This morning I had my final weigh-in with the doctor. I am down to 109 kg – a total loss of 9kg during the challenge. Not as much as I would have liked, but still not too bad.

As well as the direct sponsorship for my weight loss, we have had a couple of appeal days for the project, and have a couple more to go before we send the final amount around December 14th.

I plan to keep going with my weight loss efforts – I still have quite a long way to go to get to my final goal. We have not yet decided whether we will run LoseWeight4Waifs again next year and open it up to other participants, or not. It all depends on us finding a corporate sponsor for the major prize.

I’ve had a totally chaotic month. First we had our ministry conference, for which we had visitors from Queensland for 10 days. Then the following weekend I had to go to a Community Newspapers Association of Victoria conference (I am on the management committee of our local community newspaper.) The day after I got back from that was my birthday.

I had a nasty dose of the “dreaded lurgy” for the week leading up to our conference. I thought I was almost over it, but it obviously got freshened up at the CNAV conference, because by the Tuesday I was sick as a dog (how sick do dogs get??), to the extent that I put myself to bed for a couple of days – something I never normally do. I’m only just getting on top of it now.

The result of all the above is that the last 4 weeks have involved a lot of non-diet eating, and little or no exercise. I would not have been at all surprised if, when I went to the doc this morning for my weigh-in, I had found that I had actually gained weight.

However, I was pleasantly surprized to find I had lost a kilo, and am now down to 111 kg. Whilst certainly not what I would have liked, it is at least better than going in the other direction.

Weigh-in was this morning.  I was a little concerned, because I have had a couple of days when activities meant that sticking to a good eating plan was all but impossible. I have also been having some problems with my back, and have had a heavy cold for the last few days, which has meant that my exercise routine has been well and truly sabotaged. However, I have lost a further 2.5 kg, taking me to a total loss of 6 kg in 6 weeks.  Not quite as much as I had hoped, but still very acceptable.

I give part of the credit for today’s good report to my accidental discovery of something called Chia seed. These tiny seeds are packed full of vitamins, essential fatty acids, calcium and protein. Their unique property is that when you add them to water, they absorb 9 times their own weight and turn into a kind of gel. When added to food, they fill you up and very effectively suppress your appetite. They also help to balance the sugar levels in your blood. They have allowed me to cut my portion sizes and not feel hungry. I’m really amazed at their effectiveness!

It’s been another frantic week, and I haven’t got to keep this blog up to date, but I was weighed in on Wednesday and have lost another 1.5 kg. Not as much as I had hoped, but at least it’s going down.

Because of a very full month ahead, it is unlikely that I will be able to do daily updates of my diet and exercise routine – besides, I figure that must be getting a bit boring for people by now. So instead I will just do a weekly update to let you know how I am progressing.

This morning was my first weigh-in since starting. I came in at 116kg according to the doc’s scales, which is a loss of 2 kg. Not quite enough to put me on track for my 20kg goal, but the doc was happy with it.

I will be getting weighed in each week from now on (doc was away last week.)

I have had a couple of days of not feeling very well over the weekend. I have basically stuck to good diet principles, except for Saturday when I was really exhausted and ate chocolate in a desperate attempt to get some energy.

I didn’t do my exercise routine on Saturday or Sunday, and yesterday did my leg strength exercises in the morning but then fell in a heap and slept half the day, so didn’t do any cardio.

Today I am still not feeling terribly well, but I did get my upper body strength training done this morning, though not quite as much as planned. I’m feeling very “chesty”, so don’t know how I’ll go with cardio today.

Unfortunately I had the flu in the last part of last week, so my great intentions of getting a head start on this thing went out the window. Never mind, I’m better now and ready to get on with it.

I went to the doctor yesterday for my weigh in, which was very disappointing – her scales showed me at 118kg. I told her they are much nastier scales than mine, even given that she was weighing me in the middle of the day and fully clothed, whereas I had weighed myself first thing in the morning and stark naked (and it’s winter here in Oz, so clothes are fairly heavy.) Anyway, it will her scales that are used right through, so the end result will be fair.

Whilst it is not essential for the appeal, we have agreed that I will see her each week for a weigh-in and to check my progress, which is good for my accountability. I will also be keeping a record of my diet and excercise routine, which I will share on this blog – again, for accountability, and also to help others who might also be wanting to lose weight.

Although there is still officially a week to go before the start of this year’s LoseWeight4Waifs campaign, I have started trying to control my eating and also getting some exercise.

I was quite pleased when I got on the scales yesterday to find that I came in at 110 kg. I had got down to 108 by the end of last year’s LoseWeight4Waifs campaign, but this year has been something of a disaster. The fires here at the beginning of the year affected me pretty badly, and there were a few months when I was pretty much “out of it”, eating rubbish and not functioning to do much of anything. I really thought I would have regained a lot more than 2 kg!

Anyway, I’m back on top of things now, especially after a lovely 2-week holiday with my family in Queensland, where I just goofed off and was looked after (not great for the waistline, but really good for the stress levels!) I’m quite looking forward to the challenge of getting back into shape.

Part of the idea of me undertaking this campaign now is to make the idea known so that next year we can open the LoseWeight4Waifs challenge to anyone living in Victoria (Australia). We are hoping to find some corporate sponsors so that we can offer some nice prizes for the person who raises the most.

Of course, for me there is a lot more involved than simply losing weight and getting sponsors. As the leader of the ministry (for which read, general dogsbody) I also have the responsibility of setting up this web site, preparing brochures and the other literature, and organizing the publicity – all of which I am working on at the moment. Still, if we can raise some decent money to help the kids over there in Uganda, it will be well worth all the effort.