My two month plan is in full swing already! I came up with a very quick plan last night and it is something that I should be able to stick to, no matter what my schedule is like during the week. Until the Christmas holidays I've divided my week into two rest days, two resistance training days and three walks. This way I get all my muscle groups working and also get the cardio in. When we finish uni for the year on 20th December I'm probably going to be working until we go back start of January, so I have left those weeks open for now.

I'm going to use Body Revolution for the resistance training. While I'm not doing a full week of BR, I'm using the same pattern with it - a separate day for front and back muscles and swap the workouts every two weeks. I'm hoping that this way I won't plateau during these two months. I'm obviously going to carry on after this plan comes to an end, but I don't like planning too far ahead. :)


And as diet is a huge part of weight loss, I am going to try my hardest to stick to a clean diet. I have been having way too many takeaways for the past month and it's time to stop it. I actually got to test my will power today when I went for lunch with my uni friends, I had a vegetable burger instead of the high fat options on the menu. And my friends being typical guys, I instantly got the "Oh my god you gone vegetarian now?!" treatment when the food arrived... :D

I think I really overdid my walk on Sunday, as my left ankle has been playing up since yesterday. It just aches and stings every time I move my foot or put any weight on the ankle. Argh. I actually skipped my workout yesterday because of it as I was worried that I'll just make it worse by jumping around, but I was just so full of energy tonight that I wanted to do something. I decided to stick to my plan and did a back workout tonight and I'm just going to replace tomorrow's walk with the front workout.

As you all probably know by now, I love posting before & after pictures every now and then. I've nearly been on this journey for a year now and I think it's a good time to compare some pictures! :) So close to the finish line now.

Surprisingly hard to find the proper version of that song on Youtube.. All I get is "This and that has blocked this video in your country" and it's annoying! All I get is covers of people doing this song and quite frankly that's not good enough! :D

Anyways. The forecast is telling me it's gonna rain all day today and I'm bit annoyed about that as it's my only day off this week. Really could've done with a long walk along the seafront, it's just been way too long since I've had the chance to do that. I think I'd actually just suck it up and go if I had a waterproof jacket, but that's still something I need to invest in.


I keep telling myself that I should restart Body Revolution, but I just keep putting it off. The DVD box just keeps staring at me on the dresser and I feel so guilty for constantly postponing it. Now that our time is cut really short and we simply don't have the time to go to the gym, I think I really should get back into it to keep myself fit (don't want to lose all the muscle definition I've worked hard for now do I?) and make sure my weight loss doesn't stall.

To keep myself occupied today I've been doing a ton of uni work. We have sketchbooks for all our hard copies of our work and we are required to keep them up to date all the time, so I've just been taping stuff in, finishing half finished tasks, printing it out, rinse and repeat. I'd really prefer to have a blog for it all instead of wasting paper (and ink..) but what can you do.

The top picture is just some old stuff I have in there to show you lot what it's all about, bottom one is some ridiculous moodboards we had to create this week. For the blue one I actually stapled my boyfriend's £80 jumper on a bit of paper.. :D He did give me permission to do it so it's all good!



And to the important bit of this post, progress pictures! I really should measure myself way more than I do now (five places), as I really seem to get the most progress in the spots I don't measure! I've really lost a ton of fat since September, holy hell seriously!



I actually compared the pictures from today to my starting pictures, and oh my god I've come so far in ten months. It's just incredible what a bit of willpower can achieve; 11kg (25lb) difference is really huge. I know I'm aiming to drop another 11kg, but just looking at my progress now I don't think I should go quite that far. I have a feeling that just another 5kg will get me to the figure I want. I'm starting to be really happy with my body (the first time I can say that in six or seven years..), but I'm a perfectionist so I'm not quite done yet. ;)

I was so right yesterday when I said it was just sodium build up that caused the 300g gain. Made sure to stay away from salty food yesterday and drank a lot of water, which resulted in the scales giving me the magical number 78,6kg this morning. 800g loss from yesterday. :)

I'm also changing workout programs today. As much as I love Body Revolution and it's given me fantastic results, I need some change or I'm going to get bored. I think I'm going to go through 30 Day Shred, it is far more low impact than BR and it'll probably be a lot more suitable for my back as well. I might complete 30DS and then go back to BR to finish off Phase 3.

And the pictures! What I'm most happy about is that the stretchmarks on my sides and next to my bellybutton are starting to fade. Other than that I don't see that much change to a month ago, which annoys me slightly.

I was meant to start Phase 3 yesterday. I managed to go through one circuit, although I was just sitting down for half of it because the exercises are too demanding on my back. I'm not going to risk it, I'm just going to start over instead. I want to get my core stronger before I do something that advanced.

Yes, I'm very annoyed about it. I want to progress, not go back to the beginning. But I always knew it might happen so I can't really complain, BR is designed for people with no physical disabilities after all. Guess I should be happy that I managed to get this far.

On a happier note, I've gone back to a redhead again. :D My poor hair is going to fall off soon. In less than a week I've gone from ginger to blonde, from blonde to bright red and from bright red to this absolutely gorgeous pinkish red. And I love it. Pics below!

Last workout for Phase 2! :) I keep saying this over and over again but it just goes so fast it's unreal. Been doing this for two months now, only one to go.

Maybe a bit disappointed with the results so far after seeing all the adverts with these highly overweight people turn into athletes pretty much. Then again you really don't know how much airbrushing has been done there. Don't get me wrong I can definitely tell I've made progress, my legs and arms are getting quite muscular. It's just my biggest problem area - tummy. I want it to be gone. It's awful. I'm not looking to be stick thin, but curvy.



Going out with the other half tonight, quite looking forward to it. :) We are in the process of saving money for a house so going out is more of a treat than something we do every week. I've been looking into some menus already and if we go to the restaurant I think we will, I'm all covered food wise. ^^ ~900 calories for starter, main and dessert, not bad eh!

And as usual, measurements tomorrow + pictures either tomorrow or Monday. :)

So my order from Sports Direct arrived today! ^_^ Very happy with the stuff I got, everything fits nicely and so on. I took a risk by ordering size 10 trousers as I've been a 12-14 til now but I'm quite happy I did, I think 12's would've been way too loose. Going for the smaller bra size was a good choice too, go me. :D

And I got a "small" freebie with the order. When I opened the parcel all I saw was a cardboard box with 'fragile' labels all over it. I kept thinking that what the hell have I ordered, but it turned out to be a freebie mug from them. And it's huge!! Seriously look at it. I mean sure I love my coffee but I don't think I could drink THAT much.


I'm really enjoying the new workouts as well. They don't feel too physically demanding (as in I'm not out of breath half the time) but when I've done it for 15-20 minutes it really shows in sweat. :D My back still annoys me though, I had to modify a few things again today. And skipped one exercise completely because it felt too uncomfortable for my back.

I also took some progress pictures today. I took some at the start of BR and realised I haven't taken similar pictures since so thought that why not. Sure I'm standing a bit differently but you get the idea. Where on earth has my waist gone?! And yeah ignore my face in the second picture, I took so many pictures I got bored in the end.

Time goes so quick it's unbelievable. Swapping dvds again on Monday. I quite like only having one cardio workout per month, it's such an easy way to track progress stamina wise. Apart from stopping halfway through to get more water, I didn't need to stop to catch my breath at all. Two weeks ago this workout was pure agony and I pretty much half assed some of it.

I haven't really taken any pictures during workouts, mainly because I'd rather not look like a retard when I'm focusing on getting my form right (because you know, if you're just posing for the sake of looking pretty in pictures, you're an idiot). I thought that I'd post some cooldown ones today. :D There's a quick cooldown after each workout, pretty basic ones everyone knows. And you know, I'm flexible so wanted to show off. :D

I've also realised that my yoga pants are incredibly loose. I've had these for years and years, so obviously the fabric is starting to be a bit frail (my other half actually told me they're slightly seethrough from behind.... :D) and obviously me losing weight is making them madly saggy. Same goes for my sports bras, they're starting to be too big and won't give enough support. So, Sports Direct is £52 richer after me going a bit mad. Yoga pants, two pairs of knee length exercise trousers and three lots of sports bras. That'll keep me going for a bit. Going for a smaller size in bras was a bit of a QQ moment though, I don't wanna lose my boobs! :D

The back of the body workout for Phase 2 really seems to kill my back. Tuesday night was pretty agonising. I had to use the combination of painkillers, a massage and heat gel to get the pain to settle down. I still had that screaming at the back of my head during today's workout, I was just so scared to hurt myself again that I didn't give 100%. And it really annoys me now. I know it's about my health and looking fit comes second, but still! I'm stubborn when it comes to stuff like this so I really want to push myself as hard as I can.

But on the upside, I'm getting really healthy cravings! I cooked some vegetable burger patties for dinner yesterday and had wholewheat pasta with em. They were so delicious! Unfortunately it's the end of the week and our fridge is starting to be empty of everything so I'm not getting any salad with my dinner tonight. :(

I let out quite a few of manly roars during my workout today. :D First day of Phase 2 and it definitely was a lot harder than it looked like. Oh, and typing this is really hurting my arms!

As you might think a step up in level also means a step up in difficulty. You are asked to use heavier weights, to rely on your balance more while doing difficult exercises (one leg squats with a dumbell and so on), to push more out of yourself. The resistance cable is also present in every workout apart from the cardio. It is difficult. Crescent or a deep lunge is very very hard to hold for 30 seconds while squeezing the juices out of your arms.

I also want to be more strict with myself with food from now on. No more cheeky nibbles between meals. I allowed myself to slip a little during the first month to see what it'd actually do to my progress, and seeing how little I lost in the end made me decide that it's time to leave the crisps alone for good. Also looking into buying my lunches so I can just stick a bowl of soup in the microwave instead of having to cook something every day. I've noticed that my laziness makes me grab the bag of crisps every time. Plenty of food in the house and lots of different options but it takes time. When I'm hungry, I want food that second, not in 20 minutes. Having for example Weight Watchers soups and prepared meals in the house would probably fix that and help me lose that tiny bit more weight every week.

I'm actually still feeling really full from lunch. Had leftover roast chicken (no skin!) with couscous, peas and red peppers + seasoning and spices. There was a tub of Weight Watchers creme fraiche in the fridge so a few dollops of that went in too to make everything stick together. Very yummy and light on calories. There's some ready prepared chicken and fish in the freezer so might just have something like that for dinner with a ton of salad. Nom!

I did it! Phase 1 of BR is now behind me! I feel absolutely fantastic and so proud of myself for getting through it. When I got BR I was a bit worried that I'd give up halfway through, using my back as an exucse. But I didn't. I'm so proud. Having my other half watching me work out has helped too, I've pushed myself through the exercises instead of giving up with some of the more difficult ones. I am so determined to finish this program now. Oh and my OH also did the cardio workout with me today! Or well, 2/3 of it. Very happy to have such a supportive partner.

Time to watch workouts 1 & 2 + cardio 2 for Phase 2. :) As usual I will post my measurements and weight tomorrow. And it's picture time too! Pics will be posted either tomorrow or on Monday.

So, since Monday I've done the two new workouts. I ache! It actually feels really good to move a bit and feel that post workout ache in my muscles - especially in the abs! Absolutely loving it right now. At least I know I'm doing the workouts right instead of just half assing it.

It's a massive step up from the first two workouts, that's for sure. 1&2 mainly focused on one big muscle group at a time, giving some time for my body to adjust to the amount of exercise. But 3&4 are making me work extra hard, combining legs and arms in the same move and so on. Looking forward to finishing Phase 1 now, I'm so certain that I'll start seeing big results soon!

Today is my cardio day, it's nice to let my muscles rest a bit. :)

Half way through phase one! Thought that I'd write a little something about the past two weeks in one handy post.

The only thing that really hit me during the first workouts was the cardio - even after two weeks my calfs are screaming me to stop bouncing around like a bunny rabbit. It is so intense for calfs alone, other body parts are pretty much left in peace during this.

So, the first crosstraining workouts aren't quite as tough as you'd think. The moves you are doing are stuff that most of us probably learns during P.E. classes in school. And having done some of 30 Day Shred made it easier for me, as a lot of the moves were really familiar to me when doing BR. I really recommend doing 30DS first (or at least some of it, I did two weeks of Jillian's workouts before starting) if you are thinking of ordering BR, it'll make the first two weeks so much easier and more enjoyable.

For me the biggest failure was the kickstart. Like I've said so so many times before, the cardio killed me after the first workout. I just couldn't do the cardio workout every day on top of my crosstraining. I barely got out of bed after two days. And the diet itself didn't last for the entire week, I just craved carbs so bad and I was really hungry despite still eating about 1200 calories.

Looking forward to the next two weeks! Gonna watch the workouts either tonight or tomorrow to get familiar with the moves beforehand. I find that really handy because then I won't have to spend half of my workout staring at Jillian doing all these moves and then trying to catch up.