29/28 Yes I know... but it's the Last one :-)

 I think that this is one of the most important messages for me, if you're not willing to try something which takes you outside your comfort zone then you are never going to move on.  You will just keep on doing what you've always done, and yes maybe you will make some small improvements to your life, but if you really want to take control you have to make the choice and be what John from PinPoint Fitness calls an 'Action Taker' at the end of the day, the only person who can make you is you :-)

This is my last post on this blog, it's day 29/28 and I'm a little behind because as I explained last night, was away over the weekend...  I won't post on here again as it was for a specific purpose, this blog was to record the 28 (29) days that I was a Guinea Pig with John and Pamela and to tell you how I got on.  If you just want to find out what I'm up to, and see if I can continue to make inroads into losing fat and lbs, then you can follow me on my other blog which I started last year to record my year in running, it's called  Running through 2011 oddly enough :-)

I'd love it if you did pop over and say a cyber hello and keep in touch, it's been great to see so many people liking my posts each evening, and I hope that in some small way I've inspired you.  I wouldn't have been able to do it without the PinPoint Fitness team behind me - I know that for a fact because I have tried on a number of occasions over the past few years, and never been successful.  If you are at all interested in taking the challenge for yourself, please get in touch with them - they're nice people, happy to chat to you and find out what you hope to achieve and then help you to get there.  Remember...

So what was the final outcome of my 28 day program?  I am delighted to say that in total I lost 8lbs in weight and 22cms in measurements, this hopefully means that the weight I've lost is fat hence the reduction in measurements.
When we were in Glasgow at the weekend, I bought a new dress, I was going to pick up a size 16 as usual, but John persuaded me that it looked to big and I took it and a 14 to the changing room, but there was an enormous queue - I HATE queueing!!!  Needless to say I didn't try the dresses on but as we were only across the road from the shops I decided to buy the size 14 and try it on in the hotel, I could always take it back the following morning...  I was absolutely gobsmacked the next morning - the dress zipped all the way up without being forced and felt and looked comfortable :-)  The enormous significance of this might be more clear when I tell you that the last time I was able to get into a size 14 dress was for my youngest son's christening, he turns 25 in October!  The feeling when I looked in the mirror has no price :-)

I intend to continue to follow the eating principles we've been taught, I also intend to keep up the exercise, I may have told you before, but my first meeting with John and Pamela was when we undertook a personal training program with them learning to do weight training and tabata (have I mentioned before I love tabata??)  So it will be back to the gym at least 2 early morning's a week for the next couple of months to lift some weights and keep the fat-burning going, as well as my regular running training and my new regime to train for my ultra marathon in August.  You'll need to hop over to Running through 2011 to see how I'm doing.
I am going to finish here I think, with a huge thanks to my new friends and fellow Guinea Pigs, we've encouraged each other along the way and some of them are continuing with the fitness camp - I'd love to but the logistics are just on the wrong side of manageable for the long term... at least at the moment.
So to Iain, Amanda, Vicki, Lauren, Gillian & Sarah, and of course John and Pamela - and also to my John for putting up with the 5am alarms and me often getting up before them...THANK YOU!!!!
One last thought...

And if you really want it then you'll achieve it :-)  Good Luck Folks xxx

BOGOF 28/28

NO!  I'm NOT being rude lol!  I was away overnight last night and didn't get a chance to post an update, so I thought I'd give you two for the price of one tonight :-)
I will post once more tomorrow, my final stats from the 4 week program that I have been following with John Allan and Pamela Halkett of Pinpoint-Fitness
Friday evening I told you a little about the Black Rock 5 race which I ran with some friends - mad... but I'll be entering again next year!  Friday was also a special day as it was our 5th wedding anniversary, and while we don't go in for all the commercial mush around flowers and cards and stuff, we did decide yesterday to take ourselves away for a wee break.  It's been ages since we've had the time and space to have some time completely to ourselves without training for or planning for or undertaking a race and whilst that's what we do and we love it, it's nice once every so often to have some chill time together.
We didn't decide until after we came back from parkrun yesterday, where we'd both had a good time pacing friends round the course.  We were lucky and got a late deal at the Thistle Hotel in Glasgow so off we went - we were sort of planning going through at some point over the weekend as John was going to Achilles Heel for new shoes - great shop with extremely knowledgeable and friendly staff!

Although we ate out last night, I tried to stick to the principles we've been following and I even checked in advance with Pamela that it was ok to eat mussels :-) We had a lovely dinner in the Mussel Inn on Hope Street, and the only naughty bit was we did have a bottle of bubbles in my new favourite watering hole - Citation in the Merchant City.  However we only have 1 anniversary a year so I didn't feel TOO naughty :-)

This morning we had a lovely walk along the river Kelvin then through the Botanic Gardens while waiting for the shop to open, then John got his new shoes, and a free pair courtesy y of a race he's doing in June - I gave into temptation and bought a new pair too :-)

aren't they pretty? 

Usually on a Sunday I would post my stats but because we've been away I'm going to do the weights and measures tomorrow so will post them then...

Last Fitcamp 26/28

Just a real quickie tonight, the photo above is of the race I ran tonight, we're only just home so this will be a really short post!
The race is called the Black Rock 5 the rock in the pic is the Black Rock and you run out and round it and back - 5miles on interesting mixed terrain!  It's tough going running on the beach, running in the water is fine, but the long "ripples" in the sand are hard going!
However, I completed it and was nowhere last, and thoroughly enjoyed it.  Only complaint was that even though it was lovely and sunny, it was freezing and there was a strong cold wind blowing :-(
There was a group of us from Falkirk parkrun all there and we had good fun :-)

Today was our last fitcamp session of the Guinea Pig season, however John Allan and Pamela Halkett are running a free taster week next week for anyone who's interested - contact them either on facebook or at
www.pinpoint-fitness.com for further details

We redid the fitness test that we had done day 1 - seems ages ago!  Everybody blitzed it absolutely amazing results - Well done to all of us and huge thanks to John and Pamela for their motivation and advice.

Today's menu
Breakfast:  scrambled eggs
Lunch: Chicken salad
Dinner: a banana when I finished the race :-)

nite nite folks time to take my poor tired legs to bed as parkrun in the morning xx

25/28 Mixed Emotions...

Tomorrow morning is the last Pinpoint Fitness fitcamp session of my 4 week term as a Guinea Pig.  I am happy that I have burned more fat and lost more weight and inches, but I am sad that I won't be turning up "Bright & Breezy" on Monday to workout with my new "pioneer" friends :-)  We've worked hard together and we've had plenty laughs along the way, so hopefully I'll be able to keep in touch with them - the wonders of social networking lol!

I will however endeavour to keep up the workouts and will also be back to the gym to start the weightlifting routines again as of next week.

I have entered a race in August and I have a goal to lose more weight and get stronger before then so I fully intend to stick to the healthy eating and fatburning principles that I've learned over the past few weeks.

Who knows, I might even convince my long-suffering husband to thole me getting up at 5am once in a while to head to Cumbernauld to join in a session with the next batch of fatburners :-)

When I was looking for pictures tonight I found one which I am going to include tonight in honour of fellow Guinea Pig Iain.  Iain makes no secret of his love (or not) of vegetables, although he claims he is now eating "Tonnes" of them and certainly looking at how successful he's been shifting the weight he has been :-)

So Iain this is for you...

 was a fast day today so just about to sit down to dinner of chicken with broccoli and cauliflower, have drunk peppermint tea, tulsa tea, and at least 3litres of water today :-)

I'm looking forward to tomorrow morning's session and will continue to blog until the 28 days so that I can tell you the final results, however as I'm racing tomorrow evening it might be late before I get back.

24/28 Meet Dave!

Last Friday I missed a session at fitcamp as I was resting before racing on Saturday, unfortunately this meant that I missed Dave's first visit...
He came back this morning - but really folks he's a pussy cat :-) a BIG wimp!!
Fantastic session this morning, a real endorphin rush and was pleased that I managed as well as I did, felt good for the rest of the day, so much so I was all set to go for a run after work til I remembered I had a physio appointment at 6!  Got the knots in my calves and hamstrings kneaded out so all good to go for next race which takes place Friday evening - run out onto beach, round rock and back uphill to finish line outside of pub before tide comes in... should be fun!! (or something!)
If any of you who take the time to read my random ramblings, are interested in trying it for themselves, then John and Pamela of Pinpoint Fitness are putting on a free taster week next week, just look them up online or on facebook and get in touch with them they'll be delighted to see you.

Came home this evening and the postie had delivered my race-pack for the Ignis Women's 10k in Glasgow a week Sunday, I love getting a race number in the post - it's exciting :-) the tshirt is pink again this year :-)

Was starving after this morning's workout so had blueberries, banana and yoghurt for breakfast,
Lunch: 2 slices roast beef and salad
Dinner: chicken curry with cabbage and kale

drunk loads and loads and loads of water and tea today and can honestly say my hydration has balanced itself back to normal after the weekend lol!

I wanted to post another photo tonight but I couldn't take one that showed properly what I wanted to show so you just have to believe me, I bought a fabby skirt last summer, real 1950's style full panelled almost circular, black with white polka dots.  Just loved it - put it on this morning and it is fully 4 inches too big on the waist!!  I wanted to take a photo showing this but I couldn't get it to show the full effect!  Maybe before the end of the week I might manage to get a photo to post, will keep trying :-)

23/28 A new direction...

Two things today that made me think of the title of this post. 

First of all we ran a new route tonight, it was a lovely evening to be out and I wanted to see how the legs felt after Saturday and then yesterday's workout.  I thought I'd probably go for a walk with a wee bit of jogging perhaps if I felt up to it, but my legs were surprisingly responsive so ran the whole way apart from road crossings and a minute when I had to tie my hair up as the wind was blowing so strong I couldn't see and was eating hair!

The second was that I passed a lady today whom I recognised from my brief trial at a slimming club last summer - said lady has lost about 5 stones in weight and all respect to her she's kept it off, she walks everywhere these days and looks healthy and well.  Seeing her today made me think about what I weighed last August and I realised that I now weigh 23lbs less than I did then.  This is no thanks to the slimming club, I did lose about 10lbs over the 6 weeks or so I went, but I put it all back on again between October and December.  This is why I was looking for a different approach to weightloss and fitness and how I came across a link to PinPoint Fitness via a friend from Strathclyde parkrun. 
So this was my second new direction :-)
I can honestly say my approach to food, to eating and to exercise has taken a new direction, I now do more exercise than just run, I have got stronger and more confident in my ability to keep going, having got lighter has also made it easier to get around a bit faster - there's less to shift!  Simple physics, the less mass you have to move the less effort you need to expend, or for the same effort I get a greater return - win win! :-)

I enjoyed my run this evening, it was only 5km but it was enough for the first run after a tough race, there's something gratifying about your legs responding when you ask them to :-)

Early start tomorrow as Dave is coming to visit us at fitcamp, I'm not sure if I'm looking forward to it or not, will let you know tomorrow!

We've eaten a lot of eggs today but hopefully they won't have any adverse effects!
Breakfast:  scrambled eggs and tomato
Lunch:  goats cheese, red pepper and tomato salad
Dinner:  salmon, asparagus and goats cheese omelette with a salad of spinach, chard and rocket
 

22/28 Ascension

"As you have moved into ascension you have moved more fully into your body."

Today's workout was called ascension, and when I was looking for an appropriate image I found this one which shows the chakras of the body, I don't know a huge amount about them, but I have had a couple of Reiki sessions and know that they are significant and they are important in yoga I believe...
I also liked the picture :-)
But I do think that it's appropriate as in the last 3 weeks us Guinea Pigs have come to know our bodies better.  I certainly know that mine is much stronger than I ever thought before and that I can now trust it not to let me down, I have also come to accept how it looks in the mirror and that's been a really important change in attitude for me.

I wasn't sure how I'd manage this morning as I was stiff and tired from Saturday's run, I woke a couple of times in the night, just because I was stiff, and when I woke at 04.41 I was afraid if I dozed off I'd sleep through the alarm, so I got up then, ok it was a bit early, alarm was set for 5am but on the plus side it meant I was able to enter myself and John for next year's London marathon - when I say entered I mean we are successfully in the ballot for a place, that doesn't mean we'll get one but if you're not in it you've no chance!

So to our Ascenscion workout - I honestly don't remember that much about it, I just remember doing it and being really pleased because I managed to do it - including some burpees which I don't usually do because the getting up and down is too hard with my non-bendy knee but I managed 5 this morning!  We did lots of exercises in combinations of 1 or 2 then more then a rest then more of them together before a rest... it was a really good tough workout but it was one of those where you just respond to the next command - sometimes that's good to do, you only concentrate on the moment not on what you need to do next...

We finished off with a 10 to 4 routine which is a different exercise for each number of reps, so 10 of first then 9 of second down to 4 of last exercise.

It as a fast day today and this morning I was so so sleepy!  I think it was residual tiredness from the weekend, not just the run, but the early start/late night, the comedown from the adrenaline and also the stress of worrying about John and then about the rest of the guys in my relay team - responsibility is a heavy burden sometimes :-)
still felt quite jet-lagged today although by mid-afternoon was starting to feel less spaced out just tired.
Had a lovely big sirloin steak with spinach and cauliflower for dinner so will finish this and tidy up a wee bit then it will be early bed for me.
I did manage 5minutes rolling my calves on the foam roller before dinner time and although it was a bit ouchy I feel the benefit of it, I need to try and fit in a wee run tomorrow...