I am in love

I am in love. With a pair of boots. While I was linking the websites in my Cheap, pretty and plus size. Where? Part 1 post the other day I saw that City Chic were now selling wide calf boots. Any girl knows that knee high boots are the hardest things to buy if you have big calves. I do have a pair of great black knee high boots I got from Bennetts Boots a couple of years ago but they are too tight to tuck my jeans into. City Chic have these gorgeous tan knee high boots with buckles at the back. I LOVE buckles! I went in today and bought a pair (and some skinny jeans to go with them). Only problem is that they are actually going to be a birthday present for me next week so I have to wait until then to wear them. Sigh. I will probably demand them back before then so I can wear them this weekend.

Due to the boot shopping this evening I didn't walk but I'm ok with that. I hope to get in a quick walk tomorrow but I have dinner plans so I'm not sure how timing will work out.

I did ok food wise today. A tub of low fat yogurt, a box of dried apple & sultanas, a tiny bit of left over pasta bake, a bowl of home made chicken and corn soup, a small can of diet coke, 2 small chocolate Easter eggs, home made shepherds pie with steamed sweet potato and some cauliflower with white sauce, a can of Pepsi max and 1L water.

Obviously I could have done without the white sauce and chocolate but otherwise not bad.

Its a long weekend in Melbourne this weekend and in true Melbournian style I am celebrating it by going out everyday to something food related. The fact that its the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival this month means there is heaps of great food experiences on offer. Hopefully I don't gain too much!

~Missy

Over confidence

Buoyed but my walk yesterday and the knowledge that I had eaten a Baby Ruth bar, I got over confident. I decided to complete my walk in reverse. Now the thing you need to know is that I finished my walk yesterday by walking down the BIG hill just near my house. We have plenty of hills but this is the biggest. Its 200m long and STEEP! So today I set out UP this hill! I was doing fine for about half of the hill and then slowed considerably as my calves screamed, my side burned and I gasped for air. Then I got overtaken by a guy and his dog who were strolling up the hill. Strolling! That certainly put me in my place as the least fit person in the world. I never did quite recover from the Hill of Doom (my new name for it, catchy isn't it?) so I cut my walk short. I walked 2km and it took me 25 minutes. The Hill of Doom will have to wait until I am fitter me thinks.

I have yet to figure out if I had an absolutely terrible day health wise today or not. I'm going to side with terrible in the hopes that the guilt will motivate me to goodness tomorrow. I had: a 600ml chocolate Big M, a low fat yogurt, a pear, a Nandos pita, a half of a serving of Nandos peri peri chips, a piece of corn, a small bottle of coke zero, a Baby Ruth bar, a stick of extra sharp tasty cheese, a can of Pepsi max, and a serving of creamy tomato and mozzarella pasta bake (home made) which included pasta, beef mince, onion, garlic, carrot, cauliflower, green beans, peas, corn, brown lentils, mushrooms, baby spinach, parsley, the sauce and cheese on top. I have decided not to count any of my water today because I had less than 600ml, so bad!

A friend and I from work went to Nandos for lunch today (we were out safety clothes and American food shopping). We both really wanted the chips but knew we should have the corn so we compromised and had half serves of each which I think was a good balance. Although I did really like the corn so I am going to stick with that next time.

American food is somewhat of a novelty here and I (and everyone else) go a little crazy when we go to one of the import shops. Expect to see some bad stuff come up in my food list soon because of this trip. You really cannot find anything healthy in those shops! This time I came back with Baby Ruth bars, Heath bars, marshmallows (my American friend says I CANNOT make smores with Aussie marshmallows and I already had the biscuits. I draw the line at using American chocolate though, yuck!), Hershey's caramel syrup and some caramel dipping sauce. I'm sensing a caramel theme here... I also have some Fritos scoops from my last visit and I am planning on getting some salsa to enjoy them with this weekend.

One thing I have done today that I am actually proud of is making a budget like a real grown up person! I needed to get realistic about my spending and figure out how much I can save and how long it will take to accumulate a house deposit. I did a nifty spreadsheet of all of my monthly finances and figured out how much of my pay I can put into a savings account each month. From this savings account I will withdraw the yearly/quarterly bills and I deducted these from my planned total savings for the year ahead. I was honestly surprised by how much I can save if I stick to a budget. To help me stick to the budget I gave myself a weekly allowance. I have tried to do this in the past and never been able to remember what I spent so I always blew it. That's where you bow down to the greatness that is the iPhone. They have an app to track you spending! (well they have lots of them but I didn't know before now). I know all of the rest of the money budgeted is correct so I am only tracking my allowance. I entered in my allowance for every month this year and then I will add in my spending as I do it so I don't forget. This way I will also know if I have spent under my allowance, which means saved money for splurges when I can afford it. The app is pretty great; you can allocate your spending to a type e.g. food, entertainment, clothes; and then they have pie charts so you can see what types of things you are spending your money on. I love a good pie chart. The app is iSpending if you're interested. It was free.

So even though I didn't have a great food day, I made progress in other areas of my life. A step forward each day is all you can ask for really.

~Missy

Come on baby, let's start a walking

I got back into walking today! I was determined. And then the funniest thing happened. I decided that since I wasn't planning on running today that I would use my tried and true Run Keeper app. I selected my current play list and started out. What was the first song? Elvis' 'A Little Less Conversation' (A Little More Action) and if the title of the song wasn't enough, there was a lyric that went something like 'Come on baby, let's start a walking'! Next song? The whole first verse made references to walking. The third song? Called 'It's Nice to be Alive'. So I ended up walking down the street with a silly grin on my face. I think the big guy has a sense of humour. I almost wanted to yell "Okay, okay, I get the hint!".

So after that I ended up going on an extended walk - 3.5km! It took about 40mins and included plenty of hills. I'm really glad I did it and I'm thinking I might keep this as my regular route and monitor my improvements in speed.

What did I eat today? A large glass of (weak) milo in low fat milk, a low fat yogurt, a cup of tea with LF milk and a sugar, two steamed buns - a combination & a BBQ pork, a small can of diet coke, 2 small solid chocolate Easter eggs, 1.5L water, a can of Pepsi max, a serving of roasted rolled chicken with almond stuffing (yum!), two small roast potatoes, a piece of roast parsnip and sweet potato, a serving of peas and three squares of Cadbury bubbly chocolate. Its a so-so day really health wise.

I am starting to prepare myself mentally for the  next week and a half. I have a whole bunch of things booked and all involve food in rather large quantities. I am pretty accepting that I'm likely to gain over this time so I want to keep up the walking and try and cut back the chocolate to minimise the setback!

Time for bed, I'm knackered!

~Missy

Cheap, pretty and plus size. Where? Part 1

I thought I would share with you some of the places I buy clothes. I think quite a few plus sized young ladies out there find it difficult to find nice clothes. I have only recently started to get quite picky about my clothes, there is a difference between it fitting and it actually looking nice.

In Melbourne (may also be in other Aussie locations):

Myer - if you are looking for very nice plus sized clothes, particularly for workwear then Myer should be your first stop. The three brands I like the most are Basque Woman, Piper Woman and Estelle. They also have other good brands like Mink. They are on the pricier side but always good quality and you should only buy what you really love.

Target - I know this is a bit surprising but I love shopping at Target. I fit into most of their size 18 stuff so I dont need to move to their plus sized brand Moda (which is often too casual and to 'big' clothes for me). I buy a lot of my work clothes there.

Rivers - Rivers outlet stores tend to be completely haphazard and its difficult to find things but most of the time its worth it. I buy most of my jeans there (last two pairs were $8 each!) and I occasionally hit the casual top jackpot. They are also good for work shirts that are a little on the casual side.

Jeanswest - I love their stuff. I buy stacks of my casual tops there and have just about every cardigan they have ever sold. Definitely try stuff on and be picky if its tight on you! (they go up to XXL in about half the range and a small 20 in jeans)

Suzanne Grae - This one surprises even me. I only discovered the other day that they go up to a size 18 and actually have some cute stuff hidden in between the older lady clothing. Its worth the occasional visit.

Rosanna - This shop is good for more formal dresses. I have bought quite a few dresses to wear to weddings here. Usually less than $150 for a dress and I think they go to a size 24.

Crossroads - These guys sell a whole range of clothing and its cheap! I have found some of my favourite clothes here and they are great for the basic plain tops and singlets. Some stuff is trashy looking but a lot of their stuff is really good.

City Chic - These guys specialise in plus sized womens clothes. I have found some great stuff here over the years but most of the time its too expensive for the quality you get; I would prefer to go to Myer. Don't write them off though, some things are worth paying for or keep your eye out for sales time.

Other shops that sell plus sized clothes are Kmart, Big W, My Size, Katies, Miller's etc but I don't regularly buy from them and some are targeting an older age group generally.

My shopping rules

- Don't shop desperately, shop carefully

- Only buy horizontal stripes if it fits on the looser side otherwise they will make you look bigger

- Layering creates vertical lines which are slimming (and layering is a must in Melbourne anyway)

- A nice pair of jeans, a plain top and a cardi can be made amazing with great jewellery, a pretty scarf or even a waist belt tied interestingly.

- Do NOT be afraid of colour!

- Pretty is still pretty no matter the size so don't be afraid to dress feminine

I'll do a list of online shops in Part 2 later.

~Missy

Mondayitis

Does anyone hate Monday with a passion like I do? It seems like the next weekend will never come! Going to bed in the wee hours of Monday morning really doesn't help so I will be having an early night tonight to recover.

I had very tasty if not completely healthy meals today. I had a combination (chicken, egg, pork, veggies, Chinese sausage) steamed bun and a BBQ pork bun for lunch. Buying them from the source instead of in a packet makes such a difference. Steamed bun heaven! I experimented this evening with a chimichurri marinade on my steak. I loved it but some others were not such big fans. Tasty tasty.

So today I had a glass of low fat milk, a tub of low fat yogurt, a chocolate biscuit, the two steamed buns, a small can of diet coke, two chocolate eggs, 1L water, a handful of no fat marshmallows, the marinated steak, mashed potato, steamed carrot, cauliflower & broccolini and a can of Pepsi max.

No exercise today (my Monday walking buddy is sick and I couldn't get motivated without her). Definitely have to do it tomorrow or I may as well give up all together.

I need a nap.

~Missy

Sunday madness

I am so tired. Sunday's are tough! I continued my massive clean out effort and have made great progress although its still not finished. I finished the day with a trip into the city with some friends to go to a talk and wound up going to a great Asian steamed bun place on Russell St and then Brunetti's in Carlton (a Melbourne institution, you have to go there!).

Food on Sunday? A bowl of nutrigrain with light milk, a small BBQ chicken roll (marg only), a glass of orange & mango juice, a can of no sugar lemon squash, a single square of Cadbury bubbly chocolate, a sausage on brown bread with tomato sauce and a little onion, one steamed BBQ pork bun, a piece of Brunetti's apple strudel and a small bottle of coke. I also had about 1L of water.

I didn't end up walking on Sunday as I was so into my cleanup but I did definitely get a sweat going and I went up and down our staircase about 6 times with heavy boxes (so weight training done?).

I had a great night and need some sleep! I also seem to be another 0.4kg lighter, yay!

~Missy

Rainy days

I woke to the beautiful sound of rain this morning. There is nothing like snuggling under the covers and looking out at the rain. About ten minutes after that a guy cut down a tree right outside my bedroom with a chainsaw. What ya gonna do?

Anyway, today was definitely not going to start with an hour long walk in the rain and its still raining so I never did get to walk today. I have instead spent the day beginning a massive clean out of my walk-in-robe. Upfront you need to know that I am a complete sentimental hoarder. Example? Today I found some scratch-n-sniff stickers from when I was in grade 3! Yes they still smell and yes I still have them, they don't take up much space.

The clean up started with me dragging out everything that I had chucked into the back of my cupboard. Then I realised how much crap I have and got a bit overwhelmed. I've now managed to go through 4 boxes of craft/art/stationary type stuff as well as all of my hanging space, my underwear/socks, scarves (I LOVE scarves so I have a lot), summer shoes and handbags/clutches. All the stuff I dragged out of my cupboard? Still on the floor. That's tomorrow's battle.

My food today was ok I think. My main problem on the weekends is drinking 2L of water, its not sitting in front of me like it is at work so I forget. I have had 2 glasses of banana smoothie, a baked egg/bacon/wrap cup (home made, fat cut off), 1L water, a piece of bread with creamed honey, home made massaman chicken curry with plain rice and lots of veggies, a can of Pepsi max, a row of Cadbury bubble chocolate and a can of sugar free lemon squash.

Looking back on that list I don't think I did as well as I thought. The smoothie had ice cream in it, the creamed honey is full of sugar, the coconut milk in the curry is probably not so healthy and I had chocolate again. Bugger. Ah well, no regrets just try and do better next time. I checked and I'm actually 0.5kg lighter than yesterday. I'm starting to think this is too easy and that its just fluctuations of my body but here's hoping its not.

I'm going to enjoy going to sleep listening to the rain. Goodnight.

~Missy

Oh dear! Pass the pizza

I have had a decidedly non-diet day today. Usually this would leave me depressed about how I have failed and would soon lead into a downward spiral of guilt that ended in tim tams and peanut m&ms. Not today.

I knew I would be having pizza for lunch today (we ordered it before I started this) and it helped to be prepared. I made sure I only ate until I was full instead of over eating and took the rest home for dinner. Not having it for dinner (or at all) would have been better sure but in the old days I could have polished off the whole pizza (it was a medium) in one sitting only to regret it half an hour later (cue guilt). Part of this process for me is to start listening to my body's cues and stop when I'm full. I took a step toward that today.

Ok, so here's what I ate today. A glass of low fat milk, a tub of low fat yogurt, a cup of tea with milk and one sugar, about 1L water, a medium cheese pizza, 4 pieces of garlic bread, a can of Pepsi, two cans of sugar free lemon squash, 4 Cheds biscuits.

So the bad? Pizza of course, the Pepsi, garlic bread and Cheds. No veggies or fruit, oh dear! The good? I didn't have any chocolate eggs!

I also didn't walk today but I'm planning on a walk tomorrow morning. Being Saturday I'm going to try for an hour long walk.

I'm off to drink a litre of water!

~Missy (still a kilo lighter!)

Less eggs, more water

Guess what? I know its only day two and I shouldn't be weighing myself everyday because of ups and downs blah blah blah but I did it anyway. And I've lost a kilo!

Don't worry, it will be back to visit tomorrow (work function involving pizza) but I want to celebrate for the time being. Yes I have had some bad foods but I'm never going to be able to give up chocolate, never. I have also done some good; walking and drinking 2L water each day.

Here are all the things I have eaten today (I always feel this list is super long but when I break it down meal by meal it seems ok so I guess I'll get over it eventually). A large glass of low-fat milk, a tub of low fat yogurt, a cup of tea with one sugar, leftover healthy lentil shepherds pie, an apple, a stick of extra sharp tasty cheese, 2L water, an apricot, 3 small solid Easter eggs, a steak, mashed potato, carrots, steamed beans and a can of Pepsi max.

Not too bad hey? I have cut down my easter eggs slightly and deliberately chose not to take a can of diet coke to work and instead had water with my lunch. I also made a deal with myself that I had to finish my entire bottle of water (600ml) before I could have the eggs. This was partially to motivate me to drink more water but also to make sure I am reading my body's signals correctly. I have read that a lot of overweight people think their body is saying 'hungry' when it is actually saying 'thirsty' so if I can I will be drinking some water before I snack to see if it reduces the urge.

~Missy

Starting Couch to 5K

Yesterday I downloaded the free Couch to 5K app (the Zen Labs one) and today I tried it for the first time. The basic idea of this exercise program is to get bums like me off the couch and having us run 5km in just 8 weeks. You do three workouts a week for 30 min each with increasingly longer intervals of running between walking until you run the whole time. This all sounds wonderful and almost miraculous to me but I know a lot of people have done this successfully. I, however, am the exception, not the rule. Aw, this reminds me of He's Just Not That Into You. Guess what I'll be watching tonight?

The app itself is really well setup, totally easy to use. I didn't realise until close to the end that it actually has a voice (couldn't hear it over the music) but it vibrated with a message alert as well so I knew when it wanted me to change speed. Day 1 of Week 1 gets you to do 5 min warm up walking and then launches into alternating 60 sec intervals of running and 90 sec intervals of walking.

I realised during my exercise today that I actually haven't run for a full 60 sec since high school. How did it get this bad? I was on the advanced athletics team in primary school. So I did my 5 min of walking which got me to the park and up the hill to the walking track (think bush track, pretty but hilly) and then it told me to run. As I saw the alert on my phone I had a moment when I thought "how do I do this again? I don't think I'm capable of running" and then I just did it. I was running (well probably more jogging). Then about 30 sec in my body started saying "what the hell are you DOING??? We don't run!" the last 30 sec were some of the longest ever. I was so glad it was over and that no one had been there to see it. I was exhausted and if there had been a bed conveniently placed at the side of the track, I would have been in it and asleep in seconds. I think my body was in shock. I was in shock. I was really struggling to get my breath back (I have a cough which did not help) so I stopped for a bit before resuming walking. There was no way I was running again today so I walked the rest of the way.

Some may read this and think "my god, she can't even run for a minute?". And the answer is no I can't and that's exactly why I'm here writing this. Hopefully there are others who can relate and maybe will give running a go, even if it is only for 60 sec in the beginning. So I will not be running 5km 8 weeks from now but hopefully I will be running for more than 60 sec. I'm proud of my 60 seconds, its the best I've done in over 10 years. And we all have to start somewhere.

~Missy