Festive westie!

Break

[caption id="attachment_460" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Westie's new hiding & sleeping spot... under the xmas tree!"][/caption]

Ok so there's simply  no point in jumping on the scales over christmas! Too many parties etc. That's not to say I won't be eating/drinking in moderation and trying to keep up some exercise -  because as we all know, it's a lifestyle not a diet. But I just won't be as nazi psycho as I normally am during the week. I'm going to give myself a break from the scales until Jan 1 (to survey the damage!) and hope that I can retain a modicum of sensibility! I'm also on call for fires over xmas & new year so if I get called out my control over food and exercise will disappear! Band wise... I can eat pretty much anything (including a whopper with cheese which I had on Saturday!) which is so not cool. My next fill appt is 20 Jan and I'll seriously have to give some thought about some more fill - just so concerned about during TTOM when I can feel the reflux beginning.

Went for a swim last night. Was going to try for an hour but I was busting for the loo so had to call it a day at 1500m (30 laps of 50m pool)  in just under 45mins. I was stuffed! Shoulder started to ache at about the 1.2km mark but held up ok.

Thanks for your comments too, you know I love em!

Anyway, if I don't pop in beforehand, I hope you all have a fantastic christmas and happy holidays.

Em :)

Flip

I was so sure I would bounce below the 77.7kg having sneaked a peak yesterday morning (ok I do this most mornings) to find I was in the low 77's. So you can imagine how happy I was this morning to weigh in at 77.8kg. Mutha-farker. Dinner out last night wouldn't have helped, but I only had half a greek salad and half a piece of cheesecake (shut up). I drank so much water that I had to pee about 10 times over night. Should have gone to the gym before dinner I know but pilates was tough at lunchtime and my arms and legs were soooo sore. Anyway, I was sad this morning to not see a new lowest weight ever. So much so that (and I'm warning you now that there is too much information ahead) I sat on the toilet for about 20mins trying to "vacate my bowels" and then proceeded to tidy myself up "down there". Didn't help. Still 77.8kg.

Sigh.

Swimming and other stuff

So last night I beat my personal best in the pool for 1km - 29mins 45 seconds. Last best time was over 31mins so I was stoked with that. I really pulled hard against the water in freestyle and I was flying sometimes! Wanted to swim for an hour but I've got an issue with my left shoulder and it aches after rotating it for that long so I stopped at the 1km mark.

Have been getting quite a few comments about me looking really slim lately despite my stupid plateau. I can only put this down to wearing clothes that fit me. I'm still pulling out my 16's and 18's because I'm putting every cent I have into our wedding account so can't afford to be buying new clothes. But every now and then I've been picking up some things on special from Target, Just Jeans which seems to have brought the comments out of the woodwork. It's nice. For so long GB has been the one to get all the compliments and comments about his weightloss (and rightly so, he's put in such a mammoth effort and looks fantastic) so it's nice that people are finally noticing my changes too. So my advice, wear clothes that fit - it's good for the ego! haha

I'm planning on buying some "pretty" swimwear for the honeymoon. I found a really nice tankini in Myer in the Jennifer Hawkins Cozi range (can't find a pic online sorry!) so might use some xmas money to buy that.

Speaking of the wedding, got a letter to say my dress is ready to be picked up. Very exciting. Will be interesting to try it on because I've bought a size 16 because my hips were borderline 14/16 at the time I was measured and they said it's easier to take it in than to let it out. Going all by my lonesome coz neither of my sisters can come with me! My dress alterations are booked in on January 18th with the dressmaker. Have semi finished the invitations. Well the main invitation is complete but we're working on the RSVP and wishing well cards now. Will hopefully  have them all ready to go by Christmas.

Cancelled my appointment with Bowater on Friday and now booked in on 20th January with a new doctor Dr Warren Jones. Never heard of him. Guess the surgery is getting too busy for just Watson (who I don't think does adjustments at all anymore) and Bowater.

Anyhoo, better get back to work!

Em :)

Up and Down

Story of my life right there! Whilst I'm residing fair and square in the middle of plateau town it's easy to forget how far I've come. Yesterday I read Cara & Amy's blogs who reminded me that it's not all about weight. So I thought I'd reflect some if you can bear with me!

 There are plenty of other benefits to having lost 57 odd kilos (from heaviest) - that's 125lbs for my American friends. I remember not so long ago, it would take me 5-10mins to recover from walking a flight of stairs. ONE flight of stairs and I'd be huffing and puffing and about to cark it! My fitness has never been better. Even though I still can't run the 5kms I want to, after the 3kms it only takes me a minute or two to recover before I can start jogging again.

Something I think Cara mentioned I can totally identify with. Whenever we were out I used to look for the most sturdiest looking chair (and nothing with arms, that I'd have to squeeze my butt into!) to ensure it wouldn't break under me. Sad but true folks!

I love the fact that my entire day doesn't revolve around food anymore. I'm not thinking about where my next meal will come from! To be perfectly honest, I'm rarely hungry and now when I eat it's more because I'm looking for something sweet or because I know I have to eat something!

And even though I suck at pilates, I love that when I'm doing some stupid ab movement it looks like I have a super flat stomach and I can feel my pelvis bones! Nevermind the fact that the fat has just slid to the sides! haha

I'm currently wearing a size 14 pretty comfortably. I really want to be a size 12. Clothes on, I look ok but I really hate my body. My upper arms are flabby which I hate because of my weirdly disproportionate mid-upper arms. Like my shoulders are ok, above my elbow looks fine, but the bit in the middle is oddly big. Has always been that way and my sisters say they've definately gotten smaller, but anyway...I'm definately going to need a tummy tuck at some stage. Even though my skin bum bag (that's what it feels like!) has reduced in size, it's still there and I hate it. Boobs? Well boobs are like bags of marbles. I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but I had a breast reduction when I was 17. My boobs were huge. I can't even remember what size bra I used to wear. Anyway I went down to about a C cup. Now I'm about a B cup but they're really unattractive boobicles.

Here's some before/afters as I know some people love pics.

[caption id="attachment_444" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="Graduation March 08"][/caption]

The first one was about a week before banding. Obviously I'm in a giant cape so it makes it difficult to see how big I was but there you go anyway! The second one - well I can't find a recent full length of me but hopefully you can see my teensy waist! And my gorgeous fiance who will kill me if he finds out I've put his pic up but oh well!

[caption id="attachment_445" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="October 09"][/caption]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anyway, I wasn't going to weigh in this week after 4 days down south eating junkfood and drinking wine, plus nearly no exercise (except for yesterday) but I though I'd jump on the bloody scales anyway and found I was back to 77.8kgs (300g loss this week). Thank you TTOM! It's so weird how you can work out and eat well and not lose, put weight on and then have a super dodgy week and lose.  But I'll take it. Coming up to the silly season which is soooo hard to keep on track. We've got multiple parties every week till New Year so I'm going to TRY to be sensible. I'm no nun though, so guaranteed there will be alcohol and lots of food but I'm going to attempt to get in my 5 days/week exercise and definately keep the water intake up. And it's going to be 37C and 39C this weekend - FARK! (98F & 102F) so maybe I'll sweat some fat off! hahaha

The band is in a pretty good place right now, even though sometimes I feel like I can eat too much. But over TTOM I was really tight - quite a few PB's and felt a bit of reflux so I don't want to make that any worse than it is. But I'm not hungry and usually satisfied after a smallish amount so that's good. I am booked in for a fill next Friday but think I'll postpone it another month.

The boys did the Busselton Ironman last Saturday and I was soooo proud of them. To recap, the Ironman is no normal triathlon it's a 3.8km swim, 180km cycle & 42.2km run. They finished it in 12hrs42min (middle of the pack). It was awesome. Bloody hot day though and the poor dog wasn't handling the sun and the swarms of people well - she had a couple of vomits, but we took her for a couple of swims at the beach while the cycling was happening (we only got to see our mate go past every couple of hours) and she loved it!  Cooled her down no worries. It was really nice to get away for a few nights and we went to Watershed to speak to our wedding coordinator to finalise a few wedding things which was fantastic.

Good luck to Girl Bandit, who's having the operation on Monday!

Funny tidbit - normally I average about 40 views a day and then a couple of days ago I had 280!!! And still no extra comments! hahaha Not sure what caused the spike but I hope people are getting something out of my ramblings!

Later,

Em :)

Whatever

So I put on 500g last week. Want to hear my excuses? Nah me either. Suffice to say it was the curse of the weekend again. This week is the week before TTOM which I traditionally put on due to fluid retention. That sucks coz it means I prob won't make my 77's kg goal for the Spring to Summer challenge. Also tomorrow we take off for Busselton for the boy's Ironman Triathlon. We're staying till Monday too which means lots of food and drink (eek). Going to make a big effort to exercise while I'm down there to minimise the damage. Given my weigh in day is Friday, not sure what I'll do. I can either take Thursday as my weigh in, or bring my scales with me. Hmmmm

Started work at 7.30am this morning and I'm flipping exhausted... and hungry. Trying to hold on til 12 before lunch though. Might finish early though as I have a super sucky headache at the moment. Early mornings do not agree with me! (and yes I know that 7.30am isn't terribly early for some people but it is for me!).

Anyhoo, just had a catch up on your blogs and see that everyone is pretty much going well - good for you guys! I've tried to comment on most.

Best get back to work,

later gators,

Em :)