Spar Spartan Challenge

For the last few days I’ve been bugging everyone to vote for me in the Spar Spartan Challenge. Now, instead of asking for votes once again, I said I’d take the time to tell you why you should vote for me and what it would mean to me if I won.

In my profile for the Spartan Challenge I said I felt like my whole life I’d been heavy. When I was younger I was involved in swimming, camogie and horse-riding. I enjoyed them but my interested waned when I started to hit my teenage years. Even while I was involved in sports and stuff I’d much rather be sitting with a nose stuck in a book, painting or doing something creative. My parents might disagree but I don’t remember myself as a child who could spend hours and hours running around without tiring. It wasn’t that I had no energy, I just thought reading was more fun! (I was a nerd event then.)

When I hit puberty I lost my puppy fat and all through secondary school I was happy with my figure. When I was 18 or 19 my favourite thing to wear out was black corset. I loved it and would do anything to be able to wear one again but my stomach stops me from doing that now! Weight wasn’t something I worried about and I never had to worry about dressing to cover my wobbly bits! I wish I had appreciated it back when I could.

The weight started to pile on when I went to college. Long hours in college and no money meant I was eating terribly and doing no activity. In the last two years I’ve gained even more weight for two reasons; I had my first full time job and I had a car. Those two things meant I could eat whatever I wanted whenever I wanted and I started eating a lot more takeaways. Because I had a car I did no exercise at all. I used to walk an hour everyday, to get from A to B but now I had a car I didn’t need to do that.

In October 2009 I hit my highest weight of 13st 3lbs. I joined WeightWatchers and by July 2010 I weighed 11 stone and felt fantastic. At this point I was employed so I gave up WeightWatchers to save money and the weight piled on. Come October I was over 13 stone again so I joined Curves and started watching what I was eating. My heart wasn’t really in it until April of this year and since then I have lost another stone. I’m also trying to do some form of exercise daily. I didn’t go back to WeightWatchers because I don’t want to be on a diet for the rest of my life. I would rather get some education and change my eating habits without ‘dieting’.

However what I’m doing isn’t enough and I believe there are two things holding me back (apart from me, myself and I). Firstly I have no one encouraging me or spurring me on. My boyfriend is great and will happily eat my low-calorie or low-fat meals and will come with me on walks and cycles but if I was to suggest something easy, like a takeaway or pizza, for dinner he would happily agree. I know he means well by not criticising me for not sticking to my healthy regime but I need someone to be there for me when my resolve weakens. I also have no one to exercise with and to encourage me to exercise. Again, my boyfriend is great, but he is much fitter than I am so when we exercise together I end up getting frustrated as I see myself trying so hard while he breezes along.

The second thing is I don’t know what I’m doing right or wrong. I gave up on ‘dieting’ because I don’t want to diet for the rest of my life so I’m just trying to eat less and do more. However I don’t know what the right kind of exercise I should be doing is or what I should and shouldn’t be eating. That’s why I entered the Spartan Challenge. Whenever I see programs like The Biggest Loser or Operation Transformation I always want to apply but don’t have the balls. Even applying for the Spartan Challenge was a big step for me!

If I win this it could be life changing. I will get advice and support from a personal trainer and a nutritionist and they will guide me as I train to run the Dublin Marathon which will, in turn, give me the knowledge I need to eat right and exercise right so I can lose weight and be as fit as I can be! If I win I will put everything I have into this. I said earlier I have no one encouraging me but if I win I will count every single vote that I received as someone who is standing behind me and spurring me on. I won’t let anyone down by dropping out halfway or doing it half-arsed.

The first step is canvassing for votes. The two people with the most votes in each county will then go to Dublin to meet the personal trainer and nutritionist. They will decide which of the two from each county will become the Spartan. Voting is open until next Wednesday, June 29th, and I need to be the person with the most or second most votes in Limerick  when voting closes. At the moment I’m about 30 votes ahead of everyone else in Limerick but that could change in an instance.

I know it’s annoying to see me posting the same link over and over again but your vote could genuinely change my life. After 23 years of being chubby you could be the reason that I am healthy!

If you want to vote click here: http://bit.ly/iTXlhm You will need to use your Facebook profile to vote but it won’t post anything on your wall or sign you up to anything. It literally takes 2 seconds.

Feel free to share the link or this blog post with any friends as well. I’d really appreciate it!

RIP Old Man

One of my best friend’s died today. After 15 brilliant years together my Dad had to make the difficult decision to put his dog, Bramble, to sleep.

Dad rescued Bramble from the pound about 15 years ago. I don’t think Dad was really looking for a dog that day but Bramble’s time in the pound was up and Dad couldn’t bear to see such a lovely dog put to sleep. When Dad collected me from camogie practice that day I did not expect to see a mental Springer in the back of his little 2CV!

Soon after getting Bramble he was struck down with Parvovirus. This is a horrible disease and the prognosis wasn’t good for poor Bramble but with the best treatment and the love of my Dad Bramble pulled through and went on to leave a long, adventurous life.

This wasn’t the last time Bramble nearly ended up in Doggie Heaven. He never quite learned not to wander and one night he wandered too far and got hit by a car. The farmer who hit him said he was hit by the front and back wheels and he was sure Bramble was a goner. He was so sure that Bramble wouldn’t survive getting knocked down that he got out of his car to put Bramble out of his misery. Before he had a chance Bramble ran back to Dad’s feeling very sorry for himself.

Bramble spent a miserable few weeks hiding out in my bedroom but he was soon back to his wandering ways, if he had the chance! Even in the last few months when Bramble was completely blind and deaf he’d still go wandering if he had the chance. Bramble was what you might say ‘untrainable’. The only thing he ever learned how to do was sit. We never held that against him though.

Bramble was the kindest and gentlest dog I’ve ever met. He would sit for hours as I tied his floppy ears up in hairbands, dressed him in tshirts and gelled his hair into mohawks. He loved play fighting but he’d always suck his lips over his teeth so he wouldn’t hurt you. He adored everyone and his favourite place was pushed up against you on the sofa or sleeping alongside you on your very small single bed. He was so affectionate that he earned the nickname ‘Sticking Plaster’ from my Dad.

As time went on Bramble’s personality shone through. At night when he got tired he would sit and bark at my Dad until Dad went to bed. He’d kick you off the sofa if he didn’t have enough room. In the last couple of years he went blind and deaf but this didn’t stop him. If he wanted attention he’d stand in the middle of the room and bark as loud as he could.  He also developed a habit of walking into walls which I think was more for attention than because he couldn’t see. He was always able to find his way to his food bowl at dinner time!

Unfortunately over the last couple of days Bramble’s health took a turn for the worse and today Dad made a decision I don’t think I could ever make. I know it was for the best though and it would have be cruel to do anything else.

Hope you’re having a ball chasing rabbits and wandering wherever you want now Bramble!

There’s an app for that

Lately I’ve become a bit obsessed with the idea of life hacking. Life hacking are the little cheats and shortcuts you can take to make your life easier. Life hacking has also made me love my phone just a little bit more. I’ve been using apps that help me ‘life hack’ for a while now and these are my favourites:

1. My Fitness Pal/WW Diary

I’m perpetually trying to lose weight and one of the things that’s worked best for me is keeping a food diary. The two apps above are the best ones I’ve found for keeping track of what I’m eating.

My Fitness Pal is great if you’re calorie counting. You can input what you eat and the library of foods is really extensive. It also links to www.myfitnesspal.com so you check your progress there and input foods there. On the website you can create recipes whereby you input all the ingredients and it calculates how many calories, carbs, protein, etc., in one portion.

WW Diary is good if you’re doing Weightwatchers and it is updated very regularly too so if you have an issue with it, chances are it will be rectified pretty quickly. I use it in conjunction with WWCalcUK as I don’t trust the calculator in WW Diary.

2. The Fuel App

This is basically just an app for the Pumps.ie site. Using GPS or your network signal it finds the petrol stations closest to you and let’s know the cost of petrol/diesel there and when that price was updated. It’s saving me quite a bit of money of petrol lately.

3. Runkeeper Pro

Runkeeper just tracks any exercise or activity you do. It uses GPS to track where you go and how fast you’re moving. There’s loads of different activities you input too so the information will be accurate.

You can also see your information on runkeeper.com

If you’re not a runner C25K is also a good app. It follows the Couch 2 5K plan to get you running 5K in 8 weeks.

4. Easy Money

I’m terrible with money. I won’t deny it. I’ve tried to budget but I never end up sticking to it.

Easy Money allows me to keep track of all my bills and create a budget for the month. It also lets me know how my spending is going and view charts of what I’m spending money on most. You can also keep track of multiple accounts so I know how much money I have in my bank account, in cash, on my Visa and on my work swipe card.

This is probably going to be the first app that I’ll actually buy!

5. Best Before

In addition to being bad with money I’m also terrible with food. I waste so much money by throwing food out because it’s gone off. I just buy it and forget about it!

Best Before allows me to keep a list of what food I have in the fridge/cupboard and set when they will go off. It’s really handy. Earlier it told me that I had eggs that were about to go off. Instead of letting them go off and then throwing them out I made some lovely chocolate brownies.

Actually, it’s not an app but Allrecipes.com is a great site. Look for the Ingredient Search button which lets you input the ingredients you have and the ingredients you don’t have and it will give you a recipe! Really useful for using up the last of some things.

Happy life hacking!

On life and love…

My Dad gets married tomorrow.

I’m not entirely sure how old I was when my parents seperated; it was that long ago. I think I was either 4 or 5. I think they divorced when I was 13. In other words, for the majority of my life I’ve been the child of seperated parents. There was never an option or inclination that my parents would get back together and I never thought they would.

I’m ashamed to admit that I was not happy when my Dad got engaged. First of all I’d never met his fiancée and I didn’t know her name. I didn’t know anything about her. I still think I’m slightly justified in being upset that my Dad would opt to spend the rest of his life with someone that his children hadn’t met or knew existed. I felt that this woman was obviously very important to my Dad but not important enough to introduce her to his children and that his children weren’t important enough to be introduced to her. I still don’t know why Dad got engaged without introducing us first but that was 2 years ago now so there’s no point dwelling on it.

I’m lucky in that I’m very close to my Mum and my Dad. I can talk to them about anything and I’ve inherited so much from them. Since they seperated it was always been just them and my sisters. My sisters are quite a bit older than me so it was often just me and Mum or just me and Dad so when Dad got engaged I immediately realised that it wouldn’t be just me and Dad anymore. It was now going to be me, Dad and Margaret, his fiancée.

I was 21 but it was like I suddenly because a child again. At this point I was almost finished in college and had my own life so I didn’t see Dad very often but that didn’t mean I was happy to share him. I don’t know what I was thinking and I am ashamed of how childish I acted in response to Dad getting engaged. I think I always assumed my parents would never remarry so I never thought about how I would feel when they did.

I have since met Margaret and can see how happy her and Dad are together and I am happy for both of them. They get along so well and my Dad is a completely different, happier person. I think it’s great that they have found each other and are ready to start a new life together.

While I’m completely happy for Dad and Margaret I still find somethings a bit weird. Before I had a Mum, a Dad and two sisters. Now I have a Mum, a Dad, two sisters, a Step-Mum, 3 step-sisters, a step-brother and numerous step-nieces and nephews. I know I probably won’t have much day to day interactions with my new ‘family’ but we’re permanently linked. My Dad is quite close to all of his step-children which is great but where do my sisters and I fit? Should we have an automatic bond because our parents are married? Should I feel automatically proud or protective of their children because they’re my step-nieces and nephews?

That’s probably a bit extreme but I feel like I should feel something towards my new siblings. I don’t want to think of them as ‘the children of my Dad’s wife’. I feel like I should have some connection with them.

I’m also torn about how to refer to them. My Uncle is adamant that there should be no reference to ‘step-’, i.e., Step-Mum or Step-Sister. He thinks I should refer to Margaret as ‘Dad’s wife’ and her children as ‘my Dad’s wife’s children’. To me this seems a little cold but I think saying ‘step-sister’ implies a relationship or connection where there isn’t one. I really like Margaret’s children and we get along well but they’re much older than me and have their own lives so I wouldn’t call them for a chat or call around for a cup of tea so it’s not like we’re close.

This is all unchartered territory for me and I’m probably overthinking it all. Maybe everything will come naturally with time and maybe we’ll continue our lives as we have before.