The Start of the Challenge- I have my old face back!

Challenges:
Day 1- Protein with every meal, 8 minute abs, write down 5 qualities you would like to poccess and ways to gain these!
Day 2- Eat as many colours as possible, 3 sets of 12 squats, allow indulgence, post "before" pictures on xanga!

Yesterday didn't go as planned. I had my hostel warming which only two of my friend's turned up to, when twelve were initially invited, I went to both church services and I went out for Chinese, but got annoyed with my friend's so left early. I didn't get around to doing Sophie's set challenges, but I will do them later in the week.

5 Qualities I would like to Possess:

1. I would like to feel included and valued while in a big group of people. Often when we are having conversations I get ignored even when I have valuable or interesting things to contribute. I don't know why this happens, but I think I need to speak louder. Sometimes me trying to get my voice across means I cut across others without meaning to, or knowing they were about to speak. It's a big problem because it makes me feel angry with my friend's for not caring, and it makes me feel lonely because I get ignored even when surrounded by mates.

2. Courage. I get scared easily, espesically in bad whether. Since the tornadoes last year, I get unsettled during rain, wind and also thunder and lightening. I can't sleep and I get scared my world is ending and I am going to die. It happens more at night-time when I am competely alone, and since I no longer live at home, I have no-one to run to if I get scared. There's other things that terrify me that have caused alot of pain and embarrassment that I would rather live without.

3. Putting others first. Some of my friend's are so generous with their time and money, but I'm like the grinch. I can't share my food because I feel like I'm missing out and get really anxicious and I have a tough time sharing. I would like to reach out more and help others instead of just looking after my own needs. I want to be someone that others can trust and turn to when they are in trouble, but at the moment I'm waist deep in my own problems and am trying to keep my head above water, so to speak.

4. I wish I could keep my thoughts simple instead of having things in my head so complicated that even I get confused. I also wish I had more confidence in prayer and talking aloud, and would say what I mean instead of stuffing up and confusing or offending people unintentionally.

5. I wish I appreciated all the wonderful things I have been blessed with more. I've come to accept things and even though I am incredibly lucky and have just about everything I want and need, I forget that others don't have these luxaries and I take them for granted instead of thanking the people who got me to where I am.

This list is very different to one I would have made a year ago. Jesus has been changing me, and I think I have come such a long way in the year. I am still very self centred but I want to help other people more and my problems don't seem quite as important in comparision to some of the stuff other's deal with on a daily basis.

"Before" Pictures

Me in a Mini Skirt. Not a pretty Picture!

In my old bedroom- My legs and Thighs. My legs are starting to look really good!

My arms are starting to get toned up. I can see muscle!

I can see collarbones
 

I hate my bum My stomach doesn't look too great in these either!

Wow look how big this skirt is getting! I'm doing great!

I would post pictures of my stomach but as well as looking horrible, I'm in my undies in all the pictures so I didn't think it would be in good taste.

The last few days have been hectic. I can't remember a time when I've been so busy. We've had to do alot of shopping to fill my hostel flat with enough supplies while mum and dad are in Greece and I've had to do alot of advance planning concerning weight watcher's and exercise.

Me and Jennifer went to the hostels yesterday and set up. It's like the dream bedroom I never had. There's a double bed, a TV, my laptop, a fridge, a toliet and a shower. Impressive eh? I'm moving in tonight and I can't wait!

I went shopping with my friend's a few days ago and I brought a Baby G for $150. They were not impressed and convinced me to return it or swop it for something classier. I didn't know what to do and the watch looked less and less attractive by the second so I returned it. That was the first time in about two years that I've had my own watch, and I owned it less than four minutes! I ended up spending all the money on hostel stuff anyway.

While we were in town me and Shekinah did alot of talking about my weight and my progress towards weightloss and how I alway's feel really frumpy and unattractive, espesically around her and the girls. She motivated me to go home and start my own fashion journal, which she did not actually come up with. We realised that one of my problems it that I don't have a base wardrobe for my outfits, I have several different styles which do not work together and the clothes I pick are often made with cheap fabric.

I wrote down a list of celebrities whose fashion sense I admired and I cut out pictures of them at their best. Then I made a brainstorm of all the basic's a girls wardrobe should have like a nice pair of jeans and some boots etc. I also made alot of rules up about how I dress such as how much skin is allowed to be shown between my collarbones and my breasts and how I shop. I also started a page which I will print off "not what to wear tips" on how to dress for my changing shape, and complimentary colours for skin tones. Because I am quite pale, with brown hair and bluish green eyes, I seem to look best in earthy tones, black or white. It's really weird because white makes me look like a giant marshmellow but if I just wear a white scarf, it seems to make my skin sparkle and look tanned even though its not most of the time!

With the sales on at the moment, I decided I will add two pairs of boots ($20 each!), a nice pair of jeans, a jean jacket and the Baby G watch when I have more money to my wardrobe because this should be enough to make my other clothes seem cool again. I'm really going to have to be more careful with my clothing in the future and learn the real value of a dollar. I'm not always gonna have my parents around to pay my living expenses so I have to learn now!

You might think I'm being lazy at the moment but I have been doing alot of work in the background, sorting out stuff for when I move into the hostels. Here's my food and exercise plan for the upcoming nine days!

	Saturday	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday
Breakfast	1 Banana, 1 Orange, 1 Pear	Baked Beans on Toast	Baked Beans on Toast	Boiled Egg and “Soldiers”
Lunch	2 Potato Fritata’s & Green Salad	Banana Smoothie	1 Potato Fritata & Instant Soup	Baked Potato with pea’s, tuna and cheese
Dinner	2 Honey Chicken Kebabs, Side Salad	Hostel Warming. Take-aways!	Kitty’s Pasta Salad	Real Chicken Salad
Snacks	Ricecrackers	1 Potato Fritata	1 Pear, 1 Orange	Carrots & Salsa
Pure Indulgence	Chocolate Moose	Milo & 2 Choc Fish	Chocolate Moose	Diet Coke
Exercise	Walk along Foreshore.	Walk with Friends to Church!	Weight Watchers Meeting at 7:30pm	Roller-skating at Rink
Sophie Challenges	♥ No chocolate, baked goods or chips after 4pm. ♥ 100 sit-ups. ♥ Buy size 10 tank top.	♥ Protein with every meal. ♥ 8 Minute Abs ♥ Write 5 qualities you would like to possess and ways to gain these!	♥ Eat as many colours as possible! ♥ 3 sets of 12 squats. ♥ Allow indulgence! ♥ Post “before” pics on xanga!	♥ No processed foods ♥ 15 minutes of stretching. ♥ Try “ten ways to feel young”- see article!

Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Porridge and a Banana	Honey and Banana on Toast	Spaghetti on Toast	Yoghurt and a Pear	Jam on Toast, 1 Orange
Sushi	2 Minute Noodles	Yoghurt, Pear, Banana and Marshmallows	2 Corn Toasties	2 Minute Noodles
Cheesy Spinach Enchilada	Dinner with Jenny!	Gluten Free Quesadilla	Healthy Nachos	Banana Maple Pancakes
Chocolate Yoghurt	Almonds and Pistachio’s	Instant  soup	Frozen yoghurt	Chocolate yoghurt & Feijoas
Lemonade Iceblock	Pinkie Bar	Tomato Juice	Chocolate Moose	Yoghurt & Marshmallows
Gym	Gym & Swim, Big Oakura Walk,	30 Min X-trainer + Rowing Machine	YouTube Dance Video	Walk to Morning Church
♥ No chocolate. ♥ 3 sets of 10 hip raises. ♥ Find a exercise buddy. ♥ Find out what 10% bodyweight is.	♥ Make a healthy version of something you love. ♥ Wall push-ups. ♥ Set a few small goals.	♥ Drink unsweetened tea. ♥ 1 hour of cardio. ♥ Write a motivational phrase to stick on mirror. ♥ Write a few paragraphs about how you feel about your naked self.	♥ 15 sit-ups for every piece of candy. Step raises. ♥ Take photo of worst body part and stick onto fridge.	♥ Do as many jumping jacks as you can! At least 100 in 4 sets of 25! ♥ Find a magazine and circle examples of good and bad body images.

I still have to figure out a few more snack idea's and come up with a shopping list, but I think I'm sorted now!

I've decided to postpone the challenge for a few days and start again on thursday. It's way too hard at the moment because I'm sorting out accomodation stuff, going shopping with mum to find cooking and living stuff since I won't be able to use the stuff here while I'm away and soon I will be moving in. Tomorrow I have a Weight Watcher's meeting, and then I have three driving lessons before the weekend and one day at my Practicum placement. Today I got my new laptop, so its been pretty hectic uploading all the new programs on and getting all my music and photo files off the family computer. This week I have to also sort out meal plans so mum can go grocery shopping with me and show me how to take advantage of all the specials and hand her knowledge down a generation.

This morning my alarm cloak didn't go off after a rough night of powercuts and rain so mum had to wake me and dad up so I wouldn't miss my second driving lessons since thursday last week, then afterwards me and dad had breakfast at the hospital and before I knew it I had eaten half a giant chocolate brownie and two serves of chocolate milk. Also with this weather I've been too scared to go for a walk outside, so once I move into town I will be able to meet with my friends, walk to their houses and go to the public swimming pool and parks to get activity into my day.

Anyway my laptop. I was really worried about since I found out there was no way I would be getting a mac until heaven (haha yeah right!). It turned out fine though. It has all the features I like off my sister's Mac and Dad brought Microsoft Office for me as well so I have everything I need for studying aside from a printer.

A Healthy Challenge

This is something Sophie created just over a year ago. I never finished the challenge, but I enjoyed it while it lasted and thought, what the heck, I think I'll give this another shot! Weight Watchers can get boring sometimes, and this will give me something else to focus on when I move out of home.

Rules

1. Have at least one cup of water with every meal you eat (or before/after)
2. No eating two hours before you go to bed.
3. Get at least 15 minutes (preferably in one go) of cardio each day (this could even be doing a few sets of stairs!)
4. 10 minutes of calisthenics.

Day One!

Food:  No chocolate, chips or baked goods after 4pm today.
Exersize: 100 Situps
Mind:  Make a collage of healthspo and either set it as your computer wallpaper or to put somewhere in the house!
(special challenge): Sometime this week, buy yourself a top (nothing expensive, just a really basic top/shirt/tank top) that should fit you at your goal weight. 

The day hasn't actually started yet, as it's only 2:30am so I'll come on later and track my progress. I will be informing you of my food intake and my exercise. My friend Shekinah wants me to go out for lunch with her, but I'm not so keen so we'll see. I will definately buy a new top though, in a size 10 which is three dresses sizes smaller than I am right now. I know that sounds big, but thats like an American size 6 I think. I'm excited about this

I may make video's to record my progress with this. We'll see!