Fat to Fantastic - Oxygen Covergirl here I come!

Well this will probably be the final post in my biosignature blog, its been a fascinating journey for me, not just to see the changes that I've made physically, but mentally and emotionally it has taught me a whole lot too. One particular aspect of my transformation that was completely unexpected and in some cases quite distressing was how other people have reacted to my physical change - I'm talking about people who've known me for a long time and even my family - it definitely hasn't all been positive, but it has taught me who is really there for me and who I can truly count on. It has taught me that I really am a very strong person and when I set my mind to achieving something I can do amazing things, it has taught me to only listen to those who know what they're talking about and to filter out noise from those who cannot deal with the mirror that I've held up to their own insecurities.

Most of all it has taught me that if you really want to achieve something, stay true to yourself and your vision and your goals, trust me, its worth it! :-)

so where to from here? Well I've got an amazing holiday to Ecuador lined up in Feb 2012 - I'll be ice climbing on some volcanoes! but before that, I've made the decision to go all the way and compete in a figure competition - the Victorian titles in September!
Oh my god - now I know I'm completely mad - stepping on stage in a sparkly bikini and stripper heels! This is soooo far out of my comfort zone it might as well be on another planet!

the way I look at it, is why not? I've come so far physically that a whole new world has opened up for me - even 2 months ago I wouldn't even have contemplated it - I was just aiming to do a photoshoot on my birthday to reward myself for all the good work I've put in. Now the door has opened to other opportunities, I'm going to explore everything that comes my way - its so exciting imagining what could happen from here!


lets just do a quick comparison of where I have come from to where I am now:

Before - Sept 2009

After - June 18 2011 - Even I'm amazed - hard to believe its the same person!!!

And here's my photoshoot pics ...I'll be entering the Oxygen Magazine Covergirl competition for sure! :-)

What a transformation!
If I can do it, anyone can - you just have to get started...

Wishing you all the best on your weight loss journeys!

Diamonds are a girls best friend...

When I started this whole journey with Biosignature, I had no idea what to expect, I guess it all sounded too good to be true - after all you can't spot reduce fat according to conventional medical wisdom, so if you've got a spare tyre that wont budge no matter how much weight you lose or saddle bags or those wobbly bat wings that us non teenagers are prone to...well sorry love just deal with it!

Well let me tell you it can be done and I'm walking proof - from 40, fat and frumpy to absolutely fabulous AND I HAVE ABS!! for the 1st time in my life...EVER!
I've been skinnier (according to the bathroom scales) than I am now - but I didn't have abs back then, I still had that annoying spare tyre.
I have biosignature to thank for getting rid of the spare tyre and the bat wings and the saddle bags - brilliant!

I'll be honest, its been hard work and at times the eating restrictions have been frustrating and there's lots of supplements, but that is exactly what it is that causes it to work, it is a systematic process targeting one issue at a time.
You'll probably have to really change your whole relationship and beliefs about food, and it'll feel very strange to start with, and yes exercise is also a very important element, but once you've got to grips with the clean eating lifestyle you'll never want to go back.

Trust me on this - you'll feel so much healthier, you'll just feel leaner and lighter and have a ton more energy than you ever imagined was possible, you'll look younger brighter and just a whole lot more alive.

so whats that got to do with diamonds?

Over on page 1 in my intro, I compared myself to a diamond that had been shaped and was just awaiting its final polish to bring out its true brilliance. As you know I have a photo shoot in 4 weeks time so I've been busting my (now) cute little bubble butt in the gym 6 days a week. However, last week I was in a total stress that I wasn't going to lean down in time to have enough definition to come through in the photos - I was even pushing my trainer to push me harder!
But yesterday that all changed. Now, I'm ready.
How do I know?
well I was just ex-foliating for my trial run fake tan (!I know, what a princess!) and I just happened to glance in the mirror...
and all of a sudden, there it was - right in the middle of my back...

a perfect diamond of muscle.

I've done it.

Baggy to Buff
Fat to Fabulous

see, its never too late - you just have to get started.

Assessment 11 - Tue 3rd May 2011: Totally Shredded!

Well its been a fantastic few weeks since my last assessment and I'm totally amazed at the results I've got this time round - I didn't think it was possible! we'll get to that in a sec.


so what else is new? Well at the last minute I decided to pop up to Sydney for the Australian Fitness Expo on 17th April - I had several aims in mind, 1stly to meet the Jamie Eason one of the top fitness models for Oxygen Magazine - she's gorgeous! I also wanted to chat to the Oxygen models to get some tips for a photo shoot - yes I'm going to reward myself with a professional photo shoot for all my good work :-)
I also wanted to find out about what is involved with competing as a figure model, whether I've got the right type of physique and proportions - I've now had 8 personal trainers ask me what competition I'm working towards, so I must be doing something right, and finally I wanted to talk to Michelle and Shannon from The Biggest Loser and get their advice on how to deal with negative reactions from unexpected sources.
watch out! Woman on a mission! 


The whole trip panned out better than I could have imagined! It was excellent. On the plane up to Sydney on sat night, the guy who sat next to me was HUGE obviously a VERY serious body builder - so I got chatting to him, which is not normally something I do on a plane - usually I just bury my head in a book, but I figured I could probably get some tips re figure modelling - any way this guy only turns out to be the current victorian bodybuilding champ and runner up in Mr Australia last year!  so I hung out with him, we went and got sushi and then I caught up with him for brekky the next day - very cool.
So I get to the expo 1st in line - when the doors open, I'm off! 1st stop ASICS stand, talk to Shannon - but he was not doing sunday, bugger.
Next stop, Australian Institute of Fitness stand - Michelle Bridges - she's not there! bugger.
OK off to the Oxygen Mag stand - hooray! 1st success - Jamie Eason is there looking fabulous. I showed her my fat photos and asked her if she thought I should have a go at entering the Oxy mag cover girl comp - HUGE compliment she said to me that I almost looked like one of them so to absolutely give it a go! well knock me down with a feather!

Photo shoot is booked for 18th June! yay!


Ok, back to the AIF stand - still no Michelle, bugger.


back to oxy stand and I got talking to Nicky Jankovic - thank you Nicky for spending so much time with me being so generous with your knowledge and advice about competing, training, photo shoot tips and negative people - Elisabetta Rogiani outfit in blue on its way... (god I'm being a label queen!)


back to AIF stand again - yay! finally Michelle is there, she's signing her book and there's a massive queue. I really want to find out what she tells her contestants about handling not just the physical change they go through but the mental and emotional aspects of their transformation - because getting the contestants head in the right space is what they have to get right so they can survive on the outside.
So I join the queue and when I get to the front, I showed Michelle my fat photos and photo of me at the top of Kilimanjaro. She was very encouraging and then horror of horrors - I started asking her about negative people and I burst into tears!!! oh shit!! how embarrassing! Michelle bless her, took it in her stride and told me to surround myself with positive influences - cool.
Time to go - very quickly!


So now I had about 1 1/2 hours before Michelle was doing a talk so I went round all the outfit stands and tried on stuff, but nothing really grabbed me. Time for a cup of tea and sit down at the stage where Michelle was doing her talk. 
I grabbed a seat and got chatting to some people in the audience when all of a sudden to everyones amazement, there was Michelle Bridges squeezing along my row and she came to stand in front of me and said 'I felt that I just had to give you a hug' - well I was completely blown away and gave her a big hug - wow! what a very sweet thing for her to do - I could feel the envy emanating from everybody in the audience! 
you could have knocked me down with a feather....again :-)
After that I was all a bit emotionally worn out so I headed off to the airport early so I could relax and process the whole day - and what a lot to process!


I had training the next day and I must have still been on a high - Aiden asked what I'd been up to because I was glowing!


very very cool.


ok so after all the positive feedback I got from Sydney, training has been a piece of cake - I can't wait to get to the gym every day. 
Trouble is training is about the only thing that seems to be going well at the moment - I so totally hate my job its such a depressing place to be and I'm so bored I've not been doing so well on my diet - I've been emotionally eating - ok so I haven't been eating cakes and bread or stuff like that, but I'll just have a few almonds or a few grapes or I'll just have an apple or another cup of tea - anything to distract myself from my job.
Easter was also a bit of a blow out - I actually bought a loaf of bread and 2 packets of biscuits!!! I can't even remember the last time I bought a loaf of bread! and there was the chocolate bunny that my trainer gave me - Aiden are you trying to make me fat??!!!


So I my goal all along has been to get to 12.5% body fat and given the last few weeks of not such good eating I wasn't terribly confident that I would have made much progress since my last assessment - especially since for some reason the last few days my stomach has been puffed up like a football. I'm not sure if its the new oestrogen supplements I'm on combined with the training supplements Aiden has got me on, but something is not quite right. 
Kat also wasn't impressed when she went through my food diary - waay too much fruit and apparently I'm the most all over the place client she's got!! and I thought I was actually very good...oh well. 
so to the measurements - fat pinches in the usual spots and....did I get to 12.5%??
Kat asked me what I was hoping the result would be, so I said 12.5%. Then she told me that I didn't make 12.5%... (bugger. I was so disappointed) - I made 11% instead !!!! 


11%!!!


WOW!! thats 2.5% body fat lost in 5 weeks - thats absolutely amazing - I thought it was supposed to get harder as you get leaner! and I've still got 6 weeks before my photo shoot - I could get down to 10% or even 9% which is not far off competition levels - check out my back - I'm completely ripped up!!

now for the balancing act - I don't want to get to much leaner than this on my upper body, but I do want my legs to lean down because they're lagging behind the rest of me, although there definitely has been progress in the last 2 months.


Next assessment is in 3 weeks - who knows what that could turn up as I'm about to double my training load - at the moment I'm only doing about 35 - 45mins weights/day 6 days a week, not much considering the results i've just got so if I up it to about 90mins /day I hoping that will really bring out the finishing touches - remember the picture of the polished diamond on the previous page? 
am sooo close!


:-)


till next time!

beer wenches, baggy trousers and a brilliant back!

it seems like ages since I last wrote anything and it also seems like lots has been happening!

where to start? lets go to Adelaide 1st - the rugby 7's was a great fun weekend, a group of 8 of us went and the 6 girls were all dressed as german beer wenches! the idea was to try and win the best dressed group prize of $1000 - we lost out to a chess set, but what a laugh the whole weekend was - everyone wanted their photo taken with the beer wenches :-)

here's me - how cute is the outfit!

I have to say I'm loving my new legs, thats what I think they are - new legs. I usually live in jeans and don't show them off, but I'm so thrilled with the results I've got working with Aiden - I'm really starting to get some shape and definition into them and my muscles are rock hard - even better than just after I got back from climbing Mt Kilimanjaro! 

heres all of the beer wenches (yes I did get the skirt shortened to show off more leg!)

 

this is why we like the rugby.... :-)

Naked Haka!! Woohoo!

ok so its not really relevant to biosignature and fat loss, but what the hell, I thought I'd throw it in for something different! :-)
so that was about 3 weeks ago, then the following weekend I was having another (!!!) wardrobe clear out of stuff that doesn't fit and I came across a pair of work pants that I bought only 9 months ago, probably about July last year. So I was well into my mountain training and had probably lost about 14kg at that point - out of curiosity I tried them on....

Wow! I'm totally tiny now - those are size 10! and I really do have abs! 

There's been plenty happening physically as well, in total, since Sept 2009 I have now lost 23 kg and weigh in at 53.6kg - I'm really looking forward to my next assessment in 2 weeks, as I'm hoping to crack the 12.5% body fat - that is my ultimate goal. 
Why 12.5%? I don't know, it just seemed like a good number to get to! :-)
At my last assessment the readings indicated that we really need to focus on the oestrogen issue which has been holding back fat loss on my triceps, hamstrings and to an extent my calves, trouble is my supplements haven't come through so I don't know if I'll get the result I want.

Having said that, what I will be able to get is a really clear idea of how much progress I've made purely from training. 
You see, back last year it took me 5 months to get from 14.8% body fat to 13.6% and 57.7kg to 54.2kg just before Christmas. Then Christmas caused havoc, I piled on 3kg and 2%BF virtually overnight!
Once I started training with Aiden and working smarter rather than harder (although what he puts me through is definitely not a walk in the park!) we achieved a better result - 15.5% BF to 13.5%BF in just 8 weeks - I'm so stoked about the progress I've made. Every week something changes, some new muscles emerge or a extra level of definition comes through, its really exciting to see where this could end up. 

I'm certainly putting in the hard yards - training 6 days a week with weights (hard and heavy), 1 session which is with my trainer (Ouch! usually takes 2 days for the pain to go away!) and I try and throw in a pilates or yoga session and maybe a run once a week as well.

That might sound like a lot of training, but Aiden has made it so easy and so much fun (having to be picked up off the floor cos my legs don't work...fun??? suck it up princess!!) that even getting up at 5:30 in the morning to get to the gym has become a no brainer! 

and when I'm getting results like this its all worth it - backtastic!

I can't wait to see what happens next!

Assessment 10 - Tue 22nd March 2011

Woohoo!!! Finally back to where I was before Christmas!! I can't believe its taken nearly 3 MONTHS to shift that bizarre fat gain from going home to England for 10 days.
3 MONTHS of busting my butt in the gym...or having it being busted for me (thanks Aiden!) and being (mostly) very strict with my diet


so I'm now sitting at a very tidy 54.2kg and 13.5% body fat - I lost the 1% I said I wanted to lose 4 weeks ago. 
I'm getting some really great definition through my back and abs (ABS!!! ) but I definitely don't look scrawny or brawny which is really cool and best of all its finally shifting from my hammies - 28mm down to 22mm - bring on Adelaide - my legs are going to look fantastic in the white stockings that go with my bavarian beer wench outfit for the rugby 7's trip :-)


next stop - cover girl for oxygen magazine!


well, why the hell not? I need a big goal to keep me motivated and my next mountain climb is at least 2 years away....


I'm going to have a beer
 :-)

Assessment 9 - Tue 15th Feb 2011

Good result - have lost 1.1% BF so back down to 14.5% and best of all its come off my stomach, very happy with that and also very handy as I'm going to be pouring myself into a very tight (even for me!) frock tomorrow for the Weary Dunlop lunch - breathing may be optional tomorrow!
I haven't lost any weight on the scales so it looks like I'm building up lean muscle which is pretty cool, I'm getting my definition back and not really surprising after the 'smashing' Aiden gave me last week!
Smashing is a technical term, Aiden my new personal trainer likes using it to describe just how hard he's going to make me work and boy did he! Oh my god, we did legs last week and 2 days later I couldn't walk...wonder if 3 sets of squatting with 40kg on the bar would have anything to do with it? hmm...

:-)

So far I've only had 2 sessions with Aiden, and I'm really enjoying it - its good to be pushed. Thats the trouble I find when I don't have particular goal to work towards, its so easy to slip into 'lazy' training doing the sane routine day in day out - well Aiden is the man to shake things up a bit.

Ok so 4 weeks before my next assessment, would be really cool if I can lose another 1% BF. I'm really focusing on getting some results on my legs as this is the one area that hasn't been responding very well to the diet, so will keep it really clean for the next few weeks.

till then
:-)

new favourite curry!

tried out a great curry last week from my excellent curry book - 'Curry: Fragrant dishes from India, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia'


its a fish curry that has battered deep fried chunks of fish in a wonderfully tangy yoghurt sauce - yum! could have eaten vats of it!
am posting it onto my recipe page - I modified it a bit from the actual book as I didn't have ingredients like chickpea flour and catfish - its supposed to be made with catfish but I substituted a nice basso fillet instead.


am making it again this week! yum!