Update on my Journey

Hello Everyone

For those of you who have been following my journey to become healthier, here's a little update.

(Picture: Pinterest)

The last 2 weeks have been quite challenging. I have been down with croup, so I have not been able to exercise at all and I've been on two consecutive courses of antibiotics...which is not really ideal. There were some days that I felt so ill that I just couldn't bring myself to eat. But once I started feeling better, I was like The Very Hungry Caterpillar. On top of that, I had quite a few social outings, which challenged me to make healthier choices than what I normally would - sometimes successfully, sometimes not. So, it has not only been a physical battle, but also an emotional/mental battle.

On the positive side, I will finish my last round of antibiotics tomorrow and I am feeling so much better. With the long weekend that's coming up, I hope to get out a bit and get some steps clocked up.

This morning I had my bi-monthly visit with my wellness coach / dietitian / mentor / motivator / generally the most amazing person, Amanda Weber. Each visit consists of a weigh in, measurements, a look at my food diary and then setting goals for the next two weeks.

I wasn't really looking forward to seeing my progress this morning as I felt that I hadn't given it my best try, but I was pleasantly surprised. Over the last two weeks I have lost 1.4 kilos and 3cm around my waist.

So the numbers, as they stand today, after 4 weeks on my new lifestyle plan, are as follows:

Weight lost in kilos - 4.8 kilos
Centimeters lost around my waist - 8cm

Next week our schools break up for the Winter holidays. So I really have to focus and stay on track.

My goals and plan of action of the following two weeks...

1. Drink my 8 glasses of water...every.single.day.
2. Keep my food diary religiously.
3. Watch my salt intake
4. Walk at least 3 times a week for 30 min (when the weather allows)
5. Incorporate more beans into my diet to boost my protein intake.

(Picture: Pinterest)

Have a super long weekend!

Until next time,

XX-L

Twenty-FITteen: don your tights and tekkies!

With a new year comes new resolutions.....however, my resolution started after seeing photos of myself at my daughter's first birthday in November 2014. I was bloated, dark circles under my eyes, generally not looking all that well and I was/am huge! So, there and then I decided to make a change not only for my own sake but also for my family.

With the summer school holidays approaching and Christmas around the corner, my first goal was not to gain any more weight over the festive season. I started drinking lots of water and a good friend of mine and I resolved to walk in the mornings after we had dropped off the kids at school. All went well, until the holidays arrived....

By the time school started again in January I had gained another 2 kilos! 

I have been on every conceivable diet, none of them completed successfully! And that was exactly my problem, it was a diet and not a lifestyle change. I had to change the way i thought about food and exercise and start nourishing my body instead of feeding my emotions.

I decided to start my lifestyle change by seeing a dietitian. She advised that I follow a calorie controlled low fat, moderate low GI carb, moderate protein diet. I had fasting blood tests done to test my glucose, insulin and cholesterol. As i suspected, my cholesterol and insulin levels were up. One of my goals is to keep a food diary to track what i eat......and born was my addiction/obsession with  My Fitness Pal . I continue to see the dietitian once a month to monitor my eating plan and make adjustments. My goal is to lose the weight slowly and to keep it off. In order to lose 500g a week i need to cut 500 calories a day. I also aim to burn 500 calories through exercise a day. I try to drink about 3 liters of water a day and have cut out all sugar, replacing this with xylitol.

Friends invited me to start walking in the early morning with them, but because my husband needs to leave home very early for work, i was a bit reluctant....but these awesome ladies insisted that i join them and even moved their walk to even earlier!!! So now we walk 3 times a week, doing 4 km a day on average AND i have fallen in love with the Root 44 Parkrun on Saturdays. Parkrun is a free, timed 5km run or walk that happens around the world at 8am every Saturday. For every Parkrun completed, you also earn 500 Discovery Vitality points. I use the Runkeeper to keep a record of all my walks. This app is great as it also calculates the number of calories you burn while you are walking as well as your average pace per minute. You can also compare you individual workouts or week by week. My wonderful hubby also gave me a Polar FT4 for Christmas to help me track my heart rate.

My intention is to do weekly (at minimum) posts about my journey and experiences while i shake off the excess kilos.

Here are my stats to date, after 4 weeks on my new lifestyle and exercise program:
Starting weight on 22 January 2015: 135.7kg 😱😱😱
Current weight on 20 February 2015: 131.00kg

Image: Pinterest

Until next time

XX-L