For those who may be new to the page or unsure of my history, I had a total hysterectomy in October 2017 (uterus, cervix and both tubes but retained both ovaries). My physical recovery was great, I was up moving pretty quickly and out walking within a week. Around 3mths post-surgery, the tell-tale signs of my ovaries packing it in and starting menopause started to rear their head – chronic fatigue, hot flushes, hair loss, teenager skin, and weight gain, despite being back into a fairly regular training regime and eating (what I thought was) healthy. I had been warned that they can sometimes take a little while to settle down up to 6mths, so I waited until the 6mth mark and then had my hormones tested and I was borderline menopause. Bastard ovaries gah!
As much as I did a great deal of self acceptance and love over that 6mths, realising that some of these things were out of my control and I needed to let go of that, I was also getting frustrated with the weight gain. I wasn’t able to fit into most of my clothes and was actually bigger then I was pre-surgery and some days back then I looked 6mths pregnant!!! I wondered how much of the weight gain was related to the surgery and menopause, and how much was me becoming complacent as a result of the surgery and menopause. So I decided to undertake another 8wk shred challenge to kick start my body and see what results I could achieve with careful meal planning and training. Below is a round up of the last 8wks. To note, I weigh each Monday morning before the week starts, except for the two weeks that I didn’t have access to a scale on the Monday, and the last week was cut down from 7 days to 5 days as we’re heading overseas tomorrow yay! In my previous shred, I had way too much cardio in my training, and so this time around I had 2-3 weight sessions and 2 runs, sometimes 3 depending on how the weekend panned out, to see if that would also make a difference to the outcome. I make a conscious effort not to talk about losing weight and fat etc in front of Ruby, so I told her I was doing a muscle challenge to see if I could grow some ab muscles etc. She was very intrigued by it and decided to do it with me, doing a lot of exercises and even eating some of the meals with me. I actually quite enjoyed sharing some of this with her, knowing that I was inspiring her to be strong and active. She was a bit devo she didn't take before and after photos as she was positive she had bigger abs then me lol So here we go.... Week 1, 23rd- 29th April – starting weight 64.7kg. Fuck, I couldn’t remember the last time I was that weight, on a 5’3” body even a few extra kgs is obvious, and whilst I don’t weigh myself on a regular basis, going off the fit of my clothes I was certainly bigger than I had been in awhile *sigh* I reluctantly took before photos and started the morning with a weight session at the gym. My biggest shock this week was how bad my portion control had got over the last few months. I served up 100g of chicken and 200g of vegies, looked at my plate and thought “where was the rest of my food?!?”. I was pretty hangry the first week while my body was adjusting to the new “normal” amount of food, particularly on my low training days when I would have no morning or arvo tea snacks. Week 2, 30th April-6th May – weigh in 64.0kg. Woohoo a loss of 700g in one week, happy days! I found this week to be much easier as my body adapted to the new food levels. My favourite breakfast by far is on weight training days – mince with tomatoes and baby spinach over brown rice, nom nom nom! Not much else to report except still trucking along well. Week 3, 7th-13th May – weigh in 62.9kg. 1.1kg down booyah!!! If I keep this pace up, I’ll be back to goal weight in no time, oh yeah! Training had been going well, and I was feeling less bloated at night time (another delightful post-surgery common side effect). Mothers Day was on the Sunday and I took Miss Ruby and my mum out for lunch to Real Food Kitchen in Burleigh. I chose a chicken and salad option and was pretty stoked with both my choice and the food, though a bigger portion then I had been used to. Week 4, 14th-21st May (note this was an 8 day week) – 62.5kg Only a 400g loss, must have been the Mothers Day lunch lol this week I had to go to Canberra for work for a few days which I managed to meal prep well while I was there, but we also travelled to the Blue Mountains for Ultra Trail Australia. I raced the 22km on the Friday, I had an egg at 6am before leaving the house, snacked on Shot Bloks during the race and Trail Brew for my hydration, and due to logistics etc I didn’t get anything else to eat until the buffet dinner that night. Which I came close to eating my weight in food in. Whoops! The next day Ruby and I crewed for Nath as he attempted the 100km race, and unfortunately food nutrition was out the window as my main focus was Nath and being where we needed to be. Needless to say, copious amounts of coffee, packet chips (not much else to grab on the go when you’re both gluten and dairy free) and lollies were consumed. We also drove down and back, and except for an awesome service centre in Port Macquarie that served organic healthy fast food, Ruby and my options were pretty much limited to Smiths plain chips the whole way. I went to bed that night feeling like crap. Week 5, 22nd-27th May – weigh in 63.1kg Crap, a gain of 600g. Dammit I knew that would happen but I was so cranky with myself. Also, due to the crap I had eaten over the last few days, I was unable to do my normal morning poop before weighing in lol Time to knuckle down and remove the sneaky lattes that had been finding their ways into my mouth a few times a week (my shred plan had a black coffee at 9am only). I went out to dinner for a friend’s birthday this week, and was amazed to look at the menu and see the protein portions listed. It was a low day for me which means dinner was supposed to be 100g chicken and veg, however the smallest protein I could find was 150g tofu, with the smallest meat protein being over 200g! No wonder the nation as a whole seems to be getting bigger! But my meal was absolutely delicious and I was happy with my choice. Week 6, 28th May-3rd June – weigh in 62kg Down 1.1kg from the week before. Yay for more progress but I couldn’t help but compare that to if I hadn’t put on the weight the week before where would I be. Gah, moving on! The week went really well and I was on track for another good weigh in. Then we had friends over on the Saturday for a few hours, and nibblies were put out. I nibbled too much, my resolve is terrible obviously when presented with deliciousness SMH. I went to bed on the Saturday with the most sore and swollen stomach, even though it was all Rhiannon-friendly food e.g. gluten and dairy free, there were crackers, chocolate, marinated vegetables, creamy dips. Everything that I hadn’t been partaking in for the last 6wks and my stomach just said FU. Week 7, 4th-10th June – weigh in 62.3kg Another gain of 300g fuuuuuuuuuccccccckkkkkkk! I still couldn’t poop from the blowout on Saturday, so surely that was the problem right?? I had another dinner out this week and we went to LoveChild which is a vegan marketplace that’s just opened on the Gold Coast that I have been dying to try! I was cranky that I didn’t choose what I really wanted to order which was the delicious looking pizza, but I did thoroughly enjoy my GF ramen with broth and vegies instead (note to self, go back post-shred!). I was also mindful that I was getting to the end of my shred and next week was Phase 3, which only lasts for a week but is hell week as the food sucks and there’s less of it waaaaaaaaah! Week 8, 11th-15th June (note this was a 5 day week as mentioned above) – weigh in 61.5kg Ooooh so close to getting under 60kg but unsure if I will make it. Enter HELL WEEK. Where I consume 58 egg whites (and 2 whole eggs) in 5 days *shudder* - breakfast consists of 6 egg white omelette with red capsicum, broccoli and baby spinach, plus ½ banana on the days I train, lunch consists of the same omelette with a tin of tuna, and dinner is 100g chicken with 2-3 cups of green veg and red capsicum. I remembered wanting to stab people last time I did the shred challenge, and this week is no different. I am hangry, I am irritable, I have no energy, it’s shit. Does everyone else hate the last week as much as me or am I the only one? I went for my usual early morning run and it honestly felt like I was running in cement. I lost my shit over the smallest things so many times this week, and mood swings is not usually something I suffer from. Thank god it’s only for 5 days, so I can do the weigh in and final photos on Saturday before flying out on Sunday to Europe (and trying not to put it all back on again in 3wks lol). Wednesday was a slight reprieve as the meals changed a bit to accommodate an arvo heavy weights session but the rest by the end was blergh city. 16th June – final weight 59.5kg FUCK YESSSSSSSSSSSSS!!! 2kg since the last weigh in and a total loss of 5.2kg (would've been more if not for the gains in those 2wks lol) I must say that I have been happier with this shred then I was the last time. I don’t know if I put too many expectations on myself last time or what the difference was, but this time I felt like I was more in control and seeing regular losses over the weeks, in spite of my slip ups. I was also able to pinpoint those slip ups, as opposed to last time I didn’t achieve any losses for a few weeks straight and no idea why. Physically I’m still not where I want to be, but it was a really good process for me to go through so that I could see that it’s not just hormones and menopause, and that I do still have some control over things including what and how much I put into my mouth. Life post shred – I find I work better with a plan and set goals, and so moving forward I will adopt a number of the principles and meals from the shred into my daily life. I enjoy a lot of the meals and I like knowing what I am eating and when. I will be a bit more relaxed around dinners as I do miss eating the same thing as my family, and I miss a lot of our fav meals. However I will be making modifications, particularly around portion size. But I’m really happy that I underwent this shred challenge again, for no one else but me. I learnt a lot and it’s given me hope that I have some control over what's happening in and to my body, and for the future that some day I will fit back into all of my clothes again :)
1 Comment
Alison Treloar
17/6/2018 10:48:42 am
Well done Rhiannon. 😊
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AuthorHi, I'm Rhiannon and welcome to my blog. I'm not an elite athlete and I may never win any races, but I'm a "real" runner, juggling work, family and life to achieve my running goals. Archives
October 2020
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