I don't have a goal weight - I have a goal life

Sorry - this is long - it is a short synopsis of my journey over the past 12 months - and 100 + lbs later :-)

I know a funny way to start my story - but I thought I would five you a bit of a taster - the "befores" are at the end of the post.



A year ago this week I spent 4 days in Fiji with my son and his girlfriend Sally to celebrate his 29th birthday… Something happened during those few days (still not quite sure what) but I realised that I needed to make some changes in my life.
The thoughts had been brewing in my mind for over a year by that point – but nothing had actually spurred me to take that first step….

Two specific things in Fiji most probably tipped the glass…..Neil wanted to go scuba diving – and even though I LOVE to blow bubbles I felt that I was just too unfit to do it – so I sat next to the pool watching him go off – and coming back buzzed about the amazing dive he has had….

The second thing was that after 3 days sitting on the loungers next to the pool I was ready to go ballistic – I realised that I used to be an intrepid traveller – not the one that sits next to the pool every day – but the one that wants to explore the island – meet the locals and have new experiences…

The state of my body and my extreme unfitness was stopping me from living the life that I wanted to live!!
So I flew home from Fiji on the 30th August 2010 determined to make some changes in my life.

A few days later I had booked to go and see the folks at Jenny Craig – and made contact with a guy – little did I know how influential he was going to become in my life. Ladies and gentleman – I want to introduce you to Alex Flint – Fitness Guru extraordinaire!!

I had my first weigh-in on the 6th September – and met with Alex the next day to chat about things….
From Jenny Craig I learnt about portion control – and what reasonably balanced meals looked like, so by the time I walked out of Jenny Craig in April 2011 I had the knowledge to continue the habits that I had learnt.

Alex took a spectacularly unfit individual, with dodgy knees, crooked back, weak shoulders and zero aerobic ability and by prodding and challenging my mind and body in every training session he slowly gave me confidence that I could one day be fit (and more importantly strong again one day). That one day was still far far away – but he kept showing me glimpses of what I could achieve!!

He made sure we took measurements every month – and took pictures to track and record my progress as the months went by….
I kept on losing the weight – one kg at a time – over the past 52 weeks I managed to shed 50kg’s – so close to one kg a week :-). As the weight was coming off, and I was getting fitter and stronger I started looking for more and more challenges – yes – I am the first to admit that I am a competitive person – so setting challenges for myself helped to keep moving me forward…..

My first real life challenge came when I went to visit my family in South Africa over xmas – It was such a daunting thought – I did not want to undo the results I had so far achieved (20kg’s) – but I also did not want to “diet” the whole time I was there….. This was also my first “test” without the convenience of Jenny Craig food….
I had a wonderful time – tried to practice moderation – but did still eat spectacularly good food – had some epic lunches and dinners with my family… The biggest difference from all my previous visits – I got my but off the couch, and went for long walks – and got into the gym as much as I could.

I arrived home after my holiday – and had LOST 2 kg’s while in was in South Africa!! Bingo – you can have a life – and not pick up any weight – I must say the vicious tummy bug Neil and I picked up the day before XMAS most probably helped just a bit…..

Not being able to eat XMAS eve dinner or XMAS day dinner was a bit of a downer – but I made up for it on New Year’s Eve :-)
So back to the convenience of Jenny Craig I went – and the kg’s kept dropping….

In the gym Alex kept pushing me – and bit by bit I started believing – and then something happened – I decided I was not a fat woman trying to get fit anymore…….
That was such an empowering feeling – all of a sudden I was DETERMINED – not as much about losing the weight – but I wanted to up my effort and results – in the gym – but also out on the road….

It became fun to ride my bike (did I mention I had bought a bike of my own :-)) and we upped the level of training in the gym – all I can say is be careful what you ask for – I wanted to become an “athlete” – and oh boy Alex pulled out more and more tricks to get my body – and mind to the next level!!

In the meantime I booked my first scuba dive trip in 4 years – Neil came over from Sydney and we spent a fabulous weekend diving at the Poor Knight Islands…. I have always been shocking in using up my air – and have always been the first person back on the boat at the end of the dive…..
This time around – even though I had not dived in 4 years I managed to dive 10 minutes longer than ever before – that was HUGE!! But I was also strong!! In the past the guys had to take off my tanks before I got out of the water as my legs could not carry my weight as well as the tanks trying to get up the stairs…… At the end of the dive without thinking I just got up the stairs – and there I was – standing on the boat – still with all my gear on!! All those leg exercises – step ups, squats, and damn sled exercises actually worked – thanks Alex!!

I went on trip to visit Neil and Sydney – and we walked – EVERYWHERE!! At the end of the weekend he said – you know you did not once ask “how far” moaned and groaned about walking or insisted that we take a cab – you just did it……

Around June I went for my regular blood tests – and afterwards went to see my doctor – she was stoked - my blood pressure was great – my sugar was absolutely normal- and she was happy for me to go off my cholesterol medication…..(this one is being monitored for now, but she is reasonably confident that with the changes to my lifestyle and the new healthy “diet” that I will not need it any longer) – Getting off the cholesterol meds is fantastic – I can eat grapefruit again!!

The blood sweat &voltaren (less and less) in the gym has continued – I now have a resting heart rate of 57 (which in the tables classify me as an “athlete”)….. Alex still manages to find ways to push my heart rate up in the gym – but what has changed is how quickly it drops down to normal again….. the only “downside” of this is that it is getting harder and harder to burn 500 calories in a training session :-) – a fantastic problem to have!!

With the fat disappearing some spectacular muscles are starting to make an appearance – all that hard work has actually had the desired result :-) Now don’t get me wrong – they still have a layer of fat over them – but I can now see that in the next 6 months to a year as the last 20 kg’s are shed I will have some pretty damn impressive muscle definition for a 50+ year old woman!!

My actual weight loss has become less and less of a goal – that is now just a given – I have the tools to allow me to keep on losing the rest – but what has become more of a focus and a goal for me is to keep working on my fitness and strength – and to keep challenging myself (we have to do less and less to convince the mind…..)

Some of you will already know that I am slowly turning into a bit of an energizer bunny – I get up at 7am to go for a bike ride (a year ago you would not see me awake – never mind out of bed before 9:30 – 10:00 am on a weekend!!)
This week I have actually visited the gym 5 days straight – who is this woman that has decided to move into my house!!

About 5 weeks this random thought came into my house that I wanted to start running – now to put this in context – I am the one person that has always said “The only reason to run is because you are chased!!”

On MFP people kept logging their C25K (Couch to 5 K) results – so if they could do it so could I ……again who is this woman – where has she come from – running – really……!!
So I had 5 weeks to the end of August – so a challenge to myself – finish C25K by the time I go to Fiji on the 27th of August….C25K starts you walking a minute – running a minute …..And slowly increases the running, and reducing the walking time….

Neil made a comment – “you are not really starting from the couch are you” ….which started me thinking – I should be able to run for longer than 3 minutes by now……mmm – that competitive thing again….. So I jumped on the treadmill and decided I will run till I can’t any longer….. well – the rest is history – I did a 20 minute run!! This is the longest run I have ever done in my entire life!!

Just after I did that run I strained my calf muscle (still not quite sure how) and it was the most frustrating thing to have to “take it easy!!”….
Two weeks later I did another run – planning to repeat my 20 minute run – but in the end I did a 30 minute run – I was super stoked – I still can’t believe that I can now run for 30 minutes!! I have now done 3 30 minute runs – so I think I can now officially tick this one of as achieved before the end of August……but like anything else – that is not the end …..I have not quite hit 5 km in 30 minutes – I am doing a 3.5km run in that time…..so now the new goal is to run a 5k in 30 minutes. It might take another month or two – but it is just a matter of time…

So I am returning to Fiji on a jet plane on the 27th August – and I am so excited to go back – we are celebrating my son’s 30th birthday – and his mother will be the fittest, skinniest she has been in at least 22 of those years……

A friend of mine posted this a while back and I have adopted it:

I don’t have a goal weight – I have a goal life!!

Well for all of you still reading at this point – I am living my goal life right now – and I will keep on tweaking it over the next year – but the person going back to Fiji one year later is happy, healthy, fit and positive about her goal life…..the possibilities are endless – and I am so excited to keep on exploring them…..

October 2010



January 2011



August 2011 (100 lbs healthier :-)