Time to get moving?

I seriously need to get exercising.  


I have been very disheartened lately every morning when I play the "what to wear" game.  Not because I don't have enough clothes.  I have more clothes than most people could wear.  I have clothes in three styles for basically each season.


I have been disheartened because I have very few clothes that fit me.  I must explain myself further.  For those of my readers who have not met me, I am short.  I am very short.  I don't always feel short...at least not until I try to reach something high up.   I have a very small frame.  For most of my childhood (particularly my infancy) I was underweight and struggled to gain weight.  I was a slow and very 'small' eater.  It was not until I was about 19 that I began eating what people would call a normal sized meal.  I was never anorexic, but I was tiny.


Since I started uni, I have (for want of a better term) filled out.  I grew some hips.  That's ok, I would tell myself.  Women need hips.  While at uni I was basically a size 6-8 depending on the clothes (let's not talk about the variation in women's clothes shall we?!).


After I got married, I ate more.  For the first year I was working and studying at the same time.  For the next year and a half I was hunting for work, during which time I would go to the gym.  That was the healthiest I have basically ever felt, and the best I have ever felt about my weight (which really was not that good).  Once I got a job and since then I have basically put on a dress size every year or so.  


So I went from a 6-8 (in 2003 ish) to closer to a 12-14 (in 2008 ish).  This may not sound like that much.  In perspective, when I finished school I was about 45 kilos.  When I got married I was closer to 50 kilos. When I fell pregnant with Bede I was about 60 kilos (maybe a bit more if I'm honest).  


After I had Bede I quickly lost all my baby weight and then some.  Within a few short months I was back in single digit jeans but still feeling unhealthy.  But at the 6 month mark I started to gradually put weight back on. I put it down to a number of factors.  Little or no exercise, continuing to breastfeed (which can make your body hold on to fat), and being at home, eating irregular meals and snacking on unhealthy things.  Now with Bede 1 year old, I tip the scale at almost 65 kilos.


You may think 65 kilos is not much.  When I go shopping for clothes I am always pointed straight to the size 8 clothes.  But on a 5 foot frame...let's just say I can feel it in my knees when I climb stars and when I carry Bede and if I try to run...oh dear. 


Now for the scary part. Someone my height (not quite 5 foot tall), should weigh between 45 and 55 kilos (according to the somewhat flawed BMI scale).  This scares me because it is only a few hundred little grams until I could be classified as obese.  How can I even write this??? Me?? Obese?? What planet is this anyway????  


It should be easy enough for someone like me to lose weight right?  All I have to do is make a few dietary changes and walk a little more and the kilos should just drop off!!!  I don't think so.  I seem to have lost the ability to make good food choices, and have little to no motivation to get walking (other than getting the boy out of the house and in this heat...well you can imagine).  For me, someone who spent their entire childhood in an underweight mindset, 65 kilos may as well be 85.  I have no idea how to eat to lose weight.  I could buy gym equipment, but I know it would gather dust.  


I need a gym.  I have found a good gym.  I can afford it.  I know Luke will support me in getting there regularly, and in eating well.  But can I do it?  Not alone.  I can't do it alone.  Just like trying to live a sinless life, I can't lose weight alone.  I need help.  I need God's help because I can't help myself, neither in life nor in weight loss.  


I need Him to give me the motivation to get in the car and drive to the gym and put Bede in creche and eat healthily even though I'm not a fan of fruit and veggies.  I need to know there are other people out there in the same boat.  People who need to lose weight but struggle to find the motivation, and who want someone to talk to about it.  I need someone to talk to about it and to pray with about it.  I need people to pray for me that I can get healthy again both in mind and in body.

Still Alive!!

I am still alive oh my devoted followers...we few, we happy few...

The move is accomplished with the minimum of stress.  We now reside outside of Sydney (GASP) in a small country town.  Our home is situated on a block of land that could easily be divided into two generous blocks.  The house itself is large.  No.  Wait.  It's huge.  We're used to living in maybe 3 rooms.  Now we have 4 bedrooms, and two living areas, and nowhere near enough furniture to fill it. 

We have already begun on the backyard modifications.   We now have 4 vegetable/herb gardens with many vegetables growing in them (many of which, mind you, I don't eat).  We have also pulled out the entirety of the front flower bed, which is now ready for new and pretty flowers rather than spike/fern things...

On another topic, I have officially survived the first year of being a mother.  Bede turned 1 today!!  He is still breastfed, he eats lots and lots of everything, he sleeps 12 hours at night and two hours (ish) during the day in 2 chunks.  He walks everywhere, and is getting better at it everyday.  He askes "Dis?" as he points to things, and has finally mastered the mum mum mum sound.  He throws left handed and can stack blocks. He loves all music, making singing and dancing attempts constantly.  He loves being read to and can turn the pages of a book, knowing to begin at the beginning.  He is a very happy little boy who will smile at everyone, and will walk up to, climb on, and cuddle everyone who is friendly to him.  He is very ticklish and laughs all the time. 

If you can't tell,  may have enjoyed being a mum this year just a little bit.  I am still being asked all the time when will I go back to work.  I simply answer "Not for the forseeable future".  And I'm OK with that!