Questions for Avril! The Ozblog

[PigsnieLite]

I think its that guy wid the funny name -- Escape? -- who keeps moving your thread.

So youre exercising! Eeeek! You wont catch me stretching to my toesies, even though we haf a treadmill & a rower already. Pigsnit suggests that I tie hot wings to my big toe so that Ill actually want to stretch! Hahaha!

[Avril]

Heheh, it feels so good to exercise!

But I'd forgotten all about how good it felt. Before starting at the gym I got way more satisfaction from sitting at my computer, writing for hours. But I also got lots of headaches and my energy was low. Now I exercise and write more and feel better. It was just a matter of making the decision to switch priorities.

[shoegirl]

It's nice to hear your going to the gym Avril. I am very impressed with your weight loss too.

I should be going to the gym too, but since we moved the gym I went to is now alot further away then it use to be. So I either need to get going on my walks again or maybe find a new one humm...detective

[Avril]

Thanks, Lisa. I'm waiting for my Nobel Peace Prize for encouragement in saving people from dying of shock and horror when they see me at the beach this summer.

I have a few goals. It didn't hurt that the doctor who did my last blood tests told me (erroneously, as it turned out) that I was in danger of becoming diabetic. I'm not now, even if I wasnt then either.

And I have a forty-year school reunion coming up a week from now. Eek. I think that's scarier than diabetes!

[shoegirl]

Originally Posted by Avril

Thanks, Lisa. I'm waiting for my Nobel Peace Prize for encouragement in saving people from dying of shock and horror when they see me at the beach this summer.

I have a few goals. It didn't hurt that the doctor who did my last blood tests told me (erroneously, as it turned out) that I was in danger of becoming diabetic. I'm not now, even if I wasnt then either.

And I have a forty-year school reunion coming up a week from now. Eek. I think that's scarier than diabetes!

I think there is a bathing suit for everyone. Having worked in ladies wear for a short time I think they make bathing suits for pretty much every body type that exists. It might not be fun bathing suit shopping ( I dislike it myself ) but once you find the right one, it's so worth it.

The beach is so fun, and swimming is good exercise and refreshing.
Is it warm enough to swim in the ocean year round in Australia?

[Avril]

It's not nearly warm enough, especially when we have Antarctic currents sweeping up the east coast.

There are people who swim every morning all year round at Bondi Beach (they call themselves the Bondi Icebergs). I guess there are diehards like that everywhere. I'm definitely not one of them. If I'm lucky, I get to swim on Christmas Day if the water's warm enough. February is really hot and that's when everyone swims and the beaches are crowded. This is a not particularly crowded day on Bondi Beach.



Er, I think my swimsuit has fallen apart - it's a few decades old. Now that I'm not going to be a ginormous white whale on the beach, I might have to get a new one.

[shoegirl]

Avril, have you had any days where you feel very unmotivated to go to the gym or do other forms of exercise? What keeps you going?

Do you allow your self to have a lazy day if you intended to exercise on that particular day?

[Avril]

Before I started the particular nutrition program that this gym uses with their clients, I was unmotivated ALL the time. My thought was that walking for an hour was wasting time I'd rather be using to write, or garden, or do my taxes. And the effort of walking, or in fact any exercise, was way more than I wanted to expend doing anything.

So for me it really started when I gave up sugar. It wasn't that I ate a huge amount of sweet things. I didn't eat cake or biscuits/cookies (except at Christmas). I didn't have sugary desserts. I didn't have sugar or any sweetener in hot beverages. I didn't drink soda or sweet drinks or even juices. I rarely had chocolate and when I did it was the dark Lindt Intense range with 85% - 99% cocoa and less sugar.

Mainly, I was a huge fruit eater. I'd snack on fruit - of which there is a huge range in Oz - three or four times a day. So when I cut out sugar, all I really had to do was cut out all the fruit I was eating, and replace it with a protein snack such as tuna, or almonds.

It had an enormous effect. I had a detox headache that wouldn't budge for three days. After that, I started to feel more energy. That's when I started doing weights. Doing weights and strengthening my core meant that when I went on to more intense cardio, I had strength and stamina. It was quite a gradual increase.

But the nutritional program is 70% of this program. Moderate exercise is 20%, and strenuous exercise is just 10% - all of which is do-able. The nutritional program entails 5-6 small high protein/low carb/low fat meals a day, timed, weighed for proportions and in a certain relation to exercise.

For example, I have black coffee before I do my daily early morning 60 minute cross-training or weight session, but no food till afterwards. If I just do cross-training, which is mainly moderate cardio, I wait an hour afterwards before eating to maximise fat burning. If I do weights, I have a protein shake straightaway for muscle repair and strengthening.

I wait two hours after eating to exercise. One day a week is a rest day, but I still do an hour's low to moderate cardio. One day a week is an accelerator day, meaning I only have 5g of carbs per 100g protein meal. When not on an accelerator day, it's about three times that amount of carbs.

Each day in my exercise and eating diary I total the amount of macro nutrients (protein, carbs and fat) I've had, trying to keep to the optimum amounts the trainer has worked out based on my weight, height, lifestyle, age, sex and body type. I ignore calories. This program is all about the proportions of macro nutrients, and drinking 2-3 litres of water every day.

So that's the long answer to your question. The short answer is no, I don't feel unmotivated. I feel exhilarated. My body loves exercise. I sometimes have to hold back because I will get injured if I don't take it a little slower.

Maybe when I get closer to my weight goal it will be harder because I'll be pushing myself harder. I don't know.

I've observed that being overweight means that there is a huge amount of effort just to get moving. It's probably inertia. If I'm using muscles that are strong and well exercised, like my legs, I know I can keep going for ages now. But with muscles that are weaker it's way more effort. As they get stronger I'll still be pushing my limits, increasing stamina and strength - but I believe the sheer effort will feel different, more achievable. Like GOOD effort, instead of agonising effort.

[Avril]

I know all the above sounds cliché, or like some weight loss ad. It just happens to be true.

I remember reading an interview with Reneé Zellweger about Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, where she had to put on a lot of weight for the role for the second time. In between the first (2001) and the second (2004) BJ movies she did Chicago (2002), where she was so slender they had to pad her bum and bra.

The interviewer asked her how she did it, given that many of us find it near impossible to lose weight once it's on - and here she was, having gained and lost a substantial amount of weight TWICE.

She said she simply ate heaps of carbs and fats that made her feel lethargic and less like exercising. And when it came time to lose the weight again, she simply changed the ratio of protein to carbs, and went to the gym everyday.

That's pretty inspirational, because it's so deliberate. It's so on top of the whole weight issue, which for many of us is a battle with bad habits, low energy and low motivation or defeatist attitudes born of many failed attempt to lose weight. I found it instructive too about how our mood is affected by food, even though I knew all that stuff, in theory, before.

[Sunfrogolin]

I ate adobo for dinner.