Things I have tried on Round 1 of 12WBT 2013

It is hard to try new things. It is confronting. It is embarrassing. It doesn't matter if you are an introvert or an extrovert - it is pure, unadulterated, nerve wracking torture. But you know what? It does get easier the more you confront it and keep on plugging away. So, this is what I have "given a go".

• I got back into BodyPump after 13-year break. I do it regularly now.
• I tried Seniors Gym, a circuit class. I do it regularly now.
• I did my first Masters Swimming Endurance swim session. I found it very challenging to be timed by others. I haven't done another one but I will.
• I tried Body Balance class. Tried it a couple of times, actually. Nah, not for me.
• Volunteered to be a pupil for trainee swimming coaches to practice on.
• Did a swimming skills class to improve my tumble turns.
• I tried Cardio Sculpt class. I thought I was going to vomit. Found out I can't use a skipping rope anymore - will have to work on that. Tried my first Burpees. Hopeless. Will have to work on those too. Tried my first Russian Twists - my abs better than I thought. Did my first pushups on toes in about 13 years as well. Managed a full Plank too - and felt strong! I even did a version of a jog - bit like that old ultra marathon dude looked but I was sans gumboots. My knee would not cope with full-on jogging, but it was good to find out I can move a bit faster on land than I thought I could. I have added this class it to my list of activities too. It's a killer but I felt great afterwards.
• Got a Polar Hear Rate monitor. Still have to work out how to fully use it.
• Got a swish new set of Tanita scales. Have worked out how to weigh myself, but the other settings are beyond me. May have to call on my son to help sort it out.
• Bought a small food processor to help with all the chopping jobs. Had to recruit my patient son to help me work out how to set it up. It flummoxed him too, but we got it sorted in the end. A wonderful device and even better, it is bright red.
• Had a Body scan and found out my bones are strong, my hydration is good, and my muscle strength is good too. And ... I am 49.2% fat. But better news was that my goal weight should be 79.8kgs, not the 69kgs I have believed all these years was supposed to be my "ideal" weight. Yay!
• Started a Blog!!!

What I have learned

You are worth it. Yes you are. Remind yourself of that every day.
Eat breakfast - it sets you up for the day.
Sleep more - it helps you lose weight and you will feel better for it.

You don't have to be perfect. Get off the emotional rollercoaster and be kind to yourself.
Organise. Set yourself up for success - plan your exercise, plan your shopping, plan your meals.
Understand food labels. Low-fat doesn't mean low-cal. Watch out for hidden sugar.

Consistent effort is the key to success. It won't happen overnight but it will happen. Be patient.
Acronyms abound - SSS, TUT, JFDI, TTOM ...
No excuses - JFDI! Take responsiblitity. Be accountable.

Diary - get one and write it all down - state your goals, plan your weekly food and exercise, record your progress.
Once a week for weigh-in is enough. Same day, in the morning, nude and after a wee.

It is a lifestyle, not a diet. You are in this to be the best version of yourself.
Try new things. Mix it up.  Challenge yourself.

Yes, You Can Do It!

Pain free - yippee

I have been living with chronic pain. It drives you crazy. There is no relief, it is just there all the time. It is all related to a netball injury from years ago in which I destroyed my anterior cruciate ligament. Since then there has been a knee reconstruction and various other interventions to help me manage the pain of the resulting arthritis in my knee. A dreadful limp for many years did damage to my spine.

I had a total knee replacement several years ago. And within a short time my back started to ache badly. Then the sciatic nerve pain started. Unrelenting, searing pain down my back and right leg. It had been there for years, apparently, but had been masked by the intense pain in my knee from the arthritis eating away at my bones. And so it has gone on - and on, and on ...
Daytime has been manageable but night time is a nightmare. No position is comfortable. I toss and turn. I can't get comfortable. Anti-inflammatory drugs don't work. When I manage to get to sleep it is fitful and I wake an hour or so later and start the tossing and turning all over again. I have become friends with night-time radio. In the mornings I wake in a fog. I have no energy. I am tired and cranky and fed up. Losing weight and getting fit has brought no relief. It was time to do something. A neuro-surgeon told me 5 years ago that I needed a spinal fusion. My reaction was thank you but no thanks. Not yet, at least. The surgery didn't worry me but the 6-month rehab did. All up I have already spent 2 years in rehab after knee surgeries so I am not much interested in spending more time in that little land of misery.

I have been seeing a physio every fortnight for treatment. A few weeks ago she noticed some changes in my back and some new tender spots and suggested I have a chat with my doctor as it had been some years after my last scan. That  chat with my doctor led me to a nuclear scan, a less-than pleasant exercise that showed bad news about my facet joints. It was time to try something else -the pain wasn't in my mind and it was getting worse.

I had a cortisone injection in my hand for carpel tunnel some years back and that gave me relief but it only lasted only three weeks. It was in my mind as a back-up plan for my back (no pun intended) but I had heard that you could only have 3 cortisone treatments in your spine before they stopped working. So I had been saving them up so that I could have them when I really needed them. I realised that time was now!

I had a cortisone injection in my spine yesterday - actually, several injections but I won't bore you with the details. And OMG - I am pain free for the first time in more than 20 years! There is just a little gripe going on, but that I can live with.
 
Not sure how long this will last - somewhere from 1 day to 1 year from what I have read - but boy was it worth the expense. Yippee! Now I have absolutely no reason for being cranky - of course, I don't always need a reason!

I have l lost the plot this past week

I just haven't been in the right head space this week. I thought it was because I hadn't organised things well enough but then I realised it is because I just don't have enough time. And when I thought about it some more I realised that I am bloody fed up with being on call for others all the time and doing things I don't really want to do because I don't want to upset or offend by saying "No". And I have realised that this is the story of my life - trying to keep others happy. For what? So they will like me? I don't really know. But one thing I do know is there are quite simply too many commitments in my life helping others. And it has now reached the point where I am going to say "No more!"

Many people seem to think that because I have 'retired' from paid work that I have time available. Well I don't. Helping my mother takes more hours than a full-time job, for goodness sake. I don't have one free day in a week, not one. It is a constant barrage of things I need to do for others - errands and commitments and problems to sort out that I have been talked into. Some days it feels like everyone thinks I have been put on this earth to help them. No surprise then that I don't have enough time to look after myself. My house is a mess. And I don't know when I last had a day without someone wanting something from me, or suggesting something I could/should do.

Constant little niggly ear worms making me feel bad if I don't help. And this has been going on for years, and years, and years!

Well, enough is enough. I can't (and won't) do it any more. I am going to put people on notice that I am not available. I am making time for me. I don't want my phone ringing all the time, and people complaining they can't get through to me, that they haven't seen me, bla bla bla, and wouldn't it be great if I organised this or that because I am such a good organiser! I don't expect it of others so why is it expected of me? I can't do it all and I am not going to try to be all things to all people any more. And if they don't like it then it is really too bad. I am more important than those who want things from me all the time. And I want some time for ME. I want a weekend where I can do what I want not what others want me to do because that is what THEY want. It is well overdue for me to start nurturing myself, not taking care of others' needs and wants all the time. Selfish? Maybe. But it is time.

I hit the 1/3 mark today

Today is Easter Sunday and this morning I had a wee, got naked, and weighed myself. Even though on the 12WBT we are supposed to weigh ourselves only once a week, I did it because I had been crunching some numbers and knew I would be close to the 1/3 mark. And today I hit it. I have lost 19.5 kilos since I started eating healthily and exercising last September. That is 19.5 kilos that don't have residence on my body anymore! That is also one third of what I am supposed to lose if I am to get to my recommended weight. I am not sure if that is the final weight I really should be but at this stage I am not worrying about that. For the first time I am relying on my body to tell me what is my best athletic weight.

This adventure (I can't stand the word 'journey') started slowly on 17 September 2012, just over 6 months ago, with me starting to exercise. The only dietary concession I made was to cut out sugar and much of the junk food on which I had been existing. This meant not touching chocolate (one of the great loves of my life), chips, biscuits, cakes and ice cream - pretty much anything that can be classified as 'dessert' or snack foods. It has been relatively painless. Somehow I seem to have switched off the chocolate-obsessive button in my head. I am not sure how but even with Easter it hasn't really tempted me to try chocolate. The hardest thing has been getting it into my head that it is a lifestyle, not a short-term diet. My focus has always been on getting fit, though, not on losing weight.

Today I went for a lovely swim. I only did 1 and a half kilometres. (Notice how I said 'only'. Still that negative talk slips in.) So to rephrase, today I swan 1 and a half kilometres. I did it on a Sunday and without any chocolate (including any Easter eggs, bunnies or bilbies) or any other food reward afterwards. I must admit though that the thought of a big piece (or three) of KFC entered my head on the way home. I even changed lane to go home via the KFC drive-through. But I quickly moved the car into the other lane that would take me straight home. And instead of thinking I was depriving myself by not succumbing to the craving, however strong it was, I thought about my 8-week 12WBT fitness trial that I will do this week and how much better I will perform without that gunk in my body. Thanks Mish - my body and my head are much happier.

Something clicked yesterday

I am not sure what happened, but yesterday something just clicked in my head. I think it was Mish's statement about trying something new.

Even though I have tried lots of new things since starting on 12WBT, I decided yesterday that I would do a stretch class. I had thought about it before but because it is scheduled straight after my BodyPump class I had talked myself out of it because I would be too tired, too hot, too sweaty. But I decided to JFDI. I didn't over-think it (in other words, find excuses why I shouldn't do it). And it meant I had a real rush on my hands afterwards to get to my next commitment but I gave up the hour and went with the flow.

It was hard work and it got my heart-beat up which was surprising to me. But it didn't stop there. In the late afternoon a friend rang and suggested we walk our dogs together. I didn't think about it, I just said 'yes'. So, three lots of exercise in one day. And you know what? It wasn't difficult :)

So far ...

It is now 6 months since I started to live more healthily. Here is what I have done so far:

At the start on 17 September 2012

• BMI 45 (which means I am nearly 50% fat)
• Weight: My secret
• Exercise: Nil, zero, nuffin!!!

3 December 2012

• 37 minutes 12 seconds for 1500 metres freestyle (74.4 seconds/50m freestyle)

1 January 2013

• Joined Masters swim club

10  January 2013

• Started Masters squad on Thursday mornings

10 February 2013

• Volunteered for swimming coaching session with trainee coaches

At start of Round 1 of 12WBT

• BMI: 42
• Weight: Still my secret :)
• Exercise: Swimming regularly and the occasional gym session

7 February 2013

• 300 metre swim: 7 minutes 37 seconds (Intermediate)

10 February 2013

• Pushups:              31 knees in 1 minute (Advanced)
• Planks:                 35 seconds on knees (Intermediate)
• Wall sit:               18 seconds (Beginner)
• Sit & Reach:        -9cms (Beginner)

12 February 2013

• Started BodyPump class

13 February 2013

• Started Senior Gym class

Mini Milestone Week: 4-10 March 2013

• 24 minutes for 1 kilometre freestyle (72 seconds per 50 metres)

3 March 2013

• 150 metres in 3 minutes 30 seconds (70 seconds per 50 metres). Buggered up the time-trial - forgot that I needed to do 12x25metres, not 6x25metres, so had to re-do. Decided to start Endurance swimming session with Masters club on Saturday 9 March 2013

6 March 2013

• -6.3kgs
• BMI: 39.2 (below 40!)
• BMR: 1757
• Total change for my body: 13.5cm smaller:
• Chest      -4cm
• Waist      -2cm
• Hips        -2.5cm
• L.Thigh  -2.5cm
• R.Thigh  -1cm
• L.Arm    -2cm
• R.Arm    -1.5cm

9 March 2013

• Did a 400 metre timed freestyle swim in my first Masters Endurance swim session and used it to measure my 300 metre swimming fitness test. I improved my 300 metre fitness swim time by 14% (did the swim in 6 minutes 33 seconds, taking 1 minute 4 seconds off my previous time of 7 minutes 37 seconds done on 7 February 2013)

10 March 2013

• 300 metre swim: -64 seconds
• From 7 minutes 37 seconds (Intermediate) to 6 minutes 33 seconds (Intermediate).
• Improvement from 76 seconds per 50 metres to 
• Pushups:             +17 reps
• From 31 knees in 1 minute (Advanced) to 48 (Advanced)
• Planks:                + 50 seconds
• From 35 seconds on knees (Intermediate) to 1 minute 25 seconds on  knees (Advanced)
• Wall sit:              + 20 seconds
• From 18 seconds (Beginner) to 38 Seconds (Beginner) 
•  Sit & Reach:      +3cms
• From -9cms (Beginner) to -6cms (Beginner)

14 March 2013

• Did a 200 metre IM (Individual Medley comprising 50metres butterfly, backstroke, breastroke and freestyle) in the Masters squad training session

20 March 2014

• Lost a total of 40 pounds (18.1 kilos) since 17 September 2012 - an average of 3 kilos a month
• Lost 7.6 kilos (17 pounds) since started on 12WBT (6.5%) - an average of 1.5 kilos a week
• BMI 38.8
• BMR 1744

21 March 2014

• Did Masters swim squad with the competition swimmers - kept up with their pace in butterfly and kicking