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what shall we do for lunch? |
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13th October
2008 |
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A seemingly normal question. One
that we all often say. However, I
heard it said today, and was almost
blown away. Let me explain....
I spent a relaxing half hour this
morning, after a hard training
session, having a delicious coffee
from Gloria Jeans. I enjoyed a
handful of almonds with it (which I
always carry in my handbag), while I
sat and wrote up my next client's
personal training session.
I became aware of a young but very
large lady (hard to tell ages
sometimes, but she was definitely
under 30) struggling back
to the table next to mine juggling a
massive coffee, a double serve of
thick raisin toast, AND a slice of
banana caramel pie. I assumed she
was waiting for a friend to share
her food with, and yes a friend
arrived, but she had obviously
already eaten because she had
nothing. The young lady proceeded
to add 3 sachets of sugar to her
mammoth coffee, and
spread TWO individual serves of
butter on to EACH slice of raisin
toast. Yes, that's right, 2 on
each!! She polished the toast off,
and proceeded to eat the banana
caramel pie, seemingly
effortlessly. Astonished, I tried
to estimate the amount of saturated
fat that this girl had just consumed
for morning tea. I came up with
around 45g (and this was being
conservative). Remember, we're
talking saturated fat. This is many
times more than what a woman should
be consuming in an entire day.
I didn't feel disgusted by her, I
didn't laugh at her, I didn't feel
sad for
her, I didn't judge her - I was just
confused. What was it that was
driving her to eat so much for
morning tea? I found myself
creating a number of life scenarios
for her, and making excuses for her
apparent lack of self control. I
wanted to help... help her
understand what she was doing to her
body and her health. But of
course I sat in silence. I would
surely appear rude if I approached
her. She would probably be angry
and/or humiliated, and tell me to
mind my own business.
When the coffee cup and plates were
empty, and she had picked up every
crumb off the table with her finger
tip, she and her friend pushed back
their chairs to leave. She leant
over to pick up her handbag, and as
she did so, she looked over to her
friend and asked "What shall we do
for lunch?" She hadn't even left
the table! I wasn't able to hear her
friend's response.... I really,
really hope she replied with "Let's
have a healthy wrap and some
fruit".
I know that it's tough to always
make healthy food choices, and in
the whole scheme of things, a less
healthy meal every now and then
won't make a whole lot of
difference, but it was obvious that
this young lady makes these bad
choices every meal. She was twice
the weight she should be, her hair
was dull and lifeless, her skin was
bad, and getting out of her chair
was an effort. But the most
important thing that I noticed? She
didn't smile once! Not once! Says
it all, doesn't it?
Jenny
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lance armstrong is coming! |
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9th October
2008 |
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I woke this morning with the radio telling
me HE was coming to Adelaide. I didn't let
myself believe it until I received the
official word from Tour Down Under - the
email just arrived. Yes, this seven time
Tour de France winner, cancer sufferer and
survivor, is making his cycling comeback at
our wonderful Tour Down Under. What an
honour for our State...
He states he is returning to cycling to
spread the word and raise cancer awareness,
and no doubt raise a squillion dollars in
the process. What a guy! Do I sound like a
groupie??? Yep, that's me. He's my idol
for many reasons - firstly he is, no doubt,
the elitist of the elite athletes in the
world (and all without drugs), secondly he
never gave up in his fight with cancer (his
story is mind boggling - if you haven't done
so yet, read his books "It's Not About the
Bike" and "Every Second Counts"), and
thirdly, he now spends his life raising
money for cancer awareness and research.
Fitgirls have registered a team to ride in
the Breakaway Ride - if you're a rider and
want to join us, please get in touch with
either Carly or myself so that jerseys can
be printed up. My prediction is that, now
that it's official, masses of people will be
registering straight away, so don't delay -
if you want to be part of this great day,
jump on board asap. Organisers are going to
cap the registrations at 5000, and I'm
certain that number will be reached pretty
quickly.
Better go and put my bum on a bike seat - I
will need to ride well to make sure I've
finished the ride in time to watch Lance
ride over the finish line in 1st place.
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ambitious?! |
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14th
September
2008 |
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It started as a conversation over our
regular Sunday morning coffee at Cibo at
Glenelg. Carly, hubby and I were enjoying
the winter sun with the pups asleep at our
feet while we were lamenting over the
passing of the inspirational Jane McGrath.
“What could we do?, we thought. Even though
Fitgirls have pledged a percentage of our
profit to this wonderful cause, it still
didn’t seem enough.
We decided we needed to go all out and
organise something which would raise a
significant amount of money, as well as
inspire our clients, colleagues, friends and
family to join us and in turn work on their
fitness levels and work towards a goal.
What else, but a bike ride?? A long one….
937kms to be exact! In 7 days! Carly,
hubby and I are going to ride, along with 17
other riders, from Adelaide to Melbourne and
we want to raise $100 per km. $93,700!
Now, that’s a significant amount of money!
Can we do it?? Yep, we can and we are!
Plans are underway
– the ride will take place in October next year and we are looking for 17 riders to join
us. Each rider will be responsible for
raising an entry fee of $3000, and the rest
of the money will be raised through
corporate sponsorships and personal
donations.
How can you help?
Do you ride? If you do, and are interested
in learning more about participating in the
ride, drop us an email or give us a call.
If you don’t, but want to help out some
other way, we will be looking for 4 people
to drive the support vehicles and help with
anything else on the road (and if you’re a
masseuse, even better!!)
And, of course, if you can’t commit to the
time, we will be looking for donations and
sponsorships, so let us know. If you’ve
been involved in something like this before,
and would like to share some stories with
us, we’d love to hear from you!
It’s a massive organisational task, but
we’re both committed to the cause. Our next
11 months will be spent making sure this is a
great and worthwhile event, for the riders
and of course for the McGrath Foundation.
Training has commenced…
Jenny
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hands up please! |
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7th September
2008 |
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Ok, I want to
see a showing of hands from all the young ladies
out there (and there’s a lot of you, because
young means anyone younger than me!!) as to who
regularly does their pelvic floor exercises.
Mmm…. I thought so. Lots of sheepish faces and
not many hands up. Well, here’s the thing.
Take it from me, who decided it was a good idea
to take up running at the ripe old age of 50,
that if you don’t do them now, you will pay
later on when you decide to do that
half-marathon. I’ve started doing them now – in
fact I do them until I’m blue in the face and my
eyes are popping out of my head – but I think
it’s too little too late. So, off you go, and
spend 5 minutes doing something that I promise
will make your old age a lot more pleasant!!
Jenny |
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training....injuries....aarrgghh! |
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1st September
2008 |
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It’s been a busy couple of
weeks for us – training clients, working on our
website and newsletter, testing recipes,
planning renovations on our new studio, and last
but not least, training for upcoming events.
I’ve been pounding the pavement getting ready
for the City to Bay fun run on the 20th
September. I’m confident I will be able to do
it ok, but I’m aiming for a half reasonable
time. Unfortunately, Carly won’t be running it
with me as she has an injury to her knee which
has prevented her from doing any running
training. (I think she might be secretly
pleased – running is not her favourite thing!).
But then again, it’s not mine either! Second
daughter, Courtney, who ran it last year, has
been overseas for 6 weeks and this morning’s
email from her in New York was signed off “Love
Courtney, with the a*se the size of Texas”, so I
guess that means she hasn’t fitted in a run
while she’s been away!!
Training has also started for
the Tour Down Under Breakaway Ride in January.
It’s a long, tough ride this year so we will
need to have clocked up lots of hours on the
bikes. Thank goodness that winter is over, as
getting on the bike at 6 am in the dark, with
the wind and rain in my face, is not my idea of
fun!
My weights training has had
to be revised over the past few weeks. I have a
“golfers” elbow (even though I’ve never played
golf) and it’s been murder. A cortisone
injection did little to relieve it, and the
physio has had to change his thoughts on how
he’s treating it. However, there’s light at the
end of the tunnel as I can finally feel a slight
improvement. But because I’ve been doing loads
of lower body workouts, trying to avoid using my
elbow, I’m worried I’m going to end up looking
like Arnold Schwarzenegger on the bottom half,
and Olive Oyl on the top half.!?!?
Better go and do some more
lunges….
Jenny |
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how much salt?... |
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14th August
2008 |
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I can’t help but spend a lot of time watching
other people eat – I know, I’m obsessed. One of
the things that I am bewildered about is how
many people add salt to their food before
they’ve tasted it. How do they know that the
chef hasn’t already emptied his salt shaker into
the pot of soup.
We all know that salt is very harmful to humans,
as it increases the risk of developing high
blood pressure, which can lead to heart
attacks.
Loads of research has been done into salt
intake, and apparently, on average, men consume
11g of salt per day and women consume 8-9g. The
RDI is 6g! This is equivalent to one level
teaspoon. Research results have also shown that
reducing the amount of salt in the diet lowers
the level of blood pressure within four weeks.
That’s all I need to know – I’m trying to lower
my daily intake of salt.
I can hear all of you saying “but I love the
taste of salt”. Well, I’m told that our palates
get accustomed to a certain level of salt, but
they re-adjust after just a few weeks of a
lower-salt diet. I’ll let you know next month if
that’s true.
Around 75% of the salt we consume is in the
processed foods we eat, and the remaining 25%
comes from the salt added during cooking or at
the table.
So, I’m going to stop adding salt to food once
it is served, and I’m going to choose items at
the supermarket with a reduced sodium content.
Now, here’s the thing – I took a little extra
time at the supermarket earlier in the week
reading labels. I picked up my usual 1 litre
container of Campbell’s vegetable stock. The
sodium content seemed high so I put it back and
picked up the ‘Reduced Salt’ version in the same
brand. Sure enough, it was less, but only by
about 25%, and it still seemed pretty high. So
I started checking all the other brands. Well,
the Massell brand, which was not labelled as
‘Reduced Salt’ has, in fact, around half the
sodium of the Campbell’s ‘Reduced Salt’ stock.
So there’s a lesson to be learned here – don’t
believe what’s printed on the front of the item,
read the label! |
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brrrrrrrr... |
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1st August
2008 |
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Well, it hasn’t got any warmer! I’ve been
having trouble adjusting to the cold weather
after holidaying for 6 weeks in 32 degrees.
It’s so hard getting up early to work out – I’ve
been leaving it until later in the day when my
toes have defrosted. Luckily I have a bit of
flexibility as to when I exercise, but I know
some people have no choice but to throw off
those covers at 5.30am to be able to fit in a
workout before heading off to work. If that’s
you, well done, you deserve a medal! When I was
restricted to working out in the early mornings,
I used to repeat “it’ll be worth it” over and
over – and guess what? It was.
We
waved doctor-to-be daughter, Courtney, off at
the airport last weekend. She’s on a 6 week
European holiday, the first in 8 years of study,
and probably the last one she’ll have for a
while, as she becomes Dr Williams (little
Courtney, I can’t believe it!) at the end of
November, and starts her internship at Flinders
Medical Centre in January next year. She’s in
Prague at the moment and heads to Italy in the
next couple of days. She’s travelling with her
bestie, Rachel, who studied Physiotherapy with
her before she moved into Medicine. They’re
both really sensible girls, but I still worry
about them. I sounded like a broken record at
the airport telling them to look after each
other. It doesn’t matter how old your children
are, you still worry about them. I guess the
day will come when the roles are reversed!
On
a lighter note, for those of you who love The
Yoghurt Shop yoghurt but only ate it as a treat,
I have good news for you. I just love their
yoghurts, especially the berry ones, but at
560kj and 4.0g fat per 100g, I really could only
justify it as a once a week treat. But, they’ve
released a ‘skinny’ yoghurt… not quite as low in
kj and fat as the supermarket diet yoghurts, but
low enough to be able to enjoy more often. Yay!
I’m a happy girl. They come in at 474kj and
0.8g fat per 100g, and have the added bonus of
being even higher in protein and calcium than
their regular yoghurt. I have a tablespoon on
my cereal in the morning, and another on my
berries after dinner. Try sprinkling Ladybird
Crunch on top for a crispy way to get some added
protein. Yum. |
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i'm back... |
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16th July 2008 |
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Well, here I am back in cold ol'
Adelaide.
I've been travelling up in the Kimberleys
where the weather was just perfect - 32
degrees, fine, sunny, no wind, not a cloud
in the sky - fantastic! I've even come back
with a tan, but alas it will be gone in a
week. It was a very rude shock to come back
to these cold temperatures, but I guess my
winter will be shorter than everyone else's
so I shouldn't complain. Up north and the Kimberleys are
such beautiful parts of the world; the
natural beauty of the gorges and of course
Ayers Rock is unbelievable. I swam in
lagoons and on some of the most beautiful
beaches in the world. If any of you have
ever been to Middle Lagoon, up from Broome
but before
Cape
Leveque,
you will know what I mean! I'm pleased to
say that I saw lots of crocs but kept my
distance and didn't swim in any waters that
had the croc sign with the red line through
it. Some people chance it though - I can't
imagine needing a swim that much!
We spent a lot of time in very remote parts
of Australia and we only managed to make the
odd phone call on the satellite phone, and
of course no newspapers or television, so it
was a great shock on my return to learn of
the death of Jane McGrath. What an
inspirational woman she was, and the world
will be worse off without her and her
fabulous work with the McGrath Foundation.
It will be business as usual of course for
the McGrath Foundation as they have
wonderful people at the helm. Jane's passing
motivates us here at Fitgirls more than ever
and Carly and I have some great ideas for a
charity event later in the year - more on
that later!
Anyway, back to work and my clients. Carly
has done a great job keeping things under
control but was very pleased to welcome me
home. So, to all my clients, I hope you've
been good over the past 6 weeks, and are
ready to have your butts worked off!!
Jenny
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winter warmers... |
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2nd July 2008 |
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The cold weather is finally upon us! If you live
in Adelaide that is. It was a grey and dreary
day today, with it's fair share of rain. Weather
like this always makes me feel like cooking,
whether it be a slow-cooked stew, a warming soup
or a delicious cake. For me, Wednesday nights
are a good time to prepare my meals for the
second half of the week. I love having something
ready to eat at a moments notice.
So tonight I came up with a new recipe - Sweet
Potato & Leek Soup. You'll read about some of
the health benefits of sweet potato on our
recipes page, but basically, it's low-GI and
full of nutrients. It goes a little something
like this:
600g leek (3 big ones), sliced
500g sweet potato, cubed
350g pumpkin, cubed
50g dry red lentils
1 brown onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
6 cups vegetable stock
3 tspn moroccan seasoning
Spray a big saucepan with spray oil and saute
the garlic and onion for one minute. Add the
moroccan seasoning and leeks and saute for
another three minutes. Add all the other
ingredients and bring to the boil. Then reduce
the heat and leave to simmer for 20-30 minutes
until the vegies are soft. Blend the soup in
batches and serve while hot! It makes 6 serves
and would keep in the fridge for 3-4 days.
Delicious!! |
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a sad day and a great loss |
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22nd June 2008 |
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It is with great sadness that today we learnt of
the passing of Jane McGrath, founder of the
McGrath Foundation. An amazing woman and an
inspiration to women across Australia, she will
be sorely missed and always remembered. She
provided hope and inspiration to women battling
breast cancer, and it was her positivity and
'never give up' attitude that first captured the
hearts of us here at Fitgirls.
We are proud and honoured to be supporters of
such a wonderful organisation, and we will
strive harder than ever to help the McGrath
Foundation in any way that we can. |
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back into it.... |
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16th June 2008 |
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The hardest thing about running a personal
training business is finding time to exercise
yourself! I've been a little slack of late. Not
because I don't want to train.... but simply
because my priorities have changed. Business and
clients first, me second. And with the cold,
dark mornings, I have been finding any excuse
not to get out of my warm bed, so it was no
surprise when I found myself a kilo heavier this
week!
It was enough to spring me out of bed and into
action! I found myself a new training partner,
Nereeda, lead-singer in a well-known Adelaide
band and fitness extraordinaire. She's
motivated, works hard, doesn't take anything too
seriously, and provides me with someone to be
accountable to - I would just never let her
down.
So we have been training this week, hard, and
with some good results. Text messages have been
going back and forward.... "Sore?"......"Yep,
can't walk"......"Tomorrow at 6 for another
flogging?"......"You bet!"
So the moral of the story is, if you can't find
the motivation to train, find a training
partner. Set goals together, make plans together
and train together. Be accountable to each
other, encourage each other and make it fun! And
once all the training is over, go out for a nice
coffee and a good chat, you deserve it!
Carly |
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two becomes one |
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5th June 2008 |
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With Mum gone nearly a week now, things have
been fairly hectic! Two new clients have started
and I am training people nearly every day of the
week now. It must the time for holidays. Iris,
my longest-serving one-on-one client leaves for
Bali this Saturday. Iris had a goal in mind when
she started with me 15 weeks ago - she wanted to
lose 7kg of body fat before her trip. Well I am
thrilled to say that she made it. Not without
hard work though. Iris trained hard in every
session, and it was great to see her going from
1 push-up to at least 15 push-ups over the
course of our time together. She also completely
changed her eating habits. Rather than snacking
on cheese and biscuits after work, she started
eating small, regular, healthy meals throughout
the day, which meant that she wasn't ravenous
when she got home. So congratulations Iris -
Fitgirls wishes you a wonderful holiday (and
lots of compliments when you strut your stuff in
a bikini!)
Some other good news for the week is that you
can now sign up to our newsletter on the
Fitgirls site - we are fully operational! The
June newsletter will be coming out soon, so stay
tuned!
Carly |
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and we're off!! |
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30th May 2008 |
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 This
will be my last blog entry for 6 weeks… Hubby
and I (and 7 of our friends) are heading off
tomorrow in our vans to explore up north. First
stop is Alice Springs and then we take some
track (you can see I haven’t planned the route
as I don’t even know the name of it) across the
Kimberley to Broome. From all accounts, it is
magnificent country and I’m looking forward to
seeing these parts of Australia that I’ve never
seen before. It’s been a stressful week getting
organised – but I think we’re under control.
Because we will be in a caravan (and not a very
big one!) we have had to be very frugal when
packing. There are some things that I’ve tried
to pack only to have Brett say “no way” – like
my weights!! What am I going to do for 6 weeks
without my weights?? So, I’ve packed a
resistance band and will just have to cope with
using that and doing bodyweight exercises. I’m
intending to run heaps too – every morning if I
can. I need to keep my training up if we are
ever going to do the NY marathon next year!
I’m
not sure how often I’m going to be able to get
onto the internet, but I’m hoping to be able to
get some photos back to Carly to post on the
website.
I
have, however, managed to sneak something on
board! He didn’t want me to take my body brush
– he thinks it is too awkward a shape and will
take up too much room. But, if like me you are
a body brush fanatic, you would know it is an
absolute essential. Every day I dry body brush
before my shower for 3 minutes. It aids in the
removal of toxins from the body and sloughs off
all the dead skin. My skin is all nice and
tingly when I step into the shower and glowing
when I get out. I’m addicted. If you’ve never
tried it, give it a go. Your skin will never
look better!
Poor Carly, she will be handling the business
and my clients while I’m away. She’s a busy
girl as it is, but I know she will take it all
in her stride. Her energy is contagious. It’s
amazing that you don’t mind being busy when
you’re doing something that you have a passion
for… and Carly certainly has the passion!
Well, I have some more packing to do, so I’ll be
back in 6 weeks…. that is, if I don’t get eaten
by a croc!! Actually, there is absolutely no
chance of that, because I have no intention of
swimming in any waters that have even the
remotest chance of being inhabited by crocs!
Jenny |
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25th
May 2008 |
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It's been a very busy week with our new clients
starting, and more enquiries coming in! Current
clients are doing a sensational job, and special
mention must go to our first ever online client,
Kat. Kat has completed her first 12 Week
Transformation Package, and is now undertaking
another 12 weeks. She has lost an incredible
12kg since she started! She has thrown out the
old habits and has replaced them with new,
healthy habits. Kat has been a dream online
client, never missing one weigh-in, and staying
in contact with me every day. There have been
difficult times, but we have worked through them
together, and she has well and truly come out on
top. Congratulations Kat! Keep up the great
work. Stay tuned for her 'after' photos later in
the year.
In other news, our fabulous organic skin-care
range is finally available for purchase (see the
Products link up top). These products are just
divine, and are the perfect way to treat
yourself or a loved one. By ordering online, you
will receive your product within just a few
days, direct to your door. Choose from a
delicious range of organic moisturisers,
cleansers, make-up, hair-care products,
toothpastes, deodorants and even household
products - all completely environmentally
friendly. Know that you are putting some
goodness into your body with these completely
natural products. If you are a current client,
and you successfully refer a friend to Fitgirls,
you will receive a skin-care product, on us!
Carly |
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19th
May 2008 |
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I'm finally getting around to doing my first
blog entry! Poor Mum has very much been the
Fitgirls scribe as of late, while I've been
working behind the scenes to get the site up and
running with my extremely talented (and patient)
web developer!
It's been a very busy weekend! We signed up 6
new clients last week, who will no doubt end up
being Fitgirls Success Stories! We have a few
star clients at the moment, but one who is
really making progress is a very new mum who has
lost an incredible 5.4kg in 4 weeks (Sue - you
know who you are!). Her determination and
dedication is inspiring, and even though she
swears she hates the pain I put her through, I
know she really loves me for it!
As far as I am concerned, there is nothing
better than watching a client stagger out the
door, red-faced and still puffing as they
mutter, "Thank you, I really enjoyed that".
Believe me, I know it is a struggle to find the
motivation to exercise sometimes, it's a battle
that we all face daily. Getting up at 5.30am
every morning has never been my idea of fun, but
give me a few minutes pounding the pavement or
lifting some weights, and there is no stopping
me. And that's the difference between
those of us that stay fit and trim, and those
that don't. Start to live by the rule; "no
excuses". Just get the shoes on and go for it!
Carly |
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14th
May 2008 |
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Well, so much for a blog entry every few
days! We’ve all been struck down with a rotten
virus… sore throats, headaches, no energy,
contemplating suicide – you know the one!
Carly and I did
manage though to run the Mother’s Day Classic
last Sunday morning, along with Courtney (second
daughter and doctor-to-be) and my bike and
fitness buddy, Deb, and her daughter, Danni.  Carly, Courtney and I were all under the weather
but we figured we would just run as far as we
could of the 7.2 km course and then walk the
rest of the way if we weren't feeling up to it.
It was a glorious day and there were thousands
of people taking part, giving up a precious
Sunday morning to help to raise money for breast
cancer research.
At
8.30 we set off around the River Torrens and
settled into a nice, easy jog. 47 minutes later
we all crossed the finish line together, still
running! Apart from me having to stop and
stretch a glute, and Deb having a loo stop, we
ran all the way! I’m pretty confident we would
have done it in under 40 minutes if we were all
in tip top shape, but we were just so pleased to
be able to run all the way.
As
we were waiting to start the run I was reading
everyone’s signs pinned to their backs. The
organisers had printed a sign that said “I’m
doing this for ………….” Lots of them said “mum”,
or “my sister”, or “my friend”. Some said
additional things like “survivor” and others
said “sorely missed”. It reinforced to me how
many of us have been touched by this disease.
Almost everyone knows someone who has been
diagnosed with breast cancer who then has to
endure surgery, radiotherapy and often
chemotherapy, in their fight for life.
Early breast cancer awareness is the key to
survival. I know people think I sound like a
broken record sometimes, but, please, please,
check your breasts every month, and insist on a
mammogram if you find anything out of the
ordinary. My breast cancer was found at a
routine mammogram and was apparently very
aggressive, having grown in just 12 months.
Luckily it was caught before spreading to my
lymph nodes. My oncologist told me that if I
had waited for another 6 months it would have
been a very different story! I don’t even want
to think about it.
So,
do the right things. Check your breasts and
have your mammograms. Don’t think it won’t
happen to you, because it can…. And you have a
1 in 10 chance that it will!
Jenny |
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5th
May 2008 |
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Hooray.
Our blog is at last ready to start making
regular entries. Carly and I will be taking
turns in writing, and we hope that we’ll have
the time to update it every few days. Our lives are
pretty busy at the moment, so I’m guessing we’ll
have plenty to talk about.
Brett and I had a wedding anniversary a few days
ago (don’t ask how many years – it’s a lot!) and
I’ve been reflecting on the past year, as I
remember that for our last anniversary we went
out to dinner and I regarded it as my last
supper as I was starting my 12 week Bodyblitz
Challenge the following day on 2nd
May, 2007. I was 10 kilos overweight, feeling
tired and recovering from my cancer radiotherapy
treatment, and generally feeling sluggish and
miserable, spending my days on the couch
watching Foxtel and drinking red wine.
I
decided to tackle my weight problem first, so I
entered the 12 week challenge and also joined
our local EFM gym at Holdfast Shores. Well,
what a rollercoaster ride it’s been since then.
In 12 weeks, by exercising every day and
changing my diet to include only whole healthy
food (and no booze!!) I lost exactly 10 kilos
and got fit and strong, but it was the added
benefits that surprised me. Suddenly, I had all
this extra energy… I felt well, happy,
confident and ready to take on the world. I
couldn’t believe that in 12 weeks I had made
lifelong changes to my diet and lifestyle.
Carly, who witnessed this transformation in not
only my body but my mind, told me that I should
try to help other women who were coping with the
ravages of breast cancer, or the associated
treatments. From that conversation, fitgirls
was born… We studied for 8 months to get our
personal training qualifications and spent that
time setting up the business. And here we are –
I’m cancer free and the healthiest and strongest
I’ve been in my entire life.
Since then, I’ve lost a further 3kg and have
worked hard on toning and sculpting my body, as
well as increasing my cardiovascular fitness.
Carly and I are now training for the New York
42km marathon next year – and this is the woman
who could hardly walk from the couch to the
cupboard for another bottle of red!
Believe me, anything is possible. If you think
you can’t make these kinds of changes, think
again… sure, it takes commitment and
dedication and, yes, at times it’s damn hard,
but it can be done, and the results make every
protein shake and push up worth it!
Jenny |
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April 2008 |
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What an exciting 12 months it’s been reaching
this point where our Fitgirls website is up and
running, and we are able to share our lives,
families, events, photos, ups and downs with
you. There will be serious stuff, funny stuff,
all sorts of stuff – anything that we think you
might like to hear about.
You’ll find out more about how Fitgirls came to
be (it’s an interesting story!) in future blogs.
We look forward to sharing with you our belief
that some things in our lives, even the very bad
things, seem to happen for a reason. Our lives
have done a complete turnaround due to a very
bad event, and we are now running this great
business where we can hopefully inspire other
people to turn their lives around too!
So add our website to your favourites and take a
peek each day. We promise to make it worth it!
Feel free, of course, to respond, agree,
disagree or whatever. We love the feedback and
would just to hear from you. Perhaps you’d like
to share your weight loss or fitness story with
us, or have a question that you’d like answered,
or maybe you’re just looking for some
inspiration. Our blog is the perfect way to do
this.
Have a fabulous and healthy day!
See you again soon…. |
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