Operation Christmas Clean-Up..... I've made a start!

This weekend I was busy, I began to de-clutter and clean…

The past 2 or so years my home had come to reflect my mind… MESSY: a jumble of emotions, thoughts, uncertainty, procrastination and no commitment to anything. When your house comes to reflect your mind (in a bad way) it isn’t good for the psyche, you are always surrounded by those feelings that you want to leave behind.

Luckily I have work to escape to, somewhere I can focus my mind and complete things…….

My life has become steadily happier this past year. Beyond the normal stresses of everyday life and family issues there have been moments of pure happiness that have helped enormously.

Committing to losing weight has been a huge step in the right direction for me…. it’s like a huge mental block has lifted and it feels time to catch up on all those things I have left uncompleted.

So this weekend I rolled up my sleeves and began to tackle the issues…. and I started to clean and de-clutter a very messy kitchen and make use of the space I had under the dumping ground somewhere! So I cleared off a moveable kitchen unit, pushed it against the wall and transformed it into a functional breakfast bar area where the kids can no go and help themselves to breakfast and sit and eat it too…

Then I dug out a folding buffet table to use as a central food preparation area in my kitchen. It’s over 7ft long BUT will be ideal for Christmas where there is so much cooking that needs to be done. Although my kitchen is small there is still room to walk around the folding table and sit at it too! It’s also easy to fold up and remove and with a Christmas tablecloth over the top will be a very useful area for a Christmas buffet over the holiday season.

I also moved the computer table and relocated the router (yes we have such a multi-functional kitchen) and now I think it looks much better.

Tonight I work more on the kitchen…. I want to get that finished as I have BIG PLANS for food and some Christmas crafts!

This is an old photo but my knickers remain humungous..

Today two very significant things happened to me

a) My big old fat arse knickers fell down at the Irving (luckily the crotch in my pants stopped them from slipping to the floor until I could discreetly pull them back up again)

b) I had my final weigh in having completed the 60 day fitness challenge and had lost 32 lbs (eeeeeeeeeeeekkkk!!!! Did I just scream pathetically??)

60 days ago my employer started a heath and fitness initiative at work called the 60 day fitness challenge. We had to commit to making a change for 60 days (such as a particular form of exercise or/and a healthy eating plan etc), stick to it, record all our foods, water intake, exercise and thoughts in a booklet and also take our measurements and weight before and after….

I committed to walking for 40 minutes each day (6 days a week) and decided to follow a vegan diet. My main concern was my morbid obesity and changing my health around as quickly as possible. A vegan, plant based, wholefoods diet with lots of walking seemed to me to offer EVERYTHING I’d needed to quickly see results in lowering blood pressure, increasing my vitality and losing weight.

Instead of my meat, cheese and milk, I’ve had lentils, kidney beans, split peas, nuts and almond milk and instead of butter/margarine I’ve used Earth Balance (an organic soy based vegan margarine). I’ve used Salba most days in my vegetable dishes as an excellent source of Omega 3 and Nutritional Yeast to add a cheesy flavour to foods while adding Vitamin B12 (something vegans can lack). I’ve also averaged around 2000 cals per day but NEVER deprived myself of food…. trust me I eat platefuls!

Above all I’ve pretty well cut all junk/processed food out of my life, I don’t buy alcohol (so rarely drink it) as my budget doesn’t allow it (although I’ll drink all the alcohol I am offered at a friends house and get completely sloshed on just a few glasses!), have eaten huge amounts of fresh vegetables and lots of fruit and generous portions of complex carbs such as sweet and regular potatoes, organic oatmeal etc.

I know this seems like a lot of deprivation, it is I guess, BUT I know myself the person I am and keeping away from trigger foods is the only way I cope with my food addiction… over time I hope to moderate this behaviour but for now austerity works for me.

So the final low down….

60 days ago I weighed in at 312 lbs (work scales, fully clothed wearing shoes)

This morning I weighed in 280 lbs

TOTAL LOSS in 60 days = 32 lbs

BUT HERE IS WHAT IS FREAKING ME OUT!!!!!!

I’ve lost 8.5 inches off my waist (I still haven’t got a waist but there is always hope)
6.5 inches off my chest (I am thinking mostly back fat as my bazookas don’t seem to be shrinking- anyone have a sharp cleaver to hand?)
5 inches off my hips
2 inches off each upper arm
1 inch of each thigh

I’ve a LONG LONG way to go… this is just the beginning BUT just losing these 32 lbs has had a profound effect on me psychologically… I feel happier and brighter as I eat and exercise to nurture my body rather than slowly destroying it as my weight increased.

I’m not going to waffle on anymore about this now (thank you for your tolerance!)…. I think it was a great initiative to have a challenge like this at work, I’ll rise to a challenge and do think this may have very well put me on the right track to giving me a long and healthy life.

Now the hard work continues….!

I weigh in on Thursday morning…

It’s the elephant in the room at the moment. Losing 30 lbs has been this goal set in my mind from day 1- something to aim for. All my other goals have been achieved and this is the final one…

Despite the temptation I’ll not succumb to eating less to make the goal. If anything my appetite keeps on increasing and I make sure I have three substantial meals a day (I am talking heaped platefuls!) + some almonds and hot chocolate at night (made with almond milk)… but I’m worried I’ll not make it come Thursday.

I know in the larger picture it doesn’t matter… I’ll have nearly made it BUT………..

And come Thursday I’ll be asking for another 60 Day Fitness Challenge booklet to start right over again. Writing everything down really helps …

Just a quick update today…

Yesterday I beat the track at the Sports Centre to within an inch of it’s life because I needed to express my emotions, anxieties I was keeping hidden away. I walked as hard as I could for 40 minutes and every stride came with it a release of a myriad of thoughts and feelings I had been too scared to address. The track has become my confidante, it knows all my secrets and would never share them. I hate the track when I start to walk- after all it makes me feel uncomfortable and makes me work hard but afterwards, as the endorphins engulf me as I walk out into the cool night air and I realize that 40 minutes in track therapy everyday only costs me $20 a month, I adore the track….. I need the track, the track has become my drug of choice.

I am also addicted to my lunches….. I seem to have pretty much the same lunch everyday and never grow tired of it. Two baked potatoes, a huge bowl of raw spinach, kidney beans (or a little veggie starry or veggies curry), sweet peppers, tomatoes, and cucumber. I love raw, I love fresh and I like the fact that my warm baked potatoes make the spinach wilt. Since I have eradicated most chemicals from my diet and eat huge dinners and lunches and breakfasts I don’t seem to crave all the stuff I used to…

This time next week I weigh in for my final weight loss following our 60 day fitness challenge.

My fingers are well and truly crossed that I reach my goal.

C xxx

I won’t deny that I have at times secretly wanted to gnaw at animal flesh, or creep up on one of my work colleagues eating a burger straight off the BBQ at work and pinch it out of their hands and run, or open my big cheese container in the fridge and take a big bite out of a block of sharp cheddar cheese……

It’s not easy becoming a vegan overnight. It means giving up completely your old way of eating and thinking. Trust me it’s incredibly difficult. BUT I’ve done this 100%- given it my all, as I’d promised for our 60 days of our fitness challenge.

Since school we have been brought up with literature and TV telling us that milk & cheese are essential for calcium and that meat is essential for protein. While they do provide us with calcium and protein, a plant based wholefood diet can supply the same with huge added benefits such as preventing or reversing many cancers especially colon cancer, diabetes type 2, coronary heart disease, obesity, erectile dysfunction and so much more.

I recently watched an excellent documentary which was of particular interest to me as I have been reading the worlds most comprehensive nutritional study which shows a direct correlation between cancer, diabetes, coronary heart disease etc and consuming excess animal protein (what the average North American currently eats). I really don’t want to sound preachy especially being the obese lady here, BUT with this knowledge at my fingertips how can I not make changes to my diet.

I want to grow old, be relatively healthy and independent and see my children have their children and their children have children … if it means trying my best to stick to these fundamental changes I’ve made, to make those wishes closer to reality, then consider it done.

The Sports Centre has become my best friend… see I’m smiling even after a 40 minute walk!

2 lb off this week. Just 12 days left of the 60 day fitness challenge until my final weigh in and I sooooo want to reach my goal of losing 30 lbs in 60 days. I’m not going to weigh in now until then….am just going to carry on eating healthily and keep on walking and moving…

People assume that being laid back and smiley I’m not very competitive….. but the reality is I love a challenge, always have done, so therefore NOT getting to my goal of 30 lbs in 60 days is not an option.

Feeling happy

A friend e-mailed me this morning and he was very encouraging and complimentary on my achievements so far. “I bet you are feeling younger and more energetic”….

Let me tell you that the difference I am feeling just after 24 lbs is HUGE. Just the fact that I can now park my car anywhere in the car park and walk to the store without any pain, that my knees are not hurting when climbing the stairs, that I can now walk and talk at the same time, that I am over lapping people at the track that zoomed past me when I first started walking there 48 days ago (ooops see the competitive side is coming through) and that I can see the relief in my eldest daughters eyes that I’m losing weight is ALL the motivation I need to keep going…

Today I am happy

I won’t go into details but I’ve not been able to do my walking for a couple of days because I’m having some treatment on my leg for a medical condition.

Rather than focus on the negative I decided that I needed a treat to make me feel a little happier.

Before I turned Vegan and started the “60 Day Fitness Challenge” here at work, I’d always turn to chocolate or chips to alleviate the blues. A Twix or a Green and Blacks Maya Bar or even a huge bag of Kettle Chips would provide me with a temporary feel good fix that was enjoyable at the time, but because of the over indulgence would make me feel crappy, headachy and thirsty an hour or two later….

During these past 42 days there has been no chocolate or chips in my life. I miss the Green and Blacks the most…… but I don’t miss the aftermath

So yesterday evening (Day 42) I decided a non-food treat was in order…

My poor old feet have taken a bashing with all the walking and have been neglected so I bought a yummy peppermint exfoliating foot scrub for 99 c, new pumice stone for $2 and some “hot pink” nail polish for $1.99 and decided that my feet would receive an hour of pampering.

Let me tell you it was divine…. soaked in lovely hot water, pumiced, rubbed and massaged with the peppermint foot scrub, towel dried, nails clipped and finally two coats of hot pink nail polish had me smiling.

I’m not often girly, but last night I was much to the amusement of my girls.

Day 42, Still losing weight and I have nice toes…. I LIKE

I don’t have much to talk about today- a few things playing on my mind that need resolving, but I am pleased with my commitment to losing weight.

Another great week for weight loss…. 3 lbs off making it 22 lbs in the 40 days of our fitness challenge at work, 26 lbs off since turning vegan and around 65 lbs down from my heaviest weight ever. Although I am doing this for my health and my children, I do desire many other things in my life but they won’t truly happen until I sort my own life out first. I hope I can work through those issues otherwise I’ll be destined to be a strange lady, living in a wood with goats….

Was so hungry last night there was brains on the menu…. nom, nom, nom!

Today I consumed around about 1500 calories.

That wasn’t enough and out in the cold air last night, trick or treating, my legs got a little wobbly. A lollipop from Em’s candy bag made me feel OK again…. It was then I realized that being in such a rush to get everything done that I hadn’t eaten since lunch.

Even after I went home and ate a huge stir fry with added sunflower seeds, my daily calorie intake was only at 1500 calories (and I ALWAYS trying eat 2000 calories a day).

You see I had been saving myself for what was to be my only Halloween treat… a Pumpkin Muffin. For quickness I had bought some from the bakery for the girls and I. ALAS when I got home and read the ingredients it had egg and milk in and of course this was non-Vegan. I guess I could have eaten it but I wouldn’t have been true to myself and being true to oneself means an awful lot to me…. If you can’t be true to yourself then who can you be true to??

So today I am keeping my face stuffed and making sure I reach my daily quota of 2000 calories.

It’s very important to eat enough!

PS The walking is going well…. I LOVE that I can now park anywhere in the car park and it doesn’t matter!!!!! (if anyone big is reading this you’ll know exactly what I mean xxxx )