Another year over...

And a new one's just begun..

Today I returned to the gym. This week we started eating healthier like we were doing before. I didn't push myself and I know I could have done more, but I want to ease back into it as I don't know what my knee will be like after going back. I managed to tear something in my right knee and I was going to physio for it. Physio helped a bit but I'm still not confident with the way my knee has healed. 

We are taking Natasha to Disneyland this summer so I want to lose some weight by the time we go. I know it won't be enough, but I want to at least be feeling better than how I'm feeling now. 

What a waste of a year!

I've left this blog dormant, much like my exercise and healthy eating plan. I have managed to regain about 10 kgs since I last updated :( and it's high time I start getting back on the right track.

I have a co-worker who has recently started the Exante Diet and although she has only been on it for a few weeks, it has inspired me to actually go through this journey again in a healthy way. I'm sure that people have success on meal replacement diets, in fact I lost about 10kg a few years ago using the Cambridge Diet, but I put all of that weight, and then some, back on as soon as I stopped.

I know I have a LOT more than 10 kg to lose (though I'm about 7-8 kg lighter than my heaviest), but I need to do this for myself and for my daughter. I want her to look at me and see an amazing mom. I know she does at the moment (as she is only three and a half) but I don't want her to grow up thinking that it's okay to be sedentary.

Nick and I will be starting our journey together once again. I need to start out a bit more slowly this time with regards to exercise due to a recent knee injury in which (I'm pretty sure) I tore a ligament. It's still quite tender a few weeks down the line and I don't want to do anything that will cause the pain to flair up again.

Well, here's to a beginning...

Five Months Later...

... and I'm still about the same weight I was in my last post. So, I've wasted these last 5 months by not doing the things I've done to lose that weight.

However, I have not put on much of that weight at all in those 5 months. This is telling me that the way I did lose it was working, and working well to keep it off!

So now it's time to start again. I must start again. I have to get rid of this excess weight and be healthy, and experience what a more fit, healthy body is like. I have never had this.

My new goal is to be under 200 pounds by my 35th birthday. I was thinking 35 by 35, but that would put me so near to 200 I may as well aim a little higher.

Starting now...

Goal #1 Achieved!

I know I've put on a lot of weight over the years, but the fact that this morning, I hit my first major goal, has really hit home for me just how overweight I am, and was!

I've now lost 16 kg, or 35 lbs, or 2.5 stone. Take your pick on how you want to look at it. I think this is amazing progress, and I'm very proud of myself for making these changes and for accomplishing what I have.

At the same time it makes me a bit sad to think that this first target is just one step on my journey, and it's the place I was 10 years ago when I met my husband! Ten years is a long time to have put on so much weight, and also to not have tried harder to lose it!

People keep talking to me about my diet and what I've been doing to get to where I am. Well, I'm not on a diet. I can't think that I'm on a diet or I'll try to find ways of breaking it. I just eat differently now. I think differently about food.

My main problem used to be that I'd feel like I was missing out. I'd have to have some of whatever I saw. I didn't want to not know what something was like. Lately I've been trying to change that thought process to include questions like, "How many calories are in that, and how long will it take me to work it off if I stick it in my gob?"

Don't get me wrong, I still have treats. Just today I enjoyed the last delicious hallowe'en cupcake I made. But the difference now is I make a point of sharing my baking by bringing it to work, or by just limiting myself to one (or two if it's something small), and the key point, I count everything!

I know that some people think that tracking calories is a pain in the butt. So is having a heart attack!

I use MyFitnessPal. My username is Karrora. I have opened my diary for friends to view, so add me if you want and see what I've been eating. I don't lie on there. What's the point?! It's about being honest with yourself. You can hide your diary entries if you want to (I definitely used to) but now I want people to see when I've had those few chocolates at work, or when I've had a big dinner.

This is what's working for me. If you think you need help, or you feel like you can not do what I've been doing, I think we need to chat. I feel like I need to pay this forward in some way.

35 pounds is nothing to shake a stick at! My next goal is to lose 5 kg more before my mom visits me for Christmas. I hope I can keep this momentum going!! And I hope I can inspire someone out there to make a change as well.

Still not going?!

What the hell is wrong with me?? It's been almost 3 weeks since I went to the gym! I'm still losing weight, but I'm not toning at all!

I'm going to have the problem that my trainer likes to call "skinny-fat". Skinny people who still have their fat skin. This is something that really concerns a lot of fat people. What will I do if I lose all of this weight, but I'm still carrying around all of the excess skin that's been stretched out over the years?

Does someone want to start a plastic surgery collection for removing my bingo wings when I'm at my goal weight? ;)

A Bit of A Blip...

It's not easy changing one's lifestyle overnight. I tried to do that. I can feel myself slipping back to a few of the habits I am trying to change.

I feel like I've got the food part under control. I'm trying to stay under 1400 calories a day but I don't beat myself up if I go over by a few hundred calories. As long as I stay below 2000 I'm happy with my intake for the day.

I think I went balls to the wall on the gym stuff and now I'm feeling a bit lax when it comes to getting my butt up and out of the house. I have not been for 15 days now. :(

I have had one session with my trainer in that time as well. I need to rediscover the motivation I had at the start of September. I'm now two months into this life-changing journey, but I'm starting to feel tired.

I know I'm fine once I'm at the gym, and I put in a good workout when I'm there, it's just a matter of getting up and going.

What will get me up and going? GET UP AND GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Aches and Ailments of the Morbidly Obese

Knees

My knees seem to be what I'd suffered with the most up until about 6 months ago. I know that having so much extra weight to carry around has really done them no good at all, and to have had to do that for as long as they have, I'm surprised that my knees haven't given out already. I can feel when they're starting to get bad, and I've always managed to avoid getting bad pain with them, though I used to get it a lot worse when I was in high school (probably due to still growing).

I find them to be more sore when I've had to sit on the floor or kneel for extended periods of time, mostly due to the fact that I can't rest on my bottom when I'm kneeling on the floor, or when I'm doing something like running or using the elliptical trainer, or walking up/down stairs. There is just too much "stuff" on the backs of my legs for me to sit down comfortably on my knees. I would love to just sit there like I see others do, with a flat lap for children to sit on (rather than the slide I end up with). And when it comes to the workouts/climbing action, I don't know why the smaller range of motion is so vulnerable or susceptible to causing the pain, but I have always tried to be careful when doing these activities.

Always Out of Breath or Sweaty

I hate being late. It is one of the things that I try to avoid at all costs, even to the extreme that I've arrived 1-2 hours early for events, just to make sure I don't end up stuck somewhere. For this reason, I've never really had to rush anywhere, which means I can arrive and have time to either calm my breathing if I need to, or to relax and cool down so I'm not dripping with sweat from moving more vigorously than I normally would have.

Working out at the gym and running have helped to change this. I know I still get out of breath and sweaty (usually just at the gym now), but it takes longer now for me to reach these extremes because I've been doing so more regularly and building up my cardiovascular fitness. I still get out of breath and sweaty (give me a break, I've still got almost an entire person's worth of weight to lose) but it's not as severe, nor for as long a duration.

Back Pain?

I think I am very lucky in that I've never really suffered from back pain. I sometimes will wake up from an uncomfortable sleep with a stiff back, but nothing ever really bothered my back from carrying around all of these spare tyres. I feel very lucky that I don't have more issues. Now, the main issues I'm feeling with regards to my back are the pains I get when trying to lay down to do exercises like leg raises. I need to brace myself with my hands under my bottom in order for me to even do them. I see this as an okay ache!

Oh My Flying Spaghetti Monster, MY HEEL!

I think this is the one part of me that seems to have been caused the most pain due to my size. My right heel seems to be in excruciating pain most days when I wake up, to the point that some days I find it difficult to walk on my right foot. I know that I need to get insoles for my shoes to help alleviate the pain, and I need to get some more supportive shoes to wear for work and for every-day wear. I know that this answers a lot of my problems, and I really should see a doctor about it. Some doctors just never seem to take people seriously...