Weekend Post

I was mega lazy on Saturday morning. I had planned to go to Body Pump followed by Pilates but I decided against BP as it would be a different instructor. As for Pilates, well, like I said, I'm a lazy girl.

I can really feel the difference the last few weeks of spin have made to my legs, my thighs feel firmer when I prod them and I can see that I'm losing my "love handles". I am inspired to keep at it but at the same time also a little frustrated that other bloggers are losing pounds at a faster rate than I am. I know I shouldn't compare myself to other people and that the first few pounds drop off easily so I will just focus on what I'm doing. In the same breath, I will also say I find other blogs really inspirational.

I had a fabulous cheat meal last night. I ordered small fish and chips. Usually, I would have eaten perhaps 3/4 of it but I only managed 1/3 before I got bit bored of it. Halleluja, I think my tastebuds are slowly changing!!

Food for Sunday


B: Maple Syrup Oatso Simple
S: Braeburn apple
L: Half pot of M & S King Prawn Noodle Soup
S: 4 Olives
S:
D: M & S Count on Us Spinach and Riccotta Cannelloni

Exercise: Rest Day

Total Calories: 907 (ridiculously poor, I blame it in the soup I had for lunch)
Carbs: 136
Fat: 17
Protein: 52

Food for Saturday

B: Maple Syrup Oatso Simple
S: Braeburn apple
L: Half pot of M & S King Prawn Noodle Soup
S: 4 Olives
S: Green Apple
D: 1/3 portion of small fish and chips

Exercise: None (shame on me!!)

Total Calories: 1,045
Carbs: 178
Fat: 32
Protein: 73

TGIF

It's Friday morning and I feel a m a z i n g. I'm so syked up! Spin today was beyond belief, I upped my resistance and did all but one of the standing sprints. Now that's what I call a beasting! I had limitless energy and the only thing that I have done differently is not eat my usual banana on the way to the class. I worked so hard I felt sick after the class, having to do 20 mins of circuits after was torture. I think the rest of the class felt it too because everyone looked slightly glassy eyed.

Breakfast was one slice of wholemeal toast and scrambled eggs - delish!

I'm going to Pump tomorrow morning before my pilates class. I'm already starting to feel like I can push myself even more and add an extra class to my regime. 3 weeks until Sri Lanka and my short term goal - woohoooo!!

Food for Today

B: One slice wholemeal toast and scrambled eggs
L: Salad Bar
S: M & S Count on Us Lasagne
D: Hot Chocolate

Exercise: Spin/Circuit

Total Calories: 1,212
Carbs: 139
Protein: 75
Fat: 37

Food for Thursday

B: Fruit salad, raising and sliced almonds topped with greek yogurt
L: Salad bar
S: Large banana
S: Bliss Special K bar
D: Half Broccoli and Stilton soup
S: Hot Chocolate

Exercise: 1 hour Body Pump class

Total Calories: 1,108
Carbs: 140
Fat: 28
Protein: 48

Water: An amazing 8 glasses! Finally - I have reached 8 bleeding glasses!

Start of Week 4

All of life's, work's and family stresses are catching up with me. It's affecting my diet too, I'm feeling like I want to pig out and stuff my face with crap to feel better.

Went to spin this morning. Felt knackered, but had a bit more luck with the standing sprints. The instructor said I was improving with each class! My food today has been generally good - went to Cafe Nero and had the soup but left the delicious looking bread :)

Food for Today

S: Banana
B: 1 slice wholemeal toast and 3 scrambled eggs
L: Cafe Nero Carrot & Coriander soup
S: Hot Chocolate
D: Sainsbury's large salad pot

Total Calories: 1,091
Fat: 33g
Carbs: 159g
Protein: 50g

Operation Butt Kick

I have decided to join Jag's Operation Butt Kick. The idea is that I take front, side and back photos of myself now and again on March 31st to see what I can achieve by following a healthy diet and fitness regime. My boyfriend kindly took the photos for me and they are sitting patiently, waiting to be revealed to the world wide web in 9 weeks time!

I really wish I had taken photos 3 weeks ago to see the difference that 5 lbs makes :)

Week 3 Weigh In

I have been so incredibly busy at work this week that I have felt too tired to blog. All in all I would summarise the week as 80% good, 20% naughty - exactly what I am aiming for. The 20% naughty comes from half a slice of carrot cake (in aid of the Haiti cake bake) and a bag of Maltesers during the week and at the weekend. I felt like I was coming down with a cold so I missed my Friday morning spin/circuit class but Body Pump on Thursday was great (I lifted heavier weights) and pilates on Saturday was a really good stretch. I'm really syked up about spin tomorrow, I'm going to give 200% to make up for Friday.

Food this week has been pretty good. My lovely boyfriend took me out to Wagamama's - where I happily scoffed most of my Chicken Katsu Curry - and to the cinema to watch Up in the Air - where I happily scoffed Maltesers!

I weighed myself at the gym yesterday and was pleased to find that I've lost another 1.5 lbs!! I'm so pleased, particularly as it's my TOTM and I am feeling quite bloated. That means I have so far lost a grand total of 5 lbs, which puts me well on the way to reaching my short term target of losing 8 lbs by February 19th!!!

Week 3

I've got through Week 2! I had a couple of blips along the way but nothing major.

Here's to making sure Week 3 is filled with healthy eating and plenty of exercise.

Food for today:

S: Tangerine
B: Slice of wholemeal toast and 3 scrambled eggs
L: Salad bar
S: Walkers Sun Bites Wholegrain crisps
D:

Water:
Exercise: Spin - really felt it today too but I could have made a better effort.


Food for Sunday:

B: Golden Syrup Oatso simple
S: Chopped Nectarine topped with Natural yogurt
L: Half carton Sainsburys Carrot & Coriander soup
S: Skinny late
D: Pork chop, mangetout, sweetcorn and beetroot salad

Water: Again, dreadful
Exercise: Rest day

Total Calories: 926
Carbs: 103
Fat:24
Protein: 76

Weekend Pilates

I am suffering from DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness), Lordy am I suffering! I went to spin yesterday morning and had a good go at the standing sprint and I'm paying for it now. I found yesterday harder than any other class and was essentially useless in Circuits afterwards. In summary today I feel like I've been kicked in the ribs and had my quads sliced. Today I tried a Pilates class with the boyfriend to get a good stretch. It is very diferent to yoga and, ideally, I would do both. My exercise schedule is pretty packed though so adding anything else to it would be unrealistic. I'm quite lucky on that my gym is in the same building as my work so I popped in and unpacked all my boxes ahead of my move to a new department on Monday. I had a good appraisal from my previous department so I want to hit the ground running. Unfortunately this means I will probably have to miss a walk with the girls tomorrow as I reckon I'll go in to work again tomorrow.

A few months ago I discovered beetroot and today I re-discovered beetroot salad! I forgot how much I love the stuff and it will be this week's Food of the Week. I did notice that it has a high sugar content so I will be sure not to have it too often. It went amazingly well with my pork chop and sweetcorn dinner. I go weak at the knees at the thought of crackling so I made sure to trim the fat prior to grilling!

I confess that I fell off the wagon a little yesterday - I had a mini donut and 2 chocolate squares and today I had 4 chocolate squares. But as I will not allow a fall off the wagon to amount to a relapse I'm just going to get on with it.

Food for Today

B: Maple syrup oatso simple
S: 4 squares of chocolate
L: Half carton Carrot & Coriander soup
D: Pork chop with beetroot salad and sweetcorn
S: Vanilla custard Muller Rice

Water: A B Y S M A L

Exercise: 1 hour Pilates

Total calories: 991
Carbs: 109
Fat: 28
Protein: 68

Week 1 Weigh in

I had my weigh in last night, to say I was terrified doesn't describe the feeling! I've lost 3.5 lbs! Considering that my goal was to lose about 7 lbs by 19 February, I am elated! I have never combined a good diet with exercise before, I have always done either/or so, it's fantastic to see that I can get such good results!

I had my cheat meal last night too. To tell the truth, I really needed it. I was starting to lose motivation, not drinking enough water and really suffering from the munchies to the point where I was sneaking tbsp of peanut butter! My weigh in results have put me back on track and I am more excited than ever about what I can achieve by my short term goal date and long term goal date.

This morning I went to Body Pump, it was a really good class. I used a weighted bar as I am a beginner so it will be great to move on to proper weights next week and really push myself. My legs aren't aching (ye) but I have a feeling that after all those squats and lunges I will be feeling it in spin tomorrow morning. Feel the burn!

My boyfriend is a bit of a yoga nut but I have manageg to persuade him to try pilates instead with me on Saturday afternoon. I also have a long walk from Streatham Common to Wimbledon planned with the girls on Sunday. So at the moment, my exercise diary is looking like this:

Friday: Spin/Circuit training
Saturday: Pilates
Monday: Spin
Tuesday: Pilates
Thursday: Body Pump

There is an abs/back class on Wednesday which would probably sort me out but I think I will stick to Body Pump instead for a full-body workout.

Food for today

S: Banana
B: Wholemeal toast and 3 scrambled eggs
S:Clementine
L: Salad Bar
S: Green Apple
D: Small Itsu Dynamite Duck

Water: 5 glasses

Total Calories: 1, 089
Carbs: 127
Fat: 30
Protein: 37

Exercise: Body Pump

With the exception of carbs, I'm generally not hitting my micronutrient targets, they are too low. Not really sure how to bring my protein up and carbs down, particularly as I am already not eating rice or pasta ...

Food for Wednesday

B: About 15g Honey nut shredded wheat and fruit salad
L: Itsu Dynamite Free Range Chicken
D: Cheat meal of Garfunkel Burger and Chips (gross - but I love it!)

Water: 6 glasses

Total calories:1, 607
Carbs: 109
Fat: 44
Protein: 40

Exercise: None

FFFFfffffs!

What the hell? I'm STARVING! I've eaten all my calories to no avail. Boo :(

B: 33g Shredded Wheat and skimmed milk
L: Whole chicken breast, green salad and 3 bean salad
S: Banana and handful of mixed nuts
D: Tuna melt

Total calories: 1256
Carbs: 129
Fat: 28
Protein: 120

Exercise: Rest day

Roll on Thursday and my weigh in. I'm up bright and early tomorrow for an abs and back class.

Also, got my appraisal tomorrow morning. Fingers crossed for me hey.

Amen to the Burn!

Feel the burn! Went to another spin class this morning, much better than Friday. I still can't do the "standing sprint" but I got a "You there in the back - excellent!" from the instructor, which made my day :)I felt sick after the class, I guess that means I really worked it.

I felt funny all day, possibly down to a ridiculously low water intake, I only managed 3 glasses on top of the water I consumed during spin.

I have been RAVERNOUS all day. Really couldn't control the munchies as evidenced by my diet. I gave in and had bangers and mash for lunch and a whole New Covent Garden Broccoli and Stilton soup for dinner. Suprisingly, I remained within my calorie intake.

I'm on the look-out for some liquid egg whites. I'm trying to reduce my carb intake and thought substituting my breakfast Shredded Wheat for an egg white omelette. I would probably have to eat it cold though as I prefer to eat at work.

Food for today:

S: Banana
B: 33g Shredded Wheat and Skimmed Milk
S: Grapes
L: Bangers and Mash with onion gravy (bring it on!)
S: Pineapple and mango chunks
D: Broccoli and Stilton Soup

Total calories: 1,041
Carbs: 138
Fat: 37
Protein: 24

Exercise: 45 minute spin class

Quick Update

Feeling better than earlier today. Had a bath, exfoliated, straightened my hair, put on some slap and packed a clean, fresh gym kit. I'm now going to make a chicken stir-fry (with or without bread - haven't decided yet) and then head off to the boyfriend's house. Might even treat myself to a magazine on the train :)

When I wake up tomorrow, I will have made it through week 1 which is always the hardest, well, in comparison to week 2 anyway!

The Weekend

I knew I would find the weekend hard. Saturday was fine, although my water intake was rubbish at just 3 glasses. For lunch I made a yummy tuna melt and for dinner a homemade tomato soup which I'm having for lunch today.

Today I feel depressed. Don't really know why but I suspect it has something to do with reading another fitness blog and feeling like I'm not going to achieve the weight loss that blogger did.

Also, I couln't eat all my brekfast porridge as it was made with full fat milk (all there was in the fridge) and I felt sick after a few mouthfulls.

Hopefully I can shake off the whole feeling upset thing soon. After all, I have spin to look forward to tomorrow morning!

As for daily intake, I was under 1,200 calories yesterday and also in the green for everything else.

Gym Bunny

Morning Morning!

I bit the bullet and joined the gym last night. I borrowed money from my sister to cover the fees because although I'm skint, I really didn't want to wait until payday. In any case, my firm will reimburse the fees to me in a couple of days.

I went to my first ever spin/circuit class at 7.30 this morning, despite the ice. All I can say is that 15 minutes into the class I was seriously considering my sanity in going and convinced I wouldn't make it through the class. I don't know how anybody does it! I had to skip a few of the high resistance and speed intervals as my knees were hurting and, well, I just couldn't cut it. Circuit afterwards was a nice break too. Although it was hellish at the time, I will go back on Monday morning and make it my goal to do the entire clase - I can only get better! Next week I have a one to one session with a personal trainer to take me through a resistance and HIIT routine I can follow - very excited! Not sure when I will be able to do the exercises though as there are classes every morning I would like to go to in addition to swimming. Spin on Monday, Pilates/Swimming on Tuesday, Abs/Back on Weds, Body Pump on Thurs and Spin/Circuit on Fri. I know I need to incorporate rest days between the gym but hopefully the fact that I'm doing something different every day and nothing at the weekend will mean I am okay. I'll raise this with the PT.

Prior to bed last night I packed my gym bag and set out my work clothes to make getting up early easier. I even packed a swimsuit so I would have something else to do if my class was cancelled because of low turnout. I was fresh as a daisy this morning! It might have had something to do with my new alarm clock ring tone. It was giving me a heart attack every morning so I decided to change it to a mellow jazz tune. It was so mellow that for a while I was convinced I had added a soundtrack to my dreams before realising it was the alarm clock.

Remember in my last post I mentioned that I had weighed myself on my new house scales and hit 11 stone? Well, I weighed myself again last night when I was at the gym and I am exactly 10 st 7 as I had thought! A bit of a relief but it does mean I can't record a miraculous 7 pound weight loss next week ;)

I stopped by Itsu again on the way home last night. I am officially addicted to Itsu. I cannot get enough of their vegetable dumplings! It is just a pure miracle that they are healthy and I can incorporate them into my daily allowance. Whilst I was in there last night I also spotted that they do healthy popcorn which comes in at around 90 calories and low fat! They also do frozen yogurt that's low cal! I am officially in food heaven!!!

Overall I am feeling euphoric that I hit the gym this morning and that I have eaten well all week. I am, however, occasionally suffering from headaches. Not sure if it's just my body reacting to my new, healthier diet or if its even my contact lenses. Hopefully it will pass. I have also been thinking about incorporating "cheat meals" into my week. I don't want my body to get used to never eating an unhealthy meal as it will probably be easier to re-gain weight when I do occasionally indulge. I'm aiming for being 80% good and 20% naughty however it might be too early to start incorporating cheats???

I tend to find eating healthily at weekends difficult so I will have to plan my meals before bed tonight.

Finally, I have decided that Thursdays will be weigh-in days at the gym with the following Thursday being a measurement day. I am so far on track so here's to making show I stay that way!

S: Banana
B: 33g Shredded Wheat with skimmed milk
S: Red apple
L: Steamed Hoki fish with beetroot, spring onions and 3 bean salad
S: Vanilla Muller Light
D: 2 egg Omelette with bacon, chicken, spring onions and 50g of cheese (DELICIOUS!!)

Total Calories: 1,464
Carbs: 135
Fat: 42
Protein: 122

7 Glasses

Exercise: 7.30 am spin class

The banana was suppose to give me some energy before the spin class and it worked. I decided to use my exercise calories and get steamed fish for lunch (delish!!) and an omelette (beyond delish!). I was a bit annoyed with myself though because I felt guilty about eating the exercise calories.

Hypnodiets

According to my brand new scales at home, I am 11 stone - eeeeeeeeeeek!! I am almost positive they are inaccurate as I was 10 st 4 when I went to Slimming World a couple of weeks before Christmas and I haven't binged that much! However, as they are the only scales I have, I am going to take what they say as gospel.

Yeserday I read an interesting article on Hypnodiets on the Times Online website. The idea is that we can reprogramme ourselves to a time when we had a healthy relationship with food. The sample podcast available on the webpage was brilliant. The visualisation technics really made me calmer and - get this - helped me get out of bed this morning at 6:50 to do my fitness dvd! My alarm went off and I was really tempted to just crawl back into bed but I "breathed out" all of those feelings and then visualised, through the "triangle into my mind" my SFHM. And boy, did she have amazing abs!

The dvd workout was okay. I followed the advice on beginners and didn't use weights. Whilst I was tired, I wasn't "I want to pass out and die" tired. I don't think I'll enjoy doing just the dvd so I will have to look into joining the gym. As I am skint, I am not sure if that will happen this month.

I'll update late with my food for today.


B: 33g Shredded Wheat with skimmed milk
S: Green apple
L: Salad Pot
S: 5 strawberries
D: Itsu vegetable dumplings

Total Calories: 1, 087
Carbs: 117
Fat: 16
Protein: 28

Exercise: The Firm Bootcamp Maximum Calorie Burn DVD (52 mins - low intensity)

8 glasses

A bit low on everything except carbs me thinks.

Snow Day!

Snow day!! It looks beautiful outside but unfortunately didn't snow enough to keep me from going to work! I will take some pics to post.

Today is Day 3 and I must admit I am starting to wane already. I woke up feeling lethargic and its continued until mid-morning even though I have now eaten breakfast. The lethargy reduces my will power and makes me feel tired, grumpy and unable to work. I didn't have it yesterday and the only difference I can think of between today and yesterday is that yesterday I had a cup of peppermint tea and a tangerine before leaving the house and then had breakfast at work. I will be sure to do this tomorrow. Went out to Itsu for dinner last night even though I had the option of going to my favourite Thai, I turned it down to remain on track. Woop woop to me! It felt nice to not give in and also Itsu was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!! I had the vegetable dumpling broth and it was delish! I will definitely be going back, particularly on days when I feel lazy about putting together dinner at home.

Exercise. Sigh. I received my exercise dvd today (woop woop!) so I WILL exercise tomorrow morning before work. It's been icy/snowy so I haven't been able to go out for a run or do any HIIT training but I'm not too worried as I now have the dvd. I confess that I haven't been doing my daily abs exercises. I will do them when I get home tonight and keep it up.

I think I'm going to start photographing my food to upload to my blog. It might give me a different focus and remind me when I look back that healthy food can be good too. Yum.

Day 3

B: 33g Shredded wheat with 125ml skimmed milk
L: Vegetable salad with 2 slice of ham
S: Green apple
D: Chicken stir-fry with spinach, green beans, carrots, onion and cajun seasoning in a wholemeal pitta bread (yum!).

5 glasses water and peppermint tea.

Total calories:1,222
Carbs:182
Protein: 89
Fat:24

My fat intake was in the green but I was mildly in the red with everything else!

Day 2

S: Tangerine and peppermint tea
B: 33g Shredded wheat with 125ml skimmed milk
L: Vegetable salad with 2 slice of ham
S: Muller Light and apple
D: Itsu vegetable dumpling broth
S: The Food Doctor fruit and seed bar (3/4) plus cheeky bite of my sister's spring roll

4 glasses of peppermint tea + 1 glass of squash + 2 glasses of water

Total calories:1,433
Carbs:141
Protein: 26
Fat:43

Still no snack between breakfast and lunch so was starving! Went over my calories a bit but that's okay as I had a shortfall . I am finding it hard to get my balance of protein, carbs and fat to 40:30:30. I have a major shortfall of protein and too many carbs. I will have to think about incorporating it into dinner e.g. pitta bread filled with 2 scrambled eggs and 2 egg whites and maybe finding an alternative low carb breakfast.


Day 1
B: Fruit salad
L: Vegetable salad (mixed seeds, beetroot, mixed beans, broccoli, sweetcorn, cubed salami and green beans) with 2 slices Ham (fat cut off)
D: 1/2 carton of Covent Garden Lentil and Smoked Bacon soup with chopped up sausage.

4 glasses of water (rubbish!)

Total calories: 931
Carbs: 74
Protein: 45
Fat: 37

I'm not happy with my meals as I didn't have any snacks between meals which got me very hungry e.g. between breakfast and lunch I felt like I had a hole in my tum - amateur mistake! I'm also aiming for 1,200 calories so I needed to have eaten something else, I reckon the snacks would have been enough.

My Slim, Fit and Healthy Me

Hello worldwide web and welcome to my fitness blog.

As has been the case since time immemorial, my New Year's resolution this year is to lose weight. I have tried to lose weight before, most recently being a couple of months ago when I joined Slimmers World, but it never seems to work out. I always fall off the wagon and before I know it, my lapse has become a relapse. I have tried every diet you can think of and I have tried going to the gym but, for some reason (perhaps due to my inability to multi-task) I have never tried to diet at the same time as going the gym.

A few years ago I lost a lot weight and know that I looked great for it. I am only 23 and I really want to enjoy my twenties and the rest of my life as a slim, fit and healthy human being. As a result, this year I will put a stop to the yo-yo dieting and work towards my slim, fit and healthy me ("SFHM"). I have decided to blog my journey to my SFHM for moral support and as a reminder when I fall off the wagon of why it is I should get back on track. I will be posting photos, my meals, exercise and also general musings.

Why I want to reach my SFHM

• I have very low energy and I feel sleepy during the day
• I am unhappy with the way I look. I sometimes get really depressed when I see myself in the mirror
• I am going on holiday with my boyfriend and his friends in 7 weeks and would hate to be "the fat one on the beach"
• I want to feel proud of myself, my body and my health
• I want to run for fitness, stress relief and as a hobby

Reasons I have failed in the past

• Alcohol - I drink too much of it
• Unfortunately I love crisps and anything salty/deep-fried, it's my Achilles heel
• I dine out too often and find it hard to eat healthily off a menu, especially when everyone around me isn't
• I feel like I can't be bothered to exercise
• I get upset when I don't lose weight/exercise and give up
• I get upset because I am a crap runner, I give up after 5 minutes and feel achey for days afterwards
• When I get home from work I am so hungry I eat the first thing I see

Things that will be different this time round

• In the same way that in order to get over an ex you must cut off contact immediately after a break-up, I am cutting off contact with alcohol, crisps, anything salty/deep-fried and dining out for 7 weeks. This should help me kick-start my regime to achieve my SFHM.I accept in advance that I will fall off the wagon and at times I will do so spectacularly. However, I will also get back on the wagon because my ultimate goal is long-term and should not be jeopardised because I had a KFC one evening on the way home. A lapse does not have to become a relapse.
• I will plan meals in advance, namely lunch and dinner and ensure I have healthy snacks to eat throughout the day.
• I will drink 8 glasses (2 litres) of water a day including herbal teas, sugar free squash and water with lemon.
• I will eat 5 portions of fruit and veg a day
• I will do an exercise dvd a minimum of 3 times a week and do my abs exercises everyday.
• I will use the stairs at work more.
• I will not run for exercise. I will run 3 times a week for enjoyment, to challenge myself to see how far I can go and for me time.

My current stats

Chest: 36.5"
Waist: 35"
Hips: 43"
Weight: 10 st 7 lbs (?)
BMI: 26 (overweight)

My goal

To lose 16 lbs and reach 9 st 5 lbs
BMI: 23 (normal)

Short term goal (19 Feb 2010): lose 8 lbs and reach 9 st 13 lbs
Long term goal (31 March 2010): lose 16 lbs and reach 9 st 5 lbs

HERE GOES!!