10 Things I Learnt Losing 10 Kilos.

A finger for every kilo that I've lost!!!

This blog post makes me so incredibly happy. It's really bizarre to sit here and think to myself that there are now (gleefully) 10kgs less of me. I'll be completely honest and say it outright that I am thrilled with myself. When you jump on the scales and the drop is only a few hundred grams or maybe a kilo if you're lucky, from the last time you stood on them, its easy to feel slightly disheartened. But sitting down after three months and being able to say that I've lost 10kgs is beyond amazing. I really tried, like actually put a lot of effort into being healthier and fitter and its completely and utterly thrilling to sit here and share some things that I've learnt since the whole 'new me' thing started roughly 3 months ago.

1. You CAN do it.
It seems simple enough yet when I say to people that my number one piece of advice about achieving something is the statement 'you can do it', most people thank me kindly and wander off thinking that I'm either super corny, really good at stating the obvious or high on life (sometimes I'm pretty sure people think all three things...). But I've always found that in the past its easy to dream up something big or imagine something 'crazy' and in real life it seems impossible. However I am now a firm believer in the philosophy that if you can dream it, you can do it. Be it losing weight, learning a new language, cleaning your bedroom, finishing an assignment, running for fitness, absolutely anything really - YOU CAN DO IT. If you decide you really want something, there will be a way. You have to make a decision, work out what you want and then go for it! I'm constantly amazed at the things you can achieve if you set your mind towards them. If you'd asked me 6 months ago if I'd be able to lose 10kgs in 3 months I'd have laughed at you, but one day I just set my mind on the goal of losing some weight and here we are, albeit 10kgs less of me has arrived. Believe in yourself and you will achieve what you set out to.

2. Five Minute Fixes Don't Work.
It's all well and good to lose some weight but most people find the real struggle is keeping that lost weight off. I'll be the first to admit that it is really hard and it's a never-ending process. Hence, going on a 'diet' usually won't work in the long run. Maybe you'll lose the weight you want and you'll sit down after the months of dieting thinking you've achieved what you set out to, but what happens 2 months after you've achieved your goal? It's a trap I've found myself in many times before. I'll eat healthy for a few weeks or so and lose some kilos and life is dandy but a few weeks later I'll find myself returning to square one which is why I've done things a bit differently this time. I like to label the past 3 months a lifestyle change. I have not put myself on a diet. I refuse to. But, I have changed my lifestyle which has meant my diet has changed. The changes I've made are not 5 minute fixes; they're changes that I feel I can manage long term and they're changes that I feel are stable, suited to my schedule and most of all, practical. It's impossible to apply a 5 minute fix and expect it to last a lifetime. If you want an actual long term change, you need to make a long term change.

3. Get Outside.
The biggest alteration I've made in my lifestyle is that I go outside. Its so simple that so many people overlook it but being outdoors in enormously good for you. These days we all go to school indoors, work indoors, relax indoors, do homework indoors - everything is in the confines of a room and under a roof! Being outside has had two benefits for me; I get more vitamin D (which is a surprisingly common deficiency amongst people nowadays) and I'm more inspired to be active. In summary, leave the house, do some homework on a park bench in the sun or eat lunch sitting on some grass with friends, just be outdoors!

4. Get Active.
Exercise is crucial to any kind of healthy lifestyle. Humans need to exercise, and once you jump the little hurdle of it being new, or difficult or hard, it is actually a surprisingly enjoyable thing to do. There are days in my week where I don't have time to 'exercise' in the typical sense of the word and there are days when I simply don't want to. However being active isn't necessarily interchangeable with exercising. Things like walking to uni, parking the car a little father away so you have to walk a bit further, spending 15 minutes stretching before bed, going shopping and riding a bike around a lake or through a park with friends are all easy ways to be more active and to get out and about. I don't label shopping an exercise (although it is debatable depending how lethal you are in the shops) but for me it is being active because to try on all the shoes in the shopping centre you've got to walk to all the different shops!

5. Choose to Exercise In Ways You Enjoy. 
I hate the gym. There, I've said it, it is true, I do not like the gym. Most people trying to be more active love the gym. People rave about the gym. Every second day I find myself informed of how great the gym is. But, I just don't like it. I've tried to like the gym but it just isn't happening. So, moral of the story is, if I don't enjoy it then I'm not going to force myself to do it. Personally if I'm going to exercise I like to be outdoors and I like to be moving, or covering ground. The gym fulfils none of those desires which probably explains why I don't enjoy being there. Exercise is an enormous part of being healthier, gaining fitness and for many people, losing weight. A diet will only work to a certain extent before exercise is needed. I've always found that it is being active and exercising that makes the biggest difference. But going back to a lifestyle change, to make exercise a part of your life for the long run, you have to choose to do things that you enjoy because when something is a chore, you're not going to want to do it. Personal favourite's of mine are running (albeit rather slowly), bike riding and walking. I like to explore and see what's around me, so I like to move about and actually go somewhere when I exercise. That's not to say that you should be the same, I've many friends who enjoy running on a treadmill in a gym watching the TV and because they love that, that's what they do, and it works for them. Ultimately you have to choose to exercise in ways that you enjoy exercising in order to make it fun, enjoyable and feasible in the long term.

6. Don't Deny Your Cravings.
This one requires some discretion and I am by no means trying to advocate that you wake up feeling like you want to eat a block of chocolate so that's exactly what you'll do. But, if you do wake up feeling like chocolate, then its probably best that you allow yourself to fulfil that craving and have some. Whilst I have dramatically changed the type of food that I consume, if I ever feel like a certain food in particular be it healthy or not so, then I will try and work that into my food intake for the day. When you deny your body what it is telling you that you want, you place yourself in a position where you're more likely to binge eat when given the chance. In my opinion, it is far better for you to have things that you enjoy in moderation as opposed to eating enormous amounts of things in moments where your will power is feeling a little weak. If your body is telling you that it wants something, it is always best to listen and accommodate that craving into your intake for that day.

7. Eat Your Vegetables.
I've never been that kid that outright refused to eat vegetables, but I've also never been that person that loves them to bits either. But, fact of the matter is, to be healthy you need to eat vegetables. Once again, I operate on the philosophy of eating what you enjoy. For me, I've always been rather partial to a potato chip but evidently chips don't make anyone's list of healthy foods you should eat when trying to lose weight. However if I were to just not eat potato chips then I'd have been unhappy because I would be denying a craving and I'd probably have binged on them when given the chance. So I revolutionised my definition of 'potato chip' and I made it healthy so now I can literally eat a bowl full of chips for lunch and it is a guilt free meal (and a satisfied craving - two birds one stone!). I peel and chop my own potatoes, put them in a bag with some thyme, a dash of rice bran oil and a sprinkle of salt and toss them about before baking them in the oven. Always eat your veggies!!

8. Fruit is Your Friend.
I swear that fruit is the most underrated food in the world. It's just so damn delicious! I could literally eat fruit all day if I wanted, and so, some days, that is exactly what I'll do! I've taken to eating a fruit feast for breakfast which I find the most refreshing way to start my day and a really easy way to eat something healthy without meaning to. Some days I will eat five kiwi fruits, 3 oranges and a pun net of strawberries and the only reason I stop at that is that I've run out of fruit! Breakfast is the easiest time of the day to eat lots of fruit - it requires no cooking, it is instantaneously ready to go, it isn't very messy and it is really refreshing!

9. 80/20.
I love the 80/20 philosophy - 80% good and 20% kinda naughty. Its unreasonable to expect yourself to be good 100% of the time, so don't be! Once again, to be healthier, fitter and lose weight long term, you need to make a lifestyle change, not a 5 minute 'diet' fix. I'm yet to meet someone who is happy being good 100% of the time, so listen to those cravings and give your body what it wants! Tonight I felt like a chocolate ice-cream so that is exactly what I had and it was delicious and I regret absolutely nothing. Always allow for that 20% of fun in your food intake. Life isn't about carrots and bananas all day every day (although bananas in particular are delicious and make for delicious vegan ice-cream)!

10. Be Happy.
You will never stick with something that you're unhappy doing. So, in short, be happy with the changes that you make, enjoy the exercise that you do, have fun experimenting with new ways to cook things and new foods, and love the way that you live. At the end of the day, being happy is the ultimate goal and if you come out smiling then you've won.

Stages of Running.

Not too long ago now I woke up one day with the bright idea of starting to run again. The primary motivation behind this 'bright' idea was fitness, health and hopefully weight loss. Today marks two months into this whole running thing so I thought it would be a good time to reflect. 

About six years ago now my mum and I made the joint decision it was time to be healthier. I was thirteen at the time and honestly didn't really have any idea what the heck that meant but hey, sounded cool so I though what the hell, why not. Enter the run. My god was I unprepared. To summarise, it was four months of awful followed by about one month of 'this actually feels good' and then the weather got bad and so ended the run almost as suddenly as it had started. Fast forward four years and I was away at boarding school when yet again the run entered my life. I don't actually remember why, probably again it was weight loss motivated, but I stuck it out and by the end of my final year at school a year and a half later I could run 9km without stopping and I actually even began to miss running on days when I didn't go. But then the 'gap year' came along and obliterated my life as I knew it. 

When moving to London I had all these lofty ideas of running around Buckingham Palace and tripping over into the arms of Prince Harry and then he would magically fall in love with me and we'd get married. It was, one might say, a brilliant plan. However the weather had something to say about that and in short, I'm yet to meet someone who voluntarily and happily runs in negative temperatures, snow and rain. I managed to go running though a grand total of four times in the 12 months that I lived in Europe. Whilst I had the time of my life on gap year and don't regret one second of it (except maybe for the ill fated trip to Sicily which is a story for another day), my weight and my health paid the price for my laziness.

I moved back to Australia and started uni. To those who've been/are at college, you will understand the wine and chocolate diet perfectly (they are a match made in heaven some might say). It was a great existence for five months and I knew that I wouldn't be losing any weight but that seemed inconsequential at the time. I stepped on my scales one day and looked down at the number. My whole life I have always refused to weight a certain amount. Basically I have a magic number in my head that was the 'no' number and I looked down this day and it was that number that I saw. I was extremely disappointed with myself and spent about a week being miserable before I came to the crashing realisation that something had to give. Yet again the idea of the run entered my life. I've since thought many a time about this running business and I've come to the conclusion that it has multiple stages which are as follows;

1. This-is-a-brilliant-idea-and-you-will-feel-and-look-fantastic-running-along-with-the-wind-in-your-hair Stage.

Step one is obviously deciding that you will undertake this task of running. Step two is putting on some runners and exercise clothing, step three is actually exiting your house, and step four and putting one foot in front of the other at a speed greater than walking (or power walking) and hey presto, you're running! Step six is continuing to do this for longer than five minutes before you can actually claim to have 'run.' All of these steps are part of stage one - the 'brilliant idea stage.' It seems like such a good idea. Think of the stereotypical people who run, they're tanned, they're happy, they're fit, they're healthy, they usually seem to love life. 'That'll be me' you naively think. Wrong.

2. This-is-not-a-brilliant-idea-and-I-am-in-great-pain-and-cannot-possibly-look-good-whilst-doing-this-and-I-should-stop-now Stage.

Following on from step six, running for at least 5 minutes, follows stage two - the 'oh no' stage. This is possibly the worst stage of running because it is the make it or break it stage. You set out and everything is going well and then you start to think 'hmmm this is getting hard,' followed by 'hmmm this is getting very hard,' followed by 'ughhhh this is becoming unbearable and why the heck am I doing this,' which is followed by one of two things; 'this is hard but other people can see me and therefore I must continue' or 'this is abhorrently difficult and I value my life and I will therefore stop.' If you stop, the run usually goes back to a dark, quiet corner of a cupboard and that's that but should you find yourself in a public place usually the first option is the one you end up taking. Enter stage three.

3. This-is-the-worst-idea-I-have-ever-had-in-my-entire-life-worse-even-than-the-time-I-drank-orange-juice-after-brushing-my-teeth Stage.

The regret stage. So you've been running for longer than five minutes (go you!) and you've found yourself in a public place which basically means its too embarrassing to stop so you've no choice but to continue running and all you can think is 'why the hell did I decide to do this, I am so silly.' You keep on running and rather magically, and also quite slowly, these strange thoughts take over that perhaps you can actually do it! So you keep on going and you run your way back to where you started and just like that you've been for a run!

4. Been-there-done-that-learnt-my-lesson-why-would-I-do-that-again Stage.

This one is a big fat trap! Usually several days pass between this stage and the next one but in that time you think 'yay, go me, I did it, I've done my run (...for the rest of the year) and now I can relax!' Wrong! 

5. The-I-feel-guilty-like-I've-stolen-eight-cakes-from-the-neighbourhood-bakery-and-I-can't-sleep-at-night Stage.

This is the second make it or break it stage of the running adventure. So you dragged yourself up, completed steps 1-6 and achieved the milestone of an actual run and then you came home, thought about all that pain and proceeded to sit yourself down for a few days thinking 'never again.' But then you (hopefully) have an epiphany that if you did it once, then why on earth can't you do it again?! *repeat steps 1-6* You go for yet another run! And then you return home and enter stage 6.

6. This-is-becoming-a-routine-and-I-sense-commitment-looming-upon-me Stage.

So you've been for a run twice now and lived to tell the tale both times. But you encounter a problem now because this running thing is becoming more regular and regular things form habits and you can't label a once in a lifetime event a habit. But the problem is that if running is a habit, then you actually have to go at least twice a week. It is at this stage you possibly start to mention that fact that you run and people look at you with a kind of admiration and you look back with the whole 'I know I'm amazing, look at me go' face. But then these people you've told start to question you on this running business and you start feeling obliged to actually go running and thus have the ability to report things along the lines of 'oh yes, this morning's run was really good although that hill is certainly a work out!'

7. Now-I've-told-people-I'm-too-far-down-the-path-of-no-return-to-return-and-I'm-sensing-commitment-issues-and-my-god-is-this-actually-a-thing Stage.

Running has started to take off and you begin to experience an unconscious feeling that you should be running. Steps 1-6 take less and less effort to perform and it is usually whilst running that you think to yourself 'oh dear, I've actually committed to this and now I have to follow through.' YES! You can do it!! Persevere and you can do it, stick with it and keep on putting one foot in front of the other (preferably at increasing speed as you feel the fitness coming along rather nicely). 

8. The-I'm-a-runner-jokes-I'm-actually-a-humble-and-rather-average-jogger Stage.

You have reached the milestone of stage eight - the stage of completion on your running journey. Going for a run has become a habit, stages 1-6 do not make you feel regret (like last Sunday morning after a night at the club) and god-forbid, running actually starts to make you feel good! Congratulations, you've made it!!!

Two months in I have just reached stage eight. It is the most miraculous feeling when suddenly going running isn't like a chore but rather something you begin to enjoy. I'd almost go to the point of saying it's worth all the pain and all the regret. As an added bonus I've lost 8kgs in that time and have never felt better! If I can do it, you can too!

Secretly I'm not actually running in this photo but hey, it looks cool, and I am still out and about putting one foot in front of the other!