week two update

I'm into my second week of my exercise plan and trying to watch my food intake.
It hasn't been 100% perfect but I'm not disappointed either. I get out what I put in, which is showing on the scale. I only lost half a pound this week (0.2kg) which isn't worth talking about, but a loss is a loss and it isn't a gain! I did have two nights of bad eating too. Small bowls of cereal, chocolate, fruit etc that I didn't need. Still need to gain a bit more control of this emotional/boredom eating.

As for exercise I'm doing really well. I've kept up running most days of the week, running between 30-40mins now before breakfast. I am alternating upper and lower body strength workouts at the gym, going around 5 days a week. So my exercise is consistant and strong. Again, just my nibbling on food post-dinner that is letting me down.

Breakfast: 1/2cup oats, 1tbs LSA meal, 1tbs chia seeds, 1/3cup soy milk, banana
MT: fruit and nut bar or half an apple and 10 almonds
Lunch: rye wrap with spinach, capsicum, egg, sweet potato mash and tahini
AT: carrot sticks and 1 tbs hommus
Dinner: Tofu, grilled fish and steamed veggies, half cup rice.
DANGER ZONE

In effort to beat this danger zone snacking, I'm sipping on Honey Vanilla Chamomile tea. Or I might have one square of dark chocolate to look forward to.

Last night I found my self wanting dinner already at 5:30pm just out of boredom. I knew that if I ate that early I'd keep eating until bed time. So I decided to take a shower and pamper myself with a face mask, soft hair blow dry, homemade sugar, oil and honey hand scrub/treatment and paint my nails. I knew that this would distract me while making me feel pretty and clean and less likely to want to ruin myself. It was 7:15pm by the time I was done, nails dried, and I was hungry! I had a dinner including my half a bowl of rice then after some tea completed the deal with a strawberry+bicarb teeth whitening treatment haha.

This morning I went for a 40min run. I slept almost 9 hours last night so wasn't at the park until 9:30, which meant breakfast was almost at 11am! While I was full after my normal porridge breaky, I felt like I deserved more so ate a cup of cooked white rice, and some dried prawn cracker with peanut butter. This is the kinda nibbling I need to overcome! Well I certainly shouldn't be needing anything more to eat until say 3pm.

I've stuck to my Monday-ONLY weigh-ins. Was tempted to weigh myself this morning as I was feeling really good, but knew that could distrub things. I like working towards the one weigh-in.

Good luck to everyone else out there for the remainder of the week

xx

Easy clean pancakes

Feeling like pancakes..but not the flour and sugar..

so these BANANA PANCAKES were born.

Ingrediants:
1 Banana
2 Eggs
(I added 1tbs LSA meal, 1 tbs chia seeds, and cinnamon for funsies)

Directions:
Mash up banana and whisk in egg.
Pour into hot fry pan with a bit of butter/oil spray

I made little piklet sized ones and sprinkled with cinnamon (can't get enough of it. Also lowers the sugar spike from the banana). If you are trying to watch your weight, be careful of putting on too much topping. I enjoyed a few with a little peanut butter and jam but otherwise they were sweet enough on their own. Also figured it'd be good getting into the habit of being able to enjoy things more without additional toppings and condiments.

This protein/carb combination would also be ideal for a post strength workout recovery snack!! Winner

As for my running:
I have ran again this morning. Ran for 35mins, reaching 5.5km. Still running really slow (6:22min/km) but my leg is aching a little. Will look into getting some better running shoes before things get too serious.

Red Flag ahead

It is Tuesday night and this marks my third day of running and even more amazing, my third day in a row of controlled eating. It is usually at this point that I break and go crazy on white rice, chocolate cookies and sweet sweet granola and milk (whatever I can lay my hands on really). I plan on a light run in the morning and then a strength session at the gym- doing both usually triggers me rationalizing slightly larger food portions/dessert in the evening. So tomorrow is definitely a red flag day for me. In defence, I plan to monitor my water intake (three 500ml water bottles to ensure extra fullness throughout the day), drink tea with cinnamon on top if I’m feeling like something sweet, do some stretching in front of a fav drama series (instead of snooping around in the kitchen), plan some smoothies/meals for the remainder of the week. So not to feel like I am denying myself anything (which also leads to self-sabotage) I will have a serving of rice or quinoa with dinner, savour one hot chocolate at some point through out the day, and will give myself the option of half a steamed apple with cinnamon after dinner if cravings call. I have decided to allow myself one square of dark chocolate a day to test out if that helps with waist management at all, which I’ve heard it does.

Wish me luck

xx

Day 1

DAY 1 of my half-marathon/beach-body challenge.

WARNING: LONG BLABBING POST TO FOLLOW.

I woke a little nervous about how painfully cold it might be outside and whether or not I would be able to run for long. Would be devastated if my 10km training over sept/oct/nov had gone to waste. I ran the 10km on Nov18 at 57mins, pace 5:52min/km. I decided the best way to start up again was slowly. So set my ‘mapmyrun’ workout to 20mins. Put on two layers of pants, thermal long sleeve under a hoodie, fluffy head band, two pairs of socks and gloves…okay I was scared of this 3deg winter morning. Warmed up in the bedroom first, earphones in set to novafm, and I was out the door. Wasn’t quite as cold as expected. I ran one lap of the park across the road which brought me exactly to my 20min goal (3.16km @6:22min/km). I felt like I was running very slow and had an ache in my right thigh (which I’ve had since race day). But the fact that I was moving forward and not short of breath was encouraging. That’s all I wanted for today. It starts with just a 20min jog, and in a few fast weeks I’ll be back to the 10km and getting that runner’s high. Need to re-think the running outfit tho. Only need one layer of pants, warmer socks, and a windproof jacket, but was really warm up top so don’t need the big hoodie. Would like to look into winter running gear and see if I can purchase anything cheap- like ankle length tights and a jacket..and thinner gloves..hmmJ

Now onto that dreaded weigh-in. It wasn’t nearly as bad as I was expecting. Standing naked on those bathroom scales for the first time in 2weeks, I was expecting to be up near 67kg, which is usually so easy for me to slip up to when I’m not focussed. But no, I was 65.2! It’s so strang, with my boyfriend I don’t exercise, eat loads of pasta and pizza, chocolate, pastries and crepes, and still lose weight. Maybe it’s the lack of that stress hormone cortisol? Being with him makes me stop fretting over every little thing I put in my mouth and I’m not trying to stop myself my nibbling between each meals. Together we have three meals a day and maybe one treat, but nothing in between. So maybe I did consume less calories in the end with him? Surprised my 700cal binge didn’t hit me hard..or does it hit later? I don’t know. I’m not gonna question it, but just be glad I’ve got a good place to start at.

I also took photos in my underware after my shower this morning. Bad quality, small mirror and awkard to get my body in the camera, but hopefully it’ll be something worth comparing with in a few months. Plan to weigh myself on Sundays ONLY. This is important for me, as I often get into the habit of daily weighing which can ruin my healthy eating if it shows I’ve gained or lost weight too suddenly. I know there are many factors that affect one’s weight day-to-day so once a week is enough for me. It’ll keep me on track for week too, knowing that I have a weigh-in yet to come.

Starting weight: 65.2kg (143.7lb)

(sunday 9^th December)

Ideally, I’d like to measure myself in terms of body fat percentage as I know normal bathroom scales don’t tell you what they are weighing, and that muscle weighs more than fat etc etc. My gym does offer that kind of service but I’m not sure if it’s only for members starting up or whether I’d be able to do it again. I was at 24% when I joined in April and weighed about 66kg. I know I have gained good muscle since then. I’d like to see how 20% body fat looks on my build first I think. Maybe I could also look into ways of self measuring. But for now I’ll say 63.0kg (139lbs) is my ultimate goal for now.

So how do I plan on doing this exactly? Training for the 10km race had me running 6 days a week for up to an hour at a time. I got down to a comfortable from 64.0 (from 66+) and was getting comments from family about looking thinner. So the running stays lol. My attitude towards food and eating while with my boyfriend also stays. Being around  him has always had me NOT thinking about food all the time, and that I do not need snacks and deserts after every meal. I’ve tried the 5-6 small meals a day thing, but it just has me thinking about food too much. If I get hungry before or after lunch I will choose a healthy snack but nothing that would still have me full by lunch time. Instead of counting calories and protein to carb to fat percentages, my rule will be to just eat until my body is satisfied-not stuffed full. If I leave my meal at this point, I will be able to have a small snack afterwards if needed or enjoy the small sweet a friend gives me etc. If I am constantly over eating at meal times, I really shouldn’t be able to afford any other food between meals (which sometimes is out of my control). I’ve been living with a host family for the last eight months and still have another two left with them. Due to this I can not always control what I’m eating. For example today my host dad is taking me out for thick udon noodles for lunch. My first reaction was “oh god noodles=carbs and no healthy fats and veggies”. Then I remembered how many times I had noodles and pasta with my boyfriend here…a bowl of udon is only going to be around 300cals. It may not be the most nutritious choice available but it’s not going to disturb my weight loss goals. Same goes with white rice. Instead of denying myself of it at dinner with the “no carbs after 5” rule, I should be able to enjoy a small bowl with my meal. A satisfying 100+ calories which will be good for my daily running anyway.

One thing I can control however is my breakfast and my school day lunches. I love my greenthickies.com oat smoothies for breakfast, as well as LSA in yogurt with fruit. Bananas, berries, mandarins, apples, peanut butter, and soy milk is all part of my breakfast food list. The boyf brought me some rye mountain bread wraps too which I can use for breakfast..maybe a toasted scrambled egg wrap or peanut butter and banana melt? Yummo. Today was a steamed apple with cinnamon, banana, pumpkin seads and LSA meal.

Lunches..the school cafeteria offers a good selection-tofy, mackerel in miso, steamed cabbage dishes, boiled pumpkin, broccoli and seaweed for salad toppings etc. And only for a few bucks. I also bought myself a soup thermos. So would like to look into different meal options for that too.

Back to the exercise, running 5/6 days a week, weights maybe 3 days a week followed by 15-20min HIIT, and some other alternative training like swimming, yoga, pump class in between. I love exercise and I love a chance to get out on my own. Often meet interesting people and enjoy a nice chat at the gym too. The big hot spas and saunas are a nice little treat also. Just got to prepare myself for winter running and plan the gym sessions into my weekly schedule so I don’t have excuses to miss a session.

Mum and sister are visiting for Christmas from Dec 23 to Jan 6. So I’ve got two weeks exactly to get back to 64.0kg (141lbs). So 1.5kg/3lbs in two weeks. Totally possible. Then the trick will be maintaining that over Christmas and New Year.