Well Crikey,

Have a guess what happens when you forget what account your blog is linked to?

That's right...

No posts for a year...

FINALLY I found some old email accounts saved in the background, and found the account the blog was on, so I thought I'd update it.

Well, I finished the programme at 78kg. Took me a year (less a day). I started on the 4th of July 2006 and finished on the 2nd of July 2007.

The forum I started (see two posts ago), at NEW YOU FORUM is going great guns. We have over 20000 posts and 500 members, it's sure magic. I love it.

Life as a 'skinny person' is fantastic. Mind you, I still don't think I'm a 'skinny person', I still have some skin there that's still toning, and I've had some 'bounce issues', by which I mean my weight has fluctuated and I've gone back onto the programme again to revisit my goal, but overall I'm doin' OK.

Anyway, just thought I'd post an update.

thanks for reading!

asy :D

Dreamworld

Well, I'm bruised, sore and very happy.

Today we went to Dreamworld!

My kids, my son's best mate, his mum and her boyfriend and my cousin all went. It was my son's Graduation present from Primary school.

On that topic (slight segue) since when do they have bloody graduations from PRIMARY school, what ever happened to a plate of angel cakes and a wave from the teacher as they leave? They now have full sit down dinners at a 'venue', the cost is $20 per head, plus all the associated new clothes and stuff. How bloody ridiculous!

For several reasons, I offered him that if he wanted, he could go to the Graduation, or we could all have a day at Dreamworld. Luckily for me, it took less that a microsecond for his answer!

This meant we had a great day together, AND I didn't have to sit at a graduation with my ex!

Anyway, back to the dreamworld story, the BEST Thing today was fitting into the seats on rides.

Now, those of you who have never been mistaken for Dugongs wouldn't understand this concept. There's a point at which you know not to go onto rides because they just aren't made for people of "this size". Part of me used to get upset at this, arguing it wouldn't kill them to make the seats bigger, but, I realised that, small children would fall out of a seat 'that size' sideways!

Anyway... I digress...

The BEST ride at Dreamworld is undoubtedly the FLOWRIDER.

I'm so bruised it's not funny, and we had a ball. Actually, it was so good we came back in the afternoon for another ride!

The best non-water ride is the "Tower of Terror" it's great fun. You go from 0 - about 100kmph in two or three seconds! then ride the rails up the tower, then fall back down to a stop. The whole ride takes 24 seconds! Luckilly it was VERY quiet at Dreamworld today, so we went around again for another ride! We also went on the Cyclone (rollercoaster) twice, I went on the CLAW, which I will NEVER go on again!!! And lots of other rides. Really had a great day.

I'm really pleased with my Weight Loss, over 50kg now. It's magic!

Only another 30-40 to go.

The Cohen system wants me to get down to 75kg, but I'm not sure. I've never been that weight in my life (well, not since I was bout 14 and then only in passing!) but I'm worried it'll be too scrawny. I will get down to 85kg then sit down with Sue and reassess things. I think at 85kg I'll have a better idea of just how much more I want to lose. Personally, I think I'll end up somewhere around 80kg. But we'll wait and see...

A New You.

Well, I've the great privilege of announcing some extremely exciting news.

There's a NEW FORUM JUST for people on the COHEN PROGRAMME!

Now do I know this?

Well, glad you asked!

It's because I STARTED the forum!

It's called: New You Forum!

Thanks to a HEAP of help from "lessfatty" without whom this would have still been a pipe dream! It's REALLY handy to have someone who knows how to set a forum up on your side! He will also be co-administrator and I'm looking forward to watching it all grow.

The link is here: New You Forum .

Please drop in and register, join our community, especially if you're on the Cohen programme (or contemplating or finished it)!

See you there!!!

To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub...

Well, I haven't posted in a week, sorry. Have had a BIG week.

Went to court this week, and represented myself, it was only an adjournment, but it was interesting, and I was really proud that I did it myself. Don't want to do that for the actual case, but the adjournment was OK. Also I had to ask that a Childrens' representative be appointed, which was 'fun' coz I didn't know how, but I muddled through, and the judge was really nice!!!

I'm confident I'll win. I can't bear to think of any alternative.

Anyway, one thing I thought was HILARIOUS was that my ex has cited my weight as a major issue on why I'm a poor parent, apparently I'm on a "Disability pension due to my obesity". Um, no. I'm not. But he wouldn't know, so he makes stuff up, and then it must be true coz he said it. The funniest thing was, When I met his Solicitor, she's BIGGER THAN I AM!!! It was ALL I could do not to ask her whether she had children, and if so, was she offended that my ex obviously must think she's a poor parent due to her size. But I thought better of it and shut up. I'm pretty proud of THAT too! :D

Oh, and, Court has been adjourned to Mid Feb, by which time I should be about 20-25kg lighter than I am now, and hopefully another 2 dress sizes smaller. So, I can't wait to walk in to court and say, "Yes, Your Honour, It's me, the size 14 Obese bad mother, oh, and, by the way, if I'm obese, the world has serious problems".

Still, due to the stress last week, when I went for my weigh in after court on Wednesday, I'd only lost about 1.5kg in the preceding week and a half. In spite of eating only what I'm supposed to. I had, however, not been sleeping well at all.

I'd had a couple of 3am bed-goings, and a 4am bed going. You know when you look out your windows and it's getting light, it's past bedtime... :(

Since Friday I've been in bed no later than midnight. In fact on Friday night I was SO exhausted from lack of sleep that I fell asleep right at the beginning of Smallville and hence missed it (did anyone tape it, can you send me the tape!!!???) and woke up at 11pm, then went to bed. Result was, I was up at 4am, wide awake! Stayed in bed and dozed till 7am. I felt magnificent on Saturday!

Saturday night I was in bed at midnight. It was fabulous.

I've resolved that I want to try to be in bed by around midnight from now on.

I can't wait to see how much I've lost this week after all that sleep. If I've lost lots, it'll cement the theory that Sleep is a BIG part of weight loss. I'll report in when I've weighed in.

Still, if I EVER needed a mid-programme-motivator going to court a size 14 is it.

It doesn't rain...

Well, the last week has been one I don't care to relive.

It all started last Tuesday when my house was burgled. A gang of youths broke into my house and stole all my camera gear (which is quite a bit of gear!) , and all my jewelery. The worst thing is, they also got my laptop. Not only does this mean they got ALL the plans of all the work I've done for the new farm house (including about 5 full days of working out all the take-offs and costings and specs stuff), but, they also got my weight loss and measurement charts.

Thank goodness my before and after photos (especially the nudie ones!) are on a different computer!!!

Then, the next day, I discovered my ex is suing me for joint custody of our kids, and for an injunction to stop us moving to the farm. The kids are really upset, because they want to move to the farm. Not to mention I'm upset because I hate stress, and I really don't want to have to go to court. Anyway, I was notified of all this on Wednesday, and our court date is (wait for it) NEXT WEDNESDAY! Now, legal aid takes a week to process an application for aid, and, I don't have a week. I spoke with a solicitor, and she sounds nice, but she was away Thursday and Friday, so she said for me to put the legal aid application in myself. Then I got a call from Legal aid, and they said that, if I put the application in myself I'll get assigned a duty solicitor (yuk) and if I wanted to guarantee I get the solicitor I want, SHE has to put the application in herself. But she won't put it in herself unless the firm is paid for the hour or so to lodge it.

Talk about frustration central!

So, on Tuesday, I have to attend a 'mediation' hearing to see if we can 'resolve' our differences. I want to move, he doesn't want me to move. There's no middle ground, unfortunately. Luckilly for me, the kids want to move, and the solicitor seems to think that the kids will almost decide the thing.

Anyway, that's what's been going on around here.

Keep tuned, I will have some very GOOD and EXCITING news in the next day or so.

What's going on in my life...

There's so much going on in my life at the moment!!! That's why I haven't had a chance to blog for a little while...

We've bought a farm. It's a big acreage down the coast a ways. Actually it's in NSW, but I'll live... hehe

Anyway, I'm busy as anything planning the house, organising it all, getting quotes for everything then trying to work out which quotes are best, and not to mention starting packing.

I haven't started packing just yet, but will have to start next week.

We're hoping to be in the new house around late March next year, and I hope this will co-incide with my finishing the Cohen programme. I'm also going to change my name back to my maiden name at that time (sick of carting around my ex-s name!) so it's a WHOLE new life for me!!!

I live in a highset house (for those who don't know, that's a house on high stumps, where everything's upstairs) but downstairs is built in, and it's FULL of storeage stuff. When I say Full, I mean REALLY FULL. I've bought myself a shipping container, and I'm going to go through everything downstairs and be really ruthless as to what I can throw out. I've carted a lot of this stuff with me from Victoria to QLD, and do not intend to burden another state with it! :D

By the way, if anyone knows anyone who can move a shipping container from Brissie down a few hours south of here, please let me know!!! :D

Now, The kids are on holidays from the middle of December till the end of January, and that gives me 6 weeks in which I don't have to be in Brisbane (for school). They're visiting with their father for the first 3 weeks of the holidays, so that's when we can live a little rougher and hopefully get the first half of the house done. After that, we'll hopefully only be doing the fit out, which takes longer, but is easier to live around. The kids can explore the farm or swim in the lagoon while we work...

This does, however, mean that I really need to be packed up (well, the storeage stuff, anyway) before we start building, which gives me 3-4 weeks. The house will not take me long to pack, maybe a week, but downstairs all needs organising.

Then I will have LOTS of stuff to list on e-Bay. I already have 3 HUGE tubs of clothes to list on ebay, not to mention all the stuff I know is downstairs.

I really only want to move stuff I REALLY want, not stuff I "might need" and I hope the stuff will sell for enough on ebay that I'll be able to buy myself some things I've really wanted for ages, like bedside tables! hehe

So, keep an eye out on MY EBAY LISTINGS to see what I've listed! (nothing there today, but hopefully I'll get some on there soon).

vitamins I take.

A couple of people have asked me what Vitamins I take daily, so I thought I'd list them here and then everyone will know and I'll be able to remember long term!

Before I started I took Suisse Multi vitamin for women. I believe it to be an excellent multi vitamin, and wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to anyone. Sue (from the Cohen Clinic) has recommended I take one she has there as it's even better. I said I'd give it a try, and she's right, it is. I feel more energized on days I take them and I think I'm not quite as tired either.

This is the littany of what I take: and I take 1 tablet of each daily (first thing in the morning).

Orachel High potencyMultivitamin (from Sue)
ChelaMin Chelated Mineral supplement (from Sue)
Vitamin E (Natural 500iu) - For Skin and tissue repair
Magnesium and Zinc (with D3) (Natures own) - For skin Elasticity
Omega-3 Complex (Nutriway* Omega 3) 1000mg - Heart health and Arthritis reduction
Vitamin B1 (100mg) - Assists glucose metabolism **
Coloxyl with Senna. - mild laxative to stop constipation
Glucosamine 1500 (Blackmores) - Arthritis relief.
Zinc and Chromium - Skin elasticity again ;)

And that's it. That's enough though!!!


* the nutriway omega 3 is the only one made totally organically... (So I believe)
**also known to change the smell of the skin to Mozzies, so they don't bite you as much!!!

The cleanup.

Wow, two posts today!

I decided that since I didn't fit any of my clothes any more I best get them out of my room.

In my room, I have a really lovely chest of drawers, and two open hanging racks, no wardrobe.

Now, about 5 months ago, just before I went on this programme, I decided that I had too many clothes for my chest of drawers, so I bought a mass of BIG tubs to keep my clothes in. I sorted my clothes into the tubs, and labelled them: Shorts, Long pants, t-shirts, Long sleeved tops, Dresses/nighties and odds and ends.

I've lived around these boxes, not really using anything in them and not being able to GET to anything behind them (the hanging racks) for the last 5 months. It's got so bad that I only had a tiny track around the side of them to get into my bed. It was driving me nuts.

I decided to flylady my room.

I started yesterday, and am about 80% through now (I'm taking a break!).

I started by emptying all the tubs onto the bed. Then I emptied out the drawers onto the bed, as the drawers were full of stuff I never wore... Which I never took out in case I wanted it, but was stopping me putting the stuff that was in the tubs into the drawers. Anyway, it was ALL emptied out onto the bed.

Then I started going through it all, I put anything that no longer fits (clothes from size 22 to 30) folded into tubs newly marked "eBay", then I put anything that still fit or that will fit and can be used to paint in soon, into the drawers. And there's HEAPS of room left over.

The only clothes still in a tub are my T-Shirts, which still sorta fit, (well, they're all too big and hangey-downey, but they'll do till they fall off). I now have three tubs of ebayable stuff, not including my suits. Some larger gals will have a bonanza soon.

It's funny, as I folded my clothes, I felt a tinge of sadness, because I just love the colours and fabrics of my shirts. My mum made almost all of the clothes there, so they were tailored and fit perfectly, she even adapted patterns to my arm size. But as I put them into the sale tubs I felt a mixture of loss and exhillaration. I had to try a few things on as they went in. One shirt a friend gave me for my birthday 5 years ago still hanging up with the tags attached, it's the most gorgeous purple with silver thread through it, and 3/4 sleeves, but it never fit in the arms. The body would have just fit, but never the arms. Well, it fit today. Well, the arms fit today, the rest of it was far too large. :D

I've cleaned out my hanging racks, and one's gone. The other one's going to have to hold my clothes until I move. still, at least I will be able to HANG things, there's space and I can get to them! I also have a WHOLE box of coathangers now!!!

I have to take one pair of shorts in to Sue at the Cohens Clinic. She wants a pair of shorts from before I started the diet, to hang on her wall, then she'll add a pair in the size I finish in to the wall too! I think it's pretty cool. Scary but cool.

Can't wait to see what that size will be. I sure hope it's 14 or less :D

I still have to go through another couple of piles of clothes, which I'll do shortly, and have to sort some linen which was sitting in the bottom of the hanging rack.

I have another couple of boxes of linen to go through, and will do that next week. Lifeline may just be a winner there!

Photo day.

Nah, not photos of me!!!

Today I took my kids' school's school photos. Not the formal every child ones, but the sports teams and special groups (like band and choir and school leaders, etc).

The school wanted something a little different for these photos, and knew I did quite a bit of photography, so they asked me.

I took some 160 odd photos, of about 25 different groups of kids, ranging from 2 kids to 23 kids in a group. We took the photos in the playground, with the kids on the fort, even some groups with the kids in trees! I'm thrilled with how they came out, and the best thing is, it cost the school nothing. They'll make 100% of the sale funds (after printing costs) which the school will keep!

But, I couldn't believe how sick I was after it. I haven't felt this sick in ages. I took water with me, and drank about a litre and a half in the 3 hours I was there, plus I had Salada with me, but I could only eat a half (2 little squares). I did have a break at recess, about 2 hours into the ordeal.

I had a headache, stomach ache, felt awfully nauseous and was nearly ready to chuck.

I think it was exhaustion. I really must get to bed before 3am.

Anyway, I came home and had a shower and a nap and feel much better. Only had a small lunch (the cheese option) and it was yum. I feel much better now.

I'm stressed as anything at the moment (due to ex-husband issues) and not sleeping well even when I DO get there, and it didn't help to be woken up at 6.30 by my daughter coz she wanted to get all the cameras etc to school early ;)

Still, I lived, and it means I've only had 1 crispbread serving today, so with 2 serves for arvo smoko, that leaves TWO serves for supper instead of the usual 1!!!

HOORAY. There's always a silver lining isn't there!