Oh Dear...

... I have failed at regular blogging yet again.

Life continues on as always.

The children wake, I feed them, organise their uniforms and lunch boxes, take them to school, spend the day with William, pick up the children, feed them, help them with homework, readers, organise pyjamas, bath them, feed them .... I think you get the idea.

And of course there is the laundry and the grocery shopping and the meal planning and the appointments and just the things of life which soak up time.

And so blogging falls by the wayside, again. Forgive me?

In my *spare* time, I have been exercising rather a lot - walking from home to the lagoon / walking track nearby, walking the track, then walking home again. Every day in fact. And I just purchased a second hand bike so will be riding that a few days a week as well. William and I often walk to town too, to the shops or library or the bank. He always claims he will "walk please Mama, the whole way there" - then proceed to 'get tired' after 3 minutes. I always take the stroller for that reason. Never go on the word of the toddler. ;) After my gallant effort exercising pre- Music Man, I have gained a few kilos again. I'm determined to lose them!

Also, I have been reading. Have you heard of Mireille Guiliano? She wrote the popular "French Women don't get Fat", which I thoroughly enjoyed some months ago. I just read her third book, "Women, Work and the art of Savoir Faire", which I would also recommend. Then came "Oranges are not the only fruit" - a rather controversial novel which I wouldn't really recommend but did captivate me for the 24 hours during which I read it. I am now reading "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen, having seen the film a few months back. It is a wonderful book, highly recommended. :)

So begins my "weekend" tomorrow (Thursday), as the children spend the next two days with their Papa. I have plans to walk to town to market shop for fruit and veggies, do some cooking, laundry, teach four music students, have coffee with a friend Friday night, clean the house, take some walks and bike rides...... and read. And probably tackle some (much needed) piano and singing practice as well. All these things are good things, things I look forward to doing, and things which will distract me from missing my babies while they are gone. Most of all I look forward to Saturday morning when they'll come home again.

What are you up to this week? What are you reading?

My Road to Better Health

If you have been reading my blog for a little while, you will know that last year I had a very rough "health" year. I suffered with frequent migraines (virtually daily), and developed a minor heart condition - my heart was lapsing into Sinus Tachycardia (a steady but very increased heart rate) and Ectopic beats ("extra" beats) regularly. The doctor helped me identify some triggers for my heart troubles, and I have since (mostly) taken caffeine, alcohol and take-away foods out of my diet. This has helped. The other main trigger was physical and emotional stress, and lack of sleep. This problem has been aided by the children being at school this year, and my littlest in care two days each week - I have a much calmer life at the moment! I am taking medication to prevent the migraines, which is working wonderfully.

However.

A side affect of this medication is weight gain. Over the Christmas period, just after starting on it, and then partaking in all the Christmas fare, I managed to gain 5 kilos in just a few short weeks. I was not impressed.

During my first costume fitting for The Music Man last month, we discovered that my skirt was too firm. I told the costume ladies I intended trying to lose the weight I had gained, and they encouraged me to do so as this particular skirt was unalterable. Eeek!! The pressure got me down, and I spoke to my Mum about my dilemma. 9 weeks until Opening Night. 5 kilos to lose. Medication increasing my appetite, and my weight gain, every day. No migraines though - so going off the med was not an option.

This is what she recommended.

She and my stepDad Ray have used the CSIRO lifestyle plan before, very successfully. I started that very day.

The daily portion guide went up on my fridge. Each time I ate, I marked with pencil which group I had eaten from. I cut all sugar and other treats out of my diet. It was hard. I was very hungry for the first few weeks, mostly due to my medication. The diet is actually quiet filling, if you eat all your portions each day. (The diet is fairly low in carbohydrates and quite high in protein but I don't like eating quite that much meat, so I tend not to have as much protein as is suggested - or dairy for that matter. Sometimes I'll have a handful of nuts instead, and fresh eggs are plentiful here so they can replace meat portions too).

I measured and weighed everything and gradually it got easier. It became part of my daily routine. Stuart joined me (though isn't as strict as I am ;)), and I began to feel quite fabulous!

The same week I started the diet, I also started exercising every day. This is an important part of the plan. Even though I've always been an active person, I was not a frequent exerciser per se, so this was so good for me. It has improved my heart health, and I am having very few episodes of SVT and palpitations now. I am getting more toned and my cardiovascular health is so much better.

My Exercise Routine: Basically I take a brisk walk about 4-5 times a week for around 40 minutes. 3 of those walks happen on weekday mornings, so William sits in his pram and we chat while I pound the pavement. I also have a "routine" of exercises I do 6 days a week at home (Sunday I get off :)). You don't need to join a gym to work out!! This includes 2 brackets of 100 situps (I only started with 15 and built up gradually - you can do the same!), squats, raises (going up onto your toes and down again - repeat up to 30 times), push ups, pectoral toning exercises (search the net!), tricep toning exercises, and lifting 3kg weights in various positions - again, start small and build up gradually! I've also just started swimming once a week - just starting small, and I know I'll be able to swim longer each week.

Stuart made a simple chart for us, and each morning before breakfast we do the "weigh in". Trust me, women's weight especially fluctuates throughout the month - don't worry about this. Stick to your plan, and you will keep losing fat and gaining muscle tone!

Despite my awful weight-gaining medication, I have lost 4 kilos so far. We've been going for about 6 weeks now. I couldn't be happier. And even though I look forward to adding some treats back into my life sometime soon, I know this eating plan and certainly the exercise is something I plan to stick to for life now. I just feel so much better.

And, my skirt fits! I had another costume fitting last week, and the costume is sitting much more smoothly.

Whatever your weight, whatever age and stage of life you're in, if you want to improve your health and lifestyle - let me encourage you to do it. Find an eating plan that works for you, write everything down, and stick to it. Be kind to yourself. Make realistic goals. Find time to exercise - even if it's just in little bouts here and there. If you can't walk for 40 minutes, walk for 10. Park a little further from the shopping centre and get a bit of a walk in. Clean your house as fast and as vigorously as you can! You can fit in 5 push ups here, and 20 squats there. Once again, mark it all down. Start small. And be proud of your achievements, big and small!

Sunday at the Park

Stuart had some work to do yesterday afternoon, so I decided to take the children to the lagoon in town to visit the playground and the wildlife. It was too beautiful an afternoon to stay indoors!

Cool and refreshing (and messy) water and sand play...

We took bread to feed the ducks...

How sweet to spend our Sabbath afternoon surrounded by peace and beauty.

I love this photo of my two eldest sitting and marvelling over the black swans. :)

William and I returned to the lagoon this morning after his swimming lesson. It is about a 45 minute circuit to walk around, which is excellent for me. ;) He sat in his stroller and enjoyed the view while I pounded the pavement. More about exercise / health etc. in a later post this week. Lots to share!

6 Random Facts

Renata tagged me for this meme "6 Random Facts about me". I was actually going to post some random bits tonight, so I'll combine the two and call this "6 Random Facts about my day".

1. We put the cot up for William. The two little boys enjoyed having a cuddle and watching the mobile above them for awhile. Very cute!

2. William and ELijah's room is basically done. I'm not sure if I'm happy with the layout yet; still fiddling with that but I'm happy with how it looks. Except maybe a blue overload?? It just sort-of happened that way!

3. This is Saraya writing a plan for decorating a pair of shoes. She has written a list of what she needs, and here is tracing round the shoe to draw a design of it on paper. Tomorrow we are all going to the birthday party of one of Stuart's prep children...... it's a clown party, a costume party. So today Stu picked up a pair of $2 shoes from an op shop for Saraya, and they decorated them tonight before she went to bed. I like the way she plans things out on paper first!! She's always done this. I like how they turned out.




4. Today Elijah wanted to paint. I find I so often say "no", so today I said "yes". He worked away for awhile and created two masterpieces for his bedroom wall. All this before packing up and walking to town to do the grocery shopping. Stu and Saraya were out at Prep; school goes back on Monday so Stu was out there planning. Saraya was playing. I mean helping. :) They picked us up from town late afternoon. It was a nice, full day.

5. We've been watching a series on the ABC called "Life at 1". It's following the lives of 10 families over 7 years. Amazing. Last night's episode was studying the health of kids, specifically the risks of becoming overweight and obese. It was interesting timing because Stuart and I have been thinking loads about health lately. Neither of us are really overweight but just want to be much much healthier and fitter than we are. Funny though, in thinking all this through we were thinking of our own bodies and not so much about role-modeling for the children. Now that's at the forefront of my mind. We feel determined to be more active, not just for us but for them!! (Hence the unnecessary walk to town today. I actually love walking with my children, just need to allocate the extra time for it). Stu has recently joined the gym and is enjoying getting into that. I'm still dealing with the whole migraine issue, so am taking it easy just walking nearly every day and really watching what I eat. I've completely cut out caffeine and am cutting right down on wheat. I think it's helping.

6. Hmmm..... a 6th random fact? I'll choose a photo taken a few days back.

We have a sandbox in the backyard and Saraya and Elijah had a blast in it the other day, burying the hose under mountains of sand and watching the water spurt up. They kept trying to stop the flow, and were in fits of laughter about it gushing out every which way! BTW, is that a tiger in our sandpit????