Karen's Journey

Firstly make sure you are sitting down before you continue reading...

Are you sitting down???

Yes??

Good - now don't fall off your chair....

The news is......


I have joined a gym!!! Yes you did read that right - Karen who has gained 32 kilos back since losing 42 kilos has joined the gym!!! And yes I have indeed gained 32 kilos back since March 2006 when I discovered I was pregnant with Rachel!

It is something I have been contemplating for a while now, but money and time have always been the two biggest factors in my consideration of this desire! And seeing photos of me at my nephews wedding gave me a bit of a shock too and also upset me a wee bit!

Anyway, the other night Stephan and I were talking about many things... and it came up that now we are "saving" $70 per week with Rachel being in her new creche that I would like to consider either a gym or WW membership. He quickly got out of the rubbish a flyer that had come in the junk mail earlier that day, advertising a small local gym membership for $8.95 per week!!! Now that is one offer I could not refuse - and there was only 25 deals left at that price! So I rung the 0800 number, got my reservation number and went and met them on Thursday evening. All went well and Miranda who I met there was really helpful and understanding and I decided that if I didn't join up there and then that I would walk out of there and would probably not go back! So I signed on the dotted line and am now a member of the gym for at least the next 3 years!! Yeah it is a 3 year deal, but as I thought about the logistics of it all, when I was at the gym a few years ago, I went for just over 2 years and was only just at a decent level of fitness then... so to join for 3 years is not actually that bad when you look at the bigger picture of losing the weight and gaining the fitness and MAINTAINING the both of them!!!

Had my first assessment yesterday morning, all went well. 20 mins minimum of cardio per session and I then have 7 different weight/swiss ball exercises to do - all of which target different areas of my body! So I went through all of those with Annie, and then did 20 mins on the treadmill! BOY I FELT GOOD!!!! Okay, it was no where near as fast as I used to be but that will come with time! I am just a WEE bit sore today in a couple of areas but it feels good and as Tania said on Facebook - "no pain no gain" which is so true! So at this stage, I will be going Tuesday and Thursday evenings and on Sat mornings. So roll on Tuesday is all I can say!!! And oh even better, I have a friend from work who wants to lose a little bit of weight and increase her fitness join up as well, so we will be going together to keep each other motivated etc!!! BRING IT ON BABY!!!!!

So that's my news of the month!!! Now with the exercise more or less sorted out, time to work on the bad eating habits! I am NOT going to go cold turkey on it all, but will work on them slowly but surely! To start off with, I have bought a whole range of salad stuff when I did the groceries and also tins of salmon and tuna so will be having salads with either tuna or salmon for lunch. Couple of cruskits with Vegemite for morning tea.... and probably fruit for afternoon tea. A pot of yogurt in there somewhere too! Tea will be the same sort of things but more vegetables!!!

Rachel is doing really well at her new creche - has been asking for her old one a bit but is still happy enough to be dropped off at her new one. I think it is just the adjustment of the size difference. The old one had a roll of about 55 in total (over 3 rooms) and the new one is 22 in total (from 3mths to 5yrs)! She is definitely showing her stubborn traits at the moment causing run-in's with both her father and I at varying times! She is spending time in time out but is learning what is acceptable behaviour and what is not acceptable!

We have visitors coming to stay on Thursday through to the Monday which shall be lots of fun! Stephan's cousin from Timaru is coming up with her 21yr daughter and her daughters friend. They managed to get $10 flights on grabaseat sometime back and asked if they could come and stay with us! So am organising a pot luck dinner on the Saturday night with all of Stephan's family so it gives everyone a chance to catch up properly!

Anyway, time I was moving, it's 2.30pm so I need to wake Rachel (so she goes to bed ok this evening) and we are off to Queensgate to do a bit of retail therapy!!! Catch ya all later :)