And away we go....Day 1 of the Million Kilo Challenge!

Day 1 of the Million Kilo Challenge (MKC) is almost over and for me its been a day of rushing to here and there and to get this and that done, which isn't exactly the way I like to do things considering I am an organisation freak BUT I still managed to make it a good day.

8.15am - Woken by the phone, Thank you so much Lisa for being my alarm clock

8.45am - Cup of Tea (White & 1 sugar)

Note: I am so proud of myself for cutting down from 2 sugars to 1. I can't believe that there was a time that I had 3 sugars - obviously I wasn't no where near as 'sweet' as I am now.

9.15am - Strength PT session with Steve (Upper Body)

I managed to convince Glenn to come with me today and despite the fact that he really wasn't all that keen, he pushed through and did an awesome job AND it was good training with him again. I can't believe that I managed to get myself, him and the 2 boys dressed and out the door AND was only 5 minutes late for the session - phew!

Assisted Chin Ups, Incline Push Ups, Bench Press, Upright Rows, Skull Crushers, Bicep Curls and Dips....I love kick starting my week this way! 

10.15am - BREAKFAST (Late but better than never) 1 Slice of Multigrain Toast with 220g Baked Beans (Salt Reduced)

12.00pm - SNACK Renew Juice - Despite the Ginger making it a little hot and spicy for me I really enjoyed this and felt energised by it. It made about 200ml for the serve.

I can't believe that I brought my Juicer a few years ago and today was the first day I used it, its Awesome and I will be making sure I use it more often.

This is a great juice to cleanse the body.

This is a great juice to cleanse the body.

Serves 1

½ Carrot

1 stick of celery

¼ small beetroot

½ small cucumber

½ knob of ginger

¼ bunch of parsley

3 mint leaves

¼ whole lemon

Process all ingredients in juicer and serve with ice. For a runnier consistency, add a little water.

12.30pm to 2.00pm - Food Shopping and all I can say is Grrrrrr. None of this, none of that. 

2.15pm - LUNCH 1/2 serve (shared with Glenn) Coles Asian Salad with a boiled egg. Despite me throwing this together and eating it on the run it was really satisfying.

2.30pm - Doctors! After the scare with my Uncle (Didn't know he was Diabetic and just recently lost his foot because of it) I decided to go and ask for a Diabetes check as well as finally look into my migranes.

*More Shopping for things not able to be brought at Coles*

3.45pm - Centrelink appointment.....need I say more!

*More Shopping for things not able to be brought at Coles or IGA*

4.30pm - SNACK. I brought a Banana at the fruit shop in Woodgrove which is a big achievement considering that I think the Chinese Takeaway Pork Dumplings are delicious and the Banana was a little under ripe for me.

6.00pm - DINNER Warrigul Greens Frittata

Serves 2

100g Warrigal greens (or baby spinach leaves, silver beet or rainbow chard)

1 bunch asparagus, woody ends snapped off & cut into 3 cm lengths

1 clove of garlic, crushed

4 eggs

½ cup low fat yoghurt

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

½ tsp cumin

¼ cup chopped mint leaves

1 tbs grated Parmesan

Preheat a grill to high. Bring a saucepan of water to the boil and add Warragul Greens. Simmer gently for 3 minutes, drain and rinse under cold water.

Heat oil sprayed non-stick fry pan over medium heat, add asparagus and garlic, cover and cook for 3 minutes, tossing regularly. Add greens and cook for another minute.

Whisk eggs, yoghurt, salt, pepper & cumin and add to fry pan. Cook over low to medium heat until the base is set, sprinkle with cheese and place under the griller until golden and set.

Scatter mint and serve.

Considering that some of the ingredients were left off the menu plan (cumin, cheese and mint) and the plain yogurt wasn't on the shopping list (so I didn't buy it) I still managed to 'kind of' pull this off successfully. I say 'kind of' because I used a tin of Asparagus instead of fresh (one of the things I couldn't find at Coles today) and I replaced the plain yogurt with Vanilla Forme. Also the consistency was more like scrambled eggs, but I think that was just my cooking because I was impatient. I really enjoyed this and served it with a Basic Salad of Lettuce, Cucumber, Celery, Parsley, Pinenuts and a yummy homemade dressing.

Dressing: (1 tbs per serve)

Makes just over 1 cup

¼ cup lemon juice

¼ cup balsamic vinegar

1 Tbs wholegrain mustard

clove of garlic- crushed

salt & pepper

small red onion- thinly sliced

Whisk together lemon juice, vinegar, mustard, garlic, salt & pepper and add onion to soften for as long as possible.

7.00pm - Massage Client

8.30pm - Some nuts PLUS - 2 X Coffees

I had some Nu-lax tonight so hopefully it will get things moving so that I can do what it tasted like LOL - Go for the chocolate option instead!

I'm curious to know what the calorie intake for the day is on this plan....think I might do a little check up but that will have to wait for another day because its nearly Midnight and I want to go to BED!

LATE ADDITION!!

Forgive me '1MKC Father' for I have sinned this is my first confession and its a doozy!

Glenn and I had one of these (pictured below) for no reason other than we had them in the house....

AND to make it worse because of our guilt we didn't emjoy it!

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1 Million Kilo Challenge - TEAM TASH

Channel Tens national initiative The ‘1 million kilo challenge’ starts this Monday, January 30.

Are YOU up for the Challenge?

If so, then why not join TEAM TASH so we can support each other on the journey to a happier and healthier version of US.

I believe that if you have a good support base behind you it helps to make reaching your goals so much easier and what better way to get moving in the right direction than taking on the challenge with a nation of other like minded individuals.

The challenge which is a free 10 week online program encourages healthy eating, exercise and happier lifestyles for all Australians and I am really excited about using it to help me make the changes needed to achieve my goals. 

Even though I have lost over 40 kilos I feel that on some level I cheated as it wasn't achieved through lifestyle change - the band did the majority of it for me.  Whilst the path I took was in no way the easy way out, I want to know/feel that I did it by learning the right tools so that if I ever choose to have the band removed(which I have considered) I could still manage to maintain/lose weight. 

Also by doing this I will be able to accept peoples wonderful compliments with my head held high, which I must say I have been able to do more of these days because I feel that I am deserving as I have been working my butt off. 

And, above all else most of all I want to be a good role model for my children so that they never have to know the heartache of self hated from obesity.

I will freely admitt that it is my nutrition that lets me down each and everytime and as the equation is 80% Nutrtion and 20% Exercise I figured that I had better start making some changes NOW because once I have my operation I will have a period of 6 - 8 weeks where I won't be able to rely on the exercise to get me across the line anymore - it will be 100% Nutrtion.

So in saying all of that I am now more determined and motivated than ever to reach my goals and I think that this is just the get up and go I need.  

I am calling on YOU as a TEAM TASH '1 Million Kilo' Challenge member to work with me to make sure that we both stay true to reaching our goals.

I am pledging 11kg toward the nations 1 million kilo total and I AM GOING TO MAKE IT HAPPEN!!

NOTE:

Firstly join up as in a individual then go to the team section and find 'Team Tash' (the corny picture of me in my red biggest winner t-shirt), send a request to join and I will accept it asap.

There are no losers on Team Tash only WINNERS!

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Operation Goodbye 7kg

Holy cow can you believe that we are already approaching the end of January, at this rate it will be christmas again before we know it (insert an 'eek' sound HERE!).

So,  as I mentioned in my previous blog getting my butt into gear was high on the agenda for 2012 and I am happy to report that so far, so good.

On Wednesday January 4 2012 I declared to the world (of  facebook - via my status update) that the laziness was over and that it was officially time to get my butt into gear.  With only 9 weeks until the wedding (my baby sister's not my own) and 10 weeks until I go in for surgery (tibial tuberosity transfer and patellar realignment on my right knee), it was time to commence Operation 'Goodbye 7kg'.

STARTING WEIGHT - 86.9kg

GOAL WEIGHT - 79.9kg

Talk about being tested right from the get go, on Day 1 we went for a family road trip up the coast which also included an impromtu visit to friends which went late into the evening - that's 3 big tests right there.

1.  Road Trip munchies (a BIG downfall of mine)

2.  Beach = Fish 'n' Chips

3.  Offers of tempting treats

The 1st was covered with a Protein Shake, an Apple, a Bottle of Water, snacks packed separately for the boys as well as the distraction of a magazine.

The 2nd was replaced with a healthy Turkey Salad which was very delicious and so much more satisfying than greasy fish and chips that I can never keep down anyway.

And the 3rd was handled with a great deal of will power that saw me say 'NO THANK YOU' to a Garlic/Cheese Pullapart and a Cheese and Crackers Platter.  I did however allow myself 1 can of sugar free lemonade and 1 celebrations milk chocolate - both of which gave me heartburn :(

I have to admitt that I was very proud of my efforts and on top of that everything I put in stayed in which was another win :)

Day 2 saw me head back into the gym after 3 weeks of sitting on my butt doing nothing and I got the ball rolling again with a 30 minute Strength PT session with Steve (Neverless-Ftiness) followed by an hour on the Spin bike chatting with my little sister (working out with a friend is always better than doing it alone).

By Day 4 the abuse I had put my body through over the holdiay period was clearly evident from the Detox Migranes...but its a good thing right? 

Despite the headaches I still pushed through and even added on walks with my Mum.  (See our routes HERE)

WEEK 2  (85.3kg) - ‎1.6kgs down :) and only 5.4kg remaining of Operation Goodbye 7kg! 8 weeks until the wedding and 9 weeks until I go in for surgery...I'm more motivated than ever - YAY!

So despite quite a few sleepless nights a sore throat and a stiff neck I still pushed through my PT session.  I will admitt that I was very tempted to call and cancel BUT that's not going to get me results and besides that there are always nana naps LOL!

We went away for some much needed R'n'R to Halls Gap / Grampians on Friday, Saturday and Sunday (we stayed HERE) which again I found to be a real test food wise BUT luckily I walked and walked and walked and so burnt off all the snack calories.

What a view

Mother Nature in all her glory

I could of soooo easily stayed an extra day but I wanted to get back for my Monday Morning PT session and also we had the boys booked in for School Holiday program which ofcourse meant SANITY!

WEEK 3 (84.7kg) - Down another .6kgs taking my loss to 2.2kg in 2 weeks. Only 7weeks to the wedding and 8 weeks to the operation and only 4.8kgs left of Operation goodbye 7kg.

I CAN do this, I AM doing this :)

OK so since I am so determined to make this happen I decided to give my training a boost and take on an extra session per week doing some Endurance/Cross Fit training with Rolando Jimeno (Melton Personal Training Studio) AND desite only having a total of 2 hours sleep the night before I SURVIVED!

OMGosh it had been so long since I'd done an endurance session like that AND I even managed to RUN, it wasn't a marathon or a sprint but it was still a run - so PROUD of me.  What an awesome way to start my week.

The rest of the week however wasn't as good....

Movies with popcorn, Playdate with hot chips, Party with cake and unfortunately the change in diet meant a change in how the body functions or doesn't function...in other words 'no poop'.

WEEK 4 (85.0kg) - Up .3kgs meaning my loss in the 3 weeks is now only 1.9kg.  Only 6 weeks to the wedding and 7 weeks to the operation and now I have 5.1kgs left of Operation goodbye 7kg.

Anyway as the saying goes 'There is no use crying over spilt milk' and so instead of letting it defeat me I am going to make sure that it does not happen again.

This is where The 1 Million Kilo challenge and TEAM TASH comes into swing but you will need to read that blog to find out more (insert wink here).

Read more "Operation Goodbye 7kg"