My group going strong! also Drew's grad I guess

 Good times at the beach

 My best mate and the first fish he caught with the rod I got him for his bday (his bday is in feb but this happened in like october? LOL)

Masterchef K Su! Always a blast fishing and chilling with him :)

  Many adventures with this one

 What are they doing to my son??

 This happy chap got his first job!

 Volunteering with St John, making new friends, and working better as a team

 This was one of my last days in the lab and they got me the most beautiful bouquet of flowers! Best lab, best Honours experience, just the best 

 Lots of fishing this year!!!!! Catch n Cook with my boiz @Kollinchin and @tienandrew

 Hiking with Lyanna and Cynthia and Drew

 Welcome to the Fam Ellen :)

 First day back and I got to meet Jimmy Barnes

 Wouldn't have survived Honours without this girl

My first Lebo wedding

 SPALT MALK

 Ran something for the first time ever 

Huynh's birthday. Good times from the beginning of the year through to the end 

2017 was a great year

Anyway, all this text probably is confusing so i'll show you guys pics LOL (maybe in the next blog post). I've started a gym tracker where I write down which days I got to the gym and what body part I work on, I also track my progress in terms of weights and distance run etc. IT's VERY GOOD LOL. I always take notes on my phone, but it's nice to visualise it, plus you can use coloured textas and pens and it's just really pretty. 

Okay, that spiel over. I went on a hike with Ems and Bobs on Monday. It was the first hike this summer and it was super humid and it rained a bit, but it was perfect :). We walked along the coastal track, past the fenced off Wedding Cake rock, to your destination - Marley Beach (trust our group to skip monuments? lol to go to the beach). We swam a bit and saw fkn dolphins!!!!!! it was magical. The entire day we were just chatting about life in general asking super interesting questions like what are your 3 favourite foods, your 3 interests and stuff about childhood. At some stage Ems asked me if I had any body goals and I actually found this question a little hard to answer. Like, yes, but also no?

I don't know if you guys are aware but this year it kind of became a goal of mine to become a little more health conscious and fitter. I joined a good gym, started tracking my calories, ran a fun run, and since then I've been focusing on my strength. I'm probably the fittest I've ever been in my entire life, but of course, there are still things about my body I would like to change. 

In my pursuit to become more health conscious, I started to follow PT's on Instagram most of whom are evidence-based professionals. They really instil the idea that everyone's idea of a perfect body is different and even though someone may look super fit/ripped, they might not be happy, and while others who don't really fit the typical mould of what 'fit' looks like, they may be the happiest they're ever been and would like to maintain their current physique. Everyone has different goals and you shouldn't put anyone else down because they're different to yours. 

I found that my goals this year had dramatically changed compared to the years since I started training. I was obsessed with getting a bigger booty, I would try spot reduction to get a flatter stomach and all the while I was misinformed and ignored my diet. This year, I kind of let go of those physical/physique goals and focused on just being healthy and happy - in a nutshell: exercising, eating enough veggies and pooping regularly, and I was happy with that. I still am. There are days where I miss the gym and like, I don't feel guity pre se, but I feel like my day isn't complete? I think it's a good thing. It's like waking up and not brushing your teeth, it just feels weird if you don't do it, haha. It's become a habit. 

Anyway, I'm glad I'm at this place. There were so many things that were out of my hands this year, things that I couldn't control - but my health was something that I could. I'm very proud of my fitness, but I'm not going to stop here. I've found that being goal orientated is a lot better than just saying "I want a big booty" because really, what is big? LOL 

A goal of mine was to run a marathon. I ran the City2Surf and while that is only 1/4 of a marathon, I'm proud of this because I've always hated running/cardio, so this was a pretty big deal to me. I'm still going to run a marathon, maybe next year. Hopefully I have time to train, haha. I could have very easily signed up this year and half-arsed a marathon, but I want to do it properly and get a good-ish time. Another goal of mine for yearrrrrrs now is to do a chin up/pull up. I was a slave to the assisted pull up machine, but I never really did any other exercises that helped me get there faster. This year, ofc, was different. Every time I worked out, I would end the session with inverted rows or hangs from a bar or something. Anyway, I can do 3 good chin ups now!!!! I did my first chin up in October-ish and since then I've made it a goal to be able to do 5 chin ups by the end of the year (we still got 10 days lol, lets see if I get there). I can do 1 close grip pull up, but I wanna do a proper one. All in due time. 

SO, to answer Emily's question, there is still heaps I would like to change. I do want abs/11's but I'm not ready to go into a caloric deficit so close to Christmas, haha. I want to be more toned, I want sick back muscles, and yes, I still want a booty. In saying this though, I am very proud of how far I have come, I like how you kinda see the muscles over my shoulder blades, I like the shape of my legs, and more importantly, I like how strong I have become and how that makes me feel good, haha. To me, running a marathon and doing pull ups will be more important that how big my ass is, but I also believe that those physical goals will come as a byproduct of achieving those fitness goals, so I'm not upset at the way I look right now. I know I'll get there one day, probably sooner rather than later.