Its the FINAL COUNTDOWN...

Hi Everyone,

I wanted to share a little story with you all. 12 weeks ago tomorrow I stepped on the scales & weighed in at 81.5kg.

Last Wednesday I weighed in at 71.3kg – so that’s 10.2kg in 11 weeks, 12.5% body weight. I will do my final weigh in tomorrow but I am hopefully for a sub 70 result – I want to welcome Ms 60’s to my house.
In addition to the weight loss on the scales, I have shed an AMAZING 56cms from my body, most of it from my waist & boob areas. My boobs are PERKY again!!

Over the past 12 weeks I have had my ups & downs, like we all have. I can honestly say that I have never ‘slipped off the wagon’ or left the program. I have learnt how to deal with my emotions without eating or drinking them away. I now lace my shoes & go for a run when I am frustrated.

I have completed 2 triathlons, and was registered for a 3^rd but in accordance with Dr’s orders I couldn’t compete on Sunday. My fitness test has improved dramatically, from the first week when I couldn’t run the full 1km to yesterday when I completed it in 5mins 16 seconds. I am now a fit & healthy woman.

I honestly believe that without Mish’s program I wouldn’t have had the support & help that I have needed to keep going. I wanted to thank EVERYONE who has tweeted, left comments on my blog, and supported me over the past 12 weeks. I believe I have made friendships that will last for lifetimes, and I look forward to the challenge of Round 1 2011 and maintaining this fantastic lifestyle that I have developed.

So here are my final photos – before and afters out there for the world to see…..

See you all on Saturday

Xx

Sara

The Why of the Wahs 12WBT Journey... and where I am going....

I was married on the 23^rd of January 2010. Most women say that they looked better on their wedding day than every before… I was the exception to this. On my wedding day I was bigger than ever, I actually put on weight leading up to the day, which meant that I had to wear “spanks” under my dress – not the sexy lingerie I or my husband were anticipating.

I was lucky, my dress was very forgiving, and the good old corseting made me look better than I deserved.

I was looking back over the honeymoon photos in August this year, (7 months after the wedding) I was disappointed in how I looked, even when I was dressed, I looked frumpy, and well….. fat. This was the first time that I started to think something needed to be changed.

I jumped on the scales that same day…… 85.5kg EEK! This was the biggest I had ever seen, no wonder that my size 14 jeans were VERY snug & I had nothing to wear!

I decided to do something about it….. I got up at 5.30am the next morning and ran on the treadmill, I was dreadful, I couldn’t run very far, and like most beginners went hard & fast for 30 seconds & then flopped in a heap! Hardly the fit healthy woman I honestly thought I was!

I started researching learn to run programs, and installed the C25K program on my phone, in my research I also found the Body Blitz Challenge and printed the information out for reading.  I decided to enter to give myself the extra motivation I needed to lose weight – I figured that if I had to send someone horrid fat photos of myself I might as well send them follow up photos in 12 weeks showing how far I had come!

My start date was the 20^th of September; I weighed in at 82.5kg. My Husband took photos of me in my bathers, which looking back were way too small, and I can’t believe I actually wore them on the honeymoon.

I started to use Twitter & Facebook to keep up with friends & strangers who had a similar goal to me….through this I discovered Michelle Bridges 12 week body Transformation (12WBT)

This program has shown me how to live my life in a open, honest & fulfilling way. I am noticing improvements in my relationships with Hubby & also with colleagues, my resilience & ability to cope with adversity has increased, and I am generally more happy with myself.

On Michelle’s program she provides exercise, nutrition, shopping lists & probably most importantly for me – lessons to help you identify risks to your success. The last weeks focused on releasing your inner teenager, taking control of your own destiny & not giving in to temptation –regardless of what your self talk is saying.

Michelle provides the right level of support, and encouragement to keep me motivated & going. Today I received an email from Michelle, saying how proud she was of me & my achievements. Some people on the forums have complained about how they were ‘generic’ or ‘mail merged’ and so they felt ripped off because of that…. Personally I thought it had EXACTLY the right amount of pat on the back & kick in the butt that I needed.

I sent a quick reply back to Mish, thanking her for the encouragement, and stating how excited I was about the upcoming party…. A short time later I had another email from Mish saying that she was looking forward to the party too! These little letters of encouragement make my heart warm. I get excited every time I have contact with Mish (I remember the first time she re-tweeted my results I literally squealed in excitement!!)

I, using Michelle Bridges tips, information, and program am turning my life around…. I have had a REALLY bad day today, I learnt that I lost a really big potential client, through no fault of my own, and if I am honest about it I was about to skip the gym tonight & go home… but after re-reading my post above I have decided that I will  JFDI & head off to the gym …..

Mish I know that I am making these changes myself, and that you are not doing them for me, but I want to thank you for giving me the knowledge to empower myself to achieve in weight loss, body transformation, and most importantly LIFE.

sx

S

Reflecting on Achievements

This blog has taken me a long time to write, I have had the words floating around in my head, and to be honest I wish I could just press print & they would flow easily.

I will keep it simple today though, I am working on a longer blog about why I started 12WBT in the first place but for now I am going to focus on what I have achieved over the past 8 weeks.

-          I have lost 8.1kgs which is 9.9% of my body weight, bringing me down to 73.4kg this morning.

-          My BMI has dropped from 27.6 to the current healthy 24.9.

-          My boobs have reduced in size by 10cms, my waist reduced by 17cms & my hips by 7cms.

-          I can now run 1km in 5mins 20seconds (a 1min 19sec improvement)

-          I can do 47 push ups in 1 minute (including 10 on my toes) this is up from 27 push ups in week one & none on toes.                       

-          I can now hold the dreaded wall sit for 3mins 19secs (improved from 2mins 6sec in week 1)

-          I have reduced my consumption of alcohol and now only have 1-2 glasses of wine one day per week (down from a bottle a night!)

-           I eat breakfast every day.

-          I execise 5-7 days per week.

There is no doubt about it I have done really well, I am feeling good, I now see a skinny girl looking back at me in the mirror. However now is not the time to slacken off or get complacent.

The next 3 weeks are where the challenge really begins – I have 5.4kg to reach my goal weight of 68kgs, and 21 days to get there!

I have arranged for a friend to take my final photos, but because I have to go away with work on the 4^th of December they are going to be taken earlier than I would like, so on the 2^nd of December I will be stripping down to my new blue bikini & hopefully showing the world the physical transformation I have made.

I mentioned in the first part of this post that I am working on why I started 12WBT I am hoping that when I can finish that blog people will be able to see the mental transformation that I know I have made.

I hope that everyone is having a fantastic day, take a moment to reflect on what you have achieved to this point in the game – if you are not happy with that ask yourself what you can do to be happy in 3 weeks time, and then JDFI!

Xx

S

Update on my goals…..

I set these goals WAY back in the preseason tasks & then I stretched them 4 days into the 12WBT to make them a little more challenging.  Here they are again- with an indication of how I went (in red!)

1 month goal

• Increase fitness until I can run for 20 minutes without stopping (I can currently run for 8 minutes at 8km/hr, 3-5% incline on treadmill) DONE
• To run outside at least once per week. –New goal – Once a week do a bike ride immediately followed by a run - biathlon style DONE
• Lose 4kgs (that’s 500g per week & will bring me into the 70’s) DONE
• Do 20 push ups on knees (I can only do 10 now) – Fitness test proved I can actually do 28 so new goal – 40 DONE
• NEW Goal – To bring 1km time trial result down by 39s to under 6 minutes My week 4 time trial was 6.10, but I am sure it will be better next week
• To hold a proper plank position for 1 minute – I did this at the gym on Wednesday so new goal – 2 minutes I can do 1.30 without losing form, but I am still struggling with 2 mins
• To make eating healthy a NORMAL activity, every meal. DONE

 3 month goals

• Lose an additional 8 kgs (on top of the 3 I will lose in the first month). This will bring me into the 60’s – for the first time in 3 years since I stopped training. I have lost 6.7kgs to date – so still have 6.8kgs to go to get to goal weight
• Increase fitness until I can run 5kms in 30 mins. I can now run for 30minutes (which is an achievement in itself!) now I have to work on speed
• Run the Blue Lake Fun Run on the 21st of November – 6km of hills Registered & waiting to run
• Do 50 push ups on knees, and 10 on toes I did this last week – Happy Days!
• To hold a proper plank position for 2 minutes. – moved up to 1 month goals, so new 3 month goal will be to hold a  side plank for 1 minute (each side) This is a work in progress!
• To purchase a bikini that makes me look smoken’ hot!

I haven’t changed my 3 month goals, they are a work in progress and I have 5 weeks to complete them.

Triathlon Goals

I have mentioned in my earlier blog that I have raced in 2 triathlons in the past 3 weeks – the Pinkies triathlon in Sydney on the 31^st of October, and last Sunday at the Gatti Series in Adelaide.

A new goal which I am putting out there today is that I want to reduce the time it takes me to complete the “Tin-Man” triathlons in the Gatti Series (300m swim, 16.8k ride, 3k run).

My finishing time on the weekend was 1hour 20minutes 43seconds.  I had set myself 1hour 30mins to finish the course, so I was ecstatic to come in well under that personal target – however now the challenge begins!

The goals for the next 5 races are:

5^th December – 1hr 15mins

9^th January – 1hr 10mins

26^th January – 1hr 15mins (there is a longer swim & run leg on this day)

20^th February – 1hr 5mins

27^th March – under 1 hour

Week 7 of the 12WBT

I must be the worlds worst blogger… I have to admit that when life starts to get busy I am not the best at managing & balancing my time – something always has to give… and this time the blog was abandoned for most of October!

I am extremely pleased with my progress over the past 7 weeks doing the 12WBT program, I have lost 6.7kgs, 8.1% of my body weight. My BMI has dropped from 27.55 (overweight) to 25.3 (ALMOST healthy) I am sure that next Wednesday I will see a BMI of under 25 (healthy) I still have 6.8kgs to loose before I am at my goal weight of 68kgs but it is achievable & I will get there by Christmas.

I last did measurements 3 weeks ago – I will do them again next week. For now I can report that I have lost 9cms from my waist, and 8cms from my boobs. At that stage my hips & thighs had not moved at all, but I am hopefully that they will have shrunk a little this time around.

I graphed my weight loss today (I know it is a little geeky – but I wanted to see where I have come & where I am going!)

Ange (BellaXThree) has described the 12WBT as an epidemic which is spreading like a rampant virus around the country with outbreaks in little pockets around the world Check out her blog here This is SO accurate – I know that the physical results I am seeing in myself are reflected in my husband. He has lost almost 5 kgs over the 7 weeks – and that is without exercising, and without strict conformation to Mish’s diets too.

My mother has watched a few of Mish’s videos with me, and she even attended the “Pain in the Domain” session with me a month ago when I was in Sydney. Mum is very healthy and keeps a good track of her weight & fitness, but is super impressed by the program.

If you want to lose weight, tone up, or generally improve your health & wellbeing I can not stress enough the benefits of this program (click here to pre-register for Round 4 – starting January 2011) (click here to pre-register for Round 4 – starting January 2011)

You see 12WBT is not just about losing weight, or eating healthy – 12WBT is about changing your attitude towards life. Since commencing 7 weeks ago I have entered (and completed!) 2 triathlons, I now exercise 4-6 times per week and I have just registered myself & my husband for the Blue Lake Fun Run in 2 weeks time. This fun run is 6.8km of hills – around the Mount Gambier’s Blue Lake.

This run is particularly important to me – it is the run which kicked of my weight loss journey 4 months ago…. You see I drive a long way to work each day, and radio reception around here is dodgey, so I listen to ABC radio. On the morning show on the 16^th of July they announced that the Blue Lake Fun Run would be running on the 21^st of November (I know the exact date, because I made a note in my phone on that day) I thought, 3kms around the lake – I can do that!

I started the C25K program the next week – I taught myself how to run again, at the same time I was on facebook & saw the add for Michelle Bridges 12WBT, I clicked like & started to see the wonderful results people were having from Round 2… I was hooked!

If I hadn’t heard the presenter mentioning the Mt Gambier fun run, then I wouldn’t have gone onto Facebook to look at C25K & I wouldn’t have seen the add for 12WBT & I wouldn’t have lost 6.7kgs & I wouldn’t be fit & healthy & living life to the fullest!

Pinkies Triathlon Sydney - 12WBT Mini Milestone

So those of you that are regular readers, or who follow me on twitter know that I have had a rather rough week, last week, and to tell you the truth I wrote this blog at the airport on my way home, I just FORGOT to post it until now :)

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I went to Sydney last Saturday for my Grandmothers funeral, and then followed it with a quick day trip to Mildura for a work course, and then back to Sydney ready for my mini-milestone – the 2010 Ramsay Health Care Pinkie Triathlon.

It was to be 200m of swimming, 6km of cycling & 2km of running, all around the Sydney Olympic venue – Homebush stadium.

So on Saturday mum & I got up at the crack of dawn (literally it was like 5.30am!) and headed off… it was all VERY exciting.

Mums event was first (she was braver than I and had registered for the long course event - 300m swim, 9km ride & 3km run). I was able to watch her get in the pool & then ran around to the transition area so I could cheer her on some more.

Mum went SO well she finished the swim in 8.58mins, the bike leg in 26.14mins & the run in 18.22mins, making her official race time 53.34mins.

She finished 38^th in her age group (out of 73 finishers) & 430^th overall (out of 789 finishers)

My race was SOOOO fun… I honestly thought I was drowning in the swim leg, at one point I had other girls grabbing at my legs, and I was kicked in the ribs going around the buoys which knocked the air out of me… I left the pool feeling rather overwhelmed, not sure why I had decided to enter this stupid race, and didn’t I realise that I still had the cycle & run to go… as I ran to the transition area, I saw mum & she cheered me on… I have to admit that I ran a little faster after hearing her voice!

The transition was slow… I had to pull my bike pants on over my swimmers, and then another singlet on over my wet one, thankfully there was an event helper there to help! I then was off on the ride…. Mum had arranged for me to borrow a bike from one of her friends, it was a little older than mine, and the gears were not so good, but the bike leg was awesome… it was only 6km, and I breezed through it, I am sure I should have pushed harder, as the race splits indicted that I only rode at 17.13km/hr when I know that in my training runs I have been averaging closer to 23km/hr.

The run leg was as per usual HARD work for me… I just can’t break through the mental discomfort of running, and I have trouble with adjusting my speed, so that I end up walking. The headwind at this stage was STRONG and I was running into it…. I walked a little and then mum saw me and yelled out “why are you walking” to which I replied “you weren’t supposed to see that!” then she yelled “well I did so RUN!!”. The final 400 m were fun again, I was able to lengthen my stride and really push towards the end… which I was SO glad I did because my official race time was 39.18mins, under the 45 minute goal I had set myself!! J

I was very happy with my splits, I finished the swim in 5.56mins, the bike leg in 21.01mins & the run in 12.2mins, making my official race time 39.18mins.

I feel that I should have pushed LOTS harder in the cycle leg, and of course I should have ran the whole way in the run – but I did note that my speed in the run was 9.72km/hr despite my walking at times which I am very happy about.

My next triathlon will require a much harder effort. I have registered for the Gatti Series in the Tin-Man category. This will be a 300m swim, a 16.8km ride & a 3km run. This race is on the 31^st of October, and I am now on the hunt for a proper Tri-Suit to make the race easier, and I am ready to put in the extra training to bring my race time down.

Pom.....

The past week has been crazy, I found out that the woman who was nearly my grandma  died last week, so this threw me mentally. Physically I am fine, and I have continued with my planed program with food & exercise, Mentally well.... you might know... losing a loved one SUCKS big time. Pom is my step fathers mother, and I have known her since I was 12, she welcomed me into her family & her heart as if I was really her grandchild.

It is hard, I want to be REALLY upset, but part of me feels like I have to be strong. I am a cry’er from way back, I hate any confrontation and I cry at any given issue.... it is not a good trait, and one that I struggle to control (particularly in workplace performance conversations, or tense discussions with people).

I am not sure how I will get through the funeral, I know I will cry – but it is ok, I am allowed to grieve... what I don’t know how to deal with is missing the monthly phone calls with this lady, or the short visits for coffee when I was in Sydney. I know that at times I hated having to visit, it was boring, and I really didn’t care to hear what she said at times, but you know now looking back I value each and every interaction I had with Pom.

I have mentioned my amazing mother a few times, but it is because of her that I have such close relationships with my family. She is the one that reminded me to visit, that reminded me to call & simply say hello... all those 10 minute phone calls whilst I was driving home from work meant so much to Pom, and now also to me... I will miss making them.

Pom was an amazing woman, a state netballer in her youth, mother of 3, grandmother  to 1 (well and me!) and beloved wife of over 50 years.

I will miss her........