I have to say that I LOVE the holidays and dread returning to work. I love what I do, it's just that I prefer to spend the warm days being slothful. The opportunity to read the newspaper from front to back without interruption is idyllic. To read a novel - hallelujah. To just sit and read and waste hours always makes me feel guilty - but why?
For the rest of the year I work hard. Teaching is not an easy occupation and dealing with adolescents can be both rewarding and challenging. Unfortunately you can have days where the challenges make you feel like giving up. I work at a very multicultural school where the students, on the whole, are delightful and they appreciate learning. There are many refugee students and we have students who have never been to school, or have learnt basic English in a camp somewhere in Africa. These students have high ambitions and usually a very good work ethic. It is these students that make the teaching game so worth while.
So why do I dread returning? I think it is back to the early mornings and long days, coping with the heat that hits in February, dealing with 'administrivia', dealing with difficult kids and their families, dealing with petty issues and getting time to spend with your own family is intruded upon. My children start their VCE this year - so that will bring it's own challenges too.
However, the weight loss is going well. I can stick to my points easily and as no time for lunch today, I am going to enjoy a stuffed chicken roll, with baked vegetables and maybe a glass of red wine...or two. Another reason for liking the holidays is the wine with meals more frequently than we normally imbibe during the working week.
So tomorrow we have the carpets and couches being cleaned, someone to give us a value on our home, husband to get his eyes checked as he has finally admitted the tiny writing in the Melways is impossible to read, daughter who needs a hair cut and that should see the day through very quickly. Ah the joys!
cheers
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Count down to return to work
First the good news - lost 1 kg this week and I am thrilled. So 2 weeks back at WW and I am down 3.8kg - a great start and very inspiring as it makes you want to keep going. However, I have done NO exercise at all and so pretty amazing that I lost this weight!
I actually feel thinner, which is ridiculous, but I may even start to walk now as I know this will help a great deal. I'll report on how I went later. I am investigating a pedometer - the WW is quite expensive and have read about Omron HJ113 - which you can wear around your neck, in your pocket or even a handbag! I have used waist-clip ones before and not very accurate as I think the hip area either jiggled too much, or perhaps not enough hip movement to register all steps...still investigating this one.
I am a secondary school teacher, in the outer eastern 'burbs of Melbourne, so we (staff) return to work on Tuesday and the kids start Friday. The first 2 days of our staff return are being held at an external venue, with all catering supplied ...so today I have organised to have a lo-fat meal, and I can therefore avoid the usual stodge of fried things and other things re-fried! This is a first for me - normally I'd go "what the hell" and bog in at the trough with every one else.
NOT THIS TIME...oh no..this little piggy wants to keep losing weight..so I will join the Coeliac suffers who always get salad as their 'punishment' for not being able to eat wheat - those poor people - and I can be virtuous and still eat within my points range.
Now I have to think about looking at material for this years senior classes and get myself organised - even after 25 years of teaching, I still need to review, improve and try and make lessons more hands on and student led. So that's the rest of the day planned
Have a great day all - and for the WWs amongst you - have a BRILLIANT day tomorrow...and the next...and the next...
cheers
I actually feel thinner, which is ridiculous, but I may even start to walk now as I know this will help a great deal. I'll report on how I went later. I am investigating a pedometer - the WW is quite expensive and have read about Omron HJ113 - which you can wear around your neck, in your pocket or even a handbag! I have used waist-clip ones before and not very accurate as I think the hip area either jiggled too much, or perhaps not enough hip movement to register all steps...still investigating this one.
I am a secondary school teacher, in the outer eastern 'burbs of Melbourne, so we (staff) return to work on Tuesday and the kids start Friday. The first 2 days of our staff return are being held at an external venue, with all catering supplied ...so today I have organised to have a lo-fat meal, and I can therefore avoid the usual stodge of fried things and other things re-fried! This is a first for me - normally I'd go "what the hell" and bog in at the trough with every one else.
NOT THIS TIME...oh no..this little piggy wants to keep losing weight..so I will join the Coeliac suffers who always get salad as their 'punishment' for not being able to eat wheat - those poor people - and I can be virtuous and still eat within my points range.
Now I have to think about looking at material for this years senior classes and get myself organised - even after 25 years of teaching, I still need to review, improve and try and make lessons more hands on and student led. So that's the rest of the day planned
Have a great day all - and for the WWs amongst you - have a BRILLIANT day tomorrow...and the next...and the next...
cheers
Monday, January 24, 2011
Weight Update
I so totally forgot to mention my weight after my first week - how could I do that?? I was STOKED as I lost 2.8kgs - HOWEVER - and here is the kicker - I weighed myself in the morning, whereas when I decided to jump back to W.W. I weighed myself in the evening. So the weight loss looks great but it is tempered with the knowledge that it probably wasn't that much at all.
I have joined W.W. many times in the past - the first time when I was about 25 and on and off for years. It has been at least 8 years since the last time. However every time I joined, I ALWAYS gained weight in the first week which is hideously off putting. This time it has at least gone down - an absolute plus for me.
On Wed this week it will be weigh-in number 2 - and hopefully still a loss, but a realistic one.
cheers
I have joined W.W. many times in the past - the first time when I was about 25 and on and off for years. It has been at least 8 years since the last time. However every time I joined, I ALWAYS gained weight in the first week which is hideously off putting. This time it has at least gone down - an absolute plus for me.
On Wed this week it will be weigh-in number 2 - and hopefully still a loss, but a realistic one.
cheers
A Sunday & Monday in January
So it has been some time since my last post. I don't know how some people can find the time to constantly write their blogs - perhaps they are not as busy as this W.M.D-G!
Have spent last two days visiting my mother-in-law. A rather difficult time as it is always very boring. The TV is on all the time which is a conversation killer. Only glad the cricket was on - something to do and talk about. Also visited Brother-in-law and his partner - both are wonderful people and always a pleasure to visit.
But, as country people are want to do - it is constant cups of coffee and biscuits. SO very hard diet wise. Lunch was frozen crumbed fish fillets and chicken nuggets with salad. So I piled up the salad and ate one piece of fish. I had no way of calculating points, so just hoped for the best. Said no to cakes and felt very pious!
We had decided to make tea and took our bits 'n pieces with us. A meat & vegetable lasagne - using some of the "light" meat sauce from home as a base, layering alternately with light ricotta, cooked eggplant & red capsicum and fresh spinach layer. So NO cream sauce at all. Just finished the top with pasta layer, fresh tomato and grated light tasty cheese. It was beautiful. Kids picked out the eggplant - little fussy critics - but we found it to be tasty and filling. Made a huge quantity and I worked out that each serving size was probably about 5 points! Brilliant - so a small glass of red wine was consumed too.
Tried the Weight Watchers/Nestle choc mousse tonight - YUM YUM YUM. With only 1 point per serve I ate both, which sounds piggy but I still have 6 points to use up.....red wine looking good...again.
Tomorrow I have an unfortunate date with the dentist with a niggly tooth. So that is something I am not looking forward to at all. As it is going to be another hot day, it will also be an opportunity to wash the towels and sheets.............the life of a wife, mother and DG is not to be taken lightly!
cheers
Have spent last two days visiting my mother-in-law. A rather difficult time as it is always very boring. The TV is on all the time which is a conversation killer. Only glad the cricket was on - something to do and talk about. Also visited Brother-in-law and his partner - both are wonderful people and always a pleasure to visit.
But, as country people are want to do - it is constant cups of coffee and biscuits. SO very hard diet wise. Lunch was frozen crumbed fish fillets and chicken nuggets with salad. So I piled up the salad and ate one piece of fish. I had no way of calculating points, so just hoped for the best. Said no to cakes and felt very pious!
We had decided to make tea and took our bits 'n pieces with us. A meat & vegetable lasagne - using some of the "light" meat sauce from home as a base, layering alternately with light ricotta, cooked eggplant & red capsicum and fresh spinach layer. So NO cream sauce at all. Just finished the top with pasta layer, fresh tomato and grated light tasty cheese. It was beautiful. Kids picked out the eggplant - little fussy critics - but we found it to be tasty and filling. Made a huge quantity and I worked out that each serving size was probably about 5 points! Brilliant - so a small glass of red wine was consumed too.
Tried the Weight Watchers/Nestle choc mousse tonight - YUM YUM YUM. With only 1 point per serve I ate both, which sounds piggy but I still have 6 points to use up.....red wine looking good...again.
Tomorrow I have an unfortunate date with the dentist with a niggly tooth. So that is something I am not looking forward to at all. As it is going to be another hot day, it will also be an opportunity to wash the towels and sheets.............the life of a wife, mother and DG is not to be taken lightly!
cheers
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Another day
Well it has been a couple of days since I last posted. The family and I have done quite a lot in the last couple of days and my diet has been going well-ish.
We spent yesterday morning at Melbourne zoo. It was time to visit the new baby elephant 'Ongard' and re-visit his cousin 'Mali'. They are so cute. They were taken for a walk around the enclosure and each elephant has been trained to hold onto the tail of the elephant in front. Looks very cute when you see 4 large elephants lumber past and in the middle is a small one - Mali - trying to keep up. Little Ongard just kept as close to his mum as possible, getting a helpful push from behind by one of the keepers when the going got a bit steep.I know how he feels - I often feel I need a good push to get me up the hills too.
When we left, I convinced my husband to go through to Church Street Richmond to check out some of the outlets for clothes. The very store I wished to see - had a 'Closed for Stocktake' message on the door! Wouldn't you know it - haven't been there literally in years and the very day I decide "let's go" - it is jolly well shut!
Had lunch at a little Vietnamese Restaurant, on my husbands suggestion, as I should be able to choose low point food. Decided on the fresh Prawn rolls. Had four and they were delicious. Was quite shocked to see, when I got home, that each one is determined to be 2 points each - not much in them - 1.5 prawns, lettuce and vermicelli. So an 8 point lunch that left me feeling hungry a few hours later
So it was a situation of constant hunger in the afternoon - how do you manage these types of days? I drank water, I went for a short walk - still trying to build up to something spectacular regarding exercise. So it became a day to eat into my extra 49 points - literally and thank goodness they were there. Otherwise I think I would have busted out and grabbed any food I could lay my hands on and that would mean a whole stack of points used up!
Much better today and have kept well in the point range. Hopefully when I weigh myself tomorrow I should have a great weight loss to report. Hope so, as my history with weight watchers, over many years, is for a weight gain in the first week - goodness knows why. Hopefully the Pro-Point Plan will prove to be different.
cheers
We spent yesterday morning at Melbourne zoo. It was time to visit the new baby elephant 'Ongard' and re-visit his cousin 'Mali'. They are so cute. They were taken for a walk around the enclosure and each elephant has been trained to hold onto the tail of the elephant in front. Looks very cute when you see 4 large elephants lumber past and in the middle is a small one - Mali - trying to keep up. Little Ongard just kept as close to his mum as possible, getting a helpful push from behind by one of the keepers when the going got a bit steep.I know how he feels - I often feel I need a good push to get me up the hills too.
When we left, I convinced my husband to go through to Church Street Richmond to check out some of the outlets for clothes. The very store I wished to see - had a 'Closed for Stocktake' message on the door! Wouldn't you know it - haven't been there literally in years and the very day I decide "let's go" - it is jolly well shut!
Had lunch at a little Vietnamese Restaurant, on my husbands suggestion, as I should be able to choose low point food. Decided on the fresh Prawn rolls. Had four and they were delicious. Was quite shocked to see, when I got home, that each one is determined to be 2 points each - not much in them - 1.5 prawns, lettuce and vermicelli. So an 8 point lunch that left me feeling hungry a few hours later
So it was a situation of constant hunger in the afternoon - how do you manage these types of days? I drank water, I went for a short walk - still trying to build up to something spectacular regarding exercise. So it became a day to eat into my extra 49 points - literally and thank goodness they were there. Otherwise I think I would have busted out and grabbed any food I could lay my hands on and that would mean a whole stack of points used up!
Much better today and have kept well in the point range. Hopefully when I weigh myself tomorrow I should have a great weight loss to report. Hope so, as my history with weight watchers, over many years, is for a weight gain in the first week - goodness knows why. Hopefully the Pro-Point Plan will prove to be different.
cheers
Friday, January 14, 2011
Day 3
So today started off wonderfully - why - as we still had the rain which appears to be normal at the moment, but it was COOL - a cool breeze blowing through the house and clearing my mind of cobwebs. Bliss.
I have spent the day helping husband re-paint our inner wardrobe and assisted him- by holding bits and pieces - as he has cut and fiddled with making new shelving. Looks brilliant and a vast improvement.
I started on going through the bookcase, which is directly in view as you walk in our front door. It has been well and truly overloaded and it was time for a clear out. So lots of books to go to the Salvation Army. A good dusting and re-organising and it looks presentable. Trouble is, where do you store books that really need to go elsewhere, but I don't want to throw away? Storage in the garage I suppose. Also threw out heaps of magazines. I love them, but never look at them twice. I figure as they were dated 2002, 2003 through to 2006 - out went the lot. Waste of space, but they look so good. Throwing them out seems a tragedy, but what else do you do with them?
Diet wise - hungry today - no reason for it as I ate well. Just drank more water and actually sat and ate an apple! Me and fruit have never been good friends. If someone prepares it for me, arranges it beautifully on a platter - I am in. But just to pick it up and eat - blah, boring. I need to go and buy some favourite like cantaloupe and pineapple. Mouth watering just typing those two.
Tomorrow I make a pledge to do a half hour walk - need to move the lard ar*e. Now, the cricket is on, I am going to put a few more books away and then indulge in some TV time.
Cheers
I have spent the day helping husband re-paint our inner wardrobe and assisted him- by holding bits and pieces - as he has cut and fiddled with making new shelving. Looks brilliant and a vast improvement.
I started on going through the bookcase, which is directly in view as you walk in our front door. It has been well and truly overloaded and it was time for a clear out. So lots of books to go to the Salvation Army. A good dusting and re-organising and it looks presentable. Trouble is, where do you store books that really need to go elsewhere, but I don't want to throw away? Storage in the garage I suppose. Also threw out heaps of magazines. I love them, but never look at them twice. I figure as they were dated 2002, 2003 through to 2006 - out went the lot. Waste of space, but they look so good. Throwing them out seems a tragedy, but what else do you do with them?
Diet wise - hungry today - no reason for it as I ate well. Just drank more water and actually sat and ate an apple! Me and fruit have never been good friends. If someone prepares it for me, arranges it beautifully on a platter - I am in. But just to pick it up and eat - blah, boring. I need to go and buy some favourite like cantaloupe and pineapple. Mouth watering just typing those two.
Tomorrow I make a pledge to do a half hour walk - need to move the lard ar*e. Now, the cricket is on, I am going to put a few more books away and then indulge in some TV time.
Cheers
Day 2
Ok, so hello, Day 2 started off as a breeze. Apart from being unbelievably humid here in Melbourne. Plus, daughter put on the air-con., which is evaporative, and is effectively useless in humid conditions. So our house was at about 100% humidity, with moisture appearing on walls etc. Realised that we'd just been pumping damp hot air through the house - Not Happy Jan!
Diet wise I couldn't be happier. Was not hungry at all and had a stack of points left after lunch. My kids went to the City and came back with two mates, who stayed for tea - which had to be pizza!!!! How do you 'do' a proper diet when pizza is facing you - and only on the second day? Well the answer is WW allows for this - 2 slices of pizza worked out to be 10 points - and I had over 20 left. So 2 slices of pizza it was, followed later by some tinned peaches - unsweetened of course. I could even have a small red wine.
Now 2 pieces of pizza is not a lot - I would normally do 1/2 a large pizza. But it was enough and I am VERY proud of myself - I still had points over.
Trouble for me is the weather at the moment. I'd like to start hup-hup-hupping, but with this humidity I am VERY loathe. So did nothing much apart from sort through some old photos - ah happy memories of my babies when they were babies - they were happy and compliant. Then they became teenagers.
Diet wise I couldn't be happier. Was not hungry at all and had a stack of points left after lunch. My kids went to the City and came back with two mates, who stayed for tea - which had to be pizza!!!! How do you 'do' a proper diet when pizza is facing you - and only on the second day? Well the answer is WW allows for this - 2 slices of pizza worked out to be 10 points - and I had over 20 left. So 2 slices of pizza it was, followed later by some tinned peaches - unsweetened of course. I could even have a small red wine.
Now 2 pieces of pizza is not a lot - I would normally do 1/2 a large pizza. But it was enough and I am VERY proud of myself - I still had points over.
Trouble for me is the weather at the moment. I'd like to start hup-hup-hupping, but with this humidity I am VERY loathe. So did nothing much apart from sort through some old photos - ah happy memories of my babies when they were babies - they were happy and compliant. Then they became teenagers.
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