10,000 steps plus per day ...

So for those of you whom follow the healthy recommendations of  various govt health agencies
you will know that its recommended to maintain a healthy weight to eat 2500-2800 ish calories and walk 10,000 steps

yeah okay ...
so today and yesterday
I did 20,000 steps (poke out tongue at them and do silly happy dance) on my vivofit2 activity tracker
YAY Me

Food-wise pretty balanced - for a busy day
plenty of fruit to be had when working hard or walking lots

drank 1.5 litres of water
also went for an hour of play at the local pool ... yay for summer and not working


for those of you who do not know me here are a couple of progress shots.. first one taking at my Nieces first birthday - she is 5 in Feb so 4 years ago ... put on a bit since then hid from cameras did not like photos being taken .. been there done that might be what your thinking

anyway after loads of hard work during 2016 same dress same person different stage in life thinner feeling better oh and dress is  really too big now.... personally I still like it and am still wearing it !

If your still reading Check out other posts in the Archive there are plenty there.....  :-P

STOP IT

What a day

self sabotage?

started good - good healthy breakfast  check


chocolate - uh no that wasnt meant to be on the list today

so went on a
walk with girls check

lunch - healthy check ...

nap ...
gingerbread - uh wheres the fruit!!!

dinner - light cauliflower rice with chicken mushroom pineapple spinach and Moroccan seasoning along with a bit of sweet chilli sauce

another walk ....

got 20,000 steps
oh dear another bit of gingerbread...

found oneself at the cupboard looking for food without realising it.. this must stop!

off to bed so the day cant get any worse

"must keep posting"

sometimes it feels like its going well we neglect to post then when it goes to custard - we find our way back - which is why it goes to custard "must keep posting"

Last post was 105 by Christmas ... which I did manage ...
then over the Christmas week I have gone back up to 106.5 holly mistletoe batman that was some crap two weeks - first week stayed same weight second on saw a 1.5 gain with it catching up on me

now to loose that 1.5 by sticking to my program
this is not yo yo weight loss - that was two weeks of shit choices no wonder I got to 150.5 kg as its how I used to eat nearly all the time... man that is bad

I like feeling thinner healthier lighter being able to walk for longer
smaller bras - not so expensive easier to buy clothes and look good

gaining not an option

Yes I have expensive belly-dance costumes I need to adjust down but that is easier then making bigger
and I will be able to buy the cheaper ones of ebay/amazon soon too that will be a nice change as they are really quite cute

I will get into my goal dress and maybe even wear it for next Christmas

as said current weight is 106.5 previous posts explained aim was for 110 by Christmas so still did well
 goal to shed the 1.5 by new years if possible... at least one of the 1.5 can go
leaving .5 for the week after ....

then I will be happily back on track for new years day

Christmas.... 105 by then.???

Well back in October I set myself a mini goal of 110 by Christmas reached that in mid Nov
so decided 105 by Christmas have reached that with 2 weeks to spare now to get to as close to
the 100 kg mark to go

must keep the clean eating plenty of fruits and veg going ... must watch the not too many coffees and up the water that seems to have swapped over

am getting plenty of walking in with my daughters chasing after Pokemon insane that a simple little game can get people out and about - LOVING this fact

have yet to do my Christmas shopping - well some of its started - have cookies for some people - doing baking for others

have a friends daughter with us today as she wraps up at work
my girls are swimming tomorrow at there last race day for the year
I am timekeeping - eek need to be onto it! both girls racing the second session so will be busy then keeping time...

must try to get back and post more often I am sure to have missed little things

I have a pair of size 16 denim shorts - can wear a size 16/18 dress again - have both there little black dresses and they look amazing on now... too bad one looks old now

am needing new sneakers
new phone as dropped mine now its playing up - dam and poop

going to get the girls phones too - They don't know that yet
so its shhh do not tell them! must organise next Monday am ??? Will be mean and find a reason to take little ones phone - You need to CLEAN up your Room!! Practice the Violin and do your dishes... she has been a little slack at her 3 chores this month...
eldest its pretty much the same...

what to do when out and not enough calories left for a foodcourt meal

so off to town we go ... miss 10 in tow

to the mall food court is jolly
full of things to eat look its really easy to get a sweet treat
no not today we have a plan
and it wont be beat

down to the supermarket we stroll
on our pockets finances take its toll
we shop for tuna and rice thins
bought and paid for then enjoyed
hope this works wonders for our skins

ok so yes ate a little to much during the day to keep an allocation for dinner tonight
ended up buying lite tuna in basil and tomato
and eating two of the rice thins we bought - crisis adverted
once home had a date for sweetness and chewy-ness

others cooking or not as the case may be (blog post #13!!!!)

I have relinquished control of my kitchen on a Monday and Thursday night to my dearest other half

get home from work tonight and he has been out and bought KFC for dinner tonight
wife gets allocated 3 bits of chicken - okay so if I skin them they might be a bit better.. how about not eating that stuff even better as trying to eat a bit better all round, then there was the bag of fries  dont even go to the pot of potato and gravy sitting there looking all innocent

so eat one piece of chicken and one of the fries and go WTF really do not want this so glad wrap that put it in fridge - next thing find myself mindlessly munching on chocolate cake - uh no girl so not going to do this to your self smack on the hand put it down time!!!!
bonus  put it down packed it up did not just eat it go me!

right meals planned out for tomorrow ...may alter it a bit but general idea works

all the best to my fellow lifestyle changers this Christmas season

back on track...? hopefully

Last night was the big one for the week am hopefully back on track now and will have to be selective over the weekend to make sure that I am eating right

dinner out was a 3 course meal a small glass of orange juice and loads of water

starter was garlic bread
I had the main of beef steak slow cooked with garlic potato puree as it sure wasn't mashed and green veggies which was just broccoli with sauce...
desert was chocolate brownie and a ball of ice cream which I even left some brownie.. yay me as did not feel like I had to finish it


dance costumes no longer fit... the ones I had that are really nice are now to big... um instead of them being too small I am so now to figure our adjustments ... if only I could loose some of the guff in the midriff at the moment - always said would like to loose hips/but... now I have lost some chest and waist size.. okay this is good for the back.. more on the bum and hips hopefully it will even out soon

so bugger they are too big cool is Im smaller ... still dont fit those awesome dresses I have in my wardrobe though.. sigh....

weigh in records... post 1

weigh in updates

start weight was 150.5, Current weight 108.5 -42 kg so far
Goal weight 75-78 kg

measurements (in inches)
              Starting     now
Chest          54          47
waist           49          39
hips            56           48

Long time no post

Wow just realised its been a big while since I last rambled

okay so what has been happening in the world

running around after my children
less access to the pc ... its been living in a different spot so not as easy to get too

more work hours.. yes adjusting to these

so now to make a habit of this again as its good to have a record.. (*even if it is public)

so Anyway I had my first oh bleep I gained a big gain .. not quite following my program
not tracking 100 % as I should have okay so need to watch portions size
make sure I track every thing and get my rest - only other time I had a big oops up was on holiday completely off plan for 2 weeks...

on a brighter not even with the gain  I have still reached my 110 kg by/before Christmas goal
am currently at 108.5   oh look even typing this is easier then my start weight
not sure if I have mentioned it before that was 150.5 so I have dropped 42 kg this year and people are noticing & I feel better for it

plans for getting back on track -

track everything I eat (my fitness pal or my plate on livestrong.com are good if your short on funds for a paid program they even have calories calculators - just make sure you allocate 1/2 -the calories to fresh fruit n veg.. make it healthy and a conscious decision about the food you have

Drink more water - aim for 1-2 litres or 6-8 glasses a day if its hot add another 1 and if you exercise you got it 1 more then ...

today - have eaten well
have not drunk water
 have managed 13,000 steps and done a 30 minute light training session

Weigh day tomorrow might be time to start keeping record online

Tomorrow is a big long day extra at work
should start keeping track of measurements here - now that would give me a record of how I am doing...
have to find a tape measure to do this wonder what my last ones were too... hmmm
maybe a start tomorrow then a weekly update.?

drank a reasonable amount of water - a few to many mocha lattes this week though

been okay on food stakes and done a fair bit of exercising will have to see if it pays off
only one day of toning plus two aqua jogging with some toning section- probably not quite enough but better then none - walked with Leslie Sansone on you tube and boogied to other music too this weekend

will have to see how tomorrow goes

eating out

One of the biggest challenges we face when trying to shed inches is how to eat out and still lose weight
Compared to years ago there were not as many options to eat out restaurants were one of the few options and only an occasional treat - not to mention closed on sundays and limited weekend trading
Now with many fast food chains food courts and burger type places there is plenty more variety and availability we have the option of finding meals on the go more often.

Challenging as it is  - this is still our choice to eat out or to cook at home
so when we do choose to eat out then we have to consider do we want fatty food something kind-of-healthy or something we know is good for us?

A favourite go to meal with my family is subway (topped off with a nice yummy coffee or as the kids would have hot chocolate from say Starbucks)  it is a pretty good option with some ideal low on fat subs especially the likes of the roast chicken - watching the processed carbs easy they do any of the subs as salads on request which in itself is pretty cool and make it fairly easy

Okay next challenge - wanting something different
and calories counting - so Chinese from the food court looks quite nice rice cant be that bad for you can it.... well beware of this healthy innocent sounding foods some of these sauces that coat everything are high in caloric values!

Macdonalds - do have there options of low points (weight watchers) ... low cal (Calorie counting) but then you fall into the but that looks nicer... or that would be good with it trap.....

KFC - evil incarnate some days like when someone suggests a double down those bun-less burgers not necessarily a good idea..

So a few nights ago as previously posted we explored other options (at home)- we had a nice fake-away night at home -- the grill served burgers made to order that was cool - shared with friends even cooler - how did it go ....
our 9 year old made devilled eggs then ate nearly all of them too and she then didnt want her burger any sausages or her serve of homemade ice cream.... lemon icecream as well
dam nice too and hardly any sugar as well which is a bonus

Tonight treating the girls to subway no other options for them has to be healthy fulling and give them plenty of energy to boot plus we view it as a reasonable expense no dishes and spend about $6 per person as get 2 foot longs and have half each which is nice


happy exploring when not at home - check out what is friendly to those whom want lower carbs fresh veg high protein most of those options will give us a good choice to help to watch our waist lines and keep our energy up as well

Emotional eating... NOT THIS TIME THANK YOU

Grr - All I want to do is buy a huge lot of chocolate and sit down and eat it
BUT I AM NOT GOING TO!

why .... I am supposed to have plans with the hubby and he goes and says
Oh by the way I got the dates wrong going to the football Saturday
So instead of something we were going to do together he buggers off to the rugby
which means wife now upset .... and not talking to the husband
so I might be acting like a teenager and not talking to him but hes the one who fluffed it up
hasn't even said sorry - would have been nice to have had our "Date night" kid free

so now I am home with 2 children being annoying and he is out with work mates
Hope his team LOOSES !

if he has anything to drink I can take joy in making sure its horridly noisy here as he cant handle alcohol with his old age--- nah not really he has not really ever handled it very well

 Cant even go out as soon as something gets on my nerves I snap yell get angry or cry

its nearly 7 still have yet to have had dinner.... dont know what to have need to get some shopping done dont want to do that either in a bad way ......
feel like breaking something so started cleaning the lounge up ..
dumped all his stuff he left lying about on the floor on his favourite  chair - wow it looks tidier then ever with just that ...

Usually he is a nice guy very supportive a little lazy but hey we all have our faults I can think of far worse ones as he goes to work - works hard then comes home - just wish days off he would do more..

So other things are getting done at least - so tomorrow - friends over for a few drinks together perhaps play nice ... and happy families....girls get to see a friend and we do "takeaway burger bar at the BBQ with a menu white board for what people want

Options:

Burger in a bun, A wrap or salad made with the following

Meats                              Salad Ingrediants                               Other Items
Steak                               Baby Spinach,                                    Cheese,  Fried Onions
Chicken                          Tomato,  Cucumber,                           Olives, Gherkins
Fish Fillet                       Lettuce,  Capsicum,                            Mayo, Mustard, Tomato Sauce

Sides
Wedges or Kumera Chips - option of dipping sauces Tomato /sweet chilli /Aoli /hummus
as well as carrot sticks

Deserts,
Lemon meringue nests   - little mini ones fulled with a little lemon curd (no pastry involved)
A Selection of fruits...

So will see how this clean goes - the rest of the laundry done ... a grocery shop ...after dinner as 1 of our local ones are open till 10pm

  so to sum up .. May tomorrow be better.....
I would have gone out on my own but had to much sun as well as feeling down not a good combo for doing stuff... plus I am my own worst company to be around not good...

exercise in all its forms

I am not one to set foot in a gym
but I wont knock the benefits of toning with  a gym type work out especially when you eat well and walk to help with weight loss
We don't have gym memberships but what we do have is a total gym XLI ... not a bad little (YEAH RIGHT) piece of equipment that folds away for easy storage --- no idea what planet they were on to get that idea in the advertising
what it does have going for it its easy to use you can get replacement parts online easier then through the manufacturer seems there have been a few people unhappy with the rollers they come with as does not last long... so new rollers gyms working again working out well - usually get a work out in on the weekend and sometimes slip some in during the week on Monday  or Tuesday or Friday

Other ideas - social interaction
Dancing tried partner dancing = need a partner or its no that great especially as a girl and then even if you take a partner to a social class they end up dancing with you and other people ...
guys if reading this and thinking about learning to dance - take a guy friend to class you never know you might even meet a single woman if you try a high energy type dance like salsa.. if you are after this for fitness just a regular ballroom and Latin american class is fun
Ok so no partner ladies - sick of getting there and having to be the guy or wait your turn to dance with one..
next option Zumba yes that is fine ... back to gym feel of stuff for me
Belly dance is what I have stuck with for 17 years now so there must be something in it.
find what works for you

Onwards - now i teach belly dance I have been looking for something I can work on / focus on without having to plan it so I have taken up what is probably a most unusual hobby for a girl? I enjoy sword fighting joined a Hamilton/Waikato group a couple years ago whom have just started training on a regular basis on mondays which I am now doing

went for a walk this morning now legs are sore and tired  after work and still have a 7-8pm dance class to get through .. wish me luck/energy .. feel a nice skim milk mocha coming up here !

until next time...

Family get together hard to get through

complete and utter blow out - that is what happened at last family get together

drank enjoyed didn't really eat too much crap.. (yeah right )  actually its true - more issues with dinner complete and utterly off track

next time alternated booze with water - don't drink without water - only bonus didn't get a hang over!
negative gained 30 grams but it was also TTOM (that time of month) so all together not to bad
now to behave follow my points plan and keep on track and get the exercise in

need to walk a little more perhaps with weather improving walks should improve too!

tonight going to do a training work out (lets see if we can get a cardio sweat up) alternating cardio work outs with weight training and dance practice

rest of time work is going well down in clothing sizes -  got to 30 kg lost so now down to 120 kg from 150.5!


aiming to get down to 75 in the long run nearly at half way ... calling 37 half way to goal !
as 38.5 is half of 75 and I had 75.5 to lose!

Weigh in tomorrow. Todays reflections

So how has this week been

Tracking - well I tracked everything albeit not 100% accurate over estimated some things and may have under estimated others
however what I have tracked I figure works out about right ...couple of crap days but overall a pretty good week this week

exercise this week - got a couple of circuit training sessions in  this week
and a dance performance that would have added something to it ..
the usual 2 aqua jogging sessions... 2 dance classes and my job away from a desk working with children in the pool I think has helped..

so far to date have shed 30 kg - sent them packing for someone else to find just not me!

put on my smaller bikini for swimming today and crap the top is a bit big the pants side of it is okay as they were a bit on the smaller side when got them they now pull up a lot higher then they used to - to the point they are almost too big - thank goodness for bigger hip bones?

bought a pair of black jeans about a month ago now .. thinking It wont be long before I am going to have to get another pair again... some of my tights now way too loose.... ah well - down to a size 20ish at this point - next stop 18 .!!!!

I am aiming for a nice healthy maintainable weight where I am happy I accept I will probably never wear a size 10 but maybe a 12- but 14 at least would be nice....

have pre made lasagne for dinner packed with  nice yummy veggies hidden in a beautiful pasta dish..
so no stress over dinner and time to relax

bottle of water sitting next to me to drink

anyway fingers crossed for a good result tomorrow

oh boy over eating this week and pick up the excercise

Well pretty sure the extra calories consumed this week could be a bad thing come weight check time Monday morning - it's currently 11.12 Sunday night and I should be sleeping not writing this

Well when did things go pear shaped? Wednesday things went that way picked up miss 9 from training and she had taken a tumble - took her to Dr's sent to after hours clinic as required x ray and local ones close at 4 training finished at 4.15, x ray done and all looking good - hopefully will be okay to play netball on Saturday unless specialist calls if they see something regular Dr does not
got home late - slightly bigger then normal evening foods - dinner was okay husband cooked made noodles and chicken ... then got the munchies had a ham sandwich - exercise down as missed my dance class taking her to town - should have sent her with her dad...

Right  - Thursday hmm.... food for lunch - ended up at Burger King - points there - the sundaes OH BOY that was a killer on the calories front, thought I was being kind of good as I left the chips though.

Friday focus try to get foods back on track - Saturday - got 10,000 steps Sunday loaded Pokemon go app to phone if I was worried about people tracking me or knowing where I am I  would not use google maps either, I do not share locations with face book though I think that one is asking for trouble.


Made a chocolate peppermint slice from a low sugar cookbook called sweet enough and it looks to be a bit healthier then other slices - base is flour and Weetbix... there is only 1/4 cup sugar in that
the icing /top however has 1 cup icing sugar and then its topped with melted dark chocolate - a small piece satisfies then chocolate craving and unlike some foods did not feel like I needed more,  Small victory there!

With the Pokemon go app we got to over 20,000 steps before bedtime tonight - considering we had not even got to 10,000 Wed or Thurs that was quite and achievement - especially as I got my 2 daughters walking with me


so until next time dear readers - goodnight

rush rush rush

Right - anyone with children whom are active and busy trying out stuff to see what they like whilst still young will understand this

I give my girls every chance I can to try things and do stuff
When I was growing up - it was either too far away (mum didnt have a car and dad wouldnt take us to stuff) , too Late, or too expensive and we could not afford it.
So I stopped asking my mum if I could do things that cost money

I like the girls to understand the expenses we put out for there activities so when they ask if they can have - oh a new tablet  / laptop etc.. I ask and just how are we paying for that then say well I suppose you can always stop doing ... insert favourite activity here ... then oh we would have enough to pay for it in say 6 months 1 or 2 years... that is if you do not get into trouble do not spend that money else where ... or here is a novel idea we could Save our pocket money - do things to perhaps earn some yes... you do not get money for doing nothing

so what has this got to do with weight loss journeys well that last paragraph could equal money stress = emotional eating ....
the not enough time .. bad food choices - grabbing that piece of brownie or that slice of chocolate cake on the way out the door

Our fruit bowl  ;( poor thing I try to full it up with fruit and every time it gets empty or even when fruit is in it - people stick other stuff in to it...

So tonight when I should have helped myself to a piece of fruit I found my self going what is there to eat and grabbed a piece of chocolate cake instead - oh bugger that was a not so good choice
but once in a while its not so bad especially when only having smaller pieces.. Just do not do this too many days in a week - and defiantly not more then once in a day

40th birthday and 46 kg to loose (Yikes)

first blog on this site....
lets try to make this a regular habit then....


Went to Rarotonga with my DH (Dear Husband) for my birthday this year
flying is an uneasy experience
but not as much as snorkelling when your not confident - I have been calorie counting since Feb and tracking my exercise as well

I have found eating plenty of fruit n veg has been helpful - trying to stay away from a lot of chocolate ice cream cake and lollies all those wonderful foods you should not eat a lot of an not much very often either

so far I have managed to loose a total of 24 kg in 5 months to some people that is going to sound like a large amount and to others that is not much

mind you I have tried the 6 week body make over - it worked had children gained back every kg then some - found it too restrictive to stay on for too long however I will say this I  learnt that a diet high in proteins fruit and veg works well with my body

we have a total gym in the garage horrible location for it for the winter so using resistance bands I purchased from the warehouse (NZ) with a dvd - inside instead  also trying to dance for 30 minutes most days - so far have succeeded for 4 out of 7 of this week

Most diet blogs talk about the food the exercise all that stuff that goes with weight loss - okay I will do some of that I will also rave about the weather how it affects things amongst other stuff ...

Right now I am cold - its winter here in NZ - we live in a damp part of the country when it comes to winter - today we had fog until about 1 pm then we had a little bit of fine-ish weather with cloud cover sun came out around 3 and the fog returned for this evening at about 4.30 pm

had our fire going but left DH in charge of it and pretty sure he has let it go out or its just gotten so cold outside that heat is not travelling through the house as well as it should be

Will weigh myself in the morning and see how this week is going

If your wondering what tools to use - My fitness pal (MFP)- food tracker fairly easy to use or Livestrong.com have one too ...   use Livestrong.com calorie calculator to work out what calories you should be eating to loose weight then change it up - every other week by recalculating on my current weight
track through MFP as it connects with my garmin vivofit app connect  - and the best thing is these sites are free not paid for

if your going to calculate your calories in MFP - you will need to go to goals
then view the guided set up - plug in your details and let it work its magic for you
I had found livestrong previously because I had been unable to work out MFP - the updates have made it much more user friendly - also livestrong has some good articles - but also check the MFP blog it does not seem to update much though

I have a bit of a hectic life at the moment - only have dance classes on Wed right now tuesday is currently on hold - the day job (that is the one I actually get paid for) sees me working on monday - friday yes I know bad grammer / spelling but that is not what I am writing this blog for ..

must go getting late have a long day tomorrow!