Week Twelve and it's over!

The weekend came and with it my Everest for the 12 week challenge. A gruelling 20K walk from Currumbin to Main Beach which would serve as the last charge before the final weigh in on Monday. It didn't seem like a long distance numerically, but boy does it look like a long way on the map.



Imagine how crazy it would be then to walk the full distance of 30K from Coolangatta! That's what John signed up for along with Steve and Linda for company. Alison, Sheena and myself missed out on the elite blue bibs and reconciled ourselves to ordinary orange. There was also an option for the 10K distance, appropriately accompanied by yellow labels as this was obviously the choice for chickens and wussies - I jest of course.

We could barely make out our destination in the distance from the 20K starting line. There was a brief wave of despair as the enormity of the task sank in before we resigned ourselves to close the gap between us and a promised sausage sizzle, one step at a time.



The walk turned out to be a lot more pleasant and manageable than any of us would have thought. I think at some point around Burleigh, just past the 10K mark perhaps, my left calf started to feel pretty sore and tight from the strain. To stretch the muscle out I took to jogging in brief spurts which was unintuitively remedial. So much so that I bade my darling wife and mother-in-law goodbye and ran the last 5K to the finish, earning me the splendid honour of being the first to complete amongst the 20K participants. Being a glutton for punishment and wracked with the guilt of abandoning my walking partners, I handed my bib in and ran back to rejoin Alsie and Sheena for the last bit of their walk. As a result I think I would have travelled over 26K all up and I'm certainly paying for it dearly with sore legs. At least we got across the line in good spirits if somewhat battered by the ordeal. A total time of 3 hours and 50 minutes.



What's amazing is that John kept up a remarkable pace, passing us early on to complete his 30K in about 3 hours and 15 minutes. A stunning achievement really.

So surely this must have had some effect on my final results for the challenge. My initial goal was to lose 10KG in the twelve weeks and I still had quite a bit to make up the last time I stepped on the scales a fortnight ago. I'm terribly pleased to announce that the numbers I received on Monday didn't disappoint.



In the strictest sense I didn't achieve my target weight lost, but I'd say that 200 grams isn't worth fretting over. My other measurements that evening turned out to be pretty favourable too. Particularly chuffed about an 11cm reduction around my belly which I'm definitely seeing with my clothes.



So it's all over, I just need to put my final measurements into the system and hope for the best with the competition. Of course I already feel like a winner and fully intend to continue with the exercise. My discipline with eating may change a little though as I rediscover my love for all things chewable. I just so happened to have some left over lasagne from Sheena, that I rudely refused the night before the weigh in, and gladly demolished for lunch after stepping off the scales. Ah carbohydrates, how I've missed thee.



Oh... about those before and after photos, I'd say the improvement is startling and something to be proud of, but I'd feel like a right twit if I posted them online. Probably best given the longevity of internet documents.

Urgh, what a week

Well that was quite an interesting week. Things started with a bang on Saturday when I went to the shooting range with some of the guys from work. I'd never fired a gun before so this was certainly going to be a new experience. Everyone else seemed to know what they were doing and I was beginning to feel a little uncoordinated.



I found it pretty hard to actually get any feedback for where my shots were landing (perhaps because they didn't actually hit the target?) so I wasn't sure how to improve. The novelty of shooting a gun beyond the 22 calibre - which had the kick of a pea shooter - was pretty sweet at first but sharp recoil can only keep one amused for so long. In hindsight I probably should have worn longer socks too...



There were a couple of shotguns around so we got a chance to do some clay pigeon shooting too. I fired off two shots and managed to score a lucky hit on my second round. I'm quite happy to retire with a 50% success rate. Not a bad day to spend with mates but I think I'll stick to the driving range personally.

The week pretty much went downhill from there. I was supposed to have a new team member start on Monday which involved a bucket load of work to prepare for. Imagine my disappointment when I got an email at 8:00 saying that she had decided to take another job elsewhere - yes folks she did it by email. Needless to say this has put my whole plan for resourcing into a tailspin which we're still reeling from, not to mention slamming our recruitment efforts back to square one and wasting two weeks of lost interviewing time. Not that I'm bitter or anything.

Felt so rotten about this on Monday evening that I decided to forgo the weekly weigh in. Worse yet, we went out for pizza at Dominos which was probably not the best idea in the last week of the 12 week challenge. At least they were the healthy options on the menu.

Things are looking up though. Alison and I will be doing a walk with the family for the heart foundation this weekend, which should give me a final boost before the weigh in on Monday. My iPad should also be getting delivered in about a week and I've already started downloading apps in preparation. Just after that we'll be heading to Spicers Peak Lodge for a night of indulgence to celebrate three years of happy matrimony. Always helps when there are nice things to look forward to.

Week Ten, Two To Go

I've been doing lots of running. Lots and lots of running, certainly by my standards. I've finally gotten fit enough to do the city loop comfortably (around a 6.25KM round trip) during my lunch break. Took me about 40 minutes today so that's an average 6:40 pace (about 9km/h). I'd like to be able to get that down to a 6:00 pace eventually.

Starting to really enjoy jogging around again, though this does mean that I've had less time in the gym to do weights. I think I've actually lost some muscle tone as a result, but at least I'm closer to my target weight.



Two more kilos to lose to get to my goal and two weeks to do it in. Should still be possible if I focus and keep up the cardio. It's also all in prep for the 20K that we'll be walking on the 23rd.

As an aside, I woke up early this morning and placed my order for a 64gig WIFI iPad, along with a camera connection kit and an iPad dock. Apple should hopefully ship it out to the office in time for the launch day on the 28th of May. I just hope that they don't have a problem with shipping as I'd be rather disappointed without an iPad for the weekend. Now I'm also looking around for new bags, this Tom Bihn one looks pretty good.

Landscaping and Week 9

Ah, another long weekend. I could really get used to this whole four day work week arrangement. We used our extended break for labour day to lurch back into the some work in the garden, once more with John and Sheena's help of course. There's not too much left to do aside from the eastern side of the house, not somewhere we usually spend much time but it's such an eyesore that we can't wait to tidy things up.



The dirt around the Hill's Hoist would need some attention too, as well as the run off from the gravel pit overflow.



A little bit of bedding sand and some 400mm tiles would give us stepping stones a path around the side of the house.



Then it's just a matter of piling on more hoop pine to cover up all those unsightly weeds and unused concrete drains. I love mulch, it hides everything.



Lots more mulch, a few more tiles to extend the existing platform, some more cement and a heck of a lot of river rocks later. Now the back of the house is pretty much complete. Though now that I look at it I think a few plants in the corner wouldn't go amiss, perhaps an agave or two.



Now the last section is under the balcony where the rubbish bins live. That'll need a bit more thinking with drainage, retaining walls and lots of paving to consider so we're happy to leave that for another day.

It's been a while since I've carted around the wheelbarrow so we were feeling pretty sore the next day. Seems like all that hard work (abstaining from drinking coke zero all day too) didn't make much difference on the scales. Guess I've hit another plateau and will have to take the exercise regime up a notch.



Only three weeks left and I'm beginning to tire of this whole process. Happy with the weight loss and enjoying the exercise, but the weekly weigh-ins are getting a little old. Look forward to finishing up so that I can down shift to something more sustainable.

Week Eight, Cardio

Woohoo! Finally a week of decent results. Today was the ANZAC day public holiday so I got to have a sleep in (till 6:30) and whipped out the scales and measured before breakfast. As a result the numbers may be a little artificial but I'm chuffed regardless.



A few odd ones there, particularly the increase in hips. Overall I think the rest of my numbers have been favourable. It's been almost a full week of running on the treadmill, jogging around Brisbane or a super walk while in Toowoomba so I was hoping to burn a few kilos off. Also need to buff up my stamina for a 20K walk that Alison and I will be doing with the family at the end of May. Should be good fun.

Week Seven, the Comeback

First day back at work today. Made it through with a surprising amount of energy and wasn't that hungry, which is unusual after an extended holiday. Rocked on down to the gym at 1 in the afternoon and didn't expect to be able to do much. Only mustered up about 20 minutes on the treadmill and a pitiful stint with the skip rope. Imagine my surprise then when I hopped on the scales and measured up for the week.



This is the lightest I've been since starting the challenge! Still a little thick around the middle but I think four weeks of solid running will help shed the inches. My theory is that the scales in Malaysia were a biased towards the heavier side. Also might be retaining less water with the cooler weather perhaps?

Can't argue with good results either way. Now I need to tempt my taste buds with the Masterchef premier.

Week Six and the Floodgates of Food

The camel's back has been broken. I'm not even trying to pretend to follow a diet for the remaining days we have in Malaysia, as is clearly evident by the influx of food.

On Sunday we drove back to Subang to catch the last pasar malam (night market) of our trip, and everyone knows that a trip to the night market will no doubt involve food... lots of food. We took our time walking amongst the veg and fish stalls, stopping only to pick up two more bags of kueh, eat a bowl of Fa Sang Wu (a creamy peanut soup), two sticks of Lok Lok (sticks of meat and seafood cooked in a hotpot at the back of a truck) and a piece of Apam Balik (a thin, crispy, cream corn and peanut pancake, folded over like a calzone). I loved Apam Balik as a kid so I think I showed great restraint by stopping at just one piece.


The next day we were at Megamall again for more shopping and spotted these cute dessert buns on the menu at lunch. Alsie just had to order them. They're filled with red bean paste and were actually quite tasty. I would have thought that pork buns would be more appropriate...



Not satisfied with the mountains of kueh we've already consumed, mum picked up a tin on kek lapis (spekkoek) which is a dutch-indonesian baked layered cake. Another morsel that I'd stuff my face with as a kid, as you can imagine I was/am a very fat kid. This was a very good batch, so smooth and buttery and I definitely experienced that "just one more slice" feeling. My love handles were quivering with pleasure.



One last nostalgic dish, waffles with ice-cream from A&W. Not exactly fine cuisine but it's a staple for our trips to Malaysia. It's also proof of my fall from grace. Alison and I went to a A&W at the start of our trip and I comfortably abstained from waffles back then. Now here I am with a double scoop of ice-cream. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.



So what's the damage after all this self destructive behaviour?



Not brilliant, I've basically knocked my progress back by three weeks. I picked up a new pair of running shoes and a Nike+ sensor on this trip so I can see lots of cardio in my near future to help burn off all this fat before the end of the challenge. Still, it was worth it I think.

This will likely be the last post from Malaysia as we're flying back tomorrow. It's been a great two and a half weeks and we wish we could stay longer, but it's probably a good thing for the pocket and waistline that we're forced to return to work. Lots to look forward to still with an upcoming Australian iPad launch and a Christmas visit from Mum and Uncle Wing. That'll certainly help me deal with the rising swells of homesickness that I'm already beginning to feel.

Week Five and Growing

*sigh*

Not that surprising, but the numbers have not been kind to me this week.



Here are my excuses for the shoddy results:

• It was a hot day of shopping and I was feeling quite bloated
• I weighed myself in the afternoon after a heavy-ish lunch, when I normally check my weight in the morning
• Alison was not available (occupied with the massage bed) so I had to run the tape measure myself
• Er... I've been doing lots of pushups... therefore building muscle... which weighs more than fat
• Ahem... I've been eating far too much food...

Just bought a heap of new clothes which I hope will still fit by the time we get back to Brisbane.

Week Four, Before the Food Hits

I have a feeling that this is going to be the start of a rapid physical regression. It's been three days of good food and I don't think my body has had time to respond just yet, but I'm sure the waistline is planning to advance pretty soon.



Weight is holding steady, but this is with a different set of scales so there might have been some undetected change there. The rest of the measurements are pretty favourable I'd say. Particularly chuffed about the decrease in the midsection. All those sit-ups must finally be paying off.

Gave my planned exercise routine a miss this morning, but I'm blaming that on a lack of available gym wear. Will try to make up for it tomorrow before complacency settles in.

Touch Down

The holiday begins! We trundled down the hill to the train station, bags full of electronics and light clothing in tow, to catch the train to the airport at about ten in the morning. I must confess that I took some pleasure in counting the number of people in our carriage that appeared to be heading to work... sucks to be them.

On getting to the airport Alison prepped her latest aviatory conditioning measures, critical on this flight as she's been fighting a bout of the sniffles. This involved a cocktail of pseudoephedrine, nasal spray decongestant, a large packet of tissues and two rubberised plugs charmingly labelled Earplanes. We were told they would help equalise the cabin pressure and reduce headaches during descent.



Our plane wasn't especially big and we were right at the back on account of a large batch of returning school children, but the flight itself was fairly pleasant. I loaded up my old iPod with a heap of podcasts to keep me entertained as I'm not usually fond of inflight entertainment. As an aside, I've recently been introduced to a podcast for short fiction called the Drabblecast which is great to listen to. Fantastic production values and very well read I think.



Earplanes actually turned out to be a success and Alsie wasn't quite up to her usual level of post-flight grouchiness. We touched down in Changi Airport at about 7:30, and after a reasonable cab ride we arrived at James and Dora's Singaporean abode. A lovely place, though we're a little intimidated by their taste in gargantuan furniture.



We weren't feeling especially hungry after the flight, but somehow managed to pop out to the stores to get a late evening snack anyway. I couldn't resist the call of some authentic takoyaki, though I did give a cursory nod to my diet by only ordering three balls rather than my usual six.



To work of some of that guilt I tried to do a little body weight exercise this morning in the study. Might even drag myself down to the pool later on for a swim perhaps. Holiday food is coming and it'll be a task to remain vigilant.

Week Three and Feeling Wonderful

Woohoo! Finally a bit more movement on the scales. I guess all that food from yesterday hasn't had a chance to pile on just yet. When I started the program I wrote down a goal to lose at least 10 kilos in twelve weeks. So far I've managed 3.7 in three weeks. Not too shabby!



Chest keeps getting smaller which suggests that my man-boobs are being reduced. My belly button has also finally moved under the centenary mark which is fab. Just so you know, I've been trying to keep things consistent by distending my belly as much as possible at each weekly measure.

Aside from the numbers I'm also feeling a lot brighter and energetic. Consuming less food as well and trying to pay attention to what I'm eating (and how much) rather than mindlessly wolfing it down. Who would have thought that eating healthily would be good for you.

Of course this is likely to turn a little sour come Friday when we take off for Singapore and Malaysia. I'll be packing my skip rope along with a print out of workouts without weights so I'll be fighting the flab off as hard as I can. Bring on the hawker food!

Victorian Visitors

Tim and Christine were up this weekend from Melbourne for some psychiatry conference so we had a chance to catch up and show them around our little town of Brisbane. Armed with inside information of their recent efforts to find a reasonably priced unit to call home, a challenge in today's real estate climate in Victoria, we were focussed on convincing them to relocate up to Sunny Queensland with the promise cheaper listings and awesome company (that would be us). To kick things off we met up at the Belgian Beer Cafe for two kilo pots of mussels and beer battered chips. The mussels were supreme, but as I'm trying to be good I avoided the deep fried potato goodness, which was no easy task I assure you. Being self confessed seafood lovers, I think the guests were sufficiently impressed.

We picked the two of them up on Sunday to take them back to our place for morning tea and the obligatory tour of the house. All my self control must have been used up from the day before, as I couldn't resist a wagon wheel with my cuppa. That was the thin end of the wedge for what would become a pretty piggy day.

Bolstered by the reception of our previous culinary recommendation, we kept the theme consistent and booked a table at Cam Ranh for lunch. We've always been impressed by the seafood there, particularly the chilli crabs, so we ordered up a veritable feast of kangkung belachan, Cam Ranh tofu (a scallop and prawn infused slab of melt-in-your-mouth silken goodness), pipis in XO sauce and of course, two kilos of gorgeous chilli mud crab.



It took a while to finish all that, and my mild crustacean allergy resulted in slightly flared lips by the end of it, but I've got to say that we were very satisfied with the food. Got to love living near Darra.

After a long lunch we didn't have much time before taking Tim and Christine to the airport, so we opted for a quick visit to Cleveland to see the bay and hunt for a palette cleansing cup of gelati. Then we delivered them to the airport via the a scenic drive over the Gateway bridge and said our goodbyes. If we did our job right they'll be Brisbanites by the end of the year.

Driving back we decided to check out the new Clem7 tunnel which is still toll free for the next week. The lanes were pretty congested with other curious commuters but that meant we had more time to admire the current longest underground tunnel in Australia.



Not the best weekend for my diet. Hopefully it won't affect the weigh in and measure tomorrow too badly. Especially with only have four more gym days before our flight back to Malaysia. Yay for holidays!

Week Two

Second real week of tracking my progress and it's another case of ups and downs. The weight loss seems to be plodding along slowly but I'm hoping that's purely due to the "muscle" I'm gaining. The rest of the measurements seem to be trending in the right direction at least, and I think I see a difference in the mirror. Clothes are starting to feel a little looser and more comfortable which is always a good sign.



Hit the gym three times last week and I'm going to try to at least match that again this week. What I really need to be doing of course is more cardio to burn off the fat, so I'll have to schedule in at least two decent runs this week as well.

Might be a little hard to manage as I've also gone and bought Final Fantasy XIII for the PS3 which is bound to be a distraction from the fitness routine. Must stay strong though... only two weeks before flying back to Malaysia.

Week One Weigh In

First results are in and I think it's a mixed bag, which I'm a bit bummed by. I would have hoped to get better results after being "good" but I guess this should just spur me on to do better next week.



The weight lost is nice but I seem to have put on girth in some pretty odd spots. My neck? How is my middle abdomen increasing so much when my belly button went down? Not that I have a directed work out regime as yet, but I think I already have to start adding more cardio to my schedule. Went for one run on Sunday which obviously didn't cut mustard.

This week I'll be trying to hit the gym a few times at work. Already went today so at least that should get the ball rolling. Here's hoping for better results next week.

Detox, Delays and Darn Big TVs

Well there goes one working week of trying to be healthy and it's been pretty good so far. Feeling like I have more energy in the mornings and generally more upbeat, which is saying a lot because work wise the past five days have been absolute $H!T. As a condolence, I was cheered up that my peers nominated me for an award at the Buzz Night on Thursday so there's a silver lining in my rumbling storm cloud of work issues.

I've managed to avoid eating anything fried and abstained from the booze for five days, but the next two will be a real challenge. Alison and I have decided to go on a 48 hour detox, which involves drinking the contents of these two boxes as our only means of sustenance (yikes!). I have actually been on a liquid diet before but at least I allowed myself to have glasses of milk to keep the hunger pangs away. These Goji berries had better pack some staying power.



This morning I woke up to receive some rather disappointing news when I checked my daily feeds. It seems that Apple have finally made an announcement regarding the availability of the iPad, which unfortunately spells out that they won't be released outside the States before late April. Not great news given my plans to pick one up on our trip back to Malaysia. The plus side is that when they do get released in Australia they'll be coming out with the 3G version at the same time, so I can at least resist the urge to pick up the first WIFI one I find before checking out what the carriers plan on doing (not that I have high hopes for Australian telcos). I guess this also means that I'll be able to read a few reviews before dropping cash on the counter so I'll know if it's a huge bomb.

Perhaps to console myself after reading the bad news, we somehow got into a TV buying mood. John's recent upgrade meant that Alison's parents had a bigger TV than we did, an intolerable travesty I'm sure you'd agree. We hadn't planned on getting one this soon, but on an unrelated trip to JB Hifi to pick up "This is it" on Bluray (we enjoyed the movie and love extra features), the call of the Sales tag was too much to resist.

In saying that I think we exercised some restraint here and only matched the parents in panel size (46" if you must know). We ended up getting the Samsung L46B650 for a decent price, and even convinced the sales guy to chuck in the Bluray disc and a wireless dongle for free. For a moment we were considering spending the same amount for a larger albeit inferior panel (a Hisense) but deferred to the wisdom of crowds after reading some opinions on forums.



Really happy with our choice from what I've seen so far. The contrast ratio is amazing compared to our old Hitachi and I'm still getting over how smooth the video is at 100Hz. We were watching an episode of Bones on the Apple TV and I thought the picture was bordering on freaky, which is pretty good considering the source media is just a compressed TV Rip. Must have some pretty good upscaling. The extra HDMI ports also mean that I can finally move the Wii off composite input.

As for the old TV, that's going to be heading to the new office/store room. I have plans on using it as a gaming TV (so that I don't bother Alison when I get in a PS3/Xbox mood) and perhaps even as a monitor for the MacBook. I'll need to pick up a Mini-DVI to HDMI converter as the Hitachi doesn't support VGA input but the cables seem pretty cheap these days.

A Twelve Week Challenge

It's no secret that I'm particularly fond of my food. As a result I've fought a helpless battle to control my weight most of my life, which results in a lot of yo-yo dieting. The latest upswing in fitness has now come out of a need to counteract the upcoming binge-fest that will take place on our trip back to Malaysia, which happily coincides with an opportunity at work to do something about my expanding belly.

Flight Centre, well Healthwise specifically, are holding their annual 12 Week Challenge which has officially started today. It's a bit of a poor man's Biggest Loser, where we submit our measurements and photos before and after the period for a panel to judge who made the most progress. There's also supposed to be a written component but we all know that's a wank really. It's all going to be down to hard numbers... and hard abs... grrr.

There are a heap of travel related prizes to be won, but I'm sure the real goal is to get people to take better care of themselves. Of course, if I were the cynical sort then I'd say the main goal would be to drum up more gullible people to sign on for personal training sessions... oh wait, I am the cynical sort.

Because working as a team is so much more fun, I'll be entering with a group of four including ChrisP (my boss), so there's some motivation to get results. Just because I'm a masochist at heart, I'm also upping the ante by publishing my weekly progress here for public scrutiny. Hopefully the threat of embarrassing ridicule will be enough to keep me away from the naughty food. So without further ado, here's Week 1.



I have a feeling that Weeks 5 through to 7 will be particularly challenging as we'll be back in the land of cheap and tasty food by then. Expect to see a little bump there.

Alison helped me take my "before" photo and we both agree that it turned out to be sufficiently disgusting. I think I'll assess my actual progress by the end of the program before putting the shots up for comparison. It's also particularly... fleshy... so I'll have to think long and hard before subjecting the Internet to that.

Day 1 and so far I've survived without eating anything I shouldn't have. Came home in the rain and managed to muster up the energy to do half an hour of Zumba in front of the TV with Alison. Now I feel fat and I have no rhythm...