The life and times of Libby Withnall

I’ve been a long time admirer of Heather and her blog Beauty That Moves. I took her 30 day vegan class last year and it was fabulous. Can’t wait for the new one Whole Food Kitchen. It starts 6th February so you’ve still got time to sign up. If you want to learn more about eating whole foods definitely go check it out. This class is not vegan, or even vegetarian.

Let me know if you’re going to be my classmate – I already know Jackie is.

As a bit of head start we’re having a no/low processed food week in our house. 4 days in and we’re coping surprisingly well.

I’ve now been going to Weight Watchers for 6 weeks. Are you surprised? I’m guessing a lot of you thought it hadn’t worked out since I haven’t mentioned it in my “The week that was” posts – the reason being I get weighed on Tuesday and usually forget about it by the next Monday.

But I’m still doing really well. I’ve now lost 5.8kg (13lbs)  in 6 weeks and today I reached my 5% goal. Best of all I’m the lowest weight I’ve been all year, I feel great, have more energy and am having lots of yummy, healthy foods. I think my biggest change is mental – my whole approach to food and eating seems to have totally changed. If I got through last week without turning to chocolate I’m sure I can handle anything thrown my way .

I’ve been seeing some pretty scary numbers on the scales of late – probably from a combination of lack of exercise and too many treats/snacks. So today I bit the bullet and rejoined Weight Watchers. It really is crunch time. If I can’t get my act together, it’s back to the weight loss surgeon I go.

You can learn about the dairy industry here.

28th December, 2010 – This first video is an update for what I’ve been up to health/fitness wise the last few months.

31st December, 2010 – details of my fit for 40 challenge

It’s been quite some time since we headed out on  family bike ride and even longer since I blogged about it. But I woke up this morning with energy to burn so it was decided we’d head out on a bike ride. To start with we headed out to the point where I walk the dogs most mornings. Check out the blue cloudless sky – it’s been like that all weekend.

Then it was up and over the first hill. Okay, so there were a few fluffy white clouds about

And on to the path the goes around the other side of the lake. You might remember it from when I walked it with the dogs a while back. Loved this gallah – talk about a birds eye view over the lake.

We stopped for the girls to have brief play at the play park and I took some flower photos.

Then it was time to continue on our way back around the lake.

and up the final BIG hill – which is a real killer at the end of the ride.

Back home we were quick to head into the pool for a swim to cool down. The rest of the day was spent by the pool, enjoying a BBQ for lunch, more swimming and later putting up our Christmas tree – because, yes, Christmas is just 5 weeks away.

I’ve made a video about my decision to particpate in Michelle Bridges 12 week body transformation. I’ll use what I’ve learnt over the last few years (mainly thanks to the Red Carpet Ready Club) plus gain lots of motivation and support from other Aussies doing to the plan. I’m hoping this will make the difference.

It starts tomorrow so there’s still time to join me if you’d like . I plan to make this Summer the BEST one EVER!!!

Just a  week or so ago I discovered there was going to be an Organic Expo in Sydney. It’s apparently the 6th year but I’d never heard of it before!! Luckily we had the Saturday free so I booked tickets for us to go, not really sure what to expect.

It was really good and much larger than I thought it would be. There were lots of stands about all things organic. And lots of food samples.  We discovered some delicious brown rice crackers and were impressed with these super sprouts. Kevin decided we should get the WHOLE set .

The girls enjoyed it too and were extra happy when they discovered the animals.

Before leaving we had an organic lunch from the cafe. I had a lovely vegetable pie. Delicious!

We’ll definitely try to get to return next year.

Well, I finally have my new food blog – Libby loves soup, salad and chocolate, all prettied up and ready to share with you.

I hope you’ll drop buy and check it out. And of course, if you want to read/see more please feel free to add it to your RSS feed. Also if you any suggestions for improvements or see any glaring errors please let me know. I’m quite excited about it and already it’s helping me to make better food choices .

Okay, with less than 9 weeks till our big trip you’d think I’d be eating healthy and improving my fitness. But alas that has NOT been the case. And I’m currently sitting at the height weight I’ve been in a long time and having to wear my elastic waisted pants. It ain’t pretty that’s for sure.

So it’s time to get things moving in the right direction again. But how to do that is the question? I know deep down the only way to ever get full control of my eating is to accept there is no quick fix and that I need to learn to eat like a NORMAL healthy person does.

My plan of attack is to do in fact, that. Follow in the footsteps of the healthy food bloggers that I read on a daily basis, practice Intuitive Eating, not to beat myself up if I CHOOSE to indulge and get back to daily exercise (which has been hit and miss the last couple of month).

To further keep me focused on making good choices I’ve decided to start a daily food blog. I’ll let you know when it’s up and running.