Week 7 of my 8 Week Challenge

Day 1 Week 7

Can’t believe only 2 weeks to go of the challenge. Really the 6 weeks have gone so fast.

It’s been hard in some ways, really hard because my head is the most difficult thing to deal with but also very doable.

Take my inner head battle out of it and eating and exercise is something I can get done and as a result get results.

The results eventually make the inner head battle worth it. Don’t let the lazy talk win in your head. Keep pushing back. Yesterday my enthusiasm for exercise was low. But I keep saying to myself it’s what I do on these days that makes a difference because tbh these days of ‘ I don’t feel like exercising ‘,are most days for me. So if I let that lazy talk win I wouldn’t get results, ever!

In my workout I hear Sam the group physical trainer say, ‘remember you get out what you put in’. Hearing Sam say that makes me push that bit harder. If I don’t get results I only have me to blame. If I’m doing slack workouts I’m going to get the result for effort so I’m only cheating me.

Sam and the crew love people getting results I really believe that but they can’t make me do the work. Only I can. I also keep thinking of Beyoncé getting in shape after her twins for coachella. Despite having a team around her she had to stick to a food plan and do the exercise.

I’m pretty pleased with my efforts. I’ve been committed and that in itself is rewarding.

Today I cooked the nachos for tea. This meal didn’t do it for me so won’t do that again. But this challenge has also been about stepping out of my comfort zone and trying new recipes.

It’s my birthday week so an extra challenge with outings but I’m also going to enjoy it. I’m grateful I’m alive and well and going to celebrate that privilege with the people I love in life.

I heard a psychotherapist talking about connections making people happier than money, clothes and fame. I’m listening to a book by Professor Gillian Straker called The Talking Cure and I wreckon she’s right on that one. What would a birthday be without the special people in our lives to celebrate it with.

Cheers and hip hip hooray! Happy birthday to all the Gemini’s out there.

Day 2 Week 7

Day 3 Week 7

Today the connoisseur ice cream at the movies was probably an over indulgence. The rest just good ol’ birthday goodness!

We saw Rocket 🚀 Man tonight, the Elton John movie, I really enjoyed it😊

Day 4 Week 7

The birthday celebrations have been good but it’s back to business tomorrow.

Over the past two days I’ve thought how thankful I am that I pushed passed my fear of failure of bombing out in the challenge, of not having the discipline and focus and disappointing myself aside, and and that I took the leap to re boot and started the 8 week challenge and that my birthday has been in week 7 where I have really had some positive effects. I nearly didn’t start the 8 week challenge because of the fear of failure. I feel good that I did start and have liked my mirror glimpses in the lifts😂. We all know our own body profiles, we know that outline on the side and front. In my glimpses my hips seem smaller and more in proportion for my body front on, the side view my stomach isn’t poking out as much and the back view I didn’t look and think my arse looks big in those jeans and in my dress today I could see my waist and then proportionally curve out to my hips. I’m not a tall girl and I will never have long skinny legs and others may look at my photos and think I still have solid legs or am short. But I look at them and see good things, good changes. I may not be the perfect Polaroid tall slim girl but for me I like the changes I see in me. Genetics I can’t change but some things I can change and that body fat ratios.

I haven’t wanted to eat heaps and heaps over the past 2 days just enough to enjoy myself and appreciate some good things in life. I don’t feel I’ve missed out. The relationship with the scales is always there but so is a new day. This doesn’t end at the end of week 8 for me. My challenge is to try and get to my goal weight by my 3 year anniversary of choosing a healthier lifestyle to keep well and feel good.

Day 5 Week 7

Day 6 Week 7

Finished of a fabulous birthday week with dinner out with the family at one of my favourite Melbourne restaurants😋. Did my first workout for the week 🤫😬 keep that on the quiet 😂.

I had a choice at the beginning of the week. Get to my 8 week challenge goal of being back to my best 28 weight, I have 1 kg to go, by picking all the best choices whilst out, or take the view that we live healthy MOST of the time so we feel really good everyday and even better on special occasions. Even better on special occasions because that outfit we want to wear feels great, even better because there’s no guilt that needs to be associated with a little indulgence because we’ve already done the work by living a healthy lifestyle. In fact I believe a healthy lifestyle definition involves enjoying foods you also like, not eliminating every one of your favourite dishes forever but maintaining proportion. And if once in 7 weeks you indulge for a week, 1 in 7 is balance. Getting it in perspective. Indulging for 7 weeks with 1 week of exercise and clean eating isn’t a healthy lifestyle I’m sure most would agree.

If I was training for a professional sporting event or marathon by a certain date then it would be reasonable to choose keep being focused and try to lose that 1 kg, because being in the best physical state for that event would be a priority. But for me who is living my day to day life and merely choosing a healthier lifestyle then that 1 extra kg will still be there next week and next week will still be there to tackle it. But my 53rd birthday shared with family and friends and good times won’t be.

I have thoroughly enjoyed all the catch ups and eateries. BUT I’m fully aware I sacrificed getting to one of my 8 week challenge goals and that was back to my best 28 weight which at this stage I’m missing by 1 kg. Perhaps tomorrow I will regret that birthday week. But one of the main challenges of this challenge for me was fear of failing. And in a way I will have failed by not getting to my goal weight but in another way I’m a huge winner.

A winner because I didn’t let my fear stop me. I said to myself what’s the worst that happens , I don’t lose weight or get stronger again with exercise. I stay as I am. But by taking on the challenge I had a chance to get to my goal. So why not try. I posted I was sacred of failing and the crew posted in my post giving me encouragement. It made me feel supported.

I employed a strategies to help me be accountable. I was inspired by others who have had to do the hard work and gotten results, I vlogged my journey daily on my Instagram and photographed all my meals. This helped me to stay focused.

By day 10 I felt better, by week 3 felt skinnier and week 6 I believed I looked skinnier. I have rebuilt strength by doing the workouts. My hips and abdomen look smaller in my outfits. And as a result I felt that bit more wonderful celebrating my birthday this year.

Fear of failure could of prevented me from starting the challenge but I’m so glad I worked at finding strategies that would help me get through it and now I’m really pleased I didn’t let fear stop me.

When I felt like slacking off in workouts I’d listen to Sam in my head day you get out what you put in. If I failed it’s because I would of be cheating myself. Not the 28 family, me! The 28 group encourages and supports and I embraced that. Every post people posted in my posts I can honestly say has given me positive support , and that really matters to me and has helped me. But ultimately it’s the individual that needs to do the work and remember the only person they are cheating if they do slack workouts or eat constantly the things they know is not helpful is you yourself.

Anyone out there worried about failure. Just start and go from there. And when temptations or lack of motivation present remember your why and that cheating is only cheating you, no one else. But the first step is to start. If you do fall off the wagon, don’t wait until tomorrow, jump back on with the next meal. Every healthy meal is one step closer to success. ( I didn’t eat all that peanut butter, probably half and 3/4 of the granola. Remember you don’t have to eat the whole dish just because you’ve paid for it. Eat a portion you know is reasonable and to hunger).