8 Problems you want to have

1. All your clothes are now too big!

2. You have to sort through your wardrobe and consider whether to store or donate all the clothes that no longer fit you.

3. You can't buy clothes online anymore because you need to try on styles you haven't worn in years. I love Birdsnest but still can't bring myself tonhitnthe buy button since dropping a couple sizes.

4. You have to consider whether just because you CAN wear something means that you should (over the age of 40).  For example my DH bought me a couple of pairs of Nike running shorts on a recent business trip.  One pair I have re-gifted the other I will hold onto just in case.

5. You can shop for things OTHER than shoes and handbags when you need a retail pick me up.

6. Small children no longer ask you if 'you have a baby in your tummy'

7. You have to wear a belt with all of your jeans, pants and shorts.

8. You can happily look at photos of yourself without seeing all of your 'problem areas'

Where am I at after 7months working on my New Lifestyle?

After 7months I have lost 10kgs and 8% body fat!  My BMI is now 23.8 and I am feeling fantastic.  People are commenting and noticing all of the time and asking me "How did you do it!"  and the funny thing is the look on their face when I tell them that I changed my diet and I exercise a lot more.  They look mournful and disappointed - like Ohhhhh :-(  I guess they were hoping that I would tell them about some 7 day detox, or some as yet unheralded supplement ...  Na - ah

I am not as strict on my diet as I was at the beginning, but I still try to only eat white carbs at breakfast, no fruit after 2pm and plenty of meat as well as nuts and protein bars and have alcohol only on 'special occasions' and still in moderation.  For example, I went to see P!NK this week - what an unbelievable performer - and those Abs!  And I did have to have some champagne, G&T and Vodka and Soda.

Exercise-wise, at the moment I have locked in a 1.5hour tennis class on Monday, followed by swimming laps and then an hour with my PT in gym which includes 30mins weights and 30mins cardio.  Tuesday I play tennis with my boys for 30mins, Thursday I have another 1 hour session with my PT and otherwise I try to walk with friends or with my dog and generally keep active on each of the other days.

At the moment I am signed up to Steptember with three friends, where we are challenging ourselves to walk 70,000+ steps a week to raise money for Cerebral Palsy.

To assist with the step counting I have bought a new device (having washed my last Fitbit - twice), I decided for a Jawbone UP.  So far I am very impressed with its convenient wrist band desgin, and I find that its sleep tracking is very accurate and fascinating.  It does truly motivate me to get those extra steps in when I have had one of those days where I haven't had much opportunity to move.  I find myself walking to the shops instead of driving or walking the dog one additional time that day, or walking to school to collect the children.

The other side-effects of feeling fit and fabulous is that I have prepared my resume and applied for a couple of jobs, even though I don't really mind if I get them or not - I am pretty busy anyway ;-)  I am also reading Brene Brown's "Daring Greatly" which is very inspirational.  If you haven't heard of her yet you should at least check out her first TED talk here

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.

Back from two weeks skiing in New Zealand

What a great holiday, or as it could be alternatively known as:  "Boot Camp" or at least "Adventure Holiday"  Despite the Eggs Benedict in the morning and the Pinot in the evening, managed to put on just 1kg!

My PT and I had worked together to try to prepare me for this trip.  I knew I would be in better shape than the year before, but I also planned to ski more and was concerned that my legs in particular would let me down.  So we lunged, we stepped, we pushed all with challenging weight involvement and I was very happy with the results.

In fact it was my arms I had to be wary of, but once I figured out that I should not try to ski uphill but just pop my skis off and carry them I was fine (I know I know).

The year before - 10kgs heavier and out of condition, I even found it hard to walk around the cafes and Base with my ski boots on.  This year - no worries!

It was fabulous to watch my kids all improve so rapidly - especially my middle child - who ended the holiday at level 5/6 and doing black runs!

I had some moments during the holiday where concern would creep in that I had been too long away from the gym - just proving what we already know - that exercising and doing weights can be addictive.  I would get worried that my newly defined muscles might fade away during the break and then find myself relieved to get a glimpse of a chest or arm muscle in the mirror etc.


So back to the grind and the real world now ...

Reached another goal!

I embarked on my fitness journey with Vision Personal Training.  The way they organise you is in 9 week blocks.  So every 9 weeks you reset your goals.  My first goal was to lose 6kgs which I achieved and my second goal was to lose a further 3 kgs which I achieved as well.  I am feeling fantastic, and people are certainly noticing the difference.  The biggest difference is that I have lost 14cms off my waist and I have muscles.  I am ecstatic, but I need to stay focused to make sure I can maintain this fabulous new figure, and hopefully convert some fat to muscle in the process

A couple of days ago, I achieved another milestone.  I stepped out my front door and ran 5kms on my own.  Mad. I am truly shocked and surprised.  I have two events coming up.  The first one toward the end of July is a 5km Fun Run.  It is likely that the route will be quite hilly which has me concerned.  I only signed up to support a girlfriend who recently joined my gym.  A couple of kilometres into my weekend run I decided that I should forget about the girlfriend and the $18 registration and just not turn up, but then I found my rhythm.  In my goal setting session with Paul we extrapolated from my 10km time in the Nike She Runs to come up with a 5km goal, of running it in under 30mins.  And guess what?  My first time out I ran it in 33!  So the upshot is that I think it is definitely possible to shave 3mins off my time over the next few weeks.  Woo hoo!

The second event is a Colour Run in Centennial Park in August, which my PT doesn't take very seriously as he thinks the throwing of colour is quite distracting. Maybe - but I do love colour.

In fashion news, I am heading out with girlfriends for the weekend to hit the sales in Melbourne.  I have found it impossible to buy online as I am not sure of my size now and even don't trust the styles that catch my eye, as it is pretty hard for me to let go of the style rules I have been following for my 10kg heavier frame over the last 10 years (thanks Trinny and Susannah).

In family news, we are heading off on a ski trip shortly, so I have been squatting, lunging, and stepping up till it hurts, but thankfully the pressure has come off a bit as my now 5yo d
aughter fractured her shoulder on a jumping castle at our School Fair, and so we have scaled back her attendance at ski school and I am happy to step into the breach created and am looking forward to doing some low key sight seeing - just us girls.

In the kitchen I have been having an intense baking time, princess castle, flourless chocolate cake, Gluten Free Mandarin Macadamia cake, chocolate chip macaroons, banana and hazelnut cake, AND it is really really hard not to sample the goods.

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 :-)

She Runs Unleashed! She Runs 10K! She can't believe she can run!!!

Last Saturday night I gathered with 11 other women from my gym and my sister to run in my first event since I was a teenager.  Back in my teenage years, I could indeed run.  I used to  be a Cross Country runner, running 5kms in under 19 minutes to stay on the school's team.  In year 10 - when I was 15 our team won the NSW State Championships in fact.

But that was a long long long time ago!  So when I registered for the Nike She Runs The Night, Sydney!, I was only really motivated by the chance to be with friends and have a night in town :-)
http://nikesydney.com/nike-she-runs-2013/

I fully expected to run a bit and walk a bit and maybe or maybe not run some more and have a bit of a giggle.  Actually, at one point I must have thought that I would in fact train for the run, but the reality turned out to be quite different.  Prior to the event I had only run/walked 5km's max, just a couple of times, and with School Holidays and long visits from the Parent-in-law, even that kind of activity went out the window in the weeks before the event.

So you may be able to imagine my surprise and in fact euphoria that I felt at actually running the full 10kms, without walking at all!  My time was 66mins.

I sprinted the last few hundred metres and crossed the line as if I had won the whole event and would be winging my way to San Fransisco (that was the prize).  More than one week later I am still astounded.  Actually I ran 1km this morning to the Cafe for my large soy flat white with an extra shot and wondered how I had run an extra 9kms just a few days before.  This photo is me on the left, shortly after the end of the race with my BFF who ran in 9mins faster than me.

I can only explain it as the culmination of an interesting set of circumstances! Which I will list in some kind of meaningful order below:

1. Running with my sister:  16 years younger than me and I wanted to not come over like a middle aged lady in front of her :-)  I wanted us to have a great time that night - something to really remember.  I certainly did not want to be asking her to stop running and walk with me.

2. Great atmosphere:  98% women, at night, lights, music, good cheer!

3. Improved fitness:  While my cardio has not had a great deal of attention,  the combination of weight loss, diet and strenghthening through weights, can only have made my result more probable.

4. Even after all these years, I think that the running experience that I had in school, may have at least given me some good memories of running good distances - about getting my breathing right, and pushing through the tough bit and waiting for the 2nd wind to come along.

Anyway, I think that my next event will be the Colour Run which is also at Centennial Park, but this time only 5kms. http://thecolorrun.com/australia/sydney/ And that I will definitely do the Nike She Runs again next year!

Sisters Be Fit!