JUST BACK FOR A BIT WITH THESE.................

Just before I take the blogging break I thought I would leave ya with the bikini and bikini/trackie pics taken this morning. The one down the bottom with the side fringe and the loose accidental one of a 'fattish' stomach are from the weekend. I didn't want to post them on facebook (as they will go to top of my news feed) LOL. But I wanted some evidence of what I look like 22 June 2010. So that's why they are there, (plus you can have a look too). I think the bikini and trackie/bikini ones are surprisingly flattering to what I expected they may have been to be honest. That's cause it's a loose bikini that doesn't dig in too badly, it's made for full cups and comes with thick ties. And trackies seem to work well with a bikini top.

Stats this morning have me weighing in at 75.7 (166 lb). My body fat is around 35%, - I would like to get that under 25%. I have always considered my most probmatic bits for fat gain to be torso/stomach, breasts, face followed by inner thighs.

Oh, I received my new drivers licence in the mail the other day.

Talk soon

Pip :-)

THE 'JIGGLES'.....AND END OF 20's NEARING WAY TOO CLOSELY!!!................

G'day! Time for an update.

Ho-hum! The 'jiggles'!!! Time for an explanation maybe! OK, BF has a full length mirror in his bedroom. A few, (maybe 3 or 4 weeks ago) he was annoyed that his pants were getting uncomfortably tight. He is very stringent with money so didn't want to buy new bigger ones plus amongst it all he has a concern about health. He had been doing a bit of overtime at work, (which provided 'free' meals to him)'. I know BF likes to take advantage of any saving possible to him so he loads himself up on food, (but doesn't eat much for the next day).

Free meals at my BF's workplace when doing overtime happen to be Chicken Treat, desserts, chocolate or pizza with the same, - really kinda takeaway options. So BF loads up on the freebies thinking he can save on his own food groceries! His pants were getting tight, he weighed himself, got slightly shocked and decided he needed to make a bit of an effort to shed a couple of recent kilos. So he limited himself to 2 midstrength cans per night, made an effort for him to reduce his portions, (mostly) for him and started doing pushups/crunches etc about 4 nights a week without getting hardcore about anything. He is down about 5kg and feels his pants etc feel much better. He's maybe 4-5cm taller than me but I think now only would weight 7-8kg more than me so I have to get cracking! Anyway today he showed me his 'jiggle' test. That is running or jumping on a spot in front of a full length mirror naked. He hardly jiggled, (but said he did lots more 5kg ago). I then tried the 'jiggle' test. Yep, chicks I know have more bodyfat than guys but I now have a new goal!!! I'm not taking breasts into consideration, mainly stomach/torso! I wanna stop the giggles!!!

Right..............ending 20's! 4 weeks this next Monday is my 30th. Party is the Saturday after, (5 weeks today). I've been feeling somewhat annoyed to be coming to the end of my 20's! However age is to be embraced, 20's were great, (did have fun/get lots done) but am planning for 30's top that! I know it won't magically happen without lots of planning/commitments and sticking to them!

Talk soon all!

Pip :-)

DOINGS and 'BURN THE FAT, FEED THE MUSCLE' thoughts........

G'day, there seem to have been new blog templates to try so I had a little play and came up with this new blog colour theme!

Last night I went to a workmates 30th birthday masquerade party, photos of it are on my facebook! Must say it was a fun night all round! I really enjoyed it! It was a bit more of an effort than I expected finding two cheap masks for BF and I but we got there in the end!

I also went to the hairdressers on Friday for a TRIM! I went into a new place in passing advertising TRIMS for $20 thinking that was what I was gonna get! I asked for a basic TRIM around the layers and ends, that's all! The hairdresser then told me how good in her opinion a side fringe would look on me! I said, 'I dunno about that', she said she would come back to it after cutting the rest. She did, I then said, um, um, this isn't the plan! Next thing..............hack! She took that as a cue to give me a fringe!!! I didn't say yes..........or no but I got one. She then told me that to really make the best of my hair that I really need a professional colour job as my last supermarket one wasn't good! I stood my authority on that one and didn't get swayed in! I told her it was my birthday soon,.........she reckons turning 30 is an excuse for a drastic change and thought I should go platinum blonde all over! I also had about 3cm cut off my hair instead of the requested 1cm so hair is basically now sitting on shoulders at longest layers rather than being ever so slightly past shoulders! Yesterday morning I put my own permanent hair colour in which is a 3.6, (dark mocha brown). So the lesson is ya need to be totally specific and assertive to hairdressers if you are fussy! My 'trim' I specified turned into a $35 style cut as she did a fringe without full consent haha!

Now............Burn the Fat! The e-book has been a very informative interesting read for me! I have been deciding how I'd interpret the info toward bettering myself! Tom talks about I guess the ultimate way to go about burning the fat and feeding the muscle. There is lots of science behind what he says and he also acknowleges that no one exact way fits all to become the best we can be. He does talk about women striving for 5 meals a day, and men 6 meals! Ideally largest meals are at brekkie and taper throughout day in size. He thinks regular meals on the time dot are the go and is even known to chant to himself about losing muscle etc when he is late for a meal! Some need lower carbs, some can get away with 55% carbs. Tom suggests we get used to counting exact calories and planning exact macronutrients for meals. And if fatloss is a goal, he recommends heaps of cardio as well as weights. He recommends regular, (ie weekly) body fat % measurements as well as weigh ins.

As far as I go............working in hospitality/living with others I feel it's impossible to eat meals at the exact time daily, or get 5 perfectly spaced meals in with 3 hours between my last meal and bedtime! However I do know where improvements can be made, - and can get in four meals daily with adequate spacing. Tom suggests 4 meals a day will achieve 60-70% the results that 5 will for most people. My goals are also endurance/strength related as well as body composition relaed. It's a very good read! Even if we can't/don't do it perfectly any improvements made will be good and the book says so too!

Gotta go soon! Work tomorrow!

Pip :-)

SO WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?...........

Howdy!

Well firstly I've banned myself from moaning or talking about 'plans' my weight/fitness/body composition. I'm allowed to talk of notable meaningful achievements (to me) as they happen in this area but am not allowed to whinge. So..........nothing of major note to report!

Last weekend I bought a new handbag! I'd been wanting one for sometime. It's a black Fossil Liberty tote bag, - had been making this decision of 'which one' for month and eventually caved in! (Fossil being the brand). I still haven't used it, it's hanging on my bedpost for admiration! One thing for sure is that any lippie or sunscreen or pens etc will be in another separate bag as I don't want leakage!!!

Today I bought some new comfy work sneakers. OK, they are Adidas runners that were on special, white and pink in colour. I'm not allowing myself to use my good Brooks runners for work. My old runners I used to wear to work, (after having them as my running shoes for a year) were falling apart, getting holes in the sole and basically were dirty/stunk no matter how much I tried to wash or scrub them. I tried wearing my cheap Target slip on closed in black shoes for work for a few days but they are so flat soled, I over pronate out badly, have uncomfy feet all day and have even been getting slightly sore ankles after wearing them all day, (being on my feet and walking all day in them) so I succumbed to new shoes.

I definitely love long weekends but dislike going back to work after them, - like everyone I spose! On Sunday BF and I went down to his parents home for lunch where BF did a job for them. His parents made us spaghetti bolognase followed by pavlova for lunch. Both, BF's Mum and my Mum can make the best pavlova! :-)

I really need to find myself being a very tight scrouge over the up and coming weeks due to my recent spending!!! Still am not in debt or anything and I refuse to touch my small savings account with my other online bank as that account is called 'Future Focus'. However I need to save money for my party over again, - have a couple of bills to pay first and my rent is now higher. So installments to 'Future Focus' will be drastically reduced for a few weeks. I have a 30th cocktail party of a friends at a nice bar to attend this Saturday but am thinking I may have to stick to water as I can't afford to buy expensive cocktails! It will be a good night though!

Talk soon all, have a good one :-)

Pip :-)

IT'S AMAZING HOW MUCH LEAN MINCE CAN SPAN OUT!............

I'll just start hear by saying that tonights tea was about 120g 'heart foundation tick' beef mince, 3 cloves garlic diced fine, leftover half an onion chopped, leftover half a red capsicum chopped, 6 mushrooms chopped, 5th of a tin the lowest sugar/fat pasta sauce leftover and a squirt of no salt tomato paste, maybe 1/4 cup water, a pinch of fennel seeds, small pinch of pepper and green herbs. And served with a couple of floreats of lightly microwaved broccoli. The broccoli was on the side, all other vegies and sauces chopped and inside the mince! What a substantial serve that looked! I even contemplated having half now, and freezing half for another meal as it looked perhaps a bit bigger than I thought it should have! I was hungry though, and had just had a big gym workout and yep, it was 9 hours since my last meal, (I work weird shifts with an early lunch break) but did have an arvo skinny flat white coffee)! It all was eaten in one meal LOL and was good. The moral here though it's amazing how much vegies or salad can span out any meal size...........for few calories and lots of nutrients! I've always found that! I habitually aim to eat a kind of substantial portion controlled brekkie and lunches with wholegrain carb bases, maybe fruit instead of coffee if I have it as an arvo snack, then a lower carb dinner but if carbs are involved with dinner.......watch portion!

I have been on to it with training.......being on track etc this week so far. Today I was buggered and really wanted to flag the gym and miss my workout! However I knew tomorrow was going to be my 'day off' so decided I had to suck it up today after work to stay committed haha! My average half hour tready distances have been around 5.3km (and totally fatigued at end). Today I really didn't feel like it and managed 5.08km. Still, at least I did it :-) I got in some body resistance work reluctantly too.

I'm aiming for 3 runs per week for now, (one long one around 10km, one interval 30 min run, one 5 km or so hilly run building up), 1 bike ride, (steady, 20km min ride will do for now), one swim, (am just aiming for a km focussing on form, technique and little stopping), 1 BodyPump class, one small 15 min resistance body weight workout building up per week. So that's 7 training things but I'm aiming to fit them into 6, (sometimes 5) days so I get a day or two off intense training per week. I wanna build up slightly..........aiming for City to Surf 12km run first, then short triathlons after that. After City to Surf I wanna replace one run for either a swim or ride then stick with that for a bit.

Bedtime here, have a good one!

Pip :-)