Watch the clip here.

If you’ve ever doubted the wisdom behind vaccinations this will answer more than a few questions. Oh – and just so you know I’m not jumping on a bandwagon here; I’ve been seriously anti-vaccinations since day one. Another great resource is http://www.vaccination.inoz.com/.

Your thoughts?

If you can’t read this properly, download the article to your desktop contact me and I’ll send it to you.

Amazingly, I actually have the time to drop by and say hi today. It’s 7.34am and A is still out cold (probably just jinxed myself there!) and – what’s even more amazing -  I’ve already knocked 2 biggies off today’s list. I’m using a new technique to get things done, and it’s working incredibly well. It’s called the Pomodor0 technique, and is an idea I stole from blogger (and one of my online mentor’s) Sarah Wilson. I honestly can’t believe how much more focused it’s made me!

When I’m focused and feeling productive, I have to tell you my happiness quota pretty much soars. And not only that; I find myself feeling more confident, more determined, and basically just more on. Do you know what I’m saying? It becomes easier to push myself through a killer workout, or even to push beyond what I’ve set for myself. I feel motivated to eat completely clean or to say no to that extra cup of coffee. I find myself willingly switching the computer on after dinner (okay, I know that’s not always a healthy habit but so long as you set clear time-limit or time cut-off boundaries I think it works) and actually enjoying getting one extra ‘chunk’ of output done before switching off. It all just kind of flows in together. Productivity begets productivity, or something like that.

The really cool thing is that (and I’ve noticed this before) when I get into this flow state of action, good things just seem to keep happening to me. For example, I’ve been invited to contribute to a new and very much rising start aggregate blog, and have also been asked to guest post on a couple of other really cool sites. On top of that I’ve been given just about the best networking contact I could hope for in the magazine world. And I think I may have even found our dream house (find out today if we got it!). I really believe that this sort of day to day success comes back in large part to where your focus is, as well as to an attitude of gratitude toward the things that have already worked or are currently working.

On another note, this week I’m about to begin a brand new training and eating/supplement regime. IN the past 5 weeks I’ve dropped 4.5 kg on the scales, and now it’s time to focus on getting harder (physically, I mean, although I suppose mentally can’t hurt either!). I’ll keep you posted.

What’s working for you at the moment?

I’m not complaining. I mean really, I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’d go insane sitting around all day, as would anyone I think.

One interesting thing that has come from all living this way plus baby is my training and eating routine has gone out the window. I have no rhythm, no structure, and you know what? I’m kinda liking it. I’ve spent long enough living in fear of going more than 2.5 hours without eating, or wondering what dreadful outcomes will eventuate should a shred of pasta pass my lips on a social occasion or if I have to skip a workout. In the past that just wouldn’t have happened. Meals? Planned and mostly prepared days in advance. Pyrex containers full of goodness filled the fridge for every outing. And training? Two a day was standard. Bikram plus weights, weights plus sprints, whatever the combo there was definitely plenty of exercise. And I honestly can’t remember skipping a workout even when sick in recent years.

It’s been an interesting learning curve, but I really think it’s been very good for me. Nothing like shaking things up now and then!

How about you; what’s your experience been of trying to stick to a routine for your own needs?

Anyway, despite all of that, life is really good. I’ve re-structured my client time so I’m only doing Tuesday/Wednesday, and have spoken to the childcare centre about getting A in one day a week, and that’s going to be my full-on writing day. So the rest of the week I can just focus on being me and being a Mum. I’m sick of wearing 6 different hats every day! I think it’s time to set some new big-picture goals – this process (life) is all about continual fine-tuning, after all.

So what’s new with you?

Lamb and almonds for breakfast, high-intensity circuit coming up, amazingly good, almost smoky coffee in front of me – life is good

That is all.

What I’m realising, of course, is that it’s not such a simple game, and most definitely a highly individualised one. So whilst I can work with a client in person and help them figure out what will/won’t work for them – particularly through BioSignature – I’m hesitant to spout forth general advice through this forum. And truth be told I’m more than happy to just jump on once a week or so and spew forth some of my thoughts, feelings and plans. It’s quite therapeutic. And hey, if you happen to be reading then that’s cool and definitely feel free to comment.

Anyway. Today’s goals. I’m experimenting with intermittent fasting. I generally feel quite good going through till 2.30 ish, and always make sure I’ve pumped milk in advance. It depends how early I get up though, and also how much training I’m going to be doing. Today I’m up since 5.30, kickboxing at 9 (intense!), and I don’t know if I’ll make it through. Especially as if I don’t eat at 10.30 I won’t get to until 3.30. From a food point of view, my goals are definitely still to eat Paleo. Sometimes I stay on track, sometimes I don’t. Yesterday I cheated with a licorice log. Licorice, as you know from my last post, is definitely a weakness. I don’t know if I’m an all or nothing gal as such, but I think it might be time to commit to a 2 week bootcamp again, just to get me right back on track. One of the benefits of IF is that you can ‘get away’ with a bit more starch, but I don’t know if that’s such a good thing!

Today could definitely be the day for a weigh in as well. I came in at 63kg last week (YES!) but have been scared to weigh since in case it was a fluke and I actually haven’t got leaner like I think I have. Wuss!

So. Paleo food. Weigh in. IF till 10.30 minimum. Read something cool. Investigate allergy testing for food intolerance. Chill with my beautiful bubba in between clients. Those are today’s goals.

What are yours? (If you’re out there )

Today I am feeling CH-Chunky. Chunky with a capital chunk. I don’t really mind, to be honest. Well. Let’s face it. No gal loves the feeling of ever-so-slightly-yet-definitely-impossible-to-ignore pressure against the button of her Diesels. But I gotta be honest – I don’t have an excuse.

Yesterday I worked a full day from 6am until 7pm, and by the time I got home and unpacked my bag it was definitely looking like a take-away kinda night. We’re quite lucky in that we have an awesome Thai takeaway nearby; the food is so clean and fresh, and can come sauce free so therefore 100% paleo. Although I’m not so sure it’s grass-fed meat, but hey, you get the picture. Anyway. Problem is, they also do a mean coconut rice, and absolutely delightful prawn spring rolls. 4 of which – plus a hefty serving of the former – got the better of me.

And let’s not even talk about the chocolate bullets. For over a decade, good chocolate bullets have been my weakness. Fortunately or unfortunately as the case may be, the past 8 or so years have been sadly bullet free. Not for want of trying, but because licorice quality in Aus seems to have gone down the cheap and nasty path. This all changed for me last week when I meandered through the DJs food hall, and in a moment of ketogenic weakness asked to sample one bullet.

Oh. My. Sweet. Goodness.

You do NOT want to know how many I bought, but let’s just say they’ve been tormenting me ever since.

So I’ll get to the point – if I have one, which I’m not entirely sure I do. I don’t really care that I’ve ’slipped up’ for the last couple days (those bullets are controlling my mind!), because I really feel that I’ve got to a place where I can almost relax about my fat loss, and just trust in the process. Today, the process begins again -

• Back to a proper paleo diet. Perfect timing in that my organic veg were delivered yesterday, and I’ll hit the market tomorrow.
• Stop hiding from the scales
• A little IF wouldn’t be out of order at this point
• After having the past 2 weeks almost fully off from training while away, I’m pysched to get back into some heavy lifting on Monday

Oh – and it goes without saying that my trips to Chaddy are going to have to be few and far between. Although they do have DJs Foodhall in the city, don’t they? Hmmm …..

Here they are, in no particular order:

Skinny Jeans

Acceptance

New Year, New Me?

A whole series of mini-posts in the lead-up to giving birth: thoughts, hopes, expectations, preggie sex ….

Food, Fat and Freaking Out

You’re a Mum: You Can’t Wear A Bikini!

Alyssa Rose

Selenium, Metabolism and Thyroid

And The Scales Go Up

And probably the one that riled me up the most -

The Breastfeeding Myth

Enjoy!

Say what you will about patience, and body changing after baby, and blah blah blah, but the long and short of it is that I don’t like it. So I got back at myself by eating a total of 6 (6!) scones over the weekend. With jam and cream. And toast for breakfast. And muesli with yogurt and sugary, syrupy berries. Logical, huh? But that’s the way my mind works. If I feel good about myself I eat well and train hard. If I feel despondent, I’m likely to eat rubbish and train half-heartedly.

So today is when I get back on track.

And now that I’ve got the whinging over and done with, here are the pluses:

• I’ve been training so damn hard in the weights room that my lower body strength is back to what it was at it’s best (70kg squats oh yeah), and my upper body is catching up. This also means it’s possible that my failure to drop scale weight is a result of increased muscle. I’ll find out on Wednesday when I have a dexa body scan.
• I’ve started doing sprint training again and the 14 month break from cardio means that I’m running as smooth as can be – plus my fitness is great from all the heavy lifting
• Even though I feel like a carb-bloated whale this morning, I know that 2 or 3 days of clean eating is going to de-fluid me, so comparatively I’m going to feel awesome by about Thursday.
• Alyssa is now 6 months which means that maximum another 6 months of breastfeeding and I can shed this evil extra layer of blubber!