SOOO.... Now I am a year on and I completely forgot about this blog and got so cried away with everything at uni that EVEN MORE WEIGHT HAS PILED ON!!!!
I don't dare weigh myself, but I would reckon around 11 stones! BOOO!!!! Size 12. I have a size 8 dress that I am desperate to get back into again!!! Haha
Having been inspired by Sophie King, the 26 year old who lost 4 stone in 3 months... I am going to also do a blog and see what happens!!! I will post food items and exercise completed...
Sorry for my lack of posts. I have been joining my family on holiday for the last few days... so as you can probably imagine... lots of delicious food and beautiful views! Went out for a meal at to a restaurant called White Table. Their menu was fantastic (and great value!)... the chef said that she had been inspired by the menu from the W hotel chain... oooo errr!
Anyways, if you're a salad fan, then you would LOVE this menu... as they seemed to make them all very different and exciting. So, I thought I'd share them with you so your salads never need be boring again!
My sister had a goats cheese walnut salad with warm dried bilberries and a pomegranate dressing... OH EM GEEE... DELISH
My step mum had an apple and beetroot salad with grilled halloumi cheese. Also, VERY TASTY!
Being bias, mine was defo the best. I had a courgette salad which wasnt AT ALL like what I was expecting it to be. Mine was a whole bowl LOADED with grilled sliced courgettes (hot) covered in mint, chilli and lemon with a dill and yoghurt dressing thing with feta cheese mixed in it... WOW!!! So, I immediately came back and started looking for recipes... as this was a very clean (minus the cheese), very healthy, much lower calorie meal than I was expecting, and my god... it was GREAT!!!
This is a Jamie Oliver pic... sorry... phone ran out of battery... but his recipe sounded the most like how mine was cooked!
In other news... 3 month plan is starting on the 1st October... so I will be doing more updates with day by day info on my chompings and fitness routine, (as well as some potential rantings about student life.. :P)
This will be my 5th day in a row of exercising... So I don't want to make it too heavy, as I have a hard one planned for this weekend... so this is just to keep the metabolism ticking over!
20 minutes HIIT (High Intensity Interval training)
This is great to work up a sweat. Normally I would do this for 40 mins, but this is my 5th day in a row in the gym... so want to do less cardio, and more muscle building exercises. I do this on the elliptical. The treadmill is probably better, as I know the elliptical is renowned for saggy arses but I prefer doing this followed by an arse... I mean glutes... workout!
5 mins warm up- increase HR to 60-70% (for me this is between 144-158... this can be calculated online!)
10 mins interval training... I am starting on a 1:3 ratio of HIGHEST INTENSITY: low intensity
(my HR tends to be around 180 (approx 85%) by the end of the 15secs FULL POWER (resistance 17). I then bring the resistance all the way back (to 5) for 45 seconds before repeating 10 times.
5 min cool down- I decrease the resistance to 5, to complete the rest of the workout
In time I will alter the ratios so that I am eventually doing 1:1.. but for now 1:3 is fine!
After that I will do the butt exercises
I asked for some ankle weights for my birthday and they are fantastic... FEEL THE BURN!!! Mine are from John Lewis, and I take them with me everywhere.
The workout I do for this is actually the Victoria Secrets butt workout... (I wonder why I googled that one!) and you can find it here....
Write the exercises down and then GO FOR IT! If you dont have ankle weights... squat away... the glutes are mega muscles... if you have them toned, think of the metabolism you will be creating... FAT BURNING FURNACE!!! I want me a big butt! So gunna have to work for this one! I also have a great workout for when I am actually in a gym with a smith machine etc... but this is more for maintenance!
After the arse exercises I will do 3 sets of the following exercises
Deadlifts (35kg barbell) x10
Wide squats with 5kg dumbbells (i find this REALLY gets my lower back) x10
Normal Squats LOW (unweighted) x10 (aim of these is to go as low as possible... and after all of the previous exercises I am sure I will feel it....OUCH!)
NOTE TO ALL!!! NEVER GET ON A PAIR OF SCALES EVER!!!! Massive mistake on my part, getting all ahead of myself thinking... yeah... I've started clean eating... must be dropping a bit of weight... WRONG WRONG WRONG!
Turns out I am currently a little heavier. However, this is kinda to be expected as my body is going through a bit of a detox, so will have a lot of water weight etc.
STILL.....EWWWW.... was so not happy with that larger than life number.
I still have my gym session for the day to come, so will do some fat burning work later!!
My dream body.... oooo.... now isn't that a nice thing to think about. In a dream world, I would get mistaken for a Victoria Secrets model on a daily basis!
'What do you mean this isn't me.... I don't know what you're talking about!'
When thinking about what you would like to look like... it is important to be realistic with your aims. Don't aim to look like someone else, just to be a better version of yourself. Don't aim for perfection, but progress!
You can do this... you just need to believe that you can!!!
I would put myself at Level 2. (see previous post to see what level you are at!), aiming to be a Level 3, with fat percentage under 20, and a 27" waist. I have been at this before, so just want to fight to get it back!!!
Are you going to be the dreamer? or the FIGHTER? only one can make that dream a reality!!
So, yesterday was just one of those days that I call an 'eating' day... where you just eat absolutely everything in sight. Luckily, there wasn't that much junk food around, but I did snaffle my nans maltesers (shh!!!) and I may have spooned peanut butter from the jar a couple of times... oops! Overall I ate around 2200 calories (doesnt happen often)... but I burnt 800 in the gym late that night... so evens out (ish) okay.
Normally I would feel dreadful about that sort of thing... but I really didn't. As we all have slips, and it satisfied my cravings for a while. So, yesterday didn't count as clean eating (that's for sure), and I had myfitnesspal to point this out to me!!
Now then, I add everything I eat onto myfitnesspal as I find this the easiest way to keep track on the go. It is also easy to see when you have overeaten and when you are on track. I try to aim to net around 1300 (my aim on it is 1150, but thats cos I know I will go over it). This was, I'm not 'afraid' for when it goes into the red!
Feel free to follow me. From now on you will see the clean eating coming through (the aim anyways!!) Last monday I had a ridiculously large indian (which was INCREDIBLE)... so have spread those calories throughout the week (as quick add calories)... so as you'll be able to see... I am still trying to work off that pig out...
I can't believe I am opening this up to everyone... no hiding now... *gulp*.... feel free to catch me out. I always need that sort of encouragement... 'Oi, I can see that chocolate biscuit you just ate... did you really need it? tut tut tut'
Myfitnesspal is fantastic as you can add your exercise and all your foods and keep track of your macros to make sure you are getting your calories from the right food groups!
I am not encouraging that you get obsessed with calorie counting as it is much healthier to hit a happy medium... however, I like to keep track, and found it helped me A LOT!!!
So, now you can keep track... Almost ready OpLeanMeaners?
