Back on track

Wow, it feels like ages since I last wrote a post on here.

Exams are over, YAY!!!! It is now time to relax and concentrate on me for a couple of months before going back to studying.

I have been speaking with a personal trainer who takes one of my classes at the gym and he is looking at creating me a specialised eating plan that will allow me the energy I need to get through the days and also help me to lose weight. Due to my large amounts of exercise I feel tired a lot which means I eat sugary foods to keep my energy levels up, its a vicious cycle really because I tend to have huge highs and then big lows. I look forward to receiving this later this week or early next week :)

In terms of weightloss I do not believe that I have lost anything on the scales however I did go around trying size 16 dresses the other week so the cm's must be coming off which makes me feel really good.

Here is a picture of me wearing one of these dresses at my nanas 75th birthday party

I hope you are all on track and seeing the results you want to see. Christmas is coming so we need to work extra hard over the next couple of weeks to allow for those treats come xmas day.

Rachael xx

Before and during

Its been a month since I took my before photos and as I promised I have taken some progress shots.

Personally I don't see much of a change and my partner didn't take the photos from the same distance as the first time. I do however feel one when I'm wearing my clothes and trying on new ones to buy for summer.

Today I purchased a size 16 dress which was my goal for new years so if I'm really good over the next month and a bit I may even be able to buy a big size 14 on new years eve.

Here is a picture of my front

 

And my left side

Finally my back (can't make it larger sorry)



I hope your goals are going as well as you want them too and that you are enjoying the last few weeks of 2013.

Rachael xx

Sculpt 6k run

Yesterday I picked up my run pack and got ready for today.

Today was the day I have been waiting for.....

Start line

I completed the Sculpt 6k run this morning with a time of 49 minutes and 28 seconds.

The time I wanted to complete it in was 40 minutes but unfortunately it was very hot and I did struggle a little. There where many times that I wanted to stop and walk for a short time and it may have made me faster but I was determined to run the whole race even if it was a slow jog for some of it.

Here is a picture of me after I've completed the run and enjoying a nice coffee.

I hope that if you also did some exercise today you enjoyed it.

Rachael xx

Whoops long time no hear

Sorry about that I have had a very busy and stressful few days with exams coming up and a group presentation that was presented yesterday.

I hope everybody is still on track and enjoying the new lifestyle they have chosen to follow :)

Exercise wise I haven't been very good, since Friday last week all I have done is two runs :/ Unfortunately I have been dealing with a lot of tiredness and headaches so they are keeping me away from the gym in the evenings. The run's I have completed though are big and I have been extremely proud of my time and distance. On Saturday I completed an 8k run in 55 minutes (including 5min warm up) with an average pace of 6.37mins per k. Today I completed a 65 minute run, this was over 9k and was at an average of 6.58min per k. I very much hope to keep this time for Sunday when I complete my 6k run and would like to complete this in 40 minutes.

In terms of food, I am feeling quite good about how my eating is going. In the weekend we did have a big BBQ with friends for guy Fawkes which meant that there was a lot of junk food :(.

Weigh-in on Monday showed no change in weight from my loss last week but I did buy a pair of size 16 jeans on Saturday so I feel like my body must be changing. I look forward to seeing my so far photos on the 22nd of this month.

Again I hope all is going well for you all, as I have exams coming up I may not be around as much in the next couple of weeks but I will try my hardest to update you as much as possible :)

Rachael xx

Update on food

So I thought I'd do a short update on my food as I have complained a couple of times about how my food intake hasn't been very good.

Still I have not been able to get my food under total control but I am feeling a little bit better about my eating. I made it to the middle of the week this week before having a treat or two and I feel like I'm becoming more aware of my triggers for my sneaky treats too.

I am still trying very hard to eat the right foods throughout the day and keeping my exercise up so I'm hoping to see this on the scales this week.

I hope your week is going well so far,
Rachael xx

Vision Board

Today I finally made up my vision board that I have been wanting to do for the last couple of weeks.

Here is a picture:

I was so stoked when putting the board together that I could cross off two kg's as when I weighted myself this morning I was down to 103.6.

Seeing my loss on the scales was great as the past few weeks I have not been seeing anything and its just so hard to keep going when you don't physically see the results.

In terms of exercise I'm very happy with my runs lately as my time has been getting better and better. I hope to be able to reach my first fitness goal of 6k in 40 minutes when I run the Sculpt 6k in two weeks time.

Hopefully you are all on track for your goals, let me know how your going or what is helping you to keep on track.

Rachael xx

Labour Weekend

So here in NZ we have just had labour weekend which meant we had Monday off, YAY!!!!

Exercise wise I did two big runs over the weekend as the gym was closed so I missed out on my Monday pump and spin class.

Eating wise things are not good :( I still haven't got on track and really don't know why I can't just stop making bad food choices.

Over the weekend I had some chocolate, an ice cream, a piece of cake, 2 big slices of cream filled lamington, a mc d's cheeseburger and more chocolate. Far out that sounds awful seeing it all written down....... Unfortunately due to having someone come to mine after school today I decided that we needed munchies, this meant that I got some chips, a chocolate donut and another cream filled lamington RAH!!!!!!!!!! Why can't I stop this!!!!!!

I really don't want to let this get me down but it is so hard, I see all this and just think oh well I'll start again next week (being next Monday). I really don't want this to be the case so I am going to make sure that I start from next meal.

I hope if you were in NZ that you had a lovely long weekend and enjoyed getting out in the sun at some point.

Will let you know how I go later in the week :)

Rachael xx

Studying means junk food :(

Ok well as I have mentioned before I am currently studying nursing and with exams only a couple of weeks away I am trying to study as much as possible.

So tonight I organised with a good friend from my class Hannah to come to mine so we could study. I mentioned about getting takeaways to make our life easier (maybe my first mistake). So for the last two nights I have been stressing over the fact that I knew tonight would mean junk food because that's what we always have when we study.

When we did finally decide what we were having for dinner we chose burgers, but not just any burgers.....Burger Fuel!!! (my absolute fav).
I do have to say though I am a little proud of myself tonight for the self control I had when it came to eating it. I ate my burger (awesomeness and totes worth it) but only had a handful or so of chips (with aoli of course) in fact we didn't even eat all of our chips, this is not like me!!! As Hannah also brought chocolate I couldn't resist so I had a total of 8 pieces (sounds heaps but usually I could eat half a block no problem).

 I know that to get to the results I want I need to not eat food like this, but I guess I also don't think I will be able to completely remove nights like this from my life. If nights like this do happen I just need to understand I will not see results I want on the scales that week and will need to work a little harder for the next week to keep on track....

I hope you are all going well on your personal journey, feel free to let me know how your going its great to hear about other peoples success as it helps to keep us motivated. WE WILL DO THIS!!!!

Thanks for reading xx

Before Photos

The other day I decided that I need to do some before photos this week.

When my partner Dean got home on Monday I passed him the camera and asked if he could take the pictures for me. I had previously got him to take some of me in my underwear but this time I asked him to take them of me in my gym clothes so I feel a little more comfortable posting them online. Plus NOBODY should have the misfortune of seeing me in my underwear hehe.

I have to apologise for my grumpy face, I don't know what happened there. I kind of think it works though so that I can show in my expressions the change as I start to feel better about myself (hopefully).

Here are the pictures Dean took of me:

 

My aim is to take new photos every month so that I can see the changes in my body shape. I hope that I defiantly do start to notice some changes. A lot of people over the past month or so have mentioned that they notice I have lost weight but I am yet to notice a difference. I really want to see the changes to help keep my motivation up.

 

After a pump and spin class yesterday and a run today as well as mowing the lawns this afternoon I am absolutely knackered so I'm going to have an early night tonight. I hope your journey is going well, feel free to leave comments if you think of anything you would like me to have on this blog to help your journey succeed.

 

 Rachael xxx

What really works.....

No matter how many times I have attempted a diet or healthy lifestyle as I like to call it, I always seems to fail or "fall off the wagon" as people like to say.

The one time I have succeeded with great weight loss was around 6-7 years ago when I lost a total of 30 kg's in around 6 months. I kept this weight off for around 2 years before it slowly crept back on. Looking back to this time I think, what is it that helped me to succeed?? There are a couple of things that I did back then that are just not possible now financially which was 2- 3 personal training sessions a week and making my own meals.

So where can I go from here?? Well I decided that I would look at the other things I did and see if there is anything I can do this time as well that won't cost a lot.

Here is the list I came up with and will be attempting to do:

• Write a food diary (not just put on my phone but physically write one in a diary or exercise book)
• Go to the gym or exercise at least 6 times a week
• Make the right food choices (fruit and vegetables, lean protein etc.)
• Have small goals and reward myself with non-food items or activities
• Weigh once a week and measure every fortnight

I know these look like the same things you see every time you read a "How to" on losing weight. But the fact is that these things really do work!!

Tomorrow is Monday and it is the start of a new week which for me means a start of my new "Healthy lifestyle".

Wish me luck xx

Exercise this week

I have to say I love to exercise. The feeling I get from pushing my body to complete the tasks even with my mind wanting me to stop is awesome!!!

So far this week I have done quite a bit of exercise.

• Monday I did a 30 minute run (3:3 minute intervals) in the morning, a pump class and then a spin class that night.
• Tuesday I did nothing, was planning on walking the dog but it was raining :(.
• Wednesday I ran 40 minutes on the treadmill in the morning and then that night a Power class (cardio and weights).
• Today being Thursday I have done an intense circuit class.

In my intense fitness class today I was very much the biggest girl in the room. Before going into the class I thought this might be the case so I was extremely nervous. I had no reason to be nervous the ladies very friendly and I was welcomed into the class. The best part of it was that I kept up with everybody and didn't need to stop at any point YAY!!!

Tomorrow I am doing a run 10 min fast 5 min steady 10 min fast. Saturday a leisurely walk through the Karangahake Gorge, Waihi where I'll hopefully learn some great tips for my photography. Then on Sunday a 30 min steady run. I am feeling very happy with all of my exercise efforts for this week.

Now if only I could get my eating under control!!!

This is me

Ok so I thought the first thing I should do is tell you a little about myself and why I have made the decision to create this blog. This blog is to help me and others through the tough (and I mean TOUGH) journey of weight loss.

So here I go......

I am 27 years old, I live with my partner Dean and my daughter Maddison (Maddie) in Auckland, New Zealand. Currently I am a full-time student at MIT where I am completing a Bachelor of Nursing.

An extremely embarrassing fact about me is that I currently weigh over 100kgs, 105kgs to be exact. I also am wearing a size 18-20 and it sucks big time!!! Ever since I was a teenager I have struggled with my weight. I'm very much a binge eater that uses anything as an excuse to eat. For me food is the big issue!!!

In terms of exercise I very much enjoy it although I need to be in a rhythm, as soon as things start to slow down so do my exercising efforts.

My long term goal is to be 70 kgs and fitting into a size 10-12.

Well that was me, I'm sure you will learn a lot more as I add onto this blog. I would love to meet you if you want to share your blog or information about yourself. Hopefully I can help you on your journey as much as the support of everyone will help me through mine.

Here is a pic of me from earlier this year with my daughter Maddie. As I loss weight I hope to be able to enjoy times like these a lot more often!!!