2011 and a new start

I haven't posted in a while - so, here's to 2011 and a brand new start.

What has happened.

During the latter half of 2010 I had a couple of health related issues that sort of de-railed any further progress. Add in the stress of getting a major publication ready for production (which took 3 months of sitting on my rear end) and the weight plateaued.

As soon as that went off to production I felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders, my blood work came back and I was able to make some corrections - I had very low Vitamin D count, and a slightly low white blood cell count due to the number of sinus and chest infections that had set in... so I had to make some more changes to my diet. This was a good thing.

Since getting my blood chemistry right, things are moving again. I am feeling better and have quadrupled the amount of exercise that I do. I did a static bike time trial at the gym on saturday. I wanted to see how long it would take me to cycle the equivalent of home to work... in ideal conditions of course, no traffic lights to slow me down, no wind, no - nothing, just me and my bike. It took me 44 minutes to cycle the 21 km's and believe it or not, it only burnt 300 calories.

300 calories, that's the equivalent of a small bar of chocolate - thank goodness I don't eat those any more, I'd have to pedal all day.

Anyway, my gym was getting ready to start a 12 week weight loss challenge - nothing strenuous - weight marked once a week and a before photo taken. Given that it was a saturday morning (15th Jan) and I had just finished my workout - you can guarantee it is not a very nice pic. It is now the 19th and as of yesterday I had dropped a kilo and a half. But official weigh in is monday ... and basically - the biggest loser wins...

So, what else have I done - well I have halved the amount of food I consume. I didn't think I over ate, until I saw what the correct portion sizes were. Oops. I have cut out milk in tea and now drink 6 or 7 cups of herbal tea instead, and water - lots of water. There are little or no refined carbs in my diet, lots of veggies, a bit of fruit and lean protein. I have also made a commitment to remove alcohol almost entirely from my diet. As much as I like a glass of wine with dinner at the end of the day, it was a creeping bad habit and like the coffee I used to drink on the way to work every day - an expensive habit to have...

Over the Christmas and new year break I reorganized my closet, and discovered just how few things i could actually get in... Now I am only a size 16, but you'd think I was enormous... my goal = to replace the 16's with the 12's and 14's I have resting in a suitcase and to get rid of the last 16 kilos I need to lose...