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 :-)

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.

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!

The magic touch

I have a fabulous massage therapist.  I only found her about 6 months ago.  My Chiropractor referred me to her.  I have known my chiropractor for about 15years and he is very skilled and has never given me a bum steer. He used to be the chiro for the Australian Swim Team and he probably knows me better than most of the members of my family.  Anyway, he was right on the money with Margaret.  She is all kinds of qualified, with degrees and diplomas in all kinds of sport, massage and personal training and related subjects.

When I say to people that I've had a massage, I am sure they picture an aromatherapy experience and me coming out feeling blissfully relaxed and like I could just go straight to sleep (after I wash the oil slick off me).  Actually Margaret is not one bit like that.  She is much more like a really expert motor mechanic, working on an engine that she knows really well and wants to tune to within an inch of its life to get the best performance out of it.

She got to know my issues quite well initially, and now I walk in and she asks me what hurts and then she usually goes no where near the offending area at first, but works with the muscle group that are related to that spot.  If my feet are giving me hell (see Troublesome feet below) she does my calves and ITB.  If my neck is sore she massages my MTJ (jaw).

What I love about her is that she is so hard working.  She is ambitious for her business and herself.  She teaches, she does corporate work, she goes to markets, she networks, she volunteers at charity events and she is a single mature mum of 2 kids.  Other professionals, like George, and physiotherapists, and personal trainers love to work with her and are always trying to get her involved in their business.

She is my secret weapon on my fight for fitness. It takes a village :-)