Blockers

Losing weight is going to be mixture of exercise and watching what I eat - eating the right things at the right time - and drinking lots of water. However I have to be aware of the things that will prevent me losing weight and the excuses I might use to stop going to the gym.

 Diet:

1. Chocolate - love it, don't eat it 
2. Breakfast - don't currently have it, need to 
3. Terence (my husband) - he needs to put ON weight, not lose it, so we need to have different things for dinner, same with the kids. 
4. Water - need to drink a minimum of 2litres a day!

Exercise:

1. Time - working full time and having 5 kids makes it hard. I have agreed with Terence I will go to the gym at 5:30pm each day, giving me time to feed the baby between work and going to the gym. By going to a schedule it will be easier to keep to it and find the time. Also gym at night is better for me as I find it hard to get up early enough to go before work.
2. Sore muscles - going to be an issue initially, and I'll have to push through it.
3. Motivation - by raising money for NICU, I hope my motivation will stay high throughout. Also my project manager and other colleagues at work are keen to help me achieve my goals. 

Starting tomorrow - here goes everything :)

Breakfast: the most important meal of the day

I don't normally eat breakfast. Haven't done since I was in High School. Really. Every now and again, I might eat a couple of weet-bix, or have a yoghurt, but no regular breakfast eating here. I have been told that I have to if I am going to lose the weight I want. Why? Having breakfast is supposed to kick off your metabolism in the morning. By waiting for lunch, your body is not burning the calories off - in fact your body is still in 'starvation' mode where it has slowed down your metabolism because it thinks that it is not geting enough nutrients to keep it going. By eating breakfast you can start to getting that metabolism working for you. So, one of my tasks is to make sure that I have breakfast each day. Breakfast should consist of hi-fibre foods, no oily stuff (Goodbye bacon :( ) with some fruit - I'm thinking weet-bix or Just Right or museli with some strawberries/ blueberries/ raspberries on top with low fat milk. That should get me through to snack time at about 10:30 =, which is time for another piece of fruit/vegatable.

Initial Assessment at Flames Fitness

Today I had the initial assessment at Flames Fitness to determine my current weight, Body Mass Index (BMI), at rest heart rate and heart rate after 3 minutes exercise. We also went over my goals and what I wanted to achieve over the 12 week period.

My starting weight is 98kgs - which is less than what Terence (my husband thought I was) which was around what I thought I was. At a height of 165cm (5 ft 5 1/2 inches) gives me a body index that puts me in the overweight range (which I already knew). My blood pressure was bang on at 120/80 and my heart rate at rate at rest was perfect.

To determine my heart rate after exercise I had to step up onto a step thing for three minutes. It was at knee height, and I'll tell you that after 2 minutes I was getting a little unsteady, but I made it. My heart rate after 3 minutes of exercise was around 138 beats per minutes, which wasn't too bad.

Diet wise, I have to drink at least 2 lts of water a day and eat 9 serves of fruit and vegetables per day. I also have to eat breakfast (which I don't do at the moment) and avoid carbohydrate heavy meals at dinner (less pasta and rice). If I want to snack I should eat a piece of fruit or vegetable or a handful of nuts. I also have a food diary that I have to fill out and they will check every week.

First session 1st September (Saturday) for a cardio session, and then gym weekdays and weekends off. Monday, Wednesday and Friday are weight sessions and Tuesday and Thursday are cardio sessions. The guys at Flames reckon if I can keep it up, 10kgs is definitely possible :-)

Pledges

I have started taking pledges and I am so very grateful to everyone who has said that they would support the cause.

So far: I have over $150 in straight pledges and a combined total of $23.00 per kilogram lost in the per kilo pledges. Plus my Dad's pledge which is far too complicated to state but it includes a sliding scale.

My aim is to donate between $300 and $500 to NICU and it looks like I am well on the way to get that, but please keep the pledges up, the more weight I lose, the more I can support NICU and the babies that are desperately trying to put on weight!

Email me at judith.stamp@hotmail.com.au for a pledge form. Every donation over $2 is tax deductible - the receipt will be done by The Canberra Hospital Foundation after I have finished.

Thank you everyone!!!!

So what's it all about . . . .

I am participating in a fund raising activity to raise funds for the Neonatal Intensive care Unit (NICU) at the Canberra Hospital.

Why NICU?
Three of my children were cared for by the staff at NICU, and this is my way of giving something back.

Kiara was born at 31 weeks, weighing 1960grams.

She was in NICU for 3 weeks.

Natassja contracted influenza in the womb and was born at 33 weeks weighing 2055grams and required mechanical ventilation for 72 hours.

She was in NICU for 3 weeks.

Lucas was born at 36 weeks with a strep infection and required antibiotics.

He was in NICU for 10 days.

Even my new baby Kayl was in NICU for 24 hours after birth because he had fluid in his lungs.

I have no doubt that if NICU was not here Kiara, Natassja and even Lucas would not be with me.

At NICU every gram gained by the babies are critical, so every kilo lost by me is a gain for them.

So what am I doing?

I'm losing weight - and I would like your sponsorship to support my efforts.

You can sponsor me a fixed amount, or preferably, sponsor me for every kilogram lost!

I am doing this from the 1st September to 30th November 2012.

My goal is to lose 10kgs in this time.