Sugar free success

Today is my birthday. It's also the day that marks the end of 9 'sugar free' weeks, and the day I could eat yummy chocolate, cakes and sweet desserts again.

But although someone at work baked me a really delicious chocolate cake, I found myself choosing a few almonds, over the cake for my snack.

Now this is a notable thing as I've always been a big eater of chocolate, cakes, biscuits and sweet desserts. I grew up having a chocolate biscuit after lunch every day and dessert after dinner every night. I've continued that through my adult life too.  

Occasionally I've decided to try and stop eating cakes and chocolates, but never really had that much motivation to do it and the effort was honestly a bit half-hearted.

When I had kids I put on weight, but gradually over the years I've lost most of that weight.

About a year ago, I was sitting at a swim carnival with my daughter. I was wearing shorts, and she looked down at my legs and exclaimed, "Urgh! What's that??", pointing at my cellulite! Now I've had cellulite on my legs for a long time now, and haven't really worried about it that much - until that day and that comment. It reminded me that I still had weight to lose to be a size and shape I wanted to be and was happy with.  I wasn't 'overweight' but was at the top end of those charts that tell you your ideal weight range, but more importantly, I wanted to feel slimmer, fitter and run faster.

So last year I decided to focus, commit and slim down and tone up. I used my new Samsung watch to track my calories and exercise for 12 weeks and lost about 4 kg, putting me at a size, shape and weight I was happy with.  Note that it was only half the weight loss of my target, but once I'd reached this size, I felt happy enough to stop. (but at this stage was still 4kg off my 'goal weight')

Why does this matter?  If I was happy? What is a number?  

That's how I felt, so thought no more of it, I'd slimmed down and toned up, and basically did it by only eating when I was hungry - not eating because I was bored, angry, greedy or any other reason. Seems a simple enough plan and it worked!

So why am I now talking about going 9 weeks without sugar?

Well - my 'goal weight' was 60kg, which is the weight I was in my early 20s, and seems a nice round number. It was the number I always said when I tried to slim down or lose weight over the years. Yet I had reached 64kg and was happy.

So, what happened?

Well, it started on a friend's birthday at work, when there was a delicious rich chocolate cake baked and I had a slice after lunch. It was so rich that I 'had to have another cup of tea to get through the piece of cake'.

When I said this - my choice of words actually made me stop and think...should I really be saying I  have to 'get through' a piece of delicious cake, like it's a chore?  Something wasn't right.

I felt full of sugar the rest of that afternoon, then.... my daughters both called to say they weren't swimming after school as they'd planned to...  I can't even remember their excuse..reason.. whatever. But that was another trigger that made me stop and think.

I was frustrated with my girls for not sticking to what they said they were going to do. It's not about whether they swim or not, or do whatever after school activities they choose or not. It's the idea that if you say you're going to do something, you should do it. To keep on changing your mind is a bad habit - especially when your decisions affect others - who are coming to pick you up, or take you places.  I often schedule things that I want to do around my girls' plans. I have plenty of things to do that can be flexible in their timing, but their sports need someone to take them to and from and I'm happy to help them with that.  But their decisions were affecting my plans and it was frustrating.  I was trying to teach them the importance of sticking to your plans and following through with what you say you're going to do.

So....this all made me think of me saying my magical 'target weight' of 60kg over and over again for several years, but never actually sticking at my plans for long enough to reach that magic number. I'd stop when it got hard and I'd say - oh but I'm happy at this weight.  But wasn't I just doing exactly what I was getting angry with my girls for not doing? It's the old 

'do as I say not as I do'. Not good.

So on the spur of the moment I decided to follow my own advice and stick to what I said I was going to do. But initially I had no real plan.

How could I lose the final 4 kg?  I exercise LOTS, and have tried increasing that to no avail, I just get hungrier. Eating less doesn't work either - I've failed endless times on willpower for that - and sensible feelings too that when I'm exercising so much, my body needs the fuel. I'm a big believer in listening to your body.

So my spur of the moment decision was to stop eating sugary desserts, cakes, biscuits and cakes - until my birthday, which was then 9 weeks away. Over the following few days I decided that fruit was ok, and I wasn't worried about a little bit of sauce here and there and other things that may have a little added sugar, but generally I just avoided cakes, biscuits, chocolate and sweet desserts.

Weeks 2 and 3 were I think the hardest. There were a lot of moments of craving, but each time I felt like having something sweet and chocolately, I reminded myself that if I gave in, I would be doing exactly what I was frustrated at my girls for doing - giving in when it got hard, not sticking to my word, and finally I seem to have found the motivation that worked!

Overall, the 9 weeks really weren't hard. One of the reasons I wanted to lose the kilos was to run faster. About 3 weeks in I got on the scales and was 2 kg lighter than my starting weight. So I went and did Parkrun ( a free 5km run ). I spent the whole run telling myself in my head that I was 2kg lighter - and that was like NOT carrying 2 bags of sugar on my usual run - so I should be faster. I pushed and talked to myself the whole way and ran a personal best time.  I did it again a week later - again going faster.

It was my younger daughter who pointed out that it was probably all in my head, which I believe is true. My weight fluctuates by a couple of kg all the time, so I hadn't actually lost the weight, was just in a dip - which I probably had lots of and had run at that weight before. The difference was my mental attitude, telling myself I should and could run faster. I believed I could and I did.

This was a fantastic motivation for me and I spent the next few weeks discovering some new sugar-free desserts and snacks, like chocolate avocado banana mousse, and a variety of bliss balls.

After 7 weeks I tried on some clothes that I've kept for 16 years, unable to wear because I'd put on weight but unable to get rid of them. I held onto the hope that one day I'd manage to slim back down and wear them again. And guess what - finally I could. Although I got on the scales and haven't really lost weight - something has changed and I can wear all those clothes I've kept for so long!

In the redistribution of my weight - I am slimmer somehow, but weigh much the same. However, I feel like I've finally reached that goal.  I thought my goal was a number - but it wasn't, it was a state of both body and mind.  

I can finally wear all the clothes in my wardrobe, I feel great and I'm running faster.

AND - as if all that wasn't enough - my cellulite has vanished!  I was talking to my girls about my success at the weekend and mentioned the disappearance of my cellulite. 

They asked, "What's cellulite?".

My reply to that question was to reach down to my thighs and squeeze to 'show' them my cellulite...but couldn't find any to show!!   I'm amazed at this as it's not something I'd set out to do, nor ever really considered as a goal. I just had in my head that cellulite was a part of ageing and I wasn't worried about it. I didn't like it but hadn't considered looking at ways to get rid of it.

So that brings me up to today, my birthday and the end of my own personal challenge.  I have various sweet things stashed in our fridge and freezer. Things I've been looking forward to eating again - in particular a Cadbury's Creme Egg (my favourite).

Over the weekend, I had started to wonder what my eating habits will return to now - and what I want them to return to. I no longer crave chocolate and sugar. I've seen such a big difference and change from sticking to my word and just cutting out cakes, biscuits and chocolate. Do I even want to eat it again?

So today when I was presented with my beautiful chocolate birthday cake, I took a very small slice and had 2 small bites. I could appreciate it was a really good chocolate cake, but had no desire to eat it, so stopped after those 2 small bites.  It just all felt wrong.  Chocolate for me is such a pleasure to eat, but this just wasn't. I was eating it for the sake of it because it was my birthday, it was the day I could start eating sugar again after my challenge, and well, you eat cake on your birthday.

But no - after those two bites I wrapped up the cake slice and put it in my lunch box. At my next break I had a few almonds and didn't even look at the cake.  

I brought the slice home and ate it after dinner. More because I still felt I should - and a big part of me wants to enjoy eating cakes and chocolate again.  I managed to finish the slice but felt full of sugar afterwards and regretted eating it.

My feeling now is that last year I learned to control my mind and only eat when I was actually hungry. This time I think I've got rid of the mental chocolate cravings - and the physical manifestation of needing something sweet to go with my cup of tea, or just because it's after dinner, have a cake.  

The plan is now to try and go with what my body feels like. If I feel like some chocolate, I'll have something small. Or if I feel like a cake - have a small piece. But if I don't feel like it - don't eat it.

I've been a big sugar eater and sweet tooth all my life - and it's hard to wrap my head around the idea that I don't want to eat chocolate cake - my favourite cake.  

I'm still learning and figuring this all out.

For those of you who know my blog - I haven't been able to spend much time on it at all, and had no time for sewing for the past year and a bit since I went back to work teaching.  I would like to sew a little again, and breathe new life into my blog.

There is so much I want to do, and my problem now is trying to fit it all in - there just aren't enough hours in the day.

So my next challenge is to find time to do all those things I want to.  Looking at what I've achieved over the past 9 weeks just by simply doing what I said I was going to do, has opened my eyes to possibilities and I'm excited!

Phew!  Well if you've read this far - thank you for taking the time.

I felt the need to share my story and it helps me to put it into words like this.

I'm not sure what comes next exactly, but I believe that 

Success comes from doing things differently.

These past 9 weeks of no sugar were started on the spur of the moment with no real plan - it just kind of developed and grew as I went along.  This is different to all the times I've tried to reach my 'body weight/size' goal as I've always planned my attack and started on a Monday.

So I figure this new approach (for me) has worked once, so I'll just go with the flow and work things out as I go.

Have you ever had an experience like this? Something you've tried to or wanted to do for years - failed and then suddenly managed it?  For me it was absolutely all about finding the right motivation. Fitting into clothes, reaching a number, running faster were all goals but never really enough motivation.

Wanting to show my girls how to be strong and committed was my motivation - to be a good role model for my daughters inspired me. It took me years to find the motivation that works - now I'm holding on to it!

Have you found your motivation yet?

My year of change

This year I have gone back to paid work teaching English as a foreign language, after several years staying home to take care of our children and doing various flexible casual jobs and working on my sewing and blogs from home. It's been a big change working set hours again but I've really enjoyed the change and the new challenge.

I haven't managed to do much sewing this year at all. I did make a toy hammock for my youngest daughter which she loves and it's great for keeping at least some of her cuddly toys out of the way!

Aside from that, all I've done sewing-wise this year is fixing and mending.  I do keep looking at my sewing machine which is hiding under its cover and thinking about the cupboard full of fabric and bits and pieces I have and wondering what I'm going to do with it all.

I'd also like to get back to learning to crochet, which I've been slowly working on for a couple of years now but has fallen by the wayside this year!

I am going to continue teaching which takes up most of my time, but I do want to get back to some sewing and make use of all the fabric and other resources I have. This is my problem and challenge to figure out a plan for over the next few weeks.

We're soon heading off on a big family trip to New Zealand which will be a lovely break and a big chance to reflect on this year which has brought a lot of change into my life. 

I want to continue to develop my blog to reflect those changes and the new direction. I still have the strong philosophy of 'use what you've got' so I'll be taking stock of everything I have from physical and material resources to my own personal abilities and talent and trying to mesh them all together to form a knockout plan for 2018!

So watch this space!

Have you had any big changes of direction in your life?  What are they and where are you headed to now?

I'd love to hear your thoughts too!

Earl Hill, day 91, Use What You've Got

My current challenge to 'use what you've got' has inspired us as a family to make the most of where we live.

Last Monday was a public holiday here in Queensland. We decided to have a walk up Earl Hill which is up at the beaches, just half an hours drive from our house, yet in 10 years living here we'd never been up this hill!

The view from the top was gorgeous!

If a little obscured by a bush fire!

The path was well marked and clear. No chance of taking a wrong turning here! :)

A steady uphill, but a lovely walk!

Then later in the week, we were lucky enough to have clear skies for the total lunar eclipse that turned the moon red!

I was impressed at the photos I managed to get with my little camera!

Here's what the moon looked like before the eclipse from our back patio.

Getting closer to the full eclipse.

Closer still...

And finally, the full red eclipse!

Amazing to see!

What have you seen in your part of the world this week?

Jill

Holloways Beach, Day 84, Use What You've Got

Continuing to make the most of this beautiful place we live in, the girls and I headed out to the beach on Friday for a lovely day in the sun!

The girls enjoyed playing about in the choppy water. I did get in for a little bit, but mostly just enjoyed the peace and quiet of relaxing on the sand!

Jill

Day 79, Use What You've Got - growing a snake!

Do you have any Christmas Presents in your cuphoard from last year that you've still not used or played with?

I found this snake in our cupboard from last Christmas. It's one of those toys that magically grow in water.

Since we were having a quiet family weekend at home last weekend, we thought we'd 'use what we've got' and finally open up the snake packet and get it in some water!

The girls measured it before we started, then threw it in the swimming pool!

They've been measuring it quite regularly ever since, but we've yet to see enormous growth.

I'm not sure if the chlorinated pool water is having the right effect on the snake, or maybe the water is too warm (it's supposed to be under 35C).

But the packet said it would grow 600% in 96 hours (4 days).

It's now been  48 hours (2 days), and it's only grown by about 50% - from 38cm to 58cm long.

Maybe we left it in the packet too long? Or maybe it's just a slow grower?

Oh well - at least we've got it out and are making use of it! Better than having it sitting in the cupboard!

 I think we might take it out of the pool, rinse it off and put it in a bucket of tap water - see if that helps it grow any more!

Have you ever had one of these toys that grow in water?

Did yours work?

And do you have and Christmas presents from last year you haven't played with yet?

Jill

A glimpse of Cairns - Day 77, Use What You've Got

On Friday, I had a lovely morning out with my girls, biking around the cane fields. For lunch, we then took a picnic to a gorgeous spot here in Cairns - Stoney Creek.

The water is cool and refreshing and we had lots of fun cooling off, building dams, racing leaves in the water and watching the wildlife!

Here are  a few pictures:

It's good to take time to enjoy the beautiful place you live in! 

Do you?

Jill

Willpower! - Day 67, Use What You've Got

In this 100 day challenge I've set myself to 'Use What I've Got" I've decided that I need to start using my willpower more.

This year I've really been pushing myself to keep exercising lots and have felt fitter and healthier than ever.  I'm running faster and stronger than ever before and earlier this year I dropped a few kilos too which was a nice by product of all my hard work.  

A winter cold

However - over the past couple of months I was sick, then had a lingering irritating cough and blocked sinuses which meant I cut back on my exercise lots - and ate a lot more comfort food.  The weight has crept back and my fitness levels have dropped.

All better now!

Yesterday I went for a run and for the first time in weeks I didn't cough once during it. I pushed hard and was exhausted at the end but it felt good.

I have a half marathon that I'm training for coming up in just over 7 weeks time, so I've decided it's time to get back into some full on training and being a bit more careful with what I eat.

My weakness

I may have a strong will when it comes to pushing myself to exercise - run and workout. But when it comes to food, I'm not so strong.

Working from home - I can grab a snack so easily whenever I want - and frequently do throughout the day!

I also love to bake - and we almost always have home-baked cakes and cookies in the house.  I'm also guilty of licking the bowls out after I've mixed the cakes and taste-tasting the cookies etc when they come out of the oven.

So - here's where my willpower comes in.

I need to stop all the unnecessary snacking - especially when I bake.

Yesterday and today I baked cakes and managed to rinse the bowls and put them in the dishwasher without even a tiny taste of the cake or cookie mixture first.

I'm trying very hard to snack on better things, like some fresh pineapple.

And drinking plenty of water - often spiced up with some lemon ice-cubes.

A healthy weight

I'm not overweight but I'm right at the top end of the scale of what is healthy for my height.   I've never been overly concerned about my weight - preferring to concentrate on feeling fit and healthy. Exercising regularly and trying to eat well.

However I am a little over what I usually weigh and can feel my clothes are a bit tight!

I'm also aware that losing a few kilos would make running a bit easier for my body - and faster too, so that's an added incentive to work that willpower when it comes to food from now on!

So there - I've put it out there.

I weigh 69kg now, but should be much closer to 60kg than 70kg!  

I need to learn to cut smaller pieces of cake!!

What's your weakness?

Do you have a willpower? Do you use it much?

Jill

Day 18 - Use What You've Got

Today I'm going to be making use of the medicine and vitamins we have in our house - together with some fresh fruit, plenty of water and enjoying the comfy sofa to rest on.

I'm a bit sick just now with flu-type symptoms. Yesterday was a day when I had to be out and about all day and it really wiped me out. Today I'm resting!

Relaxing sewing!

Yesterday I had my first real sewing day of the year.  I made these pencil and notebook folders with fabric from my stash. 

I used my own tutorial, and since I have made lots of these before, it was a nice relaxing day of sewing!

As I've mentioned before - I'm planning to use my fabric stash this year to make things for my soon to open Madeit shop.  These are the first items to stock the shop.  I plan to sew something each week - probably from my own tutorials.

It was nice to just sew and not have to remember to take photos of each step, or figure out how to make something.

I will make more tutorials this year - but with over 100 of my own now available here on my website , I figure I've earned a break for a while.

I like the idea of choosing something to make each week, and although I'm going to list things for sale in my Madeit shop, I'm not really focussing on promoting it.  It'll be good to stock up on handmade gifts for birthday parties my girls get invited to. Plus I'm helping my girls set up their own Madeit shop for things they make - so it's all about helping them.

At this stage, if I sell anything through it - it's a bonus!!

(of course having said all that, I will post a link when I get the shop set up in the next couple of days!)

So nice to be doing things for a purpose, but without any pressure. (I hope that makes sense).

I feel overall more relaxed this year, happy to be continuing sewing and blogging, but feeling less pressured to focus so much on growing the blog.

Happy days!

A bit of stitching!

Since I've been absent from the blog for a couple of weeks now, I thought I'd show a quick picture of something I've been sewing!

I had several kids to get Christmas presents for and post around the World. I like to make things for the kids so they always get something that you can't buy in the shops, but also light to post, as postage from Australia is very expensive!

This year, I made everyone a little keychain pouch with a personalised rag tag to go with it.

I had fun choosing the fabrics from my scrap boxes to go with the jeans denim; and I'm really pleased with how they turned out! 

I was so intent on finishing them, and getting them wrapped and in the right packages for the right families and countries, that I forgot to photo all of them.

So there you go - that's one thing I've been up to sewing-wise lately.

This week I have to make new roman blinds for my girls new bedrooms!  

I will share pictures when I'm finished those too!

Hope everyone is well, and managing to get in some Christmas sewing or crafting!!

Yet another duffel bag and a cat.

A couple of months ago I made myself a new duffel bag using my own Personalised Duffel Bag pattern.

I then had to make another one for my elder daughter who tried to claim my new bag for herself.

Then a couple of weeks ago, my younger daughter decided she didn't want to be left out and wanted one too!

I finally got a round to making one for her - with some cute cat fabric she chose.

The cat in the first photo is one that has taken to hanging out with us these holidays. I don't know who he belongs to, but he's enjoying all the attention from the girls, and I must admit he's very cute!

I wonder if he'll continue to come around once the girls are back at school next week..

Have a wonderful weekend, wherever you are in the world.

New blog look and a picture of me!

Hello!

Yes, this is me!

I've shied away from putting pictures of myself on the blog for a LONG time now, but have finally gotten over my shyness and decided to change my profile picture!

Today I've been sprucing up my blog a little so this is just a part of that!

I changed my header and the page buttons at the top.

I've also changed the pages a little, and added some new ones to reflect more what my blog is about.

I've updated my About Me page and shuffled things around a little in general.

Last week I began this process and reorganised all of my free tutorials, making clearer links and more pages with the tutorials grouped into themes.  In just the week since then, I've noticed a growth in my blog statistics - and that my visitors are hanging around for longer, which is great!

It's good to see a positive result from a lot of hard work, and this motivated me to finish making those little changes that I've had in my head for a while now!

How about you?  When was the last time you did some blog housekeeping and updated things in your space?

Phew! Well that's today's work done - time to finish up for the week - on to my daughter's hockey match now!

Enjoy the end of your week and do come back tomorrow for the next installment of 

Upcycling Clothes item by item.

Better eyesight!

Today I wanted to share something with you that I'm very excited about.

I went to the opticians at the weekend for an eye check.

I've worn glasses for distance vision since I was about 10 years old.

I've also over the years since then read a lot about improving vision without glasses.  But that has been the problem - I've read lots, but not done enough!

But a few weeks ago that changed!

(You can read more about what changed if you're interested here.)

Now, after almost 4 weeks of sticking to my eye exercises 3 or more times a day, every day, I've noticed a big change - and I was so pleased when the optician told me a couple of days ago that my eyes have improved to the stage that I no longer need glasses to drive!

Yippeee!

So today I went and got my drivers license changed from this:

(S means spectacles should be worn when driving)

to this....

I'm still continuing with the eye exercises to improve my eyesight further!

My daughter is also doing the exercises with me as she is beginning to have a little trouble with reading things at distance.

After our trip to the opticians, we also found that she has one eye weaker than the other, so he recommended wearing an eye-patch a little each day to strengthen the weaker eye.

So I made her a nice soft eye-patch 

(there's my crafty side to this post!):

Do you wear glasses? Have you ever tried eye exercises?

If you're interested - here's the website I got the eye exercises and charts from:

http://www.vision-training.com/

It's just so great to see a reward for sticking to something consistently! Now I have to apply the same level of determination and consistent effort to other areas of my life! I'm excited about what I'm capable of achieving when I put my mind to it!

How about you?