One of my favourite snacks is a fruit salad. Here’s one I’ve concocted up for winter using seasonal fruits.
Serves 3, 92cals (no yoghurt), 100cals (with yoghurt)
1/4 Rockmelon
1 Kiwifruit
1 Naval Orange
1 punnet Strawberries (about 250g)
Dollop (about 25g) of greek yoghurt (optional)
Holy crap. We are now a 1/3 into the program. WOW. I am so grateful that I’ve come so far. I can see my hard work paying off slowly but surely. My camera is still with a friend so I won’t be able to take photos yet to compare but hoping to get it off them during the week. I need to visual to keep me going and not forget where I want to be. I’ve been reading other participants blogs and they’ve gone and done a bit of a reassessment. I thought I would do the same. I think it is always good to take a look and see what you’ve and not done and rework it into what your final goal is. So let’s go.
So my goals I stated were listed here. Here’s what I’ve accomplished:
1 month goals
How I will get there
So my goals for the next month are:
So there we go. I’m revving up for the next 4 weeks as there is now a new training plan for these 4 weeks. It will be interesting.
Week 3 challenge… here we go!
My greatest support!
Time to give a shout out! Who or what is your greatest support? Share the love! Give your thanks!
Is it your mum? Your partner? Your bestie?? The forums? Twitter? Facebook??
Maybe it’s your faithful dog?
Your HRM that never tells a lie
Let’s take the time to recognise those in our life that keep us going day by day! Be grateful! Write it down!
And then get brave. Share it with them. Pass it on.
Let them know how much they mean to you.
Hmm, I told all my Facebook friends that I was doing this and I can say a majority of them have been very supportive. With their ‘likes’ and encouraging words it has been a pleasure to share the journey with them.
My family has been supportive whenever they can. It’s a bit hard to show them the hard work I have done over the many weeks I have been doing this but I’m sure when they do see me again, they will be proud.
I would say the big 12WBT family has been the best training buddy a girl could ask for (along with my HRM – It’s true, it doesn’t lie). With all their advice and support, it is wonderful to know I am not alone on this journey.
My work colleagues have been so complimentary with their comments and it is nice to be in an environment where you are not ridiculed for making a healthier lifestyle change.
Finally, the wonderful people at Pure Health Clubs in Brisbane. They have been so supportive and encouraging it has been great for them to see my transformation. I guess without the gym, I wouldn’t be here today. They are my second family and I am grateful to have them as my friends and in my life.
I’m back on struggle street again with snacks. It wasn’t such a big problem last round as I was able to keep it under control but it appears now that I’m on the Lean and Strong program, I’m constantly hungry. I understand that it’s to do with all the weight training but unfortunately for me, I’m not listening to my body very much. I also think the issue is to do with the cold as well. Since I am on a different program, I have got it in my head that I can afford to have the extra 100-200 calories but clearly, I should be listening to my body. I’m going to listen to the podcasts again for this week since it is all about the “inner labrador”.
Here’s what I plan to do to get this right.
Hopefully with this in mind and now put to “paper”, I will follow through. I will also update on progress with my plan.
I feel like I need another visual to keep me on the ball and not fall back into bad habits since I am nearing my goal weight. Here it goes… Maggie Q. OK boring. I’ve been watching Nikita and she kicks ass. I like chicks that can kick a guy’s butt any time. None of those princess girls who whine and moan about everything.
Smoking hot as Nikita and kicking butt! I have to admit, the TV series is way too serious but the action is pretty good.
Now before anyone goes off and say, oh these are all photoshopped, blah blah blah, it’s just a visual. A guide. Not the exact. I will never look like Maggie because firstly, I’m 100% Asian (mix of a few different Asian bloods). I am not blessed with her height or long legs. In fact the only other celebrities I could identify with in terms of body shape are Hillary Duff and Britney Spears. Now Asian celebrities are harder because well let’s face it, they are mainly pan-asian with mostly European looking features and physiques. And all Asians are tiny and the actresses that kick butt are few and far between. Off the top of my head there is Lucy Liu, Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Ziyi, Maggie Q, Grace Park…… hmm… if you can think of any let me know!!
Week 2 is about to end and man, what a week it has been.
First up, I had a massive fall (slipped, lost full cup of coffee, coffee on bag and floor, burst blister.. the list could go on) on the way to work on Tuesday and felt like the bad karma had been following me like the plague all week. I just couldn’t shake off the bad luck. Last night ended up having a bit of a sob because well, I just felt like I needed to. I had been playing a few Buddhist chants to calm the nerves and burst out in tears. Sigh. I feel better now and I think I can get through next week fine. Now I just need to fix my shoes.
I did my first run around the city today. I think it was about 6km. I was doing a 5km program on my iPhone so I was doing 2 min run, 1 min walk. Managed fine and took about an hour. Hopefully next Saturday I will run 8km and be a little faster. I have to say I have been enjoying the Lean and Strong program and kinda regret now signing up for the 10km run at Gold Coast because it does mean I need to get runs in and it takes away a little from my Lean and Strong goals. I guess once the run is over, I will dedicate myself to the Lean and Strong program. I am still losing weight which is nice. I think I will only see results of the strength program towards the end.
I am trying to stop myself from eating too much now that I do need the extra calories. I did have a bit of a blow out yesterday and today. I was bored and sick of being hungry. Sigh. I need a new tactic. Ah I can’t wait for Mish’s video because it is about the “inner labrador”. It needs to be put in a kennel and sedated!!
Anyway, onward and upwards I can go. Look forward to yoga tomorrow morning to release any tension and it is a great end to the weekend. I shall leave you with the mantra I had been chanting last night…
Om mani padme hum
Blogging challenge for week 2 from Courage to Start
Blame work for this one.
I noticed this today.Take a woman and give her a compliment.
What do you hear?? Oh thanks BUT ……..Without fail!
As women we are good at telling other people nice things.
We are great at telling our kids and family about their strengths.
But give a woman a compliment and they are BOUND to tell you all the reasons why this can’t be true.In round 3 2010 when this subject was raised on a live chat I remember Mish saying “Take the compliment. ALWAYS take the compliment! I know I do.”
Well, if it’s good enough for Mish …Now,
I know we are JUST at the START of a 12 week body transformation challenge.
Which in it’s very nature means you want to change something about yourself.
Particularly your body.
And women are OH SO GOOD at critising our bodies too (and so are men ! I’m not leaving you out)What I want from this blogging challenge is …
tell me about your STRENGTHS
I WANT to know about your physical strengths.
I WANT to know about your mental strenghts.
I WANT to know about the habits you have that make you strong
I WANT to know what it is about you that makes you the fighter that is inside.You can’t just tell me one thing. Tell me what makes you strong.
Make me BELIEVE it! Make me BELIEVE you are going to fight for your health and you HAVE the power!
Tell me what prepares you to fight these 12 weeks now to make you extraordinary.
What is deep inside you that means you are going to succeed.
And how are you going to use those strengths??Inspire me.
Cause you ARE inspirational to me.
Now I want to be sure that YOU believe it..
Hmm this is a good topic. Soooo what are my strengths? Let’s start!
My physical strengths
Now I don’t really know how to put this but let’s give it a go. I can shoulder press 5kg. I haven’t been able to do this before. Whoop! I can run non-stop for 20 mins… on a good day. I definitely can say that I am able to get through a 45 minute class and say, “hey, let’s do more!”
My mental strengths
Even if I don’t want to do it, I JUST DO IT. I think this is down to my teen years when I was in the youth police cadets. We definitely had to do things we didn’t want to do and just got on with it. Plus the thought of a punishment was enough to make you do it. I sometimes use this to show myself that if I don’t do it properly, I’ll have to do it again.
If I feel I can go further, I do it.
I know sometimes my willpower muscle gets weak, if I do “wrong”, I don’t let it eat me up inside. JUST LET IT GO! As the Buddhist saying goes,
“Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.”
It is the same thing when it comes to food, exercise and life in general. Such a great saying.
My habits
I am not the most organised person but hell, I am organised with my food. I found that with this I am able to not worry about what to eat. I have made exercise a habit. When I didn’t go to the gym as often as I usually did, I felt strange. It feels great to stick to this habit.
My Fighter Spirit
Words can’t describe but I’m a no bullshit person and I don’t like to bullshit myself. I know I get worked up when I am late for the gym or run into annoying people walking home from work. I am a grumpy person sometimes and I use this anger to push myself hard in the gym! This is my inner fighter. OK, it’s a man, but he was a legend and a great role model.
I have decided to do this blog challenge set up by Courage to Start. So here it is…
The Blog Challenge: If you can dream it you can achieve it!!!
I want you to paint me a word picture. Pretend today is not today. You are not nervous, or overwhelmed or apprehensive or excited about the next 12 weeks. You are none of those things because you have LIVED it! You are at the finish line!
Maybe today is the day you run city 2 surf! Maybe it is the finale party. Maybe you are at the final workout. Maybe you are standing up there on the stage with Mish – a WINNER this round.
Paint me the picture. What are you feeling? What are you wearing? What can you do?
What have been your greatest achievements? Your biggest challenges?
How do you feel inside?? Just how excited ARE you???
Before you achieve it – you have to dream it. Put those dreams down. Make them real.
The more specific your dreams the closer you are to making them a reality
My dream…
12 weeks from now I want to be feeling great and satisfied with what I have accomplished.
I’m wearing this… love it
I can now do 3 unassisted chin-ups.
My biggest achievement is completing a 10km run at Gold Coast and doing it under 60 mins. I have also got my body fat percentage down to 20%. My biggest challenge is to get through a training session and getting my mindset right. Planning my social life is a challenge as well.
I am proud of my accomplishments and feel fantastic. I have the energy to do whatever I want and I don’t sweat the small things. I see myself at the finale party with all my friends having a great time and celebrating the fact that we have made the next steps in our lives. IT IS GREAT TO BE ME!
Signed up for round 2 of 12WBT and this time I am going for the Lean and Strong program as I have less than 3kg to go! So as part of the preseason tasks, it’s goal setting. Here are my goals for this round.
1 month goals
How I will get there
3 month goals
How I will get there
6 month goals
How I will get there
12 month goals
How I will get there
So there are my goals for this round. I hope it makes sense. I am a little worried about this round as I see the training plans requiring a little more solo work as the gym I go to doesn’t have as many classes available for what I want to do and to help me achieve my goals. I am glad that my PT sessions have moved to a Monday as Wednesday on the plan is for core work. Also I see myself using the gym at home a little more and it does have me semi-worried as the equipment there is kind of crap. Let’s just hope it works.
The first week also sees 3 red flag days which does break my routine a little but I don’t see it being terribly bad, yet. Monday is lunch with a friend but I have it covered as the place we will probably end up at does custom sandwiches so I will have one made up specially without the baddies. The weekend is looking difficult. Saturday is the big unknown. I know it is also Super Saturday Session so I will try my best to bust out the calories to make up for the unknown. Sunday is a little easier as I think it might be easier to decline a few options so I can get my shop done for the next week as well. We will see how it goes. I will definitely update about it.
Tomorrow morning I will do my fitness test. It will be interesting how fast I can run 1km since I started running a lot more now (on the treadmill though). I am definitely going to have to take the fitness test part of the program a little more seriously this round.
Now I leave you with me doing a squat… hahaha.
Wow it is amazing how fast 12 weeks fly by. I never expected myself to get through the program. I think there were a few factors to why I stuck it out.
1. I paid for it.
I think if it were free I probably would not have put in the effort. I guess when it is your hard earned money you really don’t want to see it go to waste. Much like my gym membership. I hate seeing money wasted down the drain.
2. I needed a meal makeover
I had become stuck in a food rut. Eating the same old thing over and over. Eating too many unhealthy snacks. I needed something to keep me focused and on the straight path of food enlightenment. It had also rekindled love affairs with all fruit and veges that I had forgotten about. Eggs anyone?
3. I felt better
So with point 2 working out so well I began to feel so much better. A little more alert and definitely healthier. I did have days where I felt run down but everyone has those days.
4. Accomplishing goals I never thought possible.
So when I started consistently losing weight every week I was astonished. This had never happened to me even when I was exercising regularly. I was thinking to myself, ‘wow, this really does work!’ I did not believe that main reason it wasn’t working for me before was nutrition. When you start seeing positive things like this happening you just want to keep going on.
5. Support from the forums and the weekly vodcasts
I believe the vodcasts that Michelle did and the support from the people on the forums made such a difference. It helps you to get through the ups and downs when you know someone else is going through the same troubles as you. Most of all because someone has been through it, they may have the simplest suggestions to get you across the line. Michelle’s videos were brilliant because for some reason she was able to get certain messages out at the time when you just needed to hear some hard truths.
I have to say that the program has helped me to get through the tough times but also has helped me to appreciate some of the good food I love. It has also uncovered that I am capable of losing the weight that I want. I never thought I could be less than the weight I am currently but it has proven that I can. It also means I am healthier too. I am now confident doing 5 push ups on toes. My back isn’t as bad as it was before and omg, I can see collar bones! I am happier with myself and look forward to round 2 where I will get to where I want to be and stay there!
I guess the final awesomeness of this program was the chance to train with a whole bunch of people who had the same motivations and with Michelle as well. It was a fantastic Saturday morning despite the cold, the rain and mud. There was a great line up of trainers and it was thoroughly enjoying. I got to do some things I never done before. Pulling a tire. Kickboxing. Hmm, pushups on toes because I didn’t want dirty knees. Haha. I can’t wait to do the next session in Brisbane.
Alright so that is it for round 1. I lost 9.3kg. 14.69% of my body weight. All up a total of 39.1cm from my body. AMAZING!
Round 2 starts next week and I hope to start my preseason tasks this week. I need a clean week after my weekend of excess. I did need it because it makes you appreciate clean eating and also I feel you need to live a little.
