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So Life has been pretty good lately. Start of the month went really well, managed to keep myself nice and happy with the way i ate at the christmas party. It was a good night to, everyone all dressed up, I was wearing my nice suit (which i really do thank Vanessa @ Always Habit for helping me out there) and got heaps of compliments on it!

Been managing my food pretty well but unfortunately went down 3kg over the last week and that was probably due to not thinking properly over the last few weeks with snacks etc and working out to much so im still juggling all of that each and every day, but thats the new goal for the new year, maintain the weight loss and keep it off. I can tell that I am slowly putting on some muscle as I can feel myself getting stronger. Managed to do some good heavy weights this morning and could definately see my performance increasing (mind you my arms are killing right now).

I had also been planning for a while to get a new Crumpler bag for work. As most of you know, I love crumpler. But i wanted a new bag that was custom made so that it would be about the whole transition of my life etc over the last year. Unfortunately to order a Custom Bag I would need to fly down to Melbourne or Sydney before the new year to get one etc and couldn’t justify the costs etc on top of the normal bag. However yesterday i was in the Crumpler store picking up a small piece for my laptop and checking out their new range of bags (for shits and giggles) when i saw this amazing looking bag in the window. I asked them about it and he told me that it was a custom made Complete Seed and they were selling off some of the random custom designs they had before the Custom Bag Stores close. I was ecstatic, i loved the design and I had to have it! So i bought it!

As for trip planning, things are pretty much done. Only france left to go with all of asia organised now and booked. France will probably be planned in the new year as I am going to hopefully be accompanied by my friend Yena. Who is going to join me in Normandy for some history!

Hopefully!

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I get asked a lot how i lost all the weight and what are some good tips to be able to help be healthy or lose weight.

So I thought I would put some of those tips up on the blog. For everyone to see.

1. Being healthy is a mix of both eating and exercise. you can’t have one without the other. No point.
2. Exercise is worth the effort. It may hurt, it may feel like crap but after a while it will become fun. Choose something you enjoy doing. If you like walking, go for walks, if you like riding a bike, ride a bike. But if your trying to lose weight, twice a day was my best tip for how often to exercise (at least 30-45 mins each session).
3. Cut out the alcohol. It is just not worth it. I made that decision early on that there is no point in drinking back on my hard work. So its gone (apart from the occasional drink).
4. Eat plenty of vegies. Non Starchy vegetables. Nothing beats a salad made of Roasted Pumpkin, Eggplant, Zucchini and Capsicum with a bit of Rocket dressed with Lemon Juice and Chilli. Simple, low fat and absolutely delicious.
5. Use your head when you cook. Do you really need all that oil on things? Do you really need that extra portion of carbs or that double amount of protein.
6. Eat wholegrains instead of those crappy processed foods. If your wanting some rice, eat brown or basmatti. Some noodles, use Soba Noodles (buckwheat, absolutely yum cold in a salad). Wanting to use pasta, wholemeal or durham wheat pasta. But just remember to use a small amount of carbs. 1/2 cup of rice or 1 cup of pasta is enough. If your having breads, what about wholemeal, rye or multi grain (i prefer rye). With cereals stick to Bran or Wholegrain Cereal (i like all bran, sultana bran, just right or uncle tobys plus).
7. Its ok to treat yourself, but be smart. A deep fried mars bar is not a treat, thats just dumb.
8. Don’t skip meals. Skipping doesn’t allow your body to process everything properly, your metabolism wont function and you will feel worse. Eat 3 x meals a day and several snacks. This allows your body to keep working. While I was losing weight it was 3 meals a day with 2 or 3 snacks. Now its 3 meals a day with 5 or 6 snacks.
9. Diet Jelly is AWESOME. It is on my eat as much as you like list. Aeroplane Diet Jelly has flavour, tastes great and it makes for a fantastic guilt free sweet snack.
10. Cut out the full sugar soft drinks. Diet Soft drinks are fine but i dont like drinking lots of them. Aspartamine is fine, dont believe the whole “you will get cancer” myth. I have read lots of articles which state it is ok. If you want something fizzy to drink, go for a Mineral Water. Its just water, has loads of fizz and tastes great imo. I prefer that when i go out at night with friends. Squeeze of lemon and its awesome.
11. Seek some help. There is no harm in going and seeing a professional. I had help with a trainer and a nutritionist. Without them I wouldnt of been able to do any of what i have accomplished.
12. Most of all. Don’t give up. It’s not easy. But if you stick with it, gut out the tough times you will be rewarded.

Remember, The Only Easy Day was Yesterday.

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A year ago today I walked into the gym at Adventure 1000 and I was a very different person. I was scared of what was to come and worried about what others would think of me.

I have spent what feels like most of the last hear in that gym, working hard and burning endless calories.  I no longer walk in there worried what others think, frankly I couldn’t care less what other people think of me now.

Over the last 12 months I have walked enough kilometres to take me to Sydney and probably rowed the same (maybe a bit further on thule bike). According to my heart rate monitor ive burned over 300,000 calories which I’m sure is a low range number considering it doesn’t work all the time and at the start I hated wearing it.

The improvements have been noticeable.  I’ve gone from a 7xl down to a large in some brands.  I’ve gone down in shoe sizes as well which is freaky.  I can’t really remember what life was like a year ago.

I have a lit of people to thank but mainly I have a few people.
1. Andrew Burnes you probably won’t ever read this but thank you wo much for making the offer that would change my life.
2. Andy, mate, what more can I say that I haven’t said before. Without you there every day pushing me along I wouldnt be where I am now
3. My family has been there every step of the way. By my side knowing exactly what to say and when
4. My friends each and every one of you have been able to support me in your own way. I try my hardest to see you all we much as I can but I know that you understand.

Thanks to eveyones kind words of encouragement over the last year.  You all can’t comprehend how much it has meant.

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The trip planning for 2011 is going well. Everything is coming together nicely. All of my flights are booked and the North America stage of my trip (we will call it Phase 1 & 2) are coming together nicely.
Phase 1 being Canada, Phase 2 being USA. For Phase 1 it is predominantly the Contiki Tour. I am staying 2 nights pre and post the tour in Vancouver and then its off onto Phase 2. Brad and I had looked at numerous ways of getting down to San Fran including driving the whole way but the car rental companies just did not like us driving over the border one way.
So instead we are catching the train to Seattle, $35 each got us a business class seat on “The Cascades” over the border to seattle. Good deal if you ask me!

Phase 2 begins on arrival in Seattle and we have a good 4 nights to explore seattle, before picking up our car for 3 days and driving our way south. Gonna following US 101 for most of it (apart from a bit of action on I5). I am leaving the planning of the drive up to Brad so all will be good. We are staying 1 night in Portland and then the 2nd night on the Road in Roseburg Oregon. From there it is 5 nights in San Francisco. 4 in the city and then the last night out at the airport. We did things a little different for that last night and booked on Hotwire which is kinda like the secret stays we dish out at work. I used the guides on “Better Bidding” to help, but still didn’t get the hotel we thought it would be. Not to be worried though, good location, good rate, breakfast, wifi, free shuttle to the airport. Can’t beat that.

That day in San Francisco I bid farewell to Brad as he heads south and I head East. That day as I head east was a day of plane spotter flying getting in something crazy, a backwards facing seat! Can’t wait for that. As I fly onto New York with a quick 1 hour stop in Chicago, I spend the next two nights in New York at the new “Element Times Square West”. By new I mean it only opened a week ago. I got some pretty good rates there to.

Phase 2 finishes up with these 2 nights in New York and I am going to Cram as much as I possibly can into it. A run through central park, walking over the Brooklyn Bridge, A trip on the Staten Island Ferry, another broadway show hopefully, eating at Katz’s Deli, A slice of New York Pizza, another H&H bagel (cause I miss them ever so!) and whatever else I can fit in. I am sure the girls will want me to do some shopping for them so I have a feeling this will be shipping point #1 (thankfully I remember where the Post Office is just around the corner from my hotel).

With leaving the USA Phase 3 & 4 begins, this being Europe. The first part of Europe is a week in France (Phase 3) which is not really organised yet other than booking the following two tours: Neptune Tour & 101st Airborne Tour

This pretty much takes up the whole reason for going to France but I still have a couple of days in Paris to explore. But this is also where things may be interesting (stay tuned). Phase 4 is Berlin & London. Two flash in the pants stops. I looked everywhere for somewhere decent to stay in Berlin and came across the Pullman Berlin for mega cheap. $110 a night! What a bargain for a 5 star hotel! But by this time I will need to do laundry (last spot would have been New York). So was looking around for a hotel with a laundry and just had no luck. So was googling around and came across a place called “Freddy Leck” It seems to be an awesome Laundromat with a full café & bar, free wifi, lounges etc. So you can chill out while you do your laundry (im sold!), and its close to the Pullman!

From there its onto London. This was originally going to be one of my “splurge” cities. My Splurge cities were based on London, New York & Singapore. New York cause it was my birthday (and everything is expensive anyway), London cause it’s a Middle point and then Singapore because it was the last stop before I finish the trip. So after googling around I found an awesome new modern hotel, right new Waterloo station and Westminster Bridge. But I had this awesome idea, so I emailed them for an industry rate. They gave me the most unbelieveable price and I booked it straight away.

London went from a Splurge stay to a bargain stay! So instead I am splurging a little more in a couple of other places to make up for it! With London all done and organised that completes those two phases.

Phases 5 & 6 being the final steps of my holidays. Phase 5 has been the hardest to plan as I am totally in the dark here. I have no experience at all when it comes to Japan. My only time even looking at Japan had been Narita Airport and that’s about it. So I read, and I read. I used Wiki Travel, Trip Advisor, Lonely Planet guide books whatever I could get my hands on. I used ideas from friends and finally came down to the following Itinerary:

21-25Aug – Tokyo – Staying at the Tokyu Stay Ikebukuro (opens in April).
25Aug – Start heading off. Shinkansen to Yokohama for the day to explore than an afternoon Shinkansen to Kyoto.
25-27Aug – Kyoto
27-29Aug – Osaka
29-31Aug – Hiroshima
31Aug – Start heading back to Tokyo and then head out to Narita. Overnight at Narita
01Sep – Fly out of Narita in the Afternoon.

I know you are saying “stay another night in Tokyo” but to be honest, I was upset I missed out on Narita last time because I was sick and it was raining. There is a good temple there and I have dedicated the day to some plane spotting, regardless of weather.

Phase 6 is the final two stages of my holiday. Hong Kong & Singapore. I found a bargain hotel in Kowloon for my Hong Kong stay and then for Singapore I found an awesome hotel with free wifi and free mini bar. But since I have given up the booze, they told me they would put whatever I wished into it. I emailed them to after good luck with the London Industry rates and they threw in a free Upgrade and Breakfast Daily. Win Win!

So that’s where the trip stands at the moment. Pretty much all that is left now is finalising Phase 3.

Stay tuned!

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So after finding, what has been a favourite website of mine, www.flyertalk.com I have started to chase points more and more. Last year before I went to the USA i changed my credit card over to a points based card and I have been collecting the points ever since. Don’t get me wrong I know its something a lot of people do but hear me out.

I did something the other day that I had not done before. I churned a credit card. You may be asking what that is. Well its pretty much getting a credit card purely for the points/bonuses. The Woolworths Qantas Credit card was released with an offer of 16000 Qantas Frequent Flyer points after First purchase. So with the $89 card fee for the first year and a small purchase (no minimum cost involved) I can get a nice chunk of points. So I joined it and got accepted (although haven’t recieved anything from them officially but I can see it linked in my Everyday Rewards profile). But then yesterday I came across another deal. Join the ANZ card and they give you 20,000 points. Again a $90 fee for the first year and i can get these points. So for $180 i can pretty much get 36,000 points. This is enough for a return business class to say Sydney. But the better part is I can add these to the nice sizeable chunk I already have and these points will aim towards a nice few flights I was hoping to do when I get back from my round the world. I want to use all the points I have gotten from this trip and all those Qantas ones towards a nice trip to Hawaii maybe?

Is this a bad thing, I dunno. Could I use those $180 towards something else, sure. Is it worth the money in the long run… hopefully! will it affect my credit rating… HOPE NOT!

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Well, with my new lease on life i decided to try something that normally would of scared the crap out of me. I have never really liked boats and always had a bad fear of letting things out of my control happen (rollercoasters etc).

Since i no longer have the excuse of “im to big” i cant really get out of it. So last time i saw my sister we were chatting about all the freebies i get and she told me next time i get a freebie to cairns we should go up to go rafting. I was like “whatever i wont win anything for cairns.” Two weeks later i did. So that meant i had no excuse. So we organised it for when i got back from Kokoda. Saturday rolled around and it meant time for rafting. We had both flown to cairns especially for this.

I was still a little scared, worried about falling out and smashing myself on a rock etc, especially after all those horror stories from when I was on the customer care lines of people breaking bones and stuff. Fun fun. Well I sucked it up, pushed the fears to the bottom as much as I could and off we went.

I had the BEST time. It was so much fun. I did fall out of the boat at one point coming through some rapids but i was quickly yanked back in (thanks for saving my butt ben!). The guys we went with (Raging Thunder) were all awesome and i met some awesome new people. Our boat crew were a lot of fun and I would do the trip again in an instant.

Ive put a link to some of the photos below so you can see how much fun it looks!

Tully Rafting Weekend

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So… it has been 11 months since I first started this big big journey of mine. It was not an easy first morning for me. But 11 months later I still feel sometimes like im struggling but I could never think I could do the things I do now.

In the last 11 months I have lost 85kg, managed to Run 10km non stop, Trekked 96km through some of the harshest country on earth and do it all with a smile (at times). I enjoy running now, I enjoy hiking. Things I never thought I would ever say. I really do enjoy going for a run, its a good way to switch off, concentrate on my breathing listen to my cadence (which if you have any military cadence let me know cause i need some new stuff).

It has been an amazing journey, I do not regret any decisions I have made over this time. I have made some new friends, met heaps of new people, inspired others and found a whole heap of self confidence in myself. I still feel wierd looking at myself in the mirror or in photos as its just not me.

But now reality has to set in. Now that I’ve accomplished so much and have changed my entire life I need to settle in for the next big challenge. I need to settle into a normal life routine now. So goodbye car park at work and your $450 a month pricetag. Goodbye twice a day work outs, goodbye thinking about diet diet diet. I am still going to the gym once a day but now I am working to make muscle, have fun and stay fit. I am really enjoying the program I am doing at the gym at the moment (pity it finishes next week). But its awesome none the less. I have a whole new wardrobe and life feels good.

Everyone asks me what the next goal is. I guess there isnt really a goal as such. I wanna get out over the next year or so and do the things I never thought I could really do. First on that list is white water rafting. Ive always wanted to do it, just never did. Now I can and I fly out friday! Can’t wait. There a heap of things I want to do on my next trip around the world which I will put up the list. While not a “bucket list” of sorts its more a Trip Wish list.

But now I really need to get some sleep. I have to be up at 430am!

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Some times it feels like I am never at home. Was in Melbourne over the weekend on Famil with Tourism Vic and had a fantastic time. It was so good to be travelling again, checking out hotels, doing a bit of plane spotting in the terminal etc. Loved it!

Next month I am on the road again as well, I am off to Cairns to go white water rafting with my sister. This is a time where i can do the things I never thought I would do. I guess these are gonna be my little challenges for a while. So to start wth will be White Water Rafting, then learning to ride a bike, learning to kayak, probably Abseiling/Rock Climbing (when i get some arm strength) all those adventure activities I never thought I would be able to do.

Still trying to tick some stuff off my bucket list but unfortunately it will be a while till it starts getting ticked off. I dont think i will ever add a bungy jump etc to the list cause im not that crazy. My leave got approved for my next big trip so sometime in the next week that trip will start to develop and will keep everyone up to date as it goes along.

I have also had a few weeks of maintaining weight (apart from losing 1.5kg while I was away which im not to happy about) but its been good. I swear i feel like im constantly eating. All the time! But thats the way i need to be going, graze graze graze!

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Well its been a month now since I set foot in Kokoda. I had updated last week but it seems something happened and the post never went online :/ Pity really. Been a few big weeks since I got back. I was all good for the first few days, then I started getting some really bad stomach pains and other symptons. I was having random fevers at night. But I stuck it out a day or two. Managed to get myself to the doctors the friday after we got back and the doctor told me in his words “I think you have malaria” I freaked out. But turns out I didn’t thank god. But he tells me this after 3 blood tests in 4 days. Damn him. Turns out I bought back some random stomach thing from PNG. O wells… got me out of work for a week!

In other news, A Current Affair has taken on a story about me. They were given a bit of a heads up about all my weight loss from my nutritionist. One the wednesday after I got back they approached me asking if I would be a part of it and if I would do it. I said yes. There has been a hell of a lot of filming for it (over 3 seperate days) but It was definately worth it. I enjoyed every minute of it. Although the big one on one interview was nerve racking I made it through ok. I am constantly getting asked how much I am getting paid for it, but the answer is nothing. I am not in it for the money. I am in it to pass on some inspiration to other people. I was given a push to help me get out there and do something about it all, and I am hoping that my story will be the push for other people. Just hope that no one recognises me to much when I go out.

The last week has been good though, I am back at work and enjoying it. Each day is a new day in my life and each day brings with it new suprises and challenges. Have managed to keep pushing myself each and every day. The weight bottomed out after the week off sick at 88.7kg. But I was back up to 89kg and now comes the new journey of maintaining that weight (or around that weight). Who knows what the future will bring!

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So it has been a few weeks since I last updated about Kokoda and how everything has been going. Its been tough work and with a weekend off to Melbourne for my birthday, I really felt like I had taken a month off. Days just kinda drag out at the moment with it feeling like a month each. But i persavere. The training has been getting harder and harder, faster and faster. The nights on the hills around the Gym have been getting harder with last tuesday night spent fully in the pelting driving rain. It was cold and it was sure wet, but i am sure that is how things are going to be once I get to PNG.

However Sunday was a whole new experience. I spent 4 hours on Sunday morning on Mt Cootha. Not quite sure what the tracks where called but they were difficult and they were long, very very long in fact. in the 4 hours I covered 17.5km. That is the longest I am pretty sure I have ever walked in a morning. Now that seems pretty slow to some people but you have to remember, going up and down hills is slow going. And 17.5km in 4 hours is really good going. Being that Kokoda is only 96km I am sure we wont be covering that much ground in one morning or whatever (but if we do sweeeeeeet). One thing I did realise out of it. I have no padding on my shoulders any more. No more fat to provide that lovely soft barricade against my bones. O well.

As for goals, well when I got back from Melbourne I had actually weighed in. It came in at 97.7kg and i Freaked out. That was like 4kg in less than a week. I was not sure what was going on. I didnt know if it was some crazy fluid loss or it had been a real weight loss. But i stuck it out for a week, kept my head in check like i was taught and just gave it a week to see how the weight went this week. 97.3kg. Im under the 100kg.

Goal #2 COMPLETE!!!!