Sobering thoughts on weighty matters

By Virginia Winder
Easter was hard.
I blame the chocolate and with that came the blue cheese and brie we offered guests. I couldn't help myself. On top of that was Alan Scott pinot gris and apple cider.
Perhaps it was frustration over my bike, which kept having chain problems, or the chocolates stacked up everywhere, but to be honest I think it was the hotcross buns, which are my absolute downfall.
Whatever happened at Easter, the scales showed the damage.
So, instead of shedding the extra 1-2kg I was needing to sneak under the 90kg mark into the wonderful 80s, I actually put that amount on!
That was despite running, swimming and trying to bike (it's fixed now).
It's time to follow my own wise advice and not beat myself up for my first failure in seven months and, instead, realise I am only human. It's time to think ahead, regroup, train harder and fit everything in.
Went for my first walking lunch with fellow garden writer Sarah Foy and it was brilliant.
We chatted, brainstormed ideas, snooped on a tropical inner-city garden and felt good about working up a sweat. You see I've been researching information about how getting moving helps our brains work better, so have decided to put it into practice.
Even wrote an entire feature on it in my weekly sustainably column, Your World, which appears in the Taranaki Daily News each Tuesday.
This week, I've focused on the power of water for performance. Did you know a lack of water is the No 1 trigger for daytime fatigue? Check out: Drink lots to stay above water for more H20 info.
So now I'm drinking more water in earnest, trying to move more each day inbetween writing to prevent computer-related problems and doing my best to keep my brain in order.
As for the food, I have replaced chocolate eggs with feijoas. Yum!
I have decided that my absolute favourite meal of all, even above chicken mole, is bircher muesli soaked overnight in water, topped with freshly scooped-out feijoas, a handful of fresh walnuts and Biofarm bush honey yoghurt. 
Sorry whanau in Aussie, who may now be craving feijoas, but they are oh so delicious. Especially from the farmers market and grown by Marion and Gavin Struthers! Mmmm.
Other new things... have been training quite hard for my second Contact Tri Women's race, which is on this weekend in Auckland. Feel quite confident that I'll be able to run rather than walk this time!
Also, have decided to give up alcohol for good. Yes, forever.
You're probably wondering why.
Well, it's to do with sleep mostly. I'm not a big drinker at all, but when I do have a glass or two of wine or cider, I suffer terrible insomnia. In fact, the more I drink, the less sleep I get. So, if I have a glass of wine or even two a couple of nights in a row, that's it, I may as well not bother heading to bed. Annoyingly, I can't concentrate on anything either, so am unable to write, read, watch a movie or do art. It's just nightmarish.
Even though I do love a glass of wine, a cider or margarita, it's just not worth it any more and seems to be getting worse with age. So, from now on, my lovely husband has a permanent sober driver.
For life.

Beating that dreaded plateau

By Virginia Winder
Hills aren't the problem in this fitness mission - it's those plateaus that are hard to get over.
Some sports nutritionists say that our bodies do their best to stay in balance and don't actually like losing weight.
So we have to keep surprising them with different foods, new exercises and prevent them from slipping into that comfort zone.
Talked with a friend today and she's lost about the same amount of weight as me - 16kg - but feels she too has reached that levelling out place.
Her aim is to look great at her daughter's wedding, mine is to become an athlete again and I know others who simply want to be avoid all those health issues that come with ageing and being overweight.
Tonight I forced myself, despite feeling under the weather all day, to go to the gym. I had an appointment with Courtney from Contours and she was extremely helpful.
"It's 80% what you eat," she says about affective weight loss.
Then she quizzed me about my snacks.
The truth is I don't exactly have any, not really.
It seems that I'm doing it all wrong.
If I'm exercising so much I need to fuel myself by eating something every three hours, like fruit and nuts, or yoghurt and nuts, or canned tuna or salmon, or have a protein shake.
It's also important to have a small snack about half and hour before exercise and half an hour after, she says. All these snacks should include protein.
So smaller meals more often is the ticket, which I'm going to try for the next two weeks.
And, I'm going to keep a food diary for two weeks, just to see if I am on track.
The other big thing is water.
My new aim is to drink 1.5 litres before lunch and 1.5 litres before tea. So that's 3 litres a day, which is a good idea because of how much I'm sweating during workouts.
There is debate about how much water we should be drinking, with some doubters definitely against large amounts of water intake, but I'm going to see if it makes a difference to me.
According to the gym scales I've lost 2kg, but the tape measure shows only a couple of centimetres have disappeared from my body - from my left leg and around my stomach. Perhaps the rest of weight loss was from my brain, because it certainly feels like it.
Anyway, for the next two weeks, I'm going to refocus on what I'm eating, but still without dieting. I kind of like the idea of having to eat more often to keep my metabolism powered up. Who would have thought it, eh?
Found some great advice from writer Paige Waehner on about.com, so check out her plateau-beating tips.
Off to get some more water now...

Today, I:
Slept 5.5 hours (at night) and 3 hours this afternoon (yep, definitely feeling fatigued)
Worked 12 hours
Went to the gym and walked home, with a fast hill climb in there for good measure
Have upped my water intake (aim to drink 3 litres a day)
Had three nutritious meals, but only one tiny snack of nuts
Started a food diary (to do for 2 weeks)