Entries from August 2009 ↓

It’s 2.30 pm, I’m at work, i’m a little stressed, and I’d really like a chocolate from he fundraiser box. But I’m not going to be controlled by a chocolate bar, and I’m not losing my 2 gold stars over a little stress!

I am doing my deep breathing and reminding myself that it won’t make me happy, and that EVERY decision counts. And that every craving denie is a chance to get a little slimmer. And I’m sure this will pass.

Won’t it?

I am now at the end of day 2 of my 200 day challenge!

Yesterday I woke up (late of course, it was a saturday!) keen to get started. The challenge was the first thing on my mind, because I had been thinking about it so much on Friday, writing blog posts and deciding  on the rules for the challenge etc.

I started out by printing out calendars for August through to November. I wrote 1- 100 on each day and blu-tacked them all up on the inside of a cupboard door, then went out to buy a few packs of gold stars, which I pinned up next to the calendars.

Then I stood back and looked at the chart and thought DAMN, that is a LOT of days!

Anyway, yesterday wasn’t too hard. I distracted myself by trying (and failing) to connect a wreless printer to my laptop. Today was a little harder, usually I would pick up a chocolate bar while doing my grocery shopping on Sunday to have as a treat after everything is packed away, and Chicken Treat is my usual Sunday night home dinner. I decided to buy myself some strawberries as a treat instead, and made a mini chicken roast for dinner.

I totally think this is do-able, if I take it one day at a time. Who knows, by the time this challenge is done, I may become one of those people who can honestly say “I don’t eat junk food!”

I have decided to start a 100 day challenge. The challenge will start tomorrow, as there seems little point in waiting until monday. I plan to put up a calendar on the inside of my pantry door, and give myself gold stars for every day that I stick to the rules. If I miss a day, I lose all my gold stars. That should be pretty good motivation after a few weeks!

The rules of my 100 day challenge are:

• No Junk food - this includes chocolate, chips, fast food over 500 cals (ie Red rooster) cake and pastries. Popcorn is allowed, but only one pack a day and not on consecutive days.
• No nibblies at social events - ie, cheese, dip and biscuits. Veggie sticks would be OK.
• No more than 3 Alcoholic drinks on any night. (That shouldn’t be too hard, I don’t drink much usually,  I’ll just stick to diet coke.

I think the no junk food rule will test me most often, I’ve gotten back into the habit of little snacks and treats. The no nibblies at social events will be harder when it comes around though, but I am determined to see this challenge out! I can just see those sheets of gold stars all in a row!

I will try to blog the progress of my challenge quite regularly, this will probably make for a very boring repetitive blog for a while but I’ll also try to get back into writing some actual articles and thoughts. I’ll also try to put in a few more recipes now and then.

100 days actually seems really daunting - it’s a long time. But I will take it one day at a time, and remember how daunting those first six weeks were I first started this after my metabolism test with the PT. And how easy it seemed when it was done.

Hopefully this will help me get off this platea and get some meaningful weigh loss results again. I will still be doing my meal plans and committing to my exercise plan while I am doing this challenge.

I  had last week off. I didn’t plan, didn’t limit my treats, and at the end of the week, I didn’t weigh in. But I don’t care, it was my birthday! And I had a two day field trip for work, so I just had to eat what I was given on that. Well, I didn’t have to eat all the sweets but I did anyway, OK?

I think I did OK the first two days of the week. Then I decided to skip the gym for the rest. And there was cake. Lots of cake - at the office, with friends, just for the hell of it.  And the lovely dinner my Mum made me with Apple pie and cream after. And the rich meals provided on the field trip. And the Peanut butter toast for breakfast on the weekend just cause I was not at home and it was there. Oh, and the red wine with the girls on Saturday night.

So yeah, I  didn’t weigh in.  And I’m not gonna. So there.

This week I will be strictly back on track. No off plan eating at all. I have lots of mandarins courtesy of the awesome tree in Dad’s garden, so those will make good snacks when I am tempted. And I will be out dancing three nights this week so that should help as I won’t be tempted by the fridge in the evenings.

I changed up my workout on the treadmill this morning. I have been doing 30 minute runs, building my speed a little each day from 8.0 and aiming for 10.0 kph. I had gotten up to about 8.8, but it was slow going. This morning I did four lots of 10 minutes instead, with 5 mins walk in between each run. I varied the speed, so the first 10 was at 10kph, (I nearly died) the second was at 8.5, the third at 9.0 and the fourth at 8.0. The result of this is I spent longer running all together, and I also spent a whole hour on the treadmill instead of my usual 40 minutes.  I think it went quite well and will boost my weight loss a bit.

After the lovely high I got from seeing my ball photos last week, this morning it was a bit dissapointing to see photos of myself on the work field trip last week, in baggy jeans and shirt, with a puffy face and looking altogether chubby. Good motivation for the week and a bit of a reminder not to get too full of myself!