Off Topic: Why Facebook is not the Devil and other Social Media platforms that I like

I am an avid user of Facebook!  I check it many times a day and post regularly - but hopefully not so regularly as to drive my friends mad.  I have 74 Friends, and I do an annual cull, which I believe is hard but necessary.  My pet hate is lurkers - FB friends who are happy to see what me and mine have been up to but who never post about their own goings on.

My privacy settings are very tight - everything is set to Friends Only and I also have some lists set up - like Family (so as not to bore everyone with photos of my kids) and Close Friends.  I am also a member of serveral Closed Groups, which contain small numbers.  My smallest there are four of us, who are close friends and live near to one another.  The largest is probably my graduating class from high school, and a few inbetween, that get a bit of use when organising events and get togethers etc.

I believe that Facebook is a fabulous source of social interation for me, as being a SAHM of 3 could be quite isolating otherwise and could cause me to lose touch with people I have been close to in the past but no longer move in the same physical circles as.  It is also very practical for keeping in touch with what my husband is up to when he is travelling for business.

But most of all I don't want to get left behind as society and communication change.  I certainly don't want to bury my head in the sand so that when my children are older they know way more than me about Social Media and I can't talk to them about it or help them with it.

When is Facebook bad?  When bad judgement is applied!  When your profile is public or privacy is not tight enough, and when you don't know how to walk away from it or defriend someone (I have even defriended my brother!)

For the record, I also love Instagram, Pinterest and Linkedin, and less so Twitter, and have used Flickr a lot in the past, but not lately.

On Pinterest I am here:  http://pinterest.com/simpiet/boards/

This is not me to the right, but it is my ski jacket which my charming husband brought me home from the U.S. last time he was there and I found it on Pinterest and pinned it.  Dont ask my why :-)

And on Instragram I am Simpiet.  On the right is one of my Instagram shots.

Out with the old in with the new ...

One of the great things about losing weight is of course buying clothes in a smaller size - like my new pair of Lululemon pants - full length for the cooler weather.  I love buying from this store as they take up the hem for free!  If they didn't that would be another $25 on top.  It's expensive being shortish.

My old pair, besides looking like they had been in the wash a few too many times, were only staying up with the assistance of a draw string being done up quite tight!  Of course, when one is buying new clothes in smaller sizes, one runs out of space to store them along side the clothes that are now too large!

It is tempting to still wear them even though they don't fit right anymore.  It is tempting to keep them 'just-in-case' or because you can't bear to give them away, having spent good money on them.  But storage is at a premium at my house, so today - out they went!  The people at the Smith Family will be able to choose amongst Laura Ashley, Country Road, Adidas, JAG and Verge (that's the one that really hurt :  www.verge.co.nz ), and that is just from my dresser draws - I am yet to go through my wardrobe.  I threw out anything 'L' and anything higher that a 12.  I was still holding onto some stuff that I had bought right after I had my last baby 5 years ago!

In other news - Magic Hands Margaret (my Massage Therapist) figured out and sorted out a niggling lower back pain that I had not been able to shift for the past few weeks.  Turned out it was my Lats that were actually causing the grief.  I am so relieved and please to be able to push on with the training with my new Lat stretch.  I had been avoiding boxing which I love - thinking that the twisting and impact of the punches had caused the issue.  

My next fitness goal is to prepare for my skiing holiday in New Zealand in June/July.  I am only a 'beginner' skiier, but I want to be able to have lessons and enjoy myself at a level I could only previously have imagined :-)

Drunk on motivation

I have definitely been remiss in not blogging of late, especially with so much exciting stuff to relate.  So my 9 weeks was up last week and I kicked butt.  Losing my 6kgs and 7cms off my bust getting my waist down to 78cms and losing more than 13cms off my waist and losing 7cms off my hips and I have lost 4% body fat!  I am buying size 10 and size S. My old clothes are sitting so differently on me. In find all this very inspiring.  I continue to be amazed by my muscle development.  My strength posture and grace of movement (dare I say) are very noticeable to me.  People who haven't seen me for a few weeks are noticing. It is very gratifying.

I have reset my goals.  My PT is very flexible and non prescriptive.  He is no fan of BMI, but we have agreed on losing another 1%+ of body fat and I suggested that I could probably aim to lose a further 3-4kg, which would take me to my fighting weight when I fell pregnant with DS1 in 2002. My Macro Nutrient daily goals have been recalculated thanks to some mysterious algorithm that the Visionpt trainers have access to and the pressure has come off in relative terms, to eat so much protein.  Which is a bit of a relief, but I have also gotten lower targets for fat and carbs.

Check this out!  It lets me off a bit given that I am currently at 31% at 44yo.

What is a Healthy Body Fat Percentage?

Age-Adjusted Body Fat Charts for Men and Women

If you look around the Internet, you will see a lot of different recommendations for body fat percentages. As far as I can tell, this is the most authoritative, as it is based on World Health Organization and National Institutes of Health recommendations, and takes age into account. Please do not confuse these numbers with the BMI (Body Mass Index) scores, which are not the same thing.

Age-Adusted Body Fat Percentage Recommendations

Women

Age	Underfat	Healthy Range	Overweight	Obese
20-40 yrs	Under 21%	21-33%	33-39%	Over 39%
41-60 yrs	Under 23%	23-35%	35-40%	Over 40%
61-79 yrs	Under 24%	24-36%	36-42%	Over 42%

Men

Age	Underfat	Healthy Range	Overweight	Obese
20-40 yrs	Under 8%	8-19%	19-25%	Over 25%
41-60 yrs	Under 11%	11-22%	22-27%	Over 27%
61-79 yrs	Under 13%	13-25%	25-30%	Over 30%

Source: Gallagher et al. Am J Clin Nut 2000; 72:694-701

I can see where the term gym junkie comes from, as improving on your body in this way can be very compelling.  I am a bit like a reformed smoker - don't start me, because I have definitely been drinking the cool aid.

I feel as though I am in a rhythm now and as if I have really broken the back of my fitness challenge, so I don't feel as though the program is as restrictive as the last goal period.  I am training toward a 10km Nike Run in May but I won't kill myself to get into peak running shape, as my body still requires a bit of nursing through this process.

Combined with my Philosophy course, great friends and family, I am feeling lot calmer and happier in myself generally. I am looking forward to an upcoming holiday.  I will feel better by the pool, running around after my kids, joining into activities etc.  What a worthwhile investment.  It has made me really aware of the excuses that people use not to go ahead and do something for themselves.  But everyone needs to come to it in their own time for their own reasons and I am so lucky to have a supportive husband who is on a similar journey.

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!

Just numbers but ... measuring up

I have been trying not to get too caught up on the numbers on the scale, figuring that as long as I know I am not cheating on my diet and I am being as active as I can manage given constraints that I will be heading in the right direction.  But today, when Paul went to weigh me, I told him I would be keener on him checking my 3 measurements.  My original measurements were Bust: 99, Waist 99 (that's right - problem area) and Hips 107.  I had a 9 week goal to reduce my waist by 10cms on my way to achieving a waist measurement of less than 80 as recommended for women for general good health.  Checkout the Australian Government campaign www.measureup.gov.au

The good news was that in 4 weeks I have reduced my waist measurement by 13cms and my hips by 5cms and my bust by 2cms - which he reasurres me is not my actual boobs but my 'wings' - said while indicating an area on my back - niiiice - NOT.

Of course I had noticed the improvement around my middle, so it was just confirmation.  Interestingly, when I check my measurement against womens size guides like the ones used by Allanah Hill and the fact that I usually wear a size 12, it is a mystery how anything fits me!  Before or now.  But for example, I bought a dress of hers for NYE in size 12.

She says size 12 is 95/76/104 which would make me before this program a size 14 bust, size 16+ waist and size 14 hip.  My dress, with some assistance of some fancy knickers (see left) fit quite nicely I thought.  With my 'now' measurements the only change is that I am a size 10 in the hips ...

But I will admit that I find this new evidence to be very motivating and I am looking forward to dropping the remaining 6cms off my waist by the end of the 9 weeks period.  I am told it can be done by focussing more on my core and on high intensity cardio, which I think is going to have to be carefully balanced to nurture my dodgey feet/knees/back.

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.

I've got "the bug" and other surprises

For 10+ years now I have been a Mum.  And in all those years, by the time I have got the child/children in bed I have felt I deserved to sit on the lounge and enter a vegetative state in front of the television till bed time. Tonight, in response to realising that I consumed too many carbs this morning, I got the kids in bed and headed out the door with my dog for a walk/run, arriving home 40mins later hot and sweaty and heading straight for the shower.  This is seriously the turning of a corner.  My kids are still exhausting, but they are more independent than ever before and it is time to accept that I can change these post kids habits.  Hence: "I've got the bug."

Another discovery today, was that my charming PT is 20 years younger than me. I had suspected as much, but I really didn't have any interest in having my suspicions confirmed. How did it come out you ask?  A music video came on at the gym while I was on the bike doing a Tabata, and it was Big Audio Dynamite (I saw them live in the late 80's), apparently a band that Paul, was unfamiliar with, but I was certain that he would have heard of The Clash - nope.  He was born after Mick Jones was kicked out of The Clash in 1983. Punk is dead :-(



And in other new discoveries, I heard in my Philosophy group today, about a Christian mystic woman who was writing in the 13 and 1400's.  Julian of Norwich was ahead of her time.  She was very positive by traditional Christian standards and in hindsight quite the feminist and Universalist.  I am looking forward to learning more about her as we continue to study Devotion.

Setting a good 'Active' example for my kids

I spent a big chunk of today watching my boys at their school swimming carnival. My eldest swims in 10 and under and my youngest swam in 8 and under and 9 and under.  Like a lot of Australian families I have prioritised swimming lessons for them since they were about 3. I would have said that the oldest is not particularly talented and the younger shows a bit more potential but hasn't had any experience at racing, so expectations were low. I wouldn't say that either of them possess an overly competitive nature (except with one another).

They both know that I have gotten into swimming in the last couple of years and I let them know when I have been swimming and where and how many laps I have done and more recently my husband has gotten into swimming as he has been in training for a triathlon.  He has become very excited about his progress with swimming and talks about it at home too.

Today they both surprised me.  They were both entered in two events - freestyle and backstroke.  Both of them got through the freestyle heats and into the finals.  And they both swam really well in the backstroke and were very close to getting through to the final.  The younger one ended up placing 3rd in the freestyle final and I couldn't be more proud.  Both of them also seemed to really enjoy the occasion.  And the younger one has said that he got a kick out of racing.

I don't think that it is any accident that they have had this turnaround given the examples that they have had at home in this past few months and it is really satisfying to know that even the bit of extra effort we have been making, may have rubbed off on them.  It's is a large part of why we do it, isn't it?  Not just so we can keep up with our kids, stay alive for our kids, but to have a positive impact on their choices.

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.

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!

Willpower is key

Before I started this this fitness kick, I was well  aware that self-control was the issue.  Afterall the problem is 70% food and only 30% exercise. I was angry that even though I knew this it did not make it any easier to exercise any - self control that is.

I read a great book called "We have met the enemy - self control in an Age of Excess" by Daniel Akst.  I enjoyed reading it, it was enlightening and yet I finished it and felt stronger for a little while, before I fell back into old ways.

On signing up to my program, I was angry that I had not been able to kick these few kilograms myself.  Now, I am supposed to have support around me, family friends, trainers.  Pressure that has been brought to bear by me telling everyone that I have set my goal.  But at the end of the day you only have yourself don't you?

That is what I have felt today.  I really had to use my will power to go swim laps.  It would be easier if the lanes were open right after school drop off, but they are not.  I had plenty of things I could have done instead of going but I didn't.  It meant I missed lunch and went from laps to helping my daughter's class cook pancakes for Shrove Tuesday.  My pancake partner was a qualified chef and he made some beautiful batter with the kids using Butter Milk and everything.  I helped the kids pour them into the pan.  I helped them flip them.  I put the their lemon and sugar or maple syrup on them and served them to the kids.  All without taking a bite - and there were plenty left over too.  That's self control.

Now I find that although I have reached all of my Macro Nutrient Targets for the day, I have stayed up too late and I am hungry and it is going to take a lot more self control not to eat anything else before bed.  A big drink of sparkling water and some vitamins [sigh]

Tomorrow is another day, a weigh in day in fact.  The day I see my PT for an hour, the day I see if my first weeks great result can be followed up by another successful week.  I think so.

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 :-(