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!