A day in the big smoke...

After last weeks episode of hiding in my blankie fort, vowing never to come out... I have finally made it out in the real world again. Still feeling bruised and emotionally battered, and struggling to understand why I'm feeling like this. I've nothing to be sad about, I'm the luckiest girl in the world.. 

Yesterday I flew to Brisbane, for a business meeting this morning, and i spent the evening strolling through the city streets, watching people scurry about their business, in a hurry, drinking coffee or talking on their phones, earphones in.. Everywhere I went, people were distracted by phones, by music playing loud enough in their ears for me to enjoy too... Or not.. Even couples walking together, with earphones in and checking Facebook.. Weird huh?

It got me thinking about how the world is becoming an increasingly lonely place, with every new app or social media option, we are becoming more and more disconnected from each other, and more reliant on the virtual world. A world where we can be whoever we wanna be... We can be single and hunting on Zoosh, we can be millionaires looking to buy property on the French Riveria, ( or is that just me??). Or we can be 50 year old women writing blogs about how hard it is to win the battle over weight... Yep, anyone we want to be... Virtually.

Today, I got up early, and went for my favourite jog in Brisbane. Over the bridge, through Southbank and back over the other bridge. Today, I decided to engage with as many people as I could today, just to see what happened.

I made a joke with the rubbish collector going over the bridge, I winked at the sad African fellow walking to work, I gave the disabled singer a thumbs up for his efforts, I told a man he looked really dapper in his red pants and orange suspenders, I thanked every person I saw in a Blues Jersey, I bought a single Gerbera from the Farmers Market and gave it to a old lady waiting to cross the road, I had a conversation with a man called Andrew who used to work in the Dept Administration Services, I hugged a beautiful lady who had lost a lot of weight recently, i thanked the cleaner in the toilets at Central Station, I bought a coffee and a muffin for the homeless lady in Queen St, I called a cab and made sure the young girl who was crying in Adelaide St got away safely, and I bought another chocolate for the man on security at the airport. 

An older Asian lady came and shook my hand after watching me deliver the coffee and muffin to the homeless lady, I'm not sure what she said, but her eyes told me that she approved. Everyone of these people connected, looking at me with smiling eyes, and said thank you. 

Tonight as I write this blog update on the flight home, I feel somehow lighter, happier that maybe I made a small difference in someone's world today, and it somehow feels like its healed me a little too. Perhaps I was just lonely too, spending all my time either in the gym or in my home office... 

Give it a go. See if spreading a little connection makes a difference in your world too. And message me with the updates. Please.

Oh and by the way, you are looking fabulous today! :)

Who the hell am I anyway?

Today I'm struggling.. Really struggling.

Seems. I've lost my sense of purpose.

Once upon a time I used to be the mother of 5 kids, or the person who ran that shutdown team, or that bitch of a safety officer from GCM..but, I was always "someone". maybe it was just the fat lady that helped out the senior cits on Thursday... but i had a reason to be alive, a purpose.

Today, I felt like a nobody.

I walked into coffee shops and it took them 15 minutes to see me standing there, I roamed listlessly through the house trying to find things to amuse myself during the day. I watch on whilst Hugo came home from a days work, to set up his computer and do all the things that I could have done...but wasn't asked to.

I waited till this afternoon to go to boot camp then miss my chance because Hugo is busy doing something else. I'm bored, I'm cranky and I'm lonely.

And that, may I tell you, is a very dangerous situation for me.

It is in situations like this that I make life changing decisions. Some smart, some not so..

In the past, it usually signals a time for me to walk away, look elsewhere, wander off in search of things to keep me learning, reaching, extending myself to bigger or better things.... Or not. 

Sometimes in situations like this, I have made choices that I came to regret.. Like over eating out of boredom. 

I need something to think about, to plan, to work on. 

Hence my creation of a new website today.. Yep, I got that bored that I made a website. All by myself. Yep, amazing huh? Even I'm surprised. 

I'm just finishing the final touches in the coming weeks, getting my checkout and online shop sorted, before it goes live... LOOK OUT WORLD, I'M COMING!

Very soon, you will be able to buy SYMMYA tshirts, and take selfies, wearing them for me to upload, and all kinds of exciting things.. I bet you can't wait? Lol..

I started the day directionless, sad and felling lost... And ended with a seething anger, channelled into determination to succeed.. At everything.

Encouragement and all that good stuff....

Some one once told me I am the Gordon Ramsey of weight loss... I was flattered, well I think I was..

Gordon Ramsey hasn't really got a very pleasant demeanour but he gets the job done, regardless.  

If you have found my site looking for warm and fuzzy.. I think maybe you're in the wrong place. 

If you're here to find the reason to get off your backside and get this show in the road... Well buckle up, lovely, and enjoy the ride.

I know I am not the best at listening to excuses why exercise isn't a priority, and I do find it hard not to glaze over whilst watching you eat yet another muffin, but that doesn't mean I don't care. I'm just busy.

Really I am, I like to utilise my time with people who are fair dinkum. Honest. I apologise in advance if my eyes start rolling when you give me the same old excuses about why you missed gym again this week.. It's not my fault, it's my allergic reaction to bullshit.

But, I have always made more enemies than I've made friends, so Much so, that it now doesn't bother me if you like me or not. What you think of me is none of my business. I'm blunt, I'm direct, And I will tell you the things you don't want to hear if you ask me the wrong questions. But, I also am the person who will keep you accountable. If you tell me your aim is to exercise, or eat right or stop smoking, I expect that you are telling me the truth. I expect you are also being truthful to yourself. 

Since starting this blog, I have noticed I have lost contact with some people who weren't being true to themselves. People i thought were my friends. At first I took it personally, but over time I have realised that maybe it was easier for them to stay home and complain, than to join me in a walk or exercise class and commit to making healthy decisions. I'm sorry if the sight of me makes you feel guilty about eating cake, or drinking wine, but is that my problem, or yours?

If exercise or giving up smoking is not one of your goals, or not high on your list of priorities, don't kid yourself. Don't make a goal according to someone else's values ( yes, even mine.. ) Set yourself a goal that you know you will be able to achieve eg cleaning out all the kitchen cupboards. Start small, and work up to the ones that really matter to you, rather than kidding yourself that you will go to gym every day, when that really doesn't float your boat.

Be real. Be realistic. Be kind to yourself and stop setting yourself up for failure. If you are happy to sit at home on the lounge, watching reality shows, and then kid yourself that a re-run of A Biggest Loser is a weight loss tool,  then that's fantastic.. 

But if you are, like me, one of those people who need a kick up the pants, a virtual shakeup, and the feeling like there is someone watching you enter that coffee shop... Welcome to the world of SYMMYA.

 A land where we are accountable for our actions, where every action has a consequence and where we know that it is up to us to make the change. 

And in the words of good old Gordie... FFS, shut your mouth and move your arse.

You will thank me in the long run. 

It's all in your head..

My Mum gave me all kinds of pointers when I was growing up, look both ways when crossing the road, don't talk to strangers, never barrack for Collingwood, wash your hands after playing with the oleander tree and, wait for it.....  bananas will make you fat.

WTF?

Bananas.. A fantastic source of potassium, a portable post exercise snack, were apparently the sole reason that I was overweight as a kid. I loved eating bananas as an after school snack. My brother ate Sugar Frosties. Bowls and bowls of them... But that was okay, because he was the boy and My Mums diet tips were reserved for me.. The fat one.

I remember being told in a dressing room at Fairlies Dept Store that I was never going to have nice clothes because I was just too fat, I would have been about 8 at the time... What a shock that was to me that day... I remember thinking, well I'm never gonna be able to get married because I'll be too fat to get a dress to wear. At 8 years old. 

I remember the day like it was yesterday, I went to straight to Coles and bought myself a fake diamond ring for 69  cents knowing it was probably going to be the only diamond I was ever going to get.. And yes, it was the biggest bit of bling Coles department store had.

It's taken me a long time to be able to eat a banana without hearing my mothers voice telling me that it will make me fat.. A banana. My enemy for 48 years.

My internal dialogue used to take away any enjoyment from that simple fruit, instead have me visualising blobs of banana flavoured fat clumping together on my thighs?? Looking back I realise how ridiculous that sounds... But my Mum told me that. It's got be true. Doesn't it?

Now, I feel the damage that was done to me as a kid, a fat kid. Do the parents amongst us realise the damage we cause by our negative self projections to our children? What I was hearing was, "I don't like you because you're fat." I didn't hear, you are my beautiful, gorgeous, funny, smart, witty, clever daughter... Nope, Not once, probably not ever.

As a nation we are the fattest we have ever been, yet we are over run with diets, with gyms, with boot camps and protein shakes and prepackaged, Pre weighed, Pre digested food....  Or something similar.. If it was that easy, we would all the thin, and trim and taut and terrific. But we aren't. 

The secret is, what is in our heads. It's about how we speak to ourselves, our internal relationship with food. What we believe about ourselves. How we see our strengths, how we see our weaknesses.

How we react to those is the secret.. So remember, set your goal. Do what's necessary to win.. Every day. 

why?

Because you are one of the smartest, most beautiful people I have ever met. You deserve to be healthy too. 

If you are struggling with your internal dialogue and setting goals, give me a call.. I'm proud to say my Life and Wellness Coaching Centre is up and running, and achieving amazing successes already. You can be one of them.. :)

Sacrifice

Dieting and healthy living is apparently about sacrifice. 

It's about giving up the 'good things' in life and focusing on the healthy, according to some trains of thought.

Sacrifice to me, is about giving yourself, all of you, wholeheartedly for a better life. 

The ANZAC's made sacrifices, the Australians and other allied troops that died fighting for peace, made sacrifices. To give us, their children, their grandchildren a better way of life. 

They walked and slept and fought for months and years  on end, in the bitter cold, with wet clothes, wet boots, minimal food and in atrocious conditions, so we could have a better life.

Our generation is very lucky to think that the only sacrifice we have to deal with now, is not eating chocolate, or minimising our alcohol content.

When did we, as Aussies, loose our fighting spirit, and become a nation of people all too ready with an excuse for over eating... Big bones, genetics, medication effects?

How about today, Anzac Day, we stand together as one, and make a sacrifice, again for our children and our grandchildren?  Lets fight the battle of obesity and laziness for them, to allow them to learn healthy habits, to give them a better life.

We will win this battle, as proud Aussies before us.

Lest we forget.

Paleo eating for all the scaredy cats...

I know I rabbit on and on here about Paleo food, its benefits and I've had many a question about why and how I maintain this lifestyle since loosing 70 kgs. I want to explain how simple it really is.

I guess for me it started through pure laziness and lack of resources... Which sounds extremely negative but let me elaborate.

I was a battling single Mum for years, struggling to make ends meet in regard to both food and time. I lived in a fairly remote community, with minimal resources or access to the usual Weight loss program's. I worked enormous hours, I had no time to weigh food, count calories, and no money to buy prepackaged weight loss foods. 

I dieted hard but i always struggled to maintain momentum. I would walk and eat well, loose 6 kilos and within weeks return to my old habits.

In the end I just gave up. It was all too bloody hard. Weigh this, eat then, eat more, eat less, walk more, lift weights, eat carbs, minimise fruit, check the labels.... ARRGGHHHHH... 

So, I began to eat real food, just meat, vegetables, nuts, berries and a little fruit. I ate when I felt like it, and whatever I felt like. I gave up bread, pasta, refined flours and sugars. I guess back then I was eating intuitively, although I didn't know it at the time. 

I also gave up regular alcohol. I went to bed earlier and minimised the stresses in my life. I let go of emotional baggage that I had collected. 

Weight started to fall off, even without a huge change in exercise. I felt better, I was sleeping better. People started to comment on my skin, my hair, my sparkly eyes. I had more energy, I wanted to exercise, I ran when I used to drag my feet. I felt fantastic and I still do. I still exercise every day in one form or another, we go camping and bush walking on weekends, we are much more energetic and have way more fun than ever before. 

A lot of people knock the Paleo way of life, citing that we must eat grains and whole wheats etc for optimal nutrition. Me? I can't eat any of that without hearing my Dads voice telling me that cereals are used to fatten cows. 

I'm really not sure if I completely fit in the mould of Paleo, because I still eat some dairy. I eat butter, not margarine, and I eat good quality Greek yoghurt, not diet stuffed full of poison yoghurt. 

My theory, and I've said in the past, I'm not a Dr nor have any medical degrees, is that the packaged foods we eat are so jam packed full of preservatives that we are getting fatter and succumbing to more illnesses than ever before.

This was tested when I spent some time in France last year. I ate everything, croissants, chocolate, bread! French people use fresh food. There are few supermarkets and every block has a baker, a butcher, and a fruit stall. People buy their food daily. Not a kilo was collected and my hot flushes were non existent. Back to Australia and back into the preservative laden food, bam, fluid gain, aching joints and hot flushes to the max. 

Recently, I read a Peter McCallum Hospital study that notes cancer cells need glucose to live, hmmmm don't have to be an oncologist to work out that its time to minimise sugar intakes. Quickly. 

Paleo is not a really diet, it's not always even a weight loss tool, but it has increased my health 1000 fold. Just eat real food. if it comes from a farm, eat it, if it comes from a factory, avoid it. 

imagine your local supermarket, you only need to skirt the edges, grab fruit, veges, eggs, meat, fish, chicken, and butter. i cook in coconut oil, instead of the canola oil i used to use. Theres no need to venture into the aisles. The only thing I buy in a tin is salmon or tuna. 

Some people will say its expensive to eat like this, but we have no medical nor pharmacy bills. We don't get colds. Overall I think it's an investment in long term living. Hugo and I have 10 kids and 4 grandchildren, and I want to be around to spoil them all as much as I can. I want to travel the world and be well enough when I'm 90 to go to Uni. 

There is so much information on the net about specifics, I'm not going to bore you all with it here, because its so simple. Eat real food. Eat Well, Feel Well.

Google Nerd Fitness ( my favourite site), PaleOMG, check out Paleo recipes online,  Buy Peter Evans new cookbook, if you need help or inspiration.  It takes a little tweaking to personalise but you can easily live a full life round this way of eating. If I have chicken fillets out for dinner, I will often google paleo dinner with chicken, if looking for a change. Experiment with different spices or herbs, grow your own food. Reconnect with the idea that food is nutrition, eat slowly, at the dining room table, and make it a ritual rather than a rush. 

There will still be those amongst us who won't give up alcohol, or chocolate, or cereal and that's fine, it's your life and your choices. Please remember, though that every decision has a consequence.

I'm now in the process of launching my Wellness Coaching business, amongst other things, so please contact me if you would like a session in getting your life, your health, your energy and vitality back where it should be. You won't regret it. 

Let me show you why diets don't work but wellness coaching does... 

Repeat after me... Focus!

Hello everyone, 

It's been a fortnight since I posted, the time just slips away too fast these days. 

I had taken on a project that thankfully is now complete, so you'll be hearing more from me now I've freed up some time. 

Im sure you all know I've been recently really hung up on my plateau, watching every single thing I eat, recording it all madly, wearing an exercise monitor, worrying about it 24/7. Trying to make some sort of sense out of a nonsensical problem. 

I really should know better. 

It is what it is. 

I've wasted so much emotional energy thinking about it when i know I've hit plateaus before and worked through them. And I will this time as well. 

So, I've actually given up worrying. As my beautiful Cate would say 'be a warrior not a worrier'. 

I've stopped focussing on the plateau and started once again to focus on the exercise. Because as we all know, what we focus on, gets bigger. Like attracts like, so to speak. 

I was so busy thinking about how I was stuck at the same weight, I wasn't allowing my body a chance to do its stuff. Now I'm thinking about the class I've attended and the muscles I've moved! Feeling the burn for hours after... I'm becoming addicted to that feeling, I think. 

So, I'm trying new classes, harder, more intense classes and I know that very soon I'm gonna get those scales out of the box I threw them in, and I'll be lighter, fitter, leaner. 

We all hit plateaus, we all gain a kilo here and there. Each time it happens, it should serve as a reminder that our body is taking time to adjust to the change, and we should continue to work through it. 

So, Push yourselves, step out of that same old routine -  skip, squat, run across the court.. 

Why?

Because its different, because it requires focus, and stamina, determination and patience. All the requirements we need to maintain a weight loss program. Step away from your comfort zone. Move your body in new ways, use new muscles, try something new. 

Push through that plateau- keep focused on your goal - and you will be rewarded with success.  

Just as I have been.. Finally.