The Bloggest Loser

This week's task on Beckie's "The Bloggest Loser" is to get up an hour earlier and do some exercise. I have committed to do this 11 week thingy (at Beckie's suggestion we're not using the word challenge as people often fizzle out after 2 weeks of a "challenge") following the losers in the house, so I have to try to work out a way to get myself (and Molly) out of the house for a walk to be back by 8am. This is going to mean leaving at 7. Molly usually wants a feed at around 6 or 6:30 but this week I am going to wake her at 6 to feed for 30 mins, leaving plenty of time for me to jump into my trackies and shoes, dress her, eat a banana or something and head out. I am going to have to get my (soon to be) little butt to bed earlier and not stay up too late talking on Beckie's Gabbly Chat.

I think morning walks are a great habit to get into as it means the day has begun. The rest of the morning will be productive as I wont be blobbing around in my pjs at midday! I will come home, shower, get W (our housemate) ready for his day, have brekkie with my hubby, do any dishes, vacuuming, washing that needs doing and by the time Dr. Phil and Oprah come on I wont feel guilty for sitting doing nothing while I watch ithem. I am really looking forward to this! It will help me be more organised and on top of things.

During my 12 week challenge at the beginning of last year I was getting up at 5:30-6am nearly every day to toddle off to the gym for either a personal training session, hard weights, cardio or a class. I loved the feeling of my face prickling with sweat and heat as I stepped into the cool air of morning after a spin class or body attack. My gym membership will come off suspension in a month or so and I have to decide what to do. I think Fernwood is just too expensive for what it offers a person like me. I loved it last year as I needed that kind of gym. But this year I have a bubby and a tender post baby body that needs to ease into exercise and therefore the option of swimming would be ideal. My local pool/gym is less expensive, has childcare and offers more than Fernwood. So I think in the long run it would be cheaper to cancel Fernwood and go there. I probably wont join up straight away as I would like to focus on walking and a bit of at home toning work. I might even just get a swimming membership or buy 10 passes at a time or something... we'll see!

Melbourne Blogger Picnic

I have been wanting to organinse a meet for a while now and I figure since the weather is pretty nice most of the time at the moment it may as well be SOON! I would love to meet somewhere nice like the Melbourne Botanical Gardens where we can all sit on blankets, eat yummy food and yak. We could even go for a walk around the tan before lunch to work up an appetite!

I'm keen to know who would be in! When's good for people?? Saturday or Sunday?? Early March sound good? Please leave me a comment and let me know!

Well, if I don't go now it's going to be really hard to get up in the morning for my walk... best be orrrf!

Enjoy the early morning exercise challengers!! (...erm, I mean task-ers!!)

Ash

xox

7 salads in 7 days...

This is my new challenge for this week. I am going to make a different delicious and healthy salad each night and post a picture here- just for a bit of variety. I already started tonight by making my own version of the salad Kate mentioned on her blog.I'm sure it is very different to the one you had Kate but it sure was delicious!

A yummy spicy Thai chicken salad made with lean chicken mince, red onion, coriander, bean shoots, lime, lemon, chilli, ginger and soy sauce, served on a bed of cos lettuce with a tomato cut into wedges. YUM!! I am definately making this one again some time!!

I had a fab time last night at Brooke's get together. Linda, Phil, Ails, Jadey, Sassy, Brooke and I got together to relax and spend some quality time together. I took Molly along to meet all her pretend aunties and she was a perfect angel! The girls all indulged in Jelly shots and pizza and watched chick flick DVDs.. ahhh.. heaven! I really enjoyed finally meeting Sassy. We had been planning to meet a little while ago (pre Molly) but never managed to get our butts into gear. We had a lot in common and chatted away like monkeys in trees.. hehe.. I like that saying! See Brooke's (in my sidebar) post for a more detailed description and some photos.

I have stolen this pic from Brooke's site as I think it is BEAUTIFUL! Isn't Brooke a talented little shutterbug? I haven't liked the way I have looked in many photos recently but I feel that this one really shows the joy I have in motherhood. My eyes are genuinely happy. That is really how I feel right now. I adore my girl and my life. I am happy with my body for the first time ever. It's like I have accepted it with all its flaws because I was able to watch it perform one of the greatest tasks ever- making another human being!! I am totally blown away by the power of the female body. What an amazing, spiritual thing it is to be a woman!

I am really excited to be feeling so good. John and I got out for another walk yesterday and I am feeling very ready to get back into proper exercise. I don't want to be silly and go too hard too soon but I am just really looking forward to feeling fit again. I think I will to couch to 5k as soon as I feel up to running. There is a Healthy Body Club booty camp in March which I plan to do and am VERY excited about!

Molly is getting such a strong little neck now and smiling all the time. I can't believe how fast she's growing and becoming more aware of what is going on around her! Here are some more cute photos of her doing her exercises during tummy time this morning.

I have never known love like this!

That will do from me tonight... I am sleepy!

Ash

xox

Wow.... Huh??

WOW...

As many of you would know, Saturday is my weigh-in day. Now, I was particularly keen to jump on the scales this morning as I have had such an awesome week filling my body up with sensible portions of fresh and healthy food- hitting 32 points or just below each day. I feel absolutely fantastic! I have been sleeping very well and did my 1st intentional exercise since having Molly yesterday with Kate (a big walk to the "big shops"... had a fantastic time Kate!). I have consumed at least 2 litres of water every day and am really proud of what we've done. I have not had one "treat" thus proving to myself that I don't need to have a little bit of something off the plan every day... only sometimes! I have been the goddess of the Weight Watchers world!! The QUEEN!! I ROCK!!

HUH??...

Now here's where the "huh??" comes in. I was so excited to feed Molly, go to the toilet, strip off (hey... my undies are heavy!!) and jump on the scales, expecting to see a big loss after the killer week I have just had. 96.2kgs... 96.2kgs!! WHAT?? Thats a GAIN of 700g!! Undoing the 600g I lost last week plus another 100!! Would someone please tell me what the heck is going on?? I wish I had've taken notice of the body fat percentage as it may explain something. I have not done any resistance apart from lifting Molly and pushing the pram so I doubt it would be muscle... I'm stumped!

Kate mentioned in her blog about our lovely day together yesterday. I arrived at her house at 9:30 and we chatted till 10:30 when we loaded up the prams and headed out for a walk. It was such a gorgeous sunny day with a cool breeze- perfect for walking. We stopped for a drink and some fruit at the 1/2 way point and grabbed a yummy sushi lunch 3/4s of the way home. I got a bit sunburnt- I have spent the majority of the last few months indoors.. didn't really feel like baring my swolen pregnant self at the beach this summer!!

Our lunch was delish! I am completely addicted to california rolls. It's not like I never ate them before this week but I have rediscovered those tasty little fellas on this fresh food challenge. Kate and I spent the rest of the afternoon half watching Scrubs (gotta get me some of those DVDs!) while we chatted and looked at her before pics. That girl has come a LONG way my friends! Nag her to find her scanner so she can post the pics!!

Now, of the three things I said I was going to do this week I have only done one... hmm disciplined huh?? I did manage to get my butt into gear enough to make up my own muesli which is delish! I thrw together some rolled oats, sultanas, peanuts, coconut, almonds, dried pawpaw and pineapple, prunes, dried apricots and lsa. It was sooo yummy! I grated a big green apple onto it and it was magic!

I did not make bread or peanut butter although I have all the ingredients there ready to go so I WILL do them over the next couple of days.. Phil, I might take you up on the breadmaker offer! *lol*

Next week I aim to walk three times. Our challenge has officially ended but we have started some really good new habits (or should I say, we have retured to our old good habits) so we will continue to eat this way as much as possible with a bit more flexibility.

That will do from me for now...

Hope you all have lovely weekends!

(Note: Since writing this post I have recieved a couple of comments about how many pts I should be having- saying 32 pts might be too much for me.. Just for the record, I have been following the WW points system for 4 years and it has worked so far- It got me to goal! WW recommends 32 pts for breastfeeding mums feeding as frequently as I do no matter their weight so I I feel like this has been a good amount for me... by the way.. just hopped back on the scales remembering my memory function and discovered I have lost 1% body fat this week.
So 32 pts looks about right.)

Ash
xox

Challenges...

Day 2 "Fresh food challenge"

______________________

After a few suggestions from two loyal readers I have decided to try to make some of the things I am used to buying.

Three things I am going to make this week:

1. Bread! I don't have a breadmaker so this will be quite an experience!

2. Muesli

3. Peanut butter

After reading Kate's post on persuing further study this year (you go girl!!) I have decided to do a course by correspondence. After many years of focussing on health, fitness and weightloss a particular course has caught my eye- Health and fitness magazine writing! It teaches you how to go about getting your writing published (and many other aspects of the job) and I figure I have done so much blogging about different issues that I'd already have a huge amount of material to work with. It's also something I can persue from home around Molly. If I am sucessful and manage to get some writing published, GREAT! But if not, then at least I have spent time learning about an area I am very interested in. I know I have some instant rent a crowd readers in you people!

On that note, where is everyone?? I recieved over 100 emails asking for the address to this blog and I am only getting a few comments from a select group of faithful readers (you know who you are ;))... Now if I am going to be a spectacularly sucessful magazine writer some of you are going to have to come out of the woodwork every now and then!! *lol*

Today has been another very good day food wise. Events today have included 2 lunches out and I haven't strayed from the challenge once!

Foodies:

B. 2 slices grainy bread with leftover beef from last night's roast and slices of cold tomato (6)

L. Teriaki chicken bento box (made to order with fresh ingredients) including broccoli, tofu, rice, chicken and fresh coleslaw (YUMMM!) (7)

D. Ham and salad, 1 hardboiled egg, some low fat cheese (5) and a mango (1.5)

Snacks. Handful mixed nuts and seeds, a big piece of watermelon, a few spoonfuls low fat yoghurt, 1 sushi hand roll (5)

Total:24.5 (will probably have another peach and some more yoghurt tonight)

H20: 2.5 litres

Exercise: more shopping centre strolling

Day 1 of the fresh food challenge a success!

Yay! What a great day! Had no trouble eating to plan today! Feels GOOD!

Decided to allow grainy bread in this fresh food challenge as I need the carbs and was having trouble eating enough points! I know it's a "packaged food" but if I keep to grainy Burgen bread I think it's ok. Also having low fat cheese and low fat yoghurt.

Today looked like this...
B. (pre-supermarket, thus pre-challenge) 1 slice grainy toast with peanut butter, 1 banana (4)
L. Wholegrain sandwich with ham, cheese and tomato (4)
D. Roast beef (just used a little olive oil), 1 med potato, pumpkin, asparigus, broccoli and corn (6). And for sweets some low fat yoghurt and 1/2 a banana (2.5)
Snacks. 1 handful of raw mixed nuts and seeds and 2 peaches (3)
Total: 19.5

Ok... better go eat some more- It's gonna be hard making up 32 points with all this fresh low point stuff!!

Ash
xox