The start is near...

Can't believe it is 10 more sleeps to the beginning of 12wbt rd1. The Warm Up period and Pre Season has gone so fast. But I don't think I have ever been so prepared.

Movement
Since taking the first step of signing up for 12wbt, I had never thought going to the gym would become part of my everyday life.
Looking back at the last 4 weeks, I remember:-
Week 1

• I had migraines for most of the week
• I was recovering from a head cold and hocking up the crap in my throat.. but going to the gym actually stopped me from coughing constantly
• I found it difficult to walk more than 5.5km/hr and my shins and calves ached ALL week
• I struggled cycling for 15mins on level 1 at 75rpms
• Sunday weighed in around 93kg

Week 2

• Started cycling on level 2 at around 80rpms however would start to get sharp cramps in my calves
• Started walking at varying inclines however still kept getting sharp sudden cramps in my calves 
• Felt guilty not going to the gym so did my Kick Boxing dvd and an hour of boxing drills with hubby
• Sunday weighed in around 91kg

Week 3

• Doms in my back and side muscles from boxing.. took till Thursday to feel normal again
• Cycling on level 3 around 80-85rpms. No more leg cramps!
• Walking on varying inclines at level 2 5.7km avg
• 1 min bursts of jogging
• Plateaued Friday-Sat- Sun
• Sunday again couldn't shake the guilty feeling of not working out, so did my kick boxing dvd again while Chubbachups watched me (everyone else was still asleep) and boxing with hubby again
• Sunday weighed in 89.9kg (lowest 89.7 this week)

Week 4

• Inner thighs and buns aching from the buns and thigh section of dvd (which I didn't try the week before)
• Cycling on level 4 around 82-95rpms
• Walking up onto 3% incline avging 6.2km/hr
• Stopped the jogging as I seemed to record more calories walking fast and maintaining my heart rate  around 140rpm+ than  spiking up to 160bpm then back down to 130 again.
• As of Friday currently 89.2kg. 7kg LOST! :D

Eating
As for my eating, I haven't felt more fuller, satisfied and all over good about my food choices in a long while.

I've tried to adopt the saying eat like a King for breakfast, Prince for lunch and Pauper for dinner, usually eating my last meal before 6pm. Someone mentioned on one of my forums the other day to drink some water before going to bed helps your metabolism while you sleep. Figured I have a fairly strong bladder for it to not wake me in the middle of the night so have been doing it the last couple of days - don't know whether the weightloss numbers is coincidental though.

Normal day currently consists of

• piece of fruit before the gym
• breakfast bran with blueberries and banana (or variations of what is in Michelle Bridges crunchtime - enjoyed the baked beans and fried egg on occassion!)
• piece of fruit for a snack
• Generally at work it's either mountain bread, whole meal wrap or cruskits with avo/tomato/cucumber, cold cuts and either mayo/cottage cheese/tzatziki
• piece of fruit or yoghurt for a snack
• Dinner is generally something from Michelle Bridges crunchtime cookbook

Eating out I generally go with sumo salad or subway and I actively use my fitness pal to diarise and check everything I eat.

Changes I've noticed

• Clothes are looser
• stretch marks (from my pregnancies) are now very wrinkly, like a crumpled plastic shopping bag. As much as its yuck. It does remind me that the flab beneath it is going!
• I have more energy during the day, however feeling dead tired once the sun goes down!

What's next.
My next hurdle is familiarising myself with other gym equipment. I know the exercises provided to me would be more than just treadmills and bikes so I'm feeling a lil apprehensive - also since I'm at the gym at 5:30am - so no one really to ask. Though worse case scenario is I can choose to do Outdoor/at home options for the exercises I find awkward to do at the gym, so I have flexibility!

Jelly Bean's 3rd birthday is this week. Small family celebration on Thursday (so I have to rely on mom's cooking and being conservative with what I eat) and a bigger bash with friends on Sunday .

A task this week was to organise and diarise - except, I am HOPELESS with hand written diaries - no I am hopeless with all calendars electronic or hard copy. But I am forward planner in general, so I'm thinking maybe sticking to what I am doing now will help as I have covered some important elements such as making the gym part of my life/routine now and I prepare the weeks menu so I know what to shop for. I'm aware when birthdays/events are coming up and I have been handling them well I feel.
I'll see how I go, I guess if I start to struggle I can go get a diary/notebook and start jotting it all down.

This week is measurement time! be interesting to see what my numbers will be! I have measured my waist once... I need to find what it is so hopefully there will be a change from then and this week.

So anyway time to recharge my batteries for a full on Saturday of gym, bringing the kids to swimming lessons and grocery shopping! Night :)