My brother's dog Sasha

A couple of weeks ago, Sasha passed away at the grand old age of 16. Sasha was three parts border collie and one part kelpie and came from a farm in Spring Hill, near Orange, NSW. I gave her to my brother for Christmas in 1996. She was small enough to sit in her food bowl.

She lived with him in Newtown for five years. Although she wasn't really trained, she did learn 'kill him', which meant attacking Digger (my old dog) and play fighting. 

Because the neighbourhood cats liked to parade around the top of the backyard fence, taunting Sasha, she was taught 'Where's the pussycat?', which was her cue to run around in circles, looking up and barking. She still did this long after leaving Newtown.

Sasha didn't last in the city and she went to live with mum on her property in Bowral. Digger joined her in 2003. They became fast friends, with Digger religiously checking under her tail every day to see if she was in season (she was desexed).

Sasha wasn't convinced she was a dog - she always identified much more closely with humans. Digger was really the only dog she bonded with.

Sasha was never satisfied with just a stick. She collected the logs from mum's wood pile and brought them to the back door to chew on. If you threw her a ball or a stick, she'd come back to you, but dance a short distance away from you, refusing to give up her prize.

The thing I most loved about Sasha was that she talked to you. It drove my mum crazy that I talked back, which just encouraged her to talk louder. She also barked at vehicles, just long enough to ensure they started. This included cars, tractors, mowers, and vacuum cleaners. She got terribly excited when we played pool, barking and running circles around the house whenever she heard the clinking of balls.

In the end, mum couldn't quite work out when Sasha was going to go. She was completely deaf, so never came when she was called, which caused a few scares. Mum was so convinced that Sasha was on her last legs in the last few weeks that she dug a hole ready for her burial. Maybe that was what finished her off - she realised that everyone else had given up on her, Digger was recently gone, so she was on her own for the first time since 2003, and she thought, well, it was time to go.

I finished a 100km kayak event!

Happy and smiling at the beginning of the 2012 Hawkesbury Canoe Classic

I am very proud to say that I finished the 2012 Hawkesbury Canoe Classic this weekend. Read about it in my blog entry last week. There were many times during the race when I considered the option of pulling out, or wondered how I could summon the energy to finish, but my stubborness got me to the finish line.

I started paddling at Windsor at 4.15pm. I made good progress in the first 30 km stage to Sackville. I maintained an average speed of 7.9 km/hr and arrived at Sackville 15 minutes before my predicted time. I was starting to feel tired, but still felt well and truly good enough to continue. 30 km is the longest distance I had ever paddled before entering this race.

The sun set while I was at Sackville on my 15 minute break. I changed into a thermal top, put on dry pants, changed my sunglasses to clear glasses (for the bugs and splash), had a bite to eat, stocked up on bananas and then jumped back in my kayak.

I set off from Sackville in the dark. Despite there being a full moon, there was complete cloud cover. While it wasn't too dark at this point, later in the night it was pitch black, and I had to rely completely on my GPS (as did a few other paddlers who had only taken maps). Once again I made good time on the 30 km from Sackville to Wiseman's Ferry. This is generally regarded as the hardest part of the race, because you're paddling at the time when your body normally goes to sleep. I struggled with cramps in my upper arms, and my bum had started to ache. When you use the correct technique, you swivel your bum on your seat, so that you can use body rotation to help pull the paddle back in the water. I had padding on my seat, but either I haven't got it exactly right yet, or it just takes some getting used to.

The thing that saved me on this stretch was wash riding. This is where you sit with the nose of your boat right on the tail of someone else's boat and benefit from their wash. You save up to 30% of your energy and can also pick up speed with less effort. As an example, I picked up my top speed of 11.7 km/hr while wash riding. I was following a karaoke boat (they had music playing), which made it even more pleasant. I don't think I could have finished this section as easily without this help. Once again I arrived at my next rest spot about half an hour ahead of program.

Still happy and smiling at 1am during a
clothing and food stop at Wisemans Ferry

I was in great spirits at Wiseman's Ferry. I stopped for 45 minutes and mainly rested and took advantage of the toilets. Some people pee in their boats, but I just can't bring myself to do that. I hadn't eaten much on the last stretch because I was feeling nauseus, and only managed to eat one sausage during my break (not enough).

I had a great start out of Wiseman's, paddling at 8 km/hr for an hour. Then I crashed. I was tired, my arms, wrist and bum were aching, my neck was tight, and my heels had blistered. After another hour of reasonable speed but a regular sensation of wanting to nod off to sleep, I couldn't resist the call of the sirens at the Low Tide Pit Stop. This stop is a low island that gets completely covered at high tide, so is a mud pit at low tide. The service at this stop is excellent though. They pull you and your boat up over the deep mud, so you can stay relatively clean, then serve you with tea/coffee, scones and other sweet treats and provide a fantastic fire to warm you up. It's a great pick-me-up and people sometimes find it hard to leave. Unfortunately as I left, the action of my kayak sliding slowly back on the mud, then rapidly gaining speed as it hit the water (backwards), resulted in me half falling in the water. Not good at 3 am, when it was around 10 degrees and there was a cool breeze.

Fortunately I dried off pretty quickly. I handled the first 5 km at a good speed; partly to stay warm. That burst of speed died off and I found myself facing my final 15 km with zero energy, severe body aches and insufficient mental energy to push me through. I had to keep going though, and that painful 15 km took me three hours, paddling against the tide and wind.

As I approached the finish line, paddling at about 3 km/hr, I began crying. I think it was from relief, but I got some funny looks from spectators. I needed help to get out of my boat, as I had no strength left in my arms or my legs but I survived the race with very little damage. No major blisters, abrasions from things rubbing against your skin for hours while you are wet, and my tennis elbow hasn't flared up. I am just exhausted and sore, and I'm sure I'll forget all about that in a week or two.

I arrived at Mooney Mooney at 8.05am, giving me a total time of 15 hours and 50 minutes, which apparantly is respectable for a first-timer. That time includes my stops that totalled about 1 hour 20 minutes, leaving a paddling time of 14 hours 30 minutes (6.9 km/hr).

Hopefully this blog will remind me how hard the Classic is, when someone tries to convince me to enter it in 2013.

A big thankyou to everyone that sponsored me in this event. The Classic raised over $200,000 for the Arrow Bone Marrow Transplant Foundation. A special thanks also goes to my landcrew (she knows who she is). I couldn't have done the race without her.




Training for the Hawkesbury Canoe Classic

How does one train for a 111 km paddle? Especially when one gets tennis elbow and can't paddle for a month immediately prior to the race?

I was doing so well up until the beginning of September. I was cycling about two hours a week, climbing about 1.5 hours a week, walking my dog every day, and had just started stepping up the distance I was kayaking, with a 12 km paddle on the Wednesday night and then a 20 km paddle on the following Monday. On Tuesday 4 September my training came to a crashing halt, with the pain in my arm preventing me from picking up my teapot.

I spent a month getting physiotherapy, which in addition to resting my arm and switching to using my computer mouse with my left hand, made a big difference. To maintain my fitness, I did a little cycling, and took up running regularly. I hate running, but cycling wasn't the best for my arm, and I needed the cardio. My dog didn't mind! Very nice Physio as well, which made enduring the pain much easier ;)



Paddling on the Lane Cove River in Sydney at sunset



Since the beginning of October I've been back in my boat, starting with a 2 km paddle (not worth getting the kayak out for this distance normally), then gradually increasing that by increments. I completed 4 km, then 7 km, then 9 km, then 11 km, gradually decreasing the number of days between each paddle. In the last week I paddled 12.5 km on Wednesday night, 12 km on Friday morning, and 24 km on Sunday night, and am pleased that my arm didn't flare up. I've also noticed that my cardiovascular fitness is excellent, thanks to running with my dog; if only my arms were strong enough to push me along faster (and yes, for the paddlers out there, I am rotating but you still need arm strength in the end).

My plan is to do another 12 km paddle on Tuesday morning, with an easy going 6 km on Wednesday night. After that I might just stick to walking the dog and making sure I sleep well.

I'm told that if you can paddle 30 km, you can finish the race because you've just got to do it twice more. Seems a furphy to me because I was pretty sore after the 24 km, but we'll see...

The Hawkesbury Canoe Classic

The Hawkesbury Canoe Classic first ran in 1977 and involves a paddle of 111 km from Windsor to Mooney Mooney, NSW. This year 535 paddlers have registered so far, paddling in 352 canoes. There could be up to four people in a canoe/kayak and up to six people in an outrigger. Unbelievably, since 2008, there have been people doing the course on stand up paddle boards!

Each year, the race raises money for medical research, with the Arrow Bone Marrow Transplant Foundation this years beneficiary. Each paddler is required to raise at least $200 through sponsorship. If they don't; they have to make up the difference.

Please help me raise money for the Arrow Bone Marrow Transplant Foundation by going to my sponsorship page. You'll get a receipt for your tax refund and a big thankyou from me!

The paddlers start between 4–6 pm and can take anywhere from under 9 hours to over 18 hours. I think I'll take about 15–16 hours including one hour for breaks. The race is run overnight on the last weekend of October to take advantage of calmer conditions and less boat traffic. I regularly paddle at night and it's a wonderful feeling once you get over not being able to see the banks and work out where the corners are. It's quiet, calm, the water shines, and the occasional fish jumps out of the water. Fortunately this year there is a full moon.

So why on earth do people want to do a 111 km paddle at night? Some people are pretty serious about paddling and are looking to win one of the divisions, some like a challenge, some are joining in because they want to support the selected charity, and others are just nuts. I think I fit into the challenge category. I started paddling at the beginning of the year, so I have no idea whether I can even finish the thing, but I figure that if I just keep plugging on, I'll make it!

There is no requirement at all to finish the race. Some choose to paddle to the first major checkpoint at Sackville, others choose to paddle to Wiseman's Ferry, and others pull out for a variety of reasons along the way. If you make it as far as Wiseman's you get one point for your club (if you belong to one). I am a member of the Lane Cove River Kayakers, who have won the cup for the most points 18 times since 1990 and hold multiple records in different divisions. By far the largest division is the Brooklyn or Bust group, who leave first and often finish last. This is considered the social group, but there are still some serious paddlers.

We can't forget the land crew and volunteers who make it all possible. Volunteers run the start area and scrutineering, they man the checkpoints, some of which are on a boat in the middle of the river, and they man the finish. Every person that enters the race must have a land crew to support them, even if there are six people in one craft. The land crew bring your car from the start to the finish, and make sure their paddler stays alive by providing them with changes of clothing, food, water, medication, and whatever else they need. If they're unlucky, they have to clean out a boat that may have wee in it (some people don't hold it and don't stop). A big thankyou to Leita for agreeing to be my land crew :)

Letting my dog Digger go

A dog is so much more than a pet to me. They are a companion, comforter, foot-warmer, they amuse, they keep you fit. Digger was with me through some major events in my life, and I was very sad to see him go last month. At the age of 12 years, he had an average innings for a spaniel, but longer than any of us expected considering his health issues.

Digger was a Welsh Springer Spaniel. He started out life a rich red colour, full of beans and with his nose permanently attached to the ground (it was rather a big nose). As a puppy he was forever trying to keep up with working dogs, but was most remembered for walking straight into tanks and walls when he was on a scent. 

From the age of six months he saw me through a pretty hard year, which would have been a lot harder without him. We had some good moments though. He got lots of runs on the beach chasing seagulls, and had regular walks in the hills. He would sit on my balcony, watching people play AFL in the park below, and watch his ball bounce down the stairs before fetching it again. My favourite memory is our road trip around Queensland and New South Wales, camping in state forests, reserves or campgrounds. He learnt to 'look', which led to much excitement when he jumped up to look out the front windscreen at emus and kangaroos.

After that year I went overseas, and stayed over there on and off for a long time. Digger went to live with my mum on the farm, which was the end of his being well-groomed and trained. After he buried a few of the neighbour's chooks in shallow graves (he didn't eat them), mum had to put chicken wire around her entire 10 acre block. He then happily resigned himself to chasing the wild ducks on the dams, which he never caught.

Digger was a quiet dog. He never really barked until he went to live with my mum and her dog Sasha. Sasha is a Border Collie who thinks that any form of machinery won't start unless she barks. Once it has started she trots off satisfied. Digger just barked at Sasha. While they were still both young, they rumbled all the time. He checked under Sasha's tail every day, always in hope, even though they were both desexed.

At about six years old, Digger started losing the hair on his stomach, his red hair started going white, and he lost all his energy. He had an underactive thyroid and spent the rest of his life on medication. From the age of nine he had to take steroids to take away the pain of pinched nerves due to lost cartilage between the vertebrae in his neck and arthritis in his knees.

My new pup Bailey adored Digger, much to Digger's annoyance, who didn't hesitate to put him in his place. Digger went out with a bang, spending the day running around the farm following the tractor. He passed away during the night, we suspect due to a heart attack. Even though he lived with mum for longer than he lived with me, he holds a special place in my memories, and I hope he's much more comfortable now.

Desktop Publishing

Layout of a postcard incorporating photo montage, reflections, conversion to grayscale and transparency.



Most who know me, will know that I haven't been around much this year, as I've been off to class every Saturday. I'm doing a Certificate in Desktop Publishing at Technical and Further Education (TAFE).

My interest in this course stemmed from taking on responsibility for laying out the newsletter for my outdoors club. I had done a newsletter in Adobe InDesign, but found it onerous, despite working through various tutorials. Even though it was hard work, I really enjoyed it and wanted to learn more. I found the course I was looking for through TAFE.

TAFE courses are varied, interesting and great value for money. In the first semester I had six hours of 'face' time, and in the second four and a half hours a week. All this for less than $500 for the year. An added bonus was being able to buy software at student prices (and with discounts of up to 80% off I think you almost get your course fees back).

We've mostly worked in Adobe InDesign, but have also been introduced to various aspects of Photoshop and Illustrator. I feel more than confident enough now to try out new things in each of these software packages. On top of that we've learnt a lot about colour and fonts, and the design and printing industries. We had to do a client project, and we're expected to produce output to industry standard.

I've had great fun laying out magazine and DVD covers, product catalogues, posters and information sheets, tables, and creating pictures with text.

I may have lost my Saturdays for the year, but I've certainly gained a lot of new skills and had fun doing it.

Reading the Man Booker list

I read a lot, but always found walking into a bookshop a bewildering experience because there were just too many choices to make.

This situation changed while on a holiday in Italy. I had a few days to fill and with high heats outside, I needed a book to fill in the long afternoon siesta in the refuge of my air-conditioned room. Being Italy, there was only a limited choice of books in English. I found a selection of three interesting books, took them back to my room, and couldn't put them down.

I don't know whether it was happenstance that all three books were either winners of or shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, but my curiousity was aroused. Given that all three books I had just read were excellent, I had to be on to something.

The Man Booker Prize for Fiction started as the Booker McConnell Prize in 1968, set up by the company of the same name. It is a literary prize that is awarded once a year to the best original full-length novel, written in English by a citizen of the Commonwealth, Ireland or Zimbabwe. In 2002 the Booker Prize Foundation took over, sponsored by the Man Group. Each year they select a longlist, which is then narrowed down to a shortlist of between four and seven novels, from which they select a winner.

I have now read thirteen winning or shortlisted novels of the Man Booker Prize, with the oldest so far being from the 2001 list. I have yet to strike a novel that hasn't been a good read, with some of them so gripping that all else in my life has been sidelined until the novel was finished. One or two left me a little undecided, and as I intend to review them as I finish them, you'll soon find out why.

Never again will I have to suffer indecision as I enter a bookshop (or shop for a book online). I have my list of Man Booker prizewinners handy, and my decision is made. With nearly 300 books in the list so far, it should keep me busy for a while.

Kayaking



IN the Nepean River learning to swim after failing to paddle!

My inauspicious introduction to kayaking was at a SPAN Outdoors Club training weekend in October 2011. I didn't stay in the kayak for long, tipping out within two minutes (see picture). As it turned out I was an unstable paddler in an unstable kayak.

I ventured into the same kayak at the beginning of January 2012, with 10kg inside the rear hull. I have since bought the same kayak second-hand, a Marauder by Elliott Kayaks, a medium recreational sea kayak.

I didn't waste any time and joined the Lane Cove River Kayakers, who do a 6 or 12 km time trial every Wednesday night and participate heavily in marathon events. It only took a few goes in the kayak to become more stable, allowing me to enter my first 6 km time trial in February. I quickly knocked 10 minutes off my time, became stable enough to reduce the weight in my boat, then sat on the same time for a few months.

In May I ventured out on the Parramatta River to paddle from Concord to Cockatoo Island. I'd only just taken the ballast out of my boat, so was not feeling particularly safe when a boat went past and created waves. I felt really unsafe when a RiverCat was heading straight for me and I wasn't convinced I could get out of its way in time. There may have been a few tears and a small amount of panic, and I didn't go near waves again for another month. I've been back out there since, and actually enjoyed the waves created by passing boats.

I love kayaking. There is something about being out on the water in a craft that has no motor, allowing you to enjoy the peace and quiet of a river that is usually surrounded by bushland. I very rarely get wet, apart from the occasional incident of mud sucking my feet down, causing me to fall over in the water when trying to get back in my boat. I occasionally get startled when a fish leaps out of the water right next to my boat, and ducks can be a hazard when they refuse to get out of the way. It's relaxing and good exercise and is something that can be done with others, especially if you've got access to a double kayak. Pick someone athletic so you can enjoy the ride!

Wear a Personal Flotation Device (PFD, or better known as a flotation vest) and go with someone that knows what they're doing. Put lights on your kayak at dawn, dusk and at night.



Bobbin Head at dawn

 

Cockatoo Island in the morning

Lane Cove River at dawn

 

Hawkesbury River near Bar Point late morning



Training Bailey

Back in May I became the proud new owner of a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever, Skyesong Kiss the Blarney, born on St Patricks Day and better known as Bailey. 

I spent a lot of time deciding what breed of dog I wanted to get, and settled on the Toller because of their aptitude for agility trials and obedience. I considered a Border Collie, but they tend to get destructive when alone in a yard all day, whereas a Toller is happy entertaining himself. So far Bailey hasn't destroyed anything (fingers crossed).

I've been working on various tricks since I got him. We started with sit, which was quite funny, because Bailey started shuffling around on his bum everywhere in the hope of scoring a treat.

He's also learnt to pay attention, which means that when I call his name he (mostly) looks at me straight away - also in the hope of scoring a treat.

We moved on to lying down, getting up again, stay, fetch and stand. To pass his first grade at training school he had to learn a new trick, so I taught him to shake my hand. After he stopped trying to eat my hand, he willingly started offering his paw up for a shake - once again in the hope of scoring a treat.

Fortunately for Bailey, he usually gets a treat when he does the right thing. He works for frankfurts (hot dogs, cheerios). He treats plain biscuits with disdain, unless they're provided in a large pile in his food bowl.

His latest trick is the first step towards something bigger. I've trained him to fetch and return his ball, which he then drops in a bucket. It was much easier when the bucket was at my feet because I could point in there. It became a bit more challenging when I moved the bucket away from me and asked him to deposit the ball there before coming to me for his treat. In the video Bailey returns the ball to the bucket at my feet, and then after a few false starts, successfully drops his ball in the bucket when it is away from me. 

I'm a little bit proud of him :)

Unbelievable diets

There are some absolute crackers of ways to lose weight out there that people have tried and in some cases still try in an effort to lose weight.

http://bit.ly/H56G5I

I found a highly absorbing website called www.everydiet.org that reviews hundreds of different diets, some of them credible and some of them a bit scary.

One of the scariest was the 'Tapeworm diet', only available in Mexico and for a cost of $1500 (on top of possible health costs for the side effects). If you're unlucky, this diet can be lethal.

There's the 'Wrong Hand Diet' where you eat with your non-favoured hand. Or the one where you make sure at parties that you are holding something in one hand (like a handbag) so that it is more difficult to hold multiple items of food. This could also result in you simply spilling everything down the front of your favourite outfit, or worse down the front of someone else's favourite outfit.

Perhaps you could try the diet where you chew your food 32 times and spit it out, because you're not allowed to swallow it. The brilliant mind behind this one was art dealer Horace Fletcher (in the early 1900s).

A few people have invented diet aids, like the red/green light fork, patented in 1995.

http://www.faddiet.com/redligfor.html

The fork senses when you eat something and the light changes from green to red. You can't eat again until it turns back to green. Bit frustrating really.

Some of us might like the sound of the sleeping diet, sleeping 24/7 so there's no need to eat, and you'll be tired enough to sleep because you'll be exhausted from lack of the energy normally provided by food. Not how I want to spend my days...

Establishing good habits

I'm really pleased to be able to say I lost weight this week. The meal plan I created last week was great. Because it was full of my favourite meals, I looked forward to every meal and really enjoyed eating them. My favourite was probably the filo fish pie which was a Taste.com.au recipe. It was surprisingly creamy for something low-fat, so it felt like I was having something naughty. I also looked forward to my sweet treats enough that I didn't indulge before I was supposed to.

The top moment of the week was when I discovered that I needed to wear a belt with my favourite jeans. It'd been so long since I'd worn a belt I couldn't remember where I'd put them :)

A few people commented this week that they didn't know how I kept on doing all the exercise. I'm doing about 5-7 hours a week, and I have to say that even though I sometimes think, Oh I'll just miss it this time, I usually don't. I think it's become a habit to ride to work on Monday and Friday, and to go paddling on Tuesday morning and Wednesday night, and climb on Thursday night. Then if I feel like it, I do something on Sunday as well. I didn't really like my yoga class and it was expensive, so yoga is on hold until I find a better class.

There's a lot to be said for creating good habits. Exercising can become a habit, and so can the foods you eat. You start eating a healthy breakfast, and soon you don't think about how you used to just have a coffee, because you enjoy the breakfast and it gives you a good start to the day. 

The thing about habits is that the bad ones keep sneaking back in, so you have to keep up your guard. Telling yourself that one piece of cake won't matter is fine, if that's the only piece of cake you're having over a few days. If you start telling yourself that everyday, those pieces of cake are going to start adding up before you know it!

Good habits, once established are just as hard to break as are bad habits. (Robert Puller)

Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going. (Jim Rohn)

Weekly plan of fave low-fat meals

I needed a jump start this week, so I spent some time on the weekend preparing a meal plan I was sure to stick to. I've taken some of my favourite meals and recipes from a huge assortment of Weight Watchers meals plans and cookbooks I own, my Contours cookbook, and some recipes from Taste. Contours women's gym runs a six-week challenge every few months that is really worth doing. You get a cookbook, personal training on a 30 minute circuit and a bio-age assessment. I like the Taste website, because the recipes usually work, they're reviewed and rated, so you can be sure of the recipe you're choosing, and they give you nutritional data that allows you to make healthy choices.

My meal plan goes for six days, because I always eat out at least one lunch or dinner each week. If I don't, I can always just repeat one of the other days. I aim to eat 7000 kj a day, which is close to the recommended kilojoules for someone of my age, height and weight. I also try to keep the fat to under 50g a day - remembering that your saturated fat should be under 20g a day. I might update my table to show saturated fat soon, except not all recipes show this figure. Eating a bit under this each day allows for the extra kilojoules I'm bound to eat when I eat out, or gives me the flexibility to add another cup of soup or can of baked beans if I'm hungry.

I try to keep it balanced with a few sweet treats because if I don't allow myself to have them I end up eating a whole lot of them at once, which does a lot more damage. As long as you don't have more than about half a day's worth of your weekly kilojoules made up from sugar, you'll be fine. The main problem with sugar is it doesn't fill you up and often leaves you wanting more. You'll notice I also include a balance of fruit (at least two pieces a day), vegetables, proteins and carbohydrates. I've also put thought into how satisfying a meal is and what types of snacks I'm likely to want before the next meal.

I'm planning to make four of these plans in total. That way I've got lots of variety and won't get bored with the food. We tend to eat the same meals over and over normally, cooking our favourites each week, so hopefully I'll develop some real favourites that will help me be healthy for life.

I didn't lose any weight again, so I've only attached my exercise record for the week. I really worked hard at kayaking this week and was so sore and tired after my time trial on Wednesday night, I couldn't bring myself to fight the road traffic to get to climbing on Thursday night! 

Emotional eating

It feels like my weight loss goal has been dragging on forever. I feel for my readers because there hasn't really been any progress over the last few weeks and I'm now a kilo behind where I wanted to be now. BUT, I think there's been a little progress, because I've managed to keep up my exercise and I haven't put on weight. That's been half my battle in the past.

I've talked before about some of the barriers to weight loss, including not having a good choice of foods while travelling, and eating when you're tired. A big one for a lot of people is emotional eating. I had a hard week, and found myself looking through the cupboard or fridge when I wasn't hungry, just to take my mind of things. I resisted the temptation to have a big serve of hot chips, and even when a guy in my office offered them around, I only had one. It was harder to resist having another piece of bread, or a hot chocolate, or a few lollies.

There's a lot of theories about why we eat when we're emotional. I think I do it for several reasons. As I said above, it's a distraction, eating is calming and satisfying (especially hot food), and I'm less likely to stick to plans when I'm upset, as I just grab whatever is handy. I don't know how important this is, but when I was little my mum gave me treats when I was sick and food to calm me down. Many people have written about the connection between this and adult reliance on food, but I can understand why parents do it - the affect is magical. When you've got a distressed child you want to make them happy again and food often does it.

While it's handy to know all the reasons we eat when we're emotional, the most important thing is to recognise it when it's happening. If you're upset and you find yourself staring at the food cupboard, think about talking to a friend, or writing in a journal, or exercising (the endorphins willl make you feel good and it's good for you as well). So while I didn't lose weight this week, I feel good that I didn't let my emotions take control of my diet :)

Quick update

Something that gave me confidence this week was the discovery that I could stick to healthy eating without following a meal plan. Years ago I lost a fair amount of weight, but really struggled to maintain my goal weight. After all my hard work and 14kg lost (from 78 to 64 kg) I put it back on pretty quickly. So while I only lost 300g this week, I'm pleased that I managed to lose anything when I didn't really plan my meals.

Lots of kayaking this week. I went three times and I'm feeling a lot more confident for it. I took five minutes off my time at the 6km time trial this week, possibly due to singing while I paddled. It helped me keep time and a regular stroke going. It was the second time I've tried stand-up paddle boarding. This is a really good form of exercise, as your leg muscles are constantly working to balance the board.

The delights of a country Services Club menu

This week I worked over the weekend in Grafton, a country town in northern NSW. We were booked in to eat dinner every night at the local Services Club. The menu was very typical of any Services Club in a country town in that there wasn't a single item on the menu that didn't clog your arteries somehow.

The menu had one dish with each type of meat, and then a couple of specials, including good old crumbed lamb cutlets, two salads (caesar and a green salad covered in a prawn cocktail) and then a wide assortment of fried entrees. The grilled fish (not too bad a start) was served with three types of potato: mashed; roasted in foil; and potato bake (bad finish). For good measure there was a thick creamy sauce lathered over the top of the fish. I didn't have this one...

The lamb cutlets were big and came with a large plate full of a variety of mashed vegetables, including potato, sweet potato and carrot. No greens.

In despair, I ordered a lamb dish that seemed a bit better and only came with mash, of which I could easily just have half. No veges were included, so I ordered a side salad, only to have it arrive drenched in creamy dressing! I learnt to choose basic meat cuts (eg. a steak), served with salad and a dressing on the side, so I could control what went on it. The club had a smorgasboard on the final night, which is a nightmare if you're tempted by an unlimited supply of deserts, entrees and different mains. I didn't do too badly, but was swayed by the cheesecake.

Then in good old country style, the training was catered with a profusion of buns, cakes, buttered biscuits, and hot meals for lunch, with a lovely catering lady encouraging everyone to eat more because they didn't want to take it home.

I ate reasonably well before I went to Grafton, and tried to minimise the damage over the weekend, so there hasn't been any damage this week, but it may not have hit my hips yet! We'll see what happens next week.

Because it's hard to get consistency in measurements each week, I'm only going to measure every three weeks now. Weight Watchers only get you to measure once a month, so I'll follow their advice.

Still on track...just

It's lucky I got a headstart, because I'm now back to being exactly on my goal line. I'm pleased I lost weight this week - any loss is a good loss. I ate less than usual on Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday to make up for a very special dinner on Friday night. I ate lots of salads with a bit of protein in them, and tried not to eat too many carbohydrates after 4pm.

That last point is an interesting one to discuss. It started appearing in diets about 13 years ago according to a Sydney Morning Herald article by Paul Goodyer in 2009 (find it here), and is a complete myth - a very popular one. Like most dieting, as long as you consume a few less calories than you burn each day, you will lose weight. I think for me, it's much more important to watch my snacking at night when I'm tired and watching television than to worry about excluding carbs. That will be my 'note to self' for the week!

In line with my 0.2kg weight loss, my measurements didn't really change. I had a great week for exercise, with a really enjoyable ride on Sunday from Bowral to Moss Vale and Berrima and then back to Bowral via Oxley's Hill. We averaged 18.4km/hr, which is pretty good for me!

Poppin' foods

http://bit.ly/ApOK2Y



Mmm, snacks. I have a huge weakness for them and they are probably the reason I gained weight in the first place. My meals are usually pretty healthy, and I always exercise, but I just love those little sweet treats and salty sensations.

My favourite kind of snacks are the ones you keep popping into your mouth, think popcorn chicken, that coloured sugar popcorn, skittles, m&m's, any sort of lolly really, chips, the whole sordid list could continue forever.

So how can we get over this poppin' fixation? I've decided to replace my unhealthy poppin' snacks with healthy ones.

Cherry tomatoes - great when you need a sweet/savoury taste and they're nice and juicy.

Popcorn - I dry-pop these in the microwave. Put 1/4 cup in a microwave safe container of about 1-2 litres that has a lid (doesn't need to be secured), and make sure you also put a small container of water in separately. Microwaves don't like cooking dry things. Cook it on high for three minutes (800 watt) and stand by to check after two minutes. Remove the popped ones then, and put the rest back in for the final minute (to stop earlier ones burning). This makes about 2-3 cups. You'll only need one, and the rest can go away in an air-proof container for later.



http://bit.ly/wt7jLO



Pretzels - a small handful of the ones you get in the chips aisle (not the doughy baked kind) is much better than the equivalent handful of chips.

Almonds - eight of these are equal to about 1/20 of your day's calories, they're filling and full of lots of good stuff. Other nuts are okay, but are higher in fat and have less good stuff!

Cherries or grapes - only a small bunch of these, don't take a whole bag. They're good to take to the movies too.

And if you really need a lolly, the sours range from Natural Confectionery Co are better than most. You can have four of these for every lolly banana or mintie. One sour lolly is equal to one almond, but the almond is going to be a whole lot more satisfying and help keep hunger at bay.

I lost track and gained

I've put on 0.2kg this week, which is essentially a glass of water. I did drink a lot of water this week thanks to my Drink Water app. I was only drinking 1-2 glasses a day with 1-2 cups of tea and maybe a diet soft drink before, so it's possible I'm a lot more hydrated now and this has affected my weight. But there could be something else going on too...

All those people who say they have no idea how they put on weight can soon work it out if they recall a few key factors.

I always ask myself:

• Did I follow my meal plan (or did I even make or use one)?
• Did I track (write down) what I ate?
• Did I watch the size of my meals?

Then if I still can't work it out I look at:

• The amount of exercise I did compared to the amount of food I ate
• Whether I ate less on some days to allow for days when I ate more, for example when I've gone out to dinner
• Whether there was any health reason that might stop me from losing weight, or make me temporarily retain water
• Whether I changed something about my weigh-in

For those that have been losing weight for a long time, it may be that they've hit a plateau. This is where your weight doesn't change for several weeks despite doing everything right. At least you haven't put on weight! Try some new meals, a new exercise, or change the time of your meals and you might see the situation improve.

Once again, don't forget to check your measurements. For some reason, while gaining 0.2kg, the only measurement that went up was my chest, and all the others dropped. For the life of me I can't explain the chest measurement, so I suspect I've mucked it up. At least my boyfriend will be happy!

Considering the questions above, it's blatantly obvious to me why I didn't lose weight this week. I might have exercised, but I only followed a meal plan for about half the days, ate out three times in one week (going back for seconds of salads at a barbeque when I didn't really need to), didn't track what I ate, and ate about 500ml of ice-cream (I gave into a half-price special). I'll talk more about supermarket specials in a future blog...

The thing to do is not dwell on it, forget that week (apart from lessons learnt), start fresh and try again :)

I'm not addicted to apps...

My friend Dave's comment a few weeks back inspired me to look at apps I might use to help me with my weight loss. Here's my thoughts on the one he recommended and a few others I've been using along the way. I'd love to hear what apps you like too!

My Fitness Pal

This free app is really comprehensive. It has a huge food database, with Australian brands, and tracks how many calories you eat each day, adjusting your allowance based on your personal information and the amount of exercise you do. It shows a graph of your weight loss, and allows you to connect with friends using the app to share your progress. What I don't like is that even when you select cm/kgs for your units, it still sets your weight goal in pounds, measures your food in calories, and measures speed of exercises in miles per hour. On the up-side, there is a barcode scanner to simplify entering foods and entering your meals is much quicker on this app than on others I've tried.

Calorie King
This was the next app I downloaded. I use the online database all the time. I have a lot of meal plans from previous lives, and have been working out the kilojoules of my favourite meals for a while. This is an easy to use app with a HUGE database and lots of information about each food item.


iMapMyRIDE
My bike computer came to a tragic end a while ago, so this seemed a good app to try. I love it. You can delay the start by seconds or minutes, to allow time for you to put your phone away and put your helmet on etc before you start riding. It shows your exact route on a Google map, and measures the time of the ride. You've just got to remember to be quick to stop it at the end of your ride. Because it records all your rides, I've been able to see my improvements. It also has a great graph showing the change in elevation over your ride. It does have features for tracking your nutrition and weight but the database is really slow and seems limited - I haven't been inspired to use it. I didn't get the app for nutrition though - perhaps they should stop trying to do everything and do what they do well. You can share your routes with friends, and don't forget to try the sister apps such as MapMyDOGWALK and MapMyRUN. There's others too but you get the idea...

Daily Water
My doctor told me to drink more water. I drink a bit of tea, and an occasional coffee, but I'm the first to admit I forget to drink water. This app is pretty straightforward and tracks how much you've drunk towards a goal number of drinks. What I like is that (after paying a princely sum of $0.99) you can set reminders to drink, choosing times that suit you. I had a look at some others but they were a bit clunky or once again tried to do too much.


ShapeUp
This is a food and exercise tracker that I like much better than My Fitness Pal, simply because it works in metric measurements. It allows you to track the food you eat, and the free version also shows protein, carbs and fat goals for the day. A few of the features are only available if you join the ShapeUp online club, but I've found the free version adequate for what I need. It doesn't have a good range of exercises, but there's enough, and you can always enter a custom exercise. It doesn't have a food scanner.

My Shopping Lists
This app has revolutionised my shopping experience. I tried the ShopShop app, but that was too simple! What I like about My Lists is that you can have a range of lists that are registered under different shops. This means that I can have a list of things I might buy from Aldi, and another group of lists for Woolworths or Coles. It has a good database backing it up, and I also like that it puts your foods into categories according to how they are grouped in the supermarket, so you're not constantly scanning up and down the list. It's easy to mark things off and you can close categories once they're complete. There's lots of different measurements to enter, and you can also add prices. I enter in my weeks meal plan requirements, and then I've got it saved for when I use that week plan again.

Period Tracker
I don't really need to use this app to track my period, but it's got some added features that are really useful. Each day it allows you to enter in what symptoms you're experiencing, such as bloating, cravings, aches, nausea etc, and then your mood. This allows you to see whether patterns develop according to what part of your cycle you're in. There's room to add notes as well. If I know that I always crave sweet things at a regular time in my cycle, I know to be really well prepared food-wise. It might also let me tip-off my boyfriend that it might be an idea to avoid me at certain times :) No downsides to this app, and I'm only using the free one.

Sleep Talk
As I've said before, sleep is an important part of losing weight. I don't sleep that well, and I've been told for a long time that I talk in my sleep, which was my first inspiration for getting this app. Love it, love it! You start it when you're falling asleep, and it starts recording as a noise-activated recorder half an hour later. So far no talking, and only two cases of snoring for five minutes each, but I'm amazed at how often I'm disturbed while I sleep. One night it made 105 recordings, mostly of me turning over. A more standard night is about 40-50 recordings. You just sit it on the pillow or table next to you and it picks up sounds really well. This app allows you to see how the time you go to bed affects your sleep. I only wish it had a notes function, because then you could start to note factors influencing sleep each night, like what time you ate the last food before sleeping, stress levels etc. and start to compare your notes to how many times you were disturbed during the night. Ah, if only I were able to develop my own apps...