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Perseverance

by Chavah Kinloch on January 25, 2012

This pretty much sums up my life right now.

Time and effort is all it will take. I WILL do it.

I wasn’t going to say anything on here but after thinking about it for a week I figure..why not just say it? Why is it so hard?This is why I have a blog after all. I’ve only told two people in real life, my husband and a friend the day it happened. Even saying it to my friend was hard.

I have officially lost 40kg’s (88lbs). In fact I’m closer to 41kgs lost than 40 now, so watch this space. The journey is far from over.

It’s hard to believe really. I’ve pretty much lost a Kourtney Kardashian or a Mila Kunis (apparently they weigh 43kg’s):

The thing is, even though to say it out loud sounds kind of impressive, in real life I’ve been struggling to see the difference. Like really struggling. Don’t get me wrong, there are moments I’ll walk past something and see my reflection and catch myself off guard and think “What in the hell? Is that me? Where’s the rest of me? What happened to the massive roll there that was there?” It’s just hard to get my brain caught up with reality.  I’m my own biggest critic.

After talking with my husband about it last night he said something that made a lot of sense to me. I don’t care about the number because it’s not what motivates me. I’ve spent the last year working my butt off and not focusing on a relationship with my scales so I’ve learned to love other results instead.  I need to physically see change happening and when I look front on, it’s hard for me to see that. From that conversation came these photos:

Please don’t judge me by my excess fat, loose skin and full belly. Despite all those things (which I’m working on) I’m proud because look closely…

Those shadowy dents you see there? That is muscle. It bulges and it’s solid. You can’t see it too well in the photos but through touch the most obvious muscle is my triceps. It feels like a  thick line running through my arm when I run my hand over it. I have never had this before but I love it.

This photo below is my favourite photo to date of a woman with trapezius muscles. In fact I have this labelled in my folder as ‘Traps for days’. Jessica Biel in general has amazing definition.

I know, I know, I’m probably going to have a lot of people with words like butch, manly, too much, eww, gross etc but this is the direction I’m choosing to go and I’ve never felt more feminine.

These photos my husband took for me to look at make me a hundred times happier than any number the scale doesn’t say anymore. These photos show how much effort I put in on any given day to make a positive change in my life. Thank you Andrew for helping me wrap my head around how I want to measure my progress.

I’m building a good foundation and I’ve got some very clear set goals – and so far since making them, I have been kicking their butt. I’m on track!

I don’t know what my body will look like by the time I’m done, I have a vision that I hope to make a reality but I’ve never been the athletic type so this will be completely new to me. I don’t know what to expect. What I do know is that the end result will represent the hard work, dedication and perseverance I am putting in to achieve it. Stretch marks, saggy skin and all, I love and appreciate my body.

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Oh Yah Know… Just Me and My New Belt

by Chavah Kinloch on November 28, 2011

I got it today guys!! And I couldn’t be happier :D I think the last time I got given a certificate for anything I was in primary school. He called me up, gave me a proud smile and “Osu!” and said “It’s about time you got your belt.”. As much as I think my sensei is evil because he takes great pleasure in watching us go through pain, he’s really an awesome guy and knows how to make you feel good about yourself, so it kind of balances out.

Apparently I have great technique, which is good to know because I’d need to be pretty damn precise with my hits and kicks if I were to last in any sort of a fight coz I’m still so freakin unfit. I better pray I can get someone down on that mat quick fast lol. But hey, moral of the story is I did it!

If you read the last post, you’ll remember I mentioned that I had to go to the advanced class to get my grubby little hands on this bad boy. So to answer your question, yes I did go. How did it go? Well, I survived… and my lungs have only just stopped burning. I have no idea how I’m meant to mentally psych myself into attending 90 minutes of torture, I mean training sessions twice a week. I heard one of the girls from my beginners class saying that she thought she might die too,  before class started, and I burst out with “Oh thank God, you too!”  because I have to say, I thought that might just be a fat girl thing lol.

I’m at the dojo 3 other days a week taking my son to his karate training and I’m around the corner at the gym 6 days a week… well it’ll only be 4 now that kickboxing is taking over. If this weight doesn’t fall off as the next year goes by I have gone terribly wrong somewhere. Sensei told me and the other newbies to give it a year or two before classes didn’t feel like torture...and then he laughed at us. Cheers buddy. I about died right there on the spot. I honestly felt like crawling up in a ball and rocking back and forth. Give me strength!

Oh and just for comparison because it’s been a while:

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DIY Metallic Side Table

by Chavah Kinloch on June 1, 2011

If you know anything about me, you probably know that I love all things shiny. If it glitters, sparkles, shines, is over the top with bling and catches the eye, I’m in. I love it, it makes my heart sing. I’m like a magpie.

Well this is how I felt when I spotted these side tables below:

I saw them and I instantly thought “Ooo shiny”. Now, I have no idea where you can purchase those barrel like tables and even if I did, it wouldn’t be in my budget; so once again I decided to set off on a DIY adventure to create a shiny side table for Miss V’s bedroom.

Using what I had on hand I grabbed 1 x small square black table, a can of primer, a tube of silver paint and a tube of black paint. I sprayed it white, painted it two coats of silver and then made a black glaze to finish it off. It gave an antique silver result. I really like the way it highlights the texture on the under corners of the table.

The whole process didn’t take very long at all, maybe an hour or two. The longest parts being waiting for the layers of paint to dry. I was going to try a DIY with tin foil for this project but it appears our household doesn’t really use tinfoil – there was none in the pantry and we haven’t noticed there hasn’t been any for months hehe.

On a side note: as I finish writing this I’ve just had another idea on how to make a different sort of metallic side table. Hmmm!

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Family Fun Night

by Chavah Kinloch on May 27, 2011

Last week, for a whole week straight we lived with stormy weather. On top of that our car was in the shop for most of the week so we were literally stuck at home. Kids were bouncing off the walls & I was losing my mind by the end of last week. No joke lol.

So as soon as we could; I got us out of the house. There’s really not much to go do at 7 o’clock on a Friday night, in the winter, for a family down here so we decided to grab the camera and just go for it.  It was a lot of fun. Cold and slightly wet but still fun!

The real payoff is that I finally have some photos with me & all the kiddos. Their facial expressions crack me up, I didn’t bother trying to get everything perfect for the shots. I don’t have that much patience.

They thought the whole thing was great and they were worn out by the time we got home so the plan worked out perfectly. I just wish Andrew could have been in the shots with us. Next time I’ll have to remember to grab the tripod.

Here’s a glimpse of our evening:

Do you ever just get up and do things at the spur of the moment? I really need to practice doing this more!

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Boston’s Room – A Photo Update

by Chavah Kinloch on January 17, 2011

He’s in everyone! It’s not completely finished, I still have to accessorise and add a few extra things but for the most part, the hard work is over. I’m letting out a huge sigh of relief.

We spent just a few hours on Saturday finishing off the paint job and moving furniture in once it was dry. It didn’t take long at all and with grey overcast weather it was the perfect temperature to work  on this room.

Boston is smitten with his new space. He runs around in it like a psycho, squealing with glee. In fact, the other children do the same thing. What’s even better is that we haven’t had any sleeping issues either, he’s adapted like a pro. I love my kids for always doing that!

Boston wanted to get involved. It’s as though he really understood that this was HIS room. He’d helped sand and put on plaster already (or so he thinks) and this weekend he thought he’d help paint and put the doorhandles back on.

I discovered that these new paint colours make an awesome backdrop for photographs (see above and below).

And now, without further ado, here are some photos to update you on this room. I’ve added the extra things to come, into the photos, to give you an idea of what will be coming into the space. We’re so close to finishing!

Also, I have come to a conclusion on fabric! Yes indeed, I have chosen something :D Now I just have to work out how much I need and how soon I can get it. Darn the start of the school year for taking all my money.

Because I’m such a great hostess here at Creating My Reality, I made sure to take some photos of fabrics that caught my eye while I was out hunting on the weekend. There were 2 major contenders but the one I’ve picked is actually one that has been on my mind for a few months. I spotted it in the store on a previous visit and have brought it up in multiple conversations. When we were back at the store on the weekend I had to have my husband dig through masses of fabric to find this specific roll again. He’s so good to me. Thank you honey.

All this time since I’d first spotted the fabric, I’d been trying to figure out if I could use it in this room or not. I was leaning towards not but after seeing all of the furniture in the room, I believe I can. There’s still plenty of visual space for me to clutter up with colours and patterns so I’m going for it. The whole concept behind this room was to create a space that entered into my mindspace; stylishly quirky, full of colour, love and art.

The fabric I’ve chosen is also a lot kinder on the wallet than it’s runner up. Strangely that didn’t come into the equation this time around but I’ll count it as a huge bonus.

Can you guess which one I’ve picked?

I do love all of these fabrics and hope to get my hands on each of them but the fabric I’ve chosen to use for the curtains is….

Fabirc #2. Obviously…because it’s yellow/black and white. *blush*

My runner up was the colourful polka dot fabric next to it; which costs about 4 x the price.

And that, my dear friends is where I’m up to. So far, so good! It’s all worth it.

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