the nitty gritty

Before it's too late I thought I'd better specify the details of my diet/exercise and more importantly, the science behind it. I'm basing my plan on my BMR (basal metabolic rate) which is the number of calories you burn while at rest (in other words, how much energy your body takes to run). To work this out you, use a BMR calculator which can be found online. I'm using Michelle Bridge's calculator which can be found at www.michellebridges.com.au as well as her calorie expenditure chart to see how many calories you burn during different kinds of activity.


According to the calculator, my BMR is 1400 which means I burn 1400 calories a day at rest. To that I added the activities I take part in every day (on average) - performing in a show: 400cal, 60mins at the gym: 500cal, 60mins power walking: 300cal, 8hrs incidental exercise: 1500cal, 10hrs sleep/rest: 600cal and the total is 3300cal or 23100cal burnt per week.


I have set myself a 1400cal diet plan (which leaves room for movement if I happen to have a bad day) which means I'll be consuming 9800cal per week and in turn means a calorie deficit of 13300cal per week. There are 7000cal in one kilo of fat so on my plan, I should lose approximately 2kg per week (on average - this is not an exact science as I cannot know EXACTLY how many calories I'm burning/consuming at any given time).


After two weeks on the 1400cal plan, I will assess my progress and adjust if necessary. As I said earlier - knowledge is power. You can't expect to lose weight steadily if you don't track what you're putting in your mouth and what you're burning. Use Michelle Bridge's website to learn more about your BMR & calories burnt during exercise and buy yourself a calorie counter book (www.calorieking.com.au) so you know exactly what you're putting in your mouth! Start learning and planning and you WILL see results. It's simple mathematics!

and so it begins

I can happily say that today was NOT a false start. I got up at 8am, headed to the gym before the first show (which was nowhere near as painful as I'd imagined), did the matinee (which felt quicker & easier than usual), went back to the gym, home to cook a healthy meal & am chilling right now before the second show.

Gym workout involved 30 mins on the cross trainer, a core circuit and legs/triceps/back (split between the two sessions). Diet is as follows: Kiwi fruit & OJ for breakfast, ham/lettuce/fat free mayo sandwich on grainy bread for lunch, protein bar mid-show, small bowl vege fried rice & paddlepop for dinner.

To help kick-start my program, I've decided to do a 5 day detox which will hopefully leave me feeling healthier and also speed up the weight loss. Due to the stomach problems I'm prone to, yet not being able to afford all the testing, I figure this is a cheap way to attempt get myself feeling better until I can get to a doctor. Please note that the detox involves a supplement which is taken along with a healthy diet - not some crazy juice cleanse which involves starving for a week! Go to www.skinnymini.com.au for more information. I will closely track my progress.

As far as my measurements go, these are them as of last night (and weight as of this morning):

Bust: 89cm

Waist: 57cm

Navel: 75cm

Hips: 94cm

Thighs: 56cm

Calves: 35cm

Arms: 27.5cm

Weight: 58.8kg

I also decided to take photos tomorrow (day 1 of detox) and on the 5th day of the detox to accurately track how successful it is. Stay tuned!

the wake up call

I have a confession to make. I thought I was ready for this & wanted it bad enough to tough it out... But yesterday I realised that wasn't true. I have talked about wanting to reach my goals for a long time, but I didn't want it enough.


Last week was actually the first reality check I received... I found out the show I'm in (and my only source of income) is going to end in 6 weeks. I haven't been out of full time work in 2.5yrs and that thought is a scary one. What in the world am I going to do once this finishes? Am I ready to be thrown back into the audition scene or have I become too complacent in my current position?


The big shock was yesterday when I met with a potential agent who basically spent half an hour telling me how inexperienced and unprepared I am to achieve the goals I'm setting for myself. I had a choice to make... Take what she said to heart, have a big cry and give up - or get angry and prove her wrong. Thankfully I chose the latter.


Right now there is a fire lit in my belly and all I see is the goals I want to achieve and NOTHING is going to stop me from achieving them. I have 6 weeks left of work, income & stability and I am NOT going to waste them. Michelle Bridges says in her "Losing The Last 5 Kilos" book that you have to want it bad. Cuz it's going to be hard and it will involve a lot of sacrifices. She also says there's no such thing as "motivation". It's never there on a cold dark morning when you need to roll out of bed and get to the gym. All there is is consistency. You get up and just do it. Or as she likes to say "J.F.D.I" (you figure it out).


And so, my friends, that is what I will do. If I want to walk the walk, I need to stop talking about it and JFDI. I have taken updated measurements & photos as there were a few false starts since they were last done... I will post them tomorrow and also specify what kind of calorie intake & exercise will be required for some serious results. Ideally 1kg a week, but hoping I can kick start it with a bit more in the first 10 days as there's an audition coming up that requires a leotard. Enough said.


Time to hit the hay and achieve my first goal of getting enough rest to allow me to get to the gym at least once tomorrow as well as performing in 2 shows. Until next time...

fructose

So I didn't document my food or exercise last week due to craziness (aka insane levels of stress) at work & home. No excuses this week though, I will document it all regardless of outside factors. I won't lie... There was a lot of room for improvement last week. I didn't go all the way with emotional eating, but there wasn't much order to my diet & lots of unnecessary calories consumed.


This week I'll be doing some research on sugar (or more specifically fructose). I've been wondering for awhile now if I have a fructose intolerance (due to inconsistent stomach problems over the past 5 or so years) so I'll be getting tested for that & some other common intolerances soon and in the meantime looking at how I can tweak my diet to eliminate unnecessary things like fructose. *Crash course - glucose is what we need to power our bodies & brains however fructose is ONLY used to be turned straight into fat and is what leads to diabetes, heart disease, obesity and more. If you're interested in being tested for intolerances due to having inexplicable stomach problems, go to www.gastrolab.com.au for more information.

the starting point

First set of measurements and photos. Taken 11.30pm Friday 12^th August (& will be taken fortnightly from this date).

Chest: 89cm (35”)

Waist (narrowest): 68.5cm (27”)

Waist (navel): 77cm (30.5”)

Hips: 95cm (37.5”)

Upper thigh: 58cm (23”)

Lower thigh: 46cm (18”)

Calf: 35.5cm (14”)

Upper arm: 29.5cm (11.5”)

WEIGHT: 59.5kg Taken 1pm Friday 19th August (& will be taken weekly from this date).

some solutions

1. “Day one” no longer exists and never will again! At the time of writing this draft, it’s 1am on Friday 12^th August and there is nothing special about today, but I have officially begun my new life. This time I accept that there will be good days and bad days, but having a bad one does NOT mean I have to start back at square one. I will brush myself off and move on, learning from the experience rather than wasting time with self-loathing.

I give myself permission to make mistakes and will not punish myself for them.

2. A tricky one as mirrors are apart of every day life. A simple short-term solution is to wear baggier clothing to the gym while I’m feeling particularly insecure. Long term, I need to train myself to look for the positive and not dwell on the long list of complaints I have about my body when I see myself in a mirror... particularly since most of the thing I don’t like about my body are due to my own lack of discipline and are fully preventable! Don’t like what you see? Get back to work, don’t dwell!

3. I will find suitable replacements for celebration and mourning. Having a bad day? Read a book or magazine, turn on some angry (or uplifting) music, go for a 10 minute run, have a bubble bath… the possibilities are endless! Celebrating? Reward yourself with anything that isn’t edible… a DVD or CD, some new underwear or makeup. Even better, just call someone to chat and pay the good mood forward!

4. Food is no longer the enemy and I will not ban anything from my diet. Instead, the rule will be that I am not to eat when I’m feeling particularly emotional. Food is fuel, and I should only be eating when I’m hungry. If I DO want something yummy, I will plan ahead for it and not have impromptu binge sessions, followed by the guilt and self-loathing, which generally lead to MORE eating. I will make thoughtful and conscious decisions when choosing what and when to eat.

some theories

1. I have some O.C.D. tendencies, which includes perfectionism and the need for everything to be tied up in a neat little bow. “Day one” always needs to be a Monday or even better, the first day of the month. Problem: failing by Tuesday means I have an entire week to binge eat due to the depression about failure (and therefore not being perfect) until the next day one.

2. My self-esteem gets flushed down the toilet every time I look in a mirror. Problem: my house, gym and workplace are FULL of them. Feeling too fat to go to the gym may sound ridiculous and ironic, but why should I have to stare at all the bulges while I’m trying to get rid of them?!

3. I use food both to celebrate and to mourn… as both a punishment and a reward for anything that may or may not happen in my life. Problem: due to being a highly emotional person (as well as very self-critical), there are lot of ups and downs and that leads to eating a lot more food than my body requires.

4. The second I ban any food from my diet, it’s ALL I CAN THINK ABOUT. Combine this with the emotional eating and the problem is self-explanatory.

the gist of it

My name is Katherine and I am someone who has always been able to help others achieve health & fitness goals, but never seem to follow my own advice. The purpose of this blog is to break a never-ending cycle of failure.

First up I’m going to take a look at the roadblocks I’ve faced in the past. Things I believe are standing between me and my goal. I will also try to find some solutions to said problems and attempt to put them into practice. I promise to be brutally honest about how I feel and what I am doing to get results. I will post anything I learn that might help, document my food intake, any exercise I do (other than incidental stuff) and regularly post photos and measurements to track my progress.

While this journey I’m about to endeavor on is about achieving physical goals, it’s not just about reaching a certain size or weight – it’s about being comfortable in my own skin and in turn changing my life for good, inside and out. I hope that this blog will also provide inspiration and support for anyone on a similar journey of their own… so please feel free to contribute feedback as I would love this to become a support network rather than me just rambling on into thin air!