Stats

Well, happy campers, it looks like a bit of hard work is called for!! I went for measurements in May and have lost a whole 1/2 a kg since then. This still does not put me back to what I was in April. And the centimeters!! Good heavens, mr evans!!! Looks like it all went to the legs and waist. Mandi gave myself and Henk (newest training partner) a goal-setting talk today. The idea is to be 100% motivated and committed.

My new goal is to lose 3kg of body fat by 28 August '08. Also to lose centimetres in the stomach, hips and legs. And to increase my fitness levels.

In order to achieve this my focus will be on self-discipine. I find that I am eating way too much in this cold weather. Who wants a salad when it is freezing? So it is time to start eating properly. Especially in light of our new project. Watch this space!! I will fill you in once it is confirmed.

PS: I had to create a new ticker cos I forgot the password to the old one!! Silly me...

Where is the motivation??

It is winter and how difficult it is to watch your eating in winter!! Did body stats again the other day and it was not as bad as I thought it might be. I picked up 0.9kg in body fat, which is less than I expected. I even picked up some muscle, which is good though it caused my total body fat to increase by more than 0.9kg. I don't recall the exact total weight so I am going to increase my ticker with 1kg.

Some good news, my dad is fine. He had a heart attack and a stroke and is recovering remarkably well. So I am back into my routine. I have been going to gym, though it is very difficult to get up and go when it is storming outside!! I have, however been eating too many things that I should not be eating. So it is time to set new goals and remotivate myself. Maybe I should aim at a percentage body fat instead of number of kgs? And by when? It is much easier to motivate yourself when you have a fixed event to aim towards. Stay tuned, I will let you know soon.

Update

Well, I was just getting back into the swing of things and going back to gym and back onto the treadmill when life throws a curveball. My dad is in hospital after a heart attack and stroke (at the same time) so I am in East London with my mom. It is very difficult to maintain a proper eating plan when under stress, I must tell you. My plan was, and still is, to try and do some running while here but I haven't had the chance to do so yet.

So, send some positive vibes this way, heaven knows we could do with them.

A competition!! Woo hoo!!

Jenny is running a competition for a new Wii Fit. Now I don't know if I am eligible, living in South Africa and all, but thought I would give it a bash. Actually I cannot compete with all the stories that have already been posted but maybe I will get some fellow GROWers to join me in my quest! I found Jenny through Crystal, her exercise story is hilarious! Go check it out.

Exercise and me have never been friendly. I did not do much sport at school and stayed quite thin, thanks I think to my mom's cooking and a tight budget. In my final year I boarded with a friend whose mother often baked. Well, that was the end of that! And the beginning of my battle with the evil exercise devil!! I have tried running on numerous occasions. I get shinsplints and cannot last 1 km. I bought an exercise bike. Hmm, it was used about 10 times over the space of a few years and then dumped in the garage. We bought a weight bench with a set of weights. Good coat rack and seat. The weights work well too for holding stuff down in the wind. I bought an Orbitrek cross-trainer. My son loves to play on it and it moves from the study to the sitting room to the bedroom and makes a good clothes rack. I even lent it to my trainer when she did not have one of her own. At least then it got used!

We have countless exercise books but I have not resorted to the videos/DVDs yet. I bought those weights which you attach to your ankles, the idea being to put them on while at home and have a workout while walking around. Yeah, right! The hubby bought me an exercise ball. Good for kids to play with but takes up way too much space and is now deflated in the cupboard. Oh, and my hubby bought that shock belt thing for himself that you put on and just sit around while it shocks your muscles into growing and becoming defined. Well, he used it diligently for about 3 weeks and it too is now in the cupboard. The punching bag would probably be used if it was ever put up. Anything else...... oh yes, skipping rope, hula hoop, sit-up bench, mat, etc.etc.

The most recent purchase was a treadmill which my hubby bought for me for our 15th anniversary. Not such a strange anniversary gift you will see if you read more of my blog. That has been the most successful to date. BUT only because I found the best exercise tool I could find - commitment. Yeah, yeah, now she's going to get all preachy on us, you might say, but I have to say that all the exercise tools in the world will not help if you do not commit yourself 100% to getting rid of the weight. I did not reach my target in April but am still very happy with where I am for now. My next target date is 30 June and I challenge all of you to join me, not for prizes but for the wonderful feeling you get when you can fit into smaller clothes and your husband can't stop touching your butt and saying how great you look!

40 reached. Target??

Well, good people (assuming that anyone actually reads this), April 26, which was the BIG PARTY, and May 5th, the BIG FOUR OH, have been and gone and total silence on this blog. What gives, you may ask. She clearly did not reach her target or she would be shouting it from the rooftops. Well, you would be correct in that I did not get to where I wanted to be BUT I am supremely happy with what I have achieved. Since I really knuckled down to this whole challenge in November I have lost 7.9kg in total body weight and 6.8 kg of body fat. And check those centimeters, 37 down in total! I am thrilled!!! I have however been so busy the last few weeks I just have not had a chance to update.

I feel so much better and I am fitting into clothes which have been buried in the cupboards for years, what's more some of them are even too loose for me! AND we had a splendiforous party as well. Ok, I have been running out of words for it but it was truly AWESOME!! I am still trying to sort out the photos as a certain amount of censoring is required, but as soon as I can I will be putting some pics up on our blog. Yes we created a blog for the party, aren't we in with the times!!

So, what is next?? Should I shut down this blog now that I have turned 40? Or should I set a new target and make sure I reach and maybe even exceed my original goal?? I think a little bit of motivation is required for my fellow GROWers who have been extremely quiet of late. Liz, Blondy, are you keen to set a new target date and do this thing seriously?? You can do it, I have proven that, all it takes is commitment. A colleague of mine recently started a new exercise and eating program and he has already lost 5kg. Ok, he has more than me to lose in total but 5kg is pretty great!

SO! I think my next target date should be the end of June. I am thinking of going to visit my mom for a week during the school holidays so I think that is a good date to aim for. 30 June - my new target.

It will be difficult since we are going into colder weather and it is really difficult to watch your food intake when it is cold. Hot chocolate!!! Hot pasta!!! Coffee and rusks!!!

Something to think about, I stopped exercising on 25 April and started again yesterday. 2 weeks of hardly any exercise (I did walk a little but not that much) and indiscriminate eating and drinking have taken their toll. I gave myself permission to not worry about it for this period so I am not beating myself up about it but I can definitely feel what happens if you let yourself go again. I have been feeling really yucky and have picked up 2 kilos again!! So in reality the figures above are not a true reflection of where I am right now but I am not doing stats again till end of May! And by then I plan to be well on track again. It just goes to show that this is truly a lifestyle change and I cannot ever stop. I can of course relax the rules a little once I have reached my target but will have to always be aware of going overboard.

SO WHO IS GOING TO JOIN ME FOR END JUNE???? IS THERE ANYBODY OUT THERE??? WHO WANTS TO GET RID OF THEIR WEIGHT????

Counting down...

Well, the party is on Saturday! Can you believe it! I have not been too good at keeping this blog updated, life has just been too hectic. But you'll be glad to know that I have been persevering and even though it is slower than I had hoped, the weight is coming off.

I have to say, when people ask me how I have lost weight, the secret is commitment. If you are not 100% committed then you will not get rid of the weight. You have to decide to start being good with your eating and stick to it. No more "I'll start on Monday" nonsense. You have to start now. Else you will keep putting it off.

On the exercise front, I realised that exercising twice a week was not enough. Most weeks I have been doing some form of cardio exercise at least 4 - 6 times a week. And by cardio I don't mean Pilates or yoga. Your heartrate must go up and stay up for at least half an hour. It is good to strengthen your muscles and tone your body as muscles use up more energy than fat so the more muscle you have the quicker you will burn off the fat. But you still need that cardio for fat-burning.

Then eating. I reduced my carb/starch intake a lot. I did not cut it out completely as your body needs some carbs to produce energy, just not a huge amount at a time. And preferably not after 6pm in the evening. Which was quite difficult to do when my FIL who has been staying with us decides to make supper as his supper is almost always a stew with plenty potatoes and rice! And I hardly ever eat bread anymore. And I cut out dessert. Not to say I did not occasionally sneak in a choccie esp. over Easter! But in general no dessert. Oh, and cut out the beers, ciders and fattening drinks! Very hard I know, but I switched to a light white wine instead of the sweet (and fattening and sugar-laden) rose's I had been drinking. And no sodas, including coke, Sprite etc. If I really had to have one then it would be Coke Light or Sprite Zero.

So that is how I have done it. I have not reached my goal yet so will keep going until I reach it and then after that I will still always be careful what I eat and make sure I get plenty of exercise in so that I can maintain that weight and not pick up again.

Body stats again on Friday, party on Saturday!! Here's hoping I have dropped a bit since last week!

April Update

Going down.........

Bad week

Well, since Easter we have been going downhill in the exercise department (the royal we, you understand, not implicating Liz and Blondy here!). Did the treadmill once over the long weekend then overindulged slightly. Ok, more than slightly!! I had some easter eggs, and some hot cross buns and some banana bread!! Then last week my son got sick, vomiting and the rest of it, a touch of gastro. I was totally amazed that I was up half the night with him but still wanted to exercise in the morning so onto the treadmill for me!
But...... he gave me his bug! So Friday was a bad day for me. And Saturday (but I did go for golf lessons!). Then Sunday I got real bad sinus and earache which have persisted so not too much more exercising going on.

Though on the plus side the weight has dropped a bit. I will go for measurements again next week.

Liz update

(Sorry this is a bit out of date, Liz better send us a new update!)

Well it's been a good week this week.
Last week the weigh-in didn't go very well. I gained 0.9kg and wasn't sure
why as the week was very good.
I was feeling a bit depressed but I persevered and had another good week.
At yesterdays weigh-in I was down 1kg and I'm at 90.9kg.
We didn't measure cm's. We'll do that next week.
I haven't been able to exercise this week.
Still reading Dr Phil.

Yay, 1kg down, let's crack that 90kg mark!!

Exercising at home

What happens if you need to exercise but are too shy to go to gym and don't like running? Or too self-conscious to run? I have worked out some things that you can do at home without needing extra equipment. I have listed some for you:

• Stepping: most of us have some steps somewhere at home. All you need are 1 or 2 so that you can do step-ups. Slightly higher steps are better. Do 30 reps (repeats) changing the leg you start off on.
• Run around the house: I am not saying you should just run around and around in circles but if you combine it with some of the other exercises it gets your heart-rate up.
• Shuttle runs: Run up and down the passage or the back garden, touching the floor at each end. Go fast.
• Lunges: walking lunges are brilliant for your thighs and bum. Do a normal lunge (without the dumbbells) and then step forward into the next lunge on the other leg. Lunge all the way up the garden or down the passage. Alternatively you can lunge in one spot and every time you come up you kick forward with the leg which was behind you. You can do this in a standing lunge or walking.
• Squats: Also great for your thighs. You can do a normal squat (without the dumbbells), just going up and down. Or a variation is to stop halfway up and go down again ie half a squat, or 1 1/2 squats. The sumo squat is another favourite of mine - NOT! Go down into the squat position, then jump up so your feet leave the ground but you stay in the squat position.
• Skipping: get a skipping rope. I used to hate skipping but now, although I don't love it I will even do it voluntarily now and again.
• Side kicks: stand next to a wall and lift your leg out sideways. Kick. Feel it in your waist. Do 30 or so reps. Up, down, up down!!!!

See?!! You don't need fancy equipment or to go running or to a gym. You can vary the above exercises, for example, run around the house (or the pool) 2 or 3 times. Stop and do 20 step-ups every time you come to steps. Do lunges up and down the garden 2 or 3 times, stopping at each end to do some squats. Then run around the house again or do shuttle runs. There is a lot you can do, you just need the motivation. And I can tell you this, you are not going to lose oops! get rid of that weight if you don't exercise more. I am going to do another post on bum and tummy exercises soon.

Update

Went for measurements on Thursday. Yay!!! Lost 1.7kg of body fat! Things are looking up! Plus
a total of 19cms since my last measurements in December. Unfortunately one of the first places to lose weight is always the chest but at least the hips are not doing too badly either.

So, how am I doing it? My approach so far has been to cut down on sugar and carbohydrates and to increase my exercise. I have been quite strict with the eating, refusing dessert, not eating pasta, rice and potatoes especially in the evening. I have been trying to drink more water. As you can see above my water percentage is up. This last week I exercised every day!! Can you believe it? I almost can't! Monday - treadmill, Tuesday - boot camp at the Zen studio, Wednesday - treadmill, Thurs - boot camp, Fri - treadmill, Saturday - spinning at Zen.

Whenever I am on the treadmill I use the time to catch up on programs I have missed, like Lost, Desparate Housewives, Private Practice. Works out well, since once you have removed the adverts, they are about 35 - 40 minutes long, perfect workout time.

The treadmill (in case you were wondering) was my 15th anniversary present from hubby. Some people may think it a strange anniversary gift but since we are both so into getting fit and rid of weight, it was perfect. I gave him a heart rate monitor!

Liz, I haven't forgotten about you, I left your latest details on my work email, will post it tomorrow. But I can report that Liz has also lost weight! Yayy!!

Does drinking make you fat?

There was an interesting article in the Fair Lady in December. They talk about the kilojoule content of drinks. So we watch what we eat and diet carefully the whole week but over the weekend we go to 1 or 2 social get-togethers and even though we don't overindulge in the food, we have a few drinks. What do you drink?

Here is a link to the actual article but they don't show the chart which was in the magazine which shows the exact calory and carb content of the drinks. I am not going to do the whole chart here but have picked a few to show you.

Update

Sorry for the long absence, fellow GROWers. My internet connection at home has been giving me problems, but hopefully it is sorted out for good now.

Well, last Tuesday I had measurements done again and they were not as good as I had hoped. I lost total body weight but GAINED body fat!! That means I lost muscle! Terrible, terrible, terrible!!

You know, I have been so good. I even resisted dessert on more than one occasion, even when that dessert included yummy caramel!! Well, I was suitably depressed about this last week and decided to have a chicken burger instead of a salad when I took Branston to MacDonalds for supper. Isn't it strange how we have a setback and then want to give up and eat more when we know that will set us back even more? Anyway, I couldn't actually bring myself to finish the burger I had less than half, then ditched the bun and just ate the chicken! I cannot even stomach their chips/fries which I usually love.

Sooooooo, it's back to business. My lovely husband bought me a treadmill for our 15th anniversary so I have no excuses! I know people may think this a strange anniversary gift but since we are so into the whole getting fit and healthy thing, he knew I would appreciate it. And I do indeed!! I gave it it's first trial yesterday morning. Anyway, I gave him a heart rate monitor plus a few other goodies, so we were thinking on the same wavelength.

Now for an update on my other fellow GROWers.

Blondy has been going through a bit of a tough time at home lately. I know this will reveal her identity to those who know her but most had guessed anyway and she has more important things to worry about. Blondy's mom has cancer and it has spread to her brain. Things are not looking good and I would like to ask everyone out there to pray for her(if that is your thing else just send good thoughts her way).

Here is an update from Liz. If you remember she was 92.1kg when she joined GROWby40:
I went to weigh yesterday. I'm down another 0.4kg to 91kg.
I'm happy with my progress so far although I thought it would be faster.
But slow is good for me.
I've started an exercise plan - I found it on Health24 and it covers 6
weeks. It will ease me into excerise again considering I haven't excerised
in more than a year.
I've also started to read Dr Phil's book on the 7 keys to weight loss. I'm
only in the 2nd chapter and haven't reached the 7 keys yet but he talks
about 'getting real'.
Finding a 'get real' weight and not some super-skinny weight that is not
attainable. I haven't reached the section with the weight tables yet and
I'm only starting with the goal setting section. But I will keep you
posted.

Well done Liz, as long as it is steady then slow is good. Don't give up whatever you do.

Responsibility

A bit of consciousness coaching which I learned from Mandi.....

How much responsibility do you take for GROWing?? 100%? 80%??

If you answered 80% then who has to take the other 20% resposibility? Do they know that they are responsible? Are they prepared to take on that responsibility?

If you keep blaming others or circumstance for eating badly then you are not taking 100% responsibility. You need to work around circumstance. I know I blamed comfort eating all the time. Once I was able to stop saying that I comfort ate and that's why I picked up so much weight, then I was able to start taking responsibility and that is when I started losing weight.
I decided that the only person who could take full resposibility for my losing weight was me. No more sneaking a biscuit or a packet of Niknaks when nobody was looking. No more having dessert or cake because, ah shame, it is so-and-so's birthday or Valentine's day and we don't want to hurt feelings or it is a special occasion which only happens once a year. Problem is that there are so many 'once-a-year' special occasions that they add up to 100 times a year.

So if anyone out there is offended when I refuse a second helping or dessert which you slaved over in the kitchen, then I ask you now to forgive me. I do not want to have to give you any responsibility for me not reaching my goals.

Addendum: Mandi has been for a number of courses in consciousness coaching and currently trains on them as well. She also does private consciousness coaching at the studio. I never went for any private sessions but she has been weaving some coaching into our training sessions. Seems to have done the trick. I will see if there is a website with more info if anyone is interested.

Going down....

Well, I have managed to have a fairly good week. Scale is down to 70.4kg at yesterday's gym session. I am only reporting on the measurements I get on Mandi's scale as mine is different and I do my full measurements using hers. Actually my scale gives a better reading as it is between 0.6 and 1kg lighter depending on the day. At the moment I weigh exactly 69kg on mine so that is great, means that I should be at least 70 on Mandi's. Yippee! getting into the 60's and out of the 70's!!

But, next measurements being done on Tuesday and this weekend is a minefield. I had pasta for lunch today, why I do not know. My excuse is that it is raining and miserable and the Pasta House is close and quick and easy and I was really sick of having provitas and hummus/cottage cheese which is what I have been having for lunch most of the week. I had lunch with an old colleague on Tuesday and I had a divine chicken salad, managed to resist the pizza and pasta which was all else on the menu.

Now tomorrow night I have been invited to a friend for lasagna for her birthday. Why oh why did I just have pasta!! F, I hope you are making salad as well!!

Report Back

Well, this last week has not gone as well as I had hoped for. We went out for sushi on Saturday night and had the special which was eat as much as you like for R98. Unfortunately they limit the types of sushi you can have ie only 2 portions of sashimi. So to get your money's worth you have to eat a fair amount of rice because they really load everything else up with it. And I did not do any exercise in between my normal gym sessions so am not feeling so great at the moment. Saturday here was an absolute scorcher. It was max 36 deg C with a very high humidity factor. So with the heat and some hayfever yesterday and today, the last thing I want to do is exercise. Oh, and on Friday night we had pizza. My limit was supposed to be 2 slices but I gave in and had 3! Naughty!!

But that weight is not going to disappear without a bit of persuasion on my part so I guess I have to put the weekend behind me and look ahead to the great bod I will have once I reach my goal.

How to cut fat

An interesting article found on News24 (thanks Lucy). Their tips make a lot of sense, most of it I think I do already.

How to cut fat
Fat makes fat. In terms of weight management, it is a killer: 1g of fat has almost twice as many kilojoules as 1g of carbohydrate or protein. Too much fat can also be bad for your heart.
It clearly makes sense to cut fat intake, yet you do need to include some fat in your diet – your body simply can't function without it.
It isn't hard to get the balance right. The golden rule is to limit unhealthy fats, mainly saturated fats from animal products and trans fatty acids (like hard margarine, coffee creamers and coconut); and to include healthy monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats from plant oils (canola and olive oil, avocado pear and peanut butter).
In terms of lowering your overall fat intake, here are a few useful tips:

• Always choose low-fat or fat-free milk and dairy products. These options can also sometimes replace cream in recipes.
• Go for soft rather than hard margarines.
• Wait until toast has cooled before spreading margarine or butter onto it, and spread thinly.
• Choose lower-fat (sometimes labelled light or "lite") options for mayonnaise, bottled salad dressings and margarines, and use them sparingly.
• Avoid using two "fats" (for instance butter plus peanut butter, or mayonnaise plus avocado) on bread. Choose one, and don't go overboard.
• Remove all visible fat from meat before preparation. Steer clear of the skin of chicken and other poultry (ideally remove it prior to cooking; if not, definitely remove it before eating).
• Eat red meat only two or three times a week. Use lean meat options, such as lean mince, lean beef or lamb, ostrich or venison. Just so you know, the fattiest meat is lamb, followed by beef, pork, chicken, ostrich and then venison.
• Eat fish (fresh or canned) once or twice a week.
• Avoid processed meats such as ham and salami.
• Don't add extra fat - margarine, butter, cream, mayonnaise, oil or cheese - during food preparation.
• Concentrate on low-fat cooking methods where possible. Boil, steam, grill, braai over the coals, bake in the oven or poach wherever you can. When you need to fry, it's useful to know that a stir-fry in a non-stick wok or pan requires just a drop of oil. Another trick is to get your pan good and hot before you add canola or olive oil - you'll need to use much less. Better still check out the "fat-free frying" methods below.
• Limit gravies and sauces.
• Read nutrition labels for fat content - don't rely on packaging declarations. A product is "low fat" if it contains less than 3g fat/100g and "fat free" if it has less than 0.5g fat/100g. There's a wide range of foods that have a fat content of between 3% and 10%; aim for 10 to 13g fat per meal.

Fat-free frying
The way in which you prepare food can go a long way towards lowering the fat content of your meals. When browning meat, chicken or vegetables, stock with water or vegetable juices can be used instead of oil. A non-stick frying pan is useful, but not essential. There will be little difference in the flavour of the final dish, although sautéing food without using oil or butter does take a little longer.
Simply follow these steps when doing fat-free frying:

• Fill a teacup halfway with boiling water and add a teaspoon of stock powder. Stir until dissolved and then fill the cup to the top with red or white wine. If you don’t drink alcohol, vegetable juice or apple juice can be used instead.
• Place chopped onion to sauté in a frying pan over high heat. Toss the onion with a wooden spoon as it begins to cook. When it starts to brown and stick to the pan, add a few teaspoons of the stock mixture to the pan (enough to cause a cloud of steam without making the onion simmer).
• Continue tossing until the onion begins to stick again and then pour in the rest of the stock mixture, stirring until the brownish residue has lifted off the bottom of the pan.
• Cover with a lid and leave for 5-10 minutes until the fluid has reduced and the onions will be soft, brown and slightly caramelised.
• Add other ingredients, proceding as you normally would.
  

Dietician and update

A group of us went to see a dietician this weekend. We get together once a month, just the ladies, and do something different. Each month a different person organises something and this month, with all our focus being on health and weight, we went to see a dietician. We sent through a list of questions for her to discuss and then we just sat and talked them through. I did not write everything down, there was just too much info. If anyone who was there wants to add to my few bits and pieces please feel free to leave a comment.

You should eat about 1gram of protein to 1 kg of body weight per day. (side note: if I get enough interest from readers from other countries then I will convert my weights but for the moment I will stick to our system)

Good fats to eat are oily fish, olives, avocado pear, nuts, seeds. You should eat at least 3 oily fish (herring, haddock, sardine) a week but if you can't then substitute with the above fats (but not excessively of course, they are still fats!)

Olive oil is good for you BUT reheated oil is toxic! Think of this when you order fried chips from the take-away down the road.

You should have about 1000mg of calcium in a day. This would equate to 1 cup yoghurt, 1 cup milk and a small piece of cheddar cheese. Other sources of calcium are tofu, spinach, cottage cheese, fish.

Did you know green tea has quite a bit of caffeine in it?

She recommends that you need to drink at least 4 glasses of water a day, not necessarily 8 as we are always told.

White bread is a big no no. It is very high in sugar and it is better to stick to wholewheat.

It is better to eat more small meals than 2 or 3 large meals.

We discussed the use of CLA supplements and if they help with weight loss. According to the dietician and Health24 there is not really any proof that it helps with weight loss. But I must say that I used it once before and again last year and even though my diet and exercise habits did not change I did start losing weight after I started taking CLA. I think it just helps to give a bit of a kickstart. But the trick is not to use it as a weight loss tablet. It only works if you are exercising as it causes the body to burn fat first.

We discussed a number of other things but I can't remember them all. Anyone want to add anything??

Report back on last week:
Exercise: I went to gym on Tuesday and Thursday. Boy, did she make us work! Wednesday I did 20 mins cardio and some abs and bums at home. Saturday I went spinning (also at Zen Studio). And this morning I did a home workout. So proud of me!!
Eating: Also pretty good. We went to a braai on Friday and myself and someone else took veggie snacks which actually went down quite well. I did not eat too much and skipped dessert. After seeing the dietician on Sat. we went out for lunch. After all the talk of healthy eating we had to follow through so between us we had 3 chicken salads and 3 chicken stir-fries. Of course there were a few dessert eaters at the table but I am happy to say that I was not one of them! Doing this blog actually puts me under pressure now because all my friends know about it and so I feel I have to be really good as I am being watched!! Oooh, the pressure!

Some Good News!!
For those in Cape Town who would like to get their body stats done for a discount at Zen Studio. Tell Mandi you are coming from this blog and she will give you a discount. Go to the website for contact details.

New GROWers

I am happy to tell you that I have 2 co-GROWers. 2 people who have committed themselves to getting rid of some extra weight. I am going to give you their details now and will post updates as they give them to me. Yayy!!!! I am not alone!!

1. Liz

Weight (30/01/08): 92.1kg
Stomach cm: 102.5
Hips cm: 118
My goal is to get rid of 10 kg in 13 weeks.

2. Blondy

Age 31
Weight : 83kg (not sure about our scale at home…but around there somewhere in any case)
Target weight: 75kg
Target date: end May 2008
What am I doing to lose: herbalife shakes and thermojetics tea, gym twice a week and exercises in the pool.

I will be setting up a spreadsheet to keep track of how we all GROW.

Tip of the day

Whenever I go to gym I am going to ask Mandi, the trainer, or my co-trainees, for tips to give out. Today I have a few.

• Drink lots of water. You need to drink between 1.5 and 2 litres a day. I battle with this so if I remind you I am reminding myself
• Visualise your target. If you cannot picture what you are going to look like then the chances are that you will not get there.
• In order to visualise your target you need to have a target. You cannot just say 'I am going to lose weight', you must have a target. It must be 'I will lose, oops, get rid of x kg/pounds by y date'. And make it achievable not '10kg in 1 month'.
• And lastly you are not going to TRY to get rid of the weight, you ARE going to get rid of it. As Mandi tells us, trying is failing eloquently.

Ok, that's it for today. I had a very good work out at gym this morning. Who is going to join me and send me their details? Come on, I know you can do it!!

Wow!

It was not as bad as I thought, pretty good actually!! Body measurements today and I lost!! I don't have the stats from beginning of Jan but here is comparison with last Dec stats:Since December I lost 1.1kg of body fat, but since 8 Jan I have lost 1.7kg as I picked up 0.6 over Christmas. I think it would have been more if I had not had a bad (or good depending which way you look at it) day at the J&B Met this weekend. We had a good time and ate far too much and I had 2 Hunters Dry's which are mega fattening. I have some info on the best drinks to have when trying to lose weight (I will post it up here later) and cider is definitely not one of them.

So, new motivation. Losing 1.1kg over 2 months is not going to get me to my goal by end of April. It is time to get serious.

Internet problems

I have lots to update but have been having internet problems at home and we are not allowed to use the net too much at work. I will try and update later today.

To follow - J&B met pitfalls, weigh in tomorrow (gulp!), Holford diet, Candida diet, etc....

Join me and GROW yourself

I am looking for support and some co-GROWers. If you are committed to losing weight and would like to join me on my quest then please send me an email or leave a comment. I would like some information about you, not necessarily your real name - can be a pseudonym, but I would like to know your current weight and your target weight and target date. By documenting it you will be committing to it and that really helps with the motivation.

Come on, what have you got to lose??? Not weight because you are going to get rid of the weight, not lose it. Put yourself out there and just do it!! I will keep track of everyone's details and will post regular updates so that we can all see where we are. BUT it is not a competition. We are not here to compete against each other, just against our fat self. I think we are all made up of a fat self and a fit self, your current size shows you who is winning. My fat self is still up there but my fit self is fighting back. I purposely do not talk about a thin self and being thin because it is not all about being skinny. We do not want to be ultra thin, just fit and healthy.

Measurements

I will be having my measurements done every month. I have this done at the gym (more about the gym later). I hope you can see what is going on in the graph above. I have recorded my body fat and lean mass from Feb 2006. There are 5 measurements at various dates.
In the graph the top pink line is my percentage lean weight ie the percentage of my total weight which is not fat. The bottom line is the percentage of my total weight which is fat. The idea is to get these lines to move away from each other. We need to increase the lean weight and decrease the fat weight.

My first total weight measurement in Feb 2006 was 69.6kg. This jumped up to 73kg in September 2006. I am afraid I am a comfort eater and 2006 was not a good year for me. By May 2007 I was 75.3kg. By Nov I had dropped down to 74.5. Then started a major drive to get rid of this weight. By 13 Dec I weighed 73.2kg.

Now for me to get to my target weight of 62kg by mid April I have to lose almost 1kg a week. This ain't gonna be easy and I did not make a good start this year. BUT I did not pick up too much weight over the festive season so I can say that I have got rid of at least 1.5kg.

GROW

This is my blog about losing weight before I turn 40. Uh oh, strike that. When you lose something it means that you intend to find it again. I do not want to lose weight, I want to GET RID OF IT!!!! NEVER TO BE FOUND AGAIN!!

Hence the name of the blog - Get Rid Of Weight by 40.

Now 40 is in May so I do not have long to go and I have 10 kg of body fat to lose. Hmmm, best I get started!

I am going to document my weight removal (cannot say loss, does not compute) and how I have done it here. This will be a very boring blog for anyone else to read unless of course you would like to join me on my journey to slinky slenderness by documenting your details (anonymously of course) along with me.

I am going to gym (small private gym) 2 - 3 times a week and am getting full body fat measurement done once a month. I will post those up here too. (Oh the pressure!)

I was very proud of myself, I lost 1.8 kg from 15 Nov to 13 Dec. Then I only gained 0.2kg over Christmas and New year. Christmas, people!! Traditionally the time for bingeing and not worrying about weight. I will start doing regular updates by putting up pictures pre GROW and my measurements. Stay posted and let me know if you want to join me on my journey