Proof of a new me!

Today, I am not moping. There is no eating whatever is around, or random eating throughout the day because my brain is fogging and I'm just not focusing. Nope, none of that today. Last year when I was recovering from a BAD bout of pneumonia, I wasn't very hungry and got really fussy (meaning I only wanted hot chips and pies), and the moping random etc happened. ALOT. Last night I went to bed so early, and have slept for at least 14 hours, and have a horrid cold thingy, but I am not defining my day by it. In fact, I downed the cold/flu battling thingys, put my gym stuff on and went to the gym (where I did not cough or sneeze and used plenty of antibacterial gel stuff - so never fear on that front).
So I am so proud of me! Because it didn't even occur to me to have a 'I'm sick so I deserve a day off' kind of day, I just went on with business as usual. Every other time I have got sick I have still had to battle to get control. In fact I am sure there are other posts about it in my history, because I really do catch EVERYTHING that goes round.
So I really am counting the positives right now, and that makes me even happier. So far this week (my week starts on Saturday as that is weigh-in day) I have only used 4 1/2 extras points and of that only 2 1/2 of them are sugar points, which has got to be a weekend record for me. So I am hoping to keep that low, and hopefully it has a great effect on my weigh-in this week!

*update from last post*
THE SOUP IS FABULOUS! And my husband absolutely LOVES the wholemeal herb damper too. I used to make a lot of damper for us, but not with herbs and using normal flour, but since going on No Count I have made it a lot less. This damper he actually enjoys even more (and we just used dried herbs not even fresh, but I intend to try the fresh too!), and it's completely No Count! WOOHOOO!! So we have made again since as we still have soup left to eat... I love soup...
And Curves is wonderful, excellent, love it, can't reccomend it enough. It's also less than half the price of the other gym's around here, though I have heard that it is more expensive in the city. Then again, everything is isn't it?
It doesn't matter what exercise you do, those endorphins kick in no matter what, but the quaility of exercise is definately boosted at a gym! SO GO ENJOY EVERYONE! :)

*chicken sounds* bweerrrak! bwerak bwarck...

I chickened out, while on the scales actually, from weighing in today. I think I put on a kilo, and I know exactly what it is (see post below) so I just didn't want to see it, cos it is not real, does not reflect on what i have done this last week, and most importantly it will be NOT THERE next week!
So I'm fine with that. I'm just assuming for the time being that I have stayed the same (cos I usually put on 2kilos at this time, so this is a "normal" thing).

And now i am looking forward to this next week! I am still having trouble from cramps but not nearly as bad now a few days down the track, and I went to the gym and PUSHED myself (instead of slacking off a little over the last few days), and that felt great. Then instead of hanging around doing not a lot at home this arvo, I told my hubby and a friend who is over for the weekend that we were going for a walk down to the beach and around etc, and that was lovely. It was great to get out in the sunshine and talk and explore rocks and have a great time. We live right near the beach that we got married on, so it's always lovely to wonder down regularly cos it is so pretty and special to us. That's why I am have put one of our wedding photos on here (one where I, thanks to camera, don't look too heavy. I was about 10kgs lighter than my heaviest at the time, so it was a good thing... :) That bust is all gone now though!

All in all, I am really looking forward to a bright new week. Right now I have a pot of cauliflower and lentil soup cooking and some wholemeal herby damper in the oven, from the new Really contented Tummy Cookbook, and they are smelling yummy! And we are doing a food shop tomorrow, so will be all No Count planned out for the rest of the week! YAY!

Oh, and on friday I will have been at curves for a month, which means first measurement day is almost here! I am really looking forward to this, I want to see what that body fat % is doing! Should be interesting!

Curled up in a ball...

Sometimes, I just curl up in a ball. I'll give you one guess why...
Yep, you got it, I'm a hormonal mess right now.
Unfortunately I have a few hormonal problems, which means that I have never had a normal cycle, and when I get graced with the womanly curse, even the prescription meds can't stop me from curling into a ball in pain. Though they did stop the nausea at just nausea, I don't think I could have handled anything more.
Anyway, since dinner and nausea passing a bit, I have just eaten and eaten and eaten. And my belly is STILL rumbling and telling me that it is starving hungry. I just don't know what to do, so I've brushed my teeth and still have my water bottle next to me, and I have the faithful company of my lifetime pal, teddy. Seriously, teddy and I never even went anywhere without each other until I was four or five, and my hubby is out until the small hours of the morning, so teddy is sitting on my lap, helping me vent my frustrations into typed form. Better than eating I guess! Or crying, because that's my other choice right now.
*sigh*
*hugging teddy*
I think it's early bedbed for this little RaeRae.
Teddy does make me feel better though, so here is my ode to teddy!

Oh teddy my dear,

yellow furry ol' friend,

I know you will be here

til the nights cold end,

Through the young and the old,

and the loss of most hair,

It can always be told,

that you'll always be there,

For Me.

:)

tehehe

ok, that just cheered me up mightily, so I bid thee all a sleepy but cheery goodnight!
*sleepy grin*
:)

One cold tiny bunny...

I'M FREEZING MY TINY TAIL OFF!!
Has anyone else found that they are far, far colder since or during their weightloss? I know this is not the first time I have complained about it, and I garrentee it will not be the last either!
So anyway, today I am wearing a million layers (see photo) and I know I look a little silly (refer to photo!), but I don't care anymore!

Actually, I am feeling a little better about it all now, because I just checked the current temperature and its a whole of 13.5 degrees, and its kindda spitting too... so it's cold. For me. Here on the coast. I know my parents in Canberra would tell me I am being silly, but it's just stupidly cold there!

Anyway, enough of me rambling about the weather- but my Dad is a weather man so it's in my genes- I wanted to celebrate that fact that I am not letting myself go overboard and eat and eat and eat to combat the cold. Believe me, I would really like to, but I am trying the zillion layers approach to the problem! I just had a big bowl of vegetable soup, and my hubby decided he wanted to make some savoury muffins, so he slaved over the oven and produced these lovely Spinach, Sun-dried Tomato and Fetta Muffins, from the WW Favourite Recipes. So I thought I would share. They arn't No Count, but I appreciate my hubby for them all the same!

Spinach, Sun-dried Tomatoes and Fetta Muffins
makes 12, 3pts each.

150g frozen chopped Spinach, thawed
2 cups s/r flour
1/2 cup pl flour
pinch cayenne pepper
2 eggs
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
100g reduced-fat butter, melted
50g sun-dried tomatoes, rehydrated, sliced
150g fetta

preheat oven to 200 degrees C. Coat 12 hole muffin tray with cooking spray. Squeeze excess moisture from spinach.
Sift flours into large bowl, season with cayenne pepper. Beat together spinach, eggs, buttermilk and butter, and add to the flour.
Add the tomatoes and fetta and fold gently til just combined. spoon into tray
Bake for 25-30mins, until goldern and risen, leave for 5min before removing from tray.

When we made them we made more than 12, so I would say 2 1/2 pts, and very filling. YUM!

MY BIG WEEK!!

Well as I already commented, I was a little unsure if my major amounts of exercise would be a good or bad thing this week. And coupled with that, last week I had an unexpected, unexplained, VERY large gain of 1.5kilos! So I was really hoping that was all gone (though I was sure it was, was feeling majorly bloated last week...). Anyway, this week I hoped an and lost 3.2kilos!! So basically my body is a little crazy, but I already knew that, so it's all ok. :)

I'm so excited about it anyway, no matter how crazy my body is!
tehehe, actually getting more excited the more i think about it! :)

So I am once again feeling happy about my weightloss as a whole. Oh, and i hadn't changed my weight on my stats for a bit, cos I didn't trust that gain (and didn't want to see the Perth gain either... Ok so that may have been a little silly of me but it is off again now!), so they are correct again now. I just didn't need to see that change in front of me, I needed the motivation to get back to what I was. ;)

In more exciting news this week, I bought my very first size 8 top! I hope you can see the pictures, they should be visible, but my monitor is playing up so I can't tell! I was so shocked though, I have been loving trying on all the size 10's in the shops (though unfortunately not having the money to actually buy! Oh well, it's still fun!), but it was a huge shock to fit the 8! It only happened because there was no 10 (and it was a sale rack, hence me actually looking and buying this time! YAY!), so I said oh well, I can see how far I have to go to an 8, and it fit! I showed my hubby (not telling him the size), and he said get it cos it is cute, and after getting it and walking half the way home I finally told him that "well actually it's an 8", and it's just a good thing he wasn't crossing the road cos he went all speechless and stumbled and stuff. It was really cute and funny. Anyway, I am really loving the whole new tiny me, but I am feeling shorter and shorter by the day... I guess all that bulk I used to have made me feel taller!

I have had a busy but lovely weekend actually, friends I haven't seen in the while were down my way so we went out for Indian last night (where I enjoyed but was sensible!) and breakfast at this LOVELY cafe on the North Beach of Wollongong. And a very tiny friend of mine was amazed and told me how tiny I am looking and that was lovely. I really do love myself and life and all the energy I have, it's so refreshing and invigorating! I was reflecting back on how many years I have been struggling with my weight, and about being a fat teen in high school, and I am ready to close the door on that existence for good. I have tried and tried and not made it stick, not gone the distance, but this time I have and I will keep on going!

I'm adding more cycling back into my exercise this week I think, haven't done that for a while. Need to keep things different! And watch out, here I come towards goal!

:)

Sunday arvo update...

Rae's New Stats,
which I have learnt from Jessie (beyourself-onlybetter.blogspot.com)

- Age: 22yrs
- Body Fat Composition: 33.0%
- Weight: 68.8kg
- Lean body Mass: 46.1kg
- Fat Mass: 22.7kg
- BMR: 1433cals, or 5990Kj

New thing I have learnt this week:
BMR stands for Basal Metabolic Rate, which is the amount of energy you need each day, just to keep your body working, and not taking into account any movement or exercise.
I was surprised at how much we actually need to keep going... interesting... go see Jessie blog if you want to learn more... :)

Rae's body fat % aim: to get to 27% after my first 3 months at Curves.

How much exercise have i done this week...?

HEAPS!!! I have actually made a commitment to my Husband that if I don't have a good week on the scales this week I will really pull back my exercise next week, cos with the kayaking and hiking and my normal exercise, my week total is more than 580mins of exercise! Which is almost 10hours this week!! OH MY GOODNESS!!
Anyway the pics are from an email Berrie (see Berrie's amazing transformation so far at tinydonna.blogspot.com!) sent me and I think they describe me perfectly right now! I feel like warrior woman slaying dragons, and I am running around and around and around and around and around and around cos I have so much energy these days! I love it!

*grin*

I also want to say a HUGE thankyou so everyone who comes and visits me here and leaves little comments, I love getting them! Thankyou so much, you brighten my day! :)

Weigh in day tomorrow, and I have a new top to wear as well, which i am extra specially excited about...

Adventures galore!

I just got back from a wonderful few days away at the Colo River, with a very dear friend who is practically a sister to me (we grew up next to each other and even when we were on different postings we have stayed close!), and my hubby too of course. :)
Anyway it was great fun, we went bushwalking for an hour and a bit on Saturday after we got there in the arvo, and that was lovely, the cliffs are amazing and the river is so pretty. Then on Sunday we got all dressed in our short shorts and t-shirts and went Kayaking for a good three hours. We think that we went about 15kms by looking at the map. And we stopped on the banks and had a picnic lunch and made a little fire and had billy tea and it was just lovely. I am so grateful for Team Sexy Arms though, without all those push-ups I definitely don't think I would have been paddling as strong as we did! We even got to explore a little tributary, it felt like we were in the Amazon! Was very cool...
anyway after the bright sunny Sunday we woke up to a miserable Monday, but that didn't stop us going on our hike/bushwalk from the top of Colo ridge to the Colo river, going up and down ravines etc! It was great fun, and Hannah and I were delighted to discover how fit we are! We were very impressed with ourselves! We descended 350m, along a 7km track, and none of it was level.... Anywhere...
and it was wet and all the plants were wet and we were SOPPING wet by the end, but we had a ball!

Rae's first (cute) HAT! :)

I am so proud of my hat.

It sits so cute with my new hair, and my hubby loves it too and keeps telling me how cute I am (I am currently in my massive dressing gown and still wearing it...).

It very exciting, I feel like I can survive the cold now, because at least all my warnth will not be able to escape out the top of my head now... so hopefully I will need less clothes layers on! So therefore solves the problem of not much that fits... :)

Would you believe I have never had a cute hat before? It is very exciting not to look like a bauble/pompom/ball-face!!! :)

oh and I think that I have caught TinyDonna's camera addiction... I seem to love taking lots and lot and lots of photo's these days!

I've got the Winter Blues

I have the Winter Blues. I really don't like being cold, it's oh so depressing! Every winter since my teens (when I suddenly started feeling the cold...), I have put on weight. So I have a whole lot of Winter baggage I think! Last year I got pneumonia and was sick for months and put on 6 of the kilos I had worked so hard to lose, and there is NO WAY that I am letting that happen again!
I guess I am struggling with the very thought of many more weeks of this cold before I ever feel the comfortable warmth again. Then again, TinyDonna (who loves the cold, I am glad someone does! Really!) has informed me that Spring (which is still too cold...) is only 18 weeks away! I am so going to be at goal this Winter. It am not going to let the cold misery in!
I think one of my problems may stem from the fact that really have very little warm clothes to wear. Last winter I was a size 16, I haven't been smaller than a 14 during winter for 6 or 7 years!! I have NOTHING!! This is definitely going to have to change... I think I may have to do a bit of an Op-shop crawl and see what I come up with! Hmmmm, I'm feeling a bit better now that I have come up with this plan!

This weeks Weigh-in

I forgot to put this week weigh-in on here!!
This week I lost....


Drum-roll please...

da-dum!

1.1kgs!!

Understandably I find this result quite pleasing....

*grin*

oh, and I have beento Curves 3 times now and am loving it! They have a wall of star for people to put up for each 10cm they have lost... I found myself wishing i could back-date it though!

Real Denim... scary... and a new outfit...

Well this week the beautiful Tiny Donna has inspired me to do something I didn't think I could even contemplate, let alone do, and that is to actually try on jeans in a "real" jeans store. I am ashamed to say I have never actually done that! And I have NEVER tried on jeans without stretch, for some reason I thought that was the only way to have jeans...
Anyway, if you haven't heard about Donna's jean experience, go over to tinydonna.blogspot.com and check it out now!!
Actually I have to thank Nadine too, because her aim to get back into her size 9 jeans helped push close that change room door too!! You will get them Nadine!! :)
So I did the whole jeans thing really quick, cos I wasn't sure I would do it otherwise. The shopgirl must have thought I was a little weird actually... Anyway I walked in, didn't even look at the style of jeans, just looked at the labels, grabbed the first size 10 I could find, yanked it out and walked rather (ok, very) briskly to the change room and closed the door before I could think twice about it. Then I put them on... With all the usual comments going through my head (eg: these are little little little people clothes! Just cos you can fit other size ten's doesn't mean anything! I mean we all know that jean store are tiny sizes, right!)

And they fit! ARGH!

Why do I keep deluding myself?? I just don't get me!!! argh, I am so happy!!!

Anyway, I didn't buy them (shopgirl wasn't happy about that... woops. :) The reason being is that I am going to buy jeans for my next reward. But now that the ten fits... What size will I be by then??? Who know... But I am sure it will be a very exciting event!! I think I might have to take a girlfriend along though, I might get too excitable for my hubby to handle shopping with!!
:)

oh and the pics up the top are for my dear Berrie, to show off the new and improved Sexy Arms!

(GO TEAM SEXY ARMS!!!!!!)
WOOOHOOO (imagine me waving imaginary pompoms!)

AND, it is also my VERY FIRST, BRAND NEW size TEN top! It's for exercise, but still!! I am sure I will get some pretty tops sometime later, it's just that this was more urgent for support reasons! :)

Team: Sexy Arms! NEW push-ups I've learned...

While I was away my Mum and I did 4, count them 4, PUMP classes in the space of 8 days. Are you proud of me? I am! Anyway, I learnt a lot in these classes, here are some of the things I learnt:
1. I REALLY need to keep doing weight training exercise more regularly than I have been.
SO, I have joined Curves and am looking forward to going!
2. I may have come a long way with push-ups, but I have a lot further that I can go!
SO, I am going to keep pushing myself, and I'm going to get back into my everyday habit of doing them!
3. That there are more ways of doing push-ups, and that is what I am going to share right now!

Tricep Push-ups

Variety One
Put your hand underneath you with the index and thumbs forming a DIAMOND shape, and keep the rest of your fingers together. Your elbow should be sticking out the sides (think: chicken wings!). Either raise to toes or knees, then dip down and up like a regular push-up, and you should feel it down the backs of your arms.

Variety Two
in push-up position, bring your elbows in to your sides, with your hands directly below you shoulders. Your upper arms should be tight into you body. On knees or toes, slowly dip and up. To make it harder (which i definitely don't yet!), lean forward slightly so you are further out over your hands.

Try starting with 5 of each, and work your way up.
If you do then all on knees to start with, then try and introduce some toe ones, and over time increase the amount of toe ones you do, until one day you find you do them all on your toes! HURRAH! :)

Cardio Push-ups

Not sure what to call these, but I thought this was a rather appropriate name!

For this one, you will need to grab a phone book or some other raised and steady object of about 10cm high.
Put the Phone Book in front of you and get ready for a push-up (knees or toes), but have left hand on the phone book and the other hand on the floor. Push down and up, then switch so that your right hand is on the book and left is on the floor (just move your weight around on your arms, don't move your knees/feet. They should just swivel!). Go down and up and then switch again. Do these fast but steady, and they will definitely get your heartrate up as well as working out those muscles! GO GO GO!

When I do these I kind of switch of my brain and say "down, up, SWITCH, down, up, SWITCH, down, up, SWITCH!" There isn't room for any other thoughts!
Set yourself a goal, so to do 20, and keep repeating it is your head and your body will follow!
Make sure you remember to do these after your workout so you are all warmed up already!

I'm BACK!!! :)

I'm so excited, the computer seems to be working for me again! Let's see how long this lasts!
Well I am back from my travels over west, and had a great time, was very busy (I am so I didn't getto see you Jen, I would have loved to! I'm guessing I will be back over there soon-ish though!) but it really was good. Unfortunately the cd that I have put all my photos onto has been corrupted somehow... so I am going to have to wait until I can get some from my mum :(
So instead I have put a pic of the flowers that my GORGOEUS HUSBAND bought me on here, and a recent pic of me... in the only pair of pants that I have that fit, and that my mum keeps calling my skinny pants, so I like them alot right now!!! :)
Funny story about the flowers actually (I really desearve these ones!), I got home - from flying throught the night and a long stopover- to Canberra, and then a 3 hour drive back to my place (my parents are in Canberra, otherwise I would have flownto Sydney, it's much closer!) , only to discover that my darling husband had locked the deadbolt when he had come down for a day while I was in perth, completely forgetting that my key to the deadbolt doesn't work! So I got here and all I wanted to do was crash on the bed and not move... and I couldn't get in! Anyway, I had to stay with some lovely friends (and play with there beautiful baby girl all day... so not a huge sacrifice there!) until my hubby finished up his job in Sydney and finally came home to me! Hence, he got me some beautiful flowers, and attached to the ribbon was a brand new set of keys that actually work... YAY! :)

Well now that I am back I am REALLY keen to get to goal, preferably by the 24th of July, which is my birthday. I'm aiming for a loss of 0.6 each week which would get me there, and I have just joined up to Curves gym so I can have regular weights training to keep on toning me up! (and since I am a student, it's so much cheaper than doing PUMP classes, which I have loved doing while I was away with my Mum).
Unfortunately I haven't got to go Curves for a workout yet, both hubby and I have come down sick. grrr. so taking it really easy and getting better in record time! :) So in the interest of getting better I am getting off from in front of this screen right now, and will ramble on more later! :)