Week One of the Twelve Week Challenge

One week over, eleven to go. When I signed up for this challenge, we were encouraged to set goals every week. I kind of laughed at this. Weekly goals? I only overall goals: I want to lose a few of those extra kilos, tone up and get fit. But after week one of the challenge, new goals have started to emerge.

On Day One (Monday of last week), I tried going a whole day sticking to the eating plan. Which meant that for the first day in (quite possibly) my entire life, I tried to go a whole day without sugar. If you had asked me before the challenge if I was addicted to sugar, I would have told you Yeah! with a huge grin on my face because I didn't really believe it. Do I like sugar? Definitely. Am I completely dependent on sugar? No way.

And this is how I was still feeling when it got to ten o'clock at night on Day One. I was getting ready to go to bed. But I couldn't relax. My palms were sweating, I was shaking a little bit and I was starting to get a headache. Finally, after bursting into tears, I raced down to the kitchen and started tearing through our pantry and fridge (all of which had been cleaned out in anticipation of the Challenge). Finally finding some sweet crackers and a half-full bag of chocolate chips, I turned on the grill and melted chocolate chips all over the crackers while simultaneously pouring the chocolate into my mouth.

I wish I were joking, and that my need for sugar was a joke. But after looking back at how I've been eating I started to get a little a lot scared. I realised that I have a sugary drink with most meals (usually fruit juice or iced tea), and that there are most often baked goods lying around in the staff room at work for morning and afternoon tea. I also will tend to grab a muesli bar as a snack at Uni. So basically, without realizing it, I have been feeding myself a constant stream of sugar for most of my adult life.

So my new goal is: break the addiction! Have any of you tried to break a sugar addiction? How did you do it / how did you go?

- H

Getting Psyched for the Twelve Week Challenge

Over a month ago, I bought a gorgeous yellow bikini. It was not eenie meenie (nor polkadot - hehe...) so I thought it would be fine to buy it without trying it on. Well, it fit. But my reflection in the mirror after trying it on was discouraging to say the least. After months of regular and tough workouts at the gym, and sessions with the amazing Trevor, I was not seeing the fruits of my labor... in my case, that meant looking good in a bikini for my honeymoon in the Carribean!

I took a picture of myself in the bikini to look at every time I went to reach for a piece of cake from the fridge, or go on a midnight McDonalds run. This was actually working quite well until I went to my hairdressers, and tried showing her some styles I had saved to my camera roll. Of course, while flicking through my photos, I accidentally showed her that glorious piece of art, hereafter named Heather in Yellow Bikini which prompted no end of shame on my part - even though she pretended to have missed it.

What to do now? I knew that the one thing that motivated me to hit the gym in the first place was accountability. Group sessions, eating plans and having people check up on you every week - that was exactly the kind of motivation I needed to lose the love handles and the tuckshopesque arms. I'm definitely not brave enough to post a "before" picture here on the blog, but be warned, there will most likely be an "after" picture of me looking like an Amazon warrior in a sports bra.

Just kidding.

Anyway, this is just a shout-out to my fellow Brisbane-based readers out there in the blogosphere to join me in kicking the last few kilos into the ground. You can sign up for the challenge here - it's not too late! Here's to a bikini-ready Summer!

- H