So check out my progress yesterday:

June 2

Food - 1318 calories
Exercise - None

Verdict: I was incredibly impressed with my food. I stuck to clean food all day (Ashy Bines would be proud of my food choices!), and even discovered a new delicious healthy food - gluten free muesli. With lite soy milk it is incredible! Tomorrow I'll try it with almond milk I brought to site. I also managed two green teas, and only one coffee. I'd like to do this every day.

However, the catch came when I got home from work last night. It was pouring with rain and freezing outside, and that kind of weather just makes me want to curl up in bed and watch a movie. I was keen to do a workout until I wimped out and went straight in for dinner instead. And what did I find? A bain-marie full of stuff I love (it's always all or nothing). So my dinner of roast pumpkin, steamed spinach and mexican beans (i.e. healthy) was then tainted with the penne carbonara and cottage pie (i.e. fatty carby goodness). But be-jesus was it amazing.. so I had the same for lunch today. Naturally as I walked out I had to grab raspberry jelly with chocolate mousse, something Annette got me into.

The lesson learnt - skipping the gym and then going in for dinner will likely add 800 calories onto my day. The 400 I eat at dinner and the 400 I didn't burn off in the gym. I have not yet learnt the art of resisting delicious food which ain't so supportive of a slim figure.

On the up side a very cute guy was giving me the eye in the mess the whole way through dinner. Hope I see him again ;)


I'm glad this happened as I can now reflect and tackle it. Tomorrow I will do a shorter workout and then go for dinner straight after the gym. As my appetite is reduced after exercise I won't go straight for the pasta or chips. I will ask the chef to grill me a chicken breast and then have that with steamed veges.

***

Today's progress is looking better. I craved sugar multiple times throughout the day and managed to distract myself with a walk or a toilet break or a gossip magazine. I cannot believe I didn't consume the cream biscuit that was staring me in the face all day!

June 3


45 minutes strength training
Interval training - 10 minutes cross trainer, 15 minutes treadmill
Food - 961 calories

*Pats self on back for fluke perfect food and exercise*

Now I know the calories are too low. I was planning on going for dinner but the mess shuts at a stupidly early time of 8.30pm which allows me sweet f-all time to get home, change, gym, dinner. I missed cut off. And still can't find my goddamn protein powder! Why is the one thing you're looking for in the last box you go through?

I have been visually a hot little size 8 body all afternoon.. walking along a beach in Thailand on my 30th birthday and looking like I'm 24... I realised the time I feel my happiest is when I look in the mirror and love what I see. It's the closest thing to making me feel as good as actually being in love with someone.

Self love is the best thing we can do for ourselves as it filters through the other areas of our lives too. So getting fit and healthy and sticking to it is so very important to me.

Bring on tomorrow.. this is kind of getting fun!

A successful start

Each day I will be tracking my food and exercise with My Fitness Pal (username: mewmip) and posting calories eaten and exercise done each done on here.

1 June - I've still got it!
45 minutes of strength training - legs, back, chest, triceps, biceps, core, glutes
5km run - 26:53
Food - 1188 calories

Verdict: Very happy with my exercise. Since uni started in March I have only done one long run and one big weights session (hence the 3kg weight gain and clothing size 8 -> 10) and last night I did both. Stuck to my food goal but did succumb to eating two Cadbury Favourites in the evening before I went home from work. I also felt like I just snacked all day because I was bored. I need to reduce the mindless snacking and have a small protein shake after the gym  instead (but I couldn't find my protein powder last night).

I'd like to go cold turkey on sugar as I know its the only way I can ween off my addiction. Yesterday was difficult though, I believe the constant yawning and restlessness I was experiencing was due to lack of the sugary treat I am used to. Today will be my first no sugar day, and tonight I'll also be making an effort to find my protein powder before I leave for the gym so it's ready to drink before I go to bed.

I have this miraculous ability to, when I put my mind to it, go full steam ahead with my exercise and eating and drop weight really fast. I've done it oodles of times. I've dropped 4kg in a month more times than I can remember - my body just responds very quickly, especially to weight training. But once I look in the mirror and grin proudly I suddenly allow myself to go back to my old ways. It's like "Oh I've achieved that goal, I no longer need to exercise 6x a week". This is something I'd like to change. I'd like to make this a lifestyle, not just a series of missions to get back to a size 8.

2013 is the year of achievements and that includes getting a kick ass healthy body. My fitness goals are:

Run 10km comfortably

Complete a 5 minute plank (and then keep it up)

30 push ups on my toes

Check out this body. I will work my ass off until I look like this Miranda Kerr style body. Perhaps not the six pack but I want to be toned, taut, and fit. I want people asking me "Wow what did you do to look like that!?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmrxWug5d4k

Life is what you make it, and I say it's going to be AMAZING!

"Abundance is not something we acquire. It is something we tune into. There's no scarcity of opportunity to make a living at what you love. There is only scarcity of resolve to make it happen." - Wayne Dyer

Today is the day I start documenting life's journey again. Look at my last post - four years ago! I have repeatedly attempted to start writing again since then and things always got in the way. Wordpress and Blogspot both kept crashing on me despite trying them on multiple computers and browsers. However life doesn't just happen to you - everything, good or bad, is a result of our thoughts, our vibration, and sometimes, our resistance.  

I am blown away by reading 2009's posts. I was actually wiser than I remember. I reckon that girl was pretty switched on back then. However.. I guess in from 2009 to 2011 I was still doing stupid things and not really paying attention to what was going on around me. I remember still being a kid at 21, and then growing up at 24 and starting to consider the future and the concept of "responsibility", but I was still young and naive. Then at 27 I went through an extremely difficult few months and came out the other end with an extreme clarity, ephiphany, of what I valued, what was important in life, and who should always come first - myself. Gone are the days where I put others first, where I sacrifice my own happiness for the sake of someone else, or where I rely on anyone for anything really. I know my happiness, and everything else in my life, is in my own hands. I love that feeling - it's the ultimate empowerment.

It's interesting how I refer to my life as a 7/10 in those posts below. I had no idea how interesting life was going to get back then. I surpassed my 100K income at 30 at 27 - three years early. Similar to the weight loss goal I set myself in January this - 4kg in 6 weeks became 4kg in 3 weeks. The Google Challenge I was so excited and passionate about.. well our team came 10th in the World, and Top 5 in our Region. I think we all underestimate our own potential, big time.

The success we achieve is only limited by our own self belief. The common denominator through all three of these situations is that the focus was less about the end result and more about the fun achieved along the way. When you forget that you are trying to get somewhere and just enjoy the journey, it's not only more rewarding at the time, but you actually accelerate your own success. Anyone who has lost weight can tell you that very quickly it became less about trying to look good and more about the feeling you get from exercising and eating well. It's an addictive feeling and you suddenly forget that you even had a "problem" in the first place!

I set two goals for myself on New Years Day. Two goals, that if I acehived, I promised myself I would be the happiest girl in the world.

#1 Getting my health and body up to scratch
#2 A new job where I was fulfilled and had a more clear career path

#1 - happened by the end of January
#2 - happened by the end of March

Now what? Well I've gone and created new goals for myself. As you do.

#1 - Clean eating and regular exercise - lose 4kg by Mid July (6 weeks)
#2 - $0 debt by September
#3 - Enrolling in 3 units at uni for Semester 3 and achieving HDs on all of them
#4 - Kicking major ass at my new job and blowing everyone away with my skillz and smartz

Tomorrow is Day #1 of this new journey and I am documenting every step to ensure I am accountable to myself and the universe for my actions

2013 is the best year of my life and the first five months have been spectacular, bring on the next seven!

Time mangement.. or should I say procrastination

The two are often confused. I am on this continual treadmill of "sooo much work to do" but when I really wake up to the situation, it would've been done weeks ago! If I hadn't distracted myself with other stuff. I think a time management and discipline techniques course would be a great investment for anyone who wants to get stuff done.. (Well, some people don't! The ones on the dole!)

The majority of my clients at work complain about time. Well, I think I should know a thing or two about being busy. Let me see...
-- 40x hours of work every week
-- 6x hours of uni every week
-- ... assignments, weekly readings.. which total, according to the uni, 18 hours a week

And I'm not even growing a business! I'm just earning a stagnant salary and working my ass off. Then there's parents. The ones who work AND raise kids. Makes you kind of feel lucky right?

Pat Mesiti has a good quote.. If you have a reason, you'll find a way. If you really want something enough you'll find time or a way to do it.

Still a self-confessed bi-polar

Every day is a box of chocolates, I just don't know what I'm going to get! It's ok though - I see it as the negative feelings coming up to the surface because of my meditation, and I'm just releasing in spurts of anger and loathing for the world.

Today is a good day though. I feel joyful. I had the best news this morning! And I'm done a search and I can see people have already been blogging about it. V comes in these massive 500ml cans! Just last night my friend was talking about the mega Red Bull Cans and I said they needed to be even bigger. These V's are big fat things. Just what I need for study. Have they been out for a while, have I been living under a rock? I haven't had any all-nighters since last October.

On another note, my computer at work is a slow piece of sh*t. It freezes on me every morning, as if to say "That's right, You're in a good mood now but I'm gonna f*ck with you like this all day." I've now brought a book to work so I can read chapters between freezes.

I'm reading a great book at the moment. It's called "Having It All" by John Assaraf. It speaks about law of attraction, but actually breaks it down into the science behind it first, so cynics and sceptics can't undermine it. There is a fantastic quote in the book which I would love to repeat to so many people I've had the pleasure of coming across who drain the world of happiness, dreams, and optimism:

The problem of the world cannot possibly be solved by sceptics or cynics whose horizons are limited by the obvious realities. We need men who can dream of things that never were. - JFK

I Can Do It!!!!

Wow, have I been bi-polar for the past week or what?! Just before my last blog I was feeling kind of down. Grumpy. Then, on one sunny Thursday morning, I woke up, so happy and exhilarated by life that I could hardly contain my enthusiasm! I even jumped and squealed at work. It was the feeling that I knew everything was working out for me. I had a fun law of attraction moment on the Friday evening. Susan came over to help me with Feng Shui. I'd bought a little mirror the reflect the bad chi from entering my room. She told me to hang it outside my door, just above. I mentioned that I'd just hammer a nail in and hang it. We then looked above the door, and noticed there was already a random nail hammered into the wood!

So I felt just wonderful for a good few days.. then towards the end of last week I started to feel really depressed. On Friday it the worst I'd felt in months. That feeling of hopelessness.. not caring anymore.. lower than hating. It was a god awful feeling, because I've been there before, and it really isn't fun. Over the weekend I really couldn't gather the effort to complete anything productive. So today I was giving myself a good guilt trip about "look at all these goals you have, why can't you finish anything?".

We have an absolute sh*tload of clients at work who are running their own business, and can't, and don't get anything done. Maybe that's what pulled me out of it today. Just when I'm feeling really sorry for myself and I'm really disappointed that I haven't stuck to my guns, I'm reminded that I'm really pretty damn good at life in general compared to many, many people. E.g. Those who are 40 and still haven't got their own home, are still on dismal wages, and/or are in a massive amount of debt. I'm 25, with my life ahead of me! At 40 I'll have my home, my investment property/s, my own extremely successful business, and I will be a motivational speaker and I'll have published at least one book. That's my ambition anyway. :)

I made myself a promise today. As of Monday, 30th March, 2009, in order to end the year having succeeded everything I want to ($100K income, amazing success at uni, challenging, fulfilling job), I promise to:
* Sell Items on EBay and Start Web Design Business
* Save & Invest Money for the Future
* Study Diligently & Achieve Great Marks
* Exercise 3-4x/week and Eat Well
* No Smoking

I will keep you posted.

Little steps to success

Yesterday I suddenly felt like I'm come out of this black hole. I was lost and suddenly I found myself. It was the best feeling. I chilled and realised I have the most awesomest life and I need not complain about any of it. And it's way better than most people I know - who are stuck in this black hole of the every day grind, not appreciating what they have. Lighten up people, try some optimism.

I'm taking part in the Online Google Challenge, and we've started a group blog to document our journey. It's a scary one but I freakin' love it. I couldn't sleep last night. I did so much reading that I was on this endorphin high and my mind wouldn't stop ticking over.

I arrived to work this morning to find Randi as a follower on my blog. How did you find me?! Did you search blogs for "laundromatic" and my first post came up?! Hope you're doing well!
I found a wonderful quote yesterday:

It's our small and daily actions that accumulate into who we are and the success we'll achieve in our lifetime. Daily habits and disciplines are the foundation to what we will and won't ultimately achive in life.

My actions are:
* Eating well (no junk, less carbs!)
* Exercise at least 3x a week
* Study consistently, get everything done by deadlines!
* Focus at work
* Develop my website design skills
* Love and appreciate my Rob (my gorgeous boy, above), friends and family