just a tip of the hat...the days to come

I'm not about to claim I know all the secrets in the world about weight loss but I have a couple of things that I try to do to make sure I stay on the straight and narrow and they seem to help me. So I thought I'd do some posts* about my version of Preparation.

I can tell you're excited :)

I'm a typeA personality, things are ordered, colour coded and listed whenever possible, it makes me calm and looks nice too :) The healthy changes I've made in my life remain a work-in-progress - they seem that little bit harder when I don't have things organised.

from: explosivegummybears

* This series of posts started out as a simple list of things, then I realised the list had some clear "categories"  - so living up to my self proclamation above, before I even knew it, I had reshuffled the list. So over the next couple of days I'm posting each category. Its riveting isn't it :)

things I'm loving...

A couple of years ago some friends and I were sitting around having a general moan about life and circumstances. It was all quite cathartic and meaningful, with lots of agreement amongst us about how annoying things were.

One of our group piped up and suggested we all proffer something we love, we were all the mood for some sharing of feelings and although this somehow seemed more revealing that whinging, we gave it a shot; a surprise letter in the mail from a loved one, the smell of fresh laundry, waking up thinking its a work day to find its a day off, Mum's roast and on and on we went, before we knew it we were interrupting each other to share our "happy" thoughts and there was a general feeling of sunshine in the air.

I often think of that discussion when I'm gloomy and dark and try to challenge myself to think of the more positive things in my life, and there are a-plenty people!

from: cuehappiness

So here's some things, all food naturally, I'm loving at the moment;
1. Prunes: The bff is a huge advocate, I've been on the fence saying dates are better but I'm a recent convert - love them
2. Pears: I've recently re-discovered my love of the humble pear, bananas are crazybucks in Australia at the moment so I've been broadening my usual apple and banana habit, I'm a big fan of pear and cheese sandwiches
3. Chickpeas: On pretty high rotation in the House of Landsoftly - if this recipe doesn't do it for you, you be crazy
4. Oatmeal luna bar: sent from my special supplier, thanks Mr C!
5. Tuna: love this one, in oil with chilli, on my lunch salad, the oil acts as my salad dressing too
6. Amaretto biscuits: there is no reason to explain - marzipan in a biscuit, delish!
7. Brussel sprouts: love them steamed with a dash of butter and sprinkle of salt
8. Flat white: I have to put this on the list, after realising how good Australian coffee is, I shall never take thee for granted again
9. Arnotts Royals: don't judge me, I know they are rotting my teeth, brain and stomach with their simple sugar stupidity, but who can resist a biscuit topped with jam and marshmallow all dipped in chocolate? not me, love love love
10. McVities digestive: I'm just getting it all out there, I'm a biscuit and tea lady, I blame a fellow fibre lover for getting me addicted to these, the crumbly texture is just devine, they are even better when dipped in chocolate (but what isn't)

So there you have just a few of my gustation obsessions. Hope you're all well out there.
R xx

fresh...

Ah people, well tell me, where have I been?

Well, I did get three weeks with Mr C during May - during which everything and everyone else got politely ignored. Those weeks were ahmazing, people.

from: cuehappiness

Otherwise, its more of the same that you all have going on in your lives - work, rest and play.

My weight has been pretty stable since my last check in - no down, but no up either. I'm on a cush-y job at the moment and have time a-plenty to get my exercise done and organise my food. I'm not overly concerned about it but I'm hoping to see some downward direction on the scale again soon.

Its winter in Adelaide at the moment and it is fresh out there; it has made outdoor exercise a little tough but my old pal Jillian Michaels and I have been busting some moves inside. And the BFF and I brave the cold sometimes to share our thoughts of enlightenment from the week, usually garnered from The Kardashians or Oprah; we spend quite a bit of time communally whinging about said cold weather too :)

Anyway, this is short and sweet - expect to hear from me more regularly again.

R xx

what a dish...

As most of you know I am living solo currently. An ocean is currently between me and Mr C while our tectonic plates merge together. This is an actual ocean, I'm not being metaphoric :) There are many many downsides to this state of affairs but there is an upside that I experience pretty regularly, and that is my indulgence is eggs.

Mr C will eat eggs, he enjoys them in fact, but he is not an eggmanic like me. I will gladly and greedily eat them with almost every meal. I discovered the most amazing little device that helps one cook the perfect boiled egg. I ranted about it so much at work one day someone thought I was selling them as some kind of side business. I would you know, I love this device so much I would gladly encourage anyone to buy it.  But I'm not selling them. Actually, they are such a wonder they should be free, like fresh air, sunshine and education. I imagine its some kind of faux paus to show it on here. But none the less, if you have come to the blog today on a mission to find the perfect egg boiling device then look no further. Ta-Da.

taken by moi at breakfast with my family on easter saturday - I had scrambled eggs with truffle oil and chorizo

Many of you know my home town of Adelaide and you know it is a place that abounds with cafes like no other. You won't be surprised to know I love to meet for breakfast as this combines all the fabulousness of Adelaide, cafes, eggs and good company. My favourite places understand my love of the egg; you'll have me "one good egg dish" but you'll never get rid of me with "how would you like your eggs cooked".

I have taken to recreate a dish I had with the BFF recently. Grainy toast with avocado on ricotta with mint and chilli, and I added a poached egg on the side. The waiter was clearly impressed with my choice and told me what a divine dish I'd just created and it did not disappoint; my stomach told my brain it was very happy and would like more of the same, please.

In my home edition I boil the eggs - learning to make poached eggs is something I'm saving for retirement, along with growing roses and origami (yes, my retirement years are going to be a hoot) - and forgo the ricotta for good old butter and a decent squeeze of lemon. It isn't so much becoming a staple meal but becoming the only thing I eat.

I hope you're all well out there,
R xx

a lesson...

I work in a job with constant education, I kind of love it and feel pretty lucky that teaching and learning is part of my everyday. Sometimes we have teaching sessions where we create mock situations or use each other to demonstrate how to perform certain activities, like lion-taming or boxing, for example :)

So the other day I got to work and ran head first into a teaching session. I was running late though and the only seat available was right next to the teacher. I was wearing an "i love teach" t-shirt and had a gift apple with me, so it was all very seemly.

Until I realised the session was about how to examine a knee. While a knee is not as personal as some other parts of our bodies it is most definitely not a joint I wish to flaunt or, indeed, have examined with twenty of my colleagues looking on.

Naturally teach could not see past my t-shirt and was so enamoured with the apple that my attempts to squirm away did not register. My knee was examined. In. Front. Of. Everyone. And I was wearing new jeans that I had not entirely convinced myself covered my entire butt appropriately.

The session was taking forever. I was so aware of The Knee, which was exposed in all its glory and had taken on a life and personality all of its own. The Knee was clearly unrefined, class-less and dare I say, rather unattractive. I am ashamed to say I shunned The Knee, like a geeky neighbourhood friend you only play with out of school.

To be fair, I was also quite concerned how much of The Butt was covered with denim. But, it was mostly The Knee. And it was clear to everyone The Knee belonged to me. It began to feel like my life was trickling by and I would forever be in this session having my damn knee examined with my butt hanging out and my colleagues looking on and, no doubt, thinking this was a terrible state of affairs.

I couldn't even make eye contact with anyone in the room. I knew I'd see scorn of The Knee. I knew they'd judge The Knee. And you know, that poor knee needed someone to love it. What did The Knee ever do to deserve this? The Knee needed a body that was proud of it. Even the uglist knee needs love. And who the heck was I to not oblige. The Knee actually did alot for me. It deserved my love and gratitude.

The class ended. I gave The Knee a rub, told it what a good job it had done and stood proudly with it, ready to bear the taunts and ridicule. Me and The Knee. The Knee and Me. We made quite a pair. We could conquer the world together.

Teach was chatting away, telling us that we would be unlikely to examine many young, fit knees like this one. This One? This Knee? Young? Fit? Well, rhhhheaallyy, I scanned the crowd and thought "you bunch of judgy judgers, this is a young fit knee, and you were all poo-pooing it, shame on you".


And, so you see, a moral is discovered on LandSoftly.

Hope you're all well out there.
R xx

i'm here...

I am here, lurking and listening...

My quest to find the balance between total type-A-anal-ism and total throw-out-the-window-ism continues. Its tough not go all food-exercise-nazi and its equally difficult not to go all airy-fairy-it'll-all-work-out. 

I am about 6 kilos off my goal weight at the moment. A very big part of me is thinking "Go crazy. Drop your calories. Up your exercise. Lose it all pronto. And then you can go scoff a pack of Tim Tams". I realise, though, this is that damn food-exercise-nazi talking, with a little bit of airy-fairy-it'll-all-work-out bribery to entice me in to this crooked scheme.

But, as I've said before, Aesop told me I was tortoise not a hare in this race of Rachel vs BigButt and that kind of approach would never work for me. Aesop is extremely wise, he would kick food-exercise-nazi's butt; he would absolutely write a fable about my plight and tell me ever so eloquently what the best course of action would be. So I channel Aesop, take one Tim Tam now, enjoy it, move on and tell myself "Keep going just like this and one day, you'll get there".

from cuehappiness

I hope you're all well out there.

R xx

suddenly 40...

I sound like broken record but my day job has completely overtaken my life recently. I'm sure it'll get better but right now I'm not sure how I manage to fit in showering let alone eating well and exercising. And my poor landsoftly compendium is surely suffering. I do love you, blog, you're never far from my thoughts :)

from here

You might recall last year I had oodles of free time. I spent a good part of my free time focussing on cultivating healthy habits and watching more than my fair share of bravo tv :) The Kardashians and Real Housewives quite rightly feel out in the cold (despite my deep love for them). And I do miss them.

But I'm so happy to say that the healthy habits seem to be withstanding the storm of neglect. I'm not able to exercise everyday at the moment but I am on my feet all day and running around like a fool. I'm not sure that that combined with stress hormone induced heart rate elevation really equates to proper exercise but I'm taking whatever I can get. And, when I have the time, Jillian and I are still rock solid :)

Food wise, I am making the effort to pack healthy food to take with me and avoiding the easier options. I realise I used to reward myself with unhealthy food and, while it's sometimes tempting, I've managed to keep that bad habit at bay.

I hopped on the scales the other morning and realised I am now down 40kilos, how and when did that happen? A horrible little voice said to me it was probably muscle loss and not real weight, so I kick-boxed that demon in the ass and celebrated the new milestone with a gorgeous new dress that looks like it belongs on a much smaller person than me.

I hope you are all well out there.

xx