400g

400g lost this week, better than last week thank goodness but in order to meet my next goal I'm going to have to kick it up a notch. 3.3 kgs in 30 days I need to meet or preferably exceed. It's going to be interesting seeing as Christmas and New Years falls in that timeframe.
I keep falling back onto the same exercise routine and I really need to change things up but I get forgetful every morning and do the same thing. More focus needed!

Zucchini Slice

Trying to stay on top of my cardio this week as I only lost 200g last week. Some of
my food choices haven't been the best so fingers crossed there's a loss tomorrow.
I'm going to do the couch to 5k program as training for the Mothers Day Classic for next year. I decided that I have enough time to train for it so now I have to do it! I have a friend on board who is already very fit, so now I can't slack off as I'll have to keep up with her. Plus it will feel good to do something for a good cause.

Here's a recipe for an awesome zucchini slice-

4 large zucchinis grated
1/2 onion finely chopped
6 spring onions finely chopped
3 eggs
3 egg whites
1 tsp garlic
1/2 cup chopped low fat ham
1/2 cup low fat grated cheese
1 cup s.r flour
1/4 cup water

Mix all ingredients together.
Pour into a lamington pan and bake at 180 degrees for 40-50 minutes.

Hmmm

Last week I didn't lose any weight. Thankfully I didn't gain either. I'm hoping tomorrow's weigh in will go well.
I went for my first run in about 10 years last night. Coughed up a lung when I got home. Pretty good indication of the health of my lungs and what I need to do to change that.
About to head off for a 7.5km walk. My calf muscles are seeing the benefit of all this walking and bike riding. Just wish I had of taken better care of myself earlier so I didn't have all the stretch marks as evidence of how unhealthy I have been...

Death

Had a massive weekend, lots of booze and fatty foods. I enjoyed it with the knowledge that on Monday I wasn't going to slack off and that I was going to jump back into my routine. Today however it is now Tuesday and my body is falling apart on me. I am sick. The thought of eating anything let alone anything healthy makes me feel ill and the concept of jump on the bike gives me a further headache. If this is my bodies way of punishing me for the fun I had then I well and truly get the picture. Anyway that's all I have for now because even doing this is making me feel like dying

Smoothie

Oh and also this is my formula for my smoothies that I have a few times a week.

3 tbs low fat, low sugar vanilla yogurt
6 ice cubes
1 cup liw fat milk
1/2 cup fruit (mango, banana, mixed berries)

Chuck it all in the blender.
The ice makes the smoothie really frothy and combined with the yogurt gives the effect that it has ice-cream in it.
When I have a banana smoothie I add a shake of cinnamon and a tsp of honey, just because it tastes so awesome.
Also I like to sieve my berry smoothies as I loathe mouthfuls of seeds.

Parma and weightloss, what a pair!

The weather is pretty feral today thwarting my plans for a walk. My butt is a bit sore from all the bike riding so I was hoping to avoid it today, oh well. This week I managed to lose 1.1kgs. Was so happy considering it felt like I hadn't lost a thing. I'm thinking the extra cardio on the bike and hill walking is key here.
On my continued effort to find more rad food to eat I found a recipe for chicken parma that is apparently low fat.

Chicken Parma
1 skinless chicken breast
1 tbs cottage cheese
1 slice low fat ham
1 tbs tomato passata
Spring onion
1/4 cup cooked couscous

Spread cottage cheese and sliced spring onion on chicken.
Lay slice of ham to fit. Spread tomato passata and then coat with couscous.
Spray oven tray lightly with oil put chicken on and then spray chicken lightly.
Cook in preheated oven (190 degrees) till chicken is cooked through.
Slice and serve with salad.
Serves 2

First 5kgs

I made it to my first 5kgs, only 25 to go!
Feeling a bit yuck this week, womens business. It's making exercise unappealing and food desirable. Thankfully I'm able to see the positive changes my body has made so far so I still have enough motivation to power through (for now at least).
Made some yummy lower fat crumbed chicken last week that I turned into Mexican wraps.

Crumbed chicken
Preheat oven to 200, lightly spray oven tray with oil.
Slice skin free chicken breasts into strips.
Whisk one egg white till foamy.
Mix together breadcrumbs, parsley, minced garlic and cumin.
Dip chicken in egg then in crumb mix.
Place chicken on tray then lightly spray with oil.
Bake till chicken is crispy and cooked through.

It won't go as golden as normal shallow fried chicken but will crispy up just as well.

Ooops

Only lost 300g this week :( I'm hoping it's because of fat converting to muscle, but in reality it's probably because over the last week I've eaten a bunch of crap. After lunch today I'm going to cut out cheese for the week. Instead of cutting everything out like with the cleanse I might just cut out aspects of different food groups and see how it goes.
I've already amped up my exercise this week and have added a couple more activities into my routine, but I might need to make some more changes or add more reps or something.
Going to go for a walk and try and make amends for this last week...

Hrmph

It would seem as I attempt to regain my teenage figure (ha!), my skin has also decided to bless me with crazy horrible teenage skin. I've never had the best skin but it was better than this. And you would assume that by eating better your skin would naturally appear healthier, but that's not the case here. I'm hoping it's my body ridding itself of toxins or what have you by any means necessary and that soon I'll have sexy glowing skin that is promised by every nutritionist, but we'll see how that goes.
Will be jumping on the bike again tonight for round two after having a massive beef and cheese pie for lunch today. Feeling so bloated, not fun...

Sunday is my fun day

Decided for some reason to weigh in today instead of tomorrow and I've had a weightloss of 1.3kgs this week. Soooo happy with this result, only 0.9 kgs till the first goal and I'm hoping I blitz that this week coming. There's still quite a few more changes I can make to my eating and exercise routine, so I hope this will help keep the dreaded plateau away, for a while yet at least.
The good thing is is that I'm starting to get the guilts now whenever I eat something I know is going to be really bad. And instead if wallowing in self pity I just jump on the bike to work off what I've just stupidly put in.
No new recipes today. Going to go look up some new recipes to try out.

Sweaty

It's really humid today, makes working out an even sweatier task than usual. Anyway I still got to it and worked out this morning and then again tonight while watching tv. Seeing people with the body you want is pretty good motivation to do another 10 minutes on the bike.
Made a really yummy dinner tonight and had my first attempt at using wholemeal flour in making muffins, note to self; don't over bake by even a minute using wholemeal, dry muffins are not the tastiest.
Anyhow, recipes below for both.

Chinese five spice chicken with couscous salad
Marinate 1 skinless chicken breast in 1/2 tsp five spice, 1 tsp oil and 1/4 tsp minced garlic.
Cook chicken in oven till juices run clear then slice and leave to side.
Cook 1/2 cup couscous as per directions. Once fluffed add finely chopped capsicum, carrot and cucumber, a handful of baby spinach leaves and 1 tsp sweet chili sauce. Mix together then add chicken. Then nom on down on it. Serves 2

Wholemeal apple berry muffins
Sift 2 cups wholemeal flour with 2 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp cinnamon and 1/4 cup brown sugar.
In a separate bowl mix 1 cup low fat milk, 1 egg, 1 tsp vanilla, 1/4 cup honey.
Mix wet ingredients with dry till just combined.
Gently stir through 3/4 cup mixed berries and 1/4 cup finely chopped apple.
Spoon into muffin tins and bake at 180 degrees till muffins are golden and a toothpick comes out clean.
Next time I might add some banana for extra moisture and keep a closer eye on the oven!

Balance

Sometimes or all the time as the case may be, trying to balance work, weightloss, child wrangling, housework and time with your partner can seem impossible, let alone time to yourself. I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed at the moment and it doesn't feel like anything is being done well.
The house is a constant mess no matter how much I try and keep on top of it, the child monster wants more attention and needs more stimulation from me, I'm trying so hard this time to change the bad habits that I've developed over the past 5 years and there's still my boyfriend and our relationship that needs more focus. Add on top of that looking for a new job, trying to find ways to save more money and also finding a hobby for myself, well I'm sure you can see why I'm stressed out. But in saying all that nearly everyone goes through the same thing everyday, I'd like an insight into how the seem to cope so well.
The difference for me this time is that I don't have food or shopping to fall back on when I get stressed or anxious, I'm trying to find ways to handle the daily crap and get a better balance but equilibrium seems so far away.
Hmm long rant with a touch of self pity, time to get stuck into all the above before I fall further behind.

Weekend and weigh-in

The weekend was not so good for the weightloss. Girls night in the city with lots of alcohol followed by greasy food the next day to battle the hangover demon. Today I'm back to it though and had a weightloss of 0.8kgs. Not much but still a loss considering and I'm still on track to my first goal. Only 2.2kgs to go in 28 days. Considering it's highly unlikely I'll be drinking much if at all in that time frame I think I'll be ok.
Made a really yummy vegetarian friendly pasta last night. Has cheese and a creamy sauce but it doesn't contain creamy and has plenty if vegies so in moderation I think it would be ok.

Cook 2 cups pasta to 3/4 readiness.
In a saucepan cook 1tbs flour with 1tbs salt reduced margarine until marg melts. Slowly add low fat milk till you have a smooth lump free sauce. Add chopped mushrooms, fresh broccoli cut into florets, baby spinach, herbs (I used basil, parsley, thyme and chives), a tsp of minced garlic, 1/2 tsp veggie stock powder and pepper to taste.
Once pasta is cooked transfer to an overproof dish, pour over sauce and stir through. Sprinkle grated tasty cheese on top and bake in the oven till cheese has melted (approx 200 degrees).
Use wholemeal pasta and low fat cheese or add more veggies if you want to make it healthier.

What I'm trying

So in order to test the effectiveness of the workouts I'm doing (along with the change in diet), along with weighing myself, I've taken measurements of my thighs, arms, stomach and hips. Seeing as I didn't have a measuring tape I used string. It's still a means of comparison so I don't see why it shouldn't work.
I've been doing a combination of workouts using a fitball and hand weights, which is done everyday for 3 weeks (I'm on day 5), along with walking and I'm going to incorporate cycling, on the stationary bike and another two activities yet to be decided, probably swimming and pilates/yoga.
I was pretty excited to find on Wednesday that my boardshorts and bather top fit better than they did last summer. I'm actually looking forward to the warmer weather now.

Salad

Couscous, roast pumpkin and baby spinach salad
1/2 cup cooked couscous
1/2 pumpkin
1/4 bag baby spinach leaves, washed
1/4 small green capsicum, finely chopped
Handful sultanas

Roast pumpkin in oven till cooked but still firm. I tossed the pumpkin in a little veggie oil and added cumin, cinnamon and haram masala.
Add pumpkin to cooked couscous, add all other ingredients. Use oil from pumpkin as a dressing. Eat while pumpkin in warm or cool in fridge.

Slaaaaack

I've been slack and lazy and full of excuses (again). I had so many good intentions for my health and fitness for this year that I have clearly not followed through with. Anyway I'm back now so I'll stop with the self-loathing.
Last night I had a big cry about my weight and all that related crap. Tim was right in saying I need to do something about it if it makes me that upset, it's just a whole lotta changes that seem so overwhelming when there's the rest of life that needs dealing with.
But I woke up this morning and made myself a healthy breakfast and went for a walk and finally got the courage to weigh myself AND huzzah I'd list 1.8kgs. Not much when you consider the 30 odd to go but still, thank goodness it wasn't a gain. So I'm trying again with smaller goals in the hopes that if I reach little goals often it won't be so daunting. And that brings back the plans for one day a week of meat/dairy/wheat free foods. I got up to day 6 of my detox from my last post and lost 6kgs but then crashed BAD so I'm going to attempt one day a week instead of jumping in the deep end and scaring the bejesus out of my body again. Today is not that day though as I'm making curry tonight, but with a healthier twist on it. Anyway that's all for now.

Day 2, headache ahoy

Today I woke up feeling a little headachy and it lasted most of the day. Not an intense pain, more annoying than anything. It's gone now thank goodness, so hopefully that's the extent of it! Today's lunch was vegan chili, sort of thrown together, tasty and suprisingly filling.

Vegan Chili ala Stacey

In a little oil fry off, 1 onion chopped, 1 tsp minced garlic and 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin. When onion has softened, add a 1/2 dozen sliced mushrooms, 1/2 red capsicum and half a green capsicum. Add 1/4 cup red lentils, 1 tin of 5 bean mix, 1 jalepenos sliced and as much chilli paste or chopped fresh chilli as you like, add 1/2 cup of tomato paste and 1/2 tin of chopped tomato and enough water to create a slightly running sauce. Cook until lentils are tender then add 1/2 cup of frozen corn. Simmer till corn is cooked.

I served mine over potato and sweet potato but I'm sure it can be eaten in other ways. If the chili gets too thick just add a little more water or tin tomatos depending on how the flavor is developing.

No real excerise done today, feeling a little sluggish because of it, but there's pilates in the morning tomorrow so that will be nice.

Detox day 1

Today was the start of the detox. Todays meals have been - a bowl of fruit, water with lemon, spicy pumpkin and cauliflower soup, a banana, dried apricots and sultanas and for dinner, salad with a seared nile perch fillet. I decided on fish for dinner as a slow transition into the detox. I'm on the edge of getting a headache but so far it's not too bad.
I've been going to the toilet every 30 minutes from the amount of water I'm drinking, it's crazy! Oh and also tried green tea today, to be honest it's pretty gross but I'll keep going with it.
I still haven't gotten a pro-biotic, I'll see how I go without it for now.
Didn't last long at the gym today due to the child having an accident and having to come home early. Will try to get in a bit of extra exercise tomorrow.

Here's the recipe for my soup:

Spicy pumpkin and cauliflower soup

1/4 cauliflower cut into florets
1/4 pumpkin cut in chunks
1/2 med sweet potato cut in chunks
Chilli
1/4 cup Soy milk
Parsley chopped

Put veg in a saucepan with a tablespoon of oil. Fry veg off for a couple of minutes. 
Cover veg with water (2-3 cups) and bring to the boil. Once boiling drop to a simmer and cook until veg are tender. 
Take saucepan off the heat. 
Add soy milk, parsley and chilli to taste.   Purée with a barmix or blender.
Serve 

Locked, stocked and two sour lemons?

Just finished the grocery shopping. The house is chock full of legumes, mushrooms, soy milk and greens. I want to start cooking already because I'm so excited about the meals I planned. This week I'll be making- cauliflower, pumpkin and sweet potato soup, vegan chilli, pumpkin and bean curry, braised long beans, morroccan stew, potato and spinach curry just to name a few. Infact all meals over the next week and a half will be vegan. I have mushrooms, red lentils and chickpeas to add to pretty much everything! The thing I love the most about doing this style of cleanse is that I can use coconut milk in my curries, and it's full cream coconut milk too YAY!

I'll be starting up at yoga tomorrow morning and going in for a relaxation massage hopefully on Wednesday. I'm hoping both of these will help with releasing any built up toxins floating around in my system.

This week I should be starting up a new program at the gym. I think this will be good as some of the routines were starting to get a bit easy.

Ok I'm going to head to the kitchen I think, I can't hold out any longer!

Breathe in and hold...

So after 7 months of pilates I think I'm finally figuring out how to control my body, breathing and pelvic floor all at the same time. I'm sure it's not supposed to take this long, but I'm getting there.
I made a beautiful morrocan style dish last night which I will be able to alter to make again next week and I'm going to try my hand at a lentil and veggie curry. I'm already feeling a bit more confident, I think planning is what helps the most. Having all my meals planned out and ready will be a good start.
Either this Sunday or the following I'm going to head to the yoga class run at my gym. Hopefully it will help centre me a bit more during my cleanse. I'm thinking a few visits to the park might be in order to keep me out of the house and away from the pantry. I would like to apologise to anyone I snap at or stink out. It's going to get interesting!

Wooop

Over the weekend I bought two new bras in smaller sizer! And yes I'm very happy about it.
I'm starting to see some weightloss in my face which is good.
This weekend we caught up with friends and also celebrated our 5 year anniversary so a bit more alcohol was consumed than normal, but only 6 days till my cleanse so no more till then. I am getting a bit nervous about the cleanse now though. I think no wheat is going to be the hardest! So this week I'm using as preparation for next week, hopefully I can cut out a few things this week to make it easier next week!

Off track but not lost

So the last week has been a bit of poor form in terms of the weightloss and healthy lifestyle process as I have been off playing rockstar. Lots of concerts, alcohol, cigarettes and not so nice food. Thus I have not weighed in this week as I don't want to come face to face with the actual numbers, but I'm not beating myself up as this week had been planned long ago. What it means though is that this week is going to be a bit stricter.

Last night and today at lunch I ate red meat. This was the first time in over 2 weeks. Now I wish I hadn't. My stomach feels blah. I'm thinking red meat will become one of those 'now and then', And 'only when good quality' foods.

I promise I will put up recipes and photos soon. I've had some successes and some failures lately, but more on that later.

Decided!

Ok so on Monday 21st March I'm going to start a 10 day cleanse. Kind of like preparation for the new season I guess. Ten days of fruit, vegetables, nuts, water and (maybe) some fish. So the aim from now until then is to prep my body as best I can to take this on. Obviously no smoking and no drinking (apart from 2 nights that I have already planned), lowering my red meat consumption (which I haven't actually eaten all week! No wait I had a 1cm cube of stras. yesterday, damn!), finding a suitable probiotic and also vegetable based sources of iron so I don't collapse mid way through and getting hold of as many awesome recipes to keep me interested.
The main reason I'm doing this cleanse at this time is in prep for the winter months. I don't want to head into winter already feeling slugish! So far my body has been reacting well to the changes I've made in my diet, but I really need to take control of my over eating of carbs. I still have a pantry full of pasta (of the not so healthy kind)and I really need to look at ways to incorporate more 'whole' foods into my diet. But netherless I am making positive changes and my body hadn't really craved any of the crap I used to fill it with before!
I really wish it wasn't raining today though as I have energy to burn. Maybe some vigorous house cleaning will hit the spot!

To cleanse or not to cleanse...

I've been going over the pro's and con's of doing a full body cleanse. I'm not talking about one of those crazy (usually harmful) over the counter ones. I'm more thinking of 10 days without wheat, meat, dairy, egg and all processed foods and stimulants. I'm also thinking about going through all the products that come in regular contact with my skin. If I'm going to get healthy I have to look at this as a whole rather than just one aspect. So I'm currently reading up on different methods and products that can assist with this process and if I decided to go ahead (which I am leaning more to a yes) then I will write about it. Anyway back to more reading...

Weigh In

This morning, prior to heading to the gym I weighed myself and with a loss of 2kgs I'm pretty happy. Only 28 more to go haha! Gym went well this morning. I'm seeing some noticable changes in the shape of my arms which makes me feel good. I'm still struggling with my rotating lunges, I feel very unco-ordinated and often wobble around while trying to do them. However I pushed through and finished 2 sets, so that was good.
Tonight was a bit of a mistake though as we got take-away for dinner after going grocery shopping and now my body isn't very happy with me. I feel a bit silly because I wasn't giving in to a craving or eating it as a treat, I was just being lazy, so now I have a small case of the guilts but that's ok, I'll work through it!
My next big challenge will be next week, 2 nights out and 1 full day at a music festival. Here's hoping I have enough strength to control my food and cigarette cravings, I am however making allowances for some alcohol. I'm over the hangover stage!
Here's to a healthy weekend for me!

Up the motivation

I went through my closet and found a top and pair of pants that I've been holding onto for the last 4 years in the hopes to fit into again 'one day'. I've decided to put them on display in my bedroom so that I can see them and remind myself of what I'm trying to achieve. Yes I want to lose weight for the health benefits, thus no smoking and limited alcohol (both of which I'm still completely free from at the moment), but damn it I want to look sexy too! I use to be a slim 55kg, but didn't appreciate the body I had I had at the time. Oversized portions, too many nights out drinking and next to no excerise has lead to a pretty depressing self image. Hindsight can be a wonderful thing provided the lesson is learnt and not repeated

Weekend wrap up and a fresh week

Not much exercise done over the weekend, however no alcohol was consumed and no cigrettes either, so this is a good start. A full week with clean lungs and liver is a good thing! My partner brought home Mexican food on Sunday but I was very sensible (in comparison to my normal), lots of capsicum and only a little cheese. I was very proud of my self restraint!

This mornings gym session went well, my balance is getting better finally! It's amazing that last week I was in so much agony after my workout but today I feel great, still a bit tired from being sick and having the child wake up repeatedly in the night, but over all I'm starting to feel a positive change.

It's still quite hard thinking of suitable tasty snacks during the day. Thankfully most of the 'bad' food is all gone from the fridge and pantry so there's not much to tempt me. I still haven't weighed myself, I'm holding off for a little while in the hopes that the first weigh in will show a reasonable drop so as to keep me from crying haha!

I need this like I need a pain in the shin

I woke up this morning with shocking pain, damn shin splints strike again!
An hour and a half walk yesterday and I'm paying for it today. My flat feet obviously don't get enough support with my current runners, so an upgrade will be in the near future it seems. Also for future note, ice on the shins can help reduce the pain, as can ibuprofen.
Even with the pain I got to the gym this morning and got started on my new program. And now my entire body is exhusted! At least I can actually feel the muscles being used, the recovery is a lot more noticable now. I have a couple of recipes to share which I will post once I figure out how to load the pictures too!

The topic of hunger

I read something that I thought was really great today- when you're hungry ask yourself if you are hungry enough to eat a carrot or an apple, if not then it's probably not hunger.
I was thinking yesterday while driving about the anorexia mantra that 'nothing tastes as good as skinny feels' and it got me thinking that although it's not the best way to think if you are already wafer thin if changed a little it could work for us that are over-weight, "does that taste as good as healthy will feel?". So this is my little mantra for now, before I put anything in my mouth I'll ask myself if it's going to do any good to my health. And if it's not, is it worth it. If I'm going to go off track a little it has to be worthwhile, better quality istead of quantity.

Welcome

This is the start of my weightloss journey, although I really don't like the word journey, but it's the only word I can think of at this point in time so it will have to do.
I guess first of all I will go through my stats- female, 25, 160cm, 87kgs, technically classified as obese if going by the bmi height to weight ratio, a mum, a housewife and a bit of a gym junkie now days!
The reason I'm starting a blog about my weightloss is to make me more accountable with how I look after my body. For the last few years I've had a lot of fun getting fat, but BEING fat isn't fun! So at least if I think someone is reading this then maybe it might help push me through those days that are a bit harder.
So this is the start and I will update as I move along at the gym, at home and in the kitchen. Anyone reading I would love support from people on the same path and any low fat or meat free recipes would be great!