Burn the Fat

Where the hell did two months go?

2008-07-31T05:58:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone, I guess I have a bit of explaining to do!

Okay first of all, it's great to be back blogging again and catching up with everyone, especially on You Tube, yay!!!

So what have I been up to? Well alot of things, firstly injuries, recovery has been long and tiring and just damn annoying. Then my stepson who's 16 decided to leave home so I had to help him with that, of course business stuff and well with all of that going on, my wagon wheel broke and I fell off.

The biggest reason I went off the plan was losing touch with You Tube, meaning, I wasn't watching videos, and checking in which always helps me keep on track. As much as I love making videos, it started to become very labor intensive and I really needed the break to re-energise, the problem is, my old habits slowly but surely crept back.

My dislike for the scale is another major reason for my slip. I find weighing myself so depressing sometimes because, I have had a few great weeks in the past and have gained weight!! it really destroys my soul when that happens especially if I have been working so damn hard!!! Anyway, I jumped on the scale today because I really needed to face my weight as I knew I had gained and well, the good news is that I only put on 12 of the 20lbs that I lost, I know, 12lbs sounds a lot, but I really thought I had gained it all back and then some, so even though 12lbs is a big number, I'm putting it behind me and looking forward, besides, I lost 8lbs in one week and I can do it again!

So, I am very happy to say that I have fixed my wagon wheel and am back on track again which is fantastic, I feel fabulous from drinking a lot more water and eating right and I can't wait to get in and weigh myself next Thursday because my motivation is back, I'm watching my friends' videos on You Tube and everything is going well!

A walk, dogs and nasty aromas!

2008-03-29T03:57:00.000-07:00

Tonight I went for my usual 1hr 4.1 mile walk. It started out as usual, I put on my mp3 player and started to pound the pavement. I got about half way when I saw a couple coming towards me with a dog, it wasn't on a lead. I thought to myself "I bet that dog is gonna do something" and it did!!! it wouldn't stop jumping on me! the owners were wrestling with it to get it to stop and eventually it did......HELLO DOG OWNERS, there are giant signs everywhere saying "please keep your dog on a lead on the pathway...!!! Man I was pissed!!! I told them to read the signs and then I kept moving.

A little further down the path and my stomach began to feel a bit queasy then I noticed an aroma in the air, the smell of grease and fat hit my nostrils and made my belly squirm! there were loads of people devouring fish and chips, burgers, pizza, you name it,the calorie laden death nibbles I used to associate with.

Then once I past the scoffers and their fish and chips I got to a darker area and what was I greeted with? I was greeted with an aroma of the intoxicating kind...yes, yes, yes.... there were people in cars sparking up dubies, toking away on their $25+ tinnies!!!

So yes an eventful workout tonight, maybe from now on a Saturday night I will go to the gym! lol!!!

Weigh In!!

2008-03-28T04:33:00.000-07:00

Here it is!

I think I'm having a ditzy week!

2008-03-27T19:28:00.001-07:00

Okay so I told you all my inches lost this week and guess what? I got them TOTALLY WRONG!!! I was talking to a friend of mine and she asked how many inches I had lost so I began saying, okay well 3.5 off my waist, 2 of my thighs and she goes....hang on each thigh or one thigh, and the light went off!! I hadn't accounted for each arm, each thigh, each calf....lol!!!!! so here are my new and totally correct measurements and I got a friend to measure me, it made it so much easier to see the true measurements! and it's goooooddddd!!! totally makes losing only 1lb insignificant!

BUST - 2"
WAIST - 3.5
HIPS - 1.5
THIGHS - 4
BICEPS -2
NECK - 1

total - 14 inches!!!!!!!!! yipee!!!!!

how cool is that!!!! I even got her to measure me three times just to be sure because I didn't want any nasty surprises! lol!!!

It's a happy day!

Time to get out the house!

2008-03-26T10:34:00.000-07:00

Well I have finally decided to start applying for jobs. I have been spending the last two years doing the whole housewife thing (I'm not married) and I can't stand it anymore I have to get out of the house! I've been driven mad my monotonous tasks and huge bouts of loneliness and feelings of being useless, these feelings from someone who used to have an incredibly stressful job in my chosen career (television) and the thing I missed the most was being with people, adult conversation and of course the amazing $50,000+ starting salary!

While reading a book of nursery rhymes for the 20,000000th time to my daughter, I decided enough is enough!

So yesterday I applied for a Promotions Manager job at a national radio station, I'm crossing my fingers and toes because this job sounds like me! My background is in television and graphic design, but hey, I'm always up for a challenge! Have I been a Promo Manager before, no, BUT I do have a way with words, I'm extremely organised, have had event management experience running a wedding reception of 100+ guests I had a job in marketing and I'm completing my Bachelor of Business Studies majoring in Marketing and Information Systems so hopefully this will be enough, oh plus I worked in television for 12yrs so that's media the same industry and I still freelance also.

Before losing weight I would not have bothered to apply, my confidence has shot through the roof because I'm getting so much positive feedback and even had a couple of guys ask me out AND they're absolutely gorgeous!!! so cool!

Lessons learned the HARD way!

2008-03-26T10:03:00.000-07:00

LESSON 1 - if you don't sleep enough it will affect your weight loss

Well this week was a real trial, I was feeling so lethargic and tired and my sleep patterns were all up the rooter! I kept waking every morning at 4am! so I'd go back to sleep and then bang on 5:30am I'd wake up again, it doesn't help that I go to bed between midnight and 2am!!! eek! I know, I know, gotta get to bed early Barb, but it's so hard when you've got a baby strapped to you for the entire day and when they finally go to sleep, you want to savour the freedom from the daily 3 million questions and picking up crap off the floor!! I love my baby girl, but sometimes those nerves get pushed a little far!

LESSON 2 - if you don't eat enough it will affect your weight loss

I had a big loss last week and was praying that it would happen again this week, so I decided to eat only 3 times a day and only small portions. It was a stupid stupid move because I ended up retaining water and my body went into shock mode and what happened? I lost a meagre 1 pound!!! 1 pound!!! I was soooooooooooooooo PISSED off! I was exercising hard, downing my water, eating little and thought it would be okay just for the week, alas no!

I called a friend on mine who is a personal trainer and I told her what activity I was doing, how much I'm eating, what I weigh and my water intake. Then she said "basically Barbs, you are not eating enough, but you know this don't you because you're always tired?", I said "ah yeah". So she's got me eating 6 small meals a day and keep everything else the same.

So next week should be a much bigger loss because my meals are fine now, I'm doing as she said and I have bumped up my exercise to two hours a day! So I go for two walks a day and not only is this doing wonders for my body, but it's really helping me clear a lot of crap in my head, those two hours of alone time are fabulous and I feel so energised afterwards.

LESSON 3 - never just rely on the scale to monitor your progress

Well as I said before, I lost only 1 pound this week and I felt like a total loser meaning not enough lost that was until my personal trainer friend told me that the scale fluctuates daily mainly due to water retention, so they cannot always be a good guide. She told me to get oout the tape measure and measure my bits and sure enough, I'd lost alright.....in 3 weeks I have lost 8 inches!!!! fantastic! here's the breakdown:

neck - 1" lost
bust - 1" lost
waist - 3" lost
hips - 1" lost
thighs - 2" lost

I saw a pic of me from January and one from now and the difference is huge! in the old pic my head looked like a basketball! eewwwwww!!!

I look like this now:

Easter Sales rock!

2008-03-21T19:29:00.000-07:00

Today being Saturday I went out for a walk to town and totally forgot about the Easter Sales!!! the city was soooooooo incredibly busy! It was annoying trying to get around the amount of people milling around the stores hungry for bargains.

Well I decided yesterday that I needed to throw away my old Puma crosstrainers and get some new ones to avoid more blisters, which by the way are still there causing me a little grief, but they are getting better!

So I went to our local sports store and found the coolest pair of Puma crosstrainers that were $129.99 and I got them for a surprising low price of only $57.60!!! what a bargain!

Well that's me set with a new pair of shoes...hooray!

Blisters are Evil!

2008-03-20T01:15:00.000-07:00

Just when I finally got my groove back, I'm eating extremely well and exercising everyday, my feet have to give in on me and develop blisters....5 of them!!!! This totally sucks the big one, I am sooo "MAD" (grrr), that I can't go for my 6.6k walk tomorrow morning, I love getting out early and feeling the cool air on my face and then coming into the home stretch, feeling the burn on the way back...why...why...why!!!

Well guess recovery will be quicker if I stay off my feet, I might still go out tomorrow, but instead of walking, I shall sit in a nice place near the fountain where I walk and catch up on my long overdue journalling!

Take it easy people, Happy Easter!

Week 10 - update video!

2008-03-17T20:03:00.000-07:00

Bye, bye 12.8lbs!!!!!!

2008-03-17T09:52:00.000-07:00

Well the hard work totally paid off! I have been walking my butt of at a speed faster than lightning, (not really), and well, this morning I weighed in and da, da, da, dada......... I lost 8.6lbs this week since last Tuesday!!!!! Am I gloating, oh hell yeah!!!!!

So 8.6lbs + 4.2lbs = 12.8lbs loss!!!!

Obviously there will be a very smiley video coming up today...

Another walk!!!

2008-03-16T12:51:00.000-07:00

Well this morning I went on my 6th walk, and yes another 6.6k's! yay, the exercise mojo is definitely back into play, I took some pics along the way and I will post them a little later, plus I may have a video. The walks are getting much easier by the day which means I'm probably going to have to go further, the appetite is still at bay, yay!

Yesterday on my walk I had to go past a market and the smell of the fat coming from the hotdog stand was making my stomach churn so I had to jog past it to get away! progress!!! :)

Exercise rules!

2008-03-15T17:28:00.000-07:00

Well I finally stepped up my exercise and are doing quite a lot of walking now. Last week I started just by doing 2 miles a day (30min duration) and by doing that I lost 4.2lbs! This week I have been doing 4.1 miles (1 hour duration) on the weekend and 2 miles Monday-Friday, and starting tomorrow, being Monday here in New Zealand, I will be doing 4.1miles everyday!

As for the food, well I haven't been feeling very hungry lately, I have no idea why, but I'm sooooooo glad about it! lol so I've just been having breakfast, lunch and dinner and sometimes fruit in between meals, otherwise, that's it, I haven't been eating anything else, which is great! However, since giving up sugar and coffee, I've become a little headachy lately, but this will pass..yay!

Hope you're all doing well!

Chilli and Garlic Chicken!

2008-03-13T03:34:00.000-07:00

Sorry I will get the recipes and instructions up as soon as I get some time. Here is the video for now!

Raspberry Yoghurt Loaf

2008-03-10T19:33:00.000-07:00

Okay so this may be a little confusing, the recipe is called Raspberry Yoghurt Loaf but I ran out of raspberries so I had to use boysenberries. I will post the recipe soon but for now here's the video!

It's Weigh In Day!

2008-03-10T19:31:00.001-07:00

I haven't been happy about posting a weigh in in a looooooong time! lol!!!
Anyway here it is!

Seriously Slack!

2008-03-09T20:23:00.000-07:00

Goodness it's been AGES since I wrote an entry! I have been mad mad busy! No excuse really I can make 10min in the day to write something..mm will have to schedule it somehow.

Anyway everything is going great I have been walking a lot, in fact this week just gone I went out 5 times! a record! actually it's quite funny I think I have some trauma from the last time I went exercise crazy. About 3 years ago I went on a really strict diet/exercise regime and lost 30kg in 3 months!!!! BUT I was so tired and exhausted from the workouts, I would do four hours a day, yep crazy, but I was so driven! and I wouldn't eat enough so that's why I tired all the time.

At the moment I go for 1hr walks and if I feel good, I will go longer, afterwards the endorphins are zooming around and I feel great, my problem is, I'm fine once I'm doing it, it's getting started that's the problem! So anyway, I will keep plodding along and slowly build it up. :)

Arisen from the depths of naughtyness!

2008-02-25T00:16:00.000-08:00

I have finally decided I am not eating any more bullocks crap nasty food! I have been see sawing weight wise for about 3 weeks now and enough is enough!

It's quite funny I woke up this morning and thought, no more and that's that and today I have been very good with my food choices and stayed within my points and that's where I'm gonna stay!

Journalling has been a tremendous help in my journey of weight loss and self discovery and I have my friend Little Sheree from You Tube to thank for giving me the inspiration and the drive to do it and now I feel great! I feel better about myself, I don't care what I look like to other people because I know that my body is changing, I'm more confident, I just feel great!

So I hope you all out there are feeling terrific, because it feels great!

Banana and Walnut Loaf

2008-02-23T03:28:00.000-08:00

Welcome to another recipe! This one was a killer to edit, I had problems with the voiceover so I ended up having to add captions to part of it..oh well nevermind!

Serves 10, Weight Watchers Points per serve - 3 points

Ingredients:

1 3/4 sifted self raising flour
1/4 tsp Baking soda
1/4 tsp Salt
1/2 cup Sugar
1/4 cup Low Fat Milk
2 eggs
1 cup mashed Banana
16 Walnut Halves
75g Low Fat Butter or Margarine, melted

Into a large bowl add the flour, baking soda, salt and sugar and mix
together well.

In another bowl whisk the eggs until lightly beaten, then add the bananas,

milk and melted butter and stir well

Chop the walnuts.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix gently then lastly

add the walnuts.

Cook the loaf for 45-55 minutes or until cooked.

Serves 10

Week 6 Weigh In and it's not pretty....

2008-02-21T01:38:00.000-08:00

Bad week, but also a really good one because I found out something really amazing about myself and now I know what I'm about!

Finally...a minute to spare!

2008-02-17T15:40:00.001-08:00

Hi everyone, well I have been busy busy busy!!! We are soooooo close to launching our business and that has kept me really busy, also I have been receiving a lot of attention from my You Tube vlog which is fantastic!!! I find it's such a wonderful place to meet some great people who are struggling with their weight also and the support and friendship is just AMAZING!!! I'm so glad I joined!

Other than that there isn't much else to tell, I have my weigh in tomorrow morning so I'm looking forward to that and a few of us at You Tube have taken on the Couch 2 5K Challenge, I'm so glad I'm doing this because I really need to move my ass!!! :)

Shocked and sad!

2008-02-14T01:03:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I was shocked to find out that another member of the Gut2Cut community that I belong to in You Tube, has died. This sort of thing always gives me a hard wake up call.

I have promised myself that from now on I am NOT going to keep slowly killing myself like I have been for a long time, eating the wrong things, not doing enough exercise, just living the most crap lifestyle!

Today is the first day since I started this in December that I feel really good! I think I have definitely got my groove back and am chomping at the bit to win this challenge!

I hope that my other friends in my You Tube community have begun to feel the same way and are on their way to a long happy prosperous life, we only get once chance, let's make the most of it!

Weigh In Day Week 5

2008-02-11T22:48:00.000-08:00

Well today was weigh in day and I was not surprised by the result, I was however very grateful it didn't swing the other way!

Feeling a bit snacky!

2008-02-09T23:34:00.000-08:00

Why can't I have good days everyday? Today I am feeling a little snacky like I could devour a packet of chips a big one! with hummus! To combat this craving, I have been making myself busy with walking, dancing around the house like a lunatic and reading things non-food related. Sometimes I wish I could wire my mouth shut, then there wouldn't be a problem! lol!

Weekends are tough, I find the weekends really REALLY hard! especially when you have down time and nothing to do. I think I am a boredom eater, when I get bored, I eat. So I have decided that I need to find some sort of hobby or active thing I can do, walking is great, but there is only so much of that I can do. I'm thinking I will go and photograph strange things, things you don't see everyday, or maybe things you do see everyday but shoot only parts of things then email my friends and get them to guess what the thing is...I don't know, I'm just rambling, it comes with BOREDOM!

Where I'm sitting I have a full view of the fridge, I can hear it sniggering at me saying...Barbs I've got lots of goodies for you .... oh man stop it!!!!!

I am starting to sound a little un-balanced, it's okay it's just the cravings talking.

Weigh In Day Week 4

2008-02-05T01:10:00.000-08:00

Pretty good this week! Yipee!!!!

Fun Burning Calories

2008-02-04T17:25:00.001-08:00

It's amazing how sometimes we see burning calories as something that only exercise can do, I had a good thought this the other day and realised that everyday tasks even the fun stuff you do, burns calories. Here's a vid on my favorite ways to burn those pesky calories!

Inspiration, where I get mine from.

2008-02-04T17:21:00.000-08:00

Being inspired to lose weight can make losing weight easier. A few good stories of how others have achieved their weight loss success can help you to keep on track. Here's a video on what gets me inspired! Enjoy!

January gone already!

2008-02-04T01:54:00.000-08:00

How frightening is that??? January has been and gone and I didn't lose enough weight last month! :( well, February is the month to step it up! So far so good, I have been a little bad but NOTHING like the last couple of months.

It's weigh in day tomorrow and I'm a little nervous. I'm hoping it's around 5-6lbs, I already weighed myself on Saturday and was surprised with a 4.2lb loss, I'm hoping it's that and then some! Well we'll see in the morning!

Lately I have been a bit video making happy! I have made two in the last couple of days and I will post them soon.

Well that's it for now, till weigh in day... da da da dum!!!!

Turning a corner feels great!!!

2008-02-02T16:08:00.000-08:00

Well I have just jumped off the scale because my curiosity got the better of me, and to my surprise I have lost 4.2lbs!!!!!!! yipee!!!!! I have been pretty good food wise, but I still need to step up my exercise so this week I am doing two walks a day where I can of 5-10km each!

A few of my friends on You Tube have been finding it hard to stay motivated but I'm happy to say the majority of them have also turned the corner, I'm so proud of them, they are a great bunch of people who inspire me and who deserve to succeed in this weight loss journey!

Cajun Prawn and Calamari Salad

2008-01-28T16:50:00.000-08:00

This salad is very low in points, only 5 points per serve!!! Serves 2

Ingredients:
- 16 Prawns (pre-cooked & de-veined)
- 200g Calamari rings
- Cajun Spice
- Salt & Pepper for seasoning
- Squeeze Lemon Juice
- 2 Cloves Garlic, chopped
- Your choice of point free salad
- Spray oil

Method:
Season your prawns and calamari with salt and pepper and cajun spice then mix well making sure the seafood is well coated.

Heat your pan and once the pan is hot, spray the pan lightly with oil. When smoking hot add the calamari and cook for 3-5 minutes depending on the size of the rings. When cooked, remove from the pan.

Add your garlic to the pan and cook for 30 seconds, add your prawns and calamari and cook until heated through. During this process you can squeeze on some lemon juice for extra flavour, but don't add too much, you still want to be able to taste the spices and the seafood.

Take your plates and add your point free salad. In a circular pattern, lay your calamari on top of the salad, then place the prawns in the centre.

You can top with pumpkin seeds for a bit crunch but don't forget 1 tablespoon of seeds = 1 point.

Enjoy!!!

Weigh in Day! Week 3

2008-01-28T10:21:00.000-08:00

Well I weighed in and not to my surprise its a gain! Okay so it's only 0.6 but it's still a gain! So now I'm 293.8Lbs. I know exactly what happened and why and I expected this to happen but today is a new day and like yesterday, I'm still in this and feeling alive and happy and am well on track! I've stepped up my exercise, am drinking loads of water and as of yesterday I have been eating a lot better. My problem is and has always been portion control. My eyes are about 20 times bigger than my stomach so I have this problem of serving myself big portions and when I'm full, I have the dilemma of wasting food, because I was always told to eat everything on my plate.

So this week, I am measuring everything and lowering my carbs. I am a carb addict, I LOVE bread, pasta, potatoes you name it! So far I have managed to drop potatoes altogether, I've just got to sort out the rest.

So today is a new day, feeling good and am looking forward to going for a nice power walk along the waterfront with my little coach Havana!

It's a new day!

2008-01-27T13:10:00.000-08:00

For the last couple of weeks I have been living in a haze of wanting to eat everything in sight, not wanting to have anything to do with exercise and wanting to chuck in the whole weight loss thing, and I have been plodding along, dragging my butt doing the things I needed to for weight loss, but my heart wasn't in it.

Then yesterday, my daughter and I decided to do some exercise. We started with Yogalates but I found it a bit painful lying on the ground a lot, so we then switched to Taebo and WOW I felt so much better and I was sweating like a dog and tired but feeling a sense of euphoria. This morning I woke up thinking oh I'm gonna be in pain, but no!!! I do have a little tenderness in my thighs and abs, but all in all I am feeling absolutely TERRIFIC!!! and really excited about my goals again! My biggest cheerleader of all is my 11 year old daughter Havana, for all of her life I have gone on and on about the importance of eating right, getting exercise etc, but have never done those things myself, and now having her coach me is such a tremendous gift and I'm really lucky!

This evening we are doing a 2 mile power walk plus loads of exercises at a local park which runs alongside a beach, a really nice place to walk plus we can but the baby on the swing while we do squats and lunges (ouch!).

Been busy, today's points

2008-01-23T16:04:00.000-08:00

Wow this week has been a busy one, good news, lost a pound yipee! but my poor little baby has one hell of an ear infection and she's crying and miserable and generally not feeling well, poor baby and so with all of this going on I am getting behind in posting my daily points.

Today she is feeling better still not 100% but at least she's smiling and giving little giggles every now and then.

So today's points are:

BREAKFAST
sultana bran, banana - 3pts

SNACK
toasted bagel with jam - 5pts

LUNCH
2 toast with thin cheese slice - 6pts

SNACK
toasted bagel with jam - 5pts

DINNER
Green salad, no dressing + pumpkin seeds - 1pts
Fish - 3pts

XTRAS
cappuccino - 1.5pts
Kiwifruit - .5pt

total points 25pts = 2 points under my allowance of 27pts per day!!!!

Today's Points....so far so good!

2008-01-21T15:48:00.000-08:00

BREAKFAST
low fat muffin - 6pts

SNACK
0

LUNCH
tuna salad sandwiches - 8pts

SNACK
banana - 1pt

DINNER
Fish (terakihi), prawns (6) - 4.5pts
Salad (green with pumpkin seeds) - 1pt

XTRAS
cappuccino - 1.5pts

total points 22pts = 5 points under my allowance of 27pts per day!!!!

I joined the gym!!! Finally!

2008-01-21T14:36:00.000-08:00

Yay, I finally joined the gym today, so tonight I'm burning the blubb on the treadmill and bike! They have aerobic class tonight but step class is not one of my favourites so I will do the machines instead. Tomorrow they have a hiphop dance class called Body Jam, so that will be me, most probably falling over everywhere from being totally un-coordinated, lol! it'll be fun.

I've been finding some really nice recipes for when I'm able to create my cooking videos for You Tube, so I'm looking forward to getting on with those.

Drinking water has become a breeze and I'm packing away 2 litres a day! I'm pretty much addicted! this is fabulous, now if I can just feel that way about exercise that will be awesome.

Weigh In Day!!!! - Week 2

2008-01-21T01:15:00.000-08:00

Right so I weighed this morning and I have lost 1lb, not as much as I would like but a loss is a loss and I am happy about that. I finally joined the gym!!!! Yipee so I am looking forward to burning some fat off my butt and speeding up the weight loss process. So now I am 293.8lbs!! yay!

Okay so here is my points tally for today:

BREAKFAST
Low fat muffin - 6 points

SNACK
slice of toast with scrapping of jam - 2 points

LUNCH
Tuna salad sandwich, no butter, no mayo - 4.5 points

SNACK
nil

DINNER
spaghetti bolognese - low fat - 8 points
green salad no dressing - 0 points

EXTRAS
cappuccino x 2 - 3 points
low fat muffin - 6 points

TOTAL ------------------------------ 29.5 POINTS

probably could've done without the extra muffin and cappuccino!!!

They'll be a weigh in video online soon!

Belated Weigh In

2008-01-16T17:16:00.000-08:00

I have been away....

2008-01-12T22:21:00.001-08:00

on a little journey to Gisborne to collect my daughter from her father's home.

Gisborne is where I grew up, it's a small city of around 50,000 people. Surrounded by beautiful beaches and many MANY wineries, Gisborne has had a steady influx of Americans and British moving there to start businesses, raise young families or retire.

From Napier it takes a little over 2 1/2 hrs to drive there and depending on the weather, it's a pleasant drive. I don't have air conditioning in my car at the moment so we were absolutely sweltering in the car on the way back!

I am editing a video at the moment on my trip and it will be available for viewing shortly.

Today's points.....be warned, not good!

2008-01-09T15:51:00.000-08:00

BREAKFAST
bowl of cereal + milk - 3pts

SNACK
biscuit - 3pts

LUNCH
cheese toasties - 12pts

SNACK
banana - 1pt

DINNER
Fish (cod) - 3pt
Salad (green no dressing) - 0pts

XTRAS
sausage roll x 2 - 10pts!!!!!
cappuccino - 1.5pts

total points 33.5pts = 6 points over my allowance of 27pts per day!!!!

Bad week!

2008-01-09T15:41:00.000-08:00

Gosh it's only week 1 and already I'm having a bad week, I have had some pretty tumultuous things happen in the past two weeks that can't seem to find my focus food wise. Two weeks ago my Grandmother passed away and then on Tuesday this week, my Aunt passed away and this has hit me hard particularly my Grandmother because there are issues with my lack of involvement with her an the guilty feelings I am carrying around. I am slowly but surely getting better and with time it will pass, so while I may be eating some nasty things, I am well aware that what I am doing is wrong and I need to find something else to use as a coping mechanism other than food.

Talking to my sisters is helping a great deal as they are articulate, compassionate women who are going through the same thing as me and I love them, I would be totally lost without them.

On a good note, my daughter comes home on Sunday!!!! I am so excited! I have missed her! She has been having a blast with her dad and it's going to be hard for her to say goodbye.

So anyway, I will weigh myself and see how I go and will still post what I am eating.

Tracking Points

2008-01-08T16:12:00.000-08:00

I have decided a good way for me to track my points is to put them in here, in my weight loss journal so as of tomorrow you all will be able to see what I am eating and how many points are going down my gob!

I have found counting points a lot easier than counting calories or kilojoules and this is probably why this weight loss system has worked for me in the past. The thing I have found I have to watch out for is sodium and sugar. Some lite products are riddled with these two nasties!

Well I'm looking forward to posting my points from tomorrow! Oh before I forget, I am going out of town so there will be no points posted on the 12th January, I will do a video from where I will be, Gisborne, so you can see where I grew up!

Temptation Panic!!!!

2008-01-07T17:00:00.000-08:00

I had to go grocery shopping today and out of the blue I got a massive craving for chocolate!!! I haven't craved chocolate for a long long LONG time and this was unbearable. So, what did I do?? well, I thought of how I would feel after I ate the chocolate, how guilty and ashamed and let down I would feel if I ate it, and you know what? the craving disappeared!!! Amazing how the mind can do such wonderful things, if you put your mind to work! so I guess from now on, I will adopt this procedure!

I've been tagged!

2008-01-07T13:38:00.000-08:00

5 things about me, be warned, I ramble on a bit!

Latest Weigh In!

2008-01-07T13:35:00.001-08:00

My little beauties

2008-01-05T03:04:00.000-08:00

These two cuties are my reason for living and a major reason why I need to regain my life back by losing weight and getting healthy. Children are precious and us parents are very lucky to have them. I also have two stepsons who are terrific! Both are teenagers and are very helpful, courteous and generally lovely, I am lucky to have them in my life also.

Family means a lot to me, I would be lost without them.

Some holiday pics...Taupo, NZ

2008-01-05T01:59:00.000-08:00

Here a few snaps from my trip to Taupo which is in the centre of the North Island of New Zealand.

Enjoy!

Back home...

2008-01-03T15:31:00.000-08:00

Well I'm finally back at home, it's been a long long looooonnggggg, week away.

I left to go to Gisborne on the 31st of December because my grandmother was dying, she died the next day which was really sad but also really good because she is no longer in any pain. The good thing to come out of this is that I got to see my family and friends and spend New Year's with them.

On the weight loss front, well I have to start counting those points again, I got off track due to my trip, but I am feeling better and rearing to go.

I forgot to put one more New Year's resolution into my list and that is:

To not accept crap from anyone regardless of who they are! I will speak my mind and let people know if they hurt my feelings and disagree with them if I think they are wrong.

it's been a while...

2007-12-25T23:50:00.000-08:00

I have been very very very busy!!! Christmas now New Year's and my lifestyle change has gone terrible! I have been eating and eating and just choosing stupid things, luckily I am over it and tomorrow will be back on track, no more celebrating! yay!

So have you all got your New Year's resolutions set? Mine are:

To lose weight of course
Get fit
Eat healthily
Bite the bullet and get my baby into daycare so I can work hard on our Real Estate business and my design business
Finish reading a book
Delegate duties to others (I'm terrible at this, I like to do everything and then I run into trouble getting tired and moody)
Think positive thoughts
Get involved in social situations, I want to join our local video camera club
Be more organised
Spend more quality time with my eldest daughter (she's 11yrs)

Those are achievable!

Well I hope you all have a fantastic New Year and enjoy your holiday!

Earthquake rocks my hometown!

2007-12-20T15:13:00.000-08:00

Last night around 9pm an earthquake measuring 6.8 on the richter scale rocked my hometown of Gisborne, a small town on the East coast of the North Island, New Zealand. 3 buildings have collapsed and one woman died from a heart attack!

My family and friends are fine thank goodness, but man it's times like this that make you realise that life is short and you should live life to the fullest. So with that in mind I am definitely focused on losing this weight so that I can do anything I want, wear anything I want and travel to anywhere I want they'll be nothing holding me back!

More news about the quake can be found here.

Tonight I got so bored I took a pair of scissors ...

2007-12-20T03:03:00.000-08:00

and CUT MY HAIR!!! I got so fed up of looking at my terrible "do" that I got online and found a "how to cut your hair" site, I wanted layers and found this great info here.

After I had followed the instructions, I looked at my hair and thought, "oh well I can go to the salon in the morning". Then I decided to get my flat irons and straighten my hair and viola, it looks fabulous! I had to do a bit of trimming here and there but wow, what a difference!

So there you go money saved! yipee!

The Holidays

2007-12-19T22:35:00.000-08:00

are here and I'm totally nervous!!! I went and done the last of the grocery shopping for Christmas dinner and I'm finding myself surrounded by chocolate covered almonds, custard, brandy snaps, cream aarrgghhhhhh, the temptations!!! It's very hard to stay focused with all this temptation in the house. Sometimes I feel like I just want to lose control and stuff my face but I know that I will be very sick if I do that therefore I stop myself before it happens. The problem is, there's this niggly feeling in my gut that keeps going on and on...."come on just one, it won't hurt", like hell it won't!!!!

I guess I will just have to wait for it to pass, wish me luck!

Barb is a Chicken!!

2007-12-17T15:02:00.001-08:00

Update from the Bad Food Week!

2007-12-17T01:28:00.001-08:00

Thought I'd lost my mojo!

2007-12-14T16:39:00.001-08:00

This week has been very hard diet wise, I have had a couple of bad days so I'm not expecting a loss this week. I have been taking on a lot more water and definitely feeling so much better, better than I have felt in a long long LONG time! But this morning I weighed myself and have put on a pound!!!! so annoyed! but I only have myself to blame, nevermind the thing is I have regained my mojo and am in full swing after seeing a programme on tv half an hour ago.

It was called Too Big to Walk about 8 people who are 20+ stone who go on a 500 mile walk from the south coast of England to Edinburgh. They have to walk everyday till they get to Edinburgh and they camp along the way. They all want to lose weight for various reasons but you can see from watching this show that some of them are very un-motivated and quite lazy. They have to make their own food choices and therefore most of them choose the wrong foods because they think the walk will cover the calories, but doesn't always happen that way. By the end of episode 1 the 8 are reduced to 6 walkers. One of them Alice, just quit, she had been moaning from day 1 pretending she was sick and rolling on the ground I wanted to slap her! and then there was another woman Jane, who was totally determined to do the walk and lose weight but she got sick, her legs swelled and one leg was weeping pus (sorry), I really felt for her, because the doctors told her she couldn't go on there was something wrong with her. Anyway I look forward to next week's episode.

So what did I learn from this? well, losing weight will save my life, I'm too big and if I don't do something serious about it, I could die, simple as that. So I have regained my faith in my weight watchers and will concentrate everyday on keeping on track!

Test Kitchen Video - Episode 1

2007-12-13T13:23:00.000-08:00

Here I test Weight Watchers Chicken Fettucine!

Panic Over...phew!

2007-12-12T23:45:00.000-08:00

As it turns out, my dinner nightmare wasn't actually too bad, I only went over by 8 points! phew that gives me Friday, Saturday and Sunday's extra bonus workout points to pay that off! Problem over, yipee!!!

So much for good intentions!

2007-12-12T23:35:00.000-08:00

I had the most healthy lunch today and I went and ruined it by eating Maccas (McDonalds) for dinner!!!!! aaarrggghhhh!!!!

The reason: well it's quite feeble, I went to my daughter's Primary School (Elementary School) Graduation and afterwards since we hadn't had dinner I thought we'd get her something to eat, well I pulled up to the drive in and my mouth went before my brain "can I get a Sweet Chilli Chicken Deli Roll Combo".... oh my!!! so tomorrow I shall be sweating my butt off on a 1 1/2hr walk in the heat to work this meal off. Thank goodness I ate well all day, actually I hadn't even got near my points allowance which is good news.

Super Healthy Lunch

2007-12-12T16:20:00.000-08:00

Check out this super healthy lunch of mine! So low low low in points mainly because I'm not a huge fan of salad dressing which saves a ton of points, I like mayo but the lite stuff is yuck so I would rather go without.

The salad consists of:

Mesclun - 0 points
Baby Spinach - 0 points
Grated Carrot - 0 points
Red Onion - 0 points
Pumpkin Seeds - 1 point
1/4 Avocado - 1 point
small roll - 2 points

Total 4 POINTS!!!! yahoo!

This salad was really filling! The beauty of having lunches like these is if you end up having that 4pm craving, you have made an allowance by eating right at lunchtime. On occasion I will add a small tin of sweet chilli tuna which is only 2points! A 6 point lunch is still a great lunch! I have 27 points per day plus an extra 3 if I exercise for 30+ mins!

See, Weight Watchers is easy with a few smart food choices!

Thank goodness we can't get these here!

2007-12-11T18:28:00.000-08:00

Oh my gosh, I was looking at stuff on the web and an advert came across my screen for these heavenly looking treats from the US called Ding Dongs. They've apparently been around for ever and are rich, creamy and naughty! When I was living in Australia a few years back I ate quite a few twinkies and they even had lamington style twinkies only they were called something else I can't remember. We cannot get twinkies or ding dongs here THANK HEAVENS!!!! I would probably harm myself LOL!!!

Ok so now that I have totally gotten myself hungry, I'm off to chew carrot sticks!

My Low Fat Christmas

2007-12-11T16:56:00.001-08:00

This year I have decided that I can't have a massive blow-out eating whatever I want during Christmas, so since I am the chef, we are all going to have a healthier meal, so here's the menu:

MEATS

Honey Soy and Garlic Chicken
Chop Suey (Samoan Style) served on rice: made with vermicelli, rump steak, lean bacon, soy, garlic and ginger

SIDE DISHES

Tiger Prawns: sauteed in garlic, chilli and lime and served with pumpkin seeds, red onion and avocado (not too much!)

Garlic Mussels

Roast Vegetable Salad: pumpkin, onions, carrots, kumara (sweet potato), garlic, courgettes, sprinkled with a little olive oil and dried rosemary

Mesclun Salad: just some salad greens

Garlic Bread (not for me!)

DESSERTS

Glazed Summer Berries on Meringue Nests with cream
Christmas Pudding with Custard (not for me!)
French Vanilla Icecream

I have just realised after typing that menu up, most of these dishes have garlic in them! eek!

So there you go a non-traditional but yum lunch/dinner! Then Boxing Day I'm heading off for a long walk which will be nice provided it doesn't rain then it's four days till weigh in!

Tourists Escape the Winter

2007-12-11T16:20:00.000-08:00

It seems New Zealand is the place to be at the moment. While going out for my morning walk workout, I came across loads of American, British and Asian tourists all here to escape the winter chills and enjoy our already hot and humid weather.

Loaded with cameras, maps and layers of sunblock, they piled onto buses and headed off to various tourist spots: the Sheepskin Factory, Arataki Honey, Silky Oak Chocolate Factory, the Marina, the beaches and also the scenic drives. Those wanting a spot of bubbly have definitely come to the right place, Hawkes Bay is the wine capital of New Zealand! I think a few tourists may be heading back to their accommodations with a slight touch of sunburn and maybe a pre-hangover (the coming-down effects before the real hangover!), trust me, I've been there!

After my walk I drove towards the harbour and what did I see? the cruise ship that bought the tourists to our little bay. It's great because tourists are fab for our economy! The ship was an impressive structure, I cannot believe the size of that floating hotel, I'm quite amazed it fit into our tiny port!

Cravings...uurrggghhh!

2007-12-10T01:53:00.000-08:00

I hate cravings! one of the downsides of dieting, my body starts crying out for the things I kept indulging in which in turn gave me the size I am today. Tonight's was a doosie! I was craving "Ginger Kisses", I couldn't get them out of my head!!!! So at 10pm tonight I decided to cave and headed off to the supermarket, I needed nappies and wipes anyway so away I went.

When I got there my cellphone rang and while fishing through my bag for my phone I came across my Weight Watchers points calculator, this was a diet-disaster-saver! I trawled past shelf after shelf of kilojoule laden foods and found the ginger kisses. I looked at the kilojoules and saturated fat and......3 points for 1 ginger kiss!!! hell no!!! It's funny how that revelation put an end to my craving!

I was so shocked that I decided to find some of my other favorite foods and see what their points were... mallowpuff biscuits 2 points for only 1 biscuit!!! they are tiny! .... picnic bar, 6 points!!!! oh heavens!!!

After that experience it's safe to say that I should be okay whenever I have future cravings for chocolate because 6 points is NOT worth it! That's a whole meal!

Weigh In Day!!!!

2007-12-09T17:34:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone!

Today is Monday which means WEIGH IN DAY!!! and how did I do I hear you ask? Well you'll have to watch my video.

Have a fabulous evening!

You Tube Rocks!

2007-12-08T23:20:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone,

Today is Sunday and it's another rainy day stuck inside! It's supposed to be summer! It's been okay since instead of being bored I got onto You Tube and watched more videos. I've now got 12 subscribers which is really exciting and I've had some wonderful comments which really helps me to keep on track with weight loss. So thank you to all of you who have subscribed to me and have left comments, you all inspire me to keep going.

I found some terrific weight loss calculators today, very exciting! The site is called freedieting
it has calorie calculators, weight loss calculators, body fat calculators, oh too many to mention, take a look, I have found it helpful.

Tomorrow is weigh in day, I'm a little nervous because I had celebrated my birthday on Friday and had a few high calorific treats. I weighed myself on Friday morning and I had lost some weight but I haven't checked since then, so it shall be very interesting.

I shall be pounding the pavement for an hour 5 days a week this week and if I can fit it in I will also do Yogalates which is yoga and pilates.

Burn the fat - Episode 2

2007-12-07T00:54:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday to me, happy birthday to me, today was my birthday! I am now 37! getting close to the magic number 40 and I'm cool with that! The last two days of my diet have gone really well and today as you will see from my You Tube video, I had a little blow out to celebrate my day!

Enjoy the rest of your evening!

Plus Sized Clothing Designers, please WAKE UP!

2007-12-05T17:04:00.000-08:00

Today I went shopping for a few t-shirts for my baby and thought I would have a look to see if I could get myself a tee or two. To my horror I found that the larger shirts had LACE trim! What the hell???? Who the hell told plus sized clothing designers that us larger women like lace on everything? V-neck tops with lace, lace trims around sleeves, yuck!!!! I was so pissed, if it's not lace it's hideous fabrics that stuff that clings to every lump and bump available and makes us sweat like we've just done a marathon!

I'm not talking about designer boutiques because I know that you can get really nice clothes if you have a small fortune, but I don't, I'm a stay at home mom so money is tight and I'm forced to shop at cheaper stores.

I think that many manufacturers out there think that we don't give a hoot about fashion, well guess what people, we do!!! but I'm tellin' ya now I would rather wear a potato sack than some of the muck I saw today......well that is my rant for today!

Ciao!

My first You Tube Episode!

2007-12-05T17:02:00.000-08:00

Day 2

2007-12-03T16:55:00.000-08:00

Well Day 1 went without a hitch, actually I was under my points for the day! I had exercised so had earned 3 points, but couldn't find any food I felt like to spend them on, so I have 3 in the hand for the week in case I splurge!

Today is going well, I had two cookies but am still within my allowable points. I figure that as long as I am eating a balanced diet, loads of fruit and veges then the occasional cookie is not going to kill me, as long as it is occasional and not habitual!

I'm a food addict which means that every waking moment of the day I think about food, well that was until I started my weight loss program yesterday. I am quite amazed at how little I have thought about food today! In fact I feel fantastic about it!!! Usually I wake up and think..."what can I eat today, what do I feel like? Where am I going today? what food outlets are nearby?" totally sick way of thinking, but I am aware now that I do that and therefore am trying hard to fix it.

A couple of years ago I had trained myself into thinking that chocolate bars, soda, cookies, well anything over processed and fat laden, was poisonous and it worked!!! I couldn't touch any of that type of food for six months! and I lost 30kg (66lbs), then one drunken night, I ate a meat pie and that was it...dammit!!!

So I might try that again, training my brain into thinking that way so that I can combat cravings or at least work through them without too much pain.

So there you go, another successful happy day in the weight loss world with me!

beedee :)

Day 1 - Very excited!

2007-12-02T15:59:00.001-08:00

Hi everyone,

So far today has been great! I have written down everything I have eaten, tracked my points and I've already done my exercise for the day. It's pretty warm here today and I was definitely working up a sweat pounding the pavement and pushing the baby buggy for half an hour!

Lunch was a yum, WW meal, Chicken Pesto Spaghettini only 5 points and delicious!

I have joined You Tube and will be adding videos from time to time of my progress, there will definitely be videos about whether I have lost or gained for the week, it's a great way to keep me on track and a nice way to celebrate a loss!

There are a lot of weight loss vlogs on You Tube which are fantastic for keeping you inspired about losing weight, I have found them to be honest and just amazing! There is a fantastic network of people on there, I suggest you take a look! www.youtube.com search for weight loss journal.

Well that's it from me today, before I go, I will be designing some t-shirts and other gifts geared towards inspirational messages for weight loss and exercise and will post the link as soon as I have the store ready.

Have a brilliant day!

beedee :)

How it all began!

2007-12-02T15:51:00.000-08:00

I have been fat for as long as I can remember. When I was a little girl I remember going into the kitchen for a "midnight snack" and being caught by my mother who just happened to have a camera with her and she took an awful photo of a chubby faced fat seven year old diving into the fridge for dear life! This was the start of a lifetime of hiding food and sneaking bites whenever I could get a chance.

Throughout school I gained and lost friends as frequently as I gained and lost pounds. Having a weight problem during this time was extremely difficult, my hormones were racing, I had lumps and bumps where they shouldn't be, I was called thunder thighs, hubba jubba, bazooka boobs, elephant you name it! The only thing that could help me feel better (temporarily) was to stuff my face with food, but we all know where that leads to! Luckily I was very much into sport and even though I was heavy, I could haul my fat ass around a netball court or soccer pitch no problem! If it wasn't for the sport, heaven knows how huge I would've been.

When I left school and went on to tertiary education, my weight fluctuated. I didn't have a car and had to walk everywhere, and that's what kept my weight to around the 110kg mark. Now if I hadn't eaten alll the bullshit crappy fat laden food, I would probably have been a lot smaller, but NO, tubba tubba fatty blubber, I just couldn't help myself! I could down a whole 2 liters of icecream in one sitting! It was also lucky that I was a poor student as it meant that I couldn't indulge any further, my binges had to be structured to fit in with my bills, god I sound mad!

Once I graduated from tertiary studies and went on to my first fulltime job my weight improved and I started to look really good. I had joined a gym and lost 30kg in only six months! However, my eating binges were replaced with another lethal addiction ...... SHOPPING! I had got my weight to comfortable level in years but after developing a passion for fashion and splashin' my cashin' I fell into the credit card trap .... debts beyond my eyeballs, incredibly scary and very stressful, so what do you do when you are stressed? well for me, it's eating! and around the merry-go-round we go again, on with more weight, this time though, I was able to gain only 5kg instead of the whole lot back.

Soon I was involved in a relationship with a guy who didn't give a crap what I looked like (bless him), but it was only a matter of months (5 to be exact) and I fell pregnant! Anyway to cut a long story short, I had the baby, gained even more weight getting up to 150kg!!! then I lost 30kg and stayed there for quite some time 9 years to be exact then my relationship fell apart, I lost even more weight and I had gotten down to 105kg!!!

So now two years later here I am 2008, a new relationship, back up to 133.8kg (296.2lbs), after having a baby who is now one year old and I still look pregnant! So as of tomorrow, there is no more bad food, there is more exercise and there is a healthier, slimmer me waiting at the finish line and believe me, I can't wait to meet her!

I will be posting my battles and victories and I have found some amazing tools and great sites that I think will help us all on the journey to a better healthier life!

beedee :-)