New Year, New Me.

On the 27th of July I made a post. I told you all about how I had started a journey. Today I write to you around 5 months later, and 15kgs lighter and with a completely different body shape. I still to this day do not honestly know why I made this lifestyle change, and more to the point I don't know why its stuck. I have had good results before, great feedback and compliments but this time is different. I wish I could bottle whatever it is it up and give it to my friends.

So for those that don't know I suffer from a few conditions. Hypothyroidism, PCOS and excruciating knee pain which currently is believed to be a bit of chondromalacia patellae & patellar subluxation (Physios, Surgerons and Doctors tell me its a mix of these things and god knows what else)this pain is consistent in my left knee and sporadic in my right. When I say suffer, I don't mean I will die tomorrow or anything like that, I am just a bit unlucky and have a few things that work against me. These conditions make losing weight damn near impossible.

5 days after our wedding I had my first gym session. (yes I did it backwards, but I wanted to lose weight for me, not lose weight for one day)  I went to the gym for around an hour 6 days a week. It blended in to my life so easily before I knew it I was loving my change in energy and the endorphins from a great work out.

Somewhere along the line I decided to go and see a nutritionist. I'd been in this place before, I'd done it all and I didn't want to make the same mistakes as last time. I explained to the nutritionist that I need a meal plan that fits in to my life, what we like to eat and something that is maintainable. (my first plan a few years ago was way too much food, stuff David wouldn't eat and just down right difficult.) So instead of a meal plan Gina from Healthkicks gave me an example eating plan based on a calorie intake level for a day, she also gave me a list of how many serves of what I should be having a day and examples of each. We did measurements and a weigh in. I have continued to weigh in, which I recommend so much. Their special scales breaks down the fat loss and helps you see your muscle gain as well.

Two of the best things I ever did was get myfitnesspal and buy a heart rate monitor. Now everything you read here you are going to say "Yep I know that", I did the same thing. Change your attitude, change your mind, change your lifestyle!

Oh food is such a hard one. My secret is not being too strict on myself. I still enjoy the odd treat I just don't make a habit of it. I use myfitnesspal, I do and don't count calories. Sometimes I am really strict but quite often I am a bit easier on myself. My biggest thing was portion sizes and eating regularly!

I was never a big breakfast fan so I started off with Up & Go's and worked my way to 2 vitabrits, 1/2 cup allbran, half a banana and about 100mls of skim or lactose free milk

For lunch I normally have
2 mountain bread or 4 corn things
50 g Ham
50 cottage cheese
couple of tomato slices
some lettuce
salt and pepper
sometimes some avo or pre-sliced light cheese

Dinner is generally lean meat - around 100g with lots of veges or salad, sometimes I cook thinks like Mexican lasagne which is pretty low cal and yum!
If I cook things with lots of carbs etc then I just don't have much carbs, I still eat what I want - within reason if we go out for dinner.

For snacks I have fruit, pureed apple, goulbourn valley fruit salad in natural juice and mini protein bars, and even muesli bars.

I just make smarter decisions I guess and try my hardest not to eat empty calories, I will spend the extra money and buy the skinny cow ice cream sandwiches or pops because I know how many calories they are and they are lighter etc.

Basically I guess my secret is pre-packaged, its a bit more expensive but you know exactly how much and don't have to weigh anything. Woolies and coles have good specials on their pre-packaged deli meats a lot.

I still exercise 5 to 7 times a week, depending on what classes are on and what my friends are doing. I love going to the gym by myself but I love going with my friends as well. Sometimes before you know if you've pumped out an hour on the treadmill and you've been talking the whole time.

I like Les Mills classes, BodyPump, BodyBalance, RPM, BodyStep, BodyCombat and just normal Yoga.

I also do my own circuit, because of my knee I cannot use free loaded weights so I stick to pin loaded. I do 10 minutes on the cross trainer then do each pin loaded weights machine until I have performed 3 reps of 15 at my desired weight (one day I will take note/write that down) on each machine then back onto the bike, treadmill or cross trainer to finish my work out. I try and make each workout burn 500 calories or more.

My biggest thing is make it enjoyable. Don't go crazy, don't push yourself so hard that you never want to go back, or physically can't because you can't even dress yourself. Work yourself up to that, it won't take you long before you are seeing results, getting compliements and building up your self esteem.

I'm going to leave it there for now, because its bed time. If I missed anything out or something doesn't make sense please ask :)  I'll post some more photos so you can see my progress later on.

Happy New Year to you and yours.