Whooooo! So freaking stoked right now!

28 November 2009, I was 80kg. Today, 23 January 2010, 4 weeks ahead of schedule, I am 69.9kg. And I feel AWESOME! Wow. What a great feeling. I don't think I've ever achieved a measurable goal like this before. And it feels GOOD!

Let me bask in my own glory for a little bit...

OK, done. The end is not quite in sight yet. Now that I'm here (*squeeeeeeeeee*) there's another slightly smaller goal to overcome. I'm totally aware of my body and it's true limits now, and I feel I need to go further. I think 65kg is the weight I should be. And not just 65kg, but strong and 65kg. Ready to take on the world and all it has to throw at me strong.

Far out. I'm so excited to get here. I really can't imagine that I was like that before. Well, maybe a little. Earlier today, I could feel my hip bones without the cush, and it felt good. Strangely, weirdly, good.

Forgive me for being overly hyped. I never thought I'd ever get to be 80kg. It freaks me out that without outside advisory, I could have gone further, never realising that I was staring done the barrel of an overweight body. 80kg in itself was just barely overweight (according to BMI), and until I took a really good hard look at myself, I would have been satisfied with that. I could have stayed at that weight. It was comfortable. However, what gets me now is that maybe I could have gained another 5 or 10kg, and no-one would have said anything to me. At all. Political correctness and all that.

It makes me wonder about society in general. When I first declared my intention to lose weight, my workmates had made the appropriate "You don't need to lose weight!" comments. Yet, now I'm here, I'm getting the "You really have changed, you look good!" comments. This makes me wonder, as a society, are we conditioned to not mention weight gain because we're being too nice?

I was totally unaware that I was teetering on the edge of being overweight and seriously jeopardising my health. Should we, as a society, be brutally honest with ourselves, our friends, our colleagues, and speak the truth - "You know, I think you're getting unhealthy"?

Forget the Marie Claire covers, forget political correctness. Is it time to make a change? A good change. One that sets you on the path of truly good fitness and health?

There's a time and place to be nice, yes, but wouldn't it be nicer if we could admit things aren't right with the people we love and/or respect? Right now, I'm not skinny. I don't want to be skinny. I want to be healthy and strong. And more than anything, I want to encourage my acquaintances to better themselves, and be totally satisfied with themselves. Not jealous that I've achieved a certain weight goal, but content that they are exactly the person that they should be, because they want to be that way, and have worked for it.

Am I high on achievement? Shoot me down. Please. This is not a manifesto, this is just how I feel achieving my goal, and letting out all the things I've felt on this rollercoaster of change.

So today I took delivery of my first kettlebell - a girly pink (urgh) 6kg from Kettlebells.com.au.

To ensure I didn't kill myself in the first workout, I just did some low-rep sets of a few exercises to get a feel for it. I have to say - sweet! Definitely keen to explore this further and push my body. Considering one study reported kettlebell workout could burn 20.2 calorie a minute, this seems like a great strength and calorie burning exercise.

Today's workout

My right quad started burning badly in the second set of High Pulls so I couldn't continue going into a squat position after that. I also found the 6kg to be a bit heavy during the Bent-Over Row - considering I've been using 3kg dumbbells for that particular exercise thus far, I thought I did OK though.

The above exercises took 20 mins to complete. I think my form was pretty good, no strain on my back or shoulders can be felt, although my quads (particularly the right) are a bit sore.

I want to see how many reps I can handle for both the Two-Handed and One-Handed Swings, so I'll give that a crack tomorrow afternoon. I'm estimating maybe 50 for the Two-Handed and 25 for the One-Handed.

Yesterday, I also went for a nice jog around Lake Burley-Griffin on a 5km circuit. After about 2km in, I learnt why you need good running shoes, not $30 Dunlop cross-trainers. Blisters! Ow. Walked the rest of the way. Although I was feeling pretty good, so I could probably handle the full 5km once I get proper shoes.

This week I was quite slack in terms of exercise - was getting up too late to do cardio in the morning and was too tired after work. Slack, I know. I have made up for up for it a little bit over the weekend:

• Friday PM: dancing (although beer intake probably offset any effort there)
• Saturday PM: weights (arms, obliques)
• Sunday AM: resistance tube session, weights (legs), cardio (stationary bike)

Last Sunday I weighed in at 72.6kg, and today I am down to 71.6kg (lowest weight yesterday of 71.3kg). Now I've achieved my mini-goal of getting to BMI 23. Gold star for Lozz please!

While I bought resistance tubes a few weeks ago, I didn't actually start using them til this morning. Owww. Resistance tubes are deceptive! Looks easy til you try them. Started on medium resistance tube as the light resistance tube felt too easy initially. Possible bad judgement, but I'm feeling good (if a little sore) at the moment, check back with me in a few hours though.

I've been following ChinoZ32's progress with his new kettlebells and decided to give them a go myself. Awaiting delivery of 6kg Female Starter Kit from Kettlebells.com.au.  Also decided to get an ab roller, as I've always found traditional sit ups to be too much of a strain.

My body is starting to look a lot better, flabby jiggly bits are significantly reduced. Looking forward to getting into a solid weights routine to start toning everything up.

I've also been looking at a few fitness blogs, finding Thrive PT Blog, Zen to Fitness, Passionate Fitness and Kettlebell Blogger to be good reads.

You can also follow my progress on DailyBurn.

There has been an explosion of conversations about what the global economic crisis means for all of us, what the future holds and what needs to change.  The government is asking us to tell them what is important to us.

We need to make these important conversations bigger and louder.  We need to talk about our values, because this is where our decisions and our actions come from.

What values best reflect how our society should operate?  What values does our society want to see in the future?  We want to know what Australians think.  We want to start a conversation. A Big Conversation!

If you’d like to have your say, you can do the first ever national values survey by clicking here

So far, over 1,300 people have had their say with more people joining the conversation every day.

The people behind The Big Conversation are the Emerging Leaders for Social Change - an interesting sounding collective which I might have to look into further!

My initial thought (before knowing the reason) was, “this has to be the lamest Facebook meme yet”. Now that I know it’s apparently some breast cancer awareness campaign, I’m still not quite sure of it’s effectiveness.

Firstly, ok, yes, I’m now aware of the campaign. But I had to Google it, and found details over at Yahoo Answers. However, is it actually a campaign or just a meme? I haven’t been able to work out which (if any) charities/foundations are behind this.

If it were a campaign, surely it would be better executed if people stated the reason behind making a cryptic Facebook status update, rather than just stating “black”.

If there is a charity behind it, what ROI are they are trying to achieve? Number of perplexed males? Number of people blogging about how confused/annoyed they are about the campaign?

Despite being female, I’m not really moved to action (well, apart from blogging about it). I’m not surprised at how fast the meme has spread, but I’m highly skeptical of how effective this campaign is in spreading breast cancer awareness. We’re exposed to more pink products that are directly connected to breast cancer awareness just walking through the supermarket than seeing our friends spread the “I’m so naughty posting my bra colour on Facebook for a laugh” meme.

The jury in my head is still out over this. What say you?

While I started my first non-profit job in late 2008, I think 2009 was when I realised that this was the sector I should be working in for the rest of my life. Making a real difference in the world is amazing.

This year I finished the largest work project of my life, relaunching a website. Sure, it was not without stress, but I'm really proud of what was accomplished there.

I also began connecting with a lot of interesting, inspiring people in 2009, thanks to Twitter.

2009 was my first full calendar year living in a different city. Once again, thanks to Twitter, I have found an amazing network of friends here in Canberra.

I also went on my first overseas trip in 10 years - to beautiful Malaysian Borneo. I fell in love with the landscape, the orangutans, and the nightlife of Kota Kinabalu. I hope to return there one day.

2009 wasn't lacking in heartbreak - I ended the relationship that I'd moved to Canberra for in the first place. Plenty of regret there, however I am staying put for the time being due to my amazing job. The fact that I love my job makes up for what I've lost in the personal realm.

Because of the breakup, I had to move, and I found an awesome new housemate (and a whippet and another cat) so I'm really pleased with that. Thank you Donna for letting me into your home and life this year!

This year I also discovered that I can't rely on dad's metabolism forever - my own metabolism slowing, paired with unhealthy lifestyle choices saw me put on a few kilos. This fact had escaped me until someone pointed it out to me -quite a slap in the face, however that inspired me to a lifestyle change I will carry with me for the rest of my life.

There is plenty to look forward to in 2010 - a new work project I've been pushing for has the greenlight, and I'm fairly (60%) certain that I'll be getting to NTC 2010 in Atlanta. This year I hope to also get some good happening again in the love area (not sure what will happen, but I'm looking forward to it nonetheless).

I think that's all for now. Bye 2009, welcome 2010!

As mentioned earlier on Twitter, the techies need to get into the community. It is not enough to express our opposition to the filter in our own circles, change our Twitter avatars and sign petitions. It is time to educate the community.

As tech literates, we must shoulder the responsibility of educating the public why the filter is a bad idea, and that there are other avenues to pursue. We need an organised nation-wide Community Education Plan.

Here's a few thought-starters for what we could do:

A collaborative education resource, encompassing web and print collateral.

• video and text opinion pieces, tutorials
• plain English arguments against the filter
• clear explanations of the alternatives (focusing on protecting children online)

Support network for Community Educators

• sample talking points
• sample info night / "course" content
• strategies for running info session, doorknocks etc

Print collateral for letterbox drops, community noticeboards etc

What do you think?

Now, I've never been a politically active person. If I could define myself politically, I would say I'm libertarian.

People have a right to freedom of speech and freedom of choice. What you do in the privacy of your home, as long as it's not negatively affecting another person, is your own business.

I am starting to write letters in opposition to Conroy's mandatory Internet filter to all elected Australian Federal representatives. 

Like many other bloggers, I have chosen to also express my opposition online. What follows is the basic outline of what I am writing (by hand!) to Australian politicians:

I am a single, childless, 27 year-old female atheist. I was raised in a middle-class family, received a private-school education, have been a heavy Internet user since I was 13, and have worked in IT for my entire career.

I have never contacted an elected representative on any policy issue - until now. I am strongly opposed to the Labor government's proposed mandatory Internet filter.

Although the initiative is intended as a tool to protect children, there is a larger issue at stake - that of free speech. Filtering will be compulsory in all homes, even where there are no children. What has not been been made clear is how many sites will be filtered, why the sites are considered objectionable, and no way to determine which sites and filtered or why. This could potentially lead to abuse by any sitting government in order to filter anti-government sentiments. This is counter-intuitive to a democratic society, and in direct violation of Article 19 of the United Nation's Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

As an IT professional, I find the existing filter trials have not adequately addressed all technical issues, yet these trials have revealed the inherent flaws in the proposed system. Any determined or technically-minded individual will be able to circumvent the filter. Additionally, the filter will incorrectly block numerous sites and be unable to block every site with objectionable content.

I would like to propose an alternative plan:

• provide the Australian Federal Police with more resources to investigate and bring down child-pornography rings
• provide funding for digital literacy programs aimed at both parents and children
• introduce an opt-in, filtering system that can be customised by parents, libraries and schools;

Again, I urge you to oppose the proposed mandatory Internet filter. Instead, focus on feasible solutions that will protect children, protect free speech, and protect the democratic Australian society that we enjoy today and deserve in the future.