Problems Only Girls Who Lift Understand

A friend posted this on my Facebook wall today – hilarious and so many truths in here.  For someone who has always been the ‘fat kid’, it really is mind blowing to have people asking me what I’m doing, do I have any advice as to what they should do, what supp’s I take etc.

Bottom line: I lift heavy things!

The three P’s.

If anyone has studied business or marketing, you might be familiar with Kotler’s 4P’s (although someone did tell me recently that apparently there are seven now – boy, does that make me feel old!).  It occurs to me through this fitness journey that there are a new set of P’s, although by my reckoning just three (who needs seven?!).

Plan, Prep, Perform

Three key legs and if any of them breaks, it’s all over.

Plan  Sitting down on the weekend, working out what I am going to be eating for the week and the training that I will be doing.  Yes, I am following the 12WBT plan at the moment, however I am customising each week’s menu for convenience and personal taste.  I’m also taking the time to work through the Shopping List to ensure that I’m not over-shopping – what ingredients can I sub in for each other so that I don’ t have to buy a tub of ricotta/cottage cheese/etc for a single recipe calling for one tablespoon?

Prep Literally food prep – go do the grocery shopping, pre-cook anything that I can on the weekend.  As silly as it sounds too, making sure my gym gear is all washed and ready for a new week!  (It will derail good intentions pretty quickly if you want to head to the gym only to find all your t-shirts stinky in the washing basket)

Perform As Michelle Bridges would say, ‘just f-ing do it’.  Get your butt out of bed and go to the gym.  stop dialing the pizza joint, put down the phone and cook the damn healthy food that you have purchased.

1 point for planning and prep’ing – 9 points for actually doing.

Bad days and a good support network

Yesterday was a bad day, work wise.  One of those days that results in you sitting at your desk around 3pm, head in heads, wondering how it all went wrong.

Normally a day like that would send me into F it mode.  I don’t care what I eat/drink today.  One day won’t matter.  Gym – um, no.  I am just so stressed out, I can’t cope with worrying about it food and diets and weight…

I did have a brief moment of that and snuck a few squares of chocolate.  Then somewhere in my angst, I found some element of balance.  I had planned on going straight home and inhaling the better part of a bottle of wine.  Somehow, I instead found myself at the gym for a quick session.  It’s true what they say about exercise making you feel better.

Got myself home, only to find that we didn’t have mince for the planned meatballs for dinner (kind of a key ingredient!) and promptly announced that I wanted pasta for dinner.  Husband, god love him, instead of challenging me simply said, “OK, if you want pasta, that’s fine.  But you need to cook it.  I’m going to cook steak and veges”.  The petulant five year old inside me sulked for a moment and then realised what he was doing.  He then went on to point out that if I have the steak & veg, instead of pasta, then I can have a glass or two of wine – guilt free.  Smart man, that one.  So steak and veg it was.

I had my wine.  And I enjoyed it.  And I lost a kilo in the last week.  Feels good and feels so much better knowing that I am doing this in a sustainable way – I’m not depriving myself, just metering the ‘F it’ moments!

Last night made me realise just how it important it is to have a good support network – without it, I would have spent a rather drunken night chowing down on pasta.  Sometimes you just need a little nudge!

One day at a time

One day at a time.  Just one day at a time.

Survived day one of the new regime – didn’t train this morning, I don’t do Monday mornings in the gym.  But did have a dance class tonight, so I did get some exercise in.  There’s just something about Monday mornings that kills me.  Although I did celebrate ‘No I don’t have kids yet and that’s OK’ day yesterday (otherwise known as ‘Sunday’.  Nothing to do with Mother’s Day!) with a small sleep in and my fitness test, I would rather get up early on a Sunday morning and hit the gym than a Monday.  I think that it has to do with the fact that I am so not a morning soul and facing an early, early start on the first day of the week is just depressing!

So first training session tomorrow – I am looking forward to getting back in the gym and pumping some iron.  I am woman hear me roar.  Or whimper.

Diet today, however was spot on.  If anyone’s wondering about the 12WBT food – I can attest that it has greatly improved in the last couple of years and the plan is a lot more sensible.  I gave this a go a couple of years ago and felt like I was throwing loads of food away – eg. buy a bag of bean sprouts to use a handful in one stir fry.  The recipes now are a lot less wasteful and there is also a ‘left overs’ meal which I don’t believe was in the plan in the early days.  Great idea!  So when I look in the fridge on Saturday and see what we haven’t gone through, it will force me to get creative in the kitchen.

I have to add too; thanks to the small child I passed yesterday whilst gallumping up the street doing my fitness test run – I was starting to struggle immensely, then hear a small voice shout from the other side of the road “run faster!”.  His poor Dad was mortified.  But thanks for the encouragement kid – although I am sure that I lose precious seconds laughing as I was jogging along.

Hope everyone has had a good Monday.

The goal outfit

Could I have found my mojo in a sparkly, sparkly mini skirt?

My very sparkly motivation 🙂

Watching various weight loss shows over the years and they tend to have a goal outfit – something that they haven’t been able to fit into for some time, or perhaps a fabulous frock a size or two down from where they are now.  As I understand it, the idea is to have a visual goal of what you will be able to achieve when you slim down.

I have a couple of queries with that: just ’cause you like an outfit or piece of clothing and it comes in a smaller size, doesn’t mean it’s going to look any good on you once you can fit into it!  The number of times that I have gone shopping, seen something on the rack and thought “perfect!” only to try it on and relise just how un-perfect it is.

This very sensible theory of course didn’t stop me picking up a rather sparkly, sequinned and beaded, mini skirt on ebay last night.  Nah, who am I kidding?  It’s bling all the way!  I decided to minimise the risk of the goal outfit though, by picking it up on ebay – afterall, just cause it fits (or WILL fit!), doesn’t mean it will look any good!  But I am aiming to look the best that I can in it!

When my sparkly mojo creator arrives, it will be hung inside my wardrobe door, so that every morning when I open the wardrobe to get dressed I’ll see it hanging there, as a shimmery reminder to stay on track.

Argh – too much sugar!

A friend of my own has a party planning business and was exhibiting at an expo today.  I was roped in to helping out, which was fine… until I came across all the sugary goodness goods on display at the expo.  And the samples of them.  macarons, cupcakes, biscuits, lollies, cake pops, more cupcakes, boutique sodas…

Ugh! No more cupcakes!

I gave.  Not too horrendously, but I do now realise just how much I can’t do sugary treats.  1 mini macaron, 1 mini cupcake and a choc coated oreo.  Even though it was only three ‘small’ items, I don’t want to think about the horrible empty calories that was.  What I am thinking about is the fact that I really don’t feel particularly well – part due to having had a cold on and off for the last three weeks and having been on my feet all day, but a big chunk of it is undeniably the baddies that I have consumed today.So.  What to take of this day and where to from here?

• It was a VERY good idea to take my lunch with me – popped into Coles and picked up a ready made salad on the way; Couscous, Spinach, Sundried Tomato & Feta.  I’m not saying that this is the best thing that I could have eaten for lunch, but significantly better than a few more cupcakes!
• Get over it.  I know that I can’t eat poorly every day and just go with a ‘get over it’ attitude, but in this case, get over it.
• Lots of water to flush out the system!

Life’s too short and if I am really going to make a sustainable life change, I can’t be too hard on myself.  Tomorrow is a new day and a new opportunity to do it better.

Mmmm… pizza

Friday night pizza is a bit of a thing in my house.  Usually from the local – cheesy, saucy, doughy… so good, but so bad!  So this week I decided I was going to have my pizza and eat it to, so to speak, by making healthy pizzas at home.

A lot of people question making ‘healthy versions’ of junk food and how good an idea that really is – is it just encouraging consumption of junk food?  Maybe.  Personally, I like pizza.  It’s probably one of my favourite foods, but I know that I need to change my eating habits, so if I can find a healthier alternative that means I can still have my pizza, I’m going be one happy nomes.

Below is the recipe for the pizza I made tonight – both Husband and I had this for dinner – we were both surprised at how good this was!  It was light, fresh and filling.  Although the caramelised onions take a bit of time (very easy, but just need a bif of time in the pan), they are so worth it.  I am TERRIBLE when it comes to cutting onions (I cry like a baby!) so I use a mandolin slicer to speed the process up as much as I can – I don’t have a good processor, but if you do, more power to you.

Let me know if you do try it – I thought it was delicious!

Caramelised onion, prosciutto, mushroom and rocket pizza

(Apologies for my very poor food photography!  I’ll need to work on that!)

Ingredients

• 1 tbs olive oil
• 3 Red onions, thinly sliced
• 1 tbs Balsamic vinegar
• Salt
• Pepper
• Lebanese Bread
• Mushrooms, thinly sliced – around half a cup per pizza
• Prosciutto, torn into pieces – 1-2 slices per pizza (remember that this is going to be salty, so don’t go overboard)
• Low fat mozzarella – 1/4 to 1/2 cup per pizza
• Rocket – a handful per pizza

Method

• Pre-heat oven to 180deg, fan forced
• Heat the olive oil in a large pan over a low heat and add onions.  Cook, stirring occasionally to avoid sticking (don’t be tempted to raise the temp!  This needs to be done slowly to get the onions nice and gooey)
• When onions have started to get ‘gooey’ add the balsamic vinegar and a pinch of salt and continue to cook over low heat for another few minutes.  Remove onions from pan to a bowl.
• TIP: onions could take up to half an hour to cook, giving you ample time to prep other ingredients.  If you find that they are starting to dry out, add a little water to the pan.  This much onion should comfortably make 4 pizzas – you don’t want to completely cover the pizza base like you would with a tomato pizza sauce.
• Give the frying pan a wipe out and throw in the mushrooms on a med-high heat for a minute or so – just want to get a tiny bit of colour in them, but still want them nice and firm.  As soon as they start to brown, remove from pan.
• Assemble your pizzas!  Spread a couple of heaped tablespoons of onion jam over a lebanese bread base, then scatter a handful of mushrooms and your prosciutto over the top, followed by your cheese.
• Bake until cheese is golden.
• TIP: if you have a pizza stone, I advise using it.  I had great results as it protected the lebanese bread base whilst allowing the rest of the ingredients to cook through – within 10 minutes I had a beautiful crisp base and golden cheese on top.  Just remember to pre-heat your stone if using and I would suggest increasing oven temp to 200deg.  If you are putting your pizza straight on the oven rack, just be careful your base doesn’t cook and burn before the top cooks!  If this looks like it’s happening, get it out and throw it under the griller for a minute to finish off the top or put on a baking tray.
• Remove from oven, crack or sprinkle some fresh pepper over the top and add a big handful of rocket to each slice.  I cut each one into 4 slices.
• Enjoy!

Hello? Anyone seen my Mojo?

Last year, up until around July, things were going really well for me fitness wise.  I was the leanest and fittest I’d ever been – I was looking good, feeling great.  Then it all fell in a heap.

Excuses, excuses.  I know.  The last 10 months or so have been shocking – not exercising nearly enough, drinking way too much, eating poorly… and it shows.  Today I sit 10 kilos heavier than this time last year.  My pants don’t fit properly and I’m struggling to get into half of my wardrobe at the moment.  I don’t look good and I don’t feel good.

It’s time to get my act together!!  I can’t say that I have found my mojo as yet, but I’m sure I can see a glimmer of it on the horizon.

Yesterday I signed up for Round 2 2103 of the Michelle Bridges 12 Week Body Challenge (12WBT).  Husband asked “why?  You’ve done it on your own before, just do it again”.  Maybe he’s right, last year I dropped nearly 10kg, doing it on my own.  But here I am, 12 months later – 10kg back on and growing.  Literally. 

The fact that I realised 4kg ago that things were getting more than a little firm in the jeans department and I can’t (haven’t?) fixed it should say something.  I need some help before I can’t fit into any of my clothes!

I’m not sure if 12WBT is the answer for me or not; I’ll admit, I did give it a go a couple of years ago and it wasn’t too successful.  This time around, I am looking at it as a lifestyle guide.  If it’s not quite working for me, then let’s change it up.  I’ve thrown myself into the Lean & Strong version of the program; generally speaking, this is only if you have 5kg or so left to lose, but history has shown me how very well my body responds to weight training, so I am throwing myself back in the deep end!

12WBT kicks off May 13.  12 weeks.  10 kilos.

Who knows, maybe with a little luck I’ll find my mojo somewhere?