The Lead Up To This……

What bought me to this decision?

To publicly display my weight loss journey to the world.

It seems like for years I have always battled with my weight, I’ve endured the yo-yo dieting, the diet pills, the liquid diets, the fasting, the soup diets and even the eat all protein diet, which I may add made me gag at the sight of meat for a while after.

While some of these did result in weight loss, I did not feel healthy while doing it, I had no energy, I was missing vital nutrients, and what’s worse and was so disheartening to me, as soon as I ate “normal” food I put all the weight back on and usually extra along with that. Which caused me to find another diet, and the whole cycle started again. It was madness. I was consumed with food the whole time. I think when someone is denied something they crave, they think about it 24/7, that was the case with me.

I knew deep down i wasn’t doing my body any good by treating it this way.

I’ve enlisted the help of personal trainers in the past, and I’ve had some really good ones that have really helped me, but when I think about it, I believe it’s all about what goes in your mouth. I believe 95% of your weight loss success comes from what you eat. I was training hard but not eating right, so I was not getting the results I desired.

I want to do this publicly so I can be accountable not just to myself but to you as well. I want to share my journey with you and hopefully enlist some support to keep me on track.

The program I am using is a program called Get Lean Program. I have researched this program and even spoken with the creator. The beauty of this program is it gives me everything I need, a menu plan for everyday for 12 weeks, email support from the creator of the Program, great tips and an awesome guide that entails everything needed for success. But during my journey I’ll share with you my life with “the book” as I have no doubt I’ll be delving into it daily.

It is a 90 day program, only 3 months. My goal is to look great in a swimsuit for summer in 3 months. I’ve just moved to the Gold Coast in Australia so I’m more motivated to not be in a t shirt and long shorts on the beach.

For me this is it.

I’m tired of being out of shape, clothes being tight, not liking my body image in the mirror and being unfit and unhealthy.

Today is the beginning of my new “lean” life.

I am a 43 yr old mother of 2, and I’m putting it out there, I am outta shape and I’m sick of it.

I hope you get something from this blog.

If your struggling to lose weight, follow along, maybe we can do this together.

Thanks for taking time to read.

Wk 8, Day 50.

Have had a huge gap in my blog recording, moving house, no internet for a few weeks left me unable to keep up with my blog.

I have tried my hardest to keep on track with my training and eating but it hasn’t always been easy. However not being one to wallow in “shoulda, woulda, or couldas”, today is a new day and the past I cannot change but the future is a blank canvas and I can move forward.

Eating lean is not for a period of time, it’s a lifestyle change. That’s the reason why I don’t beat myself up about the past few weeks. I’m not on a time schedule, this eating is for life.

Though in saying that, I’m still aiming for  Christmas to be beach ready lol.

I’ll get there, I know I will.

Day 36

I’ve had a real setback boohoo.

Personal circumstances  saw us staying in a motel for 4 days which totally threw my eating plan out the window. Not to say I was eating un lean food all the time, but there were times when I found I had no lean food to eat,  and I was starving so I ate what was available. Tried my hardest to eat as healthy as I could, sushi, salads but to be honest it was very difficult to find  lean food at the mall.

I really missed my good, unprocessed meals. Meals that I prepare and that I know what goes into them. I’m sure the salads etc were healthy but I was sceptical about some of the ingredients.

So thats over, tomorrow we are home and I am back on track. I’m not gonna waste time or energy thinking woulda, shoulda, coulda. Get back in to it. This is a lifestyle, not a short term thing, sometimes life throws curve balls you just gotta do the best you can. In saying that though, I think for future curve balls, I will create a lean food sports bag that I can keep in the car, tins of tuna, protein bars, almonds, things that will keep me eating lean when life has unexpected circumstances.

Lastly I must say, I had noticed the difference in my well-being just from the weekends events. I had a sore tummy, and I felt very tired and lethargic. My body I think has become use to eating lean, love it.

Back on board………

Updated photo

So here are my photos, first one is at week 1, 2nd photo is at week 4.

Days 27-31

Life has been crazee busy that I haven’t had time to update my blog, but I promise to do a better job here on in.

So I have completed 4 weeks on the get lean program and I’m feeling great, I love this program.

If you wish to check it out go to getleanprogramsite.com, it honestly is changing my life.

Weighed myself this morning, happy to report I am weighing 85kg, so in total I have lost 8kg in 4 weeks. My goal is to get to 75kg which I am pretty confident I will reach, then who knows what I’ll do next.

My favourite breakfast is steel cut oats with berries and yoghurt. Gotta remember to soak the oats overnight, drain them and then cook like porridge. What’s the difference between steel cut and rolled oats? Rolled oats are steamed and pressed or rolled, steel cut are cut 2 or 3 times with steel, all in the name really lol.

I realized how important water is a few days back. I came to the end of the day and realized I hadn’t had any water, consequently I got a headache, think I was dehydrated. Now I make a point of having my water bottle with me always.

The weather is warming up, clothes are getting brighter and skimpier. I will not be wearing track pants this summer, or long board shorts at the beach. I will be wearing a bikini, say it again Sheryn, I will be wearing a bikini. I will be looking damn fine on the beach. I will be looking damn fine on the beach.

I’m going nutty, lack of sugar is affecting my mental stability I think, lol.

Days 24, 25, and 26

Can’t believe I’m nearly at the end of my 4 weeks on the eating lean lifestyle. I feel great, healthy and energetic, and most importantly I feel light and clean, meaning when I ate processed and high g.i. foods I always felt over full and heavy in my stomach.

The last 3 days have been crazy busy at work, often I found myself eating my snacks in the car driving to do different errands. I’ve really had to be super organized this week with all the busyness at work. I purchased some tight lidded plastic containers so that I can prepare my food the night before and it’s ready to go in the morning. With the heat increasing though (Summers on the way), I think I better get an esky to keep my food cold in the car.

I’ve been trying to incorporate my eating plan into my families meals, it has been met with some resistance, but persistance can beat resistance lol, that’s my philosophy anyway.  My daughter loves white bread, which I refuse to buy anymore. I put a whole grain ham sandwich in her lunch, she complained bitterly, poor thing was so hungry after school. So I met her halfway, I got whole meal bread instead, which she ate, so that’s a win win situation.  My son is funny, he said to me the other night at dinner “Mum, are our meals getting smaller?” I had to laugh, I think subconsciously I was decreasing their portion sizes, it’s funny this eating plan is taking me over lol.

My family have been great, they keep encouraging me and supporting me, my son calls me a health freak.

I’m not getting bored with the food yet, I think the key to that is I have changed the way I see food. My relationship with food is not the same anymore. 4 weeks ago food was a comforter, I ate it for pleasure, I ate when I was stressed, ate when I was sad, ate when I was happy, food really was there as a “friend” to help me celebrate or drown my sorrows with. Some people use alcohol as their medicine or drugs,  mine drug of choice was food, food that was laden with calories, food that was high glycemic, food that was loaded with sugar and heavy carbohydrates. No wonder I was putting on weight and most importantly never losing it consistently.

Today, I have a great relationship with food, we are best friends lol. I control what food I eat, I choose what I want to eat, and I don’t eat for pleasure anymore I eat to refuel my body, food to me is fuel, and I want to put the best fuel I can in to my body. It really is a whole mindset change.

If your reading this blog or following it and have issues with your weight, know I have been where you are. I’m not a counsellor but I know that there is a way out. There is a  way to be healthy and lean, and I am proving that.

Will take some updated photos tomorrow and post.

Day 22 and Day 23

Both great days, exercise done, changed my cardio and did interval training on the bike just for something different.

Eating has been a bit outta whack, meaning my timing of meals has been a little behind. It’s important to refuel every 3-4 hrs.

Day 21 (end of 3 weeks)

I love Sundays, it’s my day of rest from exercise, and in the old days it used to be the day I would gourge on non lean food and feel sick the next day. It was a never ending cycle for me, exercise, eat well, eat bad, feel guilty, eat bad again, think everything is hopeless re losing weight then put weight on.

It never occurred to me that I needed to change the way I see food, my relationship with it so to speak. Food controlled a lot of who I was, or how I saw myself. If I binged, I would feel fat, and I  would see myself as fat in the mirror and my confidence would suffer.

Today that is not the case….I am in control of food, it does not dictate to me. Though in saying that don’t think I have conquered my “food demons” but I understand my triggers for emotional eating now and I have strategies in place, for example if I’m watching tv which is rare…and the ads come on I get up and do something around the house so I’m not tempted by the ads for food.

I’m feeling really good, little tired but I just push myself through.

It’s getting really warm here,  so I’m visioning  myself in a bikini.

Will post some progress photos soon.