Smashing It September!

I have some great news this morning.  I will let the picture tell the story:

At last! I just-just made it and I want to say damn my body -  that it's so slow in losing, but then again I rather need to praise my body for being so strong and allowing me to push it so hard, because I really pushed myself this September.  Lower calories + more exercise... not ideal and I will need to adjust again, but it helped me to break through my plateau, or rather rollercoaster ride!

I am happy this morning. To see that 7 instead of an 8 in the front of that figure really made my day.  I know I will touch the 80's again as I know I retain extra water sometimes, but this October I will work hard to get as far away from the 80's as possible.  For now, I'll rejoice!  I ordered my reward - Funky Tights this morning, so there is no turning back now!

I'm proud of my September - total loss of 1.8 kg, 17½ hours of exercise and 25 perfect macro days :)

Next op - A Rocking October!  I will not stop, I will make it a success too. I will be determined... I know I would want to give up - it's a hard fight and it takes so much out of me, but I have come so far - from weighing 102 kg to tasting the 70's - I can, I must, I will... For >>>ME <<<

September thus far

Just a quick blog post to report how the first half of my September went.  So far so good!

I started tracking my weight daily and it constantly went up or down by a 100 to 400g on a daily basis, not really shifting.  So I decided to tweak my macros a bit.  The coach on the IIFYM page updated the calculator and I used it to determine my new macros.  Not a major tweak, just increasing my deficit with approximately 90 calories, less protein and less fat, but more carbs (yay me!).  Just after 1 week my weight went down with a whole kilogram.  I think this may just be the breakthrough I so desperately need.

Weight is currently standing on 80.6 kg - 600 gram to get to 80, after that I am so ready for the 70's!  I decided this morning that I will spoil myself with a Funky Tight as reward as soon as I break the 80's.

This is what the first half of my September looked like:

SEPTEMBER	Eating on track	Exercise	Minutes	KM
1	Yes	Run	45	5.13
2	Yes	Strength	30	N/a
3	Yes	N/a	N/a	N/a
4	Yes	N/a	N/a	N/a
5	Yes	Run	47	5.43
6	Yes	Strength	30	N/a
		Dance	30	N/a
7	Yes	Run	43	5.13
8	Yes	Dance	10	N/a
9	Okay, not perfect	Strength	30	N/a
10	No	No	N/a	N/a
11	No	Walk	15	N/a
12	Yes	Hip Hop	60	N/a
13	Yes	Hip Hop	40	N/a
		Run	15	2
14	Yes	Run	45	5.5
15	Yes	Hip Hop	60	N/a
	12	14	500	23.19
	Perfect Days	Workouts	Mins Exercised	KM Ran

Not a lot of running, but a lot of exercise none the less.

Watch this space for what's to come!

Non-scale Victories x3

I have to make a blog post about this.  I have to celebrate every minuscule victory and since yesterday afternoon I had 3!  After Accountability August I was a bit down in the dumps, I feel I did not make enough progress and I didn't break the 80's thanks to a weightloss plateau.  This morning I feel motivated again and this is why:

(1)
This morning I was out for my run, my freaking glutes sore as can be as I did strength training - leg day on Friday.  A car stopped next to me and a very kind lady said:

"I just want to say you are looking so well. I've been watching you since day 1, you are doing great"

It made me want to cry, and I actually did shed a few tears after I thanked her and told her it means a whole lot to me.  I have been running around our neighbourhood for about 9 months now and I never realised people are watching me. Well except for two old out walking from time to time and a few domestic ladies on their way to work, I always greet when I pass someone on foot.

It really did mean a lot to me, even though I don't see my own progress sometimes, because I'm too damn hard on myself, doesn't mean that progress isn't visible. I hope that lady knows how much her kind comment meant to me.

(2)
We popped into the mall yesterday and I saw two tops that I wanted to buy.  I went to fit and the large was too big.  I ended up buying 2x medium tops!  I can't believe it fit me! Coming from a size XL to XXL, it made me want to jump around with joy.  Medium!  Look!


























(3)
I got an email this morning from Runkeeper, the app I use to say that I broke my record for the fastest average pace in a month.  Yay, so running is making progress and I'm getting faster!

Thank goodness for non-scale victories. It helps so much to make this journey bearable.

Accountability August ~ in conclusion

First things first - Day 31

The last day went well.  I was low on energy though as my little girl was up a lot, crying in her sleep and when she wasn't awake and calling for me, hubby snored... so had minimal sleep.  Then we had a freaking hot day at 37 degrees - I was hot and bothered and tired.  I went out running in the morning, started out running for 28 minutes, but then walked the rest of the way to complete a 5 km... I was just too low on mojo to make it a powerful workout, but I kept on moving and later I did some dancing too to get my energy to spike during the afternoon otherwise I would have fallen asleep.

Eating was on track 100% with Proats for breakfast, Scrambled eggs+mushrooms+baked beans for lunch and roasted veg and mince for dinner.

Victory! August was a success!

I stayed accountable, even during hard days.  My eating was on track and perfect 23 out of 31 days, I exercised 18 times for a total of 13.5 hours and I ran almost a total of 78 km during the month.

Perhaps some will frown upon this and say that I can do better and yes I am pretty sure I can and I will work towards it. BUT and it's a big but, I had a hard month with some sick days, some sick days for my kids, a few social events, public holidays, a very tough month emotionally dealing with a 6-year old boy who is going through a rough time with ADHD/SPD/ODD, full time work, busy with so many things, keeping my house sort of decent, cooking, laundry etc etc. So I am so freaking proud of what I accomplished, I kept going, relying only on myself to stay on track as much as possible.

I don't think my month was so successful in terms of weight loss, it was like a seesaw - up, down, standstill / plateau, but my fitness or rather running made huge progress.

This is the spreadsheet I kept to stay accountable:

AUGUST	Eating on track	Exercise	Minutes	KM
1	Yes	Run	47	5.19 km
2	Yes	Run	44	4.92 km
3	Yes	Weights	30	N/a
4	Yes	Run	43	4.49 km
5	Yes	No	N/a	N/a
6	No	No	N/a	N/a
7	No	Run	50	5 km
8	No	No	N/a	N/a
9	No	Run	42	5 km
10	Yes	No	N/a	N/a
11	Yes	Run	44	4.5 km
12	Yes	No	N/a	N/a
13	Yes	No	N/a	N/a
14	Yes	No	N/a	N/a
15	Yes	Run	44	5.31 km
16	Yes	Run	42	5.74 km
17	Yes	No	N/a	N/a
18	Yes	Danced	50	N/a
19	Yes	Run	41	5 km
20	Okay, not perfect	No	N/a	N/a
21	Okay, not perfect	No	N/a	N/a
22	Yes	Danced	50	N/a
23	Yes	Run	44	5.16 km
24	Yes	Run	44	5.10 km
25	Yes	Run	42	6.06 km
26	Yes	No	N/a	N/a
27	No	No	N/a	N/a
28	No	No	N/a	N/a
29	Yes	Run	49	5.22 km
30	Yes	Run	52	6.04 km
31	Yes	Run	50	5 km
	23 Perfect days	18 workouts	13.5 hrs	77.73 km

I quite liked keeping track like this, so I already started a new spreadsheet for September.  Now I won't be posting on my blog everyday, but I will try and do a few blog posts on my progress.  I think I will just need to keep a closer eye on my weight and I will add a column and see what I weigh every day, just to try and see a pattern and why I struggle so much to loose weight.  Perhaps I will gain some insight.

Now on to bigger, better things - Spring!  I'm not exactly sure about my goals yet, but I will give it great thought and update my blog as soon as I decided.

I challenge everybody reading my blog to answer the following question!  Say yes, and make September a great month with me <3  xx

Accountability August - Day 30

The day went well.  I had a fabulous 6 km run... I actually wished I had more time to run to see if I can make it to 7 km, but alas work was waiting.

I also had a good macro day.  I had oats with peanut butter and milk for breakfast, toast with avo and chicken breast again for lunch and dinner was a Paleo beef patty with mushrooms, egg, tomato, avo and baked beans - absolutely delish.

1 Day to go!

Accountability August - Day 29

I climbed back on the IIFYM-wagon and gosh it's good to be back. Flexible eating is just the perfect way of eating and tracking for me. I'm a very methodical person and I like planning my day's menu down to the last gram of protein/carb/fat.  Mentally it helps me stay on track with my eating, because I know I don't over or under eat in any way.  If I keep on tracking there is no way I can't lose weight.  So I just made up my mind - September I'm going to make sure I track every single day.

Yesterday was a good day, my intake was 123g Carbs (goal 125g), 142g Protein (goal 148g) and 57g Fat (goal 65).  My meals included avo on Kilojoule Controlled toast with a side of chicken breast, dinner was funnily enough a Reboot meal of chicken, tomato and onion salad, butternut and garlic green beans and my snacks included droewors, a protein shake, a protein bar, a pear and 17g chocolate.  I didn't have breakfast hence the droewors and protein bar as my morning snack.  The protein shake is purely to up my protein intake to make sure I do not lose any lean muscle mass whilst losing weight.

My exercise for the day included a nice run to start the day with and I clocked 11k steps on the Fitbit.  It was a misty, eerie morning to run.  Dogs out on the road and those in their yards were on edge, cars driving without their headlights switched on, bad visibility. I wanted so bad to quit, my muscles were sore from early on, I developed a wee mid-run and I just wanted to turn back home, but instead I kept going. It was a slow run in comparison to my others this month, but it was a great exercise session in the end.  You know what they say about workouts - never miss a Monday!  That rings so true for me, I have to start my week with an exercise session otherwise the chance is good that it's going to be a terrible fitness week and I have a lack of motivation to get/keep going.

I just got an email from the running app I used - I broke my record for the farthest distance in a month, longest duration in a month and most calories burned in a month since I started using the app.  Yes! It means August was a fab month, and it's not done quite yet!

Okey dokey, let's get the second last day of August on the road!

Dinner & Mid-run pic

I absolutely love this running motivation!

Every morning in Africa a gazelle wakes up.  It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed.  Every morning a lion wakes up.  It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death.  It doesn't matter whether you're a lion or a gazelle. When the sun comes up, you better be running.

Accountability August - Days 26, 27 & 28

This is what my weekend was filled with:

Special family moments, celebrating hubby's 38th birthday, meeting my brand new nephew/godchild and spending time with my loved ones.  It was a YOLO weekend.  Pre planned, so didn't have time for exercising, didn't track what I ate, and definitely didn't think twice about drinking a glass of wine, eating a slice of birthday cake or even indulging in my mom's lemon meringue tart - she never accepts a no anyway!

In the grand scheme of things, an odd weekend/dinner/special occasion here and there, when I'm not exactly on track, it does not matter.  Simply because I know that I am always at the very least 80 to 90% on track.  Yes, it means my journey is much slower, but hey this is life afterall, I'm human and I am okay with it.  I rather have a slow journey to goal weight and enjoy my life, than having to fast track and not enjoying special occasions.

Now I'm on my 3rd last day of this August challenge, but it taught me a lot in terms of staying accountable, going off track momentarily, but getting right back on track afterwards.  I'm proud of my August, I do not regret anything (except for the few days it rained and I couldn't get a run in!).  Now I'm going to finish the month strong!  Then it's on to bigger, better things for Spring, because Summer is around the corner and I need to tone those flabby bits.