Off to see the Wizard!

In 2013 I took on a grand quest to finally shave the extra kilos I’d been accumulating around my middle off into the garbage bin of days gone by.
Taking advantage of the calorie burning mega factory my breast feeding body had become, I embarked on my first 12 Week Body Transformation, husband and 6 month old in tow.
I did two rounds that year and lost just over 10kg of pre-pregnancy weight. Additionally, and can I say most importantly, I learnt what food is and isn’t, that it isn’t my enemy, my body is my friend and a whole raft of other mushy self love stuff.
It was amazing and it changed my life for the better. I haven’t regained those lost kilos, proving they are dead and buried on the siding of some dusty road to nowhere. They have been returned to nature, a meal for crows and underfed carnivorous possums.

When I completed my last round, I did feel I’d failed somehow. I was a little fitter, able to ski longer and tougher runs and reach minor goals as set at the start of the round, but I wasn’t where I wanted to be.
Since pregnancy, my body went into ‘shut up and go away’ mode. My back ached constantly, my shoulders burned and my hips and pelvis might as well have been ordering cocktails in Bali for all the support and stability they were giving my skeleton.
In short, I was cactus. I needed a refit & between breast feeding, running a house, writing and learning how to be a hot chick again, I had very little opportunity to take myself to the mechanic.
This left me in a bit of a bind; I could lose weight simply by eating better (which I achieved) but I wasn’t going to get any stronger or fitter. The chassis just couldn’t take it and exercise was off the cards.

In the months since I finished, clearing out clothes that are too big and buying smaller sizes has become routine. I can comfortably take a size 12 from the rack to try on and know with some confidence it will fit – not since my very early 20s had I done that. I can also walk into a resturant or food court and happily decide what to consume and what the leave well alone. I can have a blow out once in a while, have wines and cocktails and the odd McMuffin to cure a hangover, as long as the ‘everyday foods’ are good, wholesome, real foods and portion sized to feed a tall, lightly active female, not a small American town.

What I haven’t tackled is my physical fitness. My chassis is still broken and continues to break. That was until I met my local chiropractor or ‘witch-doctor’ as a friend likes to label him. Witch-doctor he maybe, but I’ll keep buying his voodoo because it works!
This old, rusted out body is slowing cracking and shaking back into place. It’s healing, growing straighter and more centred than it’s ever been. Even the pelvis and hips are thinking about booking a return flight to rejoin their fellows. I am even coming to the point where I can fathom incubating another baby – a commitment I swore off after my first came crashing into the world.
Now, after 6 weeks of intense rehab, I am ready to take on my next set of challenges.

I will complete this coming round of the 12WBT and I will do it not with a mind for weight loss, but a mind for strength and endurance. I don’t need to lose anymore weight. I’m happy where I am in the healthy weight range and being healthy is not solely about the relationship between gravity and your body’s mass. Health is a much bigger picture. I’ve begun to paint a better version of me and losing 10kg was only the first pencil sketch. The next part, where I lay down the colour, is now. Building a better, stronger body starts February 3rd 2014. Please, if you have my back, follow my posts. I’ll try to keep you posted with my progress.
This old girl has a lot left in her yet.