Gym ball

Once the tuna nausea passed yesterday, I was able to take stock of the rest of me. 

•     Right Knee: aching, coping with squats, very unhappy with lunges
•  Arms and shoulders: heavy and a bit sore

Everything else? Well, the rest of me appears to be doing not too badly. Feeling a bit sore in a few random places, but overall, I am surviving the workouts. Who knew? The big test will be my first PT session with V on Friday.  I’ve got college tonight, so I’m counting today as a rest day for my muscles.  G and I agreed to get up early again tomorrow and resume our single circuit training.  I think we’ll do the tricep circuit (no lunges!!) but mostly because doing the ‘stepping section’ of the bicep circuit presents a bit of a noise issue and we are trying to be considerate of our neighbours!

The decision to pass on the tuna today was a great option! I replaced it with a curried egg sandwich.  But, it is interesting to note that after lunch yesterday, I was full for hours. Today-not so much.  Admittedly, I ate at 1.30 instead of 3pm, but by 5pm my tummy was rumbling.  Good thing I had the foresight to pack a Carman’s Apricot and Almond muesli bar.  Sorted!

I meant to mention last week that I made the decision to purchase a ‘Mediball Pro Plus 65cm’ (a gym ball) so that I could do my exercises more effectively at home. J mentioned that they were available on the Sacred Centre website www.sacredcentre.com.au  and to just click on the ‘shopping cart’ section, so I hopped online to take a look. I settled on a gray ball and placed my order Tuesday morning.  To my utter amazement, the package was waiting for me when I arrived home from work on Wednesday! If you’re in the market for a gym ball, I highly recommend checking these guys out—AOK Health. 

Well, it’s time to pull out the textbooks and exercise my ‘gray matter’! Over and out.

All Tuna'd Out

Feeling a bit discouraged today. Still following my eating plan. Even ate breakfast BEFORE noon! For me, that's a win. In fact, I'm loving my breakfast--Jalna yogurt and Carman's Muesli. Wish all my meals were that yummy! Had a tuna sandwich today for lunch...and man I really had to struggle to get it down.  I'm not a big fish fan at the best of times, so tuna for lunch for the past week is about all I can manage! I'm gonna have to get creative about lunches-otherwise, the local KFC will sing the siren song that runs this ship aground upon a coral reef.... a coral reef of soft drink, hot chips, gravy and chicken. Sigh...how do I steer a course through these perilous waters?

Brings me back to where I started. Discouraged. Jumped on the Wii Fit last night after my 'tricept' circuit. Prolly not the best move. It started by telling me it had been 177 days since I last used it. Nice. Then, I went thru the tests. My Wii Fit age: 24. So far so good. Then-my Wii Fit weight: 1 kg lighter than I was in February. February!! For the love of Gawd!! I'd been eating KFC, Thai, lollies, glorious white bread (with butter!), drinking iced tea, Coke, etc. I'd even been home to Canada where the soft drinks are bottomless and the lollies are linked to my fondest childhood memories. How is it possible that I can only weigh 1 kg LESS after 3 weeks of watching what I eat and 2 wks of exercise? It doesn't seem fair.

I guess the what I am most grateful for is my support team. They give me the motivation to keep going, even when I think that packing it all in and heading to KFC is the easiest option. I've got a wonderfully supportive partner, some amazing friends at work and, of course, my Sacred Centre team. V -you rock!

G & I did both circuits tonight. Gruelling. And the tuna sandwich was NOT helping my cause. Both J & V promised that I wouldn't have to exercise til I puked, but I must admit, it was a close call tonight. Determination and having an exercise buddy got me through. Maybe that's all it takes?

Time to take this aching knee to bed. Nite all!

ahhh the weekend

Saturday Nov 6th


Can't believe we stuck to the routine on a Saturday! About 7.30, S came in and woke us up. G jumped (dunno how THAT was possible after all of our exercising) out of bed, into some work out gear and the 3 of us trooped out to the lounge room to get into the first circuit! It went a bit slower cuz we needed to show 4yr old S how to do the activities, but we all had a giggle while we did it.


Today was posing a challenge. We'd been invited to a 40th Birthday Party and we had to come dressed in our best 70's gear. I thought the outfit was going to be the hard bit. Yet, in the back of my mind, loomed the thought of nibblies, lollies, and cake. How was I going to resist the urge to eat all of my favourite things?


To take the edge off, I ate a snack (almonds, macadamia nuts, and dried apricots) in the car on the way there. Turns out it was a good plan! Fortunately for me, there weren't any chips, dip or munchies like I had expected. Not sure I could have resisted them...especially munchies of the lolly variety! 


Dinner consisted of relatively healthy options: roast chicken, 2 diff green salads, boiled eggs, vegetarian lasagne, a cheese pastry, fried rice and dinner rolls. I limited myself to a couple of pieces of roast chicken, a good helping of salad (without dressing), 1/2 cup of fried rice...and that's where my resolve faltered. Beautiful white bread rolls, crunchy on the outside, soft and amazing on the inside. It was like looking at 2 plastic bags full of chocolate. I took a deep breath and reached inside the bag and withdrew a perfect kaiser bun. I glanced longingly at the butter, but walked away without succumbing!


Then I noticed a 1/2 eaten bun on S's plate with just a tantalising smear of butter. It was too much. With a guilty thought of my food diary, I slowly downed the roll, savouring every bite. Divine. I chased it with a litre of bottled water that I brought from home. And I happily passed on the birthday cake, the pavlova and the lamingtons. All in all, not too bad.


Sunday Nov 7th


As my 4yr old is fond of saying, today is a 'home day'. We lounged around, played, did some grocery shopping and then sat down and watched Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang. Good family movie! 


Not too sore today. Managed to stick to my food plan. 


Not much to say!


Monday Nov 8th, 


Craft today with my little one! Yippee! We had a great time! I love having her around. It means lots of laughter, hugs and fun.


When G arrived home, it was time to break into action. We donned our exercise gear and got into the tricept circuit. I find this circuit much easier on my knees. Squats and ski jumps don't bother me quite as much as squats, lunges and steps! 


I emailed V on Saturday to see if the sequence of the exercises mattered much. G & I are exercising in our lounge room and space is limited. So if there's not enough room for both of us to be doing the same station, we often mix up the order a bit to make it work. V wrote back and advised that circuits are designed to work muscle groups in synergy, and/or large to smaller muscle groups, etc.


So, I'll have to confirm the order that I'm supposed to be doing the stations in to make sure I'm maximising my work out.


G and I did the full workout (both circuits) last Tuesday night. Then alternated the circuits for Thursday, Friday, Saturday and today --the way that V suggested when we spoke the other day. So far so good. I am a bit afraid of doing the full work out again tomorrow-including both circuits. I'm hoping I'll have built up my endurance by then and it won't be so bad! Well, here's hoping!