It's Spring!!!  That means lots of garden activity........... with Activity being the key word..... well, perhaps eating somewhat differently as well????   If I look back over my data since Dec, it's easy to tell which months I find a struggle!  I'm hoping knowing this might help me alittle over the next 12 months.
Here we are back on the "Let's try to get started again" wheel!   Fitting in exercise and walking over cold windy and icy winter days didn't go so well!  I also find it difficult to work out how to actually incorporate exercise into my "working " days since I have to travel 40 mins each way to get to work and home.  So rather than dwell toooooooo much on the negatives, I'm working on getting the exercise into my "at home and about" days!! 

This week I went out seaching to purchase a pedometer that I'd be happy with.  I've bought a few of the cheap ones which work for just a short time or just don't work period!  In my travels I came across a cute little gadget called a "Fitbit".............. I have to say that I've fallen in love with it!!  It works as a pedometer, but also counts flights of stairs, calories burned, works as a stop watch, keeps track of the time on a 24hr clock and also can track your sleep patterns!!  It uploads onto a web based program which gives you goals to meet and the battery gets charged by placing it on a docking station at the computer (mine is "docked" while I'm sitting here blogging!).  Having said that, the battery will last for approx 5 - 7 days so it says before needing a recharge!  The program also allows for you to enter in your foods you've eaten and keeps track of calories or kj's.  I'm finding the entering of food is not going so well for me......... but I do love the way it keeps track of my daily steps etc!  I would also add that I can wear this little gadget without feeling like it's there, which is kinda nice!  The only downfall I've found so far is that when I travel in the ute to work it seems to think I've walked up 12 flights of steps!!!!!.............. Yeah right!!!!!   I wouldn't need to be wearing it if that were the case LOL.
Now while I would love to leave with a pic........... my stupid camera (or maybe it's the laptop).... I can't get my photos off my camera onto my laptop at present!!!!   Did I say GRRRRRRRR.
Meantime, let's hope you all have a great day................ oh, and just incase you happen to pop by here.............. you might want to check out  a new blog I've started  www.the7pillarshome.blogspot.com     Hugs to all,  Sharm

So How are things Going?????

You might well ask that question considering how long it is since I've posted here!   From March up until my 50th birthday in May, I didn't do too badly - in fact I did get down to 70kgs!  But with that said............ well, along came WINTER!  That cold friend, who has dark morning that are icy and cold (too cold for going for walks - much nicer to grab a cuppa and head back to bed) + lots of baking ttends to happen when Winter is around and eating lots of sugary and pastry type goodies........... and when I get home from work, it's already getting on dusk - seems there is just time to tend to animals and get firewood in for the night!    So you see........ eating had increased - and exercise has decreased!!!  Of course you do know what that means don't you.............. yep, that equals weight increase!!!!!!!   So now I'm scraping in just under 75kgs - 74.8 to be precise, and I have noticed a difference.  Clothes that were beginning to feel comfortable......... are now either too tight or just forget about even getting them on! So with Winter almost at an end - and Spring just around the conrner.............. I guess it's time to get moving again!  I wonder how things have been going for you over winter??

Something Must be Working...

It's official....... something must be working.  Somewhere, I'm managing to do something right because I'm losing the weight!  The best part is that I don't really feel like I'm on any kind of diet!
When I started 13 wks ago, It was hard.  I actually found the first 3 weeks really difficult.  I'm not good at diets, so I decided I would just begin cutting out the junk, watching what I was eating.  I used the weight watchers tracking for a couple of weeks to help get me started.  Then I really watched just what I was doing............ when did I eat the most?  What were the things that held the highest calorie count?  When was I at my worst (that is .... when did I eat the most junk)?  I looked at ways of getting more activity into my day.

13 weeks ago I weighed around 78kg and as of yesterday I'm down to 73.1kg!  Best of all my measurements have dropped - My waist is down 7cm, Stomach down 7cm, Hips down 5cm, Thighs down 5cm, Bust down 6cm (mostly back fat!), and my arm is down by 2cm.   I'm feeling better in myself, clothes are fitting better and I can have the odd treat without it being a problem or needing a whole packet of something!   So, in summary - success comes by doing it in small bits with the goal of improving your health, NOT attempting to stay on a diet forever!

Watch what you are eating .........

As some of you know, I've had a couple of weeks with some health issues that kept me from exercising and sent me for CT scan of lwr back looking for nerve compressions and a brain MRI looking for any signs of MS or any other "nasties" - good news is nothing showed up.  What is it that is causing the issues with my leg?????   And so we shall continue to move forward with a couple of my own theories in the back of my mind.  One of those theories is a build up of chemicals in my system (and NO, I don't think they all took up residence in just one of my legs!).  I do believe they can cause side effects of various types of ill health because I've had it happen before...... many years ago!   Since embarking on this weight loss blog journey I've also been changing some of the things I eat to "low fat".  Normally I would keep well away from any of the sweetners since I know how nasty they are, but I hadn't thought about the sweetener "numbers" added to diet yoghurt. Aspartame can have some very nasty effects - take a look into it a bit more and watch the ingredients listed on your items in the grocery trolley! 
Since today here is a very busy day of preserving food from our garden, I'll finish here - but please watch what we are eating!  Love & Hugs, Sharm

Happy Australia Day!

Happy Australia Day everyone!  Well yesterday was Wednesday Weigh in day for me here....... I discovered that my new scales work wonderfully - they go down !  Yep, have managed to loose a small amount after staying the same, then apparently going up with the change of scales!  This week has been difficult as I've had problems with my left leg - no walking or exercise to speak of and a trip to the hospital for a CT scan of my back......... for which a report will finally come back tomorrow I hope!  Soooooo, I am trying hard not to get stuck into eating things I shouldn't be.  So watch this space to see what happens next..... I need to be doing some form of exercise if I'm planning on improving my health & fitness levels!  Have a great day everyone.  Hugs Sharm

It seems I should have been wearing glasses when I was checking my weight on the old scales - apparently there are little "tiny" marks that tend to disappear without glasses - so it seems I may have been weighing more than I thought .  Yesterday I went out and bought a new set of scales that show up in BIG numbers the kilos and the grams! Ta Da - the new scales (which are glass).  Now I might actually register if I'm loosing weight...... the new scales tell me I weigh more than what I had THOUGHT the old ones said to start with (but I checked with glasses on - hmmmm).  So it's kind of like starting from scratch all over again when it comes to the weight!  At least I can see I was loosing centimeters, so something must have been happening in those first 2 weeks.  I've taken a guess & changed my initial start weight........... and now we move it, and watch it!    

Move it Monday- Move that Mulch!

The back lane shared with neighbours - our place is the smaller open shed you can see (the messy one)

I'm a little late posting - but I was recovering yesterday evening after a good work out for Move it Monday - No not at the gym..................... in our back lane behind the house.....Where I had the truck  dump the load of mulch!  Yep you got it - Move it Monday became Move that Mulch!  A good few hours later the pile is right down waiting for me over the weekend to get it finished off..... Oh the things we have to look forward to sometimes  LOL
See you all Wednesday for weigh in!  Hugs Sharm

Move it Mondays!

It's Move it Monday (MIM) and let me tell you that without this, well , it would have been easy to sleep in or go make a cuppa & sit & read or stitch for a bit.......... instead I decided to go for a walk....
On with the shoes, grabbed the camera and here we go................
 out the front gate


And up the road



Hmmm, now straight up? No perhaps down to the right to the river track..........



the start of the river track .......

Soooo nice along here - but no wildlife in sight this morning





To the new jetty out into the river. 
It's soooo pretty down here isn't it!  - and almost finished my walk........
back up the road and look............ there's my house, straight ahead..... the cream one with the big gum trees!

That was pretty good really...... a 25min walk and home by 8am feeling rather good....... 
And when I got home, there was Pete in the garden, weeding, so after a very very quick cuppa which ended up coming outside with me, it was onto some weeding and then a bit of mowing with the hand mower (Pete was on the ride on while I did under the trees and such!   An hour later and Pete suggested we head into Yarrawonga for the market............ (Guess this photo will have to wait..... blogger or computer is just way too slow - 3.5 hrs to do this post waiting for these photos to download!!!!! seriously!!!  - Luckily I've been cleaning down my sewing table and other bits during the wait process).  I bought some strawberries from the market which made a lovely smoothie at lunch time when we are inside with the air con going.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to everyone!  I've spent today cleaning out some stuff, reading and planning for the year ahead.  I was pretty horrified to find my body measurements from 6yrs ago, but on the other hand it gives me the mind set to get this weight and these inches MOVING!!  I am NOT good with diets, but I know I have to curb my eating and drinking patterns............. and sooner rather than later!  So do I go with the weight watchers thing of point system, or do I count calories???  Maybe a bit of both, watching what goes into my mouth with the idea of how much effort is involved to take it off!  Moving, moving and moving will be on the agends!  Time management is going to have to be planned so it doesn't all fall through.  Let me know what works best for you!  Oh yes, and I need to get menus worked out for the week ahead so dinner is already planned well ahead and I don't fall into the trap of grabbing whatever from the supermarket on the way home from work!  Planning!!!  Wednesday is the first weigh in................ guess we shall see - tough week to start in on!
Hugs Sharm