fit

Shooting Goals

The time has come to set my goals for Round 2 of the 12WBT.
We're fully into pre-season and we've been asked to put our goals and commitments down, and I've thought about it, I've written them down and I've put put them away to check back on at week 4.
Here's a run down of what I will achieve before the 25th of August this year, when round two ends:

- I've got about 5kg to drop before I'm at goal. I'm 174cm tall, so I don't want to be a size 6, I'd look unheathy and waifish. I'm already in a healthy weight range, but I'd like to be smack bang in the middle of the range before I start really concentrating on my toning. That WILL be gone by week 4.

- After week 4, I'll be moving to Lean & Strong to tone myself up and get strong. I'm already doing some weights on most of my gym visits, but I have a lot of toning to do, especially around my middle.

- I'm going to run the half marathon in the Melbourne Marathon Festival. By the end of round 2, I'll be running 3 times a week and able to run at least 18km.

- I'm committing to clean eating. Watching my portions, eating slightly less fruit, replacing them with more vegetables, and only wholemeal breads and pastas, brown rice when I do have carbs.
Plenty more protein, and of course that pesky, recurring promise to myself - little to no chocolate!
I'm not going to do the 12 weeks dry like some choose to do, because the amount of alcohol I do drink is fairly insignificant anyway.

- Mindset wise, I have an issue with letting myself be supported when I'm weak or need help. I seem to prefer to have a tantrum or a couple of really low days instead of letting people support me or help me out.
For this round, I'm going to let myself be a little more vulnerable - and that's going to be a huge struggle for me!
Of course I'm going to continue to show support for my 12WBT family and their struggles and journeys, but I feel like I probably need to be a little more open with them about mine - that WILL happen this round.

Finally, and probably the hardest for me...
- I'm going to let go of putting ALL of my self worth into the number on the scales.
I've done the hard yards and I've worked my butt off last round to move the weight, and I did it.
I'm 18kg lighter than when I started and I know a lot more now than I did then. I know that it doesn't happen overnight, I know that sometimes you body doesn't do what you want it to when you want it to, I know that some weeks you'll see no loss then the week after it will fall off, I know about plateu's.
I know ALL of this and still sometimes if I don't see the number I want to see, it feels like the end of the world to me, even though I'm sitting here wearing a size 8 jumper as I write this, that wouldn't have fit past my shoulders when I started this in October last year.
The thing with moving to Lean & Strong is that there really is little to no weight loss involved - it's all about muscles and toning and strength, so I'm going to have to get used to not seeing the big changes.
This round is about healthy and strong, not skinny.

SO there it is, all on the line.
Something to keep me accountable and something to come back to when I lose sight of why I'm doing all of this (and beleive me, that happens every few weeks)!

Thanks for stopping by - would love to hear YOUR current goals!

xxx
SJ

Meeting Mish

So Saturday was finale day, and the 12 Week Body Transformation was over.
It was the day I had been waiting for since I decided to join up in early January, and a large part of my motivation to push through when I wasn't feeling it during numerous workouts.
Saturday was the day I was going to get to meet Mish, and I did - albeit briefly!


I invited my friend April to come along.
She isn't officially a 12WBTer but has lonst 30kg recently through sheer determination, so I couldn't think of anyone more deserving to get to be part of it!

We got to work out in a world record breaking circuit training - no really, official Guiness World Records guy there with a certificate and rules and all of that!
I can say I'm (technically) a world record breaking athlete now! I know it's a technicality, but I had to do burpees to get it, so I'm staking my claim!
It was just such an awesome day with my Warrior crew, We all had an absolute ball and every minute of every workout and every square of chocolate we've foregone on our journey just suddenly became worth it.
So worth it!


Plus, we all got to act like fangirls and fanboys when we met Margie and Alex from The Biggest Loser.
Here's my Margie shot, she was absolutely hilarious and heaps of fun!

I got to meet Alex a couple of times both at the workout and the party, I'll post a pic in the party section.
He was just a genuinely lovely fella. I adore him!

So after getting down & dirty in the mud for the worko
ut, I sped off to the gym for a shower and a spa before having to be at the hairdressers, then raced home to get dressed - I felt like an absolute rockstar by the time Josh and I got to the party - there are just too many photos to post them all, but here's some of my favourites...
First up, my beautiful and stunning dress...

and then, let the party begin...










I got stopped by so many strangers telling me how much they loved my dress, one girl even told me I look like Nicole Kidman's sister (although the fact that she thought Nicole Kidman's sister's name was Nicola was probably evidence of how drunk she was and therefore makes her opinion less valid), but it was just nice to feel pretty and sexy and amazing - it's a rarity for me!

You can tell the timeline of the photos from how limp my fringe gets from the sweat of dancing (and the fact that I'm holding my shoes/there's a pile of everyone's shoes behind me in that last shot)!
I reckon that's a sign of a night well spent!
The warriors are just awesome people, and as I've said before, they are hands down the greatest thing that has come from this program for me.
We laughed, we cried, we drank, we danced - we had an AWESOME time.
And now I'm determined to get through the next 3 months of pain and workouts and food cravings and ever so slight and occasional tantrums (apologies to my boy in advance, sorry baby!) so we can do it all again!

xxx
SJ

Who is This Girl?!

Alright, alright, alright.
So that whole 'blogging my journey weekly' thing didn't happen - oops!
Not to fear though, my lack of blog consistency has not been reflected in my exercise, eating or general living.
Which is a bonus!

To update on the main stuff, the first stuff everyone asks about, here are the numbers...
Since I last posted in week three, I've had two milestone weeks, where I've taken my measurements, done my fitness tests and tracked my improvement.

I've dropped (never to pick up again) another 7.3kg (for a total of 16.9)!
I've said goodbye to around 35cm from my body!
I've bought size 9 jeans (that are now getting a little loose)!
I can now:
Do 15 more pushups in a minute than previously (and now on my toes).
Run a km a minute and a half faster than previously.
Do any style of unweighted sit up you present me with.
Wall sit for over 2 minutes (although there is still a lot of wincing).

But the changes I'm seeing are more than that, they're in my head.
Sometimes I catch myself doing something that 'old' Skye never would have - getting up at 5:30 to go to the gym, fitting several runs in over the Easter break or choosing NOT to eat chocolate (huh?!) and I am PROUD of myself for it. I'm even doing a second Relay for Life this week - I've become almost addicted to this healthy lifestyle.
Of course I've had a few little slip ups, mishaps if you will, but all in all I've overcome it and I am SO happy with my results! I still find it so hard to beleive that it's me who has put in the hard yards and achieved this.

So I'll be back to blog again, I have plenty to share and say, but for now, you'll have to excuse me, I have a run to complete!

xxx
SJ

12WBT Blog Challenge Week 3 - Rewards

I'm finally all caught up with my blogging and ready to play along properly!
So let's get into week 3, my favourite one so far.
REWARDS!

My life is pretty full of rewards. I don't have kids and I'm in a double income relationship, so we can afford to be a bit selfish and treat ourselves most of the time.
My reward is very often clothing.
I LOVE clothing - and shoes and bags for that matter!
I love shopping, I love accessorising, I love fashion.

As hard as the sticking to a nutrition plan and exercising 6 days a week can be sometimes, I think it's the not being able to buy new clothes part that is hardest for me!
To explain, I bought a pair of beautiful emerald green jeans from Zara in the boxing day sales at the end of December. They now, quite literally, fall off me.
So Coupe (the bf) and I sat down and agreed that it would just be a waste of money for me to buy more clothes in my currently shrinking state. I don't generally have cheap tastes and to spend what I do per item, and only be able to wear it for a month before it doesn't fit any more, would be senseless.
We did agree that I could buy a belt or two though!

So in 7 or 8 weeks time when I start my serious search for my finale party dress, it's going to be a big reward for me.
It will be my celebration of everything I've worked SO hard for.

I've already been looking, I've fallen in love with many dresses so far, but none as much as this one...


So pretty right?
It's sparkly AND ethereal - everything I love!
And then there's the 'maybe' pile, mostly of dresses I love but am not sure if I'd have the balls to wear.
Bodycon dresses, mini dresses, the list goes on!


Coupe suggested to me last night that I let HIM pick the dress. My reaction was something like this:


His intentions were good, I'll give him that.
His thinking was, since it's a reward, why not let him buy me a present, but while opinions are very welcome (yours included, which is your favourite dress?) - this is my reward for me and I can't wait to find 'that' perfect item to walk into the party in!

(and if the boy wants to reward me with something extra, he is most welcome!)

xx
SJ

12WBT Blog Challenge - Playing Catch Up - Pt 2

Alrighty, I thought two posts for yesterday was probably enough to bombard you with, so I'll catch up on week 2 today...
This week we were asked these questions:
What are you actually TAKING up? What are you giving yourself? Are you learning something new? Taking up a new sport? Giving yourself a social life?

I've reignited my love of herbal tea. I have one most nights & drink green tea during the day.
It helps curb the caffeine cravings (I've cut back my coffee to one a day), and breaks up the arduous drinking of litre upon litre of water.

The gym I took up months ago, it seems like it's just a part of me now, but I've started a bit of group training on weekends with the Western Warriors, and I love the friendliness and atmosphere of that.
I NEVER thought I'd be a group exerciser, I'm too shy and too worried about judgement, but these people are just fabulous!

But I I guess what I've actually 'taken up' for 12WBT is cooking.
Sounds silly really, right?
I guess I've more taken up a LOVE of cooking, and a love of nutrition, and a thirst for knowledge about nutrition!
I didn't enjoy cooking before, it was mechanical. I came home, I cooked the meat & veg and I liked to add new flavours to it and try something different, but I never got excited about it.
Now, I LOVE coming home and creating a sweet potato pita pizza or a bunless mushroom burger, or preparing a quinoa porridge for tomorrow's breakfast.
I've always loved baking, but now I love taking something I've baked into work and being able to tell the ladies "and it's got less than 150 calories!", and share what I'm learning, it's something special.
Josh doesn't even realise how healthy the food I'm putting in front of him is half the time.

And if you can trick a chocoholic into eating nutritionally, you're doing alright!

12WBT Blog Challenge - Playing Catch Up - Pt 1

So I signed up for the 12WBT Blog Challenge, but given my (very) slack track record recently toward my blog, I'm only just getting to answer these questions.

Week 1: Introductions:

Tell us a little bit about yourself. What makes you, you?
Ok, I'm Skye. I'm 27 (huh? when did that happen?!) and I'm a Marketing Coordinator. I have degrees in Journalism and Fashion & Textile design and I'm a crafter (scrapbooker to be exact), although I haven't had much time for anything much between life, exercise, cooking, working and sleeping lately!
I live in the inner suburbs of Melbourne with my gorgeous partner Josh. He's a barista and restaurant supervisor and the love of my life. Our relationship has been a very passionate whirlwind, but an exciting and rewarding one.

Why did you decide to do the 12WBT?
I joined the 12WBT because I hgad started my own health and fitness journey and was seeing very slow results, but knew that I could learn so much more and see so much stronger results if I had the knowledge that Mish shares with this program. I knew a few people who had done it and I had seen first hand the difference it can make in someone's life if they put the work in.
 

What are you hoping to achieve through the program?
I guess just to learn more about nutrition and fitness, to gain friends who have the same mindset and can offer support, because most of the people I know don't necessarily 'get' this new part of my life, it's not that they're not supportive, they're just not equipped with the tools to help me or contribute to this part of me.
Also, I'd like to lose another 8-10kg (I'm happy with where I'm at now, but this would be my dream, perfect weight).

Why have you decided to blog about the 12WBT? What will be the main focus (eg, food, exercise, a bit of everything?)
I'm a long time blogger anyway. I've always been a writer (with a fancy degree and all), so blogging has always given me an outlet to explore different aspects of my life - craft, relationships, fashion (I really need to get stuck into that section of the blog), and now fitness. I'll be fusicing on all of it, it'll be a document of my journey, things I'm learning, the whole kit and caboodle!

How will you be exercising this round? Gym, home, outdoors or a mixture?
I'm a gym exerciser. I dont have a license, so I walk everywhere, and I know I burn a few extra calories that way, but if I'm just at home, I know I won't be motivated. I love the gym, I love sticking my headphones in and just running, I love the rush afterwards, I love the classes, I love putting my weights up and setting new challenges, and I just don't have that at home!

What is your greatest strength that will help you?
I have a pretty steely determination. As I've grown older, I've become the sort of person that once I decided I CAN do something and I WANT to do something, I pretty much set about DOING it, and 90% of the time (I'm still human), doing it to the best of my ability.
I'm not really a confident person, but I am expert at giving myself fairly harsh talkings to, and I'm a good learner so I figure out a game plan pretty quickly.

What are you afraid of? 
I'm afraid of failing to reach my goal. I think we all are, it's human nature.
I was going to say I'm afraid that it'll all be too hard and I'll go off and sook, but I'm continually proving to myself that I'm better than that.

What are you looking forward to the most over the next 12 weeks? 
This is going to sound superficial and silly, but buying my finale party dress. Not just because it means a new dress (although that excites me no end), but because it means celebrating everything that I've worked so hard for. And I am working my butt off (literally)!

What is your downfall? Food? Exercise? How will you overcome this?
My biggest downfall is my mindset toward my weight. I can exercise for hours and love it and get the rush. I can eat nutritionally, I love the food. But when it comes to weighing myself, I lay in bed fretting, giving myself a pep talk, and if I record a smaller loss than I wanted to, I sulk and I'm hard on myself and I push myself far too hard and I burn out. The solution is to be more reasonable and realistic, and I know this and I'm working on it, but old habits die hard, so this one is to be continued!
 

If you had to pick one word to motivate you over the next 12 weeks, what would you choose?
Just 'health' I think. That's what it's all about for me. A healthy body and a healthy mind, and getting to a stage where this doesn't consume me, but is just a part of my everyday liestyle and something I don't have to think so much about.

And so, that's me! That's the beginning of my journey, a little bit around the wrong way since my journey is a couple of months old, but my journey none the less!
Thanks for reading! Part 2 to come soon!

xx
SJ

Learner Driver.

3 days to go.
On Monday the 12WBT starts and I am nervous.
I've been regularly exercising now for 3 months, I've been eating well without too much trouble (although I've had the occasional 'Screw it all, I'm going on a binge!' moments!), and I've already seen the results just from doing things the way I have been, but there is still a bit of trepidation.

This morning the 12WBTers got an email from Michelle Bridges, that had 3 questions.
Are you afraid of change?
Are you scared you will fail?
Do you have destructive habits?

Obviously the categories are not mutually exclusive. You could identify with all three.
But I think where I fit in is 'Are you scared you will fail?'

This has always been my issue - self belief, in all aspects of life, and I just don't know why.
The FACT is this: When I have set my mind to something, I've almost ALWAYS succeeded at it.
When I wanted a great new job, I got my great new job.
When I decided I was ready for dating again, I found myself an awesome boyfriend.
I studied hard to finish my degree.
I saved my money and travelled overseas.
I was asked on to the creative team for Scrapbooking Memories.
I am the type of person that when I want something, I get it.
Not in an arrogant princessy type way, I've just always worked hard for what I want.

So why the nerves?
Well, case and point is that I don't drive.
What does that have to do with anything you ask?

When I was 16, I got my learner license.
At the time I already had in my head that driving wasn't going to be for me.
A few weeks later, my mother took me for a bit of a drive and I ran her car into our fence, landing the car in our neighbours yard (which was about half a metre lower than ours because we were on a hill).
At that moment I discovered something I wasn't good at, shattering my teenage beleif that I was good at everything, and therefore awesome and invincible, and I haven't driven since.

Of course I'm now 11 years older and a little bit wiser - maybe not 11 years wiser, but hopefully 4 or 5 at least - and I know all too well that I'm not good at every little thing and not invincible (I still like to think I'm a bit awesome sometimes though!), but I'm certain that's where my nerves come from.

I'm still a learner driver at this health and fitness thing.
I'm excited to get past my L's and wear my P plates, but what if 16 year old Skye rears her head and decides one fateful day when I'm having a rough day at the gym that it's all just a little bit too hard.
Or one day when I break my calorie budget that that's it, I've knocked the fence over, I was never good at this anyway and I'm never driving again?

I'm determined that it won't happen and I think that I have a good enough support group and a good enough mindset to see it through. 
I think the nerves are probably natural and right now, I have absolutely no intentions of giving up.

So I guess the worst that can happen is that if I get a little side tracked I may have to re-sit the test, but here's to being well on my way to being a fully licensed' driver' in 12 weeks (and 3 days)!

Conversations

There's something I've been noticing with my family recently, just in the last couple of weeks.
It's something that I didn't count on, but that I can say I'm pretty proud of.

Here's some conversations I've had recently...
1) MUM
Mum: Are you going to the gym tonight?
Me: Yep on my way now.
Mum: I'm going to go on the cross trainer. And Mark set up my Wii Fit for me again. I've been bowling today!

2) BROTHER
Me: I thought you didn't like Coke Zero?
Brother: I'm trying to cut the sugar out of my diet.

3) BOYFRIEND
J: I've lost 2kg in the past two weeks.
Me: Since when have you been weighing yourself?
J: Since you bought the new scales.

On top of that, my mother asked me to bring her some of the Coconut crunch I put with my fruit & yoghurt, my partner is not only enjoying the salads I'm making, but asking be in advance what my next creation will be, and when my brother (who is currently staying with me) went shopping earlier in the week he bought a big bag of muesli, some natural yoghurt and fresh berries to eat if he felt like he wanted a snack at home.

They're consciously thinking about their health - what they're eating, whether they're exercising enough and whether, in general, they're as healthy as they can be.

And I like to think that my lifestyle change has somehow lead the way.
Perhaps I'm giving myself too much credit, I don't really know, but I do know that this is new!
If it has been my example that's got them thinking, then I couldn't be happier and I hope that I can continue to lead the way for them through preseason, over the 12WBT and beyond!