Victim Schmicktim!

Ok, so Woe-Is-Me Jane has packed her bags and left, in search of some other soul to inhabit because she's really not welcome here any more.

Always moaning and bitching about something, she loved to play the victim and always had a mountain of reasons for why the weight just kept creeping up.

Childhood traumas, divorced parents, a broken marriage, sadness, depression, anxiety. Really, anything from  total crisis to mild boredom and Woe-Is-Me Jane would claim it as an excuse to let Stuff-Your-Face Jane out and allow Lazy Jane to sit around, staring at the wall.

Well, she's pissed off somewhere else now and it's really good to feel like the power is back here, internally, rather than with something external. Now that she's gone, nothing else is in control of my actions. I can choose to feel however I want to feel. I can choose to do whatever I want to do. That's an amazing realisation. How I choose to deal with problems is completely up to me - and me alone. I could choose to throw a trantrum, I could choose to lock myself away in solitude, I could choose to go to bed for a week. I could choose to eat everything in sight, I could choose to go for a walk, I could choose to run. Whatever. The point is, it's 100% my choice. No-one holds a gun to my head so I have total free will to choose every one of my actions and reactions.

Therefore, from this day forward, I choose not to react to any heightened emotion by sending Stuff-Your-Face Jane into bat. Stuff-Your-Face Jane will be allowed out very occasionally, under special conditions and with rules to follow, but never during an emotional low or an emotional high. The end.

Measuring Up

OK - so I was pretty determined last Wednesday not to let a 'no loss' week get me down.

Stuff-Your-Face Jane has gone off sulking somewhere, because she hasn't been around all week and I've whipped Alcho Jane into submission, so she's behaving herself too. Lazy Jane has disappeared altogether and I doubt she'll bother coming back until at least next Sunday, when she can take advantage of the next 'rest day'.

It's interesting to note that my level of happiness has been quite disproportionate to the number on the scales.... I have been over-the-moon, bouncing-up-and-down, grinning-like-a-fool, exuberantly HAPPY. I haven't had one episode of feeling down, cranky, disappointed, moody, snappy, resentful - NONE! And that's all despite that 'no loss' Wednesday...

So what's going on? How can a woman, who's been fighting the flab so hard, be happy? I've come to the conclusion that it's all down to just one thing - movement. For the past god-knows-how-many years, this body has been spreading itself out, all over the couch, and every time someone's mentioned the word 'exercise', Lazy Jane has taken over, scowled and been pissed off about the whole idea. As it turns out, she was wrong to call the shots all the time so she's going to have to get used to just turning up on Sundays from here-on-out.

Yesterday, the Super Saturday session didn't result in a huge calorie burn. It seems that 'push-ups' and this body aren't entirely compatible just yet - any observer would assume they were witnessing a bunch of strange convulsions rather than 'push-ups' but by week 12, I'm sure they'll be more recognisable.

To make up the 'burn numbers', I took the dog for some soft sand walking  Out on the beach with my little pooch, it was a fantastic morning, snorting my way through the dunes and absolutely LOVING IT!

Today, I couldn't help myself... I just had to have a peek at my measurements. The scales might have been slow off the mark a few days ago, but lordy, lordy, that tape measure is showing some serious results!

Left Thigh - down 1 cm
Right Thigh - down 0.5 cm
Left Arm - down 2 cm
Right Arm - down 2 cm
Hips - down 2 cm
Chest - down 5.5 cm
Waist - down a whopping 12 cm!!

A quick calculation, and I'm pretty proud of myself - I've melted 25cm off my fat suit (that's 9.8 inches for any old-school readers) since my first measurements were taken on Sunday 10 February 2013 -  that's 25cm in just 2 weeks! You can't argue with those numbers. 12WBT is the SHIT!

Have a great Sunday, everyone, and keep giving it everything you've got!

Road Hazard?

It's time to really reflect on whether or not I'm a danger on the road.

Since starting the 12WBT, I have been so absorbed in the program, I have had a few moments that could be considered 'vague' at the very least. The last time I was so blissfully ignorant of my surroundings was when I was pregnant, 14 years ago.

Let me give you some examples:

1. On Wednesday, I planned to meet a friend and go for a walk when we dropped our girls off for dance classes. When I got to the dance studio, I was scrambling around with my water bottle and car keys while frantically trying to get my mobile phone into my pants' pocket. Only after several attempts did I finally look down to discover that my clothes were inside-out.... Nice.

2. Charged out of the house yesterday afternoon for my 'red' walk, leaving no-one at home. I'm on the way back, with about 20 minutes to go when the phone rings...Here's the conversation:

HUSBAND: Where are you?.... 

SELF: *pant" *snort* 'Just...(pant) ...out (pant)....walking' (pant).

HUSBAND: How long have you been gone?

SELF: (pant) About (pant) 40 (pant) minutes (pant)

HUSBAND: Oh right. Do you know you left the garage door open and the house unlocked?

SELF: Oh (pant) really (pant)?

3. Now picture this: Earlier in the week I'm cleaning the house like Linda Blair on speed, with my industrial vacuum  cleaner strapped onto my back, so I look quite similar to a ghost-buster. I come flying out of the bedroom with about 20 miles of electrical cord trailing behind me, when the self-closing bedroom door closes and wrenches me backward like a cartoon dog on a lead.

A fitting end to my cleaning frenzy, I tried to turn the vacuum cleaner off but it kept turning back on, so I assumed that I'd rooted the cord and left the whole thing out for above-mentioned husband to fix. On his return home, I explained the situation (which resulted in two curiously raised eyebrows) and he went to assess the damage. Here's the conversation:

HUSBAND: (holding two wires) Any idea what these might be?

SELF: Ummm... nope.

HUSBAND: You've ripped the live wires out of the switch!

SELF: Oh, OK.

HUSBAND: Lucky you didn't touch them. - that's 240 volts!

SELF: Oh, OK.

So, you see, I'm really rather dangerous at the moment... but blissfully euphoric, so that's...oh... OK!

50 Shades of Red

There was a distinct possibility that someone was going to stop their car today and offer me CPR. Shaving a good 10 minutes off my usual walking route, I absolutely BELTED it out this afternoon, with intermittent running. Even the dog was completely exhausted by the time we got back home. As I came panting through the front door, my husband greeted me and and exclaimed, 'Shit, you're really red!'.... and he looked mightily impressed! So, girls, forget 50 Shades of Grey... we're going 50 Shades of Red!

 

Clean Freak

Whatever workout works! I've just burnt 550 calories, by literally running around my house, cleaning! Eat your heart out, Shannon Lush!