31 July – Week 11 – One more week to go

Yoohoo, won 2nd place with the Herbalife challenge, way to go Liz. One more Get Fit Session to go. Pity the weight stayed the same this week, but I’m sure it was water loss last week and this week the weight steadied to remain the same, the Get Fit T-shirt felt a little looser today anyway, so I'm not faized. Looks as though all the sweat and burn is paying off. Am spinning every day and have managed to stay on the extreme eating plan for 5 days. It seems as though everybody at session this morning ran out of steam. We were all panting and drinking a lot of water and needed longer rests. We did a lot of bench press exercises which were rather taxing and we had to move, move, move all the time keeping our heart rate up moving onto the next station. Unfortunately I still have a slight problem with my left knee and was limping a little even with pain killers. But yay, almost done, am looking forward to a week off to rest a little and just chill. Only have to push myself for one more week and getting up at 4 am in the morning to workout before going to the office.

23 July – Week 10 – Getting there

Had a fantastic weight loss this week. Challenge session was good, worked extremely hard and really built up a sweat today. Injured knee seems to be coping fine at the moment. So lets continue and DO THIS! Good news! during the previous challenge at 10 weeks I managed to step up on the stage for the first and now I can touch my toes and do the quad stetch holding my foot with my knee bent, haven’t been able to do that for years, have always done the alternative quad stretch, standing with feet shoulder width apart and knees slightly bend and hold for 40 seconds and then respeat. Yesterday morning I sneaked in an extra challenge session and then hit the sauna. Final weigh-in and measurements for the Weightloss Challenge yesterday. So another challenge bites the dust!

16 July – Week 9 – Bummer, had a nasty fall

Well, I’ve been on holiday for a week now hoping to lose a couple of extra kilos. It’s been a tough week and have felt more tired than usual. The race walking training has been taxing and also completed a PB for 10 kms on Sunday at the same time practicing my new breathing technique. Sneaked in an extra Challenge session on Tuesday did spinning every day and changed my training to the Power plate classes. Went for my usual run on the beachfront on Friday afternoon, unfortunately I had a fall at about 3 kms into my run. Managed to carry on running but felt a niggling in my left knee at 4 kms. Race walked back but my knee was hurting. Tried running, race walking and then walking, eventually limped back to my car. Had a bad night because of my knee and had already taken 6 anti-flammatories since last night. Attended usual 8 am challenge session but found half way through my knee was hurting badly and was limping most of the session. I hope I haven’t done too damage to affect my training for the coming week. Rested the entire day on Sunday and kept off my feet with my leg up. Swelling had come down a little by the evening but there is still a lot of discomfort. Will have to make a trek to the doctor tomorrow for an assessment.

Look at me now one year later!

This picture was taken in July
last year. I have lost 30 kgs.

This week, see the difference

9 July – Week 8 – Swopped for Friday session

Friday morning 5 am Westville. Because of my race walking coaching with Ollie Mundell tomorrow morning and not sure what time I’ll be done, I decided to do session this morning so that I am not pressed for time like last week. Arm muscles feeling a little stiff from Tuesdays workout still but survived. According to the scale I have had a gain of 2.3 kilograms. This I do not believe, impossible but according to the others their weights were fine and on track. So my strategy today was just to have my shakes, thermogetics tea and go for my normal 10 km run and then hit the sauna for 20 minutes. This afternoon on the promenade I racewalked the 4 kms to Ushaka in 29 min 42 secs and ran back in 28 min 46 secs. PB both ways. Weighed myself at the gym and lost my 2.3 kgs. Looking forward to coaching with Ollie tomorrow morning. Yippiee!

6 July – Week 8 – Sneaking extra session in

Had a very early start to the day arriving at the Gilletts Get Fit Studio at 5 am. Only two Get Fitters joined in, worked hard and really worked up a good sweat. Later when I was at work it didn’t even feel as though I had a heavy workout earlier on. Then received some good news. My times were e-mailed to me for the league session I had with the race walkers with the KZN Masters Association. I did 5 kms in 37.59 mins which was 16 secs within the qualifying time for the 55 to 60 age group for KZN Colours. In January I’ll be 55. I need to shave off 2.06 mins for the age category I’m currently in now. Shouldn’t be a problem with the correct training. I have been invited to attend a coaching session with Ollie Mundell in Winston Park on Saturday morning at 6 am. So I’ll be changing my Get Fit session to Friday this week.

3 July – Week 7

Had a early start to the day. Meet Sharon and Jeanine at 5.30 am and went for track training at Chatsworth Athletics stadium with the KZN Masters Athletic Association. Received lots of compliments about my style and technique. I have really impressed Ollie and he gave me quite a few tips on weight loss and training, he even half walked me back to my car. Looks as though he was really blown away with my performance. This was my first time training on a track. I like.....!

Arrived in Westville in the nick of time just as the challenge session was starting, thank goodness for a Garmin, I would never have found my way back to Westville without it. The session proved a little difficult this morning probably because I hadn’t recovered properly from my 5 km race walk earlier on, but managed to keep up most of the time. So on Tuesday it is doubling up on training. I’ll be starting the 5 am class. I am getting there. I can do this....!

2 July – Week 6 – Measurements

Long awaited measurement day has arrived. Was very keen to find out how many centimetres I have lost to date. Hoping to have lost at least 20 cms. My total centermetre loss was 44.5cms. Wow! Total weightloss 8.4 kg in 6 weeks. An improvement from the previous challenge, a little disappoint with my body fat percentage lost but I am happy with the weight loss so far because my skin is starting to wrinkle a lot now so am not keen to loose too much too quickly anymore. I think I am still on track. Have been invited by Leroy to train an extra session per week with the Get Fit class.
So how has the challenge changed my life so far? I managed to touch my toes yesterday during the stretches at the end of the spinning class. Haven’t been able to do that in years. If I drop something on the floor I can bend down and pick it up with ease now. Not only does my bath towel wrap around me comfortably, there is plenty of room to spare. I had my first bath in years and did not get stuck, there is at least 10 centimetres space. I have improved racewalking speed and have been invited to train with the KwaZulu-Natal Athletic club on Saturday morning.