Dear ‘nutritionist’ at the health food shop…

Dear “nutritionist” at the Health Food shop. Please don’t tell me that Coeliac Disease doesn’t exist and that you can ‘fix’ my son.

Apparently it is a ‘learned’ behaviour (he was diagnosed at 3yo with no-one in the house being gluten-free, trying to work out where he ‘learned’ it from), and a magnesium blend will help to ‘cure’ him.

Well, golly gee. Why didn’t I try that before?

We only went in for some muesli for my Mum and I needed more carob powder. Next time, I’ll go elsewhere!

#idiotpeopleareidiots

AFL coaches award

On Sunday we went to Wet’nWild for the annual AFL end of season trip and award presentation. Every kid has a plaque and gets a new badge on it for every year played, and then there are 5 extra trophies handed out per age group.

We were so proud of the little dude as he got the Coaches Award this year. His coach said he was always willing to get stuck in and have a go, even if it sometimes ends with him being trampled a little by bigger kids. He never complains about what position he’s given and he’s always the first to volunteer to make up numbers for the other team if they are short.

We’d been in two minds about continuing on with AFL next season, but I think we’ll give it another year and see how it goes. He will stay in under 8s, and will have an opportunity to keep learning and playing in a safe environment, and he really is learning so much more than just football.

It will have to be a family decision for the next level up though – tackling and more contact starts then. I’m not too sure about it, but I do know the club looks after the kids pretty well. I have a year to decide lol

Still pretty proud of him though, and glad we made the decision to sign him up.

Cheesecake balls, gluten-free & lactose-free

Every Saturday we bake something. Mostly so that the kids have something special for their lunch boxes through the week, and also so there is a backup stash of food on hand for emergencies (like no safe food at church on Sunday, or a last minute ‘bring a plate’ afternoon tea).

I saw a recipe doing the rounds on Facebook the other day for Tim Tam balls. We can’t eat Tim Tams, and we can’t have condensed milk, but the recipe made a suggestion right at the bottom that cream cheese could be substituted.

That gave me an idea, and that’s how our Cheesecake Balls came about this afternoon.
Thank you so much to Liddells for making a lactose-free cream cheese. I love you so much (really, totally, honestly).

Cheesecake balls

1 pkt Leda Golden Crunch cookies (gluten & dairy-free)
2 tbsp carob powder (you can use cocoa/cacao, but my girl is allergic, so carob it is for us!)
1 tub Liddells lactose free cream cheese
Desiccated coconut

Process cookies and carob powder together until fine.
Mix cookie mixture and cream cheese together in a bowl. I did this by hand, but if you have a big enough food processor, you could do it all in one go.
Roll heaped tsp size of mixture into balls and cover in coconut.
Chill in fridge until firm.

Then try to stop your kids from eating them all in one go.
Simple, easy, quick and so very, very delicious!

A short person who lifts – progress pics.

Progress Pics.
Looking back, I probably should have taken more photos, but I preferred to be the one behind the camera.

Keep in mind, I am 4’9 (145cm) tall – or short I guess,  so weight distributes differently, particularly with my very short legs.

The first pic, from June 2012 isn’t me at my heaviest. But it’s the only photo I’ve got. And that day I felt horrid.

I started 5:2 in March/April 2013. After trying multiple things. And them not working. Stopping and starting, feeling like a failure. Getting sicker each week – non-stop migraines, UTI’s, sicknesses, aches, pains, everything.

I started walking with friends for exercise, and learning about the food I ate and how much I actually needed. That led to learning to run again and Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred followed by Ripped in 30.

And that’s where I re-discovered my love of strength training.

The second picture is November 2013. I’d been maintaining for about a month. I had just started playing around with New Rules of Lifting for Women. I didn’t have all the equipment, but I was giving it a red-hot go.

Jan-March 2014. I’d bought a proper bar and weights with some Christmas vouchers and I knuckled down and got stuck in to some serious weight lifting. I kept learning about food and nutrition. Less isn’t always best. Food is fuel.

I had up days and down days and weeks where I didn’t know whether anything would ever change. But it did. Slowly, but surely. Even when there were some weeks were I didn’t even exercise at all, and my eating habits left a lot to be desired.

I wanted to get stronger. I wanted to be healthy. And it was happening.

September 2014. You better believe I can do handstands. I can even do handstand pushups (and have the video to prove it).

October 2014. I got my husband to take that photo yesterday. I finished the New Rules of Lifting for Women program last week, and today I started NROL Supercharged. I’m stronger, I’m fit, I’m fast and most importantly I’m HEALTHY.

I fast once or twice a week, depending on how I feel. Calories don’t bother me so much as what I am eating these days – and I eat for fuel and for health. My tastes have changed. Yes, I can still devour an entire brownie batch in one sitting, but that’s okay – I try not to put myself in that situation too often (I make freaking awesome brownies though ).

Do you want to know the best bit?

At my lowest ever adult weight, I was NEVER THIS SMALL.

I weigh at least 3kg heavier than that weight, and yet I am about 2-3 sizes smaller.

I’m still a work in progress. I will never, ever be ‘done’. This is me for life. And I kinda like that.

My first encounter with a pushy sporting parent

I managed to get myself talked into handling the time keeping job at our swimming club. It’s not too bad, the sheets of paper with the race times and names are handed to me and I enter them into the computer.

Once I got the hang of the program (it’s still a little daunting, but I think I can work it out) it’s all just a matter of speed and accuracy and hoping my boy child isn’t peppering me with a million questions a second while I’m doing it.

Last night was club night. And I had my first encounter with a ‘pushy parent’. I’ve been told I’m not one by ex-competitive swimmers (firm but fair I think was the term lol) and I think I’m starting to believe that. In fact I think I’m probably downright laid back and nonchalant in comparison.

To the lovely lady who was sitting right in front of me watching me like a hawk while I typed in the times – I’m a learner. I’m a volunteer. I’m doing my best. I don’t even get to see all my kids races because I’m sitting here making sure it’s all entered in correctly and I don’t break the program in the process.

I’m sorry that your son didn’t get a pb ribbon last night. I can only go on the pieces of paper given to me and the names and times on them. I don’t know half the kids and I have no idea who your kid is. I do now, however, know he’s a little kid perhaps my sons age or a little older. Let him learn. Let him have fun. Beating pb times is awesome, but it’s not going to happen every week. My older kid trains several mornings a week and she didn’t get a pb on the previous club night, and you know what? I don’t care. She had FUN. She was moving, doing something she loves, and doing it with friends she has made along the way.

The main focus of the night is to do your best and have fun. If you think I’m incompetent (seriously, I’ve done the job twice!) then by all means, step up and offer to do it. Then I’ll go off a cheer mine and other kids along as they swim. My favourite part is cheering along that little kid who could previously only swim half a lap and can now make it all the way – the look on their face as they touch the wall is priceless. THAT is an achievement. THAT is to be celebrated. Watching them grow in ability and confidence throughout the season and the camaraderie that develops between the big and the little kids is brilliant.

It’s a disjointed rant I know. But there you have it. I was a little taken aback, but I’ll get over it. In the overall scheme of things, it was pretty minor.

Oh and results will be on the board on Tuesday. I kinda have a life, family and work that gets in the way before then.

It's all just numbers to me...

Reading through My Fitness Pal forums this morning while having my breakfast and looking at the usual ‘lifting stats’ threads that get posted.
In all honesty, listing your individual lifting stats really doesn’t mean much to me unless you include your height and weight.
Taller and heavier peeps should be able to lift heavier loads, but what percentage of bodyweight is that?
Otherwise it’s just numbers.
I’ll go crawl into my teeny tiny little space now lol
But I did 2 sets of 8 deads this morning at 1.1x bodyweight. That’s only 45kg (not quite 100lb) but still… ;) lol