Finally better and a Pic of Inspiration!

I FINALLY feel better YAY!

Last night was so wierd. My head was hot, my body was cold, my tummy was still nauseas and my nose was um...numb! WTF? ( And NO, i was not doing anything naughty!)  Anywho, after being a total bum for 5 whole days i am so glad to be back to my normal self. I feel totally rested and ready to get my arse back into the gym. So bodyslam it is tonight.

Today has been pretty cruisy, i went out to Yumcha with mum and dad. Mum surprised me with a cash gift of $600!...To go towards some furniture. I actually find it difficult to accept money from my parents. I think its because i like seeing myself as ultra independent, but she's a gift giver and gets insulted otherwise. I think thats her way of showing she cares (love?) so I dont try and work her out anymore, i just flow with it. If i think too much it'll give me a headache lol... oh and did i mention she has brought over 5 pot-plants (1 for indoors) for the pad!? ... The low-maintanence type, i dont want anything dying on me =)

So off i went to Super Amart to buy a desk for my spare room. Yep i have decided.... NO ROOMATES! I love living on my own, its so peaceful and i figure as long as i can afford it i'm gonna keep it this way. So the spare room will now be my office. Tomorrow i have the fun-filled task of building an adult sized mechano desk lol.... oh the joys of flat-packed furniture...NOT. Dad won't be overseas this time around, so if i find myself sobbing on the floor surrounded by too many nuts, bolts and tools he will only be 3.65km down the road he he he

On that note, i'm gonna fly...

And btw, not too long before i look like this!

OSB #2 Week 11: Finally cracked the 62s!!!

Well Monday has arrived AGAIN, and you know what that means?!

(can i get a drumrolll)... WEIGH-IN DAY!

Well after a 300g gain last week which i'm assuming was fluid (hmmm from way too many sugary carbs and pre TTOM?!) i have smashed the fat-loss this week.

21/06/2010   Week 10
Weight:   63.8kg

28/06/2010   Week 11
Weight:   62.9kg    (i had to the triple check for this one!)

Difference:  - 900g
Difference to Date:   4.3kg LOSS

That definitely called for the naked happy dance lol...

So i think there's been a few things that have attributed to the cool results this week.
1. ESE
2. Nutrition

ESE - i can't believe this is my 11th week of fasting. All i can say that is for me, ESE has worked a charm. Compared to OSB #1 (where i used a traditional body building diet with a daily calorie deficit), the weight has come off so much faster. I am noticing changes in my body everyday and one big thing is the fasting seems to eliminate a lot of fluid retention that many women tend to suffer from. Though in saying that I did drop 7.1% BF and (only!) 300g in OSB #1 so i'm not complaining either. But what a great experiment to compare two totally different programs! I am currently fasting twice a week and will do so till i get to my goal physique which i'm guessing will be about 61kg. So maybe another 4 weeks to go?

Nutrition - This week i made a pact with myself to get this sorted out. I would like to use the term 'mastered', but alas that WILL take a while of perserverance. In my 'intuitive eating' approach, you may recall i dramatically cut a big portion of my breakfast out (egg/egghites vegies) due to the fact that i'm really not hungry at that time of the day. I decided to NOT have a massive amount of protein just for the sake of 'rules'. In doing so has made no difference to my energy levels and/or training, and no i haven't lossed muscle mass either.

One thing i realised was that about 30-45mins after dinner i always seem to get a little peckish.

Maybe i am bored?
Or maybe i just want something warm and satisfying in my stomach on a cold winters night?

After chatting with quite a few people this week, it seems to be the case for many of you. So i thought to myself, well i'm just gonna go with my intuitive eating approach and 'forget' about no carbs at night! I decided to make a big batch of chicken and vegetable soup (and yes there were white potatoes in it GASP!). SO come Masterchef (i'm addicted to that show!) time, i enjoyed a big bowl of soup. It warms me up, satisfied any hunger/cravings and you bet ya PB didn't even enter my mind! BINGO.

The soup lasted me till thursday. So you know what i treated myself with for supper for the rest of the week?... Hot chocolate Chelle Style...
1/2 tbsp cocoa pwd
1 tsp xylitol
100ml rice milk
100ml water
1/3 scoop (about 10g) of vanilla protein pwd
Microwave and ENJOY. (i added the PP after microwaving)
Oh and i did have 1 square of 85% Lindt too =)

Oh and one more thing. FYI i have been fasting from Dinner to Dinner. You may recall earlier on in the piece that i detested this fast as it meant that i couldn't have my beloved cup of coffee during the day (you can have coffee but with no milk or sugar...um gross!) So i was either doing a BF to BF of Lunch to Lunch. With the weather so cold i was beginning to find that my body temp would drop heaps during the second half of those two fasts, ie. bedtime and it was getting really hard to stay warm! This is because without the presence of food for fuel, your body starts utilising your fat stores for energy and to keep you warm! Also too for me, i find the first 8 to 10 hours of the fast the most mentally challenging, so being asleep during this time makes the rest really easy. And just so you know i have cheated on my fast - i now usually succomb to a cup or 2 of 'normal' coffee =P (yes it has a dash of milk and sugar) during the day if i want it (and to prevent coffee withdrawals!)... And in all honestly, the extra 45 to 90 cals that i consume during my fast has made no difference to my results.

So there you have it!

BTW, feeling about 90% today. I'm resisting the urge to train and just gonna take it easy and go for a walk this morning. The weather looks beautiful outside!

An Exciting Shithouse Week.

Hmmmm well the title says it all!

Lets start with the shithouse....

Walking up the stairs to the gym on monday morning i suddenly got that fatigued feeling. You know the feeling you get when you've been training hard for weeks on end without a break? So i had to soldier through a tough shoulder and tricep workout, i was still able to lift heavy and intensely but boy it took a hell lot of mental focus to push through that one.

Looking back at my Accountability Countdown Calender i realised i'd been training for 10 weeks solid! So i made up my mind to have a week off weights starting the next day... I'm one of those people who is quite happy to have a week off every few months as i know the BENEFITS of RESTING! So walking was my cardio of choice. I've got this awesome walking route around my burb that i love doing. Not sure how far it is but it takes about 50mins, lots of hills and if walked early enough in the arvo i get to see an amazing sunset.

Wednesday arvo arrived, Bodyslam time (boxercise)... Now the past few weeks there has been some issues with the temperature controller in the aerobics room. There is a choice of only 2 temps.... 40 degrees or 5 degrees. Serious. If the instructor chooses the former, you might as well workout in your bikinis cos its like a steam room. If they choose the latter like they did on wed night, you need to wear your eskimo clothes. I'm assuming i picked up a lurgie during the class (tummy bug has gone through the gym the past week), cos by the end of the class my glands were up big time! Great.

Thursday, i was feeling nausaus (not fluey though) ALL day and had to take half a day off work.... Now i know how pregnant people feel and i do NOT envy you! It was probably a good thing i was fasting because the thought of food didnt sit well with me. Went to bed. 2am came around and OMFG - projectile vomit... SO fuckin gross. I havent thrown up in years and have to say that vomitting is the most disgusting thing ever!...You must be grossed out now lol... That lasted till about 5ish before i passed out was able to sleep again. I then made an emergency trip to see GA so she could sort me out. After taking my pulse, she said my acid levels were extremely high (hence the vomitting) and my salt levels were really depleted. SO i had strict instruction to consume lots of lemon & ginger tea, drink salted water and apple cider vinegar, eat salted plums and also dosed up on some other supps too. Oh and she said REST...no GYM... By friday night i was feeling great and had an awesome night sleep.

Saturday morning....um Bodyslam class.... (i forgot about no GYM, oops). I had a fantastic class then later on caught up for a lovely lunch with Miss Steph and Steph! By bed time saturday night i was feeling nauseas AGAIN. Oh and did i mention TTOM decided to arrive too!  And by the early hours of sunday morning followed with an exact repeat of thursday night =( ... I guess that was my punishment for training saturday which caused my acid levels to go through the roof, oh well you live and you learn right?

So today up until about 4pm i was awake for about 3 hours max. My bed was my best friend. I think the last crazy arse 6 months finally caught up on me and my body was just exhuasted and a little run down. I'm feeling pretty good now, just about to finish fast number 2 (perfect timing again!) for the week so i think i will just have something really light to eat as i dont wanna upset my poor little tummy again. Oh, and i'm on holidays tomorrow WOOT!

I won't be going away but i do plan on chilling, lunches with the girls, a bit of EOFYS shopping ( i fuckin hate that add lol!) and hopefully some training too.

Now for the exciting news (geez i have blabbered on for way too long lol)....

There are 2 big things in my pipeline....BUT i can't reveal them yet =P

OSB #2 Week 10: Balance...Where art thou?

Hey ya'll so sorry for not posting yesterday but I have been FLAT OUT!

First of all i just wanna say a huge thank you for all the lovely comments on my Progress Pic! You guys rock!
So results are in…..

14/06/2010 Week 9
Weight: 63.5kg

21/06/2010 Week 10
Weight: 63.8kg

Difference: 300g GAIN...gasp!.... Fingers crossed this is only fuckin fluid!
Difference to Date: 3.4kg Loss

Ok so its been one of those weeks where I have let 'mindless eating' get the better of me.. It all kind of snowballed after my big night out last weekend. I think the lack of sleep made me a tired grumpy poo bum for quite a few days. I used that as an excuse to 'snack' on PB 'mindlessly' (we're talking about more than 2 tbsp at a time here argh!) .. No I wasn't 'craving' it, nor was I emotional (apart from being tired) or stressed, it was just something to do...maybe out of habit???

Do you overeat when you're bored?

Then to add to that I had a girlfriend's party on Saturday arvo which was heaps of fun...and helped myself to way too much some dessert....Then again after dinner eeekk…Now i'm ok now with the fact that its OK to have dessert and treats etc BUT i still need to learn when enough is enough!... I think some mean fairy stole my STOP button!... So I’m assuming this massive sugar hit has welcome aboard Ms FUCKIN FLUID!

I realise that breaking this binge cycle is just gonna take consistent conscious effort. So for now i'm trying not to beat myself up over the delights of the weekend. Just gotta let go, learn from it and move on.

A good friend of mind told me something last night that I’d like to share with you all.

You need to tell your brain their IS a STOP BUTTON. Only you can refrain from over-indulgence. You don't NEED it, you WANT it - there's a huge difference. If you decide you're going to do something, you don't change your mind because if you do you let yourself down. Make a promise to yourself and don't break it. The one person in this world you can always rely on is you.

You don't need it, you want it.... This phrase really hit home fore me so i think it'll be something i keep asking myself whenever i feel like seconds. For this reason I will be working on some cognitive therapy to keep me on a winning streak. And that means reading over my goals, affirmations and visualising the end result aka my ‘sexy bitch body’ morning and night. This will enable me to keep progressing forward and stay in a positive mindset. And when the time comes that another curve ball is thrown at me I will be better able to deal with it and move past it in a less damaging way.

Old habits die hard….. But they do die!.... EVENTUALLY!

Finding balance is something I am desperately searching for….or perhaps I actively creating it now? I know that each challenge that passes me by will make me mentally stronger. Thats what life is all about right? I’d like to see myself in the next 6 to 12 months looking back now and smiling back at this crazy journey of mine having realised wow, i've actually found it.

OSB #2 Week 9: Sweet Results and Progress Pic

Well what a fabulous weekend i am having. It all started friday night at the Glass Bar in the Valley for my girlfriends 25th. Saturday followed with Bodyslam, a trip to Anaconda to get some um... thermals. OMG i swear my pad is an igloo in the suburbs! Serious. I look like an eskimo at various parts of the day. Then GA smashed me during my massage. For the past 2 weeks, i have looked like the reminants of a dummy left in a boxing ring. My legs are purple...punishment so she calls it for all the shit i ate the other week. You see, refined sugar is very toxic and causes your body to get very acidic. And where does the acid pool? In your legs =(... But felt a million dollars after.... Beauty is pain.

From there i went to my friends house for a birthday bbq. Apart from the fact it was like zero degrees on the deck i had a blast. I even found out that i've got a pretty good eye for Darts! Who would have known lol. Sunday followed with a big walk in the sunshine around my 'burb' and then last night my crew and i headed out to Zuri Bar in the Valley as it was 80s night! I carved up the dancefloor, and through various stages of the night took up residance on the dj's podium WOOT WOOT! I enjoyed a couple of drinks (was quite pissy actually lol, such a cheap drunk, but hey you get that when you can count the number of drinks you have in an entire year on your fingers and toes!) and by 2.30am my feet were blistered and numb from my heels so i called it a night.

So that brings me to Monday morning....WEIGH IN day!

7/6/2010  Week 8
Weight:    63.9kg

14/6/2010  Week 9

Weight:     63.5kg

Difference:  -400g
Difference to Date:  3.7kg!!!

How fuckin excited am i!!!??? Woot! Totally stoked that i did a killer gym sess this morning after only 4 hours sleep. I'm sure i will crash and burn later though.... 61kg is within my grasp now =)

....................

I've got some yummy soup boiling away on the stove now and will be going to Mum's for dinner tonight....Omg did i just say Mum?!.... Yep....You know why? Well i went for a big walk late friday afternoon and when i got home, my mum had swung by earlier and left some dinner (yummy Malaysian chicken curry) on my kitchen bench and an extra blanket for my bed. (Told you i live in an igloo). Totally took me by surpise. I guess she really does care.... only from a distance though lol

So this pic was taken last night.... Feeling the sexiness!!!

Intuitive Eating Uncovered!

Ok so the weirdest thing has happened over the past 3 days since i decided to cut out the rather larger protein and veggie portion of my breakfast and just consume my fruit n fibre shake and a coffee....For the rest of the day my appetite has drastically.... DECREASED!

You bet ya, i am getting fuller faster, so therefore my portion sizes have suddenly become smaller! (I'm not licking scraps off my plate anymore for the sake of having to eat x many calories at each sitting!) I also seemed to be even more aware now of 'actual' hunger over 'emotional hunger'. Once i consume my meal, i am not feeling peckish or the need to send the search patrol out for more food anymore! The rice at lunch has definitely got rid of my PB cravings and right now (haven't had any in 10 days!), i am feeling in absolute CONTROL baby!

So all of this has made me ponder a few things.

Does forcing food into an 'unhungry' (i'm not sure if that's even a word lol) stomach cause it to overstretch?
And then cos it is larger, do you automatically eat MORE food (more calories) just to fill it up?

One thing i have learned from ESE is that the first meal after a fast you actually can't eat as much as you think you can. Why? Because your stomach shrinks over that 24hr period. It's kind of the same between dinner to breakfast. For me, thats a 10-12hr period without food, so once the stomach empties its food into the digestive track, i'm assuming it starts shrinking back to its normal size. 24hrs might be required to get back to 'actual normal size', but 12hrs maybe it gets about half way there?

So perhaps forcing all those egg whites and veggies (1/2cup egg whites + 150g veggies) down my mouth in the past when i really wasnt' that hungry, over-stretched my stomach for the rest of the day? And i only ate that for the sake of RULES. So was that one factor in having to eat ginormous quanities at each meal just to feel full? I'd love to hear your thoughts?

So now that i've been intuitively listening to my body and only eating a small meal at breakfast, my stomach is not in an overstretched state so fullness is achieved faster. Ifeel satisfied with my meals and I'm enjoying all the flavours and not eating just cos its a certain time. Check out this post by Swkigg, she sums up ESE perfectly.

Its a great feeling not being on a DIET and still losing fat...lots of it. Guess what? I went out for dinner the last two nights and guess what i had as part of my meal? ....CARBS (gasp!)... Tuesday i had gluten free salt and pepper squid with salad and some chips (omg!) and last night i had grilled chicken breast with salad and some mash (omg x2!) ... and you know what? I did NOT feel guilty, for once i acutally enjoyed eating a restaurant meal like a normal person without doing advanced calculus in my head!

OSB #2 Week 8: FINALLY cracked the 63s!

Well the title says it all! I've been on the biggest high today, its amazing what one little number can do to your confidence.... Yes i even did the naked happy dance on cloud 9 too... Seriously.... LOL=P

31/5/2010   Week 7
Weight:   64.2kg

7/6/2010     Week 8
Weight:    63.9kg   ( I stepped on and off the scales 3 times just to make sure i wasn't seeing things lol)

Difference:  -300g
Difference to Date: 3.3kg!

So after my vacation to Headfuck island I have definitely bounced back stronger and smaller WOOT!

And to top it off, i even got asked by two random people at gym this morning if i was competing this year... talk about an ego boost haha

Now one thing i wanna talk about is the subject of 'intuitive eating'. I spent quite a bit of time over the weekend reading Skwigg and KellyO's blogs on the above topic and the real meaning hit home yesterday. See, i was planning on fasting from sunday breakfast to breakfast this morning BUT that didnt happen. My glands were up a little saturday night and i ended up sleeping into 9am! OMG who does that!? lol... Anyway it was way too late to eat breakfast so i thought i might as well just fast till dinner. I'm not really a fan of the dinner to dinner fast (coffee withdrawal!!! hello!) but i had no choice....

I had planned on cooking up some yummy banana protein pancakes for breakie, so mentally i hadnt even prepared for my fast. But at that moment i realised, i really wasn't that hungry at all. I had even eaten quite an early dinner on saturday at 630pm. So that made me think well do i really need a monstrosity of a breakfast each morning? I usually eat egg/eggwhites+ vegie scramble, fruit n fibre shake and a coffee. But to be honest, eating eggs/eggwhites for breakfast has never come naturally to me. I kind of just got into the habit of eating them due to comp prep and also having the 'you must eat protein at breakfast or your muscles will be lost down a black hole' mantra being drummed into my head for ages. Then i thought, well whats the point of forcing extra calories down my mouth just for the sake of 'nutrition rules'? If my body doesnt really feel like a huge breakie and/or eggs then why should i feed it that? Make sense yeah?

So with that decided, this morning i just had my fruit n fibre shake and a coffee. That was ENOUGH to SATISFY my appetite. I then proceeded to do a killer shoulder and tri sess and even pumped out some PBs too!... My energy was through the roof and i felt a lot lighter without having to digest all the extra food. Now i'm not saying protein at breakfast is wrong at all. But right now, for ME, i am experimenting with 'intuitive eating' - and really listening to what my body NEEDS. To add to that, my appetite was NOT out of control for the rest of the day either. As i mentioned before, i have added carbs (rice) back into my lunch which really hits my sweet spot...that CONTENT feeling.

At the end of the day, to lose weight (FAT!) we need a calorie deficit to occur. Period. So stay tuned as i break some of the 'rules' and finally find PEACE with (all) FOOD. On that note, i am totally enjoying not having to prep so many meals everyday, what a blessing in disguise!

Bring on the 62s, SEXY SIX-PACK HERE I COME!