Overhead Squat Assessment

Hmmm...found it hard to get out of bed this morning. Still recovering from the weekend's festivities and lack of sleep.  Sunday was very humid which made sleeping last night very tricky. Hot and then cold. Perhaps that's another reason I'm feeling so tired today.

I don't know if my metabolism is starting to get the hang of things or if today was just an unusual day. I actually managed to eat: breakfast, snack, lunch, snack and dinner! Amazing!! You would think that an over-weight person eats large portions at regular intervals. That might be true of some, but not me. I'm finding it very challenging to eat every 3-4 hrs.

Since we didn't get around to it on Friday, V suggested that we do the overhead squat assessment tonight. I think if I had known what it meant, I might have been a bit more prepared-and a bit more anxious. Essentially it involves raising my hands above my heads and doing squats until my muscles fatigue. Not my idea of a good time! Picture this: me in a long-sleeved button up work shirt, work pants rolled up above my knees, tacky socks and more humidity than a prairie girl can handle. Not ideal!

On the plus side, an overhead squat assessment is extremely good at pointing out where things are going wrong. It will give V & J a much better idea of how to tailor the workout to suit my individual needs.

Tonight, G and I did the bicep circuit, followed by a new series of stretches that V organised for me. OMG. I'm sure they will become faster and easier as I get more practised at them, but man, they sure took a long time tonight! Now I need to find an extra 40 mins in the morning in order to tack the stretches onto the end of my circuit routine.  I think sleep is going to have to take a backseat for a while...sigh.

Well, on that note, I should prolly drag these tired bones to bed.

My Weekend off

Been a few days since I've touched base. Thursday was a really hard day for me. Thank god I've got an awesome support team, otherwise, I think it could have ended badly: a bottle of coke, a chocolate bar and perhaps some pizza shapes. With their help and my perseverance, disaster was averted. It did take it's toll, however.

Friday I was consumed by anxiety; it was the day of my first personal training session with V.  Dunno why I was so worried. True to form, she picked up on my emotional state and spent some time helping me work through what I was feeling. Then she showed me some new exercises to take the strain off my right knee. Don't make the assumption that they're easy-cuz they're not! But, at least they don't hurt as much!

Saturday was my 'day off'- diet-wise! G went for a run and I did my bicep circuit. Then, we met a close friend for brunch and I allowed myself the luxury of 2 pieces of thick cut white toast (no butter). WOW! The day of treating myself continued. We went out to celebrate another friends birthday. Although I'm not much of a drinker, I had 1 glass of sparkling white wine and 1 glass of vodka with lemon, lime & bitters. When I mentioned to V that I might be going out and that it was possible that I might have a drink or 2, she told me increase my protein intake on Sunday, work out and avoid carbs like breads, starches, rice, etc and increase my intake of veggies. Sounded easy enough.  I watched what I ate at dinner, had my 2 drinks over the course of 6hrs and enjoyed a guilt-free night on the town! Fabulous!

This journey really is about learning how to do things in moderation. I like that. It takes the pressure off.

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!

So much food...so little time

It was much harder to crawl out of bed this morning. Might have been because I was up late writing my first blog or because I was still sore from yesterday's morning session and I knew what lay ahead! It was prolly a bit of both!  G got up with me and helped me set up the stations. I must admit, having an exercise buddy does make it easier.

Well, today's challenge centres around eating. I had expected to feel hungry when I started this program--but that hasn't been the case. In fact, it's quite the opposite. I'm finding it tough to regulate my eating times and to eat as often as I need to. By the time I get to work, get my desk organised and feel ready to eat breakfast, it's already almost 10 o'clock. Not ideal. Snack time falls around 11.45. Then I don't feel like eating my lunch and so at about 1.30 or so, I crack open my afternoon snack.  Definitely full now, but I know I have to eat lunch. So, 3pm rolls around and I make my way into the kitchen to make my sandwich. By the time I get that down, dinner is the last thing my stomach is interested in.

But, the weirdest thing happened to me tonight. My stomach felt full and uncomfortable. I'm sure it was still working it's way through my 3pm sandwich. Yet,  as I was preparing dinner for S, the smell of the 2minute noodles was almost irresistable!! It was like another force was trying to guide the spoon into my mouth. I'm not even that big a fan of 2 min noodles!! It took all of my will power, but you'll be pleased to note that I successfully fought off the urge to eat the noodles-even the leftover ones! Victory!

Definitely something to bring to my sessions with V.

Well, it's time to take these aching muscles to bed. G'nite all!

The 'Defining Moment'

Monday Oct 18^th: The ‘Defining Moment’

Have you ever looked back on a moment in time, with the perspective of a couple of days, and realised that the ‘off the cuff’ comment you made was actually a ‘defining moment’? Well, that happened to me a couple of weeks back.

I mentioned to my counsellor V that I thought I was ready to focus on my weight & my physical health. I should have known by the glint in her eye that my life was about to change, but at the time I took no notice.

Later that same evening (Monday Oct 18^th to be precise!), I checked my phone for msgs and there was one from V telling me about the group PT sessions that they run at the Centre Monday & Thursday mornings and asking if I was interested. It was a no-brainer. Nope. I’m not a morning person. Too easy.   

I was hanging out on the lounge innocently watching Monday night TV with G when the next text msg came through asking if I was serious about my goal of losing 25 kgs by my next birthday. Before I knew it V had presented me with an offer that I would be a fool to refuse.  5 minutes later, I had agreed to: a morning group session AND a ‘1 on 1’ personal training session per week both run by J, Sacred Centre’s resident Personal Trainer.

When I told my friends at work what had transpired the previous evening, they were very excited for me. In fact, 2 of them agreed to help me eat healthy at work! Thus, Team Jeannine: Keen To Be Lean, was born!

Suddenly, it was like the Universe was conspiring for my Success! I’ve never felt like that before. Amazing!!

…It’s just over 2 wks since that fateful night and my life has definitely changed. I now keep a food journal that both V & J have access to. Unlike other attempts to log what I eat, I have made a promise to myself that I will just record whatever passes these lips, without judging, editing or omitting anything. Tricky, challenging and awfully confronting; but I believe that honesty, especially with myself, is the key to this whole thing.

Tuesday Oct 26^th ‘Meeting J’

With visions of treadmills and scenes from ‘The Biggest Loser’ running wild in my head, I climbed the flight of stairs to Sacred Centre to meet J for the first time with a sense of trepidation. Completely unwarranted, as it turned out! J is lovely. Easy to chat to—not even the least bit scary.

We sat down, went over my 4 week goals, discussed a my food journal and talked about what I could expect from the Thursday morning group sessions. J took a ‘before’ photo. And that was that. First PT session-done & dusted.

Thursday Oct 28^th ‘Circuit’

Hauling my body outta bed this morning at the extra early hour of 5.30am to make it to my first group session was challenging. I stumbled out of the flat wearing black dress shoes with white socks and my ¾ length gray sweat pants. Minor fashion faux pas—easily fixed!

We started the morning with core muscle exercises. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that the room had been divided in half & lined up alongside the yoga mats were separate stations-6 stations to be exact. We were given 15 mins to complete the first circuit 2 times, followed by a 1 min rest break, then on to the next circuit.

What did I learn from this session? Well, in a nutshell, I learned that I am not a fan of lunges or squats and as it turns out, neither are my knees or my quads!! I managed to hold it together until it came time to face the stairs! Yep, you guessed it- jelly legs!!

Now, I expected to be a little stiff and sore; it comes with the territory. But, what I didn’t plan on, was how long it took me to recover!! It took until Monday for me to walk normally with out limping or grimacing! I suppose it didn’t help that I spent most of the weekend climbing stairs!

Monday November 1  ‘Counselling’

The battle of the bulge cannot be won by diet and exercise alone. I am very grateful to have someone that I can talk to about what it’s like to be me.

Tuesday November 2 ‘Taking the Circuits on the Road’

V and I agreed that I would do the normal workout at home for this week, and G offered to do it with me. I’m so lucky to have such a supportive partner. We set up the circuit stations as best we could in the lounge room and we did it together. It took longer than we expected so we agreed that we would just do the first circuit Thursday morning.

Thursday November 4^th

Up at 5.30. Work out gear on. A bit of a warm up, then straight into it! Done & dusted by 6am. My arms are aching! Man, I’m sure feeling it today!! In addition to the normal muscle fatigue and a knee that sounds like a bowl of rice bubbles when you first pour the milk on it, I seem to have developed a cramp in the arch of my left foot. Ahhh just call me the ‘walking wounded’.

Dunno how I’ll go tomorrow morning when I have to get up and face the next circuit.

And that's that....now we're up to date.