Where am I going?

I AM LOVING THIS CLEAN EATING THING! I have so much energy. I'm constantly trying to find things to do so that I'm not sitting tapping my foot. It's amazing. I'm also sleeping better (or at least not waking up tired, because I always was a good sleeper) and am in better moods - most of the time, lol. These are all things that I think I didn't really have a problem with - I thought I had enough energy, I guessed I just wasn't getting enough sleep, or it was just something to put up with, and I thought I was in a good mood most of the time. Well, I was I guess - I got things done, I slept OK and I managed not to bite most people's heads off, but in comparison to how I feel now, it shows.

What's better is that most of the time I don't feel hungry, and when I do I'm filling up faster than I previously was. All from not eating too much refined food. It's been great.

Another major change I've made is the way I move. Upon my request, my husband bought me a Fitbit for Christmas. After wearing it for a couple of days in my normal routine and clocking up between 5 and 7 thousand steps I knew it was time for a change. I haven't done less that 10000 steps for 2 weeks now and the fitbit has made me conscious of that fact. It also has sweet challenges that make you want to do more and more (one day I did 30000), if you're competitive like me that is.

So now, after doing this for 2 weeks I can pop an additional 4.6kgs to my weight loss. My goal in December was to maintain what I had lost so far, or gain only a weeny bit. It was Christmas and the goodies was calling my name. Not to mention the 3 Christmas get togethers and 1 New Years get together. Weight loss just wasn't happening. I was happy to only gain a little during this time. My weight loss to date is 8.3kg, which is a super steady weight loss if I back date that to around October when I began.

I wanted to write something that might motivate others as I myself had read all of this kind of stuff before - improved energy, better sleeping patterns, super easy blah blah blah - and it just never stuck. Although I'm only a little way through this I can feel that this is it. I know this is a lifestyle change for me. How do I know - I'm not drinking coke zero anymore. If this was just about weight for me I'd be chugging that 0 calorie shiz back like nobodies business. And because of that I know this is about more.

So, here is 5 quick things that you could change today, that will begin to help. I hope they're easy. They've definitely seemed that way.

- Cut out added and unnecessary sugar. Yes, this includes substitutes like what is in coke zero. Why? It desensitizes your taste buds to natural flavours. Nothing is naturally that sweet. I love the flavours of a lot of foods now that I'd thought for a very long time I never liked. Which brings me to my next point...

- Eat tonnes of fruit and veges. Like, pack those veges in there super tight. Just be careful of those potatoes and starchy numbers, they're tricky. And go for fruit instead  of something else, as they can be a bit tricky too with possible high sugar contents. They're good, but perhaps not in the tonne loads like I said. People who know me well will laugh at this. I'm terrible with veges. Well laugh at me with this spinach in my mouth mofos!

- Portion size. Another one of those things I'd heard and tried before, but never really stuck. When you eat the right kinds of foods (whole grains, veges, lean meat), the right sized portion will fill you up. Our meat eating in particular has dramatically decreased. I calculated that a supermarket shop of meat this weekend that would usually have made us 6-8 meals was now making us 20-25 meals. I just rip open the packages I've bought, weigh it and portion it out into little baggies. Works a treat. Just google what amounts of things is considered a healthy serving.

- Make sure it's a lifestyle change and NOT A DIET. My birthday is next Monday, and I will have cake. It will have super refined white flour and sugar and will be against everything I've just written about. I will eat it with a giant smile on my face and know that it's not the end of my new lifestyle, it's part of it. Some days I will want *insert disgustingly deilcious unhealthy food here* and that's OK, as long as it's not a habit, as long as it's not an always and as long as my mind and body know this. Everything in moderation... unless it's water, drink the hell outta that shiz.

- Move. It doesn't have to be insane, just get up off your butt. Gym membership definitely not required. I'm determined to lose my whole 30kg without a gym membership, because I know they don't work for everyone. I want to show you can do it without one.  To start? Take a walk, clean the house, do some gardening. Just get up and move, more specific exercises can happen when you feel more fit.

And then let me know how you're finding it xox

MIA, but just recharging :)

I decided to chuck my blogging responsibilities at the end of last week. It felt good to be relinquished of them for a wee while, but I also did miss it. I like the series that I've begun but also feel like I need to think about what the purpose of my blog is. So although some of the weekly series might come and go, I don't think I always want them to be the same every week - You can't tell me what to do schedule!

I also thought that with Goal #11 of my 30 before 30: Make more money from my blog, I wonder whether I need to look at the purpose behind my blog too, to ensure it's doing what it should be. Up until now it's been whatever I want to write about... and it might still be that, just in a different way.

Anywho, I wanted to write about how I'm going with....

... as it's been 2 or 3 weeks. I'm currently down 3 kilos. So pretty solid and steady weight loss. I want it to be slow because that means I'm more likely to keep it off. And you know what.... it's been pretty easy. I haven't felt really hungry at all, in fact, I've been so happy with my change in mood and how I'm feeling about myself that I haven't worried too much about what I'm missing.

Cheat meal is somewhat concerning me at the moment. I was worried about having a 'cheat meal' at the start as it seems more of a diety thing to do, I'm strict on myself 6 days a week and then the 7th day I loosen the reigns a weeny bit, but I talked myself into it as I wanted to ensure I didn't give myself too much permission to eat unhealthily all the time (which, if you're doing things in moderation, should be the way to be, if I want to have fish and chips on a Tuesday rather than Saturday (cheat day) then it's OK cuz I can regulate that somewhere else). I wanted to be strict on myself here as I've tried that before and my old habits die very hard. I felt myself creeping into bad habits during the last part of last week and have promptly given myself a slap on the hand for it. I also got an email from Fit Girls Worldwide which I subscribe to both by email and on instagram and pinterest, which talked about cheat meal not being so good when you're starting out because you're setting up making your body want to crave the healthy stuff rather than the naughty stuff. I'm going to monitor it, at the moment I don't want to give it up... and I am losing steadily. I might reevaluate when that isn't happening.

I had the nerdy little task of going through my 'healthy' pinterest board the other day and came across these wonderful things...

...which are great when I can't get out for a walk. It's really hard having a baby that you need to take with you when the weather is so unpredictable. I was all geared up this morning to head out for a walk when I got home from dropping Leah off at daycare and then it began spitting, and now it's beautiful but Willow is asleep in her cot. Timing is a real bitch sometimes. Although this morning it was not to worry because I did one of these types of workouts. I thought they'd be really easy and wouldn't really feel like I was doing much but man were my legs sore!

Super happy to be looking forward to Wednesday weigh in.
See you later kgs!

"Those who think they have no time for healthy eating will sooner or later have to find time for illness"

I'm going to put it out there...I love food. I love making it, trying new things, I love sugar, I love bread and cheese and all the things I shouldn't. And for way too long I've allowed myself to just eat what I want, when I want. It's not for lack of knowing about healthy choices, calories, input in and output out, 3kg of muscle equals so much fat and blah blah - I know it all, I've just chosen to disregard it, and in the process neglect myself.

I got away with it for a little while. I've never been thin, ever, but I look back on photos of myself when I was 18 and wish I was that skinny. I've always liked that quote I see hanging around online - "I wish I was as thin as I was when I thought I was fat" - and that is so true for me. The Wednesday - Saturday nights dancing up a storm in clubs kept me a size I would be very happy with now, but alas, for the last 10 years I've ballooned to a size that hinders my confidence.

It's not about a number for me, that's simply a way of tracking how I'm going. It's not about any number: not on the scales, no on a measuring tape, not on a label on a pair of jeans. For me it's about confidence. I see lots of beautiful clothes that I'd love to wear, but, if I can fit into it (and that's often a long shot),  I lack the confidence to wear it. It's also about my health. I'm not 18 anymore. I can see the lack of good health in my skin, and if I can see my skin is awful imagine what my insides are like.

Today I've started on a long journey, a change. Not a diet, because I've done that before, and it never lasts. A lifestyle change, as cliche as that sounds. Putting all of those things I know into action.

So here we go....
Here's to a change.
Here's to being able to choose something in a store and be happy with how it looks.
Here's to not always wanting to take selfies on a certain angle.
Here's to showing my girls how to be healthy and love their bodies.
I'm excited!

I've gone gung-ho on my juicer, again. Every time I use it I love it. I have a million juices pinned and a huge recipe book of juices so that I don't get bored with one kind. This is the juice of choice this week, and look at how organised I am!

I have an experiment with some of the cut up fruit later on in the week to see if the bags that have been pre-frozen are as good as the fresh ones earlier this week. Look at this yummy green concoction.

I've also got back into using the Myfitnesspal app. It's such a motivating tool.. and it's free! I'd totally recommend it. I use it on my iPhone but you can download it on any smart device or if you don't have one you can use it directly on the web.

Adding in foods is so easy and my favourite part is that at the end of every day when you submit your eating it tells you how much you could potentially weigh in 5 weeks if you continue the way you have that day. So motivating!

Another way I'm tracking things is with this cute little idea. The cup on the left has 50 stones in it (I'm wanting to lose 30kg initially but between 40 and 50 would be optimal). Each kg I lose, I move a stone over into the other cup. I like how visual it is. I've made the following signs to go above the cups too, just waiting for them to be printed.

I don't think I have all the answers, far from it, but I'm keen to share my journey to help myself and to hopefully motivate somebody else.