What a Week! Time for a New Plan of Attack!

Hello lovely people, first I want to apologise for being M.I.A for the past week. Friday last week I was hit with a terrible cold, then a few days later I thought I was okay and decided to go and do a 5km walk then ended up with a mild dose of bronchitis! So it's been a week of achy body, stuffed up nose and no taste sensation what so ever! Today is the first time I have tasted food in a week and wow! food is fabulous once again!

Even though I hate being sick, I managed to handle it meds free, just a few panadols and a little cough syrup AND I got to finally understand why it is VITAL to get healthy, here is what I wrote on a facebook post this week:


Why it pays to eat clean, lose weight, get fit and get healthy!
My Facebook Page: click here 

I have found out that I have bronchitis not a cold. I spent last night finding it hard to sleep because all I could hear was the rattling in my lungs from all the mucous build up, funny thing is, even though I have this I don't feel really ill, just a bit achy, snotty and pissed off. My former sumo self never handled sickness very well at all, I would spend almost two weeks in bed and at least three of those days I would be feverish (this time around I was feverish overnight) and almost unresponsive which was pretty scary, AND I would be jacked up to the eyeballs on antibiotics, ibuprofen, you name it I had it. 

This time around 30kg lighter and a million times fitter, I have been drinking loads of soup, green smoothies, ginger, lemon and honey tea and eating really well even though I cannot taste anything. If by Friday I still have the rattles going on in my lungs (it's only a little at the moment, but still annoying), I will go and get checked up just in case.

So there you go, if you are contemplating getting healthy DO IT, DO IT NOW! It really does pay off in more ways than one!


So there you go, a huge lesson learned I just wish I had've done this so many years ago!

Okay enough of that, there's no point dwelling on the woulda, shoulda, coulda right? Let's just get stuck into the here and now and speaking of which I have a new master plan of attack for my next round of weight loss!

BARB'S NEW MASTER PLAN TO SHRINK MY GUT & REDUCE MY BUTT (hehe)

Okay, here goes:

FOOD

Breakfast: 1 of the following
- green smoothie + 8 raw almonds + 2 kiwifruit
- soaked oats with Greek yoghurt + nuts & seeds

Snack: 1 of the following
- Peanut Butter Protein Bar (that I make myself)
- Fruit
- Greek yoghurt with nuts if I haven't had it in my breakfast
- Nuts
- Trail mix
- Air popped popcorn
- Rice crackers

Lunch: 1 of the following
- Spinach & feta wrap packed with veges and 20g edam cheese
- Giant salad, no dressing with half cup of cooked brown rice + 100g baked or grilled chicken
- Spinach and cheese egg white omelette with a huge salad, no dressing

 Snack: same as the snacks above

Dinner: 1 of the following
- Omelette with huge salad, no dressing
- Baked potato with a tiny blob of garlic butter, shredded carrot & cabbage + dollop sour cream
- Fish fillet  or baked spicy chicken with huge salad
- Bolognaise sauce on brown rice + huge salad no dressing
- Spicy Soup with beans and stacks of veges

Snack: same as the snacks above

So that's basically the food part of it, as you can see it's mostly clean and mostly non-processed foods!

EXERCISE

I will be moving my butt 7 days a week

Monday/Wed/Fri/Sat - 8km walk + 30mins calisthenics
Tues/Thurs/Sun - Interval training + weight training (90mins total)

If I am knackered or have DOMS really bad then I will have a day off, it's no big deal

.... and that's my master plan put into action as of tomorrow 18 May 2013!

So what about cravings and the odd special occasion I hear you say. My take on this is this, if I have a craving I will wait two days and if I still want it bad, I will have it. Usually by the second day I am over it and then don't need to eat the offender, but sometimes I do and it's not the end of the world!

As for celebrations, going out etc, I just make mindful food choices or if I really want to taste everything, then I just try a little bit, there really is no need to gorge yourself on a special occasion or miss out, just have a bit of control otherwise you have to work twice as hard to correct your mistake!

The trick I have learned throughout the last months of my weight loss journey is to relax my mind and not get so worked up about numbers, sure I still want to see the number on the scale jump down to double digits asap (NZ), but it's much better to think of the tremendous health benefits you are receiving from your efforts. How you look and weigh should be secondary to this and a happy bonus rather than the be all and end all!

- Barbs xx

Oh boy, I've really got to get it together!

Well last night I felt like I was in dire need of a workout after swallowing a much needed shot of iron from a medium rare steak and once my stomach had settled, I threw on my work out gear.

I didn't really want to do it, but I knew I had to, I needed this food to work through my body faster as I was feeling so uncomfortable :(  A few months ago I decided that I was going to cut down on my consumption of meat because it makes me feel sluggish and bloated after eating. The problem with this is that I am iron deficient and rather than pop a ton of iron tablets and other supplements, I try to use food to get my needs.

Yesterday however, I felt so dead and lifeless I felt a much needed steak was in order and an egg. Sure enough I felt better afterwards and then 30 minutes after that ugh...... uncomfortable....gluggy....blah!

So then I worked out and I felt fantastic! I pushed and pushed, jumped and lifted, twisted and crunched and 45 minutes later dripping in sweat I finally finished, dove into the shower and relaxed feeling so much better. This morning however, the thighs, the thighs are burning, my squat session has left my muscles rather tender. Last week aside from walking, I never lifted weights or did my calisthenics so today I am paying for it with pain, great pain, fantastic pain, but pain nonetheless.

So a lesson learned, find another iron source to consume and never, NEVER become lazy about lifting weights, just do it!

Muscles on fire!

Has it been a week since my last post? Well since I last wrote, my fitness regime is going strong! I am having trouble losing weight at a rate I feel acceptable (I know, I should accept any loss shouldn't I?), so I have had to re-think my food and exercise. I've upped my protein and am getting enough now and to be honest, I do feel so much better, food is fuel and I need that fuel to help my body burn fat properly. As for the fitness side of my plan, I have done loads and loads of research so with the info I have gathered plus the years of training through personal trainers and gym memberships, I have designed a programme to keep my body guessing. This week every second day is a 16km walk broken into a morning and evening session so as not to be to arduous and every other day is a 6-8km walk plus upper or lower body workout using weights and resistance bands. So far so good, I feel fantastic even though my muscles are burning! Sitting down onto the loo is somewhat of a challenge and even though my thighs are screaming HELP, I cannot stop laughing and feel a huge sense of achievement!

Feeling good, feeling great and I'm seeing awesome results, loving my life! <3