100 day challenge--resumed

Even with Christmas I still managed to do some things positively for my health, both physical and emotional . . . better yet, I managed to document it, so the Challenge is on again for me!

Here is my week




Day 15

Braved the big shops with my daughter, even let her drive (learner drivers . . .eek) and she did a good job. Wasn't as busy as I had feared, thank goodness! It's easy to avoid all the fatty foods on offer at shopping centres as sushi and a skim milk latte are healthy treats I look forward to.

Day 16

Went over my points . . . again! So tried to make the most of it with chickpea and rice patties for dinner while all except vego son had steak on the barbie. Only 2 points a pop, so damage control for me. On Jacob's I put cheese and fried onion and a whole meal roll--the last thing I want is him losing weight!

Day 17

Even though I have a million things to do before Christmas, I read in bed for a couple of hours this morning before getting started and finished Ben Elton's book, Blind Faith. It's a very clever parody of George Orwell's 1984 and a thought-provoking commentary on where we could be heading. Also very funny. I have read a couple of his earlier books that I didn't think quite worked but this one was excellent. And because I've spent some time reading, I felt like I was actually on holidays, inspite of all the Christmas preparation we had to do. Definitely good for the soul!

Day 18--

Got all hands on deck to help with housework. Josie cleaned bathrooms, Jacob swept the deck and tried to find homes for most of the crap thereon, Fergus vaccuumed . . . sort of. Mark was still busy earning a living, so can't complain about that. I burned lots of points racing around all day, I'm sure. Everyone must have thought that Santa was watching, cos there were no complaints!

Day 19--Christmas!!

Food and alchol wise, didn't do fantabulously, but could have been worse. Family wise, we had a lovely day and finished up playing a game of Rapidough with my parents--like Pictionary, but with playdough sculpting. It was really hysterical! I have many happy memories of playing board games on school holidays when I was growing up and I dont' think we make time to do that often enough with our kids. I felt happy that it was a great way to spend Christmas night!

Day 20--

Olive Branch. On Boxing Day about 30 of my relatives descended on Mum and Dad's house for a day of catching up, food and drink and bocce! It had been many, many years since we were all together. Many of my cousins came from Adelaide to be there and are staying in a house around the corner, so we'll have plenty of time to catch up. The really big deal for me was that my brother and his wife and child were there, the first time I'd seen him for nearly six years other than at a funeral when we didn't really speak. He is trying to repair his relationship with my parents after causing them a lot of grief and stress and although on one level I can't believe he can act like nothing has happened, on the other level, I can't see any point in dwelling on the animosity. I didn't know how I would handle the situation but at the moment, it was just easiest to go over and kiss them and say Merry Christmas and try to move forward. I guess that's got to be good for the soul, as well.

Day 21

I invited all Adelaide rellies over for homemade pizza tonight. They were all concerned about me working too hard, but I hardly ever get to see them, so wanted to cook for them. Everyone seemed to enjoy the pizza and it was a lovely eveining. I impressed myself for taking Charlie for a walk after they left at about 10 pm. I am trying to break in my new runners so I can seriously start training for the Channel Challenge.

I am really starting to get back in the zone with weight watchers. 2010, here I come!

Well, it WAS a Merry Christmas!

By some miracle, I got my Christmas shopping finished and got all hands on deck on Christmas Eve for some major housecleaning and somehow on Christmas morning everything came together. We had a wonderful day! Christmas in our house is actually quite a low key affair, but due to the fact that I had done NO preparation, gift shopping etc before school finished on the 18th of December, it was still a rush to get it all done. Mark's family are scattered all around the globe and I have been more or less estranged from my brother for about 6 years, although that's changing now, more on that later. While we usually have a big relative catch up day on Boxing Day, Christmas day itself is generally just the five of us and my parents, otherwise known as "Nanny and Boppy." Over the years we have developed our own Christmas traditions which we love, the routine goes like this: early present opening, followed by Christmas breakfast at my parents' house (only 4 doors away!). Mum invites alot of her friends from the bridge club and neighbours pop in too. After the last breakfasters leave at around midday, we usually go off to have a walk, play with our new pressies or have a sleep until it's time for Christmas dinner . . . at about 5.30! Here are some photos of the days proceedings . . .



Fergus was happy to get a new wetsuit


Jacob was surprised and pleased with his "big" gift


Luckily, he saw the humour in this gift!

Mark and I had agreed not to give each other major presents as we are SUPPOSED to be saving for our trip to Bali at Easter time AND of course I spent too much money on the children as usual. Also, I've been spending alot of money on clothes and shoes and haircuts lately!! Anyway I still got a number of nice gifts like some summer reading, a pair of good runners and this charming little locket . . .



Mark insisted that I open the locket when he gave it to me and when I blushed everyone figured out what was inside! I am flabbergasted to think of him posing for the photo and setting up the camera on autoshoot. Of course, my Mum insisted on having a look, Josie is petrified that she will be scarred for life if she sees what's inside as this photo shows . . .



And here's what all the fuss was about . . . I added a figleaf for modesty's sake but the truly fainthearted might want to stop reading now . . .






Mark says as he's approaching 50, it's all downhill from now on, so he wanted me to have a little something to remember him by! What a dag . . . truly the funniest Christmas present I've ever had!


Here is a nice photo of me with my beautiful older children at Christmas breakfast



And here we all are sitting down to Christmas Dinner. Josie and I always used to make our own "bonbons" but one year I couldn't buy the cracker thing to put in, so instead I got those little blue bags you see on the table. Inside we put a party blower, the beautiful tinsel "hat", a little present and a party popper. This has become another tradition and now we assemble the little bags rather than make bonbons every year.




Fergus likes the party poppers. . .


We finished off the evening with a game of "Rapidough" , which is like Pictionary but you have to make things out of dough. A great game for a variety of ages. I was going to put another picture in, but Blogger doesn't seem to want me to, and this has turned out to be a very long post! Our catch up with relatives (about 30 in all) on Boxing Day went really well too, but more on that later. I suppose I should say something about my weightloss journey seeing as this is supposed to be a weight loss journal. Suffice to say that I am still eating less than I used to, but more than I should . . . however, pleased with myself that I went on a 3k dogwalk in my new runners the last two days, so that's a positive anyway.

Well if you are reading this, I hope the naked husband photo didn't offend and that you too had a lovely family Christmas!

Merry Christmas!!

Well I'm afraid I didn't take photos last week . . . and did very few things to make me healthy and happy. All in all, I cut down from what I would have had in the past but that was still too much. I am just planning to do the best I can over the next few days and get back on track as soon as I can so will resume my 100 days shortly. I'm getting proper runners for Christmas (I know because I bought them myself!) so I am planning to really start training for the Channel Challenge on 30 January.

The main reason for this post is to say MERRY CHRISTMAS one and all and wish you a healthy and happy 2010. Best wishes, Lesley

100 day Challenge, Days 8-14

Well, I didn't lose any weight this week . . . Still 80.4 grrrrrr. Bring on 79.9, I say. If I don't pull my finger out, I won't see that magic number before Christmas. Still, considering we had numerous morning teas at work and I went out for dinner, it could be worse. In the spirit of celebrating the small changes that I'm working on everyday, here are my photos for the 100 small step challenge this week.

Day 8

Well after dancing the night away at the wedding, I had a bit of a sleep in then cooked my favourite cafe style healthy brunch. A steamed bunch of asparagus, handful of mushrooms, a few slices of fat-trimmed bacon, a soft poached egg, some parmesan shavings and cracked pepper. Yum! After that healthy and hearty start to the day, I was in good shape NOT to over indulge at the post-wedding BBQ.

Day 9

On Sunday night my nose started dripping and I had a really sore throat. By Monday it was clear I was getting a summer cold. I couldn't ring in sick since half the school knew I'd been partying all weekend, so I spent a very grumpy feverish day in the classroom but excused myself from the staff meeting and came home ASAP. Had a nice spa bath and put on my satin pjs before dinner. These pjs were bought for me as a mother's day present when my almost 18 yr old daughter was 2 and while they fit me for a nano-second, they have been languishing in a drawer for many a year. It's great to be able to wear them again!

Day 10

Well we had a special morning tea for parent helpers today and I way over indulged, knocking off probably about 9 or 10 points in a half an hour!! So it was lentil bolognaise for me for dinner! At only a point or so per serve, it's a great recipe. I went easy on the pasta. Check out the recipe at
http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/19874/lentil+spaghetti+bolognaise.

Day 11

Went to a literacy professional development session today. This was the final session in a three year pd program so we did a lot of patting ourselves on the back for all our hard work. I was still not feeling flash, but had a great time anyway, and frankly it was good to be away from school for a little while. The downside was the catering, which was apalling! I avoided the packs of family assorted biscuits and defrosted Sara Lee cakes in favour of FRUIT, FRUIT and more FRUIT at morning tea. Then lunch came and every single thing was either fried or in pastry, so I had two tiny chicken kebabs, 1 curry puff and more FRUIT!

Day 12

Still feeling pretty yuk and very snotty, but I took Charlie for a walk anyway. The ONLY exercise I did all week.

Day 13

A change is a good as a holiday, right? I had my hair cut and coloured and let my hair dresser blow dry and iron it straight!! What a shock. I must admit I rather liked it, but no way on this earth am I going to spend 40 minutes doing my hair every day (usually I don't even brush it) --still good to know that I can have a new look if I want to put the effort in. Anyway, Mark and I decided to go out to dinner so I got a chance to show it off. I did quite well by ordering an entree of scallops, an entree of squid (which was fried but a very small serve and so yum--salt and pepper squid is probably my favouritist food!). I also had 2 glasses of wine and a skinny latte.

A special note for Chris H . . . here in the background is one of the quilts I made way back when I used to do stuff like that AND finish it . . . sigh . . . it's all hand pieced, hand-embroidered and hand-quilted . . . sigh . . .

Day 14

Since my middle child has become a vegetarian and I eat alot of vego food due to the low points factor, I spent the afternoon at a vegetarian cooking class. This is my photo of Indian spiced red lentil pate. I put more water and also whacked in some potatoes and spinach to make it more of a dahl. Trust me, it tasted better than it looked!!

Well that's my week . . . am really going to try to be a 70's girl by next week. Good luck everyone!

PS A big thanks to Cassie for telling me how to make a photo collage. Very happy with that!

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 . . .