Kelly's World

The title of this post is technically incorrect – there is no “wrong” time to lose weight. But there is the “worst” time to lose weight, and that’s inbetween seasons. Currently we’re approaching the end of summer, and about to head into the cooler months. It’s still hot, but none of the stores are selling any summer gear. The sales are over, and it’s all about the winter stuff now.

Yesterday working at Soundwave festival was a debacle. I didn’t realise yet just how loose my board shorts were, so put them on at home, jumped in the car and headed to Brisbane. Thankfully I’d packed my denim shorts for later (in case it got a bit cooler). After just 1/2 hour of working at Soundwave, I had to change. The board shorts had loosened up with a bit of wear, and were pretty much useless for public attire. I changed, and sweated it out with my denims for the rest of the day (although I hadn’t packed the belt, and was really pushing my luck).

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In an effort to lose weight, get fit and stay healthy, a friend and I have been undertaking a weight loss challenge against each other. You can find all the details in my original blog post about the challenge here. It was originally with two, but one of my challengers dropped out soon after. He had a pregnant wife, and trying to stay on a strict diet was just too much. Understandable, when a woman has cravings you don’t deny her, and when there’s good food around all the time it would just be unbearable.

So my other friend and I continued, and she won the first 5%. The first time we raced it took just over a month. We only had 4 – 5 kilos to lose, so 1 a week made it easy. This time, not so much so. After a short hiatus, we resumed the challenge for another 5% on the 12th October. This time, we had to lose any weight we’d regained during the break from the 1st challenge, plus another 5%.

October and November proved to be the busiest social months on our calendars. We had weekends away at the Gold Coast, or Tweed Heads, or there were Hens Days or Christmas Parties. To try and remain strict on our diets would have really thrown a damper at those times. We acknowledged to the other challenger they would be pulling ahead, and then gave up for a few days (although we didn’t go silly). Most importantly though, the overall trend of our weights continued in a downward fashion.

These last two weeks, I had kicked it up a notch with my exercising. I still had the odd hiccup with a weight gain; one night I might have given to eating pasta, for example, which immediately showed on the scales the following day. Yet the weight continued down.

This morning I jumped on the scales, and BOOSHKA. I had reached my goal weight. Brilliant!! I had defeated my friend (and immediately sent her a photo of the scales with a victory message).

I’m incredibly proud to say that since the first time we began competing, I have lost a tremendous 9kg. It shows. My clothes fit a lot better (I haven’t dropped a size yet, though that has to be coming soon, my jeans are pretty loose now), and the shape of my body has changed in a most favourable way. Though I haven’t finished yet, in fact I’m only halfway to my goal. It will bring me to my thinnnest in about 7 – 8 years. Looking forward to it.

The overall trend of my weight loss during the challenge

This morning I awoke to the news the 5% body weight challenge was over; Kim had reached 5.04%. My other friend had dropped out after the first week, so I had beaten him at least (hurray). But props go to Kim, she was dedicated and took the goods. Congratulations!

As for my performance I’m disappointed to say in the least. I’ve been very cautious with the foods I ate, and made sure I was exercising in some form every day. My weight loss chart went as follows:

I think you can see where I experienced that monthly “girl” time! Overall it’s been positive, I’ve lost a total of 3.7kg, which over 3 weeks is nothing to be sneezed at. That’s pretty damn good! I think I’m just disappointed because of the curve for the last week, it never really dropped much.

After discussing it with some friends I’m going to change some things, and see how my body reacts. For example, one of my gym sessions each week consisted of a class called “Body Pump”. You have weights on a bar, and do various exercises with light weights and high reps. I think my body still might be gaining a bit of muscle from that, and therefore not losing weight. I will try sticking with cardio for the next week, and see how that goes.

Also, for lunch I had been having the wholemeal bread option from my eating plan for lunch each day. For this past week I’ve felt like I wasn’t eating enough fresh produce (even though I was having a salad each night for dinner, and tomato/celery/carrot for afternoon tea. So this coming week I will try switching back to salad for a couple of those days and see how that goes. Perhaps my body just loves bread so much it grabs it and holds onto it for dear life? I am a big sucker for the smell of fresh bread, yum.

I should point out though, that I’m a little worried we’re putting so much of a fixation on the scales. When I visited weight watchers a few years ago I had gotten the “weight” mentality out of my head. It was about the body fat percentage, not your weight number. I think that’s what caused a bit of a mood swing for me this week, I had put far too much emphasis on weight. My scales at home are meant to calculate body fat percentage as well, however that function hasn’t worked for a good year now. Also, each morning when I weigh myself for the challenge I have to step on at least 5 times before I find a consistent number. I think it’s time to buy some new scales. Then I will be able to track my body fat percentage as well, and that will be the number I will become fixated on.

Kim and I agreed that at the completion of the challenge we would take a week’s break before resuming for another 5% challenge. To that end, I think I will be enjoying the odd treat or two this week, but nothing crazy. I would hate to undo what I’ve already lost, and I want to keep going with being cautious with what I’m eating. After all, being health conscious is a great habit to get into.

So, let round 2 begin!

(For information about the challenge please see the original post here)

As of this morning week 1 finished with a grand total of 2.3kg lost – exactly half the weight I need to lose for this challenge. The fact that I’ve lost that much already astounds me, I can’t remember ever having lost that much in a week before. While attending weight watcher classes many years ago they preached that usually 1kg is around the norm. The only difference  between then and now is that my diet is a lot more strict. But it’s obviously working.

A 2.5% weight drop in a week. Wow.

I don’t expect to have the same result this coming week, that would be insane. Plus, at the risk of sounding like a typical female making excuses, it’s “that” time of the month where my body likes to retain as much water as it possibly can. It happened already, with a gain of 0.6kg between Saturday – Sunday where I was still pretty careful with what I ate. There’s no way that food could have accounted for that gain, and I’d also climbed a mountain that morning. But anyway, meh. I’ve still got 2.5kg baby!

There are 3 moments in this week that stand out to me as the hardest. The first was day 2 of the challenge, where my body was still adjusting to the change in food portion sizes. The time between afternoon tea and dinner was the worst, and thankfully my body has now adjusted that it knows to wait until about 6pm before it starts feeling hungry. Second hardest to me was at a tupperware party on Saturday afternoon, and seeing all the treats on the table yet not being able to eat any. Thankfully I had a supportive friend there who kept reminding me that I’m better than that, and can hold out. I still had one small chocolate pod, one thin slice of camembert on a cracker, and a small portion of a club sandwich. All just so I could have a taste, and remember what I’m missing. When I ate the small chocolate piece, it was like heaven. Sugary, sugary heaven. But one was enough. I used to be a camembert junkie, so having one small piece (and being satisfied) wasnt something I expected.

The last, and possibly the worst out of the entire week, was visiting Mount Tamborine with my family. This was my first time I had been dining out where it wasn’t as simple as a steak and salad. Trying to find something that would be suitable in a cafe was a bit of work, and as it was the sandwich I had (ham & salad on rye bread) still included cheese and butter, of which aren’t a part of my diet’s recommendations for lunch. While I ate it, I watched my family eat blueberry & buttermilk pancakes, a BLT, and a big iced coffee with cream on top. Yum. Then they went and visited a chocolate and ice cream shop, while I bitched on twitter about not being able to eat any of it.

Yet come the weigh in this morning, holding off eating any of it was well worth it. 2.5% baby!

Bring on this next week. With an adjusted stomach for the food portions it will be interesting to see how I go. If I can be strict enough I might be able to crack the 5% mark, and this competition will be over a lot quicker than we had bargained for. Wish me luck!

I’m currently on a challenge to lose 5% of my body weight before two of my friends do. You can see more information about the challenge here. It’s only the first week and I’m already experiencing tremendous success, more than I could ever have imagined.

I thought I would share my diet plan with everyone, so if anyone else wants to try it out they can.

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