June 4By4

June 4By4

Try 4 new activities and 4 new foods

1. Aqua Zumba Class

2. Escape Room

3. Adrenaline Forest

4. Mega Air Trampolining

1. Aqua Zumba - I had been doing an Aquafit class since last years 4By4 but never the Zumba. It was very fast but I didn't feel it really worked my muscles as much as the Aquafit class.

2. We went to Escape Artists to do an escape room. We chose the prison break room. So you are in a room decked out to look like a prison cell and have to look for clues to open locks to ultimately escape. It was such a brain strain! You really had to think and communicate. Was fun doing it with Pete and yay we escaped!

3. Adrenaline Forest - this scared me! I have had opportunities to go before with school but avoided it. I'm not scared of heights but not that happy with dangling on wires up high! I was a bit surprised that they just showed you how to put the harness on and a wee practise on the wire then pointed us to Level one! Many of the challenges I was very nervous so was pleased Pete was with me. I used my yoga breathing to keep calm on a few of them. I was very proud of myself for finishing.

4. Mega Air Trampolining - I didn't grow up jumping on trampolines. What worried me was that inbetween the trampolines was hard board and I didn't want to sprain my legs. I was surprised how much of a workout it was. Also next day I could really feel under my arms from launching from tramp to tramp. It was fun.

4 New Foods

1. Red Rice

2. Jackfruit

3. Soy Condensed Milk

4. Black and White Glutinous Rice Balls with a black sesame filling

5. Aquafaba Meringue

6. Almond and Choc frozen dessert

7. Organic Coconut Milk with Coffee

1. Red Rice - this was very pretty on the plate with a nutty texture. Would definitely have it again.

2. Jackfruit - this looked like a lovely mango type fruit but it was stinky and slimey! I would not have this again.

3. Soy Condensed Milk - I was very excited when I saw this as it meant I cook do baking with it for Pete who is dairy free. 

4. Black and White Glutinous Rice Balls with a Black Sesame Filling - these came from the Asian Supermarket. I was attracted to them as they looked pink! They aren't pink but a pale lilac colour when boiled. And they are yummy. Apparently black sesame is very good for you as well.

5. Aquafaba Meringue - my vegan friends had talked about using the chickpea brine to whip up as meringue. It worked - apparently has the same properties as eggs. I used it on a lemon meringue pie using the soy condensed milk. Yummy! Would definitely have again.

6. Soy Almond Choc Dessert- this is the most amazing dairy free chocolate icecream (they cant call it icecream as no cream!) This will be a regular treat!

7. Organic Coconut Milk with Coffee - we saw this drink and were curious if it tasted like coffee milk. It was nice but rather expensive. Definitely not a regular thing.

So I ended up trying seven new things rather than four but I got on a roll!

Week Five

Week Five

May 29th - June 4th


Monday - Yoga - Power Restore Class
Tuesday - Gym - Cardio
Wednesday - Gym - Weights
Thursday - Aquafit
Friday - Yoga - Power Basics Class
Saturday - Hockey
Sunday - Yoga - Power Restore Class

Every morning 15 minutes of yoga


Emotional Eating

Emotional hunger comes on suddenly; physical hunger occurs gradually.

Develop an awareness around my triggers.

If you need a distraction:

Brush my teeth
Drink a glass of water
Have a herbal tea
Look at my vision board
Remind myself of the journey

Addressing Emotional Eating

Get enough sleep
Throw the guilt out the window

Words to stop using:

Naughty, cheat day, junk, fattening, reward, clean, bad, toxic

Words to start using:

Filling, tasty, fresh, crunchy, crisp, delicious, balanced, nourishing, flavoursome, satisfying and appetising

Very happy to be playing hockey again for Avon . This year I have contacts so I can see the whole field!!

Week Four

Week Four

May 22 - 28th

Monday - Yoga - Power Restore Class
Tuesday - Gym  - Weights Programme
Wednesday - Cate Grace Fitness Testing
Thursday - Aquafit Class
Friday - Yoga - Power Basics Class
Saturday - Hockey
Sunday - Body Scan Audit Testing
Yoga - Power Restore Class

Every morning 15 mins yoga

Success is as Easy as ABC

Stuff happens and everyone has battles.

Skill One: Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. If  I have a morning tea blowout it doesn't mean the rest of the day I can eat anything.

Skill Two: Successful people settle for less!

Skill Three: Have a plan ABC

A - Take a healthy lunch to school

B - Buy some healthy raw vietamese rolls

C - Have a super healthy dinner with lots of veges

The Mighty Four Minute Workout - I have replaced this with my 15 Minute Stretch and Grow workout to assist with my flexability.

Week Three

Week Three

May 15 - 21

Monday - Yoga class

Tuesday - Gym - Cardio

Wednesday - Gym - Testing - The 45

Thursday - Rest day

Friday - Yoga class

Saturday - Hockey cancelled

Gym  - Testing measurements and photos

Every morning 15 minutes of yoga

Last year my fitness testing involved The 45 - a hideous set of exercises named because you did 45 of each and had to complete them all under 45 minutes!

Starting with a 500m run, kettle bell lefts, horizontal row, kettle bell swings, press ups, 1km on bike,  flys kneeling on a bench, reverse lunges, 500m on the rower, 90 Swiss Ball roll outs - legs straight finishing up with another 500m run.

I had only done this a couple of times since the 2016 challenge but as I am in the Maintenance section we figured I had to do it again as a comparison test. I had to really push myself as by the end of 2016 challenge I was using reasonably heavy weights. The last 500m run was tough but it felt good when I finished.

The 45
Run 500m  - 2 mins 47 secs  (2.39)
KB Squats - 3 sets of 15 @ 20kg, 20kg, 24kg
Prone grip row - 3 sets of 15 @ 7kg 
Row 500m - 2 mins 27 secs (2.16)
Press Ups - 3 sets 15
DB Reverse Lunges - 2 sets 15 each leg @ 10kg dumbells
Kneeling DB Lat Raise 3 sets 15 @ 5kg
Cycle 1000m 2 mins 02 secs (2.01)
KB Front Swing - 3 sets of 15 @ 16kg
SB Hold and Roll on Feet - 90
Run 500m 2 mins 59 secs (2.57)              The brackets indicate the times at the end of 2016 
                                                                  challenge. End of 2016 Challenge: 31.16 minutes
Start of 2017 Challenge: 32.10 minutes

BP:133/87 RHR 72

Chapter Three 20Week Challenge: Advised us of the June4By4 so I needed to start thinking of new activities to do and eat! As I did the Adventure category last year, It was going to be a bit trickier to come up with something different. Foods would also be a challenge as I have tried a diverse range of foods in my time! But I know the Asian Supermarket will have something!

We were also asked to submit our Vision Board: I enjoyed doing that as it also involved the Moggies. Mr Tabs helped create this too! It included my word for the challenge - Calm.

Week Two

Week Two

May 8th - 14th

This week I had nothing special like testing just my regular programme.

Monday - Yoga 

Tuesday - Gym - I went through 

The 45 that had been my testing last year

Wednesday - Gym - Cardio

Thursday - Aquafit

Friday - Yoga

Saturday - Hockey

Sunday - Yoga

Some of the times of the classes have benefits and disadvantages at the same time. Yoga on Monday is at 7pm which suits me as I have staff meeting on Monday and sometimes don't get home until after 5pm. But then I have dinner after yoga and that is late so I don't always sleep as well.

Thursday Aquafit starts at 7.15pm which is good timewise as I finish school and have time to get stuff done at home rather than heading to the gym but again I am eating late and sometimes don't feel hungry at all.

Friday yoga is at 6.15am so I have to get up at stupid o'clock and as I feel wiped out from the Aquafit class it is a real mission to get up. But I feel quite virtuous when I have completed it and as we have been having our architect meetings on Friday at 4pm I don't have to try and fit exercise around that.

I have also started doing 15 minutes of yoga stretches every morning that includes stretch band work.

Chapter Two 20WeekChallenge: Warming up

Studies show we can increase our workout effort by a whopping 40% if we warm up well. Warming up makes workouts easier and more effective. The key is doing a variety of exercises.

Mr Tabby Tabster and Mrs Cat continue with their Pets n Peeps facebook page - Tabs continues to eat and sleep with regulation exercise each day!

Week One

Week One

1 May - 7 May

It's Week One!!! Yay! Twenty Week Challenge time again. This time my categories are Flexibility and Maintenance. Mr Tabby Tabster and Mrs Cat are in Pets n Peeps. I also did the Early Starter Challenge.

Flexibility is something I don't have - never have I don't think - gymnastics at school was always tricky as I was so tall but I wasn't bendy either. I started yoga at Apollo for my 2016 June4By4 just once a week. It was a real revelation for me as I used to think yoga was a real namby pamby type of stretching. I think a lot of people do - I heard on the radio a lady saying that Pilates uses your muscles not like yoga! If that was the case, how come people who do yoga regularly have such incredibly toned bodies? My first lesson was so hard I thought I was going to throw up or pass out! It was a very hot room - to help wirh the muscles - and the poses are held for up to five minutes. So there was a lot of trembling and shaking from me! So embarking on Flexibility means I will have to do more classes. Starting with a Monday May 1st Restore class.

Tuesday was the gym  - cardio 

Wednesday I met PT Blair for a new programme - PPL - Push, Pull, Legs - with a range of exercises with lower reps and heavy weights.

Bosu ball squats, arm warm up. 

Thursday - Aquafit class at Graham Condon Pool. This was another activity I started in the 2016 June4By4 and enjoyed it.

Friday - OMG!! 6.15am Yoga taken by Jim Small. This was a flow class so a lot quicker than Restore. 6.15am is quite early to be doing that - High plank, Low plank, Up dog, Downdog. To start with I was a few beats behind everyone else! And what is Flip dog!! That wasn't going to happen. I guess I will get used to it.

Yes! That clock says 5.50am!!

Friday I booked in a massage - I thought it would be good to loosen up my muscles before my flexibility tests. Hmm I won't do that again! I hadn't had a massage since the end of the 2016 Challenge so I knew I would be quite tight. Kelsey ended up spending one hour and a half massaging me. She said it was a challenge to loosen all the knots! I know it was good for me but I felt like I had been run over by a bus - tender all over my body.

Saturday - I did my Flexibility tests with Meg at Total Fitness.

Sit and Reach:   17cm

Feet together - hands stretched out

Groin Butterfly:

Left patella knee to floor: 29.2cm

Seam on pants to the edge of heels: 14cm

Shoulder Rotation:

Distance between hands

holding stick not letting go of your grip:  62cm

Back Scratch / Cow head arms:

Right elbow up - distance between index fingers: 7cm

Left elbow up - distance between index fingers: 9.5cm

Sit and Reach

Cow Head Arms

Cow Head Arms

Shoulder Rotation

Groin Butterfly

Frog

Double Pigeon

Double Pigeon

Sunday: Yoga Restore

Focus on progression not perfection. What step can you take this week to improve your portion sizes?

I have been getting the smaller pack of sushi rather than the big pieces - sometimes I used to get the 8 piece pack!!

So the end of Week One.

Early Starter Challenge

Early Starter Challenge

January 14th to May 1st 2017

Flexibility: To improve on all tests plus the poses (more subjective and difficult to measure)

I did improve on all tests. The hand grab didn't look like much from the numbers but the photos showed a big improvement.

Adventure: To continue to do different fun activities.
I completed the Banks Peninsular Track, Went to Melbourne to Adele, Stayed in Lyttelton and went to Roots Restaurant and Went to Diamond Harbour on the ferry. All new things.

Hydration: To increase my hydration (on Metagenics and Body Audit)
I improved this.

Weight: To keep my weight where I feel comfortable - 64 - 66kg
I have kept my weight stable.

Flexibility

Purple singlet is the start of the Early Starter and black singlet is the end of the Early Starter Challenge

Flexibility Tests:

Sit and Reach:

14.01.2017         6.05.2017
5cm                         17cm                                                              improvement of 12cm

Norm Score from Topend Sports: average score 1 - 10cm

Groin Butterfly:
                                                               14.01.2017      6.05.2017        
left patella knee to floor                          30.3cm          29.2cm      improvement of  1.1cm         

Seam on pants on the edge of heels      7cm               14cm        improvement of  3cm

Scores from Topend Sports: 15cm is Good

Shoulder Rotation: 
                                                 
Distance between hands                         73.6             62cm       improvement of 11.6cm
holding stick - not letting go of your grip

Back scratch/Cow's head stretch:

Right elbow up  - distance btw index finger    8cm                7cm      improvement of 1cm
Left elbow up    - distance btw index finger    10.2cm           9.5cm   improvement of  .7cm
(I question these measurements as the photos taken at the time show an improvement)                                                                                 
                                                                                    
Topend Sports: Greater than 5cm is Poor

Adventure

I'm not in the Adventure category this year but thought I would like to keep up with the attitude I tried to foster last year - have a go at everything and put fun ahead of chores (that I do actually like doing but take a lot of time). So before Christmas when my friend Jayne asked if I wanted to do the Banks Peninsular Track with them at Waitangi Weekend, I said Yes straight away. Kind of had to as there was only one space left! The track was reducing from a four day to a three day as one of the farmers was pulling out of the partnership so it would be the last opportunity to see all the countryside. It is a track that I had heard about for years and knew people that had done it but never had the opportunity to go with anyone. I didn't even mind that I would be away for my birthday!

I'm glad I was reasonably fit (not hill fit tho) because it was a long, steep walk! I guess I had heard that you could have your packs carried (of course!!) that made it easier which of course it does but that doesn't mean it is easy! I thought maybe you walked around the hills rather than up and down them. I was also under the misconception that the two day walk was easier than the four day - wrong again - it means you do the whole distance in two days rather than taking four. Jayne had also said we would have to take an extra day off work but closer to the time when I looked at the itinerary  I realised we needed to take two days as we didn't come out to Akaroa until Wednesday.

So our group was me, Jayne, her hubby Rob and their two teenagers, Katie and Evie. The first day was the longest - up to the highest point on the Peninsular then down to sea level. It was very hot: luckily the hottest part of the day was on the downhill through bush but I was so pleased to get to the house where we enjoyed cold drinks, cheese, crackers dips and chocolate followed by a swim in the sea. Already I was doing two things I don't normally do - hiking and swimming in the sea!

There were two lovely Israeli couples doing the track at the same time as us. They got up very, very early and left before the teenagers were even out of bed! We went around to see the penguins that evening but after much deliberation decided not to do the kyaking around the bay in the morning as it was going to be a roasting hot day with no shade. As we climbed up the headlands and looked down on the bay to the group that did do the kyaking, our hearts sank in despair as we spotted the large pod of dolphins swimming around the kayaks!! 

Our next hut was very cute with an outside shower hut and toilet (some distance away!) and no electricity. Jayne was determined to get the outside bath going. So I had another experience that I didn't normally have - My birthday camping with an outside toilet and shower. an outside bath and no electricity! When I arrived at our next accommodation, the Israeli's were already there and sang Happy Birthday to me in Hebrew!            

We were so lucky with the beautiful weather: Jayne had done it before and it was wet and windy. I am so grateful to have spent time with the super Stewart family, giving me the opportunity to do something I wouldn't do on my own and Pete is unable to do a hike like that because of his back injury.

Birthday in Lyttelton 

Because I was away for my birthday we celebrated the following weekend by going over to Lyttelton, another place I don't go to very often. I wanted to take Pete to Roots Restaurant. I had been lucky enough to have been taken with some friends the previous year and loved it. They have a degustation menu of local produce some of which is foraged from the local area. It is frightfully expensive but an experience!

I had never gone to Diamond Harbour on the ferry before so we decided to go and have lunch over there. Another primo day. I am so lucky!

Adele in Melbourne

So the fun continues! In November last year, friend Clare text from Wellington to ask if Rach and I would like to go to Adele. In the past I probably would have hesitated and thought of all the reasons not to go, but I said Yes! And Yes for Rach who was away in India at the time. Clare thought that as the concert in Auckland was on a Thursday (that was before two more concerts were announced) which was a bit difficult, we should go to Melbourne to see her... and because it's MELBOURNE!

I met Clare in Melbourne on Friday morning so we could do some shopping before Jim and Rach arrived Fri night. We did some sightseeing and I caught up with my good friend L'Anne who was going to the Sat Adele concert. The Sunday concert was amazing - I had never been in a stadium with 77,000 people before. I only thought about what would happen in an earthquake for about 10 seconds! Adele is such a cool lady and gosh how wonderful to go out at night without a cardi or jacket!! 

Before heading out to see the sights of Melbourne

Met up with L'Anne - flatmate from Otago uni days

Hydration

At the start of the 2016 Challenge my hydration indicator, on the Metagenics Analysis, was 1.48 which is marginal.

At the end of the 2016 Challenge my hydration indicator was 1.79 which is still marginal but higher.

24th January 2017 my hydration was 1.77. 

24th April it was 1.71.

20 May  it was 1.85

I tried a bit of an experiement in April drinking lots of water on the day of testing to see if that effected the reading - it didn't but it did effect my weight measurement!

At the start of the 2016 Challenge my Fluid Balance Total Body Water was 44.07%

Intracellular Water %  50.67 %

Extracellular Water %  49.33 %

At the end of the 2016 Challenge my Fluid Balance Total Body Water was 49%

Intracellular Water %  52 %

Extracellular Water % 47.18 %

24 Jan 2017 Total Body Water 49 %

Intracellular Water %  51%

Extracellular %  48 %

20 May 2017 Total Body Water 50.58%

Intracellular Water %  51.51 %

Extracellular Water % 48.49 %

Improvement of 1.58%

Aiming for a 60:40 ratio for Intra and Extra

Body Audit NZ

18.2. 2017  Total Body Water - 34.9

Optimal 33 - 37.1

28.5 2017  Total Body Water - 34.6

Improvement of .3

Weight

Metagenics

24 Jan 2017 Weight  65.9 kg

Fat Mass 20.32 kg

20 May 2017 Weight  65.3 kg

Fat Mass 18.78 kg

                      24.1              20.5

                                                            Weight      65.9 kg          65.3 kg     -.6

                                                     Fat Mass         20.32 kg        18.78  kg   -1.54

Body Audit NZ

18.02.2017  Weight  66.2 kg

Visceral Fat Level  6 (Balanced)

Body Fat %   26.7  (Optimal)

BMI 22.2 (Optimal )

28.05.2017  Weight  64.6 kg

Visceral Fat Level  6  (Balanced)

Body Fat  %   25.7  (Optimal)

BMI 21.7 (Optimal)

           

                                                                                18.2.2017          28.5.2017

                                                Weight                       66.2         -      64.2kg     - 2 kg

                                                                  

                                      VFL                                6                        6               same

                 Body Fat %                     26.7     -       25.7       - 1 %    

                       BMI                     22.2    -    21.7          - .5