New blog address

All my blogging will be done HERE from now on. :)

Decided it's too time consuming to copy and paste to this one as well!

Another year bites the dust!

I can’t believe it, how fast is the time going! I hope everyone had an enjoyable NYE - personally, I’m not a huge fan of NYE, never have been. After all the Christmas build up I’m a bit over celebrating. We actually didn’t even realise it was new year - too busy watching Oz dvd’s. I guess we are old and married :)

So, how many people out there are feeling totally crap after all this previously mentioned celebrating? Quite a few I would imagine, including myself! It never ceases to amaze me how my body rejects eating heavy/rich foods ie what some people eat all the time. I become very lazy and tired, I get aching joints, and a horrible taste in my mouth. I guess it was compounded by the fact that I wasn’t training either (resting my hammie/groin). However, all it takes is one or two days of eating clean to feel normal again. And, those days were yesterday and today. I was up at 6am today, New Year’s Day - I was out walking by 7.30am. Let me say it was very quiet out on the roads - I was imagining how many hangovers there would be in each house as I was jogging by. Funnily enough, I ran into Jodie down by the river, also getting her cardio in before another scorcher of a day set in. I did a good hour of walk/running. I want to go for another walk but it’s still way too hot and it’s 7pm. Will see what it’s like in an hour or so.

I had a big day of work today so I couldn’t afford to be hungover at any rate. I have 19 new programs for this Monday coming! Yep, it’s the new year!! I’ve completed 10 so far, so I feel on top of things. When people get back to work I imagine the emails will come flooding in again.
Our poor garden has taken a beating with this hot weather while we were away. Half of our garden is half dead :( Temps have been over 40 for days now. So, last night, this morning and tonight we have been out there with buckets.

I have a toothache :( I have been living on painkillers since Saturday. I thought I would wait and see how it came up but it’s not getting any better. I can’t chew on the left side of my mouth and last night managed to somehow screw that up and the pain nearly sent me through the roof. That brought on a head/jaw/neck/face ache like you wouldn’t believe. I had to get an ice pack and ice my face!

I hope to catch up with Lisa Vaughan, previous Body Blitz winner, and now friend - in the next few days. I think we were going to do some cardio but, in this weather I think outdoor cardio is not really an option.

Ok, must go water, then think about dinner.

Holidays!
Well it has been some time since I last posted. I’ve been on holidays J Well, kinda. I’ve had some time off (well deserved in my eyes!) over Christmas and New Year. I really needed to stay away from my computer as much as possible! I’ve been to Victor Harbor and Adelaide, for 4 nights, after Christmas Day at mum’s, then dinner at my sister in law’s. I’m still in Adelaide at present, but we are heading home tomorrow after visiting the Central Market to fill up our esky with seafood, fruit and veg. I’ve had the entire week off training. I had been having some trouble with my groin/hamstring injury flaring up again and figured it would be a good time to take a bit of a break. The diet has well and truly been ‘liberal’ but that was always intended and whilst I feel a bit blah from the different food (as in rich, sweet, fat food) I’ll be back into the swing of things with a vengeance as of when I get home. I’ve signed up back at my old (new!) gym so a change of pace and place, will be good. It’s closer to our new house too so it’s more convenient.

Coffee with Ali
I caught up for a coffee with Ali this morning who is also in Adelaide, and got to meet her lovely daughter. Ali and I chatted mostly about comps, diets and training – as you do J Ali is working on coming to Mildura in the next couple of months which will be great.

What’s in store for early 2008?
So, 2008 is shaping up to be a huge year already. We have the WHO Magazine article coming out on Jan 11, featuring Carolyn’s amazing transformation. That same week I travel to Brisbane for a few days to visit Rachel to do some staff training. I had fantastic news from a client last week that unfortunately I can’t share until about February! It’s very exciting though and could involve a trip to Melbourne for me in early Feb providing I can arrange a few things. I also hope to have an article published soon by Body & Soul liftout (Herald Sun, etc) – they have expressed interest so I will take it from there.

I have my own personal plans but will not elaborate for the moment. Basically they involve beating my dependence on muscle relaxants to sleep – involves a detox program and I can expect nasty side effects from withdrawal and acute rebound insomnia. I have counseling sessions booked and I will begin this very scary phase after I return from Brisbane. There is no way to determine how long it will take for symptoms to diminish but the longer you have been taking them, the longer recovery appears to take. Not a good sign for me as it’s been over 10 years. However, I am looking at it positively. I also plan to compete – date is tentative in my mind. Following that, we would like to try to start a family! I’m getting on a bit, so whether it happens remains to be seen I suppose, but at least I know everything was and still is working down there, it appears I am still ovulating regularly and my cycle is pretty much like clockwork.

Anyway, so I hope everyone had a fab Christmas. If you overate and feel like crap, no biggie. Put it behind you and focus on making 2008 your best year yet, no matter what your goals!

Winners ‘make’ it happen. Losers ‘let’ it happen.”
- Denis Waitley

New blog address

All my blogging will be done HERE from now on. :)

Marg, thank you for dropping by and leaving a comment. You should email me, I'm sure I could motivate you to get active :)

Selina, congratulations on being the winner of the Ideal Bodies Online survey draw! I'm allowed to be a nerd :)

Di, I'll wear a hat! Surely humidity hair doesn't happen in May?

Doris - no idea where the show is - I'm not a Queenslander so not familiar with the different venues.

I am about to head off to bed - big day tomorrow. Getting up at 5.15am to catch a 6.30am flight. Must have time for coffee first. Sharon is meeting me at the airport and taking me to Doherty's gym where we will chat about comp stuff. Then I'm gonna catch a train out to Moorabbin, to friend and INBA President Wayne's office, to catch up with him and do some work - if I have to. He's then going to drop me back to the airport for flight home around 6ish. I've cooked up all my food today/tonight and will take it with me - chicken, rice and beans, sardines, tuna, whey protein and fruit. I'm all set.

Apparently my comp has been moved to mid April - if this is the case then I will be able to enjoy Christmas and New Year a little more. That will give me a good 15 weeks I think, from Jan 1.

Good training session with Jodie today. Chest and tris - and I only did 2 sets of hammies since I absolutely caned them last week and they have only just recovered. We also did an hour of cardio this morning - it was so hot even at 9.30am! So, training all done, 5 cardios this week. I won't be doing anything tomorrow.

Ok, time to get some zzz's.

Relaxing at last!

I ordered this jigsaw puzzle today - I really need something mind-numbing after my work day and I figured instead of just plonking myself down in front of the tv, I should try a jigsaw. Used to love doing them when I was a kid. So I searched online and found this really cool 3000 piece puzzle - Life Under Sea.

I guess this makes me sound a bit nerdy but like I care :)


I finally finished my work early on a Saturday for once, and, as such, had the rest of the day to just chill out and do other stuff!!! ie, get groceries, water my dying garden, train, do the washing, and have a little nap because I didn't get enough sleep last night. I trained at about 3pm - back and shoulders, calves and abs. I'm only doing heavy abs at the moment, and only 3 sets, 2-3 x week. I hate high rep abs. Trained well, more PB's - my rear delts are getting stronger. I'm training them 2 x weeks at present.



I wrote Carolyn's competition diet today - Carolyn is the amazing woman that is all over my website - she lost 40kg during her transformation. And what a transformation it was! Carolyn, despite denying she would ever consider competing, has decided she's up for another challenge! She will be competing in the Qld INBA All Girl show in the Figure Novice division, sometime in late April next year. I am going to try and get my butt up there for that. Di will be competing there also. I have plenty of business reasons to come to Qld - which is nice :) Rach is in Brissy, as is my sponsor, MRM Supplements. My new web consultants are on the Gold Coast. Kristin is in Cairns. Looks like some trips coming up. I hear it's nice in Cairns around May or so.

This morning I woke up and called out to my puddy cat who usually at the sound of my voice comes running up the stairs meowing his big head off, and up on the bed to settle in for lots of pats (I think the word is meant to be pets, as in petting, but, that just doesn't seem appropriate). However, today there was no sign of him which was unusual. When I eventually got my butt half way down the stairs, there he was sitting up on the tiles, proud as punch with something at his feet. With my eyesight I couldn't really see what it was, but on closer inspection it was a half dead huntsman. Now, I LOATHE spiders. They creep the crap out of me. I got a boot and quickly put the thing out of it's misery. So, poor pud didn't get to play with his spider anymore. He was looking all around for his spider that had suddenly disappeared. He just couldn't work it out. He spent the next 2 hours searching for it :) Then I found him upstairs, asleep, with a lone spider leg next to him.



Tomorrow Jodie and I are doing our bootcamp session down at the stairs. I think it's going to be a hot one again. I also need to train again tomorrow so much of my day will revolve around training. I also need to do a bit of a cook up of chicken and veggies so I have some food to take with me on my big day trip to Melbourne on Monday.

Well, that's all for tonight, I'm off to watch a couple of S&TC reruns before doing some reading and then hitting the sack.

How much weight should I be losing?

I was asked this question in the Ideal Bodies Online Forum today. It's important for people to understand that such answers are not cut and dried, and the reasons why this is so. I thought it would be worth sharing (and also because I have been told by my web guru, Brendon Sinclair, that I need to post more often :) )

Q: Is it correct that you should be looking to lose between 500grams and 1.5kg a week, any more than this and it is just water/fluids loss ? The trainer at the gym I go to, said this, so I was just confirming, as when I look at the scales and have only lost 600g - 700g I become despondent.

A: This is so individual - there are no cut and dried answers to 'how much weight should I lose each week'. Personally when I diet for a competition, I can go weeks with the scale bouncing up and down but no real change and then suddenly I will lose a few lbs (this is a lot for me because I am small) in a few days. So, this is why I preach consistency, and patience. It all depends too on how much you have to lose. Someone who is very overweight and has been very inactive will find it relatively easy to lose weight when starting a diet and exercise program. Others who are already active and have been eating quite well, and don't have a lot to lose - will find it more difficult. It depends on your size too - if someone told me I could lose 1.5kg a week I'd laugh in their face. That would mean I could be competition ready in 5 weeks, and that's just not gonna happen. Additionally, if you are losing a lot of weight quickly (ie say more than approximately 2kg per week) then you are likely to be losing MUSCLE as well as fat, and water. Losing muscle is not good. Muscle keeps your metabolism high and keeps you burning fat. Lose muscle and your metabolism slows down making it difficult/impossible to lose fat. This is why diets such as Cohen's (and others), you may lose a lot of weight quickly, but it won't all be fat, and eventually, it will slow your metabolism down so much that when you start to eat 'normally' (and you will, because you are starving), you will put all that weight back on and MORE. We all know someone that has attempted these fad diets, lost weight, and is now fatter than ever. I say if you are losing, which you are (and at a good rate) you are doing great. Keep it up. Remember, some weeks you may not lose, and other weeks you may lose twice as much.

Now, as for me and what I've been up to - I went for a run last night - well, when I say 'run', it's a walk/jog/run/stairs, and man, it was tough! I couldn't even take 2 stairs at a time, my legs were that sore. They have eased off a bit today. I did my cardio earlier this morning, this time on tready, watching Sex & The City reruns. I'm doing 45 min sessions at the moment. So, I think I will train tomorrow and Sunday, then have Monday off whilst in Melbourne. My diet has been clean and good. I have reintroduced some whey protein since I have been off dairy for 3 weeks now - going to see if that has any effect. I really do like to have protein powders after training. I am still feeling very cleared minded which is fantastic, and thankfully I am now sleeping a little better also.

Have a great weekend everyone, train hard, eat well and enjoy!