Claire's FAT Journey Part 2

MAKING EXERCISE A PRIORITY

Hello again everyone, I hope you all have had a good week and have tried to focus on watching what you eat a little bit more. It really is the key if you want to see some results! I hope you are trying the recipes or modifying your own, having a go at tracking your calories and most importantly being honest and accountable with yourself. If you have I’m sure you have had a win weight wise. If so, that is awesome! Keep going! You are on your way! You got this!

This week’s blog focusses more on my exercise & how I schedule it in around work, kids, household duties and the 1000 other things us mums need to achieve in a day! I always plan to exercise 5 times a week. Most days I can fit something in, even if it is a 30 minute walk or a repeat booty workout at home. I find that when I don’t exercise, not only do I feel guilty for missing it; I also find that I just am not in a good mental state. Without exercise, I lack energy & motivation for other daily tasks, including my diet believe it or not! Exercise is vital for our overall health and wellbeing. As you probably well know, exercise controls weight, combats health conditions and diseases, improves your mood, boosts energy and improves sleep.

Until I found F.A.T! I was an exercise hater! I guess just being overweight and unfit made exercise a very uncomfortable task, both mentally and physically – it was a chore. I had tried many times before to start an exercise regime but never succeeded. I tried all your run of the mill types of exercise; walking, traditional gyms, swimming, aerobics and even yoga. I found most these activities boring & repetitive. I didn’t see results because, a) my eating wasn’t on point and b) I didn’t exercise enough or stick with it. It was too hard; I wasn’t seeing results so why bother continuing something I hated anyway! That was my attitude. Basically, I didn’t want it bad enough. I didn’t have the drive or motivation to make bigger changes to what I was already doing or to educate myself about what was needed to be successful. Most of these efforts were also done alone by me; I didn’t have the support that is on offer by the trainers and the girls at F.A.T! You are the only one that can do this for you!

I will give you a little background on myself in order to show you how I fit exercise into my daily routine. Our mornings, like many of yours I’m sure, begin early! I am very grateful to have a hubby who is super hands on and helps in all aspects of busy our life. He is very supportive and doesn’t bat an eyelid about picking up kids or feeding and bathing the children and getting them to bed if I attend late 6pm session at the gym. I have to applaud all the single mammas out there because it must make it so much harder! I commend you! I work in a busy medical centre three days a week. I have a hubby who works 5 days a week and two children, a 5 year old in prep and a 2 year old in daycare. We have to leave the house by 7:30am, I start work at 8am & Casey drops the kids off. I work 8-5pm so by the time we get home it is 5.45pm. Very long days! In the warmer months I was attending some 5am sessions, but now find myself attending evening sessions on my work days.

Sessions I usually attend are:

• Monday Circuit 6pm

• Tuesday Obstacles 5pm

• Wednesday Boot camp 9.30am

• Friday Box fit 9.30am

• Saturday Partner Session 7am

I actually write these times into my diary and schedule exercise just like I would any other appointment. It is a date I make with myself. It is my ‘me’ time, my sanctuary, my time out! I would encourage you all to schedule your exercise into your diary and show up! To further enhance my exercise routine, I have purchased a second hand treadmill. There are many mornings where I would like to go for a walk but it’s so cold (yeah, yeah I know, suck it up and get over it) and having a piece of fitness equipment in the house will eliminate that excuse. I generally cannot go walking with the kids (Millie would happily sit in the pram but I am sure Aiden’s legs would literally drop off as would my ears from the whinging he’d produce if I dragged him along) and it is too late and too dark by the time we get home from work. I look forward to using it, and burning a few extra calories while catching up on my TV shows. Win, win!

As you probably have noticed from my calorie counting I am a keen numbers person LOL and the same goes for my exercise. I wear a polar watch with a chest strap that monitors my heart rate during exercise. It is quite an old model that I have had for some years but it does the job. I find it the best way to monitor my workouts and see how many calories I am burning. An average session at F.A.T! I burn around 300-450 calories depending on the activity we are doing. You can also monitor your HR by taking your pulse during your workout. Remember, to shed kilograms you must burn more calories than you consume. When it comes to burning calories, the greater exertion, the greater the rate at which calories are burned.

One more thing to mention before I go….I hit the 70s this week, losing 800g this week taking me to 79.9kg! Just scrapped in there. I cannot believe I weigh this! Seriously I haven’t weighed this since I was in high school! Remember my original goal was to be pre-Aiden baby weight for my sister’s wedding which I achieved. Once I got there, it wasn’t enough, I had to keep going. My new goal was to maintain a weight between 75-80kg. I am 175cm tall and feel this will be a maintainable range for me. With this will come a whole new way of thinking, eating and exercising. I have been actively losing weight for 18 months (not to mention trying & failing the rest of the time for most of my adult life!). Now I need to maintain my weight. This is something I’ve never thought about. It certainly does not mean going back to bad habits or exercising less. I know I will be able to increase my calories but I am keen to research this new, foreign area! I shall let you know how I go. I should really say that it is not all about the scale…and nor should it be.

For people who have as much weight to lose as I did, weight plays a bigger part as you have to get that number down. For those of you with less to lose, measurements are a much better indicator of how you’re progressing. I have lost a total of 63cm off my chest, waist & hips since starting this weight loss journey. Before and after pics also paint a thousand words! I have seen pics of girls who have put on 5kg more but look so fit and toned and have smaller measurements. If you are not having your measurements done, make sure you see Loz about getting them taken on measurement day! It is so motivating and it’s a great goal to work towards lowing those centimetres.

Along with achieving one goal comes new goals. My new goals are to tone my tummy & thighs and to become stronger overall. I am thinking of adding some PT sessions into my routine to help with this. My journey is certainly not over…there’ll always be new goals and ambitions to conquer! Have a great week! Set some exercise goals and smash them!