New Year, New Goals.

So it's a new year and customary to make new goals. You would think that as this is mostly about weight loss, that it would be all weight loss goals? Not quite.

One of the biggest things I learnt in 2013 was that how I am living the rest of my life has a direct impact on my weight. Or more accurately, what I eat and how much I exercise.

One of my main goals last year was that no matter what, I was to keep exercising. This meant that no matter how stressed, how sore or in pain, how tired or fat or emotional, I just had to keep going.

Mostly that meant sticking to routine and forcing myself to say 'yes' whenever my trainer confirmed an appointment. It also meant that when I was sick or sore (I had some back problems late last year) to talk to my trainer about alternative exercises we could do, or simply doing as much as I could outside of training.

I am glad to say that this was something that I kept up and most weeks I trained at least 2-4 times a week. That may seem low to other people losing weight, but I am working on creating a long term lifestyle change and 2-4 times a week is something I can commit to long term. Heck, I've just done it for a whole year!

I think being able to stick to this one goal has meant that I could focus more effectively. Sure I could have half a dozen goals that I am working on, but when things got tough, that was the one thing I couldn't break. And I have noticed the difference. In the last month alone when everyone has been complaining about not fitting into their summer bikini or favourite dress, I was buying new clothes and squeezing into a pair of jeans that are no longer too small for me. Hallelujah!

Another of my goals for 2013, was to get back into my arts and crafts more. Which I have been doing, I have been painting something almost every month.

I am so glad that I made this a goal and committed to it. I had forgotten how much I missed it and it has made a huge difference in how I feel. Painting for me has always been an emotional vent, often this results in very abstract and bold paintings, sometimes though I am in a more serene state and will do some watercolour landscapes. For me painting has helped me to handle stress, to be more patient and find my inner peace, and to vent my feelings onto something other than food. NEVER underestimate how important this is.

So, two goals for 2013 that made a huge impact onto my life. What will I concentrate on in 2014?

My diet is a major goal for me this year. I will not be going on a diet but I really want to concentrate on eating right and making sure I am not sabotaging myself. Which is what I am doing, particularly when stressed.

Apart from that, I really want to tick a few things off my bucket list. Things like skydiving which I can only do if under 99kgs. Things that I would like to do while young.

Another area I want to work on is using my time and money more effectively. I feel like I have done pretty well cruising along. But once I have a house this will change. I feel like if I can get into some good habits now, it will help tremendously down the track.

I hope everyone else had a great break for Christmas and the New Year and I look forward to reading everyone elses goals and aims for the year ahead.

Simple is the new mantra of Summer.

Finally we have some sunshine here in Perth! You can't imagine how happy that makes me!

I'm a real morning and daylight person. I pretty much go into hibernate mode as soon as the cold, night, chill creeps in. I'm sure you can appreciate how this might slow me down and affect my weight loss.. except this year I made a conscious effort to not skip my workouts. To make sure that I at least went to as many as I could unless I was sick and to eat a lot more soups than other comfort foods.

And it worked! Out of all my trainers clients she says I have made the most improvements this year, going from 2x 30min session and one boxing session late last year, to upping it to first 2 x hour long sessions, then adding the 2 boxing sessions and finally adding in the stairs session as well, as I realised I needed to keep pushing myself.

I now train a minimum of 3 times a week, often 5 times a week (group classes are cancelled from time to time due to numbers). And I feel great for it. I have noticed a huge improvement in my fitness and overall well being and stamina. Especially since starting doing the stairs. I have also lost cm's as proven by my clothes and need for new ones.

Something I realised is that if I didn't push myself over winter, it was only going to make it harder in summer. Because then I would have had the extra kgs over winter to lose as well, and less time to lose it.

While numbers on the scale is not what I am really care about, being able to look good and feel good in my clothes is. I want to be healthy. In all senses of the word.

As always, I am constantly tweaking and cutting back. I am not one of those people who can go all or nothing, instead I focus on one part of my diet and work hard to make that part right. Once I am used to say, not drinking soft drink or cutting back on coffee, then I tweak my diet somewhere else.

Eventually I would like to say that I create all my meals myself, including sauces and condiments, and that it is as organically produced as possible.

At the moment I have started concentrating on increasing my protein, but cutting back on my meat. I truly believe that we eat too much meat. Especially as both lunches and dinner can include meat of some sort, plus we eat larger portions than what we should. There is also a cost factor, which as someone soon to be a first home buyer, I need to keep in mind.

So at the moment I have been concentrating on not eating meat for lunch- by meat I mean I would usually eat chicken or ham in a sandwich. Instead I have been focusing on having vegetarian sandwich's with eggs and salad or roast vegetables or salmon with salad.

Since doing this I have felt unbelievably better. It took me a while to understand what the source was, but I eventually realised that by not eating meat so often I felt lighter and healthier. I was naturally eating more vegetables to help keep me full and this was also in turn making me want more healthy, vegetable laden meals.

Not to say that I am now eating vegetables with every meal and pretty much a vegetarian. I'm not. As I live at home, I often have limited choices with meals. But all in all my diet is much better than what it was.

My next step will be to improve my snacks (which aren't bad, but I need something a bit more filling so I'm not tempted by that piece of chocolate in the afternoon) and start improving dinners.

Other things, non-diet related, that I have been working on, is getting back in touch with my creative side. I am proud to say that I have started painting again and that this makes me amazingly happy and relaxed on the weekends.

I also have decided 'simple' is going to be mantra this summer. Simple living, simple clothes, simple room, simple meals, simple lifestyle. Nothing complicated or hard. Nothing cluttered and meaningless. Quality over quantity, essentially. No more wasting time or money on cheap jewellery or clothes when I can buy one good pair of jeans or dress which will last longer and do more for me.

It's time to start appreciating the small things in life; sunshine, friends, family. Not spending money on material possessions.

It's time to keep things Simple. :)

Inspiration: What keeps me going.

There are often days that you just wonder why? Why am I still doing this? Why do I put myself through this for no reason?

Why should I have to watch what I eat? Why should I have to exercise and be sore and tired all the time? Why, why why..

The reality is we know why. Or I know why. Because I didn't take care of my body. I didn't look after it, respect it, give it what it needed and deserved and I ended up overweight and over 100kgs before I took stock of myself and where I was going.

I realised that I did NOT want to be an overweight mother who couldn't run after her kids or who died early from a heart attack. I did NOT want to be the fat friend who constantly missed out on things. I did NOT want to say no because I was ashamed of my body.

And to make that happen means hard work. All the time. It means a lifestyle change, it means never going back.

But there are some days when the doubt creeps in, those days when everything seems too much and you just want a break or give up and cave in to your cravings and indulgences.

On these days it's good to stop, take a breath and remember why you started this journey in the first place.

For me it's about the above. It's also about me fitting into clothes that I've never felt comfortable wearing before (figure hugging clothing, a bikini, sexy lingerie etc) . It's about becoming the person I want to be, the person I see in my head.

I found this really great quote on a postcard today: 

"I want to experience it all. At this very moment. Without hesitation."

Which I think sums it up pretty well what I want- without hesitation. I don't want to hesitate because of my weight or insecurities. And that's why I keep struggling, keep moving, keep exercising and eating well and moving forward. Because one day, I can say that is me.


This is an example of what I would love to look like and wear. Though with a little more curves ;)

Seeking balance and making new goals.

Lately I have been quite busy, with work and my social life, training and starting to date again.

It's left me feeling a bit scattered, unorganised and not in the right space mentally.

Thankfully for me starting this weekend I will get some down time and can finally relax and get myself on track.

A few things that have been happening lately:

I have started an online interior design course, which I just submitted my first assignment for and am now starting the second. It has been a few years since I studied and it's surprising how hard it is to get back into it, but I enjoy design and history, so I'm quite liking the course.

I am building a house. I am just finalising the home loan papers and then I have to start picking out my colours, ranges, tiles etc and all that. So that is going to be taking up some of my time and money. But it will be well worth it next year when I move into my own home.

I have started doing stairs with my trainer, this means that I am working out a minimum of 4 sessions a week, sometimes 5. It also gives me more variety and something else to try and improve. It is both disheartening and encouraging working out with women who are 10 years older than me and who are fitter and healthier than me. Thankfully they have also been on this journey a lot longer than me.

I have started dating again. Jesus, what was I thinking? It has been both nice and disappointing. Nice to know that there are genuinely nice guys out there and that I must have something going for me. Disappointing because I have yet to find anyone that I have a connection with. Plus there are some serious losers out there. Sad, but true.

I am slowly undergoing a make over. Longer more natural looking hair. Getting my nails done, and changing my style a bit. I want something a bit classier but still a little eccentric. I like my bows, buttons, patterns etc but time to tone it down a little. I want something more sleek and toned- kinda like the body I want!

I am trying to get my arse together and organise a few trips before I move into my house and have a mortgage. Hopefully go to Ireland, Canada and maybe Fiji or something. I want to do something because I know once I have a mortgage money and time will be hard to find and it will be at least a few years before I will be able to go travelling again!

Lastly, I have decided that when I move into my house I want to have a few of these things done. Like travel plans out of the way. Down to my goal weight (I really hope so!). Finish my interior design course. This is giving me some motivation to get things done- it's only a year away after all!

This year was/is for me and my personal life. Next year it will be about financial goals and getting some more experience/tools/training under my belt. Do some volunteering and work experience (interior design) and start looking at my career goals. That and I suspect I will be focusing a lot on DIY and craft things for my house. :D

As you can see a lot going on and a lot more to come. But I want to live life to the fullest so that means tackling things now, not later. Particularly as I want to have a family and who knows how that will affect my time and money.

Building blocks

Last week was a big week for me. Thursday night I sat down with mum and a man from Homebuyers Centre here in WA and by Friday afternoon I was building a house and had secured a block of land!

It's only a small block with 3x2 on it with a small courtyard out the back and double garage but for a young single person it's all I need right now.

I told my friends on Saturday night and they were equal parts excited and 'you crazy'. To them owning a home is too much of a commitment or simply costs too much. They look at me in surprise when I say that I managed to get my deposit together myself, it was just that the bank wanted me to pay my HECS (university fees) off first which I needed mum's help with.

I understand that they have higher living costs than I do. I live at home and contribute to bills and cooking and the food and all that but I don't pay rent.

On the other hand most of my friends are earning more than me or have been working for longer than me. I have only been full time for a year and a half. I'm 24 in September.

What it comes down to is motivation, focus and perseverance. I was lucky, I got used to living on a budget when I was at uni and haven't got out of the habit yet. Which means at the end of the first few months of working full time I realised I needed to set myself a goal or I wouldn't know what to do with my money. (Sounds silly doesn't it?) So I decided to get into the property market. Here in WA houses are EXPENSIVE and really hard to get into. There are just so many people wanting to buy at the moment (there were 12 other people who wanted my block of land!!). So I wanted to get in while I could and hopefully in a few years I'll be able to sell and move into something bigger... that's the plan anyways!

Now I want to use that same determination to losing the weight and making changes permanently. At the moment I have been trialing a few things but haven't found anything that I have really stuck to and got results. There are other things I want to do as well, for a more well rounded life balance.

So here are a few goals I have set for the next 6 months or so:

Save really hard. Yup I'll need all the spare cash I can get for things that pop up and for those initial moving in costs.

Stop drinking. I'm not usually a drinker, but lately I have had so many bdays and the like that I have found that I'm drinking almost every weekend. And I don't like it. So besides for my friends bday in June, I don't want to drink for the next 6 months. At least.

Cut back on the take away coffee. I usually will have a nice cup of coffee 2-4 times a week. That can mean $20 on a coffee a week! Sure I don't do this all the time but I need to get out of the habit of being tired and going and spending $5 on a nice cuppa in the morning. I want to get it down to 1-2 times a week initially and then down to twice a fortnight, or once a week.

Bring/ make my lunch at least 5 times a week.  I have been training more lately which means in the evening I come home exhausted. All I want to do is shower and go to bed. I need to get in the habit of getting myself organised in the evenings as in the morning I just get up and go, go, go.

Get back into my craft zone. I used to do a lot of art and craft things when I was at uni and younger. Lately I feel that I need to get back in touch with these roots. Maybe I can even do a few artsy pieces for my new place?

I want to increase my incidental exercise. But it's also going into winter here and I hate the dark and being wet. So not sure yet how I am going to combat that.. will look into it further and report back!

Staying Positive, being strong and most of all be HAPPY!

The weight loss journey can be a long and trying one. There are lots of ups and downs, emotional and physical battles to be fought. It can be hard on you and everyone around you. It can affect your relationships and change your lifestyle to something completely new and unexpected.

It can also be really hard to stay positive. Especially when you are particularly stressed/emotional/sick/tired/injured and just plain unmotivated. It could be that you're not doing as well as you like, or someone in your life is doing "better" than you. It could be that you have something come up, at work or in your personal life, which demands all of your attention.

The important thing is to stay positive. To think of the good, not the bad. To think of the future not the past.

I am probably the biggest girl at training, including boxing. Not necessarily the most unfit (or at least not that far behind) but probably one of the biggest.

Yes, that can make me feel bad. Especially when we run as a group and I come last. I am not a good runner. I hate it.

When they talk about how much weight they have lost, it can make me have negative thoughts.

When they talk about how dedicated and motivated they are I often wonder why I bother. I am clearly not on their level.

When they talk about their next challenge, to run 10km, to bench press 20kgs, to hold a plank for 2 minutes etc I think, I'm not even close to doing half of that!

And yet, when they talk about their journey, they talk about the 5kgs to go. The stomach or the arms they hate. The loose skin that they despise. The friends they have lost because they didn't understand. The calories they have eaten that day. The workout they are going to do to make up for having a bite of a piece of cake or a glass of wine. (I am not saying that they shouldn't work it off, just pointing out obsessed they can be.)

Do they talk about how happy they are? How great they feel? How far they have come? NO.
Do they not understand that there are hundreds of thousands of women that have never achieved what they have, and would be happy with just that.

Listening to them talk makes me feel like I'm not doing enough. I am not pushing myself hard enough, that maybe I should just give up now because I will never be like them.

But then I think, I am happy. I am happy with where I am, who I am and what I am doing. I am committed to what I am doing, I am continually improving and getting better. But most importantly I am positive and happy in my life and it shows in my relationships and work.

I do not want to get to my goal weight and have it not be "enough". I am not one of those people that thinks that once I get to my goal weight everything will fall into place. It doesn't work like that. I know because I've been there before and I yet I gained weight and ended up at the beginning again!

I don't want to be miserable for the next 9 months and then once I've reached my goal suddenly be happy and want to go out with the friends I've ignored and might have lost because I've been focusing so much on me and weight loss.

Because it does take a long a lot of energy and time and effort to lose weight. BUT it is so much easier when you are happy.  I have found that since accepting myself and leting myself be happy, committing myself is so much less effort. Yes I believed for far too long that because I was fat, I shouldn't be happy. I  didn't deserve it.

It is so much more positive to be happy. It is less emotional guilt tripping and stressing because I have not reached a goal by a certain date. It is about being happy with the successes and continually improving so that there is only more to come. It is about enjoying myself, enjoying exercise and enjoying healthy food.

It is not about comparing myself to others. It is not about being disappointed in myself or thinking I am not good enough. I am good enough.

For everyone out there that is struggling: stay positive, be strong and be happy with your successes. Think of all those women out there who haven't even taken the first step to lose weight. Who might never have the chance to. Remember that there is always one person out there that will look at you and wish they were like you. Yes there is always at least one!

Fellow weight loss peeps will probably think that I am being unrealistic in my approach. That I am not being rational by not setting goals and reaching them, weighing myself on the scales every day and counting my calories every day. That I am too relaxed, that I am not disciplined enough.

Only time will tell right?

Progress report + some exercises you can do at home

So yesterday's sesh went down well, and because of the types of exercises it would be a perfect one to do at home.

So I do an hour work out, starting off with a 5 min warm up, normally on the treadmill. Then it was 3 rounds of 6 exercises. Usually this would be timed and you would have to do this as fast as you can, but because the exercises used weights and could easily injure someone if not done properly, we didn't time it. Once I realised just how easy it was going to be to injure myself I took it slow and steady until I felt comfortable with the exercises. Beating a time is not worth being injured!

So the exercises. You will need a step, a 5kg weight, a 15kg weight, towel and low bench. If you don't have the weights, just use something around the house that you think would be the equivalent.

First exercise: hold the 5kg weight in one hand, step up onto the step (both legs) then lift the leg on the side that does not have the weight and bring it up to your chest ( your knee is bent at 90 degrees). To work your core you should lean back a little as well. As long as your core is tight you shouldn't fall back. But be careful and take it slow until you feel comfortable.

Bring your leg back down to the step. Step off. Step back on and repeat. Do 10 on one leg, then swap the weight to the other side and do 10 on the other side.

Once you do that get down off the step and settle into a sumo squat with the 15kg weight in the middle of your legs. By bending your legs and keeping your back straight, grab the weight with both hands and bring up until your legs are straight. Repeat this 20 times. BE CAREFUL TO KEEP YOUR BACK STRAIGHT!!

Repeat the first exercise.

Next exercise: lay your towel down with the step at your feet. Place one foot on the edge of the step so your knee is at an angle. Lift the other leg up into the air as straight as you can. Now keep it there. Using the leg that is resting on the edge of the step raise your hips up as far as you can. Now lower slowly back to the ground. Be careful with this one. It sounds easy but you can feel it really quickly and can easily pull something if you're not careful. Do 12 on one side then swap legs and do 12 on the other.

Repeat the first exercise.

Last exercise: You're doing a lunge, except instead of having your back foot on the ground, rest it onto the low ledge. Your back leg should be roughly at a 90 degree angle. Do 10 lunges on one leg and then swap and do 10 on the other.

You've finished round 1! Now to do two more rounds and then finish with 5 min on the treadmill and stretch.

The exercises sound really simple, and easy, but I could definitely feel it into my second round and by the third I was starting to struggle. Good Luck!

Now to my progress:
At the moment I am doing a minimum of 3 sessions a week, with a second session of boxing thrown in on the weeks when I'm not busy. So I end up doing 2x hour sessions of PT and 2x 45 min of boxing most weeks.

So since I have upped my training I have really noticed some changes:

• I'm eating smaller portions.
• I am eating more fruit.
• I have lost about 5 cm around my stomach and another couple around my waist.
• The other day I wore a dress that I haven't worn in about a year. It hadn't fit before then.
• I need to get more bras because they are all getting to big. Not happy about that one!
• I can stop myself from eating mindlessly i.e. I open a packet of chips and can put them away unfinished.
• I have stopped buying "snacks" for my drawer.
• I am having the biggest cravings lately for salad rolls and fruit salad. Seeing as it's a good craving, I am indulging in it!
• I have started reducing my dinner portions- this is the one I struggle with the most.
• I tried on one of my old work shirts, a size 14. It fit except for the arms. So note to self: need to work on arms!!

So all in all, not bad. Especially as it is only in April, and I want to get down to a size 12/14 by the end of this year.

Here is a group photo taken of my friends a few weeks ago. Myself (green scarf) and my friend in the yellow, have always been the "bigger" girls in the group. But when I look at this photo I feel like you can't tell that I am that much bigger than my friend in the pink, who is a size 12. I still have a long way to go, but it's nice to realise I don't look as bad as I think I do!

Bushfire Drama and learning to take pride in myself

So yesterday was a bit of a drama. One of the hazards of living in Australia is that bush fires do tend to occur, particularly if you live near bushland and in hot, dry summers and on a windy days.. well, lets just say that not many people are surprised if a fire or two pops up.

In the last year or so we have been evacuated 2-3 times. Nothing has ever reached our house, thankfully, and no lives have been lost but several homes, sheds and gardens etc have been destroyed.

Yesterday we got the call/text msg that we had to get out of our homes while I was at work. Often I think it would be easier to be at home when these things occur, at least then you are able to hear and see for yourself, rather than relying on second and third-hand information and patiently waiting for the latest update on the news and radio.

So after a stressful afternoon of fearing the worst I managed to get home fine,  hearing on the radio that they had it all under control. It was 4.45pm. My trainer msgd me saying training was still on at 5.30pm.

I can tell you right now, that all I wanted to do was to go to bed. To curl up and be grateful nothing had happened and finally not let me mind run around in circles, imaging what I would do if the worst had happened.

I have also been tired, so so tired. And feel like I am getting a cold. Which does not make me feel any happier.

All these things were running around in my head, even as I went and put my exercise clothes on, grabbed my keys and walked out the door.

She put me through a killer work out, and I came home even more exhausted and tired, and sore. But more importantly PROUD!.

More and more I am winning. I am going to training, and I am killing it.

No I am not as good as some of the other girls that I occasionally train with, but compare to where I was even two months ago, I have come a long way. I am training harder, longer and better. I am more determined.

And all I can put it down to is the fact that when I came back from holidays I decided 2013 was going to be my year and everything just shifted. After all I believed it was my year.

And people are noticing. Mum has noticed, and started to be proud and admire my dedication, rather than constantly watching me put another mouthful away. My work mates are noticing my weight loss, my trainer is thrilled and pushes me harder every day.

And my clothes are getting bigger and looser (?) and I am so happy.

It is tiring and painful. But it is worth it. Finally I can be proud of myself and my body again. :D

Setting February Goals

So what are your goals this month?

Despite grabbing Macca's on the way home.. that's Micky D's for you Americans.. I'm feeling pretty good about Feb so far. Possibly because my food intake in general has been really good, lots of fruit and veg, eating my cereal every morning and exercising more.

Less stress is also a huge one! I'm feeling far more relaxed and determined this year, that might sound like a contradiction, but being stress free about other things unblocks my mind to focus on me.

So let's keep that determination going with some monthly goals!

1. Before each training session I want to jog around the park.

So normally before boxing (which is at a park next to my trainers house) she would make us jog around the park as a warm up. I suck at running. I'm too heavy, I haven't done it in a while, and I start panting before I even start running (jks). Anyways I decided that I wanted to get better at this, and to stop myself from being the only one who can't jog the whole thing I would do it every time I go to training. So far so good!

2. Get a massage.

Ok, so probably not what you are expecting right? But I have been reading a few articles lately that say how important it is to treat yourself and your body with things other than food.. and massage was a suggestion. Seeing as I have only ever had a massage once in my life, and because now finally things have settled down and starting to be less stressed I thought it would be really nice to treat me, mum and my sister to a massage.

3. Eat fruit every day.

Ok so I haven't done this every day, but most days so far. I know a lot of people go on about not eating too much fruit, but I am one of those people. The benefits far outweigh any natural sugar you might consume. That and for me it curbs my sugar craving for unhealthy foods such as chocolate. I also really struggle to eat fruit, unless it's in front of me, chopped up and ready to eat, I probably won't eat it. So I want to change that.

4. Simplify my food.

Something I have been noticing lately is that if I reduce the number of ingredients in my food, it is a lot easier to prepare, I know exactly what it's in it,  and often incorporates more of the things that benefits me. Such as having a steak and veg, and no gravy. Having a ham and lettuce sandwich rather than some fancy salad, kebab or other prepared meal that I don't know what it contains. I can also focus more on what I am eating and each flavour involved.

5. Reduce my lunch sizes, increase my snacks.

So I tried increasing my lunch size so that I wouldn't snack outside of the 3 meals and it didn't work. Instead I was eating a massive lunch, dinner and snacks. NOT GOOD! So now I am going to reduce my lunch size and increase the size of my snacks. Clearly I am going to snack no matter what, so I need to make sure I can incorporate this into my diet. For snacks I have the choice of yogurt, fruit or corn cruskits with avocado and ham. 

Woo a few more goals than I thought I would do! But I think each of these are really important and if I can do them, even for just 80% of the time, then I will be in a lot better place by March!

**On a side note, I am finding it difficult to find clothes at the moment, my body shape is changing and what I know used to look good on my shape has now changed. I am also well and truly fitting into size 16 clothes- one of my personal goals, and one step closer to my final goal of getting into a size 14!

Welcome Back!

So welcome to the new year: 2013!

Have you decided what you are doing this year? Travel plans? Weight loss goals? Personal/life goals?

The new year is always a time to recap and decide where I want to go in the future. It's a time for me to evaluate how much I did in the past year and decide where I want to go in the next year, and I don't just mean weight loss.

2012 was a big year for me- a lot of firsts happened. My parents decided to get divorced, I started working full time, I decided to get my training underway in April and finally take control of my health and weight. I let go of a lot of personal issues and started to build what I think is a healthy relationship with myself.

So where do I want to go in 2013? Well for starters I have a bucket list, and while I knocked off a few things last year I still have a few more to go! So this year I think I would like to go Bungee Jumping, get my boating licence and learn how to dance.

Dancing is something I have always enjoyed, even if I am not very good at it :P For new years I was lucky enough that a couple of young men were teaching me to fox trot and it made me realise just how much I wish I knew how to dance properly. I just think it is one of those things you miss out on now as a young person.

So I have decided 2013 I am going to learn a couple of new dances :)

Besides for my bucket list, I really want to change the way I train this year, possibly because my living circumstances are about to change as well. I am looking at swapping from evenings to mornings now that I am moving closer to where I am training and I am thinking of getting back into bike riding and walking now that I will be living closer to maintained footpaths. ( Where I live now is rural and there are no footpaths and the roads can be quite dangerous to ride- there have been a few accidents before.)

Besides that I have decided to volunteer a few times this year. I work for a charity, so I am quite familiar with volunteering, but I would like to get some new experiences outside of my organisation. Also a couple of my close friends are going abroad this year, so I see volunteering as a good way of meeting some new and interesting people.

Saving money is always a goal with me. I am one of those people that really wants to be financially secure and thinks about money a lot. Probably because of having a father that went broke. It something that I think has become ingrained and that I never want to be that way in my own lifestyle.

Finally, while I have progressed really well in the last year, I have come to a plateau. Partly because now that I am finally fitting into "normal" clothes and feeling good about myself I have lost some of the motivation to lose my weight. Something I need to keep reminding myself is that while I have lost weight, I am still a far cry from healthy or normal.

Right now I am probably a size 16, almost all over (which is a first because normally I have huge differences between top and bottom!) but I really want to get down to a size 12/14 which is the average size of a woman in Australia.

So time to get more motivated!

Inprovements:fitness related

So last night was my last session over the Christmas period. Not because I am lazy and cutting it short, but because I fly out this Friday for 3 weeks in Sweden!

So to celebrate my trainer made me revisit one of our previous sessions and see how well I have improved. I think I did this session maybe about a month or so ago now?

Basically it is 4 exercises which you have to do 10 of at a time and complete 3 rounds in as fast as time as you can. I believe last time I just made it through 3 rounds before my half hour was up.

This time I smashed the 3 rounds and still had 10 minutes to spare. So she made me do leg drops (one of my least favourite exercises) except that even these went well for me!

So today, despite feeling a tad sore, I am feeling mightily pleased with myself for improving.

I have also promised her I will try and do something everyday that I am away and that I will send her a picture of snow, and me exercising. Otherwise I might get a message on facebook checking up on me :P

Got to love me trainer!

Looking into the new year, I have already decided that I would like to amp up my exercise. At the moment I am doing 2x 30 min personal training sessions a week and a 45min boxing session. I think next year I would like to up my PT sessions to an hour, and am still deciding whether to do another boxing session, or to try something else.

This will probably be my last post before I go away, as I can't guarantee Internet access while I'm away, so I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and I hope that the new year brings everyones new found resolutions and dedication a wonderful reward.

xox

Me, my life and where I want to be..

This is not a weight loss post. This is a more general where I am at, where I want to be and how I am going to get there post. You know.. one of those.

Where I am at..

So right now I am 23 years old, I live at home, I am overweight, I work full time for a not-for-profit that helps children with a disability by providing therapy services.

I am single. I have great friends. I am going to Sweden at the end of the year for 3 weeks. My parents are divorcing, we are moving house. My younger sister has moved out with her boyfriend, has a house, dog, birds and I swear all the latest gadgets.

My brother is working and generally enjoying being 18 (legal age to drink in Australia) and his gap year while trying to figure out what he wants to do at Uni.

Oh, I only finished uni last year in July.I have a degree in Mass Communications; Public Relations and Film and TV.  I only started working Full time at the beginning of the year.

Where I want to be..

In 3 years time.. I want to be a healthy size. I want to have a boyfriend. I want my own home. I want a new car. I want to have/will be travelling again. I want to have paid off my HECS fees ( uni fees) .

In truth, I want a lot of things.
But then I have never been daunted by the impossible. It's all about setting goals, planning, breaking things down into bite size pieces that actually look achievable. THINKING POSITIVE.

It's part of the reason Mum loves me. Especially with what she is going through right now (divorce) simply because rather than letting her be overwhelmed with everything, I make her break things down and face what she can do right this instant. Everything else has to be put off until she can do something about it.

No point worrying about what you can't change. No point in making yourself stress and be sick and depressed over the things in life you can't do anything about. You'll never get past things by making them bigger than what they are.

How I am going to do it..

Well I have been looking into buying a house a lot lately. How to do it, what I need to do etc and I have decided me and Mum are going to buy an investment property together and rent it out.

I've already saved $10k this year and plan on doing the same next year. If mum puts in the same we'll get a pretty good house and land package. In 3 years if we sell it, we should have something like 3 times what we initially invested. If all goes well of course.

3x$20k .. I could buy a car. I can pay off my HECS fees and I would be able to put a down payment on a house, just for me.

Hows that for a plan?

I'm already working on the losing weight, great figure, boyfriend part. (To be honest though the great figure +house+ car +no debt is more important than the boyfriend part)

Lucky for me I'm a good saver. After all only last year I earned under $20k and now I'm earning twice that. Rather than go woohoo! look at all the things I can buy - well I did, a little. But I already own a car and I like living at home (Mum likes it too so it's ok people with disapproving glances!!) so instead I started thinking about where I wanted to be in life and how I wanted to get there.

Because you see, I don't want to end up fat with loads of health problems. I don't want to rely on my partner or family to help me own my own home. I want to travel and go on holidays. I want to be set up for retirement and not worry about going on the pension or going into an old person's home.

I want to be a great example for my kids. I want to give them great experiences and education in life.

And all that takes money. And money takes planning and saving and working hard.

And if I start now, then maybe, just maybe I might actually make it happen. Even with detours and mistakes on the way.

Heavy I know for a 23 year old. But I've always been told that I am an old soul.