Week 10 Update

I've returned from holidays, and over the last few days I've been wondering where I found time to do blog posts! Anyway, here I am again. How hard it is to get back into real life after holidays! I was thankful to not have to work on Monday, and was so thankful to get back to the gym. Such a funny felling, but it was like walking back into my 'home'. I had a great workout Monday - rowed 2500m in exactly 11 minutes.

 

But Tuesday was tough. Having a headache most of the day I still went to the gym, did my weights session but left before my usual RPM class. I felt better for it, but still, it was a little disappointing. It was also Tighten-up-Tuesday (TuT), and while I was all set to go without my coffee, I honestly was almost finished my coffee with breakfast until I realised that I'd just habitually made my coffee while my porridge was cooking! So, I went with it and focused on remembering to go herbal tea at morning tea!

 

So, weigh in Wednesday... +300g... But that's OK, I had a fantastic holiday, and I can smash those extra grams away this week. Ultimately my goal is to weigh under 90kg by the end of the round. It's almost 3kg away, but I'm going to give it my all.

 

I was very happy to get back to cooking the fantastic 12wbt meals this week too! And I've just this week got a a new housemate who is also loving the food! So nice to have someone to share the meals with, and she's been quite amazed at the ease of preparation, and the taste too! So, onto the photos.

 

Berry Smoothie - What a great option for breakfast first day home after holidays. There was a definite lack of food in the house, but there's always some long life milk, frozen berries and muesli, so what to do but make a liquid breakfast? And it was great and tasty! Will try it out again for sure.

 

The Vietnamese Beef & Noodle Soup - I almost swapped this, but decided for the sake of TuT to keep it. It was really flavoursome, and a huge serving (or was that just me?) so it overflowed out of my small soup bowl, hence the need to have 2 bowls!

I have never really got into chickpeas before 12wbt. But, I made hummus during the last couple of months, and have been willing to give them a go. And the vegetable and chickpea pies were great! Packed full of flavour, and really big! The filo went beautifully crispy, and it was all round a winning dish.

 

And finally this week, Lamb Biriyani! Yummo! I was disappointed not to be able to cook this last week due to holidays, so I swapped it for the lamb dish that was in this week. And it certainly didn't disappoint. Super easy and quick to make, and packed with flavour. It got a 10/10 from my housemate - rated even better than the previous favourite vegetable and chickpea pies.

 And so, week 10 is half-way through, leaving only 2 weeks to go in this round. Yikes! I am still planning on signing up again for round 3. But before that there's finale fun in Adelaide! Anyone keen to join the road trip from Wagga??

12wbt vs Holiday

I wasn't sure which one would rule this battle at the start of the week, but now I've proven that 12wbt wins hands down over holidays!! What am I going on about, you may well ask... I've just spent a bit over a week away from the safety of home, work, gym etc where I can 'easily' follow the 12wbt program (as long as that inner teenager is locked in her room). But, is it possible to stick to 12wbt when on holidays?? YES! With a little bit of planning, thinking ahead, and a dose of JFDI, it is certainly possible. Here's how:

I printed off all of the week 9 exercise plans for both gym and outdoors, so there was no excuse for where I worked out. And then I promptly left it all on the backseat of my car at the airport! No worries, the iPad was my friend, I just had to use my memory a little when I was outdoors!

I chose to stay in a self contained apartment, so I had a small kitchen to be able to cook meals in when I wanted to. This also helps cut down food costs!

• Breakfast - except for 1 day we ate breakfast in the apartment. I just went with one choice that I knew I loved and would keep me really full - apple cinnamon porridge!! Yummo!
• Lunch - was often eaten out, but choices such as salads (dressing on the side), ham & salad sandwich (multigrain, no mayo, no butter thanks), and non creamy soups (no butter on the toast please), made those choices ok too. 
• Dinner - this was a mixture of eating in and out, but when we cooked we had 12wbt pizza, or a lovely fresh chicken stir fry etc.
• Snacks - I decided to really try and limit any snacking since I wasn't in control fully of all my meals, so it made it a little easier to think about eating extra calories in those meals I wasn't cooking. And not snacking meant I had a few extra cals up my sleeve for a glass of wine with dinner, I was on holidays after all! But, the purchase of some whole grain rice crackers meant I staved off some munchies pre-dinner some days.

Tighten-up-Tuesday was probably the thing that was hardest to control while away. I did get outside and exercise in the morning, even got a couple of cars tooting as I was doing burpees by the river in Noosa!! So glad no one knew me up there, I really do look a sight (terrible) doing burpees. My breakfast and dinner were clean. Only snacked on a few whole grain sakatas. BUT, I did have a coffee in the morning, a cup of tea in the arvo, and a glass of wine with dinner. But if that's what TuT looks like holiday style, it's probably not too bad. 

The rainy days got the better of me by the end of the week. I hate going out and exercising outdoors in the rain, I'm such a sook, and I know it's a poor excuse, but it is what it is! I suppose I could've found a gym nearby, but they're just so expensive for casual visits. So instead I chose to manage my eating to the best I could, making good choices, and just let it be!

Having said that, despite the rainy patches we did a lot of walking, around the streets, exploring, at the markets, through the national park...  None of it was at any great pace, but we were active and not sitting on our bums all day every day. That's gotta count for something! Even an SSS, of sorts, we wanted to walk around the headlands through the national park, and so Saturday morning was the time! 5.4km one way - uphill (stairs for the first bit from the beach up to the top), a bit of bushbashing on a partly imaginary path, across beaches, and finally onto a nice normal path down into Noosa. 1.5 hours, and 460 calories later we stopped for breakfast - and I chose a fabulous bircher with fresh strawberries and berry compote!! The original plan was to walk back to our car, but as we left the cafe and looked to the sky we saw looming grey/black rain clouds, and so decided against. Good decision since it was raining before the taxi dropped us back at our car! Here's some photos of the walk...

And so, after 10 days away from home, who's the winner of 12wbt vs holiday?? I'd say it's an even competition. The holiday was enjoyed, and I still maintained some progress on my 12wbt journey. Well just leave it up to weigh in Wednesday to see who the real victor was though :-)

Prior to heading up to Noosa I also sepnt some time with my parents, and introduced them to some 12wbt recipes. Mum was certainly impressed!!! Here's our 2 lunches - roast pumpkin & herbed ricotta open sandwich, and the smoked salmon, cottage cheese and capers sandwich.

 

Wrapping Up with Costs and Payoffs

Costs & Payoffs

This week's mindset video was a real challenge to look at the costs and payoffs associated with both achieving and not achieving my goal in 12wbt; to then figure out which one was where I wanted to head.

I was more challenged by this than I thought I would be. I was fine with the first few questions, but even just writing my answers to Q5 - The cost of NOT achieving my goal - I was starting to get a little freaked. It was like my pen was writing more honestly than my mind could think. The costs were:

Nothing will change,
Always feeling unhappy and disappointed with myself,
Feel like a failure,
Lack any self confidence.

As I was writing I was thinking "gee it must be awful to feel this way" when I realised that's how I used to feel. All the time! And then when Mish asked us to find the answers we were most fearful of, well it really wasn't hard. Nothing else on my pages were as fearful as those few statements.

Hence this little exercise cemented for me the fact that whatever it costs me in time, money, effort, pain, organisation, saying no to food/drink offers... was completely and utterly worth it. Because I don't want to go back to feeling the way I used to about myself. In just 7 weeks I have moved on to such a brighter place, and I just simply can't let myself go back.

So, what's been on the menu this week???

I loved the broccoli soup, simply fabulous! The first photo was taken half way through!! Sorry after carefully arranging the croutons just right for the photo, I promptly forgot to take it and dug in to my 'shrek' soup!! Mum thought it would be a bit green, but I text her the photo and she said it looked much better than she imagined!! And the other photo is my lunch the next day.

If you asked me what my favourite meat was I'd say lamb - and especially lamb shanks. So wasn't I a little overly excited to find shanks on the menu this week. They were simply irresistable! Full of flabour, tendy, juicy etc. Definitely a winning dinner party dish!

As promised a photo of the chicken zuchini and ricotta pita pocket. It wasn't as good as the first one I made, namely because it had no chicken!! A complete oversight on my part and I had no chicken in the freezer to cook. So I improvised and chucked in a bit of lite swiss cheese.

I haven't photographed many of my breakfasts, perhaps an indication of how much time I'm lacking at that point in my day! This weekend changed all that - check out the fantastic treat I got on Saturday & Sunday - Best cooked breakfast ever! Grilled haloumi and mushrooms.

And last but not least - Spinach and Ricotta Fil Triangles. Tasty, and quite filling. They would definitely make tasty little finger food options if you were entertaining guests.

The Weekly Challenge 
I set myself the task of stepping up to the next level and completing 2000 dips! Did I make it???
Monday = 250 at the gym & 250 at home
Tuesday = 50 (gym)
Wenesday = 300 (home)
Thursday = 150 (gym) 100 (home)
Friday = 300 (home)
Saturday = 100 (gym) 400 (home)
Sunday = 100 (home)

YES!! I did it!! That total comes to 2000. So very proud of myself for seeing it through to the end. And even nailing the higher amount than intermediate. And for some more fun, I'm going to be posting a special post dedicated to the tricep challenge!!
 

So what's coming up in week 8???

I'm dedicating week 8 to be freezer week!! Huh? Well I seem to have acquired a number of leftover meals, and I'm off on holidays on Thursday, so I figured it was the perfect week to use up those meals. And what a nice low key way to wind down before holidays.

 

I'll be heading up to see my parents, and then flying up to Noosa for a week. And I'm certainly looking forward to some sunshine!! And I'm determined to stay on top of my diet and exercise too while I'm away. However when I'm staying with my parents I thought I might cook up a few 12wbt faves for them - what would you suggest??

Week 7 Updates

Update:

Loved today's weights session at the gym! It was tough, but doable, and I smashed it. I love working legs, and in particular got to 115kg on the leg press without too much trouble. Looking forward to doing that pyramid set again and going higher still. That said, I still hate planks of any kind - normal, reverse, side... Give me legs any day.

 

It's weigh in tomorrow, and I snuck in an earlier peek at the scales this morning. It's sitting at 700g at this stage - which I really pleased with!! If not only because that's exactly 10kg from my beginning weight. So all I'm hoping is that tomorrow morning it can be just that bit more so I can break the 10kg barrier.

 

And for those who leave replies on my posts - firstly thank you! It's lovely to read your stories and words of encouragement. But secondly apologies if it seems as though I haven't replied - in fact I have been, but it's taken me 6 weeks to figure out that I need to use the reply button not the comment button - I've been leaving comments on my own blog!! I have already mentioned that I'm a little technologically challenged haven't I...

 

Food:

The Veal Involtini was Sunday nights dinner, and it was lovely!! I wasn't too keen on the polenta, the texture was not really my thing... But the veal itself was lovely, and I must say looked fairly impressive when sliced up. (And don't forget that we eat with our eyes first!!).

 

 

The Antipasto Pita Pocket - Yes I've had this for lunch before, but it was just as good the second time. I couldn't be bothered buying pita breads and found out that half a Lebanese bread was the same weight, so I made a little toasted sandwich! And it was really tasty. A great lunch for a cold and wet day.

 

 

Hmm, I had another pita pocket for lunch today - zucchini, ricotta & chicken, but I was too hungry to photograph it before I started chowing down! But never fear, it's on the menu again later this week - look out for it in future posts.

 

Dinner for tonight was Beef & Broccolini Stir Fry - I love a nice quick dinner that you can whip up in a flash after work & the gym, this was great. And I know I'll feel good tomorrow for all that red meat after the weights session I did tonight.

 

 

 

Weekly challenge - 1500 tricep dips

Here's where we stand at the moment...

 

Monday = 250 at the gym & 250 during TV ads at home

Tuesday = 50 at the gym (yep, getting sore already!)

 

So that's week 7 until Tuesday night. Hope everyone else is having a good week, and ready to jump on those scales in the morning. Happy dipping too everyone!!!

Half Time Wrap

Halfway today!!! I can't believe it, the time has flown by, I almost feel like it's coming to an end... But it's only halfway, and this is a journey for life!! Although it is a real 12 weeks of focus too. I have to admit though, its been a blast. I have loved every minute of it, ok so maybe not the choc indulgence minutes, but they taught me some valuable lessons too. And I've lost over 9kg already, it makes it seem like another 25ish is possible!

I've been thinking about going to finale... I'd love to go, but it's a fairly long trek accross country to Adelaide, theres the cost too, and who to take with me??? Anyway, I probably should decide really soon, or the decision will be out of my hands as there'll be no more tickets left!!

The food this week has once again been great. I've posted some photos throughout the week, and here's the last instalment.

Chicken Tikka - how good was this!! I don't really like cauliflower that much, but puréed with plenty of tikka sauce over it - divine!! Like a thick chicken tikka soup. Definitely wanting to have this one again. And everyone was jealous of my leftovers at work the next day :-)

 

 

Beef Mousaka - I wasn't sure about this one, and in fact I made it with lean lamb mince, since it was left over in the freezer. Yum! I was pleasantly surprised. And best of all there's a serve left over in the freezer for emergency.

 

 

 

Cinnamon Apple Porridge - love it!! I didn't think I'd be able to give up my love of oats and porridge, especially coming into winter, but gave it a go! Surprise - I actually have enjoyed having different breakfasts, and they've kept me nice and full which is my most important criteria for breakfast. But today I got back to basics again and pulled out the porridge with cinnamon apple - love love love!! The sweetness of the apple means no need for brown sugar or honey or the like, and it's warm on these frosty wagga mornings, it's basically a warm Bircher muesli, now how can you say no to that!!

 

(sorry no photo - porridge doesn't photograph well, but you know what it is)

Chicken & Guacamole Wrap - So I cheated a little with this one, and just sliced the avocado onto the wrap. But gee it was delicious! Nice fresh flavours, great after an SSS.

 

 

 

Looking forward to next week (eek! week 7 already):

Tricep Dip Challenge!!! I am totally on board with this one. I love tricep dips (strange I know). After 1500 of them perhaps I won't love them as much, but I'll give it a go for sure. And I'm even thinking about pushing myself to the 2000 mark since I've neglected some other challenges (push ups and planking) but we'll see how close I get to 1500 first!

Lamb Shanks!!! I love lamb, in any form, but who can resist a slow cooked shank? Totally looking forward to this dish, even if its only a small serve, it'll be packed with flavour!

Pyramid Sets - Leg Press!!! I think I'm a bit in love with the leg press, it's something that I can do, and something that I can push a heavy weight on too, so I'm really looking forward to challenging my legs on this. I'll be sure to let you know if as a result I can't walk the next day!

 

I hope everyone else is smashing it out at the halfway mark too. And if not, there's plenty of time left, all is not lost - challenge yourself to turn the last 6 weeks around and blast through to the end. Good Luck!

Another Weigh In... Another Win!!

Well it seems that my body loses weight in a 2 weekly cycle. I smashed weigh in again today, and made it (well) under 95kg!! So excited to be 93.9kg - now that seems weird. But starting at 103.3kg puts it in a bit more perspective. OK, so I did have a few binge sessions before last weigh in, and so tightening my eating and increasing my exercise again this week has worked. Preferably I'd be a little more consistent week to week and just lose a little each week, but every 2 weeks is working for me at the moment. Note to self - remember this next week if the numbers aren't fantastic on the scales!!!

What else am I loving today? I am loving having an RDO!! Although it means working more hours each day that I do work, I love that I can have a day off every couple of weeks. And usually I fill them up with tasks, some enjoyable (eg hairdresser appointments), others just necessary things like getting to the post office, paying bills, seeing the doctor... But today I have completely had a day off! Enjoyed a nice lie in this morning, spent some time reading a book, catching up on emails and 12wbt forums, and of course the live chat session last night which I missed. In fact the most arduous task I've done has probably been 2 loads of washing!! I love the chance to refresh my body and mind with a complete day off free from any pressures of the world around me. OK, admittedly I have not yet done my gym session today, and so an RPM class tonight will really jolt me back to reality.

 

So onto the food this week...

Turkey, Swiss Cheese & Pesto Toastie - well what could be wrong with that! All my fave ingredients in one. I'm a sucker for anything pesto! It doesn't look that exciting in the photo, but it was delish!!

 

 

Vegetarian Paella - I wasn't convinced by the tofu in this one, but true to my 12wbt commitment I gave it a go. I made an SOS call on the forums to see what tofu I should get, and some tofu fans helped me out (thanks you!). And guess what? It really has no flavour, and the texture wasn't too bad! And I promise it really was in there even if you can't see it.

 

 

I hope everyone else is happy with their weigh in results, and looking forward to the last 6 weeks of this round of 12wbt!! Go well peeps!

 

Back on Track with the Weekly Wrap!!

So it's been a mixed up week, and if you've been reading along you'll know why. Most of the time it had to do with chocolate and a 900g weight gain. But that's life, I've moved on and I'm back on track. I did not like the place I was during the week when I'd eaten a block of chocolate. I also didn't like being in the place where I was all of a sudden looking for any form of junk food I could possibly lay my hands on. I am however enjoying a clearer mind space, and knowing that I am making the best choices now.

 

So barring Wednesday and Thursday, this week was actually OK nutrition wise. On all the other days I stuck to the 1200 calories (even under a couple of times). I think the biggest highlight was going out last night with some friends to a new bar in town. It's a pretty cool place, they don't serve food - but you're allowed to take your own!! So, I drank water all night (they'd run out of mineral water!) and I ate my own tasty snacks. I'd made hummus and guacamole to take, and cut up carrot and celery sticks. Now I have to admit I did eat an awful lot of those things, but even so I came home full and didn't eat any other form of dinner. So I'm pretty certain I was well within daily calories! And better yet, I've got left over dips to have with left over celery sticks for snacks this week. Winning all round there! I was just so glad I didn't do the whole "I'll just have one..." thing. Because we all know one leads to two, leads to many more than you need.

 

The challenge this week has been to get into bed early! Easy!! I am normally in bed by 9pm, so 9:30 was pretty easy. Although I just scraped in last night getting home at 9:30, but the lights were out by 10pm! So now I have 15 minutes to finish this and get to bed.

 

And so some photos to finish off with... I think I forgot to photograph things this week because I don't feel like I've got many. But the cajun pork with coleslaw was lovely - I really enjoyed the coleslaw, I think because I liked the dressing. I've never liked coleslaw dressing before since I don't like mayonaise, but in keeping with tradition I tried something new and had the dressing - I think I love dijon mustard in anything!

 



 

And tonight for dinner I made the Mediteranian Chicken. I love dishes that are one pot wonders and this is definitely that. It was a great serve for one, but could easily be made in larger quantities if you were having more guests. And nice bright colours in the vegetables. And I promise that despite appearances there is definitely no fat or skin on that chicken, I just didn't photograph it's best side.

 

 

So, here's to a new week - week 6. In just 7 days the half way point will have been reached and we're on the downhill run to the end of this round. But I think I'm almost certainly signing up again. This has been one of the best things I've done for me and my health in a long time. And in my opinion great value for money!!

 

 

Ack! Nerves...

I'm starting to feel a little nervous.. What about?? Well it's weigh in Wednesday tomorrow. And as the saying goes - "if I've done nothing wrong then there's nothing to be nervous about" - Yes, and there lies the issue!

 

My little (or not so little) chocolate over indulgence on the weekend has left me feeling a little nervous. I know it wasn't the right thing to be eating, and I regretted it, and I didn't like how my body felt after eating it... But it's done, and now it's time to face the consequences. It was a slip up, and I'm back in the game again, so not all is lost. And I think the feeling after the binge has taught me I don't want to be doing that any more. So there's lessons learnt as well.

 

What about some highlights from the last few days??

 

• I smashed out a 20km ride yesterday for my mini milestone. I had originally hoped to ride further but that was more than far enough, and 868 calories gone!! So next milestone I'd love to go further, maybe double the distance?? A little adventurous, but hey, why not!
•  
• I'm really happy that my head's back together after the journey to chocolate-ville and back again.
•  
• I'm looking forward to the 12wbt pen-pal project, and thinking lots of fun things to send off to my pen-pal. Yes, and of course I'm looking forward to getting something in the mail too!
•  
• And it wouldn't be a list of highlights without mentioning some food highlights would it?? Fabulous 2 days of food... (but not my best photography skill - apologies)

 

Thai Beef Salad for lunch Mon & Tues - will definitely be making that again, and who would've thought of just buying the rare roast beef from the deli - too easy.

 

Pesto Pasta with roasted pumpkin and tomatoes - Yum Yum Yum! I love pesto anything, and this pesto was lovely, light and fresh, not too heavy since it wasn't made with oil. A great pesto recipe.

 

 

And finally dinner tonight was Jerk Fish. Yet another fantastically tasty fish dish. I am just so happy that I've discovered a love of fish, and have a great collection of fish recipes. And little boiled potatoes on the side, they were kinda tasty too (and I'm not a huge potato fan).

 

 

And so there's the last 2 days in a nutshell. Loved having a bonus day off work thanks to the queen's birthday, and looking forward to having Thursday off too. It's going to be a great week. Just gotta get over the weigh in tomorrow. But all I'm hoping is that there's no gain, I'm not too concerned if there's no loss, but please no gain!!! 

 

 

Week 4 Weekly Challenge

Week 4 - The challenge is to try one new recipe or ingredient each day! Great!

So here's the pictorial view of the latest weekly challenge...

What new foods have I eaten this week???

Monday = Red Onion

I was not at all convinced I would like eating this amount of raw red onion (having never done so before). But I gave it a go. All I could smell was onion when I opened the container, but to my surprise there was no harsh taste of onion, and I looked forward to having this for lunch again on Friday. I did however stock up on gum to ensure that I didn't breathe onion breath all over my patients all afternoon!

 

 

Tuesday = Corn on the Cob

So yes, I have eaten corn before. BUT I have never cooked it on the cob before. I'm more a frozen kernels kinda girl! But with some help on the forums, I popped the corn in the microwave for 3min and out came delicious moist corn. I almost started snacking on the other half of the cob!! Delish! And so easy!!

 

Wednesday = Frozen Spinach

 

Tonight's dinner was a pasta bake, and it included frozen spinach. Now I had to hunt through the freezer section for this. But tucked up in the corner I found it. Hmm, probably not my favourite ingredient, but I didn't expect it to be considering I don't really like spinach anyway. And I found the past bake a little lacking in taste (probably the first meal so far). But I ate it, and even had the leftovers for lunch Thursday too, so it can't have been all bad.

 

 

 

Thursday = Bluberry, Apple & Rosehip Tea

So, I  have never been into herbal teas, but since starting 12wbt I have given it a go, and surprise surprise it's not as bad as I used to think. If you get teas with enough flavour they're OK. I'm really liking the twinings range, and so I've been buying a new one to try each week. This was this weeks variety and it's pretty good (my fav is raspberry, strawberry & logan berry!).

 

Friday = Apple & Strawberry Puree

 

Well, back to baby food for today!! I had the breakfast crumble this morning for breakfast, and quite OK I must say. And it kept me feeling full until morning tea, which is pretty good considering there's not a lot of muesli in it. It's tasty, but I think I'll try stewing my own apples & strawberries rather than eating the packaged stuff.

 

 

Saturday = Kale

 

Now this was a real new experience. I have never eaten kale before. I wasn't sure I'd like it. But there was a bunch sitting fresh and pretty at the farmer's markets this morning, so I thought, why not! I'll wilt that for my dinner tonight instead of baby spinach. The verdict... I probably should've stuck with the baby spinach! At least I know I like that. But, nothing ventured nothing gained. The rest of the meal however was beautiful!! Well worth the extra money I used to buy fillet steak. Yum! And roast beetroot and pumpkin... What can I say!

 

 

Sunday = Tinned Salmon

 

Now, let me just put it out there that 4 weeks ago I had never eaten salmon before in my life - thinking that I didn't like fish! I have since discovered that there are some varieties of white fish that I quite enjoy. BUT I have been nervous about this meal all week. If the challenge hadn't been on I would've swapped for sure. But I enjoyed the fresh salmon in the stir fry in week 1, so I've given the tinned variety a go. The verdict... I ate it. I did not enjoy it. And needless to say I won't be eating it again!

 

 

So, at the end of the week there have been some wins and some losses. New foods and meals to add to my repetoire, and others to put aside for others to enjoy. But, this week, as well as the past 3 weeks of 12wbt has taught me to try new foods and things I think I won't like. You never know what you like or don't like until you've given it a go. Yes, we say that to kids all the time, but sometimes adults need to hear it too!

 

I hope you've enjoyed my version of this challenge.

What have you tried?

How did your week go?

 

 

 

 

 

Anyone up for a Challenge??

So this week I had a mid-week slump... Wednesday... I attacked the hot chocolate left in the pantry with a vengence, followed quickly by the fruit crumble in the freezer (yes I did wait long enough to defrost it - barely)! BUT I turned it around by Thursday!!!

 

Wednesday night I went through the fridge, freezer and pantry looking for any culprits that might take me down again in an attack of the binge and threw them out! Wasn't that meant to happen in pre-season?? Well, yes, but I was still a little attached to them. NOT ANYMORE! Gone!!!

 

Thursday I was blessed with an RDO from work, and I had a lovely relaxing morning reading, listening to the rain (which is rare out here in the country!), flicking through the 12wbt forums etc. So I decided to go to the gym, and owing to the fact that I'd missed Wednesday's cardio workout I decided to combine Wed & Thurs together in one big session! Headed off to the gym at the best possible time of the day - it was practically deserted! And smashed out 2 sessions, with some step-ups in between. 953 calories gone, and I am no longer worried about the slump, because I am back on track!!

 

Now, step-ups... Why would I be doing that? Well, The weekly challenge for week 3 was to do 600 step ups. And, well, I'm not that into weekly challenges. Why? Because they sound like pain! Week 1 was to create a vision board, I almost did that. Well in my mind I created it, but it never actually took form in reality. Week 2 was 300 push-ups. Now I can't do 8 without dying, so I was not about to take part in that challenge. So week 3 = step ups. By now I've pretty much set my mind against the challenges, so I figured I wasn't going to. But, somehow my turn around on Thursday made me want to start. And so I'm 100 down of the 600 target. And since I only started on Thursday, I'm letting myself have until next Wednesday to finish them off. Only 500 to go!

 

This week's challenge is going to be a blast! It's something I feel like I've been doing since day 1 of this 12wbt. It's all about each day, for a week, trying a new food or ingredient! Now I've said it before, I've been amazed at what I've actually liked. And so here's some pictures of meals from week 3 each with a new food in them that I've tried. Sometimes I feel like there can't be that many left! But bring on the challenge!!!

 

Roasted Vegetable and Cous Cous Salad - delicious! I added a little chicken breast too (since this was my treat meal. But please note the presence of eggplant!!

Spicy Chicken & Cous Cous Salad - This was tasty, but probably not the best of my cooking - I'd like to try it again, this time cooking the couscous properly (it was a little too wet). But if you look closely you'll see a few little green olives poking their head up. I won't lie, they weren't my favourite part of the dish, but definitely edible.

Hoisin Beef Stir Fry with Spring Vegetables - my action photo!! This was dinner last night and it was very tasty. You'll see in here some asparagus spears. Never had it before, not really sure why not, couldn't really figure out if they have much flavour or not! Definitely nothing too offensive.

 

So now all that's left is to see how I go with completing my steps ups! I'm pretty confident I can smash the new food challenge! But, is anyone else up for that challenge???

  

Thursday's Tales...

I've oficially survived week 1! And more than that, I'm well on the way to surviving week 2 as well. So what have been some highlights from the past few days since I've last posted??

• I have overcome a number of temptations - sitting at work with a box of chocolates right in front of me; biggest morning tea at work; baking a cake and NOT licking the bowl or tasting the finished product! These are just some of the things I've overcome and would definitely not have done so before starting 12wbt.
• I have managed to get to the gym at times when I was feeling tired, and really just wanted to be lazy and sit at home.
• I have learnt the power of having made the commitment to myself (and all other 12wbt'ers) that I was going to give this program my all - it has worked!! That is what makes me get to the gym, say no to temptation, cook dinner, each night, try new foods etc etc.

 

And since it's Thursday (yay tomorrow is Friday!) I've also survived the dreaded Wednesday weigh in. So how did I go? Well, I lost 1.7kg in the first week, which is a total of 3.8kg so far. OK, so was I a little disappointed seeing 1.7, knowing that I had done all the workouts and not messed up my food at all? Yeah, just a little. But then I tols myself that that number was great, and if anyone else had lost that much I'd tell them it was fantastic, and it doesn't matter how much the number goes down by - just as long as it goes down!

 

Finally, a few pics of the fabulous food I've eaten thus far into week 2. The fish stew was amazing (a massive serve too), and to think I almost swapped it out (thinking I didn't like fish - I think I'm converted). I had Asian chicken patties with warm noodle salad Monday, Fish stew Tues, Lamb meatballs & a tabouli mountain Wednesday, and tonight tasty steak with mushrooms (photos appear in that order).