I won!

Oh my god, I can't really believe it! I'm not the type of person to win, I'm more of the one that does well enought to be happy with my own result and then leave the winning up to whomever that feels like they need to. But this time I guess that the achievement that I would be happy with was just ... huge? Pushing myself to extreme limits, finding out that I have it in me to get the body shape that I want to have. I always picture myself as a cute little girl, I guess I'm kinda a St. Bernard in that sense (Huge dog that insist that it is not too big to jump up on you and try to sit on your lap.. really, it just doesn't work), but maybe it's not too late? I guess, if I can get down to 70 kgs and manage to maintain that I'll be pretty stoked with myself. I still feel like I'm out of shape, I get out of breath pretty easily when I walk uphill or whatever (even though that has improved a lot during the last 8 weeks), and I still feel pretty fat. I guess I still am. But a lot less fat than I used to be! Now I have to figure out what to use the 500 bucks for... rebel sport? more training? I just dunno... I trust that I will know at the end of this week thoa.

My final results are:

Total Weightloss: 12.8 kg
Total Body fat loss: 3.4%
And I lost 13 centimetres around my waist,
6 cm around the chest,
12cm around the hip,
7 cm off each thigh and
2cm off each arm.
I've lost 13% of my weight... Crazy.

No time to rest on my laurels though. If I ever wanna eat chocolate again then I had better keep it up!!!! There's still 4,7 kgs to go before I am allowed any lollies! Ugh!!!!!

Final Fitness test

Ok, the final fitness test is done, and it's quite cool to see how much the last 8 weeks have done to change me. My final weight for the comp is 85.1 (yay! got there in the end) and that means that I have lost 12.8 kilos during the competition. Whoa. that's like... crazy. I always figured I might be able to get down to 90 kilos during the comp.. Guess I showed me, huh? Seems all 9 of us have done pretty well, which just goes to show what a good opportunity this is. :)
Training harder now, knowing that I only have 5 kilos to go before I can eat some chocolate again! Thought up that I'll do another fitness test in about 5-6 weeks. Woha!

Day... 58? :D

Ok, fine, so I do miss this blog! It's going fine so far though, two days on... hehe. Suppose it would be a bit extreme if my new lifestyle had fallen to pieces already (!)
Got used to the new routine, up at about 6 every morning and gymming for an hour before going to uni. It wakes me up like nothing else. :) Overslept this morning thoa... :D
Final fitness test for the competition tomorrow!

Day 56

It's the last official day of the competition today... I am so disappointed with myself that words cannot even begin to describe it. I was supposed to be 85.something today, and instead I am 87.2 again. And it's probably all down to yesterday's frolicking.. It was just 4 f**king days left, and I just couldn't stay sober,could I... Had to cut training this morning short because I felt like shite, so went home and just wanted to curl up in a ball under my covers and wait for next winter to come. T_T

Well... I didn't. Instead I curled up in a ball under my covers and waited for an hour until my headache had gone, then went down to the veggie market and then I went back to the gym. A second and slightly better solution, now I feel much better and ready for some seriously intense studying!

Dunno how I'm gonna quit this blog. I've become quite attached to it, really... even more than my "real life" blog. And I'm gonna miss my trainer now that it's all over. Guess I could always hire him once a week, but then who knows? He might just wanna kill himself with the prospect of having to listen to more of my complaining... hehe

Soundtrack of the day: Tiki Taane - Now this is it

Day 55

Long day... Up at 8, went to the gym at 9, home, studied, then left the house at 1pm to go to Karori to swim with a friend. Karori pool is by far the best in town, imho. It was my first visit there, and there were practically no other ppl there. Awesome.
It was really after the visit to the pool that things went astray... I ended up visiting friends, and did not manage to stay sober... All in all it was a pretty active day/night though, walking to and from Karori twice.. I must have walked more than 8 km altogether, checking out roads that I've never walked before, meeting ppl I've never met before... All that jazz :)

Day 54

Having all this chocolate in the house is driving me mad. It feels like giving up smoking all over again.. Exept that .. Chocolate doesn't cause cancer.. All I can think about is chocolate. I can't go near the living room where I set out the bowl for my flatmates.. and I've tucked my stash way back in the darkest corner of my cupboard. Today I just needed SOMETHING, so I resorted to an extravagant pasta meal. Not unhealthy though! I came across monkfish on special at New World today, and couldn't resist. It's been ages since I ate monkfish last time, and it was sooo nice! I'm actually totally stuffed now, even though I didn't even eat a full 140g serving of pasta (probably for the first time in my whole life).



Gym today was ok, got there around 7 am and found that I actually like waking up that way. Weird... it feels harder to exercise that early, but my day just feels brighter afterwards. No matter how hard I torture my abs now they don't get sore. Boring. Been listening to this song over and over... I just can't get it out of my head!! And it's so pathetic! Warning: Don't listen to this song if you're epileptic or have a weak mind..

Day 53

Shiit, I'm 86.8 kilos today, and the goal is to be 85.? by Sunday. Guess that means opting out on sundried tomatoes and olives... And buying lunch. And drinking on the weekend.. Well, I'll make up for lost drinking opportunities when I go skiing on the 10th of September. Yayy! After 9 weeks of training I think I'll have enough stamina to stay on the slopes for longer too. :) Hopefully I still remember how to ski!! :S What would be more embarrassing than being Norwegian and not knowing how to ski..

When I got home today, a huuuge parcel was waiting for me at the door!!! Yayyy! My mum sent me a care-package from Norway. And as I dug out the content from the deep dark corners of the cardboard, rejoycing over caviar, cheese, mackerel in tomato sauce (may sound gross but it's yummylicious) and soups, I realised that she has sent me enough chocolate to kill two medium sized dogs. MY GOD. It's more than a kilo!! And I can't get rid of it that easily either, because it's in huge blocks! So... I guess I'll bring some to the ski trip for the benefit of the other Norwegians. but... what to do with it all????? I'm not allowing myself ANY chocolate till I hit 80 kilos. It's enough to go bulimic. Or anorexic, to hit 80 faster.. ^_^

I love my mum

Finally, sending some thoughts of healing to my trainer, who is getting sick. Stay away from the Bourbon this weekend, boy! It's just a myth!

Day 52

After a rather long session at the gym of boxing and kicking (or rather, trying to kick) a bag, I kinda expected my foot to be messed up again. And it kinda isn't! It's really weird.. I kicked the bag hard at an odd angle a few times and it felt really painful, but the swelling is really minimal. Which is great! Maybe I don't have to get used to being a cripple at all! :) I guess it's possible (or rather likely) that I've just become a sissy after all the trouble that I've had with that ankle, so that now I don't dare use it because I'm scared that It'll go emo on me. (I swear, It if really heals up this time, I will NEVER EVER again go climbing trees after a night out!!!! It's just not worth it..) It felt really bad to be kicking though... I used to be so good at it, and now I really suck. I told Chris at the gym that it's been 8 years since I quit training Karate... It's been more!! It's been 11 years!!! It's been so long that I can't even remember how long it's been. Man... I'm getting old.

Promised myself white meat today... Is salmon white meat? Or .. it's not red, that's for sure, but it's not really white either. hmm..

Day 51

What a grey day it is today.. was so grumpy this morning that I almost just cancelled the day.. must be PMS or something. Done over an hour at the gym, because I knew that as soon as I was finished I'd slave away at my thesis, which I have finally managed to start. It'll be alright...

Just had a fantaabulous dinner: roast lamb and veggies with pepper and herbs. My new favourite dish. :) Definitely a white meat day tomorrow though!

Day 50

Into the final week of the competition now. Yesterday my weight was 87.1 kilos, I'm gonna aim for 85ish by the final weighing, unless that'll be on Sunday.. But if I get an extra week or so, definitely. It's really weird in a way... It may have seemed very hard in the first weeks, but now I'm thinking that if it's this easy to loose weight, how come I haven't done it before??

The only thing that I truly miss is to get smashed more often (hehe) but apart from that I'm surviving, even the chocolate cravings are getting milder and milder, I still have a psychological addiction to the substance, but I don't get extremely grumpy when I deny myself chocs anymore. Now I am more in a state of fear, that if I break my abstinence I'm gonna fall back into the habit. I've already decided on my 'reward' after the final weighing: Spaghetti and my special sauce. ^_^ It may not seem like much, but damn.. I'm just really awesome at making spaghettisauce. It's xxtremely fatty though. I haven't had pasta for two months now... weird huh? Pasta was what I survived on last trimester, it was my dinner for two months straight! Times they do change...

I guess I'm pretty happy with my effort these 8 weeks. I could have done much more, but that would probably have made the task seem too big for me. Or distracted me more from my studies. So yeah, I'm happy about what I have achieved.. it's more than I ever expected, really. I thought I'd be able to lose 7 kgs at the most, if I tried really hard. I'm glad that I was wrong. since I'm still losing a kilo per week, it'll be interesting to see how far down my weight goes before it stabilises. (I assume that sooner or later it will stabilise!!) :D. Then, in February, the ultimate reward, if I can make it down to a small enough size: Shopping in Asia!!! It would almost be worth it to drop by Bangkok just to shop for clothes, but I am sure that Singapore and Cambodia will have enough stuff to blow off my budget for the autumn trimester next year.. ^_^ So I'd better keep my eyes on the prize, and forget that the competition ever ended. It's more of a lifelong competition, really. I guess I'm repeating myself on that point... but it's true: The only person I really need to beat at this is myself.

Day 49

Today I feel like a total failure. My left-right coordination is shit (I always knew that), my ability to interpret instructions is shit (kinda knew that too), but what really hurts, is that I completely lack the ability to balance! So, to make myself feel better, I took my credit card for a walk. (uh oh..) I got myself a new swissball, right size this time (That's right I did! We'll fucken see who can't balance on a ball after 8 weeks!), new headphones and tea + infusers to releave stress. I feel a bit better after spending a good 100 bucks. Xept that I already managed to smash my leg into the coffeetable in the living room after falling off the ball 5 times... It'll heal. Probably faster than my pride.

Did something slightly whacky today. I put my sneakers on the kitchen scale (don't tell my flatties, ppl! It was a somewhat clean operation anyway..)and what I found out was a bit .. weird. When I did my halfway weighing, I weighed 92,7 with the shoes on, and 91,6 without the shoes. So, you'd think they weighed 1.1 kilos, right? No. They only weigh 640 grams... (*enter eerie music)

Day 48

I'm completely running out of things to blog about. Life during the holiday is mundane to the max, I'm just being lazy, watching movies, going to the gym (still not that lazy then) and every now and then I think I should study but I don't. I feel bored.. I guess I don't generally like having holidays, my routine gets all messed up and I end up staying in my room all day because I don't technically have to leave it. I guess maybe I should take the opportunity to check out the walks around the city, since the weather is pretty alright these days (touch wood). In any case I shouldn't stay in all day!

*Crossing my fingers for the handball-ladies. :)

Day 47

When I finished at the gym today I didn't really feel like I'd done much... did 35 minutes on the crosstrainer and kinda lost all steam so went home. But really felt crap. So, I decided to walk to pack'n'save to get some fresh supplies. It took about an hour and a quarter of what I'd call pleasant walking tempo. Later on I went to town to check out my friends' neighbours' band. Not bad. My back is sore now.... Been walking/dancing for about 4 hours combined.. Gonna sleep like a baby!

Day 46

Today was a pretty long day... Got up at 5, was at the gym by 6, and won't get to bed until midnight! Went with a friend to see a movie at Reading called Bank Job, pretty allright, but I expected something like Snatch or Lock Stock, so was kinda freaked out by the more brutal happenings. Ah well, I enjoyed it, nothing like lazing in the dark with popcorn. ^_^

Tried 0ut Hog's Breath at Reading, was thoroughly unimpressed. Ok, admittedly the food looked really nice, but after eating healthy for over a month, it really didn't taste like much. The salad was completely drenched in dressing, they had snuck bacon in all over the place and the salmon was only half cooked... ew. What can I say... really really american. Boosted with fat, as much of it as possible. Well, enough whining. Time to sleep.

Here's the brainbug I've had for a good while now... Can't shake it! Fine, I do listen to pretty crap music when I go to the gym, but quite frankly, as long as it makes me wanna move, I don't care what other ppl think. ;)

Day 45

Grrr... I don't know if it's because of the absence of lollies but this essay that I am writing is going EXTREMELY slow. It could just be lack of motivation I guess.. I need a PROPER holiday!

did 20 minutes on the step machine today (I really intensely hate that machine!), not because I had to but because I could. Ok, I kinda did feel like I had to when my trainer told me that I could "rest today" by doing 10 minutes... And my legs aren't even dying! Well, they kinda are but it's not down to the stepper, they were dying already. LOL

It's getting a bit strange now. Ppl I know are telling me that they can see change, but when I look in the mirror I see no difference at all. I kinda anticipated this when I created my blog-name (mirroronthewall27), but still.... I know that I probably have changed some (seeing as the scales show a lower number now than it used to), but it seems that my brain is programmed not to recognise it. Not fair. How much before I start seeing it? I'm doing this for me, after all, not for anyone else...

Day 44

I've officially left the 90's, although it's technically only by 100 grams.. heh. No looking back now! It must have been about 7 years since I was under 90 kilos.. I kinda gained a lot and fast when I moved north in 2000. But then Bodoe is a shithole.. I was stuck indoors for the 5 years that I lived there, as it was too cold to do anything fun outside for about 8 months of the year. Resolution: Never again live in a frosty windhole. Never again live in a place where the temperature can (and does) drop to under
-20 in the winter. The only drawback is that then I'll never again live in a place where I can see northern lights in winter and have midnight sun in the summer.. I miss that. But it's not worth gaining weight again for. Hmm... I'll get a batch or something up north... yeah.. problem solved.

I guess that means that I need to get offline NOW, finish my essay so that I'll be able to get my masters degree, then a great job, and be able to afford that batch!

Day 43

Man... it's hard to write essays without eating lollies. It's even harder to write essays without eating lollies when my cupboard is full of chocolate... My friend brought me my fav chocolate from Norway (Hobby) when she got back, and it's just lurking at the back of the pantry, calling to me from the dark, knowing that deep, deep down I have not forgotten about it. And then there is the "healthy" chocolate that I bought at pac'n'save about a month ago, thinking that if I was gonna crack, then it had better be a dark chocolate rather than a milk chocolate. And then there is the rest of the m&ms that I used to decorate Christine's birthdaycake, and the chocolate that I "had to" accept during class cause I'd feel a bit rude if I kept turning it down. Man... I need to have a Chocorcism...

Day 42

I woke up at 9:30 this morning, after partying hard yesterday. And I felt just great! It was almost weird... Usually I'm either still drunk or quite dizzy when I wake up after drinking, but I didn't feel a trace of hangover at all. Did feel a bit tired at the gym though, I did an hours worth of biking today, my legs are now really in need of some rest. Was supposed to have fish today, but metro didn't have any... So I treated myself to venison instead. As usual I went completely overboard with veggies, but it was great. Funny, I'm eating better than before, but it's costing me a lot less than eating out. This meal cost me no more than it would to go and get a laksa at satay kingdom. After eating takeaway for a couple of nights now that the play has been on, it was nice to cook at home again. Need to get back on track, I'm scared that I've been gaining rather than losing this weekend with drinking and eating out... not good.

Day 41

It would definitely seem that my alcohol tolerance has gone down. I think that might be a good thing, I'll save money and I'll spare my liver.. :D The last performance went very well. My legs were a bit tired still from two days of legwork at the gym, but not too tired to dance away at the cast party. It is getting so close to the end! I've been working quite well solo lately thoa, so I'm sure that I'll be alright. Went online and found this amazing database of exercises (from Shapefit)to strengthen different muscles and muscle groups... yay! So now I can put together my own routine before hitting the gym. Internet is just sooo useful.. How did people ever survive without it?!

German Play 2008 - OUT!

Day 40

Second to last night of play performances! -now I am preparing myself for the major afterparty tomorrow... It will be WILD. I wonder how low my alcohol tolerance has become from not drinking in 5 weeks. Will be interesting to find out. ^_^

Day 39

Feeling HEAPS better today! only have a sore throat and am coughing a lot, but that is ok. Been to see the foot doctor, I don't have to operate!!! YUSSSS!!! It also means that I might just have to get used to being a cripple, which is not that much fun, but the verdict was: "You have some bruising of the bone on the lateral aspect of the dome of the talus. Aslo, some fluid gathering on the side of the ankle. And the (thing) that bends your big toe is slightly inflamed. At this point, there is not much I can do to make it any better, I think it will settle down on its own. Just keep using it within the range of comfort. If it keeps getting sore, come back to see me." (I predict that I'll be seeing him again, when I get sick of having to deal with a moody ankle..). But for now, that means that I can just give a shit about it for a while. :)

Went boxing today, and after my wrist started hurting I threw away the gloves (done that before, and it was ok). I thought it was ok today too, didn't really hurt any, but now my hands look terrible, especially my right hand.. I mean, look at it! It looks as though I've been in a fight or something... real gross.

My weight is now bang on 90 Kilos. Wheee! next week I'll be in the 80's range!

Day 38

Getting worse by the day... Woke up today and my throat just felt like sandpaper, my nose was completely blocked, and head was swimming... breakkie with a cup of honey, lemon and ginger helped a bit, and I guess the lemsip pills also helped, and I did get up Mount St, that was my barometer for going to the gym. So, after 50 minutes of high intensity cardio, I actually feel better. It's almost a bit odd.. I'm just gonna rest now for a couple of hours, and then get to the premiére and hopefully everything will go fine despite my nose being blocked.

I notice that I'm getting less and less dependent on my beloved food/exercise diary. I also don't really need motivation to go to the gym anymore, I kinda just do it, and it makes me feel good. I've been going to the gym every day for 22 consecutive days now! Wuhu! Guess I've managed to make it part of my everyday life at last... :D

Day 37

Uh oh, feeling worse today than yesterday... :S I've pumped myself full of nose spray, ginger, lemon, manuka honey, propolis and panadol... it should be allright. Don't feel that bad at the moment, gym was hard but ok, I actually felt better after gym than I did before (dunno if that is because of the physical activity or all the pills that I took before I walked up the hill though).. why do I always get sick when I really really don't have the time to be sick?? I guess there might be a cause and effect relationship there.. I guess I should be a good girl and eat my brazil nut every day to get selenium, seeing as the soil in NZ doesn't have any, and thus it is hard for ppl in NZ to get selenium through the everyday diet without actively seeking it out. I have been eating heaps of tuna though... hm. Maybe I should incorporate it in my breakkie every day. Couldn't hurt.

Day 36

It has been a very long day... Up early, read as much as I can for my assignment, boxing with Scotty at 10, home to read more, tech rehearsals for the play from 6pm - 11pm. It's really really hard to get the eating done at the times that I'm supposed to.. the play will be on every night this week from 7:30 pm, and warmups start just around dinnertime, I have to be there every nigth at 6pm. Which means cold dinners every day.. I guess I could swop around dinner and lunch, it just feels a bit weird. oh well, it's only for 1 week! Feeling a bit off... hope it's nothing!

Day 35

Play rehearsals took FOREVER, I just managed to run down to rec centre and do my workout before they closed... the week ahead will be CRAAAAAZY. Play performances every night and assignments due... EEEEK! And going to the gym every day too... Gonna be just madness.

Day 34

Saturday! Partynight! Christine got the flu, so I didn't go swimming after all. Went out dancing in town for the first time in aaaaages, and came home and managed to catch the end of NZ-Norway Women's soccer online. We won! But what is much better: We won the handballmatch against China! YUSSSS. I am fairly passionate about soccer, but not quite as eager as when it comes to handball... it's been the one thing along skisports that my family has always been quite united about, I guess I'm just a sports geek in general, I just don't have that much time anymore to watch tv and keep up to date with all the sports events. I do manage to keep up with my soccer team at home (Brann) and usually the Euro cup or World cup in Handball is just when I arrive home for Christmas (very convenient), so I manage to see most of women's handball as well. But now, I'm soo busy and there's the Olympics on!!! AArgh! I just wanna watch TV all the time!

Day 33

Whee, 33, two times my lucky number. :) I'm taking it to the next level: Tomorrow, I am again doing "two" sets of exercise. I wanna go swimming with my friend Christine, but it won't be much of a workout for me, seeing as my arms are way too sore to do proper strokes and my ankle doesn't like the footwork... so I'll just splash around, maybe try out the aquajogging stuff. So, to get a "real" workout I'm going up to the gym in the morning. I wish it would open earlier, but I guess 9am will have to do.

I've caught up with my last fitness test weight that was done without shoes (my shoes are pretty heavy!) : I now weigh 91.6 kilos. It's going the right way still. :) Maybe I will be able to achieve my goal of 10 kilos weightloss in 8 weeks. whoppee!

Day 32

I just realised that I've spent over 2 hours at the gym today... That's pretty hard out, considering that I can't really extend my arms fully as I am too sore from yesterday's workout. I feel partly dead, in a good way. (K, that sounds a bit morbid, but that's ok..) Sooooo tired. gonna be an early night tonight.

Day 31

Talk about release of endorfines... With the combination of hard workout and sunshine, I'm so happy that I'm not entirely sure what to do with myself. I've got a whole hour to kill before people start arriving for the dinner tonight.. Oh yea: I'm hosting a dinner for the norwegian students in Wellington tonight. Got quite an allright number of people who signed up, about 10ish. I'm making a norwegian speciality: Milk rice porridge with cinnamon, sugar and a dot of butter. It's the standard saturday meal... Ok, so it's not saturday, but that doesn't matter. I'll be having salad though... heh. :D


I'm going senile I think. By the time I finished workout today I couldn't rememeber what I started with... I just finished the abs workout, and couldn't understand why my legs were tired. Because I started with the step machine, that's why!

Day 30

It's been a month! A whole month.... Already! It has just flown by, I'm gonna be so sad when the competition is over and I have to go on all alone, without my trainer... I'm just getting used to him. All the diet stuff I've been doing on my own, so that won't be a problem, but I feel a bit like a dork when I'm lifting weights alone.. hehe. I guess that's just something that also needs to become a habit. At least he has taught me a lot, so that I know what I need to be doing when the comp ends. It's just a bit scary to be over half way done, makes me think more about the "afterlife."

Tonight I'm going to my friend's birthdayparty. I hope she won't mind that I won't eat any of the cake that I made for her... Ow really though, who's gonna complain about having to eat more chocolate cake. Eating out is usually a real challege though, in terms of eating healthy. I don't really know what to order tonight.. It won't be a balanced meal in any way, I think. It'll either be overheavy on the carbs, or on the protein. I guess I just have to choose which of the two I'm gonna go for...

Day 29

Today I have to bake a chocolate cake, and decorate it with lots and lots of small, very snackable m&ms.... It will be hell. The alcoholic is in charge of making punch. I suppose if I can get through that without eating any chocolate, then I can get through pretty much anything!

My ankle is really sore.. I'm going to suggest boxing for today's training, as that is relatively stress free on the legs, then some abs workout. Should be allright.

11:25 pm:

I am superwoman.

'Nuff said.

Day 28

Wow, I'm already midway through the programme!

I had a pretty bad dream about the competition last night, it was kinda weird... So far it hasn't felt like a competition at all, but after that dream I wonder if that's changed. I can't remember the details of the dream but it was something about a field, out on a farmland that looked similar to home in Norway, and ... I can't remember what went on there, but all the contestants were there, and running away from something. Then we hid in this café like place, and the others kinda turned into skinny people just like that, and for some odd reason I was riding on the back of a massive guy that was also in the competition... I guess it wasn't as much the happenings in the dream itself that was scary, more the feelings that I had dreaming it. We were all enemies, we all just hated each other, and every friendly phrase was all pretence..

Oh well. I was wondering if I should skip gym today because of my ankle, it did not like swimming yesterday at all, was very painful by the end of the day. I decided to go anyway, and just take it easy. Biking seems to be a perfect way of keeping it happy while exercising. Haha, listen to me going on about it... It's like it's got a life of its own now. My moody ankle that tells me what I can and cannot do. Growl.

Day 27

Back to healthy street after yesterday's dinner blowout. I've gone swimming, and have been a good girl. Dinner: Salmon with Swede mash. MMmm.. ^_^
Now, it is Saturday evening, my flat is filled with people I don't know, and everyone is drinking, and I have a bottle of vodka sitting on top of my bookshelf. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm......

Day 26

Today I did my half-way testing, (or some of it) and it's definitely showing results. :) I was scared that it wouldn't be much, but it seems that my efforts really are paying off. I have lost 6 kgs (or, that is what the scales at kelburn said, with shoes I weighed 92.7 kgs.. I wonder if the kelburn scales aren't a bit dodgy though..) and I've gotten rid of 5cm around my waist and hip. And chest... damn. I guess I'm gonna have to make some sacrifices to get into shape... and maybe going back to a B-cup wouldn't be the end of the world.. ^_^

So, to reward myself for being such a good girl, I allowed myself a meal out. I love Korean, and although it is not the healthiest of eats, I figured I had kindof deserved it. At least I can go to bed today, knowing that what I do does make a difference. I suppose I should remember that next time I stand on the scales and the weight stands still.

Day 25

It is still raining and raining.... I would like to go out and go for walks, but this weather is just making me down. Today I only just managed to squeeze a short gym session into my programme, which was pretty good considering all the things that I needed to do today. Still seems that the weight doesn't change though... And I really don't get why! I'm doing all this workout, every single day I'm at the gym, and I am eating healthy, and it's just standing dead still.. 94.3 today.

Day 24

What shall I say... It's been a very busy day, so busy that I hardly had time to eat, and therefore my eating shedule got all messed up. I kinda miss having someone to rant on about what I'm going through, I think all in all my friends think it's pretty boring to listen to me going on and on about nutrition and exercise and chocolate cravings and so on... I wish the organisers had brought the group together more, so that we could have a chance to blabber on about the challenges that we face, and how we go about overcoming them. I have one friend at home whom has been through something similar, and I guess I'm exhausting her with all my ramblings about the challenges of hunting for healthy food in the supermarket, trying to get up early and the changes that I am seeing or feeling. Sooner or later she'll get sick of it though, I guess... I feel a bit like a loner. I suppose that's why I like my blog so much. If ppl get sick of it they can just quit reading, and I won't even notice. :)

Day 23

Was supposed to go swimming today, but didn't feel up for it. Instead I went to the gym after dinner, and did 50 minutes of cardio workout on the bike and crosstrainer. I live so close to the gym that I don't really need to bring much if I'm just dropping in from home, which is really convenient when I want to escape from studies. ^^ One thing that I never really thought about when I signed up for this competition was that I'd have so much laundry to do! And most of my gym stuff don't go well in the dryer, they're turning grey... Silly thing.

I'm a bit worried about my ankle again, it's been a bit swollen for the last two days, and it's a bit sore. On friday I will finally know what the MRI showed, and if it's nothing, then I guess I'll just get used to the discomfort and stop complaining about it. I duno.. I really do not want to operate, that would really suck. I got my results in the mail today, but I have no idea what they mean... Too much medical jargon.

Day 22

Scales don't show any difference at all after my efforts this weekend.. Booooooooooooring. I wonder whyever not.. I haven't strayed from my diet (apart from eating baked beans in tomato sauce??) and I stayed away from alchohol this weekend too.. Oh well.

Day 21

This is it, the so called amount of days it takes for the body to get used to a new routine. I've been trying to see if I feel a difference, but actually I don't. Maybe it's because I've been to the gym every day, so I haven't had a chance to just relax and revive. The programme is taking up quite a lot of time though, today I got so caught up in my veggie shopping that I forgot play rehearsals... (uh oh, they're gonna give me so much shit.. and I kinda deserve it..)

Went to the gym for an hour, just to procrastinate. I have schoolwork to do, but I'm not really that motivated to do any of it. I jumped on the scales beside the counter at the gym, and they showed 97 kilos! Yikes!! I hope that they're old and dodgy.. otherwise there's something seriously wrong with the way that my body works. I haven't had a weekend this healthy in YEARS.

Day 20

Today I got up really "late". As a result of that I only had 4 meals during the day... should be ok. I went swimming in Kilbirnie today, and the pool there is really nice. Not too expensive either, and I could use my 12-swim card there that I bought at Freyberg, pretty cool (although I forgot to use it). My abs are super sore from the workout yesterday, and it feels good. Maybe I'm a bit of a sadist...
Saturdays are not easy.. From I was a kid, Satuday was sort of the one day during the week when eating lollies was ok. It was kind of a ritual, going to the shops to do grocery shopping for the weekend, getting lollies, eating pizza with the family and then at 6pm when the kids' show on tv started, lollies were allowed! So I'd go over to my best friends' place or they would come over to my place (but they had the bigger TV..) and we'd binge and watch fragglerock or postman pat or whatever was on. Then as you grew older, you'd watch the 'youth' programme that started at 6:30, still with the bag of lollies.. so... YEARS of conditioning. Haha. I guess getting off lollies is a bit like getting off the bottle. You can't ever reward yourself with sweets if you've been good and haven't had any for a while, because then you're effectively destroying what you've built up.. Just like an alcoholic, that can't reward him/herself with a beer after beeing alcohol free for a month.

Day 19

Garrh, I am so hungry! And I am eating heaps, and drinking heaps of water.. I don't get it. Today I have my X-ray and MRI scans, I'm super worried that something is gonna show up that means that I have to get surgery.. T_T However, I am pleasantly surprised that the ankle injury hasn't gotten in the way of my participation in the programme. I am able to do most types of exercises, and I really feel like I'm getting more strength week by week. Also, traditionally I would just stay in and feel sorry for myself when being sick, but this time I've toughed it out, and gone to the gym anyway, and I still didn't take any longer to get well than if I'd stayed in. And I feel that I have so much to show for it. :)

At weighing today I had lost another kilo almost, the scales showed 94,1. It's still working! I want to try to get down to 93.something by Monday, so I'm gonna be a good girl this weekend too. I guess I have too much studying to do to worry about things to do instead of partying though.. hehe.

Day 18

Thursdays are usually my lazy days, but seeing as I am in procrastination mode, I decided to go to the gym anyway. I have discovered the joys of multitasking: studying and doing cardio at the same time, it's really not hard. I did half an hour of high intensity cardio while reading an article for my thesis. :)
I also discovered the superiority of the showers at Pipitea! Damn, combine those showers with the other facilities up at kelburn, and you'd have a pretty luxurious gym studio.. :D

Had a really really good lunch today! It's amazing how nice a salad can taste.. I came up with this mix when I made lunch this morning:

50g of shredded chicked, about 10 cherry tomatoes, one handful of alfalfa sprouts, about 8 black olives, 1/4 spring onion, about 10 slices of leek, 1 tablespoon of pine nuts and garden salad leaves from New World. And I topped it with about 10ml (half a serving) of low fat french dressing. YUMMY!

In spite of this fantastic lunch, I'll probably end up cranky by the end of the day... I CRAVE CHOCOLATE!!
*Growl*

Day 17

Today was the first time we had a "group exercise," and it was nice to get to meet some of the other people in the programme. I guess we don't get much of a sense of belonging to a group when we do our individual stuff... Actually, most of the time I don't even remember that it's a competition. For me it is an individual battle anyway, and my reward will be shopping in Asia on my way down to NZ next year if I make it down to a small enough size by February. As long as I keep at it, it should be possible... Today I even noticed that I'm not as tired anymore when walking up the hill. It's been hard to notice anything since I've been sick, and I've had enough just breathing and walking. It seems that I'm on the mend today though, my throat feels better (touch wood) and my head feels a lot clearer.

So what we did today was circuit training, with weightlifting, abs exercises and cardio. I loved it. :) seems to be exactly my thing, as soon as I got fed up with one thing it was on to the next, and as such I managed to follow through with all the exercises. The only grey cloud on the horizont is my ankle, that has been bothering me today and yesterday... I'm going to Newtown on Friday to have an X-ray and MRI scan of it, and hopefully then we'll be able to see what it is that's keeping it from getting better. Fingers crossed!

Jumped on the scales after the workout today too, the weight hasn't gone back up. :) 95.6, but I had already eaten dinner, so I'm not fussed.

Day 16

Today has been kinda crap.. I've been feverish, and my throat is getting worse every day it seems... T_T Couldn't go swimming as usual on tuesdays.... hopefully I'll get better SOOOOOON. I hate being sick! Tomorrow we're doing circuit training... I'm afraid that I'll start coughing and not be able to stop. I'm also afraid that I'm gonna be totally fatigued before even starting. Garrrh...

Day 15

I've lost two kilos!! Before I started the programme I weighed 99,8 Kgs, but I know that my weight goes up and down two kilos every now and then.. it's bouncy. But at weighing today the scales said 95! So, I have definitely lost some kilos! It feels so good, to get something back for all the investment that I put into especially my diet, but also my gym routine. Now I just wanna work out more! Still have 6 weeks left of the programme, and after that I'll get myself a membership at the gym. Instead of being the comfort-eater when times are busy at school, I'll become one of the comfort-workout people. Yippie, it's working!

Day 14

Been to the gym today as well, which is good, considering that my throat feels like I've swallowed a melon whole. Did 50 minutes on a bike while reading a magazine. Good idea, actually, seeing as biking is pretty boring without some form of entertainment.
Nervous about tomorrow... it's sort of an official weighing every monday, and I am scared that I won't have lost anything, even though I've been sooo good this weekend in eating healthy, staying off lollies and exercising... Might be quite demotivating if the scales don't show any form of acknowledgement...

Seeing as I now have to eat a truckload of fruit and veggies every week, I have resolved to go to the veggie market every sunday. Eating healthy is not cheap, and as a student I need to do what I can to make sure that my new diet doesn't kill my food budget. Having good raw materials for the meals is really important. I'm gonna miss sausages... they're soo goood..

day 13

In terms of my programme, this weekend has been very successful. Only with the exception of having only three meals on Friday.. but I have stayed away from alcohol and sweets all weekend! Tomorrow is Sunday, so that doesn't really count. I've had cravings for chocolate today and yesterday though... It's weird how you look back at habits that you used to have, and in a way miss them even though they were bad habits. For example, if it was the old me going to clean my old room today, I would have stopped by Unistop and gotten some chocolate, or something sweet to "help me" through the boring task of cleaning. The same with studying... munching would usually get me through some readings, but then the sugar would make me tired, and i wouldn't be able to study for long. And now I have to establish new habits.

day 12

Damn... it's almost two weeks in, and I've lost next to nothing. I've been strict with my diet, and I've been working out 5 times a week, and staying active the other two days. And now I am sick, so I can't push myself as hard as I'd like to, or else I'll just end up sicker....

My body is going completely haywire, and I've got nothing to show for it... *grumble* Why isn't it working?

Day 8

Feeling a bit tired today. Suuuper hungry now, I'm waiting for dinner to finish, which will be one slice of roast beef, lots and lots of vegetables and mmm.

I've lost about 2 kgs, or at least that was what the scales told us when I weighed myself after training today. Goodie! And can't wait to move closer to town and uni! It'll be great, I won't have to take the bus anymore, so I'll end up walking more than I do already. :)

My eating shedule is sort of going ok, it' sometimes hard to manage to eat at the right time, especially when depending on other people.. I guess when I move to the new flat I'll miss having communal meals, but it will be easier to manage my diet.

Day 7

Hmmm... this weekend has been bad in "health terms." Drinking is not a good idea. Yesterday I ended up eating rather unhealty because I had been drinking, and therefore had lost my better judgement. Not good. But compared to last weekend I'd say it's been pretty good.. I haven't had any chocolate (it's been hard), and I've mainly munched on vegetables instead of lollies. Which is good. It is progress. And I ended up going to the gym/swimming 5 times this week, which is also pretty darn good. :)

Now I have to get to bed, so that I won't oversleep tomorrow like I did today. The hardest challenge yet is to get up early every morning..

Day 4

NZ Healthy Plate?

So, a NZ healthy plate consists of 1 part meat, 1 part carbohydrates (potatoes, rice, pasta etc) and two parts vegetables. Good to know... a normal plate for me usually consists of 3 parts carbohydrates, 1 part meat and 1 part veggies. Hmm...
I finally read the guidlines for what to eat. I was a bit pissed off that the only thing that one seemingly should eat per day is heaps of veggies, and then a little bit of this and a little bit of that.. I'm more a fan of brochures telling me what I CAN eat, and not what I can't eat. Obviously, lollies and sweet things are out. No more, only on "special occasions." I guess I can live with that. Actually, I haven't been craving sweet things that much.. today after polishing off the plate above, I got that classic hunger for something sweet that comes after eating dinner sometimes. I resorted to a grape. And it worked. :)

I notice that even though I am eating almost all day, I am hungry almost all day! I don't know what I'm doing wrong... maybe I'm just not used to eating a "normal" amount of food..

I'm beginning to see an unexpected pattern: I am in an exceptionally good mood when I come from the gym. I've been tired and hurting for a week, but suddenly it's beginning to ease off a bit... :)

Day 3

I'm totally wrecked... Weight training on Monday, Swimming yesterday and yet to come today is Boxing. Scary! Apparently I'm supposed to give my body a shock. Well, it's working, it's shocked all right! I'm wondering if there is any muscle in my body that isn't sore. It must mean that I'm doing something right.. ;D

Let me just say, when wanting to dine out and trying to maintain a healthy diet, Wellington does not seem to have much to offer... I was in town and didn't really know what to have, so I ended up having a Bibimbap at the Country House, one of my favourites. It's quite high in carb, seeing as about half of the dish or more is only rice, but it was pretty much the healthiest option that I could think of. Not really a NZ healthy plate...

Bibimbap is a Korean dish, and usually includes Rice, seaweed, beansprouts, egg, (sometimes beef), carrot and cucumber. And hot chili sauce!

Day 1.

OMG, I have actually started now!
Scary...

My new life:

Up at 7 EVERY day!
Bed around 11pm!!! (otherwise I won't get up at 7).
Eating healthy.
Exercising pretty much every day.

It's only 4 sentences, but it seems pretty full on...