From sausages to rings falling off fingers!

Okay, so how was your week?

Mine started mediocre as you already know, but it got better as the week came on. I had drops everyday since the swelling and today, my rings are sliding around my fingers. Woot woot!

I was expecting some very severe DOMS from Monday, a repercussion from the punishment I inflicted on myself, but no - no real pain, except this morning, when I did romanian deadlifts, my glutes reminded me that I was not a nice person on monday. But my upper body, now there are some serious hurting going on there, and I only trained it yesterday morning! I am thinking that I didn't give myself enough recovery time from upper body on Tuesday morning. I had a brainfart and forgot it was cardio morning yesterday, walked into the gym and started doing my usual upper body stuff! Go figure - no matter will just have to do the cardio either tomorrow or Sunday.

Also I was expecting TTOM, as it is exactly 4 weeks since the last cycle. But nothing yet..........could be still early days yet. Hopefully it is still coming into a natural cycle.

Now thanks to LJ and The Fernster, I have discovered that I like Ed Hardy clothing range, but it is pricey! So I am setting myself up a reward for my birthday, if I can reach a mini goal I have set for myself, i will buy me something, and seeing that there is now a shop in Brisbane and on the Gold Coast, it will be much easier than buying online. I just love the Black Razor Back Singlet - Black Geisha or a hot pink tank - Davy Jones Locker (currently looking for picture atm) Thanks Lia for the tidbit! One other reward I am giving myself is a "Camilla Dress" wow there are some very dreamy collections there. All silk! But just stunning!

BEHAG is finally on track and heres to hoping that it absolutely stays on track.

And here we go again!

Argh! woke up this morning and my hands and feet were swollen, feeling really tight and uncomfortable! hmmm. I know i didn't have anything to eat yesterday that would have jeopardised my journey (except the crunchie bar travelling home in car - forgo the afternoon tea for that and had to calm my nerves from my parents),BUT I did not have any fluids for most of the day, only about 1 litre all up, shame shame on me. It could be a build up to TTOM, as it has been 24 days since last one ..................or it could even be Ross River Fever playing up again after all these years................nah, doesn't feel like it, so cross that off the list. Now that is something not to enjoy, the aches and pains in your joints just about sends you nuts. Scale weight up as well.

I know you all are thinking why is she jumping on the scales every day............. it is not to see if I have lost anything but more to guage how my body reacts to different exercises and eating patterns. i do have these massive ups and downs in one day and it totally has to do with my recovery and circulatory system. This morning only proved it big time. i know that jumping on every day can play havoc with the headspace, but as I am doing this as experiments and gauging reactions.

As I woke up, feeling all puffy and swollen, i thought about giving gym a miss, but the inner beast inside, you know the one who is on this BEHAG journey, said "get the F*&$ up". So off I toddle to the gym, I thought it was upper body day, but upon checking it actually was lower leg day, so first day i actually groaned at the thought of doing leg weights. Anyways, I through myself into it, set up the bench this time instead of steps for my box squats, put on the obligatory 10kg each side of the olympic bar for the warm up session. Jammed out 10 reps, re-racked and then started stacking and moving. I got to the end of the 3rd set, now having 30kg each side, I thought stuff it, i was in no mood, so to punish myself, I threw on another 10kg each side, and managed 6 reps with good form. Legs shaking like a leaf! Whoa! and now I want me to do step ups with dumbbells! No bloody likley! so I opted out of the step ups, went to the cable machine and did weight lunge pulls. Still went heavy on those, had myself strapped into 50kg on the cable and did 3 sets of lunges on each leg for 8 reps. So now that is out of my systems, went back to my normal routine, Romanian Deadlifts, then Leg curls. now my legs really hurt. I thought ha! that will teach you for thinking of staying in bed in the first place. Then cooled down for 20mins on tready at 5% incline. now sitting at work, legs feeling a little warm and also dreading what tomorrow will bring!

So what is on the cards for the rest of the day.....................water, lots and lots of water.

Ciao!

Awesome Back!

Many of you have already seen this picture on Fern's blog, but I just had to show it again. Now thats what I am talking about! Miss Tank, this is why you rock! To have a back like this is ultimate reward for hard work! How awesome is this back.

A long overdue post!

Well bloggers, I have been amiss in blogging of late. No real excuse, just busy with life, exercise and reading.................yep, that is what I have been doing almost every night after work and my daily grind at home, I unwind with a couple of good books that I now have read twice because they were so good. So now I have computer time to dedicate to!

So what has happened in the last week. Well "Dr Frankenstein" coach has me doing a few things to monitor my reactions to certain things. Scale weight has a definate pattern to it now and I do have a wave pattern that seems to happen. i did have a good drop during the week, actually I was quite chuffed with the results and then doms and circulatory recovery issues came into play and the scale weight spiked yet again, but not so high this time. Bread is definately an issue with me so I will have to avoid as much as possible, looking for better alternatives at all times.

Training has just been absolutely awesome. I am still loving those box squats and I did better than the last heavy set, with doing a set with 35kg each side of the olympic bar and managed 8 strong full sets. Do you know the hardest part is the rising, once you place yourself onto the step, getting back up is such a killer on the quads, glutes and abs! Best workout is for the abdominals. Then to jump straight into dumbbell step ups, my legs truly are shaking by the time I finish. I have been getting stronger in my chest again, and the old injury is starting to fade away to almost nothing. Some days I do get a small twinge but its all good.

I did Coach's RPM class on Saturday and I must say that I loved it. So good to get a different sort of spinning class from someone different. I must say that all the spin instructors I have followed, everyone is different from the other, and each one is as hard as it comes. Track 7 is an absolute killer Liz, and it totally left me red faced as per the evidence on the photo. LMAO!

Personal life on hold atm, until I get time off work to have a good think and look at what I really need to change in my life to make my life a little happier or maybe smoother. I am very happy in myself, but you can always use improvement right?? Slowly but surely some changes are being made.

Also talking about changes, small changes are happening on the BEHAG journey, just not as fast as I would like it, but you know what, that doesn't matter as the current journey is enjoyable atm. I mean, size is dropping slightly, I am getting stronger, body is starting to act normal again...................!

Until next post, which I promise to keep a little more regular, have a great week! I know I will.

Eat well and train hard!

Killer Back!

Remember!

For Lia

I Do Believe by Jennifer Janiszewski

There is nothing i can do, to make her come back

There are no words I can say, that can replace the words you long to hear

There are no answer's I can give, that will satisfy your questions

There is not another soul I can introduce you to that will ever replace her

And, there is no love I can offer that will ever replace the love you shared

I can not promise your broken heart will ever be complete

I will not say it could have been worse

I will not deny it was a tragedy

I will not lie and tell you she will come back

She never really left
I do promise she hears you when you speak

I will say she loves you no matter the distance

I will not deny she is in a better place

And, I will not lie; she is waiting to greet you someday

She is every step you take

She is in everything you do

She is the air you breathe

She is every beat of your heart

" She is like the wind. You can not see her...but you will always feel her"

Fall: A usually swift downward trend

a nice drop on the scale and so all is appeased!

Had a nice hot bath after work yesterday with epsom salts, to eliviate the Doms a bit and it seemed to work a treat. My legs are not anywhere near as sore from yesterdays leg session compared to sunday's leg session and i did more! Wahoo! must be a good thing! Did spinning this morning, was a little tight but a-okay.

Emotions must be heading in a good place atm, as there is a lady here at work who has just lost shit loads of weight (16kg in 10wks) and I am not distressed about it, in light that it takes me forever just to drop a little. BUT, she is almost starving herself in doing it (600-700 cals per day). I know I am better for what I am doing and I have faith and trust in the "coach" all the way! I want to keep that hard earned muscle that I have built up over the years weight lifting, you know the ones that I love!!!!! Even my personal issues at home are not affecting me atm, so all head space in good place and I intend to keep them there!

i am really enjoying my daily rountine, with exception to work, really would be good to win lotto, then I could be doing something that I really love to do instead of something that is just easy to do! I get up 4.30am every morning, have my supps, eat 1/2 of my breakfast (oats & cranberries), go to gym most days - except my day off - do either weights or cardio, drive to work, shower and change, sit at my desk all day long, then head home. Put a load of washing on, clean the kitchen, cook tea, eat tea, wash dishes, plan out and prepare next days food, get clothes ready, take my supps, go to bed, read for about 1/2 hour, (about 9.00is) fall into very deep sleep. So the day begins again. Whats not to love about that????? now lets break it down. i can not sleep in the mornings in summer, when it is light, it is time to get up right??? doesn't that happen for everyone??? Supps - well the taste is crap but I know they are helping me with an even keel on my systems. Everyone has to have breakfast, and I do love my oats with cranberries cooked with water, yummo! Ahhh, the gym, my favourite place atm. I just love the morning crowd, know most of them and the trainers there at that time. Quite often get lots of pushes from the trainers on the floor - like come on, what are you stopping for - all the while you are breathing so heavy because you just managed a really heavy set without a spot and it takes a good 60 seconds to recover to get ready for the next set, sweat dripping off the end of your nose and they say "comeon!"" Then the drive to work in the morning traffic (Oh Yeah!!!!!!) eating the other half of breakfast - usually a vege and egg bake thingy. Get to work, shower and coffee - all depends could be in opposite order - coffee then shower................nah too smelly - shower then coffee. All day at work - (another not so excited Oh Yeah! here) but food is good throughout. amazing how easy it is to keep to plan for food at work, of course you have nothing else available unless you go out, and I am in a very heavy commerical industrial area, so there are not a lot of shops around. Wahoo home time is finally here, get in your car and prepare for the 45min drive home. Get home, get on with some daily chores and prepare dinner - gee don't you wish that sometimes the men at home would just have thought about doing it one night - just one night would so make it nice........................but no, I don't have that luck! My son used to do once a upon a time, but as he progressively becomes more like his father, the nice sensitive new age person is withering away inside him. Then the preparation for the next day is a quick chore, off to bed - read a good book. I am so into the Stephanie Meyer series atm, I wish there was more to the sequel. I am not a romantic sort of person but there is something in her writing that just makes it so easy to read and go back for more.

Whoops! i have rambled on a bit...............sori to bore with the day in the life of Doris! Will promise to write about something else next time, maybe something more educational.

Well bloogers, enjoy your day as i am enjoying mine.

Ciao!

don't you just love muscle!

My dream is to have shoulders like her!

ARRGHHHHH!

To quote Shelley - You dumb m*&^$rf*&^%rs! What the!

DOMS and TTOMS are not a good combo! Yesterday I had a slight increase in scale weight, then this morning it was through the roof! I hate you I hate you I hate you! There I vented! Doesn't it just screw with your head!!! Oh well, not to cry over it.

Did another massive leg workout this morning, actually got more heavy reps out than sunday! I was on fire! I did 5 sets on the box squats with olympic bar, last set 30kg each side and managed 10 reps, all good form. The last 2 reps were on pretty shaky legs! Wahoo! me thinks there will be some serious DOMS again real soon. Also did a really heavy deadlift set too. You know, I used to hate doing legs and always always put them off until the last day of the week. now I am really enjoying doing them atm, looking forward to doing them 2 times a week. Might have to book myself in for a massage on weekend on legs, hamstrings are a little tight, to say the least! Got a nice soak in epsom salts planned for Friday night.

On the food front, have been keeping to plan, had a little dirty diana for lunch yesterday at work, even had a beer - and I am not really a beer drinker. The boys went out and got me some Pure Blonde, they reckoned i would like it and it was low carb as well. Well they were right, it was quite nice.

On the emotion side of things, all good as far as emotions go, but having a little issue with my married life. It seems that i am not liking what I see at home, but that is something for me to digest and sort out. I feel like I am growing out of my marriage, and that I am only staying because i am complacent, not wanting to change. Oh well there are worse things that can happen.

Okay, time to get started with work, hope you all have a great day!

Ciao!

Explanation better late than never!

Hey Hey bloggers, I meant to get back to the picture on Friday but it never happened.



Well there is a lot of catch up on from the last post! hmmmmm I need to remind myself............



Okay I think I left off suffering from loss of doing my favourite activities at the gym (instructions from coach). Well I listened to everything and am amazed at some of the reactions from my body. Last week I had an up and down week in the drop of scale weight, up one day due to a meal of roast chook then a really nice drop, maintaining it through out. Doing this little experiement I now am getting a sense of what will spike your weight. Interesting. So starting with the weekend before, it was a really good one, following plan to the t, doing weights on a Sunday for a change. Then last Tuesday did absolutely nothing...........physco Tuesday to nothing Tuesday.............now there is a first!!!! hehehehe.



I have been doing these box squats of late and I am hooked on them atm. Yesterday i went to the gym and of course it was lower body day. I got into my box squats and managed 8 reps on the olympic bar with 30kg each side! And i think I could have gotten heavier, but I didn't want to spend all day doing the same thing over. As it is I pushed 5 sets out to get that. Consequently my quads are in a little pain atm. I just love the way when you go down and sit on the box, your core slightly releases it self, then you have to switch everything on to stand back on again. The pull through you quads, glutes and abdominals is sensational.



It is a rest day today, so no gym, no cardio, nada, nothing, zip, zilch.



Eating I have relaxed a bit, gotten into the groove of dirty dianna's and clean eating, learning to release yourself to the flow of everything in moderation. I plan my day out, but it may change slightly, but stays well within the plan. Saturday night we went to friends place and it was an 'Indian' night, they made curries galore and we all had to bring something to compliment. So I made an entree of mini tandori kebabs (chicken and lamb) a garlic yogurt dressing and a indian style salad with lettuce and yoghurt dressing, chopped cucumber, tomato, parsley and mint on top. Yummo! Very refreshing. I drank 2 glasses of wine and even had some desert. And all still within the planned day. Don't you feel fantastic knowing you didn't blow out especially when you really have no control over the food made. I walked away feeling pretty satisfied.



Now back to the picture on Friday, it is exactly 21 days since my first period in 9 months and they have decided to visit again, but this time, there was no warning, no emotions, no nothing except very sore breasts!(I haven't had those since before I was pregnant and that was 20years ago), so the general feeling was fantastic, maybe everything is coming back into alignment and we will see some good changes happening. Bit of a bummer that TTOM came a week early but all good, only ever lasts 1-2 days and following to plan, that is how long it did last. If it is going to be this easy from here on in, bring it on I say.



But to say the least, I was expecting a hike in weight due to TTOM, as you do, holding fluid etc etc, but there was no hike, infact there has been some very minimal drops! So good things happening????? We are still out with the jury on that one for a while, lets just see what the next few weeks bring.



Work has been horrendiously busy, with changes within the Group structure and now they are bringing changes within each individual entities. The change that will happen with my company, is that they want to bring in a Financial Controller. I got a bit hurt, as i thought that it may have been a natural progression for me.............hmmmmm maybe time to move on, but I will wait and see. Because, there is not enough kitty in the budget to warrant both an accountant and a Financial Controller. Sooooo where does that leave me.................hmmmm somthing to think about. The business is becoming a little top heavy and that worries me a lot. The industry is a male dominated business and especially my company, the gender plays a big role here, you really have to have the right tool to get the right recognition. So you are saying why are you still here???? Well the pay is very good for the work that I do and the work is so easy!!!!!. And i know for a fact they will not get rid of me, because of the history with other people etc etc, something really not to get into! Oh well I just my usual thing and be complacent - seems to be the story of my life - complacency! I have to start to learn to fight!



so getting on the subject of feelings. I am feeling pretty good about the little changes that have happened, also feeling good about the emotion side of TTOM. If only this feeling would stay this way. But I am still not quite relaxed in the little amount of exercise I am doing, probably because i was doing so much for so long......................it still feels like I am not doing enuf! You know, it has been drummed into me over the years, you need to expend more energy you take in, and you really need to up the anti when you have an extremely sedintary job, like I do, so it only makes sense that you should do more cardio. BUT I don't want to lose that lovely muscle I know I have underneath this doona layering I have on top. Like I said, maybe after a couple of more weeks I might just relaxed that front as well, like I have with the food.

So lets get on with it and bring on the new week. I am excited to see what the results will show over the next coming weeks.

Ciao!