Week 20 - Audiobooks, Beetroot Pants & Book Tears

Monday was a public holiday, so all five of us were home.

Arlo had a great morning playing in the lounge room, and then I made a delicious breakfast.

I had rye bread, froached eggs and Mingle Everything Bagel seasoning.

Also, do you know what I mean by a froached egg?

You fry it, but you put the lid on, and then take the lid off just as the top starts to look poached.

The best.

Monday ended up being a lovely family day at home. We also did a bit of a working bee, and I think I’ve mentioned this before, but my kids are so good when we do this.

If we say, “Alright, for the next 20 minutes we are all helping and tidying,” they actually do it.

And then suddenly the house is spotless.

Four extra hands doing the work is so good.

We also had our support call on Monday, which was great, and then just like that, the public holiday was over and we were already at Tuesday.

Tuesday was still school holidays, so the kids had care organised, Arlo was in daycare as normal, and I had my post-operation appointment in Sydney.

Now, don’t ask me why I haven’t done this before. Obviously I’ve thought about it, but I’ve never actually done it.

I downloaded the Throne of Glass book I’m up to as an audiobook and listened to it the whole drive to and from Sydney.

That is nearly seven hours of book listening.

Phenomenal.

I also cried a few times, so I had to fix my face before I saw my surgeon.

The check-up went really well, which was great. My surgeon was really happy with everything he was seeing, and he drained some fluid from my bra line.

He said there was a little bit of fluid there and withdrew about three fat syringes, which was pretty cool. Here is my cool suit I have to wear:

Anyway, when we got home on Tuesday, we fixed the neighbour’s trampoline because all the neighbourhood kids jump on it all the time and they broke the mat.

Here’s a cute photo of Arlo before his bath because he had to come out and supervise.

Wednesday was my first day back at work.

We started the day with Arlo climbing on the table watching Mickey Mouse, and then I logged on from home.

For any newbies reading this, this is my government job. I also work full-time in government, and then I coach outside of that too. Two full time jobs, and somehow I make it work.

I didn’t have too chaotic of an inbox to get through, which was good, and it was really nice to see my team again.

I also went for a walk at lunchtime, and we had a wonderful support call that day too.

Thursday was pretty much a repeat of Wednesday, but here’s a cute photo of Arlo cuddling the dog out the front of his daycare.

I also went through my gym clothes.

Does anyone else have an insane amount of gym clothes?

These are just my summer sets.

Very normal.

Very necessary.

Obviously.

I had a late lunch on Thursday, and look, as we know, I’m also tracking my saturated fat at the moment because my cholesterol is a little bit higher.

But I snuck myself two pieces of plastic cheese.

It was so good.

But honestly, after scanning it and tracking it, I was like, damn it, I probably shouldn’t have eaten that.

Lesson learned.

Then I went for a walk again, and oh my god, can we please just take a moment for the outfit I was wearing?

Brown hoodie.

Beetroot pants.

Pink socks.

Green shoes.

Thank god no one saw me walking because what the actual fuck was that combination?

We also got our meat delivered, and I made steak on the barbecue for dinner on Thursday night.

It was delicious.

Friday was my office day, so here’s Arlo waiting for my mother-in-law to come and look after him.

Also, how funny are his odd socks?

Our washing pile got a little bit fucked up this week, so I could not find him a matching pair.

But I can promise you, by Sunday it was sorted and put away.

Because I’m currently wearing a long sleeve recovery suit, I had to figure out something to wear on Friday that covered it.

I ended up finding a loose blazer and putting a T-shirt underneath, and honestly, I thought it looked pretty good.

Friday went pretty quickly because I was really busy.

When I got home from the office, all the kids were playing outside. Arlo was chasing them up and down the street while they had walkie-talkies and were playing hide-and-seek.

It was very cute.

Saturday morning, I had breakfast with some friends.

I didn’t get any photos unfortunately, but I had sourdough with avocado and poached eggs.

Both breakfasts out this weekend I told myself, “make sure you take a photo for the blog.”

Did I?

No.

So I do apologise that you can’t see the delicious food I ate.

On my way home from breakfast, I got a car wash because the Sydney bugs were chaotic.

Then Saturday afternoon, I found myself sobbing in the bathroom.

Not because I was thinking about how long I still have left in this STRIP phase.

Not because life is busy and chaotic and time feels precious.

No, I was crying because of the last chapter of the book I was reading.

Spoiler alert, but the main character had just been whipped and was planning to sacrifice herself to save everyone around her.

And for some reason, it got me deep.

Maybe it was the lives she had touched.

Maybe it was the people around her she could trust.

Maybe it was the way she had built her own little army of people who would stand beside her.

And honestly, maybe that’s how I feel about my clients too.

We are an army.

We are in this together.

We all have our own battles, our own hard seasons, our own moments where we feel like we’re doing too much or not enough, but there is something really powerful about having people around you who get it.

Anyway, that book absolutely took me out.

Dramatic? Yes.

Valid? Also yes.

Then Jason went and played a round of golf, and we ended up having all the neighbours over Saturday afternoon.

And honestly, no regrets.

Yes, they trashed the house.

But Arlo had the best time with them all, I got to put my headphones in and keep listening to my audiobook while I cleaned, and I actually sorted Jason’s wardrobe for him as a gift.

I keep my wardrobe really clean.

He does not.

Then I made rissoles from scratch with rice, veggies and homemade tzatziki, and the kids loved them.

Sunday morning I took the kids out for breakfast with a friend.

Again, forgot to take a photo.

Excellent blogging.

This time I had eggs Benedict, and it was so good.

After breakfast we came home, and then my mum came over to look after Rocky and Arlo because Nola and I had a baby shower.

One of Jason’s cousins is having a baby, so we all got together to celebrate, which was so lovely.

The food spread looked amazing, but I only had a small piece of cake. I used calorie banking across the weekend, tracked the meals out the best I could, and made it work around real life.

Nola and I dressed similar, which was very cute, and it was such a beautiful afternoon.

After being in control for a few weeks, I’ll be honest, I started to feel a bit down.

Not down like I had failed or done anything wrong.

More just that little voice of, “Do I still look okay?”

I’m still swollen, and my body looks very different in recovery right now compared to what it would look like in a normal control phase. So it’s not just maintenance calories.

There is surgery swelling, inflammation and recovery happening too.

But even knowing that, it can still mess with your head.

So I decided to pull out a few dresses from my summer tub that didn’t fit me in January and try them on. And one that fit but was tight.

And I tell you what, I was pretty excited that they fit.

I did a little side-by-side comparison, and that definitely lifted my spirits.

When my mum came over, she also said, “Oh my god, you look so good. You look so much thinner.”

And honestly, it was really nice to hear.

I think a lot of you will relate to this too. Not everyone comments. It’s actually been a bit of a hot topic lately in the support calls and in the community, because people have mentioned that the people around them don’t always say much about their journey, whether they’ve noticed weight loss, or how much effort they’ve been putting in.

So when someone does take the time to say something, it can feel really meaningful.

I know I’m back to looking more like I did before I got pregnant, but Arlo is nearly 19 months old now.

So it has taken quite a while to get back here.

And it’s not like it wasn’t obvious that I had put on weight. Even if the weight came from getting pregnant and having a baby, it doesn’t make it any easier to lose it again.

For anyone new here, I lost around 30kg with Wesley about four-ish years ago.

So putting weight back on to have a baby was hard.

Worth it, obviously.

But still hard.

The brown dress comparison really got me. The difference in my arms, my face and the way the dress sits was so nice to see.

A very needed reminder that even when my brain starts being a little dramatic, the progress is still there.

The weather was amazing, so when we got home, the kids all got in the pool.

Even Arlo.

Also, shout out to how nice the garden looks.

How good is spring?

The kids had such a lovely swim, and while they were swimming, I went inside for our welcome call for Cohort 5.

Welcome everyone.

After that, Jason and I made the kids dinner, and now I’m about to post this blog and go watch MobLand episode four.

So, let’s reflect on the week.

I really wanted this week to feel like a clean, perfect return to STRIP after recovery.

And while the week wasn’t perfect in the way I had planned it in my head, I still did really well.

I tracked.

I calorie banked.

I made good choices around meals out.

I kept moving where I could.

I went back to work.

I got through school holiday chaos.

I made it to Sydney and back.

I showed up for the community.

I looked after my family.

And I kept going.

Sometimes that’s the win.

I think next week I’m going to call it Week 1 of STRIP again.

A fresh start, but not from scratch.

Just a reset.

I’m still recovering, still easing back in, and still working with what my body can handle right now.

But I’m ready to start tightening things back up and moving forward again.

Now for check-in.

Nutrition adherence: 5/7 Weekly average steps: 10995

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

• Tracking meals out and using calorie banking

• Getting walks in where I could

• Having a big emotional moment and actually noticing what it brought up for me

• Still making progress through a week that didn’t feel perfect
  

The areas I need to improve next week are:

• Tighten things up as I ease back into STRIP

• Keep tracking honestly and consistently

• Keep meals nutritious while my body is still recovering

• Don’t rush training before I’m cleared or ready

• Keep walking where it feels okay

• Stop expecting every week to feel perfectly controlled

• Remember that a reset does not mean starting over
  

  Shout out to the client who made this for me!