Food Glorious Food.

Okay, so lets start by recapping what I said in the last sentence of the last post. "I thought I ate a good mix of stuff and drank enough water".Hmmmm, good mix of stuff - my carbs were accounted for (chips,pasta,chips,bread,chips,rice- followed by more chips, oh and McDonalds). Water was almost in everything I drank - Coca Cola, Tea, Coffee (6 a day to be exact). Thats heaps of water! RIGHT! Nope.

Now being a good little girl from ethnic background I was always taught to eat everything that was on my plate. And if you didn't eat it was because you were sick. So as always I complied. Having Prednisone (steroid used to reduce inflammation) on board didn't help either. All it made me do was eat. So now you see my weight gain had been attributed to lack of exercise, medication, ravenous eating and a sedentary lifestyle.

I knew I couldn't be trusted to do the food stuff on my own, so i enlisted the help of Lite n' Easy. 1500 cals was all I could eat a day for my weight, age and level of activity. I thought that was heaps. And it looked like heaps when it got delivered. It wasn't until I opened up each individual pack that I remember saying to myself " What the?". My brain had become so used to eating large meals that normal portions looked like something a toddler would eat. And to make matters worse I now had to eat breakfast...BLAH. But, if I was going to do this I had to do it right. And that meant not only eating healthy, but drinking water as well and changing my minds habits. No more complaining and no more finding excuses.

So every week when my meals got delivered I ordered my next weeks meals straight away. This became the norm for the next 5 months. The only thing that was hard about it all was having to cook meals for the family. So I kicked the temptation to eat their food whilst I was cooking it by nibbling on a carrot or celery stick. It helped. Every day it got easier and easier and I no longer wanted to eat anything that stood still for long enough.

I knew I was on my way.

Oh the pain !!!!

Apart from childbirth, I never knew I would experience anything like this - and worst still it was self inflicted. Everything hurt, even things on my body that had no nerve endings hurt. My lungs screamed out for oxygen and possibly even a fire extinguisher because it felt like they were on fire.

I remember having to jump up and down on this little step that Barry brought and having flashbacks of a midwife saying to me "it is very important you keep up with your pelvic floor exercises after childbirth". Now was the time I wish I had listened. So I just had to keep jumping, squeeze tight and wish for the best until it could be held no longer. Not being shy about these things I would let Barry know that there may need to be a "mop and bucket to isle 3" moment and he would graciously let me have pitstops along the way thank goodness - not many but atleast I got a couple :).

Barry, bought some boxing gloves and focus pads to our sessions and I loved it. Not only did it give me a good outlet to release pent up anger and stress but what a great cardio workout. I could hardly speak. Actually, I couldnt. My mouth would be so dry from just trying to breathe I had trouble trying to close it. It was as if someone had emptied a bottle of talcum powder into it.

Being quite a talkative person I do believe Barry knew when I was tired as I would stop talking and just look at him with total disbelief that he was asking me do something like this. All he would do was smile and give me a pat and say "Your doing good, keep it up".

The session would end with me literally on the floor feeling like a beached whale. I was so exhausted physically, however inside my head I was buzzing like a butterfly trying to escape from its cocoon.

My next plan of attack was my dietary intake. Oh boy, I thought I ate a good mix of stuff and drank enough water...lol. I couldnt have been further from the truth.