Final weigh-in, measure and reflection.

Current weight: 109.3kg

The 12 week Transform your life program has come to an end, but not my journey to fitness. I have seen changes in my weight, body shape, emotions, thinking, blood sugar levels, general health and fitness.

One of my goals was to lose some weight and reduce my stomach circumference. Firstly I have lost a total of 6.8kgs and have lost 4% of my body fat. The latter has been a result of losing weight and increasing muscle. Overall with my weekly measurements I have lost a total of 32.5cms. The break down is below.

• Chest: 8cm
• under breasts: 7.8cm
• belly button: 2.7cm
• hips/butt: 3.5cm
• thighs (left/right): 2.6cm/2.8cm
• calves (left/right): 0.4cm/1.5cm
• upper arms (left/right): 2.3cm/0.9cm

Another of my goals was to reduce my blood sugar levels and I achieved this. This has been most evident in my fasting blood glucose levels. I think that a major contribution to this is the strength/resistance training I do. I have never really done this type of activity but have discovered that resistance training improves insulin sensitivity which is a major issue with type 2 diabetes.

My last goal was to feel healthier and develop some good exercise habits. I definitely feel healthier and fitter. I can feel that my body shape has changed and I feel like I have more bounce in my step.

The main habit that I have developed over this program is to make exercise a priority in my day. To ensure that I will continue with this I have learned the following:

- Variety is the spice of life. Previously most of my physical activity involved walking which got boring, now I am mixing up what I am doing, using the gym, group sessions and the pool as well as walking

- Do what I enjoy. As the program ends I am still going to be using the Coburg Leisure Centre in my physical exercise and will be sticking with the activities that I like – swimming, Body Pump, CX sessions and water workouts. This way I will want to exercise as it is enjoyable.

- Continue my blog. Knowing that each week I am documenting my journey to fitness motivates me to exercise and push myself so that I have something to share. And it is great to get the encouragement from all of you reading my blog.

Week 12: Experimenting with diet

This week in my personal training session with Suzy I put the gloves on and spent the session boxing. It was really easy to get the heart rate up and the sweat flowing while boxing and I actually enjoyed it and want to check out a boxing class.

I am doing a little bit of experimenting with my diet this week. I have been eating my carbohydrates in the morning, and then cutting the carbs right back after lunch. It is hard as I love my pasta and rice and seeing the rest of the family eat them at dinner makes me want to eat them too. What makes it easier is that I am eating a larger than usual portion of protein with lots of the veggies that I love such as mushrooms, eggplant and cauliflower. I am looking forward to seeing if this type of eating routine does anything to my weight loss and blood sugar levels.

I have been thinking of what to do when the Transform Your Life program finishes next week. I found out today that I will still have access to the centre, the gym, the pool and all the classes for an extra three weeks, only without the one-on-one personal training sessions. This is great as it will give me an opportunity to see how I go at maintaining the good routines that I have started without the push from my personal trainers. Having said that I feel like that I have developed good relationships with a lot of the gym instructors at the centre and I know that they will continue to encourage me to continue with the journey I have begun.

Week 11: WOW....I can jog!

Eleven weeks ago I would not have thought it possible that I could maintain a jog for more than a few seconds, but through this week I started with a 30 second jog on the treadmill and I am now able to jog for 2 minutes!

It has been harder to get to the gym this week as I have been sick and have had sick children. (Did I jinks myself last week when I said I now had some gym equipment that I can use as home if need be?) So I have now used my Mother's Day present which comes with a 25 minute workout using the resistance bands. However I missed the gym environment as I seem to push myself harder when there are others exercising around me.

I was unable to get to the gym 2 days in a row this week and I really wanted to get there, so much so that yesterday, after looking after a sick daughter all day, I managed to make it to the gym at 8.30pm to fit in an hour session before the centre closed. Perhaps I am starting to develop a habit, a slight addiction to exercise??

The small group training session was lead by a new trainer, Shardi. She lead the group through a varied program which worked my upper body as well as getting my heart rate up. This included boxing, push-ups, squats while throwing a medicine ball, and rowing with resistance bands. She advised that if I was doing the exercises correctly, I should feel it the following day. And I did!!!

Week 10: Under 110kg!

Current Weight 109.9kg

Look at that number above, I am finally under 110kg! These kilograms have been much harder to lose that I would ever have thought, but I am proud of the way I have lost them. I have lost these kilos as a result of all the hard work I have put in, both at the gym and it eating healthier. For the most part my blogs have been positive but all the changes I have introduced haven't been easy. Some days I really don't want to go to the gym, I cry because I want to stay home where it is warm and comfortable, I want to sit read a book and munch through a whole packet of corn chips. But I get over it, put one foot out the door and head for the gym because I know that all this is for my greater good. And also I have to write my blog and I don't want to say that I didn't go to the gym at all for an entire week :)

This week I had a PT session with Tracey. What I like about PT sessions is that my trainers make it so much easier to challenge myself and make me go further than I think I can. This time I went up to level 6 on the treadmill, to level 7 on the stair climber, squats with a 12 kg weight, and worked on my upper body pulling weights. It was quite a work out! This week I also swam 1.25 km, did a water workout, concentrated on mastering changes to my gym program, and did a Small Group Training session.

It was Mother's Day this week and instead of being showered with chocolates my lovely family gave me some resistance bands. These are fantastic. I have used them in classes and training sessions and now I can use them at home too. Although I enjoy (mostly) going to the gym some days it just doesn't work out. Sometimes the busyness of life gets in the way with sick kids, work, family and study. So I am building up a collection of portable gym equipment. So far I have hand weights, a exercise ball, and now resistance bands. Now I can create my own little exercise circuit when I can't get to the gym.

Week 9: My clothes are too big!

Current weight: 110.6kg

The biggest excitement for this week is that I now have a pile of clothes that no longer fit me because they are TOO BIG! I have never had this before, as I have slowly and surely piled on the weight over the past 15 years. I really want to bring this bag of clothes to the op-shop but I'm a little afraid that I will need them again, so my fall back position is putting them in a box in the shed. Hopefully the box will never be opened again until my grandchildren go through my possessions when I am dead and exclaim “I can't believe grandma was ever big enough to fit into these clothes!”

It has been business as usual at the gym. Working through my gym program, using the pool, and attending a class or two. After nine weeks I would have thought I would be over aches and pains after my sessions but they are still constant friends , although they are not as severe as when I first started exercising. As I change the exercises that I do, and attend different classes I am working different muscles at different intensities and this is still effecting my body. After the STEP class last week I had aching knees for days!

I had a personal training session with Suzy this week. She led me through some whole body exercises that really got the heart pumping, and the sweat flowing. We took some video footage to give you an indication of some of the exercises I did in our half hour session. As you can see I am getting a good work out. I am puffing, red-faced and glowing. 

 

Week 8: Overcoming barriers

Current Weight: 111.4kg

I have just come home from my first STEP class and I made it though the whole session! I did set the bar low, and thought if I could make it through half the class that would be good and any more was a bonus. Admittedly, I was totally uncoordinated and probably did less work than the others as I tried to figure out the moves and combinations. I also only did the lower impact options, but I was moving for the whole hour.
This week I also had a PT (Personal Training) session with Tracey and I got over some barriers that I thought I couldn't push my way through. I find it hard to jog so on the treadmill I always up the level of incline to give myself more of an aerobic work out. I've never gone passed level 5 for speed, as I felt I would have to jog, but Tracey pushed me up to level 5.5 which I could do without jogging. Step-ups have always been part of my program but on the lowest level. Tracey pushed me to step-up to the the highest level, as well as carrying 6kg dumbbells in each hand!
On Saturday I had a great small group training session with Jesse. It helped that there was someone new to exercise in the group and I realized that 8 weeks ago, that was me, struggling though the circuit and maintaining repetitions. It made me realize how far I have come with my fitness.
I have always loved the water and enjoy my laps of the pool. However I have trouble keeping count of the laps that I do. I was given a great idea by a friend who sings a song beginning with A for the first lap and works his way through the alphabet. This has worked well. By the time I get to Z, I have done 26 x 50m or 1.3kms. This takes me about 45 minutes and then I spend 15 minutes doing exercises that work my abs. I found that there were some letters I struggled to find a song (you wouldn't believe some of the songs I resorted to) so suggestions for hard letters,such as K, X or Z or just some great songs to swim to, would be much appreciated.

Week 7: Mid-way results

Every week I get weighed and measured. I get measured around my chest, under breasts (the smallest part), at my belly button, hips, arms, thighs and calves. After finishing the first half of the program I have lost 4.8kgs and 22.4cms.

Chest:   4.2cm
Under breasts:  4.6cm
Belly button   0.9cm
Hips/Butt:  1.6cm
Thighs (left/right):  2.4cm/2.9cm
Calves (left/right):  0.4cm/2.2cm
Upper arms (left/right):  2.5cm/0.7cm
Total:   22.4cm

I'd like to see more come off my stomach and hips so I have added some stomach exercises to my program. These are great and I am have began to do them at home too. I have also started to do some exercises at home with some dumbbell weights.
I am finding it harder now that the weather is cooler to get up early and head to the gym so some of my early mornings are now mid morning visits. I was unwell over the weekend and had 3 days away from the gym and indulged in some comfort eating. I struggle with emotional eating and if I'm a little down or sick I turn to carbs such as corn chips. I am trying to counter this with having healthier snacks nearby. My favourite is lightly salted air-popped popcorn with cumin and coriander. After 3 days of no exercise I was thinking of talking it easy at the gym the first day back. However, once I got to the gym I found that I had missed being there and was soon back to my normal rhythm. I feel like I am comfortable in the classes I have started, so it is time to start a new class in week 8.