G'day all!

[Kiki Dee]

Hi all!  I figure I'm more likely to stick with this if I start talking and making friends. 

 

First off I want to say what a great community this seems to be.  I still haven't got my head around the guilds/challenges stuff but that's ok, I think I have a while before I need to start worrying about that!

 

I'm a 34yo doctor, married with two small children.  I've always been overweight (well, not as a child, but ever since puberty hit!) although I've been through a number of periods where I was "fat but fit".  (Think unprocessed near-vegetarian diet, 8 workouts a week, BMI still 29).  Once I graduated med school (eep, over a decade ago now!) and work got crazy, the workouts of course disappeared into the aether due to absolute exhaustion (down to only once or twice a week), and the diet turned to rubbish.  BMI now more like 32 (5'1, about 85kg on the gym scales).  Since my daughter was born four years ago we've made some major changes in our diet - we like to say she keeps us honest! - but exercise has still been elusive and I swear I haven't lost a single kilo, though I'm not so large as I was at age 21!  The crazy thing is that I *love* exercise.  (Indoor exercise, I should say.  I really dislike being outdoors, I don't like picnics or hiking or cycling or running or any of those things - but I love dance, and aerobics, and ball sports, and martial arts, and weight training!  Clearly Druid is out for me!)  I know regular exercise makes me happy and I need to stop "sacrificing" that for work and family.  Right now I have a wonderful Brazilian Samba class that I've been doing every Wednesday night for the past few years, it's such a great group of girls and a wonderful dance style. Plus, pretty sparkly costumes!!!

 

My nerdiness:  The usual.  I mean, I'm a doctor, we're all nerdy in some way right?  My fandoms are all the usual suspects:  Doctor Who, both Star Wars and Star Trek (gasp!), just about anything Joss Whedon (though we watched Age of Ultron last night and I really didn't think much of it!), LOTR, video games (esp Mass Effect!).  I also love sewing, but don't have much time for it at the moment.  (Plus my husband has stacked laundry on my sewing table so ain't no sewing getting done til the laundry's away!)

 

I've got the usual litany of "excuses" of course.  I work part time atm, because my youngest is only 15mo, and that usually works out to be 35-40hrs a week (7.30am - 5.30pm, til 10pm about once a week, 1 in 3 Sundays).  My final exam of my specialist training is in October, so a lot of time is sunk into studying for that, including a weekly (time-variable) group session.  And my husband is also a doctor with late meetings most evenings of the week, so most of my evenings are taken up with child-related responsibilities.  In fact most of my days off work vanish between my kids' social/activity commitments (dance class, gymnastics, play dates) and the neverending domestic duties!  I have a chronic back condition, have had it since I was 14 (the dreaded spondylolisthesis with 20yrs of associated arthritis, yay!), which does limit what I can do - but I *know* that when I improve my core strength, I don't need the painkillers.  Right now it's a really good day if I don't need them.  Add in a healthy sprinkle of mood disorder (again, this goes away when I'm exercising regularly!) and you get the idea.  Kids, work, pain... anyway I'm over it.  Time to woman up and be the best damn me I can be, and I know I'm not it right now!

 

So, my goals are:

Fat loss.

Improved strength, particularly core strength.

Get off the painkillers.

Look kickass in my Samba costume.

Still spend time with my family.

Pass my exam!

 

And my plan is:

Dietary refinement.  We'd already cut out nearly everything processed, I have never allowed unhealthy snacks in the house (binge tendencies), and we already cook most of our own meals, buying the ingredients from the local markets each week.  But I can start bringing my own lunch to work (instead of using the overpriced hospital caf!) and I'm going to slowly segue over to a mostly-paleo diet.  Have already cut out most of the refined sugars over the past 4 years but damn it is going to be hard to move away from the bread!  (We bake our own...)

Exercise:  I love Samba and am going to keep going.  But I'm going to add in a hefty dose of full-body weight training 3 days of the week - aiming for around 8pm on two weeknights when I'm not doing a late, plus Saturday morning before my kids' swimming class.  Thankfully husband is supportive of this!

Study!  Somewhere!!!  Stick to the group sessions, read in breaks between theatre cases, and do some reading when husband is doing the bedtime routine.  Should be at least one evening a week that I'm not exercising or working where I can study.  Plus weekend evenings once small ones are in bed.

 

One week in and I've just run up against my first reacquaintance with dear DOMS.  Which is a pain, but one that reassures me I finally got the weight load right yesterday.    I have chicken breasts marinating in the fridge which will be cooked up this afternoon along with some veggies for pre-packed lunches (wow that was an inspiring post from Staci!).  I've taken my "before" shots, we'll see how we're going in another month. 

 

Ok, that's it, it's down on paper!  (or on the Internet, which let's be honest, lasts longer!)  Now I'm accountable!  Lovely to meet you all, look forward to sharing the journey!

[TaylorFit]

Hey I'm new to the forum as well! Thought I'd say hi!

 

Forgive my grammar and general literacy skills because after reading your post I feel like I don't quite make the cut.

 

The drive doctors have always amazes me to no extent. You guys know how to work hard.

 

Sounds like your already doing a lot of the right things, diets under control, exercising, it all sounds great. I wouldn't focus to much on your size in general, especially BMI. Some people just have bigger frames, if you want some inspiration for that just look at Amanda Bingson. She's an Olympic hammer thrower, shes always had a bigger frame but she decided to not let that keep her down. Having a bigger frame has its benefits, more strength for example.

 

I'm an Olympic weightlifter so I know quite a few bigger girls who are far from unhealthy, eat perfectly, and lift more weight then 99% of the guys I know.

 

I'll keep this short otherwise I'll start rambling. Look forward to seeing you around the forums and keep up the awesome work.

[Kiki Dee]

Haha, I think you give me way too much credit!!!  But you're right, I do already do a lot of the right things, especially diet-wise, which is why I get so annoyed that my size doesn't reflect that.  The weight itself wouldn't bother me if, like your weightlifting friends, it was all functional muscle!  But unfortunately it's not.  (I guess I have always been stronger than the average girl though.)  Hoping that some strength training will be the adjustment I need to make the body I've got as useful as it can be.  I just read through your intro thread and wow, your credentials are a bit impressive!   (And there's absolutely nothing wrong with your grammar/literacy either, I just have a bad habit of using ten words when one would do!)

 

Looking forward to seeing you about the forums too!   

 

[TaylorFit]

Thanks!!!

 

Good luck with everything, I'm sure you'll do great. If you ever want any advice about strength training my door is always open so to speak.

 

As for my credentials I've only just started acquiring them. Far from impressive lol. Relied on bro science for far to long and now I'm left trying to fit all the puzzle pieces together so I can at least seam like I know what I'm doing