Just 1 week to go!!!

I cannot believe that week 12 of 12wbt is about to start tomorrow!! It has actually gone by so quickly, and apart from weeks 10 and 11 which more resembled the Granville train disaster, I have stuck to the program, learnt a ton of stuff about myself, and am still on track. Wow, what an achievement. And to think that 3 months ago I was quite convinced this program just wouldn't work for me. But now, I've signed up for round 3 and am totally looking forward to what it will bring. 

I've also had a few moments of realisation in the last few days. I've spent a little bit of time thinking about why/how I got so far off track in the past 2 weeks (and let me just out it out there that I'm not fully back on track in the diet just yet...). 

• Firstly, last week was a pretty stressful week for me emotionally. I didn't feel it at the time, but looking back I know that from Friday a week ago until yesterday I was running at a constant level of high emotional anxiety. In recent years there has been a fairly large fracture in my immediate family. So much so that my parents and I had had no contact with my brother and his family. But last week, my mum was able to spend the week with them (they live interstate). She felt nervous and apprehensive about this, but pleased to have the opportunity. However I think that I was really apprehensive that it would all go horribly, and the situation would be worse than before. I was also worried about my dad being at home on his own for the week and how he would cope etc etc. and it wasn't until I spoke with mum yesterday as she was on the way home, that I felt relieved of that anxiety. The visit was over, and whatever that means for us long term is beside the point, but mum was ok, dad had coped fine, and I could relax again. Phew! And so I think a lot of the issues were emotional, and as I have always done I turned to food, and it took me over a week to even realise the connection between my anxiety and my actions. 
• Secondly, I realised that I had not been blogging or journaling or anything during this period of emotional anxiety! And so all my thoughts have just churned in my mind over and over and over, and I gave them no outlet. Instead I gave them food hoping that might just shut them up for a moment. Doesn't work that way! Never has. No, the food just creates some new voices, and then I'm beating myself up for not flexing my willpower muscle... A vicious circle. 

So, with those 2 realisations, I decided to make week 12 a little easy on myself. No, I'm not completely loosening the reins, I'm still completely in with the 12wbt, but I've dedicated this last week to all my favourites! I customised the menu (apart from sweet and sour pork) and I've chosen all my favourite 12wbt meals to eat. And, each lunch is leftovers from the previous dinner, so I don't have to cook both dinner and lunch every night! I'm pretty excited!! There's beef stroganoff, Cajun fish stew, Spanish chickpeas with fish, vegetable and chickpea pies, vegetarian paella... Yum yum yum! Oh, and can you believe there's 2 fish dishes in my favourites! A little confession, I started with 4 fish dishes and culled it down to 2. Another amazing feat from 12 weeks, I now am a fish eater - and I like it! Who'd have thought!

Well, with that I'll leave you all to begin week 12. Go well team! And I've also just watched mish's video on gratitude from last week, so let me express my heartfelt gratitude to all you who read and leave comments on my blog. I am so thankful, I feel as though each of you have been part of my personal support team, and have contributed to getting me to where I am 11 weeks into this 12wbt. Thank you so much! I only hope that I have been a support to you also. 

Week 11 confessional...

Welcome to the transfer/transform confessional... Yes that's right, despite the successes of past weeks, and everyone's encouragement, and my own determination etc etc I have completely slipped up in the past week. I've skipped workouts, I've eaten tonnes of crap - biscuits, chocolate, lollies, chocolate, wine, chocolate, and some more wine.... Argh! Ive made cupcakes, eaten dessert that friends dropped in with, had at least 1 glass of wine most nights, raided both the lollie jar and biscuit barrel at work, I've been buying takeaway for lunch the past 3 days at work, I've eaten in my car (note to self: your car is not your kitchen), and then after all that I visit the supermarket on the way home and find some chocolate, biscuits etc that's on sale and buy some for snacks. And let's not kid around, that's not a list of things I've done throughout a week, sometimes that can happen in 1 day. It's actually disgusting. It happens in secret. I don't tell anyone I do that.  Where did all my good habits go??

It's like I was great on holidays, and then having to settle back into real life, I've completely fallen apart in my 12wbt journey. It's quite disappointing, and especially so because I'm not even feeling as though I'm doing the 'wrong' thing. I'm just a bit whatever about the whole situation, which is actually kinda scary because I know that this is how I've always put the weight back on in the past. Complacency. I've done pretty well so far, I can have a little break... No you can't Sheridan! No. No. No. This is your new lifestyle and you have to get back on the horse and embrace it! (That was my mini effort to rev myself up again) 

So thanks for the positive feedback, comments, encouragement in the past few weeks, but you all need to know that the past week has not been such a triumph. I haven't even taken any food photos this week. And in fact I've decided not to even weigh this week. I know I probably should find out the damage, but I can't bring myself to. Instead it's a change of mindset again tomorrow, back into gear for the last 10 days of this round. And then, you all have my deepest commitment that I am going to smash round 3!

So there you have it. I'm not Wonder Woman. I mess it up too sometimes. But I'm learning (slowly). I just need to get out of this rut, and I'm determined to do it before the end of this round, so that I can jump head first into the next. I'm hoping those of you who blog alongside me are joining up again (although I understand if it's not possible etc). But as a final note... Who wants Emily to update her blog?? Anyone else been missing the regular updates??

Week 10 Update

I've returned from holidays, and over the last few days I've been wondering where I found time to do blog posts! Anyway, here I am again. How hard it is to get back into real life after holidays! I was thankful to not have to work on Monday, and was so thankful to get back to the gym. Such a funny felling, but it was like walking back into my 'home'. I had a great workout Monday - rowed 2500m in exactly 11 minutes.

 

But Tuesday was tough. Having a headache most of the day I still went to the gym, did my weights session but left before my usual RPM class. I felt better for it, but still, it was a little disappointing. It was also Tighten-up-Tuesday (TuT), and while I was all set to go without my coffee, I honestly was almost finished my coffee with breakfast until I realised that I'd just habitually made my coffee while my porridge was cooking! So, I went with it and focused on remembering to go herbal tea at morning tea!

 

So, weigh in Wednesday... +300g... But that's OK, I had a fantastic holiday, and I can smash those extra grams away this week. Ultimately my goal is to weigh under 90kg by the end of the round. It's almost 3kg away, but I'm going to give it my all.

 

I was very happy to get back to cooking the fantastic 12wbt meals this week too! And I've just this week got a a new housemate who is also loving the food! So nice to have someone to share the meals with, and she's been quite amazed at the ease of preparation, and the taste too! So, onto the photos.

 

Berry Smoothie - What a great option for breakfast first day home after holidays. There was a definite lack of food in the house, but there's always some long life milk, frozen berries and muesli, so what to do but make a liquid breakfast? And it was great and tasty! Will try it out again for sure.

 

The Vietnamese Beef & Noodle Soup - I almost swapped this, but decided for the sake of TuT to keep it. It was really flavoursome, and a huge serving (or was that just me?) so it overflowed out of my small soup bowl, hence the need to have 2 bowls!

I have never really got into chickpeas before 12wbt. But, I made hummus during the last couple of months, and have been willing to give them a go. And the vegetable and chickpea pies were great! Packed full of flavour, and really big! The filo went beautifully crispy, and it was all round a winning dish.

 

And finally this week, Lamb Biriyani! Yummo! I was disappointed not to be able to cook this last week due to holidays, so I swapped it for the lamb dish that was in this week. And it certainly didn't disappoint. Super easy and quick to make, and packed with flavour. It got a 10/10 from my housemate - rated even better than the previous favourite vegetable and chickpea pies.

 And so, week 10 is half-way through, leaving only 2 weeks to go in this round. Yikes! I am still planning on signing up again for round 3. But before that there's finale fun in Adelaide! Anyone keen to join the road trip from Wagga??

12wbt vs Holiday

I wasn't sure which one would rule this battle at the start of the week, but now I've proven that 12wbt wins hands down over holidays!! What am I going on about, you may well ask... I've just spent a bit over a week away from the safety of home, work, gym etc where I can 'easily' follow the 12wbt program (as long as that inner teenager is locked in her room). But, is it possible to stick to 12wbt when on holidays?? YES! With a little bit of planning, thinking ahead, and a dose of JFDI, it is certainly possible. Here's how:

I printed off all of the week 9 exercise plans for both gym and outdoors, so there was no excuse for where I worked out. And then I promptly left it all on the backseat of my car at the airport! No worries, the iPad was my friend, I just had to use my memory a little when I was outdoors!

I chose to stay in a self contained apartment, so I had a small kitchen to be able to cook meals in when I wanted to. This also helps cut down food costs!

• Breakfast - except for 1 day we ate breakfast in the apartment. I just went with one choice that I knew I loved and would keep me really full - apple cinnamon porridge!! Yummo!
• Lunch - was often eaten out, but choices such as salads (dressing on the side), ham & salad sandwich (multigrain, no mayo, no butter thanks), and non creamy soups (no butter on the toast please), made those choices ok too. 
• Dinner - this was a mixture of eating in and out, but when we cooked we had 12wbt pizza, or a lovely fresh chicken stir fry etc.
• Snacks - I decided to really try and limit any snacking since I wasn't in control fully of all my meals, so it made it a little easier to think about eating extra calories in those meals I wasn't cooking. And not snacking meant I had a few extra cals up my sleeve for a glass of wine with dinner, I was on holidays after all! But, the purchase of some whole grain rice crackers meant I staved off some munchies pre-dinner some days.

Tighten-up-Tuesday was probably the thing that was hardest to control while away. I did get outside and exercise in the morning, even got a couple of cars tooting as I was doing burpees by the river in Noosa!! So glad no one knew me up there, I really do look a sight (terrible) doing burpees. My breakfast and dinner were clean. Only snacked on a few whole grain sakatas. BUT, I did have a coffee in the morning, a cup of tea in the arvo, and a glass of wine with dinner. But if that's what TuT looks like holiday style, it's probably not too bad. 

The rainy days got the better of me by the end of the week. I hate going out and exercising outdoors in the rain, I'm such a sook, and I know it's a poor excuse, but it is what it is! I suppose I could've found a gym nearby, but they're just so expensive for casual visits. So instead I chose to manage my eating to the best I could, making good choices, and just let it be!

Having said that, despite the rainy patches we did a lot of walking, around the streets, exploring, at the markets, through the national park...  None of it was at any great pace, but we were active and not sitting on our bums all day every day. That's gotta count for something! Even an SSS, of sorts, we wanted to walk around the headlands through the national park, and so Saturday morning was the time! 5.4km one way - uphill (stairs for the first bit from the beach up to the top), a bit of bushbashing on a partly imaginary path, across beaches, and finally onto a nice normal path down into Noosa. 1.5 hours, and 460 calories later we stopped for breakfast - and I chose a fabulous bircher with fresh strawberries and berry compote!! The original plan was to walk back to our car, but as we left the cafe and looked to the sky we saw looming grey/black rain clouds, and so decided against. Good decision since it was raining before the taxi dropped us back at our car! Here's some photos of the walk...

And so, after 10 days away from home, who's the winner of 12wbt vs holiday?? I'd say it's an even competition. The holiday was enjoyed, and I still maintained some progress on my 12wbt journey. Well just leave it up to weigh in Wednesday to see who the real victor was though :-)

Prior to heading up to Noosa I also sepnt some time with my parents, and introduced them to some 12wbt recipes. Mum was certainly impressed!!! Here's our 2 lunches - roast pumpkin & herbed ricotta open sandwich, and the smoked salmon, cottage cheese and capers sandwich.

 

Holidays!!!

Well, not to make you all jealous... But I'm on holidays!! And am very pleased to report that I've enjoyed the beautiful sunny weather of Noosa today! It has been an absolutely divine day here.

But more importantly I have yesterday and today been able to stick pretty well to a healthy eating plan, and exercise too!! Had tasty salads for lunch both days, and tonight having capsicum and sweet potato pizza!! Not bad. And this morning changed things up in the exercise plan and followed the outdoor program, which saw me running into Noosa, and then doing sprint intervals on the way home again. Didn't find a hill, so skipped the hill intervals, but come Wednesday ill do them in noosa before heading home via sprint intervals! All set!! And tomorrow it'll be down to the noosa river for some cardio and toning work with the park benches there!

Also, at my parents the other night I made up an Indian extravaganza! Chicken tikka, and I can't believe it's not butter chicken. Got good reviews from parents and aunt, and everyone even said they had eaten enough and felt satisfied! That's a win for 12wbt I think.

Hope everyone else is having a great week too. Looking forward to Adelaide too - booked some cheap accom last night! Yay!!

Terrific Triceps!!

Terrific Triceps?? Me?? Well, you'd be hoping so after the amount of dips that were completed by my sexy (??) arms! My aim was 1500, but I decided to challenge myself and attempt to smash out the 2000 limit for the advanced categories.

And I did it!

So, how is it possible to get that many tricep dips done in just 7 days?

Well, in between cardio machines at the gym, you do a few sets of 20. At the end of the cardio session on Monday I was up to 250.

Then, later that evening at home, the television became a friend to health not foe! I did sets of dips in the ad breaks - while being inspired by The Biggest Loser best makeovers!!!

So, Tuesday was a little less on the dip challenge! I only managed to do 50... But they'll all add up by the end of the week.

Wednesday saw me pump out a massive 300 at home! I discovered that the coffee table was a great height to do dips on. And while watching my favourite TV show ever - well, what's to complain about in that situation!

Thursday was another mix of gym and home - added another 250 to the tally.

 Friday night I found and collated all the evidence from my week of dips - this is how I managed to keep track of my dips - post it notes!

Saturday was the SSS - and my usual SSS is an RPM class followed by Body Pump at the gym. I did 200 extra dips at the gym before RPM.

Then before going to bed I realised I really needed to make up some dips. So I did. In my PJ's off the end of the bed! How did I keep going with these ones? Well, sudoku was the saviour. Each time I got a number in, I did another set of 10. In no time I'd racked up another 300 dips!

That left just 100 to do on Sunday night. That's possible. And so, in front of Masterchef, after dinner, I finished off my challenge.

And that folks is how I did my 2000 tricep dips this week. Anyone else got a tale of strength and pain from week 7???