Weigh In + Past Week

So I know that I haven't really been blogging all the much but that's all about to change.  This week for me has been all about commitments for me.  Whether it be to blog more, compete in a tournament or race, committing to run twice a week or even just to have coffee with a friend.    For me right now, it's about committing to things and staying committed to it.  

This week, I also had a stripe grading for Kung Fu, which was really cool! Our Sifu - Dave- said that I had just passed my first stripe grade, which required me to do blocks and counters and also Wushu 1 and I will probably do this tomorrow and video it and post it here on the blog.  We get our presentation next week, so hopefully I will have some photos to be posted as well!

This week was my birthday - well not the whole week, my birthday was on Tuesday so Mum had made a Coffee Carmel Ice Cream Cake, which was so good, lots of espresso coffee! 

Which was so good, and only 5PP per slice.  I like coffee, but this one was so strong, which was good, because it allowed me to only have it small amounts, which was perfect!! I also made some banana and malteser muffins, which were nice but I don't think they are worth the 7PP that were allocated to them!  But hey, that might just be personal opinion, other people might love them!

But I managed to spread them out over the week and only used around 15 of my weekly PP, but earned 32 exercise PP.  

I had weigh in this morning and was actually really surprised to pull a 1.7kg loss, (I mean not surprised in bad way),  I stuck to my PP and made good choices, but was 1.7kg after 2.8kg last week is huge- anyway I'll stop whinging now!!  

So now I'm onto a new week, time to start a fresh and if the body plays nice, a good loss next week!

My Week - 12th June Week 24

Winter Tweak and Eats

Modify your favorite winter meals to make them satisfying winter warmers.

A salad or sandwich might be great for lunch in summer, but as the weather cools down; its nice to warm up main meals.  With a little planning, learn how you can bring a little winter warmth to each meal time

Breakfast-  Try warm porridge drizzled with honey or heat milk before adding it to your wheat biscuits.  If you have the time, sit down for hearty poached eggs on grainy toast or if you're in a hurry grab some raisin toast with WW Canola Spread on the way

Lunch- Grill vegies like pumpkin, sweet potato and carrots with a spray of olive oil, or add some warm chicken or boiled egg to usual tossed salad.  Grill or toast sandwiches with warm ingredients like, chicken, roast beef or bacon for a filling edge.  

Dinner- Go for your favorite winter warmers, but tweak the ingredients to make them healthier.  Chicken stock or low fat sour cream are great in mashed potatoes instead of cream and butter.  Roast or bake meats meats instead of grilling and bake or puree vegetables into a hearty soup.  

Whats your trigger?
We all have trigger foods- the snacks and treats that challenge our willpower.  One solution is to remove the temptation by clearing them out of your kitchen cupboards and replace them with Propoints value friendlier options.  

- Low fat hot chocolate for regular hot chocolate
- Maple syrup to drizzle over warm popcorn
- Weight Watchers cookies to dunk in your tea or coffee
- Instant soups for a hot mid meal snack
- SPC fruit snack tub with a dollop of warm custard

June is a great month for beetroot, broccoli, Brussel spouts, cabbage, carroys, cauliflower, celery, fennel, leeks, onion, parsnips, potatoes, pumpkin, silverbeet, spinach, sweet potato and turnips

Natural Winter Sweeteners
Weight Watchers dietitian Emma Stirling shows us how to make the most of the winter fruits on offer

In the nutrition stakes fruit is way up at the top of the list.  It's one of the most nutrient dense food groups packed with an array of essential vitamins and minerals for glowing good health.  

As a food group fruit makes a significant contribution to our vitamin C, beta carotene folate and potassium intakes.  However, it's the dietary fibre content that fills us up and can boost weight loss efforts, that's one of the reasons why all fresh fruit and most vegetables now have a Propoints value of zero.  

Winter Wonderland

We tend to eat more fruit as dessert in the winter- think pies, crumbled and stewed apples.  Just keep in mind that when fruit is juice, dried, processed or cooked often the skin, seeds and dietary fibre are left behind with some essential nutrients and antioxidents.  At the same time the natural sugar content becomes concentrated and the water is removed.  If you add sugar or honey remember to count the Propoints value.  

Fast Indoor Fitness
Weight Watchers exercise consultant Allan Bolton shows us how to get the most from a 15 minute indoor workout

With shorter days and less daylight, it can be hard to find 45 minutes of straight exercise time outdoors.  Home exercise can be a good alternative to keep your fitness ticking over during winter.  It requires little equipment and you can exercise when you want to.  

The key to optimising a 15 minute workout is to turn the intensity you.  The best way to do this at home is to include the principals of interval and circuit training.  Include hula hooping, exercise DVD segments, box jumps / step ups, skipping etc.  But getting in possibly 2 15 minute workouts each day will help you stay ontop of your fitness and weight loss.  

All you need to do is warm up at a moderate pace, then as you feel comfortable up the intensity to a peak and then ease the intensity down for a few minutes at the end.  Of course if you choose to, you can extend your workout for 20 minutes, 30 minutes or however long you have

Here's an example 15 minute workout plan:
1 minute step ups / box jumps ( lead with the right leg)- easy pace- 1 minute each leg
2 minutes of Zumba DVD- pick a favorite track - moderate pace
2 minutes hula - hoop- moderate pace
2 minutes rope skipping- higher intensity- double unders if you can do them
1 minute step ups - (lead with with the right leg)- lead with right leg - 1 minute each leg
1 minute rope skipping- higher intensity
2 minutes hula - hoop- moderate pace
2 minute of Zumba DVD- pick a favorite track- moderate to easy pace

 

Plan of Attack- Week Starting- 11/6/2011

Ok, so I have weighed in for the week just gone and had a good loss of 1.2kg.  Now its time to plan for the coming week

1.  Cooking both selected Weight Watchers Meals
2.  Cook the Pumpkin, Spinach and Goats Cheese Tarts
3.  Schedule in exercise for 6 days with 1 rest day
4.  Clock up 12km worth of running- thats a 2km increase for City2Surf in August

To achieve the first and second goal I have selected there I have left the ingredients out so that I can do them tomorrow once I get back from my run in the morning.  

Goal 3 - I will definately be achieving this goal this week as I will be scheduling my exercise as:

Week Starting 11/6/11
Sunday- Either Knapsack Margarets Lookout / 1 hour swim or big block run (from my house to down Andrews Rd, along Castlereagh Rd, up Coreen Ave and back along Northern Rd)- This will depend on the weather

Monday- If the gym is open I will go early and do 1 hour interval sprints on the treadmill @10km per hour - atleast 30 seconds on til as long as I can go for and 1 minute rest- repeat for 1 hour.  Then Kickboxing Class for 1 hour.  If it is not open then I will Knapsack as long as the weather is fine.

Tuesday- 1 hour run- trying to stay at a steady pace around 7.5-8km per hour on the treadmill for as long as I can then go onto interval training.  Then Kickboxing for 1 hour.

Wednesday - 1 hour run- trying to stay at steady pace for as long as possible.  1 hour Kickboxing

Thursday- I really would like to try and get to a Jam class this week- so if possible I will try and go tonight.  If not, then 1 hour Kickboxing

Friday - 1 hour interval sprints on treadmill @8km to start then working up to 10km per hour for 1 hour.  1 hour Kickboxing. 

Saturday- Is weigh in day- no training- this is the scheduled rest day

Knapsack 5/6/2011

I woke up this morning trying to decide what type of exercise I should do today- hmmm I was a toss up between hitting the pool for some laps, heading down to Nepean River and do the bridge to bridge walk or head up to Knapsack at to the hard trail.  Previously I would have chosen the course I think to be the easiest which probably would have been the river, but decided to challenge myself and do Knapsack.  

So I jumped in the car around 0730 this morning and headed up to start my walk.  There is quite a few different tracks you choose from but I did Margarets Lookout, which is considered one of the harder ones.

Track Options

Once I had decided which track I was going to tackle it was time to hit the 1km trek to the bridge

These guys definately had the same idea as me!

Then once I finally got to the bridge, I was beginning to rethink my options about the track I had chosen- 3 new options

The first path - takes you upto another lookout- didn't choose this one

Not really sure where this one goes, so didn't choose this one!

Winner!

 The I made my way almost at a jogging pace to get to the rocks at the bottom to start my journey to the top

Now having done this track before I knew exactly what I was in for a steep accent and lots of stairs and boy do I mean lots!! Check em out

So proud- I did these stairs all unbroken!

 I shouldn't really say the "whole track" was stairs, there were a few flat bits also

But I knew I could so this as much as I was in I was determined to get to the top!

I knew once I saw my rock sculpture friends that I was so close- check em out!

 
Next thing I knew I was powering to the top.  I had done, I had a few mishaps along the way like falling flat on my face, lucky I don't have a photo of that!!  But I did it! Check out the celebratory photo and the view from the top

Me celebrating at the top!

View from the top!

The it was time to make the journey back down the track and at this point I was really quite knackered and was in search of some breakfast so I think I almost sprinted back, except for the path to get back to the bridge.  I think I was almost rock climbing vertically, check it out!

Getting ready for the trek back

The track to get back to the bridge

Me at the end red as a beetroot but happy I did it!

 Such a great way to start the weekend- what did you guys do?

Mid Week Weigh Ins

Morning Everyone

I was just curious to know your opinions regarding mid week weigh ins.  Know as most of you know I weigh in on a Saturday Morning, but I also usually weigh in on a Tuesday / Wednesday or Thursday just to make sure my body is working well with the foods I'm eating and that the weight is coming off.  

This week has been a good week for me, I've tracked everything I've ate, I've made good positive food choices and I have trained 3 days since Saturday morning not including today.  And the scales say I've lost 600g in 4 days, which to be honest the way I've been eating and training I would have thought I would have lost more!

Mid week weigh in, the scales are around 400g out compared to the WW ones I weigh in on

 Now I know most people would say "Hey! 600g is a great loss you should be really happy with that".  

Well I don't like settling for less when I know I am capable of more.  

I guess I also need to take into account I have had 3 massive weeks of weight loss- so first week was 2.7kg, then 2kg, then another 2kg.  Maybe it is time for my body to catch up, but I'm gonna tracking and working hard to ensure to a good loss!

I have a function tonight so no training, but I'm going to take my dinner, store it in the fridge and eat that instead of the no doubt chips and dip and lollies and probably alot of other unhealthy food they are planning to serve.  I'm am not to going to be weak and give into the bad food, I'm going to stay strong, go shopping early before work and bring some healthy filling choices to tonights event!

Anyway guys I'm looking forward to getting your feedback!

Goals + Commitments for the Coming Week

Ok, so tomorrow is Monday, which means the start of a new working week and weight loss week (well technically mine starts Saturday morning straight after weigh in)- anyway.  Its time to make a commitment to myself for the coming week.  

1.  Is to track everything I eat and drink and be completely honest with myself.  No matter if I have 50g of chocolate - everything goes in that tracker.  

2.  Be active within the weight loss community, which means being active on the blog on the WW website, be active on the message boards, and also on this blog.  

3.  Make good, positive choices when it comes to food- which means eating food that is beneficial to my weight loss.  

4.  Make a commitment to train 6 days this week.  I have trained Friday morning - after my weigh in - had to weigh in a day earlier this week and did a 7km Bridge to Bridge walk.  Also trained this morning with 40 minutes of laps.  Adding onto this commitment I will give 100% to all my training this week and in the future.  

5.  Attend my meeting next Saturday

6.  Surrounding myself with positive people