Weigh in Wednesday!

Holy crap, I knew I would lose this week but I DID NOT except this result AT ALL!!!

This week – 2.1kg

Since surgery – 55.7kg

Total – 74.6kg

I mean really, I struggle to even comprehend that I have lost that much weight in less than 12 months. I am in disbelief of what I have achieved, not only in weight loss but in the completely transformation I have made to my life!

I had my fortnightly board meeting which I always like to make a special effort to look nice and professional so decided why not pull out my latest zulily bargain purchase!

I am feeling good, I am feeling comfortable, I feel pretty, I feel confident, I feel proud! And after living my entire adult life essentially wearing nothing but black I can honestly say I am enjoying seeing myself blossom and to wearing a whole range of colours.  Today it seems coral is my new black!

I am also guessing that others thought I looked nice as this morning at school drop off, I had a life first – I was very visibly being checked out by some of the dads. In fact not one, not two but four different dads! Yes yes I know it’s sexist but whatever, I’m stoked and it was very flattering, I’m not used to getting a second look let alone that reaction.

After my Board meeting I went and had a quick drink with my two clinician leads who were both in disbelief of how much I am “fading in front of their eyes”. Especially from clinicians who I respect this is an exciting thing for me.

Tonight I hit up the gym and was so surprised when I walked in to find my name on display!

Wow, I can’t believe I’m the 3rd on the list for longest distance on the Espresso bikes across the entire gym!! So to celebrate in my 960 calories, 75 minutes cardio workout I pushed myself on the bike more than I ever have before and added another 20km to my interactive bike tally! On top of the 20km I also did 25 minutes on the treadmill pushing to incline 20 and 5 minutes in the stair master.

1 year ago I would have struggled to walk 200 metres! Almost 75kg later I am now cycling 20km!! Life is good and I am proud!

Today I missed out on going to the gym as I had a succession of appointments on my “day off”, after school drop off I did have a cheeky 45 minutes to spare so I decided instead of driving to the supermarket I walked there to get a few things that I needed, pre-gym this was a regular walk I used to do but haven’t done in a while. It used to take me 18 minutes to walk there, today I did it in 13 minutes. I knew that obviously I have gotten fitter and would move quicker but wasn’t expecting that much of a difference so quickly!

I also used my voucher at the local beauty salon I got for Christmas from Jamie and Lachlan and had an hour long massage. It was so blissful and relaxing but the pure lady must have had some seriously sore hands afterwards as she commented on how ridiculously tight my muscles where especially my thighs, I guess the stair master can take credit for that.  I came out feeling so refreshed and relaxed, I need to treat myself to this more often!

Tonight we had the boys favourite for dinner, slow cooked beef and mushroom stew.

It was delicious BUT, even 9 months later I still make silly foolish sleeve mistakes and I ate a couple mouthfuls too many and it ended up acutely unwell. I came over with a hot flush and feeling revolting and then within 10 minutes I started vomiting, after 25 minutes the tightness eased up and I stopped bringing back up my dinner. Once that subsided I was absolutely wreck and ended up falling asleep and had a 45 minute power nap. These little episodes really take it out of you.

Just another day in a sleevers life! I still wouldn’t change things in a heartbeat.

Raspberry Protein Balls

Makes: 18

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cup frozen raspberries
• 4 scoops (120g) vanilla protein powder
• 1 cup natural almonds
• 1 cup shredded coconut
• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup
• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• Up to 1/4 cup water

Method:

• Place the frozen raspberries, protein powder, almonds, shredded coconut and coconut flour into a food processor and process until you have a fine meal texture
• Add in the maple syrup and pulse the food processor until well combined
• Add in the rolled oats and pulse to roughly chop but to retain some texture (should you prefer to have the oats ground to a mill add at the first step)
• Gradually at water 1/2 tablespoon at a time until the mixture comes together to form a rollable dough
• Roll the ball into even size balls slightly smaller than a golf ball, approximately 40g each.

Nutritional Value per Ball:

• Calories: 118
• Total fat: 6.2g
• Total carbohydrates: 7.7g
• Sugars: 1.9g
• Protein: 8.3g

Recipe Notes:

• Store in an air tight container in the fridge for a maximum of 7 days
• This recipe is freezer friendly to be consumed within 6 months
• Protein powder used in the recipe is Protein Supplies Australia WPI Vanilla Fast Release protein powder
• You can buy online from www.proteinsuppliesaustralia.com.au
• Use the Discount code psafriendsofhollys at checkout to get a 10% discount

Disclaimer: C4K Kitchen does not hold any responsibility for the consumer using this recipe including the storage guidelines and time frames recommended in the recipe notes. The consumer holds all responsibilities to ensure that food hygiene and safety standards are adhered to.

Today wasn’t just any Monday it’s Beast-Monday!

Any other Monday at work, nothing special just rolling through the motions of my day but I did feel pretty, and this is a weird feeling for me!?!?

Got home tonight and I NEVER thought I would say this and it feeling so weird to say this – I was so very much looking forward to going to the gym tonight! Excited for have some cheeky banter with the staff and to go sweat me butt off…..or away!!

As I was getting ready for the gym I put my gym Capri pants on and I can honestly say for the first time probably in my life I felt like I belonged in those pants and I didn’t look like a piece of raw meat that was shoved into a roast netting bag. I felt comfortable, content and ready!

Dragged Kimmie along with me again, cardio night tonight!

20 minutes on cross trainer – 262 calories

10 minutes on stair master – 203 calories

15 minutes on bike – 142 calories

5 more minutes on stair master – 97 calories

10 minutes on treadmill – 172 calories

Beast mode has been activated!!

Sunday is always family day! It’s my favourite day of the week where I get to spend the entire day with my loves!

Sundays are so much more enjoyable these days as we are no longer restricted to things that I am capable of doing and that mostly revolved around food.

Now the sky is our limit, we do whatever we want as a family that isn’t restricted by my physical capabilities!

I am busting my shrinking arse on this crazy journey for myself! But for myself so that I can be a better person, a better partner and a better mum! This little guy is the best inspiration I can EVER ask for!!

So I had my lotus leggings Wonder Woman leggings delivered a month ago. I was delighted when they fit even though I couldn’t actually breathe with them and Wonder Woman looked like she was blind drunk with a completely warped and distorted face. Was getting ready to head off to the gym for one of my two big weekly sessions and thought I’m feeling pretty good this morning, dedicated, committed, energetic and like I was channelling my inner Wonder Woman so maybe I would try them on again. They comfortably fit!

And no blind drunk distortion in sight! She looked completely normal!!

Wonder Woman for the win!!

I dragged Kimmie along with me today and gave her the option of cardio or cardio and weights. She picked whatever I wanted to do hahaha I think she may have regretted that as we were there for nearly 2 hours. Smashing out 25 minutes cardio, 3 rotations of weights and finishing off with another 35 minutes of cardio. I’m very happy with my 980 calorie burning session.

While we were there we had a friendly and chatty lady who was celebrating that she had lost weight by the gym scales. She was talking about how difficult it is to lose weight and the balance of eating right etc and I was politely agreeing as I was trying to pedal my way through the resistance levels on the cross trainer. She asked me if I had lost any weight? My reply – yeah just a bit, while I could feel Kimmie quietly smirking behind me. The lady then asked how much if I didn’t mind her asking. When I replied saying 72kg you would have thought that I had shot her with a slug gun as she was completely gob smacked and asked 5 times if she heard correctly. She the commented that I was being entitled to be so literal about my being Wonder Woman. I bit of a giggle!!

When I got home from the gym I was exhausted and hungry. I refuelled with some bacon, halloumi, Mushroom and tomato cook up and then I thought it would be a good idea since the sun was shining and it was a beautiful day mow all the lawns! 35 minutes and 386 calories later all the lawns at our house are looking beautiful!

So my question for the day am I Wonder Woman or should I start to wonder who this new woman with all this dedication is????

Today was a mixed bag of random occurrences, a WTF kind of day!

Driving to work this morning as I clicked on my seatbelt and moved my seat forward I looked down and had a WTF moment. When I first started out on the crazy journey I had my seat right back and I couldn’t wear my seatbelt legally! I used to clip it in and then sit down and just pull the shoulder strap over my torso as it was all that used to fit and it “looked” like I was wearing a seatbelt.

Yet again this morning I had to adjust my seat forward a little bit more and the seatbelt is now so loose that I can extend it out to touch the steering wheel….WTF.

I got to work wearing my new Friday casuals of jeans and a nice top this resulted in my having two WTF moments!  One was when I got to work and looked down and saw my legs, WTF they can’t be my skinny looking legs??

And then about half hour after that one of the girls I work with is also part time and we only see each other once a week and last week we didn’t cross paths. I walked past her desk this morning and said good morning, I got a bit of awkward reply. Later she admitted that she didn’t actually recognise me as I passed through. WTF….we have worked together for 4 years and she didn’t even recognise me lol

This got me thinking, do I really look unrecognisable? So I decided I should do a Friday face off and have a look….and yup it’s another WTF!

Walking to the carpark after work to head home I had my next WTF moment as I had a revelation that my feet have also gotten smaller. How did I find this out? As I was walking along minding my own business until all of a sudden my left foot decided to escape my shoe and I ended up completely stacking it! I was grateful for two things. Firstly,  I wasn’t hurt – except for my abs from laughing so much and secondly that nobody was around to witness my loose foot shuffle dance act….aka the mega Stack hahaha

My final WTF moment of the day was only about 10 minutes before I started writing this post when I was curled up on the couch watching Americas Got Talent and I looked down and saw this weird shadow to realise that my collarbone is sticking out and clearly visible….WTF, is that normal?

So today was German day for my little guy at school. I channeled my inner German exchange past and baked from scratch traditional german pretzels.

They smelt amazing, looked amazing so I decided I stuff it, I don’t indulge on carby things very often and picked the smallest one and ate it. Tasted AMAZING……unfortunately Percy was not as impressed as I was and decided that the delicious pretzel had to exit the same way it entered! #vomittown

Ok ok Percy, I hear you loud and clear!

Yesterday my latest Zulily order arrived so today I decided it was time to debut another bargain dress. Feeling excited and feeling pretty and feeling in a massive amount of shock that this new dress that is a 2x, that’s right a 2x was almost baggy! Lots of compliments on my new dress and how everyone at work is so happy to see my evolution to happy, healthy and confident! And for someone who now has windsocks instead of boobs it was a nice compliments that I got told my boobs looked awesome today!

A quick 50 minute cardio session at the gym tonight knocking off 580 calories on the bike, stair master and espresso bike. Had a great chat with Anita (the PT who set up my intro program at the gym) and amongst the swearing at the bike as I was cycling up a 25% incline I managed to sustain a conversation comfortably. She is very impressed with my physical endurance and capabilities for someone my size and is so impressed with my commitment to keep pushing even thought I am constantly whinging and saying I hate the place the whole time I am there. And in the mean time it looks like in the near future I will be starting weekly PT sessions. Both exciting and terrifying!!

Weigh in Wednesday!

A loss is a loss no matter how little it is 😀

This week – 0.1g

Since surgery – 53.6kg

Total – 72.5kg

I’m happy with that given I only went to the gym once in the last week and I know that my eating habits had a lot to be desired over the weekend.

I had a great day at work today, achieved lots, had a great meeting with my Executive Director receiving some amazing positive feedback….great for the mind to know that I am now only kicking goals in this sleeve journey that my professional life is also obtaining the rewards of the new and improved Holly.

One of my best friends has been saying that she was inspired by my healthy transformation and decided that she wanted to go to the gym with me. So tonight I dragged her along with me and she has signed up for a 30 day trial membership.

My gorgeous friend who weighs less than I have lost in total was worried that I was going to push her too hard and she couldn’t do it. Makes me proud but also slightly giggle that I’m still twice her weight and she is worried that I’ll out exercise her!

Cross trainer, 20 minutes – 338 cal

Stair master, 10 minutes – 200 cal

Bike, 10 minutes – 121 cal

Treadmill, 20 minutes – 324 cal

Total – 983 calories

A lot of calories and a lot of sweat from us both by the time we had finished!!

Today was my first day back at the gym after a week off while I was laying low with my cold.

So hard or go home right?

Started off with my standard 20 minutes on the cross trainer but in a moment of weakness/stupidity/determination I selected a somewhat torturous random profile and was channeling Mum’s thoughts of it being the torture chamber.

Calories burnt – 303, average heart rate – 134

That was a decent start to my workout. I then moved on over to the stair master. Well to think last time I attempted this gym business 4 years ago I couldn’t even use the stair master because I didn’t physically fit between the arm pieces to where I am now. A fortnight ago I decided to give this machine a crack and managed to do 3 consecutive minutes. Today I worked hard and pushed myself a little bit further than I was comfortable with and ended up doing 15 consecutive minutes on that blasted thing! I mean really 15 minutes, this alone I am crazy proud of!

Calories burnt – 298, average heart rate – 162

Last but no means the least I set myself up on the espresso bikes. I was looking through the list of tracks and I was looking at around the 7-8km mark and I found a track called City Express. Oh this sounds like a good quick track so I set it to do one lap and off I pedalled. Holy crap was I wrong!!

The hills profile on this track was ridiculous and was steeper than any track I have attempted before with the incline getting up to a 43% incline. The only thing express about this track is the express rate in which my heart rate skyrocketed! But I started this awful track and I will not quit, I will finish it no matter how long it takes me or how difficult it is!!

Almost smack on 30 minutes I finished the track.

Calories – 500, average heart rate – 146

So that is my personal best for gym performance today….1,101 calories burnt!

I am feeling damn proud of how hard I have worked and that I am pushing myself every time I go a little bit more outside of my comfort zone to work a little bit harder! But man on man did I need some deodorant and a long now shower!!

I came home and was starving and all I wanted was bacon and eggs but decided that I didn’t want standard bacon and eggs so decided to make myself a breakfast Frittata instead.

I then went to get dressed finally in some warmed weather clothes since for once we had some glorious sunshine today for the first time in a long long time! However it took me a longggg time to find an outfit and in the process of trying to get changed I ended up filling up get another bag of clothes with destination vinnies!!