Hard Work, Support, Results and Milestones. What a Week!!!!

This week has been a huge one for me.  I reached 2 weight loss goals, set a new longest distance run and longest time run, made it into the local paper and also realised how lucky I really am.  Add to that, I also bought my first pair of size 36 jeans and for the first time actually felt like I was a skinny person.  All round HUGE week.

This will not be in chronological order of what happened this week, but that is because I want to make sure things don’t get glossed over and the biggest parts of my week are those that I am focusing on.  Sorry to those OCD people that read this and need order to be restored in their lives to function, my weight loss journey and everything surrounding it do not work that way, so why would my blog.

Monday night I went for a run. No big deal really, so I should as it is cardio day after all.  I was determined to go for a bigger run though as I had another rest day on Sunday due to crappy weather.  I decided I would try and improve on my PB of 10.74 kms, which would have me running for approx. 1 hour 10 mins.  I had my heart set on 11kms minimum.  When I started running I had no idea exactly where I was going to run to, just get out and run.  Whilst out there I was pleased with my pace, so decided I would see how far I could push myself. At the 7km mark I thought, why not go for double and there it was, 14km became the target.  I had no idea whether I could do it, how fast I would do it or how wrecked I might be at the end, but I am a little compulsive when it comes to trying to improve and raise the bar of late.  I got to the 12km mark and my phone battery died.  SH!T, BUGGER!!!!  I still had 2kms to go, but luckily I had my heart rate monitor so I would have a total time run, even if I didn’t have it all on GPS. 

Worst part was I had no music for the last 2kms, which meant I had to push through the pain barriers with all those messages going on in my head to stop, you have improved on last time, you can do the 14km next time.  Like HELL!!!!! I didn’t run this far to stop so close to the end goal.  I knew how much I would have hated myself if I didn’t get there as much as it was hurting my legs.  Well now I sit back and know that I ran 14kms in 1 hour and 34 mins.  That is 2/3 distance I will need to run when I tackle my first half marathon in July. I am a RUNNER!!!!

Wednesday saw weigh in day.  I was a little apprehensive about this, not because I was worried if I was going to have a loss, I knew that was going to happen because I am a serial weigher, but I wanted to hit at least 1.6kgs as a minimum.  Why that number?  This would have given me a total of 40kgs lost since I started this program and 50kgs over all since the start of 2012.  I jumped on the scales to reveal that I had dropped 2.1kgs.  I was officially 40.5kgs lighter than when I started this program 42 weeks ago.  Add to that the 10kgs I had lost in the first 6 months of 2012 and I have now lost the same amount of weight as my 11 year old (5 foot 4in tall) son weighs.  I am in awe.  I am so proud of myself for getting to this point.  This is a huge milestone for me along with my run on Monday and now to shoot for the double digits.

This morning's weigh in. Didn't get a picture yesterday and dropped another 500grams.

I also just want to mention a subject that is important to me and every week it is highlighted more and more in the forums and the facebook groups.  Plain and simple it is support.  I am lucky that I have the most amazing support network around me, which without I would not be anywhere near where I am now.  This starts with my wife.  She is constantly teling me how proud she is, encouraging me, allowing me to go out for long rides, runs etc.  Following on I have amazing kids that let us train every Saturday morning in our garage with our garage crew and rarely interrupt us. Then there is the garage crew.  What can I say about these people?  Not all of them are current 12WBTers and some have never been but they are the most supportive bunch of people.  Some have become very close friends, others are just awesome to train with, inspiring to watch how they tackle different obstacles due to fitness levels and injuries but most of all, they constantly encourage and support each other through every session.  Even when we are not training together, there is a constant stream of support, confidence boosting posts and feedback/discussion on our Western Warriors facebook page.  This extended family is amazing and without that added network reaching these goals would be a lot more difficult task.

I know that ultimately your results are through your own hard work and the effort you put in.  I am constantly telling people on forums and facebook, you only get out of it what you put in, which is 100% true, but without the amazing support, friendship and camaraderie it would be a lot slower and more difficult path to tread.  Thank you Julie, kids, Warriors and all of the people that read this and give me support.

Finally, I just want to touch on something dear to me.  The Ride to Conquer Cancer.  Last year I completed the Melbourne ride raising money for Peter Mac Hospital.  This year I am doing it again.  I am also doing another 5 rides in 2013 (6 in total) each of 200kms and each over 2 days.  This is 1200kms in 12 days raising money for hospitals in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and Auckland.  I need to raise $2500 per ride which is no mean feat.  I was fortunate enough to have an article in the local paper to highlight my rides, which the photo appears below.

 

I just want to thank all of those people that have donated, but in particular one lady Tania Burhala.  I have never met this lady, and she will probably never read this blog, but she is a friend of one of my trainer/running buddies Bridie Krull.  She decided to make a donation to my ride last night.  This donation was of an amount that I was over the moon about.  This morning this amazing lady sent me an email to tell me that her sister in law was having her own battle with cancer, she was inspired by mine and Bridie’s efforts in losing weight and my efforts in raising money and riding and proceeded to make another donation which was quadruple the initial one.  She is my single biggest donor to this point and an amazing lady.  She also said that because of Bridie and myself she is signing up to the 12WBT. 

Now you can see why I said it was a huge week for me.  What more can I say.

All About The Small Wins!

Losing weight and the journey around it is so often just about the numbers and the scales.  But is it and should it be?  This can become all consuming for too many people and can sometimes be detrimental to their success in making changes.  I have seen many times on the forums people becoming despondent about their progress because the scales are not moving at all or are moving very slowly.  Yes losing weight means that the scales should be coming down, how else do you judge it if the numbers don’t drop, but when we hit those inevitable times of slow weight loss or the dreaded plateau, what do we do then. 

In my opinion we should look at the small wins that we have along the way and what many of the smart and successful people in this program call “Non Scale Wins”.  This is a very broad term and can encompass almost anything that we consider a win that is not scale related and can help in getting people over a hurdle and through a bad patch.  They can also be a massive bonus and spur even when you are doing okay.

My reason for mentioning this today is after I experienced one this morning totally out of the blue, which has given me a huge lift today.  You need to make the most of these moments when you have them and remember them as these are what make all the sweat and tears well worth it.  I rode to work this morning and had to have a shower prior to going into the office.  After getting out and drying myself off, I wrapped the towel around my waist.  Very weird because I normally don’t do this, never have as I don’t mess around in getting dried and dressed (subconsciously probably because the towel never made it) but today I did so and on this occasion, the towel went completely around me and even overlapped.  I was gobsmacked and even had to take a selfie in the bathroom mirror, which is below.  I also noticed in the picture that my stomach is not hanging over the towel like it would have previously and there is also no skin to be seen.  WOO HOO!!!!!

This certainly put a spring in my step this morning, as it should, but it got me thinking about all the other things that people have done along the way which they probably brush over and never give themselves credit for or celebrate mainly because they are looking at the numbers.  So I sat down and formulated a quick list, which I am sure everyone can relate to and certainly think of more, but this is to jolt people’s memories and provoke thought about what they have achieved.

Small things that mean big things:

·         Children wrapping their arms all the way around you

·         Going for a period of time without something (sugar, soft drinks, chocolate, fruit juice, etc)

·         Towel being wrapped around waist without a gap or bits hanging out

·         Buying clothes without having to go into the Big Mans/+size section

·         Being able to see the scales without having to lean forward

·         Being able to touch your toes

·         Being able to do a push up on your toes

·         Being able to do a full sit up unaided

·         Being able to run the kilometre time trial non-stop

·         Taking part in your first organised sporting event (fun run, triathlon, bike ride etc)

·         Fitting into old clothes that you had kept for some reason or bought years ago expecting to lose weight but never did

·         Ladies getting back into their wedding dresses

·         Ladies being able to shop in Lorna Jane and have it now fit them

·         Being able to wear a pair of skinny leg jeans and not feel weird or out of place

·         Dressing in clothes that you have never contemplated before because they didn’t suit a fat person, but hey, now you’re not fat you CAN!!!!

·         Signing up for events that you would never have dreamt of or considered in the past (half marathon, marathon, triathlons, Ride to Conquer cancer)

·         Noticing changes in the way you look at yourself and feel about yourself.

·         Feeling bones where previously there was a thick layer of fat (in my shoulders, back and collar bones)

·         Having muscle definition where previously there was none

·         Finding that I now have a bum (yes there was something there before but it was just a blob of fat and skin with NO shape.)

So in short people, all I want for each of you that read this is to focus on and remember all the good things that have happened no matter how small.  Just like a 100 gram loss, it is a loss, so all the small wins add up together to make a successful journey.  Look back at what you have achieved, how you have achieved it and set some small non scale goals for yourself.  This is part of our preseason tasks where we have the opportunity to set goals, there is no specific parameters for this, but we all tend to focus on scales and athletic goals.  Think outside the square and look at something different. Maybe you want to wear size 12-14 underwear by the end of round.  I would like to fit into a pair of size 36 jeans in 7 week’s time and I believe I will.  Just don’t lock yourself in to goals that are numbers specific.  We all do it and it is detrimental to out state of mind some times when it need not be.

If you have a win, no matter how small, shout it out LOUD and let everyone know about it so we can share in your success as well.  These sorts of things should fill the forums and facebook groups because it motivates people and helps them think of areas they may have had wins in but not realised it.  Most importantly remember that these are YOUR wins. Don't compare your journey, wins or problems with that of anyone else, we all travel this path differently and in turn have different wins, goals and successes.