another fresh start

I remember reading on some blog that September is the new January: a new start with a clean slate and all the best intentions and resolutions that go with it. Hey, this suits me just fine! I'm right here with you, ready to start afresh and make the most of this brand new month that lies before us. And I've got a really good feeling about it too! I know I said as much before (many times in fact). And I also know that so far I failed every single time to stick with it for longer than maybe two or three weeks... *blush*... So why do I think this time is different?

You see, I'm an emotional eater. My overall happiness plays a big role in my weight loss efforts. Especially when I'm stressed, I tend to cope with just stuffing my face. Oh wait, maybe "cope" is the wrong word... I don't really "cope" by eating so much food, it's more like a diversion tactic, a way to calm down and escape all the things that threaten to overwhelm me. Even if it's only for the few minutes it takes to gobble up some crisps or ice cream or whatever else strikes my fancy that moment. If that's not long enough, I'll just go back for a second serving. And a third. And a... Ok, I guess you catch my drift. Not a very clever or effective way to handle stress, but something that's become a habit that is hard to break.

For a long time, there's always been something that caused me a great deal of stress and needed to be done "before" I could concentrate on eating right or exercising enough. My To Do list seemed to be endless and I hardly found time for myself. But no more! This time will be different because I'm finally starting to put myself first and sort my life out. Things are starting to fall into place for me and my stress level slowly but surely decreases. YAY!

So yes, this is a fresh start - and a much needed one at that! I can feel my jeans getting tighter again. And the Scale Gods aren't happy with me either... I'm going to update my stats and I'll need to change a few things around on my blog so that it reflects my fresh start. I'm all excited and full of ideas now. Oh, how I love a fresh start! :)

september's here!

Oh September, I love you already! This is so going to be my month... the month I take care of myself, the month I put myself first, the month I get back to tracking and exercising and last but no least, it'll be the month I'll succeed! I'm starting over with a clean slate today and I'm going to see a decent loss at the end of September. That's a promise to myself.

And today's our 2nd wedding anniversary! Wow, I've been married to my favourite ever man for two years and I couldn't be happier. I'm looking forward to tonight because I think we'll do something special... Yesterday he was looking things up online and was all secretive, shooing me out of the room and threatening to lock the door should I come near... haha... so yeah, I'm kind of excited for tonight. :)

I'll be back soon with a proper update... I've got SO much to talk about! But I've got to run now or I'll be late for school. See you later!

one month later...

... seems like a good time to come back and tell you all about my vacation! We had a brilliant time in Croatia! I never knew it was so nice there... a bit like the Côte d'Azur or the Italian Riviera actually: beautiful coast with emerald green water, rocky cliffs with lots of nice little tucked-away beaches and quaint little towns with very friendly people. And it was SO hot!

Before I left I felt like I'd finally gotten back into the swing of things. I was so motivated and acutally felt a bit bummed I had to leave... I was also a bit worried that being away from home would send me into "I'm on vacation so I can eat I whatever I like" mode, but guess what... that didn't happen at all! I brought my tracker and all my WW stuff and the mere thought of my sticker sheet at home kept me from straying off plan. Woohooo, that weekly incentive thing SO works! Here's some pictures of what we ate while being on vacation...

This was a typical breakfast while we were on tour with the kayaks... There's no freshly baked bread or any such thing on those lonely beaches, so we had to bring everyhting. In hindsight, it somewhat amazes me that I felt totally satisfied with a few crackers, a little slice of cheese and a nectarine... but it totally worked for me then.

For dinner we always had some variation of this picture: pasta or rice with either lots of veggies or tomato sauce. It's not exactly haute cuisine, but it was reasonably low in points and the carbs were needed for extra energy while paddling... And honestly, there's just nothing better than sitting on the ground, sharing a simple meal and eating it directly out of the pan! Seriously, you should try it. :)

Oh, and of course we also got to try the local speciality: Cevapcici! These savoury sausages contain quite a bit of fat and have like a gazillion points... We had them with a nice fresh salad and I allowed myself to eat three sausages. Yummy!

I know a lot of people struggle with losing weight while being on vacation... For me, it seems to make things a lot easier! Sure, paddling for almost three hours every day helped with losing weight. But when I'm away from home, I'm also suddenly able to tell exactly when I'm full and then STOP eating. And the need for snacking between meals? It's just not there. I don't even think about it. I wish I knew what makes the difference, so I could apply this to my eating habits at home... Because really, that's when things went awry again. But that'll be another post... I'm just glad that I finally have the time to blog again! :)

see you later!

Oh man, it's like 3:30 am and we're off shortly... going to Croatia! YAY! Just wanted to pop in very very quickly and say goodbye and see you later. I'll be back in two weeks with an update and probably lots of pictures... :)



Until then, I wish you all a wonderful time and good luck!

workout wednesday on friday

Thanks for the lovely comments yesterday. It' feels great to be on a roll! Yeah, I love those smiley stickers too. And guess what? I like them even more on my reward list! Because... drumroll... I got my first sticker today for completing this weeks C25K runs! Hurray!



Oh, and then I came back and did this week's workout for Amy's 15 week challenge. Lunges, squats and all kinds of other butt-murdering exercises... Oh boy, I'm SOOOO going to feel this tomorrow! I also tried to take pictures, but they turned out even more embarrassing than the ones I took for the tummy workout. It's not that easy to take pictures of yourself exercising... :) Anyway, it's done and I must say I'm quite proud of myself for taking the time to do it.

Because today I'm going to be so busy it's not funny. We're heading off on our roadtrip tomorrow and the flat needs to be cleaned, things must be packed, the mother-in-law needs to be driven to the city (1 hour per way) to her doctor appointment and then there's all the things I still need to organise for my new workplace... Ok. Deep breath. Stay calm. I can do it all. Just one thing at the time, and then the next.

I'm so ready for this vacation! It's going to be so much fun and I'm really looking forward to some kayaking time. It seems like it's been ages since we last went. Of course I'm also kind of hoping it'll do wonders for my arms and shoulders... haha... A bit of toning in that area sure wouldn't hurt.

Speaking of vacation and toning and exercise and stuff... I'm on such a roll right now and I'd hate if the dreaded 'I'm on vacation and therefore it's ok to inhale whatever food is around' mode got in my way. I've already printed out the journals to track my points for the next two weeks as I'm really intending to not veer off plan too much. But how do I do that? I mean, sure, when we cook our own meals on our camping stove, it's easy to figure out the points of my meal. However, it's a VACATION! There will be eating out. There will be trying out local food. And it's only going to be wild guesses as to how many points are in these dishes... Again. Deep breath. I'll be ok. I'll do my best. And it's going to be just fine. :)

Do you think I'm an overly obsessive freak for thinking about bringing my scale along so I don't miss a weigh in? ... hahaha... I might be laughing but I'm not even joking... :)

welcome back mr. motivation!

I feel like I'm finally back! For real. Not the 'Oh I guess I should write a post because it's been ages since my last one' kind of back but the 'Oh man I'm so highly motivated I could embrace the world and need to tell everyone in blogland about it' kind of back... Finally!

I think I've got Amy to thank for it. Thinking about my goals and how to reward myself for reaching them seems to be just what I needed! Oh yes, I'm cheap like that - the mere promise of goodies makes me get down to business... Why didn't the prospect of being healthier, fitter and better-looking got me going? I shall never know... because I'm not going to rack my brain to think of the reasons... I'm just enjoying the new found motivation and run with it! :)

Obviously, I'm still very much in love with my reward plan! I even came up with a visual support for the weekly incentive... This is now hanging on the wall in the office just above my desk...

And then I bought these... Lots of stickers that are just waiting to be put on that reward list! Woohooo, I'm so excited!!! :)

This morning was actually time for my second run on the C25K programme this week. I like to run very bright and early, when the temperature is still low and most people are asleep and therefore can't see me... It's just the getting out of bed part is a bit hard for me though, and I almost always have a battle going on inside my head until I finally get up. Or hit the snooze button. Whatever 'voice' wins... :) But today the extra incentive of getting a sticker really helped! I got up, put my running shoes on and went for that run basically just because I want to earn a sticker... haha... love it!

goals and rewards

This week's challenge is to make a list of both our long-term and short-term goals and come up with ideas to reward ourselves for reaching those goals. That's great!!! I've been wanting to do this for a long time anyway, and now I can even earn some bonus points for it! (For once, my tendency to procrastinate actually paid off... hahaha...)

The goals were pretty easy to set. I mean, it's crystal clear: I want to lose weight, so I just picked a few milestones that are on my way to my goal. The rewards were a different matter. At first, I could hardly come up with things I could reward myself with that would really push me to reach them... And then, once I started, more and more things came to my mind so that I now have wonderful reward system in place which hopefully gets me going!

My short-term goals and rewards:


These are all the little (and not so little) things I thought of to reward myself... Mind you, these rewards rewards are only for my short-term goals! It's a bit like a catalogue of goodies I can choose from when I 'earn' enough bonus points. Cool, eh?

And here's how it works:

As I'm usually not very good with long-term challenges I decided to give myself some smaller incentives that last only a week at a time. Whenever I complete one (or more) of these little challenges I earn some 'bonus points' which in return can be used on something from my goodie list. In order to make things a bit more interesting, not every item costs the same amount of bonus points... The smaller things can be achieved more easily while the bigger things 'cost' more. This way, I'll really have to 'work' for my rewards!

Challenges (lasting for a week):

• Go to work by bike every day! --- 2 bonus points
• Drink at least 2 litres of water every day! --- 1 bonus point
• Swim more than 7 km! --- 2 bonus points
• Do the C25K programme on three days! --- 1 bonus point
• Stay within my points allowance every day! ---1 bonus point
• Do 30 crunches / 10 push-ups / 20 lunges every day! --- 1 bonus point
  

Rewards:

• 5 bonus points: book, audiobook, cinema, body shop olive shampoo
• 10 bonus points: cookbook, bobby brown cosmetics, exercise dvd
• 15 bonus points: hat, flip flops, sunglasses, glasses, jewellery
• 20 bonus points: kettle bells, heart rate monitor, trainers, tankini, jeans, sports bra, handbag
• 25 bonus points: click pedals for my bike, denim jacket, leather boots, running shoes, softshell
• 30 bonus points: racing bike, macro lens

Ok, I'm not entirely sure yet whether the amount of points given for each incentive and needed for these items are realistic and fair... I might change this around a bit as I go along. I want my goals (and the rewards!) to be achieveable but not too easy to get.

Also, it just occurred to me that I'm going to have to juggle a whole lot of 'points' with this system AND being on weightwatchers... Maybe I'll just collect stickers instead? This would be visual too and probably a lot more fun! Either way, I'm looking forward to some cool new stuff... :)



My mid-term goals and rewards:

So these little incentives are all very nice, right? And hopefully they will keep me on my toes and add up to something good... feeling better, being more healthy, improving my overall fitness and of course weight loss! Yes, ultimately it's losing weight I want to achieve, so I think I should reward myself for reaching weighty milestones. I'm now 77 kilos, so I can see a little reward in my hopefully near future...

Weigh less than 75 kilos

A pedicure! I don't nearly take enough care of my feet... This will be so nice!

Weigh less than 70 kilos

A massage! By the time I reach this milestone I'll have worked pretty hard already... it'll be around my 10% weight loss. Sure I'll have earned a massage, right?

Weigh less than 65 kilos

A special day at the Hamam (turkish bath) just for me! My mother, my sister and I usually go there once a year... It's pure heaven! So so nice! It'll be my special treat for myself when I reach this milestone.

Weigh less than 60 kilos

A day (or say an hour) at Bobby Brown's! I was never one to wear a lot of makeup (or any, for that matter) for the simple reason that I don't really know how to apply it properly... It just looks weird on me. One of my best friends studied to be a makeup artist recently though, so when she needed a model I volunteered. And she did an amazing job! I totally loved it! So when I reach this milestone, I'm going to have my face done and learn the basics.

My long-term goal and reward:

My goal weight is 55 kilos. It's been almost 15 years since I only weighed this much... I chose this number because it's right smack in the middle of the healthy weight range for my height. I know it's going to take a lot of work to get there. But get there I will. Because look at what awaits me once I get there!

Yes, it's a shopping day! But not only any old shopping day, but an entire shopping trip to a destination of my choice!!!! Hurray!!!! You see, I couldn't decide on whether I should go for a new wardrobe or a vacation as my final reward... so I just decided to combine both! Very clever, huh? Because let's be practical here, when I reach my goal, I'm going to NEED new clothes, right? The old one's won't fit! But I love love love travelling, and this is actually a much bigger incentive for me to get there... I could go see a city I've always wanted to visit! I could meet a fellow blogger on the trip! Oh the possibilities... :)

So I guess I better start saving up! And I already have an idea on how to get extra cash for the trip... You see, from now on, I want to see losses at my weekly weigh-ins! So should I have a gain, I'm going to pay a fee of $100 into my saving funds for the shopping trip. Yes, I realise that this is not a 'real' penalty as I'm going to have more money if I gain... but I'm just going to pretend it is.

Thanks Amy for making this weekly challenge! It totally motivated me to sit down and think about my goals and where I'm heading and coming up with those rewards just gave me that extra kick I needed. And it was so much fun thinking of all the things I could pamper myself with! Can't wait to get my first reward!