Week 12 Chat (7 March - 13 April)

SkimFlatWhite68

Hi Challengers!!

Welcome to the final week of the Trim Taut and Terrific Aussies (and friends) 12 week challenge!!

The purpose of this thread is whatever you want - Chat away to your content - it's all about sharing and support.

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Well, as you all know, I haven't reached my goals. I've been unwell for just about the entire challenge, had a hand injury and ended up at the doctors more times than I care to think about. But I don't feel so bad. I've learned some things about myself and now able to tackle my gluten intolerance and peri-menopause knowing that I can get through it.

Also learned that I need to take a step back at work, which is going to be pretty difficult but I've made up my mind to work from home 3 days a week which at least saves me almost 9 hours travel time. Of course, that means that I don't get 3 hours walking in that I usually do - but I just need to factor that in to my overall plan.

It seems strange that at the end of the 12 weeks I'm finally getting it together, but I don't regard this as failure. This is life. **** happens.

I've also found the love of my life. Ok, well we did meet last year, but the last 5 months have bought me closer to Bumper than anyone else. Ever. He's the same, tells me every week how he can't believe how we met - and almost didn't meet. and how lucky we are. He's a blessing. I'm so lucky.

So I can't really whinge about my fitness goals when I have so many other things to be grateful for. Including you, my MFPeeps. Thank you for being here, for sharing all the ups and downs and for supporting one another. I hope we continue this group - the squat challenge just started so think about doing that if you would like to join in and I'll think of something else for May - maybe we can do a plank challenge in May - all ideas welcome, as always.

with lots of love from Skim XXX

(sounds like I'm signing off but I'll be back later this arvo

bigldesigns

Hey everyone...

Here is my slightly less wiggle dance for the week!
Well actually its two weeks as I missed lasts weeks that whole week just got away from me.. I didn't actually really do anything.. I was just unmotivated to do much at all..


I think I have lost a total of 1kg over the last 2 weeks... Last week I am happy is just not a gain, as I have decided to slowly up my cal allowance (as per the instructions of my PT) so I changed my goal to 1250 cal. It seemed weird having such big breakfasts.. (400cal) but I know if i want to keep loosing I need to shake up my metabolism a little or it will get used to 1200 and I will have nowhere to go from there..

I'm going to do another week at 1250. to see if I start loosing again and then up it another 50 cal every fortnight till i get to about 1450 - 1500 (or till I stop loosing weight)

The other week my blood tests showed that my VitB6 level was 6 times the MAX Normal Level.. after going around in circles trying to work out how I managed to get a TOXIC level on VitB6 in my system, I discovered that my Magnesium supplement had 60mg in each tablet and I was taking 2 - 3 tablets a day (they are a once a day tablets.. but the magnesium helps with the Migraines and the Restless leg and other MS Symptoms)
Of course I cut them immediately.. but then without the Magnesium my migraines and other MS symptoms flared up and I could not get to sleep.. etc.. etc

I have now found a replacement magnesium tablet that does not have vitB6 in it. so next month hopefully the level should be back to normal... and I am back to sleeping better again now


I have also finally found a PT who is familiar with working with people with MS (his brother has MS) so together we worked on a weight / strength routine that I can do at home daily.
I had to go out and buy some dumbbells this week.. I am glad I took my house mate with me, as I could not lift the 20kg box, in and out of the car.... but I have set them up with 5kg in each hand.. so that I can start my stepups and squats with some weights.

In promise of a goal I set myself a few weeks ago.. I have made sure I get up and get dressed every day, even If I am not leaving the house.. Its not really done much for my motivation to work... but geez I look good in these skinny jeans.. so thats helping motivate to make good food decisions

Oh .. speaking of skinny Jeans, they are starting to feel loose
and I had to buy some trackie pants to wear to my PT appointments (he said I could not wear my jeans).. and I had to get size 14.... they are snug fit (like leggings) but they are SIZE 14!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So the size 14 thing got me thinking about how much I had actually lost so far in this challenge.. and I went back to the intro thread..

Starting Measurements: 14 Jan 2014
Bicep:36cm
Bust: 110cm (20E)
Waist:98cm
Hips:116 cm
Thigh:65cm

Today's Measurements:
Bicep: 31cm (total loss 5cm) - batwings are disappearing
Chest: 101cm (total loss 9cm) - no wonder i need new bras
Waist: 87cm (total loss 11cm) - that explains the size 14
Hips: 107cm (total loss 9cm)
Thigh: 56cm (total loss 9cm)


Skim, I can not thank you enough for keeping this challenge alive.. knowing I needed to weigh in each monday has kept me accountable.. and keeping accountable has made a massive change to my life..
My original MFP weight loss goal is 80kg.. with all the support and encouragement I have had from this group for the last 11 weeks I'm seriously considering changing it to 60kg (i'm only 5'4 so that's is just on the edge of healthy / overweight BMI) but I really do believe i can actually get there.

So if you decided to extend this challenge for another 12 weeks.. I'll be in it!!!


Allie

SkimFlatWhite68

Thanks for the update Allie. Reverse dieting is indeed the way to go for you and I think it sounds like 1400-1500 would be a great leveller for you. Good work increasing

How funny about the B6 - glad you found a replacement magnesium tab - my blood work was all over the place last week but not where it was expected... We THINK we are doing ourselves a favour sometimes with "supplements" but I guess not always.

Yay!!!! on the jeans and finding a PT who gets it!! Good news on both counts Looking forward to seeing you get into size 12's next!

SkimFlatWhite68

I'm doing a 500 calorie day today. Seems like a great idea since I have been SO busy today I haven't left my office, haven't eaten anything and not hungry anyway - too busy to think of food. I've drank 1200ml water and had a coffee at 9am on my way to work. Probably a good idea after my high calorie weekend as well :drinker:

Working from home tomorrow. I'm going to sleep in until 6am and go to the gym then for a full body routine and some HIIT - will aim for about 1800 calories in. Still no DOMS from yesterday, I must have been in better condition than I thought, even after 2 weeks off I'm surprised not to be feeling it.

Oh, and I have to do my 80 squats tonight as well, but I'll be doing body weight only.

Danispen

Hi Skim, Allie and all else left
Just when I get a bit of time on my hands things are wrapping up. Thanks Skim for the group - I have not often had time to post but have read posts often and have been inspired by your successes.

In reflecting on the 12 weeks I am pleased that it seems for once in my life I have managed a work/life balance and have found time for just me in that - a major accomplishment for me.

Whilst my weight loss has not been huge on the scale I have lost many cm and gained a new found confidence in myself. And resiliency - I truly don't care that much about minor things any more - I just get rid of them in the gym. I am giving myself the rest of the year to lose more weight and I know it will happen. Thanks again Skim for this little group and helping me on my way.

SkimFlatWhite68

Thanks for the update Danielle. Work life balance is something that I think a lot of us struggle with. I certainly have this year and it's not done me any favours to let go of the relaxation and stress release side of things. Live and learn!!!

It's great that you can use the gym to get rid of the stress from your day and it's making you a healthier person in the long run. All good news!!

The challenge might almost be over, but the group will still stick around and I'll post a mini challenge each month until the end of July when Maxine's Challenge will start and I'm going to do it again this year. Hoping that some of you will join me

http://www.maxineschallenge.com.au/2013/maxines/

This morning I went to the gym at 6am and did a full body workout. I'm thinking that I'll do 3 x full body workouts per week until I am feeling on top of things again. I'm certainly sleeping better and the promensil is helping to reduce my hot flushes, so that's good. Been wheat free for almost 2 weeks now I think and haven't had any tummy issues, plus that could be helping with my general well being. I feel better in the last 2 days than I have for ages!!

Hope everyone has a great day!

wahelga

Well I reached my mini goal this week and now weigh 79.4kg which is the lowest I have been in 5 plus years. I am also fitter than I have EVER been. Feeling pretty good regardless of the 11kg still to go. Thank you Skim for this challenge. :flowerforyou:

SkimFlatWhite68

Congratulations Helen!!! It's all due to YOUR hard work - you should be very proud of yourself :flowerforyou:

Rayman79

OK so I nerded out today and have done a complete download of all my consumption (cals, net cals, macros etc) for the last 10 weeks to see how things are progressing.

If you don't care for data and tedious analysis you can probably skip this post! :bigsmile:

I have it all on a nice excel sheet plotting the key information and it's been a good exercise actually. It looks as though my actual intake has been slightly higher than I'd thought (~2100 cals per day against my estimate of 2000) with my net calories at 1700 per day (supposedly).

This, along with my rate of fat loss, backs up my earlier assertion that I have probably been overestimating my calorie burns (particularly for my long rides I assume). Either that or I have a very slow metabolism. An 80/20 combination of the two factors is probably likely.

I have been losing around .35kg per week, with the exception of the initial loss of water weight. Not too bad, but I'd like this cut to go a little quicker and I still have a bit of fat to lose so I think I can handle a bit of an increase in deficit. I'm going to cut the calorie burn numbers from my cardio down to a more realistic number (I believe), and this should result in an overall drop of intake to around 1900 cals per day. In theory this means I should lose around half a kilo per week which will be nice to see.

Just wanted to get this down on record for future reference. We'll see how progress goes over the next 8 weeks.......

monbot

Hi all

My weight has been holding steady again. I need to be more diet strict. I just find it hard with all the limited fruit and veggies. I kind of just give up and let myself go 100-200 cals over most days just to make finding food I can eat and enjoy easier.

Hectic at work at the moment. They're currently handing out redundancies. My job is safe, but it makes for a tense workplace. Especially when you're the one that needs to process all the computer account terminations, as the coworker who used to do it was made redundant, and the rest of your coworkers are on holidays/travelling for work. I'm currently doing 5 peoples job. AND I'm not allowed to have any coffee.

The uni semester is ramping up to, with assignments becoming due and the workload slowly increasing. Sigh!

And my invisalign is hurting today. It's giving me a headache.

So that's where I'm at at the moment. I'm sad that I'm at the end of 12 weeks with not much change, but I'm happy that I haven't gained weight, and I'm well on my way to sorting out my tummy issues.

Also, 69 days till Europe!

SkimFlatWhite68

Ray I am a total maths nerd and have a spreadsheet running with all my weekly stats for the last 16 months. Bring it on!! You have a good plan, and so close to goal it's not going to fall off you - so slow and steady is the way to go. Nice work.

Mon - forget everything else... Europe!!! You lucky duck!!
Seriously though, I've been sorting out my health issues too (and injuries) so I'm not where I wanted to be at the end of the 12 weeks but at least I'm working out my health and as I get on top of that I'll be able to start May with renewed energy. So I think that it's a good thing that you are also sorting it out and as you say, you haven't gained any weight, so it's a win really

I think we are all winners for BEING HERE!!

SkimFlatWhite68

Oh, I had my second weight training session for the week this morning.

Got up at 6am and was at the gym by about 6:20 - lots of people there! I'm used to the 5am crowd, but they are gone by that time so it's a heap of new faces (although they probably think I am the new face).

I did a (one hour) full body workout - single leg incline press; calf raises; low row; 7x15 Squat Press; Chest press, DB flys; Pullovers; lat pulldown and bicep/tricep. Followed by 5 mins abs, which I rarely do and then 15 mins on the treadmill. Felt AWESOME and I really enjoyed it. So good to get back into it again and I went quite hard, so expecting (hopefully) to have some DOMS tomorrow.

By the time I left at 7:45 the gym was almost empty. Seriously there were 2 people in the cardio room (there were 2 in the weights room when I left it) and 3 people having a coffee in the cafe. Pool was empty!! I guess it's the hour between the early exercisers leaving to go to work and the school mums arriving after 9. Was really weird though, I have never seen the gym so empty.

Hope you all have a great day!

Miffylou

Hi all,

I haven't been around for the final weeks of the challenge. However just wanted to say a big congratulations to all of you.

In the. 12 weeks my weight has changed much however my fitness level has improved. I have three weeks until my half marathon and up to running 17.5 km. Will be cutting back on my running after the race more due to the time factor of running such a long distance and will concentrate more on strength training at the gym as I do this before anyone wakes up in the morning.

Anyway once again congratulations on all your successes.

Lou

michable

Hi everyone! Congratulations to everyone for finishing the challenge!

I didn't check in last week because I've been pretty busy - started back at work full-time, so not as much time for checking in here. I have still been trying to log food and exercise and "like" statuses when I had time. I have been very lucky over the last few years to work part-time while my kids have been little, but now that the baby is almost 4, and in Kindy, it was time to bite the bullet and go back to work full-time.

The next months are going to be challenging for me as I try to maintain my running, and my weight, while readjusting to full-time work. I think there will be some very early mornings (and hopefully early nights as well) to fit in mid-week long runs (e.g. on Wednesday I was up at 4:20 am to run 12 km before work). What I don't want to do is what I have usually done in the past; i.e. get stressed by work, then stop exercising because "I'm so tired!", and start comfort eating.

Oh well, will see how I go.

Lou - good luck with your half marathon! Only 3 weeks to go! Mine is still 6 weeks away. I've got a few 18 km runs coming up in the next couple of weeks, so I think if I can do those, I will definitely be ready for the half.

Allie - fantastic achievement with weight loss and cm lost over the last 12 weeks!

Danielle - you have been doing great with your workouts! You must be getting so fit! And your attitude is awesome

Ray - well done on your gradual weight loss! 350 g / week is nothing to sneeze at!

Mon - at least your weight is not going up! It has got to be difficult with your dietary restrictions. I hope that is sorted soon.

Skim - good luck with your new plans to cut back at work and work from home. It's fantastic that you've got that option. It must feel good to be back to your regular workouts, too. Looks like things are starting to get sorted.

And Skim, thanks for all your dedication to this group over the last 12 weeks. You certainly put a lot of time and care into all of us!

Good luck everyone with your next challenges! It's been fun!

SkimFlatWhite68

I'd like to thank all of YOU for participating, no matter how often, it's been great to have everyone here.

Lou, well done on your running and fitness and GO FOR IT in the weights room!! Woo Hoo!!

Mich, it's SO hard to go back to full time work. Mind you I've been working for years but when I went back to work in the city and had to do the commute every day - oh boy - that was a killer. I'm very lucky I can work remotely from home and it's made a HUGE difference to me in the last couple of weeks. Anyway - don't tire yourself out, try to find the best balance.

Happy Saturday everyone!! I've been to the gym today and did a full body routine. Went at midday and the gym was just about empty - there were 2 other people in the weights room when I started and just little old me when I left. Perfect!!!

I've missed seeing the 5am regulars this year, but I think I've found the perfect time now with 6am starts on Tuesday and Thursday and then one day on the weekend. I'm going to stick with my 3 x full body routines for a while until I'm feeling fully better and then might switch to split routine. Plus, working from home is terrific in that I can go at 6am and don't have to worry about time as much.

As I say to everyone - balance is key - I'm trying to find mine

SkimFlatWhite68

Thanks everyone for being a part of the challenge!!

I'll look at the weigh in thread later and post a summary. I think that even though we didn't all reach our initial goals, we had a lot of things to be grateful for and I'm so glad that we all gave it a shot.

See you in the Squat Challenge thread!!!

Flyer69

Sorry all for I went missing in action.

Blame it on my holiday in between which was usual weird for me as I kept losing while I was away.
Then when i started exercising the weight started to come back on.

At the same time suddenly an insane amount of people told me how good I looked, this then combined with a lot of social parties and just now Easter made me gain back 3 kg. Some of that I will loose pretty quickly again.

Also been extremely busy so even on MFP I have been making few comments, however now I am starting on this new programme, I have a long distance PT and he wants me to do weights and is specific, I need to seriously study as to what is DB OHP, cable flys, hammer curls even how to do squads, deadlifts are gobblygook to me and what is the difference between barbells and dumb bells.
Hahahaha, I am sure Skim can tell me all about it. As I started today I catch myself looking in the mirror if I am doing it right, maybe that what all these posers have been doing all the time.

Anyway thanks Skim for organising this one and I certainly will be in future ones and other interesting ones.

Love Robert