challenge

Bloody Nutter

by Chavah Kinloch on May 18, 2011

My ideas keep getting bigger.

Scarier.

Sometimes I wish I could just be satisfied.

Because I don’t know if I’m cut out for this.

Stupid anxiety.

But I’m too curious not to go down the path.

Curiosity killed the cat.

But it won’t kill me.

I like challenges!

What’s one more risk.

They’ve paid off so far.

It’s not a full life if you don’t ever try anything new.

Bloody nutter.

{ 2 comments }

The Next 21 Days – Days 19-21

by Chavah Kinloch on April 6, 2011

Loving my hubby’s old GI Joe top.

Oh hell, stuff it. I’ve been a total FAIL at keeping up with my 21 days posts and I’ve only got three days left to write about. It’s not because I’ve been slacking, I promise I haven’t, I just have a very busy schedule at present… although yesterday and today I’ve spent more time online than I have the entire month.

So I’m just going to finish off these final three days in one pop. One post, one ending. I’d like to consider it a happy one.

Over the past *ahem* 21 days (give or take 1o) I lost three and a half inches from my waist (9.5cm) but only 2 cm from my hips. There are an extra 3 cm gone from my arms, 4cms from my calves & 6cm from my thighs. I have no idea if I lost any weight because I still haven’t replaced the battery in my scales.  Either way, it doesn’t really matter to me. It’s been a welcomed relief to stay away from the scales.

I officially dropped that extra size I’d been trying to move and that now totals 5 dress sizes gone. I still have three more to go. I have just one more size to drop before I can fit pretty much everything in my wardrobe. There are a few smaller sizes here and there but overall most things will fit. I need to drop that size because then I won’t have to buy anything for winter hehe. I am majorly lacking in bottoms. Who know’s, maybe if I drop that extra size my Nana will stop calling me fat every time I see her. In the past, oh say 15 years, I have only heard her say “Missy, you skinny!” once when I went on holiday to attend one of my BFF’s wedding . In all my othert visits it’s been “Chabbah, you too fat.” Gotta love her honesty.

My arms feel solid and fabulous but they look saggy and wrinkled. I’m happy to accept that this is my fate. There’s not much I can do about that without some type of surgery which I’m not about to have. My body has been through a lot in it’s short years and I know inside that they’ve come a long way. I’ll just keep going till they look as good as they feel. Some day! Just as long as I keep working at it.

What has happened though, over this part of the journey, is body acceptance. I’m actually beginning to love my body, even with all it’s faults. I’ve done amazing things with it, birthed giant babies, recovered from an inability to even sit/stand/walk without crying from that damage that occurred, gained so much muscle I’ve seen my entire body morph.

More than body acceptance I’ve managed to accept the way I choose to live. I’ve had a chance to think about everything that has happened since I gained the weight and realised that throughout all of that I’ve helped my family a lot. I’ve done a lot for myself while juggling their needs. Battled extremely bad lows while holding everything together. It’s meant that sometimes I’ve turned into a recluse when I’m working but I actually really enjoy that part of it. I have come to accept that I’m not the Mum that makes it to every school activity, honestly just because I don’t want to and I’m ok with that. I get more than enough quality time with my kids. I’ve come to understand that just because I do it all from home, doesn’t mean I’m not doing anything so it’s ridiculous to live up to expectations that I’ll make it to every event during the day when you would never expect it from someone that works in an office; and I think I’m going to start saying that. I work damn hard and am tired of feeling belittled because I don’t fit into peoples little boxes.

I simplified everything to lose weight but it did a lot more than that for me. With the help of my extremely dedicated husband we’ve got a system that works well for us. I found my drive for success that had slipped away to allow me to exist in mediocrity and because of that drive in a few short weeks we have come so far both physically and financially. Sacrifices have paid off (that was my FB status the pother day).

I haven’t reached the end of my journey, that’s still a long way off but for now I am satisfied. I’ll update you again sometime soon, not sure when but it’ll come. For now I just want to say thanks for being there and letting me rant, share my small victories and being compassionate and understanding. For some reason people like you are disappearing from our world.

Until next time, keep going and remember:


Yes you are!

{ 0 comments }

21 Days Is Coming Back

by Chavah Kinloch on March 1, 2011

It starts right here again tomorrow. I figure enough time has passed and I’ve managed to stay on track but now I’m ready to fine tune everything again. My abilities have changed, I’ve learned more about my own circumstance and know which areas I need to focus. I don’t know what to expect this time around, just as I didn’t know what would happen the last but I’ll just do what I did during the first 21 days and take it one day at a time.

For those that have no idea what I’m talking about by 21 Days, you can check out this roundup post, it will explain everything.

To refresh your memories, the reason I choose 21 days is because that’s how long it takes to develop a habit. It’s not an impossible task to stick to anything for that amount of time. So if you’d like to come along for this journey too, you’re more than welcome. Nothing I’ve done/I do is overly difficult, it’s just about not calling it quits when you feel completely over putting in all the effort it takes.

Let me reiterate; my aim is not to be thin, nor is it even to be what is ‘medically recommended for my height’ which would be around 50kg. Can I state that my eight year old daughter has friends that are 50kgs… happy, healthy little girls. I’m telling you now, I’m not interested in that. The last time I was 50kg I would have been about 10, that’s obviously not me. It looks great on a lot women but I’m not one of them. When I met my husband I sat between a healthy 58-64kg and my body was great, when I was 7 months pregnant with my daughter I hit 80kg and thought the world was going to end, now seeing as I’ve had four gigantor children and could sit on a heavyweight boxer and crush him, well, lets just say I’ll take whatever I can get. So long as I can wear whatever the heck I want and feel good about my body, it’s a win. I’m sculpting what I’ve been given, not trying to live out a ridiculous fantasy of becoming a 5′ 9″ supermodel with legs from here to Africa, although if by some miracle losing weight made me grow 5 & 1/2 inches I’d learn to love it. If you want to be completely up to date with my journey so far, you can check out my latest weight loss post here.

So here we go, the posts start all over again tomorrow with ‘The Next 21 Days – Day 1′.

As for today, I’ve got a personal training session booked (free with my gym membership) and a date with my hubby for some yoga.

I’ll see you tomorrow.

{ 4 comments }

Update on the 31 Things to Do in 31 Days Challenge

by Chavah Kinloch on May 28, 2010

It’s been about 31 days since I set about working on my list. Now it’s time for an update!

What I Didn’t Get Done:

  • Conscious exercise daily. – More like, every other day. Not good, not good at all. No excuses, just didn’t put in the effort.
  • Visit the library to read up on New Zealand Artists. – Got close! Didn’t quite make it.
  • Head to Bluff to see the gallery my friend just texted to tell me about. – Bluff… it’s already cold and dark here, didn’t want to go where it was darker and colder.
  • Get the last layer of wallpaper off Bostons room – This weekend!!! Tried to get this done each weekend but between rugby, baking day, friends, a little quiet time and exhaustion; we still have that last layer to attack.
  • Play at the beach, even though it’s freezing! – Rain :(
  • Create a space in this Creating My Reality community for everyone to join in the weight loss challenge. – Still on the drawing board.
  • Paint pictures with my children. – Drew, played playdough and other games but didn’t ‘paint’.
  • Spend the day at the pools with my family. – Another one we tried to get to but failed.
  • Go on a bush walk with the whole tribe. – Bush was wet.
  • Drop 3 kg. – 2.8kg dropped…pretty poor effort really.
  • File GST return. – Didn’t even attempt this seeing as its not just a return we have to do. It’s the entire years worth of filing to sort. Realised this after I wrote it on the list.
  • Curl mine and my daughters hair for fun. – Spent an entire day searching for my curlers, couldn’t find them. Opened my wardrobe the next morning and spotted them up on the top shelf.

What I Did Get Done:

  • Try Zumba at least once. – Tried it, loved it, will carry on doing it.
  • Create 2 new paintings. – They’re on exhibit right now.
  • Get my overdue smear. 3 years goes way too fast :| – Got a letter in the mail today saying that there was nothing abnormal about my smear. Yes! That means I don’t have to do that again for another 3 years. Pretty happy about that!
  • Spend the day op shopping. – Love. Did this a couple of times, only bought a chair. See what I’m doing with it here.
  • Write a poem. – I wrote one on a bad day. Read the post here.
  • Phone my Mum. – Had a long gossip.
  • Phone my Aunty. – And another :)
  • Try a new recipe. – Done a lot of this lately! You can try a new recipe here and here.
  • Have a lunch date with my husband. – I’ve been trying to do this more often. It’s died down a lot since we had Boston.
  • Take the kids to the playground. – Visits will be few and far between for the next few months.
  • Let the kids go wild on the new bike track. – It’s still a wreck over there.
  • Buy something nice for myself. – I didn’t think I’d get this one done! Thanks to my husband though, it did. Read about it here.
  • Pick some fresh flowers for my home. – I got some beautiful pink flowers, see them here.
  • Go to an exhibition opening. – I managed to get to one! There was another in line but I was too sick to make it.
  • Put my daughters hair in that plait hairstyle that’s in right now. – She looked sooo cute!  See pics here.
  • Change the music on my ipod. – Took me FOREVER because the ipod system thingy wasn’t working properly but my hubby saved me and I woke up to new music.
  • Have a movie marathon with my hubby. – I love movie marathons. I recommend My Sisters Keeper, Precious and The Blind Side. There were others (different genres) but these were real heart breakers.
  • Get car rego. – Exciting stuff, all done.
  • Bake my favourite ‘healthy’ brownie recipe. – Yum. Will get that recipe up for you soon Sarah!

I got just over halfway. I had good intentions but it seems I couldn’t even stick to a list! I do, however, believe that because of this list, I made an extra effort to be more productive in all areas of my life.

So here’s where I’m at. I still plan on getting through the entire list. It’s just going to take a little more than 31 days. That Bluff one may take an entire year to get to though… seriously not feeling it. Anyone else care to check in? How did you go? Anyone else struggle?

{ 2 comments }

31 Things to do in 31 Days

by Chavah Kinloch on April 21, 2010

After yesterdays blog post I was shown something really cool by Lisa B,  111 things in 1111 days. Lisa is doing 30 things in 30 days and I loved her idea. There’s no way I could keep up with 1111 days so I’m shooting for 31! Thank you Lisa (and your friend) for the inspiration.

So without further ado:

  1. Conscious exercise daily. Yep, I’m aiming for daily and I’m sticking with my ‘Some is better than none” motivator.
  2. Visit the library to read up on New Zealand Artists.
  3. Head to Bluff to see the gallery my friend just texted to tell me about.
  4. Try Zumba at least once – that ones for you Mim.
  5. Create 2 new paintings.
  6. Get my overdue smear. 3 years goes way too fast :|
  7. Spend the day op shopping.
  8. Write a poem.
  9. Phone my Mum.
  10. Phone my Aunty.
  11. Get the last layer of wallpaper off Bostons room – it’s taking foreverrrrr.
  12. Try a new recipe.
  13. Have a lunch date with my husband.
  14. Play at the beach, even though it’s freezing!
  15. Take the kids to the playground.
  16. Let the kids go wild on the new bike track.
  17. Buy something nice for myself.
  18. Create a space in this Creating My Reality community for everyone to join in the weight loss challenge.
  19. Pick some fresh flowers for my home.
  20. Paint pictures with my children.
  21. Go to an exhibition opening.
  22. Put my daughters hair in that plait hairstyle that’s in right now.
  23. Spend the day at the pools with my family.
  24. Have a movie marathon with my hubby.
  25. Go on a bush walk with the whole tribe.
  26. Drop 3 kg.
  27. Bake my favourite ‘healthy’ brownie recipe.
  28. Get car rego.
  29. File GST return.
  30. Change the music on my ipod.
  31. Curl mine and my daughters hair for fun.

Do you want to join in? You’re more than welcome to share a list of your own!

{ 34 comments }

Playing With Resin

Yesterday I made my first attempt at finishing a piece with resin. It seemed so daunting so I enlisted some help from my husband, just to make sure I was following instructions properly! So far so good, we mixed it properly, spread it evenly, and blew the bubbles out and it has been sitting on [...]