Final Wednesday weigh-in

Well, I can hardly believe how fast this past 12 weeks have gone. I definitely had a few ups and downs with my eating but overall I gradually shrank ;)
This week I only lost 400g, but I did start to back off the exercise a bit to try and achieve a level of activity that will be possible to maintain in the long-term.
Anyway, the stats:
Fat 22.8% (down 0.2%)
Total body water 57.2% (up 0.1%)
Muscle 36.7% (up 0.1%)
Bone 2.1kg
BMI 21.2 (down 0.2)
Daily kcal requirement 2185 (down 20)
In total over my first round of 12wbt I have lost 8.2kg, or 12.8% of my body-weight. I've decreased my bodyfat % by 2.8%, increased my muscle % by 1.1%, and dropped my BMI by 2.6. I'd still like to aim for a couple more kg lost to get rid of the last bit of blubber on my tummy :). But I am going bathers shopping with my sister on the weekend, woo-hoo!
I'm about to enter the dreaded swot-vac/exams period for the next 3.5 weeks, so this will be a real test of my willpower. I hope to chip away at those last 1.8kg or at the very least not gain anything - after all this I've got to look really good when I go to Fiji!
I posted on the 12wbt page after last week:

'My aim for 12wbt was to lose all the weight I gained on a trip to Europe last year. And this week, I've done it! In fact, I've surpassed it, and now weigh as little as I recall weighing in my adult life. I'm proud of me, and literally in my WHOLE LIFE have never had as many compliments as I've had during the 12wbt program. Today I had 3 compliments from 3 different people: that I looked glamorous, that I looked really good, and that, from a gay friend, if he was a woman he would be intimidated by me based on how good I looked! Haha! There is now rarely a day that goes by that someone doesn't tell me how good I am looking - and let me tell you that is an incredible feeling!
I feel my self esteem has really had a massive boost and I'm sure it is reflected both in my internal happiness and in the way I portray myself to others. I smile and laugh more for sure!
I can now run 15km non-stop, which surprises even me given I couldn't run 5k non-stop a few months ago. I now run 5-10k nearly every day, and 15k once a week!
I am not going to do another round (though if I fall off the wagon I will return for round 1 next year), but will definitely keep blogging, using my heart rate monitor, and logging my calories in myfitnesspal. I have not found this restrictive, but rather a useful tool to use in my daily life. I eat 12wbt meals for most meals, nearly all lunches, though never eat the breakfasts. I have saved all the recipes to keep using.
Anyway, before I started this program I never thought I had the willpower to lose weight. So, I am proud of me. In fact, this might just be one of my proudest achievements to date. And it wasn't even very hard!!!
My hope is that, with my new-found confidence, happiness, and self-belief, I can find that elusive Prince Charming who has so far escaped meeting me '
Here's what I managed in the final week:

Wednesday (previous weigh-in)
Cals out 485, cals in 1771. Went out for dinner with ~300 other Gippsland women and watched the documentary 'Happy' - really worth seeing. I felt inspired to do a few more things to increase my happiness (but the 12wbt has definitely helped!).

Thursday
Cals out 515, cals in 1156. Had Mish's vietnamese beef noodle soup for tea. Super yummy & easy! Would definitely make this again.

Friday
Cals out 530, cals in 1309. Had Mish's chicken cacciatore for tea. It wasn't bad but wasn't one of my favourites either.

Saturday
Cals out 400, cals in 1210. Had Mish's veggie burritos again for tea, to keep using up the tofu. Yummy!

Sunday
Cals out 500, cals in 1223. Burritos for lunch, Mish's roast pumpkin salad again for tea to finish off the haloumi.

Monday
Cals out 905 (ran 12k & walked my doggy after class), cals in 1328. Mish's cajun chicken with sweet potato & avocado salad for tea. Enjoyed it, though tend to be less of a fan of salads generally, not finding them as filling.

Tuesday
Cals out 465, cals in 1000. Not that hungry today. Had Mish's chargrilled beef with avocado & corn salsa for tea. Yummy & super quick which was good as I had 2 hours of prac exam practice in the evening. Not much time to eat which probably explains the low cals!

Wednesday (today)
Cals out 615 (8k run & dog walk), cals in 1116 plus some plain roast chicken meat. Made Mish's beef moussaka today - yummy, but ended up making 4 pies instead of 2 with the quantity of ingredients listed so was super low on cals!

Another goal achieved!

Well, two Wednesday weigh-ins have passed since I last wrote so I thought it was time for an update :)

Thursday
Cals out 651, cals in ~2500. Urgh. Had a friend's b'day dinner where there were heaps of plates of deliciousness, so this is just an estimate but likely a fairly accurate one!!!

Friday
Cals out 755, cals in ~2000. My sister came to stay this weekend, which means a weekend of indulgence - I know it didn't have to mean this, but one of our shared passions is food, so I was willing to sacrifice a weekend of healthy eating for this!

Saturday
Cals out 221, cals in 1880. 1200 of these were snacks! Pretty poor effort on my part. Had fun visiting the Korumburra Farmer's Market, trying the Rusty Windmill cafe in Leongatha (the salad with my burger was AMAZING!), and going for a bit of a bush walk.


Sunday
Back on track with sis heading home today. Cals out 320, cals in 1171. Had Mish's beef, pumpkin & prune tagine for tea and REALLY enjoyed it!

Monday
Cals out 1185, cals in 1657. Ran 15k in 77min 37sec which is my best ever effort! Beginning to think I need to eat a protein bar immediately after a big workout to stop the crazy snacking. With some trepidation I decided to cook Mish's vegetarian burritos for tea. I'm not a huge fan of tofu, and was unsure whether the $5 spent on tofu would just be wasted. Well, I was very pleasantly surprised! It didn't taste like much, certainly wasn't offensive, and was a fine meat substitute. I would definitely eat this meal again.

Tuesday
Cals out 360, cals in 1162. Made Mish's roast pumpkin, haloumi & brown rice salad for tea. I knew I liked haloumi so knew I'd like this dish, though the haloumi was a bit expensive.



Wednesday

Cals out 605, cals in 1762. 8k in 39.45 which is my fastest ever. Had 2 sausages in bread at lunch to support a new med student mental health wellbeing club, in addition to my leftovers from the night before. A bit excessive! For tea made Mish's chickpea, ricotta & tomato salad for tea. Enjoyed it, but overdid the ricotta so it was overly creamy.
Surprisingly, despite the shocking stats of the last week, particularly the weekend, I managed to lose 300g! Any downwards movement I am very happy with!
Fat 23.5% (down 0.1%)
Total body water 56.8% (up 0.1%)
Muscle 36.4%
Bone 2.1kg
BMI 21.8 (down 0.1)
Daily kcal requirement 2244 (down 10)
Aiming for another 300g loss at the next weigh-in!

Thursday
Cals out 250, cals in 1141+. Final day placed at Leongatha Hospital, which I am sad to leave!

Friday
Cals out 706, cals in 1240. Made Mish's tasty tandoori chicken for tea - I don't know if the chicken thigh fillets I bought were just super tiny, but I felt this meal was rather sparse to be honest! What there was of it, though, did taste good.

Saturday
Back in Melbourne & big day at work so no exercise today. Also MASSIVELY overdid it on the intake today, guesstimate would be 2300cals in. Best friend & her partner came over for tea, so I made Mish's butter chicken which I love and they did too, but they brought with them cheesecake & cookies & cream icecream (my favourite). Anyway, we had a lovely evening.

Sunday
Was going to go for a big run this morning but was far too tired. Went for a short run with the dogs & my sister later in the day, burning 210 cals. Cals in ~1350. On the walk/run my sister literally said 'You are SO LEAN! In fact I don't think you could BE any leaner!' - haha I have never been called lean IN MY LIFE! When I got home my Dad also commented on how good I was looking, and said he was really proud of me!

Monday
15ks on Mondays seems to be part of my routine now, so managed that, burning 1126cals. 1186cals in inc Mish's hot dog with crunchy slaw, though ate a whole sausage in mine rather than a half, which just seemed silly! Basic meal, but yummy.


Tuesday
8k and 520 cals at the gym this morning, plus an 80cal dog walk = 600 cals out. Wasn't very hungry this day, or the previous, so only 798cals in. Had Mish's korma lamb cutlets with mint yoghurt and rice which were really yummy and very easy!

Wednesday - today
Weigh-in day! Stepped on the scales hoping to see a 300g loss, and was 1.1kg down! YAY! This means GOAL ACHIEVED! I am now lighter than I was before I LEFT for my 2.5mth Europe trip last year, and in fact lighter than I can recall being pretty much since high school (though my memory has never been wonderful).
Fat 23% (down 0.5%)
Total body water 57.1% (up 0.3%)
Muscle 36.6% (up 0.2%)
Bone 2.1kg
BMI 21.4 (down 0.4)
Daily kcal requirement 2205 (down 39)
My total weight loss so far with 12wbt is 7.8kg. I was aiming for a total weight loss of 7-10kg on the program, so I have achieved my aims. I hope to lose at least 200g this last week!

Yet another Weigh-In Wednesday

So it's definitely time for another blog post. Today was weigh in day, I was happy with my results, I've now lost a total of 10% of my body weight (700g this week) which feels like a bit of a milestone. A few days ago a friend described me as waif-like so that was pretty nice, haha! Still haven't QUITE got to my pre-Europe weight though - 600g to go!!! And still don't quite have a bikini-ready body but I'm getting closer and closer....:)
-fat 23.6% (down 0.3)
-water 56.7% (up 0.2)
-muscle 36.4% (up 0.2)
-bone 2.1kg
-BMI 21.9 (down 0.3)
-total kcal requirement: 2254 (up 19??)
Today we had some nutrition lectures. I actually learnt quite a bit. The lecturer was talking about all the ways we can measure body composition so I went up afterwards and asked her about how much her clinic charges to do DEXA scans. Turns out they are currently recruiting people for a DEXA scan trial so it will be FREE! I am super super keen and will definitely be getting in touch with her to organise that, hopefully it all works out!
Anyway, here are my stats. I didn't do well with my eating over my 'break', but managed to maintain my weight and neither gain nor lose anything so I was okay with that.

Friday
Cals in 1181, out 402. Dad didn't eat the teriyaki meal I made for him. Not sure why I bothered!

Sat
Cals in 1229+, out 606 (Grand Final breakfast then GF party at my sisters)

Sun
Cals in 1293, out 450. Out for lunch and had Vietnamese bun (a rice vermicelli salad dish), this is absolutely delicious and if you haven't tried it you absolutely should!!!

Mon
In 1274, out 1628. Geez I can't even remember what I did this day but I must sure have exercised a LOT!!! Oh yes now I remember. I did a massive run in the morning, then took the dogs for a walk (totalling 15k between my run then a few kms walk), then did an hour of aqua aerobics in the evening. I hadn't done this before but I had a FABULOUS time, it was more tiring than I thought it would be!!! Made Mish's chicken strips with cherry tomatoes, broccolini and beans and I enjoyed it. Stayed the night at my sisters which was really fun - had to take my own dinner as she was fasting for some fructose testing the next day, but this meant I kept within cals when normally I wouldn't have as we would have headed out for tea!

Tue
Went for a short run in the morning burning 451cals. Spent the day with my best friend at the Royal Show, had a fabulous time sampling all the delicious gourmet foods (and how cool is the vertical Masterchef herb garden! I want!). As a result, didn't eat lunch. Made Mish's beef fillet with roast pumpkin, beetroot & gingered spinach for tea. This was really yummy. Best estimate of cals in is ~1400+!

Wed
Cals out 500, cals in 1652 of which half were scones! Ooops! I tried a new scone recipe and it was a bit too delicious....!

Thu
No exercise today as drove my Mum down to my grandparents to see them and have lunch. Had a creamy pasta for lunch. Didn't eat dinner but a likely cal blowout regardless. Cals in 1425+. Saw my allergist in the morning, he has now started me on an asthma pump I have to use up my nose! Feels odd but is hopefully going to be effective as if it doesn't work I think my only options to make the polyps go away are oral steroids or surgery. On the upside, he says if we can fix my nose my asthma is likely to disappear, and I'm almost certain he's right about that.

Fri
Cals out 800. But another blowout cals in. I think I may need to add protein shakes or bars to my diet as I am nearly always craving food - I am doing a lot of exercise so I know I need to eat a fair bit, but it needs to be quality nutrition not just extra snacks!!! Made Mish's chicken parmagiana for tea which was just alright. Cals in 1633.
Did my fitness test this morning. 1km in 4min17sec. Didn't have wheezing as badly so perhaps the asthma treatment is working.

Sat
Cals out 589. Cals in 1337. Had Mish's roast beef, avocado and cottage cheese wrap for lunch. Didn't really like it. Not a fan of deli meats generally so not sure why I thought this was a good choice! Oh well! 99% of the time I have been really loving the recipes so it's no problem! Cals in is just an estimate. I can't even remember what I did on Saturday but I must have been out for dinner...

Sun
Cals out 615, cals in 1575. Had Mish's chicken with mustard sauce, roast tomatoes and asparagus for tea. Nearly forgot about the tomatoes in the oven but thankfully my housemate realised! I quite enjoyed the meal though it certainly wasn't up there amongst my favourites. Back to Gippsland for the last part of Semester 2 before the deliciously long summer break.




Mon
Cals out 930, cals in 1569. Made Mish's grilled lamb with pumpkin and pine nuts for tea. This was realllly yummy and I can highly recommend it.

Tue
On Tuesday I ran the farthest I have EVER run before. I managed 16.4km (on the treadmill) in just under 90min. I was very proud of myself. Perhaps I can run a half marathon after all! Also took my dog for a walk after uni, so burnt 1187cals all up. 1504 cals in.






Today (Wed)
Cals out 585, cals in 1187. Made one of my favourite Mish meals to date tonight: beef bulgogi skewers. YUMM!!!! I marinated the meat overnight and it was just delicious.

To finish with, I promised energyandemily I would post a pic of me in my zebra jumper. So here it is! :)