abs challenge

Two week abs challenge! Im doing this routine every night for the next two weeks, Ill post before and after pics of the results! :)

25 of each of the following:
-regular sit ups
- knees halfway down air ups
- straight leg sit ups
- left side crunches
-right side crunches
-left knee touch sit ups
-right knee touch sit ups
- lower leg lifts
-25 second plank hold

The whole thing takes 5 minutes or less and (having done this before but never sticking to it for more than a week) you’ll start to feel it after one day and start to see results in less than a week! I will make it through 2 weeks, did 2 days already, try it with me! :)

I actually just copied this from a girl i follow on tumblr..... am keen to start it though!

Front view - subtle!!!

Subtle differences I think.

Quick update

Kinda find it hard to see the progress by looking through the blog so keen to put progress photos in a row...

Loseit.com

I have to give credit to the tool I have been using to help me make 'better choices' as I say! :) It is called loseit.com

It is American, but it makes you put in what you have eaten each day and it counts the calories, some of the things you kinda have to twist about in a way to make it fit but it gives a rough estimate. I started cutting down to 1190 calories in a day which is no where NEAR enough! With exercise on top of that. I have since upped it to about 1400 cals a day just to give me that extra. Although I am not really hitting it at the mo. I guess I have become accustomed to eating smaller portions and not eating carbs at night etc. Here is a snap shot on what it looks like!

Inspiration

Goal: 62kg.
Current: Don't know - scales gone - checking on Monday eeeek!
Pictures taken: Friday 30 September (2months away from finishing the challenge)

Target areas: Love handles and top of thighs!

Back on track

As the title says, I'm back on the bandwagon, riding that very bumpy track we call weight loss.

My challenge leader held a nutrition session today which inspired me to get my eating back on track. 

He said most stuff that I was already doing such as:

• no carbs at night (which was a good reminder because I was having bread as a snack at around 8pm the last couple of nights). 
• He said to hit the gym/cardio first thing in the morning to burn that extra fat because if we do it the other way around you will just be burning the food you have eaten in the day, not the extra stored fat (which if course is what you want to lose!).... so I am going to get back into my walking in the morning before classes. Gosh I am very lucky I am a student and have those mornings free - feel for those who work fulltime! 
• He also said that its a good idea to have protein shakes instead of morning tea or afternoon tea as it is sometimes really hard to get that good nutritious protein we need during the day. So I think I am off to buy some protein powder this weekend to keep me on track and have decided I'll have one probably in the afternoon before the gym just to keep me going till dinner time. I feel like one of those fitness freaks hahah! Love it.
• He gave me some good ideas about meals and I think I will try cook some couscous for lunches - must get some good recipes under my belt! 

I didn't get my usual amount of work out unfortunately but tomorrow is another day. 

Anywhoooo off to do some homework! 

So.. that was the weekend (and Monday)

Wow.
Ok.... where to begin. Food fail.

This is going to be short and sweet, due to the fact that I am ashamed and a (LOT) disappointed in myself.

Friday - Subway 6 inch - chicken something a rather.
Friday night - downed loads of wine
Friday midnight(ish) - McDonalds - Chicken meal deal... McChicken, Chicken bites, fries, coke...aaand some sundae.
Saturday - Sushi
Saturday night - Loads of Vodka Lollie drinks.
Sunday - KFC - Spicy chicken fillet with fries, potato and gravy, pepsimax and a bread roll.
Sunday night - Creamy chicken and pasta.

If that doesn't scream fat and carbs to you, I don't know what else will.
All of that and no exercise.

But you know what. Maybe thats just what I needed? I must admit, I was craving KFC like there was no tommorrow and now that I have had it, I can let that craving rest.

But then came Monday - fresh new start, stoked to get back into the swing of things. Heading to tech and I spy a BP with a coffee and muffin deal. Did you know a large blueberry muffin (not actually the flavour I got) is worth 547 calories! Are you kidding me?! Thats almost half my daily allowance. The walnut, carrot and cinnamon muffin is probably no better than the blueberry muffin and on Loseit I even cheated and called it oat bran. What a cop out.

Just before I wrote this post I had already had dinner...gone to tech....came home and was CRAVING hot chips. Instead I opted for two pieces of toast - unnecessary.

I have made a pact with my boyfriend and although he loves me just as I am he knows I have a goal and with this goal comes the need for motivation and I trust him with everything, so he is my motivation. He is the one I can go to and talk to about this when I need a bit of motivation. Everyone else will judge me, he won't.

It really is a constant battle this weight thing.

Will keep on chugging.

Signing off - filled up on carbs.
Tomorrow is another day.

:(

Found some pics from August

Found these pictures from 8th August and I think its amazing how far one person can come in a month. I want to be able to put these in chronological order but I thought I just needed to show these pictures to show how far I have come in just a short time! (From August to September.... September photos below!)

Happy Thoughts.

:)

:)

:)

:)

Didn't want this to be a rant about all the bad things that go with weightloss/exercising, coz yesterday was proof that there are amazing things that come with it!

I began the day by saying no to little treats that swung my way which of course helps me in the long run coz every little treat I say no to helps, right?

Anywho, lets get to the good stuff.

I went to the gym and had just got into my gym gear and I saw a friend from tech... we had a wee chat and what not then I went back to what I was doing. My friend has two flatmates she lives with (obviously) and I have met them both. I turned back around and my friend said to me.... "Alex and Monique have both commented on separate occasion how much weight you've lost"... I went bright red for some reason and said "oh..thank you"...didn't really know what else to say... Might have to work on this one!! I also told her I was working towards 'bikini by summer'... she agreed she was too..funny thing is, this girl has got to be a size 6-8. I laughed to myself and went on my merry way!

The second great achievement of yesterday was that I was given a pair of jeans about 6 weeks ago and theyr really nice lee Jeans.. I tried them on, struggled to get them past my thighs and when I finally did there was about a 10cm gap from the button to the  button hole and I tried with all my might!! Last night we were heading out for dessert for a friends birthday and I thought I would just try them on... and they FIT! They're even a bit baggy at the knee! As I am writing this I'm thinking I have to put a picture on of my success. The other thing is, theyr light coloured jeans and I have NEVER ever EVER worn light coloured jeans because I felt my legs were too big. I must admit, these jeans only look nice with a long top to hide the top of my thighs but that just means I need to work on these, and I know that.

Thirdly, at dessert I walked in and felt like I was a different person. I chatted away the girls down my end of the table and was asked heaps of questions about my gym routine and what I do. The friend from the gym was there and so was one of her flatmates. :) It was nice to talk about something that I had been working really hard at and for people to notice it had paid off.

Finally, a little bit of a two edged sword. The scales were taken away from my flat. In some ways its really really great coz it will stop me checking every day and then it will stop the mind fuck that comes with that. But then its bad coz then I can't track how I am doing. The gym scales are MEAN too. Like MEAN to me!

Damn.

So alcohol really is the horror child when it comes to losing weight. I went out on Friday night - had eaten well all day... then I thought I would line my stomach with some Subway. Subway is NOT ACTUALLY THAT GOOD FOR YOU! IT's a MYTH! Especially when your friend CONS you into getting a footlong. So unimpressed with my willpower to say 'no thankyou, a 6inch will do me'. Ugh.

Hooved down the footlong before heading out to a 1.5litre of beer (as you do), about 6 wines and a vodka soda. Which then was followed by a 2am home feed of a dash of spaghetti and a tortilla with mince, cheese, beans and tomato. It probably helped with the hangover, but it didn't help on the scales.

Yesterday then, I was hungover. Not too badly. I was at work and when I am at work its NEVER good. There is plenty of food in their cupboards and I usually just wanna eat the lot. I was a little naughty, but didn't go overboard. So yesterday I had..

Oats with a smidge of yoghurt (My new fav!)
Cup of tea Cup of tea!
A small packet of twisties
Two gingernuts (thank god these were the last two!)
6 pieces of sushi (some fried = bad news)
Two egg whites
A bit of 430pm - I am bored - Cereal
and then I got home and wasn't hungry.....
Then I thought I SHOULD eat - even though I wasnt hungry
SO i had a muffin split and a boiled egg.

When I look at it like it seems a lot. Which is the beauty of writing things down when you are doing something like this.

The other no-no is that I haven't been to the gym for 2 days. These 2days are the last of my 6 day programme. So instead of a 6day programme I made it a 4 day programme. NOT COOL. And the main reason behind not exercising? Alcohol.

So, again, alcohol really is the horror child when it comes to losing weight. Weighed in at 69 point something, didn't care to look at the rest.

Off to work for a 2nd day... am going to keep busy enough that I don't snoop around their fridge and pantry!

Someone give me some motivation!

Kick up the bum!

So I took some photos this morning to remind myself there is still plenty of work to do and I can't be having copious amounts of lollies!!

I do see a slight change from the photos below to these photos here. I think I see it a lot in the shape of my stomach and a little bit in my legs!

Off for a full on day. Its a cardio day today so going to try slam out 700cals in an hour!!

x

BINGE

Eeeeek.

Just had a major binge this evening..not like eating disorder binge - just unnecessary food that I totally didn't need. Infact, its been a bad day. I am going to admit it!

I ate a small breaky of half a banana with yoghurt and a piece of muffin split (which is unusual for me) plus my wonderful, amazing, very supportive boyfriend purchased me a trim hot choccy from my fav local cafe. Bless him!

I ate this at about 9.00am.

At 10.30am I got 'hungry' again. It was actually VERY ironic...we were sitting in class learning about eating disorders... In some ways I just ate to remind myself I didn't have one. Silly me. So had some crackers with avocado then..

At 12.15 I decided I needed more food - I didn't. I had left over dinner from last night - ravioli pasta (which I don't usually eat but got tempted badly) and salmon. It was dense, oily and totally not what I needed.

At 2.45 I decided I needed another trim hot chocolate. I was wrong. I didn't need it! I needed to make better choices - thats what I needed. Although to some extent it did help me get through the next class!!

After this I went to the gym - felt pretty average about being there as I have been quite tired lately and had my session with the trainer ... still managed to burn a fair amount of calories but I really have to kick it out of the water tomorrow and Saturday if I am to meet my target!!

Home for dinner - chicken and veg - healthy and yum. And another muffin split (again, unnecessary!)

Then off to the supermarket for a bag of pik n mix which I have stuffed my face with while writing this entry.
Oh the up's and downs of a lifestyle change!!!


Am a little pissed off at myself but I can't be beating myself up. On the flipside I also can't use my exercise as an excuse to eat badly.

Off to do some work. Ugh.

Weigh In

Today I weighed in.

I had a big weekend, ate burgerfuel, curry, and drank copious amounts of vodka. I was sure to put on.

I put in the hard yards at the gym yesterday and went for a walk (in the rain) this morning. I ate very very well yesterday and was quite worried about jumping on those scales as I did in the weekend and I saw '70-point-something'.

Instead, today, I saw 68.6. Brilliant. I managed to only put on 200grams in the past week or so. Feeling pretty confident about the goal I have set for this week.

By Tuesday next week I want to jump on that scale and see 67.9.... just to see the 67 will bring me to happiness!

I write this as I eat my breakfast - I have decided breakfast (if eaten well) is my favourite meal of the day! mmm mmm!

Cereal+incy bit of milk+couple of tablespoons of PASSIONFRUIT yoghurt+half a banana.. and a cup o tea, cup o tea!

Better get back to it.

and so it begins...

Here we go. The big hoola, the big shebang, the big goodbye to the fat that lays on my hips!

Today I started a 12 week challenge..it has been sometime now that I have returned to the gym and I have been feeling great about it. When I began tracking my weight and what not I was at 73kg earlier this year. But this is not the heaviest I have been. About three years ago I tipped the scale at 78kg, I started going to the gym and I have never looked back.

Since eating better and exercising big time I have seen my weight fluctuate between 68 and 70kg in the past three weeks. I must add, its the first time in five years I have seen the 60's so that is one big achievement for I.

The reason I started this blog was so I can basically write down what I'm feeling, if I'm feeling positive, gutted, sad, awesome, energized, tired.... all the rest. And also to track how I'm doing.

My trainer is adamant I will get to my goal weight of 62kg's in 12 weeks - if not more. So I have two goals. I have a goal to lose 5kg - taking me to around 65 and a goal to lose 7kg taking me to around 62.

I can't even begin to think what I would look like at 62. Let alone if my trainer thinks I can beat that!!

I took a few photos back in May and I didn't really know if I wanted to put them up here. I figure at the moment I am just anonymous and if someone happens to read this then I'm sorry about the fright!!

I also figured it would be a very cleansing experience to 'bare all' and this blog is the perfect expression of that in my opinion.

If you do know me, and if you are reading this, don't look at me differently. Don't come to the conclusion I am doing this to skite or brag or tell you how amazing I am doing. Its not about that. It is about making a change and starting fresh. Making a change that I should have made a long time ago.

I don't think I'm obese by any means. I am within the 'healthy' weight range for my height and age, but I am at the upper end of this and to bring myself down to the middle would be a feat in itself. I have always felt the 'bigger' out of my friends. One friend once pointed out that I hid behind my clothes, and she was right. I still do.

There is SO much I want to write, but with very little time on my hands I shall skip to the hop

Housekeeping and current 12 week plan

• Monday: Cardio and upper body
• Tuesday: Straight cardio - hitting 600cals burnt in an hour
• Tuesday: WEIGH IN!
• Wednesday: Cardio and Core
• Thursday: Straight cardio - hitting 600cals burnt in an hour
• Friday: Cardio and lower body
• Saturday: Straight cardio - hitting 600cals burnt in an hour
• Sunday: REST!!!

I will be writing down what I eat in here as well in the next few posts.. hoping to post every day as a way of putting pen to paper, or fingers to screen??.... Just a way to let it all hang out.

Speaking of which.

Heres those photos of my time back in May......... will post some more recent ones of me 4-5kg lighter. I'm sure there will be some difference. 

Bye for now.