WEEKEND ACTIVITIES 2

Saturday morning was spent doing a BodyPump class at the gym (9.00am-10.00am), followed by housework (washing, ironing, washing dishes) in the afternoon.

Sunday morning was spent walking with a walking buddy (7.30am-10.30am), walking from Mitchell Street to Halls Road (a distance of 10 1/2 km), via the Pacific Hwy, followed by a usual walk along Sawtell Beach & Boambee headland in the afternoon (2.00pm-3.10pm) with some other friends who are into walking and fitness, and then afternoon coffee at Sawtell R.S.L. Club.

WEEKEND ACTIVITIES

Spent Saturday morning doing a BodyPump class at the Jetty Fitness Centre (duration: 1 hour)

Spent Sunday morning walking with a friend up to the Skywalk within the Big Banana complex (duration:  1 1/2 hours)

Spent Sunday afternoon walking with friends along Sawtell beach and the Boambee headland, followed by coffee at one of Sawtell's cafes (duration:  1 hr 10 mins (walk) & 1 1/2 hours (relaxation time at cafe))

My Weightloss Chart from Day One

Please go to the Photo Gallery to see the Weightloss Chart.

ONE OF MY GOALS FINALLY ACHIEVED!!!

At last, I have finally achieved one of my most important weightloss goals:   reaching 100kgs.

It has taken me a while to reach it (over 20 months), but, now that I have gotten there, I can now continue to strive towards another important goal:   reaching 95kgs by the end of June 2007.

Once this has been achieved, my next HUGE goal is to get to a healthy and respectable 85kgs by the end of 2007 (a feat that I should be able to master).  After this has been reached, I will have to maintain my weight for the next 3 months (at least), in order for me to know that I can successfully keep it off.

MY WEIGHTLOSS JOURNEY

MY PROGRESSION INTO OBESITY

My progression into obesity began in March 2001, when I decided to leave my job.    Little did I realise that after the next couple of years, I would be struggling to live with a massive amount of life-threatening weight.

My weight ballooned from 125kg in 2001, to an astonishing 178kg by mid-August 2005, a fact that I can even now find hard to believe.    In the early part of my self-inflicted "retirement" from work, I always thought that I would never get any bigger than I already was, but, if I continued my lifestyle the way it was, I would end up with diabetes, strokes, heart disease, or have a massive heart attack, or dead.   

I was 38 yrs old (in 2005), and eventually (after much coaxing from my landlord) made the decision to move from Ferntree Gully (an outer-eastern Melbourne, Vic. suburb) to Coffs Harbour (on the mid-north coast of NSW).

After making the decision to move up to Coffs Harbour, I knew that I had to leave my old lifestyle behind and make a fresh start.   This fresh start would commence from the moment that I left, and, would be continuous until I could manage to lose some of the dangerous fat that I carried.

THE START OF A NEW LIFESTYLE

As I would be living up here with my parents, I found support in my journey, which came from a little bit of constant nagging (!) regarding my sudden easing into exercise (my "transitional stage" I called it).   

The exercise that I started doing was walking back and forth along the back verandah of the house, a task that I partook twice a day (20 times x 4 sets in the morning and before or after dinner), for the first 2-3 weeks.

After I had begun getting used to this, I changed my exercise to include walking around the perimeter of the property, and walking up and down a set of stairs.

A week later, my mother and I decided that it was time for me to begin walking outside of the house in order to dissolve some of my accumulated fat.    We began by short walks down Bray Street for a time period of 45 minutes, usually including a couple of stops along the way; I couldn't believe how hard it was for me to continue these walks, being so out of breath as I was, but, once I got going, I found myself in a rhythm of getting up early and continuing to last the distance.

Eventually, I lengthened my walks, as well as cutting down my rest breaks, which went down to one, and then none.    By this stage, I had begun to feel like I was achieving something, but, it was time to do something different.

MY JOURNEY NOW CONTINUES IN LEAPS AND BOUNDS

The next decision I made was to join up with a gym, where I could work harder to get rid of the fat and get myself into proper shape.

After consultation with Colin from C.R.S. Australia, who helped pay for a 12 month membership to the Empire Gym, I commenced my new weight training and fitness regime, which I am now happy to say that I am still continuing with after more than 16 months, and I continue to astound everyone who I see with my current weightloss progress:  I now weigh in at 101kg (a loss of 77kg), and my goal is now to lose at least another 10kg by the end of June 2007.

I still go out for walks at least 6 days of the week, walking for an hour and a half each time, and also do BodyPump (a choreographed weight-training and toning class with weights) two days a week (Wednesday night and Saturday morning), BodyBalance (a class that incorporates Tai Chi, Yoga and Pilates) once a week (Tuesday night), and 2 days of weight training (Friday and Sunday).

Every 4-6 weeks, I visit with a dietician at the Coffs Harbour Health Campus (hospital), where I get weighed, before having a discussion about all things concerning health and fitness.    At the present time, I have left my weightloss profile with her, so she can use it as a mechanism to encourage some of her patients to lose weight.    Another person who has used my profile as well is the doctor who I see at the Coffs Medical Centre; she uses it for motivation as well, encouraging her patients to try and lose unwanted weight.

Regarding diets, I don't follow any set ones, preferring to eat healthier foods such as fruit, vegetables, rice, pasta, bread and various meats, including lamb, chicken, fish, beef.    I eat regular size meals, but have incorporated more fruit afterwards in place of eating snack foods.    I still eat some junk food occasionally, but I limit the amount that I consume, and drink plenty of water (something that I never thought that I would ever get used to doing).

Note:  The weightloss shown in this graph is only displayed from 3 January 2006, whereas my weightloss commenced from 22 August 2005 (these figures represent weigh-ins with the dietician, taken at different intervals).