PS

I discovered today, that I need a mat beneath me when I stretch or do Pilates.  My newfound bones dig into the floor and actually hurt.

Woo fricken hoo!

Rockstar!!

That's me.  I'm a Rockstar!  4 months ago, I joined the gym, aiming to do some classes in order to mix it up a bit.  It took me another month to actually summon up the nerve to walk into the group fitness classroom, and then it was with a girlfriend at my side.

Today, for my SSS, I went in there, with two GF's, to do 4 classes back to back.  I woke up this morning feeling a bit nervous.  What was I on about?  It was easy.  Well, maybe not easy.  I had sweat slicking my  hair to my neck, and I couldn't feel my toes at one point.  However, we proved that we are strong, capable women who can do anything we put our minds to.  4.10 hrs later, and 1523 calories gone.

My next milestone is to conquer the 10km Fun Run at the end of October.  2 weeks after that I have a 14km run in Melbourne.

Who knew that this couch potato would be putting herself out there and living an active life?

I sort of thought that everyone was used to my new self, but today, 4 different people asked me if I'd lost more weight.  I can feel my face is more defined, and I think that my boobs are finally shrinking.  I'm still a bit sick of defending myself.  People keep asking if I'm done losing weight, and I smile firmly and tell them that my BMI still classes me as "overweight".  I need to stop listening to these people.  Even my gorgeous hubby asked me if I only had "about 2 more kilos" to lose.  Bwahahahaha.  No, my love.  Try 11kg.  Compared to where I was, I would probably be happy here, but since I'm such an "all or nothing" sort of person, I strive to achieve my goal.  And achieve it, I will!

I was rude...

... to my mother-in-law!

I sorta knew it was coming.  I hadn't seen her since late June, so I'd only lost 9kg or so.  She told me back then that I "didn't need to lose any more weight". Hello 22+kg and I knew she'd have something to say.  Predictably, she marveled at my weight loss, then told me to stop now.  When I said that I still have a way to go, she gave me the deep, intense eye contact stare, and said, "Really?".  As though I have  a problem!  I matched her stare and said, "Really!  I'm still overweight, according to my BMI.  When I get back to "normal", I'll be sure to let you know, and then I'll stop losing and start maintaining".

Honestly...  I know that it's more about her issues than mine.  I also know that, due to loose clothing, some people didn't realise that I have so much weight to lose.  However, I am pretty fricken far from anorexic.  Check in with me when my collar bones can shave ice.  Then we'll talk.  At the moment, I'm flat out rediscovering those bad boys!

Oh no!

So, after a few niggling aches and pains, I think that the time has come to seek treatment, and that I might actually be injured.  Goddamit!  I've been ramping up the running program for the past 6 weeks.  I did the C25K up until Week 5, and once I could run for 20 mins straight, I put myself onto the EI10K in order to prepare for the 10km run that I was "bullied" into signing up for!  That's on Oct 30th, so I need to get cracking.

Today was such a beautiful day that I decided to go run outdoors.  I need to do more of these, as running on the treadmill is SOOOO much easier than actually running outside in the real world.  Yesterday at the gym I noticed a pain in my left shin as I ran.  It went away very quickly after stopping, so I didn't give it another thought.  Today, when I ran outside, it nearly crippled me.  I kept going, to a degree, then decided to just power walk the rest of the run.  I still did 9.5km in total, and burnt a load of calories, but I'm concerned.

I've had shin splints before, and this feels different.  I'm going to run in the pool tomorrow, to give it a rest.  I might even try to cut a few laps!  I used to swim, swim, swim, but the last time I tried it, I was fat and unfit and nearly died halfway down the 50m lane.  I'll be interested to see how I go, actually.

Hopefully, it's just a teething pain and with a couple of days of rest, it'll settle down.  I, perhaps, need to remember that I am 40 now, and not a teenager anymore, regardless of how amazing I feel these days.  Most "older" people I hear about who run, say that they need a rest day in between runs in order to avoid injury.  Why did I think I could run 6 days per week?

I hope that the rest of my 12wbt family had great results today.  I dropped a further 1.4kg and am thrilled.  I thought that I had 15kg to go to my goal, but due to pre-season and my ingrained exercise habits, I've only got 11.9kg to go!

I'll try to run again on Friday.  If it's still bad, I'll go back to the awesome Sport's Physio that I saw a couple of years ago when I had a stress fracture in my foot.  He'll sort me out!

My brain needs to keep up!

So, the other day I stumbled across a very quirky, gorgeous dress online.  I thought to myself that this would be an awesome dress to wear to my gorgeous friend's 40th birthday on October 1st.  So, I bought it.  After checking the sizing guidelines, but failing to check measurements, I ordered the L.

It arrived yesterday, and I love it.  Finally got around to trying it on today and it's too big.  It will be horrendously too big by October 1st.  I'll have to send it back!  It's such a beautiful dress that I doubt if they'll have any M available.  But I'll try.

My brain needs to stop thinking that I'm the big girl.

Who knew??

That I could take the "Advanced option" in all my  classes??  I certainly didn't know!

Tonight, at Step, the instructor was demonstrating some VERY high impact stuff.  As a group, we must have looked like stunned mullets, as she asked WTF was going on!  Once I believed in myself and gave it a shot, I was very comfortable with it.  So far removed from the old me!

I am absolutely loving Step classes.  I loved them back when I was a skinny biartch, and I now love them again.  Massive calorie burner, and sometimes I feel like I'm at a nightclub, dancing my arse off!

Step and running have been my new addictions.  I ran 5.3km on the treadmill tonight, before my two classes.  I am slow.  Mega slow, but that can only improve. I ran with a friend on Saturday, and I blamed the alcoholic drinks I'd had the night before as my excuse, but now I reckon that I burnt out, as she was just a lot faster than me.  I will improve, but at the moment, I'm just trying to cover the distance.  I'm currently running at 8.0km/hr for 40 mins.  I hope to get to 10kms under 60 mins eventually.  Dear Lord, I remember when I couldn't even run for 60 seconds without feeling like I was gonna die!

Round 3... let's go!

I am so super pumped for Round 3, 2011.  It started today.  I was a tiny bit slack in between the two rounds (food, didn't slack off on exercise for one second), but I'm back baby!  I used to wear scrubs at work that were a size XL.  I bought a Medium size a while ago, but they only arrived 2 weeks ago.  The top was fine, but the bottoms were a little snug.  This week, they are loose.  Love it!

I am increasing my running distance, gradually, and I feel like my running sessions are giving me the best results to date.  I also love me a BodyStep class.  I had a friend stop me, mid sentence, last week to comment on my calves!  I was rapt.  I also am loving the very new sensation of feeling my bones re-emerge.  Can't wait for December/late Nov, when I reach my goal.  I might be "done" with the 12wbt by then, or I may have become more addicted and feel the need to enrol in Lean and Strong.  Doubt it though, as I'd rather be fit than ripped!  Never say never!

Wow!

Round 3 of the 12wbt will start on Monday, and I'm so excited!  I did my fitness test today, and I was absolutely blown away.  When I started Round 2, I couldn't run for 60 seconds without stopping, gasping!  I did 45 seconds as my wall-sit.  I think I did 12 push ups.  I did 8 mins 45 seconds as my 1km time trial.

At Week 8, my results told me that I was now "Intermediate".  At the Finale workout, they asked for people from Intermediate to try out "Advanced".  NO WAY!  Today, just 4 weeks after that day, I did another Fitness Test.  OMG, I'm "Advanced" in every category.  My daughter was blown away, as I did it with her last time.  She couldn't believe how quickly I'd advanced.

Having said that, I've been busting my butt at the gym 6 days per week, and I've earned this.  It still seems weird, as I've never been "athletic" or "fit".  I'm the girl who can't run, and is a couch potato in my head.

I'm very proud of the fact that, as a 40 year old (did I say that out loud??) I'm fitter than I was at 30.  Even 25 perhaps?  I was skinny at 25, but not fit.

In other news, I'm over my rant from the other day.  Their problem.  This is MY journey, not theirs.  I also need to let it go when I hear of people who are doing the 12wbt but are not prepared to do it properly.  That's their issue, not mine.

My tally is standing at 21.3kg lost as of yesterday.  My confidence is soaring, my self esteem is back where it should be, and I feel pretty fricken amazing!  I like what I see in the mirror, and more importantly, I FEEL great.  No more breathlessness on stairs, my resting heart rate is bradycardic, and (apart from some training aches and pains) I feel like  a teenager!  WTF didn't I do this years ago?  Because I wasn't ready to hear it.  That's why.  

Grrrrr

I'm feeling a little cranky today.  I guess it had to come, but I wasn't prepared for this just yet...  I'm starting to get loads of comments about how I "surely don't need to lose any more weight".  In the scheme of things, it's sort of a compliment I guess, but it makes me feel angry.  I know that it's more about the person who says it than it is about me (ie, their own body image issues) but I am getting sick of it.

Here are the facts.  Yes, I've lost 20kg.  BUT, I was 35kg overweight for God's sake.  You do the math.  My BMI still puts me in "Overweight" category.  

So, I don't care if me losing weight is confronting to anyone else, I'm going to keep going until my BMI within the healthy weight range.

Vent over...  back to normal transmission...

20kg gone, and 10 years, apparently!

I've reached a big milestone!  20kg gone!  I used to imagine what it would be like to wear nice clothes, like who I saw in the mirror, reclaim my life... now I'm doing all those things and more.

I worked tonight, and worked with a colleague who I haven't seen in a while.  As soon as she walked into the tea room, her jaw literally dropped and she said, "Fark (she's Irish!) what's going on?  You're fading away!".  I told her what I'd been doing, and she was so thrilled for me.  She kept staring at me over the next 8 hours, and at the end of the shift, she came up and hugged me and said that I look at least 10 years younger.  I was blown away, and a bit emotional!

I don't know if I've mentioned here, but I a month or so ago, I signed up for a FunRun sponsored by my employer.  I was going to sign up for the 5km run, but a colleague talked me into signing up for the 10km.  At the time I thought it was ages away and I'd be right.  I really only started taking running seriously after I did this.  In the past few weeks, I've had my doubts that I'd be able to do it, even though I kept feeling stronger and stronger with my running.  I've heard many people say that running on the treadmill is much easier than road running, so I was doubting myself.  Today, it was such a glorious day here, that I thought it'd be the perfect day to get outdoors and run.  I mapped out a 7km course via the website MapMyRun.  I totally amazed myself by being able to run it, non-stop!  Took me a bit over 50 mins.  And I was worried that I couldn't run 10 mins!!  The longer I ran, the more empowered and pleased with myself I was, so I just kept going.  I am in no danger of breaking any land-speed records, but I did it!

Wow, I'm a runner!

I've been doing the C25k running program for a few weeks now, and today's run called for 20 whole minutes of running - no walking in between. I've never done that before- the most I'd done prior to today was 8 mins at a time. I was thinking that I'd struggle... Guess what? I smashed it! Felt so comfortable and easy that I actually managed 28 mins before I did 1 minute of walking, then ran for another 10! OMG! I feel 10 foot tall and bullet-proof tonight!