Measurements and weight loss

The diet plan hasn't really worked. I'm not sticking to my rules. I have eaten outside of the set times. I have broken my treat days. See my rules here to get an idea of what I mean.  In fact I've developed a love of white bread which is really bad. I have never really eaten white bread and during this pregnancy I just loved it and craved it. Now it is a habit that is hard to kick. Instead of just having one sandwich for lunch I've been having two. Naughty however I have managed to continue exercising every day, except this morning. I will have to make sure I go for a run tonight. Buddy's going to get lucky tonight. He'll get to go twice. Once with me and then with Kevin. I am very grateful to Sarah who has kept me motivated and on track. Tomorrow is walking day and I'm planning lunges and squats on the walk too. 

I am entering the 3rd week of my exercise routine. Swimming or walking every day for those 2 weeks except the day I was very sick. I'm pretty happy with that. It feels good. Kevin always says I need to get up early and get going. It's very difficult when it's cold in winter or when you're pregnant and have very little energy but I agree with him, hear that Honey you are right!, I do operate mush better when I get up and have some time alone or time to wake up before I deal with 4 or 5 nagging children. I've always been a morning person, as in I like being up in the morning. I don't necessarily like communicating early in the morning. I don't like questions being constantly asked and my attention required constantly. I like the mornings. I'm glad I'm doing the early morning exercise. 

I've finally got around to measuring myself. See my measurements below. Last week at the doctors I had lost weight since Kevin's 10 day check up. In 4 weeks I'd lost 1.6kgs. I'm pretty happy with that. I've read a lot that says a breastfeeding mother shouldn't shed more than half a kg a week so I'm happy with the loss I've had.

Measurements 15th October

All measurements are in cms.

right arm               13.2

left arm                 14

bust                      43

belly button          41.5

hips                      42.5

bottom                 46

left thigh               26.7

right thigh             27.1

Before we moved I had all of my measurements written on the mirror in our bedroom. I tracked them for 8 months. It was great to see the measurements decrease over time and then increase with muscle gain. Unfortunately I cleaned the mirror without taking a photo. I remember my dear friend, Leesa, did but I don't know whether she deleted the photo or not. I'll have to check with her.

I still haven't been organised enough to take a photo. I'm a little scared to be honest. I was very keen to start with. Now I'm not so sure. 

Until Friday my dear friends and family.

Amity

Diet and exercise

The diet, salad and tuna for luch most days and an increase in vegies for dinner, and the swimming and aqua aeorbics don't seem to be working. Initially I lost a lot of weight. 3kgs in 3 weeks but I have since put on weight and no I don't think the fat is turning into muscle that happened a long time ago. I have no idea what's going on. I don't feel heavier, in fact my clothes are baggy and I'm feeling really good except being a little tired from late nights and all the exercise. I did have a lady at aqua the other night, who hasn't seen me in a while, say that I looked really good and toned around the shoulders and my chin/neck area looked more trim. That was a lovely compliment because I don't know her apart from aqua classes so she was in no need for her to be polite as women often are. Maybe I am doing something right. It just sucks to put on weight when you're putting in all this effort.

Cyber crop

This weekend I participated in the Scrapbooking Memories Cyber crop. I got 5 layouts done. I'm not overly impressed with any of them but they all meet the set criteria so I guess I'm happy with that. I'm also happy that I got another 5 done. It's 5 more stories I've told and I had a great time doing it too.
Sister love challenge was set by Bella to create a layout with the following criteria:
Use die-cut cardstock as the base - buy a ready-made shape or cut one out yourself
Use only black and white paper or cardstock colours
Use photos that make a strong connection between the past and the present
Use button clusters to accentuate journaling.

Watch your smile bloom was a challenge from Buzz and Bloom.
The challenge is to create a layout using hot pink, orange, polka dots and use either ‘buzz’ or ‘bloom’ in your title

Outside was a challenge by Kaisercraft was to use the sketch. I was lucky enough to have Kaisercraft patterned paper.
The others were sketch challenges too. I liked the sketch challenges as they weren’t so challenging but the challenge of the others was also very rewarding.

Anyway, enjoy. I’m off to bed so I can get up and swim 3kms in the morning. How exciting. Well it is. It is so good to clear my head and feel like I’ve done something by 7am but it is just the thought of getting out of bed at 5:45am in the freezing cold I don’t like. And 120 laps is rather daunting. 102 laps this afternoon!! I’m going well. My size 14 jeans don’t fit any more. That’s a bonus.

Just something new

These have been sitting in my work-in-progress folder for over a year. I thought I'd better finish them because the photos and the selected papers have been there for a long time.

Hollie's first time on the "sippy side" as she used to call it. It was a chance for her to have some time with Mum and Dad alone before Daddy flew back to Longreach (we were staying with the in-laws waiting to move to Longreach, Kevin was already here). Her love of "sippy sides" hasn't changed except she can pronounce it properly now.

I'm glad that I got these two finished. It means that I have a few less unfinished projects which is always satisfying.

The other new announcement is I swam 3kms today. My darling husband has set me a challenge. To swim 225km by the end of August. Why 225kms? Because my winter memership cost $225 and I didn't sign up until the season was well underway so I don't really have that long to get the 225kms done. I'm also going away for over 3 weeks so I have to get cracking and put in a few long swims. My usual 2kms won't cut it now. It has to be over 2kms every swim and I can't miss a day. Thanks for the challenge Kevin. It's going to be hard but it will mean that I have to go and be very committed even though it is so cold in the morning when I get out. I still have 203.5km to go!!! Wish me luck.