Howdy

Hey Fat Bastards!

By way of introduction I'm Kim, a friend of Linda and Robbie's from when we were at uni in Bathurst. Linda and I lived together in our third year of uni, exploring the vagaries of being food lovers while trying diets such as the ridiculous Body Shape diet by Sandra Cabot. I may never look at curried egg the same way ever again.

I am married to Chef, aka AB, aka Andrew and he's on the eternal weight loss challenge as well.

We have four boys - Oscar, Felix, Jasper and Grover. Yeah yeah I know, they're all Muppet names, or Sesame Street. Some of them also herald from a 60s sitcom or a cartoon about a cat. What of it?

So - toward the end of last year I joined with a group of people I followed on Twitter and was a part of the Boombah Club - the goal was to lose 8kgs by Christmas, which was 10 weeks away. I got close - about 6.5kgs.

But the biggest victory of all was that I started running. I did the Couch to 5km (C25K) program - 9 weeks of getting you off your lardy arse and able to run 5kms. The way it was structured - an App I could put on my  iPhone, load a soundtrack of my own music too, 3 runs a week - worked for me as much as the fact it was time bound. I am not the happiest runner - go read this post on my normal blog (allconsuming) to see just what goes on in my head when I run - and being able to tell myself, just another x weeks was incredibly useful.

But post Christmas I lost my focus, lost that end point to work towards. I was still running but not with the regularity (school holidays with four boys is rather challenging for exercise while being a licence to drink) and could see my weight loss stopping and the gaining starting. I needed a new focus.

I'm speaking at a blogging conference in March but even that was not enough to focus me. Then Linda mentioned the group and I was all PERFECT! Nothing beats doing this with a group and doing it in a timeframe.

While I would love to lose 10kgs in the 14 weeks I have been at this game long enough to know that is setting myself up for the fall. What I know I can achieve though is to be running 10kms by then. I am now doing the 'Bridge to 10k' program - a 6 weeks stint of shifting you from 5km runs to 10km ones. So that is my focus.

My five top tips at this point:

1. a bad moment or day is just that. DO NOT GIVE UP. 
2. it has to be realistic. Can you eat like this for the rest of your life? Sure, during initial weightloss we can banish or significantly limit certain foods and alcohol but can you really look at life without those things? Make it sustainable. The first step is learning to eat the row of chocolate not the block. 
3. get moving. I hate to say it but it's the truth. I see a psychiatrist every month for chronic depression, anxiety and mood disorder issues and well, from his expert mouth - running is more effective in the long term treatment of depression than any other. Even if you're not depressed or a nutbag like myself a 30 minute run releases enough serotonin to maintain your mood for 24-48 hours. 
4. listen to your body. Are you really hungry? Do you want those hot chips or that sausage roll or that beer or do you really want someone to give you a hug, tell you that crap day was indeed crappy, or just listen to you? Yes yes I know that sounds like hippy shit but stop, listen to your body - is your heart racing, are you bored, are you really angry, are you really tired, are you really sad, are you really really happy? Then BE THOSE THINGS. Back away from the pantry and shut the fridge. Oh, and have a big drink of water. Often we mistake thirst for hunger. Because we're stupid like that. 
5. give it 20 minutes. Nearly every human emotion has a 20 minute lifespan. You really do want those chips or that beer or that champagne? Fine, but you have to wait 20 minutes. If you reach that 20 minutes and still want it, go for it. But I can bet you forget about it long before that. 

God I'm so opinionated aren't I.

Onward!