New You - the final installment :-)

After :-)

  

Before :-(

For those of you who have been following my blog closely, here are my own before and after photos. The official final photo shoot is next Thursday, and I haven't had my hair appointment yet, but I wanted to put these 2 photos in to show myself how much can be achieved in 10 weeks (this bit is not for the More FM version of the blog)

We are now coming near to the end of the last week of New You, and the New Me is very very happy!!
10 weeks ago I did not think I would achieve much in such a short space of time, but I am glad I have proved myself wrong.

I've really enjoyed being a part of "New You"- even though at times it has been HARD and painful. I think I have given 110% and am so pleased with the result. My achievements at the gym are way beyond what I expected I could do, and I'm going to keep up the gym sessions. A holiday to the Gold Coast would be fantastic, but whether I win that or not, I am amazed at my transformation over the last 10 weeks. I feel great, I am slimmer, and I will now be wearing make-up and heals sometimes. My legs have come out in public for the first time in years as I am wearing skirts again. I still have the new hair do to come next week, and today enjoyed several hours of shopping at Ezibuy. It was such a brilliant feeling to be trying on smaller sizes and having to choose an outfit for the final photo shoot. There were such a lot of things to choose from, but eventually with the help of Vickie, Cim and the other wonderful ladies at Ezibuy, I have the outfit - but you'll have to wait for the final photos to see what I have chosen!!

 

Yesterday I had an eyelash and eyebrow tint at Urban Sanctuary, which was another new experience for me. I LOVE the tinted eyelashes. I never wear mascara (I don't own any), but the tint looks great. I think I may well get this done again.

I had two more full on sessions with Melissa and Alice on Monday and Wednesday, which included a lot of time on the treadmill and stairs. On Tuesday, while my son was at soccer training, I decided to go and climb Mount Kaukau instead of sitting in the car reading. 490 steps, and 30 mins later, I was almost at the top, but had to turn round and come back down as I was running out of time. 50 mins was not quite long enough for me to do the full climb. On Wednesday, I told Alice about this, so after 20 mins on the treadmill, she took me to the staircase, and I had to run and jump up and down 490 steps again. In fact, we took it up to 513 steps so I could say I'd climbed over 1000 steps in 2 days.

Contours gym have been amazing throughout this competition - thank you so much to all the ladies there, especially Melissa and Alice, for all you have helped me achieve. I would love to lose another 10kg in weight, and will try and keep up the regular gym sessions to help me achieve this. My goal is to be at my target weight before we go to visit friends and family in the UK next year.

Thank you one again to More FM, especially the Morning Fix team, for giving me this chance to find the New Me - she was hiding below the flab that I had been carrying round for the last 11 years.

If you are also impressed with my transformation, please vote for me in the final vote on the More FM webiste :-)

Anne xxx

New You - week 8

Almost there - the end is in sight!! I have 3 more personal trainer sessions left at the gym, and although I feel great, my weight isn't yet down to where I wanted it to be at the end of the competition. I have lost about 3.5kg on the scales at Contours, but I have gained muscle, and lost fat. Melissa did some calculations on Monday by measuring my percentage body fat with a "fat pinching" tool, and I have lost 9kg of fat!! I would love to get my weight down to below 70kg by the end of the competition. I have stuck to my diet almost 100% but the weight loss has really slowed down.

I have had fun going through my wardrobe and finding clothes that now fit me again. I have even worn a skirt twice this week and shown to the world that I do have legs!!

On Sunday I had my final weigh in for the "Johnsonville Biggest Loser" slimming competition that I have been doing with 8 other people. I had offered to drop out of that competition when I won the "New You", but the others were very encouraging and asked me to stay in the competition, saying they all had things that would "help" with weigh loss, whether it was walking the dog, cycling to work etc.
We all put $50 in a kitty, and the winner would be the one who lost the highest percentage of their body weight after 10 weeks. I have lost 8.3kg, which worked out at 10.3% of my starting weight. I am now $450 richer - well I was until I went shopping :-) I have bought myself 2 pairs of shoes with heals - another first for me.

Today I had my make-up session at Urban Sanctuary - I was bright red in the face from my gym session, but with the help of some concealer, the redness disappeared. I walked out feeling beautiful - a rare occurrence for me. I hardly ever wear make up, and to have it done "professionally" was a fantastic experience.

I can't wait for my hair appointment in 2 weeks - I really need a hair cut, and my fringe is in my eyes!!
Looking forward to the new wardrobe of clothes too - I am trying to lose as much weight as possible before the final shopping session at Ezibuy.

Week 7 New You

Half way through week 7 now - only 3 weeks left. This week has been REALLY HARD WORK!! Melissa has really increased the intensity of the personal training sessions this week. I had my 2 sessions with less than 24 hours between them, both of which included my most hated exercise, the burpie!!! If you don,t know what these are, take a look at this video on You Tube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgJVPNT7B5o&feature=youtube_gdata_player

I have done about 40 of these in the last 2 days. Yesterday I had a circuit session up in the studio of the gym, which felt like an Army Boot Camp. I had to carry weights (about 100kg) from one end of the room to the other, jump up the gaps in a rope ladder on the floor, do push ups, crunchies, squats with punches, burpies and punch Melissa with boxing gloves on. I had to do all of these (and more) over and over again for about 40 mins. At several points I really thought I was going to either throw up or die! This was the hardest exercise session I have ever done, and I was as red as a beetroot for about an hour after the session finished. All this when I was still stiff and tired from Monday's session!! 7 weeks ago I was an overweight 45 year old who did NO exercise. I have lost a bit of weight and am definately fitter, but this session was way beyond anything I ever thought I'd be able to achieve.

Today I have spent the day at my son's school camp at Forest Lakes, and have endured the mud slide and water slide (into a freezing lake) - these seemed so easy compared to yesterday's session.

The week before the New You competition, I started a slimming competition with a group of friends. We have our final weigh in for that this coming Sunday. I am currently in the lead with a 6.5kg weight loss, but I missed the last weigh in. According to my home scales, I am at least 8kg lighter than when we started - I am hoping this is enough to win me the "Fat Pig" trophy :-)

Next week I have my make up session at Urban Sanctuary, which I am so looking forward to. I hardly ever wear make up so this will be a real treat. Not sure what surprises Melissa will have for me -I'll let you know!!!

Week 6 - Over half way

We are now over half way through the New You Challenge and I am really starting to notice the changes. I had LOADS of compliments last week and over the weekend from friends who can now see that I have lost weight - I LOVE it when this happens,as it really gives my self confidence a boost, and inspires me to keep going.

I have been really good with my daily exercises, even adding in a few extra km on the bike and some extra stomach exercises and press ups. I went for an extra session at the gym on Saturday (without a personal trainer) and decided to try jogging. I managed to cover 5km in just under 42 mins, with a combination of running, jogging and walking. I am NOT a runner, and I felt brilliant at the end of this, even though I now have a big blister on the back of my foot. Olivia from More FM appeared at both my sessions this week to take photos of me in action - at least she didn't arrive while I was doing "burpies" and star jumps.

My skin is now showing the benefits of the skin care from Urban Sanctuary. I have never really bothered with much in the way of skin care products apart from moisturiser, but my skin feels really different - much smoother and not so dry. I have had a weird dry patch on my forehead for years,and it's completely disappeared :-)

I am looking forward to my hair appointment at the end of November - all my gray is now showing and I am hoping for a lovely cut and colour. I have been told to expect my appointment to last 3 hours - what luxury! I am also looking forward to trying on the clothes at Ezibuy, but I would like to lose as much weight as possible before then. I have been told to cut out carbs at my evening meal, which is a bit of a challenge, but I have managed it for the last 5 days, and the weight loss does seem to have started again. Spag bol on salad is not quite the same as with pasta, but if it improves the weight loss, it will be worth it. I had a chat with Melissa about diet on Monday and she told me to eat more - which was great to hear!!!

Look out for the photos of me at the gym!!!