A 30-something girl’s diet and weightloss journey

After a very bad week over my birthday, when I gained weight, I had an EXCELLENT week, where I lost 1.8kgs!! This was mostly due to the running programme I am following, to try to do the city to surf.

The next week went OK. I was very happy with my running, and super proud of myself when I ran 12kms on Sunday. But due to a big drinking night on friday, i only lost a small amount, 0.3kgs. Which is still good, don’t get me wrong! I just felt a bit ripped off because I FELT so much thinner, but the scales didn’t reflect that.

This week so far has gone well. Unfortunately yesterday I didn’t finish my run, because my knee started hurting. That scares the beejeebers out of me because I am so close to doing the C2S I am starting to get a little excited about it! But I was proud of myself because instead of just stopping and going home, I went on the treadmill for another 10 minutes instead, to make sure I had at least 30 mins exercise for the day in total.

I have rested my knee since yesterday morning, and tonight I will tape it before trying my run - 40 minutes tempo run.

In other news, due to early gains I am still coming DEAD LAST in the office weight loss competition, and there’s only two weeks to go. Oops.

Last week was rocky. I ate out 5 times, due to birthday stuff and other social things. Also I had a good old binge on my actual birthday, you know, just because.

But this week has been going really well. My foot didn’t hurt too much so I have been back on the City to Surf training program, last night I did 7.5kims, which I am pretty happy with!

I expect to have a good loss this week, if I can keep this up!

Not SUPER good - but pretty good I didn’t have any fast food, or chips. I did eat a little too much at the Quiz nite on Friday, and maybe a fewtoo many granita biscuits on Sunday. And I din’t turn down the icecream after dinner on Sunday night.

BUT I also RAN for 9.6 kms!! that is huge for me! It took 1 hr, 5 mins and 18 secs. I did have to walk a few times but I made up for it by going really fast at the end

I seem to have bruised my foot, but hopefully it will be better for tomorrow’s run. Still, i am pretty happy with myself for getting through the run!

Despite waaking up with the worst sore nech EVER… I stuck to my meal plan, came in under calories and made it to the gym in the afternoon to do my interval training.

Now if i can just get through my 6k run today, I will be happy.

Actually, if I make it through the work day at all I’ll be happy. My neck really hurts. Stupid contour pillow!

Things are still not going well. I had a long weekend and pretty much ate constantly through it.

Today I am starting a 30 day “No eating after dinner” challenge”

A wants me to do the City to Surf with her, and today she sent me a copy of her training program. With some slight modifications it could fit into my schedule…

I will try to follow the plan for a couple of weeks and see how I go before committing to the run.

I will need some new shoes, too.

This weekend, my eating was Not Good.

The weight loss fairy did not come - she sent her evil sister instead.

That is all.

Last night I had some friends over, we went to a restaurant nearby and then back to my place for dessert.

I did NOT stick to my diet. Usually (when on track)  I would order some protein with salad, NEVER chips and no dessert.

Instead I had lamb chops with Chips, and icecream for dessert. And LOTS of garlic bread! It was really nice Hope it doesn’t completely mess up my weigh in!

If I had been on track better, it would never have happened. And I know that I can enjoy my friend’s company just as well with salad as with chips… there’s no excuse really. Next time, must do better!

Yesterday I did a 5km run on the treadmill.

I started doing them about a week ago instead of my usual 3 lots of 10 minutes at 8kph. The reason I started upping the intensity of my workouts was basically competitiveness - my friend A, who previously never took that much interest in running, took it up a year or so ago, and quite frankly she is kicking my ass at it.  She does 5ks outside, in hilly terrain - AND SHE ENJOYS IT!!!

Well, I can’t have that, I’m supposed to be the fit one! So I decided to give it a try. And the first time I tried it, I got through! I was soooo excited! Now I am trying to improve my time, so that I can do the same sort of pace she does. I will have to wait until summer to tackle it outside though, as long as it remains freezing cold here I will be sticking to the treadmill. I will try to do some hill programs - you know, once I can get through the 5ks without feeling like I am going to DIE!!!

So that is one example of where competitiveness is working for me. One area where it is not is with my eating.

We started a “Biggest Loser” Competition at work. We weigh in every tuesday. I thought - “hey this will be great! It will give me the motivation to stick to my calories and turn down all those treats” I even boasted to some of the girls that I expect to win - after all, I have the most weight to lose and I’ve done it before, I know HOW to lose weight!

Five weeks in to the 12 week competition - and I am coming DEAD LAST!! The super skinny girl that I expected to not lose much at all is beating me!!

Every Tuesday when I get on the scale I am SO EMBARRASSED! but for some reason, that is not enough to make me behave on the weekends. Time to fire up that competitive spirit a bit more, I think! hopefully the rest of them will slow down a bit, and I can kick into gear and overtake them

Hello Blog!! It’s been a long time.

I’ve just been looking back at my fridge graph. I stopped updating it in January, when I started using a paper calendar to mark my weight instead. But I’ll update it soon, I promise.

I noticed that July-August is kind of a key time for me… maybe because that’s when my birthday is. But anyway, my story so far (as far as weight loss/gain goes anyay - I have a lot more life that doesn’t revolve around my weight you know!)

In July-August 2008 I was at my heaviest. Around 84kgs. I was pretty unhappy. I started losing weight after figuring out how to count calories, and following a kick up the bum from a PT, who weighed me every week for 12 weeks. I lost weight slowly, averaging around 0.2kgs a week for the next year. It was up and down, some weeks I lost, some weeks I gained, but overall the scales went down.

I felt good! I started ballroom dancing, I stopped avoiding social events at work, I started dressing nicer, and doing more active things during the day.

In July-August 09 I weighed around 70kgs. I was dating a lot! It was fun By September, I was down to my lowest weight of 67.4kgs. Wow, that felt good! I was running, something I’d never done before, and loving my dance classes. Then three things happened all at once. I hurt my knee. That sucked. I settled into a relationship with K, and stopped dating other guys. And I went on implanon. Those last two things? they were a mistake.

Three months later, I was back up at around 72kgs. Just in time for my sister’s wedding. My face was all puffy from the implanon, and I had gained some genuine weight from exercising less (the knee) and drinking and eating more (all those ‘romantic’ nights in with K - they always involved a bottle of wine and takeaway food for some reason!)

I got the implanon out, but continued with the intermittent bad eating and exercise - For the rest of the year I hovered between 71 and 73kgs.

In July-August ‘10 I weighed 73kgs. Then I broke up with K. That wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. But I still used it as an excuse to eat everything in sight! When Xmas came around that year, I just kept eating, and drinking, and eating some more! By January 2011, I weighed 77kgs. That was a bit silly. I put my running shoes back on and by around March I was back at my customary 73kgs.

In July-August 2011 (NOW!!) I weigh 73kgs. So, I’ve been up, I’ve been down, but here I am again. i’m not nearly as bad as I was this time three years ago - but I’m not great either. So it’s time to finish what I started, and hopefully in July-August 2012, I will be at 62kgs, and every year after!