June 2017

June was a beautiful month!
In June I got below 75... so I'm officially closer to weighing 70 than I am to weighing 80.  I really feels like progress and it made me happy.

This is what my June looked like - I put in major effort and I got the results I feel I deserved.

I couldn't find my running mojo though and I only had two runs in July.  I need new running shoes, so will hopefully get back into it when I have new shoes... and when the morning weather feels a little better ... it was so cold in June I rather exercised indoors doing Zumba and such.

I did a bit of a comparison to see what progress I made in the last year. I sometimes feel down about my slow progress and this put things in some perspective for me.

It goes to show that even slow progress matters - it all adds up in the end.  I'm happy to see a big difference and I think I have made peace with the fact that I have to work extra hard for every single gram I need to lose.  I still refuse to go hungry or deprive myself, so I try my best to do this as balanced and healthy possible.

I'm at the stage where I think of my end goals and I really hope to achieve it next year, although I know I will never be able to relax and I will continue setting goals for myself.

Come on July - my birthday month - give me some great results too! 

Feb to May... time for an update

Last time I blogged I weighed in on 79 kg.  I haven't written about my journey in quite some while, but happy to report that I have made some great progress.

Let me do a catch up on the missing month's since I blogged.  I still keep my accountability spreadsheet, so I always have all the stats at hand, it really helps me so much.

FEBRUARY wasn't as great as I anticipated, we had a lot of issues - hubby almost retrenched, autistic son not settling well at school, difficulties at my work. So it was a mediocre month in the Health & Fitness department, but at least I didn't gain any weight.

MARCH - I was sort of able to pick myself up and made a little progress.

APRIL was dismal.  I was sick for most of the month, struggling with breathing and chest pains, asthma acting up. Barely exercised and gained almost half a kilogram. Again it could have been worse, so I hanged in there... somehow.

MAY was my month to get back in the game.  I started tracking my steps, tried my utmost best to be more active, more on my feet. My goal to reach my steps and put in maximum exercise time, this time concentrating on cardio because as much as I love weights and strength, I just lose weight faster when running and doing other cardio activities.  I smashed the month! I think my best total exercise time since I started tracking this way, and an average of more than10k steps every day for the month.  Lost 1.6kg - which is GOOD for my body that lose weight so slowly.

It goes to show, the more active I am, the more successful I am. So May was a good practice month for the next 3 winter months.  I took some progress photos yesterday and I'm on a major mission to make myself a summer body I can be proud of this winter.

Yes!

2017

We are already a month into the new year and things have been so hectic my side this is the first chance I have to update.

So I've been on holiday between 16 December and 8 January and I must say I gave it a valiant effort to keep the health and fitness going. Granted I picked up a tiny bit of weight, but not 3 to 5 kilogram as usual, or the freaking 8 kg one year!  I had my first official weigh in for the year on 13 January and I showed a gain of 1.3 kg from the last weigh in I had on 16 December.

Then to be honest, I struggled to find my groove. I exercised, but had no va va voom or motivation - I didn't push myself.  I stuck to my plan most of the days, but had a few off days and the scale didn't play along.  I had too many emotional issues that kept my mind busy.  I found my groove again last Monday, I just had to take control and get out of the hole I dug for myself, so I started the Kayla Itsines program again and I am on Week 2 of the 12-week programme this week.  Ouch, can you imagine how sore my muscles is? But it feels good!

So now I'm working hard towards my next mini goal of 75 kg.  I'm hoping to reach it by the end of March...

Throughout everything though I kept faithful to my log and herewith my stats for December/January:

December:
17 out of 31 Perfect diet days
13 Workouts
Totaling 587 minutes
Ran 53.6 km

January:
22 out of 31 Perfect diet days
18 Workouts
Totalling 706 minutes
Ran 52.17 km

February will be better, February will be great!  I'm taking control and I will succeed in making it a FABULOUS month!

Today I weighed in on 79 kg on the dot.  I will put up my 2017 weight-loss ticker soon!

My goal for the year:  To break the 70's and get into weighting 60-something.  I know I can make it happen.  I also want to get stronger, get more lean muscle and run longer distances and get faster. 

Can I do it?  Yes, I can!  Am I going to do it?  Yes, I will!  Whoop, whoop 2017!

This is my mantra for this year. I will believe it.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :) :) :)

Check it out!  Check my Ticker on the top right!  I've reached 10kg loss since end January for the year!

Whoop Whoop!

Slow, but steady wins the race!

6-Month Progress Pics

I have taken long overdue progress photos on Friday.  I usually try to take photos every 3 months, but I never got around to it.  So here's my progress this past 6 months.  I'm quite pleased!

NON-event November

Another month gone. I'm still being good with updating my spreadsheet daily, I like doing it and it keeps me accountable - Thanks August, you taught me a lot!

November was a bit of a non-event of a month.  First being away for almost a week, then after my race I was woman-down with a cold/sinus thing and I wasn't able to exercise for two whole weeks.  I also suffer from diet-lethargy (haha is this a thing??) and my willpower wasn't exactly what it was supposed to be over the weekends.

When I weighed in last Friday my weight was about 0.4kg down from end of October - so nothing gained, but barely lost.  I will see what I weigh tomorrow - can only hope I've lost a bit more this week as I was able to start running again on Monday.

So November I only had 16 out of 30 perfect eating days, the other 14 was a mix up of okay-days and indulge-days.  Only 10 workouts @ 8.5 hours of exercise this month / a total of just over 50km of running.  Hey, I'm still lapping those on the couch!

At least I have a running achievement- completing my first 10km race in November, so I guess the month wasn't a total waste of time!

On to December and I have a plan of action ready for the Festive Season.  I will keep on exercising and I will move over to maintenance macros from the 16th. So I'm hoping that this year will finally be the year when I manage not to gain a ton of weight over the holidays.  Fingers crossed - I've come so far this year, finally weighing 70-something and I am now working on getting into the 60's, a healthy BMI and maintenance weight.

I know Santa won't be bringing me my ideal body, but I'll be my own Santa and I will keep on working hard and get it myself.  Ho Ho Ho!

10 km Success!

I got really nervous a few days before the race, not knowing how I will feel during the race, if I'll be able to complete it.  I was determined though and decided I will give it my best go, walk if I have to.

Thankfully my friend decided to do this with me, so it helped immensely to have her by my side.  We had some chats at time while jogging, even burst out laughing and giggled so much when I mentioned that next year we'll do a half marathon!

The 8th kilometer started feeling long, but the 9th and 10th was really hard. It was literally just putting one foot in front of the other. After 1 hour and 24 minutes I finished it, without any walking!  Yes!  I came 532nd out of a field of 548 runners, so was at the tail end, but I thought I did great for my first 10km!  Running at a pace of 8:24 per kilometer.  I will still work on my speed, now that I have endurance covered.

Can't wait for my next one! (Crazy!!!!)

Before the race - fresh as daisies

After the race - very happy, but oh so sore!