods that I used to eat regularly.... Now while this is not an example of what I would eat everyday, its not that far off.. especially on a day where I was un-organised, or emotional.


Breakfast 
2 slices of Thick Toast, with Butter and Jam = 284 calories
Large Coffee, with full milk and 2 heaped sugars = 262 calories
Lunch 
Large Big Mac Value Meal = 1172 calories
Snack 
Mars Bar = 251 calories
Smiths Potato Chips (50g bag) = 261 calories
Dinner
Macaroni Cheese with Bacon (250g serve) = 599 calories


Total piggery for the day 2830 calories!, more than double than what I am eating now, and nowhere near as nutritious.


So if I did no exercise, and had a very sedentary day sitting behind my computer, driving to and from work, taking escalators etc this is how my daily would have looked.

if I ate like that everyday, 1190 x 7 = a weekly caloric excess of 8330,.....  Not really any surprise that I was getting fatter and fatter, is it?


Now lets be realistic, I still like chips and chocolate, but I am learning the cost of what I have to do to burn them off, so they become less inticing.


That packet of chips, has absolutely no nutritional value, so #1 the calories are wasted, and at 261 calories, it takes about 55 mins walking at 5km per hour, to burn that off.


The Big Mac meal could be eliminated by 85mins on a Spin Bike... Stuff That!

So, now you see some of what I have been learning, and with tomorrow being official Day 1 of the 12WBT, lets put all that learning into practise.

Little Champion

Well.. I am half way through I busy weekend with my daughters competing at Little Athletics South Coast regional championships today. It's a 2 day event, so back for another whole day tomorrow.
Despite the tuck shop options of Sausage rolls, Donuts, chips, lollies.. i ate my own carrot sticks, grapes, and corn thins. I came in at 1205 cals eaten for the day, and I am mighty impressed, but was not able to fit in any exercise. I did however volunteer to retrieve the discus so was running around after that quite a bit... but nothing official.  My daughters have both qualified for state championships with my youngest today becoming the under 9 girls regional Discus Champion. 

Isabella (centre) with her Gold Medal, posing with Shot Put Olympian Justin Anlezark

As much as I felt bad not getting in my exercise, It was a worthwhile sacrifice to see that smile on her face. I will get some calories burnt tomorrow for sure, as we have a 2 hour break between events tomorrow, so I'm planning a jog along the Kingscliff beach.  It was hot, hot, hot today... got a bit burnt, so a dip in the ocean might also go down a treat. 

Welcome to the Eighties

Weigh in Wednesday...... Drum roll please!  

That's a loss of 1.9kg this week. Happy Happy Joy Joy!


I felt so wonderful this morning and that has lasted with me all day.
That number also means I am only 1.7kg away from being Overweight... as in moving out of the Obese BMI range, into the Overweight BMI range. That is pretty big, because I have been obese since ... well the 1980's. 


Another wonderful thing that happened today was my walk to the train station.
The walk usually takes about 1hr 13min, (I'd done it twice so thats the average between the two) and my timing on the first day - leaving about 5.45am - meant I  arrived about 6.55-7am, and had to wait until 7.32 before the next train, and then a 15 min wait for the connecting Bus, meaning I got to work at 8.20, not leaving a lot of time to shower and get ready for work.
Last night I discovered that there was a 6.45am train... so I tried to leave 10 mins earlier to be able to make that train.  Ah, nup, didn't happen - still walked out the door at 5.45am


I thought to myself, if I can pick up the pace, and get there within the hour, I can still get that earlier train, and get to work much earlier, and have a really good shower, and a leisurely breakfast....So I set of at pace.  
I talked myself through the urge to stop with a lot of C'mons, and You Can Do It's.  All the while in the back of my mind Unhealthy Me was saying "you can always get that second train" ... but Healthy Me hit back with "Yeah, but I don't want to wait 45 mins for it" and kept going.  I was extremely focused, I actually felt like an athlete.


I had the Run Keeper Iphone App, talking in my ear, telling me every five minutes how far I had come, and my average speed per kilometre. Yesterday I was averaging 11.5 mins per km, today I was averaging 9.5 mins per km... So you will be pleased to know it took me  59.38 minutes, and I literally took my back pack off, and sat down at the platform as the train pulled up. 
 I DID IT! and you could not wipe the smile off my face.
I burned 711 calories, but most amazingly I cut 11 minutes off my time.  I was so incredibly proud of myself.


Also today, my manager put on a special day at work, by cooking crepes for the team for lunch... With the massive variety of fillings available, from Ham and Cheese to Berry Compote and Ice cream with Chocolate topping,  I had crepes with spinach, mushrooms, onions, with a tiny bit of ham and grated cheese, and as I ate, I added my calories onto My Fitness Pal. I was happy that I didn't miss out, I just made sensible choices and accounted for everything.


Coming home late tonight, nothing was organised for dinner, so I stopped at the Supermarket.  This would have (in the old days) resulted in some cardboard Pizza or something equally as nasty (convenient, but nasty).. tonight, this was our meal, coming in at less than the 300 calories budgeted for my dinner.

It was yummo, and going to be on the menu again!

News, and more News

I haven't really got time to blog today... I left the house at 5.45am, walked 6.5km to the train station, took a train and a bus to work, showered and changed, Worked all day (more about that in a minute) bus and train home, 10 minutes to get changed, off to Zumba, Wicked Zumba class, call in to drop off some stuff my Son on my way home, get talked into giving him a lift to town, finally get home at 9.15pm.  Just had a shower, eaten my chicken salad that my daughter made (my daughter that I didn't actually see for more than 10 minutes) and watching the Biggest Loser (recorded)... as soon as it's over, I've gotta go pack my bag for tomorrow, then I'm off to bed... I AM EXHAUSTED!  
I am so looking forward to weigh in tomorrow... I feel so close to breaking into the 80's...it's gonna happen this week.  When I get to 89.9 it is a few milestones in one. 89.9 means #1, getting into the 80's, #2, 10kg lost since I started this journey in August, when I started Zumba, and started enjoying exercise (it's still mind boggling)!  It also means that I will have lost 10% of my body weight since then as well. 

Today was a Super Session for exercise ... my walk to the train station smashed out 843 calories.  An increase from my practise, probably because I had a backpack of my work clothes & shoes, towels, toilet bag, and Lunch... it wasn't light. 
Followed by a Zumba session tonight, I upped my intensity, and smashed out 702 cals... a Total of 1545 calories burned in one day!  Woo Hoo!


And another little win for me today, as the last day of the month at work, it can get intense. Management puts on some goodies to #1 thank us for the months work, #2 to keep us going through the busiest day of the month..

This is an example of some of the goodies that were on a table right outside my office door.  I couldn't go to the loo, the printer, or the water cooler without passing these tempting morsels, but I am proud to say that I did not eat a thing from table!  There was rocky road, and starbursts and sooooo many chippies... but I said No.!


Lastly, tomorrow is February - and my cousin, and friend, and 12WBT team mate Melissa Howell, decided today to commit to walking/running 100km over the month of February - and even though we live in different countries, I am joining her on this extra challenge.  Hopefully fine weather tomorrow, so I can knock off 6.5km on day 1!


Weigh in tomorrow... can't wait... see you then.

TWO BIRDS...ONE STONE

Well some things are sent to try us, best laid plans... and all those clichés.  After the events of the past few days I found myself in a bit of a pickle.


#1 My car broke down on Monday,  and the decision has been made to retire the poor old thing. Replacement will be some time coming, so it's public transport for me.  This means I needed to get my husband to drive me to the train station to catch the 8am train, and he had to hang around until at least 8.20 until he could drop the girls at school. Not ideal. He didn't mind, but I felt Guilty.  Having to leave earlier than when I was driving, I found I didn't have as much time to do my walks in the morning, and get ready for work.  I could catch the 6.30 train and go to the work gym (which is not as scenic as walking the lake), but I would then need to get my husband up at 6am to take me.. More guilt, or  I could get up earlier than 5.30. I was already struggling with 5.30 but this was going to have to be the way.


#2 Then Wednesday brought torrential rain, and the Gold Coast started to flood. Our house was fine, but my beautiful lake rose and rose, and the water engulfed the path. Now my morning walk/run is out as an option, so it's going to have to be early train, or a home workout followed by the inconvenience to my family. 

My hubby and Daughter standing on the path where I normally start my run.

Then driving back from Westfield Helensvale today , which is also where the train station is located, it dawned on me... How long would it take me to walk to the train station in the mornings?  Instead of walking around a lake, I can walk myself to where I need to be!  Makes sense!  I can solve two problems with one walk.  I am lucky enough to have showers at work, so I can get ready there.


So I decided that this afternoon I needed to do a test run, to see how long the walk would take me, so then I can figure out when I would need to leave to catch each train.  My husband guessed it would take two hours, I thought an hour and a half, Google Maps said 1 hour 20mins... so I set of on my misson.

I took the direct route, without footpaths in some areas, but there is a 400m longer paved alternative. I didn't stroll, this is a workout as well, and I sat down on a bench at the train station 1 hour and 11 minutes later. Sweaty, happy and 720 calories burned.

I'm so proud of myself for not letting excuses (that would be so easy to find) get the better of me, and finding an excellent solution.
Now I just gotta go pack my bag for tomorrow (work clothes, shoes, towel, toilet bag etc) and tomorrow I start day 1 of my new routine. 
The only other problem I foresee is how the other commuters are going to feel about  a sweaty and smelly woman on the train and bus.. But hey, that's their problem, not mine. 

Hand-Me-Downs and other news

Its taken a while but I have finally uncovered one reason why it is good to be bigger than your mates... You get their hand-me-downs when you all lose weight!  
Thanks to Melissa and Cass losing weight, they have given me their clothes that are now too big, and because I have lost some too... I actually fit them!


When you are on a weight-loss journey, you do pit stops at all the sizes on the way, and it can be an expensive exercise replacing a wardrobe time after time for each size achieved. I don't intend on staying this size for long, so don't want to blow my budget buying new clothes, and having the hand-me-downs is such a blessing. 


So excited about wearing some of my 'new' clothes to work this week. It's inspired me to clear out my wardrobe too, and I have a few things that are simply too big now! Yay!.  So I am now on the lookout for someone who might want my cast-offs, size 18-20.


In other news, 2 more sleeps until pre-season starts. Did my Walk/Run around the lake again today, and knocked out 511 calories.


So far eating has been good too, and cooked one of Michelle's recipes for dinner....Hmmm, the kids ate it all, no complaints.

Michelle's BBQ'd Kebabs

Our overseas guests are on their flighy home, so it's now just a matter of getting back into routine, and planning the week ahead. Back to work Monday. Sigh, not looking forward to that!.


Also in regards to yesterdays post, I think MyFitnessPal has just trumped Calorie King as preferred Calorie Counter website... I did not know about the Barcode scanner feature!, you can scan a barcode of a food, and enter how many grams you ate, and Viola! Calories counted. I imagine not every product is in there, but I am yet to find one that isn't.  Cool as. 

300

So thanks to the wonderful ladies on the 12WBT forums, I now know some more of what I am in for with this challenge.


I will be allowed 1200 calories a day, and will need to try and burn off 500 a day doing exercise (not just walking from the couch to the fridge).
That 1200 will be split by 4, 300 for Breakfast, 300 for Lunch, 300 for Dinner, and 300 for snacks.


So even though Michelle will be providing me with meal plans and recipes, I'm also having a bit of a gander around the net to see what 300 calories can get me.


www.diet-blog.com  shows illustrations of meals between 300-400 calories

www.dailyspark.com goes one step further, and shows a comparison between what you can get on 300 calories compared to an unhealthier version.

here is a list of other sites with recipes under 300 calories 

http://www.fatsecret.com  

http://www.myrecipes.com

http://300caloriemeals.com/

Interesting huh,... when you consider a Hungry Jacks Double Whopper with Cheese (no fries or drink) is 1027 calories.