New Years Resolutions - What's yours?

So it's the 30th December and I thought I would start working on those things we hear so much about at this time of year - New Years Resolutions. Overrated though they may be, I always like to have a few jotted down to try and make myself a better person in the future.

I asked my hubby what his New Years Resolutions are, and you know what he said? "Nothing, I'm perfect" So I asked him, "If you weren't perfect, what would your resolutions be then?" "To be more like me"

**Sigh** It was just another typical conversation with my husband that has an answer for everything.

So anyway, MY Resolutions.

1. Get pregnant with baby #2.
2. To be more relaxed about things... chill a little.
3. Drink more water, eat less crap.
4. Invoke my happy place when driving and not get so Road Ragey.
5. Spend more time on my craftier pursuits, instead of having a box of half finished projects that never gets finished.
6.Get back into my walking. Not another half marathon, but just going for walks more often.
7. Get back on track with my eating.
8. Be more organised with my housework.
9. Take the boy out on more fun outings, instead of mostly just taking him out when I run errands.

So I have a few already. I will probably add more before the weekend, but for the meantime, have you thought about your Resolutions? Any you'd care to share?

Have a great rest of 2010!!

Nikki

Merry Xmas to everyone in Bloggy land!

Merry Xmas! I hope that you have had a lovely day yesterday and ate well, gave well, caught up with friends and family and generally had a fantastic time.We had a good day here. Had my Dad and his partner round in the morning, then my mum, brother, mum and dad-in-law and sister-in-law round for lunch. It's funny, as stressful as having Xmas Lunch at our place can  be, and all the tidying up that comes before and after it, I still much prefer it to having to take the kid out visiting at various houses.

So we had a pretty good day and got very spoiled!!! A few pics below of our boys pressy haul. Check out his awesome new bike!! He loves it and even more so, the helium balloons that were attached to the handle bars!!

Hope that you are enjoying your time off (if you have time off)

Nikki

A morning in the life of Multi-Tasking Mummy

Hello. Haven't been on here a huge amount lately as, with everyone else I expect, it has been hideously busy in our household.
We haven't even written/posted Xmas cards yet! So i feel a few people may be getting them after Xmas. Oh well. We were meant to put the Xmas Tree up last night, but both hubby and myself had a pretty ratshit day and so we promised each other we will do it tonight. And I will write my cards after I do this. Priorities priorities!!

So this morning I have done 2 loads of washing, given my mum another load to wash and a load to hang out, cleaned the bathroom right out (apart from shower, that's hubbys job), made a good start on the lounge/kitchen, and entertained a 1 year old that didn't think he needed a sleep today. (He was wrong, and has been asleep for half an hour) oh and had quick visits from my mum and mum-in-law. Got to go out soon to an appointment, and do more housework, and have a friend coming to visit who I haven't seen in ages, and give my self and tornado boy lunch, so a busy afternoon!

Sorry this is such a boring post. Thought I better stop by, but then realised I had nothing interesting to put on here. Tornado boy and myself did perform a secret mission yesterday, but I cannot show the end effects of this until after Xmas. I will say though, that I am quite pleased with the outcome.

Better get to writing these Xmas cards. Apparently even with modern technology, they still do not write themselves!!

Nikki

Toddler Tantrums and progress in my own Time Management!

Morning!
Well it's nearly lunchtime and I have spent the last 2 hours contending with a very stroppy 15 month old who refused to sleep or do anything without holding on to "Bawoon". It's his red balloon with a face that I drew on to it. He is completely obsessed with it. So I performed the horrible mummy job and left him in his cot to cry himself to sleep but he would get himself so worked up and start gagging, virtually hyperventilating, so I had to get him up once or twice. He still didn't get bawoon though, I gave him a ball as a compromise and in the end it was his morning tea time, when he would normally be getting up from his sleep, so he had morning tea, a drink and a quick play and cuddle and back to bed again. Fingers crossed it appears to be working.

I think Mr Bawoon Face might have to move out... He might take a needle with him and "pop" out for a bit while Dex is asleep. Sheesh. I'm so mean. But look how manky he is. Bits of bananna on him and his eyes are getting all smudgey.

So the toddler tantrums are definitely on their way, right as we decide that we could be convinced to have another baby in the near future. Timing is everything.

My first article on Kiwi Mummy Blogs is up today, it's on Time Management. Something that is pretty dang important to me at the moment. I have been trying very hard to take my own advice and work on keeping house tidy, getting jobs done AND working 8 hours a week and having some mummy time and mummy/daddy time. It's a work in progress but I am getting there!!

Anyway, check out my first article here, at http://www.kiwimummyblogs.co.nz/go-ask-your-mother/mummy-time-management-finding-time-for-you/ Love to have your feedback!

I also have a goal to get to 20 followers by the end of the year. I may well be pinning my hopes a little too high, but hey, a goal is a goal. So if you have a blog and you like my blog, would you put me on your list so people can see it? If you let me know, and I will do the same for you, although I think most are on my main page already.

Better go do something productive before tornado child is up again.

Nikki

The cuteness that is a 15months olds jibber-jabber

I am absolutely blown away by how far my Little Tornado has come in the last week. Besides the walking, his vocabulary has increased hugely!!

Now, besides the usual Mum, Bub, Dad, Dog, Pusssss, hat, hi, bye that we have had for awhile we now have:

My dad dad (hubby loves this one)
My Ted (while holding his bed time teddy, very cute)
Up
Out!!!!!
Mudd (the cat)
Odie (the dog, said in a rather creepy deep voice... must have heard us telling the dog off)
Ball
Bawoooon (Balloon. Very cute, especially when he is pointing at the Xmas baubles in shopping centres)
Duck (followed by lots of quacking)
We can now sing "Old MacDonald" and he chimes in perfectly with eee iiiiiiii eeee iiiiiii makes us laugh every time.

There's a few others I can't think of right now. But unfortunately, with great vocabulary, comes great bossyness. At 15 months of age he is already getting very good at telling us what he wants. Especially if he is crawling. He just rams his head into your leg and keeps pushing until you move, or points at a closed door, looks at you and says "OUT!!"

A lot more of that to come I'm sure!

Here's to my cute lil walking baby!

So my little tornado too a bit longer than all his friends to start walking, but we look to be away now.
On Monday morning he was able to take 4 steps before plopping back down. By Monday night he was taking 20 steps without holding on to anything!! Unfortunately the next trial after the 20 steps resulted in a massive crash and a huge bump on his forehead. He didn't actually hit it that hard, just on a bad angle I guess.

Anyway, said crash appears to have hindered his confidence as we are back down to 4 steps again. Poor little guy. He absolutely LOVES pushing his bike around the lounge though, and gets SO MAD if we try to take him away from it.

Another plus side from being so active is that he is sleeping better than ever!! He has a 1.5-2 hour sleep in the morning, uuuussually a sleep in the afternoon then sleeps 8pm-7.30, generally without getting up. Now that I have said that, what's the bet he will have a terrible night tonight? :)

Bon Jovi rocked!!

So we went to Bon Jovi last night and it absolutely ROCKED!!! I think Jon himself was off his rocker for a good 75% of the show (if not all) he even had creepy facials where his eyes rolled back in his head. After that happened a few times though, they stopped showing close ups of his face. Funny that.

Was pretty loud as you would expect a Bon Jovi concert to be, and we went in quite apprehensive about our seats, as we had picked them when it was booked at Ericsson and they didn't look like they were going to be any good at Vector. We were so wrong. Man, I think they would have to have been the best seats we could have gotten! Absolutely perfect. Will be booked seats in that area next time I think.

It was a really long day for me. Saturday I didn't get to sleep until after midnight, was woken at 6.30am Sunday as that's when Dex decided to wake up, then was up until 3am Monday Morning. So I was pretty shattered!! Besides that though, I had a great time, got a few good pictures too which I will post below.

Hubby was our chauffeur and so he got to have today off work as he would have been too tired this morning. Lucky boy, Dex and I even went out for the afternoon so he could play Xbox in his man cave in peace. Damn we good to him :)

(ps 3 of these 4 photos stolen from Kelly :) In case she thinks I am taking her glory!)

Multi Tasking Mummy is really multi tasking! And loses .5kg in the process!

Ok so I know .5kg aint much. But guess what? I'll take what I can get! :) So that brings me down to 87.3kg. Next weeks aim is 86.9. I seem to be sitting on around .5kg a week so I won't aim too high to disappoint myself!

Off to Bon Jovi this weekend, CAN'T WAIT!!! Baby daddy is driving me, a mate and my mum up to Auckland, we are having a feed at Sylvia Park then he is dropping us off at Vector and going to hang with friends til it's time to pick us up and head back home to Tauranga. Will be a long night for lil D but it's a one off and I'm sure he can handle it.

I wrote an article/blog for Kiwi Mummy Blogs recently, to be published... next week I think? Anyway, it was on Time Management for Mummies and how to find time for yourself. I send out a few questions to lots of mums that I know to get some advice on how they manage their time, and got some great feedback, all of which is in the article (you will just have to wait until it comes out!) and all of which I have taken on board myself and tried to incorporate into my daily life to try and keep house tidy, be a good mum, be nice to my mum and take her places, and still work a couple of nights a week and have some time for hubby and I as well.

It's a big ask I tell ya!

Especially lately with being sick and so when lil D has his morning sleep I have been going back to bed instead of being productive. I'm still catching up on sleep now even so am off for a sleep shortly but hubby was nice the other night and cleaned up the lounge and kitchen for me when I was at work, which has given me a head start. That and he promises to fix the washing machine so I can stop taking loads to mums or spending an hour each day trying to make it go!! That should free me up heaps!

I wanted to show you what I am contending with in terms of sorting out the playroom/office. It is a bombsite!! I am selling loads of stuff on trade me, trying to downsize before #2 is in progress and subsequently arrives and wants a bedroom. Currently he/she would have the hot water cupboard and I think you will agree that is no place for a baby, especially in the summer months!! (I'm kidding, baby wouldn't sleep in the hwc, maybe the garage? jokes again of course)

So I'm being brave, see below for where I started on the playroom/office and feel sorry for me trying to clean it up with a 15month old who likes to "help"

Will check in again on Monday, bye!!

Above - There is a desk under there SOMEWHERE!





Cheers Dex, you're really helping!










THIS IS SPARTAAAAAAA!! Even Sparta dude got scared of the room and hid behind the mountain of Trade Me Boxes!

Why hello there blog, I have missed you!

Dear Bloggy.

Am very sorry to have neglected you for the last 11 days (a record I think) but I have had a few things happening.

1. Kidney Infection. Well, they THINK it's a kidney infection. They also thought it may have been ovary infection, appendicitis, or just "a bug" so have had multiple docs visits, blood tests etc and put on antibiotics to try fix "it" have finished antibiotics now and am slightly better although totally overdid it today and now feel even worse. Sigh.

2. Writing an article for Kiwi Mummy Blogs. Have written it, but feel it is too long and wordy so am working on that again tonight so I can send it off. Also have sent off first Answers to a Q&A section on same site. Keeping me out of trouble

3. Trying to not be on internet so much. I'm sorry. But I'm getting more housework and other stuff done so it is a good thing.

4. Trade Me auctions. I have heaps of them and many are selling finally.

5. Entering a creative writing competition through AUT and coming up with ideas for that.

So a few reasons for not being here, I am sorry but I am back now and I just realised that I never checked in last week with my fabulous weigh in news!! As of last Friday I was down to 87.7kg, which is the lightest I have been in over a year!!! Woop Woop. I guess it helped I hadn't had much appetite but hey, I'll take what I can get!!!

I will check in tomorrow with weigh in results, (if they are good!!)

Til then, goodnight Blog-World

Must get back on track this week!

Ok so I have been super naughty this weekend and way way wayyy overindulged. And that was after a bad weigh in week, so unless I want bad weigh in results this Thursday, I best get back to it.

Had a great weekend though, caught up with friends, hung out with my hubby and baby, listed heaps more stuff on Trade Me. Was good.

So back to it!! Am feeling more than slightly bloated today. I had all good intentions of going out for a big walk this morning and hitting the op-shops that are within walking distance. (There's heaps) but when I got up this morning I realised it is all grey and rainy outside, so maybe not. It's all good though, that can wait til later in the week.

It's my last week of working 4 nights a week this week, Y-A-Y. Then it's only 3 weeks of 2 nights a week then it's Xmas Holidays! The hospital closes down over Xmas until the 17th January so I go back the week before that. Woohoo for a long break!

And finally, have started writing a column for www.kiwimummyblogs.co.nz There are 4 of us, and we will take it in turns to write column on tricky and juicy topics such as Time Management, Mother-in-Laws, PTSD, Music... All sorts really. So that should be a lot of fun, I'm really looking forward to it.

That's me for now, will check in again at the end of the week after my weigh in. (Which I am dreading!)

Have a great week
Nikki

New Look Blog for me!!

Ok so I was a bit bored with the old look of my blog, and it is undergoing a few changes anyway, so thought I might do an "Extreme Blog Makeover" while I'm sitting here with nothing (except housework, sewing, scrapbooking, etc) to do.

I had started doing a seperate blog for my crafty, sewing stuff, but I figured that I have a few followers on here now, and so will put it all into one blog and hope people still want to read it!

So the other blog I had was basically a trial run to see if it is possible to start a sewing business from scratch (ABSOLUTE SCRATCH) I mean, learning how to thread a machine, cut patterns, EVERYTHING, and turn it into a viable business where people actually want to buy my stuff. I am going to concentrate on baby/maternity wear and accessories and have gotten it all underway. I have tonnes of fabric, tonnes of patterns.

Now if I can just make time to actually make use of all this stuff!!!!!

So my idea was to blog away about it, I even have a facebook page going, not that I have advertised it to any friends, I will leave that part until I have stuff I actually think might sell, but at this point in time I want to just show off stuff I make while still learning, get some feedback, learn some new skills and hopefully one day earn a bit of a living from it, so I don't have to go back to work once we have baby #2!!!

I hope you will all keep on reading and that it is as interesting as following my weight loss progress and the training I did for walking the half marathon!!!

Will be back again soon with more updates :)
Nikki

A bit late, but an update on Lunches, Days 3, 4, 5

This was Thursdays' lunch. A sundried tomato tortilla wrap (yes I know, every day, but I've run out now!) with Ham, lettuce, tomato and plum chutney. Mmmmm good.

Fridays' lunch, well I didn't take a photo!Needless to say, it was a Friday, it was raining and I was in town at a Cafe with my mum. I had a Bacon and Egg croissant, a lemonade and choc chip muffin and a (trim) hot chocolate... Yes I know. No judging please.

Todays' lunch was a "High Tea" at the Sebel, Trinity Wharf Hotel. It was a special outing as a post birthday lunch with friends. And it was daaaamn good!!!

There was about 5 different slices, scones with jam and cream, and a huge platter of little sandwiches. Was excellent, and would definitely return!! Not conducive to the weight loss I know, but who cares, gotta treat yourself occasionally right?

Woo Hooo finally a good weigh in!

Soooo I weighed in this morning in the hope of success but feeling like not much was going to happen.

I LOST 1.2KG since sunday!!! This gets me below 88.2kg FINALLY. 87.6kg. I was stuck on 88.2 for ages, then went up again. So pleased!

So now the aim is for 87kg next weigh in. May not seem like a huge goal but it's taking awhile to go down.

A good start to the day. I have a friend here having her hair and makeup trial this morning, makes me miss all my wedding planning etc. Was so much fun.

My Lunch - Day 1 and 2

Am running out of things to write about to make these posts more regular. So I have decided to keep myself honest, I will take a photo of my lunch every day. Can't be bothered doing all meals, so will stick to lunch as this is the one I often stuff up with and get a cake or something to go with my lunch.

So day one, I had a plain Tortilla Wrap, with tomato and lots of C's - Capsicum, cream cheese and chop chop chicken!!
It was ok, but the wrap was a bit stale and even nuking it in the microwave didn't help..


Todays lunch was even nicer, but unfortunately I was so hungry that I ate it before remembering to take a photo!! But it was a sundried tomato tortilla wrap with cream cheese, tomato, roast beef and a little plum chutney. Was sooo good. Accompanied again by a sprite zero with some blackcurrent apple juice and a Weight Watchers bar (Black Forest if you were interested). Very tasty though!!

Am really hoping to be below 88kg tomorrow. Even 87.9 I will be happy as haven't been able to get below 88.2 for ages. After my last few weeks though, any loss will be good!!

So cutting out my daily sprite Zero made ABSOLUTELY nothing!

Well. Never mind. It was worth a try.

I usually have at least 1 glass of sprite zero a day, usually 2-3 smallish glasses. In cutting them out from Sunday-Friday night, my weight STILL stayed exactly the same. But it was worth a go, and I will still try to keep the amount of fizz I have to a minimum.

I am weighing in again tomorrow, and as much as I would love for the scales to go down, I don't feel that positive about it, after my huge dinner I had last night at Lone Star (early birthday dinner). Was a huge gorge, and wasn't that good in the weekend either, so if the scales reflect that, it's my own fault.

ON A POSITIVE (very positive) note, I am sitting here, about to shoot out to work for a meeting, and I am wearing a pretty new top, and a new pair of jeans, both in a size smaller than I have been able to comfortably fit since before having my baby. SO I AM HAPPY!!!!! The jeans aren't even that uncomfortable!!

Am still hopeful for a good number tomorrow, but if you don't hear from me, you know why!! :)

This weeks challenge...

This week I have set myself the challenge to have no fizzy from today (Monday) until Friday night. This may not sound like much, however I drink A LOT of Sprite Zero, and as much as it is fat-free, sugar-free and points-free, I have a feeling it could still be contributing to my uber slow weight gain. So I'm gonna give it a go.

My weigh in last week was exactly the same as the previous week, hence the lack of posting. Not impressed, but then I had fish n chips in the weekend leading up to it, and a small BK meal the day before. So it serves me right really.

So besides that, I don't really have much to talk about. I think I might do a "Bucket List" since that seems to be the cool thing to do these days.

Oh yeah, and I have set up my other blog for when I start making my cool preggy mama and bubs (not preggy bubs that's just weird) clothes and accessories. Will advertise that page a bit more when I actually have something to show on there!!

The pretty roses are one of the roses on my plant, taken this morning and again tonight. I was amazed at how much it opened up in just 8 hours or so.

Accidently had BK today.. Oops how did that happen?

So I was having a pretty cruddy day, it was raining and baby was asleep in his carseat. So I went through the Burger King drive through. In my defence, it was my first bk/wendys/maccas in over 3 months (yes I had fish n chips on friday but that's different!!) and I only had a small grabba chicken meal.

Wasn't even that great, very dry and salty.


So I ended up just feeling worse and got home and lil man REFUSED and I mean REFUSED to sleep. Took 2 hours of screaming crying baby before he finally conked out on me... then when I tried to move him to his cot after 15 minutes he woke straight away and so I gave up and took him to mums so I could go to work. Where of course he was a little (tired) angel. Great. However I have since noticed that we have graduated from 1 molar trying to come through to 3. Could explain a fair bit!!!

Weigh in day tomorrow and I am now concerned that I am not going to have a good result. It probably wasn't the smartest day to have burger and chips for lunch :)

Will be back in tomorrow to update!

This weeks weigh in brings me another 700g down!

I'm a couple of days late in posting but this week ended up being a success!
Weighed in on Thursday after a hectic week not being able to get in any exercise besides a quick walk to the shops and there was NO CHANGE. I was gutted. But I felt quite bloated and yuck so the next morning when I got up my jeans felt super baggy so I was naughty and weighed in again and got a 700g loss! Not sure whether I should really be counting it since it wasn't actually on weigh in day, but I will take what I can get!!

So that brings me down to 88.1kg. At my heaviest I was 94.6 kg, and when I started "counting points" I was 90.5 so I'm definitely coming down YEEE HAAA

I probably should neglect to mention that we just had Fish n Chips for tea and are also having ice cream for dessert. But then again, it's the first time we have bought either in a good couple of months!! And haven't had any takeaways in over 1 month, so we figured we could splurge just this once.

I set up a page on Facebook a few months back called "TGA Mummies"   http://www.facebook.com/pages/TGA-Mummies/122942527747498 and it started off with just a few of my mummy friends, and now it is up to 170 members!! Crazy! So we are arranging another catch up picnic this week, which I am really looking forward to.
So that's about it for me this week. Not a lot else to talk about really

Weigh in Thursday and another .4kg down!

Ahhh Weigh in day. my jeans were feeling quite loose yesterday and so I was hopeful for a good loss this week.

I am down another 400g :) Not as much as I had hoped for, however I was feeling quite bloated this morning and so a 400g loss is still good.

On another happy note, I tried on some of my clothes from my pre-preggy and just-preggy days, and some of them fit again!! I am so stoked! Still a little tight around the spongey post-baby waistline but still, another couple of kg and I might need to go shopping for some new clothes, even though I have a whole wardrobe of "smaller" clothes, shopping would still be fun!

Was meant to go to the gym this morning but baby wanted to **GASP** sleep, so we will do the grocery shopping today and gym tomorrow morning instead. Am looking forward to it too which is a good sign!! 

Aahhh Daylight Savings!..

Happy Monday everyone!

Just been to the gym while my mum watched the little man. Was a lot quieter this time, maybe because I went slightly later, maybe because it's school holidays, I don't know. Either way it was good!
Little monster is asleep and I have just had a shower and **GASP** painted my toenails! Very posh.  I started on the big mission that is cleaning out my wardrobe yesterday, got most of it done, all sorted into shelves of clothes I currently fit (the smallest section), clothes I should fit in 5kg, 10kg and at the back of the wardrobe up high, 15kg.
I WILL FIT THEM ALL EVENTUALLY!!!!! Preferably the 10kg ones by the end of the year.

That's about all I have to say today really. Little man has had an upset tummy for 10 days now, but is totally happy besides that. Rung healthline last week and they said he sounds like he is fine but I should take him to the docs within "the next 72 hours". I have my doubts they are even qualified nurses, both times I have rung them they have read off a script for the most basic of questions... Anyway, hopefully I find out what is going on, he's hard enough to get weight on him as it is without it all going out the other end!

First Gym visit down, and another 1kg also down!

Well I weighed in this morning and am down to 89kg! (again) I went up last week but from Monday to today (Thursday) I have lost that kg again. Heres hoping it stays away this time!!!

Had my first visit to the gym today and really enjoyed myself. Felt great to lift some weights again, although now I can barely left the baby!! Was a bit of a hodge-podge workout as had trouble finding the eqiupment that I wanted, but will get better now that I know where it all is :)

Better go, baby is ACTUALLY sleeping for a change so going to do some housework and have a quick shower before work!

Now I really am "getting off my butt"

So a couple of days ago there was this really good deal on signing up at "The Gym" $50 for 6 weeks. So I went for it. I had been mulling over joining a gym anyway but couldn't convince hubby that I would stick with it.
For this price how could he say no? So I went in this morning and got my membership card, had a look around, checked out the creche (Not sure if I liked it) and tomorrow morning I have a babysitter (mum) booked so I can go for first time in years.
Now to look at me, you'd never know I am a qualified Fitness Instructor and almost qualified Personal Trainer, but I am. And maybe one day I will get back into using said qualifications. But for now I am just aiming to lose a bit of weight (9kg to go for more baby making) and just feel better about myself, having been overweight for so long. 9kg will be awesome. That will put me back to roughly what I was when I got married. There would still be another 15ish kg to go long term, but for now, I think this will be an awesome start and I can keep working on it while we try for baby #2.

So wish me luck! Will check back in here tomorrow after I have gymmed my little heart out. Am changing my weekly weigh ins to Thursdays too, since I will do a pre-gym weigh in tomorrow :)

A weekend of 1st birthday parties and general over-indulgence is over!

Phew! That was a few very full on days!

Thursday - Baby's first birthday. Lunch at Chinatown (buffet), afternoon tea (cake) with the nannas and grandads.
Friday - Playgroup - Outing to a petting farm, morning tea, then 3 hours of baking cakes and biscuits followed by 4 hours of sticking said cakes together into the shape of a dinosaur and decorating.

Saturday - Son's first birthday party after much cooking and organising.  Photo is below of just how much food there was. But you need lots of food to feed 50ish people. (Actually I think it ended up being about 40 but still.) Then caught up with my great Aunt that I haven't seen in about 10 years.

Sunday - Another 1st birthday party, this time for a friends little girl. Lots of fun and lots of driving as they are about 45 minutes away from us. Lots more food to be had here.

So now it's all over for another weekend and I can get back to being good again. And I can also relax a little as somehow I managed to spend so much time organising the party I had no free time but I'm not really too sure what I was doing to be so busy!!

Have discovered that in the land of Weight Watchers, you can have the Irvines frozen meals and they are not even half the price of a WW one and still the equivilent in points. Bonus!!!

Weigh in day tomorrow... Not expecting great things but at least I will understand why if I end up gaining weight :)

Happy Sunday evening everyone
Nikki

Been pretty good so far!

So I have been tracking what I eat, and the "points" attached to this for a couple of days now. It's not been too bad but I was silly enough to start right before I have every weekend booked up with birthday parties! So I figure if I at least be really good during the week and stick to what I'm meant to be eating I should be ok.

In my defence I have to say that I have actually been REALLY good, but Saturday lunch was a BBQ at my hubby's bosses house, and Sunday lunch was a 1st birthday party so both lunchtimes were a right-off. I ate as cleanly as I could for breakfast and dinner though to try and make up for it.

Next weekend is no better, it is my boys 1st birthday party on Saturday and his future wife's first birthday party on the Sunday. So will be really good during the week I promise!!!!

Not a lot happening on the exercise front but at least the eating is getting better :)

Don't really have much else to say today, did my weigh in, nothing spectacular am the same as last week but to be expected after a bit of indulgence :)

Hope everyone has a great week.

Ok, Gonna cut the cr*p!! (Food)

RIGHT

So the last 2 posts have been all about the naughty food I have been eating in the last 2 weeks. (And believe me, I didn't mention HALF of it!!
A friend (Have previously mentioned her) who lost a whole heap on Weight Watchers has worked out how many points I should be eating if I was to do WW, and taking into account that I am still breastfeeding. So I have sat here this morning and started looking up foods that I regularly eat and working out what I can eat each day. I get alot more points than I thought I would, pleasantly surprised!
My little child tornado who has been a complete and utter monster the last week is finally starting to come right again. He has been insanely hyperactive (overtired), 2 teeth have come through, has had a nasty cold and to top it off I had a yucky cold and hubby was away for 2 nights over the worst of it!!! Those 2 nights were HID-E-OUS!!! Am starting to catch up on sleep now, and feeling lots better, but my point, that I was slowly getting to, is that I haven't even bothered to weigh in this week as I know it's not going to be spectacular. I would imagine I am right back to where I started when I set myself my 10kg before baby #2 goal. Which is still 3.5ish kg less than a couple of months ago.

So rainy today, its great! Although I would like it to stop for a couple of hours this afternoon so that I can go out to the supermarket and get some fresh healthy food!

Since I can't really commit to the gym right at this point in time, i am considering hunting down a yoga/pilates class that I can go to during the day just for something different. I dug out my pilates dvds and books for my mum yesterday and it made me want to get back into it!

Anyway better go get tornado child some lunch before he eats the couch.... He is trying! I guess x-box man sweaty-leather lazy-boys must be tasty to an almost 1 year old!

This blog post is no healthier than the last!!

hehe anyone reading this blog would think that this was a blog about me eating lots of fattening food, not of trying to lose some weight!!!

Today I made a cookies and cream cheesecake, which was accompanied by chocolate eclairs, icecream and SPRINKLES!! A friend and I decided it was time we celebrated the fact that I am no longer a chocolate addict by... well... eating chocolate. Actually it wasn't really that chocolatey, but that's not to say it was healthy! 

Pretty impressed with my cheesecake making skills. I'm even better at eating it though.

So here it is, 11.30pm on a Friday night. Husband is away at a MAN-Shower (husbandly version of a baby shower) where they are all in Whangamata drinking and playing xbox til Sunday. I'm at home with a cold, with our almost 1year old, teething, fluey crankey baby. 2 nights in a row now he has refused to sleep until late. Last night it was 10.30 tonight he went down for an hour then was up until about 10 minutes ago. I'm thinking though that he is still sensitive to the foods I eat, as after eating no chocolate for 12 weeks I had a chocolate bar yesterday and it was straight after that that he got super hypo. Crazy hypo! And then tonight he woke while I was eating my kick ass- fat ass cheesecake etc, and has had about 4 feeds in the last couple of hours and has been wide awake since. 1 year old on a sugar high anyone? I guess that is a very good reason to continue to not eat chocolate, as if I am going to be landed with a hyperactive baby at 11 o clock at night because of it, it's completely not worth the few minutes pleasure at eating it!

So onto exercise - Yes I have been for a walk recently. I have this stupid cold though (5th one this winter, gotta be a record) so have been pretty uninspired. I did go for a 5ish km walk yesterday at least and if it isn't raining in the morning I will go for another.. if I'm not sleeping that is.

On that note, absolutely shattered, baby has been asleep for 10mins, must be time for me to crash now too!

Night all

Nikki

Is Pavlova and Creme Brulee diet friendly?

Good Morning! So some good friends of ours invited us over for dinner last night. We haven't seen them for ages so we bit the bullet and took the baby D out for the night, which is a pretty big step for us!!

Had a beautiful dinner. They didn't realise I can't do spicy food (REALLY can't do spicy food) so luckily they had some spag bol type stuff in the fridge so I ate their left overs instead. I felt pretty rude but trust me you don't want me eating spicy! (Hubby especially wouldn't)

Then came dessert........................... I don't really think it was diet friendly, so it's a good thing I was intending on giving myself a "night off". Home made Pavlova with rasberries and a little cream, and home made Creme Brulee!!! Was sooooo good and I can say I only had one serving, even though there was still half a pav left. So nice.

After that our friend (who was also my midwife) gave me some accupuncture, as she is training to incorporate this for her "mummies", I have bad back pain that has been an issue for 9 years now and whenever I see a physio etc, they just want to tell me how to strengthen my core, not help take the existing pain away.We only did one side of my back and you know what? I think today that side is actually a little better!!! Wasn't sure if it would work or not, and I know it's only temporary but still it's good. She's happy to do the other side over the next few days so may have to go back for another visit.

We had a good night and baby D even had a lil sleep on the couch. Not much considering he had been awake for all but half an hour since 7.30 that morning, but still it let us have a nice night out and we didn't get home til midnight! Go us!!

Anyway back to it today, will make sure I am a good girl again now.

Have a good weekend :)
Nikki

Should be exercising right now...

So I really should get off the couch and hop on the treadmill! It's so cold in Tauranga this morning. I have heaps of house work to do and should be getting in some exercise, but it's really cold, the heater is on, Biggest Loser on TV and baby is sleeping... Think I will just stay on the couch!

Have had issues with baby sleeping the last few days/nights and so am really tired and not feeling so inspired to exercise, need to sort that out! Treadmill is starting to get dusty again, but I have at least been using the Ab Circle Pro regularly. Not sure that I am going to lose 4kg in 10 days like they promise, but I can feel it working!!

I've been chatting to a friend who has lost a lot of weight post pregnancy (40 odd kg!) and is down to the last 5kg, swapping stories on tips etc, it is inspiring to have someone who has been in the same boat and succeeded.

I am quite enjoying the episode of Biggest Loser today. A bit cheesy but it's got some "Commando" guy on it, teaching them to push through barriers and the "I can'ts" that come with being lazy and overweight. Willpower! That's what I need a bit more of :) I am definitely looking forward to being able to afford to go back to the gym. Not that you need a gym to lose weight, but it does help to have somewhere to show up to!!

Enough rambling. Hope everyone has a great day.
Nikki

Weigh to go...

So I weighed in this morning. Wasn't expecting great things as I had a sick husband all last week and so was playing nursey and not getting out exercising and our diet was none so good. I gained .5kg which I guess in the end isn't sooo bad. Had a big carby dinner tonight of lasagne and gateau but it was my brothers birthday so kind of justified myself there, and I didn't have seconds, just one of each :)
So back onto it again tomorrow. And I have made myself a promise to start using the treadmill on the days that I use the weather as an excuse!

On a slightly different note, with all these friends doing big spring cleans and clearing out junk they no longer need, I really need to get on to this myself. We barely have room in our house for myself, hubby and baby, let alone baby #2 so need to have a clear out and stop being such a hoarder. I think I will just tackle one area (maybe even one cupboard/draw) per day. Will end badly otherwise!

1.3kg Down... Too many to mention to go!

Just realised I didn't update on here on Monday when I weighed in. I had lost another 1kg so that is 1.3kg in 2 weeks but about 4kg in about 8weeks (I stopped weighing myself for awhile but that was at the last check) so I would like to get down to 80kg if at all possible (another 9.5kg). Ok it is possible, but I would like to do it before getting up the duff again. So soon would be nice.

Have been playing nursey mummy to my uber sick husband who has been home all week. Thankfully he is due to go back to work tomorrow and so I might be able to get back into some kind of routine... Like walk-running programme and ab-circle pro-ing.

Am going out for a buffet lunch on Saturday with the girls, am sure that will be a complete diet blow out so I should make sure I am good leading up to and after it.

Will check in here again over the weekend or on Monday when I have the next weigh in.

Blergh

So I last posted on my "rest day". The following day, which should have been "DAY 4" I went out attempting to follow the programme as before, but this time I had the pram and baby with me. WHAT A DISASTER!!!

I tried, I really did. But what a nightmare. I'd had a few rough nights with the baby, stomach was playing up again, tyres on the pram were flat and on it went. The programme called for warm up 5 minutes,  then run 2/walk 1 5 times then run 1/walk 1 5 times, then a 5 minute cool down. I managed warm up, run 2 minutes, walk 1, run 30 seconds... walk the rest of the way. I seriously couldn't even manage to run 1 minute and barely made it home walking slowly!

So a disaster. Anyhoo, I thought I would give myself a couple of days to feel a little better, get some sleep etc... and haven't gotten back in to it. Too tired, too busy, too excuse excuse.

Hoping it is going to be nice and sunny tomorrow so I at least go out for a walk and maybe just start back at the beginning of the programme. I found the first 2 (3 if you count the rest day) easy. But that was without a pram. So maybe I should stick to treadmilling it until my fitness comes back up again.

Am also going to trial having a complan drink and some fruit for dinner. It's gonna be horrible at first, as my dinners are where the serving size issue comes in to play, I'm just SO hungry at night. But will try to eat better lunches and maybe even remember to have snacks and hopefully that won't be an issue. But I think it will be hard at first, just til my stomach gets the idea that it is NOT the boss of me. We don't have dessert any more though, I thought that was a good start, and it has been 10 weeks since we started our "no chocolate" buzz. I think Stef and I have done pretty well on that part!

Day Three of 30 minute run-walk programme - Rest Day

Am I going to look like this? Complete with the fake boobies?

So today is day 3, and is scheduled as a rest day ie no running today. So the only exercise that I did was walk with pram to the shops and back... A little lazy perhaps but oh well.

I have also started using my dads Ab Circle Pro machine. As super cheesey as the ads are, it actually does feel as though it is working! So will continue to use it until I lose 10 pounds in 2 weeks... OR my money BACK!!! Ok so I never paid for it, so I won't get money back anyway. But 4ish kg in 2 weeks by doing only 3 minutes on the Ab Circle Pro probably is a little too much to ask for.. But with running in there as well? I guess we shall see..

Day Two of 30 minute walk-run programme and todays' weigh in

Completed todays' walk-run. Had to do it on the treadmill with a baby watching me. Not as fun as out on the streets but at least I did it!
Was harder than out in the real world, even though I only did what the programme asked, 20 minutes total, whereas yesterday I did 37 minutes total. Guess that is because it was inside with not much inspiration :)

Had my weigh in today, 90.2kg, so 300g down from last Wednesday. I'm happy! I've only just started the walk-running so I would hope the weight loss should continue. Hoping to lose 10kg. I have lots more than that to lose though!!

Day One of 30 minute run-walk plan

So today I went out at about 5pm to attempt my first run-walk on the plan I am using.

You are meant to do a 5 minute warm up, then run 1 minute, walk one minute for the next 10 minutes, then a 5 minute cool down walk. If I was to follow this exactly, my running would start on a big fat hill. So I am going to do 10 minute warm up instead! Going by the guidelines, the first 2 days are only 20 minutes in total, but the course I am doing this walk on from my house took me 37min 50 seconds, so will work on that, just means longer warm up and cool down but still the same amount of run-walking as per the programme.

So a good start I think. Hopefully the weight loss increases with making distances shorter but incorporating a little running into it.

So now I'm all inspired to carry on with my weight loss

As much as it was getting me down while training for my walk that I wasn't losing weight, now that I have finished that and am going to start a little bit of running in my walks, I am all excited about the prospect of losing some weight. Provided my shin splints don't come back to haunt me, I usually lose weight quite fast when running.


It is a very scary thought though. all 90.5kg of me running and bouncing and wobbling all over the damn place. But I know I will lose weight much faster for running.


I have been wanting to rejoin my old gym again. They gave me a really good price on a membership, I was all set to go, then I got sick and we got lots of urgent bills, so it is on hold, but the thought of a couple of hours a week "Me Time" is very appealing.


So tonight while hubby plays on his xbox with a very over enthusiastic british kid online, his squeals and chatter coming loud and clear over hubbys' headphones, I have been looking on a site that showed a few fast food items and how much exercise you would have to do to work it off. It's quite depressing really.


Burger King Original Whopper With Cheese (770 calories)
94 minutes of swimming (slow to moderate laps). 


Wendy's Large French Fries (540 calories)
77 minutes of biking (10-11.9 mph).


Pizza Hut Large Cheese Pizza (1 slice; 320 calories) *** ( One piece??? Who the hell are they kidding???)***
39 minutes of swimming (slow to moderate laps).


So it makes you think. Normally I'd have the large fries, a burger and a drink. Not JUST the large fries OR a burger... 


As hubby was sucking on a chupa chup while I was looking at this, he wanted to know how many calories in a chupa chup vs a Big Mac. We have now established that there are approx 50calories in a chupa chup and just over 400 cal EACH for a large Mcdonalds Fries and a Big Mac. So you can eat about 17 chupa chups or one Big Mac and Fries... Personally, I'd still go for the Maccas, my mouth would get sore with all those lollipops! 


Have a good weekend :)
Nikki

I can now proudly say I have completed walking a half marathon!

Well, I did it! I walked my first half marathon!!
On Sunday morning I was up bright and early and set off on my big walk. It was cloudy and foggy but it didn't actually rain until the last 3km and by then it was kind of welcome.

I originally had hoped to complete it in under 3.5 hours, but with everything that happened in the last few weeks I was feeling pretty unprepared so changed this goal to wanting to just finish, but hoping I finished in under 4 hours. Well, I did! I did it in 3 hours 53 minutes. I was one of the last few people through but I WASN"T LAST and I finished and I    am so proud.

So my new goal is running related (and thank you Anna for that link, it will help with this goal), have drawn up a plan for run-walking building up to 30 minutes in 3 weeks, starting with running one minute, walking one minute and so on. Here's hoping it works!! Giving myself a few days off first though so my muscles come right!!

Am waiting for the website to upload all the pictures of the event, I had my photo taken soooo many times! In the mean time here are a couple that hubby took before hand, and ones I took in the car of parts of the course.

It's been awhile..

Well after that last mammoth blog entry it's been quite some time since I have updated on here. Mainly because there hasn't been a whole lot to say regarding my exercise.
Came down with what I thought was my recurring Glandular Fever. Last Sunday night when to bed with an aching arm and a hideously sore throat, woke up with glands up, chest pains, sore neck, back, hips, knee, ankles and wrist as well as the throat and arm and a headache. Oh and had no energy whatsoever. Funny that.
So I took it easy for awhile, when I was 17 I had Glandular Fever and some kind of hepatitis, and 12ish years later it still affects me when I get too run down. Feeling a lot better now though so if it was Glandular Fever, I fought it off.

So today I went for a big walk, 13.5km and I thought that was a pretty good effort seeing how little I did this week.

This time in 3 weeks I will have completed my first (walking) half marathon. After todays walk I am still rather apprehensive about it, but feeling more like I can complete it. And then some time around September or soonish after, we start trying for baby#2. So need to lose more weight! Really had thought that walking the distances I am I would have lost SOME weight, even if it hasn't been as regular as I would have liked.

Oh and the Chocolate - still only messed up once, accidently ate a (stale and very small) chocolate chip cookie at my sons' playgroup. Besides that it's been about 5 weeks now with nothing but the occasional hot chocolate.

Emotional Eating

Since I have had nothing much to post about recently, I haven't been on here a whole lot. Have had a grizzly, teething baby with a cold and now an upset tummy to contend with, along with a cold myself and hideous weather, so not much walking has been done by me lately.
I did manage a 13km walk early in the week so at least that's something!

The weigh ins' were getting me down. I cut out chocolate, I'm walking further than ever, downsized my portion sizes and yet the weight is still either staying the same, or in some cases, going up again. So I decided not to weigh myself for a few weeks. One can get pretty obsessed with      the scales, as I have found in the past

It has been 2 weeks today since I have had any chocolate, which I must say, makes me damn proud of myself. However it does bring me to discuss one thing. Emotional Eating. This is something that I have struggled with ever since I was 11. I remember the exact moment my "eating issues" started. I was at a demonstration for "Clogging" (Mock away, I don't care) and my Nana, who was my teacher, lifted up my skirt in front of everybody, to pull my top down so it was tidy, told me I have gained too much weight and needed to lose it again.

Now this is something that no one wants to hear, but especially not an 11 year old already impressionable girl. And even more so, not from your own Nana!!! It wasn't the first, or last, time she said something to this accord, but it was the time that affected me the most.

From then I was always convinced that I was fat. Even though at a lot of the time when I was younger, I was nothing of the sort. But there you go. So for the following 17 years to now, if I am sad, I eat. If I am angry, I eat. You get the idea. There is the obvious suggestions, don't have the bad food in the house, do something to distract yourself. But I have had days where (pre-baby) I decide I want a burger and chips, and it doesn't matter what anyone says, I will have my burger and chips. I even recall having fights with my hubby, who while would never tell me I need to lose weight or anything, will very nicely tell me that "WE" shouldn't really have takeaways for a 3rd time that week, but it didn't matter, I would have my takeaways, enjoy it for all of 5 minutes then spend the rest of the day feeling like crap and very disappointed in myself.

Having a baby changes a lot of this though. It's not so easy to just drop everything and drive to get some fatty goodness. And I have to say I have found that it hasn't been too hard to just not have naughty food in the house. So now I think the main time I am going to have to watch myself is buying naughty food when I am out, eg at lunchtime while in town. And if I am being totally honest with myself, this is not an "emotional" kind of eating rather than a habit. Something I am going to have to break if I am going to lose weight.

Cutting out chocolate has to be a good start. From here I am going to aim to start cutting down my sugar intake in general, but chocolate was definitely the biggest problem for me at the moment.

So that is enough of my rambling for one day. The sun has just come out and so I might make the most of it and get out for a walk while my baby is still sleeping. Any feedback/pointers regarding emotional eating are most welcome :)

Happy SUNday :)
Nikki

First 5 days with no chocolate down and did my biggest walk yet yesterday!

Well haven't had any chocolate since Sunday night and its now Friday night, go me!
Yesterday I attempted my first big walk in 2 weeks and my first walk of any kind in a week after being sick. I did my biggest walk so far! Managed 11.5 km and felt like I could have carried on but had my baby with me who had been sitting in his pram for 3 hours and was starting to get fairly over it. Who can blame him really? Anyway felt pretty good afterwards, and today felt fine too.

Am planning to get out for a big walk again on Sunday, if the weather gods play nice that is! This time I will go by myself and not have a grizzly, teething baby riding in a pram with flat tyres. Can only be good resistance training though I suppose!

Another challenge to add to the walking...

So as of Monday I am going to attempt to not eat chocolate for 12 weeks.... A HUGE challenge on my part as I really do love chocolate! It was meant to be just until the half marathon in 8 weeks, but what's another month, which will bring me to 12 weeks and the 1st of September. A good date I think.

So I have half a block of Whittakers Bittersweet dark chocolate sitting in the fridge right now and I am tossing up wheather to scoff the lot before Monday, or be strong and put it away somewhere, or just give it to my husband to eat for me. Really I shouldn't eat it at all.

I have had a friend who has decided to join me on this crusade against chocolate. Although she lives no where near me I'm sure we can keep on at each other via Facebook and MSN.

So this time in 8 weeks I will be in Taupo having an early night in preparation for walking my first ever half marathon. I'm pretty nervous about the whole thing now, 8 weeks isn't a very long time when I am feeling more than a little unprepared. But I have seen many a training guide for half marathons that are over an 8 week period, so it is obviously do-able and I am walking half the distance already... Long as there are no more set backs and I get rid of my mini cold (really I'm just tired with a sore throat) then I should be sweet. My dad has offered to go for a walk with me tomorrow to push me on and push the pram for me so I can work on walking minus my child attachment, as I won't be pushing a pram on the day so may as well get used to it.

Thats all for today, I am going to have an early night I think. Have added a couple of photos of my last walk since I just realised I can actually load photos on here!!

Good night all
Nikki