Week 11 - Skinny Tub, Snickers and Patience Games

As we enter Week 11 of my own STRIP phase, I found myself thinking on Monday morning about how much of this process really is just patience.

Annoying, yes.

Necessary, also yes.

As we all know, weight loss is not a super fast thing. I know I’m speaking for a lot of people when I say I wish it would just come off quickly, but realistically, we didn’t put weight on overnight, so we can’t expect it to come off overnight either.

Whether the weight gain came from food choices, lower movement, life getting chaotic, lack of education, pregnancy, stress, or a mix of all of the above, the answer is still the same.

We have to put in the work.

We have to be consistent.

And we have to keep going long enough to actually see the results.

So Monday morning I gave myself a gentle reminder that this is a patience game, and to just keep doing what I’m doing, because I genuinely think I’m doing quite well.

Every week is not going to be perfect. Things happen. Even once we’re in CONTROL and RELEASE, there will be times we can’t get as many steps in, or we can’t go to the gym, or life gets busy and we stop being the priority for a minute.

That’s normal.

The important lesson is noticing when we’ve slipped down the priority list and then re-prioritising ourselves as soon as we can.

Anyway, my point is, I’m only Week 11 and I’m really excited to see what happens over the next 13 + weeks.

Before getting pregnant with Arlo, I think the lowest I got down to was around 64 or 65kg, which was amazing. After I had Rocky, I was about 97kg, so losing over 30kg was massive, and I was so happy with where my body and weight sat for ages.

This time though, I’d like to see what I can do if I push a little further.

At the moment, as of Monday morning, I’m sitting at 68kg. I’d like to get to at least 58kg and then reassess.

I am very short at 155.9cm.

The .9cm is very important, thank you.

I think getting to a baseline of around 58kg before doing my next body assessment with Keiran will help me work out what I want to do from there.

To reward myself for my patience, I bought some cute pink versa grips! They came over night from amazon!!

Monday was my office day, and as always, it was very busy.

I didn’t get a car park in time in our building, but honestly, that helped me get steps in because I had to park next door and walk.

After work, I came home to drop off a card and cash to Jason and the kids before they went to a birthday dinner for one of the cousins, and then I jumped on our support call, which was amazing as always.

I really look forward to the support calls.

After the call, the family still weren’t home, so I used that time to clean up a little bit. I also got this new spray mop from Amazon, and it is incredible for quickly doing the floors when I don’t want to turn the robo vac on because that takes much longer.

Then I ran Arlo’s bath and got all his pyjamas ready for when he got home.

Once the kids were all in bed, I decided to hop into bed myself and read my book.

I’m reading Heartless at the moment. It’s a cowboy love story where he falls in love with his nanny, who is his brother’s fiancée’s best friend.

Highly recommend if you haven’t read it. I think there are a few books in the series too.

Tuesday was such a great day working away on check-ins.

I got in my first gym session in a few weeks, and it felt so good. I did legs and went one weight lower than I normally would, just to ease myself back in, but it felt really good to be moving again.

I had also planned a parent-teacher meeting with Rocky’s teacher to talk through how we can help him expand on his writing skills. He’s above average in everything, but we just want to make sure he’s using all the descriptive words and building confidence with that side of things.

So I met with his teacher at 3:15pm while the kids waited outside, and then they came with me to a tattoo removal appointment at 4:15pm.

It really hurt this time.

I’m getting one on my thumb and one on my foot removed, and he turned up the volume this time. I could literally taste metal in my mouth straight away, which he said usually doesn’t happen that quickly, so maybe that’s a good thing. They’re just some little tattoos I’ve outgrown.

After that, I had a little surprise for the kids.

Nola skipped soccer, and instead we went down to Rocky’s football oval because some of the Raiders NRL players were holding training sessions.

As soon as we pulled up, Rocky’s favourite player walked past, and Rocky called out and the ran after him to tell him they have the same birthday. Both kids got a photo and some signatures, and then he got to walk around with them and train with them.

He felt SO important.

It was the cutest thing in the world.

Nola wasn’t as fussed as him, haha, but Rocky got special treatment because his coach is the president of their league club, and his son is in the same team as Rocky too.

Rocky has not stopped talking about how he was their bodyguard. He was telling me exactly where he walked and everything.

So cute.

When we got home, Jason had already prepped dinner for everyone, so we got to spend a little bit of family time together before bedtime.

Tuesday night, I dreamed about writing check-ins.

I’m not even kidding.

I was writing responses in my sleep.

That’s how dedicated I am, people.

Wednesday after school drop-off, I logged onto work for a little while and then had my haircut appointment.

My hairdresser is a really good friend of mine, so we had a good little gossip session, and then I was back to work for the day.

Wednesday we had our usual support call, which was awesome, and then I actually went back and took a screenshot of my face from the first call compared to this call.

There’s about 9kg difference.

Can you tell? I feel like it’s hard with my hair done differently. So blurry……. Best I could do! Also what is that face in the first one!?

I also found a one-air-fryer-wonders meal prep hack for when I’m doing it on the fly.

I’ve been putting 100g of green beans, 150g of lamb steak or normal steak, and two eggs whole in their shell into the air fryer.

Oh my god. Brilliant.

I’m not very good at cracking the eggs after, and I think I overcooked them the first time, but the beans and meat are so delicious, and it literally takes about 10 minutes altogether.

I’m going to do this from now on with anything I can.

After I finished work on Wednesday, I made a delicious healthy dinner for everyone, and I have never seen Arlo eat so many veggies before.

The kids had rice, chicken and veg with some aioli, and I had mine with 50% less fat Kewpie.

After dinner I went to a parent information night for Nola’s first Eucharist! 7-8pm! Lots of info to soak in and my gosh I was tired but those church chairs know how to keep you awake!

Thursday was a normal busy work day.

I did my gym session too, and the evening was a family meal together after Rocky’s footy training.

Friday was my other office day.

I took my meal prep with me, and afterwards I was deciding which chocolate bar to have!!!

I can absolutely have the Snickers, but I’m still going to track it.

Lunchtime I got my nails done. I forgot to take a fresh photo, so here’s one I took later that day with my cute new fake flame heater in the background.

After work, I had a nice quiet evening with Arlo. We shared a protein pizza and fruit for dinner while Jason took the older two to a party at Timezone.

Saturday we had soccer, and then I went to the gym.

Arlo saw me working out and tried to do the same.

Very cute.

I also decided to go through my skinny tub, and it all fit me.

Holy smokes, I was so happy.

These shorts are ones I’ve been trying to fit into for the last six months, and they finally fit.

Such a good feeling.

Then we had a surprise 60th for one of Jason’s uncles, which was super fun. The kids played pool and ran around, and the uncle was very surprised.

This was for Jason’s side, and their events are always such a good time.

One of the Aunty’s took heaps of photos and when I saw them I honestly didn’t recognise myself! My face is so much skinnier than I picture now which is nice!

It started at 4pm, and I took the kids home at 6:30pm for showers and bed because I had an appointment with Everlab.

Lucky for me, I get my bloods done regularly, so we had lots to look at, but I’m planning to get more bloods done this week and a DEXA scan the week after so I can really dive in.

Watch this space.

One thing I also ordered, which I think is really cool, is a test that looks into how my body responds to medication.

After my little medical procedure and the after-effects I had, I thought this one would be really important for me.

Once I do the test, it takes about 4 to 6 weeks to get the results.

One thing I do know is my cholesterol is a little on the higher end. Not dramatically high, but enough that I want to pay attention to it.

We are testing whether it’s genetic, but in the meantime, I’ve ordered and planned my next meal plan around foods that are better for cholesterol and also help protect bone density, so I’ll post more about that next week.

By this stage, I was so tired.

Poor Arlo had a cough, and Jason was out drinking, so between getting up for bottles, doing nose spray for Arlo, and Jason getting home at 3am, I felt like I barely slept.

Sunday the kids were up by 6:30am, and it was time to find Rocky’s footy gear.

Together, this took a solid hour.

The mouth guard was in a random basket, and a clean sock was under the couch.

As you do.

Jason was not getting up anytime soon, but I gave him the sleep-in he needed and set a sleep-in curfew of 12pm because I had lunch plans.

It was one of my closest friend’s birthdays, so even though it was pouring, the three of us went to a restaurant called Beltana Farm.

It is so beautiful there. They grow and cook all their own produce, and this was an untracked meal, but so worth it.

We shared the meals and had such a lovely time. I forgot to take a photo of the mains but here is entrée and dessert!!

We always forget to get a photo together though. Every time.

By the time I got home, I was so tired that I went for a nap. Jason got his sleep-in, so it was my turn, and it was glorious.

One hour. Done and dusted.

Then it was dinner prep, kids’ routine, the Fundamentals call, and posting this blog.

Now for check-in.

Week: 11

Phase: STRIP

Nutrition adherence: 6/7

Weekly average steps: 6,076 eek!

Training: 3/4

Average body weight change: -400g

The things I’m most proud of this week are:

• Knowing my weight loss slowing down a little could be from restarting creatine and inflammation from getting back into the gym.. also the shit steps and not 4/4 training………

• Doing my Everlab sign-up.

• Ordering a desk for my walking pad so I can work while getting steps in.

• Getting back into training after a few weeks off.

• Fitting into my skinny tub clothes.
  

The areas I need to improve next week are:

• Steps need to come up.

• Complete all gym sessions.

• Use my walking pad properly now that I’ve ordered the desk.

• Keep my bedtime routine tighter and avoid the scrolling spiral.