It's back

Hi Blog...I've been missing again but have been interstate (two states actually) and that's my excuse. My rash is back apparently (according to GP) due to the fact that I didn't take my supps with me when I was away. And that was because the containers were too big, however I could have measured out what I wanted and put it in smaller containers, couldn't I - but I didn't. Anyway I am back on them now and it is abating again thankfully.

This morning I decided to get up (before the sun even) and head off to the gym. So off I tootled only to find there was no-one there at all. Could see it was all in darkness before I even parked the car. I had checked the opening time on my computer before taking off to make sure it was open at 5:30am and website said it was. Then the penny dropped - today is a holiday here on the Coast (Gold Coast Show Day) so more than likely the gym wouldn't open until 8am (Sunday's normal opening time - if at all). Anyway, I gave up on that idea and decided to head back for a coffee from my favourite coffee shop. It wasn't open either. They were doing Sunday trading hours also and opened at 7am instead of 6am. GRRRRR. So I headed back home and sat on the stat bike for a while and then went back to get my coffee. So much for my good intentions. I plan to head back to the gym tomorrow morning and to do a reasonable walk on Sunday, even though I have a blister on my foot from too much walking in Melbourne.

Another month starts on Sunday and this time I am going to take my measurements at the end of September. I know I would not get good results for this month - so I am not even going to go there. I still have issues with an unhappy gut and won't lose any weight or inches until it is sorted according to GP. Hopefully we will get there soon but not if I stop taking Supps for stoopid reasons.

Hope to be here more often come September. Watch this space.

Lotions and Potions

Well, I have been missing again but at least the rash on my face is gone. It was related to a product I used and after trying many lotions and potions (some actually even made it worse) it has now abated from my face. It still remains just under my chin and I still have my normal winter eczema on my neck and shoulders. One of the feeds into my FB page listed 50 different uses for lemons and one of them was for insect bites and skin rashes. So I tried some lemon juice in water on my neck and boy does it cool it down and even takes quite a bit of the redness out also.

After seeing myself in a couple of recent photos I have come to the conclusion that I need to get serious with some sort of program that is going to work for me. However, I am heading down south where I won’t be very in control of what I am eating. I have at least made my “Coconutty Granola” and will take that with me for some breakfasts (or maybe even a lunch) which should help a little. So when I get back I am going to track my calories just for a couple of weeks to make sure I am on the right path and tweek my part Paleo, Low Carb, Med Fat, no cow’s milk, low sugar and gluten eating regime until I start losing some inches/cms and get back on track with some daily exercise even if it is just the walk down to the local shops for my coffee fix (which I am also going to try and convert to a cup of black tea).

Anyway since starting this post (as a draft last week) I did a longer walk this morning and plan to keep increasing it until I can get somewhere near my goal of 5kms every second day with a couple of gym days in between. Watch this space.

The cause - who knows?

OK I have been missing again. I have another excuse - it is on my face this time. I have suffered with what I have labelled "winter eczema" for what seems like forever and it was mainly on my legs and mainly in winter. I only learned a couple of years ago that it goes hand in hand with the Hashimotos (autoimmune disease) that I have. Well three to four years ago it moved to my neck and once again only in winter so one would assume it is temperature related. Now it is on my FACE !!!! I thought initially it may have been from a product I was using but I'm not so sure now. I haven't seen my holistic GP as she takes weeks to get into but I did send her an email. She knew about Roger as I saw her in the Hospital coffee shop one morning. Her take on it is that it is STRESS related. And it possibly could be. Anyway I have left off all makeup and was initially putting just Bio Oil on it but yesterday I decided to try some coconut oil and that has helped immensely. The redness has gone and it is just dry and scaly now so fingers crossed it disappears without any scarring.

Goals - I managed to get out there for a 2km walk this morning and will ramp up the distance as and when I can. I will also get the tape measure out and take some measurements - I have been saying this for months but I WILL DO IT when I get off here and I'll add them to this post.

Food - After multiple failures with my home made stuff I have pulled back and am only going to stick with things I know work for me. A lot of the creations (particularly bread and cheese) have been thrown out and the ingredients were quite expensive. Anyway that's it for me today. I plan to come back once a week with a further report.

Measurements: B = 115 M = 111 W = 109 H = 118 T = 53

Wake up call

Hi Blogosphere...yes I have been missing again but I think you will forgive me this time. On Sunday 9 June my DH had a major heart attack and it is only thanks to the Ambos that he is still with us. A bit of a wake up call for both of us. He will now have to join me in doing some form of exercise (walking mainly and perhaps some stat bike when he has the all clear).

He is not coping very well with having to rest. He is not allowed in the garden and can't drive until Sunday and gets quite agro with me when I try to stop him doing stuff. So I am going to butt out and hopefully he will not try anything much for the rest of the week. After that he can start introducing more energetic stuff and can at least drive.

Anyway back to my stuff. Prior to the heart attack, I had a bit of a melt down with most of the stuff (bread mainly) I cook not working out for me. I have therefore modified my approach and with some help from my holistic doctor (a herbal remedy to help with my gut issues) and I think my muffin top is not as big as it was. Of course it could be a couple of meals I skipped while Roger was in hospital. Once upon a time I could not have done that.

So I have introduced a couple of gluten free store bought items and plan to write myself a small structured exercise weekly program (which can be altered for inclement weather). I managed a workout at the gym on Monday and plan to go twice a week to do weights. Also plan to do some long walks but they may not be first thing in the morning (too cold and dark in winter). So watch this space.

I know it is half way through the month but I WILL take my measurements and hopefully a couple of cms will go missing by the end of June

5kms today

Hi Blog.... sorry I've been missing again. Life just gets in the way sometimes. I have only been doing small walks up until today as I didn't want to upset Mr and Mrs Achilles before the Mothers' Day Classic (TODAY). I managed to complete the 4km walk plus another kilometre to get a bit out of the area so hubby could pick me up. So far I have walked 20kms since the beginning of the month. I didn't quite make my goal of 50kms for April but will aim to make it for May. I still haven't got hold of the tape measure but I WILL get it out one day - hopefully before the end of this month so I can track the progress for June. Lots of new recipes have been tried out and the English Muffins were a success so I have finally found something I can put my egg on in the morning. Also have a decent banana bread recipe that works every time. Just need to find some more evening meal recipes as we seem to have slipped back into our routine meals. Having said that we do have a home made lamb/vegetable soup some nights especially when we have had a "heavier" lunch. Anyway that's it from me for the time being. Have to go and do some Photography homework.

Better get a wriggle on

Today would have been Mum's birthday and this was one of her favourite expressions. She had quite a few passed down from her very English mother and grandmother. Anyway I have just realised I have quite a few kms to go to reach my goal of 50kms and not a lot of days left to do it in - so I'd better get a wriggle on. Tomorrow we are leaving early to do a Wine and Cheese trip up to Mt Tamborine so won't be walking at all. I will have to schedule two reasonable walks on Sunday and Tuesday and should just scrape it in. One achilles is starting to give me curry. I think I will have to resume my ankle exercises and see if that helps. I did read somewhere a week or so ago that those of us with Hashimotos can have problems with Achilles - GRRRR. Hopefully, one day when I get it totally under control or it goes away (and it can I believe) I will be able to increase my walks. In the meantime I am going to look into the Primal/Paleo Crossfit regime and see if I can work that into my off walking days. Anyway I will be back at the end of the month to report on all the goals and set new ones for May. Catch you then.

Hills are harder !

Hi Blog....sorry I have been missing for a while as I was ticked off with Runkeeper. The PC version had a bit of a hiccup and wasn't showing the correct map of my walk for me to screen print to here. However it has sorted itself out now and today's walk is shown above. I took considerably longer to walk a shorter distance than the walk I did on 2 April on the flat. (See below for that walk). I think I will alternate my longer walks and try and increase the speed and length in each spot. Achilles are just squeaking a little today so won't walk at all tomorrow and may pop down to the gym instead to do some weights. After a seminar on making Sourdough and Brie on Sunday watch this space for my first attempt at both. The cheese may be a while as I need to source some utensils and products before I can commence. Only need some decent flour to attempt the Sourdough (I may use Spelt flour from Flannerys.

Getting there slowly

I managed a 4.75km walk today down at Main Beach - yay. It is a lot easier walking down there as it is much flatter than the area here near my house. I managed a faster speed as well and so far Mr and Mrs Achilles are behaving themselves. It is a shame about the beach though it is a mess. It is very difficult to get down to walk on the sand as there has been about 5 to 6 metres washed away and formed sheer cliffs. Looks like I will reach my goal of 40kms for the month as there are a couple of days to go and I only have less than 2kms to get there. Also reached the recipe goal - probably went way past it as there have been quite a few new recipes made in the last couple of weeks and I have quite a few more to try out. I'm yet to make my chicken soup as Roger made another one of his lamb shank vegetable soups and there is still some left. Not too sure about the losing 5 cms goal as I haven't measured myself yet. However I think the bulge beneath my waist isn't quite as pronounced as it was. I will get the tape measure out on 1 April and perhaps take a few more spots and record them to make it easier. Nothing much more to report so I'll catch you next time.

Yay - 4kms today

I managed to walk 4kms today and it was quite hilly also. Will gradually increase the distance and the speed so watch this space. Both achilles are OK so far but will probably do a shorter walk tomorrow (have to deliver some brochures anyway and that slows me down) and another longer one on Monday.

Also took a pic of my little chocolates made using one of my new Aldi moulds. The other mould is small bunny rabbits which I will make closer to Easter. These have some cashew nuts in them and are yummy.

Feeling a lot better now I have ditched the restrictive diet and am going to be doing some cooking this weekend. I have found a yummy creamy chicken soup recipe, or at least I found it yesterday - hopefully I can find it again.

Anyway enough from me - catch you later.

Totally Over it

Elimination diet is out the window. Way too hard when I don't have a supportive partner. I know what my system does and does not like. I also realised I have another eat out meal on Monday so I pulled the plug and had my first coffee this morning and made some small choccies with coconut oil yesterday. Won't go berserk but will have things with egg in them - that was the hardest. Just about every recipe I looked at up had eggs in them and I am pretty sure they are OK with my tummy but I won't have a lot until the three days are up with the coffee. I guess it was a good detox and could probably do it every now and then for a week but not two. So my plan now is to eat as healthily and clean as possible, a little paleo, primal, low carb, medium fat, minimal sugar, no gluten, soy or cows milk and keep my system as alkaline as possible and see how we go. I'll also continue with the water + lemon juice first thing in the morning but I'm ditching the Apple Cider Vinegar. I nearly gag on it when I drink it. So precious I know but I can't help it.

On a totally different subject I had coffee today with a lady (who is a little bit younger than myself) who has just recently climbed Mt Kosciuszko. Apparently it is not as hard as it sounds as you can get the chairlift to Thredbo and the walk then is on a metal walkway - there and back a total of 13 kms. There were some quite considerably older than her doing it so I'm putting this on my bucket list and plan to increase the lengths of my walks until I can do 13kms effortlessly. Then I'll be looking for some friends to accompany me - any takers???

Well, that's it from me. The sun has finally come out and I am feeling much more cheerful. That stoopid elimination diet nearly had me heading towards the big D and I refuse to go there.

3 days down and 11 to go

Well, I am three days into this elimination process and feeling a little better today. The last two days I have felt a lot of muscle aches and pains. Some would be a little DOMS from a gym workout and some also from a very hilly walk I did yesterday but for the most part it is the result of the body detoxing itself. I jumped on the scales (first time for at least a month) and there are a couple of kgs gone, however I am not getting too excited about that as I WILL NOT be continuing on this eating pattern after the two weeks is up. I know I can't put the gluten or the cow's milk back in (probably not for a long time to come) but I WILL be having the coffee/chocolate, hopefully eggs and maybe even products made with goats milk. I am finding all things food related very difficult and quite often there are two different meals being prepared as hubby is not following my program. However he did make a "yummy" vegie soup last night which would normally have been made with yellow dried peas and a bacon hock but it was made with green peas and a lamb shank instead. Anyway watch this space for more progress - it is going to be a long ELEVEN days.

Coffee - you can't be serious

OMG - no coffee for two weeks - can I or can't I ????? I have done it before so I guess I can do it again but I am going to wean myself off it over the next two days. I'm actually having one as we speak but it will be my last for the day. Also can't have any dairy, eggs, gluten, soy or corn but I don't normally have the last three anyway. Will be fun - NOT. I have just baked my crunchy granola to cover breakfasts now the eggs are out and will look at some other options too. The coffee, some dairy (not cows milk) and eggs are to be gradually reintroduced to see what reaction I get from each one. Initially she (Naturopath) said I could have one coffee per day 'cos I announced before we started our discussion that I wasn't prepared to give up the coffee. She also gave me a list of websites to help out with recipes (a couple of them I already have on my Blogroll). Anyway I have looked at quite a few and am totally over it at the moment so am going to take a break and do something different for the rest of the day. Some of the recipes do contain eggs so I won't be able to use them for the next couple of weeks anyway. Watch this space for an update. PS I plan to get to the gym tomorrow morning do some (light) weights. Catch you next time.

Recap on February

Hi Blogosphere...well another month gone and only one of my goals met (recipes). I would have come close to the 20km walking but I am going to blame not being well enough to do much in the early part of the month. Have walked every day for the past 5 days increasing the intensity and the distance each day and will continue to do so. I haven't made it to the gym however as there is some more wet weather coming I am sure I will in the coming week. My tummy is a lot better and I am looking forward to getting a more structured eating plan from my Naturpath on Monday. I'll report back after that visit and let you know what she has to say. That's it for me today - have a super busy day ahead. Catch you next week.

Back from the Doc

Back from the holistic doc with an appointment for a Naturopath to help me map out an eating plan to help with keeping my system alkaline, detoxed and losing weight. She is away for a couple of weeks so appointment is not until Mon 4 March. Until then I will just keep doing what I am doing. Today I feel the best I have felt since I took the medication a couple of weeks ago. I have walked two kms yesterday and today and plan to keep doing that until it is easy and then increase the kms and the intensity. Also might pay a visit to the gym and do some light weights one day this week. Anyway just a quick one for now - I'll report back at the end of the week to let you know how I am going in the exercise department.

Home again but sick

Here I am again. Back from beautiful Hawaii but with a very unhappy tum. I could feel a cold/flu coming on and took some medication to try and keep it away and it was all downhill from there. Yesterday was the first day I felt almost normal and had a Zarrafas coffee which went down OK. However I had one this morning and not so good so back to the ginger or green tea. Only one good side effect - I actually weigh less now than before the holiday and don't plan to put it back on. Going to ask my holistic doctor for some sort of eating plan when I go on Saturday.

I went for my first decent walk this morning - about 2kms but I struggled with the hill up to the coffee shop. Will try and extend it each day until I can do 5kms comfortably and then perhaps add some jogging.

Anyway that's it from me. I'll report back after doctor on Saturday.

Sorry, sorry, sorry

A huge apology to my tummy. Over the past couple of days I haven't eaten as well as I should have and ended up in bed at 5:30pm last night with a very gripey pain and no dinner. It would appear I cannot reintroduce all foods, at least not as many as I tried to, so quickly. I am not actually sure what set it off but I haven't been feeling 100 per cent for a couple of days and I think the BLT on foccaccia up in Brissie (Wednesday lunch) might have been the final straw and after that I don't think it mattered what I had, tummy was in revolt. Today I have had my normal breakky (nutty granola with coconut yoghurt) and not a lot of it, a cup of green tea and a water with lemon juice. So far so good. Roger is making me some ginger tea as we speak and I promise I will stay on the straight and narrow from now until we take off so it can settle down again. Off for a coffee date this morning but I think I will have tea. Lunch will be a salad and dinner will be what I should have had last night, Atlantic Salmon.

I am still having Physio on my neck and haven't been doing much in the exercise department, only short gentle walks. Hopefully after my last appointment on Monday (no time for anymore before we go) I will be able to move around a bit more. Fingers crossed.

Anyway, I have actually started to pack. Both cases are on the bed now and have the shoes in them :)

Busy, busy

Hi there... didn't get here on Saturday or yesterday - had a busy weekend. I have managed to cross a few things off my list. I did finish the Cairns slideshow and am two thirds of the way through the Asian cruise slide show. May get to finish that before we go. I'm still going to Physio but it is definitely getting better. I've introduced a few of the foods I haven't been eating so my tummy can get used to them as I don't intend to try and eat the way I have been here at home while I am away. However, I will watch the milk intake and steer clear of as much sugar as possibe but a few grains might sneak in. So far so good - just a couple of niggles mainly the milk. Anyway, I may not get back here until after we return but plan to post a couple of photos on FB if I can get some free Wifi somewhere. Apparently the internet is very expensive on board. Above is a pic of the Pride of America where we will spend one week out of two. Catch you later.

Appointments, Avon and other Activities

Oh my, every day this coming week I have an appointment of some description. After a visit to a physio last Thursday we have discovered I have a Whiplash injury which is going to take several weeks and multiple appointments to fix. The injury happened before Christmas but I didn't link the two until just recently. Roger was driving and pulled up suddenly but I was actually leaning forward trying to grab something near the floor. I didn't think much of it at the time but a couple of days later woke up with a very stiff neck. Thought it was because I slept funny (as you do) and thought it would get better on its own. Three weeks later I still had problems turning my neck and decided to go to a Physio.

I also decided I would pay a visit to the dentist (a bit before my annual check up was due) just to make sure all was OK before cruising. Well, he found a little cavity that needs to be filled so that is happening next week also. On the plus side our new health fund pays for one clean and check up per person per year. Therefore my $200 bill didn't cost me a cent. Woo hoo.

The third appointment is with my unholistic doctor (only been to her once for my shots before last OS trip) for a skin cancer check and a request for a sleeping tablet to hopefully help me sleep on the plane as it is an overnight trip.

In between all these appointments I have two Avon campaign orders to deliver and a heap of other activities including putting the finishing touches to the slide show of our Cairns trip (2011) and hopefully making a start of inroads into the Asian Cruise slide show (2012). Not to mention, getting some US dollars and an OS debit card etc, etc. Hopefully I can report back here next Saturday with less left on my list. See you then.

Happy New Year

Well another year done and dusted. Just seems like yesterday that 2012 started. We didn't actually see this one in for the first time in at least ten years. The friends we normally spend it with (in Adelaide) weren't too happy about it but we just decided we wanted to be back here on the Coast earlier this year. It takes me several days to get over a late night now and I just felt that while I am trying to heal myself a late night was not the way to go.

I have just posted on the TSC FB group my goals for the year so I'll record them here also.

1. Go down a couple of dress sizes (at least two)

2. Keep walking

3. Try to avoid the foods that my gut doesn't like (sugar, wheat, milk)

4. Drink more water

5. Learn more about Ayurvedic stuff

These are complementary to the monthly ones above - I probably should add the extra ones but don't want to clog up the page too much. I probably won't get too far with number 5 as I will be a little busy over the next three weeks in preparation for our trip to Hawaii. Catch you again soon