IT'S TIME


Ok, I've done it. 
I have clicked the "start blogging" button.


What now?


I wish I'd started this earlier.  When I was 20kg heavier, lost, tired, desperate for a change.  I would love to have a record of the last year, of everything I've achieved.


This year, 2012, is about my mindset.  I want to challenge myself in a different way to put out there who I really am, let my guard down a bit, and work through the stuff that makes me me.


This blog will be mainly about health, fitness and wellbeing I expect.  It will probably cross over to my general life - wife, public servant, volunteer, soon to be studying again too.  I'll be focusing on a 'blogging challenge' run by one of the lovely local ladies in the health and fitness program I'm part of, as well as anything that inspires me along the way.  I expect a lot of what I write might be things I've discovered along the way, hopefully that might be handy tips for others on their health adventure... I don't just want to be on here venting all the time!!


A bit more about the health/wellbeing program I'm part of - the Michelle Bridges 12 week body transformation.  It's an awesome program run by the Biggest Loser trainer Michelle that provides weekly menus, recipes and shopping lists, daily workouts, bi-weekly mindset lessons, challenges, milestones, support forums, and adventures...and wraps up with a mass workout and massive party in a major city.  Three rounds run each year, this will be my fourth round.


It has changed my life!  I LOVE how exciting and interesting life is now... I thought rather than blab about that, i'd post a couple of bits from my 12wbt journey.


Thanks for getting to know me a bit...first blog
DONE.


ClaireS
xx
1. My first ever Video blog
The youtube video is pretty daggy but was a challenge one week in the first round I did of the program.  A couple of the extremely tacky sentences are ones we were supposed to answer so apologies for the cringe factor!!


2. My 2nd Video blog
round 3 last year: Same kinda deal, but I thought I'd be a little less WOOHOO and a bit more honest.
I still gloss over the hard stuff, but maybe i'll get the guts to do that later in writing...


3. My most recent post on the 12wbt forums which shows a bit more about who I am and what I'm achieving...and also hints at the challenges I still have ahead :)

...I got out of bed, after finally 'realising' that my time being 'thin' was over, that I was on the track back to getting fat... that i'd lost the drive, the commitment, I was a fraud and everyone was about to realise it. I decided, I can't shut off my mind. I'll type it all out. I went in to write my excuses - I decided, i wont try and write the solutions while I feel like this. Then I got a FB message from a girl I haven't seen in probably 8 years "just wanted to thank you for being such a great ambassador for 12wbt" She told me her sister had joined because she'd heard about it through a mutual friend who'd seen me embrace it on FB. It reminded my my mum and dad have both got to healthy weights because of 12wbt. My scout leader/mentor, my best friend from high school, a girl I went to kinder with, a girl I know through another mutual friend, 3 collegues at work, a coupe of guys I know, a girl from high school, and my husbands workmates have all joined because they've seen how much i've loved the program - and they've all transformed their lives now too and are loving every minute. So I guess, as well as feeling a bit 'woo I rock' which is somethng I've only been faking for the last little while, it's a bit of a reminder as to why I joined up in the first place, and why I keep coming back. I'm not here to lose weight (though I want to lose what I've put on). I'm here because I have FUN here. I try really cool stuff, I challenge myself and I win! I try things I would never try, and I smile and walk around all super proud coz i'm doing cool things. I've focused too much on my exercise i think - VERY proud of what i've been doing, but i've been using exercise as a way to justify the fact that i'm eating bad, or, as a way to punish myself back in to calorie deficit...which results in over eating. I look at my 12wbt photos, and they're not about me looking thin. They're about me doing amazing things - rock climbing, cooking with friends, fun runs, running circuits, supporting others at healthy breakfasts, getting up early and seeing the sunrise. I might still feel a little weak - I still have a lot of self-worth stuff to work on and repair... But there is no way i'm giving up. I will get back to healthy, and I will get back to fun and feeling like a rockstar! At some point i'll write about my binge eating, my issues with sugar, secret eating, and all the stuff that holds me back. But right now, I just want to celebrate that i'm here, i'm hanging on... I'm going to have FUN this round, and through that fun, that pride will return and I'll get results I can only imagine.... again!! ClaireSxx