So I'm not even going to bother posting the results this week because on paper it looks like I've gone backwards. Now while I may have had a 2 day slip up, I know for a fact I can't have gone backwards but because today happens to be the first day of "that time of the month" when I enjoy excessive bloating, cramping & lower back pain (you know the one) - the numbers are off. I wasn't even going to do the measurements but it felt wrong to skip them, so I did them anyway but will promptly block them out of my mind because I don't need any false disappointment right now. The only good thing is that when I have a week like this, the following week is usually way better to compensate so I'm looking forward to that!
Due to these hormonal joys I'm also going to have to be careful not to overtrain. I recently discovered that your bone density is lower at that time of the month which finally explained why I get so much lower back pain then. I'm sticking to 1 workout a day but trying to add in extra cardio to make up for the missed afternoon workouts. Still yet to see if I can keep my calories as low as I'd like, but I'm actually not stressed about it right now. As much as I'd love to lose serious weight before the audition, I'm quite content with chipping away at my goals consistently (the same as I've been doing up to this point - maybe minus the 2 day a week binge!) and have been feeling so much better about myself physically, that I don't think an extra 500g fat loss is going to make or break the audition. I'll just take it one day at a time and see how I go!
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Monday, January 30, 2012
the week ahead
Before I go into this week's plan, I'd better catch you up on the last few days. You see, unfortunately Friday didn't quite go according to plan. It was raining heavily and I had a big fall on my way to the gym (landed on my knees) - at first I thought I'd just ripped up my knee but as the day went on I realised I had whiplash. I still went to the gym but could only do upper body weights (cardio would make the knee continue to bleed) and then hobbled home. As the afternoon wore on, my neck & back froze up and left me in a lot of pain and I ended up ploughing through a bag of fun size Mars Bars. Then hot chips for lunch. Then pizza for dinner. So rather than one blow out day, I had two.
While I'm all for having a treat every now and then, in hindsight I'm realising how disgusting my behaviour has been on cheat days. It's not just a treat I'm going for, it's a total pig out and I've realised that it's doing more damage than just the calories I'm consuming on the day. These pig outs leave me feeling physically sick for up to 48 hours and more importantly, start me on a spiral of doubt, guilt & lack of motivation. I have no self-control once I get started... it's a dangerous road (and completely unproductive) and it has to stop.
Anyway, enough on that - now to give you a run down of the week ahead which is more than a little daunting, but I will endeavour to take it one meal & one workout at a time.
Monday AM: 30 mins cardio, 20 mins sprints, legs.
Monday PM: Spin class, 30 mins cardio, core.
Tuesday AM: 30 mins cardio, Zumba class, Yoga class.
Tuesday PM: 30 mins cardio, Zumba class.
Wednesday AM: 30 mins cardio, chest/shoulders/triceps, Spin class.
Wednesday PM: 30 mins cardio, Ki Max class.
Thursday AM: Zumba class, core, Ki Max class.
Friday AM: 30 mins cardio, 20 mins sprints, back/biceps.
Calories for the week are 1200-1300 most days, 1500 on high days. Yet to see how that's going to go with the high level of exercise but I'll give it a try and adjust if I need to. Don't want to starve, but do need to shock my body into dropping some serious fat in the next week as I want to be ready for my big audition on the 8th. Will keep you posted!
While I'm all for having a treat every now and then, in hindsight I'm realising how disgusting my behaviour has been on cheat days. It's not just a treat I'm going for, it's a total pig out and I've realised that it's doing more damage than just the calories I'm consuming on the day. These pig outs leave me feeling physically sick for up to 48 hours and more importantly, start me on a spiral of doubt, guilt & lack of motivation. I have no self-control once I get started... it's a dangerous road (and completely unproductive) and it has to stop.
Anyway, enough on that - now to give you a run down of the week ahead which is more than a little daunting, but I will endeavour to take it one meal & one workout at a time.
Monday AM: 30 mins cardio, 20 mins sprints, legs.
Monday PM: Spin class, 30 mins cardio, core.
Tuesday AM: 30 mins cardio, Zumba class, Yoga class.
Tuesday PM: 30 mins cardio, Zumba class.
Wednesday AM: 30 mins cardio, chest/shoulders/triceps, Spin class.
Wednesday PM: 30 mins cardio, Ki Max class.
Thursday AM: Zumba class, core, Ki Max class.
Friday AM: 30 mins cardio, 20 mins sprints, back/biceps.
Calories for the week are 1200-1300 most days, 1500 on high days. Yet to see how that's going to go with the high level of exercise but I'll give it a try and adjust if I need to. Don't want to starve, but do need to shock my body into dropping some serious fat in the next week as I want to be ready for my big audition on the 8th. Will keep you posted!
Thursday, January 26, 2012
the final cheat day
I'm writing this post with a huge, bloated belly & feeling slightly seedy. You see, today was the cheat day to end all cheat days.
We had already planned an outing into the city and were going to work a treat into our day so as not to blow-out too badly but things kind of snowballed and it may have gotten a little out of hand! It was actually kind of deliberate. We had been biding our time a bit as no auditions were yet booked and both agreed that the second we got a call to tell us we have one, we'd take our training to a new level. So mid-way through our outing, we both got a call! We've locked in a big one and it's just under 2 weeks away which is brilliant timing. We decided on the spot that we'd enjoy one final hurrah and cut the treats out of our diet completely (at least until we finally have something to celebrate!). Clean eating ONLY - most processed foods gone and for me, a lower calorie plan (1200-1300 on low days & 1500 on high days no matter how much exercise I'm doing).
Needless to say, we ate a lot. It started with burgers and kumara fries - my mouth is still watering at the thought... Then cheezels, grain waves & M&Ms for afternoon tea and I baked Mars Bar cupcakes for "dinner". Atrocious, I know. But so worth it (well until the nausea kicked in). Now I realise I said that it's important to have a weekly treat for your mental health, but I believe during this time I can make an exception. I'm nearly half way through my plan and while I've been achieving consistent results, I'd like to speed it up so I'm feeling amazing by my first audition. I crunched the numbers & with the 2-3hrs a day of exercise I'm currently doing and the serious calorie restrictions (don't worry - I won't let myself starve - I know my body), I should be able to lose between 1.5 to 2kg fat in 13 days. Yeah - that much. It will nearly get me to my "final" goal ("final" because it could be a moving target - I've never been there before so I'm not sure it's where I'll want to finish).
Anyways I'll give you a run down of the specifics on my next post so you can see what I'm having to go through to get such dramatic results. It's going to be tough, but it's so short term, I know I can do it. This audition (and the others that will follow) is the reason I moved to NZ - I refuse to waste this opportunity by lacking discipline. After the 13 days are up, I'll resume my regular eating plan - I do not plan on keeping this up... It'll mess with both my mind & body! But here we go - exciting times ahead!
We had already planned an outing into the city and were going to work a treat into our day so as not to blow-out too badly but things kind of snowballed and it may have gotten a little out of hand! It was actually kind of deliberate. We had been biding our time a bit as no auditions were yet booked and both agreed that the second we got a call to tell us we have one, we'd take our training to a new level. So mid-way through our outing, we both got a call! We've locked in a big one and it's just under 2 weeks away which is brilliant timing. We decided on the spot that we'd enjoy one final hurrah and cut the treats out of our diet completely (at least until we finally have something to celebrate!). Clean eating ONLY - most processed foods gone and for me, a lower calorie plan (1200-1300 on low days & 1500 on high days no matter how much exercise I'm doing).
Needless to say, we ate a lot. It started with burgers and kumara fries - my mouth is still watering at the thought... Then cheezels, grain waves & M&Ms for afternoon tea and I baked Mars Bar cupcakes for "dinner". Atrocious, I know. But so worth it (well until the nausea kicked in). Now I realise I said that it's important to have a weekly treat for your mental health, but I believe during this time I can make an exception. I'm nearly half way through my plan and while I've been achieving consistent results, I'd like to speed it up so I'm feeling amazing by my first audition. I crunched the numbers & with the 2-3hrs a day of exercise I'm currently doing and the serious calorie restrictions (don't worry - I won't let myself starve - I know my body), I should be able to lose between 1.5 to 2kg fat in 13 days. Yeah - that much. It will nearly get me to my "final" goal ("final" because it could be a moving target - I've never been there before so I'm not sure it's where I'll want to finish).
Anyways I'll give you a run down of the specifics on my next post so you can see what I'm having to go through to get such dramatic results. It's going to be tough, but it's so short term, I know I can do it. This audition (and the others that will follow) is the reason I moved to NZ - I refuse to waste this opportunity by lacking discipline. After the 13 days are up, I'll resume my regular eating plan - I do not plan on keeping this up... It'll mess with both my mind & body! But here we go - exciting times ahead!
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
week 3 results
Alright the numbers are in. They don't look very impressive on paper but I'm satisfied with the results considering what a tough week it was. I actually surpassed by body fat goal even though I put on weight so let this be a lesson to all... The scales don't tell you the whole story!! If it wasn't for my bodyfat tracking, I would have been really depressed today but it was actually a great week. So please don't put all your hopes & dreams in the scales!! If you can't do body fat testing, at least check your measurements as well and focus more on how you look & feel in your clothes.
*Please note that I am constantly having to change my weight goals due to muscle gain, but my body fat goals are unchanging.
So quite simply, I gained 200g of "weight" however I lost half a kilo of fat & gained 670g muscle which meant nearly 1 whole percent of body fat lost which is awesome. I expect much bigger numbers next week though because I am doing 5 big days at the gym this week and will not have any cheat days (well if I want a cheat "meal", I will still not go over my daily limit). All up it was a successful week but numbers aside I'm realising that success is about moving forward every day... As long as I'm waking up every day, one step closer to my goal, that's all I need to be doing!
Date | Goal | Actual | Change | Goal | Actual | Change |
3/01/12 | 59.80kg | 20.92% | ||||
10/01/12 | 59.00kg | 59.30kg | -0.50kg | 20.00% | 17.35% | -3.57% |
17/01/12 | 58.25kg | 58.80kg | -0.50kg | 19.00% | 16.42% | -0.93% |
24/01/12 | 58.30kg | 59.00kg | +0.20kg | 15.75% | 15.58% | -0.84% |
31/01/12 | 58.25kg | 15.00% | ||||
7/02/12 | 57.50kg | 14.50% | ||||
14/02/12 | 57.00kg | 14.00% | ||||
21/02/12 | 56.50kg | 13.50% | ||||
28/02/12 | 56.00kg | 13.00% | ||||
Total lost: | 0.8kg | 5.34% |
Date | Chest | Navel | Hips | Thigh | Calf | Biceps |
3/01/12 | 90 | 74 | 92 | 57 | 35 | 28 |
10/01/12 | 90 | 73 | 92 | 57 | 35 | 27.5 |
17/01/12 | 88 | 72 | 92 | 56 | 34.5 | 27 |
24/01/12 | 88 | 71 | 91.5 | 56 | 34.5 | 27 |
31/01/12 | ||||||
7/02/12 | ||||||
14/02/12 | ||||||
21/02/12 | ||||||
28/02/12 | ||||||
Total lost: | 2 | 3 | 0.5 | 1 | 0.5 | 1 |
So quite simply, I gained 200g of "weight" however I lost half a kilo of fat & gained 670g muscle which meant nearly 1 whole percent of body fat lost which is awesome. I expect much bigger numbers next week though because I am doing 5 big days at the gym this week and will not have any cheat days (well if I want a cheat "meal", I will still not go over my daily limit). All up it was a successful week but numbers aside I'm realising that success is about moving forward every day... As long as I'm waking up every day, one step closer to my goal, that's all I need to be doing!
Monday, January 23, 2012
just a quick one
So it's weigh in day tomorrow and I'm not really looking forward to it this time... I've actually been feeling pretty good about myself this week but the diet was far from perfect and the only exercise was early on in the week. I'm preparing myself for the worst as far as numbers go. The challenge will be to use that as motivation to push much harder this week with my 5 days of gym work & try and make up for lost time instead of being disappointed and wanting to give up.
I woke up in an awful mood today and I think it's actually partially from the TV I've been watching... been working our way through a series and it's starting to depress me & leaves me feeling quick yuck so I've decided to give it the flick. Only have room for uplifting entertainment right now! I barely made it to the gym - my knees are so bad at the moment I think they're actually worse than when I was performing in shows (oh the irony) & I was due to do sprints AND legs today... just the thought of it made me want to cry! But nevertheless, I stepped into the gym, worked myself out of the misery & managed to do 30 minutes of intense cardio, 20 minutes of sprints AND my tough leg workout (I have 2 versions - today's was the one I always dread).
The walk home was even more challenging... I forgot about my injuries until I finished my workout and then was left in more pain PLUS feeling like jelly. What I would give to own a car right now. The plus side is that I burnt about 700 calories at the gym plus more on the walk to & from so it was a good day's work in the end! I ate about 1600 calories which is fine but I'm struggling to find a routine when I'm at home (work is now easy - I just eat the exact same thing every day) and am left feeling bloated and yuck. Will spend some time re-working my home diet tomorrow once the numbers are in. Well that ended up being a longer update than planned! Time for bed and to face that dreaded weigh-in in the morning. Back soon.
I woke up in an awful mood today and I think it's actually partially from the TV I've been watching... been working our way through a series and it's starting to depress me & leaves me feeling quick yuck so I've decided to give it the flick. Only have room for uplifting entertainment right now! I barely made it to the gym - my knees are so bad at the moment I think they're actually worse than when I was performing in shows (oh the irony) & I was due to do sprints AND legs today... just the thought of it made me want to cry! But nevertheless, I stepped into the gym, worked myself out of the misery & managed to do 30 minutes of intense cardio, 20 minutes of sprints AND my tough leg workout (I have 2 versions - today's was the one I always dread).
The walk home was even more challenging... I forgot about my injuries until I finished my workout and then was left in more pain PLUS feeling like jelly. What I would give to own a car right now. The plus side is that I burnt about 700 calories at the gym plus more on the walk to & from so it was a good day's work in the end! I ate about 1600 calories which is fine but I'm struggling to find a routine when I'm at home (work is now easy - I just eat the exact same thing every day) and am left feeling bloated and yuck. Will spend some time re-working my home diet tomorrow once the numbers are in. Well that ended up being a longer update than planned! Time for bed and to face that dreaded weigh-in in the morning. Back soon.
amazing blueberry pancakes
Made wholemeal blueberry pancakes today and they were DIVINE - not to mention nutritious... They kept me full for a good 5 hours after eating. I'm posting the recipe partly cuz I'm worried I'll lose it (as I did with my previous trusty recipe) and also because I feel the need to share it with the world! It is as follows...
Fluffy Wholemeal Blueberry Pancakes (makes 12 pancakes)
Dry mixture:
2 cups wholemeal flour
1/2 cup traditional rolled oats
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp sugar (I use low GI raw sugar)
1 tsp cinnamon
Wet mixture:
2 large whole eggs (room temperature is best)
2 cups no fat milk (or buttermilk)
4 tbsp unsalted melted butter
2 tsp vanilla essence
1/2-3/4 cup frozen (or fresh) blueberries
Directions:
Mix dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
Whisk together wet ingredients in a separate bowl.
Pour wet ingredients into bowl with dry ingredients and mix together - just until combined, not smooth. Add blueberries & fold in gently. Allow mixture to rest for 5 minutes while heating up fry pan. Make sure pan is at a high temperature before making first pancake - I used spray oil but you can use butter on pan also. Cook approx 3 minutes each side & serve however you choose.
*Pancakes are approx 200 calories each.
Fluffy Wholemeal Blueberry Pancakes (makes 12 pancakes)
Dry mixture:
2 cups wholemeal flour
1/2 cup traditional rolled oats
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp sugar (I use low GI raw sugar)
1 tsp cinnamon
Wet mixture:
2 large whole eggs (room temperature is best)
2 cups no fat milk (or buttermilk)
4 tbsp unsalted melted butter
2 tsp vanilla essence
1/2-3/4 cup frozen (or fresh) blueberries
Directions:
Mix dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
Whisk together wet ingredients in a separate bowl.
Pour wet ingredients into bowl with dry ingredients and mix together - just until combined, not smooth. Add blueberries & fold in gently. Allow mixture to rest for 5 minutes while heating up fry pan. Make sure pan is at a high temperature before making first pancake - I used spray oil but you can use butter on pan also. Cook approx 3 minutes each side & serve however you choose.
*Pancakes are approx 200 calories each.
Friday, January 20, 2012
obligatory update
Exhausted, long frustrating day and so not in the mood to update but thought I should anyway. Sooo had a bit of a cheat day on Wednesday which was definitely not part of the plan however I woke up feeling horrible... fatigued, emotional & well, blue. Realised that I'm not a robot and sometimes I'm going to need something other than an egg salad sandwich or protein shake to perk me up so we had a bit of a feast. Indian of course, plus my famous apple crumble & the bit I regret is corn chips as they left me completely unsatisfied and feeling a bit yuck. Felt awful that night - my stomach must have been in shock. Woke up sweating with stomach cramps and am surprised I didn't throw up. We don't do things by halves...
So again I'm having to be really strict the rest of the week to make sure I still get results. Hoping I can hit half a kilo again despite the blowout. Not overly concerned though as this is my last week of full time work so I'll be hitting the gym 5 days next week (twice a day some of those days) so the fat will fall off a lot faster (providing I can stay away from the pantry when I'm having my usual fatigue induced carb cravings).
I'm pretty proud of how strong I am while at work... I'm surrounded by colleagues and public alike stuffing their faces with fast food while I'm eating my egg sandwich (lunch) & low carb bites (arvo tea) and at the end of the day when I'm sore & exhausted, it's sooo tough walking through that food court without caving. I try to look for the people who are heart attacks waiting to happen & the chips suddenly don't look quite so appealing.
I probably sound like a broken record but WOW this is tough! The good news though is that despite a couple of slip ups, this is the best 3 weeks of eating of my entire life. I've never eaten such clean, nutritious food for an extended period of time. I've always had an aversion to vegetables & most proteins so to have overcome that and have stuck with it for 3 weeks is a good feeling! I guess I'll just keep chipping away at it...
So again I'm having to be really strict the rest of the week to make sure I still get results. Hoping I can hit half a kilo again despite the blowout. Not overly concerned though as this is my last week of full time work so I'll be hitting the gym 5 days next week (twice a day some of those days) so the fat will fall off a lot faster (providing I can stay away from the pantry when I'm having my usual fatigue induced carb cravings).
I'm pretty proud of how strong I am while at work... I'm surrounded by colleagues and public alike stuffing their faces with fast food while I'm eating my egg sandwich (lunch) & low carb bites (arvo tea) and at the end of the day when I'm sore & exhausted, it's sooo tough walking through that food court without caving. I try to look for the people who are heart attacks waiting to happen & the chips suddenly don't look quite so appealing.
I probably sound like a broken record but WOW this is tough! The good news though is that despite a couple of slip ups, this is the best 3 weeks of eating of my entire life. I've never eaten such clean, nutritious food for an extended period of time. I've always had an aversion to vegetables & most proteins so to have overcome that and have stuck with it for 3 weeks is a good feeling! I guess I'll just keep chipping away at it...
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
the quarter way point
Well I survived another week and I'm very pleased to say that it ended up being a good one! Despite getting off to a bumpy start, my calorie compensating did the trick & I got some great results that are very consistent with last week's - no nasty surprises. My irrational fear that I'll put in the work & never get my dream body are starting to disappear... It's becoming clear that if you have a plan, accountability & are consistent, results are inevitable. Yay!
So here are the results tables. I had to adjust my goals for the weight/bodyfat table as the rate of weight loss is different to my body fat loss and I was only guessing when I first made the table anyway. Oh, and I took photos but you can't really see the difference that I can see in person so I'm just going to post the photo montage at the end.
All up, it was a great week. To know I can achieve results like this with only 3 workouts a week, it's very encouraging. Particularly because I only have one more week of this then I'll be back to 5 days a week at the gym & some serious fat dropping. Goals for this week: No cheat days - consistency is key. Low days will be 1300-1500 calories, high days will be 1700-1800 calories. Also going to work on positive thinking - appreciating my body as it is now as well as believing that I will reach all my goals in the next 6 weeks. This week I will also post some more details about what exercise I've been doing & things I've been eating so you know exactly what I'm doing to achieve these results.
So here are the results tables. I had to adjust my goals for the weight/bodyfat table as the rate of weight loss is different to my body fat loss and I was only guessing when I first made the table anyway. Oh, and I took photos but you can't really see the difference that I can see in person so I'm just going to post the photo montage at the end.
| Date | Goal | Actual | Change | Goal | Actual | Change |
| 3/01/12 | | 59.80kg | | | 20.92% | |
| 10/01/12 | 59.00kg | 59.30kg | -0.50kg | 20.00% | 17.35% | -3.57% |
| 17/01/12 | 58.25kg | 58.80kg | -0.50kg | 19.00% | 16.42% | -0.93% |
| 24/01/12 | 58.30kg | | | 15.75% | | |
| 31/01/12 | 57.80kg | | | 15.00% | | |
| 7/02/12 | 57.30kg | | | 14.50% | | |
| 14/02/12 | 56.80kg | | | 14.00% | | |
| 21/02/12 | 56.40kg | | | 13.50% | | |
| 28/02/12 | 56.00kg | | | 13.00% | | |
| Total lost: | | | 1.0kg | | | 4.5% |
| Date | Chest | Navel | Hips | Thigh | Calf | Biceps |
| 3/01/12 | 90 | 74 | 92 | 57 | 35 | 28 |
| 10/01/12 | 90 | 73 | 92 | 57 | 35 | 27.5 |
| 17/01/12 | 88 | 72 | 92 | 56 | 34.5 | 27 |
| 24/01/12 | | | | | | |
| 31/01/12 | | | | | | |
| 7/02/12 | | | | | | |
| 14/02/12 | | | | | | |
| 21/02/12 | | | | | | |
| 28/02/12 | | | | | | |
| Total lost: | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0.5 | 1 |
All up, it was a great week. To know I can achieve results like this with only 3 workouts a week, it's very encouraging. Particularly because I only have one more week of this then I'll be back to 5 days a week at the gym & some serious fat dropping. Goals for this week: No cheat days - consistency is key. Low days will be 1300-1500 calories, high days will be 1700-1800 calories. Also going to work on positive thinking - appreciating my body as it is now as well as believing that I will reach all my goals in the next 6 weeks. This week I will also post some more details about what exercise I've been doing & things I've been eating so you know exactly what I'm doing to achieve these results.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)