Surgery?!?

One of my very good friends this week had a Sleeve Gastrectomy operation. She has had approximately 70% of her stomach removed. The weeks leading up to the surgery, she was on a very strict shakes diet. My first thought when I was told of the shakes (and not food for the last week before surgery) was that some weight must need to be lost for the surgery, for example to relieve some of the pressure off her heart.

Boy was I wrong! Not surprising being that I'm not a health professional!

The reason for the shakes is to reduce the size of the liver as the incision for the key-hole surgery is above the liver, the liver pushed aside and then the 'unwanted' stomach removed through this incision.

Wow! What modern medicine can do! My friend had her operation on Tuesday of this week and is going home today! She won't be able to eat solids for roughly 6-8 weeks and will permanently be on a special diet where one of the things that the doctor said was that there is not enough room in the stomach for both food and liquid so it is recommended not to have fluids half an hour before and after eating. And then there is the lifetime 'diet' rules! She has shown an amazing amount of will power and perseverance and is an inspiration to me!

I can't wait until she is back on her feet and feeling better than she ever has before!

Isn't it amazing what science can enable us to do!

Challenge underway

I dedicated a whole page to my weekly/daily challenges . . . but that doesn't mean I am good at completing them! I think my first challenge is to remember to do the challenges!

I thought a Friday update might remind me that this is under way:

• 300 push ups in a week -- I am down 100 and have two hundred to go, and three days left of this week - totally do-able.
• Water Challenge - I have increased my water intake dramatically and including herbal tea (caffeine free) I am drinking at least 3 litres a day! (I have on Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday this week anyway).
• Today's daily challenge is to walk/run 4.8km. We'll see how we go, it is raining cats and dogs and random areas around work are currently flooding, so the weather is not really motivating me!

That's it for now! I have to focus on walking and push ups!!

Hey Jelly Belly, where you at?

Today is . . . Weigh in Wednesday!?!

I am a little nervous to see the results today! I caught up with friends last night and there was some food that looked really good to my empty stomach - big mistake, I know, but unfortunately I had a meeting that didn't finish until 7pm and thought it would finish in time to have dinner first.

There was sweet potato chips, these pretzels dipped in chocolate, dipped in almonds, some sweet waffle like biscuits. . . the list goes on. And I may have indulged. May have? Lets be honest here, I was hungry and there was food. Enter food reaper!

This is the reason I was nervous stepping on to the scales. I sabotaged myself.

Before getting onto those scales, I thought I should question my actions, after all, there was no gun held to my head forcing my to eat.

What have I learnt from this experience? I must have dinner or make sure that I have a healthy snack that will sustain me. Also, it was a one off. As long as I don't do that every day, I should be okay. So, getting back on the band wagon, let's start with this whole weekly weigh-in thing.

I have surprised myself! It's not like my clothes are tight - they're definitely getting bigger, but I didn't expect a 0.9kg loss this week! Imagine what it would have been if I didn't get carried away last night? That's a total of 2.2kg lost so far this round.

That's a little bit of motivation to keep me going this week!

Survived

I survived, and I can still see you so I guess you're still with me Jelly Belly. But not for much longer at this rate! I worked out yesterday morning and Pump class last night burnt off 691 calories and then this mornings work out (Toning session) burnt off 300 calories and that's not counting all those other calories that that are getting eaten up right now!

I must be doing something because I haven't done Pump class in a couple of weeks and last night I upped the weights a tiny bit. Normally I would have been sore last night and even sorer this morning. But I'm not! I'm a little bit stiff, but I feel great! I say that now, we'll see how much stiffer and sorer I get through the rest of the day!

The program is so easy to follow. I am surprised how easy I am finding it! I mean that I am finding it easy to follow, that doesn't mean that the work outs are easy. It also doesn't mean that I am never hungry. They can be hard and sometimes I am hungry, but that's healthy. I'm not starving, nor am I ravenous. It is a manageable hunger and the more water I am drinking, the easier it is to manage!

Tomorrow is weigh in day! I'm a bit nervous about this - probably due to all that bread on Sunday ... mmm... freshly baked bread! I think after that thought I need to go for another workout, I seem to put on weight by only thinking about food!

Just a note on the challenges from yesterday!

Monday's daily challenge - Water; 2 litres drank. Aiming for 3 litres today!

Monday's MFP Challenge - 50 pushups - DONE!

12wbt - 300 pushups, 50 down 250 to go!

Inspired Tuesday!

Enough said today, no explanation required!

Spoilt!

It's laughable. It really is!

Today I feel like I have regressed to high school, or even primary school!

I mentioned to my Mum this morning in a very brief phone call on my way from the gym to work that I had forgotten both my breakfast and my lunch, and how very annoyed with myself I was. Mum was placating and asked what I would do. I replied with something along the lines of; I'll buy a sandwich or something.

At lunch time, my Dad (who works close by) dropped some lunch off for me, courtesy of Mum! Wow! Totally unexpected, and made my day, if not my week!

So now I feel like I have regressed 20 years. Even though I have lived out of home since I was 18 (about 13 years ago) and for a good chunk of that I was not in Sydney, my parents made me feel like I was their baby girl today - and I will be eternally grateful. At least, today I am! Yay for lunch!!

Monday Challenged!!

The new challenge is out for the 12wbt! And I have a couple of challenges that I am doing separately or in conjunction with the 12wbt.

The Weekly Challenge is . . . 300 push-ups over the next week. That's an average of 50 push-ups a day. Even broken down to the daily average this doesn't sound that great! Alright . . . this is do-able. Breathe, relax. We'll have to start this one tonight Jelly Belly. There's no where at work that I want to get onto my hands and knees!

My daily challenge is . . . Water Consumption. Increase it! After being naughty yesterday, I know that I ma dehydrated. I didn't drink anywhere near enough water over the weekend! Also, it's cold today! F-ing cold actually! I know I don't drink alot of water when it's cold, because the filtered water at work is chilled!

Today's MFP challenge is . . . 50 pushups on my knuckles. I think it would be completely fair to incorporate this into the weekly challenge!

Alright! It's going to be a hard day! I hope that we do some push ups in Pump tonight to get rid of some of this weeks challenge!!

Week One Overview

It's Monday and I am off to a fabulous start this week, not!

I was up early (5.30am) and it was cold. So I thought, I have time. Just a few minutes of Candy Crush and I'll be on my way. And I was, at 6am. Grabbing breakfast and lunch out of the fridge. Checking on my laundry that was hanging in the lounge room (I live in a unit, can't hang anything outside and don't like useing the dryer, for a few reasons but mainly cost) and racing out the door to the gym.

Normally at 6am there is no traffic, but today . . . everyone was on their way with me and I took just over an hour to get to the gym where normally at that time of the morning it would take 45 minutes max. 

Oh well, I'll get what I can done this morning and will do the Pump class tonight to make up the calories that I don't burn this morning. No problem. Crisis averted. Almost halfway through the workout, I'm 279 calories lighter and I have to head for the showers if I want to make it to work on time. 

At work, I grab my bag, jacket and lunch . . . hmmm . . . my lunch is missing. I don't have a big car, in fact I have a tiny car. I look through the boot. Maybe my lunch (and breakfast) is under my gym bag? That's the only place it could be in my boot. Nope. Then I remember, I checked my laundry. Who knows why I checked my laundry - it's not like I was going to take it down this morning. Nevertheless, I put my packed breakfast and lunch down to check my laundry. And that's where it still is. On my kitchen bench :( At least I will have dinner there ready to heat up!

Oh well, this is just another challenge that I have to get past.

On that note, my summary for the first week of the 12wbt are below:

Yes, Sunday Calories are empty. That would be because, as I turned up for dinner at my folks place, mum was pulling a freshly baked loaf of bread out of the bread machine. OMG!?! How do you resist that smell on an empty stomach? So yes - I sabotaged myself. And it was a very yummy sabotage.

I have to push myself so hard at Pump tonight if I want to see you shrinking Jelly Belly!