October update

It's the tenth month of my 2017 journey and I think I've experienced every emotion, fallen off the wagon and gotten back on, lost weight and gained weight, exercised and not exercised. But I'm so proud of myself that I haven't given up. I'm still here and I'm still fighting for what I want.

1. I'm 872km into my 1000km challenge with 2.5 months to go - whoooohooo. That's totally worked as motivation to get me out of the house exercising.

2. I've been using a trainer at the gym and have a gym buddy which is helping me increase my strength and enjoy working out more. I feel so much stronger and I am starting to see little muscles under my skin (and body fat) now.

3. I discovered an app called Lose Weight which is a hypnosis app that I listen to every night before bed. I'm positive it's helping me have a better self image and stay on track better :-)

4. I've gotten much better with food. For me I've struggled big time with deprivation. So my new plan is 90% nutritious food, 10% fun food. Every thing I put in my mouth I ask 'is this nutritious' (is this taking me towards my goals or away), apart from 10% of fun foods which is usually when I'm out at a function or party and I let myself have something small of a food I really like (it's got to be a food I really like or it's not worth it). The rest of the time I eat nutritious food I actually like, not force myself to eat things I don't enjoy.

5. I have a new motto - "I'm stronger than my excuses". I wear this on a chain around my neck so I can remind myself daily that I can do this, that I am doing this and my goals are important to me.

How are you doing? What has helped you?
I have about 3-4kg to lose to get to my next goal then I'll be reassessing from there.

Catch ya next time
Zealous Girl :-)

End of term

Ouch... end of term is hard. Schools in New Zealand just wind up and up and up until all the staff CRASH into the holidays. I've been crashing all week in fact. Falling into bed for an hour after work, unable to function until I've closed my eyes for a good long while.

Exercise this week has also flown out the window (apart from a couple of walks and a hockey game), but you know what, I'm going to be kind to myself and not beat myself up about that. I'll be back into my regular exercise routine tomorrow.

Eating has also been rather lax. Normally I'd continue eating crap for another two weeks but I'm not going to do that. I'm going to get to the supermarket and buy the food I need. I don't want to go backwards again.

This holidays I'm getting my good headspace back and making a new plan for term 3. Summer bodies are made in winter! That's my term 3 motto :-)

Catch ya next time
Zealous Girl

Distance Goal

One of my goals for 2017 was to run/walk 1000km. It might not sound much to some, but last year I only managed 500km so it's double what I've done in the past.

I know that around winter I normally lose total motivation to exercise, so this was an attempt to keep exercising during the colder months.

As of today, I'm just over half way to my goal (547km) with more than 6 months to go.

As far as motivation goes, it has been a total winner. I use a free app called Endomondo to track my walking and running and every time I think up excuses not to exercise, I check my app to see how my kilometres are going and it drives me on to complete my goal. I also have friends set up on the app to compete against. Another win!

And you know what.... it makes me feel so good about myself to be striving for this goal and smashing it. And we all need to feel good about ourselves often. It's not something I thought about much in the past but it's so important to me now. There are so many things in life that pull us down and weigh us down, that anything that helps pull us back up is something we need to hold onto!

Sometime I'll post about my battle with anxiety over the past few years and how that changed me.

Til next time :-)
Zealous Girl

The secret

I've discovered the secret to weight loss, exercise and staying motivated. It's a really annoying little muscle that controls it all..... in fact I'm not sure there is much 'muscle'  in there, it's mostly fat. You've guessed what I'm talking about .... your brain.

When my mindset is good, I'm totally on target, I'm eating well, exercising etc....
BUT
When I'm tired or busy and when my mind is not focused on my goals, it all falls apart. I find I have the 'I don't care' attitude and basically start shovelling every bad food into my mouth and use every excuse not to exercise.

Sometimes it takes me a while to get my mindset back (it's hard to convince a 'not caring brain' to start caring again; especially when said brain was so excited to be eating all that sugar again.)

Something I've found that has been working for me is my vision board (I'll go into that more in another post), I try to read it daily, remind myself why I'm doing this.

Writing down why you want to be healthy and fit is HUGE. If you don't have a target, a goal, you're just aiming your arrows at nothing, which means you'll hit nothing. More about my goals in an upcoming post :-)

Have you set goals? Tell me one :-)
Zealous Girl

Fitbit motivation

For valentines day, my wonderful hubby gave me a Fitbit. We don't usually do gifts, so it was such a cool surprise.

I didn't put much stock in this type of device/watch before, but OMG it has motivated me so much to get 10,000 steps + daily and to do my exercise 5 days a week.

I love the way it reminds me to step at least 250 steps each hour (bonus it also displays text messages on the screen as they arrive). I love how it shows my heartbeat so I can see how it's tracking while I workout. It also shows the time; essential for my scheduled personality.

So if you're looking for a way to motivate yourself to be more active during the day, especially if you sit at a desk job, I highly recommend some type of fitness watch. In fact since I've been wearing it, over the past 3 months, I only didn't reach my target one week out of 12.

Til next time
Zealous Girl

To weigh or not to weigh

How often do you stand on the scales and wish you hadn't seen THAT number. The number that doesn't show how hard you worked last week or the pies and lollies that you didn't eat. 

Although I've tried really hard not to let the scales rule my life, when I see a low number, I'm happy and when I see a high number I'm down. Even though I know that the scales don't tell the whole story, it's the only measuring tool I've got to go on. 

So this month I'm attempting to NOT weigh myself. Let's see how long I last before I give in to temptation and step on the scales. 

What methods do you use to check your progress?

Zealous Girl 

I'm on a new journey and it isn't easy BUT it is worth it

At the start of 2017 I made a commitment to get heathy and fit again. I made a vision board, I printed out lots and lots of memes to help my journey and I created rewards for weight loss and milestones. I read lots and lots of books and blogs and websites. I was set. I had all the knowledge, this would be easy.

This has been hard.
Harder than hard.
So hard I've had to restart numerous times.

But restart I have done and will continue to do until I reach my goals and maintain them.

I'm blogging again because it has helped in the past and I hope it helps again, and perhaps encourages others.

I have realised that while I feed my children healthy food and limit their unhealthy food, I did not do the same for myself. I let myself eat whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. I wasn't making good choices.

In January I started small with changing only a few things. Eating less gluten and less sugar. That lasted until my family went camping. I got hungry and ate everything in sight. Restart number 1.

During February I decided to record all my calories using 'myfitnesspal' - great free app/webpage by the way. That helped hugely. The weight very slowly came down. I don't lose weight as fast in my 40s as I did in my 20s and 30s.

In March I joined the gym and kept at my eating, although a few cheat foods started creeping in more and more.

April in the school holidays I struggled again. Easter came with too much chocolate and I ate too too much.

May, I struggled again. I felt deprived from some foods and snuck them into my mouth. Yes I have a unhealthy relationship with food, and I know this well, but am still hunting for the answer. Hunting for the solution for me and how I can eat well without binging. How I can include my favourite foods in moderation.

It's June now and I'm back on track. I lost some of the gains I had made. I am cross about that but I must look forward now and not give up.

What doesn't kill me is making me stronger. I can do this. I am doing this!
Til next time

Zealous Girl 

Lifestyle Change

I think my head has finally gotten with the programme and realised that eating no wheat/sugar is permanent, not just 'to lose weight' like I've done before.

I'm not a zealot. I still occasionally have wheat and sugar but they are not part of my daily life.

Nigel Latta (for you New Zealand readers) did a documentary on sugar the other day and it confirmed everything I've been preaching and thinking about for years. I'm so happy the world is finally starting to realise the dangers and evils of this processed giant. Sugar is added to EVERYTHING. If fat has been removed you can be sure that sugar has been added in spadefuls.

I'm still losing weight very slowly, but I'm okay with that. My goal is still a couple of KG away and that's fine. I'm upping my exercise and toning exercises a bit at the moment, not to help with weight loss but for health and to keep my body moving. And for once I'm loving it as it's not an obligation or a chore.

Til next time
Zealous Girl

3 months sugar free and counting

I love that when I'm not eating sugar, I don't crave it. I can't even count on both hands how many times I've had the opportunity to have dessert or cake or lollies and I've turned them down every time. I'm so proud of myself. As I know as soon as one taste reaches my lips it's all over. I won't be able to resist. So it's good to have a line drawn in the sand.

My weight isn't dropping much. But I did win the 'biggest loser' at my work place last term - yeah!!!

I'd love to get down a further 3kg before summer but so long as I don't gain, I'll be happy. I'm very happy that I've found out how to eat best for my body. Avoiding wheat, potatoes etc... most of the time and processed sugars. Eating lots of fat, meat, cheese, veges and some fruit. It's working for me and I'm feeling good. Plus I haven't been really sick this winter. Coincidence? I think not.

I do have a bit of an addiction to almonds :-)
How are you doing?
ZG xx

My sticking point

I always reach this part of my weight loss when my weight sticks and doesn't move for a month or so. It's always really hard and sometimes I give up here.

I hate it that I diet and then gain, diet then gain it back. I hate that. How do I make sure this time is different?

I figure I could give up now, eat the way I always have and just keep gaining a few kg every year until I'm fat, unhealthy and middle aged.
or
I could keep pushing through, change my diet permanently and strive for health. So what if I'm not losing weight for a month or so, at least I'm not gaining. I also need to remind myself that the scales only show one part of the picture. The fact that my pants are feeling quite loose is also a good sign.

Right off to nibble on some almonds. What are your 'go to' snack foods?

Overeating

I've just finished reading 'The end of overeating' by David A Kessler.
WOW, it was like he had read my mind and put in on paper. Most of the book is about the food industry and what they do to food to make us want to eat eat eat it. I completely related and when he talked about how you can eat and eat without being hungry and have a battle in your head all at the same time... he was talking about me. Me when I'm eating sugary wheaty foods.

BUT right now I'm not eating sugar (apart from fruit, fresh and dried) and wheat. And I'm feeling so good for it.

The last quarter of the book talks about methods to use to stop 'overeating'. I've written heaps of notes and am going to make myself flash cards that will come with me until I know them off by heart. When I reach maintenance (with my weight) I will need them as that's when things get hard.

I'm excited to get to maintenance now.

My fat jeans are finally too big, my medium jeans are fitting and my skinny jeans await.

How are you going? What do you do to help with maintaining weight when you reach your goal?
ZG

May

I've had a great few weeks and I have managed to shed nearly 3kg. I'm back heading towards my goal, which in itself is motivation.

Unfortunately the weight has been coming off a bit faster than usual due to stress and illness. For some reason when my kids get sick I get incredibly anxious and when I'm anxious I can't eat. This is not a way I recommend to lose weight. In fact I would quite like this week to be over already so I can get on with next week.

I'm not following any particular diet anymore, instead I've decided to just cut out sugar and wheat products. I limit my fruit but not pedantically. What I've found is, cutting out wheat and sugar dramatically reduces my appetite and I'm not having crazy cravings. It's so nice to not be constantly wandering past the pantry thinking about eating everything in there. It's also nice not to have a limit on what I can eat, so long as it isn't wheat/sugar I eat as much as I want. Amazingly I don't overeat and there are a million scientific reasons for that but in short carbs block something in your body from knowing when you are full and make you want to keep eating and eating, even though you don't need to.

I'm feeling really happy and in control and strong right now. I'm looking forward to reaching my goal then concentrating on maintaining. Maintenance is the hardest thing for me and it's where I have failed time and time again. This time I'm determined to win the battle.

How are you going?
ZG

Why does Easter = Chocolate

When did Easter turn into the Chocolate holiday? I'm guessing it's completely about companies having another reason to make money off a public holiday. I wonder if we'll be buying chocolate poppies for ANZAC day before too long.

Anyhoo.....

I've not touched any sugar since in 6 days, I've used raisins and fruit to get by when I've had a craving. And oh my gosh, last night I had the worst cravings. I keep walking in circles past the kitchen where my kids stash of easter eggs are sitting. It was HARD to not break into them, let me tell you.

This morning, friends had us over for hot cross buns and I managed to resist, although they smelled really yum. But I know as soon as grains or sugar touch my lips the rest of my day can disappear into a sea of cravings and eating all the foods I'm trying to avoid. Let's be honest here, the rest of the week can turn into a grain/sugar fest.

I used to weigh myself every day but I've decided not to do that just yet. I find I get 'down' when the scales don't show much change or worse, go up. So until I'm near my goal, I'm going to stick to weekly weigh-ins.

My goal this week: get through easter without any sugar 

Anyone got any good ideas for getting through the sugar cravings?
Zealous Girl

Addicted....

Okay, so truth time. I've got an addiction. It's an addiction I've been feeding for a few months now. I knew it was a problem when I'd sneak off to the shops and not tell hubby where I was going or what for.

You guessed it: SUGAR.

A nasty, white, processed, sweet drug.

Today is the first day in months that I haven't had any. I've been craving it madly all day. But I'm stronger than this. I can do this. (Little steps)

A few years ago I started on Dukan and it was amazing. I dropped the weight and got down to my almost goal.... enter crazy busy life.... back up to my starting weigh - SIGH. This has been my pattern for the past two years and I'm sick of it. HOW does one maintain? I haven't been successful so far and now I'm finding myself having to start again with the losing weight thing, but I'm terrified of the maintaining bit. HELP HELP HELP.

I do know this. When my life gets too busy, food planning and healthy eating gets really hard (it really does take time and energy to eat healthy) and eventually the sugar and grains creep back in, til I find myself eating cupcakes for breakfast after my sons birthday. ARGHHHHHHHH

Family: 2 kids, 1 husband, 1 cat.
Jobs: part time computer techie, part time sewing and running my own business, full time mum.

So here I start again, down this narrow path towards healthy living, hoping I will reach the end this time and find a way to stay there. Thanks for reading and any help you can give me on the maintaining issue, I'd appreciate.

See ya soon
Zealous Girl

Second 'fast' day

I'm half way through my second fasting day and feeling good. This way of eating is working well. I ate basically as much as I wanted on my non-fast days, which wasn't over the top, but it made me feel like I didn't have to restrict, which always messes with my mind.

Next week I need to add some exercise back into my life. I need tone, I need muscles and I need endorphins :-)

How are you all doing?
ZG :-)

Apologies

Oh goodness it's been a long time since I last posted. It's not for lack of something to report, life just got so busy last year. Young kids, work, home business, family life... it's such a busy time and I haven't had time to read any blogs let alone write one, but here I am again... trying to find time :-)

I've been dukaning on and off all last year. Sadly on every 'off' I gained back some weight. I've got to the stage where my body is holding onto the weight and I'm finding it really hard to lose. I'm not actually overweight but I'm not where I want to be.

I heard of the 'fast' diet late last year and thought it meant 'speedy' diet and for those of you who have dieted you'll know there is no way to lose weight fast and keep it off long term. I got the book out of the library just for interest sake (I was skeptical) and I actually liked most of what I read. Really liked it. It's not 'fast' but about 'fasting'. Anyway after a lot of thinking I've decided to add 'fasting' into my life.

So two days a week I'm going to fast and eat only 500 calories but five days a week I eat normal. But by normal I'm still trying to follow a dukan/low carb type way of eating. I'm hoping this will help kick start my weight loss again and I'll finally be able to find a way to not gain all the weight back.

Today was my first 'fast' day and it wasn't as hard as I'd imagined and tomorrow I don't have to count calories or worry about watching what I eat. I'm hoping this helps me find a way to eat a normal healthy diet where occasionally I can have something I'm really craving. That's the hope :-)

How are you all going?

If you're interesting in watching the documentary on fasting, check this out: http://vimeo.com/54089463

Mobility Scooter to walk the dog

Yesterday I was walking along the beach where I live and I noticed a dog trotting along. Then I saw it's owner on a mobility scooter and it gave me a reality check.

• One day I'm going to be old. 
• One day my body won't move very well and I may have to use a scooter. 
• One day I'm going to look back at this time of my life and regret not using my body to the best of its ability. 

Only I can control what goes into my mouth. Only I can move my body and look after it. Only I can reshape it to the best that it can be. It's my responsibility. I can't blame Mcdonalds, I can't blame someone else. I'm in charge. The buck stops with me.

Therefore I propose that we all stop making excuses and take responsibility. When we pick up food we know we shouldn't eat... it's our choice. It doesn't matter than someone else may have brought tempting food to our house or convinced us to eat it. We decide what goes into our mouth.

So let's make the choice to be happy with our bodies or make the right choices for us, until we have the body we are happy with. I'm beginning to think that 'diet' is a very dangerous word. I've dieted for years, got to a good weight then gone back to eating normal and gained weight again. I have to find a eating lifestyle that allows me to stay at my acceptable weight. Something that isn't too hard that I can't keep it up. I also have to find a fitness routine I can keep up long term.

So far the way of eating that has worked best for me is a form of Dukan/Atkins/Low carb. I find avoiding wheat and sugar in 90% of my diet does the trick. This way I can occasionally have something wheaty or sugary which solves my craving problems and I don't tend to fall off the wagon and binge so much.

My weight has stalled this month. I can't seem to get any lower. I'm not far from my goal so I'm not too stressed. This month I'm going to concentrate on building up a bit of muscle as I notice I'm still quite flabby (skinny fat) and I'd like to be more toned.

Who do you blame for your weight gains? 

Bounce bounce bounce

I'm bouncing along... not really losing or gaining. Which in the bigger picture is pretty good. I'm not really gaining :-) Some days I slip up so I just eat better the next day. I feel like I'm on a learning curve to eat normally without gaining for the rest of my life.

Not much else to report ;-)
ZG

Five

My son turned five in the weekend and yes I did eat some cake :-) it was good! Although I must say I really notice how food with flour and sugar doesn't sit very well in my stomach anymore. Back to bacon and eggs the next day and it feels much better :-)

Speaking of eggs. We are baby sitting four chickens. FRESH EGGS. They are quite needy little madams and eat soooo much, but it's fantastic having the eggs. As you can imagine, egg is a major part of my diet.

The photo above is the sunrise last week from our deck.
Daylight savings has ended so it gets dark early in the evening again and the mornings are semi light again. So I'm back to hitting the pavement in the mornings, although I am incredibly unfit so it's slow going.

My weight is still plateauing although I feel like my clothes are a little looser. I'm not giving up this time. This time I'm in this for life. If I have a few days of slipping up, I just pick myself up and get on with it again. So far it's working for me :-)

Let me know how you guys are going!!

No April Fools here

It's April. Where oh where has the year gone?
I've been up and down a bit since my last post, but still working hard towards my goal. My clothes feel looser even if the scales aren't always my friend. 3kg left to go.... well, I HAD 3kg left to go before easter.... enter a few sneaky easter eggs.... oops. Eggs are protein aren't they ;-)

On a side note, I'm baby sitting some chickens for my inlaw's for two weeks. Hopefully it will be fresh eggs on the menu daily :-)

Exercise = zilch, but I'd like to change that once day-light savings ends and the mornings are semi light again.

Have a great week
ZG

Photo is my baby boy, turning 5 in five days....