Dominion Road

More like a mountain climber
Looking back having made it across
The steepest face
But he’s still climbing
See him trying to cross the street
He checks his footing
Like he was up ten thousand feet
Above the the clouds
Halfway down Dominion Road
“The Muttonbirds”

So I’m out running this morning and Dominion Road comes up on the music player. I love this song and the words and have listened to them heaps.
Sorry, I’ll just go back one step further. We went to our MAMBO (Mind Action Mentors Business Owners Forum) and the group was talking about a number of things relating to stress. Someone said that stress can result from fear and uncertainty among other things, and this can make us back away from doing things.
And then I listen to the words above this morning and I realise what I am doing to myself. I’m still acting like I’m climbing up the steepest face BUT I have already climbed that. Yes, there are more hills to climb but I’ve done the hardest one and there’s plenty of downhills.
So why would I continue to make it hard for myself? Why do I still act like I’m on the steepest face? Well I’m working through that thought process now. I think it’s because we convince ourselves it has to be hard or it’s not worthwhile or something like that. Which is actually just not true! Just because something’s easy, doesn’t mean it’s not worthwhile.
OK, I’m probably starting to rave a bit now but I think I’m on the right track. I’m going to keep pushing down this thought road.
Cheers
B

Way too long again….

Yep, I know I know, I need to be doing this more often.  But anyway, onwards and upwards.

I have had a strange few weeks with exercise – had issues with my knees but a few visits and some good advice with my fantastic physio and a visit to Shoe Science for a decent pair of shoes and I am back on track.  Managed in my run this morning to do my full circuit (I think it’s about 5.5 or 6km) – it felt great too.  I have put my name down as part of a team to do the Lake Taupo Relay in February.   I will be doing 2 legs – one is 5.7km and the other is 6.3km.  Should be exciting – although I am a bit worried as I’m such a slow runner.  But that’s just something to work on over the next few months.

Anyway, I’m down 600g today after a rocky few weeks so nice to be back on the path again.

B

Back to Blogging

It has to be done – it’s been far too long and there’s a lot of newer challengers out there putting me to shame.

So back to blogging.  Will start off slowly and build back into it.

Feeling somewhat renewed at the moment.  Have had a few health challenges recently and got some news, which to cut a very long story short, I need to get more weight off or I may be faced with major surgery.  So it’s down to me and the choices I make – and I am good with that.  I have the chance to control how my future goes – at least it’s not in someone else’s hands – Up to me!!!!

So, I’m going to be up in the morning for a walk and I am going to enjoy the fact that I am taking control of my destiny.

I’m down 800g this week after a rocky few weeks/months of staying pretty much the same.   Awesome stuff – it’s happening.

Off to get some sleep – goodnight!

She’s back….

Hello world – here I am again….Wow what a weird few weeks I have had.  A few days after we got back from Thailand, Tony got sick with conjunctivitis in one eye.  2 weeks later I got it in both eyes and today (2.5 weeks on) I am starting to feel like  a normal person again.  It has been revolting and I haven’t been able to see properly so no reading or computer which is tough!  Also no exercise to speak of for nearly two weeks – it was incredibly painful and a feeling of not being able to do anything which I have really struggled with.  In the middle of it all, we had the Fieldays so I had to keep my sunglasses on the whole time (just quietly I think I looked quite rock star-like ).  That went well but took a lot out of me – ended up having most of last week off.  That was more of a struggle than I was expecting – I have been snacking which pissed me off a bit.

Anyway, back up and at em this morning – felt great to be doing stuff again.  My vision still a bit foggy (and that’s not just because I live in the Waikato!).  I feel like I have gained a bit of weight – I guess all will be revealed in the morning.  But I’m prepared for that and won’t be too surprised.  It means I’m going to have to put in a supreme effort this week.  I really wanted to further ahead than I am however I can’t go back and change the last few weeks so will have to change the coming ones.

Over and out.

B

Mixed thoughts

Well it’s been far too long since my last blog but things have been fairly hectic as you would expect.  We headed away to Thailand having made a change to the Bangkok leg of the trip due to the troubles there.  That seemed like the best solution – at one stage we were even talking about changing countries.  Well we had the most fantastic time – 9 nights at Karon Beach and then 2 nights at Khao Lak (instead of Bangkok) – Le Meridien at Khao Lak was the most incredible place I have ever stayed – thank you red shirts.  Overall, I think I did pretty well with the eating but had more than a few drinks including beer and cocktails.  But, I’m okay with it – I did put on weight (800 grams in 2 weeks) and my body certainly let me know about it (certainly was windier than I thought in Phuket!) but I was entirely conscious and aware of what I was doing and am not racked with guilt.  I know what I need to do now I am back at home and am back into it.

I have just finished (I think) my second challenge.  The facts – 1st challenge 15.6kg, 2nd challenge 6.4kg.  Well, the second challenge was not so successful as the first in terms of weight loss but that is not the only measurement here.  I think I have gained far more in terms of mindset than I did in the first one and feel much more at peace with myself about me.  The end of the first challenge was our wedding and that seemed like the goal all the way along – when I hit the end of that challenge I really floundered for a while.  Then I went down to the retreat and found my way back on to the path although I think this path is a bit more meandering than the first one.  So, the weight loss is a bit slower but it is still happening and I am even more certain in my own mind about my own journey and how it is going to play out.

It’s been really hard this week coming back to the cold and busy and ……all the other things that come up that seem to stop us achieving the things we want to achieve.  Certainly been some “stinking thinking” going on (as Phyllis would say) – BUT – it’s only 3 weeks till the shortest day and then those dark winter nights will be getting ever so lighter and so on.  My task ahead is to not let the dark cold weather let me get negative which in turn I know makes other people negative.  My task is break the chain of yukkiness!!!!  Da da da da da

And on that note…..goodnight.

Another…

1kg down the gurgler – yay!  Feeling great and so looking forward to Thailand on Sunday.  My aim is to not gain any weight over the next few weeks while on holiday.   Talk soon.

Cheers B

Keeping on….

Gosh, just realised it’s been ages since my last blog.  Weight’s going good – coming off slow but still coming off.  I’m nearly at the 22kg mark now and heading towards being a 70′s chick – bring it on.  We are up in Auckland this weekend – doing a show at Ellerslie Events Centre called Indulgence.  Hopefully should be a good one.  Then Sunday week – wooohoooo we are off to Thailand for our honeymoon.  Really looking forward to chilling out (although not looking forward to the flight ).  There’s been a bit of strife over in Bangkok – hopefully it won’t affect us too much when we are over there.  We have 9 nights in Phuket and then 2 in Bangkok.  We have booked into a few things – one of the one’s I’m really looking forward to is Pat’s Cooking Class – it will be good to get some new flavours into my repertoire (and Tony’s doing it too so he can resume his once a week cooking with some new ideas).

I’m still going good with my exercise – walking the block 3 days a week with a friend and then jogging the other 3 or 4 days.  I am trying to add more into the jogging route – might nearly be at the stage when I can do the circuit twice.  Always something new to aim for.  I had an awesome weekend last weekend down at Mt Maunganui – went on a girls weekend.  There is a group of us who go somewhere every year – last year was Melbourne and next year we have decided on Wellington – should be a hoot.  Anyway, it’s really nice to go and chill out for a couple of days – I really like it when you can do whatever you want.  It’s great at home but there is always so much I “should” be doing – nice to just read a book sometimes.  It was great to head down the beach for a walk – we also climbed Mt Maunganui which I had never done before – beautiful.

Works’ just buzzing along – we have won some quite big orders recently so it’s looking like our normally quieter winter isn’t going to happen.  It’s all good but we all need to have a break sometime – we’ll have ours in Thailand.  I’m starting to get a lot of people coming in the shop and through work noticing my big weight loss.  It’s great to share my story with them – still weird when you see their disappointment after you tell them what you’re doing and they realise that there is still no magic pill.  But it’s really great when you start to see people make a change and you realise some of their inspiration is you .

So not too much more to say at the moment – life’s good and I really keep on enjoying this positiveness I feel most of the time – the dark thoughts seem to more under control.  As I’ve said before, they will never go away but you need to keep them squashed down where they belong – they don’t rate high enough for me to take much notice of them now, I have far more important thoughts to be thought .

Anyway, ciao for now.

B

and another….

400g gone.  Yippeeee!  All good – roll on another crazy week.

B

Perceptions

I’ve started putting together a photobook to capture some of our awesome wedding photos.  I was going through some photos and I thought “oh I won’t put that one in because I look fat” or that one’s out because of my double chin.  Anyway, I started thinking back to the actual day and I felt like a princess.  I also thought about when we got the photos and how pleased I was with them and  how nice I thought I looked (which was pretty good considering I had been avoiding the camera for a while prior to that cause I hated how I looked).  I then thought about how sad it was that we sabotage our own good thoughts  - my perception of myself has changed again and I was comparing how I look now to how I looked in January – not in September when I started the challenge.  Those negative thoughts don’t ever go away but we have to be very careful to keep them squashed down in that little place where they belong.  We have to fill up all the gaps above them with positive happy thoughts or they will rear their ugly heads – especially when we don’t want them to.  So that is my aim this week – make sure they stay squashed down below and don’t get a chance to come up for air.

Have a good one.

B

It’s up to me….

It’s been a real mixed bag this week with all sorts of things happening.

We had an awesome weekend up at Mum and Dad’s (it was Mum’s 70th birthday).  Nice to catch up with all sorts of people – absolutely loving all the compliments I’ve been getting about how good I look !  And enjoying feeling so good too.

Exercise has been good this week – I went out for a run when we were staying up at Mum and Dads which was cool – ran down to the beach and walked around the rocks from Mairangi to Murrays Bay.  It took me back to when I was growing up – some nice memories .  It was also great to see some different sights while out exercising – my little circuit in TK is great but I do see the same things every day – I must try and go a few different ways when I’m out and about.  I have been running most days with some walks thrown in.  I need to do some other distances to – try and go a bit further.

Work’s been really full on with various things – still trying to sort out our new premises and had heaps of sample products to make for this big new order we got a few weeks ago.   We only have  a month until we go on honeymoon now – getting excited about that.  The weekend before we go, we are doing a show up in Auckland called Indulgence which is on Mother’s Day weekend – sorry Mum!

I had an interesting  thing happen when I read Jo’s blog yesterday – I had no idea I had made such an impact on someone’s thinking and it got me thinking too.  I said to Jo that 6 months ago I wouldn’t have bothered sharing my opinion (cause I didn’t think people would be interested)  and I realised how far I have come over these months on the challenge.  I do know things now and they are worth sharing.  And the stuff I have learnt – yes a lot has come from Phyllis, Damian and other challengers but a lot I have also gone out of my way to discover.  In the early stages of the challenge, I might get a little miffed if something wasn’t spelt out to me – I’d go through the usual “what have I paid all this money for?” but when you work something out for yourself, you learn it so much differently than if someone had told you.  So I think I understand a bit better now some of the tactics that Phyllis and Damian are using – at the end of the day, they can only do so much – it is up to me and no-one else.  Great to have their support and knowledge but it’s up to me.  Great to have Tony’s love and support but it’s up to me.  Fantastic to have so many friends and family to who love me and support me but it’s up to me.  One thing we drummed into Dan when he was staying – if it’s going to be, it’s up to me.  And one more thing – tonight, if we’re going to get tea, it’s up to me so I better get going on that.  Have a good one

Love B

ps. One of the calls I listen to over and over is the call with Alison Braun from the Biggest Loser – the most motivating call ever I reckon!