GOOOOOOOOOOAAALLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

   

     Well.
     I've done it.
     I went into work this morning and got weighed on the scales in my room.
     I went into the nurses' room and got weighed on her scales.
     I got the receptionist to come and make sure I was not hallucinating.

     118.7kg.

     I've done it. I have lost 20kg. Everyone at work was so excited for me. I just cried. Relief. Elation. I have been so close for so long, and I knew I would get there eventually, but finally I have made it!! It's funny because I don't know which emotion is stronger - the relief of losing 20kg, or the the relief of FINALLY making it to 20kg lost. Either way, it is very awesome.
     I have to admit, I have had some stupid and somewhat scary thoughts about ways I could finally push to the 20kg number. I have thought about having only shakes and barely any food (for me that is drastic as I love the taste and process of eating, hence the weight problem) and even thought about getting appetite suppressants or metabolisers to cheat my way there. I felt like a fool thinking of this and talked myself out of it before I even started to consider it. I haven't needed it to get this far, and I convinced myself I wasn't going to need it to get over this "hump". I would hate to cheat like that and then blow out the next time I put any kind of food in my mouth, and although I would be excited to get to the goal, I would do it knowing I had stepped away from what was working for me already and how I had lost the rest of the weight to begin with. So no, I didn't use anything extra, and YAY ME!! I made it!!
     I said I would post some photos once I had lost the weight, I only wish I had taken some side on ones as well, you can see a big difference, but not as much as what I know and feel... I still have a long way to go, but I have also come a long way already.

      November 2012                             April 2013 after 20kg lost

                                            Measurements

         

                                              November 2012                April 2013
1 inch above belly button              143cm                          126cm

To belly button                             150cm                          131cm

1 inch below belly button              152cm                           134cm

That means I have lost about 7.4 inches around to my belly button!! And about 6.6 inches above and 7.0 inches below!

     It feels amazing to see and feel the difference for myself and to recognise the difference in size measurement wise. I was buying clothes sizes 26 and up, I am now buying clothes anywhere a 22-20 (depending on the darn brand of course) and sometimes smaller.

     So, looking forward, it is time to set my next goal! Another 10kg by the end of August - 4.5 months, give myself a little more time this time as it slows up the more you lose apparently.

     My entries may slow a bit as well, but I promise to keep updating and keep dragging you along with me! Imagine if I could get to 35-40kg lost by the end of the year?! I am excited!

    I made it this far, I am so very happy. I know it's a cliche, but if I can do it, anyone can, you just need to get focussed and go for it!

     Anything is possible. xxx

A little more time...?

     So here we are at the beginning or April! My goal, as you know, was to have lost 20kg by the end of March, but for a few reasons, I am going to give myself an extra week to try and get there.
     Firstly, it is around "that time" again, so weight is fluctuating a bit. Secondly, it was Easter last weekend! No I didn't go overboard on the eggs, I had a couple to indulge a little as such, but still...
     I know I have said a million times that I feel good, but I am really starting to notice that I feel lighter as well. I don't know how to describe it, but I do. Clothes I wear around the house feel like they hang in a way that makes me feel a bit slimmer. For the first time in his life, my 7 year old son can get his arms around me when he hugs me!! That made me cry when I realised that!. It was beautiful. My mother-in-law said to me just this morning how much of a difference she could notice. In my face and my neck as well. I even have collarbones!
     Even more exciting, on my most recent trip to Coffs Harbour, I went into "Katies"  and bought clothes! Katies!! Sure they were still off the big racks, but they fit!! I was probably a teenager when I last bought clothes from there! Little things like that are very exciting, and such big changes. I love it!
     It blows my mind looking at photos of myself that were taken just 6 months ago and seeing how much I have changed. And it blows my mind even more that it hasn't been a huge effort to make these changes. I mean, yes, I have worked very hard, and I am continuing to do so, but I am enjoying what I am doing, so it isn't a huge chore that "diets" can be.

                      Just to show the difference in my face and neck...

     Anyway, this was just a brief note to let you know that I haven't forgotten to post results. I may not get there, but they will still be up very soon!!

Karma???

     It would appear that I may have jinxed myself about not having any health problems. I spoke to my Doctor the other week about having some blood tests done - it has been a long while since I have had any, and with such a lifestyle change I wanted to make sure everything is where it should be.
     My vitamin D came back low as I knew it would, I am already taking medication for that, but not as often as I should. She roused on me "You must take your medication or it could lead to osteo! You don't want that!" She said. I also found out that my iron levels are low. They are sitting at 9. That's not too low, but low enough to be a problem, and it would certainly explain why I am feeling tired a lot of the time. With a history of bowel cancer in my family my Doctor wants to check a few different things and has asked me to take some iron supplements, so we'll see where we go from there.
     I have also just had a tooth pulled with more work to follow over the coming months, and a small lump on my leg that while the Doctor doesn't think it is a problem, I may opt to have it cut out. I feel very mixed about it all. I pull out these different pills I have to take at different times of the day - vitamin D when required, iron tablet, multivitamin, anti-biotic for the lack of tooth, something for the pain for the lack of tooth when required, plus whatever else - I feel like a stereotypical old lady who needs a Webster pack, like I am suddenly falling apart afer all these years of having no problems. But on the flipside, and a much better way of looking at it, I feel like I am repairing some of the various bits of damage that have been done over time on this path to helping to create a new me. That is how I am going to look at it.
     To top it off, my weight appears to have stalled a bit. That sucks being so close to a goal, yet I am so darn stuck that my weight won't move. I am not doing anything differently with my food, so I believe that maybe part of it is some muscle buildup through excercising at the gym. I feel great, I am still noticing some difference in my clothes and my measurements, so will have to go off that - as long as there is still a difference somewhere, I am happy.
     I don't think that at this point now I could quit anyway to be honest. I think I could be naughty if I really wanted to - raid the cupboard and go on a massive binge - but I don't want to blow what I have achieved, and even if I did have that binge, I would feel so guilty, I really don't believe that I could go back to that place I was once in. I couldn't. I would be disappointed in myself and would feel like I had let my friends and family down. I am NOT going back there.
     I guess it's a bit like being a reformed smoker - you look at someone and feel bad for them with what they are doing. You want to tell them to "stop, you will feel so much better. I stopped and I feel great!!! You will feel so much better if you quit!" I am starting to feel that way with people and with food. I am by no means "skinny" or "cured", but I have to admit when I am out now I notice things and people that I have never noticed before. For example, I was having lunch with my son in a shopping centre the other day and a few tables away from us was a very overweight man and an overweight girl sitting together having lunch. As I slowly ate my food I watched him devour a doner kebab, bottle of coke and then a takeaway container full of Chinese food. Not long ago I wouldn't have battered an eyelid, I probably wouldn't have even noticed let alone felt anything. It's not my business to feel anything or think anything, but I did and it surprised me. I felt sorry for him. I felt bad for him. I wondered where he would be in 10 years time, if he would be the same or worse, or if he too would one day be able to change his life. It was wrong of me to think those things I guess, I was not judging him, but I suppose due to human nature, I unintentionally was.
     So now I sit here at my desk wondering what is next for me.  I am continuing on, don't you worry about that, but I guess sometimes these sorts of things make you reflect.
     I have decided that whether or not I reach my goal, my next blog post should be around that time, so I will post some pics and some measurements and the like so you will know where I am and how I am doing.
     Thank you for coming on my journey with me so far. It is nice to have someone to share my ramblings with xxx

What would YOU do?

     Having my own epiphany made me snap into trying hard to change my life. It's not because I had health issues - I have always been healthy although I have always been overweight. I never missed much school as a child due to illness, as an adult I have not often been sick, and other than the depression I have certainly not been diagnosed with anything. Changing things was what I needed to do.
     I said in an earlier entry that I still treat myself if I want something,my biggest thing that I can't go without right now is microwave popcorn - preferably cheese flavoured. I know it's not fantastic for me, but it has to be a bit better to indulge in this with my husband while watching TV than eating a whole bag of chicken potato chips to myself! That is the one thing that I am afraid could destroy my new lifestyle. My kryptonite if you will - chicken flavoured potato chips. Where possible I try not to even keep them in the house, unless it's as a treat for hubby and the kids. I am still worried that I would give in and have one little chip and I would be like a shark in a feeding frenzy. I really don't know if I could stop at just 1, sure at a party I could convince myself to behave and just have a little nibble, but at home I don't know if I could.
     So this got me thinking - What do you eat a lot of that maybe you could cut out or substitute with something else? And more importantly - what would it take for you to have an epiphany and change your life? It may not be losing weight, it may be exercising more or drinking less or quitting smoking. What would it take for you to do it? Would it be a realisation that your sugars are too high and you are bordering on diabetes? The Doctor telling you that if you don't do something, you could die? Realising that if you don't change your life your kids could be growing up minus a parent? Or would it be as simple as standing buck naked in the bathroom and baring a lot more than just your soul to yourself like I did.
     I still remember that night so clearly - just standing there, crying at what I had done to myself and what I had let myself become. It was hard enough to admit it to myself let alone my husband and then the nurse, and then to post it on the internet in a blog! Reliving all those emotions as I wrote it all down was hard, and I would cry as I re-read my notes to myself, but maybe that is another thing that has helped me stay focused.
     I am certainly not there yet and don't profess to be, but it is nice to be slowly wrapping my head around things and know that my stomach is shrinking. There was an advert on TV the other night for a special KFC box - you get a burger or wrap, potato and gravy, chips and a wicked wing for $5. I said to my husband "Gees that looks good, but if I bought it I don't know if I would be able to eat it all..." A few months ago I would have gone in there and bought two of those deals just for me!
     I guess it's all baby steps and bit by bit. You can't change the world in a day, but if you really want to and can persevere and be patient, you can certainly work on changing your life. But you are the only one that can do it.
     My mother used to always tell me when I was a teenager "It's easier to lose the weight while you are young, it gets harder as you get older" but I wasn't ready to listen and I wasn't patient enough to try. Now we get these weight loss shows like Biggest Loser that shows dramatic and unrealistic changes that we as normal people in the real world could never achieve. Sure I cry along with everyone else and spit out words like "Amazing" and "Fantastic" only to read in magazines months later about the contestants current body battles because they couldn't keep up the lifestyle they were put into on the show. Oh yes, I have applied, I would have given it a good go and cried and thrown my guts up on national television, but it was not meant to be, and to be honest now, I am glad. I am happy to just potter along at my own pace doing what I am doing. Finally I have found something that I am enjoying and that is working for me. I am eating better food and less of it, yet I am rarely ever hungry. I used to get rough and pimply skin on my arms, but that has pretty much cleared up, leaving them smooth and as they should be. I have more of a jawline than I have in years, and even my enormous hooters have retreated a bit! So many more pros than cons for what I am doing, and because I am enjoying it so much I truly wonder how I didn't click into it a long time ago.
     Oh yeah, that's right. My bloody mind wasn't ready. Thank goodness it is now :)

The good and the bad.

     Not every day is hunky dory. Some days are an extremely hard fight. I want to eat. Really eat. Gorge myself full of the crap that I used to eat all of the time, but somehow I don't. I will eat when this strikes, but will just have several small snacks throughout the day instead of an enormous binge. If I want chocolate, I will have chocolate - but I will just have one small piece rather than the whole block. It's all about self control I guess, and some days you've got it, some days you don't and you have to battle harder.
     Last week was really hard for me, probably the worst I have had since I started this journey. Coming up to "that time of the month" and I was just down on everything. I look horrible. I want to eat. This isn't working. Why do I bother. I will just always be this fat, ugly and horrible.
     STOP.
     Think about what you have achieved so far, 14kg+ lost, your clothes are really falling off for the first time EVER, you have achieved SO MUCH and you do NOT ever want to go back!!
     I had to keep reminding myself of this all week. Those negative thoughts are what has ruined it for me every time I have started trying to lose weight, although usually about a week or so in.
     Late last week, I got weighed.
     "What the F***??!!! Up 1.5kg in 1 day??!!" It was very hard to remind myself that your weight can increase but up to a couple of kilograms around the time of your period. I tried to ignore it and not let the negative thoughts get the better of me. I pushed on and within a couple of days was back where I should have been. Relief!!
     I have been trying to go to the gym at least once a week and although I am fat and a little embarrassed, I really enjoy going! I have my own little circuit that I do over 45 minutes to an hour and over time I will try other equipment and incorporate new things. I start with 10 minutes on the treadmill, gradually increasing the speed and a little incline, I then do some chest pulldowns or other light weights, I try for 1000m on the rowing machine (going back later to try to reach another 1000m), 5 good hard minutes on the bike, back through the others again and then another 5 minutes or so on the treadmill to warm down. I then get changed and jump into the indoor pool and do another 30 minutes with some laps and other things.
     I always find it funny that after so much expended energy I can still walk out of the gym feeling so good, like I am gliding on a cloud and I am ten feet tall.
     I am really starting to try and push myself too (but not kill myself) - last week if I did 40 reps of that, today I will try to do 50, aww heck, I've got another 10 in me! Crap it's hurting, but almost there! 60!! Yay me! :) I feel even better when I have pushed myself to go further - even if I don't know if I can - and I get there.
     When I was going to the gym before I fell pregnant with our daughter, I used to spend the next couple of days with such sore muscles! Now I don't, although I am certain I am working harder than I was then. Maybe I wasn't doing the exercises right before, maybe my body has better fuel going into it to handle it all... I dunno, I'll just go with it.
     I have never been motivated to exercise. Even now, try to get me to go for a walk, I'll procrastinate for an hour and think about all the reasons why I don't want to, although when I eventually do go, I push myself and I feel good for doing it. But going to the gym, I don't hesitate, I get there (and I don't procrastinate about getting there either!) and I am in the zone, a machine. Hahahahahahaha! A very un-oiled, somewhat broken and rusty machine, but a machine nonetheless. I hope I can stay one step ahead of my mind and keep up the momentum. I love feeling good, this machine is slowly being repaired and I am pushing forward on my way to fixing it.
     You have to take the good days with the bad even if it adds to the challenge of what you are trying to do. On good days I can smile at myself in the mirror and look at my body and see how far I have come, that pushes me to want to keep going and keep getting compliments. A Doctor that I haven't seen for a long while said to me the other day "You're looking good Amanda! I remember I used to think "She's a big girl" but you've slimmed down a lot, you're looking good!" Thank you!!! I think a shopping trip is in order as is cleaning out my wardrobe!
     5 weeks left until my next goal date! Will I make it??!!

Goals and pushing on

     (*I originally jotted my notes down a week or two ago but have not published it until now, so those that know me may know that some of this time frame is wrong, this is why*)

     So I made my first goal of 10kg by the time we went on holidays in mid December, and it was really nice to feel a bit more confidence in myself. It was funny when I look back - people were probably thinking "OMG - look at the fat girl in all her glory!", they didn't know that I had lost 10kg and was starting to feel better about myself! And it's not like I was flaunting myself in a bikini! (I know, I know, people probably weren't really looking at me and thinking anything, but overweight people that are uncomfortable with themselves ALWAYS think someone is looking and judging them) We were able to keep eating good food while we were away as we cooked for ourselves, but the few too many bottles of wine was what I was more worried about with my weight.
     I was pleasantly surprised to find after our trip that I still weighed the same! I had maintained what I had lost, now to deal with Christmas! It was rough to be honest, we raced back from our holiday as my husband's grandfather was ill in hospital and we didn't know how much time he had left. We spent most afternoons and evenings at the hospital with Pop, and eventually passed away a few days later on our daughter's 5th birthday - 2 days before Christmas.
     Christmas is a time for family, and even more so this year, but understandably we weren't in an overly festive mood. Sure we still had the trimmings, but none of us went overboard with the food preparations and cooking like we usually do, so thankfully (back to me) I still maintained my weight. For me, that was a really big deal, I have never been able to easily maintain my weight, but I guess now, in the right head-space, I am more conscious of it, so I try much harder to eat better and eat less.
     I set my next goal to lose another 10kg by the end of March. Again, if I don't quite make it, I will still be happy with myself and my progress, but that is my next aim. Right now I am at a smidge under 15kg lost and that gives me about 6 weeks to lose the other 5kg.
     Now that our son is back at school and our daughter has started Kindergarten, hubby and I have decided to join the local gym and go at least once a week. We went last week and for me it was the first time in 6 years! I didn't go out of my way to kill myself, but I think I worked pretty hard! After an hour in the gym we spent 30 minutes in the pool and doing some laps and different water exercises. We have been walking the dog down to the local football field and once there I do a couple of laps with a very brisk walk and several bursts of jogging or as much as I can stand. I will build it up to over time of course, but for now it's a start.
     Oh, on that note I must tell you - up until now, I have done barely any exercise. Sure a little at work in the privacy of my room when it's really quiet, or some time on the Wii fit, but ultimately, I have lost 13-14kg with no exercise and simply changing my diet. Kinda shows how much crap I was eating doesn't it??!!
     An example of a day of food for me before I changed my eating habits (I refuse to call i a diet, the first three letters in diet are D-I-E and that is what has always happened when I have gone on a diet - the diet has died.):

Breakfast - 2 pop tarts, cup of coffee, 2 choc chip biscuits.

Lunch - Whatever. Sometimes I would come home and have a big bowl of                     leftovers and generally that would be followed by a bag of potato chips.             The WHOLE bag. And I am not talking a little snack pack, I am talking               the 175-200g bag!
Dinner - A plate FULL of food. Either a big bowl of pasta or a hunk of meat and a             mound of potato bake, or a big roast with loads of potatoes and gravy.
     And usually always something for dessert!
     This is how I lived every day!! No wonder I felt like crap - it makes me feel sick just thinking about it! Now if I eat much crap I feel bloated and my stomach churns and makes a lot of noise... Is that what I felt like all the time??!
     I think for me setting small goals of blocks of 10kg losses is better. It's still a huge thing, but it is within reach, it isn't as untouchable as announcing "I am going to lose 50kg in 12 months!!" At least with smaller goals it feels more achievable and I can reassess it as I need to. I feel that for me, if I put an absolute figure on what I hope to lose in total over a certain time frame, I would be setting myself up for failure.
     I think we also need to think more about how much weight we actually lose when we do it, not just the number. You may try really hard over a month and be disappointed that you have "only" lost 1-2kg, but go into the supermarket and pick something up that weighs that much - it is substantial what you have lost!! That has just fallen off your body somewhere along the wayside!! I am stoked to be at almost 15kg, especially when I think how truly heavy that is. I still have a long way to go, but my confidence is coming back and I am starting to feel good about myself for the first time in a very long time :)

That crazy wrap thing.

**WARNING - This entry may contain information about products you don't believe in, aren't interested in and couldn't give a hoot about. There are also before and after pictures of my body when using these products. If you chose to read on please do not judge me for what I decide to do - this is MY story.**

     I spend far to much time on Facebook, and had been noticing a lot of random posts from some friends for one particular company that sells body wraps and the like. I always skipped past them - another too good to be true, bullshit miracle product that would cost way to much. One particular friend began posting quite a bit - pictures and info, so I have to admit I got curious. I asked her a few questions about her results and saw some of her own personal pictures and was a little impressed but still very skeptical.
     In November in a local swap, buy, sell group, a girl from nearby began posting that she had just become a distributor for these products and was having a special on the body wraps. I delved a bit deeper into the information on her page and on the internet, and although I was still pretty sure it was all rubbish, I decided to buy some and give it a try. In the past I have filled my cupboards with diet shakes, snacks and soups, never used them and then thrown them all in the bin, so realistically I figured I had thrown more in the bin in the past than what I was about to spend buying 2 wraps. I would try 2. If nothing happened, it didn't matter, I would continue on my merry way and be able to tell everyone that they were shit. If they did work....
     The first thing I remember thinking was how small the packaging was. I don't know if I expected them to be in a big box or something, but each one was just in a small plastic pouch. I had a shower and thoroughly dried myself and cut the pouch open. I had been told that they folded out to quite a size, but it was bigger than I expected once unfolded. I placed the wrap on my belly where I wanted it and put a bit of cling wrap around my body to hold it in place.
     The wrap is a piece of cheesecloth that is infused with a cream of all sorts of natural ingredients that helps to draw excess fluids and toxins out of the tough areas of your body. Often this is why we have the dreaded "spare tyre", it's not just fat, it's a build up of things. Using cling wrap is simply to help keep the body applicator or wrap in place.
     I left the first wrap on for about 2 hours, drank lots of water like I was supposed to, and during that time I could feel my skin tingling and cold - it was a strange sensation. I took a photo once I took the wrap off (I had taken one before putting it on) and as each one is supposed to work over 72 hours, I took photos over the next couple of days. I didn't really notice any difference.
     As the wraps can be applied every 72 hours I put the second one on once I reached that time. I talked about it with my husband and we had quite a few "Ah well" moments. 15 hours after I took the second wrap off, I took a photo and loaded it onto the computer. I put it side by side with the picture from before the first wrap.
     "...Is that...? Nah, it couldn't be..."
     I called my husband to have a look "Holy shit! Look at the difference!" He said.
     So I wasn't seeing things.
     I have included the pictures here so you can decide for yourself if they have made a difference on me.

Before 1st wrap          After 2nd wrap           

     I have continued using the wraps, though not as often as I would have liked, and seeing the results I have been seeing  - on my own body with my own eyes - I will continue to use them.
     I understand that people would be skeptical - I surely was until I had results of my own, but don't tell me I am an idiot for something I am doing that is working for me. Some people have just smiled and nodded ("Yeah right, this chic's crazy"), some have been excited and wanted to try them for themselves, and some have been extremely critical, telling me I am just desperate to lose weight, I am crazy, the only way to do it is through diet and exercise and eating right. Umm, yeah! No shit! Isn't that what I am finally doing for really the first time in my life??!!! And now that I have simply added something else to my regime that gives me a little help I am an idiot??! I AM losing weight with or without the wraps, they are just helping to tone my extra flabby bits! I WOULD be an idiot to expect I could eat the way I was AND lose weight. Give me a break!!
     I am not trying to sell you the wraps (although I can if you like) or change your mind or tell YOU what to believe, I am finally starting to feel good about myself, a little better about my weight and very good about my accomplishments so far. I just wanted to tell you a little bit about "That crazy wrap thing".