Japanese style prawn noodles

Well, not much to write about at this point.  Less than 2 of the 12 weeks in the program left to go and it seems a bit strange that it’s nearly all over.  I know once I finish I need to keep eating right and keep exercising – and luckily my husband is 100% behind me in this.  In a lot of ways it will be a relief to have some of the time back, but I also know that I still need to find time for most of the activities I have been doing anyway.

My struggle at the moment is to stay focussed.  I stuck to my plan to do some exercise each day over the long weekend which was good, but I slacked off in the eating department a little.  Not a huge amount, but I had a couple of glasses of wine that I wouldn’t usually have and probably snacked a bit on the wrong things.  Nothing major, but it lets me know that I am really going to have to watch things once I’m off the plan to make sure I don’t get back into old habits.  The hardest part is that my husband needs to eat more than what we have been at times, so he will have dessert or extra yummy things in dinner and I have to talk myself out of having them too.  It really doesn’t seem fair sometimes.  But then he doesn’t need to lose as much weight as I do!

I just need to keep reminding myself that I’m getting really close to my original goal weight and once I get there I can ease up a little on the strict calorie control to maintain rather than lose weight.  It’s not really taking that long to lose it – if I look at the past 10 weeks, I’ve lost well over half a kilo a week, almost a full kilo a week if I take out the 2 weeks over christmas when I didn’t stick to the plan, and I’m still losing the weight well.  I haven’t really had a slow down in weight loss, it fluctuates from week to week, but overall I’m still losing a decent amount each week – I haven’t hit the “I’m restricting calories, exercising, but my weight doesn’t change” plateau yet.

I also need to remind myself why I’m doing this – to feel better about myself, fitter and healthier, to be able to keep up with my daughter and play with her as she grows, to be a happier, healthier wife to my husband and to give myself a focus and a plan for getting there.

Steak sandwich

Slow week for me.  I’ve been absolutely exhausted all week, mainly from not sleeping too well and from the baby not sleeping as well either.  As a result, I’ve been hungrier than usual and the 1200 calories just isn’t cutting it.  I’ve had a few “extras” to eat while still being mainly good about the choices I make so still managed to drop some weight but I haven’t had the energy (or time) to do any exercise.

Actually, today is probably the first day that I’ve felt up to it all week and I still didn’t do any exercise.  But you know what – I’m ok with that.  For now.  I spent the morning doing other useful stuff that I hadn’t been able to get on to in the rest of the week, so I already feel like I’ve accomplished something today.  Exercise picks up again tomorrow and with it being a long weekend I think I’m going to exercise every day to make up for being slack the rest of the week.

With only 2 weeks left on the program, I’m starting to feel a bit burnt out.  It’s been a lot more time consuming than I expected which has affected all of us.  While the exercise is only for an hour, it takes up most of the morning once you add in cool down and a shower – which usually doesn’t get to happen until the baby has been up for a couple of hours and goes back down to sleep again.  Then the food prep has taken a lot more time than I’ve expected some days as well.  I’m trying hard to stay focussed but it’s getting more and more difficult as we get closer to the end.

It’s not like I’m going to just stop everything once the program finishes either.  We plan on going through the recipes, pulling out some favourites and putting them on regular rotation for dinners.  My lunches have definitely changed too and I’m happy eating a mountain bread wrap or corn thins with some yummy toppings.  I’ll also keep doing regular exercise - I’m enjoying feeling fitter again and that as I’m losing the weight I’m also getting more toned.

So really, I’m not stopping, I made a commitment to see this through, I’m just feeling a bit run down and am looking forward to this weekend and getting things back in order again and seeing what I can achieve in these final two weeks!

Kangaroo with pumpkin mash

At the start of the program we were told to make a commitment to it – put it in words, say it out loud and let our family and friends know what we were doing so that we would get their support and be accountable to others for what we were doing.  This is the commitment I wrote then:

My commitment is to be a fit and healthy mum to my daughter, wife for my husband and most of all to feel great for me!

I will lose the weight I need to feel confident and happy in the way my body works and looks, this means at least 10kg off my weight and being able to exercise for an hour without suffering for the rest of the week as a result.  I will be fit and healthy so that if we decide we want to try to have a second baby my body is in great condition to handle pregnancy and childbirth, unlike this time.  I will eat more fresh fruit and vegetables on a regular basis instead of taking the lazy option of frozen veg and tinned fruit.  I want to set a good example for my daughter as actions speak louder than words.

I need to keep reminding myself of this.