Quarter Time weigh in

A few days into the new year, I wrote that Jeff and I had begun juicing again and I was also exercising daily. This is all in aid of achieving a goal I set myself six months to reach: to lose at least 5.5kg each month over six months, to bring my weight down to within my healthy BMI range.

Today marks the first quarter point to meeting my six month goal. So how have I been doing?

Jeff and I were initially planning to do a juice-only fast but we realised it is better for the kids to see us making sustainable healthy eating choices, rather than doing a fairly radical diet. So we have 3-4 juices each day and eat a large salad for dinner each night. Jeff's salads include cheese, which is absent from most of mine, and we both include smoked salmon, tinned tuna, or an egg from our backyard chickens a few times each week. If I feel the need or desire for an extra snack in the afternoon I eat nuts or have a piece of the wonderful summer stone fruit that is available at the moment.

My typical breakfast juice consists of:
2 oranges
2 large carrots
1 yellow capsicum
1/2 pumpkin or 1 med sweet potato or 1 grapefruit
4 stalks of celery

My typical morning tea and lunch juices consist of half the following recipe, which does both meals:
2 granny smith apples
1 small or 1/2 large cucumber
1 green capsicum
1 plant coriander
1 lime or 1/2 lemon
1/2 inch ginger
6 leaves kale or 1 bag baby spinach on stems or 4 bok choy or 4 stems English spinach

My typical afternoon tea juice consists of:
2 oranges
1 beetroot, peeled
2 large carrots (purple carrots if available)
1 red capsicum
4 stalks of celery

Exercise-wise, during January I was awarded my Bronze Medallion swimming/lifesaving award, and I completed Jillian Michael's "30 Day Shred" DVD, with ten days of exercise at each of the three levels on the DVD. I have now moved on to Jillian Michael's "Burn Fat Boost Metabolism" DVD, which contains a longer workout as well as longer warm up and cool down circuits. I am improving already with this DVD. While I could only complete 6 of the 7 circuits (each 6min) initially, I can now do the entire workout of 7x6min circuits each morning.

My fitness has greatly improved. Here is a list of some of the things I can do now that I could not do at the beginning of January:
I can now do full sit ups (flat back, arms straight behind/above my head, knees bent, feet stay still on the floor without assistance as I do a complete sit up, not a crunch). I can do 10+ of these at a time, where previously I struggled to do one sit up with straight arms pointing forward to my knees.
I can now do 38 full (male) push ups in 60 sec. Previously, I couldn't do as many push ups on my knees (female-style) as I can now do with my legs straight.
I can now touch my forehead to my knees in a wide legs (almost) splits position, with my hands wrapped around my foot. Before, I could only just touch my toes in this position.
I can now run 1km without stopping, having cut about 1 min off my time from the beginning of January.

As for my weight, in January I met my monthly target of 5.5kg and a smidgen extra, losing 5.8kg (12.8lbs). At my quarter time weigh in this morning, I had lost a total of 10.1kg (22.3lbs), which is a drop of 3.5BMI points. So I am now 30% of the way to my target!!