Today's thought

You can't be scared of stepping on toes if you want to go dancing.

TIAGF : Another long weekend in sunny QLD (I hope I haven't jinxed the weekend with this comment !)

Today's thought

I've learnt that even when you think you have no more to give, when a friend cries out to you, you will find the strength to help.

Have a good one everybody !

Nothing much happening

I hope everyone in Australia and New Zealand had a good ANZAC Day. While we didn’t attend a service we did hear the bands playing which was quite moving.

We did go for a 20km cycle in rather windy conditions. It was good to get out and have to push myself just a little harder because of the weather conditions. After that we really didn’t do very much except eat – why it is when our routine is out of kilter, it is so easy for our eating to follow ? Food yesterday was not good – it started with Kaitlin bringing us breakfast in bed – pancakes with ice-cream and syrup – and sort of went downhill from there. But, today is a new day and one bad day doesn’t have to turn into a bad week. I am back on track with lunch and snacks for the day plus I have dinner defrosting at home so all is well.

Well done to Philippa who got to goal this week – CONGRATULATIONS !!! I know how difficult this journey can be but it is such an achievement when you finally get there – you rock !!!

Take care everyone and enjoy the short week !

TFTD : The essence of true friendship is to make allowance for another’s little lapses.

TIAGF : Short weeks

Loss of 0.6kg

This morning’s weigh in showed a loss of 0.6kg which I can’t really complain about although I was 1.2kg down last Friday – a wonderful weekend away put paid to that staying off !!! But, be that as it may, in order for us to be able to live the life we want, we have to find the right balance between making everyone’s life a total misery because we are ‘on diet’ and living a normal day to day life with may mean overeating one weekend and getting back on track once the weekend is over.

The B&B we stayed at was just fantastic – Hume’s Hovell (in Alstonville – just inland from Ballina) provided the ideal setting for a wonderful time. Despite the fact that it took us over 2 ½ hours to make a 1 hour trip, we arrived to complimentary nibblies and drinks with some chocolate covered macadamias thrown in. Dinner was at the local Italian restaurant and was most enjoyable – it is a long time since Al and I have had a meal with just the two of us – we talked and talked and it was great. Woke up to a chilly breeze blowing but a sumptuous spread of freshly squeezed orange juice, fruit platter, yoghurt, muesli, cornflakes or wheetbix, egg (for Al), bacon, croissants and tea or coffee. Home made bread was on offer but we just couldn’t fit it in !!!! Left and drove into Ballina looking for maps and finally got to Minyon Falls (see under Walking Tracks) at about 12.40pm. Did the walk and was finished by about 3.15 and drove off to Rocky Creek Dam where there was a shorter walk which we did, hoping to see the platypus they said was there. When we got to where it was supposed to be we wondered if they used it as a marketing ploy to get people there as the water was too dirty and there were too many water lilies around for it to be a platypus’s habitat. Anyway, we enjoyed the walk although my knee was starting to play up again and I was quite happy to head back to the unit via Lismore. We got back at about 6pm, had some more nibblies with the drinks we had taken for ourselves and then back into town for dinner at the local hotel. Al had one of the best steaks he has ever had there so that was good.

Sunday saw the dawning of another wonderful day with no breeze at all – breakfast was similar except we had apple juice and French toast with fresh Canadian maple syrup instead of the eggs and bacon and we tried the home made bread – thank goodness they only brought 1 slice each otherwise I am sure we would have eaten more !!!! They brought the Sunday papers too so we sat around reading those and eating a leisurely breakfast before packing up and stopping at the Bangalow markets on the way home. Went to pick up K and got home at about 4.30 – all in all a fantastic weekend. Two loads of washing and another two still do to saw me heading off to work this morning feeling like it is Friday seeing as there is the holiday tomorrow – how I am going to work a full week next week ?

But, I am back on track and am sure that those few kilos which have slowly crept on will be off if I continue to do what I did last week. Tomorrow we are planning a long cycle as well as catching up with friends so that should be good.

I have taken this from Paulene’s blog as when I read it earlier it just made so much sense to me.

The article was written by Mike Kramer, and reprinted here in part, courtesy of Sparkpeople.com. Have a read for yourself:

Do You Suffer from Diet Rage?
-Rules of the Road to Help You Reach Your Destination

Think about your dieting history. Does it give you the same feeling as an exasperating traffic jam? You never quite get where you want to go as fast as you want to get there. You get aggravated, yell (usually at yourself), and see people in other lanes going faster than you (how do they DO that?!), and it usually ends up ruining your day.
Here’s the lesson: Getting frustrated with your diet does no more good than getting frustrated in traffic. It just makes you unhappy, unsuccessful and tense.
Next time you start to feel frustrated with your weight loss progress, keep these "lessons of the road" in mind:
· Pay less attention to how much further you have to travel. Stop asking yourself "are we there yet?" You’ll get there when you get there. Instead, look at the scenery, think about life, carry on a conversation, sing along with the radio, or simply be thankful for how far you’ve come.
· The journey is always more fun with a passenger. Have you asked anyone along for the ride?
· You know the route you need to take to reach your weight loss goals. It’s already mapped out. As long as you stay pointed in the right direction, you’ll get there. Even in the worst traffic jams, you still get to your destination at some point. It’s the same way with dieting – just a matter of time. It may take longer than you first expected, but you will get there.
· There will always be periods of stopping and starting. It’s something that you should just anticipate and allow for. No use getting upset or stressed about not making progress. It’s a normal part of the journey.
· Sometimes, you’ve just gotta go with the flow of what’s going on around you. Life can present some situations that you really can’t do anything about. When that happens, staying straight and steady – doing the best that you can – will keep you on track and sane. In traffic, impatient people stop, change lanes, weave in and out of other cars, driving themselves and everyone else crazy – and in the end, usually don’t get any farther along than you do by staying put and going with the flow.
· Shortcuts never work.
· Driving too fast is dangerous. That’s why they call it "crash" dieting. Slow down, take what life gives you, and make sure you arrive at your destination in good health.

I hope that all you Australian’s and New Zealander’s have a good ANZAC day tomorrow. Take care and be good to yourselves.

Testing times

YAY for day 1 going down as a good one !!!! If only it wasn’t this hard ……yesterday I walked past the bakery and decided to pop in to get a Coke Zero only to be offered a hot apple muffin just out the over – uurrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhhhh it was so hard to say no thanks BUT I DID !!!!! I came back to work and drank my Coke and felt good that I had managed to say no thank you.

Last night we worked an extra shift due to Coles not wanting to pay public holiday rates to get their load on the shelves and when I got home I started to read my book as I only had a few chapters to go to the end – as I was lying there reading, all I could think about was the Three Wishes chocolate in the fridge door and the bargaining with myself began.
If I got up and got some chocolate nobody would know, so would it count ? YES
If I ate it in bed and there was no evidence left of what I had done – would it count ? YES
If I ate it and didn’t tell anyone – would it count ? YES
If I ate it in the lounge room and didn’t tell anyone – would it count ? YES
Eventually I could hardly concentrate on my book because all I could think about was this bloody chocolate in the fridge, so I got up, got a Coke Zero, went back to bed and drank that while I finished my book
YAY FOR ME !!!!!

I really felt so good when I got up this morning, knowing that I had managed to negotiate myself past those two things yesterday which, last week would have just gone straight into my mouth without a second thought (well actually there would have been a second thought – how much more of these can I eat before I feel really yucky !!!!)

Even though I am below goal, I still get a kick out of knowing that I am once again in control of what I am eating. I have another healthy lunch planned with lots of point friendly snacks in my drawer and dinner planned for when I get home. I just wish I could bottle this feeling and be able to bring it out and splash it on me when I am feeling like it is all too hard. Maybe I shouldn’t say that it is too hard, it is just things aren’t as easy when you don’t plan. (but then we all know that don’t we ?)

Have a great week everyone – take care and look after yourself because you are all very special people.

TFTD : Energy and persistence conquer all things

TIAGF : Planning

Raring to go !

I hope that everyone had a great Easter break. We had a great time – went walking in the Lamington National Park at Binna Burra. Our 15km bush walk turned into a 17.2km bush / road walk as we changed our mind along the way and landed up 2.2kms down the road from where we had parked the car !!! The 2.2km road walk wouldn’t have been too bad except that it was probably one of the steepest roads I have ever had to walk up !!!! Never mind – it was good exercise plus we stretched when we got to the car and so had no problems with my calves the next day.

The weekend saw us getting a few chores around the house done – my sanding is coming along and I have one bench completely finished – now it is a case of finishing off the other three benches and then getting the table completed. Al is just about there with the vanity – only waiting on a piece of wood for the plinth and then that is completed – YAY !!!!!!

We were going to cycle to Broadbeach on Sunday but only landed up going about 10kms as the weather was really yucky and didn’t make for a pleasant ride so turned around, went home and carried on with the sanding and vanity !!!

We were going to do another walk yesterday but woke up after a dreadful night of not much sleep and thought that I had too many little things to get finished around the house and so didn’t go. While I did want to go and try out some things that we had bought, I am glad we didn’t because I did manage to get quite a few things done which have I have been putting off doing.

On the weight front, I am showing a 2.2kg gain since I last posted my weight on 6th March. This is largely due to hot x buns and the junk I have been eating over the past couple of weeks. We did the Easter egg thing on Sunday – K had bought us each those smartie eggs so I had the good bunny I bought and the one she gave me. On Sunday I sat and at the smartie egg and then last night I ate my bunny – I thoroughly enjoyed every mouthful of the bunny but have to say that by the end of it I was feeling decided green around the gills. I also had pizza for dinner (Al offered to make a roast !) and some speckled eggs which we had got from the Easter bunny !!! But, today I am back on track. I woke up this morning and organized my breakfast and while I was eating pulled out my tracker and have written down the food I have with me for the day. We will have the roast that Al wanted last night for dinner tonight with lots of veggies. I have brought my lunch (kindly made my Al !) and my fruit and my snack for morning tea. I feel like I am in control of what I am doing and that can only be a good thing. Long may it last !!!! I am off to pilates tonight and then home for dinner and off to work – we have another extra shift this week due to the holiday yesterday. It should be a great night for packing as the shelves will be sooooooooooo empty !

I am not sure what has happened to flick the switch for me to feel more motivated but I wish I could capture it so that I can use it when required in the future. Hopefully I will be able to drop a few kilos before the switch flicks back to the unmotivated, couldn’t care less person that I have been over the past few weeks. Thanks again for all the support and the positive energy that you guys are so good about giving. And Bri, thanks for the kick !!!!

TFTD : What do we live for, if it is not to make life less difficult for each other.

TAIGF : The long weekend we have just had

Which way is up ?????

I know that I said the other day that I was going to turn this downward slide into an upward movement but that hasn’t happened ………… yet. It has become too easy to not worry about bringing in lunch and just buying something from around the corner. The worst part is that I don’t even have to make my lunch because Al does lunches !!!! I think I have got bored with a Fray Bentos sandwich each day and would rather have a toasted sandwich from the bakery.

The past few days I have woken up and thought to myself “Today is the day I get back on track. Take control of what I am eating. Lose the extra few kilos that I want to lose” but somehow by morning tea time that has all gone to pot. Yesterday started off badly – I woke up late (having worked at extra shift this week at Coles) and didn’t have time for breakfast because I take the old lady from across the road into Southport on a Wednesday morning and I was going to be late for her. So, got to work and popped into the good old bakery around the corner for an apple muffin – what a pity they aren’t open on a Saturday (and the fact that they are a little bit further than the local Muffin Break) because I would love to have their apple muffin for our weekly muffin treat. From there, things just went from bad to worse. At lunch time I had to pop into Coles to get some Easter eggs for the Sunday. This is the first year that I have actually bought myself a chocolate Easter bunny – I am really looking forward to eating it. At this point I have to say that I think Easter eggs / bunnies / etc are a total rip off – the price you pay for a tiny amount of chocolate and a large amount of air is just ridiculous. I went home with 1 bunny each, a couple of hollow eggs and a small packet of solid eggs. There is something magical about breaking off pieces of a bunny and eating it that is just so different to breaking off a square of chocolate and eating it – well for me there is but then it doesn’t take much to send me off with the fairies !!!!! So I will looking forward to my bunny on Sunday – I have no doubt that it will not last past Sunday night.

When I went to the shops to get the Easter eggs I also found that 2 Chomp’s and a packet of Cinnamon Crunch biscuits had jumped into my basket before I got to the check-out. Well I didn’t have time to take them back so I just paid for them and took them to the office with me – actually, the Chomp’s didn’t make it to the office as they were both eaten before I even got there. But the Cinnamon Crunch did make it to the office and they kept me company during the afternoon – I was happily gazing out the window (yes, I know I was supposed to be working) and chomping on my biscuits. They were delicious and each one was a little more moreish than the previous one until ¾’s of the packet was gone and I had a bit of a reality check about how much I had actually eaten. Not good !!!

Popped in at home before going off to the hairdresser for my fort-nightly trim and then got home to find that I had nothing planned for dinner (again !!!) So, after consuming a box of Cheese Straws between the three of us we grabbed some box dinners (shocking I know but hey, you get that sometimes) out the freezer and had those before jumping into the shower and dashing off to work. This extra shift this week has really messed with my (working) routine – if only I could get the rest of my life’s routine worked out !!!!

Tomorrow we are planning another bush walk – not sure where or for how long as yet, but we will definitely be out there getting some exercise and trying out our new purchases from the weekend.

We have a couple of things to do on the weekend – around the house and out and about. I am hoping to be able to catch up on some reading as well. Plus we are working on Saturday night – taking down all the Easter eggs so we won’t be tempted when we walk into the store anymore !!!

The strange thing is that my weight has been pretty constant the past few weeks. I say “the strange thing” because my eating really hasn’t been anything like it should be and neither has my exercise. While I did get a “To Do “ list together, it was for the list of chores that needed to be done and places we needed to go to – it had nothing to do with planning my food / meals or organizing myself so that I can be better prepared to get back on track.

My clothes are still fitting me fine and on some days, my rings seem to be too big for me. I have now got my scales back and while I think I am showing a small gain (I can’t remember the last weight that I posted) – I am trying not to let the numbers dictate how my day is going to be and so long as clothes are still comfortable, I will not worry about the number.

I know that I should be saying “From my next meal I will watch what I am doing” but having just eaten 2 hot x buns and 4 little solid easter eggs at our work morning tea, and, having brought no lunch today I will have to go and buy something from somewhere to keep me going for the rest of the day. I have decided that, while I am not expecting to go mad over the long weekend, I will try to be aware of what I am putting into my mouth. I need to take a long hard look at what is stopping me from getting back on track and the reasons why I haven’t committed to losing the extra couple of kilos that I want to lose. I need to find the motivation to take back the control which I shouldn’t have given away (to nobody in particular) in the first place. I need to stop talking about what I want to do and just get on and do it !!!

I hope that you all have a very Happy and Blessed Easter – travel safely, take care and most importantly, let your hair down and have some fun this holiday season.

TFTD : Never let yesterday take up too much of today.

TIAGF : The opportunity to improve myself

Today's thought

I figured that if I didn't have anything to say the least I could do is leave a TFTD for anyone who may pop in - so will try to do that daily (or at least as often as I can !!)

TFTD : We are all travellers in the wilderness of this world, and the best we can find in our travels is an honest friend.

TIAGF : A long weekend just around the corner

Today's thought

TFTD : We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.

TIAGF : Friends

YAY for Wednesday

Well there isn’t too much in the way of news from my side of the world. I still haven’t jumped on any scales as they are under the upside down vanity and not easily accessible. My clothes are OK and my size 10 jeans still fit (I wore them out last night) so it doesn’t really matter what the numbers say anyway. Last night we went out to dinner and the movies and, like M, I was quite excited about going out on a school night. We went to an Italian place for dinner but, as we were a little pushed for time, probably didn’t do the meal justice. I had a pumpkin and pinenut pasta, Al had spaghetti bolognaise and K had a kid’s Hawaiian pizza. As I said, unfortunately we were rather rushed and so didn’t really enjoy the meal as much as we could have done were we not going to the movies as well. We saw The Pink Panther which was a very light hearted entertaining movie and followed exactly in the steps of the previous Pink Panther movies – not something I would say you mustn’t miss but entertaining none the less. I haven’t managed to fit in any exercise since our walk on Sunday – at least my calves have improved so that I am not wincing every time I have to walk down the stairs at work !!! I did manage to take K to the podiatrist to find out about the bone on the side of her foot but that is all OK and just something we need to be aware of when buying shoes for her in the future. I am trying to plan a few bush walks for us because we enjoyed the one on Sunday so much – it just takes a bit of juggling because I really want Al to finish the bathroom and I need to get the outside furniture finished plus we have to start getting our act together for our outside renovations otherwise in 6 months time I am going to still be sitting here saying “We want to renovate outside we just haven’t chosen our pavers and tiles etc” !!!!

I am glad that it is Wednesday today - middle of the week and not long to go to the weekend. There are so many things that I want to / need to do and the weekends are just never long enough. I need to be more organised and plan what needs to be done before Saturday morning actually comes around ! My plan for tonight is to start working on our 'To Do' list so that we have all it organised before the day - maybe that way we will get more things crossed off the list !!!

Like most things in my life, when I am planning and I am organised, things seem to go so much more smoothly (really - who would have thought ?????) While I still enjoy doing things on the spur of the moment, I think that I have been leaving too many things to 'spur of the moment' decisions - this has led to too many quickly thrown together, unbalanced and unhealthy meals because they have been quick and easy to make. I need to pull this back and get my act together. We all know, because we have all been there, unless we have our heads in the right space, it really doesn’t matter what we do. I need to work on getting my head back to where it should be and taking control over the food I am putting into my body – this means that I need to be more organized, plan my meals so that I have all the right food at home to cook healthy meals for all of us and most of all, get back the motivation and oomph that has been sadly lacking in my weight loss journey lately.

I know that there has been lots happening in my life to make the above as difficult as it has been, but maybe I also need to take my own advice – I need to do this for me because I am important and if I am fit and healthy I will be better able to cope with the other issues. I have no doubt that there will be many more ups and downs along the way but for now I need to turn this down into an up and continue on my way. I know that I have so much support out there – thank you to each and everyone one of you – those who e-mail, those who phone and those who leave comments. I think that there are a few of us who are battling along at the moment – the good thing is that we know that there are others out there who understand and are there to give us a helping hand along the way.

I have no doubt that I can do this – I have done it before and there really is no reason why I can’t do it again.

TFTD : We are responsible for what we do, no matter how we feel.

TIAGF : School holidays

A great weekend

We had a great weekend but my eating has once again gone down the tubes. I don’t know what it is but I really have no motivation to watch what I am eating – can’t be bothered tracking or counting points. I can’t jump on my scales at the moment due to the renovations still happening in the bathroom and I can’t get to them but I know that I am starting to put on weight as my pants are feeling a little more snug than what they should. I need to find some motivation to get back on track before this gets completely out of hand !!!!

Onto better things – had a great weekend. Al is busy with the vanity in our bathroom – unfortunately it isn’t going quite as smoothly as it should but nonetheless, at least it is moving forward. He was busy with that for most of Saturday (after our weekly muffin and visit to the library along with a few other things that needed to be done). I was busy with sanding down our out-door furniture which is turning into a bigger job than I had originally anticipated (why is it always like that – jobs never turn out to be smaller than you thought – always bigger ?????) – anyway, I made quite a good start on the four benches, then ran out of sandpaper and by the time Al got back from Bunnings where he had gone to get something else for the vanity, I didn’t have too long to carry on before we had to stop to get ready for work.

Sunday saw the three of us climb to the top of Mt Warning (well the two of them climbed to the top of Mt Warning) as I had to stop about 100m short of the summit given my adversity to heights and the fact that the last 200m you had to pull yourself up the rock bits on a chain !!!!!! I got nearly ½ way up the chain section before I just couldn’t carry on any more and had to sit on the sit like a wuss and wait for them to go up and then come down again. Al did say that, after having done it himself, he doesn’t think I would have been able to go much further than I did – I was in the horrifying position of not being able to continue up and not knowing if I would be able to get down !!!!!! Anyway, by the time they got back to me I had calmed down enough (well nearly enough) to continue down with help from both of them. K was very concerned and kept on patting me on the back !!!!! It is a 9km round trip with they suggest should take 4-5 hours – we went up in 2 hours and down in 1 hr 20mins – we probably should have got down a fair bit quicker except K had a blister on her big toe and my knees started to play up so we had to slow down a little for the last 2kms. It was great when we finished – we all felt so good at having made it to the top (nearly to the top for me !) and back again. K did have one slip on the way up and we thought we may have to turn around but she walked a little on the knee she hurt and said she would continue – she now has two lovely bruises (one on her knee and one on her thigh) to show for her trip up the mountain !!!! We wanted to take a photo when we left but the batteries in the camera ran out when Al switched the camera on. Here is a website if you would like to see where we went www.tropicalnsw.com.au/nationalparks/warning.html - if any of you are in the area you should try to do the walk – it really is good. I have to say that given our lack of exercise over the past few weeks / months, about 10 minutes into the walk I thought I was going to die but I just put one foot in front of the other and didn’t think about how much further I had to go.

We drove around for a while when we were finished and then landed up having fish and chips from a place in Tugun – it is the best calamari I have ever had – I think we will definitely be going back there again another time. They did say that they deliver Thursday to Sunday so K was all excited saying we could get them to deliver – seeing as they are about 40 minutes away from where we live, I said I didn’t think that they would deliver to us but she wrote their phone number down ‘just in case’ !!!!!!
That is it for today – I think we may go for a walk or cycle tonight – my calves are a little tight today from the walk (and we forgot to stretch when we got back to the car !!!!) – K and I just flopped onto our seats and none of us even gave a thought to stretching – I am paying for that today when I have had to go up and down the stairs at work.

TFTD : Don’t count your life by the number of breaths you take, count your life by the number of moments which take your breath away.

TIAGF : The soreness that comes from knowing I have exercised