Exercise

I did a whole lot more of it when I was losing weight the first time round - and I really need to try and establish those routines again. I spent the day today totally focused on preparing myself to enter 'the weightloss zone' again.

I started my day at 6:15 am (on a Saturday OMG! WTF!), getting up in time to throw on my clothes walk to the station and crab a coffee before I met Mary at the station. Last week I made plans to go for a city trek with M & Mary - meeting at central at 7:30 am. I somehow didn't factor in the early start or the effort involved, but, like many of us aim-to-be losers, we 'Did it Anyway' and I'm really pleased - it was a great walk!

I optimistically estimated that it would take us about 1 1/2 hours, but it was a whole lot closer to 2, walking from central to Darling Harbour to King Street Wharf, round Walsh bay, up and across the Harbour Bridge and back to Central via the Opera House, Macquarie Street and Elizabeth Street. I felt it - but it was great. I suspect that I may feel it a whole lot more tomorrow! I believe we will be trying to make it a regular event in Sydney, if anyone is interested.

After the walk, my boy and I went for brekky at Bite-on cafe in Erskineville. It was good service and a perfect sized portion for the mood I was in. Maybe a bit on the pricey side, but we expect that around here sometimes. I ordered poached egg with mushrooms, grilled tomato and 1 piece of sourdough toast. It was good!

Since brekky I've pretty much been in front of the computer trying to plan my week. I've logged into SparkPeople and am trying to enter relevant foods into the data base so that I can use their menu planner. It unfortunately counts calories instead of kj - annoying when most of our foods have nutritional panels in kjs - I have a conversion calculator open in another window. Spark People is free, but it's an American based site, and I find that most of my food choices have to be manually entered the first time round. It's another toy though, and I'm always excited by novelty and fun. I also read through my previous posts, and found my fat pics gallery again. I'd love to get back to how I looked just after I'd lost my weight. I actually looked 'small' then!

Speaking of weight, I am sitting at 65.8 tonight. Probably helped along considerably by the walk, but still, it's slowly going down - the detox had a bit to do with this I think.

My challenge for next week is to try and block out the fact there is still chocolate, lollies and biscuits left in the house, and concentrate on counting my calories/kj/points (whatever) and keeping my eating under control. I sent my car up to my folks place to be sold, so I now have to be a bit more organised with groceries etc, making sure I have everything I need for the week on a shopping list. My boy lets me use his car for grocery shopping etc but I don't want to have to rely on him to go food shopping during the week.

Well, that's me over and out. Hope you all have a fantastic weekend.

Cath xx

Detox - Day 9 & 10

I made it!
Just this evening to get through and then I can tick the 'detox' thing off my ever-growing "to do" list. I'm pretty pleased with myself - that feeling when you stick to something and finish it is very satisfying.

Days 9 and 10 have been good. I feel great, and my skin has improved. I haven't lost that much weight - may be a kilo, but it's hard to tell 'cause I have my period and I always weigh more during this time of the month.

So, here's a summary:

Over the last 10 days I have NOT indulged in: Coffee, tea, milk, meat, chocolate, bread, wheat based pasta, white rice, sugar (other than that in fruit or in the soy products I've eaten), cheese (except goats cheese, which I was allowed), alcohol, softdrink or any of the normal little packaged products I usually eat.

I have INCREASED intake of vegetables & fruit, water, tofu, nuts (except peanuts), oats, fish and soy products.

Mistakes I made during detox included adding salt to some meals, accidentally drinking juice with added sugar, and not planning well enough so that I had food on hand when I actually got hungry. I also don't think I drank quite enough water.

As a result of all of this, I suffered headaches (I suspect caffeine withdrawal) initial lack of energy which lasted about 6 days, and a little hunger when I I didn't plan my meals.

Do I recommend it?
This is a toughie - I did this detox to kick-start my weightloss routines again, a bit of 'forced discipline' to regain consciouness over my food choices. This has certainly worked. I don't recommend starting a detox without researching your food options and planning for a fairly anti-social 10 days - the diet is extremely restrictive and it's hard to modify menued meals when most foods are off limits. I kept it simple and cooked for myself every night bar one, where I had fish and steamed vegies at the pub.

The hardest thing: Giving up bread! I eat it everyday for at least one meal, and the substitutes don't really work for sandwiches. Having to plan every meal carefully was also difficult, especially work lunches as there wasn't much I could buy if I forgot my lunch. I had fruit and nuts only some days!

The best bit: I have found a new food to enjoy - soy milk! I love it and think I will have it in my fridge more often from now on.

Overall: I feel good but that could be my attitude. Now I have to get used to counting points again!

Anyway, I'm off to watch the box and eat my dinner - a recipe that I found on the biggest loser site (in kristys blog):

Eggplant and Feta
Sliced Eggplant (1 cm thick - salt and rinse first)
Feta Cheese
Garlic
Olive Oil Spray
Balsamic Vinegar

Place onion, garlic, oil spray & vinegar on eggplant. Sprinkle with feta and bake in medium oven.

Yummo!

Night folks.

Detox - Days 7 & 8

Well I'm still alive - and today I actually feel good - I didn't have a headache, I didn't hit the wall at 4pm and despite a bit of the old period pain (joy), I feel generally well - Finally! I was a bit worried this detox was all for nothing, but I seem to be getting rewarded for my efforts now.

I've had a strange couple of says food wise, really letting hunger guide me though the day, in terms of when and what I ate. For breakfast Sunday I managed porridge, soy milk and juice, for lunch/snacks all I ate was a couple of pieces of fruit and some nuts, and my dinner was soy crackers and hommous. Not terribly balanced, but I wasn't hungry!

Today was a little more nutritious - porridge and vegie juice for brekky, grapes and an apple for morning tea, lentil soup for lunch and corn crackers to nibble on in the afternoon. I also had some soy crackers with hommous before cooking a massive vegie soup with lentils and red kidney beans. The soup was great - the boy and I both enjoyed it - good thing too 'cause I made so much and plan to eat it for the next couple of nights. Lots of vegies, a few herbs and seasonings and some chicken stock - wallah - soup. Who would have thought?!!

I was extremely late in leaving the house this morning. I usually leave at 8-00 and get to the station at 8-28(exactly) - this morning I left at 8-11 and had to run a bit of the way to make up the lost time - I got there 8-31 ! Perfectly respectable - I was sweating heaps though and felt kinda icky on the train. Still - I was very happy with myself for jogging.

Anyway, I've just made plans to start next weekend off with a big walk - a great way to reaffirm my goals and focus - weekends are hard work motivation wise - too much temptation.

Righto. Time for bed.