It's been a good day

Feeling heaps better today - had a yummy healthy breakfast in bed (day off work today), did a WW exercise DVD, mowed the back and front lawns and had a yummy WW lunch. Feeling lots better, got some really great advice from the WW community boards to boost my mood.

I checked out a website someone on the WW community boards suggested, it's about training to run 5km. It's based over 2 months, and takes it in nice easy baby steps. The website is http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml. I am going to start this week :-)

A lady from the community boards FiLi has challenged me to a race to loose 1kg this week, so that's really fun having someone you know is working with you to help you loose.

Anyway enough ramblings! I am going to start posting what I am eating, just for a week, so I can track what I ate to see if it has any major bearing on any loss/gains.

Cherrio!

Oh no.....

EEK. What a shock at weight in tonight! I gained 1.2kg. Bugger! I know I had a blow out, but not that much??? That's the most I have ever put on in one week. So, this week I am going to be really good with portion sizes, and try not to eat all my 21 points. Oh, and of course exercise :-). So, at the end of this next week if I gain I will try going back to points for a week to see if that works.

Still confused about the huge weight gain, but hey! Could be a number of things - fluid retention, the blow out at the weekend, my muscles have gotten bigger = gained 'weight'.

Bring on a good, healthy week!

The night before weigh in freaky-itis

Yup...... I am freaking about WI tomorrow night! Why? Ummm.... I ate like the old Cass today BIG TIME. Greasy breakfast, corn chips and wine, ice-cream. Oooopsie!

BUT, today aside, I am proud of the little victories I made while being away. It could have been much much worse. I went to the gym 4 times, and did heaps of walking around the city. And I am determined to start tomorrow with an awesome, positive attitude.

I feel lots lots better about being back home, and in control of my food. I really missed being able to cook for myself, eating out on NoCount its bloomin hard for sure!

So, WI tomorrow night. Back to Monday's, so this weigh week is a day short. If I can loose 600 grms, and make my first goal of 2kg I will be over the moon. If not 600grms, and only 100 grms, a loss is a loss, and I will take it in with a big grin. I am feeling great, healthier, more energised. And that's the most important thing.

Watching NZ Idol final... first time watching the programme. It's rainy, cold and miserable outside. Inside with the gas heater cranked up and our cats snoozing away. Reminds me of winter!

Hope everyone had an awesome weekend, and good luck for this week :-)

My first hangover in a while.....

Golly gosh - funny how sensible eating gets chucked out the window once you've had a few drinks!

Had such a great time last night, John arrived safely, went for a few drinks with some conference delegates and had some pretty awesome discussions on internal comms. They had some of their mates with them, and they were soooo funny! Ended up spending the whole night with them, they took us around the city and we went to some funky bars. BUT for dinner... lol.... well I prob ate my 21 points along with another 21, and another 21! It was the BEST mexican food I have had ever. SO, have woken up with a sore head, and bloated tummy today. Craving some fruit... or worse yet bacon and eggs LOL.

So I will hit the gym prob this afternoon to atone for my sins. Not looking foward to WI on Monday now!!! :o)

Hope everyone elses weekend is going great so far!

Kia Ora from Windy Wellington

Well so far so good - just one small slip up last night, scoffing a bag full of cheese corn chips from the mini-bar after dinner. But I hauled myself to the gym after today's conference and did a pretty solid workout. I was really good with breakfast and lunch, making wise choices. Just where did this voice of reason come from! What has made it come out, was it there all along?

John arrives tomorrow, so this weekend is going to be heaps of fun. Just have to remember to eat and drink sensible, and treat myself at the same time - but with low-point treats.

Today's conference was awesome! It's on internal communications. The line up of speakers were top class, and have a head full of ideas to turn into plans. At least hammering away on the laptop tonight will keep me occupied :-)

Hope everyone elses week is going great!

Woohoo! My first loss

What a great night I had! I lost 1.4kg at my first weigh in on NoCount. Very very happy with that result.

It was quite funny, my first thought was ooohhh I can treat myself! What will I have? Fish and Chips? Pizza? But thoughts quickly turnned to I will have pasta, and treat myself with some lite bacon and parmesan cheese. How funny is that - my treats are now food I would normally have had everyday in the past!

Off to Wellington today, so I have to have my wits about me as a lot of frankeinsten foods and drinks are going to be coming at me at all angles. I have packed some apples in my suit case so I have a heathly snack in my hotel room on hand. I land at 3pm-ish so I plan to hit the Hotel gym for a good work out this afternoon before heading to the conference.

:-) Cass

Only 2 hours and 50 minutes to go...

EEEEK my first Weigh In is coming up fast. I am a mix of emotions, very excited because I know I have lost some weight, my clothes are looser which is SUCH a great feeling. But scared, what if it's only 100 grms or something like that? I have been so good this week.

But I am determined not to get worked up over it. I bet when I stand on those scales at 5.30pm I will be happy as larry.

I am so sick of water at the moment. I can hear my tummy sloshing around everytime I walk around the office heehee.

Oh well better get back to work..... and stop looking at the clock and freaking out!

:-) Cass

Rainy Monday-itis

Yay! I always smile when I look at this picture. It's taken in the Malbourough Sounds, down in Nelson. Beautiful sunny day. But very different here today!Sigh - typical NZ weather. It's labour day, and yep, it's raining! But had a great sleep in, hauled the laptop into bed and cruised around the WW message boards for some inspiration. Haven't got up to much today, no exercise (yet!), but food wise it's been a good day. So interesting why NoCount has had such a great impact on me emotionally with food! I just don't want junk food, I am craving fruit which is just so weird for me. Hey, what am I saying.. it's a good thing! Go with it!

Monday's are normally weight in day for me, but the meetings are closed for public holiday. So I am doing WI tomorrow at Papamoa after work. I can't wait to see what change I have made to the scale. I do feel lighter, especially around the waist area, and that's great to see in one week :-)

This week could be a challenge, but I am determined not to let it be one. I am off to Wellington on Wednesday, and get back on Sunday. So that normally would be a binge and a half! Hotel food, booze, nibbles, partying. But not now. My normal now will be fresh food, only an odd wine here or there, and plenty of fresh air and excersie! In the past when I get to go away for work or on holiday I get this mentality that "oh my god it could be last time doing this so I should eat what I want and drink what I want!" But, hey, I will still be going away on holiday, for work in the future so I should stop letting it be an excuse to binge and slob around! It's only my second week in WW, so I want to make sure I keep the momentum going.

Thinking about what exercise I can do this afternoon while it's raining. I could walk down to the supermarket to get some stuff I need, or do an exercise DVD. Hmmm.... something will inspire me no doubt.

So enough rambling from me. Time to enjoy the rest of this holiday!

The battle was won!

Last night's battle was won! Since I had a big bbq party to go to, I made sure I did some exercise during the day (bike ride) and had some point free food before I went so I wouldn't arrive starving. And it worked! I didn't go near one chip or piece of cheese, and it was everywhere man :-) I had some salad when I got hungry too. I bought just one bottle of wine (7.5 points) and I had 10 points for that night so made sure it lasted by having one glass of water between each wine. Managed to get the bottle to last from 7pm through to 1am! Normally it would be drunk in about an hour.

So, I am proud I got through ok, and wasn't really bothered that I couldn't tuck into the fatty snacks like I used to. Can't wait for weight in, normally it would be tomorrow but it's a public holiday here in NZ, so will WI on Tuesday night. Looking forward to it!

Saturday Battle Plan

Yay it's Labour Weekend here in NZ! Love a long weekend, Saturday always feels like a Friday off work, and you know you have two more days to relax.

Felt horrible last night, but restrained myself big time from pigging out and drinking, as I would normally do that to comfort my moods. Only had two low alcohol beers, and really didn't feel like the second one. Woke up this morning and John and I biked down to New World to do our weekly shop. Was great in two ways - we got some exercise, and we didn't waste money on crap because we knew we had to lug in back in our backpacks!

Got home, and John had a butter chicken pie for breakfast LOL! I had my special K with berries and two pieces of vogels toast. He asked if I wanted a bite, and I surprise myself from saying no! Even he looked at my weird heehee. I know I have a battle ahead of me tonight at our friends BBQ, so every little bite, sip of crap food will all add up, I know it.

So tonight to ensure I don't go over board is take note my of left over points - I have 10. So, I will be drinking low alcohol beer with soda water w/ lemon between each beer. I am going to have a healthy snack before we leave so I am not tempted to eat chips and dips when I get there. WI is only 2 days away so I really want to keep on track.

John reackons I have lost weight this week. I havn't dragged out our scales to check, would much much rather wait for WI and get the cool thrill and esteem boost a loss gives you :-)

So, here's to tonight and enjoying myself without pumping my body full of crap food and booze!!!!!

Hit a bit of a pre-slump

Yes I think a slump is on it's way... so trying really hard to combat it. First I need to look at why I am feeling this way.

Wednesday I planned to do a gym work out or walk, but ended up just kicking a few balls around the park with John. Still some exercise but not a huge lot. Then yesterday I was lazy and didn't go for a walk or the gym. But it was still a good day for a few reasons, for lunch I went to one of my fav cafes where I used to get fatty filo wraps or chocolates, but this time I got the healthiest thing there which was a mederteranian penne pasta - the most fatty thing in it was the feta, and instead of getting an OJ or fizzy drink I got a green tea. Sat outside in the sun while eating and read a magazine. Felt great for making the right choice.

Then to celebrate John passing his exam I suggested we went out for a bite to eat. Now normally that would be Burger King or Wendys LOL, but I managed to get him to fancy some sushi so we went to a local sushi bar. And what's even better normally with sushi I would get deep everything, but I tried the vegie rolls and some chicken ones and it was great. Was a bit hungry later on in the evening, so had a couple of boiled eggs and toast.

So I am keen to get to the gym today, normally on a Friday some of us work girls head out for lunch and a glass of wine, but am not going to do that today, maybe just a drink after work (and lite beer or soda water with gin!)

We have labour weekend starting tomorrow, so that's going to be a huge test for me! I am happy as I will breeze through ok :-)

Yay! No nasty emails!

The power of this blog is an un-tapped force.... as soon as I posted yesterday if I didn't got the gym I would be angry at myself voila! I left work a bit early and raced down to the gym and did a full work out. See... acountability works miracles with me!

Really good on the food front last night. Got home, didn't snack on crap as per norm, had a yummy dinner of small piece of steak done on the BBQ, chilli mashed potatoes and my fav salad. No wine or beer with it, and I ate it in our sunny conservatory away from the TV and just relaxed. I took my time eating, I did the half-time test and found that I was full, so had food left on my plate once I hit the comfortable zone on NoCount.. think it's 3 or 4? Felt a bit stuffed, but not bad.

Then last night I was bored so I was 'craving snacks'. I realised that I was hungry, it was just the habit of eating something when I was bored. So happy I can recognise this now. So I went to bed a bit perplexed, but woke up this morning quite hungry so I had a hot breakfast which hit the sport. Glad to know I went to bed without stuffing myself and knowing that the crap food was sitting in my tummy not being burnned up. I ate dinner at 5.45pm so that's over 13 hours without food, which I guess is how it should be?

Today is my optional exercise day, so I have asked John if he will head down to the cricket nets and have a play around with bat and ball. He's keen, so I thought that was a great way to sneak some exercise in.

Lovley sunny day - feeling great! Can' wait for weight in next week!

"The thing to try when all else fails is AGAIN!":-)

Exercise - gotta exercise!

Day's gone ok so far - food wise it's been fine and dandy. Exercise on the other hand...... was planning on hitting the Gym at lunch time but got tied up at work. So then thought I would go after work, but man... just can't get motivated! And it's only day 2 HAHA! Little hurdle, I will jump over it.

If I blog tomorrow and havn't been to the gym you all have permission to send me messages saying NAUGHTY CASS! Ok. Here is my motivation!.

First Weight In

Yeeaha went to my first WW meeting today. I was determined to go the new members table and pretend like I had not been before so I got the full run down from the start (especially since the plan has changed so much!) but I gave in! It was still a good briefing. But is it just me or has WW become a sales sales sales push or what? I was asked twice if I wanted to purchase packs or pay fees in advance, or buy magazines... hmmm...

Anyway, my starting weight is 75.5kg. Man, I managed to stack on 3.5kg along the way! Can't wait to shift it for sure. I have decided to try No Count for the first week, see how it goes. I am on day two of NC, it's going ok. Still sick with this cold so not sure if that is what is curbing my hunger pains or if I am in a different mind set. Either way, its great!

I found it hard when my Leader asked me what my goal weight was - pretty hard thing to ask on your first day at WW? The closets I ever got to goal was 69kg... down from 83kg. I was pretty happy with how I looked. So I think I will cut this weight loss into chunks.. start with 2kg goal, 5kg, 10% etc. Monitor how I feel along the way. Maybe 60kg will be too light? But hey! Can't wait to find out!!!!

I have been cruising the WW message boards the past 3 days while at home crashed on the couch. Great inspiration there for sure! One lady from Australia has started up a 10kg challenge - loose 10kg by 1 Jan, 2007. Over 140 ladies have joined up, and we are split into teams. I am on team PHAT STOMPERS. Love the name! The organiser has even put up prizes and started a blog to get people started http://www.10kgnewyearschallenge.blogspot.com/ if you have time check it out. Great way to kick start any weight loss programme.

Over the past few attempts at WW one of the reasons I think I loose interest is the leader. My god some of the WW leaders are crap arn't they? Mabye it's just me. I was lucky to really click with my first leader.... she was great. The leader I had today seemed pretty on to it. And she has managed to stay at goal too.. nothing worse than a leader who is over goal, moaning and complaining and saying it's all too hard. Seriously! My old leader was like that. Rather depressing and not very motivating hey :-) I went to a day meeting as I was off work sick, so not sure who my normal Leader will be at the evening meetings. Might pay off mixing and matching? And at the end of the day I only get out what I put in. Dam straight.

OMG I have got to stop watching Food TV! Had it on TV pretty much non-stop over the past 4 days while I have been home sick. Getting some great ideas, but oooohhh I get hungry!

Going to try a lemon-mustard chicken recipe tonight.. yum. That's the best thing about WW I reackon.. getting to try all these new foods I wouldn't have dreamed of eating before!

"If it's to be, it's up to me!" Peace out :-)

First Day Complete!

This picture always makes me smile - we got married at the Shangri-La in Fiji in September this year. We had such a great time!

It's now Sunday, and I have completed Day One of my new eating plan. I went on a power health shop yesterday at New World - lots of heatlhy low fat food. I always seem to feel more motivated once I have done some planning like this - I cleaned out the fridge of all the crap food we had, and wrote a shopping list full of healthly nutritious food.
For breakfast I had my fav brekkie fried egg sandwich - sounds fatty, but it's not :-) It's 2 bit of grain toast, friend egg (not fried in oil, just non stick pan) lettuce, tomatoe and a bit of grated cheese. It's yum! Very filling too. I think on the points plan it's about 4 points. Pretty good for a hot breakfast. Morning tea was one ZESPRI GOLD Kiwifruit (not normaly a fan of it, but I work for ZESPRI and get the fruit for free! It's really good for you, and as I am sick at the moment the extra vitamins will help). For lunch I had cold cooked pene pasta with lemon pepper tuna, cherry tomoatoes, spring onions and a bit of mayo to pull it together. It's a yummy pasta salad full of the good stuff like omega-3 in the tuna, and vitamins in the tomatoes and spring onions.
For a snack in the afternoon I had some carrots and celery sticks - I bought huge bunches of them in the shopping and spent about 1/2 hour cutting them all up and putting them into containers in the fridge so I have a snack on hand. I am planning on bringing them to work as well.
For dinner I got a great recipe from the WW community message boards - I marinated a small chicken breast in soy sauce, garlic, honey, and a bit of brown sugar. I grilled that with some limes, served with a salad and roasted chilli potatoes, red onion, kumera and capsicum. It tasted great, and even John ate it!
So I felt pretty good that I got through the first day without blobbing out on crap food. For breakfast today I had Special K with some mixed berries. Reminds me of how I used to eat when I was first on WW! Good feeling :-)

Another good thing is that since I have been sick I havn't touched any wine or beer for 3 days now! I have acknowledged that that was always going to be my downfall - love a glass of wine or three after work too much! The booze is really reeking havoc with my weight and I need to knock it on the head.

My exercise plan starts today - first up is a 2km walk. Looking forward to it :-)

I think something had finally clicked in the last few days - we should eat to nourish our bodies, not comfort our moods. It really does make sense!

God did I really look like that? What happened!

Wow this is obviously pre-muffin pant era. This is me with my Husband John. When this photo was taken it was probably the last time I felt pretty ok with how I was looking. Great motivation for me to get back to the weight I was there at least! (Prob about 72 there?).

Currently 75, so my first goal is 1kg. Nice easy baby steps! :-)

My first posting - time to get honest with myself

You know the feeling you get when all of a sudden your normally comfy jeans feel like they are strangling your butt cheeks? Well that's me at the moment. Where the heck did this fat come from? Yeah sure I've had a few 'treats'...maybe a couple more beers than normal.... oh yeah then there was the new Moro Golds I was trying.... ah heck who am I kiddng? I know EXACTLEY where the muffin pants have come from! Me! My relentless theory I can ease my moods with food and booze!

Well Mrs T....... it's time to get honest with yourself!

If you are a fan of Tony Robbins tapes you may know the advice he gives when you need to find out if you are serious about loosing weight... he says 'get disturbed! - look in the mirror.. if you hate what you see, do something about it!" Yep, I'm mega disturbed right now. Sitting on the couch on a windy Saturday still in my PJ's, sniffly nose, spots on my face (a result of pigging out over the past few weeks) and mascara still smudged from the night before. Man what a pretty sight! But I am making my first move to doing something about my muffin pants and strangled cheek butts. I am starting this blog to keep myself honest. Even if no one reads it, it's a way for me to keep motivated, keep writting, keep loosing the weight.

I am also heading back to WW on Monday. Yeah yeah, I know.... been there done that 4 times now. My first time at WW I lost 13kg - man that was some awesome times! I loved the programme, loved my leader, loved myself. But then I made excuses. My leader passed away, I didn't like my new leader, I was kinda comfortable how I looked, even thought I hadn't reached my goal by a long shot - I thought I could do it on my own.... and save money at the same time! But, ah, no. It doesn't work that way. I need to be held accountable for my actions, and only having myself to explain why I gained 300grms that week just wasn't working.

SO - been reading up on the No Count plan... sounds great! I was never one for tracking points, I cheated, I forgot, I gained weight. So this way sounds more like me....... three meals a day, no starving, no banking and withdrawing points left right and centre.

I've also joined a 10kg new years challenge on the WW message boards... starts on Monday, which is also my first weigh in.

So - here we go! Let's give this one more try...... I really miss feeling how I did when I lost my first kg, 5kg, 10kg..... the smile on my face, how proud I was, and my boyfriend (now husband) was of me..... I want it all again!

Watch out WW... I'm back!

peace and love
Cass :-)