Tuesday 9 July 2013

1st week review

In order to keep myself honest with getting my eating etc. back on track I am going to post weekly updates, this is the first.

I've actually signed up for a 90 day fitness challenge which started on the 1st July, I had joined when I posted my previous post about getting my eating and exercising back on track, but I hadn't received all the info for the challenge so I wasn't sure exactly what it was all about. It's basically a 90 day eating and exercise challenge with online resources and a Facebook group for support, there seems to be about 150 people signed up for it, all women as far as I can tell.

The meal plan is basically just paleo, so it fits with my previous plan, and instead of being a specific meal plan with set recipes, it's just a meal formula which you can apply to whatever you like, eg. Xg meat, Xg green veggies, Xtsp good fats and Xg carbs (post workout). The exercise is 5 sessions of weights/strength work a week and a few sessions of intervals on top of that, all the exercises are on the website and have associated videos. It's really for people with access to a full gym, but it's not too hard to work out substitute exercises for the ones that I don't have the equipment for. I'm also swapping two of the days for Crossfit so that I can keep doing that as well.

So far it's been really good, the people in the group seem to be really nice and everyone is really supportive. I joined because I felt like I needed a bit of extra guidance and support because what I was doing before wasn't working and so far I'm glad I joined this challenge. As you'll see from my photo below, I certainly haven't been perfect the last week, but it's a 90 day challenge, so I have a while to get it all perfected. I've found that the stickers on the calendar are actually really  motivating! I really strive to earn the stickers and today I went out for dinner with a friend and was really vigilant with my eating, mostly because I wanted to get the damn food sticker!

So as you can see from below, I did pretty well with exercising last week, I only missed 1 session that I should have done (eg. did 4 instead of 5), eating was bad though and I only had 3 perfect days out of 7. Tuesday was a friend's 40th birthday so I went to Mexican for dinner and had margaritas and Fajitas, but the rest of the day was good. Friday was good until dinner when I had wine and some chips, Saturday and Sunday were a bit of a write off, which then continued into Monday (leftovers). Today, however, was perfect :)

Stars = Workouts, round stickers = perfect eating/drinking

So my plan for the next week is to get a few more round stickers on there, and make sure I get my 5 exercise sessions in. I have a few social engagements on the weekend though which will be a real challenge, and honestly, I think it's unlikely that I'll have a perfect day, but I will aim to eat properly, even if I do have a few drinks.

I weighed myself last night and was down 600g but those scales are rubbish, so I don't really believe it!

Monday 1 July 2013

Getting my mojo back

So according to my blog, I haven't posted since 27 April, that's ages! The lack of posting kind of goes along with feeling down and stressed and crazy for the last couple of months. Work has been super stressful, Uni really really sucked last semester, I'm struggling to get to Crossfit regularly without a car and I've just been generally quite low for ages. On top of all that, and maybe because of it,  my eating is out of control and I've put on 5kg at least lately and am feeling fat and ugly and frumpy. 

I had this whole woe is me post written on Friday, but fuck it, the only person who can change my situation is me, no one is going to swoop in and do it for me, no matter how much I might want that to be the case. 

So I'm going to sort my shit out and get my eating back on track and try to improve my self esteem and self confidence so that I can truthfully believe that I can get another job and actually apply for some when they come up. I don't imagine this will be a short process but it will be worthwhile. 

To encourage myself I've given myself a couple of prizes for reaching goals. My short term goal is to lose 5kg (essentially to be back at 75kg) and the prize for that is getting to buy a new pair of shoes, my long term goal is to lose 10kg and the prize for that is getting to spend $200 on clothes. I have also initiated a sticker system on my calendar and for every day that my eating is good, I get a 'well done' sticker and for every day I meet my exercise goals, I get a gold star. Sounds lame, but I think visual encouragement is also worth trying!

Getting a new job will be a reward in itself, so no rewards for job hunting.

So, my "rules" aren't anything particularly crazy, it's more about consistency, because that's where I am seriously lacking. Here they are though:

- Exercise 5x a week (at least 2 of these Crossfit)
- Avoid sugar (not including fruit) unless it's a super special occasion
- Only eat starchy carbs after a workout (good incentive to workout!)
- Can only drink alcohol 1 school night a week and have to drink sensibly on weekends, or at least avoid super sweet drinks
- Try portion control instead of counting calories
- Get more sleep
- If eating out, choose sensibly (don't eat out too often either)

So that's about it, nothing crazy and no particular eating plan or template. I'll see how it goes, there might be further tweaking if it doesn't seem to be working, but I honestly think that any sort of change will help at the moment.

Starting measurements

Weight: 79.9kg (I don't trust this though, my scales seem to be about +/- 3kg)
5cm above belly button: 85cm
Belly button: 91cm
5cm below belly button: 99cm


source























That weight is scary scary, that's like what I used to weigh before I started Crossfit and everything. It's still a whole lot lighter than my heaviest weight (107kg) I guess, but it's definitely not good and it really sucks because none of my clothes fit right, so I feel gross in everything. I guess feeling gross is good motivation to do this properly though. 


So there you have it, I'll try and post once a week at least to keep track of everything.