Saturday, March 31, 2012

Here is something to think about when shopping at Woolies and Coles....

Wow I am so behind in everything at the moment.  I haven't done a diet update in quite a few days.  I promise I will do a big update on Monday.  I have been so busy this last week.  Tuesday I went to Mr11's school excursion and then Wednesday - Friday I was at Hubby's work helping him do his stocktake.....he is a 1 man band at work and with a whole warehouse to get counted he needed an extra pair of hands.  Therefore, my poor blog along with my house, has been sadly neglected.  I am happy to say though, that apart from missing one ay of exercise we have been sticking to our diet with pleasing results.

Anyway I need to go and get some housework done, 4 days of neglect has seen every corner fill with dust bunnies and the clutter on bench tops is out of control......not to mention the cleanliness of bathrooms and my ironing/folding pile.  Sheesh I try to do minimal housework on weekends but it looks like this weekend is going to be different.

I will leave you with this snippet of just how big Coles and Woolies actually are in Australia.  It makes me more determined to support the locals and try to reduce our reliance on supermarkets altogether (easier said than done when you don't have a big garden but we will do what we can lol).



Scary stuff huh!!!

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Day 22 diet results....

We are back on track yay! 

Hubby lost 0.5kg bringing his total to 5.5kgs
I lost 200 grams bringing my total to 3.8kgs.

Not sure what will happen tomorrow as I was out on a school excursion with Mr11 today and lunch and recess were provided.  Luckily it was pretty healthy with lots of fresh fruit and a 6 inch subway roll for lunch.  The only downside was the one I picked up was a pizza one which naturally contained salami.  I thought I had grabbed the turkey, oh well these things happen.  I also had an Anzac cookie for recess.  But I did stick with drinking water and not the juice they had on offer so I was a good girl.

The excursion today was to a "Carbon Kids Workshop".  About 30 year 5 and 6's from my son's school got to go and there were about 6 other schools there too.  They got scientists from the CSIRO to talk about carbon and climate change and the production and effect of BioChar.  It wasn't bad but I did feel that it was a little too advanced for 10 and 11 year olds and it really shouldn't have been so much sitting and listening to speakers, but more hands on stuff.  We were there for 5 hours and approximately 3.5 of those we were seated in an auditorium listening to them speaking.  The kids all wanted to do stuff, but thankfully they were a really well behaved bunch of kids and the teachers didn't have to do any disciplining so that was great.  I believe though the kids should have been given ideas for things they could do and achieve within their schools/homes to help them become greener individuals, not learn about the production of a product to help with agriculture.  They just couldn't really relate to alot of what was said because they are all suburban kids.  Talks should have been about backyard gardening and recycling for their age group!

Oh well, I know the teachers were a little disappointed too, so at least it wasn't just me lol.

Tonight Hubby and I have a night to ourselves as the boys are at their Dad's and his kids have returned to Mum.  A nice quiet night with a nice bowl of homemade soup in front of the tv sounds good.  I am feeling very drained right now and I'm kinda glad I don't have to deal with homework and lunchboxes this afternoon.  I think a coffee sitting out in some fresh air is in order.  Today we have been stuck inside way too much.

Picture borrowed from JadeKeller.com
Have a lovely night everyone!

Monday, March 26, 2012

Day 18-21 Diet results - Weekend Catchup Soccer Season Kicks Off

Okay I'm a little behind in the diet results aren't I....whoops!
Day 18
Hubby lost 100 grams
I lost 300 grams

Day 19
Hubby lost 900 grams (evil eyes were given again lol)
I lost 300 grams

Day 20
Hubby gained 300 grams
I gained 100 grams

Day 21
Hubby gained 100 grams
I lost/gained 0 grams

Measurements for this week show hubby gained 1.5cms and I lost 4cms

So our total losses for the 3 weeks have been:
Hubby lost 5.0kgs and 21.0cms
I lost 3.6kgs and 23cms

Overall we are happy with the results we are achieving.  I haven't lost much in weight in the last 2 weeks (only 700 grams) but in that time I have lost 12.5cms from my body.  As long as that continues I'm not so fussed about numbers on scales.  Hubby for whatever reason seems to be gaining cms each week.  This week I admit he gained it in his arms mainly so I am guessing that is due to him lifting heavy boxes at work, having said that, it may be simply a matter of us not measuring in the exact same spot each week.  As everyone knows you measure up or down your leg in just a slightly different spot, you will get a different number.

Also this week has seen soccer season kick off for Mr15 and Mr11's kicks off next weekend.  Our lives are now officially sports driven with soccer occupying 6 days a week!  Mr15 bought home his season schedule on Friday night and I was a little (okay alot!) disheartened to see that his games kick off at 8.45am and we need to be at the ovals by 8am on Sunday mornings.  There goes Saturday night movie nights for the next 22 weeks!  Normally we watch a family movie with everyone and then the younger guys go to bed and we watch a M rated movie with the older 2, so it is often 1am by the time we get to bed.  One of his games is down South which is a good hour's drive away so that is going to be a killer I tell ya lol!  I am grateful though that this year he has a few games against Port Pirie which is a decent 2 hour drive for us.  Those games have been moved to 1pm,,,,yay!!!!  Best we start saving for the cost of the fuel to get there the way petrol prices are going!

Yesterday Mr15 played against "The Cove" team.  Sadly he lost 4-1.  They did play a pretty good game though and they could all walk away with their heads held high.  They are pretty much a newly formed team this year with only about 4-5 kids having stayed from last year.  They also have a new coach so it is going to take a little while to gel together.

Yesterday afternoon we drove over to the outer perimeter of the Parafield Airport (this is a small airport just north of Adelaide and only about 5 minutes from where I live) to watch an Airshow they had on yesterday.  We had Mr11 with Autism with us so we couldn't stay too long but the kids got to see a few planes doing their acrobatics which was pretty cool.  There was no way we were going to pay to go to the Airshow, they were charging $25 for adults and something like $12-15 for children.  That I thought, was a little over the top!  I was disappointed I forgot to take the camera,,,,,,I am shocking for this lol, I always forget!!!!

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Day 18 Diet Regime

Just a very quick update today.....

Day 17 results
Hubby lost 400 grams bringing his total to 4.4kgs
I gained 100 grams bringing my total to 3.1kgs.

I gave Hubby the evil eye look this morning when he reported his loss to me,,,,,he didn't even exercise at all yesterday!!  I on the other hand walked 4.5kms and did my exercise on the vibration machine.  Life can be so unfair lol, us girls have it tough I tell ya!!!!!!!!!!

Today's menu is:
Breakfast - Poached Egg on Rye
Lunch - Tuna Melt
Dinner - Salad (not sure exactly which one yet lol)

Now please excuse me, I have to go and retrieve my kitchen........this is what it looks like at this moment,,,,see that grey bit that pokes out here and there on top of the cupboards, well that is my benchtop, somewhere under all that clutter.  This is the result of me not having cleaned up after  people for two days,,,,,,,none of them seem the least bit bothered but it stresses me out!  Another thing that is driving me nuts is those walls,,,,,,,we still haven't tiled them and it is just driving me insane.  We think we may have finally made up our minds now though and we just need to do it.  (I'm a little nervous, we have never tiled before and we are going to give it a go ourselves,,,,,,crap I hope it turns out okay!! lol)


I can't believe I have actually shown you all this disaster zone, lol ok I am off to make it look nice again.  Seeya!

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Day 17 of the Diet Regime

This daily stuff is getting a little tedious lol, but its the only way that Mr17 is able to keep up with his work easily.  I use this as my diary and then he takes notes from it.  He is basically writing down our daily menus and our daily weight loss and measurements.  We are supposed to be giving him comments as well.
Aaah well, I will stop complaining and just get on with it huh......

Day 16's results....
Hubby lost 300 grams bringing his total back to 4.0kgs
I lost 300 grams bringing my total back to 3.2 kgs (I'm catching up with him lol)

Exercising on the vibration machine is a little weird.  It doesn't really feel like its doing much at the time.  But within half hour or so you can really feel that you have done something for sure.  I'm still not convinced that we will see any real change this week but I guess we will just have to wait and see.

Today I also walked the kids to school.  This is a 4.4km return trip so that can only be a positive for me.  Mr17 said it would throw out his results if I did extra exercise but I simply said that when it comes to weight loss, history says that I need all the help I can get and I don't want to waste this "experiment" and get to the end of it not having lost much at all.

On other news....its a beautiful day here in Adelaide today, just my type of weather.  It rained last night but this morning is blue sky, a cool breeze, bird chirping in the trees, absolutely beautiful.  I need to get to the shops and get a large piece of coloured card so that Mr11 can finish off his project.  It is due in tomorrow and he still needs to stick down all his information and do his decorating.  Wednesday nights are busy in our house so he needs to get straight on to it when he gets home from school for sure!  I was meant to buy the card yesterday but totally forgot about it.  I am hoping now that I can get his chosen colour of red!

Okay I'm off, shops to head to, bathrooms to clean and hopefully dry washing to get off the line a little later.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Day 16 of our Diet

Yesterday we decided to make a home made fried rice, which was meant to be for the kids to have with their chicken tonight style dinner.  Hubby and I were supposed to be eating the plain boiled rice for dinner but we were naughty and decided to treat ourselves to a little of the fried rice instead.........big mistake as far as the scales went today lol.  But we are back on track today and determined that this week is going to be better than the last!  I'm still happy with last week, I mean a loss is a loss and although I didn't lose much in the weight area, I still lost centimetres and that is the main thing.  My body is shrinking and I am happy!  Hubby didn't have a good week in either area but that was to be expected when he basically had 4 meals in a row that were take away variety.  He moaned that he only lost 200 grams until I pointed out that I was home the whole week eating well and even I only lost 300 grams.

I think it is good that we are doing this for Mr17 primarily because if we had been just doing it for us, we may well have thrown in the towel by now after the results we have been getting.  This time though we are looking at the long term picture and the daily weigh ins show us how different foods affect us.......like yesterday for example.  That fried rice we ate, we both ate more than we should have, we knew it at the time and this morning we definitely knew it.

Day 15 results are:
Hubby gained 800 grams
I gained 300 grams

Not good results but not earth shatteringly surprising either.  But its okay, today we are back on track and we will see how we go.  Tonight for dinner we are deliberately staying away from Carbs to try and push our results back in the other direction.

Today's menu:
Breakfast:  Weetbix with milk, almonds, grapes and strawberries
Lunch:  Tuna Melt
Dinner:  Steak and Slaw

Monday, March 19, 2012

2 weeks finished of our Diet Regime - Week 2 results......

I know that I haven't updated for a couple of days.  Hubby was away Friday afternoon till Saturday night in Melbourne for work.  His diet got a little off track and by Sunday morning weigh in he had gained 900 grams (just goes to show what beer can do to you!, even though he only had two he says).  Saturday night we went down to the Adelaide Fringe Festival and treated ourselves to a comedy show.  It had Will Anderson in it and it was a real laugh, so glad we went.  Of course, we were also faced with a barrage of take away food, of which we had to choose something to have for dinner.  Hubby was naughty and got some  hot chips and we shared a small pizza.  The pizza, wasn't actually too bad for a pair of dieting people.  The base was very thin and light and there wasn't a huge amount of toppings and very little cheese.  It wasn't at all greasy which was good.  So Pizza and chips it was.  We did only have a bottle of water with it so it wasn't all bad lol.  I thought I would hate myself the next morning lol, but amazingly I actually still managed to lose 100 grams that day!

So at the end of week 2 our results are:


Hubby has lost 4.5kgs and 22.5 cms all up, although week 2 saw a total loss of only 200 grams and a gain of 1cms in  his body.
I have lost 3.2kgs and 19cms all up, week 2 saw a total loss of 300 grams and 8.5cms from my body.

We are hoping week 3 gives us a bit better results on the scales.  This week we are using our Vibration Machine as our chosen exercise equipment.  I'm not expecting huge results from this machine.  We got this when we bought our treadmill and I have to say that it hasn't had much use, I think I have dusted it more times than it has been used.  I like it as a wind down at the end of the day.  It does help to loosen up your muscles but as a weight loss tool, I'm a little sceptical I must admit.  But in the name of helping Mr17, I am willing to give it a go, I mean what do have to lose really?? lol.

Day 15 of the diet has us eating:

Breakfast - Spaghetti/Baked Beans on Rye Bread
Lunch - Ham/Salad Sandwich
Dinner - Stirfry chicken and veggies with a little homemade fried rice

I have been finding our snacks are hit and miss.  Sometimes we have them, other times we don't.  I haven't been finding myself all that hungry the last few days so I have just been grabbing a small handful (about 8-10) grapes at night and nibbling on those.

Friday, March 16, 2012

Day 12 of our Diet Regime and some fun in the sun last weekend

Today is Day 12 of our "diet regime".  We have definitely settled into the healthy eating.  It doesn't feel like such a chore any more,,,,,well except for the bit of having to cook two meals each night, that is still a pain in the butt.  For the most part though we are incorporating ours and the kids meals together and just doing it slightly different for the kids, with not quite as much of the salad and veg for them (I have typical males who aren't keen on their veggies lol, feed a man meat and all that stuff is how the younger 3 boys at least think!)

Our results from Day 11 are:

Hubby lost 400 grams bringing his total weight loss to 5.1kgs
I lost 600 grams bringing my total weight loss back up to 2.8kgs

It seems we are now back on track, although the last couple of days we have been pretty busy and have dropped our snack altogether so have only been averaging about 1200 calories again.  But thats okay, we haven't been starving hungry and don't feel deprived which is good.

We have continued on with the treadmill.  Half an hour a day, not really that much but we can definitely feel it at the end of the session.  We have been doing fast walks, just enough to keep the heart rate up there but still be just able to have a conversation.

Hubby is going to Melbourne this afternoon for work.  He will be back tomorrow night.  Therefore he won't get his Saturday morning weigh in, or his treadmill in for today or diet meals for dinner tonight, breakfast and lunch tomorrow.......instead he will be eating dinner with the guys, which of course means healthy doses of beer.  It will be interesting to see what his scales reveal on Sunday morning lol!!!

Since we had a public holiday on Monday and also to get us out of the house after losing our beloved BillyBoy on Sunday night, we decided to take advantage of the nice weather and head down to Glenelg Beach for the afternoon.  My Mr17 was out with friends and Mr15 decided that he would be too bored if he came with us without Mr17 so he wanted to stay home and play Xbox online with his mates.  So Miss13, Mr11 x 2 and Mr9 came with us down to the beach.  Normally we are at the beach just about every weekend during summer, but this summer has been quite mild and we haven't had many opportunities for our little trips to the sea.

Monday was a beautiful day, it was warm in the sun but cool in the shade.  The water was beautiful, it didn't have a chill to it really (well we Hubby and I only went in up to our knees and it was nice lol).  Due to Mr11's Autism he doesn't really like the beach that much generally.  He has no sense of balance and the water rushing in and out totally throws him off lol, it can be quite funny to watch.  Generally he fusses and carries on like a pork chop refusing to go in further than ankle deep and more often than not will just sit on the sand and whine.  On Monday though, he got a little braver.  The first half hour was the traditional whine time but after that he went in a little deeper.  He then actually walked in the water away from Hubby (normally he remains glued to Hubby like a leech).  This time he actually headed over to where the kids were when they were sitting in the shallow area near the jetty.  We got Miss13 to grab his hand and take him in a little deeper.  She managed to get him into his knees before he became too strong for her to control and she gave up.  The main thing is that he actually seemed to be enjoying the water for a change.  It was nice to see a smile on his face and for us to have a chance to just enjoy the moment instead of having to put up with his continual protests.  Fingers crossed it may continue,,,,,I doubt it lol but will live in hope!

I think I can..........

Mr9 was telling him to let go of the jetty lol

My Mr11 performing some kind of opera it seems

Mr9 was still trying to convince him to just step away from the pole

He did it, he let go of the pole!!!

Miss13 and Mr9 just chilling out

Look, he is nearly in up to the knees and not a pole in sight, yay!!!!  See the smile,,,,,just a shame the hat on was lol

On his way out, one step at a time, that moving water was tricky to navigate but he was actually laughing about it so that is a good thing!!

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Quick diet update...

Today there is a bit better news on the weight loss front......

Hubby lost 1.1kgs bringing his total to 4.7kgs
I lost 400 grams bringing my total loss back to 2.2kgs

Don't you love it how men seem to just do things so effortlessly.   Over the last couple of days hubby had gained 700 grams so today he loses that plus another 400 grams,,,,,me on the other hand had gained 1.1kgs and lost 400 grams lol grrrrrrrrr, I threw him daggers this morning I tell you!!!

Today for breakfast we again had the Vitabrits with banana, almonds and milk.
Lunch will probably be a Tuna Melt today.
Dinner will be a burger made with the leanest mince I could find and a few oven baked sweet potato fries, yummy.

I am going to drop the snack out of my diet for a few days and just stick with 1200 calories just till I get back on track and try and find a happy medium that my body likes.  I also realised last night that if we had only been weighing weekly, we wouldn't have even realised that we had gained that weight and probably by the end of the week we would have been showing a loss on the scales anyway.  I mentioned this to Mr17 and he said "yeah but it's an interesting experiment don't you think???" lol, yep that it is my son, that it is!

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Updates from our diet the past few days.....

Day 8

Hubby lost 100 grams bringing his total to 4.3kgs
I lost 700 grams bringing my total to 2.9kgs

Breakfast was bacon lettuce and tomato muffin
Lunch was Ham/Salad Sandwich and a banana
Dinner was Grilled chicken salad

This also was the beginning of our exercise regime.  This week is the Treadmill.
Hubby and I each walked for 30 minutes.

This was also measurement day....Hubby had an overall loss of approx 23.5cms and I had a loss of 10.5cms.  We are happy with the first week's results, hopefully they continue!


Day 9

Hubby gained 200 grams - total of 4.1kgs
I gained 200 grams - total of 2.7kgs

Breakfast was Vitabrits with banana/almonds and milk
Lunch was Ryvita with ham and salad and avocado
Dinner was Fish with zucchini, sweet potato, zucchini and green beans

Day 2 of the treadmill - 30 minutes each


Day 10

Hubby gained 500 grams - total loss of 3.6kgs
I gained 900 grams - total loss of 1.8kgs

We aren't sure what is going on.  Obviously it is fluid retention as we have been sticking to the diet.  It seems since we have added exercise into the equation we are putting weight on lol......I knew there were benefits of being a couch potato!!!!  If it was just me, I would have put it down to the usual girly things but as hubby said this morning, unless he is going out in sympathy with me it has to be something else lol.  We will see what tomorrow brings.  We can't give up so we have to just keep plodding along and see how things go......as long as I don't end up heavier I still think a loss is still a loss lol.

Today for breakfast we had Egg on Toast with avocado
Lunch was a non event (I know that's naughty!)
Dinner is a Grilled Chicken Salad again (that was really yummy)...here is a pic from the other night....

This was Hubby's plate, mine had slightly less chicken

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Rest In Peace my Billy Boy (aka "The Bill Meister")

 (Diet updates will continue tomorrow)

This weekend was a long weekend here in South Australia and a very, very hard weekend it was for us.  Our older dog who has just turned 13 years old had to be put to sleep on Sunday night.  It was so incredibly hard.  I miss him so much, particularly now that hubby is at work and the kids are at school and so much of my day would have had him in it.  Even if I wasn't necessarily outside with him, he was always wandering around or sleeping right outside the door, so close that you would be continually treading over him to get outside lol.

We have had Billy since he was a puppy and the kids have all grown up with him, my younger two boys have never known life without him.

Billy when he was about 12 weeks old, just after we got him



We knew the time was coming, he was starting to sleep alot more, he became very picky with his food, his bark lost its volume and he began to have trouble with his back legs as many dogs do when they get older.  The poor old fella was completely deaf and had begun to go blind, but he knew his yard and never had a problem getting around in it.  He would until the last few weeks always demand a handshake and if you dared to try to come back inside without first patting him, well that was just not on lol.  As soon as he saw that you were heading towards the back door, he would hurry over and plonk himself right down in front of it, so you had to stop first to give him his cuddle before entering the house.

On Sunday morning we got up to find him in his usual spot outside the door but he was laying with his back legs out to either side of him (dogs can't get up from this position).  Hubby repositioned him and he seemed much happier and after a little while he got up and went for a walk.  My Mr15 had a soccer game, so we all headed out then came home and had lunch.  I noticed that Billy wasn't in his usual spot but thought that he was probably out under his favourite tree in the shade and I didn't think to check.  An hour or two later, hubby heard a faint barking noise.  We went outside to investigate and Billy was down the back in the dirt with his back legs once again out to either side of him.  Hubby rearranged him again but he couldn't seem to stand up.  We thought that he may have become dehydrated or something so Hubby carried him back over to his favourite spot and laid him on  his beloved sheet.  His tail was wagging at us and he had a large drink of water and some food, so we didn't worry too much.  He then went to sleep.  Dinner time, he ate his dinner but he didn't get up to do it, which was unusual.  I went outside and hand fed him the last part of his dinner which he couldn't quite manouevre out of his bowl.  I went and watered the garden and noticed that he was trying to get up to follow me as he usually does but he just couldn't seem to get up.  I watched him for a little while and he begun to drag himself along using his front legs.  I yelled to Hubby and he came out and lifted him to try to get him to stand but he just couldn't support himself.  I lost it completely and was of no use to poor Hubby who was trying to work out what to do.

Quite honestly, I just hadn't wanted it to come to this.  I felt and still feel like a murderer.  I've been in this position before like so many of pet owners have but naturally it never gets easier.  I particularly didn't want it to be a "necessity" kind of thing, particularly when all the kids were here.  I sat with Billy while Hubby got all the kids together and told them what we needed to do.  Mr9, 11 and Miss13 started bawling. Mr17 and Mr15 were tough cookies and came out to sit with me and Billy.  The younger kids came out after a bit and gave Billy cuddles and we took a few photos of him.

Then came the time to put him in the car.  I couldn't go with Hubby because we had my autistic stepson here and we had only just put him to bed and I also couldn't leave the other kids in the state they were in.  Poor hubby had to do this on his own and I hated that.  We laid him in the back of Hubby's van with one of his favourite sheets and said our final goodbyes.  As hubby drove off the younger 3 kids started howling and my two boys were sick in the driveway.  Hubby was gone for nearly an hour as he had trouble finding the vet as it was one that we hadn't been to before and of course being a Sunday night of a long weekend, your choices are pretty limited.  Hubby said they were absolutely brilliant up there though.



The vet said that she could do xrays to find out the cause of the back/hip/leg problem but that going by what Hubby had told her regarding his behaviour over the last few weeks, there really wasn't any point, even if she was able to fix it, we would only have him with us for a few more weeks or so at the most, going by experience.  While Hubby was gone I allowed the younger kids to watch a movie as there was no way they were going to be able to sleep until they had calmed a little.  They calmed down a bit, then Hubby came home and as soon as they saw that Billy wasn't with him, the howling started again.  They had all been hoping the vet could perform some magic and make him better and he would be back with us.  When finally it was bed time, Mr9 went and sat on his bed and I heard him ask his step sister when Billy was going to wake up.  I hadn't realised earlier but he thought "put to sleep" just meant like an anaesthetic and that Billy was going to wake up in the vets rooms and then come home again.  Oh boy, it started over, explaining it was just so hard.

Yesterday was a horrible day with the kids bringing up Billy, crying occasionally and me just trying to avoid talking about him because it just makes me cry (yep you guessed it, I'm in tears now too).

I know that we did what we needed to do for Billy and I know that it was our one last thing we could do for him to show him how much we loved and cared for him but darn, I tell you it never gets easier!  Today our younger dog, Mojo has been crying outside and he always used to be hopping on Billy's bed whenever Billy got off it or settling on Billy's sheet until Billy would come back and kick him off lol, today Mojo won't use the bed and won't even sleep near the door, like he normally would.  His mate is missing and nothing will ever be the same.

Rest in Peace my Beautiful Boy, we love you and miss you so much my little Billy Boy!!!

This was a pic taken on Sunday night.  He had been laying in the dirt the day before and gotten gunk in his ears (as you can see his ears were a constant source of work lol).  I hadn't had a chance to clean them, I had planned to do that on Monday :(


Sunday, March 11, 2012

Day 7 of the Diet and a little weekend blog reading

Today's Diet updates are:

Hubby lost 300grams bringing his total to 4.2kgs
I lost 100 grams bringing my total to 2.2kgs

Meals today were/are:

Breakfast - Scrambled eggs with toast, lettuce, tomato and avocado



Lunch - Ham and salad sandwich with a banana



Dinner - Mince and Veggie Pasta

Its measurement night tonight,,,,I'm scared!!

Also this weekend I have been sneaking a peek at a few of your blogs and adding to my already expansive blog list from your blog lists,,,,does that make sense? lol.  Its not like I really need a bigger blog list to look at but I'm just hopeless!!  I love reading blogs,,,maybe I just need a life???? lol

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Day 6 of Diet

Just a very quick post today just to do my updates.

Results from day 5 are a little dismal, but it is our first day on the 1600 calorie a day part of the diet and we also had a cup of coffee and a glass of diet coke.

Hubby lost 100 grams bringing his total to 3.9kgs
I lost 100 grams also bringing my total to 2.1kgs

Yesterday also, due to it being a very rushed kind of day we didn't get to eat dinner until 8.30pm and we missed our snack for the day.

On the Flat Belly Diet Anti Bloat part (the first 4 days) we weren't allowed salt, soft drinks, coffee etc.  So yesterday we treated ourselves.,,,,,,may not have been such a great idea.  Also yesterday we chose meals that contained bread at each one and of course missing our snack may have also stuffed things up a little.  We will try to stay more focused today and see what happens, its all a matter of tweaking it to suit us I think,,,,we shall see lol.

Friday, March 9, 2012

Day 5 Health and Fitness Regime

Today marks the end of our Anti Bloat diet,,,,,no more sunflower seeds Yay!!!

This morning's weight in results were:

Hubby lost 500grams bringing his total weight loss for 4 days to 3.8kgs
I lost another 200grams bringing my total weight loss for 4 days to 2.0kgs.

Pretty good totals.  This would be a great little mini diet to do if you wanted to lose just a little for a special occasion.  We haven't measured so don't know if it shows in the measurement side of things or not.  We will be measuring up on Sunday night again so it will be interesting.

Today starts the part of the "normal" Flat Belly Diet.  The meals go from 1200 calories a day up to 1600 calories a day. 

For breakfast we had Baked Beans/Spaghetti (I hate baked beans lol) on toast with an apple.

Lunch was Tuna and cheese on toast.
Dinner will be Steak spread with Dijon Mustard served with coleslaw which gets dressed in a balsamic viniagrette dressing.
Our snack tonight will be Ryvita Crackers with peanut butter and a fresh pear.

I remember that this was the part of the diet where my weight loss dropped right off,,,,at times to the point of stopping altogether.  This time thought I will keep going as it is for Mr17's assignment (this is a great motivational tool I tell you lol, I will feel really guilty if I don't stick at it!!).

Monday sees the exercise side of things kick in.  For the week of 12-18 March we will be walking at least 45 minutes a day.  Mr17 is wanting to see how different exercises impact on weight loss.  Each exercise session will be between 30-60 minutes.  We will attempt to keep our calorie intake to approximately 1600 calories a day for the rest of the time we are on this "plan".  We will most likely be trying out different meal plans etc along the way or we may just make it up as we go for the last half, we haven't worked that bit out "officially" yet.

The first 4 days have gone pretty well.  We are getting into the right headspace now and are looking at it as a total lifestyle change rather than something we have just taken on for 6 months.  We are hoping that slowly but surely we can bring the kids on board with us.  Even though our family's diet isn't too bad generally, we want to cut back the amount of meat they eat and get more veggies into their diets.

I'd say definitely the worst part of being on a diet with a family to feed is the shopping and meal planning,,,,I shopped for the next 5 days today and it was a long drawn out process, I just couldn't get my head around making sure we had our food for our diet as well as making sure we had the food for the kids normal meals too aaaghhhhh!  I think I should have received a medal for the most "back tracks" while shopping.  I swear I visited some of those aisles at least 3 times lol.  My list just wasn't helping today!

Have a lovely weekend everyone,,,,it's a long weekend here in SA.  I will try to update our progress daily but if not I will definitely do a big update on Tuesday!

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Day 4 health and fitness - last day of sunflower seeds - yayayay lol

Day 4.....the last day of the Anti Bloat part of the Flat Belly Diet.  Although I am glad to be through this part which is only based on a 1200 calorie a day diet, we now have choices in what we decide to eat and that seems to make life more complicated lol.  I think we will have to sit and actually write up a meal plan.  The Flat Belly Diet book gives you many recipes you can mix and match.  Each meal is now approx 400 calories each.  You can mix and match as much as you like and if there is something that you don't like you can swap it for something else within the same food/calorie group.  Coming up with meals for the kids as well is what makes it complicated.  Some things we can tweak and make into a family meal but others, well I can see we will be cooking two completely different meals which I hate to do.

Results for yesterday weren't as impressive as previous days, but I was expecting that.

Hubby's weight loss for Day 3 was - 300grams bringing his total loss to 3.3kgs
My  weight loss for Day 3 was - 200 grams bringing my total loss to 1.8kgs.

I remember last year that this was the point that my weight loss seemed to come to a halt lol, while hubby's kept going.  I'm hoping this year will be a little different!  I guess this year we are committed to seeing this whole thing through for a full 6 months so I will just have to keep going and keep trying as best I can.  We are doing the Flat Belly Diet for 4 weeks and then we may move to a different diet or we may just follow a healthy eating approach, Mr17 hasn't quite worked that one out yet lol.

Today breakfast was VitaBrits with sunflower seeds and sultanas and lite milk.
Lunch was turkey with steamed carrots and cheese
Dinner will be chicken breast with zucchini and rice
Our snack for today is a Strawberry smoothie (am hoping this will cover the sunflower seed taste lol, the peaches in the smoothie yesterday weren't too bad, I actually enjoyed that one!)

Will be back tomorrow,,,,,fingers crossed for at least another 200 gram loss!!

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Day 3 of the Health and Fitness Regime - 2nd day results AND Pumpkins, pumpkins everywhere!

We are on to Day 3, we have today and tomorrow left of the Anti Bloat part of the Flat Belly Diet and I can honestly say that I won't be sad to see it end.  Overall it has been pretty easy to follow.  I have been feeling hungry at night but nothing too bad.  I have found the only part that has been hard has been the amount of sunflower seeds you need to consume for breakfast......1/4 cup!!!  After tomorrow I don't want to look at another sunflower seed again lol.

This morning's weigh in was another pleasant surprise.

Hubby lost 1.0kgs making a total of 3kgs lost.
I lost 600grams bringing my total to 1.6kgs lost.

Now if it follows the same pattern it did last year when we started this diet my weight loss should slow down to a dribble once I get past the first 4 days lol.  I remember getting cranky because hubby continued to lose decent numbers each week, while I lost only about 300 grams a week, so we shall see what happens this time!  Its so unfair that men can drop weight easily and us girls have bodies that just seem to want to hold onto every last gram of fat it can :(

But moving on lol, I am determined not to dwell on the negative for this "regime" and only focus on the fact that it can only be doing me good and I will be happy at the end of the 6 months! 

It has been rather amusing the last two mornings, as my Mr17 has actually been eating breakfast with us, complete with a full dosing of sunflower seeds this morning,,,,I wish I had a camera this morning when he hit a large amount of sunflower seeds in one spoonful of cereal lol, it was priceless.  He didn't manage to get through all his sunflower seeds but I am proud of him for at least giving it a go.  Yesterday he had the cereal with us but only had about a tablespoon of the seeds, today hubby was mean and gave him the full serving!

Today's menu is as follows:
Breakfast - Weeties with Sultanas and sunflower seeds (the sultanas did a pretty good job of hiding the seeds!!)
Lunch - Turkey with cherry tomatoes and a slice of cheese
Dinner - Steak with Beans and Sweet potato
Snack - Peach Smoothie

Now on to some other news,,,,just to prove that there is life outside of this diet lol.  From the garden we have picked 5 pumpkins and we have another 3 left on the vine.  Two of the biggest ones had started to get attacked by those black lawn beetles but hubby chopped away the bit that they had started getting into and the rest of the pumpkins is perfectly fine.  (I was more inclined to just toss the whole thing but hubby was determined to prove his point that the rest of the pumpkin is perfectly okay lol.) 

The first pic is of our smaller 3 pumpkins which I thought looked so cute stacked into a tower lol.  As you can see the top one could have stayed on the vine a while longer but I got a little over enthusiastic with my pruning one the weekend and accidentally chopped his vine,,,whoops!


These two big boys were my pride and joy until I went to pick them and discovered holes on the section that was touching the ground.  I was mortified lol, my pride and joys were less than perfect!  Hubby simply attacked them with his little axe and voila,,,,we have perfectly good pumpkin ready to turn into soup for the freezer.


The weights of the pumpkins are:  4.1kgs, 3.8kgs, 3.9kgs, 2.8kgs and 1.9kgs.

Early last week we picked our first "Spooky Pumpkin" as the label on the seed packet called them.  I was pretty happy that out of 2 little seeds of Spooky Pumpkin that I planted I have ended up with 3 pumpkins.  One of them is only little but I have also had 2 large pumpkins, only one of which has been picked.  We picked it and used it for our roast chicken meal and with the left overs we made pumpkin soup, yummy!  I forgot to carve a jack-o-lantern with it lol so the boys have their eyes on the other large one that is still growing.  As Mr9 informed me,,,,a jack o lantern is the reason we got those seeds in the first place.  He is so right lol, so in the next week or two we will be carving our jack o lantern a few months early!

Here is our first spooky pumpkin....


and our mighty haul of pumpkin seeds,,,,,the kids are already imagining many, many jack-o-lanterns for next year lol......all I can imagine is the amount of space that many plants would take up lol.


Well I have rambled on enough for one day I think lol.  Have a great day everyone and I will be back tomorrow with more regime results!!

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Day 2 of the Health and Fitness Regime - 1st day results

Well here we are half way through day 2 of our regime as my Hubby is calling it.  As mentioned yesterday, there is no extra exercise thrown in this week, which gives us time to adjust to our Flat Belly Diet.

Lunch yesterday consisted of Lean Ham, Cherry Tomatoes and a slice of Lite Cheese.  The fact that there were no sesame seeds made me very happy lol.

Dinner last night was Fish, Green Beans and Sweet Potato.  This was really yummy.

The snack for the day which we chose to have for Supper simply because afternoons are just so busy here that we don't really get time to worry about snacking, was a Blueberry Smoothie.  Normally for us a smoothie would include either yoghurt or icecream but sadly that obviously isn't allowed at the moment lol.  Our smoothie consisted of Blueberries, Skim Milk and,,,,,wait for it,,,,,,,,you guessed it,,,,Sunflower Seeds lol.  We could have eaten the sunflower seeds as a little side dish but I just can't stand them so I chose to blend them up into the Smoothie.  Their taste shone through unfortunately but it was tolerable.

Hubby and I did our weigh in this morning (I'm still not wrapped with the idea of a daily weigh in but Mr17 wrote it into his contract so now we have to just get on with it lol).  So the results for the first day are......

Hubby lost 2.0 kgs
I lost 1.0 kgs

Naturally this is just water loss but right now it is a start in the right direction at least.

For the beginning of Day 2 we had VitaBrits with milk and pineapple pieces and the now familiar sunflower seeds.  We were happy that the pineapple somewhat masked the taste of the seeds!  Lunch today was steamed carrots, tuna and a slice of cheese.

I have decided that Anti Bloat part of the diet is doable except for the breakfasts, they suck lol.

Tonight's meal is grilled Chicken Breast, Mushrooms and Rice and we will have a Pineapple Smoothie for our Snack.

Hubby is keeping a tally of how far we are into our Diet Regime,,,,this is Day 2/182 days.  He actually even worked out how many meals he has to go through before he can have a serve of hot chips again lol.

Monday, March 5, 2012

Day 1 of our Health and Fitness Regime.........OH BOY!!!

Well here we are, Monday March 5 and our first day on our Health and Fitness Journey.  My Mr17 did ask if we wanted to delay it for a week as he hadn't had his contract actually approved by the teacher as yet as she had been sick last week.  Since Hubby and I had already worked out a meal plan for the week, we have decided that today is the day anyway.  This week we will just start the diet but not start the exercise regime until next week.

The first 4 days of the "Flat Belly Diet" are an Anti Bloat Detox anyway so naturally you do lose a little more in those first 4 days than is normal.  Therefore, in some ways it probably makes sense to start the exercise next week to give a more accurate assessment of how effective each exercise is or isn't.

Hubby and I did do a couple of weeks on this diet at the beginning of last year.  Its not a bad diet to follow, although we found those first 4 days pretty tough in places.  Personally, I didn't mind it except for breakfast, I hated breakfast and that hasn't changed over the past year lol.  I'm not a huge breakfast fan at the best of times but these breakfasts.....well lets just say I really struggle lol.  They are huge and very filling and I don't really like them.

You see, breakfast this morning was Weeties with applesauce, milk and sunflower seeds.  Not just a sprinkle of sunflower seeds mind you,,,,,,nooooo way,,,,,it was a 1/4 of a cup of sunflower seeds!!!  I confess that I don't really like sunflower seeds and would never choose to eat them generally.  The first 4 days of this diet has me eating a whole cup of the things plus four extra tablespoons at snack time.

On top of this you are supposed to drink this concoction they call "Sassy Water".  Last year we didn't have this as neither of us could imagine drinking it.  This year we decided to just make up a batch and see how you go.  You are supposed to drink a glass of it with each meal.  Well we made it up last night and poured ourselves a glass at breakfast.  Hubby got through 2 mouthfuls before declaring that there was no way he was going to drink it.  I got through my glass full (well minus the bits the kids had to try lol) and I just don't know if I will be able to do that again.  I'm definitely a plain water person, normally I don't even like the slice of lemon that restaurants put into your water and quickly pull it out when served it.  This water has lemon, cucumber, mint and ginger and lets just say it is definitely a taste you either love or hate.

It has now been two hours since breakfast and I can safely say that I have no desire whatsoever to eat, I am really full.  I truly do dread tomorrow morning and having to do a similar scenario again, but its in the name of health and losing weight and helping out my boy so it will be done!



I have seen various reviews on this diet and I definitely wouldn't call it a miracle diet and I doubt that at the end of the 32 days I will be 7 kgs lighter  but I am willing to give it a go.  Last year we stuck at it for about 2.5 weeks (after that time life just got in the way and it became too hard juggling kids meals and our own) and during that time I lost about 3kgs from memory although I recall that I lost about 1.9kgs in the first couple of days so after that it was pretty slow going.  I don't want super fast weight loss but I want to see some results for all our efforts.  

I do believe that recording my results and writing down what we eat will be the kick up the bum I will need to see this through.  I'm not brave enough to share my weight and measurements online but I will keep up with how much I have lost/gained each day and also fluctuations in my measurements each week.  Hubby and I took measurements of our upper arms, upper thighs, hips, waist and chest.

I did have a couple of other things to say but I think I have rambled on long enough lol.  I shall return tomorrow to let you know how we are going!  Have a great day everyone.