I'm baaa . . . aack!! And the 100 day challenge

Well I haven't blogged for ages, let's just say it's fourth term! Anyway, I'm back and I'm looking forward to blogging more and being more focussed on my weight loss journey. In a nutshell, here's a catch up . . .

Sober October--well it was almost sober October. I ended up drinking about a total of 2 bottles of wine over the month. That's probably half what I've been drinking since I've been on weight watchers and a fraction of what I used to drink before. Probably best not to go there, eh?! Have come to the conclusion that the best thing for me is to keep trying to cut down and try to have 5 alcohol free days a week.

Weight--I have managed to lose a massive 1 kg per month lately!! Whooppeee!! Actually, I'm okay with it, because I could easily have gained several kg a week, so I can't be too hard on myself. Basically I usually end up having about 25 points a day and I should have 22. This is okay when I'm exercising but report writing etc, I haven't been so good on the exercise front. Ah, well, still should be able to make under 80 by Christmas day, so persistence not perfection remains my motto.

Job--I agonised over applying for the job at my children's private school. Finally decided to go for it and spent half of the september holidays preparing my portfolio, got short-listed and interviewed but didn't make the final cut. Still feel kind of disappointed but relieved at the same time. Have decided though not to stay at my school forever if I'm still not happy next year, but will try and keep an eye out for other opportunities. I have the same grade level, same classroom and also my best and most supportive friend at school next year, so I'm thinking it will all be okay. Hopefully the combination of personalities and dynamics in the classroom will gel a little better than this year. The best thing about the whole interview thing was that I went to a posh clothes shop (ie, a NORMAL clothes shop) in town and bought a gorgeous jacket ON SALE, how cool is that. So I may not have a new job, but I've got a fab new jacket!

100 day challenge . . . well, I have started two challenges "Sober October" of course, which was only moderately succesful. Then I signed up for the November Challenge on the 30 plus board at Weight Watchers. Then my scales broke, so I couldn't weigh myself for most of the month and didn't end up positn at all! So what am I doing entering another challenge you ask? Third time lucky, I guess. This challenge from Linda really inspired me, so I thought I would give it a go. In Linda's words, this is what the challenge is all about: We take a photo that represents one of the small steps we have made towards health (physical or mental) and/or fitness each day of the week.
2. We post all seven of the previous week's photos on Monday. Check out Linda's website for more details. Hopefully I inserted the link properly.

Anyway, here is my first effort for days 1-7. I like the idea because even if you weren't perfect you can choose to focus on the positives. I can't make a fancy collage yet, will have to learn how!

Day 1

On Monday and Wednesday, I take my son to Judo from 7.00-8.30. It's a half hour drive each way. It is a real challenge to get a healthy meal on the table for us all in the small window of opportunity between when I get home and when I have to leave again. So this Sunday I set myself up for a succesful week by cooking chicken and spinach lasagne, cheesy eggplant canneloni, AND shepherd's pie . . . something for everyone. I felt very pleased with myself.

Day 2

While my son was at judo, I thought I would check out the pool to see if it was busy. I couldn't give a rats about people seeing me in my bathers, but I do feel embarrassed when my slow swimming holds other swimmers up. I was delighted to find the pool really empty, except for a bunch of ladies milling around in the middle. When another lady came and started setting up a loud speaker system, I put two and two together and thought "water aerobics--yippee!" I joined in and it was really fun. I've never been able to do real aerobics because I'm so uncoordinated--but in water it was all a bit slower so I could keep up. And no, this isn't a picture of me, but some lovely ladies I found on google image, because I didn't take my camera.

Day 3



I didn't get to the gym AGAIN, but took my puppy Charlie for a lovely long walk. It was a beautiful evening and we both enjoyed it.









Day 4



Had a pretty difficult day at work and raided my goodies box for chocolate frogs. The positive thing I did for myself today is I only had 1!





Day 5



I stuck to my points today!! Yahhh!! I'm trying to save up for this weekend when I have a wedding to go to.




Day 6


I decided I needed a black bra to wear under my black dress at the wedding I'm going to on Sunday. I'm really starting to get into clothes shopping! I chose the prettiest not so supportive style, even though it cost a little more AND bought matching knickers! Pretty underwear is definitely good for the soul!





Day 7

Boogie Shoes! We went to the wedding--a lovely young man and fellow teacher from school married his beautiful new bride. It was a wonderul day. Best of all, I felt really pretty and confident. My husband and I danced for hours! It was a hoot. I even took my jacket off and didn't have to worry about my fat arms, because actually I don't think they looked too bad. My daughter and I gave ourselves pedicures in the morning, haven't done that for years. And even though I had too much wine (points wise, definately didn't disgrace myself) AND a wedding cupcake I figure 3 plus hours of energetic dancing pretty much evened the score.

Just to show you what a fantastic time we had, here are a few pics!






Catch you later!!

Sober October

Well . . . yes, I finally lost that 100g!! Bye, bye 30 kilos. Then the very next thing I did was go and stay with a friend and drink buckets of champagne and gained it back again--plus a little extra!! I am having a lovely holiday and thanks to some serious dog-walking I re-lost the weight I've gained, so back at 82.5 again. However, I have been going out for lunch heaps and still drinking too much wine, so I haven't lost anymore. I hope to get my husband to show me how to put a picture of my graph in here . . . it looks pretty impressive, but it is obvious that the weight loss has slowed down massively. It took me 15 weeks to lose the last 5 kg. Better than not losing at all of course, but I can do better. I have posted before that I really seem to be slipping back into the habit of drinking more often, usually only a glass or two, and usually "pointed", but a glass or two more days than not and sometimes more on the weekend. So that's like 15 or maybe even 18 points extra a week. Perusing the weight watchers boards tonight I found a thread called "Sober October" so I signed up!! Just what I need. I'm actually quite excited!!

Just so I remember how I far I've come and how I never, ever want to go back, here's a picture of me pre-weight watchers, taken in 2005. My daughter and her lovely pony, Lyall (whose gone to God, now) are in the background.

Have a few other things to post about, but I'm soooooo tired, I'm planning on catching up tomorrow.

Anniversary eve

Well tomorrow is my one year Weight Watcher's Anniversary. I am still hoping to achieve my goal of an even 30 kg lost . . . I am 100 g away! My effort with "operation anniversary" was only so, so. I did okay with my resolve to cut down on my alcohol--but did have some wine on Saturday night too. I have exercised 5 out of 7 days . . . but yes I did eat my exercise points, so averaged 24.5 points again rather than 22 points. Will really have to work on this in future as when I get closer to my goal weight of 65kg, I will have fewer points to play with.

On Saturday I ended up going out for lunch AND dinner! At lunch with a dear friend who I did my teaching course with, I had smoked salmon open sandwich which had spinach and mushrooms on toasted sourdough--should have asked for no butter though. Wasn't all that fussed about going out for dinner, actually, but my husband wanted to take me, so I thought I better not say no, lest it puts him off asking me another day! We had a very pleasant evening after all. I had half a dozen oysters then an entree of grilled squid with soba noodle salad which all was quite legal. I did, however, manage to consume 3 skim milk lattes in the course of the day, and three glasses of wine, so I needed to use my exercise points to cover that. Luckily I did have a few points up my sleeve because I took Charlie for a massive walk earlier that day.

All up we walked about 8km according to Mapmyrun (thanks, Alison!)--and Melbourne's spring weather lived up to it's reputation of four seasons in one day. I thought it was quite chilly when I set out so wore my japara and beanie. By the time I got to the beach, it was hot and sunny so I left my shoes and coat by the steps. I walked a km or so down the beach further, then noticed the sky was getting quite black . . . what seemed like second later the heavens opened and there was thunder and lightning! Charlie was not impressed and I was a bit paranoid because a few years ago someone was killed by lightning on this same beach. The lightning was quite close and there weren't many other things that were sticking "up" except for Charlie and me! When I got back to where I left my shoes, they had inches of water in them! We made it back to the bridge and sheltered there a while, but the rain didn't seem to let up, so we just kept heading home. As you can see from our photos we were quite miserable when we got home!






Regardless of whether I lose a measly 100g overnight, or not, I think it's worth reflecting on how I got here and how different this year is from last year. At the end of term 3 2008, I found that I had a headache for about 3 weeks, I put it down to exhaustion. When school holidays came, I said to Mark that I just had to stay in bed and rest up so that I could beat the headaches. Well, it made no difference, so I went to see the Dr. The Dr could see nothing wrong with me (except for obesity, of course) but booked me in for tests just in case. The test results could have been worse, but basically my cholesterol, sugar levels, and liver function were all borderline, particularly for my age. What the Dr says was "a wake up call" . . . I told a friend I had to do something about my health and she suggested that I join Curves, which I did. I was thrilled to find something that I could do without feeling half dead afterwards and everyone was just so friendly. (I went on to be their "Biggest Loser" two months in a row!) At around about the same time, I checked out Weight Watchers . . . finding that the only meeting in my area was at a time when I really couldn't attend, so in desperation I joined Weight Watchers' Online. I did not expect to get very much out of it, to be honest. I found the tracker quite good but the real surprise was the support and inspiration I got from the Message boards and then the blogging community. I never did find out what was the cause of those headaches, but indirectly those headaches led to me where I am now . . . 29.9kg lighter! And do you know what? 30kg is REALLY heavy!! I know this sounds stupid, but last week I bought 30kg of horse feed and do you know what, I couldn't lift it. Yet this is what I was carrying around with me all the time.

I must apologise for the negativity of my last post. Although I'm still new, I usually do find being a teacher rewarding and worthwhile. However this year has been really tough. The mix of personalities and abilities and behaviours in my grade just make it really challenging at all times. I'm toying with the idea of applying for a new job. There is one advertised . . . but I feel so disloyal, loyalty being one of my better characteristics generally and something that I'm proud of. The school I am at has invested a lot in me . . . but I've certainly given it my all as well . And there are some things about how our school works, that I really don't like. But what if I move and it's the same or worse? Plus the other school is a private school, so that's like crossing over to the dark side. But my children go to the high school part of it and it's really, really close to where I live. And what makes me think I would get the other job, anyway?? I'm in quite a quandary and this is what Mark and I mainly talked about at dinner last night . More on this next time . . .

Hanging in there

Well I just returned from the school camp from hell and am relieved to see that I still weigh 82.9kg. I tried to do right thing foodwise, but it wasn't easy with fried chicken schnitzel, cauliflower and cheese, pies and sausages on the menu. Basically, I didn't eat the icecream, cake, hot chocolate etc on offer, tried to have plenty of water and fruit, but several of the meals were not kj friendly. Also because we were working so damn hard I did do things like have cereal AND three slices of toast for breakfast--which I would never, never do at home. Anyway, due to the fact that I was basically on my feet from 6.00 am til 11.00 pm and walking, walking, walking including two hikes inspite of all the cauliflower and cheese I ate AND the pizza and champagne I indulged in when I got home, I still remain 82.9kg.

It really was a difficult camp. We went to a education department owned school camp which is very affordable--because the teachers are basically SLAVES! This meant that we were responsible for all the serving of meals, washing of dishes, as well as running the activities. On Wednesday night we even had to cook dinner on the BBQ as well! I have been to this camp before with a smaller group but with 58 kids and 7 adults it was constantly hard yakka. We also had some real behaviour issues from 7 or 8 children who really should not have been allowed to go. Inspite of breaking their behaviour contracts in the time leading up to camp, these children were allowed to attend because it would be socially a good experience for them. Unfortunately they did not rise to the occasion and as usual spoilt things for everyone else. I really am over it, to be honest. And then to top it all off, two girls came down with gastro on the last night and were so sick, I felt so sorry for them and for me--having to stay up all night looking after them. There were some highlights watching some children show leadership skills you wouldn't normally see at school. Seeing children rise to challenges they didn't expect they would be able to achieve . . . but unfortunately the experience was quite clouded for me by some of the behaviour issues we had to deal with.

Anyway, I didn't gain weight, so that's all good. To my surprise one of the dads at our school came up to me when I was waiting for the children to be collected after camp and said "Can I just say something?" I thought here we go . . . what's he going to be complaining about when he said to my absolute surprise "You look amazing"--I thought he meant the bags under my eyes, the coldsore on my lip, the wild woman hair, the muddy clothes, but no he continued "You've done such a great job, you look fantastic, well done, keep it up" and I realised he was talking about my weight loss and we both got a little embarrassed. Anyway, it was good to hear when I felt like I had rarely looked LESS fantastic so I thanked him and muttered something about feeling better etc. I think it was really very kind of him to say anything as many blokes are afraid to bring it up or are worried about offending. Many of the guys at work have not ever said anything to me at all about it, which is fine of course.

Only one week left of term. I'm fairly crawling to the end. Honestly I know the understanding in the community is that teachers have jam on it with all the holidays they get, but I truly don't think I could do this job without the holidays. It's just too all consuming and stressful. Thank heavens I get two weeks to recharge and reassess.

Okay, things are getting serious in the weightloss stakes. This is my 52nd week on the weight watchers program. I ABSOLUTELY MUST lose 400g by 21 September. This will bring me to a nice round 30kg lost in a year. So I'm going into action--because I usually eat my exercise points my stats say that I have on average of 24.5 points a day . . . well this week I'm only going to have my allowed 22. I have been creeping back into my old wine drinking habit recently too, having a glass of wine most nights. While this is WAYYYY less than I used to consume, and I always count the points, I don't want to slip back into the "habit" of drinking alcohol just whenever. So this week, I'm only going to have 2 glasses of Jewel champagne (low joule, reduced alchohol) on Tuesday night when we have dinner with my parents and two drinks at the pub on Friday to celebrate the end of term. That's it. I'm also going to exercise everyday--3 visits to Curves and the rest dogwalking, at least my 4km route, if not the 5.5 km if it's not too dark. Here go--0peration Anniversary is on!

I'm looking forward to picking up my new glasses tommorrow, but won't post pictures yet as I have a MASSIVE cold sore on my lip due to the stress and exhaustion of the last week. All being well there will be -30kg/1 year anniversary/new glasses pictures posted Monday 21st!
Cheers, all

New Hair

As requested by Chris H, here is a photo of my new hair. You can't really tell in the photo that the colour is a lot warmer and redder than it has been for many years. For the last five years or so, I have had my hair coloured to be the colour that I think it was before I started going grey. I said to my hairdresser that maybe I could just leave it and let it go grey, because maybe I'd like it, but she wouldn't hear of it. She is a pretty bossy hairdresser actually, in a good way, because I don't have a clue about my hair and probably would just have it the same all the time if it were up to me. Now it's very short at the back, with lots of curls around my face and sort of a fringey thing. My son took a number of photos and this is the one my daughter liked best--saying that my fake smile in the other shots looked "scary" . . . Pity that my glasses are falling down my nose in this snap! Hmmm maybe the real problem is the subject matter!


Just for comparison, here's me dressed up in July 2008 for my mother's 70th . . .



NB My hair looks lighter in this pic because it was faded and wayyyyy over due for a touch-up! I'm pretty sure that my natural hair colour was nothing like this!

Anyway . . . stay tuned for the new glasses . . . can't wait! Since I became a truly old woman and had to wear multifocals which cost a fortune I have only had one pair of glasses and I'm truly sick to death of them. I had my eyes tested last week and although the perscription hadn't changed much, I ordered another pair anyway, so finally I'll be able to have two pairs to choose from. And the arms of them are really, really green (my favourite colour) so I got brave and chose a fashion pair instead of the" go with anything pair". They should me ready in 8-9 more working days!

While I'm uploading photos, I thought I'd put in some of my family, here I am with my two eldest children and a family friend, Clare, at Clare's twenty-first. I've known Clare since she was 3 . . . gees, makes me feel old for sure!

And another nice photo of Josie and Jacob taken that night . . .
And just so Fergus doesn't feel left out in case he ever reads this blog, here he is on his 11th birthday 30 June at the Star Wars exhibition at Scienceworks

And my husband Mark being accosted by a Storm Trooper

Ahh well, must try to get a current picture of us all together!!

Catch you later, L x

Feeling Happy

Well I have to say, I feel terrific today!! Firstly, although I weigh everyday I don't get particularly hung up on the weight I see and look on it as a "rough" guide to what's going on, rather than the gospel truth (no blasphemy intended). Because I weigh everyday I know for a fact that my weight can vary from day to day by a whole kilo for no apparent reason. Sometimes I expect to see a good number because I've been doing everything right and for no apparent reason I'm a whole kg heavier than the day before!! Other times, I see a number which I truly don't deserve because I've been doing the wrong thing and it hasn't caught up with me yet. It's funny that we tend to think if the number is disappointing it must be because of fluid or salt or too much diet coke or feminine issues, but when we see a good number, we think it must be true, and get disappointed if it disappears the next day! Well after a year of daily weighing, I've come to not believe a good number until I've seen it for a few days. What tends to happen after a while of seeing 84. something I'll get a glimpse of 83.9 and then the next day it will disappear . . . so it's only when I've seen a number a few times that I think it's really happened. Well, I've been seeing 83 something for four days now and this morning I say 83.4 so I've decided it's really true. I'm only .9 away from having lost a nice round 30kg--and it is still 3 weeks from my 1 year Weight Watcher anniversary. Yes, I could have done it faster, probably. Yes I have only lost 1.5kg this month. But this time, I really think I "get" the bit about permanent weight loss and I think my persistence is paying off. Slow and steady does win the race in the end! Very happy.

Another good thing that happened today is that I went to my Professional Learning Literacy group and feel very motivated about getting things happening in my literacy block at school. Our group has been meeting for two and half years and we really have bonded as a community of learners. It really is very stimulating. My grade this year is the most challenging I have had so far, so I need these little boosts to keep my enthusiasm going.

Then I went to my hairdresser's and had a new hairdo. Got very adventurous and had a different colour for the first time in about 5 years!! Not a huge change, but more red and "warm" than before. I let her get a bit carried away with the cut and I really like it. When I walked in, two of the ladies and one of the customers told me how nice I looked, at different times. I was only wearing jeans (but my nice new ones that actually fit and that are 4 sizes smaller than I used to wear) and a jumper--but it is quite fashionable one with an asymmetrical hem. And I had some jewellery on other than my wedding ring which is unusual for me. Mark bought me a bottle of perfume when he was in Singapore recently and I've been spraying it about, lately too. Yesterday a fashion-concious friend of mine helped me choose new glasses frames. Hmmmm, new hair, jewellery, perfume?? I used to just choose my clothes by what fitted and was clean! Can it be that I'm feeling better about myself so I'm taking a bt more effort?? I think that's what's been happening and I didn't even realise it!! It's a nice process, really.

Exercise has been good this week. No dog walking, though, but not through fears of finding body parts! We have had some really wild weather here on Phillip Island and in the Melboure region generally and as enthusiastic about walking as I am, I'm not willing to battle 100km hour plus winds. So instead it's been the gym on Monday and Wednesday and the treadmill on Tuesday and Thursday. STill find the treadmill mindnumbingly boring, though. Looking forward to investing in an ipod and checking out some talking books.

Reading back, I don't know if that bit about the good numbers and bad numbers will make any sense to anyone but me, but never mind. It's just a bit of a mind game I play with myself.

Good night all . . . happy, happy happy!

The hazards of dog walking

Well I'm quite proud of myself, I walked every day last week, although I only made it to the gym once. I am looking after my parents' dog, Sophie, so that is really extra incentive to walk as Sophie is cooped up in their yard all day. We can't keep her here with Charlie as she is an escape artist par excellence and our fences don't contain her. Another blogger, Alison, put me on to mapmyrun.com and I love it! I figured out I walked 5.6km tonight!

There have been a few disincentives to walking as well however. The biggest one being that last week, someone walking their dog found a human leg washed up on the beach--can you believe it! It's kind of like living in a Patricia Cornwell novel as the foot had a tattoo on it and they have published it in all the papers in the hopes that someone can identify it and help with figuring out who the owner of the leg was! I bound declared that I wouldn't walk on the beach again until the rest of the bits popped up, but being the beach lover I am, haven't been able to stick to it. I'm just not investigating any large mounds of seaweed too closely. I can't help but think about that poor person and wonder what happened to her (it is a female leg apparently).

Even though it has been blowing a gale, you can tell spring is in the air. The wind carries the scent of tea tree blossom which has a honeyed smell to it. And the plovers chicks are hatching. Plovers are properly called masked lapwings and they nest on the ground, sometimes in the most bizarre places. The parent's agressively guard their nests and their young--who can blame them--by dive bombing anyone who walks past. Do they like it when one walks by with two dogs, no they do not!! I am usually very sympathetic to the plight of plovers, thinking they have as much right to be here as anyone else, but they do choose some very public places to rear their babies, so somehow I think they are asking for trouble. The chicks are very cute, though, and I love to see them about the place.

Well, I wonder what excitement next weeks dog walking will bring?!