Well that's a bit unsporting!
I'm not too surprised though, my diet hasn't been the best in the world this week. We had a takeaway on Friday and a family dinner last night. Lasagne is one of my favourite foods and all that garlic bread on the table really was my doom by the looks of it! I actually still feel full from last night, which is a bit worrying. It still feels like the food is just sitting in my stomach, refusing to move anywhere. Ungh!
Even though I didn't lose weight this week, I sure feel better! Doing the Body Revolution exercises didn't kill me on the second time round and I could actually finish the cardio yesterday. Only stopped for a few seconds with some of the harder moves but could carry on pretty much instantly.
It's such a wonderful day today, the sun is shining for the first time in a long time! Might actually be a bit more active during my rest day and go for a walk.
I'm not too surprised though, my diet hasn't been the best in the world this week. We had a takeaway on Friday and a family dinner last night. Lasagne is one of my favourite foods and all that garlic bread on the table really was my doom by the looks of it! I actually still feel full from last night, which is a bit worrying. It still feels like the food is just sitting in my stomach, refusing to move anywhere. Ungh!
Even though I didn't lose weight this week, I sure feel better! Doing the Body Revolution exercises didn't kill me on the second time round and I could actually finish the cardio yesterday. Only stopped for a few seconds with some of the harder moves but could carry on pretty much instantly.
It's such a wonderful day today, the sun is shining for the first time in a long time! Might actually be a bit more active during my rest day and go for a walk.
Kickstart has sort of gone out of the window. Not too upset about it really. In my eyes the main point of the kickstart detox was to clear out the bad stuff from my system which I've kinda already done by not eating all that junk we have in the cupboards. I've had a few treats here and there (as you should, no point depriving yourself) but I'm feeling pretty good about eating healthy. :)
And yeah, I can't live without carbs. It was making me go insane! I'm just eating everything in moderation and cut down my portion sizes, which seems to be working wonders. I can already see a visible change in my body, there's muscles in new places and I can see my tummy toning up already. Can't wait for my WI on Sunday!
And yeah, I can't live without carbs. It was making me go insane! I'm just eating everything in moderation and cut down my portion sizes, which seems to be working wonders. I can already see a visible change in my body, there's muscles in new places and I can see my tummy toning up already. Can't wait for my WI on Sunday!
So, second day of BR today. Did not go well. Crosstraining in the morning went quite ok, did torture my calfs a bit so really not happy as they were aching enough from yesterday. Decided to be a hero and stick the cardio dvd in but could only manage 1½ circuits out of four, my calfs feel like they are tearing apart right now. Tomorrow is meant to be double cardio but I think it's better to let my muscles rest and go swimming instead. An hour of swimming should be more than enough to compensate.
I'm really not a fan of the kickstart menu. It's very restrictive with breakfast and I'm really picky. Yesterday had greek yoghurt with cinnamon and almonds, way too bitter to my taste. Today was meant to be poached egg with tomato and avocado - never been a fan of avocado and I don't know how to poach an egg so just did scrambled egg with tomato. Didn't like it either. Thankfully the lunches and dinners seem to be very yummy, at least my steak last night was! I've still got half a steak left so might just do that again tonight.
And thankfully this menu only lasts for a week, after that I can cook anything I like from the 90-day meal plan booklet. Some of the stuff in there looks very very delicious!
I'm really not a fan of the kickstart menu. It's very restrictive with breakfast and I'm really picky. Yesterday had greek yoghurt with cinnamon and almonds, way too bitter to my taste. Today was meant to be poached egg with tomato and avocado - never been a fan of avocado and I don't know how to poach an egg so just did scrambled egg with tomato. Didn't like it either. Thankfully the lunches and dinners seem to be very yummy, at least my steak last night was! I've still got half a steak left so might just do that again tonight.
And thankfully this menu only lasts for a week, after that I can cook anything I like from the 90-day meal plan booklet. Some of the stuff in there looks very very delicious!
Ok so I wasn't going to post my 'before' pics yet. But you know, I'm going to anyways. Not the best quality in the world and you can only see my upper body (was waiting for my dvd to load up and had my phone handy so thought that why not), but it's something!
I have 'a few' trouble zones. Bingo wings are the worst as I can barely hide them. Then I have about five chins (ok slight exaggeration but it really feels like it sometimes), my tum is like a spare tire and my thighs rub against each other (highly painful when wearing a skirt and it's hot).
Oh and see that blonde hair? I finally did the colour removal I was talking about a few posts back (as a little treat for hitting 80kg ^^). Very happy with how blonde I am, this is pretty much my natural hair colour. :3 I was expecting my hair to stay sort of gingerish but guess not! Yay!
Right, about Body Revolution. The crosstraining bit was quite easy as I've done Jillian's workouts for a few weeks now. But oh my god the cardio! My poor calfs are on fire haha, I wanted to cry at some points. The circuits are very brutal. And I'm doing this cardio for a month. Eek!
I have 'a few' trouble zones. Bingo wings are the worst as I can barely hide them. Then I have about five chins (ok slight exaggeration but it really feels like it sometimes), my tum is like a spare tire and my thighs rub against each other (highly painful when wearing a skirt and it's hot).
Oh and see that blonde hair? I finally did the colour removal I was talking about a few posts back (as a little treat for hitting 80kg ^^). Very happy with how blonde I am, this is pretty much my natural hair colour. :3 I was expecting my hair to stay sort of gingerish but guess not! Yay!
Right, about Body Revolution. The crosstraining bit was quite easy as I've done Jillian's workouts for a few weeks now. But oh my god the cardio! My poor calfs are on fire haha, I wanted to cry at some points. The circuits are very brutal. And I'm doing this cardio for a month. Eek!
So, Body Revolution starts tomorrow. For this I took my measurements (a few weeks early from what I'd normally be doing em) but I want accurate measurements for the sake of this program. So here goes! Number in brackets means the measurement at the start of my weight loss journey.
Weight: 80.2kg (84kg)
Arms: 32.5cm (33cm)
Bust: 105.5cm (106cm)
Waist: 79cm (85cm) - very proud of this!
Hips, 1 inch below bellybutton: 100cm (102cm)
Thighs: 62.5cm (63cm)
The journal that came with BR also had some extra measurements to take, like lower thigh, calf, neck etc but I'm too lazy to track all of them so just sticking with the "basics". I have also taken pics of my body but as I don't see any difference between the 'before' ones I took, not gonna post them right now.
Wish me luck!
Weight: 80.2kg (84kg)
Arms: 32.5cm (33cm)
Bust: 105.5cm (106cm)
Waist: 79cm (85cm) - very proud of this!
Hips, 1 inch below bellybutton: 100cm (102cm)
Thighs: 62.5cm (63cm)
The journal that came with BR also had some extra measurements to take, like lower thigh, calf, neck etc but I'm too lazy to track all of them so just sticking with the "basics". I have also taken pics of my body but as I don't see any difference between the 'before' ones I took, not gonna post them right now.
Wish me luck!
Very, VERY pleased!! I haven't exercised at all since Thursday night because I've been ill so was expecting a smaller loss this week. Guess eating right goes further than I thought. :)
And tomorrow is the start of Body Revolution, can't wait!
And tomorrow is the start of Body Revolution, can't wait!
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For someone who's used to having snowy winters, English winters are miserable. It's always so dark and damp and it rains a lot. I've been waiting for today for so long! It's been snowing all day and it should carry on til evening, yay! The amount of light you get when there's snow on the ground is just amazing. I feel so much happier today!
On the downside I've caught a cold. Which really really sucks. I'm meant to start Body Revolution on Monday and I really don't want to be ill. To mend my cold I made a nice lot of spinach soup and couldn't resist throwing a few croutons (mediterranean flavour, yum!) in there as well. Maybe not the best option considering I shouldn't eat 'empty' carbs, but I need my comfort food!
On the downside I've caught a cold. Which really really sucks. I'm meant to start Body Revolution on Monday and I really don't want to be ill. To mend my cold I made a nice lot of spinach soup and couldn't resist throwing a few croutons (mediterranean flavour, yum!) in there as well. Maybe not the best option considering I shouldn't eat 'empty' carbs, but I need my comfort food!
My food for next week arrived tonight, hoorah! Looks so delicious, can't wait! Spinach, peppers, brussels sprouts, broccoli, celery sticks, carrots, lemons, cucumber, courgettes, basil, chives, hummus (never had this before!), greek yoghurt, dried herbs, capers, almonds, pecan nuts, vegetable broth, garlic, lima beans, two different low fat salad dressings, eggs, salmon fillets, smoked salmon, steak, chicken, tuna, cod and turkey.
So the appointment I've booked is today. Finally. It only took NHS seven months to get me one. From hurting my back in July and going back to the doctors every two weeks to renew my sicknote and get more painkillers to getting to this point hasn't been the most enjoyable thing in the world. I've felt more limited than I ever have. For years the condition was sort of under control so I could do most things I wanted to. Now it's been all about being careful and listening to my body every step of the way. Doing house work is painful, I can't bend over without feeling a sting in my back. I'm really hoping they actually do something about this.
I decided to do 30 Day Shred yesterday and oh my god my arms hurt! The other dvds I've been doing don't have a lot of arm exercises and I knew 30DS would so thought that I'd prep my arms before Monday. Really feeling it now! Going to do 30DS again today and probably do abs tomorrow, not sure about Saturday yet.
Oh, and my kickstart week's food arrives today! Gotta love Tesco for delivering groceries.
I decided to do 30 Day Shred yesterday and oh my god my arms hurt! The other dvds I've been doing don't have a lot of arm exercises and I knew 30DS would so thought that I'd prep my arms before Monday. Really feeling it now! Going to do 30DS again today and probably do abs tomorrow, not sure about Saturday yet.
Oh, and my kickstart week's food arrives today! Gotta love Tesco for delivering groceries.
To me just stretching doesn't seem to cut it. If I just do some quick stretching after working out, I end up being sore in the morning. But if I take a nice, hot bath before I go to bed it seems to work wonders. I mean it's not quite rocket science, is it? Heat packs are used to relax sore muscles in general, so why wouldn't a nice bath help?
Obviously you can't ignore having a cooldown period right after exercising. But that little bit extra does go a long long way. :)
Body Revolution arrived today! Wasn't expecting it until next week so very happy about getting it today. :) Means I can start it a week early, hooray! Just need to work that extra bit hard with my other Jillian dvd's this week to make sure I'm prepped for it at least a bit.
It's quite a massive kit. Three sets of dvd's (15 in total!), four different guides and resistance cables. I've even taken a picture of it for your enjoyment. I need to start taking horizontal pictures haha.
I'm so so excited! I'm going to start with a bang and do the kickstart first thing, meaning I'll be training for an hour a day and follow a strict diet for the first week. The goal of this is to detox the body and get rid of all the junk and toxins, making the metabolism work better. Some people have lost up to a jean size during the first week so I'm really looking forward to it. ;)
And to talk about my day a bit, the other half has promised to go swimming with me today! Probably heading off in about an hour and get a good hour's swim in.
It's quite a massive kit. Three sets of dvd's (15 in total!), four different guides and resistance cables. I've even taken a picture of it for your enjoyment. I need to start taking horizontal pictures haha.
I'm so so excited! I'm going to start with a bang and do the kickstart first thing, meaning I'll be training for an hour a day and follow a strict diet for the first week. The goal of this is to detox the body and get rid of all the junk and toxins, making the metabolism work better. Some people have lost up to a jean size during the first week so I'm really looking forward to it. ;)
And to talk about my day a bit, the other half has promised to go swimming with me today! Probably heading off in about an hour and get a good hour's swim in.
It sucks very hard when you can't do everything in a workout. I mean I'm still a beginner on Jillian's level and I've accepted that, but still sucks! I did a "new" workout I haven't touched before, "Banish Fat, Boost Metabolism". It's a circuit workout with 6 minute circuits and my god it's so hard.
I had to modify pretty much all of the moves, that's how tough this is. You get no rest between circuits and moves so it really makes your heartbeat go up. I even had to pretty much skip one circuit because the moves were so stressing on my back. You know when you start feeling aware of a body part, fort example when you've eaten something a bit dodgy your tummy sort of feels weird but you're not hurting or anything. That's the kind of feeling I had in my back so I decided it's better if I don't do the moves.
I did manage to get through the whole thing though which I'm pretty proud of. One thing really made me cringe though. The dvd has a little extra by Jillian, she talks about healthy lifestyle and so on. I thought that yeah go on then, I'll watch that while I stretch and catch my breath. And it pretty much turned out to be an Oral-B advert! It was all like "Take care of your oral health - swap your manual brush to a power one, like Oral-B!". Didn't take me long to turn the thing off. That little extra was clearly just made to advertise and it made me feel a bit dirty just for watching it.
I had to modify pretty much all of the moves, that's how tough this is. You get no rest between circuits and moves so it really makes your heartbeat go up. I even had to pretty much skip one circuit because the moves were so stressing on my back. You know when you start feeling aware of a body part, fort example when you've eaten something a bit dodgy your tummy sort of feels weird but you're not hurting or anything. That's the kind of feeling I had in my back so I decided it's better if I don't do the moves.
I did manage to get through the whole thing though which I'm pretty proud of. One thing really made me cringe though. The dvd has a little extra by Jillian, she talks about healthy lifestyle and so on. I thought that yeah go on then, I'll watch that while I stretch and catch my breath. And it pretty much turned out to be an Oral-B advert! It was all like "Take care of your oral health - swap your manual brush to a power one, like Oral-B!". Didn't take me long to turn the thing off. That little extra was clearly just made to advertise and it made me feel a bit dirty just for watching it.
The in laws have decided to have a family gathering today. The house is full of people, they are spread evenly between the kitchen, conservatory and lounge. There's food everywhere. Cakes, biscuits, sausage rolls, pizza - the usual party nibbles. Which is my ultimate doom.
Having a gathering like this means that people will stay at the house quite late. Nothing against that really, it's just the fact that cooking dinner becomes very awkward. There's all sorts of packaging, wrappers and food in general on the kitchen counter, dirty cups and plates etc etc that are just in the way and so on. So I have a bad feeling we are going to end up having some sort of takeaway tonight. So bad.
Guess I'll just have to double my exercise for this week to make up for today.
Having a gathering like this means that people will stay at the house quite late. Nothing against that really, it's just the fact that cooking dinner becomes very awkward. There's all sorts of packaging, wrappers and food in general on the kitchen counter, dirty cups and plates etc etc that are just in the way and so on. So I have a bad feeling we are going to end up having some sort of takeaway tonight. So bad.
Guess I'll just have to double my exercise for this week to make up for today.
Was pretty much what I hoped for. :) Hopefully will keep up with it as this is the recommended healthy pace of weight loss. ^^
So remember me being all happy about Noom a few days ago? Well, it started annoying me. The forums were constantly down and even when they were up, I could only open one thread at a time and after that it would freeze. Also being able to only track 50, 100, 150 and 200 calories for most of my meals was very irritating, I'm too OCD to just have rough estimates!
So I downloaded MyFitnessPal. So far it looks so much better in every way. Doesn't seem to have a forum but I think I'll live without one. :) And instead of just saying 'coffee' or 'low fat milk' I actually get a proper database of food sold in the UK supermarkets. Very happy with this! And instead of Noom's rough estimate of 50kcal my morning coffee is only 20kcal. Makes me feel a bit less guilty about inhaling all this coffee.
Today is also my last workout before WI and rest day. Still trying to decide what to do. It's raining outside so it'll definitely be a Jillian workout, just don't know if I want to do 6 Week Six-Pack just to keep going with it or pick another dvd to get some change.
I want to bounce up and down right now. :D I finally ordered Jillian Michaels Body Revolution! It's only been available in the UK for a few months so very excited to actually order this and start working out for real.
I bumped into Body Revolution last year so I've known about this program for a long long time. At the time it was only available in the US which made me a very sad panda, but they've finally released over here! It's basically a 90-day exercise and diet plan which seems to give absolutely amazing results. I've googled this to the death and everyone reviewing Body Revolution are so ecstatic about it.
It is quite an expensive kit though, the kit itself was £110 + delivery costs, but I do really think it'll be so worth it. I've dreamt of having this one for such a long time. I'm not gonna go too much into it, I'll just link the BR website at the bottom of this post for people interested. And here's the BR trailer for your enjoyment.
http://www.jillianmichaelsbodyrevolution.com/
I bumped into Body Revolution last year so I've known about this program for a long long time. At the time it was only available in the US which made me a very sad panda, but they've finally released over here! It's basically a 90-day exercise and diet plan which seems to give absolutely amazing results. I've googled this to the death and everyone reviewing Body Revolution are so ecstatic about it.
It is quite an expensive kit though, the kit itself was £110 + delivery costs, but I do really think it'll be so worth it. I've dreamt of having this one for such a long time. I'm not gonna go too much into it, I'll just link the BR website at the bottom of this post for people interested. And here's the BR trailer for your enjoyment.
http://www.jillianmichaelsbodyrevolution.com/
I don't quite know what's happened in my tiny brain, but this time round this weight loss business has really clicked. I plan my exercises ahead, I cook everything from scratch instead of just sticking a pizza in the oven, I don't even want to eat those crisps anymore.. I am so proud of myself.
I've noticed that it really helps to decide your next day's plans before you go to bed. That way you sort of enforce your conciousness to push yourself the next day to actually get it all done. Last night I was thinking of another Jillian workout and I can't wait to dig into it a bit later (once I finish my coffee that is!). Haven't quite decided which one yet, I might do the six-pack one again. I am slightly sore after yesterday but thankfully not too bad so I can do the workout. Should've stretched my calfs and shoulders a bit more but can't help that now really can I?
I'm a bit anxious about this weekend coming up. My in laws are having a bit family gathering and I'm a bit worried that I'll slip and stuff my face will all sorts of party food. Maybe I'll just cook my own dinner and lock myself upstairs so I'm not tempted. We'll see what happens.
I've noticed that it really helps to decide your next day's plans before you go to bed. That way you sort of enforce your conciousness to push yourself the next day to actually get it all done. Last night I was thinking of another Jillian workout and I can't wait to dig into it a bit later (once I finish my coffee that is!). Haven't quite decided which one yet, I might do the six-pack one again. I am slightly sore after yesterday but thankfully not too bad so I can do the workout. Should've stretched my calfs and shoulders a bit more but can't help that now really can I?
I'm a bit anxious about this weekend coming up. My in laws are having a bit family gathering and I'm a bit worried that I'll slip and stuff my face will all sorts of party food. Maybe I'll just cook my own dinner and lock myself upstairs so I'm not tempted. We'll see what happens.
I'm a self confessed Jillian Michaels fanatic. I just think the way she motivates you during the workout is amazing. She's got both the reassuring 'you can do it' attitude and the ability to push everyone to make the most of their workout. I think if they made shrines for her, I'd be over there worshipping her every day.
I've got her box set in the lounge and last year I got to lvl 2 of 30 Day Shred. Unfortunately I started getting little aches in my back during the workout so I stopped it for a while to be safe + I think I got ill as well so I never really got back into it. The rest of my week exercise wise is going to be full of Jillian, one dvd for each day.
Today I did the 6 Week Six-Pack workout. Even though the name of the dvd suggests that it's all about the abs, it's really not. That's what I love about Jillian, she still manages to combine every single muscle group into her training while focusing on the main target at the same time. This workout is a very fast paced circuit, which means that there's very little rest between the different exercises. I managed to do everything but side planks - I just simply don't have the muscle strength to hold my body up while one of my legs is off the ground. I know it's not meant to rely on my arms but you know, your arm is kinda one of your support pillars during this one!
I just need to remember to stretch properly tonight or I won't get out of bed tomorrow. I made that mistake with 30DS last time, the intensity of the workout paired up with the cooldown stretches on the dvd just aren't enough!
I've got her box set in the lounge and last year I got to lvl 2 of 30 Day Shred. Unfortunately I started getting little aches in my back during the workout so I stopped it for a while to be safe + I think I got ill as well so I never really got back into it. The rest of my week exercise wise is going to be full of Jillian, one dvd for each day.
Today I did the 6 Week Six-Pack workout. Even though the name of the dvd suggests that it's all about the abs, it's really not. That's what I love about Jillian, she still manages to combine every single muscle group into her training while focusing on the main target at the same time. This workout is a very fast paced circuit, which means that there's very little rest between the different exercises. I managed to do everything but side planks - I just simply don't have the muscle strength to hold my body up while one of my legs is off the ground. I know it's not meant to rely on my arms but you know, your arm is kinda one of your support pillars during this one!
I just need to remember to stretch properly tonight or I won't get out of bed tomorrow. I made that mistake with 30DS last time, the intensity of the workout paired up with the cooldown stretches on the dvd just aren't enough!
Anyhoo! I enjoy a nice, filling lunch. And I tend to lean towards the simple and fast options (before I started my weight loss journey it'd be chips with something I can just stick in the oven and forget about it), and today's lunch was definitely not an exception!
I was starving after my walk so I just wanted to eat - and fast! All the crisps and cakes in our cupboards were shouting my name, the temptation was awful! I'd quite like to call this dish a warm salad, but don't think it'll quite go as one. I fried a small chicken breast in a drop of olive oil, seasoned it (my usual spices for chicken are paprika, chilli powder and turmeric) and added half a tin of choppes tomatoes. To this I then added a small amount of couscous (I rarely measure it, I just go by eye) and a splash of water. I forgot to add sugar to the tomatoes (takes away the bitter taste) so instead I used half a teaspoon of sour cream to make the dish a bit creamier. After the couscous had soaked up all the liquid from the tomatoes and water, I threw in some peas to give it some colour. Oh and to give it a bit more kick, sweet chilli sauce.
I love colourful food. Just look at all those colours. Oh and, Noom only estimated my lunch at 250kcal. Not too bad. :) I'm taking the calorie counter of this app with a pinch of salt though, it's not designed to count calories to the millionth.
Well OK, I was up relatively early. My plan was to get up at 6am and be at the pool after 7am but guess what I did? I hit the snooze button a few times and then accidentally turned my alarm off completely! So ended up waking up at 7.30am, oops! I did get to the pool by 8.30 though so I still got a good 50min of swimming in. And it was so quiet! No kids screaming and jumping and splashing water everywhere when I'm trying to focus on getting my exercise in. <3
I asked about the membership when I was leaving and it turns out to be so expensive that it would be a waste of money to sign up for it. It's £380 a year, so let's say £32 a month (it's £38 a month normally but you get 2 months free). I'd still have to pay for my swimming which would cost me £3.10 a go. If I went once a week, that'd build up to £12.40 a month on top of my membership fee. If I just carried on going like this and paying the non-member cost (£4.90), I'd only be spending £19.40 a month. Guess which option I'm going for?
I'm sure the membership will be more cost efficient in the long run if you do more than just swim (it's got unlimited use of the centre's health & fitness suite) but at the moment for me it's just way too expensive. When I used to swim at a different leisure centre during my lunch hours at college, I only paid £20 a year for the membership. Sure I was a student but surely that didn't chip off several hundreds of pounds?
I was thinking of different rewards this morning as well. I'm absolutely awful when it comes to my hair, my hair colour rarely stays the same longer than a few months. So I've given myself a reward to work towards - when I get below 80kg, I'm going to allow myself to do a colour removal. I've already bought the kit so it will stare at me every time I go to the bathroom. I think I'll get a hair colour of my liking for the 75kg mark.
Oh and guess what happened to the fruit salad I made last night? I still had half a bowl left and I couldn't even eat half of that this morning. It was going bad already so just tossed the rest in the bin. Doh.
I asked about the membership when I was leaving and it turns out to be so expensive that it would be a waste of money to sign up for it. It's £380 a year, so let's say £32 a month (it's £38 a month normally but you get 2 months free). I'd still have to pay for my swimming which would cost me £3.10 a go. If I went once a week, that'd build up to £12.40 a month on top of my membership fee. If I just carried on going like this and paying the non-member cost (£4.90), I'd only be spending £19.40 a month. Guess which option I'm going for?
I'm sure the membership will be more cost efficient in the long run if you do more than just swim (it's got unlimited use of the centre's health & fitness suite) but at the moment for me it's just way too expensive. When I used to swim at a different leisure centre during my lunch hours at college, I only paid £20 a year for the membership. Sure I was a student but surely that didn't chip off several hundreds of pounds?
I was thinking of different rewards this morning as well. I'm absolutely awful when it comes to my hair, my hair colour rarely stays the same longer than a few months. So I've given myself a reward to work towards - when I get below 80kg, I'm going to allow myself to do a colour removal. I've already bought the kit so it will stare at me every time I go to the bathroom. I think I'll get a hair colour of my liking for the 75kg mark.
Oh and guess what happened to the fruit salad I made last night? I still had half a bowl left and I couldn't even eat half of that this morning. It was going bad already so just tossed the rest in the bin. Doh.
Going to be an early bird tomorrow and get up very early and take advantage of the leisure centre's early bird swim (06:30-09:30). I quite like the idea of getting the exercising out of the way first thing in the morning, then I can focus on my own stuff for the rest of the day. And I will most likely get a kid free swim, hoorah!
Oh and noticed a wonderful thing when I was browsing the leisure centre's website - if I join before 19th January I can get their membership without a joining fee! Going to make sure I take advantage of that wonderful offer tomorrow, seeing swimming for a member is £3 and non member £5.
Awesome start I'd say. :) That's 7lbs for people who don't understand kilos! I know that is mostly water but you know, got to start somewhere. If I drop below 80kg in two weeks I'll be so pleased. Time to enjoy my well earned rest day.
So, I've decided to have my weigh in's on Sundays so today was my last workout for the week. No matter what the result, I'm going to have Sundays off from exercising and let my body rest so I don't burn out.
Anyways! I went swimming today. I did 45mins of swimming and to get to the pool I had to walk for ~20 minutes. My thighs were really tight at the start of the walk, should've stretched more last night! Oh well, live and learn eh? When I go swimming I usually follow the same pattern: swim a few laps, then stop at the deep end to catch my breath and do some leg work while doing so. This way I'm making the most of my workout - even if my entire body isn't working, I've still got my lower body burning that pesky fat off.
I thought I was at the pool relatively early (to avoid the kids mainly) but to my surprise it was really busy! I tend to swim in the free-for-all lane because I'm not quite comfortable swimming in the other ones. I'm either too fast or too slow for the other lanes. Because of this I find myself dodging kids and old people a lot, which in a way annoys me. I mean sure I could just suck it up and go swim in the other lanes but then I'd just kill myself by pushing my body too hard. Maybe in a month or so if I stick to it and go swimming every week.
By the time I got out of the pool and got dressed, I was starving! I was preparing myself to dig into a nice tuna or chicken sandwich sold by the cafe at the leisure centre, but I was greeted by cupcakes, cookies and cakes. I mean what the hell, you're a leisure centre and you don't even sell the good and healthy stuff?! Need to learn from this and pack a little something in my bag next time I go so I don't have to wait until I get home to have something to eat.
Assuming Noom is accurate, I've managed to burn about 2000 calories this week. Doesn't seem like a bad start at all. :)
Anyways! I went swimming today. I did 45mins of swimming and to get to the pool I had to walk for ~20 minutes. My thighs were really tight at the start of the walk, should've stretched more last night! Oh well, live and learn eh? When I go swimming I usually follow the same pattern: swim a few laps, then stop at the deep end to catch my breath and do some leg work while doing so. This way I'm making the most of my workout - even if my entire body isn't working, I've still got my lower body burning that pesky fat off.
I thought I was at the pool relatively early (to avoid the kids mainly) but to my surprise it was really busy! I tend to swim in the free-for-all lane because I'm not quite comfortable swimming in the other ones. I'm either too fast or too slow for the other lanes. Because of this I find myself dodging kids and old people a lot, which in a way annoys me. I mean sure I could just suck it up and go swim in the other lanes but then I'd just kill myself by pushing my body too hard. Maybe in a month or so if I stick to it and go swimming every week.
By the time I got out of the pool and got dressed, I was starving! I was preparing myself to dig into a nice tuna or chicken sandwich sold by the cafe at the leisure centre, but I was greeted by cupcakes, cookies and cakes. I mean what the hell, you're a leisure centre and you don't even sell the good and healthy stuff?! Need to learn from this and pack a little something in my bag next time I go so I don't have to wait until I get home to have something to eat.
Assuming Noom is accurate, I've managed to burn about 2000 calories this week. Doesn't seem like a bad start at all. :)
Edit 15:14 - I was very wrong, these shoes are amazing! :D They forced my feet to point forward instead of where ever they've been pointing so far, making my walk very different! My thighs have never burned so much haha!
So I've gone down to eating about 1200-1400 calories a day. I've stopped eating crisps, cookies and cakes (oh and believe me, it's so difficult with my other half munching them like there's no tomorrow!) and that alone has dropped my calorie intake by tons. I'm very proud of myself for having self discipline for once.
I found this weight loss app called Noom last week. I wanted to find a nice alternative for Weightwatchers because I simply can't afford the subscription of it at the moment, and based on all the reviews Noom seemed like a good option. It's free to use but you can unlock extra features by going pro on it. Think it's like £20 for a year to unlock all the cool extras, but I'm sure I'll manage with the free version for now.
Thanks to Noom I'm very careful with what I eat every day. The app gives me a calorie budget for each day which changes depending on my activity (and I'm guessing my weight as well). At the moment it's giving me such a motivation boost, I'm very OCD when it comes to stuff like this so keeping to my budget is a fun challenge. It's really made me think what I should put in my mouth and what to leave in the cupboards.
But one downside to all this weight loss business. I'm getting insane headaches in the evenings! I know it's simply because my body is trying to get adjusted to the new diet plan with less fat and salt, but my goodness it's so irritating. I had the same problem when I did WW last year so I know it'll pass eventually. Hopefully by next week.
I've decided to post progress pics every month or so. So at the start of Feb I need to gather up my courage to post my 'before' pics and then post comparison ones. I think this is what I failed on with WW, I only measured myself every week but never took any pictures to see the changes, when I looked in the mirror after losing 10 kilos I honestly couldn't tell the difference and it was quite depressing! Everyone kept telling me that I've lost weight but I just couldn't see it.
I found this weight loss app called Noom last week. I wanted to find a nice alternative for Weightwatchers because I simply can't afford the subscription of it at the moment, and based on all the reviews Noom seemed like a good option. It's free to use but you can unlock extra features by going pro on it. Think it's like £20 for a year to unlock all the cool extras, but I'm sure I'll manage with the free version for now.
Thanks to Noom I'm very careful with what I eat every day. The app gives me a calorie budget for each day which changes depending on my activity (and I'm guessing my weight as well). At the moment it's giving me such a motivation boost, I'm very OCD when it comes to stuff like this so keeping to my budget is a fun challenge. It's really made me think what I should put in my mouth and what to leave in the cupboards.
But one downside to all this weight loss business. I'm getting insane headaches in the evenings! I know it's simply because my body is trying to get adjusted to the new diet plan with less fat and salt, but my goodness it's so irritating. I had the same problem when I did WW last year so I know it'll pass eventually. Hopefully by next week.
I've decided to post progress pics every month or so. So at the start of Feb I need to gather up my courage to post my 'before' pics and then post comparison ones. I think this is what I failed on with WW, I only measured myself every week but never took any pictures to see the changes, when I looked in the mirror after losing 10 kilos I honestly couldn't tell the difference and it was quite depressing! Everyone kept telling me that I've lost weight but I just couldn't see it.
Hi guys, Panda here! I'm a 21 year old girl, currently 84kg and 161cm. Scary figures! This blog will be all about my weight loss journey, including all the ups and downs, inspiring articles, my progress and so on.
I'm starting this journey for quite a few reasons. I did Weight Watchers for quite a while last year and thanks to the program and a very physical job I lost about 10 kilos. Unfortunately I have a bad back and after a work accident in July I havent been able to exercise the way I used to and being unable to work meant that I can no longer carry on with WW. Then the weight started piling back on very quickly and by late November I was back where I started. This alone is pretty depressing.
My back does play a big role in this project. I want to drop the extra weight to make life a bit easier for my spine. I have grade 2 spondylolisthesis which in common terms is a slipped vertebra. This causes massive discomfort and limits my daily life by tons, making standing still for longer periods of time nearly impossible.
I'm also in the risk group for diabetes. My aunt and probably all my uncles are diabetic, my grandad was diabetic as well so I need to be careful with my health! I don't want another condition to worry about if I can help it. Fingers crossed its not too late for me.
And the last reason is probably quite a common one. I want to look better. I've never been thin, I've always had a bit of extra on me. Its not doing wonders to my confidence so I really want to change that during 2013. I hate shopping with a passion at the moment, trying clothes on in the tiny fitting rooms with terrible lighting and those huge mirrors is my worst nightmare.
My aim is to get down to about 60-65 kilos. It all boils down to feeling comfortable in my own body so when I feel like I'm happy with myself, I'll call it a day. The number on the scale is, well, only a number at the end of the day.
I hope my blog will inspire others to gather the courage to make positive changes in their lives. This will definitely be a long and tough journey, but I'm confident in myself and I have the best support in the world when I hit a rough patch. :) Don't think I could take on such a massive task without having my wonderful boyfriend supporting me every day!
I'm starting this journey for quite a few reasons. I did Weight Watchers for quite a while last year and thanks to the program and a very physical job I lost about 10 kilos. Unfortunately I have a bad back and after a work accident in July I havent been able to exercise the way I used to and being unable to work meant that I can no longer carry on with WW. Then the weight started piling back on very quickly and by late November I was back where I started. This alone is pretty depressing.
My back does play a big role in this project. I want to drop the extra weight to make life a bit easier for my spine. I have grade 2 spondylolisthesis which in common terms is a slipped vertebra. This causes massive discomfort and limits my daily life by tons, making standing still for longer periods of time nearly impossible.
I'm also in the risk group for diabetes. My aunt and probably all my uncles are diabetic, my grandad was diabetic as well so I need to be careful with my health! I don't want another condition to worry about if I can help it. Fingers crossed its not too late for me.
And the last reason is probably quite a common one. I want to look better. I've never been thin, I've always had a bit of extra on me. Its not doing wonders to my confidence so I really want to change that during 2013. I hate shopping with a passion at the moment, trying clothes on in the tiny fitting rooms with terrible lighting and those huge mirrors is my worst nightmare.
My aim is to get down to about 60-65 kilos. It all boils down to feeling comfortable in my own body so when I feel like I'm happy with myself, I'll call it a day. The number on the scale is, well, only a number at the end of the day.
I hope my blog will inspire others to gather the courage to make positive changes in their lives. This will definitely be a long and tough journey, but I'm confident in myself and I have the best support in the world when I hit a rough patch. :) Don't think I could take on such a massive task without having my wonderful boyfriend supporting me every day!
