2012 Project 52 – Week 21

20^th – 26^th May

Crazy busy week!

On Tuesday night I finally did Sh’Bam at Les Mills Takapuna with Tara. It was not as bad as I thought. You can read Tara’s blog here. I have only looked at Zumba once, but I think that it is more dance-orientated whereas Sh’bam is still quite aerobics based. I am sure as I get fitter Sh’Bam will get easier and I can add in the arms and hip rolls etc.

Finally kind of broke the gym drought and managed to go 3 times after work. I figure while it is freezing in the mornings and we are not motivated to get out of bed then going after work is a good answer. I still need to be doing more exercise on the weekends as I am not exercising twice a day like I was.

Have been listening to Bob Harper’s audio books and I am really loving them. There are so many amazing, motivating ideas. One main thing was finding something you love about yourself…which when you are obese is not always easy. So I have found 3 things.

• My smile
• My legs (even though they are white, and not olive)
• Great skin

Mark and I had date night on Friday and went to see Men in Black 3. I loved it. I love Tommy Lee Jones and seriously Josh Brolin really looked like a young Jones. I was really disappointed with dinner. We had planned to go to Wagamama and I planned what I was going to eat to make sure I stayed well within my calories; we go to Wagamama and it was packed so we had to go somewhere else. Then I made dumb food choices.

Had a massage on Saturday…so good!

Went to Lisa’s on Saturday night for a Tupperware party and it was fantastic. Loads of laughs and yummy food and a fabulous hug from Jess; I love Jess hugs.

I think that is it?

One regret

Yesterday, I purchased my first audiobook from itunes. It was after a text conversation with a good friend about a new and inspiring book written by Bob Harper (The Biggest Loser – USA) called 'The Skinny Rules'.

The best thing about having an audiobook is that I can listen to it when I am driving and it is only about an hour long so I can definitely listen to it a few times.

I have bought a lot of nutrition and fitness books over the years and barely read any of them; I wish they were all audio. However, I am nearly finished listening to Bob’s book. It is fantastic. Through his own experience with clients and Biggest Loser contestants etc. he has come up with 20 rules the make up the Skinny Rules. From drinking a glass of water before EVERY meal to having apples and berries every day I found listening both uplifting and enlightening.

I have a copy of the book requested from our library, but I definitely want to buy a copy as well.

Through the course of our text conversation both my friend and I revealed that we wished we had started our weight-loss and fitness journey sooner in life. It got me thinking. If I had maintained my weight in my 20’s I would certainly have had a healthier, more active life.

I do not regret much in my life, but I do regret gaining 50kg since I turned 20 and losing my level of fitness. At 36 I feel that I am at the halfway point of my life and it could have been a lot more enjoyable. I probably would have found it easier in my 20’s and early 30’s to maintain my weight and fitness if I had kept up regular gym attendance and good eating.

I guess at least I am making the change now and it is a change that will stay with me for the rest of my life. I want the rest of my 30’s to be happier, healthier, fitter, stronger and leaner. I want to be under 100kg when I hit my 40’s.

At the moment I am just taking it one day at a time. 

My advice is that if you are unhappy with your weight or fitness then do not put it off; start today. Even if it is just doing 1-2 things differently each day. Do not wait for the motivation to come; start changing your habits now. 

2012-2013 List

On the 1^st January 2007 I started a list of 100 things that I wanted to do in 2007; unfortunately I did not get every far.

I have just revised the list to see if I can actually start crossing things off it!

 

Exercise

Ball Room Dancing

Ballet for Adults (Viva Latino)

Bikram Yoga

Body Attack Class

Body Jam Class

Do a Flick Flack

Hip Hop Class

Indoor rock climbing

Kayaking

Pilates

Run nonstop for 20 minutes

Sh’Bam Class (22/05/12)

Walk the Milford Track

Walk to the top of Rangitoto

Zumba

Food

Bake a Cheesecake

Decorate a cake or cupcakes

Gingerbread house

Homemade sushi

Meringues

Other

Complete the photo albums

Eat crayfish in Kaikoura

Finish my quilt with mum

Go on the Picton Ferry

Go to a drive in movie

Go to Armageddon

Go to New York

Go to the Opera

Go up Sky Tower

Hold a formal murder mystery dinner party

Improve writing skills

Learn Maori

Learn my times tables

Learn to apply eye make up properly

Learn to back a trailer

Lose 20kg in 20 weeks

Make an outfit to wear

Mount some of our own photos on photo blocks

See Wicked in New York

Spend the day touring the Auckland Volcanoes (except Rangitoto)

2012 Project 52 – Week 20

St Heliers...a panoramic view

13^th – 19^th May

I ended up taking my mum out for a really special mother’s day on Sunday 13^th May. I wanted it to just be about the two of us without my dad and Mark. On Father’s Day I will have to think of something lovely to do with my dad.

I bought some beautiful flowers and went and picked mum up from home.

Then we drove to Mission Bay to go and see a movie ‘Salmon Fishing in the Yemen’. We have coffees, and muffins and popcorn.

Once that finished we went for a drive along Tamaki Drive and ended up at St Heliers where we had some beautiful fish and chips and watched the guys with the boards and the sails...is that wake boarding?

It was a really special, magical day.

Love you mum.

Cat Curfew

Something that has really made me angry this week is the Waikato SPCA pushing a cat curfew idea to curb cats mating.

I certainly do not want to diminish the amazing work that SPCA do in New Zealand, but seriously pushing a cat curfew at night to stop reproducing? What the HELL?! I am all for cats being kept in at night to stop them from being run over etc.; but sometimes that is not always possible.

HOWEVER, the only thing that is going to stop cats reproducing is mandatory desexing. It is ridiculous to think that keeping cats in at night is going to stop them from mating because they obviously only mate at night. DUH!

I have been involved in cat rescue for over 5 years now and one of my closest friends has been doing cat rescue for well over 20 years. Her main focus is rescuing and desexing cats. Unfortunately, when the breeding season rolls around every year it seems like her massive efforts have made no difference to the 1000’s of unwanted kittens that are born both in the wild and to people’s cats that are not desexed.

One thing that always comes up about cats is the fact that they kill native birds and that they should be culled etc. To be honest, I expect that the loss of native bird life in certain areas is often more to do with changes to their habitat vs. cats. I am not naïve and I know that cats do kill birds from time-to-time; but I am sure that they are not the only problem. Let’s think about the rat population as well.

I have had cats all my life. I grew up in Titirangi which is inundated by Ducks, native Pigeons, Tui etc. Seldom did our cats ever kill native birds...actually I can only recall it happening once. Our cats have always been desexed and the only one that ever had kittens was because the vet told us she was a boy. So I know cats very well.

What do I think will make a difference to the number of stray/unwanted cats in New Zealand:

• Mandatory desexing, no ifs, no buts, no maybes
• ALL cats that are re-homed privately, through breeders, pet shops etc. are desexed
• Cats are microchipped and possibly registered
• Cat colonies are managed correctly with all new additions checked, desexed and have their ears tagged. I have seen how well properly managed colonies work with regular feeding etc.
• If your cat does have kittens then you are solely responsible for desexing her and her kittens before they are re-homed; then at least you can halt the breeding

I helped our rescue cat Max write a blog a few years ago about desexing. You can read that here.  

So what do we need to do in New Zealand to start the process towards mandatory desexing and tighter regulation of pet shops, private sellers and breeders?