Day 30

So the last few days ive been feeling like im not progressing much. I havnt been climbing that much or doing any other exercise apart from our PCP ones. I know Patrick said low intensity daily ontop of what we were already doing. but i wasnt doing much before. but Should I be doing more? like going for walks etc aswell, or is just doing the PCP routine ok? im not sure. I went climbing last night and did the exercises after and was absolutly nackid come bed time, so that was really good. Feeling like id done enough.

Im not sure what im expecting to see right now - although there are some great changes in the mirror, theres still lots of fat. Im in two minds - Im glad there is still 2 more months to go as I have a lot of extra that I want to work on getting off, but i have moments where I want to eat what everyone else is having. Oh well, tough. Im sticking with it for sure.

Ive been eating alot of chewing gum, its sugarfree but its still calories isnt it, so I dont know if this is ok either. could it be hindering my progress?

I loathe the jumps, they hurt! the plank is mighty hard too. and the creeps.

ok thats all for now. wow! the end of our first month! congrats guys!

Day 29

Woah, sorry guys, I didnt realise it was so long since i last blogged! ok so, my indulgence was alot like Elena said, meh. I wanted to have a piece of hedgehog slice - yum my favourite with a cuppa! but for a piece it was about 600 cals! so I went with a kit kat chunky around 340 cals or something like that.

It was good, but I couldv gone without. Id been stressin a little about what to have, so just settled for that. Not long after I felt a little ill too. And I felt like I was ruining my progress.

I went out for lunch on sun for a bday, and had a vegie salad, i felt bad cause it had dressing on it. I felt sickley after that too.

Exercises have been going ok, those planks are horrendous! and I can only do 2 proper pushups max. Im such a weakling. So, for now its pushups on the knees. Im pushin through the burn.

Jump rope is good, but tripping frustrates the hell outta me, especially when I trip first jump round! Cant do 1000 all at once tho. I just go till I can then rest, then keep goin. When Im feeling lazy I do it in my tiny unit apartment, the people underneath us must get feed up!

I went to the podiatrist, and my feet are flat causing my knees, legs and pelvis to turn in putting pressure on my back causing the pain! so hopefully orthotics help. Im getting hard contact lenses made too, so I can see better - they are absolutley awfull, theyr like bricks in my eyes! everyones doing great! woah, 29 days!

Day 23

Have just finished the exercises, was alittle tough, my back is getting worse. Ive gotten way fitter with the jump rope so thats going pretty good! Deborah, heres a pic of my rope, its just a simple one from k-mart, i think the brand is sportte or something like that. its simple but really good and you can shorten if need.

Today was a liitle hard, i was hungry and everyone around me was eating muffins and hot chips! oh well i just stuck to my sandwich for lunch. seeing changes this week does make this easier to keep strong!

This is a pic of pumpkin, spring onion and zucchini soup i made, with

water. Its pretty good! although I think possibly the boiling might take out the nutrients? not sure. Ill have some for lunch tomorrow.

I was going to make bread last weekend and use Elenas recipie, but i cheated and brought a bread mix box. haha. i forgot the yeast tho so ill make it this weekend. yum!

you cant really see, but this is my wall calendar all crossed out till day 23!

everyone is doing and looking so great, keep it up!

isnt this a cute bunny.

Day 22 - woohoo changes!

Patrick was right! this week i have noticed some changes..my jeans fit good again! they were difficult to pull up and I struggled to do them up, but now they fit, hooray! have lost 3kgs also.

1000 jumps went really well yesterday, they are getting much easier, apart from the tripping!

Ive been on a groundwater course last couple of days - they had muffins for morning tea! yum, but i stuck to my fruit. We also got given lunch bags today with goodies, man i wanted to eat the chips! but theres no way im gona give in, so i brought it home for my partner.

My new jump rope is great, it was 4buks and is perfect!

Ive been watching the first season of true blood too...its pretty good. adictive.

im stoked too, cause our work ball isnt until september, so i should be looking good by then and ill be able to drink! yey.

happy day 22!

Day 19/20

I saw a reflexologist lady for health day at my work, she reckons it may be my feet thats giving me back problems, so im gona go see a podiatrist! makes sense i guess, cause if i have no arch support in my shoe whilst exercising i get really sore feet too.

these last couple of days have gotten better. Except for the dinner the other night...we went to an amazing italian restaurant. I had chicken and salad. I had a bite of garlic bread but.... i thought about it and discretly spat it out! i was quite proud of myself. I felt bad tho, I forgot to ask for no dressing on the salad, and it was covered. I ate it and it was good, but then i felt sick after. My meal was massive,but only ate about a quarter of it I reckon. I couldv eaten it all tho, so glad i didnt. was difficult, everyone was drinking wine and eating really saucey pasta...it looked so good! so id prefer to stay away from those things, but its tough when its someones going away or bday. Whether your on a diet or not people still expect you to go.

exercises are going well, the last couple of days ive had the soreist butt! mayby I worked out harder on the lunges and squats then usuall, im not sure.

I think my tummy is tightning, still a little pot tho. And my butt has gotten slightly smaller, but theres still massive fat on the outer parts. cant wait to get rid of it!

This morn for brekky i had an egg on toast (poached in balsamic vinegar), and a pumpkin soup and spring onion concoction that my partner made last night, with piece of toast. Was nice to have a break from the tomato, mushroom, avocado and egg on toast.

hmm, ok i think thats enough for now.

3 weeks! hooray!

Day 17 - Hungry hungry

Hmm, the last few days have been really difficult. ive been getting hungry, at night time mostly - i guess its not so much the cravings now, but I feel like I want to eat after ive already had my food. Its a pain.

Ive also got a sore lower back, its been like this for a couple of months now, but seems to be getting worse - i think from the abs stuff. deep heat is great but I might go to the doctor.

last night I got through the jumps pretty well! 200 intervals but I had alot of dam trips so they gave me small rests.

Tomorrow night its my friends farewell to europe dinner for a few months, so I should go. ive looked at the menu and looks like i can get grilled chicken or fish and salad - its marinated tho. So I may get that and eat a small portion of it. Or a salad.

ooh, those pushups are the worst! i only just bearly finish them! ouch. I am slighlty learning to like the burn, but not really.

Good job everyone so far! day 17! have we come up with a team name yet?

Day 14 - Dam cravings!

Last night and tonight, this..

has me made feel like this..

Well I am having cravings. Real bad. so Ive eaten quite a bit of sugarfree gum (hopefully gum is ok). Oh man its hard to not beable to eat what I want. But, I just think of you guys and how great we will all feel at the end and it gets me through. I will definitly not give in, but its a little difficult. i was fine, no cravings..then i saw my favourite chocolate bar at the dvd shop and all those desires came flooding back in. since then the cravings havnt left the vacinity. Ive had so many cups of tea, their starting to taste dull and yuk. I might have a lemon drink.

Havnt done the 800 jumps yet, so will get onto that soon. I need to buy a new rope as mines too long, I have been twisting it around my fingers, but it tangles and i get sore hands from holding the dam thing.

ok ive been a bit of a sad sack. so apart from that...

my resistance bands are great, got 3 diff strengths.

oh man, 9 push ups per set....i was struggling last night! they were tough.

I think ive lost 2kg, but my scales say something different each time! my thighs are still massive. cant wait for them to go down.

Im having trouble being creative with the food, so ill get onto those recipes again.

ooh our diet sheets are cool! theyl come in good handy. thanks Patrick!

Day 11 - thankgod its the weekend!

Its Friday!!

man, i found it so hard to get through the jump rope today. I kept tripping up, which was really brassing me off and I was so tired. I almost had a little cry. But I got through them, phew. Im not sure, but I really think the lethargy is coming from my lunch time carbs, is this possible?

heres a wee pic of my lunch - brown fried rice w/ egg, chicken and vege. so i pretty much just chucked it all in the pan (only a smidgen of olive oil

spray). .

I had a chicken, tomato, cucumber and red onion toasted sandwich for tea, was tasty. added a smidgen of sweet chilli sauce, im not sure this was allowed?

woohoo! day 11!

Day 10 - Feeling tired after big lunch

Today I am feeling sleepy.

so it was hard to get my exercises done after work. Of course I got through them tho, thankgod thats done.

Diet is going well, well I find it hard to get all of my lunch down but i get there in the end.

Those recipies will come in handy Deborah! im def finding it hard to be creative with the food.

Fruit is so good. I think my chocolate cravings are lessening, I havnt felt like it for a few days now... I was given a crunchy today, and I didnt even think 'man I want that'. I brought it home for my partner.

Its a little difficult as I have to drive past mcdonalds everyday... the cravings are getting less tho. oh man but when that sweet sweet smell lingers through the car window I imagine how good it would be to eat a big mac. oh and that sauce... yuuumm. I know this couple who dont even crave junk food, at all. amazing. I think they were a little shocked when we suggested macas for tea after a day of climbing.

The soreness has gone now, but man, im with you on those lunges Royce, I get so bord, they take so long - theyre probably the exercise I dislike the most.

Yey day 10!

Day 8 - first day eating plan

Well, this morning I had no eggs! way to start the diet I know.. So had everything but that. Im going to the supermarket very soon, to start the day off proper tomorrow. Im am so thankfull we can have a whole egg not just the egg white. I had tomato on toast..its a little dry without marg! and two pieces was tough to eat.

I had my planned lunch, but I couldnt eat it all! is this ok? If my calculations were correct on the scales, I had one sandwhich and a half, with measured amount of chicken and vege and I just couldnt get it all down.

Exercises were great! i think that rest day off strength stuff yesterday helped alot, cause it was much easier today and not sore. Although now my back/shoulder muscles are hurting! I guess from the resistance bands and pull down. Hmm.. now I couldnt find something to do the incline exercise on, so I used the lat pull down machine at the gym. I need to find something thats not in the gym so Ill see how I go on that.

Im a bit worried about the replacing fat with muscle thing...my thighs are already massive, i want them to shrink not build....hmm see how we go. Same with my arms.

! I know this wont happen, but still. aarrggh.

will have some brown rice or something like that in my meals tomorrow.

hope everyone's first day on the diet went well!

Day 7

Well, I was very hungry today.. it was a public holiday today, so spent of most the day at home. Being at home and not over eating was hard. Cups of tea helped. But its so good to have small portions as I usually overeat and feel horrible and full. Now I feel good after ive eaten (after the initial, 'I want more' has past).

I watched mega shark, giant octopus...(as per Jennys blog) it was an awful movie! haha. I also watched moon, which was a bit better.

My jump rope went pretty good, 500 jumps! however, I had to do it in 100 jump intervals. Might take some time before I can do it all in one go! My dam rope kept twisting too and id trip up. So as per Marens comment t0 Tara, I put the rope into boiling water and hung it up, and all the kinks have come out! brilliant advice..thanks Maren!

I didnt know what to have for my 'last' half meal. I was thinkin something yummy like spag bowl, or homemade pizza - but decided not to go there, as I always over-eat when I have these. so, I had chicken stroganoff with brown rice and zucchini.

ooh tomorrow we start our eating plan!

food today:

Breky: Banana and berry smoothie with lowfat yogurt and milk

half piece of toast with vegemite

Lunch: some chicken and coleslaw (small portion)

Snack: mandarin

some rice crackers with avocado

Dinner: Chicken stroganof with brown rice (small portion)

and about 4 black teas I think.

hmm, and perhaps for desert ill have low fat yogurt and half banana. yum.

Sex in the City/day 4-5

Yesterday, was an ok day....still sore, but its good sore. Slightly sore when going to sit down...but I love this feeling, it means im getting somewhere, and I feel really good. Not the usuall sluggish obese that i felt before PCP. I went to see sex in the city 2 last night at the drive in movies....man it was difficult to see all the lollies and chocolate up on the screen (telling you to go to the candy bar before movie) - i knew this would happen so I took along some low fat yogurt and cutup apple and banana, which did the trick! Oh man did I want to go out for a cocktail after watching that tho. It was a good movie too, those 4 ladies are in great shape! im going to be like that. yes.

A group of mates are getting together for dinner and drinks tonight... im still deciding whether to go, can I stop at half a beer and half a meal? I will have to, but I dont know if I want to face the challenge... but then again as Patrick said something along the lines of..the more you dont give into your cravings, the easier it gets and the craving goes away. same sort of concept isnt it, if i can go out and eat half a meal and only half a beer and socialise without drinking - thats a great feat for me, and it will make me stronger - I will learn better self control.

ooh man those abs exercises...I feel great relief once Ive gotten through them.

Day 3 - sore body!

I am feeling very sore today! I couldnt get up for exercise this morning as my whole body hurts! so Ill get onto that after work. I have a gym membership (which dosnt get used alot) but its good I have it there for the winter coming up, its getting cold! so ill prob do my exercises there today and a run on the treadmill.
The abs workouts and pushups are so hard! ooh I felt the burn. And this week is easy, man if this is easy I dont know how I will cope with the following weeks exercises. Tripped up a few times last night with the jump rope, I didnt have any shoes on which didnt help.

So, its only 10.23am but I know what ill be eating today:
breakfast: banana, blueberry, yogurt, skim milk smoothie with spirulina and acai berry powder.
snack: half an apple, cup of tea (will prob have about 5 teas today I reckon)
Lunch: half an egg sandwich and cup of tea
snack: a carrot, some yogurt (oh, I guess this should be half a carrot)
tea: small portion of chicken stirfry
snack: yogurt and banana

Im feeling hungry after my half apple. Im off to make a green tea!