Hmmm

According to Michelle Bridges (celebrity trainer from the biggest loser), the best way to lose weight is fasssst! This is what she says:

The old half a kilo loss this week, 200 grams lost last week, then the birthday party comes along with a kilo weight gain the following week, up down, on off….yawn…

(Personal trainers,) How many times have you heard your clients drone on about the weight trickling off, then trickling back on – I get sick of hearing it, as must you, so they must be nearly suicidal living it!

My message is simple, and it’s the same message that we use on the show – get the weight off FAST. Because the biggest motivation of all – is RESULTS! When their work colleagues are saying to them WOW! Look at you!

And while I can see some value in this, I have to agree this commenter has a point:

what a lot of crap this from a person who does this for a living ok, i want to see her do this working in an office go home cook , wash a child, clean the floor, change nappy make preperaion for the next day, get child to bed. wake up in the morning dress the child off to child care then work and etc etc over and over. my ass these fitness trainers got no idea.... also it isnt healthy to lose big weight in one go but yet they forget to say anything like that...

It'd be great to check into biggest loser camp for a few weeks to ditch a couple of kilos, but entirely unrealistic. It's pretty hard to concentrate on ANYTHING when you are hungry, and MUCH EASIER TO QUIT AND PIGOUT. So unless I get a free pass to fat camp along with the endorsement of my employers and family, that one is out for me.

She also says this, which I have been saying for years...

...personal trainers can’t be pulling out the old “get out of jail free” card that being “muscle weighs more that fat”. Yes, I know that technically this is true, however, as professionals we know that to put on a true kilo of muscle, particularly if you are a woman, will take longer than 7 days!

So when a weight loss client walks into the gym and is asked by their trainer how their weight’s going, and they say they’ve put on a kilo, and the stock response of the trainer is ‘oh well, we’ve been training pretty hard with weights this week, so it’s probably muscle…’

Someone shoot me! If you’ve got a weight loss client who’s not losing weight then it’s because she’s or he is EATING TOO MUCH and not doing the homework you have set for them! And as their trainer, it’s YOUR job to call them on it.

But I disagree with her ideas about starting fitness bootcamps for school kids. I can't see how that would EVER entice them into happy exercise habits for life. In fact, celebrities commenting on health, fitness, and weight loss gets up my nose entirely. Read this great observation...

It happens to everyone...

So I've been following my own advice (below) for 11 days now... so why won't the God of Weight Loss and Fitting into Jeans Comfortably recognise my effort? Well, to be honest, to expect 6kg to disappear in 11 days might be a bit unrealistic and I know it's actually going to take me about 2 and a half to 3 months, but really, it's a bit tedious, especially when everyone else is stuffing their face with Easter buns and chocolate eggs.

Still, I'm taking responsibility for my problem. I gained 5kg over 10 months from prolonged pigouts, and now I'm fixing it. My weapon of choice is WW ProPoints. And I have to admit, following this is 100% better than not having a plan and waking up every morning regretting my increased volume of adipose tissue and accompanying lack of inaction. Followed by another 17 hours of torment & recrimination.

There is NOTHING MORE BORING than weight loss blogs so I will leave it at that, and when I have a lovely after picture (check back about mid July) I will publish it for you. In the meantime you'll find me here:

Help

Denny's Top Ten Tips for difficult weight loss.

(It's difficult because it is difficult).

1. Get enough sleep. Otherwise you won't have the mental energy to make the best decisions.

2. Tread the path of least resistance.

• Don't have crap in your house. Or if you have to, make it stuff that isn't exciting enough to need very often - eg I can't live in a house without chocolate, but if it's 80% proof Lindt, I won't want it all that frequently and I won't each much.

• Avoid going to places/parties etc that are going to challenge you - or at least plan - eat first, and carry healthy food....

3. Follow a plan. Just trying "to be good" seldom works.

• Make it a good plan. ie Weightwatchers or calorie counting or Jenny Craig - not a powdered drink for lunch and dinner.

4. Get support. Try to get a friend to do it too.

5. Don't weigh yourself all the time. Leave it at least a week. The scales are dictators of your emotions.

6. Don't let good be the enemy of perfect. So what if you can't run or get to the gym. Just get a 30min walk in somehow. Don't worry about being extreme...

7. Forget about everyone else. This is about you and how you feel. Don't let them tell you what to do or not to do...

8. Keep calm, and carry on, whatever. Mistakes happen.

9. Plan, shop, eat, drink, and exercise.

10. It takes as long as it takes. Don't have unrealisitc expectations.

GOODLUCK!

do this.

Great Strategy!

fail - no points to me

i went to the moorilla tennis international today and had a really great time watching the tennis. however, as bloody typical in this city, the event was undercatered for (eg the bbq they had up there ran out of sausages before either of the doubles finals had commenced, and the crappy takeaway van there had two lines at least 30 people long each side). i had planned on getting some sushi to take, but i wasn't really organised enough, though to be fair to myself i was looking after 4 children singlehandedly and rushing to get ready for a pre-tennis swim at the aquatic centre.

in years gone past there has been semi decent food available at the event, like wood-fired pizzas or other such offerings, but this year there was only a coffee van and one of those junkfood caravans with hot chips and burgers and other greasy alternatives.

it was VERY DISAPPOINTING. there are any number of decent takeaway options at salamanca market on a saturday morning and i bet there would be plenty of interest from them in catering for the event.

i ended up with a cookie and an "ice-coffee" - coffee mixed with milk and ice.
i have learnt my lesson. i will be more prepared next time.

i like to have something yummy to eat like the other spectators around me, but i also like it to be healthy. i noticed lots of people around me had brought their own food in little cooler bags, i think i will buy myself a smart little cooler bag (the supermarket ones are too big) so i am not at the mercy of the event organisers and can bring along something appealing that i won't regret eating.

time travelling (or my descent into mental illness)

now that i think about it, i am no stranger to sending messages to my past self. sometimes, when i finish a hard workout (usually running, but sometimes swimming), i say to the denny of 20 minutes prior (or 40 minutes, or however long i decide) - "thank you" (for keeping going, you got me there). sometimes i receive these messages before i've even sent them, which is kind of cool (if a little bit crazy). i've been doing this for years.

most of the time, i can't be bothered exercising. 85% of the time, i do it anyway (unless i'm feeling geuinely tired, injured or sick or have done something every day for the past 4 or 5 days). because i know if i let myself get out of it, it will become easier to do the same thing the next time and so on, and so on, until i'm not exercising any more and i have lost all my fitness.

95% of the time, i'm grateful to myself that i did exercise. i can relax for a little while without a nagging conscience. that conscience can be pretty annoying. for example when i'm eating junkfood when i'm a few kg overweight. not nearly so enjoyable when i know i don't have the space for it (on my body, in my jeans).

Sorry – long time no blog.

Firstly, a few features of the Christmas period:

MY IDEAL XMAS DINNER, as kindly provided by sister and brother in law. Granted, it’s not very traditional, but it couldn’t have made me happier. All my favourite things were there. Oysters (very very nearly vegetarian), rice paper rolls, pumpkin and fetta tart, garlic bread, and smashed roast potatoes. And champagne (well, sparkling wine) Followed by raspberry PAVLOVA!

A family trip to Maria Island, where I went biking and hiking (up Mt Maria and Bishop & Clerk) and swimming. It was great! I was relunctant to do the big walks and bike rides but I’m glad I was pushed into it.





Now, for those health goals of 2011.

Get more sleep was mentioned on my other blog, but probably my most important task of this year will be rehabilitating my knees. I’ve never had good knees but it’s got to the point where they are so useless they are nearly disabling me. I can’t get up off the floor without pulling myself up with my arms, and I have to go down stairs and hills sideways and groaning.

This will probably involve expensive trips to the physio and lots of exercises but I don’t see any alternative. I have had to quit running over the last year just so I could keep walking, but I don’t want to have to stop playing basketball and squash because I’ve let things get even worse. Hand in hand with the fix knees objective is the improve flexibility one. I feel apathetic about both these ideals but like I said – no alternative.

Continue with weights is another goal. I’ve managed about twice a week (most weeks) over the last three months and I have got stronger, slowly. I don’t like doing weights so if I can just maintain these 2 hours a week I will be pleased. Doing what I’ve been doing is a goal of 2011, swimming twice a week, exercising at least 5 days out of 7 etc etc. Although challenging at least it’s nothing new I need to develop. I’ve managed this so far by careful planning – every week I map out my exercise sessions on a spreadsheet, and each day I contemplate what needs to be done the following day to fit it in. I think ad hoc statements such as “I’m going to exercise more” rarely work without this kind of planning…it’s the same with eating. “I’m going to eat more healthily” has to be translated into a plan which involves what and when and how (food must be pre-purchased/prepared).

Instead of getting caught up in same old same old I’d like more variety in my exercise. For example I could do the dance game on the wii or take the mountain bike for a ride along Old Summerleas Road. I’d also like to get my exercise done early rather than leaving it til last thing at night (there have been times I’ve put on a Pump DVD at 10pm), though this goal is hard to fit in with the rest of the family and also my get more sleep ideal. I have some ideas however.

Basketball goal – practise shooting once a week! Because I’m crap.

Spose we should talk about nutritional goals, and one my biggest here is EAT MORE PROTEIN. As a vego I rarely get enough, which means I rarely get enough Vit B and Iron. I take supplements. Lots.

Vit B, Iron, Vit D (most Tasmanians are deficient), Multi-vitamin and fish oil. I’ll still need all of these, but if I can work some protein into every meal I think it will help. By protein I mean soy milk or cheese or nuts tofu or lentils/chickpeas or chia seeds or linseed or whatever else I can think of. By the way I would never consider not being vegetarian because I just don’t agree with the way animals are treated for this objective at the moment. I was really please the other day when I went to the supermarket and all the free-range eggs had sold out – there were only cage eggs left. Of course I didn’t buy them though. Still, this kind of community culture change has taken SO LONG TO ACHIEVE and this frustrates me. I bought free range eggs 25 years ago when there was usually only one alternative on the shelf. For the last 25 years hens have been suffering. Disappointingly, I know people who still buy cage eggs to save money.
Another goal is pretty run of the mill – snack more on fruit and less on other stuff. Eat more vegies, eat more raw food blah blah. Shop regularly – have the right food on hand.

Writing these goals makes me feel quite proud of all I’ve achieved since I was a teenage, junk-food eating refuser of vegetables. I’m pleased that I eat a really healthy diet and exercise regularly and it’s really just refining behaviours more than developing completely new things. It may have taken me a looong time to get here but this age-wisdom thing really works. I wish I’d had it 20 years ago before my turbulent years of binge eating, yo-yo dieting and general extreme behaviours that probably plague every female between the ages of 15 and 35. Sigh.

Only problem now is my mortality. Apparently, I’m not going to live forever. And neither is anyone else.

All of this is probably very boring for you, the reader, but it’s not about you. Ha. It’s me, writing down my objectives. Failure to plan means planning to fail.

Now, I have some health goals for the kids, too. Mainly related to removing them from their pathways to teenage diabetes. This can be achieved but parental consistency is the key. I know I can manage this but keeping Rob on the straight and narrow will be tedious. He can be quite lazy with regard child nutrition. I will have to prepare lists for him such Useful Snacks for Offspring, Nutritious Ideas for Kids Meals and notices such as If-I-see-Jamie-with-Milo-at-6.30am-any-more-I-will-kill-you.