It is definitely harder to maintain a fitness program during school holidays with house guests [GRRRRR]

For the past two and a half weeks I have had my Parents in Law staying with me from Europe - keeping it vague :-)  I have been trying to show them a good time and present myself as a totally normal mother who cooks one meal for the whole family every night, where as the reality is that I usually feed the kids and then later I eat my high protein low fat low carb dinner.  I did try them on this for a bit, but it felt pretty mean watching them go to bed hungry.  It is enough that I don't serve afternoon tea of home made cake every day and that they have to eat their high carb breakfast on their own.

Throw into that challenge the added pressure of school holidays which is when I usually give up all hope of getting to the gym in combination with actually going away to a Resort in the Whitsundays (see my Simpiet Instagram photo below) for a week where you have to eat every meal and snack in a restaurant and yes - I am scared to get on the scales.  And I was drinking alcohol too - uh oh.

My loving husband put on 2kg's under those circumstances and I am hoping that I would not have done quite as much damage - but I am not even going to check until school has been back for a week and the PIL's have gone back home.  When I look in the mirror I look like I haven't changed much and I really did feel much more comfortable by the pool on holidays than I would have otherwise.  Anyway - stay tuned for the dreaded weigh-in, in about a week or so.

Having said all of that, I did keep quite active while away.  I went to a Yoga class, a Pilates class, kayaking, hiking, and went to they gym for cardio.  The Pilates was the stand out as it ended up being a 1:1 class, so lots of fab attention from the instructor.

Tired but trim

I sit here at the computer, allegedly waiting till it has been two hours since breakfast, to go exercise and burn off some fat.  Heaven forbid I would burn the carbs I had at breakfast by mistake.  I am tired but trim ... My clothes fit better but I feel like I have been hit by a bus after a chiropractic adjustment yesterday, then a massage then half an hour cardio with my PT.  I guess that until my body gets strong I just need to push through.

I lashed out on Friday, out to dinner with a girlfriend in Canberra and had a delicious Degustation Menu with matching wines.  The food itself was not outside what I am encouraged to eat - the star was protein with veges being the support and no white carbs in evidence, and we skipped the optional Cheese course It is the wine that apparently I should be regretting.

I can highly recommend http://www.sagerestaurant.net.au if you are ever in Canberra

Actually after over a month with no alcohol I thought that I would enjoy it more - savour it more, appreciate what I have been missing, but I was underwhelmed actually, even though they were nice wines.  I actually think I would have enjoyed and savoured the delicious food more so if I hadn't have been drinking with it.  All good stuff to have discovered.

Anyway I shall get off my butt and go walk 5kms up hill and down dale in hopefully around the 40min mark.  Afterall - I am dressed for it!

Low Carb Lethargy

I have been laying off the blogging as I was tending to do it last thing at night and then finding myself to be really exhausted in the morning.  And what I have found is that it hasn't helped and that I am still exhausted and what should have been obvious earlier is that I am feeling exhausted because I am eating hardly any carbs, while exercising more and still looking after 3 kids etc.

Actually there is plenty of noise on the Internet about it.  I just hadn't looked before.  Distracted as I was my concerns about high protein diets and the effects on your liver and bones :-/.  Actually the stuff I have found on the net talks about 40% carbs, 40% protein and 30% fat.  What I am doing is 34% carbs, 51% protein and 15% fat.  No wonder I am exhausted!  I am going to have to have a word with my PT.

In other news I am still loving my newly found waist and my FitBit tells me that I have taken over 14,000 steps today (10.5kms).

I gave my motivation a kick along by treating my self to a little bit of a spree at Adidas - even buying running shorts - not previously an item that has ever been found in my wardrobe.  (What?  You should see the stuff that is turning up daily from my husband's online shopping for all of the 'stuff' he needs to compete in his 'little' triathlon next weekend.)

Here I sit with my aching feet on a nice warm wheat bag, having already been self-massaged with fabulous Elemis sp@ home muscle ease active Body Oil.  And with my loving DH outa town for the week, actually getting my post written quite early!

Bully for me.

What am I going to do when Stone Fruit go out of season?!!

In the nutrition seminar that my gym runs to support the program they implement with their clients, they talk about if you want to eat fruit, eat stone fruit or berries - before 2pm of course. And having observed my husband's experience of the program I could figure out why, so I took to stone fruit with gusto!  I have always liked stone fruit - expecially nectarines, but have not ever really bought that much as I had this idea that they bruise easily, so aren't very portable and they don't stay at their optimum eating freshness for very long.  But I put these ideas aside and I have been hitting the Peaches, Nectarines and Plums pretty hard!

I like to slice up a couple of them and put them on my High Fibre Soy Linseed Porridge in the mornings and nuke them - delicious.  And I find cutting them up helps to avoid any bruises (unfortunate surprises).  I also carry them with me for morning tea, and find that they are very acceptable to take along to my Philosophy class and cut up and offer to the group, and I am reasonably comfortable about eating them in public, in my car or walking along the street.  They are large and juicy and filling.  And yet, previously my favourite fruits I would have said would be Apples - especially Pink Ladies, and Bananas - so convenient in their own packaging - but both of those are not great on this diet.  Actually I took a large Apple out with me this morning and regretted it, when I saw the amount of carbs that that added to my diet for today, which kinda threw me out.  Better choice:  Peaches, Nectarines and Plums!

I went to restock today at my favourite fruit and veg and asked one of the guys stocking the shelves with fresh fruit how much longer they were going to be around and he tells me that they are starting to get rarer already (sub text:  Haven't you noticed the increasing prices!) I ask him what will come into season next that I can substitute and he says Madarins - which I like but definitely not the same way.

Lucky that Strawberries and blueberries are available year long here!  Stay tuned to see how I cope when I can no long find/afford the stone fruit.

So why are Stone Fruit so good for you then?

I found this article which gives five reasons:  http://www.besthealthmag.ca/eat-well/healthy-eating/5-reasons-to-eat-stone-fruit

Which explains it like this:

5 healthy reasons to eat stone fruit

Peaches, nectarines, apricots and plums are great for your health. Here's why a piece of stone fruit makes a healthy and delicious snack

By Margaret Nearing

Tasty stone fruit—so-called because of the stone-like seed inside—make perfect snacks, as they tuck easily into lunch bags or picnic baskets. Here’s what they can do for your health:

Create collagen

A cup (250 mL) of sliced apricots or plums has about one quarter of your daily vitamin C needs. Vitamin C helps the body form collagen—the main protein in connective tissue—in bones, cartilage, muscle and blood vessels. It also helps to increase iron absorption.

Care for your nerves and your muscles

Bored with bananas but want to get enough potassium (key for proper nerve and muscle function)? Two small peaches have slightly more of this essential mineral than a medium banana.

Sharpen eyesight

Apricots are delicious raw, but their carotenoids—antioxidants that give the flesh its vibrant orange colour—become more available to the body when cooked. Beta-carotene, for one, converts to vitamin A to help maintain eyesight, skin membranes and immune function.

Strengthen bones

Two plums contain about one tenth of your daily vitamin K, which helps maintain strong bones. Researchers have found that low levels of vitamin K are associated with an increased incidence of osteoarthritis in hands and knees.

Stay regular

• 10 delicious ways to cook with stone fruit
• 6 healthy fruit smoothie recipes
• Our best healthy peach recipes

Cut up a peach on your cereal and have a nectarine as a snack. But don’t peel them!The skin provides insoluble fibre that helps prevent constipation.

What do Rock Climbing and Ikea have in common?

Ok, that is a trick question.  On Sunday I went rock climbing with my family and my sister and her partner.  It has been 6 years since my last climbing session and before that probably 10 years earlier, but then I used to climb in a gym every week and go climbing, abseiling and canyoning in National Parks on the weekends.  I didn't know if any of those skills were still with me.  My kids took to the walls with no hesitation.  Quite surprisingly even my 10 year old had no reservations and my 4yo daughter was up and down the walls like a mountain goat!  My 7 yo boy was enjoying the challenge of trying the harder climbs.  My husband on the other hand stuck by his opinion that he is too heavy to climb - despite his obvious muscular power which in my mind should have made it possible.  And me?

While my upper body strength is not what it used to be I still had the skills to let me scramble to the tops of the wall without thinking too much about it.  Yay.  Having trained with Paul, just the day before my lats were screaming by the time I reached the top each time, but they recovered in time for me to do it a few times before retiring to lunch.  Belaying the children took some toll on me as well, so I felt I had achieved some kind of acceptable level of activity for a Sunday.

Was I content with that?  Oh no, I had to go home and put together a large Ikea flat pack for my daughters toy storage.  My husband has an allergy to Ikea, and my interested children only maintained their interest for a few minutes at a time.  By the time I had completed putting it together my hamstrings were on fire.

I must have had a premonition about the state of my body by Monday morning, so off I went this morning to see Margaret of the magic hands, so that I could push through to another training session with Paul.  The upside:  I jumped on the scales this morning and I have lost 5kgs since I embarked on this adventure nearly 3 weeks ago. Woo hoo. Paul is happy with me as he has been cranking up my weights quite a bit during that time as well.  I am feeling more clear headed and together than I have for a long time - what a great investment in my lifestyle.

So the answer to the original questions is that they both happen on Sundays.

Personal Trainers - my thoughts

I have had a few Personal Trainers over the years.

I had one that used to come to my apartment at 6am and collect me and take me downstairs and to the beach across the road (gotta love Sydney) and train me on the sand as the sun was gathering strength for the day.  (This was in a pre wedding panic phase in 1999) Ouch for ankles!  Once I was nearly ruined then she would take me into the gym of our building and finish the workout there.  She would have been 50 and fit as hell, and after a while my husband-to-be joined in too.

Later, after the marriage but before the kids we went through a very fit phase where we woud get up at 5am and head to a gym that hung out over the ocean and work out 3 mornings a week, sometimes with PT's and these positive experiences will stay with me always as having probably been instrumental in me finally falling pregnant with my first child.  In fact my current PT is doing a core exercise with me that I first learnt in these times.

When I joined a new fancy gym that opened just a few years ago, they let you pick your PT from a 'menu' and what I wanted at the time was:

1. A woman
2. Preferably over 30
3. Preferably who had children

I felt that they would be able to understand where I was coming from better, and that I would generally be more comfortable with them.  It actually proved to be quite difficult.  The first one fit the bill but the PT's at this gym turned over quite rapidly and I went through 3 before settling in with Carlita and was just grateful for a 'young woman' that I seemed to be able to talk to OK.  The realtionship never really bore too many results given that I basically only turned up at the Gym for the one PT session a week.  On top of the Gym fees I also found it quite difficult to justify and eventually settled into going to regular classes each week.

Then I had this brain wave to learn to swim (see earlier post re Plantar Fascitiis and Swimming) and asked about some stroke correction lessons at the gym.  Brandon, did not fit my above criteria at all and there was a certain level of discomfit involved in meeting him in the pool (I would try to make sure that I was already in the water when he appeared ...) but it was a great experience and I got the results that I was looking for and information that I will always carry with me in regard of swimming.

The PT's where I am at now are a very tight knit bunch who I know are getting great results with their clients - many of whom I know from my neighbourhood one way or the other.  The difference is the holistic approach to the program - not just the exercise but the food, and feeling accountable and having tools like online food and training diaries to keep you on the straight and narrow.  I decided to go with my husband's trainer for consistencies sake and because I felt that in knowing my husband he at least knew a bit about my home life that might prove useful.  I later learned that he has had quite the journey to arrive at his chosen career having dropped about 30kg's himself, which gives him a lot of credibility with me.  It is a relationship that is still in its infancy but is looking very promising.

Philosophy day

The highlight of today was the chance to meet with my fellow students of philosophy at the beautiful home of our tutor.  The discussion of devotion continued.  We discussed our own devoted behaviour, and the devotion that we see in others.  There are three ways of devotion the calm (satwa), the more active (Rajas) and the destructive type (tamas). Those unusual words are Sanskrit and are the 3 Guna.  It makes you think - which is the whole idea.  The devotion that I bring to the care of my children is sometimes that calm type and often the rajasic type - so work to be done. The takeaway is to watch out for devotion, your own and others and to take time for self - by meditating or finding stillness.

After a relaxing post philosophy lunch with my BFF I headed home for a run/walk with my dog.  My strategy was to run down hills and march energetically up hills.  I recorded my fastest km yet using my Nike Running App (example below) which maps your run in a colour coded way that shows when you were running and when you were walking - which is very satisfying.  I fit in a 3km trek in my local environs before my dog started to lose his enthusiasm - helped by the fact that I stepped on his gigantic paw when he ran in front of me in a curve.  But don't be too concerned - he seemed to make a rapid recovery the minute he got into the backyard and layer down in the cool of shade covered sandpit.

I have got over 10,000 steps today (7kms), but if my DH was home instead of being in NZ on business I would have been able to fit in more. My afternoon was hijacked by 3x swimming lesson for the kids.  With the Primary Swim Carnival next week the excitement/anxiety if high.

On the food front, I made a boo boo today.  I was running late and ran out of time to make myself breakfast, but didn't want to get caught out till 12 without having had breakfast ask did the other day. My 'healthy choice' bread had passed its used by date, so I found myself reaching for the kids 'Traditional Wholemeal', throwing a scrape of homous on it and a slice of super low fat cheese.  I only realised when I put it into my App later what a mistake that was.  Having blown the carbs early in the day it threw out my balanced food choices for the rest of the day.   Hear I am at the end of the day with 97% of my carbs but only 70% of my Protein and 60% of my fat.  I could have another hunk of meat, but I am not really hungry.

Tomorrow is another day.

Weigh in No. 2

Like always, I tried too hard to cram too much into my morning.  After School drop off (which I was running late for) I tried hard to nick over to Margaret's (Magic Hands) for a quick massage, before coming back to school to supervise my daughter's chess class.  That was not too successful, although I will not complain as Margaret did release my Hip Flexors, ITB and my TFL and I walked out of there with a good amount of new found wiggle in my walk.

Then a quick change and down to see Paul for my 1hr sesh of weight, cardio and food diary debrief.  I was feeling a bit tense - probably something to do with taking the strategic decision not to eat any carbs for breakfast but merely some fruit.  My cunning strategy may have worked better, had we not been out of coffee beans at home, grrrrr (thanks DH).  

Have you ever noticed how tense you can feel when you are hungry?  I was even trying not to drink too much water.  So crazy!  Anyhow, I lost another kg - so that makes 3 in a little over a 2 weeks - I am half way toward my goal in less than a third of the time we had budgetted for yippee!

I've got to say that my poor PT has not figured out yet what motivates me.  I am a glory hound and I mean it!  If he had carried on and on about how well I had done and how great I was looking (lie if you have to) I would have sailed out of there on a cloud of intense motivation!  Instead he was trying to get me to set some uninspiring goal on a card that at the end of the week might be drawn out for a free session - just doesn't do it for me.  Especially when he indelicately points out that my heart rate gets as high as it does during intense cardio because I am inherently unfit, and therefore need more steady cardio effort rather than the short burst tabata kind of action. THANKS - now that is motivating.  I'm going to show him!  So I walked/ran with the dog to school to pick up the kids and my glorious new FitBit One is showing nearly 15,000 steps for my day (10kms).

Having basically started eating around 1pm and being determined to meet my goals I am now feeling extremely full and not looking forward to going to bed in case my 'Protein Baby' presses on my Artery and I pass out!

Onwards and upwards - I mean downwards!

Why does no one on tv diet or do they?

I love Big Bang Theory, but I have never seen Penny diet, although she does apparently jog.  Actually, she eats a lot of takeaway and her efforts to cook at home are not nutrient rich.

I love Game of Thrones, but Cersei, and Mother of Dragons don't seem to watch what they eat. Raw horses heart, though I imagine is high in protein.










I love Boardwalk Empire but Margaret nor Billie, are ever spotted dieting. Actually eating doesn't feature hardly at all in the show.  Although drinking certainly does.

Actually I have just thought of an exception was in Mad Men when Betty is dieting - actually that was quite unpleasant to watch.








On the man front, Owen (the guy in the middle) in Men of a Certain Age, is concerned about his weight - especially when his child videos him bingeing at night.






Anyway, week 2 of the diet is just about over and it is satisfying to be losing weight and feeling fitter, but I can see that this could be a bit dull after a bit.  I hope I figure out a way to stay motivated.  I think it is harder when my husband is away as he was last weekend and for a good chunk of this week.

My PT Paul, is also a bit tricky to nail down to appointments and so by the time I see him this week it will have been 6 days, which I don't think is optimum.  I am supposed to fit in two sessions a week , so this week my 1st is on Wednesday and the 2nd is on Saturday.  Not ideal given that I have my Friday work out as well with Therese, and that my plan was to do a boxing class at the gym on Saturday.  I must remember to bring this up.  I wish we could lock in some regular sessions during the week :-(

11 Things I've learnt from this diet so far . . .

1. Things that have fat, and whether it is good or bad fat is easier to avoid.  Egg yolk, almonds, avocado,

2. Things that are high in protein without the downside of fat or carbs - lean meat - Only!

3. Avoid salt because it causes bloating

4. Read nutrition panels and look for not only low fat, but for low carbs and high protein

5. Eating out is hard.  You need to really remember to ask for dressing on the side, hold the potatoes etc.

6. Even good friends who understand the diet will still struggle not to tempt you out of your program.

7.  Losing weight too fast is undoubtably not necessarily a good thing, but it is very motivating to see quick results and have others observe it.

8. Drink heaps of water - which is easy to forget if you don't have a bottle by you all the time.

9.  You need to eat fruit - preferably in the morning, if you want your digestive system to continue to function.  Peaches are better than nectarines.

10.  When I have tried to avoid evening carbs previously - usually in support of my husband - I always found that I was hungry shortly after.  Now I know that you just have to eat MORE meat.

11.  Small Protein Bars can be a good replacement for biscuits or chocolate - and goes nicely with a cup of tea.

Frantic Friday

Yesterday was nuts - but what's new?

After drop off I had my 'Fitness Friday' session with Therese and 6 other Mum's from school and that Therese knows how to drive a person HARD.  Once we were good and warmed up (read:  pretty exhausted) We did a 20m Beep Test (Multi-stage Fitness Test) which is used to estimate a person's VO₂max (maximum oxygen uptake).  All I know is that it is a killer.  If you want to know more - check with PT Google.  Thankfully we were really just getting a baseline and at the end of the school term we will do another one and I will have improved out of sight! That is the plan anyway.  We finished the 1 hour session by doing Boxing Tabata - which I didn't find as hard as doing it on the Elliptical Trainer with Paul, but my left shoulder really knows about it.

I left the girls to head home and have 'meal' no. 2 of the day, on the way realising that I had arranged to play Par 3 Golf, with 5 of my other girlfriends - who I will refer to as the 'Camping Crew' girls (on account of us having plans to go camping with our families in March together)  Well, they will be camping and my family will be Glamping, which is close enough.

So off to Golf with just the 3 required clubs (putter, 9 iron and 5 iron), which I now know, could have been a putter, a Pitching Wedge and a 8 iron).  I lost two balls and only really revelled in one of my shots - although my putting wasn't too bad, given how rusty I am.  Fun was had by all, and when it got too hot we made a short cut across the course and headed to Lunch.


Lunch was one of those challenging diet experiences where what should have been a healthy salad arrived with too much dressing, too many olives and feta and not enough lean chicken - so consequently I didn't eat much of it and made my excuses and dashed to by daughter's swimming lesson where I have volunteered to help the the girls dressed afterwards.  Man did I smell 'NOT FRESH'.  While I had changed in between work out and golf - I did not have time to shower ...

The highlight of my Frantic Friday, was definitely heading out with yet a different GF (makes me sound popular doesn't it?  But that's just weird ...) to see Lincoln at the movies.  We had a lovely seared Yellow Fin Tuna dinner before hand - see photo - I did not eat the Salsa Verde and I had told them to hold the Chat Potatoes.  I arranged this a while ago when I realised that my Husband was going to be away and I hate sitting at home alone while he is out having fun.  Great film, fabulous Daniel Day-Lewis (will definitely get the Oscar over our Hugh :-() , wonderful script, great cast, fascinating time in history, AND really really long!  (photo of Theatre below) In bed at midnight - a super late night for me - hence doing my Friday blog post on a Saturday - sorry.

But I stayed strong

Yesterday's post was somewhat prophetic on the sleep front.  I went to bed very tired and then I woke a few minutes before my husband's alarm went off at 4.45am (he was going to his swimming squad), so I listened to him get up, get dressed, make himself a coffee and head out the door.  Then I couldn't get back to sleep, with the day ahead's details running through my head. I was still awake at 6.15 when my little girl had to have her blanket put back on. But shortly after I must have falling back to sleep, only to have to get up and get the children ready for school at 7.  So wrecked, and impatiently getting my disorganised children ready for school, I turned into late 'shouty mum'.  And the magic lasted all day long :-(

I can however feel good about making it to the swim centre and doing 40 laps in the same time it took me to do 30 last week.  It was not quite the meditative experience as last week, as I was sharing the pool with some school groups.  They left just the one lane for us and the kids had the other 3.

Anyway the 'staying strong' relates to the thought that I had at around 5.30pm that a glass of wine may have helped my mood.  I was not actually tempted but just thought about it for the first time since starting this kick.  Anyway, as I cooked my super delicious dinner (see photo) and even more so when I finished eating it, the thought passed.

Tomorrow is another day, and with a bit of luck I will get a better nights sleep and tomorrow the children will all be angels.  Angels who will be able to find their school shoes and remember to go to T-Ball Try-Outs after school!

I'm thinking a long walk/run with my dog will be in order.  I need to take a photo at school and supervise a chess class, but besides that the day is mine between 9 and 2.30 at least :-)

Oh, and the neighbours insurance assessor came today and he is going to have the tree taken care of - yeah!  Then will come the drama of the fence replacment ... you can't wait to hear about it!

Sunday, day of rest ...

I have 2 boys 10 and 7 and  a girl who is 4.  Both of my boys have been taking tennis lessons since they were quite young.  Mr 7, it is fair to say, displays more talent and passion for the sport, while Mr 10 enjoys playing but ...  Anyway, today was their first round robin competition.  Their coach had encouraged me to register Mr 7 in singles and Mr 10 only as a doubles partner with his brother.  Watching them play together was agonising and then something came over me and an alter ego took over my body and I found myself shouting to Mr 10 that I would pay him a dollar for every time his ball went over the net. That's right - you read right. I did that. In hindsight not my best parenting moment.  Mr 7 followed up of course with the question "and me too!" To which I replied that he could have a dollar for every first serve he got in. I did get a bit of attention for such a move.

Anyway, I thought that sharing that with you would make you feel like a better parent :-).  Of course later in the afternoon I was making Play Dough with my kids (see photo), as I had volunteered to do so for my daughters teacher - so I am forgiven aren't I.  Not enough? Then I cooked a nutritious meal from scratch that had heaps of hidden veggies in it.  I lovingly washed my daughters long curly hair and combed it out and then read her a book before bed.  Anyway, I've forgiven myself, and decided that it was funny and that my boys were not scarred.  And if they were they will probably tell me sometime in their teenage years.

I had planned to get a massage for my sore body today, but gave up on that dream after spending my day till 2pm at the tennis. And then I received an invite from a couple of my fabulous girlfriends (Hello girls) to go for a walk. When I say a walk, we actually walked 6kms in an hour, including a very steep hill and even in the rain!

I can also testify that the snickers tag line "You are not YOU when you are hungry!" is indeed true - although that does not mean that I can eat a snickers on this diet.  But I did get to the point where I was determined to make myself a delicious dinner of Lamb in Ginger (see photo), but it took some time and anyone who got in my way was very swiftly dealt with.

I have another hour long PT session tomorrow morning, which I think will include my first weigh-in, which I am naturally apprehensive about, so stay tuned.  Having said that if I can talk him into not doing it till the following day just after lunch, so that it will be exactly 7 days from my initial weight recording I WILL.  But it's just a number right?

Working out the workouts

Most people - actually everyone who knew what I planned today, thought I was crazy.

After school drop off one of the other mum's hosts a training session at her place. Today was my first time, so I didn't know what to expect.  There were 7 of us at varying levels of fitness and fair to say I was making just about everyone else look good.  The trainer was serious and may have thought that the long list of body aches and pains etc that I came up with on my form, were a bunch of hoo ha.  We were running up short inclines, skipping and doing a circuit of semi-torturous exercise, but after the first 15mins of discomfort I actually started to warm up and by the end of the hour I felt really good.

After spoiling myself with a Soy Flat White from my local cafe where I was lucky enough to bump into two fab friends (hello Girls!), I headed down to my second work out appointment, and accidentally arrived half an hour early, so my PT suggested I do some cardio to fill in the time (yay, great idea- I was feeling fresh as a daisy! NOT).  Then for the next hour I was up for a weight training session followed by some more cardio.

The cardio included Tabata Training.  Check it out at www.tabatatraining.org  It is a very specific type of interval training which can be done on a variety of machines or activities.  My choice was the Cross-Trainer.  Briefly, it is a 4 minute workout where you go as hard as you can for 20seconds and then slow down for 10 seconds.  There are 8 intervals of the high intensity exercise.  On the Cross Trainer, every time I went hard, my torturer increased the incline on the machine.  After the 5th one he says can you say 'She sells sea shells by the sea shore' ? and I could - rather smoothly. Mistake.  He put it up really really high.  Lesson learnt!  Anyway, it is supposed to give your metabolism a kick that can last up to 24hours - so it will all be worth it when I can't walk on Sunday.

Oh, and I don't intend to do this kind of back to back work outs ever again!

And tomorrow I am declaring as a chicken breast free zone (see photo of the offending item poached with tomatoes). The mountain of protein I have to eat on this diet is killing me!  In addition after 3 days of making this MY time, my laundry workload is out of control, so tomorrow will also be LAUNDRY time!

And how did my little girl's first week of school go? Well to quote her: "School is definitely awesome !"