The Effects of Alcohol

All year I have been eating clean and drinking only water, with the odd coffee thrown in every now and then.  I do have 3 children and a partner who is only just beginning to understand why I do what I do, so I need something to calm the cravings. Normally I wouldn't have consumed soft drink if it didn't have some type of alcohol in it. So giving up soft drinks was easy, and the alcohol I haven't missed at all. During the past year I've had three occasions where I consumed an alcoholic beverage. Two of the occasions I stopped after the fourth or filth and one I didn't. Recently I consumed an excessive amount of different types of alcohol, and let me tell you it is not worth it. 

The changes I have noticed to my body and the way it reacts to certain foods and beverages is amazing. Away on holidays with my family we stopped at hungry jacks and I ate a chicken burger which my body violently rejected! I didn't even enjoy eating it there was no taste in it what so ever. I have become accustomed to the concept of the whole "cheat meal" and I wonder why sometimes. After eating something I think I want my body tells me otherwise. It's amazing where our hunger comes from because, the majority of the times it's in our head. 

Saturday night I went out on the "town" with girls from the gym. Started with a lovely dinner and ended in a drunkn sausage fest. I mean come on guys some of them couldn't hold a conversation and the pick up lines pathetic! Just so you know I am happily partnered with three children so I wasn't looking for anything. I really just wanted to have a conversation and that didn't happen. So why go out get absolutely plastered to have NO conversation with people I have NO interest in anyways?

Great question you say maybe wrong place and a little moderation goes a long way. I do deem myself as a lady these days and I should have gone home earlier because ladies don't stay out till 5am drinking shots and talking shit! 

I have spent the last 3 days detoxing my body of the alcohol it's so desperately trying to expel from my system. Not to mention the vial nasty red bull that has done nothing but give me heart palpitations and migraines. But aside from these symptoms I'm experiencing what else has it done to my body that I'm unaware of? 

It's called binge drinking and the effects are astonishing. We all know it's bad for us no good for our health, yet so many do it. It's been 3 years since I've done this to myself and I can only imagine the damage done back then. Especially when I was so over weight my body was already struggling to survive. Yes I use the word survive that's how extreme the health implications were of having so much weight. 

I continue to make informed choices to maintain a healthy lifestyle. We live we learn. Unfortunate I've been one of those people who only learn from their mistakes. Especially as a teenager! We all make mistakes and true this is how we learn but I knew the effects of my actions. Yet still continued on that path. Life is a series of choices and I've chosen my new lifestyle over the old one. 

Where's the Answers?

Lately I have been torn between working out with friends in gym classes and doing workouts that I know are going to benefit my body. Not that the classes don't benefit me they do I feel the need to step it up so to speak. Change my routine. 

 

So I've been doing both classes of the morning and other workouts in the afternoon.  I have been so active that this is what my usual day is like acording to by fitbit. A huge achievement for myself but am I doing more good than harm? 

I have recently read up on some info that I'm sure many of you would find interesting. I am learning about how my body reacts to certain exercises, what is mindless exercise and how to change damaging cycles. 

That right there is a statement to be proud of and the reason why I have got so far. I'm not about to tell you how to loose weight, what to do at the gym or what to eat, because I don't know all the answers. I am learning and progressing because I don't just want to loose weight. I want to learn how to become the best person I can be. To be a great role model for my children and to my friends. To not be hypocritical of the things I say compared with what I do. I want to know how my body is loosing fat stores and how it's gaining muscle. What type of muscle fibres I am building and loosing according to what exercise I am doing. All this and more I want to know. 

I push myself to the limits so often and still wonder why my belly fat is not moving. I'm loosing it everywhere else but the place I'm so longing to be rid of. It wasn't until I recently read an article by a man I've been following for quite some time now. His name is Alex and he has something that I want to share with you all because I believe it to be great information.  The answers I have been seeking where here and some things have been put into perspective for me.  You can download his booklet and workout for yourself. Check out the Facebook page by clicking on the link below to download his stuff it's free and some great motivation. 

https://www.facebook.com/alexbodyrevolution

I'm not going to tell you what the info is you'll have to find that one out yourself. What I can tell you is that it has helped me to answer a few of those hard to ask questions, and to direct me to where I need to go next. 

Just when I think I've got it I get lost agiain. This seems to be pattern that repeats often. I rejoined 12wbt because of this, go to more PT classes at the gym because of this and read through miles of information looking for the answers. 

Amazing Support Network

No one was more shocked than myself when I put together a picture from when I first started this journey till now.  WOW! A friend said "when you see a person every day you don't notice the little changes" this applies to myself too. I look at myself everyday in the mirror and do not realise how far I've come. It's amazing to see the physical change in a picture, and smile because of it. 

The support I've received from people at my gym, friends on Facebook and family has been incredible. To think I have been so hard on myself when I'm doing well. Actually more than just well I'm smashing it. (Just saying humbly) I doubted myself that I couldn't do it by myself. I sabotaged myself from the very start when I didn't sign up for round 3. However looking at my progress photo I did do it. I admit I didn't loose any weight on the scales but I have more muscle definition. Being so lost is a horrible feeling. I think not setting any goals and knowing where I was going was the whole problem. 

This round my sister has joined in too. Which is fantastic as I have someone to work through it with, and who better than my own sister.  Jade has been my main motivator from the start, I have the top on that we bought together back in December last year. It's way too big on me now but I continue to wear it, because it reminds me to keep going.  

Outback Adventures

After yesterday I have decided to concentrate on the positives in my life, because they are so much better than doom and gloom.  Recently my family and I have travelled through Australia or parts of for 6 weeks.  Three kids and my partner in a Land cruiser confined to the small space of our seats and camping in a tent, was magical.  Others may not agree but we really enjoyed ourselves.  The kids kept a journal over the weeks, below is a map from their book of the route we drove .

Over 10,000km together and we experienced life itself.  Now who wouldn't be a on a high after coming back from such a fantastic trip.  Coming from the most incredible places back to the chores of life, I can see why I would have plummeted into the abyss.  Highs and lows isn't that what it's all about, riding the highs and how we deal with the lows.  I was meant to travel.  This map will one day have many lines and colours on it, of the places we've been and the roads we've explored.



Devils Marbles "Karlu Karlu" 2013

Long that yellow line we had an adventure that my children will remember for a long time, that I will cherish for years to come.  We trekked gorges, climbed mountains, found interesting objects and bones, camped underground, met possums and bats, walked through caves, found aliens, watched whales, seen one of the wonders of the world, walked high above rainforests, found dinosaurs, marvelled at glow worms, went rock climbing, found secret waterfalls, canoed, rode horses and best of all spent time with our family.

We had a family reunion to attend along the way it was great to see everyone, but honestly these people I call family many of them are strangers.  Our family is spread far and wide and I am not really close to any that is not in my immediate family.  I don't know their children, their new wives or husbands, for most even where they live.  I met people for the first time, seen people I hadn't seen in many years, and sat back and watched from a distance while people mingled. I felt as though I didn't know anyone, and that was true in many ways I didn't.  Just as they didn't know me and who my children were. Yeah sure people knew our names and that we were family, but they didn't know who I was what makes me the person I am.  My life's story, and that's ok because its only the people closest to us that we let in, show the true person we are.  Its the people closest to us that accept us for all the good and bad, for the demons.  Its the people who give us unconditional love that really know the truth.  Which brings me to the one person in this world that fits the bill, my sister.

 

My whole fitness journey started from the moment I seen my beautiful sister back in December 2012. 



She inspired me back then and continues to inspire me now.  I love her dearly and wished that we lived closer to each other, I'm yet to find a friend like her.  I must say the high light of out trip was hiking through Lawn Hill Gorge with my sister.  We had been quite lazy while camping and hadn't done much in terms of exercise, I even allowed myself to consume the odd ice cream.  Which if any of you know is a real treat whilst on a weight loss journey.  We walked 7km through the gorge up to the lookout.  The boys and the kids canoed through the gorge.

This is us looking down on them from the lookout

 Here are some more pictures of our amazing adventure.