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.