Woo hoooo!! Another successful weigh in!

Yeee haaaaa!

Our goal for this week was in the 87's and I am!! 87.7 so that's another 1.1kg this week, 2.2kg in 2 weeks!!

Measurement wise, I didn't catch all of them, but I think my butt was 4/5cm smaller, woo hooo who couldn't do with a smaller butt!?!?!?

So yay, success for me. We were meant to have a good training session today, but I hurt my neck pretty badly last night, and am having trouble even moving, let alone completing a PT session, so that is on hold.

I had great plans of my first walk up the mount in years tomorrow, but that won't be happening either seeing as I'm so blimmin sore.

Had my sneaky "cheat" meal tonight, enjoyed it but was nothing spectacular, and back into it tomorrow! Hope you have a great weekend

Nikki

Expecting good things this weigh in day

Good Morning!!

Just a quick post from me today.

I am going well on my goal to increase my exercise and decrease my portion sizes in my meals. In the last 4 days, I have gotten in 2x 30minute walks and a 1 hour walk yesterday, and my portion sizes are coming down a little, which can only be a good thing!!

I am finding making better choices much easier this week, and last night my teething monster baby had a better nights sleep, and so I did as well.






















This has been my saving grace when it comes to my night time sweet tooth. Jarrah Chocolatte. It comes within the 6 Week Challenge requirements, but still tastes like a hot chocolate should!!

6 Week Challenge - Weigh in Day - SUCCESS!!!

I had my weigh and measure with Le today. I was  pretty nervous as the week hadn't gone completely as I planned but the results were surprisingly better than I expected!!

My hubby has been away all week and I have been home alone with a really sore throat and an almost 3 year old missing his daddy and a hideously grumpy, teething baby, so not a lot has happened on the exercise front.

RESULTS

3cm loss around boobs (This one is debatable as I had a sports bra on last week and a feeding bra today,    so we shall see next week on this one)

3cm loss around my waist (taken at belly button) - STOKED with this one!!

3cm loss around my hips (taken at top of hip bones

My butt stayed the same

And Upper thigh and arm both came down .5-1cm each also!

And down 1.1kg!!!!

So that brings me down to 88.8kg, which to some may not sound like a huge loss, but I have had a sticking point of 89.7kg and could NEVER get below it, so to get below 89 is great motivation for me.

GOALS FOR NEXT WEEK

Continue working on portion control. Currently I am ALWAYS hungry, which may be a side effect of some medication I am  on, so am trying to get past this and reduce the amount of food on my plate, or at least use vegies to fill up.

Get in more exercise! The aim is for 4 hours exercise over the week, which should be achievable if I make a good effort.

Wish me luck!! Back again soon with more updates. Hope you enjoy your weekend, looks like it should be nice and sunny.

Nikki

6 Week Challenge - My first proud moment!

Well, the 6 Week Challenge started on Friday afternoon. Not long I know, but in that time I have had no takeaways, bread, chocolate, icecream, and not added sugar to my cups of tea. This may not sound like a lot, but believe me, these alone are big  steps!!

I had a very proud-Nikki moment yesterday, and I thought I would share with you. We had been out at Bayfair and on the way home, my hubby remembered he had a voucher for chicken nuggets and chips from KFC and he wanted to use it before he left for Auckland today. Me being me, and easily led, thought it be safest if I got him to drop me home before he went there, so I could be eating my own, much healthier lunch, when he got home. As it turned out, the lunch I made (mashed kumara and some sweet chilli chicken, if you were wondering), was tastier than I expected, and by the time he got home, I was full enough that the smell didn't get to me at all, and even him sharing his chips with our son, I couldn't have cared less. Very proud.

The exercise isn't going so well, I was sick for ages recently, and yesterday the sore throat and pounding head came back, although I wonder if the headache was my body asking for sugar, but I would have thought it be too soon for that? Anyway, between that and spending as much time with hubby as I could before he leaves for Auckland for 6 days, no exercise was done. Oops. That's a couple of ticks lost right there. 

But hubby is away now, and I am hoping that with no plans at all this week, plenty of walking and resistance exercise will be done.

Hope you have a great week, looks like this hideous weather is here to stay for a bit.

Nikki

If you want to find out more about the 4 and 6 Week Challenges, or to talk to Le about getting started at Form Health and Body Management, either give her a call on 021 543804, or go to www.formhealth.co.nz ,

 or their Facebook Page, https://www.facebook.com/formhealthandbodymanagement

The "Grumpy Fog" is lifting a little finally

** WARNING** A more personal than usual post lies ahead....

So for awhile now I've had my head in the sand a bit.
I didn't really notice, but I had gotten myself into this grumpy, overtired, completely unmotivated state. And it came on so gradually I really didn't think a lot of it.

But then we went through a spate of about 6 weeks of sick baby and toddler, sick hubby, immunisations, and eventually, after many sleepless nights, a sick me. And by that stage, I was pretty low, but I thought I was just over tired and still getting used to having a baby and a toddler. 

The foggy view from our lounge the other morning. Appropriate.

I won't go into the gory deets, but a few things have been sorted now and as a very quick and unexpected side effect, I'm happier. I am no longer sick and overtired, and neither are my kids or hubby. More sleep has been had. And suddenly, things just seem.... better. Nothing in particular around me has changed, but I am a lot happier, which in turn makes my kids and hubby happier.

I noticed myself that I wasn't flying off the handle as quick and I was more motivated to get stuff done. 

Practicing "Monster Face"

One day I cracked a joke about something and I thought after, I haven't really been cracking jokes in some time... but I hadn't noticed until I started again.

According to hubby, I am "much perkier" these days, and more like my old self.

Monster Pixie practicing her monster face

The kids are getting more attention during the day, as is the housework. 

I am even starting to think about what I am eating again, as well as starting to get back into exercising, which has been a long absence!

How could you be sad with these 2 around?

The other afternoon, my kids were sitting with me on the couch and being extra cute like they do so well, and I found myself loving them so much it made me cry (ok, I'm not a crier. I teared up a lot though) They got lots of cuddles. So yeah. Interesting how things can change without you noticing. I'm just glad that life is getting better again. Even if I hadn't noticed I wasn't "feeling it" so much before.

First catch up with Le for the 6 week challenge...

Please click here for my first post about signing on for the 6 Week Challenge.

Today I had my first catch up with Le from Form Health. Today we went through the details of the challenge, what is required nutrition wise, and did some measurements and goal setting.

I have to admit, I didn't even look at what the measurements were. I think I only want to know at the end, when I have made heaps of progress (thinking positive here people!!). I did weigh myself this morning though, and I was 89.8kg. Our goal is to get me down to 84kg by the end of the 6 weeks. This should be completely achievable given how much of an overhaul my lifestyle is about to get!! (And how much weight there is to lose)

I won't go into too much detail about the Challenge, but to be brief, there are 20 key requirements, and the idea is that you need to meet as many as you can each day (ideally all of them of course). Given that I am breastfeeding still, we had to tweak it very slightly, and with a 7 month old and an almost 3 year old, some I think I will find a little tricky, such the hours of sleep I should be getting, but some, as hard as they will be, with a bit of effort and change of habits, they will only improve how I am feeling in my daily life, not to mention the weight loss benefits!

Have to say, I am pretty excited about all of this. It has been a long time since I was happy with how I look, or my fitness levels. About 10 years if I am honest, and I'm only 30!! So to be on the downward slide towards a healthy weight and a better self image, it's pretty damned tempting. Even if it does mean giving up a few of my foodie comforts and being better at meal planning!

So come tomorrow, a big walk is in order. That's a very good start I think!! I plan to be pretty upfront and honest about how I am going, so there may be times when I slip up, and I hope that if I tell you about it, that will help me to not do it again. 

Hope that you have a great weekend!
Nikki

If you want to find out more about any of the Challenges that Form are running, or to look at 

maybe getting started as a member, get in touch with Le, on 021543804

Come follow me on my 6 Week Challenge!

So I keep stopping and starting with my weight loss goals. I'm definitely finding it harder to stick to as a stay at home mum than when I was working and going to the gym!! Being at home with 2 small kids doesn't necessarily mean it's easy to exercise. In fact as I sit here typing this I have a 2 year old climbing all over me, wanting to "help" me, and a 7 month old yelling and squealing at me from the confines of her exersaucer, demanding she be set free. 

 




My 2 adorable yet
very distracting
kiddies. 
Dexter (will be 3 in September) and Amber (7 months)






I also lack the discipline not to eat heaps of food. Actually, I should correct myself. I don't necessarily eat HEAPS of food. I just make the wrong choices, even though I know full well what choices I SHOULD be making.

Besides all that, my bigger issue is not that I don't want to exercise, but that everything hurts so much all the darned time, (something that is being worked on with my GP currently, fingers crossed for things to improve), and my incredible lack of energy. I know this will be largely improved by sorting out my diet and exercise, but again, it's something my GP is helping me sort. 

So this is where Le, from Form Health and Body Management comes in. I've known Le for ages, first as my Personal Trainer, then later as a good friend and colleague as well. We worked together in a gym for awhile, and in that time, we got my eating under control, so much so that I got to the much coveted "below 80kg's", and I stayed there for quite awhile. Then we both stopped working at that gym, I started working in a call centre, and my diet and exercise went back out the proverbial window. 

That was 2008. Since then I have spent 18 months sitting on my butt for work, eating lots of unhealthy food, had 2 kids, both via elective caesarean, had a few fairly major family things happen, been a stay at home mum for almost 3 years, and generally, ignored my respectable amount of knowledge in both diet and exercise. I am now hovering around 90kg.

Yesterday I caught up with Le, and we both agree that everyone needs to be held accountable to someone. So starting this Friday, I will be doing her 6 Week Challenge with her. We will be doing it from my house, with kids watching, with very  limited equipment. Just to show everyone (myself included) that it CAN be done.

I will post again on Friday about my first session, and the goals that we set together. I would love you to follow my posts, and if you would like to have a chat with Le about maybe getting started on one of her challenges, or to look at joining up with Form, give her a call on           021 543 804       

Nikki

Walking again...

Well it's been awhile, but after a month of sick husband, sick kids and sick me, everyone is finally almost well again, and after playing nurse mummy/wife while being sick myself, by the weekend just gone, I was in need of some "me" time. One of the most important things you can have, I am now well aware of.

So baby girl (who I have renamed lil Pixie, my nickname was Pickle as a kid, and well, her wee ears just make her look like a pixie) wasn't having a bar of this sleeping stuff, and so rather than go for a walk on my own as planned, we left the boys at home playing xbox, bundled lil Pixie up in the pram and put a cover over it, and off we went.

See? Cute wee pixie ears!

We walked and we walked. And for someone who lately has been pretty sore and completely unenthused about any kind of exercise, we were out for a good 2 hours!! My back was super sore the next day, and still is today, but hey, I got out, baby girl had a sleep, and we didn't get home til after dark!!

Florence and the Machine - Essential music for getting your walk on.

Giant Photo Blog Post (part one)

It's been ages and I have too much to write about so here's some photos of our shenanigans the last month or so...

Mr Cheeky Pants and Miss Smiley Face

Big D at a park at Mount Maunganui

McLarens Falls Park. I love living so close to so many pretty places

Redwoods Forest, Rotorua. A great, family friendly place to stretch your legs

6 months old today! (11/07/2012)

Foggy view from our front door

Oh, HI THERE!

Redwoods Forest again. Such pretty colours

Will be back again soon I promise!