Well, that sure did suck ....

So, there's nothing quite like slogging your guts out at the gym only to reach your mid-program assessment to discover that you've gained weight and fat and all your benchmark test points are the same as the were at the start of your test. I'm no more flexible, and I'm 1 and 1/2 kilos heavier and my body fat has climbed to 30% (though I think the test machine is a bit dodgy).

So, yes, there are a few mitigating factors - I'm ill, my Post-viral syndrome is still affecting me - this week it has been excruciating and I discovered that absolutely no pain killers bar one "prescription only" medicine works on relieving the pain at the moment.

Also, I was very fit when I started the sessions with the Personal Trainer (Gary) so there wasn't as much room for improvement as if I had started last year when I weighed well over 100 kilos and worse size 22-24 clothes.

And time is very difficult for me to manage. I used to work out first thing in the morning and now I can barely get out of bed by 7am let alone to the gym at 5:30am as I used to do before I got sick.

I can tell myself all this, but it's still frustrating as hell.

Also, I am still battling with the food; portion sizes, appropriate meals, learning to stop eating when I've satisfied my hunger, these are all things that I am still working on.

Hubbie bought me Kurt Cobain's diaries for Mother's day and there is a brilliant line from Kurt talking about people's struggles with drug addiction and using the 12-step program, or detox (real detox/dry out clinics, not herbal potions) programs to "get clean". He says that from his experiences, both personal and others, he realised that any concerted effort to move on from drugs took at least 5-10 years therapy.

As I've said before, there are a lot of similarities between drug and food addictions. The sad part about food addictions is that you have to continue to eat, food isn't something like drugs or alcohol that you can remove from your diet and never have again. You have to find a way to control/manage your food intake without developing an eating disorder or malnutrition.

I haven't managed that yet. I ended up with a zinc deficiency that caused me to be endlessly ill last year (and a fair part of this year), but I'm working on that. So I can honestly believe that it will take me 5-10 to learn new ways to eat, exercise, and manage my mind. Losing body fat is about those 3 key elements

1. Food, eating - learning what's right for your body and how much

2. Exercise - muscle building/load bearing exercise, cardio exercise, and stretching/toning work is all necessary to create a healthy, happy and sexy body.

3. Mind - working out why we chose to eat when we're not hungry and how to develop more appropriate behaviours. Learning when our body says "I've had enough food. You can stop now. You don't need to load up of food" (I still struggle with this one). The mind is the hardest one to concur, and I fight this battle every day. But if you fight and examine the results and modify your attacks to be more effective, ultimately you win. That is my goal.

So, anyway I have decided that I need to refocus my efforts towards managing the food side of things at the moment, as my brain and body are not co-operating it is the only thing I can control.

Once I have completed my next series of tasks I will let you know what I am trying, and if it is working.

Will update sooner next time.

Regards

Kate

P.S. Jenny my PT is not the commando from Biggest Loser. Gary is much nicer, but still a sadist.


***************

Click on the comments word in "Posted by Bikini By Xmas at xx:xx 0 comments" section if you'd like to leave a comment ...