Thoughts and comments - 84 days are done

Well I know it's been a long while since I've posted on here. Unfortunately during the last couple of weeks of my 84 day challenge I ran into a difficult spot in my life and have been a bit of an emotional wreck. This consequently brought on emotional eating which is never a good thing.

Things are still tough at the moment and I'm going through what seems like one of the most challenging periods in my life to date. On the bright side I've managed to reign myself in once again. I'm still following Optifast, but I'm taking a more relaxed approach at the moment.

I feel bad that I haven't done a summary of my experiences, considering I blogged so reguarly for a majority of the 84 days.

Weight loss is simultaneously the easiest thing and hardest thing I have ever done in my life. At the end of the day it largely a numbers game - eat less calories than you expend during the day and you are pretty much guaranteed to lose weight. This is the simplicity behind the optifast diet - your calorie intake is so controlled that if you follow it you will lose weight. I say largely because obviously anyone who has ever tried to lose weight before will know of the perils of plateaus and those weeks where you do everything right only to not lose a single gram (or even gain). These are the kinds of moments you want to go screaming and eat a whole tub of icecream. I know it can be one of the most emotionally draining experiences for anyone who is trying to lose weight, but persist, it will come off. It may take time, but it will happen.

So why is losing weight the hardest thing I've ever done... well other than the dreaded plateau, there's life. Life gets in the way all the time. In my social group celebrating is surrounded by food, from birthday cake to dinner parties and Friday night wine. I love food. I love cooking, I love entertaining, I love anyone who cooks for me. When it comes to a restrictive diet like optifast, it's pretty darn hard to function like a normal person. There are situations where if someone cooks for me, I'm not going to say no to their beautiful pasta that they've put their heart and soul into cooking. Maybe I'm not as strong as other people, maybe I'm a realist. Whatever the case, I'm slowly coming to accept that I have to be ok with the fact that I will lose less weight if I eat more food.

Here I am, on the first day of Spring. Despite a minor hiccup in the weight loss journey, I've actually managed to lose more weight. I weighed in this morning at exactly 87kg. I'm so close to my mini-goal of losing 10kg that I can almost taste it. I think it's going to be even sweeter than that sticky date pudding I turned down 2 weeks ago.

I'm not going to be posting my daily intake, it's a bit onerous, as much as it helped to keep me on track at the start. Ultimately, if this is going to be a life change for me, I need to be able to eat without analysing each and every mouthful.

Here's hoping for another 84 days of success and (hopefully) another 8kg gone.

Ahhh, help!

Well I'm not sure what's going on with me at the moment, I just can't seem to stay focused and my eating habits have totally gone out the window. In the interests of full disclosure I'll put up what I've been eating. It's a bit of a mess and I can't figure it out. I've been feeling so good about myself, so why on earth would I want to go back to my previous weight?

Even more shocking is that I totally forgot today was my weigh in day. I'm not sure if it's a subconscious thing because I'm worried to see what the scales will say after a terrible week... or if it's legitimately because I was running late for work and forgot.

If anyone has any words of wisdom or advice I'd appreciate them. I'm determined not to let one bad week stop me in my tracks!

DAY SEVENTY-SIX

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Morning tea: apple
Lunch: Optifast chocolate shake
Afternoon: browns strawberry sundae no fat yoghurt (x 2) and an apple
Dinner: roast chicken, roast potatoes, asparagus and broccolini
Snack: choc coated almonds
Drinks: water, black tea, hilo milk

Exercise:

Zumba class - 1 hour.

DAY SEVENTY-SEVEN

AKA - Worst. Day. Ever.

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Morning tea: apple
Lunch: pizza and salad
Afternoon: Browns strawberry sundae yoghurt, two chocolate biscuits
Dinner: cauliflower croquettes and salad
Snack: choc-coated almonds and about 5 bacci chocolates.
Drinks: water, black tea, hilo milk

Exercise:

I had a really good session at the gym (over an hour doing my new program of weights and cardio). Unfortuantely that doesn't quite make up for the pizza and chocolate I ate.

Day Seventy-Five

DAY SEVENTY-FIVE

Hmm, so much for being back on the program! The allure of a cookie from a well-meaning co-worker was my undoing.

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Morning tea: Orange
Lunch: Optifast cappuccino bar
Afternoon: Browns strawberry sundae no fat yoghurt 200g (104 calories) and an apple
Dinner: 1 sanitarium soy burger and salad
Snack: evil chocolate cookie
Drinks: water, black tea, hilo milk

Exercise:

Took my parent's dog for a quick walk. I'm a bit naughty and skipped out on going to the gym in favour of dinner with my family.

Off the wagon

Whoops, after hitting the dreaded plateau and decided that I would "increase my calorie count slightly" I ended up falling off the wagon badly. I guess I met up with my hopes of increasing my calorie count but failed to take account of the ever important proviso of "slightly".

My weekend was somewhat of a perpetual pig-out... pad thai, tacos, sour cream, guacamole, wine.... I could go on but I won't, you get the general drift.

I think the thing that I'm most disappointed about and wary of is how easy it is to fall into those patterns of overeating. There was more than one occasion when I was physically stuffed but still ate more food because I love the taste.

It puts things back into perspective that this is going to be a life-long battle for me to overcome my food addiction. I need to consciously thing about and be aware of every single piece of food that I put into my mouth.

In better news, I'm back on plan today. It won't surprise me if I have a gain this week, but that's ok, I have no-one to blame but myself. I've also had a work-out program written up for me at my gym which is exciting. It has lots of weights and a variety of cardio, so hopefully that will give me more motivation to fit some more exercise in.

Day Seventy-One

DAY SEVENTY-ONE

After my low weight loss again this week, I thought I'd try eating a little bit different today to see if that's enough to encourage my body to drop some more kg's. I didn't follow the transitional phase exactly (I didn't have any fruit at work). However, I did have a dinner of approximately 300 calories and a diet yoghurt.

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Lunch: Optifast chocolate shake
Afternoon: Browns strawberry sundae no fat yoghurt 200g (104 calories)
Dinner: 2 sanitarium soy hot dogs (170 cals), leek and cabbage (cooked down together with some olive oil)
Snack: diet jelly
Drinks: water, black tea, hilo milk

Exercise:

I had an assessment at the gym today - which meant that I had to do some riding and other exercises.

Week 10 - Weigh In

Well I'm not sure what's going on this week, but I've had another slow one - a loss of 400g which brings me down to 87.6kg.

If I'm being completely honest with myself, I haven't been perfect food wise. You just need to look at my entries from Saturday and Tuesday night where I had chicken caesar salad (on both occasions) a piece of cake and a couple of glasses of wine. On the other hand I have had one of my best weeks on the exercise front.

While I'm not happy with my result, I'm not unhappy. I've done really well so far and we all know these things can't happen at lightening pace forever.

I'm very much in two minds about the situation and am worried that I may have hit the dreaded plateau which every dieter dreads! I'm considering whether I should go off the intensive phase for the next couple of weeks and onto transition. The overall effect is only a couple of hundred extra calories per day and it might just be the thing I need to kick-start my losses again. Plus it would mean I could eat some fruit... decisions decisions.

Day Seventy

DAY SEVENTY

Good on the food run today, but I was naughty and didn't go to the gym. In my defence my shin splints are playing up again, so I don't think it will hurt me to give them a rest.

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Lunch: Cauliflower and leek soup
Afternoon: Optifast chocolate shake
Dinner: salad, cabbage and leek
Drinks: water, tea

Exercise:

None.

Day Sixty-Nine

DAY SIXTY-NINE

Well things didn't go quite according to plan today. I had dinner at a friend's place so obviously I couldn't really control what I ate.

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Lunch: Optifast chocolate shake
Afternoon: Optifast cappuccino bar
Dinner: chicken Caesar salad and a piece of chocolate cake
Drinks: water, diet coke

Exercise:

I was meant to go to zumba but the class changed venues on me unfortunately! So I went for a walk instead.

Day Sixty-Eight

DAY SIXTY-EIGHT

I could have done some more exercise today. But otherwise things were good today.

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Lunch: Optifast chocolate shake
Afternoon: Optifast chocolate shake
Dinner: cauliflower croquettes and cabbage
Evening: diet jelly
Drinks: water, tea

Exercise:

10 minutes on the exercise bike to warm up followed by 20 minutes on the cross trainer.

It's finally happened

Well it may have taken 9 weeks and 7.6kg, but I think people are actually noticing that I've lost some weight!

A group of us went out for dinner on Saturday night for a friend's Birthday. It was tough to say the least, I ate a chicken caesar salad and had a skinny cappuccino as my dessert while everyone else chowed down on fish & chips, chocolate tart and sticky date pudding. But it was all worth it because as we were leaving one of my friends commented on how good I was looking.

I was stoked to say the least, but it didn't end there!

I went for a walk with my best friend the next morning and she commented for the first time on how good I was looking (yay!). Apparently she had noticed but didn't want to say anything in front of her boyfriend in case I was embarrassed. She then went on to tell me that the night before (at dinner), when I went to the ladies, the whole table was chatting about me and how much weight I've lost!

I could pretend that I'm embarrassed by all of this, but that would be a lie. I weigh the least I have in over 10 years and I have to say, I'm feeling pretty good about myself. It's so wonderful to get some external feedback that it's not all in my head, I am actually looking good.

Day Sixty-Seven

DAY SIXTY-SEVEN

I went for a walk with a friend and had brekkie after. Things weren't perfect, but I did well in the circumstances.

Food:

Breakfast: Yoghurt with raspberries and nuts
Lunch: Optifast cappuccino bar
Afternoon: Optifast chocolate shake
Dinner: notatoes and veggie ratatouille
Evening: diet jelly
Drinks: water, tea, diet tonic water

Exercise:

Walking with a friend (1 hour), walking my parents' puppy (20 mins), walk to the shops to buy groceries (15 mins).

Day Sixty-Six

DAY SIXTY-SIX

Not 100%, not terrible. Damn life.

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast cappuccino bar
Lunch: Optifast chocolate shake, cabbage and onion
Dinner: chicken ceasar salad, 2 glasses of bubbles
Drinks: water, 2 skinny caps

Exercise:

1 hour at the gym - 30 minutes on the cross trainer, 30 minutes on the treadmill.

Day Sixty-Five

DAY SIXTY-FIVE

Friday, Friday, Friday... whatever will I do with you. I didn't put in my best efforts today, but I tried really hard in the given circumstances. I went straight from work to a function to help out my Mum which went until about 9pm. During the course of the function I was absolutely ravenous (having not eaten since noon) and ended up snacking on some of the food on offer.

While the food I ate wasn't Optifast friendly, I didn't eat much of it. I know that may not sound like much of a consolation but it was a big thing for me. In the past where I've been at an event with lots of finger food I would have totally gorged myself. Whereas here, I only had maybe 4 serves of finger food. Maybe I'm learning something after all...

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Lunch: Optifast cappuccino bar
Afternoon: A few rice crackers and wasabi peas
Dinner (at function): 1 arancini ball, 1 piece of mini bruschetta, 2 mini vegetarian pizzas
Evening: optifast chocolate bar and diet jelly (my stomach was growling!)
Drinks: water, 3 small glasses of wine

Exercise:

None, but I did have to run around lots helping out at the function.

Small victories

For anyone who is trying to lose weight, it's easy to get frustrated that things aren't happening quickly enough. You might be like me and have a few small losses (or even a gain) that makes you want to give up. There's nothing worse than working your butt off only to see negligible results on the scales. Unfortunately, at the end of the day our bodies are complicated things. We can do all the right things and still not get results.

Just remember, it is all worth it at the end. Losing weight is as much about the journey as it is about the destination, so take the time to recognise those little victories along the way.

As you can see from my ticker, I've lost almost 8kg to date. When I still have 13kg to go, it sometimes seems that those 8kg are insignificant. In reality, have you tried picking up 8kg? I may be a wussy girl, but seriously - ouch! I can't believe I've made my body carry that extra weight for so long.

In recognition of how far I've come, I popped out during my lunch break today and treated myself to something I have wanted for years. Skinny leg jeans. If you've read my blog you probably hear me go on about them constantly. It is one fashion item I have never been able to wear.

Yes they're still a size 16 from Country Road but goddammit, they fit me! I officially own my first pair of skinny legs ever (and I'm only about 3 years behind in the trend ;)).

Day Sixty-Four

DAY SIXTY-FOUR

Oh my god, 64 days are over. That means I only have 20 days left of my personal challenge! Ahhh!!! I can't believe how quickly this time has passed.

I had a really good day today. After my low loss last week I've decided to try and cut out caffeine (I've been drinking quite a bit of tea and coffee lately) to see if that helps me lose this weight.

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Lunch: Optifast cappuccino bar
Afternoon: Optifast chocolate shake
Dinner: Salad - lettuce, onion, tomato, avocado and olives
Drinks: water, herbal (caffeine free) tea

Exercise:

About 45 minutes at the gym. 22 minutes on the cross trainer, 12 minutes on the exercise bike and about 10 mins on the floor doing push-ups and medicine ball exercises.

Week 9 - Weigh in

I had a small loss this week - only 0.3kg, but that brings me down to 88kg even. I'm not sure if I should consider going off the intensive phase and onto the transitional stage for a while to try and shake my body up.

I think I'll just keep it up for the next week and put my all into behaving over this weekend. The scales are still moving down which is the most important thing.

Day Sixty-Three

DAY SIXTY-THREE

I had another good day today. I think I need to work 7 days per week and not socalise, then I might actually manage to make it through a week without stuffing up!

On a positive note, since I've lost this little bit of weight I'm finding it much easier to exercise. In the past, Ive tried to jog but have really struggled with it. On the occasions when I did jog I struggled to jog more than a minute or two without slowing down. Add on to that the fact I've had shin splints in the past and I'm pretty much a walking disater.

However, this week I've decided to give jogging a go once again. I just love that I actually feel exhausted after I've done a bit of jogging! It's so easy to slack off at the gym, but when you're jogging on a treadmill at a set speed, there's nothing you can do but keep going. Having regard to my past track record, I'm taking it slowly to start off. The last thing I want to do is end up injured and have to stop exercising.

If you've ever wanted to get into running but didn't know where to start, make sure you check out the program on the Cool Running website. I've loosely been following this program when I go for jogs. I say loosely because I'm not doing the set 3 jobs per week, for the meantime I'm happy to have a varied work out schedule. But on the days I do jog, I like their interval system. For example, today I did a session like week 4, day 1 (although I only managed to make it to 2.5 mins at the end).

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Lunch: Optifast cappuccino bar and small bowl of cauli/leek soup
Afternoon: Optifast berry bar
Dinner: Cauliflower and leek soup
Drinks: water, black tea (light milk)

Exercise:

15 minutes on the exercise to warm up. 22 minutes on the treadmill - intervals of jogging / walking (3min jog, 90 sec walk, 5 min jog, 2.5 min walk, 3 min jog, 2.5 min walk, 2.5 min job, 2 min walking (cool down)).

Day Sixty-Two

DAY SIXTY-TWO

Things were perfect today - I didn't feel hungry at all and ate what I was meant to. Why can't every day be like this?

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Lunch: Optifast cappuccino bar and small bowl of cauli/leek soup
Afternoon: Optifast chocolate shake
Dinner: Cauliflower and leek soup and a salad
Drinks: water, black tea (light milk)

Exercise:

I went to a Zumba class tonight - so that's another hour of booty shaking action for the week.

Day Sixty-One

DAY SIXTY-ONE

Well I'm well and truly on the home stretch now. 61 days down and over 7kg gone for good. I can't help but be happy with that. If you had told me only two months ago that if I put my head down and did some hard work I would lose 7kg and be fitting into so many more clothes, I'm not sure if I would have believed you.

If anyone else out there is thinking about embarking on this journey - do it now! What's holding you back from starting?!? Seriously, we can always find an excuse to put off losing weight, but the sooner you start, the sooner it will be gone.

Things were good today - both on the food and exercise front. Hopefully this will make up for the cake and other lovely sweet food I ate over the weekend.

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Lunch: Optifast cappuccino bar and veggies
Afternoon: Optifast chocolate shake
Dinner: Vegetable stir fry
Drinks: water, black tea (light milk)

Exercise:

40 mins at the gym - 22 mins on the cross trainer (mainly on level 10), 18 minutes on the treadmill (mainly walking at between 6 and 6.5km/hr, with a 5 min jog in the middle - 8.5km/hr).

Inspiration - jeans (yet again)

Ahhh Bettina Liano... you are a brand I have admired from afar for many years. My skinny friends have always paraded around with your little yellow label sticking out - taunting me and my inability to fit into you.

Well what can I say, in the words of Bob Dylan - the times, they are a changing. That's right, I can fit into BL jeans!

I may have mentioned this before, but I'm a typical pear shape and most definitely have a little bit of "junk in my trunk". Bettina Liano has decided to crack into this market with their new range of "curvy fit" jeans.

Well I have to admit, I'm impressed. They are a gorgeous dark indigo colour and actually fit me! I am so stoked that I can wear BL jeans.

Now I'm yet to buy a pair, seeing as I'm still losing weight I can't really justify spending $250 on jeans just yet. However, I think a pair of these babies will officially be my reward when I reach 80kgs.

Day Sixty

DAY SIXTY

Ugh, family events. What is it about these occasions that makes me want to gorge myself to death... I'll blame it on all the hard to handle aunties

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Lunch: Optifast cappuccino bar and salad
Afternoon: bad bad food - cake, slices and almonds
Dinner: Optifast chocolate shake
Drinks: water, skinny cappuccino

Exercise:

1 hour at the gym - exercise bike, cross trainer and floor exercises.

Day Fifty-Nine

DAY FIFTY-NINE

Another day done and dusted.

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Lunch: vegetable frittata and salad
Afternoon: Optifast cappuccino bar
Dinner: cauliflower and leek soup, cabbage
Drinks: water, skinny cappuccino

Exercise:

Went shopping... lots of walking counts, right?

Day Fifty-Eight

DAY FIFTY-EIGHT

Ahh weekends, why must you exist. I wasn't terrible, but I wasn't on plan.

I had dinner with some friends at a Thai restaurant, so in anticipation I made sure to only have 2 optifast products for the day.

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Lunch: cauliflower and leek soup
Afternoon: Optifast berry bar
Dinner: shared a few meals with friends including - pad thai, green curry, a little bit of rice and spring rolls
Drinks: water, black tea (milk), bubble tea

Exercise:

None.

Day 57

DAY FIFTY-SEVEN

Another good day, hopefully I can manage to restrain myself this weekend!

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Lunch: cauliflower and leek soup (omg this recipe is fantastic - try it!)
Afternoon: Optifast berry bar
Dinner: more cauli and leek soup, plus a little bit of cabbage and onion
Evening: Optifast chocolate shake
Drinks: water, black tea (milk)

Exercise:

10 minutes on the exercise bike to warm up. 22 minutes on the treadmill - intervals alternating between walking at 6.5km/hr and jogging at 8.5km/hr (approx 13 minutes of jogging). I managed to surprise myself and fit in a couple of "long" (well for me) intervals of jogging - 4 minutes and 5 mins 20 secs respectively.

Cauliflower and Leek Soup Recipe

CAULIFLOWER AND LEEK SOUP

I've read about cauliflower soup before and have to admit I was a skeptic. People describe it as creamy and rave about how lovely it is... maybe it's the fact that it's white that it puts me off. Shouldn't food be colourful to be tasty?

In any event, I put my skepticism aside and decided to give it a try last night. Oh my god, I cannot believe I didn't try this sooner. It is amazing! It's smooth, creamy and so hearty for these cold winter days. I had my first bowl for lunch today and think I will probably have the same for dinner!

I didn't follow any particular recipe, but this is pretty much what I did. If you want a better example, I'm sure google will help you out.

RECIPE

1 tbs olive oil
1 whole cauliflower (cut into florets)
1 large leek
1 large brown onion (chopped)
2 cloves of garlic
Stock
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat your oil in a pan and then fry off the onion, leek and garlic until it’s tender (try not to let it brown). Add your cauliflower and stock (approx 1 litre).

I didn’t measure the stock, but used some powder and enough water that all the veggies were covered. You could obviously use prepared chicken / vegetable stock if you have it on hand.

Bring to the boil and cook for approximately 20 minutes or until vegetables are soft. Once it’s done, blend it and you should have a lovely smooth and creamy soup.

I had some fresh coriander on hand, so I added that when I was blending it. However, I’m sure parsley or other herbs would work well if you want to change the flavour a little.

Bon appetit!

Week 8 - Weigh In

After my 1kg gain last week, I was very lucky this week to lose 1.6kg - which is my gain plus more. That brings me down to 88.3kg and a total loss of 7.3kg to date.

I'm not sure if I'm losing my momentum but I wasn't all that excited today, which I really should be.

I think I'm going to put things in really small terms and focus on my next goal of getting down to 85kg, which is just over 3kg away.

The more I think about it, the more I realise how significant the 85kg mark is. While I've lost weight and put it on over the years since high school, I've never managed to get to that mark. More importantly, that would mark the half-way point in my weight loss journey and mean I only have another 10kg to lose. Wow...

Watch out 85kg - you will be mine!

Day 56

DAY FIFTY-SIX

Things were good again today.

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Lunch: zucchini and leek soup and optifast berry bar
Afternoon: Optifast chocolate shake
Dinner: vegetable ratatouille
Drinks: water, black tea (milk)

Exercise:

20 mins on the cross trainer.

Day 55

DAY FIFTY-FIVE

Putting all the issues aside that I have going on in my personal life, I'm feeling pretty good. Managed to eat well today and exercise.

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Lunch: zucchini and leek soup and optifast cappuccino bar
Afternoon: Optifast chocolate shake
Dinner: broccolini and a salad
Drinks: water, black tea (milk)

Exercise:

Zumba for an hour.

Day 54

DAY FIFTY-FOUR

I'm back on track after a terrible weekend. Ate perfectly today, thank god!

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Lunch: zucchini and leek soup and optifast berry bar
Afternoon: Optifast chocolate shake
Dinner: cabbage and onion (cooked down with olive oil, salt and pepper), green salad
Drinks: water, black tea (milk)

Exercise:

Took my parents' dog for a walk.

I'm ba-ack!

For those of you who read this blog, it's pretty apparent that I've been MIA for a few days. In all honesty, after my gain last week I went a little bit off the rails food-wise. I don't think I can even begin to list the food that was consumed over the weekend that was. Suffice to say it was terrible, I had numerous social events on, so between party food and wine, I've had my worst weekend to date.

To compound issues, I'm having some things go on in my personal life which are making my head spin. There's nothing like a bit of emotional turmoil to throw you back into old habits and leave you reaching for comfort food.

In any case, I'm not going to dwell on the past. What has happened has happened. I might gain weight again this week. If I do, it is well and truly a consequence of my own actions. I have to take account of that.

But for now, I have a few days to try and make up for my terrible efforts. I promise to be more accountable in the future and actually post when I go off on these eating rampages.

Day Fifty

DAY FIFTY

I don't know what was up today, but I was ravenous! I hate days like this.

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Morning tea: Optifast chocolate bar
Lunch: zucchini and leek soup
Afternoon: Optifast chocolate bar
Naughty treat: 2 Kingston biscuits
Dinner: cabbage and onion (cooked down with olive oil, salt and pepper), green salad
Drinks: water, green tea, black tea (milk), skinny flat white

Exercise:

Nothing today, I had plans after work.

Week 7 - Weigh In

Well I didn't really want to post my result for this week, but in the interest of full disclosure here we go... 89.9kg, or a gain of 1kg.

I'm not that surprised considering the bad food I ate over the weekend. Plus I'm feeling a bit hormonal and bloated at the moment, if you get my drift. I'm not devestated. Hopefully it's a bit of water weight and will shift itself in the next few days.

Day Forty-Nine

DAY FORTY-NINE

Another good day today.

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Lunch: zucchini and leek soup and Optifast chocolate shake
Afternoon: Optifast berry bar
Dinner: coleslaw style salad (cabbage, onion, capsicum etc)
Drinks: water, green tea, black tea (milk), skinny flat white

Exercise:

Quick 20 minute session at the gym - intervals on the cross trainer.

Day Forty-Eight

DAY FORTY-EIGHT

Finally, I have had a perfect day!!! Hallelujah!!! After the past weekend I wasn't sure I could get myself back into routine. Fortunately, I managed to eat perfectly today. (OK, I might have a little bit of milk in my tea, but it's a luxury that gets me through!)

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Morning tea: Optifast cappuccino bar
Lunch: steamed veggies and Optifast chocolate shake
Dinner: cauliflower croquettes and salad
Drinks: water, green tea, black tea (milk)

Exercise:

I went to a Zumba class tonight. I'm not sure I work as hard as I do when I'm at the gym, but it was a fun hour of exercise.

Day Forty-Seven

DAY FORTY-SEVEN

Ugh, the carb-cravings are still persisting after my naughty weekend. I ate a couple of biscuits on top of my usual intake.

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Morning tea: Optifast cappuccino bar
Lunch: steamed veggies and Optifast chocolate shake
Dinner: Ratatouille and side salad
Naughties: 2 kingston biccies
Drinks: water, green tea, black tea (milk)

Exercise:

I took my parents' dog for a walk (30 mins) and then did some push-ups, burpees and hand-weights while watching Masterchef.

Days Forty-Five and Forty-Six

DAY FORTY-FIVE

Oh this weekend has just been terrible overall. I've had far too many social events, which are such a big downfall for me.

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Lunch: Optifast cappuccino bar
Snack: homemade guacamole
Dinner: Roast vegetables (sweet potato, onion and parsnip) with a side salad
Dessert: upside down pear cake with a scoop of ice cream.
Drinks: water, green tea, red wine (1 small glass)

Exercise:

One hour at the gym. Started with 20 mins on the exercise bike to warm up. Then I did 10 minutes of medicine ball exercises and push-ups. Then I finished with half an hour on the treadmill, as follows: 5 mins walking, 20 minutes of intervals (80 seconds for each interval, alternating between walking at 6.3km/hr and jogging at 8.5km/hr), 5 minute cool down.

DAY FORTY-SIX

Another bad day food-wise. I went to a friend's place for a BBQ, so there was an assortment of lots of wonderful food yet again.

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Lunch: Roast pumpkin salad, roast field mushrooms and onion
Dessert: small piece of chocolate cake, small piece of apple/rhubarb pie and 2 macaroons
Dinner: Optifast chocolate shake
Drinks: water, red wine (1 small glass), diet soft drink

Exercise:

Half an hour at the gym. I started with a 10 minute warm up on the exercise bike and then followed up with 20 minutes on the cross trainer doing intervals (between level 5 and 8 for 80 seconds each).

Day Forty-Four

DAY FORTY-FOUR

Terrible terrible terrible day... I ate far too much food. I really don't know how people manage to balance entertaining with being on this diet. In any event, read below for all my shameful intake.

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Morning: 1 oopsie roll
Lunch: Optifast chocolate shake
Afternoon: Grainwaves chips, 1 shandy (half a pure blone beer, topped with lemonade)
Evening: French onion dip, guacamole, carrot and celery sticks, vita weats crackers
Dinner: Teriyaki tofu set, including miso soup, salad, sweet potato tempura, rice (I only ate a little). Plus about 3 glasses of wine.
Drinks: water, green tea, black tea (milk)

Exercise:

Does anyone actually exercise when they have a blow out like this?

One third of the weight is gone!

I know I keep making these random blog entries about my percentage loss, or how far I am through the challenge. I find that it really helps to keep me accountable and see that there is a light at the end of the weight loss tunnel.

Today I was looking at my overall loss of 6.7kg, in comparison to the total I want to lose (being 20.6kg). At the moment I've set my goal weight at 75kg, which would put my BMI at 24.5 (being at the upper end of the healthy weight range). I'm not sure if this is where I want to be ultimately, but considering I haven't weight that little in over a decade, I'll see how I feel when I get there.

In any case, my loss to date represents a loss of 32.5% of the total I'm aiming for. That means I'm practically 1/3 of the way through my weight loss journey (come on, that extra 0.8% doesn't count).

When I look at things in these terms, while these past 6 week haven't been easy... they haven't been that hard either. If I can continue as I have, I could be at my goal weight by October of this year. Even if my weight loss slows down as I reach goal (which does seem to happen for a lot of people), I could be at goal by Christmas. That is amazing.

If knowing that I could be 14kg lighter and at my goal by the end of the year isn't enough to keep me going, I don't know what is.

Day Forty-Three

DAY FORTY-THREE

Whoops, sorry I'm a bit late on posting yesterday's food intake. I was pretty good, but not perfect. I was cooking up a big batch of food because I'm having some friends over this weekend, so I was a bit of a picker while cooking. Not that it was bad food - I chopped up celery and carrot sticks and made my french onion dip (onions and cottage cheese).

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Morning: 1 oopsie roll
Lunch: Optifast chocolate shake and a few veggies
Afternoon: Optifast chocolate bar
Dinner: Vegetable stir fry
Evening: Diet jelly
Drinks: water, green tea, black tea (milk)
Extras: veggie sticks, cottage cheese dip, roast capsicum relish (homemade)

Exercise:

Nothing today.

Half way there

I feel that I should be blogging my thoughts and feelings now that I am officially half-way through my 12 week challenge.

After my weigh in this morning, I'm obviously ecstatic to have broken into to the 80's. This was in some ways a defining moment for me. All this time (and for many many weeks, months and years before I embarked on this journey) I had been floundering in the mid-90's, losing a few kgs, gaining a few kgs and struggling to get into the 80's. I did make it into the 80's once briefly a couple of years ago, but then I just let it go.

Now, after 6 weeks of perseverance, I'm in the 80's and working my way towards the 70's. I would be over the moon if I managed to get there in the next 6 weeks, but I think given my weight loss to date that's probably a bit unrealistic.

For me personally, this 84 days is only the beginning of what am determined will be a lifestyle change for me. I realise that this isn't going to be easy, but I don't want to live the rest of my life as an overweight person. I've already let too many things pass me by because of my weight.

I have to say this blog has probably been one of the reasons I have managed to stay on course to date. Now I know that 6 weeks isn't a particularly long time, but when I look at what I've achieved in those 42 days - I'm pretty proud of myself.

I know that I am the only person responsible for the food and exercise choices that I make. I choose to be in control when it comes to those choices.

I will no longer suffer from calorie amnesia, where, I binge on a large amount of food and ignore the calories.

I will listen to my body and stop eating when I'm full. Just because something tastes good, doesn't mean I need a second serve.

I will not let people pressure me into that piece of cake just because it's someones Birthday.

Week 6 - Weigh In

After a few slow weeks, I'm absolutely thrilled to report a massive loss of 1.6kg this week. That brings me down from 90.5kg to 88.9kg and a total of 6.7kg lost over the past 6 weeks!

I'm really happy that my hard work and discipline through this challenge is really paying off. I'm yet to have any friends or work colleagues comment on my weight loss, which is totally fine because I still have a fair way to go.

I just did the maths and to date I have lost 7% of my body weight, which is amazing! I can't wait to crack the 10% mark!

Day Forty-Two

DAY FORTY-TWO

Things were good once again today, I ate well and managed to get to the gym. And this officially marks my half-way point through my challenge! I really hope I can achieve a loss of at least 0.9 kg - which would bring my total to 6kg in 6 weeks.

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Lunch: Optifast chocolate shake
Afternoon: Optifast chocolate bar
Dinner: Cauliflower croquettes and a side salad.
Evening: one oopsie roll
Drinks: water, green tea, black tea (milk)

Exercise:

20 minutes on the cross trainer, followed by a 10 minutes rotating between the weight machines.

Bargain of the century!

I just had to share my excitement about the bargain I managed to pick up yesterday!

The one thing that I find stings about this program is the price, it means I have to do some serious budgeting to make sure it fit within my lifestyle. I often check out different chemists to make sure I'm getting my products for the best price.

Don't get me wrong, the results are worth it, but I generally try to stick to the shakes (being the cheapest option at about $2 each).

In any case, yesterday I wandered into a pharmacy near work to check out their discount table. They had a heap of old make-up marked down to $2 or $5 and some Kate Morgan shakes for $2 per shake. Then I happened to notice one lonely packet of Optifast bars.

They didn't have a price on them, so I went to the counter and asked. They cost me $2 for the whole packet!!!! I couldn't believe it. They are chocolate flavour (which isn't my favourite) and expire in a month's time, but who cares for $2?!?!

Before you asked, I already went back and checked - there weren't any more packets available. I think it may have been a mistake, but is definitely helps my finances for this week!

Day Forty-One

DAY FORTY-ONE

Things were good today - both on the food and exercise fronts (I know, I know, I have to be more consistent in my work outs). As I approach the half-way point of my 84 day challenge, I think I've got the food thing pretty much under control. The next challenge is going to be trying to incorporate exercise into my everyday life.

I don't think I have any excuses not to exercise for a minimum of 30 minutes per day (and longer on the weekends!). So I think I'm going take on the Nike attitude of "just do it" for the next 6 weeks when it comes to exercise. Hopefully that will bring me a step closer to my goal.

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Lunch: Optifast cappuccino bar
Afternoon: Optifast chocolate bar
Dinner: Dinner was a bit of a "what's left in the fridge" meal. I had some mushrooms, cooked up with garlic and spinach and a side salad.
Evening: diet jelly.
Drinks: water, green tea, black tea (milk)

Exercise:

I started with an easy 20 minutes on the recumbent bike to warm up. Then I completed 30 minutes on the cross-trainer (calorie burning program, level 5 - burned 300 cals and went for 3.75km). I was going to do another 10 minutes of floor work to bring me to the hour and cool down, but I was exha

Day Forty

DAY FORTY

I have to say I was hungry today and devoured all 3 of my optifast products by 1:30pm. I made it through the day which is the important thing!

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Morning tea: Optifast cappuccino bar
Lunch: Optifast chocolate shake
Dinner: Vegetable stir fry
Drinks: water, green tea, black tea (milk)

Exercise:

None, but I was on a cleaning rampage again today.

Days Thirty-Eight and Thirty-Nine

DAY THIRTY-EIGHT

Sorry, was busy this weekend and have got a little behind in my food record! Things were much better after my blow out on Friday night.

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast cappuccino bar
Lunch: Vegetable fritatta and salad
Dinner: Shake, carrot and celery sticks and cottage cheese
Drinks: water, skinny cappuccino

Exercise:

Nil

DAY THIRTY-NINE

Very good today food-wise. I didn't manage to squeeze any exercise in per se. However, I spent hours cleaning my house. So I personally thing that counts!

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast berry bar
Lunch: Optifast chocolate shake
Afternoon: Optifast chocolate shake, roast cauliflower topped with Cajun seasoning
Dinner: Mushrooms, onion, garlic and spinach, cooked with a lttle light philly and balsamic.
Drinks: water, skinny cappuccino

Exercise:

Cleaning the house!

Day Thirty-Seven

DAY THIRTY-SEVEN

Today was down right terrible. It all started at Friday night drinks with a glass of shandy, some chips and bicces and descended into madness when I went out for dinner. Tomorrow is a new day so I'm back on track.

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Lunch: A few steamed veggies and optifast shake
Afternoon: Grain waves chips, 2 kingston biccies and a shandy
Dinner: Went to a tapas restaurant - had various bits and pieces including mountain bread, eggplant fritters, roasted mushrooms, spanish doughnuts and ice cream, a glass of red.
Drinks: water, black tea (splash of milk)

Exercise:

Nil

Bucket list

This post has little to do with my weight loss goals, but I'm feeling a little whimsical and thought I would post a few things which are on my bucket list.

1. Go on a road trip with no destination in mind.

Image from Everything Fabulous.

2. Fall head over heels in love with someone who feels the same.

Image from finoush.

3. Buy a retro styled bike with a cane basket, so I can ride to the shops and buy my food.

Image from David Turner.

4. Make the world's best mix tape for the road trip with no destination.

Image from JenniPenni.

5. Live somewhere other than here.

Image from still upside down.

So what's on your bucket list?

General thoughts - 25% down

Well the first 5 weeks of my challenge are over and done with. I'm sailing along quite well to date and have managed to lose 5kg of the 20kg that I would like to lose in total. That's 25% done and dusted.

While I've had some ups and downs along the way, I'm in a good place emotionally. I decided to try on some clothes last night and it's amazing what a difference 5kg can do.

I own the above yellow dress which I have always loved and think is gorgeous. However, in the past I felt a bit self-conscious that you could see my lumps and bumps through it. You can probably tell from the picture that the fabric is fairly light and not forgiving when it comes to hiding those bulges. As a consequence I tended to wear some spanx underneath just to keep everything in place.

But having tried it on last night, it just seems to sit so much better - I'm still not happy with my stomach by any means, but it is definitely protruding less. This is the first time in a long time that I have felt beautiful and confident.

I need to keep reminding myself that, if this is how good I feel being a quarter of the way there... how amazing will I feel at goal? I'm going out for dinner tonight with friends, hopefully I can keep this feeling in my head and make the best possible food choices.

Day Thirty-Six

DAY THIRTY-SIX

Just a quick post to update on today. Things were all good food wise, didn't manage to get to the gym though

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Lunch: A few steamed veggies and optifast shake
Afternoon: Optifast chocolate shake
Dinner: Grilled zucchini, capsicum and eggplant (topped with a little balsamic vinegar) and a side salad.
Evening: Diet jelly
Drinks: water, black tea (splash of milk)

Exercise:

Nil

Week 5 - Weigh In

I'm still a bit concerned that my scales aren't giving me consistent results, which is beyond annoying. In any event, I'm down another 600g this week which brings me to 90.5kg. That's a total of 5.1kg lost in 5 weeks. Can't complain about that.

Day Thirty-Five

DAY THIRTY-FIVE

Day thirty-what?!? I can't believe I'm already 5 weeks in of my 12 week challenge. And even better, despite a few minor hiccups along the way, I think I'm doing pretty darn well. I really hope I have a loss for my weigh-in tomorrow... even if it's just 500g, because that would take me to 5kg in 5 weeks which I think is a pretty decent effort.

I managed to resist both the cake and the tim tams that were on offer today (I think I deserve a medal for my efforts), plus I went to the gym! That is an absolutely perfect day in my books.

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Snack: One oopsie rolls with a scrape of light philly cream cheese
Lunch: A few steamed veggies
Afternoon: Optifast chocolate shake
Dinner: Vegetable ratatouille (onion, garlic, mushrooms, zucchini, eggplant, roast capsicum, tinned tomatoes and mixed herbs)
Evening: Optifast berry crunch bar (my first one and can I say yum! I will definitely be buying these babies again!)
Drinks: water, green tea, black tea (splash of milk), ginger tea

Exercise:

I started with a 22 minute interval session on the cross trainer (alternating between levels 5 and 8). I can assure you I was a wreck once that was over! Then I spent 15 minutes doing some push-ups and medicine ball exercises. I know it probably sounds like I'm slacking off when I do push-up's etc. But I can assure you, my heart rate is still up there and I'm panting away - can you tell I'm pretty unfit?

I can resist anything but temptation

Oh temptation... why oh why must you taunt me each and very day. It's bad enough that I have to deal with you on weekends (which primarily revolve around food and wine). But it's a Wednesday! Come on, give me a break.

In my work kitchen there is currently, one lemon sponge cake:

And not one, but two whole packets of tim tams:

You read correctly... so if there are two packets, I could be satisfied 22 times. Wow... that's a lot of satisfaction.

I would very much like to eat all of the above food. But I won't, because I choose not to. I just had to vent because I have a sweet tooth and officially hate my job for having so much nice food available.

Inspiration - my family

I'm very lucky to be part of a close knit family. We are by no means perfect, but we support one another and would do anything to help another person out.

I'm especially close to my Mum. I absolutely treasure our relationship, she's not only my mother, but my friend. I know so many of my friends have strained relationships with their parents, so I should probably count my blessings that I ended up with 2 great ones.

One reason for undertaking this journey, is because I am hopeful I can inspire my Mum and brother to lose weight. I love them both so dearly and the thought of losing either of them before their time as a result of obesity breaks my heart. Well it looks like my wish may be coming true, at least in part.

After chatting with my Mum about what I've ac hived to date she has actually gone out and bought herself a few Optifast products today. I'm so proud of her and really hope she can stick to it. It's a really tough challenge for her, being the primary cook in the family and dealing with two fussy male eaters (who predominately love bread, meat and pasta). I'm going to be by her side the whole way to support and encourage her through this journey.

Day Thirty-Four

DAY THIRTY-FOUR

Another good day today. I had to run errands after work, so I didn't get a chance to make it to the gym. On the upside I made an absolutely massive pot of ratatouille, so after eating one serve for dinner I've put another 3 serves away in the freezer for future meals. Yum!

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Snack: One oopsie rolls with a scrape of light philly cream cheese
Lunch: Optifast chocolate shake
Dinner: Vegetable ratatouille (onion, garlic, mushrooms, zucchini, eggplant, roast capsicum, tinned tomatoes and mixed herbs)
Evening: final shake
Drinks: water, green tea, black tea (splash of milk)

Exercise:

Just my usual lunch time walk.

Inspiration - Nautical inspired fashion

I'm having "one of those days" at work today. I'm feeling over it to say the least and really want to eat some biscuits from the jar. (I checked, there's good cream biccies on offer today... Kingstons, shortbread cream and monte carlos... oh my!).

But rather than concentrate on what I'm not supposed to have, I thought I'd do a quick post one something that inspires me... fashion. Without sounding totally conceited, I think I dress really well, even as someone who is overweight. Although I can't always pull off the latest fashion trends due to my size.

One fashion item which can be risky to play with is the stripey tshirt. Or should I say horizonal stripes per se. In any event, I love stripes and would love to wear something like this, come summer!

These outfits are just so cute and classic... but I'm a sucker for anything nautical styled!

Now to work on these thunder thighs!

Day Thirty-Three

DAY THIRTY-THREE

Things were pretty good today. I have to admit I ate a couple of oopsie rolls on top of my daily intake, hopefully the extra 100 calories or so shouldn't affect me too much. Plus I went to the gym, so I think a little extra protein is probably a good thing.

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Snack: Two oopsie rolls with a scrape of light philly cream cheese
Lunch: Steamed veggies and a chocolate shake
Dinner: Vegetable stir fry with garlic, ginger and soy sauce
Yet to have: final shake
Drinks: water, green tea

Exercise:

I had a decent session at the gym. I completed 22 minutes on the treadmill, mainly walking at 6.3km/hr (with an incline). I managed to fit in about 7 minutes of jogging in that set (approx 8.3km/hr). I finished up my session with 15 minutes in the stretching zone, doing push-ups and various medicine ball exercises.

I have to say I'm at a loss when it comes to exercise. If I walk at the gym I don't feel that I'm working hard enough. By comparison, I love getting a bit of jogging in. I started doing the couch to 5km program about a year ago and loved the initial weeks where you undertake short intervals, alternating between walking and running. However, I ended up with shin splints and had to stop the program.

I tend to be a bit susceptible to injuries so I'm hesitant to make jogging a regular occurrence... but I just love the feeling of being really worn out after a work out.

Day Thirty-Two

DAY THIRTY-TWO

I had a bit of a mixed day today. My food intake wasn't 100%, but it wasn't terrible. If it's any compensation for my less than perfect food choices I went for a big power walk around my suburb.

I have to admit I had one of those days where I just wanted to snack. To try and combat this I cooked up some oopsie rolls and a "french onion dip" (which is basically, cottage cheese, onion, salt and pepper). These recipes are definitely not part of the optifast program, but are both low in carbs and calories, which makes them good choices for the times I feel I need something else to eat.

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Snack: Tony ferguson french onion dip, with cos lettuce to dip (I didn't have any carrots / celery)
Lunch: Optifast chocolate bar
Dinner: 1 Sanitarium soy burger with salad, 2 oopsie rolls
Drinks: water, diet coke

Exercise:

40 minutes power walk around my neighbourhood.

Day Thirty-One

DAY THIRTY-ONE

I thought I would do a quick update for today while I had the chance. Things have been good so far and I'm planning on a light dinner.

I went for brekkie with friends this morning, as opposed to succumbing to eggs and toast (like last week) I just had a skinny cappuccino and saved my shake for later in the morning.

Food:

Breakfast: Skinny cap
Morning: Optifast chocolate shake
Lunch: Optifast chocolate bar
Afternoon: Optifast cappuccino bar
Dinner: Yet to have (will edit later)
Drinks: ginger tea, water, coffee

Exercise:

Lots of walking.

Day Thirty

DAY THIRTY

Oh weekends... I don't know how anyone gets through while on a shake program. To celebrate the start of the new financial year we had cake at work... it was sooo good. Then, after saying no to after work drinks, I succumbed to a few glasses of red wine with dinner.

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Morning tea: Lemon sponge cake (1 small piece)
Lunch: Optifast chocolate shake
Dinner: Tofu and vegetable stir fry (with a chili and ginger sauce)
Drinks: green tea, water, ginger tea, red wine (3 glasses! Whoops!)

Exercise:

Nada.

Day Twenty-Nine

DAY TWENTY-NINE

I had a good day again today, plus I managed to fit in a decent walk around my suburb after work. I can't wait for Winter to pass, it's just so depressing going for a walk when it's almost pitch black at 6pm!

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Lunch: Zucchini and leek soup
Afternoon: Optifast chocolate shake
Dinner: Vegetable stir fry (cabbage, carrot, onion, capsicum, broccoli, cauliflower with ginger, garlic and low salt soy sauce)
After dinner: final shake
Drinks: green tea, water

Exercise:

I went for a good 40 minute power walk around my suburb, including a few stints of jogging.

Week 4 - Weigh In

I'm happy to report a loss of exactly 1kg this week. That brings me down from 92.1 to 91.1kg and my BMI to 29.7. That's right, I am officially overweight and no longer obese!

I'm really happy with the result considering I had a less than perfect week food wise... I can't help but think that I could have had a better loss if I was more disciplined with myself.

I'm going to aim to have a 100% optifast week for week 5. Hopefully I don't have too many social events because these, unfortunately, seem to be my major downfall!

Day Twenty-Eight

DAY TWENTY-EIGHT

Just a quick update for yesterday's food intake, things were pretty good. Although I snuck a few of my friend's chips when I went out for dinner... bad me!

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Lunch: Zucchini and leek soup
Afternoon: Optifast chocolate shake
Dinner: Mushroom, feta and rocket salad, plus some hot chips
Drinks: green tea, water

I only had 2 shakes today on account of the fact that I went out for dinner.

Exercise:

No planned exercise, just the usual incidental walking to the shops / dinner etc.

Day Twenty-Seven

DAY TWENTY-SEVEN

I'm feeling better today after having a 100% optifast day. Hopefully my mojo is back!

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Lunch:Optifast chocolate shake
Dinner: Cauliflower croquettes and salad
Drinks: green tea, water
Yet to have: final shake

Exercise:

Took my parents' puppy for a walk (20 minutes), managed to sneak a couple of minutes jogging in as well.

Day Twenty-Six

DAY TWENTY-SIX

I think I've lost my mojo a little bit this week! I'm not sure what to do to get it back again... maybe I should read over my first week when I was feeling super motivated. I was visiting my parents' tonight and succumbed to a small piece of apple and rhubarb crumble :(

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Lunch:Optifast chocolate shake
Afternoon: Optifast chocolate shake
Dinner: Cauliflower croquettes and salad
Dessert: Apple and rhubarb crumble (bad bad bad!!!)
Drinks: green tea, water, skinny flat white

Exercise:

Nil.

Day Twenty-Five

DAY TWENTY-FIVE

Things were pretty good today after my terrible start to the weekend. I'll admit I had a skinny cappuccino with one sugar today... but in comparison to the carbs I ate on Friday and Saturday, I think this is a much better option!

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Lunch:Optifast chocolate shake
Afternoon: Optifast chocolate bar
Dinner: Cauliflower croquettes and salad
Drinks: ginger tea, water, skinny cap

Exercise:

Nil.

Days Twenty-Three and Twenty-Four

DAY TWENTY-THREE

I have to admit I haven't posted my updates because I'm embarrassed that I have made some terrible choices. I really wish I could skip over the weekend, it's the time I always seem to fall off the wagon. In the interests of full disclosure, please read my disgusting food intake!

I'm not going to let this stop me though! One bad weekend isn't enough to stop me.

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Lunch:Optifast chocolate shake
Afternoon: Optifast cappuccino bar
Dinner: small bowl of vegetable soup, a small piece of bread and butter, pasta with a creamy / cheese sauce and a side salad
Drinks: green tea, water, 2 glasses of white wine, 1 vodka and cranberry juice

Exercise:

Nil.

DAY TWENTY-FOUR

Again, I didn't manage to make the best choices. I'm determined that tomorrow will be different!

On a side note, I think my scales are broken or running out of battery. Each time I jump on they seem to give me a different number (it can vary by as much as 2kg). I've never had digital scales before, so I don't really know what's going on. Is this normal?

Food:

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs, mushrooms and toast, skinny cappuccino
Lunch:Optifast cappuccino bar, skinny flat white
Dinner: tofu and vegetable stir fry with a garlic and sweet chili sauce
Drinks: water, diet coke

Exercise:

Nil.

Day Twenty-Two

DAY TWENTY-TWO

Sorry for the late check-in for day 22. I went to a comedy show which didn't finish until 11:30pm. So by the time I got home, showered and into bed, I couldn't face blogging as well. It was far too late for a school night*!

I went out for dinner with a friend before the comedy show, so my day wasn't 100% optifast, but I chose well in the circumstances and planned for the meal out by not having my third shake.

After reporting my small loss yesterday, I jumped on the scales again this morning (day 23) and am happy to report the loss of an extra 600g (bringing me down to 91.5kg). I'm not officially reporting it just yet, because it's still a week to my weigh in and things could change. But I'm feeling much better about things!

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Lunch: zucchini and leek soup
Afternoon: Optifast cappuccino bar (first one - sooo yum!)
Dinner: tofu and vegetable stir fry with a ginger / soy sauce
Comedy gig: 1 glass of white wine
Drinks: green tea, water, diet coke

Exercise:

None today, but I was out tonight so didn't have the time.

*FYI - by school night, I mean work night.

A quarter of the way through my challenge

After my last post where I expressed disappointment in my weight loss over the past week, I've had a think about things... and done some maths. There's nothing like some maths to bring out the inner geek in a girl and make you feel better.

I'm currently on day 22 of my challenge. Over the past 21 days (or the first 25% of my challenge) I managed to lose 3.5kg. If I manage to continue losing at that rate (or an average of 3.5kg every 3 weeks) I will lose a total of 14kg for this challenge. That would bring my weight down to 81.6kg. In all honesty that is a figure I would be ecstatic with. I can't remember a time I weighed that little.

Now it's no secret that you can generally lose more weight early on, so even if I only manage to lose 10kg for the duration of this challenge I would be happy.

I think for anyone who is trying to lose weight, it's important to keep your eye on the goal. Unforutnately are bodies are complicated things, we can do everything by the book and not lose weight some weeks. At the end of the day, it's important to keep going. I know I would rather take an extra 84 days to reach my ultimate goal, as opposed to giving up.

Week 3 - Weigh In

Well I have to admit I'm disappointed with my result this week. I'm down to 92.1kg, a measly loss of 200 grams for the week.

If I'm being completely honest I didn't stick to the program 100%. I had quite a few extras over the week such as oopsie rolls, popcorn and some cheese. I think I need to refocus this week and hopefully I'll get a better result this week.

Day Twenty-One

DAY TWENTY-ONE

Day 21 has been good for me, three weeks are officially down and I'll be interested to see how things go for my weigh-in tomorrow. I've done a few things differently this week - for one, I've been trying to drop the soup I was having at lunch time and just doing my 3 shakes and 2 cups of veggies. Secondly, I've done very little exercise. Thirdly, Alice has paid me a visit and finally, I had a couple of slip-ups - mainly in the form of cheese (glorious cheese!).

I think having regard to all the factors above, it's pretty hard to say that one thing will effect my weight loss (or gain). But as they say, the proof is in the pudding.

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Lunch: Optifast chocolate bar (my first one, it was nice for a change) and a few veggies.
Afternoon: Optifast chocolate shake
Dinner: cauliflower croquettes and salad (with a little bit of feta cheese)
Drinks: green tea, water
Snacks: I'll admit I've had the munchies today and ate quite a few jelly snakes (made from diet jelly)!

Exercise:

I managed to drag my butt to the gym today, just did 20 minutes on the exercise bike. Not great, but better than nothing!

Day Twenty

DAY TWENTY

Wow, 20 days seems pretty significant! I'm almost a quarter of the way through this challenge.

Things have been good today. I have to admit I had a couple of oopsie rolls on top of my daily intake, so I hope the extra 120 or so calories don't hurt too much. At the end of the day I was hungry and I figure a low carb, low fat, low calorie snack is the way to go!

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Morning snack: 2 oopsie rolls with a scrape of light philly and weight watchers jam
Lunch: Optifast chocolate shake
Afternoon: Third shake
Dinner: stir fry veggies (capsicum, broccoli, carrot, celery, cabbage, snow peas and onion) with garlic and soy sauce
Drinks: green tea, ginger tea, water

Exercise:

None again... this is getting embarrassing.

Inspiration - shorts

I'm sure this is a bit of a weird thing to be inspired by, but I would kill to be able to wear a pair of shorts by this summer and look good! A friend has a boat, so during the warmer months we tend to go out on it quite often. It's so much fun, lazing around, drinking wine and swimming. On these kind of days, shorts would be so perfect (especially with a stripey t-shirt to complete the nautical look!)

Now I'm not asking to look like Kylie, or wear short shorts! Just some loose-fitting, mid-length chambray shorts would be perfect! Or something high-waisted so I can go for that 70's look. I love what this girl has done to achieve a really polished look!

Summer here I come!

Day Nineteen

DAY NINETEEN

Just a quick post today, things were good for me. Although I was a little naughty and had a tiny bit of feta in my salad tonight (shh, don't tell anyone).

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Lunch: Optifast chocolate shake
Afternoon: Third shake
Dinner: Salad topped with Paul Newman's light balsamic dressing and cauliflower croquettes
Drinks: green tea, ginger tea, water

Exercise:

I think I'm getting a bit naughty, "resting my shins" has turned into me breaking my good habits! I will go to the gym tomorrow, even if it's just for a light session, no ifs or buts about it!

Day Eighteen

DAY EIGHTEEN

Da da dam, another one bites the dust. Day 18 is over and done with. I wasn't 100%, on my food intake but I wasn't particularly bad either (at least I don't think so).

I started the day with a couple of oopsie rolls spread with a little bit of light cream cheese and fruit chutney for breakfast. I have to admit I felt like a king! Oopsie rolls are a saviour for anyone in the world of low carb!

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake, oopsie rolls topped with cream cheese and fruit chutney
Lunch: Optifast chocolate shake
Dinner: Salad topped with Paul Newman's light balsamic dressing
Evening: final shake
Drinks: skinny cappuccino, Ginger tea, water

Exercise:

Nothing again today, in the interests of resting my shins.

Day Seventeen

DAY SEVENTEEN

Another day which was far from perfect. I was out for lunch and couldn't have a shake, so I ordered a salad. Then I went over to a friend's house for pizza and movies. To try and avoid as much temptation as possible, I made my own pizza to take with me and a big salad to share. I used an oopsie roll for the base of the pizza and I have to say, it tasted pretty good.

Where I feel down majorly was the snacks. I ended up having some popcorn (homemade) and lollies (natural confectionery company). To compensate, I didn't have any further shakes during the day.

All up, while I didn't follow the program I think I did pretty well. I know the blow out could have been far worse if I had the actual domino's pizza!

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Lunch: Salad (baby spinach, tomato, beetroot and bocconcini)
Dinner: homemade pizza on oopsie roll base, topped with tomato paste, capsicum, tomato, onion, olives and a tiny bit of low fat cheese.
Snacks: popcorn and lollies
Liquids: water, diet coke, 1 glass of orange juice

Exercise:

None again today. But I'm trying to give my shins a chance to recover.

Day Sixteen

DAY SIXTEEN

Not so perfect for me in the house of 84, what is it with me and Friday's? Obviously I'm in a bad habit of celebrating the end of the work week with food. I don't think the damage was too bad - I had a small bowl of wasabi peas and some little rice crackers at after work drinks. I managed to say no to alcoholic beverages and instead had a couple of glasses of diet tonic water.

Food:

Breakfast: Optifast chocolate shake
Lunch: Optifast chocolate shake
Afternoon: naughty snack - wasabi peas and rice crackers.
Dinner: Planned meal out - vegetable and tofu stir fry with a ginger soy sauce (due to the protein in the meal, I chose not to have my third shake today).
Liquids: green tea, ginger tea, water, tonic water and a diet coke.

Exercise:

Nada. But Friday's are an off day for me.