Into the 130s!

My weight has been fluctuating around the 141lb mark for the past two weeks, so I was delighted to step on the scales this morning and see 139lb on it. This is a new low and very pleasing! It means I've lost 32lb, or 18.7% of my starting body weight, and have a mere 10lb left to lose before my BMI is back in the healthy zone.

I was blown away enough when I first put on a pair of size 12 jeans that fit, and I'm finding it hard to comprehend that I could get any smaller. Yet the 12s are getting looser, and yesterday in M&S - while buying a second pair of size 12s so that Ellie and I are no longer sharing hers! - I decided to try out the 10s. I slid into them thinking "they'll never go over my thighs", but they did. I pulled them on thinking "they'll never do up"... but they DID. I'm not quite there yet - they give me a muffin top - but that's where I was with size 12s only a few months ago. I know that by the time I've lost this last 10lb, I'll be fitting into size 10s easily. And I know I'm going to lose that 10lb. That feels amazing.

I had one of those serendipitous moments yesterday. It's time for me to start exercising every few days to burn up the last few pounds and tone my upper arms, tummy and thighs before they have a chance to get floppy. I knew I needed a sports bra as my next essential purchase: my old one was two dress sizes and one cup size larger than I am now (in Aussie sizes, I've gone from 16DD to 14D, and could probably go smaller again, I need to get measured). The old one offers no support whatsoever and my everyday bras aren't cut out for that. I had a £24 Debenhams voucher which was my leaving gift from my co-workers at my last school, so I headed there to see what I could find. In a moment of utter bizarreness, every sports bra in Debenhams was on special ... for £24 exactly!

So I have a nice new sports bra, and it's my first 'serious' sports bra as opposed to a reasonably well-structured and ventilated ordinary bra. What a difference it makes. I went for a jog today, and the support was amazing. Who knew jogging could be so comfortable?!

I only tried a short jog today, as it's been a year since I did regular high-cardio exercise and I'm definitely going to need to work back up to full fitness. I found it tough - my heart rate soared and I got short of breath - but I'll work on that. The good news is that my foot doesn't hurt, thanks to a better running style, flat trainers and the podiatrist's insoles. And I got a thrill when I checked the settings on my heart rate monitor and found that when I last used  it I'd had my weight set to 79kg. Resetting it to 63kg was a good moment.

It's all going very well at the moment, and I'm still amazed by it, particularly now that I'm reintroducing foods that were on the not allowed list for so long. I've brought back yoghurt, porridge, and a selection of fruits so far. And I'm still losing weight. And best of all - I'm allowed to bring back dark chocolate next. Just a little bit here and there, but... chocolate!

And it's easy to be content with only a little bit, when there's only 10lb to go :)

A Recipe: Oaty Carrot Bars

As Munchkin-D doesn't tolerate wheat or dairy very well, his snack food options can be limited, especially since many producers of allergen-free foods insist on stuffing them with artificial nasties that we don't want him to have either.

A while back we discovered a brand of cereal bar which he enjoys, an organic no-rubbish range that we can get behind too. However, as they retail at around 40p per 30g bar they're eating a hole in our budget (even though he's only allowed one per day!). So I set out to see if I could make something similar.

The ingredients listed on the packet were very simple: wholegrain oats, raisins, sunflower oil, carrot juice concentrate, coconut, apple juice concentrate, cinnamon, orange oil. That's all. We already had most of that in some form or another in the fridge or cupboard (or in the case of the apples, on our own tree). The pack also had the percentages of each food printed, but I paid little attention to that and got stuck into inventing it all myself.

They're now cooked and I've scoffed as much of the leftover scraggly bits as I think my diet will allow, and I can say that for me they're a raging success. The little guy isn't home yet so I guess we'll have to see how that goes!

Ingredients (all cups are metric, though it won't really matter; tablespoon is 15mL):

1½ cups porridge oats
1 cup desiccated coconut
1 cup raisins
2 large carrots, peeled
2 medium green apples, cored
1 tablespoon cinnamon or mixed spice (I used the latter)
1½ teaspoons natural orange extract/essence
4 tablespoons sunflower oil


Method:

1. Preheat oven to 150°C
2. Grease and line a medium-sized deep baking pan (mine was about 24cm x 28cm with curved long edges)
3. Place porridge oats and desiccated coconut in a large bowl
4. In a food processor or similar, process the raisins until they form a paste; add them to the mixing bowl.
5. Cut carrots into chunks and process until finely grated; add to mixing bowl
6. Cut apples into chunks and process until they form a juicy mush; add to mixing bowl
7. Add spice, orange extract and sunflower oil to mixing bowl
8. Stir all ingredients together thoroughly until entirely blended
9. Spoon into baking tray and pack down firmly with hands to form a smooth flattish surface.
10. Bake at 150°C for half an hour
11. Remove tray temporarily from oven and use a normal table knife to score the mixture through to create bars. I pressed hard enough to feel the tray through the mixture, but I didn't go all the way through at the edges.
12. Return tray to oven and bake at 150°C for another half hour.
13. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.
14. Gently re-score the bar lines and begin levering bars apart. I was gentle but not overly cautious, and the mixture seemed to hang together as a bar fairly well. Cut off any bits at the edges that have got too crispy, especially if the bars are for younger children.
15. Layer the bars in between sheets of greaseproof paper in a container that can be sealed. I'm assuming these are best stored in the fridge, so that's where I'll be putting them hehe.

Omnomnom

I'll update once the little guy has tried one of these, to let you know how it went! Hopefully he will take to them given that they cost so much less to make. I'm certainly pretty proud of them.

UPDATE: He ate the first one in deep silence, then as soon as his mouth was empty he said "can I have another one?" I'd call that a raging success! :)

30 by 30

The week before last,  I found that I was having problems at work after lunch - I was very dozy and out of it.

So I tried a widely-recommended solution - not eating carbs at lunch, just protein / dairy and vegetables. Not only did it work - I feel refreshed after lunch, not sleepy - but I'm also feeling better all-round. A few days later I tried taking almost all of the carbs out of my dinner as well, loading up on salad instead. And . . . bingo. Feeling much healthier. I'm a little hungry some of the time, but I'm learning to ignore that.

And as a side effect - without even trying - I'm currently losing 200g a day. The numbers on the scales are going down like stair steps. Wonderful!

So I have started a commitment today. I'll stick to this light menu (along with my existing commitment to avoiding all preservatives, artificial colours and flavours, and most refined sugar and refined wheat) until I've lost 30kg. And I intend to lose that 30kg before I turn 30 in December. It's more than 46 weeks until my birthday; more than enough time, even with the fact that this weightloss will slow as I get closer to my goal, and even accounting for some plateauing around the move to London, which will no doubt disrupt whatever exercise routine I've developed before then!

I'm aiming high first up - I want to lose the first 15kg before I leave, 15.5 weeks from now. I will settle for 10, but I'd prefer 15! If all I have to do is keep up this eating plan and gradually increase my exercise, it should be an attainable goal.

So that's my commitment. I'll update the amount lost here from time to time.

*

I'm now successfully enrolled in three units for this semester: Intro to Literature, Thinking Theology, and The Life and Times of Ancient Israel. I'm excited :)

I've learned that to be ordained I'd have to follow up this BA Theol with a Master of Ministry, which is two years full time. So I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. This BA will take me until 2013, so I'll just enjoy it until then.

Christmas and so on

I've had a very nice Christmas. On Christmas Eve, Dad, Dad's girlfriend, my brother, my brother's fiancee and I gathered at Dad's, and we got Chinese takeaway and made a festive meal of it. We all sat around chatting until late, when I had to leave for midnight mass. I was rostered on at the cathedral, so no escaping it!

Midnight mass was fun - all four acolytes had the giggles and we kept teasing each other or making eye contact and grinning about things. It was a very delightful experience.

I wasn't in bed until 2:30am, so I was pretty tired when my alarm went off. I dragged myself back to the cathedral for a "big moment" - I was rostered on as Gospel Subdeacon, standing in front of the nave altar beside the celebrant, assisting with the major parts of the service. Scary, as I've only done it once before! This is how I looked:

There was a TV camera there, but the news I managed to tape only showed a few seconds of the footage. I was in it, but was facing the altar with my back to the camera, so you could only see my robes and ponytail! Pretty cool nonetheless.

After church I had lunch with Dad, his girlfriend and my Grandma. It was low-key as Grandma has COPD and poor hearing, so we can't be too boisterous around her. It was a pleasant meal, but I was glad to run away to my room for a while afterwards for some no-people time.

In the late afternoon I trekked up to Mum's for dinner. We opened presents then sat down to a fantastic traditional turkey meal, which Mum has down to a fine art. Afterwards we sat around chatting, reminiscing and joking for hours.

On Boxing Day I slept until midday, trying to catch up on some sleep. In the afternoon we (Dad, his girlfriend, me) went to Grandma's for afternoon tea, where we met my aunt, her girlfriend, and my 24-year-old female cousin whom I haven't seen for ages. We had a lovely time chatting about family and nibbling delicacies.

I'm determined to go nowhere and do nothing today, apart from sit at the computer, practise my French & German, and maybe write something. I'm tired, but it's been a good Christmas, and I'm sure I'll have lots of fond memories of it when I'm freezing my butt off in London this time next year!

*

I'm currently in the process of choosing my units for next semester. At this point I've decided to take Introduction to Literature and Thinking Theology (basically Theology 101). The degree keeps morphing in my head, but right now I'm majoring in Literature and minoring in Creative Writing and Theology. Part of my mind keeps pondering that it's not too late by any means to switch to a BTheol rather than a BA, but I don't think I'm ready for that yet. So I'll minor in it, see how I feel about it. I'll go ahead with my plan to do this degree and get a PhD in Lit, then see whether BTheol still appeals. It's the next logical step in this faith journey, and has been calling me softly for some time, but I'm not at that point yet. If that's where I'm going, I'll get there eventually!

This . . .

. . . is my new favourite thing.

It works. And it's GOOD. Gives a whole new meaning to the word 'cupcake', too. Try it!

Blech

I don't know whether it's the nervousness and anticipation over possibly changing jobs and moving back to Perth, or the sudden increase in hot weather, or both, but I constantly feel nauseous at the moment. I can't face stodgy or rich food at all and have trouble swallowing anything, even when I can feel my stomach grumbling with hunger. Sometimes it eases and I can eat light foods, but the thought of eating anything closes my throat most of the time. So I'm going around starving and feeling sick at the thought of food. YUCK!!

(No, I am not pregnant. No possible way whatsoever. So that is not the problem!)

I'm also currently having a little battle with myself, because I just got given a box of Cadbury Roses chocolates (my absolute favourite!) by a student. Common sense says I should share them with my class so I don't eat them all myself once this yicky feeling subsides. But my OMGLOVECHOCOLATE sense says I should keep them! Decisions, decisions :D