• 1km time trial – 5:32 (down from 8:01)
• push ups – 28 (up from 21) in a minute
• ab test – level 2 (up from 0)
• stretch – 13cm (up from 6cm)
• wall site – 2:36 (up from 1:08)

The only real changes from 4 weeks ago is the time trial and the wall sit.  And can I just say I’m pretty damn proud of myself for the time trial.  At the start, I think I managed 300 metres jogging before I slumped back to a walk and I was absolutely shattered at the end of it.  I didn’t have the best prep for it either, I had barely any lunch, no afternoon snack, not enough water during the day and I have always done my exercise in the morning, not the evening.  So to kick another 30 seconds off my time is so cool!  I think the improvement has come from the damn hill intervals I’ve been doing over the past 2-3 weeks.  Cranking the treadmill up to 10 incline has really pushed my quads and given them the extra strength needed to push harder and faster.

Oh, and yes, I DID lose a decent amount of weight.  Over 10% body weight in fact – I’ve gone from 82.2kg, down past my pre-pregnancy weight and this final week I dropped below my previous “holy crap I need to lose weight” weight.  I’m getting close to my previous stable weight, but if I keep exercising and watching what I eat, I’m aiming to get back to my old “kinda fit” weight.  I’m not aiming for my old “fit” weight – too time consuming but my next target is to get below 70kg.  I’m thinking this is entirely do-able, possibly within the next 4-6 weeks since I managed nearly a kilo this week.

So onwards and downwards… Not sure what’s going to happen with this blog, I still have a few more posts to make for this round and then we will see what happens.  It won’t stop, but it may change focus a litttle!

Seafood marinara and couscous

I’m back!  Must be around 4 weeks since I’ve made a post, terribly slack of me.  I was away for a couple of weeks over Christmas and was almost totally off the program for that time.  No excuse, just terribly slack of me.  I did hardly any exercise at all and didn’t follow the meal plan.  I DID watch what I ate though and avoided snacking just because it was there, made sure I didn’t drink too much and only had a little chocolate – much less than I usually would!

As a result, for the 2 weeks I was away from my scales, I still managed to drop half a kilo which I was really pleased to see.  I was organised to kick back into things again, but seeing this loss really gave me the boost I needed to start up again.  Meal plan started up again this week and damn there are some tasty things on it – japanese style prawns with soba noodles to start the week was amazing!  Didn’t get a photo of it though so will need to make it again.

With exercise, I started up again last weekend with 1hr picked form a Super Saturday Session and was sore for 3 days after!  Oops, I shouldn’t have gone that long doing nothing!  I had been finding it difficult with various demands on my time to work on anything else I needed to do after using up most of the morning to fit in exercise, cool down and a shower while my bub is sleeping.  So I’m shuffling things around a bit.  I’ll now only be doing 4 (possibly 5) days of exercise a week.  Two of these will be on weekdays and two on the weekend.

With this all in place I was very excited to see over a kilo drop off the scales this week!  Slowly but surely getting towards my goal weight and very comfortably under my pre-pregnancy weight which is fantastic.

Pancakes

Seriously – this is diet food?  Sooooo yummy and perfect for a lazy Sunday breakfast.

Well, today was weigh in day again and I was very excited to see one whole kilo has fallen off.  Yep, after the last two weeks losing just over half a kilo, and then going out for yum cha and a movie (which always includes a frozen coke!) on the weekend I wasn’t sure what I was going to see.  So seeing 1kg having dropped off was great!  Not too much further and I will be down to my pre-pregnancy weight (maybe next week?).  Even though I was overweight when I got pregnant, it’s all these little milestones that make things manageable.

Being Week 4, I’m also supposed to take my measurements and see what I’ve lost there.  I think that one will be quite interesting as I already know I’ve lost a lot of excess baby belly and I seem to be shrinking in most other places too.  I’m currently wearing a pair of shorts that I couldn’t do the button up on 4 weeks ago!

Rice paper rolls

Mmmm… rice paper rolls.  The photo really doesn’t do them justice, you can’t see all the yummy goodness that’s wrapped up inside them.  They are so good in fact, that I’m making them again this week!

So today was weigh in day and I’m down another 600g – same as last week.  To be honest I’m a little disappointed as I had hoped to be losing a little more rapidly than this, especially at the start of the program when the biggest changes are being made.  I stuck to the meal plan and although I missed a little of the exercise I had still hoped for better results.

Oh well, it’s still a loss so it’s all heading in the right direction.  I might take a couple of measurements later to see what’s happening there and if nothing else I am FEELING a lot better – fitter and healthier – so I must be doing something right!  After the last two hectic days, I was looking forward to some time today to catch up on a few things.  Haven’t done nearly as much as I hoped so far though – washing is still in the machine needing to be put out to dry and another load on, exercise not done yet, list hasn’t been put together to do a food shop before lunch.  I have printed out the recipes I still need for the week, written this post, had a good chat with Mum, tidied up the kitchen, sorted out washing and entertained the baby until she was ready for a nap.  So I guess I have achieved something, I keep forgetting how much longer it takes to get things done when there’s a baby in the house!  Looking forward to tonight’s dinner too, baked fish and sweet potato wedges sounds soooo good.

Berry Bruschetta Breakfast

Seriously?  We have a weigh in on the morning of the 3rd day – that’s only 2 days of calorie controled diet and exercise.  But you know what, I reckon I’ve lost a bit.  Wow!  My start weight for this program was 81.7kg, and 3 months ago, just before my little girl showed up I was somewhere around 93kg.  And now here I am at 80.6!  I’m very pleased with that, talk about quick results.

Oh, and the berry bruschetta above for breakfast – looks fabulous but unfortunately I wasn’t a fan, the ricotta is a bit too bitter for me.  Maybe I can mix in a smidge of honey or something to sweeten it up because otherwise this is one delicious looking and filling way to start the day.