Archive for the 'inspiration' Category

I have ‘arisen’!

Published on December 11, 2011 in Baby Photos, competition, inspiration, photos, Pregnancy and training routines. 2 Comments

I’ve been prompted by an email from someone saying they miss my blog – so I am finally updating!

Firstly to my trip to the Big Apple in early November…

Saying goodbye to my little darling (and my big darling), was rather sad and there were a few tears. I couldn’t help but go through things like, what sort of a mother leaves her 12 month old daughter to jet off to NYC with a friend, and so on and so forth. I was feeling quite sick about it all, prior to leaving.

We did have a fantastic time though  and Nadia brought home the goods (literally, nearly 10kg of trophy hardware in her luggage!) from the competition. We did a lot of shopping, but unfortunately (maybe fortunately for the bank balance) it was going into winter there so I didn’t really want to be buying much in the way of cool weather wear.

We visited the World’s Largest Chocolate Show – plenty of tastings and worth every minute. Poor Nadia wasn’t able to even sample anything!

We had an awesome picnic in Central Park a couple of days after the comp. Central Park is amazing, so clean, and pristine – much like the city of NY really.

I visited the 9/11 Memorial which was very moving. In fact visited the actual site about 3 times but to get tickets to the memorial we had to line up first thing in the morning as they don’t just let everyone through.

We visited Times Square (a lot), Soho, Greenwich Village, did a hop on hop off bus tour, had dinner with Roman (Final Phase Fat Loss), ate a massive piece of cheesecake, and a full plate of baby back ribs (not at the same meal). Good coffee as usual over there was hard to come by.

Nadia's competition (in middle)

Had a great trip, but after a week I was getting really homesick for my little girl and my boy.

The trip home could be described as nothing short of insane; starting in NYC and ending in Mildura about 30 hours later. With all of 2 hours sleep. Anyway, I don’t want to think about that anymore!

Kyah was rather standoffish when she greeted me at the airport. Like “hmmm, you left me for 12 days and so I don’t think I want to hug you or even smile at you just yet’. By the time we got back to our house she was all over me. She started walking while I was in New York :( Very bad timing on my behalf. Oh well, can’t do anything about that. Now she is a little trooper, walking everywhere! So funny. I’m loving this stage of her development. She’s such a happy, sociable little kid. Last night we took her out for dinner with us, dressed her up in a little white party dress with pink flowers on it. She sat in a booster chair and did not grizzle once – she was so interested in people walking past, the Christmas trees, and everything else going on. We were dining al fresco, so let her go for a walk and she just took off, mingling in with everyone, big grin on her face.

Here she is on her birthday, back in October. I love this photo.

And, just a few days ago she said her first word (other than bub, mum, dad). She said ‘pretty’. I always tell her ‘pretty’ when I brush her hair or when she looks at my jewellery or sparkly things. Then she said it again to my mum while pointing at balloons.

Really looking forward to Christmas this year. We have a beach holiday planned and I can’t wait to sit back and relax!

Training is going well, even though I didn’t train once while in NY I didn’t put on any weight – which I find hard to believe. We walked and walked though. Not enough to walk off a big cheesecake and ribs though!

I haven’t even had time to post any pictures from my photo shoot, so here are a few below. I didn’t diet for these photos – I haven’t been on a ‘diet’ since my 2009 competition. Pregnancy seems to have done something very positive for my metabolism. I’m back to training 4 x week (when things go according to plan A or plan B). To be honest I haven’t been very consistent as there is always something that comes up like sleep deprivation or sickness (be that myself or Kyah, or even the day carer’s son). I went through a 2 month patch of severe night waking and was averaging 4-5 hours a night for that time. Thankfully I am sleeping a lot better now.

So, my training regime is 2 x week with a split of back/chest and legs/shoulders, plus two Crossfit type sessions which I structure depending on how I pull up from the other sessions. I’m getting my strength back finally, for so long I felt like a weakling and quite unsteady in the weights room. Sometimes I will do Back/Shoulders which is what I did yesterday. My lats are so sore today. Here’s what I did – try it out!

Pull Up (I used a band, and had a spotter – you could use an assisted machine if you have one available)

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 reps (with about a minute rest in between, less as the reps get less)

So you do 10 reps and rest. 9 reps and rest. 8 reps and rest, and so on. Total of 55 reps.

Bulldog Row (that’s what I call them) – 3 sets of 10 each arm. One arm rows on a cable (or with a resistance band looped around a pole) while kneeling on all 4s. These are awesome for targeting the lower lats.

TRX Pull – 3 x 10. If you don’t have access to a TRX then you could do reverse pushups on a smith machine, or any other back exercise you like.

DB One Arm Row – 3 x 10

Shoulder stand – basically just standing on my hands against a wall to develop more shoulder strength. I tried to transfer the weight from one shoulder to the other. That’s hard. You might need a spotter for this.

Alternating KB (or DB) Press – 3 x 10

BB Push Press – 3 x 10

BB Upright Row – 3 x 10 

As for Kyah and her sleeping – she sleeps like a dream. She is like clockwork. Up between 6-6.30 (that’s cool with me because I am routinely up at 5am – no alarm needed), back to bed 9-9.30am, up at 11am. Back for a nap at 2pm and up around 4pm. Then ready for bed again at 7-7.30pm and sleeps right through. With her molars coming through she’s had a couple of off nights but it’s only rarely. I so swear by the sleep routines!

So, that’s a wrap from this end – I so love being a mum, but do still struggle to fit everything in (like all other mums!) but I’m managing fairly well.

I’d love to hear from you guys – either leave me a comment, or email me via sue@ idealbodiesonline.com (remove space). Hope you are all traveling well and thanks for being patient with me!
x

Coping with pregnancy and motherhood – and my training

Published on June 15, 2011 in Diet, inspiration, motivation, Pregnancy and training routines. 8 Comments

I’m back! Isn’t time flying? I like to think positively, so let’s see, winter will be over in just 2.5 months! And the longest day is coming up soon, which means we’ll be over the other side of the ‘hump’!

I’m back into training and I’m feeling rather good again. I’m doing 3 x week, 2 with a training partner and I am really finding my mojo returning! Boy let me tell you, did I get sore after my first session.  I thought you might be interested in the workout I did today. Here it is:

Incline BB Bench Press 4 x 8-10

DB Bench Press 4 x 6-10

DB Fly 3 x 8

BB Curl 4 x 8-10

Single Arm DB Curl 3 x 8-10

DB Hammer Curl 3 x 8

Bodyweight Squat to Ball (warm up) 2 x 12

Kettlebell Squat to Ball 3 x 10

Box Jumps 3 x 12

BB Overhead Walking Lunge 6 x 6

Kyah is growing up so quickly! She is now 7.5 months. Hard to believe.  She’s an absolute joy now, this age is just beautiful. And she’s sleeping through the night! She’s had her fair share of chest infections, gastro and now another little cold, but this will be par for the course I imagine. We went on a trip to the Barossa Valley for 4 days over the recent long weekend. She traveled so well and was great ALMOST all the time. Apart from the night we went to a dinner party – we had just sat down to eat the main course and she started to cry. And wouldn’t stop! We ended up bundling her up in the car and going home. It’s certainly different when you have kids! Which leads me to the next part of my post. I’m often asked how I manage/managed pregnancy and the early stages of motherhood. So, I wrote a little article. I hope you enjoy it :)

How I coped with pregnancy and motherhood

Do you ever wish there were more than 24 hours in the day? Do you imagine how much you’d accomplish if you didn’t have to sleep? It sure can be a difficult thing to manage a home, a career, a relationship, be a mother, a daughter, a wife and a domestic goddess all rolled in to one. Add getting in shape to all that and things can seem pretty impossible.

As a new mum at the ripe old age of 41, this was a new challenge for me late last year. Prior to this I was an independent woman who ran my company business from home and trained and slept whenever I felt like it. I used to compete in figure competitions, so I was very busy and I worked hard, but my husband and I could pretty much do what we wanted, when we wanted. Now, we have a beautiful addition to our family and I love my 6 month old daughter with a love that I never knew existed – but that luxurious world of independence that once existed has been totally crushed!

I was prepared for it as much as I could be. I’d heard stories from other women about how they lost their pre pregnancy shape and never regained it, and that they never had a moment to themselves when the kids came along. I admit – I was a little bit scared.

I’d had my fair share of body image issues and disordered eating patterns in the past and I definitely didn’t want to revisit those topics. Funnily enough, childbirth didn’t worry me (although in hindsight it should have!), but losing ‘my life’ and my body as I knew them were my major concerns.

I actually talked to my husband at length about my concerns prior to getting pregnant. I had a career, one that paid our mortgage, so I was never going to be able to be a ‘full time mum’. Training was part of my life – it’s what I do, I don’t just talk the talk, I definitely practise what I preach and I was worried I wouldn’t be able to continue that. My husband was great, and he was adamant that he intended to share the child rearing responsibilities.

I’ve never been a great sleeper, so this was my biggest worry initially. I had no idea how I was going to be able to look after a newborn and get enough sleep to enable me to run my business – let alone get back in shape! I’d heard that if you managed to actually have a shower before lunchtime you were doing well! Crikey!

About 8 weeks before the birth, I prioritized.

My baby and my health were my number one priority. Even though I’d put on 16kg (35lb) I wasn’t too concerned about it but I knew that even if I didn’t have time for exercise yet, there was definitely something I could do to start my way back to great shape. So, this was my simple list of priorities after Kyah was born:

  1. Get enough sleep so I could cope with the new challenges that would come my way
  2. Get back to the nutrition principles that I know get me lean and keep me lean
  3. Walk outdoors with my baby, when possible

Pretty simple really!

Prior to the birth I made sure that I had delegated as much of my business tasks as possible to my wonderful Programs Manager Kristin, though being a Managing Director of your own company means you will never be able to fully delegate everything. I talked to my husband about the need for some time each week to keep up with the basics. So basically I had a plan for my business after the birth.

I also decided that exercise was not a priority at this early stage and that I wouldn’t beat myself up if I wasn’t able to exercise regularly (or at all). Consequently, I think all I managed was a couple of walks and one gym session in the first 8 weeks.

I did however concentrate on eating good food, and found that because of my previous fitness lifestyle, that the weight came off easily. Within 10 weeks I was only 2lb off my pre conception weight. I highly recommend being in shape prior to conceiving ladies!

The first 3-4 months of being a new mum was very challenging. I still had a very busy business to run, and a household to tend to, as well as a beautiful little girl who was diagnosed with reflux at 2 weeks old.  I also had to go back to hospital for surgery for retained placenta 2 weeks after Kyah’s birth – I spent 2 more nights in hospital.

My husband and I played a bit of tag which allowed us both to get enough sleep to deal with everything else we had going on. I wouldn’t have been able to manage without my husband who shared the responsibility of night feeds, bottle washing and general household duties. So, you could say we didn’t have a smooth start to parenthood.

I’m happy to say that things do settle down somewhat after that initial period that is much like a whirlwind. However, I realize it’s never going to be the same as it was without kids, and nor would I want it to be. I have discovered that success (in anything) is all about priorities, and this is a topic that you will see raised again and again in my upcoming blog posts.

A final word of advice for all mum’s – please, do not put too much pressure on yourself – keep reminding yourself you do an amazing job, every single day. It is really important you be kind to yourself!

My interview with fitness model, Belinda Benn

Published on August 27, 2010 in inspiration, motivation, Nutrition Articles, Transformation and weight loss. 0 Comments

It seems fitness model Belinda Benn and I have a few things
in common. We’re both in our 40′s, both Aussie, and we
both love helping others achieve their fitness and fat loss
goals.  Being 32 weeks pregnant, one thing I definitely don’t
have right now is Belinda’s abs! But they’ll come back…
 
In light of the upcoming launch of her Get Lean Program,
today I have something quite special for you. 47yo fitness
model Belinda Benn provides us with a sneak peak into her
fat loss secrets as well as some great tips on skin care.
 

 
Sue: Belinda, I’ve read your story and seen you in the magazines – how did you transform your body so dramatically later in life.  I read you never exercised before the age of 37 – is that true?!

Belinda:  Sue, yes it’s true!  I was a coffee drinking, sugar addicted executive.  I was so busy trying to be a “super women” with my career, husband and all my other responsibilities that I had stopped caring for myself – doing things “just for me”.   One day while trying bathers on in a department store dressing room I was shocked to see cellulite and saddle bags (amongst other things) and I realized the body I had in my 20’s had disappeared without me even realizing.  Soon after I set myself the goal of learning to surf and before I knew it I was eating healthily, losing weight and feeling in the best shape of my life.

Sue: I think we can all relate to the dressing room story at some stage or another – probably unbeknown to them retail stores do an amazing job drumming up business for weight loss companies!

What was the hardest aspect of your transformation?

Belinda:  The hardest part was not knowing how to eat right – for energy, longevity and fat burning.  I knew nothing about nutrition.  I started getting fitter but the big change didn’t come until I got my diet straightened out.  It took a while but once I got on track I couldn’t believe how much food I could eat and not put on weight.  I had been eating the wrong foods, at the wrong times in the wrong combination!  When I think back to what I ate in my 30’s it’s shocking – I lived on coffee, milk, sugar, Arnott’s biscuits and fatty foods!  

Sue: I know you get asked this all the time, but how on earth do you look so young? 

Belinda:  Early in my career I worked with Shiseido, the Japanese skincare company and they taught me about holistic wellness.  Which simply means, looking after the total person – inside and out.  We all know things like stress, toxins, over eating, too much alcohol, not enough sleep or a lot of sun, ages us prematurely.  I neglected myself and over indulged like a lot of people do but once I realized, I made some radical life changes – and thankfully it paid off in a big way.   I believe that doing the right things, consistently, adds up to big results over time.

Sue:  Since I am talking with an expert then, a lot of people find that their skin becomes slack after weight loss and they suffer stretch marks.  Did you have those problems? 

Belinda:  Yes I did!  When I started losing weight I began exfoliating every day.  The Japanese had taught me about this and it really works.  I also made sure I included foods in my diet that improved the elasticity of the skin.  In fact, that’s one of the reasons I wrote my Fitness Model Skincare Secrets so I could help people with concerns like that and prove that getting older doesn’t mean we have to age prematurely. 

Sue: What makes your Get Lean Program different from everything else out there?

Belinda: Sue, as you know, many diets start out super strict.  Then as our motivation wanes we go back to our old habits and the weight comes back on.  I have discovered that the easiest and most effective way to achieve a lean physique is to work with the natural harmony of our body’s physiology. From my experience, it takes roughly four weeks before our metabolism jumps to the next fat burning level.  So, the process of obtaining our ideal lean physique should be viewed as fat burning “phases” that we control through establishing new eating habits, rather than a “diet”.  For this reason the Get Lean Program is divided into three, monthly phases: Momentum, Acceleration and Peak.

The Momentum Phase begins the process of increasing your fat burning metabolism. Your body will adjust to new eating habits and these changes will enable you to maintain your diet while gradually reducing your caloric and carbohydrate intake.

The Acceleration Phase will help reduce your body fat % while maintaining the energy levels necessary to work and train hard.  Your body will adjust to producing efficient energy from fewer calories and you will see acceleration in your fat loss.

The Peak Phase will help you reach your optimum lean physique at the end of Month 3.

Many physique competitors use a similar system to prepare for competitions.  But this program takes that science and makes it doable for anyone who wants to lose weight!

Sue: I noticed that you focus a lot on the mental and emotional aspects of losing weight – why is that?

Belinda:  Often it’s not eating healthy or working out that’s our biggest challenge – is our own self-image and self-esteem.  If we allow negative thoughts from the past to contaminate our thinking then that will continually undermine our efforts for success.   Personally I have done a lot of work to change my thinking, from feeling like I am over the hill, old, not sexy anymore, it’s too late or I’ve failed in the past (add in a few of your personal favorites here) and replaced those with new thought patterns of self-confidence and a can do attitude.  We all have moments of weakness and self-doubts, that’s normal.  But there is a lot we can do to get our thinking straightened out!  For that reason I will be giving away my “Think Lean – Get Lean” audio recording with every purchase of the Get Lean Program next week.  

Sue:  Belinda, once last piece of advice for all my readers please!

Belinda:  Transforming your body can seem like an insurmountable task.  But if you take one new positive step forward every day (no matter how small) and tomorrow do it over again – your habits, body and life will progressively change.  Positive change will become a way of life and one day you will catch your reflection in the mirror and realize – there’s a new you! 

 
F.REE FAT LOSS REPORT

If you haven’t get grabbed your copy of Belinda’s free report
Eat to Get Lean – here’s the link. It’s only available until Sunday
so be quick: 

www.idealbodiesonline.com/getleanprogram

 
P.S. Next week be on the lookout for my Get Lean
Program launch emails. If you purchase the program
through one of the links in my emails I’m going to provide
you with an awesome 50% discount on our instant
training programs along with an additional 15%
off everything in our Products Store (excluding
ebooks), in conjunction with Belinda’s
launch. So don’t purchase from any other link if you want
to pick up these discounts! I’ll remind you next week.
 

What is wrong with this picture?

Published on December 5, 2009 in inspiration, motivation, photos and Transformation. 5 Comments

Welcome party Sapphire Princess

Not this one, the one below. There is NOTHING wrong with this picture!

It’s been a little while since I wrote, AGAIN! Thanks lovely people for the comments on my off season pics. Maybe I will consider pre comping soon for an early show again – it was around this time last year – well, after Christmas, that I began my last one. After our Mexico trip my state was a little worse for wear than it is currently. So, yes, this time last year Damien and I were onboard the Sapphire Princess, celebrating his birthday (pic attached for reminiscing purposes).

I’m left without a car this weekend, so was dropped at the gym this morning and walked home afterwards – which was pretty tough after a hard deadlifting session. I sumo deadlifted 75gk for sets of 5 which I thought was pretty good. Slowly building up. Deadlifting is king, I wish everyone knew how to deadlift.

I received this in my inbox the other day and just shook my head. Can anyone tell me what is wrong with this picture??

thirddayfitness_02

The Club 100 winners were announced recently, and, very proud to say that the female winner was one of ours. Nicole Yardley lost 15kg in 100 days and totally transformed her body. Lucky Nicole has won a great cash prize, just for losing some extra baggage and getting healthy. Club 100 will will going again I imagine, so keep in touch about that.

Nicole Yardley - before front

Nicole Yardley - after front outdoors

Congratulations Nicole, you look amazing! Congratulations too, to all the others who entered and managed to finish the 100 day challenge – while you may not have won the competition, I’m sure you got some great results.

I’m off to enjoy some sun. Sorry about the lack of resizing of photos, I don’t have time for that :)

Introducing Karen Lewis…

Published on November 16, 2009 in inspiration, motivation and Staff. 1 Comment

Karen Lewis PSM
Hi everyone, I am Karen – a proud part of Sue’s Ideal Bodies Online team!

As well as guiding my mentor clients through the journey that is the IBO 12 week challenge, I am raising a family, working full time as an event coordinator and continue to manage my health and fitness commitments. …it’s a whirlwind lifestyle but probably not unlike most!

I absolutely love my role as an Ideal Bodies Online personal success mentor – it has enriched my life enormously. I am continually inspired and encouraged by the ambitions and achievements of the people I meet via my role as mentor.

I use the trials and tribulations of my own 12 week challenge to underpin my success as a mentor at IBO. As well as celebrating the wins, I had to manage and overcome my own fears and obstacles as well – so I fully understand the journey first hand.

Many of the hurdles my clients are faced with I have overcome myself. That’s a great source of motivation for my clients and fills me, as a mentor, with a lot of confidence knowing that I can make a positive contribution – simply by understanding.

I like to take a very realistic and positive approach with my clients – more often than not, I’m a soundboard for the fears and hiccups that only a life change can bring.

I am also a source of continual motivation and guidance. As an IBO personal success mentor, I am here to share, listen, discuss ideas and create opportunities so my clients utilize this amazing 12 weeks to their fullest potential. I derive a great source of satisfaction seeing the positive changes slowly creep into their lives…it is so inspiring!
I am forever amazed at what people can achieve and overcome with the right mindset and attitude.

MY PERSONAL CHALLENGE I HAD TO OVERCOME

I’d like to share with you one of MY personal hurdles I overcame during my 12 week journey, in a bid to inspire you further…. and help anyone who may have similar thoughts or patterns and think they are too hard to break…..

One of the issues that I overcame during my 12 week challenge was relinquishing my glass or two of wine each night after work. It was my small reward for a day at the office and most likely the thing I looked forward to the most after dieting all day. It was such a powerful prop that it single handedly inhibited most of my efforts at changing my physical being. My thinking was ‘well it’s only a drink – what harm can a drink do to my other ‘good’ nutritional efforts and a focus on physical fitness?’.

In fact, it was a lot! This little reward was undermining my efforts at consistent weight loss – not only was it calorific – but it would loosen my resolve and on the second or third glass would see me ditching all my good intentions quicker than I could say ‘triple cream brie’. Further, evidence to prove that my body harboured a preference to burn stored energy in my sav blanc before that of my glycogen and fat stores wasn’t helping! In short, I was holding up my metabolic processes as well as setting myself up for perpetual failure!

My solution

Once I committed to the IBO programme written especially for me – that meant I was committing to dropping the vino life prop. I allowed myself one glass of wine per week during my free meal and that was it!!!! so not only had I changed my head space in terms of its habitual use – I also learnt to control my intake of alcohol when I did have it. It was no mean feat! And I see many clients face the same hurdle. So how did I do it? Here are a few tips if you find it hard giving up your one or two alcoholic beverages in the name of physical transformation…

1. Swap it with something else! I tried Bundaberg Diet Ginger Beer (on Sue’s recommendation) It even comes in a bottle that looks like it came out of a wine store. I treated it just like a glass of precious vino – one or two and no more.
2. Change the routine. If you have to unwind after a hard day at work and put your feet up with a glass of wine – jump in a hot bath instead or better still, schedule your workout for that time. There’s nothing that puts you off alcohol more than a good sweat session when you’re gasping for a bottle of water!
3. Learn to say no at parties and functions. If you want to look the part though and not feel left out – ask for a mineral water in a champers glass! No one would even know you were ‘piking out’ and the benefit is you can drive yourself home without the need for taxis after an expensive night out!

At the end of the day, you’ll soon realise you’ll still be a happy, well functioning individual without those two glasses of vino each night (Surprise Surprise!!) and it certainly is something you can take with you beyond your 12 week programme (amongst other amazing changes)!

I found after a few weeks I could just say no rather than create illusionary props to trick my mind. It was a very empowering moment knowing I had control and hence free rein to garner the best body I could as a result!

So as you can see the journey is fraught with a bit of risk and a bit of moving beyond the comfort zone. But it was so worth it.

I have a saying I like to offer my clients: ‘If you always do what you always did, you always get what you always got!’.

I say cheers to that! Ciao, Karen xxx

An eye popping transformation…

Published on May 13, 2007 in inspiration and Transformation. 2 Comments

Well if I don’t write now, I never will. There’s just always something to do! I had to write my Q&A article tonight, for Women’s Health & Fitness titled – How Can I Make My Cardio More Interesting? I was going to just write “you tell me and we’ll both know” but I figure that probably wouldn’t work :) Ahh, there are lots of ways, I just am not that fond of the old cardio these days. Amazing, I used to be the typical cardio bunny back in the 80′s and early 90′s. Showing my age a bit there. Yeah I used to wear leg warmers too! Well they were the IN thing back then ;)
Happy Mother’s Day to all the mum’s out there – still waiting for my prezzie from darling little Rexy, starting to think he hasn’t bought me anything…
We went for lunch with my mum today, and about another 15 mothers, all family of some description. Lovely time.
I have now officially caught up on all my work from holidays, and it’s back to normal. I am in the midst of making some changes to our feedback system, and will need to work on this tomorrow to have it all in place by 21st May. By the way, I don’t believe I have even ‘introduced’ our latest addition to the IBO Team. Please welcome our newest Feedback Coach, Rachel Pyle, pictured above with one of our other amazing IBO women, Program Co-ordinator Dianna Broeren. Picture courtesy of Di’s blog. Rach has achieved some great things, and is one of the most inspiring women I have the privilege of knowing. You can read more about her and our other staff members here:
I will take a moment now to also introduce Carolyn Gerdtz – our latest addition to our team of Personal Success Mentors. We haven’t put Carolyn’s details up on the site yet but if you don’t know of Carolyn – get ready to be AMAZED. The before and after pictures above will give you an indication of this lady’s discipline and courage, and, just what CAN be achieved if you really want it. We are SO proud of you Carolyn!
I plan to add Carolyn’s remarkable professional photos and Success Story to our site soon! You can read Carolyn’s blog here…
Ideal Bodies Online has it’s first competitor on stage in a couple of weeks time! Good luck to Christy, she is competing in the Novic Figure at the Sydney ANB comp on May 27 and is going to look sensational given her latest pictures Di just sent through! A great effort for a first time competitor! Well done Christy – I can’t wait to see the final product!

On a personal note, my training is going along fine – I’m training 4 x week, and just doing cardio when I feel like it :) Still maintaining my pre holiday weight which is nice.

A belated shout to Tracey D, thank you for the lovely words, it’s nice to know I have played some small part in your fitness journey! And thank you for the recent referral :)
Thanks for the comments on my recent vomit :) I know everyone can relate at some point in time!

Happy Birthday to Kerry for Tuesday – I hope you have a fab day and you never know, perhaps you WILL drink that much :)

Ok, time to check out of blogland and read a few pages of my latest James Patterson novel…