Booyah.

Did 1000 steps in 47:30min... That's over 30 minutes faster than 4 weeks ago!

Amazing how much we can change our bodies and minds in such a short period. Even when they are long neglected ones!

Last weigh in day tomorrow and home to start phase 2. I am excited and nervous. Some pics from my last workout day at this amazing place.

About 5 old guests came in for last chance training which was awesome to see how far they had come since being here. Great group of women.

Does that feel good?

Just got back from our Spin Class and a session at Lysterfield Lake.

Had a realisation on the way back about how total the change is in the way I think. I had to burn 30 more calories to reach the target for the session so was doing push ups against a fence. Josh, our trainer, said "great push ups Kat, do they feel good?" and I replied "yes". When I thought about it later in the van I realised could never have imagined me saying yes a push-up feels good in a million years!

My thinking has changed dramatically. That along with sore muscles need rest, bullshit sore muscles need a work out!

Adding to my shopping list:

• New phone as mine has blown up
• Arm band for new phone for when I exercise (for music)
• Good set of headphones

Below is a couple of the chain gang shots from this prison camp. Taken in our ropes session.

Daily shot:

About a girl

It's strange that in one of the most challenging places I have been to in my life, both physically and mentally that I can be experiencing such joy and laughter.  This place, the program, the support, the location and everything about it lends itself to someone really finding out about themselves and realizing they quite like who they are. The feeling of new friendships being formed is also a wonderful one and I can only hope they are long ones.

It helps that while the flavour of life that the other guests have experienced is different, the product is the same. Damaged people who wear their demons in the form of fat around their body. Visible for everyone they meet to pass judgement on, sometimes silently and sometimes loudly.

It is a unique experience for all of us to experience a judgement free zone. Well, not quite true, we all still size each other up (as humans do) but it is not about weight.

I wrote a letter to myself today to be delivered in 6 weeks. Our own choice to tell ourselves with brutal honesty what we think we will need to hear. Mine is to encourage me to keep going and remember how I felt in here. I listed out all the reasons I hate being fat, from not fitting in airline chairs to having to be aware of what time a meeting is so I can leave early to make sure I get their in time. Reminding myself of the many ways I have adjusted my life to fit in with my body that when I removed the blinds it is/was scary.

Then I went on to remind myself of the laughter and joy I have experienced in here. The feeling when I conquered 1000 steps, or when I stayed on the treadmill for 1 hr without stopping, or when one of my favorite people here inappropriately made me laugh so much I nearly pee'd myself.

I reminded myself that when I need help to ASK SOMEONE!

I also reminded myself to DANCE as I haven't done enough of that in my recent life.

On a side note I am going to add freestyle dancing with weights to any circuits I create and my new Personal Trainer will be aware of this and have to be on board or they will be fired.

Anyway, much love from a reflective Kat tonight.

"I've got a plan so cunning you could put a tail on it and call it a weasel."

So the plan starting next week.

Firstly, it is a 40 week plan that finishes 6th December and starts Sunday back in Perth.

Quick update, if you read the first post on the blog it talks about how I was going to undergo surgery when I get back. I have currently postponed this until early June so that I can look a less radical solution to my weight.

So I have a new plan, which is pretty detailed but considering my mission it needs to be.

I need to buy a few things.

• A freezer to store my meals in. I am going to try pre-prepare the majority of meals so that I don't have to think about food during the week.
• A 65cm fitness ball -This is for strengthening my core and improving my balance.
• Investigate getting a better mattress. I need to take better care of my spine!
• 90cm Physio Foam Roller - For self massage
• Sort my health cover out
• New work out gear
• Get my feet checked out

Then comes the professional support.
Begins with arrange regular personal trainer sessions (2x per week). I have a lead on one that sounds like  perfect fit but if anyone reading knows of one in the Belmont area, drop me an email or comment.

Second is book in for regular (fortnightly) Bioimpedance Analysis as part of monitoring my general body health and weight as I lose weight.

Next is arrange regular massages (weekly for 4 weeks and then fortnightly) to make sure that as I continue down this path of exercise and high protein diet that my muscles and body can keep functioning normally. The reason for the 4 weekly massages is my body has gone through some intense training this month and I need to make sure I also recover well from that. Then it should be fine to go to fortnightly for a few months then moving up to monthly.

Eating plan:
I will be staying on this 1000 calorie eating plan ( 3 meals of 250 + protein shakes) until the end of the 40 weeks. This means very low carbs for 40 weeks and I'll need to monitor general health and potentially take supplements but likely only a good multivit..

Exercise maths:
 One of the important lessons I have learned here is that food intake is more important than anything. I have also learned that this whole calories in VS calories out thing is maths, and I have always liked maths!
Side note: Interesting article about the over simplification of weight gain being caused by excess calories http://authoritynutrition.com/debunking-the-calorie-myth/

Back to the plan, I know that we have a base metabolic rate that is what we burn every day if we are sedentary. My food intake will account for about 1000 calories of the energy I need daily, the extra will come from my body burning fat (around 1000 calories a day extra will be burnt from fat).

I also now know that burning 7700 calories will result in a 1kg weight loss.So if I only change my food and don't exercise I would still lose around 1kg a week. Which would mean to get to my first goal of under 100kgs it would take me 67 weeks (depending how much weight I have lost here this fortnight).

So I want to speed that up. Anything extra I do in terms of exercise obviously speeds up the amount of weight loss.

Basically the core of my plan is to continue to burn between 7000 and 15000 calories per week in exercise. This will result in an additional 1-2 kgs a week and half the time to get to my first goal.

This translates to anywhere between 9-20 hours of exercise a week. Which is a pretty full-on goal but hell it is only for 40 weeks! and it HALVES the time to my goal. I think it is possible though, especially with a one or two super session type days where I do 3-5 hours.

Also exercise is a bunch of stuff, like gardening, walking the dog or riding down the shops (once I have lost a bit more). So it doesn't all have to be full on gym work. Considering here I have been burning nearly triple what I am aiming for, I think it is doable.

Pic from today at Mordialloc Beach.

So that I don't go nuts though I need to make sure I find a balance of this whole thing and normality. That is going to be the challenge but I think I am strong enough to do it, with the help of my support (all of you!).

Thanks for reading, I know it is odd I am sharing all of this. I decided early on that one way to make myself accountable on this whole thing was to make everyone around me aware of what was going on. This could mean I fall off the horse in a spectacular fashion but hopefully instead it means that if I do have stumbles along the way that people will give me a nudge in the right direction again.

Last update for Super Saturday

Just a quick update with some shots of our last 90 minute session.

7 people in the team had to complete the below.

The hills are alive and it's very scary.

Did 2 mile hill in 53 minutes. Booyah!!

Most exciting thing is that I didn't stop the entire way. Average heart rate for the hour well over 130 (peaked at about 179) and burnt 1100 calories.

2 more sessions for today and then day off tomorrow, with an hour massage booked in.  Not the most stunning picture below but I was in pain.

I think I broke my bum.

That time of the week again.
Rowing:


Medicine ball burn:




Next comes boxing, then two mile hill, PE then some sort of race.

ARRRGH.

On the up I have ordered my protein for back home, a food carry bag, started sorting my personal trainer, physio and psych sessions. Just need to finalise my shopping list for the day I get back so I can do a cook up and prep for the next week.

I am going to have everything sorted so that instead of it being hard, I will make it harder to stop. I have developed (with help) a 40 week plan and I'll post the draft up over the next couple of days.

Exhausted

Not much to say tonight, very tired.

Had an awesome day though and started planning the next period in my life which is exciting. The team here are so generous with their knowledge it is fantastic.

Adro made Riceless Chicken Risotto tonight and it was absolutely delicious. Cauliflower is such a versatile vegie!

No one ever drowned in sweat.

I have now debunked another of my core beliefs. The one where people would say to me "You feel better after exercise!" and I used to think what a load of crock. It was a story made up by healthy people to trick fat people into exercising.

As I write this I am 2 training sessions down and have burnt 2,200 calories and I feel fabulous and HAPPY. I can only hope this keeps up as this feeling is almost as good as some of my other guilty pleasures like an occasional beer (cough).

That's not sweat - It's liquid AWESOME.

Another big day, did 1000 steps again and this time almost cracked an hour 1hr 2 minutes.

I did struggle today though, I think mainly after a couple of slow days it is hard to get going again. I burnt about 5k calories today though which is decent.

Lyrebird Nature Walk

Went on lovely relaxing walk today, 3.6kms through quite hilly forest. Actually it may have been relaxing for some, for me it was pretty full on! I look forward to the day I can take a stroll through a forest like this one and enjoy it without having to heave 160+kgs around (still easier than carting 170+ around).


Got 3 new people in today, so 7 total for the next two weeks. Seems like a good bunch and it is interesting for me as I am now an "oldie". I know the program now as everything is  repeated from the last two weeks and so while still just as scary I know I can handle anything that is thrown at me.

1000 steps tomorrow again and I am going to try hard to push 1hr. I did another block walk today and instead of 45 mins it took around 30. It is truly amazing how much our fitness can change in a short time. Or maybe it isn't my fitness that has changed it is just the knowledge that I can push harder than I thought and do more than I could.

Again comes down to having a safe environment to push yourself to your limit and people who help people like me for a living all around.

I may not be there yet but I am a damn site closer than yesterday

I went to the gym this morning to walk for 30 minutes and try and get 2kms done and then when I hit 2kms I felt I could do more.

I walked 4.1kms this morning, without stopping !!!

Such a mind set change.  My heart rate got up to 170 and for most of the walk it was at 150-160.

I know for most this isn't a major achievement, for me walking is pretty hard work and 2 years ago I was exhausted after 2kms.

Next fun run will be a different story! Though I know 4kms in a gym with a fan going on and music pumping is a bit different from walking in the outside heat but it means that I am well on the way to being able to complete a 4km walk in a fun run with my head held high.

Sweat is Fat Crying

The big day, end of my first two weeks and I have the results. I wasn't sure if I was going to share numbers on this but what the hell, this trip is going to be a long one for me and I need support around me who know what is going on!

9.3kgs
Waist and hip measurements 10 cms lower
- 2.3 years lower in my bioage (not bad for 2 weeks)
- 3.2 lower BMI
Basal Metabolic rate has decreased which is good.
Hydration decreased which is not good and I need to make sure that I keep my fluids up. Base per day is 3L and then 1L per hour exercise and so this can be upwards of 10L a day.

According to the scan I have also lost muscle and a bit of muscle quality. This isn't great but it isn't bad, I have extra protein to look forward to for the next two weeks to try and counter this.

All in all not a bad fortnight and well on the way!

Pic below is us on the van yesterday.

Fabulous Friday

Happy Friday everyone! Especially those stuck at work.

I burnt over 7000 calories today and I feel fabulously exhausted.

Todays schedule in brief:
Fitness test - Crunches, Steps, Pushups, Planks and Squats

1000 Steps: Completed in 1hr 10 minutes (10 minutes quicker)

Weights training - 1 hour heavy weights circuit

Uploud - 40 minute session on cardio gear (I was on the cross trainer).

PE - Played games like frisbee, totem tennis, netball and footy passing. Then a team game which one person here took a bit too seriously and cheated so I called him out and we had to climb the driveway (called a reset).

Last Chance Training - Commando Style (Tried to pull/push a 12 seater van up a steep gravel driveway)

The above shot is from Wednesday I think in our rope session.

Headshot from today.

Weigh in tomorrow and I'll discover if my Bioage has gone down and if I have lost some weight. We have a biggest loser style weigh in with big reveals and stand next to a life size picture of us taken when we arrived. Lucky there will be no cameras so I should be able to stop myself crying.

Good night from the Dandenong's

Kat

Muscle VS Fat

The below is pretty amazing.



Always wondered what the whole muscle weighs more than fat saying meant and if it was bollocks or not. Seemed like an excuse for not losing weight one week.

It weighs the same but it is takes up less space, is more dense, isn't as lumpy and looks prettier than fat. So that's why the girl in the photo above looks better when she is 6.5kgs heavier. Because her body fat % has gone down.



 In reality it is possible to lose 1kg of fat one week and have put on 1kg in muscle and have a scale reading of 0. So the scales are only telling part of the story. Instead of focusing on numbers it should be about how we feel and look and if we are eating the food of the righteous!

Nothing tastes as good as thin feels.

I am stronger today, yesterday I was struggling but I have worked it through for now.

Just got back from a Master Class with Adro Sarnelli the director of the facility. He is amazingly free with his knowledge and has been there so is very worth listening too.  He showed us how to make sushi using cauliflower as rice. They tasted amazing. Two whole rolls each for a sum of 250 calories.

Slow day on the training front, did 1 session in the gym and one in the pool. Still more exercise than I ever did before as one of the others here said.

Tomorrow is 1000 steps again (argh). My aim is to beat my time of 1hr 20 mins. Then we have a couple of other sessions and last chance training which is apparently full on. Then once that is done I have completed my first 2 weeks here. Weigh in and VLA analysis on Saturday and then the weekend is self paced time.

I feel good today.

Just on a side note, as I thought maybe some people were curious about the massive calorie burns I am doing. Because I am carrying so much extra weight I burn more, it's that simple. It's like a normal size person training in a fat suit would burn more.  It is the only advantage to being so big, well that and my wit and charm!

For now adios from the Dandenong's

Kat

 



Don't treat a treat

Wisdom of the day is when you fall off the horse and struggle getting back on, don't wait till tomorrow/next week etc. Stop treating the treat the minute you realise and get back on the horse.

I am very sore today, had my myotherapy session yesterday and I am a bit bruised from it. It is a form of manipulation and it hurts. Some of the guests here say it has worked wonders, I will wait and see.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myotherapy

I did a spin class today, in a gym. Did 11.7kms. The below sums it up and yes I am the guy.



Why the hell would anyone invent a bike with an even more uncomfortable (bloody painful) seat than normal seats? I get that it isn't about pleasure, but it would burn the same amount of friggen calories if the seat was more comfortable.

Needless to say I am sore and bruised.

Burnt over 6000 calories again today, 6.5 hours solid exercise. Only good thing about that is that it means recovery day tomorrow where we only do about 2.5 hours training.

Had a bit of a realisation that I feel I can push myself to the extreme in here because it is safe. The trainers do not ask you to do more than your body can (even if you don't think you can do it). It's a nice feeling knowing that you will be caught if you fall.

I craved different food for the first time yesterday, and it passed in about 30 minutes. I also didn't die because I didn't have the food. At most I felt a bit uncomfortable for a while as I rode the wave of the craving.

My "Stronger than Yesterday" wristband continues to be a source of inspiration during sessions (thank you to my work friends!). It is simple and yet means so much.

Thank you to everyone sending support and reading this, it's a hard day today but I know I am stronger because of it. This post also feels a little disjointed and I don't have energy to fix it right now. I apologise to any grammar police for having to read.

For tonight, adios from the Dandenong's.

Kat

Life's a Beach

Mordialloc this morning for a lovely stroll along the beach. It is cooler today and a lovely morning to be out and about. Mordy is a dog beach as well and so was nice to see all the activity.

Training tip for all those walkers out there who walk along the beach, run up any steps you come across and then back down and continue your walk. It's fun.

I think from my calculations I walked about 4kms this morning not including ramps and stairs along the way. Also did something called a bull ring on the soft sand where the group spreads out in a circle and one person runs around them while the others do a set of something like squats, then rinse and repeat until everyone has had a run.

I am not going to run through the rest of my day today, suffice to say it was exhausting. My mind is in overload and need to get some of it down.

Danni, one of our trainers, mentioned a quote which is "You are not a dog, don't reward yourself with food". Yesterday when I did the block walk for the first time (before breakfast and on our day off *cough) I had a revelation that I often have an internal dialogue of things like "I work hard and am a good person, I deserve a drink after work/bacon sandwich/chili sausage etc etc". This is what I have to change, food is a fuel, I don't deserve it, I need it to live. Until I can get the weight under control and start feeling healthy and fit I don't deserve to use it as a reward. I am not a dog!

Don't be concerned I have not turned into a zealot of any sort, this is about me and to get to the size I am I have had a lot of dedication to over indulging. This means I need to take food/drink out of my reward system. Then I think it makes it easier to make healthy choices. Along with asking myself "Do I want to stay fat?" when I am really tempted.

Short term pain for long term gain. If I choose not to have a drink/eat high calorie food etc then I choose a long term gain which is living a healthy life.

 I am sure some of you reading will have watched biggest loser and possibly seen where they analyse the contestants BioAge. It's called a  VLA or Bioimpedance Analysis and I got one when I first got here.Now I can't find out much dirt on this test on the net and so it can't be too bad. Basically it shows you a whole pile of information about your body. This site has a full list of what it can read - http://www.vitalityandwellness.com.au/cellular-health-analysis 

It was an eye opener, my bio age was 82 (much higher than anyone else in the room). On Saturday I get retested which will be interesting. There was a bunch of other useful information on there that can show why some weeks we (I mean people who train *cough*) can push it all week and not lose weight. It does this by monitoring your fat content VS your muscle content.

Shouldn't be an issue with me not losing weight with this diet and exercise but I thought that might be interesting for some people reading!

I am having some stunning meals in here, really delicious. Today I had a scotch egg for breakie, goulash for lunch and a really nice eggplant lasagna this evening with it's sauce made from spinach and ricotta.

 I made everyone pork roast and cauliflower sauce last night which turned out better than expected. Heart smart pork fillet rubbed with mustard and garlic and wrapped in ham, served with Emma's zesty lemon broccoli and carrots (with some onions thrown in) and then a sauce made with mashed cauliflower, stock and garlic. Who said healthy food needed to be boring!

I'll start collating recipes as I go along but probably not on here as not everyone is interested.

I also forgot to mention, and I know a few people who will laugh at this one. In the house, despite having to get up at 5:30am, we are expected to make our beds (properly), open the blinds and windows and make sure the room is tidy.  The reason is so that if we have to come back at any stage we aren't walking into a dark messy hole.

Shot for today, taken from my surface as my phone battery has died a sad death.

For now adios from the Dandenongs

Kat

Super Saturday Continued

Continuing on from my previous post:
Medicine balls was on the patch (I will post photos at some stage of the surrounds). Basically it is a 20m x 30m lawn area where we do our outside training sessions. The session went for an hour and we each had a medicine ball and had to do 20 slams (Lift the ball over your head and slam it to the ground, catch it and rinse and repeat) then run to the next corner, do 20 push ups (I do them against a bench), run to the next corner do 20 crunches then the next corner and 20 chest lifts (medicine ball over head and back down to chest). Then 19 around the stations, 18 and you get the idea.  As it was 41 yesterday in Melbourne I am sure you can imagine how much fun this was.

Then shake, 2 small scoops. I have to say you are never hungry here and sometimes it is hard to eat so constantly.

Then we did a boxing session for 50 mins or so. I wont go into detail as this is getting lengthy as is. Basically though there was a lot of sweat, lots of punching, a little swearing and a 1000 calories burnt.

Then lunch, I made a bolognese was lovely but it lacked the pasta. There is this pasta alternate that is allowed here that I am hoping to try next week, called SlendierSlim.   It has 10 calories per 100grams, which is a lot of bang for your buck and feedback from the other guests say it is a decent alternate. Made of an Asian vegetable called Konjac.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konjac 

I was smart at lunch and made enough for dinner as well which meant in and out once we got let free from the training sessions. Getting the hang of it in here!

After lunch we went and did 2 mile hill, which is what it sounds like, a very long hill. So long in fact I didn't quite make the top, according to the rest of the team I was about 10 minutes away when they picked me up. To explain we all pile into a van driven by Josh, who is one of our trainers. We head to the bottom of this road where he drops us off and tells us to climb the hill for an hour, if you reach the top climb back down again. After an hour he comes and picks you up wherever you are on the hill.

Some people are at a stage they can run up some of it, some are starting out, for me who didn't think I could walk the driveway a week ago but seem to be able to do the 1000 steps it is still daunting but I set off with my two water bottles (41 degree heat remember) and kept going. I start and stop as needed, trying to make sure my heart rate gets above 170 before stopping and try to keep moving again before my heart rate hits 120-130. I admit, once only, I found a rock which I sat down on for a good 2 minutes before getting moving again. Something has definitely changed. I'll find out from Josh how close I was to the top tomorrow, 2 miles is 3.22 Kms and considering 2 years ago I pulled out half way through the Santa fun run of 4km it astounds me that I can suddenly do longer and UPHILL! 

I find myself doing stuff that I thought it would take years to do and only once the weight came off. This week has blown me away with how much our body is capable of. Our minds just need to be so bloody exhausted they turn off and just do it. Or maybe when I started on this adventure I decided that I just keep going and that is what has changed. Either way as soon as I have that daunting/scared/want to cry feeling I ignore it. I feel safe here that the support team will have my back and so there is no reason not to give it 100%.

Quick photo break of me flipping tires on day two, not a very flattering one but it was very heavy! This was prior to my super brain kicking in and now everything is a cake (well not really but it is mentally easier).

After the hill we went straight to the local pools, which was crowded! It is a 25m pool as well and so not much room. Damn it felt good though to get off my feet and just stretch my body out. We were at this stage supposed to do 25 laps and then we could relax for 30 minutes. I spent most of my time stretching and doing aqua type exercises like bicep curls because I just couldn't move and was cramping a bit.

After the pools back to base, then protein shake and a breath in before the last session of the day.

Last session we did we split into two teams and the aim of the game was to get the most points.

25m row = 1 point

100m bike = 1 point

2 x crunches = 1 point

2 x push ups = 1 point

1 x Burpee = 1 point

1 x Thrust = 1 point

I rowed 3.1kms in this session and did a 2km bike ride and threw in 40 push ups at the end.

Our team didn't win, but that wasn't the point I guess, though it would have been nice to! Everyone in the team pushed themselves to the extreme which is the point and in 30 mins we burnt a massive amount of calories, I think mine was about 600.

So that finishes summing up 6 hours of exercise.

I think for the day I was around 6300 calories burnt which includes the down period measuring from 6am to 6pm. I may update this as I am about to go check the numbers and put them up on the board.

I may post again tonight with a few thoughts about the day today as I had some fairly significant ones. Will see after dinner!

For now though, adios from the Dandenongs.

Kat

Before breakfast on Super Saturday

Before breakfast I have....
Rowed 2kms
Rode 4kms
Walked 2kms
And cross trained 550m
Burning 1492 calories since getting up.

That's like a quadathalon (or something)!

Now we have 40mins for breakfast and then medicine balls on the patch.

Omelet for breakie. 250 calories and no carbs and is yum.

If I don't post tonight it means I am recovering from the day!

Cook up!

 Today was cook up/recovery day. Only burnt bout 3500 calories but I did manage to do a big hill walk (the driveway). There is a block walk which basically goes up one driveway and then around the block and up another driveway. I'd say maybe 2kms but very hilly. I plan to do it on Sunday (our day of rest!).

Today we planned for all our meals for the next week and cooked them up. After a journey to the local Woolworths. I managed to get a soda stream refill and so we have been having soda water this arvo and everyone is loving it.

So basically 144 meals needed to be cooked and we ended up choosing 8 recipes. Everything is under 250 calories and has been converted by us or past guests from other recipes (or memory).

• Tacos
• Goulash
• Chicken Florentine
• beef stroganoff
• Chicken pizza (chicken as the base)
• Bolognese
• Lasagne (eggplant with ricotta and spinach white sauce)
• Breakfast muffins (mini muffin frittatas)

Interestingly at Woolworths I didn't heavily crave anything despite being surrounded by varying foods. Though when I walked past the pita bread, of all things, I could have broken!

There is no option at the moment and so it is easy to walk away!

Lots of lessons today, both from the staff here but also in my own head.  Main thing is that food is fuel and can be pleasurable but there is something basically different in the way obese people think. So we need to use it as fuel only for a while until we change ourselves.  We had a great class about connecting everything bad you put in your mouth with the future.

One of the things Adro says that resonates is that really there is only one question. If you asked yourself this every time you had an urge to eat/drink something harmful and that is:

Do I want to stay fat? Answer is always no!

Another saying about not wanting to throw food out, throw out  excess that doesn't fit into the calories or send a half eaten plate back is:

Waste or Waist?

Super Saturday tomorrow with over 6 hours of physical sessions, I expect to be shattered but will try post. Then free time all of Sunday! Though seems like a waste to not try and fit some sort of hard work in so I am sure I will.



No weigh in till a week tomorrow. As much as this place is about weight loss it isn't about numbers. It is all about changing us. No real gimmicks here either, it is simple calories in vs calories out and if you can mentally change.

In order of priority

1. Thinking Thin (Though I prefer to say thinking normal)

2. East less

3. Exercise More

By the way, I am not posting ugly head shots for no reason, I want to journal the changes in my face over the next couple of months. In part as a reminder for if I every slip backwards (which I am sure I will once or twice).

Two more photos! The first is of me on 1000 steps on Tuesday, the other is on suicide hill yesterday.

Recovery Day

Not exactly sure what happened to this post. Seems to have repeated itself and I have lost my original post about ketosis. I'll write another on up later.

Recovery day is basically a low burn day, around 2000-3000 calories for me of exercise instead of 5000+. It gives the body a chance to rest and the muscles rebuild. Here it is filled with a few training sessions and the varying food type work shops, psych, massage etc.

Exhausted

Exhausted this evening.

Did something called suicide hill today. The name says it all!

Morning!

It is 10am and I have already burnt 2382 calories and consumed 325.

Cafe breakfast today! I had
100g baby spinach
200g mushrooms
1 egg
4 slices bacon ultra trimmed.

Cooked in nonstick frypan with a little water to soften the spinach and sprinkled with pepper.

It was massive and only 250 calories.

I am also detoxing today. Massive headaches and other crappy symptoms. It will pass (literally).

I have decided when on equipment I am not allowed to stop at multiples of 5mins. So what I do is reach 5 and push to 7mins then i am practically at 10 which of course I can't stop at so I do 11 mins.

Its not easy but it feels good to be doing this.

Ow.

So today started at 6am with meds (blood sugar and blood pressure) and moved on to a lesson on lifting things correctly, like truck tyres.


We then had a lovely bacon and egg scrabble for breakfast before doing a class called active resting (305 minute cardio).

Then shake time!

Then a 1 hour functional fitness class, moving blocks of wood around/pushing full wheelbarrows/shovelling.

Then a bbq lunch of protein, chicken in my case beautifully cooked on the BBQ.

Then headed off to do what is called 1000 steps http://www.visitmelbourne.com/regions/Yarra-Valley-and-Dandenong-Ranges/Activities-and-attractions/Outdoor-activities/Walking-and-hiking/Kokoda-Memorial-Walk.aspx .

Basically it is a form of bush torture that somehow I finished because the only other option was to walk back down past someone larger than me. It was tough, according to the heart rate monitor I may have died and been reborn again up on the mountain.  I did bottom to top in 1 hr 20 minutes.

Adro and his crew seem to think it is great taking photos while we are focused on other menial tasks like surviving!




Adios from the Dandenongs.

K

A good beginning

Day one is over and surprisingly I am still alive. However I haven't done any exercise yet. Today has been about where my body is now and getting a baseline so that we can see the progress in 2 weeks time.

Have met 4 people today who have been here between 2-4 weeks already. One of the guys who arrived with me is in for 12 and one of the women already here is on week 9. I mentioned that saying how long we were in for sounded like prison and was met with silence. They may need a chance to warm to my humour.

2 day protein only diet starts tomorrow to kick my body into being a fat burning machine. 7700 calories burnt is 1kg so I have a lot of work to do. There has been a lot of classes today explaining the reasons behind this plan.  I have learnt a lot and the main theme is to teach us how not to put the weight back on. I need to ditch the old and start again. Which sounds pretty good as long as I get to keep my friends, job, animals and family.

As a side note there seems to be an unwritten rule that the "oldies" aren't allowed to tell the newbies what is going to happen next. It's a magical mystery roller coaster I think filled with fun and laughter.

Saying that it is a super positive environment, definitely a little cult like. Luckily I am used to that!

Basic outline I know so far is the next 2 weeks is going to be hell. starting at 6am tomorrow. I shall endeavour to keep you all in the picture, if I can still function.

Adios from the Dandenongs!

K

Journey to Rome

Just overheard a great saying from one of the guests here. You may take 2 hours to get to Rome or you may take 6 hours to get to Rome. Either way you still get to Rome.

Day One!

On the way to the Dandenongs in 5 minutes. Just had breakfast (yes there was bacon involved) and feeling very nervous.

Just read an article in the Herald about rapid weight loss being bad for your body. I am sure that is right but so is having the weight in the first place. I feel a bit like a ticking time bomb sometimes as even a small fall could have big repercussions at my size!

Thanks to the girls (and mum & dad) for Saturday and my work friends for Friday. I appreciate you all coming on this adventure with me.

Quote for the day (thanks Anna)

A journey of 1000 steps begins with one (but remember to bring 2 pairs of shoes!).