I love Christmas. I hate getting fat!

Posted on December 15, 2011 by Bo

I’ve been having more fat days than skinny days of late. I seem to wake up, climb on the scale, see that I haven’t dropped 2 kgs over night and proceed to be in the worst mood for the rest of the day. I know I shouldn’t weight myself every day and should gauge my weight on how my clothes feel. But you see, that’s just the problem.

My clothes have become tight so I know I’ve definitely put on weight. And what’s worse is that it’s just before Christmas so I don’t even have that 1 or 2 kgs to play with. I can just see myself going back to work after the holidays with camel toe!

It’s tough though. Trying to stay ‘good’ and on track when all around you, there are loads of delicious, scrumptious munchies is torture. But in an attempt to survive and do the best I can in order to not put on (too much) weight, I pulled out my dietician’s notes from a few years back. (Thank-you Melanie Levy!)

As I read through my notes, I picked out a few simple tips which I’m going to try and stick to…

Salads are fine as long as you avoid the dressing. Go for vinegar, not oil. Ditch the olives, avo and cheese.
Bread rolls are silent evils. Do you really need them?
Don’t be fooled by the vegetables at a restaurant. They are usually loaded with butter or even cheese.
Stick to the white meat.
Choosing to have the fish is not the best option as it is usually basted with butter or oil. Ask for dry-grilled.
Steak or chicken, grilled over an open flame is actually one of the safest foods to order. No side sauces.
Tomato based pasta sauces are better than cream-based ones.
If ordering pizza, ask for less / no cheese.
For desserts, choose jelly (no custard) and swiss roll.
Sugar based sweets are allowed. These include boiled sweets, gums, lollipos, marshmallows.
Opt for skinny cappuccinos or freezochinos (if made with water)
NO NOs! Potato chips, crisps, pies, peanuts ‘n raisins.

In the back of my mind, I do know that it is Christmas and it is a time of enjoying the time spent with family and friends as well as all the yummy dishes that we don’t normally eat during the year. Like gammon, christmas cake, trifle… *drool*. And I can always diet in the new year, surely.

PS: my running shoes are parked next to the bed, just as a reminder that a second helping of roast potatoes is simply not worth it in the long run…

To all my running buddies, Season’s Greetings from me to you…

Posted on December 14, 2011 by Bo

I received this email greeting from my running club which I thought was so special and would really like to share it with you. *I’ve tweaked it a bit…*

SEASONS GREETINGS AND BEST WISHES FOR 2012

Good Luck to those who will run…

for new PBs in 2012 (That’s me)
their first Comrades Marathon (@saulkza)
a 10^th Comrades Marathon (@TanyaKovarsky)
their 1^st Half Marathon (@terencetobin)
their 1^st Marathon (@angelo2711)
their 1^st Ultra Marathon
those going for Gold or Silver Medals

And most of all, good luck to all who will be running or walking in 2012 and beyond.

I wish you an injury free year!

Love Bron xxx

If you want to learn about yourself, throw yourself head first out of your comfort zone

Posted on December 9, 2011 by Bo

Anyone that knows me well will have realized that I do not enjoy hosting parties at my house. I will even go as far as admitting that I never invite friends over for supper (sorry guys). I find it too stressful, too much work and in fact, I am to worried that I burn the veggies and cock it up. So for me, it’s easier to meet at a restaurant and not have to stress.

So when I was asked to be part of a team to organize our year end function at work, I thought, that’s cool, how hard can it be? We’re an organizing committee of 10 people so this won’t be too difficult. Boy was I wrong!

What started out as an organized function with a charity event linked to it, turned into a rushed, “run out of time”, make it happen lunch where we had just a mere 2 weeks to pull it all together. It just so happened that it was also during one of the busiest weeks in the year so some of the team members dropped out to focus on work commitments. It was then left to a handful of us who had limited or zero (me) event/function/hosting experience to pull the event off.

When I am stressed and out of my comfort zone, the only way I can feel in control is if I have everything organized, sorted out, all the boxes ticked. But working in a team where some people worked with different views of deadlines and urgency proved the biggest challenge.

Some days I was overwhelmed at the thought that this would be the biggest failure and that everyone would think I was useless (yeah… I know, I’m working on my confidence levels).

It was far from a failure. In fact, it turned out great!

Some lessons I learnt from this experience:

If you provide people with good food, you are already half way there.
Good music is a “must”. And yes, sometimes the old classics are what works best.
Learn to delegate. You can’t do everything.
Once you’ve delegated, trust that it will be done. Don’t keep asking for feedback. (sorry team, I know I nag in red pen)
Ask for help. Roping in a colleague to handle all ‘budgetary’ issues was the best decision. Not only was she brilliant but at least none of the team had to watch the money.
A good party doesn’t need to cost a lot of money. Cheap props from China Town and a box of Ferrero Rochers wins hearts.
I am good at project management. Very good at it.
Other people’s ideas are awesome. I need to stop being so risk-averse, open my eyes and give them a chance.
Being a good team player is a part of who I am, but when I am in charge, I battle to motivate a team.
I need to relax more. For pietsake, it’s a party Bron, not heart surgery.

I had so much fun and the feedback to the organizing committee from the rest of the team has been amazing.

They had fun. Memories were made. That’s what it’s all about!

Making Christmas mine involves a bit of compromise and effort

Posted on November 28, 2011 by Bo

I dread this time of year. While everyone else around me is excited about the holidays and the countdown to Christmas, for me, it represents the time of year that KK and I argue the most.

The thing is that we’ve both come from very different upbringings where Christmas was celebrated very differently in our families.

His memories of Christmas involve presents around the tree, family photographs, gammon and fruit cake and opening up presents on Christmas eve.

However, I can’t remember my family ever having a Christmas tree. Presents were not a big deal (and some years never even wrapped). I also recall that the fact that my single mom could earn extra money for working overtime on these days meant we usually landed up spending the time at my granny.

Don’t get me wrong. It never bugged me. In fact, this is what I came to know as a fantastic Christmas! This was the norm.

So what’s the problem then? Why do we fight?

In a way, KK is reluctant to give up on his Christmas tradition. In his eyes, it is perfect. This is where the arguments start. I want something of my own. I want my own tradition. I want something uniquely ours. And yet with Christmas eve booked by his family and Christmas day spent split between my mom, stepdad and my dad, there isn’t really time for an ‘our’ Christmas.

I think it’s different when you have kids and you start creating your own traditions. But that’s not going to happen with us. So for the past couple of years, it’s always landed up being a big argument.

So this year, I decided that two things were needed. I needed to back down and accept that KK’s Christmas is important to him and I shouldn’t try change anything. The second realisation is that if I wanted something of my own, I needed to find it or create it.

And so I did..

We made Friday night a ‘romantic, Christmas tree putting up evening’. I booked us out for the evening (so that we didn’t accidentally make Friday night plans with friends), I bought some really yummy snacks on the way home including some wine. I made a delicious supper which we ate outside on the patio, watching the sun set. And then we set out decorating our home in Christmas decorations. Together. Just the two of us while my George Michael CD played in the background.

It was an evening where we celebrate the start of ‘our’ Christmas together and spent time decorating our beautiful home with the most stunning Christmas decorations.

What works is that no one can take this evening away from us. It is ours and is a special evening that we can look forward to every year from now on – building our own yearly tradition.

It takes both a compromise to find a solution and an effort in order to make something work. Sometimes it’s difficult to do, but the rewards are amazing!