Blogging Challenge Week 1: Introductions

Hello Lovlies! 

I decided to take part in the 12wbt blogger challenge! Mostly to encourage me to keep posting and to help impart some info that a more experienced blogger http://nutritionallyyours.blogspot.com.au/

Thinks you would find interesting : )

So here is the first challenge! Introduce yourself.

1. Tell us a little bit about yourself.  What makes you, you? 

My name is Jodie, I am almost 24 years old and am happily married for almost a year now. I grew up in country Victoria, and moved down to Melbourne the minute I turned 18. I somehow ended up in Melton where I met my now hubby, 5 years ago. 

What makes me me? I don't really know, I am a bit kooky I will admit. I am a stress head, a lover of all things retro and 50's, and I adore baking. I would love to be a pin up model. I love kids and want to have at least 3, as 1 of 5 kids I find it very important to be able to give my future first born at least one sibling to play with as I thoroughly enjoy all of my siblings.

 
Why did you decide to do the 12WBT?

 I decided to do the 12 week challenge as I like exercise, that part is fine, however I am a horrible eater! I eat all the time and find any excuse to eat and just be a little lazy chubber on the couch. I like that Michelle believes that diet is 80% of it because she is right. 

I have lost weight before, but I have never been able to keep it off long term because of my terrible eating habits.

What are you hoping to achieve through the program?

I am hoping to regain control of my body. In the last 12 months I have had a lot of health issues, all stemming from a miscarriage early in my marriage. I piled on a LOT of weight in 12 months, mostly due to emotional eating. I am hoping to learn how to eat properly and how to curb my horrible eating habits.

I also wish to lose 10 kilos throughout this challenge, with 25 being lost all up. 

Why have you decided to blog about the 12WBT? What will be the main focus (eg, food, exercise, a bit of everything?)

My blog will be a bit of everything, a place to post my highs and lows, what I have found works and doesn't work for me, food and exercise wise. 

I think for me it will just be a place to express myself. I have some people on fb, who are friends, but aren't the most supportive when it comes to dieting, so being able to share it on here makes me feel a lot better about myself.

How will you be exercising this round? Gym, home, outdoors or a mixture?

It will be mostly gym work for me. I love the classes there! I will also be running outside when I have time. I dont have any privacy at home so exercise there is pretty much out.

What is your greatest strength that will help you?

I am determined to succeed. I cant keep living like this. I cant look in the mirror and be negative every morning. 

What are you afraid of?

Failing. I fear that I will lose motivation or I will give in and undo all the work I have started.

What are you looking forward to the most over the next 12 weeks?

I am looking forward to the me at the end of this challenge! I am also looking forward to the massive group training at the end!

What is your downfall? Food? Exercise? How will you overcome this?

Food is my downfall. I love most foods. I  will overcome this by trying to remember why I am doing this, and remembering how I feel every time I look in the mirror. 

If you had to pick one word to motivate you over the next 12 weeks, what would you choose?

JFDI!!! (which I count as one word) 

There you go! :) 

 

Week One! - It has begun!

This week has been insane. From work, fitness tests and going to the gym I have had 0 time to get much of anything done. 

I am loving this challenge! I have pics to post, which I will do when I get home from work today, just of my diary and calendars etc. 

I also have my 'real' before picture (which is worse than the ones I posted here) so I have decided not to show it until the end, as looking at it makes me miserable. 

Safe to say I am very busy at the moment!! 

A Day In The Life Of Jodie: 

5:30 - Wake up have a coffee and get ready for work 

6:30 - Drop hubby off at the station

7:20 - Get to work, have some brekky, peruse my forums/blogs fb for 20 mins before starting real work. 

11:30 - 12:00 - LUNCH! 

4:30 - Finish work head home. 

4:50 - Get home, spend a bit of time cleaning the house or doing some washing

5:30 - Go and pick Dan up from the Station

6:00 - Get home and get dressed for the gym

7:30 - 8:00 - Home from the gym 

8:00 - Cook tea and lunches for the next day, a bit of cleaning, shower and relax. 

10:30 -11:00 - Bed! 

Safe to say I do a lot in a day. On Tuesdays it is more, as I go to a 30min class at my gym between getting home from work and picking Dan up.

Diet! 

 

I have managed to stick within my 1200cals each day, and I have cut out most carbs (bread/pasta etc) as they make me feel like crap. 

I am very proud of myself as I have also continued my diet coke embargo, and am just drinking water, protein shake and my 1 coffee a day

 

An example of my food for a day:

Breakfast: Coffee with baked beans on 1 piece of Burgen Bread - 298 Cals 

Lunch: Generally a salad or stir fry - 2-300 Cals

Dinner: Some sort of meat & Steamed veggies - 262 Calories 

Snacks: Protein Shake - 200 Cals  or some sort of fruit

At LEAST 3 litres of water a day. I generally drink more. 

Exercise: 

I actually love exercise, so this part of the challenge is no issue to me. 

Monday: Gym - 558 Cals 

Tuesday: CX Worx - 250 & Zumba - 611 = 861 in total

Weds: Fat Blaster - 675 Cals 

I am getting into the forums, and trying my hardest to keep up to date with everything. 

I surprised myself in the fitness test, I actually did quite well. 

Fingers crossed for a big loss next week!! Good luck to all of you lovlies, I hope you all lose weight so we can look smashing on the 19th of May!!

 

 

Day 2 of no Soft Drink - I will survive!

I decided on Monday that I need to quit soft drink. I drink WAY too much diet coke and it's clearly not good for me as its most of my daily sodium intake and generally makes me feel bloated. 

Today is Day 2 of no soft drink and I am ok. I was a little tired and cranky last night, as I usually have diet coke with Dinner, but I will battle through!! 

Last night I did 2 classes! I completed CxWorx, a strength training class, burning 250 cals, and then went to Zumba and burnt 579cals. Usually I would burn more, but I got the worst stitch about half way through Zumba and couldn't jump at all. 

Are there any remedies to get rid of stitches?

 

My Commitments!!! - A mix of tasks 3 & 5

I need to post this here so I can be accountable for myself and keep on top of my goals. 

Part of the challenge is to state your goals so here are mine!!! 

I will be between 70 and 73 kilos when this challenge is over. 

I will keep a food diary and weigh my food to make sure I am within my 1200 calories 

I will not drink alcohol during the 12 week challenge. 

I will cut out soft drink (I drink a LOT of diet coke) 

I will no longer buy junk food and eat it on the way home from the shops 

I will burn at least 500 cals every single day. 

I will do Zumba once a week 

I will start running again and will complete the Relay for Life in Late Feb as well as the Royal Children's Hospital fun run. 

I will get back on the horse if I fall off, even if I feel bruised, battered and beaten I will keep at it! 

So there they are, that is a lot for me to stick to, but if I am going to aim I may as well aim for the stars!! 


I am back on track eating wise which is making me feel better and much more confident in myself. 


I never noticed how headachy and low I felt when I eat junk food. I can literally feel the difference. I am 2 days back into healthy eating and I already feel less bloated and headachy. Emotionally I feel more positive and back in the 'zone' (Though I will admit I had to use Michelle's robot mode when I went to Body Step last night) 


One thing for myself that I hate, is the mirrored sliding doors in my bedroom in the new house. 


Seeing myself in my undies every morning and night is enough to make me absolutely miserable and want to cover them up for a few months... I will get there though!! Damn it I have to because I promised myself and my hubby that I would do it!!

Getting Back on Track

I admit it, this last two weeks have been shite. 

In between moving, changing over power, money and having everything packed my eating went off the rails. I fell back into bad habits, hard. Junk food and midnight cravings went crazy and so did I. 

I don't know what I weigh, as I am saving that until tomorrow, but I know that I have put weight on.

I have the internet back and am starting on the pre-season tasks and getting myself back on track. 


We have moved house and I love it, it has aircon and a beautiful back yard that is easy to maintain and has a patch of garden, which I am turning into a vege and fruit garden. So far I have planted Chili, Capsicum, strawberries and red onion. I will add a picture when it is less dirt and sad seelings and more actual plant :) 

Today, I am going shopping for all the stuff I need, cleaning out a space in my house for my exercise stuff and timetables and giving myself a timetable to go to the gym and get back on track. 


 Here are some of the classes I am going to try to take part in each week;

Between that, I am also going to Zumba on Tuesday nights, through a different place, and I am going to try the SSS sessions the Western subs girls are all taking part in, all depending on money as it gets quite expensive when you add the Gym, 12wbt and Zumba on Tuesdays. 


The money I am spending alone should hopefully motviate me to do a bit more, as I dont like spending money and getting nothing for it... 


Oh well I will be back tomorrow, I am off to go shopping and hopefully go for a walk. Weigh in tomorrow so it could be a very sookie day for me...

I've been moving!!

Afternoon Everyone!! 

I haven't stopped posting and I haven't stopped trying to lose weight, I have been moving :S 

Safe to say no internet is driving me crazy!!

I miss the forums and I miss my blog and facebook, yes my addiction is high lol. 

Anyway I have been a bit naughty, due to having no fridge or power for almost 3 days, which is another drama all together, and I am feeling like a big miserable blob. 

So I am getting back 100% on track today, my new cupboard is full of herbs and spices and loads of veggies so I dont have the excuse of naughty food being in the pantry. 

I will take some photos and do a bigger post this arvo, but right now I am going to go for a pedicure as I need a 1/2 hour of some quiet private time, as moving as destroyed all my calm. 

Thanks for following me lovely ladies (and gents if you're out there :) ) 

Pre Season!

Today is the start of Pre-Season!! 

Safe to say the forum has gone crazy with everyone signing up, I am trying to keep up, and failing hehe. 

Anyway to update;


I bought a polar FT4 and I love it!! It is great to see an accurate count of calories I have burnt rather than just using my Iphone app. 


I also Signed up for relay for life with a bunch of the Western Suburb Groups. It means a lot to me as my dad passed away from Multiple Myeloma in 2010. If you wish to donate, or participate if you're in Melbourne, follow the link! :)


http://vic.cancercouncilfundraising.org.au/personalPage.aspx?registrationID=393791&langPref=en-CA


SOooo I today, in honour of pre-season, I went to the gym to try and start burning 500cals a day, so I completed a BodyStep class and burnt 603 Calories!!! 




But I must go and cook an nice healthy dinner, and continue to pack my house, as I am moving this Saturday!!

Week 2 - The battle of staying on track with PMS & my first week back at work...

As the header states, I am struggling a little...

It is my first week back at work after 2 1/2 weeks of holidays, where I pretty much acted like a couch cushion... I sat there and looked puffy... haha yes I popped in a fat joke :P 

So I'm back at work all determined to continue on and be healthy and it has pretty much worked...for the most part... 

I confess;

- Rather than going to Zumba, I sat on my bean bag and went to sleep. This WAS an accident and I was quite cranky that I missed my first go back of the year

- I had a Cheesymite scroll for lunch one day. Within the required calories, but lets face it, no nutrition value whatsoever!!! 

- I only went to the gym three times this week :( 

Admittedly having severe PMS and cramping has also not been handy...Safe to say I am an overtired, emotional wreck who just wants chocolates or something sweet. 

Contraceptives are part of the reason I am the size I am. I had an adverse reaction to the Depo Provera needle, which stuffed up my whole body for a little over three months, wherein all I could do was wait for it to leave my system. 


I put on 8 kilos in 3 months. 3 freaking months There was nothing I could do about it, which made me feel even worse. 

I went back on the pill after the Depo wore off and I am finally starting to feel like the Jodie of yore. The old me LOVED going to the gym, I am now slowly getting back into that, my energy levels are returning and I am no longer a cranky horrid mess all the time, which my poor hubby is very grateful for.  


That is why this challenge means so much to me right now!! I can do the gym thing, I can work out HARD, it is eating that stuffs me up. I am a comfort eater, a boredom eater, an emotional eater....let's face it, I just make any excuse to eat!!! My partner and I also lead very busy lives, we're up at 5:30 to get to work on time, I work 10 hour days and also work a Saturday, so a lot of the time it is just easier to get Take Away or a Microwave fried rice. 


NO MORE!!! 


I have explained to Dan (the hubby) how being overweight makes me feel, like less of a person and less of a wife and future baby mama that I could be. He is now going to help me, no more take away food in the house, and no more junk food. He can have his junk at work (he is blessed enough to be a slim built guy, and can eat anything!!) 


I have also spoken with my bosses. I work in an all male work place (the construction industry), and whilst on site, I am also generally the only female, and the word diet is a joke to these blokes. However I am great friends with them all, and I told them how I need to be healthy now, they also need to lose a bit of weight so they have surprisingly happily jumped on board and are actively trying to eat healthier :) 


I have also convinced my bosses wife, a lovely mumma of 4 with an 8 month old bub, to sign up. She is getting very excited about it, and I am looking forward to having someone I know in the challenge with me! 


Ok, a lot more has happened, so I am going to make another post when I get home from work...

Day 6 - Yesterday

Yesterday was a bit of a sad day for me. It is the day that our baby should have been born, had I not lost it early in my pregnancy.

Hubby was lovely, as I am still on holidays I met him at his work for lunch, he works at the new Royal Children's Hospy, so we had a nice healthy lunch out in the sun and went to admire the Meerkats and Aquarium.

So that was fun. 

Yesterday also earmarked my return to the gym!! 

I spent an hour at the gym, 20 on the tredmill and 40 doing arm and leg work as well as 200 crunches (one of the challenges I signed up for) 200 sit ups everyday, omfg it is HARD! My abs are killing me today, so I am going to try and complete as many as I can every second day and then 200 the days after, until I get fitter. 

Today is my last day of holidays :( 

I admit I love my job, but just sitting around relaxing and getting my mind back on track has been awesome... 

Anyway that's it for me for now, back to the gym soon, though it wont be fun in this heat!! 

Goals and Rewards - A post I can like!!

Ok since I have finished all the miserable posts, I would like to get onto a happy one!! 

Since this is my first Challenge, and I am not sure how I will go on it, I will post my major goals and my 'Challenge' goals, smaller goals that I would like to achieve within the 12wbt. At the moment I am just going to post my weight/size loss goals, I have decided at the start of every week I am going to set myself exercise/fitness goals. 


Just so you understand my motivations, and can tell me if I am being realistic or not, here is a bit about me. 


- At 84.6kgs, my BMI is 31
- I am 1.65cm's tall and a largish 14 on the bottom and a 16 on top, mostly thanks to my EE boobies 
- 5 years ago I weighed 58kgs and was a smallish size 10
- 1 year ago I weighed 73kgs and was a comfy size 12, I was also the fittest I had ever been.


Challenge Goals - 

My challenge goals are: 

-  Aim to be between 70 - 73kgs by the end of the challenge. 
- Get my hips down to 100cms, so a loss of 13cms
- Get my waist down to below 80 (the healthy size according to the government)
- Lose 5cms on each arm (this one will be a challenge) 
- Lose at least 5cms on each thigh

That is me attempting to lose 11kgs and 41cms in 12 weeks. So that's 900gms a week and 3.41cms a week. 




Long Term Goals - I want them done by my birthday (29th July) 

My long term goals are 

- Be 60-63kgs putting my BMI in the ideal 22
- Fit back into my size 12 jeans!! And when I say fit I mean none of that evil muffin top crap, I mean fit into them and look gooooood!

REWARDS!! (My favourite part!!) 

Since I have a childlike mind and need rewards to keep me going they are going to be:

- $20 for every kilo I lose, to spend on whatever I like
- $1 for every cm I lose, as I am hoping to lose way more of these than kgs. 
- When I hit my goal weight, I get to go and have a 50's pinup photo shoot done, as I have always wanted one, but never had the guts as I feel too fat for it. 
- Getting another tattoo! (I currently have only one, a dragon on my back)

So I am hoping I do well so I get all this moolah to myself!!! 
 

Day 4 - WIW (Weigh in Wednesday) - O_o

Ok! I bought my scales from Aldi, they are very sleek and clever looking, entered my age height etc on them, also very fancy, and I weigh 84.6kgs. I do not ever want to see this figure on my scales again!!! According to this my BMI is 31 so I am clinically obese :(


I am still horrified to see the 8 at the front of that number, but somehow I have managed to lose 3.4kgs. I am thinking its more dehydration than anything, as it has been very hot at my house of late. 

So there we go... I am setting my BIG goal at 60-63kgs, depending on how good I feel when I hit 63kgs we'll see how we go from there... That means I have to lose 21.6Kgs.

 Measurements!

I am not 100% sure what Mish gets you to measure so I am just going to do your standard measurements today.... 

Bust (braless): 111cms or 44 inches
Upper Arm: 33cms or 13 inches
Waist (smallest part): 86cms or 34 inches
Hips: 113.5cms or 44 1/2 inches
Thighs: 60.5cms or 24 inches


As you can see by the measurements I am a hourglass shape so all my weight goes to boobs and hips/ass area. 


The Dreaded Photo

Ok, here is my bikini before shot *gag* (and yes I may be vainly sucking in my belly in the second photo lol)


I would really like to get rid of the 'love' handles, the back roll, and the faux pregnant paunch that I happen to have...And you cant see them in these photos, but I would love to be rid of my arm join fatty bits and tone up my arms!

 


Ok with that miserable post finished, I am going to start a new fresh entry with my goals and rewards....A much more positive post than this one!! 

 

Day 3 - No weigh in for me :(

Ok, after asking the girls on the forum, I have found it is better for me to get real life scales, which by an awesome happenstance are on special at Aldi for a bloody good set. $16!!! Crazy. So the wayin has been waylaid again. 

I am having a lot of trouble getting motivated to do exercise this week, mostly because it is currently 33c IN MY HOUSE... safe to say all I have been feeling is drained and sick. Though it has increased my water intake by a lot. 

So, due to the heat, I am trying to make this week about prep work. If I am not organised then I fail, I admit that. I am a stickler for planning so it is easier for me to pre-plan a lot of the stuff I am going to be doing (gym times, shopping days, meals etc) 

PLANNING:

This is more about buying the things I feel I 'need' (and I admit a few things I want to sneakily pop in there too) in order to successfully do this. 

1. Scales! I am buying these tomorrow from Aldi - $16
2. Heart Rate Monitor - I am going to buy the Polar FT4 model - $99 less wbt discount
3. Food Diary - Or a diary journal type thing to record everything! *any reccomendations would be much appreciated!*
4. Michelle Bridge's cookbook (an example of one I snuck in) 
5. New workout shorts/tights, everything I own has holes in them... 
6. A smaller dinner plate - I have read that the size of your plate affects how much you eat, something to do with the size of your portion looking smaller/bigger, ours are those HUGE square plates, so I need to change that! 
7. A Before shot of myself, I want to stick this on the fridge, so I stay out of the bloody thing!

I think that is about all I need for now, please let me know if I have forgotten anything. Most of the other things, measuring tape etc, I already have...


That's it for me for the evening, I am trying to add more gym music to Podly (my Ipod). Making a heap of different playlists for my moods :D
 

Day 2 - Tomorrow I weigh in.

I would do it today, but I like to weigh myself in the morning when I get up. 

I don't have traditional scales, just my Wii Fit board, I hope that is ok, I'll have to check with the forum ladies. 

They all seem lovely so far, except they all seem to know so much, and have all been here before. I know I am a noob on this forum, but I am hoping to meet some new people and make some new friends.

I don't currently have many friends here, as I moved from a tiny town in country Victoria about 5 years ago. You would think I would have been able to by now, but really where does one go to make friends? I have quite a few male friends, I personally think men are much easier to get along with, but they aren't the same as 'girlfriends'. 

I need a support network in order for me to be able to lose and maintain my weightloss. Hubby isn't much help, no offence to the poor darling, but he has the metabolism of a race horse, he can eat what he pleases and forgets that it's definately NOT the same for me!! I am hoping the ladies on the12wbt forum as well as another forum I am on will be able to offer me support throughout all of this. 


Yes, I admit it, I am a forum/facebook/internet addict! I have no idea what I would do without it. I have made so many online friends who seem so much nicer and more genuine than the people in my 'real' world. 

...


Anyway to get off of my rabling, I am SO excited that I signed up, I am getting impatient for it to start already so I can kick it into gear, though I am def starting to work out harder now and eat healthier. It may sound silly but I was even more stoked when Michelle Bridges started following me on Twitter O_o, nerdy of me I know....

This afternoon my mission is to clean out my pantry and fridge of all junk food. 

This may seem a little extreme, but my body is terrible, if there is yummy food in the house my body WANTS it. It doesn't matter that I ate an icecream at work and sneakily snacked on some junk food on the way home, if it is there I have a compulsion to eat it. So the best thing for me is for it not to be there. 

Day one of what will hopefully not just be another fad

It is Jan 1 2012 and I find it safe to say I have failed every new years resolution for the last 8 years. 

Every year I tell myself, this is the year, the year I lose the weight and keep it off, this is MY year to get my body sorted. It never happens. 

Last year I got close! I lost a LOT of weight (near on 15 kilos) for my wedding. But add the stress of losing a baby and starting a new job, where I am the only female and the word 'diet' is a bit of a joke to these boys, it's very safe to say, the weight I lost is back, and it bought some friends with it... 

It was a slow creep up, I barely noticed it, until I went up 1 size and then another....My beautiful jeans that I have owned forever no longer fit, I have rolls that I have never seen before, and I am more uncomfortable in myself than I have ever been. 

I am now the largest I have ever been. At what I believe is about 88kgs, my bmi puts me in the obese category. 

SO

I have decided that this year is MY year! I refuse to spend another year miserable about my weight and refusing to do certain activities because of my size.
 

I signed up for Michelle Bridges 12wbt. http://www.12wbt.com/

I know a few people who have had great success with this and who are also going to take part, adding a support network that I need. 

I am no longer going to make excuses for myself, enough is enough! 

I aim to be 60 - 63kgs by my birthday, which is July 29th. So I have 7 months to lose 25 - 28kgs which is almost 4 kilos a month, I hope I can do it, and I hope this blog will help to keep me accountable!!!

In this 12 week challenge I would very much like to be in the mid to low range 70's. I have a photo of myself in my bathers.... but its pretty awful, so I will steel myself to post that photo with my first official weigh and measure. 

Wish me luck...