Time to get Hubby back on track

As you all know, about 15 months ago, Hubby decided to chuck in the 9-5 and come work from home with me...

We're doing fine. We actually still enjoy spending time together and work well as a team professionally...one thing HAS suffered though, and that's our health.

You've all been subjected to reading about my expanding waistline etc but what you don't know is that Hubby has picked up a huge *sugar addiction* along the way.


I believe last Monday was the turning point, let me describe his day to you -

Breakfast - he used to eat some Weet Bix as soon as he got up, but now he's started to *skip* breakfast and doesn't eat until we get a coffee, around 9am, and his breakfast of choice has become 2 croissants with jam and a large Mocha


Mid morning snack - cuppa (tea) with 4-5 choc chip cookies


Lunch - home made ham and cheese melt (on white bread)


Afternoon - (here is where it REALLY gets ugly) 7 muffins - I made two batches of muffins to have on hand...half of them were strawberry and half were choc chip


Later in the afternoon - we took Cassie to dance lesson and as we'd both had a rotten night's sleep, he called into the only coffee shop open at that time for a take-away coffee and he came back with a HUGE slice of flourless chocolate cake, I had a bite and the thing was so thick and dense that I felt ill...


Dinner - chorizo hot-pot with potatoes and other vegies


Dessert - ice cream


Tuesday morning he wasn't feeling well at all...very very sick in the tummy and a bit of a headache. We wondered what was wrong with him and then I suggested it may have something to do with the amount of SUGAR he consumed the previous day.


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To cut a long story short, he decided he needed to make some changes to his diet and decided cutting out added sugar was a good place to start. He hasn't really put on a lot of weight since his change of jobs, but he just doesn't look very well. Little things, like his skin and eyes are looking a bit dull...


So I shall keep you posted on how we progress. Today is Day 1 and so far so good. He is a little quieter than usual, but we do have a lot of work on so that could explain it.

We are also looking at our schedule to incorporate some weights workouts together during the day...I'm really looking forward to that. He really pushes me when we train together and I love the results of lifting heavy :-)


The other good thing is that I will be able to stick to my eating plan a lot better, as it has been so hard to stay away from sugary treats with him around 24/7



***Hopefully we'll prove to be a good team on the fitness front as well ***

Not much to say...

I haven't posted for a while and the reason is quite simply "not much to say" and even less time to say it...





Life is just moving along at its own pace around here, not sure if that's good or bad but no point in fighting it - it's just the way it is.





Stupidly busy weekend with Hubby's niece's 18th birthday party celebrations last night at a Greek restaurant in Sydney - very yummy food but not too much of it, it was almost like Yum Cha only the food was Greek...and lots of Greek dancing with my sister in law and her sister in law LOL





Late this afternoon we're heading to my brother's to celebrate my mum's birthday and then she comes back to our place for three weeks.








Just about all I've managed to do this weekend is get up to date with the washing...the ironing/folding pile is steadily growing but as long as the girls' uniforms are clean and they've got plenty of socks and undies we're good.








I'm just taking life one day at a time and it suits me. No point in worrying about what I did wrong last week, or what might happen next week. What will be will be and I will deal with it...








I'm having a bit of fun shopping inside my own wardrobe thanks to my shrinking waistline...Kek put me on to Birdsnest and it is SO addictive...the great thing is that I've found a lot of items similar to theirs inside my very wardrobe, but I'm copying the looks they suggest by combining things I'd never have thought of myself :-)








I've also recently discovered Nikki's Blog and I am absolutely loving it!!! Here is a real girl, wearing real clothes in every day real life situations...and again, I'm finding a lot of the items she mentions are already living in my wardrobe!...I've promised myself a trip to Big W next week to "splurge" on some Emerson items...$5 tees here I come!








On that note, it's time to get ready for this evening...must go through my menu plans for next week and check that I have most of the ingredients I need so we don't get caught out at the last minute...plan, plan, plan is my motto for success.














Have a great week all.


xo

March Photo a Day Challenge Day 8 - A window

The window at the aquatic centre as I left the gym this afternoon...

A tale of a ganglion, soft tissue, and a back-track on my plans...

Not a lot of time in the Fabulous household this week...it's been c-raazy...! Thursday already!...where did that go?

Monday I finally got to catch up with my GP, who told me the x-rays showed no sign of a Neuroma (relief), just some soft tissue damage near my big toe, and a ganglion near my little toe ... that explains why my whole foot is sore :o

He can't treat either of these conditions, so suggested rubbing Voltaren or a similar cream under the big toe area when it hurts, and referred me to a Sports Medicine specialist for further diagnosis.


So it appears that this too will pass...according to Kek who is a ganglion *expert*, there is every likelihood that the doctor will just smash the ganglion with a thick text book and that will be that...


In a rush of determination, I decided enough was enough, for goodness' sake I hadn't walked any further than from my front door to the car for about ten days...I was jumping out of my skin to get in a *real* work-out but was worried that I might be doing more damage to my foot. Take it easy, said my GP and if your foot starts to hurt too much, slow down.

So I am back to some good training - RPM class yesterday, long (but slow) walk the day before...feeling happy :-)


As for the "back-track" of the title - I am back on the 12WBT...I'd paid the fee, I like their recipes and it gives me structure...

I am going it at my own pace and not letting the Social Media rush take over my life - I simply haven't got the time...12WBTers are very active on FaceBook, Twitter, Blogs and their own Forums...I'm a very sociable girl but working from home in front of a computer, the temptation is just too great...


Hope you're all travelling well and staying dry...we're doing OK up here, glad we don't live any further down - it looks like Sydney copped a beating last night.


Oh - and keep an eye on my Weight Loss ticker up there...slowly but surely :-)

xo

March Photo a Day Challenge Day 7 - Something you wore

Something I wear every day...sunscreen. It goes on under my regular day moisturiser...I'm hoping to slow down the ageing that can be caused by incidental exposure to the sun while driving etc, so I've been wearing it religiously even on cloudy days.

Do you have any anti-aging beauty tips?



Day 6 - 5pm

5pm on a Tuesday...Cassie stretching before ballet class and having a play with Ollie at the same time...girls learn to multi-task early in life ;-)

Day 5 - A smile

Maddie has been having piano lessons since age 5. Her piano teacher is married to one of Australia's best known sculptors, and is a keen photographer herself.

A couple of years ago, she took this photo of Maddie...

Her husband immediately named it "The Mona Lisa Smile"...

this is the way Maddie always smiles...we've spent literally thousands of dollars on orthodontic work, but she hardly ever smiles with her mouth open...it's not self-consciousness in the least - it's just her smile.



I love it - her eyes do all the talking, don't you think?

Day 4 - Bedside

The perfectionist in me wanted to pull everything off my bedside table, dust the top and then put away the books, nail polish, jewellery and display just a couple of journals along with my retro lamp and a jewellery box...

but as you can see, I decided *what you see is what you get* and just took the photo as it was. This is it - reality...

Day 3 - Your Neighbourhood

We live in a small village in the Blue Mountains. We are surrounded by National Park...weatherboard cottages and trails like this one...

The Great Western Highway and railway line run through these villages and what were once commuter townships have since developed into tight communities with schools, churches, shopping centres and high quality coffee shops and restaurants.


We have lived here since we were married, our girls love it and we love the sense of community as well as being so close to nature. It's a healthy lifestyle, with walking tracks at our doorstep, as well as aquatic centres with excellent facilities and sporting opportunities for our children.

The wildlife is just beautiful, in the past month, we have had two wallabies, one kangaroo, a stork, a turtle and a black snake visit us...all coming within metres of our house (needless to say I wasn't all that keen on the snake, but it made its happy way out of our block eventually)


I wouldn't live anywhere else. We are blessed to live here.




And just for a bit of trivia - Dymphna Cusack and Florence James wrote "Come in Spinner" whilst renting a cottage in this village in the 1940's...they hired a "local" woman to run their errands and do some housekeeping for them, her name was Kath Walker and under their guidance she eventually wrote her memoirs, which were published under the title "Caddie"...

The foot saga continues...

I had an ultrasound and x-rays on my foot last Thursday.

The ultrasound technician was very friendly and started off by complementing me on my "soft and flexible" foot...a nice change from the feet riddled with arthritis that she usually sees...I was sitting on the bed feeling quite smug and then she started the ultrasound on the sore foot...

From the looks on her face, and the way she went over certain areas of my foot a few times, I was sure of one of two things :

a) This whole thing was in my mind and there was absolutely *nothing* wrong with my foot (omg am I a hypochondriac after all?)

OR

b) There was something *more* wrong with my foot than just the little Neuroma we were all looking for.


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I asked her (although I knew she wasn't allowed to discuss this with me) whether she could see anything going on there...

She of course replied that she couldn't discuss, but that there was a little bit more going on with the sole of my foot than expected, I then told her about a couple of fractures I suffered about 18 years ago and she said that could explain "some" of what she saw...then the doctor came in and they started talking about my foot as if I wasn't there...I can't even remember the terms they used, but I deducted that there appears to be some damage to the "plantal" (?) region of the foot, as well as a Neuroma...


I then went in for the x-rays, and I was given the films to bring with me to my GP...well, there is something WEIRD going on with my big toe...there are two "lumps" showing in the x-rays...calcification perhaps???


The suspense is killing me, and the pain is frustrating me. It is there when I wake up, it is almost constant...I need to keep changing position throughout the day...


I have an appointment with my GP on Monday morning and hopefully all will be explained and we will embark on some form of treatment...in the meantime I've wallowed in self pity and haven't worked out...I read about Bloggers who started learning to run when I did, and they are now running further distances more frequently. This frustrates me, as I was really enjoying the running...but common sense and self-preservation prevails and I know that to do anything like a long walk or even short bursts of running could cause further damage....


So the waiting goes on, I am hoping to make it to the gym over the weekend for some weight training. I love Pump classes but don't think it's a good idea, as the lunges really hurt my foot, so maybe time to dig out some of my old weights programs and do that instead.



Blogger is being silly and am having trouble posting. I have Day 3 of the March Photo a Day waiting to be posted so will keep trying.


Hope you're having a great weekend.


xo

March Photo a Day Challenge - Day 2

Day 2  -  "FRUIT"


Lucky for me that I took this photo today and not two days ago when there was NO fruit in the house...That's where our fruit lives, on top of the microwave...loving those little Gala apples and so are my kids...easy to eat and so sweet, and look at those pears...nothing says "Autumn" to me like a bowl full of juicy pears, they won't last long.

March Photo a Day Challenge Day 1

Day 1 -  "UP"





Looking up from my deck ... it was actually pouring with rain, but you can't quite see it in the photo...that's all we've seen for what seems like months now...grey skies and RAIN

Just for fun in March...

I have never done one of these before...but a few people whose blogs I read had so much fun with it in February that I thought I'd join in :-)

A day late, so I will upload two photos today...

Decided to just brave the scales this morning to keep myself accountable.

I have learnt from my past that if I stop weighing myself due to a "break" in my routine, usually caused by an injury or time of stress, I go into a *denial* phase and just lose control of the situation.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that my weight has remained stable. No loss, but more importantly, no gain since last week...and this even after a week where a few small indulgences were allowed.

So instead of heading towards complacency, as I would usually do, I am determined to just push through this little set back instead of letting it become a step backwards in my journey of fitness and weight loss.


A major win for me in the mindset department...it seems I am getting wiser as I get older :-)




Feeling good.


X-rays and Ultrasound this afternoon.