Week 2: Day 1 - Monday Weigh In

Monday weigh in time... 1st one on the plan and had good results: 

Weight: 186 lbs (-3lbs)

Hips: 48.5 Inches (-0.5inches) 

I am very pleased with this, especially the loss around the hips, I have to lose a total of 4 inches from Hips to fit into my wedding dress so am pleased to see results already. 

 The weekend was good, but not great, I made a few mistakes but nothing too big. I originally thought I was going to have my treat day on Friday's but I found that this is a mistake as I am then more easily lead astray over the weekend. I wasn't awful, but I wasn't great. I think now I will make Saturday night to Sunday Lunch my treat time. I will a) not go overboard as conscious  I have the weigh in the next day and b) I can then limit the damage I might do. As mentioned I am more relaxed at the weekend and I think this should still be the same but I am already finding my 'wants' changing. 

On Friday night I went over to my parents for dinner which was very nice and we had a 3 course meal but by the time the main meal was served I was feeling pretty full and actually had a really small helping and even then couldn't finish it. On Saturday we had wine and I didn't go overboard at all I poured myself a third glass and then didn't drink it as I just didn't want it...normally I would have had 3 or 4 glasses and not worried about it. On Sunday I did have a downfall, I went to my parents for breakfast and they served croissant.. I just can't help it... I love them...I had one pain chocolate, 1 croissant and 1 brioche.. not good.. and then had a full blown Sunday lunch with them as well... not good at all... 

However I learnt lessons...putting them into actions and moving on from it. Looking forward to this week, have my dinner plans all set out and going food shopping tonight so am confident I will have another successful week. I know that a 3lbs loss is quite alot so am not expecting to see the same reults again.. would love to hit 182/183lbs by the end of the week but as along as I stick to the -1.5lbs a week I will be happy... 

Food for today is: 

Breakfast: Porridge with Water, Protein Shake with Milk (538Cals)

Lunch: Spring Vegetable Soup (130 Cals)

Dinner: Steak and Chips and Mayo with Side Salad (961 Cals)

TOTAL:1629Gross 1318Net

Large Dinner tonight...mainly from the Steak.

Week 1: Days 4&5: 2nd Fast Day & Normal Day

Thought I would do a double day re-cap. Yesterday was my second Fast Day and was a little harder than the 1st I have to admit. I have been sleeping very badly recently so was tired and grumpy first thing without even being an hour into fasting. I was ok though and didn't have any hunger pangs that were too bad, I find the best thing to do when I am feeling hungry is to think about the meal I am having in the evening, rather than making me more hungry if I really imagine all food in detail it almost seems to fill me up! 

I made it through the day and then went to my Yoga class in the evening, I am a newbie to Yoga and am enjoying it more and more, the one thing I find hard is following all the instructions when you are looking down or supposed to have your eyes closed. I don't know all the names of the poses yet so normally follow what people are doing a fraction behind them, this is obviously quite hard to do when you can't see anything!!  I felt fine through the yoga class and actually got quite a sweat on which still surprises me as I will admit I didn't think yoga would be as strenuous as it is! 

My dinner last night was perfect, I had a Prawn Stir fry with noodles and sweet and sour sauce with lots of fresh garlic. I measured all my food and the total cals came in just under 500cals. What has stunned me both days so far is that I don't finish my whole meal on a Fast Day, I go from quite hungry to quite full reasonably quickly. 

Jumped on the scales this morning and am 2lbs down (187lbs), very happy with that, if that will still be the case on Monday morning after the weekend we will see but I would hope so. I am treating today (Friday) as a bit of a treat day as I am going out for lunch and am going to my parents house for dinner, will be extra good and gym on Saturday and normally don't go overboard at all on Sundays as I am aware I have a weigh in the next day. 

I went to the gym this morning and again did an ok workout, for some reason this week I have really struggled with my runs, it's not with my breathing or lack of enthusiasm it's that my legs are just  feeling knackered.This morning I did about 25 minutes at 5mph and gradient 1....not too bad...but..a) last week I did 30mins straight at 5.3mph and felt fine and b) after 10mins I took a 1 min break and after 15 mins took another 1 min break but still made sure I ran for 20mins so made up for the rests. Then off to work for a High Protein Breakfast of:

3xChorizo Slices

140g Prawns

Beef Tomato

100g Cottage Cheese

Half a Ball of Mozzarella

A perfect 499Cals

Because I haven't been great with the runs this week, like I said, I am going to go to the gym again tomorrow. I have said to myself that on Saturdays it's my choice if I go and if some weeks I feel like I have done enough then I will treat it as a bonus rest day and if not will take my arse to the gym to make up for the things I have missed. 

Have a good weekend and look forward to giving you the results of my weigh in after my 1st week officially back on plan.  

Week1:Day 3:Non Fast Day

Got up at 6am to take myself to the gym, had an OK workout but wasn't my best. I think it will take awhile for my body to get to used to the new eating habits. I exercise in the morning before breakfast and found my run quite hard. I completed 20mins running at 5.3mph and then followed it by some weights and toning exercises. Normally on Wednesday I will do a HiiT run but on Monday my run was rubbish due to large amounts of wine consumed with friends on the Sunday evening so decided to do a normal straight run. Over the Christmas period I was going to the gym in the afternoons as I had the free time and was hitting 30mins at 5.3mph but I have noticed this week that I don't seem to be able to hit the same minute mark so over the next 2 weeks would like to bring my time back up to 30mins. I am presuming that I am not able to hit it due to the time of day and the lack of energy compared to mid-afternoon when I have eaten 2 meals! 

Foodwise I did fine, if anything I felt like I had eaten to much but according to my cals I was on track: 

Breakfast: Cottage Cheese, Chrizo, Tomato, Mozzerella, 2x Hard Boiled Eggs (582 Cals)

Lunch: Tomato and Basil Soup (198 Cals)

Dinner: Penne Pasta with Pesto, Steamed Salmon (788Cals) 

Total: 1588Gross 1367Net

Normally I would like my dinner to be less calories but didn't realise quite how high Pesto is in calories.. it is yummy though! One thing that did interest me through the day was that I realise I eat when I feel like I should do rather than because I am hungry. I normally take my lunch at midday, I had a few stomach grumbles at the time and thought "God..I'm so hungry" but actually realised that yes my stomach was grumbling but actually I wasn't that hungry and I was saying it because I knew I had food and could eat. On the Fast day I had stomach grumbles and I just ignored them or put up with them as I knew eating wasn't an option for me. 

I have another Fast Day coming up, am looking forward to it and will be interested to see how I deal with it having already done one this week. 

P.S Still no wine yet this week! 

Week 1:Day 2 - First Fast Day

Yesterday was my first Fast Day (FD) and I have to say I was so surprised how easy I found it...yes I am a little bit smug about that!I have tried doing the 5:2 before but couldn't hack it as I just found it to hard just having 500cals for the day. Yesterday however I was fine. I had a few pangs of hunger but nothing I couldn't handle or had me in the corner calling for my Mother...! I didn't have anything for Breakfast or Lunch and I was going to have my planned protein shake before heading to the gym but to be honest I didn't feel like I needed it at all. I don't know why I found it easy, I don't know if it's because this time around I am lighter than I was before and fitter than I was before or if it is because mentally this is it for me. Last year I kind of messed around with losing weight and this time am ready for the last hurdle to get me where I want to be. 

I did have  a small disaster yesterday as when I got into my car in the evening after work I found that my clutch had decided to break... not good... so had to call the AA to come and help me, they were there very quickly which was good and actually managed to fix it.Luckily for me my clutch hadn't broken but had seized due to them getting wet when I had driven through a flooded a road....so relieved that my clutch is fine.. but unfortunately I did mean that I missed my planned callanetics class which I was quite annoyed about. 

I got home around 7ish and even then I was still feeling fine, don't get me wrong I was a little hungry but wasn't going to tear the fridge door off. I even contemplated on not having dinner and going to bed early as although I could have happily eaten I also could have happily not eaten. 

We did have dinner, Biggy cooked rice with chicken, pepper, celery and tomatoes. I had a small amount of rice and more of the sauce which was very yummy. I even ended up leaving some on my plate. The meal came in at just under 500cals so all good. 

One mistake I believe I did make was actually having Carbs as part of my meal. We went to bed not long after eating (1.5/2hrs) and I just felt so awake. I think because my stomach was empty my body used the carbs straight away so I had a energy kick.. obviously not at the right time for me! I didn't get to sleep until 12am or later and then didn't sleep that well.

On Thursday (2nd Fast Day) I am again planning on not eating until dinner, I have yoga in the evening and if all goes well should actually be able to make it this time! Depending on how I feel after Yoga I may eat, I may not. I am going to listen to my body and see what I want to do. 

Semi Fittie to Fully Fledged Fittie: The Plan: Day 1

Hi! Ok so as you will know I am back to blogging but am now in a whole different place to where I was when I first started, I am better informed, better controlled, better health, better thinking, better fitness and most of all enjoy a healthy lifestyle alot more... 

In 2013 I lost a stone but most of this was done by the Summer and then I seemed to plateau for quite awhile, maybe going up 2-3lbs but never going below 182lbs (13stone) I decided to try and shake things up a bit and actually stopped counting calories... this resulted in a 7lbs gain and put me up to 189lbs... so I annoyingly start the year higher than I wanted.. however lesson learnt...food enjoyed... and now back to it... 

I want to loose a further 28lbs having lost 42lbs from my heaviest weight (231lbs) and 33lbs from my average weight (222lbs) ... I have a real aim at the moment and a completion date due to the fact that I am getting married in June.. I want to lose the weight by April which is when my dress will arrive and I actually HAVE to lose the weight as my dress is 5inches to small for me around the hips... so it's not just a case of wanting to lose weight...its the case of HAVING to lose the weight otherwise my dress won't fit. 

Through all the things I have learnt over the past year and my new found love of exercise I have come up with a realistic plan for me that I feel I can stick to and be happy on. I am using a number of different things that I have looked into and had experience of. I need to loose 1.5lbs a week to hit my target of 28lbs lost by end of April. I am using a mix of counting calories, 5:2Diet and exercise to achieve this...

.....THE PLAN....

2 Fast Days a Week - 500cals Gross  (Tues & Thurs)

1280Net Cals a day on Normal Eating Days

3 sessions of Cardio a week (Running and Weights)

2 sessions of Toning a week (Callanetics and Yoga)

No alcohol during the week

High Protein Breakfasts

Veg with every meal

....DETAILS...

Fast Days:

I have read alot about the 5:2 diet and all the positive changes it makes to your body as well as the weight loss that goes with it. I have tried to do it in the past but didn't stick it out. I do now feel that I am in the right place to do it and know that if I can get through the first few fast days I will be able to incorporate into my lifestyle for the long term. Doing the 5:2 also allows me SOME degree of flexibility with counting calories on normal days to ensure I do hit the negative cals needed to hit 1.5lbs loss a week. I will not be eating a until the evening but will be having a protein shake if needed at 5pm before my exercise class. With the restricted cals I will can have the shake and then a large tub of soup in the evening.

Counting Cals:

I have counted calories from the very start of this journey and if done properly really works for me, there are so many easy ways to do it and can work with any lifestyle you have. I have used MyFitnessPal to calculate my daily calories allowed with a predicted loss of 1.5lbs a week, it works out at a limit of 1280net a day, MFP is linked to my Fitbit so will calculate any positive or negative cals earned from exercise. On average my Gross cals are around 1500per day once I have exercised. My main aim is to really stick to this, in the past I have counted calories but have often gone over my limit and only managed 2 or 3 days a week on track. Due to the fast days however I will allow myself SOME freedom and won't panic if I go over by 100cals or so however I do not expect to do this often. With the 5:2 plan and counting cals it will allow me to hit the 5250 negative for 1.5lbs loss. 

Exercise: 

I am so happy to say that I now love the gym, in the past I was going running every day and have progressed so much with my time and distance. I go to the gym in the mornings before work as this fits in with my lifestyle and it's then out of the way. I will go to the gym in the mornings for a run on my non-fast days and work on increasing my speed and endurance. At the moment I am averaging 30mins running at a speed of 5.3mph...which is working out at just under 3miles... I am confident that I will hit the 3mile mark soon. I have also started doing HiiT runs and plan on doing one a week which will be on a Wednesday. Currently when doing HiiT I am doing 3 mins on at 6mph and 2 mins off. 

On Tuesdays and Thursdays I will be doing a Callanetics class and a Yoga class in the evening (1 each day). These are quite low impact but still so good for you and really tone your body, I will be having dinner directly after so am not worried about doing them on a Fast Day. 

Alcohol:

I drink alot..not Vodka or hard spirits but am one of those people that come home from work and open a bottle of wine, by the end of the night a bottle and half or sometimes 2 will have been drunk between the 2 of us and this happens most nights. I want to really cut this down as wine is just empty calories and obviously not so good for you in high quantities. I will allow myself wine on Friday nights up to Sunday lunch (no wine on Sunday evening) but even then will try and stop myself from having too much and hope to get it down to 2 glasses when I do drink. 

Protein: 

I am a huge fan of protein and since I started having high protein at breakfast I have found that I am able to reduce my over all eating and am not so hungry during the day. I have things like egg, turkey, chicken, hummus, cottage cheese etc all for breakfast. For me it works, especially as I exercise before Breakfast. I have a big breakfast, followed by a light lunch and then a medium sized dinner. 

Veg:

This is obvious, veg is good for you.. I should eat more! 

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So that's the plan, I feel really good, I feel in the right place for this partly because I don't have the choice of failing and also because I am really succeeding with exercise it's driving me to sort out my food. 

This the journey... from semi-fittie to fully fledged fittie.... 

Old Blog to New Blog

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Here we are again... haven't been blogging as to be honest just didn't feel the need... but now I want to come back to it. Like I said last time though I feel like before my blog was very up and down and although it's good to talk about the negatives I really just want to stick to positives.  I was very tempted to start a new Blog but realised that in a way that would be cheating...the last year and a half has made me who I am today and it's all part of the journey..

So here is the line I am drawing from OLD BLOG to NEW BLOG

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Dear Diary

Hi! OMG... the first thing I have to say is just how much my thighs are hurting.. it hurts to sit down, to stand up, to walk, to go up stairs, to go down stairs it HURTS to do anything.. and that's all thanks to Squats! #NoPainNoGain I have started the 30 day Squat Challenge which sees you finishing on 250 Squats on Day 30... now due to the pain I am in right now.. I might stretch it to a 60 day Squat challenge as don't see the point in achieving 250 squats in one session but then not being able to do any for 3 months because my body is recovering!! 

I'm really pleased to report that I am really staying on track. I am still not counting calories but am logging what I have eaten and estimating at the end of the day. I have downloaded a App which is a cute diary, very girlie but perfect for what I want. I have set up 12 week events and am challenging myself to stay healthy for those 12 weeks which include over Christmas! They say it takes 12 weeks for the rest of the world to notice you have lost weight so am going to be living in 12 week batches until I am totally happy with my figure! 

Anyway...I write in the diary what workout I did, what I weighed in the morning, food for the day, Estimated Calorie Intake and then finish with if I had a Healthy Day or not. Although I'm writing things down I don't feel like I'm logging food and I only count up what I have had at the end of the day. I'm wanting to move away from being on a 'diet' and just move into the realm of Healthy Living without having to restrict myself to anything. I feel that this will actually stop me from going on binges as everything is accessible to me all day long... it's just my choice to be healthy. I feel that for me at this stage this is what I need. I managed to break a lot of habits and taught myself what healthy is from calorie counting etc... but now I need to move away from that. 

I have been on track with the gym as well this week which is great.. I went running on Monday and Tuesday and swimming today, then going running Thursday and Friday. Normally I would go to the gym at the weekend as well but this weekend I am having a party on Saturday night (#PartyTime) so won't have time to goon the Saturday and have people staying on the Sunday. 

I will be doing a write up on this new Protein Shake I am taking next time.. it's not paid or anything but is just really yummy and want to share it so check back soon to read it! 

The Return

Yes... I know.. I haven't been here for quite awhile... No particular reason why.. To be honest I have just wanted a break from things... It's been a bit up and down the last few weeks. Im still not under 182lbs.. and I don't think it's actually going to ever happen but I'm ok with that... The last few weeks I have shaken things up a bit and it was all fine for while but then put on a 5lbs from a very bad diet over about 10 days... I am now paying the price of it.  

I am no longer counting calories as to be totally honest I got fed up of constantly counting everything. I know what I should have and I know what I shouldn't have. I know how much I should have of things and know in principle what I should be doing it.. so it's time to just get on with it now. 

I have been doing well at the gym and feel like I am making progress there, even ran 2.7miles in 30mins the other day which I was really pleased with..when I get to 3miles in 30mins I will be quite proud of myself! 

Anyway.. the last few weeks haven't been great... but Im drawing a line under it and under my complaining and under my weakness and under my re-starts and under my failures. This whole lack of will power is a mental thing and if I can have the willpower to run and get up at 6.00am to go to the gym then I can damn well have the willpower to say no to food that realistically I am not going to miss if I don't eat it! 

I hope to be back blogging now I am settled into my job... but I'm done with complaining, and moaning. It will be positive thoughts, positive actions from here on in...