1 week gone.....and 900g gone !!

So here I am.....1 week gone of Shannan's 8 Week Fast Track Challenge.....and 900 grams gone as well !!

I am surprised at how well I am coping without consuming coke and chocolate which have been daily staples for way too long!  I'll admit that in the first few days chocolate did occupy a lot of my thoughts but I seem to have gotten over that now.

Another adjustment was going shopping, especially on those ever too rare moments that I get to do this alone, and not giving in to old habits of purchasing a donut or a hot chocolate to get me through.  Did you know that Cadbury family blocks were on sale last week....now that's just cruel!!

Although I haven't eaten the exact meals for the week most meals that I had were a bit of an adaptation of meals listed on the challenge.  I have been sticking to a plan of having breakfast, snack, lunch, snack and dinner and so far this is working well and I am not feeling hungry.  I have also gotten into the habit of taking a bottle of water with me everywhere to increase my water intake.

Exercise has been a bit of a downfall with most days being quite smokey as a result of the Blue Mountains fires even though we are some distance away.  So being asthmatic I have avoided outdoor activities.  Being left to indoor activities I never seem to get any done.....I only have a rather crappy exercise bike which spends most of its time transformed into a school uniform hanging device!!  Our lounge room floor area is probably about 1.5m x 1.5m and most of that is covered in lego or barbies!!!!  I need to motivate myself to come up with indoor workouts!

Sunday evening I was able to drag (almost literally) hubby and the girls to the park to complete SS....after much whinging and whining on their behalf we got through it and I managed the following results...

1km time trial - 7.35.6 mins
pushups - 30
squats - 21
burpees - 10
side crunches - hmm forgot to do those!
tricep dips - 24
plank - 1 min (just made it!)
wall squat - 30 seconds

Come the end of the session the girls we already planning the next one!!

So there's week 1....hoping week 2 is even better!

September comes to an end with Dad Down Under's 365 'challenge'

Okay I know that in two more sleeps it will be November so this post is waaay late...but better late than never so they say!!

So Dad Down Under has set himself some monthly challenges and has invited anyone to come along for the ride.  You can check out his challenge here...

I decided to jump on board and drag the family along too!

The challenge for September was to exercise.....30 minutes of rigorous exercise 5 days a week.  

With never enough hours in the day I decided that we would have to start walking to school a few times a week and so we did.  This meant being a lot more organised and initially I had to have Miss 4's pram set up on the front porch so that I would literally trip over it if I tried to get to the car!!

I'm pretty sure that I was even more of a nightmare to live with during the first week as I adjusted to being more organised as well as feeling tired and sore!

I also decided to walk to Miss 4's dance lessons each Thursday which is just over 3kms away.....seemed so much further when racing against the clock to get there on time!!  This experience has been a really good one because we walk to dancing, Miss 4 will often initiate a game of 'I Spy' which we play using colours as she is a bit too young for using letters.....then we catch the bus home and something so simple really makes her day.

Initially less than enthusiastic about this month's challenge the girls took to wii dance as their option.  By the end of the month they were favouring wii dance over homework, chores, television!!  It was great to see all five of them having fun and exercising at the same time.

My proposed boot camp experience for Saturdays and Sundays didn't happen in September but we have recently started going down to park, jogging a few laps, throwing in a few burpees, push ups, squats etc...  Initially I had to drag the family down there under protest but after the first session the girls were already planning a day for the next one.

I must say that I do feel better for fitting some exercise into my days even if it hasn't been the most rigorous of activities.

I have recently added 'Couch to 5km' training into my week....nearly killed me the first few times but it is a little challenge that I am setting myself and hopefully I will get there....even if it takes a little longer than the app suggests!

I also managed to read another book in September 'Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow' by Claudia Carroll.

What about weeks 7 and 8 ??

Okay well lets just say that after having numerous sick children during the school holidays...and being sick myself....things didn't quite go to plan for weeks 7 and 8 of Shannan's Fast Track Challenge.

But ya know what...that's okay....we all got over our illness.  It took a couple of weeks to build up my fitness again.  I started with the 1km walk to school and have built back up to 5km walks.

At the end of the challenge I kinda found myself in a good place so even if only a couple of kilos were lost a lot was gained.

I lost a little bit more last week and have started this challenge off strong.

My youngest daughter and my eldest daughter are having their birthday parties in 3 weeks so that is my first mini goal......I am aiming to have lost 3 kilos by the day of the parties.

Then after Christmas we are going away for a little family holiday at the beach.  It has been a few years since we've been away so I plan to make the most of it.  I'm not really a beach person but it is still a motivating force for a bit more weight loss.  I am aiming to have lost at least 6 kilos by then.

I am still battling with being organised and with dealing with the unexpected things that arise everyday which seems inevitable with 5 children....but these are things I just have to work around. 

So here's to a new day and a new challenge....!!!

And the winner is.....

Thank you to everyone who popped by and entered the Mums United and the Heart Foundation giveaway....

I hope you have all had a chance to try some of the great recipes from the Heart Foundation website...we have tried a few now and they are fast becoming family favourites!

Well without further ado I am happy to announce that the lucky winner of a $200 grocery voucher is Debra with her creative entry...

Mango & passionfruit smoothie gets my tick;
so quick to prepare, does the trick.
Full of goodness to get me on my way;
knowing it's heart healthy, great start to the day.

So congratulations to Debra and again thank you to everyone that entered.

A Healthy Start Part 3

{sponsored post from Mums United and The Heart Foundation }

Well after two weeks of school holidays I can tell you that I am exhausted!! Dropping the girls to activities here and there, driving them to friends houses or movie sessions.....no rest for the wicked as they say!

I feel like I am starting each day tired already....so by the time the afternoon rolls around it is all too easy to reach for a chocolate bar...or two...to try to give me a little boost to get through the rest of the day.    But in an attempt to provide healthier snacks for myself and for my family I went searching the recipes at the Heart Foundation website and found this one here...  Apricot and Oat Balls and it is super quick and super easy to make...!!

The four ingredients are literally all placed in the food processor....given a mix for two to three minutes and then simply rolled into little balls...that's all there is to it....

Well I love anything that is this quick and easy to make...and it doesn't leave me with a huge mess to clean up..!!

One batch made about 18 balls....next time I will have to double, or even triple, the ingredients as it didn't take long for seven mouths to devour these.  Highly recommended and well worth a try!

    

I would like to thank everyone that has stopped by my blog in the last 2 weeks to enter our $200 grocery giveaway.  Entries have now closed and the winner will contacted via email and will also be announced on Tuesday 15th October on the blog....so pop by to see who the lucky winner is !!

6 weeks in.....

Well week one of the school holidays arrived....and with it came a stomach bug that hit hard.

Miss 9 was the first but luckily for her she was only out of action for a day.  Miss 4 was next and she was hit a bit harder.  She took about 48 hours to get over it.  Having nursed her through it I was next in line!  I was completely out of action for 48 hours and was still off food for another day or so.  Miss 12 was the last victim but she recovered after about 12 hours.

So that week saw no exercise and no attention to eating.

I did have a weight loss of 700 grams on the scales on Sunday but that was purely from being sick.

It was disappointing but to look on the positives I am lucky it was the school holidays so I had less running around to do and could take a couple of days to get better.

Moving on from here...will see what next week holds....

A Healthy Start Part 2...and the giveaway continues...

{sponsored post from Mums United and The Heart Foundation }

We are well into the second week of the school holidays here and what a week it has been!! Sunday was spent sightseeing in Sydney.  Monday saw us arrive at the airport at 7am to welcome home Miss 14, she finally emerged well after 8am!!  We then went for a little trip to the beach at Brighton-le-Sands to relax and listen to her recount of her trip to Japan.  Tuesday saw Miss 4 off to preschool and the rest of us off on a shopping adventure. Wednesday saw three of the girls at a death by chocolate adventure and myself, Miss 9 and Miss 4 off to the local markets.  And today has been filled with workshops for the girls...fishing from 9.30am til 2.00pm and then off to a sports activity for the rest of the afternoon.  And tonight my great nephew...we'll call him Master 4....is having a sleepover with us....!!

The cupboards and fridge are looking quite bare.  So it was no surprise that hubby was hesitant to ask what was for dinner tonight!!  

Usually on a day like this he would be lucky to get frozen party pies!!  But thanks to the Heart Foundation website I actually had it covered!

I had browsed their dinner recipes earlier in the week and had made quite a list of favourites. One of the recipes on my list was the Linguine with Garlic Prawns.....you can find the recipe here...

Now this is a new favourite of mine for a few reasons....firstly because it has so few ingredients, secondly because it can be prepared and cooked in only half an hour and thirdly because it doesn't create a lot of extra washing up :-)  


I have to admit that hubby was quite impressed with this meal and it will definitely be a regular in our meal plans from now on.

Don't forget that thanks to Mums United and The Heart Foundation I have a 
$200 supermarket voucher to give away.....so now you too can go shopping for some Heart Foundation tick products....

Here's all you have to do to be in with a chance to win...

*  pop over and 'like' my Facebook page.....just click on the button on the top right of this blog
*  post a comment on my previous heart foundation blog by clicking here  and tell me which of the recipes from the Heart Foundation website tickles your fancy the most.....and why?
*  please include your email address in the post so we can contact you if you are the lucky winner
    

terms and conditions
-  competition closes  at midnight on Tuesday 8th October 2013
-  competition is open to Australian residents only
-  only one entry per household
-  we will be looking for original and creative answers
-  judges decision is final
-  winner will be announced here on the blog on Tuesday 15th October 2013


So pop on over to the Heart Foundation website, check out all of their wonderful recipes and remember to pop back to my previous Heart Foundation blog and complete your entry....feel free to share the competition with family and friends too...and good luck !!!!!