musings of a married Mogget...

[Mogget]

Previously on Mog...

In November 2008 I started following Paul McKenna's "I can make you thin" program to lose weight for my wedding - to date I have lost 85+ pounds and gone from a size 26 to a size 16 at about the same fit, and many things now in size 14. Since June 2009 I have been working with a personal trainer twice a week, and I am usually fairly active during the week. I quit smoking in April and gave up coffee a few months ago (noticing an immediate decrease in insomnia and anxiety levels).

All of 2009 I was working hard to lose weight, look good and planning for my wedding on September 22.

It all paid off.

The day was perfect, the honeymoon idyllic, the marriage (all two weeks worth) is going great, and I love having a new surname...

So what happens now?

I no longer have a giant project to plan, or a looming deadline... reality and certain fiscal truths must now be acknowledged, and I am going to need some kind of directionalised plan for my life beyond the wedding day and into the marriage itself... I have secured my partner in life, now I think it might be pertinent to think about what else I might want that life to include.

I am planning to do a bit of that self exploration here... as well as keep folks updated with my weight loss ,exercise and progress pics.

[MintQ8]

Great photos Mog - you need to link back!!! I have been gaining weight - I promise to get back on the path - you're such an inspiration!! You looked great!! I was looking great - but not so at the moment!!

[Kissa]

Mrs Mog will find a Life Plan, here!

Love ya!

[CaitSith]

Marking my spot! *subscribed* Much lurve, girl!

[Shimmerfly]

Marking my place as the Mog's journey continues with the next instalment.

[Mogget]

Well I have re-learned an important lesson...

Mogs cannot have coffee...

After a long time without coffee I have been sneaking the occasional cup back in while on holidays thinking "Hey I'm not stressed anymore, it won't make much difference..."

Well I didn't sleep at all last night, just lay there in a state of dread and panic listening to my heart race, all from ONE cup of coffee early yesterday morning.

Herbal sleeping pill didn't help, rescue remedy didn't help...

It's nearly 24 hours since that cup of coffee and I am still 'nervous'. Horrible sensation.

My quest today is to locate some herbal teas that I enjoy and stock up on them.

gym in 10 minutes and I am shattered from anxiety and lack of sleep. Great.

[Kissa]

No more coffee for you lady!

[Mogget]

Well in spite of the hideous effects of caffeine on my poor system I managed to get myself to the gym this morning. It was a full tilt boogie workout - my current program is simply immense. I cannot stress this enough - HUGE!!! This is by far the hardest work I have ever done. The leg workout alone is as tough as previous whole programs.

Here's some youtube of what I am doing (it is not as easy at it looks!!!!)

YouTube - LBS - Hip Extension on Multi-Hip Machine

YouTube - LBS - Hip Flexion on Multi-Hip Machine

YouTube - Assisted Chinup

YouTube - Barbell Rollouts

YouTube - Assisted Triceps Dips

There's more but the other stuff is not very interesting - cable biceps, fitball balancing and crunches, elliptical, and of course my 100 progressive pushups......

I LOVE it. This program regularly has me on the floor near death but I have such a sense of accomplishment afterwards.

[Mogget]

GAH! I just did the biggest FUBAR - deleted ALL of my music, audiobooks and trance tracks permanently from both my mac and external hard drive. What a ridiculous thing to have done.... I am now laboriously ripping my cd's again, but loads of it was downloaded stuff and every time I try to download them again I am getting a nasty little refused message. grrrrrrrrrr

[MintQ8]

Oh Mog - how absolutely frustrating!!!! Oh well, just keep on working through it!!!

[Mogget]

When it doubt delete all and start again - this seems to have worked, a new torrent track has resolved the replacement issues and I am now painstakingly ripping my old cd collection and remembering a LOT of old music! Also managed to rip a bit of stuff back off my ipod into the itunes library... so I am coping with the damage and reconstruction is underway.

Have been too sleepy today to much in the way of proper goal setting self exploration or indeed getting things done.

[Kissa]

Oh dear!

That work out looks too tough for me! I know Vicky would love it though.

[MintQ8]

It's easier than dancing around in Body Combat. Well okay - easy isn't the right word - but hate Body Combat!!

[Mogget]

Today was my first day back at work. In an effort to ease my system back into this conceot I didn't do extra exercise today - just walking to and from work. I want to use my normal training timeslot everyday for exercise and plan to start that very soon. (I was going to say Monday and realised how it sounded very like something that will never happen)

Obviously I had been spending most of my work day wedding planning before as I have been stone bored all day.

I am going to need a plan to get me through this, a reason to keep on going, especially if I don't get the new job I applied for (it is not looking so likely now).

Factors right now.

I need to earn more money - I cannot save the amount I want to AND pay for the personal trainer on what I currently earn. As things are, the personal trainer is actually winning out over saving for my future home! Man I love my training sessions.

There is not much slack in the whole rest of my budget to be honest and certainly not enough slack to cover the trainer which is my LARGEST expense, even greater than rent!

I still have enough to save a little but not at a rate that makes me excited. I am contemplating getting a second job if I don't get the promotion I went for.

I really had my heart set on buying our own place in about 3 years but I think it will have to wait now for a bit longer. It's frustrating and kind of scary as I REALLY want my own (nice) place to have a true sense of security... and I know that the security is still an illusion but it is what I crave.

So I gess in the exploring my priorities/directionalising my life we have a couple of interesting points here:

BIGGEST long term goal:
Own my own home
What does that get for me or allow me to do?
Freedom to live my life in a pleasant environment, without interference with reasonable expectation of continuity. It feels safe. I can make plans.
Challenges or obstacles?
Money.
Possible/likely that Dave's career means we will have to move interstate or internationally.


Most important thing right now:
Keep training, working out and following ICMYT
What will that get for me or allow me to do?:
It allows me to feel FANTASTIC, to have great health, to look good, to be active, to feel confident and happy and excited by life. Many many good things.
Challenges or obstacles?
My personal trainer is very expensive.
I am not willing to give my trainer up! (yet)
I have not yet enough self discipline to reliably workout without my trainer.

So here we have a clear indication of my short term (week to week) focus and my very long term goal.

There's a lot more going on in my head but these are the two main contenders for my energy and stress attention lately and I am getting brain fogged while I try to process my thoughts, so that is it for this particular post.

[MintQ8]

Hmm- interesting Mogget. I should think about things in that sort of way too.

Good for you on not yet wanting to compromise on your training!!

[Kissa]

[Mogget]

Training this morning was EXCELLENT. Either I have returned to peak condition after our break or changing breakfast cereals REALLY helped as today I didn't have dizzy spell and nausea - both of which plauged me the first two sessions of this program. Because I was not battling headspins and the urge to hurl I was able to go much harder today and smashed out some great results.

My original trainer Mark who also owns the business has asked Dave and I to give him before and after photo's to use as a success story for promotional purposes. We are very chuffed.

Cam was bragging about us today, saying the nicest things (I don't actually care if they are not true!!) like: we are his hardest working clients, we have the best core strength of any of his clients, and I am by far the strongest female client he has. Woot and boogie! Actually i can believe all of those compliments because we go in with good focus and go HARD. Whatever he asks of us we do (and sometimes more). He never has to correct our form anymore (a good indicator of core strength).

Today I found out that my hip extension/flexions weight is 45kg (99pounds). And that is for a single leg. My chin-ups and tricep dips have both gone up in weight (down in assistance level), I am now doing MORE push-ups.... it's all so awesome

Ate nice and intuitively last night - we ordered super fancy pizza (mine was oven roasted beetroot, proscuito, fetta, pesto and rocket) and ate it slowly and mindfully. HEAVEN and absolutely good food, there is nothing "junk" about this pizza.

Today I am doing good on mini-wheats pre gym, egg and sustagen shake after gym, almonds and dried apricots for a snack. Feels good to be eating properly (ie intuitively) again after a bit of a slide off.
__________________

[Mogget]

So after much processing last night my brain has spit out the following conclusions.

Currently training my body and getting to my ideal fitness is a higher priority than saving for a house. I'm not going to worry about my savings till next year (to allow for possible job developments), and then I will save what I can while still putting maximum effort into training.

It is my sincere intention that by the end of 2010 I will either be in a position to BOTH train and save avidly, or that I will be sufficiently self disciplined to be able to cut down to one PT session per week or fortnight and do the rest on my own at the gym - which will be a great saving.

Buying a house can and will wait and in the meantime I will concentrate on enjoying my current home, and ensuring that our next place is very suitable also.

I will also work with NLP and hypnosis on my beliefs and habits which contribute to my insecurity around housing, to relieve the stress of not owning my own place. I thinkk I could do a useful Knowledge Engineeering map of this and that would help. (plus give me something to do today at work).

Incidentally if you are wondering how I was able to decide which was more important...

I asked myself - if I could enjoy training and getting fit and getting my body back and all those other good things without owning my own home. The answer YES. I asked myself if I would want to enjoy those things even if I didn't own my own home, the answer is YES (obviously as I am happy doping them now).

vs

Could I own my home without the benfits of training that I enjoy like getting fit, looking good feeling great etc... yes... but would I want to own my own home wihout those things... NO.

My dream home is the one in which I live my dream life, my dream life has my dream body/health etc in it. If Iwere to stay fat and unfit andf lose my strength through lack of use I would not be much good on afarm, nor would I enjoy bushwalking and gardening and taking care of critters etc...

and small aside to scream OH MY GOD!!!!!! (I just realised I am now below the max weight for horseriding!!! PONIES!!!!!!)

... ahem.

This is a great way of finding out which of two really highly valued criterion is the most important BTW. Sometimes it is even easier.

Can you have A without B?
No?
then B is more important....
yes?
Would you want to have A without B (and vice versa)...

Sometimes you get a no for both ways and then it is all about how congruent or emphatic the answer is.

Values sorting is fun.

[MintQ8]

Great posts Mogget - still not doing much myself - just trying!!

I really like the way you are able to weigh things up - not just using a pros and cons list - which then you still have to evaluate - your way takes you much closer to the final step - the decision!!!

I love having a PT - but I'm not good like you, I'm happy when they push me on weights etc - but for somethings, am likely to tell them 'no' outright!! LOL!! I know my own body!!! But sometimes - they do help you push through mental barriers that you have in place about yourself - which are just that!!!

Keep up the great work!!! The house will come. It's a sad truth, that companies can also be body conscious and if you're fit and healthy and slim (sad to say) but some companies will be more likely to employ you/give you the raise. I'm not saying they positively discriminate but some people seem to think if you're overweight, you're lazy.

Also, this is the journey you have to take. So much better to live in the 'now' then just plan for the future. The latter is important - but the now is definite!!

[Mogget]

Originally Posted by MintQ8

Great posts Mogget - still not doing much myself - just trying!!

I really like the way you are able to weigh things up - not just using a pros and cons list - which then you still have to evaluate - your way takes you much closer to the final step - the decision!!!

I love having a PT - but I'm not good like you, I'm happy when they push me on weights etc - but for somethings, am likely to tell them 'no' outright!! LOL!! I know my own body!!! But sometimes - they do help you push through mental barriers that you have in place about yourself - which are just that!!!

Keep up the great work!!! The house will come. It's a sad truth, that companies can also be body conscious and if you're fit and healthy and slim (sad to say) but some companies will be more likely to employ you/give you the raise. I'm not saying they positively discriminate but some people seem to think if you're overweight, you're lazy.

Also, this is the journey you have to take. So much better to live in the 'now' then just plan for the future. The latter is important - but the now is definite!!

Ahh well that's all the NLP training kicking in - pros and cons don't work because you are still trying to use the conscious mind and the unconscious carries the silent majority vote!!

The values sort gets the unconscious to actually speak up instead of just sabotaging with procrastination, incongruence, funny feelings, lack of enthusiasm and all those other great ways of undermining a 'logical' decision that you heart is just not into.

In NLP we learn to pretty well ignore anything a client tells us with their words as it is just conscious mind reasoning (and if THAT worked they wouldn't be seeking assistance) - instead you focus on the unconscious signals and check for congruence and that is how you get the results of lasting change. This is also why pre-recorded NLP a la PM is not anywhere near as effective, but it's still better than a lot of the alternatives!

With the values sort it did take about 6 hours of fuzzy brain down time to process the learnings... but I woke up the next day just clear as a bell and very congruent, so it is worth the investment of time and effort.

The trainer sure does push you through barriers! Like when cam announced that I would be doing 100 consecutive pushups this program. Not something I would even consider doing to myself! Or having me do chin-ups!

[Kissa]

Sh*t you amaze me Mog..

Vicky what is she like??? You lead Mog and we will follow!

[CaitSith]

Hiya IRON MogNess! I bow to your exercise prowess!

Its been thoroughly enjoyable reading about your exercise adventures and thought "processings". You are a smart cookie, my dear. There is no doubt that you will find a way to work everything out...trainer, house, future...You are ON IT!

How is your weekend going so far?

[Mogget]

Originally Posted by CaitSith

Hiya IRON MogNess! I bow to your exercise prowess!

Its been thoroughly enjoyable reading about your exercise adventures and thought "processings". You are a smart cookie, my dear. There is no doubt that you will find a way to work everything out...trainer, house, future...You are ON IT!

How is your weekend going so far?

Hello lovely!

We have had a great weekend catching up with a friend who just came back from 2 months volunteering in Nepal. Stunning photo's and lots of stories...

Then we spent the rest of the weekend feverishly playing game after game of Dominion! My head is broken but we had so much fun.

All the good things will come to me in time, with a bit of effort and dedication I can get the things that matter to me. I don't want so very much and want I want is not so very far fetched. It was excellent to catch up with my friend as he reminded me of how passionately I want my little eco-home (he got me onto them and put me onto a new version "earthships" look 'em up AWESOME!!!!) and also reminded me that I will still want this when i am his age (mid 40's) - I shall use my intervening time NOT obsessing about cash but learning how to have my dream be successful. Thank you to the universe for a timely lesson!!

Right now this minute Training is still on top, with my biggest project being to get sufficiently driven to do the extra work on my own.

And I have a new/clearer defined health/fitness goal to drive me (as opposed to meandering along happily losing weight with nothing much beyond it)... I am very excited about it. Oh and while I have joined the "fitness model" thread that is not the actual goal - it's just a good starting point to keep me keen....

And yeah... talkative

[Shimmerfly]

Hey Mog, I'll just jump in with my Accountant hat on for a sec and say don't worry about the home thing just yet. It's a really crap time to buy in most areas and interest rates will be going up until at least 2012, which by the sounds of things will work out for you nicely.

You are rocking those workouts. I had a bit of a chuckle to myself about the youtube clips of weight lifting form etc. Who would have thought I look on youtube for that!? Certainly not me. Huge big kudos to you.

[Mogget]

Originally Posted by Shimmerfly

Hey Mog, I'll just jump in with my Accountant hat on for a sec and say don't worry about the home thing just yet. It's a really crap time to buy in most areas and interest rates will be going up until at least 2012, which by the sounds of things will work out for you nicely.

And then they come down again for me?? plz? (I am sure I was not the only Melbournite thinking WooHoo global financial crisis PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let the housing market collapse... never did )

But seriously, good to know, thanks.

[Mogget]

Good day yesterday though I crashed at 8pm (antihistamine induced coma - I hate Spring).... fantastic thing happened this morning - I forgot to take the bins out last night, and heard the truck pulling up, so I grabbed my clothes and pulled them on, bolted downstairs and took them out... it wasn't till I came back in that I realised I had grabbed Dave's jeans, not mine. I fit in my husband's jeans!!!

Had a fabulous training session yesterday

9min HIIT cardio
55kg hip flex/extensions 20,15 reps 2 sets each, each leg.
Assisted Chin ups 15, 12, 10
Graduated Push-ups - 7 sets of 12
Bicep Cable curl 50 pounds, 15, 15
Assited tricep dips - 15, 15
Rollouts 10 (big improvement here)
loads of fitball stabilty stuff - kneling on the fitball throwing an ctching medicine balls etc.

Nice program and it is coming along well. Walked 80 min too. Doing well with my eating plan.

Took my blood pressure today 120/75, resting heart rate 58.

[MintQ8]

Am in awe!!

[Mogget]

Originally Posted by MintQ8

Am in awe!!

LOL these days I am in awe of myself! Who is this gym bunny? What did they do with Mog???

[Mogget]

So last night, much to my delight I jumped on the shooper and did 20 min HIIT - Whew that was GOOOOOOOOOOOD to do. I am hoping to do the same again tonight and get my self back into active recovery days between workouts - it just felt SO great to get my exercise hit. I have been downloading a load of exercise vid's (as we all know the first step in any good exercise program is the bit that you can do online :eyeroll and want to find something I can do in the mornings that i will like. Eventually I will get back into 30 day shred, but it was SO squat and lunge focused that my knees hated it, and all that jumping up and down, seriously woman, just cause she has no boobs doesn't means those of us with unruly gals can afford to be 'jumping rope'.... but I DO want to do it because it likes like a tolerable beginning to cross-fit style training. Especially if done to high intensity.

Hmmmm Mog is craving a set of adjustable dumbells... and kettle bells... droool.

NO! no fitness equipment till I am exercising every day! Have to use what i already have first. *grumble grumble*

[Mogget]

oh mi gosh! I have discovered facebook! *runs away*