My Exercise program

Cardio
I do the treadmill and stationary bike which I am lucky enough to have at home. I have had the bike for 13 years (York)and I bought the treadmill 2 years ago for $700 on ebay. I go 7 kms an hour on the treadmill and do rolling hills on the bike. The heartrate monitor shows that I work at moderate to high intensity. I have burnt as much as 600 calories on the treadmill and 500 calories on the bike.

Music
Music motivates me to push through the tough workouts. I have a variety of music on my playlists from disco to pop to world music. I love my playlists and will share them here. At the start of my Weight Watchers journey I bought this ipod and had it engraved by buying the ipod direct from the Apple website.


Lifting Weights

I do not like lifting weights so I admit that I did not start to lift weight until the end of my first year on November 29, 2009. Because I have a long commute to my work, I do not have time to join a gym so I do home works outs. I use dvds by Jari Love a Canadian trainer. She uses high reps and low weights.I rotate the three workouts pictured here.I buy fitness dvds from the USA as I find the choice very limited here. To play them is no problem because I have a multi format dvd player. I bought these for $15 US from the Collage Video website. They ship to Australia and you can watch video previews and read consumer reviews of every video. These are challenging. When I struggle to do the exercises such as push ups, triceps dips and overhead press, I think of that strapless maxi dress. There is a 57 year old woman doing the workouts which is inspiring to me. I also check out the cute guy doing it!

Other measures

The scale can frustrate and demoralise me when it does not move or shows a gain. I have now thought of a couple of other ways to measure my progess.

Heart rate monitor
This tells me hard I am working and calculates how many calories I burn each exercise session. I can tell that I am getting fitter.


'Clothes o meter'
I use clothing in one size smaller to measure progess. I was happily amazed when I first fit into size 14 when the scale hardly moved a gram. This maxi dress is a size 12. While I can get into it, I cannot say that it fits. It is too tight and shows my lumps and bumps. When the dress skims over my body I will say it fits. The aim is to look hot in this dress!

My Weight Loss Program for the Second Half

After losing 25.7 kilos, my weight loss has slowed. During the Christmas New Year period I took the time to reflect and research. What I do now is

Stick to 20 points a day. I got tired of tracking on paper and on line so I bought a mini points caculator. I carry it around with me and enter the points straight after eating so I do not forget. This is important when weight loss has slowed.

Eat 5 meals a day with the majority of my points consumed before 6 pm.
Cardio for 60 minutes 5 times per week
Weight training 60 minutes 3 times per week.

Half Way There with So Far to go!

I hit 88 kilos! That's a loss of 25.7 kilos. I have lost half of what I have to lose.I went from a size 16 to a size 14. There is no more heavy breathing or sore knees. My weight loss is so sloooooooooow!One time I was so upset when the scale did not budge that I consumed a family size pack of salt & vnegar chips. I do not understand why I was sulky and self destructive. All I know was that the feelings were overwhelming.
I am working hard on accepting my weight loss progress as it is. I do at times feel punished and cursed. I try to overcome these feelings but I am not always succesful.





This is good progress with still a long way to go.

Relapse& Weight Gain

I did it again. I caved in after only 3 months at the first sign of my weight loss slowing down. I had lost with Weight Watchers before, I would say that this is my nineth time! Each time, at the three months point, I would relapse, go back to my bad habits, regain what I had lost plus some more.

In 2004 I got down to 83 kilos from a high of 106. I was fitting into size 12. Then I hit a plateuu that lasted about 3 weeks before I caved in.I felt doomed and cursed when my weight loss stalled. I gave up and went back uo to 107.

It has taken me until the end of 2008 to find the courage to return to Weight Watchers. I was sure that I would go the distance. To my dismay I crumbled at the 4 month point.

It is not like me to crumble. I am a strong person, why am I so weak in this area?

My 40 plus kilos to lose can seem overwhelming to me at times. After losing 15 kilos quite quickly(in 15 weeks) I suffered a period of low motivation and overeating for comfort. I changed jobs in around May and I found it hard to adapt to the long commute and changed working environment. I was anxious to prove myself so I guess I ate for comfort. I also got a bad virus which gave me low energy.

I was dismayed at how quickly I reverted back to my bad habits once I found myself under pressure. These included buying potatoe cakes at the train station on the way home because I was so hungry as I did not bring any healthy snacks to work. I also hit the Krispy Kream donuts, not one but six at a time.

It took a regain of 2.8 kilos to shock me out of this. Slowly I started to track. A first I kept going over my points limits but I kept at it. After a few weeks I was able to keep on track. I progessed in exercise too. I basically walked to and from train stations as a start, then I hit the treadmill. I have built up to 45 minutes at a brisk pace.

The biggest change for me is that I have become a planner. I take my lunch and snacks to work plus I prepare dinner for the working week on the weekend.

My current state of being on track is only 3 months old. After my relapse I do not take anything for granted. I have to stay focused and make the effort each day.

I am pleased to repot that I lost 8 kilos in the last threee months.

I am aimimg to get to 90 kilos by the end of the year. That will take me to half way to my ultimate goal weight.

I finally got it. At age 47. For me it is about changing my habits. One day at a time.For Life

Me at the Start

I have struggled with my weight all my life. Always a little tubby, at the age of 17, I started to overeat to comfort myself.My parents were going through a divorce and I was doing my second last year of high school. My parents owned a pizza shop. This is where I started my habit of eating family size portions of food. I would regularly eat a famly size pizza myself. On the way to school I would eat three doughnuts.After my parents divorce, I went to live with my mum. Feeling safe, using prepared meals, I got my weight down to 70 kgs. Over the next few years I yo yoed between 70 and 80 kilos. As I got older it became harder and harder to control my weight. In 1992, at the age of 30. I weighed 67 kilos. I could not cope with myself at that weight. I remember feeling so empty. Compulsively I ate my way up to 80 kilos. Over the years my weight crept up to over 100 kilos.

In my 40's my weight soared to 113.7 kilos. I was bursting out of my size 18 clothes. In the morning,lying in bed I could hear myself breathing heavily. At times my right leg would go stiff on me when walking. My knees were hurting so much when I walked down the escalators at the train station. I knew that I was in crisis but I could not find my way out. Slowly I summoned the courage to rejoin Weight Watchers. As I stood outside the door at the Weight Watchers in Preston, Victoria. I was emotionally fragile. I resolved to find the strength and courage to lose more than 40 kilos. That was on 27.12.2008.

Weight-112.4 kg
It was hard to move. I was breathing very heavily too. The top is size 18. The jeans size 20.

Weekly Progress

Start 27.12.2008
Weight 113.7 kg
WK1-112.3kg
WK2-109.9kg
WK3-109.1kg
WK4-108kg
WK5-106.4kg
WK6-105.5
WK7-104.5
WK8-103.6
WK9-102.6
WK10-101.6
WK11-100.4
WK12-98.5
WK13-93.4
WK14-91.6
WK15- Did not weigh. Relapse.
WK16-Did not weigh. Relapse.
WK17-Did not weigh. Relapse.
WK18-Did not weigh. Relapse.
WK18-Did not weigh. Relapse.
WK19-Did not weigh. Relapse.
WK20-Did not weigh. Relapse.
WK21-Did not weigh. Relapse.
WK22-Did not weigh. Relapse.
WK23-Did not weigh. Relapse.
WK24-Did not weigh. Relapse.
WK25-Did not weigh. Relapse.
WK26-Did not weigh. Relapse.
WK27-Did not weigh. Relapse.
WK28-Did not weigh. Relapse.
WK29-Did not weigh. Relapse.
WK30-Did not weigh. Relapse.
WK31-Did not weigh. Relapse.
WK32-Did not weigh. Relapse.
WK33-Did not weigh. Relapse.
WK34-98.4kg
WK35-96.8kg
WK35-96.8kg
WK36-95.6kg
WK37-94.8kg
WK38-95.2kg
WK39-93.8kg
WK40-93.8kg
WK41-93.4kg
WK42-93.2kg
WK43-92.4kg
WK44-93.4kg
WK45-92.8kg
WK46-91.6kg
WK47-90.0kg
WK48-90.8kg
WK49-90.0kg
WK50-88.8k
WK51-90.6kg
WK52-90.0kg
WK53-88.0kg
WK54-87.4kg
WK55-87.6
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WK57-
WK58-
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