Picking up the pace

Today I took the afternoon off and took my daughter to the movies. Basically had popcorn and coke for lunch and a roll and cold meat for supper.

I feel refreshed and I refocusing myself. I maintain a light exercise namely walking short distances. Tomorrow morning I plan to pick it up a notch again.

Fire and ........

I busy, busy, busy. There is a fire on Helderberg Mountain close to us. I was woken up by the flashing lights and the sound of the fire engines at 5am.

Its my husband's 4th day in Ireland. We might move there. His interview is tomorrow.

I am managing to keep up with my water drinking and some light exercise.

He sent my some pictures today. My Husband in Ireland.

Quote for the week

"The best results are achieved by using the right amount of effort in the right place
at the right time. And this right amount is usually less than we think we need"

Tony Buzan

I am hanging there. Thank you for your support.

Tuesday Check-in

As you may have noticed I have not blogged for a while. Work has been hectic and my husband left for Ireland for 10days - to investigate possibly moving there in the future.

I have been feeling a bit stressed and overwhelmed. Kept up the water drinking and light exercise. Did not implement my eating goals yet.

So whats the damage?
Sjoe 107.7kg - a point 0.1 loss. I am relieved that it did not increase. A crawl forward. Today I will pay more attention to my health goals. I will achieve more and cope better with stress if I exercise, eat well and feel healthy.

I have experience 2 days of insomnia. From past experience that can cause a spiral downwards. I must reverse that today. Between exercise, chamomile tea, lavender spray and a sleep CD I should be able to do it.

I Love Me

I Love me List

Started by Krissie from Questions for Dessert. If you "play" you can be added to the Healthy Challenge blog post hosted by Scale Junkie.

THE ONLY RULE: No backhanded compliments. No "I like my eyes 'cause they distract from my incredibly large ass." Only positives.

1. What do you absolutely love about your body?

I have always loved my hair - it is naturally curly. If it is blow dryed it will stay straight for days. It styles easily and keeps its style.

The other features I like are my calves and teeth.

2. When did you surprise yourself with your physical strength?

When I completed a 3 day hike with my husband a few years ago. I didn't think I was fit or slim enough to really do it.

3. When were you braver than you ever thought you could be?

When I met my dad after 11 years and support his wife and 3 sisters I never met through his last days and funeral. A few months later I did end up in hospital due to the stress. There were other stress factors (new province, new job, traveling longer hours etc.....). After a week in hospital I returned to work and completed the year with no pills.

4. When did your self-control blow you away?

hmmmmmm the first thing that comes to mind I cannot really share. The people involved would be mortified if they ever read it here.

I have an amazing ability to scream & really explode in my head and yet on the outside I am calm, smiling and deal with situations with a level head. Especially in a classroom situation or in the comapany of over critical/judgmental people.

5. What is your proudest moment ever?

Oh this is a really hard. I have a few.Here are some of them.
Honouring my Gran and Mom at my 21st Birthday party.
Getting an A for my History 3rd level and mathematics.
Walking down the aisle.
Completing my first 1km open swim.
completing a 5km fun walk in 45min.

6. When was the last time you felt absolutely beautiful?

The last time I felt absolutely beautiful was last week of 24-30 September 1999. I got married on September 24, 1999. I also very fond memories of feeling beautiful between the ages of 12-24 years old.

7. Why do you deserve to meet your goals?

I know my worth and my potential. I deserve to reach my goals because my goals will enhance my life and the lives of those around me.


Now I challenge to make a list and if you enjoyed this think about joining or just doing a list :

100 Ways I Could Nurture Myself.

"The List of 100 is a powerful technique you can use to generate ideas, clarify your thoughts, uncover hidden problems or get solutions to any specific questions you're interested. " Luciano Passuello

Food Allergy

I had blood tests done as part of an investigation about my hearing loss. In the process I have discovered that I am allergic to nuts.

This past month I have been eating more nuts than I normally do. Salted cashew nuts specifically.
Last year I went on a Candida diet for a month but could not maintain it. The only habit I retained was to stop drinking coffee. However when school started again I began having cup every now and again. I felt a strong urge to start drinking again but I have resisted letting it become a habit again.
I now have one cup a week at a coffee shop.

The ENT says my best line of defense is to improve my health avoid nuts and sugar. treat my pollen and grass allergic reactions immediately - might have to go onto cortisone if my allergic reaction is bad. I must have a hearing test once a year to monitor my hearing loss.

The next step is to get hearing aids.

Here is an interesting and scary article written by Sephen Levine, Ph. D. on Food Addiction, Food Allergy and Overweight

Attitude

I received this message in my e-mail box from the Daily Om

It helped me put things into perspective and I thought maybe somebody else could benefit from this message too. The cartoon above is not related to the article but I found it a while ago and thought it would be great to share for a smile or a laugh.

January 23, 2008
Attitude Follows Perspective
Shifting The Mood

We all have days when we are faced with chores, errands, or responsibilities that we don’t want to do. At times like these, it’s easy to get into a bad mood and stay in one as we tackle these tasks. However, given the fact that our bad mood will not change the fact that we have to do these things, and will most likely make things worse, we could also try to shift our attitude. Many wise people have pointed out that it is not so much what we do as it is how we do it that makes the difference in our lives.

It's important when we're facing something that's really hard for us, whether it's doing taxes, paying bills, or visiting a challenging relative, that we lovingly support ourselves through the process. The more supported we feel, the easier it is to open our minds to the idea that we could change our way of looking at the situation. In truth, most of the chores we don't like doing are intimately intertwined with our blessings. When we remember this, we feel gratitude, which makes it hard to stay in a dark mood.

We can shift our attitude by considering how much we love our home as we clean it and how lucky we are to have a roof over our head. Any task can be transformed from a burden to a necessary aspect of caring for something we love. All we have to do is shift our perspective, and our attitude follows shortly behind.

Exercise in 4 parts and 4 day cycles

Today i needed a bit of breather so I decided that I would do some stretches and fidget.
I am glad to report that I have now exercised and 8 glasses of drank water for 8 days and I have cut out 100 calories from my diet for 4 days.

My next four day goal is to maintain the the exercise and water drinking habit and to cut a further 100 calories. To ensure I actually do cut out another 100 calories I plan to keep a food diary. I plan to use cronometer - CRON-O-Meter is free, open source, and cross-platform dieting software. Let's see how that goes.

Reward tonight: is a radox bubble bath by candlelight !

In Martha's book 4 Day Win she grades exercise into 4 parts.

A
B
C
D
(Oops - I have misplaced my book - will add in this info later in the meantime read the links below)

You can read an excerpt from the book - Edging your way into exercise: Here

I just discovered this today http://www.thefourdaywin.com

WW

WW - normaly means Wordless Wednesday for me at Simone's Butterfly.
Last I tried to weigh in on a Wednesday as with Weightloss Wednesday hosted by Two Moms in a Blog (they are busy moving blog/site so I cannot link to them).

Here is my WW on WW

True Weighloss

Weighed in this morning - 107.8kg - loss 1,2kg (2.6 pounds)

Now thats more like it. I am totally stoked!! The only two habits I had started again was 30min exercise and 8 glasses of water/herbal tea.

When tried reducing calories I had a 2 day setback and then got back track.

Tomorrow will be the end of 4 day re-enforcement of my two habits and a reduction of 100 calories.

Reward:I think of plan to have a nice candle-lit 1 hour aromatherapy soak in the bath and a mini-facial.

Monday check in

YAY I have lost 0.6 kg (1,3 pounds)

Last week I weighed in at 109kg
This week 108.4kg

Actually it I might have lost a bit more cause - I forgot to weigh myself this morning.

Here are few inspirational quotes for the week:

The groundwork of all happiness is health.~Leigh Hunt

The first and the best victory is to conquer self.~Plato

The good Lord gave you a body that can stand most anything. It's your mind you have to convince.~Vincent Lombardi

The higher your energy level, the more efficient your body. The more efficient your body, the better you feel and the more you will use your talent to produce outstanding results.~Anthony Robbins

Never, never, never, never give up.~Winston Churchill

4 Day Life Plan

Okay so I had a successful 4 days and then I lost it again for the past two days. Today I decided that I need a Life Plan and reward calendar. A visual reminder in the morning of the PLAN for the day and something to "tick off" at the end of the day.

Thinking about and doing lists reminded me of how I felt when I was studying. I felt a great accomplishment every time I ticked off an area I completed studying. I am in the process deciding what would be the most effective, motivation and yet simple calendar.

I tried an online goal tool once but it did not work well for me. I am thinking something with a positive affirmation and a simple key to tick. I can stick it up in my home office next to my computer.

I am off to do a 30min aerobic workout with the Joanna Hall DVD and then I will continue on my calendar design.

100 Things I’m Grateful For Swap

100 Things I’m Grateful For (List 1of 100)

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Swap Homepage:	http://www.simonesbutterfly.blogspot.com/
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Swap Coordinator:	Simone (contact)
Swap categories:	Challenges Letters & Writing Miscellaneous
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"The List of 100 is a powerful technique you can use to generate ideas, clarify your thoughts, uncover hidden problems or get solutions to any specific questions you’re interested in........... “One hundred entries? Isn’t that way too many?” Bear with me: it’s exactly this exaggeration that makes the technique powerful. " Luciano Passuello Please Read http://litemind.com/tackle-any-issue-with-a-list-of-100/ I read this and immediately thought that this would be a great idea, so with Luciano Passuello's permission I will be hosting 100 list swaps using his 100 list. You do not have to join all of them. Going to make this a snail-mail swap. But if you would like to share your list electronically with me. I would love to read them. List One: 100 Things I'm Grateful for I'm going to give this swap sometime. After that look for the next one every two weeks.

Back on Track

I have successfully completed a 4 day cycle of exercise and water drinking.

Thank you everyone for your encouragement, it is highly appreciated.

I started work this week but tomorrow is the first full day of classes. I am looking forward to have a balance program. One day at a time and 1 cycle at a time.

My next goal is to cut down my eating by 100 calories - I don't really want to count the calories so basically I am going to cut out the sugary snacks (chocolate, muffins and milktart) with diet muffins, diet milktart and yoghurt - making the the stuff with low fat milk and less or replacement sugar should cut 100cal.

My reward tonight is put on a mask and soak my feet in my foot bath.

Affirmation

This affirmation was given to my yesterday:

Nothing can hinder, nothing can delay the manifestation of the Divine Plan of my life.

The Skinny on Weight Loss

An informative and interesting podcast. I have listened to part 1 of 3.

Be Good To Your Whole Body Podcast Blog

Health You Challenge

I am at my highest weight ever 109 kgs (240 pounds). When I started this blog I weighed in at 105.7kg.

I have gotten up early this morning so that I can exercise and plan my day.

My goals for today are:

Drink 4 glasses of water
4 glasses of herbal tea (no sweeteners or milk)

Eat at one fruit, one vegetable and one yogurt serving.

I feel sad about my weight and about my ability to keep my commitments to myself. But I am not going to give up.

Wanted to give up

I felt very tempted to just delete this blog and to forget about even trying to change. It seemed to be easier the route. Just accept my weight and try to make myself look as good as possible.

I walked up the road with my daughter (6 years old) to drop off something by a friends house. Half way up the hill I said to my daughter " Why didn't we take the car?" - she told me that if she could drive she would have. When we got to the top I felt like my heart was going to stop.

On the way down I started to feel better and mentioned that maybe we should go to the beach later and go for a walk. She said we could leave at home.

I was very active as a child, and as a teenager you would have definitely put me into the category of outgoing and outdoorsy. Now I spend half my life in front of the computer or reading a book in bed. Even a few years ago I was still doing 5km walks, 1km open swims, camping and going plays etc.

So what am I going do? Sitting around, feel sorry for myself and eat chocolate. Well actually that is exactly I was doing. I was also surfing the internet for diet pills. At the back of my mind I keep hearing a voice you don't need to waste anymore money - you have a great diet advise book, a great cookbook (low GI), exercise videos and a walking route - a husband ready to support and a daughter who needs you to be a good example.

I redefined my surfing and came across this: Healthy You Challenge

I am thinking every Tuesday would take me into a new 4 Day Cycle so this could work out very nicely. Another support to my journey - actually interaction with others. Well I have sent in my e-mail to join up and Tomorrow I will continue........

Get the Word Out

Got keep my sense of humour while focus is skew.

Serious Aim

Bee Sting

Ouch I stepped on a bee. At first it was really sore especially if I stepped on on something. Now it is really itchy. I am hoping that means its getting better.

Diet wise - I have totally fallen off the wagon.

Vision is not enough

Havel said:
Vision is not enough, it must be combined with venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps, we must step up the stairs.

At the moment I staring at the steps.

Reading

Today I started reading the 4 Day Win Book again. I needed to check-in. Getting back on track is difficult when you still have visitors in the house and an irregular schedule.
Next week I will need to start preparing for work, lesson plans etc...... then school starts.

My goal for tonight is to get into bed by 10:30pm. I have going to bed between 12pm and 3am. Nobody's fault. Its become a bad habit. It started with just wanted to complete a book I was reading. Then not being able to calm down - too excited. And well the list goes on.
I tried some "sleep" spray my mom gave me and taking Melatonin (something I bought last year after listening to a talk and then stopped using cause I was afraid it may make me depressed). Neither have really worked.

I have read a lot that a good nights sleep aids weigtloss. I think part of it is that you feel less stress and don't need to use food to keep you awake during the day.

Restart

Hi

It is officially the New Year and a New Start or Restart.

I switched off for the last week and half. I decided not to beat myself up about it. I stepped back and observed. Did I learn anything? I am not exactly sure.

Today I drank water and exercised. I did not feel to good while exercising, my ankles hurt and towards the end of the walk I started to feel a bit dizzy. But I know tomorrow will go better and soon I will feel great.

So I am going to take it one day at a time 4 cycles at a time. For now I am just going to get back on track. Exercise, water and "meditate" (Find Thinner Peace).

The one thing I did observe in the last two weeks is that I have become less harsh on myself, my self-talk is still negative but I switch over to positive thoughts a lot sooner.