Banana bruschetta and a week of red flags

I'm normally dubious of cottage cheese, but tried the banana bruschetta again this morning - so much more delicious than I remembered!  Definitely a winner!


This week is full of red flags for me - it's end-of-term so I'm going out to dinner tonight and drinks on Friday.  I'm also going to a pharmaceutical company presentation with dinner on Wednesday - though it's on treatment of Acute Coronary Syndromes, so I'm hoping the food won't be too unhealthy (seems a bit ironic if it is!).


Next week is a bit daunting - my new gym opens, and I'm excited to check it out.

Already seems more fun than my current gym!

But unfortunately next week marks the end of my regular working hours job, and I'm going back to Emergency for 5 weeks.  Shift work is a tricky beast.  If the hours are regular and predictable, it's not so bad.  But this roster is all over the place, and doesn't make much sense.  Last time around I struggled, I made it to the gym once in the entire 10 weeks, and I discovered the 24 hour McDonalds near my house.  Bad move.  The 4am Big Mac is my downfall, so this time I'm going to be making a marked effort to organise and diarise to avoid any pitfalls.


The added bonus is that by being on shift work, I'll have some random days off to go and try out all the classes my new gym has to offer.  Cheerleading?  Why not!  Burlesque?  Hip hop?  Boxing?  These are all such novelties, I hope they can break me out of the Pump/RPM rut....

Oh my gosh, it's week 2 already!

Having a long weekend at the end of the first week of a weight loss program may not have been the best timing.  I fell off the wagon with a thud, and proceeded to eat - turkish food, Grill'd, Arnott's biscuits - you name it, I've probably eaten it this weekend.


So, after spending yesterday feeling a bit shellshocked, and this morning seeing a somewhat depressing 300g weight loss (on top of my 100g from last week - at least it's better than a gain, but still disappointing), I'm back on track.  I've got my lunch packed for today, the chicken is defrosting for tonight's dinner - no cheating and ordering pizza, even if it is Origin night! - and my gym clothes have been set aside.


The early morning wake-ups are again my challenge.  Why must it be cold outside, and so toasty and nice in bed??


On another note, I have finally started making some progress on wedding planning.  Reception payments have been made, I've booked the photobooth, and now I need to get my salary packaging reimbursed so I can pay for some of the honeymoon.  Hooray!  

Vision board

The weekly surprise this week was to make a vision board - now sadly, I am not technologically savvy, and I am very impatient.  I signed up to get an invite to Pinterest, but then didn't want to wait for that so went ahead and made an attempt using the one program I know how to use - Word.  


Yep.  Word.  Not the most advanced photo editing suite out there, but it gets the job done for me!

My vision board attempt

My goals are to lose weight and be fitter.  I don't want to let excuses stop me from reaching my goal.  I want to be a beautiful bride, and I truly value my wonderful friendships.  Being debt-free has been a long-term goal of mine, and the day I see a fully credited bank balance will be a very happy one.  I want to replace my old car, but am waiting for a bit longer - so I'd love to own this black shiny beauty.  The travel pictures are of my honeymoon destinations, and I'm desperately hoping to be accepted to the anaesthetics training program for 2013.


When I finally get my Pinterest invite, I'll re-do my vision board - so hopefully it'll be prettier!

Blogger challenge - week 1

The amazingly inspirational Jayne (http://www.jayne12wbt.blogspot.com.au/) started a blogger challenge for round 2, which I'm pretty excited about participating in.  So here goes!

Introduce yourself and tell us why you're here

My name is Shannon and I'm a 26 year old junior doctor.  I had always struggled with weight, I can remember barely fitting my high school uniform and being so envious of my sister (who at the time was size 8 and looked amazing).  I've been on the dieting/regaining see-saw for years, and was starting to think that maybe I would never get to and maintain my goal weight.  Then my fiance proposed, and suddenly I was filled with mental images of myself on my wedding day.  I want to be able to show people my wedding photos in 20 years time, and be proud of how fit and healthy I was (and still will be!). 

I'm on blogger because I figured it would be another great way to meet people who are going through the same thing, share triumphs and support pitfalls. 

Why did you decide to join round 2 of Michelle Bridges 12 Week Body Transformation?

A friend of mine had just signed up for the 12WBT, and I'd seen her posting on the Facebook page so was curious.  I asked her about what it entailed, thought it sounded pretty good - and so I signed up for round 1.  I was really motivated in preseason and the first few weeks, and managed to drop 5kg.  I lost momentum around week 6 and struggled through until week 12, lost another 3.5kg and then plateaued.  

I signed up for round 2 because I'm still about 7kg off my goal weight, and I really want to get there for my wedding.  This round finishes the same day as my next wedding dress fitting, so it's great motivation to keep it together.  

How have you prepared for the challenge?

I am a compulsively organised person, so preparing for this challenge was the easiest part for me.  Staying committed is going to be my hurdle!

Nutrition

I printed out all the recipes from the website and put them all into a display folder.  I've also bought Mish's cookbooks (The No Excuses Cookbook, The Crunchtime Cookbook and The Last 5 Kilos), and stocked up on kitchen equipment.  I never used to cook, I was using Lite'n'Easy for about a year before starting 12WBT and I've never been a very good cook to begin with.  So I had to buy a lot of equipment and I've been teaching myself as I go.

Now I'm pretty proud of myself every time I cook something new.  It's something unexpected, I didn't realise that this program would teach me how to create beautiful meals (I signed up focused on the weight loss, but have now discovered so much more!).

Every Thursday I write out my meal plan - I don't follow the suggested meal plan because it's difficult to fit the options around my job (which is pretty demanding, can have some shocking working hours), so I tend to repeat breakfasts and lunches a lot.  After writing out my meal plan, I go through every recipe and make my shopping list of all the ingredients I need to stock up on.  This process takes about an hour every week, which can be frustrating since it would be easier to just print off the plans and go, but it just wasn't feasible with my job so I've been making this work.

Exercise

Ugh, this is where I struggle.  I tried going to the gym after work last round, with pretty limited success.  This round, I've set my alarms and I'm going before I start work - so I've decided to follow the gym machines program rather than the gym classes (that way I'm not stuck having to follow a class timetable).  On the downside, I'm starting shift work in the Emergency Department in a few weeks which will through all my routines out of whack.  But on the upside, my new gym also opens in a few weeks with extended opening hours and more classes available.  So for the next fortnight I'm going to stick to my early morning exercise, and when those shifts start I'll just have to take it day-by-day.

I have quite an impressive collection of gym clothes accumulated over the last 18 months.  I just bought a new outfit from Lululemon yesterday (to celebrate my drop in size!) and I'm going to check out Mish's clothes from Big W today.  My HRM has been my gym buddy for a few years, but sadly died earlier this week.  I've ordered a replacement, but am still waiting :-(

Mindset

This blog is my new change for mindset.  Posting on here is a good way for me to clear my head and see how other people are coming along.  I love the forums and check them a few times a week, I wish I could devote more time to them because they're a fantastic resource.  Mish's videos are another favourite, so I've been getting them as podcasts to relisten to later in the round.  I'm a member of a fantastic and supportive Facebook group, so I love checking out how everyone's doing there.

External excuses

Sadly, that night on call set me back a little - I ended up having to go into work in the morning anyway, so skipped my workout in favour of getting a few hours of sleep.  It was a pretty rough day yesterday, I felt exhausted all day.


I went over my calories with dinner (my friend came over and cooked for everyone, which was lovely), but I figure that can be my "cheat" meal.  I went back to the gym this morning, despite the little voice in my head saying "No HRM means no workout..."  I did buy a shiny new HRM so I hope it arrives in the next few days.


Oh - and it's weigh in Wednesday!  I've only lost 100g, but it's better than a gain and I'm hoping to see better numbers next week.  


It's a no-picture-post today because I'm still pretty tired and can't be bothered.  And I'm running late for work - if only running late actually counted as running!  I'd be so fit!

Day 1 down!

So - today was day one of round 2.  How did I go?

Well, my multitude of alarms (see below) worked - I was up, dressed, had a quick coffee and gathered up my exercise print-out before heading off to the gym.  I hadn't been to the gym for a few weeks, and rarely manage to get there at 5:30am, but it was nice to get things out of the way early. I did every step of the workout, which I was really proud of (especially since I'm doing the Intermediate program this round - which was a bit of a surprise!).

Although, tragically, my HRM died during my treadmill segment.  It wasn't reading at all, but it was fine when I was on the bike/cross-trainer.  So it would have underestimated my calories... I think it's the battery, since I've had this battery for awhile, but it's the excuse I've wanted to check out buying a nicer coloured one so I may have a browse through the Polar website.

Still, even with it not counting some of the time, that's a good effort!

I made my pre-planned breakfast, but sadly forgot my packed lunch so had to buy food.  I cooked my dinner even though I was on call, so all in all managed to stay under my calories.  Unfortunately, I was called back in to work (so another 4 1/2 hours on top of already working a 10 hour day - ugh), so I've only just gotten home at midnight.  Looks like 5am tomorrow might be a bit ambitious - but since I was in so late, I don't have to be in at work until a bit later, so I'm still planning on fitting my workout in.  I need to do it in the morning since I still haven't written my research grant application, and apparently we're having friends over for dinner tomorrow...

First toning workout tomorrow - weights/toning have always been my Achilles heel, so this should be interesting!  

Ready to start....

Round 2 officially kicks off tomorrow.  I've written up my meal plan, bought my groceries and printed off my exercise program.  I've made my chicken rice paper rolls for lunch tomorrow, and laid out my gym clothes.

My alarm(s) are set to wake me up bright and early.  I've done all my preseason tasks.  I'm as ready as I'm ever going to be - so fingers crossed I can drag myself up out of bed and stick to my commitments!

I need to get into the habit of exercising before work - I'm trying to write a research grant proposal before Friday (which means I need to try and finish a draft by Tuesday), and ideally I'd like to be able to spend a few hours in the evenings doing some primary study.  I finish this ward job in 3 weeks, and am going to Emergency after which means the return of dreaded shift work.  I want to get a routine established where I exercise before work, so that it doesn't matter what time I start... that's why I've chosen to follow the gym machines program this round, even though I've always preferred gym classes.

Well, I'm off to bed nice and early to get a decent sleep before all these alarms go off!