Here's to new habits

As I've mentioned I'm reading "Changing Habits, Changing Lives" by Cyndi O'Meara. I'm finding alot of the information really interesting and am trying to put some of it into practice. The general gist is that you read and put a chapter a week into action to create a habit. I'm a little impatient and there 47 Chapters so I'm going to look at doing 2 - 3 a week.

So the first 3 chapters are

1. The best way to start your day
2. Keep Cuppas to a minimum
3. Doing the Chewing
   

Chapter 1 is about getting into a good breakfast routine. I've always been a breakfast girl what I've noticed over the years is even if I'm feeling a little ill I have to eat breakfast otherwise I feel even worse from not eatting but this is a rather large change for me. The book recommends to not eat any wheat in the morning. There goes my hi-bran weetbix and toast!

Well its not that bad after all. For the last couple of weeks I've been having a protein shake. Sure its high in calories but I haven't been hungry until lunch time and I'm not getting as hungry in the afternoon and the sugar cravings have decreased.

Chapter 2 is about limiting tea and coffee - mainly the instant stuff. "Real" coffee can be a great stimulant when used properly. I've also been starting to drink loose leaf green tea and I'm not missing the caffinated soft drinks either.

Chapter 3 is about slowing down when we eat. Sounds easy right? I'm actually finding this the hardest out of all the these chapters as I've trying to eat around my two girls fussing, crying, wanting attention etc. I'll just have to keep reminding myself to chew, chew, chew and saviour that meal.

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I've been slack

Life got the better of me and I've gotten really slack with this blog. I've recently become the proud owner of a Thermomix. What is this you may ask? Its a fantastic kitchen appliance that can do that many things that its got to be seen to be believed.

This lovely machine has gotten me back into the kitchen making things from fresh ingredients from scratch and I love it. I've also started reading "Changing Habits, Changing Lives" by Cyndi O'meara and over then next few weeks and months I'm going to be trying to put some of her ideas into action. If I'm good I'll keep you posted on them!

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Woo hoo!!!!

I finally got around to updating and taking my measurements again.

Well here are the stats:
Weight: 81.1kg
% Body fat: 43.0
% Body water: 40.9
Muscle mass: 44.0kg

So that means since the 19th of Feb I've lost 2.3kg in total. If I do the maths I've lost 2.3kgs of fat, I've gained 200g of muscle (which is fantastic considering I'm not doing any real exercise) and my water has dropped by 250ml but is technically on the increase.

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Motivated Mum

As part of getting on top of everything in my world I decided it would be good to try and keep the house in order. Not that our place was dirty but in between the cleaner coming once a week the place could get really untidy. Thanks to my forum buddies I've found an awesome tool to help me get organised. Motivated Moms has a downloadable planner for $8 USD that sets out everyday chores and about 5 or 6 other tasks to do each day. Over 2 weeks all general cleaning is completed in addition to some additional home maintenance. An example of a planner page can be found here.

Since starting this I've gone to bed with a clean and tidy house every night. Its a fantastic feeling to wake up in the morning and walk in to a clean kitchen. Its almost a weight off your shoulders. So may be if I can de-clutter my house I can de-clutter my body too. I'll see how this weeks effort has gone in the morning.

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Give me sugar

I'm having fun with sugar cravings and it was one of the main reasons I started my diet as the up and downs were driving me insane. On a forum I frequent one of my friends posted a link about fructose and I'd suggest that everyone that having an issue with sugar have a read (Sugar May be Bad but this Sweetener is Far More Deadly).

The evils of processed foods rears its head again. I know that I should eat foods that come straight from the ground or straight off something that walked or swam but this processed crap tastes too good. At least with the article locked somewhere in my memory bank it will give me another reason not to reach for that ready made sweet treat in the pantry.

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Those fancy scales

So I've stayed true to my word and jumped on the fancy scales and I don't really like what I see.
Weight = 83.4kg
% Body Fat = 44.7
% Body Water = 39.6
Muscle = 43.8kg

So technically on the weight area it's great because I weighted myself after breakfast and a drink whereas yesterday it was straight after I got up and went to the loo.

From what I know I'm classed as being dehydrated. A healty body water percentage lies between 45 and 60%. Mind you since I've only had one glass of hot pear juice with water it was to be expected by the percentage of body fat is another matter.

My current BMI is 30.6. Any figure over 30 is considered to be obese which is something I have difficulaty coming to terms with. Add to this that my body fat percenage is so high it is time for a wake-up call. The dot points below give a range of body fat readings for a femal 20 - 39 years.

• Under fat = less than 22%
• Ideal = 22 - 33%
• Over fat = 33 - 39%
• Obese = greater than 39%

Doing a little bit of maths gives my a current mass break down of 43.8kg of muscle, 37.3kg of fat and 2.8kg of bone. Now my overall goal is to get to 60kg but first I'll work on getting to 70kg so if I plan on rehydrating and not losing bone or muscle mass then I should end up having 23.4kg of fat which is just over 33%.

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The results are in

I'm in a little bit of shock and I think the scales are telling me fibs. With all that has been going on somehow I've managed to lose 1.5kgs. I'm guessing a lot of it is fluid.

I'm going to use our fancy Tanita scales in the morning after my hot pear drink in the morning and take note of all of the readings. I think it does percentage water, muscle mass and fat percentage. I really don't want to know about the fat percentage.

On a totally different area of my life today was spent converting a toddler bed back into a cot. I'm hoping that in the next few weeks I'll be able to move DD2 out of the cot in my bedroom and an in to share with her older sister. DD2 is only 11 weeks old and is sleeping generally from 9:30pm to 5/6am so it should work. It really depends on whether DD1 (27 months) accepts the idea and doesn't poke her too much.

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Almost the end of week 1

So its weigh in time tomorrow and I'm not really expecting have gotten very far. I think this first week was sabotaged from the get go. So far this week I've managed to have to out for dinner twice (family stuff), we had a breakfast on Sunday morning and on Sunday night my husband invited some friends over for pizza.

On top of that Sunday was St Valentine's Day and DH gave me chocolate. Now I shouldn't complain as he got me something and since my plans went out the window for him due to external circumstances I should be even more thankful but about three quarters of the 200g is now gone.

Its hasn't been all that bad. I've managed to almost totally cut out my Coca-Cola consumption. I usually have a can a day and I think I've had one can over the whole week. So tomorrow morning is D-day, fingers crossed for a little bit of a loss.

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It begins tomorrow ....

Its time to pull my finger out and start doing something for me. I've been overweight (well technically obese at the moment according to my BMI) for way to long. I can blame the two knee injuries that stacked on 10kgs each but I should have pulled my finger then and not let it keep going.

My first goal is to get to 80kg which means losing 5kg. In total I'd love to get to 60kg but I may re-visit this goal once I get to 70.

I'm not expecting anyone to ever read this blog but the thought that someone might be looking over my shoulder hopefully will keep my butt on track.

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