Reflections on a Ho-hum Round

Well today marks the end of Round 4, 2012 12WBT. I haven't kept up with my blog this round, so this post is a quick wrap up.

I haven't been as successful this round as in the previous round, but I'm happy to say that even with the couple of HUGE hurdles I've had to face this round, I still managed to lose 5kg and to increase my fitness. For someone who couldn't even swim 25m, I can now swim 1000m (albeit with a couple of rests) and I can also now run 1km without stopping!

During the 12 weeks of Round 4 I successfully went camping for 2 weeks and did not put on weight; I came through the Christmas and New Year period lighter than before it began; I suffered food poisoning for more than 2 weeks and ended up in hospital, but still managed to do some kayaking and mountain bike riding (though not too far from a toilet);

And to top it all off we lost my dear father-in-law to depression & suicide which meant we shut ourselves off from the rest of the world for a couple of weeks to take stock.

But still I lost those 5kgs. Thank-you Mish!

It was the skills I've learnt on this program which got me through - eating healthily, making good choices, and keeping moving. These skills are starting to become a part of me.

So I couldn't control the food poisoning, nor the death, but I did have some control over the big red flag - camping for two weeks over Christmas and New Year. What was different this time? The food for a start. This time I planned the food to a certain extent. We chose 12WBT friendly breakfasts and had a selection of wraps, meats and salads for lunches. For Christmas Day we followed one of Mish's menus and cooked a turkey roll over the campfire. Yummo!

Then for dinners we had lean meat with frozen vegies (we have a camping fridge / freezer) or baked beans. We didn't do the packet pasta & sauce we used to do, we didn't add rice, we didn't get takeaway while in town, we didn't snack all day on dips, cheeses and chips, we didn't drink softdrink, we hardly had any alcohol, and we SURVIVED and had FUN! Who'd a thought?
The next big change to our usual camping trips was that everyday we did some kind of energetic exercise. Kayaking on the lake, mountain biking to the dam or to the campground 5 kms away.

I climbed this long set of stairs up the side of the dam wall. And all of this while I was not feeling 100%. Yes, I did spend a lot of time sitting and reading (and a little time in hospital due to dehydration as a result of my food poisoning - I was still managing to eat, but keeping up the fluids was hard), but I spent a lot of time participating in activities, instead of standing back & taking photos as I used to. I still got enough photos to remember the holiday by, but I got in and lived life. What a difference!

We got rained out (twice), we had to rebuild our campsite 3 times due to the cyclonic winds and wet sandy ground, and my car was trapped surrounded by a moat of rainwater, but we had fun! AND I lost weight :-)