Some new dresses!!

I know I haven't been posting as much as I should but in my defense I have been really busy!! On the upside the eating plan is going really well. I have barely any cravings for any junk but especially sugar. I am never hungry and always full of energy, I just leap out of bed in the mornings ready to start the day! I only started this as a ten day thing but because the benefits are so overwhelming I think I'll be giving up sugar for good and in the future really limiting my bread intake to twice a week. I think bread just limits my creativity anyway ;) why have a cheese and salad sandwich for lunch when you can have wholemeal penne salad with feta, spinach, cashews and a sun dried tomato sauce.

OK all these above dresses are ones I brought yesterday at a shop for under five dollars each. The black one is a size too small and it is my goal to fit into it before my sisters wedding in November. Now I will be spending a few hours altering these dresses! the necklines are way more plunging than I would ever dream of wearing so that will be the first thing I change. I have a few gorgeous cardigans to go with them already.

My muscles have repaired enough now so it's back to the gym first thing tomorrow! Hope you had a wonderful weekend ladies :)

Day Four

I'm writing this a little earlier in the day than usual but I am so very tired and have pulled a muscle in my shoulder and back and it is really painful! In case this seems like i'm giving up on the exercise I wont be i'll just be switching to Swimming and still sticking with the pilates. The best thing I have found is that when something appears to be setting you back use it to propel yourself to even greater heights!!

Today I had muesli and milk for breakfast. For lunch I had fruit, almonds and yogurt and for dinner I will have avocado sushi. I Haven't had very much to eat today because I haven't been feeling one hundred percent and went a did a circuit class this morning when I probably shouldn't have.

After sleep and a hot bath i'm sure i'll feel much better tomorrow!

Day three

Day three has been one of the hardest and one of the easiest in a few ways. One of the most physically demanding as this morning I cycled down to the gym, had a really hard spin class and then cycled home again and in the evening I had an intense boxing class (but I read they can burn 1000 calories an hour so was really happy to hear that).

Food wise it has been great! For breakfast I had a bowl of homemade muesli with yogurt and ground linseed, mor morning tea ten almonds, for lunch my orzo, leek and shittake salad and for afternnon tea I had ten more almonds and for dinner a huge green salad with assorted veges, orange, feta, walnuts and ground linseed.

Nearly all of the fat I consume comes from nuts, I always have skim milk and make my own skim yogurt. I generally stay away from oil because I want to keep my fat grams under fifty and nuts have so many more vitamins and minerals that oil generally does. I do however take a capsule of evening primrose oil everyday because it keeps my skin in perfect condition!

Today I sat next to my friends eating mcdonalds and didn't even feel slightly tempted to have any!!! I love these little things I overcome!

Day two

Today has been a good day! Started the day off with my favourite green smoothie and 15 almonds, morning tea was 6 walnut halves and half a glass of milk and for lunch was the above salad made from orzo,shiitakes, orange and leeks. That salad was so amazingly good! I will definitely be having that again tomorrow. For afternoon tea I had an apple and yogurt and for dinner well I really wasn't that hungry so I just had a few pieces of sushi and my left over green smoothie with some protein powder added.

Today I ran the furthest I ever have before! Afterwards I looked so disgusting and had to lie down for a few minutes but I did it!! I was so happy and just love going from strength to strength! Tomorrow I have a spin class and a boxing class so I'll be really careful about eating enough protein tomorrow.

Day one

I weighed myself today and the damage wasn't as bad as I had thought, I'm still the lightest I have been in nearly ten years. But since I have been overweight since I was about eight I still have a long way to go :)

I didn't eat as much as usual today because I had only gotten about two hours sleep (I have terrible insomnia) and when I'm tired I just don't feel like eating much.

I started the day with a green smoothie (made with various fruits and greens and water) and then about 1:30 I had a protein shake and a banana, after my workout at about 4.30 I had ten almonds and for dinner I had 6 pieces of Quinoa Sushi and a salad made from mixed greens, walnuts, feta, orange and caramelised onions.

I had a very good workout at the gym and decided today that instead of taking the car anywhere in the town I live that instead I will cycle (unless it is pouring with rain) I will get fitter and save on petrol!

No challenges today but I know tomorrow will present one, every Tuesday I go to my Mums house and usually have chocolate biscuits and chippies, not good! Tomorrow I'm taking my own afternoon tea. I believe Dr Phil when he says that you cannot lose weight by will power, it's all about preparation and environment.

My ten day challenge

As of tomorrow I start my ten day challenge! The rules for the next ten days are as follows

1.) no sugar

2.) no cheese (except cottage cheese and occasionally low fat feta)

3.) no bread or pasta or white rice

4.) nothing processed

5.) drink ten glasses of water per day

6.) start everyday with a 45 minute pilate workout (except Sunday)

7.) do an hour of cardio every evening (except for Sunday)

8.) Do an hour of strength training three times per week

9.) No caffeine

Simple right??

Except not if you're a naturally lazy girl who loves her carbs. I know that I do more exercise than most of my friends combined however I often would rather be cuddling under my duvet and reading then running for 10 kms, well that's until the endorphins hit and then there is nothing I would rather be doing!!

I am doing this challenge with one of my friends, we are in a competition to see who will lose the most in the first week and i'm sincerly hoping I beat him!

Each day I will update with my food diary and sometimes a recipe.

Good luck to me!!

Real girls eat REAL food

Granted this is not the most flattering photo of me :) (I had just come home from a long run) however I use it to illustrate the point that you do not need to starve yourself, cut out all carbohydrates or eat food that comes prepacked in cardboard boxes from the frozen foods section of the supermarket aisle to lose a large amount of weight.

In fact I don't believe that's normal or healthy. So far I have lost 35 kilos (75 pounds) and I certainly didn't do it by starving myself in any way. Everyday I eat huge amounts of fruit and vegetables, moderate amounts of protein and carbohydrates and small amounts of fats and refined sugars but I am never hungry. Once a week I do have something I want like some french fries or a chocolate croissant and the rest of the time I make delicious, healthy meals that I look forward to eating. The thing about diets is that they don't ever work because in real life they just don't hold up for long and then you gain the weight back plus extra. Maybe some people can live the rest of their lives eating only cottage cheese and celery or never eating bread or pasta but I can tell you right now I'm not one of them.Sometimes I do slip up and eat more than I should of but I lace up my running shoes, get out there and make better choices the next day.

Because I get emails from time to time from people asking me how I did it I just want to say. There is no magic cure. Instead it's all about eating moderately and well. Cut out the white foods and processed stuff from your diet and start drinking lots of water and green tea. Make little changes at at a time and before you know you will look and feel amazing.

At the beginning of last year I was huge, miserable and looked at least six months pregnant even though I wasn't. Below is a photo showing me at the weight I was, not a pretty picture!





This is me now both photos were taken within the last two weeks. I still haven't lost all I want to however I am fit, healthy and I can hold my head up high!

Weigh day

Because several of my friends who are trying to lose weight read my blog, I am going to put my weight loss in every week, since I still have the rest the lose, and hopefully in the process inspire others that they can do it!

So this week I have lost two kilos (4.4 pounds) this is due to my new 1200 calorie food plan that I started a week ago. Also this week I am starting my training for the tough guy, tough gal competition so I expect my weight loss to drop a little due to muscle gain. It's important to remember that that there's a difference between fat loss and weight loss.

Also try not to weigh yourself more than once a week, it becomes an obsession and weight can fluctuate day by day, especially for women. You will get a much more accurate reading if you do it once a week.

And on an entirely different topic it's a beautiful day here today. The sun is out for the first time in about two months, so I'm going to make the most of it!

Low fat vegetarian Lasagne

As I write this a new recipe of mine is baking in the oven. I got this idea from the biggest loser recipe board but change it around. Sorry it's not exactly ordered or precise but that's not really my cooking style.

1 large jar of prepared pasta sauce ( I just made my own by throwing together some tomato paste, canned tomatoes, herbs, chili powder, garlic and onions)

Vegetables of any kind. Use what's in season, in the summer this would compromise of eggplants, courgettes, capsicum and anything else you have around. In winter spinach, carrots, tiny florets of broccoli and Kumera (sweet potatoes). Use as much as you would like.

4 sheets of wholemeal lasagna sheets

1 cup of cottage cheese or ricotta and 1/8 cup of milk

1/2 to 1 cup of lentils or beans (the original recipe said tofu but I'm not really a fan of that )

Salt and pepper to taste

You then just proceed to layer it like you would a normal lasagna. This one is full of fibre and protein but has no cholesterol or refined carbohydrates. It's perfect with a salad and freezes really well.

I'm kind of scared......

My friend has decided to enter this competion so after some consideration (and excitment) I have as well. Don't know quite what I've let myself in for.


http://www.toughguyandgal.co.nz/

My weight loss transformation and almost fat free Banana Pancakes

I don't have many photos on me at the moment but wanted to show a little before and after, so this will just be of my face, but even then you can see how much has come off.


January 2009 Me at my very biggest

January 2010 (when my Husband seemed like he was going to move home again)

Actually though I'm really glad he's in both the photos because it shows how much my face has shrunk, in the first photo it's way bigger than his and in the second definitely smaller,

I hated myself when I was that fat.I hated to go in public, I hated that nothing fit me and I hated myself for having so little self control and letting myself get as big as a house. Now I feel amazing. I wear pretty much whatever I want, in fact I love clothes and fashion.

It wasn't easy to lose the weight. There was no magic formula and I worked really hard to get there. It meant long hours at the gym and it was hard, when you're dragging around 60 kilos (132 pounds) of excess weight well everything hurts. I often thought I would faint or throw up (I never did) but as the weeks went by it got easier. It also meant going to parties or events and not being able to eat what everyone else did, no chocolate, no desserts and no fried foods.

But you know what?

It was totally worth it. And as far as food was concerned I never went hungry, I would never be one to starve myself, I love food waaaaay too much. Every week I planned a little treat for myself, so one week it would be a chocolate croissant and the next some french fries. Every day I try to eat four pieces of fruit, three serves of dairy, two to four servings of grains and a truckload of veges, also I'm big on water and green tea. Green tea actually really helped cut my cravings for sweet things. I don't go more than a few hours without eating either.

They say support when you're losing weight is crucial but I didn't have any of that. No friends to act as cheerleaders and my sister and mother weren't exactly helpful so instead I watched episodes of The Biggest Loser on YouTube and believe it or not it really spurred me on.

I also had to deal with the emotional issues for why I ate badly and that's something I'm still working on.

Anyway part of the reason why it wasn't so hard to control my eating was because I had really great recipes to spur me on. I don't eat 'diet' food, I try to eat whole foods. I don't touch things with artificial sweeteners and I stay away with anything that has hydrogenated oils (that includes things like diet peanut butter) I do however use low fat dairy products.

Anyway I'm going to try post some low fat/sugar recipes every week. This is one of my favourites.

I love Pancakes, just love them. However my body doesn't love all the fat, sugar and refined carbohydrates that go with them. Also this recipe is really high in fibre, I have only given enough for one serving so just increase for how many people you are making them for.

High Fibre Banana Pancakes

Ingredients

1/2 cup of Wheat Bran

1/3 cup skim milk

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp vanilla essense

3 egg whites

1/2 banana mashed

Canola oil spray

What to do

Pour wheat bran and milk into a bowl and let stand for one minute, then stir in vanilla and cinnamon. Mix in egg whites and fold in mashed banana. Spray a frying pan or griddle with the canola oil and spoon into pan making five small panckes. Flip after two minutes.

I like to have my pancakes with cinnamon, blueberries and a small drizzle of Maple syrup (the real stuff) not that sugary imation kind.

My last bit of advice. You don't have to be fat on the outside to be fat on the inside.

Thirty days without sugar

Today begins my experiment of sorts, I am going to spend the next thirty days without eating any sugar, white flour products, caffeine or basically anything with a name on the ingredients list that I can't pronounce. I've lost 66 pounds/ 30 kilos this year so the goal isn't really weight loss inspired it's more to see just how I feel and look at the end of it.

I'm a little bit worried about exactly what I'm going to eat, but know as well that it's a great time to experiment with new recipes and ideas. Each day I am going to post a little about how the day went, any new recipes I've tried and at the beginning of each week the amount of weight I've lost. You can find it all on my other blog if you are interested.