Week 12: Out with the old, in with the new

So my exercise this week hasn't been up to scratch. I was exhausted this week and this weekend missed two of my scheduled exercise times as I just slept instead. I don't know if it's the heat or my body needing a bit of a break.

I jumped on the bike tonight to make up for it so did an hour as I watched Italian week on Australian Masterchef. It's my fav show and the best Masterchef in the franchise.

Mind the Gap

So I said a couple weeks ago that I wasn't going to get any new clothes but when it came to my bras, I couldn't wait anymore. I could fit half my hand in my bra!

So today I went to Victoria Secret and got resized. I went from a 38DD to a 34D. Holy mother!!

Though I could get 36C, the strap was at its tightest so there is no where for me to go when I lose more weight...which I will do.

No more weight lost but down 3/4 inch on the hips. Going to up the cardio to running 4x per week to get my training up there and get that weight training properly scheduled. Go team me!

A little tip for summer dress time

So I'm a hippy lady - as in curves not tie-dye - so I got thighs and an ass. One thing that has saved me in the crazy hotness that hits New York is runners anti chaff stick. Basically it's the stuff men rub on their nipples so they don't chaff and bleed on long runs.

Ladies of larger thighs, if you rub this magic stick wherever your thighs rub together, it doesn't chaff and hurt. It's so magical. Use it. Use it now! Thanks Ann for that tip. It's changed my life.

Next week I'll write about my observations on Internet dating so far. It's going to be a long post!

Brunch with friends: dueling brunches

As Bang with Friends quickly reaches new heights, I thought of something else I'd rather do with friends: go for brunch.

So let me introduce Brunch with Friends, a little review of brunch places wherever I lay my head. Mostly in New York, home of brunch, but who knows where I'll be, or what I consider brunch.

First off will be the day of two brunches, or dueling brunches, as I'll call it.

Sunday am, 9:30 am in fact, I stepped through the doors of Alice's Tea Cup Chapter II on the Upper East Side. It was recommended to me by a waitress at Spin.

I met an old school friend for brunch - and funnily enough we both turned up in blue and white stripped dresses. Twins! Quite fitting for an Alice in Wonderland themed restaurant. Tweedledum and Tweedledee anyone?

This is a place made for moms and their little girls. Or people who love cake and tea in proper tea cups.

Downstairs is a bit worn and basementy so I'd definitely aim for an upstairs seat. There's big windows and we lucked out with a corner window seat.

The coffee comes in giant mugs (the waitress commented that you could swim in it) and is brewed by the cup. There's at least a hundred types of tea, 4 iced tea specials everyday and 3 types of scones.



I had the vegetarian egg white omelette with a side of grilled asparagus and pears. I'd say it was a bit overcooked and way too greasy.

I'd go again for a tea but wouldn't recommend the brunch experience.

Roll on brunch number two

Now 9:30 isn't really brunch now is it? So when I met Ariel for coffee and it hit 1:30, I wanted to gnaw my arm off. You know what can fix that hole of hunger? BRUNCH!

Being in Columbus Circle, we didn't know any good brunch places so we turned to Yelp. Neither of us had been to Eatly so down 9th avenue we went.

F*** me. 9th Ave is the Mecca of brunch goers. Everywhere we looked - brunch, brunch and more brunch.

But we chose Eatly, so to Eatly we went. And oh my god did we make the best choice. It was fantastic.

They bring you red velvet mini muffins dusted with icing sugar to start (Ariel assured me they were good and moist in the middle as they should be)



Her salad had big chunks of chicken and seemed plentiful but she said it tasted pretty standard. As for my dishes? Black Bean soup (amazing) and a Japanese egg white omelette with shiitake mushrooms, tofu, chives and plum sauce with a side of pickled cucumbers with ginger and sage.

Eggs were fluffy and done perfectly. The tastes were unusual but suited each other. Maybe the soup and the omelette didn't match each other but I live black bean soup so much I didn't care. I'd eat that again and again and again. Definitely thumbs up all round.

So if you know a great brunch place you think I should try or if you want to join me on my epic brunch adventures, let me know. It's just so good. So so very deliciously weekendy good.

Oh the Places You'll Go: The ferry to Croatia

Before the cheap flight companies reached their way to Croatia, my friend Joss, Lindsay and I decided we wanted to spend a week there. We were all poor London types, scraping enough together for happy hour and the cost of indie discos on Saturdays. The only way to get there on the cheap was to fly to the coast of Italy and take the overnight ferry.

One squishy flight, a hot bus ride and a long walk with a misbehaving suitcase, we made it to a rough port with groups of holiday makers like us. Well maybe a bit more road worn than us but at that moment we were all in the same boat. Or were about to be.

We only bought seats on the outdoor benches but most people found a bit of floor inside and slept between the seats. I decided it would be romantic to sleep on deck and watch the sunrise. The others stayed with me but as the night grew bitter, the wind catching cold from the water, they implored me to come in.

I refused. This may be the only time I'd get to see the sun rise over the coast of Croatia. They thought I was crazy. I pulled out my sleeping bag, curled up on the hard plastic bench and slept with my head on my backpack.

F*** me it was cold. So cold. I looked to the doors leading inside. So warm and inviting even in flickering fluorescent. But I wouldn't budge. If I walked into the warmth, I'd sleep, yes, but I'd never see the sun. I knew I'd miss it. Plus I'm stubborn. My friends said I couldn't do it but I had to show them I could.

So I curled back up and shivered my way through the rest if the night.

The sky lightened before I could see the sun, but the chill lifted enough that it woke me. There were hundreds of islands (or so it seemed) guarding the coastline of Croatia. Treed sentinels rising out of the blue green water.

I set up my camera. Snapped picture after picture in an attempt to capture the exact moment the sun crested the hilly islands and continued its assent into the sky.

My friends found me later on the deck not far from where I slept. The sun was firmly intrenched in the sky and I stood there staring forward, half shivering from a night of cold, abuzz with the adventure ahead of us.

Week 11: Look ma, I'm running

As I end week 11 I'm in good spirit. My weight is still the same this week but I'm down 3/4 of an inch on my hips which means something is happening and as the picture shows (I think), my butt is considerably smaller. And more defined. Woohoo. Bring on more running.

Eating wise, I'm staying on track but eating way too many nuts. I also may be eating too big of a portion of food. Salad bars will get you every time. I've noticed that the plateau really hit a couple weeks into my new job.

I'm still having no bread and pasta but need more water and more veggies as a snack rather then too many nuts. Maybe that will make a difference this week.

Running, glorious running

It's amazing. People who run are coming out of the woodwork. People who want to run with me!

And I'm loving it!

What a difference realizing and admitting to a fear of running will do for your drive. Last night we ran 3.25 miles and did it in great time. We did stop and do weight training along the way but it was awesome. You can see how much fun it was in the picture below:



Saturdays Luke, Laura and I are going to train together for medium size runs and Tuesday nights my friend Nicky and I are going to do long marathon runs. That leaves Sunday for me to do my own short run. This is a much better schedule for me then mornings.

Weight trained twice this week. 10 minutes isn't hard. Just gotta get into a rhythm!

Hitting on the Internet

Have decided to throw my hat into the ring and have ventured into Internet dating. It's my next big fear I think. But its the done thing in New York so I'm going to actually do it. And now that I've figured out the right site to be on, I feel like it's not as bad as I thought (not perfect - but not too excruciating).

The reason I never tried it before was the fear of being seen by someone I knew on and guess what? It happened. I didn't implode (instead I asked for profile advice) and I'm starting to slowly warm to having a laugh.

Maybe I won't meet the love of my life but I will meet some interesting characters along the way. And don't worry mom. I'm not meeting anyone in a car park at night. And I'm not sending half dressed pics of myself to strangers. Call me a prude but I just don't get that.

Week ten: Flatline

I'm feel slightly defeated this week. I guess that's what plateaus do to you. But I'm not eating any cake! My head screams. I'm saying no to wine! But yet my weight is exactly the same as last week. Where is my weight loss prize??

Exercise is playing a much bigger factor than I realized. My exercise has gone from everyday to 2 days a week and it's made a huge difference. In order to mix it up, I'm now finally setting running dates. A run with the girls on Wednesday night and a long run on Saturday or Sunday with Laura and Luke. I just have to get two other training sessions for running in there and I'm golden.

I also have to get back in the habit of getting up when my alarm says. 20 min on the bike and weight training need to be the start of most of my days. It's not too taxing - I just gotta do it!! The results won't happen otherwise.

I also think I may be eating too many nuts. I need to start making baggies with one serving and snack more on veg. And watch out for sauces. They can be deadly.

This is a battle and a balance that I'm going to win.

Com'on Heather, com'on.

Why I'm afraid of running

I've been afraid to get back into running. I freeze up, I get nervous, I do everything I can to get out of it.

After my run with the girls on Wednesday (which was awesome), I started thinking about why. Why was I so terrified of going for a run with them?

Junior High

When I was in 7th and 8th grade, I was a fat asthma kid. I affectionately call that girl - jogging suit set girl. I was cubby and wore whatever I could to hide it (FYI big clothes only make you look bigger but what do 13 year olds know eh?)

My gym teacher, Mrs. Chandler, was horrible to me. If you were on an athletics team, you could sail through. The rest of us, nightmare.

The worst of it - cross country running.

I was actually in the running team in grade 6. When I could drag myself out of bed (yep - night owl since birth), I'd run around the halls of our round school and got a medal in a track meet. Participatory medals count.

But junior high running was outdoors during allergy season. Not only was I out of shape, but I couldn't breath and the two kilometers were had to run might as well have been a marathon.

I got a doctors note excusing me from this cross country torture but my teacher made me run anyway. My mom got wind of this and was furious. So she called the Principle.

In the tenuous relationship between junior high teacher and junior high student, this was not a good move. I basically tattled on her. So began the taunting, the singling out and her telling the other kids I couldn't run because I was allergic to air...sigh.

The worst was the all school cross country run. I had to participate. My usual tactic was to run with the crowd until I was out of sight of the school and then walk and painfully half jog until it was finally over. But this was before the whole mom calling the office thing.

In front of the whole school, my amazingly kind (but misguided) Principal, placed his hand on my shoulder and gave me a pep talk. He said "I know you'll want to run, and you will feel peer pressure to run when the rest of them run, but you mustn't run. If you want, I can walk with you and keep you company"

Shoot me now. I shook my head no and hoped the ground would swallow me whole and transport me to the land of no running.

So everyone lined up and someone shouted go. Everyone took off and I walked. They ran farther and farther away and I still walked. I looked back to see if anyone was watching. Everyone was. My Principal have me a thumbs up. A piece of me died inside.

Beating the 2K

Eight years later, I worked at a gym and all the staff and members were doing a 24 hour relay for charity. The distance we had to run? 2 km. My old nemesis.

I decided to conquer it. I wasn't going to let it beat me again. It was my turn. My teammate rounded the corner and then the baton was in my hand. I was running. I was doing it.

I ran the entire 2 km. I wasn't the fastest but I ran 2 km for the first time in my life. I think my work mates were slightly concerned when I jumped up and down at the end shouting (the equivalent of) "In your face Mrs. Baker. Suck it. I can run 2k. I CAN RUN 2K!"

But the fear remains...

Despite that victory I panic with running especially if I'm running with a group or anyone or, if I'm being honest, on my own. I know I have to embrace the fear and move past it. I have a marathon in 4 months and I'm doing it. And I'm going to be great at it.

Anyone else have these fears? How do you overcome them?

Week nine: and I'm feeling fine

I can't believe it's officially been nine weeks. I know I keep saying I can't believe it but it's true.

I'm very much into the rhythm in this eating wise. I'm also realizing the cravings are more to do with my period than the fact I'm not eating things. So is the plateau in weight loss. Of course it's going to slow down and the sporadic exercise doesn't help but I'm down 26 pounds now. Only 15 pounds to go until I'm in the "green" BMI zone and 30 to my goal weight. I'm basically half way there! Huzzah!

Embracing what scares you

Yesterday was Running Day (there's a day for everything!) and I celebrated by running with some of my girlfriends. I have to admit I was terrified. No, my friends aren't scary drill sergeants but rather I was scared about a) running b) running with other people.

I packed up my stuff yesterday and when I was sat at my desk and the hours drew closer to "running" time, I was already thinking up excuses. But I went. They were great and said we'd slow down anytime I needed to but running with them was a blast.

I could've pushed myself to go faster but we ran in pairs and everyone was at different speeds so we took it easy. After each mile we stopped and did push-ups, dips and sit-ups. We had great chats and took to the stairs part way through to increase the difficulty.

It was so fun! Why was I so scared? And I did the 3 miles/ 5k with ease so why was I so worried? We've made a pact to run every Wednesday night. As I've been having problems getting my running in, this is a perfect way to go out with friends while exercising. Done. As I start to do longer distances, I can start earlier and join them for the last 5k.

If the shoe fits...

What's been super exciting this week is fitting back into old clothes. Not spilling out but actually fitting. But the other problem is my new work clothes are getting too big and I'm afraid to say, my bras aren't fitting anymore. My ladies are getting trim with me so I just don't fit the cup anymore.

I'd happily run out and get some new clothes but I know I'm only half way and don't want to buy new things and then have to get more new things a few months down the road. My plan is to never come back to where I was so I'm not keeping the big stuff around.

I'll be measuring myself tonight so can't report now but I've trimmed down further, that's for sure. I can feel it in my clothes.

A big round applause for you

I just want to put a big shout out to everyone who has been reading this and supporting me on my journey. You've made it not so lonely and by posting these, I feel accountable to all of you and it makes me strive to do better every day so thank you. Also a huge thanks to Charlene, an amazing personal training, for all her response and advice. If you need a trainer in London, do check her out.